Barak Ravid; 18/3/08
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators resumed halted peace talks on Monday, but the meeting was overshadowed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s announcement that Israel would not cease disputed construction in a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Ahmed Qureia, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said he downgraded the meeting to unofficial as a protest against the Israeli construction plans. “We completely reject the building, not only one room, but also one brick in any of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” he said. As the two sides prepared Monday to resume the negotiations, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that terror could not be used as an excuse to suspend talks.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/965211.html
PM: No chance Israel will cede E. Jerusalem areas like Har Homa;17/3/08; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/965116.html
Facebook face-off: Settlers win right to list country as Israel, not Palestine; 18/3/08; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/965215.html
Right-wing demonstrators try to storm home village of Mercaz Harav gunman; Nadav Shragai; 18/3/08; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964814.html
Israel is the obstacle to Mideast peace
Editorial; 18/3/08
Israel said yesterday it would continue to build its colonies in occupied East Jerusalem, defying international law, United Nations resolutions and threatening all efforts to revive the peace process. Ironically, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made the announcement in the presence of visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who claimed, like other world leaders who visited the region recently, that her trip would boost the stalled peace negotiations. Israel’s pursuit of construction of colonies in East Jerusalem and the West Bank has been one of the major reasons for the peace talks making little progress since they were renewed at the Annapolis peace conference in November.
See: http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/editorial_opinion/region/10198202.html
Papers detail settlers’ West Bank land grab
Meron Rapoport; 18/3/08
West Bank settlements have expanded their jurisdictions by taking control of private Palestinian land and allocating it to settlers. The land takeover - which the Civil Administration calls “theft” - has occured in an orderly manner, without any official authorization. The method of taking over land is being publicized for the first time, based on testimony from a hearing on an appeal filed by a Kedumim resident, Michael Lesence, against a Civil Administration order to vacate 35 dunams (almost 9 acres) near the Mitzpe Yishai neighborhood of the settlement. Official records show the land as belonging to Palestinians from Kafr Qaddum. Lesence’s lawyer, Doron Nir Zvi, admitted at the hearing that the land in question was private Palestinian property.
See; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964797.html
Israel approves lawsuits against PA over suicide bombings
18/3/08
Israel has cleared the way for its citizens to sue the Palestinian Authority over suicide bomb attacks, ruling that the Palestinian government does not represent a state that could avoid such suits. The Foreign Ministry made its ruling Sunday, allowing 55 suits pressing for damages to proceed. Since 2000, 541 people have been killed in 131 suicide bombings. Relatives of victims of one of the bloodiest attacks, when 21 teenagers were killed in a 2001 bombing outside a Tel Aviv night spot, have been demanding the right to sue for damages. Last year the Supreme Court ordered the Foreign Ministry to decide the matter.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/965268.html
