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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..

IOF Wounds Ten Citizens, Destroys a House in Gaza International Press Center 10/2/2003 DEIR EL-BALAH, Palestine, October 2, 2003, (IPC+Agencies)-- Israeli occupation forces wounded Thursday ten Palestinian citizens, and demolished a house in the mid-Gaza Strip city of Deir Elbalah. Palestinian medical sources said that ten citizens were wounded with live ammunition and shrapnel during the Israeli incursion into the city of Deir El-Balah Thursday dawn....The Israeli bulldozer destroyed the new-built house of Mohammed Abu Mghaseeb while the tanks were opening fire at the houses injuring at least ten citizens, witnesses told Palestine News Agency (WAFA). Government issues tenders for new housing units in West Bank Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 The government issued tenders this week for at least 600 new housing units in the West Bank. The tenders are for homes near Jerusalem - 530 in Betar Illit and 50 in Ma'aleh Adumim - and 24 more in Ariel, a sprawling enclave of 18,000 near the West Bank city of Nablus that has garnered much attention recently because of the debate over whether it will be included inside the settlement fence. Army Radio reported that the plan also calls for up to 100 new units in Efrat, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Israelis to demolish Rachel Corrie home Al-Jazeera 10/2/2003 A Palestinian family home that was rebuilt and dedicated to the memory of Rachel Corrie has been hit with a new demolition order. Rachel Corrie was the heroic Jewish volunteer who was crushed to death in Rafah, Gaza, in March 2003 as she tried to prevent a bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian home. Her death brought shame on Israel and international condemnation followed. Her violent end also put a spotlight on the large number of home demolitions carried out by Israeli soldiers....The property is home to Arabiya and Salim Shawamrah and their seven children who have watched Israelis demolish their house four times before. Mossad cell uncovered in Lebanon Al-Jazeera 10/2/2003 A Mossad cell planning to assassinate Hamas leaders has been uncovered in Lebanon. Israel has refused to comment on the reported crackdown. Sources close to Hamas in the occupied Gaza Strip told our correspondent on Thursday that authorities in Beirut foiled an Israeli plot a few weeks ago. Arab authorities had arrested a number of Mossad agents who were planning to assassinate the movement’s politburo head Khalid Mishaal, said Hamas representative in Beirut Muhammad Nazzal on Wednesday. News Briefs: Israeli Special Units Killed Two Palestinians in Tulkarem International Middle East Media Center 10/2/2003 Mother Dies of Shock / Israeli Soldiers searched homes, arrested 3 Palestinians near Jenin / Resistance Attack Army Vehicles, Israeli Troops Invades Araba Village / 10 Palestinians wounded, as Israeli troops invaded Deir Albalah city in Gaza / Bargouthi Family Visit Denied Again.... Noose tightens around the lives of 200,000 Palestinians The Telegraph 10/2/2003 From the ridge that skirts the Palestinian town of Qalqilya, the white skyscrapers of Tel Aviv seem close enough to touch. Nearer still are the red rooftops of Israeli settlements on the West Bank, jostling alongside the slender minarets and grey breeze-block houses of Palestinian villages. All around this vantage point, Palestinians and Israelis live intermingled on one of the world's most densely populated patches of land. Among them, trying somehow to separate the two peoples, is Israel's latest answer to the terrorist threat....East of Qalqilya are the settlements of Zufin and Alfe Menashe. To protect their 6,000 Israeli inhabitants, the fence cuts four miles into the West Bank and surrounds the 42,000 Palestinians who live in Qalqilya. "Welcome to the noose," said Ma'arouf Zahran, the town's mayor. "We are all living in prison here. It's as if the Israelis wanted to put the wall in our gardens and in our kitchens." Fenced in, locked out: a people in the shadow of fortress Israel The Independent 10/2/2003 The wall in Abu Dis runs down the middle of a street. You used to be able to stroll from the money changers on one side to the tea shop on the other in less than a minute. Now the round trip takes half an hour. The wall is about 10 feet high, a series of concrete slabs topped with barbed wire. And every morning, at about 7am, Khaled Ideisat, a father of seven, scrambles over it like a furtive child stealing apples. Israel plans to build series of fences inside West Bank Jang Group 10/2/2003 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel shelved plans on Wednesday to include the major settlement of Ariel within a separation barrier, but its plans to build a series of fences deep inside the West Bank indicate its intentions to forge ahead with