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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 Cabinet Decides To Expel Arafat Islam Online 9/11/2003 RAMALLAH, September 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Few hours after Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said he will form a "normal" rather than "emergency" government, the Israeli security cabinet decided Thursday, September 11, to expel Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. In an emergency meeting under Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon, the Israeli security cabinet agreed by majority to outline a plan to carry out the expulsion, al-Jazeera correspondent said. IOF Demolishes 16 Houses in Rafah, Dynamites Two Others in the West Bank International Press Center 9/11/2003 RAFAH, Palestine, Sep 11, 2003(IPC+Agencies)-- Israeli occupation forces(IOF) knocked down Thursday dawn 16 Palestinians houses in a new incursion into the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah and dynamited two others in the West Bnk as well as arrested scores of Palestinian civilians. In Rafah, eyewitnesses told IPC Correspondent that more than 20 armored personnel carriers supported by 4 armored bulldozers advanced deep from “Raphia Yam “illegitimate Jewish settlement built close to the borders with Egypt and the IOF post in the area close to the Yebna refugee camp in Rafah....In a separate incident, the Israeli occupation forces dynamited today morning the house of prisoner Mohammed Ahmed Abu Sattha, 26, who is sentenced to six life-imprisonments, in the Om Al-Sharayet neighborhood, south of al Birah city in the West Bank, IPC correspondent said....Half an hour earlier, the Israeli occupation forces had dynamited the two –storey house of Emad Al Shareif in Betonia town , west of Ramallah city. Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces rocketed today dawn the area of west khan Younis city, causing the injury of several Palestinian civilians and wreckage of Palestinian houses in the area, locals told IPC Correspondent....a Palestinian security post has also been completely torn down, in khuza’ town, east of khan Younis city. Meanwhile, IOF arrested Thursday dawn a Palestinian civilian from Al Zababda village in Jenin governorate... Arafat dares Israel to kill him after cabinet vote The Independent 9/12/2003 Yasser Arafat, the President of the Palestinian Authority, dared Israel to bomb him after the Israeli security cabinet voted by a large majority in principle for his expulsion. He declared that he was determined to stay where he is. "This is terra sancta," he told reporters in Ramallah. "No-one can kick me out. They can kill me. They have bombs." Israel is back to “Undressing” Palestinians at checkpoints International Middle East Media Center 9/11/2003 Eyewitnesses at Deir Sharaf military checkpoint, west of the West bank city of Nablus reported Thursday that Israeli soldiers detained more than 35 residents and forced the men among them to take off their clothes. The taxi driver Muhammad Barakat said that soldiers forced the passengers in his car, who were mainly school teachers to raise up their shirts, drop down their pants to the knees, and to turn around themselves so as to search them. He added that a soldier sitting inside one tank shouted at and threatened to shoot anyone who refused to take off his clothes. Six Palestinians Killed in 24 Hours of IOF Terrorism International Press Center 9/11/2003 OCCUPIED TERRITORIES, September 11, 2003 (IPC + Agencies)-- Palestinian death toll of Wednesday has risen to six civilians as Israeli occupation forces (IOF) terrorized different parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In the West Bank city of Nablus, an Israeli tank, stationed at the entrance of the Balata refugee camp, opened indiscriminate heavy gunfire at Palestinians in the northern part of the camp, instantly killing two civilians, Mahmoud Esa, 20, and Mohammad Al’asy,19, IPC correspondent reported....Meanwhile, in two separate incidents in the West Bank city of Jenin, two Palestinians were killed yesterday night as Israeli occupation forces opened fire at a number of civilians near the separation barrier around the city. Tension Mounting in Gaza, Israeli Army Demolish 15 Homes in Rafah International Middle East Media Center 9/11/2003 Israeli troops demolished pre-dawn hours Thursday 15 homes in the area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. According to an army source, a bomb was detonated during the demolition operation causing light injuries to two soldiers. The source also claimed that most of the homes had been abandoned