September 30 2004

Edward Said: A Contrapuntal Reading - By Mahmoud Darwish
On wind he walks, and in wind
he knows himself. There is no ceiling for the wind,
no home for the wind. Wind is the compass
of the stranger's North.
He says: I am from there, I am from here,
but I am neither there nor here.
I have two names which meet and part...
I have two languages, but I have long forgotten
which is the language of my dreams.
I have an English language, for writing,
with yielding phrases,
and a language in which Heaven and
Jerusalem converse, with a silver cadence,
but it does not yield to my imagination.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/710/cu4.htm


Urgent Appeal from UHWC Gaza
UHWC teams call all international and human rights organizations, the Red Cross, and United Nations, and all those who are seeking just peace in the area to urgently interfere to stop this massacre against the Palestinian people. At the same time we need pressure on the Israeli government to stop its harassment of the medical teams and civilians.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3137.shtml


International Strategy Meeting in Beirut calls for “International Movement against Israeli Apartheid”
Against the Zionist onslaught of the Palestinian people through the colonization of their land, the Conference has called for a “Movement against Israeli Apartheid” as a concrete means of supporting the Palestinian struggle for Justice and Liberation with its core the call for comprehensive boycott, divestment and sanctions.
http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/765.shtml


The Harvard Law Professor Who Sat On An Israeli Assassination Target Review Panel
Comparing the ICJ to a Mississippi court in the 1930s, Dershowitz contends that the ICJ is a credible court for the rest of the world but not for Israel, just as the Mississippi court was a just tribunal for whites but not for blacks. This argument, in its analogical enormity, paints the ICJ as an exceptionally anti-Israel body.
http://www.counterpunch.com/khan09302004.html


Jewish Activists Disrupt Bulldozer Sales To Israel
Jewish peace activists protested Caterpillar's safety record in the Middle East when they disrupted the Caterpillar-sponsored Safety Awards earlier this morning at the MINExpo in Las Vegas, Nevada. They unrolled a banner with a photo of an armored D-9 bulldozer destroying homes that read “What do Cat dozers make possible? Death and destruction for Palestinians and Israelis.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0409/S00342.htm


Edward Said... farewell
Edward Said was a loving and honest person. He was passionate about learning and knowledge. He always questioned everything around him, perhaps because he believed that knowledge is a bridge that can connect people and a source of power that cannot be monopolized by the forces of oppression and tyranny.
http://www.palestinereport.org/article.php?article=61


Widescale Israeli military offensive on the Northern Gaza Strip
PCHR remains gravely concerned for the latest escalation of Israeli military operations in the occupied Palestinian Territory (OPTs), especially in the Gaza Strip, and warns of retaliatory acts against Palestinian civilians and their properties, in violation of international law and humanitarian law.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3138.shtml


Detainees abused in Al-Maskobiyya prison in Jerusalem
The two detainees told Sabah that they are repeatedly beaten, forced to strip in front of female soldiers in an attempt to break their hunger strike which they announced in protest to keeping them in solitary after the end of their interrogation period.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/093004/Detainees_Abused.htm


31 Palestinians killed, 130 wounded in the Israeli Military Operation in Gaza Strip
A Palestinian medical source Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, said that the soldiers killed on Wednesday and Thursday 31 Palestinians in Jabalia, among them 25 residents shot dead on Thursday, and shot wounded 130 in the vast the military operation carried in the northern Gaza Strip.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/093004/11_killed.htm


26 dead in Gaza fighting
Palestinian witnesses said the dead from the tank shell blast were all teenagers with no involvement in the heavy fighting that raged through the camp. "The explosion was so big it scattered body parts in nearby houses," a medic said.
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5249099


Gaza Hospital Is Overwhelmed With Wounded
Frantic doctors tended to patients on a blood-smeared hospital floor and operated on cafeteria tables, as medics rushed in with more wounded and mangled bodies. On one of the deadliest days in Gaza in four years — 26 Palestinians were killed and at least 131 wounded Thursday — even battle-tested medical staff were overwhelmed.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20040930/ap_on_re_mi_ea/gaza_scene


Chapel Hill Activist To Speak At Palestinian Conference At Duke
A Chapel Hill activist who was shot in Israel last year is among the people scheduled to speak at a Palestine Solidarity Movement conference at Duke University.
http://www.wral.com/news/3773579/detail.html


Citizenship law divides, not unites families
The law denies Israeli citizenship or residency status to the spouses of Israeli citizens who are residents of the West Bank or Gaza. This of course means that only marriages between Palestinian-Israelis and Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza are affected. It does not affect marriages between Israeli citizens and other foreigners.
http://www.palestinereport.org/article.php?article=443


Five children killed in Gaza Strip battles
Hours earlier a large Israeli force sent to reoccupy the Gaza camp to prevent rocket attacks killed two Palestinian schoolboys. Another boy was shot dead by soldiers near a Jewish settlement. The police said the Hamas rocket hit a house, killing the two children - Dorit Aniso, two, and four-year-old Yuval Abebeh. (Palestinian kids both nameless & ageless)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1316057,00.html


Israeli Colonisers Wound American Pacifists and Palestinian Schoolgirl
Two American members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), and a 10-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl were wounded as Israeli armed colonizers assaulted them, in the West bank city of Hebron, witnesses said.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1750


Mofaz: Large-scale, prolonged Gaza operation
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz Thursday announced a "large-scale and prolonged operation," aimed at pushing Qassam rockets out of range of the hard-hit Negev town of Sderot, ordering the IDF to step up the campaign already underway in Gaza and to prepare to take over a buffer zone in the northern Gaza Strip.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/483526.html


Hamas conditions on stopping rocket attacks
The Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas announced Thursday that it is willing to stop rocket attacks at Israel if the latter stops military offensives in the territories.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/30/content_2043211.htm


Erekat condemns Israel's killing of Palestinians in Gaza
"What happened in the northern area of the Gaza Strip is a real crime with the full meaning of this word," Erekat told reporters in reaction to the Israeli military escalation.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-10/01/content_2043648.htm


No-confidence vote planned against Palestinian PM
Lawmakers angered by the Palestinian leadership's failure to make reforms plan to force a parliamentary no-confidence vote that could bring down the government appointed by Yasser Arafat.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=483408&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Vanunu tells Australian radio: Israeli nukes unjustified
"They produce a lot of atomic bombs and hydrogen bomb ... they had no reasonable justification. They should realize that ... they lost in this war of nuclear secrets and they should admit to the world they went in the wrong direction and go for real peace with the Arabs in the Middle East," he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/483430.html


Powell says Palestinian uprising should end
"It is time to end the uprising. We want a Palestinian state. The [U.S.] president wants the establishment of a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people which exists side by side with Israel," Powell said. (but first of all make illegal Settlemets legally recognized)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/483413.html


Syria wants Israel expelled from UN over its "terrorist" policy
An official Syrian newspaper called Thursday for the country's archfoe Israel to be sanctioned over its "terrorist" policies and expelled from the United Nations. "It is high time Israel is sanctioned for its terrorist record and its odious crimes which threaten the stability of the region and international security,"
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=29041


CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL
Cameron Kerry is pledging his brother John would review the sentence of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, who received a life sentence in 1985 after pleading guilty of passing classified documents to Israel. "It does seem like [Pollard] got a disparate sentence. I'm sure a President Kerry will take a look at it,"...
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=kessler20040923145


Teachers' pests
However, Tirosh officially and openly confirmed that every appointment of an Arab educator is submitted to the Shin Bet for approval. She defended this procedure and even announced that neither she nor Education Minister Limor Livnat has any intention of working to change it.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/483006.html


Without the right of return there can be no solution
The right of return of Palestinian refugees to their place of origin is enshrined in four separate bodies of international law: humanitarian law; human rights law; the law of nationality as applied to state succession; and refugee law. Beyond these laws, which apply to all refugees in the world, the UN General Assembly specified the Palestinian case in Resolution 194...
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/10077/


US Falluja air raid claims more lives
Four people have been killed and six more wounded after US warplanes bombed Falluja, according to a hospital in the Iraqi city. Victims of the dawn raid (0100 GMT) were rushed to Falluja's general hospital on Thursday where Dr Abd al-Hakim al-Badrani confirmed the civilian toll. the bombing killed "a father, mother and their two children"...
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8E9442BD-F5E9-481C-BB96-57FBBAFBB152.htm


Committing a war crime: Cancer cases in Iraq are increasing
While Washington expresses concern that “terrorists” could explode a “dirty bomb” containing nuclear waste on a Western city, killing hundreds of people and leaving a radioactive residue which will cause cancer for years to come, the US is dropping “dirty” depleted uranium bunker bombs on Iraq and selling 500 of these devices to Israel.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5990&s2=30


Not enough troops to keep pace, study says
The military doesn't have enough people for its current pace of missions, according to an independent study commissioned by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But Rumsfeld said he won't immediately act on the panel's recommendations.
http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-NAVYPAPER-370919.php


NATO mission in Iraq could involve 3,000 troops: Jones
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) agreed to the training mission in principle in June, but has struggled to agree on the details amid resistance notably from France. Jones, who is NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said: "in the initial paper we sent out we hypothesized that it will be no more than a brigade. that's approximately 3,000."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=3&u=/afp/20040930/wl_mideast_afp/nato_iraq_040930173805

September 29 2004

Budrus Arrests and Peace Activists Beaten
Today, at 1:00PM, residents of Budrus, joined by internationals and at least 15 Israelis marched to protest the Wall and to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the second Intifada. Palestinian Non-violent Activist, Mansour was arrested and beaten.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/palsolidarity/message/1071


ISM Reports and Budrus Update
1. Reports from Budrus: update on arrests; 2. Jenin suffers largest military invasion in two years; 3. Report on demonstration in Beit Awwa, Monday; 4. Israeli activists face charges for protesting the destruction of Palestinian olive trees
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/palsolidarity/message/1072


Jewish settlers 'attack' US workers
Two American Christian volunteers say they were beaten and robbed by masked Jewish settlers while escorting a group of Palestinian children to school. Kim Lamberty and Chris Brown say they were kicked, beaten with a chain and had their possessions stolen close to the Maon settlement, near Hebron.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3701036.stm


Jewish Activists Disrupt Safety Awards at MINExpo to Protest Caterpillar's Sales to Israeli Army
Jewish peace activists protested Caterpillar's safety record in the Middle East when they disrupted the Caterpillar-sponsored Safety Awards earlier this morning in Las Vegas, Nevada. They unrolled a banner with a photo of an armored D-9 bulldozer destroying homes that read "What do Cat dozers make possible? Death and destruction for Palestinians and Israelis."
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3135.shtml


Anglican Group Shocked, Troubled by Israeli Humiliation of Palestinian People
The Anglican Peace and Justice Network (APJN) called on the Israeli forces to withdraw from the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and to dismantle the Apartheid Wall, expressing shock on the Israeli breaches of international boundaries and humiliation of Palestinian people.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1743


Witnesses: Settler's shooting of Palestinian was unprovoked
Police sources said Tuesday that the shooting of a Palestinian by a settler on Monday was an act of self-defense, but the findings of a Haaretz investigation cast serious doubt on this conclusion.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=483285&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Israel kills 6 Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank raids
Youths of 17 and 14 in a stone-throwing crowd that confronted Israeli forces were shot dead in Gaza's Jabalya refugee camp. Fifteen others, many of them students in school uniforms, were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds. In a separate incident in central Gaza, Israeli troops shot dead a boy of 13 and wounded four others...
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/111392b0-1224-11d9-863e-00000e2511c8.html


Israeli Troops Kill a Resident in Jenin, Demolishes Houses in Gaza
Mahmoud Naser Bazour,19 years-old, was shot dead,  Khalil Sleet,14,  and Shoja' Abed, 15, were  injured by Israeli soldiers after  coming under the soldiers fire shot from houses' rooftops, medical sources at the Khalil Sulaiman hospital said.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/181.html

Israel launches missile attack on refugee camp in Gaza, causing casualties
An Israeli helicopter gunship fired two missiles into the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, wounding several Palestinians, witnesses said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/30/content_2040125.htm


Palestinian Rocket Kills 2 in Israeli Town
A Palestinian rocket hit an Israeli town near the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing two people, according to Israeli media. Soon after, witnesses said an Israeli helicopter launched a strike near a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040929_938.html


?Palestinian brigades shoot two Jewish settlers
Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility Wednesday for killing two Israeli settlers south of Gaza. The brigades said in a statement that one of its sniper groups shot two Israeli truck drivers near the settlement of Gan Or, west of Khan Yunis.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=667839


Jihad attacks Israeli settlement in northern Gaza
"we could shell the Israeli settlements from the areas that Israelis are invading at the same time." Meanwhile, Israeli radio reported that two soldiers were lightly wounded in the shelling and were taken to Soroka hospital in Be'er Shiva for treatment.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/29/content_2038297.htm


No-confidence vote planned against Palestinian PM
Such a move would put increased pressure on Arafat, who in recent months has faced unprecedented unrest in the most serious challenge to his rule since he returned from exile a decade ago.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/483408.html


Powell says Palestinian uprising should end
"It is time to end the uprising. We want a Palestinian state. The (U.S.) president wants the establishment of a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people which exists side by side with Israel," Powell told Arab satellite television Al Jazeera.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29388942.htm


U.N.: Most Palestinians live below poverty line
Three of every four Palestinians live in poverty and their economy still depends on donors, despite 4.5 percent economic growth last year, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5007136.html


Mofaz: IDF will need 12 weeks to complete disengagement
The defense minister expressed concern that if the stages are not connected, those opposed to the disengagement will take advantage of the gaps and rally to make it more difficult for the evacuation to take place.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=483298&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


600,000 Palestinians registered for elections: official
Ali Jarbawi, secretary of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission said this figure represents 35 percent of the total number of the Palestinians who have the rights to register for elections in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/29/content_2039346.htm


Two alleged Mossad agents freed from New Zealand jail
The two men pleaded guilty in July to trying to obtain a New Zealand passport using the identity of a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy victim. New Zealand suspended all high-level diplomatic contact with Israel as a result and has sought an explanation and apology. Israel is refusing to comment on the case.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/483068.html


Episcopal Church Follows Protestant Path of Israeli Divestment
After spending eight days meeting with Palestinian Christians and touring areas of the West Bank, a coalition of Anglican church leaders are prepared to recommend to the Worldwide Anglican Communion, which meets in Wales in June, that the church body divest from Israel.
http://www.jewishexponent.com/Zoom.asp?storyID=22721&szparent=586&pubID=282&Archive=


Apology still required from Israel
The cancellation of scheduled foreign ministry consultations and the requirement for Israeli officials to apply for visas to visit New Zealand will hardly be creating tremors in Tel Aviv. Nor will the suspension of the appointment of an ambassador and the rolling out of the "not welcome" mat for the Israeli President.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3595957&thesection=news&thesubsection=dialogue


General Assembly speakers canvass topics from terrorism to trade and debt relief
Farouk Assaad Kaddoumi, Head of Delegation for the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine , denounced Israel as "a war-sophisticated arms developer and dealer with no ethical or moral constraints and with no human rights concerns."
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12067&Cr=general&Cr1=assembly


The Sword of St Michael - By Israel Shamir
"Nothing justifies violence", or "Two wrongs do not make a right" - one hears these pseudo-wisdom cracks daily. It is not true from any point of view; even from the highest moral ground: violence is justified and commanded in order to save another person's life and dignity.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5930&s2=28


Weblog: Are Mainline Churches Anti-Semitic?
The IRD wrongly and dangerously equates any criticism of the government of Israel and its policies with anti-Semitism. The NCC seeks justice for all people in the Middle East. It is working for justice in the land where our Savior walked and where our Christian brothers and sisters, along with Jews and Muslims, are crying out for justice.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/139/21.0.html


It's the Occupation, Stupid!
It led to the Oslo Peace Process in 1993 and a hopeful time in Israeli-Palestinian relations until the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. The Al Aqsa Intifada, as the Second Intifada, began as a Palestinian uprising to get the peace process back on the table and to set the stage for an independent Palestinian state.
http://www.imemc.org/opinion/2004/september/am-johal-4yrs-intifada.htm


3334 Palestinian killed in the past four years 82% of them were civilians
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, chair of "Health and Development Information Policy Center" (HDIP), said that 3334 Palestinians were killed and 53,000 were wounded since the beginning of the Intifada in September, 28, 2000.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/092904/barghouthi-4-yrs.htm


Four Years of Intifada: Statistical Overview
The Second Intifada, now entering its 5th year, has seen the world distracted by events in Iraq, enabling Israel to continue violating Palestinians' Human Rights with complete immunity. The international media remains more accessible to the Israeli side and thus allows Israel to push forward their preferred narrative.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3131.shtml


Without the right of return there can be no solution
The right of choice is a necessity for those who have, for half a century, been forced to live as aliens without basic rights in miserable camps and in states that have not always embraced them with open arms.
http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/pal1.php


'How will Damascus respond?'
What is especially appalling about Israel's contempt for international legalities is that there has been no condemnation of the attack from any western country, and even the Arab world has remained mute. "It is because of this silence that Israel continues its aggression towards its neighbours, and forges ahead with its own plans...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1314965,00.html


Inside Track / A scary, simple equation
American Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer couldn't believe his ears. About a month ago, Kurtzer - as he later told friends - met with representatives of the settlers who are spearheading the resistance to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's evacuation plan in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, at their request.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/483008.html


Mordechai Vanunu speaks
Maybe the real fear is that my free spirit, my free belief to express my views in politics, in everything, not only nuclear secrets, I have many interesting views and I'm telling them without fear and expressing that to anyone in all the world, in all the media, and that is not good for Israel.
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1209662.htm


Captors don't want to kill me, says Bigley
The 62-year-old, who appeared to be kneeling inside a cage and was seen weeping, branded Prime Minister Tony Blair a liar on the tape, screened on Arab TV station Al-Jazeera. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit - similar to those worn by American prisoners at Guantanamo Bay - and had a metal chain draped around his neck and both his hands and feet bound.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=567058


Blair disagrees with Annan's calling Iraq war illegal
"That's his view," Blair told BBC interviewer John Humphrys during a programme broadcast Wednesday, a day after his keynote speech to the Labour Party conference in the southern English resort of Brighton. "The war was justified legally because he (Saddam Hussein) remained in breach of UN resolutions," said Blair.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=17&u=/afp/20040929/wl_mideast_afp/britain_politics_labour_blair_annan_040929100736

September 28 2004

One Year Later: Remembering Edward Said - By Ilan Pappe
Time passes by so quickly and hence it seems as if only yesterday we were all reading those touching and insightful obituaries of the man and his philosophy. From brilliant long expositions to short but genuine eulogies, it seems that everything that could be said was candidly presented to those who knew him and the millions who have only heard of him.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3129.shtml


Jordan says Israel barrier threatens the kingdom
the barrier will interfere with the establishment of a viable independent Palestinian state and harm all aspects of Palestinian political, social and economic life. "This set of circumstances is bound to have spill-over implications into neighboring countries, especially Jordan ... The separation wall threatens the national security" of the kingdom, he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=482557&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Israeli Activists Face Charges For Protesting the Destruction of Trees
Today Israeli activists Neta Golan and Shelley Nativ faced charges in an Israeli court in Kfar Saba for chaining themselves to olive trees that were being bulldozed by the Israeli army in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in April 2001.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/DesktopModules/Articles/ArticlesView.aspx?TabID=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en-US&ItemID=478&mid=10400


Palestinians use Israel-style perks to counter settlers
Palestinians, worried that the slow drain of residents from the old quarter could loosen their hold on Hebron in favour of ultra-nationalist Israelis, say they need to quickly reclaim decaying homes to stop settlers from expanding their enclaves.
http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG4_sub.asp?ccode=ENG4&newscode=73679


On This Day 2000: 'Provocative' mosque visit sparks riots
The violence began after a highly controversial tour of the mosque compound early this morning by hardline Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon. Under heavy guard, Mr Sharon entered the compound with a right-wing Likud party delegation. Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister in February 2001, turned his back on the land for peace deal and re-occupied the West Bank.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/28/newsid_3687000/3687762.stm


Two Palestinians killed on intifada anniversary, CNN staffer released
Mahmud Ibzur, 16, was fatally hit in the chest during clashes between troops and stone throwers protesting the second day of a large army search and arrest operation in northern West Bank town of Jenin and its refugee camp. Earlier in Jenin, troops shot dead Saleh Bilalu, a 47-year-old mentally ill man...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=2&u=/afp/20040928/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_040928174012


Jewish settler 'gets away' with murder
A Jewish settler who killed a Palestinian driver has been freed from police custody and placed under temporary house arrest, Israeli state-run radio has reported. His release, ordered by the Kfar Sava court on Tuesday, sheds light on the stunning leniency adopted by the Israeli justice system toward Jews involved in serious crimes against non-Jews.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5CA019C0-7C35-461D-A238-8F5C40E80D39.htm


Israeli Supreme Court Releases Soldiers Convicted of Abusing Two Palestinian Workers
The only verdict, the court has passed against the said soldiers was placement of them under home arrest for four days, despite atrocious harassment the two Palestinian workers have gone through at the hands of these soldiers two weeks ago.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/180.html


Israeli Army Invades Jenin Camp; Occupies Hospital
The army also occupied the hospital in the late morning, and arrested two employees of the hospital: a guard and a janitor, neither of whom were "wanted." They left after detroying the equipment in the operating room.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/DesktopModules/Articles/ArticlesView.aspx?TabID=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en-US&ItemID=475&mid=10400


Israeli police 'made men drink urine'
Grabbing the men at gunpoint two weeks ago on suspicion of illegal entry into Israeli-held territory, the border policemen took them to an abandoned building and began to beat them, according to an indictment charging them with assault and abuse.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw109638504126B253


Sick transit
Shuli Davidovich, of the Israeli embassy, misses the point (Letters, September 25). In 2002, Israel made a commitment that no ambulance should wait more than 30 minutes at a checkpoint. Another agreement, between the Red Cross and the Israeli Defence Force, says that in emergency cases Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances should be allowed to pass through checkpoints.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,1314237,00.html


Qassam rockets hit Sderot, eight treated for shock
Palestinians fired at least four Qassam rockets at the Sderot area in the Negev on Tuesday, and eight people were treated for shock. One of the rockets hit a house, causing some damage, and another landed near a school.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=482940&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Palestinian PM urges tactical rethink on intifada
"This anniversary should make us all - the people, the factions and the Palestinian Authority - reconsider the past four years, where we went wrong and where we went right," Qureia told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/482958.html


Hamas intends to agree on temporary national program
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told reporters that the program will lead to establish a unified Palestinian leadership that all the Palestinian factions would join.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/28/content_2034062.htm


Gaza curbs 'hamper aid effort'
UNRWA is calling on Israel to respect the freedom of movement of its staff. The agency supplies food to almost one million people in the occupied territories - 700,000 of them in the Gaza Strip. It also runs schools and hospitals.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3697172.stm


Elite officers criticize IDF actions in territories
The officers said that they had no intention of refusing to serve, but objected to some of the army's tactics in the territories. They were particularly troubled by the widespread demolition of houses in Gaza, which they said was immoral and hurt the innocent.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=482617&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Reacting to recent deaths, Annan asks Israel to ensure Palestinian civilians' safety
"The Secretary-General and his representatives in the region have repeatedly called on the Government of Israel to respect the inviolability of UN institutions and installations, and in particular, to refrain from any activities that endanger the lives and safety of those who are lawfully on the premises, especially children,"
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12057&Cr=middle&Cr1=east


Ed Koch: Only Bush can
The former mayor of New York and one of the most prominent American Jews, Koch is setting out to persuade the Jews of Florida that this time they should vote for George W. Bush. Even he himself, a sworn Democrat who was elected on his party's ticket for a number of public positions over decades...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/482612.html


Seeing Palestinians plain
If you somehow believe that political problems can be solved militarily then it is easy to see why peace talks have stumbled. This image has upped the ante to such a degree that it has become difficult for Palestinian politicians to make political compromises.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1096259486780&p=1006953079865


Liberation Art of Palestine
Art in Palestine, however, is part of the liberation struggle. Samia A. Halaby in her book "Liberation Art of Palestine" puts this art in context, explains its symbols, development and historical roots, and gives important insights into one of the conflicts shaking the world today.
http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/palbook0930.php


Arabs, Israel Split on Terror Definition
"The latter two conventions define the terrorist crime, and distinguish between terrorism and the legitimate right of people lingering under foreign occupation to resist occupation in accordance with international law and the United Nations' Charter," al-Sharaa said. Western nations and Israel say there is no room for excuses...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=12&u=/ap/20040928/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_interpreting_terrorism


PCHR: In Four-Years Old  Intifada, Israel Demolishes 4811 Palestinian Homes
Throughout  the past four years of the Palestinian uprising (Intifada), against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian cities, towns, villages and refugee camps, the Israeli occupying forces have demolished 4811 Palestinian-owned houses, 2432 of which totally , while the remaining others partially, the Gaza-based Human Rights Center reported Tuesday.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/178.html


A false quiet in Jordan
But in fact this quiet is deceptive, because the deep waters in and around Jordan are liable to sweep the Hashemite regime into an existential struggle. President Bush's ambitious plan to implant democracy in an Arab state will, in the end, also reach the palace in Amman, which today is Washington's loyal ally.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/482589.html


Arab democracy is possible, but a long-term strategy is required
"Arab Human Development Report" is frank in its criticism of the region's economic and social progress. Economic growth has been slow, approximately half of the women are illiterate, and the region is not well integrated into the world economy. Indeed, with a population of more than 300 million, Arab countries export less to the world, excluding oil and gas, than Finland.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=8776


Two British soldiers killed in Basra ambush
Two British soldiers died following an ambush on a convoy near the southern Iraqi city of Basra today, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said. They came under attack south west of the city and the pair were killed as they tried to rescue other soldiers from one of the vehicles in the convoy.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=566565


Freed Italians committed to aiding Iraqis
The two aid workers, the first Western women to be seized since the start of Iraq's hostage saga, share the same first name, the same age, the same job and the same dedication to the Iraqi people.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=592499&section=news


Arafat joins fight to save Bigley amid reports hostage is still alive
Mr Bigley told the ITV News Channel it was "fantastic news," which had been relayed to him by the representative of the Palestinian Authority in Ireland. He contrasted it with the efforts of Tony Blair, who he accused of not doing enough.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=566468


The Worse The Situation In Iraq, The Bigger The Lies That Tony Blair Tells Us -by Robert Fisk
For what happened to all those videos which members of Congress were allowed to watch in secret and which we - the public - were not permitted to see? Why have we suddenly forgotten about Abu Ghraib? Seymour Hersh, the journalist who broke the Abu Ghraib story - and one of the only journalists in America who is doing his job - has spoken publicly...
http://www.counterpunch.com/fisk09282004.html


Iraqi roads crushed by US military
"Drivers of US occupation tanks have no respect for Iraq as an entity; they trash everything on their way," says Hana Khalid, a retired Iraqi teacher. "It is a very common scene in Baghdad that a tank destroys a pavement in order to make a U-turn."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F619BF9C-771D-4CDF-8659-F74F63C3A669.htm


US oil companies prepare for a return to Libya
US oil companies aiming to return to Libya will have the chance to express their interest in exploring for oil in the energy-rich north African country for the first time today since Ronald Reagan imposed sanctions on Libya in 1986.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/17e4874a-10ec-11d9-a73b-00000e2511c8.html

September 27 2004

In the Shadow of the Wall
Outside Akramawi's shop the wall runs right across the road. Forty feet high, it slices through the community, severing Jerusalem from the West Bank village of Abu Dis. “If you want security for your house you build the wall in your own garden not in your neighbour's,” he complains, increasingly fired up and distraught.
http://www.sundayherald.com/44962


Israel still expropriating land to expand settlements
The "state lands" designation has consistently served the governments of Israel in establishing and expanding settlements. In the late 1970s the Supreme Court forbade the expropriation of private Palestinian property for settlements.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481828.html


Village of Budrus faces Israeli army threats after peaceful demonstration against the Wall
Tomorrow, September 28,villagers will march in commemoration of the 4th anniversary of the second Intifada and to protest the Wall. They will be joined by internationals, including Israelis.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/palsolidarity/message/1069


