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Palestine Diaries

courtesy The Electronic Intifada

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Map of Israel's planned "security fence", adapted for clarity from Gush Shalom map. Gush Shalom notes: The Israeli government did not publish full, official maps of the wall. The path of the Eastern wall was compiled by the Land Research Center and the Palestinian Hydrology Group, based on expropriation orders issued to Palestinian land owners.

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Video Archives
Audio Archives

VIDEO
BBC:
Gap Between CIA
And Bush Stories
posted 10/9/02

VIDEO
BBC:
Region As
Unsettled As It's
Ever Been
10/9/02

VIDEO
BBC:
"No compromise
here"
posted 10/8/02

VIDEO
BBC:
Another Gaza
Attack
posted 10/6/02

VIDEO
BBC:
PA's Erekat: We
Need International
Protection Now
posted 10/6/02

VIDEO
BBC:
Khalil Shikaki, CPR:
'Chances slim for
negotiation'
posted 9/28/02

PHOTOS
Islam Online:
Arafat HQ
Destroyed
posted 9/25/02

PHOTOS
Islam Online:
Nine Palestinians Killed In Gaza
posted 9/24/02

VIDEO
Konscious:
Metal of Dishonor
The Face of US
War on Iraq
posted 9/18/02

VIDEO
BBC:
Sabra & Shatila
Is Sharon A
War Criminal?
posted 9/13/02

VIDEO
CBC:
Israeli
Army Was
Embarrassed
By Release
of Video
released 3/18/02
posted 9/6/02

Video Archives

Conflict..

