http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17694
Israeli students and Palestinians demonstrate side-by-side in solidarity
Date: 01 / 12 / 2006 Time: 12:38
-see photo in article online-
Jerusalem - Ma'an - The 'students' front' at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel yesterday commemorated International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People by holding a demonstration. Students at the demonstration distributed banners with slogans in both Hebrew and Arabic.

The slogans denounced the occupation and called for progress in the peace process and an end to conflict. They called for peace on the basis of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and the creation of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee issue.

A statement from the demonstrators also stressed the importance of maintaining the current ceasefire and declared that this is integral to the progress of the peace process.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17697
60% of Ma'an readers think that the Israeli -Palestinian truce will be broken
Date: 01 / 12 / 2006 Time: 14:09

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The majority of participants in the weekly poll held on the Arabic-language page of Ma'an News Agency's website think that the current truce between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, announced on 25th November, will be broken.

Among the 8044 participants, 60 percent thought that the truce would be broken, while 20 percent thought that it would hold. The remainder of voters were unsure.

Palestinian factions agreed to a truce following their meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Gaza Strip on 25th November and the truce officially started at 6am on 26th November.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17700
Explosion outside Arab Bank in Gaza City; severe damage
Date: 01 / 12 / 2006 Time: 14:39

Gaza - Ma'an - An explosive device was detonated early this morning at the entrance to the Arab Bank in the centre of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip. The explosion was said to have caused severe damage to the bank.

Our Gaza correspondent reported that the identity of those responsible for planting the explosive is unknown. The device was planted at the bank's entrance and was exploded remotely, leading to great damage inside the bank and at the main door, but no casualties were reported.

Our correspondent added that the police and security services have started their investigation into those responsible for the attack.

On Wednesday, an explosive device detonated outside an internet cafe in Gaza City, causing considerable damage.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17704
Palestinian Return Center rejects Olmert's 'peace' proposal
Date: 01 / 12 / 2006 Time: 16:56

Ma'an - The Palestinian Return Centre, an independent academic and media consultancy founded in the UK, has issued a press release declaring that it objects to any attempt to discount the right of Palestinian refugees to return, in accordance with international law and human rights conventions. The PRC issued the press release in response to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's comments on Monday, in which he proposed a withdrawal from parts of the Palestinian occupied West Bank, in exchange for a Palestinian agreement to relinquish the right of return of refugees.

The PRC declared, "even if one is naïve enough to trust Olmert’s most recent ‘peace’ offering, writing off the right of return of five million Palestinian refugees is a red line that no Palestinian can cross. This right has been reaffirmed year after year by the United Nations’ General Assembly and is considered a corner stone for the Palestinian struggle."

They continued, "It would be most unwise to trust the Israeli government now, as it makes such ‘peace’ offers at the same time [as] its army’s bulldozers are busily dividing Palestinian towns in the West Bank, destroying ancient olive trees and forcing thousands of farmers away from their land. To give up the right of return now, doesn’t only violate international law, validate Israel’s ethnic cleansing policies of the past, but it rather vindicates the Israeli government's ongoing practices in the Occupied Territories which themselves continue to render many Palestinians homeless, on a daily basis.

"It must also be said that even if Olmert is indeed genuine in his new quest for peace, neither he nor anyone else has the right to exchange a Palestinian right for another. Both an end to the Israeli occupation and the right of return are two fundamental rights safeguarded by international law; like in the case of all fundamental human rights they must neither be subject for [sic] swaps nor barters."

The Palestinian Research Centre concluded by stating that it "calls on the international community to withhold international law, and on Palestinians and those who support their just cause everywhere not to allow such Israeli strategy of fragmenting and renegotiating fundamental Palestinian rights to sway them from their courageous struggle for freedom, rights and sovereignty."

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17706
PLO executive committee urges Abbas to use his constitional authority to end the governmental crisis
Date: 01 / 12 / 2006 Time: 18:18

Ramallah - Ma'an - The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) met on Friday with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Following the meeting, the committee issued a statement calling on the president to practice his constitutional authorities to end the current governmental crisis following the deadlock in efforts to form a unity government.

The committee criticized Hamas' stipulations regarding a unity government and asked President Abbas to provide the Palestinian people with the details of the dialogue and the obstacles faced.

Furthermore, the executive committee called for the talks to be resumed in order to ensure the formation of a nationalist technocrat government, with a minimum mandate of one year, in order to "save the homeland" and stop the economic collapse, and the emigration of professionals and capital.

They also called for the current prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, to resign. They urged Abbas to charge the new prime minister with the task of composing a new government in accordance with the laws of the Palestinian Authority.

In regards to the cease-fire decision, the executive committee expressed their support for the continuation of the truce which began on Sunday 26 November. Consequently, the committee said that the security forces should stick to their duties and prevent any violation of the truce so as to eliminate any possibility of the Israelis justifying further assaults on the Palestinian people. They also expressed total rejection of any suggestion to divide the truce and restrict it to the Gaza Strip, because that would represent a partition of national unity.

The committee also expressed concern over the "terrorist practices" by "extremist" Palestinian forces against Palestinian institutions, private property and individuals. They called on the security forces to prevent such practices by all means.

Due to their responsibility for the Palestinian foreign policy portfolio, the PLO executive committee affirmed their readiness to start serious negotiations with the Israeli government, the Quartet (which comprises of the UN, EU, USA and Russia) and the Arab states, based on the Arab initiative, the Road Map and Bush's vision. They hope this will lead to restarting a serious peace process, especially following the Israeli prime ministers' speech, which they said contained certain "positive elements".