OPT: Protection of civilians weekly report

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EGUA-78NS2X?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR

Gaza and West Bank – ICRC Bulletin

http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/israel-palestine-news-05112007?OpenDocument

PHR-Israel: Erez Crossing: What the Eye Doesn't See

PHR-Israel calls once again upon its supporters in Israel and overseas to do all within their power to join its call for medical ethics, against the isolation of the Gaza Strip, and against the violation of the right to health under occupation.

http://palestinechronicle.com/story-11060740135.htm

Palestinians Clash in West Bank

Palestinian security forces tried to enter Balata refugee camp to arrest some suspects, days after the Palestinian Authority sent in a reinforcement of police officers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/world/middleeast/06mideast.html?ex=1352005200&en=29d4f7a9c56ec6c2&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Palestinian police seal refugee camp

: BALATA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank - Some 200 Palestinian police ringed the West Bank 's largest refugee camp Monday and traded fire with Palestinian militants inside, the first major battle in President Mahmoud Abbas' campaign to assert control over gunmen and persuade Israel he can implement a future peace deal.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians_1;_ylt=A0WTUedm8S9HBDwAxhwUvioA

Companies warn fuel will run out in Gaza in five days

Owners of Palestinian petrol distribution companies warned on Tuesday that the Gaza Strip will run out of fuel within five days because of Israeli reduction of deliveries.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/06/content_7022091.htm

Israeli soldiers arrest Hamas politicians

Israeli troops arrested a political leader and an MP from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in separate raids in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, security officials said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071106/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictwestbankarrest_071106111251;_ylt=AieRwOfwr4ZTQSEKPOECPwSaOrgF

Abbas's security forces, gunmen clash in West Bank

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's forces clashed on Monday with gunmen for the first time since their deployment in the city of Nablus as part of a Western-backed push to bolster West Bank security.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N90284454.htm

Report: 44 assassinated in October

The International and Public Relations department of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Monday issued a report claiming that 44 Palestinians had been deliberately assassinated by the Israeli army during the month of October.

http://www.imemc.org/article/51314

Nine Palestinian civilians kidnapped in northern West Bank

Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli army invaded the northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Qalqilia on Tuesday morning, kidnapping at least nine civilians. In Nablus, several army jeeps and one bulldozer invaded the downtown area. During as subsequent search of homes, Israeli troops kidnapped seven civilians.
http://www.imemc.org/article/51309

Jailed Hamas lawmakers welcomes decision to convene parliament

Hamas lawmakers jailed in Israel have welcomed in an official statement published on Monday the intentions to hold a session for the Palestinian parliament, saying they have the right to vote despite being in prison.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/05/content_7016350.htm 

Islamic Jihad presents conditional offer to stop rocket attack on Israel

Al-Quds Brigades, military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement announced Monday its readiness to stop rocket attacks on Israel when Israel stops military operations and Palestinians reach an agreement on the issue.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/05/content_7016348.htm

A Palestinian civilian injured when an army mine exploded near him in a village near Bethlehem

Palestinian sources reported that a Palestinian teen, from the village of Taqu'a, located near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, was injured when an Israeli army mine exploded near him on Monday afternoon.

http://www.imemc.org/article/51299

Fateh female detainees on Hunger Strike

Seema Anbas, in charge of the female detainees file at the Detainees Study Center, reported on Monday that Fateh female detainees imprisoned by Israel announced a Hunger Strike in support to detainee Amna Mona, who is confined to solitary in Al Ramla Israeli prison.

http://www.imemc.org/article/51302

Strong Military Repression at Non-Violent Demonstration in Bilin

Palestinian demonstrators, joined by international activists, marched in Bil'in on Friday 2nd November as part of the weekly non-violent protests against the segregation wall, internationally recognised as illegal.

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/11/05/strong-military-repression-at-non-violent-demonstration-in-bilin/

Appeal for medical intervention for an injured detainee

The family of detainee Hilal Mahmoud Al Sa'ady, 23, voiced an appeal for human rights groups to intervene and practice pressure on the Israeli Prison Authority to provide Hilal with the needed medical attention as he is under interrogation since one month in spite of his injury.

http://www.imemc.org/article/51300 

Israeli Knesset proposes a "loyalty pledge"

Arab lawmakers cry racism: A new bill currently being considered by the Israeli Knesset would require all applicants for Israeli citizenship to take a 'loyalty pledge' to the Jewish state, and commit to military service.  Arab-Israeli Knesset members, which represent 20% of the population of Israel, say that such a pledge is racist, and directed at them.

http://www.imemc.org/article/51303

Gaza's Reflection in a Foul Threat

Fahmi al-Abrak, 70, was at home on  March 27 when a lagoon of human waste broke through its sand embankment and hurtled downhill, inundating this poor village of Bedouins in northern Gaza. "It rose to here in 15 seconds," he said, pointing to a discolored line on the walls, four feet above ground.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/world/middleeast/06cesspool.html?ex=1352005200&en=70406e43929bd0e4&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

U.S. expert: $20M smuggled into Gaza monthly

An estimated $20 million is smuggled into the Gaza Strip each month through the Philadelphi Route, according to Rep. Gary Ackerman, chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. In an interview with Haaretz on Monday, Ackerman pointed an accusing finger at Egypt, arguing that Cairo's failure to control the Sinai border with the Gaza Strip helps to empower Hamas.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=920721&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1

Closure of crossings traps students in Gaza

Khaled al-Mudallal expected to spend this autumn sitting in lectures and writing papers for his final year in business and management studies in Bradford, the town he has lived in for six years. · Hundreds studying abroad unable to resume courses· Petition to Israeli supreme court seeks right to travel.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2205883,00.html

17 Year Old Girl Arrested in Tel Rumeida

On Monday, November 5, 2007, at 7:15 AM, a 17-year-old girl was detained at the Tel Rumeida checkpoint and was arrested for the false charge of attacking a soldier.

