PLO
disputes Jerusalem rail plan The Palestinians have begun
legal action against two prominent French companies in an attempt to
stop work on a contested light-railway project in Jerusalem. When it
begins operating in 2010, the railway will stretch for eight and a
half miles through West and East Jerusalem, taking, it is estimated,
400,000 passenger-journeys a day. Its backers say it will ease road
congestion. But the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which is
bringing the court case, through its delegation in Paris, argues that
the railway will breach the fourth Geneva convention by providing
infrastructure to Jewish settlements on occupied land. A key section
of the line will run into East Jerusalem, linking Jewish settlements,
which are home to tens of thousands of people, to the city centre.
"This tram will constitute at least an element in the expansion
of the colonisation of East Jerusalem by the state of Israel,"
the Palestinian delegation said in a
statement. http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2199617,00.html
Demonstration
against land thefts at Umm Salamunah On Friday morning
Palestinian and international peace activists gathered near the
village of Umm Salamunah, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
They took part in a protest against the construction of the Israeli
Segregation Wall and the confiscation of village land.
http://www.imemc.org/article/51105
Egyptian
Humanitarian mission calls for solution to crisis of stranded
Palestinians The Egyptian physicians syndicate on Friday
called on the international community to alleviate the suffering of
those two thousand Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side of
Gaza-Egypt since June because of Israeli border closures.
http://www.imemc.org/article/51103
PCHR:
A Warning from Gaza: PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Press
Release Date Israeli Occupation Authorities
Seek to Impose More Measures of Collective Punishment on the
Palestinian People, and PCHR Warns of Further Deterioration to
Humanitarian Conditions in the Gaza Strip PCHR calls upon the
international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to
the Fourth
Geneva. http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/25/pchr-a-warning-from-gaza/
Weekly
Report on Israeli human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory 18 - 24 Oct
2007 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EDIS-78BM34?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Four
Killed In Less 24 Hours in the Strip by Israeli Fire Two
members of the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, were
killed on Thursday morning by gunfire from Israeli Special Forces in
the Abasan area of eastern Khan Younis, medical sources in southern
Gaza
reported. http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=20042
Palestinian
policeman dies of earlier wounds sustained in internal clashes Hamas
media sources reported that one Palestinian police officer, died on
Thursday at night of wounds sustained during clashes with gunmen east
of Gaza City last week. http://www.imemc.org/article/51096
Hamas
sources: P.A security men arrested 13 members of Hamas Islamic
Resistance Movement, Hamas, stated on Thursday that Palestinian
Security Sources, loyal to Fateh movement, in the West Bank,
continued the arrest campaign that targets Hamas members and
supporters and abducted 13 on Wednesday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/51095
Hamas
government condemns Israeli attacks on Gaza The Gaza-based
Hamas-dominated government condemned the latest Israeli military
escalation against both the Gaza Strip and West Bank, a
government’s spokesperson said on Thursday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/51092
Israel-OPT:
Gaza residents unable to get medical care, aid workers say Dozens
of patients in the Gaza Strip are unable to receive medical
treatment, in some cases life-saving procedures, due to the continued
border closures with Israel and Egypt, health officials and
international aid workers said. "At least three patients denied
exit permits have died since June, and others have lost limbs or
sight," Human Rights Watch reported. The Palestinian
organization Al Mezan in Gaza said a fourth man, Nimir Muhammad
Shuheibar, aged 77, died on 23 October while awaiting treatment.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/KARI-78BKMJ?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
ANALYSIS:
Israel's real intention behind sanctions on Gaza Strip There
is an enormous gap between the reasons Israel is giving for the
decision to impose significant sanctions against Hamas rule in the
Gaza Strip, and the real intentions behind them. Defense Minister
Ehud Barak authorized Thursday a plan for disrupting electricity
supply to the Gaza Strip, as well as significantly shrinking fuel
shipments. This is supposed to reduce the number of Qassam rocket
attacks against Sderot and the other border communities. In practice,
defense officials believe that the Palestinian militants will
intensify their attacks in response to the sanctions. As such, the
real aim of this effort is twofold: to attempt a new form of
"escalation" as a response to aggression from Gaza, before
Israel embarks on a major military operation there; and to prepare
the ground for a more clear-cut isolation of the Gaza Strip -
limiting to an absolute minimum Israel's obligation toward the
Palestinians there.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/917385.html
Israel
rescinds Arab Christian clergy travel rights in W. Bank Israel
has rescinded some travel privileges for Arab Christian clergy
traveling to and around the West Bank because of security concerns,
an spokesperson for Israel's Interior Ministry said
Friday. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/917437.html
Blair's
true colours The real reason Blair was seconded to the
Quartet -- liquidating Palestinian resistance to occupation --
appears ever more clear, writes Saleh
Al-Naami. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/868/re62.htm
Abu
Teir warns of Israeli policy in Jerusalem In a letter sent
from the Israeli detention of Nitsan, Sheikh Mohammad Abu Teir,
member of the Palestinian Legislative Council of the Hamas Jerusalem
bloc, warned on Friday of the acceleration of Israeli policies in
East Jerusalem, whilst Palestinians are busy with preparations for
the November conference.
