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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..

IDF soldier killed in Jenin; Al-Aqsa takes responsibility Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 The militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the Thursday ambush killing of an Israel Defense Forces soldier near the West Bank flashpoint city of Jenin. The soldier was later identifiedas 20-year-old Sergeant Gabriel Uziel from Givat Ze'ev, who served in the Golani Brigade. He was laid to rest at 6 P.M. Thursday at Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem. Hours later, an IDF officer was lightly wounded by gunfire near the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, close to the Israel-Egypt border, Army Radio reported.  Housing ministry issues tender for 102 new units in Efrat Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 The Ministry of Housing and Construction issued a tender Thursday morning for 102 new housing units in the settlement of Efrat, located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the Gush Etzion bloc, Army Radio reported. Peace Now representatives said that with this tender, Israel is effectively announcing the death of the road map, the radio reported. Israel issues housing tender in West Bank MENA Report 9/4/2003 Israel’s Ministry of Housing and Construction issued a tender Thursday September 4, for 102 new housing units in the Jewish settlement of Efrat in the West Bank, reported Army Radio. According to the American-brokered Road Map peace plan signed this past June, Israel was to freeze settlement-growth and evacuate unauthorized outposts while the Palestinian Authority was to crack down on terror....The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza continues to grow at a rate almost three times Israel’s national rate, according to the Foundation for Middle East Peace in Washington. Israeli jets fire on Lebanon BBC 9/3/2003 Air-launched missiles slammed into the hills of south Lebanon on Wednesday as Israeli warplanes swooped on a suspected Hezbollah gun position. Lebanese security forces said three missiles hit the Bayyarda hills near the city of Tyre at 2000 local time (1700 GMT). Confirming an attack had been carried out, Israeli sources said a gun position had been destroyed after shells were fired at its northern border earlier in the day. Hezbollah said one of its anti-aircraft artillery pieces had opened fire earlier at Israeli jets flying over the area. Tanks in Nu’man Village International Middle East Media Center 9/4/2003 An Israeli tank destroyed chicken coups in Nu’man village in northeast Bethlehem, which is one of the lands that are expected to be taken by Israel under the excuse of building the separation wall around Bethlehem and its suburbs....When the Israeli soldiers completed destroying the chicken coups, they arrested a volunteer from the Palestinian agricultural relief committee who was in the location for fieldwork and was filming what was happening. Calling His Behavior “Ugly & Wrong,” Israeli Court Sentenced Army Officer To Several Weeks of Community Service International Middle East Media Center 9/4/2003 The Israeli military court convicted Lieutenant Colonel Geva Sagi with having used violence and threats and of sexually humiliating a Palestinian youth, and sentenced him with two months of public service. Sagi was demoted to the rank of Major....Sagi questioned the youth at gunpoint and forced him to undress; he lit a candle and put it near to the youth’s genitalia. He also attempted to force the naked youth to sit on a glass bottle. In another incident, Sagi used a Sengali woman who was working in a Palestinian home as a “human shield.” “Human shields” are typically Palestinian civilians put in front of soldiers to protect the soldiers from getting hurt during operations. IOF Arrests Five Palestinians, Razes Arable Land International Press Center 9/4/2003 DEIR-ELBALAH, Palestine, September 4, 2003, (IPC+Agencies)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Thursday five Palestinian citizens in the town of Barqeen, south of Jenin, Palestinian security sources said. Israeli armored vehicles invaded early morning the town of Barqeen, and imposed curfew before arresting five citizens, security sources said. In the Gaza Strip city of Deir ElBalah, Israeli bulldozers razed vast areas of arable land. Two bulldozers moved from the illegitimate Jewish settlement of “Kfar Darom” to Deir ElBalah, and began uprooting olive and palm trees and razing land, witnesses told IPC. BREAKING NEWS: 12 year-old Palestinian boy shot near Jenin International Press Center 9/4/2003 20:00 Israeli occupying troops shoot a 12-year old Palestinian child in the abdomen while invading the village of Selet Al Hartheya, near the city of Jenin. Israeli occupying forces is conducting a massive military offensive on the village, backed by armored vehicles and two military helicopters, (IPC) / 10:40-- Israeli bulldozers razed arable lands in the Gaza Strip city of Deir El-Balah, (IPC) Two Jewish underground detainees released from custody Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Thursday freed Jewish terror suspects Ronen Aroussi and Yehoyariv Maguri, without bringing any charges against them. Aroussi and Maguri, both residents of settlements, are suspected of planning attacks on Palestinians. Assouri was released under certain conditions.      'Targeted killings' strengthen Hamas as innocents die The Independent 9/4/2003 Sana Al-Daour, 10, was sitting in the back seat with her father, mother and sister on the way to buy books for the new school year when the missile hit their Mercedes taxi. She died this week from the injuries she suffered six days earlier because the taxi happened to be overtaking a car containing two Hamas militants when it was hit by the first of three missiles from an Israeli helicopter. Officer gets community service for abusing Palestinian Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 An Israel Defense Forces officer convicted of abusing a Palestinian youth has been sentenced to several weeks of community service and been demoted one rank, despite the military court defining his behavior as "ugly and wrong."....He was sentenced to just two months in military prison - and the military court agreed to convert this brief prison term into two months of army-related public service. Israeli Army Admits that the Israeli Killed in Jenin Was a Soldier International Middle East Media Center 9/4/2003 Israeli army officially released the name of the soldier killed in a clash with Palestinian resistance groups in Jenin. Sergeant Gabriel Uzeil, 20, will be laid to rest in Jerusalem Thursday evening. The Israeli army’s early report denied armed clashes with Palestinian resistance, claiming that an Israeli was killed near Jenin and that soldiers were searching for the group who ambushed him. Israeli Soldier Killed, 4 Soldiers Wounded In Possible Failed Invasion of Jenin International Middle East Media Center 9/4/2003 Israeli army sources reported that an Israeli was killed when a group of Israelis came under fire near the city of Jenin on Thursday morning. Palestinian sources, on the other hand, reported that one Israeli soldier was killed and 4 others wounded in clashes with Palestinian resistance groups, after the troops attempted to invade the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Israel and Hezbollah trade fire on northern border Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 Israel Air Force fighter jets attacked a Hezbollah base in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, destroying the artillery position which hours earlier had fired anti-aircraft shells in the western section of Israel's northern border. In the wake of Wednesday's strikes and counter-strikes, IDF sources said that Syria, which backs Hezbollah and has a military presence in Lebanon, has not taken the hint, and suggested that more expansive and aggressive action against Syria is now called for.

