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Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
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Land theft / Wall / Settlers
Israel deploys forces at Jeruslaem anti-eviction
rally
Some 100 Israeli and Palestinian protesters amassed in
the Palestinian
neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem on Friday, calling for an
end to settlement activity and forced eviction of Palestinians from
their homes. Amidst a heavy police and border guard presence,
protesters and evicted families gathered to denounce both Israeli
policy in Sheikh Jarrah and the separation wall's route in Bil'in,
which marked five years of anti-wall demonstrations on Friday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262689
Over
a thousand demonstrators marked five years of struggle in Bil`in by
dismantling the wall (ISM)
(with video) One week following
the victory forcing Israel to begin rerouting the
path of the Wall, and under the shadow of an unprecedented wave of
repression against the popular struggle, over a thousand protesters
took part in a demonstration at the west Bank village of Bil`in,
marking five years of struggle there. At the height of the
demonstration dozens of protesters stormed the Barrier, toppled some 40
meters of it and crossed to village’s lands. Protesters also managed to
take over a military post adjacent to the path of the Wall for a short
time ... Demonstrations against the Wall and settlement expansion also
took
place today in the villages of al Ma`sara, south of Bethlehem, Ni`lin
and Nabi Saleh, where 10 protesters were hit by rubber-coated bullets,
including a Swedish national who was struck in the mouth.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11458
Peaceful
Al Ma`sara demonstration faces continued aggression (ISM)
(with video) The peaceful demonstration in the Occupied West Bank
village of Al
Ma`sara by Palestinians and Internationals was aggressively dispersed
using tear gas & sound bombs, today, by Israeli Occupation Forces
(IOF) ... Sound grenades were used at very close range by the IOF to
displace the
press and international activists, and physical aggression was used
against both an ISM member and a Palestinian man. An ISM member also
filmed a soldier firing tear-gas canisters directly into the crowd at
head level, which included young children.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/02/11473
Bil`in
protesters dismantle section of West Bank separation barrier
Demonstrators participating in rally protesting the
Israel's West Bank separation fence dismantled a section of the barrier
on Friday, during a rally marking five years since the beginning of the
Bil'in protests.
About a thousand people took part in the rally, which was also
attended by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Palestinian
parliament member Mustafa Barghouti as well as Fatah strongman Nabil
Shaath.
During the rally several protesters managed to cross the barrier,
placing a Palestinian flag on top of an Israel Defense Forces outpost,
while others dismantled a 30-meter section of the fence itself. IDF
sources claimed that the fence's repair could cost several hundred
thousand NIS.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1151032.html
Beit Ummad sit-in tear-gassed by Israeli forces
After
two weeks of denying the use of riot dispersal mechanisms against
protesters in Beit Ummar, an Israeli army spokesman confirmed the
use of tear gas and sound bombs on Palestinian and Israeli protesters
Friday. A group of farmers, Beit Ummar residents and solidarity
activists
staged a sit-in outside the illegal Israeli settlement of Karmi Zur,
north of Hebron, and were asked to leave by Israeli troops, the
military confirmed. Spokesman for the Palestinian Solidarity Project
Mohammad Awad said the
group was quietly voicing dissent against "the Israeli policy that
supports the settlers by allowing them to confiscate more of the town’s
land.” The Israeli spokesman said the army considered the sit-in
a "provocation" and asked the group to leave. When they refused, he
said, forces were "afraid the situation would develop" into violent
actions against the settlers, and used "riot dispersal" methods against
the group.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262661
Israeli soldiers stop Palestinian farmers from
reaching their land
West Bank, February 20, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - Israeli occupation
authorities Saturday afternoon prevented Palestinian farmers from
reaching their land in Khirbat Safa, north of Hebron in the West Bank
near the Bait Ayin settlement ... According to Awad, Israeli soldiers
fired gas and sound bombs on the roofs of the houses, breaking the
windows. The Israeli attack resulted in the injury of many citizens,
including a sick child with asthma. The occupation forces prevented
medical team from reaching the child. Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers tried
to attack a boy, Ahmed Ali, and put their guns to his head.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/west-bank/4266-
israeli-soldiers-stop-palestinian-farmers-from-reaching-land
Al Jazeera video: Barrier imprisons West Bank
village
Israel's separation barrier has generated anger and protests all
over the Palestinian territories ... Al-Nu'man village was
cut off from Jerusalem and the rest of
the West Bank in 2003 and it is walled-in on three sides by the West
Bank separation barrier, which was illegally constructed beyond the
Green Line drawn after the 1949 Arab-Israeli war. A
permanent checkpoint is now the only entrance to and from the village. Al
Jazeera's Nour Odeh reports.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/20102208759184330.html
Fayyad promises support to villages beyond the wall
One of the villages benefiting from Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's $58
million in development projects, officially opened in Jenin
Thursday, was served with nine demolition warnings as the Palestinian
official delivered congratulatory speeches. "We will not stop
work on the homes," head of the Barta`a Sharqiya village council
Ghassan Qabbaha said Friday, "in fact, we have hired lawyers to make
sure the homes have permits, and we are filing a petition to have more
of the village land included in 'Area B.'"
