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Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
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Land and Property Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Settlers torch farmland east of Nablus
NABLUS
(Ma'an)
-- Israeli settlers set fire to hundreds of dunums of farmland in the
northern West Bank village of Beit Furik, locals said. High
temperatures, dry earth and a water shortage all caused the fire to
spread rapidly, witnesses added, noting a delay in the arrival of Civil
Defense Crews. Ghassan Doughlas, a Palestinian Authority settlement
affairs officer who monitors the northern West Bank, said the fires
started east of the Beit Furik, near the illegal Itamar settlement, an
area Palestinians cannot reach because of an Israeli military bridge.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305876
Israel says ancient Muslim gravestones 'built illegally'
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israel's Jerusalem Municipality said Thursday that
tombstones razed by authorities a day earlier in a 12th-century Muslim
cemetery were "built illegally with the aim to take over the plot." At
least 15 tombstones and structures were torn apart Wednesday in the
Mamilla (Ma'man Allah) cemetery, the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and
Heritage said. The latest demolitions follow the disinterment of over
1,500 graves in 2009 to make way for a controversial Museum of
Tolerance. The foundation quickly denounced the move, describing it as a
"heinous crime."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305219
Israel Plans Mass Forced Removals of Bedouin, Jonathan Cook - Al-Araqib
Israeli
security
forces destroyed a Bedouin village this week for the second time in a
matter of days, leaving 300 inhabitants homeless again after they and
dozens of Jewish and Arab volunteers had begun rebuilding the 45 homes.
Human rights groups warned that these appeared to be the opening shots
in a long-threatened campaign by the Israeli government to
begin mass forced removals of tens of thousands of Bedouin from their
ancestral lands in the southern Negev. The High Follow-Up Committee, the
main political body for Israel’s Arab minority, vowed this week to help
rebuild the village for a second time and said it would call on the UN
to investigate Israel’s treatment of the Bedouin.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16185
Israel destroys Bedouin village, again
Bulldozers returned to the village of al-Araqib in the northern Negev on
Wednesday, 4 August, and demolished approximately ten new structures
residents and supporters had built a week after Israeli forces
completely destroyed the village on 27 July.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11445.shtml
Flattening the Bedouin Village of al-Arakib, LAWRENCE DAVIDSON
On
July
26, 2010 Israeli police armed with tear gas, a water canon, and two
helicopters forced the 200 Bedouin residents of the southern Israeli
village of al-Arakib out of their homes. Most of the furniture was then
removed from the 45 buildings of the village and bulldozers used to
flattened the buildings. It is to be noted that the victims of this act
are not residents of the Occupied Territories. They are non-Jewish
citizens of the state of Israel.
http://www.counterpunch.com/davidson08062010.html
Solidarity/Activism/Boycott,
Sanctions
&
Divestment
TODAY: Day of Solidarity with Sheikh Jarrah!
Today
has been declared a Day of Solidarity with Sheikh Jarrah, and activists
from all over Israel will protest the eviction of Palestinian families
from their homes in this East Jerusalem neighborhood. What’s happening
in Sheikh Jarrah is just one example of the harmful Israeli policy of
building settlements in the heart of the Palestinian neighborhoods
located in close proximity to the Old City – a policy which is making it
harder and harder to imagine how Jerusalem could ever be divided into
the capital of two nations, a necessary component of almost every single
proposed plan for peace.
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/08/today-day-of-solidarity-with-sheikh-jarrah/
Building a Road to Save a Village in the South Hebron Hills, Joseph Dana
Last Tuesday, my friend Noam Sheizaf
and I gave a tour of the South West Bank to some friends from Europe and
the United States. One of the many issues that we explored with our
guests was the reality of daily life for Palestinians in the South
Hebron Hills. Noam wrote today about the incredible shortage of water for Palestinians living in the village of Susya.
This story is a simple one but reflects a core of the Israel’s control
over the West Bank. One of the most difficult obstacles in reporting
from the West Bank is to convey the simple experience of occupation. The
water issue reflects the difficulty of daily existence due to the
Israeli infrastructure of permits required for virtually any Palestinian
project whether it be securing water or building a road.
http://josephdana.com/2010/08/building-a-road-to-save-a-village-in-the-south-hebron-hills/
Palestinian-American professor threatened by Israeli authorities
Professor
Mazin
Qumsiyeh, who has taught at Yale and Duke Universities in the US,
and is a renowned author and activist on the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, has been issued an order by the Israeli military to appear
before a military tribunal on August 9th.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59243
Sending a Canadian boat to Gaza is moral thing to do
Does Israel occupy Gaza or doesn't it? The answer cannot be sometimes
one and sometimes the other. If Israel occupies Gaza, then it is
responsible for the needs of the 1.5 million Palestinians who live
there. If it no longer occupies it, then it has no right to block access
to it by sea or air, or to restrict the movement of people in and out.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Sending+Canadian+boat+Gaza+moral+thing/3352219/story.html
Swedish activists get ready to set sail for Gaza
Solidarity activists at a meeting in Stockholm announced on Wednesday
that a major flotilla will attempt to break Israel's illegal blockade of
Gaza before the end of the year.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/93735
International solidarity under attack
From small beginnings and with few resources, the international movement
in solidarity with the Palestinians has grown into a force that Israel
perceives as a major threat. The assault on the Gaza aid flotilla was a
lethal escalation in what has become an increasingly bitter campaign
against that movement. Mike Marqusee comments.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11444.shtml
‘NYT’ piece from Dead Sea ‘kibbutz’ ignores int’l boycott of its products, Nancy Kricorian
In “As it Shrinks, the Dead Sea Nourishes Promises of an Economic Bloom,” [New York Times, yesterday, p. A8],
Isabel
Kershner presents a rosy picture of what she calls the Israeli
“kibbutz” of Kalia, situated on the shores of Dead Sea. Kalia is, in
actuality, an illegal Jewish-only settlement implanted in the Occupied
Palestinian West Bank by Israel. (All settlements in the Occupied
Palestinian West Bank are illegal under international law.).
