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Conflict..
Israel Kills Five Palestinians Including a Child and an Engineer
International Press Center 11/7/2003
GAZA, Palestine, November 7, 2003 (IPC + Agencies) - - Five Palestinian citizens, including a child, were murdered and ten others were wounded Friday by Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical and security sources said. A ten-year-old child, Mahmood M. Al-Qayed was killed Friday morning after being hit with an Israeli tank shell in the neighborhood of Al-Muntar, east of Gaza City, Palestinian medical sources said....In the village of Khoza’a, east of Khan-Younis City, two more Palestinians were killed and at least ten others were wounded in the early dawn of Friday. Israeli tanks, stationed at the eastern borderline with the Israeli territories, opened fire at Palestinian houses, killing two citizens and injuring several others in the neighborhood of Al-Najjar, in Khoza’a Village....In the meantime, Israeli troops, backed by helicopters, stormed the city of Jenin and imposed curfew.
Palestinian child shot dead
Al-Jazeera 11/7/2003
Israeli soldiers have shot and killed three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including an 11-year-old child, in separate clashes. The latest casualty on Friday was a Palestinian child killed by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources said. Mahmud al-Qayed, 11, was hit in his chest as he was playing with a friend near the Karni crossing point between the northeastern Gaza Strip and Israel, the medical sources and witnesses said. Also, one Palestinian died after being wounded in shooting by Israeli troops near the southern village of Huzaa.
Israeli Army Kills 10-Year-Old, 3 Others, Sharon's Popularity Drops
An Nahar 11/7/2003
JERUSALEM - Israeli troops killed three Palestinian gunmen and a 10-year-old boy in the Gaza Strip, security officials said Friday, as polls indicated the prime minister's approval rating is dropping, in part because of the prolonged deadlock in peace efforts. The 10-year-old boy, Mahmoud Kayed, was shot early Friday east of Gaza City as he was trapping birds near the border fence with Israel, hospital officials said. A 12-year-old companion was wounded in the leg....A poll indicating a further drop in Sharon's popularity was published Friday in the Maariv daily. It said just 34 percent of respondents were pleased with Sharon's performance, compared with 40 percent in a survey two weeks ago.
IDF struggles to neutralize Hezbollah bombs
Ha'aretz 11/7/2003
The Israel Defense Forces yesterday began clearing eight bombs laid by Hezbollah along the Lebanese border, a day after they were discovered by an alert IDF tracker. The process proved more difficult than anticipated, and by nightfall, only three of the bombs had been dealt with.
Israel finds roadside bombs on border
Daily Star 11/7/2003
Analysts: Devices were intended as ‘message’ from Hizbullah-- Israel said Thursday that its troops had discovered a series of roadside bombs planted on the border with Lebanon near the divided village of Ghajar, in what analysts suspect was a “message” from Hizbullah to the Israeli government. The discovery of the bombs came four days before the Israeli Cabinet votes on whether to proceed with a controversial prisoner exchange with Hizbullah. The bombs were hidden just inside Israeli-controlled territory beside the border fence running alongside the eastern bank of the Hasbani River between Ghajar, which straddles the Blue Line, and Kibbutz Mayan Barukh.
Palestinians Dealing With Israel Traitors: Israeli General
Islam Online 11/6/2003
NABLUS, November 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A special advisor to the Israeli interior minister and former commander of the Israeli army in the West Bank branded Palestinian agents collaborating with Israel as "traitors", ruling out any sense of guilt for the fate they meet at the hands of patriotic Palestinians. Asked by the BBC "Do you ever feel a sense of guilt about people that have been recruited when you know what could happen to them?" General Moshe Govati said: "Why we should feel like this?" "If he (Palestinian agent) wants money, he gets his money. If he had some political ideology, it's his decision. If we succeeded to blackmail him because we could do it - well he knows why," added the senior Israeli official.
IDF captures terrorist who planned Maxim restaurant bombing
Ha'aretz 11/7/2003
Israel Defense Forces troops operating in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday captured senior Islamic Jihad militant Amjad Abeidi, who planned the suicide bombing at a Haifa restaurant last month in which 21 people were killed. Abeidi is responsible for dispatching a number of suicide bombers to carry out attacks in Israel, including Hanadi Jaradat, who blew herself up in Haifa's Maxim restaurant.
