"We hope to make some progress on the access and movements issues," a senior State Department official had said after Rice met Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over dinner Wednesday.

The premier told Rice that Karni, the main crossing point for the transit of goods between Gaza and Israel, would reopen shortly and that Peretz would brief her on the details, said a government statement.

But Peretz made no announcement on the crossing in comments following his meeting with Rice, in an apparent sign that no firm agreement had been reached.

Karni has been closed since August 15, affecting Gaza's vital supplies of food, medicines and fuel in a territory where living standards have plummeted owing to aid boycotts and Israel's bombing of the only power station in June.

A senior Israeli security official had said Wednesday that Peretz would present Rice with options for reopening Karni as well as the Rafah crossing in the south, Gaza's only border point that bypasses Israel.

The Rafah terminal has been closed almost continuously since Israel launched a massive offensive on Gaza in late June aiming to recover a soldier abducted by militants. It was reopened on Wednesday and Thursday.

During her dinner with Olmert, Rice also failed to get Israel to agree to release customs duties collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority that the Jewish state has been withholding since before Hamas took office.

"(Olmert) said that Israel would present ideas on humanitarian assistance, such as aid to hospitals, medicines, etc," said a statement from his office.

According to the World Bank, the customs duties amounted to 65 million dollars a month in 2005, or two-thirds of the Palestinian government's budget.

The withholding of the revenue, along with a Western freeze on direct aid since Hamas took office, has wrought havoc on the Palestinian territories, prompting warnings from the
United Nations of a humanitarian disaster.

On Wednesday, Rice met with Abbas in Ramallah, where the duo presented a united front, saying any Palestinian government should respect the peace principles set out by the so-called Middle East quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations.

After meeting Abbas on the third leg of a Middle East tour aimed at bolstering "moderate" Arab leaders and reviving the moribund peace process, Rice said the Palestinians should be served by a government "that observes the quartet principles and that can form the basis then for movement forward on what we all desire.

Abbas, locked in a standoff with Hamas over a platform for a national unity government, said any future cabinet would have to abide by past peace deals -- one of the key Western demands to which Hamas refuses to accede.

He reiterated that stalled talks with Hamas on forming a unity government could not go on forever and warned that "the Palestinian leadership will decide on the measures to take to get us out of this crisis."

The quartet, which has boycotted the Hamas government, demands that any new cabinet recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by past peace deals as a condition for renewing aid.

Hamas has so far refused immense pressure to soften its stance and prime minister Ismail Haniya accused Washington of being interested only in reshaping the region to fit its interests.

As part of its efforts to boost Abbas, Washington is backing an international plan to boost the Palestinian presidential guard from 3,500 to 6,000 men, the senior State Department official said.

Rice also promised to pass on to Olmert a Palestinian request that Israel resume transferring the taxes it collects on the PA's behalf - something it stopped doing following Hamas's election - open the border crossings and end settlement expansion.

Rice is putting mild pressure on Israel to loosen what Palestinians claim is a blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These territories are not economically viable without extensive trade across their borders with both Israel and, for Gaza, Egypt, and without Palestinians being able to leave daily for jobs elsewhere.

Rice met Abbas in Ramallah Wednesday and held talks on the crisis in the PA and how the U.S. could bolster the chairman's position.

Throughout her visit in the region this week, Rice has emphasized her intention to rally moderate elements in the Middle East, and Abbas, she said, is one of these.

"The Palestinians need a government that can provide for their needs and meet the conditions of the Quartet," she said, referring to the international community's conditions for recognizing the Palestinian government. These require the PA government to recognize Israel, relinquish violence and accept agreements previously signed by the
PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). Since its election to power in January, Hamas has refused to meet these conditions, and the PA has suffered a severe economic crisis as a result of the consequent international aid cutoff.

Rice's visit was coolly received by Hamas leaders Wednesday. PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said the secretary's visit was meant to serve Israel's interests and to "categorize the states of the region," a reference to the Bush administration's tendency to distinguish between moderates and extremists in the Middle East.

In his meeting with Rice, Olmert was to reiterate a message he gave visiting members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, that "for the first time in my life I feel that there is an existential threat against the State of Israel."

Olmert was expected to stress in talks with Rice that the United States must play a central role in countering the threat posed by Iran and its nuclear ambitions.

On Thursday, Rice will meet Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and is then expected to leave Israel - possibly for an unscheduled visit to Beirut.

