Headlines for 08-29-08

Palestinian killed in landmine explosion The area was previously an Israeli army camp and the landmine was a leftover by the army, the report said.


Israeli activist detained on return from Gaza protest An Israeli who sailed to the Gaza Strip with a group of pro-Palestinian activists was in police custody on Wednesday after returning to Israel overland from the besieged enclave.


Israeli settlement growth nearly doubles since 2007


Palestinian herders hard-hit by drought, Israeli restrictions The patchwork of Israeli settlements, military zones and barriers that truncate the West Bank, as well as a strict permit system in areas under full Israeli control, prevent herds from reaching grazing areas and makes access to water difficult, according to humanitarian organisations.


Egypt urges end to Israel threats Egypt has urged Israel to stop making threats against Lebanon, its foreign minister said on a visit to Beirut.


Africa states to raise Palestinian issue at U.N. forum African countries recommended on Tuesday that a U.N. forum on racism next year discuss concerns over the treatment of Palestinians in the Middle East, an issue that has led some countries to consider not participating.


Palestinian woman given care after 20 years in cellar A charity in the West Bank offered shelter on Wednesday to a mentally handicapped Palestinian woman whose father had made her live for most of the past 20 years in a room under his house.


Hamas reopens 70 civil organizations in Gaza Hamas authorities in Gaza on Monday opened 70 civil organizations and charities they closed last month during a crackdown on the rival Fatah movement.


Israeli siege on Gaza Sea hardens Palestinian fishing Israel limited the fishing area to three miles from the shoreline that it was used to be 20 miles before, making it impossible to Gaza's Sindibad and some 3,000 others of his colleagues to catch much fish as they used to


Gaza blockade protesters set sail back to Cyprus Pro-Palestinian activists who sailed to the Gaza Strip in symbolic defiance of an Israeli blockade headed back to Cyprus on Thursday with seven residents of the besieged territory on board their two boats.


Israel reopens Gaza crossings after two-day closure Israel on Thursday reopened its border crossings with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, two days after they were shut in response to rocket attacks.


Israel settlement surge draws Rice criticism Israel's Peace Now group, citing data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, said construction had begun on more than 443 structures in settlements in the occupied West Bank since January compared with 240 starts in the same period in 2007.


Israel arrests 17 Palestinians in West Bank


Source: Israel ready to stop Iranian nukes The Jerusalem Post said that members of the Israeli government are moving forward with precautionary plans including the purchase of advanced warplanes and receiving permission to use U.S.-controlled Iraqi airspace. Israel is a bellicose nation hell bent on dragging my country into yet another war on their behalf. All support thereof should be halted immediately for the sake of this nation - AMERICA.


Israel accelerates West Bank settlements despite peace talks


Israel court jails Hamas mayor for six years


Palestinian factions reject deploying Arab security forces in Gaza The proposal to redeploy Arab security forces in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has been widely rejected by most of the Palestinian factions, which was even compared to a new occupation of Gaza similar to the one Israel ended in September 2005.


McCain hammers Obama on Iran "Terrorism, destroying Israel, those aren't "serious threats"?


Ads pushing Iran strike show Denver under missile attack from Boulder The Boulder attack ad shows a map of Denver being hit by flaming missiles, then an image of Israel being hit by the same weapons. It then displays an image of Iran, followed by ominous missile launches, a photograph of a man with a black hood over his face, Iran's president, and a silhouetted traveler with a suitcase.
Americans receive more (than their usual) propaganda from a pro-Israel outfit. At what point will Americans finally rise up and send these traitors packing? An attack on Iran is not in America's interest - ask Gates, Mullen , and those in the Pentagon who refuse to go along with it. Those that advocate a policy that endangers America to further a nation other than this one are in fact TRAITORS. And they should be shown the door.


Iran says can hit Israel with missiles if attacked Iran could hit back at Israel with missiles if the Jewish state attacked it and could also rely on allies in the region to strike, the commander of the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday.


AIPAC: We like Biden Biden does have a long record of working with AIPAC and Israel.


Jewish Paramilitary 'Prepares For The Worst' No, they're not young Israeli recruits to the Israel Defense Forces, as you may have imagined, but 15 American-Jewish men who signed up for training this summer with Kitat Konenut, a Jewish paramilitary group formed three years ago. The trainees were all in their 20s, said one of the group's founders, Scott Brown, and their instructors were all veterans of the IDF, all with varying degrees of counterterrorism training. .....In fact, Stern continued, the group hopes to work with the New York Police Department and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and has loose connections with officials of both agencies.. Really now. Why would former IDF have connection to both agencies?