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262628
Don't deny peaceful protests in West Bank / Bill
Fletcher, Jr. (CNN)
New York (CNN) 17 Feb -- Every year, beginning with the January
birthday celebrations for the Rev. Martin Luther King and moving
through Black History Month in February, Americans and others revisit
the history, role and significance of the black freedom movement in the
United States. But there is a frequent tendency to
misrepresent the lessons of that movement and apply them to other
social movements overseas in a way that misses the mark. This has been
happening increasingly with the historical lessons that are being
misapplied to the Palestinian freedom movement. It has become
almost a cliché, yet people, including Irish rocker Bono, continue to
wield King's name when they bemoan the alleged absence of his like
among the Palestinians. It seems no matter what Palestinian activists
do, they are condemned as terrorists.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/02/16/fletcher.palestinians.protest/index.html
Palestinians of Yaffa face settlers as neighbors
Yaffa
- Graffiti scrawled on walls around the mixed Jewish and Arab
town of Yaffa in central Israel last week exclaimed: "Settlers, keep
out" and "Yaffa is not Hebron." Yaffa is home to what remains of
a Palestinian community near what is now the bustling coastal
metropolis of Tel Aviv. Palestinian residents say their neighborhood
has become the latest battleground for an attempted takeover by
extremist Jews, a dynamic familiar from West Bank cities like Hebron,
where Zionist Israelis move into Palestinian homes under the cover of
armed soldiers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=261841
Christian monitoring group tracks rise in settler
violence
Bethlehem - A "rise in violence against Palestinian shepherds
shows settler-military collaboration," the a report from the
Hebron-based Christian Peacemaker Teams alleged Friday. The group, with
the motto of "getting in the way" of Israeli human
rights abuses in target areas in the southern West Bank, has members
stationed in Hebron and the village of At-Tuwani, 25 kilometers south
of the city. The observers said they had been notified of attacks
against Palestinians by setters 19 times in the last 19 days. "In
my experience, its typical for there to be one major incident every
week," one field worker said, noting the recent attacks were a
"distinct increase in activity."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262707
IDF
colonel has harsh words for settlement leadership
The commander of the Israel Defense Forces in the
northern West Bank, Col. Itzik Bar, had harsh words for the settlement
leadership following stone-throwing attacks Wednesday by settler youth
on IDF soldiers conducting an anti-terror exercise in the settlement of
Yitzhar ... According to Yitzhar's spokesman, "under cover
of an
exercise simulating terrorist incursion" the army tried to destroy a
building and a piece of construction equipment.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150926.html
Violence / Aggression
Israel launches air attack on central Gaza; clashes
reported
Three Palestinians were injured when Israeli
helicopters fired on a
group of resistance fighters near the central Gaza military base
Kissufim following reports of clashes in the area early Saturday
morning. Security sources said armored Israeli vehicles at
Kissufim had fired shells at areas in the south-central border region,
following an attack on the base by resistance fighters. Witnesses said
the fighters were less than 100 meters away from the military post.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262715
Israeli soldiers shoot and injure alleged car thieves
in Yatta
Officials in Yatta denied Israeli allegations that
two men injured by
soldiers in the southernmost region of the West Bank on Saturday were
attempting to steal cars from an Israeli settlement police impound lot.
Yatta leaders said the two men were attempting to enter Israel
for work. They were driving in an Israeli-plated car towards the
borders of the West Bank, officials said, when soldiers tried to stop
the the vehicle.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262750
3 minors tortured by IOF in Jerusalem
Jerusalem, February 20, 2010 (Pal Telegraph)- B'Tselem, the Israeli
Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories,
revealed that members of Israeli police and intelligence, accompanied
by gunmen from Israeli border guards, arrested minors aged between 12
and 15 years, residents of Silwan neighborhood in occupied East
Jerusalem. It said that the minors were forced out of their homes for
interrogation in the police station 'Compound' on suspicion of throwing
stones. Fathers of the minors were prevented from accompanying their
children.
