Israel denies exit for 8 seriously ill Gaza patients on security grounds

A rights group appealed Monday to Israeli authorities to let eight Gaza patients leave the territory immediately for treatment because their conditions were life-threatening.  Physicians for Human Rights said the patients were turned away twice in the last two weeks on unspecified security grounds, though Israeli doctors have qualified their cases as "urgent." Since June, Gaza's crossings with Egypt and Israel have been closed following the militant Islamic Hamas takeover in June, though the border with Israel has been occasionally opened for humanitarian cases.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/15/africa/ME-GEN-Palestinians-Trapped-Patients.php

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel Urgent Appeal for Intervention: Help Demand Access of Seven Gaza Patients to Lifesaving Care Unavailable in Gaza

On the 10th of October Physicians for Human Rights-Israel sent an urgent request to the Israeli army and Minister of Defense, demanding that seven patients from Gaza whose access to medical care outside Gaza had been denied for "security reasons" be immediately allowed to exit Gaza via the Israeli-controlled Erez Crossing.

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/15/physicians-for-human-rights-israel-urgent-appeal-for-intervention/

Civilian dies in West Bank clash

Two Palestinian men have been killed during a raid by Israeli troops in the West Bank, Palestinian officials say. One of the men was in his 70s - hit by a stray bullet while he was in his home, officials say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7046541.stm

Palestinian killed by IDF airstrike in Gaza

Palestinian sources report IAF fired missile at group members in northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. IDF says it targeted terror cell attempting to fire rockets or mortar shells at Israel.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3459386,00.html

Israeli military kidnaps at least 10 Palestinians throughout the West Bank

At least ten Palestinians were abducted in different parts of the West Bank in the early hours of Tuesday morning. In Qabalan town, near Nablus, Israeli forces kidnapped four members of Hamas. The men were later identified as Fahmi Aza'ar,39, Walid Aza'ar ,22, Firas Aza'ar and Musa Aqra',23.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50895

Palestinian farmers attacked near Nablus

 A Palestinian farmer suffered head wounds after he was attacked by illegal Israeli settlers near the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The victim, along with several others farmers, was attacked with rocks as he harvested olives near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50900

Palestinian farmers stoned near Kedumim

Settlers disrupt olive harvest, injure Palestinian farmer in head near West Bank village, Palestinian sources report. Rabbis for Human Rights file official complaint with police.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3460492,00.html

Balad activist murdered on doorstep of his business in Lod

Musa Abu Kishk, a 52-year-old resident of Lod was murdered Monday evening as he stood in his kiosk at the Lod central bus station. The police are investigating various theories, however at this time there does not appear to be a connection between this and two other murders that have occurred in the town recently.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=913194&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7

Detainee complain of abuse, violations, and ongoing attacks in Israeli prisons

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) issued a report documenting an incident of illegal acts and abuse carried against a detainee in an Israeli prison. In a sworn testimony, detainee Hasan Faleh Bazour, from Al Mogheer village, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, stated that he was repeatedly beaten and tortured by the soldiers when he was arrested and when he was under interrogation.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50889

Resident injured, home demolished, as army invades Qalqilia

The Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported on Monday at night, that one resident was shot and injured, and one house was demolished, as Israeli forces invaded the northern West the Bank city of Qalqilia.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50892

Hamas welcomes Dugard's call for UN withdrawal from Quartet

The Hamas movement on Tuesday welcomed the comments made by John Dugard, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, regarding the withdrawal of the United Nations from the Quartet. Dugard said on Monday that the Quartet has failed to take seriously the issue of Israeli breaches of Palestinian human rights resulting from the occupation.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50899

Another Mideast envoy fed up with quartet

The United Nations has come under strong criticism from one of its own top human rights officials for failing to take effective action to check the ongoing Israeli abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories. Expressing his anger and frustration at the fast-deteriorating human rights situation in Gaza and the West Bank, John Dugard, the UN special rapporteur on human rights for the Palestinian territories since 2001, has suggested that the world body quit the Middle East Quartet.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9046.shtml

UN expert rails at Quartet policies

John Dugard speaks slowly and carefully. He rarely hesitates. But from his measured voice comes a reputation for being outspoken.  Mr Dugard says the Israeli military occupation is fuelling "resistance" . Earlier this year, in his role as special rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council for the Palestinian Territories, the South African law professor wrote a report for the UN General Assembly in which he compared Israel's actions to those of apartheid South Africa.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7044148.stm

Olmert-Rice meeting: No American pressure

Prime minister believes US secretary of state does not plan to force Israel into accepting timetable on refugees, Jerusalem and border issues.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3459857,00.html

