All the days headlines from the internet brought to you by
Israel demolishes homes for 'City of David' heritage site
(7 Nov) By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem -- Israel has been accused of demolishing Palestinian houses in Arab East Jerusalem while international attention was focused on the election of Barack Obama. Palestinian leaders and Israeli human rights organisations have said Israeli authorities displaced more than 20 people – mostly children – by demolishing three homes in the Silwan district of Jerusalem to make way for an archaeological park.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-demolishes-homes-for-city-of-david
-heritage-site-1000359.html
Peace Now: Legal actions - Givati parking lot in Jerusalem
(Nov; included photos) The Israel Antiquities Authority, along with the Elad Association, is digging and building without a building permit and without valid plans, near one of the most sensitive places in the world, in the Givati parking lot, which is 30 m from the walls of the Old City and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. A Peace Now investigation discovered that the work is not only an archaeological dig but is part of a grandiose plan for a 115,000 m² building with a function hall, a commercial center, guest rooms and an underground parking lot. Usually in archaeology digging is done carefully and gently so as not to harm the antiquities. In the Givati parking lot the work is actually construction of foundations for a giant building planned on the site, without a valid plan and without building permits. As a result of that work damages and cracks were caused to the neighboring houses and there is a real risk of a collapse and disaster.
http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=370&docid=3430
IDF asks police, Shin Bet for info on left-wing figures active in West Bank
(7 Nov) The Israel Defense Forces has asked the Shin Bet security service and the police to provide it with information on left-wing figures active in the West Bank so it will be easier to issue restraining orders against them, Haaretz has learned. Since the IDF does not gather intelligence on Israeli citizens, the GOC Central Command depends on evaluations by the Shin Bet prior to signing restraining orders. So far, such orders have only been issued against extreme right-wing activists suspected of subversive activities. This time, the army has focused on a number of activists protesting the security fence, those who help Palestinians harvest their olives, and others.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1035176.html
Court: Federman can stay in West Bank
(7 Nov) The Jerusalem Magistrate's court rejected Friday the Prosecutor's Office's second request to ban rightist activist Noam Federman from Judea and Samaria, after he was indicted for aggravated assault of a police officer. Judge Shulamit Dotan ruled Friday that the Prosecutor's Office petition to forbid Federman from entering Judea and Samaria is premature, and that the rightist activist should be allowed to see the evidence against him before any decision on the matter is taken.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3619154,00.html
Bil'in demonstrators mark fourth anniversary of Yasir Arafat's death
(7 Nov) Dozens suffer from teargas inhalation during the weekly non-violent demonstration in Bil'in -- Report by the Bil'in Popular Committee Against the Apartheid Wall and Settlements. (To view the Bil'in village website click here) A protest was launched today after the Friday prayer in Bil'in, with residents joined by international and Israeli activists. The demonstrators marched in the village chanting against the discriminatory policies of the occupation and paying respect for Arafat's life. When the protest reached the gate, they were stopped by sound grenades and teargas. Dozens suffered from gas inhalation.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/11/07/bili%E2%80%99n-demonstrators-mark-the-fourth-anniversary
-of-yasir-arafat%E2%80%99s-death/
ISM: One arrested and seven injured in Ni'lin prayer demonstration
(7 Nov) Six residents of Ni'lin and a Danish solidarity activist were injured today by Israeli forces as they demonstrated against the construction of the apartheid wall in the village of Ni'lin. One American solidarity activist was also arrested as the demonstration was coming to an end.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/11/07/one-arrested-and-seven-injured-in-nilin-prayer-demonstration/
B'Tselem: Testimony of 12-year-old beaten and imprisoned with adults
(7 Nov) Testimony taken by B'Tselem from Mohammad Khawaje who was arrested from Ni'lin on the 11th September 2008 -- Last Thursday [11 September], around 3:00 A.M., I woke up from my mother's shouts. She was shouting, "Get up! Get up! The army is here!" My father wasn't home that night. I got up and went out with her to the inner courtyard of the house. There were about 12 soldiers there, and their faces were painted black. One soldier wore a black hat that covered his face. He sat on the stairs outside the house and didn't take part. I think he was a collaborator who led them to houses.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/11/07/btselem-testimony-of-12-year-old-beaten-and-imprisoned-with-adults/
Palestinians enter Hebron mosque by the thousands in closure protest
(7 Nov) Thousands of Palestinians descended on the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron on Friday after calls from West Bank leaders urged support for the city in its efforts to lift the Israeli siege and closure policy. The city's head mufti, Mohamad Maher Meswada, noted in his Friday sermon the importance of supporting the National Campaign to Lift the Closure of Hebron. "Through flocking from all parts of the West Bank to pray in the mosque, and to tour the alleys and neighborhoods of the Old City, and by purchasing from its stores in support of its residents, we stand against the attacks of Israeli soldiers and settlers," Meswada told the crowds. Earlier on Thursday, Israeli soldiers prevented internationals and journalists from entering the area near the mosque, under the pretense that it is a closed military zone.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33089
Settlers stone six-year-old boy in Hebron
(8 Nov) Israeli settlers wounded six-year-old Palestinian Bilal Da'na from Hebron after pelting the young boy with stones near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, Palestinian sources in Hebron said. Israeli soldiers stationed in the area stood by without preventing the group of settlers from assaulting the boy, locals reported, adding that when Israeli police arrived on the scene, none of the rock-throwers were arrested. Medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said Da'na was taken to the governmental hospital in Hebron to treat moderate head injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33104
Jewish settlers beat up Palestinian boy near Hebron
(8 Nov, photo) HEBRON, West Bank (AFP) – Jewish settlers on Saturday beat up a six-year-old Palestinian boy near the West Bank town of Hebron , and he was taken to hospital suffering from moderate head wounds, medics said. The incident was the latest in a surge of settler attacks on Palestinians, peace activists and Israeli soldiers since the authorities dismantled a settlement outpost near Hebron last month.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081108/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictwestbanksettler
Girls arrested in Hebron claim police abused them
(7 Nov) Three girls who were arrested last week during clashes between settlers and security forces in Hebron claim to have been abused by the police, according to the attorney representing one of the suspects. Attorney David Halevy filed a complaint with the Police Investigation Unit (PIU) claiming that the girls, aged 12, 15, and 17, were falsely accused of a number of crimes in police reports and abused by officers in various manners. The three girls were indicted a week ago on charges of obstruction of justice and reckless endangerment. They were also charged with assault of police officers during the evacuation of an illegal structure in Kiryat Arba.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3619287,00.html
Owner of disputed house in Hebron threatens to sue State
(7 Nov) American-Jewish businessman whose disputed purchase of property inflamed conflict in Hebron claims he will sue government, prevent his community members from investing in Israel if court evicts Jewish settlers living there -- Morris Abraham, 40, is a member of the Syrian-Jewish community in New York. His great-grandfather was a resident of Hebron during the 1929 riots, and Abraham claims his investment in various projects in the city is personal.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3619272,00.html
Russian Mufti joins Hebron sit-in; sends encouragement to Palestine from Russia
(8 Nov) As part of the week-long activities of the National Campaign to Lift the Siege in Hebron, Russian Mufti Sheikh Othman Ishaq along with a delegation of Russian officials joined a sit-in in central Hebron protesting the occupation of the city by Israeli forces and settlers. The Russian Mufti spoke words of encouragement to Palestinian Muslims and sent regards from Russia. "We kept dreaming that one day we will visit Palestine and to pray in the Al-Aqsa and the Ibrahimi Mosque and yesterday we prayed in Al-Aqsa and today we will pray in the Ibrahimi," he said. After his tour of the city the Russian Mufti expressed his deep grief over the living conditions of Palestinians and Muslims.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33107
Al-Jazeera video: Palestinians struggle in divided city of Hebron
Palestinians have ended a week-long solidarity campaign against the Israeli authorities' closure of the old city of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank. Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports on what that closure has meant for the city's Palestinian residents.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/11/200811718448916989.html
Israeli army studies 'abuse video'
(7 Nov) The video [included] shows a bearded Palestinian detainee, blindfolded, and apparently kneeling close to a high concrete barrier. Around him are a group of Israeli soldiers, some of whom are jeering. One soldier goads the blindfolded man into repeating what he is saying. The taunt ends with the words: "Golani will bring you a log to stick up your ass." As the man repeats it, the soldiers can be heard laughing loudly. In a statement to the BBC, the Israeli army said it considered the incident "grave", and condemned the behaviour. The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says we have no clue as to when or where this video was shot and it is impossible to know just how frequently such incidents occur. But a leading Israeli human rights group says "many instances of abuse are not exposed because they have become the norm".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7715861.stm
