A new music video appearing regularly on Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority television over the past week promises the elimination of Israel and the restoration of the "Arab identity" of cities throughout the Jewish State. The propaganda clip stands in stark contrast to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's recent declarations in support of
The propaganda clip stands in stark contrast to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's recent declarations.
reconciliation with Israel, issued ahead of the upcoming multinational Middle East peace conference organized by the United States.

As explained by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook of Palestinian Media Watch, "While the Palestinian Authority announces in English its demand for a two-state solution, to its own people in Arabic it continues to define all of Israel as 'Palestine,' and to promise Israel's destruction. A new video clip, broadcast numerous times daily since it first appeared on Fatah-controlled TV last week, passionately promises 'Mother' that every Israeli city will be 'liberated' because its 'identity is Arab' and 'Palestinian.'"

"We will liberate the Land..." the PA singer chants, "[which] is Arab in history and identity, Palestine is Arab in history and identity." The "Palestine" that is to be "liberated," according to the song, includes cities such as Jerusalem, Acre, Haifa, Bethlehem, Jaffa, Be'er Sheva, Tiberias, Hevron and Ramle, as well as the Galilee. Most of those cities listed are located within pre-1967 Israel.

"This is significant not only because it was broadcast on Fatah TV," note Marcus and Crook, "but because the constant repetition of this clip promising Israel's destruction comes at the very time that the world is preparing for a peace conference."

The PMW analysts termed the juxtaposition of English-language messages of peace and Arabic-language internal propaganda that is virulently anti-Israel "duplicity," and said that Yasser Arafat, as chairman of the PA, was a "notorious" deceiver in this regard. "Israel paid dearly for its trust in Arafat's English pronouncements," according to Marcus and Crook, "with more than 1,000 killed and tens of thousands wounded in the Palestinian Authority-led terror war.

"Today's leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, was Arafat's right hand man and partner during the first duplicity period. To Israel and the U.S. in English, he is talking peace. To his people in Arabic, through his TV and schoolbooks, he is promoting hatred and promising the destruction of Israel. Is Abbas following Arafat's successful duplicity tactic? It is incumbent upon Israel and the world to verify this before going further," conclude the PMW directors.

PA school textbook wipes Israel off the map
Palestinian Media Watch

The lyrics of the latest PA video calling for Israel's elimination, as recorded from PA TV on October 23, 2007 and translated by PMW, are as follows:

"Oh mother, they destroyed our house
The house of my brother and my neighbor [2X]
Do not be angry, oh mother, we got more stones [2X]
We are Palestinians, we are not terrorists [2X]

"We have the right, oh mother, we want to bring our home back
Hand in hand, and arm in arm, we will protect your land, Palestine
We will pray in Al-Aqsa and the [Church] of the Nativity, Islam and Christians
[2X]

"We will liberate [Palestine] the Land of Religions.
And we will build Jerusalem of the homelands.
We are the sons of glory, oh mother....

"We are Palestinians we are not terrorists
We are the students of freedom we are not terrorists

"Oh Arab, oh noble son, your blood is in my blood and your business is my business
Peace will be achieved through unity, oh my brother and cousin
The land is Arab in history and identity
Palestine is Arab in history and identity
We will live in peace, oh mother, and our lives will not be wasted
...

"Oh mother, they destroyed our house
The house of my brother and my neighbor [2X]
Do not be angry, oh mother, our rocks increased [in number]

"From Jerusalem and Acre, from Haifa and Jericho and Gaza and Ramallah [2X]
From Bethlehem and Jaffa, from Be’er Sheva and Ramla, [2X]
from Nablus to the Galilee, from Tiberias to Hebron." [2x]

While not rejecting outright the option of power cuts to the Hamas-controlled Gaza region in response to continued enemy rocket attacks from the PA, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said Monday night that the measure should be suspended. The government
IDF officials argue that power and fuel cuts to Gaza would pressure Hamas to end attacks against Israeli targets in the Negev.
requires Mazuz's approval in order to carry out the sanctions.

