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Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
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Land theft / Apartheid
PM delays debate on Route 443 annexation
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested on Sunday that the Ministerial Committee on Legislation rethink MK Moshe Matalon's bill proposal to annex Route 443
to Israel. Following his request, the discussion of the bill was removed
from the committee's agenda, and it remains unclear when the discussion
will be resumed. Route 443 connects Modiin with Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and is
meant to be open to Palestinian traffic in some three months, following
a High Court ruling
on the matter. Since the ruling was given, opposition has
been heard from ministers on the Right who say a law should be
legislated to bypass the ruling. See also Jan 12 article: Rightists want WB roads open to Jews
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3845358,00.html
Advisor: J'lem mayor has no authority to demolish Arab homes
After Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat informed
State Prosecutor Moshe Lador that he plans to implement the sealing
order for the disputed Beit Yonatan in the east Jerusalem neighborhood
of Silwan, and implement demolition orders against 200 illegal
structures built by Arabs in the area, Ynet has learned that his legal
counsel continues to fight him in the matter.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3845471,00.html
Tamimi: IOA plans to seal off Bab Al-Amod in Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Palestinian Chief Justice Tayseer
Al-Tamimi has accused the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) of
planning to seal off Bab Al-Amod, one of the biggest gates leading to
the Aqsa Mosque, for two years in preparation to judaize the city. In a
press release on Saturday, Tamimi described the Israeli scheme as a new
step in the series of the Judaization process in the city.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Nonviolent resistance
Al Jazeera video: Palestinians battle Israeli wall
Palestinians and Israeli dissenters are getting together to fight
Israel's plan to build another section of the separation wall in the
West Bank. According to environmentalists, the wall will stop water
flow to the natural springs and thus threatens to dry out much of the
Palestinian land ... Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from Wadi
Fukin, the village that is now at the centre of the legal battle.
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2010/02/al-jazeera-video-palestinians-battle.html
Popular resistance expands in An Nabi Salih (with video)
ISM 5 Feb - 10 people were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas
cannisters in today’s demonstration in An-Nabi Salih village, in the
north Ramallah region, against the expansion of the illegal Halamish
settlement on to village lands. The storm clouds and cold temperatures did not deter demonstrators, as
some 100 locals (approximately a fourth of the village), both male and
female, were joined by 20 Israeli and international activists in the
village square following the midday prayer.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11201
Dozens suffer tear gas inhalation during weekly Bil'in protest (with video); EU monitors present)
5 Feb - An EU delegation for monitoring Israeli army violations
against protesters, lead by Mr. Thierry Vallat, along with
international and Israeli activists joined a demonstration in Bil’in
village on Friday.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11198
Siege / Blockade
Sources: Egyptian steel wall along Gaza borders almost complete
CAIRO, (PIC)-- The Egyptian authority was about to complete the steel
wall it was erecting along its borders with the besieged Gaza Strip
despite the waves of condemnation to that wall, sources told the PIC.
Eyewitnesses revealed that at least 45 trucks loaded with steel boards
have arrived at the construction area, and that the construction of the
wall south and north of Rafah city was totally completed leaving small
portion along the Salahuddin axis not finished yet. In Cairo, the
administrative court decided to adjourn to the 16th of
this month the ruling on a petition filed by ambassador Ibrahim Yusri
questioning the legality of the barrier and urging an immediate halt to
the construction.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
IOF detains four Palestinian fishermen at sea
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) aboard navy gunboats on
Sunday arrested four Palestinian fishermen off the northern Gaza Strip
coast and towed their boats to Israeli shore. Palestinian security
sources said that the Israeli gunboats encircled the two fishing boats
and forced them to head to the Israeli coast.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Khudari warns of IOF escalation in targeting Palestinian fishermen
GAZA, (PIC)-- MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the head of the popular anti siege
committee, has warned of the escalating Israeli targeting of
Palestinian fishermen after circulating trivial allegations and
security pretexts. Khudari, in a press release on Sunday, said that
arresting four fishermen and increasing shootings at fishing boats
after claims of discovering barrels filled with explosives reaching
Israeli coasts from Gaza point to the intention to escalate attacks on
those fishermen. He called for international action to pressure the
Israeli occupation authority (IOA) into desisting from further
harassment of fishermen in violation of international laws. The IOA is
depriving fishermen from fishing at sea and is chasing them in the mere
two nautical miles allowed for them, the lawmaker said, describing such
acts as "piracy". He said that the IOA practices were threatening
thousands of fishermen with death or loss of sustenance for their
children. Khudari unlearned that Gaza's needs of fish are not met due
to such
practices, adding that thousands of Palestinian families depend on
fishing as their sole source of living.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Remaining fuel to light Gaza for 24 hours
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Palestinian energy authority has announced that one
of the generators in the Gaza electricity generation station had
stopped functioning on Saturday for lack of fuel and that the remaining
quantity of fuel would allow operating the station for 24 hours only.