Three militants killed in Nablus; thousands attend Abu Shanab funeral Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 Israel Defense Forces troops on Friday shot and killed three Palestinian militants in an operation in the West Bank city of Nablus. Witnesses said the three Palestinian militants being sought by Israel were sheltering in a small rooftop room of Rafidya hospital inNablus. Soldiers shot at the room, killing the three. They said Israeli soldiers were surrounding the hospital. Largest demolition in years: Israel destroys entire commercial market in one day Electronic Intifada/PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign 8/22/2003 OVER 100 SHOPS AND 5 HOMES DEMOLISHED IN NAZLAT 'ISA FOR THE BUILDING OF THE WALL -- (21 August 2003, Nazlat 'Isa, Occupied West Bank. PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign) -- Marking the single largest demolition of buildings in years, the entire commercial area of Nazlat 'Isa was today raised to the ground as some 15 bulldozers, accompanied by large numbers of military and border police, entered the community at 5:00 AM and destroyed over 100 shops and 5 homes. The market, which was previously targeted in January of this year with the destruction of 82 or close to , of its shops, has been the commercial center for the entire region. Israeli Bulldozers Return to Encaged Qalqiliya City to Make Way for Wall "Buffer Zone" PENGON 8/17/2003 The Same Day Sharon Declares "Handover" of City Israeli Bulldozers Return to Encaged Qalqiliya City to Make Way for Wall "Buffer Zone" -- Aug 17. Qalqiliya, Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign/PENGON. Israeli bulldozers, accompanied with three military jeeps along with armed guards of the Israeli construction companies, began bulldozing 50 dunums of lands along the eastern side of the Qalqiliya Wall for its so-called "buffer zone". Among the destruction were vegetables crops and water pipes. The buffer zone of this portion of the Wall will be 50 meters wide and run the length of 2 kilometers. Israeli Troops Push Into Jenin, Split Gaza In Two Islam Online 8/22/2003 JENIN, West Bank, August 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As the U.S. continues to pile pressure on the Palestinians, Israel pressed ahead Friday, August 22, with its onslaught on the occupied territories, pushing into the west bank city of Jenin on three fronts and re-imposing a roadblock on the main highway through the Gaza Strip, cutting the territory in two. IDF gears up for a few weeks in Nablus Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 Paratroop Brigade Commander Colonel Aviv Kochavi sat in a room at the Israel Defense Forces outpost overlooking Nablus and tried to calculate how many times he and his troops had entered the city below over the last 18 months. There was the operation in the Balata refugee camp last March, where for the first time, the paratroopers went from house to house, through the walls. And then, of course, the takeover of the casbah during Operation Defensive Shield, when the paratroopers killed 72 armedmen and lost one officer to friendly fire. Right-wing groups host summer camps to recruit `hilltop youth' Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 Metzudat Yehuda, the umbrella organization for a number of ultra-right-wing groups including the Kahane Lives and Kach movements, has held a series of summer camps for boys and girls interested in joining the so-called hilltop settlers. Altogether, seven groups, of about 25 youths, participated in the camps that were set up at two separate sites - in the northern and southern sections of the West Bank. Palestinians fire four rockets at Israeli towns Jerusalem Post 8/22/2003 Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired four homemade rockets at Israeli towns Thursday night after an Israeli missile strike killed a senior Hamas leader, the army said. No one was wounded. Nine more Israelis arrested on suspicion of attacking Palestinians Jerusalem Post 8/22/2003 Nine Israelis, including graduates of elite army units, have been arrested in a widening investigation of a "Jewish underground" suspected of vigilante killings of Palestinians, Israeli media reported Friday. Police spokesman Gil Kleiman confirmed the investigation, including the arrest of a combat soldier Friday, but said he did not know how many suspects had been taken into custody. IDF thwarted suicide strike set for Haifa Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 The Israel Defense Forces successfully foiled a suicide bombing that Islamic Jihad had planned for Haifa this week. The bomber and two accomplices were arrested on Tuesday at a military roadblock west of Jenin, but the arrests were only made public yesterday. Report: Half Century Of Israeli Assassinations Islam Online 8/22/2003 GAZA CITY, August 22 (IslamOnline.net) – Killing Hamas political leader Ismail Abu Shanab on Thursday, August 22, topped half a century of assassinations – one of the most heavily-used weapons in the Israeli arsenal. History can tell. Even before the creation of Israel, assassination was one of many tools used by Jewish gangs to pave the ground for the would-be state. On July 22, 1946, they struck at the King David Hotel, the south wing of which housed the British military command and the Mandatory government secretariat, killing some 91 people, including 28 Britons, 41 Arabs. Heavy shooting breaks out in West Bank The Straits Times 8/22/2003 JENIN (West Bank) -- Heavy shooting broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in Jenin early on Friday after a convoy of military tanks and jeeps moved into the northern West Bank town, Palestinian security sources said. At least 15 tanks and jeeps moved into the town on various sides, with troops firing flares as they went, they said.  