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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 Arrests Palestinian Supreme Judge, One Citizen Critically Wounded International Press Center 11/11/2003 OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM, Palestine, November 11, 2003 (IPC + Agencies)-- Israeli occupying forces (IOF) arrested Monday night the Palestinian Supreme Judge in the occupied East Jerusalem while arresting several others in raiding campaigns throughout the Gaza Strip and West Bank. IOF troops arrested the Palestinian Supreme Judge, Sheikh Tayseer Al Tamimi, along with several others who were with him, as he was heading for the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem for prayers....In the Al Thahereya Town, south of Hebron City, Palestinian security and medical sources mentioned that IOF troops patrolling a nearby bypass road opened fire at Ra'ed Al Qaisya, 22, wounding him critically...while he was going to his working place behind the Green Line. Last night, large numbers of IOF troops raided villages of Deir Ghassana and Kofr Ein, northwest of Ramallah and ElBireh governorate. Eyewitnesses said that IOF troops raided the town early in the morning, while Israeli undercover soldiers searched the houses. IOF imposed curfew for the third consecutive day and took the arrested citizens into an undisclosed location...In the Balata refugee camp, near Nablus, Israeli troops stormed dozens ofPalestinian homes and conducted a search campaign.. burned down the house of Citizen Saud Al Titi after raiding it....IOF raided the Nour Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem governorate... IOF Wounds a Child, Completes Destruction of 20 Houses in Rafah International Press Center 11/11/2003 RAFAH, Palestine, November 11, 2003 (IPC + Agencies)-- One Palestinian child was shot and wounded Monday overnight while 20 houses were flattened by Israeli occupying forces (IOF) in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Palestinian medical and security sources said that 14-year old Abed Abul Sa'id was shot and wounded in the right hand, when IOF military vehicles opened random fire at Palestinian homes in the Bloc "O" area of Rafah City, south of the Gaza Strip. Hospital officials at Abu Yousif Al Najjar hospital in Rafah told IPC correspondent that Abul Sa'id's wounds were moderate and that his condition was stable. 9 Palestinians Arrested, 4 ISM Activists Shot in Balata Camp International Solidarity Movement 11/10/2003 Bethlehem - ISM Media Office - 10 Nov 03 -- Four ISM activists were shot and injured this morning during an Israeli incursion into the Balata refugee camp, in Nablus. Nine Palestinians were arrested today, in an operation that has killed 4 residents in the last 48 hours. British activist, Ray Davis, was wounded in the leg by shrapnel from live ammunition fired by Israeli soldiers, and Swedish activist Mani Ashgari was wounded in the face by an unknown object. Both were escorting Palestinians, in front of tanks. Mika, a British activist, and an American female volunteer were shot in the arm and leg respectively while standing in direct view of soldiers. IOF Deport Palestinian, Kill Elderly and Teenager Palestine Media Center 11/11/2003 Palestinian Islamic Chief Justice, 4 Other Judges Detained in Jerusalem -- In violation of Fourth Geneva Convention and international law, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Monday deported Kamal Idris from Hebron in the southern West Bank to the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, IOF violence against Palestinian civilians continued as soldiers killed a 62-year-old elderly and a 12-year-old boy, seriously wounded a teenager and a worker, demolished twenty houses and carried out more detentions, including the Palestinian Islamic chief justice. Kamal Idris was deported to Gaza, an IOF statement said on Monday, claiming that he was a member of a Palestinian cell that carried out attacks in the Hebron area. The IOF said the expulsion was meant to prevent his involvement in further attacks. Palestinians arrested in Israeli raid Al-Jazeera 11/11/2003 Israeli occupation forces have raided the Palestinian city of Yamoun, west of Jenin and detained several people. According to Aljazeera’s correspondent in Jenin, the forces also imposed a curfew on the city on Tuesday. Residents said more than 20 military vehicles invaded the area, with troops carrying out large-scale house to house searches. The search operation was accompanied by shots being fired inside the homes. Islamic Jihad man arrested for planning synagogue bombing Ha'aretz 11/11/2003 The Shin Bet security service and the police recently arrested an Islamic Jihad activist who was planning a terror attack in Afula, followed by a suicide mission in the synagogue on the nearby settlement of Shaked. ....On Monday evening, large numbers of Israel Defense Forces troops surrounded three buildings in the center of the West Bank city of Nablus, apparently in a search for suspects, Palestinian sources told the Itim news agency. The IDF imposed a curfew on the city prior to surrounding the buildings, the sources said. Likud Fanatics Urge Sharon to Authorize Nasrallah's Assassination An Nahar 11/11/2003 Ariel Sharon was reported Tuesday to have rejected a demand by rightwing fanatics of his ruling Likud party that the Israeli army should mount an attack on Beirut to assassinate Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. The pro-Sharon Tel Aviv newspaper Yediot Ahronot said the demand was made at a meeting of the Likud leadership in Jerusalem on Monday, contending that the assassination raid should be automatically launched upon any fresh cross-border attack by Hizbullah from South Lebanon. UN Report: Israel’s Separation Barrier Affects 680,000 Palestinians, Eriqat: Israel’s Barrier Prevents Contiguity of Palestinian Territories International Press Center 11/11/2003 JERUSALEM, Palestine, November 11, 2003 (IPC+ Agencies)-- A United Nations