The authority, in a statement, said that the power generation in the
station had decreased to 30 megawatt, warning that Gaza districts would
suffer longer power failures. It explained that the power shortage had
reached 50% and could reach 60%.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
One Gaza crossing open, limited fuel supplies allowed
Israeli authorities opened the Kerem Shalom crossing into southern Gaza
on Sunday to allow the transfer of limited humanitarian aid, commercial
merchandise and fuel, while the Karni crossing to the north remained
closed, Palestinian border crossing official Raed Fattouh said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=259574
...and the retaliation
Rocket explodes near Sderot; none injured
A Qassam rocket exploded in an open area
in the western Negev, near Sderot on Sunday. There were no reports of
injures or damage. The last rocket attack from the Gaza Strip came Wednesday,
when a Qassam rocket exploded near the border fence in an agricultural
field belonging to one of the kibbutzim of Shaar Hanegev Regional
Council. A day earlier, another rocket was fired, and this time landed
in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council. Following the attack,
IAF jets struck
a number of targets in the southern Gaza Strip.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3845381,00.html
Israel fears more explosive-laden barrels in Mediterranean
The Israel Navy is acting with the assumption that
there are more barrels filled with explosives in the sea off the coast
of Israel and Gaza, in addition to the two found Monday on beaches in
Ashdod and Ashkelon, sources in the navy said. The Israel Defense
Forces believes the barrels were dropped in the water from fishing boats ... The Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the
attempted attacks, saying there were eight barrels of explosives. The
IDF thinks the military wing of Fatah was also involved in the
operation, sources said. The barrels are similar to the floats used regularly by fishermen
and contain 15-20 kilograms of explosives. They are designed to be set
off by remote control using cellular phones.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1147022.html
IDF arrests two suspects plotting to attack Israel for Hamas
Israeli security forces last month arrested two Hamas
militants suspected of plotting attacks against civilian targets across
Israel, it was revealed on Sunday following the lifting of a gag order.
East Jerusalem residents Merad Namar and Merad Camal were detained
in a raid at the Be'er Sheva Central Bus Station. The suspects, who
both carry Israeli identification cards, were allegedly recruited by
Hamas while residing respectively in Jordan and Dubai. Throughout the
past few months, Namar and Camal allegedly held additional meetings
with foreign agents in Saudi-Arabia, Jordan and Turkey.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1146705.html
Metal wall security guard injured after gunmen open fire
A security guard at the Egyptian construction site of the subterranean
wall was left in critical condition when unknown assailants opened fire
on Saturday, security sources said. The security guard
sustained a gun shot wound to his back when a group of men in a car
fired live bullets on a commercial street in the As-Safa neighborhood
of the Egyptian part of Rafah city, the sources said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=259551
Detentions / Deportations
Israel releases, deports Gazan prisoner to West Bank
Israeli authorities released and deported on Sunday Nitham Muhammad
Shneina, originally from Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, to the West
Bank. According to Riyad Al-Ashqar, spokesman for the de facto government's
Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, Shneina was detained on 4 October 2006
in the West Bank where he was employed. He was sentenced to three and a
half years, and was released on Sunday and deported to the West Bank,
instead of being allowed into Gaza where his family lives, Al-Ashqar
said.
