Abbas meets Mubarak over the direct talks with Israel while Israeli attacks continue in the West Bank, these stories and more coming up, stay tuned.


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with the Egyptian President Husni Mubarak in Cairo on Thursday to discuss the start of the direct talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Abbas informed Mubarak with the latest results of the meetings with the U.S. Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell who continues to press the Palestinians to start the direct talks.

The Palestinians had demanded that Israel freezes the construction of all settlements in the West Bank as a pre-requisite to start direct talks, a demand that Israel continue to strongly reject.

The meeting between the two leaders come shortly after Egyptian security forces have took control of 17 tunnels, Palestinians use to traffic goods from Egypt to the Gaza Strip.

In other news, Israeli forces kidnapped eight Palestinians in different locations in the West Bank.

Troops kidnapped Ahmad Dolah from the city of Qalqilia in the northern part of the West Bank. An Israeli undercover force chased Dolah, 22 in the nearby village of Hijja and shot him. He was captured and taken by the undercover soldier and no information about his injury was revealed.

In Beitunia near Ramallah, Israeli troops raided the town and kidnapped Ahmad Al-Froukh, 32 and his brother Mahmoud. Troops blind-folded Al-Froukh and took him to an unknown destination and released his brother shortly after.

In the meantime, an Israeli military force kidnapped Adel Al-Salayma, 17 from the city of Hebron. Troops patrolling the old city stopped Al-Salayma and checked his documents then blind-folded him and took him to an unknown destination, eyewitnesses reported.

The other kidnaped youth were not identified as of the time of this report.

In the Gaza Strip, an Israeli military force invaded Al-Farrahin area east of Khan Younis city Thursday morning.

The Palestine News Agency (WAFA) reported that four bulldozers backed with five tanks raided the area and opened fire at residential areas however, no injuries were reported.


Thank you for joining us from occupied Bethlehem, you have been listening to Palestine Today from the International Middle East Media Center, for constant updates, please visit our website at www.imemc.org. This report has been brought to you by George Rishmawi.