Diplomacy..

Powell Says Road Map Still Alive and Continues Sidelining President Arafat International Press Center 9/4/2003 GAZA, September 4, 2003 (IPC + Agencies)-- US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said that President Yasser Arafat's remarks about the death of the "Road Map" peace plan doesn't mean anything, and that they (the American administration) will continue dealing with Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. "We didn't deal with Yasser Arafat when we were putting the Road Map together," Powell told reporters in Washington on Wednesday. "So his comments don't mean a whole lot to me and I'm not responding to them in any way." Saeb Erekat to head talks with Israel Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has agreed to the appointment of Saeb Erekat as head of the negotiations and contacts with Israel and the United States, Palestinian sources said yesterday. Erekat is a member of thePalestinian Legislative Council from the Jericho area and a former minister in Abu Mazen's cabinet. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and Abu Mazen agreed on the appointment in the last few days, despite the crisis between them on security affairs. Hamas contemplates new truce as Abbas fights for survival Daily Star 9/4/2003 Arafat pronounces ‘road map’ dead -- Hamas, under relentless Israeli air strikes that have driven leaders underground, is apparently considering a fresh truce to ensure its political survival, as Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas battles to salvage his own post. And adding to the confusion on Wednesday were remarks attributed to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat pronouncing the “road map” to peace dead....An informed source on Hamas was quoted by AFP as saying the group may be willing to forge a new cease-fire if Israel exercised similar restraint. “It has become clear Israel will not distinguish between who runs a rocket-launching team and who runs a media office inside Hamas,” he said, referring to its military and political wings. Solana says peace process is far from dead Daily Star 9/4/2003 Plan remains ‘the most important document on the table’ -- President Emile Lahoud on Wednesday blamed the difficulties facing the Middle East peace process and the widening unrest in Iraq on the predominance of the use of force. Lahoud, who met with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and discussed regional developments, called on the international community, specifically the UN, to act quickly in order to deal with the developments and “put the situation back under the UN’s control.” Sharon postpones India trip due to security problems Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's trip to India, originally scheduled to depart for New Delhi on Sunday, was postponed till Monday due to security concerns relating to his planned visit to the Taj Mahal. The visit to the world-famous mausoleum was cancelled entirely. This will be the first visit of an Israeli prime minister to India. Sharon will be joined by Justice Minister Yosef Lapid,Education Minister Limor Livnat, Minister of Agriculture Yisrael Katz, and cultural figures. Syria Wary Over U.S. Occupation in Iraq The Guardian 9/4/2003 DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Having nervously watched the U.S. Army take hold of neighboring Iraq, Syria seems to have opted for a policy of one step forward, one step back. It says it has shut down the offices of Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the main authors of suicide bombings against Israel. But it hasn't expelled its operatives. The busloads of fighters who crossed the border into Iraq to fight the Americans have stopped, but others may be slipping through all the same, albeit in smaller numbers and without government connivance, Western diplomats say. Abdallah, Khatami Call for Independent Palestine Arab News 9/4/2003 TEHRAN, 4 September 2003 — An independent Palestine and a Middle East devoid of nuclear weapons — those were the goals laid down by King Abdallah and Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami at the end of the first visit to Iran by a Jordanian monarch for 25 years yesterday. In a joint communiqué after their talks, the two leaders called for the creation of “an independent Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem,” the official news agency IRNA reported. PNA, EU