www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=638933
Jihad renews Qassam fire after IDF kills 3 members
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
Islamic Jihad resumed Qassam rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel on Sunday evening, following a shoot-out with Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the West Bank on Sunday evening, in which three Islamic Jihad members were killed. The shoot-out began after sundown Sunday when Palestinians began firing on Israel Defense Forces soldiers on their way to raid a house in Qabatiyeh. One of those inside the house was suspected of planning last week’s suicide bombing in Hadera market, in which five Israelis were killed.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AFAA0119-B6D8-40C4-8ED0-6ED4113C6048.htm
Sharon vows to develop settlements
AlJazeera 10/31/2005
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed to develop Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights, one month after withdrawing troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip. His comments come after he postponed for a week a parliamentary showdown with members of his own Likud party still fuming over Israel’s Gaza pullout. “My government’s development projects include not only the Galilee, Negev and Jerusalem, but also the large settlement blocs, the Jordan Valley and the Golan,” Sharon told lawmakers in an address to parliament on Monday.
www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=19751
Sharon demands Palestinian action against ‘terror,’ blasts Syria and Iran
Daily Star 11/1/2005
GCC urges international community to halt Israel’s ‘ongoing aggression’ — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon demanded Palestinian action against “terror,” singled out Syria and Iran as its sponsors and said the international community is standing up to “extremist countries” for the first time. In a separate development, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called Monday on the international community to step in to halt what it termed Israel’s “ongoing aggression” against the Palestinians.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14707&Itemid=1
Israel to build checkpoint, divide West Bank into 3 sections
International Middle East Media Center 10/30/2005
[includes map] Israeli army is carrying a plan which aims to divide the West Bank into three isolated parts, with roadblocks, settlement constructions and the separation Wall dividing them. Israel started to construct a huge checkpiont near south of Nablus near the Tappoah settlement, to separate the northern West Bank from the middle areas, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Sunday. An Israeli military source told Haaretz that the army decided nine months ago, to construct this roadblock, which includes ten routes, eight leading to the south and two to the north of the West Bank.
www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=1026
Israel Undermines Emerging Truce Deal with Palestinians
Palestine Media Center 10/31/2005
IOF Assassinates 3 Activists, Annan Slams Extra-judicial Killings — Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) undermined an emerging truce agreement, reached following intensive contacts between Israel, the US and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), by extra-judicially killing three more anti-occupation activists in the West Bank on Sunday, hours after the Islamic Jihad said it would stop firing rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel, and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that extra-judicial killings “are not consistent with international law.”
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6HP
HCV?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Palestinian factions fail to define declared truce with Israel
ReliefWeb 10/31/2005
GAZA, Oct 31, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) — Leaders of Palestinian factions and militant groups failed to agree on reinforcing a declared calm deal with Israel after their meeting in Gaza on Sunday midnight, sources closed to the meeting revealed Monday. Leaders of 13 groups, including the radical Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Islamic Jihad (Holy War), attended the meeting under a Palestinian popular body known as the Following-up Committee for National and Islamic Factions, according to the sources.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639869
Three face trial for bid to set up Qassam factory in West Bank
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
Three senior operatives of the radical armed Popular Resistance Committees, suspected of trying to set up factories for Qassam rockets and mortar shells in the West Bank, are to be indicted in the Be’er Sheva District Court on Monday. Police and the Shin Bet seized the three on October 5, but word of their arrest was cleared for publication only on Sunday, after the indictments were finalized.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639051
IDF positions artillery near southern Gaza
Ha’aretz 10/30/2005
Exchanges of fire between the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinians continued throughout the weekend. On Friday afternoon, the IDF deployed an artillery battery opposite the southern Gaza Strip, in addition to the one placed about a month ago near northern Gaza. On Friday morning, a mortar landed in an open area north of the Gaza Strip, and yesterday a Qassam rocket fired from Gaza landed in an open area south of Sderot. No injuries or damage were reported in either incident.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14705&Itemid=1
Soldiers invade Doura, eight residents injured
International Middle East Media Center 10/30/2005
A medical source at Doura Medical Center, in the village of Doura, near the West Bank city of Hebron, reported that eight residents were injured during clashes which erupted in the village after soldiers invaded it earlier on Sunday at dawn. Four of the injured residents [including two children] were transferred later on to Al Ahli Hospital in Hebron; soldiers fired live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets, and gas bombs. “Eight residents were admitted to the center after suffering gunshot injuries to several parts of their bodies”, the source stated…
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EKOI-6
HP52H?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Israel to build security buffer zone in Gaza Strip
ReliefWeb 10/29/2005
GAZA, Oct 29, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) – The Israeli army is intending to build a buffer zone in northern Gaza Strip following Palestinian rocket attacks, Israel Radio reported on Saturday. The report said the buffer zone was aimed at freezing Palestinian movement in the area in case of attacks, adding the zone will be under the army’s control, and anyone approaches the zone, even by mistake, the army believes that the one will launch rockets and will then be targeted.
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=11492
Israeli Settlers Wound Three Residents in Hebron
International Press Center 10/29/2005
HEBRON, Palestine, October 29, 2005 (IPC) – – Israeli settlers wounded today two residents, including a woman, in the West Bank city of Hebron. Our correspondent reported that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rolled into the city and, stormed houses and arrested three residents; pointing out that the Israeli settlers wounded residents Emad Abu Esha and Israa Said, 16, in the old town of Hebron city.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=638943
Israel slams Annan’s plan to go ahead with Iran visit
Ha’aretz 10/30/2005
Israel on Sunday slammed plans by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to visit Iran, saying that the trip could grant legitimacy to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent call for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” “This sends a message of business-as-usual, and perhaps even grants legitimacy to a nation which demands the destruction of another state,” said Danny Gillerman, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EKOI-6HP4T
8?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Senior Palestinian official urges Israel to end offensives
ReliefWeb 10/30/2005
RAMALLAH, Oct 30, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) – Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat called upon Israel on Sunday to stop its ongoing military offensives in the Palestinian territories and immediately resume talks with the Palestinians. Erekat made the appeal in a statement issued by his office after a meeting with visiting chief of the Middle East department in the Canadian Foreign Ministry Peter Macry.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EKOI-6HP4
KU?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Palestinians, Egypt agree to temporarily open Rafah Crossing
ReliefWeb 10/30/2005
GAZA, Oct 30, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) – The Palestinian National Authority ( PNA) and Egypt agreed on Sunday to temporarily open the Rafah Crossing on the border between southern Gaza and Egypt, security sources said. The sources said the crossing would be open for four hours on Sunday under an agreement reached between the two sides, which Israel also okayed. The sources added that the temporary opening was to enable dozens of Palestinians stranded at the Egyptian side of the crossing for several days to return to Gaza.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/RMOI-6H
P7CY?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Middle East Quartet condemns suicide bombing in Israel, calls on Syria to act
ReliefWeb 10/28/2005
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the other principles of the Diplomatic Quartet today consulted on the latest violence in the Middle East, condemning Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Israel claimed by the Damascus-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad and calling on Syria to take immediate action against the group.