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/nyt-piece-from-dead-sea-kibbutz-ignores-intl-boycott-of-its-products.html
The cultural boycott and the outraged artist, Eleanor Kilroy
When
you arrive in Israel as an internationally-renowned artist to give a
concert or accept a cultural award, it is only natural that you not be
spat at and knee-capped by Jews. I say this apropos of the odd comments
made over the last couple of months by Margaret Atwood and Suzanne Vega
regarding their crossing of the BDS picket line. In Israel, it is no
surprise that people will be polite to you: “Recently I was in Israel.
The Israelis I met could not have been more welcoming” (Atwood). You
might even meet with excellent Israeli human rights organizations: “I
went to Israel, I played two concerts there. I also met with B'Tselem”
(Vega). And the general public will discuss politics with you: “I’d been
told ahead of time that Israelis would try to cover up the Shadow, but
instead they talked about it non-stop” (Atwood). All that is encouraging
– after all it is some ‘shadow’ to live under!
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/the-cultural-boycott-and-the-outraged-artist.html
Violence and Aggression
Masked settlers attack international peace activists in Hebron
This
morning, in a second day of violence in the village of Al-Buwayra, near
Hebron, two international peace activists were attacked by three Israeli
settlers wearing black masks. Both were left seriously injured and
have been hospitalized following the unprovoked attack. The settlers
knocked Canadian Peter Cunliffe, 26, to the ground then beat him in the
face and body using metal poles and wooden sticks. He is being treated
for a probable broken nose and serious back injuries. Danish peace
activist Koba Soernesen. 23, is currently having his left foot examined
as he is unable to stand.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/08/13592/
Settlers Assault A Palestinian Woman In Hebron
A group of settlers assaulted a Palestinian woman in Al-Buweira area east of Hebron in the southern West Bank Friday morning.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59241
Report: Israeli activists to march on Jericho
TEL
AVIV,
Israel (Ma'an) -- Hundreds of right-wing Israeli citizens will on
Sunday enter territory supposedly controlled by the Palestinian
Authority, an Israeli newspaper reported. The Hebrew-language daily
Maariv, quoting sources in the radical Hilltop Youth settler movement,
reported Thursday that a rally, titled "Journey Inside Hebrew Cities,"
will see pro-settler activists march 10 kilometers throughout the
occupied West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305742
Detainees
Abuse of Palestinian children in Israeli jails
Testimonials and events documented by human rights organizations show
the abuse of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons to be regular and
widespread. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, torture, threats and
intimidation as well as the denial of basic basic human rights, such as
access to education are the most common forms of abuse, documents show.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=303770
Israeli forces arrest 55 Palestinians in West Bank
RAMALLAH: Israeli forces operating in the West Bank on early Thursday
arrested 55 Palestinians, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said
on Thursday. Forty-six of those that were detained were released later
the same day.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article96117.ece
Sheikh Salah Denied Access To Jerusalem For Additional Three Months
The Islamic Movement reported Thursday that the commander of the
so-called “Israeli Front Command” of the army, issued a new decision
preventing the imprisoned head of the northern branch of the Islamic
Movement in the country, Sheikh Raed Salah, from entering Jerusalem for
additional three months.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59240
Hamas: PA security arrests 8 West Bank affiliates
HEBRON
(Ma'an)
-- A statement from Hamas officials in the West Bank said Palestinian
Authority security services detained eight of its members and
affiliates. The Friday statement said the arrests were politically
motivated, adding that they took place principally in the Qalqiliya,
Hebron and Nablus districts.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305814
The Siege (Gaza & West Bank)/Humanitarian and Human Rights/Restriction of Movement
Palestinians Denied Access to Water, Stephen Lendman
According to OCHA (the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs), Palestinians face a serious water crisis, being denied access
to their own resources. Cara Flowers with the Emergency Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene Group (EWASH - a coalition of almost 30 water and
sanitation sector organizations in Occupied Palestine) said many
vulnerable communities in Israeli-controlled Area C (covering 60% of the
West Bank) are hardest hit, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) having
limited say over its own resources, ones Israel uses itself, an
international water expert saying: It's "easy (making) the desert bloom
by using someone else's water (and) denying them access to their fair
share...." In some areas, it's easier denying them none except what they
can obtain by other means or illegally.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/54371
"Gaza is a man-made crisis"
GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - The quality of life, the economy
and food security for Palestinians living in Gaza have been severely
impaired by Israel's strict four-year blockade, according to the UN.
Israel says its closure regime is designed to protect Israeli citizens
from attacks by militants in Gaza.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11446.shtml
Stolen childhood
Gaza children shoulder the burden of supporting large families.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-10878970
F-16 occupies Gaza bedroom
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The press began flocking to the bedroom of a
20-something Gaza man last week, after photos of his war figurines made
local headlines. Crammed into his narrow room, under an asbestos
ceiling, are Abed Al-Latif As-Sadudi's models of the figures that made
an impression on the young man: Israeli aircraft, military jeeps,
refugees. "The story of my sculptures began with the end of the last
war on Gaza. During that war I got a real close look at the military
equipment; one day an F-16 fighter jet flew just meters away from my
house, it shelled my neighbor and totaled the home." An armed Israeli
soldier was the first figure Abed made. He put it in his bedroom, on a
small table near the end of the bed.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305710
War Criminals
Legal experts cmte discusses Israeli war crimes against Palestinians
CAIRO, Aug 4 (KUNA) -- Meetings of the Arab Legal Panel kicked off here
Wednesday at the Arab League's headquarters chaired by Palestinian
Justice Minister Dr. Ali Khashaan in order to discuss the legal pursuit
of Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians.
