Palestine Today 090408

Thursday September 04, 2008 17:43 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 Thursday September 4, 2008.

As peace-related summits continue to be held in world capitals, Israeli military forces go on rampage in Palestinian cities rounding up Palestinian residents. These stories and more are coming up, stay tuned.

The News Cast

Israeli troops detained on Thursday at dawn four Palestinian residents; two from Hebron and the other two from Bethlehem. Such detention is part of almost daily Israeli military operations in different West Bank areas.

Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas will be meeting on Thursday evening with his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres in the Italian capital of Rome. The meeting comes on the sideline of a Rome special conference on Friday, addressing Arab-Israeli ties.

The two leaders will be discussing outstanding political issues, Israeli sources reported.
In the meantime, envoy of the Quartet Committee fro Middle East peace, Tony Blair, attended today a special conference in the West Bank city of Nablus. The conference was held at an-Najjah National University.

Blair believed that there is a possibility to maintain economic growth in the Palestinian areas, asserting the need for security and stability in the region for the sake of such development.

On another note, French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, will deliver a message from the father of captured Israeli soldier Gil'ad Shalit, who has been in Hamas's captivity for the past two years, to the Syrian President Bashar al-Aassad.

Assad and Sarkozy are meeting on the sideline of the foursome, French-Qatari-Turkish-Syrian summit in Damascus to discuss efforts to encourage peace in the region particularly the indirect negotiations between Israel and Syria.

Shalit holds a dual French-Israeli nationality; therefore, the French leadership has been keen to interfere in trying to get him released.

Israel has been imposing a blockade on the Gaza Strip since Shalit was captured in June 2996. the blockade has intensified after Hamas assumed control over the Gaza Strip in June 2007. This blockade has resulted so far in the death of more than 240 Palestinian patients due to lack of medical supplies and inability to travel out of the coastal region for medical treatment.

In Gaza, head of the local popular committee to break the Israeli siege on Gaza, lawmaker, Jamal al-Khudari, believed that the Israeli decision to ban the travel of some internationals out of Gaza via land, can help let such foreign activists experience life of Gaza under siege, and thus help send out an effective message.

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 Gorge Rishmawi.

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