Headlines for 06-15-08

Hamas set off massive Gaza blast Seven people, including a four-month-old baby were killed in the blast, in Beit Lahiya, in the north of the strip.


Israeli troops kill three gunmen on Gaza border


Gaza death toll climbs to 14 with three Hamas deaths - Summary


Seven wounded in West Bank clashes: Palestinians The fighting broke out when around a dozen Israeli military jeeps surrounded an apartment building in Al-Doha village and closed off nearby roads, according to Palestinian witnesses. Hundreds of Palestinians, mostly young men, massed in the area and hurled rocks at the soldiers, who responded with gunfire and called in another dozen vehicles, including armoured bulldozers, they said......The soldiers later threw rocks back at the protesters, hitting several people, including an AFP photographer whose camera was broken and a photographer from the Reuters news service.



Gaza 'hurt by Palestinian feud' Violence between Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip has badly damaged the territory's social fabric, a senior Hamas official has said.


West Bank poverty pushes boys into work force


Rice says travel permits from Israel are vital Israel subsequently allowed four of seven Palestinians to leave Gaza to apply for U.S. visas but the other three have not received permission to leave for visa interviews at the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, Sari Bashi, the head of the Israeli human rights group Gisha, said


Israeli settlers' attack on Palestinian family captured on video A Palestinian family's brutal beating by Israeli settlers has been captured on video and aired just a week before the UN Security Council is set to consider a resolution condemning construction of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.


Brzezinski Says Bush Should Dissuade Israel From Attack on Iran In an interview on Bloomberg Television's ''Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' Brzezinski said an armed conflict between Israel and Iran would widen to include the U.S. as Iran struck back against American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Hamas sends team to Cairo to discuss Gaza truce The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas sent a delegation to Cairo on Saturday to receive Israel's response to an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire proposal for the Gaza Strip.


Report: 9-year-old boy suffers head injury at anti-security fence rally


Israel to build 1,300 new settler homes in Jerusalem Israel announced on Friday its second settlement project in occupied east Jerusalem this month, enraging Palestinians and drawing criticism from Washington just ahead of a US visit aimed at rescuing the stalemated peace process.


Gaza militants bombard Israel after deadly blast Palestinian militants bombarded southern Israel on Thursday after a Hamas commander's house in northern Gaza was blown up in a blast which killed seven people, including a four-month-old baby.


West Bank attack filmed The BBC has obtained footage of Palestinians being attacked close to a Jewish settlement in the West Bank by a group of masked men wielding baseball bats.


U.N. says Israel restricts Palestinian staff Israel has tightened rules for Palestinian staff of the United Nations who travel in and out of the occupied West Bank, increasing tensions with the world body, internal U.N. emails and aid workers said on Sunday.


New Israeli homes are 'unlawful' Israel is committing war crimes by building civilian settlements in occupied territory.


Gaza prisoners in bid to lift ban on family visits Palestinian prisoners from Gaza held in Israeli jails have launched a legal battle along with their families to lift a year-long ban on visits organised by the Red Cross.


Rice attacks Israel over new settlements plans Even as Rice was issuing her strongest criticism of settlement construction to date, Jerusalem's city council unveiled plans to build 40,000 new apartments throughout the city, including units in east Jerusalem, over the next 10 years.




Palestinians barred from Dead Sea beaches to 'appease Israeli settlers' Palestinians are being regularly and illegally barred from reaching Dead Sea beaches in the occupied West Bank, according to a Supreme Court petition filed by Israel's leading civil rights organisation


Israeli hawks pushing for strikes on Iran "The most likely scenario is that the Israelis will train and prepare as if they are very serious ? and that's part of the bluff to get the U.S. engaged," said John McCreary, a retired intelligence analyst for the U.S. Department of Defense.


How Iran Has Bush Over a Barrel If wasn't clear before it should be now: the Bush Administration can't afford to attack Iran. With gas already at $4 a gallon and rising almost every day, Iran figuratively and literally has the United States over a barrel. As much as the Administration is tempted, it is not about to test Iran's promise to "explode" the Middle East if it is attacked......Israel cannot attack or contain Iran on its own; it needs the full military might of the United States behind it. Which is why Israel is trying to force us - with a kind of blackmail of their own - into yet another Middle East war on their behalf.


UN: Israel restricting our Palestinian staff in West Bank An aid worker said the tightened restrictions had "ratcheted up tensions between Israel and the NGO (non-governmental organization) community."