Army Seals Budrus village
Israel confiscated wide areas of land and cut down a large number of trees in the village for the construction of the West Bank separation wall. Residents of Budrus are planning for a peaceful Anti-Wall protest on Tuesday in coordination with Israeli and International Peace activists from the International Solidarity Movement.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/092704/budrus.htm


Survey: 45 percent of Arab families live below poverty line
Forty-five percent of Arab families in Israel are defined as poor, compared to 15 percent of families in the Jewish sector, according to statistics published on Monday by Sikui, an Israeli Arab association for social equality in Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/482460.html


Israeli Extrajudicial Executions at Large: Seven Palestinians Killed in Gaza and Nablus
Sayel Jebara, 46, was killed after Israeli settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement 'Alon Moreh' opened fire at him near the bypass colonial road. Earlier, Israeli forces extra-judicially executed two Palestinian resistance activists in the city of Nablus...
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/174.html


Israeli Army conducts a wide scale invasion in Jenin
The Israel army launched a broad operation in the West Bank city of Jenin early Monday. Eyewitnesses said Israeli forces are backed with armored vehicles and Apache gun ships. Troops imposed house arrest in the city and started a house-to-house search in the center of the city and in the adjacent refugee camp.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/092704/jenin-invasion.htm


IDF reservist gets 28 days for refusing to serve in Gaza
G.S., who immigrated to Israel 12 years ago, said following his trial Sunday that his childhood in apartheid South Africa had been very influential on his willingness to go to prison for his beliefs. "I lived in a society where one group's survival translated into injustice for others. That's the situation in Gaza and I don't want to be part of that," he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=482341&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Israeli guard commits suicide next to West Bank barrier: police
The incident took place as the man was protecting workers building a section of the controversial barrier at Har Adar, 10 kilometres (six miles) northwest of Jerusalem, they said. "It was a probable suicide," police spokesman Gil Kleiman told AFP. "He put a gun to his head and shot himself."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=15&u=/afp/20040927/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_unrest_shooting_toll


Mayor to force Jerusalem's Arabs out
Last week, Lupolianski asked the Israeli interior ministry to allow him to convert an entire Arab neighbourhood, known as Wadi al-Juz, into a Jewish-only neighbourhood. His declared justification is that the "re-zoning of the area" would "enhance the unity of Jerusalem" and "strengthen the link between Jewish neighbourhoods".
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/32E48972-F79C-4274-9ED9-B441FCCE9425.htm


Jordan dismisses Israeli claim that Al Aqsa compound risks collapse
Jordan has dismissed Israeli claims that part of the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem is at risk of collapse, saying experts had checked it earlier this year.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=13&u=/afp/20040927/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_jerusalem_religion_jordan_040927185658


Palestinian side dismisses Israeli warning on Aqsa Mosque
The Palestinian Islamic Waqf on Monday dismissed Israeli assertions that the Temple Mount might collapse, stressing the eastern side of the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and all its walls and ceilings are safe.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/27/content_2029751.htm


Report: construction carried out at 470 sites across territories
According to the report, 3,700 housing units are currently being built in the territories, while infrastructure work is taking place for thousands of additional units. The report stated that one new outpost, “Ma'avar Michmash” near Ramallah, was erected while 19 others had grown.
http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=11182


Israeli soldiers admit degrading acts
According to press reports, the soldiers forced the boys into an abandoned house near the roadblock. There they urinated in to a small plastic bucket, dipped the boys' identity cards in and, at gun point, forced them to retrieve the IDs with their mouths.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B094E2B5-8855-45A8-80B5-A54445C8511D.htm


10 year old schoolgirl dies in hospital after being hit by bullet in classroom
On countless occasions I have called upon the Israeli authorities to respect their obligations under the CRC and under International Humanitarian Law in general, and to stop firing on the schools, fearing that innocent schoolchildren would inevitably be killed. Now it has happened. It is a tragic and senseless death. We have all failed to protect this child. Such killings must stop.”
http://www.un.org/unrwa/news/releases/pr-2004/hqg28-04.pdf


Armed men in Gaza kidnap Israeli citizen working for CNN
Riad Abu Ali, who works as an assistant producer for CNN was snatched from his car after leaving the company's offices in Gaza City. The Palestinian Authority is in contact with the armed men in an attempt to negotiate his release.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/482510.html


Qurei condemns assassination of Hamas leader in Syria
"The fair peace is the Palestinian people's choice if Israel would stop the closures, incursions and stop building the settlements and the separating wall," Qurei said. He added if Israel continues to use security as an excuse forthe policy against the Palestinian people, it will not lead to anyresult.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/27/content_2030194.htm


PNA says ready "to halt cycle of violence"
The sources said the PNA demanded the international community to appoint international observers to supervise a complete ceasefire and to work on an immediate start of implementing the roadmap peace plan.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/27/content_2029752.htm


Syria, at UN, says Israel behind US war on Iraq
Shara accused Israel of refusing to comply with 40 Security Council resolutions and hundreds of General Assembly resolutions demanding that Israel withdraw from the Palestinian territories as a step toward a Middle East peace. Washington had used Baghdad's noncompliance with U.N. resolutions as one of its rationales for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27571024.htm


Jordan welcomes IAEA inspection
Jordan said in August it was preparing to invite UN experts from the IAEA to carry out independent surveys in the kingdom to eliminate any fear of contamination from the Dimona plant. Israel's first nuclear scientist, Mordechai Vanunu, once warned that the plant could become "a second Chernobyl".
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/27/content_2028504.htm


Number of jobless hits all-time high
The number of jobless who lined up in August at employment bureaus skyrocketed to an all-time high of 243,517 people - a 3.5 percent increase on the previous month and a near 7 percent rise since June. The figure is also 9 percent higher than August 2003.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=482014&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Syrian FM says Sharon trying to 'mislead' the world
Shara said the Middle East is suffering from an explosive situation brought about by Israel's settlement and nuclear policies, which threaten the entire region.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/482496.html


Jordan fingered over Hamas hit list
Although Hamas spokesman Usama Hamdan, who called the act "treason", did not name the country, most analysts are pointing the finger of suspicion squarely at Israel's eastern neighbour, Jordan.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/86FBF002-923A-4E4A-9DDF-B1C73184E83F.htm


Dozens hurt as clerics clash in Jerusalem church
A Greek Orthodox cleric said Franciscans had left open the door to their chapel in what was taken as a show of disrespect. Fighting then broke out at the wooden doorway dividing the Orthodox and Franciscan sections of the church, with clerics and worshippers punching each other...
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27490150.htm


Token Arab
He maintains that films that deal with specific minority groups in Israeli society receive marketing assistance - for example in the case of "Or," (which is about a prostitute), "Ushpizin" (the ultra-Orthodox), and "Walk on Water" (gays), but films that are in Arabic, Israel's second official language, do not receive that kind of support.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/482070.html


Democracy revisited eight years on
The next elections were meant to be held four years later in 2000, and were postponed until after the full Israeli-Palestinian peace everyone was expecting. But instead of an agreement, bloodshed began and the PA, which had already announced plans for a vote, was forced to cancel it.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/482050.html


Background / The Arab who helps the Jew kill the Arab
Two days before the Sunday blast, the London-based Al-Hayat daily reported that an Arab state had supplied Israel with highly detailed intelligence on Hamas leaders living in Damascus, Beirut, Tehran and Khartoum.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=482450&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2


Threats trail man organizing Gaza withdrawal
The plan still faces political barriers, but Sharon has received more death threats in recent months than any prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin, who was gunned down by an Israeli radical in November 1995. Up to eight members of the internal Shabak security service now guard Sharon.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2004/09/27/threats_trail_man_organizing_gaza_withdrawal/


Herzl's Nightmare
Rogers writes: "It was a triumph achieved . . . on the bones of millions of European Jews, and at the expense of Palestinian society and of Palestinian nationalism. Whatever their emotional attachment to the land they [Jews] now ruled, whatever their historical claim to it, the Jews of Israel had supplanted another people who would not forget."
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/26/1096137090518.html?oneclick=true


Israel May Not Be Able to Destroy Nukes
In February, Israel received the first of 102 American-built F-16I warplanes, the largest weapons deal in its history. Military sources say the planes were specially designed with extra fuel tanks to allow them to reach Iran. In June, it signed a $319 million deal to acquire nearly 5,000 U.S.-made smart bombs, including 500 "bunker busters"...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=6&u=/ap/20040927/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_striking_iran


Arafat intervenes on behalf of British hostage: brother
Paul Bigley said he had been contacted by a Palestinian envoy to Ireland who had told him that Arafat had written to a Palestinian minister who lived for some years in Iraq to "do everything possible" to save Bigley.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=4&u=/afp/20040927/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_hostages_britain


Five U.S. House members were in U.S. embassy in Baghdad when rocket exploded; none was injured
''Yes, we were there'' when the blast occurred, Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., said in a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan. ''We were in the basement. And the rocket that was launched into the embassy complex was about 500 meters from where we were.''
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/270/nation/Five_U_S_House_members_were_in:.shtml

September 26 2004

After 8 Months and Resistance: New Destruction for the Apartheid Wall in Budrus
The village of Budrus is located along the Green Line and its lands have been confiscated and destroyed previously by the Occupation. The residents of Budrus know the Wall will be the third Nakba, after 1948 and 1967, forcing them into a massive prison and encircling them, ravaging the lands and trees and leaving the people of Budrus without any source of living.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/764.shtml


One out of every nine
For 10 days now, F., a 28-year-old resident of Gaza, has been trying to get to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer for urgent chemotherapy in the oncology department. The story of what has happened to her during these 10 awful days sounds unbelievable, even to someone who has already heard horrible stories. The reality has succeeded in superseding even what the sickest imagination could invent.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481679.html


ISM Report: Week of Planned Protests and a Poem
In the last two weeks, Beit Awwa and surrounding are villages have been the focus of non-violent resistance to the Wall. In spite of the violent response of the Israeli Army to the demonstrations, residents of Beit Awwa will protest the illegal wall that is going up on their land again tomorrow.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/palsolidarity/message/1068


Israel still expropriating land to expand settlements
Since the start of 2004, some 2,200 dunams of land in the West Bank have been declared state lands. These include land in Givat Eitam in Ofrat, and land designated for use as the Border Police headquarters in Metsudat Adumim. Last year 1,700 dunams of land in the West Bank were designated state lands
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/481828.html


Girl's life ended by Israeli bullets
"She waked me up early morning, she dressed her school clothes. I combed her hair and tied a white ribbon over her head. She was so happy with her new dark blue jeans and black sandals, it was the first time she wears. She was so proud with the red badge around her neck. I gave her an apple she put it in her bag, said [good bye mum] and left home, it was the last day I talked to her,"
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3126.shtml


Authorities 'fear' collapse of section of Temple Mount
However, the Waqf said there is no danger of collapse and called the fears an Israeli plot to garner control of the various mosques in the Temple Mount compound. If the Waqf does not agree to prevent access to the concerned areas, the police would consider using officers to block access.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/481856.html


Israeli report on al-Aqsa rejected
"We invited highly professional experts from Egypt and other countries who examined everything here. And they said everything was fine." Al-Husayni said there were no cracks or other worrying signs to indicate that the structure was facing some kind of a danger.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5008BE7B-32E6-4C1F-9ABB-8932BAC371EF.htm


Unacceptable norms
Between 1978 and 1988, 52 new Jewish communities in the mitzpim format were established throughout Galilee, in the heart of a dense Arab population. Their total population is now about 20,000. underlying the project were principles of ethnic discrimination, demographic phobia, and the concept that the country's Arab citizens are not equals but constitute a threat to its existence.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/481680.html


Israel responsible of Killing a Hamas Leader in Syria
A neighbor who witnessed the blast said "He [Khalil] said good morning to us like he does every day and then walked to his car. He got into the car and then the phone rang. When he took the call we heard the explosion. We rushed towards his car and found him in pieces in the back seat."
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/092604/syria-assassination.htm


Israeli Missile Strike in Gaza Refugee Camp
A helicopter gunship fired two missiles early Sunday into a metal workshop in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. Israeli bulldozers and tanks entered the area Saturday. United Nations relief workers say the raiding party destroyed or damaged 35 homes, and left dozens of families homeless.
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=0467021E-3133-46AE-97DFB02592CB5E95


Israeli Helicopters Rocket Workshop in Khanyounis
One child was wounded while he was heading to his school, witnesses added. Medics said that Mohammed Khdeir 11, was critically wounded with shrapnel in his abdomen and thighs. Hours earlier, one woman suffered burns when Israeli troops fired star shell at her house...
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1731


Hamas threatens to strike Israeli targets abroad
"Even though Ezzedine al-Qassam was concerned to keep the guns in the direction of Israel, and we let hundreds and thousands of Zionists move and travel in all capitals in the world, it was not us who started the struggle abroad, but Zionist enemy, and he will be responsible for what he did."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1512&ncid=1312&e=3&u=/afp/20040926/wl_afp/mideast_syria_hamas_040926140945


Hamas denies decision to strike Israel abroad, vows revenge
Hamas "reserves the complete and legitimate right to respond to this cowardly crime at a suitable time and place, and in the way that best serves the higher interests of the Palestinian people."
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/108630/1/.html


Four people suffer from shock when Qassams hit Sderot
three Qassam rockets at the western Negev town of Sderot on Sunday morning. One rocket scored a direct hit on a home, the second fell between houses in a residential area and the third rocket landed in an open area.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/481900.html


Syria blames Israel for "terrorist" killing of Hamas man
"The Israeli authorities have committed a dangerous act by assassinating Palestinian citizen Ezzeddin Sheikh Khalil, resident in Syria, in a car bombing," said an official cited by the state SANA news agency. "This terrorist operation constitutes a dangerous development for which Israel bears responsibility."
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=28627


Arafat Receives Peace Cycle Team
President Arafat thanked the team for the burden they have indured to arrive to Palestine through crossing more than 2500 miles to promote peace in the Middle East and call for an end to the illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1732


IAEA to examine Dimona effect
"We have received a request from the Jordanian Government to assist them in monitoring the radiological situation," Mark Gwozdecky, spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Saturday. He added: "We agreed to send a fact-finding mission in the coming weeks to help them determine whether there is any radiological incident."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8D55C51B-B4AC-473C-8215-F06E9E3F75E5.htm


France determined to fight anti-Semitism, improve Israel ties
Barnier also said he would visit Israel next month to improve bilateral relations that have often been strained over France's support for the Palestinians and continuing ties with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=481469&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Israel sends Syria tough message with Hamas strike
"The capability of Hamas to activate attacks in the West Bank and Gaza from outside will be reduced for a while," he says. "Also," he continues, "this attack inside Syria's capital shows the authorities in Damascus that it cannot be used as a hiding place. This is a blow to the prestige of the regime."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0927/p07s01-wome.html


Forbidden Roads: The Discriminatory West Bank Road Regime
Israel constructed an extensive road network in order to serve the Israeli settlements. To justify expropriating privately owned Palestinian land for these roads, Israel argued that the roads would also benefit the Palestinian population. Now these same roads are completely off-limits to Palestinians.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/Forbidden_Roads_2004.asp


Alleged Mossad agents imprisoned in NZ to be released
Two Mossad agents who are serving prison sentences in New Zealand are slated to be released and to return to Israel within the coming days. Elisha Cara and Uriel Kelman were jailed in July for six months after an Auckland court found them guilty of seeking to obtain a New Zealand passport through illegal means.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481977.html


Disengagement chief: Most settlers will leave willingly
Bassy refused to reveal to reporters how many families have so far turned to Sela, the Hebrew acronym for the disengagement administration, for assistance in leaving their homes in Gaza or the northern West Bank. He did, however, say that talks are already underway with towns inside Israel over the possibility of taking in evacuees.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481870.html


Israeli millionaire to purchase 50% of Al-Jazeera shares
Israeli businessman Haim Shiban intends to acquire 50% of shares of Qatar-based satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera. The channel has gained reputation after the September 11 attack in the US; it has become one of the world's leading channels providing coverage of the latest news of the Arab world.
http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/366/14319_deal.html


PRESS CONFERENCE: 4th Anniversary of the Palestinian Intifada
On the 28th September 2000 the Palestinian uprising, Intifada, broke out triggered by the provocative visit of Likud leader Ariel Sharon to the Muslim holy shrine of al Haram al Sharif but also as an expression of a more profound discontent amongst the Palestinian people following nearly a decade of failed "peace" negotiations.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/new_web/press_conference_intifada_anniversary.htm


Sharon's own map
ISRAEL'S PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon made it clear recently that his plan for a unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip is not intended as a prelude to a comprehensive peace agreement but is meant to serve as a replacement for the road map to Mideast peace backed by President Bush. Only political timorousness can explain the silence of the White House...
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2004/09/26/sharons_own_map/


Frustration, fear in Bethlehem
"It is a book that has never been written," says Sabella. "Unlike most Muslims, so many Christian Palestinians could afford to leave this situation of almost continuous conflict to search for a tolerable life. And they did.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1096150207868&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724


Ayoon wa Azan (Neo-Con Spies IV)
Would the Lawrence Franklin scandal be a new Iran-Contra? The bad guys of the new scandal are the same infamous ones of two decades ago in the previous one. Franklin and another "specialist" from Douglas Feith's office, Harold Rhode, were among the officials who established contacts with the Iranian arms dealer...
http://english.daralhayat.com/opinion/OPED/09-2004/Article-20040925-362c46c3-c0a8-01ed-002c-03ffce85c25c/story.html


Civilians die in US ground and air attack on bases in Fallujah
The US-appointed Iraqi interim government, which supports the air strikes, last week banned the Ministry of Health in Baghdad from announcing figures for civilian casualties. "There were no innocent civilians reported in the immediate area at the time of strike," said a statement from the US military.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=565788


Powell acknowledges problems in holding January elections in Iraq
Still, he said, "I think what we have to keep shooting for, and what is achievable, is to give everybody the opportunity to vote in the upcoming election, to make the election fully credible, and something that will stand the test of the international community's examination."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=3&u=/afp/20040926/wl_mideast_afp/us_iraq_vote_powell_040926140701

September 25 2004

Writing to the moment
His (Edward Said) work brings the life of the mind and high culture to the struggle for justice and recognition. This struggle is pitched against powerful forces - vested interests, embedded ideologies, racism, and those so-called intellectuals whom, quoting Gramsci, he characterised as "experts in legitimisation" - the paid scribes of power who are silent about its excesses.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1311404,00.html


Edward Said, the "Great Figure of Palestinian Intelligentsia"
Born in Jerusalem, Palestine, under British protectorate, on 1st November 1935, Edward Said followed his parents who settled once and for all in Cairo in 1947, after having lost all their property after 1948 war and the creation of Israel. His mother, until her death, never accepted to take another nationality than “Palestinian refugee”.
http://www.aps.dz/an/pageview.asp?ID=71775


Five days of struggle against Israel's West Bank Barrier
In the course of the last five days (September 19-23) the occupation forces returned to their attempt to literally cement their existence on Palestinian lands. Naturally the residents of the affected villages resisted this attempt and we are with them. Our method and our aim, which we have declared and consciously acted on for the last two years, are popular nonviolent struggle.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3117.shtml


UN Report: WB Barrier Aims at Expansion, not Security
The investigator added that Israel confiscated rich water resources from the Palestinians, that is in the two main water aquifers on the western side of the West Bank. "Rich agricultural land and water resources have been seized along the Green Line and incorporated into Israel," he said.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/092504/un%20report.htm


2nd in September: Israeli Soldiers Shoot Schoolgirl in the Head
An 11-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl was shot and wounded today in the head by Israeli soldiers while she was at her class in the southern Gaza Strip Refugee Camp of Khanyounis, witnesses and Palestinian medical sources said.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1728


Despite Their Empty Stomach Battle, Palestinian Prisoners Still Suffering
Palestinian Prisoners Society(PPS) reported on Saturday that 800 Palestinian prisoners being jailed at the Israeli prison of Nafha, have been going through harsher conditions than the those prior to the latest general hunger strike spread in most Israeli jails.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/159.html


Prisoner Jailed with Broken Hand, No Medical Treatment
Mahamid said that Daraghmeh sustains fractions in his hand due to the daily torture he is subjected to at the hand of Israeli jailers, adding that he cannot move his hand and cannot stand up while search operations because of the pains he suffers.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1729


The Peace Cycle, a solidarity trip from London to Jerusalem
"We traveled through London, Paris, then Geneva, Roma, Athens, then to Amman. We went through Sheikh Hussein Bridge, to Nazareth, Jenin, then to Tulkarem, and today we will go to Birzeit University then to Ramallah to meet with the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat" said Ali Al-Dabbagh, one of the cyclists.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/092504/peace-cycle.htm


Israel Launches Deadly Helicopter Strike in Gaza
Israeli forces have raided a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern Gaza strip, killing one man and bulldozing dozens of homes. Residents of the Khan Younis camp say Israeli forces fired a missile into the camp before dawn Saturday, killing a 55-year-old man.
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=7D184B9C-3F59-4CBD-9DCC8B75D8E31377


Army withdraws from Khan Younis; one resident dead, 7 wounded, 80 homes destroyed
One the other hand, a medical source at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said that soldiers centered around Naveh Dkalim settlement, in the West of Khan Younis, fired a tank shell at the hospital directly hitting the “Physiotherapy Section” in the Hospital causing huge damages, especially in the medical equipment.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/092504/Kh_Younis.htm


Palestinian Missile Hits Car in Gaza
A missile fired by Palestinian militants fell short of its target Saturday and blew up a car in the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, witnesses said. No injuries were reported when the missile struck the car.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4514354,00.html


British MP Almost Dead Following Detention at Israeli Checkpoint in West Bank
A British member of Parliament demanded his government to officially protest the Israeli government, as Israeli troops manning a checkpoint in the West Bank prevented him from passing through, despite having a heart attack.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/158.html


Anglican Network Urges Sanctions on Israel: Report
The call by the influential Anglican Peace and Justice Network (APJN) comes amid growing concern in Israel at rising support among churches, universities and trade unions in the west for a divestment campaign modelled on the popular boycott of apartheid South Africa
http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-09/24/article01.shtml


Arab local councils plan campaign over economic crisis
The heads of the Arab local authorities decided Saturday that they would launch a campaign against the economic recovery plans for the municipalities devised by the Interior Ministry, and against what they described as discrimination in favor of the Jewish local authorities.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481634.html


Palestinian militant group blasts Qurei, urges him to quit
The group attacked Qurei in a leaflet sent to reporters on Qurei's statements in which he indicated the possibility of disbanding the group. An official source in the brigades said the group didn't come by a political decision so it would not be disbanded by a similar decision, and the government of Qurei must resign...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/25/content_2021668.htm


Israel bars entry of Palestinian security trainees to Egypt
the 45 officers had not yet left Gaza because of Israeli security measures and obstacles at the Rafah border terminal in the southern Gaza Strip. The Egyptian border police said Israel had not given any reason for the decision.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481632.html


Syria closes offices of Palestinian groups
Syria has been under heavy pressure from the US to close down the offices of 10 Palestinian groups based in Damascus, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Front-General Command (headed by Ahmed Jibril) and Fatah-The Revolution
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1096112630891


Zogby Poll: Should AIPAC be asked to register as an agent of a foreign government and lose its tax-exempt status?
By a five-to-one margin, people are much more likely to agree than disagree that AIPAC should be asked to register as an agent of a foreign government and lose its tax-exempt status. Three in five (61%) agree, including 44% who strongly agree. One in eight (12%) disagrees, and more than one in four (27%) are not sure.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3120.shtml


How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power
But now the multibillion dollar legal action for damages by two Holocaust survivors against the Bush family, and the imminent publication of three books on the subject are threatening to make Prescott Bush's business history an uncomfortable issue for his grandson, George W, as he seeks re-election.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html


Canadian activists protest deportation of Palestinian refugees
more than 1,000 people took the streets of downtown Montreal under the banner of "Stateless and Deported" to illustrate the growing popular support for the struggle of Palestinian refugees fighting deportation in Canada, within the context of the Palestinian solidarity movement worldwide.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3119.shtml


Lebanon space violated 3 straight days
U.N. Secretary General Representative in south Lebanon Staffan De Mistura expressed concern earlier this week about recurring Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, which he warned would increase tensions in volatile south Lebanon. Lebanon has repeatedly complained to the United Nations about Israel's frequent violations, especially by air and sea.
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040924-060310-1278r.htm


IAEA calls for nuclear-free Middle East
The IAEA's call for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, which was adopted by consensus, did not name Israel specifically but was clearly aimed at the Jewish state, which is believed to be the only nation in the region with atomic weapons.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=8730


Iran delivers 'strategic missile' to its armed forces
The radio said Shamkhani refused to give details about the missile for "security reasons," but said Iran was "ready to confront all regional and extra-regional threats." Saturday's report did not say whether the test and delivery was of the same new version of the Shihab-3 or an entirely different missile.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481629.html


Hawk Missile Sales to Iran
The chief charge in the Weinberger indictment is that he, as Walsh's office puts it, "lied to Congress about his knowledge of a shipment of U.S. Hawk missiles to Iran by Israel in November 1985 in return for the release of American hostages held in Lebanon." Colin Powell swears, in effect, that Weinberger has told the truth.
http://www.totse.com/en/politics/us_military/hawk.html


"Turtles can fly" about Iraqi children wins Spanish film festival
A film about Iraqi children victims of war "Turtles can fly" directed by Iranian Bahman Ghobadi won the Concha de Oro (Golden Shell) at the prestigious San Sebastian film festival.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=11&u=/afp/20040925/wl_mideast_afp/afplifestyle_film_spain_040925185558


UN resists coalition plea for election help in Iraq
The United Nations warned on Friday that unless more countries contributed to a UN protection force in Iraq, and security improved, it would be unable to meet increasingly urgent coalition calls to send more election experts to the country.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/429d3f9c-0e65-11d9-97d3-00000e2511c8.html


More Iraqi civilians killed by U.S. forces than by insurgents, data shows
Operations by U.S. and multinational forces and Iraqi police are killing twice as many Iraqis - most of them civilians - as attacks by insurgents, according to statistics compiled by the Iraqi Health Ministry and obtained exclusively by Knight Ridder.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5868&s2=25


US soldier sentenced to 25 years for murdering Iraqi national guard
"Specialist Federico Merida pled guilty to murder and making false official statements during court martial proceedings at Forward Operation Base Danger, Tikrit, Iraq (news - web sites)," it said. A military spokeswoman said the sentence had been reduced from 30 to 25 years, one of the heaviest sentences handed to a US serviceman since the start of the war in May 2003.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=5&u=/afp/20040925/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_justice_040925190919


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Thursday, 23 September 2004 and Friday, 24 September 2004
At 4:00pm Friday afternoon local time Iraqi Resistance forces clashed in a violent firefight with US troops and their Iraqi “national guard” stooges near the village of ad-Dulu‘iyah, 40km north of Baghdad. The fighting left 17 Iraqi puppet troops and 12 US troops dead. Four Humvees and one Bradley armored vehicle were destroyed.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5874&s2=25


Iraqi scientists' detention questioned
Former chief arms inspectors David Kay and Hans Blix are questioning the continued detention of a dozen Iraqi weapons scientists by US forces. This comes more than a year after the prisoners first told interrogators Iraq had no outlawed weapons - a story that turned out to be true.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5872&s2=25


Three sailors charged with abusing Iraq prisoners
The charges did not include homicide because investigators have not been able to determine that the SEALs' actions led to the deaths of the prisoners, said the defense official who asked not to be identified. No dates have been set for disciplinary hearings.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=19&u=/afp/20040924/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_prisoners_navy_040924225759


Fool me twice . . . shame on me!
Listening to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and their cadre of "cheerleaders" attempt to convince us—the U.S. public, the voting public—that "progress" is being made in Iraq, I can only wonder what episode of "Fantasy Island" they are talking about. They sure are not describing the reality on the ground in Iraq.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/092404Dalton/092404dalton.html

