BREAKING NEWS April 10, 03: Palestinian Killed, 12 Wounded in Helicopter Strike, More Deaths in Tulkarem
International Press Center, April 10, 2003 
15:30 One Palestinian citizen, Mohammed Saqer Al Zatma, 47, was killed and 12 others wounded, when an Israeli military chopper rocketed the car he was in, Palestinian security sources said. 14:00-- Israeli undercover units killed two Palestinian civilians and wounded four others in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, (IPC).

Israeli Troops Wound a Boy in Rafah, Blow up a House in Beit Reema as Palestinian Resistance Continues
International Press Center, April 10, 2003
RAFAH, Palestine, April 10, 2003 (IPC+WAFA)-- Israeli occupation forces shot and wounded Wednesday night a Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, Palestinian medical sources said.

Four Palestinians, two Israeli soldiers killed in West Bank, Gaza Strip
Al-Bawaba, April 10, 2003
Palestinian fighters opened fire near the West Bank settlement of Beka'ot before dawn Thursday, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding at least seven, Israel Radio reported.

Bulldozers Pushing the Envelope in Mas'ha
International Solidarity Movement, April 9, 2003
Anna could hear the contractor instructing the bulldozer driver to bulldoze the camp in general and Anna in particular. I wonder if the driver who killed Rachel got an order like that. After all, he was a soldier and is supposed to just carry out orders. According to the driver himself, "I only stop if I'm ordered to stop".

Fatah terrorists kill man in Jordan Valley
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
Police and security forces discovered yesterday afternoon the scorched body of a 70-year-old Israeli man who had been missing since Wednesday. The body of Massoud Mahlouf Allon, a resident of Moshav Menahemya, was found in a burned-out car in the northern Jordan Valley following a widescale police search.

Woman killed in Jordan Valley attack
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
An Israeli woman was killed and two other civilians were injured when a terrorist infiltrated Moshav Mechora in the northern Jordan Valley late last night. The terrorist was shot and killed by Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

Israel Arrests Palestinian Girls They Say Planned Attacks
KSAT, April 10, 2003
NABLUS, West Bank -- Relatives say four teenage Palestinian girls were just talking -- but Israel suspects them of plotting suicide bombing attacks. The relatives say Israeli soldiers came to their houses in the West Bank in the middle of the night and took the girls away to an army base for questioning.

Annan deeply concerned by Israel's air attack in Gaza neighbourhood
United Nations News, April 9, 2003
9 April – The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, today voiced his deep concern about Israel's air attack last night in Gaza, which left seven Palestinians dead and dozens more wounded, and repeated earlier calls for an end to violence by all sides and a return to the negotiating table.

Judge and prosecutor clash in trial of Marwan Barghouti  
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
An argument erupted yesterday between the judge and prosecutor in the trial of Marwan Barghouti, the former Tanzim leader in the West Bank. Warning her to behave, Judge Sarah Sirota threatened to complain to the Bar Association about prosecutor Dvorah Chen.

People and Politics / The olive tree chain saw massacre apparently stars settlers
Haaretz, April 10, 2003
He is convinced that settlers are the ones with the drills, and that they poured some kind of chemical into the holes to kill off the olive trees. -- Few Israelis have ever heard of the village of Assawiyeh, not far from Route 60, about five kilometers south of Tapuah Junction in the northern West Bank. Ehud Kirnis of Kibbutz Shuval and the five other peace activists who visited there last Saturday cannot get the small village out of their minds.

General strike called off
Haaretz, April 10, 2003
The general strike that was planned to start this morning was called off last night following an agreement reached by the Histadrut labor federation and the treasury.

Arafat: Prime Minister Abbas May Present Government Saturday
Palestine Media Center, April 10, 2003
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has been given an extra two weeks to form a government but could still announce his team as early as Saturday, President Yasser Arafat said.

