Israeli Aggression Against the Palestinian People: Invasions, Kidnappings, Curfews, on July 5, 2008

Israeli occupation army attack nonviolent protest near Ramallah, injures 22 and kidnaps 4 civilians

Saturday July 05, 2008 12:49 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

At least 22 civilian were injured by the Israeli occupation army fire, when troops attacked a nonviolent protest in the village of Na'alin, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday midday.

The villagers of Na'alin organized a protest on Friday against the illegal Israeli wall being built on the villagers' lands. Sources in the village said that the protest took place in two waves in an attempt to stop the bulldozers from destroying the village farm lands.

Salah Al-Khawaja, of the local Popular Committee against the Wall, said that Israeli occupaiton soldiers attacked the protesters injuring 22 and kidnapping four Israeli peace activists.

Al-Khawaja added that troops attacked the villagers in their homes after the demonstration, and closed all roads leading in or out of the village.

Israeli warships fire on Palestinian fishermen, further straining truce

Date: 05 / 07 / 2008  Time:  10:27
Gaza – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation warships used machineguns to fire on Palestinian fishermen in the Sudaniyya area of the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday morning. No casualties have been reported.

Separately, on Friday, Israeli occupation warships fired two shells at fishermen's boats in the area of Tal Al-Sultan, west of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, damaging the boats.

These attacks are in direct violation of a truce between Israel and Palestinian resistance groups that went into effect on 19 June.

Israel and the Palestinian groups have accused each other of violating the ceasefire. According to the terms of the Egyptian-brokered truce, all sides are to hold their fire, and Israel is to gradually ease its year-old military blockade of Gaza's borders. Twice however, the Israeli military has re-sealed the borders in response to Palestinian homemade projectiles fired from Gaza.

Palestinian groups also accuse Israel of dragging its feet on implementing key components of the agreement, mainly ending the blockade.

Israeli occupation forces abduct two teenagers from Bethlehem

Date: 05 / 07 / 2008  Time:  10:36
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces raided the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem on Saturday morning, abducting two Palestinian teenagers.

Palestinian security sources said several Israeli occupation military vehicles stormed the Wadi Ma'ali and Wadi Shaheen neighborhoods, detaining 18-year-old Mahmoud Nawawra and 18-year-old 'Alaa Zreiq.

Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that invading soldiers damaged furniture while searching the abductees' homes.

Israeli occupation forces kidnap six Palestinians in Nablus

Date: 05 / 07 / 2008  Time:  10:07
Nablus – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces kidnapped six young Palestinian men on Saturday from the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Palestinian security sources said that Israeli occupation forces raided the city at 2:00am and ransacked several homes near the Zuwata crossroads west of Nablus as well as in Al-'Ain refugee camp.

The sources named the abductees as 20-year-old Salam Az-Zaqzouq, his brother 18-year-old Saddam, 18-year-old Muhammad Yameen, 17-year-old Muhammad Khalbous, and 18-year-old Abdul-Haleem Al-Qan'eer.

Israeli occupation forces invade Dair al Ghusoun near Tulkarem
Date: 05 / 07 / 2008  Time:  14:06
Tulkarem – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces invaded the northern West Bank town of Dair al Ghusoun amidst intensive gunfire and sonic bombs on Saturday.

A Ma'an correspondent quoted Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses as saying that Israeli patrols are - at time of reporting- detaining cars and pedestrians on the main road between Dair al Ghusoun and Bala'a village to the east of the town, as well as on the road between Dair al Ghusoun and Al-Jaroushiya to the south.

The sources added that young Palestinian men began pelting invading Israeli occupation soldiers with stones; the soldiers respond by shooting rubber-coated metal bullets. Some soldiers have taken positions on the tops of high buildings in the town's center.

Israeli occupation forces place village known for anti-wall protests under constant curfew

Date: 05 / 07 / 2008  Time:  12:27
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation troops have imposed a curfew on the entire West Bank village of Nil'in, northwest of the city of Ramallah, forcing residents inside their homes and blocking the community's three main entrances, witnesses inside the village said on Saturday.

Witnesses said that Israeli forces are using tear gas, rubber-coated metal bullets and occasional live rounds to enforce the curfew.

The villagers of Ni'lin and their international and Israeli supporters have been staging weekly demonstrations against the construction of Israel's separation wall. The Israeli military has violently cracked down on these demonstrations, resulting in scores of injuries.

Former Palestinian Minister of Information Mustafa Bargouthi called the closure "collective punishment aimed at breaking the popular, non-violent struggle against the wall."

Expecting another weekly protest, Israeli soldiers moved in at 5am on Friday, declaring the village a "closed military zone." At noon, six hundred villagers defied the curfew, holding the Friday Muslim prayer and a demonstration which lasted until 6pm.

Israeli occupation troops once again attacked Friday's protest. In the course of the day, 24 people were injured by bullets and tear gas. Four Israeli activists and one journalist were arrested.

Witnesses added that Israeli occupation soldiers blocking the roads into the village halted an ambulance transporting a 65-year-old woman named Fayqa Hussni Khawaja to a nearby hospital.

***Updated at 17:10 local time