Any suggestions for a term to describe a cessation of attacks on civilians? "Ceasefire" obviously is not appropriate. .. maybe "shaheed-away" ...

More diplomatic activity towards a "ceasefire" (report).

"PA and Jordan Agree to Keep Food Out" (report)

Have you ever seen a Palestinian spokesperson who insistently answered every question by blaming "the occupation"? Israel's spokespeople are much less dull, as you can see from this report about our press secretary in Ireland.

The front page of today's Yediot Aharonot has a picture of the family of 12 who had their father, mother, and 9-yr. old gunned down in their car by Fatah this weekend near Hebron. Yediot has been criticized for their practice of running these portraits and circling the heads of the ones who were killed.

Jerusalem's Yoel Solomon St. is not quite a ghost town ... but it used to be bustling on weekends. I was walking around Thurs. night and saw that most of the sidewalk cafes have shut down, and the few that are left are almost empty.

The other night on the radio I heard Mona Baker fire-ee Dr. Miriam Shlesinger talking to poet Ronny Someck.

With this Shehade killing and its fallout, I've been getting the sort of feeling that I had around Operation Defensive Shield... people who don't pay much attention to what is happening here are suddenly noticing again. And the glib self-righteousness is being hypocritically exploited by people who don't care when Israeli civilians are killed. Ms. CG says she is expecting the worst when she returns to university in the US.

In an article quite critical of the Israeli government, Mark Heller writes:

The effect of such an intervening event is so predictable that the PA has been desperately waiting for it to happen, so much so that when the event didn't happen, it invented one, in the form of the "Jenin massacre." But this time, nobody has to invent anything, because it has happened. Clearly, no serious person will charge that Israel deliberately targeted these civilians .....