Headlines for 12-30-07

Gunfire kills one Palestinian pilgrim, wounds four Medical workers said the pilgrims were hit by Israeli gunfire at the Erez border crossing in southern Gaza.


Middle East conflict toll 'falls' Israeli security forces killed 373 Palestinians, and 131 of these were not involved in hostilities.....Palestinians killed 13 Israelis in 2007 - seven of them civilians........"In addition, Israeli authorities often exploit security threats in order to advance prohibited political interests, such as perpetuating settlements and effectively annexing them to Israel ."


Palestinian political detainee dies due to medical negligence Palestinian sources reported on Saturday that a Palestinian political detainee held in an Israeli detention facility died on Friday night after the Israeli authorities refused to provide him with the needed medical help.


Barak: Anti-terror operations in the Gaza Strip are achieving their goals IDF operations in the Gaza Strip are achieving their goals, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told ministers on Sunday during the weekly cabinet meeting.


Hebron: Israeli army, in search of injured gunmen, lays siege to Hebron hospital The CPTers then made their way to the hospital. Hospital personnel told them that during the blockade the Israeli military refused entry to the hospital to a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance transporting a patient. Israeli soldiers also threatened human rights workers who tried to facilitate entry to the hospital for the patient.


Palestinian pilgrims stuck in Egypt refuse to be moved to camps


Abbas approves new Palestinian central bank chief


EU disavows suspect chemicals seized by Israel The European Union on Sunday denied any connection to bags that Israel said were marked as containing EU aid "sugar" but actually filled with bomb-making chemicals bound for the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.


Olmert warns Palestinians on security after attack Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday ruled out relaxing Israel's grip on the occupied West Bank until the Palestinians rein in militants after a shooting attack killed two off-duty Israeli soldiers.


Hamas claims deadly West Bank shootout "This operation came in response to the assasinations and air strikes against the fighters and resisters in the Gaza Strip, and the assassinations and arrests in the West Bank,"


Hamas raids rival Fatah offices in Gaza Armed men from the Islamist Hamas movement raided the Gaza offices of the rival Fatah movement overnight ahead of a key anniversary of president Mahmud Abbas's party, officials said on Sunday.


PM: Israel won't take security risks until PA fights terror There were conflicting claims of responsibility for the attack from Hamas, which claimed it teamed up with Islamic Jihad, and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Abbas' Fatah. Palestinian officials also said the gunmen may have been criminals caught off guard by the Israeli hikers.


Palestinian: Israel's prisoner committee has no real power for swap deal The Israeli ministerial committee to look into exchanging Palestinian prisoners for a captive Israeli soldier had a low authoritative ceiling that can't secure a swap deal, a Palestinian official said Sunday.


Pollution without borders In some cases, downstream Palestinian towns receive Israeli waste. There are at least 10 transboundary streams in the region, with flows that go both ways. Untreated waste water from the West Bank can even end up flowing via Israel into the Gaza Strip and then the sea.


Israel rejects easing of West Bank curbs


Ashkenazi supports change of criteria for prisoners 'with blood on hands'


PLO official to visit Washington ahead of Bush's Middle East tour The ongoing expansions of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank will be on the top of the agenda when Bush visits Israel and the Palestinian territories, according to Abed Rabbo.


Barghouti: Israel doesn't want peace "Israel has not made a strategic decision to make peace with the Palestinians," Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti said in an interview with the Saudi paper Al Wattan on Sunday.


OPEN LETTER TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS BY THE SURVIVORS OF THE USS LIBERTY it. The power the Israeli Lobby has over you is only slightly less sickening than what is your willingness to bow to their every damned demand. You are as guilty of murdering my shipmates as the Israelis are.


Candidates Keep Their Distance From Bush, aka 'Mr. Palestine' In 2000, right-of-center pro-Israel voters were attracted by his vow to quickly move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, and his determination not to following the footsteps of his father and Bill Clinton into the Mideast peace process swamp


Assad ready for peace? After meeting Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told The Associated Press he believes Assad is ready to discuss peace with Israel. U.S. Rep Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) also attended the meeting.


