Two killed in Gaza raid
BBC, April 7, 2003
Two Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces in a raid on a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian and Israeli security sources have said. The deaths follow the killing of a Palestinian gunman by Israeli troops in the West Bank on Saturday and a separate incident in which an American peace activist was wounded in the face.

Border Police kill Tanzim terrorist in West Bank
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2003 
A Border Police undercover unit killed a wanted Tanzim terrorist near a coffeehouse in the village of Salfit, south of Ariel.

Injured U.S. activist sent to Haifa hospital 
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
Brian Avery, the American peace activist wounded by gunshots from an Israeli armored personnel carrier in Jenin on Saturday evening has been transfered to the intensive care unit of Rambam Hospital in Haifa. Avery is conscious but on a respirator.

Jews settle in Palestinian Jerusalem
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
Sharon tests Bush, Blair and the road map by letting families occupy contested district -- Ariel Sharon has brushed aside an appeal by the White House to stop an unprecedented move by Jewish settlers into a Palestinian district of Jersualem which his critics say will further hinder a political settlement.

Israeli Occupation Forces Kill One Civilian in Gaza, Demolish Four Houses in the Occupied Jerusalem
International Press Center, April 7, 2003
GAZA, April 7, 2003, (IPC)- - Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) shot dead one Palestinian civilian on Monday and arrested two others in the middle of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian official sources said. A 17-year-old civilian Taleb Badriyyah, has been killed Monday after being shot in the abdomen with several live ammunition, Alshifa hospital sources said.

Israeli Troops Shoot Civilians in Gaza and Rafah, Arrest Others in Nablus
International Press Center, April 7, 2003
RAFAH, Palestine, April 7, 2003, (IPC+WAFA)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire Monday on unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip cities of Gaza and Rafah. Palestinian hospital officials at Abu Yousef Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah city told IPC‘s correspondent that two civilians Ra’fat Alqadi, 75, and Eyad Alnajdy, 30, were shot and wounded with live Israeli bullets.

3 witnesses in Barghouti trial won't testify, declared hostile  
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
Three Palestinians called by the prosecution in the trial of Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti were declared hostile witnesses yesterday after they refused to testify against Barghouti or to recognize the Israeli court's authority.

New Israeli Incursions Into West Bank
Islam Online, April 7, 2003
The EU deemed Israeli incursions unacceptable -- JENIN, West Bank, April 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - In a new wave of violence against unarmed Palestinians, some 20 Israeli tanks backed by two Apache combat helicopters raided the northern West Bank town of Jenin late Monday.

Erakat: "Israel’s15 Amendments to the “Road Map” Foil the Peace Blueprint"
International Press Center, April 7, 2003
RAMALLAH, Palestine, April 6, 2003, IPC+ Agencies)-- Dr. Sa’eb Erakat, the Palestinian local government minister, confirmed Saturday that Israel does not accept the “Road Map” and tries to foil it, asserting that the Quartet committee promised the Palestinian side that it will not to make any changes in the ”road map” peace blueprint. 

Shalom: Abbas' stance on Palestinian right of return 'extreme and uncompromising'
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2003   
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom expressed skepticism on Monday about the chances of reaching a peace agreement with designated Palestinian Authority prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, saying he has an "extreme and uncompromising position" on the issue of the Palestinian "right of return."

Arafat could stop terror attacks, Barghouti transcripts reveal  
Haaretz, April 7, 2003
"When Yasser Arafat wanted a cease-fire, he would say so, and when he remained silent, it was understood as a green light to continue terror attacks," according to statements by Marwan Barghouti that were made public on Monday.

Report: Mossad agents threaten to quit over budget cuts
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2003   
One hundred fifty-five employees of the Mossad, including top secret agents, have threatened to quit over the proposed state budget cut which would slash their pensions, the Yediot Aharonot daily reports Monday.

Bush, Blair meet on war in Belfast, will discuss 'road map'  
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
U.S. President George W. Bush flew into Belfast on Monday for talks about the Iraq war with his staunchest global ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The meeting between the two will be their third in a month to discuss the war in Iraq, but this time their agenda also includes peace initiatives in the Middle East and Northern Ireland.