Hundreds protest Negev Law annulment  
Haaretz, April 10, 2003  
Hundreds of Negev residents - municipal employees, administrators of southern factories, Bedouin leaders and representatives of various social welfare organizations - participated yesterday in a protest against the annulment of the Negev Law and the proposed economic austerity plan.

Fischer Concludes ‘Fruitful’ Talks with Palestinian Leaders 
Palestine Media Center, April 10, 2003
April 10, 2003 - German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer described his talks Wednesday with Palestinian leaders as “fruitful” as the Palestine National Authority (PNA) welcomed his visit as “very important,” which “sends a very strong political message that there is a need for a solution to the Middle East crisis.”

Palestinian Journalists Protest Over the Anglo-American violation of the Freedom of Journalism
International Press Center, April 10, 2003
GAZA, April 10, 2003, (IPC)-- Tens of Palestinian journalists organized Thursday a rally in Gaza City protesting over the Anglo-American aggression on Iraq and targeting the media offices in Baghdad. Journalists from different International and local press organizations participated in the rally.

Israel kills 12 in Gaza, bomb rocks Palestinian school, as German FM meets Arafat
Jordan Times, April 10, 2003   
GAZA CITY (AFP) — The Israeli occupation army killed 12 Palestinians, among them several children, in an air strike on a Hamas leader and a foray into a Gaza town, and an extreme right-wing Jewish group claimed responsibility for a blast in a West Bank school that injured 29 Palestinian pupils. As the Palestinians slammed a late Tuesday Israeli air strike on Gaza City as a bid to “sabotage” an internationally backed peace “roadmap,” German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer pushed their leader Yasser Arafat to hurry reforms aimed at sharing power with his moderate new premier.

More Deaths as Israel Tells Palestinians:Heed Iraq
Reuters, April 10, 2003
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and an Israeli missile strike killed a senior militant in Gaza on Thursday in a fresh surge of violence ahead of an anticipated U.S.-led peace drive.

Four Palestinians killed in Gaza clashes 
Haaretz, April 10, 2003
Clashes in the Gaza Strip left at least four Palestinians dead yesterday. IDF troops shot and killed a 21-year-old member of Hamas, a 35-year-old policeman, a 27-year-old security guard, and a 16-year-old boy, witnesses said. A fifth man, about 25, died later in a hospital, doctors said.

Continuous Israeli state terrorism: 7 Palestinians killed and dozens injured in the latest assassination in Gaza
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, April 9, 2003
PCHR condemns the war crime perpetrated by Israeli occupying forces on Tuesday evening in Gaza City, which resulted in the deaths of 7 Palestinians, including two children. This war crime comes in the context of the policy of extra-judicial assassinations adopted by the Israeli occupying forces in violation of international law. Such actions are defined as war crimes, under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1929.

More violence in Palestine as Iraqi war draws to end
Islamic Association of Palestine, April 10, 2003
Two Palestinian guerillas and two Israeli occupation soldiers were killed on Thursday during a gun battle at an army military base in the West Bank. An Israeli army spokesman said Palestinian resistance fighters attacked an army camp in the northern Jordan valley east of the Palestinian town of Tubas, with automatic weapons.

Arafat:” Israeli Warplanes Crime in Gaza is Unforgivable”
International Press Center, April 10, 2003
RAMALLAH, Palestine, April 10, 2003, (IPC) -- President Yasser Arafat described the crime perpetrated by the Israeli combat airplanes in Gaza on Tuesday as “an unforgivable crime”.

Second Israeli assassination in past two days leaves seven Palestinians dead
Palestine Monitor, April 9, 2003
Israeli soldiers last night claimed the latest victims of their policy of extra judicial execution. Witnesses report at 8pm Israeli helicopters and F16s were heard flying over Gaza city.

Islamic Jihad man killed in Gaza; 2 soldiers killed in W. Bank
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at a car in Gaza City on Thursday, killing a senior Islamic Jihad militant and injuring at least 10 bystanders.

