Palestine Today 06 13 2011

The Al Aqsa Foundation for Wadf and Heritage stated Friday that Israeli soldiers broke into the yards of the Al Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem, attacked dozens of worshipers and fired gas bombs at them.

on Friday Israeli soldiers shot and injured a 65-year-old man during clashes that took place in Kafr Malik village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, between local residents of the village and Israeli soldiers and settlers.

Dozens suffered from the effects of tear gas inhalation when the Israeli army showered protesters with tear gas in the village of Bil'in, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday.

Palestinian medical sources reported Saturday that a Palestinian youth was electrocuted while working in a siege-busting tunnel in the border area in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli Authorities prevented Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the Imam of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, from travelling to Jordan to participate in a conference.

According to a report published by the Arabs48 news Website, a confidential source within the Fateh movement of president Mahmoud Abbas, reported on Saturday at night that Fateh leader Mohammad Dahlan, was expelled from his positions at the movement, and will be facing criminal charges.

On Sunday morning, Israeli soldiers abducted a Palestinian woman at the Um Al Reehan roadblock, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and claimed that she was carrying an ID card and a permit that do not belong to her.

On Saturday afternoon the Israeli army arrested three international peace activists participating in the weekly nonviolent protest against the Israeli Annexation Wall and settlements in Beit Ummar town, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Hamas has rejected Fatah’s proposal of Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad for the post of Prime Minister in the new interim government, according to Maan News Agency. Fayyad was selected by Fatah’s central committee to take on the position.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has released a report showing that the majority of Israelis are not aware of the legal or demographic background of the Jordan Valley. In a new report compiled by Dahlia Scheindlin of ACRI has shown that Israelis mistakenly believe that the Jordan Valley is sovereign Israeli territory. The report also showed that a majority of Israelis believed that the area had a majority population. 80% of Jewish Israelis, and 69% of secular Israeli’s, believe that the Jordan valley is sovereign Israeli territory according to the survey. Only 18% of respondents were aware that the region is an area that Israel occupies according to international law.

The Israeli high court has demanded a freeze to construction in the Jewish Israeli settlement of Ofra in the central West Bank. The Israeli high court has ordered a freeze to construction in the settlement of Ofra after local Palestinian residents whose land the settlement is due to be built on took legal action against the settlers. 48 houses due to be built on the Palestinian villages of Silwad and Ein Yabrud have been frozen after settlers agreed to a freeze in return for residents dropping charges. Ofra was first recognised by current Israeli President Shimon Peres when he was Minister for Security in 1977. Israeli human rights group B’T Salem claims that Ofra is both illegal under Israeli and International law.

A recent report by UNRWA has put Gaza’s unemployment at 45.2%, the highest in the World. The report points the finger for the areas unemployment, which was recorded for the second half of 2010, at the Israeli siege of the coastal strip. The report also claims that real wages have dropped by 34.5% since 2006. UNRWA spokesman Sami Mushasha has argued that Palestinian refugees, who make up 1/3 of the Gaza population are most affected by the unemployment. He said that “the number of people who are the poorest and living on less than one dollar a day has tripled to reach 300,000 since the imposition of the blockade.”

Thats all for today from the IMEMC. This was the Monday 13th of June daily roundup of news from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We hope you will join us again tomorrow. This was brought to you by Husam Qassis and me Daviud Steele