Wall Construction Blocked by Peace Camp
International Solidarity Movement, April 6, 2003   
At twelve noon yesterday activists from Israeli and International peace groups united with the Palestinians of the town of Mas’ha to block the construction of an Israeli wall through the town’s farmlands.

US Congress Joins Israel, AIPAC’s Campaign to Abort Peace ‘Roadmap’
Palestine Media Center, April 6, 2003
The Israeli government, AIPAC and the US Congress are coordinating a political campaign to abort the Middle East peace “roadmap” adopted by the “Quartet” of the United States, United Nations, Russia and the European Union.

Haifa University Professor warns against quiet transfer
Palestinian Information Center, April 7, 2003
Occupied Jerusalem - Haifa University Professor Ilan Pappe has accused the Israeli occupation army of rehearsing for Nazi-like ethnic cleansing against Palestinian civilians.

Two Palestinians killed in Gaza
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
A 13-year-old boy was killed yesterday by Israel Defense Forces fire in the Gaza village of Al Massader, after troops rounded up wanted terror suspects. The raid was accompanied by heavy gunfire from Palestinians, during which an armed Hamas militant was also shot dead.

IDF cannot rule out US activist was killed by Palestinian gunfire
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2003 
[NOTE: This abominable report inaccurately refers to the "killing" of Brian Avery. According to latest reliable reports, Brian Avery has been transfered to the intensive care unit of Rambam Hospital in Haifa and is conscious but on a respirator, reportedly in good spirits despite massive facial damage.] "He added that the pro-Palestinian group to which Avery belonged have a history of providing shelter to terrorists, and alleged that some have been involved in inciting violent demonstrations." -- An IDF investigation into the fatal shooting of American activist Brian Avery in Jenin, suggests he could have been hit by Palestinian fire.

Israeli Tank Opens Fire At Peace Activists In Jenin
Islam Online, April 7, 2003
Avery was seriously shot in the face by Israeli gunfire -- OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Sunday 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Two peace activists, an American and a Dane, were injured when Israeli occupation forces opened indiscriminate fire on a number of Palestinian youths and peace activists in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

IDF: 11 suspected terrorists arrested overnight
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2003   
The IDF Spokesperson's Office has announced that 11 suspected Palestinian terrorists were arrested overnight. The security sweep, which rounded up members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, took place in Bethlehem, Jenin and Nablus.

Two guards wounded in Kibbutz Metzer stabbing attack
Haaretz, April 7, 2003 
East Jerusalem residents clash with police / Popular Front activist sentenced to 25 years --  Monday morning, IDF soldiers found the body of a Palestinian, armed with a rifle, near the fence of the Netzarim settlement in the Gaza Strip.  -- Two security guards stationed at the security fence near Kibbutz Metzer, near the West Bank, were stabbed by Palestinian attackers on Monday evening. One of the guards was in serious condition while the other suffered light injuries.

Four illegal Arab homes demolished in East Jerusalem
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2003   
Jerusalem municipality bulldozers on Monday demolished four illegally built Arab homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, the city said.

Israeli stance casts doubts on peace plan
Financial Times, April 7, 2003
Israel on Sunday reiterated its refusal to resume peace negotiations while under Palestinian terrorist fire, casting doubt on the future of a plan being pushed by London, the European Union, the United Nations and some US officials.

Witnesses Against MP Barghouthi Refuse to Testify
Palestine Media Center, April 7, 2003
April 7, 2003 - Palestinian MP Marwan Barghouti refused to mount a defense and contest the Israeli “murder” charges against him, and insisted he is a political figure and is not involved in “violence” when his trial opened on Sunday in a Tel Aviv court, saying he does not recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli court, at a time when three Palestinian detainees declined to stand witness against him.

Mofaz: If Saddam is alive in Iraq, he'll likely try to harm Israel  
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Monday said that if Saddam Hussein is still alive in Iraq, the advance of allied forces have put "his back against the wall" and the Iraqi president would attempt to harm Israel in his last days.

Zionist war minister provokes against Syria
Palestinian Information Center, April 7, 2003
Occupied Jerusalem - Shaul Mofaz, the Zionist war minister, has renewed accusations against Syria of supporting what he described as Palestinian “terrorism” (resistance) and extending military assistance to the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.

