Headlines for 03-10-08

State Dept. awards Palestinian woman Condoleezza Rice conferred an award for courage on a Palestinian woman who advocates for women's rights.


Erekat describes Israeli approval of new settlement houses as "very dangerous matter"


EU to seek solution to siege of Gaza EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss the escalating conflict in Gaza when they meet tomorrow morning in Brussels amid growing international fears of a mounting humanitarian crisis.



Germany opposes renewed Israeli settlement building on West Bank The German government Monday expressed opposition to Israel's plans to build new housing settlements for Israeli citizens in East Jerusalem. Foreign ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said the government was watching the situation with concern, although he noted that violence in the region had declined over the past few days.


Palestinians: Ceasefire in south already in effect Gaza sources claim Israel, armed Palestinian factions reach understanding on ceasefire in area, effective as of this weekend. Only one rocket fired at Negev in last two days, no IDF strikes registered in Strip. PMO denies any deal reached with Hamas


Israel arrests 30 Palestinians in West Bank incursion


50 wounded Palestinians arrive in Egypt for treatment


The Israeli army kidnaps "immune" Palestinian in Ramallah PA sources said that soldiers stormed the office after destroying the doors and firing live rounds through the windows. Troops searched the premises before kidnapping Zaher Hassan, a civil defense officer working in the office.



Fatah: Israel avoids ceasefire to keep up settlements, attacks Israel refuses to create suitable conditions for a ceasefire in order to continue building settlements in the West Bank and increase military pressure on the people of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement said on Sunday.


US citizen dies in suspected suicide The U.S. officials confirm that the man was a U.S. contractor, but have refused to identify him. He worked for a U.S. firm that provides services for a training center for Palestinian police on the outskirts of Amman.



Cheney to tour Middle-East states "His goal is to reassure people the US is committed to a vision of peace in the Middle East," Mr Bush said. BS. It's to keep up the support for any action vis a vis Iran.


US talks push for Mid-East peace Settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. Sitting next to Ms Livni, Ms Rice did not comment directly on the construction announcement, saying only that "US policy on this is well known".
Yes, well why not grow a set and show these scofflaws who's the boss here?...


Israel suspends Gaza air strikes The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has called a halt to air strikes and raids into the Gaza Strip in response to a drop in rocket fire from the territory, his officials said today.


No deal behind lull, Israel and Hamas insist The uneasy calm appears to have been brokered with Egypt acting as an intermediary. A spokesman for Egypt's foreign ministry, Hossam Zaki, said that his government had spoken to both sides.


Bush sends Cheney to meet PM, Abbas US Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to take Jerusalem to task for settlement construction during his visit to Israel and other regional countries next week.....[Bush] also touched on the primacy of the Iranian issues, saying that Cheney would convey that "we fully see the threats facing the Middle East - one such threat is Iran - and that we will continue to bolster our security agreements and relationships with our friends and allies."


Minister Boim accuses IAEA chief of serving as agent for Iran Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim has accused the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog of acting as an agent for Iran and of allowing the Islamic Republic to proceed with its uranium enrichment without international intervention.


The Iran hawks' latest surge . On the Iranian issue in particular, there has long been a close relationship between the Israeli and U.S. governments, and the NIE's disclosure set off a flurry of activity in both countries. It had put hawks in an extraordinary position: If they wanted to keep up the pressure to go after Iran -- using diplomacy and sanctions, or perhaps military force if deemed necessary -- they would now have to discredit the highest-level intelligence report produced by the United States. In Jerusalem, top Israeli leaders convened a meeting to decide how to deal with the problem. One result of the meeting was that when President Bush visited Israel in January, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was tasked with briefing him on Israeli intelligence on Iran, allegedly including some new information, in order to convince Bush to continue applying maximum pressure on Iran.
Whose war is it?


Barrier turns Nu'man village into virtual enclave


FOR ONE GAZAN, THERE IS "NO HOPE" John Ging, the director of U.N. operations for refugees in Gaza put it bluntly: "Almost everybody here is dependent on aid ? 1.1 million people are depending on handouts of food from the U.N. and the economy has completely collapsed."


