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Tensions Rise as Gaza Pullout Nears

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has cut short a trip to Africa to make her third visit this year to the Middle East, but she'll face internal conflict on both sides. Israel soldiers are preventing thousands of settlers from marching to Gaza in hopes of preventing Israel's planned withdrawal. Last week in Gaza itself, there was deadly fighting between Palestinian Authority soldiers and gunmen from Hamas, which is challenging the PA over who will take over when the Israelis have gone. Egyptian mediators have tried to ease what's become the worst internal violence in years, but today nine members of the security force and two Hamas militants were wounded. We get progress reports on both struggles and ask how Secretary Rice can help ease the tensions on either side. Making News: Israeli Police Vow to Stop Huge Gaza Protest In Israel, thousands of settlers and Orthodox Jewish supporters are still trying to march to the Gaza Strip. So far, they've been stopped by police and Israeli soldiers. Dan Ephron is reporting for Newsweek magazine from Kfar Maimon, 10 miles from the border with Gaza. Ephron expounds on the reason for Israeli troop mobilization as well as the political implications of renewed Palestinian violence for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Reporter's Notebook: Drought, Pestilence, and Starvation in Southern Niger Nigere--or Niger--has been in the news indirectly as the African country that was not providing nuclear materials to Saddam Hussein. Now, the UN's World Food Program has Niger in the spotlight again, this time because almost 4 million people in the world's second poorest country face a shortage of food, with 1.2 million at risk of starvation. Michael Newman, program officer for Doctors Without Borders, has an update.