The children stated that interrogators had beaten and threatened them
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/west-bank/4263-3-minors-tortured-by-iof-in-jerusalem
Detention
3 Jerusalemites detained in Old City
Israeli
forces detained three Palestinians and assaulted a woman
following a brawl between Israeli troops and Palestinians in the Old
City of Jerusalem. Locals said confrontations began when
troops approached the Palestinians and beat two brothers, Fadi and
Shadi Muhammad Al-Khatib. Amir Al-Bary was detained and his mother was
assaulted when trying to intervene, and was taken to the closest
hospital, they said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262570
Islamic Jihad detainee marks 33rd year in Israeli
jail
...Ahmad Abdel Rahman Abu Hasirah, 58, from Gaza, was detained and
accused
of hurling explosives at Israeli military jeeps in the 1970s, according
to the centre. Additionally, Ahrar reported that Israeli
authorities released the director of the Detainees Support Association
in Hebron on Thursday afternoon, following a lengthy administrative
detention sentence. Ahmad Za'atari, 34, served 30 consecutive
months in administrative detention, and was detained on 28 August 2007
from his Hebron home
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262594
An-Najah physics prof 'slowly dying' in Israeli
prison
Tulkarem - Ma'an - The Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human
Rights called attention to the urgent case of a 52-year-old Physics
Professor in an Israeli prison suffering from a bevy of untreated
medical problems, including kidney disease and high blood pressure, a
report said. Director of the center, Fuad Al-Khufesh, described the
failure of
Israeli prison officials to treat the man as "medical negligence," and
said Israel would be held accountable for his health and well being.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262809
Wife of Al-Birreh mayor released by Israeli authorities
An Israeli military court released the wife of the mayor of Al-Birreh,
Ramallah, on bail Friday. Muntaha
At-Tawil was detained two weeks earlier and taken to Telmond prison.
According to At-Tawil's lawyer, the court had denied her release a week
ago.
At-Tawil
was detained in an early morning raid, after Israeli forces searched
her home, the Al-Birreh Municipal Council said. Upon her detention, an
Israeli military spokesman told Ma'an that
At-Tawil was detained because of her involvement in activities "in the
Hamas terrorist organization."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262615
Blockade / Siege / Humanitarian issues
Gaza City in darkness
(with
photos) Middle East Monitor 19 Feb - Last night the children of the
beleaguered Gaza strip held a candlelit protest on the streets of a
Gaza City plunged into darkness as a result of the devastating and
continued Israeli-imposed and Egyptian-maintained siege of the area.
http://www.uruknet.de/index.php?p=m63448&hd=&size=1&l=e
EU: Funds for Gaza fuel reached PA
BRUSSELS, (PIC)-- The European Union (EU) has denied slashing funds
allocated for financing the fuel purchases necessary to operate the
Gaza power station, affirming that the funds were paid to the PA in
Ramallah in full ... official messages clearly stated that the EU did
not reduce the amount
of funds or halt them but rather the PA in Ramallah last November asked
that the money be deposited with it and asked the EU to leave it to
Ramallah to decide where to spend those funds according to priorities.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Egyptian security destroys two Gaza tunnels
Explosions, believed to be the sound of Egyptian security forces
imploding smuggling tunnels, were heard along the Rafah border on
Friday evening. The blasts were heard by residents of the
Egyptian side of the As-Salam neighborhood of the city of Rafah, which
straddles the sensitive border with the Gaza Strip. Ma’an learned that
Egyptian security forces detonated explosives in two such tunnels.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262678
Smuggling tunnel business on severe decline
Gaza
markets saturated with goods smuggled in through
underground tunnels from Egypt have caused retailers to slash prices,
often to below cost, tunnel operators said Wednesday. As a
result in the margin shrinkage, dozens of tunnels have ceased
operations and hundreds of young men in Gaza have lost their only
source of income, they said. Owners of some smuggling tunnels in the
south of the Strip said the
subterranean steel wall Egypt continues to build along the border has
little to do with the tunnel closures, but rather said the business
became less lucrative.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262126
In Gaza video:
from the farmers themselves
testimonies of farmers’ losses under Israeli aggressions and Zionist
policies of land and water annexation.