Bill Presses Iraq To Recognize Israel To the many challenges facing the fledgling Iraqi government, Congress may soon add this: Recognize the State of Israel and establish diplomatic ties with Jerusalem, or else risk losing some of the billions in aid that Baghdad receives from the United States. Wow.


Gaza 'genius' helps besieged city survive a year of Israel's blockade Six months in the conception and making, this prototype conversion of the French saloon into Gaza's first electric car ? powered by an AC induction motor and 38 12-volt batteries under the bonnet and in the boot ? is an engineering triumph in a city starved of almost every commodity, including spare parts.


Report: Protestor suffers suffered live-fire injuries in Naalin rally


Palestinian wounded as Israeli forces fire at wall protesters A Palestinian suffered a severe gunshot wound on Friday when troops dispersed a protest against the Israeli separation barrier in the occupied West Bank, medics and witnesses said.


Fed up residents in the South block 18 food trucks from entering Gaza Strip Supplies to Gaza have been mostly limited to humanitarian assistance and basic staples in the last year, since Hamas's violent takeover forced the closure of the major crossings. But for residents along the Gaza periphery who are fed up with the continued rocket fire, even such basic supplies are too much.



Palestinian videoed settler attack: rights group An Israeli human rights group released video on Friday which it said showed the start of an assault on Palestinian farmers by masked, stick-wielding Jewish settlers. ..... Among those hurt was a 58-year-old woman, said the group, which has provided about 100 cameras to Palestinians in the past year in a project called 'Shooting Back' which attempts to document rights abuses in the West Bank.


Abbas' former Gaza security chief urges reconciliation with Hamas Deposed Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan told The Associated Press he sees no indication that Hamas is willing to give up its hold on Gaza. But he says Abbas' Western-backed government must make visible efforts to heal the schism between the rivals.



Hamas boosts police forces in Gaza with new training programs


Israel releases senior female Hamas official Seven months after being arrested, Hamas' representative to the Palestinian Legislative Council, Dr. Maryam Salah, was released from Israeli custody on Sunday afternoon.


Erekat denies reports on lands exchange deal with Israel Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat denied on Saturday Israeli media reports saying that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators reach an agreement on exchanging territories in the West Bank.


Bush: Stopping Iran key to solving Mideast problems "When you go to the Middle East and you sit in my seat and listen, yes, there's concern about the Palestinian state. But the dialogue has shifted dramatically from 'solve the Palestinian state and you've solved the problems in the Middle East' to, now, 'solve the Iranian issue and you solve the problems in the Middle East'," US President George W. Bush said during an interview with The Observer, published on Sunday. The Israelis, Bush's puppeteers, shifted that dialogue for us.


Israeli soldiers accused of assaulting civilians, assisting arsonists Testimonies given to B'Tselem indicate that residents of the town who reached the site managed to put out most of the fire by themselves, but settlers prevented them from reaching part of the area, which continued to burn.


Four settlers attack the Nawaj'ah family near the Susiya settlement, 8 June 2008


Israel curbs Palestinian building on disputed land Aqabeh, home to 299 people, has never received Israeli construction permits despite many requests, its mayor says. After losing a battle in Israel's Supreme Court in April, the village now lives with the threat of seeing 37 of its 47 structures demolished, according to a U.N. count....On that land are Israel's 121 West Bank settlements, as well as military bases This is not 'disputed' land. It's OCCUPIED land. And Israel has no legal or moral right to build there. The Israelis need to be brought to justice for the incessant war crimes against Palestinians - and Americans.


Egyptian intelligence chief meets Hamas delegation on Gaza truce


Soldier's release not part of Gaza truce: Israeli official


Aid package for Lebanon refugees The Government has allocated 241,000 euro to fund the medical needs of mothers and babies in refugee camps in Lebanon.


Suspicion: Settlers who entered Palestinian village wanted to torch cars


Top airport security expert in Israel to inspect LAX anti-terror measures Israel's top airport security official will make periodic reviews of anti-terrorist measures at Los Angeles International Airport under an agreement signed today during a visit here by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.....City Councilman Jack Weiss, who arranged the Israelis' 2006 visit, said the agreement is believed to be the first ever between a U.S. airport authority and a foreign government. In the United States, federal authorities are responsible for security inside airport terminals.



