|
Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
|
Ethnic cleansing/Settlement/Destruction of Land and Property
'Settlers' desecrate W Bank mosque
Officials say graffiti scrawled on walls of mosque in Huwara near Nablus.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/04/2010414111011560524.html
Report: Israel destroys Bedouin tents, huts
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli police and Israel Land Authority officials
destroyed dozens of tents and huts belonging to Bedouin families in the
Negev, the Association for the Support and Defense of Bedouins' Rights
in Israel said. The demolitions were carried on the families' lands in
the Al-Arakib and Tawil Abu Jarwal area, the association said, adding
that eviction orders were stuck on additional dwellings.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=276242
Israel
resumes
demolishing Palestinian homes in O. Jerusalem
The Israeli
municipal council in Jerusalem declared its intention to resume on
Wednesday the demolition of Palestinian homes at the pretext of
unlicensed construction in all areas of the holy city.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Israel
demolishes
a house in West Bank
April 14, (Pal Telegraph) The Israeli
occupation force demolishes a house under construction and a
number of greenhouses in the village of “Hares” north of Salfit. Local
sources in the village reported that the Israeli occupation forces,
accompanied by a number of bulldozers, stormed the village in the early
morning hours today, and demolished the house of Maher Hassan Odeh, 40,
which is a two-storey house under construction sitting on 140 square
meters, without a permit. Bulldozers also demolished a number of
agricultural greenhouses west of the village, owned by David Ghannam,
without a permit.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/west-bank/5465-israel-demloishes-a-house-in-west-bank
Israeli Forces
Demolish three houses in the West Bank
Israeli military
demolished three houses in the West Bank on Wednesday in Al-Khader and
Beit Sahour near Bethlehem and the village of Hares near Salfit.
http://www.imemc.org/article/58440
Arrests and eviction orders in Sheikh Jarrah
Jerusalem - about 200 people took part in the weekly protest against the
Jewish colonization of Sheikh Jerrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
Among them were New Israel Fund President Naomi Hazan, former Knesset
speaker Avrum Burg, and author David Grossman. During the protest,
several activists, among them Grossman, marched near the area of the
four houses already occupied by settlers. Four protesters were arrested.
Throughout the rest of the demonstration activists occasionally tried to
break into the closed area and were pushed back, somewhat violently, by
police and border police forces.
http://palestinenote.com/cs/blogs/blogs/archive/2010/04/14/arrests-and-eviction-orders-in-sheikh-jarrah.aspx
Jerusalem Mayor Wants More Palestinian Homes
Demolished
Palestine, April 14, 2010 (Pal Telegraph, by Saed
Bannoura) - Jerusalem Mayor, Nir Barkat, issued orders instructing
municipality engineers to demolish more Palestinian homes at a number of
neighborhoods in Silwan town in East Jerusalem.
The municipality will start the demolishing of Palestinian homes in
Silwan on Wednesday and could also demolish homes in other Arab
neighborhoods.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/west-bank/5471-
jerusalem-mayor-wants-more-palestinian-homes-demolished
Israeli
Demolition
Campaign in Tree Towns Across the West Bank
In an
aggravation of Israeli policy of home demolitions, a house and two shops
were razed in the Central West Bank village of Hares this morning.
An additional house was reduced to rubble in the village of alKhadder,
West of Bethlehem and a 1,000 square meters factory was demolished in
the town Beit Sahour.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/04/12031
On Pathological Lies, Murdering the Dead, and a
Museum of Hate
“Mohannad, even the dead do not rest in peace in Occupied Palestine”, my
father tells me as we discuss Zionism’s latest criminal exertion. The
Israeli government, in partnership with the Simon Wiesenthal Center
(SWC) based in Los Angeles, is planning the destruction and desecration
of the ancient Ma’man Allah (God Worship) Cemetery in Jerusalem, also
known as Mamilla Cemetery, to build a “Museum of Tolerance” named the
Centre of ‘Human Dignity’ in its place. The cemetery has been a Muslim
burial ground since the 7th century AD; some of the Prophet Muhammad
(pbuH)’s companions are reportedly buried there.
http://mohannadelkhairy.blogspot.com/2010/04/on-pathological-lies-murdering-dead-and.html
The right to
deport
Amira Hass - Haaretz - " The goals are to limit the
population growth of Palestinians in the West Bank; to complete the
process of severing the Palestinian population in Gaza from West Bank
society (in violation of the Oslo Accords); and to deter foreign
nationals joining the popular struggle against the occupation (see: IDF
raids in Ramallah in search of foreigners)...When one takes into account
Israel`s policy of disconnecting East Jerusalem from the West Bank, it
is quite possible that the military ban on Palestinian East
Jerusalemites entering areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority
without a permit will be renewed. "
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1162980.html
AL to refer Israel's West Bank deportations order to
UN
CAIRO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The Arab League (AL) Council
decided on Tuesday to take a series of measures to tackle Israel's
decision to expel thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank, Egypt's
official MENA news agency reported. In a statement issued after an
extraordinary meeting at the level of permanent delegates at its Cairo
headquarters, the AL council called on the UN Security Council, the
Middle East Quartet and regional and international organizations
concerned to adopt a decisive stance toward Israel's "racial" decision.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-04/14/c_13249967.htm
Riz
Khan
- A partner for peace?
