TO DAY IN PALESTINE

IOF troops advance in southern Gaza
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced into Abbasan area, east of Khan Younis, to the south of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, local sources said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Qckf082IUONTXWgefbYQiKvgstK4TLQOe7W%2bKJFjT1I6LtYnCNXIw1397GK32Vm3frdrbLk9zcX18516d4S%2fPXYGQxBXb97lX25XrGWmUMc%3d

Detentions

Bil’in’s Mohammad Khatib arrested
One month after touring Canada key Palestinian activist kidnapped by Israeli soldiers. In the early morning hours on Monday, Israeli military forces wearing combat paint and masks invaded the West Bank village of Bil’in. Israeli soldiers raided several homes, arresting two Palestinian children and five Palestinians adults including Mohammad Khatib from the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/4272

Humanitarian Issues/Human Rights

MIDEAST: Traumatised Children Struggle to Rise Again
BREJ, Gaza, Aug 5 (IPS) - Tens of thousands of children in Gaza are still suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following Israel’s three-week bombing December- January. Several crisis counselling teams run by international organisations and NGOs have been carrying out intervention programmes aimed at helping Gaza’s most vulnerable put the pieces of their lives back together. But these groups warn that while there has been some improvement in the collective psyche of Gaza’s children, the long-term effects of war are now beginning to show, and unless the rights of Gazans are respected, the next generation’s future will be hard to predict.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47966

Fatah

Hamas: PA torture lead to death of Abu T’eima in Jordan hospital
Hebron – Ma’an – Hamas leader Sheikh Kamal Abu T’eima dies at age 44 in the King Hussein Medical center in Amman, Jordan Tuesday, sources at the hospital confirmed.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=216923

Palestinian Authority to Stop Financing Gaza Strip
Bethlehem, Asharq Al-Awsat- Authoritative sources in the Fatah movement have asserted to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Palestinian leadership has decided to stop all the funds it pays to the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority’s [PA] budget apart from the salaries of its own employees.
http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=17668

Co-founder accuses Fatah of graft
A senior figure in the Palestinian Fatah movement has accused the party’s leadership in the West Bank of getting rich at the expense of their own people. Farouk Kaddoumi, one of the founders of Fatah, made the claims in a statement released before more than 2,000 Fatah delegates began a second day of meetings at the party’s conference in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Wednesday.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2009/08/20098593017500517.html

Zaki compares "unfortunate" election of Hamas to that of Lieberman
Bethlehem – Ma’an exclusive – ”I’m sorry to compare,” said Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, “but the Israelis elected Lieberman and appointed him as Foreign Minister, [and a similar mistake was made by the Palestinian people in electing Hamas, which] is setting up all the obstacles preventing the improvement of the national unity.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=216625

Fatah’s fresh challenges - 04 Aug 09
For the first time in twenty years, the Palestinian Faction is holding a conference to discuss everything from new leaders to a new mandate. Already, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has promised change ... something many Palestinian people have been demanding. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh reports on the challenges Fatah faces in this three-day meeting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOPyw5EXPJ8

We made mistakes, Abbas tells landmark Fatah congress (AFP)
AFP - Fatah on Tuesday kicked off its first congress in 20 years with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas urging his party to seek "a new start" and admitting a litany of past errors.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090804/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpalestinianpolitics

Abu Mazen
I watched part of the speech by Abu Mazen at the Fath conference. What a charlatan: he may be as skillful a liar as was Yaser `Arafat. He went on and on in his praise of `Arafat: he did not mention that when Arafat died he was not speaking to him and he had dubbed him "the Hamid Karzai of Palestine." Abu Mazen also paid tribute to Ahmad Shuqayri.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/08/abu-mazen.html

Suddenly Israelis care about water for Palestinians.... Bethlehem residents have no water because of congress
Water supply divided between West Bank city’s neighborhoods on weekly basis moved entirely to Fatah conference area; residents suffering from blocked roads as well. Meanwhile, Fatah officials split over absent Gaza delegates.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3757490,00.html

Fatah needs more than superficial unity - Lamis Andoni
Fatah, the movement that has led the Palestinian struggle for decades, is at a dangerous crossroads. At stake is not only its unity but more significantly its mere survival. It faces tough choices. In order to keep itself relevant on a regional and international level it would need to project itself as a "moderate" force committed to a non-existing peace process, thus risking the further demise of popular legitimacy.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=216617

