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OPT: Food, fuel, cash reach the Gaza Strip, but continued closures threaten economic sustainability
The passage of humanitarian imports into Gaza is helping to meet some of the minimum food needs in the territory, but with three quarters of Gazan factories closed or operating at 20 per cent capacity, the direct livelihoods of 30,000 people is in jeopardy and major business interests are losing at least $500,000 a day. Eighty percent of the Gazan population already receive food assistance.
Israeli army invades Nablus and refugee camps, kidnapping one Palestinian
Israeli military forces invaded early on Wednesday morning Nablus, a city in northern West Bank, and two of the local refugee camps --- Balata and Ein Beit El Ma'.
UN commander in Golan 'worried by Israel's actions'
Major-General Wolfgang Jilke, commander of force observing ceasefire between Israel and Syria, expresses concern over rising tensions, but points finger mainly at Israel for breaking routine in area and acting intensively.
Abbas to Dissolve Parliament: Sources
The sources said Abbas, in dissolving parliament, wants to evade a necessary parliamentary approval for any political decision.
Israeli army kidnaps four Palestinians, implements military drills in Hebron
Israeli military forces kidnapped four Palestinians from Hebron and the nearby towns of Dora and Al Samowa' in the southern West Bank early Wednesday morning.
Blasts leave hole in Gaza-Egypt border wall
Two explosions cause no injuries but send Gazans rushing to the infiltrate open crossing. Meanwhile, Egyptians step up security at border, apparently toughening position against Hamas .
FACTBOX-What people say about Hamas takeover of Gaza
"Now there is a wound that cannot be healed. What happened in Gaza has put the state project in a coffin before its birth. Both Fatah and Hamas are responsible for what has happened. I do not trust any of them," said Mohammad Abu al-Hassan, a merchant from the West Bank town of Jenin.
FEATURE-Hamas' Gaza takeover clouds dreams of statehood
Divided more than ever after Hamas's armed takeover of Gaza, Palestinians are watching their dream of statehood turn into even more of a nightmare to achieve.
FACTBOX-Key players after Hamas's Gaza takeover
Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip a month ago has shaken up U.S.-led plans to revive long-stalled peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinians flee as Lebanon army set to storm camp
About 160 Palestinians fled a refugee camp in north Lebanon on Wednesday as the Lebanese army prepared to launch a final assault against al Qaeda-inspired militants holed up inside.
Palestinian parliament fails to hold scheduled meeting
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinian parliament failed to hold a scheduled meeting Wednesday, clearing the way for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to extend indefinitely the term of the emergency cabinet he
installed after the Hamas takeover of Gaza.
IAA approves of building museum on ancient Muslim cemetery
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) told the High Court of Justice that it was prepared to allow construction of the Museum of Tolerance on the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem's Mamila area, although an important archaeologist had determined that the excavation was far from complete.
PM Olmert, Abbas to meet in Jericho next week
State officials said Wednesday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas would meet on Monday in the West Bank city of Jericho. This meeting will mark the first time an Israeli prime minister has ever visited the Palestinian Authority.
Syria slams Sarkozy for branding Hezbollah 'terrorist' organization
Referring to Hezbollah, the Syrian "Tishrin" newspaper, in its editorial Wednesday, posed the question, "How are concepts and principles turned upside down and those who struggle for freedom and independence are turned into terrorists?"
Tel Rumeida: Harassment over Posters
July 10th, 2007. At 11:25am two international human rights workers were hanging up posters around the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida for a children's summer camp due to begin at the end of the week. The posters are designed to make Palestinian children, within Tel Rumeida, ages 5-14 aware of the event so that they will attend.
Hamas' stand
Damascus, Syria — HAMAS' RESCUE of a BBC journalist from his captors in Gaza last week was surely cause for rejoicing. But I want to be clear about one thing: We did not deliver up Alan Johnston as some obsequious boon to Western powers. It was done as part of our effort to secure Gaza from the lawlessness of militias and violence, no matter what the source. Gaza will be calm and under the rule of law — a place where all journalists, foreigners and guests of the Palestinian people will be treated with dignity. Hamas has never supported attacks on Westerners, as even our harshest critics will concede; our struggle has always been focused on the occupier and our legal resistance to it — a right of occupied people that is explicitly supported by the Fourth Geneva Convention......
Fatah slams the abduction of Palestinian union leader despite his release
The secretary general of the Palestinian Trade Union was kidnapped on Tuesday from Rafidia, a town near Nablus, by unknown masked men, but despite his release several hours later, the Fatah faction ardently denounced the act.
David Halpin: The BBC, its former Gaza correspondent and an Arab
We ask the BBC again to honour Alan Johnston by reporting the several likely war crimes committed this last Thursday [5 July] and to press for an international investigation of them.
Norman Solomon: A Bloody Media Mirror
Perhaps no journalist was more shameless in echoing President Bush's fatuous claims about the invasion than Christopher Hitchens.
