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Tuesday 30 June 2009 Israel has approved the construction of 50 new housing units in a settlement in the occupied West Bank. The decision to build the houses in the Adam settlement north of Jerusalem comes despite repeated calls from the United States for Israel to halt all settlement activity in order to relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians. The 50 houses would be part of a larger project to build about 1,450 new housing units in the settlement. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government will not build new settlements in the occupied territories but will not stop the so-called natural growth of existing settlements.
U.S. and Israel's unsettled question
Monday 15 June 2009 The Prime Minister of Israel says he's prepared to accept a two state solution to the Middle East, on two conditions. In a speech in Israel on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu said those two conditions were a demilitarised Palestinian state living side-by-side with Israel, and the recognition by that state of Israel as a national home of the Jewish people. That second condition was previously rejected by Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. Mr. Netanyahu also ruled out a complete halt to settlement activity, the resettlement of Palestinian refugees inside Israel's borders, and the division of Jerusalem. A spokesman for the Palestinian president said Mr. Netanyahu's speech "torpedoes all peace initiatives in the region." In Washington, the Obama administration described Mr. Netanyahu's endorsement of a Palestinian state as "an important step forward."
Monday 25 May 2009 The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says he has no intention of constructing new settlements in occupied territory, but sees no reason to curb the expansion of existing ones in the West Bank. The Israeli settlements there are one of the major stumbling blocks in the halting Middle East peace process. During Prime Minister Netanyahu's first official visit to Washington last week, President Barack Obama told him that settlements must be stopped.
Thursday 21 May 2009 OTTAWA: PM TALKS TO ISRAELI LEADER
Thursday 21 May 2009
After talks in the White House, Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said that the Palestinians should “govern themselves” but refused to meet Barack Obama’s clear-cut demand for a Palestinian state. The Israelis took solace from the American president’s assertion that Iran should have no more than a year in which to agree to a deal that would prevent it from acquiring a nuclear bomb. See article
Saturday 16 May 2009 Pope Benedict has ended an eight-day visit to the Midde East which took him to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. On his final day, he visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in which the tomb of Jesus is traditionally said to have been located. The 82-year-old Pope repeated his call for peace in the region. During his Middle East tour, the Pope took his message of peace and reconciliation to religious leaders of various denominations, to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. The Pope also called for the lifting of the crippling blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza since the Islamic Hamas movement seized power there in June 2007.
Friday 15 May 2009 Pope Benedict had a short talk with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the third day of his visit to Israel. After the meeting, Mr. Netanyahu called on the Roman Catholic leader "...to make his voice heard loud and continuously against the declarations coming from Iran of their intention to destroy the Jewish state..." The prime minister didn't mention the Palestinian question. Unlike previous Israeli governments, Mr. Netanyahu's, which assumed office on March 31, has refused to endorse the two-state formula for peace in the region.
May 10 cbs Best Israeli Agent Ever?
Tuesday 12 May 2009 Monday was the first day of Pope Benedict's visit to Israel. The pontiff of the world's Roman Catholics visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, where he deplored the fate of the victims of the mass murders of Jews. However, two top administrators of the site criticized him for not using the words "murder" or "Nazis" during his speech at the site. Pope Benedict has been recently criticized by Jews for revoking the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying English bishop, a move which he said he took while being unaware of that state of affairs. The pope arrived from Jordan, where he spent three days. The pontiff is trying to build bridges to both Jews and Muslims during his visit to the region. Muslims also have criticized him for remarks he made three years ago about the Prophet Muhammad.
Monday 11 May 2009 Pope and circumstance
A POPE with an exceptional propensity for slipping on banana skins has made a sure-footed start to one of the trickiest journeys of his four-year papacy, an eight-day tour of the Holy Land. On Monday May 11th Benedict XVI touched down in Tel Aviv for the second leg of his journey-five days in Israel and the Palestinian territories, home of most of the Christian faith’s important sites.
Monday 04 May 2009 Israeli police have arrested four Jewish settlers who attacked a Palestinian village on Saturday. The four from a settlement in the West Bank allegedly opened fire on the village of Safa from a nearby hill. Two off-duty Israeli soldiers were among those arrested. The settlers say they attacked in revenge for an assault by a man from Safa last month who killed a 13-year-old boy and badly wounded a seven-year-old.
Sunday 03 May 2009 An Israeli air strike on smuggling tunnels in the Gaza Strip has killed two Palestinians. Three other people were injured. The tunnels were in Rafah near the Egyptican border. On the same day, Palestinian militants fired mortars into Israel without causing damage or injuries. Israel also bombed the tunnels on Friday. The fatalities were the first since a similar air strike on a tunnel near the Egyptian border about two months ago. In the West Bank on Saturday, armed Jewish settlers injured two Palestinians in a violent dispute. The settlers live in the village of Bay Ayin, where a Palestinian man went on a rampage last month, killing one person and wounding a child.
Pope Benedict will visit the middle east for the first time next week in a trip to promote peace. During his eight-day trip, the Pope will celebrate mass in Israel and visit a Palestinian refugee camp. He'll also stop in Jordan.
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Monday 27 April 2009 SYRIA Syria because of Syria's support of anti-Israeli militant groups.
Thursday 23 April 2009 The government says that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Egypt. The invitation was extended on Wednesday during a meeting in Jerusalem between him and Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman. It was the first meeting between a high-ranking Egyptian and Israel's new right-wing leader since the latter assumed office on March 31. The Israelis say the meeting will take place within a few weeks. Mr. Suleiman also issued invitations to Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. The talks between Mr. Suleiman and the prime minister included the head of Israeli intelligence, Meir Dagan and among the subjects raised was the fate of Israeli soldier Gilan Shalit, who was captured by Hamas militants from Gaza in June 2006. Mr. Suleiman has been trying to help arrange prisoner swaps between Palestinian prisoners and Mr. Shalit.
Saturday 11 April 2009 Thousands of Christians marked Good Friday, the traditional day of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Hundreds prayed at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christian tradition has it that he was crucified and resurrected. Others walked through the Old City, where he is said to have himself walked on the way to Golgotha, the place of Crucifixion. The Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall were full of throngs, many of them Jews celebrating Passover. In Rome, Pope Benedict took part in the traditional Way of the Cross procession around the city's Colosseum. The pontiff will say an Easter Eve mass on Saturday and deliver a blessing and message on Easter Sunday.
Saturday 04 April 2009 The UN says former international prosecutor Richard Goldstone will lead a human rights investigation into the violence during Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip in January. The UN Human Rights Council says will inquiry will be an "impartial fact-finding mission." On Jan. 12, the Human Rights Council voted by a large majority to investigate accusations of "grave" human rights violations by Israeli forces against the Palestinians in Gaza. Western countries and Israel rejected the investigation because if left out possible violations by Palestinians as well, including rocket attacks against southern Israel. Mr. Goldstone says the four-member commission hopes to have the co-operation of the relevant authorities to enable them to meet victims both in Israel and Gaza.
Wednesday 01 April 2009 ISRAEL
GAZA
Wednesday 25 March 2009 Israel's centre-left Labour party voted on Tuesday to join a government led by right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu in a major boost for his chances of sealing a broad coalition. Labour delegates voted 680-507 in favour of a coalition deal which the leader of the party, outgoing Defence Minister Ehud Barak, had reached earlier in the day with Mr. Netanyahu, who heads the right-wing Likud party.
March 19, 2009 The Israel ‘Apartheid’ lies By Beryl Wajsman
Wednesday 18 March 2009 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says his government has rejected the terms put forward by the Palestinian militant group Hamas for a prisoner exchange. Mr. Olmert says Israel won't cave in to demands by "a terrorist organization." The two parties had been conducting indirect negotiations through the mediation of Egypt for the exchange of an Israeli soldier kidnapped in Gaza almost three years ago for several hundred Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Israel claims it agreed to free 320 of the 450 prisoners that Hamas was demanding.
Tuesday 17 March 2009 The government says that the indirect talks with Hamas mediated by Egypt about a prisoner exchange have ended without agreement. The parties were discussing the exchange of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas militants almost three years ago in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians jailed in Israel. Israel has said it won't end its blockade of Gaza, which was devastated in a three-week war in January, until the soldier is returned. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had said this would be the last chance for a prisoner exchange before he leaves office. He'll be replaced by right-wing politician Benjamin Netanyahu.
Monday 16 March 2009 The head of Israel's security services was in Egypt on Sunday to try to secure the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinians in 2006. Gilad Shalit has been held in Gaza since Hamas militants abducted him in a raid on Israel in which they also killed two Israeli soldiers. Egypt has been mediating discussions between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli government is expected to discuss a possible deal for his release on Monday. Israelis have rallied to press the government to agree to a prisoner swap for the soldier's release.
Tuesday 03 March 2009 US Israel support 'unshakeable'
Hillary Clinton declares "unshakeable" US support for Israel during her first visit to the region as secretary of state.
Monday 02 March 2009 JERUSALEM: FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSSES GAZA RECONSTRUCTION
Sunday 01 March 2009 Any hope of a unity government between the two winners of Israel's latest election vanished on Saturday. Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu abandoned efforts to persuade his rival, Tzipi Livni, into forming a broad coalition government. The two held a second round of negotiations on Friday but it ended in disagreement. It's likely that Mr. Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party will turn to rightist factions for support in forming a government.
Monday 16 February 2009 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday consulted domestic political leaders about the Gaza truce talks being brokered by Egypt. The previous day, he ruled out a ceasefire without the release of a captured Israel soldier, Gilad Shalit. Hamas militants seized him in 2006. Hamas wants to keep his release separate from the ceasefire negotiations. Hamas leaders prefer to link his case to the release of hundreds of Hamas militants from Israeli jails.
Sunday 15 February 2009 Hamas says that its truce talks with Israel are facing obstacles. Egypt has brokered talks since a truce was declared in Israel's war on Hamas a month ago. There was speculation that a ceasefire deal is close. But a Hamas official said on Saturday that new problems have come up. Hamas wants an 18-month ceasefire, but Israel is seeking an open-ended ceasefire. A senior Israeli official said that a ceasefire would also have to be linked to a prisoner swap that frees an Israeli soldier held in Gaza.
Friday 13 February 2009 Israel Opens the Gaza Border for 25,000 Carnations, Bound for Europe
Friday 13 February 2009 Israel and Hamas are reportedly close to reaching a truce in Gaza. A Hamas spokesman in Cairo, where negotiations have been taking place, says most of the obstacles have been removed and a deal to ensure the end of all violence and the opening of the border crossings could be announced in a matter of days.
Thursday 12 February 2009 Israeli President Shimon Peres will have his work cut out for him when he begins the process of deciding which party leader has the best chance of forming a coalition government. Tuesday's election ended in a photofinish, with Tzipi Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu both claiming victory. Ms. Livni's Kadima party won 28 seats in the 120-member parliament (Knesset), just one ahead of Mr. Netanyahu's Likud party, leaving the country facing perhaps weeks of political uncertainty. Both front-runners are now engaged in negotiations with leaders of the numerous smaller parties in the Knesset trying to form coalitions that would be acceptable to the president, who has the final say. Mr. Peres is expected to begin his assessment of the alternatives sometime next week.
Monday 09 February 2009 GAZA
Thursday 05 February 2009 An Israeli cabinet minister has publicly called for the assassination of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniya whose Islamist group controls the Gaza Strip. Israel's housing minister, Zeev Boim, made the statement on military radio Wednesday. He said the elimination of the Hamas leader would end the rocket fire against Israel. Mr. Boim has no authority on security decisions. Meanwhile, Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, called on the international community to apply tougher sanctions against Iran following its launch of a satellite on Monday. Mr. Barak said the Iranian satellite increases its military potential in the intelligence sector. Iran says satellite has no military aims.
