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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Thursday, August 30, 2012.
Palestinian killed in Tel Aviv by Israeli police and Israeli Navy coat in tape harassing Palestinian fishermen in Gaza these stores and more are coming up stay tuned.
On Thursday at dawn Israeli soldiers invaded several Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, including, southwestern Hebron, areas west of Nablus, Azzoun town, and villages near Jenin and Tubas. The soldiers broke into several homes, kidnapping a total of 13 residents, 7 of which are children under the age of 17. The invasion started around 2 after midnight, and the army searched dozens of homes causing damage to the property.
An Israeli policeman shot and killed a 33-year-old Palestinian man on Wednesday night in Tel Aviv. The Policeman claimed he tried to apprehend two suspicious persons, but one of them pulled a knife and tried to attack him, an “issue that forced him to open fire.” The off-duty policeman claimed that the Palestinian victim was attempting to steal a car.
In other news, the Jerusalem Municipality delivered notices for the demolition of five homes in the Al-Bustan neighbourhood in Silwan on Thursday. The homes in question were built more than 20 years ago, however, the Jerusalem Municipality claims the homes were built without construction permits.
Palestinian officials report that the notices did not mention the real name of the Al-Bustan neighborhood, referring to it instead as the King Neighborhood. It is thought that renaming of the neighborhood is part of Israel’s larger plan to demolish all the homes in the area and take over the neighborhood for the continued growth of Israeli settlements. Several homes have already been demolished, and the land taken over by Israeli settlers.
In related news, several Arab villages in the Negev region were also visited by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday. Soldiers invaded and demolished four homes in what Israel describes as “unrecognized villages”. The demolition included the home of a resident of the Beer Hadaj village, Jom’a Abu Hadeera, a 110 year old man and, not surprisingly, the oldest man in the area.
The exact number of ‘unrecognized villages’ to be destroyed in the Negev is unclear, but 30,000 is a commonly cited estimate for the anticipated number of displaced persons by the end of Israel’s “development” project. Israeli President Shimon Peres told US officials in 2005 that the “development of the Negev” would mean “displacement of some 65,000 Bedouin living in unrecognized villages.”
Israeli soldiers demolished another Palestinian home in Al-Obaydiyya town, in the Bethlehem district on Wednesday. Local sources report that several military jeeps, accompanied by a military bulldozer, invaded the town and demolished a home belonging to resident Abdul-Majid Abu Zmeit.
Last week, Abu Zmeit received an order issued by the Israeli military informing him that his home will be demolished “as it is close to the bypass road, used by Israeli settlers in area C”.
A Palestinian cameraman from the Gaza Strip videotaped an attack carried out on Palestinian fishing boats by the Israeli Navy on Wednesday. The video shows the Israeli Navy boats encircling Palestinian boats, flooding them with water, and even blocking their way as they attempted to sail back to the shore.
The video was captured by Mohammad Al-Mash-harawy of the Media Town News Agency in Gaza. The agency is documenting the ongoing Israeli assaults against Palestinian fishermen in the coastal region.
Earlier this week, two Palestinian fishermen were arrested and a Palestinian fishing boat heavily damaged in 2 separate incidents in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
That’s all for today, This was the Thursday August 30th round-up 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 Hussam Qassis and me, George Rishmawi.
