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Bush Uses Holy Land Pulpit to Launch Smear Campaign
George W. Bush is unworthy of the presidency. He is a disgrace to himself, our Nation, and the high office he holds. In a speech to the Israeli Knesset on Thursday, Mr. Bush forfeited the last scraps of his moral authority, dishonoring himself by using one of the world's most important pulpits to launch a false and vicious political attack against Barack Obama.

A Synopis of the Palestinian and Israeli Conflict
A short synopsis of the history of this conflict.

Secret memo shows Israel knew Six Day War was illegal
26 May 2007 —A senior legal official who secretly warned the government of Israel after the Six Day War of 1967 that it would be illegal to build Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories has said, for the first time, that he still believes that he was right. The declaration by Theodor Meron, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's legal adviser at the time and today one of the world's leading international jurists, is a serious blow to Israel's persistent argument that the settlements do not violate international law, particularly as Israel prepares to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the war in June 1967. The legal opinion, a copy of which has been obtained by The Independent, was marked "Top Secret" and "Extremely Urgent" and reached the unequivocal conclusion, in the words of its author's summary, "that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

Pressuring Israel May Prevent a 'Generational' Mideast War
srael may well find itself at war with Syria and Hezbollah in the coming months, and the American foreign policy establishment needs to let go of its long-standing biases to prevent these conflicts.

Jimmy Carter Speaks A Simple Truth About Palestinian Apartheid
There's nothing outrageous or bigoted about Jimmy Carter's book arguing that Palestinians are victims of apartheid, as critics are claiming. If anything, Carter mutes his case.

Israel land gained 1946 to 2000
The maps tell the real story.

Movement for One Democratic Secular State in Israel/Palestine
This project is strictly oriented toward progressive one state advocates, rejecting all forms of racism, gender bias and religious intolerance.

UN demands Israel to tear down barrier
The resolution was drafted after the International Court of Justice announced the barrier illegal.The UN General Assembly has approved a resolution demanding Israel to obey a world court ruling to dismantle the Separation barrier on the West Bank and pay compensation to Palestinians affected by its construction.

Israeli military abuses on display
The Israeli army has grilled a group of ex-conscripts over a photo exhibition they say documents abuses of Palestinians by troops and Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

Sharon lashes out at fence hearings
If Sharon had built the fence right along the green line, there would be no court case. But by atempting to redraw the border in conrete to Israel's advantage, Sharon made it obvious to the world that this is another Israeli land-grab.

Elite Israeli Troops Refuse To Serve in the Territories
"We have long ago crossed the line between fighters fighting a just cause and oppressing another people," three officers and 10 soldiers of the army's most secretive unit, the Sayeret Matkal, said in the letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The Separation wall
Palestinian sources say that this wall will annex nearly 45% of the Palestinian lands in the West Bank, and will divide the Palestinian territories into eight separated areas and 64 ghettos.

Statistics of Israeli Violations
The following are violations by Israel against the Palestinian People during the period of 29/9/2000 to 31/05/ 2003, as prepared by International Press Center

What Every American Should Know about Israel/Palestine
Americans have an enormous, often little known, connection to the ongoing and dangerous tragedy that is Israel and Palestine. As lives of the young and old are increasingly lost and devastated, due in part to short-sighted US policies, it is inevitable that these policies will endanger American lives as well. American citizens have the power to end this carnage.

U.N. General Assembly demands that Israel tear down barrier jutting into West Bank
In a decision seen as a gauge of world opinion, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution demanding that Israel tear down a barrier that it says is needed to protect it from suicide bombers, but that Palestinians call a land grab.

Israel: Wall will continue to go up
Israeli officials said Wednesday that construction of the fence would continue, while Palestinians applauded the U.N. decision.

Israeli subs now carry nuclear missiles
Israel has modified American-supplied cruise missiles to carry nuclear warheads on submarines, giving the Middle East's only nuclear power the ability to launch atomic weapons from land, air and beneath the sea, according to senior Bush administration and Israeli officials. [courtesy of U.S. taxpayers]

Israel Adds Fuel to Nuclear Dispute
Israel has modified American-supplied cruise missiles to carry nuclear warheads on submarines, giving the Middle East's only nuclear power the ability to launch atomic weapons from land, air and beneath the sea, according to senior Bush administration and Israeli officials.