Israel vows to kill more Palestinian militants The Independent 8/22/2003 Israel plans to kill more Palestinian militants, military officials warned, as thousands of Palestinians gathered for the funeral of the Hamas leader killed yesterday, promised thunderous revenge. An Israeli security source said all Hamas leaders were now considered fair targets and new strikes would be launched after a 24 hour lull to give Palestinians a chance to act on their own against militants. "We were waiting to see even just one Hamas arrest," he said. 100,000 Palestinians Mourn Abu Shanab, Vow Revenge Islam Online 8/22/2003 GAZA CITY, August 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Some 100,000 enraged Palestinians packed the streets of Gaza City Friday, August 22, for the funeral of martyrs Ismail Abu Shaban and his two associates who were assassinated in an Israeli air strike a day earlier, vowing to avenge them. Hoisting banners and flags and chanting anti-Israeli slogans, their ranks were swelled by thousands more Gazans pouring out of Friday prayers to vent their anger over the death of Abu Shanab, a top political leader of the resistance group Hamas. Israel vows more strikes on militants The Guardian 8/22/2003 Israel warned today of more military strikes against militants, as thousands of Palestinian mourners poured on to the streets for the funeral of the senior Hamas figure, Ismail Abu Shanab, who was killed in a missile attack yesterday. Despite widespread anger among Palestinians, and bloody vows of revenge against Israeli targets following the assassination of Abu Shanab, an Israeli security source cited by the Associated Press said all Hamas leaders were now considered fair targets. Gaza funeral draws thousands BBC 8/22/2003 Tens of thousands of Palestinians have turned out in Gaza for the funeral of the Hamas leader killed in an Israeli air strike on Thursday. The body of Abu Shanab and his two bodyguards were taken from the city's main hospital to the mosque surrounded by militiamen. Soldier arrested on suspicion of Jewish terror Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 Military police arrested Friday a combat soldier suspected of involvement in a Jewish terror cell, ending a days-long search. Security services have already arrested several people suspected of being active in the Jewish underground. The soldier, who is from a settlement in the West Bank, is suspected of security crimes. Israel reimposes roadblock, cutting Gaza Strip in two ReliefWeb/AFP 8/22/2003 GAZA CITY, Aug 22 (AFP) - The Israeli army reimposed a roadblock on the main highway through the Gaza Strip Friday morning, cutting the territory in two and undoing one of the confidence-building measures adopted under a US-backed peace roadmap. Troops had only lifted the roadblock near the Qatif block of Jewish settlements south of Gaza City in late July when a three-month truce declared by the main Palestinian militant groups on June 29 remained in force.  Troops demolishes 22 houses and shops in Nazalat Issa International Middle East Media Center 8/22/2003 For the sake of building the separation wall, Israeli bulldozers demolished Thursday 22 houses in the town of Nazalat Issa near the close to the green line village of Baka Algharbea. While the owners of the demolished buildings are not all known, few are owned by Fayez Saeed AbuMokh and Eyad Alush. In a special Operation, Israeli forces arrest members of the Islamic Jihad International Middle East Media Center 8/22/2003 Palestinian sources reported Thursday evening the arrest of three Palestinians among them two operatives of the Islamic Jihad. Eyewitnesses said, an Israeli special force disguised in Palestinian civilian clothes managed to sneak to Hassan Mustafa Zakarneh’s house at the western entrance of Qabatia village near Jenin. Qassam Rockets Back At Sderot International Middle East Media Center 8/22/2003 Qassam rockets were fired Friday morning at the Israel southern town of Sderot and more mortar shells were fired at various Israeli settlements in Gaza Strip. Police close Mount after just one hour Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 The police yesterday closed the Temple Mount to non-Muslim visitors at 10 A.M., an hour after the site had been opened and an hour earlier than anticipated. During the hour when the mount was accessible to non-Muslims, it was visited only by tourists and secular Israelis. No religious Jews or members of the Temple Mount Faithful were allowed to enter the area. The previous day, police had permitted them to do so. Israel Kills Two Palestinian Militants in West Bank Hospital New York Times 8/22/2003 NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinian militants inside a West Bank hospital on Friday, extending a new spiral of violence that has smashed a cease-fire vital to a U.S.-backed ``road map'' peace plan....In the West Bank city of Nablus, witnesses said three Palestinian militants being sought by Israel were sheltering in a small rooftop room of Rafidya hospital when Israeli forces stormed up and surrounded the building. They said a shoot-out ensued with soldiers firing into the room, killing two militants and wounding the third. All three were members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed faction within the mainstream Fatah national movement of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Diplomacy..