the project by the back door. In a bid not to upset Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s cabinet decided to erect "security fences" — as opposed to the main separation barrier already under construction — around five settlement blocs in the West Bank. However, an official said the security units, consisting of electronic surveillance devices, fences and other obstacles aimed at preventing Palestinian infiltrations, would eventually be linked up to the main barrier. Islamic Jihad rages after Israel seizes leader from Jenin The Independent 10/2/2003 Israeli soldiers captured a local leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank yesterday.Sheikh Bassam Saadi had been on Israel's wanted list for two years. Israeli soldiers found him hiding under a car in a pre-dawn raid. Islamic Jihad immediately threatened to avenge his capture, and there will be fears of a new militant attack...."The enemy will pay a dear price for beating Sheikh Bassam Saadi and for its daily crimes on our people," warned a senior Islamic Jihad leader, Abdullah al-Shami, in Gaza. Palestinian collaborator shot dead Al-Jazeera 10/2/2003 Gunmen from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have shot dead a "collaborator" in his hospital bed in the West Bank. Medical sources said on Wednesday that a commando team from the movement stormed Ram Allah hospital and killed 25-year-old Nasir Sabet Qalashwa. Members of the commando group told Agence France Presse that Qalashwa was responsible for the deaths of several senior Palestinian resistance leaders in Israeli army raids. Troops shoot dead Islamic Jihad bombmaker in Tulkarm, find car bomb in Nablus Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 IDF and Border Police troops shot dead an Islamic Jihad commander and bombmaker in the West Bank city of Tulkarm before dawn Thursday, Israel Radio reported. Mazen Yusuf Salameh, 30, a former activist of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) was among the commanders of Islamic Jihad in the Tulkarm area, and was an expert in preparing explosives and suicide bomb belts. Would-be suicide bomber gets 14 years for planned attack on Tel Aviv cafe Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 The Tel Aviv District Court Thursday handed a 14-year prison sentence to a would-be suicide bomber who was intercepted by security guards just before he planned to blow himself up in a crowded seaside Tel Aviv cafe a year ago. Rifat Mukdi of the militant Hamas organization, was wearing a bomb belt holding some 15 kilograms of explosives when a security guard prevented him from entering the Café Tayelet. He then fled, with guards of the nearby U.S. embassy in pursuit. Plans to Judaize Jerusalem call for annexing and expanding settlements Jerusalem Times 10/2/2003 Khalil Tafakji, director of the Arab Studies Organization, stated recently that the plans announced by Israeli Minister of Housing Avi Itam to Judaize Jerusalem are old schemes established by current Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, when he headed the Ministry of Housing in the 1990s. ÒUnder the cover of security,” said Tafakji, “Israel is undertaking the ÔGreater JerusalemÕ scheme while the world is busy with security, the dividing wall and prisoners. The scheme being executed is divided into two parts: the first involves annexing settlements around Jerusalem and expanding them, and the other involves building new settlements in Arab Jerusalem. Checkpoints stifle Nablus spirit BBC 10/2/2003 Entrance to Nablus is through an Israeli army checkpoint. There are hundreds of these in the West Bank. Tayir Nassr, a 20-year-old student at Nablus University, is one of a group of Palestinians squatting in the shade of a makeshift canopy, waiting for permission to enter the city. He says he spends four hours a day at the checkpoint, two hours on the way in, and two hours on the way out. I ask an obvious question: "Of course I am angry," he answers. "We are all angry!" Background / Cries over the price of a life Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 As Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet spent nearly a whole day approving a fence built of gaps - a West Bank barrier route designed as much to mollify settlers and State Department staffers as to keep suicide bombers from reaching Israeli cities - a quieter but no less crucial debate proceeded apace in the Jewish state: How much is an Israeli soldier's life really worth? And what is the price of the life of a Palestinian youth who hurls stones at that soldier? Israel to expand settlement BBC 10/2/2003 Israel has launched a tender for the construction of 550 new homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Almost all the houses will be built in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Beitar Elit, near Jerusalem. The announcement comes a day after the government agreed plans to build protective fences around several West Bank settlements. Israel to expand West Bank settlements Al-Jazeera 10/2/2003 Over 550 new homes in Jewish settlements are to be built in the West Bank, the Israeli housing ministry said on Thursday. Around 530 of the new homes are to be built in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Beitar Elit near Bethlehem, 11 in the settlement of Maaleh Adumim and another 24 in Ariel, the ministry said. Hamas: Arab State Foils Israel Assassination Bid Yahoo! News 10/2/2003 BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday an Arab state had foiled an Israeli plot to assassinate several of its political leaders abroad. Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal said the security services of an Arab country foiled the plot "several weeks ago," but declined to name the country or say who was targeted. "Hamas has received information that cells of the Israeli Mossad intelligence apparatus have started acting in some Arab countries to target Hamas political leadership," Nazzal said in a statement to Reuters. IOF Assassinate Two Palestinians in West Bank, Demolish 25 Houses Palestine Media Center 10/2/2003 PM-designate Says Will Present Cabinet to Parliament Sun. or Mon. -- Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Wednesday continued their extra-judicial practices and assassinated two Palestinians in the West Bank, detained a leading resistance activist and demolished 25 houses in Gaza Strip, amid reports that the Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ahmad Qurei will present his long-awaited cabinet to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) for approval on Sunday or Monday. Occupation Chronicle Events in Palestine October 2, 2003 Palestine Media Center 10/2/2003 Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed two Palestinians in the West Bank, wounded 5 more, detained 44, including a prominent Islamic Jihad leader, and demolished 26 houses completely in the Gaza Strip since September 29. An Israeli court decided to deport a Palestinian mother of two, claiming she does not have an ID.

Diplomacy..

Road map envoy's mission is in doubt Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 The future of "road map monitor" John Wolf's mission is now in doubt. Wolf is in America on home leave and according to Israeli and American sources, no decision will be made about returning him - or any other road map monitor - to the region until Ahmed Qureia presents his new Palestinian government. Wolf left Israel last week, telling Israeli officials he would be away for 10 days. But Israeli and American sources are expressing doubt he will be back in Jerusalem by the end of this week and reckoned his absence would be much longer. Prisoner Swap Negotiations Ongoing, No Change of Demands from the Side of Israel International Middle East Media Center 10/2/2003 Israeli official sources denied Wednesday evening that Israel had ended the indirect prisoner exchange talks with Hezbollah over the issue of the missing pilot Ron Arad. The source affirmed that the talks are continuing with no change in demands made by Israel, dismissing earlier reports as “attempts to misinform.” Earlier, Reuters quoted an anonymous Israeli source as saying, “Hezbollah has been informed by the German mediator that Israel has stopped the negotiations over the exchange of Lebanese and Arab prisoners for the Israeli captives." Americans Steps into the Chaos of Forming the Palestinian Cabinet International Middle East Media Center 10/2/2003 According to informed Palestinian sources, in a meeting early this week the special American Envoy John Wolf demanded that Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qureia include ex-minister of Internal Security Affairs Mohamed Dahlan in the new cabinet. Palestinian sources believe that the delay in announcing the new cabinet is related to American pressure on one side, and the firm opposition of Fatah’s Central Committee to the inclusion of Dahlan in the new cabinet on the other. Court asked to lift gag order over kidnapped Tennenbaum Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 Haaretz and Channel 10 Television have petitioned the Tel Aviv District Court to lift a sweeping gag order over details relating to reserve IDF colonel Elhanan Tennenbaum and his kidnapping by Hezbollah. The suit brought by Haaretz, argues that public discussion should be held over Tennenbaum's business dealings, his background and the circumstances of his kidnapping....Tennenbaum's family opposes lifting the order, arguing that all publicity poses a risk to Tennenbaum's safety and could threaten the prisoner swap deal being negotiated between Israel and Hezbollah, under German mediation. Congested Aqaba port can't receive Israeli ships — Sharif Jordan Times 10/2/2003 AMMAN — Jordan on Wednesday said it will not allow Israeli imports and exports to move through