The dilemma over settlements in East
Jerusalem has created a stalemate in the Middle East peace process,
further straining the relationship between Israel and its closest ally,
the US. Can the Netanyahu government withstand the pressure to move in
opposite directions: Those policies demanded by Washington, and those
desired by his coalition partners?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Q0Mc-c8O4&feature=youtube_gdata
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott,
Sanctions
and Divestment
Grassroots organizer targeted by PA, Israeli forces,
Nora Barrows-Friedman
Mousa Abu Maria, father of a newborn baby and co-coordinator
of the grassroots Palestine Solidarity Project (PSP) in the occupied
West Bank village of Beit Ommar, was used to the sound of boots running
on the ground and surrounding his home in the middle of the night.
Awakened once again at 2:00am on Tuesday, 6 April, Abu Maria told an
international volunteer with PSP who was sleeping in his house not to
worry but that they should start moving the computers out of the rooms.
Weeks earlier, PSP's office was raided by Israeli forces; computer hard
drives and printers were confiscated as Abu Maria's entire family was
forced to stand outside in the freezing cold. But when Abu Maria looked
outside the window this time, it wasn't Israeli forces shouting at him
to come outside. It was a squadron of heavily-armed Palestinian
Authority (PA) police.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11203.shtml
Palestinian demos continue non-violent against a violent Israeli army
Beit
Hanoun, April 13 demonstration against the Israeli-imposed “buffer
zone” and the Israeli army brutality which comes with it. For many
months, Palestinians have been marching in Beit Hanoun and other border
regions, stretching down to the south-eastern Rafah border. Armed with
flags, voices, spirit, and very aware of the dangers from the Israeli
soldiers, Palestinian women, men, and youths march, singing, chanting
and proclaiming their right to live, work and be on Palestinian land.
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/
palestinian-demos-continue-non-violent-against-a-violent-israeli-army/
Noam Chomsky endorses Berkeley divestment
Noam Chomsky writes student senators at UC Berkeley, urging them to
continue their support for Berkeley's divestment bill, which had been
vetoed by the student body president.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/04/noam-chomsky-endorses-berkeley-divestment.html
Divestment at Berkeley: Tutu weighs in
Archbishop
Desmond
Tutu has written a
wonderful letter in support of the student activists at U.C.
Berkeley who are working to get their student Senate-- and beyond that,
hopefully, the wealthy University of California system as a whole-- to
divest from companies that support Israel's occupation of the West Bank
and Gaza.
http://justworldnews.org/archives/003959.html
You Will Not Be Alone, Judith Butler
Editor's Note: What follows is the text of a speech Professor Butler
will give on Wednesday, April 13, to the students of the University of
California, Berkeley. On March 18, Berkeley's Student Senate voted
16-to-4 to divest from General Electric and United Technologies because
of their role in harming civilians as part of Israel's illegal
occupation and the attack on Gaza. A week later, the Senate president
vetoed the bill. The bill's opponents have been waging a fierce campaign
of misinformation; student senators have been flooded with letters and
Alan Dershowitz may visit the campus. More information about the bill
can be found here.
http://live.thenation.com/doc/20100426/butler
Judith Butler joins Chomsky, Tutu, Klein and a
growing chorus worldwide in support of Berkeley divestment, Adam
Horowitz
The fight over divestment is coming to a head in Berkeley. The
student Senate is expected to vote on Wednesday to possibly override the
Student President's veto of the divestment bill. As can be expected both
sides have been rallying their supporters. Following notable
endorsements from Desmond
Tutu, Noam
Chomsky and Naomi
Klein, an ad appeared in the Daily Californian today with
signatures from over 260 Jewish supporters of the divestment action.
Below after the jump is a handy resource put together by Jewish Voice
for Peace outlining all the support the bill has received, including
from Benjamin Netanyahu's own sister-in-law.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/04/
judith-butler-joins-chomsky-tutu-klein-and-a-growing-chorus-worldwide-in-support-of-berkeley-divestment.html
Take Action NOW: Support Divestment at UC Berkeley!
Almost a month ago the Associated Students of the University of
California (ASUC) Berkeley voted 16-4 to divest from two corporations
profiting from Israeli occupation and apartheid practices. The ASUC
president then vetoed the resolution. Now we have one last chance to
override the veto, please take action NOW.
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2613
British trade union federation launches campaign
against Israeli products from West Bank
The British umbrella body of trade unions, the Trades Union Congress
(TUC), has launched a campaign calling for an import ban for goods
produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The campaign was
launched together with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, an anti-Israel
group that advocates a complete economic boycott of Israel and
international sanctions against the Jewish state, according to the
‘Jerusalem Post’.
http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/main/showNews/id/9254
We can't afford to give $3 billion to Israel
In January, President Obama requested a record $3 billion in military
aid to Israel. The House of Representatives is about to grant the $3
billion in additional military aid to Israel. (The request is currently
with the House Appropriations Committee.) See: "US military aid to
Israel violates domestic, international law" PDA opposes the
unconditional granting of these funds. Now is the time to let your
congressional representatives know that you too oppose the unconditional
granting of such aid.
http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=14926411
Restoring What Settlers Destroyed
Qarawat Bani Hassan, in the area of Wadi Qana, between Salfeet, Nablus
and Qalqiliya (North of the West Bank); Palestinian, international and
even Israeli activists have begun to restore ancient wells and a
collapsed cave that were destroyed eight months ago by Jewish settlers
from the Nofim settlement. The Palestinians want to enjoy the wonderful
area as a family park, where the spring of Neweitef al-Majur, central
source of water for the village, is located.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1357
Short film : Bassem Abu Rahma (el
Pheel) - A Friend To Us All
Our dear friend Bassem Ibrahim
Abu Rahma, known to many of us as Pheel, was murdered by ITF soldiers
during a non-violent protest in the Palestinian village of Bil`in on
April 17th, 2009.
