Today in Palestine

205 Gazans dead this year as direct result of Israeli siege
(13 July) According to a statement released on Sunday by the de facto government in Gaza’s ministry of health, 205 individuals have died as a direct result of the Israeli siege. The statistic, says the statement, includes 45 children and takes into account the number of people whose lives would not have been taken if the Israeli siege in Gaza were not in place. The siege, according to the statistic, is counted as the last year of tightened security, not the last three years of restricted access. The ministry statement was issued following the death Sunday of Hadeel Haddad, a 19-month-old baby girl who was recently denied a permit to leave Gaza for medical treatment. According to the de facto ministry, more than 1500 patients in the Gaza Strip urgently need medical care abroad, and one third of those patients are children.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30525

Hayya: Egyptian, European reservations delay opening of Rafah crossing

(13 July, PIC) MP Dr. Khalil Al-Hayya, one of the prominent Hamas leaders in Gaza, has underlined that Egyptian insistence on the 2005 agreement along with European reservations were delaying the re-operation of the Rafah crossing. He said that Cairo was adamant on opening the crossing only according to the 2005 agreement, which gives Israel the right to monitor traffic across the terminal in the presence of European observers. The Hamas leader said that the Europeans also expressed reservations on a number of articles included in Hamas’s proposed arrangements to operate the terminal, which rule out any Israeli role in the matter.
http://palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7ueFD1oONvJD5SF%2fnXBhQoLRluPTHy%2fhIjtVJ%2bJqnUm7Ft2xsNCL4%2flRnMeM2ujmJ%2ft2244X1nbBaL9f0e%2b0casdFfiCWRNzq83CYcy9LdnQ%3d

UNRWA: Despite the calm, Israel did not open the crossings properly; problems of shepherds

(13 July, PIC) John Ging, the director of UNRWA relief operations in Gaza, stated Saturday that despite the Palestinian side’s commitment to the truce and its cessation of rocket attacks on Israeli targets, Israel did not open the crossings properly in the way needed by the Gaza people, adding that the humanitarian situation is getting worse. The UN official underlined that last October when there were rocket attacks, fuel quantities allowed in Gaza were more than now.
For her part, Katharina Ritz, the head of the Red Cross mission in occupied Jerusalem, said that Palestinian shepherds lack increasingly necessary pastures for their livestock; besides, the lands they reach suffer from overgrazing and recurrent droughts. Ritz pointed out that what aggravates the suffering of those shepherds is the Israeli restrictions on freedom of movement as well as the Israeli settlement outposts, bypasses and the military areas which were established on Palestinian lands and prevent them from getting access to grazing areas and water.
http://palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s78qUz8jHzqWz4y3PO7wgOzLacaitZ85W%2fDq2T8Iv4TxDR%2bTbYXcikkK3zOkoa59L2kbq1T9zfQQmB2cC5E1tPkR%2bXBzYDEgMciUyoOOcsqvg%3d

Odwan: The Israeli aggression on the West Bank could lead to our withdrawal from the calm

(13 July, PIC) GAZA, (PIC)— Dr. Atef Odwan, a member of the Hamas parliamentary bloc, warned that the Israeli onslaught on the West Bank through closing civil institutions and assassinations could drive the Palestinian people to pressure the factions to withdraw from the truce agreement especially since the Gaza people did not feel that the three-week-old calm alleviated even some of their suffering. In a press statement to the Quds Press, Odwan said that the Israeli occupation wants to kill two birds with one stone through its aggression on the West Bank, where it aims to liquidate the Palestinian resistance in order to torpedo its decision regarding the truce, and to trespass on PA territories as if there is no authority there.
http://palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7hovUQGOp17m3Xt0wMIMZHvFRiEhulU%2bF36N8L6wgmjicfUa4P4IKTcMoD9DihVgczciROxksx6cneGtH5oeS191ORNpVyNZsYMGxrCoJI0Y%3d