www.escwa.org.lb/information/pressescwaprint.asp?id_code=338
Tallawy Says Israeli Occupation Main Cause of Difficult Living Conditions in Palestine
United Nations ESCWA 10/29/2005
Beirut, 28 October 2005(United Nations Information Service)— Executive Secretary of UNESCWA Mervat Tallawy considered the Israeli occupation the main factor behind the grave social and economic conditions of the Palestinian people. Tallawy was addressing the General Assembly yesterday, as she presented the Note of the Secretary-General on the Economic and Social Repercussions of the Israeli Occupation on the Living Conditions of the Palestinian People in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem, and of the Arab Population in the Occupied Syrian Golan.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4470
Official Statistics: Decline of Optimism on Economic Situation
WAFA 10/31/2005
RAMALLAH, October 31, 2005, (WAFA)- Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) revealed a continuous decline in the perception of the owners/managers of the industrial establishments towards the economic conditions with small improvement comparing to August. “The percentage of whom are expecting improvement on the establishments situation declined by 32.3% during September compared with 27.0% during August,” PCBS said in a press release on a survey on the perception of the owners/managers of the industrial establishments.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6HP
K8B?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Gaza settlement rubble to be turned into roads
ReliefWeb 10/31/2005
JERUSALEM, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Much of the rubble from Gaza’s evacuated Jewish settlements will be crushed to buildnew roads for the densely-populated strip, a United Nations official said on Monday.Clearing the remains of the former settlements is seen as a key step toward encouraging economic growth in Gaza following Israel’s pullout from the coastal strip after 38 years of occupation. Timothy Rothermel, special representative for the United Nations Development Programme, told Reuters that clearing of the remains was expected to start by December and take at least a year.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639465
Sharon to Knesset: Separation fence will be first priority
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
Sharon postpones vote on new appointments — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Knesset on Monday afternoon that the construction of the separation fence between Israel and the West Bank will continue without any budgetary or political hindrance. Knesset members approved the prime minister’s address with a majority of 51-48. Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin abstained. Speaking at the opening of the Knesset winter session, Sharon said that as part of its defense efforts, Israel would complete the construction of the separation fence as quickly as possible, providing “maximum security and minimum hindrance to the lives of Palestinians.”
www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=72504&d
=31&m=10&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Sharon Faces Crisis Over Ministerial Appointments
Arab News 10/31/2005
JERUSALEM, 31 October 2005 ˜ Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was yesterday facing a fresh political crisis that couldforce early general elections unless he wins last-minute support for three ministerial appointments. The crisis erupted late Saturday after rebels within his right-wing Likud party promised to thwart his proposed appointment of the new ministers. Should the Israeli leader fail to garner the necessary support for the appointments when Parliament opens for the winter session today, it could see the country being dragged to early elections.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639996
Olmert faces probe over political appointments
Ha’aretz 11/1/2005
The attorney general is investigating suspicions that acting finance minister Ehud Olmert gave out jobs in exchange for political support, a Justice Ministry spokesman said yesterday. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz is probing allegations that Olmert made political appointments in the Bezeq telephone company at the beginning of 2004, when he was communications minister. Olmert is suspected of appointing members of his Likud party to top jobs at Bezeq, which was still state-owned at the time.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639466
Abbas bans PA security officials from running in Fatah primaries
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree Sunday forbidding members of the Palestinian security services, including those from his Fatah movement’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, from participating in the parliamentary primaries unless they first resign from their security posts. Abbas said that security officials would not be allowed to run or vote in the Fatah primaries leading up to the January 25 Palestinian Legislative Council race.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14692&Itemid=1
Barghouthi calls for an independent Palestinian judicial system
International Middle East Media Center 10/29/2005
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative called for comprehensive reforms for the Palestinian security forces in order to end the state of lawlessness in the Palestinian territories. Speaking at a press conference in Gaza, Barghouthi called to implement the rule of law and to ensure an independent judicial system stressing that the only way to end the current crisis the Palestinian people are facing is to reform the political system through free and democratic parliamentary elections.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14693&Itemid=1
P.A pledges to stop Qassam workshops
International Middle East Media Center 10/29/2005
Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef issued a statement vowing that the P.A will stop illegal weapon manufacturing workshops, and all weapons storage sites. “We will deal with this issue firmly and seriously”, Yousef said, “We will locate all weapons storage and manufacturing workshops”. Also, Yousef condemned the Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip which knocked out electricity in vast Palestinian areas.
