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Army kidnaps six Palestinians from several parts of the West Bank
The Israeli army invades several cities and towns in the West Bank and kidnapped at least six Palestinians in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Palestinian killed by Israeli air-strike in the Gaza Strip
Israeli air-strikes struck Gaza City in the early hours of Tuesday morning, killing one man.
Dozens made homeless as police demolish Bedouin houses
At least 20 houses in two Bedouin-Arab villages were destroyed on 25 June by Israeli security forces, leaving over 150 people homeless. Some 1,500 police and special forces converged on the two small villages, which together have a population of about 1,000 people from the al-Qi'an family, and conducted the demolitions.
The situation of more than 1,400 Palestinians who have fled Baghdad and are stranded in camps on the Iraq-Syria border is deteriorating by the day.
A UNHCR team visited Al Waleed camp – home to 1,071 Palestinians – on the Iraqi side of the border last week and identified four children and one young man in urgent need of medical care. They included a youth with a hole in his heart – who needs life-saving surgery, two children with Hodgkin's disease suffering from relapses; one youth about to lose his leg because of a vascular disease; and a young man with severe diabetes losing his sight. UNHCR and ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] are trying everything to provide proper medical care but this is impossible in the snake- and scorpion-infested border camp without access to proper water, sanitation, care and shelter.
GAZANS STRANDED AT RAFAH BORDER, NORTH SINAI TOWNS
Up to 2,500 residents of the Gaza Strip are stranded on the Egyptian side of the bordercrossing at Rafah and in the towns of al-Arish and Rafah in the North Sinai governorate, aid agencies say. The
border area between Egypt and the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), which has been sealed off to media and
tourists following an escalation in violence in Gaza, is continuing to host Palestinians unable either to cross to their home territory or return to Cairo. Many of the travellers are attempting to return following medical treatment in the Egyptian capital.
The Danger in Planting Twenty Trees
As soon as we reached the new asphalt paved road where the wall will be constructed, over seventy heavily armed and heavily protected Israeli soldiers emerged to stop us… The only way they communicated was through force. They were continuously given orders not to engage in any dialogue with us; soldiers who did respond to us on that basic human level received stares of range and anger from their commanders or other soldiers as if they were talking to a lower cast or lower human species. Twenty trees… that was all we wanted to plant. The Israeli army responded by violence; everything from pushing, hitting and even kicking us. Several people were injured including an Israeli female activist that was thrown forcefully to the ground.
Odds stacked against Blair mission
Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority and pro-western Arab states are expected publicly to welcome Tony Blair as the special envoy of the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers, though governments acknowledge that he is deeply unpopular with ordinary people across the region because of his role in the war in Iraq and close relationship with George Bush.
Hamas objects to potential Blair appointment
Middle East mediators met in Jerusalem Tuesday for talks that could clear the way for the appointment of Tony Blair as an envoy to try to revive peace prospects after the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. However, Hamas said Blair was not welcome because of his role in supporting US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
'Disaster for Palestinians'
It is unlikely that Tony Blair will get a warm welcome in Gaza City or anywhere in the Palestinian territories if he is confirmed as the Quartet's new Middle East peace envoy. I n recent years, Mr Blair and by association Britain have become perceived as supporters of the US and Israel and antagonists of Arab and Palestinian interests.
Hamas: Shalit still wounded, held in unfit, unsanitary conditions
Abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit is still suffering from wounds sustained when he was kidnapped, and is being held in conditions that are not suitable for proper treatment, a senior Hamas official said Tuesday.
Abbas has no choice
Fatah realizes its only chance to compete with Hamas is agreement with Israel .
Abbas Working With Israel to End Resistance in the West Bank
"Wanted militants in the West Bank agreed to lay down their weapons in return for their guaranteed safety, according to an announcement by Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki on Monday.
Report: Top official recommends halting arrests of Fatah militants
A senior Israeli official Tuesday was quoted as saying that Israel should consider revising its policy of arresting wanted Fatah militants if Fatah stops receiving funding from Iran and refrains from attacking Israel.
Egypt Faces Policy Crisis Over Gaza
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday convened an emergency summit on Gaza between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdallah of Jordan.
Israeli calls for collective punishment against Palestinian prisoners
The petition argued that the prisoners should not be allowed visitation as long as the Red Cross was prevented from seeing kidnapped IDF soldiers Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.
Ahmadinejad tells Arabs: Stop the betrayal
According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, Ahmadinejad appealed to Jordan and Egypt to "stop this betrayal." What do you want? You want to placate the arrogant (western world)? Try placating the Lord and the suppressed people. If it's power you want, this is the better way to go."
Deposed Hamas PM warns of Israeli bid to divide Palestinians
Sacked Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya, also a Hamas leader, warned on Tuesday against the Israeli government's attempts "to divide the unity of the Palestinians."
Report: Hamas to change British Gas contract over Gaza gas
An official with the sacked Hamas-led Palestinian government on Tuesday revealed intentions to change a previous contract with a British energy group to sell offshore Gaza natural gas. "The government has no problem to cooperate with British Gas (BG) company after modifying some points of the 1999 contract," Mohammed al-Madhoun, director of sacked Prime Minister Ismail Haneya's office, told a Hamas website.