According to a decision by the government in September declaring Gaza a "hostile entity," ministers recently voted to carry out sanctions against the Hamas-controlled region, including power and petroleum cuts. However, the cabinet also required that all such actions be brought before the Attorney General for review. Atty. Gen. Mazuz says the Defense Ministry must examine how to implement the measures so that they "would not cause humanitarian harm to the civilian population."

IDF officials argue that power and fuel cuts to Gaza would pressure Hamas to end attacks against Israeli targets in the Negev, while not affecting hospitals, the water supply or sewage systems. If implemented correctly, the army believes, such sanctions will make a large-scale ground operation in the area unnecessary. Furthermore, all of the proposed measures have already been given legal backing by the Military Advocate General, Brig.-Gen. Avichai Mendelblit.

Although he rejected the plan to cut Gaza's supply of electricity, Mazuz approved other measures proposed by the government, such as commercial and economic sanctions against the PA in Gaza.

The Monday night meeting with Mazuz was attended by officials from the Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs and Justice, State Prosecutor Eran Shendar, as well as legal counsel from the Prime Minister's Office, the IDF and the National Security Council.

Reactions
Attorney Yossi Fuchs of the Land of Israel Legal Forum said Monday that Attorney General Mazuz's decision not to allow temporary cuts in the supply of Israeli electricity to Gaza was a moral failure.

"The Attorney General's decision shows concern for the residents of Gaza," Fuchs said, "but actually, he is ignoring the suffering of the children of Sderot."

The Rabbinical Council of Judea, Samaria and Gaza released a statement on Tuesday condemning Atty. Gen. Mazuz's decision, saying that "it may lead to the deaths of soldiers and civilians." The rabbis laid the blame for recent IDF casualties in Gaza on orders intended to protect "so-called innocents among the terror-supporting population."

The Rabbinical Council went on to explain that Jewish law allows for siege measures that would harm the population of the enemy entity in Gaza, "because, according to the
Jewish law allows for siege measures that would harm the population of the enemy entity in Gaza.
definition used in Jewish law, the daily Kassam rocket barrages on the precious residents of the south constitute war in every respect."

The statement, signed by Rabbis Dov Lior and Daniel Shiloh, concludes with words of encouragement for the implementation of the government's "correct decision."

Meanwhile, seemingly unimpressed with the Israeli internal debate, Arab terrorists in Gaza continued rocket attacks on the western Negev Tuesday morning. Two Kassam rockets slammed into Israeli targets, causing damage to a building on an area kibbutz. No injuries were reported.

The Israeli Arab group Adalah filed a plea with the High Court of Justice on Sunday against the proposed sanctions against the PA in Gaza. Adalah is to argue that the power cuts and other measures constitute "collective punishment" and would cause conditions throughout Gaza to seriously deteriorate. 

On a three-day official visit to China, Israel's Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni is seeking support to impose more stringent sanctions on Iran. Livni also signed a tourism agreement with Chinese officials.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Livni met with senior Communist Party officials and heads
The Israeli Foreign Minister also called for a private sector boycott of business with the Islamic Republic.
of Chinese research institutes closely associated with the government.
 
She warned her hosts, "The Iranian regime is a dangerous regime that openly talks of its vision of wiping a state off the map and of imposing its radical, extreme ideology on the world."  Livni said that Iran analyzes the world's response on this issue, and only a determined, united world can stop the threat. "The time has come to intensify the sanctions and to take additional decisions in the Security Council, where China is a Permanent Member, for additional deeper and more significant sanctions," Livni said.
 
The Israeli Foreign Minister also called for a private sector boycott of business with the Islamic Republic: "The business sector, especially the Chinese business sector, has an important role to play in any activity against a nuclear Iran. Neither China nor the world can afford the domino effect that will be created in the region if the Iranian regime manages to obtain the technology it seeks."
 
On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference that China opposed the use of sanctions against Iran. "The unbridled use of sanctions should not be encouraged," Jianchao said.
 
Call for Increased Water Resource Development
In a meeting in the Chinese capital, Liu Qi, a member of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) Central Committee, praised the development of China-Israel relations over the past 15 years. He noted the increase of high-level visits and cooperation between the two countries in the fields of high-technology, culture, water conservation, and new energy source development.
 
