Palestine Today 051908

Monday May 19, 2008 17:51 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMc -Audio Dept.

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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Monday, May 19th 2008.

One Palestinian dies in Gaza due to the Israeli siege, and in the West Bank, the Israeli army kidnaps 18 Palestinian civilians. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.

News Cast

Palestinian medical sources reported that Abed Al Karem Al Ghalbaan, 57, died at midday on Monday in a Gaza City hospital. Doctors stated that Al Ghalbaan had contracted cancer of the liver, and added that he had been denied Israeli army permission to leave the Gaza Strip for the life saving medical care he needed.

With Al Ghalbaan’s death, the number of Palestinians who have died due to the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip now stands at 158. Israel has been blockading the Palestinian coastal region for 11 months, since shortly after the Hamas movement took control there.

A group of Israeli settlers, supported by Israeli troops, attacked Palestinian shepherds on Monday, kidnapping one, near the village of Yatta in the southern West Bank district of Hebron.

Witnesses said that a group of armed settlers from the Nuf-Nisher settlement attacked the shepherds while they were herding their sheep on their land, located near the illegal settlement. As soon as the attacks commenced, Israeli troops rushed to the area.

Two shepherds were injured by settlers and Abed Rashed, 33, was abducted by Israeli troops, witnesses added.

Nasser Al Nawa'jah, of the local committee against settlement construction, told reporters that such attacks take place on a daily basis, and that the Israeli army frequently aids the settlers in those attacks. Al Nawa'jah added that those settlers' attacks are aimed at forcing Palestinian farmers to leave their lands, in order to expand the nearby Israeli settlement.

Also in the West Bank, the Israeli army kidnapped 18 Palestinians during pre dawn invasions targeting several town and cities, 8 of those abducted were from the city of Jerusalem.

Witnesses said that Israeli troops forcibly entered and ransacked Palestinian homes located in the Al Tur and Silwan areas of Jerusalem, before kidnapping several children and taking them to unknown locations. The families of the abducted children called upon international human right organisations to intervene in order to help release the children from captivity.

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. This report has been brought to you by Mary Smith and Ghassan Bannoura.

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