Headlines for 01-06-08

Gaza teenager killed as Israel vows to up army operations


Four killed in Gaza raid Palestinian hospital officials said three of the dead in the al-Bureij refugee camp were civilians - a woman, an 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old youth.


'Santa empty-handed' for Christmas in Gaza Even under occupation, it used to celebrate Christmas openly, though without the pomp and commercialism of the West. In the centre of Gaza City, a giant Christmas tree used to stand adorned with ornaments, and Santa Claus passed out gifts to people in streets. Today, the municipality is unable to afford a tree.........Last night was Christmas Eve for the Greek Orthodox community. It coincided with the miserable news that Gazans will now be forced to live without electricity eight hours a day because Israel is cutting fuel supplies to the territory's only electric plant


Palestinians celebrate the Orthodox Christmas Local Palestinians and international visitors flocked to the city from the early morning. Boy scouts bands from several parts of the West Bank played drums and Scottish bagpipes as they marched through the city


Al-Qaida to Palestinians: Kill Bush Adam Gadahn, an American-born convert to Islam who often has served as Osama bin Laden's spokesman to the West, issued a video statement Sunday in which he addressed Bush's impending Middle East visit. There's something strange about Adam Gadahn. Who would benefit from the Palestinians even attempting to do Bush harm, mewonders?...


Hamas official says Bush's Mideast visit will be about Iran, not peace U.S. President George W. Bush's upcoming visit to the Middle East is not about pushing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward but will instead focus on Iran, a senior Hamas official said Sunday.


Israel warns of Iranian missile peril for Europe ** The Israeli government is furious about the recent US intelligence assessment which concluded that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, and hopes to convince the American leader that work is continuing on a bomb that poses a widespread threat.....He said Israeli officials would warn Mr Bush that failing to take action would have serious consequences beyond the Middle East, where Iran was funding groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza




Report: Israeli military courts automatically convict Palestinians A report by the Yesh Din organization found that in 2006, more than 99.7% of those accused are found guilty, some 95% of the cases end with a plea bargain and the average hearing is just two minutes long.


US President encourages Israel to remove a small number of the 300 existing W. Bank settlements


Gaza Outages Expand After Fuel Cutbacks "The Israeli policy is not against Hamas, it is against us, the ordinary people," said Hassan Akram, owner of a grocery in Gaza City. "We are the only losers. Now it's cold and there's no electricity."


Egypt's Mubarak meets US Congressman amid aid tension Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday met US Congressman Steve Israel, the official MENA news agency reported, amid furore in Cairo over Congress's decision to freeze millions of dollars of its aid.


Nablus Invasion: Worshipers Shot by Israeli Army on Way to Mosque


Soldier moderately wounded in Gaza, 4 others lightly hurt Palestinians in al-Bureij refugee camp fire antitank missiles at IDF forces operating in area, wounding five soldiers


More than 10,000 police will guard Bush during Israel visit In Jerusalem some protests are expected from rightwing groups, particularly from a vocal organisation that lobbies for the release of Jonathan Pollard, who was jailed in the US in 1986 for spying for Israel. Pollard's supporters have taken out adverts on Jerusalem buses in Hebrew and English that read "Bush, free your captive".


Report: FBI translator says Israel planted nuclear 'moles' in U.S. The Times also says that Edmonds had claimed there were "senior officials in the Pentagon" who had provided assistance to Israeli and Turkish agents


Dichter: We must stop the Kassams, even at the cost of the Palestinians "We need to stop this war of attrition at any cost, especially at the price of the Palestinians," Dichter said during Sunday's cabinet meeting.


Haniyeh calls on Sarkozy to help resolve Mideast crisis In a long letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Haniyeh said the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip is "prepared to cooperate with all international efforts to establish security and stability in the region."


Immediate action taken to contain avian flu, officials say


President Abbas attends Greek Orthodox Christmas Mass in Bethlehem


Citing security, state won't release settlement data The government is refusing to publish a databse containing full details about the settlement enterprise in the territories, including outposts and neighborhoods built across the Green Line. In response to a High Court of Justice petition on the matter, the Defense Ministry is arguing that publication would harm state security and Israel's foreign relations. In October 2006, Haaretz revealed the existence of the Spiegel Report - the largest database ever compiled by the state on the settlements, by then special adviser to the defense minister Brigadier General Baruch Spiegel. The report, whose preparation was kept secret, revealed that extensive building was carried out without permits on dozens of veteran settlements - not just outposts - often on privately owned Palestinian land. Shysters.


