Palestine Today 011008

Thursday January 10, 2008 23:40 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC -Audio Dept.

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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Thursday January 10th, 2008.

As Bush visits the Palestinian cities of Bethlehem and Ramallah, Israeli army attacks leave two Palestinians dead in the Gaza strip, these stories and more coming up stay tuned.

The News Cast

During his visit to the region the President of the United States of America George Bush and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in the central West Bank city of Ramallah On Thursday morning where they had brief talks and afterwards they had a joint press conference.

First to take the floor was President Abbas who welcomed Bush and deemed his visit as historical, Abbas added that the Palestinians wish for peace, freedom and stability and asked Bush to help them accomplish that.

“Do you want a democratic Palestinian State or the status quo?� Bush asked in the news conference. He also failed to mention any of the core issues that Palestinians strive to solve, such as borders, refugees, Jerusalem, prisoners and the wall, but instead focused on fighting “terrorism.�

Meanwhile in Ramallah city outside the press conference dozens of Palestinians were wounded and at least ten arrested in Ramallah when Palestinian police attempted to disperse a demonstration opposing the visit of the US President George Bush on Thursday morning.

Mohammad Al-Khatib, a member of the popular committee against the wall and settlements, was among those who were detained, along with cameraman who works for Ma’an News, a local Palestinian News Agency.

During his one day visit to the Palestinian areas Bush arrived on Thursday midday to the Nativity Church located in the centre of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Palestinian Authority Security forces have placed the city under strict security measures since last night, restricting movement between villages and towns neighboring Bethlehem shutting down the entire city.

Bush was greeted inside the church by several Palestinian and religious officials, after a short tour inside the church that latest 15 minutes President Bush and his convoy left the city where he was lifted by air to Jerusalem.

Across the street from the Nativity Church a few hundred Palestinians gathered and raised signs demanding Bush to force Israel to stop building settlements and attacking Palestinians in order for peace to happen. Palestinian security hassled the crowd and arrested and detained some of the demonstrators for some time before letting them go.

Hours before Bush arrived to the Palestinian areas several Israeli army invasions were reported across the West Bank and an Israeli army attack on Gaza left two dead.

Conclusion

Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem. You have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org. This report brought to you by Caroline Jones and Ghassan Bannoura.

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