Obaid: Increase in Egyptian electricity supply would overcome shortage in Gaza

(13 July, PIC) Kanan Obaid, the deputy head of the energy authority in Gaza, has said that the Gaza Strip is suffering a 25% shortage in electricity needs, adding that the shortage could only be overcome through increasing electricity supplies from Egypt. He said in a press statement on Saturday that even if enough fuel to the sole Gaza electricity station was provided by Israel the problem would not be solved. Egypt started to provide the southern Gaza Strip district of Rafah with 17 megawatt of electricity since early 2007 after Israeli warplanes knocked out the sole power station in Gaza by the end of June 2006. Obaid attributed the recent power outages in Gaza to technical problems in the power station.
http://palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7jhEW3d%2bVw9%2f1kKmy9FmMP0ynQmIke%2b%2bcV%2b705yAgl6tIdIJDb69r31WS33sKDr0GHD%2bE%2fkyEuaoDbl4QIWXk8h0IqNpnlTVlJR60%2bc%2bDPNQ%3d

Health minister: Turkey offers free health treatment for Gaza patients

(13 July, PIC) The health minister in the PA caretaker government, Dr. Basem Naim, announced in Istanbul on Saturday that Turkey has agreed to offer free medical care to Gaza patients and wounded. The minister told Gaza daily ’Palestine’ published on Sunday that Akdag had promised to study providing scholarships for Palestinian doctors to pursue higher MA and PhD studies. Naim briefed his Turkish counterpart on the health conditions in Gaza Strip and the impact of the Israeli siege on level of medical services extended to patients in the Gaza hospitals. The minister also visited Palestinian patients and wounded receiving treatment in Turkish hospitals in the company of a delegation from the IHH Turkish society.
http://palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7i%2fNPw3ytxAnLuSHTio4bnIDrAVfogoDYipXG37%2fUGr7kZlARloKIY1O%2bwfvX7yPiWJeBzV0YIx63pdqr6iBHG1aE5skZax6MbmehP64IXzk%3d

After hours of waiting, West Bank checkpoints reopen

(13 July, PNN) Bethlehem – After a horrific morning for thousands of Palestinians trying to travel within the West Bank, Israeli forces opened the Container Checkpoint. Wadi Nar Road has become the major thoroughfare between the southern and central to northern West Bank since the Israeli closures of East Jerusalem. The Israeli-imposed closure, going in both directions on Sunday, lasted four hours with no reason given. Palestinian sources and eyewitnesses confirmed while in direct contact with PNN that Israeli forces detained thousands of citizens and hundreds of cars at the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Abu Dis. According to eyewitnesses the Israeli occupation forces closed the checkpoint at 6:00 am Sunday without giving any reason. Press sources reported throughout the West Bank that checkpoints were suddenly closed on Sunday morning for intermittent periods.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3071&Itemid=1

Three women turned away at checkpoint for refusing to undress

(13 July) Israeli soldiers on Sunday attempted to force three Palestinian women to undress at Al-Jalama checkpoint, on the Green Line north of Jenin, while traveling to visit their relatives in an Israeli jail. According to the first woman, a female soldier, observing the woman through two closed-circuit TV cameras, asked the woman to remove her gown first while. Then she asked her to get completely undressed. The woman refused and requested that the soldier get search her manually, without being undressed. The soldier refused, giving the woman two choices: either to undress completely, or go home without visiting her brother. She chose the latter. The woman added that the female soldier did the same with the other two women, who also refused to get undressed. Then the soldiers detained all three women in a small dark room for an hour and a half before sending them home.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30528

Israeli forces brutally beat Palestinian student near Bethlehem, arrest four others in WB

(13 July) Witnesses said Israeli troops raided an apartment in the old section of Al-Khader, shouting at the occupants and claiming that a Molotov cocktail had been thrown at an Israeli vehicle in the area. 21-year-old Nadim Issa, a physical education student at Al-Quds University, heard the noise from another apartment in the building and went to check up on his relatives. Following a heated argument, Issa scuffled with the soldiers, but was subdued, then severely beaten and arrested. Meanwhile Israeli forces stormed the Wadi M’ali neighborhood of Bethlehem in the and arrested 31-year-old Raed Abu Hlayyil. Separately, undercover Israeli forces infiltrated Ayda refugee camp in Bethlehem. The undercover unit was followed by seven military vehicles which surrounded the homes of 22-year-old Ayman Al-’Amareen and 25-year-old Hammuda Srur and arrested them after ransacking both houses. The arrestees are members of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, which is controlled by the Palestinian Authority and closely linked to Fatah. Separately, Israeli troops seized one Palestinian from the city of Hebron, Israeli sources reported.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30517