September 24 2004

Villagers of Budrus March to Prove their Resistance to the Wall is Non-Violent
On Sunday, September 26 residents of Budrus and internationals will rally at the center of the village around 9:00AM . They will march peacefully to the site of renewed construction of the Wall. The villagers, joined by International Solidarity Movement activists and other internationals, will attempt to stop the bulldozers from destroying their lands and building the wall.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/DesktopModules/Articles/ArticlesView.aspx?TabID=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en-US&ItemID=461&mid=10400


Anglican group calls for Israel sanctions
The call, by the Anglican Peace and Justice Network, comes amid growing concern in Israel at rising support among churches, universities and trade unions in the west for a divestment campaign modelled on the popular boycott of apartheid South Africa. In July, the Presbyterian church in the US became the first major denomination to agree a formal boycott of Israel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1311571,00.html


UN report blames Israel for building fence to confiscate land
"The course of the wall clearly indicates that its purpose is to incorporate as many settlers as possible into Israel," said Dugard, a South African law professor... "This is borne out by the fact that some 80 percent of settlers in the West Bank will be included on the Israeli side of the wall," he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481588.html


Lupolianski wants Arab Wadi Joz rezoned for Jews
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski wants to rezone a neighborhood of Wadi Joz, in the eastern section of the capital, for the purpose of settling Jews in the area. The neighborhood in question was zoned and planned a number of years ago by the Housing Ministry for Arab residents.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=481362&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Report: Arab state passed intelligence on Hamas to Israel
The London-based Al-Hayat paper reported Friday that the intelligence service of an Arab state has recently passed Israel extremely valuable information on the Hamas infrastructure in foreign countries. The infromation reportedly included details of their places of residence, their pastimes and the type of food they eat.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481537.html


Palestinian youth succumbs to wounds sustained in Zionist shelling
Rafah – A Palestinian youth who was wounded in Zionist shelling on Thursday of Palestinian homes in Rafah to the south of the Gaza strip succumbed to his wounds last night.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_8124.shtml


Israeli Troops Shell Local Palestinian Hospital, Wound Six Residents
The Israeli occupying forces (IOF) shelled heavily a local Palestinian hospital in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, and wounded six Palestinians including children.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/152.html


Court: IDF can't cut down grove near Mofaz's house
The court ordered the army, which had issued an order to cut down the trees belonging to Palestinian widow Murshad Fathi Shavita, to find an alternative within 30 days that would not damage Shavita's property. As reported in Haaretz on Wednesday, GOC Central Command Moshe Kaplinsky ordered the trees cut down three weeks ago
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481270.html


Woman killed in mortar strike on home in Gaza settlement
One of the shells struck a home in the settlement, seriously wounding 24-year-old Tiferet Tratner, a Jerusalem resident, and leaving a second woman with light injuries. Tratner was airlifted to Soroka Medical Center, where she died of her injuries.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481479.html


PNA Unsatisfied with Secretary of State's Remarks on President Arafat
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) dismissed on Thursday US Secretary of State Colin Powel's remarks regarding President Yasser Arafat, in which Powel demanded Arafat to give up control over Palestinian security services, alleging that this is a perquisite for success of international peace efforts.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/151.html


French FM: There will be no peace in the ME without Arafat
Disagreeing with US officials, France's foreign minister reiterated his country's stance, that no progress can be made in the Middle East peace process by marginalizing or not negotiating with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/092404/french-fm.htm


Israeli restrictions posed on staff movements in Gaza draw UN agency's protests
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said the "new and constantly changing" restrictions have in effect barred UN international staff from crossing into and out of Gaza.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12031&Cr=palestin&Cr1=


Palestinian National Security Adviser Arrives in Cairo
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's national security adviser has arrived for talks in Cairo, just days before Egypt is due to start training a first group of Palestinian police officers. Jibril Rajub arrived Friday for discussions with Egyptian officials. There was no immediate word on the agenda for his talks.
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=009DE396-E356-466B-A98078A53B265906


Security Reforms in Shadow of the Ever Suspended Cairo Talks
Egyptian officials said that they were still waiting for Israel to announce that the Gaza withdrawal will be complete and that Israel will halts military operations in the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the intended withdrawal and evacuation of settlements.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week4/092404/security-reforms.htm


High alert for Yom Kippur; security guards deployed at synagogues
Security forces have raised their state of alert across the country in preparation for the Yom Kippur holiday, which begins at sundown Friday and lasts until Saturday night.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481467.html


Random Impressions from Palestine
that Israel wants the land of Palestine without the people; that the Israeli settlements, the roads accessible only to Israelis, the land confiscations, the house demolitions, the destruction of agricultural land add up to an act of ethnocide against the Palestinian people; that Israel's occupation and Israel's land greed are the root of the conflict and the root cause of terrorism...
http://www.counterpunch.org/christison09242004.html


'Eye on Palestine' tries to change the image of Palestinians
While having strong stereotypical views of Palestinians, few in the West, or East, had an idea of how average Palestinians lived. Whether negative or positive, the image of Palestinians is badly in need of a humanising effort. The dynamic nature of television means that the same medium that created this stereotype is also capable of reversing it.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion2.htm


France determined to fight anti-Semitism, improve Israel ties
Barnier also said he would visit Israel next month to improve bilateral relations that have often been strained over France's support for the Palestinians and continuing ties with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=481469&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Israel agrees to inspections of atomic monitoring stations
The agreement is a follow-up to the more general CTBTO treaty that Israel signed in September 1996. Like the United States and 10 other countries, including Egypt, Israel has not ratified that treaty. Thursday's agreement has no connection to the nuclear research facility in Dimona, which remains off-limits to international inspection.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=481224&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Vanunu feels threatened in Israel-Greece radio
"I don't feel free or safe in Israel", Vanunu said in an interview with Greek Flash radio. "I want to leave Israel as soon as possible", he said through a Greek translator. "The United States pushes Iran on its nuclear programme, but it should do the same with Israel too. You cannot focus on Iran and forget Israel," he said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23463841.htm


UN watchdog calls for nuclear-free zone in Middle East
The resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency, presented by Egypt and adopted by consensus, "affirms the urgent need for all states in the Middle East to forthwith accept the application of full-scope agency safeguards to all their nuclear activities... as a step in enchancing peace and security in the context of the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=5&u=/afp/20040924/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_nuclear_iaea_040924150618


Gamal Mubarak looks ever more likely to replace father after convention
Gamal further polished his image as a modern manager, worlds apart from the NPD's old guard, with the president's son repeating once more his opposition to the inheritance of power, while many still believe that he is being groomed as Hosni's successor.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=11&u=/afp/20040924/wl_mideast_afp/egypt_politics_040924115605


Scepticism greets Allawi's Congress speech
The first Iraqi to address the US Congress, Allawi on Thursday said "we are succeeding in Iraq", and thanked members of the congress for "your brave vote in 2002 to authorize American men and women to go to war to liberate my country, because you realized what was at stake". Allawi emphasised that nationwide elections planned for January 2005 will go ahead...
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/736636FF-4FA0-49E5-8550-A7A7CB98981E.htm


Italian hostages probably alive
Speaking to journalists at the committee's headquarters in Baghdad's Umm al-Qura mosque, spokesman Muthana al-Dhari explained why he did not think the two women were dead "because the material gain from holding them is big".
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7E061C03-8641-4BFA-B8D5-E14651272EFF.htm


US artillery, air strike on Iraqi rebel town of Fallujah
The smoke shrouded the southeastern industrial zone, which houses mainly metal and mechanical workshops, as residents charged that US forces had lobbed artillery into the area. Within minutes, the artillery fire was followed by an air strike on the Shuhada district in southern Fallujah.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=18&u=/afp/20040924/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_fallujah_unrest_040924132000


Rumsfeld Suggests Limited Iraq Election
"If there were to be an area where the extremists focused during the election period, and an election was not possible in that area at that time, so be it. You have the rest of the election and you go on. Life's not perfect," Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5836&s2=24


Rumsfeld suggests US could begin Iraq troop withdrawal before peace
Rumsfeld made the comments a day after saying that more US troops may have to be sent to Iraq to provide security for January elections and that a vote may not be held in all parts of the country if there is too much violence. Rumsfeld said Iraqi security forces are being trained to take over those security responsibilities...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=15&u=/afp/20040924/wl_mideast_afp/us_iraq_rumsfeld_040924171915


This month looks like one of deadliest for U.S.
In the first 22 days of the month, at least 63 members of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force died, Pentagon casualty reports show. With a week to go, September is the fifth deadliest month since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1, 2003.
http://www.myantiwar.org/view/28183.html

September 23 2004

Devastation in Beit Awa; Hebron Farmers Face Immeasurable Suffering this Olive Harvest Season
In Beit Awa, particularly in the center of the village, the Apartheid Wall will be built near the homes and schools, with the Wall's path going on top of the village cemetery. The school is under threat of demolition due to the Wall's path.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/761.shtml


Court bars state from cutting down grove near Mofaz's house
The High Court of Justice on Thursday gave the State 30 days to prepare a plan to minimize the damage to a grove belonging to a Palestinian woman, which is located 30 meters from Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz's home in upscale Kochav Yair. Security officials decided that the trees pose a danger to the defense minister, and must therefore be cut down.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=481062&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Gaza settlers weigh price of withdrawal
Like the Sinai settlements, the Gaza and West Bank settlements were established in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, say many international observers. The convention proscribes an occupying power from moving its nationals into occupied territory.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0922/p06s03-wome.html


UK archives reveal Palestine plan
A top-secret Colonial Office file from 1943 shows that Mr Churchill favoured a plan to try to bribe King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, with £20m and the leadership of a new Arab confederation, in exchange for the Saudi monarch's help in handing over Palestine to the Jews.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3681840.stm


Palestinian resistance hits Israeli army
Palestinian resistance fighters have killed at least three Israeli soldiers guarding an illegal Jewish settlement in the occupied Gaza Strip. A n official at the settlement, Nissim Dehan, told Israel's Army Radio that troops had "suffered a heavy blow".
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F0C4EDC7-7012-428F-BD4C-DF916C611F8B.htm


Israeli troops raid Khan Younis, wounding 17
At least 17 Palestinians were injured by the shells of tanks and missiles fired from Israeli helicopters during a raid Thursday on the Khan Younis refugee camp, Palestinian medics and security sources said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/23/content_2011789.htm


Israeli Forces Damage Buildings in Jerusalem, Wound Dozens in Hebron
Israeli forces wounded dozens of civilians during a peaceful congregation in Hebron, while residents of East Jerusalem complained that Israeli forces launched a series of explosions near them, causing their houses to crack.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/150.html


Israeli Army Blows Up House Near Gaza
An army spokesman said the house, not far from the (illegal) Jewish settlement of Netzarim in central Gaza, was used by militants as cover when firing on soldiers. No one was hurt in the explosion.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=1312&e=6&u=/ap/20040923/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_gaza_explosion_2


OPEC fund grant of USD 2 million approved to assist Palestinian universities
The OPEC Fund for International Development today approved a grant of US$2 million to support the second phase of a project that will provide grants to nine non-governmental, non-profit universities to directly cover the tuition fees of needy students in Palestine's West Bank and Gaza Strip.
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/f56533b79f4aeef7c1256f170046178c?OpenDocument


MP furious at treatment by Israel
Ian Gibson, the Labour MP for Norwich North, said that soldiers stopped him for about 90 minutes as they demanded he leave the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance taking him to an Arab-run hospital in East Jerusalem and take an Israeli ambulance.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1310677,00.html


Hizb Allah blasts Allawi-Shalom shake
"This unacceptable handshake is at once a true insult to the Iraqi people, their history, culture and Islamic and national commitment; and flagrant scorn for the suffering of Palestinian people and the sentiments of Arabs and Muslims," it said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1CBA7353-AFE0-411F-850F-BAB04B867F47.htm


Palestinian PM says contacts ongoing with Israel, willing to meet Sharon
"From the early beginning, I've said I have no problem to meet with Mr Sharon," Qorei told Israel's public radio. "I'm ready for that, if it will be well prepared and if there will be results from the meeting," said Qorei, speaking in English.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1514&ncid=1312&e=4&u=/afp/20040923/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_palestinian_040923123047


Israel demands change to IAEA resolution, threatens boycott
Israel has threatened to boycott an international conference on a nuclear free Middle East sponsored by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) if a resolution calling Israel a nuclear threat is not removed from the agenda.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480685.html


U.S. okays armored vehicles for IDF
Israel had requested the purchase of 103 armored Dingo vehicles, along with spare parts and technical support from the manufacturer, in a deal that could amount to as much as $99 million, if all options materialize. The purchase, which has not yet been finalized, according to the Pentagon, will be financed with U.S. military aid.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/480119.html


Mediators urge Israel, Palestine to meet settlement roadmap
The international mediating quartet for the Middle East - Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union - have called on Israel and Palestine to meet each other halfway in implementing the settlement roadmap. The appeal was made at a quartet meeting in New York.
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=10705338


Arafat kin accuses Dahlan of attempted coup
"Dahlan led a revolution against the Rais Arafat and will not be appointed to any position as long as Arafat is alive," the London-based Arabic-language newspaper As-Sharq Al-Awsa yesterday quoted Musa Arafat, head of security in the Gaza Strip, as saying.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480687.html


Shalom urges UN to end its obsession with Israel
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom urged the UN General Assembly on Thursday to shed its obsession with Israel and said Iran has replaced Saddam Hussein as the main source of world terrorism.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/481070.html


Iran warns Israel against strike
Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi was responding to reports that the United States is to sell Israel hundreds of "bunker-busting" bombs. Israel urged the United Nations Security Council to take action to stop Iran's nuclear programme. The US and Israel have accused Iran...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3683074.stm


Stevens reacts on deportation
It's been one of the most high profile fallouts of the American anti terrorism campaign. One of the greatest pop singers of the 70's Cat Stevens was deported yesterday from the United States. His fault is to have converted to Islam 30 years ago.
http://www.ndtv.com/ent/musicworldstory.asp?section=Music&slug=Stevens%20reacts%20on%20deportation&id=3017


The nuclear sum game
This would have no chance, both because Iran's nuclear facilities are dispersed and most of them are buried deep underground, and because there is no information on many of them. Israel should leave the job to the United States...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480699.html


For a Fistful of Dust: A Passage to Palestine
After a few minutes I got up and gently left the mosque, put on my shoes at the door, thanked the Palestinian guard in his cubicle and headed back towards the Bab al-Faysal exit of al-Haram al-Sharif . Exiting, I crossed yet another two or three layers of Israeli soldiers with machineguns hanging from their necks and headed back towards my hotel.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/709/cu12.htm


Deterring the deterrents
The combined defense expenditures of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon amount to only 58 percent of Israel's. It is the Arabs who should be worried by Israel's might, rather than the other way round. Israel's nuclear weapons are politically unusable and militarily irrelevant, given the real threats it faces. But they have been very effective in allowing India, Pakistan...
http://www.iht.com/articles/539860.html


John Pilger: Time to Recognize State Terror
These days, the Americans routinely fire missiles into Fallujah and other dense urban areas; they murder whole families. If the word terrorism has any modern application, it is this industrial state terrorism. The British have a different style.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20040923062149350


Boycott call strikes a responsive chord
But other analysts beg to differ.  "It's a long way from a declaratory action by the Non-Aligned Movement to serious enactments by western European or North American governments. I don't see sanctions on the horizon," Hebrew University political science professor Ira Sharkansky told Aljazeera.net.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A25CC685-F320-4254-8773-D1506E9C8E81.htm


"A state cannot indefinitely stand against the world": An interview with UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard
Oslo has been and gone. And the same type of human rights violations still occur, albeit with a new severity. The two major changes are, first, that the need for Palestinian statehood has been recognized. Second, the wall. The significance of the wall cannot be overrated. It shows convincingly that the issue is land and expansion.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3112.shtml


Bush's pro-Likud policies fail to win Jews over
If US President George W Bush thought that aligning his Middle East policy behind the Likud-led government in Israel would win him substantial numbers of Jewish votes in the November election, he must be sorely disappointed. A poll released this week by the American Jewish Committee...
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FI24Aa01.html


Bush pledges full commitment to Allawi
Mr Allawi, making his first appearance in Washington as interim prime minister of Iraq, thanked the United States for its decision to invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein. “Thank you, America,” he said, to applause.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/bf9cb35c-0d6f-11d9-a3e1-00000e2511c8.html


US tank explode shown on Canadian TV (CTV)
Last evening news from CTV (Canadian private channel) shows an American tank, that carried at least 12 troops inside, going Baghdad street, CTV camera was following them, suddenly it is hit with some kind of a bomb that instantly explodes the entire tank like a box.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5782&s2=23


US troops face hellish fight in Sadr City concrete jungle
The goal is to control the first square kilometre (less than a square mile) of Sadr City's winding alleyways and labyrinth of minarets and grey cinderblock tenements and make it a model of law and order. The battalion raided the Sadr enclave Tuesday night and were greeted by a hail of mortar and rocker-propelled grenade (RPG) fire.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=19&u=/afp/20040923/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_sadr_us_040923111303


Militants Claim to Have Killed Italians
"Italian intelligence services have confirmed ... that they believe these claims to be completely unreliable," Enzo Bianco, a lawmaker who heads the parliamentary commission overseeing secret services, told Italian news agencies. "I urge caution because this will be a long and complicated story. A war through the media is under way," Bianco added.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=11&u=/ap/20040923/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_italian_hostages


'Mr Blair, please, you can help. I think this is my last chance'
Wearing an orange boiler suit ­ the same garb forced on Muslim prisoners at America's Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba ­ he sobbed repeatedly as he said: "I think this is possibly my last chance ... I don't want to die, I don't deserve it and neither do those women held in the Iraqi prisons ... I need you to help, Mr Blair.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=564775

September 22 2004

Edward Said Remembered
To me, Edward Said will always be associated with the narrative of Palestine. He had succeeded more than anybody else in telling the story of truth to power, of forcing the world to take note of a people who have been abused and denied their history. He taught the West about Islam and the Orient and the Orient about the West.
http://www.amin.org/eng/ghassan_karam/2004/sep22.html


How a Palestinian widow and her trees are a threat to Mofaz
Zuheira Morshad is a 72-year-old childless widow, who lives alone in the village of Kafr Jammal, about two kilometers from the Green Line. A High Court of Justice hearing will tomorrow decide what will happen to her grove of 150 trees that, unfortunately for her are on the Palestinian side of the Green Line - and 30 meters from Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz's home...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480110.html


Budrus Villagers Non-Violent Resistance to the Wall
Today the villagers of Budrus turn-outed once again to continue their non-violent resistance to the construction of the Wall on their lands. They had planned to stop the bulldozers that are uprooting olive trees and destroying the land to make way for the Israeli Wall.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/palsolidarity/message/1066


Undercutting Internation Court's Ruling on the Wall; Sharon's Ignores Tragic Jewish History
Sharon announced that the barrier will be built around Jewish settlement blocs located in the Palestinian West Bank -- settlements like Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumin and Gush Etzion -- regardless of the fact that the barrierís construction will violate the basic rights of over 875,000 Palestinians, 38 percent of the West Bank population.
http://www.counterpunch.org/gordon09222004.html


Taste of Palestine heads for shops
British supporters of the Palestinian cause have launched an extra virgin olive oil grown in the lush groves of the occupied territories. Profits will go to Palestinian farming cooperatives in the West Bank, where access to markets is limited. But this particular harvest is in danger, they say, from Israel's controversial security wall, which is destroying...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1309627,00.html


losses of the Palestinian Agriculture Exceeds USD 1 Billion
Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture reported that the Palestinian losses inflicted in the Palestinian agricultural sector as a result of the Israeli measures totaled USD 1,091,543,986. It added that 12371 farmers have suffered from the continued Israeli attacks on agricultural sector.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1713


Palestinian Fishermen and "the Sea"
According to Fish Resources in the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, fishing sector losses estimated at $10 millions in equipment destroyed by Israeli naval forces in addition to millions more in lost income from fish sales.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1714


Prisoners Suffer Inhumanity in "Ofar" prison
Ofar Prison guards started a very severe six-hour search in the prison's room, forcing the prisoners to stay this long time under the sun. Palestinian prisoners told the PPS that Israeli prison authorities are intending to build up concrete walls around the cells to divide the prison sections...
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1715


Israeli Forces Kill a Palestinian and Wound Scores Others
Israeli occupation forces killed a Palestinian in northern Gaza Strip and wounded more than 90 others in the village of Budrus, amidst an escalated aggression on the Palestinian territories.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/141.html


Two killed in 'suicide attack' at French Hill in Jerusalem
Two Border Policemen were killed and some 15 Israelis were wounded Wednesday afternoon in an terror attack at the French Hill neighborhood of northern Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480604.html


Annan strongly condemns "heinous" suicide bombing in Jerusalem
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned what he called the "heinous" suicide bombing in Jerusalem today, sent his condolences to the Israeli Government and called on the Palestinian Authority to take all necessary measures to put an end to such terror attacks. (It is only the High Tech killing Annan won't condemn)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12000&Cr=middle&Cr1=east


Qurei condemns Jerusalem blast
Qurei in a statement released by his office said, our top national interests disagree with these operations that should be stopped immediately.‏‏ He added, these operations give Israel excuse to continue its crimes and assassinations, incursions that target the Palestinian civilians, the settlement activities and construction of the separation wall.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=666041


Israeli Forces Step-up Aggression in West Bank, Raze Lands in Gaza Strip
Security sources said Israeli forces beefed up military presence in the city of Al Bireh, as soldiers sat up roadblocks and ambushed civilians on their way to work or school, arresting several and holding others near the military watchtower established next to Qalandia checkpoint.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/135.html


UNCTAD stresses vital role of small-, medium-sized enterprises in rehabilitation of Palestinian economy
The study examines the SMEs' contribution to economic growth by shedding light on their life cycle and the factors influencing their establishment, survival, growth and decline before and after the ongoing crisis.  It focuses on of SMEs in the industrial, construction and tourism sectors, which were selected because of their large contribution to employment and growth.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3109.shtml


Israel's Sharon: Arafat will "get what he deserves"
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday renewed his threat to remove Yasser Arafat, saying the Palestinian president would "get what he deserves". Sharon told Israel Radio his government would take action against Arafat at a time of its choosing as it did in assassinating two Hamas leaders this year in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22455490.htm


Foreign Minister Shalom and Iraqi PM shake hands at UN
Shalom told reporters it was the first official contact between an Israeli and an Iraqi official since the Iraq war and he said U.S. officials told Israel more than a year ago it was conceivable the two might some day sign a peace agreement.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/480263.html


Israel plays down Bush criticism; Palestinians want action not words
A senior government source said Bush's speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, in which he called for a freeze on settlements and an end to the "daily humiliation" of the Palestinian people at checkpoints, was designed to bolster support for the war in Iraq.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1514&ncid=1312&e=7&u=/afp/20040922/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_israel_palestinian_us_040922095805


PNA Denounces Bush's Speech at the UN and Demands Action Rather than Words
"We were expecting President Bush to condemn the Israeli occupation and the daily crimes against the Palestinian people,"He added that Bush should have criticized the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories instead of the legitimately elected Palestinian leadership...
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/139.html


PA: We can't arrest those behind deadly strike on U.S. convoy
Palestinian security forces know who was behind the killing of three Americans in Gaza nearly a year ago, but cannot act against the factions while fighting with Israel continues, said Musa Arafat, head of Military Intelligence and a cousin of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480576.html


Sharon Says Gaza Evacuation Set for 2005
Facing considerable opposition, much of it from his own party, Sharon said several weeks ago that the evacuation of the 21 (Illegal)Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank would be carried out at the same time, aiming for the beginning of 2005.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=11&u=/ap/20040922/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_sharon


US Secretary Of State Colin Powell Meets 'Quartet' Partners on Middle East
The meeting, bringing together Mr. Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, European Union chief diplomat Javier Solana and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will be the first for the Quartet since a similar New York meeting in June. The road map produced by the Quartet nearly two years ago...
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=30B385D4-AAF7-478F-9B11ADD1AC33DF9F


Israel urges sanctions against Iran for nuclear program
Israel urged the United Nations on Wednesday to move toward sanctions against Iran because Tehran is never going to abandon its alleged quest for nuclear weapons.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480620.html


Palestine/Israel, first bishop among peace-makers
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) enters its second year of operations by welcoming 25 new accompaniers, the largest group since the project started in August 2002. For the first time in its history, the EAPPI group will include a bishop.
http://www.wfn.org/2004/09/msg00192.html


U.S. giving Israel 5,000 bombs
But Israeli officials and defence analysts last night played down the planned infusion of $319 million (U.S.) worth of air-launched ordnance, including 500 satellite-guided "bunker busters," saying the shipment is significant for its quantity, rather than its capabilities.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1095804613756&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724


Pundits weigh in on Bush's UN speech
Hours after Bush's speech, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry accused Bush of failing to "level with the world's leaders" about the Iraq war during his speech. Kerry said that Bush stood at the General Assembly before a "stony-faced body and barely talked about the realities at all of Iraq."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0922/dailyUpdate.html?s=ent2


Members balk at helping to rebuild Iraq
Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain told a news conference that he had withdrawn troops from Iraq because peace demands "more heroism than war." President Joseph Deiss of Switzerland took the podium at the General Assembly to declare that the U.S.-led project in Iraq was "doomed to failure."
http://www.iht.com/articles/540013.html


Car bomb in Baghdad kills at least 11
A suspected suicide car bomber struck on Wednesday in a crowded commercial street in Baghdad, killing at least 11 people, as scores of men wanting to join Iraq’s security forces queued up to photocopy their documents. The blast destroyed several storefronts and an ice cream stall. Dozens were wounded by shrapnel.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7bc1a87a-0c77-11d9-b543-00000e2511c8.html


Three U.S. Soldiers Die in Iraq
Three U.S. Army soldiers were killed in separate incidents in northern Iraq on Wednesday, officials said. As of Tuesday, 1,037 members of the U.S. military had died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to the Defense Department.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20040922/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_soldiers_killed


NATO reaches accord Iraq mission
"Today ambassadors agreed to give direction to the military to further develop the mission," NATO spokesman James Appathurai told reporters after a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC), the top decision-making body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=3&u=/afp/20040922/wl_mideast_afp/nato_iraq_040922185315


Other than Iyad Allawi, what's America's Plan B in Iraq?
Allawi's primary assumption is that as a Shiite Muslim, he can retain the support of Iraq's majority Shiite community. He sees the insurgency led by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr as a tactical problem that is gradually being resolved. In meetings with Fallujah leaders, Allawi has warned that a bloody assault is coming if they continue harboring the resistance.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=8578

September 21 2004

The Palestinian territories have been under a watertight closure for 11 days, since the eve of the Jewish new year, the measure would be extended until the Feast of the Tabernacle -- Sukkot in Hebrew -- which ends on October 8.

