Today in Palestine ! Headlines September 18, 2007 

URGENT Legal Funds Needed ! Qusin Demo Video and Report
Saturday, September 15th, at 12pm, international and Israeli activists joined Palestinian activists and villagers in the village of Qusin to protest the system of control imposed upon them by the Israeli army. The region has seen a rise in demonstrations of this sort recently, with roadblock removal demonstrations happening also in the nearby town of Sarra.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/09/15/urgent-media-alert-demonstrators-shot-and-arrested-in-qusin/

B’Tselem : « Stripping Palestinians of their homes contravenes Palestinians human rights »
The Israeli Center for Human Rights « B’Tselem » has demanded the Israeli military Deputy-General to issue orders to the Israeli police to investigate the widespread demolition of homes in Qalqiliya and the practices associated with these demolitions.
http://www.imemc.org/article/50485

OCHA warns of determination of humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip
A report released by the United Nations coordination Office of Humanitarian affairs Saturday warned of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, demanding that all relevant parties work on guaranteeing the regular supply of medical and food supplies to the coastal region.
http://www.imemc.org/article/50489

Israeli army soldiers broke into a PRCS volunteer committee center in Deir Estia
Monday, September 17, 2007, Israeli soldiers broke into a PRCS volunteer committee center in Deir Estia village at 02:00 am. They bombarded the door of the center and searched it thoroughly. They threw some of its furniture and first aid equipments out. They left the center after one hour and a half in a real mess.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EVOD-776H72?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR

Israeli army raids West Bank refugee camp
One Palestinian youth was killed today when Israeli troops raided a West Bank refugee camp before dawn, Palestinian residents said.
http://www.eveningecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=15102674&p=y5yxz7zx&n=15102762

IDF troops operating in the West Bank kill 16-year-old Palestinian
A 16-year-old Palestinian youth was shot and killed early Monday morning during clashes with the Israel Defense Forces in Ramallah. Palestinian sources reported that the youth, Mohammed Jabbarin, was not armed and was shot after he hurled rocks at Israeli troops. The IDF had been carrying out a routine operation in the West Bank town when the clash erupted.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/904368.html

Israeli military requests video footage of boy’s killing
Israeli army authorities have requested that a French television network hand over unedited video footage of the death of Mohammed Al-Dura, who was killed in the Gaza Strip in September 2000 in one of the most controversial incidents of the second Intifada.
http://www.imemc.org/article/50477

U.S. officials : Israeli border authorities harass Arab Americans
American officials have complained recently that Israeli immigration authorities harass American citizens of Arab origin at Israeli border crossings. During meetings between senior State Department officials and their counterparts in Israel, the Americans said that in recent months there has been a troubling increase in the number of complaints by American citizens of Palestinian and Arab origin, regarding the treatment they receive at border crossings and airports in Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/904785.html

Abbas Filmed Telling Security Chief : « Slaughter » Hamas
Hamas TV has aired a short videotape that seems to show Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas telling a security chief to « slaughter » Hamas’ men.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/133336

Police bar sounding of muezzin in mostly Arab part of Acre
Police have decided to prohibit the sounding of the muezzin, the prayer call used in Islam, during the month of Ramadan in an Acre neighborhood comprising an Arab residential majority. Acre police department chief superintendent Moshe Cohen explained that the decision was made in order to avoid violating the status-quo and needless confrontations in the Wolfson neighborhood in northern Acre.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=904806&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7

Arab sector heads shun El Al over ’harassing’ security probes
The leaders of the Arab sector on Tuesday announced plans to boycott El Al Airlines to protest the company’s « harassment » and « interrogation » of Arab passengers at airports and border crossings.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=904851&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7

Abbas faces pressure to skip Mideast conference
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is under pressure from his Fatah faction not to attend a U.S.-led Middle East conference, aides said on Tuesday, citing uncertainty over its participants and outcome.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1875935220070918

World Bank report shows dire state of deteriorating Palestinian economy, growing poverty
The Palestinian economy is sinking into dependence on foreign aid, and its public sector is swelling as its manufacturing and other businesses wither, according to a World Bank report released Tuesday. The 35-page report, prepared for a Sept 24 meeting of an international donor committee in New York, details how the Palestinian economies in the West Bank and Gaza have steadily deteriorated since 2000, when the peace process with Israel broke down and violence erupted.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/18/africa/ME-GEN-Palestinians-Economy.php