for some time. On Wednesday Israeli tanks fired at a Palestinian police station wounding a Palestinian policeman. The incident occurred at the border between the city of Khan Younis and Southern Israel. Occupation forces flatten house of wanted Hamas activist Palestinian Information Center 9/11/2003 Ramallah - Zionist occupation forces dynamited at dawn today the house of a wanted Hamas Movement activist in the town of Beitonia to the west of Ramallah. Citizens said that 15 army jeeps stormed into the town at pre-dawn today accompanied by explosive experts who planted explosives inside the two-story house owned by relatives of the wanted Qassam Brigades member, Emad Al-Sharif, 24, located near the Ein Eraik crossing. Bomber Took Revenge for Palestinians, Mother Says Washington Post 9/11/2003 RANTIS, West Bank, Sept. 10 -- Itaf Mirshed sat on the bare concrete floor with 15 other women who had come to join her in mourning her child. Less than 24 hours earlier, her 19-year-old son, Ihab Abed Qader Abu Salim, had stood among a crowd of Israeli soldiers at a hitchhiking stop outside Tel Aviv and detonated an explosive charge strapped to his body. He and eight soldiers were killed. "He has taken revenge for the Palestinian people," his mother said today. Police launches internal probe into shooting of Israeli Arab Ha'aretz 9/11/2003 The police internal investigations unit launched a probe Thursday into the circumstances surrounding the wounding of an Israeli Arab by Border Police gunfire in Kafr Kassem, north of Rosh Ha'ayin, earlier in the day. The man, a resident of the village, was moderately to seriously hurt. According to Border Police, they opened fire after village residents began throwing stones at the them in protest of an arrest of a Palestinian suspected of staying in Israel illegally. Hamas threatens to hit Israeli homes Sydney Morning Herald 9/11/2003 The military wing of the Islamic militant group Hamas has threatened to change tactics and attack Israeli houses and buildings, after Israel tried to kill a Hamas political leader in his home in the Gaza Strip. "The targeting of civilian houses is a violation of all red lines. Therefore, the Zionist enemy will have to shoulder responsibility for the targeting by us of houses and Zionist buildings everywhere in occupied Palestine," the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, said in a statement. Harsh response to attacks expected over the weekend Ha'aretz 9/11/2003 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will convene his security cabinet for an emergency meeting this afternoon to weigh Israel's response to Tuesday's suicide bombings in Tzrifin and Jerusalem, which killed 15 people and wounded dozens. Sources who accompanied Sharon on his curtailed visit to India said before leaving New Delhi yesterday that the response would be harsh and swift, andwould be delivered in the coming weekend. Sharon himself said that Israel "will do what needs to be done; we will make every effort to put an end to terror." BREAKING NEWS: IOF Cutting Electricity in Ramallah Governate International Press Center 9/11/2003 19:00 IOF continues cutting electricity on six villages in Ramallah governorate, as large forces continue besieging the village of Rantis for the second consecutive day. / 16:00 Palestinian leadership declares the unification of all Palestinian security apparatus under a national security council. / 14:55 Israeli occupying forces (IOF) imposes a tight curfew on the city of Tulkarem, after invading the city and opening heavy gunfire at Palestinian citizens and their properties, (IPC)... Qassam Brigades shell settlements Palestinian Information Center 9/11/2003 Gaza - The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas Movement, at noon yesterday fired two mortar shells at Atsemona Jewish settlement near the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Zionist occupation demolishes house of Palestinian martyr and his brother Palestinian Information Center 9/11/2003 Al-Khalil - Zionist terrorist forces demolished at pre-dawn today the house of the Qassam commander Abdullah Al-Qawasme to the north of Al-Khalil city and that of his brother Sheikh Shafiq Al-Qawasme. Zionist special units had assassinated Abdullah Al-Qawasme, commander of the Qassam Brigades the military wing of the Hamas Movement in Al-Khalil district, on 21/6/2003 for alleged responsibility over numerous anti-occupation operations. Background / Israel asks: Arafat - Dead or Alive Ha'aretz 9/11/2003 Keeping one wary eye on Washington and its clear opposition, Ariel Sharon's right-anchored government has come closer than ever to banishing the prime minister's oldest, wiliest, more frail, most formidable enemy: Yasser Arafat. Sharon's security cabinet was to meet late on Thursday to weigh reprisal moves in the wake of twin suicide bombings that killed 15 Israelis and woundedscores in attacks near an army base outside Tel Aviv and at a teeming Jerusalem cafe. A proposal to expel Arafat from the territories headed the agenda, which also was expected to include a plan for a broad re-invasion of the Gaza Strip, nerve center of the militant Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.  