Guard pigs' sensitive snouts to secure West Bank settlements
(6 Nov) TEL AVIV — An Israeli contractor is supplying trained pigs to guard Jewish communities in the West Bank. Gdud HaIvri has been negotiating for contracts in which pigs would be stationed on the perimeter of Jewish communities in the West Bank. The Israeli company, which already supplies guard dogs to the communities, has determined that pigs would be more effective in detecting attackers and explosives. An executive at Gdud HaIvri said Muslim assailants, prohibited from touching pigs, could be deterred. "...this animal is considered dangerous by Islam." [same old nonsense]
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/me_israel0679_11_06.asp
Palestinian police call Israeli military to collect three lost Israelis near Bir Zeit
(7 Nov) Three Israelis mistakenly entered the Palestinian village of Bir Zeit on Friday, prompting Palestinian police officers to call the Israeli military in the area so that the three could be removed. Earlier Israeli reports said Palestinian police intercepted the three lost Israelis, but police denied this claim saying that they notified the police in charge of Israelis in the West Bank and had not further involvement with the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33084
British delegation visits Salfit, implements school library project
(7 Nov) A delegation of British leaders representing "sister cities" met with their West Bank counterparts on Friday in Salfit. The delegation from the British city of Watford visited the Palestinian district and was received by members of the Sister Cities Committee there. The delegation stopped off in Bruqeen, meeting with Abdallah Awad, the principal of an elementary school, who thanked the delegation for its donated funds, "through which our school implemented the student library project," he said. Awad noted that the library will contain science books.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33088
Palestinian unity talks called off after Hamas boycott
(8 Nov) CAIRO (AFP) – Reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian factions were called off on Saturday after Hamas announced a boycott to protest the detention of hundreds of its members by president Mahmud Abbas 's security forces. "They've been cancelled," Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told AFP. Another Egyptian official, who asked not to be named, said the talks had been delayed to an undetermined date at the request of Hamas
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081108/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpoliticspalestinianegypt_081108174012
Hamas to boycott Palestinian reconciliation talks
(8 Nov, AP) Group announces it will not go to Cairo as planned on Sunday, claims Egyptian sponsors of meetings are biased -- A senior Hamas official in Syria on Saturday announced that his group would boycott this weekend's Palestinian reconciliation talks with rival Fatah. Deputy Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk blamed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for the talks' collapse. He said the group's decision to stay away was taken after Fatah failed to release Palestinian prisoners from its jails.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3619414,00.html
Egypt postpones Cairo talks at Hamas' request
(8 Nov) Early reports from Reuters say Hamas officials have informed Cairo that they will not be attending the conciliation talks, scheduled to begin Sunday. Meanwhile delegations from the Palestinian People's Party (PPP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Arab Liberation Front (ALF) arrived at Rafah crossing Saturday morning and were refused entry into Egypt. Egyptian border officials are reported to have told the delegations that they could not enter the country for "technical reasons." The delegations were turned away and told to go home. Representatives from Hamas said they would address the issue of their non-attendance in Cairo in a Saturday afternoon press conference.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33101
De facto government slams Abbas' political prisoners denial
(7 Nov) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's assertion on Friday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is not holding political prisoners could very well derail the Egyptian sponsored unity talks, according to a spokesperson for the de facto government in Gaza. "The Palestinian dialogue requires an immediate end to the arrest campaign in the West Bank, as well as releasing political prisoners in their jails," An-Nunu said in a statement received by Ma'an. Earlier on Friday, Abbas said that the PA holds no political prisoners in the West Bank, contrary to weekly reports by Hamas that the Fatah-led government has been rounding up Hamas affiliates for months.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33092
Haniyya: 'Fatah's actions in the West Bank obstruct internal dialogue'
(7 Nov) Ismail Haniyya of Hamas, prime minister of the dissolved government in Gaza, stated on Friday that the ongoing arrests carried out by Fateh security forces against Hamas members and supporters in the West Bank will obstruct the internal dialogue talks in Cairo. Haniyya added that there are at least 200 political prisoners in the West Bank, and considered this issue as a real obstacle in front of the Egyptian sponsored Palestinian national dialogue. He also said that "it seems that there is a stream that does not seek reconciliation, we want real and balanced reconciliation which would survive and prosper". In a press conference with the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, in Ramallah on Friday, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said that there are "no political prisoners at all" and that he believes in political pluralism.
http://imemc.org/article/57588
Political prisoner completely paralysed as result of torture
(7 Nov) Ramallah, (PIC)-- Palestinian sources in the West Bank said that Amer Ghazal, a political prisoner in one of Abbas's jails has suffered complete paralysis as a result of the torture he underwent at the jail. The sources, which preferred to remain un-named, said on Friday that Ghazal underwent severe torture, including prolonged periods of (Shabh), which takes several forms; the tying of the feet and hands together behind the body, usually sitting on a low stool and the hanging to a door or a ceiling by the feet of the hands. Ghazal is detained at the notorious Junaid prison in Nablus.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Hamas: PA security detain 26 party affiliates across the West Bank
(8 Nov) Palestinian Authority security services arrested 26 Hamas affiliates across the West Bank, the party said in a statement released Saturday. Most of those arrested were from the Hebron area in the southern West Bank. In Bethlehem several employees from the As-Subani center for stationery services. There were also arrests in Salfit in the northern West Bank and in the Jericho district to the east.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33106
Rice visits Jenin to tout PA success in combating terrorism
(8 Nov) Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited this former militant stronghold in the West Bank on Saturday to highlight Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' law-and-order campaign, seen as one of the few successes in slow-moving peace efforts. Saturday's trip took her to the northern end of West Bank. Still, despite the effort to showcase improved security in the West Bank, her motorcade took a roundabout route through Israel, rather than straight through the West Bank, to reach Jenin.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1035380.html
Rice: 'Annapolis summit did not fail'
(7 Nov) US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, stated during a press conference with the Palestinian President in Ramallah on Friday, that that Annapolis peace summit did not fail and that if the Palestinians and Israel stay on the track of peace, they will achieve it.
http://www.imemc.org/article/57590
Young woman succumbs to wounds, child patient dies as result of siege
(7 Nov) GAZA, DEIR AL-BALAH, (PIC)-- A young Palestinian woman succumbed to wounds she sustained during the Israeli attack on Tuesday and a child patient died in Gaza after being barred from receiving treatment abroad. Hanin al-Loh, a 23-year-old young woman, was seriously wounded during the incursion of IOF troops to the east of Deir al-Balah on Tuesday.Because of the intensive Israeli fire, the emergency team took a long time to reach causing her to lose a lot of blood. Late on Thursday night she succumbed to her wounds in hospital. Hanin's death raises to eight the number of victims of this latest Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, on Friday morning, seven-year-old boy Adi Abdela'al died in hospital after suffering difficulties in breathing and heart problems and did receive some treatment in an Israeli hospital, but the occupation authorities refused to give him a permit to continue with the treatment. Adi's death raises the number of victims of the siege in the Gaza Strip to 257.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Majda's story - Gaza's new martyrs
(7 Nov) by Samah Sabawi -- One look at Majda's face and I felt consumed by her overwhelming pain. For a month Majda has lived on edge, knowing how ill her father was in Gaza and knowing he may die before she would be allowed to enter into Gaza's closed gates. Majda told me it was not her father's death that pained her as much as knowing how worthless his life and his dignity had become, not only to a world that continues to turn a blind eye to Gaza's misery, not only to the Israelis who have hardened their hearts to the Palestinian suffering, not only to Egypt that continues to act as jailer of Gaza's population , but even to the Palestinian leaders. His illness was exploited by Fatah and his death was exploited by Hamas.
http://www.counterpunch.org/sabawi11072008.html
Israel admits 80% fewer Gazans to hospitals as requests increase
(7 Nov) The number of Gazans in need of medical attention admitted into Israel in the past month has declined from 500 to only 62 emergency cases and another 42 who direly needed specialized medical care. Head of Ambulances and Emergency Care in the de facto Ministry of Health Mu'awieh Hassanein said Israel had refused the requests of hundreds of Gazans. The problem, according to Hassanein, has been worsening for three months. Not only are Palestinians refused permission to seek treatment in Israeli hospitals, but they were also denied permission to travel out of the Gaza Strip to seek treatment in Jordan.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33086
Palestinians: IDF, Hamas enchange gunfire in Gaza Strip
(8 Nov, included short news video) Israel Defense Forces soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen on Saturday in the Gaza Strip, Hamas sources and Palestinian medical workers said, in the second violent incident this week to rupture the calm of a truce since June.
