Palestine Today 022509

A Palestinian teenager dies of wounds sustained last month in Gaza, and Palestinian internal dialogue starts. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.

The News Cast

A Palestinian teenager from the Gaza Strip was pronounced dead on Wednesday after he had sustained wounds during the recent Israeli war on the territory. Palestinian medical sources confirmed that Nabil Esleem, aged 17, died this morning in an Egyptian hospital where he was being treated for severe wounds.

Sources reported that Esleem was hit along with a number of others, during an Israeli air strike against his house, where the Hamas Interior Minister Sa'ed Syam was assassinated in mid January.

With the death of Esleem, the Gaza death toll as a result of the last Israeli war has risen to 1,452, and the number of wounded now exceeds 6,000. At midday on Wednesday, Israeli military helicopters raided areas east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Palestinian sources stated that missiles hit open areas in al-Salam and al-Barazeel Neighborhoods in eastern Rafah city, causing damage but no injuries. Israeli military sources claimed that their army targeted underground tunnels used to smuggle weapons into Gaza.

Israeli Army forces attacked a party that was held in the village of al-Khader, near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem late Tuesday night. The party was thrown for Zakaryia Issa, aged 29, who had just been released from an Israeli Army detention camp after serving seven years as a political detainee.

Witnesses said that Israeli troops arrived to the party tent next to the Issa family's home, fired tear gas and sound bombs into the celebrations and told the family to stop the party.

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated on Wednesday that any future national unity government formed after an agreement between Fatah and Hamas must respect all past agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization.

During a current visit to Norway, Abbas hoped that the factional negotiations which begin on Wednesday in the Egyptian capital Cairo will push Hamas to recognize past signed agreements with Israel.
President Abbas added that international recognition is necessary for any Palestinian government in order to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza Strip and the continued Israeli attacks in the West Bank.

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 Ghassan Bannoura and George Rishmawi.