Israel decides to expel Arafat BBC 9/11/2003 The Israeli security cabinet has agreed in principle to expel Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The cabinet is understood to have asked the army to draw up a series of options for Mr Arafat's expulsion from his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah...."Arafat is an obstacle to peace and Israel will act to remove this obstacle," a statement from the meeting was quoted as saying. Suicide attack claims top Israeli doctor BBC 9/11/2003 Tributes have been pouring in for an eminent Israeli doctor who died alongside his daughter in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Dr David Applebaum was one of the world's leading experts in the treatment of casualties of such attacks as the one that killed him. In a cruel twist of fate, Dr Applebaum's 20-year-old daughter, Naava, also died in the blast in Cafe Hillel a day before she was due to get married. Arafat Defiant Over Calls for Expulsion The Guardian 9/11/2003 JERUSALEM (AP) - Yasser Arafat ``is a complete obstacle'' to peace and will be removed, the Israeli government said in a statement Thursday. The Israeli security Cabinet, however, put off action on expelling the 74-year-old Palestinian leader. ``No one can kick me out,'' Arafat said at his West Bank compound. Asked if he would leave of his own accord, he said, ``definitely not.'' Israelis call for Arafat's blood Al-Jazeera 9/11/2003 Fears are increasing for the future of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat after Israeli soldiers surrounded his compound HQ. Tanks are positioned near the compound in Ram Allah which has been the scene of many an Israeli siege - but some Middle East observers believe Arafat could be forcibly removed and exiled ... or even assassinated. Expelling the Palestinian leader would be a huge mistake, announced Egyptian President Hosni Moubarak on Thursday as news of the under-siege Arafat's predicament filtered to the outside world. Security cabinet: Arafat obstacle to peace, must be removed Ha'aretz 9/11/2003 The security cabinet decided Thursday that Arafat is "is a complete obstacle to any process of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel will work to remove this obstacle in a manner, and at a time, of its choosing."...Sharon has "instructed the security forces to act relentlessly, continuously and determinedly to eliminate the terrorist organizations and take all appropriate measures against their leaders, commanders and operatives until their criminal activity is halted," said a statement issued by the prime minister after the meeting....The decision on removing Arafat was made without a vote, with Interior Minister Avraham Poraz(Shinui) the sole minister opposed to the move. The cabinet decided not to elaborate on exactly what Arafat's "removal" would entail, whether it meant the expulsion or the execution of the PA chairman.   A Child among 6 Palestinians Killed by IOF in 24 Hours Palestine Media Center 9/10/2003 The Palestinian leadership on Tuesday strongly condemned the renewed Israeli assassinations and the two bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, saying it “will not tolerate them.” Both the leadership and the Prime Minister-nominee said that the deteriorating security situation requires an immediate and urgent intervention by the Quartet of the US, the EU, the UN and Russia “before it is too late.”...On Tuesday two bombers killed at least 14 Israelis in back-to-back attacks in west Jerusalem and near Tel Aviv. Israeli Harsh Attack Expected By Weekend, Arafat a Possible Target International Middle East Media Center 9/11/2003 A senior source in Israeli PM Ariel Sharon’s cabinet said Thursday that the government will convene to decide on new measures following Tuesday’s bombings that left 15 Israelis dead and dozens wounded. Sharon arrived in Israel Thursday morning after cutting short his visit to India. Thursday afternoon ministers are expected to discuss escalated attacks against Hamas leadership, deciding on a large scale invasion of Gaza, and actions to be taken against Arafat.