Palestinian ambulances rushed to the area near the town of Khan Yunis where Israeli troops had entered drawing fire from Islamist Hamas gunmen deployed in the area, medical workers and Hamas sources said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1035309.html
Israeli forces enter Gaza in north and south, igniting clashes with NRB, Al-Qassam
(8 Nov) Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers entered Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and began bulldozing lands in the area, eyewitnesses told Ma'an on Saturday morning. Palestinian resistance factions say they tried to block the invading forces. In the north of Gaza more incursions - at dawn on Saturday Israeli forces entered Gaza near the Erez crossing. The act sparked clashes between Israeli forces and the National Resistance Brigades (NRB), the military wing affiliated to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33096
IDF denies troops were operating inside Gaza
(8 Nov, Reuters) IDF sources denied Palestinian claims from Saturday morning that troops had been operating in the Khan Younis region of southern Gaza. The Palestinians claimed that four people had been injured from Israeli shooting within the Strip. An Israeli military spokeswoman denied there was any shooting, saying troops detonated two explosive devices on the Gaza side of a border fence then returned to Israel with no reported casualties.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3619389,00.html
Hamas says operating against Qassam fire
(8 Nov) Following the Qassam fire that rained down on the south of Israel Friday, Hamas' security forces announced they would begin cracking down on the fire emerging from the Gaza Strip. The organization's internal security agents began to mobilize Friday evening towards Sejaiya district in an attempt to halt the rocket fire. According to Hamas the agents even succeeded in blocking an Islamic Jihad vehicle driving a Qassam-launching cell. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket fire on Friday.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3619333,00.html
Al-Quds claims responsibility for Sderot shelling
(7 Nov) The Al-Quds Brigades [armed wing of Islamic Jihad] claimed responsibility for shelling the nearby Israeli town of Sderot with six homemade projectiles, in addition to firing others toward Ashkelon on Friday. Al-Quds told Ma'an that "the Israeli air force shelled the launching pad that fired four projectiles at Sderot north of Gaza but there were no injuries." The Brigades also affirmed that the shelling was in response to the latest Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, during which seven Palestinians were killed. "This is an affirmation of the right to self defense," the unnamed Al-Quds source said.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33095
Islamic Jihad: Israeli 'internal politics' escalating Gaza crisis
(7 Nov) Spokesperson Abu Ahmad insisted that "the latest Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip is due to an Israeli internal crisis." "Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered (forces) to strike the Palestinian resistance in Gaza to prove his strength and to prove that he is the best to lead Israel," Ahmad added. He went on to say that the "occupying state is approaching new elections in the coming months. This was all predicted. Despite the truce, which has been in effect for almost five months," Israelis are using the Palestinian playing field "as a headline for internal elections," he claimed.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33091
ISM Gaza Strip: Sowing lentils, reaping bullets in Kouza'a, Gaza Strip
(7 Nov) A number of Palestinian farmers went to their fields yesterday (6th November) to sow seeds for crops of wheat, lentils and rye to be harvested in the spring. Some internationals, volunteering with ISM Gaza, accompanied the farmers as they worked – the first time in five years for most, if not all of these, farmers. Soon after the farmers started sowing their seeds, two Israeli occupation force jeeps drove to the fence and across from the field that was being worked soldiers got out of the jeeps and lay down on the ground aiming their guns. It wasn't long before the Israeli occupation force soldiers started shooting.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/11/07/ism-gaza-strip-sowing-lentils-reaping-bullets-in-khouzaa
-gaza-strip/
Epic tale of Gazan escape artist hired by Hamas leaked to Israeli press
(3 Nov) Twenty-one year-old Jamal Abu Dawabah is known as the "king of infiltrators" to the Israeli press, having successfully snuck into Israel from the Gaza strip hundreds of times. Using a forged Israeli ID card, Abu Dawabah worked in a frozen meat factory for several months before he was discovered and stole back into Gaza. The King of the Infiltrators was arrested by Israeli forces on 21 September, and questioned about his activities. Since his arrest, tales of Abu Dwabah's escapades have been leaked to the press, and with each bit of information the young man's tale becomes more epic. The story of Abu Dawabah became politically interesting when leaders of Hamas learned about his abilities and decided to take advantage of them. The principal idea was to have Abu Swabah kidnap soldiers that the party could use as negotiating leverage to ensure the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Maariv published the following transcript reportedly from the investigation session after Abu Dwabah was arrested:
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=32984
Haaretz editorial: Relax the trigger finger
(7 Nov) The Egyptian-mediated cease-fire between Israel and Hamas faced one of its most serious challenges this week: Would it fall apart after the operation by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip, or would it be strong enough to endure despite the operation? It is a tough test, one we could have done without. The dilemma before the operation was clear: According to precise intelligence, Hamas had finished digging a tunnel intended to cross into Israel for abducting Israeli soldiers. However, blowing the tunnel up, which killed six Hamas men, could result in a show of force by Hamas, as indeed happened. That means the firing of dozens of missiles at communities in the western Negev. Even worse, such an action could set the Negev communities back five months. What would have happened if it had been Israeli soldiers killed in the operation, or if civilians had been hurt in the Qassam attack that followed? The end of the cease-fire... The cease-fire is an essential Israeli interest, no less than for Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Continuing it has its price and is not without risks, but at the moment there is no practical alternative. Periodic attacks are not a solution to the risks, certainly not for the long term.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1035221.html
Third Free Gaza voyage vessel successfully anchors in Gaza port
(8 Nov) The third Free Gaza ship, the SS Dignity , anchored in the Gaza harbor on Saturday morning after setting sail from Cyprus Friday evening. This marks the fourth ship within three months to successfully arrive in Gaza. The crew reported that a few kilometers off the Gaza shore an Israeli naval gunboat approached cutting across the bow of the boat then "falling back and tracking it for about an hour." Then the gunboat radioed the ship and "asked who they were and where they were going," then asked for the passenger list. One crew member responded: "Our passengers are listed on our Free Gaza website for everyone to see. You're welcome to visit it any time. And… while you're there, feel free to make a donation." After a pause, then a laugh, the voice on the other end said, "Have a nice day." The crew of the latest voyage brought with them one metric ton of medicines, most of which are varieties of basic pain killers and aspirin. These medications were said to be in desperately short supply, and mostly unavailable in local pharmacies.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33099
European politicians defy Israel, sail to Gaza
( 7 Nov) LARNACA, Cyprus (Reuters) – Eleven European politicians sailed to Gaza from Cyprus Friday after saying attempts to get to the Palestinian territory via Egypt failed. Members of parliament from Britain , Ireland , Switzerland and Italy left the Mediterranean island on a boat arranged by a pro-Palestinian group seeking to highlight the poor living conditions of 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip .
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081107/wl_nm/us_gaza_politicians
Palestinians injured in mysterious explosion near Dir Al-Balah
(7 Nov) Three Palestinians were injured Friday night in a mysterious explosion at the entrance to Dir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.Palestinian medical sources told Ma'an that "three residents were lightly injured in a mysterious explosion while traveling through the entrance" of the city.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33094
Addameer update: Military judge rejects appeal on continued detention of Salwa Salah and Sara Siureh
(7 Nov) Letter of appeal sent out by Addameer Prisoners' Support and Human Rights Association -- Salwa and Sara were both arrested from their homes in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on June 5, 2008. This is the first time that girls under the age of 18 have been put in administrative detention. On June 12, 2008 they were issued with military administrative detention orders. The orders had been set for four months (in respect of Salwa) and five months (in respect of Sara). Sara's sentence was later reduced from five to four months.They were due to be released on October 4th 2008. On October 5th 2008 both girls were issued with a second administrative detention order. The military judge (Eyal Noon) upheld the order for a further three months from October 4, 2008 until January 3, 2009. The military judge claims the girls are still 'dangerous' despite the fact that the military prosecutor has provided no information since the girls were arrested.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2008/11/07/addameer-update-military-judge-rejects-appeal-on-continued-
detention-of-salwa-salah-and-sara-siureh/
Mother of longest-serving Palestinian prisoner dies at 79
(8 Nov) The mother of Sa'id Al-Atabah, the now freed Palestinian prisoner who served 32 years -the longest term on record - in Israeli jails, passed away on Saturday. Widad Fadda was 79-years-old, and passed away one week after Sa'id married. Al-Atabah was released from jail on 25 August 2008. Shortly after his release he told Ma'an that his mother's dreams were twice realized, first as he stepped out of prison and second when he announced his engagement. Sa'id praised his mother constantly, describing her as the ideal Palestinian mother who showed patience and steadfastness during his imprisonment.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33098
Student detained after refusing to shake hands with Israeli President
(8 Nov) On November 2nd, Hebrew University student Ali Bahar was detained for three hours after refusing to shake hands with Israeli president Shimon Peres. Peres was visiting the university as part of a public relations tour. When the President approached Bahar to shake his hand, the student refused, stating "I will not shake hands with a murderer of children." Bahar was referring to the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land, which has cost the lives of 1,050 Palestinian children since 2000. In the same time period, 123 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinian fighters. Immediately following his encounter with the Israeli President, Bahar was detained by university security personnel and his student ID was confiscated.
http://imemc.org/article/57591
UN Sec. Gen.: Israeli settlements in the oPt, including Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan
(5 Nov) 1. In its resolution 62/108 of , the General Assembly expressed, inter alia, grave concern about the continuation by Israel, the occupying Power, of settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly about Israel's construction and expansion of settlements in and around East Jerusalem. It also expressed concern about the dangerous situation resulting from violent actions taken by the armed Israeli settlers in the occupied territory....
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7L764N?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti congratulates Barack Obama for his electoral victory...
(7 Nov) He congratulated Barack Obama for his victory in the long and arduous campaign and wished him luck in the coming period. The Dr. also expressed hope that the President Elect will live up to the promises he made in his campaign: to change the way Washington works, and the way in which it interacts with the rest of the world.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article686
Mahmoud Darwish commemorated in London
(7 Nov) The life and works of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish were celebrated in London Monday in a special event that paid tribute to the renowned Arab writer.The event, organised by Exiled Writers Ink, included readings from the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and other poets, literary analyses of some of his work, a short musical piece, and a documentary extract.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14354
Living the Palestinian paradox
(7 Nov) By Rami Khader -- Who will now address the question of Palestine? Will Hamas stop living a political paradox; simultaneously accepting and refusing to be part of the Oslo Accords? Will the Palestinian people remain the "people of the brave," as the late Yasser Arafat described us, or will we be the starving people who abandon bravery to find bread to feed their children? Will the place where Jesus Christ was born two thousand years ago continue to have Christian inhabitants, or will all of them leave to find a better future for their children?
