Ambulance staff in Beit Hannoun reported that Randah Abu Odeh, 16, resident of Beit Hannoun was unable to get medical care due to the military operation in the town.

Abu Odeh suffers kidny failure and needs dialysis on daily bases, however the army opebned fire at the ambulance who arrived to evacuate her to the hospital, ambulance teems added.

Israeli military spokesperson said the army will continue with the military offensive against Beit Hanoun, while Palestinian resistance groups said they will continue to fire the home-made qassam sheslls at Sderot and asked the residents of Sderot to evacuate their houses to avoid being harmed by the Qassams.

Death toll rises to eight in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies 2006-11-02 02:39

Palestinian medical and security sources in the Gaza Strip reported that the death toll rose to eight on Wednesday as the Israeli army continued its strikes in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Dozens of residents, including several children were injured.

On Wednesday at night, one Palestinian was killed and at least three were seriously injured after the Israeli air force shelled an area in Beit Hanoun where several residents were gathering, while under cover forces of the Israeli army attacked several residents.

The resident was identified as Mohammad Khalil Fayyad, a local engineer. Eyewitnesses reported that Fayyad was shot by the under-cover forces while he was in his house.

The death of Fayyad rises the death toll in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to eight.

Medical source in the Gaza Strip identified the casualties as; Husam Ibrahim Abu Harbeed, 18, Ahmad Sa'adat, 18, Tareq Nasser, 22, Mohammad Al Masry, Khalil Nasser Hamad, 24, Ahmad Zuheir Adwan, 21, and Mohammad Zweidi, 27.

Zweidi was a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces, while Abu Harbeed is one of the bodyguards of the Palestinian Minister of Refugees, Atef Adwan, security sources reported.

Dozens of residents were injured during the ongoing military offensive while medical sources in Beit Hanoun said that the death toll could rise because the soldiers are blocking access to a building where an undefined number of additional injured residents are located.

The fierce clashes erupted in Beit Hanoun before dawn on Wednesday after the Israeli soldiers, supported by tanks and armoured vehicles, invaded the town. One soldier was killed during the operation.

The number of residents injured on Wednesday arrived to fifty-six, including several children and women.

At least five Palestinian houses were totally demolished by the army during the offensive.

In spite of the ongoing military offensive, Palestinian resistance factions fired several homemade shells at the Israeli Negev town of Sderot, Israeli sources reported.

At least nine homemade shells were fired at Sderot, causing damage to several constructions and one youth was reportedly injured.

EDITORIAL IN PALESTINIAN AL-QUDS
What is happening in the Gaza Strip can be described without any exaggeration as a limited war in which Israel is using tanks, war planes, artillery and infantry. The scope of destruction and injuries is great... The international community is required to make a serious move because the tragedy that has been going on for so long cannot continue indefinitely.


MAHMUD AL-HABBASH IN PALESTINIAN AL-HAYAT AL-JADIDAH
There is nothing to make us think there is any chance of achieving peace with the stupid [Israeli] government that is being led by the most stupid and corrupt prime minister since the establishment of the Hebrew state. These empty-headed people think that they can impose their conditions, visions and existence on the region through the use of unjust military force. So they do not shy away from committing all kinds of crimes against the Palestinian people.


ABDALLAH AWWAD IN PALESTINIAN AL-AYYAM
The Hebrew state has never stopped its war of multi-faceted aggression and will never stop it... What is happening in the Gaza Strip is a repeat of the old occupation with some adjustments here and there, including the occupation of the border area between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The indirect occupation of that area will turn into a direct one.


EDITORIAL IN PAN ARAB AL-QUDS AL-ARABI
Slaughter in Beit Hanoun... The Israeli government has been carrying out a war of ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip since the abduction of [Israeli soldier] Gilad Shalit last July... The most shocking thing is that the world remains totally silent, as if these actions are legitimate and Israel is above all laws.


HAGAY HUBERMAN IN ISRAEL'S HATZOFE
Let us assume that we have "cleansed" Beit Hanoun of all weapons - then what? Who will prevent the terrorists from building anew their arsenal of rockets after we leave? There is only one solution for the firing of Qassams: Israeli security control of the Gaza Strip, rebuilding the settlements that were destroyed and leaving the Palestinian Authority as an independent authority dealing with Palestinian civil issues in their territory. There is no other way.


