Global News Post: Palestine

CHINA URGES ISRAEL TO MAKE "BRAVE" DECISIONS ON PEACE TALKS

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">BEIJING (NNN-XINHUA) - China's President Xi
Jinping urged Israel to make "brave" decisions on the latest round of
peace talks with the Palestinians, after negotiators ended another U.S-mediated
session with no sign of a breakthrough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"At present, the Israeli-Palestinian talks
process has entered a crucial stage; there are opportunities and also many
difficulties," Xi told visiting Israeli President Shimon Peres, China's
foreign ministry said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"(China) hopes that Israel keeps in mind the
broader picture of peace, shows strategic wisdom, makes brave decisions as
early as possible, and pushes along with the international community and
Palestinians, for substantive progress on peace talks," Xi added.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The U.S.-brokered negotiations, which began in
July, plunged into crisis last week, after Israel, demanding a Palestinian
commitment to continue talking beyond an Apr 29 deadline for a peace deal,
failed to carry out a promised release of about two dozens Palestinian
prisoners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">China has traditionally had a low profile in
Middle East diplomacy, despite its reliance on oil imports from there, but is
keen to assert its role as a force in international politics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Last year, Xi met both Israeli Prime Minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, urging them to revive
discussions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Xi, who took office in Mar last year, did not
outline any specific proposals for the peace talks, saying simply that China
would keep "playing a constructive role."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Xi said, the Chinese and Jewish peoples had long
had friendly relations, pointing out China's role in fighting "fascism and
militarism" during World War Two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Beijing has maintained close relations with the
Palestinians for decades. In recent years, it has also cultivated ties with
Israel, though Israel is wary of China's links with Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">China, Iran's top oil customer and a permanent
member of the U.N. Security Council, has opposed unilateral sanctions on
Tehran, such as those imposed by Washington and the European Union, and has
called repeatedly for talks to resolve the standoff over Iran's contested
nuclear programme. -- NNN-XINHUA<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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CHINA URGES ISRAEL TO MAKE "BRAVE" DECISIONS ON PEACE TALKS

BEIJING (NNN-XINHUA) - China's President Xi Jinping urged Israel to make "brave" decisions on the latest round of peace tal...

Palestinian Cabinet Calls for Steps to Stop Israel's Settlement "Onslaught"

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">RAMALLAH  (NNN-WAFA) -- The Palestinian cabinet has
called on members of the United Nations Security Council and other powers to
put a stop to Israel’s settlement policy, which it described as “onslaught”
that aims to undermine efforts to form a Palestinian state.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It condemned in a statement issued after its
weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday “the unprecedented settlement onslaught on
our land, particularly the Israeli government’s decision to build thousands of
settlement units in <st1:city w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:city> and <st1:city w:st="on">Bethlehem</st1:city> with the intent of completing the isolation of
the capital from the rest of its natural surroundings and further strangling
and isolating <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bethlehem</st1:place></st1:city>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It condemned as well an Israeli government
decision to grant university status to a college in the illegal settlement of
Ariel in the <st1:place w:st="on">West Bank</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It stressed that “the danger of this
onslaught lies in its aim to undermine the possibility of materializing the
state of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>
on the ground.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The cabinet welcomed the position of the 14
member states of the Security Council as well as regional groups at the United
Nations “who unanimously rejected settlements and settlement construction.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It said the settlements are “a flagrant
violation of the rules of international law as well as a violation of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s legal
obligations and responsibilities as an occupying power towards our people,
their rights and occupied land in accordance with international norms.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The cabinet called on those countries “to
assume their legal and political responsibilities and translate these valuable
positions into practical steps that compel Israel to end these dangerous and
destructive violations in a way that also accelerates at the same time ending
the occupation and enabling our people to exercise self-determination and to
materialize the state on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.” --
NNN-WAFA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Palestinian Cabinet Calls for Steps to Stop Israel's Settlement "Onslaught"

RAMALLAH (NNN-WAFA) -- The Palestinian cabinet has called on members of the United Nations Security Council and other powers to put a ...

Israel Suspends Palestinian Funds after UN Vote

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">TEL AVIV (RIA Novosti) – Israel is halting
tax payments it collects for the Palestinians in response to their successful
bid to raise their UN status, local media reported on Sunday, citing Israeli
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"I have no intention of transferring
the tax payments to the Palestinian Authority this month. I plan to use them to
offset Palestinian debt to the Israel Electric Corporation," Steinitz said
at the beginning of a weekly cabinet meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“We have said from the beginning that the
raising of the status of <st1:city w:st="on">Palestine</st1:city> at the UN
would produce a reaction from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that
a total of 460 million shekels (about $120 million) would be withheld from the
Palestinians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The move comes after the UN General Assembly
recognized on Thursday the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a non-member observer
state.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Palestinian bid, submitted by President
Mahmoud Abbas, was approved by 138 UN members, while nine voted against and 41
abstained from voting. The bid faced fierce opposition from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> and the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The move amounts to an implicit recognition
of the Palestinian statehood and increases PA’s chances of joining other UN
bodies. It also allows the Palestinian Authority to challenge the continuing
construction of Israeli settlements on the occupied Palestinian land in the
International Criminal Court.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Abbas urged the UN General Assembly before
the historic vote “to issue the birth certificate of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He also reiterated that the Palestinians
would continue their efforts to achieve a fully-recognized statehood. ---VOA
News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Israel Suspends Palestinian Funds after UN Vote