22 Wounded In Peaceful Rally against the Wall in Budrus
The Israeli occupation troops suppressed a peaceful rally headed off today in Badrus village , west of Rammallah city of the west bank in a protest  for the re-embarking of destroying orchards belonging to Palestinian farmers for building the Apartheid Wall, injuring 22 civilians and international peace activists.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/129.html


Three Palestinains shot in Anti Wall Protest in Budrus
Three Palestinians were wounded in the village of Budrus in clashes with soldiers on Tuesday morning during a protest against the construction of the West Bank separation wall. Five left-wing Israeli activists were also arrested in the protest. Israel resumed construction on Monday, after a long halt forced by the High Court order to re-route the wall section
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/092104/budrus.htm


Rasmi Sweity from Beit Awa/Um Khashrom: "This is Our Third Expulsion"
Apartheid Wall which is being built by the Occupation steels land and property, and has taken all of my lands and leaves me nothing, not for my brothers nor for my family. This is the land that we live off of, our main source of income and we do not have another source. Where do we go? They expelled us one time (1948), and a second time (1967), and this is the third
http://stopthewall.org/communityvoices/757.shtml


Israel out to win support for wall
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom flew to  New York on Monday for a series of meetings with dozens of foreign ministers and diplomats regarding his country's persistence in constructing a wall which separates it from Palestinian areas. (separates what?, as if it were built on the legal borders, even Al-Jazeera acts cool)
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/627578F2-A52F-4462-9291-AF75906CF600.htm


Bush calls on Israel to impose settlement freeze
"Israel should impose a settlement freeze, dismantle unauthorized outposts, end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people, and avoid any actions that prejudice final negotiations. And world leaders should withdraw all favor and support from any Palestinian ruler who fails his people and betrays their cause," Bush said
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480059.html


U.S. to sell Israel 5,000 smart bombs
The Pentagon told Congress that the bombs are meant to maintain Israel's qualitative advantage, and advance U.S. strategic and tactical interests. Among the bombs the air force will get are 500 one-ton bunker busters that can penetrate two-meter-thick cement walls; 2,500 regular one-ton bombs; 1,000 half-ton bombs; and 500 quarter-ton bombs.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/479587.html


Israeli Troops Continue Rampage
The Israeli occupation troops harassed toady the entire family of the residents Tahseen Hamed from Shofa village, south of Tulkarem when the soldiers stormed their house, held all eight member of the family in a single tiny at gunpoint.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/130.html


2 Palestinians Sentenced to Severe Prison Terms
Salem Israeli court sentenced Hossam 'Abed 24, of Jenin, to three life-long prison terms in addition to extra fifty years in prison. 'Abed's brother said that Hossam was arrested in 12 September, 2003, adding that his 2-storey house was demolished by Israeli troops in 14 July, 2004. In the same context, the 23-year-old Rajab Abu Khalifa
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1706


Six Palestinian Women Arrested by Israeli Troops in Nablus
The Israeli occupation forces arrested in less than a month six Palestinian women from the West Bank city of Nablus, IPC correspondent reported. According to data collected by IPC, the Israeli troops arrested the women between August 26 and September 16, in separate incidents.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/123.html


Israeli Troops Attack Various Palestinian Areas
troops invaded early on Tuesday the West Bank city and refugee camp of Jenin using 40 armored vehicles and imposed a tight curfew under which house-to-house searches... The Israeli invasion happened under a barrage of heavy gunfire and wide arrests among local residents, leading to the arrest of at least 15
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/128.html


Israeli capital on high alert
Israeli police were put on high alert on Tuesday following intelligence reports of a possible suicide attack around Tel Aviv on Israel's Mediterranean coast. Checkpoints were set up in and around the city and along the central West Bank, police spokesperson Gil Kleiman told AFP.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1592967,00.html


FM Shalom meets Tunisian counterpart in diplomatic blitz
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom met on Monday with his Tunisian counterpart Habib Ben Yahia to discuss improving relations between the two states. In their meeting, Ben Yahia proposed boosting Israeli tourism to the island of Djerba and mediating an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/479564.html


Early troubles for Palestinian voter registration
An Israeli military closure order is posted to the door of an empty office in a community centre that sits astride the dusty streets of the Shufat Palestinian refugee camp in Israeli occupied East Jerusalem. The office didn't belong to a political party inciting violence, or to a militant Islamic group.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3674202.stm


Mere mention of 'disengagement' draws boos at Likud parley
It took ushers many minutes to get the crowd under control so that Sharon could continue with his speech. Sharon told the party delegates that the disengagement plan is already underway and will be implemented according to the timetable he has set.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480043.html


Syria says it supports intra-Palestinian dialogue
"Syria wishes the Palestinian dialogue to be successful, because any dialogue would lead to unifying our positions, consequently, to achieve the natural aspirations of the Palestinian people," al-Abrash said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=479646&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Egypt asks PNA to unite Fatah movement
Palestinian sources said Tuesday Egypt had asked the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to unite Fatah movement led by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat before starting any expanded Palestinian dialogue.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/21/content_2004350.htm


Hamas willing to work with other groups on joint Gaza strategy
"There is no talk about halting the resistance or disarming it as long as there is occupation," Mashal said. "If the enemy really pulls out of the Gaza Strip then the Palestinian forces will agree among themselves on a political program and a joint position," Mashal said. "Hamas will commit with the Palestinian forces to the joint formula and program that all agree to."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/480048.html


Erekat calls for immediate resumption of talks on Mideast
Asked about the Israeli reports that Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom asked Tunis to mediate and host peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Erekat said Shalom "must specify the time and the place for resuming talks."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/21/content_2004351.htm


Israel strike cripples business
Some workers have not been paid for several months, the strikers say. Closures at banks, public hospitals, postal services and transport facilities have crippled business. Some commentators say the strike is part of a campaign against Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's free-market reforms and cost cuts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3675840.stm


Annan warns U.S., world to respect rule of law
Kofi Annan warned world leaders on Tuesday that international law was being "shamelessly disregarded" and cited the U.S. abuse of prisoners in Iraq as an example of such violations. Speaking at the high-level session of the U.N. General Assembly, Annan said "no one was above the law" whether in Sudan, Iraq, Uganda, Russia or the Middle East.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21626928.htm


Musharraf: Palestine tarnishes U.S. image
He said among Muslims, whether directly involved with the Middle East conflict or not, Palestine "has the maximum negative perspective," and said it should be a priority for resolution as part of the fight against terrorism. "There is unanimous sympathy for the Palestinians against the Israelis," he said.
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040921-103001-8873r.htm


Settler leaders warn of national 'catastrophe and division'
"We find ourselves in one of the most difficult and explosive situations we have ever known," they said. "We sense that the field is screaming out. The letter of Nadia Matar, like other letters, however condemnable they may be, rise from the ground, in view of the prime minister's trampling the democratic process,"
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/479566.html


Jordan Plans Fifth Minaret in Jerusalem
Jordan said Tuesday it plans to build a fifth minaret at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and the move appears to have the approval of Israeli authorities despite the sensitivity of the site to Jews and Muslims.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=3&u=/ap/20040921/ap_on_re_mi_ea/jordan_israel_al_aqsa


Bush asks world leaders to cut ties to Arafat
"And world leaders should withdraw all favor and support from any Palestinian ruler who fails his people and betrays their cause," Bush said. He did not explicitly name Arafat, whom he has tried to exclude from the peace process.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=15&u=/afp/20040921/wl_mideast_afp/us_bush_mideast_040921170143


America must back a Palestine state
If United State had created a state of Palestine instead of going to war in Iraq, every nation in the world would have rallied in support, al-Qaida attacks on the United States would cease, and al-Qaida might even be supportive of United States. The United States has supported Israel, but blocked the creation of a state of Palestine.
http://www.thereporter.com/Stories/0,1413,295~30190~2416621,00.html


Agents of Influence
It's not a routine spy case. According to sources familiar with the investigation, the FBI is looking at a group of neoconservatives who have occupied senior posts at the White House, the Pentagon and in Vice President Cheney's office. It's not that they are supporters of Israel...
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041004&s=dreyfuss


Pullout and the law
The point is that an historic decision that involves uprooting thousands of people from their homes and destroying their life's work should be properly made on the issue, even if the plan for such a move was declared during an election campaign.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/479615.html


UK DIPLOMAT: BUSH IS AL-QAEDA RECRUITER
Veteran envoy Sir Ivor Roberts was speaking off the record at a British-Italian think tank in Tuscany, but his remarks were reported by Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera. The paper said he told guests, including former Labour leader Neil Kinnock: "If there is anyone ready to celebrate his eventual re-election it is al-Qaeda.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=14666219&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=uk-diplomat--bush-is-al-qaeda-recruiter-name_page.html


Massive U.S. offensive reported in Ramadi
"There had been relatively heavy fighting in there for a day or two before," he told Stars and Strikes. "We moved in to try to get the city back under control, re-establish a presence and provide the protection to keep the government firmly in control. "We don't want this to turn into another Fallujah, which is what we think the bad guys are trying to do."
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040920-070736-8466r.htm


US troops arrest radical Shiite cleric's aides in Najaf
"A group of US marines raided the office of Sayed Sadr at 2:00 am (2200 GMT Monday) and arrested Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani and Sayed Hosam al-Husseini and a number of other workers in the office," said Abu Sadeq al-Adhari, an official in Sadr's office.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=10&u=/afp/20040921/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_sadr_arrest_040921174356


Web Site: 2nd U.S. Hostage Killed in Iraq
A posting on an Islamic Web site claimed Tuesday that the al-Qaida-linked group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has slain a U.S. hostage in Iraq, just 24 hours after grisly video showed the terror mastermind beheading another American captive. The claim could not immediately be verified.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20040921/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq


Why We Cannot Win
So long as there is support for the guerilla, for every one you kill two more rise up to take his place. More importantly, when your tools for killing him are precision guided munitions, raids and other acts that create casualties among the innocent populace, you raise the support for the guerillas and undermine the support for yourself.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5749&s2=21

September 20 2004

Anti-Wall protest near Hebron, several protestors wounded Report
A number of Palestinian and International activists managed to reach a military bulldozer and attempted to lie down in front of the blades of the bulldozers while soldiers attacked them and kicked them and threw tear gas canisters and concussion grenades at them.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/092004/Protest.htm


Israel to mount diplomatic blitz ahead of UN meeting
The talks would be used "to stress our agreement with the fact that the international community has an important role in promoting peace," while "making it unequivocally clear that Israel insists that the international community, in order to fulfill that role, must adopt a balanced, unbiased attitude," a senior official traveling with Shalom said Sunday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=479184&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Occupation Forces Begin Building New Settlement in Qalqiliya District
The Occupation and its settlers have placed some 40 new settlement housing units for the establishment of the new settlement which has been named Nof Hasharon; 350 dunums of Izbat Salman and Izbat Jalud lands have already been destroyed to build the new settlement.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/756.shtml


Beyond the Advisory Opinion: Possible Future Strategies
It also insisted that states party to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 had "additional obligations to ensure Israel's compliance" with the Conventions. Finally, the Court (ICJ) declared that United Nations General Assembly and Security Council ought to "consider further actions" against Israel to bring an end to the "illegal situation".
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3105.shtml


High Court turns down petitions against outpost evacuation
Residents of the outpost said they had received a "governmental assurance" that the IDF would not evacuate the outpost and would begin the process of legalizing it. The petitioners said the assurance was given by the defense minister and the IDF head of Central Command.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=479404&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


17 Palestinian Prisoners Placed under Administrative Detention in Harsh Conditions
In recent times, the Israeli occupying authorities began to place large numbers of Palestinian prisoners under administrative detentions, extending in some cases to 14-months periods, attributing such detentions to confidential reasons, thus ignoring all relevant international laws and norms...
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/120.html


Qassam lands in Sderot; IDF kills unarmed Palestinian
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces troops on Monday killed an unarmed Palestinian approaching a military outpost near a Gaza Strip settlement, the IDF said... Four Israelis were treated on the scene for shock. The rocket also left a number of homes damaged.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=479395&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Two Hamas Activists assassinated in Gaza, eight wounded including two children
the bodies of Rabah Zaqqouq, 38 years old, and Nabeel Al-Sa'edy, 35 years old, from Al-Boreij refugee camp were completely deformed and that their body parts were totally separated from their bodies.... more than seven residents were wounded in the blast, including a father and his two children...
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/092004/assasination.htm


Palestinians kill two suspected collaborators in Tul Karm area
Masked Palestinian gunmen killed a suspected collaborator in a public square in the West Bank town of Tul Karm on Monday, shooting the bound man before hundreds of onlookers, including schoolchildren, witnesses said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=479501&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Citizen Assassinated, Israeli Armoured Vehicle Ran over Civilian Car
at Beit Iba military checkpoint, west of Nablus, causing the injury of one of the passengers, witnesses revealed. "The personnel carrier purposely collided with the car while passing through the checkpoint", an eyewitness said, "The wounded was admitted to hospital so as to receive medical treatment".
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1702


Arab Games: Israel Prevents Palestinian Delegation from Leaving Occupied Territories
Israeli occupation forces have banned Sunday the Palestinian delegation from going to Algiers via Egypt to compete in the 10th Arab Sports Games, a Palestinian source announced.The Palestinian delegation, made up of 141 members, left Sunday for Rafah terminal, at the border between Ghaza strip and Egypt, but has not managed to leave Ghaza strip
http://www.aps.dz/an/pageview.asp?ID=71332


Far-right activist held on suspicion of attacking Palestinians
In another incident on Monday, police detained for questioning a female Kedumim resident on suspicion that she attacked members of the Machsom Watch volunteer group at the Hawara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/479530.html


Palestinian economy will sink to mere subsistence without aid - UN study
The protracted conflict in the Middle East is causing the Palestinian economy to suffer severe damage which might not be repaired even if political stability is achieved, a new United Nations study warns, urging immediate action to shore up small and medium-sized businesses in the occupied territories.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11977&Cr=palestin&Cr1=


NRP to petition High Court against compensation advances
The National Religious Party announced Monday that it will submit a petition to the High Court of Justice on Tuesday to protest last week's government decision to distribute advance compensation payments to Gaza Strip and West Bank residents (illegal settlers)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/479498.html


IDF dismisses 5 conscientious objectors from military service
The Israel Defense Forces has dismissed from service the five conscientious objectors who were released last week from the civilian prisons where they were serving their sentences. The five have served some two years in military and civilian prisons, including 10 months "open detention" in an army camp.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/479522.html


Syrian speaker underlines support to Palestinians
Syria underlined on Monday its support to the Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against Israel and the struggle for building an independent Palestine state with Jerusalem as its capital... Mahmoud al-Abrash made the remarks while meeting with visiting Chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Rawhi Fattouh.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/21/content_1999580.htm


Arafat should yield power to Qorei ahead of US poll: Jordan PM
"We don't expect any movement in the peace progress until after the US election. This will be a wait-and-see period, but it is important to rearrange the Palestinian house so that their position will be strong," he said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=17&u=/afp/20040920/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_jordan_040920081618


Dichter: Hamas poses major threat to Israel
Hamas is evolving from small cells of three or four people to a "people's army" with larger organizational components, he told the cabinet, adding the organization is currently concentrating its efforts on overcoming the fence surrounding the Gaza Strip.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/20/content_1995618.htm


Poll: Palestinians favor Bargouthi after Arafat
%46 of the sample preferred Arafat, while %12 preferred Bargouthi... On the other hand, Bargouthi came first, with %51 in a scenario that does not include Arafat but includes Hanieh who had %28 and the Mustafa Bargouthi, a prominent Palestinian leader and Politician who had %11.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/092004/poll-bzu.htm


Goff likely to face Israel at UN debate
Mr Goff said nothing was planned. "If I meet up with the Israeli Foreign Minister in passing, or whatever, I will be making the same points that have been made previously. "The onus is on them at this point to come clean with us and give whatever assurance they are capable of that they don't intend to exploit our citizens and undermine the integrity of our passports."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3593186&thesection=news&thesubsection=general


Berlin bans controversial Arab-Islamic congress
Henrike Morgenstern, a spokeswoman for the Berlin interior ministry, said an advertisement for the event published in English on the Internet expressed approval for suicide attacks against Israel and the United States. The organisers said they will respect the ban but denied ever showing approval of suicide attacks...
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20232636.htm


Israel on agenda for UN nuclear watchdog general conference
A Western diplomat close to the IAEA said Middle Eastern states have in the past used the conference as a forum to vent their frustration over Iran being attacked for alleged nuclear capabilities while the IAEA does not act against Israel, which is believed to have developed nuclear weapons and has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/107550/1/.html


Netzarim-Katzrin-Ofra
according to Sharon, he wants to evacuate the territories without any compensation from the Arab side, in order to sabotage the chance of reaching a peace agreement with two Arab countries (it's almost certain that Lebanon will follow Syria). He sacrificed the Gaza Strip settlement of Netzarim, if you will, so as to preserve the Golan Heights community of Katzrin.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/479167.html


Palestine & C Town Agree On Cooperation
The City of Cape Town and the Nablus Municipality of Palestine signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen working relations between the two cities. This significant partnership follows the United Nations African Meeting in support of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, which took place in here, earlier this week...
http://allafrica.com/stories/200409200518.html


Azerbaijan denies man arrested for spying on Israeli embassy
Azerbaijan officials on Monday denied that a man arrested this month was caught with videotaped footage of the Israeli embassy in the capital city of Baku. The Shin Bet security service announced Sunday in a statement...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=479436&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Sweden: Meeting extends solidarity to Palestinians
One of the main purposes was for people in Sweden to learn about the Palestinian liberation struggle from activists in Palestine. They talked about the successes they have had with this campaign. Sales of Israeli products have dropped in several countries, including Sweden, since the boycott began. The groups discussed ways of taking the boycott campaign further.
http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/sweden0923.php


After Abu Ghraib A MUST READ
Alazawi says that US guards left her sitting on the chair overnight, and that the next day they took her to a room known by detainees as "the torturing place". "The US officer told us: 'If you don't confess we will torture you. So you have to confess.' My hands were handcuffed. They took off my boots and stood me in the mud with my face against the wall. I could hear women and men shouting and weeping. I recognised one of the cries as my brother Mu'taz. I wanted to see what was going on so I tried to move the cloth from my eyes. When I did, I fainted."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1308225,00.html


Senior Sunni clerics assassinated in Iraq
In the first incident, the body of Shaikh Hazim al-Zaidi was found in front of al-Sajjad mosque in Sadr City, a mainly Shia area in eastern Baghdad on Monday, an AMS spokesman told Aljazeera. In the second incident, later on Monday, Shaikh Muhammad Jadwa was killed by armed men when he left al-Kauthar mosque in the Baya area, west of Baghdad.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C2AE88B8-9310-48B4-A273-277BAB196667.htm


US determined to cut out 'cancer of Fallujah'
American military commanders in Iraq are planning a series of major assaults before the end of the year to retake control of Fallujah and other cities held by insurgents. While commanders say they have not fixed a precise date for the new operation, much will depend on the readiness of Iraqi police and military police units which would occupy the cities once they have been taken.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=563620


Video on Web Site Shows Beheading
A video posted Monday on a Web site showed the beheading of a man identified as American construction contractor Eugene Armstrong. The video surfaced after the expiration of a 48-hour deadline set by the group in an earlier statement. The militants had demanded the release of female Iraqi prisoners detained by the U.S. military.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20040920/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_american_hostage


US struggles to “encircle” China: Experts
“By launching the war on Iraq , Washington wanted to have a military foothold in the Arab Gulf region for encircling China and depriving China from the Iraqi oil reserves, on which China mainly depends. “The goal was to throw a spanner in the Chinese high growth rates before it becomes a major challenger to the US ,” the analyst added.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5739&s2=20


Gardening Saddam 'dying every day' in custody, Iraqi officials say
In his 3.5-by-3.9 meter (10-by-13 foot) cell -- furnished with a fold-up bed, a small desk and a plastic chair, and a prayer mat -- Saddam reads poetry and "tales from 1,000 years ago when Baghdad was a centre of learning and the capital of the Islamic world," the officials said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=10&u=/afp/20040920/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_saddam_040920113528

September 19 2004

Eight Inhabitants, One Critically Wounded In Peaceful Rally Against The Wall in Hebron
Eight inhabitants at least, one critically, were wounded today noon , when the Israeli occupation troops attacked anti –Apartheid Wall  peaceful rally organized in Beit Awwa and Al Seka villages... About 150 Palestinians inhabitants of Beit Awa vilalge and 30 peace activists from Israel and abroad headed off toady noon in a massive peaceful anti apartheid wall rally..
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/112.html


Israel hopes to close debate on West Bank barrier
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he hoped to close the international debate over Israel's West Bank barrier, predicting that Palestinian efforts to take the issue to the UN Security Council would fail.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/107461/1/.html


US seeks to limit UN bias against Israel
Last week, the American Jewish Committee called on world leaders "to make a concerted effort to end the world body's chronic assault on Israel." It released a report entitled, "One-Sided: The Relentless Campaign Against Israel in the United Nations."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1095490890330&p=1006688055060


Israeli Source: Americans Has no Concerns, We Can Proceed with WB Barrier
An Israeli government official said Saturday that while the Americans asked the Israeli delegation visiting Washington many questions, they did not express any concerns or opposition to the West Bank Separation wall new route. "We are concluding by this that we can proceed," the source added.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/091904/israeli%20source.htm


Apartheid Israel
A classic apartheid construction when it refers to the essential attributes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is essentially a conflict between a settler-colonial state and an indigenous population dispossessed by the colonial project.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=6257%20


Security prisoners charge guards with humiliating them
Written and oral testimony obtained by Haaretz alleges that guards and officers, acting under the guise of conducting searches, humiliated inmates by forcing each to undress (separately), then to perform squats and walk around in front of the guards. According to the inmates, the guards and officers taunted them and even hit several inmates.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478705.html


?Struggle of Palestinian prisoners will continue until freedom -- Barghouti
The eminent Palestinian prisoner, Marwan Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Secretary of Fatah movement, said on Sunday the Palestinian prisoners' struggle against the Israeli prisons' administrations will not stop until Palestinians achieve freedom and independence.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=665103


Top Hamas Militant Killed in Israeli Missile Strike
They said the missile was apparently fired by an Israeli airforce unmanned drone in the air over Gaza City. The missile tore through a car carrying a top leader in Hamas's Izz-el-Deen al-Qassam brigades, killing him and wounding several passersby.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20040919_164.html


Israeli troops kill Palestinian in northern Gaza
Israel Radio reported that Israeli soldiers had spotted three Palestinian militants approaching the fence along Gaza's northern border, apparently with the intention of carrying out an attack. The troops opened fire, killing one and wounding the other two.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2004/September/middleeast_September501.xml&section=middleeast


Two Children, A Girl Wounded In Separate Incidents
during the Israeli raid in Ayda refugee camp of Bethlehem, the invading troops opened intentionally towards the two children Zaid Al Barat'a,14, shot in the thigh whilst  Mohammed Al Azrq,17, was wounded in the shoulder and a shrapnel in several parts of his body.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/113.html


MP falls ill on West Bank visit
Norwich North MP Dr Ian Gibson has suffered a suspected stroke while on a fact-finding tour in the Middle East. His ambulance was believed to have been delayed for several hours at an Israeli army checkpoint while on route to the Makassed Hospital.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/norfolk/3670422.stm


General Strike in Arab Israeli Areas to Commemorate October' Killings
The strike will include schools, public institutions, and private businesses. The decision, which was demanded by the families of those killed, was reached unanimously. On the anniversary, Arab Israelis will march to the gravesites to pay respect to the 12 killed.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/091904/general%20strike.htm


Hamas leader arrives in Cairo for talks with officials
"This visit has nothing to do with the dialogue issue," Nazal, a Syria-based Hamas leader told The Associated Press, adding that the trip would last a few days. "This visit is to discuss the issue and the consequences of the Zionist withdrawal from Gaza Strip."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=478726&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Hamas denies being involved in bombing attacks in Iraq
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri made the remarks in response to a report by Radio Sawa financed by the United States, which said more than 200 Hamas members infiltrated into Iraq from Iran to carry out armed attacks against the US forces in Iraq.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/19/content_1994651.htm


Palestinians register for elections
The number of Palestinians who have registered to vote in the upcoming Palestinian elections is steadily rising, says a newly released report. Until recently the election process had been marked by widespread voter apathy amid almost daily Israeli incursions and raids, and continued Palestinian lawlessness.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8398E7B0-FFF3-4EA7-9955-FC5CE7737280.htm


Egypt asks to visit students caught infiltrating Israeli border
The families of the students, talking to the Egyptian media, have dismissed the accusations, saying they went to Israel looking for work and had no politically motivated intentions.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/479041.html


Israeli Forces Try Palestinian Legislator Hussam Khader Today
Since the main witness withd rew his testimony against Khader during the last hearing on March 15, 2004,  Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Khader has not had any hearings until today, Nasrallah added.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/106.html


Israel Plans to Expel Residents From East Jerusalem, President Arafat  Calls for Their Aid
In a report issued yesterday by the center, the most controversial part of the scheme is related to the old city of Jerusalem, where the Israeli planners proposed limiting the population growth, under the pretext of the population’s welfare.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/110.html


Madonna Views Western Wall from Afar
Madonna, who recently adopted the Hebrew name Esther and wears a trademark Kabbalah red string on her wrist, has said she is serious about her belief in Jewish mysticism and irritated by accusations her faith is nothing more than a celebrity fad.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=peopleNews&storyID=6271972


Iranian arrested photographing Israeli Embassy in Azerbaijan
Security forces in Azerbaijan have arrested an Iranian citizen caught videotaping footage of the Israeli Embassy in the capital city of Baku, the Shin Bet internal security service announced Sunday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/479049.html


British aided Mossad kidnap, says Vanunu
ISRAELI nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu risked legal retribution during a telephone interview at a human rights festival yesterday, as he claimed that British, French, Italian, and US security services had co-operated in his 1986 kidnapping by Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency.
http://www.sundayherald.com/44913


The Temple Mount Bombers - By Uri Avnery
But the Security Service also entertains an even greater fear: that a Jewish terror group will bomb the mosques on the Temple Mount. Years ago, a Jewish underground organization was preparing to do exactly that. It was uncovered before it could carry out its plans. Now similar plots are afoot.
http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/article322.html


Palestinian groups in Gaza amassing arms ahead of withdrawal
Various Palestinian security organizations in the Gaza Strip have redoubled efforts to get weapons and ammunition before the IDF withdraws from the Strip and the settlements are evacuated. The units buy arms and ammunition from smugglers bringing them into Gaza from Egypt
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=478803&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


For first time, Israeli Bedouin named university department chairs
In a striking and encouraging coincidence, two Bedouin professors at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva were elected chairs of their respective departments this summer. Dr. Aref Abu-Rabia of Middle East Studies and Dr. Alean Al-Krenawi of Social Work are the first Bedouin to serve as department chairs in any Israeli university.
http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Articles%5El782&enZone=Profiles&enVersion=0&


Berlin Islamic rally organizer deported to Beirut
An organizer of a controversial Arab Islamic Congress scheduled to be held in Berlin next month to rally support for "resistance and intifada" in Iraq and Israel has been deported from Germany... Authorities are looking at the possibility of banning the conference, announced on the Internet (http://www.anamoqawem.org/berlincall.htm) and planned for Oct. 1-3.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=479027&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


IDF using radar to warn of incoming Qassams
Known as Maamin, the system fixes the position from which a rocket is fired and issues a warning. Using electro-optic sensors and advanced computers, Maamin is capable of pinpointing both the location of the launch and the point where the missile will land, in less than a second.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478697.html


17,193 Iraqis killed, wounded in six months: health ministry
A total of 3,511 Iraqis were killed and 13,682 others wounded, the source said. The victims included 175 women and 146 children, and the wounded included 617 women and 429 children, the source added. He emphasized that the number only included those admitted to hospitals and registered in official records.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/20/content_1995606.htm


Allawi and Blair say Iraq polls will proceed on time
After talks with Britain's Tony Blair, Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi called for more help from the United Nations in organising the polls. Both men played down talk of more foreign troops being sent in to shore up security.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d9822712-0a49-11d9-a415-00000e2511c8.html


Iraqis tell Britain: Release our prisoners or we kill hostage
A 62-year-old British engineer was last night less than 48 hours from death at the hands of his kidnappers in Iraq, intensifying the atmosphere of crisis at today's meeting between Tony Blair and the Iraqi interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=563423


Three Kurds beheaded in Iraq: website
The Army of Ansar al-Sunna said in a statement that the three killed, members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), were taken hostage in Taji, north of Baghdad. The same group was believed to be responsible for killing 12 Nepalese in Iraq last month.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/19/content_1995564.htm


Iraq militants parade 15 captive guardsmen, give 48-hour ultimatum
Calling itself the Mohammed bin Abdullah Brigade, the group demanded the immediate release of Hazem al-Araji, representative of Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr for the Baghdad pilgrimage district of Kadhimiya, the television reported. Another Sadr aide in the Iraqi capital denied his movement had any connection to the kidnappers.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=4&u=/afp/20040919/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_hostages_guard_040919185911

September 18 2004

Israel wages diplomatic offensive over barrier ahead of UN meet
Israel is seeking to convince critics, notably the European Union, not to support a possible resolution calling on the UN Security Council to condemn Israel over the barrier and possibly impose sanctions. The Israeli offensive comes in tandem with a drive by its top ally, Washington, to reduce the number of UN resolutions it deems to be anti-Israel...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=9&u=/afp/20040918/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_israel_barrier_un_040918111811


