Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 
Israeli Occupation Soldiers Invade Tulkarem Towns, North Gaza Strip, Kidnap 6 Palestinians in West Bank, 5 Fishermen in Gaza

Israeli Occupation Soldiers Invade Three Tulkarem Towns

Monday April 30, 2012 04:35 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli occupation soldiers invaded on Sunday the towns of Dair Al-Ghusoun, Bala’a and Shuwaika, near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, installed several roadblocks and inspected the ID cards of dozens of residents.

Israeli occupation soldiers invaded on Sunday the towns of Dir Al-Ghsoun, Bala’a and Shuwaika, near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, installed several roadblocks and inspected the ID cards of dozens of residents.

Local sources reported that five armored Israeli military vehicles invaded Shewika area and installed a roadblock on its main road before stopping dozens of vehicles, and inspecting the ID cards of the drivers and passengers.

The sources added that four armored military vehicles invaded Bala’a town, east of Tulkarem, and installed a roadblock at its main junction that leads to Nablus and Tulkarem, before stopping vehicles and inspecting the ID cards of the residents.

The army also invaded Dair Al-Ghusoun town, and drove around in its streets, before stopping and searching a number of vehicles.

The army is still heavily deployed around the invaded towns, and around several nearby towns, an issue that raises fear among the residents of the possibility of further invasions and attacks.

Israeli Navy Kidnaps Five Fishermen

Sunday April 29, 2012 14:32 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli occupation forces navy kidnapped, on Sunday morning, five fishermen, four of them brothers, near the Gaza Port and took them to the Ashdod Port.

Nizar Ayyash, chairman of the Gaza Fishermen Association, stated that the Navy attacked the boat and kidnapped five fishermen who were on-board.

The five were identified Ashraf, Amjad, Ahmad and Yasser Ash-Shirafy, in addition to a fifth fisherman who carries Egyptian citizenship.

The attack is one of dozens of similar attacks targeting Palestinian fishermen in Palestinian territorial waters; these attacks include opening fire at the fishermen, spraying them with water, and even attempts to crash their boats. Casualties and arrests in previous attacks were reported.

As part of its siege on the coastal region, Palestinian fishermen are facing further and more serious restrictions on their right to fish in Palestinian waters.

Restrictions on the fishing zone are of considerable significance to Palestinian livelihood. Initially set at twenty nautical miles, it is presently often enforced between 1.5 – 2 nautical miles (Palestinian Center for Human Rights, PCHR: 2010). The marine ‘buffer zone’ restricts Gazan fishermen from accessing 85% of Gaza’s fishing waters which was agreed to by Oslo.”

The fishing community is often similarly targeted as the farmers in the ‘buffer zone’, and the fishing limit is enforced with comparable aggression, with boats shot at or rammed as near as 2nm to the Gaza coast by Israeli gunboats.

The “buffer zone” is a no-entrance zone Israel has enforced on all areas in the Gaza Strip that are close to the border.

Most of these areas are farmlands, an issue that devastated the families that depend on farming as their only source of livelihood. Dozens of casualties were reported when the army opened fire at farmers working near the border.

IOF soldiers arrest six Palestinians, beat up a child

[ 30/04/2012 - 10:39 AM ]

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)--

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up six Palestinians in Al-Khalil and beat up a 10-year-old child in the city on Monday, local sources said.

They said that the soldiers arrested four citizens in Beit Uwa village, to the west of Al-Khalil, after storming their homes.

The sources noted that a Palestinian was arrested in the southern suburbs of Al-Khalil city and another was detained by a special force in Beit Anun village, to the north of Al-Khalil.

They said that IOF soldiers beat up the ten-year-old child Mahran Abu Haya near his home in Al-Khalil city.

IOF troops raid northern Gaza

[ 30/04/2012 - 10:31 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) mounting a number of armored vehicles briefly entered northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning.

The PIC reporter said that the soldiers in seven tanks and a military bulldozer advanced to the east of Beit Hanun town amidst random shooting at nearby farmland.

He said that the soldiers damaged crops in the area before retreating.

IOF soldiers routinely enter Gaza border areas in a bid to lure resistance fighters into limited combat to reveal their weapons and preparedness in addition to leveling land.

Palestinian Injured After Being Attacked By Boars Released By Settlers

Sunday April 29, 2012 03:13 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian medical sources reported that a Palestinian man was seriously injured after being attacked by a pack of boars that belong to extremist Israeli settlers near Kufur Thuluth Palestinian village, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia.

The resident was moved to a local hospital suffering serious injuries to various parts of his body; he was in his land, located south of the village.

This is not the first attack of its type as extremist settlers repeatedly released boars to ruin Palestinian farmlands in different parts of the West Bank, and in many cases the settlers also flooded Palestinian lands with sewage.

In September of last year, settlers of the Beitar Illit illegal settlement, south west of Bethlehem, flooded with sewage water Palestinian olive orchards that belong to residents of Nahhalin village, near Bethlehem.

Osama Shakarna, head of the Nahhalin Village Council, stated that the settlers flooded more than 40 Dunams (9.88 Acres) planted with more than 2500 Olive. The sewage water reached Ein Fares natural spring used by the shepherd as the source of water for their herds.

In May of last year, settlers of the Ariel settlement, the largest Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, flooded with sewage and waste-water Palestinians farmlands that belong to residents of Bruqin village near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

The sewage was directed from Ariel settlement directly toward the land of Bruqin village, and has contaminated farmland and groundwater in an area of several kilometers around the village.

In April of last year, the Palestinian town of Beit Ummar, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, was flooded with sewage from a nearby settlement.
A local farmer said that he was farming his field near Kfar Etzion settlement, and there was no contamination when he left his field to go home for the night.

But sometime during the night, a sewage pipe from Kfar Etzion settlement was opened, flooding the land of a number of Beit Ummar farmers and destroying their crops.

Another resident, whose land was also flooded, told the Maan News Agency, “This is not a coincidence; this is not the first time this has happened”.

The flooding of the village land with sewage comes one year after a similar sewage flood in the same area, when sewage from Gush Etzion settlement flooded all over Sabarneh's land.