Rice is visiting Israel following a meeting Tuesday in Cairo with the foreign ministers of six Gulf States, Egypt and Jordan, in a mini-summit that was meant to coalesce moderate Arab states in the region.

At the end of the summit, Rice called for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

This is the first meeting of this forum, which has raised many questions among Arab states regarding its purpose. "This is not a coalition against anybody," said Rice.

The Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Abul Gheit, said that no differences of opinion emerged during the meeting, since all the participants are friendly states.

"Our purpose is peace in the region, stability and development. The aim is the establishment of a Palestinian state," he added.

Rice's tour of the region takes place amid growing criticism regarding her conduct as National Security Adviser in the Bush administration, prior to 9/11. A new book by Bob Woodward of the Washington Post suggests that she ignored a warning that Al-Qaida planned to carry out a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

According to political sources in Jerusalem, there were reservations among administration insiders whether Rice should visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority at a time when the main purpose of her tour of the area is to foment a unified front of moderates in the Middle East against Iran.

These views stemmed from the assessment that the current political climate on the Israeli-Palestinian front is not conducive to any talks or a breakthrough.

However, the conclusion was that skipping over Jerusalem and Ramallah would be perceived negatively among the same moderates, at a time when the U.S. is trying to restore confidence in its regional role.

Rice and Israel's leadership are expected to discuss the Iranian threat, the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 in Lebanon, and the problematic domestic situation in the Palestinian Authority.

According to political sources in Jerusalem, it will be difficult to seriously discuss "steps for strengthening the position of Abbas" at a time when there are violent clashes between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Judging from statements made by Olmert in a meeting with visiting members of the Senate Armed Services Committee in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Israel, like the Bush administration, is focused on Iran.

The senators informed Olmert of their visit to Jordan and stressed the need for the formation of a "coalition of moderates," in the region against the threat of a more powerful Iran.

During a meeting with Peretz, the senators were interested to hear about ways in which the results of the Lebanon war could affect the situation in Iraq.

Peretz stressed the difference between "facts and symbols."

"Obviously the fact is that we have an advantage. Hezbollah paid dearly, and will consider very carefully before attacking Israel again," he told the visiting senators.

The Justice Ministry's Police Investigative Unit (PID) has refuted the version of events given by the Border Police officer who killed the Palestinian.

Police said the Palestinian, a 29-year old West Bank Palestinian from Tarqumiya who worked in a building site next to the Jaffa flea market, was shot after he tried to steal a rifle from one of the officers. During the struggle the gun went off, fatally wounding the Palestinian, a police spokesman said.

However, the PID investigation found that, contrary to the policeman's initial testimony the officer illegally used his weapon thus causing the death of the Palestinian.

Over the course of the investigation, the policeman changed his testimony, and stated that he fired his weapon without a struggle or any sort of provocation from the victim or his friends.

Upon hearing of the incident, a PID team arrived on the scene and opened an investigation, including gathering testimony from witnesses and evidence from the crime scene.

The team is seeking to determine whether or not the shooting happened as the policeman testified, or if it was an unintentional discharge of the weapon, or an intentional shooting on the part of the policeman.

Neighbors claim they heard police shouting "stop or I'll shoot" before shots were heard, implying that the shooting had been deliberate and not accidental, as police claim.

The policeman is currently being held under house arrest.

Arab MK Taleb El-Sana (Ra'am-Ta'al) blamed police for having a "light finger on the trigger."

"It appears the police have not learned the lessons of October 2000," he said, referring to events in which police shot dead 13 unarmed Israeli Arabs during protests in the north following the outbreak of the intifada.

Sami Shaher,46, was rebuilding his house 50 metres from the border after it was destroyed by the Israeli army in 2002. He said he received a call at 10.30pm on Wednesday from Abu Nimr. Thirty minutes later his unfinished house was blown up, leaving a crater 20 metres wide and 10 metres deep. A 14-year-old girl was killed by flying debris. There is no visible evidence of a tunnel.

Further west in the Yibna area of Rafah, women were salvaging belongings from the wreckage of a three-storey building that was home to five families. Abdul Karime Breakah, 28, said his brother was contacted by Abu Nimr on Thursday morning. Both Mr Breakah and Mr Shaher said they were aware of tunnels being dug in their area but denied they were in their homes.

Smugglers have been digging tunnels between Rafah and Egypt for more than 10 years. Abu Nimr's campaign coincides with a flurry of Israeli intelligence briefings that Hamas is trying to acquire advanced weapons. However, although shiny new guns and Egyptian cigarettes can be seen on the streets of Gaza, there is no evidence of such weapons.