An adolescent Beaten Fiercely by Israeli Soldiers
Suleiman, son of the West Bank village of Kufer Aldiek, north of Salfiet City, told the Palestine News Agency (WAFA) a painful story with the Israeli soldiers, while he is laying at the Shaikh Zayied hospital in Ramallah City. Following three days of intensive care at the hospital, Wessam recited his story. (AP, Reuters... won't mention such headline!)
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/098.html


Apartheid Wall Splits Palestinian People from Houses Ar-Ram
"Almost 30,000 Jerusalemite will find themselves either isolated from Jerusalem city, or forced to leave their houses in Ram," The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign said in a statement issued Thursday.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1694


Israel Moves to Drive Arabs Away From Al-Quds
"Plans to evacuate the Palestinians living in the Old City lies within the demographic struggle after large numbers of Palestinians moved into the Old City as a result of the construction of the self-styled Israeli separation wall two years ago," Khalil Tafkaji, a Palestinian expert for settlement affairs told
http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-09/16/article02.shtml


US to protect Israel at UN session
The United States will seek to protect Israel from critical resolutions in the UN General Assembly during its September session. The US wants the resolutions to be balanced between Israel and the Palestinians or not be adopted at all. (It should not be relating only to Israel as Occupier, but also to Palestine)
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3627BFD3-9F6A-4A5E-9904-FFB7016B00E6.htm


Israel and Palestine, Choosing Sides (A Must Read)
We discovered, for example, that the San Francisco Chronicle had prominently covered 150 percent of Israeli children's deaths-i.e., many of the deaths were the subject of more than one headline in the paper-and five percent of Palestinian ones. In other words, Palestinian deaths were rarely accorded headline coverage even once.
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/media/sides.html


Three Wounded In Nablus , Several Military Checkpoint  Closed
Three inhabitants were wounded today noon by the Israeli occupying forces during storming-ins into several neighborhoods of Nablus city of the West Bank , running amok against the inhabitants and their belongings as the Israeli settlers molested the inhabitants of Hebron.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/104.html


Abuse at Ramleh Prison: Baby Deprived of his Rights and Female Prisoners Maltreated
Since his birth one year and seven months ago, Wael Taha, the son of Palestinian prisoner Mervat Taha, who was born and raised so far behind Israeli bars in Al Ramleh prison, has not tasted freedom or known any other place than prison, which made him cry constantly, though without any attention from the Israeli wardens.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/101.html


Israel Negates Its Promise to Improve the Human Situation of the Prisoners
Israeli prison services annulled its undertakings to improve the humiliating imprisonment situation inside the Israeli jails and escalated its repressive measures, upon which the prisoners agreed suspending their 19 hunger strike, embarked on last 15 august.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/100.html


IOF Escalates Aggression, Arrests 3 Citizens in WB
Elsewhere, Israeli soldiers beat up four citizens Ra'fat Masry 13,Shady Masry 15, Mohammed Shahin18 and Musa A'shor 28 in al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, arresting one of them, witnesses added.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1695


?Qassam Brigades attack Israeli armored vehicle in Rafah
Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas Movement, announced responsibility for attacking an Israeli armored vehicle with a missile in Rafah south of Gaza Strip. A statement issued by the brigades said that the missile struck the vehicle directly.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=664940


Israel develops 'skunk bomb' for riot control situations
The device, designed to be fired from a distance in order to disperse crowds, has a disgusting smell that lingers in its victim's clothing for up to five years.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/478622.html


Appreciating Palestine after 50 years of exile
During the obligatory interview in the office of the camp's PLO official, Khalil translates the commandant's oft-rehearsed speech about the Palestinian's dispossession and ultimate return into two concise remarks: "The Palestinian people have suffered a great deal," and "The Palestinian people will suffer a great deal more."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=8479


Palestinian day of solidarity with the humanitarian aid workers held hostage in Iraq
We, civil society organizations, strongly condemn the kidnapping of civilians to attain political goals and call for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages held in Iraq. We believe hostage-taking to be harmful to the liberation of Iraq and Iraq's struggle for self-determination and freedom.
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=3386


Israeli Arabs to commemorate October riots with general strike
The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee declared a general strike on Saturday scheduled for October 1 to mark the anniversary of the riots in which 12 Israeli Arabs and one Palestinian were killed in clashes with police.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478639.html


Palestinian woman attempts to stab soldier at W. Bank checkpoint
A Palestinian woman on Saturday attempted to stab an Israel Defense Forces soldier at the Tapuah checkpoint, south of the West Bank city of Nablus. The soldier was not injured, and the woman was arrested and turned over to security forces for interrogation.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478584.html


Palestinian officers head to Egypt for training
The sources said the 45 officers would go in groups, the first group had left Gaza on Saturday for Cairo to have training insecurity and police skills, adding the training would start on Sept. 25.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/19/content_1994624.htm


Palestinian factions to discuss post-pullout Gaza in Cairo
They told Ramallah-based Al Ayyam daily that the document would be presented to the factions and representatives of the five factions should give their responses within one week.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/19/content_1994594.htm


Egypt postpones intra-Palestinian talks
Egypt has postponed a meeting of Palestinian faction representatives that was set to be held Sunday in Cairo "due to the absence of guarantees from Israel" that it will implement and carry out its disengagement plan...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478633.html


On This Day 1978: Arab-Israeli breakthrough in US
The settlements consist of two agreements. The first addresses the issues in the West Bank and Gaza by accommodating Arab interests and protecting Israel's security. For the first time Palestinians will be given the right to self-determination, along with other inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza, over the future settlement and government of the disputed area.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/18/newsid_2728000/2728825.stm


Oman paper: 2nd phase of prisoner deal may be reached soon
Israeli officials denied on Friday a newspaper report that it had received new information on the fate of missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478555.html


Inspiring Rafflesians Moulded into a woman of substance
Dr Ang's courageous story of her time with the Palestinians is detailed in her 1989 book, From Beirut To Jerusalem, that was lauded by The Guardian and The Times. She spearheaded a multi-million-dollar charity for displaced Palestinians, and is a published writer to boot.
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/story/0,4136,72996,00.html


Putting Palestinian Homes Back Together
The two weeks spent rebuilding a demolished Palestinian home at ICAHD's (Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) summer work camp at Beit Arabiya in the West Bank town of Anata was a rare opportunity to experience a community of light and spirit in the midst of a troubled and grim situation.
http://www.counterpunch.com/ward09182004.html


'But this is not the novel. It's a cinematic reading of the novel'
The result is a two-part, four-hour long, chronological epic. It's the tale of the Palestinians' forced exodus from their land, a tale of two love stories, a tale of Palestinians as individuals, a tale of the hardships Palestinians face and still face. The book has all of this and much more besides.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&Article_id=8480


Hamas poised to make mark in elections
In the first phase of municipal voting, only about one-third of Palestinian localities are scheduled to vote - leaving out all of the major cities. Many see the staggered plan as a tactic by Mr. Arafat to limit the initial balloting to areas where Fatah loyalists are assured of victory.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20040917-111356-5841r.htm


Norwegians, UN help Palestinian camps youth
Despite job restrictions for Palestinians in Lebanon, more than 70 percent of graduates are finding opportunities after their intensive year, and each year a higher proportion enters university. "It is an assurance for life and for the future," said Fouad Zaydan, 21, who graduated from business and office practices.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=8481


Nader ruling a boost for Bush
U.S. President George W. Bush has received a potential boost in his bid for re-election after a court ruled that independent candidate Ralph Nader, who experts believe helped Bush win four years ago, be placed on Florida's presidential ballot.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=585938&section=news


New Duke president faced turmoil even before officially taking office
The criticism erupted after Duke gave the go-ahead for a pro-Palestinian conference on campus in October. Later, Brodhead affirmed that Duke would not divest from companies with ties to Israel.
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031778025477&path=%21localnews&s=1037645509099


Germany slaps visa ban: Arab conference
German Interior Minister Otto Schily said on Friday he was examining every possibility to prevent the conference taking place, although he added there had been no formal application to hold the event.
http://www.dawn.com/2004/09/18/int11.htm


Car Bomb Attacks in Baghdad Kill 2 Troops
The first bomb exploded near an overpass on the road linking the capital to the airport as a convoy passed by, wounding three soldiers. At around 4 p.m., U.S. soldiers traveling to the scene of the attack were hit by a second car bomb, killing two and wounding 11, the military said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=3&u=/ap/20040918/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_airport_road


Group threatens to kill hostages
Militants have threatened to kill three Western hostages unless all female Iraqi prisoners are set free. The blindfolded men - Briton Kenneth Bigley, and US colleagues Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong - were shown in a video broadcast by al-Jazeera TV. The station said they were being held by followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3668172.stm

September 17 2004

Prisoner Stories: Sleiman Sari al Sa'di's sons
The family has recently lost the 97 dunums of land in Araboneh (south of the destroyed al Mazar) that they had managed to hang onto. The part of the wall that Israel has already built in the far north side of the West Bank has now cut them off from their land.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3101.shtml


ON THIS DAY - 1982: Sabra and Shatila - aftermath of an atrocity
I went into the camps with the Red Cross but too late. Nobody had been allowed in. Bulldozers had gone in to bury bodies. They had also bulldozed buildings with people still inside, families still watching television, or having dinner. (Massacre made possible by Democratically elected Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/september/17/newsid_2891000/2891661.stm


Palestinian Detainee Dies of Medical Neglect
"On Thursday morning, Al-Bolbol who was detained since 15/4/2003, suffered from some health problems , we asked the soldiers to send him to the clinic, but they kept installing us for more than six hours, then he was transferred, but shortly after arriving at the clinic he was pronounced dead", the representative said.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/091704/prisoner-dies.htm


Report: IDF troops kill Palestinian woman during Nablus clashes
Witnesses said Beriza Aminawi was shot in the heart as she stood on the roof of her house. The IDF had no immediate comment. Troops, in 10 jeeps, entered the city earlier in the day, clashing with Palestinian youths, witnesses said. The youths threw stones...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478584.html


The death and disorientation of the children of Gaza
Raghda Alassar's classmates did not hear the Israeli bullet that tore into the nine-year-old's brain as she wrote an English test. But as a pool of blood spread across her desk and spilled on to the floor, a wall of screams rose from the classroom of the UN elementary school for girls in Khan Yunis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1306433,00.html


Israel nabs eight Palestinians in West Bank raids
Eight Palestinians were arrested overnight by Israeli troops in several West Bank towns, an army spokesman told AFP. Three of them, suspected of belonging to the radical Islamic Jihad group, were nabbed in the Bethlehem area, in the sourthern West Bank. Five others were arrested in Nablus and Salfit...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1514&ncid=1312&e=1&u=/afp/20040917/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_unrest_arrest_040917101600


Israeli Forces Shell Palestinian Homes as a Prisoner Dies inside Jail
The sources added that an Israeli forces of several tanks and armored bulldozers advanced east of Jabalia camp and razed dozens of dunums of arable lands owned by the Zein, Ebeid and Abed Rabbo families. Nearby, Israeli forces opened heavy gunfire at the Nasser Village, north of Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses affirmed.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/096.html


Inhuman Treatment of Checkpoints; soldiers force a Palestinian to drink their urine
Sameeh added that soldiers forced him and the other worker to do a poll, conducted by the soldiers "as a sort of entertainment!", the soldiers wrote on three pieces of paper the "punishment", first paper was to break a leg, second paper to break an arm, then the third to drink urine prepared by the soldiers previously in a bottle...
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/091704/soldiers-morality.htm


Zionists install early warning system to detect Palestinian home made rockets
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the new system which was revealed lately detects a Qassam rocket seconds after its launch, this information is passed on to the head quarters of the internal front unit in the settlement and within 20 seconds sirens will be sounded around the settlement prompting the settlers to go to the shelters.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_7990.shtml


UN reports another 'bad month' in Middle East, calls for return to peace plan
A top United Nations official today again reported "a bad month in the Middle East ," with a resumption of Palestinian suicide bombings inside Israel, further deadly Israeli military operations in Palestinian territories and no progress on an international peace plan... (skipping daily home demolitions and Wall)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11961&Cr=middle&Cr1=east


After the 'Road Map'
What Ariel Sharon has been indicating for months is now stated Israeli policy: The US-drawn "road map" to a Palestinian state is locked in the glove compartment - along with other failed peace plans. So, no negotiated deal with the Palestinians, no lead role for Washington as the go-between, and just half a loaf of Palestinian autonomy for the foreseeable future.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0917/p08s02-comv.html


Israel-Vatican talks: points of contention
After meetings with Vatican officials, a key Israeli government leader has said that diplomatic problems between the Holy See and Israel will soon be resolved. But an Israeli Catholic priest who has been involved in negotiations has told the AsiaNews service that some serious obstacles remain.
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=32203


India for lifting restrictions on Arafat
Describing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as a "hero", India today demanded that the restriction on the freedom of his movement should be lifted forthwith as it would not help the cause of peace. "It is our view that restrictions on the freedom of movement of President Arafat would not help the cause of peace. This only compounds difficulties,"...
http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Palestine&slug=India+for+lifting+restrictions+on+Arafat&id=60590&callid=1


Yoko Ono gives peace prize to Mordechai Vanunu
Veteran peacenik, artist and musician Yoko Ono has given Mordechai Vanunu a peace prize founded in her late husband's memory, an award she hopes will keep the Israeli nuclear whistleblower safe.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478559.html


On This Day 2003
The United States vetoed United Nations Security Council resolution specifically demanding that Israel not deport or threaten the safety of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Today in 2004 Sharon hints that Arafat may be killed


Oman paper: Second phase of prisoner deal may be reached soon
According to the paper, which based its information on reports from "sources closely following the negotiations" over an exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hezbollah, the new information is liable to prompt the implementation of the second stage of the deal within two or three weeks.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478555.html


Black September
Everyone knows of the terrorist attacks that occurred on 9/11 when 3,000 innocent American civilians were killed in one of the most audacious terrorist attacks in modern history. But how many people know that September is also the month when 3, 500 civilians, mainly Palestinian refugees, were slaughtered in Chatila refugee camp in Beirut in 1982?
http://www.masnet.org/articleinterest.asp?id=1670


Israel's Demographics
Published by Israel's leading English language newspaper, Haaretz, the data shows that Israel's population of 6.8 million consists of 5.5 million Jews and 1.3 million Arabs.It does include citizens of East Jerusalem, which Israel illegally annexed and that the international community still considers occupied territory.
http://www.counterpunch.org/hanania09172004.html


Hezbollah Active Among Palestinians
Badawi is aware of the problem, which he has encountered in Balata. "It is true that many of the small groups look for support to people like Hezbollah. That is not good, we don't want our people to be influenced by outsiders and we try to act against it."
http://www.antiwar.com/ips/biedermann.php?articleid=3590


Too much to atone for on Yom Kippur
Lockdown, the latest extreme violation, is just a continuation of Israeli actions over more than 37 years, and grows from its policy of curfew and closure. Indeed, to be precise, it is an intensification of closure, which combines the horrors of closure with the terror of curfew.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/708/re2.htm


Israeli use of placebos in common
A survey of Israeli clinicians found three of five use placebos to treat patients despite the medical profession's official disapproval. The report, authored by Dr. Pesach Lichtenberg of Herzog Hospital and Hadassah School of Medicine in Jerusalem, is published in the online edition of the British Medical Journal this week.
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=a54448ba04314d98


Germany to deny visas for Islamic conference
Organizers of the Oct. 1-3 event call on the meeting's Web site for "the liberation of all the occupied territories and countries in struggle against the American-Zionist hegemony and occupation."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1095405212033


The Resort to Force - By Noam Chomsky
As predicted, the war increased the threat of terror. Middle East expert Fawaz Gerges found it ``simply unbelievable how the war has revived the appeal of a global jihadi Islam that was in real decline after 9-11.'' Recruitment for the Al Qaeda networks increased, while Iraq itself became a ``terrorist haven'' for the first time.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6916.htm


John Pilger hears Blair echo Mussolini
These days, the Americans routinely fire missiles into Fallujah and other dense urban areas; they murder whole families. If the word terrorism has any modern application, it is this industrial state terrorism. The British have a different style. There are more than 40 known cases of Iraqis having died at the hands of British soldiers; just one soldier has been charged.
http://www.newstatesman.com/site.php3?newTemplate=NSArticle_NS&newDisplayURN=200409200016


Up to 60 killed as US targets 'rebel fighters'
Dr Ali Awad of the Fallujah General Hospital said 30 people were killed and more than 40 were injured, including women and children. But the US military said intelligence showed up to 60 suspected enemy fighters may have been killed.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=562692


Oil pipeline ablaze in Iraq
Sabotage of oil infrastructure is common in Iraq where a fire which raged on a strategic northern pipeline, stalling exports through Turkey, was brought under control early on Wednesday. An official at the Northern Oil Company said the repair work would take "three days to a week to complete".
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10792010%5E1702,00.html


Foreigners Taken Hostage in Iraq Tops 120
Insurgents in Iraq have kidnapped more than 120 foreigners in their campaign to drive out coalition forces and hamper reconstruction:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=6&u=/ap/20040917/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_hostages_glance


Zarqawi's fighters in 'heart of Baghdad'
The admission came as a car bomb struck a police checkpoint in Rashid Street, the old commercial centre of the Iraqi capital, killing 13 people. The toll would have been higher had it not been a Friday when many shops and businesses are closed. A second car bomb in Baghdad was foiled when guards opened fire and killed the two men inside.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f1374c34-08c8-11d9-8185-00000e2511c8.html


France backs Annan on 'illegal' Iraq war
That was "traditionally" France's view from the start, he added.   "We have always considered that it's international law that constitutes the framework for any action, notably against terrorism or for stability in the world," he said. (except for 1956 war 'only')
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=58&story_id=11981&name=France+backs+Annan+on+'illegal'+Iraq+war


France and Belgium block Nato academy in Iraq
France in particular is concerned the academy could be seen as a first step towards wider Nato involvement in Iraq. Officials said Friday's veto was meant to send a signal to the US that it should not demand more help from Nato to control an increasingly violent and unpredictable situation.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/11e5020e-08a7-11d9-8185-00000e2511c8.html

September 16 2004

The Apartheid Wall and Ghettos in Ar Ram
The Apartheid Wall through Ar Ram runs in the middle of the main Jerusalem-Ramallah road, separating the two sides of the street. The Wall in Ar Ram will place sixty thousand people in a hanging ghetto, linked to Ramallah by either a bridge or a tunnel, separating the residents from Jerusalem.
http://stopthewall.org/photos/755.shtml


Where is the train headed?
A thorny question has been bothering Attorney General Menachem Mazuz for several weeks: Is it possible to continue planning the fast train line to Jerusalem, which crosses into the territories in two places? The question was raised following the High Court's ruling on the separation fence in the area of Route No. 443 and near Mevasseret Zion.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478063.html


NGO draft plan calls for sanctions against Israel
A draft plan presented at the United Nations Wednesday calls for pressure on Israel to end occupation of Palestinian territories. The draft - adopted by a non-governmental conference committee - threatens to seek divestment, arms embargoes and other sanctions in the event of non-compliance.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1095313090908


?Palestinian prisoner dies from stroke
A prisoner told KUNA by phone that Fawaz Bolbol, 30, died tonight as a result of the stroke, adding that the demised inmate hailed from the village of Atil near Tulkram and that he was a member of Islamic Jihad. Palestinian prisoners in Israel have recently observed a hunger strike to press for improving their conditions behind the bars.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=664498


Internationals demand an investigation in the killing of Nablus five
Four of the five men were shot in the head at close range. The bullets did not pass through their skulls and instead exploded the young men's heads, indicating that they were shot at close range, Dr. Samir Abu Srour of the UPMRC said.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/091604/intls-demand.htm


They say 9/11 changed the world. What about September 16?
September 16 commemorates the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, the day almost a quarter of a century ago, when up to 3,500 civilians, mainly Palestinian refugees, died in Beirut, Lebanon refugee camps. In 1982, Ariel Sharon was Defense Minister of Israel. An Israeli commission of inquiry found that he and other Israelis were responsible for the massacre. Now Ariel Sharon is Prime Minister of Israel.
http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com/pubarchive_show_message.php?montrealmuslimnews+2711


Israeli Soldiers Force Palestinian Worker to Drink Urine
The Israeli soldiers, stationed at military checkpoint of Abu Dees near Jerusalem, forced last Saturday a Palestinian worker to drink urine, Israeli newspaper "Maariv" revealed Wednesday.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1687


Weekly report on human rights violations
This week was the bloodiest week in the last two months, as 24 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 6 children, were killed and dozens of other civilians were injured by Israeli troops.  Human rights violations perpetrated by IOF included willful and extra-judicial executions, incursions into Palestinian areas, indiscriminate shelling, house demolitions and land raising.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3099.shtml


Palestinians accuse Israel of bugging security HQ
"The machine had been planted inside the walls of Saraya in 1994 by the Israeli army before the pullout from Gaza," the statement said, adding it was "for the use of the (Israeli) army". The Saraya complex houses the offices of intelligence services and also the main prison.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L163866.htm


Israeli Troops wound 3 Palestinian children in southern Gaza
They said Israeli soldiers stationed around the settlement of Neveh Dekalim opened intensive gunfire at the Palestinian houses in western Khan Younis, and moderately wounded the three children.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/16/content_1988066.htm


Siege tightened in Hebron, homes topped tens withheld
A local source in Hebron said that soldiers withheld tens of residents, searched them and clubbed several youths on checkpoint erected in the city, in addition to assaulting tens of school students and children on their way to school.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/091604/Siege_Hebron.htm


Egypt nabs 7 Palestinians at illegal Gaza crossing
The men had been trying to breach a border fence on Wednesday when Egyptian security spotted them and exchanged fire. They fled to a nearby farm and threatened to use explosives if approached, but later gave themselves up.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478518.html


Captured Palestinian official freed
Just over three hours after al-Batrawi was seized, he was freed through intervention of Fatah leaders and security commanders and was driven to his home in the nearby town of Dair al-Balah, witnesses said. It was not immediately known what, if anything, the fighters had demanded or exactly who was behind the kidnapping.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4F27675A-B4FF-45B1-870F-9A19895791DA.htm


PNA official slams Israel for not responding to Egypt's efforts
Meanwhile, al Khatib accused the United States of encouraging Israel to continue its practices against Palestinians by stating Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is still clinging to the roadmap peace plan while he stated clearly he disavows it.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/16/content_1991551.htm


Former Palestinian PM calls for unifying security apparatuses
"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon doesn't have the right to oppose any of the roadmap chapters or provisions that were documented officially by the Security Council resolution 1515," he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/16/content_1988047.htm


Army chief says planning advanced for Gaza pullout
"Forces are at an advanced stage of planning for the disengagement and are just waiting for the order," Moshe Yaalon said in a pre-recorded interview on Israel Radio.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16165762.htm


Only 5 Palestinian factions to participate in Cairo dialogue
The five factions are Fatah movement, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democrat Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Islamic Resistance Movements (Hamas) and the Islamic Jihad (Holy War), said the sources.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/16/content_1991558.htm


Settlers or Sharon - By: Dr. Azmi Bishara
In Israel it seems that those championing a disengagement from the largest possible number of Palestinians while giving up the least amount of land have won their two-pronged battle against those clamoring for continued direct control over the territories... What Sharon and Bush are offering is a Palestinian state on condition the Palestinians concede everything else.
http://www.amin.org/eng/azmi_bishara/2004/sep16.html


Heightened security for Madonna's Tel Aviv spiritual retreat
"This visit takes you to the heart of occupied territory in Bethlehem: a closed-off prison, a ghetto, whose civilians now have no work, no freedom, no life," said a statement by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. "Are you being used to legitimize the occupation of Palestine? Are you being exploited, without your full awareness?
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=20&u=/afp/20040916/wl_mideast_afp/afplifestyle_israel_040916144300


51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration With the Nazis
Not surprisingly, the book received little coverage in the American media. Now, in 51 Documents , Brenner has compiled a wide variety of letters, statements, articles, and judgements—some of which appeared in his earlier book—by a broad array of activists and authors, that documents Zionist cooperration with the Nazis.
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/Sept_2004/0409086.html


Israeli Arab team enter big league
As Or Raklevski of the Israeli newspaper Maariv explains: "When Sakhnin arrives to most of their away games they hear chants like 'death to Arabs' and so on. Not in all of them, but in some. "It's very, very far-fetched to say that it will make a real difference in the lives of Arab people in Israel."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3663386.stm


Israelis, Palestinians Must Learn To Keep Church And State Separate
Polls and other studies show that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians favor an end to the fighting. However, they don't seem to realize the marriage of religion and state legally empowers religious imposters to mistreat their own peoples even while feeding the 56 year war they suffer.
http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=0FA5FDD3-5A7F-448D-B499-A1647EFD41E3


Another non-year?
Sharon began the countdown and his climb to power back in the days of Ehud Barak. It was four years ago yesterday, a day before Rosh Hashanah eve, that he visited the Temple Mount and helped ignite the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Two years ago, after the holidays, he resigned and dispersed the Knesset.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478098.html


Checkpoint Hebrew Finds Way Into Palestinian Lexicon
Israeli Arabs, descended from families that stayed while hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled or were forced out during the 1948 war that led to Israel's creation, were among the first to use Hebrew. Its sway later spread to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, where Israel built settlements and long pursued a policy of economic integration.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=572&ncid=572&e=6&u=/nm/20040915/lf_nm/mideast_language_dc_1


SUPREME COURT OPENS DOOR FOR LAWSUITS AGAINST ISRAEL
It is estimated that the United States is home to over a quarter million people of Palestinian descent. Those within the Palestinian-American community who had their property illegally expropriated by Israel from 1948 to the present day now have a clear avenue to pursue justice, either through individual lawsuits, or collectively with other Palestinians in class-action lawsuits.
http://www.amjerusalem.org/press/pr-2004-6-08.htm


Israel pursues family of 'suicide' bombers
The problem for Israel is that despite the best efforts of its security service, it's been unable to crack the Hebron cell. And that's because the Hamas operatives led by Imad Qawasme are extremely disciplined and loyal. Hamad Qawasmeh is a family spokesman.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1200255.htm


UNRWA Opens Nimreen Children's Music Centre in Yarmouk
The facility was made possible with donations totalling just over US$ 42,000 from Music in Me, Rotary International and UNESCO. Here, Palestinian children will absorb the rich tradition of Arabic music and extend their knowledge to wider musical traditions.
http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/47d4e277b48d9d3685256ddc00612265/b66cb5e87a73d76085256f1100606a90!OpenDocument


US gives conflicting accounts of rocket attack that killed 13 dead
The US account of the incident in which Mazen al-Tomeizi, a Palestinian television producer working for al-Arabiya satellite channel was killed, was contradicted by the film taken by his cameraman at the moment the rocket struck. There is no sound of firing from the crowd in the moments before the helicopters attacked.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=562235


Briton, two Americans, Syrian kidnapped as Iraq hostage crisis escalates
The new abductions -- compounded by the kidnapping of a Syrian driver and suspicions in Stockholm that three Swedish citizens are hostages -- came as UN chief Kofi Annan denounced the 2003 US-led war as "illegal" for the first time.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=1&u=/afp/20040916/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_040916200918


Annan: US invasion of Iraq was illegal
"I am one of those who believe that there should have been a second resolution from the UN Security Council to green-light the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime," Annan said. "I have indicated that it was not in conformity with the UN charter from our point of view, and from the charter point of view it was illegal," he said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2AA1310F-798C-4666-AE76-DCB6370C75CC.htm


Green Zone is ‘no longer totally secure'
US military officers in Baghdad have warned they cannot guarantee the security of the perimeter around the Green Zone, the headquarters of the Iraqi government and home to the US and British embassies, according to security company employees.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e0214956-074f-11d9-9672-00000e2511c8.html


Far graver than Vietnam
according to the US military's leading strategists and prominent retired generals, Bush's war is already lost. Retired general William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency, told me: "Bush hasn't found the WMD. Al-Qaida, it's worse, he's lost on that front. That he's going to achieve a democracy there? That goal is lost, too. It's lost."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1305360,00.html