electronicintifada.net/v2/article4273.shtml
Wide participation in the Olive Harvest Festival
Electronic Intifada/YMCA 10/31/2005
Every year at the beginning of October, the annual olive harvest begins in Palestine. The survival of tens of thousands of Palestinian families is more dependant than ever on their ability to harvest their olives and market the oil they yield. This is not something that can be assumed as the Israeli settlement, closures and the construction of the separation wall cut off people from their land thereby destroying their livelihoods.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639894
State asked to remove ban on visits to Gaza on Muslim festival
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
The Center for the Defense of the Individual on Sunday presented an urgent petition to the High Court of Justice calling for GOC Southern Command Yoav Galant to allow Israelis with family members in the Gaza Strip to travel to the area during the upcoming Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, pending security clearance. Two days ahead of the festival the army still declines to issue any such entry permits.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4474
Palestinian Children Plead Annan to Stop Israel’s Aggression against Them
WAFA 10/31/2005
GAZA, October 31, 2005 (WAFA) – A group of Palestinian children called Monday on the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to immediately intervene to end the criminal Israeli aggression against them. In a letter to Mr. Annan, the children said they suffer from extreme financial, social and psychological pressures at the hands of the Israelis whose aim is to destroy their innocent young spirits. A group of children submitted the letter to UN officials at the UNDP headquarters in Gaza City.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4473
ICAHD: Like Thorn in Heart, Colonies and Colonizers in East Jerusalem
WAFA 10/31/2005
TEL AVIV, October 31, 2005 (WAFA)- The Israeli Committee against House Demolition (ICAHD) said that colonies and colonizers in East Jerusalem are like a thorn in the heart. In an article issued Monday, ICAHD said since the occupation of the West Bank began in 1967, Israeli governments have made unceasing efforts to change the Arab character of East Jerusalem, eradicate all Palestinian signifiers, and engender a Jewish mass that will in turn create a new geopolitical reality.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4472
Petition to District Court Challenging Haifa University’s Discriminatory Student Housing Policy
WAFA 10/31/2005
NAZARETH, October 31, 2005 (WAFA) – Adalah, the Legal Center of Arab Minority rights in Israel Adalah Submitted a petition to the Haifa District Court challenging Haifa University’s discriminatory student housing policy. Adalah demanded the Court to declare illegal Haifa University’s policy of including military service in the Israeli army – defined as participation in military, national, or army reserve service and serving as student soldiers – as a criterion for student housing.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14731&Itemid=1
Bir Zeit university students suspend all classes
International Middle East Media Center 10/31/2005
Bier Zeit University students, suspended on Monday all classes until further noticein protest to the violent response of the Palestinian Authority security forces to a protest they held in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday. The Demonstration, which took place in front of the PA Presidential compound in the city, demanded the release of Ala’ Barahma a student in the university. Several students were injured, including Fadi Ahmad the head of the Students Counsel in the university, local sources reported.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639050
New checkpoint to sever W. Bank south of Nablus
By Amira Hass, Ha’aretz 10/30/2005
The Israel Defense Forces has been constructing a major new checkpoint south of Nablus, at the Zaatara (Tapuah) junction, for checking Palestinian cars arriving from the northern and western parts of the West Bank. The checkpoint was decided upon by the IDF Central Command nine months ago, according to military sources. It will have 10 lanes: six for southbound vehicles; one non-check lane for Israeli cars; one lane for vehicles designated “humanitarian,” and two lanes for northbound vehicles.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639031
Arab rights group: State denies schooling to Bedouin children
Ha’aretz 10/30/2005
Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, has appealed to the High Court of Justice, demanding that it force the Education Ministry to provide schooling and busing to 280 Bedouin children aged three to four years old who live in the village of A-Zarura. The petition, which was filed on behalf of 51 of the children, argues that the ministry violated an earlier promise to apply state laws which grant children over the age of three with free education. The ministry also refuses to provide the children with transportation to other kindergartens in the area.
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/10/30/more-settler
-attacks-in-hebron-while-soldiers-and-police-watch/
More Settler Attacks in Hebron, While Soldiers and Police Watch
International Solidarity Movement 10/30/2005
At around 1.20pm on Thursday the 27th of October I received a phone call from one of the three internationals who had come to the aid of a Palestinian schoolgirl near Qurtuba School, and who were now under attack from a mob of settlers. I made my way quickly to the end of Shuhada Street, stopping at the soldiers‚ post there. All the buildings immediately beyond this post on the left are the Beit Hadassah settlement buildings. On the right, a narrow stone staircase leads up to a hillside path which leads to Qurtuba School. By this time the three internationals and the Palestinian child had been removed from the area by the police and army.
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/10/29/four-more
-arrests-in-bilin-further-arrested-resisted-by-villagers/
Four More Arrests in Bil‚in; Further Arrests Resisted by Villagers
International Solidarity Movement 10/29/2005
Israeli soldiers invaded Bil‚in last night for the fourth time in six days. A group of about 20 Border Police arrived in jeeps and arrested four non-violent Palestinian activists who they accused of damaging the fence, including an expectant father, two brothers and a 16 year old boy. Afterwards, a group of regular military came in mostly on foot. The soldiers said they had pictures of further Palestinians who they wanted to arrest, but a group of at least 30 villagers came out on the streets singing and chanting, in reaction to which the soldiers left.
www.jai-pal.org/content.php?page=137
Olive Picking 2005 – Day 9
Joint Advocacy Initiative 10/29/2005
The final day of the program began with a brief stop on the way to the olive-picking site, at the place where a 16-year old Palestinian boy was shot and killed by the Israeli Defense Forces earlier this month. The six members of Women to Women for Peace in Britain who have been participating in the program all week had prepared a flower memorial to place at the site, at which time the entire group observed a few moments of silence in memory of the child.
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/10/29/bilin-prisoner-solidarity-demonstration-report/
Bil‚in Prisoner Solidarity Demonstration Report
International Solidarity Movement 10/29/2005
Based on a report by IMEMC — Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber coated bullets at a non-violent protest against the Separation Wall in Bil‚in village, near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday. The protest started midday Friday after dozens of residents, peace activists and representatives of Physicians without Borders, marched towards a construction site of the Separation Wall while wearing mock handcuffs in a creative protest that symbolized the captivity of the Bil‚in residents who have been arrested in recent military invasions of the village.
