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Between Gaza and Annapolis

Here follow the October 27, 2007 press picks from what was published recently by different sources - posted by TOI-staff on Occupation Magazine and links to Gaza articles posted earlier this week. (We do the updating on Saturdays, but OM is updated daily, each day of the week by a different editor.)

Seven Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC - Israeli political and military officials, from Defence Minister Barak downwards, make repeated ominous references to an imminent all-out invasion of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile the daily "minor invasions" continue, with the heavily armoured Israeli units entering the Gaza Strip`s countryside and villages, uprooting vegetation and engaging in very unequal fighting with the lightly-armed Palestinian militias, such as the ones resulting in seven deaths reported here [ed.]
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23074

Gaza electricity and fuel cuts: behind the propaganda
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff - Haaretz - There is an enormous gap between the reasons Israel is giving for the decision to impose significant sanctions against Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, and the real intentions behind them. This is supposed to reduce the number of Qassam rocket attacks against Sderot and the other border communities. In practice, defense officials believe that the Palestinian militants will intensify their attacks in response to the sanctions. [As P.S. a short Ynet notice: Peace Now to Barak: Cancel decision to reduce Gaza electricity]
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23072

Nonviolent protestors blocking Israelis-only Highway 443
Jake - "Apartheid Masked" - Many acts of non-violent protest in the Occupied Territories get no mention in the mainstream media. The blocking of Highway 443 got quite a lot, including a hysterical outcry from KM Otniel Schneller, the "token settler" of Olmert`s Kadima Party, who called for "stiff action against the Anarchists". This overreaction seems to derive from the fact that ordinary Israelis are encouraged to regard 443 as a "normal" route from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, and conveniently forget that it is passing through occupied Palestinian land and that the Palestinians on whose land it was built are forbidden to travel on it [ed].
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23070

Human Rights abuses reason to reconsider U.N. role in the Quartet
Special Rapporteur J.Dugard - In my report I have suggested that the Secretary-General ensure that the Quartet adopt a more pro-active position on the human rights front by signalling to Israel that its violations of human rights in the OPT can no longer be tolerated and that it must comply with the 2004 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice holding that Israel must dismantle the Wall being built in Palestinian territory (...) [or] consider withdrawing the United Nations from the Quartet.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23078

Rice taps Clinton, Carter for Middle East advice
Reuters - Other sources of advice have been former U.S. negotiator Dennis Ross and ex-secretaries of state James Baker, Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright (...) to get what others have failed to attain in the past -- a viable, independent Palestinian state living side by side with a secure Israel.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23081

Slouching towards Annapolis
Reuven Kaminer - (...) even though there is no chance for progress on the Israeli-Palestinian front, Rice is not doing Annapolis just for another photo opportunity. (...) There is a deep connection between the threats of the Bush administration to launch a war against Iran and Rice’s efforts to use Annapolis to mobilize the “moderates”, the anti-Iranian establishments in the Arab world. It is simplistic to assume that the United States and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority will be unable to do business because Israel is not ready for meaningful concessions. Abu Mazen’s very first requirement for survival is backing against the challenge from Hamas. Annapolis will provide the Bush administration various, sundry ways to express its support and admiration for the moderate Fatah leadership. Such admiration might find expression in a number of more “even-handed” declarations by the US hosts. These words will then be presented by the Fatah people as proof that participation was worth the effort, despite the stalemate on the Israeli front.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23071

Realizing God`s dream for the Holy Land
Desmond Tutu - Boston Globe - I am often accused of siding with Palestinians against Israeli Jews, naively exonerating the one and unfairly demonizing the other. Nevertheless, I insist that the hope in which I persist is not reducible to politics or identified with a people. It has a more encompassing shape. I like to call it "God`s dream." God has a dream for all his children. It is about a day when all people enjoy fundamental security and live free of fear. It is about a day when all people have a hospitable land in which to establish a future. More than anything else, God`s dream is about a day when all people are accorded equal dignity because they are human beings.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23080

The key: Rebuilding trust - and not making it dependent on reciprocity.
Alon Ben-Meir - Ynet - (...) the basic fault in CBM [Confidence Building Measures] behavior is that it is conditional and based on the notion that if one party makes a good-faith gesture, the other party must respond, usually quickly, with its own. Sometimes this is impossible, and yet because there is an expectation of it being possible, the whole cooperative structure can break down.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23083

Policy in no-man`s-land
Aluf Benn - Haaretz - The `peace process` is the most convenient diplomatic situation for Israel. At the same time, as long as it`s all talk, there is no internal pressure on the government either. The only question is how long Olmert can continue to walk this rope.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23082

Ayalon: Invite Hamas to Annapolis parley
Khaled Abu Toameh - Jerusalem Post - Minister-without-portfolio Ami Ayalon (Labor) is urging Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to end Israel`s boycott of Hamas and invite representatives of the group to Annapolis. (...) "Such a call by Israel would cause Hamas to crumble because of the internal struggles taking place within the group," Ayalon told Army Radio.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23084

Links to articles on Gaza posted earlier this week

Palestinians live as "ghosts" in Gaza

Nidal al-Mughrabi - 26/10/2007
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23065

Left on the Ground for Nearly an Hour, a Patient in a Serious Condition Dies Due to Restrictions at Erez Crossing

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights - 24/10/2007
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23031

Israel set to sever power to Gaza

Al Jazeera - 24/10/2007
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=23034

Milk powder, toys and cancer patients...

Gush Shalom - 25/10/2007

http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/press_releases/1193331167/

Work Stoppage in Gaza Strip Surgery Room Threatens the Lives of Hundreds of Patients

23/10/2007
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=22990

Breaking the Siege on Gaza

23/10/2007
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=22992

Human rights organization: Israel is responsible for preventing medical surgery in Gaza Strip

Nisreen Qumsieh - 22/10/2007
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=22977

Help needed for seven Gaza patients

Physicians for Human Rights - 21/10/2007
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=22949