report revealed on Monday that the separation barrier, Israel is building around the West Bank, will have severe humanitarian consequences for 680,000 Palestinians, a third of the Palestinian population in the area. Based on the map of the route approved by Israel, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Occupied Palestinian Territory found out the barrier will cut some 14.5 percent of Palestinian land from the rest of the West Bank....Erakat spoke in a special seminar in the West Bank city of Jericho on the separation barrier’s route in the Jordan valley, west of Jordan, about the barrier, asserting that Israel’s premier Ariel Sharon is the one who initiated the idea in 1983. Palestinians Seek Protection Vs. Settlers Palestine Monitor 11/11/2003 EINABUS, West Bank - Men with chainsaws turned Fawzi Hussein's olive grove into a wasteland overnight — 255 trees cut down at the trunks, fruit-laden branches wilting on a West Bank slope, at the height of the harvest season. The suspected culprits: militant settlers who have been harassing Palestinian farmers for years, especially in the past three years of fighting. Human rights groups say it's part of an attempt to drive Palestinians off their land. The destruction of about 1,000 trees in three villages including Hussein's was unusually large-scale. It prompted an outcry in Israel, with settler rabbis calling it a sin and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) promising to track down the vigilantes. Israeli Minister Won't Destroy Outposts Yahoo! News 11/11/2003 JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister said Tuesday he has no immediate plans to dismantle Jewish settlement outposts and he defended the proposed route of a security barrier that cuts deep into the West Bank. In a report released Tuesday, the United Nations (news - web sites) said only 11 percent of the planned 430-mile chain of walls, razor wire and ditches will actually follow the "Green Line," the invisible frontier between Israel and the West Bank. The barrier will ultimately disrupt the lives of 680,000 Palestinians and carve off 14.5 percent of the West Bank, the report said. Israel detains Palestinian chief justice as US official rejects notion solution to Mid-East conflict will stop ''terror' Al-Bawaba 11/11/2003 The chief justice of the Palestinian Islamic courts, Sheikh Taysir Al Tamimi, was arrested by Israeli authorities Monday night at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, according to Israeli police and Palestinian reports. "Sheikh Al Tamimi was arrested to be questioned," a spokesman for the Israeli police had said. The official WAFA news agency said that Tamimi was contacted by telephone in Israeli custody. It said he was arrested at the exit of the mosque compound with four other judges and that he had been taken to the Moskoubia prison, located at the police west Jerusalem police headquarters.

Diplomacy..

Israel Still Destroying Occupied Territories, Second Cmtee Delegates Say at Conclusion of Debate on Arab Sovereignty United Nations 11/10/2003 Israel continued to destroy Palestinian territories through deforestation and the expropriation and erosion of agricultural lands, as well as by seizing lands, harvests and livestock in the occupied Syrian Golan, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard this afternoon as it concluded its debate on permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian and Syrian peoples over their natural resources in the occupied Arab territories. Syria's representative said that Israel continued to uproot trees and to allow factories to dump chemical waste in the occupied Syrian Golan.In addition, it had diverted some 90 per cent of Palestinian water and the Israeli military had destroyed reservoirs, keeping water from refugee camps.Israel's illegal construction of a separation wall to cover a large part of the occupied Palestinian territory underscored its intention to strengthen its presence and cut off groups of Palestinians from each other. UN Report Warns against Building Israel’s Apartheid Wall Palestine Media Center 11/11/2003 Palestinians, Israelis Demonstrate Against the Wall -- A United Nations report on Monday warned that the Apartheid Wall Israel is building in the West Bank will have severe humanitarian consequences for about a third of Palestinians in the area. Based on a map of the route approved by Israel, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory found the Wall will cut off some 14.5 percent of Palestinian land from the rest of the West Bank. The area, between Israel-proper and where the Wall juts into the West Bank, is home to more than 274,000 Palestinians living in 122 villages and towns, the report said. Arabs ask US to stop siding with Israel Middle East Online 11/11/2003 CAIRO - Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said here Tuesday he urged the United States to stop siding with Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians and resume the role of "honest broker." Mussa said he informed visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, standing by his side at a press conference, "of the Arab view that the situation in Palestine is at an impasse. "And that stirs great anger among the Arabs and will lead to serious consequences," Mussa said, speaking in Arabic. Islamic Jihad ready to meet Qorei Middle East Online 11/11/2003 CAIRO - The Islamic Jihad is ready to meet Palestinian premier Ahmed Qorei to discuss a halt in attacks on Israelis, but a truce "made no sense" at the moment, the group's spokesman said in remarks published here Tuesday. "We welcome any meeting with Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei," Jihad spokesman Khaled el-Batch said in an interview with the Egyptian French-language weekly Al Ahram Hebdo. "If we find that the truce has a broad and positive political impact on the Palestinian people, we would study all aspects of it," Batch was quoted as saying. Sharon wants to ease pressure on