Study: Four Israeli companies join global top 100 arms list: Four Israeli companies appear in a list of the top 100 arms dealers in the world, according to a report published Monday by Amnesty International. The companies are Israel Aircraft Industries, Rafael Arms Development Authority and Israel Military Industries.
Nof Zion vs. Jabal Mukaber: Manipulations to Erase Reality: Nof Zion is only an example of the operative code of the settlement movement as a whole with regard to the Arab presence in the West Bank and particularly in East Jerusalem. We have a modern version here of the classic Zionist statement, “A land without a people for a people without a land.” However, if, in the nineteenth century, this was said out of ignorance, today it is said out of wickedness. This is an effort to erase the Arab presence, to take over the space, together with the land, the view, to “judaize” East Jerusalem by a combination of Jewish building projects and the erasure of the Arab presence.
OPT: Freshwater shortage leads to health problems in Gaza Strip: This means severe water shortages for at least 70 percent of Gazans. In addition, Hallak says Gaza's water is low quality, containing sodium, nitrates and chlorides that exceed percentages recommended as safe for human consumption by the WHO. This is a health risk, he says, contributing to kidney problems, blood poisoning and conditions affecting pregnant women. He added that nitrate concentrations in water cause methemoglobinemia or 'blue baby' syndrome, which arises when large amounts of nitrates are ingested. Symptoms include headache, weakness, dizziness, and can progress to seizures, coma and death. High nitrate concentrations also cause gastric cancer and reduce vitamin C intake among infants.
Olive harvest season closures in northern West Bank: This year thousands of Palestinians who relive on olives for their livelihoods cannot reach their fields. Israeli soldiers have imposed a blockade on villages and towns near the site of the Wall in the West Bank. Farmers planted on their lands and are now unable to reach them for harvest.
Eight Palestinians die as Fatah and Hamas fight on streets of Gaza City: Eight Palestinians were killed and dozens injured yesterday in an increasingly violent struggle for power between rival factions in the Gaza Strip. Hours after the clashes, gunmen loyal to the Fatah movement set fire to rooms in the Palestinian cabinet building in the West Bank town of Ramallah. It was the most serious outbreak of fighting in the Palestinian territories for some months, and a sign of rising tensions between the Hamas-led government and the more secular Fatah, which lost power in elections at the start of the year.
Hamas, Fatah exchange fire in Nablus, Jericho and Gaza: In the northern West Bank town of Nablus on Monday, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party supporters shot at Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer's bodyguards as they rode in a government car, injuring two of them, said Shaer, who was not present during the attack. Hospital officials said a Fatah militant was also injured in the fighting.
Hamas shuts down gov't offices to protest clashes: In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party enforced a general strike, closing shops and private schools in a show of force against Hamas. For its part, the Hamas-led government ordered all ministries closed to protest Fatah attacks on government buildings.
PNI Calls for Immediate End to Internal Bloodshed: The Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) today called for an immediate end to in-fighting between Fatah and Hamas ‘security' forces, which saw 9 killed, including a 15-year-old boy, and at least 70 wounded in the Gaza Strip yesterday, and in which the Council of Ministers building in Ramallah was set ablaze by armed supporters of the Fatah movement.
Habib: “Gaza internal clashes, free gift for the occupation”: Khader Habib, a leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement, said on Monday that the internal clashes in the Gaza Strip are considered a “free gift' for the Israeli occupation in achieving its goals to divide the Palestinian people and engaging them civil war.
Palestinian fisherman killed near central Gaza coast: Israeli naval forces shot dead a Palestinian fisherman near the central Gaza Strip coast on Monday, witnesses and medical sources in the town of Deir el-Ballah said. The witnesses said an Israeli gunboat opened intensive fire at Palestinian fishing boats in the sea in central Gaza Strip town of Dier al-Balah, killing a fisherman. People transported his body to the local hospital.
Just another day at Huwarra—Journalist beaten, ten men detained: Hundreds of women and men were forced into a large holding pen, with small children being crushed against the turnstiles separating the soldiers from the Palestinians waiting in line. Young and old suffered from the heat, perspiring and holding onto one another as not to faint or fall. Young infants and fragile groceries were carried on shoulders and heads so as to escape injury as the soldiers shouted and waved their weapons in the faces of people at the back of the line to make them step forward.
Palestinians: IDF tanks, troops move into northern Gaza: The IDF said the troops entered Gaza in a routine operation to prevent militants from firing homemade rockets into southern Israel. IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said earlier Sunday that Israel is weighing the possibility of stepped up military action in the Gaza Strip to halt rocket fire.
West Bank Israeli Settlers Vandalize Palestinian Villages: In a separate incident, two Palestinians were lightly wounded late Monday evening when settlers threw stones at them near the Eli settlement located east of Ariel in the West Bank. Palestinians in Fendaqumiyah, located adjacent to Homesh, said armed settlers rode through the village before dawn Sunday on all-terrain vehicles, firing their weapons in the air. Sources said settlers also entered the villages of Kuchin and Madmah, located south of Nablus. Settlers in those villages threw stones and bottles at house windows and at cars.
Gaza militants: Israel can't free solider by force: Palestinian militants who seized an Israeli soldier in June warned Israel on Monday that launching a stepped-up offensive in the Gaza Strip could lead to a breakdown in efforts to secure his release.
Israel to Divide Jerusalem?: Israel's new government is drawing up a blueprint for dividing the holy city of Jerusalem - a once inconceivable notion - giving the Palestinians nearly all the Arab neighborhoods while holding onto Jewish areas and disputed holy shrines.
Mubarak and Abdullah meet, call for end to Palestinian infighting: "How could we call on [our foreign counterparts] to help push for peace, and risk being faced with their questions regarding what is currently happening in the Palestinian arena?" Mubarak asked and added, "Do these events pave the way for the reinstatement of the peace process?"
Congress okays joint project funding: The US Congress approved an increase of $460 million in funding for joint Israeli-American defense programs over the weekend, including $20 million for the development of a short-range ballistic missile defense system which will provide protection from Katyusha rockets.
Debating the Lobby in Manhattan: What became known as the "Mearsheimer-Walt thesis" is, to paraphrase bluntly the authors' careful formulations, that the Israel lobby has been successful in "distorting" American foreign policy in Israel's interest. In particular, Mearsheimer and Walt argue, we would not have had an Iraq war without the Lobby's contribution. These are, to say the least, fighting words. Indyk and Ross showed up in fighting trim, and Slaughter threw them a slow soft one in her first question: Was the Mearsheimer-Walt paper anti-Semitic? Well, more or less, yes, was the predictable answer from Israel's defense bench.
Starting with the individual: The refusal of the Israeli court to address our legitimate claim, symbolically compensate us for our loss, recognize that loss occurred to us or even make an attempt to hold the Israeli army responsible for the wrong it did will not register with many. Much more damage has been done to many more people. But the lofty ideals of peace and justice often come down to a simple personal case.
Is Israel a partner?: There is no way of knowing whether Israel's willingness to withdraw from the West Bank and the Golan Heights would result in reliable, long-term peace agreements, but it can be confirmed that Israel is largely responsible for the fact that such moves have not been seriously considered or formulated. Israeli governments since 1967 have preferred domestic tranquility over the possibility of unrest on the foreign fronts. Defining the Palestinian and Syrian enemies as non-partners is a direct consequence of that order of priorities.
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