(14 Nov) The Popular Committee Against the Siege, headed by Legislator Jamal El Khodary, stated that all power generators at the Gaza Power Plant stopped operating due to the lack of industrial fuel as the Israeli occupation barred fuel supplies from entering Gaza ten days ago. On Thursday evening, at 6:30, the Committee sounded sirens in different parts of the Gaza Strip to announce that the power plant is not functioning anymore. Al Khodary stated in a press conference in Gaza that since the Power Plant is not functioning, hospitals and medical centers would not be able to function. Other basic services, including drinking water wells, will also be out of order. The power shortage would also disrupt critical water and sanitation services, this endangering the health and life of the residents.
http://imemc.org/article/57658
UN: Israel's border closures leave us with no food for Gaza
(14 Nov) By Amira Hass -- The United Nations on Thursday warned its stocks had run so low that it would not be able to make its next delivery of food to 750,000 needy Gazans on Saturday. "We've been working here from hand to mouth for quite a long time, so these interruptions on the crossing points affect us immediately," said John Ging, director of UN Relief and Works Agency operations in Gaza... Speaking in Brussels, Belgium, UNRWA head Karen AbuZayd said it was unusual for Israel not to let basic food and medicines in. "This has alarmed us more than usual because it's never been quite so long and so bad, and there has never been so much negative response on what we need," she said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Renewed flare-up of violence around Gaza
(14 Nov) GAZA CITY (AFP) – Violence flared again around Gaza on Friday, wounding a woman in Israel and two Palestinian militants, as UN food delivery to 750,000 people ground to a halt in the besieged coastal strip. Several rockets fired by Gaza militants hit southern Israel and one woman in the frequently targeted city of Sderot was hospitalised with shrapnel wounds, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. At least three rockets hit Ashkelon without causing any casualties, emergency services said. Hamas said it had targeted the port city with five Grads -- military-grade missiles that have a longer range than the makeshift weapons usually fired into southern Israel. In Gaza, two militants were wounded in an Israeli air strike, medics and witnesses said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Gaza: 16 projectiles and Israeli counterattack leave Israel, 4 Palestinian injured
(14 Nov) The Abu Ali Mustafa, An-Nasser and Al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the launch of 11 projectiles which landed near Ashkelon at dawn on Friday, and another five launched at 11:30. In response to the first set of projectiles, the Israeli army launched an airstrike against the area they believed the projectile to have been fired. Palestinian medical sources confirmed that four resistance fighters were taken to hospital with serious injuries after being injured in the Al- Atatra area north of Beit Lahia. They would not comment in the identities or affiliations of the fighters.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israel, Hamas clashes threaten Gaza truce
(14 Nov) GAZA (Reuters) – The Israeli air force attacked a Palestinian Hamas rocket crew in Gaza on Friday and Hamas rockets hit an Israeli city, in the 11th day of long-range skirmishes threatening to wreck a five-month-old truce. Palestinian medical workers said two Hamas fighters were wounded in the air strike, which an Israeli military spokesman said was ordered in response to a Hamas rocket attack. Hamas said it fired 8 rockets at the city of Sderot. Two hit the town causing damage to buildings, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. One Israeli was treated for shrapnel wounds, and a number of people were treated for shock.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
Likud MK Erdan: Resume targeted assassinations of terror group heads
