On Saturday, two prominent political prisoners in Israeli prison were placed in solitary confinement. Ahmad Sa’adat, the general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Jamal Abu Al-Haija a leader of Hamas in the West Bank, are being punished for organizing a prisoner hunger strike to protest Israeli prison conditions.

On Sunday, Israeli bulldozers demolished 11 structures in the "unrecognized" village of al-Arakib for the ninth time on Sunday. Al-arakib is located in Israel's Negev.

Violent clashes erupted in the district of Baten al-Hawa, in Silwan, East Jerusalem following an Israeli police raid on a residential home.
Clashes broke out when family members tried prevent Israeli forces from entering their home. The army fired tear gas, sound bombs and live ammunition.

Palestinian Prime Minister, Dr. Salaam Faayyad, stated Sunday that the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is not dealing with American security company, Blackwater, and that the United States hired Blackwater to provide protection for senior American figures visting the West Bank and Israel.

Prime Minister of the dissolved Hamas-led government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyya, stated Sunday that the Egyptian Authorities are interested in inviting Palestinian factions, mainly Fateh and Hamas, to meet in Cairo in an attempt to end the internal divisions.

On Monday, German Authorities issued an arrest warrant against an Israeli national working as a Mossad Agent. He is believed to have assassinated a senior Hamas member last year in a hotel in Dubai.

Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, intends to quit the already weakened Labor Party to form a new parliamentary bloc that would run under his command.

Israeli President, Shimon Peres, stated that the formation of a parliamentarian committee to investigate NGO's funding sources harms democracy in the country.

The influential Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies (JIMS) has published a study which argues that financial aid to Israel from the United States is a net loss for the country.

A new report in the Israeli Jewish Orthodox publication "Fountains of Salvation", suggests that Israel will create death camps for Palestinians in order to wipe them out like Amalek. The terms Amalek or Amalekites is code for the Palestinians (and other perceived enemies of the Jewish people) and originates in the Old Testament.

Israeli supermarket magnate Rami Levy has made a successful bid to take over development of the Nof Zion settlement project being built near the Palestinian neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem. an Arab-American businessman tried to buy the land to develop it himself. But following pressure from Israel's national religious community, creditors voted to sell to Levy.

That sums up our news for today, thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem, you have been listening to Palestine Today, from International Middle East Media Center. For more updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and Ramona M.