Israeli soldiers open fire on school boys, kill 2, injure others
Palestinian Information Center, April 25, 2003
Occupied Jerusalem - Israeli occupation troops on Thursday opened fire on Palestinian school boys west of Ramallah, killing two people, and injuring others. Palestinian sources said Israeli soldiers riding two jeeps raided the village of Qarawat Bani Zeid near Ramallh around mid-noon Thursday and opened fire on school children who were returning home.

Palestinians Protest the Israeli Closure of Al Mawasi Road
International Press Center, April 25, 2003
KHAN YOUNIS, Palestine, April 25, 2003, IPC-- Hundreds of Al Mawasi residents demonstrated near the Israeli military Al-Tufah checkpoint in Western Khan Yunis camp last Monday demanding the opening of the check point for Palestinian movement.

At least 80 Palestinians arrested in Hebron and Bethlehem within April, 2003
International Press Center, April 25, 2003
Gaza, Palestine, 24 April, 2003, (Palestinian Prisoners’ Club)-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continues recklessly its wide arrest campaign and storm-in in Bethlehem and Hebron cities of the West Bank day by day.

Palestinian Fishermen Barred from Fishing in Gaza
International Press Center, April 25, 2003
GAZA, Palestine, April 25, 2003, IPC-- A tight closure imposed on the Palestinian territories with the advent of the Jewish holiday, ‘Pessah’, has also prevented Palestinian fishermen from going into the Mediterranean Sea to catch fish. Reports said Israeli patrols watch the Gaza Strip shores and prevent fishermen from going into the sea.

Powell: Abu Mazen should work to end ''terrorism''; Bush to invite Palestinian PM for talks
Al-Bawaba, April 25, 2003
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that terrorism must end if peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians is to have a chance of succeeding. "Let's be very open and candid." Powell told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC). "Unless terrorism and violence stops, then it's almost impossible to get going on any process toward peace."

Release Road Map Now: Arafat
Arab News, April 25, 2003
MADRID, 26 April 2003 — Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has called for the immediate release of an international “road map” leading to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Negev local councils go to court to block merger plan
Haaretz, April 25, 2003
Three regional councils in the south of the country yesterday petitioned the High Court of Justice to issue an interim injunction postponing by at least 60 days the date by which they must present their comments to the Interior Ministry on plans to merge certain local authorities.

Bush: Abu Mazen welcome without Arafat
Middle East Times, April 25, 2003 
WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush said Thursday that the Middle East peace process "will accelerate" now that the Palestinians have picked a new prime minister whom he invited to the White House.

Bush Pressed to Limit Role of EU, UN in 'Road Map'
Reuters, April 24, 2003
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid lingering bitterness over European opposition to the war in Iraq, the Bush administration is under mounting pressure to relegate the European Union, the United Nations and Russia to the sidelines of the Israeli-Palestinian "road map" they helped craft. A majority in Congress has signed onto a lobbying campaign to limit the oversight role of Washington's three Quartet peace plan partners, seen by many of Israel's supporters as biased in favor of the Palestinians.

Brussels Rebuffs U.S. Call to Shun Arafat
Tehran Times, April 25, 2003
BRUSSELS -- The European Commission rebuffed Friday a U.S. call to shun Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, saying the European Union would talk to whoever it wanted to, AFP reported. "Who we contact or who we don't contact is our business," said Reijo Kemppinen, a spokesman for the EU's executive, told reporters at the commission's midday news briefing. "We do intend to maintain our dialogue with the Palestinian Authority."

EU to be sidelined in Mid East peace deal
EU Observer, April 25, 2003
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – A diplomatic dispute over the formalities of publishing the long-awaited ‘road map’ for peace in the Middle East may see the EU’s role in the process severely curtailed. The Israeli government is said to be demanding that the ‘road map’ for peace in the Middle East, agreed upon by the international community, be presented to them only by the United States. Moreover, the US congress is looking increasingly likely to back this move.

