Headlines for 12-10-07

Israeli strike kills Gaza militant A Palestinian gunman was killed and at least two others were wounded by an Israeli missile strike in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, militant sources and medics said.



UN: Gazans need hospital access A number of Palestinians have died in Gaza after not receiving the proper treatment, according to the World Health Organization......The UN also appealed to Israel to resume full energy supplies to Gaza saying shortages are directly affecting the territory's health system.


ISA prevents Gazan heart patient who refused to collaborate from entering Israel for treatment, Nov. 2007


Turkey is committed to Palestinian industrial project


Hamas denies Egyptian invitation to hold talks with Fatah in Cairo


Egyptian-Saudi efforts to restore dialogue between Fatah and Hamas


Hamas: Palestinian security forces arrest six Hamas members in the West Bank


ICRC calls for immediate resumption of family visits for Gaza residents to Israeli prisons The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urges the Israeli authorities to authorise the prompt resumption of visits for families from Gaza with their relatives detained in Israeli prisons.


Egypt finds explosives likely destined for Gaza Egyptian police confiscated 500 kg (1,100 lb) of explosives in northern Sinai on Monday which were probably destined for Gaza, a security official said.


Israeli forces kidnap one from Al Thahriya


A booby-trapped police car blows up in Gaza city


Joint Chiefs chairman visits Israel Mullen, who has visited Israel before, voiced understanding for the country's security concerns in a speech last month. "I think how Israel thinks and views the world is a very important consideration for us in the United States, and certainly from my perspective as a military leader," he said.
I fail to see it that way, Admiral. Frankly, I don't think I'm the only one.


EU criticises Israel settler plan A senior EU official has criticised an Israeli decision to build more houses in occupied East Jerusalem, joining the US in condemning Israel.


Hamas to Rice: We want dialogue with US In an open letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Yousef, who serves as senior political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said that his movement did not have any "ideological arguments" with the West. It was an interesting letter, based on the JP's report here. Quite interestingly, it got little if any mention in the mainstream US press. Wonder why? Because they don't come across as the bloodthirsty monsters that Israel (and their US cohorts) have made them out to be?


EU to assist 40,000 needy Palestinian families


Rice expects final draft of UN sanctions resolution against Iran by Tuesday Meanwhile on Monday Rice said she hoped Israel's plans to build homes in a contested Jerusalem neighborhood would not "cloud" peace talks with the Palestinians and cautioned that time was running out to end the conflict.


Palestinians warn Israel on settlers before talks Palestinians warned on Monday they might boycott peace negotiations starting this week after Israel defied Washington and other international sponsors of the process by planning new homes on occupied land. When the world said they'd like to see Middle East PEACE, Israel thought they meant PIECE as in, another PIECE of Palestine. 'Don't mind if we do.' (Look at the maps, just who is pushing whom 'into the sea'?)


UK pledges aid to Palestinians if peace progress The government on Monday said it will give the Palestinian Authority $500 million in aid if peace moves prove successful.


Bush tells Jewish leaders he will visit Israel in Jan Israeli news media said Bush would reassure the Jewish state that Washington stood firm against Iran's nuclear program despite a new U.S. intelligence report, disputed by Israel, that Tehran had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.


UN agencies call for Gaza fuel supplies to be restored "The World Health Organisation and UNRWA (the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees) express their deep concern on the combined impact of the lack of electricity supply and fuel shortage on the delivery of health services,"


WHO concerned over 'intolerable' Gaza isolation


Israel Police to establish local 'FBI' unit Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said during the weekly cabinet meeting that Israel has seen a major increase in the use of weapons by members of the major crime syndicates, including explosive devices and grenades.


CCR Argues Appeal of Case Charging Former Israeli General With War Crimes in Attack On United Nations Compound In December 2006, Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the case, stating that Ya'alon could not be sued for the shelling of the UN compound.......Lebanese civilians who were unable to leave the south fled to UN compounds; more than 800 civilians ? mostly women, children, and the elderly ? had sought refuge in the UN compound in Qana. The IDF then targeted the compound, killing more than 100 civilians and injuring even more.


Drummond: End ignorance of Mideast geography


Israel clears settlers from West Bank outpost The youths were taken off the hill near the southern city of Hebron without incident, it said.


Israelis, Palestinians mates in 'football' The team, formed by the Israel-based Peres Center for Peace, will compete in the Third International Cup, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of the distinctive Australian sport that is a cross between Gaelic football, American football and rugby.


Defense Min.: Israel now world's fourth largest weapons exporter Defense Ministry legal adviser Ahaz Ben-Ari said an important issue covered in the new law is Israel's ability to supervise international mediation of defense equipment acquisitions and sales between Israelis and foreign sources abroad.


Damascus Diary: Monday 10 December Arab culture does not flourish easily in the occupied territories. In Damascus, it is in full spate.


israel summons US Chairman of Joint Chiefs to Tel-Aviv to explain himself israel doesn't mind if the US disagrees - as long as we do what they want, which is why Mullen was summoned to israel and why George W. Bush will follow.


Our view: Andover's speakers policy makes sense There is nothing wrong with exposing students to controversial views - as long as opposing viewpoints are also presented. But a pro-Israel counterbalance to Wheels of Justice was not part of the teachers' original plans. That smacks of indoctrination, not education. The Eagle Tribune of MA is a pro-Israeli news outfit. They need 'balance'. Strange that there is never this talk on their part for the opposite POV when it's pro-Israeli speakers that are doing the talking.