Israeli Forces Kill Four Palestinians, Including Child
Islam Online 11/7/2003
GAZA CITY, November 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israeli occupation forces killed four Palestinians, including a 11-year-old child, overnight and early on Friday, November 7. Mahmud al-Qayed, 11, was killed Friday by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell in the northern Gaza Strip Friday, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). He was hit in his chest as he was playing with a friend near the Karni crossing point between the northeastern Gaza Strip and Israel, Palestinian medical sources and witnesses said.
Israeli forces kill six Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza Strip
Al-Bawaba 11/7/2003
Five Palestinian activists and a child were killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by the Israeli army. The boy, Mahamoud al-Qayed, was killed by a shell fired by an Israeli tank in the Gaza Strip near the Israeli agricultural community of Nahal Oz while hunting for birds with a net and string, a witness and medics said. Witnesses said a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli forces during an exchange of fire early Friday, when troops entered a house near El Moghazi refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip.
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 Diplomacy..
Powell sends letter of support to initiators of Geneva Accord
Ha'aretz 11/7/2003
The Geneva Accord peace plan got a significant boost Friday, with a letter of support from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, organizers said. Washington's backing of the Geneva Accord could be seen as a veiled rebuke to the Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who has attacked the plan as subversive. Powell's letter was addressed to the leaders of the initiative, former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, the two told a news conference.
UN General Assembly Calls Israel to Protect Palestinian Children
International Middle East Media Center 11/7/2003
UN general assembly panel adopted Thursday an Egyptian-sponsored resolution, demanding that Israel protect Palestinian children. The resolution was passed by a vote of 88 to 4, with 58 abstentions. Once again, Israel, the United States, Micronesia, and the Marshal Islands voted against it, while the 15 European Union nations and Canada were among the abstentions. A similar resolution submitted by Israel condemning attacks on Israeli children was postponed for next week....Israeli UN diplomats accused the Egyptian-sponsored resolution of being one sided as it singles out Palestinian children, but Palestinian diplomats said that bringing a parallel between Palestinian children, who have been living under occupation for around 40 years, and Israeli children was hypocritical.
Geneva Accord on Middle East consistent with Road Map to peace - Annan
United Nations News 11/5/2003
5 November – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed the "Geneva Accord" drafted by prominent Israelis and Palestinians and giving detailed steps to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Such private initiatives, while not a substitute for official diplomatic negotiations between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, deserve praise and encouragement as courageous attempts to break the stalemate on both sides and to generate the popular support needed for peace in the Middle East," said a statement issued by a spokesman for Mr. Annan.
Arabs Shun Bush Democracy Call Over Israel, Iraq
Islam Online 11/7/2003
CAIRO, November 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. President George W. Bush's drive to promote democracy in the Middle East was faced Friday, November 7, with harsh criticism and serious doubts from Arab writers and analysts over its credibility, citing Washington's occupation of Iraq and its support for Israeli occupation of Arab land. "There is a lack of democracy but democracy cannot be imposed from outside," Mohammed Faeq, head of the Cairo-based Arab Organization for Human Rights, was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying. "Especially if it comes from the United States because it lacks credibility due to its support of Israel and its occupation of Iraq," Faeq added.
Jordan voices support for Geneva Accord
Jordan Times 11/7/2003
AMMAN (JT) — Jordan on Thursday voiced support for an informal peace agreement signed between pro-peace Palestinian and Israeli figures, describing the document an “extremely positive effort,” but said it would not “discuss details before it is endorsed by the Palestinian and Israeli governments.”
Legislators Focus On Jews Who Fled From Arab Lands
Forward 11/7/2003
A group of American lawmakers has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for recognition of the plight of the 900,000 Jews who fled Arab countries after 1948. The congressional move is part of a larger campaign by Israel and its supporters here to link the fates of Jews and Arabs who fled their homes in 1948, in an apparent bid to neutralize the contentious Palestinian refugee issue in anticipation of Middle East peace talks.
Hezbollah: Failure to release Samir Kuntar will nix entire deal
Ha'aretz 11/7/2003
Hezbollah has warned Israel that the failure to release Samir Kuntar - one of the two terrorists involved in an particularly savage attack on a civilian family in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya in 1979 - could nix the entire exchange deal. Beirut-based daily newspaper A-Sapir, quoting senior Hezbollah sources, wrote that “Israeli undertook to release all the Lebanese prisoners, without exception. Failure to release Kuntar will endanger the whole deal.” According to the same sources, the German mediators who brokered the deal also believe is supposed to include Kuntar.
