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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..

Israeli killed, his wife hurt, in West Bank shooting attack Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 An Israeli man was killed and his pregnant wife suffered moderate wounds in a shooting attack Friday east of the West Bank city of Ramallah. Killed in the attack was Shalom Hamelech, 25, from the West Bank settlement of Homesh. His wife, Limor, who is in her seventh month of pregnancy, was moderately wounded and taken to Hadassa University Hospital, Ein Karem in Jerusalem, where doctors delivered a healthy baby girl by caesarian section. Israel kills activist in rocket response The Guardian 8/29/2003 Protests as Abbas freezes bank acounts of 'Hamas' charities -- An Israeli missile strike on a donkey cart in Gaza last night killed a Hamas activist shortly after the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon ordered the military to "take all necessary steps" in response to the first Palestinian rocket attack on a major city. No one was injured when the rocket landed in the industrial zone of Ashkelon, about five miles north of Gaza. But Mr Sharon said the attack marked a new stage in the conflict because it was apparently aimed at a power station. IDF operating in Gaza area from where Qassams were fired Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 Israel on Friday sent bulldozers and tanks into the Beit Hanoun area of the northern Gaza Strip to uproot swaths of farmland the military says is used as cover for cross-border rocket attacks, Palestinian witnesses and the military said. That followed an earlier push into Gaza late Thursday, shortly after one of the crude Qassam rockets fired by Palestinians struck near the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, the militants' deepest hit yet into Israel. Missile Attack on a Donkey Cart Kills a Palestinian, Injures 3 Others International Middle East Media Center 8/29/2003 Israeli air force Helicopters fired a missile at a donkey cart in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis Thursday evening, killing a Palestinian and wounding three others. Palestinian medical sources identified the man killed in the attack as 35 year old Hamdi Kalakh. According to the same source, Nidal Awad, 38, Jihad Awad, 36, and a 6 years-old child were wounded to various degrees....Palestinian sources confirmed that Kalach was a Hamas operative.      Israeli Forces Detain in Jenin, Assault Internationals Outside Camp International Middle East Media Center 8/29/2003 Israeli forces detained a number of Palestinians for defying the curfew that has been imposed on Jenin and its camp for the third day. Soldiers took the detainees to the Jalameh checkpoint. Eyewitnesses from the town said the soldiers announced through load speakers that “they will punish those who defy curfew.”...Not too far from Jalameh, Israeli soldiers assaulted international activists in Jenin refugee camp, pushing and harassing them at the entrance of the camp according to witnesses. Boy dies in Gaza hospital following Sunday’s assassination attack, Father of five shot dead in Bethlehem, Israeli commander announces ready to resume full scale occupation of Gaza Palestine Monitor 8/28/2003 Seventeen year old, Muhammad Ibrahim Barlousha, died last night in Hospital, unable to recover from the severe injuries he incurred on Sunday in Israel’s latest assassination attempt. The three men actually being targeted by Israeli forces managed to flee their car before it was hit by three or four missiles in a busy street north of Gaza City. Though the missiles missed their intended target the attack killed 64-year-old Hassan Hamlawi instantly and injured up to twenty other bystanders. A nine year old girl remains in critical condition in al-Shifa Hospital’s ICU, and another man of 32 is suffering from extensive shrapnel wounds. Traffic stopped on Gaza highway as army closes checkpoints ReliefWeb 8/29/2003 GAZA CITY, Aug 29 (AFP) - The Israeli army reimposed two roadblocks on the main highway through the Gaza Strip Friday, stopping the movement of all traffic, Palestinian security sources said. Troops closed the Abu Gholi checkpoint near the central town of Deir al-Balah and the al-Matahen checkpoint near Khan Yunis in the south, both of which lie on the Salah al-Din trans-Gaza highway, they said. Israeli military sources, however, said only one checkpoint at the Gush Katif junction had been closed after three mortars were fired towards Kfar Darom settlement in central Gaza earlier in the day. Police receive warnings of planned riots on Temple Mount Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 Jerusalem police was beefing up forces in the Temple Mount area Friday morning after receiving warnings of intentions to cause riots during Friday prayers. Due to the warnings, police decided to limit entry to the site to Muslims carrying Israeli identity cards over the age of 45. Qassam-2 rocket: Fearsome yet ineffective BBC 8/29/2003 Though rudimentary and ineffective, Hamas' Qassam-2 rocket is seen by Israel as a very serious threat. In theory, the rocket brings Israeli population centres into the range of Hamas - just as Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon were able to target towns and villages in northern Israel. Yet the rocket, first used in February 2002 against a target inside Israel, has caused very few casualties and very little damage. One estimate suggests that in approximately 2,000 firings of the rocket no-one has been killed.      Israeli Army Battles Gunmen in West Bank The Guardian 8/28/2003 NABLUS, West Bank (AP) - Palestinian gunmen fired on Israeli soldiers manning a lookout in a four-story office building, setting off an intense urban gunbattle in the West Bank town of Jenin on Friday, residents said. Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli troops broke through walls of homes in a hunt for militants, while a Jewish settler was killed and his pregnant wife wounded in a Palestinian shooting attack. Israeli Missile Kills Palestinian Arab News 8/29/2003 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 29 August 2003 — An Israeli warplane killed a Hamas activist yesterday with a missile strike on a donkey cart he was riding in the Gaza Strip. Three by-standers were injured. They identified the man as Hamdi Kalakh, an operative in the Izz Al-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Israeli shot dead in West Bank BBC 8/29/2003 An Israeli man has been shot dead and his wife seriously wounded by Palestinian gunmen as they drove on a road north of the West Bank town of Ramallah, Israeli officials say. The road is often used by Israeli settlers, who have been the targets of repeated attacks by Palestinian militants. The attack occurred only hours after a missile strike by the Israeli air force killed a member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. Palestinian Gunmen Kill Israeli Settler The Guardian 8/29/2003 JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli settler and exchanged fire with troops in the West Bank on Friday, while Israel's prime minister suggested that Washington link U.S. aid to Palestinians to a crackdown on armed groups. Israeli soldiers kept up their hunt for militants, smashing through the walls of houses in Nablus and uprooting orchards in the Gaza Strip apparently used to launch rockets at the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Diplomacy..