Several Palestinian Students Wounded in Israeli Terror Attack
Palestine Media Center, April 10, 2003
Annan ‘Deeply Concerned’ Over Gaza F-16 Strike  -- April 10, 2003 - An Israeli terrorist group calling itself “Revenge of the Babies” claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack, which injured twenty-nine Palestinian children in a school in the northern West Bank.

Abed Rabbo Condemns Attack on Palestinian School, Blames Israel
Palestine Media Center, April 10, 2003
The Palestinian Minister of Culture and Information, Yasser Abed Rabbo, blamed the Israeli government for the terrorist attack perpetrated by an Israeli extremist group calling itself “Revenge of the Babies” on a northern West Bank school, which rendered 29 Palestinian children injured, four of them critically.

World unions blast Israel over broken labor pacts
Haaretz, April 10, 2003  
International labor organizations yesterday accused Israel of blatantly violating international pacts and agreements it had signed. In a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the organizations expressed support for the Histadrut labor federation's struggle against the proposed economic austerity plan, and some of the groups even threatened to file legal suits against the Israeli government.

Abu Mazen gets two more weeks to form his cabinet
Haaretz, April 10, 2003
The newly appointed Palestinian prime minister delayed naming his long-awaited government yesterday. Forming the new cabinet has been a condition for the publication of a U.S.-backed "road map" to Palestinian statehood, but Prime Minister-designate Abu Mazen asked Arafat yesterday for a two-week extension.

Palestinian faction leaders stunned by Baghdad fall, but vows to continue fight against Israeli occupation
Al-Bawaba, April 10, 2003
Shocked by the sudden fall of Baghdad in the hands of the US forces without any tangible resistance, Palestinian faction leaders said this “earthquake” would enhance their determination to continue resistance and uprising against the Israeli occupation.

Israel hopes ouster of Saddam will help bring new Palestinian leadership
Space War, April 10, 2003
As the symbols of Saddam Hussein's regime fall in Baghdad, Israel hopes that the ousting of the Iraqi leader will help loosen Yasser Arafat's grip on power and favor the emergence of a more moderate Palestinian leadership.

Moran Draws Fire With New Remark
Washington Post, April 10, 2003
Congressman Says Pro-Israel Lobby Plans to 'Take Over' Efforts to Defeat Him -- A Jewish civil rights organization and some Alexandria Democrats have criticized Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) for suggesting at a recent party meeting that a major American pro-Israel lobbying group will raise $2 million and "take over" efforts to unseat him next year.

Foreign cameramen finally receive work permits
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
In the face of growing international criticism, the government has reversed its decision and agreed to issue work permits to foreign cameramen on the grounds they are not taking away jobs from their Israeli counterparts.

Report: Israel prejudiced against foreign reporters
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
The Government Press Office (GPO) is prejudiced against foreign reporters and news services, according to a new report compiled by MK Tzali Reshef (Labor) and presented yesterday to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Ministry: Settlers have more than 10,000 weapons
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
There are more than 10,000 weapons in the hands of settlers, according to the Defense Ministry. In response to a question by MK Ran Cohen, a letter from the minister's assistant said some 8,000 weapons are in the West Bank and another 2,600 are in Gaza.

3 deported Palestinians won't be returned to Israel, court rules
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
The High Court of Justice yesterday rejected a petition to have three Palestinians suspected of terrorist attacks returned to Israel. The three, who were deported, were among dozens of Palestinians who took refuge in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity after the February 2002 terrorist attack in the settlement of Nokdim.

Protest movements mobilize against Treasury plan
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
The joint campaign set up by all opposition parties and around 40 social pressure groups will begin a concentrated campaign of protests against the Treasury's economic plan today. The campaign - calling on Treasury officials to `get out of their Volvos' - will increase in intensity in the coming days, with billboards and demonstrations planned across the country.

