(23 Nov) Patients at the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip could die if Israel continues to prevent fuel and essential supplies to the territory, doctors have told Al Jazeera. Shifa hospital in Gaza City is using a faulty generator to operate essential equipment since Gaza's main power plant restricted supplies due to a lack of fuel from Israel. Hassan Khalaf, director of Shifa hospital, said the intensive care unit could be rendered useless and lives were being put at risk. "These patients are directly threatened," he said. "The first threat they face because of the power cut is their low temperature and the lack of oxygen."
http://english.aljazeera.net/
Gaza bakeries turn to animal feed as human supplies run out
(22 Nov) Bakeries in the besieged Gaza Strip have begun grounding second-rate wheat, usually fed to farm animals and birds, to replace depleted reserves as the ongoing Israeli blockade reached its 18th day on Saturday. Human wheat supplies ran out this weekend as Israeli and Egyptian border guards turned away truckloads of donated food and medication, according to Abd An-Nasser Al-Ajrami, the head of the Gaza Strip Society of Mill Owners. Fully 50 percent of Gaza's bakeries were closed by Saturday, according to the United Nations.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Gaza's Christians without Sunday Mass; Pope's diplomatic envoy barred from Strip
(23 Nov) The Catholic faithful in Gaza had no Mass on Sunday when Israel barred a senior church envoy and several priests from entering the Strip. In a statement the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said Papal Nuncio in Israel Archbishop Antonio Franco and priests Shawki Baterian and Humam Khzouz arrived at the Erez border crossing at 8:15 on Sunday morning expecting to be permitted to enter the Strip. The Latin Patriarchate said it had been in contact with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and senior Israeli Army command regarding the visit since Tuesday. Red Cross and United Nations teams were allowed to enter Gaza on Sunday while the Catholic delegation waited at the border. The clerics were en route to Gaza to celebrate mass "at the Holy Family Church in Gaza with local faithful the last Sunday before advent season begins, to highlight that the Holy See is close to the people in Gaza, and its Christian communities in these difficult days."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Barak orders Israeli army to continue Gaza blockade
(23 Nov) Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to keep the Gaza Strip crossing points closed on Sunday. Israeli authorities were [supposedly] preparing to reopen the crossing points, yet after Palestinian fighters launched homemade projectiles last night towards Israeli targets, it was decided that the borders would remain closed.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
IOA keeps Gaza borders shut for 19th day
(23 Nov) GAZA, (PIC)--The Israeli war minister, Ehud Barak, decided at an early hour on Sunday to retain all Gaza Strip's commercial crossings closed for the 19th consecutive day at the pretext that resistance missiles were still being fired at Israeli targets adjacent to the Strip. The Hebrew radio quoted Israeli officials as claiming that preparations were under way to open the crossings but the fall of more missiles led to their continued closure.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Egypt reportedly brokers Hamas-Israel ceasefire, easing blockade of Gaza
(23 Nov) Gaza – Ma'an – An agreement has been reached between Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip and Israel, Hamas announced on Sunday. The agreement centers around a pledge to stop firing on Israeli targets in return for Israel opening crossing points into the besieged Strip, a top Hamas leader said. Hamas official Ayman Taha announced that he had received a telephone call from Egyptian intelligence on Friday, which delivered a message from Israel asking that operations be scrapped in exchange for opening the crossing points. There was no comment from Israel regarding the reported agreement.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Palestinians injured in Israeli surface-to-surface missile attack
(22 Nov) Two Palestinians were injured by a surface-to-surface missile fired from an Israeli artillery base on Saturday night, according to a Gaza hospital official. The two Palestinians were believed to be militants preparing to launch an attack on Israel, though no side claimed responsibility for the men's actions leading up to the Israeli assault. The men, who were apparently only lightly injured, were taken to Beit Hanoun Hospital in Gaza, where Dr. Mua'waiyah Hassanein announced their conditions.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Two Palestinians wounded in Israeli shelling of Gaza
(23 Nov) Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported on Saturday at night that two Palestinians were wounded in Israeli artillery shelling of Beit Hanoun town, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The sources added that one of the wounded residents suffered moderate wounds. Furthermore, the army shelled several homes in Al Qarara town, east of Khan Younis, in the southern parts of the Gaza Strip.Also, WAFA reported that soldiers stationed east of Khan Younis, opened fire at a number of homes in the area causing damage; no injuries were reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Israel: Militants fired three projectiles at Sderot and Ashkelon
