ISRAEL THIS & THAT

IDF: Channel 10 report on Gaza beach blast a lie

Posted by: "News-M" news@mideastweb.org   ami_iss

Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:52 pm (PST)

[[Jerusalem Times: Opinion]]

June 18, 2006

This week in Israel….. Behind the news with Gershon Baskin

The Gaza beach investigation

Israel has spent considerable time, energy, money, and political collateral in an internal IDF investigation of the cause of death of the Ghaliya family on Beit Lahia beach. The investigation headed by Major-General Meir Klifi, issued a report that said late last week that Israel was not responsible for the tragic deaths and that it is likely the blast stemmed from a bomb placed by the Palestinians at the site or "some form of unexploded ordnance." He added that the probe on the latter point was continuing. It was quite clear from the outset that the Palestinians would not believe the IDF report, even before the investigation began.  Strengthened by the report of a U.S. Human Rights Watch bomb expert who happened to be in Gaza at the say time, the Palestinians still claim that Israel is responsible and they demand an international independent commission to explore what led to the deaths of the seven members of the family.

I watched Major-General Klifi on Israel television and I have read the reports in the Israeli newspapers.  I too am suspicious about the findings of the report – I was not convinced, although I admit, I would like to be convinced by the Israeli claims.  The Israeli report documented the exact times that Israeli artillery fired at Gaza and Klifi claimed to have tested some shrapnel taken from some of the wounded now treated in Israel, and on the basis of those two main elements, have concluded that Israel is not responsible.  I have a natural sense of suspicion at any time an institution being investigated is essentially investigating itself. I don’t think that Israel has scored any points at all in the international community from its own self acquittal of charges in this case.  If Israel is so confident of the findings, it would be wise to invite a truly independent commission of inquiry to come and examine the IDF’s findings and compare them with findings found by others in Gaza.  Until that happens, I am afraid, very few people in the world will accept the IDF findings.

It’s raining qassams

I believe that Israelis are right to raise questions about why they are under attack from Gaza.  Israel withdrew from Gaza up to the international border, removed all settlements and every soldier, yet militants from Gaza are still hitting Israel. Palestinian militants and other Palestinians claim that the occupation over Gaza has continued because Israel still controls the airspace and the territorial waters and because the Palestinians in Gaza cannot construct their sea port or reopen their airport without Israeli agreement.  Furthermore, they claim that the West Bank is still under occupation and Gaza and the West Bank are one territorial unit that make up the future Palestinian state.  Palestinian claims may be correct but they certainly don’t generate any public support in Israel for their cause while, even after full withdrawal, Israeli communities alongside of Gaza bear the brunt of Palestinian aggression.

Sderot in particular has been heavily hit by the Qassam attacks.  Amir Peretz, the new defense minister lives in Sderot and he returns there every evening to face the anger of his neighbors.  Peretz is stuck between a rock and a hard place because he has been trying to prevent escalation in the fighting driven by calls from the IDF to penetrate Gaza with a ground operation.  Peretz has not given up on the idea of the so-called “targeted killings” and almost everyday we hear of such killings by the Israeli air force against Islamic Jihad militants mainly.  Hamas forces launched some Qassams as well after the Beit Lahia beach killings, but they have returned to restraint in accordance with the instructions of the Palestinian Prime Minister Haniyeh.  Peretz has issued threats to the Hamas leaders that if they don’t control the attacks against Israel, the IDF would target Hamas political leaders as well as militants.

Peretz knows that there is no military solution to deal with the qassam rockets. He also knows that Israel cannot continue to tolerate the rainfall of rockets on his towns and villages.  But he is under intense pressure, especially after a qassam rocket fell on a school in Sderot.  Furtunately, the schools in Sderot are on a parent-led strike until the qassam attacks conpletely cease.  If there had been children in the school today, there definitely would have been casualties which probably would have led to an intensive Israeli retaliation.

The only strategy that has not been tried and tested is a full scale bilateral ceasefire.  It is clear that Israel will not negotiate directly with Hamas, but it is possible to arrive at an agreement through the good offices of Egypt.  If the internal Palestinian dialogue reaches a positive conclusion, there are better chances that a bilateral ceasefire could be possible.  Egypt has been extremely active behind the scenes in facilitating the process of Hamas-Fateh agreement, once that is achieved the Egyptians should move onto the PA-Israel front.

