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Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
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Land/Property Theft and Destruction
Israeli bulldozers destroy agricultural land near
settlement
Hebron – Ma'an – Israeli troops bulldozed four dunums of agricultural
lands in Safa village north of Hebron Tuesday night, following an
effort by Palestinian farmers to plant olive trees in the valley near
Beit Ummar.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=253988
Jewish settlers burn Palestinian property, IOF
damage land and detain citizens
Jewish
armed settlers wreaked havoc in the village of Ematin, Qalqilia
district, in a pre dawn raid on Thursday that complemented their
sabotage acts in the same village over the past two weeks.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Palestinians say settlers torched cars
Umm
a-Tin residents say Gilad Farm Jews set fire to four of their vehicles,
army did not intervene. 'This proves that security forces are
supporting settlers,' one resident says.
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott,
Sanctions
and Divestment
Mohammad
Othman and Jamal Juma’ freed from Israeli detention thanks in part to
international pressure
After almost four months in Israeli custody without charge, nearly half
that time spent in the legally dubious administrative detention,
Mohammad Othman left the prison walls behind, taking his first free
steps in months, before crossing Israel’s wall, heading home.
“I’m still in shock about being free, but am so happy and relieved,”
the youth coordinator from the Stop the Wall campaign told me on the
phone while riding with his brother to see his family in the West Bank
for the first time in months. “We were constantly under surveillance in
the jail; the Israelis were always trying to get information to
incriminate us with. I was in a cell with other people, but couldn’t
trust talking politics with anyone.”
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/mohammad-othman-and-jamal-juma-
freed-from-israeli-detention-thanks-in-part-to-international-pressure.html
Free Abdallah Abu Rahmah
On
the night of International Human Right Day, Thursday December 10th, at
2am, Abdallah Abu Rahmah was arrested from his home in the West Bank
city of Ramallah. Seven military jeeps surrounded his house, and
Israeli soldiers broke the door, extracted Abdallah from his bed, and,
after briefly allowing him to say goodbye to his wife Majida and their
three children — seven year-old Luma, five year-old Lian and eight
month-old baby Laith, they blindfolded him and took him into custody.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/01/10634
Ni’ilin Activist’s Home Raided
At
approximately 1:30 am three military jeeps and over a dozen soldiers
invaded the village of Ni’ilin and surrounded the home of elementary
school teacher and organizer Mohammed Amirah. Two officers and a
handful of soldiers than entered Amirah’s home, carefully went through
his family’s belongings and questioned him about his family, occupation
and phone numbers.
After about an hour in Amirah’s residence, the soldiers have left, and
headed out of the village. In the past week the army has staged
night-raids into Ni’ilin every single day with no exception, and
tonight’s raid follows the arrest of three prominent Ni’ilin activists
last night.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/01/10615
136 tones of settlement products seized in Ramallah
Hebron
–
Ma’an – Palestinian customs officials confiscated and destroyed
approximately 136 tons of materials used to manufacture asphalt en
route from an illegal Israeli settlement near the West Bank city of
Ramallah on Wednesday. Haitham Zein, an official for the public
relations department for Palestinian customs said 94 tons of asphalt
and 43 tons of base for tarmacking roads were confiscated in separate
raids.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=253956
Difficult Times in Nil’in
The Israeli military invaded Nil’in village at approximately 1am on
Wednedsay the 13th. Three jeeps and approximately 15 soldiers came from
the check point via road 446 to the house of activist Mohammad Ameera.
According to Ameera, two commanders and a group of soldiers entered his
home, checked out his house and asked him general questions about his
family and work for an hour. His children were awoken and frightened
when the soldiers invaded their home. After questioning him they went
below Ameera’s house to investigate the residence of a worker that
Ameera rests to. This is the first time the military has come to
Ameera’s home. This house raid happened just one day after the arrest
of three members of the Nilin Popular Committee Against the Wall.
http://josephdana.com/2010/01/difficult-times-in-nilin/
Settling into Sheikh Jarrah, Andrew Kadi
On this beautiful and sunny day, a group of us were going on a tour of
various areas, including East Jerusalem, with an acquaintance as our
tour guide. As the tour wound down, I realized we were entering Sheikh
Jarrah. Noting what I’d seen the day before and the demonstration 3
days before, I thought to myself "Wow Sheikh Jarrah finally seems
calm." The group I was with stopped to talk to the Palestinians in a
makeshift tent sitting on the al-Kurd family’s property. Within the
same property is Nabeel al-Kurd’s actual house, recently taken over by
Israeli settlers using a court order. The juxtaposition of the al-Kurd
family’s tent next to their own house stolen from them really affected
me.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/settling-into-sheikh-jarrah.html
Bono: Don't cross Palestine's picket line
The
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel to
Bono: Your appearance in Israel would lend to its well-oiled campaign
to whitewash all the above grave violations of international law and
basic human rights through "re-branding" itself as a liberal nation
enjoying membership in the Western club of democracies.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11004.shtml
For
Israel, a reckoning, John Pilger
A
new global movement is challenging Israel's violations of international
law with the same strategies that were used against apartheid.