EDITORIAL IN ISRAEL'S YEDIOT AHARONOT
Neither the government, nor the defence minister and certainly not the army harbour any illusions: The Israeli operation will perhaps make things difficult, perhaps even stop the smuggling for some time and perhaps, perhaps reduce the number of Qassams. But in the words of the song: "My God, my God, this will never stop." This is the unpleasant truth.


ISRAEL'S JERUSALEM POST
This might be the largest operation in the Strip, with a brigade-size force, since disengagement, but no one is under the illusion that this is what will end the Qassam threat once and for all... The army, like the whole country, is only just emerging from the Lebanon trauma... Those in the government and the military who were also involved in last year's disengagement are determined not to allow the IDF back into Gaza for anything more than a few days. A reoccupation would be a final public admission that the withdrawal was a colossal mistake.

Judt, a liberal academic who writes frequently for the New York Review of Books, was born and raised in Britain. He lost many members of his own family in the Holocaust, but has aroused the ire of the Zionist public relations machine because of his sharp criticisms of Israeli policies and his charge that the Israel lobby has stifled debate on the Middle East in the US.

The modus operandi of Zionist organizations such as the ADL and the American Jewish Committee is by now a familiar one. "Inquiries" are made by one or another of these groups. The message is clear.

As the Polish Consul General said in connection with the contacts made in regard to Judt's scheduled appearance, "The phone calls were very elegant but may be interpreted as exercising a delicate pressure. That's obvious-we are adults and our IQs are high enough to understand that."

Abraham Foxman of the ADL cynically insisted that he hadn't requested that the event be shut down, but added, "I think they made the right decision." He then spelled out the brazenly anti-democratic and thuggish attitude of himself and his organization toward anyone who criticizes Israel's policies and Washington's support for those policies. "He's taken the position that Israel shouldn't exist," Foxman said of Judt. "That puts him on our radar."

To clarify his position toward Israel, Judt remarked, "The only thing I have ever said is that Israel as it is currently constituted, as a Jewish state with different rights for different groups, is an anachronism in the modern age of democracies."

The cancellation of Judt's lecture is only one in a series of similar incidents. Judt was also forced to cancel another speech, at Manhattan College in the Bronx, on the topic "War and Genocide in European Memory Today," after he was asked by the event's sponsors to censor himself by avoiding direct references to Israel.

Less than a week after the episode at the Polish Consulate, an almost identical incident took place, this time at the French Embassy. British-based author Carmen Callil had been scheduled to attend a reception on October 10 in honor of her forthcoming book, Bad Faith, an account of the Vichy official who arranged the deportation of thousands of French Jews to their deaths in the Holocaust.

This event was also canceled at the last moment, apparently because of complaints over a sentence written by the author in the postscript to the book. She wrote of becoming anxious, while researching the "helpless terror of the Jews of France," to see "what the Jews of Israel were passing on to the Palestinian people." She continued, "Like the rest of humanity, the Jews of Israel 'forget' the Palestinians. Everyone forgets."

Zionist attempts at censorship have a long and distasteful history, especially in New York City. They are not always successful, but not for lack of trying.

Just a few months ago the New York Theatre Workshop cancelled its production of My Name is Rachel Corrie, the play about the American student killed by an Israeli military bulldozer in 2001 as she attempted to stop the destruction of the home of a Palestinian family. The production was halted after similar "inquiries" from Zionist circles. My Name is Rachel Corrie finally opened in Manhattan this month and was met with warm responses from critics and the public.

The ADL, the American Jewish Committee and other Zionist organizations disingenuously claim they are not part of a "lobby." That is supposedly limited to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the organization whose specific aim is to influence the US government on behalf of Israel. In reality, all of these organizations devote themselves to the defense of Israel and its diplomatic and political interests. They are free to do so, but their attempts to silence their critics and smear their opponents as anti-Semites demonstrate their reactionary character.

