Quartet seeks halt to settlements
2/5/08
Members of the Middle East Quartet have called on Israel to freeze the construction of further settlements in the West Bank. The Quartet “called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity,” Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said on Friday reading from a statement agreed at the meeting of the UN, the US, Russia and the European Union. Meeting in London, the Quartet said Israel should also dismantle all outposts erected since March 2001.They also called on Arab states to honour the financial and political pledges they have made to the Palestinian people.
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D330F15A-A29C-4FA5-97B1-7F3BF87A6066.htm
U.S. envoy cuts short Hebron trip after clash with settlers
2/5/08
The American bodyguards of a Bush administration envoy who was dispatched to the region to monitor the implementation of the road map engaged in a violent confrontation with right-wing Israelis who sought to disturb a visit to Hebron on Friday, Israel Radio reported. One of the rightists is reported to have driven his jeep into the convoy accompanying General William Fraser. Subsequently, one of the vehicles in the convoy heavily collided with the jeep, according to Israel Radio.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/980193.html
Taking over a world that does not belong to them
Tobias Buck; 3/5/08
Whenever Munir Nasrawi opens the door to his house in the Christian quarter of occupied Jerusalem’s Old City, he is faced with a cold reminder of the fierce struggle under way inside this ancient world of twisting lanes, crumbling domes and bustling souqs. Nasrawi’s family has lived inside the Old City for more than 200 years. The shopkeeper is a big cheerful man and he has an affecting laugh. He also has a fondness for holding barbecues on his roof terrace overlooking the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.Yet his face clouds over as he contemplates the solid, 3 metre iron fence that cuts along the lane opposite his sprawling home.
See: http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10210224.html
Israeli Gaza deaths report disputed
2/5/08
The Israeli army has blamed Palestinian fighters for the deaths of a Gaza mother and her four young children following an Israeli air raid in Beit Hanoun last week. The military’s report contradicts one by B’Tselem, an independent Israeli human rights group, which found that the family was killed by a strike from an Israeli missile. The army said on Friday that its investigation of the killing of Meissar Abu Megteg and her children found that secondary blasts from ammunition backpacks carried by the fighters were to blame. But B’Tselem maintains there is “no evidence” of any secondary explosion.
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9486D718-4826-4777-9731-EF35F062A765.htm
IDF releases clip clearing itself of blame for Gaza family deaths; 2/5/08; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/980197.html
Tags: Human Rights, Israel, Israeli Report Denied, Jerusalem, Settlers, Terrorism, USA