Democratic Defectors and the Israel Lobby
If we took ten Democratic apostates and compared them to ten Democrats who stood by the voters, pro-Israeli PAC contributions were "ten times" greater for the turncoats than those who stayed with their constituencies.
Michigan's vigilant outcasts
Henry Herskovitz grew up in Pittsburgh as Israel planted its flag of independence in Palestine. Raised to revere Zionism as he did the Israelites of old, Henry heard little of the catastrophe buried beneath the budding Jewish state. Though he "drank the kool-aid for years," Henry has been making up for lost time. It was the mid-'80s, on the steps of Temple Beth Israel in Ann Arbor, when a fellow congregant told him that Israel had the fourth mightiest air force in the world. He went home, looked into it, and began a journey that would bring him back to the synagogue under different circumstances.
Who will save Palestine?
These days the Hamas acting government and Fatah "emergency government" are sapping the interest from any news story that might report on Israel's criminal acts inside Gaza and the West Bank. Both these Palestinian enclaves are still under Israel's military occupation -- one shunned and isolated by political intrigue and the other apparently working at cooperating with the occupier, and there's the tragedy of it all. Nothing that has happened in the last fortnight has stopped Israel in its tracks. Life for the Palestinians in the occupied territories is just as bitter and just as terrifying as it ever was only with a new dimension -- no one knows whom to believe or if there is a viable Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) left to champion their struggle against Israel's unrelenting land theft, apartheid practices and violent human rights abuses.
UN cartographer finds Shebaa Farms 'Lebanese'
A UN cartographer has determined for the first time that the Israeli-held Shebaa Farms -- long the centre of a territorial dispute -- belong to Lebanon, a senior Israeli official told AFP on Wednesday.
UN denies requesting control over Shaba Farms
The United Nations and the government denied a Haaretz report on Wednesday that said the world body had requested Israel transfer the disputed Shaba Farms area on the Lebanese border to UN peacekeepers.
The passage of humanitarian imports into Gaza is helping to meet some of the minimum food needs in the territory, but with three quarters of Gazan factories closed or operating at 20 per cent capacity, the direct livelihoods of 30,000 people is in jeopardy and major business interests are losing at least $500,000 a day. Eighty percent of the Gazan population already receive food assistance.
Israeli army invades Nablus and refugee camps, kidnapping one Palestinian
Israeli military forces invaded early on Wednesday morning Nablus, a city in northern West Bank, and two of the local refugee camps --- Balata and Ein Beit El Ma'.
UN commander in Golan 'worried by Israel's actions'
Major-General Wolfgang Jilke, commander of force observing ceasefire between Israel and Syria, expresses concern over rising tensions, but points finger mainly at Israel for breaking routine in area and acting intensively.
Abbas to Dissolve Parliament: Sources
The sources said Abbas, in dissolving parliament, wants to evade a necessary parliamentary approval for any political decision.
Israeli army kidnaps four Palestinians, implements military drills in Hebron
Israeli military forces kidnapped four Palestinians from Hebron and the nearby towns of Dora and Al Samowa' in the southern West Bank early Wednesday morning.
Blasts leave hole in Gaza-Egypt border wall
Two explosions cause no injuries but send Gazans rushing to the infiltrate open crossing. Meanwhile, Egyptians step up security at border, apparently toughening position against Hamas .
FACTBOX-What people say about Hamas takeover of Gaza
"Now there is a wound that cannot be healed. What happened in Gaza has put the state project in a coffin before its birth. Both Fatah and Hamas are responsible for what has happened. I do not trust any of them," said Mohammad Abu al-Hassan, a merchant from the West Bank town of Jenin.
FEATURE-Hamas' Gaza takeover clouds dreams of statehood
Divided more than ever after Hamas's armed takeover of Gaza, Palestinians are watching their dream of statehood turn into even more of a nightmare to achieve.
FACTBOX-Key players after Hamas's Gaza takeover
Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip a month ago has shaken up U.S.-led plans to revive long-stalled peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinians flee as Lebanon army set to storm camp
About 160 Palestinians fled a refugee camp in north Lebanon on Wednesday as the Lebanese army prepared to launch a final assault against al Qaeda-inspired militants holed up inside.
Palestinian parliament fails to hold scheduled meeting
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinian parliament failed to hold a scheduled meeting Wednesday, clearing the way for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to extend indefinitely the term of the emergency cabinet he
installed after the Hamas takeover of Gaza.
IAA approves of building museum on ancient Muslim cemetery
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) told the High Court of Justice that it was prepared to allow construction of the Museum of Tolerance on the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem's Mamila area, although an important archaeologist had determined that the excavation was far from complete.
PM Olmert, Abbas to meet in Jericho next week
State officials said Wednesday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas would meet on Monday in the West Bank city of Jericho. This meeting will mark the first time an Israeli prime minister has ever visited the Palestinian Authority.
Syria slams Sarkozy for branding Hezbollah 'terrorist' organization
Referring to Hezbollah, the Syrian "Tishrin" newspaper, in its editorial Wednesday, posed the question, "How are concepts and principles turned upside down and those who struggle for freedom and independence are turned into terrorists?"
