The Cost of Occupation: Burden of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - 2008 Report
Shlomo Swirski - Adva Center - TShlomo Swirski - Adva Center - The prolonged conflict has been extremely damaging to both sides, and especially to the Palestinians, but also Israel is paying a heavy price for the continuation of the conflict and for the absence of a fair and agreed-upon partition.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=28094

 Abbas threatens to pull security forces from Nablus
AFP - Yahoo News - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas threatened to withdraw his security forces from the occupied West Bank town of Nablus unless Israel halts military raids there, a Palestinian MP said. Abbas deployed hundreds of Palestinian security forces to Nablus in November in what was envisioned as the start of a territory-wide crackdown to underpin US-backed peace talks. The army reserves the right to operate anywhere in the occupied West Bank and carries out near nightly operations in Nablus that the Palestinians say has undermined their security efforts and political credibility.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=28084

 PLC speaker condemns detention of Deputy Muna Mansour
Ma`an - Mansour was arrested on Monday morning in another nightly IDF raid in the Nablus area. Around 20 others were arrested. Speaker of the PLC Ahmad Bahar criticized the Israeli attack against Islamic institutions and calls on international and humanitarian organizations to pay attention. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=28082

 An open letter to the Minister of Defense, Mr. Ehud Barak
Bassam Aramin - Yaba Yaba/Palestine Think Tank - The question I pose to you is this: in light of your rich military experience, and as someone who himself has seen sixty years of conflict go by, when will Israel have the strength to finish the conflict militarily and realize a complete victory over the Palestinian people? Do you continue to believe that what cannot be done by might may be done by more might? Does the occupation conceal in its bag of tricks additional methods of killing that the Palestinian people have not yet had the misfortune to know?
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=28083

 Settlers launch a home made shell at O?rta village east of Nablus
Rula Shahwan - IMEMC - Settlers have launched four home made shells earlier at the nearby village of Burin.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=28081

 Soldier firing at blindfolded and handcuffed detained demonstrator
B`tselem - Nil`in, July 7. A Palestinian girl filmed the incident from her house in the village, which is at the forefront of the anti-Wall non-violent struggle. It took two weeks for the video clip to arrive at B`Tselem, whose press release brought it to worldwide attention. So, today the soldier who did it was arrested [ed.] 
 http://www.btselem.org/english/Press_Releases/20080720.asp

 Top of the iceberg
Gush Shalom - The shooting of a tied-up Palestinian detainee at Ni`ilin is an example of what takes place every day in the Occupied Territories. Investigation of soldiers and officers must be taken out of the army`s hands. The battalion commander present during the shooting should be prosecuted. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=28095

 A presidential primer on the Middle East conflict
Richard Boudreaux - Los Angeles Times - Here`s a vivid example of the limits of American influence over the Jewish state. Israel for years has ignored its formal pledges to freeze settlement growth on territory claimed by the Palestinians, undermining their faith in U.S.-backed peace talks. The Bush administration`s objections have been mild and rarely public. Its critics, noting that most Israelis oppose further settlement growth, say a stronger U.S. stand could make a difference by weakening the settlers` political clout. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=28088

 Government officials: US Consul in East Jerusalem `overactive on behalf of Palestinians`
Barak Ravid - Haaretz - Israeli government officials have become concerned about the US State Department starting to "interfere" in "minor issues of the kind they had not dealt with before", such as specific cases of denial of travel permits to Palestinians, or impending eviction of a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem. The Israeli officials blame the "overactive" US consul in East Jerusalem, Jacob Wallace. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=28080

 Israel fears scathing U.S. report on its West Bank policies
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff - Haaretz - The United States security coordinator for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, retired general James Jones, is preparing an extremely critical report of Israel`s policies in the territories and its attitude toward the Palestinian Authority`s security services. In recent weeks, the Bush Administration has been debating whether to allow Jones to publish his full report, or whether to tell him to shelve it and make do with the summary, given the approaching end of President George Bush`s term. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=28079