PM mustering cabinet support for prisoner deal
Ha'aretz 11/7/2003
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his aides will begin a marathon telephone campaign today to try to persuade ministers to support the prisoner exchange with Hezbollah that they will vote on at Sunday's cabinet meeting. Many ministers are still undecided or opposed, but Sharon is confident he will be able to secure a majority for the deal. There are several ministers who, though they would like to vote against, will probably do so only if they are certain the deal will pass anyway.
Sharon Eager to Finalize Prisoners' Swap with Hezbollah
By Ze'ev Sternhell, International Middle East Media Center 11/7/2003
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon held Thursday night a meeting with the family of missing Air force pilot Ron Arad and told them that he intends to support the proposed prisoners' swap with Hezbollah despite the fact that it does not include any information on the fate of the missing pilot since 1986. arad's family protested against the release of abducted Hezbollah leaders Abdul Karim Ubid and Mostafa Dirani. Both were kidnapped from southern Lebanon in 1994 and 1989 respectively....Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday he was optimistic about the chances of sealing the swap with Israel. "We're leaning toward optimism, we believe the matter should logically lead to a good result," Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said.
Sharon Feeling Pressure As Neocon, IDF Chief Slam West Bank Policy
Forward 11/7/2003
Wolfowitz Endorses Ayalon-Nusseibeh Plan -- WASHINGTON —Still smarting from an embarrassing dust-up with his top general a day earlier, Israel's Prime Minister Sharon received a stunning public rebuke last week from a key ally in Washington when Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz endorsed a peace plan that envisions Israel withdrawing to its June 1967 borders. Wolfowitz, considered the leader of the neoconservative hawks within the Bush administration, appeared to echo some of the favorite themes of Sharon's left-wing critics in an October 30 address at Georgetown University. He warned that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was heightening tensions between America and the Muslim world and insisted that the conflict could only be resolved by "political means."
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Government..
Deal reached on new Palestinian cabinet
Al-Jazeera 11/7/2003
The central committee of Yasir Arafat's Fatah movement has reached an agreement on the formation of a new government. "The Fatah central committee reached a compromise that was approved in a vote by the majority of its members," a source close to Arafat said, on condition of anonymity. The deal, reached late on Friday, was the result of a compromise between Arafat and Prime Minister Ahmad Quraya, who had been at loggerheads over the appointment of a new interior minister. Quraya has renounced efforts to persuade Arafat to accept his candidate for the post, General Nasser Yussuf, and the post will go to a close associate of Arafat, Hakam Balaawi, the source said.
Rabins storm out of Knesset during Yahalom speech
Ha'aretz 11/7/2003
A special Knesset session held yesterday to commemorate the eighth anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination was marred by a verbal melee and a walk-out. The controversy was sparked by the session's last speaker, MK Shaul Yahalom (NRP). Objecting to what he regards as an overly partisan use of the late prime minister's legacy, Yahalom outraged members of the Rabin family, along with left-wing MKs. "Organizers and participants of the memorial rally last Saturday night at Rabin Square did their utmost to ensure that Rabin's heritage will belong exclusively to the left; and they did their utmost to ensure that Rabin's memory will be a divisive one," Yahalom said.
US television documentary: Arafat's wife, daughter live in Paris on expense of Palestinian aid money
Al-Bawaba 11/7/2003
Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, transfers $100,000 from funds directed to the Palestinian Authority to his wife Suha who lives in Paris along with the couple's daughter, according to an investigative report conducted by CBS television show 60 Minutes, to be aired Sunday accross the United States.
Ashkenazi: Defense cutbacks a catastrophe
Ha'aretz 11/7/2003
Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi told Israel Military Industries officials yesterday that cutbacks in the defense budget are a "national catastrophe." Under reduced defense allocations approved by the government, Ashkenazi said, the IDF will cut back on purchases from local producers, limiting acquisitions to items needed for ongoing activities. Products whose acquisition is prohibited by lack of funds include the Merkava tank and various types of missiles.
