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Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Wednesday June 5th, 2013.

Israeli troops attack school children and nonviolent protesters in two separate incidents, many injured and one arrested. These stories and more, coming up, stay tuned.

Israeli troops attacked on Wednesday midday a solidarity protest with Palestinian political detainees organized outside the Ofer military detention center near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

Community leaders, local activists and university students marched towards the gate of Ofer military base and detention center demanding freedom to the Palestinian political detainees.

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and sounds bombs at the unarmed protesters. Many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.

Eelier on Wednesday morning, one child was kidnapped by Israeli troops many other civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation, when Israeli troops invaded Al Khadier town, near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, and clashed with local youth.

Witnesses said that soldiers invaded the town then fired tear gas at local school children provoking the clashes. The kidnapped child was identified as Hamza Al Wahsh, 15 years old, troops took him to the nearby illegal settlement of Atzion.

His father told local media that when he when to Atzion to ask about his son soldiers there detained him and abused him before letting him go.

In other news, the Israeli government is planning a new street to connect illegal West Bank settlements with occupied Jerusalem to prepare the way for the construction of new settlements in what is known as area E1, the Israeli online Haaretz reported on Wednesday.

E1 is located near the Ma’aleh Adomim settlement complex just outside Jerusalem, the new road will also be separated with a wall inside the West Bank, one side of Palestinian drivers and the other will be only for Israelis.

The E1 project which was first proposed in the 90s and then revived by the new Israeli government late last year, if completed will cut off Jerusalem form the rest of the rest of the West Bank that will be also cut into two sections.

And that’s all for today from the IMEMC News; this was the Wednesday June 5th news round-up from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For more news and updates please visit our website at www.imemc.org. Today’s report has been brought to you by Hussam Qassis and me, Ghassan Bannoura.