GAZA
Wednesday 04 February 2009 Israeli warplanes bombed the Gaza-Egypt border Tuesday, aiming for tunnels used by Hamas to smuggle in weapons and supplies. The strikes came after a Palestinian rocket hit a city in southern Israel. A Grad rocket exploded Tuesday morning in Ashkelon, an Israeli city of 122,000 people on the Mediterranean coast, about 16 kilometres north of Gaza. The blast damaged vehicles and buildings, but no one was hurt. It was the first time Gaza militants had fired a Grad since Israel's offensive ended Jan. 17. Other rockets fired since then have been smaller, home-made versions. Despite the continuing attacks, the violence is still far below that seen before or during Israel's three-week offensive in the Palestinian territory. Egyptian mediators are seeking a long-term truce. Hamas offered a one-year ceasefire on Tuesday.
Tuesday 03 February 2009 ISRAEL-GAZA
Hamas says it's is in favour of a one-year ceasefire in and around the Gaza Strip, on condition the territory's border crossings are opened and the Israeli blockade is lifted. The Hamas statement is part of current negotiations being brokered by Egypt. The Egyptians have been trying to mediate a long-term ceasefire that would end Hamas weapons smuggling into Gaza and lead to a reopening of Gaza border crossings. Israel's blockade of Gaza has led to shortages of crucial supplies for many of the 1.5 million Palestinians living there.
Foreign leaders and diplomats, including Barack Obama’s newly appointed envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, gathered in Egypt in an effort to consolidate a fragile ceasefire after Israel’s three-week war in Gaza, and to seek ways of fixing a more durable peace between Israel and Palestine . See article
Tuesday 27 January 2009 Britain's Sky News television channel has joined the the British Broadcasting Corporation in refusing to broadcast a Gaza charity appeal, saying it risked the network's objectivity. Both organizations' refusal to air the appeal has further angered pro-Palestinian campaigners who believe the broadcasters are biased toward Israel. The appeal was issued by the Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella group of 13 charities including Oxfam and the British Red Cross.
Wednesday 21 January 2009 The Secretary General of the United Nations has called for those responsible for the bombing of UN-run buildings and schools in Gaza to be held accountable. Bank Ki-moon, speaking in Gaza City, said there must be a full investigation and a full explanation to make sure it never happens again. During the warfare, four UN-run schools where Gazans were sheltering from the fighting were struck by Israel. According to medics and UN officials, more than 40 people were killed in one such attack.
ISRAEL-GAZA
20 January edition of American Diplomacy.
Middle East Realities
There are two juxtaposed realities for understanding the Middle East:
The regional Arab/Islamic/Muslim states, either publicly or privately, desire to eliminate Israel; and
Israel rejects being eliminated.
Given that these realities have persisted for the past 70 years, the likelihood of a solution is minimal. As former British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan is quoted as saying, the Middle East is not a "problem" because "a problem is something with a solution."
Tuesday 20 January 2009 Israeli military forces are continuing their withdrawal from the Gaza Strip following a tentative ceasefire with Hamas was declared after three weeks of fighting. At least 1,300 people were killed in the conflict in which both sides are claiming victory. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics says more than 22-thousand buildings were damaged or destroyed during the Israeli bombardment. Officials estimate that some $2-Billion will be needed for re-construction efforts. Israel launched its air, ground and sea assault on December 27th, promising to end the constant rocket attacks on its territory launched from Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian factions.
Monday 19 January 2009 After three weeks of conflict, the militant group Hamas began a ceasefire with Israel on Sunday, but not before firing 14 rockets at Israeli territory. Israel's security cabinet voted for a ceasefire on Saturday. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he was sorry for the death of Israelis and expressed regret over the death of innocent Palestinians. Israeli troops will remain in Gaza, refusing to name a date for their withdrawal as demanded by Hamas.
Monday 19 January 2009 An end to the fighting Israel and Hamas
Saturday 17 January 2009 Israel plans ceasefire
Friday 16 January 2009 GAZA
January 15, 2009Israel is disproportionate. Disproportionately restrained.
January 13, 2009 Israel’s Goals in Gaza?
Wednesday 14 January 2009 MIDDLE EASTPalestinians , although no date was proposed. Donor countries and humanitarian organizations have already pledged $34-million to Gaza, but a UN relief official said the aid would be meaningless unless Israel lifts its blockade. Meanwhile Arab leaders are to meet in Kuwait next week to discuss the reconstruction of Gaza. The emergency meeting Friday will precede their scheduled economic summit.
The Israeli-Gaza conflict continues unabated. Reports indicate Israeli troops and Palestinian militants are fighting in the streets of Gaza City. Israel's push into Tel Hawwa neighbourhood is the farthest it has moved during its 18-day offensive against Hamas militants. Diplomatic efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza are continuing. The Secretary General of the United Nations will join talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. One possible scenario leading to the suspension of hostilities would involve an international force deployed along the Egyptian-Gaza border to prevent arms smuggling - one of Israel's preconditions for a ceasefire. A senior Hamas leader said on Tuesday there is "a chance" that his Palestinian Islamist movement will accept a modified Egyptian ceasefire plan for Gaza.
ISRAEL
Monday 12 January 2009 Israeli troops battled Palestinian gunmen in a Gaza City suburb on Sunday in a fierce ground battle. the army has begun sending reserve units into the Gaza Strip, a signal that Israel is entering a new phase of its 16-day offensive. The next phase will involve taking over even more areas that will require the use of thousands of reserve forces. On the same day, Israeli fighter planes bombed suspected smuggling tunnels near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. Three Egyptian policemen and two children were reported wounded by shrapnel. Palestinian doctors say that more than 820 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched military action more than two weeks ago. At least half are civilians. Thirteen Israelis have died, three of them civilians. The U.N. Security Council has called for an immediate truce. Israel launched its attack to stop Hamas militants from firing rockets on Israeli territory.
Sunday 11 January 2009
War in Israel on CBC Suday AM with MICHAEL ENRIGHT
Michael's Essay * Yossi Klein Halevi * Diana Bhuttu * Panel: Michele Dunne, Michael Sterner * Documentary: Just Another Old Hotel * Wally Lamb * Panel: Diane Francis, Bethany McLean * Remembrance: Richard John Neuhaus
January 4, 2009
Sunday 11 January 2009 The Israeli air force has dropped leaflets on the Gaza Strip warning residents about plans to escalate its two-week-old offensive against the Hamas militant group. The notice says Israel is about to begin a `new phase in the war on terror.' Overnight, Israel launched 40 air strikes into Gaza, while Hamas militants fired several rockets at Israeli towns. The Israeli operation in Gaza has killed more than 800 Palestinians, according to medical officials, who say that roughly half of them were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have died. Israel launched the offensive to halt rocket attacks into Israel by Hamas militants. Both sides are defying a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
>P>Sunday 11 January 2009 TORONTO: ANTI-ISRAELI DEMONSTRATION DRAWS LARGE CROWD
Saturday 10 January 2009 GAZA: CANADIANS FLEE GAZA
GAZA
MONTREAL: PROTESTERS OCCUPY ISRAELI CONSULATE
Some anti-Israeli protesters briefly occupied Israel's consulate in Montreal on Thursday morning. The protesters were forced out but began chanting slogans on the consulate steps. They urged Canada's government to end diplomatic ties with Israel until peace is restored in Gaza.
Saturday 10 January 2009 Can Israel Survive Its Assault on Gaza? (The Well / Cover Story)
The assault on Gaza, no matter how it ends, will not ease the Jewish state's existential anxiety. Peace, not war, is its only hopeIsrael's war against Hamas grows riskier and more punishing , with the gains appearing to diminish compared to the spiraling costs — to Israel's moral stature, to the lives of Palestinian civilians and to the world's hopes that an ancient conflict can ever be resolved. Ideally, in a war shaped by television images, Israelis would like a tableau of surrender: grimy Hamas commanders crawling from underground bunkers with their hands up. Instead, the deaths of at least 40 civilians taking shelter at a United Nations–run school north of Gaza City are more likely to become the dominant image of the war.
Wednesday 07 January 2009 UNITED STATES
GAZA
Tuesday 06 January 2009 Israeli troops backed by air strikes fought to seize ground from Hamas militants deep inside the Gaza Strip on Monday. The strikes came despite international calls for a ceasefire in the fighting that has killed more than 540 Palestinians in 10 days.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on a peacemaking mission to the Middle East, called on Monday for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip "as soon as possible." He was addressing a news conference in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Sarkozy said the European Union was working to support efforts to end the bloodshed. He said he would tell Israeli leaders later in the day that the violence must stop. He also condemned Hamas for its attacks on Israel. Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday met with a delegation of Arab foreign ministers led by Arab League Arab League chief Amr Mussa and the two reported a convergence of views on the need for the Security Council to "act decisively and swiftly" to end the fighting.
Tuesday 06 January 2009
OTTAWA: ISRAEL CANCELS CANADIANS' DEPARTURES
Monday 05 January 2009
Monday 05 January 2009 The military continued on Wednesday to pound Gaza by air. Thousands of Israelis troops, some reservists called up, had massed along the border of the Palestinian territory in apparent preparation for a ground assault against the territory controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas. The attacks against Gaza are aimed at stopping rocket attacks against southern Israel. Hamas officials say the attacks have killed almost 400 people, the UN saying that at least 60 civilians have lost their lives. Four Israelis are reported dead in rocket attacks. The Israeli government has so far ignored calls for a ceasefire by the UN, the EU, the U.S. and Russia.
Monday 05 January 2009 The UN reports that 345 Palestinians have died and more than 1,550 have been injured after three days of an Israeli air assault on Gaza. The world body says that 57 of those killed are non-combatants. Palestinian fighters have responded with several hundred rocket firings which the Israelis say have killed four people and injured several dozen more. Israeli tanks are deployed metres from the border with Gaza and the army has declared the border area a closed military zone, a declaration that could be the prelude to a ground assault. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon says the goal of the offensive "is to topple Hamas," the Islamic movement which rules the territory.
Foreign ministers of the European Union have called on Israel and Hamas to accept a ceasefire, four days after the Israeli military began an air assault on Gaza which has killed hundreds, including civilians. The foreign ministers meeting in Paris issued a statement called on a cessation of rocket fire against Israel and a stop of Israeli attacks on the territory. The Middle East diplomatic "Quartet," the U.S., the EU, Russia and the UN made a similar call for calm. A spokesman for Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel would consider a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza but that such a pause won't deter the Israeli military from preparing a ground assault against the territory.
Sun 04/01/2009 Photos of anti-Israeli demo in Montreal by Robert J. Galbraith
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Sunday 08 March 2009 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert predicted on Saturday that there will never be mid-east peace until Israel and the Palestinians share Jerusalem. Mr. Olmert said that Israel would have to withdraw from the West Bank, one of what he called courageous but painful decisions that needed to be made to achieve peace. Mr. Olmert is heading a transitional government until a new coalition can be formed.
Thursday 01 January 2009 Israel Rejects Cease-Fire, but Offers Gaza Aid Israel sought on Wednesday to fend off growing international pressure over civilian casualties from its military assault on Gaza , saying it would expedite and increase humanitarian aid and work with its allies to build a durable, long-term truce. But Israel would not agree to a proposed 48-hour cease-fire.
Thursday 01 January 2009 Israel Rejects 48-Hour Cease-Fire Plan
By ETHAN BRONNER and TAGHREED EL-KHODARY
With air attacks on Gaza in their fifth day, Israel said it would keep pressure on Hamas but was open to future diplomacy.
