Military checkpoint at Beita stops traffic south of Nablus

Date: 21 / 03 / 2009  Time:  09:56
Nablus – Ma’an –

 Israeli occupation terrorist forces sat up a military checkpoint at the Beita crossroad south of Nablus city on Saturday morning.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing Israeli patrols set up the checkpoint and search vehicles coming in and out of the village and checking the ID cards of citizens.

Israeli forces have periodically erected a military check-zone at the Beita crossroads that stops travelers on their way to Nablus. The check comes immediately before the Za’atara and then Huwwara military checkpoints.

Two photojournalists injured by Israeli soldiers in Jayyous

Date: 20 / 03 / 2009  Time:  21:56
Qalqiliya – Ma’an –

Two Palestinian photojournalists working with Reuters and Ma’an were hit with rubber-coated bullets while covering the weekly protest against the separation wall in Jayyous on Friday.

Clashes erupted after Jayyous residents and demonstrators were prevented from reaching their ancestral lands by Israeli forces guarding construction equipment used to put up the wall and destroy agricultural land in the area.

The two photojournalists were identified as Ma'an photographer Khalil Rayyash and Reuters photographer Basher Nazzal.

Al-Ma'asara: Two women injured by Israeli soldiers in anti-wall protest

Date: 20 / 03 / 2009  Time:  19:59
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Two women sustained bruises after being attacked by the Israeli army during a weekly anti- wall protest in Al-Ma’sara village south of Bethlehem Friday.

Hundreds of demonstrators come out to the village, which has had more than 1,700 dunnums (425 acres) of village land confiscated for the construction of the separation wall, and chanted slogans calling for a halt to construction.

When the group arrived at the construction site, Israeli soldiers attacked the lead women, identified as Leila Zawahra and Su’ad Fawaghra.

They were treated in the field for severe bruising.

Two Americans, one Palestinian shot with rubber-coated bullets in Bil'in

Date: 20 / 03 / 2009  Time:  17:31
Bethlehem - Ma’an -

Two Americans and one Palestinian were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets during a peaceful demonstration against the separation wall in Bil’in on Friday.

The village, north of Ramallah, is next to one of the ongoing construction sites of the Israeli separation wall, which is annexing a large portion of the village land.

The residents of Bil'in marched towards the wall after the Friday prayer, joined by international activists.

Israeli soldiers launched several tear gas canisters into the crowd to disperse it, and fired volleys of rubber-coated steel bullets. Two Americans, known only as Mike and Michael, were injured, along with one Palestinian. They were treated in the field for light injuries.

Last week Israeli forces critically injured one American Peace Activist in a similar demonstration in Ni’lin. The activist, Tristan Anderson, has yet to regain consciousness.

Israeli soldiers force Palestinian farmers to strip naked publicly

Date: 20 / 03 / 2009  Time:  15:41
Nablus – Ma’an Exclusive –

More than a dozen young Palestinians were forced to strip naked by Israeli troops, who insisted the measure was a security precaution after the group requested permission to access closed-off village land Friday afternoon.

The men, from Deir Istiya southwest of Nablus, were on their way to tend lands west of the village that are sandwiched between two Israeli settlements, Ariel and Immanu’el. The men all had permits to access the land, but were accosted by a group of at least 15 armed Israeli settlers and prevented from passing into their land.

Israeli troops intervened in the settler-farmer standoff by forcing the Palestinians to remove their clothes, then turning them away from the land.

Local resident Raed Hamdan witnessed the incident. “We own the lands in this area and it belongs to the people of Deir Istiya but the Israeli troops came to the area and forced the young men to strip and searched them with great humiliation despite that they hold special permits to reach their lands.”

A member at the village council Nathmi Salman denounced the attacks on village youth and farmers. He noted that the 4,000 residents of the village suffer constantly from their close proximity to several Israeli settlements.