Olmert is realigning the realignment

Olmert’s world-wind tour to the US, Egypt, Jordan, the UK and France have now produced quite a lot of “literature” and commentary of the realignment plan.  There have not been any government meetings or discussions on the plan and no formal decisions have been taken, yet the rumor mill of what realignment means has been working overtime.  I have heard that there are at least three realignment maps on the desk of the Prime Minister.  Olmert has said that Israel would withdraw from almost all of the West Bank, but he has also stated that Israel will never return to the 1967 borders.  Olmert has said that Israel would not give up the Jordan valley and that all of East Jerusalem would remain under Israeli control.  At the same time, Olmert has instructed some of his advisors to re-examine the Jerusalem map and to suggest areas of east Jerusalem that Israel could place on the other side of the wall.

Such contradictory information lends itself very well to speculation and high suspicions. I have heard from diplomats and from Palestinians such contradictory reports that Israel intends to withdraw from anywhere from 40% of the West Bank to 90%.  Recent reports have suggested that Olmert plans to skip over Phase I of the Road Map and lead directly to the creation of a Palestinian state with provisional borders, as Phase II of the Road Map calls for. I am afraid that we are going to have to be more patient until we really know what Olmert intends to do and then even more time until the government begins to debate the various plans.

If the Hamas-Fateh national dialogue produces an agreement and the Palestinians decide to create a technocratic government without direct Hamas participation, Israel will be pressured by the international community to pursue renewed negotiations with the Palestinian leadership.  At that time it may become possible to speak about a coordinated Israeli withdrawal or even a renewed peace process.  At this time, it looks rather too optimistic to believe that it is possible to renew the peace process.

Gershon Baskin is the Co-CEO of IPCRI – the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information.  www.ipcri.org

[[Jerusalem Times: Opinion]]

June 18, 2006

This Week in Palestine…behind the News with Hanna Siniora

The Good News

Fateh and Hamas according to several sources, including the PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahhar are on the verge of a national accord that will avert civil war and the need to hold a referendum on July 26. Cooler heads have so far found ground for agreement on 15 of the 18 clauses of the Prisoner’s Document. It might be possible to expect an agreement by Monday the 19^th of June, if not a day earlier, by those who have been charged to bridge the differences between the various Palestinians movements. It is a major achievement that will allow most probably the creation of a National Unity government and would lead to the restructuring of the PLO to include all the Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The Bad News

The vicious cycle of violence has escalated. Scores of innocent civilians have been killed, and if unchecked, the growing violence will undermine all efforts to go back to the negotiating table. The Hamas government, through its spokesperson Ghazi Hamed, speaking in Hebrew so that the message will be heard, has called for a return to a bilateral “Tahdi’a&rdqu o;- calm- lull- where all violence, qassams and targeted killings will stop as a new beginning. The political advisor of Ismail Haniyeh, American educated Ahmed Youssef, has repeatedly called for a 50 to 60 years Hudna (truce, ceasefire) and if the Israeli government is unwilling to probe this issue, certainly in Israel, people close to the government should. In sixty years, the Palestinian state will hold 15 Parliamentary elections; does anyone expect Hamas to win all of them? It is not high time to stop shooting, in both camps, and start talking?

EU Aid Package

Finally the EU has succeeded in formulating a mechanism to resume the aid package to the Palestinian people. The Quartet, which includes the American side, has agreed to the package that initially will provide one hundred million euros from the EU ($129 million) and will ask Israel to release the approximately $65 million a month to this fund that Israel has frozen since March 2006.

The PA cabinet had two divergent reactions, one welcoming the decision to resume aid to the Palestinian people by the Minister of Finance, while the Hamas Foreign Minister Zahhar criticized it as by passing the legally constituted PA cabinet. President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the decision, but felt that the funding should reach the Palestinian people through the PA cabinet. Abbas, as the head of the PA, wants the executive authority which he heads and Hamas as part of it in the cabinet, to be involved in the EU mechanism.