2008
Monday 29 December 2008 TORONTO: PROTESTERS GATHER TO SUPPORT GAZA
Israeli jets Sunday bombed 40 tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip in a second day of intense air raids aimed at forcing Hamas militants to halt rocket fire into Israel. Warplanes bombed tunnels in the Rafah area, used to bring supplies into Gaza from Egypt. Israel says the tunnels are used for smuggling arms. Palestinians say at least 280 people have died in the air strikes and over 600 others have been wounded. In New York, the UN Security Council Sunday called for an end to all violence in Gaza, including rocket attacks by Palestinian militants into Israel. The non-binding statement was issued after emergency consultations. Canada's minister for foreign affairs said Saturday Ottawa is "deeply concerned" by the escalation of violence and "by the loss of life and the suffering sustained by all sides." In a statement released in Ottawa, Lawrence Cannon urged both sides "to use all efforts to avoid civilian casualties and to create the conditions to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access to those in need in Gaza."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet Sunday approved a limited call-up of 6500 Israeli military reserves to help in the air strikes against Hamas. The approval came as Defence Minister Ehud Barak said operations could begin on the ground if rocket attacks on Israel do not cease. Tanks, infantry and armoured units are now at the Gaza border. Israel also announced that its largest hospital on the country's southern coast had gone underground. Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital moved its most essential departments into an underground bomb shelter from fear of missile attacks. In Cairo, Egypt agreed to treat the wounded in Gaza but blamed Hamas for not letting hundreds of Palestinians wounded by the air strikes leave for treatment. Egypt said dozens of empty ambulances were waiting along the border.
Monday 22 December 2008 Palestinian militants have fired at least eight rockets and mortar shells from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel. One rocket hit a house in the town of Sderot without causing any injuries. The Israeli military says one foreign worker was wounded by a mortar round that landed in a field. The attacks came after a six-month truce ended on Friday between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. Palestinians in Gaza are demanding that Israel lift its blockade of the territory. Israel is threatening to carry out a large-scale military attack on Gaza if the rocket barrages continue.
Friday 19 December 2008 The Islamic militant group Hamas says that its truce with Israel will expire after six months on Friday and that it will respond to any Israeli attack. A Hamas spokesman said there's no possibility the truce will be renewed, after talks between Hamas and other factions. Israel had hoped for an extension of the ceasefire and Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said Israel would respond only if attacked. Palestinian militants have resumed firing rockets at Israel, which responded with five air strikes in which one militant was killed.
Tuesday 18 November 2008 An Israeli air strike killed four Palestinian militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Sunday. A Palestinian group, the Popular Resistance Committee, said that the victims belonged to its military wing. Earlier, two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel, but no casualties were reported. Israel has blockaded commercial crossing points into Gaza following a surge of violence. U.N. relief agencies have had to suspend the delivery of food aid to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told her British counterpart, David Miliband, that the international community must not turn a blind-eye on Palestinian attacks. Mr. Miliband arrived in the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Monday 03 November 2008 Israel's outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is vowing to crack down on rising violence by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank. On Saturday hardline settlers and police clashed for the fourth time in less than two weeks. Two Israeli police officers were slightly injured in the violence. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak also condemned Saturday's clashes. But a representative from the local settler council said police had sparked the latest bout of fighting by beating a 10-year-old settler child who was attempting to cross a roadblock.
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Monday 20 October 2008 Israeli leaders are seriously considering a Saudi mid-east peace plan. The plan first proposed in 2002 offers the Arab world's recognition of Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab lands captured in 1967. Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, says that it might be time to pursue an overall peace deal for the region because negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians are making little progress. Mr. Barak says that President Shimon Peres agrees and has spoken about the Saudi plan with prime minister-designate Tzipi Livni.
Sunday 12 October 2008 Two houses belonging to Arab families in the northern Israeli town of Acre were torched on Saturday overnight. The attack was the latest in three days of violent clashes. Over 700 police officers patrolled the coastal town after riots erupted three days earlier on the Jewish holy day, Yom Kippur. Israeli police say that violence began when an Arab resident played loud music as he drove through a conservative Jewish neighbourhood. Jewish youths attacked him. Hundreds of Arabs took to the streets afterwards, damaging around 100 cars and 40 shops.
Monday 06 October 2008 Israel's foreign minister expressed her commitment on Sunday to continue peace negotiations with Palestinians. Tzipi Livni made her first policy address since being nominated to form Israel's next government. She spoke in Jerusalem at a policy conference attended by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki. In his own address, Mr. al-Malki said that uncertainty about mid-east peace continues to prevail. Ms. Livni asked by President Shimon Peres last month to form a government following the resignation Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who faces corruption charges.
Tuesday 23 September 2008 President Shimon Peres has asked Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to try to form a government. Mrs. Livni was on Wednesday elected leader of the Kadima Party, the biggest formation in the existing governing coalition. Kadima has 29 of the 120 members of Parliament. Mrs. Livni has 42 days to form a government, failing which there would be a general election. She would be Israel's second woman president, the first having been Golda Meir between 1969 and 1974. Meanwhile, about a dozen Israeli soldiers were wounded Monday night by a Palestinian in a car on a street in West Jerusalem. Israeli public radio says two of the wounded are in serious condition. The driver of the car was killed. Earlier in the day, an Israeli soldier lost an eye and three Palestinians were hurt when a woman sprayed acid at the soldier at a checkpoint near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
Monday 22 September 2008 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has formally announced his resignation following the victory of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in a party leadership vote last week. Mr. Olmert's move was a formality. He had announced on July 30 that he would step down to battle allegations of corruption. President Shimon Peres will grant Miss Livni 42 days to form a new government. If she fails, general elections will be called.
Friday 19 September 2008 The new leader of the Kadima Party, Tzipi Livni, says she will act quickly to form a new government after her victory on Wednesday in the party's leadership vote. Kadima is the biggest of the parties comprising the governing coalition. The current prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is expected to announce his resignation on Sunday. He's involved in several corruption investigations. After he resigns, Mrs. Livni has 42 days to form a new government, but if she fails early elections must be held within 90 days.
Tuesday 16 September 2008 The biggest of the four parties in the country's governing coalition will elect a new leader on Wednesday, the Kadima party leader possibly becoming prime minister. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has had to abandon his post of party leader because an investigation for corruption is forcing him from office. Seventy-four-thousand Kadima members are eligible to pick a new leader. The principal contenders are Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz. In June, the latter caused a stir on world oil markets when he said Israel would have "no choice" but to attack Iran if diplomatic efforts to end its nuclear program fail.
Wednesday 27 August 2008 One-hundred-and-ninety-eight Palestinian prisoners were freed by Israel on Monday as a goodwill gesture. Several thousand Palestinians turned out to greet them in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was among the welcomers and said that there won't be peace between Israelis and Palestinians until all Palestinian prisoners are free. Israel is holding about 11,000 such. The release coincided with a one-day visit to the Middle East by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She says the administration of President George W. Bush continues to strive for a regional peace settlement before he leaves office in January but doubts one will emerge before the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly next month.
Tuesday 19 August 2008 The Israeli government has approved the release of some 200 Palestinian prisoners. The prisoners are to be released next week "as a goodwill gesture" toward Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. Nearly all of the prisoners to be freed belong to groups linked to Fatah, the secular movement led by Abbas. The list does not include members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, both of which Israel brands as terrorist organizations. Two of those to be freed are veteran prisoners implicated in deadly attacks on Israelis in the 1970s. Most of the others have been held on minor offences.
Monday 11 August 2008 WP op-ed on the importance of water to the Israel-Palestine conflict:
Friday Aug 1, 2008 Israeli consulate to move from downtown to Westmount
Thursday 31 July 2008 Israel's prime minister says he will step down after his Kadima party chooses a new leader in mid-September. Ehud Olmert says he will not run in the Kadima primaries, nor intervene in the elections. If the new leader of the Kadima Party is able to form a coalition, Israel could have a new government by October. Mr. Olmert made the announcement during an interview with Israeli television. Prime Minister Olmert faces several corruption investigations. He denies any wrongdoing but promised to resign if indicted.
Tuesday Jul 8, 2008 No Mid East peace with Bush: Syria
Gallery: Jerusalem bulldozer rampage
A Palestinian construction worker rampaged in a bulldozer along one of west Jerusalem's busiest streets on Wednesday, killing three Israelis as he crushed cars and overturned a bus before being shot dead
Friday 04 July 2008 11:44 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called for a revival of the practice of destroying the homes of Palestinians who attack Israelis. He was responding to the rampage by a 30-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem who ploughed an earth-moving machine into cars and a bus, killing 3 people and injuring 45 others. The security forces shot the man to death. Mr. Olmert says the government should enact tougher measures against terrorists, particularly against those "who are part of our internal fabric of life" and that if social rights have to be revoked, then so be it. The military stopped demolishing houses in 2005 after determining that the demolitions didn't work as a deterrent.
Thursday 03 July 2008 A Palestinian went on a rampage in Jerusalem on Wednesday after ramming an earthmover into buses and cars in the city before being shot dead by police. Three people were killed and 45 injured. The 30-year-old man was a resident of East Jerusalem and had a criminal record. The city's police commissioner said the rampage appeared to be a "spontaneous incident" carried out by someone with no known links to armed groups.
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TRAGEDY IN JERUSALEM
, CTV News , and the Post front, while the Globe , the Star and La Presse go inside with the story of Hussam Dwayat, who plowed through Jerusalem in a bulldozer, killing three people and injuring forty-five. The man turned the vehicle into oncoming traffic and crowds of people, causing havoc in the busy streets. The National and CTV News show video clips of Dwayat’s rampage and an off-duty Israeli soldier shooting him in the head four times. The Globe is the only source that reports the Palestinian man might have been suffering from mental problems due to a failed relationship with a Jewish woman and a prison sentence. The Post ponders what could happen next: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is looking into punitive measures against Dwayat’s family - namely, tearing down the house in which some twenty of his relatives live, or revoking their health insurance - to deter future attacks. The Israeli government is considering ways in which it can secure Jerusalem, but tightening security in the city claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians as their capital means a forceful presence that could threaten to end the already tenuous Israeli-Hamas truce.
Michael Cranston
Sunday 29 June 2008 The Israeli army and Palestinian security officials shot dead a teenager in the West Bank who threw Molotov cocktails at an army patrol. Israeli soldiers entered the village near Hebron on Friday. They were on an operation to stop fire bomb attacks on Israeli vehicles on a nearby highway. The West Bank is not covered by a nine-day old truce between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip
Thursday 26 June 2008 The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad says it will respect a truce with Israel in Gaza. A spokesman for Islamic Jihad made the pledge after negotiations with Hamas, which controls the territory. But the spokesman said that if Israel violates the truce, the group will consult with other militant factions to determine retaliation. The ceasefire came into effect on June 19 after months of mediation by Egypt. On Tuesday, Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for having fired three rockets into Israel after one of its militants was killed in a gunbattle in Nablus in the West Bank. The truce doesn't include the latter territory.
Monday 23 June 2008 France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, began a three-day visit to Irsrael on Sunday, proclaiming friendship. He also said that Israel's security depended on the creation of a Palestinian state. Mr. Sarkozy's visit is the first to Israel by a French president in almost 12 years. He was greeted by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who said that the visit was proof of Mr. Sakozy's support for the Jewish people and Israel. Just before his arrival to Israel, Mr. Sarkozy condemned an anti-Semitic attack that left a Jewish teenager in a coma in Paris.
Friday 20 June 2008 Thursday was the first day of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas-administered Gaza and there were no reports of attacks. The truce was mediated by Egypt. In the past year, clashes between the adversaries have left more than 400 Palestinians and seven Israelis dead. According to the terms of the truce, militants will stop attacks against Israel, which will cease its raids. After three days, Israel will ease its economic blockade and in one week further relax restrictions on cargo crossing points. There would eventually be talks about opening a crossing point between Gaza and Egypt and the return of an Israeli soldier kidnapped two years ago. The ceasefire is to last six months. Speaking in Paris, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the truce might last only days or weeks. The last truce in November 2006 lasted only weeks.
