News
ISRAEL-OPT: Palestinian wells, homes destroyed in West Bank
Shabtai Gold/IRIN, IRIN - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 8/16/2007
JERUSALEM, 16 August 2007 (IRIN) - Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, in the northeastern part of the West Bank, had their worst fears confirmed over the past week when Israeli forces demolished homes and wells in small villages in the area, following through on previously issued orders. Observers and residents are concerned that these actions, combined with previous incidents and expected future ones, are making it nearly impossible for Palestinians to remain in the area. "The Israelis seem to want to push out the Palestinians, to make room for the settlers. I am very worried," said Fathi Khrdeirat, from Save the Jordan Valley, a local organisation. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), around 300 Palestinians structures have been destroyed in the Jordan Valley since 2005.
Israel, U.S. formally sign new defense agreement
Barak Ravid, Ha'aretz 8/16/2007
Israel and the United States signed Thursday a Memorandum of Understanding on the new American defense package for Israel. Under the new aid agreement, the U.S. will transfer $30 billion to Israel over 10 years, compared with $24 billion over the past decade. The aid deal signed at represents a 25 percent rise in U.S. military aid to Israel. Israel is slated to receive the first pay out in October 2008, amounting to $2. 55 billion. That sum will grow each year by $150 million, until it reaches $3. 1 billion in 2011. In addition, the agreement permits Israel to convert into shekels 26. 3 percent of the aid money, thereby enabling it to procure defense equipment from Israeli companies. The rest of the aid must be used to purchase equipment from American military industries.
Olmert and Abbas seek agreement on final status issues before peace conference in Autumn
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Jerusalem – Ma'an – Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, is reported to be seeking agreement with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, over many of the final status issues, prior to the autumn international peace conference sponsored by US President Bush. Israeli officials, quoted by the website of Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, stated that the two leaders have been holding talks over recent months with the aim of brokering an agreement over the key issues of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and permanent borders. Olmert has been keen to reach consensus with President Abbas, but has been firm in setting definite limits to any proposals. It is thought that Olmert would be willing to withdraw troops from much of the West Bank, leaving the huge settlement blocs intact.
US Lutherans Consider Israel Boycott
Haviv Rettig, MIFTAH 8/16/2007
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which has almost five million members in the US, took a step toward a partial boycott of Israeli goods at its 2007 Churchwide Assembly in Chicago last week. On Saturday, the assembly, the church's top legislative authority, passed a resolution calling to work toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and urging investment in the Palestinian Authority. The assembly then urged "consideration of refusing to buy goods or invest in activities taking place in Israeli settlements, and a review of other economic options," according to Bishop Christopher Epting, the presiding bishop's deputy for ecumenical and interfaith relations," according to the Episcopal Life Online Web site.
Eight arrested by Israeli forces in West Bank
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli forces arrested eight Palestinians in different parts of the West Bank at dawn on Thursday, claiming that they were wanted. Sources said that the Israeli forces arrested three of the "wanted" in the city of Nablus. The detainees were taken to interrogation centres near the town for questioning. [end]
WeeklyReport: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory09 - 15 August 2007
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 8/16/2007
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Escalate Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) - 8 Palestinians including 3 Civilians killed: 7 by IOF and 1 by Armed Guards of a Religious School in Jerusalem. - An elderly woman and a person with mental health problems killed. - Palestinian from Israel killed by Israeli guards in Jerusalem. - 31 Palestinian civilians were wounded by IOF gunfire in the OPT. - 8 of the Injured, including 4 children and a French human rights defender,were wounded in the weekly Bal'in Demonstration. - 24 injured during an IOF incursion into New Abasan in the southern Gaza Strip. - IOF conducted 32 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. - IOF arrested 61 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and 1 in the Gaza Strip.
Fishermen arrested off coast of Gaza Strip
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Gaza – Ma'an - Palestinian sources said that Israeli marines have arrested two Palestinian fishermen near the Rafah shore of the southern Gaza Strip. The sources said the Israeli boats stopped a Palestinian fishing boat, seized the boat and arrested the men. Both men are from the Abu Shallouf family the sources said. The Israeli marines patrol the coast off the Gaza Strip and there have been many incidences of them shooting at Palestinian fishermen. [end]
Attorney General arrested on suspicion of concealing case files involving PA security forces
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Gaza - Ma'an – The Palestinian Attorney General has been released after being arrested and held for a short time. Executive force spokesman, Sabir Khalifa, said that Palestinian Authority Attorney General Ahmad Al Moghanni had been arrested on suspicion of attempting to conceal files containing details of corruption and murder cases involving members of the Palestinian Authority security forces. He said Al Moghanni was suspected of hiding 120 files. Khalifa told Ma'an that Al Moghanni was arrested in the General Attorney's office in Gaza City. Yousef Al Mansi, designated Minister of Justice in the Gaza Strip by deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, issued orders to arrest Al Moghanni and to remove him from his post. The Palestinian Authority Attorney General's office in Ramallah issued a statementabout...
Olmert's motorcade runs over 10-year-old girl
Efrat Weiss, YNetNews 8/16/2007
Prime minister's convoy traveling near Jerusalem continues driving after light changes to red, hits girl crossing street. Paramedics say girl lightly wounded. Olmert, informed later about accident - expressed his condolences - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's motorcade ran over a 10-year-old girl crossing the street near the entrance to Jerusalem on Thursday evening. The girl was lightly wounded and evacuated to the Hadassah Ein Karem hospital for treatment. Olmert's office expressed their sorrow over the incident and wished the girl a speedy recovery. An initial probe into the incident conducted by the police indicates that the convoy was driving with its lights and sirens on. The traffic light changed to red as the motorcade was still making its way across while the girl began crossing the street after the crosswalk light turned green.
Fatah leader: rapprochement with Hamas before Ramadan
Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank, Palestinian Information Center 8/16/2007
A high-ranking Fatah leader has predicted that a "rapprochement" with Hamas will be reached before the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan which begins on the 13th or 14th September. The Ramallah-based official, who asked for anonymity "because of the sensitivity of the subject," said he believed that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was reconsidering his earlier stiff position vis-à-vis Hamas. Abbas repeatedly declared that he wouldn't talk with Hamas until "the coup-mongers revert to the status quo ante," which preceded the mid-June events in the Gaza Strip and apologize to the Palestinian people. "I think Abbas has reasoned that saying 'No' to all Arab and foreign mediation efforts is counterproductive, self-defeating and inexpedient for Palestinian national interests," said the official who occupied a ministerial portfolio in the Oslo-era Palestinian governments.
Mandela lawyer: "Israel continues its violations against the detainees"
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 8/17/2007
Bothaina Doqmaq, lawyer of the Mandela Institute for political detainees in Israeli prisons, stated that the Israeli Prison Administration (IPS) continued its violations and illegal attacks against the Palestinian political detainees and their parents. Doqmaq visited a number of detainees in Eshil, Galboa' and Be'er Shiva Israeli prisons, and the detainees informed her that the administration carried repeated attacks against them in addition to transferring several detainees to other detention facilities. They added that the IPS barred for one month all visitations to detainees imprisoned in Ehsil prison. The detainees demanded the IPS to allow them to receive more satellite channels, including the Palestinian TV, and demanded it to widen the yard where they go to when they are allowed out of their rooms.
