Palestine Today 08 17 2010

Palestinian fighter killed during a firefight with Israeli military in Gaza; and a baby gets caught in a checkpoint turnstile in the West Bank. These stories and more coming up, stay tuned.

In a cross-border skirmish between Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces Monday night, one Palestinian fighter was killed and one Israeli soldier was injured.

Following that incident, Israeli forces have invaded southern Gaza two times in a 24-hour period.

During the first invasion on Monday night, Palestinian fighters with the Popular Resistance Committees fired five mortar shells toward the invading troops, and 5 additional shells across the border toward Israel, causing no injuries.

On Tuesday afternoon, Israeli forces again moved into the crowded city of Khan Younis with at least 20 armored vehicles and tanks, and fired dozens of tank shells at residential buildings. Local witnesses said that one house in particular appeared to be the target, and that the house sustained heavy damage.

No injuries were reported, but the second invasion is ongoing at the time of this report.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, a ten-month old baby was injured when he was caught inside a ten-foot high turnstile with rotating iron bars, at an Israeli checkpoint near Bethlehem.

Witnesses said that 10-month old Mu'min Qasrawi's mother was holding him, and about to cross through the turnstile, when the baby's arm was caught between the metal bars, which pulled the baby from her arms and jerked him through the turning metal.

His hand was broken, and face and body bashed until he became unconscious.

According to the baby's mother, the soldiers saw the baby caught inside the turnstile, but did not take action until he fainted and fell to the ground.

In other news, a group of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem traveled to the Gaza-Israel border to break their Ramadan fast with legislators who have been threatened with deportation by the Israeli government.

The legislators are currently living in a tent supplied by the Red Cross, where they have been for the past 43 days, after Israel began enforcement of a new regulation designed to deport to Gaza Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and Israel – even if they have been residents of Israel for their entire lives. Anyone who was born in Gaza is now subject to deportation by Israeli authorities, including Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank.

And in the latest declared victory for the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions movement worldwide, Harvard University, one of the most prestigious and oldest universities in the United States, has sold off all of its shares in Israeli companies. Although the university did not list a reason for the sale, student activists who have targeted the University's financial department for over a year claimed credit for the divestment.

Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem, you have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center, for constant updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi and Husam Qassis.