Nuclear watchdog 'ignores Israel'
Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons
Arab states have accused the United Nations nuclear watchdog of holding back from criticising Israel.

The Costs to American Taxpayers of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: $3 Trillion
Conflicts in the Middle East have been very costly to the U.S., as well as to the rest of the world. An estimate of the total cost to the U.S. alone of instability and conflict in the region—which emanates from the core, Israeli-Palestinian conflict—amounts to close to $3 trillion, measured in 2002 dollars. This is an amount almost four times greater than the cost of the Vietnam war, also reckoned in 2002 dollars.

Oil from Iraq to Fuel Israel
The United States has asked Israel to prepare a plan to renew the transport of oil from the Iraqi city of Kirkuk to the Haifa port.

Israelis Worry About Terror, by Jews Against Palestinians
The very idea of vigilantism is troubling to Israel, both because of the threat to its own rule of law and its contention that violence against civilians is perpetrated only by the Palestinian side.

A Separation Wall Through The Heart
The passage of a new law in Israel means thousands of Israeli Arabs will have to choose between their country or their spouse.

The Real Cost of US Support for Israel: $3 Trillion
While it is commonly reported that Israel officially receives some $3 billion every year in the form of economic aid from the U.S. government, this figure is just the tip of the iceberg.

Mideast death toll over 3,000
In 33 months of Middle East violence, 2,414 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 806 on the Israeli side.

Is Sharon to blame? Israelis wonder
It is question rarely asked by Israel's Jews, and almost never in public. But yesterday one member of the Israeli parliament, Roman Bronfman, cautiously wondered if the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, did not have Jewish blood on his hands.

This Is The Israeli 'Cease Fire'
The Palestinian Authority and the Israeli military government have agreed to a 'cease-fire.' The terminology is, of course, misleading. It suggests that there are two equal sides at war. The Israeli government, receiving more than 12 million dollars a day from the US to supplement its arsenal of 'weapons of mass destruction,' has not ended its illegal military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Children shot in third day of Israeli army raids
The screams echoed around the clinic yesterday as a woman brought her seven-year-old daughter in for treatment. She had been shot in the abdomen by an Israeli soldier.

Israel’s New Anti-Activist Strategy
The past several weeks have seen the Israeli military taking an increasingly hard-line new tack towards international anti-occupation activists in Gaza. Members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a non-violent group that attempts to provide protection to Palestinians, have been particularly targeted.

UN Report Presses Israel to Accept Peacekeepers
The Palestinians have been lobbying for some type of U.N. monitors in the West Bank and Gaza for years, but Israel has flatly opposed an international force in the region.

Annan says Israel 'undermining peace'
Kofi Annan has accused Israel of undermining a new Middle East peace drive by attacking a Gaza City neighbourhood. and killing at least 12 Palestinians.

Israel Doesn't Want Peace
President Bush may believe in his "road map to peace," but neoconservatives who run the Department of Defense do not want peace; they want Syria, Lebanon and Iran. It is Israel's security rather than America's they are concerned about. The State Department is powerless. Congress has also abdicated.

They Shoot Activists, Don't They?
The campaign of escalating violence waged by the Israeli army against international peace activists in Palestine has not altered their determination.

Oil from Iraq : An Israeli pipedream?
Israel stands to benefit greatly from the US led war on Iraq, primarily by getting rid of an implacable foe in President Saddam Hussein and the threat from the weapons of mass destruction he was alleged to possess.

Israel to U.S.: Now deal with Syria and Iran
Two of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior aides will go to Washington for separate talks this week. Israel will suggest that the United States also take care of Iran and Syria because of their support for terror and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Israel will point out the support of Syria and Iran for Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers an important target in the war against international terrorism.

Israeli missile kills 6, plus Hamas leader
An Israeli F-16 warplane fired a missile Tuesday night into Gaza City's crowded Zeitoon neighborhood, Palestinian witnesses said, a shot that killed the leader of the armed wing of Hamas as well as six others.