(14 Nov) Following Friday's rocket attacks by Gaza terrorists, Likud MK Gilad Erdan called for a resumption of targeted assassinations against heads of terror organizations. Speaking to Army Radio, Erdan said that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were "burying their heads in the sand" and said Likud was demanding that they "stop this weakness and hesitancy, announce the end of the truce and start targeting, personally and directly, the heads of terror groups, including Hamas."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Hamas: IDF's Gaza incursions Barak election ploy
(14 Nov) By Amira Hass -- GAZA - The escalation in violence between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip over the last week is an Israeli provocation aimed at increasing Defense Minister Ehud Barak's standings in the polls, Hamas spokesman Taher a-Nunu said yesterday. The Islamic group said the killing of several Palestinian gunmen in two separate incursions by the Israel Defense Forces into the Gaza Strip was intended to increase Barak's poor numbers in the polls ahead of the February general elections. He added it was also meant to force Hamas into reaching an agreement with the more moderate Fatah.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Bahar: Israel does not want to be committed to the truce
(13 Nov) GAZA, (PIC)-- Ahmed Bahar, the acting speaker of the PLC, strongly denounced the Israeli military assault on Khan Younis on Wednesday which claimed the lives of four Palestinian fighters affiliated with Al-Qassam Brigades, saying that this crime and the previous one proved beyond doubt that the Israeli occupation does not want to be committed to the truce. In a statement received by the PIC, Bahar underlined that Israel wants to continue its aggression on the Palestinian people in Gaza, adding the Palestinian resistance has the right to retaliate by all possible means to any Israeli assault.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Israel to Hamas: We don't want escalation in Gaza
(13 Nov) By Barak Ravid and Amira Hass -- Israel on Thursday delivered a message to Hamas via Egyptian intermediaries indicating that while it has no interest in escalating tensions along the Gaza border, it will retaliate against any attempt by the Islamist group to carry out attacks. Hamas for its part insists it is Israel that is guilty of perpetrating provocations.Nonetheless, a spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza told a Haaretz reporter that the Islamist group is also interested in maintaining the truce, "but not from a position of weakness and if the provocation [by Israel] will be bigger than expected, the Palestinian response will not be a simple one."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
In continued escalation, Gazans shell Israel after deadly IDF raid
(14 Nov) By Amos Harel -- Palestinian militants fired Qassam rockets and mortar shells at Israel for the ninth consecutive day Thursday with at least five Qassam rockets and six mortar shells landing in open fields surrounding the Gaza Strip in the morning. Three more rockets fell in open areas near Sderot last night. No injuries were reported.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
The return of blood and anger - and the political cost of ending the ceasefire in Gaza
(13 Nov) The angry crowds are back on the streets of Gaza, along with the corpses wrapped in symbols of martyrdom and the militiamen in battle fatigues firing their guns. For five months the teeming Palestinian enclave has been quiet, thanks to a ceasefire agreed in June by Israel and Hamas. But that may all be coming to an end. The new cycle of violence, rocket-firing, skirmishes and economic blockade started on November 4th, when Israeli forces made an incursion to destroy a tunnel which, they say, was to be used to abduct a soldier. In the view of Ehud Olmert, the outgoing Israeli prime minister, it is not a matter of whether full-scale hostilities resume, but when. Israeli-Palestinian violence has a way of feeding itself. But both sides may have good political reasons to try to hold back.