Settler arrested in failed rocket attack on Palestinian town
(13 July) Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that police arrested Gilad Herman, a student at a Jewish seminary in the settlement of Yitzhar. Herman had been wanted for questioning since the attempt last month to launch a home-built rocket at the neighboring village of Burin, but apparently had gone into hiding. The projectile failed to reach its target and nobody was harmed, although the sound of the blast triggered a sweep of the area by Israeli security forces who initially believed a Palestinian attack on settlers was in progress.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1001565.html

Israeli settler arrested for launching homemade projectiles at Palestinian village

(13 July – includes photo of settler with array of rockets) Israeli police on Saturday arrested a settler from Yitshar settlement near Nablus, in the northern West Bank. The arrestee is suspected of manufacturing and launching homemade projectiles towards the village of Burin three weeks ago. Israel Radio reported that Israeli army searched the settlement and found explosives and weapons. On three separate occasions, militant Israeli settlers were reported to have fired homemade rockets into Palestinian villages in the area.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30515

Jordan’s king: Palestinian issue core of Mideast conflict

AMMAN, July 12 (Xinhua) — Jordan’s King Abdullah reiterated the Palestinian issue is the core of the conflict in the Middle East, underlining the importance of finding a solution to end the Israeli occupation and achieve the ambition of Palestinians, said a statement released by the royal court on Saturday. The king made the remarks on Friday during an economic conference held in the state of Idaho, the United States, the statement said. He underscored the importance of continuing the international support in helping the Palestinians overcome the economic, educational and health challenges they are facing, according to the statement. The king, however, stressed that “the Jordanian option, which is marketed by some people as a solution for the Palestinian issue, is totally refused by Jordan and Palestine.” Under the Jordan option, the West Bank and possibly the Gaza Strip would be united in a political and economic confederation with Jordan.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/13/content_8536118.htm

Olmert says Palestinian peace deal closer than ever..............!

(13 July) PM meets France’s Sarkozy, Palestinian president in Paris. Olmert says peace within reach, promises Abbas to release more prisoners. Syrian FM leaves summit hall in protest before Livni’s speech
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3567526,00.html

Abbas will urge Olmert to speed up talks at Paris meeting

(13 July) Israel’s plans to build more illegal settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem and the West Bank have been a major obstacle in the talks. President Abbas will raise the question of the colonization and call once more for Israel to end them, particularly in east Jerusalem," said Abu Rudeina. The gulf that separates the two sides is as wide as ever, he added. “No issue has been settled, hence the necessity of greater efforts from the US administration and from the international community to avoid the region falling into uncontrollable chaos,” he warned.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30518

Olmert pledges to free Palestinian prisoners regardless of swap deals

(13 July) Israel will free Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority unrelated to the prisoner exchange deals it is conducting with Hezbollah and Hamas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday. Olmert and Abbas on Sunday met for trilateral talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on the sidelines of the first summit of the Union for the Mediterranean.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1001563.html

Palestinian woman denied release after completing six-year prison sentence

(13 July) Hebron – Ma’an – Abeer ’Uda from Tulkarem completed her 6-year prison sentence in an Israeli jail on 12 July. Israeli prison services, however, have not set her free. According to Abeer’s Palestinian Prisoners Society lawyer, there has been an administrative order which prevented Abeer’s release. The woman remains in Israeli custody. [End]
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30526

Israeli Prison Service releases names of Lebanese prisoners to be freed

(13 July) In another step towards completion of prisoner swap deal with Hizbullah, Israel Prison Service publishes list of five Lebanese detainees to be released in exchange for kidnapped soldiers, including terrorist Samir Kuntar. Aside from Kuntar, the list includes Khader Zidan, Maher Qurani, Mahmad Srour, and Hussein Sleiman, all captured during the Second Lebanon War. On Tuesday the government is expected to discuss the approval of the deal with Hizbullah. If signed, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann will transfer a written recommendation to President Shimon Peres, who will decide whether to grant the five prisoners pardons. [Swap is expected to take place on Wednesday]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3567645,00.html