http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2010/01/pilger-israel-palestinian-gaza
Crushed
under Israel`s boot
NEVE
GORDON - Mail Guardian Online - But in the past five years
Palestinians from scores of villages such as Bil`in and Jayyous have
developed new forms of pro-peace resistance that have attracted the
attention of the international community. Even Prime Minister Salam
Fayyad recently called upon his constituents to adopt similar
strategies. Israel, in turn, decided to find a way to end the protests
once and for all and has begun a well-orchestrated campaign that
targets the local leaders of such resistance.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=37748
A tear for Anne Frank in Cairo
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/13626.html
In support of Aparthied
'Our Israel': My Exchange with House Minority Leader
John Boehner
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15685
Aggression/Violence/Detainees
Witnesses:
Israel performs Gaza incursion
Gaza - Ma’an - Residents near the Sufa border, southern Gaza, reported
that an Israeli military incursion was undertaken late Wednesday
night. Witnesses said Israeli forces entered close to the border,
opened artillery fire while F16 warplanes were sighted above the skies.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=254051
Three injured as soldiers attack farmers in southern
West Bank
Two
farmers and a child were injured on Wednesday at dawn when Israeli
troops attacked villagers from Safa, southern West Bank, as they
protested the destruction of their land. Local sources said that
military bulldozers started to uproot trees and
destroy a farm land that belongs to villagers from Safa on Tuesday
night.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57619
Female students of Madama school subject to constant
harassment from Israeli army
Israeli
Occupation Forces entered the northern West Bank village of Madama last
night, damaging 5 houses and terrifying residents. The military has
upped their presence in Madama in recent weeks, with the harassment of
female students on their way to school becoming commonplace, and the
creation of a new roadblock separating hundreds of farmers from their
land.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/01/10593
IOF troops detain son, daughter of Nablus
municipality member
IOF
arrested Suhaib, 23, and Safa'a Al-Masri, 20, the offspring of Nablus
municipal council member Khulud Al-Masri while returning from medical
treatment in Jordan on Tuesday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Testimony: Testimony: Israel arrests wounded man at
Erez Crossing
My
son Ahmad, 19, was injured on 9 January 2009 by fragments of missiles
that were fired by an unmanned aerial vehicle and landed next to our
house, east of Khan Yunis, in New ‘Abasan. He was taken to Egypt, where
he was treated for seven months. When he got back to the Strip, his
doctors referred him to Germany for treatment. To do that, he had to go
to the German embassy in Tel Aviv, and he couldn’t get a permit to
enter Israel.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Testimonies/20091124_
Ahmad_Asfur_arrested_on_his_way_to_hospital.asp
Al-Quds
University lecturer detained
Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israeli forces detained Al-Quds University lecturer
and Fatah affiliate Sa'eed Yaqin, according to the detainee's wife and
witnesses. The detention took place in the Jerusalem village of Beit
Duqu, north-west Jerusalem. "A large number of Israeli solders broke
into our home at dawn, forces us out, and thoroughly searched it," said
Yaqin's wife.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=254146
The Israeli military kidnap two civilians as they
crossing borders into the West Bank
Two
Palestinian civilians from the same family were kidnapped by the
Israeli military on Wednesday at dawn as they were crossing the borders
between Jordan and the West Bank.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57621
Detainee
loses eye; Hamas demands investigation
Gaza/Jenin – Ma’an – A Palestinian detainee was severely injured after
being attacked at an Israeli detention centre, Salem, near Jenin in the
northern West Bank, Hamas said in a statement on Thursday. The
statement, issued by Hamas' detainees' committee said Huthayfa Zyara,
from Nablus, lost an eye after he was beaten by an Israeli intelligence
officer.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=254055
Egypt's Humanitarian War against Gazans
Fatwa bans work in Gaza Strip tunnels
At
the request of the Palestinian Authority, an Islamic scholar published
a fatwa on Tuesday banning Muslims from digging or working in tunnels
under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147877009&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Egypt
performs extensive tunnel raid; three injured in clashes
Al-Arish
–
Ma’an – Three Egyptian soldiers were injured on Thursday following
clashes with smugglers in the border town of Rafah as forces conducted
extensive raids, Egyptian security sources said. A total of four
warehouses were seized during the operation, in addition to three
tunnels, sources said, adding that large quantities of goods were
confiscated.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=254138
Egypt to build 23 watchtowers along borders with
Gaza
The
Egyptian authorities are planning to construct 23 watchtowers supplied
with bullet proof glass windows and electronic devices along the
borders with Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Inside Story - Israel wall: Security or apartheid? -
12 Jan 2010
Israel's
government has approved plans for the construction of a
barrier along its border with Egypt in a bid to stop illegal entry,
particularly by militants. The latest Israeli move could divert
some of the attention caused by the Egyptian plan to build a wall.