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33082
Israeli fashion designer sewing Abbas' suits
(7 Nov) from YnetTel Aviv-based Barbaros company sells hundreds of suits to Palestinian Authority . 'I have been working with Palestinians for 30 years,' says owner, 'and maybe these suits will bring us peace'. In spite of the rift between Palestinians and Israelis, it seems someone is still interested in sewing peace..."
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post_07.html
For Palestinians, there are two Obamas
(7 Nov) By Hasan Afif El-Hasan -- Regarding the Palestinian issue, there are two Obamas, the old and the candidate, separated by the moment when Obama decided to run for president. The old Obama had Palestinian friends and he sympathized with the Palestinians, but the candidate Obama sided with the hard-line AIPAC, denied he had Palestinian friends and blamed the persecution of the Palestinians on the victims themselves. He supported Israel's policy in the occupied land including the Gaza siege and starvation its people in defiance of international laws and moral rules as self-defense and he endorsed keeping Jerusalem united under Israeli rule. He never criticized the settlements, the apartheid wall, the roadblocks and checkpoints. Obama even justified the Israeli 2006 war against Lebanon and the massacres of Lebanese civilians as self-defense.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14357
Yes, you can!
(8 Nov) By Uri Avnery -- If the new American administration decides to reassess the American national interest in the Middle East and comes to the conclusion that Israeli-Arab peace is an essential requirement of the American post-Bush policy, then the new President must inform our new Prime Minister of this fact and ask politely but unequivocally for a freeze on the settlements and a start of new negotiations - this time not just to fill time, but to attain final agreement in 2009. Many Israelis would thank him for that. Quite possibly, our next Prime Minister would also thank him in the hidden recesses of his (or her) heart. Will the new American President do so? Is Barack Obama able to do so? There is only one possible answer: Yes, you can!
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1226155650/
Hamas hopeful on Obama
(7 Nov, AP) Hamas strongman Mahmoud Zahar says he hopes the election victory of Barack Obama will open a new page in relations between the US and the Muslim world. However, Zahar says he does not expect immediate change in US policy toward Hamas. Citing what he believes is undue Israeli influence on U.S. policy, he said he doesn't expect Obama to talk to Hamas, at least at the start of his presidency.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3619222,00.html
Report: Meshal says Obama has no choice but to talk to Hamas
(8 Nov) Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshal told Sky News on Saturday that he is willing to hold talks with President-elect Barak Obama, and that he is challenging the newly elected leader to follow through on past statements indicating a willingness to sit down with America's chief adversaries on the world stage. "[Obama] should know he has duties to the United States and in the whole world and in hot spots especially in the Middle East," Meshal told Sky. "Yes we are ready for dialogue with President Obama and with the new American administration with an open mind, on the basis that the American administration respects our rights and our options," Meshal said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1035326.html
First sign of no change: Obama hires chief of staff
(7 Nov) By Mazin Qumsiyeh – The West Bank -- Most of those people voted for Obama even as they saw that his first speech after clinching the nomination was to the powerful Israel-first lobby AIPAC and he surrounded himself with Israel-first people including Dennis Ross, a long-term lobbyist for Israel (Washington Institute for Middle East Affairs, an offshoot of AIPAC). More ominously Obama recruited Congressman Rahm Israel Emanuel (an important fundraiser and organizer) as his Chief of Staff. Emanuel is son of an Israeli terrorist (Benjamin who was a member of Irgun, an underground terror organization in Palestine under the British rule) and someone who volunteered with the Israeli (not the US) army in 1991.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14355
John V. Whitbeck: Obama, Emanuel and Israel
(7 Nov) The profound loathing and hatred of the Muslim world toward the United States, which has always had its roots for America's unconditional support for the injustices inflicted and still being inflicted on the Palestinians, can fairly be considered the core of the primary foreign policy and "national security" problems confronting the United States in recent years. Why would Obama, a man of unquestioned brilliance, have chosen to send such a contemptuous message to the Muslim world with his first major appointment?
http://www.counterpunch.org/whitbeck11072008.html
Palestinian killed in Lebanon camp firefight
(7 Nov) BEDDAWI, Lebanon (AFP) – A member of a Palestinian faction allied to Syria was shot dead in a refugee camp in northern Lebanon on Friday, a Palestinian security official said. Tareq Ziyad Miari, 35, of the Al-Saeqa faction, was hit several times during an exchange of fire between security forces inside the Beddawi camp and a group of wanted men, the official said on condition of anonymity. "He was hit by mistake near the site of the raid when the wanted men opened fire on security forces who had arrived to arrest them," he said. The Lebanese army does not enter the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in the country, leaving responsibility for security to Palestinian factions.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081107/wl_mideast_afp/lebanonunrestpalestinian_081107115951
Thai man shot on Lebanon border
(8 Nov) A 25-year-old Thai worker from the Manara Kibbutz in northern Israel was lightly injured, Saturday, after IDF troops along the border with Lebanon mistakenly identified him as a terrorist infiltrator and shot him.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3619422,00.html
Commentary: Bush's last bullet
(6 - 12 Nov issue) Stemming the positive tide Damascus had deftly caught is why the US attacked Syria, writes Ramzy Baroud -- The sovereignty of an independent, stable country that executed many constructive moves in recent months and weeks, and which could have surely contributed to the stabilisation of the Middle East, has been violated, its borders breached and its civilians killed. But when the country targeted is Syria, an Arab country, and the perpetrator is the US military, then, somehow, things are not as appalling as they may seem.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/921/re5.htm
Iran irked by Obama's tough language
(8 Nov) Iran's parliament speaker slammed on Saturday comments made by President-elect Barack Obama in which he said that a nuclear-armed Iran was "unacceptable," calling the remarks a step "in the wrong direction." Meanwhile, Iran's state radio said that Obama's call for preventing the Persian country from developing nuclear arms would cast doubt and disappoint Iranian expectations of changes in the US foreign policy with the new administration.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1225910064351&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Iran speaker criticizes Obama's nuclear remarks
(8 Nov) Just a couple days following Ahmadinejad's congratulatory letter to US president-elect, Iranian Parliament Member responds to Obama's Friday statement calling nuclear development 'uacceptable.' 'Repeating objections to Iran's nuclear program will be taking a step in wrong direction,' says Ali Larijani -- Larijani said Iran would not yield to international pressure to abandon its "right to nuclear technology."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3619443,00.html
Robert Fisk: Obama has to pay for eight years of Bush's delusions
(8 Nov) He will have to get out of Iraq, and he will have to tell Israel a few home truths -- American lawyers defending six Algerians before a habeas corpus hearing in Washington this week learned some very odd things about US intelligence after 9/11. From among the millions of "raw" reports from American spies and their "assets" around the world came a CIA Middle East warning about a possible kamikaze-style air attack on a US navy base at a south Pacific island location. The only problem was that no such navy base existed on the island and no US Seventh Fleet warship had ever been there.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-obama-has-to-pay-for-eight-years-of-bushs
-delusions-1001092.html
Iraq Shiite clerics warn against US security pact
(7 Nov) BAGHDAD – Shiite clerics warned the government Friday not to sign a security pact that would keep U.S. troops in Iraq until 2012, as the prime minister studied what U.S. officials described as the final draft of the agreement.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081107/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
Iraqi president hints he might veto minorities bill
BAGHDAD, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, whose three-member Presidency Council vets all legislation, has hinted he might veto a bill guaranteeing council seats to minorities, which they complain gives them too few seats. A statement from Talabani's office posted on his website late on Thursday said he had met with minority Christians.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBR624535.htm
Friday: 1 US soldier, 10 Iraqis killed; 15 Iraqis wounded
(7 Nov) Excerpt: At least five Iraqis were killed and another 15 were wounded during light violence on the prayer day. Although there was a break in bombings today, officials are still concerned about the uptick in the use of ''sticky bombs' during October. A U.S. solider died from non-combat related causes in At Ta'mim province as well.
