Meanwhile in Palestine

Refuseniks: IDF employs apartheid regime: Wolinic explained, “Any type of service in the IDF contributes to the occupation. It doesn't matter if I serve in the Kirya in Tel Aviv or as a Kashrut supervisor; it's all part of the occupation and apartheid regime employed by Israel against the Palestinians.”

Help The Ghalia Family: The incident received worldwide attention mostly due to the horrifying video footage taken minutes later of devastated Huda Ghalia (11 y.o.) next to the dead body of her father, Ali (43 y.o.)... The family has literally lost everything: most of the working men are either dead or injured, enormous amounts of money are being spent daily on the medical treatment and on the special needs for the many wounded and handicapped, and the family agricultural land is inaccessible due to repeated bombings.

A struggle among losers: In an open letter to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and the leadership of Hamas and Fatah, Dr. Ali Jarbawi, a lecturer at Bir Zeit University writes: "If you think that in your fighting, there will be a winning side, you are delusional. In such struggles, no one wins; everyone loses!

Save up to 50% on the New Statesman for twelve months and support the Trees for Life campaign!: By subscribing to the New Statesman magazine, not only will you receive Britain's leading current affairs weekly but you will also join the Trees for Life campaign and help to repair the enormous destruction years of war have inflicted on the olive groves of Palestine.

Settlers attack a mosque in Halhol village near Hebron: Al Nabi Mossa mosque is one of the oldest mosques in Hebron area, the settlers went inside, ransacked it then, said prayers. All of this was done under the protection of the Israeli army, which surrounded and closed the mosque area and did not allow residents to come near it, even for their morning prayers.

Closure Denies Palestinian Residents Access to their Homes: The letter was sent on behalf of Palestinian families living in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron, whose access to their homes has been blocked and who suffer from repeated attacks by Israeli settlers. The letter represents ACRI`s final attempt to resolve this longstanding and untenable situation outside of the courts.

My Name Is Rachel Corrie Begins New York Debut Off-Broadway Oct. 5: Megan Dodds will reprise her role in the American premiere of the acclaimed — and controversial — historical solo play My Name Is Rachel Corrie, which begins preview Oct. 5 at Off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theatre. The limited engagement will play 48 performances through Nov. 19. Opening is Oct. 15.

PA security officer dies of wounds he sustained on Monday due to infighting in Gaza: Osama Al Aeid, 23, was an officer in Hamas' newly formed Executive Force and died after suffering fatal head wounds after clashes that erupted between Fatah supporters and officers from the Executive Force late Monday night.

One resident killed by Israeli fire east of Khan Younis: The sources said that Yousef Qabalan, 18, was killed after the army stationed at a military post east of Khan Younis fired shells and rounds of live ammunition at the area.

Are security forces trigger-happy when it come to Arabs?: Eighteen Israeli Arabs have been killed since the October 2000 riots by the security forces under circumstances unrelated to national security. Eleven of these were shot to death by cops and Border Police troops. During this period there was only one comparable case in which a cop shot to death a Jew, while trying to prevent the man from stabbing his parents.

London Mayor wins High Court appeal to overturn suspension: He has also denied any bias against Jews, adding that accusations of anti-Semitism were being raised "to give weight to charges which would otherwise be too trivial to merit the gigantic fuss that has been made about this brief private exchange."

Peretz: In Israel's interests to ease conditions in PA: The two agreed that Israel would install X-ray machines at Israel-Gaza border crossings in order to ease the flow of commercial goods in and out of the Strip. Meanwhile, Rice told Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday morning meeting that the economic boycott on the Hamas-led Palestinian government is effective and the international community will continue to maintain the boycott.

US offers millions to keep Abbas safe: The United States has proposed a USD 20 million plan to boost Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' personal security force and upgrade the main cargo crossing between Gaza and Israel, American officials said Thursday.

Quartet: Rafah closure puts EU observer mission at risk: American and European representatives have cautioned Israel that the continued closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt puts the continued deployment of European observers there in doubt.

Paz-Palestinian petrol pact signed: Diplomatic sources suggest an awkward situation could develop in the event that Israel asks for increased pressure on Iran at the same time that an Israeli refinery is processing crude oil from Iran. According to a source in the energy industry, "a refinery doesn't distinguish between crude sourced from Iran and from anywhere else, and crude from that type of source could be marketed in Israel."

