Israeli occupation forces kidnap Islamic Jihad affiliate

Date: 15 / 12 / 2008  Time:  11:32
Tulkarem – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces kidnapped a member of Islamic Jihad from the West Bank village of Tell west of Nablus Monday morning.

Palestinian security sources identified the man taken as 18-year-old Tawfiq Al-Hindi. He was kidnapped while at his brother’s home on the outskirts of Tulkarem.

DFLP military wing opens fire at Israeli occupation forces patrol in Gaza
Date: 15 / 12 / 2008  Time:  10:41
Gaza – Ma’an –

Militants with the National Resistance Brigades (NRB), the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) opened fire at an Israeli occupation forces patrol in the Al-Qarara area of the southern Gaza Strip Monday morning.

A statement from the group confirmed that the operation came in retaliation for Israeli assaults against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

No injuries have been reported.

Israeli occupation forces raid refugee camp and detain two youth
Date: 15 / 12 / 2008  Time:  10:31
Nablus - Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces detained two Palestinian youth from the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus early Monday morning.

Israeli military vehicles raided the camp before the sun rose and ransacked several homes then kidnapped 18-year-old Rami Shalabiyya and 18-year-old Mujahid Abu Sarris. Both were taken to an unknown location.

Returning Hajj pilgrims held up, threatened by Israeli occupation forces at border
Date: 14 / 12 / 2008  Time:  19:04
Jericho/Hebron – Ma’an -

Hundreds of Palestinian pilgrims returning home from the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca on Sunday were threatened and held up by Israeli occupation soldiers at the Allenby Bridge border crossing.

The pilgrims physically crossed the bridge at 10am, and have waited at the Israeli border terminal on the western side of the Jordan River for nine hours.

Pilgrims told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers threatened to shoot them if they proceeded toward the building.

The pilgrims have begun to rally in protest.

The Allenby Bridge between the West Bank and Jordan, currently the only crossing available for West Bank residents to leave the country, is controlled by Israel.

Two Jerusalem Palestinians indicted in plot to abduct Israeli occupation soldiers
Date: 14 / 12 / 2008  Time:  15:27
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

Two Palestinians from East Jerusalem were indicted on Sunday for planning to abduct Israeli occupation soldiers with the aim of securing the release of relatives serving life terms in Israeli prisons.

Israeli media reported that the two brothers, 20-year-old Ayad Aabid, and 21-year-old Abdullah Aabid, are from the village of Issawiya.

According to the indictment, the two planned to plow a tractor into a military jeep stationed near their neighborhood and abduct the soldiers from inside the vehicle.

The indictment states that the two purchased equipment in order to implement their plan, including two knives, two clubs, two masks, gloves and an electric shocker.

The two also turned to a relative living in the West Bank city of Bethlehem and working in the Palestinian Authority security organizations and asked to buy an M-16 rifle from him.

One shot, one beaten and arrested by Israeli occupation forces in Salfit
Date: 14 / 12 / 2008  Time:  14:51
Nablus – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation soldiers beat and arrested a high school student, and shot another in the back during an incursion in the West Bank town of Salfit on Friday, witnesses told Ma’an.

According to the witnesses, Israeli occupation troops approached the boy’s secondary school in Salfit, then assaulted and detained one of the school’s students, and also stole the teenager’s bicycle.

The Israeli occupation soldiers fired tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber-coated metal bullets, and ordered shopkeepers to close their stores.

Witnesses also said that 26-year-old Ahmad Salim was shot in the back by the Israeli soldiers while he was on his way home from Friday prayers. He was treated at Yasser Arafat Hospital.

The head of the local Public Union of Workers, Mahmoud Al-Bur, denounced the incursion and called on human rights organizations to document the attack.

10 Palestinians kidnapped as Israeli occupation forces invade Jenin area towns
Date: 14 / 12 / 2008  Time:  14:22
Jenin – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces carried out a wide range military operation on Saturday in the Jenin area of the Northern West Bank, kidnapping ten Palestinians.

The ten youths were kidnapped from the village of Zabuba, west of the city of Jenin. Israeli forces also installed a military checkpoint between the villages of A’raba and Fahma, southwest of the city.

Palestinian security sources said Israeli military jeeps drove into Zabuba village, surrounded an internet café, detained the youths, and moved them to the nearby Salem military base where some were released after being interrogated.

Israeli occupation troops also obstructed the movement of residents, many of whom were on their way to work or school, for almost two hours while installing a new military checkpoint.

Israeli occupation  jeeps also drove into the towns of Yamun, west of Jenin and Kefer Ra’ee, A’raba, Fahma and Ar-Rama, southwest of the city. The jeeps were deployed in the streets and the soldiers fired bullets, threw sound bombs and damaged a number of homes. No arrests were reported in these villages.

Israeli peace activists forced out of Hebron by Israeli occupation army; locals disappointed
Date: 14 / 12 / 2008  Time:  11:41
Bethlehem - Ma’an/Agencies –

 Israeli occupation  forces prevented busloads of Israeli peace activists from entering the West Bank city of Hebron Saturday morning.

According to Gush Shalom, the group that organized the event, more than a hundred Israeli peace activists were blocked by army and police at the entrance to Hebron, and prevented from visiting the city and meeting with the mayor and with Palestinian inhabitants whose homes were set on fire by settlers a week ago.

One activist was detained after attempting to argue with Israeli police about whether or not the group should be allowed into the area.

The activists said Israeli police cars tailed the busses from Jerusalem, and prevented the group from accessing roads leading into Hebron.

The group expressed indignation over the fact that Israeli forces and police protect the 700 illegal Israeli settlers living in the Palestinian city hundreds of whom participated in a violent riot on 4 November, and repeatedly refused to allow passage to a group of peace activists.

The group of Israelis had contacted local Palestinian officials in Hebron to arrange the solidarity visit, Palestinian governor of Hebron and a large group of Hebronites were awaiting their arrival in the Town Hall in the center of the city.

While one activist in a private car managed to make it to the Town Hall, the two busses were forced to turn back. They telephoned the town Mayor to apologize for being unable to visit the city, and said they would do their best to continue solidarity efforts.