The White House’s Fath
"The White House supports Mr. Abbas, but he is widely criticized among Palestinians for not curbing corruption within his party ranks or the governing authority he runs." [end]
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/08/white-houses-fath.html

Hamas

Acceptance versus recognition
“HAMAS is very close on recognition of Israel,” says Ahmed Yousef, the Islamist movement’s deputy foreign minister, speaking from the top floor of a high-rise building in Gaza City. “We show all sorts of ideological flexibility on this.” That does not, alas, mean he can unequivocally accept the three conditions the Quartet (the United States, the European Union, the UN and Russia) laid down three years ago if Hamas is to join international negotiations. But he comes close to doing so, sounding almost desperate to stretch the semantic elastic to satisfy the doubters. It is a formulation that sticks closely to the enunciations of both Khaled Meshaal, the movement’s Syria-based leader, and Ismail Haniyeh, its prime minister in Gaza.
http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14140786

Hamas: Abbas’s speech full of lies, undermines reconciliation
The Hamas Movement has said on Tuesday that the speech of Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem was full of lies, fabrications, and doesn’t help achieve national reconciliation.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Kw%2bO8x48zTtBdYZmr0wbyQ7M4IpxBMnfToyJzx7egaqp%2bd6Dkcwadz321tjdCIG7J4spFuroLvCqra3iHDuPKiOsTGmYhtlj83M1bHLHdc4%3d

Hamas: Abbas offered himself as a servant to occupation
Hamas said on Tuesday that Mahmoud Abbas, the former PA chief, has offered himself as a servant for occupation during his speech at the inauguration of Fatah’s sixth general conference.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7bxe16JeZl7gEL3qw0g1xg%2fBj4CirPBRL2XfNswEDhuApPnYq0xAK7JFI3gMoH0pIhqkevVUFnhrk5%2bP%2fZ8uoWqvqvSE9RSLm3swluBgxEQ4%3d

Arabs in the service of Zionism
Muslim Brotherhood linked to terrorists
The Egyptian government is now accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of links to Palestinian resistance groups and of establishing “global networks.” Recent months have seen a host of government accusations – which critics say are fabricated – against opposition groups it claims have ties with Hamas, Hizbullah, and the ever-elusive Al-Qaeda.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=104961

Jordan Backs Effort for Arab Concessions
05/08/2009 Jordan’s foreign minister strongly backed the Obama administration’s efforts to garner confidence-building measures toward the Zionist entity from Arab states Tuesday, bolstering the US approach in the face of public opposition from other Arab leaders. Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh stressed that Jordan is "committed to creating the right atmosphere" and supporting the "vision" of the US, which wants to see conditions for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations toward a two-state solution set by gestures from Arab states and the Zionist entity.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=97799&language=en

Political Developments

Kuwait to Obama: Normalization will not come without Israeli action
Bethlehem - Ma’an/Agencies - Israel will be granted normalization when it demonstrates its willingness to abide by the terms of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Ash-Sabah in Washington Monday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=216749

Britain urges Syria to help push Mideast peace (AFP)
AFP - Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis on Tuesday urged Syria to help push deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and also resume its own negotiations with the Jewish state.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090804/wl_uk_afp/mideastsyriabritaindiplomacy

Saudi King: Palestinian rift more harmful than Israeli aggression
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has urged Palestinians to unite, arguing that their disputes have done more harm than decades of what he termed Israeli aggression.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1105447.html

Other News

Israel purchases advanced ’smart bombs’
According to an Israeli Defense Ministry official, the order was placed earlier this summer for over 100 LJDAM (Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition) kits.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249275681969&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Visiting US Congressmen pledge support for Israel (AFP)
AFP - A delegation of 25 US lawmakers from the opposition Republican party assured Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday of strong congressional backing for the Jewish state.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090805/pl_afp/mideastdiplomacyisraeluscongress

AIPAC slams Obama for awarding ’anti-Israel’ former UN official
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Tuesday slammed the Obama administration for its decision to give a former UN official the presidential Medal of Freedom, saying they were "deeply disappointed" by the move.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1105197.html

Poll: Labor down to 6 Knesset seats
Rafi Smith poll commissioned by Ynet finds 42% of Labor Party voters have changed their minds.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3757166,00.html

