1. FATAH, ISLAMIC JIHAD BREAK CEASE FIRE…Fatah, the organization that holds all the main roles in the Palestinian Authority says it was behind Sunday’s suicide bombing in the southern Israeli city Beer Sheva, along with the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad. More than a dozen people were wounded when a bomber detonated his device at the city’s central bus station. It is thought the terrorist made his way to Beer Sheva from the southern end of the West Bank, where there is no security barrier. It is the first bombing since the removal of Israeli civilians from Gaza, which was completed last week.
2. FIRST GAZA BODIES EXHUMED…Israel has started the exhumation and reburial of the 48 bodies of Jews that had been interred in the Gush Katif enclave in the Gaza Strip. Two burials took place on Sunday, with more scheduled for the coming days. Rabbinic authorities ordered the families of the dead to observe the mourning rites once again this time for a day rather than the usual week. Some of those residents recently removed from Gaza say they will attend all 48 reburials.
3. EGYPT TO DEPLOY ON GAZA BORDER NEXT WEEK…Some 750 Egyptian border guards will be positioned along the Philadelphi corridor separating Egypt from the Gaza Strip as early as next week. Israeli soldiers are expected to leave the area some time in September. The move was approved by Israel’s cabinet on Sunday, and is likely to be rubber stamped by the country’s parliament, the Knesset, on Wednesday. The vote came 24 hours before a scheduled visit to Gaza by senior Egyptian intelligence officials. The border guards will be charged with preventing the smuggling of drugs, weapons, counterfeit money and armed men in and out of Gaza.
4. PALESTINIAN MINISTERS MEET ON EDGE OF JERUSALEM…In a symbolic message to the Palestinian people and the Israeli government, the Palestinian cabinet met in a village bordering Jerusalem on Sunday. Part of Abu Dis is officially in municipal Jerusalem, however the ministers met on the Palestinian side. They said they were holding the session in the shadow of Israel’s defensive wall, which cuts through the village. They are also objecting to what they say is the Israeli plan to expand Ma’aleh Adumin a close-by town in the West Bank.
5. YEMEN MORE SEVERELY AFFECTED BY TSUNAMI…A United Nations investigation has discovered that Yemen was far more severely affected by last year’s tsunami that had previously been thought. Initially, it was believed five people were killed when the massive tidal wave reached as far as the country, which is located on the Arabian Peninsula. However, a team from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has learned that 2,000 fishing families on Yemeni islands off the coast of Africa were directly affected with their equipment destroyed or seriously damaged.