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/11/05/17-year-old-girl-arrested-in-tel-rumeida/

Quasin Olive Harvest 2007

During the week of October 20th, ISM volunteers worked with farmers to harvest olives in Qusin, a small village on the outskirts of the Palestinian city of Nablus in the central Northern region of the West Bank. Nablus had recently experienced an invasion by the Israeli occupation forces.

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/11/05/quasin-olive-harvest-2007/

Arab delegates meet in Syria for talks on reviving boycott of Israel

Delegates to a Syrian-based anti-Israel office began talks in Damascus on Monday on ways to revive momentum for the Arab boycott of Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=920578&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1

Israel extremists mobilise against Mideast talks

Israel's powerful settler lobby and extreme right-wing are sharpening their knives for a political fight against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert signing over land for peace with the Palestinians. The settlers and extreme-right groups are nervous as the international meeting in the United States nears and their grumbles will grow if invitations are made for negotiations on a Palestinian state," said analyst Akiva Eldar.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071105/wl_mideast_afp/mideastisraelpolitics_071105215349;_ylt=AuFJnYAXm_3dxJhfhX36K1uaOrgF

Some Israelis boo during Rabin moment

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert cautioned Monday against letting Israeli extremists repeat their hate-mongering of more than a decade ago. Olmert's warning came after people booed during a moment of silence Sunday on the 12th anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's murder and showed posters of Israel's dovish president, Shimon Peres, in Arab headdress.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_incitement_1;_ylt=A0WTUedm8S9HBDwAyBwUvioA

Kadima MK scorns PM's pre-summit talks with PA, calling them 'fantasy'

A Kadima MK lashed out Sunday at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's talks with the Palestinians, terming the upcoming Annapolis conference "a fantasy, not a vision."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=920722&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1

Jordan's Ruweished camp empty as last family leaves

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Jordan's Ruweished camp was empty after the last nine Palestinian refugees left the desert facility en route to a new life in Brazil.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/133e9c38859e6cdcb25a834a9123dbc6.htm

This is no basis for talks, The unrealistic terms being imposed upon Hamas are much harsher than those the IRA faced

David Trimble cannot be accused of lacking knowledge of what the Irish problem was about; he had been part of the problem as well as the solution. However, his lack of expertise on the Palestinian problem - which he admitted on the BBC's Newsnight recently - surely renders him ill qualified to insist, as he did on these pages recently, that Hamas should be excluded from any talks until it first complies with the conditions of the Quartet (the US, Russia, EU and UN): recognition of Israel, repudiation of violence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2205375,00.html

AIPAC, Espionage, and Legal Sabotage, Has the AIPAC spy trial been derailed?

CBS broke the story three years ago: a high-ranking Pentagon analyst had been caught handing over highly classified information to a foreign government – sensitive intelligence about al-Qaeda, U.S. policy deliberations regarding Iran, and other top-secret information of particular interest to his two American handlers. The spy's native-born confederates, top officials of one of Washington's most powerful lobbying groups, passed America's most closely guarded secrets directly to foreign government officials in hurried meetings in empty restaurants, outside a train station, and over the phone, whispering their treason in some of Washington's darkest corners so as not to leave a paper trail of purloined documents.

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=11856

French President Accused of Working for Israeli Intelligence: Furl the flag

As if his marital challenges were not enough cause for concern, "Sarco the Sayan" has suddenly emerged as the most infamous accolade of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The influential French daily Le Figaro last week revealed that the French leader once worked for -- and perhaps still does, it hinted -- Israeli intelligence as a sayan (Hebrew for helper), one of the thousands of Jewish citizens of countries other than Israel who cooperate with the katsas (Mossad case-officers).

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/868/in2.htm

Israeli Sniper Gets Countersniped

http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2007/11/05/israeli-sniper-gets-countersniped/

Israel's Dilemma in Palestine, A Land With People, For a People with a Plan

Two rabbis, visiting Palestine in 1897, observed that the land was like a bride, "beautiful, but married to another man". By which they meant that, if a place was to be found for a Jewish "homeland" in Palestine, the indigenous inhabitants had to leave. Where should the people of Palestine go? Squaring that circle has been the essence of Israel´s dilemma ever since its establishment and the cause of the Palestinian tragedy that it led to. It has remained insoluble. Ghada Karmi's new book, Married To Another Man, Israel´s Dilemma in Palestine, (published by Pluto Press, London-Ann Arbor) shows that the major reason for this failure was the original and unresolved Zionist quandary of how to create and maintain a Jewish state in a land inhabited by another people. Zionism was never able to resolve the problem of "the other man".

http://www.counterpunch.com/watzal11052007.html

Where have all the trucks gone?

The roads to Gaza were long, dusty and, apart from Israeli military vehicles, almost completely empty on 24 October as tanks doing military exercises were far more prevalent than trucks carrying goods towards the border. The crossings are the only way Gaza can receive goods and Israel has been blockading them since June, recently tightening the blockade further with cuts to fuel and pending cuts to electricity. The once busy checkpoint crossings now lie empty.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9079.shtml

Jim Miles: Lords of the Land – Book Review

The settlements are the main cause of Israel's problems and their continued support will continue to aggravate problems into the unknown future.

http://palestinechronicle.com/story-11060735958.htm