Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 4 m 14s || 3.92 MB ||
Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org for Wednesday August 17th, 2011.
Palestinian man dies of wounds sustained last night, and settlers torch farmlands near Nablus, these stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.
A Palestinian pedestrian died of wounds overnight when an Israeli border police jeep hit him in an East Jerusalem suburb.
The victim, identified as Amin Dabash 38, was hit Tuesday night by an Israeli police vehicle near the Israeli settlement of Har Homa.
Police Chief, Shai Hachimi told media that the man was killed by accident in a badly-lit area. He added that an investigation has been opened in the accident.
The Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds said an ambulance rushed to the scene but Dabash died almost immediately. Dabash family accused the Israeli border police of deliberately killing him.
In other news, a Palestinian woman from Ramallah was sentenced to 20-year imprisonment after being indicted of stabbing an Israeli soldier at the Qalandia military checkpoint on the northern entrance of Jerusalem in 2008.
Sumud Karaja 23 form Saffa village near Ramallah was kidnapped two days after the incident in which she was accused of stabbing the soldier. The soldier sustained moderate wounds to his abdomen
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, the court will not take into account the three years Karaja has already spent in custody.
The center quoted the woman’s brother, saying that the military judge had demanded that she ‘ask for the mercy of the court,’ to reduce her sentence, but she refused, saying she did not recognize the authority of the court and considered the trial ‘illegitimate.’
The General Attorney of the Palestinian Authority decided on Wednesday to take off air, a Palestinian satire show for its strong criticism of Palestinian Authority leaders and figures. The show is called, “Watan ala Watar” and is broadcasted in the Palestine TV of the Palestinian Authority.
The Attorney General said the law allows him to stop the broadcast of the show if it contradicts the norms and the culture and utilizes “dirty language” especially against people who are well respected among the Palestinian people.
On his part, the chair of the Palestine TV and Radio Yasser Abed Rabbo said the show will stop, however, this will not be the end. Abed Rabbo warned against allowing such decisions to pass as it will set a precedent that negatively affect democracy and freedom of expression.
Abed Rabbo is a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and a former Minister of Information.
A group of armed extremist Israeli settlers torched on Tuesday evening dozens of acres of farmlands near the former Homesh settlement, north of Nablus city, in the northern part of the West Bank.
Ghassan Douglas, a Palestinian official in charge of settlements file in the northern part of the West Bank, stated that the settlers set ablaze all trees planted around the evacuated settlement and that the fire consumed hundreds of almond trees and evergreens.
He added that the trees belong to the local Palestinian residents, and that the attack was carried out just as the residents were preparing to break their fast as the Muslims are marking the holy month of Ramadan.
That’s all for today, you have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center. For more updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you from Occupied Bethlehem by Husam Qassis and me George Rishmawi
