Click on Link to download or play MP3 file || 3 m 46s || 3.45 MB ||
Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org for Monday, July 9th, 2012.
Illegal settler activity continues near Bethlehem, and two Israeli policemen were sent to jail for negligence. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
In the Bethlehem area, in two separate incidents, settlers attacked a man and illegally confiscated Palestinian land. Maan News Agency reported that five teenage settlers, around 16 years old, attacked Ibrahim Khalil Sabarna near the city of Bethlehem. Sabarna, 35, is a resident of the nearby town of Beit Ummar.
Mohammad Ayyad, media spokesperson of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Beit Ummar, stated Sabarna was returning from Bethlehem at approximately 7:00 am when he was attacked. The settlers hurled stones at him as he drove his car. Ayyad added that Israeli policemen were present in the area, but did not attempt to stop the settlers.
Israeli settlers also seized five dunums of land belonging to 67-year-old Ali Khader Issa from al-Khader village, south of Bethlehem in a continuation of illegal land grabs in the area. The Palestinian owner was told that the five dunums now belonged to Israel and that he is forbidden from accessing or working on his land.
In Hebron, Governor Kemal Hemaid was prevented from traveling to visit a family in the village of Imneizil in the southern part of his district by the Israeli military on Monday according to Ma’an news.
Governor Hemaid explained that the reason he was given by Israeli forces was that he needed to apply for permission from the Civil Administration, the Israeli military department that regulates the occupied West Bank.
In related news, Akram al-Rikhawi, who has now been on hunger strike for 91 days is unable to move his left leg and is at risk of dying, his lawyer and doctor both reported Monday.
Al-Rikhawi, who is married with eight children, was sentenced to 9 years in prison by an Israeli military tribunal after being stopped by Israeli military forces near Rafa in 2004.
Since being imprisoned he has been denied access to his medication which has led to severe health complications.
And finally, on Monday the Israeli District Court in occupied Jerusalem sentenced two Israeli policemen to only 30 months imprisonment despite the fact that they left a wounded Palestinian man to die on the side of the road near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
The two policemen were convicted of causing the death of Ammar Abu Jeriban, from the Gaza Strip four years ago, leaving him on the road between Ofer Prison and Atara roadblock despite his medical condition; he was later found dead on June 15, 2008 by an Israeli driving in the area.
And that all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Monday July 9th daily news roundup 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, Kelly Joiner.