Reconfirm Commitment to ‘Roadmap’ Palestine Media Center 9/4/2003 Arafat’s CNN Remarks on Peace Plan ‘Inaccurately Quoted’: Abed Rabbo -- The Palestine National Authority (PNA) on Wednesday reconfirmed the Palestinian leadership’s commitment to the Quartet-adopted “roadmap,” indicating that President Yasser Arafat’s statements to CNN Tuesday on the peace plan were “inaccurately quoted,” while the EU stressed that the plan “is alive” and all parties will have “to maintain its life.” On Tuesday, President Arafat told CNN in an off-camera interview that “Israeli military aggression in recent weeks” have rendered the roadmap “dead” and the US Administration has let die. President Arafat’s remarks were “inaccurately quoted,” the PNA Minister of Cabinet Affairs Yasser Abed Rabbo told Aljazeera satellite TV station on Wednesday. Day of decision in Abbas feud with Arafat The Guardian 9/4/2003 America and Britain fight to save Palestinian PM facing key debate -- American and British officials are battling to save Mahmoud Abbas, the man they helped install as Palestinian prime minister, in a power struggle with Yasser Arafat that could bury what remains of the battered US-led "road map" to peace. Lebanon to lodge complaint against Israel to the UN Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 BEIRUT - Lebanon will lodge a complaint to the United Nations against Israel regarding what Beirut claims are daily violations of Lebanese airspace and Wednesday's airstrike on an area in southern Lebanon, foreign ministry sources said Thursday. Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid has given his instructions to Lebanon's representative at the UN to file the complaint, according to the sources. Israel asks US to keep Saudi F-15s away from border Jerusalem Post 9/4/2003 Israel has quietly asked the US to pressure Saudi Arabia to remove its F-15 fighter-bombers from the Tabuk airfield in the northern part of the country and put them out of quick strike range, Foreign Ministry officials confirmed Wednesday....Until this past spring, Saudi Arabia had been restricted from deploying the US-made planes at Tabuk to minimize friction with Israel. But the US ended the 25-year-old restriction.      Qaddoumi accuses Israel of ‘assassinating road map’ Daily Star 9/4/2003 PLO official denies Abbas suppressing intifada - Obeid stresses need for United States and European countries to put pressure on Jewish state -- The head of the political department at the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Farouk Qaddoumi, accused Israel on Wednesday of “assassinating” the “road map.” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel “Sharon has already sentenced it to death … The US has not exerted all efforts to deter Sharon from doing so,” he said. “It did so by carrying out assassinations, building settlements and failing to pullout from territories it should withdraw from. Powell: If they don't like road map, what will they like? Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 Secretary of State Colin Powell, responding to Yasser Arafat's having pronounced dead the road map peace plan, has said "If they don't like the road map, I don't know what they will like." ...Mr. Arafat has not been playing a helpful role and if he wanted to play a helpful role, he would be supporting [Palestinian] Prime Minister [Mahmoud] Abbas, not frustrating his efforts," Powell said. New Israeli ambassador arrives in Jordan Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 AMMAN, Jordan - Israel's new ambassador to Jordan arrived in Amman on Thursday and will present his credentials to Jordan's King Abdullah II "soon," a spokesman for the embassy said. Yacov Hadas, 46, was formerly the head of Israel's trade mission to Qatar, said spokesman Amir Weissbrod.      Abbas Approves Erikat to Head Negotiations with Israel and U.S. International Middle East Media Center 9/4/2003 In a step that could ease the tension between him and President Arafat, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas approved the appointment of Palestinian Legislator and a close aid to Arafat as head of negotiations and contacts with Israel and the United States. Saeb Erikat, a former scholar and a PLC member from the Jericho District, served as the head of Palestinian negotiations team since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority until the formation of Abbas’s government.

