Audio Link After Text
Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Thursday, September 17th, 2015.
Clashes continue in Jerusalem as the Israeli government authorize snipers to target Palestinian youth during protests. These stories, and more, coming up, stay tuned.
Clashes broke out in the neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem for the third consecutive day, on Thursday, as tensions continue to run high following increased violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, according to locals.
The most intense clashes erupted in the neighborhoods of al-Isawiya and the Shufat refugee camp, with additional reports of clashes in the al-Tur area.
Israeli forces arrested eight Palestinians from Jerusalem overnight Wednesday and throughout Thursday, including four boys under the age of 12.
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Wednesday at night, the al-‘Isawiyya town, in occupied East Jerusalem, and clashed with dozens of residents, wounding a young man with a live round in the leg, while many others were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets.
In related news, Israel has approved the use of sniper rifles against stone throwers in Jerusalem, Channel 10 reports on Thursday morning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Attorney General to authorize snipers to target the stone throwers as part of his declared “war” on stone throwers in Jerusalem, Palestinian media reported.
Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem occur on a near-daily basis, but tensions have been increasingly high as violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has escalated in recent weeks.
Palestinians fear that Israel is seeking to change rules governing the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, with far-right Jewish groups pushing for more access to the compound, and even efforts by fringe organizations to erect a new temple.
Elsewhere, on Thursday at dawn Israeli soldiers kidnapped six Palestinians, including one child, during invasions targeting different parts of the southern West Bank district of Hebron.
And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Thursday, September 17th, 2015 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 George Rishmawi and Ghassan Bannoura.
