http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=18523

Peretz announces the cessation of work on the separation wall in the Dead Sea area
Date: 09 / 01 / 2007 Time: 17:08

Jerusalem - Ma'an - Amir Peretz, the Israeli defense minister has released a decree to freeze the current work on the wall in the Dead Sea area and to seek alternatives.

Israeli broadcast radio informed Ma'an that Peretz' decree came in response to Israeli parliamentary members from the national union party, who questioned him about the effects of the wall on the environment and nature in the area.

The regional council in Hebron welcomed the decree, stating, ''security may be stronger through the use of electronic cameras instead of the wall."

http://www.imemc.org/

the News of the day can be opened by cpoying the URL and pasting it into your search address bar....

Jailed Jenin legislators appeal factions to end violent clashes

Three members of the Executive Force injured in Gaza, five abducted

Israeli army abducts seven Palestinian men from Hebron

Israeli army invades down town Bethlehem, surrounds a house and abducts three brothers

Israeli army abducts 18 Palestinians from several parts of the West Bank

Army: “We abducted 4110 Palestinians in 2006”

Palestinians factions call for dissolving the Executive Force

Army abducts at least twenty residents in the West Bank

Israeli human rights group calls for repeal of `apartheid driving` rule

Nablus deputy mayor released Monday after being captured by rival party members Saturday

Palestinian workers inside Israeli boundaries brutally beaten and forced to strip naked

Palestinians from Iraq are refugees once again: Syrian government allocates small plot for new camp

http://www.imemc.org/article/46474
Army: “We abducted 4110 Palestinians in 2006”
Tuesday January 09, 2007 09:40 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies saed at imemc dot org

A senior Israeli military official said on Monday that soldiers abducted 4110 Palestinians in several Palestinian areas 2006. The sources stated that most of the abducted residents “were wanted to the Israeli security services”.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-09-iraq-policy_x.htm?csp=24
Kennedy opposes money for troop boost
Updated 1/9/2007 4:58 PM ET
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — On the eve of President Bush's announcement of a new Iraq policy, Sen. Edward Kennedy put Congress on a collision course with the White House by proposing legislation that would deny Bush money for sending more troops to the war unless the president gets "clear and specific new authorization" from Congress.
Bush will address the nation Wednesday night to present a new war strategy that is expected to include sending 20,000 additional troops to the war-torn country.

As a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kennedy has been a leading voice of opposition against the war in Iraq and has called for a political solution to the conflict.

"The American people sent a clear message in November that we must change course in Iraq and begin to withdraw our troops, not escalate their presence," the Massachusetts Democrat said in remarks at the National Press Club. "The way to start is by acting on the President's new plan."

He called any escalation of troops "an immense new mistake."

But Kennedy said it was not enough to "simply speak out" against an increase in troops "we must act to prevent it."

The wording of Kennedy's bill is blunt: "President George W. Bush should not be permitted to increase the number of United States troops in harm's way in the civil war in Iraq without a new authorization from Congress that reflects the reality on the ground in Iraq."

Kennedy said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., will introduce similar legislation in the House.

Kennedy said his bill would not affect soldiers already in the field, but is aimed at any increase in troops.

"The best immediate way to support our troops is by refusing to inject more and more of them into the cauldron of a civil war that can be resolved only by the people and government of Iraq," he said.

KENNEDY SPEAKS: Video | Audio

White House press secretary Tony Snow, without specifically addressing Kennedy's charges, said today the president "understands there is a lot of public anxiety" about the war. Yet he said that Americans "don't want another Sept. 11" type of terrorist attack and it is wiser to confront terrorists overseas in Iraq and other battlegrounds rather than in the United States.

Democrats, while generally opposing Bush's Iraq policy, are divided over how to use the budget process to pressure Bush over Iraq. Under the Constitution, the president has broad war-making powers, while Congress controls spending.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says Democrats will "look at everything" in their power to curb the war short of cutting money for troops already in the field.

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press that attempts by Congress to "micromanage" the president's role as commander-in-chief might be unconstitutional.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the new chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he would only consider an increase in U.S. forces in Iraq if Bush agreed to start withdrawing troops within six months.

"We've got to focus the attention of the Iraqis on their responsibility for their own country," Levin told the Detroit Free Press. "The only way to tell them is that we're going to redeploy our forces in 4 to 6 months."

After meeting with the president on Monday, several senators, including Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said the plan calls for sending 20,000 extra troops to Baghdad and the western Anbar province, a base of the mostly Sunni insurgency and foreign al-Qaeda fighters.

