Palestine Today 070208

Wednesday July 02, 2008 16:39 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 Wednesday July 2nd, 2008.

A Palestinian patient died in Gaza due to the Israeli siege, and an attack in Jerusalem leaves three Israelis killed, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

The News Cast

Spokesman of the popular committee against the Israeli blockade, Rami Abdo, announced on Wednesday that patient number 200 Mazen Arrar, aged 20 a cardiac patient, died after having been unable to go for treatment outside of Gaza as Israel continues to close border crossings for more than one year now.

Arrar's death is the second in 24 hours, as well as the eight-month-old infant Ayat Dhaik, after she was unable to go outside of Gaza on Tuesday.

The Egyptian authorities closed on Wednesday afternoon the Rafah crossing terminal after hundreds of Palestinians, mainly patients and stranded, flooded into the Egyptian side of the terminal, as their entry has been delayed.

The angry awaiting travelers began heading for the terminal on Wednesday midday after they have been waiting since the early morning, while their entry has been delayed by the Egyptian authorities, witnesses said.

Witnesses added that hundreds of youth hurled stones at Egyptian security personnel, manning the border line, as more security forces have been beefed up to prevent further clashes.

Egypt decided Tuesday to reopen the Rafah crossing terminal exceptionally to allow some dozens of patients who are in need of medical care and hundreds of stranded Palestinians at both sides of the border, to enter. The Rafah crossing terminal has been closed since June 2007.

At least three Israelis have been killed and 30 were wounded, two seriously, as a bulldozer attacked a bus and a number of cars in Jaffa Street in West Jerusalem on Wednesday midday.

Israeli sources said a Palestinian from Jerusalem, identified as Tayyser Dowikat age 31 carried out this attack, and was shot by Israeli police who were in the area. The attacker according to an Israeli police source had a criminal record. No Palestinian groups claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Wednesday at dawn the Israeli army conducted at least 11 attacks targeting a number of West Bank cities and towns. The sources said that during those attacks 10 Palestinian civilians were kidnapped.

The invasions were reported in Nablus city where five civilians were kidnapped. In addition to Jenin where troops took two civilians while three were kidnapped from Hebron city and nearby villages.

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 Taylor Bray and Ghassan Bannoura.

palestine | english audio report | audio report ghassanb at imemc dot org