Between walking among the lands in Qalqiliya, which Israel is confiscating for the so-called ‘security barrier’, and visiting the hospital where Jihad, a fourteen year-old martyr who was shot by Israeli ‘special forces’, was prepared for his funeral, one can easily understand why the residents of this caged city state there is an internal closure on their spirits. Robyn Long writes from Occupied Jerusalem. Read more about Israel threatens Palestinan land and homes in Qalqiliya 

“While the world focuses on Iraq, 17 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1000 detained as Israeli forces step up ‘anti-terrorism’ raids.” Robert Tait reports for the Sunday Herald in Jerusalem. Read more about War provides cover for a fresh Israeli crackdown 

“They had to do 16 houses by sundown, and they couldn’t start until the men who live in them had gone off to work in the morning. But those machines are tireless, and by the end of the day, you could find 16 families sitting on heaps of rubble, weeping and cursing. Children, too.” Gila Svirsky of the Coalition of Women for Peace reports on another average day in Occupied Palestine. Read more about Another busy day for IDF bulldozers 

Today at about 6.30 pm, Brian Avery, 24, of New Mexico was shot in the face by a burst of machine gun fire from an Israeli Armoured Personnel Carrier. The circumstances surrounding his injury are as follows. Read more about American peace activist shot in the face from an Israeli APC in Jenin 

“As we left East Jerusalem for Amman last week, on our way back home, we were struck by the cynicism of what appeared to be a concerted effort by the Israeli press and others in the media to justify, retrospectively, Israel’s siege and destruction of Jenin a year ago because it is now clear that U.S. and British forces are doing the same thing in Iraq.” Kathleen and Bill Christison reflect on their trip from Occupied East Jerusalem. Read more about Final thoughts from Palestine 

“The soldiers divided arrivals into two groups, separating those aged 15-20 from those aged 20-40. The younger group was led into classrooms, forced to tear pictures of shahid (martyrs) off the walls and step on them. At around 9 AM, a few hours after the operation began, a Druze officer reportedly told a few hundred men on site: ‘You are leaving the camp. Don’t come back until it is all over.’ Abd a-Latif a-Sudani, 30, recalls: ‘We asked him - `Where are we to go? To Baghdad?’ And he said: `You’d be better off there.’” Arnon Regular of Haaretz reports on a disturbing IDF operation in Tul Karm which has turned refugees into refugees once again. Read more about "Where shall we go? Baghdad?" 

The U.S. State Department has quietly withdrawn all CD-ROM copies of its annual human rights report due to a one-word error that was thought to overstate the extent of Israel’s rights abuses, officials said Tuesday. Agence France Presse Read more about US withdraws copies of human rights report due to Israel criticism 

Israeli incursions into refugee camps continue under the cover of the war on Iraq as numerous Palestinians have been shot dead by occupation forces in the last week. Ha’aretz reports. Read more about IDF kills seven Palestinians in territories  

Starbucks Coffee Co. is reportedly closing six stores in Israel this April as well as dissolving a partnership with the Delek Group of Israel, which operated the coffeehouses. Company spokespeople would not disclose any specific reasons as to why it has done this except so say that “[t]he decision to end the partnership was independent of ongoing turmoil in the Middle East and the war with Iraq.” Helen Jung writes for the Associated Press. Read more about Starbucks pulls out of Israel, ends joint-venture