Aqaba after a strike left dozens of cargo ships stranded off the Jewish state's own coasts. "Jordan was contacted by Israel on the issue. But we cannot receive Israeli ships because this will overburden the Aqaba port," Minister of Information Nabil Sharif told The Jordan Times. PNA Asks UN Security Council to Stop Israel Building Its Apartheid Wall Palestine Media Center 10/2/2003 Canada Joins US, British and Arab Critics -- The Palestine National Authority (PNA) on Wednesday asked the United Nations Security Council to move quickly to stop Israel’s building of the Apartheid Wall and denounced the Israeli government’s decision to continue construction of the wall as an action that hinders agreements and as a deliberate attempt to sabotage US President George W. Bush’s vision of a two-state solution for the Palestinian – Israeli conflict. The PNA’s representative to the United Nations Nasser al-Kidwa on Wednesday asked the UN Security Council to move quickly to halt Israel’s construction of the Wall in the West Bank. Arafat: Israeli West Bank barrier 'wall of racism' Middle East Online 10/2/2003 'How long will this silence in the face of Israeli crimes last?' Palestinian leader asks entire world. -- RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Thursday described Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank as "the wall of racism which destroys peace." "This Israeli decision extends this wall of racism which has already usurped 60 percent of our land," Arafat told reporters here. Israel Apologizes for Shooting at French Ship in S. Lebanon An Nahar 10/2/2003 Israel was reported Wednesday to have apologized to France for shooting at a French scientific research ship in South Lebanon's territorial waters and allowed the vessel to return to carry out a seismic survey of Lebanon's seabed designed to explore potential earthquake generators. The report by Premier Hariri's Al Mustaqbal newspaper in Beirut said the apology was communicated to the French government through the Israeli embassy in Paris and the French ship Le Suroit had promptly sailed back to South Lebanese territorial waters to carry out its month-long mission. U.S. to refrain from public criticism of new fence decision Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 The United States chose Wednesday not to criticize in public Israel's decision to build the next stage of a vast barrier in the West Bank, saying it would continue to discuss the issue with senior Israeli officials. The statement came in resonse to cabinet approval earlier Wednesday of the route of the central section of the separation fence between Israel and the West Bank, which includes the controversial Ariel salient....State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the U.S. position is "unchanged", but he did not explicitly criticize the decision to proceed with the fence. U.S. Pinches Lebanon for Prosecuting Gen. Aoun An Nahar 10/1/2003 The United States has criticized the prosecution in Beirut of Gen. Aoun for his opposition to Syria's role in Lebanon, which was the core of his recent testimony before the U.S. Congress in which he demanded direct American intervention to break President Assad's stranglehold on the Beirut regime. Colombian kidnappers propose a trade Ha'aretz 10/1/2003 The rebel Colombian group National Liberation Army (ELN) announced yesterday that it will release the seven foreign captives it holds, who include four Israelis, if Colombia agrees to release several ELN members from jail. The Colombian government announced it has accepted an offer by officials of the Catholic Church to conduct negotiations for the hostages' release, but did not state whether it would agree to the rebels' demand. U.S. embassy tries image damage control Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv has launched a campaign to improve its image after stiffer rules visas for America and reports of curbs on granting Israelis U.S. Consul-General Philip Covington said Tuesday the waiting period for tourist and business visas has been cut to 6-8 days from when the visa is given to the travel agent. The delays follow administration rules requiring that anyone seeking a visa to the U.S. must have a personal interview. Since the new rules went into effect on July 14, the embassy has been reorganized for more efficient service. PNA’s Wrath, Washington’s Stillness over the Israeli Decision to Continue Separation Barrier International Press Center 10/2/2003 RAMMALLAH, Oct 2, 2003, (IPC+Agencies)-- Nabil Abu Rudenh, key aid of President Yasser Arafat looked at the Israeli cabinet approval of the next phase in the constructing the separation barrier as a stumbling impediment and thwarting all the peace efforts. "The Israeli decision is a new real block for the negotiations and would foil al efforts to back the peace process on the track,” Nabil Abu Rudenh told AFP on Wednesday.

Human Rights..

