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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met briefly Tuesday on the sidelines of a worldwide socialist party conference near Athens.
The two met privately for a half-hour on the sidelines of a three-day Socialist International conference in this coastal resort, 25 miles south of Athens.
After the meeting, Barak said he expected U.S.-backed peace talks with the Palestinians to continue, according to aides who were there when he spoke.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Palestinian militants on Tuesday that Israel would respond with force if attacks from the Gaza Strip persist in defiance of a recent truce.
Earlier in the day, Israel once again closed its cargo crossings, accusing Palestinian militants of firing a rocket at southern Israel in violation of a shaky truce.
Gaza's Hamas rulers denied a rocket was fired on Monday evening, and accused Israel of looking for excuses to shirk its commitment under the cease-fire agreement to ease its blockade of impoverished Gaza.
Palestinian diplomat Nabil Amr said Monday that Egypt will open the Rafah border crossing for two days on Tuesday to allow hundreds of stranded on both sides to cross, but EU officials said this was only a temporary move, and did not represent the reopening of the crossing.
Lt.-Gen. Pietro Pistolese, head of the EU Border Assistance Mission that monitored the Rafah crossing in 2005 and 2006, said that although the crossing is open from time to time for humanitarian reasons or to allow delegations to pass through, this did not constitute the legal opening of the crossing.
A Palestinian journalist said from his hospital bed on Monday that he was abused and injured by Israeli security personnel on his way home to the Gaza Strip after receiving a journalism award in Britain.
Mohammed Omer, who writes for the pro-Palestinian Washington Report, said he was strip-searched and detained for nearly four hours at the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge when he crossed from Jordan into the occupied West Bank, en route to the Gaza Strip, on June 26.
The occupied West Bank faces grave water shortages largely as a result of "discriminatory" Israeli policies, an Israeli human rights group said on Tuesday.
"The shortage will have serious repercussions on the economy and the health of tens of thousands of Palestinians," the B'Tselem group said in a statement.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humaniitarian Affairs and UN Coordinator for the food crisis John Holmes said Tuesday that the policy adopted is of continued pressure on the government of Israel to allow a much freer flow of humanitarian and commercial goods in order to allow the Palestinian people to breath and bring an end to a policy that "we" have described as that of collective punishment.
I am Palestinian - born and raised - and my Palestinian roots go back centuries. No one can change that even if they tell me that Jerusalem, my birth place, is not Palestine, even if they tell me that Palestine doesn't exist, even if they take away all my papers and deny me entry to my own home, even if they humiliate me and take away my rights. I AM PALESTINIAN.
The truce deal overseen by Hamas along with the Israeli side threatens to turn into divisive issue inside the Gaza Strip between Hamas and the other Palestinian factions there. The breaches committed by Al-Aqsa Brigades and the Islamic Jihad are likely to be repeated and indicate the suspicions of these factions in Hamas's intentions behind the truce.
Following the approval of the prisoner swap deal with Hizbullah, negotiations with Syria have undergone developments. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's envoys to Turkey, Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom Turgeman, are set to leave for the third round of indirect talks with Syria.
On Monday Syrian President Bashar Assad dubbed the political climate in the Middle East "positive", and called on the EU to increase its involvement in the peace talks with Israel.
The Knesset passed a bill on Monday determining that any Israeli citizen who visits enemy territory without a proper permit will not be able to serve in the Knesset for seven years.
A bill stating that a referendum will be held before the ceding of any land belonging to the State of Israel has been approved in its preliminary reading by the Knesset on Monday.
The motion was approved with a majority of 65 MKs, and was opposed by 18. According to the bill, if the government approves the ceding of Israeli land the decision will be brought before the Knesset, and if it is approved by the Knesset, a referendum will be held within 180 days. However, should a withdrawal be supported by at least 80 MKs, the matter will not be brought to a referendum.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/5970
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/5970
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/5970
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] http://www.americantaskforce.org/world_press_roundup/20080701t000000
[6] http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h2zeGOqW0BEn-nzuNtd3sL4s-ECwD91L15KO0
[7] http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jD4YSkDPlclqd9dHvg2f0Ij18zEgD91L5DU80
[8] http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1214726159722
[9] http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-34298820080630
[10] http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQpR112mB7kqPdyyuTJd6HlAT5rQ
[11] http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1922116&Language=en
[12] http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9&section=0&article=111383&d=1&m=7&y=2008
[13] http://english.daralhayat.com/opinion/OPED/06-2008/Article-20080630-da02406d-c0a8-10ed-0007-ae6d3302409f/story.html
[14] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3562293,00.html
[15] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3562284,00.html
[16] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3562303,00.html
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