Palestinians Middle East Online 11/11/2003 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was pushing Tuesday to ease pressure on the occupied territories to avoid a collapse of the Palestinian Authority on the eve of the investiture of a new government in Ramallah. During closed-door meeting with deputies from his right-wing Likud party, Sharon said Israel must "ease the closure or risk provoking the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, which would force us to take administrative responsibility for 3.7 million Palestinians," a source close to him said. Sharon was speaking late Monday ahead of the expected investiture of his Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Qorei's government at a parliamentary session on Wednesday. Israel and U.S. resigned to Arafat powers eircom.net 11/11/2003 JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel and the United States appear to have resigned themselves to pursuing peace with a new Palestinian government despite objecting to President Yasser Arafat's continued clout in security affairs. "This is a grace period only," a senior Israeli government source said on Tuesday. Washington retreated on Monday from its position that a Palestinian prime minister must control all security forces and said it would judge a new Palestinian cabinet, due for parliamentary approval on Wednesday, on its performance. The U.S. retreat followed a Palestinian deal under which the cabinet, led by Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, and a National Security Council chaired by Arafat, will be responsible for security matters. "Security responsibility is now shared for the first time," said Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, a senior Arafat aide. Armitage: Palestinian issue not cause of terrorism Middle East Online 11/11/2003 CAIRO - US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on Tuesday rejected a suggestion that a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would stop a wave of global terrorism. "You would have to note that it was only (lately) that Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership could even find it in themselves to mention the word Palestinian," Armitage told reporters after talks in Cairo with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa...."The support for the United States for Israel is something that is a bedrock principle of the United States," said Armitage, flanked by Mussa who has criticized US support for Israel. EU to Broach Concern over Israeli Wall at Talks Miftah 11/11/2003 The European Commission is "very concerned" about Israel's construction of a security barrier across the West Bank, and plans to raise the matter at an EU-Israel meeting next week, a spokesman said Monday. The EU executive will also broach the issue of Israel's treatment of the EU envoy to the Middle East Marc Otte, who has been boycotted by Israeli leaders since meeting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in early October. "We are very concerned about the present routing and proposed routing" of the barrier, "because the current routing is not just on Israeli territory," said Emma Udwin, spokesman for EU external relations commissioner Chris Patten. EU Voices Concern over Israeli Apartheid Wall Palestine Chronicle 11/10/2003 BRUSSELS - The European Commission, the EU`s executive arm, voiced concern Monday over reports that the Israeli government intends to extend the apartheid wall to include Palestinian territory occupied in 1967. "Our view is that it (the wall) is not the best way of guaranteeing the safety of the Israelis," Commission spokeswoman for external relations, Emma Udwin, told reporters in Brussels this afternoon. She said that the EU would not object if the wall fence is built on Israeli lands, "but we are very concerned that the present routing and the proposed routing of this wall is not on Israeli territory." Sharon: Shin Bet chief will seek information on Arad in Europe Ha'aretz 11/11/2003 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Tuesday that Avi Dichter, head of the Shin Bet internal security service, will head for Europe in order to "make all possible efforts to obtain new information on imprisoned navigator Ron Arad." During a press conference with Slovakian Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, Sharon said that Dichter will also meet with European colleagues in order to boost coordinated anti-terrorism efforts. Hizbullah awaits word on release of Qantar Daily Star 11/11/2003 Lebanese prisoner has been held since 1979 -- Hizbullah said Monday it was awaiting official word on details of a prisoner swap with Israel, but indicated it would reject any deal that did not include all Lebanese detainees, including Samir Qantar, who has been in jail since 1979. But Israel appeared to rule out the release of the longest-held Lebanese prisoner, throwing the German-mediated plan into jeopardy. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Qantar, serving five concurrent life sentences for the killing of three Israelis, would not be part of the deal. Qantar demand deadlocks prisoner deal Daily Star 11/11/2003 Veteran detainee key to agreement between hizbullah and Israel -- Hizbullah and the Israeli government appear to have talked themselves into a negotiating deadlock over the release of a veteran Lebanese detainee, threatening the successfulconclusion of a deal to exchange prisoners. A source close to Hizbullah’s leadership warned that failure to secure a deal would result in the resistance seeking to kidnap more Israeli soldiers and would “definitely” lead to an escalation of hostilities along the Lebanon-Israel border. “ Palestinians call for rejection of Israeli resolution on children Yahoo! News 11/11/2003 UNITED NATIONS (news - web sites) (AP) - The Palestinians have asked that a UN committee reject a resolution calling for the protection of Israeli children victimized by Palestinian terrorism, saying the document is political