Israeli PM secretly met Saudi officials in Amman: press: The meeting, at the palace of Jordan's King Abdullah II, lasted for several hours and focused mainly on Iran's nuclear program and the spread of "Shiite terrorism" in the region, the paper said. The two sides agreed to share intelligence on the Iranian nuclear program.

Mubarak: Early elections could be way out of Palestinian crisis: Early elections might be the solution to the Palestinian stalemate, which has defied Egyptian attempts to broker a government of national unity, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in remarks published Thursday..

King Mahmoud: He can dismiss the PA prime minister (the law is vague about the cabinet), but any new government has to be approved by parliament, where Hamas has 74 of the 132 seats while Fatah has 45. Mr Abbas, like the queen, is notionally head of the armed forces, but legally most of the forces answer to the Hamas-run interior ministry, and, in practice, their loyalties are divided among several chieftains.

Rice fails to win Israel pledge to ease Palestinian restrictions: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice failed to secure a pledge from Israel to ease restrictions on the beleaguered Palestinian territories as she ended a visit aimed at breathing life into the moribund Middle East peace process.

Israeli Army Rounds-up Non-violent Activists in Bil’in: Last night in Bil'in the Palestinian village near Ramallah that has become a symbol of non-violent resistance to the apartheid wall, the Israeli army invaded the village at around 2am and kidnapped eight villagers. Five of the villagers were later released, but three remain in captivity in the Ofer military prison, west of Ramallah. The kidnappings were carried out on the western side of the village near Wajee's house.

Palestinian killed during police round up of illegal laborers: Neighbors claim, however, that they heard police shouting "stop or I'll shoot" before shots were heard, implying that the shooting had been deliberate and not accidental, as police claim.

Abbas to request more weapons from US: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is planning to request a large shipment of weapons from the United States purportedly to arm his group against rival factions, a senior Palestinian official told WND today.

"79 Percent of Gazan Households are Living in Poverty": According to the World Bank, Palestinians are currently experiencing the worst economic depression in modern history.

Officer who shot Palestinian bore false witness: From investigations, it emerges that the officer cocked his weapon, unprovoked by the victim, causing a bullet to be fired accidentally. During the investigation, it was clarified that the border officer, 19, lied during his testimony that claimed that the Palestinian tried to grab his weapon. Despite this, the officer was released.

The settlers are not resting: The semiannual Peace Now report states that expansion work, including road building and preparing ground for construction, is underway in 31 outposts. It also states that permanent structures are being constructed in 12 outposts and mobile homes are being added to 13 outposts, while 10 additional outposts are the sites of infrastructure work and the construction of new roads.

Hamas member assassinated in Qalqilya: Palestinians sources told Ynet that the assassination was an operation of an elite Israel Defense Forces unit, and was carried out by Israeli soldiers disguised as Arabs. Military sources, however, said that they had no knowledge of any activity carried out in the area Wednesday morning, but added that "we are looking into the report."

Not an internal Palestinian matter: The experiment was a success: The Palestinians are killing each other. They are behaving as expected at the end of the extended experiment called "what happens when you imprison 1.3 million human beings in an enclosed space like battery hens." These are the steps in the experiment: Imprison (since 1991); remove the prisoners' usual means of livelihood; seal off all outlets to the outside world, nearly hermetically; destroy existing means of livelihood by...

Gaza's chaos offers lessons for defense establishment: But in the West Bank, where Hamas' electoral victory this past January is still not accepted, violent incidents continued, with Fatah targeting its rivals. In Gaza, Hamas Interior Minister Saeed Sayem - whose life has been threatened by Fatah's military wing - met with the Fatah-affiliated leaders of the security forces in an effort to restore calm.

Global leaders appeal for urgent action to resolve Palestine question: "There is a desperate need for fresh thinking and the injection of new political will" if the conflict, "with all its terrible consequences", is ever to be settled, they said in the statement which was organsied by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel peace prize winner from Iran, former US president Jimmy Carter, ex-Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev are among the signatories to the statement.

