Today in Palestine

Palestinians see rifts with Israel on peace draft

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are deeply divided over the content of a joint document they are drafting for next month’s U.S.-sponsored statehood conference, Palestinian officials said on Sunday. The teams, which were introduced last week, are expected to begin negotiations on Monday but their opening positions diverge dramatically, reflecting disputes between Olmert and Abbas on how to revive moribund peace talks, Palestinian officials said. “We can say, ahead of the real discussions beginning between the negotiators, that there is no agreement on any issue yet,” chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie told Reuters.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071007/wl_nm/palestinians_israel_dc_4

PA team says pre-summit document to anchor final settlement

The joint document Israel and the Palestinians are negotiating will be the basis for the final settlement between the two sides, Ahmed Qureia, head of the Palestinian team, said yesterday in an interview. Speaking to the Arab and Palestinian media, Qureia said that unless the document is ready by the scheduled date of the summit in Annapolis, Maryland , the Palestinians will have to reconsider whether they will attend. The summit is expected to take place in late November.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/909955.html

Palestinian leaders-in-exile to hold alternative autumn summit in Damascus

Deputy Secretary-General of Islamic Jihad Ziyad Nakhala said that Palestinian factions will hold a simultaneous conference in order to express their rejection of US plans and stress adherence to unalienable Palestinian rights and principles. Nakhala said the Israelis continue the construction of the separation wall, stealing thousands of hectares of Palestinian land. He also stated that settlement activity has increased and checkpoints continue to spread around Palestinian cities.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25731

Israeli radio reported that the soldiers manning a military checkpoint near a settlement in Hebron seized a man and two women after pursuing a taxi.

Palestinian sources added that the Israeli authorities seized a Palestinian youth from Bani Na’im, east of Hebron. In the area of Jenin, Islamic Jihad activist Husni Zakarna was apprehended after the Israeli forces stormed the village of Qabatiya .
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25733

JePalestinian man dies of wounds sustained during Israel operations in nin

45-year-old Ali Abu Rmaila, from Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, on Sunday morning died of wounds he sustained a month and a half ago during an Israeli incursion. The Israeli military operation was conducted by undercover forces which assassinated Islamic Jihad activists ’Ala’ Abu Surur and Mustafa Atiq. Three other bystanders were injured.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25730

Civil servants reach accord with government, call off strike

Ramallah - Union head Bassam Zakarna said the workers called off the strike after reaching an agreement with the government over back pay. The government has agreed to immediately disburse a full month’s salary to the workers along with a third of the accumulated overdue pay. The government has promised to disburse all overdue pay by the end of the year.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25724

Palestinian police besiege Al -Am’ary refugee camp in the West Bank

Media sources said that scores of police personnel cordoned off the entrance of the refugee camp. Witnesses said that trade of fire broke out between armed men and the Palestinian police forces at the entrance. Palestinian security sources revealed that the operation had nothing to do with any political issues, referring implicitly to the struggle between Fatah and Hams.
http://www.imemc.org/article/50756

Palestinian security releases 12 Hamas supporters for Eid

Police Commander of the Jenin district Sulaiman ’Umran said “the release of the Hamas loyalists is to mark the [Muslim] Eid Ul-Fitr holiday.” ’Umran also revealed that thirty-four Hamas supporters remain in custody. ’Umran said that the released men had been interrogated and had signed commitments to adhere to Palestinian law. Mousa stated that law and order will be imposed on everyone equally and solely the Palestinian Authority can legally be in possession of weapons.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25742

Electronic Intifada: The month in pictures

[Click on the ’i’ second from the left at the bottom of the pictures to turn on the captions, ’::’ at far left for index of thumbnails]
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9023.shtml