Khashaan stressed in a statement to the press on the sidelines of the
panel's two-day meetings the importance of continuing efforts for
pursuing the Israeli war criminals and bringing them to justice for
their offenses agaisnt the Palestinians.
He also drew attentions to the importance of lending Arab support in
order to expose such Israeli violations in all international
organizations and gatherings, noting sustaining consultations with the
Arab league on all topics related to the Palestinian cause whether they
are political or legal.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2104723&Language=en
Rockets
ANALYSIS / Not everyone sees Hamas' fingerprints on Eilat rocket attack
Jordan, for one, thinks that Al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad, which opposes Gaza's
Islamist rulers is responsible for the launches from the Sinai.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/
analysis-not-everyone-sees-hamas-fingerprints-on-eilat-rocket-attack-1.306286
Egypt: Gaza militants actually did launch Monday's rocket attacks from Sinai (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - Egypt, contradicting its initial
denials, has acknowledged that Gaza militants operating in the country's
Sinai Peninsula launched the deadly rocket attacks on Israel and Jordan
earlier this week. At least five rockets hit the Red Sea border area
Monday, killing one Jordanian and wounding at least three others.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100805/wl_csm/318018
Hamas wing welcomes Egyptian resistance
GAZA
CITY
(Ma'an) -- Hamas' armed wing the Al-Qassam Brigades released a
statement late Thursday night attesting total non-involvement with the
Monday rocket launches that hit Eilat and Aqaba. "Military acts from
the resistance are carried out inside of Palestine," spokesman of the
brigades Abu Obeida said, added in a statement that also welcomed "any
resistance targeting the occupation, whether from in our outside of
Palestine."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305792
Report: Shin Bet chief visits Egypt over rocket fire from Sinai
Palestinian intelligence sources: Rocket fire at Israel, Jordan apparently initiated by Iranian intelligence officials.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
report-shin-bet-chief-visits-egypt-over-rocket-fire-from-sinai-1.306497
Israel's Arab Helpers
Egypt finds 9 smuggling tunnels on Gaza border
AL-ARISH (Ma'an) -- Egypt prevented the smuggling of 70 tons of cement
underneath its border with Gaza and located nine smuggling tunnels
Thursday, officials said. Security sources told Ma’an that forces
raided the Salah Ad-Din area and seized nine smuggling tunnels, three of
them in an empty area and five others on private land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305756
Political/Other Developments
PA denies report on tripartite meeting
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority denied on Thursday
reports that the Obama administration had informed President Abbas of
Israel's unwillingness to hold a three-party meeting on the peace
process. Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the US
assistant envoy to the region, David Hale, made no such assertion,
denying a report in the Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat that Hale made
the remarks during a recent meeting.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305654
Other News
Israel is desperate: their lies are increasing and getting more obvious
Of
course,
worse than Israel is the New York Times which loyally carries every
Israeli lie no matter how wild: "Israel’s border police force insisted
in a statement on Thursday that video of a 5-year-old Palestinian boy
reacting with dismay to the arrest of his father this week in the West
Bank, which has been broadcast internationally, was staged."
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/08/israel-is-desperate-their-lies-are.html
German report: 'Uri Brodsky' to avoid jail
Berlin requests Poland extradite Israeli citizen suspected of being
Mossad agent but legal complexities may enable him to avoid
imprisonment, pay fine.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3931116,00.html
Israel 'fabricated charges' against three suspected spies for Syria
Syrian
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem sent UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
letter saying charges against three residents of northern Israeli
villages are baseless.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/
israel-fabricated-charges-against-three-suspected-spies-for-syria-1.306383
Anshel Pfeffer / Poll: U.K. Jews support Israel, but want Hamas talks
Leftists believe the survey of British Jews proves that as Jews they
think that the local leadership should be less afraid of criticizing
Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/
anshel-pfeffer-poll-u-k-jews-support-israel-but-want-hamas-talks-1.306292
Now available! Midnight on the Mavi Marmara - Full Story of the Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla only from OR Books
http://aliabunimah.posterous.com/now-available-midnight-on-the-mavi-marmara-fu
Flotilla row hits Turkish tourism
The number of Israeli tourists visiting Turkey has dropped by 90 per cent.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/08/201085133938275340.html
55% oppose granting citizenship to migrant workers' kids
Decisive majority of religious public against while only slim margin of secular public against, according to Ynet-Gesher survey.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3931015,00.html
Report: Israeli arrested for allegedly running Ukraine organ trafficking ring
According
to Army Radio, the ring recruited potential kidney donors on the
internet for which they paid $10,000 before sending the organs to
Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
report-israeli-arrested-for-allegedly-running-ukraine-organ-trafficking-ring-1.306470
Film festival opens in once-violent West Bank town (AFP)
AFP - A film festival opened on Thursday in a newly restored cinema in
Jenin, a West Bank town battered by some of the worst violence of the
2000 Palestinian uprising.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100805/wl_mideast_afp/lifestylemideastconflictwestbankfilm
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
1963 Survey: Majority Of Israeli Jewish Youth Could Support Genocide Against Arabs, Max Blumenthal
In my recent post about the “summer camp of destruction,” I cited figures from Israeli social psychologist Daniel Bar-Tal’s survey on the political attitudes
of Jewish Israeli high school students. In polling conducted in the
aftermath of Operation Cast Lead, Bar-Tal found that a majority of
Israeli high schoolers favor at least some form of apartheid, and that
the desire for apartheid among religious nationalist youth is nearly
universal. The disturbing findings have been generally treated as a
reflection of Israel’s comprehensive shift to the hard right since the
collapse of the so-called peace process (see Bar-Tal’s polling on
Israeli attitudes toward territorial concessions here).
