Headlines for 01-23-08

Israeli fire kills Palestinian in Gaza: medics Ismail Ahmad al-Attar, 50, was killed by gunfire as he worked in his fields in the northern town of Beit Lahiya near the border with Israel, they said.


UN: Despite Israel's promises, West Bank barriers have increased A United Nations report released Tuesday shows that there has been a six-percent rise in the number of barriers in the West Bank, despite pledges by Israel to reduce this amount


Jews break down wall, escape the Warsaw Ghetto Play on words. You get the point.


US speaks to Egypt about its 'concern' over Gaza border


The Return of Dick Cheney by Philip Giraldi ** One would have thought that both Israel and the United States, not to mention Mahmoud Abbas, would have finally realized that there is no military solution to Hamas in Gaza, but the newer, more robust attitude is a product of the resurgence of Vice President Dick Cheney and the neocon hawks that surround him. Cheney and his friends are again planning to attack Iran before Bush leaves office.......The resurgence of Cheney and the instability arising from Bush's attempts to reinvigorate the faltering anti-Iran Arab coalition has alarmed several senior members of the American intelligence community who are now backing away from their optimistic assessment that the NIE on Iran ensured the US would not attack Iran.


Ecstatic Palestinians Go on Buying Spree Children bought soft drinks and chocolate, women scooped up cheese and cleaning products, and many men stocked up on cigarettes -- all expensive, or simply unavailable in Gaza because of Israel's shutdown of cargo crossings in June, after the Hamas' takeover. This article paints a portrait of what it must've been like for the Jews to escape from the Nazi ghettos.


Israel: fuel shipment to Gaza to thwart UN Security Council condemnation of Gaza siege


UN Security Council seeks common ground on Gaza Another diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "It really depends on the United States."


Radical Palestinians urge more resistance against Israel Hamas and Syria-based Palestinian radical groups called for stepped up resistance against Israel as they began a three-day "national conference" Wednesday while the Hamas-run Gaza Strip faced a crippling blockade.


Palestinians urge unity at Damascus meeting


US worried about fleeing Palestinians Worried that they might be able to get the basic necessities that they cannot get due to Israel's blockade of Gaza? Worried they might get food? Worried for their wellbeing? F'k no. The US, being Israel's stool pigeon, is worried that they BROKE FREE.


Hamas calls for urgent meeting on Gaza with Abbas, Egypt


Israel to remove largest settler outpost by August


A broken society If you bottle up 1.5 million people in a territory 25 miles long and six miles wide, and turn off the lights, as Israel has done in Gaza, the bottle will burst. This is what happened yesterday when tens of thousands of Gazans poured into Egypt to buy food, fuel and supplies after militants destroyed two-thirds of the wall separating the Gaza Strip from Egypt. It was the biggest jail break in history.


Hebron UPDATE: Hebron Update: 06-14 January 2008


Arab MKs: Israel committing crimes Some 300 representative of the "committee for lifting the blockade on Gaza", including members of Balad and the Islamic Movement, arrived at the Erez crossing and declared that they would try and transfer food to the Palestinian residents.


Israelis kidnap the Governor's consultant to religious affairs in Bethlehem


Gaza: man dies of wounds sustained earlier in the week, while navy attacks fishermen


Blockaded Gazans pour into Egypt to stock up Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he had authorised the crossing of the Palestinians as long as they were unarmed.


Palestinian man dies of wounds sustained in Israeli raid - A Palestinian civilian wounded in an Israeli military raid earlier this month died Wednesday, his family said.



Gaza humanitarian, Israel security needs must be balanced: Rice


Additional flaps with US officials reported at roadblocks American diplomats continued this week to raise the Civil Administration's ire over their continued refusal to open their car doors or windows and present identification when crossing from Israel into the West Bank....."This appears to be a new policy," a senior official said. "What is strange is that only Americans are behaving this way and no one else." They're flipping the bird to you, as only Americans could. :)


Municipality plans 40,000 new J'lem houses The Jerusalem Municipality is planning 40,000 new apartments throughout the city over the next decade, including several thousand flats in various Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem that have already been approved, the city said Tuesday.


