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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Thursday October 6th, 2011
Israel demolishes Al-Araqeeb village thirty times, and the Palestinian prisoners continue their hunger strike in Israeli jails, these stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel took to the streets in the southern town of Bir Sabi’ in the Negev to protest the destruction of the village of Al-Araqeeb and what they called the policy of forcible migration, used by Israel against the Arab residents.
On Wednesday, dozens of Israeli policemen and members of the so-called “Israel Land Authority†demolished and removed all tents and structures in Al Araqeeb village in the Negev.
This is the thirtieth time, the Israeli authorities demolish the houses in al-Araqeeb, and the families rebuild it.
Al-Araqeeb is a village in the Negev that Israel does not recognize as a village, although all its Arab Palestinian residents have Israeli passports, therefore, it lacks the basic services the state provides, such as water pipelines, electricity, among many other things.
A group of extremist Israeli settlers uprooted on Thursday morning, at least 200 olive trees that belong to residents of Qasra village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Eyewitnesses reported that shortly after midnight, a group of Israeli settlers invaded the village and vandalized the orchard.
On Thursday morning, Israeli bulldozers demolished a number of stockades, cowsheds, and tents in the valleys near the West Bank city of Tubas.
Aref Daraghma, the mayor of Al-Malha village said that more than twenty military vehicles, accompanied by Israeli military bulldozers and heads of the Israeli civil administration, arrived in the area and randomly demolished the properties of the residents. He added that there was no prior notice.
Daraghma also said that the properties in question belong to dozens of Palestinian families residing in al-Humma, al-Farrisia and al-Malha regions in the valleys.
Settler violence continue in the West Bank, however, this time, the Israeli soldiers were the victims.
The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz reported that dozens of Isralei settlers surrounded an Israeli army patrol vehicle on Wednesday evening near the Shilo settlement, setting up roadblocks and physically assaulting the soldiers.
According to Haaretz, the incident began after rumors circulated that the unauthorized outpost of Gal Yosef is about to be evacuated. At approximately 9 P.M. the settlers erected roadblocks and blocked the entrance to the outpost with their cars.
Haaretz added that as the patrol arrived, the settlers surrounded it and physically clashed with the soldiers. On settler was arrested but managed to escape.
On the ninth day of the hunger strike declared by the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, solidarity activities continue in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Staff of the Ramallah municipality undertook a solidarity hunger strike on Thursday morning. A statement from Ramallah municipality announced this action, and the Municipal Council of Ramallah cut short its meeting on Thursday to visit the hunger strikers at the Red Cross in Ramallah.
In Gaza, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad organized marches to support the prisoners in their goal to enhance treatment by the Israeli administration in the jails.
The Islamic Jihad’s march took place from Abu Khadra mosque to the sit-in tent set up in front of the Red Cross in Gaza.
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.