On Friday, Israeli authorities released Bakr Al-Hafi,
who lived in Tulkarem with his family for the last ten years, and
deported him to Gaza, where his family originates from. Nine other Palestinian prisoners are awaiting deportations abroad. [End]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=259695
Army raids Ramallah to arrest international activists in violation of Oslo accords
7 February 2010 For Immediate Release: ...At three in the morning, the Israeli army forcefully entered an
apartment in the Area A city of Ramallah and arrested two activists
from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) on suspicion of
overstaying their visas. The two, Ariadna Jove Marti, a Spanish
journalist, and Bridgette Chappell, an Australian student in the Beir
Zeit university, were then taken to the Ofer military prison located
inside the Occupied Territories, where they were handed over to the
Israeli immigration police unit “Oz” ... The arrests tonight follow the unlawful detention and deportation of
Czech citizen Eva Nováková under similar circumstances last month.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11224
Deported international activist appeals against her illegal arrest
The lawyer of Eva Nováková, the former International Solidarity
Movement (ISM) media coordinator, who was taken from her apartment in
Ramallah on 11 January 2010 and subsequently deported, filed an appeal
to the Supreme Court of Justice today to challenge the legality of her
arrest.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11241
PA, Israel jointly arrest six Qaida-linked jihadists in West Bank
Security forces of both the Palestinian Authority and
Israel have recently arrested members of radical Islamist groups with
links to Al-Qaida and global jihadists in various parts of the West
Bank. The most extensive group was uncovered in the town of Qabatiya
near Jenin. Those detained were unarmed and were arrested before they
could carry out any attacks ... The group was busy disseminating ideas identified
with the ideology of Osama bin Laden and his supporters, mostly through
the Internet and in meetings at the mosque of Qabatiya during prayer.
They described Palestinian politicians, both from the PA and Hamas, as
"infidels." ... It does not appear that those arrested were being
guided by groups abroad in an organized fashion - as an agent would be
by a controller.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1148002.html
PA security official: No coordination with Israel on Al-Qaeda arrests
Ibrahim Ramadan, a Palestinian Authority Preventative Security
official, denied on Sunday that Israel and Palestinian security forces
coordinated the arrest of an Al-Qaeda cell in the West Bank. His
comments follow reports in Israeli media that both the PA and Israeli
security forces recently arrested members of radical Islamist groups
with links to Al-Qaida and global jihadists in various parts of the
West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=259665
Israeli army stops journalists on container road after PJS election
Israeli
forces stopped a bus transporting journalists on the container
checkpoint en route to Hebron from Bethlehem, after having voted in the
Palestinian Journalists Syndicate elections in Ramallah on Saturday.
One
journalist present said that Israeli forces detained journalist Raed
Al-Atrash "under the pretext of attacking one of the soldiers." Israeli
soldiers demanded that all journalists to get off the bus, including
the female journalists, he said. Despite journalists refusing the
order, the bus was eventually allowed to pass through the checkpoint.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=259545
War crimes and criminals
US vows to bury Goldstone report at UN
Israeli sources reported Saturday that the United States vowed to
Israeli leaders to bury the report of Judge Richard Goldstone on
Israel’s war in Gaza last year. The sources added that the Israeli
government vowed to respond to the report of Goldstone by forming an
independent committee. The United Nations is set to convene soon to
discuss the report but did not schedule a date for the discussion. But
Israel sources said that Israel will not show “any further
cooperation” and that the United States will not allow the report to
reach the Security Council.