http://blip.tv/file/3471631
20
Palestinian
fatalities at demos against the apartheid wall
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2010/04/14/20-palestinian-fatalities-at-demos-against-the-apartheid-wall/
Violence/Aggression and Provocations
Youth
shot
in the leg by Israeli Soldiers near the Nahal Oz border crossing
Mahmoud Shawa a 19 year old resident of Shaja’iyya district of Gaza
City, received a wound from a live round in his leg while participating
in a peaceful demonstration near Nahal Oz border crossing. Mahmoud was
urgently transported by an ambulance to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City
bleeding heavily and suffering from shock.The bullet entered at the back
of the knee area and exited at the other side and the x-ray shows that
it nearly missed the bone.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/04/12033
Three
Palestinians
wounded by Israeli gunfire in Beit Ommar town
Three
Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire Tuesday during an attack
carried out by Israeli troops and armed settlers on a march organized in
Beit Ommar town, north of Al-Khalil.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
IOF
shooting
wounds three Palestinians east of Gaza
Three Palestinian
citizens were wounded, at the hands of Israeli occupation forces (IOF),
while taking part in a peaceful march east of Gaza city on
Wednesday against the buffer zone.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Several
Palestinians wounded in Hebron clashes
Three Palestinians were wounded by rubber-coated bullets fired by the
army at a group of Palestinian protesters on Tuesday, while several
other residents received medical treatment after inhaling gas fired by
the soldiers in Beit Ummar town, north of the southern West Bank city of
Hebron.
http://www.imemc.org/article/58437
Gazans
Gassed
by Silent Killer, Mel Frykberg
GAZA CITY, Apr 13, 2010 (IPS) - "You feel very sleepy and dizzy. You put
your head down and all you want to do is sleep. Everything feels very
peaceful, you are not even aware what is happening and if there is no
immediate intervention you are dead within minutes," Enaam Abu Nada told
IPS.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51022
PCHR condemns Gaza 'honor killing'
Bethlehem - Ma'an - The death of a Beit Lahiya woman, said by police to
have been a criminal matter, killed to "maintain family honor," a
Palestine Center for Human Rights report said Tuesday. At
approximately 11:50 on Monday, the body of Sherin Khamis Zayed
(Al-Attar), 32, was brought to Martyr Kamal Udwan Hospital in the
northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya, having sustained a number of gunshot
wounds to the head and chest, according to a PCHR field follow-up.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=276180
Clashes reported in Beit Ummar
Hebron – Ma'an – Discord erupted between Israeli forces and students in
Beit Ummar, northern Hebron, on Tuesday, who rallied in protest of
settler assaults against local farmers. According to Palestine
Solidarity Project spokesman Muhammad Ayyad Awad said clashes broke out
near the Karmi Zur settlement, when settlers fired in the air and
threatened a farmer, Ahmad Abu Hashem into leaving his land near the
settlement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=276255
Humanitarian
Issues/Human
Rights/Restriction of Movement/Siege
Industrial Fuel – Needs Vs. Supply – Mar 14 – Apr 10
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/04/industrial-fuel-needs-vs-supply-mar-14-apr-10/
Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – Mar 14 – Apr 10
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/04/goods-needs-vs-supply-mar-14-apr-10/
Nativity Church deportees applaud PA aid
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Jihad Ja'ara, a Nativity Church deportee, on Tuesday
expressed gratitude to the Palestinian Authority for assisting he and
his fellow exiles in Europe after suffering for years without financial
means to pay rent and other needs.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=276273
Sleepless Gaza Jerusalem
Day 43 b: Special Edition from Jerusalem & Ramallah: So what
is this new Israeli military law about? Learn who can be affected and
how from Palestine Radio journalist Mohammad Abed Rabbo who has studied
the law and its possible consequences. The law gives the occupation
forces illegal powers that people are now reminded of the 1948
catastrophe! Anyone without an Israeli permit to reside in the West Bank
is deemed an "infiltrator" and Israel can either imprison them up to 7
years or deport them! The law allows Israel's occupation forces to
arrest and deport foreigners including the American and European spouses
of Palestinians living in the West Bank or even Israelis who may go to
the West Bank to support Palestinians or protest against the Wall for
example! In other words, the Palestinian Authority has lost what it
gained through Oslo & Madrid in jurisdiction on the areas it
controls! Ashira hears that PLO Leader Nabil Shaath is giving the
foreign and Arab diplomats a "no media allowed" briefing, so she heads
to Ramallah and crashes on it. Meet Father Manuel Musallam, the retired
priest who was in charge of Gaza for 14 years. 72-year-old father Manuel
is originally from Ramallah but holds a Gaza ID card. He lives with his
sister at their family home and fears he will be deported back to Gaza
and be separated from his sister and home! What is the South African top
diplomat reminded of by the new law? Nabil Shaath describes the military
law as a major act of terror and ethnic cleansing. So what will
he do if the Israelis deport him to Gaza and his wife to Nablus? He
accepts an Israeli prison before he would allow that to happen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfjHSN_9O6E
Gazans
collect
pebbles to rebuild their city
Gaza, April 14, 2010 (Pal
Telegraph) – Number of Palestinian workers choose Gaza shore to sift
for pebbles and stones.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/photo-story/palestinian-stories/5460-gazans-pick-pebbles-to-rebuild-their-city
The
nightmare
of death engulfs Gaza patients due to electricity shortage
Palestinian
doctors
have warned that the nightmare of death was engulfing hundreds of
Palestinian patients lying in the hospitals due to the reduction of
electricity supply to the besieged Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
FEATURE-Light
at
the end of Gaza tunnel could be a new car
RAFAH, Gaza Strip, April 14 (Reuters) - Israel wants to close down the
smuggling tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, but the tunnelers
have become so good it's now possible to drive a car through them,
literally. Time was that a car had to come through the tunnels piece by
piece, but Hamdi Abu Karesh recently got a 2010 Hyundai Elantra
delivered to him intact.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE63D1D3.htm
Israeli War Criminals and Their Enablers
Spanish court shelves Israeli probe (AP)
AP - Spain's Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision to shelve a
probe of an Israeli air force bombing that killed a Hamas militant and
14 civilians in Gaza in 2002.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100413/ap_on_re_eu/eu_spain_israel_probe
How
to
Market Gaza as an Israeli success story: The complete guide
Cross-posted
from
Gaza
Gateway, an analytical blog recently launched by the
Israeli human rights group Gisha — The legal Center for Freedom of
Movement. Gaza Gateway provides up to date data and
analysis on access to the Gaza Strip and is an essential tool for for
fact-checking and contextualizing information provided by other sources.
