Baker panel's mention of Palestinian "right of return" raises eyebrows: A reference to Palestinians' " right of return" in the report issued by the high-level Iraq Study Group broke a diplomatic taboo which sparked immediate concern in Israel and surprise among Middle East policy experts. The reference was buried deep inside a 160-page report that urged US President George W. Bush to renew efforts to revive Israel-Palestinian peace talks as part of a region-wide bid to end the chaos in Iraq.
Israel destroys 42,000 homes of Palestinian Bedouins :The Israeli interior minister, Roni Bar-On, declared that his ministry has planned the demolition of more than 42,000 homes of Palestinian Bedouins that were built even before 1948 when Israel was proclaimed.
Group: Hotline 100 lacks Arabic speakers: The police emergency hotline 100 does not have receptionists who can answer Arab women in distress, says Kayan - an Arab feminist group.
Israeli Arabs demand veto on decisions affecting them: It stipulates that Israeli Arabs will demand that during the next two decades Israel become a binational state alongside an independent Palestinian state. Monitoring Committee officials say the document is a cornerstone in the history of the Israeli Arabs, as it was produced by the Monitoring Committee and sponsored by the local authorities committee, two bodies representing all the political factions of the Arabs in Israel."
UN asks for record $450 million in aid for Palestinians next year: The United Nations will ask donor countries to contribute a record $450 million in aid to the Palestinians, whose economy has been devastated by international economic sanctions on the Hamas-led government, UN officials said Wednesday.
Peretz: Talks on prisoner exchanges must be kept out of public eye: "You don't negotiate in the media," said Peretz during a visit to the Mateh Asher Regional Council in the western Galilee. "We cannot discuss names [of potential prisoners Israel would release], or discuss the various options, but rather we must make an effort, and that is what we are doing."
Hamas awaits Israeli response to offer on release of Gilad Shalit: Hamdan, who is on a visit to Damascus, said Hamas political bureau head Khaled Meshal has provided Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman with several suggestions regarding Shalit's release." Suleiman passed the ideas on to the Israeli side last week, but as of now we are continuing to wait for a response from the Israeli side to these ideas," Hamdan told the Ramatan news agency.
Livni to press Chirac not to give up road map: According to Israeli diplomatic officials, Livni will also be carrying a message that the Gaza cease-fire and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's address at Sde Boker last week have created a new momentum and laid out a political horizon, and therefore there was no reason to begin developing new diplomatic plans or initiatives.
For 5 years, a mother is prohibited from visiting her son in Israeli prison : Thirty five year old Mohammad Ibrahim Abu Al Zalav is a political prisoner in the Israeli Damon Prison. He was arrested as part of a campaign against the armed resistance, as he is among the leadership of Fateh's Al Aqsa Brigades. His family lives in Jenin Refugee Camp and his mother is in her sixties. Life has been difficult since Mohammad's arrest, as he was the family's breadwinner. His mother Fawzia has not been allowed to see her son in five years.
Israel refuses to process visa renewal requests : In a new escalation of Israel's policy of denying Palestinians and their families access to the Israeli occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), the Israeli Civil Administration at Beit El is refusing to accept at least 140 passports for visa extensions. The passport holders are mostly spouses and children of Palestinian I.D.-holders and are residing in the oPt. Many of them have been forced to become "illegal" since their visitor visas have expired while waiting to be renewed by Israel.
Israeli Government Demolishes Entire Bedioun Village: At 5:00am today, 6 December 2006, hundreds of police accompanied six bulldozers and demolished 17 homes and 3 animal pens in the village of Twail Abu-Jarwal. The entire village is demolished. People are sitting by the piles of tin that were their modest dwellings and wondering what to do, where to go… even their family cannot host them, as no one has a house standin g.
Army bars scores of residents from reaching their homes: The Israeli army barred scores of residents from arriving to their homes in the Jordan valley area in the West Bank, on Wednesday afternoon. Troops stationed at Tayaseer military checkpoint, located on the way to the Jordan valley villages and towns, closed the checkpoint and did not allow the residents to cross
Israeli violence against children and youth in custody: An international court of law ought to take the testimony of this 15-year old whose incarceration and interrogation was characterized by threats of rape. Well this most certainly explains how people like Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton can stand up and tell the American people that Israel and America share the same values.
One child injured and four taken prisoners in the southern West Bank: Rabi' Awad, 9, was injured, on Wednesday afternoon, by a rubber round in his leg and was moved to a nearby hospital during clashes between the school boys and the Israeli soldiers who invaded Ithna village south of Hebron.
45 Palestinians arrested from the same northern West Bank village: In the ongoing "silent war," as the major arrest campaign was described by former Director of the Palestinian Prisoner Society and current Legislative Council member, Issa Qaraqa', Israeli forces arrested 45 Palestinians from Jenin's Kafr Dan Village on Wednesday. That is addition to the 23 in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron taken to unknown locations this morning.