Jailed Lawmakers call on President Abbas to start talks with Hamas
Ameen Abu Wardeh, International Middle East Media Center 8/16/2007
The Palestinian Parliamentarians kidnapped by Israel demanded the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to start talks with Hamas to bridge the gap between the two main Palestinian parties stressing the legitimacy of both parties. The jailed lawmakers stressed that the national unity is the "strongest weapon for the Palestinian people to use against the difficulties faced as a result of the Israeli occupation and the land theft Israel is committing. " The Palestinian legislators told the lawyer of Nafha Society for the Defence of Prisoners' Rights as he visited them in the Israeli military jail of Mageddo. [end]
Detained legislators call of Abbas to hold dialogue
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 8/16/2007
Palestinian Legislators who are illegal imprisoned by Israel called on President Mahmoud Abbas to hold a comprehensive dialogue between Fateh and Hamas in order to close the gap between the two movements. The call of the detained legislators, in the Majiddo Israeli detention facility, came during a visit carried out by a lawyer working with the Nafha Society for Defending the Detainees Rights and Human Rights. They stated that national unity is the most powerful weapon against the attacks and violations carried by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people and their land. They added that the occupation is the only beneficiary of the gap and internal conflict between the Fateh and Hamas. It is worth mentioning that the lawyer visited several detained legislators, mayors, university lecturers and...
How has the Hamas government dealt with the Executive Force attacks on Palestinian Journalists?
Wissam Afifah, International Middle East Media Center 8/16/2007
Palestinian journalists were attacked by members of the Hamas Executive Force during a demonstration in Gaza city on Monday. The demonstration was organized by political factions of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, who were also targeted by the Executive Force. The attack has sparked a great deal of criticism, even within the Hamas government, which is in control of the coastal region. Regardless of external condemnation of the attack, criticism behind the scenes took the form of more than just words. The Ministry of Interior Freedom of Press Committee and Executive Force leaders have threatened to send those who attacked the journalists to court, and are making sure that a similar attack will never happen again, sources told IMEMC. The Minister of Interior Freedom of Press Committee is working hard...
Abbas dismisses eight government officials
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Ramallah - Ma'an- Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree on Thursday, dismissing eight employees from their posts. The decree did not mention the reasons behind the dismissals. The most senior of those dismissed are Mohammad Awad, former General Secretary of the deposed government and Mohammad Madhoun, the head of the deposed Prime Minister's office. [end]
Dughmosh clan surrender weapons to Hamas' Executive Force
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Gaza – Ma'an – The leader of the Executive Force in the southern Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Kheil, said on Thursday evening that the weapons of the Dughmosh family are being handed over to the Executive Force in the headquarters of the preventive security service in Tel Al-Hawa. Kheil told Ma'an's office in the Gaza Strip that "any weapons that will be seen later will be confiscated, and its owner will be questioned legally". Furthermore, all cars belonging to the Palestinian Authority that had been stolen from their owners will be returned, in addition to removing all the road blocks in the area. Kheil explained that the agreement with the Dughmosh family was reached after the Executive Force besieged the powerful clan family for three consecutive days.
Brigades detonate roadside bomb as Israeli military jeep passes by
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Nablus - Ma'an- The Al Qassam Brigades and Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades admitted responsibility for attacking an Israeli military jeep in Al Ain refugee camp west of Nablus in the northern West Bank early on Thursday morning. In a telephone call with Ma'an the brigades said that a joint group from both brigades had detonated a roadside bomb as an Israeli military jeep passed by. The jeep was directly hit and casualties occurred, they claimed. Israeli sources confirmed there had been an attack but said there were no casualties. [end]
Qassam and Abu Ali Brigades detonate device in Israeli vehicle in refugee camp
Palestinian Information Center 8/16/2007
NABLUS, (PIC)-- The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, along with Abu Ali Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front, managed in a joint operation at dawn Thursday to detonate a highly explosive device in an Israeli armored vehicle progressing into Ein refugee camp in Nablus city. In a joint communiqué the two Brigades stated that this operation comes in response to the Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the incursion of a large number of IOF troops into Nablus city at an early hour Thursday, they kidnapped three Palestinian citizens during home raids included many areas in the city and the neighboring refugee camps to the north of West Bank. On Wednesday, the Qassam Brigades shot down an Israeli soldier in the north of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip. [end]
Israeli forces blow up tunnel in northern Gaza Strip
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Gaza - Ma'an- Israeli forces announced on Wednesday evening that they have blown up a tunnel discovered two days ago in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli radio reported that the tunnel which was discovered in one of the farms was about 700 meters from the electronic fence which surrounds the Gaza Strip. A spokesman for the Israeli army said that it was thought that the tunnel was to be used by Palestinian fighters to cross into Israel and launch an operation against Israel. [end]
Brigades claim responsibility for attacks
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Gaza – Ma'an – The Al-Quds Brigade, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the launching of a projectile at the Israeli town of Kfar 'Azza, near the Gaza Strip. Also, the Abu Ali Mustafa and Al Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for launching two mortar projectiles at the Israeli side of the Erez crossing on Wednesday evening. The Al Aqsa brigades also claimed responsibility for launching three mortars at the Israeli military post of Nahal Oz, south of the Gaza Strip on Thursday at dawn. [end]
Al Quds Brigades launch homemade projectile at Ashkelon
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Gaza – Ma'an – The Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, have claimed responsibility on Thursday for launching a homemade projectile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon. In a statement received by Ma'an, the Brigades stated that "the operation came in response to the Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people." [end]
Chief of Staff postpones deputy handover
Amos Harel, Ha'aretz 8/15/2007
The IDF spokesperson said yesterday that Major General Moshe Kaplinsky, deputy chief of staff, will not be replaced next month as scheduled but will remain in office for several additional weeks. The reason for the delay was described as "personal," but it may also pertain to the rising tensions between Syria and Israel. Army sources explained that Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi is seeking to avoid unnecessary changes for the IDF at this sensitive point in time. Kaplinsky's replacement is Major-General Dan Harel, military attache to the Israeli embassy in Washington. [end]
Most settlements lie east of fence, most settlers west
Nadav Shragai, Ha'aretz 8/16/2007
While only 48 of the 122 settlements in the West Bank are situated to the west of the separation fence route, these settlements house the vast majority of settlers, according to an analysis conducted by Haaretz. The analysis, which is based on Interior Ministry data, shows that 76. 2 percent of all settlers - 209,716 in number - reside in the 48 settlements that will be to the west of the fence, once it is completed. Only 65,440 settlers reside, as of 2007, in the 74 settlements that lie to the east of the fence route, comprising 23. 8 percent of the overall settler population in the West Bank. The government is expected to evacuate the settlements east of the fence in the framework of a deal with the Palestinians. However, some of those settlements have seen an above average growth rate in 2006.
Report: Bodies of 3 PFLP men killed in 1982 found in Lebanon
Yoav Stern, Ha'aretz 8/16/2007
The Lebanese television station LBC reported Thursday that German troops in Lebanon have recently discovered the bodies of three Palestinian militants killed in 1982 during the Lebanon war. The militants, who belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, were found in uniform. The PFLP-GC was founded by Ahmed Jibril, who has close ties with Syria. The organization was involved in the fighting during the Lebanon war, and even captured Israel Defense Forces soldiers, who were later exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in the Jibril deal. Three IDF soldiers who fought in the war also remain missing to this day. The soldiers - Zecharia Baumel, Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman - went missing in action during the battle of Sultan Yacoub with Syrian troops. [end]
Enthralled by alchemy
Israel Harel, Ha'aretz 8/16/2007
When Ehud Barak reached a decision-making level in the army and eventually in the government, he was enthralled - as were others who came out of the ground forces - by the charms of technological solutions. These, and not traditional offensive and deterrent warfare, are supposed to solve Israel's security problems. Barak took part in the decision to develop the Nautilus, based on laser technology, as a weapon against Katyushas fired by Palestinians, and after a while by Hezbollah from Lebanon. The Americans, who for a number of years collaborated with Israel in developing this response, concluded that it is expensive even for the American treasury and (perhaps) mainly, that it cannot provide an appropriate response to a number of rockets fired simultaneously.