Exam failure: the price Gaza’s children are paying for international blockade

The teenage pupils from the UNRWA Girls’ Preparatory A school in Al Deraj were initially shy about talking about why they had wound up in a remedial class. “We can’t concentrate,” said Kholoud Shehada, 15. “We have other things on our minds.” The exam failure rates in Arabic for grades 4 to 9 (ages nine to 15) range from 34.9% for grade 4 to a peak of 61.1% at grade 8. And the figures for mathematics are worse still. At every grade between four and nine more than 65%t fail and at grade six the failure rate is 90%. To reinforce the point that the problem is specific to Gaza (or at least to the occupied territories; the exam system in the West Bank makes a comparison impossible) the results are dramatically worse than those for UNRWA-run Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria . The results would be a shock anywhere; for Palestinians who, not least in Gaza, set the highest value on education it is social catastrophe.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3033358.ece

Israeli military fires missiles at Palestinian school in northern Gaza

Israeli drones on Sunday morning launched two missiles at a school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. No casualties have been reported. [The two missiles exploded near Azhar University ’s agriculture college in the northern part of the town, acc. to the Kuwait news agency KUNA.] Israeli navy squadrons also opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats, west of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25729

Palestinian police seize suspected bombers in Gaza

Palestinian police on Sunday arrested three men who were allegedly planting an explosive device in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. The police also claimed that they arrested three suspects accused of planting a bomb in a Palestinian military base in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip. The police affirmed that some suspects accused of involvement in the chaos in Gaza City last week have been seized. Three people were killed in Gaza City last week as they attempted to plant a bomb at Ansar police station.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25739

Hamas government forces seize off-duty police officer, family alleges

A family in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis accused the Hamas-controlled de facto government of seizing an off-duty police officer from his home on Friday. A relative of Amir Abu Jazar, the man who was allegedly abducted, said: “A number of masked men stormed the officer’s home and abducted him from his home introducing themselves as police men and security men.”
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25721

Palestinian Christian activist stabbed to death in Gaza City

Rami Khader Ayyad, 32, was director of the Teacher’s Bookshop, Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, which is run by the Bible Society of Gaza Baptist church. Over the years he had received repeated death threats from unidentified people displeased with his missionary work. The Interior Ministry run by Gaza’s Islamic militant Hamas rulers condemned the killing and said it launched an investigation. About 3,200 Christians live in Gaza, most of them Greek Orthodox. Relations with Gaza ’s Muslims are generally good, and have not deteriorated since Hamas wrested control of the strip in mid-June. But there have been occasional acts of violence, and in April, a bomb severely damaged the Palestinian Bible Society building in Gaza, which has been operating since 1999.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/910184.html

Militants fire Katyusha at southern Israel from Gaza

The rocket, identified as a Grad-type Katyusha, struck near the Negev town of Netivot. The Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attack, which coincided with a number of mortar attacks on the Negev on Sunday. There were no damage or injuries caused. The Russian-invented Katyusha has a longer range than the more makeshift Qassam rocket. While Sunday’s attack was not the first Katyusha to be fired out of Gaza, such attacks are extremely rare. The Islamic Jihad militant group claims to have fired about a dozen Russian-made rockets at Israel since March 2006.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/910187.html

Marwan Barghouthi on list for potential prisoner exchange for Shalit

In a meeting with Labor MK Nadia Hilou, Barghouthi said, “There is a list of 350 names of prisoners to be exchanged with Gl’ad Shalit, and I knew my name was on the list.” Barghouthi, a wildly popular figure among Palestinians, is speculated to be a strong candidate for the Palestinian presidency.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25743

Haider Abdul-Shafi: Passing undefeated – by Ramzy Baroud

The recent death of Haider Abdul-Shafi could not have come at a worse time. Bearing in mind the grim shortcomings of the Palestinian leadership and the lack of any serious attempt to rectify the situation, the loss of this unique and iconic leader feels all the more acute. Here was someone who always managed to transcend factionalism and religiosity, tribal politics and self-serving ideologies, maintaining his principles through any external difficulties. He saw clearly that while Palestinians may not be able to control Israel’s actions, they were certainly capable of coordinating and correcting their own fallouts. This was really all that he asked. In stark contrast, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to use the Israeli colonial project to his own advantage.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story-10060745502.htm