Energy sources: Iraq-Israel oil pipeline - pipe dream
Globes, April 10, 2003
Energy industry sources said that Minister of Infrastructure Joseph Paritzky’s proposal to reopen the oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel was unrealistic. They said the pipeline, built in the 1930s, was obsolete, unfit and unnecessary.

Israel suggests reopening oil pipeline from Iraq via Jordan
Financial Times, April 10, 2003
Israel has suggested that a new democratic regime in Baghdad could allow the reopening of an oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel across Jordan. Joseph Paritzky, Israel's infrastructure minister, said restarting the British mandate-era pipeline would slash up to 20 per cent off fuel prices.

IMF growth forecast for Israel: 0.5% in 2003, 2.2% in 2004
Globes, April 10, 2003 
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) biannual report published yesterday forecasts 0.5% growth for Israel in 2003 and 2.2% in 2004, compared with a 1% decline in 2002.

Deir Yassin massacre, 55 years on
Haaretz, April 10, 2003  
Dozens of Jews and Arabs yesterday marched around the fence surrounding Jerusalem's Kfar Shaul psychiatric hospital, the site of the Deir Yassin massacre, to commemorate its 55th anniversary.

Police cannot demand detainees' fingerprints or photos for data bank
Haaretz, April 10, 2003  
The police cannot fingerprint or photograph an arrested or detained individual solely to store such details in a data bank, Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Judge Carmi Musak ruled yesterday, setting a legal principle.

6th man arrested for placing bomb near Arab girls' school
Haaretz, April 10, 2003
Police arrested Amiur Tsuriel, 23, for his alleged assistance in placing a bomb near an Arab girls' school in East Jerusalem last April, Army Radio reported on Thursday. The bomb was discovered and neutralized before it could cause any damage.

Israel to help Turkey-US ties
Jerusalem Post, April 10, 2003
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom is slated to visit Turkey for a one-day meeting Sunday likely to deal with ways to mend the strained US-Turkish
relationship. This will be the first visit of an Israeli minister to Turkey since the Islamic-based Justice and Development Party (AKP) was elected last November.

Jewish groups seek to block Al-Jazeera in Canada
Jerusalem Post, April 10, 2003 
The two largest Jewish organizations in Canada have come out against a plan by the Canadian Cable Television Association to offer the Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera as part of its package of "ethnic" offerings, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports.

Bush to push Mideast peace? Don't hold your breath
Jordan Times, April 10, 2003
CAIRO — US President George W. Bush's vow to throw himself into Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking after the Iraq war draws deep scepticism in the Middle East, but both sides say modest progress is possible to stabilise the conflict. Voicing admiration for British Prime Minister Tony Blair's dedication to peace in Northern Ireland, Bush told a joint news conference in Belfast on Tuesday: “I'm willing to spend the same amount of energy in the Middle East.”

Occupation Chronicle Events in Palestine April 10, 2003
Palestine Media Center, April 10, 2003
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed five Palestinians after raiding the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. IOF also dynamited a house near Ramallah city and detained several citizens in Tulkarem. 5 Palestinians Killed in Beit Hanoun Invasion / Israeli Undercover Unit Kills 2 Citizens / IOF Dynamite House Near Ramallah / IOF Shell Rafah / IOF Raid ‘Iteil Village

Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories  03- 09 April  2003
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, April 10, 2003
Israel Continued Acts of State Terrorism, and Its Occupying Forces Escalated War Crimes in the OPT: 18 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 5 children, were killed by Israeli forces / 11 of the victims were killed in the past 24 hours / 9 of the victims, including 2 children were killed in 3 assassinations / Campaigns of arrests in Tulkarm refugee camp and hundreds of civilians were transferred to the nearby Nour Shams refugee camp / 6 Palestinian houses were demolished in the southern Gaza Strip town of 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 in military operations / The Israeli retaliatory campaign continues against families of wanted Palestinians and those who allegedly have carried out armed attacks against Israeli targets / A volunteer of the International Solidarity Movement was wounded by Israeli forces in Jenin

Iraq War News

Shia Muslim cleric assassinated
The Guardian, April 10, 2003
A revered Shia Muslim cleric was assassinated today in the holy city of Najaf after returning from exile in London to act as a peacebroker. Abdul Majid al-Khoei, 41, was stabbed to death at the shrine of Imam Ali, one of Shia Islam's holiest sites.

