Israeli negotiator returns to Egypt to continue talks on prisoner exchange deal

In today's Israeli and international press, most papers report that yesterday Prime Minister Ehud Olmert struck a deal with the Labour party that will allow the coalition government to survive and will result in Olmert's Kadima party holding an internal election to vote for a new leader. The Guardian, BBC Online and Reuters note that Israel yesterday closed the border crossings between Gaza in a response to Qassam rocket attacks fired on Tuesday in breach of the ceasefire deal. BBC Online and Reuters note that UN nuclear inspector Olli Heinonen concluded a four day visit to Syria and said that the probe into a suspected Syrian nuclear site was off to a good start and needed more time for checking and establishing results. The Financial Times, meanwhile, notes that Iran's new parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, said that new sanctions imposed by the EU on Tehran would provoke his country and does not send out a positive message. Sky News Online notes that UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband wrote in a newspaper column in the International Herald Tribune that Iran will face growing economic and political pressure if it fails to abide by UN resolutions regarding its nuclear programme. The Guardian leads with a piece on Iran's nuclear development programme. The paper also carries a piece on the plight of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries. The Times and the Daily Telegraph reports on the Israeli guard who shot himself during the closing ceremony of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Israel. The Independent runs an interview with Palestinian businessman and millionaire Munib al-Masri.

In the Israeli press, all papers report that the head negotiator for kidnapped soldiers, Ofer Dekel, will travel to Cairo today to meet with Egyptian officials and will present them with a new Israeli proposal regarding the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. The papers also note that crossing points between Gaza and Israel will remain closed today as a result of Qassam rocket attacks on Israel that breached the ceasefire agreement. Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post report that IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said yesterday that it is Israel's moral responsibility to return kidnapped soldiers. Haaretz notes that dozens of dirt road blocks in the West Bank were removed as the security situation improved and a marked decrease in the number of stone-throwing incidences had been reported. Ynetnews notes that Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa said that his country allowed a UN probe on a suspected nuclear site to prove that allegations of a Syrian nuclear programme were false. In other news, all papers report that last night the new "Bridge of Strings" built for the Jerusalem's light rail line was inaugurated. 

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