Palestinians dismiss Sharon claims of secret talks
Houston Chronicle, December 7, 2002
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his government had been "secretly" negotiating with Palestinians other than Yasser Arafat, but a key aide to the Palestinian leader called the claim "baseless."

Palestinians: Israel Faked Gaza Al Qaeda Presence
Bradenton Herald, December 7, 2002
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinian Authority accused Israel's Mossad spy agency on Saturday of setting up a fake al Qaeda cell in Gaza so that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could justify Israeli attacks in Palestinian areas.

IDF kill Islamic Jihad man near Jenin
Jerusalem Post, December 6, 2002   
A man identified by the IDF as an Islamic Jihad terrorist was killed in the village of Silat al Hartiyeh, west of Jenin, Friday evening, Israel Radio reported.

Abrams Back in Capital Fray at Center of Mideast Battle
New York Times, December 7, 2002
"Five years ago, Mr. Abrams wrote a book, "Faith or Fear: How Jews Can Survive in Christian America," which argues against the loss of religious faith among Jews and criticizes intermarriage as a danger to their survival in America. He also urged Jews to make greater common cause with evangelical Christians in rallying support for Israel." -- WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 — Elliott Abrams, a pugnacious conservative and passionate advocate of Israel, is no stranger to Washington's policy wars.

Jenin riddle: Why did an Israeli soldier shoot a British official in the back?
The Guardian, December 7, 2002
Stand where the Israeli army sniper stood and the questions come flooding in.

Al-Qaeda 'forms Palestinian branch'
BBC, December 6, 2002
Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network has set up a branch to help Palestinian militant groups fight Israel, according to a website US officials believe is linked to the organisation, US media has reported.

Hamas and Fatah fighting it out in Gaza
Ha'aretz, December 7, 2002
The tension between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is mounting, as Hamas is trying to demonstrate its power and get better posts for its people in the Palestinian Authority.

Bush tells American Jewish leaders he supports loan guarantees for Israel
Jerusalem Post, December 5, 2002       
WASHINGTON US President George W. Bush met with roughly a dozen American rabbis on Wednesday evening and expressed general support for the prospect of a fresh US aid package to Israel.

Germany refuses to sell Israel armored personnel carriers
Jerusalem Post, December 7, 2002 
German Defense Minister Peter Struck said that Germany would not be able to sell Israel the armored personnel carriers it had requested, as Germany needed all that it had, Israel Radio reported Saturday.

Al-Qaida said eyeing Israeli targets abroad
Jerusalem Post, December 6, 2002   
Al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations are planning new attacks against Israeli targets around the world, security sources said Thursday, confirming media reports that Osama bin Laden's organization may be eyeing Thailand where thousands of Israeli youths travel each month.

Israel criticized for its deadly incursion
Tallahassee Democrat, December 7, 2002
BUREIJ CAMP, Gaza Strip - Ten Palestinians, including two U.N. employees, were killed in chaotic battles that erupted when Israeli troops, tanks and helicopter gunships poured into a Gaza Strip refugee camp Friday, searching for a fugitive militant allegedly involved in a fatal bombing.

UN, EU slam Israel for using excessive force in Gaza raid
Ha'aretz, December 7, 2002
Israel faced international criticism Saturday for its Friday morning army operation in a crowded refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in which ten
Palestinians, including two UN workers, were killed.

10 Palestinians slain in Gaza
Arab News, December 7, 2002
BUREIJ, Gaza Strip, 7 December 2002 — Celebrations for the Eid Al-Fitr holidays were violently cut short yesterday in Al-Bureij, the poorest Gaza refugee camp, by an Israeli Army incursion which killed 10 Palestinians.

EU, UN slam Israel for Friday raid into Gaza that left 10 dead
Jerusalem Post, December 7, 2002 
Israel faced more international criticism Saturday for its Friday morning army operation in a crowded refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in which ten Palestinians, including two UN workers, were killed.

Israeli helicopter attack on Gaza kills two UN workers
The Independent, December 7, 2002
Ten Palestinians were killed yesterday in an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Civilians were among the dead, although Palestinian sources said they believed the majority of victims were armed militants.

