Governor of Jenin, Qaddura Moussa, said he has assigned an investigation team that include members from all Palestinian security forces to bring the murderers of Juliano Mer-Khamis to justice. “With an iron fist we will strike those who stand behind this murder. They will be brought to justice.”
Mer-Khamis, a Palestinian-Jewish actor and co-director of the Jenin Freedom Theatre, was shot to death in his car Monday, just outside his theatre in Jenin refugee camp, in the northern part of the West Bank.
In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian man has been killed in the buffer zone near the boundaries with Israel, on Tuesday. The Israeli military has claimed that they shot the man as he was armed, and approaching the border, but Palestinian medical sources have stated that no weapon was found at the scene.
In the meantime, Dirar Abu Sisi, the Gazan engineer who was abducted by Israeli security personnel whilst traveling by train through the Ukraine, has been formally charged by an Israeli court on Monday. The charges include being involved in the armed wing of Hamas, and involvement in the firing of home-made shells into Israel form the Gaza Strip.
Abu Sisi’s lawyer, Smadar Ben-Natan, stis that his client had confessed to charges, but that these confessions came under severe duress from interrogators that Ben-Natan claims was tantamount to torture.
Only a few days after retracting his report on Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, South African Judge, Richard Goldstone, said will be happy to visit Israel next summer, starting his tour with Sderot settlement, south of the country.
Goldstone said that he “bears great love to Israel” and looks forwards to touring the country. Israeli Interior Minister, Elie Yishai, had a phone conversation with Goldstone on Monday evening and invited him to visit Israel.
Back to the West Bank, Palestinian sources reported Monday that detainee Mustafa Abdul-Wahab, 16 years old, from a village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, was released from an Israeli detention facility due to a sharp deterioration of his health conditions. Abdul-Wahab suffers from cancer.
The Israeli military raided the northern West Bank village of Awarta, on Tuesday. Reports conflict as to whether 6 or 10 men were detained.
That sums up our news for today, thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. You have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center. For more updates please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and George Rishmawi