A Palestinian Youth killed in Gaza and a House Destroyed in Doha Village
International Press Center, March 21, 2003
GAZA, Palestine, March 21, 2003, IPC+ WAFA -- A Palestinian youth, his name not known yet, was killed Thursday evening by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) near the illegitimate Jewish settlement of “Morag”, near Rafah City, south Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces continued to launch a wide scale of aggression on Palestinian property including demolishing homes and razing lands in different parts of Palestine including the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Palestinian forces kill Hamas radical in Gaza shootout
Houston Chronicle, March 20, 2003
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- A gunbattle erupted in northern Gaza on Thursday, killing one militant, after Palestinian authorities tried to break up an outdoor Hamas training session on how to fire homemade rockets at Israel.

Breaking News: 19:00– Four Palestinian citizens shot and injured this evening by Israeli occupation forces in Qalqilia City
International Press Center, March 21, 2003
Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces patrolling the city opened random fire at residents attempting to get food supplies during the curfew relaxation hours. 

Clashes between police and Palestinians in J'lem's Old City
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
There were clashes in the Old City Jerusalem on Friday morning between security forces and rioting Palestinian worshippers, who chanted pro-Iraqi slogans at the end of prayers on the Temple Mount.

Hamas leader captured
BBC, March 21, 2003 
Israeli troops have captured a senior militant of the radical Islamic group Hamas in the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya, an army spokesman has said. Raed Hutri is accused of involvement in suicide bombings against targets in Israel.

Doubts over US aid to Israel
BBC, March 20, 2003
"But, several hours after Israel announced the deal, the US said it had not made a decision about the aid package." -- Israel says the US has offered the country $10bn (£6.4bn) to bail it out of the worst economic crisis in its history. Israel's Finance Ministry said the package consisted of $1bn (£640m) in direct military aid and $9bn in loan guarantees.

U.S. to give Israel $9B in loan guarantees and $1B military aid
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
The United States will give Israel $9 billion in loan guarantees over four years and $1 billion in military aid, the American administration decided Wednesday. The aid package still requires congressional approval. Israeli officials expressed disappointment with the $1 billion in military aid, as Israel had requested $4 billion, Israel Radio reported.

Fears grow that US has shelved Middle East peace plan
The Independent, March 21, 2003
Fears were growing yesterday that the American administration may have put the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians on hold.

Moratinos: U.S. ready to issue 'road map' in 10 days
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
BEIRUT - European Middle East peace envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos said on Friday that the so-called "road map" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians might be announced within 10 days.

New Palestinian Prime Minister starts consultation; 20 new Israeli incursions
Arabic News, March 21, 2003
The source added that the Israeli army demolished several houses and arrested the Palestinian Murad Abu Rukab before his house was completely demolished by bulldozers after all citizens were taken out of their houses by force.

ISM Update: Nablus: Israeli Army Reinvades Old City;  ISM Activist Shot and Injured by Rubber Bullets
International Solidarity Movement, March 20, 2003
Before dawn this morning the Israeli Army of Occupation invaded the Old City with tanks and motorised infantry for the fifth time in the past month.

The first fatality of the war in Iraq - a truck driver from Nablus
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
Yesterday afternoon, word reached Nablus that the first casualty of the U.S.-led assault on Iraq was a former resident of the West bank city. Ahmed Albaz, who was born in Nablus and had been working for the past few years as a truck driver on the Amman to Baghdad line, was killed during the first wave of missile and rocket attacks on the Iraqi capital.

Hidden hunger
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line,  20 - 26 March 2003
Jonathan Cook in Azzoun investigates the humanitarian crisis devastating the Palestinians -- Palestinians, reduced by a year of Israeli military invasion to a society of "handout seekers", are rapidly finding that even the handouts are drying up.

Sprayed fields and home demolitions in 2002: A partial listing
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
Bedouin who have cultivated their lands for generations find themselves under attack by the state - and their crops destroyed by herbicides. -- Salman Abu Jlidat (center) with Orly Alami, from Physicians for Human Rights, in his field after the spraying: A bountiful crop is gone. On March 4, in the early morning hours, two crop-dusting planes flew over the Negev Hills, spraying field crops with a toxin that caused them to wither and die. Ten people, most of them children, inhaled the substance and required medical treatment.

Murder in cold blood
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line,  20 - 26 March 2003
American peace activist Rachel Corrie's death was no accident. Rasha Saad speaks to a witness to the tragedy -- The death of Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist, was clearly not an accident. That is the conviction held by people who saw the 23-year-old American crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer on Sunday as she was trying to stop it from demolishing a Palestinian house in Rafah, Gaza.

Cartoon of Israeli Death Irks Students
The Guardian, March 21, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Students picketed a college newspaper and demanded it apologize for a cartoon that said an American peace activist who was run over by an Israeli bulldozer was stupid.