Since the Israeli soldiers left, there have been few impediments to smugglers and now Gaza is in economic and political paralysis, tunnelling is more common. The signal that Israel now knows where some of the tunnels are and will destroy houses hiding them has sent a shockwave around the region.

The video surfaced as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

The man on the video identifies himself as Abu Hafs, a field commander for the group al-Qaida in Palestine. He appeared to criticize Palestinian leaders without naming them, along with Palestinians he viewed as not doing enough for their national cause.

A senior Palestinian security official in Gaza said he had never heard of Abu Hafs and could not confirm or deny the existence of the group.

"They own investments, companies and real estate inside and outside the
country while the people are starving and without clothes," he said. Big
salaries had lured some Palestinians to cooperate with Israel "like a herd of sheep," he said.

Speaking directly to Palestinians, the man said: "In every crisis, your
leaders flee abroad and hand you over to killing and horror."

Some Israeli media have reported that al-Qaida was trying to build cells in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, and Israel has indicted two West Bank militants for al-Qaida membership.

The man on the video threatened "a severe war (against) anyone who carries a weapon defending a traitor, an informer or a security coordinator."

"He will be a target for our swords if he does not repent and return to the people's ranks.... Be aware not to accompany them to death," he warned.

The Palestinian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he did not believe there are any Al-Qaida cells present in Gaza, though there may be individuals who sympathize with the group's ideology.

According to international law, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure constitute war crimes, which Israel's army has repeatedly committed since the beginning of the war. In a report entitled "Deliberate destruction or 'collateral damage?' Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure," Amnesty International examines the tactics used and destruction inflicted upon Lebanon by the Israeli military. Focusing mainly on damage to infrastructure, the organization cites numerous instances of war crimes committed by the Israeli military, which it has tried to defend by stating that Hezbollah used civilians as "human shields" and therefore the attacks on civilian entities were justified.

However, the laws of war contradict such justification, stating that destruction to civilian entities must be proportionate to the military objectives achieved through such attacks. The report states that, "Disproportionate attacks, also prohibited, are those in which the 'collateral damage' would be regarded as excessive in relation to the direct military advantage to be gained." These attacks on civilians were entirely out of proportion and did not give Israel a direct military advantage against Hezbollah.

Not only were the Israeli attacks on civilians and civilian entities disproportionate, they were entirely indiscriminate, which is also defined as a war crime and violation of humanitarian law. As stated by Amnesty International, "The principle of distinction is a cornerstone of the laws of war." The Israeli military did not discriminate between a building that housed Hezbollah fighters and one that did not; instead it bombed entire areas without regard for who would be harmed and the extent of the damage, as long as it fit into the larger picture of diminishing Hezbollah's military capabilities. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese citizens, who were not involved in the incidents that initiated the war, are now displaced and in serious risk of being harmed by unexploded bombs on their return home, not to mention the serious economic and psychological damage they have endured. Their displacement, by the nature of the way in which they were displaced, is also illegal, according to humanitarian law.

Human Rights Watch in its publication "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon," also noticed a failure of the Israeli army to distinguish between combatants and civilians, although its report does not address attacks on infrastructure. It cites the law of proportionality, stating that the Israeli army "tolerated a high level of civilian casualties for questionable military gain."

In response to Israel's claims that Hezbollah used civilians as military shields, Human Rights Watch "found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack. Hezbollah occasionally did store weapons in or near civilian homes and fighters placed rocket launchers within populated areas or near UN observers, which are serious violations of the laws of war...However, those cases do not justify the IDF's extensive use of indiscriminate force which has cost so many civilian lives."

The two organizations clearly agree that the Israeli military was indiscriminate and disproportionate in its attacks on Lebanese citizens, both qualities that constitute war crimes and human rights violations.

To support these claims, Human Rights Watch cites cases of attacks on civilian homes and attacks on fleeing civilians. The organization notes that, at the time of publishing, the primary cause of civilian deaths was the targeting of civilian homes in southern Lebanon. In most cases, Hezbollah was not even present in the houses when the attacks took place. The military objectives in targeting these homes is once again questionable. Furthermore, rescue workers, who are supposed to be protected from military attacks, came under fire by the Israeli military. Human Rights Watch presents 15 cases of attacks on civilian homes in its report, which covers the time period from 12 July 2006 until 27 July 2006 and 30 July 2006.