A Yiddishe Medina
This was written as President Bush proclaimed his Crusade of Revenge against the Third

A Busy Day for Bulldozers
It's been a busy day today for Israeli bulldozers. They had to do 16 houses by sundown, and they couldn't start until the men who live in them had gone off to work in the morning. But those machines are tireless, and by the end of the day, you could find 16 families sitting on heaps of rubble, weeping and cursing. Children, too.

Israel Conducts Mass Roundup of Palestinians
April 2, 2003 — Israeli troops rounded up at least 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Wednesday in a fresh sweep for wanted militants after a suicide bomber from the region struck a nearby Israeli town.

Israelis trained US troops in Jenin-style urban warfare
The American military has been asking the Israeli army for advice on fighting inside cities, and studying fighting in the West Bank city of Jenin last April, unnamed United States and Israeli sources have confirmed.

Activist's memorial service disrupted
Israeli forces fired teargas and stun grenades yesterday in an attempt to break up a memorial service for Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist killed by an army bulldozer in Gaza on Sunday.

Rachel Corrie, 23, was killed on 16 March when she was run over by an (American made) Israeli bulldozer. Rachel was trying to stop the bulldozer from demolishing the home of a Palestinian doctor in the Gaza Strip. Our hearts go out to her family and friends.

Israeli bulldozer driver murders American peace activist
On 16 March 2003 in Rafah, occupied Gaza, 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie from Olympia, Washington, was murdered by an Israeli bulldozer driver.

Israelis run over American woman with bulldozer
"Rachel (An American) was alone in front of the house as we were trying to get them to stop," he said. "She waved for bulldozer to stop and waved. She fell down and the bulldozer kept going. We yelled 'stop, stop', and the bulldozer didn't stop at all. It had completely run over her and then it reversed and ran back over her," he said. (And YOU paid for the bulldozer!)

Murder Under the Cover of Righteousness
The government of Israel, using the military and its instruments of destruction, is not only spilling blood, but it is also suffocating. What other name can be given to the dropping of a one-ton bomb over a dense urban area, when the justification uttered is that we wanted to murder a dangerous terrorist and his wife? The rest of the citizens who were killed and injured, among whom are children and women, do not count, of course.

Israel Seeks 400% Hike in US Aid
Like the rest of the world, Israel is also experiencing economic stagnation, a decline worsened by a drop in tourism brought on by violence in Israeli-occupied Palestine.

Israeli officer court-martialled for refusing order to target civilians
An Israeli military intelligence officer has been court-martialled for refusing to carry out an order that blatantly defied both international laws and Israel’s own statutes and would have led to the certain death of countless Palestinian civilians.

Israel asks more US aid to cover war cost: paper
Israel, a major US ally in the Middle East, has asked the United States to offer billions of dollars in direct aid and loan guarantees to help support its faltering economy and cover the losses in any impending war with Iraq.

Hebron Residents Describe an Israeli Reign of Beatings
Almost any young man walking the streets of this gritty Palestinian neighborhood on the eastern rim of the city can tell you the same thing: when the Israeli border police want to give someone a beating.

Christmas Eve in Bethlehem
A solidarity action of civil disobedience breached the curfew for a few hours. It was reported on Arab TV stations, but ignored by the American, English, and Israeli press

Carter Willing to Mediate Mideast Talks
Former President Jimmy Carter said Thursday he was willing to mediate peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians

The Spiritual Meaning of Chanukah
A an explanation for both Jews and Non-Jews who Might Have Thought Chanukah was the Best Way to Buy 8 Days of Gifts to Show that Jews Can Compete With Christmas. There's Actually a Very Deep Message

Light the menorah tonight for Hanukkah
Sundown 29-November 2002 starts Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish Feast of Lights. Hanukkah, Hebrew for "dedication," recalls the Jews' recapture of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem from a pagan tyrant.

Hanukkah story resonates today
For many American Jews, Hanukkah has become a time to exchange a few gifts, light some candles and share a plate of potato latkes. Maybe spin a dreidel or two.

Israel shoots UN official
Israel admitted yesterday that its troops shot dead a United Nations official in a West Bank firefight.

Arab, Jewish Americans Agree Widely on Solution
Despite two years of unprecedented violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Arab and Jewish Americans generally agree on the outlines of a final settlement between the two peoples, according to an unprecedented poll released here Thursday.

