Palestine Today 032609

Fighters clash with Israeli troops in Gaza and soldiers kidnap civilians in the West Bank. These stories and more coming up; stay tuned.

The News Cast

Fighters from Saray Alquds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza, clashed with Israeli soldiers near the border fence with Israel in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Saraya Alquds brigades claimed that their fighters clashed with an undercover Israeli military unit, patrolling the border area in the southeastern part of the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, on Thursday midday.

Elsewhere, Palestinian sources in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, reported on Thursday morning that Israeli soldiers invaded Askar and Balata refugee camps, east of Nablus, broke several homes and kidnapped seven youth.

In other news an Israeli court in Jerusalem issued an eviction decision against the As-Silwadi family, ordering them to leave their home and the dunnum of land around it after the defense lawyer failed to present documents for the case.

Israel has intensified its campaign of demolishing Palestinian-owned homes. The Jerusalem municipality handed out demolition orders to 96 Palestinian families in the first week of March. Another 88 orders were handed out in February.

Since Israel occupied the city of Jerusalem in 1967, the authorities have rarely given Palestinian residents permission to build homes. The Israeli government has continued to build Jewish settlements in and around Jerusalem, an act which violates international law.

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.