PA minister: Now we know we can’t get prisoners released without kidnapping Israeli soldiers

(13 July) “On the Palestinian street there is now an understanding that without kidnapping soldiers, we can’t get prisoners released. Through negotiation, we haven’t managed to get prisoners released,” the Palestinian Authority’s minister for Prisoners Affairs, Ashraf al-Ajami, said over the weekend. He also offered biting criticism of Israel’s willingness to trade security prisoners with Hamas and Hizbullah in exchange for kidnapped soldiers, while continuing to drag its feet on prisoner-release negotiations with the PA. Ajami said the PA had repeatedly requested a negotiated release of longtime prisoners with terminal illnesses. “But we make requests, and Israel does the opposite.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215330944596&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Fatah spokesperson responds to Hamas’ criticism on truce, national dialogue

(13 July) The Fatah movement says that the current ceasefire in the Gaza Strip puts it in position to regain control of the Gaza Strip. Abed Ar-Rahman blamed Hamas for the lack of progress in reinstating direct talks with Fatah. He also rejected the notion that Fatah is hesitating to begin talks because of pressure from the United States, through the international Quartet, which Hamas views as an instrument of the US. Hamas maintains that it has not received a formal invitation to dialogue from Fatah.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30513

Islamic Jihad criticizes Hamas for not coordinating over ceasefire

GAZA, July 13 (Xinhua) — Islamic Jihad movement on Sunday criticized Islamic Hamas movement for not consulting with the Palestinian factions when Israel violated Gaza ceasefire. Hamas and the Palestinian factions formed an operation room to discuss the responses to the Israeli violations of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, but this room “was only a declaration and its members have never met and it is inactive,” according to Daoud Shehab, the Islamic Jihad spokesman in Gaza. Israel and Hamas agreed on a ceasefire that took hold in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on June 19. Hamas committed to the ceasefire but it took measures against Palestinian militants who violated the ceasefire. The Islamic Jihad was among those which fired rockets into Israel during the ceasefire. Shehab said the lack of coordination was due to the political split between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/13/content_8539127.htm

Analysis: Palestinian factional divide shredding society

(13 July, Reuters) By Wafa Amr - GAZA - Conflict between President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction and rival Islamist Hamas have damaged the fabric of Palestinian society and torn families apart, especially in the Gaza Strip. A year after Hamas’s seizure of Gaza from Abbas, political differences that were kept in check through decades of struggle against Israel have ripped through the coastal enclave, leaving scars on relationships at every level, touching marriages and close-knit families, even disrupting funerals. “This is a new phenomenon in our society,” Ahmed Youssef, a Hamas official in Gaza said, arguing that Palestinians had become polarised to an unprecedented extent. “One of our neighbours refused to receive mourners from Hamas at his house. When a man goes to ask for a woman’s hand in marriage, her family now inquire about his political affiliation first.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSL09599778

Mash’al renews Hamas’ commitment to Yemeni initiative for talks with Fatah

(13 July) Hamas political leader Khaled Mash’al renewed his movement’s commitment to the Yemeni initiative for internal Palestinian reconciliation during meeting with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a on Sunday. Mash’al said the two discussed the possibility of expanding Arab involvement in efforts to reinitiate direct talks between Hamas and its rival, Fatah.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30527

Two mortar shells land Sunday in Nahal Oz area

(13 July) Sunday sees another truce violation as two mortars fired from Gaza hit Palestinian side of border fence; no injuries or damage reported
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3567637,00.html

Islamic Jihad leader praises Jerusalem attacks

(13 July) Sheikh Nafeth Azam, a leader of the Islamic Jihad movement said on Saturday that Friday night’s shooting attack in East Jerusalem was a sign of “growing” rage among Palestinians against occupation, settlement, and other Israeli policies. “The Jerusalem attack and the bulldozer attack that was carried out few days earlier came as a proof that resistance is an option not only to for the Palestinian factions but also for all Palestinians,” Azzam said “We see resistance as the only way to respond to the Israeli attacks on the Palestinians, their land and holy sites.”
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30512