Web warfare
Academics who criticise Israeli actions against the Palestinians are being targeted by computer hackers.

Meet the new Zionists
The members of the Christian Coalition of America are some of the most passionate defenders of Israel in the United States. There's just one catch: they want to convert all Jews to Christianity.

Why Sharon wants war
Gas masks and smallpox vaccinations are being dispensed, strategies for evacuation discussed: Israel is preparing for war with Iraq. This is a war which, as former UN weapons inspectors and others have warned, could be a disaster for Israel. Paradoxically, the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, is all for it.

Blair runs chills up Israeli spines in urging both Jerusalem and Baghdad to comply with UN decisions.
A key ally has rattled Israeli officialdom by drawing a parallel between Iraqi and Israeli defiance of UN resolutions, leading Israelis to wonder: After Saddam Hussein is brought to heel in a second Gulf war, is Ariel Sharon next?

Blair: Israel, Iraq must both obey UN
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday that Israel and Iraq must both obey UN Security Council resolutions, and called for final status negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians to begin before the end of the year.

Ariel Sharon's Secret Plan to Remove Palestinians from Israel
Israel’s hard-line prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has ordered his defence forces to prepare to drive “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians on the West Bank over the border into Jordan.

Sharon's real purpose is to create foreigners
Palestinian suicide bombings that target Israeli civilians are a moral obscenity. But the sensibility of those in Israel who seek to exploit this Palestinian obscenity to extend and deepen Israel's hold on the territories, a situation that in the end can only lead to the expulsion of most Palestinians and the permanent subjugation of those who remain, is also obscene.

Rabbis for Human Rights
The only organization in Israel today concerned specifically with giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights.

White House Press Briefing with Ari Fleischer
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the massacre at Sabra and Shatilla where 1,700 Palestinians were killed. Ariel Sharon was found by an Israeli Commission of Inquiry to be personally responsible for that event.

Israeli Soldier Killed Boy in Cold Blood, Say British Volunteers
A 13-year-old Palestinian boy was deliberately shot dead by an Israeli soldier without any provocation, say two British human rights volunteers who witnessed the incident.

Glossary of Occupation
Language is a powerful yet deceptive thing. It can be used to convey someone's plight and it can also be used to hide unpalatable sordid deeds. Nowhere are words adulterated more for political ends than in Israel and Palestine today.

Trumpeting a blast of despair
The new president of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, writer Sami Michael, believes that the conflict with the Palestinians is poisoning Israeli democracy, that Israel's intellectuals are cowards, and that those who demolish Arabs' houses today will do the same tomorrow to Jewish human rights fighters.

Israel rejects Palestinian ceasefire
Israel today turned down a Palestinian offer to end attacks on civilians as the first stage of a gradual truce.

Israel set on tragic path - chief rabbi
Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, delivered an unprecedentedly strong warning to Israel this week, arguing that the country is adopting a stance "incompatible" with the deepest ideals of Judaism, and that the current conflict with the Palestinians is "corrupting" Israeli culture.

Israel Inciting U.S. to Attack Iraq
"Who else but Israel is so enthusiastic about plans to hit Iraq? Who else presents himself as the good soldier in this aggression and calls day and night for it to be speeded up?" said the state-run Tishreen daily in its editorial.

From preyer to prayer
In the religious wing of Ayalon jail, the rabbi wants to turn prisoners - many of them sex offenders - into future rabbis. Baruch Kra talks to the sexual predators who have turned to religion

Strange Bedfellows: The Jewish Establishment and the Christian Right
There was a time, not too long ago, when Jewish organizations viewed the Christian Coalition, the Revs. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, and others on the Christian Right as potential adversaries, if not narrow-minded bigots—and even anti-Semites.

Ya'alon: U.S. wants Israel on sidelines in Iraq offensive
Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon believes that the United States would prefer to see Israel not taking part in the planned attack on Iraq.

U.S. won't ask Israel to sit on sidelines in Iraq attack
Ambassador to U.S. Danny Ayalon said America is aware of Israel's security needs.
Ambassador to U.S. Danny Ayalon said Thursday that America has not asked Israel to sit on the sidelines during any future assault on Iraq and he does not believe that any such request will be made.

