Criticism of US policies, though at times oblique, is a major feature of the document and hits on themes that have angered representatives of the Bush administration in the past. For instance, in a discussion of Al Qaeda's attack on the US on Sept. 11, the report states: "Later, these attacks were presented as one of the justifications for the invasion of Iraq, whose link with them has never been demonstrated, feeding a perception among Muslim societies of unjust aggression stemming from the West."

While that is indeed a common view in Muslim countries, it is unlikely to gain the favor of the current US administration, whose representative to the United Nations, John Bolton, is an ardent supporter of the invasion of Iraq and a frequent critic of the world body. Earlier this year, Mr. Bolton characterized the UN Human Rights Commission as packed with officials from "some of the world's most notorious human rights abusers."

The report is the result of a UN-sanctioned "High Level Group" meeting of some twenty "eminent personalities" that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed last year. The group, which was cosponsored by the Prime Ministers of Turkey and Spain and included among its authors Nobel Peace Prize-winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami, issued the final report on Nov. 13 at its final meeting in Istanbul.

To be sure, the report is also framed as a direct challenge to the notion that a "Clash of Civilizations" is imminent - a concept first popularized by Samuel Huntington's 1996 book of the same name.

In a statement, Mr. Kofi Annan said it was clear that religion is not at the root of current tensions.

"The problem is not the Koran or the Torah or the Bible,'' Mr. Annan said. "The problem is never the faith, it is the faithful and how they behave towards each other."

That sentiment was echoed in an editorial published in the Houston Chronicle on Sunday by three of the report's authors, who also said that political repression in the Muslim world contributes to extremism.

"Denying peaceful opposition movements the freedom to express their views and jailing their supporters generate anger and resentment, encouraging some to join violent groups,'' wrote Mr. Tutu, former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas, and Andri Azoulay, an advisor to Morocco's King Muhammed VI.

"When Western governments lend their support - tacitly or overtly - to authoritarian regimes, they become part of the problem," the authors wrote.

The overall objective of the paper is to set out problems between the Muslim and the West as a matter of politics, and not of culture, and tends to see anger and misunderstanding as largely a problem of inadequate education.

For instance, the authors point to a recent Gallup poll that found 57 percent of Americans either responded "nothing" or "I don't know" when asked what they most admired about Muslim societies, as evidence for a need for education systems in both the West and Muslim countries to provide a "basic understanding of religious traditions other than their own."

The authors also point to another recent survey that found 30 percent of US government money for cultural exchanges go to programs with Europe - the societies with which the US has the most in common - while just 6 percent go to programs with the Middle East, arguably the place where such efforts could do the most good.

Instead, the students listen to lectures via a video conference link from Gaza's Al-Aqsa University.

"The Israeli army has displaced an entire people. It is not difficult for them to displace 10 students and prevent them from studying at their university," said a frustrated Abu El-Roos.

The students, who are in their final year, complain it is very hard to learn occupational therapy from a screen.

Bethlehem University is the only one in the Palestinian territories offering the course.

No Threat

Shlomo Dror, an Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman, said the students were not being targeted, but that no Palestinians were allowed to travel between Gaza and the West Bank.

"We know there have been attempts to smuggle explosives and infiltrate into Israel. Students can pose a threat because they are younger and have less to lose and are easily approached by terror organizations," he told Reuters.

The students' ordeal found its way into Israel's high court after Israeli human rights group Gisha challenged the ban on behalf of the 10 occupational therapy students.

Lawyer Sari Bashi, a director of Gisha, said the court rejected the claim that the students were potentially "dangerous" in a hearing on November 2 and asked authorities to explain why applicants shouldn't be considered on an individual basis.

The students said the Israeli army had rejected several applications for them to travel through Israel to the West Bank, which has better educational facilities than Gaza, a poor, arid strip of land that is home to around 1.4 million Palestinians.

Permission to enter the West Bank from Jordan had also been denied, they said.

Another occupational therapy student, Mohammad Azaiza, said the group had once gone to Egypt for practical study.

"The problem is that if we cannot get to the West Bank, we will need to go again to Egypt. But that is not guaranteed," he said.

Palestinians cross into neighboring Egypt via the Rafah terminal in southern Gaza that is routinely shut down by Israel on security grounds.

Israel placed heavy curbs on Palestinian travel between Gaza and the West Bank in the wake of the second Palestinian Intifada in September 2000.

The restrictions have been tightened since the resistance movement Hamas formed a government in March after winning parliamentary elections.

Needed

Occupational therapists treat people with disabilities, helping them develop or regain skills that could enable them to find work.

It's a profession in great demand in Gaza, where years of Israeli occupation have taken their toll on life and limb.

Some 24,000 disabled people in Gaza need the help of occupational therapists, said the Israeli human rights group.

Since the Intifada, the handicapped have crowded health centers," said Azaiza, the occupational therapy student.

"We need to rehabilitate these people and enable them to practice a normal life as much as possible."

Abu El-Roos lamented that many Palestinian students were denied education in their motherland.

"Some students were able to get to foreign countries. But they cannot get to a university in their homeland," she said.

UNESCO has said that hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children cannot attend their regular schools because of Israeli army incursions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

It said that many Palestinian children are now being schooled at home or in makeshift classrooms such as mosques, basements and alleyways.

Thus spake the Democratic oracle. Not that anyone who knows the Palestinian-Israeli situation from other than the selective focus of the Zionist perspective had any expectations in the first place. No one ever thought the new Democratic Congress would hop to and put pressure on Israel to make peace. Just remember John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, to say nothing of Bill Clinton, when any question of the Democrats' stance arises. And don't forget Nancy Pelosi, who rushed to condemn Jimmy Carter for using the word "apartheid" in the title of his new book and for whom, according to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency profile, support for Israel is personal and "heartfelt." One Jewish activist and long-time friend described her as "incredibly loyal" (interesting term) and as feeling Jewish and Israeli issues "in her soul."

But Simon's brief disquisition on the futility of even making an effort was particularly striking for its profound dismissiveness and its profound blindness to what is and has been going on on the ground. Simon's "contretemps" in Lebanon was no mere embarrassing misstep but a murderous rampage that killed 1,300 innocent Lebanese and dropped over a million cluster bomblets in villages across the south, left to be discovered by returning residents. But the Democrats don't care, and Steven Simon considers this hardly worth a second thought. Israel gets itself in trouble, showing its true brutal nature in the process, and this gives Simon and the Democrats a handy excuse to avoid doing anything.

Eighteen Palestinian innocents in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip were murdered while sleeping in their beds a day before Simon spoke, killed by Israeli shellfire, round after round fired at a residential housing complex -- 16 members of one extended family and two others who came to help them after the first round exploded. The Democrats don't care. Steven Simon considers this not worth a mention.

In the six days preceding this incident, Israel assaulted Beit Hanoun the way it assaulted Jenin and Nablus and other West Bank cities in 2002 -- a murderous assault reminiscent of Nazi sieges or of the Russian siege of Chechnya, in which in these six days 57 Palestinians were killed, to one Israeli soldier. The dead include Palestinian fighters and a large number of civilians, including children and including two women shot down in the street while attempting to lift the Israeli siege of a mosque. The mosque was leveled. The Democrats don't care. Steven Simon considers this not worth a mention.

In the four months preceding this six-day siege, the Israelis killed 247 Palestinians in a prolonged attack on Gaza. Of the dead, two-thirds are civilians, 20 percent children. Of nearly 1,000 injured, one-third are children. The Democrats don't care. Steven Simon considers this not worth a mention.

Israel is planning a larger siege of Gaza, concentrating not just on Beit Hanoun in the north but on Rafah in the south, ostensibly to unearth arms-smuggling tunnels. This has been going on for years; Rafah has been the scene of Israel's murderous pummeling periodically since the intifada began -- in 2003 when Rachel Corrie was killed trying to protect the home of an innocent family from demolition, in 2004 when hundreds of homes were demolished in multiple sieges and a peaceful protest demonstration was strafed from the air. But the Democrats don't care. Steven Simon considers this not worth a mention.

Gaza, of course, is not the only Palestinian territory being raped and pillaged. Its 1.4 million residents are the most distraught -- living imprisoned in a territory with the highest population density in the world, walled in with no exit except as Israel sporadically allows, being deliberately starved by the official policy of Israel, which dictates to the U.S., which dictates to Europe, vulnerable to constant Israeli assault. But the West Bank's 2.5 million Palestinians are not much better off. They continue to be killed by Israelis and squeezed by Israel's separation wall, by settlement expansion, by movement restrictions, by theft of agricultural land, by diminishing economic opportunity, and by massive Israeli-fostered unemployment. Their death toll is only minimally less than Gaza's.

This obscenity of oppression and murder does not faze the Democrats or any of Israel's Zionist supporters in the U.S. Whatever Israel wants is all right with the Democrats. The 110th Congress will screw the Palestinians just the way the Republican 109th did.

-Kathleen Christison is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of Perceptions of Palestine and The Wound of Dispossession.

-Bill Christison was a senior official of the CIA. He served as a National Intelligence Officer and as Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis. They spent October 2006 in Palestine and on a speaking tour of Ireland sponsored by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

One of the highlights of the visit was a lunch in Valparaiso, the home of the nation's parliament, with ten members of the Chilean-Israeli Interparliamentary Committee, chaired by Eduardo Diaz, a member of the Christian Democratic Party and a national legislator since 1998. The group is the second largest friendship society in the parliament, only exceeded in size by the Chilean-Chinese Committee. This group was particularly active-and successful-this summer when the parliament became the venue for a vigorous debate about the Israeli-Hezbollah war.