TEL AVIV (RIA Novosti) – Israel is halting tax payments it collects for the Palestinians in response to their successful bid to raise...

India Hopes UN Vote Will Help Resume Palestine, Israel Talks

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">UNITED NATIONS (NNN-Bernama) -- India has
expressed hope that Palestine's enhanced status at the United Nations will pave
the way for resumption of "serious and direct" talks with Israel as
it voiced concern that the continued impasse between the two parties over
settlement activities threaten the two-state solution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">India</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> was among the 138 nations that
voted in favour of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>
at a historic UN General Assembly vote that upgraded the status of the
Palestinian Authority to non-member observer state from an entity, Press Trust
of India (PTI) reported.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The <st1:country-region w:st="on">United
 States</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
and were among only nine nations in the 193-member UN body that voted against <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city> in Thursday's
vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"We hope that the vote in the General
Assembly will pave the way for the resumption of serious, direct talks between
the Palestinians and the Israelis,"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">India's Permanent Representative to the UN
Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri said at a General Assembly session here on Friday
on the 'Question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East.'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Puri regretted that while democratic
aspirations of people in several Arab countries was being addressed through
national political processes over the last two years, the Palestinian question
and related Arab-Israeli issues remained largely un-addressed and unresolved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"For more than two years now, there
have been no direct talks between <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>.
Meanwhile, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories has been
deteriorating due to settlement activities in the West Bank and <st1:place w:st="on">East Jerusalem</st1:place>," Puri said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"These activities are creating new
realities on the ground, and threaten the very premise of a two-state
solution," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Settlements, roadblocks and the related
infrastructure of occupation have exacerbated the humanitarian problems of the
Palestinian people and are adversely affecting the normal functioning of state
institutions, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Palestinian Authority is also facing a
severe financial crisis that could erode significant progress made by it in
building state institutions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">With the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> blockade entering its sixth year, the
humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate and essential services,
economic activities and infrastructure development have been disrupted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"We strongly condemn the violence and
deeply regret the loss of human lives during the recent hostilities. We hope
both the parties will uphold the ceasefire agreement and implement its
provisions in good faith," Puri said referring to the Nov 21 ceasefire
between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas which brought an end to eight
days of violence that left an estimated 158 Palestinians dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Tensions had escalated in the region earlier
this month following rocket attacks against <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
from <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> and Israeli air-strikes on <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Puri also lamented that <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>'s application for full membership
of the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">United Nations submitted more than a year
ago had not evinced any positive action from the Security Council, despite
overwhelming support from the UN member-states.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Reiterating <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region>'s
continued support for the Palestinian cause, Puri congratulated the leadership
and people of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>
on winning the General Assembly vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"While we have long supported the
aspirations of the Palestinian people and leadership for the full membership to
the United Nations, the vote in the General Assembly is an important milestone
towards that goal," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Noting <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region>'s
long history of solidarity with the Palestinian people, Puri said <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> was the first non-Arab country to
recognise the state of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>
nearly 25 years ago. -- NNN-BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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India Hopes UN Vote Will Help Resume Palestine, Israel Talks

UNITED NATIONS (NNN-Bernama) -- India has expressed hope that Palestine's enhanced status at the United Nations will pave the way f...

