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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Tuesday, April 13, 2011.
The Israeli prosecution intends to close an investigation that was initiated to reveal the circumstances that led to the death of four Palestinian civilians, including a three-year –old child, after Israeli soldiers opened fire at them during the Gaza War despite the fact that they carried white flags. According to the Haaretz, the investigation will be closed in the coming few days due to “the lack of evidence that the soldiers violated open-fire orders”.
Palestinian medical sources reported Tuesday that four Palestinians were killed and six others were injured when a tunnel collapse on them in Al Barazil border area, in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli government is weighing the possibility of allowing solidarity ships to reach the Gaza shores as long as they undergo a thorough search by an international authority, probably Greece, before they sail, according to Israeli sources.
For the eighth straight day, Israeli officials maintained a full closure of all border crossings in and out of the Gaza Strip Tuesday, refusing to allow even the small trickle of goods that has been allowed to pass since late last year, when a 4-year old blockade was slightly decreased.
Thousands of flowers which had been prepared for export to florists worldwide have been prevented from passing through, devastating the flower industry in Gaza at a crucial time in the growing season.
The European network to Support the Rights of Palestinian Prisoners, (UFree), denounced Tuesday an Israeli court ruling forcing a blind Palestinian detainee in solitary confinement for additional six months. The detainee was identified as Ebada Sa’id Bilal, form the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Israeli soldiers took 14 Palestinians, including children, to an unknown location on Wednesday at dawn in several West Bank areas. The invasions targeted the districts of Nablus, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron. In Jerusalem, soldiers broke into a number of homes and took five Palestinians, including three children. In Orif village, north of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, soldiers detained three residents and took them to an unknown destination.
Soldiers took five residents from Surif and Kharsa, near Hebron. These included a former detainee who was previously imprisoned by Israel and by the Palestinian Security Forces. Furthermore, soldiers took a 61-year-old man while standing in front of his home near the Keryat Arba’ illegal settlement, east of Hebron, and two residents in Al Arroub Refugee Camp in Hebron.
Palestinian sources in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem, reported on Wednesday morning that several residents were injured, one seriously, while one resident was kidnapped by Israeli soldiers and policemen following clashes that took place in the town.
A five-year old Palestinian girl sustained moderate wounds when she was hit by an Israeli settler’s car in Hebron on Wednesday. Doctors report that Haala Addees arrived at Hebron City Hospital with bruises, broken limbs and tire marks on her body. Palestinians have been targeted by settlers in hit-and-run attacks of this nature in the past.
That sums up our news for today, thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. You have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center. For more updates please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and me David Steele