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2005/10/29/israeli-soldiers-police
-and-settlers-block-olive-harvest-in-yanoun-nablus-region/
Israeli Soldiers, Police and Settlers Block Olive Harvest In Yanoun, Nablus Region
International Solidarity Movement 10/29/2005
Our experience of the harvest started in Yanoun village, Nablus region at 7am on the 26th of October. We accompanied two old Palestinian women in a field just down the hill from the Itamar settlement. Half an hour after we started, a settler came and tried to get rid of us. He was very aggressive and called the army as well as a settler friend. When the soldiers came they told us to go away too. During the discussion, a second settler came and shouted at us. He also tried to steal a bag of the Palestinian‚s olives.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639382
Ethiopian Israelis protest delays in plans to bring over relatives
Ha’aretz 10/30/2005
Thousands of Israelis of Ethiopian origin marched in Jerusalem on Sunday to protest against a delay in plans to bring their relatives to the Jewish state. The Israeli government decided in February to double the immigration rate of the community known as the Falasha Mura, so as to bring over 20,000 people by 2007, but the number arriving in Israel has actually fallen in recent months.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639864
Druze youth admit to throwing Molotov cocktails at IDF patrols
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
Three Druze youths from the Golan are to be charged Monday morning in the Nazareth District Court on suspicions that they threw Molotov cocktails at Israel Defense Forces patrol vehicles. One of the boys is 16 years old and the other two are 17. They were arrested 10 days ago, several hours after allegedly throwing the explosive at an IDF vehicle. During the course of a probe by Shin Bet and Galilee police investigators, the teens admitted to that incident, and also to other incidents of throwing Molotov cocktails at armored army vehicles.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639891
Settler leader indicted over assault of police officer
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
Settler leader Daniella Weiss and two other female right-wing activists were indicted Monday afternoon at the Kfar Sava Magistrate’s Court on charges of assaulting police officers and blocking traffic. At the time of the alleged Thursday assault by the suspects, police were evacuating an illegal outpost set up near the West Bank settlement of Kedudim, where Weiss serves as mayor.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AE501D5C-B577-4455-AD57-8B2C1F7470E5.htm
Palestinians bury Jihad members
AlJazeera 10/31/2005
Thousands of Palestinian mourners have buried two Islamic Jihad activists shot dead by Israeli troops in the West Bank after Israel vowed to carry on its offensive against Palestinian fighters. Arshad Abu Zeid, 21, and Jihad Zahaneh, 22, were killed in a shootout with Israeli troops late on Sunday in Kabatiya, the home town of the Islamic Jihad bomber who killed five Israelis in an attack last Wednesday. The two men were wanted in connection with what was the first deadly bombing since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip last month.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4390428.stm
Palestinians killed in shootout
BBC 10/31/2005
Israeli soldiers have killed three Palestinian militants in operations near the West Bank city of Jenin. The incidents occurred late on Sunday and overnight on Monday, hours after Islamic Jihad said it would end an exchange of fire in the Gaza Strip if Israel did the same. The shootings took place in Qabatiya, the home town of a suicide bomber who killed five Israelis on Wednesday. A week of violence has now also left 12 Palestinians dead.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639786
IDF arrests militant “responsible” for the death of 10 Israelis
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
Israel Defense Forces troops on Monday arrested a Hamas militant in the West Bank town of Tul Karm suspected of membership in a terrorist cell responsible for several attacks from this year in which ten Israelis were killed. According to the Shin Bet security service Munir Qassem collaborated recently with a terror network of Islamic Jihad in the Tul Karm area. He is suspected of involvement in perpetrating the attacks at the Stage club in Tel Aviv and at the Hasharon shopping center in Netanya.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14733&Itemid=1
Soldiers abduct a resident in Tulkarem
International Middle East Media Center 10/31/2005
Israeli soldiers abducted on Monday evening a Palestinian resident in Tulkarem after breaking into his carpentry workshop, in the southern neighborhood of Tulkarem. The Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported that under-cover army units of the Israeli army driving a car carrying Palestinian license broke into the workshop and arrested its owner Moneer Abu Bal‚awi, 32, and took him to an unknown destination.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639430
IDF kills Hadera bomb mastermind, one other, in West Bank operation
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
At least two Palestinians were killed yesterday in a shootout with Israel Defense Forces troops in the West Bank town of Qabatiyah. The army had entered the town south of Jenin to hunt down members of the Islamic Jihad cell responsible for the Hadera suicide bombing last week and Palestinian sources said that one of the men killed was Jihad Awidat, the Jihad operative who dispatched Hassan Abu Zaid to Hadera.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4469
IOF Arrests 8 Citizens in WB
WAFA 10/31/2005
JENIN, October 31, 2005, (WAFA)-At least eight citizens were arrested Monday by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the West Bank (WB) cities of Jenin, Qalqiliya and Hebron. In Jenin, north of WB Israeli soldiers, backed by military vehicles, swept into the city and its refugee camp, and launched a search campaign arresting six citizens and leading them into an undisclosed place, security sources said. Earlier, WAFA reporter said that Israeli forces arrested two citizens in Azoun and Jayyous in Qalqiliya governate and led them into an unknown place.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14727&Itemid=1
Troops invade Tammoun, near Tubas
International Middle East Media Center 10/31/2005
The Israeli army invaded, n Monday at dawn, the village of Tammoun, near the West Bank city of Tubas, local sources reported. Troops broke into several homes and searched them after forcing the residents out. Soldiers withdrew from the village on Monday morning, and deployed arround it. [end]
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=11544
Khan Younis’s Governor: Economic Losses Stand At $600 Million since Al Aqsa Intifada
International Press Center 10/31/2005
KHANYOUNIS,Palestine, October 31, 2005, (IPC) --- The Governor of Khan Younis, Hosny Zorob announced today that the direct and indirect losses has amounted to $600 million, in all economic sectors, since the beginning of the Intifada, including labor sector losses $200 million. The losses of agricultural output stood at $185 million. Zorob told the International Press Center (IPC), that Khan Yonis province in need of a long time to reconstruct the hard-hit infrastructure of all sectors, totally and partially demolished houses, and leveling up the arable lands, that actually caused by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) programmed destruction and havoc against the Palestinian belongings.