Palestinian suspected in Jerusalem police shooting; Israeli security forces round up men in Arab area

(13 July. AP) JERUSALEM - Police were searching yesterday [Saturday] for a gunman who wounded two Israeli police officers on patrol in Jerusalem’s Old City, in what officials described as a nationalist attack by a Palestinian. The shooting, which took place just before midnight Friday at Lion’s Gate, was captured on a security camera, but the assailant’s face was not visible in the darkness, Israel Radio said. The gunman fled to a nearby cemetery and apparently was not hit by police fire, the radio said. In Jerusalem, green-clad Israeli security forces rounded up Palestinian men overnight in an Arab neighborhood close to the Old City, forcing some to lie on the ground stripped to their underwear while others stood against walls. Red police tape crisscrossed the Lion’s Gate entrance, barring people from entry. Yesterday morning, traffic crawled to a halt outside a main Israeli checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank, apparently as authorities searched for the perpetrator.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20080713_Palestinian_suspected_in_Jerusalem_police_shooting_Israeli_security_forces_rounded_up_men_in_an_Arab_area__Officials_called_it_a_nationalist_attack_.html

PLO takes official action on closed Nablus organizations

(13 July) Palestinian officials are slated to meet with Israeli authorities on Sunday to discuss the recent Israeli army orders given to several charities and shopping locations in Nablus to close their doors. Following these meetings, at least seven Executive Committee members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) will participate in an official visit to Nablus Monday, according to committee member Ghassan Ash-Shak’a. Ash-Shak’a told Ma’an he was not optimistic about the scheduled meetings between Palestinian and Israeli officials.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30530

PA will appeal to Quartet to reverse closure of Nablus institutions

(13 July) Speaking in Nablus, Kamal Hassouna, the Minister of National Economy in the caretaker government, said the Palestinian Authority aims to fulfill its responsibility to provide security and prosperity to the people of Nablus. Hassouna was sent to Nablus on Saturday by President Mahmoud Abbas and caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to meet with local political and security officials and respond to two Israeli attacks on the city. The Israeli military invaded Nablus last Monday and Tuesday, raiding Mosques, charities, and a shopping mall. The military ordered these the establishments closed as a part of a crackdown on Hamas’ civilian infrastructure in the West Bank.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30510

The general of onions and garlic – by Gideon Levy

(13 July) The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security service have invented something new: a war on shopping malls, bakeries, schools and orphanages. First in Hebron, now in Nablus. The IDF is closing beauty salons, clothing stores and clinics, and even one dairy farm, all on the pretext that they are connected to Hamas, or the rent they pay is given to a terror organization. These bizarre pictures of a closure order issued by the general of command, stuck on the window of a cosmetics store or a physiotherapy center, of a confiscation order stuck to a pita oven, show that the Israeli occupation has gone crazy. . . the occupation proves once again that there is no place in Palestinians’ lives that it cannot reach, and that it has no boundaries. According to the Israeli train of thought, if we close a bakery making bagels for orphans, Hamas’ power will weaken; if we throw hundreds of needy children into the streets from their boarding school, they and their relatives will become sympathetic to Israel; if we close a crowded shopping mall, its irate owners and customers will become Fatah supporters.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1001358.html

Muslim charities targeted by Israel do more than fund terror – by Zvi Bar’el

About a month and a half ago, on May 26, Defense Minister Ehud Barak signed an order banning 36 international Muslim charities. A several-thousand shekel donation one group made to buy a wheelchair for a handicapped person was confiscated. This order stems from these organizations’ membership in a consortium called The Charity Coalition, which was founded in 2001 in order to give Palestinians humanitarian aid during the intifada. This coalition is suspected of funding Hamas, especially its religious outreach and civil infrastructure.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1001367.html