Senators who attended the White House briefing indicated that the increase in troops would be to "benchmarks" that the Iraqi government must meet. These include sending more Iraqi troops to Baghdad and reaching a political settlement that will including sharing the nation's oil resources, particularly with the minority Sunnis.

The senators said the president expressed confidence that the Iraqi government could meet the benchmarks, but several of the senators remained skeptical.

"We've had these benchmarks before and to no avail," Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said after the meeting. "Why should we increase our exposure to risk?"

But whether Snowe and other GOP skeptics of Bush's plan, including Gordon Smith of Oregon and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, will agree to Kennedy's plan is doubtful.

"It would be a dishonorable thing for the Congress to budget away the bullets at a time when their commander in chief had ordered them to hold their place in the battlefront," said Smith.

Contributing: Associated Press

http://www.aljazeerah.info/8%20n/Israel's%20policy%20of%20denying%20entry%20to%20foreign%20passport%20holders%20hits%20Palestinian%20higher%20education%20hard.htm ( http://www.aljazeerah.info/ )
Israel's policy of denying entry to foreign passport holders hits Palestinian higher education hard

Date: 08 / 01 / 2007 Time: 14:19

Ma'an -

The West Bank's Bir Zeit University Right to Education Campaign issued the following press release on 6 January highlighting the worrying and unjust impact of Israel's denial of entry policy on higher education in the occupied Palestinian territories:

"Since the beginning of 2006, many thousands of Palestinian foreign passport holders have been denied entry to visit, work or study in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). This policy has brought tremendous insecurity to Birzeit University and its financial and academic wellbeing.

From March to September 2006 there has been a 50 percent drop in foreign passport holding staff, leaving most departments at the risk of being forced to drop courses and of losing irreplaceable lecturers on specialist areas. One department in particular risks losing up to 70 percent of its staff. Currently there are at least 14 faculty members who are at risk of not being able to continue teaching, and 383 students who fear deportation or prison sentences if they are caught at checkpoints.

The Arabic language and culture programme is particularly at risk as it is entirely self-sufficient and dependent on their foreign students' access to the University. In the last term alone, four students were not allowed to complete their studies as they were not allowed to enter or re-enter the oPt. The programme is also a major source of emergency funds for the university, which has recently come into use to cover staff salaries since the economic blockade post the 2006 elections. Since Israel's restrictions on access to Palestinian education, applications for next term's course fell by 50 percent - taking with it 50 percent of the programme's income.

However, for the first time since the prevalence of this deportation policy, the Israeli government has allocated an official to be responsible for the right to enter the Palestinian territories, Maj. Gen. Mishlav. In December 2006, Mishlav told EU officials that their policy has changed and that those given 'last permits' would be able to stay and renew their visas. However, this does not help those who are already outside and have 'denied entry' stamped in their passports, as is the case for two of Birzeit's faculty staff: Somida Abbas and Bahgat Taiam.

This apparent 'promise' has also not helped one of Birzeit's best students, Fadah Ihlal Thum. Fadah is in her final year and has twice received Birzeit's rare and prestigious 'honour' award. She came to live in the West Bank in 2001, is married to a local Palestinian and has a five-month-old baby. Not only is she an excellent student, she is also a wife and a mother, and has a bright future ahead of her if she is able to complete her degree in French and English, particularly as she already fluently speaks Arabic and Portuguese.

Fadah had been renewing her visa internally as is permitted to some residents until her last renewal in September 2006 when, along with hundreds of others, she was suddenly given a 'last permit' stamp on her visa and was forced to leave her home, husband and baby in December. A few days after leaving, she tried to return and was 'denied entry'. This came just two days after Maj. Gen. Mishlav made his promises that Israel had changed its policy. A new and fair policy is clearly not in place.

What you can do:

Please write to Maj. Gen. Mishlav highlighting the three cases mentioned above and calling on him to allow ALL those who wish to study, work or be with their families in the oPt, to be allowed to do so just as they would if they were entering any other country.

It is essential that a permanent solution to be found, and that proper residency rights be instated to those who have settled in oPt, and that a proper system be created for study and work visas.

Please send your letters and faxes of protest to:

Maj. Gen. Mishlav COGAT - Coordinator of Office Activities in the Territories Coordinator Office Hakirya Tel Aviv Israel

Fax: 03 697 6306

Please also copy your letters to your country representative in Israel in order to help build diplomatic pressure from within."