Olmert’s European Tour

PM Ehud Olmert visited London and Paris, met with Tony Blair and Jacque Chirac and other high officials. The EU, not only Blair and Chirac, are conveying to Olmert that the proposed realignment plan will not be adopted or blessed by the EU. PM Olmert received the message, which, in a similar way, was delivered by the Israeli public. The latest polls have indicated that Israelis are lukewarm toward the convergence plan, and that they prefer bilateral talks and agreements.

Ehud Olmert still insists on his plans, and is back-pedaling by talking once again about a Palestinian State with provisional borders, which Mahmoud Abbas time and time again has rejected.

Before the end of June, according to previous announcements, Olmert and Abbas are going to have their first summit meeting after Olmert formed his new coalition. On the agenda of the meeting is the most important item of how to start negotiations according to the Road Map process. The success or failure of the whole meeting depends on the announcement at the end of the summit, if both will succeed on a formula to resume negotiations. Olmert has been accused that he is paying lip service to the bilateral talks, and that he is determined to go ahead with the convergence plan or a modified version of it.

A second trilateral summit is possible; Egyptian President is keen on convening such a meeting with Abbas and Olmert in Egypt. Mubarak has good relations with both sides, and feels that Egypt can play a constructive role in bridging the gap that exists in both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. Moreover if an agreement develops, Mubarak has the ability to convince the various Palestinian movements to consider dealing positively with such a development.

Long Term Prospects

Many Palestinians believe that the political process to end the conflict will take many years even with the most optimistic perspective. Fateh and Hamas will for many years remain the major political players on the scene. The failure of the internal political elections to bring the desired results for political stability have rekindled the need to reconstitute the efforts to create a third bloc, a coalition that holds clear cut views on how to deal internally, vis-à-vis Israel and the international community.

This group has been disappointed by the weakness that the third parties have over political trends and developments on all fronts. The last elections provided this bloc with over 16 percent of the vote, but less than half the elected representatives. Coordination and cooperation is minimal and ineffective among these small parties. There is determination that despite the more urgent and grave issues facing the nation, it is imperative that parallel to the efforts to avert the disaster of civil war, efforts should start now on creating and working for a new bloc based on agreed clear principles, that should be applied only after the term of the present PLC ends in four years from now. Some of those principles concern a unified election law, a parliamentary system where the president is a symbolic head; especially that President Abbas has often declared he is not seeking a second term. A coalition that will advocate non-violent resistance of the occupation, and the acceptance of the Arab peace plan should also be on the agenda. A social democratic platform that adopts the market economy, work for a clean environment, and other worthy ideas to allow our people to chart its way to independence.

Hanna Siniora is the Co-CEO of IPCRI – the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information.  www.ipcri.org

