Palestine Today 090208

Tuesday September 02, 2008 18:23 by IMEMC News - Audio Dept

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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center www.imemc.org for Tuesday September 2, 2008.

Israel beefs up police presence in Jerusalem on the second day of Ramadan, and the Gaza siege continues, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned.

The News Cast
The deposed Palestinian Ministry of Health of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza announced on Tuesday that the death toll of patients, dying for being denied access abroad for medical treatment is increasing on daily basis.

The ministry called on all concerned parties to intervene immediately for lifting the Israeli blockade on Gaza, which has been in place for more than 14 months.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops took prisoner two brothers in Al-Fawwar refugee camp near the southern city of Hebron. The Palestinian Prisoner Society reported that Lu’ay, 20 and Hamza Hasaniya, 15 were taken from their home in the camp to an undisclosed location.

The prisoner’s society also said that an Israeli military force kidnapped two other Palestinian civilians from Yatta village also near Hebron and took them to an unknown destination.

In the meantime, Israeli police intensified presence in Jerusalem at the second day of the Holy Moslem month of Ramadan. Israeli soldiers and police also stopped Palestinian cars driving on the road linking the south and the north of the West Bank and inspected their Identity cards forcing some of them wait in the sun.

On a separate issue, the Israeli internal security chief, Avi Dichter, accused Hamas of obstructing a prisoners’ swap deal with Israel. Dichter's remarks contradict comments by the Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, who believes that current calm in the region due to the ceasefire will help reach a prisoner swap deal soon.

In conjunction, Palestinian sources believed talks between Egyptian officials and Palestinian factions' representatives may lead to reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas parties.

However, sources close to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, said that the president reaffirms his conditions to Hamas that the party should renounce control over Gaza, before any dialogue is commenced between the rival parties.

In the meantime, Amr Mousa, chief of Arab states league, called on the Palestinian parties to reach an agreement in a three-month period.

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 has been brought to you by Rami Al-Meghari, Hussam Qassis and George Rishmawi.

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