Crowd Kills Two Islamic Clerics in Iraq
The Guardian, April 10, 2003
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - A crowd rushed and hacked to death two Shiite Muslim clerics - one a Saddam Hussein loyalist, the other a returning exile who had urged support for U.S. troops - during a meeting meant to forge reconciliation at one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, witnesses said.

Aid worker killed in Baghdad shooting incident
The Guardian, April 10, 2003
A Canadian aid worker for the International Committee of the Red Cross has been shot dead in crossfire in Baghdad. The body of 48-year-old Vatche Arslanian, who had been missing since Monday, was recovered today by his colleagues.

U.S. Military Spurns Postwar Police Role
Washington Post, April 10, 2003
Pressure Builds to Provide Order, Protection --As civic order breaks down in Baghdad and large sectors elsewhere in Iraq, U.S. forces have neither the troops nor the inclination to police neighborhoods or deter looters in the next few days, according to Bush administration officials.

Aid warning over Iraq war
BBC, April 10, 2003  
The full damage of the war is not known -- The humanitarian impact of the war in Iraq could go on for many years after the fighting stops, the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned. The full extent of the humanitarian crisis will only start to be tackled once all of Iraq is secure and aid workers can move freely, charities believe.

Child war victim inspires appeal
BBC, April 10, 2003 
British amputees have helped launch an emergency fund in aid of children maimed in the Iraq war, named after a young boy who lost both arms in a missile attack. Twelve-year-old Ali Ismail Abbas suffered 60% burns in the attack which destroyed his Baghdad home and killed his family.

Suicide bomb kills US marines
BBC, April 10, 2003 
A number of US marines have been killed and others seriously wounded in a suicide bomb attack on a military checkpoint in Baghdad. US marines spokesman Major Matt Baker said that "some" servicemen had been killed, although he could not say how many.

Arab Media Slam US ‘Killing of Witnesses’
Arab News, April 10, 2003
CAIRO, 10 April 2003 — Arab media accused the United States yesterday of intentionally “killing the witnesses” in angry condemnation of attacks in which three journalists died in Baghdad.

UN doing 'whatever we can' to rush emergency medical aid to Baghdad, Annan
Arabic News, April 10, 2003
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday the United Nations was trying to do everything possible to rush emergency medical supplies to Baghdad.

Under new management: Garner plan will divide the country into three zones
The Independent, April 10, 2003
Iraq is to be divided into three zones by the interim civil administration headed by the retired American general Jay Garner, whose staff have just established a foothold in the far south of Iraq.

Shi'ite Group to Boycott U.S. Talks on Iraq
Salaam, April 10, 2003
The main Iraqi Shi'ite opposition group said on Wednesday it would boycott a political meeting the United States is trying to arrange in southern Iraq next week because of the U.S. military presence.

Baghdad hit by arson, US troops asked to take control
Times of India, April 10, 2003
BAGHDAD: Looting surged and buildings were set on fire across Baghdad on Thursday while US troops focused more on fighting pockets of resistance than on keeping order.

Fierce firefight at Baghdad mosque
Times of India, April 10, 2003
BAGHDAD: US Marines fought a fierce four-hour battle on Thursday at a Baghdad mosque where senior Iraqi leaders had been thought to be holed up, as US warplanes attacked areas of the city under the control of Arab fighters.

Gains by Kurd militia leave road to Mosul open
The Independent, April 10, 2003
The Kurdish militia has taken a strategic mountain overlooking Mosul as their soldiers, acting with US Special Forces, prepared to attack at different points along the northern front.