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/
Gaza's youngest generation to see to the moon
A Palestinian astronomer who returned to Gaza after Israel's Operation
Cast Lead killed his son and demolished his home, brought with him the
means to show children there is a world outside the Strip. Dozens
of children will soon be stargazing under the supervision of Gaza-born
astrophysicist Suleiman Baraka, a former employee of the US space
agency NASA. Baraka's group will have the help of a telescope imported
to Gaza with the help of the French Consulate General in Jerusalem and
the French Cultural Center.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262680
Refugees
Palestinian refugees in Cyprus say situation dire
Palestinian
refugees who fled Iraq following the war for Cyprus spoke
of their "worsening" situation to a delegation from Ramallah taking
part in an international karate tournament in the country's capital,
Limasol ... "After we arrived in Larnaka, Cyprus agreed to grant us
temporary
asylum for humanitarian reasons, without giving us citizenship.
However, our situation worsened gradually as we weren’t allowed to work
at all. The absence of any Palestinian support, even moral, added to
our suffering and we were left alone to face our fate."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262810
Extra-judicial killings
Israel
believes Dubai passport row won't cause major crisis
"At
this stage, there is no evidence linking Israel
to the incident, and if that continues, the affair will subside
quickly," one senior Israeli official predicted. Nevertheless, he
added, Israeli diplomats and intelligence personnel will hold
additional conversations about the case with their British counterparts
over the next few days.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1151016.html
French PM condemns Dubai assassination of Hamas man
(Reuters)
DAMASCUS, Feb 20 (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on
Saturday condemned the assassination of a Hamas militant in Dubai and
called for the truth about the killing to be established. Dubai's
police chief has said he believes Mossad, the Israeli secret service,
was involved in last month's killing.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE61J07N.htm
Ex-Fatah members 'may have led Mossad assassins to
their victim'
Two Palestinians suspected of collaborating
with Israel could provide the first concrete evidence linking Tel Aviv
to the assassination of a senior Hamas leader ... Extra officers from
the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), which is leading the British
investigation, arrived in Dubai yesterday to work with an established
team already posted there ... The FBI also said that it was prepared to
get involved in the investigation after the revelation that some of the
suspects used credit cards fraudulently obtained in the US.
The British Embassy in Tel Aviv, meanwhile, said that it had contacted
the six British-Israelis whose identities were stolen to offer them new
biometric passports.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article7034183.ece
Hamas defends Fatah over Mabhouh assassination charge
he Israeli intelligence agency Mossad is entirely responsible for the
assassination of Hamas Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month, party
officials announced Saturday ... [Hamas spokesman Salah] Al-Bardawil
said that while members of the alleged Israeli hit-squad,
traveling on European passports, were reportedly affiliated to Fatah,
"the fact that members of the PA security services were involved, is
not proof enough to directly accuse Fatah or the PA of complicity."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262833
Hamas: Operative slain in Dubai put himself at risk
A
Hamas legislator on Saturday said Hamas strongman
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was assassinated in a Dubai hotel last month,
put himself at risk by booking his trip through the Internet.
The Hamas legislator, Salah Bardawil, also told a news conference
Saturday that Mabhouh took additional risk by informing his Gaza family
by telephone at which hotel he would be staying.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1151048.html
Death
knell for targeted killings? / Yossi Melman
Despite regional hostility and suspicion, for over
four decades agents from Israel?s intelligence community − special
units and the Mossad − have had no trouble penetrating Arab capitals.
There have been dozens of assassination missions, from the 1979 killing
of Ali Hassan Salameh in Beirut to Imad Mughniyeh's assassination in
2008 (which Israel never claimed responsibility for) and other
successful intelligence operations attributed to Israel ...
The most important lesson to be learned from the
assassination in Dubai is that it was possibly one of the last
operations of its kind. The use of sophisticated security cameras and
the introduction of biometric measures of identification are changing
the rules of the game in the world of spooks.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150896.html
Will
biometric passports limit the reach of Israel's intelligence? /
Jonathan Lis
The affair of the forged foreign passports used by
the hit team in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh has raised
difficult questions regarding the expected implementation of a
biometric passport system in Israel. Opponents of the database's
establishment fear, among other things,
that it might affect Israel's ability to run intelligence agents
abroad. Thus, for example, the opponents say if protected biometric
information leaks to foreign countries, no wigs, disguises or even
surgery to change identities will help. Every Israeli agent who gives
his fingerprint at a biometric border control station is liable to be
in danger of exposure.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150914.html
This is no ripping yarn, but a murder to fan more
conflict / Seumas Milne
Imagine for a moment what the reaction would be if Iranian
intelligence was almost universally believed to have assassinated a
leader of one of the organisations fighting the Tehran government in a
western-friendly state. Then consider how Britain, let alone the US,
might respond if the killers had carried out the operation using
forged or stolen passports of citizens of four European states,
including Britain, with dual Iranian nationality. You can be sure it
would have triggered a major international storm, stentorian
declarations about the threat of state-sponsored terrorism, and
perhaps a debate at the UN security council, with demands for harsher
sanctions against an increasingly dangerous Islamic republic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/18/dubai-hamas-murder-uk-israeli-ambassador
The war underground / Aluf Benn
Israelis
enjoy a love-hate relationship with the intelligence
service, Mossad. When they succeed in another James Bond-style
operation, we sing their praises as an example of all good things
Israeli: innovation, daring, outsmarting the competition. But when they
screw up, we are quick to identify all of our social maladies:
arrogance, carelessness, disregarding the rules.The assassination
of the Hamas operative
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai serves as a rare example of both attitudes
... The reaction at home was swift. Dagan, yesterday's hero, is now
portrayed as a schlemiel.
