MIDDLE EAST: ISRAELI ARMY DETAIN HUNDREDS OF PALESTINIANS IN NABLUS. / TROOPS ARREST TWO MEMBERS OF AL-AQSA BRIGADE AT BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL. / RAMALLAH DEMONSTRATION IN SUPPORT OF HUNGER STRIKERS.

Record ID: 400425

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: ISRAELI ARMY DETAIN HUNDREDS OF PALESTINIANS IN NABLUS. / TROOPS ARREST TWO MEMBERS OF AL-AQSA BRIGADE AT BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL. / RAMALLAH DEMONSTRATION IN SUPPORT OF HUNGER STRIKERS.
  • Date: 24th August 2004
  • Summary: (U3) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (AUGUST 24, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TRACK: ISRAELI FORCES SOME WITH DOGS SURROUNDING HOSPITAL. 0.10 2. WS: SOLDIERS OUTSIDE HOSPITAL BEHIND ARMOURED VEHICLE. 0.13 3. VARIOUS: NURSE WALKING TOWARDS SOLDIER / AUDIO OF EXPLOSION/ SMOKE RISING. 0.27 4. TRACK: MAN BEING DETAINED TAKEN OUT OF HOSPITAL BY
  • Embargoed: 8th September 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BETHLEHEM, NABLUS, RAMALLAH, AND ABU DIS, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVACTG9C8TQX6BTQH1H48DLTGJ6Z
  • Story Text: Israeli army detain 300 Palestinians during sweep in
    West Bank. Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurie joins protesters in
    support of prisoners' hunger strike.



    Israeli forces raided a maternity hospital in the
    West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday (August 24),
    detaining at least two Palestinians, witnesses said.

    Heavy shooting was heard inside the hospital, after
    troops stormed the building, searching rooms and arresting two men,
    who local residents identified as wanted men who
    belong to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

    But the Israeli army said that their forces were on a
    'pinpointed operation' next to the hospital, and they had
    not entered the hospital.

    After the raid, Israeli troops showed journalists
    weapons they said were seized from inside the hospital.

    In Nablus, Israeli soldiers rounded up hundreds of
    Palestinian men for questioning. Converting a school into a
    temporary detention centre, Israeli soldiers stood guard as
    Palestinians, some blindfolded, were being held for
    interrogation.

    "This morning they rounded up men from the refugee
    camp, they didn't leave anyone. Young men, young ages are
    also here, blindfolded" said one of the men who was rounded
    up by troops.

    In the West Bank, Palestinians took to the streets in
    support of 2,800 Palestinians on a hunger strike in Israeli
    prisons, as Israel declared its hospitals off-limits to the
    prisoners, saying they could be treated in makeshift
    facilities in jail if they took ill.

    Holding pictures of prisoners and chanting in support
    of their hunger strike, Palestinians in Ramallah marched to
    a military base on the outskirts of the West Bank city,
    demanding improvement of treatment to detainees held in
    Israel jails.

    Seen by Palestinians as symbols of resistance to
    Israeli occupation, the inmates at 10 jails are refusing
    food to force wardens stop strip searches, allow more
    frequent family visits, improve sanitation and install
    public telephones.

    Israeli officials call the liquids-only fast that began
    on August 15 a ploy by prisoners to secure easier
    communication with militant groups waging a four-year-old
    Palestinian revolt.

    In Abu Dis, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of
    Jerusalem, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie visited a
    tent set up by relatives of prisoners. Qurie said that
    Israel will be held responsible for any harm done to any of
    the political prisoners held in Israeli jails.

    "The heroic prisoners have reached a dead end with this
    Israeli occupation. Today is the tenth day of the hunger
    strike, and we say to them from here, on the outskirts of
    Jerusalem, we tell the world, that the Israeli occupation
    government is responsible for any harm caused to any of the
    prisoners in Israeli jails," he told the crowd.

    The widespread protests in the West Bank came as
    Israel's health Minister Danny Naveh said that Palestinians
    on a hunger strike will not be treated in Israeli
    hospitals.

    Israeli Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, like
    Naveh a member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing
    Likud party, said last week he didn't care if the prisoners
    starved to death.

    A Prisons Service spokesman said Israel was examining
    the prisoners daily but had found no serious health
    problems yet.

    About 7,000 Palestinians, excluding common criminals,
    are held in Israeli jails. Among the inmates are those who
    openly identify with Islamic groups sworn to Israel's
    destruction, and thus elicit little sympathy among the
    general Israeli public.


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