Gaza, Israel Calm as Cease-Fire Holds

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Palestinians and Israelis went about their
day blanketed in relative calm Thursday, after a cease-fire brokered hours
before gave citizens in the volatile area their first quiet night in more than
a week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">If Israel and the Hamas militants who run
the Gaza Strip can maintain peace until 9:00 p.m. local time (1900 GMT), border
areas from Gaza will be opened, allowing people and goods to move in and out of
the territory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The truce brokered by <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> took
effect at 9:00 p.m. local time Wednesday. 
Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr made the truce announcement
in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city> with
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at his side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Gazans poured into the streets after the
cease-fire began, with some firing guns in celebration. In the West Bank
Palestinian territory, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
army said Thursday it arrested 55 suspected senior-level Palestinian militants
that were members of various armed factions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Egypt</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> is monitoring both sides for violations
of the cease-fire agreement. The truce follows several days of intense aerial
assaults on both sides of the border between <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the Gaza Strip, leaving
more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The deal was reached amid hours of intense
diplomacy involving <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:city>,
as well as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 16.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Clinton</span></st1:place></st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> called the truce "a critical moment
for the region.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 16.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The people of this region deserve a
chance to live free from fear and violence and today's agreement is a step in
the right direction that we should build on," said <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 16.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Clinton</span></st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> also praised <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region>'s
new government for assuming a key role in the effort and for pledging to work
with <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state>
to ensure the cease-fire holds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 16.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 16.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On Wednesday, a bomb blast on a bus in
central Tel Aviv wounded at least 27 people, some seriously.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 16.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">New rounds of missile and air attacks
rained down on <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
following the Tel Aviv attack. Palestinians medics Wednesday said at least 10
people were killed, including a young boy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> and Hamas had traded rocket fire since an
Israeli missile killed Hamas's military chief in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Gaza</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place>
last week. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> says the
attack was a direct response to months of almost daily rocket fire into
southern <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city></st1:place>. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

Gaza, Israel Calm as Cease-Fire Holds

Palestinians and Israelis went about their day blanketed in relative calm Thursday, after a cease-fire brokered hours before gave cit...

Gaza Ceasefire Efforts Step Up as Death Toll Mounts

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeN9TclWS5Xqbvlzho1rJzFF2och7I1STWekL1U-qeC6rOmavTqQFX-X7MYw8d2Db9O6CTI6IKyi4O3R8v4xUvoDyaXNsC6DmJbLjlyU1tx4LnImCqq1Uoyo62yl8KLlU2j-xU_sjPnTM/s1600/2012112015281444.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeN9TclWS5Xqbvlzho1rJzFF2och7I1STWekL1U-qeC6rOmavTqQFX-X7MYw8d2Db9O6CTI6IKyi4O3R8v4xUvoDyaXNsC6DmJbLjlyU1tx4LnImCqq1Uoyo62yl8KLlU2j-xU_sjPnTM/s1600/2012112015281444.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">NNN---</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">Osama Abdel Aal is rescued after his family’s house collapsed during an Israeli strike in the Tufah neighborhood of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Gaza</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> on 19 November 2012. Photo courtesy Bernat Armangue---NNN</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">  </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW/GAZA   (RIA Novosti) – Israel carried out some 100
airstrikes on Gaza overnight as the bombardment of the Palestinian enclave
entered its seventh day amid frantic negotiations to stem a rapidly rising body
count.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Gaza’s
health ministry said on Tuesday at least 111 people, many of them children, had
been killed in the densely-populated city of 1.7 million since Israel began its
airborne assault on Wednesday in response to a surge in rocket attacks from the
enclave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
Israeli military said 29 rockets had been fired from <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city>,
ruled by the Hamas Islamist group, towards <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place> since early Tuesday. Most
were intercepted, but three landed in the town of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Beersheva</st1:place></st1:city>. A rocket - the second of the
current conflict - also landed near <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>,
Israeli media said. No injuries were reported in either attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Three
Israelis have been killed by rocket fire from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> since the start of the military
campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"My
message is clear - all sides must halt fire immediately,” UN Secretary Ban
Ki-moon said in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>
during talks with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby ahead of a meeting with
Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Mursi
- a member of the Muslim Brotherhood movement that gave rise to Hamas - hinted
late on Tuesday afternoon that a truce was imminent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The
farce of Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip will end on Tuesday,"
he said. "The efforts to conclude a truce between the Palestinian and
Israeli sides will produce positive results in the next few hours."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ban
is also due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Tuesday,
before traveling to the West Bank city of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ramallah</st1:place></st1:city>
to speak to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">US</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> officials said on Tuesday that Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton was heading for the region to press for a truce and would
visit <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region> and the <st1:place w:st="on">West Bank</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israeli
and Palestinian officials were also reported to be negotiating via an Egyptian
mediator in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Cairo</st1:city></st1:place>
on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
developments came as an Israeli government source told RIA Novosti on Tuesday
that Israel would put off an invasion of Gaza for another 24 hours to give
“diplomatic efforts a chance.” He also admitted that <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
was coming under intense “international pressure” to halt its bombing of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> is demanding a complete cessation of rocket
fire from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
before it halts its attacks on “terrorist” targets in the densely-populated
city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Tel
Aviv has called up 75,000 reservists and a ground force is massed near the
border with <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>,
awaiting orders to enter the enclave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ban
warned that any Israeli ground invasion of <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city>
would be a “dangerous escalation,” but said <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> had “legitimate concerns that
must be respected in international law.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">’s last invasion of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>, in 2008-2009, killed 1,400
Palestinians, the majority of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis died in the
22-day military operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A
Haaretz-Dialog poll taken on Sunday indicated that 84% of the Israeli public
supports the present military campaign, with 12% opposing it. But only 30% of
the Israeli public would support a ground offensive in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>, the pollster reported.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">US
President Barack Obama reiterated on Sunday <st1:state w:st="on">Washington</st1:state>’s
insistence that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has the right to self-defense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"There's
no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens
from outside its borders... we are fully supportive of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s right
to defend itself," said Obama.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But
ordinary people in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
were scornful of Obama’s comments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Since
when does the occupier have the right to defend itself from the occupied?” said
north <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
resident Sameh Alborai. “Many people here believe <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> is being attacked because of the Israeli
elections that are coming up. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
has an internal conflict and, like always in these situations, they are
targeting <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> votes in parliamentary elections in
January.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Turkish
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan alleged on that Friday Israel’s attack on <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> was a pre-election
ploy aimed at drumming up support for Netanyahu’s Likud Party. On Monday,
Erdogan labeled <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
a "terrorist state."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Netanyahu
dismissed the accusations: “We are defending ourselves,” he said last week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A
spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged
Israel on Tuesday to "scrupulously meet its legal obligations to
distinguish at all times between civilians and combatants."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The
high commissioner reiterates her condemnation of the continuing indiscriminate
attacks and targeting of civilians in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
by militants in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city></st1:place>,"
the spokesman, Rupert Colville, also said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