No talks between Treasury, Histadrut ahead of general strike
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
Less than 48 hours before the launch of a general strike by the Histadrut laboe federation, no talks were held Monday between the Finance Ministry and the Histadrut.

Women of the Wall vow to fight on, despite court setback  
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
Even praying outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem proved to be a problem yesterday for the Women of the Wall group, whose request to conduct prayer services at the Western Wall was rejected by Israel's highest judicial authority.

High Court denies women's group right to conduct prayers at Western Wall plaza  
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
A nine-member panel of Supreme Court justices ruled yesterday that the Women of the Wall group may not conduct group prayers for women in front of Judaism's holiest site, but instructed the government that it has one year to prepare the adjacent Robinson's Arch area of the plaza for their use.

Ruling also seen as setback for hopes of Temple Mount Faithful
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
The Temple Mount Faithful were also eagerly awaiting the High Court's ruling yesterday on the demand by the Women of the Wall to conduct prayer services at the Western Wall in hope that it would provide a legal precedent for their appeal to pray on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, while similarly clutching Torah scrolls and wrapped in prayer shawls.

More Gazans enter Israel to work
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2003 
Since the beginning of 2003, officials have noted a marked escalation in the number of Palestinian laborers from the Gaza Strip who enter Israel to work.

Bratslav Hasidim trigger IDFalert in Nablus  
Haaretz, April 7, 2003 
The army says Bratslav Hasids often endanger themselves trying to reach the site in Nablus, the biblical Shechem. -- Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers in the Nablus area went on alert Saturday night when two Bratslav Hasids reported that one of their friends had gone missing on a hike toward the city in an effort to reach the building known as Joseph's Tomb. According to the report, the three Hasids came under attack by Palestinians as they were approaching the site.

Sharon promises the cabinet a debate on road map plan  
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday said the cabinet would soon hold a comprehensive discussion on Israel's preparations for the road map plan. He was responding to calls by several ministers who said that in view of the importance of the issue, it was imperative to bring the road map before the cabinet and not just before the security-political cabinet.

Treasury insists budget problems won't delay fence  
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
The separation fence won't be delayed by budget problems, senior treasury officials said yesterday, citing orders from Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

'We need a new Middle East of understanding'
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
Tom Phillips reports from the NUS conference in Blackpool where he found former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres optimistic about the future for the Middle East.

PA: If Israel won't accept road map, Palestinians will continue 'resistance'
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2003   
A senior Palestinian Authority official warned Monday that the Palestinians would continue to fight if Israel does not accept, unconditionally, the road map plan for peace in the Middle East.

Religious MKs assail Poraz on Pesach law
Haaretz, April 7, 2003  
Comments made by Interior Minister Avraham Poraz (Shinui) in a radio interview - saying the Hametz Law, which prohibits businesses from displaying leavened bread products during Passover week, was not at the top of his agenda - caused a storm in the Knesset yesterday.

Court rules against IDF takeover of foreign networks in emergency
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2003   
A High Court ruling issued on Monday bars the government from taking over foreign cable and network news channels in the event of an emergency such as an Iraqi missile attack.

ISM Update: Mas'ha, Twane, Tulkarem, Brian Avery
International Solidarity Movement, April 6, 2003 
1) Mas’ha: Peace Camp Catches Army Unprepared, 2) Save Twane,  3) Tulkarem,  4) Brian Avery

Occupation Chronicle Events in Palestine April 7, 2003
Palestine Media Center, April 7, 2003
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) raided Rafah in the Gaza Strip and wounded two citizens. IOF also raided Nablus and Balata refugee camp in the West Bank and detained five citizens. IOF also demolished 4 Palestinians’ houses in occupied East Jerusalem. IOF Wound 2 Citizens in Rafah

Palestinians boycott American and British products
Palestinian Information Center, April 7, 2003
Occupied Jerusalem - Palestinians have stepped up their boycott of American and British products in protest against the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Zionist government supplies American invasion forces with new missiles
Palestinian Information Center, April 7, 2003
Tel Aviv - The Zionist military industries are to supply the American navy with new missiles that mislead anti-aircraft batteries and missiles, the Hebrew television reported yesterday.