Today's News and Views

Subscribe Now to the "Pro-Life Newspaper of Record"! Today's News & Views June 14, 2006 Reminders of Past Treacheries -- Part One of Two Part Two When I first arrived at National Right to Life in late August 1981, my first order of business was to quickly put together the September issue. Once that mission was successfully completed, among the very first things I did was spent an awful lot of time going through the extensive files my predecessors had accumulated in the years since the paper began in 1973. I remember like it was yesterday pulling out a musty file. One of the items I found tucked way carried that unmistakably pungent smell that xeroxed copies had in those days. Lo and behold I found what turned out to be a copy of an article Jesse Jackson had sent to be published in the January 1977 issue of National Right to Life News. This all came rushing back to me when I read Nat Hentoff's column published in Monday's Washington Times. Its title says it all--"The devaluing of human life; Why did Jesse Jackson change his stance on abortion?" Probably only grizzled pro-life veterans remember that Jackson was a powerfully passionate, dazzlingly articulate pro-lifer in those days. (I'm attaching the bulk of the 1977 article he wrote as Part Two.) I remember the following passage as if I read it an hour ago: "â€&brvba r; I was born out of wedlock (and against the advice that my mother received from her doctor) and therefore abortion is a personal issue for me. From my perspective, human life is the highest good, the summum bonum. Human life itself is the highest human good and God is the supreme good because He is the giver of life. That is my philosophy. Everything I do proceeds from that religious and philosophical premise. "Life is the highest good and therefore you fight for life, using means consistent with that end. Life is the highest human good not on its own naturalistic merits, but because life is supernatural, a gift from God. Therefore, life is the highest human good because life is sacred." His NRL News essay was no isolated incident. He wrote an "Open Letter to Congress" in which he said "as a matter of conscience I must oppose the use of federal funds for a policy of killing infants.'' Speaking at the 1977 March for Life, Jackson asked, ''What happens . . . to the moral fabric of a nation that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience.'' Hentoff begins his column with an incident that happened recently. A nine-year-old boy overheard his parents talking about abortion and asked, "What is an abortion?" "His mother tried carefully to describe it in simple terms," Hentoff writes. "But," said her son, "that means killing the baby." The mother tries again, leading her son to believe there are time restraints (there aren't). "The 9-year-old shook his head," Hentoff writes. "'But,' he said, 'it doesn't matter what month. It still means killing the babies.'" Pretty impressive: a nine-year-old who refused to be dissuaded by the usual justifications/rationaliz ations for abortion, even when they came from his mother, who performs abortions. "The boy's spontaneous insistence on the primacy of life," Hentoff writes, "also reminded me of a powerful pro-life speaker and writer who, many years ago, helped me become a pro-lifer. He was a preacher, a black preacher." He was Jesse Jackson. The latter third of Hentoff's column explains how abortion has paved the way for "other controversies involving euthanasia, assisted suicide and the 'futility doctrine' by certain hospital ethics committees." The middle section includes some informed speculation about why Jackson changed his mind--at least publicly.  That transformation occurred in 1988 when Jackson decided to run for the presidency as a Democrat. Naturally, he was applauded by the media for his "growth." Hentoff says the last time he saw Jackson was on a train years later. "On that train, I also told Mr. Jackson that I'd been quoting in articles and in talks with various groups from his compelling pro-life statements. I asked him if he'd had any second thoughts on his reversal of those views. "Usually quick to respond to any challenge that he is not consistent in his positions, Mr. Jackson paused, and seemed somewhat disquieted at my question. Then he said to me, 'I'll get back to you on that.' I still patiently await what he has to say." Jackson is hardly the only politician ever to trade principle for promises of political gain. Two other candidates running for the Democratic Party's 1988 nomination had pro-life histories before they, too, jumped ship. But Jackson's turnabout is particularly poignant, even startling. His critique of abortion is informed and in-depth, his comparisons of abortion to slavery scintillating, his own near-death (by abortion) experience an uncomfortable reminder that he could have been a statistic, and his challenge prophetic, rooted as it is in his role as a "minister of Jesus Christ." Colman McCarthy was another liberal Democrat who embraced the cause of life. In 1988 he wrote a blistering column for the Washington Post denouncing Jackson. "No other candidate this season, fallen or still standing, has shifted positions as radically as Jackson on abortion," he wrote. "If Jesse Jackson of the 1970s were to debate the Jesse Jackson of 1988 on abortion," McCarthy added, clearly infuriated, "the old would flatten the new and leave him mumbling pro-choice slogans." McCarthy concluded by noting that "none of Jackson's six Democratic opponents made an issue of his desertions. Perhaps they saw him 'maturing,' which is said of Jackson's '88 campaign. "A pro-abortion party can embrace Jackson, but it is getting a defective product," McCarthy wrote. "Jackson has become the kind of politician he warned about a decade ago, one whose pro-abortion arguments 'take precedence over human value and human life.''' Please read Part Two. If you have any comments or questions, please send them to Dave Andrusko at dandrusko@nrlc.org. Part Two

