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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Wednesday, March 21st, 2012.
Israeli troops attack West Bank village for organizing nonviolence protests against the wall, while Gaza witness and increase of home-fires due to power shortage. These stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Today Palestinian detainee on hunger-strike, Hana’ Ash-Shalabi, entered her 35th day of hunger strike. She is protesting administrative detention and ill-treatment by her Israeli captives. So far 50 prisoners joined her protest and went on hunger strike.
In other news Israeli soldiers invaded on Wednesday at dawn Nabi Saleh village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, broke into and searched several homes causing damage to personal property, before the the army confiscated private property, including computers, documents and phones.
The media office of the Nonviolent Resistance Committee in Nabi Saleh reported that the army also broke into its building and confiscated a computer, in addition to confiscating three computers from the home of Basem At-Tamimi, who is currently in an Israeli prison for his nonviolent activities against the Wall and settlements. The attack against the village started after the army blocked all roads leading to it, and dozens of soldiers were deployed in its streets before breaking into and searching several homes.
Early in the week the army invaded and searched homes in Nabi Saleh. Troops threatened further invasions and attacks if popular nonviolent resistance continued. Nabi Saleh villagers organize a weekly protest every Friday against the Israeli wall and settlements being built on their lands that were taken over by the Israeli military several years ago.
Elsewhere the Civil Defense department in the Gaza Strip declared that 85 fires broke out in the Gaza Strip in January and February due to power circuits, and power related issues, and that the last two fires were caused by faulty power generators.
In its report, the department stated that 10 fires occurred in January and February due to explosions in two main generators. It also reported that 75 fires broke out due to electrical faults, the interruption of power supply, burnt transformers, faulty electric wires, and candles used to light the homes. 51 more fires occurred in Gaza due other reasons also related to ongoing and repeated power outages.
The Gaza Strip suffers from a sharp crisis in electricity since the only power station in Gaza stopped working due to the lack of diesel fuel, as a result of the illegal Israeli siege on the coastal enclave.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News, this was the Wednesday, March 21st daily news roundup from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Join us again tomorrow. For more news and updates visit our website at www.imemc.org. Today’s report has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and me, Ghassan Bannoura.