(22 Nov) Sources added that the attacks "were breaches of the truce," though the projectiles did not cause any injuries or damage. The reported projectiles landed in Sderot and Ashkelon, Israel on Saturday night, according to security sources.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israelis and Palestinians duel across Gaza border
(22 Nov) JERUSALEM – Israeli and Palestinian officials say the two sides traded fire across the Gaza border, but neither reported casualties. The Israeli military says Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired three rockets on Saturday at Israel but two landed harmlessly in open ground and the third fell back into the coastal Palestinian territory . Hamas security officials say an Israeli surface-to-surface missile struck waste ground in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun but caused no injuries. The military says troops fired at and hit a group of Palestinians that had already fired at least one rocket and was preparing to launch more.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Rescuers pull three Gazans from collapsed tunnel debris
(23 Nov) Palestinians were working inside the tunnel on Sunday morning, when it suddenly collapsed, trapping several under the debris in the As-Salam neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources said the three were taken to Abu Yousif An-Najjar Hospital, but that only one had sustained critical injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Picture: A cow is lifted through a tunnel in Rafah refugee camp
(21 Nov) Muslims prepare for Eid Al-Adha, celebrated at the end of the pilgrimage of the Hajj, purchasing cattle to be slaughtered in commemoration of the willingness of Ibrahim/Abraham to sacrifice his son for God. MaanImages/Hatem Omar
http://www.maanimages.com/
The Popular Committee against the Siege starts collecting medicine to send to Gaza
(23 Nov) The Arabs48 news website reported on Saturday night that the Popular Committee Against the Siege has started collecting medicine and medical supplies from a number of European countries in order to send medical aid to the Gaza Strip. Anwar Al Gharbi, a founding member of the Committee, said that a campaign was launched earlier this month in order to collect donated medicine and medical equipment from different parts of Switzerland, Italy and a number of other European countries. The Committee prepared a list of medications that are most needed in the Gaza Strip and will start collecting them in addition to other medications and equipment. The Committee said that if Egypt bars the entry of the donated medicine through the Rafah border terminal, committee members will deliver the medications by sea. Medicine shortages in Gaza has reached a very critical level as 160 types of medicines are not found in the Gaza Strip and an additional 130 types will run out soon. At least 90 pieces of medical equipment, including 31 dialysis machines, are out of order as they need parts not found in Gaza.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
UN humanitarian chief urges immediate action on Gaza Strip
(22 Nov) United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes urged calm on Saturday. He UN official expressed his hope that all parties to the conflict in the Gaza Strip to refrain from violence and to allow the immediate and sustained reopening of border crossings. "Measures which increase the hardship and suffering of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip as a whole are unacceptable and must cease immediately," he stated.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Hamas chief slams Arab states over 'Gaza tragedy'
(23 Nov) DAMASCUS (AFP) – The exiled political chief of the Islamist Palestinian Hamas group on Sunday slammed Arab and Islamic states for keeping silent over Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip . "What is happening in the Gaza Strip is a tragedy. Shame on those who stay silent on the criminal blockade that has been imposed on Gaza . Shame on Arab and Islamic regimes and on the international community," Khaled Meshaal told a meeting in Syria on the right of return for Palestinian refugees .
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Haaretz editorial: Open Gaza to media coverage
(23 Nov) The heads of the defense establishment are called upon to immediately lift the media closure. Neither the content of media coverage-whether it is interpreted as favorable to Israel or not-nor the nature of the regime in power in Gaza-whether Fatah or Hamas-nor the level of risk to journalists should be a factor influencing journalists' ability to enter the Strip. A Gaza Strip closed to media coverage harms Israel's image and endangers the character of its polity more than any negative article written about it.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israel's new bid to undercut Hamas pushes Gaza toward crisis
(23 Nov) By Dion Nissenbaum. JERUSALEM-- Israel has pushed the Gaza Strip to the brink of a humanitarian crisis by cutting off the supply of most aid, choking off the flow of fuel for Gaza's only power plant and restricting the transfer of most supplies. Beyond that, Israel is barring most diplomats, aid workers and international journalists from going into Gaza-an unprecedented and sweeping ban that's entering its third week. "It's very precarious," John Ging, director of the United Nations refugee program in Gaza, said Friday. "It's really a matter of brinksmanship and we're in a perpetual state of collapse." The new crackdown comes as Israeli leaders are increasingly acknowledging what critics have long argued: That they need to develop different strategies to try and change the political realities in Gaza.
http://www.charlotteobserver.