Noting the lack of water resources faced by the two countries, Foreign Minister Livni called for greater Chinese-Israeli cooperation in developing water conservation technology.

In an address to the faculty and students of international relations at the People's University in Beijing, Foreign Minister Livni charged Iran with being "behind almost every conflict that we have in the Middle East... in financing, training and arming terrorist organizations. If this dangerous regime, that wants to dictate its extreme religious ideology to others, masters the technology of developing nuclear weapons - the fragile stability that we are trying to build in the Middle East will vanish."

Livni told the students that Israel and China "are trying hard to preserve their unique tradition while developing modern and science-based societies and promote a global-oriented economy."

Encouraging Chinese Tourism to Israel
The Foreign Minister signed an agreement that is expected to boost interest among the Chinese to visit Israel. The agreement defines Israel as a priority for Chinese tour
Israel and China "are trying hard to preserve their unique tradition." -- FM LIvni
operators, who soon will offer special tour packages.
 
More than 16 million Chinese tour abroad each year, and the number is expected to increase as the Chinese economy grows.

Jordanian King Also Visits China
On Tuesday, King Abdullah II of Jordan addressed students at Peking University and urged China to take a more active role in Middle Eastern diplomatic affairs.

Noting that China has "good relations with all parties in our region, China's role is destined to increase in the future. We are looking for a stronger role for China." Jordanians, the Hashemite king said, regard the Chinese as "honest brokers" in relation to the nations of the Middle East.

Abdullah's visit marked the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Jordan and China.

Officials from Palestinian Authority terrorist factions met in Damascus Monday with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Motaki to discuss the situation in Gaza and the upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast summit.

According to a member of the Iranian delegation who spoke on condition of anonymity, Motaki met with Hamas deputy politburo head Moussa Abu Marzouk, Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, and PA officials.

Members of Syrian-based PA terrorist factions who oppose the Israel-PA talks and who were not invited to the conference in Washington will hold their own meeting in Damascus on November 7.

Officials from PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas's faction are trying to convince Syria to cancel the Damascus conference, saying it will undermine Fatah's influence among the PA population.

Motaki's discussions Tuesday with the PA terrorist factions followed meetings Monday with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem. Syrian and Iranian leaders are seeking to strengthen bilateral ties.

Israeli security officials are worried about the impact of the "triad of terror" on the ability of the Jewish State to ward off attacks from Gaza, noting that Hamas operatives have been receiving advanced terrorist training in Syria and Iran.

Three IDF soldiers were killed during counter-terrorism operations in Gaza in the past three months, a toll that has not gone unnoticed by the defense establishment. A plan to cut fuel supplies to Gaza after a rocket attack is launched from the region was passed by the cabinet but put on hold by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz until humanitarian guidelines are worked out.

A barrage of Kassam rockets were fired at the western Negev midday Tuesday. One slammed into a building in the city of Sderot, located barely a kilometer away from Gaza. No one was physically injured, although the structure was damaged. Two other rockets landed in open areas.

Two rockets exploded earlier in the day in a western Negev kibbutz, damaging a building but hurting no one.

A 12-year-old girl was rendered unconscious for 24 hours after being drugged and raped by two boys aged 13, police said. The crime occurred in the home of one of the boys, who allegedly placed GHB or other date-rape drug into her drink. 

She was discovered early Sunday morning by the father of one of the boys, who called for medical help.  The two boys were arrested but may be released because of their age.  It is not clear whether the girl arrived at the boy's home in a state of intoxication.

Other cases of violence amongst youngsters have been reported of late as well.  For instance, shortly after midnight Monday, a 17-year-old boy was found stabbed to death, following a brawl in a commercial center in Herzliya. Several youths were detained for questioning.  In addition, a trial of two minors from the Kfar Saba area, accused of raping a 14-year-old girl, is underway. All three were drunk at the time. 

The latest case has drawn many reactions, including questions about where were the parents of the three children; the ongoing, nearly-three-week old school strike, leaving tens of thousands of youths with little to do; the emphasis on the sensual in public media such as television, movies, billboards and more; lax law enforcement and punitive measures; and more.