Israeli activists seek global help to save Palestinian home Electronic Intifada/Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions 10/2/2003 ONLY 24 HOURS LEFT TO RESCUE HOME DEMOLISHED FOUR PREVIOUS TIMES -- Jerusalem, OCT 1, 2003 -- The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions has issued an urgent appeal to EVERY person concerned with justice, human rights and peace in the Middle East to help save the home of a Palestinian family that has been demolished four previous times. Global citizens are asked to urgently contact their political representatives to demand that the Israeli government rescind the order against the house immediately. 18 Homes Demolished, leaving 44 Palestinian Families homeless in Rafah refugee camp Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 10/1/2003 This morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2003, Israeli occupying forces demolished 18 houses in Block L of the Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip. The demolition operation took place under intense shelling and indiscriminate shooting within the camp and was followed by further shelling as Israeli forces withdrew. The operation left 270 Palestinian, mostly children, homeless, adding to the thousands of other Palestinian civilians made homeless in similar Israeli military operations throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Since the beginning of Al Aqsa Intifada (September 2000), Israeli occupying forces have demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes in Rafah in similar operations, justified by Israeli authorities for ‘security’ reasons. However, the facts on the ground prove that these demolitions represent a strategic policy to clear a large area of Palestinian land near the border with Egypt to facilitate a wide buffer zone to increase Israeli military control in the area. Barrier through Jerusalem will Violate Rights of Residents B'tselem 9/30/2003 In early September, Israel began the groundwork for construction of another section of the separation barrier in the Jerusalem area. Construction of two other sections of the Jerusalem Envelope, north and south of the city, comprising a total of some twenty kilometers, was recently completed (except for a small section adjacent to Rachel's Tomb, in Bethlehem). The barrier's new route, which was approved by the Political-Security Cabinet on 20 August 2003, has not yet been made public. The relevant land requisition orders issued by the IDF and the Ministry of Defense indicate that a fifteen-kilometer section of the barrier will be built from the eastern edge of Beit Sahur, in the south, to the eastern edge of al-Izariya, in the north. Two-thirds of the barrier will run along the eastern border of Jerusalem. Map of the Jerusalem Separation Barrier (Acrobat Format) B'tselem 9/30/2003 Map of the wall constructed to date around Jerusalem -- "The barrier's new route, which was approved by the Political-Security Cabinet on 20 August 2003, has not yet been made public. The relevant land requisition orders issued by the IDF and the Ministry of Defense indicate that a fifteen-kilometer section of the barrier will be built from the eastern edge of Beit Sahur, in the south, to the eastern edge of al-Izariya, in the north. Two-thirds of the barrier will run along the eastern border of Jerusalem. The rest of the route will run east of the city and weave through al-Izariya to the Ma'ale Adumim settlement." - B'tselem Nu'man, East Jerusalem - Life under the Threat of Expulsion B'tselem September 2003 Nu'man has some two hundred residents, who live in twenty-five houses. The village is located on the southeastern border of the Jerusalem Municipality, a few hundred meters north of Beit Sahur, which lies adjacent to Bethlehem. For several months, the two hundred residents of the village have been living under Israel's threat to expel them from their homes. Israel Is to Expel a Palestinian Female Prisoner, a Youngest Palestinian Prisoner was Born behind Bars International Press Center 10/2/2003 Palestine, Oct 2,2003, (IPC+Agencies)-- The Israeli Supreme Court decided yesterday to expel the Palestinian prisoner Asma Hamed, a resident of Selwad in Ramallah, in the aftermath of the petition bid by Jawad Poles, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society’s solicitor. In a statement, Polis said that the court refused the petition under the pretext that Asma Hamed has not got a residence identity, thus, Israel considered her as illegal resident....Meanwhile, Lena Farajallah, 21, a Palestinian prisoner in Al Mascoubia prison from Athena of Hebron filed suit to the Palestinian Prisoner Society‘s solicitor, Fehme El Aweae , complaining the severe physical abuses by the Israeli wardens....Sep28, 2003, the child prisoner Noor, the fifth child of the Palestinian prisoner Manal Ghanam, was born to find the prison's wardens the first receive her. Israeli Arabs to mark anniversary of October 2000 deaths Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 Israeli Arabs will hold marches and ceremonies Wednesday to commemorate the third anniversary of the events of October 2000, in which security forces sent to put down rioting in Arab towns and villages in northern Israel shot dead 13 Israeli Arabs. The rioting erupted in the wake of the Palestinian uprising, and caused widespread panic throughout Israel. But a government inquiry later determined that the police had used undue force in quelling the riots. Investigations showed that a number of the dead, some of them killed by police snipers using live ammunition, had taken no part in the