U.S. presses for Israeli goodwill gestures toward Palestinians Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 The U.S. is pressing Israel to make "positive" gestures toward the Palestinians along with the military measures it is taking against terrorism. In a message to Jerusalem from high-ranking administration officials, the Americans said that Israel need not desist from its policy of assassinating terror operatives, but it should also take steps that prove Israel's good intentions toward the Palestinians. Palestinian issue seen delaying Hezbollah prisoner exchange Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 A prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hezbollah is being held up by a controversy over how many and which Palestinian prisoners should be be released as part of the deal, the Lebanese newspaper A-Safir reported yesterday. Since the parties cannot reach an agreement on this issue, no deal is expected the near future, the paper said. Sharon: U.S. needs to put financial pressure on PA Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 The United States should pressure the Palestinians financially in order to make the Palestinian Authority dismantle terror infrastructure, Israel Radio on Friday quoted Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as saying. Sharon, talking to Republican congressmen Thursday night, said that the U.S. should also pressure Syria to stop transferring aid to terrorists. He added that Europe needs to declare Hamas and Islamic Jihad as terror organizations in order to stop the flow of funds to these groups. EU urges US to avert sidelining Arafat Jang Group 8/29/2003 BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) has urged the US administration to abandon all attempts aimed at sidelining the Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat as the group of 15 European states believes that all such maneuvers are hampering the implementation of the Middle East Roadmap to peace, an official source in Brussels told The News. Envoys try to revitalize Mideast peace process The Russia Journal 8/29/2003 MOSCOW - Russia has intensified its efforts to support the fragile Middle East peace process by sending high-ranking diplomats to the region, officials said Friday. Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov has met with Israeli and Palestinian officials earlier this week, focusing on measures to "prevent a new, dangerous outburst of violence," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement released to the media. Palestinian FM Sha'ath briefs Indian leaders on road map Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 NEW DELHI - Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath on Friday discussed with Indian leaders the recent setbacks to peace in the Middle East following the escalation of violence, a government spokesman said. Sha'ath's two-day visit to New Delhi came a week before Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrives for the first-ever visit to India by an Israeli leader. Sha'ath met with Indian PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and held discussions with Vinod Khanna, India's junior external affairs minister.       US admits "serious challenges" to roadmap for Israeli-Palestinian peace ReliefWeb 8/29/2003 WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (AFP) - The United States on Thursday admitted there were "serious challenges" to Israel-Palestinian peace efforts and appealed to both sides to honor their commitments to the US-backed plan known as the roadmap. After several days of blaming solely the Palestinians for the breakdown in the implementation of the plan, the State Department tempered its message somewhat by noting Israel also had to do more to advance peace. White House Plans Renewed Mideast Peace Push Forward 8/29/2003 WASHINGTON — Even as the White House pledges to salvage the Middle East peace process, administration officials are rejecting more aggressive steps being advocated by some lawmakers and former American diplomats, including the use of American troops. The effort to step up American peace-making efforts follows what critics panned as a timid administration response to last week's suicide bombing in Jerusalem and the wave of violence that followed. Bush administration officials told the Forward that the White House plans to wait for the violence to subside before redoubling efforts to kick-start negotiations and push ahead with implementation of the American-backed road map to Israeli-Palestinian peace. Inside Track / Nasrallah's new hostages Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 Two important Israelis who hold key positions in the government and who, in the past, were high-ranking officers - even higher-ranking than Colonel (res.) Elhanan Tannenbaum - were abducted by Hezbollah in the past few days. Their captors allowed them to remain in their homes and offices, but their movements were restricted. The two are Ariel Sharon and Shaul Mofaz. Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hezbollah, seized Sharon and Mofaz in a brilliant move. 21 Lebanese repatriated from Israel Daily Star 8/29/2003 In the biggest repatriation in nearly a year, 21 Lebanese who fled to Israel with Israeli troops as they pulled out of South Lebanon in 2000 came home Thursday, the UN said. A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said the returnees included men, women and children. It was the largest repatriation of Lebanese from Israel since September 2002, when 22 people returned home. Witnesses said a UN vehicle drove the returnees across the border to the coastal town of Naqoura, where Lebanese authorities detained nine men suspected of being former members of the now-defunct pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia. Nowhere to turn Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 28 August - 3 Septem US officials say there is no option but to try to revive the roadmap while insisting on dismantling Palestinian armed resistance groups -- In a joint news conference with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan shortly after the deadly bus bombing in Jerusalem was reported last week, US Secretary of State Colin Powell was asked whether the roadmap was dead. His answer was no, because all players involved in the Middle East peace process see no alternative to it. "The end of the roadmap is a cliff that both sides will fall off. So, it is not the end of the roadmap," Powell told reporters.