Message to Parents
Army Radio's Hadas Shteif, writing in the new daily commuter paper Yisrael HaYom, advises parents to be aware that their children are drinking at increasingly high rates: "Yes, they drink. It's no secret... and it's not without their parents' knowledge, and not infrequently they are only 10, 11 or 12 years old... Every week, and especially on weekends and during vacations, many boys - and girls - arrive at hospitals, drunk or unconscious, sometimes after having been found lying in the street or at friends' homes.  The parents are left shocked, unable to understand how it happened...  It's not a new phenomenon, but as parents, we wake up only when something terrible happens.  So this is the time and place for parents to wake up, to get out of our coma and to start checking where the children are when we are sleeping, what they are doing, and what time they come back. This is the time to stop being afraid of the children, to start setting limits, to use our authority. It's called, in one word, parenting."

New Welfare Ministry Counseling Program
The Welfare Ministry has announced a new initiative to afford suitable counseling for all children who have been victim to sexual abuse.  The program, run together with the National Welfare Institute and the Sacta-Rashi Foundation, will begin next year, with an outlay of eight million shekels ($2 million).

The plan is to strengthen existing treatment centers, to establish new ones, and to increase budgetary allocations to social services centers throughout the country for child-victim treatment.  Because of rising numbers of children in need and decreasing budgets, "many children, especially from weaker families, have not received treatment," said Nachum Itzkovitch, the Director-General of the Welfare Ministry. 

The number of complaints of child sexual abuse in the Welfare Ministry has risen from 2,259 in the year 2000, to 2,623 today - a jump of more than 16%.

The Teachers' Strike
The high school teachers strike, nearly three weeks old, has been cited as a possible factor in some recent cases of youth violence.  Some 2,000 students from public-religious schools demonstrated outside the government complex this morning, demanding that the teachers' demands be met. 

Television
Television and its emphasis on the sensual has also been blamed.  Many rabbis have called for the removal of television sets from homes - or at least not to turn them on until the programming content changes, as Rabbi Dov Lior, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hevron, has ruled. 

Ramat Gan's Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, a candidate for Chief Rabbi of Israel, has written, "We have not found permission [for TV] in Jewish Law; its harm is greater than its benefit." 

It is claimed that despite these and other rulings, over 90% of the modern-religious public has TV sets in their homes.

They - and She
Summing up the most recent case, a comment on the relevant Ynet article reads as follows:

"The two offenders will be sent to clean bathrooms for a month or two; she's on her way to vomiting up her soul in the bathroom for a year or two.  They will be sent for counseling for a week or two to make sure they know that what they did was wrong; she'll be in treatment her whole life to try to cure just one little sliver of her soul.  They'll walk around with no fear, calm and happy; she will look behind her back in fear her whole life, jumping at even the slightest touch.  They'll take aspirin if their head hurts; she'll live on tranquilizers and anti-depressants.  They'll sleep well at night; she'll sleep with tears her whole life.  They will live; she's already dead.  Everyone should be ashamed."

The serenity of a typical Galilee morning returned to the village of Peki'in by midday after rioters tore through the streets late Monday night and early Tuesday morning. The disturbances were sparked by entry of police into the village prayer house in an attempt to arrest suspected vandals of a cell phone tower.

Druze leaders who later met in an emergency session voted to ask the government to appoint a commission of inquiry into the incident. They also demand that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issue a formal apology for police having entered the community's prayer house. The tenets and practices of the Druze faith are considered secret.

At least 40 people were wounded in the riots, including more than two dozen police officers, three MDA medics, and some 10 residents.  The small village is home to a majority of Druze residents, a minority of Greek Orthodox Arabs, a handful of Muslim Arabs, and a few Jews.

The melee began when police entered the village to arrest suspects who were believed to have vandalized the tower erected in nearby Peki'in HaChadasha (New Pekiin), a Jewish agricultural moshav located some five kilometers north of Pekiin.

A Jewish home in the village was torched during the uproar, but its residents were not there at the time. No one was injured.

One police officer was seriously wounded in his head, and one rioter was seriously wounded by gunfire. Six other people were moderately wounded. All the wounded were taken to Nahariya Hospital.

Magen David Adom medics came under attack when they tried to evacuate the wounded. Rioters smashed the windshields of two ambulances.