Pilgrims protest at Rafah crossing holding pictures of Saudi king
(23 Nov) Dozens of Palestinian pilgrims protested on Sunday afternoon at the Rafah Crossing in the south of Gaza Strip after being prevented from leaving for Saudi Arabia. The pilgrims held pictures of King of Saudi Arabia Abdallah Ibn Abd Al-Aziz and chanted slogans calling on Egypt and Saudi Arabia to ease travel regulations in order to allow them to go on the Hajj, the once in a lifetime Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. The de facto government accused the Palestinian Authority of holding these pilgrim's passports and manipulating the names of pilgrims chosen to leave to Saudi Arabia this year.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
A harsh lesson from nature
(22 Nov) By Mohammed Omar. RAFAH, GAZA STRIP //When it rains in Gaza – the cold, heavy downpours that are common this time of year – Wafa Shalouf, 15, all but abandons any attempt at studying. The rain thunders on the iron roof of her makeshift school, drowning out the voice of her teacher, and leaks in through the holes in the roof, soaking her textbooks. Wafa is one of nearly 450 pupils who attend the school in Al Mawasi, a district overlooking the Egyptian-Gaza border and close to Gaza's coast.
http://www.thenational.ae/
Palestinian weather forecast for Sunday
[23 Nov] Gaza City: 16 to 26 C. [61 to 79 F.] Jerusalem: 13 to 21 C. [55 to 70 F.] Hebron: 11 to 19 C. [52 to 66 F.] At least the Gazans won't freeze, thank God.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Technology against siege: Gaza man advocates solar power as blackouts increase
(23 Nov) In Gaza, the Israeli-led siege is the mother of invention. Mahmoud Shahin, a 59-year-old chemistry teacher from Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, is using solar panels to generate electricity for his house after over a week of rolling blackouts. Shahin purchased the solar panels eight years ago from a Palestinian merchant who imported them from Israel. This week he obtained electrical conductors, and succeeded in generating electricity for his house.
Shahin says he dreams of lighting all the hospitals in Gaza with solar power. The power cuts have affected the most basic functions of hospitals.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Jailed activist accuses Israeli prison guards of torture
(232 Nov) An International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist detained in an Israeli jail since his arrest on a Gaza fishing boat condemned Israel on Saturday for conditions that he said qualified as "real torture." Vittorio Arrigoni accused Israel of treatment "manifestly violating every human and civil right" during his ongoing detainment in an Israel jail in Ramle, calling Israeli actions toward himself and two others "against every international law." In a statement received by Ma'an, Arrigoni wrote that he had spent recent hours "locked in a piggish toilette full of fleas and parasites and without drinking water." He also accused prison guards of preventing access to lawyers and consulates, even though he and one other imprisoned activist "asked for it tenaciously many times."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Palestinian expert says Israeli torture of Palestinian prisoners is 'routine'
(23 Nov) Ramallah – It came as no surprise to Abdun-Nasser Farawna when the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot published a report about a "top secret" Israeli intelligence document authorizing the use of torture against Palestinian prisoners. Farawna, a former prisoner and an expert in prisoners' affairs, said torture "began in 1967 as a policy which later got legal coverage and judicial immunity. It aims at destroying Palestinian and Arab prisoners both physically and psychologically." To Farawna, Israel's use of torture is neither secret nor new.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Sinai fuel running low due to Gaza smuggling, increased demand
(22 Nov) Egyptian security sources said on Saturday that fuel supplies in the northern Sinai were running out because of smuggling into Gaza. Palestinians have been smuggling the fuel into the Gaza Strip through tunnels under the border between Gaza and Egypt. [End]
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Former Jerusalem governor dead after soldiers delay ambulance
(23 Nov) A former governor of Jerusalem died of an apparent heart attack as his ambulance was delayed at an Israeli checkpoint en route to a hospital, relatives told Ma'an on Sunday. The 63-year-old former Jerusalem governor, Jamil Othman Nasser, died Saturday evening after Israeli soldiers at the Az-Zaitouna checkpoint refused his ambulance, which was en route to Al-Maqassid Hospital.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Abu Kamel of the Al Kurd family has died, two weeks after Israel forcibly evicted him from his home of 52 years
