1. SUICIDE BOMBER EXPLODES IN BEER SHEVA… The latest escalation in Palestinian violence came to the Israeli city of Beer Sheva on Sunday morning when a suicide bomber exploded at the central bus station. Beer Sheva is the principle city of Israel’s southern Negev region. Medics on the scene reported ten casualties, two serious. The attack came less than a day after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas told an Israeli journalist that the cease-fire with Israel would remain in effect indefinitely.
2. PRESIDENT BUSH COMMENTS ON GAZA PULLOUT; CALLS FOR PALESTINIANS TO REIN IN TERROR… U.S. President George W. Bush used his weekly radio address to demand “an end to terror and violence in every form.” Bush said that future progress “depends on ending terror.” The President’s remarks drew criticism from Palestinians. The P.A. representative in the United States cautioned that Mahmoud ‘Abbas needs time to disarm terrorist groups “on his own terms.” A spokesman for Hamas was more direct, accusing Bush of meddling in Palestinian internal affairs. Sami Abu Zuhri said “Palestinian resistance is an internal Palestinian affair” and called on President Bush to stay out. He called the President’s statement “evidence of the American bias to the Israeli occupation and represents hostility toward the Palestinian people.”
3. EXHUMATION FROM GAZA CEMETERY BEGINS SUNDAY… The Israeli army will begin on Sunday to exhume and rebury the forty-eight souls buried in the Gaza Strip’s only Jewish cemetery. Three soldiers and forty-five civilians are buried in the Neveh Deqalim cemetery. The families of the dead will decide when and where to hold funerals, as required by Jewish law.
4. RAZING OF SOUTHERN GAZA HOMES COMPLETE, BULLDOZERS MOVE NORTH… Israeli bulldozers will begin razing homes in the evacuated Jewish communities of the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday. In addition to the former Gaza towns, two evacuated in the northern Samaria region will be destroyed in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, the army is continuing to evacuate its installations. It is reportedly ready to hand over what was the Gaza Division Headquarters building to the Palestinian security forces.
5. ISRAELI GOVERNMENT TRIES TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF WHERE EVACUEES ARE GOING… A public relations war erupted between Gaza evacuees and the Israeli government over the issue of temporary and permanent plans immediately after the evacuation itself. The government agency charged with relocating former Gaza residents has been repelling charges that it was ill-prepared for the evacuation and that it has no answers for the citizens affected. The agency has now explained a three-stage plan in general terms: stage one was the pullout itself with evacuees placed in hotels or guest houses for up to two months. Stage two is moving the evacuees to either double-size trailers or small prefabricated homes for as long as two years while new communities and houses are built. Many of the residents continue to charge that removal from large, free-standing homes to trailers or cramped living spaces for two years or more is unacceptable. One evacuee told The Media Line that “it’s a national disgrace to treat people who did nothing wrong this way.”
6. U.S.-ISRAEL AGREEMENT TO END CHINA ARMS SPAT DOESN’T END SANCTIONS… Israel’s leading defense correspondent is reporting that although the United States and Israel signed an agreement to end differences over Israel’s military sales, the Bush administration has not lifted sanctions and for the moment does not intend to. The issue of Israeli military sales to China created a rift between the two governments that was described as a “crisis.” Israel signed an agreement in which it capitulated to a number of American demands in order to end the spat, but Ze’ev Schiff of the mass circulation Haaretz reported on Sunday that by terms of the agreement, the U.S. has sole discretion over lifting sanctions and has so far not indicated when this would happen. Schiff also reports that the agreement does not relate to sales to any country other than China. Nevertheless, Schiff says the rift is causing Israel severe financial loss in the form of restitution for its breached contract with China, along with a significant “blow to its prestige.” Other analysts have suggested that the messy affair will cause other customers to question whether Israel can deliver goods and services it promises.
7. MOST WANTED BOMBMAKER SEEN CELEBRATING ‘VICTORY’ OF ISRAELI PULLOUT… The Hamas terrorist organization released a video on Saturday that purportedly showed Muhammad A-‘Deif, the notorious bomb-maker said to be responsible for scores of Israeli deaths, celebrating the victory of Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip. The figure alleged to be A-‘Deif was shown only in silhouette. He said “We did not achieve the liberation of Gaza without this holy war…” and promised that the attacks will continue until “Israel is eradicated.” He chided Israel, saying it was “leaving Gaza humiliated.” A number of security experts had warned that Israel’s unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip would be seen by Palestinians as a victory for terror and serve as encouragement for more attacks.
8. EGYPT SAYS IT WON’T SIGN NUKE TEST BAN UNTIL ISRAEL SIGNS NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY… Egypt’s foreign minister has sent a letter to the commission overseeing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that his country won’t sign on until Israel signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit reportedly told the commission that Israel’s refusal to join the NPT has “made the Middle East more insecure.” Israel is the only Middle Eastern country not to have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
9. MORE BAD NEWS FOR SHARON IN NEWEST POLLING… Prime Minister Ariel Sharon woke up to more bad news, polling-wise, Sunday morning. Continuing a spate of negative returns was a poll conducted for a popular morning television program. When respondents were asked whether they believed Sharon or former prime minister and Sharon nemesis Binyamin Netanyahu who says the Gaza pullout will bring more terror, more agreed with Netanyahu by a margin of 41% to 31%. A majority of 51% said they believe Sharon should “retire to his ranch” rather than “continue in political life.”