Human Rights..

PCATI: Shut down the secret detention facility 1391 Public Committee Against Torture in Israel 9/4/2003 PCATI calls on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz and Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein:Shut down the secret detention facility 1391 -- The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), through attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfard, this week called on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Minister of Defense, Shaul Mofaz and Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, demanding that they the revoke the status of facility 1391 as a military prison and stop incarcerating detainees, suspects, prisoners or any other persons in it. PCHR denounces the continuation of the state security courts, despite the Minister of Justice’s recent decision to abolish them Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 9/3/2003 PCHR is shocked by the continued operation of the state security courts despite the recent decision issued by the Palestinian Minster of Justice to abolish them. PCHR calls upon the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Attorney General to immediately halt the operation of these courts and transfer all cases to the civil courts in accordance with the ministerial decision. Israeli Groups Want Ban on Rubber Bullets Washington Post 9/2/2003 JERUSALEM - The Israeli army must remove rubber bullets from its arsenal, a human rights group said Tuesday, after a commission of inquiry ruled they are too deadly for crowd control. The Israeli military considers the rubber-coated steel pellets non-lethal and soldiers routinely fire them at Palestinian stone throwers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by rubber bullets in the past 15 years, Israeli and Palestinian researchers said. Activists march to end foreign worker deportations Jerusalem Post 9/4/2003 They do our laundry, care for our parents, grow our tomatoes, and build our homes. Now, following the Immigration Police's NIS 200 million campaign to deport them, foreign workers, with the help of sympathetic Israelis, are making their voices heard. About 150 people marched down Tel Aviv's Rehov Naveh Sha'anan Wednesday evening, through the seedy hub of the foreign worker community, holding signs reading: "No child is illegal." Make the wall fall: Let’s make the 9th of November the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinians against the Separation Wall Palestine Monitor 9/4/2003 The wall must fall! On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall – which has become the symbol of shame of the politics of division of the 20th century - was torn down. Now, a new wall must fall!...The Palestine Monitor and the GIPP – Grass Roots International protection for Palestinian People movement urges you to participate in this effort by organizing pickets, demonstrations, lectures, and related activities to raise awareness in your community about the impact and meaning of this new wall. Rights group calls on state to open up Facility 1391 Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel on Thursday called on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Attorney General Elyakim Rubenstein to revoke the classification of Facility 1391 as a close military prison, and to refrain from imprisoning there suspects, defendants and convicted detainees. The organization's lawyers, Avigdor Feldman and MichaelSfarad, emphasized that if authorities are interested in operating the facility as a regular military prison, they must hand its management over to the military police. The facility must also be open to visits by lawyers, representatives of the Red Cross and human rights organizations, the groups said. Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, 28 Aug - 3 Sep 2003 Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 9/4/2003 10 Palestinians, including 2 children and an elderly woman, were killed by Israeli forces / 8 of the victims were killed in extra-judicial assassinations perpetrated by Israeli forces / Indiscriminate Israeli shelling of Palestinian residential areas continued / Israeli forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip / Houses were raided in the West Bank and a number of Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces / Hundreds of donums[1] of agricultural land were razed and 3 houses were demolished in Beit Hanoun / 2 houses in the West Bank were destroyed by Israeli forces as part of the continued campaign of retaliation against the families of wanted Palestinians and those who allegedly carried out armed attacks against Israeli targets / Construction of the separation wall in the West Bank continued / Continued siege on the OPT: new restrictions on access of Palestinian workers to their work places and continued curfew on Hebron...

Economy..