Israeli MP lays first stone in settlement expansion
Middle East Times, April 25, 2003 
The right-wing speaker of the Israeli parliament, Reuven Rivlin, laid the first stone on Tuesday in a project to build more houses in a West Bank Jewish settlement that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had earlier hinted might be dismantled.

National Union seeks to rally American right against road map
Haaretz, April 25, 2003
National Union MK Yuri Stern is traveling to Washington early next week for meetings with the Christian right in an effort to rally support against the road map for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Stern is scheduled to meet with two of the most vocal evangelists, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, as well as members of the Christian coalition.

Fatah denies responsibility for bombing
Haaretz, April 25, 2003
A flurry of communiques issued by underground Palestinian groups after yesterday's Kfar Sava train station bombing left it unclear exactly who was behind the terror attack.

IDF to demolish Palestinian homes near Kiryat Arba
Haaretz, April 25, 2003
The Israel Defense Forces intends to demolish two buildings, housing dozens of Palestinians, bordering on Kiryat Arba. The inhabitants have no connection with terrorist activity directed against Kiryat Arba settlers. The commander of the Judea division issued the demolition order "for completely military needs."

Jericho hill taken over by Jewish militants
Haaretz, April 25, 2003
A group of youths from the Mitzpeh Yeriho settlement in the West Bank, mostly affiliated with Kach, yesterday took over a nearby hill overlooking Wadi Qelt, and announced they would stay to prevent Bedouin shepherds from using the site.

Blair ‘Invites Sharon for Talks on Road Map'
Palestine Chronicle, April 25, 2003
LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair has invited Israel's Ariel Sharon to Britain as part of a bid to activate the long-delayed 'road map' for renewing the Middle East peace process.

Israeli troops raid a school in Ramallah; kill a schoolchild and a taxi driver
LAW Society, April 24, 2003
Today, Thursday, April 24, 2003, Israeli troops raided Qarawat Bani Zeid High School in Qarawat Bani Zeid in Ramallah district, killed a schoolchild and a taxi driver and wounded a schoolchild.

Two Palestinians killed in clash with IDF  
Haaretz, April 25, 2003
Two Palestinians were killed yesterday afternoon by IDF gunfire and five others were injured in the village of Karawat Bani Zeid, near Ramallah.

Israeli forces kill two Palestinians in West Bank
Al-Bawaba, April 24, 2003
Palestinian sources reported early Thursday afternoon that two Palestinians, including a teenager, were killed by Israeli gunfire and five people were wounded in Karawat Bani Zeid village near Ramallah.

CJAED: Number of working Arab women rises, as does unemployment
Globes, April 25, 2003
According to a new study by the Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development (CJAED), unemployment among women in the Arab sector has more than doubled. The number of women entrepreneurs rose.

Bush Praises Santorum As 'Inclusive Man'
The Guardian, April 25, 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House said GOP Sen. Rick Santorum is doing a good job as party leader and is ``an inclusive man,'' despite his controversial remarks on homosexuality.  see also: Senators Threaten Universities Critical of Israel with Funding Cuts

Income tax receipts down 18.7% in January-February
Globes, April 25, 2003
Income tax revenue plunged 47.5% from self-employed persons, 37.1% from corporations, and 13.1% from wage earners. -- The crisis in state tax revenues worsened in the first two months of 2003.

Mideast peace begins when Israeli occupation ends: Syrian official
SpaceWar, April 25, 2003 
A top Syrian official spurned US charges that Damascus has fomented terror, and insisted Thursday that a lasting Middle East peace can be won only by resolving the Palestinian question.

Why Hizbullah may be the next terror target for US
Christian Science Monitor, April 25, 2003
WASHINGTON – A couple of days ago, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah addressed thousands of followers in Beirut as he commemorated a 13-centuries-old battle in Iraq that resulted in the death of a Muslim hero.

'Roadmap' greeted with caution
BBC, April 24, 2003
Now a new Palestinian cabinet has been agreed, the US is set to publish its peace plan for the region, known as the "roadmap". The BBC's James Rodgers takes a look at how the news is being greeted in the streets of Gaza.

