Preliminary Work On The Wall At Azzawiya
Work has started on the Apartheid Wall in Azzawiya. There are currently 4 contractors' vehicles, an army jeep, soldiers and engineers on Highway No. 5 at the bridge over the road between the villages of Mas'ha and Azzawiya. They are putting marks in preparation for the wall to be constructed on lands confiscated from Azzawiya.
 http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0404/S00104.htm


PM in U.S. for Gaza pullout talks, will meet Rice on Tuesday
Hours before leaving the country at around 2 A.M. Tuesday, Sharon said the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim would be included in the "Jerusalem envelope" section of the West Bank separation fence.
 http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/414790.html


Israel: Bush Should Press Sharon on Rights Violations
U.S. President George W. Bush should raise Israeli human rights violations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip when he hosts Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the White House on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said today. “The separation barrier further encroaches on local land and resources in order to consolidate control over these illegal settlements,”
 http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/04/13/isrlpa8426.htm


IOF Escalates Arbitrary Measures in WB
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) razed Tuesday vast areas of arable land in Hussan village of Bethlehem City. Head of the city rural council, Mustafa Hamamreh, said that a number of military bulldozers, backed by dozens of soldiers, razed vast areas of cultivated land.
 http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=453


A Citizen Dies of IOF Disruptions as Offensives Spread Throughout Palestinian Territories
Local residents affirmed that the Israeli soldiers used a large amount of stun grenades, causing 56-year old Ahmad Abdel Rahman to suffer a heart attack. "When the ambulance tried to rush him to the hospital, the Israeli soldiers prevented it from leaving the area and kept it there until he died,"
 http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_04/089.html


Dozens of Civilians Wounded in Hebron
Eyewitnesses said that around 100 colonizers, carrying automatic rifles and clubs, brutally broke into al-Jabari neigbourhood and attacked civilians, causing a state of panic among children and women. He added that around twelve houses were damaged when Israeli colonizers opened heavy fire and threw igniter grenades at these houses.
 http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=451


Soldier, bus driver wounded in West Bank attacks
An Israel Defense Forces soldier was lightly wounded by shrapnel earlier Tuesday when the bus in which he was traveling came under fire in the West Bank, between the settlement of Hermesh and the town of Baka al-Sharkiyeh.
 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/414828.html


New Israeli Wave of Demolishing and Incursion in OPT
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) demolished Monday night a house in al-Sheikh Ejleen area of the Gaza Strip and incurred into Tulkarem refugee camp and Ramallah City of the West Bank. In Gaza area of al-Sheikh Ejleen, IOF demolished a civilian house, witnesses said.
 http://english.wafa.ps/body.asp?field=tech_news&id=447


Palestinian children killed by Israel
Among these victims, 266 children were 14 or younger while the ages of the remaining 279 ranged from 15 to 18. Moreover, as many as 20,000 Palestinian children were injured, with nearly 1500 sustaining life-long disabilities.
 http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C3994F6B-9576-4702-94E3-73EA1470182E.htm


Reporters Without Borders urges police investigation after Reuters photographer beaten
Ammar Awad, was brutally beaten and kicked by around a dozen Israeli police officers, according to witnesses at the scene. Awad was covering clashes between young Palestinians and Israeli Police on the esplanade of the mosques in Jerusalem...
 http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9719


UNRWA resumes food supply to Gaza Strip
"It has been a month since we started asking the Israeli government to facilitate our staff's movements as well as allowing food and medicine containers to enter the strip," he said. The UNRWA launched an urgent appeal to the international community in order to raise 195 million US dollars for the 2004 budget, but has only raised 70 million dollars so far, he said.
 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-04/13/content_1417372.htm


UN Committee's recommendations to Lebanon: Need for effective measures to protect the human rights of Palestinian refugees
the Lebanese government should make the necessary changes to its domestic laws and policies to make them compatible with its obligations under international human rights law and to end all practices that prevent Palestinian refugees from enjoying their basic human rights. Amnesty International recognizes and advocates the right to return of Palestinian refugees.
 http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=80256DD400782B8480256E750054086B


Annan cautions Israel on West Bank settlements
Israel's plan to pull out of Gaza should not involve any plans for the West Bank that might affect the future creation of a viable Palestinian state, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday.
 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13624090.htm