Egyptian border guard killed, another wounded at the Israel-Egypt border
Egyptian security sources reported Tuesday that an Egyptian border guard was killed on Monday at night and another was injured near the Israeli-Egyptian border, after clashing with smugglers involved in transferring illegal immigrants and drugs into Israel.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61291

Remembering Shafiq Al-Hut, 1932-2009
Shafiq Al-Hut, journalist, one of the founders of the PLO, and long-time director of the PLO office in Lebanon, died in Beirut on Sunday. He was 77. Al-Hut’s death will most likely get cursory mention at best in the U.S. and international press (as of this writing, the New York Times and BBC websites still don’t have anything up on him). This is not surprising, and I will tell you why. I had the privilege of meeting him on a study abroad trip during my junior year in university, to research the role of the Palestinians in inter-Arab politics.
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/08/remembering-shafiq-al-hut-1932-2009.html

Right-wing MK calls for arresting Fateh officials
Michael Ben-Ari, right-wing member of Knesset, member of the National Union Party, demanded the Israeli Attorney-general, Menahim Mazuz, to issue ‘arrest warrants’ against Fateh officials and members participating in the Sixth Fateh general conference in Bethlehem.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61300

Shfa-Amr marks fourth anniversary since massacre
On Tuesday evening, hundreds of residents of Shra Amr town, north of the country, marked the fourth anniversary since the deadly attack carried out by a settler-soldier who boarded a bus in the Arab town and opened fire at the passengers killing four, including two sisters.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61298

Interview with Khalida Jarrar, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/08/05/interview-with-khalida-jarrar-popular-front-for-the-liberation-of-palestine/

Coastal Road terrorist refuses to apologize, says peace ’important’
"When the Israeli government stands before all of the media outlets and apologizes for all of its actions against the Palestinians, I’ll be right there to apologize as well. I’m not willing right now to talk about regret or apologies. But let’s not go back to the past," Abu Asba says.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1105308.html

West-Eastern Divan Orchestra to honor Edward Said, Jerusalem
Bethlehem - Ma’an - The 10th anniversary convert of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in Geneva will be presented under the banner Al-Quds Capital of Arab Culture 2009, and dedicated to the group’s co-founder Edward Said. The concert will be held on 7 August, and music of artists from Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Spain will accompany readings of poems about Edward Said and Jerusalem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, performed by co-founder Michael Barenboim and Edwar’s son Karim Said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=216723

Al Quds Educational TV creates first website for Palestinian folklore and is accepting submissions
Ramallah / PNN – Palestinians can preserve their folk culture and share it with the world, thanks to a new website. The first site dedicated to Palestinian folklore was recently launched by Al Quds Educational Television, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6385

Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment
BDS Newsletter #16 - June 2009
http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/2034.shtml

Creative resistance in al-Ma`sara
"After all Palestinians had left the scene of the demonstration a remaining Scotsman, wearing the traditional Scottish quilt, surprised the soldiers once more by lifting up his quilt to show them his behind. In Scottish tradition this is seen as a grave insult. In Scottish history men used to lift up their quilts to the British occupier."

http://www.imemc.org/article/61274

Demonstration: Solidarity with Bil’in
FRIDAY AUGUST 7th, 12h00
Indigo Bookstore
corner of St. Catherine & McGill college
(metro McGill)
Montreal, Canada
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/4280

‘Code Pink’ announces its fourth trip to Gaza, in September
There are many signs lately of Hamas’s softening to the west, lately this Wall Street Journal interview of Khaled Meshal that included Hamas’s "quasi-recognition" of the state of Israel on the ‘67 lines. Meshal said he would promote a "peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict if the White House can secure an Israeli settlement freeze and a lifting of the economic and military blockade of the Gaza Strip." Pretty reasonable. Who’s not missing the opportunity to miss the opportunity now?
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/08/code-pink-announces-its-fourth-trip-to-gaza-in-september.html

Gush Shalom campaigns to deny federal tax exempt status to US charities supporting settlements
Last week I posted on an exciting new Gush Shalom campaign to cut off funding from the US for Israeli settlements. Now we have more information on the campaign directly from Gush Shalom, and the campaign is focused much more broadly than just money to the settlements.
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/08/gush-shalom-looks-to-end-all-forms-of-us-support-for-the-settlements.html

"Safety and security of the community"
"In a startling move, Carleton University’s administration fired Diab, thus breaching their legally binding contract with him and contravening the collective agreement. But why? The letter Diab received did not state a reason for the dismissal. What we do know is that Diab’s dismissal followed on the heels of a statement released by the Canadian chapter of the Jewish advocacy organization. B’nai Brith, a statement that suggests that Diab, who has lived peacefully and without conflict with the law in Canada for years, is a threat to "the safety and security of the community.""