http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=13734
Baghdad bombing hits Shia family
(7 Nov) A bomb has exploded in Baghdad in front of a house belonging to a Shia family who had recently returned to their home in a mostly Sunni area, police say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7716209.stm
Iraq suicide bombing kills eight
(8 Nov) Eight people have been killed in a suicide bombing near the city of Ramadi, in Iraq's Anbar province, west of Baghdad, Iraqi police say. Several policemen were among the dead. At least 14 other people were injured.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7717560.stm
After the carnage, life returns to Baghdad bazaars
(8 Nov) Martin Chulov in Baghdad -- In the bazaars and back streets of central Baghdad, a new palette of noises colours the air. Hammers and drills resound through scarred neighbourhoods in need of a facelift. As recently as six months ago, some of the darkest moments of Iraq's slide into anarchy were played out in these streets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/08/iraq-anbar-al-qaida-baghdad
Tariq Ramadan: 'The life of an Iraqi is worth no less than that of an American'
(8 Nov) The policies of the Bush administration have produced a worldwide rejection of the US. The new president must begin with symbolic actions to demonstrate that the life of an Afghan, an Iraqi or a Muslim is worth no less than that of an American. Obama can no longer justify, in the name of American national security, the deaths of the innocent, legalised torture, extraordinary rendition and other discriminatory measures. Yet his campaign has made it clear that we must entertain no illusions, or succumb to irrational hope. The Palestine-Israel conflict is central to world peace, but Obama has taken such an outspoken pro-Israel stance that significant change on this issue is extremely unlikely.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/08/barack-obama-us-elections2008
Shadi Fadda
Israel demolishes homes for 'City of David' heritage site
(7 Nov) By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem -- Israel has been accused of demolishing Palestinian houses in Arab East Jerusalem while international attention was focused on the election of Barack Obama. Palestinian leaders and Israeli human rights organisations have said Israeli authorities displaced more than 20 people – mostly children – by demolishing three homes in the Silwan district of Jerusalem to make way for an archaeological park.
http://www.independent.co.uk/
-heritage-site-1000359.html
Peace Now: Legal actions - Givati parking lot in Jerusalem
(Nov; included photos) The Israel Antiquities Authority, along with the Elad Association, is digging and building without a building permit and without valid plans, near one of the most sensitive places in the world, in the Givati parking lot, which is 30 m from the walls of the Old City and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. A Peace Now investigation discovered that the work is not only an archaeological dig but is part of a grandiose plan for a 115,000 m² building with a function hall, a commercial center, guest rooms and an underground parking lot. Usually in archaeology digging is done carefully and gently so as not to harm the antiquities. In the Givati parking lot the work is actually construction of foundations for a giant building planned on the site, without a valid plan and without building permits. As a result of that work damages and cracks were caused to the neighboring houses and there is a real risk of a collapse and disaster.
http://www.peacenow.org.il/
IDF asks police, Shin Bet for info on left-wing figures active in West Bank
(7 Nov) The Israel Defense Forces has asked the Shin Bet security service and the police to provide it with information on left-wing figures active in the West Bank so it will be easier to issue restraining orders against them, Haaretz has learned. Since the IDF does not gather intelligence on Israeli citizens, the GOC Central Command depends on evaluations by the Shin Bet prior to signing restraining orders. So far, such orders have only been issued against extreme right-wing activists suspected of subversive activities. This time, the army has focused on a number of activists protesting the security fence, those who help Palestinians harvest their olives, and others.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Court: Federman can stay in West Bank
(7 Nov) The Jerusalem Magistrate's court rejected Friday the Prosecutor's Office's second request to ban rightist activist Noam Federman from Judea and Samaria, after he was indicted for aggravated assault of a police officer. Judge Shulamit Dotan ruled Friday that the Prosecutor's Office petition to forbid Federman from entering Judea and Samaria is premature, and that the rightist activist should be allowed to see the evidence against him before any decision on the matter is taken.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Bil'in demonstrators mark fourth anniversary of Yasir Arafat's death
(7 Nov) Dozens suffer from teargas inhalation during the weekly non-violent demonstration in Bil'in -- Report by the Bil'in Popular Committee Against the Apartheid Wall and Settlements. (To view the Bil'in village website click here) A protest was launched today after the Friday prayer in Bil'in, with residents joined by international and Israeli activists. The demonstrators marched in the village chanting against the discriminatory policies of the occupation and paying respect for Arafat's life. When the protest reached the gate, they were stopped by sound grenades and teargas. Dozens suffered from gas inhalation.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
-of-yasir-arafat%E2%80%99s-
ISM: One arrested and seven injured in Ni'lin prayer demonstration
(7 Nov) Six residents of Ni'lin and a Danish solidarity activist were injured today by Israeli forces as they demonstrated against the construction of the apartheid wall in the village of Ni'lin. One American solidarity activist was also arrested as the demonstration was coming to an end.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
B'Tselem: Testimony of 12-year-old beaten and imprisoned with adults
(7 Nov) Testimony taken by B'Tselem from Mohammad Khawaje who was arrested from Ni'lin on the 11th September 2008 -- Last Thursday [11 September], around 3:00 A.M., I woke up from my mother's shouts. She was shouting, "Get up! Get up! The army is here!" My father wasn't home that night. I got up and went out with her to the inner courtyard of the house. There were about 12 soldiers there, and their faces were painted black. One soldier wore a black hat that covered his face. He sat on the stairs outside the house and didn't take part. I think he was a collaborator who led them to houses.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
Palestinians enter Hebron mosque by the thousands in closure protest
(7 Nov) Thousands of Palestinians descended on the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron on Friday after calls from West Bank leaders urged support for the city in its efforts to lift the Israeli siege and closure policy. The city's head mufti, Mohamad Maher Meswada, noted in his Friday sermon the importance of supporting the National Campaign to Lift the Closure of Hebron. "Through flocking from all parts of the West Bank to pray in the mosque, and to tour the alleys and neighborhoods of the Old City, and by purchasing from its stores in support of its residents, we stand against the attacks of Israeli soldiers and settlers," Meswada told the crowds. Earlier on Thursday, Israeli soldiers prevented internationals and journalists from entering the area near the mosque, under the pretense that it is a closed military zone.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Settlers stone six-year-old boy in Hebron
(8 Nov) Israeli settlers wounded six-year-old Palestinian Bilal Da'na from Hebron after pelting the young boy with stones near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, Palestinian sources in Hebron said. Israeli soldiers stationed in the area stood by without preventing the group of settlers from assaulting the boy, locals reported, adding that when Israeli police arrived on the scene, none of the rock-throwers were arrested. Medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said Da'na was taken to the governmental hospital in Hebron to treat moderate head injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Jewish settlers beat up Palestinian boy near Hebron
(8 Nov, photo) HEBRON, West Bank (AFP) – Jewish settlers on Saturday beat up a six-year-old Palestinian boy near the West Bank town of Hebron , and he was taken to hospital suffering from moderate head wounds, medics said. The incident was the latest in a surge of settler attacks on Palestinians, peace activists and Israeli soldiers since the authorities dismantled a settlement outpost near Hebron last month.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Girls arrested in Hebron claim police abused them
(7 Nov) Three girls who were arrested last week during clashes between settlers and security forces in Hebron claim to have been abused by the police, according to the attorney representing one of the suspects. Attorney David Halevy filed a complaint with the Police Investigation Unit (PIU) claiming that the girls, aged 12, 15, and 17, were falsely accused of a number of crimes in police reports and abused by officers in various manners. The three girls were indicted a week ago on charges of obstruction of justice and reckless endangerment. They were also charged with assault of police officers during the evacuation of an illegal structure in Kiryat Arba.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Owner of disputed house in Hebron threatens to sue State
(7 Nov) American-Jewish businessman whose disputed purchase of property inflamed conflict in Hebron claims he will sue government, prevent his community members from investing in Israel if court evicts Jewish settlers living there -- Morris Abraham, 40, is a member of the Syrian-Jewish community in New York. His great-grandfather was a resident of Hebron during the 1929 riots, and Abraham claims his investment in various projects in the city is personal.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Russian Mufti joins Hebron sit-in; sends encouragement to Palestine from Russia
(8 Nov) As part of the week-long activities of the National Campaign to Lift the Siege in Hebron, Russian Mufti Sheikh Othman Ishaq along with a delegation of Russian officials joined a sit-in in central Hebron protesting the occupation of the city by Israeli forces and settlers. The Russian Mufti spoke words of encouragement to Palestinian Muslims and sent regards from Russia. "We kept dreaming that one day we will visit Palestine and to pray in the Al-Aqsa and the Ibrahimi Mosque and yesterday we prayed in Al-Aqsa and today we will pray in the Ibrahimi," he said. After his tour of the city the Russian Mufti expressed his deep grief over the living conditions of Palestinians and Muslims.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Al-Jazeera video: Palestinians struggle in divided city of Hebron
Palestinians have ended a week-long solidarity campaign against the Israeli authorities' closure of the old city of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank. Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports on what that closure has meant for the city's Palestinian residents.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
Israeli army studies 'abuse video'
