Palestine Today 090308

Wednesday September 03, 2008 18:22 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 3, 2008.

Israeli troops storm a number of West Bank cities, rounding up 7 Palestinians while in Gaza, Israeli authorities deny International activists passage out of the Gaza Strip, these stories and more are coming up, stay tuned.

The News Cast
The frequent Israeli military offensives against Palestinian cities, towns, villages and refugee camps in the occupied West Bank today, resulted in the detention of seven Palestinians from Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarem.

Witnesses said that scores of Israeli military vehicles swept into the said areas earlier at dawn and that the soldiers ransacked and searched residents’ homes, rounding up and taking the seven residents to unknown destinations.

As the daily Israeli operations in the West Bank are unabated, the situation in Gaza continues to be hard as Israel continue to close all border crossings of the coastal region. Today the Israeli authorities declared they would not allow some international activities out of Gaza en-route to their destinations abroad.

Among those prevented access is British journalist and sister in law of former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Lauren Booth. Booth, who arrived in Gaza in August 23 on one of the Free Gaza boats, was quoted as saying "Thanks for Israel for letting us live what Gazans have".

Meanwhile, Egyptian mediation efforts are underway in Cairo, in an attempt to achieve national unity between Palestinian factions. Egyptian foreign minster, Ahmad AbulGheit had proposed bringing in Arab forces in Gaza. Most of the factions in Gaza rejected the proposal, as the Popular Resistance Committees said it would deal with any forces as same as the occupation.

In the meantime, the national and international relations department of the Palestine Liberation Organization issued today its monthly repot on Israeli army attacks on Palestinians. The report pointed out that 2 Palestinians were killed and 131 others wounded in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in the month of August.

It is believed that this relatively low death toll among Palestinians is a result of the Cairo-brokered ceasefire deal hammered on June 19. Many commentators considered the deal as fragile and would possibly collapse at any time.

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 Qessis and George Rishmawi.

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