http://www.economist.com/
DFLP fire two projectiles at Israeli armored vehicles east of Juhor Ad-Dik
(13 Nov) The National Resistance Brigades, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine fired two homemade projectiles assembled Israeli armored vehicles east of the area of Juhor Ad-Dik. The brigades added in a statement that the attack was a response to Israeli attacks on Palestinians. [End]
http://www.maannews.net/en/
PFLP, 'Hizbullah' claim responsibility for projectile attack
(13 Nov) The Abu Ali Mustafa brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and a group calling itself "Hizbullah," claimed responsibility for firing one homemade projectile at an Israeli target "in the Western Negev." In a statement the factions said "The shelling is response of the latest Israeli attack during which four resistance fighters were killed, and as affirmation of the option of resistance." Around the same time Israeli media reported that a projectile landed on the outskirts of the city of Ashkelon, north of Gaza, causing no damage.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
IFJ denounces Israel for blocking entry of journalists into Gaza
(13 Nov) GAZA, (PIC)-- The international federation of journalists has denounced the Israeli decision to prevent foreign journalists from entering Gaza for a week, describing the decision as a violation of the freedom of the press. Aidan White, the IFJ general secretary, said in a press release a copy of which was available to the PIC on Thursday that Israel once again shows its disrespect for the freedom of the press through imposing restrictions on foreign journalists and their freedom of movement. He said that censorship and hampering the media would only worsen the crisis and would lead to the spread of fear and rumors.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Hamas protest in Gaza over West Bank arrests
(14 Nov) GAZA CITY (AFP) – Thousands of Hamas supporters rallied in Gaza City on Friday to denounce what the Islamists says is the arrest of hundreds of its members by Palestinian authorities in the West Bank . In a harangue to the crowd, Khalil al-Hayia, a leader of the Hamas movement that rules Gaza, accused the West Bank-based government of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas of waging "a ruthless war against the resistance."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Haniyeh recognized Israel in 2006 letter to President Bush
(14 Nov) A few months after Hamas' 2006 election victory, leader Ismail Haniyeh tried to start a dialogue with U.S. President George W. Bush. Haaretz has obtained a written message from Haniyeh sent to Bush via an American professor who met with Haniyeh in the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh asked Bush to lift the boycott of the Hamas government and pressure Israel to maintain stability in the region. On June 6, 2006, Haniyeh met Dr. Jerome Segal of the University of Maryland in the Gaza Strip. At the end of the meeting, Haniyeh dictated a short message he asked Segal to transmit to President Bush. In his own letter, Segal emphasized that a state within the 1967 borders and a truce for many years could be considered Hamas' de facto recognition of Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Analysis: Perfume, Viagra, lions and fuel - smuggling is Gaza's growth industry
(14 Nov) By Khaled Abu Toameh -- Sixteen months after assuming full control over the Gaza Strip, Hamas appears to be stronger than ever - largely thanks to the growing number of tunnels that are used to smuggle goods and weapons under the border with Egypt. Israeli hopes that the embargo imposed on Gaza will eventually turn the impoverished Palestinians living there against the Hamas government seem unrealistic in light of the booming smuggling industry. According to sources close to Hamas, the number of underground tunnels has risen in the past two years to nearly 1,000.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Barak has approved settlement expansion despite Road Map
(14 Nov) Defense Minister Ehud Barak has approved dozens of construction projects in the West Bank in recent months, contradicting Israel's commitments to the Road Map, Haaretz has learned. Barak also approved the marketing of hundreds of housing units in settlements. Some of the permits for construction projects were granted in settlements to the east of the separation fence, which are beyond the areas the state defines as "settlement blocks" and it expects to retain under Israel's control following a permanent agreement with the Palestinians. By press time, the Defense Ministry had not responded to Haaretz's query on the matter.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
The migraine that is Migron
(13 Nov) By Aluf Benn -- The main constraint on Barak's policy has been the reluctance of the Israel Defense Forces, the police and the Shin Bet security service to take on the job of evacuating settlers and outposts. They're still smarting from the wounds of the Gaza disengagement and the razing of houses in Amona, on the eve of the last elections. Analyst Yagil Levy wrote in Haaretz ("The IDF is Disintegrating," Nov. 5) that the army is worried about losing control of its forces in the West Bank, as many among its ranks are settlers or their supporters. The proportion of religious soldiers in combat units has been steadily increasing and now outstrips their proportion among the general population. If their motivation is undercut and they become estranged from the army, it will be harder to demand that they fulfill more important defense missions.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Jerusalem mayor promises more homes for Jews
(13 Nov) Israel's newly elected mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, said on Wednesday he supported government plans to build more homes for Jews in and around Arab East Jerusalem. "I believe that because we have problems in house prices on the Jewish side of the city for many, many young Jewish couples, we must ensure that new apartments are built in Jerusalem, both east and west," Barkat, speaking in English, told reporters.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
b8712fef8b00b00b80b341fd14
East Jerusalem man loses appeals in Israeli court to stop home demolition
(14 Nov) Jerusalem / PNN / Maisa Abu Ghazaleh – Abdel Hamid Abu Sneineh is one of thousands of Palestinians being pushed out of Jerusalem. Earlier this week the father of four received notice that the Israeli Supreme Court had rejected his appeal against demolition of his home. On Wednesday Israeli border guards accompanied municipal workers who were filming his property in preparation for destruction. At a cost of 400,000 NIS, Abu Sneineh built his house two and a half years ago on 165 square meters in East Jerusalem's Issawiya neighborhood. The five rooms and hall are home to Abu Sneineh's wife and four children. The eldest is 23 years old, the youngest 15.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.