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=11515
IOF Continues dismembering the occupied West Bank
International Press Center 10/31/2005
GAZA, Palestine, October 30,2005 (IPC+Agencies)--- Israeli occupation forces are implementing a scheme aiming at dismemberment the territorial contiguity of the West Bank by creating three cantons served by a massive checkpoint and illegal settlement construction. Israeli Haaretz daily reported today that the Israeli occupation army has starting in the late three months a grand military checkpoint at Taupha’ junction, south of Nablus city so as to complete the sever of north- West Bank from its center.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14718&Itemid=1
Resistance shells Sderot and Kibbutz Zakim
International Middle East Media Center 10/31/2005
Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, Al Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fateh, and Salah Ed Deen Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed conjoint responsibility for shelling the Israeli Negev town of Sderot and Kibbutz Zakim, near Al Majdal, north of Israel. The three armed groups said on Monday morning that the shelling comes in response to the continuous military escalation, and the assassination of the three fighters of the Islamic Jihad in Qabatia town, south of the Wets Bank city of Jenin.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14720&Itemid=1
Details of the Assassination of two Islamic Jihad fighters, 6 wounded, 10 arrested
International Middle East Media Center 10/31/2005
“A Valuable Prey” was how Israeli security sources described the successful assassination the commander of Al Quds Brigades in the Jenin district and his deputy.Jihad Mohammed Zakarneh has been accused by Israel of being behind the recent Hadera suicide bombing, which was carried out by Al Quds Brigades last week, which claimed the lives of five Israelis. The suicide bomber who carried out the mission, Hassan Abu Zeid was from Qabatiya, hometown of Zakarneh and his close confidant man, Irshed Kmeil.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14726&Itemid=1
Al Quds Brigades: “Israel assassinated the truce”
International Middle East Media Center 10/31/2005
The Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, vowed to retaliate to the assassination of its leader Jihad Zakarna, 21, and his deputies Irshaiyyed Ahmad Kamil, 21, and Lu‚ay Al Saadi, who was assassinated last Monday, in Tulkarem. Abu Mojahid, the media spokesperson of the brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, said that the fighter will not stand idle while Israel resumes its operations and assassinations.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14721&Itemid=1
Soldiers arrest a Palestinian reporter in Qalandia
International Middle East Media Center 10/31/2005
Israeli soldiers arrested, on Monday at dawn, a Palestinian reporter in Qalandia refugee camp, south of the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Ramatan news agency reported that soldiers arrested one of its reporters, identified as Hamad Na‚im Hamad, 22, after invading the camp earlier on Monday at dawn. Hamad was arrested by the under-cover military units of the Israeli army, while soldiers surrounded the camp and invaded it. [end]
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639049
Analysis / Calm rests on the shoulders of the IDF
By Danny Rubinstein, Ha’aretz 10/30/2005
Judging by the actions of the Palestinian public and its leaders this weekend in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Palestinians are trying to restore security, and the responsibility for calming down the situation is now in Israeli hands. The most obvious sign of this was the fact that, despite its great military strength, Hamas did not participate in the revenge attacks carried out by Islamic Jihad activists. Hamas’ spokesman in Gaza, Mushir al-Masri, declared the organization would not stand idly by and allow Israel to isolate and attack Islamic Jihad, but that is exactly what happened.
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=11509
IOF Leaflets and Recorded Massages Urge the Residents to Inform on the Resistance Fighters
International Press Center 10/30/2005
GAZA, Palestine, October 30,2005 (IPC+Agencies)---For the second time since its redeployment on 12 August, the Israeli jetfighters dropped thousands of leaflets Saturday evening at the northern areas of Gaza Strip demanding the civilians to collaborate with the Israeli security services and occupation troops to inform on the resistance fighter who fire homemade makeshift mortars inside the green line. In an ominous measure, the leaflet contained a telephone number for the “civilians to call and inform on the names and locations of resistance fighters who intend to fire homemade shells”.
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=11518
IOF Detain 120 Residents Last Week
International Press Center 10/30/2005
RAMALLAH, Palestine, October 30, 2005 (IPC) – – The Head of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), Easa Karaka stated that the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), detained 120 residents in the West Bank last week and that Sharon’s government is waging a widespread detention’s campaign associated with a war of assassinations and imposing strict siege on the entire cities and towns.
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14704&Itemid=1
Girl arrested in Hebron
International Middle East Media Center 10/30/2005
Israeli soldiers arrested on Sunday a young girl near the Ibrahimi mosque, in the West Bank city of Hebron. Soldiers claimed Hiba Tawfik Issa, 16, was attempting to cross the electronic gate which leads to the Ibrahimi mosque while carrying a knife. [end]
www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/updates_news/news/israel_bombard_gaza.htm
Israeli jets bombard Gaza
Palestine Monitor/Al-Jazeera 10/29/2005
Israeli aircraft have bombarded open areas and roads in northern Gaza as part of an ongoing offensive. The occupation army continued its assault into Saturday morning, striking roads and bridges used by the Palestinian resistance to launch rockets on nearby southern Israel. No injuries were reported after more than a dozen missiles were fired. On Friday, a Palestinian was killed after Israeli aircraft launched missiles at a car carrying him and two other resistance activists in the northern Gaza town of Bait Hanun.
www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=72510&d=31&m=10&y=2005
Israel Kills Fighters as Jihad Agrees to Truce
Arab News 10/31/2005
GAZA CITY, 31 October 2005 ˜ Israel killed two Islamic Jihad activists hours after the group agreed to halt rocket attacks on Israel. Earlier Tel Aviv announced its intention to wipe out the group‚s capabilities. In Makkah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Jordan‚s King Abdallah yesterday held talks. According to the Saudi Press Agency, the talks focused on the worsening situations in Palestine and Iraq.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3162034,00.html
Soldiers to be jailed for hitchhiking
YNetNews 10/31/2005
Military police, IDF operations branch stage Œfake kidnappings‚ following warnings that terror groups may try to abduct soldiers. 54 soldiers caught hitchhiking, one MP exceeded authority, conducted chase, used tear gas on highway, confined to base for 30 days — IDF soldiers have yet to internalize the dangers of hitchhiking, say army sources. 54 soldiers were caught in October violating standing orders by hitchhiking during a large-scale Military Police operation to fight the phenomenon. The soldiers were judged by senior IDF officers and sentenced to heavy military jail terms.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3162103,00.html
Swiss: We’ll help Israel join Red Cross
YNetNews 10/31/2005
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom meets with Swiss counterpart; says a diplomatic conference is scheduled to decide whether to include Magen David Adom into Red Cross — A special diplomatic conference to decide whether Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) is eligible to join the International Red Cross (IRC) is to be held before 198 countries, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Monday following a meeting with his Swiss counterpart.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6H
PFAJ?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
Gaza may turn into prison camp – Palestinian leader
ReliefWeb 10/31/2005
SEOUL, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa said on Monday that the Gaza Strip could turn into a prison camp if there was no solution to the problems of the area. Kidwa’s warning came as the region was gripped by the worst violence since Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip in September. “Unless a range of problems in the Gaza Strip is resolved, it will turn into a huge prison camp,” Kidwa, speaking through an interpreter, told a news conference during a visit to South Korea.
english.wafa.ps/body.asp?id=4471
MOFA Meets South Korean President in Seoul
WAFA 10/31/2005
SEOUL, October 31, 2005, (WAFA)- Minister of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Nasser al-Kidwa met on Monday with the south Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, in the Korean capital Seoul. During the meeting, al-Kidwa briefed Moo-hyun about the latest political developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) after the Israeli withdrawal form Gaza Strip (GS) and parts of the West Bank (WB).
