Meanwhile in Palestine

Israeli occupation forces kill 8 Palestinians in Gaza attack: Among those killed was a 14-year-old boy who was shot dead. A 30-year-old man was killed by a heavy caliber bullet to the head as he was on the rooftop of his house.

Annan: Israel must stop killing Palestinians: In meeting with Palestinian President Abbas in Ramallah, UN secretary-general slams Israel, says more than 200 Palestinians killed since the end of June. He also calls on Israel to lift blockade on Gaza, allow free transfer of goods

The Palestinian Vice-Prime Minister kidnapped by Israel: Former rector of the Faculty of Law at the National University of Al Najah in Nablus, Mr Shaer is a moderate person. He does not belong to any political party, and is not a member of Hamas as widespread in the media.

Holy Land: children go back to school as humanitarian crisis deepens: Are the government schools going to open as striking teachers protest the non-payment of salaries? How can families register their children for school with all of the accompanying fees for school books, stationary, uniforms, transportation and when they have balances owing from the last year which they cannot pay?

Cancel Law Preventing Palestinians from Filing Claims for Damages against the State: 30 August 2006 at 9:00am, an expanded of nine justices of the Israeli High Court of Justice, presided by Chief Justice Aharon Barak, will hear a petition filed by nine human rights organizations from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), demanding that the Court declare void the amendments to the Civil Wrongs (Liability of the State) Law. The Law prevents Palestinians from seeking compensation from the State of Israel for damages inflicted by the Israeli security forces, even those inflicted outside of the context of a military operation.

Settlers uproot scores of olive trees in Yatta near Hebron: A group of right wing Jewish settlers from the illegal settlement of Sousa uprooted on Wednesday scores of olive trees that belong to Palestinian farmers from the nearby village of Yatta south of the West Bank city of Hebron.

Four residents killed and eight injured in Al Shujaeyya east of Gaza: Palestinian medical sources reported on Wednesday morning that four civilians were killed and eight injured by heavy machine gun fire from Israeli tanks in AL Shujaeyya area, east of the Gaza strip.

Nine Palestinians killed in Gaza: They included a 14-year-old boy shot in the chest, two men in their 30s also shot and five others who died from tank fire, medical officials said. Abbas "vigorously denounced Israeli aggression in the occupied territories, in particular in the Shejaiya quarter" of Gaza City, the statement said.

US: Settlers assaulting American citizens: Americans are unsafe in the Gaza Strip, and those in the Palestinian area should leave immediately, the US State Department said Tuesday. "In recent months, citizens of Western nations, including Americans, involved in pro-Palestinian volunteer efforts were assaulted and injured in the Occupied Territories by Israeli settlers and harassed by the (Israeli army). Those taking part in demonstrations, nonviolent resistance, and direct action are advised to cease such activity for their own safety," it said.

The Palestinian politicians being held prisoner in Israeli detention centres have their hearing postponed: The court said that the reason for the postponement was that they needed more time to examine the detainees' files and to decide if there is a valid case against the detained politicians.

Source: Israel delaying deal on Shalit: "The problem is that the Egyptian mediation team has no response from Israel, like as to when the prisoners would be released, how many and what type. Only with these responses will the mediators be able to offer something to the kidnappers. But Israel is not clarifying its positions. It is not taking any initiative that indicates its desire to complete the deal. There is no sign of readiness, there are no messages via Israel's overt channels, and the problem is - there are no messages even via the covert channels."

'Israelis want Palestinian ethnic cleansing': They also want to humiliate Dweik, who they have put in a small dirty cell, as well as the Arabs and Muslims and all those who sympathise with them. Despite strong condemnations and continuous contact with a lot of parliaments and parliamentarians, they are pursuing their policy as they clearly don't want a PG or a PLC. The coincidence of the imprisonment of Dweik with the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Ismail Haniya shows that there is a previously manipulated plan to undermine the Palestinian regime.

Annan: Israel must stop killing Palestinians: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited Ramallah on Wednesday afternoon. In a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he slammed Israel for hurting civilians and for the ongoing blockade on Gaza.

Nasrallah supporters still attacked at West Bank checkpoints: The popularity of Hezbollah's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah remains fixed in the minds of Israeli soldiers, as their actions at checkpoints indicate. The days of detaining Palestinians with photos of Nasrallah as their mobile phone screen savers, or celebratory cassettes in their cars, are not over.

Last two embassies leaving Jerusalem: President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica announced first that he had decided to move the embassy in order to conform with international law, AsiaNews reported. El Salvador then followed suit. Israel had reportedly given the two countries financial inducements to locate their embassies in Jerusalem after the 1967 war.

Analysts see 'disaster' in U.S. position: The authors of a hotly debated study on the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington said yesterday that the Bush administration's unquestioning support for Israel's military action in Lebanon confirms their thesis that the power of the lobby hurts both U.S. and Israeli national interests. Mr. Mearsheimer and co-author Stephen M. Walt, an international affairs scholar and academic dean at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, showed no signs of backing away from their analysis of the U.S.-Israel lobby at a National Press Club briefing.