Troops kidnap 26 Palestinians in the West Bank, two soldiers wounded in clashes

Thursday May 21, 2009 09:07 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian sources reported on Thursday morning that Israeli occupation forces kidnapped 26 Palestinians in several areas in the West Bank. Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in armed clashes with Palestinian fighters in the northern part of the West Bank.

The Israeli occupation army said that gunmen shot and wounded the two soldiers and fled the scene before the armed evacuated the two troopers who suffered minor injuries. The two soldiers were wounded near Qalqilia, in the northern part of the West Bank.

The  Israeli occupation army added soldiers detained 26 Palestinians in different part of the West Bank, and transferred them to interrogation centers.

Furthermore, the army claimed that one Palestinian policeman was wounded during a gun battle with Israeli troops invading Qalqilia.

Soldiers also kidnapped four Palestinians in the Duhaisha refugee camp, in Bethlehem, and one resident near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

Israeli occupation forces kidnap three women carrying kitchen knives

Date: 21 / 05 / 2009  Time:  13:30
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

Israeli occupation forces kidnapped three Palestinian women at West Bank checkpoints on Thursday, claiming they were carrying (kitchen) knives.

Two women were kidnapped by Israeli occupation forces for carrying eight centimeter knives near the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Israeli military-controlled section of the city of Hebron. One woman reportedly threw a knife at Israeli border police.

Another woman allegedly tried to stab a soldier at the checkpoint in the university town of Bir Zeit, outside of Ramallah, according to news reports.

Israeli occupation forces kidnap five young Bethlehem-area men

Date: 21 / 05 / 2009  Time:  10:13
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces kidnapped five young men from Tuqu village southeast of Bethlehem and took them to an unknown destination before sunrise on Thursday.

Witnesses reported that the soldiers overran the village and raided several houses.

Those kidnapped were identified as:

Muhammed Sayel Kawazbah, 20,
Khalil Kawazbah, 18,
Fa-eq Amin Kawazbah, 17,
Samid Ali Kawazbah, 17,
Romel Tayseer Kawazbah, 29

Israeli occupation forces kidnap five Palestinians from Nablus

Date: 21 / 05 / 2009  Time:  09:43
Nablus – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces kidnapped five young Palestinians during an overnight raid on Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus and nearby villages on Thursday.
 
Several Israeli military jeeps entered Balata Camp and took Mu’ataz Muhammed Hashash, 15, Adham Khalil Abu Aba, 17, Taysir Muhammed Al-Sayah, 18, from their homes.

In the nearby Al-Makhfiyah area, Israeli occupation forces kidnapped Taysir Muhammed Al-Sayah, 18.

Israeli occupation soldiers also raided the villages of Beit Iba, Beit Furiq, and Qabalan, south of the city of Nablus. Abdul Aziz Khaled Al-Hajj, 22, was kidnapped from the area. Israeli occupation soldiers also confiscated four Jawwal mobile phones that were in his possession.

Qalqiliya: Israeli occupation soldiers, PA officer wounded in shootout

Date: 21 / 05 / 2009  Time:  09:34
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Two undercover Israeli occupation soldiers and a Palestinian Authority officer were injured in an overnight shootout in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya on Thursday.

Palestinian sources told Ma’an that the officer was in fact a PA intelligence agent, who was shot by Israeli special forces who infiltrated Qalqiliya in a truck with Palestinian license plates.

The sources said an intelligence unit approached the truck, on Al-Wad Street in the south of the city, for a routine security check. Then, the sources said, the Israeli operatives shot the Palestinian officer in the chest, causing the PA personnel to return fire.

The PA officer, Ali Taysir Khulaif, 24, was transferred in a Palestine Red Crescent Society Ambulance to Qalqiliya Hospital, where medical officials called his wounds “moderate.”

According to the Israeli military’s version of events, the soldiers, some of them wearing disguises, entered the town on an arrest raid, and were fired on by a PA police officer. The two were hospitalized in the Israeli town of Petah Tikva.

The Israeli occupation forces spokesperson said the Palestinian policeman was in the area in an operation against Hamas members. The Israeli occupation forces issued an order for the PA forces to leave, but the message was apparently sent too late, and, the army said, the police officer fired on the soldiers’ vehicle. The military said the soldiers returned fire.

The Israeli occupation forces offered to launch a joint investigation with the PA, which has neither responded to the offer nor stated its own official version of the events.

A Israeli occupation forces statement carried on Israel’s Ynet news agency said, “The IDF and security forces cooperate with the Palestinian organizations in the city on a regular basis on certain issues, and therefore defense officials estimate that the firing incident was not intentional.”

***Updated at 10:34 local time

Palestinian fishermen protest Zionist practices against them

[ 20/05/2009 - 09:37 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-

Hundreds of Palestinian fishermen backed by tens of foreign supporters demonstrated on Wednesday at the Sea of Gaza, protesting the Israeli occupation's continued aggressions against them.

The Palestinian international campaign against the siege, which organized the demonstration, said that the Palestinian fishermen were exposed to daily Israeli harsh measures, including arresting them, and confiscating their fishing boats and equipment.

The Israeli Navy has warned Palestinian fishermen not to sail more than 3 miles into the sea and banned them from fishing beyond that limit although international agreements give them the full right to cruise for 12 miles in the sea.

"Palestinian fishermen faced two bitter options; giving up fishing and facing the nightmare of poverty and hunger, or challenging the Israeli restrictions risking one's life", the organizers of the demonstration pointed out.

According to the campaign, there were 3,500 Palestinian fishermen, and around 2,000 workers working in fishing-related professions in the densely Gaza Strip who are totally depend on fishing as their only source of income.

It added that it is about time for the international community to effectively interfere and to pressure the IOA not to "squeeze" the Palestinian fishermen, and to allow them fishing in accordance to international agreements and conventions.