Klein: Interest rate cuts with large deficits spells bankruptcy Globes 9/4/2003 Governor of the Bank of Israel David Klein: Our prescription is harder to implement than that of the Ministry of Finance, but it will restore growth. -- Governor of the Bank of Israel David Klein warned a meeting of Israel's Mutual Fund Managers Organization today that combining interest rate cuts and large budget deficits was a formula for bankruptcy. FIDH: foreign workers in Israel, a contemporary form of slavery MENA Report 8/31/2003 Israeli employers are routinely violating the rights of the country’s 300,000 migrant workers making up 13 percent of the country's workforce, with conditions in some cases ''equivalent to slavery,'' reported the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN). Because of the desperate situation of foreign workers, both legal and illegal, their fundamental rights are violated, stated an investigative mission report published on August 25, 2003, by FIDH. Elta anti-missile system chosen to protect passenger aircraft Globes 9/4/2003 Company sources: Installing the system on all airliners in Israel will cost $50 million. -- Sources inform “Globes” that the Ministry of Defense has chosen Elta Electronic Industries’ system as the most suitable for defending Israeli airliners against missile attacks. Military orders for the $1 million system have totaled $150 million. The system, which operates by the conventional method of launching decoy flares at incoming missiles, includes decoy devices developed by Israel Military Industries (IMI).

People..

Wall mural depicts Palestine suffering Al-Jazeera 9/4/2003 An American peace activist has depicted the suffering of the Palestinians in an amazing wall mural in the West Bank town of Jenin. Sam Tsohonis, 26, says the mural portrays the April 2002 Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp when 300 Palestinian homes were reduced to rubble in five days by army bulldozers. He is currently in the West Bank as a volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which protests non-violently against the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Yosef's 'incitement' against religious Zionists draws fire Jerusalem Post 9/4/2003 The department for special functions in the State Attorney's Office will look into alleged statements by Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef that it is "permissible to kill those who deprecate [haredi] yeshiva students and call them parasites. Such a person is a degenerate, heretic... who can be killed."

International..