Powell asks Arafat to help stop killing The Independent 8/22/2003 Washington turned to Yasser Arafat yesterday, a man it had sought to marginalise and sideline for months, to help the so-called Middle East road-map after the Jerusalem bus bombing and Israel's killing of a senior Hamas leader threatened to wreck the peace plan. Months after the United States demanded that the Palestinians elect a Prime Minister in an effort to reduce the authority of Mr Arafat, the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, asked him yesterday to help stop the cycle of violence. Officials Suspend Work On Tattered 'Road Map' Washington Post 8/22/2003 Sides Trade Blame, Wait for Other to Move -- JERUSALEM, Aug. 21 -- A fragile, U.S.-backed peace plan has been paralyzed and is in danger of complete collapse, senior Israeli and Palestinian officials say, after two days of violence in which a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 20 people on a bus in Jerusalem and Israeli pilots killed a top Palestinian militant leader in a missile attack. Focus / Now it's do or die for Abbas Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 The prevailing assessment among the Palestinian leadership yesterday was that the end of the cease-fire is also the end of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas's government. Palestinian officials said that they were deeply worried by the sharp escalation in the violence, and Abbas (Abu Mazen), who was furious over Israel's liquidation of Ismail Abu Shanab, was pushing last night for outside involvement in the conflict. Bush Largely To Blame For Truce Collapse: Expert Islam Online 8/21/2003 CAIRO, August 21 (IslamOnline.net) – The Bush administration is largely to be blamed for the collapse of the three three-month truce declared by the main Palestinian factions on June 29, after turning a blind eye to continued Israeli breaches over the past 50 days, an Egyptian foreign affairs expert charged Thursday, August 21. "The administration of President George W. Bush has overlooked the incessant Israeli violations since the declaration of the truce and only paid lip service to the implementation of the internationally-backed roadmap for Middle East peace," Abdul Hadi Ahmad told IslamOnline.net. Islamic Jihad, Hamas Formally End Ceasefire Islam Online 8/22/2003 GAZA CITY, August 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Palestinian resistance groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas issued a joint statement Friday, August 22, formally ending their seven-week-old truce because of an Israeli air strike that killed a top political leader. The statement blamed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for wrecking the truce that the Palestinian factions declared unilaterally on June 29. El-Baz: PA requests more time to deal with Hamas, Jihad Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 If Israel gives the Palestinian Authority more time to put pressure on Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it will be possible to see how serious the Palestinians are, Egyptian envoy Osama El-Baz said Friday after separate meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, Israel Radio reported. The political advisor to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that Palestinian leaders were requesting more time to deal with the two militant groups. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Minister for SecurityAffairs Mohammed Dahlan are serious people, he added. Road map in peril as cease-fire ends Christian Science Monitor 8/22/2003 Thursday, Hamas ended 7-week truce after Israel's retaliatory strike against its leader. -- JERUSALEM – The shaky ceasefire sustaining the US-backed peace plan between Israelis and Palestinians formally ended Thursday after Israeli helicopter gunships fired on and killed a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip. Hamas declared an immediate end to the seven-week truce, casting doubt on the future of the road map and confronting Israelis, Americans, and Palestinians with significant decisions in the days ahead. Hamas representative urges Abbas not to rein in militants Daily Star 8/22/2003 The Lebanon representative of the Palestinian militant group Hamas urged the Palestinian Authority on Thursday to reconsider plans to try to rein in militants, after Israel killed a top Hamas official in a missile strike. Under pressure to crack down on militants after a suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus on Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority has vowed to enforce the rule of law among all Palestinians. But a Hamas official in Beirut said he hoped Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas would change his mind after Thursday’s Israeli missile strike in Gaza, which killed senior Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab and two bodyguards. Abbas fights for control after killings Evening Standard 8/22/2003 Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas is today fighting for his political future amid fears of a further escalation of violence in the Middle East. Israel's assasination of senior Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab prompted militant groups to declare an end to their ceasefire agreement and pledge revenge. Mr Abbas is under pressure from factions within the Palestinian Authority following the collapse of the ceasefire, which he brokered personally two months ago. How the truce was broken The Guardian 8/22/2003 June: 27 Israel and Palestinians agree disengagement deal in Gaza / 29 Israeli troops begin Gaza pullback. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Arafat's Fatah faction, including al-Aqsa Martyrs, declare truce / July: 2 Israel withdraws from Bethlehem. US announces $30m (£18.8m) aid for West Bank and Gaza / 3 Israeli troops shoot dead a militant and block traffic on Gaza's main road, angering Palestinians.... Al-Qaddoumi: resistance is the only option Arabic News 8/22/2003 PLO Head of the Political Department, Farouk Kaddoumi, said in an open message he had sent yesterday from the headquarters of the political department in Tunisia to the US President George W. Bush and the secretary general of the United Nations AL Kofi Annan that "occupation is terrorism, in itself and defending the homeland and the freedom of the people and their dignity is the only option which is left for the Palestinian people, at a time when the racist government of Israel defies the world." The Mideast crisis: Ali Abunimah USA Today 8/21/2003 Ali Abunimah, a writer and commentator on Middle East and Arab-American affairs lives in Chicago. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Jordan Times and Lebanon's Daily Star, among others. Abunimah co-founded The Electronic Intifada, a resource for media activists and journalists researching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He answers readers' questions on what it takes to stop the violence between Israel and the Palestinians. U.S. Presses Abu Mazen Over Terror Forward 8/22/2003 Carnage Throws 'Map' in Doubt -- JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Authority was under intense pressure this week to clamp down forcefully on terrorists in order to save the Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire from collapse following this week's horrific bus bombing in Jerusalem. Israeli officials said that Washington had warned the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, that the entire peace process arising from President Bush's road map — as well as the fate of Abu Mazen's own regime — now hinges on an adequate Palestinian response to the Jerusalem suicide bombing. The bombing left at least 20 people dead, including five children. After a false dawn, the pretence of a ceasefire is finally shattered Sydney Morning Herald 8/23/2003 This week's bloody events would have destroyed the Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire - if there had been one - and shattered any lingering hope of success for the "road map" plan for peace in the Middle East - if there had been any. The truth is, though, that there was never any ceasefire agreement between the two sides in this conflict. As for the road map, the Israeli Government never formally endorsed it; Prime Minister Ariel Sharon merely stood by while United States President George Bush launched it in Aqaba in June. Secretary-General deeply concerned by escalation in Middle East violence United Nations News 8/21/2003 21 August – The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today voiced deep concern at the sharp escalation in violence in the Middle East, and calling on both sides to curb their actions he reaffirmed the importance of sticking to the Road Map peace plan. “While recognizing the right of Israel to live in security, Israel does not have the right to resort to extra-judicial measures, as it used today in the Gaza Strip,” said a statement issued by a spokesman for Mr. Annan in New York. In a Joint leaflet, Hamas and Islamic Jihad Call off the Truce International Middle East Media Center 8/22/2003 The two Palestinian Islamic movements, Hamass and Islamic Jihad issued a joint statement calling off the cease-fire. This move came after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismael Abu Shanab in Gaza City on Thursday. Both movements announced ended their decision to suspend military attacks against Israel. Both accused Israel of violating the truce conditions on daily bases. Frantic US piles pressure on Arafat through surrogates to save peace roadmap Middle East Times 8/22/2003 Alarmed by the severe deterioration of conditions in the Middle East, the United States on Thursday mounted a furious campaign to pressure Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat into ending anti-Israel violence. But barred from direct contact with Arafat since President George W. Bush declared him persona non grata in June 2002, Washington had to resort to public calls and surrogates to demand that full control of the Palestinian security apparatus be turned over to prime minister Mahmud Abbas. Peace hopes blown apart in tit for tat The Guardian 8/22/2003 The road map is off course. Can both sides steer away from the brink? -- Two months ago, as the US national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was making her debut as the Bush administration's point person on the Middle East, an Israeli lawyer visited Washington. The lawyer, Dov Weissglass, was chief of staff for Ariel Sharon, and as evidence of the Israeli prime minister's trust, arrived with the authority to offer a compromise. The Israeli army would desist from assassinations of Palestinians - aside from so-called "ticking bombs", believed to be on the verge of launching an attack....Yesterday, that understanding was destroyed as Israel assassinated the man who was the public face of Hamas, Ismail Abu Shanab. Mid-East papers write off truce BBC 8/22/2003 The regional press sees little prospect for peace in the wake of the killing by Israeli forces of Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab.Arabic papers suggest the Israeli action was not so much a revenge attack for Tuesday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem, as part of a plan to sabotage the ceasefire. In Israel, some commentators question the wisdom of Israel's "targeted killing" of Palestinian militants. But others point the finger of blame firmly at Hamas. Powell says "road map" end would send Israelis, Palestinians over the cliff ReliefWeb 8/21/2003 "The end of the road map is a cliff that both sides will fall off" -- UNITED NATIONS, Aug 21 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted Thursday that escalating Middle East violence would not halt the US-led "road map" peace bid and called for renewed pressure on radical Palestinian groups to end their attacks. He warned the Israelis and Palestinians that ending the US-led "road map" peace initiative in the Middle East would lead to a dramatic increase in violence.