unrest. B'Tselem: Third stage of barrier hurts 80,000 Palestinians Jerusalem Times 10/2/2003 B'tselem, an Israeli group that monitors human rights conditions in Palestinian areas, said Tuesday that the third stage of the barrier will be established in the heart of the West Bank and will lead to the violation of the rights of an additional eighty thousand Palestinians. According to the current proposal, B'Tselem said, the third stage of the barrier will be established in the heart of the West Bank Ð at one point 22 kilometers east of the Green Line (in an area where the entire width of the West Bank is 53 km) cutting the northern section of the West Bank in two for much of its width. Air Force pilot who signed refusal letter retracts his signature Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 An Israeli Air Force pilot on Wednesday retracted his refusal to take part in operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In a letter sent to Air Force Chief Major General Dan Halutz, reserve pilot Major Gideon Dror wrote that he decided to retract his signature from the refusal letter. Two of the original 27 signatories have thus far retracted their signatures: Dror and reserve Colonel Ran....Two non-active pilots on Tuesday added their names to the refusal letter.       Arab family finally to get an ILA offer for a Katzir plot Ha'aretz 10/2/2003 The ILA (Israel Lands Administration) will hand over title to a plot in Katzir settlement to the Kadan family, the Arab household that has been trying to move into the new community off Wadi Ara for years and had to go to the High Court of Justice to force the ILA to sell them land. The ILA decision to allocate the plot to the Kadan family, was made after consultations with the State Attorney's office. However, instead of the plot the family wanted to buy, the ILA will be selling them a plot in a new neighborhood under construction in the new town. West Bank Barrier Endangers Basic Rights Human Rights Watch 10/1/2003 New York, October 1, 2003) The United States should deduct the cost of the West Bank separation barrier from U.S. loan guarantees for Israel, Human Rights Watch said today. In a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush, Human Rights Watch said the barrier's path and operating arrangements violate the freedom of movement of Palestinians, endangering their access to food, water, education, and medical services. With every mile the barrier cuts into the West Bank, towns, villages, and residents become separated from their lands, crops, services, water, and jobs. Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 10/2/2003 9 Palestinians, including a child, were killed by Israeli forces / Israeli forces conducted a series of incursions into Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip / 18 houses were destroyed by Israeli forces in Rafah / Houses were raided and a number of Palestinian civilians were arrested / More areas of agricultural land were razed in the Gaza Strip / 2 houses in Jenin and Hebron 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 / Indiscriminate shelling of Palestinian residential areas continued and a number of Palestinian civilians were injured / Israeli forces have imposed a comprehensive closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Economy..

Week-long strike will cost private sector NIS 1 bil., warns FICC boss Ha'aretz 10/1/2003 A week-long strike by public sector workers will cost the private sector NIS 1 billion is losses, the head of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce warned yesterday. Uriel Lynn said that "the goods are rotting in the ports, basic imported goods are not reaching the general public and the private sector is, once again, helpless in the face of the unions' bullying." Strikes hit Israeli jobless BBC 9/29/2003 Israel's unemployed have been left out in the cold by public sector industrial action against civil service job losses. Also affected is Israel's main international airport, Ben-Gurion, where striking baggage handlers have left soldiers searching every bag, bringing travel almost to a standstill. The go-slow by about 50,000 workers is the second bout of action this year, called by Israel's leading union organisation in the face of sweeping government budget cuts. UNCTAD: Economy needs to bridge relief and development Jerusalem Times 10/2/2003 Protracted occupation and conflict have effectively transformed the occupied Palestinian territory into a "war-torn economy", with serious implications for Palestinian development prospects, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in a new report. The report, issued annually on UNCTAD's assistance to the Palestinian people, calls for a new policy framework to bridge relief and development efforts. Compounding the complexity of the tasks ahead is the economy's prolonged dependence on, and skewed integration with, the much more advanced Israeli economy. A budget right for peace prospects Jerusalem Times 10/2/2003 The Finance Minister, Dr. Salaam Faya’ad, was optimistic after the conclusion of the annual meeting of the board of governors of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which was held recently in Dubai. His plans won the admiration of officials at the American State Department because they were tightly wrought into the future of the political process, besides the World’s economic fund forum that increased the expectations of the USA’s treasury department and the World bank to alleviate its financial assistance to the Palestinian people and its National Authority despite USA’s refusal to deal with Arafat.