Olmert oversees east Jerusalem projects Israeli residential construction in eastern Jerusalem will now be subject to Ehud Olmert's approval


Israel's population rises in 2007 Some 5.46 million, or 75 percent, of Israel's citizens are Jewish, and 1.45 million, or 20 percent, are Arab, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics report released Sunday. Another 4.4 percent, or 320,000, are classified as other, including non-Arab Christians and residents who are not registered by their religion.




Democracy: An existential threat? Inspired in part by the South African Freedom Charter [1] and the Belfast Agreement [2], the much humbler One State Declaration, authored by a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international academics and activists, affirms that "The historic land of Palestine belongs to all who live in it and to those who were expelled or exiled from it since 1948, regardless of religion, ethnicity, national origin or current citizenship status."


Israel wants US and EU to snub Durban II Israeli diplomats are quietly working to convince the United States and the European Union to boycott - and defund - a possible follow-up to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism conference in Durban, South Africa.


US Congressmen secure Syria pledge to free dissidents Specter also sounded an upbeat note about the prospects for movement on the peace process between Syria and Israel which has been frozen since 2000, saying it was now generally accepted that Israel would have to return the Golan Heights which it seized in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981.


Palestine Is Being Destroyed I am the grandson of a fifth- generation Palestinian Jew. My grandfather, born in the Old City of Jerusalem, emigrated to the United States early in the last century. I am a proud Jew, loyal to my tradition and to my people. Zionism was as much a part of my religious upbringing as praying in the synagogue and observing the Jewish holidays. But I am strongly opposed to the policies of the state of Israel toward the Palestinian people, policies supported by the U.S. and by many of my fellow Jews here in the United States Mr. Braverman is a brave soul. God bless him and those like him.


A disturbing note in Bethlehem story the real question for all of us on the delegation and many others is why the Globe felt the need to consult Kaufman. If "balance" is the issue, then I trust that the next time anyone expresses views that are uncritical of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians, the Globe will consult a member of our delegation or of one of the several Boston-area groups concerned with Palestinian rights.


Special Palestinian Envoy Visits Cuba


Releasing Palestinians hopeful sign I read the article about Israel releasing 441 Palestinian prisoners as part of a goodwill gesture (Erie Times-News, Nov. 20). I do agree that is a goodwill gesture, but not when there are about 11,000 Palestinians still being held in Israeli prisons.


Israel may get 'super-cannon' ISRAEL is trying to buy a super rapid-fire cannon from America to protect strategic installations from primitive Palestinian rockets.


France to halt links with Syria Links will be restored only when France has proof that Syria is not blocking progress towards installing a consensus president in Lebanon, Mr Sarkozy said.


Letter: Pro-Israel stance is harmful to U.S. Americans are paying attention and becoming increasingly critical of our Middle East foreign policy, especially our problematical relationship with Israel.


Make peace not division, say Jerusalem church heads


Rice Compares Israeli Occupation to Infamous US Segregation Abe Foxman of America's Anti-Defamation League and other apologists for Israel scream at ex-President Jimmy Carter for attacking West Bank Israeli apartheid. And Haaretz says that American Zionist ultras are dumping on Rice for using the s-word, which, if it sticks to Israel, will ultimately be fatal for Zionism in the US.


IDF soldier gets prison sentence for entering Bethlehem An Israel Defense Forces soldier arrested by the Palestinian police on Saturday upon entering Bethlehem was sentenced Sunday to 28 days in military prison


Mubarak, Sarkozy urge Syria to help solve Lebanon's crisis Both leaders agree to mobilize the necessary political and economic support for the Palestinian National Authority to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people and to provide the proper atmosphere for serious negotiations to achieve their aspirations to set up an independent state, Mubarak said


Can't silence foes of intolerance I wondered exactly how long it would take other Bee readers to assail this position, as always happens when anyone openly embraces the Palestinians. The answer: nine days ("Admit you want Israel's destruction," Dec. 14).