World Bank : PA will not recover without control of Gaza Strip
A new World Bank report warns that the Palestinian Authority will not be able to achieve peace and economic recovery unless it gains control of the Gaza Strip, currently under the leadership of Hamas.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=904542&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1

It is unjust and absurd to apply economics to this hell
No people, territory or issue on earth have had more international attention devoted to them than Palestine and its people. Yet no conflict looks further from resolution, and no people further from achieving the freedom promised them. More Palestinians lack more basic freedoms today than they did 60 years ago. While an expensive and extensive peace process was in full swing, Israel managed to illegally expropriate most of the occupied West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, install hundreds of thousands of illegal settlers, kill more Palestinian families, arrest more young men, destroy more crops, homes and businesses, build a monstrous wall deemed illegal by the international court of justice, and set forth, unchecked, a policy of aggressive expansionism in Palestine that continues until this moment. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2171421,00.html

Women Organizations express deep concern over violence against women
Women organizations, members of the Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Palestine, expressed deep concern over increasing incidents of violence against women in the Palestinian areas, and stated that over the last few months, repeated incident of killings, physical and psychological harm were reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/50472

Palestinian opinion poll shows Hamas trailing Fatah, criticism of Gaza takeover
The popularity of the Hamas militant group has fallen far behind rival Fatah, according to an opinion poll released Monday, and Palestinians were overwhelmingly opposed to the Islamic group’s heavy-handed tactics in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/17/africa/ME-GEN-Palestinians-Poll.php

Women police : the new veiled face of order in Gaza
Susan Aqal is a tightly veiled Palestinian mother who has a baby boy. But she has abandoned traditional domestic life to interrogate suspected drug addicts, thieves and murderers in the volatile Gaza Strip.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jEpL0OnIilk0u4Eb7R9VyXhMS2PA

Gaza doctors suspend strike for Ramadan
The Palestinian doctors’ union said on Monday that it will temporarily suspend a slowdown in Gaza, called to protest against Hamas policies, until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070917/wl_mideast_afp/palestiniangazahealth_070917190934;_ylt=AskL86O4wh6UP3Y_bQNACnKaOrgF

A BANKRUPT RAMADAN IN GAZA
The situation is desperate here in Gaza, the coastal strip that is abundant with nothing except human beings. Just a couple of hours before Iftaar, the time of day after sunset when Muslims break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims around the globe shop to prepare. Gaza’s crowded Khan Younis is no exception. However, though they may be thronged with people, Gaza’s markets are lacking any holiday festivity or commerce.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article8996.shtml

ISRAELI POLICIES TARGET PALESTINIAN FAMILIES
Israel’s practice of denying family reunification permits and denying entry to foreign passport holders (many but not all of whom are of Palestinian origin) is part of a campaign of ridding the occupied territories (including East Jerusalem) of Palestinians and tightly controlling those it is obliged to retain. The practice takes aim at Palestinian families : it splits families apart, denies Palestinian communities access to foreign and expatriate talent, deprives the economically hard-hit territories of foreign currency, and further isolates the Palestinians under occupation.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article8988.shtml

A DOUBLE STANDARD ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Two hundred thousand Palestinian children began school in the Gaza Strip this month without a full complement of textbooks. Why ? Because Israel, which maintains a stranglehold over this small strip of land along the Mediterranean even after withdrawing its settlers from there in 2005, considers paper, ink and binding materials not to be « fundamental humanitarian needs. »
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article8995.shtml

Vandals attack Palestine group’s campus signboard
This morning, students from our organization noticed that the SJP sign-board on the bridge near Sather Gate had been vandalized and destroyed. The sign was broken in half, its pieces left in place for passersby to see. No other signboards from other student organizations were targeted.
http://calsjp.org/signboard-destroyed-by-vandals

Finkelstein Interviewed by George McLeod
Israel critic Norman Finkelstein made national headlines after his tenure was denied by DePaul University . Finkelstein, an author of five books, had received outstanding reviews from his students and peers. His dismissal sparked student protests and sit-ins, and led top academics to rally to his defence. Many questioned whether campuses had fallen victim to powerful pressure groups. In this interview with George McLeod, Norman Finkelstein discusses the Israel lobby, his writings and what makes the Israel issue unusually sensitive in the US.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=43&ItemID=13796