September 15 2004

Of Schools and "Jewish-Only" Roads in Jerusalem: "They Are Building Walls Around Us"
The school year of these 6,000 children who returned to classes on September 1 will soon come to an abrupt end. Moreover, 95 percent of the teachers in Ar-Ram live outside the neighborhood; so once the wall is completed, they to will not have access to the schools. It is not so hard to understand what will be the future of the remaining schools in Ar-Ram: Chaos.
http://www.counterpunch.com/bronner09152004.html


Ireland PSC Calls for a Boycott of Israeli Potatoes, Fruit, and Herbs Sold in Ireland
The IPSC writes: "In South Africa, an international boycott was key in ending apartheid. You can help defeat the brutal apartheid system that Israel is imposing on the Palestinians. Our governments have failed to act, so it's critical for individual people to take action in solidarity with Palestinians."
http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/720.shtml


Health of Four Prisoners on Hunger Strike for 26 Days Deteriorating
Palestinian rights groups expressed grave concern for the deterioration of the health of four Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike for 26 days, protesting their inhuman treatment at the Kfar Yona jail, among dozens of Israeli criminal prisoners.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/084.html


AG puts brakes on Jerusalem train for crossing Green Line
Mazuz issued this order several weeks ago, following a Supreme Court decision that the route of the separation fence should be altered in segments where it blatantly violates the rights of Palestinian villagers.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=478371&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


New IFJ Demand for Inquiry As Deadly Missile Strike Highlights US Role in Iraq Media Killings
The International Federation of Journalists today backed protests by journalists in the Palestinian territories over the killing yesterday of Mazen Al-Tomaizi, a television journalist, when a United States helicopter fired on a crowd in Baghdad after insurgents attacked a military vehicle.
http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=2691&Language=EN


Britons held after raid blunder by Israeli police
The three - a Cambridge student, a teacher and a lawyer - were arrested at gunpoint on Friday and yesterday were told to leave Israel, even though the accusations have been dropped. Three British Muslim women yesterday told of their anger after Israeli police burst into their room in the middle of the night, strip-searched them and arrested them under terrorism laws.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1304820,00.html


Demand investigation into alleged execution of five Palestinians
At 1:00am the Israeli Army attacked homes on Old Najav Street in Nablus, West of the old city. Five young men were killed and one eleven year-old girl. Medical examination evidence suggests the five men were executed. These are war crimes.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3092.shtml


Nablus, Jenin raids kill Palestinians
Ten Palestinians, among them five resistance fighters and an 11-year-old girl, have been killed in Israeli attacks in the West Bank towns of Nablus and Jenin. Clashes with Israeli troops raiding the northern West Bank town of Nablus on Wednesday, also left up to 30 people injured. A 14-year old Palestinian boy is in a serious condition after being shot in the head.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D448E5A4-428A-44FB-AE2D-0202D70CA383.htm


32 Palestinian Houses Demolished by Israeli Troops in Rafah, Qulqelia and Jenin
The Israeli occupying forces (IOF) knocked down completely three Palestinain-owned houses in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah amidst heavy shooting, as 27 other houses were partially damaged, while two others were demolished in Qulqelia and Tulkarem.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/081.html


USAID Renovates Rafah Sewage Treatment Plant
"More than 50,000 people, whose health and welfare had been seriously endangered by the regular flooding of raw sewage, benefited from the project," it added. Through the repeated attacks on Rafah, Israeli troops used to destroy the sewage, water and electric networks, as well as demolish houses.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1686


The Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron closed; several areas raided, 16 residents apprehended
Mr. HIjazi Abu Sneineh, responsible of the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Islamic Waqf department said that soldiers informed him that the mosque is completely closed in front of Moslems in order to enable settlers pray in the mosque.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week3/091504/Hebron_raid.htm


An Open Letter to Madonna: Please Say No to Apartheid
In Bethlehem, the Wall annexes Rachel's Tomb (a Muslim Mosque, too, with a Muslim cemetery nearby and a Christian site), in yet another Israeli land grab. Where you will be, at Rachel's Tomb, is Occupied Palestinian Territory. Three million Palestinians are under full closure for the entire month of Jewish High Holidays.
http://www.counterpunch.com/goldstein09152004.html


Five jailed IDF refusniks released from prison
The five have served some two years in military and civilian prisons, including 10 months "open detention" in an army camp. Only family and close friends are expected to be waiting outside the prison, with no political demonstrations planned.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=478403&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


IDB Governors Commit Another US$55 Mln For Al Aqsa And Al Quds Funds
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) concluded their 29th annual conference Wednesday, declaring an injection of US$55 million (RM209 million) for the Al Aqsa and Al Quds Funds, which have greatly helped, among others, the Palestinians.
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_business.php?id=92858


Swedish FM urges Arafat to play part in forging Palestinian society
"Sweden will continue to support the creation of an independent and peaceful Palestinian state besides the state of Israel and we will continue helping you, Mr President, but you have to help also," she told reporters Wednesday after lunch with Arafat in his besieged West Bank headquarters. "You have a responsibility for creating a Palestinian society."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=13&u=/afp/20040915/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_palestinian_sweden_040915144538


Survey: 40 percent will attend synagogue on holidays
Some 10,000 immigrants were celebrating Rosh Hashanah at absorption centers in Israel on Wednesday, according to Israel Radio. For many, it is their first celebration of the Jewish New Year in the country.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478377.html


Israel will ditch road map, says Sharon
"Mitzna suggested something different, to start the Netzarim evacuation and to continue dismantling settlements, based on the road map," Mr Sharon said. "This would have brought Israel to a most difficult situation. I didn't agree to this. Today, we are also not following the road map. I am not ready for this."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1305037,00.html


U.S. says Israel still following peace 'road map'
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said he did not think that accounts of Sharon's comments to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth accurately reflected the prime minister's views.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15448973.htm


EU's Patten in parting shot at Washington
"Above all, peace in Jerusalem and Palestine was not accomplished by victory in Baghdad," he said, in a reference to US President George W. Bush's forecast that a stable Iraq would help resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/040915154440.vp2pqxw4


Civil society meeting at UN seeks to end Israeli occupation of Palestine
A new draft plan in support of Palestinian rights adopted by a non-governmental conference committee meeting at the United Nations calls for escalating pressure on Israel to end its occupation and threatens to seek divestment, arms embargoes and other sanctions in the event of non-compliance.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11928&Cr=palestin&Cr1=


Sharon hints that Arafat may be killed
In ambiguous comments to Israeli newspapers to mark the Jewish new year, the prime minister said he intends to force the Palestinian leader into exile. But he also hinted that Mr Arafat might be killed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1304871,00.html


Syria, Egypt call for talks on creation of Palestinian state
Assad and Mubarak also said Palestinian factions should work "to achieve their commitments toward the establishment of an independent state." The two leaders "emphasized their support for dialogue between Palestinian factions under Egyptian patronage to achieve unity in Palestinian ranks", the agencies said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478380.html


Bassi: 100 families have applied for pullout compensation
About 100 families have already applied to Sela, the government agency that will pay compensation to settlers evacuated under the disengagement plan, for information on the possibility of early evacuation in exchange for an advance on their compensation...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=477861&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Madonna Heading To Israel With Her 'Cult' For Jewish New Year
Madonna, who was born Catholic, plans to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Kabbalah Center in the northern city of Safed and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem. ...has adopted the Hebrew name Esther and has been photographed wearing T-shirts that read "Kabbalists Do It Better" and "Cult Member"...
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1490970/20040915/madonna.jhtml?headlines=true


'We prove that Jews and Arabs can live together'
But the club is used to such reactions. At home, says Gnaiem, "We are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The Israeli establishment refuses to acknowledge us as equal citizens of Israel, and many Arabs tell us that we are 'Zionists' because we play under the Israeli flag.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1304686,00.html


ACT Appeal: Assistance to Civilian Victims of Conflict, REVISION 2, Palestinian Territories
Already existing problem of freedom of movement in the Occupied Palestinian territories has been severely exacerbated by the on-going mounting of the Separation Wall. The Separation Wall has also had a negative impact on the delivery of humanitarian assistance and access to beneficiaries for the most of the aid agencies in the Territories.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/109525824954.htm


When will Britain and Europe act?
By doing nothing to end "the apartheid regime" in the Palestinian Territories, which "is worse than the one that existed in South Africa" - as described by John Dugard, South African law professor and special rapporteur for the UN on human rights in the Palestinian territories - the EU erodes its international credibility as a non-biased facilitator of peace...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,1304801,00.html


Second Annual Palestinian Film Festival Dallas, Texas
On Thursday, September 16h, the second annual Dallas Palestinian Film Festival will open with the documentary, “Selves and Others” at the MAC Theater. The film depicts the life and work of the late Palestinian American intellectual, Edward Said.
http://press.xtvworld.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1966


Israelis arrested on 9/11 sue U.S.
Four Israelis arrested in New York on September 11, 2001, a short while after the attacks on the World Trade Center, filed a multi-million-dollar suit in the United States on Monday against the American Department of Justice.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478089.html


Washington's secret nuclear war
"They're using it now, they're using it in Falluja, Baghdad is chock-a-block with DU - it's all over the place," says Major Doug Rokke, director of the US army's DU project in 1994-95. "Many children are born with no eyes, no limbs, or tumours protruding from their mouths and eyes," Miraki told Aljazeera.net. Some newborns are barely recognisable as human, he says.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5596&s2=15


219 US Troops Wounded In Iraq In Past Week -Pentagon
The number of Americans killed and wounded has grown rapidly amid an intensifying and increasingly effective insurgency. There were more wounded over the past five months - about 4,000 - than in the first 13 months of the war, when there were about 3,300, according to Pentagon reports.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5597&s2=15


The Holes in a 'Shia Strategy'
The Shia are easier to handle. They have also disciplined their own, curbing al-Sadr's violent challenges to the government. Allawi and Washington handled this well, careful not to blast their way through Najaf's Imam Ali shrine. But the key was that Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the towering Shia figure, does want al-Sadr to disrupt the path to elections (and thus, Shia majority rule).
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5609&s2=15

September 14 2004

Israel intensifies land seizures
on Tuesday Israeli soldiers guarding the bulldozers used to level Palestinian fields west of Hebron, fired teargas canisters at Palestinian and international protesters, injuring a number of youths. Hundreds of farmers and their children from the nearby villages of Dir Samet and Beit Awwa tried unsuccessfully to protect their olive groves from the onslaught of the bulldozers.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7A1982B9-EF9F-463E-BEE5-88209C2078FA.htm


People and Politics / When you need a permit to sleep in your own home
He spent the night at the Border Police base together with Marwan, and another 80 men and teens from the neighborhood. In the morning, to be allowed to go home, he signed a document affirming he knows that he lives in his home illegally, and that he knows he is forbidden to sleep there without getting an overnight pass from the Israeli authorities...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/477600.html


Weisglass presents new 'fence' route to Rice, Powell
Prime Minister Sharon's bureau chief Dov Weisglass held preparatory talks with US officials on Monday in Washington ahead of his scheduled meetings Tuesday with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1095052276839&p=1006688055060


PNA condemns German minister's statement on security wall
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said, "It's a strange attitude of the German minister" especially given that Germany disagrees with Israel on the construction of the wall. The International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled in July that the Israeli barrier is illegal and should be torn down.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/14/content_1982231.htm


Israeli troops destroy two houses in Rafah
Israeli soldiers backed by tanks and bulldozers stormed a neighborhood in Rafah early Tuesday and demolished two houses close to the borderline between Rafah and Egypt, residents and Palestinian security sources said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/14/content_1981456.htm


RAISE YOUR VOICE AGAINST HOUSE DEMOLITIONS IN GAZA
During the Second Intifada alone, Israel has demolished more than 4,500 Palestinian homes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Most of these homes were not demolished during combat but rather as part of Israel's pro-active policy of asserting its control over the Territories.
http://www.icahd.org/eng/news.asp?menu=5&submenu=1&item=198


Qurie condemns closure of Jerusalem voter centres
Qurie said the Palestinian Authority was determined to carry out plans to register voters in "all Palestinian territories that Israel occupied in 1967 starting with holy Jerusalem". Israel annexed East Jerusalem after capturing it, a move not recognised internationally.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14631818.htm


In pictures: Clowns Without Borders
"We performed in Hebron, Abu Dis, Kalandia, Nablus, Qalqilya, Beit Jala, Salfit and the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza. "In the refugee camps, especially in Gaza, life is dominated by religion. This type of entertainment does not exist."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/middle_east_clowns_without_borders/html/3.stm


Palestinian accused rapist shot dead in custody
The shooting marked the second fatal attack in less than two months on detainees in the custody of Palestinian security forces. Security forces, banned by Israel from carrying guns as part of restrictions imposed during the past four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence, were unable to stop them.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478027.html


Suicide bomber injures 3 IDF soldiers in West Bank blast
A suicide bomber blew himself up near an armored IDF jeep early Tuesday outside the West Bank city of Qalqilyah, wounding three Israel Defense Forces soldiers, one seriously, rescue workers said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/477853.html


Israeli Troops Comb And Arrest Several In Hebron And Tulkarem
The Israeli occupation forces launched today a wide scale of arrest in Hebron city of the West Bank, in which at least 10 residents were arrested during a scouring search  in the old town of the city and Doura town.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/075.html


Media spotlight on Baghdad deaths
In the foreground, Mazen Tumeisi, a Palestinian working for two Saudi-owned TV networks, al-Arabiya and al-Ikhbariya, is preparing to be recorded on camera as he describes the scene. Suddenly a big explosion engulfs the street in smoke. Tumeisi collapses. The lens is spattered with his blood.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3652174.stm


Sharon insists Arafat will be expelled
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted Yasser Arafat would be expelled from the West Bank, adding that the Palestinian leader would be dealt with in the same way as two assassinated heads of Hamas.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1512&ncid=1512&e=10&u=/afp/20040914/wl_afp/mideast_israel_arafat_040914123757


MK Omri Sharon: Killing Arafat is not an option
But Omri Sharon, long a senior advisor and confidante of the prime minister, took what appeared to be an opposite stance as he participated Monday in a meeting of the Eden Circle of Likud Central Committee members.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=477863&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


EU opposed to more talks on 'fence' at UN
The diplomats have made it clear to PLO representative Nasser Al Kidwa that they oppose his plans to raise the issue as a major subject for discussion in the General Assembly. Reliable sources in New York said yesterday that Arab diplomats at the UN also expressed in private conversations their opposition to the resumption of the discussion on the separation fence
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478049.html


Tel Aviv court approves administrative detention for Fahima
Judge Goren said he reached the conclusion that "Fahima is determined to execute a terror attack against Israeli targets and that there was no other choice but to place her under administrative detention."(She voted for Ariel Sharon)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/477955.html


The conscientious objectors go free
Haggai Matar, Adam Maor, Shimri Tsameret, Matan Kaminer and Noam Bahat - the five conscientious objectors to military service - are getting out of prison tomorrow, after serving a year's sentence, and another year in repeated remands. It is not clear what the army is planning for the day after their release.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/477575.html


Israeli Ministers Approve Compensation for Settlers
Under the compensation plans, uprooted families could receive between £110,000 and £195,000 for their losses. While the compensation law still needs parliamentary approval, officials said cash advances - totalling up to one-third of the final compensation package - could be made in the meantime from reserve funds.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3496043


Rajoub: Palestinians recognize Israel in '67 borders
The statement by Jibril Rajoub, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's national security adviser, appears to be the first reference by a senior Palestinian official to Israel as a Jewish state and to its demographic issue.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=477811&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Vatican: Poraz to resolve visa problem for Catholic clergy
Church officials in Jerusalem have been complaining for months that delays in approving visas - many of them sought by Arab clergymen - have undermined Church operations in the Holy Land.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/478031.html


Police probing death threats to PM, disengagement officials
Rabbi Yosef Dayan, from the West Bank settlement of Psagot, told Channel Two news on Tuesday that if asked to hold a Pulsa Denura, a Kabbalah ceremony aimed at leading to the death of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, he would do so.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/477956.html


Palestinian security chiefs begin series of meetings in Egypt
Egypt has offered to train Palestinian security, and has urged Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to overhaul and streamline his security branches in the Palestinian territories ahead of Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=477539&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Ashrawe Calls on  Upcoming American Administration to Seriously Involve In Mideast Peace process
Dr. Hanan Ashrawe, the secretary general of The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue & Democracy "MIFTAH" and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Called on Monday the upcoming elected American administration to assume all its responsibilities for the Middle East peace process.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/073.html


U.N.: Palestinians biggest refugee group
The more than 5 million Palestinian refugees are 18 percent of all refugees, according to the report, released Tuesday by the U.N. Habitat Globalization and Urban Culture agency. Thirty-six percent of these refugees are less than 16 years old.
http://www.jta.org/brknews.asp?id=119579


Palestinians fear Israeli "hunter-killer" drones
The web site of Northrop Grumman, an American avionics firm, says it has rigged its Israeli-designed Hunter drone with missiles that are completely silent, coasting out of the sky on to their targets by using glider fins rather than a propulsion system.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1413571.htm


Sharon Says Rejected U.S. Bid for Talks with Syria
He said it would be "very dangerous" for Israel to resume talks at the point where they broke off in 2000, before he took office. Israel at that time had agreed to cede parts of the Golan Heights seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=574&e=19&u=/nm/20040914/wl_nm/mideast_sharon_syria_dc_1


U.S. agrees to help Israel relocate military bases
DSCA said Israel requested services from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for construction of two infantry training bases and a storage and logistics base for an armored division, which are being moved. to help Israel relocate two infantry bases and move a third military base to Israel from the Palestinian territories.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=477603&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


A PALESTINIAN VIEW - Lessons from the past
January 15 (1948), the British Mandate Authorities shut down Al Ihtihad newspaper, the paper of the ALL. Al Ihtihad was the only newspaper that had foreseen the likely outcome of the violent confrontations. In its articles and editorials, the paper worked to prevent the Palestinian people from taking part in the confrontations, and advocated acceptance of the partition plan.
http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/pal2.php


AN ISRAELI VIEW - 181 means no right of return
And not just any Jewish state. For while at the outset Israel would have roughly equal Arab and Jewish populations, UNGAR 181 clearly demands that the British hasten to evacuate a "seaport and hinterland" to facilitate "substantial [Jewish] immigration", thereby making clear its intention that the Jewish state indeed be Jewish in nature.
http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/isr1.php


Car bomb explodes in Baghdad
A car bomb exploded near a police station in the Iraqi capital early today as dozens of Iraqis were applying to join the force, killing at least 47 people and wounding 114, officials said. Elsewhere, a hospital official said at least 12 people were killed in a drive-by shooting in Baqubah, northeast of the capital. The vehicle was carrying Iraqi policemen home from work.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=561557


Ambulance torn apart in Fallujah as US launches 'precision' strikes
"The conditions here are miserable - an ambulance was bombed, three houses destroyed and men and women killed," said Rafayi Hayad al-Esawi, the director of the hospital. "The American army has no morals."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=561410


Engineers Battle Insurgents in Oil Blasts
The 3 a.m. attack blew up a junction where multiple oil pipelines cross the Tigris River at the northern city of Beiji. The burning oil melted power cables, causing a short that knocked power plants off line and cut off electricity across Iraq until late afternoon, officials said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=2&u=/ap/20040914/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_oil

September 13 2004

Israel shuts Palestinian poll offices in Jerusalem
About 1,000 registration centres have been opened in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem for presidential and legislative elections which are nearly four years overdue. But Israel holds that Jerusalem, including the Arab eastern sector, is its capital and objects to Palestinian electioneering in the city.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13282619.htm


Residents of Three Villages to Block Bulldozers
The villages of Deir Samit, Beit Awwa and Al Koun, southwest of Hebron, are loosing agricultural lands to the construction of the Israeli Separation Wall. Over 2,200 dunums of land, that belongs to the village residents and is used to produce olives, almonds and other sources of income for the villages, will be annexed by Israel once the wall is completed.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/DesktopModules/Articles/ArticlesView.aspx?TabID=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en-US&ItemID=436&mid=10400


Palestinian children's fence protest ends in clashes
The demonstration - held under the slogan "Let us learn" - took place in the village of A-Ram, where some pupils have been unable to reach their school due to the separation fence that runs through the town.The Jerusalem education authorities are unprepared for the implications of the fence in the north of the city...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=477405&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


The Family of a Palestinian Prisoner call to save their son's life
Shakshak is suffering serious health condition and is still on an open ended hunger strike he started for the 26 day in protest to the lack of medical treatment in prison. "Um Mohammad" Shakshak's mother said, she is very concerned on the life her son...
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week2/091304/prionsers-call.htm


Should 250 cave dwellers interfere with the fence?
Last week, the High Court of Justice postponed for four months the state's request to destroy the structures and tents in Susiya, a village of caves in the southern part of the Hebron Hills. By then, the residents must obtain building permits for their animal pens, toilet structures and covered caves. None of the residents believes that the Civil Administration...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/477023.html


"Dismantlement 101: Introduction to removing an outpost"
Etkes returned to the site 2 days after the action. The trailer, as in the case of other removed outposts, had been returned to its original location by force. Nevertheless, he succeeded to make his point to the public. "It's not that the government can't remove these outposts, they just don't want to. But they now have no excuse if we were able to do it."
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3082.shtml


US missile attack kills 13 civilians in Iraq
"I am a journalist. I'm dying, I'm dying," screamed Mazen al-Tumeizi, a correspondent for the Arabic television channel al-Arabiya, after shrapnel from a rocket fired by an American helicopter interrupted his live broadcast and slammed into his back. Mr Tumeizi, a Palestinian, was the sixth Arab journalist to be killed by American troops since Baghdad was captured
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=561021


Three die in Jenin missile strike
In a statement to AFP news agency, Mr Zubeidi immediately vowed to carry out revenge attacks for the killings. "This attack will not pass in silence and our response will be in Tel Aviv in the next 24 hours," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3652704.stm


Two Palestinians die of wounds; Settlers protest against Sharon plan
Late Sunday, a 19-year-old Palestinian, identified as Daoud Abu Jazar died in Cairo after suffering gunshot wounds over a year ago during an Israeli raid on the Gaza Strip town of Rafah. Medical sources in Rafah said that Abu Jazar was hit with a bullet in the head on 18/11/2003.
http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=284877&lang=e&dir=news


Hebron raided, 7 residents apprehended, one bruised
Soldiers conducted a wide scaled operation in Hebron, in the south of the West Bank, and apprehended seven residents in Hebron and the neighboring villages of Al-Thaheriyya and Al-Sammou' and Al-Fawwar refugee camp.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week2/091304/Hebron_Raid.htm


Israeli tank badly damaged by roadside bomb in Gaza
Palestinian militants blew up a roadside bomb under an Israeli army tank that was driving south of the Jewish settlement of Dogit in northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses reported Monday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/13/content_1977934.htm


Population stands at 6.8 million on eve of Rosh Hashanah
Israel's population on the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5765 stands at 6.8 million people - 5.5 million Jews, comprising 81 percent of the total, and 1.3 million Arabs - according to the latest census figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Monday. (Russian non Jewish immigrants skipped?)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/477480.html


The Absence of Israel's Occupation in the Press
Recently, the Glasgow University Media Group released a study suggesting that press coverage obscures, rather than facilitates, popular understanding of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict [2] .  This is perhaps best evidenced by the general failure of the press to describe the conflict within the accurate context of an occupation.
http://www.amin.org/eng/uncat/2004/sep/sep13.html


Five Israeli Refuseniks To Be Released From Prison
Five young Israelis who were jailed in January for refusing to serve in the army as a protest against the occupation of the Palestinian territories are to be released, the mother of one of the group said Monday.
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=27000


Northern Gaza Lies in Ruins… Again
"We've just finished building our new home and prepared to move in, when – at about three in the morning – Israeli forces attacked the area and demolished the house. They also tore down my 24-meter-long construction materials' warehouse. My seven sons and I put every cent we had for five years into this warehouse.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e-newsstories/038.html


Annan calls on Israel, Palestinians to promptly implement Road Map peace plan
Voicing alarm at the humanitarian crisis created by Israeli activity in occupied Palestinian territory and strongly condemning the terrorism of Palestinian suicide bombers against Israeli civilians, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called for prompt implementation of the so-called Road Map... (kill Palestinian civilians, Coffee says it's not terror)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11899&Cr=middle&Cr1=east


Sources close to PM: Referendum on disengagement isn't an option
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in response that the proposal to hold a referendum was a dishonorable attempt to adversely affect the disengagement plan timetable. According to Olmert, such a move necessitates months of preparation, and would result in the postponement of the original timetable.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/477491.html


Israel to Begin Gaza Compensation Payments
Israel will offer large cash advances on compensation to Jewish settlers to entice them to leave their homes, Cabinet ministers said Monday, a day after tens of thousands demonstrated against the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040913_163.html


A Palestinian Security Delegation Heads to Cairo for Talks
Al Qedwa said that the PA security delegation, involving Amin Al-Hindi, director general of the PA's intelligence apparatus, Sa'eb Al-Ajez, general commander of the PA police, and Musa Arafat, chief of the PA intelligence apparatus, would leave the Palestinian territories with the next 48 hours.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/066.html


Islamic Jihad to start dialogue with Egyptians in Cairo
Mohamed al-Hindi said in a statement that the dialogue will discuss three major points, namely reforms, protecting the Palestinian unity and an expected Israeli pullout from Gaza.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/13/content_1977022.htm


West Bank & Gaza: World Bank Supports Water & Sanitation Project
The project will also be part of a long-term solution for the adequate treatment and disposal of wastewater in North Gaza, which entails the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant expected to be financed by various donors. Approximately 300,000 people living in North Gaza will benefit from this project.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20252780~menuPK:34463~pagePK:64003015~piPK:64003012~theSitePK:4607,00.html


PLO: Donors' Aid Should Not Serve Sharon's Plan
The UN General Assembly, the Quartet and the donor countries are scheduled to meet in New York later this month, and the PLO will join these meetings. “Our participation in these efforts will concentrate on … ending the 1967 occupation of (Palestinian) land to the borders of June 4” of that year...
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=1430


On This Day 1993: Rabin and Arafat shake on peace deal
Under the terms of the deal, Israel has agreed to withdraw its troops from Gaza Strip and West Bank by April 1994. Elections will be held in the territories to allow the Palestinians some form of self-government. A deadline for a final settlement has been set for February 1999. Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on 4 November 1995.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/13/newsid_3053000/3053733.stm


Analysis / Readying for extremists
Senior security sources believe that elements in the extreme right wing have concluded that a dramatic act by a single person is liable to stop the disengagement plan. This view is based on an analysis of recent statements by members of right-wing groups.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476559.html


"God Wills It!" - By Uri Avnery
The second manifesto declares that the Halakha (Jewish religious law) commands the killing of innocent Palestinian civilians if this helps to save Jews. It is signed by the heads of the "Arrangement Yeshivot", the West Bank settlement rabbis and other religious leaders. They were later joined by one of the two Chief Rabbis (the Sephardic one).
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=6219


Eitam, Orlev face off before NRP central committee
The National Religious Party convened its central committee Monday evening to decide whether to remain in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government in the midst of its efforts to advance the disengagement plan.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/477277.html


Israelis, read the writing on wall
We must do everything in our power to make sure that the Israeli negotiator has strong cards in his hand. We must do so while the Bush administration, or any successor administration, in the United States solidly supports us. We must do so while Arab leaders on the other side of the divide remain interested in talking.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=8299


PIC: Iraqi Army to Train in 1948 Zionist-Occupied Lands
According to the "Palestinian press sources," who were themselves quoting "Zionist sources," 280 Iraqi army soldiers were selected "by Iraqi and American officers and were also subjected to intensive tests at the US security headquarters...." Their training, according to the same sources, is to begin in October.
http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=68912


Turkey warns US it could stop Iraq cooperation
Turkey warned the United States that it would halt cooperation over Iraq if US forces did not stop their assault on the mostly Turkmen populated Iraqi town of Tall Afar, Anatolia news agency said. "We stated very clearly that if (the assault) continues, Turkey will end its partnership on all areas touching Iraq."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=5&u=/afp/20040913/wl_mideast_afp/turkey_us_iraq_tallafar_040913195736


