Headlines for 12-17-07

Israeli raids kill Gaza militants At least five Palestinian militants, including a senior Islamic Jihad commander, have been killed in two Israeli air strikes in Gaza


Gaza Strip at risk from sewage lake Funding is not the problem, says Mr Ali. But the project has been held back for three years because of Israel's decision to impose tight curbs on shipments of raw materials and other goods into Gaza.


Army survey criticizes behavior Israel's Channel 2 television news, meanwhile, made public a picture of an Israeli soldier forcing a blindfolded Palestinian detainee to pose with a knife in his hand. Channel 2 blurred the face of the soldier, but said he was smiling in the picture, which evoked recollections of the photographs showing prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.


More than a quarter of Palestinians seek immigration, poll finds More than a quarter of West Bank and Gaza Palestinians or some 27 per cent say they cannot take current conditions any more and seek immigration, a public opinion poll published Monday has found.


Palestinians raise $7.4B in recovery aid Time and again, the world has stood up for the Palestinians. That is, the world except for two countries - the US and Israel. The latter stand in the way of justice.


Palestinian child goes free with prisoner-mother


US Must Reevaluate Its Relationship With Israel by Scott Ritter ** In threatening the world with war because America opted for once to embrace fact instead of fiction, Israel, sadly, has become like a cornered beast, lashing out at any and all it perceives to threaten its security interests......The United States must redefine its national security priorities in the Middle East and position Israel accordingly. At the very least, American aid must be linked to Israeli behavior modification. The standards America applies to other nations around the world when it comes to receiving aid must likewise apply to Israel. Mr. Ritter speaketh my language. My kinda guy :)


Israel to approve new cellphone network for Palestinians Israel controls all frequencies
for cellular phones in the West Bank and Gaza


Hamas: Paris donors conference declaration of war The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza on Monday slammed the conference held in Paris to bolster the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) led by modest President Mahmoud Abbas.


Israeli military kidnaps two from al Far'aa refugee camp


Income drops in Gaza since Hamas takeover-WFP


Annapolis Failed To Address Human Rights Issues The Annapolis summit failed to address human rights issues in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute just as previous initiatives including Oslo failed before it, Donatella Rovera, chief researcher for Amnesty International on Israel and the Palestinians, told The Jerusalem Post Sunday.


Palestinian faction leader expects China's bigger role in resolving Middle East conflicts


Palestine remembered at ANC conference "We are here to create awareness - people are forgetting that apartheid still exists [in Israel],"


U.S., Israel meet to discuss Iran U.S. officials told JTA that John Rood, the assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation, flew to Israel for the negotiations Sunday night. Rood is meeting with Foreign Ministry Director Aharon Abramowitz, as well as officials from the Israeli defense ministry, the Mossad and the Foreign Ministry?s Strategic Affairs Department, according to Ha'aretz......Israeli officials told Ha'aretz that they plan to give Rood their most up-to-date information about Iran?s nuclear program


Australia pledges $45m to aid Palestinian state


Donor nations offer billions to boost Palestinian economy The French President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed that a main priority of the event would be to provide immediate support "to the entire population of the Palestinian territories", including Gaza, whose "prolonged isolation carries huge political, economic and security risks". He also urged Israel to lift the travel restrictions against the Palestinians, imposed for security reasons, saying that such a move was in Israel's own "best interests".


Donor nations pledge billions for Palestinians


Rice: Hamas to blame for Gaza conditions US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday militant Palestinians, not Israel, are to blame for deteriorating conditions in the sealed-off Gaza Strip Wow.


Iran to Azerbaijan: Show proof for claims of spying on Israel Tehran on Sunday demanded that Azerbaijan provide evidence to back up the convictions of more than a dozen people found guilty of passing information about Western interests to Iranian intelligence.


Fatah says Hamas responsible for escalation of violence in Gaza


Experts warn major Israel quakes fast approaching


Fatah armed wing in Nablus freeze attacks against Israel


Arab postage stamp launched to support Palestinians


UN's Ban calls for steps to to revive Gaza economy UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday asked international donors gathered for a one-day conference on Palestinian aid for urgent action to revive the deadlocked economy of the Gaza Strip.