After three years of raiding home, Israeli police deliver demolition order
(14 Nov) Jerusalem / PNN / Maisa Abu Ghazaleh – Last Sunday Hassan Mohamed was at home in Jerusalem's Old City. Israeli police and municipal workers arrived and informed the man that his home would be demolished. The Israeli District Court ruled that the demolition would begin at some point after Thursday. A municipal court had earlier issued a decision to demolish his home, the appeal to which was lost. The new Israeli mayor of the city pledged this week to follow the government's plan to build more Jewish housing in East Jerusalem. His wife said the family lives in their two-story home in fear as the Israeli police have raided their house "constantly" for three years.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.
Israel releases Hamas PLC member after 28 months in prison; 46 still detained
(14 Nov) The Israeli army released member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) for the Hamas bloc Mahmoud Musleh in prison on Thursday. Musleh was seized from the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he lived and worked, in the days following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006. Musleh was one of 56 PLC members taken from Ramallah at the time; 46 of his colleagues remain in prison. He was released after 28 months of detention.[End]
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israeli army invades Madama, south of Nablus
(13 Nov) The Israeli army invaded the West Bank village of Madama south of the city of Nablus and ordered the residents to stay inside their homes on Thursday evening. Member of the village council, Hasan Ziyadah told Ma'an that "ten Israeli military jeeps invaded the villages and started to search, combing the bypass road that leads to the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Yizhar." No confrontations or injuries were reported during the incursion. [End]
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israeli forces detain six Palestinian citizens from the West Bank; raid Tuqu
(14 Nov) Israeli forces detained six Palestinian citizens and stormed one village across the West Bank before daybreak on Friday. Israeli sources said that the troops arrested six "wanted" Palestinians from Al-Ubeidieh in the Bethlehem governorate, from Hizma and Abu Dis in the central region and the village of Beit Ur near Ramallah. The village of Tuqu south of Bethlehem was also raided, with no detentions reported.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Two protesters injured in Jenin anti-settlement march
(14 Nov) Israeli troops attacked a peaceful demonstration protesting the continued construction of Israeli settlements and the separation wall on Friday morning south of Jenin. The protest took place near the evacuated settlement of Homesh located between Jenin and Nablus. When the demonstrators reached the abandoned area Israeli soldiers attacked them with rubber[-coated steel] bullets, tear gas and sound bombs. Two people were lightly injured by the rubber bullets.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
IDF to court-martial soldiers filmed humiliating bound Palestinian
(14 Nov) The Israel Defense Forces ruled on Thursday it will court-martial four infantrymen who were filmed verbally abusing a bound and blindfolded Palestinian at what is believed to be a checkpoint in the West Bank, Channel 10 reported. According to the report, IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi ordered an investigation into the incident, tapping GOC Northern Command Gadi Eizencot to oversee the probe. Last week, soldiers from the Golani infantry brigade posted a video on YouTube depicting a blindfolded Palestinian being forced to repeat phrases in Hebrew as the soldiers manning the checkpoint laugh in the background. One of the lines is: "Golani will bring you a log to stick up your ass."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Fatah 'martyr' returns home
(14 Nov) By Ali Waked -- PA security officer tells Jenin area family son was killed by Israeli police in Nazareth. Family mourns death of 24-year-old, only to receive call several hours later that he is coming home. Police open investigation against officer who started rumor -- A practical joke by a Palestinian security officer caused a storm in the Jenin area on Wednesday, as a Preventive Security officer informed the family of 24-year-old Majdi Nazal that their son was killed by police fire in Nazareth.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Germany announces 10 million euro grant to Palestinian Education Ministry
(13 Nov) The German government announced a 10 million euro donation to the Education Ministry of the Palestinian Authority on Thursday to supplement a 15 million euro donation made earlier this year. The officials said the grant was intended to strengthen relations between the two countries and rebuild crumbling schools across the Palestinian territories.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israel infuriated by British plan to label West Bank produce