and insensitive. "This is an anti-Palestinian resolution much more than it is a pro-Israeli children resolution," the Palestinian UN observer Nasser Al-Kidwa said Monday. Palestinian Rights Committee seeks end to Israeli settlement activities, reversal of building of separation wall ReliefWeb/United Nations 11/11/2003 Action by General Assembly Called for; Other Texts Urge UN To Continue Information, Related Efforts to Mobilize International Support -- The General Assembly would call on Israel to halt all settlement activities, and stress the urgent need for it to stop and reverse construction of the wall in the occupied Palestinian territory, according to one of four draft resolutions approved today by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Prisoner deal no certainty despite vote Sydney Morning Herald 11/11/2003 A prisoner exchange deal with the Lebanese guerilla movement Hezbollah has led to sharp divisions between Israelis who believe such exchanges encourage "terrorism" and those who believe no price is too high to save Jewish lives and bodies from Arab hands. The Israeli Government has narrowly voted to release hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in exchange for the return of one kidnapped Israeli and the bodies of three soldiers abducted three years ago. Israel's right-wing coalition approved the motion by a margin of 12-11 after a long and reportedly heated session on Sunday, with the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, using his personal prestige to push the agreement through. Dirani Admits Arad was Kidnapped "From Me" by Iranian Guards An Nahar 11/11/2003 Mustafa Dirani, one of the most prominent Lebanese prisoners held by Israel, has turned in a written statement to the central court in Tel Aviv, asserting that a contingent of Iranian Revolutionary Guards based in the Bekaa Valley kidnapped Israeli airman Ron Arad "from me" in 1988. "I did not sell Arad to Iran. I actually objected to Iran's leaders when Iranian Revolutionary Guards kidnapped him from me," Dirani wrote in the statement that he conveyed to the court via his Israeli defense attorney on Monday. Hamas man rules out resettlement of refugees Daily Star 11/11/2003 Osama Hamdan, representative of Hamas in Lebanon, said Monday that the Palestinian people rejected any form of permanent resettlement in Lebanon. Hamdan added that US plans calling for resettlement undermined the Palestinian cause and jeopardized their right to return to their homeland. Leaks and Peeks Key to Israel’s Nuclear Ambiguity Arab News 11/11/2003 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 11 November 2003 — Forty years ago a flustered Shimon Peres faced off with US President John F. Kennedy on a secret seen as key to the Jewish state’s survival, and got away with saying next to nothing. “Kennedy began bombarding me with questions. Suddenly he says, ‘Are you making an atom bomb?’ I told him, ‘Mr. President, I can promise you one thing: Israel will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East,’” Peres recalled in the recent documentary film “A Bomb in the Basement”. That sidestep by Israel’s veteran statesman evolved into a strategy of ambiguity straddling two national needs — to strike fear into numerically superior foes while calming global jitters at any doomsday saber-rattling in the volatile Middle East. Unofficial peace push in Mideast Christian Science Monitor 11/5/2003 JERUSALEM – Some Israeli and Palestinian public figures, increasingly convinced that their governments are unable or unwilling to make peace, are trying to do it from the bottom up. The attention drawn by two new initiatives - one is a drive to collect signatories to a set of principles for a peace deal; another is a proposed final agreement ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - suggests that many Israelis and Palestinians see no end in sight to their conflict and no prospect of outside intervention in the near term. Vatican urges U.N. to use "road map" to peace* Palestine Media Center/Catholic Times 11/10/2003 UNITED NATIONS (CNS) - A Vatican statement to the United Nations Nov. 3 called for use of the "road map" as a way to move toward an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. Msgr. Francis Chullikatt, an official of the Vatican's U.N. mission, said "the present conflict in the Middle East will find a lasting solution only when there are two independent and sovereign states living side by side in peace and security." "It is incumbent upon both parties, assisted by the international community, to endorse the road map as a tool of negotiation and confidence building," he said. The "road map" is the plan designed to produce the two-state solution proposed by President Bush in his speech to the United Nations last year. Arabs criticise Israeli UN resolution Al-Jazeera 11/11/2003 Arab nations will oppose an Israeli resolution condemning "Palestinian attacks on Israeli children" that is awaiting a vote this week in a UN General Assembly committee. The Israeli resolution, pending in the assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee, mirrors an Egyptian-sponsored resolution adopted by the panel last week that demands Israel should protect Palestinian children. Palestinian envoy Nasir al-Kidwa said on Monday Arab delegates, meeting at UN headquarters, concluded the Israeli draft had been written "as a bad joke" and should be voted down. Arab League chief calls on United States to resume role of ''honest broker'' in Mid-East conflict Al-Bawaba 11/11/2003 Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said he called upon Washington to stop siding with Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians and resume the role of "honest broker." Moussa said he informed visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage "of the Arab view that the situation in Palestine is at an impasse. "And that stirs great anger among the Arabs and will lead to serious consquences," Moussa said Tuesday.