Palestine Today 081607
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC - Audio Dept, International Middle East Media Center 8/16/2007
Click on Link to download or play MP3 file - || File 2. 74 MB || Time 3m 0s || - Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www. imemc. org, for Thursday August 16th, 2007. The Israeli army attacks and kidnaps Palestinian fishermen in Gaza while in the West Bank Israeli troops attack cities and kidnap seven civilians, these stories and more coming up stay tuned. The Gaza strip - Israeli naval forces took a number of fishermen prisoner on Rafah shores in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, media sources and locals confirmed. The sources revealed that an Israeli military vessel intercepted a Palestinian fishing boat belonging to the Abu Shalouf family and arrested the two inside, taking them to unknown destination and seizing the boat.
Abu Lilah: the Peace Valley project is at risk
By: Rashed Hilal, International Middle East Media Center 8/16/2007
The Peace-Valley project is at great risk if the Israeli army continues its attacks against Palestinians, Palestinian MP Oyies Abu Lilah, from the Democrative Front of the Liberation of Palestine, has stated. He added that the project is still in the early stages of planning. The Peace-Valley project, proposed by the Japanese government, aims to connect the Dead Sea with the Red Sea and to create industrial and farming zones in the Jordan-Valley that are designed to help solve the water conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. Furthermore it could create more jobs for the Palestinians. Abu Lilah said that without Israel accepting the fact that Palestinians have the right to control the Jordan Valley, where the project is located; the chances of the Peace-Valley project becoming a reality are low and maybe impossible.
Israeli government offers economic plan to the Palestinians
Ghassan Bannoura, International Middle East Media Center 8/16/2007
An economic plan that claims to improve living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza was announced by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday. The announcement followed a meeting between Livni, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah Al Khatib, and the Palestine Liberation Organization's chief of negotiations, Sa'eb Erekat. The four-way meeting took place in the West Bank city of Jericho. The plan includes proposals for improving electricity and water supplies, city planning, rehabilitation of sewage systems in the West Bank and Gaza, and the establishment of the Peace-Valley project in Jericho. The Peace-Valley project, proposed by the Japanese government, aims to connect the Dead Sea with the Red Sea and to create industrial and farming zones in the Jordan-Valley...
MIDEAST: Pan-Arab Peace Overture Faces Uphill Battle
Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, Inter Press Service 8/16/2007
CAIRO, Aug 16(IPS) - Despite the fractured state of the Palestinian national cause between resistance faction Hamas and the U.S. -backed Fatah movement, Washington's Arab allies continue to promote the so-called "Arab Initiative" in hopes of restarting the long-moribund peace process. Given current political realities, however, many local observers say the plan -- which offers full Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for core Palestinian demands -- has little chance for success. "All this talk about the peace process and the Arab initiative is intended to make the public think that a real settlement is imminent," Ibrahim Eissa, political analyst and editor-in-chief of independent daily al-Dustour, told IPS. "In reality, though, it won't amount to anything.
Palestinian observer to UN says situation in Palestinian Territories is deteriorating
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
The Palestinian observer to the United Nations sends messages of the Gaza – Ma'an - The Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Ambassador Dr Riyad Mansour has told the UN General Assembly that the situation in the Palestine Territories is deteriorating. He also informed them of Israel's consistent breaking of humanitarian law including repeated incursions spreading death and destruction among the citizens. He specifically mentioned Tuesday's incursion into the town of Abassan in Khan Younis, which resulted in 7 deaths, including members of three generations of the same family, 25 people wounded and 100 people being arrested. He also talked about the harsh conditions that detainees are facing inside Israeli prisons. Ambassador Mansour described Israel as an "occupying force" that prevents...
Israel Rejects Call to End Isolation of Hamas
Donald Macintyre and Anne Penketh, MIFTAH 8/16/2007
Israel attempted to damp down calls for moves to end the isolation of Hamas yesterday by warning that it would be a "huge mistake" to try to reconcile it with its rival Fatah. Tzipi Livni, Israel's Foreign Minister, denounced calls for talks with Hamas by warning that "any compromise with terror, any compromise with these extremists" could undermine the new emergency government set up in the West Bank by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. Ms Livni's reaction was at the highest level yet to calls mainly within Europe for the international community, including the EU, to end the boycott imposed on Hamas since it took office 17 months ago. The British all-party Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee said this week that the boycott had failed to deliver results.
Olmert's goal: Permanent agreement with Palestinians by November
Shimon Shiffer, YNetNews 8/16/2007
PM, Abbas meeting in recent months to resolve core issues, including Jerusalem, refugees and permanent borders before US-brokered conference of Mideast nations in Washington - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas have been meeting regularly in recent months with the aim of drafting the principles of a permanent agreement before the US-brokered conference of Mideast nations, which is scheduled to take place in Washington this coming November, Yedioth Ahronot reported on Thursday. Sources close to Abbas said the two leaders have been holding the talks in a genuine effort to resolve the core issues, mainly Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees and the permanent borders between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Polish MEPs boycott UN conference
Yaakov Lappin, YNetNews 8/16/2007
'We can call this conference anti-Israeli,' Polish MEP says - A conference of UN NGOs (non-governmental organizations) on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to be hosted at the European Parliament this month, will be boycotted by Polish Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from across the political spectrum, who say that the conference is biased against Israel. The meeting, set to take place at the European Parliament on August 30 - 31, has been organized by the UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People." Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, has written to the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, asking him to cancel the European Parliament's decision to host the conference, while the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor organization said the upcoming...
Mishaal meets Sudanese president over internal Palestinian crisis
Palestinian Information Center 8/16/2007
KHARTOUM, (PIC)-- Khaled Mishaal, the supreme Hamas leader, conferred with Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir in Khartoum on Wednesday evening over internal Palestinian political crisis. The Hamas delegation led by Mishaal briefed Bashir on the Movement's opinions regarding means of solving the internal crisis. A Hamas media statement said that the visit fell in line with a tour for the Hamas Movement in a number of Arab and Islamic countries to explain its views towards the Palestinian impasse along with latest Palestinian developments. Hamas sources told PIC that the Hamas delegates asserted to Bashir their Movement's insistence on dialogue as the sole way out of the current crisis. They said that the delegates also expressed Hamas's readiness to exert all efforts possible to ensure success of such a dialogue...
Resheq: International parties realize impossibility of bypassing Hamas
Palestinian Information Center 8/16/2007
DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Ezzet Al-Resheq, political bureau member of the Hamas Movement, has affirmed that a number of international parties were having a better reading of the situation in the Palestinian arena and were realizing that it was difficult to ignore Hamas when dealing with the Palestine cause. Resheq, speaking to PIC, said that a delegation of his Movement was currently touring a number of Arab and Islamic countries to explain its views. He affirmed Hamas's keenness on maintaining and developing relations with all countries, noting that a majority of those countries were realizing that the accusation against Hamas of staging a coup against legitimacy was "false" since Hamas was part and parcel of Palestinian legitimacy. The Hamas leader affirmed in this respect that PA chief Mahmoud Abbas's recent statement...
France circulates draft to extend UNIFIL mandate
Hani M. Bathish, Daily Star 8/17/2007
BEIRUT: France circulated a draft resolution to UN Security Council members Thursday on the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The mandate expires end of August. The Security Council met in a closed session with representatives of countries contributing troops to the UNIFIL force. The meeting was convened to consult with contributing nations over the extension of the force mandate for one year as requested by UN chief Ban Ki-moon. Farhan Haq, UN spokesperson for the UN secretary general in New York, told The Daily Star Thursday that all troop-contributing countries were present during the meeting and showed preliminary support for the extension. Haq said that though France circulated a draft resolution on the extension during the meeting but it was not discussed.
