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Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
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Occupation Forces Begin Building the Apartheid Wall in Al Burj Village
Al Burj village is situated in the southwestern part of Hebron with 2500 inhabitants at an area of 10,000 dunums, with most of the people working in trade and agriculture as well as depending on work inside the Green Line. Occupation Forces are currently destroying lands and uprooting trees in the west and the southwest sides of Al Burj village...
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/774.shtml
In a Next Step towards Expulsion: New Demolition Orders in Dab'a
The new demolition orders in Daba'a are an additional step taken by the Occupation towards the expulsion of the people living in the village. Over one year ago the Apartheid Wall was completed around Dab'a along with the adjacent villages of Wadi Al Rasha, Ras Tira, Arab Al Ramadin and Arab Abu Farda, isolating all of them from the rest of the West Bank...
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/773.shtml
S. Africa moves to avert protests over Olmert visit
Meanwhile relations with Israel's government are complicated by South Africa's protests over the 600 km West Bank barrier - ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice but which Israel says it needs to keep suicide bombers out - as well as Israel's historic support for apartheid.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=490346&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Israel: Despite Gaza Pullout Plan, Home Demolitions Expand
Human Rights Watch called on Caterpillar to suspend sales of D9 bulldozers, parts or maintenance services to the IDF so long as they use this machinery in illegal demolitions. The company should take steps to ensure that it does not knowingly sell its goods and services to customers that will use them to abuse human rights.
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/18/isrlpa9507.htm
Razing Rafah:
Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip
The Israeli Supreme Court has consistently sanctioned IDF policies that violate international law, including house demolitions aimed at collectively punishing families of militants and those destroyed to make way for the illegal “separation barrier” under construction inside the occupied West Bank. And under Israeli law, compensation is ruled out in cases of “combat activity,” which the Knesset amended in 2002 with an expansive definition that includes virtually every IDF action in the OPT.
http://hrw.org/campaigns/gaza/
Palestinians fear more of the same after US elections
Palestinians may well be glad to see the back of George W. Bush at next month's presidential elections but are sceptical that John Kerry will execute a major rethink in US policy on the Middle East conflict.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1963&e=24&u=/afp/20041018/pl_afp/us_vote_palestinian_041018051756
Israel faces twin allegations of breaching international law in Gaza
A report by Human Rights Watch said the destruction of thousands of homes in in southern Gaza along the border with Egypt, could not be justified on military grounds. The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Peter Hansen, said a recent offensive in northern Gaza had left up to 700 people homeless.
http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=31028
Palestinian parliament gives Qureia two-week reprieve
Quriea had been summoned to present a report to parliament on Oct. 20 after accusations that his government, appointed by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, had failed to act on widespread demands for reform.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/490360.html
Palestine economy 'is facing a bleak future'
According to latest World Bank figures, 70 per cent of the 1.3-million population are living below the poverty line and unemployment stands at 44pc. Around 60pc of the population is under 18 years of age.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=94291&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27212
Gaza Strip: Six Palestinians killed, Israeli officer wounded in series of clashes
Earlier Monday, Israeli troops killed two other Palestinian fighters who infiltrated into Israel from the southern Gaza Strip, reaching to an area close to the settlement of "Holit". Hamas claimed credit for the infiltration attempt, Reuters reported from Gaza Strip.
http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=287123&lang=e&dir=news
Palestinian refugees dream of home amid desolation
Contrary to general belief, Palestinian refugees are not enthusiastic about having military organizations in their camps; they would rather live without them and surrender their security issues to the appropriate Lebanese authorities, the army and the security agencies, like other Lebanese citizens.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=9326
Palestinian Solidarity Conference Ends Peacefully
Duke's student newspaper had received threats the week before from a New York-based militant group, the Jewish Defense Organization, which said it would try to shut down the conference Sunday.