http://imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57887
UN likely to refer Goldstone findings to The Hague
The United Nations is likely to refer the findings of
the Goldstone report to the International Court of Justice in The
Hague, diplomatic sources in New York said on Saturday. A decision to bring the report on last year's Gaza war before the
court would follow a debate in the UN General Assembly over Secretary
General Ban Ki-Moon's response to the document last week.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1147999.html
Syrian minister: Lieberman scorned by world
Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal responded to threats made
by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman against Damascus in an ongoing
war of words between Israel and Syria. On a tour of Quneitra in the
Syrian Golan Heights, Bilal said
Lieberman's remarks were "irresponsible, wild, and aggressive, and came
from the mouth of a man whom the entire world scorns and whom no one
receives." Bilal added that Lieberman has proven "The aggressiveness of
this entity (Israel)."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3845472,00.html
Britain: magnet for war criminals
As the latest Iraq inquiry appears to be whitewashing the war crimes of
the UK's main political leaders so a foreign war criminal is hoping for
the same kind of lackadaisical treatment if she comes to the UK. Here's
the Jewish Chronicle on Tzipi Livni's proposed visit to the UK: Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni is planning to come to London to
test the process for the issuing of arrest warrants for alleged war
crimes. Speaking exclusively to the JC, Ms Livni said: “I will do
this not for me, not for provocation, but for the right of every
Israeli to travel freely. I am not going to be restricted by extremists
because I fought terror.” The British system was, she said,
“being abused by extremists for political reasons. Belgium and Spain
have changed their laws, and the British know that they have to do so”.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2010/02/britain-magnet-for-war-criminals.html
Press bias and Propaganda
NY Times - The Public Editor: Too close to home / Clark Hoyt
LATE last month, a Web site called the Electronic Intifada reported that Ethan Bronner,
the Jerusalem bureau chief of The Times, has a son in the Israeli
military. Others, including Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a
liberal media watchdog group, demanded
to know if it was true and, if so, why it did not create an
unacceptable conflict of interest for Bronner and The Times ... Since
the initial report of his son’s enlistment, I have heard from
roughly 400 readers, many of them convinced that Bronner could not
continue in his current assignment ... The situation raises tough
questions about how the paper best serves
its readers, protects its credibility and deals fairly with a
correspondent who has what I believe is an excellent track record.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/opinion/07pubed.html
NY Times executive editor Bill Keller takes exception to "Too close to home"
Because today’s Public Editor column
takes the unusual step of recommending that a respected Times
journalist be reassigned, I thought it only fair to offer Bill Keller,
the executive editor, an opportunity to respond in full. Here is what
Keller had to say: Much as I respect your concern for appearances, we will not be taking
your advice to remove Ethan Bronner from the Jerusalem Bureau. I’m
happy to explain my thinking. It’s not just that we value the expertise and integrity of a journalist
who has covered this most difficult of stories extraordinarily well for
more than a quarter century. It’s not just that we are reluctant to
capitulate to the more savage partisans who make that assignment so
difficult — and who make the fairmindedness of a correspondent like
Ethan so precious and courageous....
http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/
bill-keller-takes-exception-to-too-close-to-home/
The Times now owes it to its readers to assign an Arab-American reported to Jerusalem / Philip Weiss
Keller makes the following statement: "If we send a Jewish
correspondent to Jerusalem, the zealots on one side
will accuse him of being a Zionist and on the other side of being a
self-loathing Jew, and then they will parse every word he writes to
find the phrase that confirms what they already believe while
overlooking all evidence to the contrary." There are a couple of
problems with this hypothetical. 1, It’s not a hypothetical: The Times
has sent not one but two Jewish correspondents to Jerusalem! 2, I believe
that Bronner is a Zionist. I’m not certain, but I believe that if he
were at all honest about his ideas about the Jewish state–ideas that we
as readers have a right to know about, given the place we’re all in in
history right now, and the dual-loyalty issues that Zionism created,
and that Arthur Hays Sulzberger the late publisher of the Times
anticipated that it would create–then we would know him to be a
Zionist. That was the vibe I got at his lecture
the other day: he’s emotionally invested in the idea of a Jewish state.
He should talk openly about this. Many many American Jews are Zionists,
and Keller shouldn’t put them on the defensive, it should be explored.
Why is it an "accusation" to say someone is a Zionist? Many people
think that’s a good thing; Dershowitz says supporting Israel is the
secular religion of American Jews. I think Keller’s decision not to
move Bronner (for now; we still might get a trainwreck/climbdown) is
defensible; but consider: both Jerusalem correspondents are Jewish, one is Israeli, and both are married to Israelis. That’s a lot of Israelness. I bet a few members of that menage are Zionists.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/02/the-times-now-
owes-it-to-its-readers-to-assign-an-arab-american-reporter-to-jerusalem.html
Israel establishes Hasbara Central
Like the nazis before them,
Israel has decided to place its propaganda efforts under one roof, a
kind of hasbara central. According to a former adviser to Menachem
Begin, David Admon writing in Ha'aretz, even Begin baulked at the idea of so obvious a ploy as a government run propaganda machine: ..."Heaven forbid. The government doesn't do hasbara -
here we will not have Goebbelsism!" replied Begin, referring to the
Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, and said no more."'
Of course propaganda and hasbara are the same thing. It was, after all,
Goebbels who gave propaganda a bad name, just as Israel gives hasbara
(aka propaganda) a bad name. But there is another reason why the State
of Israel should not spend money on propagating lies on its own behalf.
