Two Israeli soldiers were today charged with "unworthy conduct" after a bound and blindfolded Palestinian was shot in the foot. The case, which was caught on amateur video, sparked widespread condemnation. Footage shows a soldier shooting the protester in the foot with a rubber bullet in West Bank village of Nilin. Includes a video report on project "Shooting Back". 

Israel on Wednesday released the mayor of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, a member of the Islamist Hamas movement jailed over a year ago, Palestinian security officials said. The release of Adli Yaish, who had been arrested 15 months ago, came as Israel announced it would free over 150 Palestinian prisoners by the end of August as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. It was not immediately clear if the two decisions were related. 

Three Palestinian students from Gaza made a personal appeal to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday to allow them to study at American universities after their student visas were revoked. A U.S. diplomat said this week that visas for the three, who won prestigious Fulbright scholarships, were withdrawn after "new information" was received about them. 

More than 200 Israeli settlers occupied an abandoned Israeli military base in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour on Wednesday night, assaulting an ecumenical peace group that had gathered nearby. Two dozen international and Palestinian worshipers were attending a non-denominational, but strongly Christian-toned, religious service when the settlers arrived. Rice had previously championed efforts by the three Gaza residents to secure exit permits from Israel, which maintains a tight blockade on the Hamas-controlled territory. 

The Interior Ministry of the de facto government in Gaza released on Thursday Abdallah Abu Samhadana, a Fatah leader and the governor of the Deir Al-Balah area in the central Gaza Strip, along with 150 other people. Abu Samhadana was released in response to a petition by the Hamas-affiliated speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Ahmad Bahar. 

A car carrying visiting UK diplomats has been attacked by Israeli settlers in the West Bank town of Hebron. The armoured car, also carrying a driver and guide, was briefly attacked and kicked, although no-one was hurt. Israeli police intervened and, according to the guide, the vehicle had been kept in the area for an hour. Hebron is a flashpoint in the occupied West Bank, having a substantial settler presence living among a larger Palestinian population. 

The woman snapped her fingers at me. As I stood at the customs corral at David Ben-Gurion airport at Tel Aviv, I was astonished to be treated like an errant puppy by a young customs officer, a girl perhaps in her mid-twenties with an abundance of curly blonde hair. "Look at me! I'm talking to you!" she bellowed, and snaps her fingers again. 

The Israeli army has removed an officer from his post over allegations he ordered a soldier to fire a rubber-coated bullet into the foot of a bound and blindfolded Palestinian. A military spokeswoman said a decision on legal proceedings against Lieutenant-Colonel Omri Borberg is expected soon. Borberg, a regimental commander, was suspended last month pending a military investigation.