Three Hamas policemen killed in Gaza attack by Israel: official

Three members of Hamas' Executive Force police were killed in Gaza City on Tuesday when their vehicle was hit by shelling from the Israeli navy, an official of the Islamist movement said.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i49oLkbpwtjKGRuTDUctZ2eiBZQw

9 Palestinians arrested in West Bank

Israeli forces have kidnapped nine Palestinians from different parts of the West Bank in another sweep inside the occupied territories.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=25410&sectionid=351020202

Israeli court decision leaves Palestinian graduate student trapped in Gaza

Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to intervene in the case of a Gaza graduate student who remains trapped in the coastal strip, unable to resume studies in Britain, an advocacy group said. Khaled al-Mudallal, 22, returned to his native Gaza in June to marry, expecting to return with his new wife to Britain, where he had been studying business administration at the University of Bradford.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/02/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Trapped-in-Gaza.php

BADIL Information & Discussion Brief No. 10 - Palestinian Refugee Children

BADIL Resource Center has released the tenth of a series of Information and Discussion Briefs aimed at contributing to effective protection, including rights-based durable solutions, for Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons. Approximately 40 per cent of the Palestinian refugee population are children. Palestinian refugee children face gaps in day-to-day protection of their basic human rights and are denied durable solutions, in particular their right to return.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LRON-72KFQD?OpenDocument

ISRAEL-OPT: Gaza squeezed by steady decline in imports, closure threats

The UN has expressed renewed concern over the state of the Gaza Strip's border crossings, saying that, if realised, the Israeli threat of increased restrictions would most likely lead to a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished enclave.

http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/792f42b6576e0bb0a80e038f30661a21.htm

Gaza banks say may shut down by Jan. over financial clampdown

The Palestinian bank regulator said on Wednesday some Palestinian banks could be forced to shut their Gaza branches by year-end due to Israel's financial clampdown on the Hamas-controlled territory.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=909518&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1

Gaza kids don't play, According to army, children killed by IDF are part of Palestinian war machine

In the official website for commemorating IDF casualties, one can find the following entry about Nissim Gini: "He volunteered just like dozens of his young friends to defend his town and homeland, and demanded to play a role…he was tasked with being the liaison between posts, and filled this role with the responsibility and loyalty of an adult, amid a hail of bullets and thundering explosions…after one of the posts was overtaken by the enemy, he was severely wounded and died after suffering much pain…he was 10 years old at the time of his death, the youngest of Israel's war casualties."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3445181,00.html

West Bank refugee camp simmers after Israeli strike

Majdi Mabruk walks down a narrow alley lined with martyrs' posters at the head of a crowd of small children, their wide eyes glued to his fully-loaded M-16 assault rifle. "The negotiations have brought us nothing. They have only led to more settlements, more arrests, and more checkpoints," Mabruk says, his eyes darting back and forth, on the lookout for informers, or worse.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/KHII-77M5E8?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR

Abbas, Olmert meet as formal negotiations ahead of summit kickstart

Jerusalem- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in Jerusalem Wednesday, accompanied for the first time by negotiation teams, The meeting came as talks between the sides stepped up a gear ahead of the Middle East conference scheduled to take place in the US in November.

http://rawstory.com/news/dpa/Abbas_Olmert_meet_as_formal_negotia_10032007.html

Report: Abbas agrees to talk to Hamas

Fatah ready to launch secret dialogue with rival movement, London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reports. Head of Egyptian intelligence asks Fatah, Hamas for their 'vision' for crisis solution.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3456065,00.html

New poll shows growing discontent with Hamas rule in Gaza

Terror organization to lose elections if new vote were held today in Palestinian Authority, survey conducted by Near East Consulting concludes. Poll also finds that majority of Gazans oppose rocket attacks on Israel, favor a peace agreement with the Jewish state, and do not consider Hamas authority in Gaza to be the legitimate Palestinian government.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3456145,00.html

("financial terrorism against the Palestinian people in Gaza): Palestinian Authority to wage "financial war" on Hamas

The Palestinian caretaker government in Ramallah is preparing to wage a "financial war" on its rival de facto Hamas government in the Gaza Strip to force them to retract June's military coup, Arab media outlets reported on Wednesday.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25667