Report: Jordanian FM refused to take Israeli car to Jericho
Ha'aretz 8/16/2007
Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah Al-Khatib on Wednesday refused to take an Israeli car to the West Bank city of Jericho, where he took part in a four-party meeting, the pro-government Al-Rai newspaper reported Thursday." Khatib categorically refused that his Jordanian car be replaced by an Israeli vehicle after crossing the King Hussein Bridge," a major crossing point on River Jordan, Al-Rai reported. The foreign minister contended that the meeting "was being held on Palestinian land and that the Israeli side has nothing to do with it," it added." After a controversy that lasted for 25 minutes, the Jordanian minister was allowed to proceed to the meeting's site in accordance with the Jordanian arrangements," the paper said. The meeting grouped Al-Khatib, the Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Palestinian...
Israel, United States sign record-high military aid deal
Ronny Sofer, AP, YNetNews 8/16/2007
United States offers Israel unprecedented $30-billion military aid package. 'We look at this region and we see that a secure and strong Israel is in the interest of the United States,' Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns says during signing ceremony in Jerusalem - The United States offered Israel on Thursday an unprecedented $30-billion military aid package, bolstering its closest Mideast ally. The aid deal signed in a ceremony in Jerusalem represents a 25 percent rise in US military aid to Israel, from a current $2. 4 billion each year to $3 billion a year over 10 years. Nicholas Burns, the US Undersecretary of state for political affairs, and Israeli Foreign Minister Director-General Aharon Abramovitz signed the memorandum of understanding on the assistance at a ceremony in Jerusalem.
Fayyad says armed militias obstacle to Palestinian state
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 8/17/2007
RAMALLAH, West Bank: The continued existence of armed militias is an obstacle to the promised Palestinian state, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Thursday. "Building toward statehood and independence on the one hand, and continuing to tolerate armed militias on the other, are two mutually exclusive paths that will never meet," Fayyad said in an interview with the foreign press. "Today that's what we are beginning to do in the West Bank and that is something that should be generalized. "We simply cannot go back to a situation where matters are taken into the hands of the people acting outside of the... Palestinian Authority. This is the key requirement," he said in the wide-ranging interview in English at his Ramallah office. Fayyad, an economist widely respected in the West, was named premier by President...
Hamas detains, releases Palestinian Authority attorney-general
Ha'aretz 8/16/2007
Hamas security forces Thursday detained the Palestinian Authority-appointed attorney-general after he refused to cooperate with Hamas, a spokesman for the contingent said. Ahmed al-Mghani, a supporter of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, was dismissed from his post as attorney-general on Wednesday by Youssef al-Mansi, the justice minister appointed by the Hamas administration running Gaza. Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for Hamas's Executive Force, said Mghani had gone to the attorney-general's office on Thursday despite the dismissal order." Mghani confiscated files and tore up other files from the office and, therefore, there was an order from the government to take him into custody," Shahwan said. Mghani, who was held for several hours and released, denied he destroyed or took files.
Balad MK blames Barak for death of Palestinian at roadblock
Lily Galili and Yoav Stern, Ha'aretz 8/16/2007
MK Said Nafa (Balad) on Thursday held Defense Minister Ehud Barak personally responsible for the death of Radi Alwahash, an 18-year-old Palestinian who died roughly six weeks ago at an Israel Defense Forces checkpoint. Alwahash was involved in a traffic accident which left him in a critical condition, and it took an hour and a half to transfer him from Bethlehem to hospital in Jerusalem. Physicians for Human Rights filed a criminal complaint on Wednesday with the Tel Aviv police against the Civil Administration's health coordinator, Dalia Basa, accusing her of negligent homicide. This is the first such complaint, though numerous Palestinians have died due to roadblock delays. After the complaint was reported in Haaretz on Thursday, Nafa sent a letter to Barak stating, "The responsibility for this killing lies solely on your soldiers, as head of the establishment.
Khalid: "practices of the Executive Force must be condemned and stopped"
IMEMC Staff, International Middle East Media Center 8/16/2007
Taiseer Khalid, member of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), member of the political bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), slammed the practices of the Hamas-controlled executive force in the Gaza Strip, and described the force as "fascist militias". He stated that the illegal practices of the force are harming the Palestinian cause and struggle against the Israeli occupation which is carrying terrorist attacks and violations against the Palestinians in the occupied territories. Khalid also stated that Hamas leadership in Gaza apparently lost control over the force and its actions, and added that sometimes those leaders intervene but cannot do any practical thing. "This became very clear when members of the force attacked residents peacefully...
Aqsa Brigades deny any involvement in statement calling on Abbas to depose Salam Fayyad
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Bethlehem - Ma'an – The Al Aqsa brigades, the military wing of Fatah, have denied their involvement in the statement issued on Wednesday, calling on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to oust the Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. In a statement received by Ma'an the brigades asserted that the emergency government programme represents the Palestine Liberation Organization and includes within its right of resistance against the occupation. They also confirmed that they have good relations with all the military wings of the armed Palestinian factions, especially the Al-Quds Brigades, who are part of Islamic Jihad. However they denied any links with the Al Qassam brigades as they participated in the ousting of Fatah in the Gaza Strip. [end]
Popular Resistance Committees to announce establishment of political wing
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Khan Younis - Ma'an - One of the prominent leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), Amir Qarmout, also known as Abu As Sa'ed confirmed to Ma'an that an announcement is soon to be made regarding the establishment of a political party for the PRC. Qarmout revealed to Ma'an the names of some of the political leaders in the party - Kamal An Neirab, Zuheir Al Qeisi, Mohammad Al Baba, Mohammad Abu Nasira among others. He said that they are all are well-known figures in the Gaza Strip and that many of them had participated in resisting the Israeli occupation. He added that the party's military wing - An Nasser Salah Ad Din - will be independent from the political wing. Martyrs - But Qarmout expressed the readiness of all the leaders of the PRC to be martyrs.
Nablus traffic department suspends work following shooting inside offices
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Nablus – Ma'an – The Palestinian minister of transportation, Mashhour Abu Duqqa decided on Thursday to suspend the work of the Nablus traffic department, following assaults on its director, Ra'fat At Tahir. Ma'an's correspondent quoted Palestinian security sources as saying that a number of gunmen opened fire on Thursday morning, following a heated argument between a gunman and the director of the traffic department, when At Tahir refused to grant a license for an illegal car. Eyewitnesses said that one of the gunmen fired inside the department offices and threatened the director. Ma'an learned has learnt that Palestinian Minister of Interior, Abed ar Razzaq Al-Yahya, has issued an order to arrest the gunman who opened fire inside the offices.
Palestinians wishing to travel abroad should register with department of civil affairs
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Bethlehem – Ma'an – Chief of the Palestinian Authority' civil affairs department, Hussein Ash Sheikh, has recommended that Palestinian students and other citizens who study or live abroad, yet are currently residing in the Gaza Strip, should head to the department of civil affairs offices in the Gaza Strip for registration. "The department will endeavour to secure their departure," Ash Sheikh added. With regards to pilgrims and students who have just finished their secondary schooling and wish to study abroad, Ash Sheikh said that those cases have not yet been verified, "as the pilgrims' selection has not yet been finished".
PLO to reshuffle command chain in Lebanon
Daily Star 8/17/2007
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) plans to introduce reforms to its command in Lebanon and has appointed a new command, the World Tribune said on Thursday. It quoted officials in Cyprus as saying that "the PLO plans to extend its authority from central to southern Lebanon." The PLO seeks to strengthen its presence in Lebanon during the battle in the north between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam militants, the newspaper said on behalf of the official. The PLO was said to have been hurt by the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, which has strengthened the Islamic movement in Lebanon as well, Middle East Newsline reported. The World Tribune said "in the latest development, the PLO has reshuffled its commanders." It added that a senior PLO officer, Colonel Khaled Aref, has been transferred from the South to command forces in Beirut.