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/08/safety-and-security-of-community.html

Scottish boycott in political show trial for ’racism’ (Fri 7th Aug)
Five SPSC members are facing trial on Friday for boycotting Israeli state-sponsored cultural ambassadors, the Jerusalem Quartet. The Israeli musicians, in the words of their admirers, believe that ’a rifle in one hand and a violin in the other is the ultimate Zionist statement.’ In the wake of the Israeli massacres in Gaza early this year, the original Breach of the Peace charge was dropped and new charges of “racially aggravated conduct” were issued. Boycott helped end South African Apartheid, and can do likewise with Israel. The STUC is pushing the boycott, as are countless other organisations and individuals.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2009/08/boycott-on-trial-or-israel-on-trial-in.html

Opinion/Analysis

Editorial / Israel must allow evicted Arab families to return home
No thinking person will be persuaded that Jews have a sweeping right to return to their homes in East Jerusalem as long as Israeli law not only bars Palestinians from returning to their homes in West Jerusalem, but even evicts them from the houses where they have lived for the last 60 years. The Israel Lands Administration’s regulations do not even allow Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to buy land and houses in many parts of the city.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1105316.html

"Beiruti in Jaffa, Yafawi in Beirut": Shafiq al-Hout’s story in his own words
"In Jaffa we were called the "Beirutis" [the ones from Beirut] and in Beirut we became known the Yafawi. Who am I?" Shafiq al-Hout, the Palestinian political figure and founding member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, passed away in Beirut this week at the age of 77. In a tribute to his tireless efforts towards the liberation of the Palestinian people, the Electronic Intifada presents his story in his own words, as told to The Electronic Intifada contributor Mayssoun Sukarieh in Beirut in 1999.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10694.shtml

Key Zionist pioneer renounces Zionism
I’ve never met Dov Yermiya, a Jewish Israeli peace activist who is now 94 years old. But I read of course the book he published in 1983 in which he wrote with anguish about the torture and other gross mistreatment of civilians he witnessed directly during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon the year before.
http://justworldnews.org/archives/003712.html

Israeli occupation and western taxpayers, by Helena Cobban
The fearless Akiva Eldar does a great critique in today’s Haaretz of Netanyahu’s claim that his policies have already improved the economy of the West Bank.
http://justworldnews.org/archives/003711.html

The ‘Patriotic’ Spy, Larry Franklin revises history – his own
The AIPAC spy scandal was a big setback for Israel’s lobby in the U.S., despite its ambiguous outcome. Yes, the espionage charges against AIPAC officials Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman were eventually dropped – after every effort to obstruct justice and "graymail" the government was made on the defendants’ behalf – yet just the fact that Israel’s spy ring in Washington was indicted and exposed to public view was and is a major setback for them, and they aren’t about to let it go.
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/08/04/the-patriotic-spy/

Legitimising Lieberman
Israel’s aggressively far-right foreign minister epitomises deeply ingrained trends – what was once outlawed is now acceptable.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/04/lieberman-israel-far-right

Israel`s strategic necessity
ALON BEN-MEIR - J-lem Post - "The US remains indispensable to Israel`s national security and is ultimately the last line of defense against any threat, including Iran`s, so for Israel to appear flippant at this juncture is a dangerous gamble."
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=34923

A crucial test
Mkhaimar Abusada - Bitter Lemons - "Whether the United States and the Quartet will be able to enforce the roadmap on Netanyahu, or Netanyahu and the pro-Israel lobby will succeed in pressuring Obama to retreat, remains to be seen, but not for much longer."
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=34931

Kill Khalid: The Failed Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas
In September 1997 a team of agents from Mossad, the Israeli Secret Service, attempted to assassinate Khalid Mishal in Amman, the Jordanian capital. At the time, Mishal was the “emerging light in the Hamas firmament,” author Paul McGeough writes, but the chosen location was unusual. Israel was trying to improve relations with Jordan’s King Hussein and an assassination attempt on Jordanian soil was as good as a declaration of war.
http://intifada-palestine.com/2009/08/04/kill-khalid-the-failed-assassination-of-khalid-mishal-and-the-rise-of-hamas/