Israeli Weapons of Mass Destruction: a Threat to Peace
With between 200 and 500 thermonuclear weapons and a sophisticated delivery system, Israel has quietly supplanted Britain as the World's 5th Largest nuclear power, and may currently rival France and China in the size and sophistication of its nuclear arsenal.

Suicide bombers give an edge to Palestinians
In the last year, the suicide bomber has become the most potent military weapon in the Palestinian uprising against Israel, creating a new battlefield that has left one of the world's best trained and equipped armies struggling to defend its people adequately.

Israel Will Start Pullout in Gaza and Bethlehem
Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed late today that Israeli troops would start a trial withdrawal from reoccupied territory in the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem, in the West Bank, on the condition that the Palestinians take responsibility for reducing tensions in those places.

Israel Puts Pressure on US to Strike Iraq
Israel signaled its decision yesterday to put public pressure on President George Bush to go ahead with a military attack on Iraq, even though it believes Saddam Hussein may well retaliate by striking Israel.

Camps for Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision
Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be "enemy combatants" has moved him from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace.

The ethics of revenge—by a father who lost his son to terror
A speech made by Yitzhak Frankenthal, Chairman of the Families Forum, at a rally in Jerusalem on Saturday, July 27, 2002, outside the Prime Minister’s residence.

Bill Banning Arab Citizens from Buying Israeli Land Assailed
Israeli human rights groups are denouncing a bill backed by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that, if passed, would bar Israeli Arabs from buying homes in Jewish communities built on state land as a violation of Israel's constitutional guarantees against discrimination on the basis of race or religion.

Israel Refuses Entry to 18 Americans
Israel barred 18 Americans from entering the country and put them on a flight back to the United States on Tuesday as part of a policy of refusing entry to foreigners who want to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

America Keeps Doing Israel's Bidding
Arabs are dismayed by the fact that American positions concerning the Middle East have in effect been subordinated to Israel's will. The injunction comes from Ariel Sharon, prime minister of Israel, and the accommodation from the American president, George W. Bush.

Arafat pleads for the bombings to stop
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, made an impassioned plea to his people yesterday to end all attacks on Israeli civilians, as the Israeli army swept once more into West Bank cities in reprisal for two suicide bombings in Jerusalem that left 26 Israelis dead and more than 100 wounded.

The Way Forward in the Middle East
Israel has made painful concessions for peace before and will demonstrate flexibility to make peace again, but not until terrorism is defeated.

Gays Parade Their Pride on Streets of Jerusalem
Jerusalem has had its share of religious processions, military marches and national parades throughout its nearly 4,000 years of history.

Israel's Forces Storm Into Nablus, Imposing Curfew
Israeli tanks and troops stormed into Nablus and its neighboring Balata refugee camp before dawn today, rounding up about a hundred Palestinians, in the largest of the daily raids since its virtual occupation of most West Bank cities in April.

A Study in Differences
Vanderbilt University wants a few good men -- preferably Jewish men (or women). The Nashville school, determined to lift its academic standing, thinks that enticing Jews to its campus is a way to do it.

Support for Refuseniks
A majority of Israeli citizens oppose military occupation of Palistine. The refusenik community, and its Israeli support, has grown dramatically in the past months.

Why I Refuse to Fight for Sharon's Settlements
My parents instilled in me the notion that I must do everything for the state. In Israel, serving in the army is a central expression of that ethos. When I was a high school student, it was not only obvious to me that I would go to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), but it was also vital that I become a paratrooper and serve in a special unit. It was also clear to me that my service to the state and my patriotism would require that I participate in an officer's course and serve an extra year.

Jews for Justice
American Jews today feel betrayed by Israeli policies.

The Solution is the Problem
The US Presents Itself as the Peace-Broker in the Middle East. The Reality is Different

A Guide to Ethnic and Religious Strife Through All Human History
Why the _______s Hate the _______s

Israeli Settlements Control Nearly Half of West Bank
While Israeli settlements currently constitute less than two percent of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, they control a total of 41.9 percent of the territory, according to a report released by Israel's most important human rights organization Monday.