Conflicting U.S. statements on road map worry Jerusalem
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
Jerusalem is worried by what it considers to be vague and conflicting interpretations by administration officials of President George W. Bush's statements last Friday about his commitment to the so-called road map for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Protest erupts over Corrie cartoon
TribNet, March 21, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A college newspaper cartoon describing the actions of an American peace activist who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer as the definition of stupidity prompted a two-day student sit-in.

Details/broadcasts of Rachel Corrie Memorial Service
International Solidarity Movement, March 21, 2003
Rachel Corrie Memorial Service, March 22, 3:00 pm, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington [details, Web links follow]

Palestinians stock up on food and medicine in preparation for Iraqi war, and extended IDF closure
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
Unlike in Israeli towns, Palestinians are not stocking up ahead of a possible Scud missile attack. They still remember the 20-day curfew imposed by Israel at the start of the first Gulf War in '91, and are planning for the closure that the IDF is likely to impose.

One man's fence is another man's prison
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
While the Jewish public views the separation fence as a security measure, the Palestinians of Zeita and nearby villages fear it will mean starvation. They predict it won't be long before Palestinian workers will sacrifice their lives in order to break through it.

Hear Palestine, March 21, 2003
Hear Palestine
NEWS: Khan Younis: Israeli Army Invades Qaizan al-Najar / Qalqilya: 2 Residents Wounded and Arrested / Hebron: Israeli Soldiers Confiscate Hundreds of Newspapers / Bethlehem: Home Demolished in al-Doha at Dawn / Jenin: Ongoing Destructive Attack in Ya'bid    FEATURES: Hebron: Fear of Israeli Military Escalation. Self Imposed Curfew

Israel had 90-minute warning of U.S. attack
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell gave Sharon 90 minutes warning before the American forces in the Gulf launched their "pinpoint" attack Wednesday night on Baghdad buildings believed to house top Iraqi commanders.

This won't fix the deficit
Globes, March 20, 2003
There are some major strings attached to the new US aid package. -- Jerusalem was unsurprised by the US government's decision to grant Israel $1 billion in defense aid and $9 billion in loan guarantees. Nonetheless, many questions remain open ended, while their answers could affect the direction our economic policy takes in the coming year.

Belgian FM opposes trying foreign leaders, including Sharon
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
BRUSSELS - Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel spoke out on Friday against lawsuits filed in Belgium against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and former U.S. President George Bush under a disputed human rights law.

Tel Aviv shrugs off its vulnerability
The Independent, March 21, 2003
There was little sign of concern yesterday in Tel Aviv, the Israeli city thought most likely to be a target for the anger of a dying Iraqi regime. Thirty-nine Iraqi Scuds fell on Tel Aviv in the 1991 Gulf War, but even as the news spread here that Iraqi missiles had landed on Kuwait, few people showed any anxiety.

IDF believes threat here remains low 
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
The missiles Iraq fired against Kuwait yesterday were not long-range Scuds as initially reported in the international media, but much shorter range ground-to-ground missiles. In all likelihood the missiles fired are those code-named "Frog," with a range of not more than 70 kilometers.

Jaffa Arabs decline U.S. army's invitation to visit Patriot battery
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
Jaffa's Arab community leaders yesterday turned down an invitation by American soldiers to visit the Patriot missile battery in town, following the American assault on Iraq.

Amira Hass honored at Leipzig Book Fair
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
LEIPZIG, Germany - Haaretz correspondent Amira Hass was honored for championing Palestinian-Israeli peace, as the Leipzig Book Fair opened to the public yesterday.

Demolition of Palestinian Houses by Israeli Occupying Forces as a Means of Punishment and Determent - Acrobat format
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
A Report on the Demolition of Houses of Families of Palestinians Who Carried out, Planned or Facilitated Armed Attacks against Israeli Targets 29/9/2000 – 31/12/2002

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories 13-19 March 2003
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
The International Community Remains Silent While Israeli Human Rights Violations in the OPT Continue: 27 Palestinians, including 7 children, killed by Israeli forces /  An American peace activist killed by Israeli forces in Rafah /  Israeli forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas, accompanied by indiscriminate shelling / Israeli forces continued to use Palestinian civilians as human shields / The Israeli retaliatory campaign continues against families of wanted Palestinians and those who allegedly have carried out armed attacks against Israeli targets / A number of Palestinians have been detained / The severe siege of the OPT has continued

Asylum detention policy needs clarification say Muslims
Council on American Islamic Relations, March 18, 2003
Policy seems to call for indefinite detention of legal asylum seekers -- (Washington, D.C.) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today asked the Department of Homeland Security to clarify a government policy revealed this morning that would seem to call for the indefinite detention of legal asylum seekers in the United States.