Qurei threatens to withdraw from negotiations

Ahmad Qurei, head of the Palestinian negotiating team, on Monday night met Livni Tizpi, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and head of the Israeli delegation. The meeting was arranged to discuss the progress being made towards the agreement on the wording of a joint statement to be issued prior to the Annapolis peace conference in November.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50901

Abed Rabu: Israel using ruses to obstruct peace process

Yaser Abed Rabu, Secretary General of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization and member of the Palestinian negotiating team, said on Tuesday that Israel is obstructing progress in current political efforts by escalating their military operations in the West Bank.

http://www.imemc.org/article/50906

Ramzy Baroud: Controlling the Debate on Palestine, Israel

The last time I spoke publicly in the United States before my current tour was nearly four years ago. During this time I had travelled the world, passing my message to people in nearly 20 countries. Wherever I went, my calls for justice for the Palestinian people and for global alternatives to racism and war were well-received. However, my latest talks in the US have made me realize that the witch hunt on intellectuals that escalated rapidly since September 11, 2001 is nowhere near over.

http://palestinechronicle.com/story-101507152741.htm

Pat Robertson says dividing Jerusalem risks God's wrath

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Monday that the United States will risk God's wrath if it forces Israel to surrender part of Jerusalem to the Palestinians. "He that touches Jerusalem touches the apple of God's eye," Robertson said on "The 700 Club," the daily religious news-and-talk television program he hosts from his Christian Broadcasting Network.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/15/america/NA-GEN-Pat-Robertson-Jerusalem.php

Temple Mount remains peace obstacle

Palestinian authorities say the Arab world would never make lasting peace with Israel if the site of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was not handed over. Islam's Nobel Sanctuary in the Old City of Jerusalem, which includes the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is on a religious site that also contains the Temple Mount, the holiest site for Judaism. Israel and the Palestinian Authority both claim sovereignty over the site -- one of the most contested pieces of land in the world.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/10/14/temple_mount_remains_peace_obstacle/6670/

Muslim mayors urge Muslims to visit Jerusalem

After praying at Jerusalem's main holy site, two Muslim mayors attending the annual Jerusalem mayors' conference are calling on Muslims to visit the holy city. Al Haji Nasser Ntege Sebaggala from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and Adam Kimbisa, from Kampala, Uganda, prayed at the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque on Sunday and said if every Muslim could see Jerusalem, their perception of Jewish control of the city would change.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/15/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Mayors.php

Israel seeks to boost Jewish population

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urged Jews worldwide to migrate on Tuesday as his government unveiled new incentives to woo back expats and reverse declining immigration.  "Come and join us here because it's the best place to live," Olmert told the opening of an immigration conference in the southern city of Ashdod.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071016/wl_mideast_afp/israelimmigration_071016125746;_ylt=AsZERDC6cB5Y07edkc0uAWaaOrgF

Assad says Turkey trying to mediate between Syria, Israel

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Tuesday began a visit Turkey, a country which Assad has said is trying to mediate between his country and Israel. The visit comes weeks after Israel Air Force warplanes carried out a in northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey against a target that remains unknown, though widespread reports say it may have been a nascent nuclear facility, a claim Syria has denied.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=913479&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1

Two Palestinians hurt in grenade blast at Lebanon school

A Palestinian girl was seriously injured on Tuesday when a grenade she was handling exploded at a school in northern Lebanon where Palestinian refugees are being temporarily housed, police said. A spokesman said a man in his 60s who was near the girl, who a medical source said was aged four, also suffered a slight head injury.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071016/wl_mideast_afp/lebanonunrestblast_071016145826;_ylt=AqT2OcYbeS_Hz.nlwuTSPLKaOrgF

The 41st kilometer, by Amira Hass

A zoo. This is one of the ways that Palestinians describe the conditions under which nearly 1.5 million of them have been living: in an area of some 360 square kilometers, closed in on three sides by sophisticated barbed-wire fences, concrete walls and military lookout towers, and to the west by Israeli navy ships that seal them off from the sea. Overhead, in the sky, unmanned aircraft and hot air balloons continually photograph whatever happens inside this closed cage, which has seven gates connecting it to the world, all of which are sealed off almost hermetically.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/912729.html

Disaster capitalism: Israel as warning

I think we can safely deduce that Jewish extremist Kach members aren't too fond of Naomi Klein. On their informative online S.H.I.T. (Self-Hating and/or Israel-Threatening) List, we read that she "is an ISM supporter and Rachel Corrie lover. If Hitler were alive today, she'd love him as well!" This considered evaluation will probably need to be rephrased in less glowing terms if any patient Kahanists get around to reading The Shock Doctrine - the Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9044.shtml