contributions

Second Lieutenant T. a 28-year battalion doctor and regular officer, refused to join his armoured battalion in an incursion into the Gaza Strip - for reasons of conscience. Several weeks ago, battalion 82 of the Seventh Regiment was sent on operation at the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, aimed at preventing the launch of Quasam rockets at the [Israeli town of] Sderot.
T. had previously served in the Territories, and even took part this May in "Operation Rainbow" [including (…)

A great question remains as to the Pentagon attack. How is it that the military center of the United States was entirely undefended?
To my way of thinking there should have been a swarm of missles launched against any incoming plane (or missle). Given the importance of the pentagon to our defense needs, I would have assumed that safeguards were in place to protect this installation. It would be entirely reasonable for anyone to assume that the pentagon was protected. Are we to believe (…)

Human rights activists are being denied entry on a regular basis by the Israeli government to Israel and the occupied territories WHO : International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist Ann Petter, ISM activist Jamie Spector (Live by telephone from Italy) Attorney Leah Tzemel WHERE : The Ambassador Hotel, East Jerusalem WHEN : 12:00 PM, Monday, July 26, 2004 ISM activist Ann Petter who was released from an Israeli detention center today after being held for 33 days will speak and (…)

By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM and JANET ELDER NINE out of 10 of the Democratic delegates gathering in Boston this week think the United States should not have gone to war in Iraq and say the gains from the war were not worth the loss of American lives, a New York Times/CBS News poll shows.
The delegates are much less supportive of the war than the public is over all, than Democratic voters generally are, and than is reflected by the more nuanced positions of Senators John Kerry and John Edwards, (…)

Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi warned Saturday that Jewish extremists may try to carry out an attack against Arabs on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount in order to torpedo Israel’s planned unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
"We sense that a threat to the Temple Mount from extremist and fanatic Jewish elements, hoping to upset the situation and be a catalyst for change in the political process," Hanegbi told Channel 2’s Meet the Press. "The threat has increased in the last (…)

Evidence of poor safety standards at construction sites for next month’s Olympic Games in Athens has been found by a BBC radio programme.
Many workers have been killed - many more than the official death toll of 14, a Greek union representative said.
But, he told the programme, no official numbers are being kept.
The BBC team observed workers - many from Eastern Europe and South Asia - operating without protective equipment and with minimal supervision.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Face (…)

by Robert Thompson When the "State of Israel" was declared, those Palestinians who found themselves on the "Israeli" side of the famous Green Line were given a strange kind of second class Israeli citizenship, whereas those who were then in the West Bank were granted Jordanian citizenship and those in the Gaza Strip were taken in charge by Egypt. This had the odd result of splitting families, depending purely on where they were at the time. A well-known example is that of the present (…)

An online statement by a group representing itself as al-Qaeda’s European branch threatened Saturday to turn Australia into "pools of blood" if it doesn’t withdraw its troops from Iraq.
It was the second statement in a week by the Tawhid Islamic Group, a previously unknown organization which Wednesday threatened attacks in Bulgaria and Poland if their troops remained in Iraq.
"We call upon you to leave Iraq before your country turns to pools of blood," the statement warned the Australian (…)

Two Pakistanis working for a Middle-East firm have gone missing in Iraq, raising fears that they might have been taken captive.
Though their capture has not yet been confirmed, a Pakistani television channel early on Sunday identified the two as Raja Azad and Sajjad Naeem.
Both of them are from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
The television channel quoted family members as saying that they have lost contacts with the two.
Speculation about their whereabouts come in the wake of recent (…)

Group linked to al Qaeda warns of ’columns of car bombs’
Australia and Italy received warnings Saturday through a statement purportedly from militants linked to al Qaeda that demanded those countries withdraw troops from Iraq.
The message was posted on an Islamist Web site and was signed by a group identifying itself as Islamic Unification (Islamic Tawhid), an al Qaeda-linked organization in Europe.
To Italy, which has about 2,700 troops in Iraq, the militants warned "you will have (…)