The censorship attempts have extended onto university campuses. Campus Watch, a right-wing web site established by Daniel Pipes several years ago, has drawn up a blacklist that targets professors of Middle Eastern studies for alleged "bias" because they have dared to criticize Israel and defend the Palestinians. Supporters of Campus Watch have encouraged the sending of hate mail and threats to these professors, along with calls for their removal from their academic positions.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913 to fight against anti-Semitism, has long since betrayed any commitment to civil liberties and academic freedom when it comes to critics-including Jewish critics-of the policies and foreign policy interests of the state of Israel.

Even limited opinion polling reveals the growing opposition among American Jews to the decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, but this doesn't stop the ADL and similar groups from speaking in the name of all Jews. The power of these unelected spokesmen is magnified many times by their wealthy sponsors and their long-established ties to dominant sections of the corporate, financial and political establishment in New York and Washington. They have succeeded over many years in propagating the myth that Judaism and Zionism are identical, and that anti-Zionism is therefore anti-Semitism.

It should be noted that the kind of criticism that Foxman of the ADL says cannot be voiced in New York City is frequently expressed within Israel itself. Israeli newspaper columnists, writers, academics and others spoke out during the recent Israeli aggression in Lebanon. Are they also to be branded anti-Semites and silenced?

As Judt himself declared, "This is serious and frightening, and only in America-not in Israel-is this a problem. These are Jewish organizations that believe they should keep people who disagree with them on the Middle East away from anyone else who might listen."

The Zionist organizations involved in such witch-hunting and censorship utilize the issue of anti-Semitism as a red herring. They are really concerned with the foreign policy interests of the Israeli government, and specifically the maintenance of the longstanding alliance between Israel and Washington.

The alliance between American imperialism and Zionism was fully cemented some 40 years ago, in the wake of the Six Day War of 1967. Over the past several decades American defenders of the Israeli state have secured the ironclad support of both major capitalist parties, from the most liberal Democrats to the neo-conservatives in the Republican Party and the Bush Administration.

Big business politicians have vied to demonstrate their loyalty to Israeli policies, and the occasional maverick who deviates from pro-Zionist orthodoxy, like Republican Congressman Paul Findley some years ago, is usually purged at the next election with the help of millions of dollars in campaign funds from the Zionist lobby.

In the recent period, however, public criticism of the existing US policy toward Israel has begun to emerge within American foreign policy and academic circles. To some extent, the feverish campaign to silence all critics of Israel is an expression of the nervousness within American Zionist circles over this emerging policy debate.

While the US-Israel alliance has never been closer than during the administration of George W. Bush, there are signs of a possible shift. The disaster facing the US ruling elite in Iraq, along with the deepening external and internal crisis facing Israel, exemplified by its recent debacle in Lebanon, is emboldening those within the American foreign policy establishment who argue that US policy is tied too closely to that of Israel.

American Zionist organizations are acutely sensitive to these tremors, hence their attacks on John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard University. Mearsheimer and Walt authored a paper earlier this year which charged that the Israel lobby had distorted US foreign policy and sought to intimidate its critics.

An article by Mearsheimer and Walt in the London Review of Books was entitled, "The Israel Lobby: Does it Have too Much Influence on US Foreign Policy?" The lobby was defined as "the loose coalition of individuals and organizations who actively work to steer US foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction."

Mearsheimer and Walt articulate the views of a section of the American ruling elite which has concluded that Washington's virtually uncritical support for Israeli foreign policy has produced a diplomatic and political disaster for US interests in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.

The publication of these views was followed by hysterical charges of anti-Semitism against the authors, who were accused of stoking up anti-Semitic notions of an international Jewish conspiracy.

Socialist opponents of Zionism and imperialism do not take sides politically between Mearsheimer and Walt and their Zionist critics. The policy shift they propose, while it enrages the Zionists, has nothing to do with the interests of the international working class or the democratic rights of the Palestinians, and they are opposed to a struggle against both the Israeli and Arab bourgeois elites to unite Jewish and Arab workers on the basis of a democratic and socialist program.

We have no hesitation, however, in denouncing the crude charges of anti-Semitism leveled against Mearsheimer, Walt, Judt and similar critics of Israel.