Israel blunders by broadcasting missile test live
The Independent 11/7/2003
In an extraordinary and highly embarrassing blunder, a secret Israeli missile test attended by senior generals was broadcast live via a civilian satellite whose signals could be picked up with a household satellite dish. The broadcast could be watched in countries across the region, from Libya to Iran, using a one-metre dish of the sort that comes with most satellite subscription services.
Religious Right Fights To Save Pro-Settler Radio Station
Forward 11/7/2003
JERUSALEM — Last month's closure of the major media outlet of the pro-settler religious right, radio station Arutz-7, has left supporters scrambling to get it back on the air and critics satisfied that the law against illegal broadcasting has been upheld.
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Human
Rights..
Bulldozers in Balatta
International Solidarity Movement 11/7/2003
Today was supposed to be the day of a roadblock removal action.With my Swedish buddy and our Palestinian host we came from nearby Askar Camp to Balata in the morning to find fresh and more massive roadblocks popped up like mushrooms.The first sign things wouldn't be going as planned.To the south the roadblock cuts off the Coca-Cola factory and the UN building; to the north, access to Nablus is blocked. In fact two military bulldozers were working in a field on the other side of the camp near the ISM house, backed by a Humvee and some jeeps. Additional soldiers had occupied a house where a family of 23 cowered in the kitchen for seven hours from 2am.
Statement by Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Regarding House demolitions in Occupied Palestinian Territories
United Nations News 11/6/2003
The following statement was issued today by the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Miloon Kothari: The human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT) has deteriorated significantly over the past three years, in spite of the repeated condemnations by the international community of Israel's illegal collective punishment against the Palestinian people in the OPT, its policy of demolition of Palestinian houses and civilian property, and the massive confiscation and destruction of Palestinian land.
Social Committee Approves Draft Resolutions on Youth, Women, Palestinian Children; Begins Discussion of Human Rights Issues
United Nations News 11/6/2003
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today approved draft resolutions on issues related to women, youth and children, and began its consideration of human rights hearing from Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Director of the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. A draft resolution on the situation of Palestinian children was approved in a vote of 86 in favour to 4 against, with 58 abstentions (see Annex).The text would have the General Assembly stress the urgent need for Palestinian children to live a normal life free from foreign occupation, destruction and fear in their own State, and demand that Israel respect relevant provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and relevant provisions of the Geneva Convention.
Speakers Condemn Israel's Human Rights Violations in Occupied Territories, Call for International Disengagement Force, as the Fourth Committee continues debate
United Nations News 11/6/2003
Speakers condemned Israel's violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people under its occupation, with several recommending the dispatch of international forces to the region, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) this morning continued its debate on Israeli practices.
Olympia conference remembers Rachel Corrie and Rafah
Electronic Intifada 11/7/2003
NAOMI KLEIN SPEAKS OF RACHEL'S REFUSAL TO BE 'BLINDED BY THE BLOOD' -- The Second Annual Conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association [PJSA] took place from October 9-12 in Olympia, Washington at The Evergreen State College [TESC]. The mission of the PJSA is promotion of peace studies for all ages -- from pre-kindergarten to university level and beyond. Their work is based on forging alliances between peace practitioners, participating in wider activities of 'education, research and action' and discovering 'innovative solutions to violence whether it manifests itself in our home, schools, streets and/or foreign policy.'
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Economy..
Histadrut, treasury accept labor court compromise
Ha'aretz 11/7/2003
The Histadrut labor federation and the Finance Ministry have both accepted a compromise offer drafted by the National Labor Court early Friday, putting off the threat of a general strike at least until Thursday. The court hearing between the two sides ended in the early hours of Friday morning, when court president Steve Adler sent the sides to consider the details of the offer. According to the compromise, the Histadrut will remove threats of a general strike for a period of 48 hours, begining Sunday morning, in exchange for the lifting of a court order forbidding the labor unions to hold strikes for longer than four hours.
15,000 Gaza workers, merchants enter Israel
Ha'aretz 11/7/2003
Thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip came to work in Israel yesterday, following a government decision to let in 15,000 workers and merchants. Violence in the strip continued, with two civilians being lightly wounded in two separate incidents. In one, an Argentinian Jewish donor visiting an IDF base in Gush Katif was lightly injured when Palestinians set off a roadside bomb near the settlement of Gadid.
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People..