15 killed in US strike on Iraqi hotspot of Fallujah
"So far we received 15 bodies. Among them is an ambulance driver and two nurses, plus five wounded who were in the ambulance when it was bombed," said undertaker Falah Abdullah. Three pick-up trucks carried the bodies to the cemetery, where a crowd of furious relatives washed and buried their loved ones, killed in the morning attacks, an AFP correspondent said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=1&u=/afp/20040913/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_040913193355


Iraqi National Congress fires Chalabi aide for visiting Israel
Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress has fired one of its most senior members for visiting Israel, a spokesman for the group said Monday. Al-Alousi, who was in Israel attending a conference on terrorism at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, said that many elements in Iraq are interested in diplomatic ties with Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/477229.html


Italian FM calls for release of Iraq hostages, says no troop pullout
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called here Monday for the release of two women hostages threatened with execution in Iraq but said Rome would not withdraw its troops from the war-wracked country.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=3&u=/afp/20040913/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_hostages_italy_040913174048

September 12 2004

Rally and March Agains the Wall! Monday at Noon
A concrete wall is rapidly being built to surround the Al-Ram neighborhood from all sides. Tens of thousands of people, the entire community of this East Jerusalem neighborhood (the vast majority of whom are official residents of Jerusalem, paying municipal taxes and holding "blue" Jerusalem IDs) will be closed inside a ghetto, isolated from the rest of the world.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/palsolidarity/message/1061


September 25th: Demonstrations in Germany against the Apartheid Wall and the Occupation in Palestine and Iraq!
Taking up the Palestinian and international calls for mobilization on the fourth anniversary of the al-Aqsa Intifada, September 25th has been declared a National Day of Action against the Apartheid Wall, War and Occupation by the “German Coordination against the Wall in Palestine”. Demonstrations will be held in five cities across the country.
http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/753.shtml


Israel to reevaluate 200 km of separation wall in West Bank
Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported Sunday that a delegation headed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's advisor Dov Weisglass will try to reach an understanding this week with the US administration on the new route of the so called security fence.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/12/content_1972386.htm


Iraqi civilians killed in US missile strike
The missile attack, which also killed a Palestinian journalist, followed fierce clashes which began when US military vehicles, firing stun grenades, entered Haifa street in the centre of the capital at about 2am (1100 GMT) on Sunday, an Iraqi journalist told Aljazeera.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B13F5DC7-E9A9-4D86-8C05-235CBF641973.htm


?Three Palestinian children wounded in Rafah
Medical and security sources said the shells were fired from the Rafih Yam settlement, to the east. The sources noted that the wounded children are identified as Tareq Abu Al-Said, 10, Mohammed Abu Al-Said, 5, and Khalil Al-Said, 15.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=663263


New party urges non-Jews' expulsion
Dozens of right-wing Israeli leaders have announced the creation of a new political party which founders say will be dedicated to the expulsion of millions of Muslims and Christians from Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The party was launched in Jerusalem on Saturday night.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3DBAEF08-AB3D-484B-AE66-740BC803DE57.htm


Israeli leaflets warn Palestinians not to help militants
"Their houses will be demolished and their lands will be razed,"wrote the leaflet. "These leaflets are part of the Israeli Army's psychological waragainst the Palestinian people," said one resident. The residents, however, condemned and rejected the IsraeliArmy's threats and said they were determined to continue helping Palestinian militants at any time despite these threats.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/12/content_1971624.htm


Six Egyptian students charged with planning 'terrorist' attack
The suspects were carrying 14 knives, black camouflage attire, backpacks, binoculars, communications equipment, maps of Israel and various other items to help carry out their scheme.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476845.html


Joint meeting leads to Israeli pullout from Gaza: sources
The sources said the session was held between Palestinian and Israeli liaison officials over the Israeli withdrawal. In return for the Israeli withdrawal, the Palestinian security forces would deploy troops in the area to prevent militants from firing homemade rockets at southern Israel.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/12/content_1971896.htm


Sharon calls on ministers to fight incitement
"We have witnessed in the past few days a fierce campaign of incitement, including references to civil war," Sharon said, aiming his criticism both at the settlers and at ministers who do not speak out against extreme right-wing threats.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476596.html


Israel's speech on Arafat condemned
Last Wednesday, Shalom said that the expulsion of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is closer than ever. Since April 2002, Israel held Arafat in his office in Rammallah for two years and accused him of supporting terrorist activities.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/12/content_1970995.htm


Mubarak meets US envoy over Mideast situation
He said he was looking forward to holding talks in Cairo within the framework of the Mideast quartet to prepare for a meeting due in New York next week. He said during their meeting, he briefed Mubarak on his visits to Syria, Jordan and Iraq before he came to Egypt.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/12/content_1971913.htm


Remnants of the Temple? Not in this garbage
However, after a petition to the High Court of Justice by the Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of the Antiquities on the Temple Mount, a temporary injunction was issued prohibiting the IAI, the defense minister, and the prime minister from authorizing the Waqf to remove the mounds. Why?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476592.html


On This Day 1970: Hijacked jets destroyed by guerrillas
Members of the Popular Front freed the majority of the hostages... But they moved 40 hostages to a secret location - 35 men and five women whom they said were members of the Israeli army and therefore "prisoners-of-war". "If our demands are not met we will not release them - but there will be no reprisals and we will treat them well," a PFLP statement said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/12/newsid_2514000/2514929.stm


And now, here is the occupation army spokesman
At the Foreign Ministry they understood for a number of years that the battle for Arab public opinion must be fought from every possible forum. A few months ago, an official Arabic language web site was set up - www.altawasul.net, of which the Arab media section is very proud.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476593.html


The Yesha council must decide
The Yesha Council of Jewish settlements is acting in the last few days as though it has forgotten this principle. It is threatening civil war, as though this is a decree of destiny and cannot be prevented, if the disengagement plan is carried out.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476582.html


THE VANUNU EPILOGUE
The authorities began to take notice of him for his ties to various organizations including the Movement for the Advancement of Peace. Even while he was working at the Dimona plant he was taken to Tel Aviv and interrogated by the Shin Bet about his political activities and his sympathy for the Palestinian cause.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week2/091204/vanunu.htm


US hints at force to prevent Iranian nukes
US undersecretary of State John Bolton, speaking briefly to reporters before meeting Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, said "President [George W.] Bush is determined to try and find a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the problem of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. But we are determined that they are not going to achieve a nuclear weapons capability."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1094959652876


Euro 3 want Iran to allay by November suspicions about its nuclear program
Britain, France and Germany are ready to set a November deadline for Iran to ally suspicions it is secretly making nuclear weapons, in a UN draft resolution that brings the Euro 3 closer to the US hard line, diplomats said Saturday.
http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/040911223820.gbbz1gt4


Arabs and Muslims see US victory, own defeat on Sept 11 anniversary
"Of course, the 9/11 attacks should be condemned, but the whole world has paid the price of the war" against terror, which is now aimed at "all those who oppose American hegemony and Zionist terrorism." It added that, after Iraq, "Sudan, Lebanon, Syria and Iran are on the list" of countries that should be worried.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=10&u=/afp/20040911/wl_mideast_afp/us_attacks_3years_040911195857


Israel to form witness protection authority
According to the report, the authority will provide services trying to hide or change the witnesses' identities, and even give them plastic surgery or move their families overseas.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/13/content_1973344.htm


Three Polish Soldiers Killed in Iraq
Three Polish soldiers were killed in Iraq Sunday when they were attacked with grenades and machine-gun fire as they returned to their base from a demining operation, a Polish military spokesman said. At least three more Poles were injured in the attack, some four miles east of Hillah
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=6&u=/ap/20040912/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_polish_soldiers


3 US armored vehicles destroyed in Baghdad
Insurgents attacked a US military convoy on Baghdad's airport road, destroying three hamvees and causing unknown casualties, a Xinhua photographer at the scene said Sunday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/12/content_1971775.htm


1,000 Iraqi rebels, civilians dead in urban warfare, Najaf leader says
That grim coda on the Najaf clashes came as the top U.S. commander in northwestern Iraq set a clock ticking on the newest front in the Iraqi insurgency, warning Saturday that insurgents who have infiltrated the northern city of Tal Afar will have a week to leave the city or face military reprisals.
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/world/9639996.htm


Retired generals compare Iraq fight to Vietnam War
For the generals, the similarities between the two conflicts are evident. "I regularly follow what is happening in the build-up to the US presidential election. The wounds of the Vietnam War still remain among Americans, in particular given the current circumstances of the war in Iraq," Thao said.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/09/12/2003202591


Three Years After 9/11: More than 40% of Americans Still Think Saddam Did It
The latest Newsweek poll, released this week, revealed that 42% of Americans continue to believe that Saddam Hussein's regime was "directly involved" in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, despite all the evidence to the contrary. That's nearly as many as the 44% who disagree.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000628367


Iran Holds Military Exercises Near Border
Hundreds of thousands of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards began military maneuvers Sunday near the border with Iraq, with a top commander saying the exercise was designed to reinforce Iran's resolve to defend itself against "big powers."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=2&u=/ap/20040912/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_military_exercise

September 11 2004

Darkness at the end of the tunnel
The voices of the Jewish children playing on the seesaw and the carousel on other side of the wall attracted them. With the inventiveness of children, perhaps on the basis of knowledge that was acquired from similar adult scenes on television, they set out on their mission: Quietly and patiently, they dug small tunnels in the ground under the wall.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476510.html


Occupation Forces Erecting the Apartheid Wall in Ram, Jerusalem-Ramallah Road
The Wall through Ar Ram passes along the middle of the main road, separating the two sides of the street and cutting Palestinians off from each other, including those on the “Jerusalem side” from the rest of the West Bank, and vice versa. The Wall in Ar Ram therefore destroys a road which has historically been the main artery linking Jerusalem to northern Palestine...
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/752.shtml


Fence near Taibeh to be rebuilt
So far, the Israel Defense Forces has not received any new instructions regarding the barrier near Ariel and Ma'aleh Adumim, and the directive to suspend construction of a 118-kilometer stretch of fence around Ariel, Karnei Shomron and Kedumim is still in effect.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/476199.html


Hebron Raided, five residents apprehended, one home leveled
A local source in Hebron , in the south of the West Bank, said that soldiers raided the city, conducted vast searches in Issa neighborhood, and several areas near Keryat Arba settlement in the center of Hebron , and apprehended five residents, including two brothers., and leveled one home.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week2/091104/Hebron.htm


Israeli forces storm northern West Bank
Asa'ad Sawalma, the chief of Aseera Al Shamaleya municipality, said that the Israeli forces imposed a curfew in the town, adding that they forced the students and the teachers to leave their schools.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/11/content_1969692.htm


Israeli Army left Gaza Strip, 8 dead, goals not achieved
Israeli army left Gaza Strip after a four-day wide scale operation in which 8 Palestinians were killed and over 100 injured... Palestinian sources and eyewitnesses said, the operation left at least 10 demolished homes and 20 damaged ones to various degrees, additionally, five factories were also damaged and thousands of dunams of agricultural land were bulldozed.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week2/091104/gaza-raid-ended.htm


Palestinians hit back after Israeli raid
Palestinians lobbed several mortar shells at an Israeli settlement in the northern Gaza Strip today hours after Israeli troops ended a raid of the area which was meant to stop such attacks.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/2004/09/11/story166128.html


Israel locks down Palestinians
The ban went into effect at 6 a.m. (local time) yesterday and Defense Ministry officials said it was expected to last through the Jewish New Year, which starts Wednesday, and continue to Yom Kippur 10 days later and the weeklong Sukkot festival, which begins on September 29.
http://www.etaiwannews.com/World/2004/09/11/1094872368.htm


Waiting at the checkpoints
As I stood there bearing witness to so much suffering and humiliation, I was also happy to witness the moment in which each Palestinian is let through, and for an instant the tension is released, for an instant they are free... until the next check point.
http://www.amin.org/eng/uncat/2004/sep/sep11.html


“Quiet Agreement” With the Americans on Israeli Settlement Expansion, Sharon discloses
Sharon told  the Jerusalem post that  the US statements against construction in these areas comes about because of provocative Israeli actions, such as holding large cornerstone laying ceremonies in the settlements, or holding a press conference announcing the issuing of new tenders. This, he said "makes it difficult for them [the US]."
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/060.html


Erekat heads for Cairo to attend Quartet meeting
Erekat is scheduled to attend a meeting of the representatives of the Quartet Committee, which groups the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, in Cairo, the sources said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/11/content_1969677.htm


US opposes expulsion of Arafat: Armitage
"We don't think that's a good idea, and we have made it very clear," the State Department's number-two said in an interview with Egyptian television, according to a transcript distributed in Washington.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040910/pl_afp/us_israel_palestinians_040910223852


Lapid: Call for forceful opposition to pullout is incitement
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid on Friday slammed a call for forceful opposition to the evacuation of settlements under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan as "incitement to civil war," saying it posed a threat to the rule of law and the wellbeing of the state.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=476393&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Religious leaders to lead 9/11 memorial in J'lem
A rabbi, a priest and an imam will lead the interdenominational memorial ceremony in Jerusalem marking the third anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476525.html


Palestinian PM back at work after threat to resign
The latest threat came on Wednesday, after Qurie had a row with Arafat over whether Palestinians would participate in a meeting with foreign donors and Israelis in New York this month, which has since been delayed, officials said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11132626.htm


U.S.: Syria partly responsible for Be'er Sheva bombing
The United States turned its attention to Syrian policy over the weekend, with senior administration officials partly blaming Damascus for last week's double suicide bombing in Be'er Sheva, as well as issuing a call for Syria to withdraw its troops from its western neighbor, Lebanon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476492.html


U.S. official to visit Israel for talks on Iran's nuclear program
Bolton is scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and other senior officials, as part of an effort to give priority to the Iranian nuclear issue at the upcoming meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476515.html


Albright calls for U.S., Israeli and Palestinian leadership
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, declaring herself a partisan Democrat, called Friday for "real leadership again" in the Middle East. Implicitly criticizing President George W. Bush's administration as not having tried hard enough, Albright said peace is possible, "but it is not easy."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=476517&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Settlers blast `Nazi' plan
Settler leaders turned up the rhetoric yesterday against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, calling his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and a small part of the West Bank a "Nazi act" that could lead to civil war.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1094855107827&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724


Sharp rise in voter registration among Israeli-Americans
"My original view was that I had come to `become an Israeli,' and as such, even though I remained a dual citizen, I thought my political life should be lived solely as an Israeli," he wrote recently in an e-mail to graduates of his Zionist youth movement, many of whom now live in Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476227.html


?Mubarak discusses conditions in Palestinian areas with Canterbury Archbishop
Spokesman for the Egyptian presidency Majed Abdul-Fattah said the two sides also discussed the efforts to implement the roadmap to peace, and the need to stop the construction of the Israeli separating wall and settling activities and violence against the Palestinians.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=663086


The Emerging Case for a Single-State Solution
I believe now that I was wrong. The two-state solution is neither moral nor realistic. The only politically and ethically viable approach to the problem of Israel and Palestine is to support a single democratic secular state that provides equal rights for all of its citizens.
http://www.world-crisis.com/analysis_comments/751_0_15_0_C/


Western media outraged by some terrorist acts, but ignores others
What about the mental state of thousands of Palestinian children, where 70 per cent of Palestine's male population have been arrested and jailed in Israeli prisons, who have witnessed the deaths of family members and neighbourhood friends at the hands of the Israeli military, who have watched helplessly as their families' homes were demolished by Israeli Army bulldozers...
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/today/localNews_s3.php


Dread of the postmodern twist
Sharon has no clear outline, for in the postmodern mind set, clear direction is a basic no-no. He waves about the disengagement plan, but in his special way, Sharon leaves a web of escape routes before pushing through even the first practical step. He has nothing clear to say about the goals of the nation, and says it.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476210.html


We Should Not Have Allowed 19 Murderers to Change our World - By Robert Fisk
Any cop, confronted by any crime, looks for a motive. But confronted by an international crime against humanity, we were not to be allowed to seek the motive. America's relations with the Middle East, especially the nature of its relationship with Israel, was to remain an unspoken and unquestioned subject.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6892.htm


Jesse Jackson Leads the Charge Against the Corporate Lobbyists Running Kerry's Failing Campaign
Cam Kerry is an Orthodox Jew who has been responsible more than any other for his brother's slavishly pro-Sharon positions, and paid a visit to Israel in the middle of the campaign. When the World Court ruled that that the Israeli apartheid "Wall of Shame" hemming in the Palestinians was illegal and should be dismantled, candidate Kerry attacked the Court
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=87&ItemID=6201


The Zionist Silencing Machine...Seven Examples of Zionist Authoritarianism
Still, Mordechai and others claim to be truly against Sharon. Some high figures in the Jewish establishment claim to even be heavily critical of the wall. A donor rebellion to a local Jewish charity made the money that was to go to settlers go to a special foundation/NGO backed project to resettle the “Settlers” in “Israel Proper."
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/cummings09102004/


Mubarak son raises public profile
Ever since he was given a key position in the ruling National Democratic Party a few years ago, the young Mubarak has been carefully cultivating his public image. He has associated himself with sporting events and a rising young and dynamic business elite.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3646026.stm


Pipeline to northern Iraq refinery sabotaged
"The 35.5 centimetre (14-inch) pipeline was sabotaged at 3:15 pm (1115 GMT) by unknown attackers who opened fire with automatic weapons, causing an important breach," said the executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=7&u=/afp/20040911/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_unrest_oil_040911152654


Rumsfeld vows to defeat Iraqi extremists
"We know what will take place in Falluja and that is that it will be restored under the control of the Iraqi government eventually," said Mr Rumsfeld. "What we don't know is whether it will be done peacefully or by force. But one way or another, it will happen."
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f3bbabae-036d-11d9-aec4-00000e2511c8.html


Anybody But Bush?
Unfortunately, though, the Democratic candidate, John Kerry, is no real alternative. Many would be surprised to discover that Kerry, in fact, voted for many of Bush's policies as a Senator from Massachusetts. Kerry voted for Bush's war on Iraq, the Patriot Act, "No Child Left Behind," and the war on Afghanistan.
http://sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=46010&group=webcast

September 10 2004

Israel's wall an act of violence, speaker says
But the reality remains that Israel is in the midst of building a $2 billion barrier that will run more than 400 miles and in the process cut more than 150,000 Palestinians off from their fields, their friends and facilities such as hospitals, supermarkets and schools.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-10/109483155283870.xml


In Mourn or Joy, Palestinians Are Besieged
A full-blown closure, named by the army “a non-breathing closure” does not only means banning Palestinians from entering Israel-this is in effect, around the clock, 365 days a year- but also means closing all the main West Bank and Gaza Strip military check posts, therefore isolating Palestinian areas away from each other.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week2/091004/in%20mourn%20or%20joy.htm


Palestinian shown crushed by Israeli jeep
The video, which was aired on Friday, showed 18-year-old Muhammad Abd Allah Jad al-Haq being rolled over twice and left for dead while he was on his way home from the funeral of Amir Eidiya, a member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades killed earlier in Jericho. The vehicle fled from the scene after running over al-Haq.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A87D11E7-CED3-4009-BDA4-6503586AA589.htm


14-year-old among camp raid dead
THREE Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire during an armoured incursion into the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said today. One of the dead was named as 14-year-old Bahi Nasser, killed after an Israeli tank opened fire.
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10733008%255E1702,00.html


Occupation forces shell al-Shoqairi school and demolish two Palestinian homes in Beit Lahya
Furthermore, occupation forces demolished two homes yesterday close to the Department of Eduacation offices to the east of Beit Lahya. Eyewitnesses said that occupation forces stationed in the area demolished a two story building belonging to the Bahri family and a three story building belonging to the Fefel family
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_7839.shtml


4 Qassams hit Negev
Four Qassam rockets fell in the western Negev on Friday, the third day of an Israel Defense Forces operation in the northern Gaza Strip aimed at ending the rocket strikes on southern Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475034.html


Over 70,000 attend Islamic Movement rally
The Islamic Movement's northern branch's deputy, Sheikh Kamel Khatib, said the title for the rally gains real significance this year due to a warning by the public security minister a few weeks ago that Jewish extremists were planning to harm the mosque.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476496.html


Police trying to nix PA poll in J'lem by recording voter rolls
Jerusalem police are conducting surveillance of seven voter registration offices in East Jerusalem for anticipated Palestinian Authority elections, apparently trying to prevent the voter registration drive in the city.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=475244


Fact-finding team heads to the West Bank
A delegation of Swiss parliamentarians, academics and writers is embarking on a week-long visit to the occupied territories on Saturday. The 12-strong delegation will divide their time between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where they hope to hear from ordinary people about life under the Israeli occupation.
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=5203925


PCHR: “ Israel committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip”
“Occupation forces violated the rules and regulations of the fourth Geneva conventions which forbids collective punishment policies and protects the civilians in the times of war, army in these operation violated all rules and destroyed the properties and lands of the civilians and their lives in a way which can only be describes as a war crime”, the center said.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week2/091004/PCHR.htm


Sharon says roadmap must be abandoned for now
"We accepted the roadmap, with our 14 reservations, and formally the Palestinians also accepted it. But nothing came of it. There was no progress," he told the daily English-language Jerusalem Post. "I came to the conclusion that we will get nowhere along this plan," the conservative daily reported.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=4&u=/afp/20040910/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_roadmap_sharon_040910162646


Key European countries urge Israel to end Arafat's isolation
Key European countries are pressing Israel to end its policy of isolating Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. But Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom responded that Israel is sticking with its policy of isolating Arafat.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=476229&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Powell: Key to Mideast progress is stripping Arafat's power
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday said the key to making progress in the Middle East was stripping Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat of his power.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476493.html


Israeli officials say Arafat expulsion unlikely
Senior Israeli defense officials on Friday dismissed Foreign Minster Silvan Shalom's call to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, calling Shalom's comments as "empty words meant for domestic political consumption".
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/10/content_1966928.htm


?Arafat, Qorei to meet in 24 hours, says Palestinian official
Palestine Authority leader Yasser Arafat and his Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei will meet within the next 24-hour period to discuss urgent issues like the situation in Gaza... The meeting will put to rest rumors about the possibility of Qorei stepping down from his post, said Arif, who is Fatah Movement's secretary in Lebanon.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=662611


Palestinian security chiefs to hold talks with Egypt
The meeting set to begin on Monday follows Egypt's offer to help train Palestinian security officers in preparation for an Israeli pullout planned by the end of 2005. But Egypt's initiative appears to have made little progress so far.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L10677668.htm


Israeli settlers: Sharon plan could spark civil war
Settler leaders warned on Friday that plans to evacuate some Jewish settlements could plunge Israel into civil war, but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to press ahead undeterred.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L10514580.htm


U.S. scholar works the connection between Sabra-Shatilla and 9/11
Though he supports the efforts of advocacy groups in the Sabra-Shatilla case, he is less interested in advocacy himself than in understanding "how a case of universal jurisdiction against Sharon is unfolding and what are the risks and possible consequences of applying this doctrine."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=8259


State A, State B
Haaretz military correspondent Ze'ev Schiff, who brought us this news, says the U.S. administration is puzzled about why it should be difficult for Israel to obtain this vital information in areas that it controls. Is it possible that Israel doesn't know how, when and where illegal outposts are being built?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476211.html


Israel's Bedouins Fight to Keep Their Ancestral Land
Today half the Negev's 140,000 Bedouin live in 45 villages the state refuses to recognize and which lack all public amenities, including running water, electricity, sewage and garbage disposal, medical care and schools.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=8242


One Friday afternoon four years ago
The death of the boy Mohammed al-Dura; the Madhat Yusuf affair; the rioting of Israeli Arabs; the abandonment of Joseph's Tomb; the kidnapping of three soldiers on Har Dov; the lynching in Ramallah - all took place during the first three weeks of the conflict.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476162.html


The Likud doctrine
First Bush, and now Putin, have picked up lessons for their wars on terror from Israel's campaign against the Palestinians... Fortunately for Putin, there is still one place where he is shielded from the critics: Israel. On Monday, Ariel Sharon welcomed the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, for a meeting about strengthening ties in the fight against terror.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,1301503,00.html


Arafat, PM were close to a deal, new book claims
A senior Palestinian official says that "everything was completed and ready, in detail, especially the meeting at the Erez crossing [between Arafat and Sharon]." But the source says that Arafat backed away from the meeting.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476189.html


No shortcuts for peace and democracy
The hope of many of us for an open and independent Arab media is not satisfied. There have been changes, by the introduction of an audio-visual law, but it is taking a long time for government officials to accept the idea that someone other than a government official can run a local radio or television station.
http://www.amin.org/eng/daoud_kuttab/2004/sep10.html


Reading, writing - and propaganda
"Quotations attributed by earlier CMIP reports to the Palestinian textbooks," says a Middle East Working Group of the EU, "are not found in the new PA schoolbooks funded by some EU member states; some were traced to the old Egyptian and Jordanian textbooks that they are replacing, ... and others [were] not traced at all."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476179.html


FEATURE-Is Israel "swing state" that could tip US election?
On the other side of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, Jerusalem marketing manager Stuart Schnee, a lifelong Jewish Democrat who has never crossed party lines, plans to cast his ballot in November to keep a Republican in the White House.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28597074.htm


U.S. envoy Burns to tell Syria to leave Lebanon
"Burns will deliver a strong message to Syrian President Bashar Assad because it is time for Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon and for an end to all interference in its internal affairs," Burns' deputy Elizabeth Dibble was quoted as saying.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476492.html


U.S. Airstrike Hits Fallujah for 4th Day
A U.S. jet fired missiles Friday in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, the fourth day of attacks targeting the city where U.S. and Iraqi troops have no control, officials said.One man was killed in the attack, Dr. Ahmed Thaer of the Fallujah General Hospital said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=8&u=/ap/20040910/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq


US enter Samarrah during new push against insurgents
As with many other US air strikes described as precisely targeting terrorists, local doctors disagreed. Dr Rafi Hayad said eight people were killed by the air attacks, four of them children and two women. Reuters Television pictures showed several children, heavily bandaged and covered in blood, being treated in Fallujah hospital.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=560055


Hiding the bodies
During August, Iraqi insurgents proved themselves more capable of inflicting casualties on American troops than ever before. Sixty-six American soldiers were killed and more than 1,100 were wounded.... But even with extensive coverage of the intense conflict in Najaf last month, the U.S. media was relatively quiet about the cost of battle to U.S. soldiers.
http://www.freepress.net/news/print.php?id=4484


U.S.: Investigate 'Ghost Detainees'
"Secret detention is the gateway to torture," said Reed Brody, Special Counsel at Human Rights Watch. "History shows that when people are taken off the books, they become vulnerable to mistreatment, torture and even ‘disappearance.'"
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/09/10/usint9338.htm

September 09 2004

Occupation Forces Issue House Demolition Orders to Residents of Anata for the Building of the Apartheid Wall
This is not the first time houses have been demolished in Anata for the Apartheid Wall. Last June, Occupation Forces demolished three homes in Anata on the eastern portion of the village near an Occupation detention center. Included in the demolitions were a Mosque and a house near Pisgat Ze'ev settlement, all of which are on the Wall's path.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/750.shtml


Sharon: Key settlement blocs to stay inside fence
The government source predicted that the Ariel fence will pass the High Court, since there are few Palestinians in that area. Nevertheless, Sharon decided to continue postoning the hook-up between the Ariel fence and the main fence.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475585.html


UK's Straw 'concerned' by Israel's settlement expansion plan
"The latest announcement about settlements, in my judgement, is very serious because it could lead to the encirclement of East Jerusalem and the detachment of East Jerusalem from the West Bank," Straw said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=475711&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Israel to take more land for settlers
Israel's agriculture minister, Israel Katz, has announced plans for further expansion of Jewish settlements in the Jordan valley by expropriating 8,000 acres of land. Mr Katz's proposal, which he said would be implemented "without unnecessary delays", follows revelations that the government plans to build homes for thousands more settlers on the West Bank...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1300044,00.html