(23 Nov) Suffering from dangerously high blood pressure, in the aftermath of his family's eviction from the emblematic house in Sheikh Jarrah and consequently being left homeless, 61 year-old Abu Kamel suffered from a deterioration with his long-term health problems and was re-admitted to hospital at around 10pm, Saturday 22nd November. It was soon announced that he had suffered from a heart-attack and died. Fawzia al-Kurd has now lost her husband and her family home within two weeks due to the Israeli state's campaign expand Jewish settlements in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. Despite high-profile formal complaints from the US State department, numerous foreign consulates, and European politicians, who openly questioned the legality of the settlers claims, Israel violently pursued its plans to evict the refugees from 1948.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
after-israel-forcibly-evict-
Israel's Wall puts Emad Burnat and his children in hospital
(23 Nov) At 5:20 pm on Saturday 22nd November, Bi'lin Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements member, Emad Burnat, was admitted to hospital in very serious condition after his tractor flipped over against Israel's Apartheid Wall. The wall – which in Bil'in is composed of metal fence and barbwire – cuts through the village's farmland. The video documenter of the Bi'lin's anti-wall struggle was returning with his children from plowing his fields when he was forced to detour down a steep hill in order to return to the village because the wall separates his home from his land. Loosing control of the tractor on the sharp decline, it overturned directly into the metal mesh and razor wire. While his children were taken to hospital in Ramallah, the army medic who treated Burnat decided to send him to the Tel Aviv hospital out of fear that he wouldn't make to Ramallah alive. None-the-less, it still took the ambulance an hour to arrive at the checkpoint and Burnat had to be transferred from a Red Crescent to an Israeli ambulance before being taken to Tel Aviv.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
-in-hospital/
Settlers in Hebron write graffiti on mosque walls insulting Islam, calling for killing Arabs
(22 Nov) A group of extremist Israeli settlers wrote graffiti on the walls on the Al Ras Mosque, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, calling for killing all Arabs and insulting Islam and Prophet Mohammad. The settlers also dumped trash into the mosque and uprooted dozens of olive trees. The recent attack was carried out as the settlers "were expressing" their rejection to evacuation a Palestinian house adjacent to the mosque. Local sources in Hebron reported that the settlers also desecrated graves in the Islamic graveyard and hurled stones at dozens of Palestinian vehicles and homes in the city. Most of the attacks were concentrated in Al Ja'bary neighborhood, Wadi Al Nasarah, Wadi Al Hasseen, and Jabal Jalis.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Observance of the lawless
(23 Nov) By Akiva Eldar. ... On the way to the retail market, most of which has stood empty since the slaughter of Palestinian worshippers in the winter of 1994, we stopped near the "Red House." A tall Palestinian man in a gray djellaba slowly passed through the IDF roadblock that had been set up in front of the disputed building. Fathi al Razm wanted us to know that he has nothing against the bored soldiers who were gazing at us. The fellows in the gray TIPH uniforms are also nice guys. "Everyone is all right except for the Jewish settlers," he said. "They don't want peace, they just want to make trouble."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Hebron family faces threat of displacement by settlers
(23 Nov) ..."Fifty-seven-year-old Khalifa Da'na and his 17 family members are facing the threat of displacement from Jewish settlers in the Givat Harsina settlement, [a settlement] illegally built on Palestinian land," the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee explained. They also pointed out that the family is facing a life threat now that settlers have demolished long portions of the fence surrounding their home. "Hebron Rehabilitation Committee holds Israeli occupation completely responsible for the lives of the members of the Da'na family and any assaults made against them by settlers," the Committee added.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Despite everything, Hebron is still Palestinian
(23 Nov) By Gideon Levy. A stranger coming to Hebron Saturday would be confused. Border Policemen speaking Amharic with settlers; their Druze friends chattering in Arabic; police, soldiers and settlers praying together in the Abraham hall; American and French Jews armed with machine guns; a sea of tents on the grass in front of the tomb structure. Above all, the surreal look of an abandoned Palestinian quarter, emptied of its inhabitants, a ghost town. Through the protective wire fence erected to block settlers' stones, occasionally the face of a terrified old woman, a frightened child or an embittered man would appear, shut up in their cage.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israeli forces seize three Palestinian youths near Jenin