Long road ahead for Palestinians
BBC, April 25, 2003 
Palestinians have their new government - almost - but peace is another question. Yasser Arafat finally accepted the cabinet list on Wednesday after a bitter dispute with his Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, about who should be on it.

Analysis / U.S. thinks time is ripe for a peace process
Haaretz, April 25, 2003
The U.S. administration believes the time is ripe for moving ahead with a political peace process in the Middle East and it will present the road map to the sides immediately after Abu Mazen's government is approved next week.

Analysis / Kfar Sava a test for Dahlan
Haaretz, April 25, 2003
The blast that echoed over Kfar Sava yesterday was meant to be heard first of all in the offices of Mohammed Dahlan, the new Palestinian minister for internal affairs, at his headquarters, now in Gaza and perhaps later in Ramallah.

Poll: Israeli Arabs don't hold much hope for peace
Haaretz, April 25, 2003
Forty-six percent of Israeli Arabs have no faith in the possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a recently published poll. Only 21 percent believe there is a chance for peace in the next five years, the poll found.

Bedouin in unrecognized villages petition court for kindergartens
Haaretz, April 25, 2003
The parents of 43 three and four-year-old children living in the unrecognized Negev Bedouin villages of Al Zaa'rura and Bir al Mashash petitioned the High Court of Justice yesterday to obligate the Education and Interior Ministries to set up kindergartens in their villages.

Palestinian PM already under pressure to deliver on reforms
Middle East Times, April 25, 2003 
Following his crucial political victory against companion in arms Yasser Arafat, Palestinian prime minister-designate Mahmud Abbas was already under huge US and Israeli pressure Friday to curb 30 months of violence and restart peace talks.

US aims at odds with Middle East peace
Middle East Times, April 25, 2003  
Academics and officials agree that the US 'victory' over Iraq is part of a larger plan to remodel the region under its influence, and warn that its actions will cultivate further anti-Americanism in the region.

Top Rabbi Accused Of Sexual Harassment: Israeli Press
Islam Online, April 25, 2003
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, April 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – One of Israel’s two top Rabbis is accused of sexually harassing four men of various ages and from various sectors of society, reported an Israeli newspaper on Friday, April 25.

Released! Update on Osama
International Solidarity Movement
ISM coordinator Osama Qashoo and Italian journalist Thomaso Besavi were arrested April 22 by Israeli soldiers -- Friends, Thank you all so much for your calls and letters on behalf of Osama and Thomaso and your support for the efforts of the International Solidarity Movement.  A special thanks to our Israeli friends who were on the phones immediately to various political offices.  Osama was released this afternoon, Thursday April 24.

Splintered group that Abbas will have to take in hand
The Independent, April 25, 2003
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a rogue faction of which claimed responsibility for yesterday's suicide bombing, came into being during the current intifada. Unlike the Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it supports Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority – except for a few splinter groups.

What do you know about Dahlan?
Middle East Times, April 25, 2003 
JERUSALEM - The deadly bombing Thursday of an Israeli train station, hours after his appointment as new Palestinian security chief, marked a clear challenge to Mohammed Dahlan, the Gaza strongman tasked with taking on Islamic radicals as well as a hardline splinter group of his own Fatah faction.

U.N. Rights Body In Serious Decline
International Press Center, April 25, 2003
GENEVA, Switzerland, April 25, 2003, IPC—The Human Rights Watch organization issued today a statement criticizing the performance of the UN Commission on Human Rights and describe it as [more] disappointing than last year.

Other Middle East News

Rumsfeld Warns Iran Over Iraq
Arab News, April 25, 2003
WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD, 26 April 2003 — US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that the United States will not allow a pro-Iranian regime to be established in Iraq, in a strong warning to Tehran not to interfere. “A vocal minority claiming to transform Iraq into Iran will not be permitted to do so,” Rumsfeld said.