(14 Nov) By Barak Ravid -- Relations between Israel and Britain remained strained on Thursday over Downing Street's intention to label products manufactured in West Bank settlements, a week before the expected arrival of British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband, to the Middle East. Over the past few weeks Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has spoken to Miliband and tried to persuade him to cancel the plan, by equating it to the initiative by U.K. academics to ban their Israeli counterparts.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Some 'sage' advice from Britain
(13 Nov) By Anshel Pfeffer -- LONDON - British chain stores try to provide their shoppers with the maximum details about the source of the food products they consume. The goal is to allow consumers to base their decisions on considerations of freshness, environment, local patriotism, politics and other values. And so, as an Israeli who isn't used to examining the source of his meal, I was surprised a few weeks ago to discover that the sage leaves I bought here came from a country called "West Bank," where they were grown by a farmer named "Yedidya." This is no freak occurrence. The British government has recently instructed importers to be more meticulous about checking products that come from Israel, in case they were produced in the territories. What is unusual about this is that the instructions didn't come from some mid-level customs official, but from 10 Downing Street. The document leaves no room for doubt as to the reason for this action: The Israelis haven't frozen settlement construction - and the European Union must consider how to make them do so.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Book Review: 'My son Tom': Mother continues the solidarity that Israeli bullets cut short
(13 Nov) By Raymond Deane -- In April 2003, the 21-year-old English photojournalism student Tom Hurndall was shot in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip... On 13 January 2004, Tom dies. The 'IDF' arrests a soldier for Tom's shooting. Taysir Walid Heib, a Bedouin with learning difficulties ("'I have problems with Hebrew'"), is charged with aggravated assault and obstruction of justice, and on 27 June 2005 is convicted of manslaughter, obstruction of justice, submitting false testimony, obtaining false testimony and unbecoming behavior... Not content with lamentations and demonstrations, Jocelyn Hurndall and the UK National Union of Teachers have "set up a scheme in Gaza in Tom's name to give learning support to children with disabilities." This charity and this book are the testimony of a decent person whose almost unimaginable loss awakens in her the very solidarity with an oppressed people that had cost Tom Hurndall his young life.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Switzerland: Israel breaking int'l law by razing Palestinian homes
(13 Nov, AP) Switzerland accused Israel on Thursday of wantonly destroying Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and near Ramallah in violation of the Geneva Conventions' rules on military occupation. The Swiss Foreign Ministry demanded that Israel immediately halt the demolitions, which Israel has said are aimed at removing illegally constructed shacks.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Palestinian arrested in Canada for alleged role in 1988 Paris synagogue bombing
(14 Nov) The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested a Palestinian man on Thursday for suspected participation in the planning of a synagogue bombing in Paris 20 years ago. The man arrested has been identified as 55-year-old Hassan Diab, a part-time sociology professor at the University of Ottawa. The Canadian press has said an extradition hearing will be held in 24 days to determine whether the country can send Diab to France to be tried for the crime. Diab was reported to have told French police one year ago that the investigations begun against him were a case of mistaken identity.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Palestinian-American wins Hugo Boss prize
(14 Nov) Emily Jacir, the 37-year-old artist of Palestinian descent who produces photographs, videos, sculpture and drawings that address themes of belonging and displacement as they relate to Palestinian identity, has won this year's Hugo Boss Prize.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
The route to durable peace
(13 Nov) By Sam Leibowitz and Mazin Qumsiyeh -- As the endless negotiations between Israeli government and Palestinian Authority officials regurgitate old arguments while making no progress, a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians are paying attention to other solutions than the supposed "two-state" outcome. They focus on the "one-democratic-state" solution—a proposal to establish a single, democratic and secular state in the area known as Israel/Palestine.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Playgrounds for Palestine: one marathon at a time