http://www.imemc.org/article/51106
Rubber-Coated
Steel Bullet Wounds Peaceful Demonstrator at Bil'in Palestinians,
Israelis, and internationals came together in the village of Bil'in
for another non-violent demonstration against the
internally-recognized as illegal separation Wall built on Palestinian
land. IOF soldiers responded to the peaceful protesters with the
usual onslaught of tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber-coated steel
bullets. Two internationals.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/26/rubber-coated-steel-bullet-wounds-peaceful-demonstrator-at-bilin/
Report:
Fatah instigating conflict between Islamic Jihad, Hamas Palestinian
source tells al-Sinara newspaper Fatah members infiltrating into
other groups to stir up conflict with Hamas: Since Hamas' violent
takeover of Gaza, their rivals in Fatah have been trying to regain
control of the coastal strip—or at least regain some respect. The
Nazareth-based daily al-Sinara reports that Fatah members have been
slyly joining other Palestinian groups, such as the Islamic Jihad, in
an attempt to push these groups toward confrontation with Hamas.
Fatah activists in question did not join other Palestinian groups to
aid them, but rather to "incite them into a civil war with
Hamas," he continued.
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3464232,00.html
Gaza
Christians fear 'those more extreme than Hamas' The
kidnapping and killing of Rami Ayyad, manager of the Gaza Strip's
only Christian bookstore, sent shudders through the Palestinian
coastal enclave's tiny Christian
community. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071025/wl_mideast_afp/mideastgazachristiansislam_071025163108;_ylt=AgNvLQDulNwp2WxLzvKxL2cUvioA
Chaotic
Nablus: Testing ground for Abbas NABLUS, West Bank - The
Palestinian president has chosen the West Bank's most chaotic city to
show he's in control, winning U.S . praise Thursday for beefing up
his security forces here as part of an attempt to reassure Israel
that he can implement a future peace
deal. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071025/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_cracking_down_1;_ylt=AtXyYwN_HOjQrol6MS97xDwUvioA
Palestinian
source: PA to take control of Nablus soon Security
official tells Ynet 500 security personnel to enter Nablus to
reinforce PA forces currently there; US general visits West Bank city
to monitor transfer.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3464123,00.html
'I
didn't suggest we kill Palestinians' Arnon Soffer arrives
at our meeting armed with a stack of books and papers. Among them is
a copy of an interview I conducted with him three and a half years
ago ("It's the demography, stupid," May 21, 2004), and
print-outs of angry responses the geostrategist from the University
of Haifa says he continues to receive "from leftists in Israel
and anti-Semites abroad, who took my words out of context." The
passage that aroused the most ire was as follows: "When 2.5
million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it's going to be a human
catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they
are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The
pressure at the border will be awful. It's going to be a terrible
war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill
and kill. All day, every day."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1191257273616&pagename=JPost%252FJPArticle%252FPrinter
Much
like Auschwitz Israel's regard for Palestinians can be
summed up in how it imprisons and terrorises them, writes Khaled
Amayreh in the occupied West
Bank. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/868/re61.htm
Right
of Entry: Adnan and Manal Adnan Muhammad Hasan Khalil,
American citizen of Palestinian descent, emigrated from the West Bank
as a youth in 1976 and returned ten years ago to get married. At that
time, he applied to the Israeli authorities for Family Unification
(FU) in order to secure permanent residency in the West Bank.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/10/25/right-of-entry-adnan-and-manal/
Sherri
Muzher: Prioritizing Palestinian Dignity There seems to be
a huge disconnect between the politicians/activists and the
Palestinian people they claim to
champion. http://palestinechronicle.com/story-102507155103.htm
'U'
Press keeps Pluto contract Distribution deal was in
question because of controversy over British publisher's anti-Israel
book. http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2007/10/25/UAdministration/u.Press.Keeps.Pluto.Contract-3056407.shtml
The
New
McCarthyism http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071112&s=cohler-esses
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