Human Rights..

Dangerous International Precedent Being Set by Israel as International Community Ignores the Deteriorating Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories By Al Haq, Al Haq 8/26/2003 In light of the events of the past two weeks, Al-Haq is concerned about, and calls attention to the flagrant violations of the human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and to the international community’s allowance of Israel’s willful violation of international law. During the course of the past years, the entire Palestinian population has been treated as a single unit, with no regard for the lives and welfare of a civilian population. After recent events, Israel once again, under the shield of “security”, is not only disregarding the welfare of civilians, but is specifically targeting civilians. In the past two weeks, Israel has dramatically accelerated its ongoing policy of collective punishment, and its policy of extra-judicial killings—both are illegal under international law and constitute War Crimes. Press Release: Al Mezan Condemns Israel’s Policy of Assassination and Calls for Immediate International Intervention Al Mezan Center for Human Rights 8/26/2003 In a new escalation of the extra-judicial killing of Palestinians, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed four Palestinians by helicopter missiles yesterday, Sunday, 24 August, 2003, in Gaza City. At approximately 9:45 pm yesterday, Israeli helicopters fired missiles on a group of Palestinians at Gaza beach. Four people were killed, as a result: Ahmad Rushdi Ishtiwi, aged 24; Waheed Hamid Al Hams, aged 20; Muhammad Kan’an Abu Libdeh, aged 21; Ahmad Muhammad Abu Hlal, aged 23. In addition, two bystanders were injured: Muhammad Uthman Ghanim, aged 20, and Yousif Al Hafi, aged 50. This operation comes two days after the assassination of Ismail Abu Shanab, a senior political leader of Hamas. According to Israeli sources, Ahmad Ishtiwi was located in the IOF’s recently published “black list”. Grave Concern for health of detainees after 15 days hunger strike Palestine Monitor/Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association 8/25/2003 Addameer is gravely concerned for the well being of two detainees currently being held at Ramle Prison in isolation cells after over 15 days of hunger strike. Ahmad Talab Mustafa Barghouthi, a 27-year-old resident of Ramallah, was detained on 15 April 2002 and subsequently sentenced to 13 life sentences. Ahmad has been held in solitary confinement for the past 8 months. Moussa Mohammad Salem Doudin, a 31-year-old resident of Hebron, was detained on 20 December 1992 and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. Moussa has been held in solitary confinement for the last 5 months, and has not seen his father for the past 7 years as a result of continuous denials of visit permits. Joint appeal to denounce a series of violations of basic humanitarian laws and principles committed by the Israeli Army in Nablus ReliefWeb/Médecins du Monde 8/28/2003 Medecins du Monde (MdM), Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) and the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) are joining their voice to denounce a series of violations of basic humanitarian laws and principles committed by the Israeli Army in Nablus. These violations are taking place in the overall context of massive military operations led by the Israeli army for more than a week. Among widespread violations of the international humanitarian law, we have noted the following... Video: Palestine is Still the Issue By John Pilger, What Really Happened Watch the film on the web - Why Has This Documentary, Never Been Broadcast On U.S. Media? -- Twenty-five years ago, I made a film called Palestine Is Still The Issue. It was about a nation of people - the Palestinians - forced off their land and later subjected to a military occupation by Israel. An occupation condemned by the United Nations and almost every country in the world, including Britain. But Israel is backed by a very powerful friend, the United States. So in 25 years, if we're to speak of the great injustice here, nothing has changed. What has changed is that the Palestinians have fought back. Stateless and humiliated for so long, they've risen up against Israel's huge military machine, although they themselves have no arm, no tanks, no American planes and gun ships or missiles.