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=11548
Situation in oPt a Challenge for International Community’s Enforcement of Human Rights Principles, UN Expert Says
International Press Center 10/31/2005
GAZA, October 31, 2005 (IPC + Agencies) – – A United Nations expert stated that the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) has become a challenge for the international community’s commitment to spreading the principles of human rights, in the shadow of continuous infringements of such principles. John Dugard, Special UN Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967… further added that Gaza was not occupied anymore, but stressing that Israel continues to control it through dominating borders, air space and regional waters, as well as preventing Gazans from moving freely to and from the West Bank or neighboring countries.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4387852.stm
Iran ‘not planning Israel attack’
BBC 10/29/2005
Iran says it has no intention to attack Israel despite a call by its president to have it “wiped off the map”. Iran’s foreign ministry said Tehran respected the UN charter and had never used or threatened to use force. But it also rejected a UN Security Council statement condemning President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his comments. An Iranian TV channel broadcast the remark for the first time on Saturday, saying reaction to it was coordinated by Israel in a plot against Iran.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639381
Jordan bans controversial TV series considered anti-Semitic
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
Jordan has banned broadcast of a controversial miniseries criticized as anti-Semitic, winning praise Sunday from Israel and a Washington-based media watchdog. Twenty-two episodes of “al-Shatat,” Arabic for “The Diaspora,” were broadcast by a new Jordan-based satellite station before the government pulled the plug on Friday. “We welcome the cessation of such an anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli TV prprogram,” said Israeli Embassy Press Attache Jacob Raber.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639992
U.S. Justice Dept. Internet site: Pollard’s life term to end in 2015
Ha’aretz 11/1/2005
Jonathan Pollard, an American serving a life sentence for spying on behalf of Israel, is expected to be released from prison in 2015, according to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons Web site. This is the first time a release date has been mentioned for Pollard. The prisons bureau, which falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Justice Department, has an “Inmate Locator” section allowing users to find out the actual or projected date of release by typing in the inmate’s name.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639956
MKs blast rising bread prices as ‘proof of government cruelty’
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
Knesset members on Monday blasted the government’s decision to increase bread costs by over 6 percent as demonstrative of the government’s “cruelty.” The prices of bread are set to rise by an average of 6.57 percent Tuesday, following a decision made on Monday by an inter-ministerial panel of officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Finance Ministry. MK Yuli Tamir (Labor) said in response to the price increase that “only a cruel government that pours NIS 9 billion into the pockets of the rich would raise the price of bread.”
stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/1028.shtml
Updated: “Through Our Hands, the Apartheid Wall Will Fall!”
StopTheWall.org 10/31/2005
List of Planned Activities for the 3rd National and International Week Against the Apartheid Wall, November 9-16 — The 9th ˆ 16th& of November 2005 marks the 3rd National and International Week against the Apartheid Wall called for by the Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign and since then endorsed by various movements, groups, networks, and international civil society conferences.
www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/SODA-6
HP57F?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
USAID/OTI West Bank and Gaza Field Report Sep 2005
ReliefWeb/United States Agency for International Development 10/30/2005
USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI) program in the West Bank and Gaza, commenced in June 2005, is designed to respond quickly and flexibly to Palestinian priorities. The aim of the program is to promote good governance and youth empowerment. OTI’s objectives are to: * Increase the ability of Palestinian national and local government to respond to citizen priorities. * Increase the participation of youths in social, political and economic life…
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639981
U.S. designates new Qualifying Industrial Zone in Egypt
Ha’aretz 11/1/2005
(Washington) – United States trade representative Rob Portman designated on Monday a new Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) in Egypt and approved the expansion of two existing zones. QIZs, which Congress first designated in 1996 between Jordan and Israel and Egypt and Israel, give the two Arab nations the right to export products to the United States duty-free if the products contain inputs from Israel. Following Monday’s announcement, Israel and Egypt will create a new zone -the Central Delta QIZ – and expand the existing Greater Cairo QIZ and Suez Canal Zone QIZ.
www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000024146&fid=942
S&P: No change in Israel‚s credit rating anytime soon
Globes 10/31/2005
Standard & Poor‚s Barbara Ridpath: The domestic economy still faces fiscal problems. — Standard & Poor‚s has no plans to change Israel‚s long-term credit rating in its upcoming revisions in January 2006, implied S&P’s managing director and chief credit officer Europe Barbara Ridpath. She is visiting Israel in advance of S&P and Maalot The Israel Rating Company Ltd.‚s joint conference tomorrow in Tel Aviv. Standard & Poor’s chief marketing officer Europe Guy Hewitt and Standard & Poor’s European structured finance group director Jose Ramon Torawill also participate.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3162199,00.html
Israelis must work 9.3 years for flat
YNetNews 10/31/2005
Salaried employee in Israel must work 9.3 years in order to purchase average new or second-hand apartment, study says — A salaried employee in Israel must work an average of 9.3 years (112 full working months) in order to purchase an average new or second-hand apartment in Israel, according to a study conducted by BDO Ziv Haft for the Contractors Association in Israel.
www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000023939&fid=942
Exports to US up annualized 8.7% in Q3
Globes 10/31/2005
Exports to Asia also rose, but fell to the EU, because of the weakness of the euro against the dollar.— Israeli exports to the US rose by an annualized 8.7% in the third quarter of 2005, after rising by 12.2% in the second quarter, the Central Bureau of Statistics reports. Exports to Asia rose by an annualized 26% in the third quarter, after rising 9% in the second quarter.
news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article323497.ece
Madonna’s Kabbala guru accused of extorting money
The Independent 10/31/2005
Shaul Youdkevitch, the Kabbala guru who drew Madonna to Israel a year ago, has been placed under house arrest by a court in Tel Aviv court on suspicion of extorting more than £28,000 from a terminally ill cancer patient. Police claim Mr Youdkevitch and rabbis running the Israel Kabbala Centre persuaded Leah Zonis and her husband, Boris, to make what they called “a significant and painful donation” if she wanted to recover. They were also alleged to have sold her bottles of “holy water” at inflated prices under the Kabbala label.
www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=19699
Silence is death – Censorship in the Arab world
Daily Star 11/1/2005
‘Freedom of Expression in Music’ conference in Beirut posed many questions but did it reach any solutions? — BEIRUT: Plato recognized music’s ability to threaten people and society while Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars have at times described it as a source of sin. A conference in Beirut this month on the censorship of music produced some interesting revelations about man’s love and fear of this beautiful art. The Taliban, for example, invoked the following hadith to justify the banning of all musical instruments in Afghanistan: “Those who listen to music and songs in this world will on the Day of Judgement have molten lead poured into their ears.”
