Israeli soldiers abducted, on Wednesday evening, Hamas legislator Azzam Salhab, 54 years old, from the southern West Bank city of Hebron, after stopping him at a military roadblock near Jericho city. There are currently nine elected Hamas legislators imprisoned by Israel, in addition to two Fatah legislators and one from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The legendary 82-year old folk singer Pete Seeger, an icon of the folk movement of the 1950s and 60s, told an Israeli organization that he supports the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel "as much as he can". This position is a shift from Seeger's earlier stance in support of an online event sponsored by the Zionist Jewish National Fund in support of the 'Arava Institute', a graduate institution in Israel. Seeger supported the event when it took place last year, but later critiqued his own decision, saying that he had not fully understood the extent to which the Jewish National Fund provided financial backing for Arava.


Kerbeh Tanna, north of Nablus, has been demolished for the 6th time, on Wednesday, after residents recently re-built it. Early in the morning 20 structures, including homes, were demolished by three bulldozers, under the protection of the Israeli military. The military presence included 13 patrol cars. The Israeli military began their attacks against the village in 2005, and claim that the temporary structures, that house 200 persons, must be demolished due to the lack of permits issued to the village.

Israeli settlers have launched a 'day of rage' in protest against the demolition of a handful of illegal structures in the Havat Gilad outpost. Demonstrators briefly succeeded in blocking the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Separately, demonstrators set fire to tires outside Jerusalem and another group sought to block the rail link between Modi'in and Ben Gurion airport. This action caused some train delays.

Israeli police arrested, on Thursday, citizens who were present at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. At the time of publication, the identities of those detained and their location are unknown.


The Research and Documentation Unit at the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights (JCSER) reported that Israeli soldiers and policemen have kidnapped more than 80 Palestinian children in occupied East Jerusalem since the beginning of this year 40 of those were from the Silwan distroct..


Following the recent increase in attacks by Israeli settlers on indigenous Palestinians in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority issued a statement, Wednesday, calling on the international community to "intervene with Israel over the violent and provocative actions by settlers, which the Israeli authorities refuse to control."

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 Circarre Parrhesia