LEDE: The family of a Palestinian prisoner in a Palestinian jail says their son died of torture, Hamas states that none of its members and leaders were released from PA jails in west Bank,, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned.

The News Cast

Hamas dismissed media reports that the Fatah-allied Palestinian government in Ramallah has released 38 of its members and leaders in the West Bank.

The Islamic movement said in a statement to the press that Fatah is not interested in making the internal dialogue a success.

In Hebron, Hamas published a press release calling on its leaders not to participate in the Cairo talks on the national unity government.

Hamas said they will join the talks only if the current Palestinian government ceases the arrest of its members and supporters in the West Bank.

In other news, Israeli media sources reported that the United States government approved the sale to Israel of 25 F-35 aircraft and an option for 50 more in coming years - a deal valued at up to 22 billion dollars.

Israeli sources said the aircrafts are needed to enhance Israel’s air-to-air and air-to-land capability. Military analysts say the F-35 jet fighter is a result of the U.S. Defense Department Joint Strike Fighter program which seeks to build a multirole fighter optimized for an air-to-ground role with secondary air-to-air capability.

A spokesman at the Israeli embassy in Washington said that the deal is further proof of the special U.S.-Israel relationship. Israel is the first country outside NATO to receive this aircraft.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has recently disapproved an intended Israeli strike against the nuclear facilities in Islamic Republic of Iran.


The family of a Palestinian prisoner who died in the Palestinian Authority jail in Jericho demanded the attorney general order an investigation of their son’s death.

The family of Shadi Shahin, who died on Monday, said their son died of torture under interrogation; however the Palestinian Police say he died of an illness and promised to conduct a full autopsy to define the death cause.


A report published by the United Nations this week revealed that in spite of Israeli promises to ease restrictions on movement in the West Bank, the Israeli army increased the number of roadblocks and search points.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the Israeli army installed 19 new barriers since April this year, increasing the number of roadblock to 630, 93 of which are used for a full complete search.

Palestinians face daily harassment from Israeli troops operating at these checkpoints and roadblocks, the majority of which separate villages and towns from major West Bank cities.

Conclusion

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