Hudna, resistance and war on Islam
Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 6 - 12 November 2003
Graham Usher met Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas founder and spiritual leader, in his house in Gaza's impoverished Sabra district-- For a man heading Israel's death list, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin exudes an almost Buddhist-like calm. On 6 September an Israeli fighter jet tried to kill him courtesy of a 500lb bomb dropped on a residential building in Gaza City. Fifteen Palestinians were wounded. Yassin escaped with scratches. Now, there is a single armed guard. Yassin's only other nod to security is to no longer sleep at home. The interview came after a joint Hamas-Islamic Jihad attack on a Jewish settlement in Gaza that left three Israeli soldiers dead, amid talk of a new Palestinian cease-fire and a month or so after Yassin announced George Bush had "declared war on Islam". What are Hamas's terms for a cease-fire [hudna]? We haven't yet met with Abu Alaa [Ahmed Qurei, Palestinian Authority prime minister] so we don't know what his proposals are. In all cases our stance will be determined by what serves the interests of the Palestinian people. If it is in the interest of the Palestinian people to have a hudna, we'll have a hudna. If it isn't, we won't.
From a Suicide Bomber's Father, No Praise, Just Grief
New York Times 11/7/2003
NABLUS, West Bank, Nov. 4 — The day after 16-year-old Sabih Abu Saud blew himself up in a West Bank village, with Israeli troops in pursuit, his father Kamal Abu Saud did something extremely unusual — he declined to eulogize his son as a hero...."As a father, I am angry about what happened," Mr. Saud said Tuesday in an interview from the family's home, set on a ridge with a panoramic view of Nablus. Had he known his son's intentions, "I would have prevented him, if I could."
Nusseibeh and Ayalon Face Strong Opposition in Seattle
Electronic Intifada 11/7/2003
Seattle's Palestinian community, together with Arab and American supporters of the Palestinian cause, have expressed clear opposition to the Nusseibeh-Ayalon "peace proposal" which dismisses the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. Sari Nusseibeh and Ami Ayalon came to the University of Washington - Seattle on October 23rd, 2003, to present their plan, and were met with visible opposition from local community groups.
Lipkin-Shahak: Oslo did not die, it was murdered
Ha'aretz 11/7/2003
The loss of any sense of shame by some members of the extreme right over the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin eight years ago, cast a pall over the annual memorial ceremony held yesterday at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl. As the years go by, memory of the murder becomes dulled - as does the trauma that accompanied it. More and more people no longer hide their alienation from the years of the second Rabin government; more and more people blame Rabin and the Oslo Accords, which have been turned into his overriding policy, for the events of the past three years.
Gen. Wesley Clark: Throw Full Weight of Washington Behind Middle East Peace Process
Forward
"Currently, Israel is building a security fence — not because it wants to, but because terrorism has forced its hand." -- We should never question Israel's right to self-defense. Indeed, we must continue to provide Israel with the resources — both financial and diplomatic — to aid its search for peace.
Former president of al-Azhar university: Attacks against occupation forces in Iraq, Palestine - legitimate resistance
Al-Bawaba 11/7/2003
The former president of the world’s oldest university al-Azhar in Cairo, Ahmad Omar Hashem said on Friday that the national resistance against the occupation with its all forms is legitimate and can’t be described as "terrorism," noting the need for distinguishing between "terrorist acts" and national resistance.
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International..
US missions to close in Saudi
Al-Jazeera 11/7/2003
US diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia are to close down on Saturday following warnings of an imminent attack. "The embassy continues to receive credible information that terrorists in Saudi Arabia have moved from the planning to operational phase of planned attacks in the kingdom," a US advisory said on Friday. "In light of the seriousness of the current threat, the embassy in Riyadh and the US consulates general in Jeddah and Dhahran will close on 8 November, to review their current security posture," it added.
Bush Asks Lands in Mideast to Try Democratic Ways
New York Times 11/7/2003
ASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — President Bush on Thursday challenged Iran, Syria and two crucial Middle East allies of the United States — Egypt and Saudi Arabia — to begin embracing democratic traditions, and to view the fall of Saddam Hussein as "a watershed event in the global democratic revolution." "Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe," Mr. Bush argued, in a critique that embraced both Democrats and Republicans who preceded him, "because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty."
