Israeli dart shells kill family of Palestinians
Indpendent, August 30, 2002
The gap between the rhetoric and reality of the Middle East conflict was to be found yesterday in the form of a small, finned dart buried deep inside the chest of an unconscious 16-year-old Palestinian boy. It stood out on the X-ray in perfect silhouette, a missile in miniature embedded in the flesh about half-way up the right side of his rib cage. One and a half inches higher up, just below the armpit, there was a second dart, pointing in a different direction. A third had torn its way into his stomach.

Palestinian factions ready to plot new course united under Arafat
Guardian, August 30, 2002
Leaked papers say militants will end attacks in Israel: Rival Palestinian militant groups, after six months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, have come close to a breakthrough that could alter the course of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Thirteen factions, including Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been meeting regularly in Gaza City to try to end their historic squabbles and put together a united front.

Palestinians: 2 youths killed by IDF fire in Rafah in Gaza
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002 
Palestinian hospital sources and witnesses said two Palestinian youths were shot dead and seven people were injured Thursday by IDF troops in the town of Rafah, on Gaza's border with Egypt.

Palestinians heading for 'human catastrophe'
Independent Online, August 29, 2002
Jerusalem - The Palestinian population is facing an imminent "human catastrophe" and Israel must reconsider its security policies, the United Nations special co-ordinator for the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, has warned.

British Chief Rabbi Sacks: The Guardian misrepresented my views
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' views on Israel were badly misrepresented in an interview published in the British newspaper The Guardian on Tuesday, Sacks wrote Thursday in a letter to Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Lau.

Witnesses: 'Border Police beat prisoners in military court yard'
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
Five border policemen beat two handcuffed Palestinian prisoners in the compound of the Beit El military court, in the presence of their families, lawyers and Israel Defense Forces soldiers, eyewitnesses said. But the IDF, says it was the prisoners who attacked the policemen, and the latter were compelled to use force to subdue them.

Nocturnal harvest turns deadly for Palestinian family
Jordan Times, August 30, 2002     
GAZA CITY — For the Hajeen family in the Gaza Strip, a nocturnal harvest in their vineyards near a Jewish settlement turned deadly, when Israeli tank fire hit their small house as they toiled to get their grapes ready for sale at dawn Thursday: Four members of the family were killed when Israeli shelling blasted their small house in the vineyards — Rueida Al Hajeen, 55, her sons Ashraf, 22, and Nuhad, 17, as well as her nephew, Mohammad, 17, Palestinian medics said.

Sharon backs Ya'alon remarks on `cancerous Palestinian threat'
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon's controversial remarks earlier this week were "true and correct" and described "the situation as it is," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday.

'I helped Israelis loot Palestinian homes'
Independent Online, August 25, 2002
Jerusalem - A former Israeli soldier described in remarks broadcast on Sunday how he and his comrades looted Palestinian property in the West Bank. Although the army has said it is investigating 35 such cases, the man's public remarks are a blow to it as its creed requires loyalty and moral probity.

Palestinian calls for end to attacks
Belfast Telegraph, August 30, 2002
THE Palestinian security chief has called for an end to suicide bombings against Israel, describing them as "murders for no reason". In an interview published today, Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh said he had told the leaders of Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to stop the bombings.

Palestine's water: stolen and destroyed
IndyMedia, August 29, 2002
The root of the water shortage lies in the completely unfair division of the water resources. Under international law, the local water resources need to be divided according to need. In practice, Israel allows the Palestinians only twenty percent of the water from the mountain aquifer â?? the groundwater system that transects the border of the Westbank - and does not enable Palestinians access to the water from the Jordan River basin, which includes the Sea of Galilee, the streams flowing into the Sea of Galilee, and the Yarmuk River.

Envoy: Palestinian Economy Shattered
Guardian, August 30, 2002
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli restrictions have caused ``deeper and broader'' economic fallout in Palestinian territories than previously thought, with unemployment reaching 50 percent and poverty in the Gaza Strip at 70 percent, the U.N. envoy to the Middle East said Thursday.

Ben-Eliezer: Syria, Lebanon 'playing with fire' on border
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Thursday that Hezbollah attacks on IDF positions on Har Dov, in which three soldiers were hurt, may have been an attempt to antagonize Israel and warned Lebanon and Syria that they were "playing with fire on the northern border."

LAW Weekly Roundup: Killing of Seven Civilians Including Three Children
Palestine Chronicle, August 29, 2002 
WEST BANK/GAZA STRIP (LAW): This week Israel continued to confine Palestinians to their homes and imposed curfews, or collective home arrests in Nablus and its surrounding villages and refugee camps. These areas were invaded on June 21, 2002.

Israel, U.S. share info at first meeting on suicide terror
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
Israel and the United States held a joint, first-of-its-kind professional conference this week on coping with suicide terrorism. The Washington conference, attended by some 150 security and rescue service personnel from both countries, was scheduled because the Americans were interested in learning from Israel's experience on this matter.