"TREASON ON THE HIGH SEAS" The captain had given the order to abandon ship, as it appeared we were about to roll over. There were 3 life rafts left that were floatable. We put them over the side so we could put our most severely wounded in them to try to save their lives. The torpedo gunmen would have none of that and blew 2 of them out of the water. .....In many ways, America today is the USS Liberty after that 2 hour attack taking place 40 years ago. We are badly hit and stand the chance of sinking into the abyss with everyone being lost forever unless something is done immediately.


850 Rabbis Emergency Chanukah Message to President and Mrs. Bush: Don't Visit Israel Now, Jews will Suffer! "While the Olmert Government is authorizing the Palestinians to receive 50 armored vehicles, 1,000 rifles and two million rounds of ammunition; concomitantly the Israel Defense Forces are disarming hundreds of thousands of settlers, thus making them, G-d forbid, sitting ducks or dead ducks. The horror. Hey, I've an idea: why not get these illegal squatters back across the Green Line into Israel proper? Nahh, nahh. Too easy.


Russia wants its Jews back Russia reportedly is trying to lure back Russian Jews who immigrated to Israel.


San Mateo shop owner wins hearts of clientele The Palestinian native's Spanish isn't great, but he gets a lot of mileage out of the words he knows and his warm, friendly demeanor.


Artists add protest work to Bethlehem's wall Led by the enigmatic British artist known as Banksy, painters from around the world are adding works daily to the walls around Bethlehem in an attempt to draw attention to the impact the separation barrier has had on life in the Biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ .


Visit by Japanese industrialists expected to yield enhanced ties Ties between Israel and Japan are likely to be enhanced as an outcome of an intensive three-day visit by the high-powered Kioi-Kai group.


Economic Path to Peace: Loan fund could boost Palestinian prosperity


Bush Team Snubbed 'Grand Bargain' on Iran's Atomic Work in 2003 Parsi's book is the more scholarly and ambitious of the two, tackling the complex question of Israel's role in what has become a triangular relationship. As the only non-Arab nations in the region, Israel and Iran may be doomed to a rivalry that has more to do with power politics than ideology, he argues.


Palestinian Leader Requests Vatican Presence in Peace Talks Shawqi Jabriel Armali, director of the office of representation to the Holy See of the Palestine Liberation Organization, asked Benedict XVI for an "active" Vatican presence in Middle East peace talks.


Stuck in Limbo: Palestinian Refugees of Lebanon


Pray for Holy Land Christians at Christmas, Urges Cardinal Foley Cardinal John Foley is urging believers to live spiritually close to Christians in the Holy Land this Christmas.


Leaders winding up Palestine-Israel interfaith visit The main aim of the visit is to highlight the plight of Palestinian Christians and Churches in the Holy Land.



Rachel Corrie's parents say play 'humanizes' activist daughter My Name is Rachel Corrie, a play about the American activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, has just opened in Montreal with Corrie's parents in attendance.


Rights group asks Mazuz to halt probe into Druze MK who visited Syria


Annapolis Outcome 'Proves Arab Failure' Critics also note that the event was marked by repeated U.S. acknowledgement of Israel's status as a "Jewish state". According to some observers, the application of this term threatens the right of Palestinian refugees to return to what is now Israel, and leaves the door open for the potential expulsion of Israel's Arab inhabitants


Iran, Nukes, and the 'Laptop of Death' ** The pushback against the recent finding [.pdf] by America's 16 intelligence agencies that puts "high confidence" in their evaluation that Iran stopped its covert nuclear weapons project in 2003 has the Lobby going into overdrive ? with (who else?) John Bolton leading the charge, crying "Putsch!" and decrying the NIE as pure "politics." Bolton and his neoconservative co-thinkers are really just echoing the Israelis, however, who have sullenly asserted their own dissent, albeit discreetly enough to maintain the fiction of their own complete lack of influence Now you get to see just how many friends Israel has in the US mainstream media and Congress judging by the amount of airtime they are given and noise they are making in response to the NIE. Per yesterday's news batch, the Israelis rolled out the Holocaust card in response to this NIE. So, it's to be expected that their shills in America are screaming bloody murder. How dare our intelligence community not go along with Cheney and the neocons (and their Israel-centric agenda)? The horror.


Calling on Congress to Stop a War By Scott Ritter ** The ongoing Israeli paranoia about a nexus of nuclear proliferation among North Korea, Iran and Syria, void of any hard intelligence to back it up and yet hyped to the point that an abandoned military warehouse in the middle of the Syrian desert could be pre-emptively bombed, serves as a warning to any who believe that the newly published NIE will, by itself, inject a measure of sanity and objective thinking into a process that has created an ideologically driven self-fulfilling prophesy that no amount of fact and reasoning can make go away......If the newly released NIE on Iran is to have any meaning, then let it be that it triggered a reawakening of the Congress of the United States to assert its authority and responsibility in a time of great need. Another excellent article by Scott Ritter.


Demonstrator on roof interrupts conference As a handful of pro-Palestinian demonstrators with large banners and Palestinian flags chanted slogans outside calling Ya'alon a war criminal, the man climbed to the roof of the five-story Lawyers Guild building and threatened to jump if two Palestinians were not released from a Paris jail.