Jordan condemns Israeli settlement plans


Gaza forced to pump more raw sewage into sea Since Israeli-imposed fuel restrictions began last year, limiting the Gaza power plant's ability to produce electricity, on average another 40,000 cubic metres of untreated or partially treated waste water has been pumped into the sea daily.



Israel refuses to hand body of Jerusalem gunman to family "We continue to hold the body because the family has failed to comply with our requirements to hold a quiet funeral without media and without Hamas flags," Jerusalem district police spokesman Shmulik Ben-Rubi told AFP.


Cheney to discuss peace and oil on Middle East trip Cheney will also continue U.S. efforts to persuade allies to help curb Iran's growing influence in the region.


Israel's Peres welcomed to France, warned on settlements On another major issue, Iran, Peres told reporters after his talks with Sarkozy that the two leaders hold the same view that Tehran represents the "greatest danger" to world security


UN's Ban says Israel should halt settlement plans "Any settlement expansion is contrary to Israel's obligations under the road map and to international law,"


EU 'deplores' Israeli plan to build 400 new homes in east Jerusalem


Israel ends closure of West Bank The lifting of the closure does not do away with restrictions which have been imposed for years on Palestinians entering Israel.


Israel, Hamas 'agreed in principle' on truce: Abbas


Bethlehem: Eight Palestinians including journalist kidnapped by Israeli army


Palestinian Journalists Bloc slams the abduction of a reporter from Bethlehem


Drawing defiance Al-Ali's work, currently being exhibited at a central London gallery, was based in large part on his experience as a Palestinian refugee. And at a time when his people are again making headlines - and in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel and what Palestinians call their nakba ("catastrophe") - it has a poignant relevance.


Israeli at center of Spitzer scandal


Making the most of a sad little zoo it's hard not to draw a depressing sort of parallel between the Gaza Zoo and Gaza itself, enclosed by impassable security walls on three sides and by an Israeli-patrolled sea on the fourth ? the world's largest open-air prison, as it is sometimes called.


Israeli Settlement Plans Imperil Talks The government's announcement is seen as an attempt by Olmert to pacify the pro-settlement, rightwing politicians within his fragile coalition. Israel Radio reported that Olmert approved the settlement construction in the face of threats from the ultra-orthodox Shas party to pull down his government. Work will now restart on settlements in Givat Zeev, an ultra-orthodox enclave in the West Bank, and in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev.


Civilian deaths are indefensible Alan Baker, the Israeli ambassador to Canada, finds that "no reasonable people can be expected to suffer constant, daily barrages of missiles and the deliberate murder of its civilians without the right to defend itself."


With sex and Israeli connection, echoes of McGreevey in Spitzer controversy Mark Brener, the alleged pimp at the center of the prostitution scandal engulfing Spitzer, is an Israeli. I'm wondering if the Israelis are using such nationals in sex-related situations to lure our officials in to situations in which they could be easily bribed.


'Corrie' is compelling glimpse into Middle East


Palestine committee to host major conference in Boston ?Struggle for the Land: Zionism and the Repression of Anti-Colonial Movements,? will focus on Zionism as a colonial-settlement project in Palestine, and its role inside the U.S. and other countries.


Intel assessment: War unlikely in '08


Protestors brave elements to support Palestinian state As the rain came pouring down, about 50 protestors gathered under the canopy of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus Friday to protest recent violence in Gaza and the killing of civilians there.


Boos, cheers for Rove People also walked out throughout the night, including a wave of people after Rove said "it is funny that a guy wearing a Palestinian symbol around his neck would be talking to me about blood on my hands."


McCain, candidacy assured, coming to Israel Days after securing the nomination to run for president of the United States, US Senator John McCain will be coming to Israel, a country with which every American leader since at least Jimmy Carter has found himself entangled. Washington warned us of precisely this type of foreign entanglement in his Farewell Address.


Iran students put bounties on heads of Israel leaders Iranian hardline students have offered rewards totalling a million dollars for the "execution" of three Israeli military leaders over the deadly strikes on Gaza, the student news agency ISNA reported on Monday.


Jerusalem patriarch sends strong message to Palestinian Christians


'My Heart Is in Gaza' A dwindling Christian population battles fear and economic hardship.


Senate Dems target Iran's bank The American Israel Public Affairs Committee strongly backs the letter. No sh#t? Never would've guessed that.