Gaza Ceasefire Efforts Step Up as Death Toll Mounts

NNN--- Osama Abdel Aal is rescued after his family’s house collapsed during an Israeli strike in the Tufah neighborhood of Gaza C...

Gaza Death Toll Rises as UN Chief Seeks Truce

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt;">NNN---</span> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Shifa hospital in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Gaza</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place>
struggles with the number of casualties following Israeli attacks. Over the
past 48 hours, the Israeli army has escalated their aerial and ground attacks
against the Gaza Strip. Seventy two Palestinians were killed and more than 660
others, including 224 children, 113 women and 50 elderly people, were injured
by the recurrent air strikes, Palestinian medical sources said on 18 November
2012. Photo courtesy Anne Paq ---NNN<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW/GAZA
(RIA Novosti) – The death toll in <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> climbed
to at least 90 on Monday as <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
continued to strike targets within the Palestinian enclave and UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon headed to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> to attempt to secure a
ceasefire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Plumes
of smoke rose across <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> as <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> pummeled
the city of 1.7 million from sea and air for a sixth straight day in response
to a surge in Palestinian rocket fire earlier this month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Gaza</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">’s Health Ministry said 94 Palestinians,
many of them women and children had been killed since <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
military campaign began on November 14. The Israeli Defense Forces put the
figure at 95, with one third of the dead civilians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Gaza</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> health officials said 25 people have been
killed so far on Monday, including three children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“When
Israeli forces strike a house, they destroy all the houses next to it,” said
north <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
resident Sameh Alborai, 25, by telephone. “The Israelis are not warning anyone
before they attack houses and have been targeting civilians from the first
day.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that Israel was doing all it
could to minimize civilian casualties as its military attacked what it says are
“terrorist” targets in densely populated Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Three
Israeli civilians have been killed since November 14 by rockets fired from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>, which has been
ruled by the Hamas Islamist group since 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">UN
chief Ban was expected to meet Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city> later today amid
international attempts to end the violence. Mursi, a member of the Muslim
Brotherhood movement that gave rise to Hamas, warned last week that <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region> would not abandon <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ban’s
visit to <st1:city w:st="on">Cairo</st1:city> came as the radio station of the
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
had told Palestinian representatives via Egyptian mediators in <st1:city w:st="on">Cairo</st1:city>
that it would widen its operations if rocket attacks from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> did not cease in the next 36 hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Although
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> reported a dramatic
drop in rocket attacks on Monday, an IDF spokesperson tweeted later in the day
that a <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> missile had hit a school in the
southern Israeli town of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ashkelon</st1:place></st1:city>.
The school had earlier been evacuated and there were no injuries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
development came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on
Sunday that the Israeli military was prepared to “significantly expand” its
military operation in Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“We
will force Hamas and other terrorist organizations to pay a high price,”
Netanyahu told a Cabinet session. “The Israeli army is ready to significantly
expand its operation.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> has put 75,000 reservists on stand-by and
troops and military equipment are massed near the border with <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A
Haaretz-Dialog poll taken on Sunday indicated that 84% of the Israeli public
supports the present military campaign, with 12% opposing it. But only 30% of
the Israeli public would support a ground offensive in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>, the pollster reported.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">US
President Barack Obama reiterated on Sunday <st1:state w:st="on">Washington</st1:state>’s
insistence that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has the right to self-defense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"There's
no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens
from outside its borders... we are fully supportive of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s right
to defend itself," said Obama.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But
ordinary people in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
were scornful of Obama’s comments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Since
when does the occupier have the right to defend itself from the occupied?”
asked Alborai. “Many people here believe <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
is being attacked because of the Israeli elections that are coming up. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> has an internal conflict and, like always
in these situations, they are targeting <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> votes in parliamentary elections in
January.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Turkish
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan alleged on Friday <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>’s
attack on <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
was a pre-election ploy aimed at drumming up support for Netanyahu’s Likud
Party. On Monday, Erdogan labelled <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> a "terrorist
state."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Netanyahu
has dismissed the accusations: “We are defending ourselves,” he said last week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>

Gaza Death Toll Rises as UN Chief Seeks Truce

NNN--- Shifa hospital in Gaza City struggles with the number of casualties following Israeli attacks. Over the past 48 hours, the Isr...

