The Israeli army kills four Palestinians during several attacks on Gaza, while Palestinian and Israeli leaders continue peace talks in Washington, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned.

The Gaza strip

On Wednesday afternoon Israeli naval forces killed one Palestinian Police Officer and injured three others near the southern Gaza city of Rafah local sources reported. the man was killed when naval forces opened fire at Khan Younis beach.

Another three members of the Qassam Brigades were killed on Wednesday in an air strike near the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanoun. A total of seven Palestinians, both civilians and resistance fighters, have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in the last 24 hours following an Israel and Palestinian agreement, at the Annapolis summit, to restart stalled peace talks.

The West Bank

One Palestinian man was seriously injured on Wednesday when Palestinian Authority security forces opened fire during the funeral for the civilian killed during Tuesday's anti-Annapolis riots in Hebron, eyewitnesses and medical sources reported.

Mourners indicated that members of the Palestinian police force opened fire into the air and at the funeral procession itself after several stones were thrown at security forces in the area. Several people are also reported to have been arrested. The violence follows Tuesday's attacks against an anti-Annapolis rally in the city in which one man, thirty-seven year old Hisham Barad'i, died after being shot in the chest by PA security forces. The police later denied responsibility for the man's death.

In the cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem police attacks on anti-Annapolis protesters left at least 40 injured, including 10 journalists, one of whom was IMEMC’s Photographer and News Producer Ghassan Bannoura. Bannoura was detained and attacked for several hours, and was taken to the hospital with a fractured in his leg and light injuries to his back.

The American president George Bush announced that the White House will host a first round of talks between the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli premier Ehod Olmert on Wednesday. According to Bush's statement, he will hold talks separately with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders before the three convene later on in the day.

The announcement comes one day after the Annapolis conference, where more than 50 countries and organizations met, under the sponsorship of the American administration, to revive the peace process in the Middle East. Despite the plethora of outstanding issues, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday told reporters that Abbas and Olmert will continue to meet after the talks in the US and will resume with biweekly meetings.

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, brought to you by Brenna Cussen and Ghassan Bannoura.