IRAQ: Some Palestinian refugees to get special IDs The Iraqi government has launched a registration process for Palestinian refugees who arrived between 1948 and 1967 - and their descendants - to help ensure they benefit from government aid programmes.


Israeli radio bans ad criticizing Gaza policy Submitted by a group working for freedom of movement for Palestinians, the ads target Israeli sanctions that have trapped hundreds of Gaza students who hoped to study abroad. The group, Gisha, is appealing the decision.


Carter shunted to sidelines at Democratic Convention The Obama campaign, meanwhile, has been keen to project a pro-Israel image in the face of a prolonged and large-scale e-mail campaign which has accused the Democratic candidate of being pro-Palestinian and a closet Muslim


Report: Guards regularly abuse inmates


Jimmy Carter Conspicuously Absent From Podium Former president Jimmy Carter?s controversial views on Israel cost him a place on the podium at the Democratic Party convention in late August, senior Democratic operatives acknowledged to the Forward


Israel arrests 4 Gaza fishermen


Palestinian village sues Canadian builders over Israeli settlement A West Bank village is suing two Quebec-based companies for $2 million, alleging they violated international law by building Israeli settlements on occupied territory.


Israel won't allow Iranian nukes A government committee is preparing a contingency plan to attack Iran, should diplomatic efforts to derail Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program fail, the paper reported.


6 Israelis charged with drug trafficking in Calif. A man suspected of being one of Israel's most powerful crime bosses is charged with using a Los Angeles gang to distribute a million Ecstasy pills and paying one of the gang's members to kill a man for stealing a large drug shipment.


Iraq's Palestinians still live in fear The doors are even mostly closed to the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel controls the borders, and rarely grants residency to Palestinian exiles.


Iraq's Palestinians still live in fear The doors are even mostly closed to the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel controls the borders, and rarely grants residency to Palestinian exiles.


Blair 'underappreciated' by Palestinians


Abbas: no to settlement of refugees in Lebanon


Iconic Palestinian headscarf outgrows Mideast conflict Anti-war activists and fashionistas have carried the iconic Palestinian keffiyeh across the globe, but in the West Bank producers of the headscarf are struggling to compete with Chinese imports.


Man imprisons his mentally ill children for 20 years


Charley Reese Writes for the Last Time


On Mideast, McCain surrogates at convention likely to echo Bush When it comes to Israel and how to deal with Iran, Republicans are happy to tout the Arizona senator's consistency with the Bush presidency and his differences with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), his Democratic rival. With AIPAC stoolie Biden in the Dem corner, and McCain in the Republican corner, Americans cannot win when it comes to electing a president that puts the interests of America first.


Summer camp sows seeds of peace Every year the youth organisation, Seeds of Peace, brings 340 teenagers to this remote site. Most are from Israel, the Palestinian territories and other parts of the Arab world.


Obama derides GOP 'tough talk' on Israel Barack Obama said Republican "tough talk" was not protecting Israel.


UNIFIL denies reports of Israeli incursion in south Lebanon The United Nations Interim Force in South Lebanon (UNIFIL) Monday denied reports of an Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon.



Foreign Lobbyists and the Making of US Policy The Georgia lobby and the Israel lobby have much in common, including key supporters and personnel, as well as geopolitical and economic links. Israeli defense companies, which are virtually part of the Israeli state, armed the Georgians, and the IDF trained Georgian troops in preparation for the day they would ? as the mainstream media puts it ?"retake" (i.e., invade and crush) the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. ...... In one of the most successful inversions of reality ever attempted, the Western media has convinced its audience ? and even itself ? that Russia invaded Georgia, instead of Georgia invading South Ossetia.


MKs: Say no to Palestinian hospital in Gush the area residents, including some from nearby Har Homa who joined the group, were not assuaged. For months they have been waging a grassroots campaign against the plan. 'Area residents'= illegal settlers.


Israel's Outposts Seal Death of Palestinian State These are the Jewish settlements that now form an almost complete ring around Palestinian East Jerusalem, cutting it off from the rest of the West Bank and destroying any hope that the city will one day become the capital of a Palestinian state.


Goodbye by Charley Reese


American taxpayers funding illegal Israeli settlements As Americans get poorer with rising gas and food prices, and see the rise of home foreclosures, more of their hard-earned tax dollars are sent overseas to Israel - this time to fund its illegal settlements in Palestinian Territory.


Peace team debuts at International Cup


Hezbollah hands over militant who shot at helicopter (2nd Roundup) The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah Friday handed over to Lebanese authorities the militant who opened fire on a Lebanese army helicopter killing a crew member, official sources said.