God’s Dream
The governments marketing this war on terror would like us to believe that it is particularly pure and just. Of course this type of sales pitch has been tried a couple of times before, and the world is still waiting for a pure and just war. What Gandhi said is more credible: “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” Alas, in the ‘Year of the Monkey’, the words of George W. Bush receive far more notice than those of Mohandas K. Gandhi, or of Albert Einstein, who wrote: “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved through understanding."

Israel Serves as a Convenient Foil for the United States
For all the talk in Washington about peace in the Middle East, it's clear that American policymakers are not much concerned about peace. Instead, the primary aim of U.S. policy in the Middle East is U.S. dominance over the region and its oil resources, through support for regimes that play our game and through our ever-increasing military presence.

Likud Central Committee rejects Palestinian state
At a raucous meeting in Tel Aviv, Sharon and Netanyahu went head-to-head over whether the party should vote on the resolution calling for the complete rejection of a Palestinian state.

Bush Approach on Mideast Conflict "Out of Step" with U.S. Public
The United States public is not nearly as supportive of the Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as recent actions by Congress and the Bush administration suggest. Despite almost unanimous votes last week by both houses of Congress expressing strong support for Israel's recent military actions in the West Bank, the poll found very little public backing for those operations.

Peace Activists Leave Basilica; 13 Palestinians Arrive in Cyprus 10.05.2002
Ten peace activists finally left the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem today, bringing the 39-day standoff to an end.

Jewish Group Urges Hollywood to Shun Cannes Film Fest
A leading Jewish organization is urging Hollywood figures to reconsider their plans to attend the Cannes Film Festival this month, citing a recent series of anti-Semitic attacks in France.

Israel Vows Harsh Response to Attack
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who received word of Tuesday's pool hall bombing during a White House meeting with President Bush, cut short his trip and promised swift retaliation. Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they widely expected the Gaza Strip to be targeted by Israel.

Sharon hopes 'peace' plan will see US abandon Arafat
Amid the bloodiest Israeli military operation in the occupied territories since the 1967 war, Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, arrived in Washington yesterday, basking in President George Bush's description of him as a "man of peace" and determined to persuade the Americans to abandon Yasser Arafat.

Arafat orders end to 'terrorist' attacks
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has ordered his security forces to prevent "all terrorist operations" against Israelis after a suicide bomber killed 15 people and himself in an attack near Tel Aviv.

U.N. Assembly chastises Israel 74-4
With 54 nations abstaining as a protest over what they called an imbalanced resolution, the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday condemned by 74-4 vote Israel's West Bank offensive.

Arafat Emerges Defiant From Israeli Siege 02.05.2002
A defiant Yasser Arafat emerged from his shattered headquarters Thursday for the first time since the end of a month-long Israeli siege, flashing a V-for-victory sign to cheering supporters.

Convoy leaves Arafat's compound
Six wanted men leave the besieged compound in Ramallah, paving the way for the Palestinian leader's release.

Britain's biggest pro-Israel rally divides loyalties 07.05.2002
The largest demonstration ever staged by the Jewish community in Britain yesterday filled most of London's Trafalgar Square in a rally vowing solidarity with Israel and calling for an end to conflict in the Middle East.

UN Says Israel Caused $300-400 Million in Damage
A senior U.N. official on Monday estimated that Israel's military offensive in the West Bank caused between $300 million and $400 million damage to Palestinian property and reconstruction would take at least a year.

The settlements / A point for pressure on Sharon
If the United States and Saudi Arabia are serious about pressing Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon to stop the cycle of Palestinian-Israeli violence, a good starting point for the United States would be the volatile issue of Jewish settlements.

Israelis Held Hostage By Settlements
After a week of traveling up and down Israel, I've found it to be a nation mired in a despair it has never known.

Talks aim to end Nativity standoff
On the eve of Orthodox Easter, serious high-level negotiations were under way, aimed at resolving the month-old standoff at one of Christianity's holiest shrines, Palestinian officials said.

Israel/Occupied Territories: Jenin War Crimes Investigation Needed
Evidence suggests that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) committed war crimes in the military operation in the Jenin refugee camp, Human Rights Watch charged in a report issued today after a week-long investigation.

