Urgent Call from Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO)

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Written by Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO) Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO)

Published: 06 November 2006 06 November 2006

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The Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO) calls on the United Nations and the International Community to immediately intervene to stop the war crimes committed by the Israeli occupational forces (IOF) on Palestinian civilians and their properties in the Gaza Strip, mainly in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, which for the fourth day is under Israeli siege and attacks from tanks and air strikes. As of last Wednesday morning at least 42 people have been killed and another 175 injured, most of these were children, women, journalists and medical aid workers. Israeli occupational forces have destroyed many houses and bulldozed a wide track of cultivated land.

Tens of thousands of people living in Beit Hanoun town suffering from lack food and medical services due to the siege and curfew imposed by the IOF on the town. In addition, the IOF are denying the sick and injured access to medical treatment.

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Listen to Maj. Gen. Stern

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Written by Gideon Levy Gideon Levy

Published: 06 November 2006 06 November 2006

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A bloodbath is taking place in Beit Hanun, the Israel Defense Forces runs rampant and kills at least 37 people in four days - and Israeli public opinion yawns with indifference. A brigade commander tells his soldiers, who killed 12 people in one day: "You've won 12:0," and the soldiers grin broadly. This is the moral nadir we have reached, following a long slide down a slippery slope: Human life has become cheap.

Read more: Listen to Maj. Gen. Stern

U.N.: 100,000 Iraq Refugees Flee Monthly

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Written by ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer

Published: 03 November 2006 03 November 2006

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GENEVA (AP) - Nearly 100,000 Iraqis are fleeing each month to Syria and Jordan, forcing the United Nations to set aside its goal of helping refugees return home after the U.S.-led invasion, officials said Friday.

Instead, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has drawn up plans to deal with the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who are desperate to escape the violence, chief spokesman Ron Redmond said.

``Much of our work in the three years since the fall of the previous regime was based on the assumption that the domestic situation would stabilize and hundreds of thousands of previously displaced Iraqis would be able to go home,'' Redmond said. ``Now, however, we're seeing more and more displacement linked to the continuing violence.''

It has been impossible to obtain accurate totals on the numbers of refugees because few Iraqis are registering with UNHCR, and most are being cared for by host families or charitable organizations, he said.

Read more: U.N.: 100,000 Iraq Refugees Flee Monthly

Pummeling the victim

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Written by Rima Merriman, The Electronic Intifada Rima Merriman, The Electronic Intifada

Published: 03 November 2006 03 November 2006

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The terrible imbalance of power between the Israelis and Palestinians makes it impossible for Israel, regardless of which government is in power, to deal with the Palestinians in any way except through a lens of assumed moral, cultural, and racial superiority, as though military prowess equates with civilization and home-made rockets equate with savagery and a sub-human status.

The savagery, though, belongs to Israel and to anyone who has the power to stop a bully in his bloody pummeling of a much weaker opponent but instead stands aside, watching under the cover of the manufactured excuse that the bully is defending himself against his hapless victim.

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