Palestine Today 070209

The Israeli military kidnaps civilians in the West Bank and allows some goods to enter Gaza, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

The News Cast

The Israeli army violated its own pledge that it would not invade four cities in the West Bank. On Wednesday night and Thursday morning the army entered two of these cities as well as three others during incursions of the West Bank.

At least six Palestinians were kidnapped by the army. The army explained its behavior by stating that it entered the areas to detain men that are on its “wanted list”. The men were taken from Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus and Qalqilia.

Bethlehem and Qalqilia were on the list of cities that the Israeli army, only last week, promised not to invade anymore to boost the Palestinian security and as a sign of goodwill to the US. Israel claimed that it would only enter these cities in “exceptional cases”.

Elsewhere the Israeli authorities decided on Thursday to open Gaza's three trade terminals in order to allow the entry of dozens of trucks filled with aid for the agricultural and trade sectors. The authorities said that 100 to 110 trucks will be allowed in.

Internally the Hamas movement issued a statement on Thursday stating that the Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank have killed three fighters and arrested 474 Hamas members from different parts of the West Bank during the month of June.

In the first week of June two Hamas fighters were killed during clashes with Palestinian Authority forces in the city of Qalqilia, in the northern West Bank. Meanwhile the movement said that a Hamas member Haytham Amro, from Hebron, in the southern west Bank, was killed after being tortured by PA forces.

Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. By June of the same year the movement took total control of the Gaza Strip after ending bloody infighting with the rival Fatah party of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. President Abbas outlawed the movement and fired its government then announced a caretaker government based in the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

On Wednesday the Fatah movement announced that the Hamas run security forces arrested 550 Fatah members from several parts of the Gaza Strip.

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