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A deadly exchange of fire between Israeli and Lebanese forces Tuesday shattered a tenuous calm that has persisted along the border since Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah waged a month-long war four years ago that killed hundreds and displaced thousands.
In the most serious border confrontation since then, two Lebanese soldiers and one Lebanese journalist were killed. A 45-year old Israeli lieutenant colonel was also killed, and an Israeli platoon commander was critically wounded.
Lebanon's volatile border witnessed the most serious bout of violence in four years Tuesday when clashes between Lebanese and Israeli soldiers left at least four people dead.
While tensions have been running high between Lebanon and Israel amid feverish speculation of another war between Israel and Lebanon's militant Shiite Hezbollah, analysts and security sources say that the cross-border clash is probably an isolated incident.
With the security situation in the West Bank improving, Benjamin Netanyahu promoted the idea of an “economic peace” with the Palestinians during the last Israeli parliamentary election in 2008 and again in his foreign policy speech to the nation in June 2009, arguing that economics, not politics, is the key to peace. Underlying this talk is the logic that “economic peace will support and bolster the achievement of political settlements down the line.”
An Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian operative in the southern Gaza Strip early Wednesday, medical officials said.
Sharif Abdel Hadi Abbey, 22, died and two others were lightly to moderately injured by the strike on Khuza'a, east of Khan Younis, Palestinian medical and security sources said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army had no immediate comment.
Hundreds of Israeli police stormed an unrecognized Bedouin village Wednesday, less than one week after it was razed to make way for Jewish National Fund forest, witnesses said.
Residents, who remained in the Negev-area village to rebuild, said clashes erupted with police, sent to clear the Bedouin who had not left the area.
The dwellings were rebuilt following a decision by the Higher Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, the online news site Arab48 reported. The decision was made following the demolition of the buildings on 27 July.
Egypt accused on Wednesday the Palestinian factions in Gaza, of firing the rockets which hit Aqaba and Eilat, killing a Jordanian.
"Palestinian factions from the Gaza Strip were behind the launch of five rockets on Aqaba and Eilat on Monday," state-run MENA news agency quoted an official Egyptian source as saying.
Preliminary investigations carried out by Egyptian security authorities showed that Palestinian factions from the Gaza Strip stood behind the operation, the source said Wednesday.
Around 517,774 Jewish settlers live in settlements in the West Bank, according to a report published Tuesday by Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
According to the report, settlements in the West Bank were distributed into four strips, namely the eastern strip including 28 settlements, mountain strip including 31 settlements, western hills strip including 48 settlements and the greater Jerusalem strip including 37 settlements.
Every morning the two girls wake up before dawn, row their wooden skiff out into Gaza's heavily-patrolled waters, and try to catch enough fish to feed their family.
They are perhaps the only women in the territory of 1.5 million people who make a living from fishing, and are a rare sight in Gaza's conservative society where women rarely venture into the sea even to swim.
But Madeleine Kulab, 16, and her sister Reem, 13, have had few other options since their father was struck with palsy 10 years ago, and like many women in Gaza have had to work for wages once earned by men.
Some people are surprised at recent expressions of support on the right for a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, through what appears to be a readiness to grant Israeli citizenship to Palestinians living in territories that would be annexed. I'm surprised they're surprised, because that has been the right wing's position since 1967. It's just that it hasn't been easy to openly advocate an explicitly annexationist stance.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are darlings of Israel and the international community. For a long time now, they have been seen as brand names, not as officeholders dependent on circumstances of time and place. Abbas represents building the state in stages from the top down by negotiations. Fayyad represents building the state in stages from the bottom up. To Israel and the international community, they seem eternal.
With his policy on the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process currently focusing on exerting massive pressure in a bid to launch direct talks, US President Barack Obama aims to rectify the grave mistakes he made thus far. However, there is no certainty that he drew all the lessons from his failures and from the experience of his predecessors.
Obama is determined to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and through this secure a comprehensive solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict. He earmarked this objective as one of the most important ones among his foreign policy’s priorities.
In a fiery speech, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said he would prove the claim at a press conference next week.
The BBC's Jon Leyne says Mr Nasrallah is trying to pre-empt a UN report due to implicate Hezbollah in the killing.
Mr Nasrallah was speaking hours after a firefight on the Lebanon-Israeli border left five people dead.
Referring to the rare exchange of fire, he said his forces were ready to join the fighting.
Mr Hariri and 22 other people were killed in Beirut in a car bomb in 2005.
Most people don’t believe Israeli and Palestinian high school students can get together and get along. But a summer program in Jerusalem proves they can.
For four weeks this summer, 100 Palestinian and Israeli students cross paths as they learn not only basic science and business skills, but also how to communicate with the other in a unique program aptly called MEET – Middle East Education through Technology.
“It was a great opportunity in MEET to meet Israelis and see their point of view,” said
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/14533
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/14533
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/14533
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/03/AR2010080301331.html
[7] http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0803/Israel-Lebanon-clash-Could-it-spark-another-war
[8] http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=119674
[9] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305040
[10] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305184
[11] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/04/c_13430094.htm
[12] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/03/c_13428653.htm
[13] http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iOYeNxsCNRehkNpVypgRXEYe5TqA
[14] http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-lie-behind-the-right-wing-s-truth-1.305880
[15] http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-west-bank-illusion-1.305881
[16] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3929009,00.html
[17] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10860567
[18] http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=29559
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