Wednesday 18 June 2008 Israel and Hamas agree to a ceasefire in Gaza
AFTER weeks of indirect negotiations using Egyptian mediation Israel confirmed on Wednesday June 18th that it and Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza strip, had reached a ceasefire agreement. Barring a last-minute escalation, hostilities between Israel and the militant groups in Gaza will cease on the morning of June 19th.
Monday 16 June 2008 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed displeasure on Sunday over further Israeli construction in east Jerusalem. The houses are being built in areas that Palestinians want for a future state. Miss Rice was in the region on her latest trip to promote mideast peace. But the outlook for achieving a peace deal by end of the year appeared increasingly dim. When talks resumed this year, the United States hoped to achieve a breakthrough before President George W. Bush leaves office in January. Miss Rice planned to raise the settlement issue at talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Last week, Israel announced that it would build 1,300 new housing units in east Jerusalem. In its peace negotiations, Israel makes a clear distinction between the West Bank and Jerusalem. Palestinians say that the new construction undermines the talks.
Peace Talks in the Middle East
Monday 09 June 2008 nyt Question: What do America’s premier investor, Warren Buffett, and Iran’s toxic president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have in common? Answer: They’ve both made a bet about Israel’s future.
Saturday 07 June 2008 OTTAWA: PM CANCELS ISRAEL TRIP
Monday 02 June 2008 The Israeli housing ministry has announced that it plans to build hundreds of new homes for Israelis in east Jerusalem. Palestinians have proclaimed east Jerusalem for the capital of their future state. An Israeli government spokesman says the new units are to be constructed in large Jewish neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem, annexed by Israel in 1967. The latest planned expansions come on the eve of the next scheduled meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. The Palestinians see the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, as the biggest obstacle to a final peace deal. Meanwhile, Israel on Sunday accepted the remains of some of its soldiers from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, through the International Red Cross. The Israeli soldiers were killed in the war in Lebanon in 2006.
Thursday 29 May 2008 JERUSALEM: CANADA PART OF ANTI-TERROR NETWORK
May 28, 2008, 1948 - 2008: Sixty years of Palestinian suffering
Thursday 22 May 2008 Israel Engages in Indirect Peace Talks With Syria
Sunday May 18, 2008 'Israel is a beacon of hope'
15 May 2008 La Patrie Québec and Israel:
Contre la doctrine du mépris Beryl Wajsman - editor and publisher
Friday 16 May 2008 U.S. President George W. Bush was in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the 60th anniversary of the independence of Israel. At an evening tribute to mark U.S.-Israeli ties, the president recalled that his country had recognized Israel diplomatically 11 minutes after its declaration of independence, thus becoming the latter nation's oldest friend. On Thursday, the president will visit the Roman fortress of Masada and latter address parliament. Mr. Bush launched a diplomatic drive last year to mediate a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians but the drive has bogged down. On Wednesday, a rocket fired from Gaza injured several people in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and an Israeli air strike later killed two Hamas fighters.
Wednesday May 14, 2008 Can Israel survive for another 60 years?
Israel is 60
“Israel for ever” Magnificent Photos
Israel through my lens: Sixty Years As a Photojournalist
The June 10, 1967 iconic David Rubinger photo above of three Israeli paratroopers who had reached the Western Wall has very special significance to us. David gave us a signed copy which hangs in our dining room. We were delighted to learn that David’s work was featured by the 92nd Street Y in February at a special exhibit and enjoyed the memories of his visits to Wednesday Night that were provoked by the mention that he would “return to the Y to share some of the stories behind his photographs in an informal Friday evening salon”.
Saturday 10 May 2008 One Israeli was killed on a communal farm after attackers fired mortar shells into southern Israel on Friday. Three other Israelis were injured. The Israeli military retaliated with missile strikes on two police stations which Hamas says killed five of its militants. The military says militants in Gaza have fired 1,950 mortar shells and rockets into Israel this year, almost as many as were fired in all of last year.
Friday 09 May 2008
For a country, sixty’s not so old, but Israel’s birthday party, held yesterday, was momentous nonetheless. The Star goes inside with Israel’s celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of its founding, “with fireworks, air force flyovers and a great sense of pride … but also with uncertainty about its future and doubts about prospects for peace with the Palestinians.” While the holiday was undoubtedly bittersweet, marred as it was by the precarious standing of the state and a prime minister mired in scandal , the Post does all it can to excise the bitter from the mix, running a two-page spread that aggressively defends Israel against its critics. Rochelle Wilner criticizes Liberal vacillation on the Middle East in contrast to Harper’s steadfastly pro-Israel stance, while Michael Coren makes a historical argument for why Jews are entitled to Israeli land. Ultimately, though, both seek to silence any censure of the country’s policies by hinting that any such criticism is tantamount to anti-Semitism— a sentiment echoed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a birthday-celebratory speech in Toronto yesterday. After promising that Canada “will never abandon Israel,” Harper went on to say, “I guess my fear is what I see happening in some circles is … anti-Israeli sentiment, really just as a thinly disguised veil for good old-fashioned anti-Semitism, which I think is completely unacceptable.” None of these authors are so bold as to say that all critics of Israel are anti-Semites, but since they each write (or speak) from an entirely uncritical position, their words leave one wondering whether there could be any other explanation for a disapproving appraisal of the country. Does MediaScout really need to point out that just because anti-Semites tend to be anti-Israeli too, doesn’t mean that all those who are critical of the country’s policies or its borders are bigots?
Meanwhile, CTV News goes inside with Israeli Ambassador to Canada Alan Baker’s recent remark that Canada’s growing Muslim population is shifting the country’s Mideast policies in a direction unfavourable to Israel. Baker also expressed concerns about what he sees as Muslims’ inability to assimilate to Canadian culture, and identified Liberal MP Omar Alghabra, a Muslim, as an example of a politician who has been “less than friendly” toward Israel, though he provided no evidence for this claim. Bob Rae, Liberal MP and foreign affairs critic, responded that “Baker should reflect on his comments because I don’t think they were either accurate or constructive,” while Alghabra himself called the comments “shocking and inappropriate.” It’s disappointing, if unsurprising, that Israel’s birthday has brought about, besides Baker’s obfuscating generalizations, more doctrinaire and debate-limiting tracts than sober reflections on the value, failings and viability of the Israeli state. Of today’s analysis, only Gershom Gorenberg ’s utopian essay in the Post holds much interest, perhaps because in the present climate, only a Jew can make a nuanced assessment of the Israeli predicament without being accused of anti-Semitism.
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Friday 25 April 2008 Israel has resumed pumping of diesel fuel to Gaza by pumping one million litres to the territory's only power plant. The Palestinians say this will be enough to keep the facility operating for three days. Earlier, a Palestinian official in Gaza had said the plant would have to shut without further deliveries. Supplies of fuel from Israel have been sporadic since Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli fuel depot near the border and killed two civilians.
Tuesday 22 April 2008 The Palestinian militant group Hamas says would accept the establishment of a state on land occupied by Israel in 1967 but wouldn't recognize the Israeli state. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal thus confirmed an account of his meetings during the weekend with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter which the latter recounted. Meshaal says Hamas could accept the formation of a state on the 1967 ceasefire lines, with full sovereignty and the right of refugees to return. The U.S. government reacted by saying it sees no change in Hamas' positions. A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak noted that the Israeli government also sees no change in Hamas' attitude since Israel is targeted by rockets fired from Hamas-controlled on a daily basis.
Monday 24 March 2008 TEL AVIV: CANADA AND ISRAEL SIGN SECURITY DEAL
Sunday 23 March 2008 U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney arrived in Israel on Saturday to promote Middle East peace talks. He has planned a nine-day tour of the region. Upon arrival, Mr. Cheney said that the United States backed Israel's right to defend itself against rockets from Hamas-ruled Gaza and will not pressure the Jewish state to take steps that threaten its security. Mr. Cheney will meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before heading to the West Bank on Sunday to meet with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Mr. Cheney will encourage peace talks that the two sides revived in November. U.S. President George W. Bush is expected visit to the region in May to celebrate the sixieth anniversary of the creation of Israel. Egypt held talks on Saturday with representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, part of a push for a truce between the militant groups and Israel.
Monday 10 March 2008 Israel's government announced new plans on Sunday to expand a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. A total of 750 homes will be built in a settlement near Jerusalem called Givat Ze'ev. The settlement lies just outside the boundaries that Israel has drawn for Jerusalem. Two hundred partially built homes in the settlement will be completed. No date was set for construction of the other homes. Palestinian groups have denounced the announcement as a blow to the latest mid-east peace talks. The peace talks were already put in jeopardy after a Palestinian gunman killed eight Jewish students at a school in Jerusalem last week. The school was linked to a local movement promoting Jewish settlements.
Thursday 06 March 2008 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she has persuaded Israel and the Palestinian Authority to resume peace negotiations. She made the revelation in Jerusalem after a meeting with her Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni. Miss Rice didn't give a date for the resumption of the talks. Palestinian President confirmed that the negotiations would resume but said that a ceasefire in Gaza was a condition, which Miss Rice contradicted. Mr. Abbas suspended the talks during the weekend to protest against the five-day Israeli incursion during which the Palestinians said more than 120 people had been killed, one-half of them militants. The incursion was aimed at stopped the almost daily firing of rockets from Gaza into Israeli. The Israeli army said that 11 more rockets were fired on Wednesday, of which seven exploded inside Israel without doing damage
:Wednesday 05 March 2008 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has failed to win a commitment from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume peace talks with Israel. The two met on Tuesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah. U.S. officials said they despite the lack of commitment to return to the talks, they expect him to do so soon. Mr. Abbas suspended the encounters with the Israelis on Sunday in protest against the five-day Israeli military incursion into Gaza, where more than 120 Palestinians were killed, about half of them civilians. Palestinian medical workers said a fresh incursion on Tuesday left a senior Islamic Jihad militant and a baby dead.
Tuesday 04 March 2008 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the military will maintain pressure on Gaza and that Monday's pullout of troops after a three-day incursion doesn't mean Israel will abate its campaign to stop rocket fire from the territory. Residents of northern Gaza ventured out of their homes after the most violent Israeli action against the territory in some years. Gaza's health ministry reports the deaths of 121 Palestinians since last Wednesday, including 22 children and dozens of militants. Two Israeli soldiers also died and one Israeli was killed in a rocket attack last week. Despite the extent of the Israeli attack, two projectiles fell on the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, injuring one person slightly. The army says the long-range rockets fired in recent were made in Iran.
Friday 29 February 2008 Palestinian sources say that 20 Palestinians died on Thursday in Israeli air attacks, 11 of them militants, in a second day of intense exchanges ion Gaza. Four of the dead were teenaged boys who were playing soccer. Thirty-two people have died in attacks in the past two days, including an Israeli killed by a rocket fired from Gaza. Sixty-five Gaza residents have died this month. Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai says the Palestinians "...are bringing this on themselves..." but Israel cannot not react to the rockets fired by militants.
Monday 11 February 2008 Op-Ed Contributor: Israel’s Secret Success
Monday 11 February 2008 One day after Palestinian rockets badly wounded two Israelis, including a young boy, Israel's prime minister threatened harsher action against Palestinian militants. Ehud Olmert vowed to target what he called all terror elements in Gaza. He strongly suggested that Israeli forces would begin hunting militant leaders of the Palestinian movement, Hamas. Following the rocket attack on Israel on Saturday, an Israeli air strike killed one Hamas militant, while Israeli troops staged a raid on Gaza, shooting one gunman. The violent exchange has put the latest attempt at regional peace talks in serious jeopardy.