(7 Nov) The video [included] shows a bearded Palestinian detainee, blindfolded, and apparently kneeling close to a high concrete barrier. Around him are a group of Israeli soldiers, some of whom are jeering. One soldier goads the blindfolded man into repeating what he is saying. The taunt ends with the words: "Golani will bring you a log to stick up your ass." As the man repeats it, the soldiers can be heard laughing loudly. In a statement to the BBC, the Israeli army said it considered the incident "grave", and condemned the behaviour. The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says we have no clue as to when or where this video was shot and it is impossible to know just how frequently such incidents occur. But a leading Israeli human rights group says "many instances of abuse are not exposed because they have become the norm".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
Guard pigs' sensitive snouts to secure West Bank settlements
(6 Nov) TEL AVIV — An Israeli contractor is supplying trained pigs to guard Jewish communities in the West Bank. Gdud HaIvri has been negotiating for contracts in which pigs would be stationed on the perimeter of Jewish communities in the West Bank. The Israeli company, which already supplies guard dogs to the communities, has determined that pigs would be more effective in detecting attackers and explosives. An executive at Gdud HaIvri said Muslim assailants, prohibited from touching pigs, could be deterred. "...this animal is considered dangerous by Islam." [same old nonsense]
http://www.worldtribune.com/
Palestinian police call Israeli military to collect three lost Israelis near Bir Zeit
(7 Nov) Three Israelis mistakenly entered the Palestinian village of Bir Zeit on Friday, prompting Palestinian police officers to call the Israeli military in the area so that the three could be removed. Earlier Israeli reports said Palestinian police intercepted the three lost Israelis, but police denied this claim saying that they notified the police in charge of Israelis in the West Bank and had not further involvement with the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
British delegation visits Salfit, implements school library project
(7 Nov) A delegation of British leaders representing "sister cities" met with their West Bank counterparts on Friday in Salfit. The delegation from the British city of Watford visited the Palestinian district and was received by members of the Sister Cities Committee there. The delegation stopped off in Bruqeen, meeting with Abdallah Awad, the principal of an elementary school, who thanked the delegation for its donated funds, "through which our school implemented the student library project," he said. Awad noted that the library will contain science books.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Palestinian unity talks called off after Hamas boycott
(8 Nov) CAIRO (AFP) – Reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian factions were called off on Saturday after Hamas announced a boycott to protest the detention of hundreds of its members by president Mahmud Abbas 's security forces. "They've been cancelled," Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told AFP. Another Egyptian official, who asked not to be named, said the talks had been delayed to an undetermined date at the request of Hamas
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Hamas to boycott Palestinian reconciliation talks
(8 Nov, AP) Group announces it will not go to Cairo as planned on Sunday, claims Egyptian sponsors of meetings are biased -- A senior Hamas official in Syria on Saturday announced that his group would boycott this weekend's Palestinian reconciliation talks with rival Fatah. Deputy Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk blamed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for the talks' collapse. He said the group's decision to stay away was taken after Fatah failed to release Palestinian prisoners from its jails.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Egypt postpones Cairo talks at Hamas' request
(8 Nov) Early reports from Reuters say Hamas officials have informed Cairo that they will not be attending the conciliation talks, scheduled to begin Sunday. Meanwhile delegations from the Palestinian People's Party (PPP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Arab Liberation Front (ALF) arrived at Rafah crossing Saturday morning and were refused entry into Egypt. Egyptian border officials are reported to have told the delegations that they could not enter the country for "technical reasons." The delegations were turned away and told to go home. Representatives from Hamas said they would address the issue of their non-attendance in Cairo in a Saturday afternoon press conference.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
De facto government slams Abbas' political prisoners denial
(7 Nov) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's assertion on Friday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is not holding political prisoners could very well derail the Egyptian sponsored unity talks, according to a spokesperson for the de facto government in Gaza. "The Palestinian dialogue requires an immediate end to the arrest campaign in the West Bank, as well as releasing political prisoners in their jails," An-Nunu said in a statement received by Ma'an. Earlier on Friday, Abbas said that the PA holds no political prisoners in the West Bank, contrary to weekly reports by Hamas that the Fatah-led government has been rounding up Hamas affiliates for months.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Haniyya: 'Fatah's actions in the West Bank obstruct internal dialogue'
(7 Nov) Ismail Haniyya of Hamas, prime minister of the dissolved government in Gaza, stated on Friday that the ongoing arrests carried out by Fateh security forces against Hamas members and supporters in the West Bank will obstruct the internal dialogue talks in Cairo. Haniyya added that there are at least 200 political prisoners in the West Bank, and considered this issue as a real obstacle in front of the Egyptian sponsored Palestinian national dialogue. He also said that "it seems that there is a stream that does not seek reconciliation, we want real and balanced reconciliation which would survive and prosper". In a press conference with the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, in Ramallah on Friday, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said that there are "no political prisoners at all" and that he believes in political pluralism.
http://imemc.org/article/57588
Political prisoner completely paralysed as result of torture
(7 Nov) Ramallah, (PIC)-- Palestinian sources in the West Bank said that Amer Ghazal, a political prisoner in one of Abbas's jails has suffered complete paralysis as a result of the torture he underwent at the jail. The sources, which preferred to remain un-named, said on Friday that Ghazal underwent severe torture, including prolonged periods of (Shabh), which takes several forms; the tying of the feet and hands together behind the body, usually sitting on a low stool and the hanging to a door or a ceiling by the feet of the hands. Ghazal is detained at the notorious Junaid prison in Nablus.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Hamas: PA security detain 26 party affiliates across the West Bank
(8 Nov) Palestinian Authority security services arrested 26 Hamas affiliates across the West Bank, the party said in a statement released Saturday. Most of those arrested were from the Hebron area in the southern West Bank. In Bethlehem several employees from the As-Subani center for stationery services. There were also arrests in Salfit in the northern West Bank and in the Jericho district to the east.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Rice visits Jenin to tout PA success in combating terrorism
(8 Nov) Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited this former militant stronghold in the West Bank on Saturday to highlight Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' law-and-order campaign, seen as one of the few successes in slow-moving peace efforts. Saturday's trip took her to the northern end of West Bank. Still, despite the effort to showcase improved security in the West Bank, her motorcade took a roundabout route through Israel, rather than straight through the West Bank, to reach Jenin.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Rice: 'Annapolis summit did not fail'
(7 Nov) US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, stated during a press conference with the Palestinian President in Ramallah on Friday, that that Annapolis peace summit did not fail and that if the Palestinians and Israel stay on the track of peace, they will achieve it.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Young woman succumbs to wounds, child patient dies as result of siege
(7 Nov) GAZA, DEIR AL-BALAH, (PIC)-- A young Palestinian woman succumbed to wounds she sustained during the Israeli attack on Tuesday and a child patient died in Gaza after being barred from receiving treatment abroad. Hanin al-Loh, a 23-year-old young woman, was seriously wounded during the incursion of IOF troops to the east of Deir al-Balah on Tuesday.Because of the intensive Israeli fire, the emergency team took a long time to reach causing her to lose a lot of blood. Late on Thursday night she succumbed to her wounds in hospital. Hanin's death raises to eight the number of victims of this latest Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, on Friday morning, seven-year-old boy Adi Abdela'al died in hospital after suffering difficulties in breathing and heart problems and did receive some treatment in an Israeli hospital, but the occupation authorities refused to give him a permit to continue with the treatment. Adi's death raises the number of victims of the siege in the Gaza Strip to 257.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Majda's story - Gaza's new martyrs
(7 Nov) by Samah Sabawi -- One look at Majda's face and I felt consumed by her overwhelming pain. For a month Majda has lived on edge, knowing how ill her father was in Gaza and knowing he may die before she would be allowed to enter into Gaza's closed gates. Majda told me it was not her father's death that pained her as much as knowing how worthless his life and his dignity had become, not only to a world that continues to turn a blind eye to Gaza's misery, not only to the Israelis who have hardened their hearts to the Palestinian suffering, not only to Egypt that continues to act as jailer of Gaza's population , but even to the Palestinian leaders. His illness was exploited by Fatah and his death was exploited by Hamas.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Israel admits 80% fewer Gazans to hospitals as requests increase
(7 Nov) The number of Gazans in need of medical attention admitted into Israel in the past month has declined from 500 to only 62 emergency cases and another 42 who direly needed specialized medical care. Head of Ambulances and Emergency Care in the de facto Ministry of Health Mu'awieh Hassanein said Israel had refused the requests of hundreds of Gazans. The problem, according to Hassanein, has been worsening for three months. Not only are Palestinians refused permission to seek treatment in Israeli hospitals, but they were also denied permission to travel out of the Gaza Strip to seek treatment in Jordan.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Palestinians: IDF, Hamas enchange gunfire in Gaza Strip
(8 Nov, included short news video) Israel Defense Forces soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen on Saturday in the Gaza Strip, Hamas sources and Palestinian medical workers said, in the second violent incident this week to rupture the calm of a truce since June.