Yes, they work for a living --- and one-in-four still struggle
By R. W. Dellinger
"What's happening in the world's richest, most powerful country when so many families seem to be struggling?" That's what Business Week magazine wanted to know a couple years ago. And it wasn't talking about homeless families, but households that had at least one adult working full time. In 2004, some 28 million Americans --- a quarter of the nation's workforce between 18 and 64 --- earned less than $9.04 an hour. At the end of a year, that adds up to $18,800, the federal government's stringent poverty line for a family of four. 'I don't think people have any idea of the staggering numbers of people who are not able to put food on the table, who are not able to pay rent, whose kids never go to a movie or never have any basic fun in their lives.' That sad statistic hasn't changed much. A national study by the Working Poor Families Project, which spent three years in 15 states studying the conditions of low-income working families, reports that one-out-of-four working families in the U.S. currently earn wages so low they're having a difficult time surviving financially. "These are families with responsible, hard-working breadwinners who want to get ahead but hold down low-paying jobs with inadequate steps to ensure that these workers can make ends meet and build a future for their families, no matter how determined they are to be self-sufficient," the report emphasizes. Locally, the picture appears even bleaker. In its recently released "City at a Crossroads: Poverty, Jobs and the Future of Los Angeles," the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy reports that almost 3.9 million people in Los Angeles County --- 39 percent of all residents --- qualify for government anti-poverty assistance, with the "vast majority" living in working households. And while the number of families receiving welfare benefits has declined because of federal welfare reform legislation, more and more workers are being forced into a low-wage labor market to fend for themselves. In fact, six of the top 10 occupations projected to have the most openings in Southern California over the next half-dozen years pay less than $10 an hour. As a result, even full-time workers will have to continue to rely on government programs to meet their families' basic needs. The top ten projected jobs include retail salespersons who currently make $9.77 an hour; food preparation service workers, $8.03 an hour; cashiers, $8.41 an hour; and security guards, $9.53 an hour. The publication briefly profiles Juanita Burroughs, one of the more than 50,000 security officers in Los Angeles County. After 18 years in security, the middle-aged woman can only afford to live in a single-room occupancy hotel on skid row. "I like when I get to help people, but I don't like risking my life for $8.50 an hour," she says. As its title clearly indicates, the LAANE report stresses that the county is at a crossroads. With a rapidly shrinking middle class and millions of families living in or near poverty without adequate health care, housing and nutrition, the Southland could become not only the nation's homeless capital but also its poverty epicenter for working families and individuals. But the grassroots research and advocacy organization also notes that as one of the world's great metropolises, the city and county can be models for urban innovation in the 21st Century. It cites the crucial role local government can play in restoring good jobs and economic opportunity to Southern California. "Rising deprivation and inequality are not merely moral dilemmas," the release points out, "they jeopardize the aspirations of all Angelenos to live in security and prosperity."   Why working Angelenos are poor In 1993, Madeline Janis-Aparicio cofounded the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which has become an authority on issues affecting the working poor as well as a leader in the fight against working poverty. Among its storied accomplishments, LAANE led the historic 1997 campaign to pass the City of Los Angeles' living wage ordinance, which has become a national model. The organization also joined with a coalition of unions and clergy to form Respect at LAX to improve wages and working conditions for thousands of airport employees. And in 2004, it led the fight in defeating Wal-Mart's initiative campaign to build a superstore in Inglewood. Under her stewardship as executive director, the nonprofit has combined research, organizing and legislative advocacy in spearheading many campaigns to improve wages, benefits and conditions in Los Angeles County for thousands of blue- and white-collar workers. But the fight continues for the single mother of three children and UCLA Law School graduate. "I would say in terms of challenges faced by the working poor, things have mostly gotten worse," Janis-Aparicio says, sitting behind a desk in her glass-front LAANE office near downtown Los Angeles. "And why is that? It's because rents in the poorest communities have gone up so high in the last six years, people can no longer afford to live in even the traditionally lowest income communities like Pico Union or South L.A. or East L.A." Meanwhile, the poor are pushed out of their central city apartments, which are being converted to tony lofts and studios. The result for the working poor is that more and more families are having to share tiny quarters wherever they can find them. Another major factor is the growth in the number of low-wage service industry jobs, according to Janis-Aparicio. She says employers are taking advantage of the large pool of immigrant labor to exploit workers and pay poor wages. Along with this goes the de-industrialization of large parts of Los Angeles, with the loss of not only long-lamented aerospace jobs, but also of well-paying and unionized jobs in the auto, rubber and other industries. Other factors: so-called "welfare-to-work&quo t; reforms leading mostly to minimum-wage, dead-end employment; a drastic decrease in employer-provided health care; and the college-divide between the haves and have-nots, which has become the graduate and professional school divide, along with the government getting out of the social welfare business. "In some ways, I think the increase in the working poor comes from the undercutting of the old ideal of a New Deal, where government plays a really important role in humanizing the economy," she explains. "In the last 20 years, government has just stepped aside. Instead it's, 'Let's bend over backwards and give corporations whatever they want and it will trickle down. And it actually has done the exact opposite --- it has trickled up!" Janis-Aparicio points out that the working poor, like many of society's other victims, are often blamed for their predicament. In a free market system, conservative talk show hosts as well as some businessmen like to point out that there are always winners and losers, she says, and if there's poverty, well, it's the people's own fault. If they only got a better education, or worked three jobs instead of two, or …. Invisible population "I think we're almost desensitized to the poor," she remarks. "They've become invisible. I don't think people have any idea of the staggering numbers of people who are not able to put food on the table, who are not able to pay rent, whose kids never go to a movie or never have any basic fun in their lives." LAANE did a systematic survey of Angelenos who have been impacted by the city's 1997 landmark living wage ordinance. And some of the findings even surprised seasoned urban researchers. Most of the people in $7-, $8- and $9-an-hour jobs weren't teenagers, but middle-aged men and women in the prime of their working lives. A large percentage had families and were disproportionately Latino, African American and Asian, with very few Caucasians. Many were women. "It's not what people expect," she says. "It's a lot of older people in their 30s, 40s, 50s who are working in a McDonald's or a hotel or as a security officer or in a retail store like Wal-Mart." Janis-Aparicio sits on the board of L.A.'s redevelopment agency. She points out that cities have "tremendous powers" to regulate industries, first with their own employees and then with all the companies they contract with. Moreover, cities have control over land use, determining regulations for every parcel of municipally owned real estate. "So if you think about all of those ways of helping to lift up certain industries, you're talking about hundreds of thousands of jobs," she explains. "So when you take an assertive city government that's intent on a win-win situation, it can make a huge difference. "In some ways, the City of Los Angeles --- and even the county to some degree ---has asserted its rightful role as a protector of the people, especially in the last 10 years." But while there has been more empowerment of workers through living-wage laws and worker-retention ordinances, Janis-Aparicio also cites an increase in local poverty and suffering. She fears if more isn't done to help workers raise themselves up from poverty, the consequences will be broad and deep. "There's a consequence to everybody of living in the midst of so much inequality and injustice," Janis-Aparicio observes. "Ninety thousand homeless people and so many others living in such dire situations has an impact on me and my family. And I think it has a moral impact on us as a city, as a society."

