The news came on the eve of a visit by envoys from Israel's main ally the United States, which has criticised the route of the barrier for taking in Jewish settlement blocs on West Bank land where Palestinians want a state.
 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L10555455.htm


PM adviser: no plans for `eastern fence' in West Bank
Israel does not plan to build a separation fence in the eastern part of the West Bank because of the likely negative political fallout in the international arena, the man who heads the team plotting the route of the fence told Haaretz on Tuesday.
 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=403238&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Peace Index / Most Israelis support the fence, despite Palestinian suffering
A majority also believe the route of the fence should be determined according to security considerations of the government and should not necessarily follow the Green Line, even if the route causes suffering to the Palestinian population.
 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/402996.html


A Palestinian Infant Dies at Israeli Checkpoint
A one-month- old Palestinian infant, Hussam A. Al-Najjar, died Wednesday afternoon as Israeli occupation soldiers banned an ambulance from taking him to a hospital in the city of Khanyounis, south of Gaza...
 http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=222


IOF Kills Six Palestinians
Four of the killed were immediately rushed to a nearby local hospital, while the Israeli soldiers kidnapped and detained the body of the fifth victim for several hours, before finally allowing Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances to pick him up.
 http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_03/050.html


Teen dies when army opens fire
A PALESTINIAN teenager was shot dead today when Israeli troops opened fire on stone-throwers in the southern West Bank refugee camp of Al-Arrub, Palestinian medical sources said. Thaer Haroun, 14, was shot dead in the Al-Arrub camp between the towns of Bethlehem and Hebron.
 http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8933836%255E1702,00.html


IOF Wounds 2 Women in Gaza, Arrests 3 in West Bank
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) stormed early Wednesday the southern Gaza Strip City of Rafah, injuring, at least, three Palestinian citizens, including a pregnant woman, medics and security sources said.
 http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=219


Palestinian Houses under Israeli Fire in Gaza
Israeli vehicles fired clippers and gunshots on Palestinian houses causing severe damages and panic among schoolboys as they were leaving schools. Witnesses told WAFA Israeli fire targeted water tanks on the roofs causing water shortage in the area.
 http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=220


Palestinian group says U.S. assassinated Abul Abbas; his widow holds America responsible
His widow, Reem Nimer, said she wanted the Americans to explain how he died. "Abul Abbas was in their detention centers. Since he was detained by them (U.S. forces), they are directly responsible for him," Nimer said...
 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/03/10/international1125EST0591.DTL


Remembering the Death of Rachel Corrie
As we approach March 16th, residents and citizens of the US should ask themselves how it is that an unarmed US citizen can be killed with impunity by a soldier from an allied nation receiving massive US aid, using a product manufactured in the US by a US corporation and paid for with US tax dollars.
 http://www.counterpunch.com/corrie03102004.html


Palestinians to boycott Israeli goods
And as the Intifada continues, many Palestinians are questioning their dependence on Israeli goods. Is it a matter of convenience, necessity, or both? Why do stores continue to sell such items, and why do consumers continue to buy them given that Palestinian alternatives now exist?
 http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3BF4D26F-C0EF-4AB8-ADD7-871A7C20AC33.htm


Qureia denies that date has been set for summit with Sharon
"The date is not fixed yet. There will be a meeting between the delegations," Qureia said during a question-and-answer session following a Wednesday afternoon lecture he gave at the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/403249.html


Palestinian prime minister Qorei arrives in France
Qorei will have talks Thursday with French President Jacques Chirac, and then with parliament speaker Jean-Louis Debre. On Friday he is set for talks with Raffarin as well as with Finance Minister Francis Mer.
 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=7&u=/afp/20040310/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_palestinian_040310202113


Egyptian intelligence chief meets with Arafat in West Bank
Suleiman, who has been at the forefront of efforts to persuade Palestinian armed factions to agree to a ceasefire, had met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday night.
 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=10&u=/afp/20040310/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_palestinian_egypt_040310143343


Israel ends Arab worker 'marking'
Israeli parliamentary speaker Reuven Rivlin, ordered an end to the controversial policy. The Arab builders had been made to wear helmets with red crosses on top so they were identifiable to marksmen guarding parliament, the daily Maariv reported.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3548601.stm