Playing the Anti-Semitism Card
Some Jewish organizations in the U.S. accuse Arabs of anti-Semitism -- yet embrace right-wing Christian groups that denounce Jews.

Debate with Tikkun and Abu Sitta on The Right of Return
Michael Lerner wrote: Would you be interested in participating in a roundtable discussion on the telephone or writing a piece for us on "the right of return"? Please let me know if and when you'd want to write something or when in the next week you'd be available for a phone call (give my your phone number, please).

Anti-Semitism Is Deepening Among Muslims
Stay in a five-star hotel anywhere from Jordan to Iran, and you can buy the infamous forgery "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Pick up a newspaper in any part of the Arab world and you regularly see a swastika superimposed on the Israeil flag.

Israel: 4,185 Palestinians Detained
Israel pulled out of two dozen small West Bank towns and villages Thursday, but swept into others and rounded up more Palestinian men despite international pressure to end the 2-week-old campaign to root out militants.

The moral simplifier
Bush is ill-suited for a peacekeeping role in the Middle East. The Israelis and the Palestinians are not condemned to some eternal hell where they have to kill each other forever. There is no military solution, but there is a political solution -- and they will get there. The United States is obliged to broker the deal because there's no one else to do it.

Israel, Palestine and Justice
When Israelis and Palestinians demonize each other, it is the people who suffer. Both sides need to accept responsibility and find a non-violent path to a just peace.

This will be the week when we see who runs the US-Israeli alliance
Suddenly Israel doesn't want to take our advice. Ex-general Ariel Sharon prefers to go on wrecking the Palestinian Authority, tearing up the Oslo agreement in the name of his Holy War on terror. Why should he worry about the scandalous number of civilian casualties among the Palestinians? After all, didn't America wreak its own revenge – killing thousands of innocent civilians in one of the poorest countries on Earth

34 years of israeli policy have laid the groundwork for its unholy war in the west bank and gaz
I witnessed on the ground the rapid growth of Israel's settlements and the seizure of Palestinian land and water for them: today over half the West Bank's resources now are in Israel's hands. About a third of Gaza's resources have suffered the same fate.

Annan takes Israel to task over human rights violations
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his harshest condemnation of Israel to date, said Wednesday he was "appalled" by the dire humanitarian situation caused by the Israeli offensive against Palestinians.

Sharon's War: How the News Gets Through
Here we are, twenty years on , and many of the reports of what's been happening as the Israeli army smashes its way through Ramallah and Bethlehem and the other Palestinian towns remind me of what came out of Lebanon in 1982 as Sharon and his invading army raced north: Israeli troops beating, looting, destroying; Palestinian families huddling in refugee camps, waiting for the killers to come.

The Bloody Battle of Bethlehem
If the Church of the Nativity is now a battleground, what is sacred any longer? The details are as indistinct as the smoke that still rises close to Manger Square, but Christian officials speak of at least 100 Palestinian civilians seeking the sanctuary of the church that marks the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born in a stable.

Violence And Excuses In The Mideast
Many Americans have been cowed into silence about Israeli aggression. But they should say aloud what they really feel: that Israel is behaving immorally and even savagely.

A Rightwing Blueprint For The Middle East
A highly influential cabal of rightwingers have a radical vision for the Middle East -- and they include some of Bush's closest advisers.

Violence Erupts as 2,000 Peace Activists Try to Bring Food, Medicine to Ramallah
Police yesterday used tear gas and batons to prevent a peace march of some 2,000 protesting Israeli Jews and Arabs from delivering truckloads of food and medicine to besieged Ramallah.

Why Suicide Terrorism Takes Root
Suicide bombings are immensely empowering to many people in the Middle East who no longer believe that their governments can do anything to relieve their humiliation and improve their conditions.

Deadly Crisis in the Middle East
Tragically, as the Middle East boils over into a cruel war, we are stuck with leaders -- Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush -- who see brute force as the only solution to rebellion and historical disagreement. Suicide bombers and brutal occupation cannot breed peace, only future horrors. It's the time to be informed, make our voices heard and fight for a peaceful solution.

Israel Plans Big Assault If Truce Talks Fail
As the United States tries to mediate a truce in the Middle East, Israeli military planners are preparing for a major assault