Human Rights..

New Stage of Separation Barrier: This Stage will Trap 102,000 Palestinians in Enclaves B'tselem 11/11/2003 On 1 October 2003, the Israeli government approved the new route proposed by the defense establishment for continuation of the separation barrier. In the same decision, the cabinet authorized the prime minister and the defense minister to approve changes in the route at a later date. The text of the decision was announced immediately, but the map of the route was not made available to the public and it took almost a month until it was published. Approximately 200 kilometers were previously approved by the government, and the majority has already been constructed. The new sections approved by the government cover 270 kilometers, as follows.... 30 percent of Palestinians face severe impact from West Bank barrier: UN Yahoo! News 11/11/2003 JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's controversial West Bank separation barrier will lead to severe humanitarian consequences for more than 680,000 Palestinians, according to a new United Nations (news - web sites) report obtained by AFP. Only 11 percent of the route of the barrier conforms to the "Green Line", the internationally-recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank, said the survey by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)....The report's analysis of the impact of the project concluded that some 210,000 acres (85,000 hectares) -- or 14.5 percent -- of West Bank land would lie between the path of the barrier and the Green Line. "This land, some of the most fertile in the West Bank, is currently the home for more than 274,000 Palestinians living in 122 villages and towns," it added. Israel expels man from West Bank BBC 11/10/2003 Israel has expelled a suspected Palestinian militant from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, under a policy condemned by human rights groups. Soldiers reportedly delivered Kamal Idris to a checkpoint near a Jewish settlement in the Strip on Monday. The army said that Mr Idris, who was not formally charged or tried, belonged to a "terrorist group" in Hebron which had launched attacks on Israelis. Fifteen people in the West Bank are currently fighting expulsion orders. Audio: "Many now need permits just to enter areas they have called home for generations" BBC 11/11/2003 The BBC's David Chazan - "Many now need permits just to enter areas they have called home for generations" Israel barrier 'brings hardship' BBC 11/11/2003 Israel's West Bank security barrier will cause serious human suffering, the UN has said in a report. The report says that the barrier will separate almost 700,000 Palestinians from their farms, jobs and schools. Israel rejects the report - which it says is inaccurate - and argues that the barrier is necessary to prevent suicide bombers from entering Israel. The BBC's David Chazan in Jerusalem says the route, not the barrier itself, is the cause of controversy. Israeli Arab Film-Maker Wins 'Jenin, Jenin' Battle Reuters 11/11/2003 JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli Arab film-maker won a court battle Tuesday to overturn an official ban on the showing in Israel of his documentary depicting an Israeli military offensive in Jenin refugee camp in April 2002. "Jenin, Jenin" was banned by Israel's Film Ratings Board last December over what it called the work's "distorted presentation of events in the guise of democratic truth which could mislead the public." Shin Bet vetting of press cards scrapped Ha'aretz 11/11/2003 The Prime Minister's Office and Government Press Office yesterday decided to freeze the new directives issued by the GPO regarding applications for press cards. The new directives required, among other things, sending journalists' details to the Shin Bet for approval. The editors of the nation's three leading newspapers - Hanoch Marmari of Haaretz, Moshe Vardi of Yedioth Ahronoth and Amnon Dankner of Maariv, backed by Foreign Press Association chairman Dan Perry - yesterday met and decided to reject the new forms issued by the Government Press Office for applying for a press card. Israel Delays Journalism Security Checks Yahoo! News 11/11/2003 JERUSALEM - Israel's government on Monday suspended plans that would have required stringent security checks for journalists to receive accreditation. The government called off the proposed procedures after local and foreign journalists and watchdog groups criticized them as an attempt to inhibit freedom of the press. The decision to suspend the guidelines was announced by Arnon Perlman, media adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites). In a letter sent to The Associated Press, he promised that any future changes would be taken in consultation with the local and foreign media "with a view towards formulating procedures that will be acceptable to all sides." Opening of resource centre for research on Palestinian refugees Alternative Information Center/Shaml 11/11/2003 In culmination of two years of work on the oral history project, the Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Center, Shaml announces the opening of its resource center to researchers. The center includes: 1) The Audio Library for Oral History, which includes 350 CDs of interviews with Palestinians who lived through the Izzedin Qassam revolt and the events of the Nakba, which include the socio-economic history and culture of Palestine during that period. It is possible to look at the index of the audio library at http://db.shaml.org/library/oralhistory_intro.htm....more.... Court petition against route of separation wall, apartheid regulations accompanying its construction - Acrobat format HaMoked 11/6/2003 HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual presented a petition to the High Court of Justice on 6 November 2003 requesting an order nisi canceling the decision to build segments of the separation barrier creating seven enclaves in the heart of occupied territory. HaMoked also asked for cancellation of the decision to build segments extending to the east beyond the green line. HaMoked is also petitioning against the regulations accompanying the approval of the third stage of the barrier: against the declaration declaring the seam area a closed military territory and against the matter of entrance permits to the seam area which create a legalistic apartheid rule discriminating against the Palestinians, residents of the West Bank. UN humanitarian agency fights the odds Al-Jazeera 11/11/2003 When the Rafah Refugee Camp is devastated by an Israeli onslaught and hundreds of refugees are made homeless, UNRWA is first on the scene. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has become synonymous with the Palestinian refugee plight, yet little is known about its history or the obstacles it faces in carrying out its work. UNRWA’s mission is not an easy one. It works on dangerous turf, is perpetually under funded and constantly scrutinised for its inability to provide refugees with physical protection. Cash-strapped UN agency is forced to cut back Palestinian programmes United Nations News 11/10/2003 10 November – Though conditions for Palestinians worsen daily, the latest appeal for emergency funds for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has raised barely 45 per cent of the refugees' needs, forcing programme cutbacks, the Agency's said today. In Gaza as a whole, "Israeli demolitions have left almost 12,700 homeless," but funding shortages and difficulties sourcing land and transporting building materials meant that UNRWA has only been able to open only 228 replacement shelters, with another 250 in the pipeline, UNRWA said in a news release. PNA Decries; Israeli Occupation Troops Expel a Palestinian Citizen of Hebron to Gaza International Press Center 11/11/2003 GAZA, November 11, 2003 (IPC+Agencies)-- The Israeli occupying authorities expelled a Palestinian citizen of Hebron city to Gaza Monday evening after his administrative detention (with no charge or trail) had elapsed. The spokesperson of the Palestinian National Security service said the Israeli occupying forces transferred kamal Edris, 26, to Gaza. He was detained along together with other 17 Palestinian administrative detainees at Erez checkpoint. ...“This is a war crime, it is prohibited to expel any resident from his place of residence to another place, we appealed toall relevant international organizations to work immediately to preclude such oppressive orders against the Palestinian citizens,” Abed Alrazeq indicated. ACT Appeal OPT: Assistance to civilian victims of conflict ReliefWeb/Action by Churches Together (ACT) 11/11/2003 Appeal Target: US$ 1,887,024 - Balance Requested from ACT Alliance: US$ 1,802,593 - Geneva, 11 November 2003 -- Dear Colleagues, Results of recent surveys all agree that the astronomic rates of unemployment and disruption of the educational process remain the most disturbing consequences of the civil emergency and closures in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Since the second Intifada (uprising) in September 2000, the political situation has been declining steadily, affecting directly the socio-economic conditions.

Economy..

