Today in Palestine November 13, 2007

Brought to you by Shadi Fadda

Click on the Headline to View Full Story!

Palestinian village to be destroyed for the sixth time by Israeli authorities
The village of Ka'abna, in the Jordan Valley, has just received its sixth demolition order in the last five years. Ka'abna is home to eighty people, who have been displaced numerous times by Israeli authorities since being expelled from their original homes eighteen years ago. The land from which they are now being expelled is the land to which they were told to move by the Israeli military the last time their homes were destroyed.

Israeli forces destroy two wells in eastern Jenin
Israeli military forces destroyed two wells in Arabouna and Deir Abu D'eif villages, located in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Gaza police forces arrest Abbas advisor
The Hamas-affiliated Gaza police on Tuesday arrested Kamal Alsherafi, an advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in the northern Gaza Strip.

Hamas rounds up Fatah activists after Arafat rally in Gaza
Hamas has rounded up scores of Fatah activists in the Gaza Strip following a Monday rally that drew more than 200,000 supporters and ended in gunfire that killed seven people, officials said on Tuesday. Islam Shahwan, spokesman of the Hamas-led Executive Force, said it had detained about 50 Fatah members since the rally.

Six shot dead at huge Arafat rally in Gaza
Hamas police killed six people in Gaza City on Monday as hundreds of thousands gathered to commemorate the death of Yasser Arafat in the biggest Fatah party rally since it was ousted by the Islamists.

Israeli High Court orders government to reconsider denying medical care to dying Palestinians
On Monday, the Israeli High Court ruled that the Israeli government policy of denying entry permits to dying Palestinians for "security reasons" should be reexamined.

Israeli court declines to rule on Gaza sick
Israel's high court on Monday rejected a petition from an Israeli human rights group for the state to change interrogation procedures for Gazans leaving the territory for medical care. "The court said it did not have the mandate to discuss the mechanisms of the Shin Beth" internal security service, according to Miri Weingarten of the human rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel which lodged the petition.

Mother dies after being denied access to health care
Ayda is yet another victim of Israel's devastating closure of Gaza. While her husband, 37-year-old Zakariya Abdelal from the Gaza City neighborhood of al-Tuffah, was receiving condolences from friends and neighbors, their youngest son, 10-month-old baby Mustafah, lay calmly in the corner. Thirty-one-year-old mother of seven Ayda died after losing her fight with breast cancer, which necessitated chemotherapy treatment currently unavailable in Gaza. EI correspondent Rami Almeghari writes from Gaza.

'How can a dying man pose a security threat?'
High Court orders State to reexamine its decision not to allow seven gravely ill Palestinians from Gaza entry into Israel or passage to West Bank, Jordan to receive life-saving treatment.

Gazans: Palestinians detained by IDF return naked

Zaki rules out conflict involving refugee camps
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) representative in Lebanon Abbas Zaki vowed on Monday that "there will no war" in refugee camps in the country. Speaking after a meeting with senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, the PLO representative also denied recent media reports that his Fatah faction.

PA official: Barak, Livni holding Olmert back on peace process
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni are preventing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from moving forward on a joint declaration with the Palestinian Authority, a senior PA official said Tuesday. The official, who is currently accompanying PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on a visit to Ankara, Turkey, said disagreements on the Israeli side are to blame for the lack of progress on drafting a declaration ahead of the U.S-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

Erekat: Palestinians will not accept Israel as 'Jewish state
'Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestine Liberation Organization, rejected on Monday the government's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. In an interview with Israel Radio, Erekat said that "no state in the world connects its national identity to a religious identity."

Erekat: Peace treaty with Israel has to contain release of all Palestinian prisoners
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday that the Palestinian side would not sign a peace deal with Israel lacking a clear article guaranteeing the release of all Palestinians jailed in Israel.

Olmert: PA & Israel agree to bypass Israeli road map commitments
The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday announced that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli government had agreed to a peace plan that involved Israel bypassing the commitments laid out to it in the first stage of the road map plan.

Uri Avnery: The Last Refuge
Since the government of Israel and its American allies are pushing with all their political might for the attack, Israel will not be able to avoid contributing to the fighting, if the Americans request it.

Palestinian, Israeli scholars to advance one-state solution in London
Leading Palestinian and Israeli scholars and activists will be among the speakers at an unprecendented conference to explore a one-state solution, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London on 17-18 November.

To Save Jerusalem, We Must Kill The Peace Process
The Coordinating Council on Jerusalem, created on October 24, 2007, is off to a good start. The organizations joining, and there are many, have accepted the principle that defending Jerusalem from division is more important than unquestioned support of decisions made by the Government of Israel. "Preserving an undivided Jerusalem is a paramount issue not only for Israelis, but for the worldwide Jewish Community. This is not a decision any Israeli government can make unilaterally. Jerusalem belongs to all Jews, even those not living in Israel, and their opinion matters."

70% of ultra-Orthodox men don't work
Study shows slight rise in rate of full-time employment amongst ultra-Orthodox, with women composing more than half of the workforce.

A very bad year for humanity
NEW YORK - When he talks about the situation in the Gaza Strip and relates to Israel's responsibility, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes does not sound like someone whose name is adorned with the prefix "Sir." The veteran British diplomat, who has served as head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) since the beginning of the year, makes no effort to smooth out rough spots.

Sonja Karkar: The Deadly Dance for Peace
The only way forward is to ensure, as former UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Alvaro de Soto said, "unity and integrity of third party mediation efforts, and clarity of strategy.

And Now Elliott Abrams and Condoleezza Rice Bring You The Latest Color-Coded "Revolution", The Yellow "Revolution" of Mahmoud Abbas and Mohammad Dahlan
It has been a while since the last US-sponsored, color-coded "revolution." But that does not mean that Elliott Abrams and Condoleezza Rice have stopped trying. Just a few days ago, several trucks made their way into the Gaza Strip with the help of Israel. On board supposedly were food supplies for the starving population. However, upon inspection the cargo turned out to be 45,000 yellow Fatah flags and an equal number of baseball caps with Fatah logo on them and kafiyyahs to complement the ensemble.

Today in Iraq

Today in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran