Chronological Review of Events/January 2004 - DPR review

Division for Palestinian Rights

Chronological Review of Events Relating to the

Question of Palestine

Monthly media monitoring review

January 2004

Israeli soldiers shot dead Mohammad Jaber Said, 16, when they opened fire on a group of Palestinians throwing stones at cars of Israeli settlers outside the village of Usarin, south of Nablus. Israeli military sources said some Palestinians, using rocks and a metal bar, had tried to block the road, which was a main traffic artery used by the settlers. Soldiers hit the victim in the abdomen when he ignored calls to freeze, and instead ran away, according to military sources. Mr. Said was transferred to an Israeli hospital where he died. (AFP, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA))

Palestinian sources in Nablus reported that Israeli security forces had arrested the brother of Naif Abu Shareh, a senior Fatah member, during an operation in the city. The sources added that later in the night, the IDF had arrested Mr. Abu Sharef’s wife, allegedly in an attempt to pressure Mr. Sharek to surrender. (Ha’aretz)

Osama el-Baz, adviser to Egyptian President Mubarak, met with PA President Arafat and called on both Israelis and Palestinians to implement the Road Map. He described his meeting with Mr. Arafat as encouraging in terms of resuming contacts with Israel, saying: “What I heard during my meeting with the President has reassured me and given us hope for the future. We hope that for its part Israel will also follow its commitments so that we can reach a compromise.” He said Egypt was working with the PA to prevent a serious deterioration and hoped to see the results in the coming weeks. (AFP, AP, DPA)

Two Israeli NGOs – B'Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel – demanded that the military police open an inquiry every time an unarmed Palestinian was killed. The IDF responded that investigations were often launched but could not be expected to be opened for every case because the intifada was an “armed conflict.” The Supreme Court had given the authorities 30 days to respond to the NGOs’ petition, stressing that the State’s explanation had not been sufficient. (AFP)

Israel was ready to complete a bypass road to the West Bank outpost of “Tapuah Maarav,” which the Government had said was slated for removal, local television reported. Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said he intended to raise at the weekly Cabinet meeting the matter of the new road, which had cost US$1 million. He demanded that the outpost be demolished by the IDF, and would investigate who had given approval for the road to the site to be built. A simple extension of that road could pave the way for the outpost’s incorporation into the neighbouring settlement of “Ariel.” Residents of the outpost were also building a seminary dedicated to the late Rabbi Meir Kahane. (AFP, Ha’aretz)

Israeli soldiers arrested seven Palestinians suspected of involvement in anti-Israeli attacks in the village of Yamin, near Jenin, according to Palestinian security forces. Thirteen other Palestinians suspected of having thrown Molotov cocktails at troops were arrested near Hebron. (AFP, Ha’aretz)

Israeli troops fired at a stone-throwing crowd in Nablus, injuring two Palestinians, one, Majdi Kulab, 21, critically and the other moderately, sources said. (Albawaba.com)

The IDF lifted its siege on Jenin. Tanks pulled back in the morning, putting an end to a tight blockade imposed in August 2003 following a suicide attack in Jerusalem. An army statement said the move had come after a joint security meeting, “one of many between brigade commanders in the West Bank with their Palestinian counterparts, in order to clarify the IDF’s policy and intentions, aiming at allowing the Palestinian population to keep their lifestyle intact.” Officially, Nablus was the only major West Bank city to remain closed. However, it remained very difficult for Palestinians from elsewhere to travel in the West Bank due to the scores of roadblocks. Israeli troops could still go in and out of Jenin and other cities under the Palestinian Authority at will to carry out searches and arrests. (AFP)

Hundreds of Arab-Israeli and Palestinian demonstrators held a joint protest against the separation barrier, with protesters gathering on both sides of the barrier. Jamal Zahalka, one of the three Arab Israeli MKs attending the demonstration, told AFPthat up to 1,000 protesters had gathered by the barrier in Baqa Al-Garbiya, a village lying just inside Israel. At the same time, a similar number of Palestinian protesters gathered on the opposite side of the wall in the West Bank town of Nazlat Isa, Palestinian security sources said. Demonstrators on both sides called for the barrier to be destroyed. “There will be no peace when there is a wall. We must build peace between Israel and the Palestinians, not a wall," they declared. The protesters expressed anger at the building of the fence, which residents said would divide them from the Palestinian section of the town, Baqa Ash-Sharqiya. (AFP, Ha’aretz)

Swedish lawmaker Gustav Fridolin, who had een arrested during a protest against the wall, arrived in Stockholm, saying he had been forced to leave Israel, although not officially expelled. “I was made to state in writing that I had left the country of my own free will, while being driven in a prison vehicle to the airport with police carrying loaded guns. How much free will was involved is clearly open to debate,” he told the TT news agency. Expulsion orders had also been handed to three other foreign peace activists arrested together with Mr. Fridolin. The three, one Swede and two US citizens, had decided to use their right to appeal. (AFP)

An Israeli-Palestinian team had left the Chilean port city of Puerto Williams to begin a joint expedition to Antarctica, Israel Radioreported. The four Israelis and four Palestinians, sailing in two boats, were scheduled to reach the South Pole on 3 January. They planned to climb a 2,000m peak as an example of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation. On reaching the summit the group would collectively name the peak and conduct a short ceremony. The expedition, titled “Breaking the Ice,” was a peace mission initiated by the Tel Aviv-based Peres Peace Centre, founded by the Labour Party’s Shimon Peres. Mr. Peres as well as PA President Arafat telephoned the expedition members to wish them a successful journey. (DPA)

The Israeli Labour Party youth began a campaign encouraging the IDF to pull out of the Gaza Strip by Passover, in spring of 2004. (Ha’aretz)

Israeli troops in Nablus shot dead four Palestinians, among them two teenagers. Another Palestinian was killed in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian eyewitnesses said the gunfire had killed three men, including one passer-by, identified by hospital officials as Rohi Shoman, 19; Amer Arafat, 26; and Amjad al-Masri, 15. Another Palestinian, Mohammed el-Masri, was pronounced clinically dead in Nablus hospital after Israeli soldiers had shot him in the head as he helped carry the coffin of his 15-year-old cousin, one of those killed earlier by Israeli gunfire. In the Gaza Strip, Israelis shot and killed a Palestinian outside a military outpost near Khan Yunis. Palestinian officials said he was 17 years old. The shooting had occurred the night before and the body was found the next day, lying beside a bomb. (AFP, Albawaba.com)

Ismail Abu Shaaduf, 22, a member of the Al-Quds Brigades (a military wing of the Islamic Jihad), was arrested by Israeli troops during a raid on Birqin village, west of Jenin. Around 20 IDF jeeps moved into the village, provoking a barrage of stones thrown by villagers. Troops then responded by firing tear gas and stun grenades. Shooting could be heard as troops surrounded several houses and began searching them. Israeli troops had lifted the blockade on Jenin but a spokesman said they reserved the right to return to the area to conduct searches and arrests when the army deemed it necessary. In Qalqilya, Israeli troops arrested six Palestinians suspected of involvement in “anti-Israeli attacks.” Most of those detained were members of the PFLP. (AFP, Albawaba.com)

PA Prime Minister Qureia condemned the international community for its silence following the killing of the four Palestinians in Nablus. “Whenever the Palestinians carry out any attacks or operations against Israel they are condemned by the whole world, but when Israel carries out attacks against our people, the international community stays silent,” he told Voice of Palestine radio. Negotiations Affairs Minister Saeb Erakat condemned the killings in Nablus as “atrocities” and told Reuters he held Israel “fully responsible for the consequences of the escalation.” (Albawaba.com, AFP, Reuters)

Israel issued work authorizations to nearly 30,000 Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Some 19,000 merchants from Gaza as well as 10,000 from the West Bank “have been authorized to work in Israel as part of a series of measures designed to ease living conditions in the territories,” a military spokesman said. (AFP)

Prime Minister Sharon and Defence Minister Mofaz signed orders to remove two outposts in the West Bank, “Tal Binyamin,” north-east of Ramallah, and “Havat Maon,” south of Hebron. Once the directive was passed, the entire area of an outpost would be declared a “closed military zone,” forbidding the entry of other settlers and supporters who might try to stop the dismantling of the outposts. Sources said about 3,500 soldiers and police officers would participate in the evacuation. Peace Now official Dror Etkes said, “This is far, far, far away from touching the massive infrastructure of settlements or outposts. There are 40 or 50 much bigger outposts that should have been dismantled under the Road Map.” The Yesha Council vowed to fight the orders using all legal means. (AFP, AP)

A military tribunal sentenced five Israelis to a year in prison for refusing to serve in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The five, all aged 20, had already been convicted on 16 December of insubordination after a court martial in Jaffa rejected their argument that they objected to serve on the grounds of conscience. The court ruled that their motives had been political. The five soldiers had already served 11 months on remand but would now have to serve a further 12 months. “We did not expect anything else from the tribunal of an army which occupies and oppresses a whole people and from a regime which has forgotten the meaning of democracy,” according to Mr. Hagai Matar, one of those sentenced. (AFP)

The IDF would soon be equipped with new crowd dispersal equipment, Ha’aretzreported. Two main types were rubber-coated bullets and teargas, and the army intended to get equipment that allowed tear gas canisters to be fired over greater distances, and to buy improved and more accurate rubber bullets. The IDF was also considering the use of a sound generator that would make it difficult for people to remain in a particular spot. The noise-making device was already being manufactured, but the IDF had not yet tested its efficacy. (Ha’aretz)

Israel’s Labour Party Central Committee approved a policy that included a return to the 1967 borders within the framework of a peace agreement, as well as a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The policy had been previously approved by the party’s Knesset faction. According to a document presented by MK Haim Ramon, in the absence of an agreement with the Palestinians, Israel would undertake a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. The army would control the border; air and naval control would remain in Israeli hands; and the security zone between Gaza and Egypt would be broadened. Settlers would be evacuated with guaranteed financial compensation and arrangements for their resettlement inside Israel. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Qureia said that while Palestinians would “not be sorry” when Israel removed any settlement, they “totally rejected” any move which was part of unilateral Israeli steps to determine new borders. Borders, he said, would be determined through negotiations and implementing signed agreements, but “we will not be party to unacceptable steps such as the removal of few outposts here or there.” (DPA, Ha’aretz)

Israel’s Likud Party Central Committee debated whether to force Prime Minister Sharon to clear every major policy decision with the body. Of several Committee proposals, one recommended transferring Palestinians to a region in Jordan and Syria. On his part, Jordan’s Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez said the next day that Jordan rejected “any Israeli schemes which seek to expel Palestinians or to return to statements that Jordan is a substitute homeland [for Palestinians].” Instead, he said, Israel must revive peace negotiations with Palestinians to allow them statehood in the West Bank. Later in the week the Likud statements drew a sharp reaction from King Abdullah, who affirmed: “Jordan will not be an alternative homeland for anybody”. (AP, DPA)

Israel would inform the Intrnational Court of Justice (ICJ) that it rejected its authority to deliberate on the building of the separation barrier, but would also present arguments to justify the security need for the barrier, senior political sources in Jerusalem said. Foreign Ministry jurists suggested rejecting the Court’s authority to avoid getting into substantive issues and thus affording legitimacy to the process. Foreign Minister Shalom tended not to accept this position, according to reports. Legal advisers argued that the case before the ICJ should not be viewed only from a legal standpoint, or in terms of the chances for its success, but also from a political and public relations standpoint. A special team coordinated by Meir Rosen, former legal adviser to the Foreign Ministry and former Ambassador to Washington, would present recommendations to a special forum of ministers comprising Prime Minister Sharon, Deputy Prime Minister Olmert, Foreign Minister Shalom, Finance Minister Netanyahu, Defence Minister Mofaz, and Justice Minister Lapid. The forum would decide on the line of defence Israel would present to the ICJ. International jurist Prof. Daniel Bethlehem of Cambridge University would represent Israel at the ICJ. (Ha’aretz)

Israel’s Justice Minister Tommy Lapid said Israel risked an international boycott over its separation barrier similar to that faced by apartheid-era South Africa. “There is a danger that we will be exposed to an international boycott as was the case before the fall of the regime of South Africa,” according to his spokesman Tzahi Moshe. Mr. Lapid said the Government should “have another look” at the route of the barrier. Six per cent of West Bank territory would effectively be annexed into the Green Line with the completion of the separation barrier, a security official said. (AFP)

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher and Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa met to build a case before the International Court of Justice against Israel’s separation barrier. In a joint press conference, Mr. Moasher said, “We have set up a working team in order to present our case to the International Court to help it take a sound judgment. We are also coordinating with several international lawyers on this issue as well as the Arab League.” He had also said the barrier presented a danger to Jordan’s national security as well as Palestinian rights, but stressed that Jordan was neither a plaintiff nor a defendant. Jordan “has a clear responsibility to present our own case. We have been closely associated with the Palestinian issue for a very long time and the West Bank was part of Jordan,” Mr. Moussa said. He added that the Arab League would provide information to the ICJ and “will be part of” the case against the wall. (AFP)

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and King Abdullah of Jordan reiterated the importance of pushing forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, stressing “the need to work to resume peace negotiations and put an end to the continuing violence in the Palestinian territories,” according to the Jordanian news agency Petra. King Abdullah said Israeli aggression against Palestinians, including incursions into Palestinian cities and villages and building the separation wall, would increase violence and tension in the region, the article said. (Reuters, www.petra.gov.jo)

Israeli troops opened fire on a group of Palestinians throwing stones at them in the El-Ayn refugee camp in Nablus, killing a 17-year-old and wounding a 14-year-old. (Ha’aretz, Reuters)

Eight Palestinians and eight Israeli border guards were wounded during clashes in the village of Al-Walaja, north-west of Bethlehem. According to witnesses, the eight Palestinians were all part of the Khalifa family and had been injured when Israeli soldiers beat them on the site where members of the family had been building a house. Three of the wounded and another member of the family were arrested by the police following the scuffles. Israeli Radiosaid eight soldiers had been wounded in “clashes with villagers” during an operation to search for “Palestinian workers living illegally in the village.” Al-Walaja was a village of 2,000 inhabitants. It was under Palestinian rule and its residents did not hold Israeli ID cards. The route of the separation barrier appeared set to completely encircle Al-Walaja, together with a few other Palestinian villages. (AFP, DPA)

Shooting broke out between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the Tulkarm refugee camp. Around 25 IDF tanks and jeeps entered the camp and troops quickly surrounded a number of houses, using explosives to blow the doors in. There were no initial reports of any arrests or injuries. (AFP)

PA Prime Minister Qureia said Israel’s continued “aggression” was diminishing the chance of his holding a meeting with Prime Minister Sharon. “The raids, the aggression and the incursions continue and I do not think that in such a context the meeting [with Mr. Sharon] will bring the results that we hope for. We are not against the holding of such a meeting, but we want it to lead to the alleviation of the suffering of our people and open the political perspectives for a just settlement,” Mr. Qureia said. (AFP, The Guardian)

The Government agreed to give the settlers 15 days instead of six, to appeal evacuation orders, a Justice Ministry spokesperson said. Settlers thus had eight days to appeal to the army and a further week to appeal to the courts. (The Guardian)

In a speech to the Likud Party Central Committee Convention, Prime Minister Sharon reiterated his commitment to remove settlements in a future peace deal or, if peace talks failed, as part of his unilateral separation plan from the Palestinians. “It is clear that in a permanent peace accord, we will have to give up some of the Jewish settlements, he said, setting off a chorus of protest. Yediot Aharonotstressed that Mr. Sharon’s position was no more than a speech for the moment. Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On said, “The Prime Minister continues to toy with an entire nation. He continues to proclaim, but nothing happens.” PA President Arafat said, “They don’t want peace, but the continuation of the military operation and what they are doing, removing outposts here and there, which is only deception.” (AFP, AP)

A Hamas leader said his group had had contacts with US officials and did not rule out further talks. Mohammed Nazal, a member of the Hamas political bureau based in Damascus, said, “In principle, we are not hostile to contacts or meetings with the American Administration. In the past, we have had such contacts without revealing their existence or contents.” Sources close to Hamas said meetings had taken place with American representatives in Beirut and Qatar. (AFP)

Israeli forces allegedly withdrew from Nablus after a three-week operation, whereas the army said that the operation aimed at militants was still ongoing. During the three-week operation, 12 Palestinians had been killed. Witnesses said troops had left behind wide-scale destruction. (AP)

A senior IDF source said that “the military may again use live fire against Israelis demonstrating along the separation fence.” According to the source, the military would not be able to supply all soldiers on duty in the region with crowd dispersal means, and therefore there would be a situation in which demonstrators might be shot at. (Ha’aretz)

A report by the Israeli military prosecution indicated that not one Israeli soldier had been jailed over Palestinian deaths since the start of the intifada in September 2000. Seventy-two investigations had been opened but only 13 soldiers had been indicted. The indictments had been followed up by suspended sentences and in some cases verdicts have not yet been issued, two years after the incidents, the report said. According to rights groups, at least 410 Palestinians under 18 had been killed since the intifada started. Among them were 11 infants, 90 children aged between three and 12 and 304 teenagers between 13 and 17. Ninety women over 20 had also been killed. (Ha’aretz, Middle East Online)

The IDF had drawn up a list of 28 unauthorized West Bank outposts that needed to be torn down under the requirements of the Road Map, including 19 outposts inhabited by some 400 settlers, security sources said. The largest was “Migron,” with some 43 families. Six of the outposts were identified for evacuation in the past week. Prime Minister Sharon’s spokesman Ra’anan Gissin said Mr. Sharon had given approval “in general” for dismantling outposts, but had not given a specific number. “I don’t know about these 28. He has agreed to speed up and expedite the dismantling of outposts,” he said. (AP)

Arab countries would respond “with all means” if Israel tried to force the Palestinians out of their territories, according to Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who stressed that Prime Minister Sharon “wants to drive the Palestinians into exile in Arab countries to make it an Arab problem. This is unacceptable and Arab States will respond with all means at their disposal.” He defended the right of return for Palestine refugees and said the issue could be settled within the framework of the Saudi initiative for Middle East peace, put forward in February 2002. He had also said earlier after meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Jean Obeid that Arab countries should join hands to thwart “Israel’s strategy of turning the Palestinian issue into an Arab problem” by raising the possibility of resettling the refugees in their current host countries. Mr. Obeid said, “The resettlement plan cannot be foiled without upholding the [refugees] right of return, and there can be no right of return without the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian State.” (AFP)

In prayers to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, Pope John Paul II urged leaders in the Middle East to work more closely for regional peace. Recalling the words spoken by his predecessor Pope Paul VI on his 1964 visit to the Holy Land, he said, “From the place where the Prince of Peace was born, he called on the leaders of nations to show close and constant cooperation to bring about peace in truth, justice, freedom and brotherly love.” (AFP)

Organizers of the Geneva Peace Initiative said they hoped to entice ministers from Israel’s Cabinet into endorsing the plan. Polls showed that support for the Initiative, launched on 1 December, held steady at around a third among both the Israeli and the Palestinian population. Organizers were hopeful that they could build more momentum by attracting high-profile persons and by steady campaigning, which would include a mass rally in Tel Aviv on 24 January. A new poll conducted by the Magor Mochot Research Institute showed that 35 per cent of Israelis were in favour of the accord and 40 per cent said they were against it. But the same poll found that, when asked if they backed a permanent status agreement based on the main principles of the agreement without mentioning Geneva by name, the figure rose to 41 per cent in favour with 38 per cent opposed. Marwan Jilani, Palestinian member of the Initiative’s steering committee, said the situation was similar among residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip: “When you put the package without mentioning Geneva, support goes up to 60 per cent, but when you mention Geneva it went down to about 35.” (AFP)

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller arrived in Jordan for a two-day visit for talks on the situation in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr. Møller was to meet with Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher to discuss issues of common interest. He was scheduled to visit Cairo on 8 January. (AFP)

Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians in pre-dawn raids in Nablus and Tulkarm. Ibrahim Radwan Al-Atari, 30, a member of the Fatah Tanzim militia, and Abdel Afu Al-Qasas, 27, were killed in Nablus, while Hisham Khrewesh, 20, was killed in the Tulkarm area. Israeli sources said Mr. Attari had been killed after brandishing a pistol at soldiers, while Mr. Al-Qasas had been shot while hiding behind a bush. Subsequent checks indicated that he had been unarmed. Mr. Khrewesh was killed during a shootout in the Tulkarm refugee camp when 10 Israeli jeeps moved into the area. A total of 24 Palestinians were arrested overnight, including a deputy commander of Fatah in Jenin. (AFP, Albawaba.com, Ha’aretz)

IDF troops arrested three Palestinian youths they said had crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip, close to the kibbutz Kfar Aza. Police at the settlement of “Ma’ale Adumim” arrested a member of the PFLP suspected of planning to kill two Israelis. (Ha’aretz)

PA Negotiations Affairs Minister Saeb Erakat said the latest deaths were proof that the Israeli Government was trying to wreck the peace process. “The Israeli aggression, especially its assassination policy and the incursions, is part of a military plan by the Sharon Government which aims to destroy any chance of applying the peace process and implementation of the Road Map. Israel must take responsibility for the outcome of this escalation,” he said. (AFP)

Meretz MK Roman Bronfman said he had established an “MK intervention force” to monitor IDF activities at roadblocks in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, following an incident during the week in which a road from Qalqilya to Mas-ha had been blocked for an entire day, keeping hundreds of people waiting until he arrived on the scene after receiving complaints. Mr. Bronfman said the MKs would make surprise visits and also respond to calls from activists. (The Jerusalem Post)

In the first meeting of the Territories Forum, a body of Israeli defence and civil officials convened to assess ways to improve the condition of Palestinian civilians, Defence Minister Mofaz instructed the IDF and district coordinating offices to implement a number of measures to take effect immediately: to improve the treatment of Palestinians living in areas close to the separation barrier; to improve the conditions at border crossings into the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel; to speed up inspections and expand their hours of operation; to have more soldiers manning the crossings and IDF roadblocks to speed up the process; to deploy senior officers at each roadblock and to place an Arabic-speaking soldier at the checkpoints; to extend the hours of operation at the Allenby Bridge and the Rafah crossing. IDF district commanders would also receive more authority to decide whether to move or extend the operating hours of roadblocks, and to decide on the length of curfews. In addition, Mr. Mofaz, in accordance with a Government decision made a few weeks earlier, ordered the transfer of NIS1.5 million in assets confiscated by Israel as connected with alleged terrorist activities. The funds were to go to the local Palestinian population to improve infrastructure or to purchase food or medication. Participants in the four-hour meeting included IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya’alon, Shin Bet Chief Avi Dichter, Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Dan Harel, Coordinator of Government activities in the Palestinian territories Yosef Mislav, and the IDF’s “civil administration” officials in the West Bank. Participants said that the only services still functioning in the PA-controlled areas were health and education and that the streets were ruled by armed gangs. (AP, The Jerusalem Post)

PA Foreign Affairs Minister Nabil Sha’ath said after talks with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Berlin: “What is important within the European context is to work to get a ceasefire and in every way to stop the building of the wall inside the heart of the Palestinian territory.” Mr. Sha’ath also said he was optimistic about movement towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians despite the fact that the US would be preoccupied with presidential elections in November: “I am sure movement will take place.” Mr. Sha'ath met with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin earlier in the week and was scheduled to be in London on 8 January to meet with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and in Dublin on 9 January for talks with his Irish counterpart Brian Cowen. (AFP)

A statement of principles by the organizers of The Peoples’ Voice said more than 250,000 people had signed a petition in its favour. The Peoples’ Voice had “realized its projected campaign goal of accumulating over 100,000 Palestinian endorsers by the end of 2003 … [and] over 150,000 Israelis have signed the statement of principles,” the group said in a statement. The initiative, officially launched in July 2002, had been drafted by former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon and Palestinian intellectual Sari Nusseibeh. The agreement advocated the creation of a Palestinian State covering the areas occupied by Israel in 1967 and was being promoted in the form of a petition submitted to the people on both sides. (AFP)

Five Israelis who had refused army service in the West Bank and Gaza began one-year terms at Prison 6, a military jail near the northern Israeli town of Atlit, after courts refused to recognize them as conscientious objectors. (AFP, AP; see 5 January 2004)

Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, hospital officials said, when the troops opened fire after briefly entering the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood near the border with Egypt. The IDF also demolished two houses in Rafah. An IDF spokesman said the army was investigating the report; however, to the best of their knowledge, no troops had been operating in the area at the time of the alleged incident. (AFP, AP, International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC), IPC, The Jerusalem Post)

According to Palestinian security and medical sources, plain-clothed Israeli security forces travelling in a civilian vehicle shot and killed Asaad Salah Khaliliyeh, 32, in front of the Jenin municipality building. The sources added that he was a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, as well as a policeman in the Palestinian National Security. The Brigades vowed to avenge his killing with attacks inside Israel. Israeli military sources said the man had been shot while trying to escape an arrest attempt. (AFP, AP, DPA)

Ma’ariv quoted Prime Minister Sharon as saying he would not bring his disengagement plan to the Likud Central Committee for approval. In talks with his aides, Mr. Sharon reportedly said that “when it [becomes] relevant, I will bring the proposals to the Cabinet for approval,” pointing out that Prime Minister Begin had only brought the peace deal with Egypt to the party after he had already signed it. (AP)

An Israeli soldier, arrested over a shooting in the Gaza Strip in April 2003 that left British peace activist Tom Hurndall brain-dead, had also been accused of drug-taking, a military source told AFP. The Bedouin Arab sergeant, whose identity had not been revealed, was accused of being one of a group of around a dozen soldiers who smoked cannabis during the course of an operation. He had been arrested in late December 2003, with the military saying he had admitted shooting in the direction of an unarmed civilian after initially claiming that Mr. Hurndall had first opened fire at him with a pistol. (AFP; see 11 April and 6 May 2003)

A report released by Israel’s General Security Service (Shin Bet) said 213 Israelis, including 50 soldiers and policemen, had been killed in attacks on “Israeli targets” in 2003, compared with 451 in 2002. There had been 3,838 such attacks, marking a 28 per cent drop from the previous year’s 5,301 attacks. The Shin Bet count included suicide bombings in Israel and shooting attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as firebombs thrown at troops or settlers. Suicide attacks were responsible for 60 per cent of Israeli deaths in 2003, the report said, but their occurrence had decreased to 26 from 60 in 2002 and 35 in 2001. According to an AFP count, 3,694 people had been killed since the start of the intifada in September 2000, including 2,768 Palestinians and 860 Israelis; and the number of Palestinians killed had dropped to 680 in 2003 from more than 1,200 in 2002. (AFP, DPA, IBA, Independent Media Review Analysis (IMRA))

Prime Minister Qureia said the Palestinians would seek a bi-national State and demand the same rights as Israelis if Israel carried out its threat to absorb parts of the West Bank. He also criticized Prime Minister Sharon’s unilateralism, including Israel’s construction of a separation barrier in the West Bank, telling AP that such unilateral moves would make the drive for a Palestinian State a “meaningless slogan.” “This is an apartheid solution to put the Palestinians in cantons. Who can accept this?” he said in an interview with Reuters in his Abu Dis office. “We will go for a one-State solution … There’s no other solution. We will not hesitate to defend the right of our people when we feel the very serious intention to destroy these rights.” (AP, Reuters)

According to Israel Radio,Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin told a Gaza-based German journalist that he was prepared to accept a temporary peace with Israel and a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza with Jerusalem as its capital, and was ready to leave other territorial demands to posterity. (The Jerusalem Post)

Speaking ahead of talks with PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana said: “I cannot lie to you if I were to say that I am optimistic,” adding that he was “pessimistic in the sense that I don’t see motion.” Referring to the Geneva peace initiative, as well as other diplomatic efforts, he said: “I would not like to see them losing momentum.” Mr. Solana said he planned to meet Mr. Sha’ath on 9 January in Brussels, ahead of a meeting in Paris on 19 January with, among others, co-author of the Geneva Initiative Yossi Beilin, “so that we maintain the momentum of the peace process.” He also said he hoped for talks among the Quartet envoys “soon,” although he could not give a date. (AFP)

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher told a group of foreign reporters in Amman: “We will submit to the International Court of Justice a legal dossier by the end of January against the separation wall.” “The wall must be destroyed,” Mr. Moasher said. “It is a legal issue and the International Court of Justice must rule on the destruction of the wall … The Arabs must act to put an end to the construction of this wall.” APquoted unnamed government officials as saying that Jordan would not file a lawsuit against Israel, and that the Jordanian move was aimed at building an international consensus based on legal evidence against the wall. (AFP, AP)

In his first formal press conference of the new year, US Secretary of State Colin Powell called the Israeli-Palestinian conflict one of the biggest challenges facing US foreign policy in 2004. He described developments in that connection as not meeting expectations. “Far from it,” Mr. Powell said. Asked to comment on PA Prime Minister Qureia’s interview earlier in the day, Mr. Powell said the one-State idea was not viable: “We’re committed to a two-State solution. I believe that’s the only solution that will work: a State for the Palestinian people called Palestine and a Jewish State, State of Israel.” “I don’t believe that we can accept a situation that results in anything that one might characterize as apartheid or [Bantustans]” he added. Commenting on the upcoming trip to Egypt of US envoy to the Middle East William Burns, Mr. Powell said he would be encouraging the Arab states “to play a more active role,” adding: “I hope he can build a little momentum to get a little more pressure from the Egyptians and others to place on the PA.” In reaction to comments by Secretary of State Powell, Chairman Arafat’s adviser Nabil Abu Rudeineh told AFP:“There is great Palestinian disappointment with the lack of serious US efforts to implement the Road Map,” and charged that Israel was not delivering on its pledge to implement the Road Map and that President Bush was allowing Prime Minister Sharon to press on with unilateral measures: “The Americans are giving Israel the opportunity to continue their aggression and the construction of the wall … We want to see US actions to make sure the Road Map is implemented and not just words. But so far the Americans are letting Israel walk away from the Road Map.” (AFP, DPA, www.state.gov)

Several dozen Israeli jeeps and armoured vehicles entered Jenin and the adjacent refugee camp before dawn and troops imposed a curfew on the camp. Atta Abu Rumeila, head of the Fatah branch in the camp, was arrested. An army spokesman said the operation was aimed at capturing Palestinian militants suspected of involvement in anti-Israeli attacks. He did not elaborate on the reasons for the arrest of Mr. Abu Rumeila, but added that five more Palestinians had been captured during the raid. Palestinian security sources said another Fatah official had been arrested as well as three members of the group’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, while witnesses said that 15 Palestinians had been arrested. Israeli troops also raided the nearby village of Qabatiya overnight, arresting two Islamic Jihad members. (AFP, AP)

Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland, which took over the six-month rotating EU Presidency on 1 January, was to meet with PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath before travelling to Berlin. “The Taoiseach’s (Prime Minister’s) discussion will include developments in the region and prospects for progress in the stalled peace process,” the statement from Mr. Ahern’s office said. (AFP,

Hamas will not commit the same mistake in agreeing on a new truce with Israel which will not be respected by the latter,” the movement’s spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin told the Saudi magazine Al-Majallah,published in London. He said, however, that his group was prepared for a new truce “on the condition that the countries that want this truce give guarantees” to Hamas, including “respect for the truce by Israel, and an end to the occupation and aggression against the Palestinian people.” “Hamas will not halt attacks on Israeli civilians as long as Israeli forces do not cease attacks on Palestinian civilians,” said Sheikh Yassin. (AFP)

The PLO Executive Committee met in the evening to discuss the ongoing conflict with Israel. A statement released after the meeting said Palestinians had the right to announce the establishment of a Palestinian State with the June 1967 borders, including East Jerusalem. (AP, Palestine Media Centre, Xinhua)

A leaflet from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, military wing of the Fatah movement, said IDF undercover agents driving a car with a Palestinian licence plate had ambushed the Brigades’ commander Zakarya Al-Zubeidi in the western neighbourhood of Jenin. Mr. Al-Zubeidi was shot in the abdomen and shoulder as the Israeli agents surrounded him and attempted to kidnap him, but he managed to flee the scene and was taken to a safe place, the leaflet said, adding that his health condition was stable. The group said that the assassination had been carried out while the IDF arrested a number of Fatah members. Mr. Al-Zubeidi’s mother and brother had been killed by the IDF during a military operation against Jenin refugee camp in April 2002. (Xinhua)

An 18-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli troops in Nablus while throwing rocks at military vehicles which had entered one of the neighbourhoods. (CNN, DPA)

Iyad al-Masri, 17, was killed in an explosion outside a West Bank village near Qalqilya. Israel said the explosives had gone off prematurely. The Al-ManarTV station said the Islamic Jihad had sent Mr. al-Masri, but Nablus members of the group denied that. (AP, CNN, Xinhua)

Prime Minister Qureia made his first visit to the separation barrier built by Israel outside of Qalqilya. Mr. Qureia called it “the racist separation wall that intends to turn the areas of the West Bank into isolated cantons that are not acceptable to any form of Palestinian government or any form of Palestinian State.” “We turn our direction to the United States, to President Bush, to Europe, to Russia, to the United Nations,” Mr. Qureia said, urging them to convince Israel to halt its construction. “This wall will not bring peace or security for the Israelis,” he said. “If the Israeli side wants to build peace, they will find the Palestinian side ready to build peace as well, on the basis of two countries – a country for the Israelis and a country for the Palestinians.” Mr. Qureia reiterated his support for a two-State solution, but said that it was “just one of many options.” (AP, BBC, Ha’aretz, Xinhua)

Former PA Minister of Security Affairs Mohammad Dahlan voiced opposition to Prime Minister Qureia’s statement on a bi-national State for Palestinians. Mr. Dahlan told reporters that the proposal could only enhance Prime Minister Sharon’s policy: “I was surprised to hear this proposal from the Palestinian premier, but the Palestinian leadership then asserted that it was not considering such an issue.” (Xinhua)

Palestinian Authority President Arafat is planning to call for an international peace conference based on the 1991 Madrid model, according to a report published by the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas. (Ha’aretz)

About 120,000 settlers and their backers gathered in front of the Tel Aviv municipality building in the evening to protest the plans by Prime Minister Sharon to dismantle some settlements. Housing Minister Effi Eitam of the National Religious Party accused Mr. Sharon of weakness, saying: “In the battlefield there is no disengagement plan; you know that would be running away.” (AP)

Addressing the Foreign Press Corps in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Sharon said he remained committed to the Road Map. “When Israel – and I hope that we’ll be able to do it soon – has to follow the Road Map, Israel will not be able to hold all the Jewish communities” in the West Bank and Gaza. “Even if we do not succeed – and I assure you that we will make every effort to implement the Road Map – but if we do not succeed and we have to take unilateral steps of disengagement, no doubt there would be some relocation of Jewish communities, and redeployment of Israeli armed forces: all that in order to provide more security to the State of Israel,” he further said. Israeli media reported that Maj.-Gen. Giora Eiland, who was to oversee the disengagement plan, had already ordered Government ministries to begin preparations for the pullback. (AP, www.mfa.gov.il)

Palestinian human rights organizations announced their intention to refuse aid from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) because of its requirement that NGOs sign a “Certification Regarding Terrorist Financing” (Acquisition and Assistance Policy Directive 02-19 in implementation of the Executive Order 13224). The elements of E.O. 13224 considered especially controversial were those prohibiting assistance to (1) widows and orphans of PLO activists killed during the intifada and (2) the families of prisoners of the military wing of the PLO, even food to the needy. (Ha’aretz, www.usaid.gov)

Speaking to the Economic Affairs Committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council, PA Finance Minister Salam Fayyad said the PA opposed “all forms of terrorism” and that the new USAID terms were “not encouraging.” “The Palestinian Authority rejects the labelling of the PLO as a terrorist organization and we also reject the labelling of our people’s efforts to gain freedom as terrorism,” Mr. Fayyad said. The Committee’s Chairman Azmi Al-Shuaibi said USAID had given in 2003 some US$30 million to Palestinian NGOs to promote democracy, in addition to charitable services. Mr. Al-Shuaibi also said that there was a contradiction between the US conditions and the Palestinian law regarding NGOs, which were prohibited from accepting funds to which conditions had been attached. Only 10 percent of the Palestinian organizations accepted USAID assistance, he said, as opposed to 90 per cent that refused. Samih al-Abed, a senior official at the PA Planning Ministry, told the Committee he would again raise the aid terms issue at a meeting with US officials scheduled later in the week in Ramallah. (Ha’aretz, Reuters)

Beginning on 11 January, foreigners would reportedly be required to obtain permission from Israel to enter the Occupied Palestinian Territory, excluding East Jerusalem occupied and expanded in June 1967. Palestinian National Security Council Member Ghassan Al-Shaka described the Israeli measure as “an oppressive occupational measure that aims at barring foreigners and international peace activists’ access to the Palestinian territories.” (Xinhua)

Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin said the Palestinian resistance created a balance with the Israeli aggression. In a statement released on the movement’s web site, Yassin said that “the Zionist enemy had announced 2003 as a decisive year, but the Zionist troops had failed in bringing down Palestinians and their resistance,” adding that Israel had made a retreat regarding its positions by announcing that it would implement unilateral steps. Sheikh Yassin refuted all recent reports about his movement’s contacts with United States officials, saying “all those who think that contacts with the United States would achieve the Palestinians’ freedom and independence are wrong, because the enemy does not want peace, but wants Palestinians to surrender.” He said that the United States Administration was completely biased against Israel and that all contacts with the US could never bring about any positive change, because they only aimed at “liquidating the Palestinian cause.” (Xinhua)

Forty-one Jordanian lawmakers of different political backgrounds, including independents and Muslim fundamentalists, signed a memorandum, stating: “We ask the Government to take the appropriate measures to counter the dangerous statements made by Israeli Likud members on [expelling] our Palestinian brothers.” The memorandum called the statements a violation of the Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty of 1994 and urged the Cabinet to “take a decisive measure to consider the Israeli Ambassador persona non grata and cease all dealings and contacts with the Jewish entity,” including cancelling a planned visit to Jordan by Israel’s Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. (AP, DPA)

Saudi Arabia ‘s Ambassador to Britain, Prince Turki al-Faisal, said in remarks aired by Abu Dhabi TV: “United States policies in the region, and with respect to the Palestinian cause in particular, in my opinion and that of many Arabs and Muslims, [are] the main reason for Arab and Muslim enmity towards the United States … There is a lot of hesitation among officials in the United States to admit that the problem of Palestine is the main source of all criticism of the United States by the Arab and Muslim world.” (Reuters)

Speaking at the opening of an international conference on democracy in Sana’a, Yemen, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Amre Moussa said Arabs did not “have a quarrel with the Jews, Judaism or Semitism, but our battle is with the Israeli occupation of Arab territories and with the Israeli resistance to the establishment of a Palestinian State, including Jerusalem.” He accused Israel of “daily crimes,” saying Israel’s continued settlement building in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the construction of the separation barrier in the West Bank constituted a “dangerous violation of international laws and charters.” Mr. Moussa said the International Criminal Court should hear “such violations since they constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.” (UPI)

A large Israeli armoured force, backed by helicopter gunships, entered Tulkarm and began widespread searches in the city. Witnesses said soldiers had ordered residents of the city’s refugee camp to gather in schoolyards as their homes were being searched. Israeli military sources said troops were conducting “military activity against the terrorist infrastructure,” acting on the basis of intelligence information that Palestinians were about to launch suicide bombings from the city. Israeli military sources said the next day that troops had arrested 20 Palestinians suspected of involvement in anti-Israeli attacks, among them a man from the Tulkarm refugee camp preparing to carry out a suicide bombing. Five other Palestinians had been arrested in the camp over the previous 24 hours. (AFP, DPA)

The IDF demolished a house in the town of Yatta, south of Hebron, belonging to the family of an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member wanted by Israel. Five houses were reportedly demolished in Rafah. (DPA, IMEMC)

Israeli construction crews put 8-metre-high concrete slabs into the middle of a main road in Abu Dis, cutting off thousands of people from Jerusalem. The new wall on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem replaced a much lower divider between the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (AP)

Israel could begin withdrawing from parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in about six months, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. “In my estimation, by the month of June, our preparations for major unilateral moves will be complete … and this plan, including withdrawal from certain settlements, will begin to be implemented in the second half of this year,” Mr. Olmert was quoted as saying. (AP, The Jerusalem Post)

The Knesset’s Speaker and all faction heads decided to discuss Prime Minister Sharon’s proposals to implement unilateral measures in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, while opposition factions withdrew the no-confidence motion they had planned to submit. Mr. Sharon told the nationally televised session of parliament that his Government accepted the Road Map, with Israel’s 14 amendments, and that he would seek Knesset approval for any unilateral steps to be taken by Israel. He said the specifics of such steps had not been determined and avoided mentioning the “evacuation of settlements” in his speech. Opposition leader Shimon Peres urged Mr. Sharon to return to reality and stressed that his concessions to Palestinians were meaningless because they were continuously rescinded. “The Quartet is the body that judges your actions, and they said that the security fence was in direct contradiction to the Road Map,” Mr. Peres further said. “The Palestinians may not have ceased terror, but you are the one who have brought them to this.” In a roll-call vote with 51 in favour to 39 against, the Knesset approved the Prime Minister’s statement. (AFP, Ha’aretz, IBA, The Jerusalem Post)

Pope John Paul II, in his annual message to the world, said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continued to be “a permanent destabilizing factor for the whole region.” “I will never tire of telling the leaders of these two peoples that the choice of violence, the recourse on one side to terrorism and on the other to reprisals, the humiliation of the opponent, hateful propaganda, do not bring results,” he said. (Reuters)

PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath, on a European tour seeking increased support for the Middle East peace process, met in Oslo with several Norwegian officials, including Foreign Minister Jan Petersen. “I have asked several of our friends in Europe to help in pushing for two very important objectives. One is getting a ceasefire,” Mr. Sha’ath said, while the second was Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian areas. He also sought help in blocking the construction of a security barrier by Israel and pushed for the deployment of international observers. Mr. Sha’ath said United States involvement in the peace process had lessened in the wake of the insurgency in Iraq, and with Washington looking ahead towards November’s elections. “But I think inaction by the other parties really makes things worse,” he said. “We’ve got to keep trying.” (AP)

Former United States President Bill Clinton spoke at the closing of a three-day US-Islamic World Forum in Qatar, organized by the Washington-based Brookings Institution. “Sometimes I feel that our country is judged by many Muslims based on how they think the Mideast peace process is going, and whether they think we are doing enough to try and give the Palestinians a State and a decent future. That is not the only standard,” he said, adding: “America’s support for Israel is not rooted in hostility to the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians.” He said the United States supported Israel for several reasons, including the tragedy of the Holocaust, the large population of Jewish-Americans in the United States and because Israel’s creation and existence had been sanctioned by the United Nations. The Emir of Qatar and Muslim scholars had said at the start of the conference that Washington’s support for Israel was at the root of differences between the United States and Islamic nations. (AP)

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during exchanges of gunfire in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP quoted an Israeli source as saying that the Palestinian had been killed when an IDF patrol returned fire near Rafah. A Palestinian security source said that the clash had broken out next to the “Rafiah Yam” settlement. Witnesses also said that Israeli troops stationed at the roadblock that isolated Khan Yunis from the “Neveh Dekalim” settlement had suddenly opened fire at two Palestinian public security officers who were wearing uniforms and had rifles with them. The two officers were injured, then Palestinian residents tried to approach them to take them to the hospital, but the soldiers had opened fire at any Palestinian trying to reach them. Medical sources at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis said that seven Palestinians, two of them security officers, had been injured and had been brought to the hospital, adding that three of them were in stable condition. The clashes had followed the advance of Israeli bulldozers into Rafah and the destruction of 10 houses there late the previous night, said witnesses. A Palestinian public security spokesman also said the IDF had cut the Gaza Strip into two parts and prevented Palestinian traffic from crossing the southern roadblock linking the southern and northern Gaza Strip. The spokesman said more Israeli military reinforcements backed by jeeps and armoured vehicles had come to the roadblock and begun to search Palestinian cars. Other IDF units had reportedly been moved towards the Egyptian border in Rafah, apparently in an effort to destroy a tunnel said to be used for the smuggling of weapons across the border. (AFP, DPA, Reuters, Xinhua)

An Israeli settler was shot dead by Palestinian gunfire and three others wounded on a road near the “Talmon” settlement, west of Ramallah. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, received by AFP in Beirut, saying the attack was “in response to the invasion of Palestinian towns, villages and camps, from Rafah to Jenin, and the destruction of homes and arrests.” (AFP, Ha’aretz, IBA, Reuters)

Israeli military sources said that in an overnight operation in Tulkarm troops had arrested 20 Palestinians suspected of involvement in anti-Israeli attacks, among them a man from the Tulkarm refugee camp preparing to carry out a suicide bombing. Five other Palestinians had been arrested in the camp over the previous 24 hours. Stone-throwers confronted Israeli troops in the city, where Palestinian witnesses said about 200 residents had been rounded up for questioning, and some detained. (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Some 2,000 Palestinian Fatah supporters demonstrated in Jenin in a show of support for Zakaria Zubeidi, who had managed to escape an undercover IDF unit in the Jenin refugee camp on 9 January after being hit by three bullets. The “Al-Aqsa [Martyrs Brigades] will not give up its struggle against the occupation and will continue its operations against the army and settlers,” some people proclaimed, in the biggest demonstration for the group in almost two years. (AFP; see 12 January 2004)

The Governorate of Jenin issued a statement saying that Israeli authorities had arrested Ahmad Al-Qassam in December 2003, held him at Israel’s Salem detention camp, and deported him on 12 January to the Gaza Strip’s terminal at Beit Hanoun. The statement said, “We denounce the deportation of Ahmad Al-Qassam away from his wife and four children, just because he is the grandson of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam,” the leader of the Arab revolt in Palestine in the early 1930s. Known as the sheikh of the Palestinian Mujaheedin fighting the British Mandate forces, he was killed in a gun battle with British troops near Haifa after the British forces managed to end the uprising and agreed to give the Palestinians a form of autonomy in parts of Palestine. Hamas had named its military armed wing the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Ahmad Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, 38, was the leader of the National Union for Families of Martyrs, an NGO working in the northern West Bank. The Governorate’s statement called the deportation a “part of the oppressive measures carried out by Israel against Palestinians and their rights” and called for the release of Mr. Al-Qassam, saying that his detention contravened international law and norms, human rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention. (Xinhua)

Palestinian authorities received an Israeli list of 360 Palestinians who wished to travel to Mecca for the annual pilgrimage, including women and elderly men, and said Israel was creating “false pretexts” to keep them from leaving the Gaza Strip. No comment was immediately available from the IDF. Some 10,000 West Bank and Gaza Strip Palestinians intended to make the hajj to Mecca in early February. (AFP)

An unnamed Israeli Defence Ministry official, quoted by AP,said the Jerusalem section of the separation barrier would be completed by the end of the year 2004, and its south-east element would be finished by July or August. The Jerusalem section would extend over 76 km, out of an expected total of about 700 km, and would include the Abu Dis neighbourhoods, home of Prime Minister Qureia. Labourers had begun construction work there on 11 January and were expected to finish it by the end of January, the Defence Ministry official said. The official said work was proceeding around the clock on the Abu Dis wall in an attempt to minimize disruption to local residents, denying that Israel was accelerating the pace of construction there ahead of a planned hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the legal consequences of the entire barrier project. Nezah Mashiah, head of the barrier project at the Defence Ministry, said the wall in Abu Dis would extend for about 3.5 km and that its 8-metre height was necessary to protect against a direct line of fire from long-range weapons. The previous, shorter barrier had not actually been part of the official security barrier, he said: “That was nothing, just something built by local forces.” (AP; see also 12 January 2004)

The Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank said it was allocating US$20 million to support “educational, health and water supply projects for people affected by the separation wall.” It would also finance “small-scale project development in Palestine.” Some of the money would come from a fund set up by an Arab summit in 2000 to help the Palestinians. (Reuters)

PA Economy Minister Maher Masri told A: “We took loans from the bank for the past couple of months to pay salaries. If this situation continues … we will not be able to provide salaries next month.” Mr. Masri did not disclose the size of the loans, but figures would likely be made public when PA Finance Minister Salam Fayyad presented the 2004 budget to parliament during the coming week. (AP)

China had worked actively to aid Palestinian refugees and responded positively in increasing its contribution to assisting Palestine refugees in the occupied Palestinian territories, UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen told a press conference in Beijing, adding that his tour was aimed at seeking increased aid to the Palestinian refugees, which could somewhat help stabilize the situation in the Middle East and relieve the plight of the refugees. “After talking to officials from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Commerce, I learned the Chinese Government has responded in a positive way to my appeal,” said Mr. Hansen. At a UN meeting on the Palestine issue held in Beijing in December 2003, China said it had not only worked actively to promote peace in the Middle East through diplomatic channels, but also provided humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people. (Xinhua)

Palestinian Authority President Arafat’s top aide Nabil Abu Rudeineh responded to Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s remarks the previous day that Israel would implement its disengagement plan within six months, if no resolution was reached. Mr. Abu Rudeineh told reporters that “a unilateral disengagement plan would represent an unprecedented danger to the situation on the ground, especially since this plan is not based on any international agreement or legislation.” (Xinhua)

PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath told reporters in Stockholm after meeting with Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds: “The building of the wall, snaking inside the Palestinian territory, threatens the very dream of an independent Palestinian State. I think the European Union should play a more active role, particularly in a year of American elections.” (AP)

Visiting the Bedouin town of Segev Shalom in the southern Negev desert, Prime Minister Sharon welcomed Bedouin soldiers who had served in the Gaza Strip, and told them: “I hope that the day will come when we won’t have to be in the [Gaza] Strip and you will really be free to do things that are more important.” The speech was broadcast on Israel Army Radio. (Ha’aretz, The Jerusalem Post)

The future of Iraq and Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts would top the coming week’s agenda at the annual World Economic Forum of government and business leaders, organizers of the forum said. The Israeli delegation was to include Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Shalom. The Palestinian delegation would include Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath and Finance Minister Salam Fayyad. (AP)

Among the nominations for the 76th Annual Academy Awards in the category of best foreign-language films, “Divine Intervention” was to be listed as a film from Palestine. Producer Mark Johnson, Chairman of the Foreign Language Film Selection Committee, said in an interview: “As a basic guideline, we try to be as inclusive as possible, to look for reasons to include, rather than exclude. In a perfectly ordered world, we would only accept entries from recognized countries. But in reality, we now have entries from Hong Kong, which is part of China, and from Taiwan, which is not recognized by the United Nations. In the past, we’ve included Puerto Rico, a US commonwealth.” The reason the same entry had been rejected the year before, he said, was that entries could be submitted only by a country’s duly constituted body of actors, writers and directors, similar to the Academy in the US, while in 2002 “Divine Intervention” had been submitted by its French producer. (The Jerusalem Post)

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, delivering the inaugural Robert Burns Memorial Lecture at a gala dinner at UN headquarters , used the Scottish poet’s prayer for brotherhood to plead for an end to bigotry – especially against Muslims and Jews. In Burns’ poem “A Man’s A Man for A’ That,” he prayed “that man to man, the world o’er/shall … brothers be for a’ that.” “One of the most disturbing manifestations of bigotry today is Islamophobia – a new word for an old phenomenon,” Mr. Annan said, and also cautioned against anti-Semitism, which he said in part “appears to be a by-product” of the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel. “Criticism of Israeli policies is one thing. But it is quite another when such critiques take the form of attacks, physical or verbal, on Jewish individuals and the symbols of their heritage and faith,” he said. “No one should be allowed to use criticism of Israel’s actions as a mask for anti-Semitism. Nor on the other side should Israel’s supporters use the charge of anti-Semitism to stifle legitimate discussion.” (AFP, AP, Reuters, UN News Service)

Four Israelis – three soldiers and a civilian – were killed when a Palestinian woman blew herself up at the Erez crossing, the main border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, in an area used by Israeli soldiers and security services to process Palestinians using the crossing. The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said the bombing was a joint operation carried out by Reem Raiyshi, 22, who left behind two young children, 18 months and 3 years old, as well as her husband. The attack was the first Hamas suicide bombing by a woman. “I always wanted to be the first woman to carry out a martyrdom operation, where parts of my body can fly all over,” Ms. Raiyshi said in a farewell message taped by Hamas. “That is the only wish I can ask of God.” Four of the seven injured, who were treated in a hospital, were Palestinians, Israeli military sources said. Brig.-Gen. Gadi Shamni, a military commander for the Gaza region, said the woman had told soldiers she had a metal plate in her leg that could trigger detector alarms. While waiting for the arrival of a female soldier to check her, the bomber managed to enter the inspection room and detonated the explosives. The nearby “Erez” industrial zone straddling the Israel-Gaza border was shut down after the attack. The zone employed thousands of Palestinians and was regarded as one of the last vestiges of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation. (AFP, AP, IBA)

Defence Minister Mofaz decided to impose a total closure of the Gaza Strip the following day. Deputy Prime Minister Olmert said the measure was a sign of the Government’s determination to prevent “terrorism.” An IDF statement said the action had been taken “according to a decision reached by the political echelon, and in accordance with an assessment of the security situation,” but that movement would be authorized “for humanitarian cases, in coordination with liaison offices.” Brig.-Gen. Gadi Shamni, the Israeli military commander in Gaza, indicated Israel would retaliate for the attack, telling Israel TV: “I imagine that we will know how to respond at the time, place and [with the] method of our choosing.” “This attack is particularly harmful for the Palestinians and will make their life much harder again by complicating their entry into Israel,” Israeli Government spokesman Avi Pazner told AFP,adding that the attack served to “undermine the confidence between Palestinians and Israelis” at a time when the peace process had run into a dead end. (AFP, The Guardian, www.idf.il, Xinhua)

“This attack is a natural and direct result of the Israeli military occupation, and resistance will continue as long as occupation lasts,” Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin said, adding: “Resistance will escalate against this enemy until they leave our land and homeland.” The Brigades’ spokesman Abu Ahmad told reporters following the suicide attack that his movement would mount attacks against Israel: “Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has decided to escalate its attacks as long as Prime Minister Sharon’s Government keeps imposing its policies against Palestinians.” Mr. Abu Ahmad further said that the Brigades could not approve a truce with Israel, stressing that the group was still committed to the path of resistance. (Xinhua)

“Israel bears sole responsibility for what has happened as it continues the occupation, the construction of the wall, the closures and the escalation,” Palestinian Authority President Arafat’s chief adviser Nabil Abu Rudeineh told AFP. He called on the international community and the UN Security Council to “make Israel stop its aggressions and force a halt to construction of the wall and a withdrawal from the Palestinian towns.” Prime Minister Qureia said the “permanent tension and the closures … lead to an escalation of violence and counter-violence.” (AFP)

“I condemn all killings [carried out] against Israelis and Palestinians and not a particular one. I do lament the loss of lives of everybody, soldiers or civilians, but we’ve got to get a ceasefire to stop that,” said PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath after meeting with Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller in Copenhagen. Mr. Sha’ath said the PA was “capable of stopping all attacks against Israel once Israel stops all attacks on Palestinians.” “We want a future free of walls, free of obstacles between our two peoples,” he said. Mr. Møller urged the PA to do its “utmost to get control over the suicide bombers, [and] at the same time Israel has to stop all the illegal measures they are taking.” “We all know how it’s going to end. It will end with two States,” he said. “The question is only when and how much blood we’re going to shed before we come to those two States.” (AP)

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Terje Rød-Larsen condemned the suicide bombing at the Erez crossing as a “terrible terrorist attack” and called on both parties to resume peace talks to prevent the situation from spinning out of control. The attack seemed to be part of a new upsurge in violence, Mr. Larsen said in a statement in which he extended his condolences to the families of the Israeli victims. The only way to keep the situation from spinning out of control was for the two sides to return to the negotiating table and show progress, he said. (UN News Centre)

The US condemned the suicide bombing in Gaza. “We firmly condemn the statements made by Hamas leader Sheikh Yassin which incites terror and violence against innocent people and … undermines the Palestinian people and their aspirations,” said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, adding that US Consul-General in Jerusalem David Pearce had spoken with PA Prime Minister Qureia to impress upon him the need to crack down on militant groups like Hamas if the peace process was to be resuscitated. Mr. Boucher also said, “We need to end the violence in order to achieve the vision of two States living side-by-side.” (AFP)

British peace activist Tom Hurndall, 22, died after a bout of pneumonia at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in London. A former photography student at Manchester Metropolitan University and a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), he had been shot in the head by the IDF on 11 April 2003 and had been in a coma ever since. An Israeli soldier, already indicted on six charges, including one of aggravated assault, might now face a murder or a manslaughter charge. The soldier initially said he had returned fire at a man armed with a pistol, but under interrogation admitted firing a shot near an unarmed civilian, according to the IDF. The Israeli Embassy in London said charges had been brought against the soldier after a “full and independent investigation.” It said in a statement it was “deeply sorry” to learn of the death of Mr. Hurndall: “The Israeli Government views this tragic event with the utmost severity, and is acting to ensure that justice is served. The Israeli Government is fully cooperating with the British Government on this matter.” But Mr. Hurndall’s family, from Tufnell Park, North London, said that any Israeli army investigation would be a whitewash. Mr. Hurndall’s sister, Sophie Hurndall, told BBC Radio 4’s "Today"programme that their relief that her brother’s ordeal was now over was mixed with great sadness, and warned: “We’ve yet to see what his sentence is going to be. The army has been the whole way along with this trying to get itself off the hook, and its soldiers. What happens in the occupied territories is covered up at any cost.” However, she said, it now appeared to her that the army was cutting its losses and “hanging this soldier out to dry.” Ms. Hurndall said her brother had been pulling two children to safety when he was shot. The ISM said on its web site that a vigil would be held in central London to mark his death. According to WAFA,Palestinian Authority President Arafat expressed his grief at the news of Mr. Hurndall’s death and said he was “a true example for those who fight for the freedom of the oppressed people” and “should be considered a Palestinian shahid[martyr], who sacrificed his life in the name of freedom.” (AFP, BBC, Ha’aretz)

Eyewitnesses said that after midnight an IDF infantry unit accompanied by police officers and military jeeps raided Deir al-Balah from the neighbouring “Kfar Darom” settlement, searching and ransacking the houses in the Al-Mahata area and forcing the residents out of their houses for hours in the cold weather. (IMEMC, Xinhua)

Eleven Palestinians were arrested by Israeli soldiers during overnight raids in the West Bank, military sources said. Four Fatah and two Hamas members were detained near Ramallah, and five others were rounded up in the village of Dura close to Hebron. (AFP)

A 50-year-old Palestinian woman was seriously injured when Israeli troops opened fire at stone-throwing youths near Nablus. Badriyeh Amer was in her house in Beit Dajan, east of Nablus, when she was hit by bullets fired by soldiers at the youths. Mrs. Amer was evacuated from her house by a Palestinian ambulance. IDF soldiers later transferred her to an Israeli ambulance. It was not known where she was being treated. An Israeli army spokesman said warning shots had been fired into the air at Beit Dajan, and did not confirm any injuries. (AFP)

Al-Ayyamquoted PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath as saying that a Palestinian committee, headed by Permanent Observer of Palestine to the UN Nasser Al-Kidwa and comprising many legal experts, had been formed to follow up the separation barrier case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, where the issue would be presented in February. Mr. Sha’ath said another Arab committee headed by the Secretary-General of the Arab League Amre Moussa had also been formed, adding: “I am a member of this committee and we would assert that this wall is illegal and we would be working on halting its construction as well as demolishing what was built of it.” (Xinhua)

The International Middle East Media Centre quoted Israeli sources as saying Israel intended to question the integrity of ICJ judge Nabil Al-Araby, claiming he had provided advice to Arabs and Palestinians concerning the case in the Court, and had called on the Arab and Islamic world to sue Israel for committing crimes of genocide against the Palestinians. The Israeli sources added that an Arab judge who pronounced statements against Israel was not acceptable in the ICJ. (IMEMC)

“I wish to appear before this Court and expose the war crimes and the wrongs of the separation wall and its devastating implications,” MK Mohammed Barakeh said in a letter to the ICJ. “The wall prevents many Palestinians from exercising their freedom of manoeuvre within the West Bank and also does not allow them access to enter Israel in order to work and support their families … The reason behind the separation wall was not to protect Israeli citizens, but was meant to cause the Palestinians to lose hope and eventually force them to wander east.” (AFP)

US Middle East envoy William Burns, speaking to reporters after his meeting with President Mubarak, said the US had voiced concern, publicly and privately, about the separation barrier and its humanitarian fallout, as well as its impact on the revival of peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel. “We have made it clear [to the Israelis] that the core of our concern is about the course of the separation barrier,” he said. Mr. Burns also called on the two sides to implement the Road Map. An Israeli military official, however, put the emphasis on Israel’s efforts to balance Israeli security concerns and humanitarian considerations on the Palestinian side. The official added that compensation had been offered to people who had lost their homes or farmland but that most Palestinians had refused the money. (AFP, Xinhua))

Moroccan King Mohammed VI, on a visit to Egypt, and President Hosni Mubarak, in a joint statement at the end of their talks in Cairo, hailed "international efforts deployed to relaunch the peace process in the Middle East” and called for the implementation of the Road Map “without conditions or modification” from the Israeli side. They criticized “Israel’s attempt to judaize Jerusalem” and called on the international community to “end the Israeli aggression against the Holy City.” (AFP)

US-born rabbi Arik Ascherman, head of Rabbis for Human Rights, went on trial on charges of blocking police from demolishing Palestinian houses built in East Jerusalem without proper Israeli permits, in two incidents in 2003. His co-defendants, Israeli activists Shai Eliezer Tzvi and Omer Ori, were charged with joining Rabbi Ascherman in the second incident. Despite the protests, both houses had been demolished. “It is the policy of home demolitions which must stand trial, along with all the institutions which support it,” Rabbi Ascherman said in a statement. “The families whose homes were demolished will be with us in court and I will feel that I am speaking for the thousands who have suffered and suffer from this policy.” He did not deny blocking the bulldozers, but said in an interview: “Our defence is basically that because the policy is illegal and immoral, it’s a Jewish and Zionist duty to stand in front of the bulldozers.” Simkha Weintraub, a Conservative rabbi from Brooklyn, New York, said outside the courtroom that he had brought a letter signed by more than 300 American rabbis in support of Ascherman: “This was a statement of concern about the issue of home demolitions … really expressing for the soul of the nation and of our people.” The letter, which was also handed to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, expressed concern about prosecuting a rabbi “who has devoted his life to Israel and to the Zionist vision of building and sustaining a Jewish State that exemplifies the values of justice and compassion.” If convicted, the three men could face fines, community service and up to three years in prison. (AFP, AP)

Twenty-nine Palestinian and Israeli clerics ended a two-day meeting in Cairo, described as “historic” by a meeting organizer, although its participants failed to agree on a joint declaration. Special Middle East Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury Canon Andrew White told Deutsche Presse-Agentur,that religious leaders had announced their commitment to the Alexandria Declaration, issued and signed by various Muslim, Jewish and Christian religious leaders in January 2002, pledging to work for a “religiously sanctioned ceasefire” to the conflict. A spokesman for the Anglican Church organizers, Thomas Kingston, said the two sides had met despite the ongoing violence, and had held “cordial, but realistic” talks. However, the leader of the 27 Palestinian participants, Sheikh Taysir Al-Tamimi, Chief Justice of the Palestinian Islamic Courts and Imam of the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, denied entering into any talks with the Israeli rabbis, Michael Melchior and Menachem Froman, telling the AP: “We said that this was not the right time for such talks … There were no inter-religious talks and no joint statement.” Mr. Al-Tamimi said he had come to Egypt to meet with the country’s highest religious figure, the Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi. Both sides had met Grand Sheik Tantawi, Mr. Kingston said. Mr. White cancelled a scheduled news conference. (AP, DPA)

A Palestinian-Israeli meeting in Turkey ended with failure after three days of discussions, due to disagreement over Prime Minister Sharon's plan for unilateral separation and the continuing construction of the West Bank separation barrier, according to Al-Quds.Dr. Zakaria al-Qaq, Palestinian co-director of the Israel-Palestine Centre for Research and Information (IPCRI), said that it was the ninth meeting held since the Road Map was announced. The meetings, sponsored by Sweden, had been held in several locations, including Istanbul, the Red Sea, Sweden and Jerusalem, and were part of an additional channel of negotiations involving NGOs. (Ha’aretz, IMEMC)

Ha’aretzreported that on the basis of the US experience in Iraq, the Israeli Air Force had decided to cut back on helicopter flights over the West Bank and Gaza Strip for fear of a ground attack by Palestinians, and had also decided to stop using some of its helicopter landing pads in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and use others only at night. The move would entail a reduction in the number of flights carrying ministers and Defence Ministry officials. There was no immediate comment on the report from the Israeli military. There had been no cases of Israeli aircraft being attacked from the ground by Palestinians, although Israeli security services ha seized a number of Strela surface-to-air missiles when they intercepted a cargo of weapons thought to be headed for Palestinian militants in January 2003. (AFP)

Palestinian security sources said the IDF had entered Jenin and the nearby refugee camp. The sources said a group of some 40 Israeli jeeps and armoured vehicles had been involved in exchanges of fire with Palestinians when they entered the town. In the refugee camp, another convoy of some 30 Israeli vehicles imposed a curfew and carried out house searches. Palestinian sources also reported that Israeli forces had blown up a house once occupied by a Hamas activist who had been killed two years ago. (AFP)

According to Palestinian sources, IDF troops arrested 10 Palestinians and demolished two houses in the Tulkarm refugee camp. (Ha’aretz)

Head of the Israeli-Palestinian liaison office in the Gaza Strip Yoav Mordechai told Israel Army Radio that Israel would alter the way Palestinian women from the Gaza Strip were treated at army checkpoints. He said the handling of women had been too cautious and that they would now proceed more strictly with women, especially at the Erez checkpoint, the main entry and exit point of the Gaza Strip. (DPA)

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “I have been critical of certain aspects of Israeli policy, but I do honestly believe it is impossible to get this process restarted unless there is a credible [PA] security plan,” he said. He added that such a plan should allow “people to believe genuinely that every attempt is being made to stop the support of terrorism, the flow of terrorists into either the Palestinian Authority or into Israel and to give a clear message that terrorism is the enemy of progress for the Palestinian people.” (Ha’aretz)

In a special session, the Palestinian Legislative Council approved the PA’s US$1.694 billion 2004 budget by a 44-4 margin. The budget deficit was expected to be $888 million. The 2003 budget had been $1.278 billion and the deficit $747 billion. PA Finance Minister Salam Fayyad said much of the deficit was due to Israel’s blockade of the Occupied Palestinian Territory since September 2000. “The prime reason, if not the only reason, for this deficit is the deteriorating economic situation … the siege and closure and [related] Israeli practices,” Mr. Fayyad said. (Reuters)

Senior Israeli ministers would convene during the coming week to decide on the position that Israel would present to the ICJ on the separation barrier. British law professor Daniel Bethlehem, who was to represent Israel at the ICJ, suggested that Israel present to the Court in writing its opposition to the hearing, and deny the competence of the Court to deal with the issue of the separation barrier. According to Mr. Bethlehem’s proposal, Israel would state that building the barrier was justified for security reasons. (Ha’aretz)

Preparing for the upcoming ICJ hearing in February, Israel decided to change the name of the separation barrier it was building to “terror prevention fence.” Yediot Aharonot reported that a French image consulting company hired by the Government had said that the current name of the barrier was causing damage to Israel, whereas the new name highlighted the purpose the barrier was supposed to achieve. Other consultants advised Israel that in order to boost its case before the ICJ, Israel should bring to the hearings people injured in terrorist attacks and the charred remains of a bus destroyed in a suicide bombing. Prime Minister Sharon had hosted a meeting of legal experts, including advisers to the Foreign, Defence and Justice ministries, who were to draw up the arguments Israel would present to the ICJ. (AFP, DPA, www.pmo.gov.il)

Israel’s High Court of Justice decided to hold a hearing on the legality of the separation barrier, a court spokesman said. Justice Yaacov Turkel said the petition would be discussed before 15 February. The court’s decision stemmed from a petition filed by an Israeli human rights group, the Centre for the Defence of the Individual, asking it to determine the legality of parts of the barrier that cut into Palestinian territory. “Three judges will discuss the legality of the fence within a month from today,” a court spokesman said. The hearing would enable the State Prosecution to hold a “dress rehearsal” for its arguments in front of an Israeli court, before it presented its arguments in front of the ICJ. The petitioners said, “We believe that before an international body discusses the legality of the separation wall … it is worthwhile that the highest Israeli legal body discuss the issue.” (Ha’aretz, Reuters)

The ICJ authorized the League of Arab States to take part in the hearing against Israel’s construction of the separation barrier. Hesham Youssef, Chief of Staff of the Office of the Secretary-General of the Arab League, said the pan-Arab body would submit a written statement to the ICJ before 30 January. “As far as we are concerned, this wall is illegal as it was built on occupied territory. The question is now to address it from a legal point of view … in relation to legal consequences,'' he said. (Ha’aretz, Reuters)

An IDF indicated in a statement that its had forces demolished overnight the houses of Hitam Lawisi, who it said belonged to Tanzim was responsible for manufacturing explosives, firing at IDF forces in Tulkarm, planning an attack inside Israel and dispatching two would-be suicide bombers on 18 June 2003. IDF forces also demolished a house in the Tulkarm refugee camp belonging to Hamas member Tareq Abu Raba, held responsible for recruiting and dispatching a suicide bomber, who was stopped by IDF in December 2002. (www.idf.il)

The Erez crossing to the Gaza Strip might be reopened early the following week, a meeting of defence chiefs decided, but the "Erez" industrial zone would remain closed until an alternative site was found for security checks to replace the building destroyed in the bombing on 14 January. (Ha’aretz)

An Israeli military court at an Israeli military base near Ramallah prolonged through a series of hearings the remand of Qassam Barghouti, the19-year-old son of arrested West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti. Originally arrested on 14 December 2003, his detention had already been extended two weeks ago. A first hearing took place in court on Qassam Barghouti who will remain behind bars until the court’s verdict. No date was set for the next hearing. Mr. Barghouti was accused of having handed a grenade, later used in an anti-Israeli attack in the West Bank, to a Palestinian militant in March 2003. Marwan Barghouti’s relatives and lawyers charged that the arrest and remand of his son were part of a psychological campaign waged by the Israelis to put pressure on him. (AFP)

After four days of talks in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, 15 bishops from Europe and the Americas issued a statement at a press conference in Jerusalem that coincided with the departure for the Vatican of Israel’s two chief rabbis, who were due to meet Pope John Paul II the following day. The statement condemned the separation barrier Israel was building in the West Bank, saying: “We have seen the devastating effect of the wall currently being built through the land and homes of Palestinian communities. This appears to be a permanent structure, dividing families, isolating them from their farmland and their livelihoods, and cutting off religious institutions.” The bishops also complained that “some priests, seminarians, sisters, brothers, and lay personnel are being denied or are having difficulties in obtaining visas and residence permits to study and work in Israel and the Palestinian territories … These constitute genuine impediments to the churches’ capacity to carry out their mission at the service of the people of the Holy Land.” (AFP)

Foreign Minister Shalom, speaking at a joint press conference in Tel Aviv with Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, whose country held the rotating EU Presidency, said Israel remained opposed to plans to debate the West Bank security barrier in the ICJ: “This subject should be sorted out through political channels and not in the International Court. The Palestinian decision to take the issue to the International Court of Justice in The Hague was a bad decision, a decision which, of course, hurts the possibility of building relations between us and them.” Mr. Cowen, on a two-day visit to Israel, said the most important issue to focus on was the Road Map. He also said: “We have a serious problem in relation to the direction of the fence inside the territories. The position of the EU on that particular aspect has been made clear.” Philip Grant, Deputy Head of Mission at the Irish Embassy, said Mr. Cowen’s aim was to try to revive the moribund peace process. “The main focus is to try and get things moving and see if there is any way in which the EU can help,” he told AFP. The Irish Minister also met with President Moshe Katsav at his Jerusalem residence and was later to hold talks with Prime Minister Sharon, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Mr. Cowen would also meet with opposition leader Shimon Peres early on 16 January before returning home, the Embassy said. (AFP, Ha’aretz, IBA)

PA Local Government Minister Jamal Shubaki said that the separation barrier and continued Israeli actions in the territories were contributing to “generate violence.” But he insisted armed struggle remained the wrong option. “Peaceful popular demonstrations against the wall are more efficient than armed operations,” he told AFP.“Occupation forces can easily respond to armed operations, but it is very difficult for them to confront mass popular demonstrations,” he said. (AFP)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters that during a meeting in follow up to a recent telephone conversation with his British counterpart Jack Straw, British ambassador to Egypt Derek Plumbly had briefed him on “the contacts undertaken by Britain with the United States, European countries and the United Nations to come up with a plan for action designed to break the stalemate” between the Israelis and the Palestinians: “The plan is still under discussion, but it appears to be based on the Road Map, and provides for the implementation of the Road Map by the different parties under some kind of supervision.” (AFP)

PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath was to make a working visit to Moscow on 21 January 2004 to discuss the Middle East situation and the prospects for a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. During the visit he planed to meet with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. (AFP, www.mid.ru)

An Israeli-Palestinian expedition which set off to scale a previously unclimbed mountain in Antarctica had reached the summit in the afternoon, a spokesman for the expedition said the following day. The team had named the peak “The Mountain of Israeli-Palestinian Friendship”, he said. “We have proved that Palestinians and Israelis can cooperate with one another with mutual respect and trust,” they declared in a joint statement read out at the top of the mountain, adding “Despite the deep differences that exist between us, we have shown that we can carry on a sincere and meaningful dialogue. We join together in rejecting the use of violence [as] the solution to our problems and hereby declare that out people can and deserve to live together in peace and friendship.” The four Israelis and four Palestinians, including two women, had set out from southern Chile on 1 January and trekked across the Antarctic ice to the foot of the mountain. They were accompanied by a seven-man back-up team, which included two mountain guides and a doctor. The expedition, called “Breaking the Ice”, was the first organized by Extreme Peace Missions, a charity aimed at bringing people together through adventure and sporting endeavours. (DPA)

An IDF spokesman said Israeli troops had arrested 10 wanted Palestinians overnight: five in Ramallah, three in Nablus and two near Hebron. (AFP)

“We need to bring about a situation where once again Hamas leaders are dealing more with their own survival than with planning attacks,” Israel Army Radioquoted security sources as saying. Deputy Defence Minister Ze’ev Boin was quoted on the same radio as saying, “[Hamas spiritual leader] Sheikh Yassin is marked for death, and he should hide himself deep underground where he will not know the difference between day and night. And we will find him in the tunnels, and we will eliminate him.” The Israeli media said army commanders believed Sheikh Yassin, who had already been unsuccessfully targeted by the IDF, had personally ordered the suicide bombing at the Erez crossing point on 14 January. But he denied any direct involvement in attacks by Hamas, saying the Israelis “know that Sheikh Yassin has nothing to do with military action, but they are seeking a pretext to reassure their people and cover up their failure. “Death threats do not frighten us, because we are in search of martyrdom,” he told reporters as he arrived at a mosque near his home for the weekly Friday prayers. “They will have a price to pay for any crime they commit.” Sheikh Yassin also said he was being used as a “scapegoat.” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, chief adviser to Chairman Arafat, told AFP:“A resumption of the policy of liquidation will put back the region to square zero and will lead to an escalation.” (AFP, DPA)

Around 100 Palestinian children and teenagers demonstrated in Rafah in memory of Tom Hurndall, laying a wreath at the spot where he was shot while trying to protect Palestinian children in Rafah’s refugee camp. Four foreign peace activists also took part in the march, carrying photos of Mr. Hurndall and banners in English and Arabic denouncing his death. (AFP)

Israeli reservists who refused to serve in Occupied Palestinian Territory demonstrated for peace at the Kissufim crossing on Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, just metres away from the “Gush Katif” settlers holding a counter-protest. The demonstration had been initiated by three movements – Courage to Refuse, Refusing Pilots and Refusing Sayeret Matkal Reservists – and was the first ever joint demonstration by reservist pilots, elite commandos and infantry troops who signed separate letters declaring their refusal to serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “Peace, Yes. Occupation, No,” the reservists chanted. One of the 70 protesters raised a poster saying: “We won’t kill for you.” (IMEMC, Reuters)

The Israeli organization Almagor Victims of Terror appointed a lawyer to represent it at the separation barrier hearings on 23 February at the ICJ in The Hague. (The Jerusalem Post)

Some 400 American and European rabbis signed a letter addressed to Prime Minister Sharon protesting against the Israeli home demolition policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The letter was prompted by the trial of Rabbi Arik Ascherman, director of Rabbis for Human Rights. (Ha’aretz)

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer announced he would embark the coming week on a two-week tour of four countries, including Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, where he said he would urge a resumption of the peace process during a meeting with Prime Minister Sharon: “I will encourage both sides to resume implementation of the Road Map to Middle East peace without delay. Australia strongly supports the internationally endorsed Road Map to peace. My visit will also give me the opportunity to hear the Palestinian perspective on the peace process." The Minister was to meet with Prime Minister Sharon and President Moshe Katsav, and would visit the Occupied Palestinian Territory to assess how Australian aid was helping local communities. Australia was to provide AUS$8 million (approximately US$6.2 million) in aid during the financial year ending June 2004. (AFP, AP)

Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa expressed disapproval of British Prime Minister Blair and US Secretary of State Powell over their insistence that Israel’s security must be guaranteed for the Middle East peace process to get back on track. Mr. Moussa also criticized the blind eye being turned to Israel’s continued settlement construction in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “It is impossible to revive the peace process when there is no end to the immunity granted to Israel by the super-Powers and when settlements and the building of the racist separation barrier continue,” Mr. Moussa told reporters. (AFP)

The IDF released a statement announcing the lifting of the general closure on the Gaza Strip. (www.idf.il)

An Israeli settler was injured near Ramallah when Palestinians opened fire on the car he was travelling in. The man, from the nearby settlement of “Nahliel,” suffered from moderate injuries after being hit in the chest and shoulder. Two others with him were unharmed. The Israeli confirmed that the body of a male Palestinian was later found near the scene of the shooting, but denied that soldiers could have been responsible, insisting they had not opened fire. (AFP)

Thousands of Palestinian workers returned to work to Israel after the IDF lifted a four-day closure imposed on the Gaza Strip after the suicide bombing the week before. Although an average of 5,000 Palestinians passed through the Erez crossing daily to work in Israel, only around 1,500 workers had been able to cross during the early hours due to lengthy new security procedures. Only workers over 35 years of age would be allowed to cross into Israel, revising upward the previous age requirement of 28 years. An army spokesman said more than 3,600 had entered Israel. Some 15,000 residents of the Gaza Strip were expected to be allowed entry into Israel. (AFP, Reuters)

Prime Minister Sharon and Defence Minister Mofaz authorized the removal of three inhabited unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank: “Givat Ha’apirion,” “Yitzhar South” and “Givat Haravakim.” In total, Messrs. Sharon and Mofaz had signed orders for the removal of nine such outposts, but to date, none of them had been dismantled. (AFP)

At a meeting in Ramallah, PA President Yasser Arafat urged the Czech Republic’s Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda to put pressure on Israel to advance the peace process, according to Mlada Fronta Dnes, the Prague newspaper. “We’re maintaining the Road Map to peace, but Israel is boycotting it,” Mr. Arafat told Mr. Svoboda, who said, “We sympathize with Israel’s interest in protecting its security. Both parties must adopt a compromise that is bold and liberal.” A Mlada Fronta Dnesreporter who accompanied the Foreign Minister said he was “surprised by the extent of the destruction” at the compound. (DPA)

Speaking at UNESCO headquarters, Palestinian academic Sari Nusseibeh and former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon, promoters of The Peoples’ Voice initiative, urged the Quartet to integrate their proposals. “We expect the American Administration and the international community to understand that the Road Map will work only if the Quartet adds one page, our page, which describes the future,” Mr. Ayalon said. “In order for both of us to work on this road, we have to know where this road leads us, and the end of the road is ambiguous the way it is described in the Road Map,” he added. Mr. Nusseibeh said, “I believe that we, on the ground, have to make sure that whatever the intervention of the international community is, its results will in fact somehow coincide with the kind of vision we have.” (AFP)

A Palestinian man, Saeed Abu-Ismail, 24, was killed by an Israeli landmine east of Khan Yunis. The body of a Palestinian man, 24, who had been shot by IDF troops was found near the “Kissufim” crossing in the Gaza Strip. (Albawaba.com, Ha’aretz)

A deaf and dumb Palestinian woman was wounded by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank after she failed to respond to soldiers’ shouting orders, witnesses said. Halima Rajeb Bari, 38, was injured when troops opened fire in her direction near the village of Saniria, east of Qalqilya. The woman, who had been on her way to a greenhouse near the “Shaari Tikva” settlement, was taken to a hospital. An army spokesman said Mrs. Bari had broken a curfew imposed on Saniria. (AFP, Ha’aretz)

In Yatta, near Hebron, Israeli troops destroyed by dynamite the house of Bakr al-Najira, 27, a Fatah member. The army confirmed that Mr. Al-Najira had been arrested several months earlier for his alleged involvement in several shooting attacks. Two more wanted Fatah members were arrested in Yatta overnight. Another two wanted Fatah activists were picked up by troops operating in and around Nablus. (AFP, www.idf.il)

Israeli soldiers arrested Ahmed Bseisi, a leader of the Islamic Jihad in Nablus. Mr. Bseisi was accused of having been the mastermind behind an attack on a restaurant in Netanya which had injured 30 people. He was also accused of sending two women on assassination operations. However, they had been stopped before they could carry out their attack, according to sources. (DPA, Ha’aretz)

The IDF started building a new, enlarged barrier around the “Kiryat Arba” settlement, near Hebron, according to witnesses. Bulldozers were seen clearing a 10-metre-wide corridor around the existing perimeter of the settlement on land belonging to local Palestinians. The 6-kilometre long and 2-metre deep trench would separate Palestinian homes from their adjacent olive groves. Work on the new, expanded barrier was started after the army approved plans to enlarge the existing wall. The International Middle East Media Centre reported that more than 60 per cent of agricultural lands would be confiscated in Hebron for the separation barrier. (AFP, IMEMC)

The Israeli High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction giving the State 20 days to present its reasons for preventing the opening of gates in the wall and barring Palestinian farmers from reaching their lands at reasonable hours throughout the day. The injunction was the result of a petition filed by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel. (Ha’aretz)

Speaking before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, Prime Minister Sharon said Israel could consider adjustments in order to make life easier for Palestinians, but would do so only on its own terms. Mr. Sharon said some changes were to be made in the route of the barrier for internal considerations and not in response to demands by the Palestinians, the UN or the ICJ, Israel Army Radiosaid. Mr. Sharon also said the experience to date of the barrier had been both “good and bad.” It had been successful in preventing terror attacks, but “unsatisfactory in the harm it does to Palestinians’ daily lives.” He added, “It could be that additional thought is needed about the possibility of changing the route, which will reduce the costs of operating the fence without damaging security.” Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz opposed any change in the barrier’s route. “I am capable of defending every centimetre of the current route and showing why it is necessary to defend Israel’s citizens,” he said. Mr. Mofaz was also reported to have said that he was considering transferring authority over future separation barrier crossings to private hands. Mr. Sharon also said, “Jordan is leading the Arab world in its struggle against Israel at the ICJ in The Hague, for fear refugees are to flow into its territory.” He added, “We are not pleased with Jordan joining the debate at the International Court. We have made clear to the Jordanians that they have much to lose.” Israeli Foreign Minister Shalom said, “I want to emphasize that Jordan is not Palestine and Israel does not support any kind of Palestinian resettlement in Jordan.” (AFP, Albawaba.com, Ha’aretz, Reuters, The Washington Post)

The Israeli army presented the complete map of the settler outposts in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, Israel Army Radioreported. The map, described as several square metres across, included all of the “legal” as well as “illegal” outposts. Only MKs were allowed to study the map. MK Haim Ramon (Labour) said the map claimed only 24 illegal outposts ad been built after March 2001, with 46 outposts described as "others" and another 50 said to have been built before 2001. (AFP, Albawaba.com, Ha’aretz, Middle East Online)

Dozens of official PA institutions located in Abu Dis were being cut off from Jerusalem by the separation barrier, thereby preventing those offices from providing services to East Jerusalem residents. In particular, the barrier was aimed at keeping out members of the Palestinian security services who had operated freely in the city for years, even running interrogation centres and lock-ups. Jamil Othman Nasser, the man appointed by President Arafat to serve as “Governor of Jerusalem,” worked closely with the PA security services to control affairs in East Jerusalem. Mr. Nasser’s staff would now also find it much harder to gain access to the city. Residents of Abu Dis were also struggling to cope with the wall through their village, separating families and friends. In 1996, the PA had begun building numerous government offices in Abu Dis, on the understanding that the village would become part of “Palestinian Jerusalem” under a final status agreement. Teacher of urban planning at Al-Quds University Hashem Abu Hilal said, “Sharon is a great architect and urban planner. He is realizing his master plan – taking more of the West Bank, appropriating the whole of Jerusalem.” (AFP, Ha’aretz)

Former PA Minister of Information Yasser Abed Rabbo, one of the authors of the Geneva Accord Initiative, said, “We are in contact with the various partners and there are encouraging signs.” He also said, “We spoke with so many leaders about the necessity of adopting our plan … Kofi Annan has said he will raise this question in the next Quartet meeting. This is very important. Other European and international leaders have taken a similar position.” He added, “At the same time we hope that the next Arab Summit meeting, which will take place within the coming two months, will consider our plan as the concrete implementation of the Arab peace initiative which was declared in the Arab Summit in Beirut.” Mr. Abed Rabbo has been speaking at UNESCO headquarters, where he was taking part in a seminar alongside his partner behind the initiative, former Israeli Minister Yossi Beilin. (AFP)

IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Moshe Yaalon told Israel’s Channel 2 TV: “For us, Sheikh Yassin is a target for liquidation, given that there is no distinction to be made between the political and military leadership of Hamas. … The question of the legitimacy of such an operation is behind us. What matters now is the opportunity and our interest.” (AFP)

Israeli troops operating in the West Bank arrested 34 wanted Palestinians overnight, a military spokesman said: 24 Hamas and Fatah members in Ramallah, seven Islamic Jihad members in Bethlehem, two Fatah members in Nablus and another in the Jenin area. (AFP)

The IDF raided the Rafah refugee camp. Three Palestinians were wounded by a tank shell when armoured bulldozers backed by tanks demolished at least 15 Palestinian houses (30, according to AP)and damaged eight others. A Palestinian woman, filmed by a Reuters camera crew, waved a white flag in front of one bulldozer as it toppled a one-storey house. Palestinian security sources also said that a mosque, damaged in earlier incursions, had been totally razed during the operation. Army officials initially insisted the razed houses had been empty, but then said the claim was still being checked. The Governor of Rafah Majed Agha said about 400 people had been made homeless. (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Israeli troops used tear gas to disperse a crowd of Palestinian workers at the Erez border crossing. Twenty workers suffering from tear-gas inhalation were briefly hospitalized along with two others who each sustained a broken limb during the incident, medical sources said. The incident occurred when the workers, all of whom were trying to cross to Israel before the terminal closed at 8.30 am, started rushing towards the terminal building where the army carried out routine identity checks. The logjam was allegedly caused by stricter security checks adopted in the wake of the previous week’s suicide bombing. Thousands of workers were kept standing as they were lining up for several hours in a 3-metre-wide concrete passageway before being allowed through. (AFP, DPA, The Jerusalem Post)

Israeli settlers tried to block IDF soldiers sent to demolish a makeshift place of worship at the “West Tapuakh” settlement outpost, built without an Israeli permit by followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane in a mobile home about a kilometre from the “Kfar Tapuakh” settlement, considered one of the most militant in the West Bank. Troops had been ordered to dismantle the structure after Israel’s Supreme Court, earlier in the day, rejected a petition to block the demolition at one of dozens of outposts. The petition had been lodged on 19 January by Amana, the settlement arm of Gush Emunim, and the Regional Councils of Judea, Samaria and Gaza Strip (Yesha). Dozens of settlers set up roadblocks trying to prevent about 300 soldiers from reaching the site near Nablus, the witnesses said. The police arrested 23 people on the grounds that they had entered a closed military zone and disrupted the work of army and police forces. Sixteen settlers and 3 soldiers were lightly wounded in the scuffles. However, the troops allowed seven or eight trailer homes to remain at the site. (AP, IMEMC, The Jerusalem Post, Reuters)

Prime Minister Qureia met at his office in Ramallah with foreign diplomats and consular officials based in Jerusalem. “The wall and the International Court of Justice hearing” on Israel’s separation barrier had topped the agenda, a source in Mr. Qureia’s office said. (AFP)

PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath told ITAR-TASSupon his arrival in Moscow that Israel’s separation barrier would be “one of the main issues” to be discussed in his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. “We will raise the issue because the construction of the wall will do nothing to resolve the question of creating an independent Palestinian State. In effect it divides the Palestinian people with the goal of creating a kind of ghetto or reservation” and “perpetuates the occupation of 60 per cent of the West Bank,” Mr. Sha’ath said, adding that the talks would also focus on achieving a “mutual ceasefire agreement.” He also told Interfaxthat the Palestinian leadership would “consider using international mechanisms to resolve the Middle East crisis … The Palestinian side is ready for talks right now. We are maintaining a dialogue with a large section of the Israeli public on the current situation.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko, quoted by ITAR-TASS,said the talks would be “of special significance” in resolving the Middle East situation: “Russia has consistently advocated a comprehensive settlement in the Middle East, within the framework of which the Palestinian people can exercise their inalienable rights, including the right to form an independent State capable of coexisting in peace and security with Israel.” (AFP, ITAR-TASS)

Israel transferred a Palestinian prisoner from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian security directorate in Gaza said Anwar Abu Zahou, 29, from the Jenin refugee camp, had been expelled to the Gaza Strip. (Albawaba.com)

A 31-year-old Palestinian woman was shot and killed during an IDF operation that involved demolishing houses in the Rafah refugee camp for the second straight day. The officials said Mona Abu Ismail, a mother of four, had been shot in the head during intensive gunfire. Among the injured were Manal, 29, and Jihad, 31, also from the Abu Ismail family. A teenage Palestinian boy, Bilal Shehadeh, 14, was critically wounded after being shot in the head when Israeli forces opened heavy fire at Palestinian homes. Officials at Rafah’s Abu Yousuf Al-Najjar Hospital said Bilal Shehadeh had been transferred from their hospital to the European Hospital due to the severity of his wounds. PA Prime Minister Qureia said the operation in Rafah and an Israeli air strike in Lebanon were “clearly aimed at exploding the entire area.” In an interview, he said, “This is very dangerous.” The International Committee of the Red Cross had begun distributing tents to accommodate the homeless families. (AFP, Albawaba.com, DPA, The Guardian,Ha’aretz)

A Palestinian man, Mohammed Hodhod, 28, was shot and wounded near an Israeli checkpoint in the Gaza Strip. He was shot by Israeli soldiers manning the Abu Holi military checkpoint, south of Deir El-Balah. Elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, soldiers seriously wounded two Palestinians near Khan Yunis. Palestinian sources said one was in critical condition while the other had sustained serious injuries. Israeli soldiers also raided the Tulkarm refugee camp and arrested two Palestinian brothers, Ahmad and Salah Abu Khadra. (Albawaba.com, DPA)

Israeli authorities demolished three Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem which had supposedly been built without building permits. Israeli forces surrounded the Tal Al Ghoul neighbourhood in East Jerusalem amidst confrontations with homeowners. The three houses were inhabited by 24 family members. The Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights condemned the demolition, considering it an outrageous violation of the habitat and shelter related rights of the Palestinian population in the city. (Albawaba.com)

Palestinian officials said the Israeli army had issued eviction orders to 10 Palestinian families living near the “Kfar Darom” settlement in the Gaza Strip. The families had been told that their land would be used to establish additional Israeli security facilities. Israeli human rights workers were preparing an appeal. (The Guardian)

At the “West Tapuakh” outpost in the West Bank, settlers said they had begun rebuilding the place of worship destroyed by the army a day earlier. Soldiers arrived at the site to try to take down the rebuilt structure but were warded off by settlers, Israel Radio reported. The army was preparing a new warrant, the radio said. (The Guardian)

Prime Minister Qureia met with a British parliamentary delegation and showed them part of the separation barrier in the West Bank. Mr. Qureia hosted members of the British Labour Friends of Israel at his office in Abu Dis, where a new concrete section of the barrier had just been erected. “This is an 8-metre wall which will divide the city in two parts,” he told the delegation. Other issues discussed in the meeting included “the peace process, the wall, the continued settlement activity, the incursions and daily destructions by Israel, and most recently, the crimes perpetrated in Rafah,” Mr. Qureia told reporters. Mr. Qureia was asked about President Bush’s State of the Union address, in which he had made no mention of the peace process but alluded to the need for democracy in the region. Mr. Qureia replied, “We’re hoping that before dealing with democratic processes in the Middle East, President Bush will pronounce on the occupation.” (AFP)

The Knesset plenum rejected three bills filed by members of the opposition on the routeing of the separation barrier. The bills each suggested alternative routes to the one the wall was currently following. The bill proposed by Meretz MK Ran Cohen, which had been rejected by a majority of 53 to 2 with 4 abstaining, suggested building the wall along the 1967 Green Line. Mr. Cohen said the current route of the wall encouraged additional acts of hatred and terrorism. He also accused the Government of wasting NIS4 billion on the wall. The two other bills rejected were very similar to Mr. Cohen’s proposal. (Ha’aretz)

Israeli police bricked up a house in the Wadi Joz area of East Jerusalem belonging to Abdullah Sharabati, a Hamas member accused of having served as a guide for the suicide bomber who had blown himself up on a Jerusalem bus on 19 August 2003, killing 23 other people. The house was sealed off after Israel’s Supreme Court turned down two appeals from his family, police said. Mr. Sharabati had not been tried but police alleged he had confessed to being involved in the bombing and belonging to a “terrorist network.” (AFP)

British Foreign Office Minister Baroness Symons discussed the Middle East peace process with Palestinian Authority President Arafat at the start of a three-day visit to the region. “The Prime Minister remains committed to the Road Map, and of course I shall be reporting back to him,” she told reporters after the talks. “I will be encouraging those I meet to work hard to restart a dialogue with Israel and breathe new life into the Road Map,” Baroness Symons had said in an earlier statement. (Reuters)

The Jordanian Lower House of Parliament said in a statement: “The House rejects Israel’s continued policy of aggression against the Palestinian people, including its targeting of their national struggle symbols through a process of systematic assassinations that culminated in the latest threat to kill Hamas’ founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The policy of physical liquidation of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin will not prevent the Palestinian people from calling at international forums for the removal of injustices inflicted on them, including stopping the construction of the racial separation wall.” The chamber urged the Government to proceed with its moves before the International Court of Justice to ensure a halt to the barrier’s construction “because it jeopardized Jordan’s national security.” (DPA, www.petra.gov.jo)

Two senior US diplomats – Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf and Deputy Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield – planned to go to the Middle East “soon” to meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian officials in an effort to resume the peace process, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said, adding: “They’re going to make clear, as we have been doing for some time, that in order to make progress on the Road Map and the 2002 vision of two States, both sides need to meet their responsibilities and obligations.” Mr. Ereli also dismissed the concerns raised by the President’s State of the Union address: “It would be erroneous to conclude that its being in the State of the Union speech represented a lessening of commitment or a lowering of the priority of this issue. We are not less committed to a solution to this problem simply because it wasn’t in a speech,” (AFP, DPA)

“Russia is opposed to unilateral actions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and we believe the construction of a separation wall does not meet the interests of the process of achieving a settlement or the interests of implementing the Road Map,” Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said after talks with his Palestinian counterpart Nabil Sha’ath. “We view the situation that has arisen over the implementation of the Road Map with concern. The situation is virtually deadlocked … The current deadlock can satisfy no one, neither the two sides of the conflict nor the international community,” Mr. Ivanov said, noting further that Russia was in close dialogue with its partners in the Quartet on the situation. (AFP, Reuters)

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy and wounded two other youths near a fence dividing the Gaza Strip and Israel. Palestinian medical officials said the body of Mohsan Ad-Daour, 12 (11, according to DPAand The Jerusalem Post,14, according to AP),was later found at the scene and that he had been shot in the face. The two wounded were taken to a hospital in Israel. The IDF said troops fired at the legs of seven people as they approached within 25 metres of the fence with a ladder, wounding two of them. “We have reason to believe terrorist groups occasionally send minors to the Gaza boundary fence to test our response, ahead of carrying out attacks,” an IDF spokesman said. Palestinian officials and family members of the victims said the group had been bird-hunting, a popular pastime among Gaza youths. According to witnesses quoted by DPA,as the boys were sitting on their knees covering their nets with sand, soldiers stationed near the border apparently mistook them for militants planting a roadside bomb and opened fire at them. (AFP, AP, Reuters)

In Nablus, Israeli troops entered the centre of the city and began conducting house-to-house searches. Explosions were heard in the area. According to AFP,some 20 jeeps backed by armoured vehicles and two bulldozers surrounded a house in an attempt to arrest Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member Imad Akkubeh, 32. His mother used an army loudspeaker to call on her son to surrender. Israeli troops blew up the building after three of the four Palestinians inside surrendered, Israeli military sources said, suggesting the fourth one was killed in the demolition. However, Palestinian security sources said Mr. Akkubeh had managed to flee before the explosion. (AFP, AP)

Israel imposed new restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, requiring a permit for men and women aged 16 to 45 to cross into Jordan from the West Bank, Palestinian officials said. “This decision took us by surprise, we were notified at 8.30 am this morning without any explanation,” PA Minister for Civil Affairs Jamil Al-Tarifi was quoted as saying by WAFA. (AFP)

President Hosni Mubarak’s son, Gamal H. Mubarak, head of policy for the ruling National Democratic Party, raised the issue of the Mideast conflict at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Mr. Mubarak rejected the idea that Arab States were using the Mideast conflict as an excuse to block reforms and insisted that it remained at the top of the agenda for Arab countries, saying: “In Egypt, as in most Arab countries, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a foreign policy issue. It is a domestic issue.” His view was backed by the 200-strong audience in a panel discussion, chiefly from the Arab world. Fifty per cent of respondents in an interactive poll when asked which change was the one most desired in the Arab world, stated that the Middle East conflict needed to be resolved. (DPA)

The State of Israel petitioned the Beersheba District Court to extend Marwan Barghouti’s solitary confinement by an additional six months. (The Jerusalem Post)

The Organization of the Islamic Conference was granted permission to participate in the hearings in February at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal consequences of the separation barrier, according to an announcement by the Court. (AP, Ha’aretz, www.icj-cij.org)

Prime Minister Sharon’s Bureau Chief Dov Weissglas met with US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to review Israel’s separation barrier and an impending hearing of the matter at the ICJ, prospects for reviving the Road Map, and Mr. Sharon’s unilateral disengagement plan. In the meeting Mr. Weissglas allegedly guaranteed that the plan did not include the annexation of territory. An Israeli official present at the meeting was quoted by IBAas saying that the route of the barrier was being seriously reconsidered to fall in line with US requests. The Prime Minister’s Office issued a brief statement on the meeting. (AFP, IBA, The Jerusalem Post, www.pmo.gov.il)

Foreign Minister Shalom telephoned US Secretary of State Colin Powell to defend once again the separation barrier, reportedly saying Israel intended to question the competence of the ICJ to give an advisery opinion on the substance of the case, “as well as for procedural reasons.” According to Israel’s Government Press Office, Mr. Shalom thanked the Secretary “for his efforts to limit damage to Israel” at the ICJ and “encouraged the Secretary of State in his efforts to secure a joint US-Russian approach to this issue.” (AFP, IMRA)

The Israeli High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction preventing the removal of the “Hazon David” outpost near “Kiryat Arba,” east of Hebron. According to a report on Israel Radiothe next day, the uninhabited outpost consisted of one tent, serving as a makeshift place of worship. (IMEMC, The Jerusalem Post)

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, top aide to Palestinian Authority President Arafat, said: “We are warning against the possibility that Ariel Sharon may take advantage of this corruption scandal to embark on a military adventure in the Palestinian territories or somewhere else in the region,” as he faced indictment over an alleged attempt by a businessman to bribe him and could contemplate such a move “to divert attention and avoid facing the truth.” (AFP)

Israeli troops demolished three houses in Ramallah, which the IDF said were too close to the separation barrier. (IMEMC)

Some 2,500 Palestinians took to the streets of Nablus in support of Hamas’ spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, whom Israel had threatened to kill. The crowd departed from Al-Nasser Mosque in the Old City and marched towards the centre of town. (AFP)

The Israel Broadcasting Authority reported that Foreign Minister Shalom had met with Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzrland, to raise Israel’s objections to the International Court of Justice taking up the separation barrier issue. Mr. Annan reportedly said the United Nations would not be participating in the court proceedings. (IBA)

In an interview with AP in Davos, Foreign Minister Shalom said the Palestinians should return to the negotiating table because Israel was ready to make changes to the separation wall. “If we reach agreement with the Palestinians and we agree with each other to move the fence, it’s movable,” Mr. Shalom said, adding that Israel had pulled back similar fences on the borders with Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon and could do so again. Asked whether Israel would be willing to move the fence back to the Green Line, Mr. Shalom said, “We won’t even need it anymore. We don’t like this fence. We didn’t build any fence from 1967 to 2002.” (AP, Ha’aretz)

Prime Minister Sharon’s spokesman Ra’anan Gissin said Mr. Sharon had been given “an open invitation” to visit the US for talks with President Bush, but an exact date for the meeting had yet to be set. Mr. Sharon was expected to present his unilateral disengagement plan. The two leaders were to discuss recent developments in the Middle East conflict, Mr. Gissin said, including the ICJ hearing on the legality of the West Bank separation barrier, scheduled to open 23 February 2004. The meeting had been agreed on between Mr. Sharon’s Bureau Chief Dov Weissglas and US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice the day before in Washington, Israeli media reported. (AFP, DPA)

PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath told reporters at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos: “It’s very difficult to produce deeper decisions, especially now that the Israelis are going through this period of corruption charges against Mr. Sharon and a possible change of the Israeli Government.” Mr. Sha’ath was due to share a platform at the conference with his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom. “The most important thing I will ask Mr. Shalom to transmit to the Israeli leadership is to stop building the wall inside Palestinian territory and commit to the ceasefire,” he said. (Reuters)

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, addressing a WEF session, said: “The international community cannot afford to let the collective suicide of Palestinians and Israelis feed rage and violence in the region and the world.” (AFP)

The next round of talks on the Geneva Initiative was to take place in the eastern French city of Lyon in March or April 2004. “Lyon will play host to the second round of negotiations on the Geneva Initiative in an effort to push the Middle East peace process forward,” Socialist mayor of the city Gérard Collomb told reporters. Robert Rouach, an adviser to Yossi Beilin, one of the promoters of the plan, hailed the scheduled talks as “a major first,” explaining: “For fifty years, Israel refused to allow negotiations to be held in France, as France was considered to be pro-Palestinian.” Mr. Collomb was due to travel to Israel in the next two weeks to plan the talks with Israeli and Palestinian drafters of the initiative. (AFP)

Gen. Ilan Paz, the head of Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank, called for a major re-evaluation by the IDF of the use of roadblocks that impeded Palestinian movement: “The attitude of the soldiers who man the roadblocks must be completely changed and some must be removed,” he said in an interview with Yediot Aharonot,adding: “We have already lifted many of them, but there is yet more that can be done.” Gen. Paz criticized Shin Bet’s overly cautious position which viewed the Palestinians “through confrontational blinkers” and the repeated closures of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, saying: “We should allow Palestinian workers to come to Israel because the evidence shows not one of them has ever taken part in a suicide bombing.” (AFP)

A spokesman for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the upcoming visit to the Middle East by the Special Envoy of the Government Responsible for Peace in the Middle East, Tatsuo Arima, to exchange views on the Palestinian situation and the Middle East situation in general with officials of Egypt, Israel, the PA, Jordan and Syria. Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima also said Japan had decided “to extend US$9 million worth of emergency grant assistance for the Palestinians through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to implement seven projects for the sectors of health, medical care and education, such as th construction and extension of water supply networks for approximately 100,000 in rural areas of the West Bank or providing self-learning materials for 190,000 primary school students negatively influenced by the lack of school hours in the Palestinian areas.” “The situation needs to be addressed promptly,” the Ministry said in a statement, adding that the improvement of the humanitarian situation of “poverty-stricken Palestinians is essential to promoting the Middle East peace process.” The statement listed seven projects covered by the grant and reiterated the Government’s commitment “to actively extend assistance to the Palestinian people in the recognition that improving the humanitarian situation of the poverty-stricken Palestinians is essential to promoting the Middle East peace process.” The decision was made in response to the UN’s Consolidated Appeal, issued in November 2003, for more than $300 million to help the Palestinians, and comes after Tokyo agreed on a $6 million grant in December 2003. (AFP, www.mofa.go.jp)

Israel lifted a day-old ban on Palestinian males between the ages of 16 and 45 intending to go to Jordan without prior Israeli permission, according to PA Civil Affairs Minister Jamil al-Tarifi. The imposition of the ban had led to the turning away of dozens of Palestinian males at the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge crossing between the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Jordan. (AFP)

Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians staking out an army position along the barrier between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said the two men had been dispatched on an “exploratory mission” near an IDF position in the military zone along Gaza’s border with Israel. The men were identified as Ashraf al-Imbayed, 25, who had been wearing a military-style jacket, and a relative from the same family, Samir al-Imbayed, 23. An army source said, “Binoculars were found near the bodies, suggesting they were there to monitor army movements in preparation for an attack.” (AFP, AP)

Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi said Hamas could declare a 10-year truce with Israel if it withdrew from territory occupied since 1967. He said that Hamas had come to the conclusion that it had become “difficult to liberate all our land at this stage, so we accept a phased liberation.” He added, “We accept a State in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. We propose a 10-year truce in return for [Israeli] withdrawal and the establishment of a State.” He said, however, that militants would target Israel with “new methods of resistance – and new weapons” if Israel completed the separation barrier around Palestinian areas. Mr. al-Rantissi said he did not expect Israel to respond favourably to the new suggestion, “when it has rejected the Palestinian Authority’s offer for less land than what we are proposing.” (DPA, The Guardian, Reuters)

The Guardian published an interview with PA President Arafat, who said, “Time is definitely running out for the two-State solution” because of the impact of Israel’s separation barrier and of settlement expansion on the viability of a future Palestinian State. PA Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath had also told The Guardian that “the two-State solution is being buried by an apartheid system of Palestinian bantustans and walled city prisons. If the Israelis withdraw unilaterally, the Palestinian Authority will collapse.” (The Guardian, Reuters)

According to WAFA, the PA Ministry of Education reported that well over 600 Palestinian students and teachers had been killed in the intifada. A total of 421 school pupils and 194 college students had been killed, along with 24 teachers and another seven people employed in the education sector. Another 4,324 Palestinian students and teachers had been wounded and 1,232 arrested by Israeli troops during the nearly 40 months of violence. The financial damage sustained by the education sector was estimated to be approximately US$10 million. (AFP)

The PA hailed the prisoner swap agreement between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah brokered by Germany, which would free more than 400 Palestinian and other detainees. Minister for Prisoners Hisham Abdelrazek said, “We are happy that the Arab and notably Palestinian prisoners are being freed and we hope to free all the prisoners.” But he added that there had been “no agreement between Israel and the Palestinians concerning the freeing of the prisoners” and “the list of those being freed was not given to the Palestinian Authority.” Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath, in Davos, welcomed the exchange, but demanded freedom for all political prisoners: “We are always happy when people are released from prisons and jails and incarceration.” But he added, “There are thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails that need to be freed.” The exchange was likely to take place on 29 January in Germany. According to the official list, those slated for release included 23 Lebanese nationals, five Syrians, three Moroccans, three Sudanese, a Libyan national and one German. Another 400 Palestinian prisoners would also be released and Israel would return the bodies of 59 Lebanese nationals killed in action. The agreement fell short of demands by the PA to release some 7,500 prisoners. (AFP, AP)

Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath told the World Economic Forum (WEF) that Prime Minister Qureia had refused to see Prime Minister Sharon without assurances they could discuss the barrier Israel was building in the West Bank. He said he had spoken to US Secretary of State Colin Powell asking him to provide “third-party reconciliation” that would set an agenda and help draft “some minimum amount of agreed statement.” He added that Mr. Qureia needed “some third-party comfort and assurance that the meeting will produce some concrete results.” He reported that Mr. Powell had replied saying “I’ll do my best” and scheduled a new Middle East mission by David Satterfield, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and John Wolf, Assistant Secretary of State and US envoy to the Middle East. “I understood this to be a sign” of US willingness to help, Mr. Sha’ath said, while adding that a European intervention would be welcome as well. (AFP)

At a panel discussion at the WEF, Israeli Foreign Ministry official Ron Prosor said Israel agreed to the Road Map, while pointing out that over the years there had been an “inflation of plans” for the Middle East conflict. But he said the basic problem was the “lack of responsible leadership on the other side … without that we won’t be able to move forward.” Mr. Prosor demanded tough PA action against suicide bombers, saying it was that which had forced Israel to start building the barrier. Mr. Sha’ath replied that since Israel had destroyed virtually all the PA’s security infrastructure, the PA lacked the power to move against radical elements. After a ceasefire and an Israeli pullout, he added, the Palestinians could “get back in power.” At the same panel discussion, Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Jamil Muasher said Arab States had not helped the peace process as much, as they “have not clearly stated that the suicide bombings were morally bad." Mr. Muasher said that in order to “break the vicious cycle” the Arabs must “state clearly and unequivocally” that suicide bombings were wrong and give the Palestinians the support they needed in serious peace negotiations. He added that the Israelis must accept the Road Map and a Palestinian State based on the 1967 borders. (DPA)

UNRWA urged donors to provide an additional US$25 million to rebuild Palestinian homes destroyed in the past three years. “We are appealing to the donors to allow us to do a little more,” said UNRWA Commissioner General Peter Hansen at the opening of a housing project in Khan Yunis. The orange-painted homes had been built at a cost of some $2.7 million for 474 Palestinians whose houses had been wrecked in Israeli military raids in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. The Israeli military had said the buildings had been used to hide gunmen or tunnels used to smuggle weapons into Gaza. Mr. Hansen said, “From a narrow security point of view they might have a point, but from a humanitarian point of view, one has to ask whether whatever security is gained by this kind of destruction is in any proportion to the human suffering.” An UNRWA statement indcated that the Agency had built some 1,838 shelters for some 14,000 Palestinians left homeless throughout the Gaza Strip since September 2000. But the agency needed $25 million more to build 1,139 additional homes for other Palestinians left homeless, the statement said. (Reuters)

Palestinians were to hold a national day of protest against Israel’s separation barrier to mark the start of a hearing by the International Court of Justice. During a meeting chaired by PA President Arafat, it was decided to mark 23 February as “a national day against the Israeli aggressions and the wall of apartheid and annexation,” according to a statement by WAFA.The Palestinian leadership also called for the mobilization by the Arab and international community “against the continued construction of the wall, which is a prelude to Sharon’s unilateral separation plan.” (AFP)

PA Prime Minister Qureia announced a series of security reforms designed to improve the coordination and effectiveness of the security services in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Two special “coordination centres” designed to increase the exchange of information between the various branches of security would be set up, Mr. Qureia said. The two centres in the West Bank and Gaza would be headed by a senior security officer, he added. He also reminded the preventive security force, after several cases in which it had arrested civilians, that only police officers had the right to do so. Governors had been ordered to deploy more uniformed police on the streets and to bring cases to court more swiftly. Officials also said the steps were designed as an anti-crime measure rather than to address the demands of the Road Map for Palestinians to rein in militants. Senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki said, “These decisions were announced to all Palestinian factions because nobody is above the law.” PA Negotiations Affairs Minister Saeb Erakat said the steps were “part of our efforts to maintain the rule of law and one authority.” (AFP, Reuters)

An Israeli court ordered that Marwan Barghouti be held in isolation in prison for another six months. The Beersheba District Court decision came in response to a petition by the Israel Prison Service which said isolation was necessary to limit Mr. Barghouti’s ability to direct attacks from behind bars. Mr. Barghouti had been held in isolation for the past year. Israel Radiosaid he was allowed visits only from his children. (Reuters)

Israel was to submit to the International Court of Justice at the end of the week written arguments in defence of the separation barrier in the West Bank. “In accordance with the demands of the ICJ, we are going to present our written statements at the end of the week,” indicated Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Ministry Gideon Meir. A report in The Jerusalem Post had said that the ICJ had rejected a call by Israel to postpone the 30 January deadline for written submissions ahead of hearings on 23 February. (AFP)

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, whose Government had been one of the few vocal supporters of the separation barrier, called for a reconsideration of its route. After talks with Foreign Minister Shalom, Mr. Downer emphasized that Australia had been one of only eight countries to vote against the GA resolution which asked the ICJ to rule on the barrier’s legal consequences. But he said, “We urge the Israeli Government to reconsider some aspects of its path.” (AFP)

The EU Foreign Ministers discussed a possible joint submission to the International Court of Justice on Israel’s separation barrier. “The possibility of an agreed EU communication to the Court remains under consideration,” Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, speaking for the EU’s Presidency, told reporters in Brussels. Mr. Cowen said the EU was convinced that Israel’s construction of the separation barrier was a breach of international law. But the EU Governments also believed that a UN resolution authorizing Palestinians to take the issue to the ICJ “did not help efforts to relaunch dialogue” in the Middle East, he said. (DPA)

The IDF reopened the Erez border point to Palestinians who had been barred from crossing from the Gaza Strip to Israel since a suicide attack there nearly two weeks before. “Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip can again cross at the Erez industrial zone from Tuesday morning. The army believes that it is very important to preserve conditions for a normal way of life for Palestinians who are not implicated in terrorist activities,” the army said in a statement. (AFP)

Israel published the names of more than 400 prisoners to be freed in an exchange with Hezbollah. The full list of 462 detainees was posted on the prison service’s web site overnight to allow for any last-minute appeals to the High Court of Justice ahead of the exchange, which Israel said would take place on 29 January. The list included 371 Palestinians who had been convicted of security offences, as well as 60 others who had been held without trial. Palestinian officials expressed disappointment over the list. Minister for Prisoner Affairs Hisham Abdelrazek said that while “we welcome the release of any prisoner,” the fact that none of the longer-serving prisoners were among those to be released had brought disappointment to the detainees. Most of the prisoners were expected to finish their prison term sometime during the current year and the rest no later than 2006, he said, adding there were only two women among them, one serving 10 months and the other 11 months. Issa Qaraqe, who headed the Palestinian Prisoners Club, said the release was intended “only to ease overcrowding in Israeli prisons.” President Arafat thanked Hezbollah for including Palestinians in the prisoner exchange. Prime Minister Qureia had earlier given his backing to the prisoner exchange deal, saying, “We view this accord between Hezbollah and Israel favourably and we will not spare any effort to obtain the freedom of all our prisoners.” (AFP, DPA, Ha’aretz, Reuters)

At least seven Israeli settlements were slated for evacuation under a separation plan that Israel had said it would implement if talks with Palestinians failed. The Yesha Council announced it had rejected a deal presented by Avigdor Yitzhaki, Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office. According to the proposal, the West Bank settlements of “Homesh,” “Sanur,” “Ganim,” and “Kadim” and the Gaza settlements of “Netzarim,” “Kfar Darom,” and “Morag” would be evacuated. In exchange, the settlers said the Government had offered to pass legislation preventing any further evacuations until a final agreement with the Palestinians was reached. Mr. Sharon was expected to visit Washington later in the month to present his “disengagement plan.” (Ha’aretz, Reuters)

John Wolf, US Assistant Secretary of State and Special Envoy to the Middle East, urged Israel and the Palestinians to do more to support the Road Map. “My time here will be spent in discussing where the two sides are in fulfilling commitments that they made and where they are in terms of steps envisioned by the Road Map,” he told reporters in Jerusalem. David Satterfield, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, was expected to join Mr. Wolf later in the day. (AP, Reuters)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman held talks with President Arafat as part of efforts to secure a new unilateral truce by Palestinian militants. Prime Minister Qureia was also expected to attend the meeting. “It is a significant visit and we hope that Egypt will be able to revive the Palestinian-Palestinian dialogue,” said PA Negotiations Affairs Minister Saeb Erakat. In Tel Aviv, Mr. Maher met with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Terje Rød-Larsen for about an hour. Sources said Mr. Rød-Larsen had expressed concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He had also warned of growing chaos in the Palestinian areas, saying it had weakened the PA and strengthened the position of the militants. (AFP, AP, Ha’aretz)

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he had been refused talks with Palestinian leaders during his current tour of the Middle East because he had been unwilling to meet with President Arafat. “I’m really not of a mind to call on Yasser Arafat until I see real action taken against terrorism,” he said, although he had hoped to meet with Prime Minister Qureia and others in the PA. “But I’m not able to meet the Prime Minister unless I go and see Yasser Arafat, and I don’t think that’s good positioning for Australia at this stage. I think we should support the broader Western approach of dealing with the Prime Minister and other ministers in the Palestinian Authority,” he stated. He urged Israel and the Palestinians to exert “very real leadership” to bring about peace. Mr. Downer announced that Australia had donated US$2 million dollars to UNRWA and $1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross to “help promote respect for international humanitarian law on both sides of the conflict.” (AFP)

Israeli and Palestinian economists released a “road map” to chart the way to a viable Palestinian economy with productive ties to Israel. The “economic road map,” two years in the making, envisioned a Palestinian State that would eventually achieve a living standard comparable to Israel’s through a balance of economic independence and interdependency. The three-phased plan, drawn up by academics, was the first joint economic proposal since 2000 and was intended as a blueprint for negotiations should the peace process resume. The economic road map was the latest in a series of informal peace deals drawn up by academics and experts. “The economics of peace-building have not been granted sufficient importance by policy makers,” said Mr. Gilbert Benhayoun, professor of economics at the University of Law, Economics, and Sciences of Aix-Marseilles III in France. Saeb Bamya, a Palestinian economist who helped write the plan, called it an important step that had no future unless Israel stopped building the separation barrier and lifted travel restrictions on Palestinians. Arie Arnon, the Israeli coordinator and economic professor at Ben-Gurion University, said, “The ideas are not far from how thinking is in official circles.” (Reuters)

Ten Israeli human rights organizations called on the International Court of Justice to rule against Israel’s separation barrier. In a joint letter to Prime Minister Sharon, the organizations said, “We want our voices to be heard against the wall being built by the Israeli Government in the occupied territories. As Israeli citizens, we are disturbed by the position of the Government of Israel in support of the wall, which does not reflect our views, nor does it necessarily reflect the views of Israeli public opinion. We represent a substantial portion of the Israeli public that is opposed to the wall.” (AFP)

At least nine Palestinians (13 according to Albawaba) were shot dead at the outskirts of Gaza City. The Islamic Jihad said at least five of its members were among the killed. The others were an 11-year old boy and three workers at the scene. Many Palestinians were injured, including a paramedic. The fighting erupted in the pre-dawn hours when the IDF launched an operation in the al-Zeitun suburb near the settlement of “Netzarim.” An IDF spokesman said the troops had come under attack while conducting an operation to find Palestinian cells responsible for attacks on “Netzarim”: “The soldiers saw about five to 10 gunmen approach them. The force opened fire at them. A majority of them were hit.” Hospital officials who examined the bodies said that some appeared to have been shot in the head at close range. The head of emergency services at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Bakr Abu Saffiyeh, said five had been shot with “a single bullet to the head or the nape of the neck.” No tank shell fragments were found in them. An army source insisted the troops had not left their armoured vehicle throughout the exchanges of fire. (AFP, Albawaba.com, DPA, Ha’aretz)

On the deaths in Gaza City, President Arafat’s chief adviser Nabil Abu Rudeineh said, “The Israeli Government must bear the responsibility for this massacre.” “What has happened in Gaza is one of the crimes which Israel commits on a daily basis,” said Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Qureia. Yasser Abed Rabbo, PLO Executive Committee member, condemned the “massacre,” saying, “The invasion of Gaza City as this time and under the current circumstances comes within the context of the endeavours of the Government of Sharon to foil the efforts of regional and international mediators to calm down the situation, as well as the peaceful efforts of both Palestinian and Israeli peace advocates.” He added that Mr. Sharon was “diverting Israeli and world public opinion away from the wall which his Government continues to build despite escalating international criticism and protests.” He called on the world community, and the US in particular, urgently to intervene to put an end to the Israeli escalation and to pressure Israel into fulfilling its commitments stipulated in the Road Map, “instead of rewarding Sharon by extending an open invitation to him to visit the White House.” The Islamic Jihad vowed to avenge the deaths of its members. (AFP, Albawaba.com)

In an interview with AFP,UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen said his agency was unable to keep pace with the demand for housing from families made homeless by the Israeli army’s demolitions in the Gaza Strip. He said, “We have built 300 houses and there are 400 others under construction. We need about US$30 million which we don’t have. We try to get money to build the demolished houses … but the fact is that the available funds are less than the destroying rate.” He went on to say that “Israel justifies its actions in Khan Yunis and Rafah by two arguments: the first is the tunnels and the second that these houses are used as cover for gunmen. My point of view is that there is no proportionality between what they are protecting themselves against and what they use to protect themselves.” “My message to the Israelis and Palestinians is that this continued policy [violence] only leads to war, suffering, misery and broken economies for both parties. Both parties have to return to the peace process to reach a solution.” (AFP)

