Palestine Today 09 13 2011

The Israeli military demolishes a house and sets up checkpoints in the West Bank, these stories and more are coming up, stay tuned.

Israeli military forces demolished the house of Issa Nasser near the village of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The house is 80 squared meters and was still under construction.

Military bulldozers also destroyed a car parts workshop that belongs to Saber Abu Maria and bulldozed the area and destroyed the cars there. A local source said all the cars in the workshop are legal and some of them are good to use. As a result of the destruction the workshop caught fire and cause more damage to the property.

In other news, Palestinian security sources said that Israeli soldiers blocked the western and southern entrances of Jenin and stopped passengers and interrogated them. Troops also thoroughly searched passengers cars and documents which cause people to cue for long hours.

In addition, eyewitnesses said Israeli military patrolled the eastern part of the West Bank looking for water wells, claimed to be unauthorized.

Israel does not allow the Palestinians to dig for water wells and aquifers as part of its attempt to keep control over water resources in the region.

In the meantime, troops setup a military checkpoint at the entrance of the village of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem and stopped vehicles in the late hours of Monday night. Palestinian sources said that Israeli troops arrested four Palestinians, three from Beit Fajjar and one from Hebron.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities decided on Tuesday to open the Karm Abu Salem terminal to allow some material and food to enter into the besieged Gaza Strip.

Raed Fattouh, chair of the coordination committee at the Gaza-Israel terminals said that Israeli authorities allowed some 300 trucks to enter the coastal region carrying supplies needed for agriculture and industry and telecommunication, in addition to some construction material to be used for projects of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA).

Fattouh added that some amounts of cooking gas will be pumped into Gaza in the coming few days as well.

In Political news, Palestinians are still firm on heading to the United Nations to apply for statehood in the coming few days, despite American threats to cut aids to the Palestinian Authority and to veto the resolution if reaches the UN Security council.

Mohammed Shtayyeh, a senior Fatah official and member of the committee preparing for the statehood bid told a press conference Tuesday that the Palestinians will submit an official request for full recognition to the UN Security Council by September 23.

On his part, Amrican president Barack Obama, said the Palestinian statehood vote at the UN would be counterproductive.

That was some of the news from Palestine Today, for more updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. This report has been brought to you by Hussam Qassis and me, George Rishmawi.