Barak: Defending the refusal of orders threatens democracy
Ha'aretz 8/16/2007
To sanction ideologically motivated refusal of orders by Israel Defense Forces troops is to jeopardize Israeli democracy, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Wednesday. Last week 12 soldiers from the Duchifat infantry battalion refused to participate in the evacuation of Jewish settlers from Hebron in the West Bank. "The severity of refusing orders is clear to any reasonable spectator," Barak said at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, during a nomination ceremony for the IDF's new head for the court of appeals. "It matters not whether the refusal is by left-wing soldiers or by rightists. The government elected is the only decision-maker in a democracy. IDF soldiers take orders from their commanders, and no one else." Barak went on to condemn Bar-Ilan University Professor Hillel Weiss for wishing death upon a high-ranking IDF officer.
Abbas could Limit Hamas Participation in Elections
Reuters, MIFTAH 8/16/2007
Ramallah, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's advisers are looking at options for holding new elections that could limit Hamas participation, Palestinian officials said on Wednesday. One of these options would bar candidates from Hamas and other groups from participating unless they accepted Palestinian law and previous agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Abbas's advisers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that no final decisions have been made. Hamas, which won a majority of the seats in parliament in a January 2006 election, has said it would be unconstitutional for Abbas to call early parliamentary and presidential elections. The group has threatened to block any election effort.
IDF plans power station in Negev
Amir Ben-David, YNetNews 8/16/2007
Station to supply Nevatim base with 17 megawatts of electricity - The IDF is planning to build a private power station that would supply the Nevatim army base in the Negev Desert with 17 megawatts of electricity, Yedioth Ahronot reported Thursday. The station, which will be the first ever built on an IDF base, will operate on natural gas. The IDF is planning a small power station, powered by natural gas and diesel fuel. Army sources said the goal is to eventually have the power station run on natural gas alone and keep the option of using diesel fuel as backup. Military officials have recently met with National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who instructed the relevant parties to advance the project, which will entail moving the natural gas pipelines in the area so they would pass through the Nevatim base.
Fatah spokesman Jamal Tirawi, indicted on 17 charges
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Nablus – Ma'an - The Israeli public prosecutor on Thursday issued 17 indictments of against Deputy spokesman for the Fatah parliamentary bloc in the West Bank, Jamal Tirawi, including causing death, and possessing weapons and explosives. Tirawi was arrested at his home in the Balata refugee camp 85 days ago and is now being held at Al Halma prison. Tirawi's lawyer, Ahmad Al Sharif, during a press conference held by the Office of the Attorney in Nablus, asked for the formation of an international committee to defend the detainee's deputies, accusing the Palestinian Authority of negligence in the case of the defence of the deputies. He also claimed that the Israeli police deal with the deputies inside prisons as if they were criminals, pointing out that the prisoners and deputies are subjected to deliberate medical negligence.
Israeli forces take children away from Palestinian father and give to Jewish Israeli mother
Ma'an News Agency 8/16/2007
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli military vehicles stormed into a house in a village in the West Bank in the early hours of Thursday morning, taking two children from their Palestinian father to be given to their Jewish Israeli mother. Forty-four-year-old Jabr Issa had been ordered by an Israeli court to hand over the two girls, aged 4 and 1. The Israeli forces were sent to the village of Beit Oula, south of Hebron, to take the children after Issa had not complied with the court order. Issa was not in the house at the time but the girls' grandfather was unable to stop them being taken away. Local villagers said that Issa had married the girls' mother, Rifqa, 35, an Israeli citizen, in Turkey in the year 2000. They moved to the village where Issa worked in the construction industry.
Gaza residents tell of demeaning questioning by Shin Bet
Amira Hass, Ha'aretz 8/15/2007
In the most recent Israel Defense Forces raids in the Gaza Strip, during which dozens of people were detained for interrogation by the Shin Bet, the security service adopted a procedure unknown in recent years: The detainees were forced to undress in the presence of another detainee and a soldier or a member of the Shin Bet and then be interrogated while wearing a disposable, blue paper overall. This emerged in cumulative testimony from the Strip. In the West Bank, apparently, the color of the overall is white. According to a clarification by Haaretz with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, this procedure has been implemented in the last three months with detainees from Beit Lahia, the Al Fuhari neighborhood in Khan Yunis and twice with detainees from the agricultural town of Shuka east of Rafah, on June 9 and on August 3.
Al Mezan organizes a workshop on the economic situation in Gaza
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, ReliefWeb 8/15/2007
Al Mezan Center held today, 15 August 2007, a workshop on the economic situation in the Gaza Strip. It took place at the Al Quds International Hotel in Gaza City. Lawyer Adnan Hajjar, Coordinator of the Technical Assistance and Advocacy Unit at Al Mezan, inaugurated the workshop with remarks on the main economic indicators and the impacts of the current economic setback on Palestinians' life, and particularly on the human rights situation in the Gaza Strip. Generally, the conditions of economic, social, and cultural rights have witnessed a serious deterioration under worsening security conditions, continued closure, international and Israeli sanctions, and the recently increased political and administrative separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
In Gaza: from infighting to poverty, people are the victims
Rami Almeghari, International Middle East Media Center 8/16/2007
"Islam does not say this, aren't' we fighting for the sake of statehood? , affiliation with either Fatah or Hamas can never be a criterion", said Mohammad Qdaih, a local Gaza farmer, in reaction to deteriorated conditions after Hamas has taken over the Gaza Strip in June. According to a recent public opinion poll conducted by the Near East Consulting, an independent research group based in Ramallah, 80 percent of the Gaza residents have been suffering from harsh economic conditions since June when the governing Hamas completed control over the Gaza Strip. Following this development, Israel-already refusing Hamas- imposed a crippling closure on the Gaza Strip for what it considered Israel's concern over security. The closure has affected the Palestinian economy drastically, with commercial and travel crossings...
Al-Haq's Field Report April – June 2007
Monitoring and Documentation Department, MIFTAH 8/16/2007
Introduction - This is the second quarterly field report of 2007 by Al-Haq's Monitoring and Documentation Department, covering the period from April to June 2007. Al-Haq's field reports cover human rights abuses committed by the Israeli Occupying Power and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Each field report highlights a particularly important and disturbing trend observed by the Monitoring and Documentation Department during the reporting period. 8 June 2007 marked forty years of Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, together constituting the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), despite binding United Nations Security Council resolutions ordering it to withdraw.
Monthly Report of Israeli Violations of International Law in Jerusalem
Saed Bannoura - The Civic Coalition for Defending the Palestinians'' Rights, International Middle East Media Center 8/16/2007
Land Research Center & Jerusalem Center For Democracy and Human Rights - During the month of July the Israeli occupation authorities committed more war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories and against the Palestinian citizens; in the Jerusalem district gross violations of human rights were committed, in contravention with the provisions of international law, the rules of international humanitarian law, and the International Bill of Human Rights. The National Coalition for the Defense of the Rights of Palestinians in Jerusalem, in cooperation with the Jerusalem Center for Democracy and Human Rights, and the Land Research Center, documented these violations during the month of July 2007 in its monthly Arabic report. This is the English summary of the report.
