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News Roundup

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Israel continues to be mired in Lebanon as 2 Israelis were killed in Lebanon this week despite the fact that Israel is working on a plan to pullout from Lebanon. Israel has also been in negotiation with Hizbullah, a terrorist organization that seeks to rid South Lebanon of the Israeli presence, to return the remains of 2 Israeli soldiers that were killed some ten years ago. In return, Israel would return about 60 prisoners and the remains of 40 Hizbullah members.

The Palestinian Authority Council will also be getting a new look in the coming weeks as Chairman Yasir Arafat will be accepting the resignation of his cabinet. This move is seen as to strengthen Arafat's power vis-a-vis to challenges from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

In another move sure to spark controversy and slow down the already creeping peace process, Israel has expanded Jerusalem's boundaries to encompass additional territory in the West Bank. This has angered the US, Palestinians and may prompt the UN into acting to censure Israel. The PLO considers Israel's occupation of Jerusalem to be illegal and that further expansion of Jerusalem in to the West Bank is a further violation of international law.

At the same time, there was a request made to upgrade the PLO from its current status as an observer in the UN to that of almost a member state. This is sure to be strongly countered by the Israelis and to a lesser extent the US as the PLO has failed to meet its obligations under the Oslo Accords.

Links to Check Out:

The BBC is a great news resource for those that are tired of the US slant on events in the region or are looking for stories that might not have made it into the US media. This is one of the biggest news outlets around and the BBC has many contacts in the region due to England's ties to the Middle East in the past and currently.

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