IBM negotiating joint R&D fund with Israeli gov't Globes 11/11/2003 Israel and IBM will probably establish a joint fund similar to the binational R&D funds. -- Sources inform “Globes” that IBM (NYSE:IBM) is taking a favorable position on an Office of the Chief Scientist proposal to establish a joint R&D fund with the Israeli government to develop high-tech products and related commercial applications. Minister of Industry Trade and Labor Ehud Olmert will raise the subject during his visit to IBM's headquarters in Hawthorne, New York, where he will meet IBM SVP and head of Research Dr. Paul Horn and other executives...."IBM is a global power for all intents and purposes, with an annual turnover only slightly smaller than Israel's state budget," said Minister for Economic Affairs to North America Zohar Pery, who participated in the Olmert-Horn meeting. "It's only natural that we view IBM as an independent country." Labor sanctions at government ministries to end soon Ha'aretz 11/11/2003 Labor sanctions at government ministries that began six weeks ago are nearing their end, according to Civil Service Union chief Ofer Eini. Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander and Eini, accompanied by their legal advisors, met in Tel Aviv on Tuesday afternoon in an effort to draft an agreement that will be used as a basis for the full renewal of work at government offices. Prior to the meeting, Eini said the two sides have reduced the gaps between their positions over the past several days. Eini said he was optimistic that the sanctions would soon come to an end. Gov't to slash tax on foreign securities from 35% to 15% Ha'aretz 11/11/2003 Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved a recommendation to cut the tax on foreign securities to that levied on Israeli securities from January 2004. Under a recommendation from the Income Tax office, capital gains tax on foreign stocks will be cut from 35 percent to 15 percent, bringing it in line with Israeli stocks. A bill has already been prepared for Knesset debate.

People..

Vessel of peace takes a new form Sydney Morning Herald 11/11/2003 Ten years after renegade Israeli peacemaker Abie Nathan sunk his pirate radio station in the Mediterranean Sea, Israeli and Palestinian activists have launched a land-based version of his Voice of Peace. Mr Nathan launched the Voice of Peace in 1973, broadcasting a mix of news, peace messages and pop music from somewhere in the Mediterranean. Despite high ratings, advertising revenue dwindled and Mr Nathan sunk the ship in 1993 after running out of funds. The New Voice of Peace has been launched as a joint initiative by an Israeli education centre, Givat Haviva, and the Palestinian weekly newspaper The Jerusalem Times. Israeli Court Lifts Ban on Arab Movie The Guardian 11/11/2003 JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli Supreme Court lifted a ban Tuesday on an Arab movie depicting an Israeli army raid in the West Bank, ruling the country's film board had overstepped its authority and infringed on freedom of expression. The censorship board had decided a year ago to forbid screening of ``Jenin, Jenin'' produced by an Israeli Arab, Mohammed Bakri. The board said the movie was propaganda and presented a false picture of the eight-day military operation in the Jenin refugee camp in April 2002, in which 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed. Bakri appealed to the Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled in his favor Tuesday. The movie had been screened three times in Israel before it was banned, and is slated to be shown in Tel Aviv on Dec. 8, Bakri said. Palestine textbooks under fire Al-Jazeera 11/11/2003 Successive Israeli governments have attacked Palestinian schoolbooks for allegedly inciting hatred of Israel and the Jews. Since the formation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) almost ten years ago, Israel has repeatedly claimed that the textbooks preach anti-Semitism and marginalise Jewish history. Most Palestinian officials and educationists dismiss the Israeli charges as politically motivated, claiming that the current books only reflect historical reality....In November 2001, the eminent Scholar Nathan Brown, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the George Washington University, issued a detailed report on Palestinian textbooks. He concluded, “Harsh external critics of the Palestinian curriculum and textbooks have had to rely on misleading and tendentious reports to support their claim of incitement.” Work of master calligrapher defies traditional approach Daily Star 11/11/2003 Veteran art critic’s compositions focuses more on esthetics than on meaning -- In his mid-length linen jacket, mesh beret, and round wire-rimmed glasses, Samir Sayegh cuts an emblematic figure of an old-school Beiruti intellectual ­ deep pockets in the jacket for ponderous pacing, the beret arranged at an indifferent angle over about six creases of thought that cross his brow, and the slight tint to his glasses casting a translucent shade over eyes that dance through many levels of meaning as the artist discusses the works that were on view until late last month at the Agial Art Gallery in Hamra.

International..