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Qureia praised what he called the US re-engagement in Middle East peace efforts, saying that something positive might soon emerge from meeting with US officials. “We are hopeful as we see the US re-engaged and playing its active, important and major role in the peace process,” he told reporters after a two-hour meeting at his Ramallah office with State Department officials David Satterfield and John Wolf. He described the meeting as “deep and good” and said it derived extra importance from the fact that the officials were “special envoys of President George Bush, which shows that the US Administration is still directly involved in the conflict.” Mr. Qureia said the meeting had “raised issues … from security to the meeting [with Mr. Sharon], to coordination and the situation on the ground, and we raised all the issues such as the separation wall, the settlements, the suffering of the people and the prisoners.” The US envoys were pressing both Prime Ministers to hold a summit to help revive the Road Map. Mr. Qureia said, “They have officially asked that the meeting take place. We’re studying this and we will prepare for it well.” A spokesman for Mr. Sharon said, “We have always said the Prime Minister is willing to meet with him [Qureia], without preconditions.” A Palestinian official said, “Qureia does not want a summit that would not culminate in practical steps to ease the lives of Palestinians under occupation and revive peace moves.” (AFP, DPA, Reuters)

Jordan would go ahead and submit its case to the International Court of Justice against the separation barrier, and still expected Israel to free a group of Jordanian prisoners despite the postponement of a visit to Jordan by Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shalom. “The postponement of the visit has of course cast a shadow over the date of the release, but the principle has not changed,” Jordanian spokesperson Asma Khodr said. The Israeli Foreign Ministry had said the visit was postponed “by common consent” between Foreign Ministers Shalom and Muasher. Mr. Khodr added, “Jordan will submit on Friday legal arguments to the ICJ” against the separation barrier. (AFP)

Prime Minister Sharon was scheduled to meet with the new chairman of the Israeli National Security Council, Major-General Giora Eiland, to give him instructions for the designation of a “security line” to which Israel would withdraw as part of the “disengagement plan.” Mr. Eiland had convened an inter-ministerial “disengagement committee” two days earlier, naming four separate teams – security, economic, legal and humanitarian – to work out the various aspects of the plan. Government sources said the compensation offered to evacuated settlers would be based on the model used in the evacuation of Sinai settlements as a result of the peace treaty with Egypt. Settlers would be given three alternatives: moving their entire settlement elsewhere; moving to another settlement; and moving back to Israel and receiving financial compensation and help in finding housing. (Ha’aretz)

The IDF had agreed not to obstruct Palestinian police redeploying in West Bank cities and was considering letting them rearm, Palestinian and Israeli officials said. In a letter to West Bank commanders, PA National Security Chief Haj Ismail Jabber said he had reached an agreement with senior Israeli officials in that regard and further talks had been planned: “The Israeli side promises not to obstruct the work of Palestinian police officers. The Israeli side promises to study a request to allow members of the police force and national security to carry weapons, and the response will come within a week.” (Reuters)

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the PA faced “partial collapse” if the current impasse in the Middle East peace process continued. “I am afraid that if the situation continues, we will see … real despair and perhaps even partial collapse of the PA,” he told reporters in Brussels. “We need to find a way of breaking the impasse and moving forward. Everybody agrees that the solution is land for peace, and we need to really find a way of bringing the parties to the table,” he added. (AFP, UN News Centre)

The Israeli Cabinet held consultations and decided that it would challenge the ICJ’s right to rule on the legal consequences of the separation barrier. The press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office said “it was decided that Israel would file a document with the International Court of Justice regarding the Court’s lack of jurisdiction on this subject.” The 150-page document would “detail various issues which led Israel to construct the terrorism prevention fence, such as: the right of self-defence, Palestinian terrorism, etc.” The Government also decided to step up a lobbying campaign in support of the project. (AFP, www.pmo.gov.il)

Prime Minister Sharon denied he had struck an agreement with settlers that would allow Israel to remove settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “Any report regarding negotiations that were purportedly held with the Yesha Council about the disengagement plan is incorrect. I have no intention of legislating any law that would tie the Government’s hands,” he said. (Chicago Sun-Times)

Ten people were killed and at least 50 wounded in a suicide bombing in central Jerusalem shortly before 9 a.m. The blast took place on Egged bus No. 19, close to Prime Minister Sharon’s residence. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. Palestinian sources identified the bomber as Ali Yusuf Jaara, a 24-year-old Palestinian policeman from Bethlehem. The bomber left a note, saying he wanted to avenge the killing of eight Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip the day before. (AFP, AP, Ha’aretz)

A statement issued by PA Prime Minister Qureia’s office said, “The Prime Minister and the Palestinian Government condemn the explosion on the bus in Jerusalem this morning … and the continuation of the violence against our people, the last of which was when Israeli forces killed nine citizens and injured many more yesterday in Gaza.” Senior Islamic Jihad official Mohammad al-Hindi said the blame for the attack lay firmly on Israel: “Israel must take responsibility for everything that has happened. No one condemned the massacre which took place yesterday in al-Zeitun, but today we hear condemnations from all international parties.” Hamas leader Mohammed Gazal said “this operation was a natural reaction to what happened in Gaza yesterday … Israel wants to escalate the situation to pre-empt any chance of peace.” Israel said the suicide bombing vindicated its construction of the separation barrier. (AFP, Albawaba.com, DPA)

The following is a statement issued by the UN Secretary-General:

Once again, violence and terror have claimed innocent lives in the Middle East. Once again I condemn those who resort to such methods. Once again, I appeal to Israelis and Palestinians alike to rise above feelings of anger and vengeance, however natural, and to devote all their energies to negotiating a true and lasting peace in which two peoples will live side by side, each in their own State.

(UN press release SG/SM/9133-PAL/1975)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher said the latest suicide bombing in Jerusalem was directly linked to the Israeli raid in Gaza a day earlier. “What happened in Jerusalem today is linked to what happened in Gaza and linked to the fact that there are no active negotiations between the two parties that would revive hope and make getting out of the cycle of violence possible,” he told reporters. He said the cycle of violence would not end unless Israel’s “provocative actions” were stopped and negotiations resumed. (DPA)

US Secretary of State Colin Powell called the suicide bombing in Jerusalem a “horrendous act” and emphasized that those behind it “have struck a blow once more against the aspirations of the Palestinian people to have a homeland of their own.” He expressed support for the Road Map but said extremist violence against Israelis might make it impossible to meet the 2005 deadline for creating an independent Palestinian State. “The longer time goes by without progress because we can’t get it going, the parties can’t get moving because of this terrorist activity, the more difficult it will be to achieve the goals laid out in the Road Map with respect to a timetable,” he told reporters. He also said, “I once again implore the Palestinian leaders, and especially Prime Minister Abu Ala [Mr. Qureia], to do everything in his power, everything in their power, to ostracize these terrorists, to go after them.” (AFP)

Responding to questions linking the suicide bombing on 29 January to the killings of Palestinians in Gaza on 28 January, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, “Our reaction to incidents like that has been that Israel has a legitimate right to defend itself, but needs to always consider the consequences of any actions it decides to undertake. I don’t think either of those clauses would apply to somebody setting off a bomb on a bus today, so that’s why I draw no equivalence.” Meanwhile, the Security Council deliberated on the violence in the Middle East, but did not come to an agreement on a statement or other action. (AFP, Reuters)

At the conclusion of consultations on possible responses to the suicide bombing held by Prime Minister Sharon and Defence Minister Mofaz with the heads of the IDF and Shin Bet, it was decided not to renew the closure of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and to continue to allow some 30,000 Palestinian workers and business people to enter Israel. The Shin Bet opposed the decision and recommended extreme measures. After the bombing, Mr. Sharon and Foreign Minister Shalom had announced the cancellation of a planned meeting between representatives of Israel, the US and the PA to discuss measures designed to bring economic relief to the Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. (Ha’aretz)

Speaking at a news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels, the UN Secretary-General said the Road Map was not dead, but Israel and the Palestinians must take steps themselves to end the cycle of violence. “We will do our best and press on with … implementation [of the Road Map],” he said. “It is in distress, but not dead.” He also said the onus was on both sides to show leadership and make “reciprocal and parallel concessions” and take confidence-building measures to prevent attacks such as the suicide bombing. He also said, “I would once again want to appeal to the leaders, for the sake of their people and their nation, to summon the courage and the leadership to get back to the table … to move the process ahead. We need to … find ways of ending the cycle of violence and [such] attacks as we’ve seen today.” (Reuters)

Israel released about 400 Palestinian prisoners as part of the German-brokered agreement with Hezbollah. The prisoners crossed into Palestinian territory but were kept waiting until Israeli authorities gave the green light for the transfer. Hundreds of family members greeted the detainees at the roadblocks near Ramallah, Jenin, Tarqumia, Hebron, Beituniya, Salem and Tulkarm and at the Erez-Beit Hanoun border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Hundreds accompanied the 57 prisoners released in Beituniya to President Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters, where he welcomed them. (AFP, Albawaba.com, DPA)

Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians, including two teenagers in the Gaza Strip, near the settlement of “Dugit,” close to Beit Lahya. The two were identified by family sources as Mohammed Khalaf and Mohammed Al-Ashqar, both members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. An Israeli military source said troops had opened fire at a group of armed men who were approaching the settlement. A third Palestinian, Jihad al-Sweiti, 45, was shot dead by Israel soldiers in an exchange of fire in Beit Awwa, west of Hebron. The army said gunfire had broken out when soldiers tried to arrest Mr. al-Sweiti in a house where he had taken refuge. An assault rifle was found by his body, an army spokesman said. (AFP, Ha’aretz)

With some 15 armoured vehicles, the IDF entered Bethlehem overnight for the first time in six months and moved into the centre of town, encountering no opposition. Four Palestinians were arrested in the raid and dozens were detained for questioning. After pulling out by mid-morning, the soldiers maintained a presence in the adjoining Ayda refugee camp, demolishing the house of the suicide bomber who had killed ten people in Jerusalem a day earlier. An IDF spokesman confirmed that an operation “designed to attack the terrorist organizations” was under way in Bethlehem. “Some suspects have been arrested,” he said but did not give any names or figures. After the pullback, Palestinian security services returned to their headquarters in the town and policemen returned to street patrols. A joint Israeli-Palestinian security meeting was expected to take place during the day. (AFP, DPA, Ha’aretz)

Hamas became the second organization to claim responsibility for the suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Hamas published on its web site a picture of the bomber, who was wearing a band with the inscription of the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas condemned what it called the “hasty claim” made by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades for the bombing. (AFP, Ha’aretz)

In Ramallah, IDF troops demolished six houses belonging to Hamas members who the army said were responsible for an attack at Ein Yabrud in which three soldiers had been killed, Israel Radio reported. More than 50 persons were left homeless. (Ha’aretz)

Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin warned that his movement was planning to follow Hezbollah’s example and kidnap Israeli soldiers to swap for Palestinian prisoners. “The Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades have planned, are planning and will continue to plan until they succeed” in carrying out kidnappings, he told reporters. “There is no solution to the prisoner issue except with the kidnapping of soldiers of the enemy and exchanging them for our own prisoners,” he added. (AFP, AP)

At a press encounter in Brussels, the UN Secretary-General said: “I think yesterday I had the chance to share with some of you my concern for the situation in the Middle East, which is extremely worrying. We have seen in the last couple of days many, many people killed. As you know, I have always condemned without reservation suicide bombings that take innocent lives and have also indicated that we need to be active and energize our efforts to find a way of bringing the parties to the table. And it is essential that we do all we can to lead them to the path of peace and I believe we owe it to the people in the region, their families and their children, to really find a way of breaking this cycle of violence and revenge. And I send my deepest sympathy and condolences to the families and all those who lost loved ones and those who have been injured and are in hospital. But the only solution to this is to focus on peace.” (UN News Centre)

Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN Dan Gillerman called a press conference to denounce the Secretary-General's statement issued in New York the previous day while Mr. Annan was in Brussels during a two-week trip to Europe. “No mention is made of Israeli victims slaughtered in the bombing… no specific reference is made to the attack at all,” Mr. Gillerman told reporters, warning that UN “indifference” to Palestinian terrorist attacks undermined efforts to achieve peace. “The moral clarity of the Secretary-General in expressly condemning brutal acts of terrorism like yesterday’s attack is especially important. This is why we must unfortunately express our disappointment and dismay.” Before the press conference started at UN headquarters, Mr. Annan told reporters in Brussels: “I have always condemned without reservation suicide bombings that take innocent lives” [see previous item]. Mr. Gillerman said after his press conference he was not aware of Mr. Annan’s new comments. UN associate spokeswoman Marie Okabe said “one press statement doesn’t make a policy” and dismissed Mr. Gillerman’s claim that the Secretary-General had not read the statement, as well as any suggestion that it represented a shift in his attitude towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “There has been no change. The Secretary-General has consistently and strongly condemned all acts of terrorism from whatever quarter, including the suicide bombing in Israel yesterday.” She added: “The Secretary-General does see and read and sign off on everything.” Amb. Gillerman also expressed anger over the Security Council’s failure to agree on a statement about the bombing because of opposition from Algeria, which reportedly wanted any statement to make reference to the eight Palestinians killed the day before the attack in a raid by Israeli forces, while the US and others said equating the two incidents was unacceptable. Permanent Representative of Algeria to the UN Abdallah Baali expressed regret at the failure to reach consensus: “We are willing to work on language … so that at the end we come up with a common position, but it has to be understood that the positions should be balanced, should be fair to everybody.” The Israeli ambassador cited several other “troubling actions” by the UN Secretariat, singling out “the reluctance of the Secretary-General to assist in the adoption of a resolution on anti-Semitism after being specifically requested to do so” and a report on Israel’s construction of the separation barrier “that failed to devote even one word to the terrorist threat that the fence is designed to protect against.” He further said the Secretary-General's dossier sent to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) showed “a bias in the selection of documents that borders on the absurd.” (AFP, AP, www.israel-un.org)

Palestinian sources said the PA documents prepared for the ICJ on the separation barrier had been photocopied by Israeli authorities at Ben-Gurion airport on 12 January. (Ha’aretz)

Israel had officially challenged the ICJ’s right to rule on the legality of the separation barrier, a Foreign Ministry official said. “We believe that the Court should not and cannot deal with this political issue, which has to be dealt with by direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians,” the official said after Israel filed its affidavit. The PA had said that the ICJ had full jurisdiction and accused Israel of trying to politicize the case and perpetuate the “occupation of 3.5 million Palestinians against their will.” (Ha’aretz, Reuters)

The US argued that the ICJ was not the proper forum to decide the legality of the separation barrier. “This morning at the International Court of Justice we filed a brief on the Israeli fence essentially arguing that this is not the kind of issue that should be decided by the International Court,” a senior US official said. “[This is a] dispute involving particular parties, political issues [and] needs to be dealt with by negotiation.” (Reuters)

The British Government planned to lodge an objection to the planned hearings in the International Court of Justice. In an interview with the Jewish Chronicle,Foreign Office Minister Lady Symons said a hearing at the ICJ on the issue of the wall would “serve to politicize the Court in a way for which it was not designed.” The Foreign Office had repeatedly declared that the wall’s encroachment into Palestinian land was illegal. “Our concerns relate to the Court, not the legality of the route of the fence. It remains our view that the building of the fence on Palestinian land is unlawful.” Lady Symons, who had visited Israel and viewed the wall a week earlier, said, “We do not believe that the security fence is in the right place. The 1967 line is where it should be, or indeed on the Israeli side of that line,” (DPA, The Guardian, Ha’aretz)

Israeli forces moved into Bethlehem and adjoining refugee camps before dawn, arrested two suspected militants and left before sunrise, the second such raid in the town after a suicide bombing on 29 January. Witnesses said about 50 troops in jeeps had entered the city and arrested five Palestinians, including three Hamas members. (AP, Reuters)

Two US diplomats, John Wolf, Assistant Secretary of State charged with monitoring the Road Map dossier, and Deputy Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield, visited PA Minister of Negotiations Affairs Saeb Erakat in Jericho to review progress made by the PA on security matters as called for under the Road Map. PA Interior Minister Hakam Balawi attended the talks, which reportedly also touched on efforts to achieve a freeze of attacks by militant Palestinian factions. Mr. Erakat told the US officials the Palestinians were angry with the US position that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should not consider the Israeli-built separation barrier. “I cannot understand it,” Mr. Erakat told The Associated Press. “We seek to use diplomacy against the wall in going to the Security Council and the International Court of Justice, and we find these countries, the US and Britain, trying to shut the door in our faces.” (AFP, AP)

The PA said it had submitted a written statement to the ICJ. PA Minister of Negotiations Affairs Saeb Erakat said the Court had “full jurisdiction” and that the Palestinian position had been submitted on 29 January based on how the barrier affected the Palestinians’ daily lives: “The fact that it’s being built in Palestinian territory is a flagrant violation of international law.” (Reuters)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told national television in Cairo that Prime Minister Sharon, in a telephone call to congratulate him on Id al-Adha, had told him “he was ready to restart [the negotiations] but that the Palestinians were hesitant.” Mr. Mubarak also said: “I spoke with the Palestinians yesterday and told them they should establish contacts with the Israeli side to restart the negotiations,” adding that they had also assured him they would do so. (AFP, Ha’aretz, Xinhua)

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Chronological Review of Events/January 2004 – DPR review

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