Israel believes this is the best option to protect its borders with
Egypt. The other option would be to amend the EgyptianIsraeli peace
treaty to allow for more Egyptian border troops to be deployed. Can
fences and walls provide the security a nation seeks and where does it
leave genuine asylum seekers from Africa?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LABU1ZL7g_c&feature=player_embedded
The Iron Dome, JONATHAN COOK
Israel
unveiled “Iron Dome” last week, a missile-defence system that is
designed to strike a knock-out blow against short-range rockets of the
variety fired into Israel by Hamas and Hizbullah. In the short term,
Iron Dome is supposed to herald the demise of the rocket threat to
Israeli communities near Gaza four years after Hamas won the
Palestinian elections.
http://www.counterpunch.org/cook01132010.html
Tense relations with Egypt threaten Hamas' Gaza
lifeline
GAZA
CITY: The construction of a new underground wall and recent border
clashes have frayed relations between Hamas and Egypt and could
threaten the Islamist movement's main lifeline in Gaza, analysts say.
Since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 it has relied on smuggling
tunnels under the border with Egypt to defy Israeli sanctions and its
leaders have used frequent trips to Cairo to escape international
isolation.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=110640
British Minister: Kettling of Gaza "morally
indefensible"
Responding to comparison's made by Jeremy Corbyn MP of Israel's policy
towards Gaza and the UK police tactic of "kettling" protestors via mass
detentions, Bryant stated that it was "morally indefensible to 'kettle'
the Palestinian people." Israel has blockaded the Gaza Strip
since the summer of 2007, preventing freedom of movement for the
Palestinian people and allowing the delivery of only the most basic of
humanitarian goods. Reconstruction materials, desperately needed in the
wake of a conflict that damaged or destroyed 50,000 homes, have largely
been prevented from entering the territory.
http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201001134361/Palestine-Politics/
british-minister-kettling-of-gaza-qmorally-indefensibleq.html
U.S. Franciscan detained on Cairo street while on
march to Gaza
Franciscan
Father Louis Vitale’s recent travel to the West Bank and Cairo was not
a journey for the fainthearted. He was tear gassed outside a
Palestinian olive grove and detained on the streets of Cairo, Egypt, by
a large police force. He went without food for a few days in solidarity
with residents of the Gaza Strip who do not have enough to eat because
of Israel’s ongoing blockade, and he offered energy bars and water to
weary Egyptian cops who surrounded him and some of the 1,362 people
from 42 nations who were in the Egyptian capital for a Gaza freedom
march Dec. 31.
http://www.catholic-sf.org/news_select.php?newsid=&id=56747
Human
Rights/Siege/Discrimination/
People & Power - One Law for All?
People & Power investigates whether Israeli Arabs are regularly the
victims of legal double standards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO-z9dzoKrA&feature=player_embedded
Amira Hass / Israel restricts Palestinian lawyers'
access to West Bank detainees
Israel is prohibiting Palestinian lawyers and the
relatives of Palestinian detainees from reaching a military tribunal
via the Beitunia checkpoint west of Ramallah. The prohibition, which
has been in effect for the past three days,
means that Israeli police are requiring Palestinians to use the
Qalandiyah crossing 20 kilometers away, where they must produce an
entry permit to Israel - which can take weeks to obtain - if they want
to enter an Israeli military tribunal that is on West Bank land. The
court lies 300 meters south of the Beitunia roadblock, and was built on
land that is part of Beitunia.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1142515.html
Israeli Arab leader: Don’t treat us like enemies
Head
of Higher Arab Monitoring Committee asks for meeting with President
Peres following Sheikh Raed Salah's nine-month prison sentence, in
order to protest State's 'ongoing attack' against Arab public's leaders.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3834183,00.html
Education under Attack in Gaza
On
December 28th 2008 mid-term examinations had been scheduled to take
place at the University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS) in Gaza.
When the day arrived, however, the University College's rooms, which
usually cater for 8000 students, were void of any life. This was the
second day of operation Cast Lead. The University remained closed and
examinations were postponed. Concentration, patience and motivation;
the three pillars to learning were the main targets of operation Cast
Lead as it sought to instill a sense of danger in every spot in Gaza.