Qassams cause panic in Sderot

Six rockets land in southern town, one falling close to house of Defense
Minister Peretz, near hunger-strikers encampment; one person wounded in eye
by shrapnel, three suffer from shock. One rocket causes fire at forest near
town; 120 rockets fired at Israel since Friday

Shmulik Hadad YNET 15 June 2006
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-326 3243,00.html

Six Qassam rockets were fired Thursday at the southern town of Sderot. One
of the rockets landed near the house of Defense Minister Amir Peretz,
falling close to the tent of hunger-strikers encamped outside.

Fire broke out in a forest near Sderot after a Qassam landed at the place,
and firefighters were called to the place to extinguish the fire.

One of the rockets landed in a factory in Sderot's industrial zone, and one
employee sustained a very light injury to his eye from shrapnel. Three more
people suffered from shock and were treated by MDA paramedics.

A Qassam that fell near the plant hit a pole that supports the factory's
ceiling, forcing the workers to evacuate the area for fear the ceiling might
collapse. Firefighters were dispatched to the place.

Head of the firefighters in town, David Shitrit, said that a much greater
catastrophe was prevented in the factory, which manufactures wooden
platforms. "The cement ceiling blocked the Qassam, but collapsed with it.
Had this been a regular ceiling, a much greater disaster could have taken
place, as the place is filled with wood platforms. A big fire could have
erupted," he said.

The town's swimming poll opened its gates for the first time Thursday, and
residents said they saw one of the rockets fly over the pool. A number of
children were at the place at the time of the strike.

Two strikers faint

National Union Knesset members were staying at the protesters' tent at the
time of the attack. The strikers' leader, Alon Davidi, has just started a
press conference, and was telling reporters that the defense minister has
asked him on Wednesday to stop the strike.

While Davidi was speaking, a loud explosion was heard and panic broke out in
the tent. "Two of the strikers fainted and were treated on the spot. The
police asked us to take cover. This is all happening in the midst of our
hunger strike to prevent the Qassam fire," one of the demonstrators,
Michael, recounted.

