Between Armageddon and Peace: Iraq and the Israeli Occupation
By Hanan Ashrawi, Palestine Chronicle, October 15, 2002
It is no coincidence that the most vociferous voice advocating a military attack on Iraq is that of the Israeli Likud-led government and its spin machine. In fact, if Sharon had his druthers, the US would oblige by conducting Israel’s proxy war on its behalf against a long list of targets, including Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan, and even Saudi Arabia (or at least a convenient fragmentation and “regime change” there). War mongering had become such a favorite past time of the Israeli establishment that Sharon found himself uncharacteristically asking his cohorts to tone down the rhetoric and curb their gleeful drum beating.

Jerusalem.. Israel's capital?
By Mohamed Sid-Ahmed, Al-Ahram Weekly, 10 - 16 October 2002
Has the Bush administration decided to take the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital one step further?:  The new US legislation requiring all official American documents to identify the occupied city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has triggered angry reactions throughout the Islamic world. Thousands of demonstrators marched through Gaza, threatening to intensify suicide bombings inside Israel, while popular and religious leaders called on Arab and Islamic parliaments to adopt a strong stance against this latest outrage, calling, among other things, for a boycott of American goods. Commenting on the legislation, the Islamic Conference declared that it is bound to undermine relations between the Islamic world and the United States. Angrily denouncing the new law as "a catastrophe", President Arafat urged "Muslim and Christian nations to oppose any decision attacking the status of Jerusalem." He also called for an emergency Arab summit, then passed a law declaring Jerusalem the capital of Arab Palestine. But so far, these reactions have not engendered any concrete actions by Arab capitals.

Islam, Palestine and the world order
By George Giacaman, Al-Ahram Weekly, 10 - 16 October 2002
If Muslims are to play a positive and significant role in the world today, the concrete problems of Muslim societies should be addressed: The tragic events of 11 September 2001 have generated much public debate about the role of Islam in the present global order. The mass media in many Western countries has been quick to conclude that a "clash of civilisations" is brewing, and US President George W Bush's declaration that the US would launch a "crusade" on terrorism has left many Muslims and Arabs thinking that they will be the target. Though Bush later chose different words to describe the campaign, such damage control did not completely succeed. Religious figures appearing on various satellite stations in the Arab World continue to refer to the Western "crusade" against Islam, part of a campaign of defamation, vilification and distortion as far as they are concerned. But if the simplification and sensationalism of much coverage in the Western media related to the present role of Islam is not to be taken at face value, any more than is the hectoring of ideologues on the other side, what are the issues regarding Islam's present global role?

Reform by Imprisonment
By Sam Bahour, The Electronic Intifada, October 14, 2002
While the most brutal of measures are being taken against the Palestinian population, the world is being deceived into believing that political reforms can happen in the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. As the Bush Administration continues to call for regime change in the Palestinian Authority, Israel is silently pursuing a violent strategy of establishing internment camps that imprison Palestinians from all walks of life. With over 12,000 acts of detainment and over 5,000 Palestinian detainees now languishing in Israeli jails, the façade of reform unfolds in a political vacuum.

When friends collide
By Aluf Benn, Salon, October 15, 2002
With Israeli and American interests diverging, stakes will be high and negotiations tricky when President Bush and Ariel Sharon meet this week: Oct. 15, 2002  |  JERUSALEM -- Last Wednesday, members of the Israeli cabinet were flown to the Negev desert in southern Israel to attend an army training drill. Under the blazing sun of late summer, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, his ministers and the country's top brass watched the ground forces "occupy" a mock Palestinian village and saw a bulldozer razing one of the "homes." Sharon used the stage to talk about the coming American attack on Iraq. "The clouds of war are darkening in our region, and I hope they will not reach us," he told the TV cameras, "but this should be known: If Israel is attacked, it will defend its citizens."

Deflation is a bigger threat than Saddam
By Larry Elliott, The Guardian, October 14, 2002
Military action by the United States against Iraq seems inevitable. Having won the support of both houses of Congress last week, George W Bush will now step up his pressure for the backing of the United Nations. All the signs are that jaw-jaw will soon be followed by war-war. The Pentagon remains sceptical that weapons inspections will succeed and is already preparing for a fight. Bombing raids on Iraq have been stepped up and movement of heavy equipment to the Gulf is under way.
The message coming out of Washington is clear. Bush would like to have the support of the UN, but will go it alone if he has to. Even the tragic events in Bali this weekend, which suggest Washington's obsession with Iraq is blinding it to the real threat from terrorists, are unlikely to deflect the hawks.

After the war, before the vote
By Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz, October 15, 2002
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer's new "Judea First" plan, an outgrowth of "Bethlehem and Gaza First," hit the news at almost the same moment that the Israel Defense Forces sent Tanzim activist Mohammed Abayat to join his ancestors. The public telephone booth in which Abayat ended his life is located in Beit Jala, the heart of the Judea region, which according to the defense minister's plan would be transferred to Palestinian control. One cannot rule out the possibility that Ben-Eliezer hastened to publicize his plan in order to beat the headlines about the prime minister's "plan." It turns out that on the eve of his trip to Washington, Ariel Sharon asked key Jewish activists in the American capital to promote the idea of convening an international conference next fall, similar to the one he spoke about a few months ago.

Analysis: Both Bush and Sharon want to hold on to power
By Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz, October 15, 2002 
The upper echelons of the political and defense establishment in Israel believe that 2003 will be a decisive year. Three issues are expected to be decided in the coming months: the planned war on Iraq; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the next Knesset elections. All three issues will be the focus of the seventh meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday.

Guarding our legitimacy
By Samir Abdullah, Bitter Lemons, 
The near-total Israeli reoccupation of the West Bank and parts of the Gaza Strip has interrupted all aspects of Palestinian life, and resulted in tremendous material and psychological damage to Palestinian society. No one wants to believe that we are back to square one after our ten-year investment in the peace process. Most Palestinians are very pessimistic and feel that the peace process is actually over, at the time when it could have resulted in a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Instead, we are faced with Israeli control, incessant military damage and a curfew unprecedented even in the early days of the Israeli occupation. The implications seem to be that the Palestinian Authority no longer exists and cannot provide any of the services that it should provide, according to the Oslo accords.

Peruvian Teddy Bears Convert to Judaism, Move to Settlement
Electronic Intifada, Avraham Avinunu, BNN, 15 October 2002
KIRYAT DOV--This dusty cluster of trailers atop a West Bank hill may seem like an unlikely place to find Paddington Bear and his teddy bear friends.