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Israel's previous government built or issued bids for some 9,000 homes for Israelis in Jerusalem and the West Bank, despite its promise to pursue a peace deal with the Palestinians, settlement monitors said Monday, summarizing Ehud Olmert's three years as prime minister.
The Israeli watchdog groups Peace Now and Ir Amim urged President Barack Obama to step in quickly and pressure Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to halt further settlement expansion, particularly in the areas of Jerusalem the Palestinians want for their future capital.
A Palestinian teenager has been shot and seriously injured by a Jewish settler in the northern West Bank.
Palestinian officials said the boy had been working on his family's land near Madama when he was shot by settlers. There are no reports of any arrests.
The incident took place near the Yitzhar settlement. The boy was later taken to hospital in Nablus.
An Israeli police spokesman said a settler had opened fire after coming under attack by stone-throwers.
The settler was due to be questioned by police, the spokesman told AFP news agency.
The future of Fatah is up in the air. Internal divisions and a confused political programme – problems that arguably date back decades – have led this historic Palestinian party to a moment of truth. It is no exaggeration to say that the crisis is of sufficient proportions that Fatah's continued existence as a political force to be reckoned with is under threat.
Israel has begun construction on some 60 new housing units in Jewish settlements in Occupied East Jerusalem, anti-settlement Peace Now group said Monday. "The works aim to build 60 housing units for Orthodox religious Jewish families right next to the Palestinian neighborhood of Arab al-Sawahra," Peace Now spokeswoman Hagit Ofran told AFP.
"The works began two months ago as part of development of East Talpiot," one of a dozen Jewish settlements that Israel has built in Occupied East Jerusalem since capturing that part of the city in 1967, she said.
Bisam Astiti takes her role very seriously -- the theatre is one of the few places where the 13-year-old living in the stranglehold of Israeli occupation can feel free.
"Acting helps me be stronger and to free myself from worries," says the doe-eyed Palestinian teenager, her long black hair pulled back in a ponytail.
"Before, I had elocution problems, I spoke too fast. But now I've learned to listen and be more patient," she says in between rehearsing her lines for an upcoming production of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin".
Hundreds of Palestinian patients have been trapped in the Gaza Strip, unable to travel abroad for crucial treatment for cancer and other diseases, because of political infighting between Gaza's Hamas rulers and their Palestinian rivals.
Eight Gazans who were waiting to travel abroad have died since the crisis began in March, when the dispute shut down a medical referral committee that helps sick residents find treatment outside of Gaza, according to the World Health Organization.
Linoy, a five-year-old Israeli girl, happily nibbled some chocolate as she accompanied her parents on a shopping spree on a busy street with storefront signs written in Hebrew.
Nabi Elyas, a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank catering to the Israeli consumer, has raised hopes on both sides of a divide that peaceful co-existence is possible.
Just a short drive from central Israel, the community of 1,500 residents is profiting from an influx of Jewish shoppers drawn by cheap prices and still kept out of the main Palestinian cities by Israeli security regulations.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Monday there could be no progress towards peace with Israel unless the Jewish state recognised the right of Damascus to get back the Golan Heights.
Assad reasserted the bedrock Syrian condition for an end to decades of conflict a day after Israel’s new ultranationalist foreign minister said it would talk peace with Syria only if it stopped demanding an Israeli commitment to return the Golan.
A peace process occurs between nations transferring them from a state of war between enemies to a state of peace between partners. A successful peace process requires a shift of attitudes in a cross section of the society and must be built between the peoples. This lengthy process also requires formal education that should take place through the educational system.
Senior Israeli officials said Monday they were "concerned" at the prospect that the US may approve funding for a Palestinian Authority government that includes Hamas.
The concern arose after it became known that the Obama administration had asked Congress for minor changes in US law that would allow the continued provision of funds to the PA even if Hamas officials became part of a Palestinian unity government.
The Jerusalem Post has learned from a highly placed source that Israeli officials are very troubled by the possibility of US funds going to a government that includes Hamas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's review of Israel's policy on the Middle East is expected to be completed by the time he visits the United States next month, an aide to the premier said Tuesday.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Haaretz on Monday that he believes Netanyahu will present the U.S. administration a diplomatic plan in line with the principle of "two states for two nations" during his upcoming visit to Washington.
Palestinian Authority representatives accused former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of blocking the peace process between Israel and the PA, despite the latter's claims that he had put an offer to the Palestinians on the table that was too good to refuse.
According to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, and as reported by the Palestinian journal al-Ayyam, not only had the prime minister avoided responding to an excellent peace offer, but shortly afterward had bombed Gaza.
His Majesty King Abdullah once again called for American leadership in bringing about serious negotiations to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the two-state solution.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press”, aired Sunday at the conclusion of his visit to the US, King Abdullah said that, historically, both sides have always come to the negotiating table with an excuse not to go the last mile.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/6758
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/6758
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/6758
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] http://www.americantaskforce.org/donate_online
[6] http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD97QVQEO0
[7] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8021405.stm
[8] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/28/fatah-crisis-palestinian-party
[9] http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=101434
[10] http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hDQe_PMB4LQaC4ySxmMI0l8_iNMQ
[11] http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710810991&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
[12] http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=16238
[13] http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=16230
[14] http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710806026&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
[15] http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710798021&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
[16] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1081778.html
[17] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3707879,00.html
[18] http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=16236
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