[Two petitions]

Palestinians and Israelis calling for Gaza Ceasefire Now
This is not a conflict between two equal forces. The most powerful army in the Middle East, backed by the world`s single remaining super-power, is daily using tanks, fighter planes, helicopters and gunships against the lightly-armed militias and overcrowded population of a small area whose people have lived under occupation and in poverty long before the present siege. Yet the individuals caught in the fighting are all suffering - on both sides of the fighting, among both peoples. The pain of living in daily fear, of being wounded and mutilated for life, of grieving for the loss of loved ones, is the same pain - whether one`s country be oppressed or oppressor, occupied or occupier, rich or poor, powerful or powerless.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25490

Support the Palestinian-Israeli call for Ceasefire 
The Middle East Peace Forum of Pittsburgh has opened a separate petition where everybody can sign 
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/StopViolenceCycle/signatures.html

[Articles]

Talk to Hamas
Nehemia Shtrasler - Haaretz - People in such a difficult situation have nothing left but their self-respect. In these days "all of Gaza has become Hamas," a former Fatah security officer who is far from being a Hamas supporter, told Haaretz.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25562

 Gaza residents tell of sniper attacks on homes
The Daily Telegraph - Mr Abu Seif, who used to work in a car paint shop, and his wife, Sama, 38, told their seven children to stay down and avoid looking out of the windows.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25577

 Children and civilian bystanders in Gaza death toll
Amnesty International - The Israeli chief of staff is reported to have claimed that 90 percent of those killed were militants, but the UN and other sources, including those in Gaza, suggest that as many as half of the dead were civilians. More than 250 other people, including scores of unarmed civilians, have been injured.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25568

 Joint human rights appeal upon `legalization` of Gaza strangling
Al-Haq press release - As an Occupying Power, under the Fourth Geneva Convention Israel’s obligations toward the people of the Gaza Strip include not only a duty to not hinder the supply of relief and consignments to the civilian population but also a positive duty to “bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles…,” of “ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene…” and “agree to relief schemes…and facilitate them by all the means at its disposal
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25565

 Minute of silence to honor Gaza dead stirs up controversy
Israel Moskovitch - Ynet - "What`s going on in Gaza really hurts me. It hurts me that people are ignoring this ongoing event, it hurts me that they`re killing children in Gaza and I want to hold a minute of silence to remember all the dead," the student said. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25563

 An Interview with Aharon Shabta? - poet and dissident
Silvia Cattori - Countercurrents - When the announcement that Israel would attend the "Fiera del libro" of Turin, came out, an immediate wave of protest arose in Italy; and many personalities supported the boycott call, made by the Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian Writers’ Associations. In France, strangely enough, the same invitation, to the "Salon du livre" of Paris, did not make much noise. Alone, the Israeli poet Aharon Shabta? has refused to participate in these events, contrary to the 39 Israeli writers who accepted to be part of the Israeli delegation to these two exhibitions.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25566

 On eve of Rice visit, APN calls on Bush to back ceasefire efforts
Americans for Peace Now - The approach [of ceasefire talks with Hamas] has been embraced to various degrees by key Israeli security figures, including former national security advisor (to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon) Giora Eiland, former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy, and former defense minister Shaul Mofaz. In the context of the current crisis, this approach has been strongly advocated by former Shin Bet head Ami Ayalon, a Minister-without-portfolio in the Olmert government. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25567

 PLO official: Rice has `nothing to sell in the region`
Ma`an - Tayseer Khalid also urged the Palestinian leaders to seek a long term ceasefire with the Israelis that guarantees and end to the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25569

 The Middle East`s asymmetric war
Jeremy Bowen - BBC - It looks as if the United States now believes that Israel has made its point, and that it should stop before any more damage is done to the peace talks (...). The last few days have shown how vulnerable the talks are to events - especially when Hamas in Gaza, who are boycotted by Israel and the big western countries, have no interest in seeing them succeed.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25561

 The Gaza Bombshell (document revealing US anti-Hamas policies)
Aljazeera - Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, did not follow the [2006 American plan to overthrow the Hamas government]. Rather he formed a unity government with Hamas in early 2007 after continued fighting between the rival factions in the Gaza Strip. This failure by the US appears to have led to the second document and the plan to oust Hamas by force. It appears that the US sought to bolster Mohammed Dahlan, the head of Fatah`s security forces. Yet, this too failed as inter-faction fighting broke out in the Gaza Strip and Hamas took control. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=25570