Economy..

D&B Israel: Increased poverty threatens every 2nd grocery Globes 8/28/2003 &B Israel: The retail food sector had the highest risk of all sectors, at 46.5%. -- Following reports by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) about hunger in Israel, D&B Israel stated, "The expansion of poverty has put every second food store in danger of closing." D&B Israel predicts that the food retail sector will continue to be riskiest economic sector. Among the sectors D&B Israel surveyed in August, the food retail sector had the highest risk, at 46.5%, 4.8% higher than in July, and compared with the nationwide average of 17.7%. UNDP seeks $18m help to Palestinians affected by West Bank wall ReliefWeb/UNDP 8/29/2003 The UNDP Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People is appealing to the international community for US$18 million in emergency aid for communities affected by Israel's construction of a series of walls, fences, trenches and barriers, commonly known as the "separation wall," in the West Bank. Begun a year ago and winding 175 kilometres so far, the wall has encircled and isolated many Palestinian cities and villages. 22 percent of Israeli families said to lack adequate nutrition Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 About 22 percent of Israeli families are too poor to buy food regularly or to maintain a balanced diet required to function properly and for their children's normal development. Some 400,000 families suffer from what researchers call "nutritional insecurity" caused by economic distress. The findings are based on a survey of 1,400 families conducted at the beginning of the year by researchers from the JDC Brookdale Institute, together with the Health Ministry. It is the first survey of its kind in Israel. Single moms ready next stage of protest Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 Protesting single mother Vicki Knafo returned to the protest tent opposite the government complex in Jerusalem yesterday after her five-day tour of the country to drum up support for the backlashagainst welfare cuts. Knafo was welcomed with hugs andsigns saying, "Vicki, we love you." She only stayed a short time as she journeyed on to her home of Mitzpe Ramon where shewill spend the weekend getting two of her children ready for the new school year. Defense budget dispute looming Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 There will be no change in the 18 percent VAT rate in 2004, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset Finance Committee yesterday, while at the Defense Ministry, a senior official told Reuters that it was impossible to cut the defense budget any further without long-term damage to security. Both remarks come as the discussions about the 2004 budget begin to move from the treasury into the practical realm.

People..

