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/ 22 November 2005

Sharon defies political odds again

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, classified unfit for office more than two decades ago, continues to defy the political obituarists even after a divorce from his right-wing support base. Controversy has stalked Sharon, who first came to prominence as commander of the special forces’ Unit 101 in the 1950s, throughout his public life.

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/ 15 November 2005

Israel, Palestine agree on border deal

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced on Tuesday an Israeli-Palestinian deal to open critical border crossings in the Gaza Strip, capping a tense, round-the-clock burst of personal diplomacy. Rice said the two sides have resolved outstanding issues, particularly on the key Rafah terminal between Gaza and Egypt.

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/ 2 November 2005

Menace of assassination still looms in Israel

Ten years after a Jewish extremist murdered Yitzak Rabin, the threat of another political assassination still haunts Israel as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict gets bogged down in a fifth year. A survey published ahead of the 10th anniversary of Rabin’s death shows that one in three Israelis believes a new political assassination is likely.

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/ 31 October 2005

Israel vows to press campaign against militants

Israel vowed on Monday to carry on its offensive against militants after the army shot dead three Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank, sparking condemnation from the Palestinian Authority. The latest deaths, during shootouts with Israeli troops in Kabatiya, came shortly after an Islamic Jihad official in the Gaza Strip said the group would abide by an informal truce following a deadly week of violence.

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/ 26 October 2005

Microsoft plans to launch better search engine

Google is fierce competition for Microsoft, but the software giant does not fear the race and plans to upgrade its search technology in the next six months, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said in remarks published on Wednesday. On his first trip to Israel, Gates praised Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israel’s contributions to the global high-tech market.

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/ 17 October 2005

Sharon freezes contact with Abbas

Israel has decided to suspend all contacts with the Palestinian Authority following a shooting attack that killed three Jewish settlers in the West Bank, Israeli security sources said on Monday. Israeli and Palestinian officials had been due to hold a series of meetings in the coming days to prepare the groundwork for a summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

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/ 16 September 2005

Palestine challenged on border chaos

A senior Israeli defence official on Friday challenged the Palestinian Authority to slam shut the open border between Gaza and Egypt, saying its credibility was on the line over its failure to stop the flow of gunrunners and others across the frontier. There are fears al-Qaeda terrorists will infiltrate Gaza through the open border.

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/ 12 September 2005

Israel vows ‘zero tolerance’ to Gaza violence

Minister of Defence Shaul Mofaz warned on Monday that Israel will adopt a ”zero tolerance” policy to continued violence from the Gaza Strip after ending its 38-year occupation of the Palestinian territory. ”If terrorist organisations launch any kind of attacks against Israeli civilians from the Gaza Strip, we will react,” Mofaz said.

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/ 8 September 2005

Mystery infection, not Aids, killed Yasser Arafat

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died from an unidentified infection that was ”highly unlikely” to have been caused by HIV/Aids or poisoning, The New York Times reported on Thursday. Citing US and Israeli medical experts, who were shown Arafat’s medical records, the paper said it remains a mystery as to what underlying infection killed the Palestinian leader.

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/ 6 September 2005

‘Strong scent of racism’

Four Arab Israelis shot dead by a soldier opposed to the closure of the Gaza Strip settlements are not victims of ”terror” because their killer was Jewish, Israel’s Defence Ministry has ruled, and so their families are not entitled to the usual compensation for life.

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/ 17 August 2005

Gaza protester sets herself on fire

An Israeli woman suffered serious burns on Wednesday after setting fire to herself and running towards a police checkpoint to protest against the historic pull-out of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, police said. The 54-year-old Russian was an immigrant settler from the northern West Bank.

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/ 11 August 2005

Israel closes Gaza Strip to visitors

Israel’s military on Thursday banned visitors from Gaza Strip settlements to try to stop the influx of pull-out protesters who plan to reinforce settler resistance to their evacuation. Police estimate that 2 000 opponents have sneaked into Gaza to back the 8 500 settlers, but settler leaders put the number at 5 000.

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/ 10 August 2005

Sharon under fire as pull-out draws close

A week before Israel’s upcoming withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came under attack on Wednesday from one of his strongest rivals, who polls show could challenge him for the leadership of the ruling Likud party. Former finance minister Benjamin Natanyahu called on legislators to block the pull-out.

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/ 21 July 2005

Israel considers moving up pull-out plan

The Israeli government is considering moving up its mid-August withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, senior government officials said on Thursday, after a three-day mass protest against the pull-out tied up tens of thousands of security forces. The evacuation originally was to have begun in mid-July.

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/ 7 July 2005

Israel ‘not warned’ about London attacks

Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom said on Thursday. A foreign ministry official had said earlier that British police warned the Israeli embassy in London of possible terror attacks minutes before the first explosion.

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/ 10 June 2005

Palestinians hold the key to peace

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw this week told Palestinian leaders in Ramallah that the creation of a Palestinian state was in their own hands, whatever the intentions of the Israeli government. Straw brushed aside a growing belief among Palestinian politicians that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has no desire to return to peace negotiations.