MK: Gov't approved Hebron's settlers in market
Nadav Shragai, Ha'aretz 8/15/2007
The deal to allow Jewish settlers to remain in the Hebron wholesale market received the cabinet's approval before it was canceled last year, Knesset Member Otniel Schneller from Kadima said yesterday. The settlers were evicted from their homes last week, after Attorney General Menachem Mazuz determined that a deal they had made with the Israel Defense Forces was void, and that the army had no mandate to have made the offer in the first place. Then commander of IDF forces in the West Bank, Brigadier General Yair Golan, promised settlers that they would be allowed to return to homes they had been illegally occupying in Hebron's wholesale market, if those living there left peacefully. During a discussion in Jerusalem by the Knesset's subcommittee on the settlements in the West Bank, Schneller - himself a settler...
Masri: Hamas foiled plots against it
Palestinian Information Center 8/16/2007
GAZA, (PIC)-- MP Mushir Al-Masri, the secretary general of Hamas-affiliated change and reform bloc has confirmed that the pressures and plots against the Hamas-led government was enough to unseat governments of unstable countries; however, they failed to achieve the goals and Hamas existence grew and became a hard-to-bypass equation worldwide." The (remedial) measures taken by Hamas in the Gaza Strip formed a fundamental stage to the will of the Palestinian people, and an important junction for systematic counter-insurgency in order to extend the influence of the Palestinian government," Masri stated in an interview with the "Islam Time" website, pointing out that Hamas is adherent to its positions, not for posts, but for the sake of the Palestinian people.
IDF completes first stage of reservists' equipment upgrade
Hanan Greenberg, YNetNews 8/16/2007
Four year upgrade estimated at $469 million, includes emergency supplies, equipment upgrades for entire military array - The IDF has recently completed the first stage of its planned upgrade of the reserve forces' emergency supplies warehouses. The upgrade includes obtaining emergency supplies and equipment for the Armor, Engineers and Intelligence Corps, Infantry brigades and special operation units, and is expected to be completed over the next four years. The new equipment includes helmets, conical headwear, specs, light bullet-proof vests, ceramic vests and more. When finished, the upgrade would revolutionize the reserve forces' entire array of supplies. The IDF sees completing the first stage of the upgrade just one year after the Second Lebanon War as an important accomplishment.
260 Bnei Menashe to make secret aliyah
Itamar Eichner, YNetNews 8/16/2007
Four flights of northeast Indian Jews organized by Shavei Israel association without informing any government bodies to arrive in Israel by end of August - Private bodies are planning on bringing 230 members of the Menashe Tribe to Israel, without the government's knowledge, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Thursday. The tribe members, who live in a remote area in northeast India, will be brought to Israel on four flights toward the end of August. The arrangements for the move were made between Shavei Yisrael, an organization which locates and identifies long-lost Jewish communities, and former director general of the Interior Ministry Ram Belinkov. For unknown reasons the arrangements were kept secret from the Prime Minister's Office, the Immigration and Absorption Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the Jewish Agency.
NIS 1.2 mil to go to Katsav's security
Zvi Lavi, YNetNews 8/16/2007
Following Shin Bet's request, Knesset Finance Committee approves security budget for former president without objections. In the meantime, Katsav's family rejects relinquishing office funding - Former President of Israel Moshe Katsav, who resigned from his position after taking a plea bargain for sexual assault charges, will receive a special budget of NIS 1. 2 million (about $283,000) to fund his security expenses, the Knesset's Finance Committee decided on Thursday. The budget was proposed by Budget Director Kobi Haber in accordance with the government's decision and was approved without objections, since it is not part of Katsav's retirement benefits, but came at the instructions of the Shin Bet. In the meantime, Katsav's family rejected committee head MK Stas Misezhnikov's proposal that the former...
History in the (re)making
Zvika Brot, YNetNews 8/16/2007
Special Knesset session will reenact fateful United Nations vote that led to Israel's creation. The UN secretary general has been invited to preside over the session, which the event planners hope will include the participation of ambassadors from the 33 nations who voted in favor of the partition - Usually a scene of discord and strife - the Knesset soon plans to lend its halls to far more joyous fanfare. Essentially the event that will kick-off the celebrations commemorating Israel's 60's birthday, the Knesset plans to reenact the historic United Nations partition vote that led to the creation of a Jewish state. On November 29th, exactly six decades since the event, Israel's parliament will host the 1947 vote on the partition of western British Mandate Palestine into two states, Jewish and Arab.
Netanyahu signs up new voters to marginalize Feiglin
Mazal Mualem, Ha'aretz 8/15/2007
MK Benjamin Netanyahu, re-elected Tuesday as Likud Party chairman, is working to open up membership rolls in an effort to reduce the impact of Moshe Feiglin camp's within the party. The goal is broadening the party base to at least 150,000 registered members. While Netanyahu received a commanding 73 percent of the vote in the primary, thanks to his successful campaign to raise voter turnout to 40 percent, the Feiglin camp will nonetheless continue to preoccupy him in the near future. Unless the Likud's disciplinary tribunal squelches a Feiglin candidacy for advocating racist policies and calling on soldiers to refuse orders, he and his supporters will be able to run for Knesset on the Likud list. Besides increasing membership, Netanyahu wants to abolish the waiting period for new members so they can take part in electing Likud's slate for the next Knesset elections.
Hamas TV's Child Star Says She's Ready for Martyrdom
Dion Nissenbaum, MIFTAH 8/16/2007
Gaza Strip — Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face. Saraa wants to be a doctor. If she can't, the young star of Hamas television's best-known children's show said, she'd be proud to become a martyr. Saraa says little Jewish girls should be forced from their homes in Israel so that Palestinians can return to their land. With the show's producer helpfully offering written tips during an interview, Saraa didn't get into how she hopes to die for her cause, be it suicide bombing, fighting the Israeli military or some other way.
Epic play draws parallels between past and present
Adam Jewell, Daily Star 8/17/2007
REVIEW - BYBLOS: "History is a mirror of the future," says Oussama Rahbani. "If you don't have a history, you don't have a future." It was with this notion of embracing the past in order to greet the future that Lebanese composer Mansour Rahbani, in collaboration with his sons Marwan, Oussama, and Ghady Rahbani, created the epic musical "Zenobia," which opened a five-night run on Wednesday evening for the Byblos International Festival, in the old port city north of Beirut. Though in many ways a tragedy, ending in defeat and suicide, the play is at heart a celebration - of culture, music and freedom, and, perhaps more forcefully, of the strength, determination and ferocity of the female spirit. What makes "Zenobia" enveloping and believable is the plot's adherence to the play's historical foundation.
TASE closes day's trading with sharp losses across the board
Ha'aretz 8/16/2007
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange closed trading Thursday with sharp losses, with the TA-25 plummeting 3. 1 percent to 1038 points, nearly 10 percent down from its peak. TA-100 fell by 3. 5 percent to 1007 points, nearly 12 percent down from its peak three months ago. The estate index has suffered the most significant loss of 4. 9 percent, and Tel-Tech is also down by 4. 5 percent. European markets have also experienced sharp losses, with the London Stock Exchange falling 2. 2 percent, and Paris and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges each dropping by 2 percent. These losses are a symptom of the worsening sub-prime mortgage crisis, which has been sweeping the U.S. for more than three weeks. The New York Stock Exchange experienced sharp losses on Wednesday, which were followed by 3 to 4 percent losses in Asia: Tokyo is down by 1.
News in Brief
Ha'aretz 8/15/2007
Mosquitoes infected with West Nile Virus (WNV) have recently been discovered in Israel for the first time. Inspectors from the Environmental Protection Ministry found the insects this year in Sagur, a town near Ariel. People who contract WNV from mosquitoes usually have no symptoms or mild symptoms, but if the virus enters the brain it can be deadly, causing encephalitis or meningitis. The ministry instructed the towns of Sagur and Carmiel and the authorities in the region to increase their inspections and pest-control activities. (Jack Khoury) The Ramle Magistrate yesterday extended by five days the remand of an East Jerusalem truck driver suspected of having caused a lethal car accident on Saturday. The truck crushed a car on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway, killing a 5-year-old girl and her father and injuring the girl's mother and 6-year-old brother.
