Israeli forces kill Palestinian fighter near Jenin; Jihad vows revenge

Date: 16 / 12 / 2008  Time:  09:41
Bethlehem - Ma'an –

Islamic Jihad vowed on Tuesday to strike back at Israel for the killing of one of its fighters on Monday.

Israeli occupation forces assassinated a member of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad during a raid near the West Bank city of Jenin late on Monday.

In a statement Islamic Jihad said it would respond to the killing “at the proper time.”

An Islamic Jihad source told Ma’an that Israeli occupation troops surrounded the home of 23-year-old Jihad Nawahda, in the town of Al-Yamoun before seizing him from the house and executing him in a field.

The source said Nawahda is a leader of Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades in the northern West Bank, and has been “wanted” by the Israeli government for years.

Palestinian security sources offered a different account of the killing. They said Nawahda was leaving an internet café when Israeli troops approached him in the street, asking him to surrender. According to the security sources, Nawahda refused and the Israeli soldiers then shot him dead.

Witnesses told Ma'an that Nawahda was walking near the Al-Yamoun municipality building when he was approached by undercover Israeli officers travelling in a white Mercedes Benz. Six men jumped from the car and opened fire, injuring Nawahda, who collapsed but was still alive. The undercover Israeli troops then pulled Nawahda inside the car, killed him, and threw him from the vehicle.

In a statement vowing revenge for the killing, Islamic Jihad called the assassination a “crime,” and criticized Monday’s release of 227 Palestinian prisoners as an attempt to cover up Israel’s overall oppression of the Palestinians.

The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, also threatened to respond to the killing.

Abu Mahmoud, a leader in an armed group called the Yasser Arafat Brigades said, “The response to this assassination will be harsh.”

On Tuesday morning Palestinian fighters fired four homemade rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The projectiles landed in the Eshkol area, east of Gaza, causing no casualties.

The Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for the rockets, which they said were in response to the assassination.


***Updated at 9:56 local time

Israeli occupation forces kidnap 13 Palestinian youths near Hebron

Date: 16 / 12 / 2008  Time:  13:36
Hebron – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation forces ransacked several homes in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, evacuated occupants at gunpoint and kidnapped 13 Palestinian youth Tuesday morning.

The Prisoners’ Society in Hebron condemned the arrests, especially those of 17-year-old Murad Abu Judah whose life may be endangered by the detention. Abu Judah was shot in the leg three years ago by Israeli soldiers and needs several medical attentions.

Palestinian sources identified the arrestees as, 20-year-old Thaer Abu Hashim, 18-year-old Muhammad Za’aqiq, 17-year-old Omar Awad, 16-year-old Muhammad Ikhlayyil, 18-year-old Murad Abu Judah, 19-year-old Saddam Awad, 18-year-old Alaa Sleibi, 16-year-old Nasr Sabarnah, 17-year-old Sharif Breigheith, 18-year-old Ahmad Al-Alami, 17-year-old Omar Al-Alami, 18-year-old Muhammad Al-Alami and 20-year-old Ibrahim Sabarnah.

Israeli occupation forces kidnap  22 Palestinians in West Bank raids

Date: 16 / 12 / 2008  Time:  10:03
Bethlehem - Ma'an -

Israeli occupation forces detained 22 Palestinians from various locations in the West Bank early Tuesday morning and took them to detention centers.

The Palestinians were taken from Dair Abu Mesha’al in Ramallah, the Al-Fawar Refugee Camp and Beit Ummar in Hebron along with other areas in the West Bank.

Israeli occupation forces kidnap two university students at checkpoints

Date: 16 / 12 / 2008  Time:  11:06
Tulkarem – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation troops detained two university students from Tulkarem at checkpoints on Tuesday morning.

Both were taken to an unknown location.

Palestinian Security sources revealed that Israeli troops at the Ennav and Za’tara checkpoints in east Tulkarem detained Musa Fa’eq Odeh, who was on his way to An-Najah National University in the city of Nablus.

The second student, Mahmoud Ahmad was detained at the Za’atara checkpoint in southern Nablus on his way to Bir Zait University.

Barak renews Gaza blockade in reaction to rockets

Date: 16 / 12 / 2008  Time:  11:13
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

The Israeli occupation government defense minister, Ehud Barak, ordered his forces to renew a blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after four homemade rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel.

The rockets were fired by the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, in what they said was an act of retaliation for Israel’s assassination of an Islamic Jihad fighter in the West Bank on Monday night.

After nearly a year and a half of closure, the Israeli military has enforced a strict blockade of Gaza since 4 November, allowing only a minimum of humanitarian aid into the territory. The most recent shipment of food was allowed in on Monday.

A fragile six-month-old Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in Gaza expires on Friday. The agreement between the Israeli government and the Hamas-run de facto government in Gaza called on Israel to ease the blockade.

Meanwhile a Gazan man became the 271st Palestinian patient to die as a result of the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip after he was banned from leaving Gaza to seek better cancer treatment, a senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday.

Mu'awiya Hassanain, the Director of the Ambulance and Emergency Department in the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 40-year-old Muhammad Mahmoud Sa’ed died Monday night.

Gaza is expected to witness more such deaths in the coming days, especially those suffering from cancer, Hassanain added.

Due to the Israeli blockade, Gaza’s hospitals are short supply of medicine, medical equipment and the electricity needed to maintain operations.

Israeli occupation forces bulldoze Shaikh Jarrah eviction protest camp

Date: 16 / 12 / 2008  Time:  10:32
Bethlehem – Ma’an -

Israeli occupation forces began to demolish on Monday morning a protest tent established in the Shaikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem in support of the evicted Al-Kurd family and 500 other Palestinians currently facing eviction.

Dozens of Israeli occupation army officers detained and confiscated the phones of two international solidarity activists, one Danish and one Swedish, who had been sleeping in the tent at 8:30am Tuesday.

An Israeli bulldozer is currently at the site and will start the demolition shortly.

Al-Kurd family were made refugees from Jaffa and West Jerusalem before being evicted from their home of 52 years in East Jerusalem on 9 November. The family was removed at gunpoint and accused by the Israeli government of neglecting to obtain proper building permits.

Shortly after their home was destroyed, Abu Kamel Al-Kurd succumbed to a chronic illness and died of a heart attack. His widow set up a protest tent on lands near the site of her former home.

A protest camp was also established by the Shaikh Jarrah Neighborhood Committee and has been used as a cultural center, regularly screening films, holding traditional Palestinian dancing and showing Palestinian photo exhibitions. It has been demolished twice despite being situated on private Palestinian property.

The house had become emblematic of the plight of Palestinian residents and dozens of dignitaries have passed by the tent to show solidarity with Umm Al-Kurd, and support the grieving woman who refuses to abandon her right to justice and compensation.

Widespread international condemnation of Israeli policy against the family and neighborhood has been displayed, including an official complaint from the US State Department.