See this Hasbara Committee list of hasbaranik authors.
It's a rogues' gallery of authors who donate their pro-zionist
propaganda skills for free. That coupled with the lack of
counter-argument in most western media suggests to me that Hasbara
Central would be wasting money that could be spend on what the
hasbaraniks are actually covering for, the continued dispossession and
displacement of the Palestinians.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2010/02/israel-establishes-hasbara-central.html
Political developments / Diplomacy
Netanyahu: Israel open to resuming talks with Syria
Bethlehem - Ma'an - "Israel aspires to complete peace agreements with
all of its neighbors," and is open to resuming peace talks with Syria,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during his weekly
cabinet meeting on Sunday. "We did this with Egypt and Jordan, and we aspire to achieve similar
agreements with both the Palestinians and Syria. Two principles dictate
our approach to peace negotiations with our neighbors," he told cabinet
members. The two principles he spoke of were preconditions and Israel's
security.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=259674
Sha'ath: Hamas to fairly treat Fatah affiliates in Gaza
The Hamas movement vowed to fairly treat members of Fatah in the Gaza
Strip, Nabil Sha'ath, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, said on
Saturday during an interview with Al-Arabiyya TV. "There are certain
procedures, but I will not announce them; I will leave it to Hamas to
do so," Sha'ath said. The
Fatah member further said he had refused the establishing of joint
reconciliation committees, but called on more visits to Gaza to
intensify contact between Hamas and Fatah.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=259569
Human rights organizations under attack
Embattled New Israel Fund fights back
Washington — Under attack as a
subversive, anti-Israel group, the New Israel Fund, the largest
financial supporter of human rights groups in Israel, has opted to
respond by rallying supporters of a progressive agenda in Israel.
Adopting a notably combative tone under new leadership, the American-
based charity is depicting an accusatory report by a new Israeli
organization — trumpeted in a front-page story in Maariv, a major
Israeli daily — as the last straw in a series of attacks against
likeminded groups.
http://www.forward.com/articles/124920/
Jpost publishes mendacious garbage about human rights org's finances / Bruce Wolman
Sarah Honig is the darling of Jerusalem Post readers, if the comments
and ratings to her op-eds are any indication ... I won’t regurgitate
all of her shtick, but will call Honig out for the following mendacious
garbage: "The myth of an Israeli-Arab peace, like Nessie, is too good a
moneymaker to let go of. Lots of folks make their living off it. They
have a vested interest in keeping it alive, the consequences be damned.
NGOs worldwide rake in profits from their tireless “peace efforts.”
What would they do without that little awful Jewish state?" ... It’s
beyond chutzpah for Honig to be talking about individuals and
organizations making money off of Israeli criticism. Who are the NGO
leaders that earn salaries equal to the $600,000 plus that Abraham Fox
of the ADL and Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Weisenthal Center and
Holocaust Museum pull down? ... Trying to raise some funding, this
Israeli-Palestinian NGO [Combatants for Peace] has a
proposed budget of $222,000 with the highest salary for staff budgeted
at $24,000
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/02/jpost-publishes-
mendacious-garbage-about-human-rights-orgs-finances.html
Other news
Discover your inner Kurtz with an Israeli safari
The 'Israel Law Center,' contrary to what you'd expect from the name,
is not interested in such arcane things as legal principles, or that
old-fashioned and discredited idea of 'equality before the law'.
Indeed, the word 'law' in its name refers most likely to that common
colonial expression, 'the law of the jungle.' So it is fitting that one
of its important businesses is to organize Safaris for American Jews.
Come to Israel, see the beasts, smell the blood, meet the hunters! "The Ultimate Mission to Israel Experience a dynamic and intensive eight day exploration of
Israel's struggle for survival and security against Iran, Syria and
Hezballah.