(13 Nov) By Ramzy Baroud -- My right knee is wrapped. My left ankle is iced. I lost the nail on my right big toe, and have about 20 blisters and a similar number of bruises on both of my feet. This doesn't even begin to convey half of the story of the punishment that my body has been subjected to in recent months. Why, you ask? Because I will join Susan Abulhawa, a Palestinian American activist, writer and founder of Playgrounds for Palestine - www.playgroundsforpalestine.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Jewish separatism proves a vote-winner in Karmiel
(13 Nov) By Brenda Gazzar -- In the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Karmiel, a new list advocating the preservation of the city's Jewish character won three out of 17 seats on the city council, while a new joint Jewish-Arab list garnered none. Attorney Rabeya Jahshan, who headed the list, said that only about 500 Arabs were registered as residents of the city, though he estimated that a much higher number lived there but were registered in surrounding areas. Jahshan said he and the others on the list would work diligently in the next five years to earn seats on the council.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Jerusalem's politics: Money, faith and votes
(13 Nov) The hollowness of Israel's rhetoric about "united Jerusalem" is never starker than on local election day, when the city's 537,000 adults, together with the rest of Israel, can go to the polls to pick their new mayor. Among Jerusalem's Palestinians, who make up some 30% of the citizenry, hardly anyone bothers to vote.
http://www.economist.com/
The makings of history / Green leaf in the Bukharan quarter
(13 Nov) By Tom Segev -- For some 20 years, maybe even more, I have known a Palestinian housepainter who used to sneak into Jerusalem to look for work. Over the years, much has befallen him. He has been a collaborator of the Shin Bet security service, a heavy drug user and a thief; for about 10 years he was in and out of prison. In the meantime he has turned into a real "mensch," a husband and father. He survives with legal methadone and works, too. He now holds a blue Israeli ID card, given to temporary residents, and lives in a hostel for the homeless in Jerusalem, not far from Mea She'arim and the Bukharan Quarter, where his polling station is located. What excitement! He will soon turn 40, but this week was the first time in his life that he was allowed to participate in an election.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Arab MK ranked No. 2 out of 120 called 'outstanding men' in Israel
(14 Nov) The top ten Members of the Israeli Knesset were nominated and named Israel's "outstanding men." Coming in at number two was Palestinian citizen of Israel Ahmad At-Tibi. He was born in Taybeh, north of Ramallah in what is today the West Bank. He was a friend and advisor to the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat ... He later formed his own Arab Nationalist Party (Ta'al), and has been an outspoken proponent for Palestinian rights for Palestinians living in Israel, as well as Palestinians in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank. The list was put together by Ma'ariv, one of Israel's top daily Hebrew papers and published on Friday. There are 120 MKs in the Israeli Knesset.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
IDF generals' wages shot up by whopping 94.1% over last 14 years
(13 Nov) By Moti Bassok -- The monthly salaries of Israel Defense Forces major generals shot up over the last 14 years by a whopping 94.1 percent, reaching NIS 48,419 in 2008, according to a recent Finance Ministry report. In contrast, the average salary in Israel only rose by 26.8 percent in real terms between January 1994 and January 2008. The report proves what the army has been denying for years: Not only does the IDF top brass earn the highest wages, it also receives the highest wage hikes - both in percentages and shekels.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
How white were the Israelites? Facial reconstruction may be surprising
(14 Nov) By Ofri Ilani -- No one knows how the Israelites and the Judeans looked or which people they would most closely resemble today. The accepted assumption has been that early Hebrews resembled the people now living in the Middle East or the Mediterranean Basin. However, an Israeli anthropologist researching the question has now made a surprising claim: the subjects of the Kingdom of Judea in the Second Temple Period looked more like black Africans. This theory arose after Prof. Yair Ben David of Tel-Aviv University conducted the first-ever facial reconstruction of its kind.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Nahr al-Bared (12 videos)
This is a series of our work on the crisis of the Palestinian refugees from the totally destroyed and looted Nahr al-Bared Camp near the north Lebanese city of Trablous. See many other Palestine-related films at afilmspalestine.