Operation Cast Lead wholly demolished or rendered unusable several
educational facilities across the Strip. Amongst these facilities were
280 kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, the American
International School, the library of the Al Aqsa University and the
laboratory of the Islamic University. Many other educational facilities
were shot at causing facades to become tarnished with indelible war
stains and windows to shatter in a deliberate attempt to undermine
education.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15686
Israel's
Prohibitions and 'Enemy Alien' Contacts, Stephen Lendman
Adalah
is the legal center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel advocating on
their behalf in a nation affording rights only to Jews. In September
2009, its report titled "Prohibited Protest" exposed how Israel's law
enforcement authorities restricted free expression protests against
Operation Cast Lead. It shows how police, the State Prosecutor's
Office, General Security Services (GSS or Shabak), the courts, and even
academic institutions used or supported arrests and imprisonments to
stop Israeli Arabs and supportive Jews from protesting against the war.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15683
War Crimes
Gaza:
75 Deformed Babies Caused by the War
Gaza,
January 14, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - Recent scientific analyses have
shown that the war was a direct cause of the increasing numbers of
birth defects, miscarriages and cancer in the Gaza Strip. A report by
Conscience Organisation for Human Rights concerning the environmental
and health dangers resulting from the bombardment and invasion revealed
that incidents of children born with deformities have risen markedly in
the Gaza Strip.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/3636-gaza-75-deformed-babies-caused-by-the-war
Political Developments
Abbas says will reject U.S. pressure for talks
*
Abbas sticks by terms for resumption of negotiations
* Says pressure
for talks without settlement halt "unjust"
* Abbas due to meet U.S. envoy on Thursday
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE60D0AL.htm
Israel fears Turkey's "shift towards Iran"
JERUSALEM,
Jan.
13 (Xinhua) -- Israel is concerned that for more than a year
Turkey has been moving closer to Iran, an unnamed official in Israeli
Prime Minister's Office told Xinhua on Wednesday. However, some
analysts argue that the deterioration of the bilateral relations is
much of a result of Israel's military campaign in and around Gaza
exactly one year ago and the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process,
instead of the Iran element.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/14/content_12805675.htm
Other
News
Catholic Bishops Criticize Israel on Palestinians
JERUSALEM
(AP)
-- A high-level delegation of Roman Catholic bishops from North
America and Europe has criticized Israeli polices in east Jerusalem and
called for more contacts between ordinary Israelis and Palestinians.
The group says violence, insecurity, home demolitions, the route of
Israel's West Bank separation barrier and other policies threaten peace
prospects.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/14/world/AP-ML-Israel-Palestinians.html?_r=1
US Internal Revenue Commissioner pledges to look
into `charities` supporting West Bank settlers
AOL
News/US Newswire - Until now, the US income tax authorities took
vigorous action against Muslim charities accused of "supporting
terrorists", but no action against extreme-right groups registered as
charities and funneling vast tax-free sums to West Bank settlers.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=37734
IDF officer to protesters: you are traitors; I am
here to defend settlers (video)
A
report from Friday Channel 10 news shows how a peaceful Palestinian
demonstration – it’s the reporters who call it peaceful, not me – is
met with tear gas, rubber bullets and the occasional beating of
demonstrators from the hand of IDF soldiers. Later on, a group of
masked settlers arrive and start throwing rocks
on the Palestinian demonstrators. The army does nothing. When some
Jewish left-wing protesters ask the officer present why doesn’t he stop
the settler, the officer responds: “I am here to protect them, not
you or the Palestinians… unlike you, I am not a traitor to my country.”
http://www.promisedlandblog.com/?p=2170
Israeli Islamist leader gets nine months for assault
(AFP)
AFP
- A court has sentenced hardline Israeli Islamist leader Raed Salah to
nine months in prison for assaulting a police officer, a spokesman for
his movement said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100113/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictisraelarabtrial
Israel to expel Palestinian-American journalist
(AP)
AP
- Security officials say a Palestinian-American journalist has been
detained at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport and will be expelled.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100113/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians
Ma`an News Agency editor Jared Malsin facing imminent
deporation
Ma`an
- Malsin, an American citizen, was detained upon arrival at Israel`s
Ben Gurion Airport. Israeli security agents have prevented him from
taking calls, and lied to concerned US consular staff, initially
denying that he was being held. He is slated for deportation at 6:05 am
on Thursday, 14 January.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=37740
Comptroller: Israel losing PR battle in Arabic to Al-Jazeera
The Israeli government
is failing to connect with the country's Arabic speakers, who have been
excluded from its public relations strategy to the advantage of
Israel's enemies, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss warned in a
report released Wednesday.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1142390.html
Zionist
youth say they face financial ruin
World
Zionist youth movements are facing a financial crisis which could lead
to their imminent collapse, leaders of all major such movements told
the Knesset this week in a plea for government intervention. If this
happens, "hundreds of thousands of Jewish youth will lose their only
significant link to the State of Israel and to their Jewish identity,"
a coalition of chairpersons from Habonim Dror, Hashomar Hatzair, World
Bnei Akiva, Maccabi World Union and other movements wrote to the
Knesset.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1141290.html
Israeli polygamist suspected of enslavement, rape
Police
arrest
Goel Ratzon, reported to have 89 children from 32 women who call
themselves his wives. Authorities say arrest made possible by human
trafficking law, complainant who came forward last year.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3834429,00.html
Suspected sex offender escapes extradition to US
Israeli
Supreme Court refuses to extradite Abraham Mondrowitz, suspected of
sexually abusing minors 25 years ago.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3834382,00.html
Analysis/Op-ed/Human
Interest
A second Gaza war around the corner?