Bodies Scattered On Baghdad Streets
Islam Online, April 10, 2003
BAGHDAD, April 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Around 20 bodies and burnt-out cars littered the streets of the southwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Dora on Thursday, April 10. Bodies, including those of children, were still strewn over the road between Al-Dora and the international airport, which is under the control of U.S. forces, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

TV Images Stir Anger, Shock and Warnings of Backlash
Washington Post, April 10, 2003
CAIRO, April 9 -- As the cold reality of Baghdad's occupation by U.S. forces descended on the Arab world today, there was anger, shock and frustration, along with warnings of new battles ahead. "Please, America must hear our voices. The American media and people are in a state of euphoria right now, but they are not seeing it the way we are seeing it at all," said Diaa Rashwan, a political scientist at Cairo's Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

Far From Capital, a Fight U.S. Forces Did Not Win
Washington Post, April 10, 2003
Attack in North Fails To Dislodge Artillery -- SOUTHWEST OF IRBIL, Iraq, April 9 -- A battalion-size force from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade attacked Iraqi positions between the major northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk early today, trying unsuccessfully to remove an Iraqi artillery battery that has held up an advance by Kurdish militiamen.

Turkey Deploys Military Observers In Northern Iraq
Islam Online, April 10, 2003
ANKARA, April 10 (Islamonline.net & News Agencies) - To dispel revived Turkish fears over the fall of the northern Iraqi oil-rich Kirkuk city to U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, Washington and Ankara agreed on deploying Turkish military observers in northern Iraq, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told NTV television on Thursday, April 10.

Blair launches new Iraqi TV
The Guardian, April 10, 2003
Tony Blair and George Bush will address the Iraqi nation later today on a new television station set up by coalition forces, in a bid to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people...Towards Freedom will broadcast for one hour a day from the US flying TV station Commando Solo - a specially equipped Hercules aircraft fitted with a television studio.

Bush-Blair Message Fails To Reach Iraqis
Islam Online, April 10, 2003
WASHINGTON, April 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke Thursday, April 10, directly to the Iraqi people on television to reassure them that Iraq would be theirs, but Iraqis failed to receive the recorded messages because they have no electricity at the first place.

Iraq: Civilians Under Fire
Common Dreams/Amnesty International, April 9, 2003  
April 9 - Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the mounting toll of civilian casualties in Iraq and the reported use of cluster bombs by US forces in heavily populated areas. Despite repeated assurances from US and UK authorities that they would do everything possible to protect the Iraqi people, since 20 March hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed.

Battle for Iraq's oil begins
Middle East Online, April 10, 2003
Russia's LUKoil threatens to appeal to international court if work on Iraq's Qurna-2 oilfield blocked after war. -- MOSCOW - A top US energy expert warned Russian oil companies Wednesday that they will likely be shut out of contracts to develop Iraq's vast oil reserves once the US-led war in the country is over.

UN agencies denounce killing of reporters
Jordan Times, April 10, 2003
AMMAN — United Nations agencies condemned Wednesday the rising number of civilians and journalists that have been killed as the war reached into the heart of Baghdad and a trickle of Iraqi refugees made their way into Jordan.

Unease in Basra about who will rule it
Middle East Online, April 10, 2003
Basra resident[s] remain skeptical about British proposal to put tribal leader in charge of Iraq's second city. -- British plans to put a tribal leader in temporary charge of Basra have received a mixed reaction here, with many residents skeptical that one figure can suddenly unite Iraq's second city.

British launch gun amnesty in Basra
BBC, April 10, 2003  
British soldiers have offered a gun amnesty in Basra in an effort to restore order to the southern Iraqi city. The troops say they have been largely successful in stamping out the looting which has dogged the city in the two days since they entered it.

Basra residents call for more food
BBC, April 10, 2003  
Ordinary Iraqis around Basra claim they have only four days worth of food left and are calling for coalition forces to pull out of their war-torn country. "Now they have got rid of Saddam, they have no reason to fight against the Iraqi people," said Moaed Abd Alih, a 23-year-old student, amid a crowd of cheering locals.