Palestinian ambulances rushed to the area near the town of Khan Yunis where Israeli troops had entered drawing fire from Islamist Hamas gunmen deployed in the area, medical workers and Hamas sources said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israeli forces enter Gaza in north and south, igniting clashes with NRB, Al-Qassam
(8 Nov) Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers entered Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and began bulldozing lands in the area, eyewitnesses told Ma'an on Saturday morning. Palestinian resistance factions say they tried to block the invading forces. In the north of Gaza more incursions - at dawn on Saturday Israeli forces entered Gaza near the Erez crossing. The act sparked clashes between Israeli forces and the National Resistance Brigades (NRB), the military wing affiliated to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
http://www.maannews.net/en/
IDF denies troops were operating inside Gaza
(8 Nov, Reuters) IDF sources denied Palestinian claims from Saturday morning that troops had been operating in the Khan Younis region of southern Gaza. The Palestinians claimed that four people had been injured from Israeli shooting within the Strip. An Israeli military spokeswoman denied there was any shooting, saying troops detonated two explosive devices on the Gaza side of a border fence then returned to Israel with no reported casualties.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Hamas says operating against Qassam fire
(8 Nov) Following the Qassam fire that rained down on the south of Israel Friday, Hamas' security forces announced they would begin cracking down on the fire emerging from the Gaza Strip. The organization's internal security agents began to mobilize Friday evening towards Sejaiya district in an attempt to halt the rocket fire. According to Hamas the agents even succeeded in blocking an Islamic Jihad vehicle driving a Qassam-launching cell. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket fire on Friday.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Al-Quds claims responsibility for Sderot shelling
(7 Nov) The Al-Quds Brigades [armed wing of Islamic Jihad] claimed responsibility for shelling the nearby Israeli town of Sderot with six homemade projectiles, in addition to firing others toward Ashkelon on Friday. Al-Quds told Ma'an that "the Israeli air force shelled the launching pad that fired four projectiles at Sderot north of Gaza but there were no injuries." The Brigades also affirmed that the shelling was in response to the latest Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, during which seven Palestinians were killed. "This is an affirmation of the right to self defense," the unnamed Al-Quds source said.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Islamic Jihad: Israeli 'internal politics' escalating Gaza crisis
(7 Nov) Spokesperson Abu Ahmad insisted that "the latest Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip is due to an Israeli internal crisis." "Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered (forces) to strike the Palestinian resistance in Gaza to prove his strength and to prove that he is the best to lead Israel," Ahmad added. He went on to say that the "occupying state is approaching new elections in the coming months. This was all predicted. Despite the truce, which has been in effect for almost five months," Israelis are using the Palestinian playing field "as a headline for internal elections," he claimed.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
ISM Gaza Strip: Sowing lentils, reaping bullets in Kouza'a, Gaza Strip
(7 Nov) A number of Palestinian farmers went to their fields yesterday (6th November) to sow seeds for crops of wheat, lentils and rye to be harvested in the spring. Some internationals, volunteering with ISM Gaza, accompanied the farmers as they worked – the first time in five years for most, if not all of these, farmers. Soon after the farmers started sowing their seeds, two Israeli occupation force jeeps drove to the fence and across from the field that was being worked soldiers got out of the jeeps and lay down on the ground aiming their guns. It wasn't long before the Israeli occupation force soldiers started shooting.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
-gaza-strip/
Epic tale of Gazan escape artist hired by Hamas leaked to Israeli press
(3 Nov) Twenty-one year-old Jamal Abu Dawabah is known as the "king of infiltrators" to the Israeli press, having successfully snuck into Israel from the Gaza strip hundreds of times. Using a forged Israeli ID card, Abu Dawabah worked in a frozen meat factory for several months before he was discovered and stole back into Gaza. The King of the Infiltrators was arrested by Israeli forces on 21 September, and questioned about his activities. Since his arrest, tales of Abu Dwabah's escapades have been leaked to the press, and with each bit of information the young man's tale becomes more epic. The story of Abu Dawabah became politically interesting when leaders of Hamas learned about his abilities and decided to take advantage of them. The principal idea was to have Abu Swabah kidnap soldiers that the party could use as negotiating leverage to ensure the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Maariv published the following transcript reportedly from the investigation session after Abu Dwabah was arrested:
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Haaretz editorial: Relax the trigger finger
(7 Nov) The Egyptian-mediated cease-fire between Israel and Hamas faced one of its most serious challenges this week: Would it fall apart after the operation by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip, or would it be strong enough to endure despite the operation? It is a tough test, one we could have done without. The dilemma before the operation was clear: According to precise intelligence, Hamas had finished digging a tunnel intended to cross into Israel for abducting Israeli soldiers. However, blowing the tunnel up, which killed six Hamas men, could result in a show of force by Hamas, as indeed happened. That means the firing of dozens of missiles at communities in the western Negev. Even worse, such an action could set the Negev communities back five months. What would have happened if it had been Israeli soldiers killed in the operation, or if civilians had been hurt in the Qassam attack that followed? The end of the cease-fire... The cease-fire is an essential Israeli interest, no less than for Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Continuing it has its price and is not without risks, but at the moment there is no practical alternative. Periodic attacks are not a solution to the risks, certainly not for the long term.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Third Free Gaza voyage vessel successfully anchors in Gaza port
(8 Nov) The third Free Gaza ship, the SS Dignity , anchored in the Gaza harbor on Saturday morning after setting sail from Cyprus Friday evening. This marks the fourth ship within three months to successfully arrive in Gaza. The crew reported that a few kilometers off the Gaza shore an Israeli naval gunboat approached cutting across the bow of the boat then "falling back and tracking it for about an hour." Then the gunboat radioed the ship and "asked who they were and where they were going," then asked for the passenger list. One crew member responded: "Our passengers are listed on our Free Gaza website for everyone to see. You're welcome to visit it any time. And… while you're there, feel free to make a donation." After a pause, then a laugh, the voice on the other end said, "Have a nice day." The crew of the latest voyage brought with them one metric ton of medicines, most of which are varieties of basic pain killers and aspirin. These medications were said to be in desperately short supply, and mostly unavailable in local pharmacies.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
European politicians defy Israel, sail to Gaza
( 7 Nov) LARNACA, Cyprus (Reuters) – Eleven European politicians sailed to Gaza from Cyprus Friday after saying attempts to get to the Palestinian territory via Egypt failed. Members of parliament from Britain , Ireland , Switzerland and Italy left the Mediterranean island on a boat arranged by a pro-Palestinian group seeking to highlight the poor living conditions of 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip .
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
Palestinians injured in mysterious explosion near Dir Al-Balah
(7 Nov) Three Palestinians were injured Friday night in a mysterious explosion at the entrance to Dir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.Palestinian medical sources told Ma'an that "three residents were lightly injured in a mysterious explosion while traveling through the entrance" of the city.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Addameer update: Military judge rejects appeal on continued detention of Salwa Salah and Sara Siureh
(7 Nov) Letter of appeal sent out by Addameer Prisoners' Support and Human Rights Association -- Salwa and Sara were both arrested from their homes in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on June 5, 2008. This is the first time that girls under the age of 18 have been put in administrative detention. On June 12, 2008 they were issued with military administrative detention orders. The orders had been set for four months (in respect of Salwa) and five months (in respect of Sara). Sara's sentence was later reduced from five to four months.They were due to be released on October 4th 2008. On October 5th 2008 both girls were issued with a second administrative detention order. The military judge (Eyal Noon) upheld the order for a further three months from October 4, 2008 until January 3, 2009. The military judge claims the girls are still 'dangerous' despite the fact that the military prosecutor has provided no information since the girls were arrested.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
detention-of-salwa-salah-and-
Mother of longest-serving Palestinian prisoner dies at 79
(8 Nov) The mother of Sa'id Al-Atabah, the now freed Palestinian prisoner who served 32 years -the longest term on record - in Israeli jails, passed away on Saturday. Widad Fadda was 79-years-old, and passed away one week after Sa'id married. Al-Atabah was released from jail on 25 August 2008. Shortly after his release he told Ma'an that his mother's dreams were twice realized, first as he stepped out of prison and second when he announced his engagement. Sa'id praised his mother constantly, describing her as the ideal Palestinian mother who showed patience and steadfastness during his imprisonment.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Student detained after refusing to shake hands with Israeli President
(8 Nov) On November 2nd, Hebrew University student Ali Bahar was detained for three hours after refusing to shake hands with Israeli president Shimon Peres. Peres was visiting the university as part of a public relations tour. When the President approached Bahar to shake his hand, the student refused, stating "I will not shake hands with a murderer of children." Bahar was referring to the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land, which has cost the lives of 1,050 Palestinian children since 2000. In the same time period, 123 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinian fighters. Immediately following his encounter with the Israeli President, Bahar was detained by university security personnel and his student ID was confiscated.
http://imemc.org/article/57591
UN Sec. Gen.: Israeli settlements in the oPt, including Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan
(5 Nov) 1. In its resolution 62/108 of , the General Assembly expressed, inter alia, grave concern about the continuation by Israel, the occupying Power, of settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly about Israel's construction and expansion of settlements in and around East Jerusalem. It also expressed concern about the dangerous situation resulting from violent actions taken by the armed Israeli settlers in the occupied territory....
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti congratulates Barack Obama for his electoral victory...
(7 Nov) He congratulated Barack Obama for his victory in the long and arduous campaign and wished him luck in the coming period. The Dr. also expressed hope that the President Elect will live up to the promises he made in his campaign: to change the way Washington works, and the way in which it interacts with the rest of the world.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Mahmoud Darwish commemorated in London
(7 Nov) The life and works of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish were celebrated in London Monday in a special event that paid tribute to the renowned Arab writer.The event, organised by Exiled Writers Ink, included readings from the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and other poets, literary analyses of some of his work, a short musical piece, and a documentary extract.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Living the Palestinian paradox
(7 Nov) By Rami Khader -- Who will now address the question of Palestine? Will Hamas stop living a political paradox; simultaneously accepting and refusing to be part of the Oslo Accords? Will the Palestinian people remain the "people of the brave," as the late Yasser Arafat described us, or will we be the starving people who abandon bravery to find bread to feed their children? Will the place where Jesus Christ was born two thousand years ago continue to have Christian inhabitants, or will all of them leave to find a better future for their children?