Israel's
recent aggressions look ominously like the 4 November 2008 attack on
Gaza, which killed six persons and shattered the four-month-long truce
meticulously respected by Hamas. Predictably, Hamas and other factions
retaliated for that Israeli provocation and then Israel used their
response to justify its massacre of 1,400 people in Gaza this time last
year. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11005.shtml
The United States, Israel and the retreat of
freedom
A
new report by Freedom House, a US-government funded think tank,
suggests US interference around the world makes countries less free.
Despite this, it calls for even more US intervention. The report's
approach also provides a stark example of the abyss liberal thinking
has fallen into when it comes to ignoring Israel's systematic abuses
and presenting the country as an idealized democracy. EI's Ali Abunimah
comments.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11007.shtml
A U.S. ‘charade’ in peace effort, Miko Peled
The
Palestinian
national struggle continues to be largely ignored by the
Obama administration. Our new president has failed to bring a new
approach. As has been the case for the last 40 years, Palestinian
attempts to settle the conflict through diplomacy are ignored or
downplayed. When violence erupts, Palestinians are blamed and labeled
terrorists. The United States maintains the charade that peace in
Israel/Palestine is
a priority and every new administration promises to bring the
much-promised peace to the region only to fall into the same pattern of
inaction and excuse-making. Israel and the U.S. are pursuing a
course seemingly calculated to reduce Palestinians to a state of
hopelessness.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/14/us-charade-peace-effort/
No
entry for Arabs, Avirama Golan
Anyone
observing Israel these days - and the hazing to which the Turkish
ambassador was subjected is only the latest example - sees the
neighborhood bully. Anyone who cares about self-preservation will stay
away from this hard-hearted, dull-witted madman whose sole guiding
principle is "national honor" - or in other words, sowing strife and
dissension that undermines the state's interests.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1142319.html
Shocking
Video Aired on Israeli Channel 10 now with Subtitles, from ibn Ezra by
Joseph Dana
A
couple of days ago, I posted a video clip from Channel 10 news here in
Israel about a recent protest in Nebi Salah, West Bank. I have been
trying to hard code the video with English subtitles that Didi Remez
graciously provided to no avail. So I am posting Didi’s subtitles below
the video. By the way, if you have not been to Didi’s site, you are
missing out on one of the best sites on Israel available in English.
http://josephdana.com/2010/01/shocking-video-aired-on-israeli-channel-10-now-with-subtitles/
What hope for Hebron? | Seth Freedman
"The situation is getting worse here," says Zleikha Muhtaseb, the
principal
of a Palestinian kindergarten in Hebron's old city. "After the intifada
calmed down, we thought things were improving, but now it's getting
worse again: roadblocks are increasing, soldiers are attacking
Palestinians at checkpoints, and the settlers are becoming more violent.
Day and night the settlers threaten [local Palestinians], throwing
stones and trying to burn their property, in order to put more and more
pressure on them."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/14/hebron-international-observers
Arab
Papers on Apology: Israel Only Understands Turkish
14/01/2010 The Arab press did not hide its elation over Israel’s
apology to Turkey over its diplomatic faux pas. The Lebanese newspaper
al-Akhbar called the Turkish Prime Minister “Sultan Erdogan” in its
main headline. It continued on to quip: “Israel understands only
Turkish: the apology was on the same scale as the humiliation.” “The
threat was effective. The Israelis quickly got on their knees and made
a move in proportionate to the humiliation they committed,” wrote the
Lebanese paper. “They sent a letter of apology from Ayalon himself to
President Gul after being pressured by Israeli President Shimon Peres
and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The most important thing state
in the letter: ‘I apologize for the manner in which Israel behaved. I
did not mean to humiliate the ambassador…’
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=119788&language=en
Getting to the root of the conflict, Alice Rothchild
On
January
11, the delegation I’m traveling with visited with Mohammed
Jaradat of the BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and
Refugee Rights. He speaks in a deep, resonant voice and has sparkling
olive green eyes that twinkle as he presents. He explains to the
delegation that today 2/3 of Palestinians are refugees, mostly from
1948, and some from 1967. The more than seven million displaced
Palestinians constitute the world’s largest and longest standing case
of forced displacement; thus any political solution must include a
solution to the refugee crisis as well as other well known issues.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/getting-to-the-root-of-the-conflict.html
Academic freedom, CampusWatch goes after Columbia’s
Rashid Khalidi and PARC
Is space One answer is that academic McCarthyite group CampusWatch is,
unfortunately, still in business. In fact, they just published yet
another hopefully meaningless attack
on the Palestinian American Research Center (PARC) and keynote speaker
at their October conference, the preeminent Middle East scholar (and
famously, former-friend-of-Obama) Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University’s
Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies. Why do they want PARC to stop
receiving funding from the Department of Education? Because in his
speech at a conference on Palestine, Khalidi criticized Israel, and
worse, criticized Campus Watch! Comical, yes. Imagine, one of the
country’s most respected Middle East scholars having the audacity to
criticize Israel and CampusWatch at a conference called “Palestine:
What We Know.”
