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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (12029)	10/13/2003 7:28:03 AM
From: RinConRon	Respond to of 793672

S.O.P. Reuters. Yada yada. ----Top Stories - Reuters Palestinians Sift Rubble of Homes in Gaza Camp 55 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Nidal al-Mughrabi RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Hundreds of Palestinians sifted through the rubble of their homes on Monday under the guns of Israeli tanks that patrolled the edge of a Gaza Strip (news - web sites) refugee camp after a devastating three-day raid. Reuters Photo AFP Slideshow: Mideast Conflict The governor of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt, declared a "disaster area" and U.N. officials estimated more than 1,000 people had been left homeless in what Israel called a search for arms smuggling tunnels. Israelis forces killed three Palestinian militants and five civilians, including an eight-year-old boy, in fighting that erupted on Friday with a large-scale incursion by tanks and armored bulldozers backed by helicopter gunships. It was part of Israel's stepped-up military activity following a suicide bombing that killed 20 Israelis in the port city of Haifa on October 4. Unrelenting violence plus Palestinian political infighting have combined to stall a U.S.-backed peace "road map." Israel withdrew the bulk of its forces on Sunday from the Rafah refugee camp -- a key militant stronghold -- but tanks remained in positions on the edges of battered neighborhoods as hundreds of residents began trickling back. "I don't have a house, a bed or schoolbooks anymore," said Yasser Abu Swelen, aged 10. His home was one of about 120 that U.N. relief officials estimated had been flattened during the Israeli operation. MAJOR SERVICES DISABLED Work crews in the teeming cinderblock refugee camp of 70,000 inhabitants rushed to restore electricity, running water and telephone services knocked out by Israeli forces on Friday. But Saadi Kullab, a municipal worker, said: "This repair is beyond our capabilities." Majid al Agha, governor of Rafah, told Reuters: "The Israeli siege is blocking all our attempts to fix the infrastructure. We are also unable to bring in foodstuffs." Peter Hansen, head of the United Nations (news - web sites) Relief and Works Agency serving Palestinian refugees, told Reuters on Sunday that "between 1,000 and 2,000 people have been left with nothing whatsoever." Residents accused Israel of indiscriminate destruction amounting to collective punishment. Israeli officials denied such accusations. An Israeli army spokesman said three tunnels used for smuggling weapons from Egypt had been found and destroyed, all built under civilian houses, and five structures used to hide tunnels or fire at troops were demolished. He said other buildings may have been destroyed by proximity to shock waves from the demolitions or by rocket and grenade gunfire from militants, "most of which missed our forces." Rafah has been a bastion of militants who rose up against Israel for statehood three years ago and they put up fierce resistance with grenade launchers and anti-tank rockets to the incursion, the deepest and longest into the camp for six months. --------------------------------------------------------

To: LindyBill who wrote (12029)	10/17/2003 3:58:34 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793672

Military planes airlift stranded travelers from Bolivia as key government official resigns KEVIN GRAY, Associated Press Writer Friday, October 17, 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (10-17) 11:47 PDT LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- Military planes airlifted hundreds of stranded travelers from Bolivia's capital Friday, and a key member of the president's ruling coalition quit the government amid renewed street protests in South America's poorest country. Thousands of Bolivians marched through La Paz for a fifth straight day, demanding that President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada step down only 14 months into his second term. Columns of students, Indians and miners brandishing sticks of dynamite threaded past street barricades, shouting, "We will not stop until he's gone!" For weeks, government opponents have taken to the streets, demanding Sanchez de Lozada's resignation after his administration announced a plan to export natural gas to the United States and Mexico. Early Friday, a Brazilian air force plane flew 105 people out of Bolivia. Brazilian officials said 53 of those people were Brazilian tourists trapped in La Paz after all commercial flights in and out of the nearby El Alto international airport were halted last weekend. The main highway link between La Paz and El Alto is lined daily with hundreds of demonstrators clutching rocks and sticks and burning barricades. When the plane arrived in Brazil, it was greeted by an air force band playing the national anthem. "I felt as if I was in the middle of a war and that I would never be able to return to Brazil," said Antonio Vieira, a school teacher. "Sometimes I watched out the hotel window and saw bodies, some with their heads shattered." Lana Ferreira, an engineer who lives in Rio de Janeiro, said two buses picked up the group at a hotel and drove them to the airport, where they slept on mattresses provided by the embassy. Jose Gomes da Silva, a radio reporter who also was rescued, said passengers were guarded by army soldiers and were not allowed to talk. More than 100 Israelis holed up in their hotels for five days also were flown out, Israeli media reported. The Israelis and other tourists were taken to Lima, Peru, the reports said. A Peruvian air force plane also evacuated 80 stranded Peruvians to the Andean city of Arequipa on Friday and planned to return to Bolivia to shuttle more people out, a Peruvian cable news channel reported. Meanwhile, the British government advised its citizens Friday not to travel to Bolivia because of deteriorating security. Britons already in Bolivia should keep off the streets, refrain from traveling and avoid demonstrations, it said. On Thursday, the U.S. State Department warned Americans to defer travel to Bolivia. The fragile coalition government of Sanchez de Lozada, 73, suffered another blow Friday when Manfred Reyes Villa, a key presidential supporter in congress, said he was quitting the government after weeks of deadly riots between troops and Bolivian Indians carrying sticks. Human rights groups say as many as 65 people have been killed in clashes, but the government will not confirm any figures. "I've come to tell him: 'No more,"' Reyes Villa said. "The people don't believe in this government anymore and there is no other option but for him to resign." On Thursday, presidential spokesman Mauricio Antezana also resigned. Sanchez de Lozada, who has U.S. support, has said he will not step down. Reyes Villa's departure leaves the president increasingly isolated as he tries to defuse the crisis in this Andean nation of 8.8 million people. Critics say the proposal to construct a $5 billion pipeline to export gas to the United States and Mexico will only benefit the wealthy. They also are angered over the gas possibly being exported through a Pacific port in neighboring Chile, the country's longtime rival. The plan tapped deep discord with Bolivia's decade-old free-market experiment, which has brought punishing price hikes and austerity programs. Late Wednesday, the president sought to defuse the growing crisis with a nationally televised address in which he offered to hold a national referendum vote over the plan. A U.S.-educated millionaire, Sanchez de Lozada served as president from 1993 to 1997. He took office for a second term in August 2002 after narrowly defeating Morales, a radical congressman. sfgate.com