Palestinians adopt security plan to end chaos
The security services will prosecute law-breakers starting from the third week, while the fourth week will witness the prosecutionsof those suspected or accused of criminal acts. The plan would be first implemented in the Gaza Strip and then in the West Bank areas after is proves its efficacy in the Strip...
 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-03/10/content_1358158.htm


Israel: Hezbollah Member Planning Attack
Israel's Shin Bet security service arrested a Hezbollah operative who was planning to use a remote-controlled airplane packed with explosives to attack a Jewish settlement, the agency said Wednesday. Shadi Abu Alhazin, 22, a resident of the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, began building the plane in 2002...
 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=13&u=/ap/20040310/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_hezbollah


Senior UN envoy in Washington for talks on Middle East peace
A senior United Nations envoy is in Washington today for a meeting with United States National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice on the situation in the Middle East, including issues related to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposals concerning a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip...
 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10028&Cr=middle&Cr1=east


Palestinian Parliament Elects New Speaker
If Arafat dies, the speaker would become president for 60 days until general elections are held. The speaker is also responsible for keeping the government in check, and guiding council decisions.
 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=540&e=17&u=/ap/20040310/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_parliament_speaker


Arafat 'is outlaw to peace process'
In a 1997 book, Mr Kerry described "Arafat's transformation from outlaw to statesman". But in an interview with the Associated Press, he said he no longer viewed Arafat favourably. "Obviously, Yasser Arafat has been an impediment to the peace process,"
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1166053,00.html


Refusniks appear at the European Parliament
For the first time, Israeli CO's (refuseniks) who reject service in a army of occupation will today attend a hearing in the European Parliament at Strasbourg, France - as will the parents of imprisoned refuseniks.
 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2489.shtml


Junaid Alam Interviews Noam Chomsky
The Christian right is a huge voting bloc, plainly not Jewish, and in fact to a significant extent anti-Semitic, but welcomed by the government of Israel and its supporters because they support Israel's atrocities, violence, and aggression, for their own reasons.
 http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=36&ItemID=5128


Hope crumbles in Rafah as homes are ground to dust
Just a few months ago Zakia Abu Alouf's flat, built with her life's savings from teaching in Saudi Arabia, stood in the middle of her street. The end of the row was marked by the towering metal wall the Israeli army built where the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza runs up against the Egyptian border.
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1165834,00.html


Under the rubric of separation
One that stands out was the separation plan put out by Israeli Labor Party leaders Haim Ramon and Shlomo Ben Ami soon after Ariel Sharon’s election as prime minister, as an attempt to find an exit strategy from the collapse of [the Oslo accords] into military carnage.
 http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/pal2.php


Education Min. bars Geneva authors from meeting students
The last-moment decision was made at the initiative of Deputy Education Minister Zvi Hendel of the far-right National Union. The ban was endorsed by the ministry's director-general Ronit Tirosh. They ordered school administrators to bar the three from the appearance.
 http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/403298.html


Report: Israel holding secret contacts with Sudan, Libya
Government officials in Jerusalem are hoping that in the wake of the Iraq war, other Arab states would renew ties with Israel, in order to get closer to the U.S. administration.
 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=403257&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


Blowback: U.S.- and Israeli-Style
But if we define “terrorism” as the intentional harming of innocents for political gain, the routine Israeli use of excessive force should also fall into that category. The Israelis know that the use of heavy firepower in populated areas to target a few activists will kill or injure substantial numbers of innocents.
 http://www.independent.org/tii/news/040309Eland.html


The West Bank in black and white
Mourid Barghouti was doing his final exams on the West Bank when the Six Day War of 1967 broke out. Twenty three at the time, he fled to Amman, and has lived in exile ever since. Just to see the number 67, he says, is enough to upset him.
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2004/03/07/bobar07.xml&sSheet=/arts/2004/03/07/bomain.html


Toys help Palestinian kids prepare for life of war
War games might be a perennial favourite of children across the world but many in the West Bank and Gaza Strip fear they could also be a symptom of a generation that sees no future but violence in the territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War and where Palestinians want a state.
 http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp;:404ec8f3:76ccdf99d43a7798?type=worldNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4534589