http://www.youtube.com/user/
Explosives found during raid in Palestinian camp in Lebanon
(13 Nov) TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AFP)--Ten kilos of explosives were found during a raid on a home in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon Thursday, a Palestinian official said. "Ten kilos of explosives, six modern timer systems, 10 remote controls...and a large number of grenades were found in an apartment in Beddawi," the official said on the condition of anonymity. Beddawi is one of 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon and home to an estimated 16, 000 refugees. The official said security forces stormed the apartment on information from a Palestinian arrested last week in a raid that turned deadly when a passerby was killed in a shootout between security forces and the wanted men.
http://www.nasdaq.com/
DJONLINE000550.htm
OPT: Refugee stories: ECHO helps beneficiaries make ends meet
(12 Nov) Damascus, November 2008 -Despite his poor health, Ahmed Ata Jichi waits patiently in line to receive UNRWA's quarterly distribution of food and cash assistance. Today is a good day for him. He will be able to take back food for his family. "My children are most excited about the milk," he says. "It is as if I travelled abroad and brought back presents for them." In reality, Jichi only walks a short distance to the distribution centre. Originally from the village of Safad Faradeh, he now lives with his wife and eight children in Homs refugee camp in Syria. As a patient of epilepsy, it is extremely difficult for him to find a stable source of income. Consequently, his family must borrow money and rely on the assistance funded by donors such as the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO).
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Britain in push to bring Syria in from the cold
(13 Nov) By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor -- The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, will travel to Damascus next Monday for the highest-level political talks between Britain and Syria since Tony Blair was publicly humiliated by the Syrian President in 2001. Seizing back the initiative from France, which has led European efforts to end Syria's diplomatic isolation, Mr Miliband said yesterday that he had accepted Syria's invitation as a result of an "important change in approach" by Damascus. The Foreign Secretary said he recognised the "constructive" role Syria could play in reaching a comprehensive solution for the Middle East, at a time when the Syrians have engaged in indirect talks with Israel in Turkey.
http://www.independent.co.uk/
Double agents, car bombs, and antics worthy of James Bond
(13 Nov) By Robert Fisk -- When it comes to spy stories, Ian Fleming couldn't match Lebanon – and Sister Syria – for the kind of head-spinning espionage and murder mystery now engulfing the Levant. The contents page must include the murder of a prominent pro-Iranian kidnapper and guerrilla leader in Damascus, Israeli Mossad spies, bomb explosions in both Lebanon and Syria, claims that the pro-American son of an assassinated ex-prime minister in Beirut funds an Islamist killer group – not to mention an intriguing connection to the Lebanese hijacker of United Flight 93 on 11 September 2001. If the tale is even half-true – and I've had a visitation from a Syrian suggesting his countrymen believe quite a lot of it – there has to be a bid for the film rights.
http://www.independent.co.uk/
-worthy-of-james-bond-1015858.