Helicopters bomb underground bunkers at Nahr al-Bared
Michael Bluhm, Daily Star 8/17/2007
BEIRUT: Heavy fighting resumed between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam on Thursday at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in North Lebanon, while the US Embassy rejected army commander General Michel Suleiman's statement that the US had given the military only "promises and best wishes." Soldiers and militants fought intense battles from the early morning, although by the afternoon the clashes had become intermittent, an army source told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity. The army did not suffer any casualties on Thursday, leaving the official army count at 136 troop deaths in the 12-week-old conflict. In previous days the army had attacked exclusively from the air, bombing suspected underground bunkers from helicopters.
Dutch set conditions for hosting Hariri tribunal
Arthur Blok, Daily Star 8/17/2007
THE HAGUE: The Dutch government is setting conditions before agreeing to host the trial of suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. A key condition is that another country volunteer in advance to imprison anyone convicted in the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri in February 2005, said spokesman Bart Rijs. Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told Dutch radio he expects the government to agree to a request by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last month that the Netherlands host the court. But Verhagen "expects some practical matters to be arranged first," Rijs said. "We insist that people... convicted by the tribunal would not be detained after their conviction in the Netherlands but in another country," he added.
In pictures: Iraq destruction
BBC Online 8/16/2007
Images have begun to emerge of the scale of the devastation after a series of bomb attacks on villages in northern Iraq. Major parts of two villages, both home to the Yazidi, a small Kurdish religious sect, appear to have been virtually levelled by a series of large explosions. The death toll from the blasts has already passed 250, and local officials in the remote area between Mosul and the Syrian border expect that figure to rise sharply. The remote location of the villages made access difficult: camera crews reached the area late on Wednesday, capturing scenes of shattered homes and twisted metal. Seven hospitals across the northern provinces of Iraq received more than 350 people injured by the bombs, as well as the dead bodies. A rush of blood donations was reported.
Iran's Guards scoff at US blacklist plan
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 8/17/2007
TEHRAN: Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Thursday dismissed US plans to list the elite force as a terror group in order to strangle its growing economic power, warning that its "iron will" would not be deterred. A US official revealed on Wednesday that President George W. Bush was set to issue an executive order blacklisting the group in order to block the assets of what is one of the Islamic republic's key institutions. The new move is seen by some experts as confrontational and could appease hawkish groups within the administration pushing for possible military action against Iran. The Iranian foreign ministry called the US action "worthless" propaganda. The Revolutionary Guards - whose influence extends well beyond the military into business and politics - would be the first national military branch included on a US list of individuals and institutions linked to terrorism.
Exit Iran's oil minister, and a pipeline, too
Siddharth Srivastava, Asia Times 8/17/2007
NEW DELHI - India's quest to expand the use of natural gas as a major energy source has experienced several recent setbacks. The prospects for the US$7. 5 billion Iran-India-Pakistan (IPI) gas pipeline took a big hit with the dramatic firing of Iran's oil minister, who had reportedly agreed to sell gas to the two countries at a discount. Further, the Indian government has dramatically reduced the estimated gas reserves of recent finds that were announced with much fanfare. India has also officially made it known that prospects of obtaining gas from Myanmar are very remote. Ending all speculation on the matter, New Delhi has confirmed that Myanmar has chosen to sell gas to PetroChina via a pipeline from two blocks in which Indian firms have stakes.
Missing US arms probe goes global
David Isenberg, Asia Times 8/17/2007
WASHINGTON - The issue of missing US weapons in Iraq is getting, as Alice said in Wonderland, curiouser and curiouser. What started out as a mere report documenting improper bookkeeping procedures for assault rifles and pistols given by the Pentagon to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005 is turning into an international scandal. It started on July 31, when the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report "Stabilizing Iraq: DOD [Department of Defense] Cannot Ensure That US-Funded Equipment Has Reached Iraqi Security Forces". A classified version of the report will be submitted to Congress next month. The report found that since 2003, the United States has provided about US$19. 2 billion to develop Iraqi security forces.
The Riyadh challenge
Ayman El-Amir, Al-Ahram Weekly 8/22/2007
Saudi leadership in the Arab world depends on forging a non-US based regional alliance. The Middle East is caught in the vortex of historic change where all countries of the region, as well as some external powers involved, are both important players as well as potential victims of the process. In the absence of a driving force of leadership, each country is fending for itself while attempting to secure some measure of common fate with others. Some face more serious challenges and others depend more on external intervention than on national consensus for their survival. Old problems seem as intractable as ever; challenges of the present and the immediate future are complex and the options tricky. Each country has its own set of priorities, but none faces more intricate challenges than Saudi Arabia.
Dutch bishop 'urges faithful to call God Allah'
Middle East Online 8/16/2007
Tiny Muskens says using Arabic word for God – Allah - will foster interfaith understanding. - BREDA, Netherlands - A senior Catholic churchman from the southern Dutch diocese of Breda is urging believers from all religions to call God 'Allah', arguing the use of the Arabic name for Him will foster interfaith understanding, Radio Netherlands reports. Outgoing Roman Catholic bishop of Breda Tiny Muskens says that God does not mind what he is called. The bishop, who is retiring in a few weeks, admits he does not anticipate his ideas will find acceptance any time soon. He has previously defied the Vatican by calling for the acceptance of married priests and the use of condoms to combat AIDS, Radio Netherlands said. Muskens has also said that it is acceptable for the poor to steal bread.
Articles
Hamas is ready to talk
Mousa Abu Marzook, The Guardian 8/16/2007
While Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert is busily courting Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas as a "partner for peace", successive voices continue to speak out against efforts to sideline the democratically elected Hamas government. As the Britain's Commons foreign affairs committee concluded on Monday, this strategy is counterproductive and doomed to fail, for the simple reason that the support of the Palestinian people is unmistakably lacking. Abbas's party does not democratically represent the Palestinians, yet what is in effect now a dictatorship in the West Bank is being welcomed by Israel and its western allies. The duplicity of this situation is shameful. Israel and its allies were quick to dismiss Hamas and the national unity governments and isolate both, and are now equally as quick to welcome an illegally formed self-proclaimed government for the Palestinians. Is this democracy?
The Palestinian people's struggle for freedom has been continuing for almost a century. During this time, we have faced every form of challenge, from persecution, abuse and humiliation, to military assaults, engineered starvation and social anarchy. All these trials have been deliberately imposed by an occupying power that is breaching international law on a daily basis.
Yet despite this, it is the popular Palestinian people's liberation movement that is being targeted by Israel and its allies for boycott and isolation. Hamas was formed in response to the pressures of the occupation and the need for change in Palestinian society. It was on this basis that it was given a popular mandate by its people in 2006. Hamas represents a guarantee that Palestinian people's rights will not be compromised. We have continued to insist that the rights of the Palestinian people be respected by the occupying power. Quite simply, in the present situation, it is not Israel that is threatened with annihilation but the Palestinian people.
My shoes – I can't find my shoes – they are in the rubble
Yeela Raanan - Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages in the Negev, International Middle East Media Center 8/16/2007
It seems that the words of the Minister of Planning and Construction have no effect on the demolitions in the Negev. A week ago the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages closed the refugee camp by the Israeli Knesset, after the declaration of the Ministers of Interior and of Planning and Construction that they wish to halt demolitions for a year -- until a new process can be instigated, as the ministers wish for the cooperation of the Bedouin community. There is still a need for the recommendation of the Legal advisor to the government. But the local Negev officials are interested in showing the Ministers who is the boss around here -- and what better way than to demolish another house.
