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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Wednesday September 28, 2011
Local guards foil a settler attack in Hebron, and Israel to confiscate land near Hebron to build a by-pass road, these stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.
The local guard committees foiled on Tuesday night an attack by Israeli settlers that targeted the Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeideh, in Hebron.
Around one hundred settlers gathered and toured from al-Shuhada’ street, and other neighborhoods in Hebron and headed to Tel Rumeideh.
Dozens of Palestinian volunteers gathered to stop the settlers, however the settlers fled the scene.
The local guards committees are groups of Palestinian volunteers who try to guard their cities and villagers from settler attacks.
‘Youth against settlements” an active group in Hebron, organized the local guards committee in city. The youth patrolled the city, day and night to keep watch of the people there.
A number of local guard committees have been organized in several Palestinian cities, towns and villages, especially those adjacent to Israeli settlements as a result of the increased number of settler attacks against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
The Israeli military informed on Wednesday the local council of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, of their plans to build a by-pass road that will go through some of the town’s land.
According to the spokesman of the popular committee against the wall and settlements, Mohammad Awad, the Israeli government will confiscate 200 acres of land for the sake of the planned road.
Awad said, the military is planning to start building the road in less than one week, which does not give the residents a chance to object and appeal to the courts to stop the land confiscation.
The popular committee called the residents to nonviolently resist the Israeli plans which will affect the lives of dozens of Palestinian families who will loose their land, which is their main source of income.
In other news, Palestinians detained in Israeli jails have announced on Wednesday the beginning of on open-ended hunger strike to demand an end to the ever increasing humiliating and degrading treatment by the Israeli administration of of the jails.
The prisoners also demand the administration to end the solitary confinement of a number of prisoners, some of which has been in for 10 years.
There are currently around 8000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The United Nations Security Council will submit the Palestinian membership application to a special committee at the UN to evaluate the application. Riad Mansour, the Palestinian representative at the UN, said this committee is of a great importance, and the meetings will be attended by representatives from all member states, in addition to ambassadors of some other countries.
Mansour said, it is not confirmed yet that the Palestinian bid will have nine votes in the council although all the nine member countries recognize Palestine individually. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submited the full UN membership application to the UN Secretary General on September 23, before his speech before the UN General Assembly which is said to be unprecedented by a Palestinian leader in such a world forum.
That was just some of the news from Palestine Today, for more updates; please visit our website at www.imemc.org. Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. This report has been brought to you by Hussam Qassis and me, George Rishmawi.