In Mideast, Reaction to Bush Speech Is Dismissive
New York Times 11/7/2003
CAIRO, Nov. 7 — Commentators across the Middle East today largely dismissed President Bush's speech calling for wider democracy in the region, labeling it something for domestic consumption to justify the war in Iraq rather than signaling a real change in United States policy. Political analysts, while welcoming the idea of ending decades of support for dictatorships, dwelt on the usual gap between reality and what the Bush administration says about the Middle East. The most common conclusion was that until the United States does something concrete to force Israel to free millions of Palestinians kept under military occupation, all American statements about greater democracy and freedom will ring hollow.
"Flagrant US bias" toward Israel drives Arab hatred: League chief
ProLog.net 11/6/2003
CAIRO, Nov 6 (AFP) - Washington's "flagrant" bias toward Israel is the driving force behind anti-American sentiment in the region, not its support for authoritarian Arab governments, Arab League Secretary Amr Mussa charged here Thursday. Mussa told a press conference that remarks by US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice "show that the United States still has a wrong analysis of the situation in the Middle East." Rice said that in a speech to be delivered later Thursday, Bush would call for a faster pace of political reform in the region and acknowledge that US support for authoritarian regimes had provoked anti-American feelings.
Lebanese relayed pre-war Saddam overture to Bush
Daily Star 11/7/2003
I don’t know why they chose me … They were ready for disarmament’ -- A Lebanese-American businessman relayed a peace deal from the deposed Iraqi leadership to the US administration in the run-up to the war on Iraq but Washington rebuffed the last-minute offer. Imad Hajj, a Lebanese-American businessman and owner of the Beirut-based American Underwriters Group insurance company, told The Daily Star in an interview Thursday that Taher Jalil Habboush, head of intelligence in the deposed Iraqi regime, contacted him and asked him to relay a message to Washington. Habboush is among 55 most wanted Iraqi leadership figures, but it is reported that he has switched allegiances and is now working for the coalition forces in Baghdad.
Egypt breached human rights - report
Al-Jazeera 11/7/2003
Egypt's security forces have used excessive force, including torture, on demonstrators protesting against the US-led war on Iraq, claims a Human Rights Watch report. The 40-page report, entitled "Security Forces Abuse of Anti-War Demonstrators," which was published on Friday, also urged President Muhammad Husni Mubarak's government to launch an independent investigation into the alleged rights violations.
US pressure on Syria figures to be counter-productive
Daily Star 11/7/2003
Bilateral trade is already minimal - Washington ‘will lose an important regional player in the pursuit of stability’-- BEIRUT: Damascus is in Washington’s crosshairs again, but Arab analysts say a recent US Congressional vote to sanction Syria has more bark than bite. They say that while the United States is trying to hem Syria in, Europe is opening new doors to the regime.“By alienating Syria, the US will soon realize that it is losing an important regional player in the pursuit of stability in the region, whether in Palestine, in Iraq or in Lebanon,” saidNabil Sukkar, a former senior economist at the World Bank who now heads the Syrian Consulting Bureau for Development and International Investment in Damascus.
Former CIA Director Calls for Tougher Policy on Syria
Forward 11/7/2003
Washington should send an American aircraft carrier to the Syrian coast, summon strongman Bashar al-Assad aboard, chide him vigorously for sponsoring terrorism, meddling in Iraq and pursuing weapons of mass destruction — and take special care to confront him over Syria's occupation of Lebanon. So says the CIA's former director. "Besides terror-related activities, there is one thing the Syrians are obviously completely guilty of, and that is occupying Lebanon," James Woolsey told the Forward in a wide-ranging interview last week in New York.
Woolsey Pushes Constitutional Monarchy for Iraq
Forward 11/7/2003
Former CIA director James Woolsey and Princeton scholar Bernard Lewis penned an opinion article last week in The Wall Street Journal calling for the temporary re-adoption of the 1925 Iraqi constitution until a permanent constitution can be written. The article proposed the reinstatement, with some amendments and on an interim basis, of a constitutional monarchy in which there would be an elected parliament and a king would appoint the prime minister. While the piece did not specify any candidates for those positions, some observers saw the proposal as a backhanded strategy to advance two regional actors — former Jordanian Crown Prince Hassan and Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi — who are longtime favorites of neoconservative officials in the Bush administration.
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ISM
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