Resistance factions ask PA to return deportees
Palestinian Information Center, April 7, 2003
Bethlehem - Palestinian national and Islamic resistance factions have urged the Palestinian Authority to work for the return of the deportees from the Church of Nativity.

Zionist government deepens differences within Greek patriarchy
Palestinian Information Center, April 7, 2003
Occupied Jerusalem - A Palestinian Orthodox has surrendered to the Palestinian Authority’s preventive security apparatus in the West Bank town of Beit Jala confessing that an eminent Greek bishop had offered him half a million dollars to assassinate the Roman Orthodox patriarch Erinos I.

Palestinian professor assigned attorneys
UPI, April 7, 2003
MIAMI, April 7 (UPI) -- A former University of South Florida computer engineering professor was given two appointed attorneys Monday and a judge entered an innocent plea for him.

Iraq War News

Doctors overwhelmed at Baghdad's hospitals
Financial Times, April 7, 2003
The Iraqi authorities have given no figures for their military losses but estimate that 1,252 civilians have been killed and 5,103 injured. -- Casualties are mounting sharply as coalition forces fight their way through Iraq, leaving hospitals in Baghdad and the surrounding area struggling to cope with hundreds of injured from artillery fire and ground operations. The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Sunday that war-wounded were arriving at Baghdad's Al Yarmouk hospital at the rate of about 100 an hour on Saturday, stretching the hospital's resources to the limit.

Iraqi hospitals offer snapshot of war horror   
Jordan Times, April 7, 2003   
BAGHDAD (R) — Ali Ismaeel Abbas, 12, was fast asleep when war shattered his life. A missile obliterated his home and most of his family, leaving him orphaned, badly burned and blowing off both his arms.

Streets littered with Iraqi corpses as troops close in on the centre of Kerbala
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
American ground forces closed in on the centre of the Shia holy city of Kerbala yesterday, sending tanks through the streets and directing artillery fire on to sniper positions. Smoke canisters screened infantry advances.

UN, Red Cross Voice Alarm Over Civilian Casualties in Iraq
Palestine Chronicle, April 6, 2003
"ICRC spokesperson warned that armies using them were responsible for clearing any unexploded cluster bombs. 'I do notice that British forces confirmed the use of cluster bombs outside of Basra,' Notari said .." -- VIENNA (IRNA) - Geneva-based agencies of the United Nations specialized in relief aid voiced alarm over the number of civilian casualties in the war in Iraq and appealed for respect for the Geneva conventions governing war.

U.S. Deliberately Attacked Russian Convoy: Ambassador
Islam Online, April 7, 2003
MOSCOW, April 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Russian Ambassador to Iraq Monday, April 7, accused U.S. forces of deliberately shooting at his convoy as it was fleeing Iraq for Syria. The report, according to the RIA Novosti news agency, filed from the Iraqi-Syrian border, said ambassador Vladimir Titorenko was lightly injured, with his arm hurt in the attack.

Missing Iraqi general now in Kuwait after CIA aided Denmark escape — press
Jordan Times, April 7, 2003   
Khazraji, who has been charged with war crimes for alleged chemical weapon attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, went missing from his house arrest in Denmark on March 15. -- COPENHAGEN (AFP) — Former Iraqi General Nizar Al Khazraji, touted as a possible successor to President Saddam Hussein, is now in Kuwait after escaping from Denmark last month with the help of the CIA, the Danish daily Politiken reported on Sunday.  Citing a report by the former head of the CIA's “counterterrorism” department — a copy of which was obtained by the paper — Politiken said the US security services see Khazraji as their preferred successor for President Saddam in a postwar Iraq, a view that is not shared by the Pentagon.

US bombs its own forces and brother of Kurdish leader
The Times, April 7, 2003 
AMERICAN warplanes mistakenly bombed a frontline position of both their own Special Forces and allied Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq yesterday, in the midst of a fierce battle with Iraqi troops.

Humanitarian effort dismissed as a disaster
The Times, April 7, 2003
IRAQIS are suffering from a lack of water, food and medical supplies, aid agencies said yesterday, as humanitarian relief trickled in to the safest parts of the country. Many Iraqis have complained that they are far worse off now than they were before the war.