Chile is home to the largest Palestinian community in the world outside the Middle East. Their number is estimated at 300,000-400,000. Most have lived in the country since the early part of the twentieth century and hail from three towns on the West Bank. They have achieved considerable success and influence in Chile, and, until recently, the AJC delegation was told, relations between this community and the Jewish community, which numbers approximately 20,000 members, were generally very cooperative. That began to change in 2000, when the Palestinians launched the so-called "second Intifada" and found support among some in the Chilean Palestinian community.

"The timing of the AJC visit was meant to coincide with the transfer of leadership in the Jewish community to a new generation of activists, who are determined to ensure an even stronger voice for the community in national discussions and debates, building on the impressive legacy of their predecessors," said David Harris, AJC's executive director, who led the delegation. Since 2005, AJC has had an association agreement with the Chilean Jewish community, one of twenty-two such agreements worldwide.

Among the issues on the agenda for the AJC meetings in Chile were the state of the Chilean-United States bilateral relationship; the impact of Venezuela's populist leader, Hugo Chavez, on Latin America; voting patterns on Israel-related issues at the United Nations; and an assessment of the dangers posed by both Neo-Nazi and Islamic radical elements in the region. The group also discussed with government officals the implications of the two terror attacks by Iran and Hezbollah against the Israeli Embassy and AMIA headquaters in Argentina, in 1992 and 1994 respectively, on the threat assessment of terrorism in
the region.

The AJC group also used each occasion to express admiration for the remarkable political, economic and social progress achieved in Chile in recent years, following the restoration of democracy after years of dictatorship. Chile has emerged as one of the most dynamic and successful countries in Latin America.

AJC's last visit to Chile was in November 2005, at which time the group hosted a gala dinner in honor of then President Ricardo Lagos and presented him with the first Light Unto the Nations Award. The award was established by AJC's Institute on Latino and Latin American Affairs, directed by Dina Siegel Vann, to pay tribute to political statesmanship in the region. More than five hundred people were in attendance, including leading politicians, diplomats and Jewish community representatives.

But yesterday government officials and leading members of the influential local Jewish community, the largest in Latin America, showed concern regarding Iran's reaction to the arrests after Iran at the weekend accused Argentine justice of being corrupt. Tehran asked for the arrests of prosecutor Alberto Nisman and ex-judge Juan José Galeano, formerly in charge of the AMIA case. Nisman had requested Canicoba Corral to arrest the ex-officials.

Late last night the Foreign Ministry summoned Baharvand to demand that he confirm or deny the arrest orders issued against "two Argentine citizens."

Argentina accused Iran of meddling in its internal affairs and gave Baharvand a letter rejecting Iranian criticism of its probe into the bombing, saying Iran "prejudges the content of the ongoing judicial actions."

"Arab banks are to transfer the funds without abiding by any restrictions imposed on the banks," said Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.

"Arab banks must transfer the funds," he stressed.

The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority has been practically bankrupt since its two biggest donors -- the United States and European Union -- suspended direct aid after Hamas was voted to power.

Since then, tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants have gone unpaid, greatly affecting the livelihood in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Arab and regional banks have refused to transfer funds donated to the Palestinian government or to its workforce fearing US sanctions.

Infuriated

In their final statement, the Arab foreign ministers voiced their "utmost indignation" at the veto used by the United States Saturday, November 11, to block a resolution condemning the Beit Hanun carnage.

Twenty Palestinian civilians, including eight children and four women, were killed Wednesday, November 8, and up to 50 others were wounded when Israel shelled their homes in the already battered town of Beit Hanun.

Ten of the UN Security Council's 15 members voted in favor of an amended text, introduced by Qatar on behalf of Arab member states, and four -- Britain, Denmark, Japan and Slovakia -- abstained.

The text would have condemned Israel's military operations in Gaza, particularly the Beit Hanun incident, along with the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel.

It would have also called on Israel "to immediately cease its military operations that endanger the Palestinian civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and to immediately withdraw its forces from within the Gaza Strip to positions prior to June 28, 2006."

The Qatari draft would have directed the UN secretary general to set up a fact-finding mission on the Beit Hanun attack within 30 days.

But the "no" vote cast by US Ambassador John Bolton was enough to kill the resolution to the immediate satisfaction of Israel.

The Beit Hanun carnage drew worldwide condemnation and led to calls for an immediate halt to a long-running Israel onslaught in Gaza Strip, that has left more than 300 Palestinians dead since it was unleashed in June.

