Israel Arrests Palestinian Suspects
Guardian, August 18, 2002
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli security forces arrested 16 suspected Palestinian militants on Sunday, and Israeli and Palestinian officials prepared for a fresh round of talks aimed at securing an Israeli troop withdrawal from some Palestinian areas.

Israeli soldier wounded in Gaza Strip, 15 Palestinians arrested in Ramallah as Israel, PA set to hold security talks
Al-Bawaba, August 18, 2002
Israel's Defense Minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer is expected to meet early this week with top security officials of the Palestinian Authority, Abdel Razeq Yihyeh and Mohammed Dahlan. The three are due to continue talks on Ben-Eliezer's proposal for a gradual cease-fire agreement.

Appeal: outbreak of hepatitis A in Palestine 
Alternative Information Center, August 18, 2002 
I am writing in appeal for international assistance in what could be a dire humanitarian crisis. The residents of Salem, a village near Nablus in the West Bank, are facing a severe outbreak of Hepatitis A. According to Dr. Ghassan Hamdan of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees in Nablus, there have been 95 confirmed cases in this village since the outbreak first began two weeks ago.

Israelis arrest over 150 Palestinians in fresh crackdown
Arab News, August 18, 2002
HEBRON, West Bank, 18 August — Israeli troops launched a security crackdown in Hebron rounding up over 150 Palestinians and injuring several more with stun grenades, witnesses said.

Urgent action: unlawful forcible transfer/collective punishment 
Alternative Information Center, August 18, 2002 
Amnesty International is concerned about the decision by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to unlawfully transfer from the West Bank to Gaza three relatives of Palestinians believed to have been involved in organizing or carrying out attacks against Israelis.

Arafat foe calls him corrupt
Ha'aretz, August 18, 2002
LONDON - The Palestine Liberation Organization's former treasurer, Jaweed al-Ghussein, who with Britain's help was released from house arrest in the Palestinian Authority, accuses Yasser Arafat of corruption.

Melchior: Israel helped ex-PLO finance chief flee PA
Ha'aretz, August 18, 2002
Israel helped a senior Palestinian official accused of corruption by the Palestinian Authority flee to London for "humanitarian reasons", Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior said Sunday.

Peres: Israel Not Pushing For War
Guardian, August 17, 2002
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres says Israel is not trying to pressure the Bush administration to speed up a military strike against Iraq's Saddam Hussein and the timing of such an assault is solely a U.S. decision.

High Court tells IDF to stop using Palestinian civilians as 'human shields'
Ha'aretz, August 18, 2002
The High Court of Justice granted Sunday a coalition of human rights groups a restraining order against the IDF's use of the "neighbor practice." The practice is used by soldiers who order the neighbor of a wanted Palestinian suspect to go to the suspect's house to ask him to give himself up, thus exposing the neighbor, not soldiers, to the risk the wanted man might open fire.

Sharon: Israel not urging U.S. to attack Iraq
Al-Bawaba, August 18, 2002
Israel is not urging the United States to expedite military action against Iraq, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Cabinet during its weekly meeting Sunday.

Israeli, Palestinian peace activists meet
Ha'aretz, August 18, 2002
A-RAM CHECKPOINT, West Bank - An Israeli-Palestinian peace coalition convened in the shadow of an Israeli army checkpoint in the West Bank on Sunday to call for an end to nearly two years of bloodshed. The group, comprised of Israel's most lonesome doves and some of the Palestinians' most vocal opponents of the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, has failed since its formation in June to lessen the violence.

Clashes resume in Lebanon largest Palestinian refugee camp
Al-Bawaba, August 18, 2002
Islamist groups clashed in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday, camp sources said, in the latest incident since skirmishes last week killed three fighters.

Israeli government hospitals threaten: we will not admit new patients
Alternative Information Center, August 18, 2002 
Government hospitals are collapsing due to the economic crisis: there are no medications, no equipment and administrators warn they will have to close departments: "The situation is catastrophic, from tomorrow we will not admit any more patients." So warned Dr. Oscar Ambon, Director of the Ziv Hospital in Safed (northern Israel), due to the difficult situation of government hospitals.

How Israel planned on exiling Arafat 
Alternative Information Center, August 18, 2002 
The Palestinian Authority reacted with anger this weekend to publication of the details of the Israeli army plan to exile Yasser Arafat: Details of the operational plan, which were compiled during the 'Defensive Shield' operation but eventually scrapped, were disclosed on Friday night's "Friday Studio" news programme on Israeli television channel 2.

Children with special needs protest Israeli human rights violations 
Alternative Information Center, August 18, 2002 
On 15 August an estimated 300 children with special needs and their families marched through the streets of Ramallah to protest Israeli army violations of their basic human rights. The march was organized by PRCS' Total Communication Center for the Rehabilitation and Education of the Hearing Impaired; culminating a 20-day summer camp program for the children.

Weekly report on Israeli human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, 8-14 August 
Alternative Information Center, August 18, 2002 
Continued Israeli Violations in the OPT

Sharon, Ben-Eliezer fail to agree on early poll
Budget spat could force February election, Sharon rejects May date 
Ha'aretz, August 18, 2002
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Labor Party leader, met on Thursday in Tel Aviv to discuss the dispute about the state budget and the possibility of early elections. They were unable to agree an election date - Ben-Eliezer proposed May 2003, but Sharon said no.

Syrian press official: Damascus still seeking peace with Israel
Ha'aretz, August 18, 2002
Syria has been attempting recently to project a moderate image towards the West, despite it's radical attitude in regard to Israel and the peace process as compared to other Arab countries, according to the newly-appointed director of foreign press in Syria.

Reuters cameraman expelled from Israel after being refused entry at airport 
Alternative Information Center, August 18, 2002 
Reporters Without Borders today protested against the expulsion of Ahmed Bahaddou, a cameraman with the British news agency Reuters, who was put on a flight to Jordan on 15 August after having been refused entry and detained overnight at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion airport.

Ministers clash over dismantling of 69 outposts
Ha'aretz, August 18, 2002
Israel is not urging the United States to expedite military action against Iraq, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Cabinet during its weekly meeting Sunday. Sharon said that while Israel supports the U.S. in its fight against Iraq, it is not advising the Americans when to attack. The prime minister said that in his recent conversation with George Bush, he told the president that Israel supports the intention of the U.S. to attack Iraq, but "will not get inolved any more than that."

New Badil publication: UNHCR, Palestinian refugees and durable solutions 
Alternative Information Center, August 18, 2002 
Between 1948 and 1949 the United Nations General Assembly accorded mandates to two separate UN agencies to provide international protection (including durable solutions) and assistance to Palestinian refugees. This unique regime is comprised of the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP), and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Egged to sue PA over bus bombings
Ha'aretz, August 18, 2002
Israel's national bus company Egged said Sunday it would sue Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat for damages it incurred in dozens of Palestinian attacks, including suicide bombings.