Israelis storm East Jerusalem - Human Rights/Settlers/USA
16/3/08
Dozens of right-wing Jewish activists have stormed the Arab neighbourhood in East Jerusalem hoping to attack the home of a Palestinian man who killed eight Israelis at a Jewish seminary earlier this month. Police and witnesses said the protesters broke through police barriers on Sunday and hurled stones at cars and houses in Jabal Mukaber. The district is home to the family of Ala Abu Dhaim, who was buried at night on Thursday after about a week of delays because police feared a public funeral might trigger protests and violence. The demonstrators marched through the streets chanting “Revenge” and “Death to the Arabs”. Police moved in to disperse them, sparking clashes and rock-throwing.
See; http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9D94A325-DE44-4077-97F9- 3C45724DABAB.htm
Has Israel succeeded as a state?
Saeed Taji Farouky; 16/3/08
As Israel prepares to commemorate its 60th anniversary in May, some academics, scholars and journalists are pausing to reflect on the ambitions and aspirations that fuelled the country’s 1948 independence - and whether those reasons still resonate today. David Rubinger, an Israeli photojournalist who witnessed and photographed the country’s birth in 1948, told Al Jazeera: “I will with absolute pride say never in history have 600,000 people achieved in 60 years what these 600,000 people achieved in 1948.” “I think it’s historically unprecedented. At the same time, I’m not proud of what Israel has done since 1967,” he said. Rubinger was in London last week, along with other Jewish, Israeli and Palestinian historians, writers and journalists for Jewish Book Week, an annual event which was this year dedicated to “Israel at 60″.Rubinger - whose first professional photograph depicted a group of young Jews celebrating the UN partition plan - remembers well the early idealism of those days, as well the difficulties that followed.
See; http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F3A53B2C-26A5-42F9-9504- F6636F6638A1.htm
Bush to push Israel, PA for progress before his May visit; Barak Ravid; 16/3/08; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964680.html
A minister of war; Gideon Levy; 16/3/08; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964489.html
Olmert ally denounces outposts
16/3/08
Haim Ramon, the deputy Israeli prime minister, says Israel must dismantle some outposts in the West Bank in order to maintain good ties with Washington. “To my great regret, we have not done what we should have done for a long time concerning the outpost settlements,” Ramon said on Saturday. Settlers set up outposts, often small clusters of temporary buildings, without government approval. Ramon told public radio: “We have to act as soon as possible. We will have to take decisions in one or two weeks.” “These decisions are difficult, but we will have to dismantle these outposts, at least some of them, because it troubles our relations with the United States.”
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/15829748-AF4B-4386-9345-25502F023B0C.htm