But
there is considerable evidence that a majority of Jewish Israeli youth
had been been successfully conditioned to consent to indiscriminate
violence against Arabs well before the most recent phase of
radicalization, and years before the occupation of the West Bank and
Gaza even began.
http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/08/1963-
survey-majority-of-israeli-jewish-youth-could-support-genocide-against-arabs/
Mark Steel: No guns? They must be terrorists
Somehow, the Chilcot Inquiry has become like Big Brother. About once a
month it pops up as a small item in the news and you think: "Oh blimey, I
didn't realise that was still going on." Before
long, like Big Brother, they'll come up with stunts to try and revive
some interest. So they'll reintroduce contestants from previous
inquiries such as Martin McGuinness and Christine Keeler, or make some
witnesses complete a task of finding hidden ping-pong balls in the room
or they have to give evidence blindfold. So it might seem these
procedures are pointless, in which case it makes no difference that the
Israelis have agreed to co-operate with a United Nations inquiry into
the episode in which nine people died after the Israeli Defence Force
went aboard the Mavi Marmara
as it sailed towards Gaza.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/
mark-steel-no-guns-they-must-be-terrorists-2043379.html
Lebanon, Palestine: Provoking War, Stephen Lendman
Perhaps
suggesting
a larger-scale planned offensive, recent violent Israeli outbreaks
struck Gaza, the West Bank, and Israeli/Lebanon border, the first there
since the summer 2006 war. Like Cast Lead, it was Israeli aggression -
violent, lawless and unrelenting, a scorched-earth blitzkrieg,
inflicting vast destruction, causing billions in damage, killing over
1,000 Lebanese, injuring thousands more, and displacing around a million
others (about one-fourth of the country's four million population),
including over 300,000 children fleeing north for their lives. In the
end, Hezbollah handed Israel a humiliating defeat. Perhaps
revenge is planned.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16184
Do
American Jews have any idea what Zionist organizations say routinely?
Here Susan Tuchman and Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of
America respond to an interview of University of California President Mark Yudof.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/
zionist-org-says-that-all-people-care-about-their-children-except-one-group.html
Visit Abu Dis– site of the future Palestinian capital?, Tom Suarez
The
apartheid Wall severed Abu Dis's historic link with Jerusalem and
crippled much of the little economic life that had thus far survived the
Occupation. Not only was the social fiber of the village torn in two,
but indeed families were broken up, family members permanently separated
by the Wall. In some cases even fathers and mothers were torn apart,
their ID cards placing them on opposite sides of the Wall. Shepherds and
their flocks were completely cut off from thier grazing land, farmers
from their fields. And further exacerbating the population
squeeze, Bedouin whose villages Israel had razed in the Jordan Valley
were brought to Abu Dis and left there. Palestinian leaders ---
including Abbas, who commonly rubber-stamps whatever the West dictates
--- have refused to accept Abu Dis as a future capital.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/visit-abu-dis-site-of-the-palestinian-capital.html
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/more-on-the-right-of-return-the-one-state-future.html
Book review: Palestine brought to life in "Behind the Wall"
Photographer Rich Wiles' Behind the Wall: Life, Love, and Struggle in
Palestine is a story about the lives of people the author has
encountered over the course of the last seven years living in Palestine.
Marcy Newman reviews for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11436.shtml
Ray Hanania is back with another family episode, more Zionist propaganda, and a new Arabic word
In this latest episode we find Ray telling his son “Arabs and Jews
are basically the same. We’re both human beings. People. We just believe
in different things.” I told him mommy and I have an armistice
agreement, which was harder to explain than sex. “Mommy is the boss in
our family, but I make all the decisions.” While the first part of
that quote is obviously true, the second half was probably an attempt at
humor. This has become a rather standard format for Hanania’s articles
which often appear along side Daniel Pipe’s own articles with the JP
inserting their photos next to each other as they appear at the time of
this writing. We’re not sure what the purpose of Ray’s constant
reference to his marriage to a Jewish woman has to do with the conflict
in Palestine, but it appears certain he believes his personal status
provides him with unique insight which he wants to convey to readers.
http://ikhras.com/?p=581
Lebanon
UNESCO deplores killing of Lebanese journalist
UNITED NATIONS (Ma'an) -- The head of the UN agency tasked with
upholding press freedom expressed deep concern Thursday over the death
of Lebanese journalist Assaf Abu Rahal, who was killed during an
exchange of gunfire along Lebanon’s border with Israel that also claimed
the lives of three other people. Rahal worked for the Al-Akhbar
newspaper published in Beirut. His colleague Ali Shoaib was wounded in
the deadly skirmish between Lebanese and Israeli forces on Tuesday
across the so-called Blue Line.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305723
The lies of Michael Oren, As`as Abukhalil
Charles
from
the US sent me this: "You may be interested to know that Ambassador
Michael Oren was interviewed on PRIs 'The World' this evening
and stated that the journalist killed in the recent attack by Israel
against Lebanon was there because (I paraphrase, but the substance is
accurate): the Lebanese army was told by the UN observers that Israel
would be conducting a routine "foliage-pruning" along the border; the
Lebanese army then informed Hizbullah (!) which dispatched a journalist
to cover a pre-meditated attack which the Lebanese army planned to carry
out. Oren said that the journalist was employed by Al Manar, but other
reports I have heard say he was with Al Akhbar. Oren's description of
events defies logic, but there you have it. For reference, the report
aired on the August 5th 2010 edition of the world at about 8:20 PM
Eastern time; I assume a transcript will be available soon. The webpage
for the day's edition is here: http://www.theworld.org/2010/08/05/entire-program%E2%80%93august-5-2010/".