Tuesday 05 February 2008 An Israeli civilian was killed in the small Israeli town of Dimona after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up. The suicide bombing was the first in Israel in a year. A source in the Palestinian Fatah faction said the group known as the Army of Palestine, a wing of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, carried out the attack. The attack raised speculation in Israel that a Palestinian militant from the Gaza Strip had infiltrated from nearby Egypt after Hamas Islamists blew open the territory's border at Rafah late last month. That border was closed on Sunday. The attack occurred several weeks after Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks opposed by Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.
Monday 21 January 2008 OTTAWA: SRAEL EXPRESSING DISMAY OVER CANADIAN LIST
Saturday 19 January 2008 Israel bombed the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza on Friday. It was its first bombing of a Palestinian government building since Hamas Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after routing secular Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel has killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza this week as part of what officials describe as a stepped-up campaign to pressure Hamas to rein in militants who have fired more than 110 rockets into the Jewish state in the last three days alone. Meanwhile, in Geneva UN sources said Friday the UN Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session next Wednesday to examine alleged violations in Gaza after Israel closed border crossings and carried out attacks on the strip. The special one-day session was requested by Arab and Muslim countries. It will be the third on the Palestine issue since the 47-member state forum was set up in June 2006.
Saturday 19 January 2008 OTTAWA: ISRAEL AND US NAMED TORTURE RISKS
Friday 18 January 2008 Israel locked down the Gaza Strip on Thursday. The lockdown came after Israeli air strikes killed five more Palestinians in Gaza in a bid to halt nearly daily rocket fire and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to keep up raids on gunmen in the Hamas-run territory. Late Thursday night, Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the closure of all border crossings between Israel and Gaza. Israel said the closures would remain in effect for several days and would affect both commercial traffic and individual travellers. He added that crossings would be authorised to respond to "exceptional humanitarian needs."
Israel carried out a missile test on Thursday, increasing speculation the launch was part of a program to develop longer-range weapons or improve an anti-missile defence system. In recent years, Israel has focused on countering the threat of missile attacks from neighbouring Arab states and Iran. Israel accuses Iran of using its controversial nuclear program as a cover for developing atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
Thursday 17 January 2008 GAZA
Thursday 10 January 2008 U.S. President George W Bush on Wednesday began a one-week trip to the Middle East, arriving in Israel for the first time in his presidency. On arrival in Tel Aviv, he told Israeli leaders that he saw a new opportunity for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Mr Bush will travel to Ramallah on Thursday to meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Bush will also visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The trip follows a U.S.-sponsored conference last month in the city of Annapolis, Maryland, where Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Abbas pledged to try to forge a peace deal by the end of this year.
2007
Monday 24 December 2007 Israel plans to build about 740 new homes next year on occupied land near Jerusalem. The announcement comes despite Palestinian calls for a total freeze on new settlements. The issue of Israeli settlement building in East Jerusalem has upset negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians that were launched at a peace conference last month in the United States. Palestinians say that the plans jeopardize talks set to resume on Monday.
Thursday 13 December 2007 Israel and the Palestinian Authority held their first negotiations in seven years in Jerusalem on Wednesday but they went nowhere, the Israeli side describing the meeting as "tense," the Palestinians saying "not an inch" of progress was made. The talks were agreed last month at a U.S.-sponsored international conference at which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak promised to try to reach a final settlement by the end of next year. The tension was due in part to Israel's announcement last week that it would build 3007 new homes in eastern Jerusalem, an area where the Palestinians want to establish their capital. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused the Israelis of continuing to establish facts on the ground. Meanwhile, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired 20 rockets into Israel, hours after the Israeli military staged an incursion into Gaza and killed six militants.
Sunday Oct 28, 2007 Israel has decided to move a military exercise off the disputed Golan Heights to avoid further heightening tensions with neighbouring Syria. In early September, Israeli jets hit a target in Syria's north. Since then, tensions between the two sides have run high. An Israeli defence official says that the military will hold next week's exercise in northern Israel and not on the Golan Heights. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Wednesday 17 October 2007 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called upon Jews around the world to establish residence in Israel, as the Jewish state prepares to launch a campaign to revitalize immigration and to persuade emigrants to return home. The ministry of integration has fixed a goal to bring home 15,000 emigrants in 2008 and to increase to 20,000 the number of Jewish immigrants. Numbers of Jewish immigrants has been falling in recent years and is expected to hit in 2007 its lowest level since 1988.
Wednesday 03 October 2007 The Israeli government completed the release of 86 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday. Twenty-nine prisoners were released to Gaza, after 57 were freed on Monday and sent to the West Bank. The releases are apparently intended to bolster the political position of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Most of those freed were members of his Fatah movement. None were members of the rival Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June. Mr. Abbas will meet on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with the purpose of working out a framework for a "two-state" solution that would be presented at a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference next month.
Sep. 6 - A human rights group is claiming indiscriminate Israeli shelling caused most of the civilian deaths in last year's Lebanese war.
Tuesday 28 August 2007 There have been two threatening intelligence reports in Israel. In the first, Israel Defence Minister Ehud Barak told a parliamentary committee that the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has more rockets now than it possessed during last summer's 34-day war with Israel. Mr. Barak says the rockets are located far from the border north of the Litani River but still within striking distance of northern Israel. Hezbollah fired almost 4,000 rockets into Israel during the conflict. In the second report, an intelligence official who couldn't be identified told the Israeli cabinet that the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas has smuggled 40 tonnes of weapons in Gaza since seized control of the territory in June. The source told cabinet that Hamas is growing increasingly motivated to carry out attacks against Israel and that the group's leadership exiled in Syria are intent upon disrupting peace efforts by Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by resuming suicide attacks. Mr. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are scheduled to meet in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Wednesday 25 July 2007 Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has arrived in Jerusalem on his first mission as envoy of the "Quartet," comprising the U.S., Russia, the EU and the UN. Mr. Blair's limited mandate is to help the Palestinians develop their economy and build institutions that will help in the creation of an independent state, while leaving aside such intractable problems as borders, Palestinian refugees and the sovereignty of Jerusalem. Mr. Blair has had a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni who said the critical time has come when progress is possible after years of stalemate in the region. She also advised her guest not to do anything to lend legitimacy to Hamas, which seized Gaza several weeks ago.
Friday 06 July 2007 Israeli troops shot and killed two Hamas militants during an exchange of gunfire in the Gaza Strip. The latest killings occurred as Israel continues to try to force the Palestinians to stop firing rockets into Israel. Militants have fired hundreds of rockets towards Israel, killing at least two people, in the past two weeks. In retaliation, Israel has killed more than 45 Palestinians, mostly militants. Appeals by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for a ceasefire have been ignored. Meanwhile, Mr. Abbas says he will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next week for the first time in nearly two months. The date and location are yet to be determined.
Saturday Jun 30, 2007 rci Israel's President Moshe Katsav has resigned. The move came one day after he signed a controversial plea bargain that will see him convicted of sexual offences but avoid prison for initial rape charges. The deal with the attorney general's office ended a scandal that has caused much controversy in Israel. Accusations of sexual misconduct against Katsav were first mentioned a year ago and eventually spread to include four women who formerly worked with him in the president's office and earlier when he was tourism minister. Katsav stepped aside in January to fight the allegations against him but did not resign. Veteran statesman Shimon Peres, who was elected earlier in the month to succeed Katsav, is to take over the presidency on July 15.
Jun 18th 2007 ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS
Tuesday May 29, 2007
More election news and upheavals in Israel as Amir Peretz has been ousted as Labour party leader; which will doubtless lead to more uncertainties, with the possibility of new elections should Prime Minister Ehud Olmert fail to put together another coalition.
Israel and the Palestinians
Israel's wasted victory
May 24th 2007The Economist print edition
Six days of war followed by 40 years of misery. How can it ever end?
Getty Images
ON THE seventh day Jews everywhere celebrated Israel's deliverance from danger. But 40 years after that tumultuous June of 1967, the six-day war has come to look like one of history's pyrrhic victories. That is not to say that the war was unnecessary. Israel struck after Egypt's President Nasser sent his army into the Sinai peninsula, evicted United Nations peacekeeping forces and blockaded Israeli shipping through the Gulf of Aqaba. Israel's victory opened the waterway and smashed its enemies' encircling armies, averting what many Israelis sincerely expected to be a second Holocaust. And yet, in the long run, the war turned into a calamity for the Jewish state no less than for its neighbours.
But you never phoned
rci Israel continues its retaliatory air attacks against the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Israeli warplanes fired on a car in Gaza City, killing two militants. An earlier strike destroyed a Hamas training centre south of the city, injuring one person. In the past 10 days more than 40 Palestinians have died in Israeli raids and one Israeli has died in a rocket attack. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has proposed a halt to the rocket attacks to permit a one-month truce with Israel as well as time to arrange a separate ceasefire between his Fatah faction and Hamas, which heads the Palestinian Authority government.
Part of the trouble was the completeness of the triumph. Its speed and scope led many Israelis to see a divine hand in their victory. This changed Israel itself, giving birth to an irredentist religious-nationalist movement intent on permanent colonisation of the occupied lands (see article ). After six days Israel had conquered not just Sinai and the Syrian Golan Heights but also the old city of Jerusalem and the West Bank—the biblical Judea and Samaria where Judaism began. In theory, these lands might have been traded back for the peace the Arabs had withheld since Israel's founding. That is what the UN Security Council proposed in Resolution 242. But Israelis were intoxicated by victory and the Arabs paralysed by humiliation. The Arabs did not phone to sue for peace and Israel did not mind not hearing from them. Instead, it embarked on its hubristic folly of annexing the Arab half of Jerusalem and—in defiance of law, demography and common sense—planting Jewish settlements in all the occupied territories to secure a Greater Israel.
Offering Video, Israel Answers Critics on War Israel is using photographs and video to buttress its accusation that Hezbollah systematically fired from civilian neighborhoods in southern Lebanon.
Sun 29/10/2006 Israel's president, Moshe Katzav, vowed to stay on in his post despite allegations that he is guilty of rape and sexual harassment. He said the he would not resign even though he is at risk of criminal charges. Israeli police are also checking to see whether to open a criminal investigation into the activity of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. There are allegations that he promoted the interests of two foreign businessmen who wanted to buy Bank Leumi of Israel.
Fri 20/10/2006 Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper has again indicated his government's support for Israel. He says that no amount of political pressure will force the government to take a neutral position regarding Israel's fight against terrorism. Mr. Harper says he believes Israel has the right to defend its citizens against terrorists and that Israel can always count on Canada's backing. He made his statements at dinner on Wednesday evening sponsored by a Canadian Jewish organization. Last week, Mr. Harper accused the candidates competing for the leadership of the Liberal party of being anti-Israel. He mentioned candidate Michael Ignatieff's statement that Israel had committed a war crime with its attack on the Lebanese village of Qana during the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Saturday 07 October 2006 rci The Iraqi government has taken an entire police brigade of between 700 and 800 off the streets of Baghdad out of suspicion that it is involved in the sectarian killings that have wracked the capital. The decision was taken after the U.S. military last month reviewed all 27 brigades deployed in Baghdad. U.S. Maj.-Gen. William Caldwell says there was evidence that the banned brigade was allowing death squads to operate. The officer also said that the numbers of bombs detonated and defused in Baghdad last week reached the highest level so far this year. Meanwhile, 14 people were killed and 75 wounded in a car bomb attack in the capital.