There are, of course, anti-Semites among the opponents of the Israeli state, and they repeat the old anti-Semitic slanders. There are also a large number of anti-Semites among Israel's supporters. Richard Nixon, whose virulent anti-Semitism was exposed on White House tapes in the wake of the Watergate scandal, had no difficulty aligning himself with Israel. Today the Zionists welcome the support of Christian fundamentalists who would like nothing more than the establishment of a right-wing theocracy in the US.

As far as the Zionist establishment is concerned, the main enemy is not anti-Semitism, but anti-Zionism. When it suits its purposes, it is perfectly prepared to recognize this vital distinction and "overlook" the anti-Semitism among its own supporters. Hence the warm accolades from the Israel lobby to such figures as Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, who received an award from the Anti-Defamation League in 2003 just days after expressing nostalgic sympathy for the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

To the extent that anti-Semitism has gained a new lease on life in the Middle East and elsewhere, this is largely the responsibility of Zionism itself. The anti-Semitic pronouncements of such figures as Iranian President Ahmadinejad are essentially the mirror image of Zionist propaganda, accepting the claim of the Israeli state to speak for all Jews and the interests of the Jewish people.

In fact, for the first half-century of its existence, Zionism was a distinct minority opinion within world Jewry. Its main opposition historically came from the left-from the socialist and internationalist opponents of all forms of nationalism and chauvinism. The attempt to smear left-wing critics as anti-Semites is one of the most despicable techniques of the Zionist propaganda machine.

The current attacks on even relatively mild critics of Israel are a sign of weakness. Longstanding Zionist myths are being increasingly exposed to the light of day. The fraudulent charge of anti-Semitism is beginning to backfire against those who level it.

The flagrant character of the Zionist intimidation campaign is such that even some committed Zionists have been forced to question it. The current issue of the New York Review of Books contains a letter entitled, "The Case of Tony Judt: An Open Letter to the ADL."

The letter, signed by more than 100 writers, journalists and academics, criticizes the ADL's actions in connection with the planned meeting at the Polish Consulate, declaring that "we are united in believing that a climate of intimidation is inconsistent with fundamental principles of debate in a democracy . . . the rules of the game in America oblige citizens to encourage rather than stifle public debate. We who have signed this letter are dismayed that the ADL did not choose to play a more constructive role in promoting liberty."

Among the signers are Peter Beinart, Franklin Foer and Leon Wieseltier, all of the New Republic, one of the most vociferous defenders of the Zionist state.

The intimidation campaign raises the obvious question of why the Zionists fear open debate. An open debate would provide the opportunity to expose the false promise of Zionism to provide a haven for the Jewish people, as well as to demonstrate the necessity of the struggle for the unity of Jewish and Arab workers in the fight for a democratic and socialist Middle East.

A Syrian government newspaper described the comments as "pure vilification".

The US believes Syria may be aiming to block a tribunal over the killing of Lebanese ex-PM Rafik Hariri, in which Syria has been implicated.

On Wednesday, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the Bush administration was "increasingly concerned" by "mounting evidence" of a plan to bring the Lebanese government down.

He did not give further information, saying it was classified.

Damascus rejected the claims in a foreign ministry statement.

"The rumours put about by the US administration according to which Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are seeking to destabilise the situation in Lebanon are wrong," the statement said.

And an editorial in the government Baath newspaper said: "This pure vilification is meant to raise turmoil in Lebanon and cause fallout with Syria."

Veto fears

Hezbollah is backed by Syria and Iran, and has two ministers in Lebanon's government.

The BBC News website's world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds says the White House statement appears to result from the tense situation in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is demanding one third of cabinet seats, thereby giving it a veto over decisions.

Such a veto would enable it to block approval of the international tribunal to try suspects in Mr Hariri's assassination, our correspondent says.

The Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has threatened street demonstrations in support of his demand.

The US is concerned that this instability could result in the fall of the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

UK mission

The claim from the White House came as Britain held its highest level talks with Syria since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's foreign policy adviser, Nigel Sheinwald, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and senior ministers.

Few details were given of the discussions, but the Financial Times newspaper reported that the visit was aimed at pressing Syria to cease its support for radical groups.

As well as its relationship with Hezbollah, Syria is thought to have influence on some of the insurgent groups operating in Iraq.

"Syria had always faced a choice: it can play a constructive role in international affairs or it can continue to support terrorism," Mr Blair's official spokesman said. "The key question is what choice does it make?"

