Factional rivalry continues despite released PLC member Dweik’s call for unity and Israeli army damages three Palestinian homes, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned.
The News Cast
Palestinian Authority forces, affiliated with the Fatah party, detained more than 40 Hamas affiliates during invasions in the West Bank on Wednesday. Among the people arrested was the deputy mayor of Nablus. The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip shut down another newspaper and detained the chief editor.
Hamas claims that PA security forces arrested over 100 of its members in a period of 24-hours. At the same time the party denies that it detains people for political reasons. The party made the statement after a delegation from the International Red Cross visited detainees in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, saying that all detainees were held for criminal charges.
One day earlier PLC speaker Aziz Dweik, that was released from Israeli prison after three years of detention, called for unity, conciliation, and dialogue on behalf of all Palestinian prisoners.
The political arrests could threaten talks about a Hamas-Fatah unity deal, which are planned to continue ahead of a 7 July deadline set by the mediating party, Egypt.
Also in Wednesday The Israeli army invaded the village of Awarta, close to the northern West Bank city of Nablus, during the early morning invasion and damaged three houses.
Local media report that the army held a large-scale incursion in the area of Awarta. More than twenty military vehicles entered the village and soldiers stormed several homes, leaving behind destroyed furniture and other property, the head of the local council stated. There was even some structural damage done by military vehicles.
Meanwhile the relation between Israel and the US continues to be tense. US convoy Mitchell cancelled a meeting with Israeli prime minister Netanyahu and Israel reported on Wednesday that it would temporarily halt the construction of settlements, excluding settlements that are currently being built, if the United States agrees that Israel continues the expansion of existing settlements for the so-called ‘natural growth’ purposes.
The two countries disagree over the duration of this claimed settlement freeze. Israel said it would freeze the construction for six months and the United States insists on a longer period.
Israel insists that expansions that are underway should not be halted; this includes that construction of thousands of units in the occupied territories.
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 Katherine Orwell.