http://coteret.com/2010/04/14/how-to-market-gaza-as-an-israeli-success-story-the-complete-guide/
Obama
Reluctant
to Answer Questions on Israeli Nuclear Program!
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged all countries, including
Israel, to sign the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or
NPT. "Whether we're talking about Israel or any other country, we think
that becoming part of the NPT is important," Obama said. "And that, by
the way, is not a new position. That's been a consistent position of the
United States government, even prior to my administration." Israel
operates a policy of 'nuclear ambiguity', refusing to confirm or deny
having atomic weapons - but has not signed the treaty and is believed to
posses between 200 and 300 nuclear warheads. Obama, who was hosting an
international conference on nuclear security in Washington, was at first
reluctant to answer journalists' questions on Israel, whose prime
minister, Benjamin Netanyahu had at the last minute canceled plans to
attend.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=133469&language=en
Media Restrictions/Censorship
Court
aggravates
Kam's detention conditions
Supreme Court Justice Ayala
Procaccia rules former soldier charged with stealing classified
documents, handing them over to journalist, to remain under 24-hour
house arrest for duration of legal proceedings, under family's
supervision. Kam also ordered to report to police station once a week.
Kam
affair: Grave suspicion of illegal killings
Following the
removal of the gag order imposed in Israel on the publication of details
about the charges against Israeli Journalist Anat
Kamm, B'Tselem wishes to reiterate that the case hinges on documents
that raise grave suspicions that the Israeli military conducted
assassination operations in the West Bank, under the guise of arrest
operations. This, in contrast to official Israeli statements, and in
violation of an Israeli High Court ruling.
http://www.btselem.org/english/Press_Releases/20100408.asp
Case involving military documents roils Israel
Anat Kam is accused of secretly copying 2,000 military documents during
her service as a soldier and of passing some of them to a journalist.
The case has also opened a debate on press freedom. Is Anat Kam an
Israeli hero or a traitor?
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/
Fyex_vgCbjc/la-fg-israel-secrets14-2010apr14,0,5434777.story
Judith
Miller
& Shep Smith On Smearing Israel's Critics
Fox News
interviews reporter Judith
Miller recently on the Anat Kamm
case. Host Shep Smith seems outraged that supposed democratic Israel
would censor information and put an individual under house arrest. “This
is very Fidel Castro”, he says. He tells viewers that when anybody
says anything even mildly critical of Israel they are accused of
anti-Semtism. Miller quickly says that she’s not “anti-Israel” for
writing about the case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR-2NrF1hrk&feature=player_embedded
Suppressing
book
bolsters settlers | Seth Freedman
The threat of boycotts is
usually the preserve of radical forces from abroad, but the latest
sanctions storm to hit the country is very much an internal affair.