Even under the wraps of censorship, commentators called for Dagan's
ouster and blamed the government for stealing the identities of
civilians and putting sensitive foreign relations at risk.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/19/mossad-israel-assassinations-dubai-hamas
Cartoonists in Israel take aim at Mossad
Political cartoonists working for Israeli newspapers this week turned
their attention away from Rafiq Husseini, the Palestinian Authority
official who disgraced by a sex tape. The new target of the
cartoonists is a subject that is usually off-limits: Mossad. The shift
in focus took place as suspicion mounted that the spy agency was
involved in the assassination in January of Hamas leader Mahmoud
Al-Mabhouh in Dubai. The details of the plot itself provided ample fare
for satire
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262460
Political developments / Diplomacy
Blockade should be circumvented by the US:
Congressman Brian Baird
The following is a statement from
the office of US Congressman Brian Baird, a Democrat elected in
Washington State. ...Here is what I propose: Special envoy
Mitchell should visit Gaza to determine first-hand what the humanitarian
needs there are. The
blockade should be circumvented by the United States; much like we did
when we circumvented the Berlin Blockade. We would accomplish this
using roll-on/off ships supplying the needed material for Palestinians
to rebuild their society. We must find a just and lasting peace not with
only words but actions.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262724
Barghouti meets with US congressman, mayor of Geneva
Secretary-General
of the Palestinian National Initiative party Mustafa
Barghouti held meetings with a member of the US congress and the mayor
of Geneva on Saturday, to discuss Palestinian current
events. During a meeting with Congressman Rick Berg, Barghouti
spoke of Israeli settlement expansion and apartheid policy in the
occupied Palestinian territories, calling for the adoption of a
national strategy combining popular resistance and national
steadfastness.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262802
Abbas to meet Gadaffi Sunday, Sarkozy Monday,
Al-Assad next week
The visits are likely to gain regional support for Palestinian
positions demanding a recognition of a Palestinian state on the 1967
borders, and the total halt of Israeli settlement construction before
the Palestinian leadership returns to peace talks with Israel. Gaddafi
is the head of the 53-member African Union of States, and top
Libyan diplomat Ali Treki is currently the head of the UN General
Assembly in New York.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262717
French FM sees 'Palestinian state without borders'
France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he could envision the
recognition of a Palestinian state even before its borders are
demarcated, in a an interview to appear Saturday, AFP reported.