Let
me
say this: `Assaf never worked for Al-Manar. In fact, he worked before
for the Hariri newspaper, Al-Mustaqbal, before joining the leftist
publication, Al-Akhbar. Tell Michael Oren that `Assaf was a Christian
(by faith of the family) and a communist. A communist, did you
hear that?
PS Nadine sent me the clip.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/08/lies-of-michael-oren.html
Israel accuses Lebanon’s Army of becoming ‘Hizbullized’
TYRE, South Lebanon: Israel on Thursday accused the Lebanese Army of
coming under the control of Hizbullah as the United Nations sought to
restore calm following clashes that killed four along the Blue Line.
The UN stressed the need for both countries to respect each other’s
territory and work toward maintaining peace after the bloodiest
altercation between Lebanon and Israel since the 2006 summer war.
“There is a danger of the Hizbullization of the Lebanese Army, if the
army begins to behave like Hizbullah,” Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister
Danny Ayalon told public radio in Tel Aviv.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=117906#axzz0vlY7KTNP
Jumblatt warns of STL being usurped by US, Israeli interests
BEIRUT:
Progressive
Socialist Party (PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt sounded a warning on
Thursday against attempts to politicize the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
(STL) and cautioned against instigating strife in Lebanon in
favor of US and Israeli interests. “Why strife? Strife to neutralize
Lebanon, disrupt Lebanese-Syrian ties and push the region into a cycle
of violence that is in the interest of Israel and the US. This is my
conclusion,” Jumblatt said in a news conference at his residence in
Clemenceau. Jumblatt highlighted that former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri’s assassination in 2005 served the implementation of UN Security
Council Resolution 1559, which led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops
from Lebanon after 29 years of military presence.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=117908#axzz0vlYA2zPq
Berri: National unity, resistance key to confronting Israel’s‘psychological war’
BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday national unity and the
resistance were key to Lebanon’s success. Speaking during the opening
of the Third Conference for the Amal Educational Institutions, Berri
urged various Lebanese groups to unite in order to win the “media,
psychological and intelligence war Israel has launched against us.”
"Israel is seeking to transfer its domestic tensions and the
psychological and media war not just to Lebanon and Syria but also
across the region to weaken Turkey and threaten Iran,” Berri said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=117913#axzz0vlYKSqIl
Southern security officials discuss Israeli threat
BEIRUT:
Nabatiyeh
and South Lebanon security councils held a joint meeting on Thursday to
discuss emergency security measures, in addition to discussing current
affairs. Nabatiyeh Governor Mahmoud al-Mawla and South Lebanon Governor
Nicolas Abu Daher presided over the meeting of their regions’ security
councils, which was held at the Sidon Serail. Local security officials
were present at the discussions, in addition to
South Lebanon Public Prosecutor Samih al-Hajj and Nabatieh Public
Prosecutor Afif al-Hakim.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=117914#axzz0vlYLetmk
Aoun ‘shocked’ to learn Karam spied for Mossad
BEIRUT:
Free
Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun said Thursday the arrest
of an FPM official on suspicion of spying for Israel was “not
surprising, but it is the suspect’s identity that shocked us.” Aoun
made his comments in reference to FPM official and former Lebanese Army
General Fayez Karam’s arrest on Tuesday on suspicion of collaborating
with Israel. “Falling [to temptations] is human and whoever does not
believe that is naive, but it was the identity of the person that
shocked us,” Aoun said. “After the incident, we are stronger and the
issue will not affect our trust in one another.”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=117907#axzz0vlY8WSBt
The Israeli spy, As`ad AbukhalilThe
accused
Israeli spy, Gen. Fayiz Karam of the `Awni movement was trying to
achieve the appointment of director-general of the Public Security
Department in Lebanon. The job was within his reach, I can assure you.
But Hizbullah is not the type of a party to share its secrets with its
allies, whether Muslim or Christian. So the security breach affected the
`Awni Tayyar Watani Hurr, and not Hizbullah. The extent of Lebanese
security achievements against Israeli espionage AND terrorism in Lebanon
is rather breathtaking. What is really helping in the capture of those
spies is the competition between two security agencies:
the Shi`ite-influenced Intelligence Department of the Lebanese Army and
the Sunni-dominated the Information Apparatus (Jihaz Al-Ma`lumat) of the
Internal Security Forces. That is a competition that is healthy for
Lebanon, and most unhealthy for the Zionist entity.
