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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Wednesday, December 10th, 2014.
Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian official, and settlers attack Palestinians on their way to work. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
The head of the Palestinian Authority committee against the separation wall and settlements has died after being assaulted by Israeli soldiers in a village near Ramallah.
55-year-old Ziad Abu Ein died after an Israeli soldier beat him on the chest with his helmet in the village of Turmsayya, director of the committee’s information center, Jamil al-Barghouthi, told local news Mr. Abu Ein also reportedly suffered severe tear gas inhalation as Israeli soldiers fired canisters in the area.
A Palestinian security source told AFP that Israeli forces beat Abu Ein with the butts of their rifles and their helmets during a protest march, upon which he lost consciousness and was taken to Ramallah Public Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Medical sources said that Abu Ein lost consciousness and that his heart stopped after being beaten by Israeli soldiers and inhaling tear gas. Abu Ein was taking part in a tree-planting project in an area of the village threatened with confiscation.
In other news, several Israeli military jeeps invaded, on Wednesday at dawn, a number of communities in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, and the West Bank district of Bethlehem, and kidnapped nine Palestinians.
In East Jerusalem, dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded various neighborhoods and kidnapped twelve Palestinians, including one woman, after breaking into their homes and searching them.
Moreover, Israeli settlers continued to launch attacks against Palestinians and their property across the West Bank and Jerusalem, on Wednesday, according to local sources.
Israeli settlers attacked a number of Palestinian workers while they were present at the eastern entrance of the village of Marah Rabah, to the south of Bethlehem. The workers were on their way to their place of employment, at a nearby marble and stone factory.
The workers escaped as the settlers chased them down into nearby olive fields. Villagers say settler assaults have increased during recent months, and that such assaults are in most cases protected by the Israeli army.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Wednesday, December 10th, 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.