Israel, Hamas Exchange Fierce Attacks

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> and Hamas exchanged fierce attacks
Saturday, as Israeli forces continued massing along the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city></st1:place> border in preparation for a possible
ground invasion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
Israeli military carried out more t</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">200 air
strikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip Saturday, targeting government buildings
including the office of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and the Hamas Cabinet.
Haniyeh was not there at the t</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">ime.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israeli
missiles also hit rocket launching sites and weapons smuggling tunnels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> has positioned tanks and other armored
vehicles along the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
border, and has shut down main roads around the territory, a sign it could be
ready to launch a ground offensive.  <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
Cabinet has authorized the mobilization of up to 75,000 reservists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Meanwhile,
Hamas rocket fire continued as far north as Tel Aviv, where sirens wailed
Saturday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'s military said its new "Iron
Dome" missile defense system shot down a rocket bound for Tel Aviv, one of
several Hamas has fired at <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
commercial center.  The Israeli
government said "Iron Dome" has intercepted nearly 250 of the
hundreds of Hamas rockets fired since the conflict began a few days ago. One rocket
landed Friday in a field outside <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Palestinian
officials say 42 people have died in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>,
including militants and civilians, since the Israelis began their air strikes a
few days ago. Hamas rockets have killed three Israeli civilians. About 10
Israelis including some soldiers were injured</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> by rocket fire on Saturday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In
<st1:city w:st="on">Cairo</st1:city> Saturday, Arab League foreign ministers
held an emergency meeting and condemned <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> for its attacks in the Gaza
Strip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
White House said President Barack Obama was in touch with Egyptian and Turkish
leaders about ending the conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">An
Israeli missile Wednesday killed the top military commander of Hamas in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.  <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
said the killing was in direct response to the almost daily rocket attacks on <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In
the last <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> war, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> carried out a fierce air and
ground offensive during a three-week period between 2008 and 2009.  More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis
were killed. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>

Israel, Hamas Exchange Fierce Attacks

Israel and Hamas exchanged fierce attacks Saturday, as Israeli forces continued massing along the Gaza border in preparation for a po...

Two Gaza Men Killed in Israeli Air Strike

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">GAZA
STRIP/TEL AVIV (RIA Novosti) – Two Palestinian militants were killed in an
Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip on Sunday in retaliation to the shelling
of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
with rocket and mortar fire, the Israeli military said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Overnight,
the Israeli military launched a series of air raids on <st1:placename w:st="on">Gaza</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype> after militants fired an
anti-tank missile at an Israeli jeep near the Karni crossing along the border
east of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Gaza</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> on Saturday evening, wounding four
Israeli soldiers. Military sources said two of the soldiers were in grave
condition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In
response, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
fired a barrage of artillery fire and shells, killing four people and wounding
25, mostly civilians, Palestinian medical officials said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In
another air strike that struck the north-west of the Gaza Strip early on
Sunday, two militants from Islamic Jihad were killed. The Israeli military said
the air strike targeted a group of militants who had fired rockets on areas in
southern <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">About
40 Palestinian rockets have hit Israeli since late Saturday, slightly injuring
three people, the Israeli military said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

Two Gaza Men Killed in Israeli Air Strike

GAZA STRIP/TEL AVIV (RIA Novosti) – Two Palestinian militants were killed in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip on Sunday in retal...

After Fierce Attacks, Gaza Truce Takes Hold

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israel</span></st1:country><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip
say an informal truce brokered by <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country></st1:place> has taken hold after days of
rocket fire and retaliatory airstrikes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
Israeli military said Thursday that no rocket fire had been detected since late
Wednesday, and that it had not carried out any airstrikes against <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> since Wednesday
morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Two
days of Palestinian rocket and mortar fire into southern <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country> damaged
homes and wounded several laborers working field near the border.  <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country> says the barrage included
about 80 rockets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Israeli
airstrikes against <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
killed four Palestinians, including three members of the ruling Hamas movement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Hamas
and a smaller militant group called the Popular Resistance Committees claimed
responsibility for the rocket attacks on <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country>, saying they were a response
to Israeli aggression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Hamas
members accused <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Israel</st1:country> of
seeking revenge on <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> for hosting a brief
visit by the emir of <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Qatar</st1:place></st1:country>
earlier Tuesday. It was the first by a head of state to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> since Hamas seized power there in 2007.
The militant group said the Qatari emir's visit was a victory in its efforts to
end its political and economic isolation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
Gaza-Israel border has seen occasional outbreaks of fighting between militants
and Israeli forces since the two sides fought a brief war from December 2008 to
January 2009. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

After Fierce Attacks, Gaza Truce Takes Hold

Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip say an informal truce brokered by Egypt has taken hold after days of rocket fire a...