Monday 14 August 2006 Israel's cabinet on Sunday agreed to a United Nations cease-fire plan for Lebanon that would go into effect early on Monday morning. Lebanon's government agreed to the plan one day earlier. But the decision to approve the ceasefire has not ended the fighting. Israel has 30-thousand soldiers in southern Lebanon aimed at severing Hezbollah militants' supply lines. Five Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting on Sunday and 25 others were wounded, four of them seriously. At least five Lebanese were killed as Israeli missiles blasted targets across Lebanon. Hezbollah fired a number of rockets at northern Israel, killing one person and injuring seven. On Saturday, 24 Israeli soldiers died in fighting.
Sat 12/08/2006 Israel, Lebanon agree to UN ceasefire
Wed 09/08/2006 nyt Left or Right, Israelis Are Pro-War The harder the war with Hezbollah becomes, the more the Israeli public wants it to proceed, and with greater force.
Tuesday 01 August 2006 12:18 nyt Israel Pushes On Despite Agreeing to Airstrike Lull “will expand and deepen its operations against Hezbollah.”
rci The fighting continued on Thursday between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants in Gaza. Dozens of Israeli tanks moved into an area near Gaza's border with Egypt at dawn. Israeli warplanes above fired missiles at groups of Palestinian gunmen, killing four and wounding 26, of whom 10 were militants. The sources of the information are Palestinian security and hospital officials. The UN, meanwhile, reports that the Israeli army is firing 200 to 250 artillery shells into Gaza a day since the fighting began more than one month ago, a shelling which the UN statement calls "disproportionate." It also called on the Palestinians to stop firing rockets into Israel. The fighting started in Gaza after militants killed several Israeli soldiers and kidnapped another.
rci JERUSALEM: CANADIAN PROF RELEASED IN ISRAEL
Israel continued its military offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon on Monday. Israeli warplanes conducted operations after a 48-hour halt following the bombing of the village of Qana in which 52 people were killed, more than one-half of them children. The Israeli government expressed regret for the air attack but claimed that Hezbollah had been launching rockets into Israel from emplacements in the village. One-hundred-and-fifty-six rockets are reported to have fallen on northern Israel on Sunday, and two on Monday. Lebanon was plunged into grief on Monday, flags flying at half-mast and banks and public institutions being closed. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora denounced the Qana attack as a "war crime." Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the offensive won't end until two soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah are returned and the threat posed by the guerrillas is removed.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Israeli Lebanon border quiet Israel will "expand and strengthen" its attack on Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, the defence minister said Monday, diminishing hopes that a 48-hour halt in air strikes could be turned into a longer term ceasefire.
Israel releases former University of Toronto professor An Israeli-Canadian professor held in an Israeli jail for more than three weeks after being accused of espionage said Israeli authorities deprived him of sleep for 60 hours and heaped verbal abuse on him bordering on sexual harassment.
Sunday 30 July 2006 TORONTO: ISRAEL RELEASES CANADIAN SUSPECTED OF SPYINGSunday 30 July 2006 THE FALL, RISE & FALL OF BEIRUT Sat 29/07/2006 rci The U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, returned to the mid-east on Saturday on another peace mission. She was due to meet Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, in Tel Aviv to discuss the possible deployment of a United Nations force in south Lebanon. Israel has rejected a U.N. proposal for a 72-hour truce in the conflict with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The U.N. wanted to use the time to transport humanitarian aid to stricken civilians. Israel says that it's already providing safe corridors for transport of goods. Overnight, Israeli forces struck 37 more sites in Lebanon. One air strike hit a main road close to Lebanon's border with Syria. Another strike injured two United Nations peacekeepers from India. In all, 12 civilians were reported killed on Saturday. Hezbollah militants continued firing rockets at northern Israel, penetrating deeper into the country with a longer-range rocket carrying bigger explosives. One rocket struck the town of Afula, the most distant target yet. Israeli police say that it was a missile made in Syria. The latest rocket attacks injured five people. The head of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, warned that more attacks on central Israel will follow. Israeli ground forces withdrew from Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon captured earlier in the week. Israel suffered its biggest single loss of the conflict this week near the stronghold of Bint Jbeil. But Israeli military sources said that troops might still return. U.S. President George W. Bush has called on Israel to exercise restraint in its air attacks on Lebanese cities, but he agrees with Israel that Hezbollah must be disarmed and disbanded. According to one count, at least 469 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon in the conflict, and 51 people in Israel have died.
Tue 25/07/2006 Border Clashes Intensify as Israel Hunts Militants Some of the most intense clashes so far between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the region.
Monday 24 July 2006 rci Israel says that it would support a European Union peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. Israels prime minister, Ehud Olmert, made the statement on Sunday, reversing his earlier position. On the same day, envoys from France, Germany and Britain met separately with Israeli government officials in a search for a diplomatic end to the mideast conflict. In Syria, a deputy foreign minister called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon even as Syrias information minister warned that Syria would retaliate if Israeli ground forces in Lebanon moved too close to Syrias border. Israeli forces occupied a strategic village in southern Lebanon on Saturday. Meanwhile, Israeli aircraft continued to bomb Lebanon for the twelfth day. Bombs again fell on Beirut, and for the first time, the planes struck the port of Sidon, injuring an unknown number of people. The city has become a refuge for thousands of people who=ve fled fighting further south. Elsewhere, an Israeli missile struck a minibus, killing three people and injuring 13 others. The victims were fleeing from danger. In all, eleven people in Lebanon were killed, raising the total in the conflict to 361. Hezbollah militants responded again with rocket attacks against northern Israel, especially against the port of Haifa. At least two people were killed.
rci The condition of Israel=s former prime minister, Ariel Sharon, deteriorated on Sunday. Mr. Sharon has been in a coma sice January. Doctors at the hospital near Tel Aviv said that his kidneys were functioning worse and there were changes in his brain tissue.
Monday 24 July 2006 nyt Israel Weighs Foreign Troops on Border Israeli officials expressed interest in a multinational armed force as the military again pounded southern Lebanon from the air and ground and Hezbollah rockets hit northern Israel
nyt Weighing Foreign Forces: Sea Change for Israel After decades of resisting foreign intervention, Israel is embracing the idea of having an international force on its northern border with Lebanon.
Sunday 23 July 2006 Troops Ready, but Israel Bets on Air Power
nyt Israel Presses Air Raids on Lebanon, and Its Ground Forces Move Into a Village
Sunday, July 02, 2006 maisonneuve.org GUNS OVER GAZA by Simon Tudiver
Will good news ever reign again in the kingdom of religion? Will
the sons and daughters of Abraham and Mohammed ever learn to coexist?
Today, a study in contrasts, a clash of ups and downs: the Palestinians
make a positive move to curb infighting just as Israel unleashes a barrage
of military force on the Gaza Strip. First, the conciliatory step, which
all reports agree risks being overshadowed by the tanks and the bombs.
Hamas and Fatah, bitter political rivals with varying amounts of power and
strikingly different views on the conflict with Israeli, have signed an
agreement that may open a small window of hope in the otherwise airtight
region. The agreement appears to tacitly recognize the state of Israel,
something that goes against Hamas’s core beliefs, which include the vow to
destroy the “Zionist entity.” It came as no surprise then when Hamas denied
the document it signed implicitly accepted a two-state solution, stressing
instead the agreement’s “clear clause” condemning Israel’s occupation of
Gaza and the West Bank.The
Globe quotes an Israeli expert on Hamas, who calls the accord “a
turning point” in the ongoing struggle for peace, suggesting it could
ultimately lead to talks with the Israeli government. But that was before
Israel bombed bridges and a power station in Gaza, “effectively severing
the strip into three sections and…cutting electricity to most of the
coastal territory,” the
Star reports. The Gaza attacks are being touted as payback for
Sunday’s kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants. The
National’s Adrienne
Arsenault notes that the Palestinian raid itself was prompted by
Israeli military actions in Gaza, reiterating the stubborn one-upmanship
that continues to characterize the conflict. Arsenault highlights the
somewhat paradoxical positions of both sides: on the one hand, Hamas has
signed this new agreement, but “still won’t renounce violence.” On the
other hand, Israel has invaded Gaza, but doesn’t want to fully reoccupy
the strip. But worse than contradictions, Beirut
Daily Star editor Rami Khouri argues in the
Globe , are unilateral actions. Khouri writes that Israel’s actions –
whether they be pulling out of Gaza, invading it or building the so-called
“security barrier” around it – will never succeed because they represent
only the Israeli position. Khouri maintains that “unilateralism…does not
solve the problems of a bilateral conflict.” But if the proposed
alternative is some sort of agreement or consensus, please forgive
MediaScout for being somewhat skeptical. Both sides can demonstrate such a
complete lack of farsightedness or empathy in this conflict that it often
seems like the only solution left is to pray for redemption in the holy
land.THE
LEADS: THE NATIONAL: “Israel
moves: After high tension and days of amassing troops, Israel moves against
Gaza ”
56 min 40 sec - Jun 28, 2006
movie Charlie Rose -Gaza with Mort Zuckerman, Editor-in-Chief of U.S. News & World Report, Khalil Jahshan of Pepperdine ...
Charlie Rose Segment 1: Guest host Bob Simon of CBS News discusses the latest news from the Middle East with Afif Safieh of the PLO Mission, Rashid
Saturday May 20, 2006 rci Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered a criminal investigation of a senior Hamas movement official caught trying to smuggle $187,000 into Gaza from Egypt. The money was detected at the Rafah crossing by an EU observer and confiscated. The observer said Abu Zuhri had failed to declare the money as required. It was found strapped to his body. The Hamas official said the money had been donated to the Palestinian people by private citizens he had met during a tour of Arab countries. Meanwhile, relations between security forces loyal to Mr. Abbas and a new force created by Hamas continue to deteriorate. There was another gunfight between the two sides on Friday morning near the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza in which two police officers and a Hamas gunman were wounded.
Monday Apr 17, 2006 rci Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah says the government led by the Islamic radical movement Hamas won't buckle under financial pressure applied by the West. He told a rally in Gaza that he will send an envoy to the Arab and Muslim world to arrange financing for his cash-strapped government. The Palestinian Authority is in a financial crisis because Canada, the U.S. and the EU have cut of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid because they define Hamas as a terrorist group. In Washington, meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Board has barred Americans from doing business with Hamas unless licensed.
Tuesday Apr 11, 2006 rci The EU has voted to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority because it is dominated by the Islamic militant group Hamas since the Jan. 25 parliamentary elections. EU foreign minister say the Europeans will continue to fund health care, education and other humanitarian projects. Individual EU government also will review bilateral projects. Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark have already ended bilateral projects. Canada became the first major contributor to the PA to end aid, while maintaining other aid projects. The U.S. as well has ended support of the PA. The ending of the aid is due to Hamas' refusal to renounce violence and to recognize Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud has called on the world community to end its "unfair" treatment of the Palestinians and to help them instead to achieve their dream of independence.
Wednesday Apr 5, 2006 rci The Hamas-led Palestinian government is running into financial problems one week after taking office. A top Hamas official in the government says it has not received promised funding from donors to pay salaries for the month of March to 140,000 employees of the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian officials and western diplomats say the Palestinian Authority does not appear to have any foreign reserves to pay April salaries. Officials say one of the options open to Hamas would be to attempt to draw money from an investment fund set up to combat corruption in the Palestinian Authority. The fund has an estimated value of $1.3 billion at the end of 2005. Last week, Canada cut off all funding and broke off relations with the Hamas government as a result of the movement's refusal to renounce violence, to recognize Israel and to respect previous preliminary peace accords between Israel and the PA.
Thursday Mar 23, 2006 rci There's been more violence in the Palestinian territories. The latest occurred when Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian militant and arrested two others in a raid near the West Bank town of Jericho. The raid occurred a day after Israel arrested 10 Palestinians who were driving a vehicle filled with explosives. Israeli officials suspected the explosives were for use in a suicide bomb attack. Israel has been on high alert for possible suicide bombings in the run-up to its March 28 national elections.
