Latest news on Palestine…
1) Israeli soldiers abducted a Palestinian media activist yesterday and this was immediately after he had just been released after serving 14 months as a political prisoner in an Israeli prison.
2) Illegal Israeli settlers set up a mobile home on Palestinian land close to a water well that provides an essential water supply to many Palestinian villages and towns in the Nablus area yesterday. There appears to have been some interaction between the settlers and the local Palestinians but Israeli soldiers then attacked a number of Palestinians defending their land.
3) Israeli army reports of airstrikes on Gaza last night. Apparently they’ve struck Hamas targets in northern Gaza after Palestinian militants launched ‘explosive balloons’ into Israel. An earlier report from Israeli police said that an explosive device had landed in the city of Arad and was dismantled by a police bomb squad. WAFA later reported that Israeli warplanes and drones hit close to Beit Lahya town in the northern Gaza Strip causing fires and damage to a number of properties
4) Palestine Solidarity Campaign activists (PSC) persuade Manchester University to withdraw a £2 million investment from companies involved in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, including companies like Caterpillar, who supply Israel with bulldozers and other heavy machinery used to demolish Palestinian homes and communities
5) A 23yr old Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli soldiers during an army raid in Jenin’s al-Jabriyath neighbourhood today. Dalya Samhoudi, a 23-year-old mother of three, was preparing to breastfeed her baby and went to close a window to block out the tear gas coming into her home when she was hit by a bullet to the chest which penetrated her liver. Dalya died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
6) Palestine Action have stormed the Elbit Systems offices in Holborn again this week. Elbit is Israel’s largest arms firm. This time a group of 10 activists smeared their reception with blood red paint and left messages sprawled on their doors saying “Tested in Palestine, used in Kashmir” and “we will be back.” They’ve also written a letter to the buildings landlord urging them to reconsider Elbit’s tenancy.
7) Israeli forces once again deployed tear gas and shot rubber coated steel bullets at Palestinian protestors today. Dozen’s of protestors were injured during an anti-annexation march in Kafr Qaddum town, east of Qalqiliya city.
8) Israeli forces also opened fire on Palestinian protestors in Turmus Ayya town, north of Ramallah. Protestors were trying to stop the annexation of Palestinian land for for settlement construction.
9) Israeli settlers blocked the main arterial route to south Nablus, blocking traffic both ways, today.
