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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Monday February 11th, 2013.
Israel approves 900 new houses in West Bank settlement and officials warn of a large scale hunger strike by Palestinian political detainees. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Palestinian medical sources reported that four Palestinians have been injured, on Sunday evening, in a traffic accident with a settler south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Local sources said that the accident took place on the main road between al – Thaheriyya and al- Samoa’ towns, close to the Shima illegal settlement. The four injured Palestinian were moved to Hebron city hospital.
Elsewhere the Israeli government approved the construction of 900 new houses in the settlement of Beit Eil near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, the Israeli Human right group Peace Now reported on Monday.
According to Peace Now, the Israeli government announced the plan in the newspapers which means that the new wave of homes are already approved and construction may happen in the coming few days.
In related news Israeli army bulldozers started on Monday o bulldoze farm lands owned by Palestinian farmers from the village of Rafat in northern West Bank. Residents said that their lands are located near the wall and they fear that the army will use it to construct a new settlement.
In other news Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, reported on Monday that the Israeli violations against the Palestinian detainees are seriously escalating, an issue that could push the detainees to conduct an open-ended hunger strike and even civil disobedience.
He said that hunger striking detainees, especially Samer Al-Eesawy, in addition to Jafar Ez Ed-Deen, and Tareq Qa’dan, are facing life-threatening health complications.
Qaraqe added that the current escalating violations against the detainees, will likely push the detainees to conduct a new extended hunger strike, and even mutiny, this coming April the month the detainees set for their strike should Israel fail to end its attacks and abuse against them.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Monday February 11th, 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.