(23 Nov) Israeli forces arrested on Saturday evening three Palestinian youths from the northern West Bank village of Zabbuba, west of Jenin, after ransacking their homes. Palestinian security sources named the arrestees as 20-year-old Bilal Zaghal, 17-year-old Munir Jaradat and 19-year-old Adnan Sha'ban.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Village council: Detention at gate was purposeful ploy to permanently drive farmers from their lands
(22 Nov) Jenin /Ali Smoudi – Returning from the agricultural lands that are now blocked by the Wall, 200 Palestinians found themselves trapped yesterday. Israeli forces had closed the gate in the Wall that cuts in two the lands of western Jenin's Anin Village. Head of the Village Council, Rabah Yassin said on Saturday, "Over 200 farmers, including women, children, and the elderly were shocked after finishing their work. He continued, "Their agricultural lands which are now located behind the Wall. Returning to the gate they found that the Israeli soldiers who guard it had closed it and left. No prior notice had been given."
http://english.pnn.ps/index.
Bruqin threatened with demolitions
(18 Nov)--Occupation forces have threatened to demolish seven structures being built in the village of Bruqin. These demolitions are part of larger policy aimed at stifling the natural growth of Palestinian communities. The village of Bruqin, located east of Salfit, has lost most of its original 13,273 dunums to settlements located north of the village. Ariel, Brukhin and Barkan have all stolen a share, leaving the village with 5,273 dunums of land. The Wall is projected to run through the northern part of the village, solidifying settlement control over the confiscated land.
http://stopthewall.org/
EU sends police delegation to Palestinian Authority
(22 Nov) delegation of European Union (EU) police officials met with the Palestinian Authority (PA) police unit of the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Saturday. The recently arrived team hopes to initiate a new training program, the security services director announced in a statement received by Ma'an. The EU initiative aimed at providing anti-drug enforcement courses and general performance improvements in preparation for a hypothetical Palestinian state. The project was funded by the Canadian government in partnership with the EU.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
PA police: Illegal drugs discovered in Jenin taxi
(23 Nov) Drug enforcement police in the northern West Bank city of Jenin seized a quantity of illegal narcotics in a taxi on Sunday, according to the city's police department. The department's information office explained that police patrols had stopped the taxi for inspection and found alcohol inside, which officers considered suspicious. The three occupants of the vehicle were taken for interrogation, where is was revealed that they all had previous convictions, the police claimed. The director of Jenin's police department, Wasim Jayyousi, said the taxi was searched and that three bags and other smaller quantities of hashish were found inside, weighing 302 grams in total.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Zahhar: Abbas aborted dialogue
(23 Nov) GAZA, (PIC)--MP Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, one of the prominent Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip, has charged PA chief Mahmoud Abbas with aborting the national conciliation dialog that was scheduled to open in Cairo early this month. Zahhar explained in a TV interview aired on Saturday that Abbas continued to allow political detention in the West Bank despite his calls for dialog, which meant that he says one thing but practices another. Hamas was and still is ready for dialog, the MP asserted, pointing out that his Movement wants a suitable atmosphere to facilitate success of the dialog.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Abbas raises Palestinian election, Hamas says No
(23 Nov) RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters)-Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday he would call for elections in 2009 if his secular Fatah movement and its Islamist rivals Hamas do not reconcile by the end of this year. "If the dialogue does not begin, and if we fail, I will issue a presidential decree early next year calling for simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections," Abbas told members of the Palestine Liberation Organization . He did not name a date. Elections could be held 90 days after his decree, but there was no hint of when that might be. Hamas quickly rejected Abbas's statement.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
In reversal, Abbas says he will call elections if talks with Hamas fail
(23 Nov) The announcement is a reversal for Abbas, who had previously sought an extension on his term in order to stay on through 2010. Hamas, holds a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament, has insisted that Abbas step down at the end of his term in January. Abbas made this statement Sunday during a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Central Council at the Muqata'a, the Palestinian government headquarters in Ramallah.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Hamas: Abbas has no right to call for elections