Experts: 'New' Iranian missile an old one
(13 Nov) Western military officials who examined images from recent Iranian missile test believe it is famous Shahab-3 missile with new logo
http://www.ynetnews.com/
The new Gulf War syndrome
(11 Nov) By Nora Eisenberg -- US soldiers [to say nothing of Iraqis and Afghanis] in Iraq and Afghanistan are being exposed to toxic chemicals that pose serious health risks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Iraq's top Shiite cleric to let gov't decide on US pact
(14 Nov) NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric will leave it to the government to decide on a controversial US military pact, but associates of the reclusive leader said it must respect Iraqi sovereignty. Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani -- revered as the highest religious authority by Iraq's Shiite majority -- rarely involves himself in politics and usually communicates his views only through associates.
http://www.google.com/
New Blackwater Iraq scandal: guns, silencers and dog food
(14 Nov) A federal grand jury in North Carolina is investigating allegations the controversial private security firm Blackwater illegally shipped assault weapons and silencers to Iraq, hidden in large sacks of dog food, ABCNews.com has learned.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/
Thursday: One US soldier, 12 Iraqis killed; 40 Iraqis wounded
Updated at 10:59 a.m. EST, Nov. 14, 2008 Excerpt: At least 12 Iraqis were killed and 40 more were wounded in the latest violence. One U.S. soldier died this morning of non-combat-related causes as well. Meanwhile, a civilian cargo plane has crashed in the desert near Fallujah, killing seven people. Among the dead were six Russian crew members and an Indian employee.
http://antiwar.com/updates/?
Friday: 3 Iraqis wounded
Excerpt: Only two reports of Iraqi casualties came out of Iraq today. In them, three people were wounded. It is the prayer day and many journalists and gunmen take the day off, but this figure is far below normal. Separately, a U.S. soldier died of non-combat-related causes in Anbar yesterday. Meanwhile, Shi'ite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened to resume attacks on U.S. troops if Iraqi sovereignty is not protected in a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security agreement.
http://antiwar.com/updates/
Iraq's damaged Babylon hopes for revival
(14 Nov) the site of ancient Babylon in Iraq - with its legendary hanging gardens and the Tower of Babel reaching to the sky - has suffered under Saddam Hussein's rule and years of conflict. Parts have been looted, altered or built on, and some of the historic soil has even used by US coalition soldiers to fill sandbags.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
Obama's 'Bedouin relatives' celebrate election
(13 Nov) By Sharon Roffe-Ofir -- As US president-elect Barack Obama prepares for his move into the White House, his self-proclaimed relatives from a Bedouin tribe in northern Israel prepare to travel to the United States to congratulate him personally. "We are planning to send a large delegation to the United States, where we will shake his hand and tell him 'congratulations'," said Sheikh Abdul Rahman Abdullah of the village of Bir al-Maksour. The sheikh claims Obama's Kenyan grandfather was married to one of the tribe's women. "At the start of his campaign, one day on of the elder woman of the tribe told me that Hussein Obama's father's father was related to us," Abdullah said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Ma'an Arabic poll: 65% of respondents say Obama will not improve US image
(14 Nov) Barak Obama as President of the United States will not significantly change the image of the country around the world, according to 65% of respondents to the most recent Ma'an Arabic poll. 16,841 readers participated in the week-long poll, which saw 30% of respondents say they believed the American image would improve globally, while 5% said they did not know.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Rahm Emanuel apologizes for father's disparaging remarks about Arabs
(14 Nov, Reuters) U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel apologized to an Arab-American group on Thursday for comments disparaging Arabs made by his father. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee sent a letter to Emanuel calling on him to distance himself from remarks made by the elder Emanuel in an interview with an Israeli newspaper following his son's appointment last week. In the interview, Benjamin Emanuel was reported as saying: "Obviously, he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Behind the scenes: the CIA's problem with a Holy Land Foundation witness
(13 Nov) Close observers of the Holy Land Foundation re-trial might have discerned a slight, but definite, change in the testimony this year of the defense's star witness, Edward Abington. It all has to do with a dispute between the defense team and the Central Intelligence Agency.
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.
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