UN, EU Slam Israel over Al-Bureij Massacre
Palestine Media Center, December 7, 2002
The United Nations and the European Union have slammed Israel on Saturday for the killing of ten Palestinian civilians on Friday after Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) invaded the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

UN vehicles may be used to smuggle terrorists, IDF says
Jerusalem Post, December 5, 2002   
Amid a worsening rift between the IDF and United Nations relief workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the army has issued a new directive restricting the movement of UN vehicles throughout the territories.

Mideast UN Urges Israeli Restraint
VOA News, December 7, 2002
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is urging Israel to rein in its military, following an Israeli raid in a Palestinian refugee camp that left 10 Palestinians dead, including two U.N. workers.

Jordan condemns 'shameful aggression' of Israeli raid on Gaza
ABC News, December 7, 2002
Jordan has condemned what it called Israel's "shameful aggression" on a Gaza Strip refugee camp on Friday local time, where 10 Palestinians were killed and 19 more wounded.

Middle East: UN's top human rights official urges probe into pattern of serious incidents
UN News Center, December 6, 2002
6 December – Following the killing in Gaza today of ten Palestinians, including two United Nations relief workers, the top UN human rights official called for an Israeli probe into the recent pattern of serious incidents in the Middle East.

Donor countries pledge over $47 million to UN agency helping Palestine refugees
UN News Center, December 4, 2002
4 December – Fourteen donor countries today pledged over $47 million to finance next year's budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Deploring civilian death toll of Israel's raid, Annan urges Government to restrain military
UN News Center, December 6, 2002
6 December – Reacting to Israel’s deadly raid in Gaza today which left ten people dead, including two United Nations aid workers, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged that country’s Government to restrain its military and act in accord with international humanitarian law.

2 UN workers among 10 killed in Israeli raid on Gaza camp
UN News Center, December 6, 2002
6 December – Ten people were killed, including two staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), during an Israeli military assault today which drew immediate condemnation from UN officials.

Middle East: UN agency protests Israeli's tighter restrictions on aid worker movement
UN News Center, December 4, 2002
4 December – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) today lodged a formal protest with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs against a new travel restriction imposed on international staff in the Gaza Strip.

Fatah gunmen attack homes of Hamas leaders
Jerusalem Post, December 5, 2002     
Hamas said Fatah gunmen fired automatic weapons at the homes of Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Ismail Abu Shanab, and Dr. Ahmed Bahar, all senior Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip, on Thursday. No one was hurt.

Palestinians Reject Al-Qaida Talks Claim
Gainesville Sun, December 7, 2002
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his government had been "secretly" negotiating with Palestinians other than Yasser Arafat, but a key aide to the Palestinian leader called the claim "baseless."

Sharon says US aid on its way
Jerusalem Post, December 7, 2002     
American aid in the form of loan guarantees and funds earmarked for security will be arriving "in the very near future," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told a gathering of newspaper editors at the annual "Kaf-Tet B'November" press conference at Tel Aviv's Beit Sokolow on Thursday.

Palestinian elections unlikely to go ahead in January
Jerusalem Post, December 7, 2002
On Saturday Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat met with members of the Palestinian election committee, who said the feasibility of Jan. 20 elections was looking increasingly unlikely.

Jihad man killed, would-be suicide bomber arrested in W. Bank
Ha'aretz, December 7, 2002
Border Policemen shot dead a wanted Islamic Jihad militant early Saturday morning near the West Bank city of Jenin. The man was identified as Abdel Hadi Omar, 21.

Arafat rejects Sharon's claim of secret talks with Palestinians
Ha'aretz, December 7, 2002
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat dismissed Saturday Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's claim of secret discussions with Palestinians officials other than Arafat, calling it "a big, big, big, big lie."

Iraq unveils weapons dossier
BBC, December 7, 2002
Iraq has shown a massive dossier on its weapons programme to journalists, as it prepares to hand it over to United Nations inspectors.

Iraq weapons declaration must be 'credible' to avert war: Bush
ABC News, December 7, 2002
In a radio address made on the day Iraq is to disclose a list of weapons of mass destruction to the United Nations, US President George W Bush has warned the declaration must hold up to US scrutiny if Baghdad is to avoid military attack.