Mohammed al-Dura lives on – by Gideon Levy

The concern Israel demonstrates for the fate of one Palestinian boy touches the heart: Again, note what a fuss is being made about the case of the killing of Mohammed al-Dura. Our heart is impervious to the fate of other children who have been killed. Just little Mohammed continues to haunt us. According to data collected by human rights group B’Tselem, Israel is responsible for killing more than 850 Palestinian children and teenagers since al-Dura was killed, including 92 in the past year alone. Last October, we killed 31 children in Gaza. . . this ridiculous focus on who killed al-Dura, a question that will never be resolved, is no more than a tempest in a putrid teapot. There should be a tempest, a great and mighty one, but one focused on an entirely different issue: Why is the IDF continuing to kill children at such a frightening pace, and why doesn’t Israel take responsibility for this and compensate the families of those killed? But no one is conducting “investigations” about this.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/909972.html

Palestinian wins at international photo competition

AFP photojournalist Mahmoud Al-Hams won first prize for war photos at an international competition in France. Al-Hams is from the Gaza Strip, and he works in the Gaza-based office of the Agence France Press. Al-Hams was given the prize for a photo of an Israeli air-to-land missile, taken while it was falling towards Palestinian bystanders near a base belonging to the Executive Force in the central Gaza Strip in May 2007.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25740

Five Palestinians win at international photography competition
organized by a union of Arab photographers in Europe this weekend. 418 photographers from 23 Arab and European countries took part in the contest. A total of 4164 photographs were submitted. In the photojournalism category, Abdul-Rahim Qawsini won the gold metal, Jamal ’Aruri won the bronze and Mahmoud Dabdub came in fourth. Dabdub also won the gold metal for the childhood category. Ala’ Badarna and Sharif Sarhan also won.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25725

Corporate responsibility

The name Rachel Corrie should mean something to every person in America. She was an American citizen killed by a foreign army in 2003. The reason that people do not pay attention to this incident is because the foreign army happened to be one of an ally and not of an enemy, thus it must be ignored for strictly political reasons. If demonized Iran had killed an American citizen, it would be an almost guaranteed pretext for a full-on war with that country and would be picked up in the media 24 hours a day. Rachel Corrie was killed by an American-made Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer, bought by the Pentagon especially for Israel.
http://media.www.dailycollegian.com/media/storage/paper874/news/2007/10/05/EditorialOpinion/Corporate.Responsibility-3013629.shtml

IDF court lawyers to slow down legal proceedings against Palestinians – by Amira Hass

The lawyer who represented the minors was implementing the decision made a month ago by lawyers representing thousands of Palestinians tried every year in the two military courts in the West Bank, mostly on security offenses. The decision came after the lawyers concluded that their previous policy of reaching quick compromises with the military prosecutor harmed their clients and did not meet the standards of justice and law. For example, lawyers now demand that indictments be translated into Arabic as a condition for proceeding, a requirement not enforced for a very long time.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/909985.html

There’s no strike in the Vale of Tears

The person who is most troubled by the expected high-school teachers’ strike does not work in the Education Ministry, the education department of a local authority or even for some parents’ association. Rather, he is in the Defense Ministry. That person is Avigdor Kahalani, who heads the ministry’s military-social bureau. The strike threatens his life’s work - Be’ikvot Lohamim ("in the footsteps of warriors"), under which 45,000 12th-graders are scheduled to set out, beginning on Thursday, for a 10-day hike in the Golan Heights, tracing the paths of Israel Defense Forces fighters in general and of Kahalani the warrior in particular.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/909973.html

Police suggest ’Druze honor gang’ was behind woman’s killing

Last January, Reem Qassem, 36, was stabbed to death in the stairwell of her Haifa apartment building. The murder shocked the central Haifa neighborhood of Hadar and struck fear into the hearts of its female inhabitants. The failure to solve the murder and the rumor that it was a family or tribal “honor killing” have affected the neighborhood’s Arab women in particular. But the very suggestion that family honor or “clan motives” were behind the murder draws angry responses from Qassem’s family in the Galilee village of Rama. They think the murder was criminal, perhaps a robbery gone wrong.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/910179.html