http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2010/01/13/
academic-freedom-new-attack-on-columbias-rashid-khalidi-and-parc/
Hebron: Little More than a Dream, Amina Waheed
It
is
called the “City of Patriarchs.” Regarded as a holy site for
Muslims, Jews and Christians, Hebron exists today within a
schizophrenic state between Palestinians and Jewish settlers. It
lingers, as its tragic present eats away at the remnants of a gilded
past. Upon entering Hebron’s old city, I could not help but compare it
to that of Jerusalem. It’s like walking through a depressing, deflated
version of Jerusalem’s lively, tourist haven. There are similarities:
old men chatting in huddles, drinking tea and strumming their prayer
beads, looking on as shopkeepers welcome us in to buy their wares. For
the most part, though, it exists in striking contrast to that of its
Jerusalem counterpart. Nearly a ghost-town, Hebron has been stripped of
its splendor, broken down to reveal the less than modest living of
Khalilis [Hebron's native population]. While Jerusalem’s Old City has
light bouncing off the storefronts’ colorful array of jewelry and
ceramics, the light in Hebron resembles the chaotic collection of
flickering tube lights reminiscent of a doctor’s office. Even the
sunlight is oppressed from entering; sifting in through the wire nets
the underground Palestinian city is forced to put up to protect it from
the trash Israeli settlers throw down from their homes up above.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=21490&CategoryId=13
Two Visits to Hebron, Rabbi Brian
A
week ago I moved to Jerusalem for the next five months. Over this
period of time I hope to share ocassional posts about my experience
here. This is the first. In November 2008, I organized a tour of
Hebron with Shovrim Shtika (Soldiers Breaking the Silence) that
challenged my core beliefs. On Monday I visited Hebron again this time
joining a Health Human Rights Project delegation. On my first visit
over a year ago, we walked down Shuhadeh Street and saw the deserted
part of the Old City of Hebron, with a line of Palestinians stores that
were forcibly closed by the Israeli military. This area of the city,
that once bustled with life and was home home to 30,000 Palestinians,
was now almost a ghost town. The streets were empty, the stores were
bolted shut, many with Jewish stars and other graffiti smeared in black
paint on the metal doors. In some of the houses that were still
occupied children peered at us from a porch totally enclosed by a metal
grate to protect them against objects hurled at them by the settlers.
http://rabbibrian.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/two-visits-to-hebron/
An Odyssey for Justice, Ramzy Baroud
The
recent actions of people from around the world in support of the
Palestinian people in Gaza have arguably represented the closest
manifestation of international solidarity since the International
Brigades against fascism during the Spanish Civil War. A bold
assertion? Admittedly, I may not be as in tune with reality as I
should be. Born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp where most refugees
felt that no one cared about their plight, it was easy to believe that
nothing could possibly break away from the ever tenuous and redundant
stances by Arab and other countries — whose acts of solidarity went no
further than hollow words of condemnation. The recent noble stances by
activists from all over the world therefore seem like an unprecedented
act of solidarity which, dare I believe, indicates the direct mass
involvement of civil society as a real party in the ongoing Palestinian
struggle for political and human rights.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15688
Ismail
Zayid – My Personal Story of Dispossession and Suffering
I was born in 1933, in the village of Beit Nuba in Palestine, where
I was brought up and lived happily with family and friends. The village
of Beit Nuba had existed for thousands of years, as historic records
show. However, Israeli wars of aggression and war crimes made its
recent history painful and tragic. In May 1948, the Israeli army
launched an attack to occupy the
villages of Imwas [Emmaus], Yalu and Beit Nuba, but failed to conquer
these villages. Elsewhere, in Palestine, the Zionist terrorist gangs
and the Israeli army were committing massacres against the
predominantly unarmed Palestinian people and conducted their
long-planned campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people
from their homeland. There was one day, out of many during that
conflict, that left painful sights in my life. It was on July 10, 1948
that Israeli army troops, led by Yitzhak Rabin, occupied the
Palestinian cities of Lydda and Ramleh. Rabin and his officers
proceeded to drive these 50 – 60,000 civilian inhabitants of these two
cities away from their homes in terror, with low-flying airplanes over
their heads shooting the occasional person and forcing them to run. The
sight of the terror-stricken, hungry and thirsty men, women and
children fleeing in terror in the midday sun of the hot summer, having
run approximately twenty-five kilometres to the village of Beit Nuba,
where I, a 15 year old boy, saw them with my own eyes, is a sight not
to be forgotten.