GAZA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua)--Islamic Hamas movement Sunday slammed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declaration that he would call for early elections by the beginning of next year if the dialogue between rival movements fails. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a top Hamas movement leader in Gaza told reporters in response to Abbas declaration that "Abbas has no right to decide a new date for holding the elections and he has no right to extend his presidential term." Hamas said that according to the constitution, Abbas will not be the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) anymore after Jan. 9 next year, while the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) would temporarily replace him. However, since the PLC speaker Aziz al-Duwaik has been in jail, Hamas said his Gaza-based deputy, Ahmed Bahar, who is also one of the movement's leaders, would be the president for 60 days until anew presidential election is held in the Palestinian territories, according to the law.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Defense establishment paper: Golan for Syria peace, plan for Iran strike
(23 Nov) A defense establishment paper recommends making contingency plans to attack Iran, reaching an agreement with Syria that includes leaving the Golan Heights and preventing new elections in the Palestinian Authority, even if this means a confrontation with the United States. The paper also advises continued Israeli pressure on Hamas to isolate and weaken it, along with bolstering alternatives to it. "If the truce collapses and conflict is resumed in the Gaza Strip, Israel must act to topple Hamas' rule there," it says.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Barhoum: Abbas' remarks on Hamas harmonize with the US-Israeli vision
(22 Nov) GAZA, [PIC]--Fawzi Barhoum, the spokesman of Hamas's Movement in Gaza Strip, has asserted Saturday that the harsh statements of PA chief Mahmoud Abbas against his Movement were coinciding with the Israeli and American vision, and prove that Abbas was no longer fit to remain as Palestinian president.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
PLO leader: Hamas wants Islamic emirate in Palestine
(22 Nov) n Executive Committee secretary within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) accused Hamas of working toward the establishment of a Saudi-styled "Islamic emirate" in Gaza and, eventually, all of Palestine. Secretary Yasser Abed Rabbo made the comments at a seminar organized by the Cultural Liberation Organization on Saturday in Ramallah, where he gave a lecture on the signing of the now 20-year-old Palestinian Independence document in Algiers. The Hamas leadership "wants to return to the era of the PLO before Arafat's rule," according to the PLO leader, who went on to say that Hamas is willing to replace the national draft agreement with one that would "establish an Islamic emirate."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
UN draft resolution affirms Palestinian right to self-determination
(23 Nov) A planning committee within the United Nations (UN) approved a draft resolution affirming Palestinians' right to self-determination to be voted on in the international body's General Assembly meeting. Text follows:
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Tamar Yorum's "To see if I'm smiling"
(21-23 Nov issue) Women soldiers serving in (and barely surviving) the Israeli army --By Larry Portis. Tamar Yorum is a young Israeli woman who represents an important phenomenon in her country: the transfer of allegiance of the Israeli intelligentsia from support of established ideas and institutions to an alternative vision of social existence. To criticize service in the Israeli army, no matter how implicitly, is to question the very foundations of the Israeli state. Her documentary film on women's obligatory military service in Israel uses clandestine footage from human rights groups such as B'Tselem and, especially, filmed interviews of young Israeli women recounting their experiences as soldiers in the famed Israeli Defense Forces, the IDF — "Tsahal".
http://counterpunch.org/
A sad letter, from an Israeli peace activist
(21 Nov) By Beny Gefen. I've returned to the Holy Land after 2 interesting and beautiful months in China, admiring the huge development. Here I notice the sad shameful reality: Last Friday we, 15 Israelis, came to Burin, a Palestinian village. 3000 people live there and they live mainly off the olive orchards, part of them hundreds years old. To their bad luck 2 groups of messianic-lunatic-evil Jews had settled on their land and near it. These 'neighbors', by the name of God, torture the locals, cut their trees and burn them.. In the last 6 months they burnt about 3000 trees and previously about 7000. We came after coordination with the military to begin pruning the burnt trees .In spite of the early coordination the army drove out the owners of the orchards and us being afraid of the brutal vulgar settlers.We`ll try again tomorrow. NO ONE OF THE VANDALS HAS BEEN ARRESTED!
