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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Wednesday December 7, 2011.
Former Israeli Presidents starts his seven year sentence for rape, and settlers attack a mosque in the West Bank, these stories and more coming up; so stay tuned.
A member of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, was killed on Tuesday evening by Israeli army fire. Ismael Al-Ar’eer, aged 23, was among those who engaged Israeli forces in an area just east of Gaza city.
After shelling an area and wounding two, the Israeli army fired more shells near the Anas Bin Malek Mosque, killing Ismael and wounding three others.
Armoured vehicles and bulldozers were also reported to have made an incursion near the Karni crossing, with shots being heard.
Israeli soldiers demolished another home in Al Khalayla neighbourhood, north of occupied East Jerusalem, the third such demolition since Monday.
The home belonged to Khamees Ad-Dado and his eight family members, and the usual claim provided by Israel is that the house contained constructions not licensed by the Jerusalem Municipality.
Despite the issue of construction permits for thousands of settlement units earmarked for Jews, Palestinians of the Old City and surrounding areas rarely receive building permits.
East Jerusalem was captured in the Six-Day war in 1967, subsequently annexed weeks later, and in 1980 was declared by the Israeli Knesset to be the united and eternal capital of Israel. The UNSC passed a resolution voiding this declaration; fourteen SC members voted in favour of the resolution with none against, the U.S. abstained.
On Wednesday at dawn, Israeli settlers set fire to the main entrance of the Broqeen Mosque. Local sources reported that several armed Israeli settlers invaded the village and tried to burn down the mosque, but were only able to set its entrance ablaze. The settlers then burnt a number of parked cars within the vicinity.
The recent attack is part of a larger “Price Tag” campaign against the Palestinians, their holy sites, and their lands, under taken by settlers who blame the Palestinians for any evacuation of illegal settlement outposts in the occupied territories.
President, Moshe Katsav, started seven years sentence after on Thursday November 10th it rejected the former Israeli President, after it reject the appeal filed by his lawyer.
President Katsav was convicted of raping a former employee when he served as a cabinet minister and for the sexual harassment of two former employees in the years 2000 and 2007.
Israeli Daily newspaper, Haaretz, reported that Katsav will be held in a cell designated for prisoners who are believed to be suicidal.
President Katsav maintains his innocence, and turned down a plea-bargain two years ago which would have allowed him to escape the more serious charges.
That’s all for today from the IMEMC News, this was the Wednesday December 7 daily roundup of news from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We hope you will join us again tomorrow. This was brought to you by Hasam Qassis, and me, William Gibson.