`Game is over,' says Iraq's UN envoy
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
Iraq's UN ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri declared the end of the war late last night. "The game is over," he told reporters in the first admission by an Iraqi official that U.S.-led forces had overwhelmed Iraqi forces after a three-week campaign.

Central Kirkuk falls to US-Kurdish forces
Middle East Online, April 10, 2003
Reports northern oil capital Kirkuk falls to US-Kurdish forces, Turkey says it 'will do what is necessary'. -- KIRKUK, Iraq & ANKARA - US-backed Kurdish forces took possession of the centre of northern Iraq's key oil city of Kirkuk without a fight Thursday, witnesses reported on the outskirts of the city.

US lobby could threaten Iraqi heritage
The Guardian, April 10, 2003
Apparent lobbying by American art dealers to dismantle Iraq's strict export laws has heightened fears about the looting of the country's antiquities as order breaks down in the last stages of the war.

Germany's Schroeder Softens Tone on Iraq
The Guardian, April 10, 2003
BERLIN (AP) - While Germans remain skeptical about the war in Iraq, their anti-war chancellor has gradually and somewhat grudgingly altered his course, first calling for regime change and on Thursday welcoming the approaching end of the war.

Security Council Balks at Postwar Plans
The Guardian, April 10, 2003
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Most members of the U.N. Security Council want the United Nations to have a political role in Iraq's future and object to the supporting duties envisioned for it by the United States and Britain.

As regime falls, Iraqis rush to fill power vacuum
Christian Science Monitor, April 10, 2003
NEAR NASIRIYAH, IRAQ – Inside a ramshackle building on a former Iraqi Army base, a motley group of soldiers bang out rhythms on shoe boxes and dance on top of old military cots. They are singing in Arabic and wearing newly issued fatigues bearing the initials FIF, or Free Iraqi Fighters.

Rumsfeld accuses Syria of sheltering Ba'athists
The Guardian, April 10, 2003
The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, accused Syria yesterday of helping senior members of Iraq's Ba'ath regime to escape.

Syria silent on U.S. claim it is helping Saddam's supporters
Haaretz, April 10, 2003 
DAMASCUS - Syria's government and official media maintained silence on Thursday in the face of U.S. accusations that the country is helping supporters of President Saddam Hussein flee Iraq.

Jordanian information minister: Kingdom supports Iraqi people, rejects US threats against Syria
Al-Bawaba, April 10, 2003
Jordan’s minister of information, Mohammed al Adwan emphasized the need for an effective Arab role in Iraq in collaboration with the United Nations and the international community.

US under secretary of state: Syria should give up WMD programs
Al-Bawaba, April 9, 2003
A top US official said on Wednesday that Syria should heed the lesson of the war in Iraq. "We are hopeful that a number of regimes will draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq. That the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction is not in their interest," said John Bolton, US under secretary of state for arms control and international security.

Syrian oil exports dry up following Iraqi pipeline sabotage by US troops
Al-Bawaba, April 10, 2003 
Syria's state-owned oil marketing company Sytrol has informed its clients that export volumes for the remaining part of the year 2003 would drop to half, effective immediately. The cutback was announced some 10 days after US forces have cut off an Iraqi pipeline that was long claimed to have been feeding Syria, in defiance of the United Nations sanctions regime.

U.S. Marines Battle Holdouts in Baghdad
The Guardian, April 10, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. forces battled holdout fighters Thursday at a palace and a mosque in Baghdad, with one Marine killed and up to 20 wounded. In the north, America's Kurdish allies triumphantly entered the city of Kirkuk near some of Iraq's most productive oil fields.

Hand on the trigger
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line, 3 - 9 April 2003
With troops amassed on the Iraqi border, the smallest spark could rekindle Turkey's slow-burning Kurdish question -- Driving through Istanbul's Taksim district, Mehmet, an off-duty intelligence policeman, is heatedly expounding on why government policy is driven by fear of an independent Kurdistan.