Nurturing Hope Amidst the Ashes Arab News 8/29/2003 In his book “Quicksand, Oil and Dreams,” Michael Ladah provides a personal perspective on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the plight of the Palestinians. -- They were forced from their land, taking with them only what they could carry. Some barely made it to the refugee camps in Lebanon. Others struck out for the great immigrant melting pot of the United States. The Palestinian people have dispersed throughout the world, becoming professionals and entrepreneurs, and making new lives for themselves. But they have never forgotten their land and those they left behind. Get Your Hand Off Children Food: Palestinian Orphans Islam Online 8/29/2003 GAZA CITY, August 28 (IslamOnline.net) - Thousands of Palestinian orphans and destitute families took to the streets of Palestinian cities on Thursday, August 28, to protest the Palestinian Authority's move to freeze the bank accounts of 18 charities suspected of having links with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. They assembled before the Palestinian Legislative Council, urging the PA to backtrack on this decision, which would distress thousands of Palestinian families, who depend on monthly allotments provided by the charitable societies. ‘Refuser’ Opposes Occupation By Shelia M. Poole, Palestine Media Center/Atlanta Journal-Constitution 8/28/2003 Stav Adivi is a Zionist. He's also a reserve major in the Israel defense forces. But Adivi, who usually serves about four weeks a year on reservist duty, carries another description that generates debate within Israel and the Jewish community in the United States. Adivi is a refuser. Like hundreds of other Israeli men and women, Adivi refuses to serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, lands Israel has occupied since the Six Day War of 1967 and the home to 3.5 million Palestinians. Children's book steps on minefield Toronto Star 8/28/2003 Novel deals with Palestinian life - Bookseller wants sales stopped -- A pile of about 300 copies of a book in a Bolton warehouse, which tells the story of a young Palestinian boy living under Israeli military occupation on the West Bank, is at the centre of an international controversy. A Little Piece Of Ground, written by award-winning children's writer Elizabeth Laird, is the subject of a campaign calling on the publisher to reconsider putting out the novel. Drawing the line Ha'aretz Friday Magazine 8/29/2003 New Zealand editorial cartoonist Malcolm Evans is waiting at home in Auckland for a miracle that will return him to work. Last week he was dismissed from the New Zealand Herald, the largest newspaper in the country, after drawing a series of pro-Palestinian cartoons that harshly attacked Israel's policy in the territories and compared it to Nazism....Evans was asked to moderate his cartoons or to stop drawing those relating to the Middle Eastern conflict. He refused. Israelis Remain Unfazed After Cease-fire Fizzles Forward 8/29/2003 JERUSALEM - Just days after a bus bombing that killed 21 people, downtown Jerusalem was bustling with activity this week. The Chutzot Hayotzer street fair that has taken over the city's pedestrian mall every evening for the past month continued unaffected. In fact, the crowds were thicker than ever. Two months of relative calm following the start of the Palestinian hudna, or cease-fire, rejuvenated Israel's stores, cafes and tourist sites this summer after a long spell of social and economic retreat. And if the street scenes in Jerusalem this week were any indication, most Israelis weren't letting the hudna's demise sour their mood.

International..

