Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www.imemc.org for Tuesday September 30, 2008.

LEDE: Palestinians in Gaza celebrate the holy days of the Eid under siege, and Palestinian Authority releases some Hamas political prisoners, these stories and more are coming up, stay tuned.

Palestinian Muslims as well as Muslims in other parts of the world today celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fasting month Ramadan. Palestinians in Gaza in particular remain under a 16-month old siege that is destroying all aspects of life in the besieged coastal region.

One family, similar to many others, is living the Eid days separated from one another, some besieged in Gaza and the rest in Israel.

The family of Ramadan al-Hour from al-Nusseirat refugee camp, has been separated for over a year, since the father was arrested from home in the Palestinian village of Kufur Qassim in Israel almost a year ago. Since then, Israeli authorities refuse to allow him to enter Israel and his wife and four children are denied entry to the Gaza Strip.

His wife and children bear Israeli passports, while he is Palestinian. This combination makes it almost impossible for them to reunite simply because the Israeli Knesset passed a law disallowing family reunification for such cases a few years ago.

Also today, the Fatah affiliated, Palestinian Authority in Ramallah released some detainees from Hamas as a good will gesture for to Hamas at Eid time hoping that Hamas will reciprocate.

Both Fatah and Hamas, who claim to be the legitimate government, one in Gaza and one in Ramallah are still holding some activists and supporters of each other, including leaders, in their jails in Gaza and the West Bank,. This is despite of the ongoing talks in Cairo to bridge the gap between them and form a National Unity government in Palestine.

In other news, a report by the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ) revealed that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are the main source of pollution in the area since many of the settlements spill their waste water in the nearby fields.

The Palestinian Ministry of Environmental Protection, along with the Israeli Authority for the Protection of Nature and National Parks and the Israeli Civil Administration, are monitoring pollution in the West Bank.

The Israeli governmental agencies did not openly state that the wastewater is coming from Israeli settlements; however ARIJ did, saying that it is documented. Sewage water flowing from settlements to Palestinian land can be seen with bare eyes.

Experts say that there is a high chance that Palestinian drinking water may be contaminated by this sewage water.

Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. You have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you by Hussam Qassis and Gorge Rishmawi