http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/01/14/ismail-zayid-my-personal-story-of-dispossession-and-suffering
A People's Cartoon History of Gaza, PAUL de ROOIJ
The launch
of a new book by Joe Sacco is a major event, and with considerable
expectation a crowd recently gathered in London to hear the great
Maltese-American cartoonist and author discuss his latest book: Footnotes in Gaza.
[1] Sacco spent seven years researching and drawing about two sordid
events that took place in November 1956 when Israeli forces invaded
Gaza as part of the joint British-French attack against Egypt. The
Israeli army conducted two massacres where hundreds of Palestinians
were murdered, and Sacco set out to collate the oral histories of the
Palestinians who witnessed or were the victims of the events. Sacco
engaged in a detailed investigative work finding the witnesses who
could credibly recollect what happened, sifted through the accounts to
eliminate the factual inconsistencies due to the deteriorated memories,
and then spent four years bringing these histories to life in his
inimitable style. The book doesn’t only focus on the past, but the
present is also very much part of his account; in present day Gaza
giant armoured bulldozers flatten houses in Rafah and where the ongoing
siege affects everybody's lives. Sacco says: "… the past and the
present cannot be so easily disentangled; they are part of a
remorseless continuum…"
http://www.counterpunch.org/rooij01132010.html
Karameh Means Dignity for Palestinians, Daoud Kuttab
Although
the Arabic word Karmeh simply means dignity, it has become an
expression that has many more usages and meanings. Karameh is also a
Jordan Valley town in the Shuna'a district which witnessed a fierce
battle against the Israelis. The date was March 21, 1968 and the
Israeli army was trying to stem attacks by Palestinian fedayeen coming
across the Jordan river into areas occupied by Israel. In its attempts
to curtail the guerrilla attacks, the Israelis decided to launch a
cross border attack only to be rebuffed by brave Palestinian fighters
as well as members of the Jordanian army. After the battle King Hussein
is quoted as saying we are all fedayyen.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daoud-kuttab/karameh-means-dignity-for_b_421368.html
Iraq
Wednesday: 10 Iraqis Killed, 12 Wounded
At
least 10 Iraqis were killed and 12 others were wounded in the latest
violence. Baghdad, meanwhile, remains under a security crackdown. Seven
people were killed and six others were wounded during a suicide truck
bombing at a police station in Saqlawiya. A vehicle ban is in place. A
bomb in Abu Ghraib killed one civilian and injured two others.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/01/13/wednesday-10-iraqis-killed-12-wounded/
Ba'ath saga haunts Iraq's future | Ranj Alaaldin
De-Ba'athification
is
derailing the national reconciliation process, but Sunnis will not
necessarily choose to boycott elections. The Iraqi government is
treading a fine line after its Accountability and Justice commission
(also known as the "de-Ba'athification" commission) moved to bar a
prominent Sunni politician, Salah al-Mutlaq, and 14 others from
contesting the national elections in March because of their ties with
the outlawed Ba'ath party.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/13/baath-iraq-debaathification-elections
More candidates may be banned from Iraqi elections
(McClatchy Newspapers)
McClatchy
Newspapers - BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials met late into the night
Wednesday to determine how many candidates should be barred from
running in the March elections after a panel determined that they had
ties to Saddam Hussein's former Baath Party.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100113/wl_mcclatchy/3399354
Iraq sentences 11 to death for government bombings
(AP)
AP
- A Baghdad court on Thursday sentenced 11 Iraqis to death for their
roles in the first of a series of audacious attacks last year to target
government buildings in the heart of the city.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100114/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
Lebanon
Bomb in Hizbullah stronghold wounds 3
schoolchildren
KFAR
FILA: A bomb apparently meant for a Hizbullah figure went off Wednesday
in a southern Lebanese stronghold of the Shiite group, wounding his
daughter and son and another student while they were waiting for their
school bus. Security officials said the bomb exploded at around 7:30 am
at the entrance of an apartment building in the village of Kfar Fila.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=110649
Analysts say resignations show tribunal losing
political support
BEIRUT:
The resignation of registrar David Tolbert will rock the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon's standing, and his exit reflects the political
forces snowballing to stifle the tribunal's work, a number of analysts
told The Daily Star on Wednesday. The tribunal announced on Tuesday
that Tolbert, who arrived at the court late last August, was leaving
his post in order to become president of the International Center for
Transitional Justice.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=110651
Lebanese speaker renews call for abolishing
political sectarianism
BEIRUT,
Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri renewed
Wednesday calling for abolishing political sectarianism, although he
said this "national goal" cannot be achieved within 20 years. "The
ninth article of the constitution states that the parliament should
form a committee to eliminate political sectarianism," said Berri in a
press conference in the Parliament House in Beirut.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/14/content_12805587.htm
A Black Panther in Beirut, DANIEL DRENNAN
In
Oakland,
California in the late 1960s, Emory Douglas, minister of
culture for the Black Panther Party, was responsible for the
manifestation of Voice in his community, and represented the hope for
revolution among the marginalized and Voiceless.