Occupation officials warn against Islamic state
Sydney Morning Herald, April 25, 2003
Coalition administrators in Iraq have signalled that they will not accept moves by sections of the country's majority Shiite population to create an Islamic state as the United States continues to round up senior members of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Israeli Cluster Munitions Used in Iraq War
Palestine Chronicle, April 25, 2003
LONDON - The British army fired over 2,000 cluster munitions from artillery pieces during the battle for Basra, far more that the number of cluster bombs dropped by the UK air force, the Ministry of Defence has admitted. The British munitions, unlike those used by the US, were a new Israeli-made L20 artillery shell that has a claimed failure rate of 2 per cent, according to the Financial Times Friday.

Children from looted orphanage wander Baghdad's streets
Jordan Times, April 25, 2003   
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Every morning Bakr Al Said wakes with only one thought: To find the 130 children who fled the Al Rahma orphanage and took to Baghdad's mean streets while their home was being looted and burned. "We've been looking for them all day and all night. We take a car with UNICEF (UN children's fund) and drive around the city," said Said, a volunteer at the orphanage in the poor Al Rashid eastern suburbs.

Baghdad hospital shootout highlights lawlessness concerns
Jordan Times, April 25, 2003   
AMMAN — A shootout in the halls of a Baghdad hospital by the very people charged with guarding it is part of the continuing lawlessness in parts of the city that United Nations officials say is hampering their relief efforts.

UN Opens New Food Corridor Into Iraq
Palestine Chronicle, April 25, 2003
BAGHDAD - United Nations relief agencies opened a fourth food corridor into Iraq today while pledging help for re-opening schools and shifting focus from contingency preparations for a refugee exodus out of the country to the eventual repatriation of up to 500,000 people.

US may use MKO rebels in tensions with Iran
Salaam, April 25, 2003
After years of shunning the Iraq-based People's Mujahideen as "terrorists", the United States might use Iran's main terrorist opposition group to pressure Tehran as tensions rise between the two countries over post-Saddam Iraq. The US is now engaged in a rebranding exercise and present these terrorists as freedom fighters. Iraqis, who have suffered at the hands of the MKO in the 1991 repression following Bush Senior's betrayal, may have other views.

Bush warns Iraq may have destroyed arms
Middle East Times, April 25, 2003  
US President George W. Bush nearly declared the war in Iraq over Thursday, and for the first time suggested that Baghdad may have destroyed the banned arms at the core of his argument for military action.

Top Iranian clerics blast US presence in Iraq
Middle East Times, April 25, 2003 
TEHRAN - Two top Iranian conservative clerics lined up Friday to blast the US presence in Iraq, asserting the Iraqi peoples' right to Islamic government and accusing Washington of only seeking oil and the protection of Israel.

Arab world now faces invasion by American TV
The Guardian, April 24, 2003
Washington's battle to win public support in the Arab world has begun in earnest with the first broadcasts of what officials say will become a 24-hour satellite television network aimed at changing minds throughout the region by American-style morning chat-shows, sports, news and children's programmes.

US seizes Saddam's deputy
The Guardian, April 25, 2003
Tariq Aziz, the most internationally recognised face of the fallen Iraqi regime after Saddam Hussein himself, was in US custody last night after surrendering to American forces, Pentagon officials said.

Rumsfeld: Iraq Prisoners Won't Go to Cuba
The Guardian, April 25, 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) - No Iraqi prisoners will be sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention center that holds Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners from Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday.

US detains children at Guantanamo Bay
The Guardian, April 23, 2003
The US military has admitted that children aged 16 years and younger are among the detainees being interrogated at its prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Powell defends attack on Baghdad hotel
The Guardian, April 25, 2003
American secretary of state Colin Powell has written to Spain's foreign minister defending the decision by US troops to open fire on a hotel in Baghdad used as a base for foreign journalists.

Uranium hazard prompts cancer check on troops
The Guardian, April 25, 2003
Soldiers returning from the Gulf will be offered tests to check levels of depleted uranium in their bodies to assess whether they are in danger of suffering kidney damage and lung cancer as a result of exposure, the Ministry of Defence said last night.