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_
Israel is a successful occupier
(23 Nov) By Shadi Fadda. While we watched the twice democratically elected Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon saying "I believe in peace, I believe that we can live together side by side," the worst part of it was the Western applause. Palestinians are the ones who saw it as unclear--whether to laugh at Sharon's spectacle, or to shout about world blindness, or to scream at Arab silence. Those were the nice days. Those were the days when the Palestinians were fighting Israel.
http://www.theheadlines.org/
Diana Butto: "Separate Is Never Equal: Stories of Apartheid from South Africa to Palestine
A national speaking tour featuring a South African reverend and Palestinian lawyer started off at the Palestine Center on Monday, 10 November 2008. The tour, sponsored by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation ( www.endtheoccupation.org), draws on the parallels between the South African and Israeli systems of apartheid. Apartheid, according to the International Criminal Court, refers to "an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime." Ms. Diana Buttu formerly worked with the Negotiations Support Unit of the PLO. She currently does media outreach with the Institute for Middle East Understanding and teaches at Birzeit University in Ramallah."
Part 1 of 3-9:47: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Part 2 of 3 -9:26: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Part 3 of 3 -5:47: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Turkish academic cancels meeting with Israeli diplomats
(23 Nov) Istanbul University rector enraged when Israeli ambassador, consul general arrive for scheduled meeting accompanied by security guards, calls off meeting after guards refuse to leave--This is the second awkward diplomatic incident involving Israeli officials in one week, as last Tuesday President Shimon Peres was interrupted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators and called a "war criminal" during his speech at Oxford University.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Eyes wide shut
(22 Nov) By Uri Avnery--...Barack Obama will enter the Oval Office twenty days before the Israeli elections. He has still got a chance to have a decisive impact on the outcome. Nobody in Israel wants to quarrel with the United States. If the new President announces immediately after taking office that he is determined to achieve peace between Israel and the Arabs in the spirit of the Saudi peace initiative, before the end of 2009, this will influence many voters. If Netanyahu is elected, President Obama will be faced with a dilemma: either to enter into a serious conflict with the Government of Israel, with all the American domestic implications, or to leave peace in the freezer, like his predecessors. The American elections were important for Israel. The Israeli elections will be important for America, too.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/
Israel elects its Bush
(23 Nov) By Gideon Levy. The elections for the 17th Knesset have already been decided: Benjamin Netanyahu will be the next prime minister. Nothing will change the current trend, which was reflected in polls this weekend. At a time when the entire world, including Israel, is amazed and moved by the miracle election of Barack Obama, Israel is on the verge of electing George Bush.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Negotiations forever
(23 Nov) By Zvi Bar'el. ... In summation, there is no one in Israel who will pick the Saudi initiative up off the floor and put it on the table. But you have to admit that the evasive maneuvers Israeli politicians are taking with regard to the initiative are brilliant: "regional peace" or "comprehensive peace" or "direct negotiations with the Palestinians and the Syrians first." Anything to make sure that we are forever engaged in some negotiations.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Poverty at 10-year low, but nearly 1 in 4 Israelis still poor
(23 Nov) The number of poverty stricken people has dropped from 1,674,800 in February 2007 to the current 1,630,400. This accounts for a decrease of 44,000, and a poverty level of 23.8 percent for 2007 as opposed to last year's 24.5 percent. The report indicates a very slight general improvement that is mainly due to the rise in the number of employees in the economy and the increase in payment that was registered in 2007.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Shas Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: Secular teachers are 'asses'
(23 Nov) Spiritual leader of the Ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef called secular teachers in Israel "asses" on Saturday during his weekly sermon. Yosef has previously voiced his desire that the Education Ministry be handed over to Shas' authority. In his sermon, the rabbi said that the teachers in the secular education system know nothing, "neither Shabath, nor holiday", and teach only "nonsense", and added that people whose parents placed them in the secular education system are unfortunate. "What do they teach?They teach history and all sorts of nonsense about world nations, that's all," he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israel appoints first Arab female professor in country's history