MDA ambulance damaged by rioters
(Photo: MDA)

One female Border Police officer was originally reported to have sought shelter in the home of a retired police officer who lived in the town. Officials later said that she had been held hostage, although it was unclear whether she was being trapped by someone in the home or by the surrounding mob. Police released five rioters from custody in exchange for the officer. No further information about the incident has been available.

Peki'in is believed to be the site of an ancient Western Galilee town where the Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai and his son, Rabbi Elazar, hid in a cave while escaping from the Romans during the Second Temple period. It was in that cave in ancient Peki'in that, according to tradition, the two sages composed the mystical Jewish tome, the Zohar.

Ezra HaLevi contributed to this story.

High school students around the country began to take matters into their own hands Monday as the teachers' strike entered its 17th day.

The High Court found in favor of a petition by Herzliya 11th grader Julian Gidron, age 16, and his mother Gila  Monday to order Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Education Minister Yuli Tamir and Finance Minister Roni Bar-On to personally enter talks in an "urgent meeting" with the high school teachers' union and bring the weeks-long strike to an end. Gidron's attorney filed an "order to show cause" Monday insisting that the ministers take a personal hand in the negotiations with the Secondary School Teachers' Association.

Thousands of students demonstrated in Jerusalem's Rose Garden near the government's offices Monday in support of the teachers. According to Ynet, some 2,000 religious students from schools throughout Jerusalem held Torah classes in the garden during their demonstration. Religious schools have continued to hold classes, although secular subjects have not been taught.

Meanwhile, the Knesset Labor faction, led by Labor Secretary General Eitan Cabel, was scheduled to meet with Tamir Monday to discuss her progress in the negotiations.

Tamir was to meet later in the day with teachers' union chairman Ran Erez in hopes of resolving the long-standing differences over wages and working conditions.  The Education Ministry has threatened to petition the National Labor Court to issue an order forcing the teachers back into the classroom if a solution is not found within the next several days. Hundreds of teacher signed letters of resignation last week and threatened to submit them if they are ordered by the court to resume teaching without an agreement.

Histadrut Labor Federation Chairman Ofer Eini warned Sunday, however, that its leadership might call a general strike if the government cannot reach an agreement with the teachers in the next week. In such a case, workers in the public sector might walk off the job two weeks after the call is issued by union leadership.

"We expect a swift renewal of negotiations so as not to leave Israel's children in the streets or at home and unable to prepare for matriculation exams," Eini told reporters at a news conference Sunday.

Researchers based at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot have played a central role in developing a new light-sensitive drug that can lead to the complete destruction of the blood vessels connected to the prostate tumor, and thus the destruction of the tumor.

Prostate cancer hits one man out of six, with a five-year survival rate of 99% - compared to 40% or less 20 years ago.  Early detection is critical, but the new drug is designed to treat even tumors discovered after they have begun to develop.

Israel21c reports that the new drug, named Tookad, is based on chlorophyll, which has a high absorption of light.  Used in previously-existing photodynamic therapy (PDT), Tookad is significantly more effective than other drugs used in the past, which are based on hemoglobin pigment. 

Effective Against Large Tumors
Tookad absorbs near-infra-red light, which penetrates more deeply and efficiently than other wavelengths. Using Tookad, Israel21c reports, "a single illuminated optical fiber can reach and eradicate a tumor with a diameter of up to 4 centimeters, and even larger growths can be treated by using several fibers. What this means is that the Israeli-developed drug is effective against large, solid tumors which previously had evaded the reach of other PDT drugs."

Another benefit of Tookad is that it can be flushed out of the body within two hours, reducing the need for patients to avoid sunlight for lengthy periods following treatment.

Prof. Avigdor Scherz of the Weizmann Institute's Plant Sciences Department and Prof. Yoram Salomon of the Biological Regulation Department invented the new photo-sensitive drug.

"We have proof that this treatment causes the destruction of the part of the prostate which contains the cancer," said McGill University Hospital urologist Dr. Mostafa Elhilali, who took part in trials of the new drug.  The trials found that 46% of patients showed no evidence of prostate cancer after treatment with Tookad.