OPT: Refugee stories: "You have to Live in Darkness":Sixteen to eighteen hours is a long time to endure without electricity, especially when people are accustomed to life with it. Especially when there are no candles. The $150 million power plant, which was destroyed a few hours after three Israeli air strikes on Gazan bridges, provided roughly half of the Strip's electricity supply. It could take approximately one year to repair the power plant and to fully restore the Gaza Strip with electricity.

Abbas accepts Qatari plan on Palestinian unity government, prisoner exchange deal: According to the Qatari plan, the Palestinian unity government will in effect accept the conditions that Israel and the international community have imposed - recognition of Israel and agreements made with Israel, and an end to violence - which will allow for the renewal of peace talks. The Palestinian government envisioned in the plan will be headed by an independent figure...

Abbas gives Hamas two weeks on Palestinian unity cabinet: Abbas told a joint news conference with visiting Bahraini Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa that talks on creating a government with Hamas had halted, and vowed to exercise his ”prerogatives” should the impasse persist. “At present there is no dialogue. An agreement was reached on September 11 but was broken” by the ruling Islamist movement, Abbas said.

Abbas builds up forces amid Palestinian crisis: Behind cinder-block walls on the edge of the West Bank city of Jericho, a 16-acre plot of parched earth is being transformed into new training grounds for troops loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. With support from the United States and its allies, Abbas's presidential guard has been expanding as a possible counterweight to the Hamas Islamists who lead the government and have been busy building up their own "Executive Force".

Rice meets Fatah officials in Jerusalem: The meeting held shortly before Rice's leaving for Ramallah for a parley with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also the head of Fatah movement. Rice is seeking to boost Abbas in his standoff with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which dominates the Palestinian parliament and controls government.

Rice hopes to exploit the Arab-Iran divide: She may be appealing to the legendary Arab-Iranian rivalry to sell the US agenda of shoring up the Arab opposition to Iran's alleged aspirations to develop nuclear weapons. The United States has tried to play that card before. The newest wrinkle in this ongoing strategic power game is that Israel is reportedly also reaching out to "moderate" Arab states of the Persian Gulf region by focusing on Iran-phobia.

Rice, in Mideast, Meets Skeptics: During Rice's visit to Cairo and a stop Monday evening in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, it was clear that American allies in the region had greater ambitions for a renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace effort than the administration did. U.S. officials have said that the most they hope for now is limited progress. Bush said last week that the United States did not intend to impose a settlement on the Palestinians and Israelis.

Fatah member: Abbas recognition of Israel political: "The base of our Fatah movement keeps dreaming of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa and Akko," said Abu Ahmed, Fatah member and leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the northern Gaza Strip. "There is no change in our position. Abbas recognizes Israel because of pressure that the Zionists and the Americans are exercising on him. We understand this is part of his obligations and political calculations."

'Smugglers' get 15 minutes to go, then house is blown up: Sami Shaher,46, was rebuilding his house 50 metres from the border after it was destroyed by the Israeli army in 2002. He said he received a call at 10.30pm on Wednesday from Abu Nimr. Thirty minutes later his unfinished house was blown up, leaving a crater 20 metres wide and 10 metres deep. A 14-year-old girl was killed by flying debris. There is no visible evidence of a tunnel.

Echoes of Ireland in Palestine: "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" is no feel-good story of a heroic indigenous resistance battling against the foreign occupier. The narrative is centred on two characters, Damien (Cillian Murphy) and Teddy (Padraic Delaney), brothers who grow up to fight side by side against the British, but then find themselves on opposite sides in the brutal civil war.

When the Wall Street Journal Supports Palestine: The only thing the WSJ loves more than distrusting Arabs is the God of capitalism, the free market. Thus, a Palestinian businessman, Coca-Cola proprietor Zahi Khouri, was able to get on the pages of Journal by framing Palestinian rights in free market terms. Look, he said, Israel denies us and our goods free mobility, and thus economic development. That is the problem in Palestine.

Israeli Fuel Company Turns Off Fuel Supply Until Debt is Paid: The Israeli Transnational Corporation fuel company will not deliver fuel to West Bank cities until the Palestinian Authority pays its debt of hundreds of millions of shekels. But with the U.S.-led diplomatic and economic boycott since January, the PA has no chance of paying its debt, resulting in a two-day rush for fuel throughout the West Bank.