Tzomet Sefarim, one of the nation's largest booksellers, this week bowed
to intense pressure from rightwing critics to stop selling The National
Left, a political pamphlet which heavily criticises the settler
movement.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/14/israel-palestinian-territories
Israel's
Arab Helpers
Hamas
orders
Gaza smuggling tunnels shut (AP)
AP - Gaza's Hamas rulers
have ordered residents to shut smuggling tunnels along the border
with Egypt indefinitely, cutting off the economic lifeline for 1.5
million Palestinians in the impoverished territory, residents and tunnel
operators said Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100414/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians
Stirrings
of
less violent protest in Hamas-ruled Gaza (AFP)
AFP - They
walked across shelled-out no man's land on the edge of the Gaza Strip,
drawing within 200 metres (yards) of the Israeli border before gunshots
snapped over their heads.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100414/lf_afp/mideastconflictgazademo
PA:
We
uncovered Hamas weapons cache, money
Palestinian Preventive
Security Service exposes weapons cache, NIS 600,000, discs with
instructions on making rockets, explosives. Hamas cell raising money,
buying weapons from overseas uncovered in Nablus area; over 10 arrested.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3876035,00.html
Hamas: PA responsible for Israeli expulsion orders
Gaza
– Ma'an – Hamas leader Salah Al-Bardawil condemned Israel's military
order threatening to deport Palestinians living the West Bank which came
into effect on Tuesday, and said the Palestinian Authority bore
responsibility for the latest mandate. In a statement, Al-Bardawil said
"no one has the right to make decisions on where Palestinians should
live, for it is their legislative right to live in any part of
Palestine."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=276202
Immaculate Conception? Massad skewers Fayyad
Good news has come from Ramallah: the Palestinian Authority is pregnant,
rather, the un-elected and American-imposed Palestinian Prime Minister
Salaam Fayyad is the one awaiting child. In an interview recently
published, he has announced to Israeli paper Haaretz: “This child’s hour
of birth shall arrive… we estimate that it will be in 2011.” Unlike
female humans, and similar to female whales, the gestation period of
Palestinian men allied with the Israeli occupation extends two years at
the least, as far as Fayyad (the one that Shimon Peres has nicknamed
“the Palestinian Ben Gurion”) declared in a document he published on
August 25, 2009, under the title, “Palestine: Ending the Occupation and
Establishing a State.” He repeated his declaration in Haaretz: “The
Palestinian state’s birthday will be celebrated as a day of joy in the
entire international community.” It seems that we already know the
name of this child, his weight, his ideological color, his physiological
composition. We even know the political make-up and foreign policy of
this child in Fayyad’s belly: a Palestinian statelet that recognizes
Israel as a “Biblical” Jewish state
http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/04/immaculate-conception-massad-skewers-fayyad.html
Political
Developments/Diplomacy
IDF concerned
over `Fayyad intifada`
Hanan Greenberg - Ynet - " Army says
escalation in West Bank violence unacceptable, taking measures to
contain demonstrations against security barrier. `A stone can be
deadly,` senior IDF officer says. "
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=39354
Obama: US can't force Mideast peace deal (AP)
AP - President Barack Obama gave a surprisingly downbeat assessment
Tuesday of the chances for a U.S.-brokered peace settlement in the
Middle East, saying that the United States can't help if Israel and the
Palestinians decide they cannot negotiate.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100413/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_mideast
Obama voices frustration on stalled Mideast peace
(Reuters)
Reuters - President Barack Obama voiced frustration on Tuesday over
stalled Middle East peace efforts, saying Israelis and Palestinians may
not be ready to resolve their conflict no matter how much pressure
Washington exerts.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100413/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_obama
US Senators press Clinton on Mideast peace (AFP)
AFP - An overwhelming majority of US senators urged Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday "to do everything possible" to shore up ties
with Israel and thaw the frozen Middle East peace process.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100413/pl_afp/mideastisraelusdiplomacypoliticssenate
Israel faces more isolation as peace process fades
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM:
The noted absence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the nuclear
summit in Washington underscored Israel's growing isolation as it
lurches from one diplomatic crisis to another. In the year since the
hawkish leader took power, Israel's international ties have been plagued
by tensions with Arab neighbors, spats with Europeans nations
and, critically,
a sharp deterioration of relations with key ally the United States.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=113744#ixzz0l1l0AjCg
Israel assures PA: We won't deport Palestinians to Gaza
Israel
sent
a calming message to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
on Wednesday, assuring him that Israel does not intend to harm residents
of the Gaza Strip currently living in the West Bank, in light of a
recent Haaretz report that a new Israel Defense Forces order will enable
mass deportation from the West Bank.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1163064.html
Other
News
Obama: Israel should sign NPT
American
president lauds leaders who took part in Washington nuke summit, says
world safer as result of conference; responding to question, Obama says
all nations should sign Non-Proliferation Treaty, including Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3875661,00.html
ElBaradei: Israeli occupation only understands force
Former IAEA chief expresses support for Palestinian resistance, calls
Gaza 'world's biggest jail'.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3875636,00.html
Israel
tells its citizens to get out of Sinai now
Israel issued an
"urgent" warning today to its citizens to leave Egypt's Sinai Peninsula
immediately citing "concrete evidence of an expected terrorist attempt
to kidnap Israelis in Sinai."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-tells-its-citizens-to-get-out-of-sinai-now-1943779.html
Israel tourism advert featured picture of Occupied
Territories
The Israeli tourist office has been criticised by the Advertising
Standards Authority (ASA) for including images of the Palestinian-run
West Bank in an advert for a holiday in Israel.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/
israel-tourism-advert-featured-picture-of-occupied-territories-1944066.html
Med water conference ends in failure due to
Israel-Arab row (AFP)
AFP - Talks aimed at adopting a water management strategy for the
Mediterranean failed Tuesday due to a row between Israel and Arab
countries over a reference to the Palestinian territories, participants
said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100413/wl_mideast_afp/
mideasteumediterraneanenvironmentwaterconference
'Palestinians growing less dependent on international
aid'
The Palestinians' dependence on aid is slowly easing but
Israel must lift restrictions blocking their territories' economic
development, an international panel that coordinates assistance said
Tuesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1162741.html
Arab activist to Jerusalem mayor: You're a racist!
An Arab activist from Jaffa
broke through to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat some minutes after the
quarter-finals kick-off between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem in
Bloomfield Stadium. Kemal Agbarieh, chairman of the Ajami neighborhood
committee, called Barkat a pyromaniac who wants to set Jerusalem alight.