US praises Lebanese Armed Forces in annual terror report
BEIRUT:
The
US State Department commended the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Thursday
for their efforts in containing sectarian violence and in capturing
wanted terrorist fugitives over the past year. Despite Lebanese
security agencies being kept on high-alert by terrorist activity
throughout the year, 2009 was characterized by “increased governmental
efforts to disrupt suspected terrorist cells before they could act,”
according to the US State Department’s annual “Country Reports on
Terrorism” publication.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=117909#axzz0vlYBexFQ
Committee urges census for Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees
BEIRUT:
A
new census detailing the number of Palestinian refugees should be
conducted in the country, the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee
(LPDC) said on Thursday. The survey, seen as a prerequisite for the
formulation of any coherent national policy on Palestinian rights, was
one of the key suggestions to emerge from a LPDC workshop “The
Palestinian Refugee Right to Work Law vs. Reality” held at the Grand
Serail.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=117894#axzz0vlY2oqvN
Young Palestinians work towards economic recovery in Northern Lebanon
Fadel
Abu
el Hajal is an enthusiastic young man who works hard, and dreams of
a better future. Just 17 years old, Fadel recently started working in a
newly reopened carpentry in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp (NBC),
Lebanon. The camp was all but destroyed in the summer of 2007 during
heavy fighting between the Lebanese army and the radical Islamist group
Fatah Al-Islam. Fadel left school when he was fourteen, and completed a
six-month training course with UNRWA at the Al-Shimal vocational centre
in NBC. Opportunities in the camp have been slim, however. "Since I
finished the training, I couldn't find any job opportunities", he
explains.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-882S49?OpenDocument
Smoke on a Bridge: Lebanon Awaits a Verdict, Ramzy Baroud – Beirut, Lebanon
Jamal is a Lebanese driver in his late 50’s. He appeared unshaven and
terribly exhausted as he drove his old passenger van from the airport in
Beirut to the Bekaa Valley. Although it was not a particularly arduous
trip, it was made more grueling by the way Jamal drove, negotiating the
elevation, the hectic traffic and the many army vehicles speeding by. In
Lebanon, a sense of urgency always seems to prevail, even when there
are no urgent matters to tend to. Jamal’s driving style has probably
changed little through the successive Israeli wars and bombardments of
Lebanon in past years (the last being the 2006 war, which destroyed much
of the country’s infrastructure and killed hundreds of civilians).
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16183
Welcome to Lebanon: Graveyard of the Arrogant, PATRICK COCKBURN
Why
has
Lebanon ended up as the graveyard of so many invaders? Israelis used to
say in the 1960s that one of their military bands would be enough to
conquer the country. Sometimes, prior to Israel and Egypt agreeing a
peace in 1979, they would add archly that “I don’t know which
will be the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, but I
do know the name of the second.” The idea was that Lebanon, only the
size of Wales and its population divided by communal, sectarian and
party hatreds, would inevitably be a pushover for the greatest military
power in the Middle East. Lebanon’s Maronite Christian minority was an
obvious ally for Israel against the forces of Arab nationalism. The
well-earned reputation of the Lebanese for commercial ingenuity and
capacity to survive in all circumstances suggested that they would be
the last people to die in the last ditch fighting an overwhelmingly
powerful enemy.
http://www.counterpunch.com/patrick08062010.html
Iraq
Police: 3 more traffic cops killed in Baghdad (AP)
AP
-
A drive-by shooting and a bomb hidden in a motorcycle killed three
traffic policemen in Baghdad on Friday, taking to eight the number from
the city's force killed this week, police and hospital officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100806/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
Thursday: 15 Iraqis Killed, 16 Wounded
At least 15 Iraqis were killed and 16 others were wounded in new
attacks. lso, the United Nation's assistance mission in Iraq (UNAMI) has
renewed its mandate for another year. The U.N. is concerned that the
political impasse will be exploited by those opposed to the government.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/08/05/thursday-15-iraqis-killed-16-wounded/
UN extends mandate of UN mission in Iraq for a year (AFP)
AFP - The Security Council on Thursday extended by a year the mandate of
the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and urged that country's leaders to speed up formation of an inclusive government.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100805/wl_mideast_afp/iraqpoliticsun
The US isn't leaving Iraq, it's rebranding the occupation
Obama says withdrawal is on schedule, but renaming or outsourcing combat troops won't give Iraqis back their country.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/04/us-iraq-rebranding-occupation
Obama 'asks Shiite cleric to help settle Iraq impasse' (AFP)
AFP
-
President Barack Obama has sent a letter to Iraq's top Shiite cleric,
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urging him to persuade the country's
squabbling political leaders to form a new government, Foreign Policy
magazine reported Friday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100806/wl_mideast_afp/usiraqpoliticsobama
Tariq Aziz: 'Britain and the US killed Iraq. I wish I was martyred'
• WMD an illusion was to deter Iran, says former minister
• Nostalgia for Saddam Hussein rule – but he calls on US to stay
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/05/iraq-us-tariq-aziz-iran
Saddam Hussein deputy Tariq Aziz calls for US to stay in Iraq
Exclusive: In his first interview since the fall of Baghdad, Tariq Aziz
accuses Barack Obama of 'leaving Iraq to the wolves'. Saddam Hussein's
most loyal deputy, Tariq Aziz, has accused Barack Obama of 'leaving Iraq
to the wolves' by pressing ahead with a withdrawal of combat troops in
the face of festering instability and a surge in violence. In his first
interview since he was captured shortly after the fall of Baghdad more
than seven years ago, Iraq's former deputy prime minister and long-time
face to the world, said the United States would cause the death of Iraq
if it continued to withdraw its combat forces.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/05/tariq-aziz-interview-iraq
Kurdish Refugees: ‘We’re Not Living, Just Not Dying’
SULEYMANIYA, Iraq – Compared to most internally displaced Kurds in
northern Iraq, Shamal Qadir is almost lucky. Since the Turkish army
devastated his village, Kuzine, in a bombing raid Jul. 1, he’s been
living in a schoolhouse, where room temperatures are comfortable and
basic amenities are accessible. "Our family bought land and started
building houses in Kuzine in 1996. We did it for our children, so they’d
have a place to live in the future," Qadir tells IPS. "Now, our dreams
have been destroyed."