UNHCR highlights plight of Palestinians in no-man's-land, Iraqi deportations
Jordan Times, April 7, 2003       
AMMAN — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Sunday that Jordan should speed up the asylum claims of Palestinians waiting in the no-man's-land between the Kingdom and Iraq.  The UN agency also said Jordan should cease its deportation of Iraqis to their home country during the war after learning of a busload of Iraqi nationals that were sent back last week.

Water situation in, around Baghdad remains dire, hospitals overflowing — ICRC
Jordan Times, April 7, 2003       
AMMAN (JT) — Still concerned with a possible humanitarian crisis in Iraq, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) spokesperson Muin Kassis provided a summary of circumstances in Baghdad and Basra to The Jordan Times on Sunday.

Robert Fisk: The Allied grip tightens on Baghdad
The Independent, April 7, 2003
On the streets, grim evidence of a bloody battle -- The aftermath of battle was everywhere. Burning trucks and armoured personnel carriers, overturned Iraqi field guns, craters and blackened palm trees and, right in the middle of the motorway, just to the right of a cloverleaf interchange, the unmistakable hulk of an American Abrams M1A1 battle tank, barrel pointing impotently towards the highway, its turret a platform for grinning Iraqi soldiers. There were five other US tanks destroyed, the Iraqi Minister of Information insisted later. So, to the Iraqis who drove through the streets of Baghdad, firing their automatic weapons into the air in joy, t'was a famous victory.

US Tries to Prop Up Chalabi
Arab News, Los Angeles Times, April 7, 2003
"The Pentagon keeps pushing ahead — they’ve been relentless in their pursuit of a policy, which is to take these guys from the outside, led by Chalabi, and make them the next government of Iraq,’’ said a well-placed US official who requested anonymity. -- KUWAIT CITY, 8 April 2003 — US military forces airlifted Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, into southern Iraq on Sunday, along with hundreds of followers described by his London-based exile group as soldiers who will fight to topple Saddam Hussein.

US delays naming team to form new government
The Times, April 7, 2003
THE face of America’s planned new government for Iraq was to emerge from the shadows today when a retired US Army general, selected by the Pentagon to replace Saddam Hussein, was scheduled to name Baghdad’s new administration. In a sign, however, of the uncertainty hanging over the post-war arrangements, American officials cancelled Lieutenant-General Jay Garner’s first public appearance hours before it was due to take place.

Oil War
BBC, March 26, 2003
The advocates of war insist it's not about oil. But global oil production is on the brink of terminal decline and when the West begins to run short of supplies - Iraq could be a lifeline. -- After World War I, the oil companies carved up Iraq. Shell, BP, Exxon and Total all had stakes in the Iraq Petroleum Company. They paid pennies for each barrel of oil and built a pipeline to take it away.

Palestinian, Jordanian gunmen fighting in Baghdad
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2003
The US Army's 3rd infantry division, 2-7 Mechanized Infantry Brigade, is involved in a fierce battle with Palestinian and Jordanian gunmen in the industrial area of southern Baghdad.

US forces in centre of Baghdad
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
US forces today mounted their most far-reaching move into Baghdad, hitting at the heart of the Iraqi regime with raids on Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces. More than 70 tanks and 60 Bradley fighting vehicles swept into the city on the western side of the Tigris at 7am local time (0400 BST), pushing further into the capital than at any time since the war began on March 20.

We will take Baghdad one chunk at a time, says US
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
American troops fan out around capital city, but the fighting is still far from over -- A merican troops were last night preparing to mount the first significant assault on Baghdad in a final operation to take the city sector by sector. Soldiers fired artillery and mortars at Iraqi positions close to the capital's centre and fought to secure a bridge across the Tigris river in the south-eastern suburbs.

Two journalists killed in Baghdad
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
Two US soldiers and two journalists were killed and 15 people wounded today in an Iraqi attack on a US communications centre on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, military sources told Reuters.

