Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Israelis kill Palestinian teenager in West Bank

September 1, 2009 07:06:48 GMT

Israeli soldiers shoot dead a Palestinian teenager and wounded two others including an ambulance driver who was providing first aid to another victim in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian medical sources reported Monday night that one Palestinian teenager was killed and two others were wounded by Israeli military fire near the road that separates between Al Jalazoun refugee camp and Beit El settlement, east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

The 17-year old youth, Mohammad Nayef, was seriously wounded and was moved to Hadassah hospital in al-Quds. He died of his wounds several hours later, the sources said.

Mohammad is the son of Riyadh Nayef, a Palestinian security official who was assassinated by the Israeli army several years ago.

The Israeli army claims the boy was hurling fire-bombs outside the settlement.

The two other wounded Palestinians are Ali Al Qaisi, shot in his arm, and ambulance driver, Osama Al Najjar, who was wounded in his leg while providing first aid to Mohammad Nayef.

In addition to this incident, according to Palestinian sources Israeli troops kidnapped several Palestinian youth and took them to an unknown destination.

No halt to settlement policy: Israeli minister

Press TV
Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:14:47 GMT

Israeli minister without portfolio Yossi Peled

An Israeli cabinet minister has categorically confirmed that construction and expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in and around Jerusalem (al-Quds) will continue.

Speaking on September 1 at a conference entitled "Preserving Jerusalem and the Golan Heights”, Yossi Peled of the ruling Likud Party repeated what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said during his recent visit to Germany, namely that Jerusalem is the “eternal and united capital of Israel” and that there would be no freeze whatsoever on the construction of settlements.

The minister without portfolio, who is a Belgian immigrant, insisted that the Jews would continue to live and build in and around the city, which was captured from the native Arabs by military force, Israel's Ynet News reported.

Israel recently announced that it would accept a temporary freeze on settlements but that it would never accept a permanent halt to the construction of Jewish settlements on occupied territories, despite the prohibitions of international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and worldwide condemnation.

Israel using arrests to silence Palestinian journalists

September 1, 2009 22:59:08 GMT
Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian photojournalist at gunpoint in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Media Coalition has expressed grave concern over Israel's arrest of Palestinian journalists.

The PMC condemned the Zionist action after Israeli soldiers kidnapped journalist Seri Sammour on August 31 in a raid on his house in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank.

Two days earlier, journalists Ghofraan Zamel from the Al Ain refugee camp and Muhammad Mona from Nablus had been detained.

The PMC said that, in addition to the latest detentions, six other journalists, all from the West Bank, are also languishing in Israeli jails, the al-Qassam website reported on September 1.

The Palestinian Media Coalition appealed to all press and human rights organizations, including Reporters without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists, to speak out against the illegal practices of the Israeli regime.

The PMC said that the journalists' detention was contrary to international norms and conventions, which ensure journalists' rights to freedom of movement and the dissemination of news and information.

The PMC also demanded the immediate release of all journalists without conditions and said that the rising number of journalists detained in Israeli jails points to a conspiracy "to silence" the Palestinian press as was done with 'Bethlehem 2000' radio.