http://original.antiwar.com/jake-hess/2010/08/04/kurdish-refugees-were-not-living-just-not-dying/
Basra a window on Iraq's ambition and dysfunction
Foreign oil companies sense postwar opportunity but are spooked by the
lack of security. Residents hope they'll come; they've given up on their
own leaders. Plainclothes security men wait in the lobby of the Mnawi
Basha Hotel. Giant clocks advertise the time in New York and Dubai. A
British man brags loudly on his cellphone that he has just closed a deal
with the Iraqi government, then rushes out to a convoy of waiting cars,
accompanied by a clutch of aides in business suits.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/FbV-DZe1h8M/
la-fg-iraq-basra-20100806,0,1244101.column
Iran
Iran pays 25 pct more for gasoline
Sanctions on Iran's fuel imports are forcing the Islamic Republic to pay
well above the market rate for its gasoline, figures from the Turkish government seen by Reuters showed on Thursday.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/6/worldupdates/
2010-08-05T233846Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-506632-1&sec=Worldupdates
Turkey Won’t Curb Iran Petroleum-Products Trade
06/08/2010
Turkey
sees no reason to curb a trade in petroleum products with neighbor
Iran, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said. United Nations
sanctions on Iran don’t cover the trade and “right now we believe that
commercial companies can carry out this business,” Yildiz said in
Trabzon. “It’s a functioning commercial relationship.” He said the
trade involves Turkish companies importing crude oil from Iran and
selling refined products to Iran in return, Yildiz said.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=149370&language=en
Iran Benefits from Arab Disillusion with Obama, Jim Lobe
U.S.
President Barack Obama has suffered a sharp drop in popularity in the
Arab world over the past year, and Iran may be reaping the benefits,
according to a major new survey of public opinion in five Arab countries
released here Thursday. Only 20 percent of respondents in Egypt,
Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) now
view the U.S. president positively, compared to 45 percent who did so in
the spring of 2009, according to the 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll
conducted by Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution and the Zogby
International polling firm.
http://original.antiwar.com/lobe/2010/08/05/iran-benefits-from-arab-disillusion-with-obama/
Bombing Iran, WILLIAM BLUM
If
and
when the United States and Israel bomb Iran (marking the sixth country
so blessed by Barack Obama) and this sad old world has a new daily
horror show to look at on their TV sets, and we then discover that
Iran was not actually building nuclear weapons after all, the American
mainstream media and the benighted American mind will ask: "Why didn't
they tell us that? Did they want us to bomb them?"
http://www.counterpunch.com/blum08062010.html
Questions for an Ahmadinejad / Obama Debate, RANNIE AMIRI
Iranian
President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected in New York this September to
attend the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly. While
members will convene to assess progress made in achieving the U.N.’s
2015 Millennium Development Goals, Ahmadinejad sees in the summit an
opportunity to accomplish one of his own: “We are ready to sit down
with Mr. Obama face-to-face and put the global issues on the table,
man-to-man, freely and in front of the media, and see whose solutions
are better.”
http://www.counterpunch.com/amiri08062010.html
U.S. and Other World News
US Congress gives Israel the right to launch wars and annihilate other nations: "RESOLUTION
Expressing
support
for the State of Israel’s right to defend Israeli sovereignty, to
protect the lives and safety of the Israeli people, and to use all means
necessary to confront and eliminate nuclear threats posed by the
Islamic Republic of Iran, including the use of military force if no
other peaceful solution can be found within reasonable time to protect
against such an immediate and existential threat to the State of
Israel. Whereas with the dawn of modern Zionism, the national
liberation movement of the Jewish people, some 150 years ago, the Jewish
people determined to return to their homeland in the Land of Israel from
the lands of their dispersion;"
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hr111-1553
Nato admits Afghan civilian deaths
Compensation for victims' families pledged after air strikes in the east of the country.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/08/20108518032745994.html
US demands WikiLeaks return military documents
WASHINGTON
—
The Pentagon on Thursday demanded that the whistleblower website
WikiLeaks "return immediately" leaked US military documents after the
site released tens of thousands of secret files. Pentagon spokesman
Geoff Morrell said the Defense Department "demands that Wikileaks return
immediately to the US government all versions of documents obtained
directly or indirectly" from Pentagon databases or records. The
website's disclosure "of a large number of our documents has already
threatened the safety of our troops, our allies and Afghan citizens who
are working with us to help bring about peace and stability in that part
of the world," he said.
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0805/demands-wikileaks-return-military-documents/
WikiLeaks 'Insurance' File: Julian Assange's Group Posts Huge Encrypted File To Web
LONDON — Online whistle-blower WikiLeaks has posted a huge encrypted
file named "Insurance" to its website, sparking speculation that those
behind the organization may be prepared to release more classified
information if authorities interfere with them. Bloggers have noted
that it's 20 times larger than the batch of 77,000 secret U.S. military
documents about Afghanistan that WikiLeaks dumped onto the Web last
month. Contributors to tech sites such as CNet have speculated that the
file could be a way of threatening to disclose more information if
WikiLeaks' staffers were detained or if the site was attacked, although
the organization itself has kept mum.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/05/wikileaks-insurance-file-_n_672094.html
Pentagon bars staff from visiting WikiLeaks site
Asked if the Pentagon is making the site off-limits, Pentagon spokesman
Bryan Whitman told The Times that all four services "have put out such
messages."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/5/pentagon-bars-staff-from-visiting-wikileaks-site/
Study: CIA doctors ‘gave green light to torture’
A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals
that physicians with the CIA's Office of Medical Services (OMS) played
an even greater role in facilitating the torture of detainees than was
previously recognized. As described in the (subscription required)
study, "In 2003, partially in response to a CIA Inspector General
investigation that questioned the use of enhanced interrogation methods
and criticized the agency’s failure to consult with OMS about the risks
to detainees of waterboarding, OMS physicians assumed another role,
providing opinions to the agency and lawyers whether the techniques used
would be expected to cause severe pain or suffering and thus constitute
torture."