Human Rights..

Judge Rules Against Scottish and Swedish Peace Activists International Solidarity Movement 8/22/2003 Friday, 22nd August, 11.20am - In Tel Aviv District Court, Judge Zaf cancelled the suspension of the deportations of Andrew Muncie and Andreas Koninek, the two peace activists who had attempted to halt the destruction of [the home of] a family of nine in Nablus last Sunday morning.

Economy..

The Bottom Line / Singing new tunes Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 l Benjamin Netanyahu: The sigh of relief could be heard all the way to Tel Aviv. It came from Benjamin Netanyahu's office inJerusalem, rolled over the hills and across the valleys, and echoed across the entire country. Because only on Wednesday, after endless delays, was the agreement signed granting Israel U.S. guarantees for $9 billion that it will be raising over the next three years. Three billion will be secured by the end of this year. Netanyahu knows full well that these billions, not his "supply-side economics," will save the day. Demise of hudna bodes ill for markets Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 Tel Aviv financial markets responded fiercely to Hamas and Islamic Jihad announcements regarding the end of the cease-fire. The Maof-25 blue chip index started the day climbing 0.7 percent, but news of Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab changed the mood entirely. Two hours before the close of trade, the Maof was off 2 percent, although it managed to eke out some recovery and close on a 1.1-percent drop, at 388 points. Where has all the oil money gone? Jerusalem Times 8/21/2003 The Palestinian Petroleum Authority has been siphoning money to unknown sources for years. This is the conclusion that can be derived from the financial figures presented to the public by Minister of Finance Salam Fayyad. The local Palestinian press downgraded the revelation referring to the information made in the press conference in general terms without analyzing the words or the figures provided to them. Government debt remains at 102% of GDP in first half Jerusalem Post 8/22/2003 The government debt remained at 102 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of the first half, much higher than both the OECD average of 76% and the European Union average of 72%, the Bank of Israel said Wednesday.

People..

Pragmatist whose two-state solution cut no ice with Israel The Guardian 8/22/2003 In the small inner core of Hamas, Ismail Abu Shanab was one of the key decision-makers, but he was also regarded as one of its most pragmatic members. Abu Shanab, a 48-year-old father of 11, studied engineering in Egypt before taking a master's degree in the US at Colorado State University. He later taught engineering at the Islamic University in Gaza as well as deputising at times for the Hamas leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. He also spent seven years in an Israeli jail before his release at the end of 1996. Dance Troupe From Israel Wraps Up Goodwill Tour of America Forward 8/22/2003 Shortly after their community was awarded permanent residency status in Israel, a dance troupe hailing from the country's controversial African Hebrew Israelite community completed its first "goodwill tour" of the United States at New York's National Black Theatre in Harlem. Members of the Spirit of David Dance Theatre — who toured through Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and New York, in addition to several smaller cities — are African Hebrew Israelites, or Black Hebrews. They believe they are descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel. The 2,500 members of the community, who are not Jews, are the offspring of 350 African Americans who moved to the southern Negev city of Dimona in 1969. They have been treated with some skepticism ever since, primarily due to their alleged ties to black radicals, including Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan. Lots of work for settlement 'spy' Christian Science Monitor 8/22/2003 Israel announced a $11,400 grant this month to induce young settlers to move to the West Bank. -- GIVAT HA ROEH, WEST BANK – Dror Etkes slows to a near halt on a winding dirt road deep inside the West Bank, the battlefield of his nonshooting war against the Israeli government's settlement drive. "I wrecked two cars [on rough roads] last week and I don't want to wreck another one," explains Israel's only settlement spy, who carries out his surveillance on behalf of Israel's dovish Peace Now movement. Israeli, Palestinian kids find friendship on Japan soccer field Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 TOKYO - Violence may be escalating in Israel and the Palestinian territories but children from both sides found friendship on a Japanese soccer field on Friday. Tensions rose sharply back home after Israeli forces killed a top Hamas political leader on Thursday in response to a suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Tuesday, prompting most major Islamic groups to abandon a truce crucial for the road map peace plan. Yet for 22 children - 11 from Israel and 11 from Palestine - sport won over politics as they and Japanese children struggled for control of soccer balls in the steamy summer heat. As the cycle of violence escalates, Barenboim takes his Arab-Israeli orchestra to play for peace The Independent 8/22/2003 Daniel Barenboim was preparing himself for a "Concert for Peace" when the appalling news of the carnage began to filter through. Amid the stunning beauty of the 2,000-year-old Teatro Romano in the Spanish city of Merida, the conductor was rehearsing his remarkable cross-cultural orchestra of 80 young Arab and Israeli musicians. Palestinian-German team performs surgeries in Gaza Jerusalem Times 8/21/2003 A German medical team of Palestinian descent recently began performing brain and nerve surgeries at the Gaza European Hospital in southeastern Khan Younis. Dr. Sameer Kazkaz, brain and nerve surgery consultant at Lonen University in Germany and head of the visiting team, said that he and Dr. Fawwaz Aby Ziyadeh, head of the brain and nerve surgery wing at the hospital, were able to conduct four complex surgeries in one day. Book Review: The Wall in Palestine PENGON/This Week in Palestine August, 2003 The Wall in Palestine: Facts, Testimonies, Analysis and Call to Action Edited by The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON) Jerusalem, 2003, 199 pages. -- To date, some 300,000 people are currently affected by the land confiscation, tree uprooting and inaccessibility to lands and water due to the caging off of their communities, throughout the northern West Bank, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, with concrete walls and electric fences. This book is critical in surfacing what the Wall is, its shocking impacts, and its re-shaping of the entire West Bank. The pictures themselves, some one hundred of them, can tell the whole story. The book is an impressionable cross between a detailed report, a photo journal, activist resource guide, and an anthology. In Iran, no men allowed at women's music fest Christian Science Monitor 8/22/2003 A folk festival in Tehran gives female performers a rare forum, but critics see it as a superficial step toward giving women an equal hearing -- TEHRAN – Sultana Banu learned to sing as a child, working the fields with her family in lush northern Iran. But as her rough-edged voice rose and fell in homage to agricultural life Monday, her outfit was not work clothes, but a red tunic and full burgundy skirt.