(23 Nov) The Appointments Committee of the Higher Education Council on Sunday bestowed the title of professor on Haula Abu-Bakar, a teacher and lecturer at Jezreel Valley College, making her the first ever female Israeli-Arab professor in Israel. Dr. Abu Bakar, 53, a resident of Acre, is seen as a trailblazing figure in the study of mental health in the Arab sector, focusing on how the issues of gender, mental health and sexual violence affect the community. Abu Bakar also authored the book "On an unpaved path", dealing with the female Arab political leaders, and "The Upright Generation", which dealt with the lives of Palestinian youths in Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Magical, terrible Jerusalem
(21 Nov) By Diana Zinkler. After my second day in Jerusalem I was on the point of despair – so much prejudice is packed into this city--Jerusalem is special. A great place somehow, but a terrible place, too. Why do I say this?Because for me the diversity feels rigid, narrow-minded and hard-hearted. It made me unhappy to talk to so many really nice people, and when the conversation came to the point where people of other nationalities were mentioned, so much negative things came up: The Arabs do this, the Jews get that-everyone feels that they are being treated unfairly. And all the prejudices by people who believe in God. As if their belief or religion have nothing to do with their everyday reality.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Candidate for US security adviser wants NATO force in West Bank
(23 Nov) General James Jones, whom U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is widely expected to tap as his national security adviser, supports the deployment of an international force in the West Bank instead of the Israel Defense Forces. He also opposes Israel's demand to retain extensive security control over the territories even after a Palestinian state is established.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
How Guantanamo can be closed
(20 Nov) More advice for Obama-by Andy Worthington. The notion that prisoners can be "too dangerous to release but not guilty enough to prosecute" is another hallmark of the Bush administration's disdain for the law, but this, too, has been embraced by enthusiasts for a new policy of "preventive detention." The rationale is, however, also unjustifiable.
http://counterpunch.org/
Fearing attack, Iranian militia holds massive defense drill
(23 Nov, Reuters) An Iranian militia held civil defense drills on Sunday to prepare for any air strikes and the military said it could close a waterway crucial for world oil supplies if Iran was attacked. The exercises organized by student members of the Basij militia were held at hundreds of schools across the country and involved transporting wounded people and putting out fires after a fictitious bombardment by enemy planes.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Ex-IDF Chief Ya'alon: We must consider killing Ahmadinejad
(23 Nov) Former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe "Boogie" Ya'alon told an Australian newspaper this week that the West must consider all options necessary to stop Tehran's nuclear program, including assassinating Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "We have to confront the Iranian revolution immediately," Ya'alon said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, published Monday morning Australia-time. "There is no way to stabilize the Middle East today without defeating the Iranian regime. The Iranian nuclear program must be stopped."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israel worried US will sell tanks to Lebanon
(22 Nov) There is a possibility these tanks will fall into Hizbullah's hands," one official warned. "At the moment, Hizbullah does not yet have heavy armor in its arsenal." On Friday, the An-Nahar daily reported the US was planning to deliver dozens of M60 tanks to Lebanon in several batches starting early next year. A specific number was not reported.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Saturday: 12 Iraqis killed, mass grave found
(22 Nov) Excerpt: At least 12 Iraqi deaths were reported today, none in Baghdad or Mosul where bombings occur on a daily basis. Ten of the dead were found in a mass grave south of the capital. Meanwhile, a parliamentary vote on a U.S.-Iraqi security pact is now set for Wednesday. Also, hundreds of tribesmen near Mosul demonstrated for the formation of Sahwa councils there. Ten bodies were found in a mass grave in Iskandariya. Two of the dead were women.
http://www.antiwar.com/
Sunni sheikhs air grievances, but will work with Shiite-led government
(22 Nov) McClatchy Newspapers-ABU GHRAIB, Iraq-The meeting was billed as a routine press conference to show off a new government center in this town west of Baghdad--known to Iraqis for the infamous prison as well as for the deep distrust between the Shiite-led central government and the Sunni tribes that reside here.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/
www.TheHeadlines.org
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