Diplomacy..

EU Demands Palestinians Stop Terrorists The Guardian 9/11/2003 BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Union moved Thursday to increase pressure on Hamas by adding the entire organization to the EU terrorist list, but it stopped short of a U.S. crackdown on related charities that are alleged to funnel money to the Islamic militant group. Five days after EU foreign ministers agreed to crack down on Hamas, their ambassadors in Brussels were only able to agree on adding its political wing to the blacklist, diplomats said. Bush Backs Pressure on Palestinian Militants Washington Post 9/11/2003 President Bush yesterday called for an aggressive crackdown on Palestinian militant groups, saying the dismantlement of those groups is "probably the most important condition for peace to prevail." Bush's remarks, his first since the newest cycle of violence began, suggested the administration will not publicly try to dissuade Israel from targeting groups or individuals responsible for a recent wave of suicide bombings. The Israeli military in recent days has targeted leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas -- narrowly missing one leader but killing his son yesterday -- in operations that have flattened Palestinian buildings. Blair talks of 'terrible virus' The Guardian 9/11/2003 Tony Blair has told the Palestinians that "the terrible virus of terrorism" has to be ended if they want the international community to help resolve the Middle East conflict.Meeting 10 Palestinian and Israeli editors and journalists in Downing Street on Tuesday, two hours before the first of two suicide bombings in Israel, he said that without security, negotiations on the outstanding issues - borders, settlements, the future of Jerusalem, refugees - would be fruitless. Hamas reacts to EU blacklisting Al-Jazeera 9/11/2003 Hamas has responded angrily to the European Union's decision to put the political wing of the Palestinian resistance group on its blacklist of "terrorist" groups. The inclusion of Hamas will inflame Palestinian radicalism and harm the legitimacy of the EU as a power broker in the Middle East, according to the group's spokesman in Beirut, Usama Hamdan. "This is surprising because we thought the Europeans understood the Palestinian problem better than the Americans. But we know that they have made this decision because of pressure from the United States," he said. Muslims fight on over banned charity BBC 9/11/2003 Leading Muslims campaigning to clear the name of a British Islamic charity linked by the United States with terrorism say ministers must not accept allegations at face value. Interpal, one of the largest Islamic charities in the UK, is under investigation after US President George W Bush linked it to Hamas, the militant Palestinian organisation behind suicide bombings. Israel is ready to stop nukes Washington Times 9/11/2003 JERUSALEM — Israel has hinted at military action to stop what it calls a nightmare scenario — nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran — but for now is waiting for U.S. diplomatic pressure and closer international scrutiny to do the job. The United States yesterday accused Iran of violating the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but said Tehran had "a last chance" to prove it wasn't running a covert weapons program. Al Qaida Plans Saudi F-15 Suicide Attack on Israel Middle East Newsline 9/11/2003 HERZLIYA, Israel [MENL] -- Al Qaida has planned to hijack a Saudi F-15E fighter-jet and crash it into a major office tower in Israel. Israeli officials said this information was relayed by U.S. intelligence agencies in their interrogation of Al Qaida suspects over the past 18 months. They said Al Qaida was trying to recruit a Saudi air force pilot to fly his F-15E from the Tabuk air base and carry out a suicide attack in Israel about 200 kilometers away. The Al Qaida plot has been cited by Israel in its arguments to the United States for the immediate removal of Saudi Arabia's F-15E fleet from the King Faisal Air Base in Tabuk. Israel’s Pilot Claims ‘Baseless and Untrue’ Arab News 9/11/2003 JEDDAH, 11 September 2003 — Saudi Arabia yesterday dismissed as “baseless and untrue” an accusation made by the Israeli chief of staff, Gen. Moshe Yaalon, that Al-Qaeda tried to recruit a Saudi pilot for a major suicide attack against Israel. The denial was issued by an unnamed official and carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. Gen. Yaalon had said that Al-Qaeda tried to get a Saudi pilot to carry out an attack similar to the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States two years ago. Israel: EU move to ban Hamas is 'very, very helpful' Ha'aretz 9/11/2003 Israel on Thursday welcomed a move by the European Union to increase pressure on Hamas by adding the entire organization to its list of terrorist groups, calling it "very, very helpful" in saving Middle East peace efforts. "As long as the Hamas has the ability of terror activity, it means that the peace process will never be able to get off the ground," senior Foreign Ministry official, Gideon Meir, said by telephone during a visit to Germany. Sharon Cuts Short India Visit; Muslims, Leftists Hold Protests Arab News 9/11/2003 NEW DELHI, 11 September 2003 — Israel and India vowed yesterday to work together more closely as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cut short his visit after two bombings in Tel Aviv and occupied Jerusalem. “Terror is the enemy of freedom and democracy. Israel and India...will combat this menace,” Sharon told business leaders. “It is my intent to make every effort to reach an agreement that will bring peace and security in the region...(but) we cannot move forward on the process unless there is a full cessation in hostilities.”...“There is no compromise possible with terrorism,” Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said. “Terrorism is terrorism, however you spell it, or mis-spell it. There are no extenuating circumstances to explain it.”