UN awaits Saddam's declaration
The Guardian, December 7, 2002
"The latest rumour is that it's going to weigh 60 kilograms," one security council diplomat said yesterday, a little apprehensively, as UN officials waited in New York for the arrival of the Iraq's written declaration on weapons of mass destruction.

US ready to raise stakes on Iraq arms
The Guardian, December 7, 2002
The US government is planning to demand a radical overhaul of the UN weapons inspections regime if Iraq today denies in a formal declaration that it possesses weapons of mass destruction.

US pressing UN experts to spirit scientists out of Iraq
Arab News, December 7, 2002
WASHINGTON, 7 December 2002 — The Bush Administration is pressuring chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to spirit key Iraqi weapons scientists out of Iraq and offer them asylum in exchange for telling what they know, US officials said yesterday.

'Please God, make America collapse'
The Guardian, December 7, 2002
Mohammad Fadal al-Samarai, a Muslim cleric in central Baghdad, left his congregation in no doubt yesterday about how they should assess mounting US pressure on Iraq.

U.S. Senators Visit Kurd-Controlled Iraq
The Guardian, December 7, 2002
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) - Two U.S. senators met Kurdish politicians and victims of Saddam's regime in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq on Saturday, in the highest-level American visit to the autonomous area since it was set up after the 1991 Gulf War.

Iraq Cites No Weapons of Mass Destruction
The Guardian, December 7, 2002
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Iraqi government presented to the rest of the world Saturday a mass of documents detailing its nuclear, chemical and biological activities and formally declaring to the United Nations that it has no weapons of mass destruction.

Iraqi opposition member confirms Baghdad had liquidated al-Mayahi
Arabic News, December 7, 2002
An Iraq opposition member on Friday accused the Iraqi intelligence of killing another Iraqi opposition member who was found strangled in the Lebanese city of Tyre, south Lebanon.

Kuwait arrests four Iraqis entered its territorial waters
Arabic News, December 7, 2002
The Kuwaiti navy has seized an Iraqi boat after it had entered its territorial waters on Thursday at dawn and arrested the four member team.

Analysis: Al-Qaeda takes on Israel?
BBC, November 29, 2002
If, as seems likely, al-Qaeda was responsible for the double attack on Israelis in Kenya, its motive could well be to rally Arab opinion against the "war on terror" declared by US President George W Bush by focusing more sharply on Israel as the target.

Arab League asks Washington to clarify its position on Jerusalem, Palestinian resistance to occupation
Arabic News, December 7, 2002
The Arab League (AL) has expressed its concern over the US voting on Tuesday against the UN Security Council resolution which regards the Israeli Government's decision to considering the city of Jerusalem as a capital for Israel as void, and called on Washington to clarify its position concerning the holy city.

Veteran reporter describes economic decay in Middle East, hope for future lies in trade and middle class
Arabic News, December 7, 2002
The former Middle East correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, Phillip Kurata, says Islamic extremist groups such as al-Qaeda are the result of economic and institutional decay that has been taking place in the region for the past 80 years.

Jordanian opposition calls for government's resignation
Arabic News, December 7, 2002
The Jordanian national forum of political opposition figures and parties called for the evacuation of the government and called on the Jordanian King Abdullah II to appoint a "good government" for national reconciliation instead of the government of Ali Abul Ragheb.

Iran to fingerprint US journalists
Arab News, December 7, 2002
TEHRAN, 7 December — Iran’s minister of culture, in a tit-for-tat measure, has called on police to fingerprint US journalists entering the country, the official IRNA news agency said yesterday.

Hezbollah denies links with Al-Qaeda
Arab News, December 7, 2002
BEIRUT, 7 December 2002 — Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement staunchly denied yesterday Israeli allegations that it has links to Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist network Al-Qaeda.

Lebanese rejections for Sharon's allegations on sheltering al-Qaida members
Arabic News, December 7, 2002
Lebanon strongly rejected allegations by the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon on the existence of member of al-Qaida organization in Lebanon.

U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action in the Middle East: A Six-Year Progress Report
Arabic News, December 6, 2002
As part of its effort to foster peace in the Middle East, the United States has provided humanitarian mine action assistance, to include landmine clearance, mine risk education, and mine survivors assistance, to a number of countries in the region since 1996. This report reviews U.S. aid and its achievements to date.

