Headlines for 11-25-07

Israeli army kills three armed Palestinians


Palestinian police boost security in Nablus Palestinian security forces say they are going after "illegal weapons" and the misuse of arms. All factions, they say, will be treated equally in an attempt to end "chaos". The PA has arrested members of several groups, including the Islamic group, Hamas.


Arab states must not meddle in talks with Palestinians, says Israel FM "The Arab world is not supposed to define the terms of the negotiations or be involved in them," 'They are not to make demands. They are to sit pretty and do as we want them to do, just like the US does.'


Sceptical Palestinians see limited Annapolis gains Chief among aspirations for Palestinian voters are economic growth and freedom of movement, both of which they see hampered by Israeli security measures. They also want to see Israel meet commitments to stop Jewish settlement and confiscating land.


Dismissed Palestinian premier demands Arab states to help lift the siege of Gaza Palestinian Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, whose party was outlawed by President Mahmoud Abbas in June, demanded the Arab leaders to take the initiative and help lift the Israeli siege, being imposed on Gaza over the past five months.


We have not given up The Palestinian people will not yield to the west's cynical pressure on them to surrender


Army shells northern Gaza, five Palestinians injured Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that five Palestinian civilians were injured when the Israeli army shelled homes in Beit Hannon city located in the northern part of the Gaza Strip on Sunday afternoon.



Arabs give U.S., Israel benefit of doubt at Annapolis Israel and the United States have also emphasised the importance of bringing in Arab governments that do not have relations with Israel, raising suspicions that the real aim is to promote "normalisation" while giving nothing in return. Bingo. Israel wants its cake (occupied Palestinian territory) and wants to eat it too (Arab recognition).


Boost for Middle East summit as Syria joins in Confirmation that President Bashar al-Assad is sending his deputy foreign minister means that the Maryland meeting will be the best-attended Middle Eastern summit since the Madrid conference in 1991 - although the stakes are higher and expectations far lower.


Hip-hop makes a hesitant return to Gaza Gaza hip-hop is more akin to the early political rap of Public Enemy, N.W.A and Tupac.


Israel Lulled by the good life by far the biggest concern in political circles is now Iran, or "the state from which all evil stems", as one minister put it. Security officials and politicians say Tehran will have acquired the technology to produce a nuclear weapon by the end of 2009 at the latest. They work from the assumption that either the US or Israel will launch a military attack before then in order to stop the nuclear programme.


Recipes of the West Bank Olive Harvest


Posing for peace a snap Israel's strategy has long been to talk about talks about peace while steadily continuing to expand by building settlements on the West Bank and the former Syrian Golan Heights. Israeli settlements and military bases now occupy over half the entire West Bank and its best farmland and water resources. ......The Bush administration's goal is to get Olmert to agree to a feeble Palestinian mini-state made up of tiny cantons isolated by Israeli-only roads, led by U.S. and Israeli appointed yes-men who will keep their more volatile compatriots in line.



Archbishop thrown into row over US Middle East policy


Mission impossible?


Canadian students reject anti-Israel motion More than two-thirds of the voting plenary Nov. 22 at the federation's annual congress rejected the call for an investigation into the feasibility of a boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel. The motion was proposed by the Ryerson Student Union


A Moral Witness to the 'Intricate Machine' Israel, like any society, has violent, sociopathic elements. What is unusual about the last four decades in Israel is that many destructive individuals have found a haven, complete with ideological legitimation, within the settlement enterprise. Here, in places like Chavat Maon, Itamar, Tapuach, and Hebron, they have, in effect, unfettered freedom to terrorize the local Palestinian population; to attack, shoot, injure, sometimes kill?all in the name of the alleged sanctity of the land and of the Jews' exclusive right to it.



Cherie Blair visits West Bank to encourage Palestinian businesswomen


Three American comics find Islamic audiences laugh, too the three comedians ? Egyptian-American Ahmed Ahmed, Palestinian-American Aron Kader, and Iranian-American Maz Jobrani ? have been playing packed houses in the US and are now on their first Middle Eastern tour.


U.S. Opposition Rises to Mideast Arms Sale The pair said they have "serious concerns" that the precision guidance kits could "fall into the wrong hands" and be used against U.S. troops in the Middle East or against Israel.....the arms sale to Saudi Arabia is generating the greatest concern in Congress.


Explosion wounds five at Nahr al-Bared Five Palestinians were injured in an explosion set off by teenagers scavenging for scrap metal in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday, a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokeswoman said


From rappers to the religious, Jerusalemites consider city's future ahead of US peace summit


Golan Heights settlers shrug off U.S. peace summit despite Syrian participation Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, though its sovereignty is not internationally recognized. Because the Golan Heights is Israeli-OCCUPIED territory, and those civilian settlements built therein are a violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (war crimes). It is so nice for the Associated Press to omit this fact, thus keeping Americans in the dark as to the true nature of Israel's (unlawful) behavior.


Can Rice save her legacy with 'Hail Mary' pass on Mideast?


Pray for success of Annapolis conference, Pope urges Pope Benedict on Sunday called for a "just and definitive" solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, asking the world to pray for the success of the Annapolis conference.


Australia's Howard swept from power Some analysts have speculated that Labor?s support for Israel may waver at the United Nations. However, Rudd has declared that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be tried at the International Court of Justice for his genocidal declaration to ?wipe Israel off the map.?