Human Rights..

35 Palestinian Families in Rafah Homeless after Latest Israeli Demolition Operation Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 9/11/2003 This morning, Israeli occupying forces demolished 16 houses in block L of the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli forces moved into the camp, and began the demolition operation under cover of Israeli gun and tank fire. The demolitions left 160 Palestinian civilians, the majority children, homeless. These latest homeless are added to the thousands of other Palestinian civilians made homeless in similar Israeli military operations throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). ICRC: "Deliberate attacks on civilians must stop" Electronic Intifada 9/11/2003 The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is very concerned about the recent attacks on civilians in Israel and the occupied and autonomous Palestinian territories. In the past few weeks, a number of violent acts prohibited by international humanitarian law have caused death and injury among civilians, including many children. Today, the Israeli and Palestinian populations are living in fear and insecurity. The ICRC is alarmed by the impact on these civilians of the growing violence. Zionist occupation still detaining body of Hanbali Palestinian Information Center 9/11/2003 Nablus - Family of the Palestinian Qassam martyr Mohammed Al-Hanbali has started a campaign to demand the delivery of his body for proper burial in his hometown Nablus. Abdul Malek Al-Dahamsha, Arab member of the Zionist parliament, has urged the Zionist war minister Shaul Mofaz to hand the body of Hanbali, the commander of the Qassam Brigades in Nablus, to his relatives.

Economy..

Netanyahu: Poor people shouldn't raise large families Ha'aretz 9/11/2003 Poor people should not raise large families, said Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, arousing tepid protests from ultra-Orthodox party leaders. "The child allowances have brought entire Arab and ultra-Orthodox communities [to a situation in which] the father's work, what the father does, is in fact children. He makes children, then raises children whose job is is to make children, because the more children he has, the more allowance he gets, so there is an incentive which will lead us to ruin, both economic and demographic," Netanyahu said in an interview with Shelly Yehimovitz on Army Radio yesterday morning. Senior Egyptian official: We are committed to supply gas to Israel Globes 9/11/2003 General Petroleum Company of Egypt chairman Ibrahim Saleh reassured the Israel Electric Corp. -- A few days after Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi said Egypt would not supply natural gas to Israel, General Petroleum Company of Egypt chairman Ibrahim Saleh told the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) that Egypt was standing behind its commitment to sign an agreement to supply gas to Israel. IMI to collaborate with India's OFB Globes 9/11/2003 It is believed that Israel Military Industries will require the help of a leading Indian armaments company in order to penetrate the Indian military market. -- Sources inform “Globes” that Israel Military Industries (IMI) is in advanced negotiations for a strategic cooperation agreement with Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), the Indian counterpart of IMI. Talks between the two were conducted during Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s recent visit to India. Klein: Banks shouldn’t be market makers in securities Globes 9/11/2003 Governor of the Bank of Israel David Klein: It looks like another Chinese Wall illusion, behind which no real change has occurred in the degree of the banks' control of the capital market or in its competitive structure, either. The plan to allow banks to act as market makers in government and corporate securities, and even to grant them preferential status for this purpose, is extremely problematic, not to mention undesirable, said Governor of the Bank of Israel David Klein today.

People..

UN Peace Education Award goes to Israeli Arab Priest Come And See 9/11/2003 The UNESCO Prize for Peace Education this year was awarded to Emile Shoufani, an Israeli priest who founded a peace project aimed at bringing Jews, Moslems and Christians closer together. Rev. Emile Shoufani, a 56-year-old Israeli Arab Christian, is the principal of the Mutran school in Nazareth, which, since 1988, has had a partnership with a Jewish school so as to allow Arab and Jewish children get to know each other. Palestinian peace hopes fade BBC 9/11/2003 In the wake of fresh retaliatory attacks and a virtual collapse of the American roadmap for peace, a palpable blanket of pessimism has fallen across the Palestinian territories in recent days. But many here would say it is the only state of affairs they have ever known. "Both sides can just go to hell," said a Palestinian housewife who identified herself only as Sarah, as sound bombs exploded and automatic gunfire crackled from several Israeli armoured jeeps that made a short incursion into the city centre on Wednesday. Islam had specialist medicine in Dark Ages The Guardian 9/11/2003 Specialist medical research, free public health treatment and retirement homes for the aged were available in Baghdad and other parts of the Islamic world in AD950, while Britons were still in the Dark Ages, Emilie Savage-Smith of the University of Oxford told the British Association science festival in Salford yesterday. She told a special session on science and Islam that although there had been hospitals in Byzantium, an extensive system of teaching hospitals had first been introduced by Arab physicians in the early 10th century. In Islam, there was a moral imperative to treat the sick regardless of financial status.

International..