The flip-side of the refugee issue – by Yossi Ben-Aharon

UN Security Council Resolution 242, which remains the sole agreed basis for an Arab-Israel peace agreement, contains a reference to “a just solution of the refugee problem.” It makes no reference to Palestinian refugees. The omission was not accidental, because the council understood there was also the problem of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Shortly after the November 1947 Partition Plan was passed by the UN, a wave of anti-Jewish pogroms took place in several Arab countries. In making their case, the Arabs have consistently refrained from acknowledging the mass exodus of some 800,000 Jews from Arab countries. The Jewish refugees have all been absorbed in Israel, while the Arab refugees have been deliberately kept in limbo, pending the fulfillment of their “right of return.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1191257236306&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Syria paper urges return of Golan Heights ’by any means’

An editorial in the state-run Syrian newspaper Al-Ba’ath called for the return of the Golan Heights to Syria by any means necessary. “We, the Syrian people and our leaders have the steadfast determination to liberate our captured land no matter the means or the methods,” the article read. The article appeared in the paper on Saturday to mark the 34th anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/909944.html

Report: Israel delayed Syria strike due to U.S. hesitance

The IAF strike on an alleged Syrian nuclear installation on September 6 was supposed to take place on July 14, but was delayed due to hesitance on the part of the Americans, ABC News reported. Foreign media reports have said that North Korea delivered nuclear material to Syria three days before the attack was carried out. The United States, embroiled in a war in Iraq partially due to faulty intelligence, was nervous about the accuracy of the information and the implications on the region an attack would have. By early September, Israel began to fear the plan would be leaked, and decided to go ahead with it.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/909926.html

Boston Jew and West Bank Muslim build a temple, and bridges, in Arkansas

Mr. Bayyari, now a general contractor, will build the first permanent temple for the Reform Jewish congregation in Fayetteville, of which Mr. Feldman is president. And Mr. Bayyari, a Palestinian-American Muslim, is doing the job at no charge. Without his sacrifice, the congregation probably could not afford the project at all. “To me, it’s a place of worship,” said Mr. Bayyari, 55. “In my mind and in my religion, I believe in Judaism as part of Islam. We believe in Abraham. We believe in Moses. In the Koran, there’s lots of talk about Isaac and Joseph. I am always fascinated by this, and I always feel I have a relationship with this faith. And knowing what’s happened in the Middle East, what better way to build bridges?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/us/06religion.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams to launch Mideast peace show in West Bank and Israel

(AP) The head of One Voice’s Ramallah office, Fathi Darwish, said Adams would launch the West Bank event at a football stadium in the ancient town of Jericho , then head to Tel Aviv to perform. “Our goal is to send a message to the world, that the Palestinian people love life, and hope for life and liberation,” Darwish said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071007/ap_on_en_mu/people_adams_2

Jeffrey Goldberg’s prison – by Norman Finkelstein

It must be said that Prisoners: A Muslim & A Jew Across The Middle East Divide is a quite wretched book which, for all its willingness to acknowledge ugly realities about Israel’s occupation, albeit realities which can no longer be concealed, nonetheless reiterates and, because of the seeming openness, revivifies the old pernicious myths and threadbare clichés sustaining the occupation, presenting them in a form less detached from reality yet processed to make them assimilable by his liberal American Jewish audience.
http://www.counterpunch.org/finkelstein10062007.html

Breaking the taboo – why we took on the Israel lobby – interview with Mearsheimer and Walt

Why do you focus on Israel and not on other U.S. allies? We focus on Israel’s policies in this book not because we have any animus toward Israel or because we regard its behavior as worse than other states’. Rather, we focus on it because the United States has long focused so much of its financial, diplomatic, and military attention on Israel. What is the impact on Israel ’s long-term interests? U.S. aid has indirectly subsidized Israel ’s attempt to colonize the Occupied Territories, a policy that many Israelis now see as a strategic and moral disaster. Yet the lobby has made it effectively impossible for Washington to convince the Israeli government to abandon this misguided policy.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=22707

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