Davidi himself said that he plans to carry on with the hunger strike, and
called on the president to meet with the strikers immediately and personally
intervene in a bid to solve the problem.

The National Union Party reported that one of its MKs, Arieh Eldad, a
physician by profession, attended to two of the hunger-strikers who
collapsed as a result of the blast. Town residents told Ynet that no alarm
went off Thursday morning to alert ahead of the rockets' landing.

School strike continues

The strike at the Shaar Hanegev elementary school went into its fifth day
Thursday, and the children meanwhile attend alternative activities.

The al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility Thursday for the Qassams fired
at Nahal Oz. the Red Dawn alerts system was previously set off in the area,
but the rockets' landing site was not located until now.

No organization has yet to claim responsibility for attack on Sderot this
morning, but army sources believe that Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades or the
Popular Resistance Committees were behind the shooting.

First Published: 06.15.06, 11:11
Latest Update: 06.15.06, 14:00

Today's News and Views

Subscribe Now to the "Pro-Life Newspaper of Record"! Today's News & Views June 6, 2006 More News About NRLC 2006 Can I attend if I live overseas? That was one of the responses to yesterday's column about the upcoming NRLC convention in Nashville, Tennessee. The answer to this inquiry is, of course, yes, but hurry Whether the pro-lifer lives half-way around the world or a half-hour away from Nashville, there is still time to register for all, or part, of the three-day educational fest. And, in response to another inquiry, you can read the entire schedule online at www.nrlc.org/convention/Schedule20 06.html. One part of the convention--the prelude, if you will--that you really want to take advantage of is the annual meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change. A long title for a very accessible organization, its annual meeting takes place at 8:00 pm June 21--the night before the convention begins. Founded in 1986, the Association is a professional organization for pro-life researchers and educators which offers a forum for an exchange of information from a wide range of scientific and social science disciplines. Over these past twenty years, the Association has created a network of Pro-Life professionals and encouraged research and academic publications. Let me take just a minute of your time to describe briefly the three outstanding speakers you can hear. They include, Byron C. Calhoun, M.D., Vice Chairman, Obstetrics and Gynecology, West Virginia University, Charleston Branch. Dr. Calhoun will speak on, "Induced Abortion and Subsequent Preterm Delivery: Whisper of Association or Cry of Causation?" Priscilla Coleman, Ph.D., an Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, Bowling Green State University, will speak next. Dr. Coleman's topic is "Relationship Problems Following Abortion." Michael New, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Alabama. Dr. New will outline "The Impact of State Legislation on the Incidence of Abortion." NRLC President Wanda Franz, Ph.D., who is Professor Emerita, West Virginia University, will preside. You can register online at http://www.nrlc.org/convention/convoreg20 06.asp" title="http://www.nrlc.org/convention/convoreg20 06.asp" target="_blank"http://www.nrlc.org/conventio... You can also call (202) 378-8842. Please don't wait another moment. NRLC Conventions are for many pro-lifers the highlight of the year. And, as mentioned yesterday, there are not only 70 workshops, there are also four general sessions, a Prayer Breakfast, and a Closing Banquet. Among the many outstanding speakers are Fred Barnes, Jennifer O'Neill, Paul Greenberg, Ramesh Ponnuru, Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway, and Erin Brady Worsham. You won't want to miss NRLC 2006, June 22-24. If you have any questions, please contact Dave Andrusko at dandrusko@nrlc.org. dhttp://www.nrlc.org/join_our_...;cc=&bcc=&subject =&body=http://www.nrlc.org/join_our_...;curmbox=00000000-0000-00 00-0000-000000000001& a=6a860de64362b3bb36d02ba 57b0b8c8813308e4919bda26f 006d53d6954336d8"Invite a friend to Join Today's News And Views! =http://www.nrlc.org/news_and_...;curmbox=00000000-0000-00 00-0000-000000000001& a=6a860de64362b3bb36d02ba 57b0b8c8813308e4919bda26f 006d53d6954336d8"Today's News and Views --- =http://www.nrlc.org/news_and_...;curmbox=00000000-0000-00 00-0000-000000000001& a=6a860de64362b3bb36d02ba 57b0b8c8813308e4919bda26f 006d53d6954336d8"Send this page to a friend!