India Asks Israel to Stop All Settlement Activities in Occupied Palestine

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">TEHRAN (NNN-ANI) -- Asserting that India supports a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united state of Palestine, External Affairs Minister S.M Krishna has asked Israel to stop all settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territories. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Intervening during the Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Committee on Palestine here, Krishna said: "The Palestinian cause is of paramount importance to India. In fact, India was the first non-Arab country to recognize the State of Palestine on 16 November 1988, pursuant to the Algiers Declaration of 15 November 1988."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"We believe that the conflict in West Asia is essentially political in nature and cannot be resolved by force. In line with our support for UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, India supports a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its Capital, living within secure and recognized borders, side by side at peace with Israel as endorsed in the Quartet Roadmap and UNSC Resolutions 1397 and 1515. In addition, we have also supported the Arab Peace Initiative," he added."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"India has called for an end to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and for an early and significant easing of restrictions on the free movement of persons and goods within Palestine. The continuing settlement activities in West Bank and East Jerusalem are threatening the basic premises of the two-state solution. We think that freezing of illegal settlement activities by Israel should be the first step for resumption of direct talks," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Settlement activities have also exacerbated the humanitarian problems of the Palestinian people with increasing violence and aggravation of tension between the settlers and the Palestinian population. We, therefore, reiterate our call to Israel to stop all settlement activities," he added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Emphasising that India has always extended its unwavering support to the Palestinian cause in international fora, Krishna said: "Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in his address to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2011 announced that India looks forward to welcoming Palestine as an equal member of the United Nations."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“When I visited Ramallah in January this year, I, too, reiterated India's firm resolve to continue to support the Palestinian nationhood. The Government and people of India eagerly look forward to the visit of President Mahmoud Abbas to India next month," he added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stating that India has been providing developmental support and assistance to Palestine, Krishna said: "The assistance includes capacity building measures and support for the development of human resources. We would be regularly exploring ways to further enhance our developmental support to Palestine."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Asserting that India support the revival of the Peace Process, Krishna said: "The political upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa and some other factors have unfortunately pushed the Middle East Peace Process to the background. We had welcomed the 'direct talks' between the Israelis and the Palestinians. However, informal talks over the last two years have not resulted so far in any substantive progress towards resumption of direct talks."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"In line with their commitment to democratic values and principles, reconciliation in Palestine is welcome. We hope that these efforts will bear fruit soon, leading to the formation of a Unity Government, holding of elections, re-unification of Palestinian state institutions and measures for reconstruction and development of Palestinian society," he added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Krishna further reiterated that India continues to support the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to an independent State living side by side and in peace and security with Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"We are hopeful that this collective endeavour of NAM will send a strong signal to all concerned and will lead to revival of the peace process to achieve a just, comprehensive and durable peace in the Middle East," he added. -- NNN-ANI<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India Asks Israel to Stop All Settlement Activities in Occupied Palestine

TEHRAN (NNN-ANI) -- Asserting that India supports a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united state of ...