Israel - Palestine: The One State Solution

Palestinian-British author and academic, Dr Ghada Karmi, discusses her solution - a secular democratic one state.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2007/2047672.htm

Let's make Palestinian-Americans relevant

As Palestinians struggle with the implications of the recent Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian-American community must decide for itself the vision for a future Palestine it embraces, and the way it seeks to partake in its achievement. The Palestinian national vision has been defined by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since 1988 as the realization of the two-state solution: Palestine and Israeli living side by side in peace and security. Despite the setbacks and challenges facing this vision, it remains the favored alternative of the overwhelming majority not only of officialdom in the international community but also, as polling has consistently shown, of the Palestinian people. While this remains the view of the majority of Arab-Americans, a vocal challenge to this vision has recently emerged from some Palestinian-Americans in the shape of the so-called "binational, one-state solution."

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=85687

A Bittersweet Homecoming

In a perfect world, little could be comparable to the joy of receiving a son, daughter, father or husband from the clutches of Israeli incarceration. Even in the terribly distorted world of Palestine where absolutes do not exist and every political move is dissected, analyzed and reanalyzed, the release of a handful of Palestinian political prisoners from Israeli prisons is still a joyous event.
http://www.miftah.org/CatIndex.cfm?CategoryID=5

OPT: Few legal options for abused Palestinian women, say activists

Palestinian female victims of domestic violence have little chance of escaping their situation or bringing the perpetrators to justice as they face a legal system stacked in favour of the accused and a prevailing attitude that places blame on the victim, women's rights experts said.

http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/1047dd7dfb3fd1ead2a3df18580c582d.htm

FEATURE-Ramadan shows more West Bankers turn to God

Five years ago restaurants in Ramallah would stay open all day and serve beer throughout Ramadan. This year virtually all removed alcohol from the menu completely and many closed during the fasting hours.

http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16216118.htm

Machsum Watch: Huwara Checkpoint

Saturday, the Ramadan month of fasting. The checkpoint is as it always is. Cruel and mean. The soldiers, as all soldiers are. Young, cruel and racist. Their minds poisoned in the name of their parents and country and needs of the herd, to check and curb people's movement.

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/02/machsum-watch-huwara-checkpoint-september-29th-7-pm/

Israelis Fighting Israeli Apartheid

I've never imagined a simple equation between the non-racial democracy for which we fought (and which we won) in South Africa and achieving a unitary state democratic solution for Israel and the Palestinians. Indeed, I'll admit to being anything but dogmatic on just how that conflict is to be solved. While in principle, I'd certainly prefer a unitary democratic state with full democratic equality for all its citizens, I can see the considerable differences between our situation and the one in Israel/Palestine that render a single state solution exceedingly difficult. At the same time, I can also see that Israel's systematic territorial expansion may already have rendered a Palestinian state unviable.

http://tonykaron.com/2007/10/02/israelis-fighting-israeli-apartheid/

States or People?: The Right to Exist

It is a curious phrase this "right to exist". Israel wants the world to accept its "right to exist" as a state, but it denies the indigenous Palestinians their right to exist as a people in their own land. International relations only acknowledges the rights of people, not states. [1] States exist because of the formal recognition afforded them by other states, and now that Israel is recognised as a state, it in fact exists. It makes no sense to demand that a political party recognise Israel's "right to exist", much less punish 4 million Palestinians because a majority voted the Hamas Party into government. Yet, these are the very words that are holding the Palestinians, particularly those in Gaza, to an impossible ransom.

http://www.counterpunch.org/karkar10022007.html

ONLY THE BEGINNING OF THE END

The clinking champagne glasses on Engage's website said it all. The movement established to oppose the proposed boycott of Israeli academic institutions was celebrating a victory, as the British University and College Union announced that to even discuss the boycott risked "infringing discrimination  legislation." The boycott of Israel, it seemed, had suffered a blow. Ben White comments on the seeming defeat for the Palestine solidarity movement.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9021.shtml

Israel Foreign Min Calls For Urgent UN Action Against Iran

Israel's foreign minister called Monday for urgent U.N. action against Iran over its alleged nuclear ambitions, criticizing countries that have stood in the way of tough measures "in the name of consensus and engagement."

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20071001%5CACQDJON200710011243DOWJONESDJONLINE000450.htm