Palestinian Groups Vow to Avenge New Gaza Victims
Palestine Chronicle, August 29, 2002  
GAZA CITY: The Islamic group Hamas is vowing to launch a wave of attacks to avenge the killing of four Palestinian civilians by Israeli tank fire. Hamas spokesman Dr. Mahmoud Zahar says that Israel can expect Palestinian retaliation following the killing of four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Arab sector to strike Sunday in protest of Yishai plan
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
Following a meeting Thursday between Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Arab municipality heads, Shawki Hatib, the Chairman of the Supreme Arab monitoring committee said that the Israeli Arab sector would be on strike from next Sunday.

Three IDF soldiers wounded in gunfight at Jenin refugee camp
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
Three Israel Defense Force soldiers were wounded Friday, during exchanges of fire with Palestinians near the southern entrance to the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, the army said.

Danish peace plan: A Palestinian state by fall of 2005
Arabic News, August 30, 2002
Denmark which presides the current rotating presidency of the European Union has called for the foundation of an independent Palestinian state by the fall of 2005 in the context of a plan to revive the suspended peace process in the Middle East.

Court extends remand of three members of Bakri family
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
The Acre Magistrates Court extended Friday the remand of three members of the Bakri family, who are suspected of interfering with the police investigation of the suicide bombing at the Meron junction, in which nine people were killed and dozens injured.

Ben-Eliezer: Syria, Lebanon 'playing with fire' on border
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Thursday that Hezbollah attacks on IDF positions on Har Dov, in which three soldiers were hurt, may have been an attempt to antagonize Israel and warned Lebanon and Syria that they were "playing with fire on the northern border."

Iranian ex-president warns of 'new Israeli conspiracy'
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
Teheran - Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned Friday of a new Israeli "conspiracy" against Iran following reports of military equipment allegedly shipped to Iran by the country's arch-foe. The state-run television IRIB quoted Rafsanjani as saying that this new conspiracy was trying to expose Iran as dependent on Israeli arms and hence distort Iran's image in the Islamic world.

Israelis, Jews tense, concerned about future together after arrests
Jordan Times, August 30, 2002 
BAANEH, Israel — It was no problem for Mohammed Bakri, an Arab Israeli, to read the headline in the Hebrew-language newspaper. His problem was the one-word headline: “Killers,” referring to his relatives, suspected of helping a Palestinian suicide bomber blow up an Israeli bus.

Thousands of American Muslims to convene in Washington
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
WASHINGTON - A leading American Muslim group is gathering in Washington for its most important meeting of the year, two weeks before the anniversary of Sept. 11 and in the midst of difficult times for their community.

Jordan, Israel to present plan for Dead Sea at World Summit
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
Jordan and Israel will present a plan Sunday at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa for a canal to be dug between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, so as to keep the Dead Sea from drying up. Jordan's Water Ministry and Israel's Environment Ministry are cooperating on the project.

Family of four killed by flechette fire from IDF tank
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002 
"Palestinian doctors said several rounds of shells blasted thousands of flechettes, leaving the bodies sliced and torn. IDF sources yesterday confirmed the rounds were flechettes, small sharp darts that spray an area.": An IDF tank firing flechettes at what soldiers believed to be a cell of terrorists trying to infiltrate Netzarim in the Gaza Strip killed four people, including a 55-year-old woman, her two sons, and their cousin late Wednesday night.

Two Mothers Grieving
Palestine Chronicle, August 30, 2002
In a West Bank town, a young Palestinian mother sits on a wooden box, staring into space, neither seeing, or hear, with the image of her teen-age impressed firmly in her minds eye. He had been killed in a Palestinian firefight with Israeli troops near one of the settlements on a night when the moon shone in a cloudless sky, offering more enough light to aim weapons by.

Local British rabbis stand behind Chief Rabbi Sacks
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
British rabbis living in Israel seem largely supportive of U.K. Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, whose criticism of the West Bank occupation triggered controversy in Britain this week.

Hizbullah resumes Shebaa confrontation, wounded three Israeli soldiers, Washington interferes
Arabic News, August 30, 2002
In its first operation since 4 months, the Lebanese Hizbullah party attacked once again in the Shebaa farm, targeting two Israeli positions in al-Sammaqa and Rweisat al-Alam, direct hits were achieved as three Israeli soldiers were wounded.

Ethiopian parents sue Education Ministry for 'racist policy'
Ha'aretz, August 30, 2002  
An Ethiopian couple are suing the Education Ministry for NIS 1 million, charging the state-religious school in Hadera turned down their son's registration for first grade due to what the parents call "racist policies."

US, Britain threaten to withdraw Jericho wardens
Jeruslaem Post, August 29, 2002
The US and Britain are threatening to withdraw their wardens from the Palestinian Authority prison in Jericho following accusations they are helping Israeli security forces, a PA official said Thursday.