Lebanon blackout: Only 8 days’ fuel remains as EDL faces crisis Daily Star 8/29/2003 Laden ships offshore await payment -- With insufficient amounts of fuel in the country and obstacles plaguing the loan process of Electricite du Liban (EDL), the whole country has been plunged into darkness. Reports state that the anticipated fuel supplies can only last up to eight days at the current level of rationing. By Thursday afternoon, some ships laden with fuel oil still anchored at the sea got company clearance to empty their loads into the almost-drained storage facilities at Deir Ammar, Jiyyeh and Zahrani power plants. FM: Iran to reach nuclear point of no return within one year Ha'aretz 8/29/2003 Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Friday that Iran is likely to reach the point of no return for nuclear capability within one year and called on Russia to stop providing assistance, Israel Radio reported. Shalom made the comments to Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Yuri Federtov who is visiting Israel. A nuclear capable Iran will change the strategic balance in the region, he added. Rift Splits Divestment Drive on Campus Forward 8/29/2003 Palestine Solidarity Conference Moves After Radical Group Splinters -- Following what some observers describe as a major rift within the campus divestment campaign against Israel, organizers of a controversial conference at Rutgers University are relocating the event to Ohio State University. The move is an attempt to minimize the influence of New Jersey Solidarity, a radical anti-Israel student group that has stated its support for Palestinian resistance "by any means necessary" and has create a volatile atmosphere on the Rutgers campus with its vitriolic rhetoric during the past two years. Egyptian groups speak out against police torture Middle East Online 8/29/2003 Human rights organizations start campaign to bring justice to offenders -- Egypt's human rights groups have been mobilizing against police torture demanding that those involved in the practice be brought to justice. Egypt's Human Rights Organization (EHRO) launched a workshop Wednesday on the legal channels available to victims of police torture, which is estimated to claim the lives of at least a dozen people here each year. Gulf states profit from Iraq's oil woes Middle East Online 8/29/2003 Guerrilla attacks on infrastructure resulting unpredictability in output, exports, fuelling high prices. -- The oil-rich Gulf states posted healthy economic figures this week as Iraq's erratic production kept world prices high, boosting their revenues. Riyadh-based Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA) on Thursday forecast that Saudi Arabia's GDP would top 727 billion riyals (193.8 billion dollars) in 2003, up 3.46 percent on last year, and that its government revenues would exceed 232 billion riyals (61.8 billion dollars), up 14 percent on 2002. EU to press Iran on nuclear plans BBC 8/29/2003 The European Union is expected to put pressure on Iran to accept nuclear inspections when its foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, visits Tehran on Friday. A spokeswoman for Mr Solana said he would underline Europe's growing concern about the nature of Iran's nuclear programme. A leaked report earlier this week revealed the International Atomic Energy Agency's unease at finding traces of highly-enriched uranium at the Natanz nuclear facility.  Libyan offer to Berlin victims BBC 8/29/2003 A charity headed by the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has offered to pay compensation to relatives of the victims of a disco bombing that killed three people in Berlin in 1986. The Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Organisations described the move as a "gesture of humanity", in a statement issued in the German capital. The charity said it implied no acceptance of responsibility for the attack. IFIs in the region Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 28 August - 3 Septem The United Arab Emirates is hosting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings next month. -- Representatives of the 184 member countries of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will be holding their annual meeting this year in the Middle East and North Africa Region for the first time ever. This is slated to be the largest meeting in the history of the two institutions, which first convened in Washington in 1946. Some 50 presidents and heads of states are expected to attend in addition to finance ministers, central bank governors and financial and economic experts. Moreover, 2,500 media personnel and representatives of around 50 non-governmental organisations will be present. Blacks, Muslims Hold Separate Meetings Longview News-Journal 8/28/2003 On Labor Day weekend, more than 50,000 American Muslims are expected in Chicago for an annual gathering. But they won't all be attending the same meeting. American blacks and immigrant Muslims are holding separate conventions just three miles apart--underscoring the divide between the two groups that Muslim leaders have been struggling to bridge for years. The split is a significant--and highly sensitive--Muslim issue. Islam teaches unity among all believers, and American blacks comprise about 30 percent of observant Muslims in the United States. U.S. Rejects Plea on Al Qaeda Prisoner Treatment Reuters 8/29/2003 OSLO (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, saying the war on terror was far from over, rejected a fresh plea on Friday to give prisoner of war status to alleged al Qaeda fighters held at a U.S. naval base in Cuba. Ashcroft, on a visit to Norway, said the 660 prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay after the U.S. war to oust al Qaeda and the Taliban from Afghanistan in 2002 were treated with "respect for their humanity" but signaled they could be held indefinitely. "When you detain unlawful combatants in time of war, generally throughout history there has been the capacity to maintain those individuals as detainees pending the outcome of the conflict," he told a news conference. France calls for transatlantic charter to mend rift on Iraq The Guardian 8/29/2003 France has called for the creation of a transatlantic charter, designed to set out new principles for improved relations between Europe and America, as the latest initiative aimed at mending the rift suffered during the debate on Iraq. In a speech to France's assembled ambassadors, the foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, said there was no point denying that there were "differences" between Europe and the US. He stressed that in the wake of the Iraq crisis there was a need to redefine the nature of the transatlantic partnership. Japan renews talks with Iran over $2 billion oil deal despite US warnings Al-Bawaba 8/28/2003 Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has notified Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that his government is ready to negotiate international inspection of its nuclear program, a move that could influence Tokyo to move forward with plans to develop a two billion dollar oil field in the Islamic Republic. Neoconservatives and their blueprint for US power Christian Science Monitor 8/29/2003 Special interactive background feature Halliburton and Bechtel win more deals Sydney Morning Herald 8/29/2003 Halliburton and Bechtel Group, which have been working to rebuild Iraq after the US-led war, are expected to win more contracts, US newspapers have reported. The Washington Post reported that Halliburton, the world's second-largest oil field service company, could make hundreds of millions more dollars than earlier disclosed for services such as maintaining Iraqi oil fields under a US Army Corps of Engineers contract, according to documents surveyed by the newspaper. The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Agency for International Development had recently said that construction company Bechtel, based in San Francisco, would receive about $US350 million for infrastructure projects. That would amount to about 50 per cent more than earlier allocated for Bechtel services, the paper said. www.Bushrecall.org Effort To Recall George W. Bush Results In Groundswell Of Support Common Dreams/Fair and Balanced PAC 8/28/2003 More Than 30,000 Dissatisfied Americans Join To Highlight President’s Irresponsible and Dangerous Actions in Office -- WASHINGTON - August 28 - The Fair and Balanced PAC (Political Action Committee), www.BushRecall.org, announced today that – the number of supporters shot past the 20,000 mark since its launch one week ago, and continues to gain thousands each day. At the center of the PAC’s effort is the website, www.BushRecall.org, where a petition is collecting the names of those wanting a new chief executive in 2004.

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