Israel's false friends By John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt Other Israelis, as well as Jimmy Carter and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have warned that continuing the occupation will turn Israel into an apartheid state. Nevertheless, Israel continues to expand its settlements on the West Bank while the plight of the Palestinians worsens. Given this grim situation, one would expect the presidential candidates, who claim to care deeply about Israel, to be sounding the alarm and energetically championing a two-state solution.


Hardline Israeli settlers plan chilly reception for Bush Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands, among the most divisive issues of the intractable conflict, have been in the spotlight since the two sides revived their negotiations at a US conference in late November. Americans would never tolerate a foreign military seizing their property and violently occupying their land. We already went through that once. ONCE.


Palestine security detains 35 Hamas members Palestinian security forces have arrested 35 Hamas members in the West Bank, including two prominent leaders, the Islamic movement said Sunday.


Israel denies intifada leader could be released for soldier


Olmert vows to escalate Gaza attacks


Declaring Forever War To the extent that a mayor of New York has a foreign policy, it needs to be loudly supportive of Israel. In a speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention, Giuliani struck the "Israel's war is our war" note by claiming that the war on terror began in Munich in 1972. His September 2007 proposal to expand NATO to include Israel is part and parcel of this approach. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Giuliani is "the clear favorite of the party's top Jewish activists."


When is it the Palestinians' turn? Christopher Brown writing from Shatila refugee camp, Lebanon, Live from Lebanon,


Obama supports Israel. Period. Yesterday, writing about Clinton and Edwards, I mentioned the fact that "the constant interest in, and the open sympathy for, Israeli affairs that is required of all important elected officials in the most Jewish of states in the U.S. has had its effect on" Clinton and Giuliani, The Israel Factor favorites. Obama doesn't have this advantage. He isn't from New York and, more importantly, is relatively new to the public sphere. For which country are these candidates campaining?


The AIPAC Spy Trial: A Case of Prosecutus Interruptus I see I'm not the only one to have lost count of the postponements. The defense deftly delayed on every imaginable ground, and was indulged by a noticeably sympathetic judge, who forced the government to produce top secret information - the very information Israel's AIPAC spy nest had gleaned from sympathizers inside our government. Furthermore, he has granted the defense demand to subpoena top government officials, including Condoleezza Rice.


Israel to receive Bush 'with joy' "Throughout his term, this president has demonstrated great friendship, great concern for Israel's security and full partnership with us on decisive issues vis-a-vis Israel's security and economy, and regarding bilateral relations."


Lieberman threatens walkout over 'core issues' A key partner in Ehud Olmert's coalition government threatened to quit if Israeli-Palestinian talks on "core issues" are held.


'O Little Town' a bit discordant The two paragraphs devoted to her comments about the "fence" saving lives would have been better spent referencing the July 2004 decision by the International Court of Justice that Israel's wall was illegal where it entered Palestinian territory and should be immediately dismantled


Letters to the Editor Christians who romanticize "O, Little Town of Bethlehem" need to face the harsh reality of life under a military occupation subsidized by our own U.S. government.


From Ashland County to the Middle East, in search of understanding The couple supported Palestinian farmers harvesting olives near the cities of Jenin and Bethlehem


IDF soldier illegally enters Bethlehem for the second time in a week For the second time in just over a week, Palestinian security forces apprehended an off-duty IDF soldier who had entered Bethlehem armed with his service-issue M-16 rifle Sunday.


Speech axed from Brighton church over trouble fears "There are crimes committed on a daily basis against Palestinians. These issues must be elaborated.


Israeli army develops tiny bulldozer for warfare inside Palestinian cities The little machine is designed for rumbling down narrow roads and paths in the closer quarters of Palestinian cities, where old sections are warrens of crowded alleyways between rundown concrete block buildings.......The main innovation, besides its small size, is a firing post for the driver, the article said. The driver can fire in all directions, staving off attacks and «destroying targets,» the article said. Ordinary bulldozers to not allow the driver to open fire.



Russia says it will host forum if Mid-East starts to stabilize - Foreign Ministry Russia remains willing to host an international conference on the Middle East in 2008 but is making "no practical moves to that end" as it is waiting for developments to make clear whether "stability is in the offing in that region," a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.



Abdallah family looks to rise from the ashes "One thing that's really common about most Palestinians is they have a chip on their shoulder," said Mazen, 27, a lawyer in Houston. "They have something to prove. There's always a struggle in their heart, mainly because they don't really have a country for themselves. So there's a struggle in their heart to do something good for everybody, to show that they're a good example from wherever they come from.