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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Tuesday January 22nd, 2013.
Palestinian political prisoner dies due to ill treatment and settlers uproot olive trees in the West Bank. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
A former Palestinian political prisoner from Hebron, died, on Monday night at a hospital in Jerusalem after falling into a coma 50 days ago due to a serious health condition resulting from his imprisonment by Israel, and the lack of medical treated while in prison.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society announced that that Ashraf Abu Thra’, 27, was hospitalized at the Augusta Victoria hospital in Jerusalem where he fell into a 50-day coma until his death.
Abu Thra’ spent six years in the Al-Ramla Israeli miltray detention center and frequently was sent to the clinic there that lacks basic supplies and specialized physicians; he was wheelchair bound, and suffered numerous health complication that were left untreated.
In other news armed extremist Israeli settlers invaded on Tuesday an orchard that belongs to a local farmer from Al-Khader village, near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, and uprooted several olive trees in addition to digging a road in the middle of the orchard.
Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Al-Khader, said that that the settlers uprooted more than 50 young olive trees that belong to resident Khaled Saleh Salah, and prepared the land for a road they intend to pave on his land.
Salah said that settlers repeatedly attack Palestinian orchards in the area, and fence Palestinian lands and orchards in order to annex the land to their settlement outposts.
Also today Israelis across the country have casted their votes in the parliamentary elections. According to Israeli news sources 55.5% of the five million registered voters have voted so far. An indication of five % increase in participation than 2009 elections.
Political analysts say Israeli right wing political groups lead by PM Benjamin Netanyahu may take the majority of the parliament seats this year.
Netanyahu casted his vote today’s morning in occupied east Jerusalem then visited the old city, a move that was denounce by Palestinian residents of the city.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Tuesday January 22nd, news round-up 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, Ghassan Bannoura.
