Second round of peace talks end in Egypt with calls for Israel to extend settlement freeze, meanwhile, Israeli military opens fire at nonviolent protest in Gaza, these stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.


The Israeli military opened fire at Palestinian and international protesters who gathered near the borders of Beit Hanoun town, in northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

Protesters used shuffles to fill up a trench the Israeli military dug to cut off local farmers from their land adjacent to the borders to create a buffer zone.

As soon as the work started Israeli soldiers stationed at the borders opened fire at the unarmed civilians. Protesters were forced to move back temporarily, and started over, however troops opened live fire again at the protestors and the organisers agreed to call the action off.

IN THE West Bank Israeli soldiers stationed at Al Hamra military checkpoint in the Jordan Valley detained a group of Palestinian workers on Tuesday morning and assaulted them, a Palestinian media source reported.

Nimir Sawaftah, one of the attacked workers, said soldiers beat him up with their rifle buts and batons; and he was moved to a local hospital as he sustained moderate wounds.

In Political news, the US called on Israel to continue settlement freeze, to keep peace alive.

Speaking following trilateral talks between the US, Israel and the Palestinians, Tuesday morning in the Egyptian resort of Sharm Al-Sheikh, US Special Envoy George Mitchell has reaffirmed the US government's desire for Israel to continue the settlement freeze.

Earlier today, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stated that he would not continue the moratorium, but was willing to only build in the main settlements rather than create new ones.

On his part, the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas has stated numerous times since the re-start of peace talks, two weeks ago, that if the settlement freeze is not extended, the Palestinian delegation will end their attendance at talks. The claimed 10-month freeze is due to end in late September.

The Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now reported, last month, that there had been 492 incidents of Israeli violations of the moratorium, and that 2,066 new homes were planned to have their construction begun once the freeze ends.


That concludes our news for today, 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, Hussam Qassis and George Rishmawi.