Israel, PNA agree on Gaza pullout: Palestinian source
Meanwhile, other Palestinian security sources confirmed that the Palestinian military intelligence services headed by Mussa Arafat would take over security responsibilities in the Jewish settlements that are supposed to be evacuated.
 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-04/13/content_1417258.htm


Anger over Sharon's pledge to keep West Bank settlements
Infuriated Palestinians, who want both territories for a state, said Mr Sharon's comments in effect closed the door on any deal under a peace plan to which the US President, George Bush, has reaffirmed his commitment.
 http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/13/1081838725764.html


Neturei Karta to hold Anti Israel Protest Outside White House
”The Torah forbids stealing land, subjugating and oppressing a people etc. ”The root cause of the endless bloodshed and suffering in the Holy Land is Zionism and the State of Israel. ”The root cause for the continual rise of worldwide anti-Semitism is Zionism and the State of Israel…”
 http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=60749


Settler leaders preparing anti-pullout campaign
Settler leaders were meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday night to prepare for the launching of their campaign against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/414793.html


For the Third Time, Same Settlement Slated for Removal
Already ten months ago, in June 2003, Israeli media reported on the dismantling of the settlement. The Israeli army, based on a government decision started to dismantle the Settlement of Mitzpeh Yitzhar, however, the order was never implemented.
 http://www.imemc.org/headlines/2004/April/week2/041304/settlements.htm


Sharon vows to keep control of major West Bank settlements
Mr Sharon is confident the US president, George Bush, will reward his proposal for Israel to dismantle its settlements in the Gaza Strip by allowing the country to control the majority of the West Bank when the two leaders meet tomorrow.
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1190810,00.html


Analysis / A summit of the weak
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ninth trip to Washington and tenth meeting with U.S. President George Bush will center on the two leaders' appearance tomorrow on Israel's main news broadcasts.
 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/414633.html


The stakes of Ariel Sharon's visit to Washington
Because of the possibility that Sharon may be indicted on corruption charges, this could be his last visit to Washington. Never has the importance and centrality of the US in Middle East peacemaking been so obvious.
 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=1989


Parents of American Killed by Israel Speak on Campus
“Our tax dollars bought the bulldozer that crushed our daughter,” Craig Corrie said. An Israeli investigation cleared the driver of any wrongdoing, but ISM witnesses said Rachel’s top half was clearly visible to the driver as he moved forward. They, and Rachel’s parents, have called for an independent investigation.
 http://www.masnet.org/news.asp?id=1134


PNA court sentences 3 Palestinians to death
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) court on Tuesday sentenced three residents of Gaza City to death for raping and murdering a Palestinian schoolgirl a few months ago. A fourth convicted was sentenced for life imprisonment...
 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-04/13/content_1417353.htm


Sadr undaunted by massed US troops
Mr Sadr has been holed up for the last week with hundreds of his Mahdi Army fighters, the Shia leader said: "I am ready to sacrifice (myself) and I call on the people not to allow my death to cause the collapse of the fight for freedom and an end to the occupation."
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1190932,00.html


Italians taken hostage as nervous nations pull out
"The Italian Government ... should vow and give guarantees to withdraw its forces from Iraq and give a time schedule and to free Muslim clerics in Iraq," a voice on the film said, adding the men were captured in the Sunni Muslim town of Fallujah.
 http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/13/1081838727859.html


Foreign workers urged to quit Iraq after kidnappings
Russia and France, both vocal critics of the US-led war in Iraq, on Tuesday advised their nationals to leave the country after a spate of kidnappings and continuing clashes between coalition forces and rebels. The move follows a similar statement by the German foreign ministry on Monday...
 http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1079420305670&p=1012571727172


Iraq: Jo Wilding in Fallujah
US snipers in Falluja shoot unarmed man in the back, old woman with white flag, children fleeing their homes and the ambulance that we were going in to fetch a woman in premature labour. Trucks, oil tankers, tanks are burning on the highway east to Falluja.
 http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=1577&blz=1


Deaths of scores of mercenaries not reported - By Robert Fisk
Baghdad - At least 80 foreign mercenaries - security guards recruited from the United States, Europe and South Africa... - have been killed in the past eight days in Iraq. Lieutenant-General Mark Kimmitt admitted on Tuesday that "about 70" American and other Western troops had died during the Iraqi insurgency since April 1 but he made no mention of the mercenaries...
 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6031.htm