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10:00 MP3 - Please play today or tomorrow on your station or show -- Palestinian presidential elections are tomorrow, Sunday the 9th!
Report covers Israeli occupation, incursions Jan. 1 -7, and preparations for Palestinian election Sunday Jan. 9
As Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip head to the polls for the presidential elections on Sunday, the Israeli occupation and ongoing military
incursions in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip continue.
16 Palestinians have been killed since January 1st, nine of whom were children. Seven of the children were killed in the same incident, in Beit Lahia on Tuesday. Four of them were brothers.....their sister:
"My four brothers, four, four, my brothers were four.... and my nephew and my
cousins son were also .....six were killed from our family. May God harm the
one who was the cause."
rizig musleh, 17 years old, was shot and killed while putting up presidential campaign posters in rafah
At least thirty four Palestinians have been wounded since January 1st, including at least 14 children and a journalist who was seriously injured by an Israeli tank shell on January 4. An eleven year old child was shot in the head on Thursday the 6th in Rafah during an Israeli military invasion -- one of at least 47 separate invasions of Palestinian cities, towns and refugee camps by the Israeli army.
159 Palestinians have been arrested over the past week, including 65 in the city of Hebron alone. The Hebron arrests were carried out in a series of military invasions in which groups of men were arrested -- some local residents have claimed that the arrests are politically motivated, as a number of those targeted for arrest were planning to run for the municipal elections for the Hamas party. Hebron's old city has been under siege for two years, as the Israeli army has pushed out thousands of Palestinian residents in an attempt to make Hebron an Israeli city. Among those arrested were a number of children, arrested Monday night. Penny is an international volunteer in the region:
On Wednesday the 5th, the Israeli legislature proposed a bill to remove Arabic as one of the three official languages of Israel. Nearly one million Palestinians who live inside present-day Israel and hold Israeli citizenship speak Arabic as a first language.
13 acres of olive groves were bulldozed in Deir al-Balah thursday January 6th. Two separate demonstrations were held during the week, in Jayyous and in Biddu, in which Israelis and Palestinians planted olive trees in areas where trees had been uprooted by the Israeli army.
On Friday the 7th, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon claimed that the army had pulled out of certain areas of the West Bank to facilitate the elections this weekend, but the Palestinian Authority countered that there was no evidence of any troop pullout, and checkpoints remain closed.
Nearly 200,000 Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem have been unable to register to vote, for they live on the Israeli side of the separation barrier. Although they are guaranteed the right to vote, these Palestinians are unable to. Two candidates who attempted to campaign in East Jerusalem were arrested by Israeli soldiers, despite a guarantee by the Israeli legislature that campaigning there would be allowed.
And the Palestinian Authority has challenged the January 6th Israeli high court decision to not allow the right to vote for the over 5,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons (at least 1,000 of them being held without charges). The four million Palestinian refugees living in diaspora around the world are also unable to vote in this election. Naima Saleh is a voter from Deir Istiya:
The Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza remains closed for the 4th consecutive week, since December 12th. although the Israeli army has promised that they would facilitate the passage of Palestinian muslims on their way to Mecca for the Hajj religious pilgrimage, thousands of would-be pilgrims have stated that the Israeli army is preventing them from crossing the border. The Salah Ed-Deen crossing in Gaza was closed Friday, and 400 Israeli checkpoints remain in place throughout the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip, despite the Israeli foreign minister's promise to facilitate freedom of movement during the election period.
Amar Dwik, with the Central Elections Committee:
This report has been brought to you by the International Middle East Media Center.
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