http://www.nbc17.com/education/3828429/detail.html
Yeshiva student apologizes to archbishop for spitting
The student, Natan Zvi Rosenthal, explained that he was raised to see Christianity as idol worship, which is forbidden by the Torah. Rosenthal's rabbis from the Har Hamor Yeshiva in Jerusalem - who, along with his father, were present at the meeting - said they regretted the incident, and that they educate their students to be courteous to others.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/489884.html
MidEast cannot wait for US elections -Palestinian FM
Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged to make Middle East peace a personal priority but only after the Nov. 2 U.S. vote, recognising no progress can be made without Washington on side. "During the American election and in the three months after, allies of the United States should really do more work than they would do otherwise," Nabil Shaath said
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18173151.htm
France: Mideast peace process has implications for Europe
Barnier said Europe has been a financial giant thus far, but a political midget vis-a-vis the Middle East peace process. The foreign minister stressed that Europe was interested in becoming a political giant and playing a greater role in the region's diplomatic process
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/490355.html
PM agrees to establish Likud team to consider referendum
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed on Monday to establish a Likud faction committee to examine all possible aspects surrounding a disengagement referendum, in the event one is held.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/489945.html
U.S. Presbyterian Church considers economic pressure on Israel
"The occupation by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza must end because it is oppressive and destructive for the Palestinian people," the Rev. Nile Harper said in an interview with The Associated Press.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=490384&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
'When we came back they had destroyed all the houses'
While Mr Sharon agonises over how to draw 7,500 Jewish settlers out of Israel's Gaza colonies - offering hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation to each family - the army has already bulldozed close to 9,000 Palestinians from their homes in the Gaza strip this year alone.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1329830,00.html
Angry Gaza settlers condemn talks with Sharon as 'disgrace'
Jewish settler leaders emerged seething yesterday from a meeting with Ariel Sharon, who rejected their demand for a referendum on the Prime Minister's plan to evacuate 21 settlements from the Gaza Strip by the end of next year. They vowed to continue pressing for a nationwide vote "to avoid a civil war".
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=573213
Ariel Sharon's Worldview - By URI AVNERY
everybody has had a go at analyzing the interview with Dov ("Dubby") Weisglass, Ariel Sharon's most intimate confidant. But there is precious little to analyze. His statement is crystal clear: the "redeployment plan" was designed to "freeze" the peace process for decades, to put all peace plans "in formaldehyde", to put an end to the possibility of a Palestinian state, once and for all.
http://www.counterpunch.com/avnery10182004.html
Israel 'redeploys' in Gaza, but who won?
"The Israeli side has a problem," says Avi Issacharoff, author of The Seventh War, a history of the intifada. "Israel will continue its assassinations against Hamas and this will cause Hamas to fire Qassams at Sderot. Then the army will go back in, perhaps even deeper." "In a few days, a week, or two weeks, the rockets will resume and we will be back soon in Jabalya"
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1018/p06s02-wome.html
Israel Feuds With Agency Set Up to Aid Palestinians
The agency has grown into a huge operation, with 25,000 employees, almost all of them Palestinians, and its continued existence is a symbol of the unresolved Middle East conflict that has left Palestinians in limbo for decades.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/international/middleeast/18gaza.html
Between America and South Africa
Since the disengagement plan nudged the road map off the agenda, a reminder is in order that Sharon, according to Powell, is "committed," in accordance with the road map, to an agreement that will bring about "the establishment of an independent, democratic and lasting Palestinian state that will end the conflict" in 2005.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/489924.html
Arab world needs stronger civil society
Izzat Abdel-Hadi, the director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development in Ramallah, Palestine, said that the status of the civil society cannot be separated from the political reality any country encounters. "Development and civil work cannot be separated from the political scene in any country," he said, citing civil work in Palestine as an example.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=9342
Justice Ministry: No tax on evacuation compensation package
Settlers who leave their homes in the West Bank or Gaza Strip under the terms of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan will not have to pay taxes on compensation packages they receive as a result, the head of the Justice Ministry said Monday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/490319.html
Speakers to address rights in Palestine tonight
Palestine Liberation Organization legal adviser Diana Buttu and NYU law professor Olivier de Schutter will lead the discussion. De Schutter will present the findings of an inquiry he led in June under the International Federation of Human Rights.
http://www.nyunews.com/news/campus/8004.html
Israel jails Palestinian ship crew for arms smuggling
The weapons "were going to be used ... for the Palestinian people to protect themselves," he said. "I condemn killing civilians and children ... (but) there is no justice that Israel has all the sophisticated weapons and we have nothing."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18347135.htm
Moscow urges Beirut to accept UN statement
The message was delivered on Friday morning by Russian Ambassador Serguei Bukin, who visited Foreign Minister Jean Obeid, a day after the United States and France circulated a draft resolution to the Security Council member, aiming to put more pressure on Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=9310
Freed Falluja negotiator says peace talks off
The chief negotiator for Iraq’s rebel-held city of Falluja said after his release by U.S. forces that peace talks with the interim government had been called off. ”I was released at 2 a.m.,” Khaled al-Jumaili told Reuters on Monday. ”The people of Falluja have suspended negotiations, despite the fact they had made progress, because of arrests like mine and American policies.”
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a8978f9c-20de-11d9-9db7-00000e2511c8.html
Hoon considering US request for UK troops
Geoff Hoon, UK defence secretary, on Monday told MPs that the British government was considering a request from the US for some British troops in Iraq “to be made available to relieve US forces”. Mr Hoon said no decision has yet been reached, but ministers are considering sending a force of about 650 to a region south of Baghdad...
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d3e6dd18-2072-11d9-af19-00000e2511c8.html |
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