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0805/study-cia-doctors-gave-green-light-torture/
With Military Suicides on the Rise, Parents of Two Soldiers Who Took Their Own Lives Say Obama's Words Ring Hollow
A
new US Army report finds the rate of suicide by soldiers in the Army has
risen above the civilian rate for the first time since Vietnam. We talk
to the parents of two soldiers who committed suicide: Gregg Keesling,
the father of Chancellor Keesling, a US soldier who took his own life on
June 19, 2009, while on his second tour of duty in Iraq, and
Kevin and Joyce Lucey, whose son Jeffrey Lucey took his own life on June
22, 2004, after returning home from military duty in Iraq. They’re
still waiting for letters of condolence from President Obama.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/6/with_military_suicides_on_the_rise
US Attending Hiroshima Memorial "Enormously Important," Says Robert Jay Lifton
Sixty-five
years
ago today, the United States dropped a bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" on
the Japanese city of Hiroshima. An estimated 140,000 people died
immediately or succumbed to burns and radiation sickness soon after the
blast. This year, Japan marked this somber anniversary with a
representative of the US government in attendance for the very first
time. We speak with leading American psychiatrist, author and longtime
opponent of nuclear weapons, Robert Jay Lifton.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/6/us_attending_hiroshima_memorial_enormously_important
Tony Blair Must Be Prosecuted, John Pilger
Blair conspired in and executed an unprovoked war of aggression against a
defenseless country, which the Nuremberg judges in 1946 described as the
"paramount war crime." This has caused, according to scholarly studies,
the deaths of more than a million people, a figure that exceeds
the Fordham University estimate of deaths in the Rwandan genocide.
http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=583
As more Arab leaders come against Iran's nuclear program, more of their citizens come to support it
On Iran's potential nuclear weapons status, results show another
dramatic shift in public opinion. While the results vary from country
to country, the weighted average across the six countries is telling: in
2009, only 29% of those polled said that Iran's acquisition of nuclear
weapons would be "positive" for the Middle East; in 2010, 57% of those
polled indicate that such an outcome would be "positive" for the Middle
East.
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM110_100804_arab_public_opinion_poll.html
Egypt 'rape victim' appears on TV
Human rights activists in Egypt express concern following allegations that a woman was raped by two police officers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-10882670
Jordanian workers banned from web for wasting time
Jordan bars public sector workers from accessing 50 websites after it was found they wasted 2.5 hours a day online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/technology-10880060
Killing Civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, Tom Engelhardt
The
men
who led us down this path, the presidents who presided over our wars,
the military figures and secretaries of defense, the intelligence chiefs
and ambassadors who helped make them happen, will have libraries to
inaugurate, books to write, awards to accept, speeches to give, honors
to receive.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-engelhardt/whose-hands-whose-blood-k_b_672092.html
Western wars vs. Muslim women, Marwan Bishara
If Western wars are meant to 'liberate' Muslim women, why do centuries
of Western military intervention have so little to show, asks Marwan
Bishara. Western media is awash with reports about Taliban mistreatment
of women in Afghanistan and Pakistan that feature countless voices in
support of the war to secure a 'brighter future for women's rights'.
This week's Time magazine cover story is a case in point. If Western
wars 'liberate' Eastern women, Muslim women would be - after centuries
of Western military interventions - the most 'liberated' in the world.
They are not, and will not be, especially when liberty is associated
with Western hegemony. Afghanistan has had its share of British, Russian
and American military intervention to no avail. In fact, reports from
credible women's groups there signal worsening conditions for Aghan
women since the US invasion a decade ago.
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/imperium/2010/08/05/western-wars-vs-muslim-women
The US and Yemen, CONN HALLINAN
How
involved
is the U.S. military in Yemen, and is the Obama Administration
laying the groundwork for a new foreign adventure? According to several
news agencies, including Agence France Presse, UPI and the Washington
Post, very involved and likely to be more so in the future. “U.S.
military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply involved in secret
joint operations with Yemeni troops,” says Dana Priest, the Post’s ace
intelligence and military affairs reporter, including “the U.S.
military’s clandestine Joint Special Operations Command, whose main
mission is tracking and killing suspected terrorists.”
http://www.counterpunch.com/hallinan08062010.html
Iara Lee: Blood Gadgetry -- Why I am Going to the Congo
The
Israeli government's increasingly militaristic foreign policy must
remain a fundamental concern to anyone who strives for peace and justice
on our planet. I am under no illusions, however, that what is happening
to the Palestinians should somehow eclipse all other conflicts taking
place in the world. Given recent events, and my extremely vocal response
to them, I can see why some people new to me and my work might think
this is the case. Those who know me even slightly better, however,
understand that what is happening in the Middle East is only one facet
of my work.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/iara-lee/blood-gadgetry----why-i-a_b_673212.html |
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