Palestine Today 01 25 2011

Last Wednesday, the Palestinian Authority refused to allow to a group of Palestinian activists to hold a solidarity rally with the people of Tunisia for their overthrow of the Tunisian president.

On Monday, The Israeli Military Central Command absolved two Israeli soldiers who shot and killed two Palestinians at a roadblock in the occupied West Bank. The army said that the soldiers made “justified decisions”. The two shootings took place at a roadblock near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Uzi Dahari, in charge of Israeli Antiques Authorities, stated on Monday night that the digging of a tunnel that links Silwan’s Arab town in East Jerusalem with the “western wall” of the Al Aqsa Mosque, was finished. The Israeli Antiques Authority receives most of its funding from settler-led organizations and groups that support Israel’s illegal settlement activities and its violations against the Palestinians and their holy sites.

A crowd of angry Palestinians attacked the office of Al-Jazeera TV in the city of Ramallah, on Monday afternoon, in protest against recently leaked documents regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Fawzi Barhoum, spokesperson of the Hamas movement, stated that the cables published by Al Jazeera TV prove that the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank is acting on voiding the Right of Return of the Palestinian Refugees instead of achieving it. Chief Negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erekat, denies the claims, and stated Palestinian demands never changed.

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas described the report of, Al Jazeera regarding a weakend PA, as shameful. He stated that the report is misleading and “presented the Israeli documents as the Palestinian demands”.

Today, Israeli soldiers conducted an arrest campaign in various cities in the West bank city. They kidnapped ten Palestinians including a 10-year-old child. The child was identified as Karim Saleh Al Tamimi. His brother Islam, also a child, was kidnapped three days ago and is currently in Israeli custody. Other arrests were made in the West Bank districts of Jenin, Tulkarem, Nablus, Ramallah, and Hebron.

That sums up our news for today, thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem, you have been listening to Palestine Today, from International Middle East Media Center. For more updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you by Husam Qassis and Ramon M.