International..

Bush freezes assets of 6 Hamas leaders, 5 other organizations Ha'aretz 8/22/2003 "I call upon all nations supportive of peace in the Middle East to recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization." -- BURBANK, Wash. - U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday announced a freeze on the assets of six leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and five organizations accused of financially supporting the group. Bush said in a written statement that he ordered the U.S. Treasury Department to act following Tuesday's suicide bombing attack in Jerusalem, which killed 20 people. 'Can we criticise Israel?' Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 21 - 27 August 2003 Although the leadership of the French Socialist Party continues to support Israel come what may, dissent is brewing in the ranks -- A row has erupted in France's main opposition party, the Parti Socialiste (PS), over its unstinting support for Israel. A number of its leading figures have been prominent at recent events and demonstrations in support of Israel. But Pascal Boniface, a member of the PS national strategy group, director of the influential Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) and author of a recent book, 'Can we criticise Israel?', believes that they have gone too far. Christians Split Over Bush, Peace Process Forward 8/22/2003 A split is emerging among influential pro-Israel Evangelical Christians over the American-backed plan for Middle East peace, sparking debate over whether the issue could cut into President Bush's support in 2004. On one side of the divide are Christian activists, including former Reagan administration official Gary Bauer, who accuse the White House of pressuring Israel into dangerous concessions and say many Christian voters could end up punishing Bush by staying home in 2004. But establishment evangelicals, including the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land and Republican strategist Ralph Reed, are defending the president's efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal and insisting that evangelicals will continue to back Bush to the hilt. US report says Hizbullah set up rogue Fatah cells Daily Star 8/22/2003 Hizbullah has established rogue Fatah Tanzim cells in the West Bank to carry out suicide bombings and other attacks to derail any chances of a peace breakthrough between the Palestinians and Israel, according to a report published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Called the Shiva Brigades, the cells are funded by Iranian Revolutionary Guards based in Lebanon and have “significantly expanded Hizbullah’s targeting capabilities as well as its political goals,” the report said. True Stories: Israel's Secret Weapon Sydney Morning Herald 8/21/2003 Australia's ABC network airs the BBC documentary -- The title of this admirably persistent report by the BBC's Correspondent team means that the answers to four questions it poses will not surprise, but the opening is stark enough to shock: "Which country in the Middle East has undeclared nuclear weapons?" it asks. "Which country . . . has undeclared biological and chemical capabilities . . . no outside inspections . . . jailed its nuclear whistleblower for 18 years?" 50 years later, Iranians remember US-UK coup Christian Science Monitor 8/22/2003 TEHRAN, IRAN – Iranians mourned this week the consequences of Anglo-American regime change as they marked the 50th anniversary of a CIA coup that toppled their democratically elected prime minister. At a time when the United States has adopted a policy of preemptive action in its war on terrorists - and is portrayed here as encouraging student street protests - the 1953 overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh's government is taking on fresh relevance for some Iranians. Vote for lifting sanctions imposed on Libya postponed Arabic News 8/22/2003 The UN Security Council has postponed voting for a draft resolution to lift sanctions imposed by the UN on Libya in order to give France more time