An Nahar Rises Above Grenade Message, Vows to Stay on Course An Nahar 11/11/2003 "Is it a message to An Nahar or a message via An Nahar?" wrote the Beirut leading daily Tuesday about the man who snuck into the ground floor of its building the day before, threatening to detonate a hand grenade and then commit suicide by slashing his wrist veins with a knife he was wielding.....During his interrogation, al-Hassan adamantly denied that he harbored any subversive or terrorist motives, insisting that he resorted to what he did because he despaired from finding any one to help him out of his appalling living conditions, An Nahar reported. Al-Qaida threatens more attacks Al-Jazeera 11/11/2003 The shadowy armed group has claimed responsibility for the bombing that killed 18 people in Riyadh, warning the next targets will be in the Gulf, the United States and Iraq. Al-Qaida's claim comes shortly after several people were detained in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for suspected involvement in the blast. According to a Saudi weekly published in London, al-Majalla,"al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks on al-Muhaya in Riyadh this past Saturday. It said in an e-mail message received by one of our correspondents in Dubai that the next strikes will be in the Gulf, America and Iraq". Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for Riyadh blast Middle East Online 11/11/2003 DUBAI - The Al-Qaeda terror network claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 17 people in Riyadh and warned the next targets would be in the Gulf, the United States and Iraq, a Saudi weekly said Tuesday. "Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks on al-Muhaya in Riyadh this past Saturday and said in an e-mail message received by one of our correspondents in Dubai that the next strikes will be in the Gulf, America and Iraq," said Al-Majalla, which is published from London each Friday. 'No evidence' that Iran has nuclear arms Financial Times 11/10/2003 A new report by the United Nations's chief nuclear inspector says Iran had repeatedly concealed information and failed to meet its nuclear commitments but insists there is no evidence so far that Tehran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. According to diplomats who have seen the confidential report from Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it says that - given Iran's past history of concealment - "it will take time before the agency is able to conclude that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes". Iran Downplays Minor Breaches, Grills Powell Islam Online 11/11/2003 TEHRAN, November 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - While Iran acknowledged Tuesday, November 11, its nuclear program breached International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rules, but asserted the failures were only minor and a thing of the past, the Islamic republic lashed out at the U.S. administration, accusing it of knowing nothing about Islam or democracy. Poll shows 17 percent of Italians oppose Israel's existence Ha'aretz 11/11/2003 Italians have mixed feelings toward Israel and the Jewish community in their country, according to a poll published Monday, which indicated there is stereotype-laden racism among one fifth of Italians. In the national survey, which appeared in the daily Corriere della Sera, seventy percent of responders said Israel had a right to exist despite bad policies of the Israeli government, while 17 percent thought it would be best if Israel ceased to exist altogether. New Yorkers erect a "Separation" Wall in Midtown Manhattan Electronic Intifada 11/11/2003 ARABS, JEWS AND OTHER CONCERNED NEW YORKERS MARCH TOGETHER TO PROTEST ISRAEL'S "SEPARATION FENCE" -- New York City, Nov 9th -- Approximately 150 New Yorkers converged at Bryant Park, Manhattan, carrying three sixty-yard mock "walls" depicting the 25-ft.-high wall enclosing the Palestinian people in the West Bank. The protesters marched down 42nd street to Grand Central Station where they carried the wall inside to display it for passer-bys, while chanting "Tear Down the Wall." "We are sending a message to our governments to stop their support of this hideous act of ethnic cleansing veiled behind 'security' rhetoric," said Omar Jamal of SUSTAIN-NYC. U.S. University Provides Iftar For Muslim Students Islam Online 11/11/2003 CHICAGO, November 11 (IslamOnline.net) - For over two weeks now, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at DePaul University has been coordinating community meals for Muslim students to break their dawn-to-dusk fasting on campus. DePaul University, one of Chicago’s biggest universities and the second largest Catholic university in the U.S. has been funding the Monday to Thursday Iftars held by the MSA. War Vigils Evolve, Continue Common Dreams/Los Angeles Times 11/10/2003 Each Friday as daylight begins to dim over Glendale, a lone woman pushes an odd contraption up the sidewalk of Brand Boulevard toward the intersection of Broadway. From a distance, it looks like a small, wheeled frigate with numerous sails sticking out at many angles. On closer inspection, it turns out to be a long pushcart laden with folded chairs and a folded table, its "sails" battered picket signs demanding, "U.S. Out of Iraq," "Support Our Troops — Bring Them Home," "Healthcare Not Warfare," and the like. War Protesters: It Doesn’t Always Pay to Plead Portland Phoenix November 7 - 13, 200 On March 20, a dozen people occupied Senator Susan Collins’s office in the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building in Bangor and were arrested. Ten of them pled no contest and were sentenced in May to 48 hours in jail (suspended) and either 30 hours of community service or a $200 donation to charity. The other two, Nancy Galland and Richard Stander, demanded a jury trial. They got it, and were found guilty of criminal trespass on October 16. Then Judge E. Allen Hunter continued sentencing until October 31. What did he need two weeks to think about? It turns out he put the intervening time to good use, weighing issues of civil disobedience that maybe our Justice Department would do well to consider. US blocks payout to Gulf war veterans The Guardian 11/11/2003 The Bush administration has blocked compensation for US soldiers captured and tortured during the first Gulf war, arguing that the money was now needed for Iraq's reconstruction, veterans' lawyers said yesterday. Seventeen former prisoners of war were awarded nearly $1bn (£600m) in compensatory and punitive damages by a US federal court in July. The awards were supposed to have been paid out of $1.7bn in seized Iraqi assets, but the administration stepped in to prevent them receiving the money on the grounds that it had been confiscated from the Iraqi government in March and was therefore the property of the US government.

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