Tel Rumeida: Harassment over Posters
July 10th, 2007. At 11:25am two international human rights workers were hanging up posters around the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida for a children's summer camp due to begin at the end of the week. The posters are designed to make Palestinian children, within Tel Rumeida, ages 5-14 aware of the event so that they will attend.
Hamas' stand
Damascus, Syria — HAMAS' RESCUE of a BBC journalist from his captors in Gaza last week was surely cause for rejoicing. But I want to be clear about one thing: We did not deliver up Alan Johnston as some obsequious boon to Western powers. It was done as part of our effort to secure Gaza from the lawlessness of militias and violence, no matter what the source. Gaza will be calm and under the rule of law — a place where all journalists, foreigners and guests of the Palestinian people will be treated with dignity. Hamas has never supported attacks on Westerners, as even our harshest critics will concede; our struggle has always been focused on the occupier and our legal resistance to it — a right of occupied people that is explicitly supported by the Fourth Geneva Convention......
Fatah slams the abduction of Palestinian union leader despite his release
The secretary general of the Palestinian Trade Union was kidnapped on Tuesday from Rafidia, a town near Nablus, by unknown masked men, but despite his release several hours later, the Fatah faction ardently denounced the act.
David Halpin: The BBC, its former Gaza correspondent and an Arab
We ask the BBC again to honour Alan Johnston by reporting the several likely war crimes committed this last Thursday [5 July] and to press for an international investigation of them.
Norman Solomon: A Bloody Media Mirror
Perhaps no journalist was more shameless in echoing President Bush's fatuous claims about the invasion than Christopher Hitchens.
Democratic Defectors and the Israel Lobby
If we took ten Democratic apostates and compared them to ten Democrats who stood by the voters, pro-Israeli PAC contributions were "ten times" greater for the turncoats than those who stayed with their constituencies.
Michigan's vigilant outcasts
Henry Herskovitz grew up in Pittsburgh as Israel planted its flag of independence in Palestine. Raised to revere Zionism as he did the Israelites of old, Henry heard little of the catastrophe buried beneath the budding Jewish state. Though he "drank the kool-aid for years," Henry has been making up for lost time. It was the mid-'80s, on the steps of Temple Beth Israel in Ann Arbor, when a fellow congregant told him that Israel had the fourth mightiest air force in the world. He went home, looked into it, and began a journey that would bring him back to the synagogue under different circumstances.
Who will save Palestine?
These days the Hamas acting government and Fatah "emergency government" are sapping the interest from any news story that might report on Israel's criminal acts inside Gaza and the West Bank. Both these Palestinian enclaves are still under Israel's military occupation -- one shunned and isolated by political intrigue and the other apparently working at cooperating with the occupier, and there's the tragedy of it all. Nothing that has happened in the last fortnight has stopped Israel in its tracks. Life for the Palestinians in the occupied territories is just as bitter and just as terrifying as it ever was only with a new dimension -- no one knows whom to believe or if there is a viable Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) left to champion their struggle against Israel's unrelenting land theft, apartheid practices and violent human rights abuses.
UN cartographer finds Shebaa Farms 'Lebanese'
A UN cartographer has determined for the first time that the Israeli-held Shebaa Farms -- long the centre of a territorial dispute -- belong to Lebanon, a senior Israeli official told AFP on Wednesday.
UN denies requesting control over Shaba Farms
The United Nations and the government denied a Haaretz report on Wednesday that said the world body had requested Israel transfer the disputed Shaba Farms area on the Lebanese border to UN peacekeepers.
NGO Worker: 'Iraq Is Going to Fall Apart'
As part of a weeklong series of conversations with Americans who have recently returned from Iraq, Karen Diop talks about her work with America's Development Foundation, a non-governmental organization funded by the United States.
Marine shot bound and gagged Iraqi, court martial told
A Marine shot an Iraqi civilian as he lay bound and gagged in a bomb crater after US servicemen kidnapped him in a late-night raid, a court martial heard Tuesday. Trent Thomas fired seven shots into the chest of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, who prosecutors say was murdered after being dragged from his home by eight soldiers in Hamdania, west of Baghdad, on April 26 last year.
Iraq Security Developments
Baghdad's Green Zone Suffers One of the Biggest Rocket Attacks in Months.
IRAQ: Aid agency appeals for help for 1,000 IDPs in desert camp
(IRIN) - Urgent relocation is needed for 185 displaced families stranded in the harsh conditions of a desert camp in southern Iraq, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) says.
IRAQ: Aid agency appeals for help for 1,000 IDPs in desert camp
(IRIN) - Urgent relocation is needed for 185 displaced families stranded in the harsh conditions of a desert camp in southern Iraq, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) says.
Iraqi schoolboy Sarmad Qais sleeps on the roof of his Baghdad home, desperate to escape the stifling heat inside. His family say they have not had electricity for 20 days. Their air-conditioners lie idle.
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