Iraqi opposition sources reveal names of expected interim government ministers, al Chalabi name left out of list
Al-Bawaba, April 10, 2003
Informed sources from the Iraqi opposition told Albawaba that 30 portfolios in the planned interim government have already been endorsed.

UN Assembly demands immediate end to military incursions and terror in Middle East
United Nations News, April 5, 2003
"..the Assembly passed the measure by a vote of 114 in favour to 4 against – the Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands and the United States – with 11 abstentions." -- 5 August – Following a daylong debate on Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recent report on events in Jenin and other Palestinian cities, the United Nations General Assembly this evening adopted a resolution demanding an immediate end to military incursions and all acts of violence, terror, provocation, incitement and destruction in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Looters ransack Baghdad hospitals
BBC, April 10, 2003
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says two key Baghdad hospitals, and many other smaller ones, have been ransacked, as looting spreads across the capital.  ICRC spokeswoman Nada Doumani told BBC News Online that armed looters had stripped the al-Kindi, a key hospital in north-eastern Baghdad, of everything, including beds, electrical fittings and medical equipment.

'Black day' in Arab world
BBC, April 10, 2003
Analysts say Iraqis may turn against the coalition -- There may be excited crowds welcoming the Americans in Baghdad, but for many in the Arab world this is still a black day. It is not that anyone is mourning the collapse of the regime of Saddam Hussein. But the Americans are still being seen as foreign occupiers.

Al-Jazeera's cash crisis
BBC, April 10, 2003
By any conventional measure, Arab news service Al-Jazeera should be a runaway commercial success. The station has provoked fury in London, Washington and Baghdad with its no-holds-barred coverage of the war in Iraq.

Anti-war marches go on
BBC, April 10, 2003 
Anti-war demonstrations will continue despite the apparent successes of coalition forces in Iraq, protesters have vowed. Students gathered in Parliament Square on Thursday as the Stop the War Coalition announced plans for an anti-war march in London on Saturday.

Baseball Hall of Fame Cancels 'Bull Durham' Ceremony, Cites Actors' Anti-War Views
Common Dreams/ESPN, April 9, 2003
"We believe your very public criticism of President Bush at this important -- and sensitive -- time in our nation's history helps undermine the U.S. position, which ultimately could put our troops in even more danger." -- Plans to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the popular baseball movie Bull Durham later this month in Cooperstown, N.Y. were cancelled Wednesday because of anti-war criticisms made by two of the film's co-stars.

Will US Fabricate WMD Evidence?
Common Dreams/Al-Jazeera, April 9, 2003
With the US-led war to change the government of Iraq all but over there is still little sign of the weapons of mass destruction for which this campaign was fought. Daily reports of suspected finds have all so far turned out to be false alarms and the distinct lack of success that the United States could resort to fabricating evidence.

Army Must Halt Iraq Chaplain's 'Coerced Baptisms,' Says Americans United
Common Dreams, April 10, 2003
WASHINGTON - April 9 - U.S. military officials should order a chaplain in Iraq to stop offering food and fresh water for bathing to soldiers in exchange for being baptized and listening to his sermons, Americans United for Separation of Church and State told the Army today.

News analysis: Iraq war gives Bush new leverage 
International Herald Tribune/New York Times, April 10, 2003
WASHINGTON In the run-up to the three-week war to take Baghdad, President George W. Bush and his aides sometimes acknowledged that war against Iraq was about far more than just Iraq.

Maher welcomes De Villepin's visit to Egypt
Arabic News, April 10, 2003
Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher welcomed Tuesday the visit of his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin to Egypt on Friday. The latest developments need consultations among friends to unify their efforts to end this tragic situation in Iraq that will have serious repercussions in the region, Maher said.

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"The war in the north is still ferocious"
BBC, April 10, 2003