Car carrying Hamas members explodes in Gaza

A car carrying Hamas militants blew up in the Gaza Strip on Monday, injuring at least three people, Hamas officials and medical workers said. Hamas said it believed the blast was caused by a roadside bomb. Tensions remain high in Gaza between Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups four months after Islamists took control of the territory. An Israeli army spokeswoman said Israel was not involved in the attack.

http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22275234.htm

Palestinian child dies of wounds sustained during Israeli invasion of Tulkarem

Zein Mare'y, aged eight-years-old, on Monday morning died of wounds sustained during an Israeli army invasion of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem on Friday night.

http://www.imemc.org/article/51008

New Hamas-Islamic Jihad ceasefire announced after one Palestinian is killed in Rafah

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements on Sunday night agreed to a renewed ceasefire after one member of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, was killed, and ten others were wounded in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

http://www.imemc.org/article/51006

Gaza Strip running out of anaesthetic gas while Abbas heeds Israeli wanted list

Israeli occupation forces fired a missile at two men in a boat off the shores of the Gaza Strip, killing both. Under the impact of the siege laid on the Stip, Gaza's main hospital declares it would be forced to stop surgery because the Israeli occupation forces are preventing the import of anaesthetic gas. Khaled Radi, spokesman of the Health ministry in the Gaza Strip, confirmed that only two canisters of anaesthetic gas are available at the Shifa hospital, while the supplies at the smaller hospitals are also running out. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Tawfiq Tirawi, head of Mahmoud Abbas' secret services, confirmed that his organization is carrying out arrests of Palestinians on the basis of wanted-lists handed out to him by his counterpart Yuval Diskin, head of the Israeli internal intelligence services Shin Bet.

http://www.arabmonitor.info/news/dettaglio.php?idnews=20957&lang=en

Work stoppage in Gaza strip surgery room threatens the lives of hundreds of patients

PCHR calls upon the international community, the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention, UN bodies, WHO, and the ICRC to pressure Israeli authorities to allow passage of medicine and medical supplies into the Gaza Strip, especially the anesthetic gas nitrous oxide used in surgeries. The Centre also calls upon all diplomatic missions in the OPT and Israel to work to ensure the timely flow of essential medical supplies to hospitals and healthcare centers in the Gaza Strip in order to maintain the provision of healthcare to the Strip's 1.5 million population.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EVOD-788HAD?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR

OPT: Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) update and statement on Gaza

Despite claims by Israeli authorities that current restrictions on Gaza Crossings are not connected to a decision by Israeli cabinet ministers to declare Gaza a "hostile entity" and to their intention to impose collective measures against the civilian population, realities on the ground suggest otherwise.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/RMOI-787MSN?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR

Abbas refuses to name Dahlan his deputy

The Bush administration is exerting heavy pressure on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to appoint senior Fatah figure Muhammad Dahlan as his deputy, sources in Ramallah said Sunday. According to the sources, Abbas has rejected the US demand, triggering a crisis with Washington. They said tensions between Abbas and Dahlan had escalated over the past few weeks after the latter criticized the PA president's performance.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380618140&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Israel protests over release of 'assassins'

Israel delivered an angry protest to Ramallah yesterday after the Palestinian Authority was said to have released three gunmen from Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement suspected of plotting to assassinate Ehud Olmert while the Israeli Prime Minister was driving to the first summit to take place in the West Bank since the intifada broke out seven years ago.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3084299.ece

Disagreements in Hamas Camps Laid Bare

Four months after the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the usually hidden arguments between the group's rival camps were unexpectedly laid bare, when a well-known pragmatist said seizing control by force was a mistake and had caused great hardship.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvHc1uB1wXRAETyDenBpjfcWyzww

PLO official claims Israeli-Hamas contacts re-established

Yaser Abed Rabo, a member of Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee, revealed on Monday that indirect talks between Hamas and Israel had been reinitiated through a third party.

http://www.imemc.org/article/51015

Sarkozy urges Olmert to show 'creativity' in negotiations with PA

France wants Israel to be creative and make some gestures in negotiations with the Palestinians, President Nicolas Sarkozy told visiting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday.  The two leaders also discussed Iran's nuclear program and a U.S.-hosted Mideast peace conference expected to take place in Annapolis, Maryland, in November or December.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/915681.html