"Barkat, you're a racist!" he added.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#drafts/127f9aa59c942e59
Palestinian poet Nahid Ar-Rayyis dies in Gaza
Gaza – Ma'an – Palestinian poet and former Justice Minister Nahid
Ar-Rayyis died in Gaza on Tuesday, aged 73, after being hospitalized for
deteriorating health. Known for his poetry depicting Palestinian
political struggle, Ar-Rayyis was appointed deputy of the Palestinian
Legislative Council under the leadership of late Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat in 1996.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=276181
Analysis/Opinion/Op-ed
My mother, the infiltrator
My mother is an illegal
infiltrator. She has infiltrated her hometown, where her parents were
born and where she was raised. Her activities as an infiltrator are as
varied as they are nefarious: She takes my sister to school, with the
neighbor’s kids. She cooks and cleans her home.
Where is the full-page letter in the NYT signed by
prominent Jews supporting Obama re settlements?, Philip Weiss
During the
AIPAC conference last month, speakers repeatedly called on Obama to have
his differences with Netanyahu in private. The congressional letter
to Hillary Clinton about the faceoff made
the same point: "The proven best way forward is to work closely and
privately together both on areas of agreement and especially on areas of
disagreement." As if the privately-monitored peace process has produced
anything but more settlements.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/04/
where-is-the-full-page-letter-in-the-nyt-signed-by-prominent-jews-supporting-obama-re-settlements.html
Yousef Munayyer, "Ethnic Cleansing by Any Other Name"
The
new
order seems to condemn Palestinians to imprisonment regardless of their
innocence. Read closely the section below: A. The infiltrator shall be
sentenced to a term of imprisonment of seven years. B. The provisions of
Subsection (A) notwithstanding, where an infiltrator has proven his
entry into the area was lawful -- he shall be sentenced to a term of
imprisonment of three years. Effectively, this order makes every
resident of the West Bank subject to treatment as an alleged
"infiltrator" and prosecution/deportation under this order for simply
being unable to produce identification on the spot or not having the
ambiguously defined and potentially unattainable identification
mentioned in the amendments. . . .
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/munayyer130410.html
Jerusalem: heart of conflict, beginning of
reconciliation
The Kairos document reminds Jews, Muslims and Christians alike that
Jerusalem should be the place where God reconciles with his people and
where the creatures of God reconcile with each other. And it affirms the
equal importance of Jerusalem for the Palestinian people, whether
Christian or Muslim. This affirmation, this unity of vision -- not in
the sense that everyone must share the same beliefs, but in the sense
that the freedom to believe must always be shared -- is the document's
greatest strength. Rifat Odeh Kassis comments for The Electronic
Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11200.shtml
Textbooks, Grasshoppers, and the Question of
Incitement”
There is a great opportunity in the next few months to reach a just
peace between Israelis and Palestinians. This may seem a surprising view
just now, but there is a competent and responsible Palestinian
government in place which is serious about establishing a sovereign
Palestinian state alongside Israel. And there is strong public support
for this objective. The evidence is all around you if you come to see
the reality.It would be tragic if Israel were to miss this opportunity —
tragic for Israel as well as for Palestinians. It is profoundly
mysterious to us as to why the current Israeli government seems unable
to envision how the Palestinian state which we are building is the best
way of ensuring a lasting peace. Not to mention righting the many
injustices of its long and costly occupation.
http://intifada-palestine.com/2010/04/textbooks-grasshoppers-and-the-question-of-incitement/
‘The Nakba was our doing’, Susan Landau
Several
years
ago, I introduced the idea of a Nakba commemoration to my progressive
synagogue in Philadelphia. The response was a stunning barometer of the
work ahead. “It’s too bad the Nakba has to fall on Israel Independence
Day. That’s The Day for celebrating the Jewish state. It’s not a day to
talk about Palestinians.” Fast forward six years: an orange flier neatly
tucked inside this month’s synagogue newsletter is headlined “Yom
Ha’Atzma-ut al Naqba Commemoration” on April 16, 2010.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/04/the-nakba-was-our-doing.html
Comment / Israel is to blame for Jerusalem's rising
Arab population
The conduct of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet marks a new
peak in the government's march of stupidity on Jerusalem. In the best
case this march will put Israel in an inferior position when
negotiations with the Palestinians are renewed. In the worst case it
will advance the transformation of Jerusalem into a capital with an Arab
majority of a single state between the Jordan River and the sea.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1162979.html
The U.N. Partition Plan and Arab 'Catastrophe',
Jeremy R. Hammond
In 1947, Great Britain, unable to reconcile its conflicting obligations
to both Jews and Arabs, requested that the United Nations take up the
question of Palestine. In May, the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine
(UNSCOP) was created by a General Assembly resolution. UNSCOP’s purpose
was to investigate the situation in Palestine and “submit such proposals
as it may consider appropriate for the solution of the problem of
Palestine”.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15883
A serious newspaper should not confuse Jews and
Zionists, Philip Weiss
TheToronto
Globe and Mail ran a story yesterday on a Middle East
conference at York University that upset the Israel lobby because it considered
binational visions of Israel/Palestine's future.The scholar and
author Yakov Rabkin responded to the piece in this letter. (Not sure if
Globe and Mail have run it; but Rabkin said I could.)