People..

Edward Said Chooses Lebanon as His Final Resting Place An Nahar 10/1/2003 Edward W. Said chose Lebanon as his final resting place, and his will shall be honored. The Palestinian-born American intellectual, who died in New York last week, will be flown to Lebanon and buried at the Quakers cemetery in Broummana. Iraq war paves way for Syrian poet Al-Jazeera 10/1/2003 Syrian poet Ali Ahmad Said, better known as Adonis, is the frontrunner to win this year's Nobel literature prize. The winner of the prestigious 10 million Swedish crown ($1.3 million) prize will be announced on Thursday. Book critics are betting on Adonis for the top prize. So intense is the focus on the prize that the choice is often linked to the power of politics of the day, prompting some pundits to say an Arab may win this year to alleviate humiliation and anger caused by the United States-led invasion of Iraq. People & Politics / The general, the rabbi and the Holy Spirit Ha'aretz 10/1/2003 The happy news that General Nasser Yussef has been selected as interior minister in the new Palestinian government being formed by Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) reached the ears of Rabbi Menachem Froman just a short time after he heard tragic news. His dear pupil, Eyal Yeverbaum, had been killed on Friday night in an attack on the West Bank settlement of Negohot. The belief that his beloved friend Abu Yussef, as he calls the veteran Palestinian fighter, would do everything he can to end the suffering offered some comfort to the veteran settler. Froman, rabbi of the settlement of Tekoa and a champion of inter-religious reconciliation, introduced himself to Yussef a short time after the refugee from a small village near Beit She'an in the north arrived in the Gaza Strip from Tunis, following the signing of the Oslo Accords along with other members of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Photostory: London protest against occupation of Iraq and Palestine Electronic Intifada 10/1/2003 Photos by Azem Bishara, London -- A recurring theme was denunciation of the Bush administration’s green light for the Israeli regime’s violent repression of the Palestinian people... The Palestinian social college in Ramallah initiates development educational programs Jerusalem Times 10/2/2003 The Palestinian social college that was established in Al Masyoon-Ramallah in 1960 on an area of 95 Dunums, with the efforts of the UNREWA to make available special training programs for Palestinian refugees, in which these programs were developed and spread to reach both the Bachelor's degree college system and the middle degree diploma college system, besides the college offers free services to the Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Israel's settlement quandary BBC 10/2/2003 In the last of a series of articles examining attitudes among Israelis towards the future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, BBC News Online's Raffi Berg explores public opinion in Israel. At his food stand in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Buddy Frankel, an Orthodox Jew from New York, serves up a hotdog as he gathers his thoughts. "I don't think there is any such thing as land for peace," he says in a broad Bronx accent. "As far as I feel, we've got a God-given right to settle any part of the land. The settlements should be left there and more people brought in to settle the land."

International..