QB: All attempts to liquidate us in the West Bank will fail

(12 July, PIC) The armed wing of the Hamas Movement, the Qassam Brigades, on Saturday asserted that all attempts by the Israeli occupation authority and its agents in the PA security apparatuses would fail in liquidating its presence in the West Bank. Abu Obaida, the armed wing’s spokesman in Gaza, said in a press statement that the “hideous security coordination with Israeli occupation has reached a serious stage in the West Bank, which led over the past couple of days to the assassination of two Qassam members Talal Al-Abed and Mahmoud Asy”. He pointed out that both martyrs were wanted for the PA security apparatuses that worked day and night to apprehend them. The spokesman regretted the fact that the martyrs were wanted by both those apparatuses and the IOA, charging that those apparatuses had turned into a unit of the Israeli army that performs its duty against the Palestinian people and resistance in the ’ugliest form’.
http://palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7JelBRJDEK9z%2f%2bxRuDRgDt8aIVI7L%2f3xgGF7g3Gx7Zl4F%2bLWZZ%2bcxzIgTQV70DRrto8tQ1UiaLg1OVYU%2fwIkDH%2bNP%2bRnVY77YX7a034Vug5I%3d

Southern Hebron villages demand Internet access

(13 July) More than 25,000 Palestinian residents of villages south of Hebron in the southern West Bank are dissatisfied with their lack of internet access, says Abdul-Jalil Talahma, head of a village council of the village of Al-Burj. Talahma said that more that 250 students and 100 employees in his village need the internet urgently. He called on the Palestinian Telecommunications Company to connect Al-Burj and nearby villages to the internet. [End]
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30521

Hebron man arrested for allegedly killing and burying sister

(13 July) The suspect was a 43-year-old whom police would only identify by his initials, ’MM’. Awad said the man admitted killing his 22-year-old sister last Friday. According to Awad, the man claimed that his sister’s head hit the wall, killing her, during a fight between them. The corpse was exhumed and will be examined by forensic scientists. Palestinian security sources, who asked to remain anonymous, said they suspect the murder was by the man’s concern with so-called ’family honor’.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30514

De facto Gaza police impose ban on public sale of cigarettes

(13 July) The de facto police in the Gaza strip issued an order on Sunday to prevent the sale of cigarettes in public places especially on crossroads. In many areas of Palestine on any busy street corner, youths can be found selling small packs of cigarettes, gum or candy, to passersby. The worry, it seems, is for the safety of the children hanging out near high-traffic areas.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30523

De facto government arrests two civilians who admit forging vehicle licenses

The general administration of the investigation office said that the licensing and transportation department of the northern Gaza Strip gave the initial tip, saying two of their employees had forged a number files and licenses for vehicles. The public investigation office added that there is a great deal of evidence and a number of witnesses. They added that when presented with the evidence, the men charged admitted guilt
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30522

Suspect arrested in stabbing and death of taxi driver

(13 July) Palestinian police have arrested the man they believe stabbed to death a taxi driver near the northern West Bank town of Salfit on Sunday morning. 40-year-old Imad Al-Froukh, from near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, died minutes after arriving at Yasser Arafat Hospital in Salfit. According to police spokesman Adnan Dmeiri, the killer is 23 years old. The motive for the alleged murder was a dispute over a transportation fare. The taxi driver asked for 300 NIS (90 US dollars).
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30520

Police frustrate murder and robbery attempt in Tubas

The head of Tubas’ public investigation branch said that police officers detained two civilians who had planned a theft in the home of a Tubas woman. According to the report, the thieves had also planned on killing the woman. Those arrested have criminal records, and when questioned, admitted to planning on entering her house, stealing her jewelry and murdering her then fleeing to inside the Green Line. According to the report, police had been keeping an eye on the men, who were known criminals.
http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30529

Performers from throughout the world sing and dance to theme of freedom from occupation

(13 July, PNN) Ramallah - The turn-out this year for the Palestine International Festival of Dance and Music is unprecedented. Last night the Chileans led the way with both young and old participating in what was the initial vision of three Chilean students in 1965. The theme was revolution and justice, which has continued today, Sunday, the sixth day of the festival being held at Ramallah’s Cultural Palace. Dancers and musicians have come from Cuba, Algeria, Japan, Australia, Chile and Palestine. Hundreds of people have filled the audience nightly.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3073&Itemid=1