Hariri tribunal

A UN team has been investigating who was behind the death of Mr Hariri in a massive blast on Beirut's seafront in 2005.

Popular protests in response to the death led to the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon after a 29-year presence.

The UN Security Council has approved the formation of an international tribunal to try those accused of involvement in the murder of Mr Hariri.

The UN sent a draft plan for the tribunal to Lebanese authorities on 21 October but it has yet to be approved by Lebanon's cabinet and parliament or by the UN Security Council.

The assassination has been widely blamed on Syria, but Mr Assad has repeatedly denied that his country had anything to do with the killing.

Six Palestinians had been reported as being killed and over 20 others injured in the operation.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Haneya also condemned the Israeli operation in Gaza at a news conference held outside his office in Gaza.

He said that the Israeli operation came as part of a pressure campaign exerted against the Hamas-led government and the Palestinian people.

Attributing the action to the inclusion of an ultra-nationalist politician into Israel's government, Haneya said that "The massacre committed today in Beit Hanoun is a result of the Israeli government's move to include a radical minister."

He warned that the inclusion of Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of the extreme-right party Yisrael Beiteinu, into the Israeli cabinet"would affect the nature of the Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people."

On Monday evening, Israeli Knesset (parliament) voted and approved the addition of extreme-right party Yisrael Beiteinu into the government coalition, drawing criticisms from Israel's left parties and Palestinian side.

Haneya also called on the international community and the Arab League to intervene immediately and put an end to the Israeli offensive, while urging the Palestinian people to unite and shelve their differences.

The Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement also condemned the Israeli military operations in Gaza Strip, saying the Israeli army"tries to recover its dignity lost in the recent war in Lebanon."

Islamic Jihad's leader in Gaza, Khaled al-Batsh, told reporters that Israel "was seeking a fake victory in Gaza."

He also said the operations "are a gift to the ultra-nationalist bigot Avigdor Lieberman who joined the government to expand aggression and terrorism."

Meanwhile, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Israeli escalation "became intolerable."

Calling on the international community to bear responsibility and intervene, Erekat said that the Palestinian National Authority(PNA) had repeatedly called for the European countries'intervention, but the Israeli aggression, however, continued.

Erekat expressed hope the Middle East Quartet would move to revive the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians,adding the release of the Israeli soldier and forming a new Palestinian government would pave the way for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

On Wednesday morning, the Political-security Ministerial council of the Knesset decided to adopt the plan of U.S General Kate Dayton which he presented to the Quartet Committee in London.

The plan aims at arming and training the Palestinian Presidential Guard forces, loyal to Abbas, in order to be able to counter "possible clashes with the Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip".

According to the plan, Egypt, the United Kingdom and possibly Jordan will arms and train these forces.

Last week, Israeli online daily Haaretz, reported that Israel is weighing a Palestinian request to allow an armed brigade that belongs to the Palestinian Liberation Organization into the Gaza Strip.


Israel considering Abbas request for entry of PLO Bader Brigade into Gaza
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies, Sunday, 29 October, 2006; 02:02

Israeli sources reported on Saturday at night that senior Israeli officials were discussing a request made by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, to Israel to allow the entry of the Bader Forces, based in Jordan, into the Gaza Strip. Bader force is under the control of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

The request was made by Abbas two weeks ago, but Israel officials said that Israel needs to consider the request. Israeli has rejected in the past the entry of these forces into the Palestinian areas.

The sources added that after the clashes intensified between Fateh and Hams gunmen in the Gaza Strip, Israel started considering the entry of Bader force.

The force is composed of several thousands of Palestinians, most of them long-time PLO activists.

Israeli Defense Minister, Amir Peretz, said that the request of Abbas is under consideration, but "Israel did not reach a decision on the issue".

On Friday at night, a coordination committee of all Palestinian factions, including the rival Fateh and Hamas, agreed to end all sorts of public display of arms. According to the agreement, only uniformed policemen and security members will be allowed to bear arms.

Meanwhile, Palestinian policemen wearing blue and white uniforms deployed around the parliament building in Ramallah, in the northern part of the West Bank. Security personnel were also deployed outside the parliament, the Prime Minister Office and the Ministry of Education.