to negotiate with Tripoli concerning financial compensations for the victims of the French passenger plane tot have similar compensation given to the victims of Lockerbie incident. Syria denies allegation on origin of truck WTEV News 8/21/2003 (United Nations-AP) -- Syria is denying any links to the truck that carried a massive bomb used in an attack in the Iraqi capital. Israel's U-N ambassador had said intelligence reports indicated the truck came from the Syrian capital of Damascus. Iraq a theatre for terrorists, says France Sydney Morning Herald 8/22/2003 France has pressed the United States to admit it cannot control the chaos in postwar Iraq as the head of US Central Command acknowledged that Iraq was now "at the centre of the global war on terrorism". CIA Accused Of Bank Heist American Free Press 8/20/2003 Shortly before U.S. forces began streaming across the Iraqi border, commencing Persian Gulf War II, the CIA and the Department of Defense, with a little help from Israel and some Europeans, pulled off a massive bank heist in Iraq to the tune of several billion dollars. The CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) are accused by International Currency Review, the London-based journal, of mounting a joint ultra-secret operation to electronically remove an estimated $10 billion out of the Iraqi Central Bank hours before the start of Persian Gulf War II. The whereabouts of the money is not known. “We believe it is in a secret CIA fund which will be used to mount further special services operations, such as tracking down Saddam Hussein,” said the Review’s publisher, Christopher Story. Arab League, Egypt Condemn Assassination of Hamas leader Islam Online 8/21/2003 CAIRO, August 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Arab League and Egypt, a heavyweight broker of Palestinian-Israeli peace, condemned Thursday, August 21, the assassination of Ismail Abu Shanab and two of his associates in an Israeli air strike. The Cairo-based pan-Arab organization lashed out at Israel for assassinating the senior Hamas political leader, known for his moderate positions on making peace with the Jewish state. Dean Losing Support on Left For His Stances on Its Issues Forward 8/22/2003 Howard Dean has rocketed to the front of the Democratic presidential pack with his angry, outsider style and his overt appeals to the anti-war left. But even as the former Vermont governor galvanizes the party's left flank, many liberals are voicing concern over his stances on some of their most cherished issues. Many single-issue activists who work on Middle East peace, gun control and drug policy reform — including some who say they were initially attracted to Dean — are becoming increasingly vocal in opposing him. Some are speaking about a "reassessment" on the left and warn darkly that Dean's stands are already costing him support among core Democrats. Patriot Act II Resurrected? Wired News 8/21/2003 Congress may consider a bill that not only expands the government's wiretapping and investigative powers but also would link low-level drug dealing to terrorism and ban a traditional form of Middle Eastern banking. The draft legislation -- titled the Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003, or Victory Act -- includes significant portions of the so-called Patriot Act II, which faced broad opposition from conservatives and liberals alike and embarrassed the Justice Department when it was leaked to the press in February....The bill also outlaws hawalas, the informal and documentless money transferring systems widely used in the Middle East, India and parts of Asia. New agricultural calendar with Syria doubles quantities Jordan Times 8/22/2003 DAMASCUS (Petra) — Jordan and Syria signed on Thursday the 2003-2004 joint agricultural calendar to ease and enhance the flow of agricultural products between the two countries. Under the new calendar, the two countries will be exchanging double the quantities agreed upon earlier, in a bid to improve farmers' conditions.

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