Hebrew, Arabic mix upsets neighbors

The new building that will soon house the Arab-Jewish bilingual school Hand in Hand sticks out against the rest of the houses in the Pat neighborhood in Jerusalem. The roomy halls and spacious lawns are not very characteristic of the nearby streets. Neither is the multicultural atmosphere which many of the religious Jewish neighbors don't care for.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/915328.html

Rabin assassin's wife

Yigal Amir sacrificed himself for his people: The pregnant wife of Yigal Amir, the jailed assassin of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, said Monday that she intended to tell Amir's future child that his father had "sacrificed himself for his people."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=915701&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7

Israel hardliners plot release of Rabin killer

Israel's extreme right has launched a nationwide campaign to release the jailed assassin of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin on the 12th anniversary of the murder.  "If Israel is ready to release terrorists for peace, by the same principle, we demand the release of Yigal Amir," said Itamar Ben Gvir, who belongs to a committee set up in support of Israel's most famous political assassin.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071022/wl_mideast_afp/israelrabinprisonassassin_071022140802;_ylt=AgsW.gep.funjE83AcalhSKaOrgF

Psychologists: Women's accounts of rape by Katsav were credible

Psychology experts say the attorney general erred in his interpretation of the testimonies of women who said former president Moshe Katsav raped them, according to a document presented to the High Court of Justice on Sunday.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=915361&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7

To live occupation

It started off in the beauty of the olive fields all set for harvest. Just as the day before we went with one of many Palestinian farmers to make sure that he was able to pick his olives in safety. The village of Tel outside Nablus was only one month earlier attacked by settlers who burnt down many of the olive trees and now we could still see the black valleys.

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/22/to-live-occupation/ 

Another Voice: OneVoice's False Assertions

When Another Voice first took issue with OneVoice's program and planned concerts, our concerns were based on OneVoice's 10 pillars, which are problematic for a number of reasons; we were troubled by the methods in which OneVoice was seeking to collect signatures in support of their platform, e.g. offering a free concert ticket to those who gave their signature; and we were disturbed by the idea of another high profile peace event that distorted the reality of what is happening on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. We did not care to demonize the individuals behind OneVoice, nor did we assume bad intentions on their part. However, we were, and continue to be concerned with simplistic, high profile initiatives that equate the occupier with the occupied, and that do not recognize Israel's ongoing violations of international law, including gross violations of Palestinian human rights, which are the reasons behind the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian "conflict."

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/21/another-voice-onevoices-false-assertions/

Another Voice: Surrender on the Dotted Line; An Analysis of OneVoice's 10 Pillars

Despite OneVoice's recent efforts to minimize the attention on its "10 Pillars," especially in the wake of widespread grassroots criticism, the fact remains that OneVoice created these 10 pillars to present as a basis for negotiations, under the guise that they represent the will of the majority of Palestinians and Israelis.

http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/21/another-voice-surrender-on-the-dotted-line-an-analysis-of-onevoices-10-pillars/

The moderate blindfold

We've had Live 8 and Live Earth, and this week, albeit on a smaller scale, we almost had One Million Voices. Organized by the OneVoice group, the declared aim was to bring together Palestinians and Israelis in simultaneous events in Tel Aviv, Jericho, London, Washington and Ottawa to voice support for the "moderates" and call for a negotiated two-state solution.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9053.shtml

Banned and Denounced in the Middle East, Renowned Lebanese Musician Hits Unexpected Roadblock in U.S.A. Discrimination in San Diego Will Not Stop Arab Oud Master & Composer's Extensive North American Fall Tour: Just a few weeks ago, a venue in San Diego, CA denied on political grounds the use of their theater to renowned Lebanese musician Marcel Khalife, after local concert organizers had already arranged the event with the Salvation Army, who operates the venue, The Joan B. Kroc Theatre at the Salvation Army Corps Community Center. The possibly discriminatory incident demonstrates the misperceptions and tensions that exist in today's political climate towards Arabs, even those who advocate for peace. Concert organizers—who had been in touch with the venue for several months and had followed their application process rigorously—were told that a concert by Khalife—an UNESCO Artist for Peace— would be "divisive" and "unbalanced" because it does not present an Israeli artist alongside Khalife.

http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.alt_press_release/project_id/242/alt_release/265.cfm