Wednesday Feb 1, 2006 Wed1248 report David Romano , Ph.D. has specialized in nationalist movements, particularly the Kurdish national movement and did his Master's on the Sendero Luminosa – "Shining Path" (Peru) and earlier on the Palestinian /Israeli question. He has had a lot of exposure to revolutionary movements, has actually been there and talked to the people, riding his mountain bike in Turkey , learning about the villagers and the recruitment methods of the terrorist organisations. He also lived for about a year in Iraq and the same amount of time in Israel. On his last trip to Iraq (co-funded by the Canadian Department of Defense and Development & Peace), he looked at the organisation and development of radical islamic groups and of internal displacement and post-conflict treatment of refugees multi ethnic areas. These studies had relevance to many other activities of the Canadian troops in Rwanda , the Balkans and Afghanistan , for example.
Tuesday Jan 31, 2006 maisonneuve.org/
HAMAS LOOKS FOR HANDOUTS IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES by
Simon Tudiver
When the tension mounts, the guns come out. The
National’s Don Murray reported last night on Palestinian police
officers who took to the streets and occupied the parliament buildings,
apparently worried they will soon lose their jobs. It’s just another
complication in a jumble of politics, emotions and ultimatums that have
thrown the region into a new kind of chaos, one which—at least for
now—seems to be more political than violent. Yesterday, the
“quartet,” meaning the US, the UN, the EU and Russia, picked
up their monetary-sanction instruments and threatened Hamas, the militant
group that won last week’s Palestinian elections. The challenge:
renounce your terrorist ways and accept Israel and we’ll continue to
give you money; stay the course and face financial ruin. UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan also added another condition—accepting the
so-called “road map” to peace between the Israelis and
Palestinians. The threat is serious; about half of the Palestinian
Authority’s nearly two billion dollar budget comes from the US and
the EU.The
Globe runs a piece that gives voice to prominent critics of the
quartet plan, including former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who
warns of widespread chaos if the money is withheld: “The
Palestinians are basically bankrupt at the moment,” he says, adding
that without the aid money, more than 100,000 people would lose their
jobs. Not to mention all the facilities that would have to close—in
a region already lacking in basic infrastructure. The
Citizen devotes most of a page to the issue, leading its coverage with
Hamas’s plea that the West continue sending the aid money. The group
says it will spend the money under its donors’ supervision and also
says it is willing to “meet and have an open dialogue with the
quartet.” The
Globe runs a hard-lined editorial applauding the Western ultimatum,
arguing that continuing to give the money would “effectively give
the stamp of approval to a government formed by people who refuse to
renounce terrorism.” MediaScout is also concerned with curbing
Hamas’s violent tendencies. Perhaps it is too idealistic to think
that can be done without further hurting the already struggling
Palestinian people. Or perhaps our leaders need to work a little harder at
a more nuanced approach.
Tuesday Jan 31, 2006 nyt Despite Victory by Hamas, Control of Palestinian Security Forces Remains Uncertain
Monday Jan 30, 2006 nyt After Hamas Victory, Israel's Likely Course
nyt Hamas Routs Ruling Faction, Casting Pall on Peace Process
Tuesday Dec 20, 2005 nyt Sharon, Health an Issue, to Face Netanyahu
Wednesday Nov 23, 2005 rci Israeli officials have set the date of March 28 for the next national election. Legislators are expected to vote to dissolve parliament and hold early elections in three votes on Wednesday. The election was scheduled for November 2006 but has been moved up because of Monday's resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as head of the governing Likud Party. Mr. Sharon announced he will found his own centrist party. Opinion polls published in three Israeli newspapers on Tuesday indicate that the new party could win between 30 and 33 of the 120 seats in the Knesset. The polls also showed Likud running a distant third behind the Labour Party.
Tuesday Nov 22, 2005 nyt Sharon's New Party Shuffles the Political Deck
Tuesday Nov 22, 2005 rci Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has asked Israel's president to dissolve parliament.
.nyt not FREE
Nov 21, 2005 Sharon’s political earthquake: Ariel Sharon announces his withdrawal from the Likud Party and intention to form a new party to compete in upcoming elections
Monday Oct 31, 2005 rci Palestinian militants agreed on Sunday to halt rocket attacks against Israel from the Gaza Strip, but the tacit agreement appeared soon not to hold. The Islamic Jihad had warned that it would resume cross-border attacks if Israel continued its air strikes. Islamic Jihad made no promise, however, to stop suicide bombings. The same day, Palestinian security sources said that Israeli soldiers killed two Islamic Jihad militants and injured eight other Palestinians in a raid in the West Bank town of Kabatiya. The town was the residence of a sucide bomber who killed five Israelis last Wednesday. Israel reported late in the day that a Palestinian rocket was fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Violence in the mid-east began last week and led to air strikes by Israel that killed at least nine Palestinians, most of them militants. The upsurge in violence was one of the worst since a truce began between the two sides nearly nine months ago. It soured hopes that Israel's withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip could lead to new peace
Friday Oct 28, 2005 rci A United Nations official visiting the Canadian capital on Wednesday says the situation in Gaza remains bleak despite Israel's withdrawal from the territory. Karen AbuZayd, the head of the United National Relief and Works Agency, blames Israel for protracting negotiations to open Gaza's borders. Mrs. AbuZayd says that hopes that life in Gaza would improve for Palestinians after the withdrawal have been disappointed. She says conditions would improve if Israel would agree to such projects as the construction of a Gaza seaport. Israel says it is doing what it can to open the borders but must prevent weapons and militants from entering Gaza.
Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded northern Gaza on Wednesday. The barrage was in response to Palestinian militants firing a rocket into Israel's southern town of Sderot. No casualties were reported in any of the incidents which were part of a flare-up of violence that has been one of the worst since Israel withdrew from Gaza last month. The violence threatens to unravel the eight-month ceasefire and has cast doubts over future peace negotiations between the two sides.
Tuesday Sep 6, 2005 cc
Alberta goes dry in bid to head off water crisis
Minister of Infrastructure: Heads to Israeli desert for tips on managing resource
Monday Aug 29, 2005 nyt Shadowy Hamas Leader Threatens Israel and Abbas
Friday Aug 26, 2005 rci The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, has denounced Israel for allegedly acting to derail hopes for peace in the Middle East. He was reacting to the Israeli military's shooting to death of five Palestinian militants in the West Bank city of Tulkarem. The militants died in a fire fight after soldiers entered a refugee camp to make arrests. The army said the five dead militants were wanted in connection with a suicide bombing last month that killed five Israelis. The shootings were the first deadly operation by the military since the withdrawal of Jewish settlers was completed earlier this week. Mr. Abbas reacted by accusing the Israelis of trying to resume the cycle of violence just when the Palestinian Authority is seeking to maintain calm. In other news, the military has announced the forthcoming construction of an Israeli police headquarters on public land in the West Bank east of Jerusalem. The building will be located just outside the biggest Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Also on Thursday, a Palestinian stabbed two Jews in East Jerusalem, killing one of them.
Thursday Aug 25, 2005 nyt Israel Confirms Plan to Seize West Bank Land for Barrier
Thursday Aug 25, 2005 ec Israel and the Palestinians UPDATED After the clearance of Jewish settlers and protesters from Gaza, Israeli forces have now evacuated the last of four West Bank settlements also being abandoned. Ariel Sharon's “disengagement” plan has been completed Full article
Wednesday Aug 24, 2005 rci Israeli police have completed the evacuation of Jewish settlements on the West Bank. Defiant hardline settlers and activists had to be physically ejected from some sites. But no serious violence was reported. The West Bank pullout follows Israel's evacuation of all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to congratulate him on the completion of the pullout and to express hopes for renewed Mideast peace efforts. And, U.S. President George W. Bush also praised Israel's withdrawal, saying Palestinians must now form an effective government.
Wednesday Aug 24, 2005 ts How one week's work could shift Israeli political ground
Tuesday Aug 23, 2005 nyt Israeli Troops and Extremists Face Off in West Bank
Tuesday Aug 23, 2005 ec Israel and the Palestinians The last Jewish settlers have departed from the Gaza strip, without much trouble, and demolition of the settlers’ homes has begun. But there may still be serious clashes at two West Bank settlements that are listed for evacuation Full article
Tuesday Aug 23, 2005 nyt Gaza Pullout: New Scars for Arabs and Israelis
Monday Aug 22, 2005 nyt Hamas Pushing for Lead Role in a New Gaza
Saturday Aug 20, 2005 rci The withdrawal of Jewish settlers from Gaza is going ahead faster than Israel's government expected. Most of Gaza's 8,500 settlers have now left. Troops on Friday arrested protesters in one of the few remaining pockets of resistance. Soldiers in riot gear stormed a synagogue in the settlement of Gadid where about 90 protesters were making a stand. They were carried away one by one in a scene recalling the storming of synagogues in two other settlements on Thursday. Some protesters burned tires in the streets. Troops will halt further action against protesters until Sunday, following the Jewish Sabbath. Government officials expect to finish the Gaza withdrawal by Tuesday. In the West Bank, residents have left two of the four settlements slated for evacuation. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, spoke of what he called the historic sense of joy felt by Palestinians over the Gaza withdrawal. But he also called on Israel to withdraw its citizens from all of the West Bank and Jerusalem as well.
Friday Aug 19, 2005 ec Israel’s evacuation of Gaza settlers Israeli troops have stormed synagogues in Jewish settlements in Gaza, where many of the remaining protesters against the pull-out were holed up. The imminent fall of these bastions of opposition means that Ariel Sharon's “disengagement” may be achieved within days Full article
Friday Aug 19, 2005 nyt At War in Bomb Field, at Peace in Field of Dreams
Friday Aug 19, 2005 ts Israel`s agonized exit from Gaza
Friday Aug 19, 2005 ts Showdown in the synagogues
Friday Aug 19, 2005 ts Evacuation troops keep cool in face of Nazi-era insults
Friday Aug 19, 2005 ts Pace of withdrawal quickens Audio report (MP3)
Friday Aug 19, 2005 rci Israeli troops confronted demonstrators at two synagogues in Gaza on Thursday. The demonstrators were protesting against the evacuation of Jewish settlements. In the settlement of Kfar Darom, an unknown number of demonstrators stood on the synagogue roof, hurling objects and paint at troops trying to scale the wall. Troops retaliated with water Canon. Kfar Darom was among the first Jewish settlements in Gaza. Earlier, troops confronted about 2,000 demonstrators in Neve Dekalim. Following a standoff, troops stormed the synagague. All of the demonstrators were carried or led away one by one. The demonstrators face criminal charges. There was a major violent incident on Wednesday when a Jewish settler killed four Palestinians in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Israeli troops moved into Gaza after the deadline to evacuate the settlements passed. Israel's government says that the evacuation of all of Gaza's 21 Jewish settlements and four in the West Bank is moving ahead more quickly than expected.
Thursday Aug 18, 2005 ts Israeli troops quicken pace of withdrawal
Israeli troops quicken pace of withdrawal
Chopping down home a family`s private matter
Wednesday Aug 17, 2005 nyt
INTERNATIONAL
Gaza: Settlement by Settlement
Wednesday Aug 17, 2005 Gazans to Monitor How Vacated Land Is Used
Wednesday Aug 17, 2005 ts Sharon praises `pioneers`
Wednesday Aug 17, 2005 ts Hoopsters take their final shots
Wednesday Aug 17, 2005 rci Monday was the first day of Israel=s planned partial withdrawal from Palestinian lands. Jewish settlers in 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank were given 48 hours to pack up and leave or be forced out by the army. The army says that two settlements in Gaza have already been evacuated and that most of their residents had already departed. However, residents of two settlements refused to accept the eviction notices and used their bodies to barricade their settlements. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a television address said that his government shares the pain of the settlers but that Israel could not retain possession of Gaza forever. Mr. Sharon noted that one-million Palestinians live in dire poverty in the territory and that their numbers double with every generation. Palestinian militant groups took credit for having chased Israel out of Gaza. The governments of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Yemen expressed the hope that the withdrawal from Gaza will be a first step toward the recovery of all Palestinian lands.