Abbas urges Israel to stop settlement expansion


Quartet voices concern over Israeli settlements


How is the European Commission responding to the needs of the Palestinians


Israel to allow building in settlements A senior Israeli official said: "America doesn't have to approve or not to approve if we are doing something that we think, as a sovereign state, we should do." Cut the aid to these rogues. See how they like them apples.


Israeli Arab gets life for killing soldier An Israeli Arab was sentenced to life in prison for the politically motivated murder of a soldier.


No papal visit to Israel in '08 Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi in a briefing to reporters cited the "general situation of pacification" as the reason for the delay, as well as unresolved bilateral issues with Israel. Lombardi appeared to be referring to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian fighting, as well as the Vatican's request for more lenient Israeli entry regulations for Catholic clergy from Arab countries.


Muslim leader addresses Reform biennial She also said American Jews need to understand Muslim concern for the Palestinians and not assume it stems from anti-Jewish sentiment.


Barenboim slams Israel over border spat Conductor Daniel Barenboim criticized Israel on Monday for preventing a Palestinian musician from entering the Gaza Strip for a concert.


Jerusalem Diary: Monday 17 December Suleiman Jacir may have been from a prominent Bethlehem family, but he also could easily pass for a Sephardic Chief Rabbi. My Palestinian friend did not blink: "We are all cousins, after all," he pointed out.



Bethlehem profits from peaceful Christmas


Church leaders urge Middle East peace


'Iranian threat not understood' Defense officials said recently that Gantz's new position would be of extreme importance for Israel in the coming years, ahead of possible military action against Iran and an American withdrawal from Iraq that could have potentially detrimental consequences for Israel.


Canada joins world in rallying to aid of Palestinians at donor conference "It is hard to see how the Palestinians can make reasonable progress without improved access in their territories," said Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, a conference co-chairman.


U.S. security envoy to hold talks in Israel


A Christmas Message from the Bishop of Lichfield The Christmas card from the Archbishop of Canterbury this year is a photo of a little boy and a little girl, dressed as Mary and Joseph for a nativity play and holding hands. That normally makes for a cheerful card, but these two are Palestinian children from a primary school in Bethlehem and their solemn expression is difficult to read


Dichter: Mourning Nakba harmful for Arab sector Kadima, he added, rejects any kind of radicalism: "Any talk of transferring Israeli-Arab citizens to the Palestinian Authority is nothing but pure nonsense."


Kuwait to reiterate support for the people of Palestine


Dr Balaji attends Paris conference on Palestine Singapore will design a US$700,000 technical assistance package administered by the Singapore Cooperation Programme as part of its support for the Palestinian people.


Living In Bethlehem Today


Linkage of two conflicts key to peace in Mideast The long-running struggle between Israel and the Palestinian people "is the mother-of-all grievances" for many in the Muslim world ? and the United States' backing of Israel is the root cause of the antagonism that many in the Muslin world harbor for this country, Levy argues......Last month, Levy helped draft an open letter from a bipartisan group of U.S. foreign policy experts to President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It urged them to back a peace agreement that returns Israel to its 1967 borders and creates an independent Palestinian nation. It also called for Jerusalem, which both the Palestinians and Israelis claim, to serve as the capital of both states.


Israeli Restrictions Leave Palestinians With Less Animals For Sacrifice


Darwish: Palestinian state will bring Muslim recognition of Israel Sheikh Abdullah Nimr Darwish, the founder of Israel's Islamic Movement, says the Muslim world, including Hamas, will be willing to negotiate recognition of the State of Israel only after a Palestinian state is created.


West Bankers Israel and the Palestinians must make the most of donors' new funding pledges.


Israel, Palestinians say joint solar power projects possible


'O little town of Bethlehem how troubled we see thee lie'


As Ethiopian aliyah nears end, advocates push for 8,500 more Israeli officials? insistence on a cap underscored fears that Ethiopians with dubious claims to Jewish ancestry would exploit the system to escape Africa?s desperate poverty for a better life in Israel.