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Roadmap fails rights test

The “roadmap” for ending Israeli-Palestinian violence will fail unless it includes basic human rights safeguards, Human Rights Watch warned today, on the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit to Israel and the Occupied Territories. 

Weekly report on human rights violations

This week, Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians, including 5 children. Most of them, including three brothers and a toddler, were killed during the Israeli raid on the Shojaeya neighborhood in Gaza. One of the victims was run down by Israeli forces in Tulkarm. In Rafah, Israeli forces shot and killed a British journalist. Israeli forces conducted raids on Palestinian areas, accompanied by indiscriminate shelling, and demolished 18 homes in Rafah. In Khan Younis large areas of Palestinian agricultural land were razed. This week, more Palestinians were arbitrarily detained and Israeli forces continue to use Palestinian civilians as human shields. Israel continued its tight siege on Palestinian communities. 

Text of new IDF declaration to be signed by foreign nationals entering Gaza

The Electronic Intifada has obtained the text of a document distributed by the Israeli military to foreign diplomatic representatives. The document is entitled “Form to be filled out and submitted to IDF authorities prior to entry to the Gaza Strip” and is aimed at excluding foreign peace activists from undertaking nonviolent direct action against Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip. 

Return to Sender -- 55,000 Times 

Law professor and pro-Palestinian agitator Francis Boyle expected to have a lot of e-mail waiting for him after his two-and-a-half-week vacation. But he never imagined that there would be 55,000 messages packing his inbox — many of them hurt, even belligerent, notes from friends and fellow activists. The message that supposedly came from Boyle was a forgery — one of thousands sent out in the names and from e-mail addresses of prominent advocates for the Palestinians — designed to sow dissension, create confusion and waste time in the activist community. Noah Shachtman reports in Wired. 

Israel blocks Palestinian ISP

“For hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, getting to work, school or the market has been virtually impossible since Israel’s latest anti-terror campaign began. Now, they won’t be able to get online, either. Early Monday morning, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) troops took over the offices of Palnet, the leading Palestinian Internet service provider, shutting down the firm’s operations.” Noah Shachtman writes in Wired.