Envoy urges UN to quit Quartet over lack of regard for human rights

The United Nations should pull out of the Quartet of Middle East mediators unless the group starts taking Palestinian human rights seriously, a UN envoy said on Monday. John Dugard, the UN special rapporteur on human rights for the Palestinian territories, told the BBC the world body "does itself little good" by remaining in the Quartet group of the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=913048&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1

Israeli military invades several parts of the West Bank, kidnapping four Palestinians

Israeli military forces invaded the northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin in the early hours of Monday morning. Security sources reported that 17 Israeli military vehicles patrolled the main streets and several neighborhoods in the area. No abductions were reported in Nablus.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50882

Palestinian child wounded by Israeli army fire in central Gaza

A Palestinian child has been reportedly shot and wounded by the Israeli army on the Gaza-Israel border line, to the east of Deir Elbalah town.  Medics confirmed that Jabber Abu Said, 14, was transferred to the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza for treatment. Abu Said suffered a fracture and bleeding in his mouth after having been wounded, the medics added.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50885

Israeli settlers attack villagers near Nablus

Several confrontations between villagers and groups of settlers Palestinian broke out near the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday. Residents of Awarta town reported that several families were attacked by settlers from the Itamar settlement, stating that they had been attacked with stones and verbally abused.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50878

Senior Fatah official attacked in southern Gaza

A number of gunmen attacked a senior member of the Fatah movement in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Monday morning.  Wael al-Ghalban was severely beaten, taken to an unknown destination, and then released two hours later by masked gunmen who attacked his house earlier in the day, al-Ghalban's brother Ayman told the press.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50887

Palestinian Census to begin this week

The Palestinian Authority will this week initiate the first territory-wide census in more than ten years, arguing that the statistics generated will aid negotiators in future peace talks. Later in the week, approximately 5,000 members of staff across Gaza and the West Bank will begin the process of counting and numbering buildings, with the counting of people beginning in December. The results of the census are expected in February.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50879

Rice: Now Is Time for Palestinian State

Secretary of State Condoleezza said Monday it was "time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," and described Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts as the most serious in years. An international peace conference expected to take place in Annapolis, Md., in November has to be substantive, Rice said at a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071015/D8S9MI6O1.html

Rice plays down chance of breakthrough on Mideast trip

 US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Monday after warning, following meetings with Israeli leaders, that she did not expect a major peace breakthrough ahead of a US-sponsored meeting next month.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071014/pl_afp/mideastusdiplomacy_071014225420;_ylt=AiPum0_Cyf.4yflmNFGjJKiaOrgF

PM: Must Arab neighborhoods be defined as part of Jerusalem?

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday questioned whether Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem should be defined as part of the capital, hinting that Israel may be willing to divide the hotly disputed city.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/912746.html

Israeli minister to Rice: Jerusalem not on table

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai on Sunday told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Jerusalem was "not on the negotiations table," local top-selling daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on its website.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-10/15/content_6881705.htm

Separation of families "priority humanitarian issue"

Some 580 women living in the occupied Golan region are disconnected from their families in Syria as they are not allowed to cross from the occupied zone to their homeland, a new women's organization has said.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9042.shtml

Self-help Gazans still need outside world

The continuing power cuts in Gaza have made candles a basic necessity, but many residents can no longer afford them.  Ahmed Asidawi, aged 42, has been mostly unemployed since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000 and he is barred from entering Israel to seek work. He is a refugee registered with UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/1ef4aceff964d950c6f4ca2b150d3398.htm

Planting seeds of independence

"We have just initiated our small project with an intent to help these simple rural women sustain amidst their families' harsh economic conditions," says Yassmin Moor, a young Palestinian-American woman who manages a domestic gardening project in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9043.shtml

Samaritans bring in new blood to save their sect

The practice of marrying their own has reduced the biblical community to only 701 members; now they are accepting foreign brides . There are two ways to look at the journey Wada Cohen took to the south of Ukraine a few years ago. Both are told in this remote hilltop village that is one of the last outposts of the biblical sect known as the Samaritans.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071015.SAMARITANS15/TPStory/TPInternational/Africa/

Israel to Resume Dig Near Temple Mount

Israel will resume archaeological excavations near a Jerusalem holy site that has often been a flashpoint for violence, Israeli officials said Sunday. The decision drew Palestinian charges that Israel is trying to scuttle next month's U.S.-sponsored peace conference.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gltAsV6Z1vF8YKN-psJTduQT9ZrQD8S94GL80

Rabin killer Amir asks to attend son's upcoming circumcision

Yigal Amir, the jailed killer of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, recently requested that the Israel Prison Service grant him leave to be present at the upcoming circumcision of his unborn son. Amir's wife, Larisa Trimbobler, is in the last stages of pregnancy and is expected to give birth within the next few days.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=912693&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7

Israel and Lebanon to exchange prisoners

Israel and Lebanon were set to carry out a prisoner swap on Monday, with the Jewish state to hand over the bodies of two Hezbollah fighters and a prisoner in exchange for the remains of an Israeli man, a security source told AFP.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071015/wl_mideast_afp/mideastisraellebanonprisoners_071015134242;_ylt=Ai7Qt8i_3WnozYor97MTcRaaOrgF

Arabs skeptical of U.S. peace effort

The upcoming Israeli-Palestinian peace conference resembles a dinner party with a less-than-inspiring menu and a bunch of well-tailored yet exasperated guests who, if they show up at all, doubt that anyone will go home happy.

http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.intercept

Candidates court Jewish support

Clinton, Giuliani attract some early interest.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21266470/