SYRIA: Palestinians being drawn into the fight

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">BERLIN (IRIN) - When mortar shells slammed into Yarmouk, Syria’s largest Palestinian camp, in early August, killing at least 20 people, many Palestinians in Syria saw it as a wake-up call. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“It was the third time Yarmouk was attacked, but the casualty number has never been so high,” said a Palestinian activist who gave his name as Moh Abu Eyad. “The problem is that Yarmouk is so crowded. If you fire one bullet, you’ll hit three people.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As fighting in Syria intensifies, those trying to stay out of the conflict are increasingly getting caught in the crossfire. Many of the country’s half-million Palestinians say they may not be able to keep their camps from getting engulfed in the violence. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Seen as collective punishment <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Yarmouk, a poor, dense area in the Syrian capital Damascus, is home to 150,000 Palestinians. It is wedged between the districts Tadamon, Yalda, Hajar al Aswad and Kadam, all of which have seen heavy clashes since the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) advanced into the capital about a month ago. As the conflict drew closer and thousands of displaced families took shelter in Yarmouk, fighting began spilling into the camp. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The FSA rebels has repeatedly infiltrated Yarmouk to ambush checkpoints, and regime forces shelled the Palestine Hospital twice in the week preceding the mortar assault, residents and activists in Yarmouk said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The number of Palestinians killed has been rising dramatically, said Ammar Hassan*, who runs a Palestinian human rights organization in Yarmouk. “Two hundred fifty Palestinians have died during the uprising, half of them in the last four weeks,” he said. “I think the mortar attack was a message from the regime: ‘You have to keep quiet because we can shell you any time.’” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The regime and rebels blame each other for the mortar attack, but many Palestinians see it as collective punishment by the regime for providing humanitarian aid to rebel sympathizers. The number of the displaced accommodated in the camp’s schools and homes has reached 20,000, according to local activists, and wounded Syrians from nearby rebel strongholds have been brought to the Palestine Hospital for medical treatment. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We opened our camp to those trying to escape the violence,” said Jafra, an activist who fled Yarmouk to an Arab Gulf country a month ago. “This has made the authorities very angry with us.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Struggle to remain neutral <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Since the start of the uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad last year, the Palestinians have struggled to remain neutral - a stance that is far from unanimous. “Most young people support the revolution,” said the activist Abu Eyad, “but the older generation, which dominates the political parties, says we should not take sides because we may end up getting killed or become refugees again.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By taking a neutral position, Palestinians have not found safety. Instead, they have drawn the wrath of the regime and of the opposition.The Palestinians in Syria are descendants of those displaced during the 1948 creation of Israel or during later wars in the Middle East. The mortar attack has highlighted the precarious situation of their community, which has more civil rights in Syria than in other Arab countries. For example, they can hold government jobs, own property and attend state universities for free. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As the protests against the government morphed into violent clashes, impartiality became harder to maintain. There are signs that the military violence has pushed Palestinians’ allegiances further towards the rebels, with demonstrations in Yarmouk increasing since 10 protesters were killed by regime forces on 13 July, Palestinian activists say. “Since that day, we have understood very well that staying on the sidelines is no longer an option,” Hassan said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“By taking a neutral position, Palestinians have not found safety,” said Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University Beirut. “Instead, they have drawn the wrath of the regime and of the opposition.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The issue is particularly sensitive because the Assad regime has portrayed itself as a champion for Palestinian rights. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“There is very little doubt that Assad has lost the hearts and minds of the Palestinians,” said Jonathan Schanzer, political analyst at the US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and author of the book Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine. There are reports that some Palestinian have joined the FSA, but their numbers and motivations are unclear, Schanzer said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Meanwhile, the Palestinians face growing hostility from the regime and rebels alike. In February, the Islamist group Hamas broke its alliance with the Syrian regime, endorsing the uprising. In late June, the body of Hamas operative Kamal Ghanaja was found in his Damascus home, bearing marks of torture. In mid-July, 16 conscripts in the Palestine Liberation Army, the Palestinian unit of the state army, were reportedly kidnapped and killed near the city of Aleppo. The details of both incidents remain murky. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Support for the regime <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Not all the Palestinian parties have shifted their alliances. The Palestine Liberation Organization, the official representative of the Palestinian people, has condemned the attack on Yarmouk but insists that the Palestinian position is to not interfere in Syria. Other parties, especially the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), the largest Palestinian organization in Syria, which is listed as a terror group in the US, support the regime. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The PFLP-GC has given out machine guns to guys who are now patrolling the streets,” said Hassan. “They help the Syrian security forces to suppress demonstrations. They carry out raids and arrest people, handing them over to intelligence branches afterwards.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By siding with the regime, the PFLP-GC is increasing tensions within the camp. “The youth of Yarmouk want to fight the regime alongside with the Syrians, but our political leadership refuses to take a position,” said Jafra, the activist from Yarmouk. “They say they are there to protect the camp, but in reality, everybody knows they are executing the orders of the regime. They are using our own parties against us.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The impact of heightened Palestinian involvement could reach well beyond the camps in Syria. “In all likelihood, the Palestinians will remain divided, with some joining the fight, some on the other hand not joining, and we will see many of them run for the borders,” Schanzer said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">An exodus of refugees, he argued, could cause spill-over instability in neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon. Lebanon’s Palestinian camps are considered notoriously volatile, and Jordanians are already resentful of Palestinians, who make up 80 percent of the population. “The Jordanians and the Lebanese are nervous,” he said. “It looked worrying from their perspective to begin with, and now the situation is becoming more and more complicated.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

SYRIA: Palestinians being drawn into the fight

BERLIN (IRIN) - When mortar shells slammed into Yarmouk, Syria’s largest Palestinian camp, in early August, killing at least 20 people, ma...

