Palestine Today 092109

Israeli military attacks leave two dead in Gaza, while settlers destroy farm lands in the West Bank, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

The News Cast

Two Palestinian men have been killed by Israeli tank shells east of Jabaliya refugee camp, in northern Gaza, on Sunday evening. The two men were members of armed Palestinian resistance factions.

Early on Monday morning, the Israeli Air Force shelled the 'tunnels' border area' in Rafah, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses stated that at least four missiles were fired into the area;
there has been reports of damage but no injuries at this time.

An Israeli Army spokesperson claimed that the shelling targeted three tunnels used by Palestinian gunmen to smuggle arms into the Gaza Strip. The spokesperson added that the shelling was also carried out in retaliation to two homemade shells fired by Palestinian fighters on both Saturday night and Sunday.

Elsewhere a group of armed Israeli settlers destroyed Palestinian owned lands in northern West Bank while the military kidnapped four farmers who tried to stop the attack.

Settlers came on Monday afternoon to lands owned by farmers from the villages of Jit and Amateen, both located near Nablus city and set it on fire, witnesses reported. When farmers tried to stop the settlers from the attack and put the fire out, Israeli troops guarding the settlers attacked the farmers and detained four of them.

On Monday at dawn, Israeli Forces invaded the village of Bil'in, central West Bank and attacked a number of homes there.

According to sources in the village, Israeli troops attacked the houses of Mohamed Yassen, Yassen Yassen and Abdullah Abu Rahmah, soldiers searched and ransacked the three homes. The soldiers delivered letters to all three families demanding that the three men go to Ofer military camp near the village for an interview with the Israeli secret service.

Abu Rahmah is the Coordinator of the Bil'in Popular Committee Against the Wall. The village of Bil'in has become a focal point for the non-violent resistance movement in Palestine, holding peaceful protests every Friday for the last four years.

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.