Israeli occupation forces kidnap man, raid clinic in Bethlehem

Date: 28 / 08 / 2008  Time:  14:52
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces kidnapped a Palestinian man and raided a medical center early on Thursday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem city.

Palestinian security sources said that an Israeli occupation forces stormed the city and surrounded house of 35-year-old Ala Mohammad Hassan Breijiyah, detained him, and damaged his house.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers stormed Al-Ehsan medical center in central Bethlehem city and searched the building.

A separate group of Israeli occupation soldiers invaded Al-Duhaisha refugee camp in the south of Bethlehem and raided the house of Ahmad Tawfiq Tayeh, and later withdrew without any arrests.

Israeli illegal settlers set fire to a construction workshop in Burin

Thursday August 28, 2008 12:16 by Rula Shahwan - IMEMC News

A group of illegal Israeli settlers set a construction workshop on fire on Thursday morning in Burin village near the south of the West Bank city of Nablus.

Eyewitnesses said the settlers from the nearby Brakha settlement, poured gasoline at the workshop equipments and set them on fire burning most of the tools and equipment.

Later on, Fire Trucks arrived to the scene and put the fire down, and no casualties were reported.

During the past two months, settlers fired a number of homemade shells at the village, causing destruction to electricity and phone wires. Settlers also had frequent assaults against the villagers.

Israeli occupation soldiers invade West Bank cities, kidnap 10

Thursday August 28, 2008 11:56 by Rula Shahwan - IMEMC News

Israeli occupation troops invaded the West Bank cities of Tulkarem, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jenin and Tubas on Thursday morning and kidnapped  ten civilians, local sources reported.

Israeli soldiers, backed by military vehicles, invaded Tulkarem, in the northern part of the West Bank, and launched a wide scale search campaign targeting several random houses. Soldiers used police dogs during the search and confiscated computers and other belongings.

Troops kidnapped 4 civilians from Saleh family after ransacking their place and confiscating money and personal computers. They were all taken to an unknown destination.

In Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank, soldiers broke into the residence of Al-Najar family located near the Annexation Wall on the city's lands, and kidnapped 5 family members taking them to an undisclosed location.

In Bethlehem, troops surrounded the residence of Ala Brijiyeh 35; ransacked his place leaving damages before kidnapping him.

 Also in Bethlehem troops invaded "Al-Ihsan" medical center, destroyed and confiscated equipment, local sources reported. Soldiers broke into the center earlier in the month and kidnapped some of the workers.

In Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank, army invaded the city and fired rounds of live ammunition. Soldiers also harassed civilians and searching a number of homes.

Soldiers also invaded the nearby Kufur Dan and Bir Basha villages, and deployed in several neighborhoods firing sound bombs.

In Tubas, troops deployed in several streets and restricted the movement of civilian vehicles while checking ID cards and driving licenses of the residents.

Illegal Israeli settlers set fire to workshop under construction in Nablus

[ 28/08/2008 - 12:36 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

Palestinian eyewitnesses reported that illegal Israeli settlers stormed Thursday morning the Burin town, south of Nablus, and set fire to lumber used in the construction of a workshop which led to the burning of all pieces of wood.

The eyewitnesses added that the settlers cut the workshop's water pipe before their withdrawal, but the Nablus fire department rushed to the scene and extinguished the fire.

They said that those Israeli assailants might have come from the nearby settlements of Bracha or Yitzhar whose settlers are notorious for waging attacks on Arab villages.

Meanwhile, an Israeli special force boarding civilian cars stormed Thursday the Faisal street, downtown Nablus, and kidnapped one of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades' activists called Adham Labada from his workplace at a shop.

Labada is one of Al-Aqsa Brigades' activists who have been granted an amnesty by Israel in exchange for renouncing resistance activities against the occupation.

A large number of IOF troops invaded at night Wednesday amid intensive gunfire the Makhfia area and the Tal street, west of Nablus, and kidnapped five young men after breaking into and ransacking houses in the area.

Clashes took place between the citizens and the invading troops in the stormed areas, according to eyewitnesses.

The Hebrew radio quoted an Israeli military spokesman as saying that the IOF troops kidnapped at dawn Thursday 17 Palestinians, seven of them were rounded up in Nablus and the rest in the West Bank cities of Qalqilya, Tulkarem, Bethlehem and Al-Khalil.

The IOF troops also waged a compaign of widespread raids on houses belonging to Palestinian citizens affiliated with the Hamas Movement in the Kafr Dan town, west of Jenin in the West Bank.

Israeli occupation troops kidnap six college students from Nablus

Thursday August 28, 2008 11:23 by Rula Shahwan - IMEMC News

An Israeli occupation force kidnapped six Palestinian civilians from the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday at dawn, local sources reported

A number of Israeli military vehicles and jeeps invaded the city, and began shooting gunfire and concussion grenades.

In addition, soldiers surrounded a number of houses and harassed civilians by throwing sound bombs for over two hours.

Troops invaded students' dorms in the city and kidnapped Walid Sabane, Hikmat Jabar, Abd Allh Bsharat, Ahmad Fares, and Ala Jadan and Wael Bishrat . The soldiers took them to an undisclosed location after ransacking their dorms.

The Israeli army often kidnaps Palestinian civilians without any justification, and usually transfers them to detention centers inside Israel proper which are inaccessible to Palestinians, an issue which violates International Law, and Israel's obligations as an Occupying Power under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Invasions of Nablus occur on a nearly daily basis, and Israeli troops often target the students of An-Najah University, which is one of the largest universities in the West Bank. 

Israeli police arrests two Arab residents accused of “security violations”

Thursday August 28, 2008 21:42 by Saed Bannoura - MEMC & Agencies

The Israeli Police and the Internal Security Services announced that they arrested two Arab residents of Israel, residents of Shfa-Amr Arab town, and claimed that the two “conducted security violations”. The two were arrested more than three weeks ago but a gag order on the case barred any leaking of information to the media.

The two were identified as Anis Safoury and Husam Khalil. Te police claims that the two joined a cell which belongs to the Islamic Jihad in Ramallah, and that this cell was in an advanced stage of planning attacks against Israeli targets, including opening fire at a military roadblock.

The Israeli Security Services also claimed that the two discussed the possibility of assassinating Israeli figures including pilots, scientists and university lecturers.

The Israeli Security Services are also charging the two of illegal position of weapons, and training in order to attack a military roadblock. The two are further accused of contacting Islamic Jihad leaders in Syria.

Khalil, 19, who is studying Electricity Engineering in Jordan, was described as a person who could help in transferring money from Jordan to the claimed cell, while Safoury is charged of contacting members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Ramallah, and West Bank figures who are considered loyal to the Lebanon-based Hezbollah party.

Khalil was arrested on the Jordan-Israel borders on August 8, while Israeli policemen broke into his home and searched it.

One week earlier, the police arrested Anis, 20, a student at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah.

Khled Khalil, the father of Husam, told the Arabs48 news website that his son denied these allegations during interrogation, and added that these charges are part of the Israeli government’s incitement against the Arabs and its ongoing attempts to label them as criminals.

Rawia Shanty, the mother of Anis, said that these charges are fake and aim at framing her son who spends a minimum of ten hours a day in the university and at Ramatan Media Agency.

She told the Arabs48 news website that when Anis was 18 years old, he was interrogated by the police for 5 hours. She said that these violations are acts of harassment as she and the father of Anis are politically active. 

The Arabs48 website also interviewed Riyadh Anis, the lawyer of Husam, who denied all of the Israeli allegations and said that Husam never obtained weapons, was never military trained, and was never involved in any planning for attacks or any actual attacks.