Adel Abu-Sbeit lives in the unrecognized village of Saaweh. He has eight young children. For the first ten years of his marriage he lived in the sheep den -- he cleaned it up, put a pretty tiled floor, but it still was not a home. Adel is a successful businessman. In the end he tired with living in his beautified sheep den and he dared build a beautiful home. Together with the rest of his village, he had been waiting since 1998 for the government to open a new neighborhood in the Bedouin town of Hura. He and his village members were ready to give up their village life, living on their ancestral lands, in order to comply with Israel's unjustified demands that they live in an urban setting. But there seemed to be no end to this waiting, and Adel has only one life to live. So he built his beloved wife and children a beautiful home, in their village, on their ancestral land.
No American President can stand up to Israel
Paul Craig Roberts, Middle East Online 8/16/2007
The suspicion is rife that the reason the war against Iraq cannot end, and the reason Iran and Syria must be attacked, is that the US must destroy all Muslim opposition to Israel's theft of Palestine, turning an entire people into refugees driven from their land.
'No American President can stand up to Israel'
These words came from feisty Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chief of Naval Operations (1967-1970) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1970-1974).Moorer was, perhaps, the last independent-minded American military leader.
Admiral Moorer knew what he was talking about.On June 8, 1967, Israel attacked the American intelligence ship, USS Liberty, killing 34 American sailors and wounding 173.The Israelis even strafed the life rafts, machine-gunning the American sailors leaving the stricken ship.
Apparently, the USS Liberty had picked up Israeli communications that revealed Israel's responsibility for the Seven Day War.Even today, history books and the majority of Americans blame the conflict on the Arabs.
An interview with Ali Jarbawi- Abbas' Moment
Bitterlemons, MIFTAH 8/16/2007
bitterlemons: There has been some fanfare surrounding the biweekly Abbas-Olmert meetings. Will they lead anywhere?
Jarbawi: First we have to understand the motive behind these meetings. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert is very weak; he has many internal problems with the Winograd report coming out and with his coalition government. He wants something that will at least delay his downfall. The only thing that might give him that is a resumption of talks with the Palestinians and a sense that there is something in the air, that there is progress.
bitterlemons: And Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas?
Jarbawi: This is the only track Abbas has. He believes in it and not only on the tactical level. He believes that this is the only way to reach an agreement with the Israelis. He wants the Americans on board, he wants the Israelis on board and he is ready to talk. Before he was prevented, first by [former President Yasser] Arafat, and then by Hamas. Now he is out of their respective shadows and he is going full steam ahead to bring about what he believes in.
bitterlemons: But one thing is having biweekly meetings, another is getting practical results. So far little has been seen...
Jarbawi: At the beginning no one thought these meetings would yield anything, but the idea of an international gathering in the autumn has breathed some life into them. The Americans--for their own reasons, the crisis in Iraq, the region, etc.--want progress on this front. They know they are not going to solve the issue but they may at least put some wind in the sails for a new administration to continue. These biweekly meetings will continue until that autumn meeting and the Americans want these meetings to focus on a general framework to give the autumn meeting something tangible: a document outlining a framework on the core issues for final status.
Mourning and the Morning After
Dr. Bernard Sabella, MIFTAH 8/16/2007
Transitions that accompany separation have a built in mourning process. Experts say that the period of mourning depends on the nature of separation, personal and group characteristics, attachments and values.
Yesterday, I visited with a group of Fateh legislators in the Palestinian Legislative Council the towns of Qalqilya, Jayyus, Azzun and smaller villages in the vicinity. These beautiful towns, close to the Green Line of 1948 that separates the West Bank from Israel, are experiencing a variety of mourning processes.
One separation that stands out and that recalls the mourning process is the forceful detachment of the people of these towns, mostly farmers, from their lands. Standing on the roof of the local municipal council at Jayyus one can see how the Israeli built separation wall, a fence in this case, forcibly stops Palestinian farmers from attending to their land. Yes, the Israeli military authorities have introduced a permit system but it is highly selective and does not allow able bodied farmers to access their fields. Besides, the opening hours of the two gates in the separation fence are so restricted; 7 to 8 in the morning; 12:00 to 1:00 pm and 6:00 to 7:00 pm that if one farmer misses one day, his agricultural produce would irreparably be damaged.
Rights group protests death of Bethlehem teen at checkpoint
Lily Galili, Ha'aretz 8/15/2007
A gigantic inscription stretches across the separation wall behind the roadblock cutting Bethlehem off from Jerusalem. Put up by the Tourism Ministry, it reads "Jerusalem-Bethlehem - love and peace."
It's nice to see that the government ministries have a sense of humor, even if a chilling one. Radi Alwahash, 18, died at the roadblock, after a traffic accident, while his body systems failed, and it took an hour and a half to get him from Bethlehem to the hospital in Jerusalem.
Here's a first in the history of deaths at roadblocks: Physicians for Human Rights has filed a criminal complaint with the Tel Aviv police against the Civil Administration's health coordinator, Dalia Basa, accusing her of negligent homicide.
In a small room in the Bethlehem Red Crescent offices, Abdelhalim Ja'afra, director of emergency services for the Bethlehem area, pulled out a thick file containing its records of roadblocks and ambulances. Each patient's name and address are inscribed in hand-written columns, along with the time of the call and the time of going to and from the roadblock.
The file also records the dichotomy of the occupation, noting that an Israel Defense Forces doctor and Magen David Adom emergency service staff worked tirelessly to save the life of the young Palestinian, who had been run over right after completing his last matriculation exam; an army helicopter was called, before it was decided that an ambulance would be quicker. But Alwahash died in the ambulance, which was denied permission to cross into Israel.
MIDEAST: Settlers Anchoring In
Nora Barrows-Friedman, Inter Press Service 8/16/2007
BETHLEHEM, Aug 16(IPS) - Israeli forces began Wednesday to bulldoze hundreds of trees on land owned by a Catholic convent near the city of Beit Jala near Bethlehem. This section of forest is being razed, according to Israeli plans, to complete a section of the separation wall, which continues to carve the West Bank into pieces.
Near the convent, the Israeli settlement colonies of Gilo and Har Gilo, behind the wall on Palestinian lands, continue to expand over the rocky hillsides.
When this section of the wall is completed, several villages will be separated from each other and the greater Bethlehem area. But this is not an isolated incident these days in the West Bank.
A few kilometres east of the Cremisan convent and Bethlehem city, the small Palestinian village of Wadi Rahaal is facing extinction as a result of expanded Israeli settlement policy and the widening path of the wall.
"We are now surrounded by the settlement of Efrat," Suha Ziyada, 22, one of the 750 residents of Wadi Rahaal tells IPS. "They started constructing the wall several months ago...and the settlement is growing every day." Efrat settlement colony, part of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, currently houses approximately 9,000 settlers, including Israelis and immigrants from the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Britain and Russia.
A Disneyland of Militant Ignorance
Phil Rockstroh, Middle East Online 8/16/2007
What do platitudes such as, 'I support the troops' translate to when those troops are engaged in an illegal and immoral occupation of a foreign land, invaded under false pretenses? Where is the line to be drawn between having empathy for an army comprised to a large degree of economic conscripts and giving tacit approval to the war crimes they commit? Asks
Given the nation's tottering infrastructure, imperial overreach abroad and vandalized constitutional process by a lawless executive branch, what will it take to scare the general public, mainstream press and political classes into immediate action to bring about meaningful change?
At this twilight hour of the American republic, there must come a paradigm shift of seismic proportions or else the republic will perish. I'm less than optimistic.
Insomuch as, I suspect, that if, during a rare press conference, George W. Bush's face were to suddenly shed its skin, rig
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