Hamas reiterates ready for Palestinian dialogue
Speaking to reporters, Haniya welcomed a call from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for inter-Palestinian dialogue made at a four-way Middle East summit in Egypt late on Monday.
The danger of division
Israel yesterday tried to lower expectations about prospects for its summit with Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Sharm el-Sheikh, but it did not need to. Even by the high standards of failure set by Middle East summitry, expectations could not be worse. The political repercussions of Hamas's military takeover of Gaza 11 days ago have only entrenched the de facto partition of a future Palestinian state and set back the prospect of real negotiations with Israel. It has only pushed back further the prospect of a two-state solution.
Can the Arab World be Turned into Gaza's Jailers? Divide and Rule, Israeli-Style
The boycott by Israel and the international community of the Palestinian Authority finally blew up in their faces with Hamas' recent bloody takeover of Gaza. Or so argues Gideon Levy, one of the saner voices still to be found in Israel. "Starving, drying up and blocking aid do not sear the consciousness and do not weaken political movements. On the contrary Reality has refuted the chorus of experts and commentators who preached [on] behalf of the boycott policy. This daft notion that it is possible to topple an elected government by applying pressure on a helpless population suffered a complete failure."
Jeffrey Sachs: U.S. failed Palestine once again
The leading American economist Jeffrey Sachs criticized the U.S. and Israel for the collapse of the Palestinian government and the current unrest in Gaza in an opinion article he published in The Jordan Times over the weekend.
FOES IN GAZA, ROOMMATES IN CAIRO HOSPITAL
"You see, both Ahmad and I are staying in the same room at this hospital, where we are being treated for wounds we have sustained during infighting. I am a Hamas supporter, while he is with Fatah," said Ibrahim, who was shot with several bullets in his body. Ahmad, the Fatah supporter and preventive security personnel of the al-Tuffah neighborhood in central Gaza City, said it all with his sad eyes. "What fault has my son committed to be in such a situation? May God take revenge on those who have beaten him," said a bearded man, Ahmad's father.
Women for Palestine: The West hands Palestinians a poisoned chalice, by Sonja Karkar
It seems few can speak the truth anymore and that does not augur well for Palestine or for the world generally. Time and again, law and principles have been compromised for Israel's benefit and the world has acquiesced; now it seems some Palestinians are prepared to do the same. Shades of Oslo repeated, but this time, without any hope at all for a just end to the Palestine question. Those who thought it would be different, have forgotten Israel's ruthless masterplan to take all of the land. With 93 percent of Palestine already annexed to Israel and 7 percent under its actual control, a final solution to rid Israel of 4 million Palestinians was always inevitable. Just how Israel was going to do that without resorting to outright genocide seemed to have its abominable solution in transfer and apartheid. Now it looks like the solution will be found by turning Palestinian against Palestinian with consequences too awful to contemplate. Never before has there been such a need to expose the hypocrisy, lies and obfuscations that may well mean the end of a united liberation struggle.
Demonstration Government in Palestine
This writer calls this ugly business "democracy-engineering, American-style" backed by force to win approval of a rigged process people would never accept another way. Noam Chomsky refers to the notion of "Keeping the Rabble in Line," the title of one of his many books. It can be through soft or hard methods to assure the public goes along with what governments want imposed.
'No' to false trappings of sovereignty
One of the paradoxes of the internal conflict in Palestine is that Palestinians are fighting each other without any regard to the fact that the Israeli occupation continues unabated. There are plenty of reasons to explain why the occupation has continued for decades.
Palestine: Blood Is in the Air
Five years after His Highness G.W. Bush – president of the United States of America, czar of Afghanistan, emperor of Iraq, democratizer of the Middle East, etc., etc. – launched his "Road Map for Peace in the Middle East," announcing a Palestinian state by 2005, the Israeli public has a new pastime. The public discussion in Israel now revolves around "Three states for two peoples?"
Finding lessons in Gaza's bloodshed
The Hamas-Fatah clash that has culminated into a mini-civil war in recent weeks is both old and new, and while some of its elements are uniquely Palestinian, much of it was manufactured at the behest of US-Israeli intelligence and governments. The tensions between Fatah and Hamas are decades old. Fatah has - since the late 1960s until today - claimed a superior, if not exclusive, position at the helm of Palestinian politics. At times there seemed little margin for any other organization - be it secular, socialist or religious - to share a platform with Yasser Arafat's movement.
Church leaders focus on peace with justice for Palestine at Mideast gathering
With the latest violence being the result of conflict between Palestinian political parties, McCullough also pointed out that "Hamas and Fatah have a moral obligation to resolve this current crisis through constructive engagement and representative government. They share the responsibility for the sufferings of a people who have suffered far too long, and for the Palestinian blood that now soils the earth."
Israeli play 'serves Hamas propaganda'
New play, 'Hebron', prompts right-wing protest, activists claim production unbalanced, portrays conflict only through eyes of Palestinians. Artistic director: Play depicts endless cycle of violence .
Israel considering deportation of Sudanese refugees to Kenya
Israel is considering sending African refugees to Kenya and is engaged in diplomatic talks on the issue. It has also resumed jailing Sudanese refugees who seep into the country along the Egyptian border. However, several people dealing with the refugees doubt that Kenya is interested in accepting them. They said Monday that the plan was probably Israel's alone. The UN is also expected to object.
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