Proposal to let Palestinians buy in Lebanon Al-Jazeera 10/2/2003 Lebanese members of parliament have submitted a draft law to allow Palestinians to own property in Lebanon. Previously, Palestinians were refused the right to buy over fears their settlement would upset the country’s fragile sectarian balance and comprise a return to their homeland. The 10 deputies presented a draft on Wednesday “meant to give the right to own a housing apartment for those who do not carry a citizenship issued by a recognised state,” according to the state news agency INA. Palestinians seek property rights in Lebanon Middle East Online 10/2/2003 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon sign petition asking parliament to amend 'racist' property law. -- BEIRUT - A petition calling to amend a law forbidding Palestinian refugees from owning real estate in Lebanon has already collected thousands of signatures, a Palestinian official said Thursday. "The petition has circulated through the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon," said Souheil Natour, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and author of a book on the refugees' social and legal conditions. Hariri Suddenly in Damascus Amid Speculation He May Bow Out An Nahar 10/2/2003 Premier Hariri flew to Damascus from Paris before dawn Thursday in what looked like a response to an urgent summons from President Assad's regime, An Nahar reported. "The word that made the rounds in Paris when Hariri left was that he was summoned urgently by the Syrian authorities, which made him cancel a dinner banquet he was about to throw at his Paris mansion," An Nahar said. The trip to Damascus coincided with an editorial by An Nahar's columnist Emile Khoury that Hariri might be removed from office in favor of a new government that would coexist smoothly with Lahoud's ongoing campaign for reforms. Critics call IMF, World Bank, WTO ‘hidden culprits’ Daily Star 10/2/2003 Groups warn against taking trade advice of international finance bodies - Cancun summit failed to iron out differences, but some say industrialized countries will keep trying to impose their will -- WASHINGTON: Groups that campaigned against the failed World Trade Organization (WTO) talks earlier this month are warning developing nations, including those in the Middle East and North Africa, of “hidden culprits” in the global trading system that they successfully opposed in Cancun. Organizations that monitor the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank say that the two bodies, and not only the WTO, have long sought to impose trade rules that favor rich nations at the expense of developing countries. They are warning countries to beware of the institutions’ trade advice. NGOs score point in fight against poverty at Cancun Daily Star 10/2/2003 News conference launches Social Watch report in Arabic -- At a time when the United States, Japan and Germany account for half of the world’s GDP, the prospect of abolishing poverty seems far-fetched. But civil institutions and non-governmental organizations, emerging from the victory scored in the collapse of new trade liberalization talks at the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting last month, feel they have gained ammunition. Indian Jews resist DNA tests The Hindu 11/11/2003 LONDON NOV. 10. After migrating to Israel [settlements in the Occupied Territories] over three decades ago, members of a remote community of Indians who claim to be descendants of one of the 10 lost tribes of ancient Israel are in a dilemma of proving their identity and are resisting plans to carry out genetic tests to that effect. The group, which calls itself the Bnei Menashe (children of the biblical tribe of Manasseh), feared that the plan for the DNA test by a group of American and Israeli scientists might undermine its claims to Jewish ancestry, reports said today. IAEA demands Iran N-disclosure Al-Jazeera 10/2/2003 The head of the UN nuclear watchdog Muhammad ElBaradei has pressed Iran to provide "full disclosure" of its nuclear programme, as inspectors begin talks in Tehran. The International Atomic Energy Agency has made a number of key demands that Iran should satisfy before a 31 October deadline. ElBaradei will call on Iran to “provide accelerated cooperation and full transparency to allow the agency" to give its member states assurances that the Islamic Republic is not secretly developing nuclear weapons.  Jordanian teen in another 'honour killing' Al-Jazeera 10/2/2003 A Jordanian teenager is being questioned after reportedly confessing to strangling his older married sister in a so-called "honour killing". The 17-year-old unidentified suspect confessed on Wednesday to strangling his sister, 25, to death in their family home, reported the Jordan Times on Thursday....The confession came as Jordan’s Queen Rania condemned such crimes. “We should have no tolerance for the acceptance of ‘honour killings’,” said the queen in an interview on Tuesday with AFP. “There is certainly no justification for such a practice in Islam.” US image drops among Muslims BBC 10/2/2003 Hostility towards the US has reached "shocking" levels in the Muslim world, according to a report released in Washington. A panel of experts chosen by the Bush administration found that good will towards America had plummeted in the past year, from Jordan to Indonesia. It called for more money to be spent on promoting US policies, and made specific recommendations such as recruiting more Arabic-speaking diplomats.  Deserting Our Troops TomPaine.com 10/2/2003 The Army and Air Force failed to obey Congress' orders to create baseline medical records for soldiers sent to overseas war zones, in this case Iraq, Congress' General Accounting Office (GAO) concludes in a just-released report. "The percentage of Army and Air Force service members missing one or both of their pre- and post-deployment health assessments ranged from 38 to 98 percent of our samples," the GAO, Congress' investigative arm, found. "Moreover, when health assessments were conducted, as many as 45 percent of them were not done within the required time frames." These statistics confirm what veterans of the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War and members of Congress have been saying for months: the Pentagon has been ignoring a law whose primary intention was avoiding a repeat of the military's mistakes surrounding its handling of veteran illnesses that have become known as Gulf War Syndrome.

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