In Lebanon, some 40 years later, he is to pay a visit.
http://www.counterpunch.org/drennan01132010.html
Why we will never make peace with "Israel"
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/01/why-we-will-never-make-peace-with.html
Arab and other world news
Obama will seek additional $33 billion for wars
Obama
will
seek additional $33 billion for warsThe Obama administration plans
to ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq, on top of a record request for $708 billion
for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned.
http://rawstory.com/2010/01/obama-seek-additional-33-billion-wars/
GOP Congressman wants to deport every Iranian
The
National
Iranian American Council is on high alert after a South
Carolina Congressman announced this week that he will introduce
legislation which would require the deportation of all Iranians living
in America.
http://rawstory.com/2010/01/gop-congressman-deport-iranian/
Congressman seeking to bar Iranians from US
The
STEP
Act, a bill that was originally presented in 2003, would amend the
Immigration and Nationality Act to bar citizens of Iran, Cuba, Sudan,
Syria, and Yemen from entering the United States.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115931§ionid=351020101
Never Mind the Facts, Let’s Have a War... ,Finian
Cunningham
A
missile test-fired by Iran last week was reported on the BBC World
Service as being “capable of striking Israel”. The choice of words was
not unusual. On previous occasions when Iran has test-fired a
long-range rocket, the BBC and other western news media dutifully
inform us that the said device is “capable of striking Israel”. The
well-worn phrase is so reliably heard in these news bulletins that its
use betrays a coded script. The not-too subliminal implications are
that Iran is: a) a hostile state; b) doing something illegal in
test-firing a long-range missile; and c) gearing up to deliver on its
alleged threat to wipe out the state of Israel. Within hours of these
reports last week, the US government weighed in with the pious
accusation that the test-firing “undermines Iran’s claims of peaceful
intentions”.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16834
Horror in Haiti as up to 100,000 die in quake
PORT-AU-PRINCE,
Haiti:
The Haitian prime minister Wednesday warned the death toll may
top 100,000 in a calamitous earthquake which left streets strewn with
corpses and thousands missing in a scene of utter carnage. Most
hospitals collapsed, destroyed schools were full of dead and the cries
of trapped victims escaped from crushed buildings in the center of the
capital Port-au-Prince.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=110655
Want to help Haiti? Just send a text
Group's
like
Wyclef Jean's Yéle Haiti and the Red Cross are offering services
in which you can donate $5 or $10 for Haiti relief efforts just by
sending a text message from your cellphone. But watch out for scams.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0113/Want-to-help-Haiti-Just-send-a-text
Blackwater in Somalia?
Reuters
reports a spokesperson from the Islamist Al-Shabaab group in Somalia
claiming that the US mercenary group Blackwater/Xe Services is in
Somalia, is recruiting and is planning a series of spectacular
terrorist attacks against civilians to discredit his movement in
Mogadishu.
http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/conflicts/13-01-2010/111632-blackwater-0
The Myth of Muslim Conquest, PATRICK HAENNI and SAMI
AMGHAR
A
question worries Europe: is Islam inherently expansionist and out to
conquer the world? Yes, say those Swiss who voted against the
construction of minarets. They see this expansionism underpinned by a
desire for political control, sometimes imputed to the nature of
Islamic ideology (pro-birth, proselytising, invasive), sometimes to the
tactics of its main players (the Islamists and their agendas). Yussuf
al-Qaradawi, a well-known moderate Sunni cleric, seemed to endorse this
in his Al Jazeera broadcast of December 6, “Sharia and life,” on the
Swiss referendum. He confirmed that conquest would happen and that all
humans would be united by the word of God.
http://www.counterpunch.com/haenni01132010.html |
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