The News Cast
Israeli settlers destroyed on Monday farm lands owned by villagers of Nahalien near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. Farmers said settlers arrived under the protection of Israeli soldiers and started to uproot trees and bulldoze farm lands. When villagers tried to reach their lands troops stopped them, the villagers added.
Nahalien village is surrounded by Israeli settlements from all sides. There are half a million Israeli settlers living in West Bank settlement all of which are illegal under international law.
Earlier on Monday Israeli troops detained ten Palestinian civilians during morning invasions targeting a number of West Bank communities.
Palestinian sources reported invasions and home raids at the cities of Qalqilia and Jenin, northern West Bank, and Ramallah, central west Bank in addition to Hebron and Bethlehem in the south. The Israeli army radio announced that all those detained today were moved to military detention centers for questioning.
On Sunday Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a Palestinian youth north of Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses reported that soldiers opened fire at Palestinian workers collecting stones, sand and scrap material to be used in construction due to the ongoing siege. Medical sources described the injury of the youth as moderate.
In other news, The Hamas run Interior Ministry of Gaza announced on Monday that police arrested an Egyptian intelligence officer inside the Gaza Strip on Sunday.
Fathi Hammad, the Interior Minister in Gaza, announced that the Egyptian officer infiltrated the Gaza Strip and was trying to gather information about individuals, the Hamas run government, and Gaza based resistance groups.
The Minister said that the officer was send back to Egypt. The Government in Gaza has asked Cairo to investigate the incident.
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.