Immigration Advocates Protest Registration
Council on American Islamic Relations, March 20, 2003
(Tara Burghart, Associated Press) - [T]wo days before a deadline for male visitors from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to register with U.S. immigration authorities, a group of immigrant advocates called the practice discriminatory and a waste of money.

Kingdom Could Be a Future Target for US, Say Young Saudis
Arab News, March 21, 2003
Raid Qusti, Special to Arab News  RIYADH, 21 March 2003 — With the war in Iraq under way, the people of Saudi Arabia are dreading the worst. Arab News spoke to Saudis between 20 and 34 to hear their perspective on the war.

Agency will mediate in water disputes
BBC, March 21, 2003 
A new United Nations body to help avoid possible "water wars" of the future has been announced here in Japan. The Water Co-operation Facility will be based in Paris at the headquarters of the cultural organisation Unesco, and will mediate in disputes between countries which share a single river basin.

'Real conflicts' over world's water
BBC, March 21, 2003 
Former USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev has told the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto that a failure to reverse the global water crisis could lead to "real conflicts" in the future. Mr Gorbachev, who is now president of the International Green Cross, said that there were likely to be severe problems as the demands on water increased together with the planet's population.

Prosecutor: Keep Al-Arian Locked Up
The Ledger, March 21, 2003
TAMPA -- Federal prosecutors called a fired university professor a "powerful" member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a danger to national security Thursday, while his supporters and opponents briefly scuffled outside the courthouse.

Al-Arian: Terrorist to Some, Victim of 9/11 Bias to Others
The Ledger, March 17, 2003
TAMPA -- Sami Al-Arian is different things to different people. To the U.S. government, he's a terrorist who sends money to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in support of suicide bombings against Israelis and used a Florida university as cover for bringing Jihad members into the United States.

Professor Charged Over Immigration
The Ledger, March 21, 2003
A University of Central Florida professor arrested on immigration charges was ordered Thursday to be held in prison until his bail hearing next week.

Egyptian Police Use Unnecessary Violence To Break Demo
Islam Online, March 21, 2003
CAIRO, March 21 (IslamOnline.net) – Suddenly, totally un-provoked and unnecessary violence by the Egyptian police struck at the heart of Cairo a little before midnight Thursday, March 20, apparently to disperse a mostly peaceful anti-war rally.

More than 13,000 cross border in last 48 hours
Jordan Times, March 21, 2003
Displaced nationals tell the story of their exodus -- KARAMA — Sitting on a bus at this Jordanian border post, Sudanese national Ahmed Hassan Ibrahim held his daughter Iman on his lap while waiting for approval to enter the third country national camp in the now closed area of Ruweished. Ibrahim, who fled Iraq on Thursday along with his wife and three children, spent eight hours travelling from the Sudanese embassy in Baghdad to reach the Jordanian border.

Egyptian Intelligentsia Protest Mubarak’s Policy
Islam Online, March 21, 2003
CAIRO, March 21 (IslamOnline.net) – A group of  prominent Egyptian intellectuals issued a statement protesting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s televised address in which he heaped blame on Iraq for the current American military aggression on the Arab country. This is the first time that members of the Egyptian intelligentsia issue a statement protesting a specific position of President Mubarak since he assumed the helm of power in the country 22 years ago.

U.S. Arrests Hundreds Of Its Anti-War Protesting Citizens
Islam Online, March 21, 2003
SAN FRANCISCO, March 21 (IslamOnline.net& News Agencies) - The anti-war movement took to the streets for demonstrations and civil disobedience campaigns across the United States, resulting in well over 1,300 arrests as U.S. military aggression intensified in Iraq.

Thousands in Arab capitals protest U.S. war on Iraq
Haaretz, March 21, 2003
CAIRO - Thousands of protesters spilled onto the streets of Arab capitals after Muslim Friday prayers at which preachers across the Middle East had condemned the United States for attacking Iraq.

Chirac: Iraq war breaches international law
Middle East Online, March 21, 2003
French leader rejects US administration of post-war Iraq, insists UN only body responsible for rebuilding Iraq. -- BRUSSELS - French President Jacques Chirac said Friday that the United States and Britain had breached international law by declaring war on Iraq without a UN mandate.

World Protests Continue Against “Oil War”
Islam Online, March 21, 2003 
ATHENS, March 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As the U.S. and British forces pushed deep into Iraqi areas on the second day of a large-scale aggression people in many world countries took to streets on Friday, March 21, to demonstrate their opposition to the war.

Four killed in anti-war protest in Yemen
Middle East Online, March 21, 2003 
Demonstrators clash with anti-riot police as they march toward US embassy to express anger against war.

US set to award contracts to run Iraqi air, sea ports
Middle East Online, March 21, 2003
Washington's process of awarding contracts to US firms criticised for its secrecy, not involving foreign firms.  -- WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush's administration was set to award two contracts to US firms Friday to run Iraqi airports and seaports after the war, an official said.