http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/93B62583-6F3B-4009-9551-B9534368371C.htm
Rocket hits US embassy in Athens

Police believe a rocket was launched from a passing car hitting a third-floor bathroom window [EPA]

A rocket has been fired at the US embassy in Athens, Greek police and the US embassy have said.

"This was a rocket attack launched from a building across the street. It landed inside a toilet on the third floor of the embassy," a senior police official said.

Local residents called in to state television saying they had felt the explosion. However, a US embassy spokesperson said that no injuries had resulted from the blast.

The senior police official said Greece's deputy police chief and Athens police chief had gone into the building together with officers of the national security and anti-terrorist squads.

Dozens of police cars surrounded the embassy and police cordoned off all roads in the area.

US embassy is surrounded by a three metre-high steel fence, with guards posted at every entrance and at street corners around it.

Attacks
Greece's biggest domestic security threat, the left-wing November 17 group, which killed US and other foreign diplomats in Greece, was dismantled in 2002.

In November last year, Greek riot police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators marching to the US embassy in Athens who chanted slogans including "Bush the butcher, out of Iraq" and "The USA is the real terrorist".

In February 1996, unidentified assailants fired a rocket at the US embassy compound in Athens, causing minor damage to three diplomatic vehicles and some surrounding buildings

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=18575
A further 1,000 apartments to be added to Har Homa settlement
Date: 11 / 01 / 2007 Time: 15:19

The extending settlement of Har Homa (MaanImages)
Ma'an - The Israeli peace movement, Gush Shalom, has on Thursday slammed the government's endorsement of an additional 1,000 residential apartments in the Har Homa (previously "Abu Ghneim") settlement, located south of Jerusalem in the region of Bethlehem. Gush Shalom has accused this move as provocative and contradictory to Israeli Prime Minister Olmert's promises.

In a statement that Ma'an received, Gush Shalom said “Prime Minister Olmert and Defense Minister Peretz both excel in throwing out colorful balls called “humanitarian gestures” and “political plans”, which sound nice but have little relation to reality”.

The peace movement referred to the fact that the establishment of 1,000 residential units in Har Homa is aimed at "cutting the Palestinian inhabitants of Tzur Baher [Sur Baher, a Palestinian neighbourhood of southeast Jerusalem] off from their neighbors in Bethlehem [in the occupied West Bank]".

The press release adds that the planners of this extension of the Har Homa settlement, named Har Homa C, intend to erect "housing to be erected on a long and narrow, knife-like ridge".

This act, said the peace group, "is a knife directed at the heart of any chance to achieve peace and reconciliation between the two peoples of this land”.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=18597
Palestinian boy bitten by boars in northern West Bank
Date: 12 / 01 / 2007 Time: 16:55

Salfit - Ma'an - A herd of boars, which had been unleashed by the Israeli occupation on to Palestinian agricultural lands, has on Friday attacked a Palestinian boy from the northern West Bank city of Salfit, injuring him seriously.

The boars attacked 4-year-old Milad Samir Ghabboshi and threw him into a dense bush.

The boy was found only after several young men started searching for him in the bushes. He was bitten several times in the face and on his body. The boy was sent to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus for treatment where his condition was described as serious.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=18561
Condoleezza Rice launches new peace initiative for an interim Palestinian state with the Wall as its borders
Date: 11 / 01 / 2007 Time: 11:55

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, is expected to propose a new peace initiative in the Middle East. According to this initiative, a Palestinian state is to be established within interim borders based on the route of Israel's separation wall.

The Israeli daily newspaper 'Maariv' has said that Rice intends to make a dramatic shift which could lead to the resumption of peace negotiations over the final settlement in the region.

Rice's initiative occupied the central part of a meeting held in Cairo between the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, and King Abdullah II of Jordan on Wednesday.

Israeli sources have said that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were informed about the details of the plan. Rice is supposed to tour the region next week.

Israel's separation wall reaches deep inside the occupied West Bank, deviating widely from the internationally recognized Green Line (which follows the 1967 borders) in order to annex large swathes of Palestinian land and the main settlement blocs into Israel. The wall, and Israel's West Bank settlements, have been declared illegal under international law.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=18595
Abbas to meet Mash'al next week in Syria
Date: 12 / 01 / 2007 Time: 16:14

President Abbas and Hamas politburo chief
Khalid Mash'al (MaanImages)
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Palestinian official sources have revealed that there are Palestinian efforts, under the patronage of Egypt, to arrange a meeting between the Damascus-based Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al and Palestinian President Abbas next week in Syria.

This meeting hopes to achieve Palestinian reconciliation in an attempt to pave the way for a Palestinian national unity government.

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Agence France Presse: "The Islamic Jihad movement and the Egyptians are mediating to arrange that meeting [between Mash'al and Abbas] in order to contain the escalated and dangerous situation in the Gaza Strip."

In the same regard, the Cairo-based Islamic Jihad leader, Muhammad Al-Hindi, told AFP by telephone that his movement is mediating between rival Palestinian groups. He said that he hopes these efforts will bear fruit. He added that both the Fatah and Hamas movements are keen to reach an agreement regarding a unity government and the role of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Al-Hindi added that over the last three days, he met with Egyptian officials and together they are endeavoring to help the Palestinian people.

On the other hand, Al-Hindi confirmed that he met with a high-ranking Fatah delegation in Cairo, headed by Palestinian Legislative Council member Muhammad Dahlan. He expects the efforts to soon bring about the signing of a national unity agreement in Cairo.

President Abbas is expected to visit Syria on 16 January.