Two residents injured by army fire in northern Gaza strip: Two Palestinian residents were shot and injured, on Wednesday, when Israeli army troops positioned in the northern Gaza borders opened fire and a group of residents.
Carter Explains Failure Of Mideast Peace Process: But when Rabin was assassinated, [Ariel] Sharon and [Benjamin] Netanyahu had the idea: Let's use the wall for a different purpose. Let's use it to confiscate Palestinian land. We won't build the wall on our border. We'll build the wall on Palestinian land. And we'll make tremendous intrusions to encompass settlements that already exist and other areas on which we want to build settlements. So that's what they've done .
Troops level two Palestinian homes in Jerusalem: "My children were sleeping, soldiers said they will demolish the house over our heads if we don't leave immediately", Abu Ghalia said, "I called my lawyer and informed him on what was going on". The lawyer, Hasan Ghanyim, headed to the municipality to void the demolishing order, but the army did not want to wait until legal documents are presented, and started demolishing the house.
Olmert backs Tamir's proposal to include Green Line in textbook maps : Olmert said. "But there is an obligation to emphasize that the government's position and public consensus rule out returning to the 1967 lines."The Likud faction introduced a no-confidence motion to the Knesset yesterday over Tamir's proposal, charging the minister with introducing politically-motivated changes to the national curriculum in line with what they called her extreme leftist ideology. They added that the proposal ignores Israeli law, including the Jerusalem Law and Golan Heights Law.
Livni: International pressure on Hamas beginning to bear fruit : Despite the boycott of Hamas, the European Union has found ways to increase its total aid to the Palestinian people, most recently helping support thousands of needy families, an EU official said Tuesday. The EU said its contribution to the Palestinians has increased by 27 percent from last year, to $865 million
Israeli police partly demolish house in Arab section of Jerusalem's Old City : Israeli police demolished part of a house belonging to Arabs in Jerusalem's Old City on Wednesday, raising charges of discrimination by the Jewish-run administration against Palestinian residents. Rotem said he didn't bother applying for the permit, which he said would take about three years to process and cost about $25,000 in fees "because the (Jerusalem) municipality doesn't give building permits to Arabs."
Azzun 'Atma Farmer Resists Land Annexation : Azzun 'Atma farmer Sameh Yousef scored a small victory in his struggle against the theft of his land today when the IOF pledged to erect a fence on the edge of his field rather than 15 metres inside it. The IOF is constructing a second wall around the village of Azzun 'Atma, 2 kms from the Green Line between the Israeli colonies of Sha'are Tikva and Oranit. Despite a 100-metre strip of topsoil and crops having been excavated and dumped beside the road Sameh was determined not to accept the loss of 27 dunums of his land .
Prodi pushes for Jewish Israeli state: Israel needs a guarantee it will be able to maintain its character as a Jewish state, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has said in a statement pregnant with diplomatic significance since it implies acceptance of Israel's rejection of Palestinian demands for a "right of return" for refugees and their descendants.
How Israel lost to the Iranians: This partnership had four main components: Iranian assistance for the immigration operations for Jews from Iraq; Israeli-Iranian cooperation in the area of intelligence (the Mossad, the Shin Bet security services and the Israel Defense Forces helped to establish, train and operate the Iranian army and the units of Sawak - the Iranian security service. In exchange, Israel's intelligence organizations received Iranian assistance in gathering information and operating agents in Iraq to assist the Kurdish revolt); agreements for military cooperation; and the supply of Iranian oil to Israel.
Palestinians: Americans understood cause of conflict : "The Americans have understood that the source of the region's problems is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that it must be resolved." Harisha added that the report was achieved after the Americans sank in the Iraqi mud, and under the pressures of that mud "the Americans realized that the reason for the Iraqi crisis, the instability in the Middle East and their situation here in the region all starts with our conflict and the need to resolve it."
U.S. panel: Mideast peace drive may help stabilize Iraq: "This commitment must include direct talks with, by and between Israel, Lebanon, Palestinians [those who accept Israel's right to exist], and Syria," the report said, adding that Israel must return the Golan Heights to Syria if a comprehensive peace is achieved.
A regrettable indifference: It is regrettable that, even now, Israel refuses to discuss the essence of imprisonment of Palestinians as part of the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the struggle against it. The essence of the occupation is attacking civilians, negating their rights to the point of undermining their right to live. But the occupation apparatus also appropriates the right to decide that anyone who opposes it is a criminal.
Palestinian- Egyptian trade talks aim to improve import and export markets between the two nations : The Palestinian ambassador to Cairo, Munther Dajani, discussed with Egyptian minister of trade and industry, Rashid Mohammad Rashid, ways to support and develop trade and industrial relations between Egypt and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Jordan, Israel, PA to launch study into Dead Sea canal: Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority meet Sunday to launch a feasibility study to build a canal linking the Red Sea to the slowly vanishing Dead Sea, a Jordanian official said Tuesday. "Representatives of Jordan, Israel, Palestine will meet on the shores of the Dead Sea with representatives of the World Bank and countries willing to finance the project."
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