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/04/a-serious-newspaper-should-not-confuse-jews-and-zionists.html
Film review: Surreal struggle in Michel Khleifi's
"Zindeeq"
Michel Khleifi, the celebrated director of Wedding in Galilee, turns the
camera inward in his 2009 feature film, Zindeeq (the meanings of which
include "atheist" or "freethinker"), featured at the opening of the
annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival this Friday. It is Khleifi's
first feature film in 14 years; his most recent film was the 2003
documentary he filmed in collaboration with Eyal Sivan, Route 181:
Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel. The Electronic Intifada's
Maureen Clare Murphy reviews.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11204.shtml
Film
review:
Uncovering truth and humor in Edward Salem's "Impunity"
Edward
Salem's
is not a conventional documentary in the sense that it doesn't offer
any one or series of narratives for the audience to follow. Impunity is
instead best appreciated as a profound ethnography on the coping
mechanisms of a people under siege and in the aftermath of the massive
destruction of Operation Cast Lead. Jimmy Johnson writes for The
Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11205.shtml
Israelis Need to Lose the Attitude, Joharah Baker for
MIFTAH
Recently, I found myself in a mild altercation with a
middle aged Israeli stranger about Jerusalem. I usually don't indulge in
small talk with average Israelis, mostly because I hardly come into
contact with them. The bulk of my interaction with Israelis is with
their military establishment – policemen patrolling Jerusalem's Old City
streets, soldiers manning the Qalandiya checkpoint, which I cross at
least five days a week or border crossing personnel whenever I travel
via the Allenby Bridge outside the country.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=21992&CategoryId=13
We should support Israel because — er, well, they have
pretty soldiers, Philip Weiss
It must have been hell to be a leading southern editor during
segregation. You would have known that it was profoundly wrong, but it
was your people whose ox was being gored, your friends, your tribe.
Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen has a piece about a documentary
on the occupation where he doesn't really know what he thinks. He uses
Steve Walt as the old punching bag, but notice the flipflopping at the
end of this excerpt. We should support Israel because of shared values?
And shared values are ripping up a different race's olive trees? No
thank you. Why doesn't he talk more genuinely about his own values and
interests, not "America"'s. Why doesn't he say why Jews of his
generation think a Jewish state is necessary? (And yes, the one thing
he's unmuddled about is how goodlooking the soldier is who is forced by
the Palestinians to whack them)
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/04/we-should-support-israel-because-er-well-they-have-pretty-soldiers.html
Iraq
Tuesday:
8
Iraqis Killed, 31 Wounded
At least eight Iraqis were killed
and 31 more were wounded in the latest attacks. In Kurdistan, over 100
children killed during the Saddam era were reburied during a somber
ceremony. Also, the U.S., Turkey and Iraq have drafted a plan to fight
jointly against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) even though the PKK
has been seeking a truce.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/Liquor store bombed in Baghdad, killing 3
BAGHDAD — Militants planted a bomb in an eastern Baghdad liquor store,
killing the Christian owner and two others, while a TV reporter had his
legs blown off by a bomb attached to his car in scattered violence
across the city. The political coalition led by Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, delayed a press conference in which it was
expected to announce an alliance with a rival Shiite bloc, showing that
wrangling continues over forming a new government.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD9F29K804
Attempt
to
bomb Iraq's Imam Ali Shrine foiled
The Iraqi authorities
completely closed al-Najaf airport on Wednesday after forces foiled an
attempt to bomb the Imam Ali Shrine using a plane that was supposed to
take off from the airport, Al Arabiya reported. The attack was planned
to resemble the 9/11 terrorist bombings.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/04/14/105854.html
Iraqi TV Executive Loses Legs In Car-Bombing
Iraqi television executive is reported to have both his legs ripped
off Tuesday when a booby-trap bomb attached to his car exploded in the
Dora district of Iraq's capital Baghdad as he traveled to work, said a
journalist for the channel. Omar Ibrahim Rasheed, director of public
relations for Al-Rasheed television, was taken to al-Yarmouk hospital in
western Baghdad, where a doctor reported his condition to be critical.
http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Id=1268606&SM=1
Chances of Maliki’s reappointment slim
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s chances of being reappointed
appear to be fading as potential coalition partners turn against him a
month after a general election that produced no clear winner.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=
Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=April2010&file=World_News2010041331014.xml
Concerns over Iraqi forces' loyalties
Some Iraqis have
expressed concerns that the security forces care more for political
parties and individuals, than the safety of the country as a whole. Al
Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports from Baghdad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUk4aXH77Sg&feature=youtube_gdata
Iraq Shiite leader Hakim meets Saudi monarch (AFP)
AFP -
Iraqi Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakim has held talks with Saudi King
Abdullah, the latest in a line of Baghdad politicians seeking Riyadh's
support to usher a coalition government more than one month after Iraq's
inconclusive parliamentary polls.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100414/wl_mideast_afp/saudiiraqpolitics
Iraqi
counter-terrorism
chief and Sunni imam killed (AFP)
AFP - A senior officer
from a counter-terrorism unit and a Sunni imam were killed in separate
attacks in Baghdad on Wednesday, an interior ministry
official said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100414/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestbaghdad
Gates assails Internet group over attack video
(Reuters)
Reuters - Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized
the Internet group Wikileaks on Tuesday over its release of a video
showing a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in
Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100413/ts_nm/us_iraq_usa_journalists
Gods and Monsters, Tom Engelhardt
In the
last week, we’ve seen – literally viewed – a modern example of what it
means in our day to act from the heights, and we’ve read about another
striking example of the same. The Web site WikiLeaks
released a decrypted July 2007 video of two U.S. Apache helicopters
attacking Iraqis on a street in Baghdad. At least 12 Iraqis, including
two employees of the news agency Reuters, a photographer and his driver,
were killed
in the incident, and two children, in the vehicle of a good Samaritan
who stopped to pick up casualties and died in the process, were also
wounded.