Soldiers kidnap a Palestinian Human rights Activist in Nablus The Ahrar Center for Detainees? Studies reported on Wednesday that Israeli soldiers kidnapped Ahlam Jawhar, a Palestinian woman active in Human Rights, as she was leaving Nablus city through the Huwwara roadblock.


National Lawyers Guild Deplores Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza Caused by Israeli Blockade and Fuel Cutoff


Palestinians' donors conference calls for "further efforts" "Efforts by all parties are required for the economic situation to improve: by donors to fulfill rapidly their commitments, by the Palestinian Authority to ensure prompt and full implementation" of the program "and by Israel to encourage improved movement of goods and persons, which, as highlighted by the IMF and the World Bank, is a prerequisite to a full economic recovery."


Hope blooms for Gaza flower farmer who crossed into Egypt "I'm exporting to Egypt for the first time," he said, standing by dozens of boxes from which poked out his pink, yellow and white blooms.


Experience Is to Hillary as 9/11 Is to Giuliani she defended Israel's right to occupy Palestinian territory, not to mention its erection of The Wall. Then she disrespected another international body of law -- the International Court of Justice -- which she denounced for calling on Israel to abide by international humanitarian law.


Foreign Thought Police Target US Candidates Like her neoconservative soul-mates in America, Glick is focused like a laser on the issue of "respectability": it's important that she and her ideological confreres get to determine who's "legitimate," and who ? to put it in Bill Kristol's terms ? is "a crank." This latter category includes anyone who, like Paul, wants to abandon as futile the Bushian project of "transforming" the Middle East into nascent "democracies" while taking out Israel's enemies one by one.


Palestinian Family to Hold Vigil Outside Israeli Embassy Commemorating One Year Death Anniversary of 10-Year-Old Daughter Killed by Israeli Soldier The family of Abir Aramin, a ten-year-old Palestinian girl who was shot by Israeli border police a year ago, will hold a vigil and protest outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC on Thursday, January 24 at 12:00pm.


"Hebron" Is There Peace Now?


Obama: Note Hamas in Gaza resolution Barack Obama wants a U.N. Security Council resolution on the Gaza Strip to mention rocket attacks on Israel.



More Yemenis rally against blockade of Gaza Strip


Canada snubs UN anti-racism conference Canada's delegation to the 2001 conference issued a statement of reservation on its final declaration, which included a statement of concern for the "plight of Palestinian people under foreign occupation." The document stopped short of directly condemning Israel. Canada falls ever further to the burgeoning Israeli lobby of its own.


Livni: Defense trumps reputation Israel's self-defense is more important than finding favor in foreign eyes, its foreign minister said.


Pakistan expresses concern over situation in Gaza


Muslim scholar appeals US visa refusal The US government has accused Ramadan of giving some 1,670 Swiss francs, (about 1,500 dollars) to a charity supporting the Palestinian people which Washington has blacklisted as being close to Hamas militants.


Controversy dogs Rachel Corrie There is no question that the work is biased. It's one woman's view of the issues. Some feel it's not the right view.


Middle East: Region would prefer jaw, jaw to war, war While the US has nudged Israel back to the negotiating table, producing a comprehensive settlement that creates a viable Palestinian state would require the kind of American pressure on Israel that few expect of Mr Bush, who has gone farther than his predecessors in supporting Israeli policies.


American unveils her Middle East experiences in new book "I don't think people see men and women from Palestine, for example, as human beings. Any time they are seen it's always (in the context of) war or conflict and the result of that has been de-humanize people."


Concern over situation in Gaza "In my view, the measures that the Israeli authorities have now implemented against the people of Gaza are unacceptable, and at the same time counterproductive. Everything seems to indicate that the armed groups are coping well and continue to receive money and weapons, whereas the civilian population is suffering. Their situation is steadily deteriorating,"


U.S. must continue to support Israel Let?s remember who attacked whom in 1967. Arab nations gathered forces in an attempt to wipe Israel from the face of the Earth Is the person not privvy to who exactly fired the first shot in the Six Day War? Evidently so, because Israel did so when it preemptively struck Egypt, destroying its air force.


61% - U.S. Muslims Optimistic About Israel Six-in-ten Muslim Americans (61%) say that "a way can be found for Israel to exist so that the rights and needs of the Palestinian people can be taken care of," compared with 16% who say that the rights and needs of Palestinians cannot be taken care of as long as Israel exists.