* Briefing by Mossad officials and commanders of the Shin Bet *
Inside tour of the IAF unit who carries out targeted killings * Live
exhibition of penetration raids in Arab territory * Observe a trial of
Hamas terrorists in an IDF military court * First hand tours of the
Lebanese front-line military positions and the Gaza border check-points
* Inside tour of the controversial Security Fence and secret
intelligence bases * Meeting Israel's Arab agents who infiltrate the
terrorist groups and provide real-time intelligence..." http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2010/02/discover-your-inner-kurtz-with-israeli.html
Jewish in Tel Aviv, Gentile in Ashkelon
Where to Wed? Maxim and Alina Serjukov had to register their intention
to marry in the village of Beer Tuvia after the top rabbi in their
hometown of Ashkelon rejected her conversion - Her husband, Maxim
Serjukov, called the situation “ridiculous.” My wife is Jewish in every
place except for in Ashkelon — in the army, in the Chief Rabbinate and
in the rest of Israel, just not in Ashkelon,” he told the Forward ...
Advocates for converts are outraged by the situation. If we don’t
accept our own conversions, we’re really a banana republic,” Farber
said. “It’s like being given a driving license in Jerusalem and then
being stopped in Tel Aviv and told that your license isn’t valid.”
http://www.forward.com/articles/124916/
Five Israeli family members wounded in landmine explosion in Golan Heights
Israeli sources reported Saturday that five Israelis, members of the
same family including three children, were wounded when a landmine went
off near them as they were vacationing in the occupied
Golan Heights. The explosion took place near a Golan settlement while
thousands of Israeli were vacationing there to ski. One child suffered
serious wounds ... Israel occupied the Golan Height in 1967 and decided
to annex it and consider it part of Israel in 1981.
http://imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57885
Opinion / Analysis
Silent occupation / Ali Jumuah
Recent comments by Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, who is a judge serving
the Palestinian Authority, have caused a seemingly deserved outcry.
Sheikh Tamimi has denied the existence of the Temple, and questioned
the Jewish history in Jerusalem. How is it that a man in his position
can deny the Jewish history in Jerusalem despite archaeological
evidence? Of course, the underlying question for many is: How can the
PA propagate such baseless ideologies? Simple. It is an act of self
defense. Travel down any street in Jerusalem, and a far more
frightening site
emerges. Street signs displaying names in Hebrew, Arabic, and English;
but the Arabic is blotted out ... Simply obscuring the names is not
enough. A recent effort to Hebraize
the names of many cities has gone largely unnoticed outside of Israel
... It may seem trivial, but this would be the equivalent of changing
the
names of Amarillo and Sante Fe to Yellow and Holy Faith to hide the
Mexican history of southwest United States.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=258237
A four-letter word / Uri Avnery
...peace has become a four-letter word. (In Hebrew, the word for
peace, shalom, indeed consists of four letters.) A decent person does
not want to be seen in its company. It should not be uttered in polite
society. People do verbal exercises, almost acrobatics, to explore the
range
of circumlocutions for the word. Politicians speak about “the end of
the conflict”, “permanent status”, “political settlement”, just to
avoid the taboo term. Why? First of all, the word “peace” has been
exploited so many times that it has almost become meaningless ... THIS
WEEK the journalist Gideon Levy remarked on a TV talk show that in
the present Knesset there is no longer a single Jewish member for whom
peace is the No. 1 objective.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1265504670/
Im Tirzu hides behind respectable mask of 'Zionism' / Gideon Levy
Binyamin Ze'ev is turning in his grave once again: A
McCarthyite movement has taken his best-known slogan for its name. Im
Tirtzu, which deceptively calls itself a "moderate, centrist movement,"
gives a bad name to Herzl, a democrat and liberal, who coined the
phrase "Im tirtzu, ain zo agada" (If you will it, it is no dream). The
group's latest trick: a dirty war against the New Israel Fund for its
funding of 16 organizations that provided documentation used in the
Goldstone report.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1148014.html
West Bank rabble rousers should be forced to see 'Avatar' / Shaul Arieli
The film "Avatar" is about a corporate research
expedition to a planet called Pandora, where a god is found different
than ours, a "green" universal deity of which flora and fauna are a
part, a god we once knew and today perhaps are lacking ... this is a god that promises that balance of
everything will not be impaired and gives the value of universalism
unimaginable depth - far beyond the notions of this or that group of
believers on earth. There is no "Chosen People," "Messiah Son of God"
or "Last Prophet" on Pandora, but rather the sum total of life. Thus Avatar becomes a must-see in rehabilitation programs for
people who set fire to synagogues, churches and mosques, desecrate
graves and smash ancient statues.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1148012.html
Palestine's 'economic miracle' Part I / Avi Trengo (Ynet)
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has
been crowned as "the Palestinian Ben-Gurion" at the recent Herzliya
Conference. However, there is a great gap between the achievements
attributed to him and his abilities in practice. ... Meanwhile,
the situation is even more
extreme in the Gaza Strip, where the PA spends 57% of its budget.