http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2010/04/13/gods-and-monsters/
Lebanon
Israel crosses Blue-Line technical fence again
BEIRUT: Israel soldiers crossed a technical fence close to the Blue Line
on Tuesday, even as Lebanon complained to the UN over what it saw as an
Israeli violation of international law.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=113764
Israel claims Syria is shipping weapons to
Hezbollah
Israel President Shimon Peres said Tuesday that Syria is shipping
weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The militant group, a powerful
political party in Lebanon, fought Israel to a standstill in a war in
southern Lebanon in 2006.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/mvGtDOG-PRU/
Israel-claims-Syria-is-shipping-weapons-to-Hezbollah
Youth unite in activities commemorating Civil War
BEIRUT:
"We
want to be the light of Lebanon and the peace of Lebanon," shouted
18-year old Dima Maria Nammau, a student at the Sisters of the Sacred
Heart College. Her sentiments were echoed by hundreds of other young
people who gathered on Damascus Road Tuesday to commemorate the passing
of 35 years since the outbreak of the Civil War.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=113755
Lebanese women must have the right to pass on
nationality to their children
An appeal court is to decide whether to overturn a landmark ruling
allowing the children of Samira Soueidan to obtain Lebanese
nationality. Amnesty International has urged the Lebanese authorities
not to take any step to overturn a landmark court ruling allowing a
woman to pass on her nationality to her children.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/
lebanese-women-must-have-right-pass-nationality-their-children-2010-04-13
Iran
Lieberman: U.S. Should Attack Iran's Nuclear Program
If All Else Fails
Sen. Joe Lieberman says the world is at a "turning point in history,"
and the United States should begin preparing plans to attack Iran's
nuclear program — and use that option if all diplomatic and other means
fail.
http://newsmax.com/Headline/
lieberman-iran-nuclear-attack/2010/04/12/id/355512?s=al&promo_code=9BDE-1
'West has no evidence against Iran'
Turkish
Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says there is no evidence indicating that
Iran's nuclear activities include efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123174§ionid=351020104
China says sanction cannot resolve Iran nuclear
issue
China said here Tuesday sanctions and pressure cannot fundamentally
resolve the Iran nuclear issue while reiterating its adherence to a
dual-track strategy.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-04/13/c_13249560.htm
Sarkozy: Israel strike against Iran would be
disastrous
French President Nicolas Sarkozy told the American
news network CBS on Tuesday that an Israeli military attack against Iran
would be "disastrous" and that Israel must understand that "we are
determined to ensure its security."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1162588.html
Medvedev: Israeli strike on Iran could spark global
catastrophe
An Israeli strike of Iran's nuclear facilities could spark a nuclear
conflict, which could spiral into a global catastrophe, Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev told ABC on Monday, adding that he supported
what he called "smart" sanctions on Tehran as part of attempt to make it
abandon its nuclear program.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1162462.html
'US nuke threat is state terrorism'
Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammad Khazaee describes the
US threat of using nuclear weapons against other countries as state
terrorism.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123170§ionid=351020101
U.S.
and Other World News
ElBaradei urges election boycott - Egyptian activist
CAIRO: An emerging opposition leader in Egypt and former head of the
UN's nuclear watchdog agency has called for a boycott of the upcoming
elections, an Egyptian activist said on Monday. Mohamed ElBaradei could
not be reached for comment but his call would be the toughest challenge
he has yet to issue to Egyptian President Husni Mubarak's regime
since he started his campaign for political reform last month.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=113738#ixzz0l1lfomGN
The untold story of women's rights in EgyptIn
a
report published last month on violent crimes committed against women
in 2009, Karam Saber Ibrahim, executive director of the Land Center for
Human Rights, a Cairo-based non-governmental organization, spoke of a
belief that some Egyptians continue to hold, that “women are
fundamentally lacking … They are not complete, because they are not
men.” Cleric's support for men and women mingling in
public sparks furor in Saudi Arabia
Sheikh Ahmed al-Ghamdi, a Saudi cleric in the holy city of Mecca,
recently declared that nothing in Islam bars men and women mingling in
public places like schools and offices. For the first time in decades,
religious scholars are debating the previously untouchable hallmark of
gender segregation.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/vpJjLuYngiY/
Cleric-s-support-for-men-and-women-mingling-in-public-sparks-furor-in-Saudi-Arabia
Medea Benjamin: Peace Activists Extend an Olive
Branch to the Tea Party to Talk About WarOn Tax Day, Tea
Party members from around the country will descend
on the nation's capitol to "protest big government and support lower
taxes, less government and more freedom. CODEPINK, a
women-led peace movement
advocating an end to war and militarism, will be sending some
representatives. While we come from the opposite end of the political
spectrum and don't support the goals and tactics of the Tea Party, there
is an area where we are seeking common ground: endless wars and
militarism.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/medea-benjamin/peace-activists-extend-an_b_535772.html
Liberals Smear Wikileaks, Justin RaimondoActivists
intent
on releasing evidence of crimes committed by a powerful government are
harassed and followed by police and intelligence agents: a
restaurant in which they are meeting comes under surveillance, and,
subsequently, one of their number is detained by the police for 21
hours.
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/04/13/liberals-smear-wikileaks/ |
| For further information contact Shadi Fadda |
|
|