Fierce Clashes Around Baghdad's Al-Rashid Hotel
Islam Online, April 7, 2003
BAGHDAD, April 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Fierce fighting raged Monday, April 7, afternoon in different areas of the Iraqi capital, amid conflicting reports coming from both sides. In the area of Baghdad's landmark al-Rashid hotel, which has been cordoned off by Iraqi fighters, hours after a U.S. raid on the nearby presidential palace, bitter clashes were reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondents.

US forces enter heart of Baghdad
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
As troops reach the centre of the Iraqi capital for the first time, resistance on the ground seems to have been limited, says Brian Whitaker -- US forces stormed into central Baghdad early today, taking over Saddam Hussein's newest presidential palace on the banks of Tigris river. Troops were also seen close to the information ministry and the Rashid Hotel.

U.S. Finds Possible Chemical Weapons Site
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. military is testing samples from a site in Iraq where soldiers found possible chemical weapons, defense officials said Monday. Testing at laboratories in the United States has to be completed before the presence of chemical weapons could be confirmed, the officials said.

Red Cross: Iraq Hospitals Overwhelmed
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
The organization also discovered that the number of casualties in Baghdad is so high that accurate statistics were impossible to maintain. -- GENEVA (AP) - Overwhelmed hospitals in Baghdad are running out of drugs and anesthetics and are short of water and electricity, the Red Cross said Monday.

Analysis: Show of strength in Baghdad
BBC, April 7, 2003
With television pictures showing US forces inside a presidential palace in the heart of Baghdad, there can be no doubting the dramatic advance made by US forces during the early hours of Monday morning. But this operation has as much a psychological as a purely military purpose.

British push into Basra's heart
BBC, April 7, 2003
British paratroopers are moving in large numbers into the centre of Basra's old city in an effort to flush out possible pockets of resistance. Three soldiers were killed in an overnight assault as troops reportedly took control of most of the city.

In pictures: Tanks into Baghdad
BBC, April 7, 2003

Israel’s Security Purpose Of U.S.-led Invasion: Mahathir 
Islam Online, April 7, 2003
KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The prime purpose of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq is to maintain the security of Israel and annihilate any source that could pose threats to the Jewish state in the Middle East, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed charged Sunday, April 6.

‘Peace Camp’ Firms Accused Of Breaking Sanctions
Islam Online, April 7, 2003
LONDON, April 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As fierce battles are still reported on all fronts in Iraq, British Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt suggested that French and Russian firms broke United Nations sanctions on Iraq.

Summit pressure on Bush over UN role
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
Tony Blair will today urge George Bush to internationalise the reconstruction of postwar Iraq, and is expecting a series of conferences to phase in a democratic Iraqi government.

Syria Wants Stronger U.N. Role in War
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria's president urged the British prime minister Monday to help strengthen the United Nations' role in halting the U.S.-led war on Iraq, Syria's official news agency reported.

Bush Lands in Belfast for Talks on Iraq
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair began to focus on postwar rebuilding in Iraq on Monday, as Secretary of State Colin Powell said, ``The hostilities phase is coming to a conclusion.''

Opposition leader secretly flown to Iraq
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
The controversial leader of one of Iraq's main opposition groups, Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), has been secretly flown by the US military to southern Iraq.

Annan Seeks Security Council Iraq Meeting
The Guardian, April 7, 2003
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday he asked to meet with the U.N. Security Council to discuss the reconstruction of postwar Iraq, stressing he expects the United Nations to have ``an important role.''

Who will fill the post-Saddam vaccum?
Times of India, April 7, 2003
NEW DELHI: With the Iraqi prize almost in its hands, the Anglo-American coalition is working overtime to see just how it can create a "legitimate" successor government in Iraq from an act that most of the world, and Iraqis themselves, consider illegitimate. Indeed, the unexpected opposition that they faced across Iraq and the heavy civilian toll indicates that Iraqis will continue to resent, rather than welcome, continued US military presence.

Emergency meeting of Opec sought
Financial Times, April 7, 2003
The declaration by exiled Iraqi oil experts that they would recommend to any interim government that Iraq remain in Opec but be free of any quota restraint also caused some quiet concern among some Opec members. -- Opec's president on Monday proposed an emergency meeting of the oil cartel this month to agree reduced production to halt the recent drop in oil prices.

France sets up Muslim council
The Guardian, April 7, 2003