Palestinian conflict hits cyberspace

(12 July) Omar Karmi, Foreign Correspondent - RAMALLAH // What do the world’s most popular board game and most popular online social networking site have in common? Both have run into trouble over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080712/FOREIGN/873976033/-1/SPORT

Suleiman: Lebanon may use force to return Israeli-occupied land

(13 July) Lebanon will exhaust all diplomatic means to return Israeli-occupied land, Channel 10 quoted Lebanese President Gen. Michel Suleiman as saying Sunday. He stressed, however, that it would use the military option as a last resort. Suleiman was speaking at a press conference after meeting Syrian President Bashar Assad on the sidelines of the Mediterranean conference in Paris. Assad said Lebanon had an important role to play in the Middle East peace process and that any progress in future Israel-Lebanon negotiations would be made in coordination with Syria.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215330953163&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Why not? — by Uri Avnery

(12 July) Anyone who wants to guess whether Israel and/or the United States are going to attack Iran should look at the map of the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Through this narrow waterway, only 34 km wide, pass the ships that carry between a fifth and a third of the world’s oil, including that from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. Most of the commentators who talk about the inevitable American and Israeli attack on Iran do not take account of this map. . . As I write these lines, a little red light turns on in my head. . . In August 1939, Jabotinsky wrote an article in which he asserted categorically that no war would break out, in spite of all the rumors to the contrary. His reasoning: modern weapons are so terrible, that no country would dare to start a war. A few days later Germany invaded Poland, starting the most terrible war in human history (until now).
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1215904313/

Iran explores new oil field believed to hold 1 billion barrels of crude oil

(13 July, AP) The report quoted Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari on Sunday as saying the area holds about 1.1 billion barrels of crude oil. He says about 220 million barrels are “recoverable.” He did not elaborate. As the fourth-largest oil producer in the world, Iran ranks second for output among OPEC Countries, and controls about 5 percent of the global oil supply.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215330952301&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

James Abourezk: Talking WW III blues

(12/13 July) But madness is the operative word here. Israel’s war hawks, along with the Israeli Lobby, are frothing at the mouth about Iran, which has no nuclear weapons, and, as experts say, are not likely to have them for a number of years. Ahmedinejad may very well be nothing more than a loudmouth and certainly he may be crazy, but the Mullahs who really run Iran are not. Even the thought that Iran would voluntarily commit national suicide by attacking a nuclear-armed Israel with nuclear weapons is a sign of madness in itself. With Israel armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons, why would we be surprised that Iran would also try to develop them? . . . With the same lack of foresight that went into post-war planning for the Iraq War, the Bush Administration — and Sen. Lieberman — cannot wait to bomb Iran’s supposed nuclear weapons sites. The big problem here is that Iran is not Iraq. Iran has a great many ways to retaliate, ways which Saddam Hussein did not possess.
http://www.counterpunch.org/abourezk07122008.html

Report: Pentagon official says Israel has ’amber light’ for Iran strike

U.S. President George W. Bush has given Israel an “amber light” to begin preparations for a military attack on Iran, a Pentagon official told The Sunday Times this week. “Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the official said. The official told the Times that Bush informed the Israeli government he would back an Israeli plan to strike Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range aerial weapons if diplomatic talks over Tehran’s contentious atomic program broke down. Bush’s voice of support comes despite U.S. military officials’ opposition to the risks of an aerial strike on Iran, the official told The Times.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1001526.html

US presidential hopefuls use Hebrew to woo Jewish voters

Campaign propaganda in Hebrew aims not only at Jewish voters in the U.S., but also at the 250,000 Americans living in Israel, Bardash said. The chairwoman of Democrats Abroad Israel, Joanne Yaron, said her group couldn’t afford to distribute its own campaign material. Barack Obama, however, sells 2.25-inch-large Hebrew campaign buttons on his official Web site (one for $3, two for $5), Yaron pointed out. So far, his Republican opponent only offers buttons in English ("Jewish Americans for McCain").
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1001078.html

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