George Rishmawi – IMEMC September 20, 2006
The Israeli army invaded several cities in the West Bank and broke into money changers' shops and banks, confiscating some 1.5 million USD, on Wednesday morning. The seizure of cash comes after months of seige by the Israeli authorities, who are attempting to 'starve out' the Palestinian people for the results of their democratic election in January.
Army invaded, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem and Ramallah, almost at the same time.
In Jenin, at least 30 military vehicles invaded the city and surrounded a money exchange shop that belongs to Mohammad Nassar.
Nassar told Palestine News Network that troops also took him by force from his house to his shop and blew up the door of the shop and took all the money from the vault. He added that the soldiers took almost 1.2 million shekels (nearly 250 thousand USD)
Troops also invaded two other exchange shops and took the money and the computers.
In Nablus, Israeli soldiers backed by more than 25 military vehicles, invaded the National Jordanian Bank and 5 money exchange shops. Local sources said that troops destroyed the contents of the bank and the shops and took all the money from the shops and took one of the workers as prisoner. The man was identified as 40-year-old Ghaleb Sweidan.
Abdullatif Nassif, the manager of the bank said they will sue the Israeli army for damaging the bank's property. He added that the damage is estimated around 500 thousand dollars.
Troops also blew up the vault in one of these shops. The shop caught fire as a result of the explosion and all the furniture was on fire.
Palestinian fighters arrived at the scene after the army pulled out and stopped the fire.
Palestinian resistance fighters in Nablus clashed with the Israeli troops and blew up an explosive device in Al-Salam street, no injuries were reported.
In Tulkarem, the Israeli army took money from exchange shops and took three residents as prisoners, identified as Ibrahim and Qassem Haseeb and Kamal Thiab.
Meanwhile, in Ramallah, troops invaded Al-Ajouli money exchange shop and other shops and took all the money there.
The Israeli army declared that they invaded 24 money exchange shops in the West Bank claiming that these shops provide money for what they called, “terrorist groups”.
www.imemc.org/content/view/21562/1/
Last updated 24/09/2006
Homepage