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/666E6866-553C-4469-A981-8D55FDB0B484.htm
Security Council backs Syria resolution
AlJazeera 10/31/2005
The UN Security Council has voted unanimously for a resolution demanding Syria cooperate fully with a UN investigation into the death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri or face possible further action. The US, France and Britain sponsored the measure in response to a tough report in October by a UN commission that said Syrian security forces and their Lebanese allies organised the bombing that killed al-Hariri and 22 others in Beirut on 14 February.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639809
Syrian FM slams UN vote pressuring Damascus
Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaf slammed Monday a unanimous UN Security Council resolution demanding Syria’s full cooperation with a UN investigation into the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister. The Security Council warned of possible “further action” if Damascus doesn’t comply with the resolution. Al-Sharaf said the international body accused his country of a crime it did not commit.
www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=19747
Lebanese leaders search for solution to disarmament dilemma
Daily Star 11/1/2005
Many suggest incorporating Hizbullah’s military wing into national army — BEIRUT: As international calls for the disarmament of Hizbullah continue, politicians in the country have been searching for a way to soothe foreign concerns while allowing “the resistance” to retain its basic character. The Islamic resistance group came under renewed international pressure Wednesday after UN Special Envoy to the Middle East Terje Roed-Larsen said that no significant progress had been made toward the group’s disarmament.
www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=19715
Hizbullah’s stand is ‘opposition to freedom’
Daily Star 10/31/2005
Head of Lebanese Committee for 1559 blasts resistance’s ‘threats’ — SIDON: The head of the International Lebanese Committee for UN Security Council Resolution 1559, Atef Harb, denounced on Sunday calls by Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem for MPs not to participate in a committee meeting on Wednesday. “Hizbullah’s stand can only be understood as an opposition to the freedom of expression of the Lebanese people and their representatives,” Harb said.
www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=19722
Saudi king meets Siniora after Syrian premier’s visit
Daily Star 10/31/2005
BEIRUT: Saudi King Abdullah held talks Sunday with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, one day after receiving a Syrian official touring the Gulf ahead of an anticipated UN vote threatening sanctions against Syria. King Abdullah met Siniora in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, where he is spending the last days of the fasting month of Ramadan, the official SPA news agency reported without giving details about their discussions.
news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article323336.ece
Real Life: Ten very surprising things about Iran
The Independent 10/30/2005
Most TV news reports about Iran depict religious revolutionaries who promote militancy abroad and suppress human rights at home. But this is only part of the story: 1. Art-house Iranian films by such directors as Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf wow foreign audiences. But the domestic film industry also churns out hundreds of more popular pictures. Last year’s big hit The Lizard, drew the clerics’ wrath for depicting a convict escaping prison disguised as a mullah. This year’s hit was Girls’ Dormitory, about a psychotic killer terrorising students…
www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=72511
&
d=31&m=10&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
No Return to Nuke Freeze: Iran
Arab News 10/31/2005
TEHRAN, 31 October 2005 ˜ Iran will not return to a full freeze of its disputed nuclear fuel activities and Western demands for such confidence building measures are unacceptable, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday. In a speech to members of the hard-line Basij militia, the president also played down an international outcry over his call for Israel to be “wiped off the map” by insisting what he said was nothing new.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4392624.stm
‘Many dead’ in US strike in Iraq
BBC 10/31/2005
A US military air raid in western Iraq has caused many deaths, reports from Iraq say. The US military said it had targeted what it called an al-Qaeda cell leader in an air strike near Karabilah, on the border with Syria. Also on Monday, the US military reported that six US soldiers were killed in two separate incidents…Four US servicemen died on Monday when their patrol hit an improvised explosive device in Yusufiya, in the south-west of Baghdad.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4390676.stm
Gunmen target top Iraqi officials
BBC 10/30/2005
A senior Iraqi government adviser has been shot dead on his way to work in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Ghalib Abdul Mehdi, an aide to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and brother of Vice-President Adel Abdul Mehdi, was gunned down along with his driver. In a separate attack in the capital, Deputy Trade Minister Qais Dawoud Hassan was wounded by gunmen.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/237E9049-AAA7-498D-9E39-CD522FC4AD08.htm
UN seeks Guantanamo interviews
AlJazeera 11/1/2005
Three United Nations human rights investigators say they could only accept a US invitation to visit Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba if they are permitted to interview detainees. Nearly four years after the visits were first requested, Washington said on Friday the three envoys, including the UN rapporteur on torture, could visit foreign terrorism suspects because it had “nothing to hide”. But although they could question US military officials, the envoys would not be allowed to speak to any of the some 505 detainees, the Pentagon said, adding that was the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=19707
Islamic feminists denounce ‘chauvinism’
Daily Star 11/1/2005
BARCELONA: The first ever international conference on Islamic feminism, held this week in Barcelona, denounced on Sunday what it termed as “male chauvinist” interpretations of the Koran and claimed Islam could “liberate” women. “Islam can liberate women and change their status,” the conference’s final statement read. It also called for a more open interpretation of the Muslim holy book to take into account the context of 21st century societies.
Articles
www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14601&Itemid=79
Abeer and a story of three years in detention
By Amin Abu Warda, International Middle East Media Center 10/29/2005
”The moments of my release from Hasharon detention facility, and heading back home to Balata refugee camp, in Nablus, were the most touching moments in my life”, Abeer Nada, 19, said after she was released from Hasharon detention facility.
At her parents home, Abeer was received by dozens of residents, neighbors and relatives, who came to congratulate her for her release after three years in Israeli prisons.
She sat there at her parents‚ home, and remembered that hard moments when she was arrested, forced out of her home while she was still in her pajamas, and was taken to Huwwara military camp.
“The shouts of my father and his attempts to bar the soldiers from arresting me remained in my head”, Abeer said.
Abeer spent three days in very bad conditions in Huwwara militarty camp before she was transferred for interrogation at Al Ramleh detention facility.
“The weeks I spent at Al Ramleh detention facility were very hard, psychological pressure, dogs, insults and lack of sleep”, she said, “They spit in our faces, do not allow us to sleep and bar us from our visitation rights”.