Palestinian refugees in Baghdad need proper shelter Electronic Intifada 9/11/2003 Several months after being forced out of rented accommodation, Palestinians in Baghdad say conditions are becoming increasingly unbearable. When you are invited into Rasia Mohamed Hajazi's living room, you take off your shoes and sit on the floor - of a tent provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "It is impossible to live in the tent - it is very hot," 55 year-old Hajazi told IRIN. Her family, along with more than 300 other families, an estimated 1,000 people, are living at "Haifa Club" a tent city set up on a football field in a small Palestinian area of the capital. Libya strikes deal to end sanctions BBC 9/11/2003 Libya has agreed a compensation deal with relatives of people killed in the1989 bombing of a French airliner over the Sahara. No details have been disclosed, but the agreement has opened the way for United Nations sanctions on Tripoli to be finally lifted. The deal follows French protests that an earlier settlement had been dwarfed by the $2.7bn Libya agreed to pay in connection with the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Aljazeera reporter's detention extended Al-Jazeera 9/11/2003 Spanish judge is keeping Aljazeera reporter Taysir Alouni locked up pending further investigation of his alleged links with al-Qaida, judicial sources have said. Aljazeera spokesman Jihad Balut expressed his disbelief at the decision and vowed to step up the campaign to have the star reporter released. Israeli Arms to India Could Upset Power Balance, Says Kasuri Arab News 9/11/2003 DHAKA, 11 September 2003 — Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmoud Kasuri warned yesterday that Israel’s sale of weapons to India could disturb the balance of power in South Asia. Kasuri made the comment while in Dhaka to invite Bangladesh to a regional summit in Pakistan, as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited India with a delegation that included Israeli arms dealers. Pelosi, other House Democrats criticize Dean's Israel comments WBZ News 9/10/2003 WASHINGTON (AP) Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean drew fire from House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and several Jewish lawmakers on Wednesday over his remarks concerning Israel. ``This is not a time to be sending mixed messages,'' Dean's critics said in a letter circulated by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and signed by Pelosi and more than two dozen other Democratic House members who are supporting other candidates. ``On the contrary, in these difficult times we must reaffirm our unyielding commitment to Israel's survival and raise our voices against all forms of terrorism and incitement.'' Gadhafi to Call Referendum Arab League The Guardian 9/11/2003 TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi urged his people to vote ``yes'' in a referendum on withdrawing from the Arab League, saying it has been humiliated in the Iraq and Israel-Palestinian conflicts. Gadhafi, who has often threatened to pull Libya out of the 22-member body, did not say when he would hold a vote. He has almost complete control in Libya but uses referendums in an apparent attempt to gauge popular opinion. Survey: American Jewish population down 5% Ha'aretz 9/11/2003 The number of Jews in the United States has dropped 5 percent in the last decade to 5.2 million, according to the National Jewish Population Survey released yesterday. The survey found that a low birth rate and increasing levels of intermarriage are adversely affecting the community. Dean of Egyptian law school to sue Jews for biblical `plunder' Ha'aretz 9/11/2003 CAIRO - An Egyptian lawyer said yesterday he was planning to sue the world's Jews for "plundering" gold during the Exodus from Pharaonic Egypt thousands of years ago, based on information in the Bible. The dean of the Faculty of Law at Egypt's al-ZaqaziqUniversity, Nabil Hilmi, said the legal basis for the case was being studied by a group of lawyers in Egypt and Europe. "This is serious, and should not be misread as being political against any race," Hilmi said. "We are just investigating if a debt is owed." Libya agrees on UTA pay-off Al-Jazeera 9/11/2003 Libya on Thursday moved a step closer towards ending UN sanctions against it after agreeing to compensate families of victims of the 1989 UTA airliner bombing. Soon after Libyan sources announced that Tripoli and families of the 170 victims have agreed on a compensation deal, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said France would drop its objections against lifting of the sanctions against Libya. No Trials for Guantanamo Prisoners, Says Rumsfeld Arab News 9/11/2003 WASHINGTON, 11 September 2003 — On the eve of the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday addressed the National Press Club. His speech was safe and careful. Protestors made his visit newsworthy. Earlier yesterday, protestors stood at the entrance of the National Press Club with placards that read: “Stop the Secretary of Offense,” “Resistance to Occupation is not Terrorism,” and under a photo of Rumsfeld, the slogan: “Stop the Death Monger.” They also shouted at members of the press: “Look! Members of the National Propaganda Club!”

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