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israeli fashion designer sewing Abbas' suits
(7 Nov) from YnetTel Aviv-based Barbaros company sells hundreds of suits to Palestinian Authority . 'I have been working with Palestinians for 30 years,' says owner, 'and maybe these suits will bring us peace'. In spite of the rift between Palestinians and Israelis, it seems someone is still interested in sewing peace..."
http://palestinianpundit.
For Palestinians, there are two Obamas
(7 Nov) By Hasan Afif El-Hasan -- Regarding the Palestinian issue, there are two Obamas, the old and the candidate, separated by the moment when Obama decided to run for president. The old Obama had Palestinian friends and he sympathized with the Palestinians, but the candidate Obama sided with the hard-line AIPAC, denied he had Palestinian friends and blamed the persecution of the Palestinians on the victims themselves. He supported Israel's policy in the occupied land including the Gaza siege and starvation its people in defiance of international laws and moral rules as self-defense and he endorsed keeping Jerusalem united under Israeli rule. He never criticized the settlements, the apartheid wall, the roadblocks and checkpoints. Obama even justified the Israeli 2006 war against Lebanon and the massacres of Lebanese civilians as self-defense.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Yes, you can!
(8 Nov) By Uri Avnery -- If the new American administration decides to reassess the American national interest in the Middle East and comes to the conclusion that Israeli-Arab peace is an essential requirement of the American post-Bush policy, then the new President must inform our new Prime Minister of this fact and ask politely but unequivocally for a freeze on the settlements and a start of new negotiations - this time not just to fill time, but to attain final agreement in 2009. Many Israelis would thank him for that. Quite possibly, our next Prime Minister would also thank him in the hidden recesses of his (or her) heart. Will the new American President do so? Is Barack Obama able to do so? There is only one possible answer: Yes, you can!
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/
Hamas hopeful on Obama
(7 Nov, AP) Hamas strongman Mahmoud Zahar says he hopes the election victory of Barack Obama will open a new page in relations between the US and the Muslim world. However, Zahar says he does not expect immediate change in US policy toward Hamas. Citing what he believes is undue Israeli influence on U.S. policy, he said he doesn't expect Obama to talk to Hamas, at least at the start of his presidency.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Report: Meshal says Obama has no choice but to talk to Hamas
(8 Nov) Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshal told Sky News on Saturday that he is willing to hold talks with President-elect Barak Obama, and that he is challenging the newly elected leader to follow through on past statements indicating a willingness to sit down with America's chief adversaries on the world stage. "[Obama] should know he has duties to the United States and in the whole world and in hot spots especially in the Middle East," Meshal told Sky. "Yes we are ready for dialogue with President Obama and with the new American administration with an open mind, on the basis that the American administration respects our rights and our options," Meshal said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
First sign of no change: Obama hires chief of staff
(7 Nov) By Mazin Qumsiyeh – The West Bank -- Most of those people voted for Obama even as they saw that his first speech after clinching the nomination was to the powerful Israel-first lobby AIPAC and he surrounded himself with Israel-first people including Dennis Ross, a long-term lobbyist for Israel (Washington Institute for Middle East Affairs, an offshoot of AIPAC). More ominously Obama recruited Congressman Rahm Israel Emanuel (an important fundraiser and organizer) as his Chief of Staff. Emanuel is son of an Israeli terrorist (Benjamin who was a member of Irgun, an underground terror organization in Palestine under the British rule) and someone who volunteered with the Israeli (not the US) army in 1991.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
John V. Whitbeck: Obama, Emanuel and Israel
(7 Nov) The profound loathing and hatred of the Muslim world toward the United States, which has always had its roots for America's unconditional support for the injustices inflicted and still being inflicted on the Palestinians, can fairly be considered the core of the primary foreign policy and "national security" problems confronting the United States in recent years. Why would Obama, a man of unquestioned brilliance, have chosen to send such a contemptuous message to the Muslim world with his first major appointment?
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Palestinian killed in Lebanon camp firefight
(7 Nov) BEDDAWI, Lebanon (AFP) – A member of a Palestinian faction allied to Syria was shot dead in a refugee camp in northern Lebanon on Friday, a Palestinian security official said. Tareq Ziyad Miari, 35, of the Al-Saeqa faction, was hit several times during an exchange of fire between security forces inside the Beddawi camp and a group of wanted men, the official said on condition of anonymity. "He was hit by mistake near the site of the raid when the wanted men opened fire on security forces who had arrived to arrest them," he said. The Lebanese army does not enter the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in the country, leaving responsibility for security to Palestinian factions.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Thai man shot on Lebanon border
(8 Nov) A 25-year-old Thai worker from the Manara Kibbutz in northern Israel was lightly injured, Saturday, after IDF troops along the border with Lebanon mistakenly identified him as a terrorist infiltrator and shot him.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Commentary: Bush's last bullet
(6 - 12 Nov issue) Stemming the positive tide Damascus had deftly caught is why the US attacked Syria, writes Ramzy Baroud -- The sovereignty of an independent, stable country that executed many constructive moves in recent months and weeks, and which could have surely contributed to the stabilisation of the Middle East, has been violated, its borders breached and its civilians killed. But when the country targeted is Syria, an Arab country, and the perpetrator is the US military, then, somehow, things are not as appalling as they may seem.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/
Iran irked by Obama's tough language
(8 Nov) Iran's parliament speaker slammed on Saturday comments made by President-elect Barack Obama in which he said that a nuclear-armed Iran was "unacceptable," calling the remarks a step "in the wrong direction." Meanwhile, Iran's state radio said that Obama's call for preventing the Persian country from developing nuclear arms would cast doubt and disappoint Iranian expectations of changes in the US foreign policy with the new administration.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Iran speaker criticizes Obama's nuclear remarks
(8 Nov) Just a couple days following Ahmadinejad's congratulatory letter to US president-elect, Iranian Parliament Member responds to Obama's Friday statement calling nuclear development 'uacceptable.' 'Repeating objections to Iran's nuclear program will be taking a step in wrong direction,' says Ali Larijani -- Larijani said Iran would not yield to international pressure to abandon its "right to nuclear technology."
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Robert Fisk: Obama has to pay for eight years of Bush's delusions
(8 Nov) He will have to get out of Iraq, and he will have to tell Israel a few home truths -- American lawyers defending six Algerians before a habeas corpus hearing in Washington this week learned some very odd things about US intelligence after 9/11. From among the millions of "raw" reports from American spies and their "assets" around the world came a CIA Middle East warning about a possible kamikaze-style air attack on a US navy base at a south Pacific island location. The only problem was that no such navy base existed on the island and no US Seventh Fleet warship had ever been there.
http://www.independent.co.uk/
-delusions-1001092.html
Iraq Shiite clerics warn against US security pact
(7 Nov) BAGHDAD – Shiite clerics warned the government Friday not to sign a security pact that would keep U.S. troops in Iraq until 2012, as the prime minister studied what U.S. officials described as the final draft of the agreement.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Iraqi president hints he might veto minorities bill
BAGHDAD, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, whose three-member Presidency Council vets all legislation, has hinted he might veto a bill guaranteeing council seats to minorities, which they complain gives them too few seats. A statement from Talabani's office posted on his website late on Thursday said he had met with minority Christians.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Friday: 1 US soldier, 10 Iraqis killed; 15 Iraqis wounded
(7 Nov) Excerpt: At least five Iraqis were killed and another 15 were wounded during light violence on the prayer day. Although there was a break in bombings today, officials are still concerned about the uptick in the use of ''sticky bombs' during October. A U.S. solider died from non-combat related causes in At Ta'mim province as well.
http://www.antiwar.com/
Baghdad bombing hits Shia family
(7 Nov) A bomb has exploded in Baghdad in front of a house belonging to a Shia family who had recently returned to their home in a mostly Sunni area, police say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
Iraq suicide bombing kills eight
(8 Nov) Eight people have been killed in a suicide bombing near the city of Ramadi, in Iraq's Anbar province, west of Baghdad, Iraqi police say. Several policemen were among the dead. At least 14 other people were injured.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
After the carnage, life returns to Baghdad bazaars
(8 Nov) Martin Chulov in Baghdad -- In the bazaars and back streets of central Baghdad, a new palette of noises colours the air. Hammers and drills resound through scarred neighbourhoods in need of a facelift. As recently as six months ago, some of the darkest moments of Iraq's slide into anarchy were played out in these streets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Tariq Ramadan: 'The life of an Iraqi is worth no less than that of an American'
(8 Nov) The policies of the Bush administration have produced a worldwide rejection of the US. The new president must begin with symbolic actions to demonstrate that the life of an Afghan, an Iraqi or a Muslim is worth no less than that of an American. Obama can no longer justify, in the name of American national security, the deaths of the innocent, legalised torture, extraordinary rendition and other discriminatory measures. Yet his campaign has made it clear that we must entertain no illusions, or succumb to irrational hope. The Palestine-Israel conflict is central to world peace, but Obama has taken such an outspoken pro-Israel stance that significant change on this issue is extremely unlikely.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
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