Three weeks before she was released, Abeer was transferred to Hasharon detention facility, where she faced harsh conditions and continuous insults along with three other female detainees.
“They attacked us, hit us, and insulted us for twenty-one days”, Abeer stated, “They struck us on our heads, faces and chest”.
www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20051030234542996
Iran, Israel, and Who is Not even on the Map
By Ben White, Palestine Chronicle 10/30/2005
One would be forgiven for thinking that this was somehow a Œslow‚ week for news, given the uproar that has greeted the publicizing of Iranian President Ahmadinejad‚s remarks about Israel. Israeli diplomats, European leaders, and even Kofi Annan himself, have all jumped into the fray, eager to castigate Ahmadinejad‚s speech. But is there anything new about it?
It is unlikely that those who have expressed such outrage at Iran‚s anti-Zionist foreign policy have missed out on the Islamic Revolution and the last 26 years of Iranian history, when this kind of rhetoric has been common place. So why all the commotion now?
There seem to be a few possible factors at play.
Firstly, this attempt at forging some kind of anti-Iran consensus has to be seen as consistent with recent US and UK attempts to bring pressure to bear on Tehran. Most notably, this has included the British government‚s efforts to smear Iran with allegations of arming Shiite insurgents in southern Iraq, an accusation that somehow managed to involve the Lebanese Hezbollah for good measure.
www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20051030235130934
Mahmoud Abbas and the Lame Duck
By Uri Avnery, Palestine Chronicle 10/30/2005
”For Sharon, that is a great relief. At long last, he can now stop praising Abbas and start to bury him..”
A twenty-minute drive is all that separates the Israeli Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem from that of the Palestinian President in Ramallah. But for all practical purposes, the Muqata’ah in Ramallah might as well be on the moon.
The day before yesterday, Ariel Sharon declared for the who-knows-how-many-th time, that he had cancelled his planned meeting with Mahmoud Abbas. The reason: Abbas “is not doing anything against terrorism”. A routine pretext, but it seems that this time the act itself is not mere routine.
The long campaign for the elimination of Mahmoud Abbas is entering its final phase.
Much to the regret of Sharon & Co., Abbas cannot be “eliminated” the usual way, as were Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and many other Palestinian leaders. In the case of Abbas, it is not even allowed to use the word “elimination” – an official term of the Israeli army, taken straight from the Mafia lexicon.
The ascent of Abbas after the elimination of Yassir Arafat – still shrouded in mystery – turned on a red light in Sharon’s office. After all, his plans are all based on the slogan “There is Nobody to Talk With”. Abbas, on the other hand, looks to the world, and even to a significant part of the Israeli public – like a Palestinian leader eminently fit to talk with. Worse, he looks that way to President Bush too.
www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/updates_news/updates/gaza_world_attention.htm
APPEAL: Ongoing Crisis in Gaza Demands World Attention Israel‚s Wanton Attacks Must Stop
Editorial, Palestine Monitor 10/30/2005
Since the Israeli settlers withdrew and the army redeployed from the Gaza Strip, the Strip has been subjected to constant attacks and unbearable collective punishments imposed by the Israeli army and aimed primarily at innocent civilians.
The attacks are carried out in three main forms, the first of which is bombings by F-16 fighter jets, Apache gunship helicopters, and tanks. These attacks target civilian areas and infrastructure, including a school and a charitable organization, both of which were destroyed, as well as homes, businesses, and roads.
Eight people were recently killed by an Israeli bombing in the crowded Jabaliya Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi attended the funeral of the eight victims, including two children and a 50-year-old school principle, all of whom happened to be in the area when Israel carried out its illegal assassination attack that killed one wanted man.
Dr. Barghouthi said, “It was unbelievably sad to see the eight bodies laid out, including the two small ones, at the funeral. These horrible attacks against innocent people must stop.”
Sonic Boom Attacks: The second form of attack is sonic booms by low-flying jets that break the sound barrier. This causes unbearably loud noises and effects similar to an earthquake; broken glasses and dishes, damage to homes such as cracks in walls and ceilings, broken windows, etc.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639060
A mercy killing for Labor
By Gideon Levy, Ha’aretz 10/30/2005
Vote for Benjamin (Fuad) Ben-Eliezer, or at least Matan Vilnai. This appeal must be directed now to members of the Labor Party, who will choose the party’s leader next week. If one of these two candidates is elected, the party could finally be put out of its misery. The Labor Party now deserves more than anything else a mercy killing. With all of the emotional difficulty this entails – it is still a historic preservation structure – there is no alternative to disconnecting this unconscious vegetable from the respiratory apparatus that is somehow keeping it alive.
The fatal blow could best be delivered by Ben-Eliezer or, sadly, by Vilnai. The election of Shimon Peres or Amir Peretz would herald another few years of suffering, both for the party and for the system of government in Israel. But if one of these two gray and insignificant generals is elected, Israeli democracy would reap the benefits: Only upon the ruins of this half-dead party could a real alternative to the near-permanent rule of the Likud be constructed.
www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=639445
When Palestinians become Finns
By Yossi Sarid, Ha’aretz 10/31/2005
President George Bush is the exact opposite of the aged Japanese soldier who, after several decades, emerges from the jungle to discover that the war has ended. With Bush, the war ends frequently, and once it has ended it surprisingly goes on: Only two months after it broke out, he hastened to put on a fancy windbreaker, to get up on the deck of an aircraft carrier and to announce to America and the rest of the world that “the mission in Iraq has been completed.” The same thing happened when Saddam Hussein was captured, when the Iraqis voted for the governing council, and voted to ratify the new constitution.
Last week, America lost its 2,000th soldier in the unfinished war. No one can say for say for sure how many Iraqis have been killed to date; it may be about 100,000. True, Iraq and the entire world have gotten rid of a murderous tyrant, but he has been supplanted by a reality that is no less murderous, and maybe more so. At the current rate of carnage, Iraq is one big mass grave.
…The “Bush vision” is, then, the Weissglas vision: After withdrawal from Gaza, the Palestinian state will be shoved into a jar of formaldehyde, where it will wait for the Palestinians to evolve into Finns. And if the Palestinians should actually become Finns, then we, their neighbors, will be Swedes and Norwegians. And then peace will reign over us and them. But only when all of us turn into blonds.
|