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Weekly Audio Report
February 11 – 17, 2005

This week in Palestine - a service of the International Middle East Media Center, IMEMC.org, for the week of February 11th to February 17th, 2005.

Weekly Audio Report
February 11 – 17, 2005

This week in Palestine - a service of the International Middle East Media Center, IMEMC.org, for the week of February 11th to February 17th, 2005.

While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas assembled his new cabinet, Israeli violence against Palestinians continued this week, despite the ceasefire declared by Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Sharm al-Sheik on February 8th.

Israeli soldiers killed 4 Palestinians this week, including two youth, and injured 3 Palestinian children in separate incedences. During 11 invasions into Palestinian areas, the Israeli army conducted military searches of dozens of homes, arrested 21 Palestinians and destroyed two buildings.

On Monday, Israeli soldiers shot dead a 16-year-old child in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Sabri Fayez Al-Rajoub died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, according to hospital sources. The Israeli army said that the child attempted to stab a soldier, but residents in the area refuted this claim, saying he was walking ten meters away from the soldiers when he was shot.

Also on Monday, Israel published the names of 500 Palestinian prisoners slated for release next week. Of the prisoners to be released, 193 have been detained without charges or trial and 77 are due to end their prison term in less than a month. Radi Jaray, a senior officer of the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs, expressed disappointment in the list, saying that it excluded their priorities of women, children and those serving long sentences.

Israeli authorities decided on Monday to delay the withdrawl of Israeli troops from Jericho, the first of 5 Palestinian cities slated to be transfered to Palestinian Authority control. Palestinian and Israeli officials were unable to settle differences concerning military checkpoints and the size of territory to be handed over to the P.A. Israeli negociators insisted on keeping the checkpoints encirlcing Jericho, while the P.A. demanded that the village, Al-Oja, north of Jericho be included in the transfer.
Tuesday night, Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinian members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a Fatah affiliated armed group. An Israeli army source claimed they were approaching a West Bank settlement, but witnesses said they were killed in their home. Abu Mohammad, a spokesman for Al Aqsa Brigades in Nablus condemned what he called targeted assasinations.

“This is a crime. It is a violation of the Sharm El Sheik agreement between Sharon and Abu Mazen. Two of the leaders of Al Aqsa Brigades were killed while having their meal after finishing work with the Palestinian Authority Security Forces.”

Wednesday afternoon, an 8-year-old child was injured by an Israeli settler on Wadi Al-Mawalih road, near Tubas in the West Bank. A local source reported that the settler rammed the child with his car and fled the scene.

Thursday afternoon a Palestinian woman gave birth at an Israeli military checkpoint near Ramallah. After Israeli soldiers denied her passage through the checkpoint, the woman waved down a passing car and delivered the baby in the back seat within minutes. An estimated 700 Israeli military checkpoints remain in the West Bank and Gaza today.

This report has been brought to you by the International Middle East Media Center, IMEMC dot org, in Beit Sahour, Palestine.