Jets Fly Over Former Death Camp in Poland The Guardian 9/4/2003 OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) - Ignoring objections from the Auschwitz Museum, three Israeli F-15 jets piloted by descendants of Holocaust survivors circled the former Nazi death camp to pay tribute to the victims....The Auschwitz Museum, which maintains the grounds of the former Nazi death camp, complained Wednesday that the show of military might was an inappropriate way to commemorate the victims.      Background/ Can machines of war honor victims of genocide? Ha'aretz 9/4/2003 ...This week saw a fresh chapter in a boundlessly painful dispute. Three Israel Air Force pilots, all of them descendents of survivors of the World War II Holocaust, flew their F-15 fighter-bombers in the skies that had once been choked and blackened with human ash....For some Poles, however, the use of machines of war to commemorate victims of genocide was darkly troubling and wrongheaded. Publisher sparks Jerusalem outrage Al-Jazeera 9/4/2003 UK-based publisher Harper Collins has outraged Muslims around the world by referring to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Massoud Shajareh, of Britian's Islamic Human Rights Commission, has demanded an apology after the publisher made the reference in its Mini Atlas of the World....The overwhelming majority of the international community recognises Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem, as the country's capital. Pat Robertson: Dividing Jerusalem will cost Bush votes in next election Jerusalem Post 9/4/2003 US Christian leader Pat Robertson has issued a stern warning to US President George W. Bush that any attempt to divide Jerusalem would cost him votes in next year's presidential election. "If he moves against Jerusalem, if he tries to partition Jerusalem, then I think Christian leaders across the country will rise up and speak out very forcefully against him, and it could hurt him in a close election," Robertson told The Jerusalem Post. Legal experts say Pollard facing uphill fight Jerusalem Post 9/4/2003 WASHINGTON Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard faces an uphill battle in his efforts to have his life sentence overturned or reduced, criminal law experts said Wednesday. On Tuesday, US District Court Chief Judge Thomas Hogan heard oral arguments on two long-pending motions brought by Pollard's attorneys. One motion asks the court to modify a prior order and allow the lawyers to read classified documents submitted by the government at the time of Pollard's sentencing. Libya Closes Embassy in Beirut Arab News 9/4/2003 TRIPOLI, 4 September 2003 — Libya closed down its embassy in Beirut yesterday, but denied it had severed diplomatic relations with Lebanon in a row over the disappearance of a prominent Shiite cleric, a government spokesman said. “Libya has decided to close its office of brotherhood (embassy) in Beirut but not to cut diplomatic relations with Lebanon,” Hassuna Shaush said. Saudis step up security after missile seizure The Guardian 9/4/2003 Security has been stepped up at Saudi Arabian airports after the reported seizure of missiles capable of bringing down aircraft, it was disclosed today. Saudi authorities told the BBC they had intercepted a lorryload of surface-to-air missiles on a desert road near Jeddah, which were said to be destined for an unnamed terrorist group. Police say the weapons had been smuggled from Yemen. Sudan Wants US to Acknowledge, Pay For 'Bungled' Missile Strike Cybercast News Service 9/2/2003 Nairobi, Kenya (CNSNews.com) - Sudan is calling for compensation from Washington for an August 1998 air strike on what the U.S. said at the time was a factory manufacturing chemical weapons and financed in part by al Qaeda. It has used the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the incident to mount a campaign urging the U.S. to refrain from actions which violate the sovereignty of other states, and also to call on African states which have not done so to sign and ratify the international Chemical Weapons Convention, banning the use and manufacture of chemical weapons. Khartoum maintains that the building destroyed by U.S. missiles was a privately-owned pharmaceutical factory. Estonian ship docked at Beirut with military personnel carriers Daily Star 9/4/2003 An Estonian ship docked at Beirut’s port had military personnel carriers on board, and remained in Lebanese regional waters for several hours, sailing between the ports of Beirut and Tyre, judicial sources said Tuesday. Sources said the ship, Maxima-Havel, docked in Beirut on Aug. 27, on its way to Tyre to unload German cars. The sources added that the Lebanese Customs, while checking the ship’s cargo, found in addition to the loaded cars used military personnel carriers on board, bearing the insignia of the British armed forces. Arab League Proposes "Arab Expatriates Observatory" Islam Online 9/4/2003 CAIRO, September 4 (IslamOnline.net) - Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa called on Arab governments to cooperate with the pan-Arab organization in setting up an observatory for Arab expatriates around the world, particularly in the U.S. and Europe. The mission of the proposed body, according to Moussa, is to spotlight distinguished expatriates in all scientific and political fields and link them to their homeland to benefit from their diverse expertise. Poll: Opposition to U.S. Policy Grows in Europe Washington Post 9/4/2003 LONDON, Sept. 3 -- European disapproval of U.S. foreign policy has soared during the past year, with strong majorities in France, Germany, Italy and Britain condemning the Bush administration's handling of foreign affairs, while support within the United States for those policies has increased, according to a public opinion survey released today. The poll, which surveyed a total of 8,000 people on both sides of the Atlantic, also found that large majorities -- 83 percent in the United States and 79 percent in Europe -- agreed that Europeans and Americans have different social and cultural values. Saudi Arabia sued for billions of dollars owed to US workers MENA Report 9/4/2003 In the largest lawsuit ever filed against Saudi Arabia, American law firm Henrichsen Siegel has submitted a class-action complaint to the US District Court of Columbia against the Kingdom to recover billions of dollars held by the Saudi Pension Fund, belonging to thousands of US expatriate workers. Libya severs diplomatic ties over Sadr Daily Star 9/4/2003 Gadhafi angered over criticism -- Libya told Lebanon Wednesday it was severing diplomatic ties after growing Lebanese criticism over the disappearance of leading Shiite cleric Imam Musa Sadr and two companions 25 years ago, a Beirut official said. It is widely believed that Libya kidnapped Sadr, who was the key figure in organizing Lebanon’s dispossessed Shiites, during a visit to Libya in 1978. Libya says Sadr, founder of the Amal Movement, left the country safely. But Shiite leaders and government officials have demanded that Tripoli explain his fate. Protesters line the streets The Beacon Journal 9/2/2003 Bush's motorcade brings out critics, supporters alike, though message of presidential critics louder -- Labor Day traffic flowed smoothly at the intersection of state routes 303 and 176 -- until 10 a.m. That's when Richfield police and those from neighboring environs shut it down to vehicular traffic and cordoned off the sidewalks and grassy area with yellow caution tape like you see at a crime scene. It was their way of corralling the clamorous and rain-soaked 400 or so foot soldiers who had come not to welcome but to protest President Bush's visit. He was en route to address the International Union of Operating Engineers at their training center in Richfield Township.

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