The organization also cites attacks on fleeing civilians who were trying to escape their villages after being warned about upcoming attacks in the area or after already being attacked. Somehow, civilians managed to leave under the rules "not to travel by motorcycle, van, or truck and that anyone traveling after 10 a.m. was at risk," yet still they were attacked while leaving in accordance with these rules and flying white flags, a sign of civilian status. In the words of HRW, "at best, the continued attacks on fleeing civilians show reckless disregard by Israel for its obligation to distinguish between civilian and military objects, and a complete failure to take adequate safeguards to prevent civilian deaths." The report by Amnesty International demonstrates similar conclusions.

The Amnesty International report shows that the Israeli attacks on Lebanon's infrastructure were entirely devastating to the civilian population and divides the infrastructural damage into ten main areas. These are:

- Civilian homes Using air-delivered munitions, cluster bombs, and artillery shelling, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 15,000 civilian homes were destroyed in the war by August 16, 2006. Amnesty International believes this to be an underestimate.
- Water facilities Means of collecting, storing, transporting, and treating water were destroyed during the war, making the lack of clean water life threatening in many circumstances. Amnesty International states that humanitarian law protects objects that are necessary to the survival of the civilian population, and it is difficult to see how targeting water stations could have any military advantages for the Israeli army.
- Electricity and fuel supply Many fuel stations and depots were destroyed, and by the time of the ceasefire the south of Lebanon was completely without power, a cost of about US $208 million.
- Environmental damage Attacks of power stations, fuel tanks, and factories have released massive amounts of soot, dust, and toxins into the air, causing measurable long-term damage to not only the environment but to the health of civilians living in the area. Such chemicals released into the air can cause respiratory damage, cancer, and hormonal problems, according to the Lebanese environmental NGO Greenline. Moreover, an oil spill off the Lebanese coast is an environmental disaster that can affect the future health of the area and its citizens.
- Roads and bridges Some of the worst damage was inflicted upon Lebanese roads and bridges, about US $300 million worth, which is in turn disastrously affecting other aspects of everyday life. It has disrupted the food supply chain and efforts for humanitarian relief, which could cause a major food crisis, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. Amnesty International states that under humanitarian law the parties to a conflict must allow for rapid relief and must respect the personnel involved in humanitarian relief, by which Israel has not abided.
- Airports All of the airports in Lebanon have been attacked, sometimes repeatedly, including the Beirut international airport. Although the Israeli government claims that the airport is used by Hezbollah for transporting weapons, it has also unashamedly denied responsibility for the destruction of these facilities by arguing that the Lebanese government is responsible for all the damage due to the fact that it has not removed Hezbollah from the Lebanon-Israel border.
- Ports Not only have roads, bridges, and airports been destroyed by the Israeli military, ports have also been targeted, including three main ports.
- Hospitals Due to fuel shortages, about 60 percent of Lebanon's hospitals were nonfunctional as of August 12 and many were forced to close because of constant bomb attacks in the area. One hospital was even targeted because it was alleged to have been a headquarters for Hezbollah. According to Amnesty International, even if Hezbollah were using a hospital as a shelter, the Israeli army would have to take precautions to protect civilian life while carrying out its attack, which it did not take into account while it was firing cluster bombs around the hospital.
- Communications Israeli raids targeted communications and broadcast stations that had no ties to Hezbollah. Clearly, these attacks are unwarranted and illegal according to the laws of war. They also targeted a Hezbollah-backed television station, al-Manar TV, but according to Amnesty International, " The fact that al-Manar television broadcasts propaganda in support of Hizbullah's attacks against Israel does not render it a legitimate military objective."
- Economic infrastructure Throughout the war, various buildings have been bombed and people have been displaced, including private businesses and factories and businesspeople. At the time of the report, Amnesty International reported that the Lebanese government believed the unemployment rate to be at 75 percent.

The facts presented here should be shocking, at the least. What should be even more shocking is the fact that the United States, a source of moral influence in the world, did not once condemn Israel for committing such violations of humanitarian law during its war with Hezbollah and continued to provide it with arms for fighting the war. Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan stated that, "governments supplying Israel and Hizbullah with arms and military equipment are fuelling their capacity to commit war crimes," which is clearly evident by the disturbing facts presented in the report. Human Rights Watch calls on the United States to "immediately suspend transfer of arms...alleged to have been used in violation of international humanitarian law in Lebanon, as well as funding or support for such materiel." The government of the United States needs to reconsider its policy toward Israel and the Middle East in order to preserve its highly valuable moral influence, because human rights violations such as the ones committed by Israel in this recent war will not be tolerated for much longer by the international community.