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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Thursday June 5th, 2014.
The Israeli army attack student protest and kidnap civilians during invasions targeting West Bank communities. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Israeli soldiers attacked students holding a nonviolent protest in solidarity with the Palestinian political prisoners, in the center of Hebron city, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank. Local sources said the protest was organized by the Hebron Defense Committee, and started from a local school, heading towards the Old City.
The protest was almost instantly attacked by Israeli soldiers who fired gas bombs, and violently attacked several Palestinians with batons, causing various injuries. The soldiers also chased the protesters in an attempt to kidnap them, and closed several roads in the city.
Earlier on Thursday at dawn Israeli soldiers invaded different parts of the occupied West Bank, broke into and searched several homes, and kidnapped at least five Palestinians.
In other news, The Israeli Housing Ministry approved plans for the construction of 1500 new units in illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, in a move described as a “punishment to the Palestinian leadership for forming a unity government that includes Hamas”. 400 of the newly approved units are planned to be built in the Ramat Shlomo illegal settlement, in occupied Jerusalem.
The approval came about a week after settlement heads held a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding him to approve hundreds of units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
At the political level, High Representative of the European Union Catherine Ashton has officially welcomed the formation of a Palestinian unity government.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials have announced a boycott against the new government. Both the US and EU’s relationship with the new government is to be based on its adherence to policies and commitments recognized by the Mideast Quartet.
Moreover, The European Union granted the Palestinian Authority €15.5 Million for salaries and pensions for the months of May, to be transferred to more than 70.000 government employees, and pensioners, and for other basic expenses.
Israel has officially notified the Palestinian government that it had put into effect sanctions in response to the new unity government which includes Hamas. The Palestinian prime minister denounced these decisions, calling them interference in internal Palestinian affairs.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Thursday June 5th, 2014 news round-up from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our websiteatwww.imemc.org. Today’s report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi and me Ghassan Bannoura.
