Headlines for 05-04-08

Anti Wall demonstration in a Bethlehem village, two Palestinians injured


Palestinian cancer patient dies while waiting for Israeli entry permit A Palestinian father of six who was diagnosed with a brain cancer died at Gaza's Shifa Hospital on Wednesday while waiting for an entry permit to Israel, where he was set to undergo brain surgery and receive chemotherapy treatment at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.


Jenin: the Israeli army kidnaps five children


The Israeli army invades Bethlehem and kidnaps one civilian


B'Tselem: IDF probe into death of Gazan family not enough A B'Tselem investigation also counters the IDF's official version. It reveals that an IDF missile fired at three gunmen, hitting them and another bystander. About a minute later another missile was fired at a fourth guman, who was standing near the Abu Muataks' front door, and killed him and the five family members.



Two Italians injured, one Palestinian kidnapped as Israeli settlers attack Tuwani


Newsweek: 'Our Dreams Are Dead' To spend a week among the Palestinians in the West Bank, as I recently did, is grounds for antidepressants. Not half enough has been written about what is going on there. The violence in Gaza gets almost daily press?more border attacks and rockets launched into Israel, a new retaliatory body count (including, just this week, a mother and four young children killed during an Israeli operation in northern Gaza)?but the slow suffocation of the Palestinians in Jerusalem, in Bethlehem, in Ramallah, in every village in the West Bank, gets scant attention A refreshingly honest piece by Newsweek.


U.S. envoy cuts short Hebron trip after clash with settlers One of the rightists is reported to have driven his jeep into the convoy accompanying General William Fraser. Subsequently, one of the vehicles in the convoy heavily collided with the jeep, according to Israel Radio.


Israel told to halt West Bank settlement After meeting in London, ministers from the "Quartet", which comprises America, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, made a series of demands on Israel.....But Israeli officials said that they would continue to build homes inside existing settlements, which they describe as "natural growth", not "expansion". The answer is simple: the US must cut off all aid to Israel, and that includes the aid of the US veto of anti-Israel/pro-justice resolutions at the UN Security Council.


Lebanon Palestinians to march on border More than 100,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon are expected to march toward the border with Israel on May 14 in the context of the Palestinian Authority's plan to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Israel, PA officials told The Jerusalem Post Thursday


High prices force U.N. to cut Palestinian refugees's food aid Rising prices and funding shortages have forced the United Nations to stop providing emergency food aid to more than 13 percent of the 750,000 Palestinian refugees it feeds in Gaza, a U.N. official said Friday.


John Mearsheimer Eviscerates the 'Times' Review of '1948' It is also worth noting that there were Jews living peacefully in the area we call Palestine before the Zionists began moving there from Europe. Moreover, there was little resistance to the first Jews who came to Palestine in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The resistance appeared when the Arab population came to understand the Zionists' agenda.



Are these Syrian nuclear pictures faked? Doubts about their authenticity have been raised by Professor William Beeman, head of anthropology at the University of Minnesota, who has had a long involvement with the Middle East.
He posted on a Los Angeles Times website a note received from a "colleague with US security clearance" pointing out "irregularities". The unnamed colleague said a picture taken before the bombing looked as if it had been digitally enhanced, noting that the lower part of the building, the annexe and the windows pointing south appeared much sharper than the rest.


Extremist Jewish organization resurfaces in Canada Like an aging group of retro rocker musicians, the extremist Jewish Defense League (JDL) resurfaced in Toronto recently after a decade of dormancy, trying to look a little more mainstream.


Al-Tanf camp: Trauma continues for Palestinians fleeing Iraq


Irish Christian leaders barred from holy site in Jerusalem When the group made an unscheduled visit to the Western Wall, a Jewish worshipper confronted them, objecting to their crosses. A security guard agreed that the group could not approach the wall-- the remaining section of the old Temple-- unless they agreed to remove their crosses. The clerics refused to do so.


Schwarzenegger to authorize release of 30 Israeli prisoners Attorney says leaders of California's Jewish community behind governor's decision to allow prisoners to serve remainder of their sentences in Israel


Fatah says it will take over security at all Palestinian refugee camps Fatah's security chief in Lebanon says his faction will extend security control over all Palestinian camps in order to prevent the rise of Islamist radical groups such as the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah Islam, whose conflict with the army last summer destroyed the northern Nahr al-Bared camp.



Israel's war against the hospice of the Daughters of Charity continues In 1974, Jerusalem's Mayor at the time, who was notorious for his continuous efforts to transfer Christian Church properties to Israeli hands, both public and private, pressurised the Mother Superior to sign a contract of sale of part of the property of the "Hospice" to an Israeli business. The sale, which was not authorised by the Church, was of course illegal, and the Church demanded that it be declared null and void. Thereupon, the State simply confiscated the property in order to assure its transfer to Israeli business interests. Israel wants the property of non-Arabs too - and will take it using any means available, however lowdown and dirty.