Fayyad hands over salaries and allowances to 150,000 people, yet tens
of thousands of them don't work, while others receive two salaries: One
from Fayyad and another from Hamas. This is why the only industries
active in Gaza are imports through smuggling tunnels and real estate –
the surplus of cash in Gaza's banks prompts them to offer mortgages,
and this results in a rise in real estate prices. [the comments on this
article are interesting, pointing out how incomplete and biased it
is....]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3845134,00.html
Iraq, other Mideast
Sunday: 3 Iraqis killed, 11 wounded
Excerpt: An armed group that claims to have kidnapped an American
contractor in January may be holding a second American citizen. Also, an Iraqi
appeals court has reversed its own decision allowing over 500 people on an
election blacklist to run in March elections. While attacks were light today,
at least three Iraqis were killed and eleven more were wounded in new
violence. The League of the Righteous (Asa’ib al Haq) is claiming
it has two Americans in its custody. Yesterday, video surfaced
on an American contractor of Iraqi descent who went AWOL on Jan. 23. He was
apparently looking for Iraqi relatives when he kidnapped by Asa’ib al Haq. An Iraq appeals court overturned
its own decision to allow over 500 candidates on an election blacklist to run
in March election.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/02/07/sunday-3-iraqis-killed-11-wounded/
Israeli Navy ships pass through Suez Canal
...The
reason behind the move was not revealed but they are believed to be
on their way to the Arab Gulf, referred to by Israel as the Persian
Gulf. The trip is estimated by four days just reach the Arab Gulf.
Israel coordinated the vessels passage with Egypt and conducted what
was described as “extensive security measures” to ensure the safety of
the vessels.
The Egyptian Armed Forces even prevented any ship from crossing the
Suez Canal and vehicles were prevented from using the road the leads to
it.
http://imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57889
Ghajar residents could go to sleep in Israel, but wake up in Lebanon
It was only when the sun rose on Tuesday morning that
the inhabitants of Ghajar ascertained their village was still in Israel
and had not gone over to some other sovereignty during the night. The
United Nations soldiers had not yet fanned out into the streets, and
the Israel Defense Forces soldiers were still manning their nearby
positions. Every few months a new rumor crops up concerning the future of
Ghajar, the inhabitants of which are at the focus of a continuing
border dispute between Israel, Lebanon and Syria. The most recent rumor
was that during the first night of February the northern part of Ghajar
would be transferred to the UN forces and be officially declared
Lebanese territory.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1148024.html
Plans for Palestinian Summer School week in Lebanon
Lebanon – Ma'an – A group of Arab and international Palestinian
solidarity groups announced plans for a 500-student-strong school on
Palestinian politics, history and culture aimed at educating the
English-speaking world, organizers said Saturday. The school,
based in Lebanon, would include field trips around the country with
particular focus on the Palestinian refugees living in the camps of the
south and around Beirut.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=259448
U.S., U.K., other world news
Benny Morris talk stirs uproar at Cambridge
LONDON
– The Israel Society at Cambridge University has succumbed to pressure
and canceled a talk by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev historian
Benny Morris after protesters accused him of “Islamophobia” and
“racism.”
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=167972
Congresswoman rues signing Gaza letter
Washington — In the strongest sign so far
of pushback against dovish Jewish groups, a New York congresswoman
representing an ultra-Orthodox constituency retracted her support from
congressional initiatives meant to ease the pressure on Palestinians in
Gaza.
http://www.forward.com/articles/124915/
Yemeni scholar backs 'jet bomber'
Sheikh Anwar al-Aulaqi , a Yemeni religious scholar, has told Al
Jazeera that the suspect accused of attempting to blow up a US
passenger jet on Christmas Day, was one of his students. Al-aulaqi said
that he did not order the attempted suicide attack on the airliner, but
that US civilians were legitimate targets since they bore
responsibility for their "government's crimes".
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/201027112512539369.html |
| For further information contact Shadi Fadda |
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