Depleted uranium
The Guardian, April 25, 2003
Soldiers returning from the Gulf will be tested for depleted uranium. Alok Jha explains what the metal is and the dangers associated with it -- What is it? Depleted uranium is a toxic heavy metal. It is a by-product of the nuclear fuel and weapons industries.

US accuses Iran of stirring up protests
The Guardian, April 25, 2003
America's interim administrator admits that the strength of opposition by Shias was not expected -- The US demonstrated its unease at the level of anti-American protests in Iraq yesterday when it accused Iran of fomenting trouble among the country's majority Shia Muslims.

Muslim alliance derails UN's gay rights resolution
The Guardian, April 25, 2003
A UN vote on homosexual human rights was yesterday derailed at the last minute by an alliance of disapproving Muslim countries.

10,000 voluntary interviews with Iraqi-Americans: Ashcroft
SpaceWar, April 18, 2003
US Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI chief Robert Mueller on Thursday said that valuable information was culled from some 10,000 voluntary interviews with Iraqi-Americans over the past months. Iraqis living in the United States "have become our unheralded partners in operation Iraqi Freedom," Ashcroft said at a joint press conference Mueller.

Iraqis Won’t Replace ‘Tyrant With Another’: Imam
Islam Online, April 25, 2003
BAGHDAD, April 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Iraqi people should stand united and put aside their religious and sectarian divisions in this crucial time, Imam of Baghdad’s main mosque said Friday, April 25, as thousands of worshippers vowed to launch Jihad if the occupation troops did not pull out of the country.

Shiite Opposition Won’t Join U.S.-imposed Government
Islam Online, April 25, 2003 
BAGHDAD, April 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Iraq's main Shiite opposition group reiterated that the people of Iraq would not accept a government imposed by U.S. forces after the downfall of Saddam Hussein.

U.S. Captures Former Iraqi Intelligence Chief
Islam Online, April 25, 2003
U.S. forces announced the capture of former Iraqi intelligence chief Farouk Hijazi, accused of trying to kill former president George Bush, near the Syrian border.

Democratic presidential contender says US should target Syria, Hizbullah
Al-Bawaba, April 25, 2003
Democratic presidential contender Bob Graham said on Thursday that Syria should force Lebanon's Hizbullah to close what he described as "terrorist training camps" on its territory or face unspecified U.S. retaliation.

US seeks UN backing over Iraq
BBC, April 25, 2003
The United States is working on proposals for a new United Nations Security Council resolution to address the changed situation in Iraq, American diplomatic sources say. Among the ideas reported to be under consideration are a complete lifting of economic sanctions against the country, and a phasing out of the UN's role in controlling its oil revenues.

Legal plan to save Iraq treasures
BBC, April 25, 2003 
A Liberal Democrat MP is urging the government to close loopholes that could allow stolen Iraqi cultural treasures to be sold in the UK. Richard Allan, the MP for Sheffield Hallam, says the current laws could allow Iraqi antiquities to be sold openly in the UK without fear of prosecution.

US clocks final Muslim visitors
BBC, April 25, 2003 
Muslims complain of prejudice under new measures -- Visitors to the United States from five states with mainly Muslim populations have until the end of Friday to register with the Immigration Department as part of new anti-terrorism measures. The deadline applies to nationals of Egypt, Bangladesh, Jordan, Kuwait and Indonesia - the last group of countries to be targeted under the post-11 September measures.

Federal registration program puts some Muslim and Arab aliens in a Catch-22
Modesto Bee, April 25, 2003
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) - As the deadline loomed for immigrants from five Arab or Muslim nations to register with federal authorities, immigration rights advocates complained that many of their clients are caught in a Catch-22.

Powerful EU foreign minister planned
EU Observer, April 25, 2003
The new foreign minister for Europe will be extremely powerful. Under proposed plans unveiled by the convention yesterday, the individual that will replace Javier Solana and Chris Patten, will be able to take initiatives in foreign policy, negotiate international agreements in the area of foreign policy and will be backed up by a large diplomatic machinery.