Palestine Today 082707

Monday August 27, 2007 17:16 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Monday August 27th, 2007.

In the West Bank, the Israeli army invades the city of Nablus and the nearby refugee camp of Askar. In the Gaza Strip meanwhile, a Palestinian man is killed after Israeli forces open fire on him near the Gaza-Israel border. These stories and more coming up. Stay tuned.

The West Bank

The Israeli army invaded the northern West Bank city of Nablus and the nearby refugee camp of Askar in the early hours of Monday morning. Security sources reported that more than 20 Israeli military vehicles, backed by bulldozers, invaded the city from several directions and opened fire on residents. Eyewitnesses indicated that troops withdrew from the city several hours later. No injuries or abductions were reported

In the southern West Bank, security sources stated that an Israeli settler ran over a Palestinian woman in the old city of Hebron in the early hours of Monday morning. The woman, later identified as Mariam Khalil, sustained moderate injuries and was transferred to a local hospital for treatment. The perpetrator of the attack remains unidentified.

Elsewhere, the Israeli army invaded the village of Artas, south of Bethlehem city in the southern part of the West Bank, and kidnapped one civilian and his father on Monday afternoon. Eyewitnesses said that soldiers invaded the village, surrounded the house of Awad Abu Soway, the coordinator of the land defense committee in the village, and kidnapped him and his father.

In other news, media sources have reported that Palestinian security forces kidnapped 5 members of Hamas, including 3 teachers, on Monday morning. The men were kidnapped from the Jenin and Tubas areas, both located in the northern part of the West Bank.

An Israeli soldier mistakenly drove his car into the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Monday. Security forces of the Palestinian Authority detained the soldier before handing him to the Israeli army.

In other west Bank news, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has stated his opposition to any future land-swap deal with Israel. His’ comments come a week after the Israeli daily Haaretz published the details of a plan proposed by Shimon Peres in which the PA would receive territory equivalent to 100% of the total area occupied in 1967, in return for ceding a number of West Bank settlement blocs to Israel.

The Gaza Strip

A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire in Juhr Al Deek village, located near Gaza’s border with Israel, in the early hours of Monday morning. Eyewitnesses reported that the Israeli army opened fire on the man, killing him instantly. The man was later identified as Fared Abu Thaher, 43.

Also on Monday, Samier Asfour, 28, died of wounds sustained last Thursday when an Israeli air strike targeted a group of people in Abassan village, east of Khan Younis. A total of six people died in the subsequent invasion of the area.

In other Gaza Strip news, dozens of Palestinian journalists on Sunday staged a sit-in protest in front of the Journalist’s Union in Gaza City after the executive force attempted to arrest a local reporter. The journalist, later identified as Sakher Abu El Oun, head of the journalist’s union in Gaza, was the subject of an arrest attempt on Saturday. The arrest was thwarted when the man alerted colleagues who formed a human chain around his home, preventing the executive force from entering.

Conclusion
Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. You have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, brought to you by John Smith and Ghassan Bannoura.

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