Israel Warns of Response to Mass Terror
NewsMax.com, December 3, 2002
HERZLIYA, Israel -- The head of Israel's National Security Council said Monday that a "mega-terror attack" threatening Israel's existence would open options for retaliation that hitherto "were unacceptable to public opinion."

War on terror 'not very clever': Malaysian PM
ABC News, December 7, 2002
"For example, you see the Israeli army killing civilians and the world never stops Israel," he said. -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the global war on terror was "aggravating the situation" and that terrorism would remain a threat for a long time to come.

'For us, there is no peace'
The Beacon Journal, December 7, 2002
"We are under curfew and are not allowed out of our houses. Christians cannot attend church in Bethlehem.''  --  Michael Zoughbi is perplexed that he and other Christians cannot freely celebrate Christmas where the Bible says Jesus was born.

Some Palestinians rethinking support of anti-Israel violence
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, December 7, 2002
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- After more than two years of silence, a slowly swelling chorus of Palestinian leaders and opinion-makers says taking up arms against Israel was a mistake and must stop.

Katsav: I will be disappointed if Germany nixes APC request
Ha'aretz, December 7, 2002
President Moshe Katsav said on the eve of a visit to Germany he would be very disappointed if Berlin rejects Israel's request for armored personnel carriers.

Right-ward - and inward
Ha'aretz, December 7, 2002
U.S. Jews moving to the right  -- Breakfast with three rabbis, representatives of three major streams in American Judaism, confirms the rumor that the American-Jewish community is taking a rightward turn - not in Israeli terms, but in internal American terms - toward supporting the Republicans.

Occupation Chronicle Events in Palestine
Palestine Media Center, December 7, 2002
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killed ten Palestinian civilians after invading Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Friday. IOF also killed a deaf child in the northern West Bank City of Nablus.

Malaysian PM says terror threat aggravated by Israeli strikes against Palestinians
Jerusalem Post, December 7, 2002 
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Israel's attacks on Palestinian settlements were aggravating the global terrorism threat, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Saturday.

Ginossar denies claims he knew PA money he managed funded terrorism
Jerusalem Post, December 6, 2002 
Speaking to Channel One's Yoman Shishi Friday night, businessman Yossi Ginossar, 56, a former Shin Bet official and senior envoy to negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, denied allegations made against him Wednesday, that he helped transfer $300 million in Palestinian funds to a Swiss bank and then managed the account for PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied  Palestinian Territories  November 28-December 03 , 2002
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Continued Israeli War Crimes in the OPT and the International Community Remains Silent: 7 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children and an old woman, killed by Israeli forces /  A series of Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas, and shelling of residential areas  /  A failed assassination attempt in Gaza /  Continued Israeli retaliatory campaign against families of wanted Palestinians and those who have carried out armed attacks against Israeli targets /  Israeli forces use Palestinian civilians as human shields during military operations /  A number of Palestinians arrested /  Continued strict siege of the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Stop Israeli violations against handicapped Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, December 3, 2002
Tuesday, 3 December 2002 coincides with the World Day of the Handicapped, on which mankind as a whole has agreed to respect, promote and protect the rights of those people disadvantaged by handicaps.

Labor MKs to Mitzna: Move right
Jerusalem Post, December 6, 2002   
Barely two weeks after he won the party leadership by a landslide, new Labor chairman Amram Mitzna faced a barrage of criticism on Thursday from his party's MKs, who charged that he is too left-wing to attract support from centrist voters.

Ethiopian Airlines to suspend Sunday flight to Israel
Ha'aretz, December 7, 2002
Ethiopian Airlines has suspended the Sunday by-weekly flight to Israel due to Ethiopia's objection to Israeli special security demands.

ANALYSIS: The winds behind Sharon's speech
Jerusalem Post, December 5, 2002   
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's wide-ranging diplomatic speech Wednesday night made major news in Israel as well it should.

video
"The United Nations is demanding answers"
BBC, December 6, 2002

photos
In pictures: Eid celebrations
Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the festival which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
BBC, December 5, 2002