Renewed Barrier Construction Threatens Palestinian Heritage

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">RAMALLAH (NNN-IRIN) -- Palestinian communities in the West Bank have expressed alarm at widely reported news that Israel will resume the construction of its "separation wall" after a five-year delay. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“It is a crime to build the wall through here,” said Akram Badir, head of the village council in Battir, a Palestinian community just outside the Green Line to the southeast of Jerusalem. “It is going to be a catastrophe,” he went on, pointing out the planned route along nearby railway tracks. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Battir is the site of an ancient system of irrigation that has provided freshwater for the community’s rich agriculture for centuries. From an old Roman pool, the water flows downhill from terrace to terrace and is then distributed to farmlands through channels. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“If the wall is built across the terraces as planned, they will collapse,” said Giath Nasser, the lawyer dealing with Battir’s legal case against the planned barrier route. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some 62 per cent of the barrier’s 708km-long route is already complete, while a further 8 per cent is under construction and 30 per cent is planned but not yet constructed. The barrier has so far isolated 150 communities from their land, and some 7,500 Palestinians stuck between the Green Line and the barrier need special permits to be allowed to remain in their homes, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice called on Israel to cease construction of the barrier, to dismantle or re-route the sections already completed, and to repeal the gate and permit regime. A decision adopted at the recent 36th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation session further urged all parties to preserve the terraced landscape of Battir, a site of “Palestinian cultural and natural heritage”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Israel contends that the barrier is necessary for security reasons. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Construction of the barrier has been on hold, mainly as a result of financial problems and legal appeals against the planned route by Israeli and Palestinian civil society. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Israeli Ministry of Defence told IRIN (www.irinnews.org) that construction might resume after the necessary authorisation is granted both by the High Court of Justice and committees in the Finance Ministry that deal with the expropriation of lands along the barrier’s route. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Work on the barrier is expected to resume first in the areas surrounding Jerusalem and Bethlehem, in particular around the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, where Battir is located. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The exact number of communities that will be affected once construction restarts is difficult to estimate because legal procedures are still underway to determine the final route. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, there are at least 50 Palestinian communities adjacent to sections of the barrier not yet constructed that OCHA lists as affected, meaning either that land or water resources will be cut off, or that the community will become isolated from its surroundings. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The barrier around Battir is on the Green Line so Israel shouldn’t have legal problems (resuming construction there). However, its impact on the community will be especially severe and would involve the loss of an historical site,” Sarit Michaeli, spokeswoman of the Israeli NGO B’Tselem, told IRIN. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The solution is simple,” Nasser said. “Build the wall on the Israeli side of the railway track.” This way, he added, the villagers would have continued access to about 300 hectares of land used for agriculture important to their livelihoods. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I know that this doesn’t make me rich, but I am selling vegetables in Jerusalem once every week,” said an elderly woman picking mint on her family’s land on the Israeli side of the tracks. “It’s my income.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The effect that the barrier has on farmers has been widely documented, as UNRWA reports farmers impacted by the wall usually face drops in their annual harvest of up to 60 per cent. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Legal complaints like Battir’s were often accompanied by popular protests in other villages, which, in cases like in Budrus and Bil’in, eventually succeeded in moving the barrier. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“We want to solve this issue in the peaceful way, in the courts,” Badir said, adding: “If you cut the land of Battir with a wall, you destroy the peace, the cultural heritage and our economy.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced the plan to build the West Bank barrier in 2002, it was widely supported as a response to a wave of suicide bombings by Palestinians against Israeli civilians during the Second Intifada. In October 2003, the barrier was backed with 83 per cent support among a sample of Jewish Israelis, according to The Peace Index, an ongoing survey mapping Israeli opinion on issues relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Security remains the main reason the Israeli government endorses the barrier. “The fence is built only for reasons of security. Before the terror, there was no fence. It was a reaction, a reaction against terror,” Josh Hantman, spokesman of the Israeli Ministry of Defence, told IRIN. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“A majority still believes that the barrier was responsible for the improvement in the security situation, and not steps taken by the Palestinians,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli public opinion expert and analyst. But Israelis would also support the barrier for other reasons, she said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The basic feeling among (Jewish) Israelis remains that separation is the only way for a regular life here.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the last survey Scheindlin conducted in 2007, 59 per cent of Jewish Israelis believed the barrier had improved the security situation, but 31 per cent said that the barrier makes the situation more difficult for Palestinians and could ultimately worsen security. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While the Israeli government has highlighted in the past that the barrier drastically reduced Palestinian attacks in Israel, media reports and OCHA pointed out that some 15,000 Palestinians continued to enter Israel without permits on a daily basis in 2011, suggesting other factors contribute to the reduced violence. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even the Israeli army’s chief architect of the barrier’s route, Danny Tirza, recently said that the reduction in attacks and sense of security restored in Israel cannot be attributed solely to the barrier, but “has been achieved through the combined efforts of all the parties concerned.” -- NNN-IRIN <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Renewed Barrier Construction Threatens Palestinian Heritage

RAMALLAH (NNN-IRIN) -- Palestinian communities in the West Bank have expressed alarm at widely reported news that Israel will resume the ...