Sunday Aug 14, 2005 nyt Leaving Gaza: Lives Unsettled by the Pullout
Saturday Aug 13, 2005 rci Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says Israel might be willing to give up even more Palestinian lands than planned under the current withdrawal operation. He told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that the plan for Israel to leave Gaza and four small Jewish settlements on the West Bank is intended to strengthen Israel's control of the larger settler blocs there. But Mr. Sharon says it's not impossible that other isolated Jewish settlements on the West Bank also could be evacuated. The withdrawal from Gaza is scheduled to start in five days
Friday Aug 12, 2005 rci Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated on Thursday against the withdrawal of Jewish settlers from Gaza. The rally in Tel Aviv could be the final mass protest before the withdrawal begins on Wednesday. Police were out in force to control the crowd and prevent violence. One protest leader threatened to stage widespread protests in Gaza on Monday. Gaza has been closed to non-residents as a precaution against violence. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says that the Gaza withdrawal will enable Israel to hold on to its settlements in the West Bank.
Tuesday Aug 9, 2005 Israel's finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, abruptly resigned on Sunday, saying that he cannot support the government's plan to withdraw Jewish settlements from Gaza. The withdrawal is scheduled to begin this month and end in September. Twenty-one settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank will be removed. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed his vice premier, Ehud Olmert, as the new finance minister. Also in Israel on Sunday, a funeral was held for the Jewish militant who killed four people aboard a bus in an Israeli Arab town on Thursday. It was the worst shooting spree by an Israeli militant in over a decade. The gunman, Eden Nathan Zaada, was later beaten to death by an angry crowd. His burial place in his home town of Rishon Letzion has stirred concern among government officials. They fear that his grave might become a pilgrimage site for Israeli extremists. Dozens of extremists attended the funeral.rci Israel's finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, abruptly resigned on Sunday, saying that he cannot support the government's plan to withdraw Jewish settlements from Gaza. The withdrawal is scheduled to begin this month and end in September. Twenty-one settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank will be removed. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed his vice premier, Ehud Olmert, as the new finance minister. Also in Israel on Sunday, a funeral was held for the Jewish militant who killed four people aboard a bus in an Israeli Arab town on Thursday. It was the worst shooting spree by an Israeli militant in over a decade. The gunman, Eden Nathan Zaada, was later beaten to death by an angry crowd. His burial place in his home town of Rishon Letzion has stirred concern among government officials. They fear that his grave might become a pilgrimage site for Israeli extremists. Dozens of extremists attended the funeral.
Sunday Aug 7, 2005 nyt F.D.A. Responds to Criticism With New Caution
Monday Jun 6, 2005 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are going to hold their second summit in Jerusalem on June 21. Mr. Sharon's office also announced that he wishes Mr. Abbas a speedy recovery from the heart surgery which he underwent in Jordan earlier this week.
Tuesday May 24, 2005 rci Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says Israel remains committed to a withdrawal this summer from Gaza, despite mortar attacks against Jewish settlements over the past week by Palestinian militants. The attacks claimed by the Hamas group have put strain on the informal truce between Israel and the Palestinians that has been in effect since January. They also have put pressure on Israel's plan to hand over control of West Bank towns to the Palestinian Authority. The PA and Israel discussed the matter on Monday. As part of confidence-building measures agreed in February between Mr. Sharon and PA President Mahmoud Abbas included the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners. Israel freed an initial batch of 500 detainees, but the others are still in jail. Hamas has said it considers their continued imprisonment as a violation of the informal truce.
Monday May 23, 2005 rci Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, will hold their second meeting next month. They'll meet on June 7, after Mr. Abbas travels to Washington next week for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush. The two mideast leaders will discuss ways to bolster a fragile three-month ceasefire that has come under pressure as a result of renewed violence in the past week. Palestinian militants fired rockets at Jewish targets and Israeli troops retaliated by killing three militants.
Wednesday May 11, 2005 rci Israel's defence chief says the planned withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza will go ahead no matter how well Islamic militants do in Palestinian elections. Shaul Mofaz was responding to Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's suggestion that Israel consider calling off the withdrawal if the Islamic militant group Hamas wins the July 17 elections. Hamas is expected to mount a serious challenge to the Fatah wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has confirmed that the withdrawal from Gaza will be delayed by three weeks until mid-August.
Thursday Apr 28, 2005 Russian President Vladimir Putin is making an historic visit to Israel. It's the first such visit to that country by a Soviet or Russian leader. The Soviet and Russian governments have traditionally supported Israel's Arab neighbours and adversaries, which Russia for years has supplied with weapons. The Soviet Union ended formal ties with Israel after the Arab-Israeli war in 1967. Mr. Putin has proposed an international peace conference in Moscow to try again to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The U.S. state department has reacted by suggesting that the idea is premature. The Israeli government says it prefers to stick to the international "road map" peace plan for the Middle East. Russia is one of its four sponsors.
Tuesday Apr 12, 2005 rci U.S. President George W. Bush had talks on Monday at his ranch in Texas with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Afterwards, both leaders said they agreed that the international "road map" peace plan for the Middle East is the only path to peace for the region. Mr. Bush also says he urged his guest to dismantle illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands and to refrain from expanding a large Jewish settlement east of Jerusalem. Mr. Sharon's government has proposed adding 3,500 housing units to it, thus ringing East Jerusalem with Jewish settlements. The plan has angered the Palestinians, who say the project would make it impossible for East Jerusalem to serve as the capital of an independent Palestinian state. The president also expressed U.S. support for Israel's retention of areas of the West Bank in a final peace deal, saying it's unrealistic for Israel to return to its borders of 1949.
Thursday Apr 7, 2005 rci Israel's justice minister, Tzipi Livni, says the Israeli government is prepared to continue with its plans to build 3,500 new housing units for Jewish settlers east of Jerusalem. Mrs. Livni says that the lack of U.S. support for the project doesn't mean it shouldn't proceed. U.S. President George W. Bush has objected to the plan on the grounds that it violates the international "road map" scheme for a general peace settlement in the Middle East. He and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon are to meet next week in Texas. The creation of the housing scheme would ring East Jerusalem with Jewish settlements. The Palestinian Authority objects violently to the plan because it wants East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state. The project would separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
Wednesday Apr 6, 2005 U.S. President George W. Bush has called on Israel to respect the international "road map" plan for peace in the Middle East by refraining from expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The president says he'll reiterate that admonition next Monday when he receives a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at his ranch in Texas. Last Monday, Mr. Sharon caused concern in Washington by telling a parliamentary committee that a Jewish settlement should be linked to the Israeli capital by the construction of 3,500 new housing units. Such a construction would complete a ring of Jewish settlements around East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of an independent state.
Saturday Mar 26, 2005 The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, says it's unrealistic to think that Israel would withdraw from the entire West Bank, adding that he's only reiterating the policy already expressed by the U.S. government. The ambassador's comment comes at a time when Palestinians have been angered by the Israeli's government support for the construction of 3,500 new housing units at the Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim, five kilometres east of Jerusalem. The construction would cut off East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want for the capital of an independent state, from the rest of the West Bank. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice told the Los Angeles Times newspaper in an interview published on Friday that such an expansion would be "at odds with American policy."
Monday Mar 21, 2005 Israel announced on Sunday that it was preparing to pull its troops out of another West Bank city. The transfer of control of the city of Tulkarm was scheduled to occur on Monday. The gesture was Israel-s latest sign of support for peace initiatives undertaken by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. He won a commitment from militants to hold their fire against Israelis. Officials from both sides met on Sunday to finalize details of the redeployment. On Wednesday, Israel handed the West Bank city of Jericho to Palestinian security control. Israel made a promise during a summit with Mr. Abbas last month to move its forces away from five West Bank cities. The announcement of another West Bank city transfer was made as Arab foreign ministers concluded a two-day meeting in Algiers to draft a peace plan with Israel. The resolution will be debated at a two-day summit of 13 Arab leaders starting on Tuesday. A draft of their resolution said that Arab nations would make peace if Israel pulls out of all occupied territories, including the Golan Heights. The creation of an independent Palestinian state was also listed in their resolution. But as the Algiers meeting ended, word came of a rift in the Arab world. Iraq had recalled its ambassador to Jordan in a tit-for-tat gesture following the recall of Jordan's top diplomat from Baghdad.
Monday Mar 7, 2005 rci Israel is preparing to hand over control of a town on the West Bank to Palestinian forces, according to a senior Palestinian commander, Cmdr. Haff Ismail Jabber. He spoke on Sunday after participating in the first talks between Israeli and Palestinian commanders since February 25, when a suicide bomb killed five Israelis in Tel Aviv. Following the bombing, Israel delayed handing over five West Bank towns and releasing more Palestinian prisoners. Israel will hand over the town of Tulkarem this week, said Cmdr. Jabber. Israeli officials said, however, that Palestinian authorities still had to show that they could provide security in the town, and Israel's government still had to approve the takeover. They also said that defence minister Shaul Mofaz will meet this week for the first time with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Sunday Mar 6, 2005 rci Jordan held its highest-ranking meeting with Israel in four years on Sunday when foreign minister Hani Mulki met his counterpart, Silvan Shalom in Tel Aviv. Mr. Mulki is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other high-ranking Israeli officials on Sunday. The Jordanian envoy also met on Saturday with the Palestinian leader, Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Mr. Mulki said that he would pass on information about that meeting to Israeli officials. The Palestinians, he said, were willing to receive Jordanian-trained security officers to help patrol the northern West Bank after Israel completes its plan to withdraw local Jewish settlers. Mr. Mulki's trip came two weeks after Jordan returned its
Thursday Mar 3, 2005 rci A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he is critical of the outcome of an international meeting in London Tuesday concerning the Middle East. Mr. Sharon's spokesman says participants failed to state the need to suppress terrorist organizations. The conference was aimed at showing support for the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas, at inducing him to suppress terrorists and at the resumption of peace negotiations with Israel. Its final statement called for a more forceful effort to "prevent acts of terrorism" but stopped short of insisting on the crackdown demanded by the Israelis against such militant groups as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The latter group took responsibility for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv last Friday that killed five people. agreed upon in talks at Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt, on Feb. 8. The attack in Tel Aviv was the first such incident since then.
Thursday Feb 3, 2005 cbc ISRAEL TO STOP SEIZING PALESTINIAN PROPERTY
Israel's attorney general ruled Tuesday that a secret cabinet decision
to seize Palestinian property in east Jerusalem is illegal.
Israeli Troops Press Settlers to Quit Gaza
Saturday Jan 29, 2005 Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Friday addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East. Israel was represented by the Israeli deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert. He told the gathering that Israel's decision to withdraw from Gaza and the emergence of a new, democratic Palestinian leadership offer an historic opportunity for peace. Both Mr. Olmert and Yasser Abed Rabbo, an official with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, agreed that there's a more positive atmosphere in their region. But Mr. Rabbo warns that despite the withdrawal from Gaza, peace will never come if Israel continues to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank and to build its security barrier along the territory's border with Israel. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has ordered an end to operations in Gaza in where Palestinian police have been deployed along Gaza's northern and southern borders.
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see 2004 Archices
May 8th 2002Wed1053 with Amb. David Berger
Links
A Line in the Sand Sunday Jan 1, 2006
Andy Nulman 
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