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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org for Tuesday June 5th 2012.
The prisoner with the longest hunger-strike ever has been released from Israeli jail, meanwhile Israeli soldiers wound one person in Hebron as Palestinians commemorate 45 years of the occupation of Jerusalem, these stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Israel released Palestinian detainee Thaer Halahla, 32, ending his illegal Administrative Detention, without charges or trial, starting when he was kidnapped by the army on June 26, 2010.
The release comes part of the agreement signed between the Israeli Prison Authority and the hunger striking detainees, especially administrative detainees who conducted the “empty bowels’ struggle demanding their release. Halahla and another prisoner Bilal Thiab ended a 79-day hunger strike in exchange of their release in June and August.
In the meantime, political prisoner Amer Bahar, from Abu Dis near occupied East Jerusalem, is reportedly suffering from a serious illness that requires care beyond the provisions of a prison clinic. Bahr was visited by the head of the legal unit of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), lawyer Jawad Boulos, who confirmed that the PPS will be appealing for an early release.
Bahar explained that he was moved to Meir medical center in Kfar Saba from Hadarim prison nine days ago after he complained of serious stomach pains and continuous bleeding.
In other news, four Palestinian families were ordered to leave their homes by the Israeli authorities on Tuesday morning. They were then ordered by the Israeli military to destroy their own homes before noon on Tuesday, not abiding by the 24 hour window given to families to evacuate their homes.
The Israeli authority informed the families on Tuesday morning that they need to leave their homes in the Northern Jordan valley. According to a local official, this is just a prelude to evacuate the area from its Palestinian residents. Aref Daraghmeh, head of the local council of Wadi al-Maleh said the four families live in Khirbet al-Mayta and Wadi al-Maleh.
Daraghmeh clarified that the families were given 24 hours to leave their homes under such notifications. These notifications are only the most recent to an endless list of warnings and notifications in the area, he added.
A Palestinian man has been shot allegedly after attacking an Israeli soldier in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
The man was identified as Laith Mashal, 27, from the town of Halhoul in the Hebron district. Mashal was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem; his health condition was described as moderate.
Israeli emergency services, Magen David Adom, told the Agence France Presse (AFP) that Mashal attempted to stab the soldier with a nail resulting in a light head injury.
Information regarding the incident conflicts between the reporting of the AFP and Palestinian Ma’an News Agency; both of whom spoke with Israeli Police spokesperson, Micky Rosenfeld. While Rosenfeld informed AFP that a police officer was attacked by Mashal before the officer shot him, he told Ma’an, that another officer shot Mashal.
In other news, at least 9 Palestinians were wounded with rubber-coated steel bullets and several others suffered the inhalation of the tear gas fired by the Israeli military in an attempt to stop a protest demonstration at the entrance of the Israeli military jail of Ofer.
The demonstration was organised as part of the activities of the commemoration of the occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
That’s all from IMEMC News. This was the Tuesday June 5th daily roundup of news from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website at www.imemc.org. Today’s report has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and me George Rishmawi.