Right-wing petition calls for refusal to evacuate settlements
The petition urges troops to "listen to the voice of their personal and national conscience," and refuse to take part in the removal of settlements, an act they define as a crime against humanity, a national crime and an explicitly illegal act.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475966.html


IDF kills 6 Palestinians, including boy, 9, in territories
Troops from the Golani and Givati infantry brigades entering the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza in the early hours of Thursday morning were met by heavy resistance from Palestinians who opened fire and threw stones. Three of the Palestinians, including the nine-year-old, were killed by tank fire in the town of Beit Lahiya, close to the camp.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475034.html


Israeli troops kill Palestinian militant in Jericho
Witnesses confirmed that the soldiers opened intensive gunfire directly on Abedeia who tried to pull out from the cafe. Three of the cafe visitors were wounded by Israeli soldiers who opened fire haphazardly in the cafe, added the witnesses.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/09/content_1962652.htm


Mortar bomb hits Gush Katif home – woman lightly injured
A woman was lightly injured this evening after a mortar shell directly hit her home at the Gaza settlement of Neve Dkalim. Her house sustained damage.
http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=10999


Israel explodes bomb hidden in tomb, Muslims angry
But the explosion also destroyed the nearby grave of a 60-year-old Palestinian and rankled the nerves of local people who said the soldiers had violated the sanctity of Bethlehem's only Muslim cemetery.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09334607.htm


Medical Sources: Israel Used Flechettes Warhead in Gaza Massacre
The doctors affirmed that this type of rocket was used before by Israeli warplanes during extrajudicial executions, with the rockets exploding near the ground and the flechettes dispersing over a wide radius, tearing through flesh and metal alike and causing many casualties.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/050.html


Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations
Human rights violations perpetrated by Israeli troops included willful and extra-judicial killing, incursions into Palestinian areas, indiscriminate shelling, house demolitions and land leveling.  Israeli troops have also continued to impose severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians.
http://www.world-crisis.com/news/736_0_1_0_M/


UN replaces Palestinian refugee homes demolished by Israel
In total, in the Gaza Strip, 477 new homes have now been built by UNRWA.  A further 300 are currently being built.  However, UNRWA still needs more than $42 million in donations to meet the needs of the homeless in Gaza.  At least a further 1,777 new homes are needed and every day brings fresh demolitions.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3080.shtml


The defendant was an `impressive officer'
The investigation revealed that on 10 occasions the defendant used his gun to break the windshields of cabs driven by Palestinians. Their only violation was that they crossed the marked line where vehicles are supposed to stop at the checkpoint. Another Palestinian, flanked by his wife and children, was punched in the face and even kicked in the lower part of his body.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475619.html


UN envoy condemns Israel's killing of Palestinians in Gaza
Sending his sincere condolences to the families of the victims, the envoy called on Israel "to abide by its obligation under international humanitarian law to avoid the use of disproportionate force in densely populated areas and to protect the civilian population." (does not call it 'heinous crimes' or terror?)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11874&Cr=palestin&Cr1=


Shalom: Expulsion of Arafat is closer than ever
Shalom's was the second remark made in the past week by a senior government official regarding the expulsion of Arafat. On Monday, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz referred to the possibility of Arafat's expulsion, saying that, "Israel will find the time and method to expel Arafat."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=475564&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


PA donor states delay meeting; Burns cancels Israel trip
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom failed to persuade his European counterparts to hold the meeting on schedule. Following the cancellation, the American adminstration decided to cancel a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories by Undersecretary of State William Burns, who is currently visiting the region.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=476146&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Neocons Blast Bush's Inaction On 'Spy' Affair
In an indication of their growing estrangement with the Bush administration, neoconservatives are slamming the White House for failing to stop what they describe as an antisemitic campaign to marginalize them being conducted by the CIA and the State Department.
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=perelman20040909327


UN calls on Israel to stop flying over Lebanon
The United Nations on Thursday renewed a call on Israel to stop flying its military aircraft over Lebanon, saying the actions are disturbing a "calm" that has prevailed in the area in recent weeks.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/476125.html


Toward a True Democratic State in the Middle East
Tony Judt, for example, argues in The New York Review of Books that the integration of the West Bank may already be irreversible, and suggests that a single binational state may be the only alternative to ethnic cleansing. This is not simply a moral matter. Nor is it simply a historical one. It is both. And that is the problem that we who have endorsed a two-state solution have neglected.
http://www.counterpunch.org/may09092004.html


Look again, Gandhi
After four years of armed Intifada, the US- based group that organised his visit -- Palestinians for Peace and Democracy -- believes that the philosophy of non-violent struggle can be exported to the West Bank and Gaza where it will mobilise the Palestinian masses to find new ways to oppose the occupation.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=6196


Reign of evil - By Azmi Bishara
Certainly it did not meet to discuss the collapse of state and society in Iraq and Palestine, where, only last week, I was unable to get to the West Bank town of Hebron, what with the road having been blocked for nearly two years with barricades of rubble set up by the occupation army. The Security Council did meet, however, to discuss constitutional amendments in Lebanon...
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/707/op2.htm


Elections under siege
no fixed date for the elections has been designated, ostensibly for fear that the Israeli occupation army, which maintains a conspicuous presence in most Palestinian population centres, will not allow the elections to take place. Palestinian Authority is expected to announce a final date of the elections later this year, awaiting "guarantees" from the international community.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/707/re3.htm


The Likudization of the world - 9/11's real legacy is that Bush has adopted Sharon's rigid views
On Sept. 12, 2001, Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked how the previous day's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington would affect relations between Israel and the United States. "It's very good," he said. "Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040909/COKLEIN09/TPComment/TopStories


The Warlords of America
On 6 May last, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution which, in effect, authorised a "pre-emptive" attack on Iran. The vote was 376-3. Undeterred by the accelerating disaster in Iraq, Republicans and Democrats, wrote one commentator, "once again joined hands to assert the responsibilities of American power".
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=87&ItemID=6185


Madonna due to join Israel trip
Madonna is due to celebrate the Jewish New Year in Israel with 2,000 fellow students of Kabbalah, prompting an extensive police operation. The singer will visit the graves of rabbinical sages in northern Israel on next week's trip, organised by the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3641256.stm


Egyptian activists call for open presidential elections
The group, which includes the banned Muslim Brotherhood, said in a statement that it wanted a "change of constitution that permits the election of the president of the republic from among more than one candidate." Currently, parliament nominates a candidate for the presidency and refers its choice to the people for approval in a national referendum.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=11&u=/afp/20040909/wl_mideast_afp/egypt_politics_040909175303


US bombing kills more Falluja civilians
US air strikes have killed at least 12 Iraqi civilians in the town of Falluja in a third successive night of bombing. Speaking from the town's main hospital on Thursday, Dr Mushtaq Talib said three women and five children were killed and another 15 were injured.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5462&s2=09


100 Children Die Daily in Iraq
In one month, 3000 children died in Iraq; on average, that is 100 per day. Though many are innocent victims of incessant clashes, most succumb to malnourishment and unsanitary living conditions. The shortage of drugs and modern equipment is worse than when Saddam Hussein was in power - when international embargoes isolated the country.
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=5459&s2=09


Despair in Iraq over the forgotten victims of US invasion
"When I heard on television that the Americans had lost 1,000 military killed in Iraq, I asked myself, what about our side? What is the number of Iraqis who have died?" said Dr Amer al-Khuzaie, an Iraqi deputy health minister. "Sometimes there are as many as 200 Iraqis killed in a single day,"
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=559662


Pentagon looking into illegal "ghost detainees" in Iraq: Army general
The Pentagon is investigating the imprisonment of as many as 100 "ghost detainees" who were held in secret custody by US forces in Iraq, the army general leading the Abu Ghraib prison abuse probe told a congressional committee.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=5&u=/afp/20040909/wl_mideast_afp/us_iraq_prisons_politics_040909194104


Of homeland, identity and occupation
The political process is still operated by the US occupation. Paul Bremer (former US administrator of Iraq) created the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), and most of its members were brought to Iraq with the occupation forces. The IGC gave birth to a government similar to it in nature. Even the Iraqi National Council was created the same way...
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/239DF360-3640-457C-BA99-5FD497547598.htm

September 08 2004

Palestine : A call for 40 Days Of Prayer for Bethlehem
In the email request they sent to friends, they ask to pray for "the Seperation Wall to tumble down and to be dismantled peacefully since to say that the wall merely inflicts hardship on the people is a gross understatement. There is a sense of helplessness and hopelessness that is generating a lot of anger. There is fear and uncertainty of what the future holds".
http://www.comeandsee.co.il/article.php?sid=570&mode=thread&order=0


Sharon: Fence to include Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion bloc
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday decided that Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumin and the Gush Etzion settlement bloc would be included inside the West Bank separation fence, while the route of the other segments would be built close to the Green Line.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475314.html


Donating to apartheid
The donor nations are committed to help the Palestinian Authority. Therefore, build separate roads for the Palestinians. And since there is no partner for peace and negotiations, we will continue to develop for our citizens a separate network of roads, which will bring them even closer to sovereign Israel and continue to encourage new settlers to move to the settlements.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475007.html


Israel to Expand Jordan Valley Settlements
Israeli Agriculture Minister Israel Katz revealed Tuesday plans to expropriate some 31,000 dunams (8,000 Acres) of land to expand Jewish settlements in the Jordan Valley. Katz said he intended to implement the plan "without unnecessary delays.", confirming that he would soon bring it before the ministerial committee on for the development of rural settlement.
http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/September/week2/090804/settlement-expansion.htm


Activists demolish W Bank outpost
The activists later took one of the containers to Tel Aviv where they left it outside the Defence Ministry. "We wanted to demonstrate to the Israeli public it is possible to dismantle outposts," Peace Now activist Dror Etkes said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3637452.stm


The Pure Blood of Raghda Covers her School Seat
While Raghda Al-Assar, 11 yers old, was sitting on her chair in the fourth grade, on the first week of school when a bullet penetrated her head and, leaving her innocent dreams under the mercy of the live support machines, in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Raghda's blood covered her chair, in Khan Younis school for girls, which will remain empty...
http://www.imemc.org/features/2004/september/raghda-blood.htm


High Court to rule today on Palestinian cave dwellers
"We never understood the state's insistance on removing these poor villagers," said Rabbi Arik Asherman, director of Rabbis for Human Rights. "Now we understand that Sharon wants to annex Susiya and other settlements in the area by means of the fence, and therefore he wants to get rid of them."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/474993.html


Palestinians say Israel trying to block vote drive
A senior Israeli official said the week-old voter drive was a violation of Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem. The city's Arab eastern sector was captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognised internationally.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08645612.htm


Court: Palestinian homes in southern Hebron Hills can stay
She also condemned the Palestinians' need for an "unattainable permit" in order to rebuild. Both sides agreed to a compromise, according to which the petitioners will apply for permits for existing structures from IDF authorities, and the state will honor the court injunction and avoid demolishing any further structures.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=475423&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


UN agency replaces Palestinian refugee homes demolished by Israel
The main United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees today handed over 103 new shelters in Rafah in the Gaza Strip for families whose homes have been demolished during the latest uprising against Israel, but the ceremony planned for the event had to be postponed due to ongoing Israeli military operations.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11858&Cr=palestin&Cr1=


Palestine quintet barred from travelling
'Everyday they come to the border only to be sent back and now, with the match being tomorrow, they have given up hope.' Palestine are playing all of their 'home' Group Two matches in Qatar for security reasons. Barakat said world soccer's governing body FIFA had denied a request from Palestine to postpone the match because of their weakened squad.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=309431&cc=4716


Israeli army wound 2 Palestinians in northern Gaza
one of the two wounded was a 12-year-old Palestinian boy who was in a serious condition. The Israeli army opened intensive fire on the residents' houses during the incursion into the area and destroyed a Palestinian house still under construction, witnesses added.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/08/content_1958428.htm


Israeli tank, troop carrier destroyed in northern Gaza -- Hamas
The Ezzeddine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Hamas Movement, on Wednesday said its fighters managed to destroy an Israeli tank and a troop carrier as the occupation troops made an incursion into northern areas of the Gaza Strip.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=662391


2 Israeli soldiers wounded in detaining Hamas militants
The two injured Israeli soldiers were rushed to Hadasa Ain Karem Hospital in Jerusalem for treatment, Israeli sources said. Meanwhile, Palestinian security sources said the Israeli army detained 14 Palestinians throughout the West Bank overnight Wednesday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/08/content_1957985.htm


IDF Gaza operation fails to halt Qassam volleys
A Qassam rocket landed on Wednesday afternoon in Sderot, hitting a vehicle in the compound of the "Of Kor" factory in the city. No injuries were reported in the incident. Earlier on Wednesday, Palestinians fired a mortar shell at the Gaza Strip settlement of Neveh Dekalim in the Gush Katif settlement bloc.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475034.html


Gaza Beach... New Workplace for Kids
The latest Palestinian Bureau of Statistics survey on the problem estimated child labor at 3.5%, but a further drop in family income has put 60% of Palestinians below poverty line of $2 a day, pushing more and more children onto the streets as an alternative to education.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1662


Qureia threatens resignation following row with Arafat
Qureia and Arafat failed to reach an agreement during a meeting Tuesday on whether to send a delegation to a donor states conference in New York. Qureia is opposed to sending a delegation, while Arafat insists on sending a group.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=475289&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Egypt steps back on Gaza plan over Israeli attacks
Egypt took a step back from plans to help the Palestinians prepare for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza on Wednesday, saying it could not play its role in full as long as Israeli attacks on Palestinians continue.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08601544.htm


Spy-scandal lobby blitz; AIPAC secures wide backing after secrets charges
Soon after media outlets reported on the scandal late last month, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbyists and their political liaisons across the country asked Democratic and Republican lawmakers to issue public statements in support of America's premier pro-Israel group.
http://www.thehill.com/news/090804/spy.aspx


Likud MKs, S. African leaders join to end Middle East conflict
President Thabo Mbeki led the South African delegation, which included current and former Cabinet members who participated in the negotiations that ended apartheid in 1994. Pretoria said it aimed to offer insight into the process that culminated in South Africa's transformation to a peaceful democracy.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475514.html


Vanunu looking to relinquish Israeli citizenship, move to U.S.
"In Israel, I am regarded as a traitor ... and since my release they are not respecting my human rights, my freedom of speech my freedom of movement." Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin refused to comment on Vanunu's desire to leave the country and seek foreign citizenship.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=475492&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


The myth of Gandhi and Palestinian reality
We had a tantalizing glimpse of the potential power of such action on the bittersweet day the late minister Faisal Husseini's was buried in June 2001, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded into occupied Jerusalem, and Israel was powerless to stop them. For those brief hours the people made Jerusalem free and whole.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3066.shtml


Crisis in the PA: Events and the Challenge of Reform
PCHR contends that this violence is just a mask for other demands and in fact undermines the long term goal of establishing genuine democratic reforms in Palestinian political society.  It is also regrettable that the measures which have been taken by the PNA, in response to these activities, give the appearance of reform but were not genuine.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3079.shtml


Weaker Hamas retains support
It was the first time in four years of fighting that the Army had targeted such a large group of militants. Like the assassinations, the helicopter strike made obvious that Israel is receiving precise intelligence from collaborators who are well placed to monitor Hamas.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0908/p06s03-wome.htm


Report: Germany ready to help Israel acquire new submarines
Germany is ready to help Israel acquire two new submarines and modernize three older vessels, German Defense Minister Peter Struck was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475521.html


UN: Iraqis exported 42 engines from banned missiles
For more than a year, Iraqi authorities have been shipping thousands of tons of scrap metal out of the country including at least 42 engines from banned missiles and other equipment that could be used to produce weapons of mass destruction, according to a new report from UN weapons inspectors.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=475205&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Iraqis die in Fallujah; hostage snatch spurs charities to look at pullout
Fighter jets and helicopters pounded Fallujah all night after radical militants attacked American positions near the city. The US military said up to 100 militants were killed, but medical sources there reported only six dead and 23 wounded.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=1&u=/afp/20040908/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_040908191509


U.S. General Says Samarra Will Fall
Allawi and U.S. ground commander Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz also have said they are optimistic that Samarra will be relinquished without a repeat of April's disastrous siege of Fallujah or August's brutal assault on Najaf. Thousands of Iraqis were killed in those operations and city blocks were blasted to rubble.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=10&u=/ap/20040908/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_samarra


Policy let U.S. hold detainees in secret, military officers say
However, three recently completed Pentagon investigations didn't examine the Army's practice of holding secret detainees, now known as "ghost detainees," and whether it may have contributed to abuse.
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/9602584.htm


U.S. Helicopter Crashes Near Baghdad
A terse statement from the U.S. Marine base at Camp Fallujah gave no precise location, no time of the crash and did not say what type of helicopter was involved nor whether it was downed by hostile fire.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20040908/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_helicopter


Captors of French reporters deny ransom demand
"The Islamic Army assures that the statement lifted from the Internet by the media and listing three demands on the issue of the French hostages, including a financial one, is false," said the statement.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=14&u=/afp/20040908/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_france_hostages_040908160126

September 07 2004

Except for U.S. Judge, International Court Rules Against Israel's Wall, Occupation
The ICJ decision, even more than anticipated, was a triumph for international law and the Palestinians, with every single judge on the 15-member panel—except, shamefully, American Judge Thomas Buergenthal, who basically followed the U.S. administration's line—agreeing to the total illegality of the Wall, and indeed of the occupation itself.
http://wrmea.com/archives/Sept_2004/0409008.html


Destroying History
Israeli bulldozers sank their jaws into three buildings in the old city of Hebron. The demolitions, to make way for a settler-only road to connect the Kiryat Arba settlement with the Ibrahimi Mosque, caused an outrage. The three buildings were ancient, dating back some 500 years to the Mamluk period.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3058.shtml


New fence route to be presented to U.S. first, then cabinet
The route of the fence was changed in the wake of the June 30 High Court of Justice decision that rejected a lengthy part of the fence project northwest of Jerusalem because of the way it infringed on Palestinian rights.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=474587&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Israel urges Russia to back fence at UN
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he told Lavrov that Israel now expects Russia not to support a Palestinian resolution at the United Nations on the fence issue later this month, which calls for sanctions against Israel. Russia voted against Israel on this issue when it was brought to the General Assembly in July.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1094279635169


PNA Implores Barghouti to Call Off His Hunger Strike
Mr. Hisham Abed Al Razeq, the Minister of Prisoner Affairs, appealed yesterday all the legal and human rights watchdogs to intervene immediately and press on the Israeli government to stop solitarily imprisonment of the legislator Barghouti and doing the best to release him.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/039.html


Israeli troops wound four Khan Younis residents
Four Palestinians, including two children, a woman and an old man were injured on Tuesday by Israeli troops' gunfire in the southern Gaza Strip town of Kahn Younis,local medics said. They said that one of the four wounded is a 13-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl who was shot in the head as she was inside her school.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/07/content_1952987.htm


Civilian Dies of Wounds and Israeli Forces Dismember Gaza
Doctors at the European Hospital in the city of Rafah, south of Gaza Strip, said that Yousef Abu Libda, 18, who was wounded critically during an Israeli bombing of a demonstration in Rafah three months ago, died today of the wounds he sustained then.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/040.html


Pro-Israel Activists Start Media Campaign
Graduates of the seminar contacted local news organizations across America to argue—in advance of Friday's ICJ's decision—that Israel has the right to fend off terrorists, and that polls show most Americans support Israel's security barrier.
http://wrmea.com/archives/Sept_2004/0409010.html


A Flicker of Hope at Haifa Conference on “Right of Return and Just Peace”
Recently Democratic presidential nominee-apparent John Kerry joined President Bush in supporting Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's rejection of the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in Israel. Often forgotten, this position violates international law...
http://wrmea.com/archives/Sept_2004/0409022.html


Israel frees 188 Palestinian prisoners
The release, the largest in more than seven months, was not meant as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinians but rather to relieve deteriorating prison conditions, the sources said.Most were convicted of relatively minor crimes, such as throwing rocks.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/474924.html


Israeli fire wounds Palestinian girl in UN school in Gaza Strip
“The kind of live firing into refugee camps that is so indiscriminate that it makes classrooms dangerous for 10-year old children is totally unacceptable,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen said. The girl, Raghda Adnan Al-Assar, underwent major surgery in the European Gaza Hospital.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11841&Cr=palestin&Cr1=


Israeli Occupation Troops Raid Voters' Registration Centers in Jerusalem
In an attempt to halt the registration process and deter Palestinian voters from participating in their democratic electoral right, the Israeli Special Forces, accompanied with Israeli Intelligence have raided four registration centers in Jerusalem in the past 48 hours.
http://www.amin.org/eng/uncat/2004/sep/sep7.html


Court halts tender for leasing Karmiel land to Jews only
The Haifa Magistrate's Court on Tuesday issued a temporary injunction instructing the Israel Lands Administration to freeze a tender for leasing land in Karmiel's Givat Hamachosh neighborhood. Alternatively, the court ruled, the ILA must allow Israeli Arabs to take part in the tender.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/474913.html


World Cup 2006: IOF Prevents Palestinian Players to Meet Uzbekistan
Five players, including the goalkeeper, try to leave Gaza, via Rafah border point with Egypt, to attend training camps in Egypt. The Palestine- Uzbekistan match will be held tomorrow September 8, in Qatar. The Palestinian Federation will depend on Palestinian players in Diaspora.
http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=1656


Most Palestinians live in poverty, on two dollars a day
Two million Palestinians out of the 3.6 million in the occupied territories live on less than 2.1 dollars a day, while 42 percent of Palestinian families survive only thanks to humanitarian aid, the director of a UN agency said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=10&u=/afp/20040907/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_palestinian_040907191133


Qureia: Retaliation for IDF strike in Gaza 'will be justified'
"This crime cannot be accepted ... No crime goes unpunished," Qureia said at a meeting of the Palestinian cabinet. "For sure there will be retaliation, and the retaliation will be justified if it happens."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/474588.html


Court bars rubble removal from Jerusalem shrine
The Israeli petitioners demanded that the 3,000 tons of earth from renovations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, should be sifted by archaeologists before being disposed of.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07351665.htm


Arafat's Fatah movement condemns Gaza strike
"This serious Israeli aggression and military escalation is a clear evidence to the world and the world's public opinion that Israel is just a war government that consists of a group of failed ministers who are thirsty for blood," it said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/07/content_1952900.htm


Police, IDF discuss implementation of disengagement plan
Israel Police and the Israel Defense Forces held their first meeting to coordinate their activities over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan on Monday night, National Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi told reporters on Tuesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/474791.html


Egyptian FM holds talks with Arafat on Gaza pullout
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit met with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat Monday to discuss Cairo's plans to help ensure security in the Gaza Strip after Israel's pullout from the territory.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=8134


Israel tells World Bank it wants to move Rafah crossing
The Egyptians, whose consent is required for the move, have voiced their opposition, noting, among other reasons, the fact that they have invested some $6 million in constructing a new terminal at the Rafah crossing. The Palestinians, for their part, have also informed the World Bank that they are vehemently opposed to moving the crossing.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=474667&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


US Mideast envoy to visit Palestinian territories soon
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said on Tuesday US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns will start a Mideast tour and visit the Palestinian territories, holding meetings with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/07/content_1952920.htm


Powell: Arab-Israeli retaliation tragic, unhelpful
Asked about the Israeli tank, helicopter and warplane raid on the militant group and Palestinian threats to respond, he told reporters: "I don't think they are helpful. ... The situation is very tragic. ... Retaliation is not a solution."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N07588481.htm


PA condemns Mofaz threats to expel Arafat
Shaath Tuesday condemned Mofaz' statement, but said he realized Mofaz was only trying to placate the right wing. However, he warned, "if Israel carries out such a step, they will blow up the whole region."
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040907-021422-4425r.htm


Prison and society
Given the circulation of prisoners who do not serve long sentences, the situation in the Palestinian territories has reached a point now where it is difficult to find a single family where at least one of its members either is not or has not been in prison.
http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/pal1.php


Little deterrent effect
The prisoner issue offers one of the most telling manifestations of the unequal power relationship between Israel and Palestine. Israel has thousands of Palestinian prisoners; neither the Palestinian Authority nor any other Palestinian organization holds Israeli prisoners. Thus the question of release of prisoners is entirely up to the Israeli authorities...
http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/isr1.php


On terror and hypocrisy
Unlike September 1939, when Europe quickly realized that it was looking at a world war, it's not clear whether Europe today realizes what America grasped long ago - that World War III is in full swing. This war is different from all the wars in history. It's not countries fighting countries.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/474477.html


Peace activist held as 'danger to Israel'
Tali Fahima served her time in the Israeli army, voted for Ariel Sharon as prime minister and took it as given that her country was struggling for survival against terrorism. On Sunday, the military placed Ms Fahima in detention without trial using a law applied to thousands of Palestinians over the past four years of intifada but rarely to Israelis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1298770,00.html


Israeli whistleblower Vanunu: 'I would like to be a Palestinian citizen'
"I want to ask the Palestinian Authority and chairman Arafat: if you want, I would like to be a Palestinian citizen," Vanunu told Israel private television late Tuesday. "I want to have a wife ... and to build a family and live like a normal human being," he told Channel 2, speaking in English.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=6&u=/afp/20040907/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_palestinian_040907190228


UN envoy says Syria wants peace talks with Israel
United Nations special envoy Terje-Roed Larsen said on Tuesday Syria was seriously interested in resuming peace talks with Israel and urged both sides to explore ways to return to the negotiating table.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07506295.htm


More Than 1,000 Military Deaths in Iraq
The grim milestone was surpassed after a spike in clashes that has killed 14 American service members in the past two days. Two soldiers died in fighting Tuesday with militiamen loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Five other Americans died Tuesday in separate attacks, mostly in the Baghdad area.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20040907/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq


Clashes in Baghdad claim 44 lives
US forces targeted the suspected hide outs of militants in Fallujah and Sadr city following the killing of 8 US troops on Monday. Twenty people were killed and four houses were demolished by US air raid over al-Fakhirya village near al-Yusifiya, south of Baghdad...
http://www.geo.tv/main_files/world.aspx?id=39442


Chalabi nephew loses Saddam trial role
Mr Chalabi, whose uncle Ahmad Chalabi is the controversial founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), has been removed as the head of the Iraqi special tribunal responsible for Saddam's case, INC officials said last night.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1298699,00.html

September 06 2004

Israel Plans to Grab Less West Bank Land for Barrier
Israel's High Court ordered a rerouting of a section of the barrier in the central West Bank in June to minimize hardship to Palestinians, thousands of whom have already been cut off from schools, hospitals, relatives and farmland by the network of electronic fences and towering concrete walls.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6159842


Some Palestinian Prisoners' Demands Met after 19-days Hunger Strike
The Bethlehem-based Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) published on Monday a number of Palestinian prisoners' demands that have been met by the Israeli Prison Service following a 19-day-long hunger strike.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_09/032.html


More than 1 million Palestinian children return to school
UNICEF's support for education comes at a critical time. Years of conflict have damaged some 300 schools and forced many children to miss classes. Last year 580 schools were periodically forced to closed and some schools remain closed after being declared military outposts by the IDF.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3071.shtml


Palestinians: At least 7 killed in IAF missile strike in Gaza City
At least seven Palestinians were killed and 30 injured early Tuesday in an Israel Air Force missile strike in Gaza City, Palestinian sources said. IAF helicopter gunships fired at least five missiles at the building, located in the Sajaiya neighborhood in the eastern part of Gaza City...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/474276.html


Palestinian boy wounded, house destroyed
Israeli occupation troops wounded Monday a Palestinian boy, arrested six others and dynamited a house in West Bank cities... the 13-year-old Mohammed Zebeidi was shot in the shoulder when Israeli soldiers opened fire at the village houses.
http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=284419&lang=e&dir=news


Israeli army shells Khan Younis, aged Palestinian wounded
Eyad al-Lahham, 51, was seriously wounded by the missile's shrapnel on the head when the al-Za'arba neighborhood where he lived was attacked, the sources said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-09/05/conte