Left-wing activists, settlers clash in Hebron A tour of the West Bank city of Hebron, organized Friday by the Breaking the Silence group, was cut short after settlers stopped the bus in its tracks upon entering the city.



What should have been said to AIPAC The candidates' fixation on Iran's nuclear program should not obscure the fact that Israel has its own robust nuclear deterrent, which means Iran would be committing suicide if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons


DCI/PS calls on EU to raise child rights issues with Israel


Jordan, Saudi leaders slam Israeli settlement construction


'Israel Lobby' authors in Jerusalem: Ahmadinejad not inciting to genocide "With all due respect, I don't think it is my words that harm Israel, but rather Israel's actions." .....Mearsheimer said Israel's brutal treatment of Palestinians helped fuel terrorism against the United States and that, unlike in Israel, there was no healthy debate on the matter in America.


Rabbi OKs building settlements on Shabbat Ofra Rabbi Avi Gisser's ruling will allow foreign and Palestinian laborers to work seven days a week building new homes in the community located near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in order to complete as many homes as possible before Israel's Supreme Court orders new construction halted.


EU ready to boost Israel ties, wants peace progress Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad wrote to Brussels last month urging the EU not to boost relations with Israel, whose settlements he said were a "flagrant disregard" of Palestinian rights.


Walking in Palestine; Lost land Ugly, ever-expanding Israeli settlements sprawl on the West Bank?s hilltops; great roads splice their way through its undulating, terraced hills; wildernesses have become national parks that are barred to Palestinians; and Arab villages that once blended organically into the landscape are little more than besieged ghettos.



Lebanon sees need for Israeli withdrawal not talks Lebanon poured cold water on Wednesday on Israel's hope that Beirut would follow Damascus in opening peace talks with Israel, saying the Jewish state had to withdraw from what Beirut considers its occupied land.


Palestinians take hard route to Beijing


Barred from Israel


India now party to Israel-US axis: Karat 'The Barack missile scandal is but an example. If our ties continues, it will subvert our won military and security establishment,' he said, referring to the defence deal which is now being probed.


Israel sends envoys to Turkey for Syria talks


Israel offers jailed Lebanese for Hezbollah swap Israel has told Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas via German mediators it would be willing to free jailed Lebanese fighters in exchange for two soldiers abducted in 2006, Israeli security sources said on Sunday.


Israeli cluster bomb kills Lebanese man Hisham el-Ghossein, 39, was killed in the village of Qantara, near the southern town of Marjayoun, after stepping on the bomb while working in his field, the official said.


Bush, French president criticize Iran, Syria Sockpuppets for Israel.


Programming for peace / Israeli hi-tech companies outsource to West Bank


Israel in new Egypt talks on Gaza truce Israel joined a new round of Egyptian-brokered negotiations on a proposed truce in and around Gaza on Thursday after deciding to give the talks one last go while preparing for military action if they fail.


LEBANON: Refugee children chronicle life in camps The picture, along with the 70 others that make up the exhibition, and accompanying book ?Lahza? (meaning 'glimpse' in Arabic) are the result of a project run by Lebanese non-governmental organisation (NGO) Zakira aimed at highlighting the conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.


Video: ron paul: nancy pelosi pulled iran bill on orders of israel


Feature: First anniversary of Hamas' Gaza takeover passes in silence


The memoires of Alan Johnston Journalist Alan Johnston on his hell at the hands of kidnappers in the Middle East


Israel is pushing the U.S. to attack Iran "There is only one country in the world that is putting any pressure on the U.S. to attack Iran, and that is Israel," Mearsheimer told a packed lecture hall at Hebrew University, according to the Jerusalem Post. "And it is putting enormous pressure on the US."


Rightists held over Homesh shooting Police arrested two right-wing activists at the ruins of the West Bank settlement of Homesh on Friday, on suspicion of shooting at a Palestinian man.



Ambassador's own goal Israel's ambassador in London is trying to delegitimise genuine debate about his country's future


No rotten tomatoes The authors of a book about America's Israel lobby survived a trip to the Jewish state: what's more, the level of debate was high


Seeking Common Ground in Faith An imam had taken out a book titled "Palestinian Holocaust" and quoted a tiny ultra-orthodox Jewish sect that opposes the state of Israel. An African American Muslim said Zionism struck him as apartheid-like. A rabbi cited the "billions of dollars" donors give Palestinians.