As one of the council's five permanent members along with Britain, China, France and Russia, the US has veto power which it has now used 82 times, including 41 times to shield Israel from censure.

Its previous use of the veto was in July to block a draft resolution that would have condemned Israel's military onslaught in Gaza as "disproportionate force" and would have demanded a halt to Israeli operations in the impoverished territory.

Landmark

"The decision taken by the Arab League today constitutes an important political support to the Palestinians," said Zahar.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar hailed the decision.

He stressed it could pave the way for the formation of a national unity government and a lifting of the international boycott.

"The Arab decision to lift the blockade is extremely important, it means that Arabs will revert to using the usual means to transfer aid," he told reporters.

Zahar recognized that "it will take time" before funds start flowing back to the Palestinian Authority's empty coffers but stressed that "the decision will facilitate the formation of Palestinian national unity government."

"We will build on this Arab decision to break the blockade to seek a lifting of the international blockade," said Zahar, who was attending his first Arab foreign ministers meeting at the League headquarters.

"The decision taken by the Arab League today constitutes an important political support to the Palestinians," he said.

Zahar announced that Kuwait had just transferred 30 million dollars to the PA but did not specify how.

The Palestinian foreign minister said earlier Sunday that the costs of rebuilding the north Gaza town of Beit Hanun after deadly Israeli shelling amounts to 50 million dollars.

"The Beit Hanun region is a devastated zone which will require around 50 million dollars to rebuild all that was destroyed after the latest Israeli offensive, and to lend urgent and immediate help to the families of the martyrs and the wounded."

Israeli anthropologist Joe Zias and James Tabor, a biblical scholar at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, say the unusual placement of the latrine is added proof Qumran was inhabited by the Essenes. They even suggest the latrine's unsanitary conditions may have contributed to ill health among the sect's members.

"What happened was that 20 to 40 people went out there every day over a period of 100 years," he explained in a University of North Carolina news release.

"By burying their fecal matter, they actually preserved the microorganisms and parasites. In the sunlight, the bacteria and parasites get zapped within a fairly short amount of time, but buried, the parasites can live in the soil for up to a year. Then people pick up things by walking through fecally contaminated soil -- it's like a toxic waste dump, and if you have any cuts on your feet..."

This situation could explain the apparent mortality rate in Qumran. Zias said previous studies have found that only 6 percent of the adults buried in the community's graveyard were older than 40, compared with a figure of 49 percent for 1st-century Jericho, 9 miles (14 kilometers) to the north.

Zias said the people buried at Qumran were "the unhealthiest group that I have ever studied in over 30 years" -- and the vulnerability to fecal pathogens may explain why.

"It is not hard to imagine how sick everyone must have been," Zias said.

If the people who used the latrines were indeed Essenes, their religious practice would require them to undergo a ritual washing when they returned to the settlement. Such practices would actually make matters worse, Zias said.

Water would stand in the ritual pools for months at a time, replenished only by winter rains. When the residents immersed themselves in the pools, they'd leave behind bacteria and parasite eggs. The warm water and sediment would serve as a fertile breeding ground for the pathogens, leading to cross-infection.

"Can you see yourself going into whirlpool water standing there for nine months, and 100 people have been going in there before you, day in and day out?" he asked.

University of Chicago historian Norman Golb, a strident critic of the Essene theory said the latest report from Tabor and Zias "does nothing" to prove that the Essenes lived and worked in Qumran.

"The recent finding of a latrine can, at the most, show no more than that the inhabitants of the area were human beings who practiced some form of sanitation," Golb said.

Even if Qumran's residents set up a latrine 1,600 feet away from the settlement -- an Essene religious custom -- that wouldn't necessarily identify the community's residents as Essenes, he said.

"What James Tabor has done here is to just disregard all the evidence we've turned up," Golb said.

He said Tabor and Zias are ignoring the fact that the scrolls included texts that represented other, non-Essene strains of Jewish religious thought; the claim that the Copper Scroll listed locations for hidden treasures from the Jerusalem Temple; and references to the Qumran caves in other ancient texts as a hiding place for Jerusalem refugees.

In Golb's opinion the latrine theory is smokescreen to hide the facts.

"It's a continuation of an effort over the past 10 or 12 years to disregard or deny the investigations of well-seasoned archaeologists at Qumran. ... It's a pity that they are trying to pull the collective wool over the eyes of the public," Golb said.

Tabor, however, said the physical evidence -- such as the fact that virtually all of the skeletons examined at Qumran's cemetery were from adult men -- plays an integral part in reconstructing the story behind the Dead Sea Scrolls.

"Why would any additional material evidence, be it cemeteries or latrines, be seen as a ploy?" Tabor said in an e-mail. "Why not welcome all the facts and work them into something harmonious?"