Kouchner said that economic and institutional development in the West
Bank constitutes "the building of a reality."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262691
Top UN offical: Abbas must negotiate
A
senior UN official placed onus on President Mahmoud Abbas to enter
US-brokered negotiations with Israel on Thursday. "We
remain deeply concerned at the current stalemate," said B Lynn Pascoe,
the UN's undersecretary-general for political affairs, in a briefing to
the Security Council on Thursday morning.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262671
Other news
BBC Video: West Bank oligarch supporting Palestinian economy
The investments of one very wealthy man in the West Bank is responsible
for a third of the Palestinian economy. Munib al-Masri keeps an eye on
his holdings in oil, gas, telecommunications and hotels from a mock
renaissance palace in the city of Nablus. Jon Donnison reports from
Nablus.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8524781.stm
PWA obtains Israeli approval for suspended water
projects
Ramallah – Ma'an – Dozens of wells in West Bank areas under full
Israeli military and civilian control can be dug and rehabilitated
following the release of a suspension order Wednesday, that had stalled
the projects for years. Head of of the Bilateral Joint
Technical Committee Jihad Bashir said the Palestinian Water Authority
(PWA) said all the suspended projects were in "Area C."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262080
Israel offers Egypt to build solar power stations in
Sinai
Egypt would provide the land for solar power
plants
in the Sinai, while Israel would provide the technology and operate the
facilities. This would be similar to the Desertech initiative to
provide 15% of Europe's energy needs by 2050 by building solar power
plants in North Africa.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150950.html
Hebron: Firm plans pink women-only taxis
A Palestinian company is planning to bring women-only taxis – a
phenomenon already popular in Beirut and elsewhere – to the
conservative West Bank city of Hebron. Hazem At-Takrawi, the
director of the Ishraqat training and development firm, said on Monday
that his company is already training women to drive the female-only
cabs ... Asked whether Hebron and Palestinians in general would accept
the idea,
At-Takrawi said the company already commissioned a survey that found
that 95% of Palestinians would accept the new cabs.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=261638
Analysis / Opinion / Testimony
The lives of others / Ilana Hammerman
...Over and
over, I hear the words: "Like animals, like
sheep they push us into fences, we're treated worse than dogs." Their
eyes are not always bleary, not even always angry. Just eyes of tired
people resigned to their fate - and now I can no longer move back and
disengage my eyes from theirs. I know that at this very hour, today and
every day, hundreds and
thousands of other people are crammed between fences and within
revolving gates at the Qalandiyah checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, and
at the checkpoint near Tul Karm, called "Ephraim Gate." ... Why
am I telling all this? In order to document and
bear witness. Because time and again I encounter [Israeli] people who
are totally
ignorant of these things, which take place day in and day out a few
kilometers from their homes and sometimes under their very noses.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150824.html
Haaretz editorial: The Ministry for Isolating Israel
The stupidity that has overtaken the Foreign Ministry
under the leadership of Avigdor Lieberman and Danny Ayalon sank to a
new low this week. When a delegation of American congressmen, who came
to Israel at the initiative of the leftist Jewish lobby J Street, asked
to meet with senior Foreign Ministry officials in Jerusalem they
encountered obstacles and delays ... It is hard to imagine a
more harmful and unnecessary
blow to Israel's foreign relations than boycotting U.S. congressmen and
their escorts from a Jewish organization.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150942.html
After
Dubai, I envy the people who hate Israel / Bradley Burston
At times like these, I envy the people who passionately, frankly,
with all their hearts, despise Israel. Hate Israel enough, and the
Jewish state's failings and blunders,
its self-satisfied blindness and its resultant self-destructive
policies, cause not pain, but delight.
Hate Israel enough, and you're spared all inclination to try to fix
what's wrong, to work to set it right. On the contrary, hate Israel
enough, and you may come to believe not only that that the country
deserves to be punished to the point of replacement by a different
state - Israel may well do the job all by itself. This is one of those
times.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150799.html
Western media, not Israeli hasbara / Ramzy Baroud
With the dreadful threat of yet another Israeli war in the Middle East
looming, Israeli propaganda machine is likely to go into full gear. In
fact, trial balloons have already been sent out bearing supposedly
unrehearsed comments by former Israeli Army general and current
Minister Yossi Peled, suggesting that another war is on its way ...
Historically, Israel has, with one understandable exception, determined
the time and place of all of its wars with the Arabs. The only time
Israeli forces were attacked in 1973 involved an Arab attempt to regain
territories that were captured by Israel in 1967.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262582
Beyond the Mabhuh affair / Khalid Amayreh
...First, the resistance movements should re-assert their deterrence
vis-à-vis the Zionist regime ... This effort shouldn’t be confined to
military resistance. Political and
diplomatic efforts can be as effective in deterring the Zionists. For
example, the failure of the Mossad to murder Khalid Mashal in Amman
nearly 12 years ago made the Israeli government refrain from carrying
out assassinations within Jordanian territory. I am not suggesting that
Israel is not deploying Mossad agents in Jordan, obviously there are
many. However, ever since that botched attempt, the Mossad has more or
less behaved itself, very much thanks to the exemplary manner in which
the late King Hussein reacted to the failed murderous terrorist act.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Dubai hit - another move in the Israel-Iran cold war /
Aluf Benn
...The current Israeli-Iranian hostilities
are
reminiscent of the U.S.-Soviet Cold War, and Israel's war for influence
against Gamal Abdel Nasser's Egypt in the 1950s and '60s, and against
Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization in the '70s and the
'80s. They have similar characteristics: profound ideological rejection
of the foe, threats against its existence, an arms race, clandestine
global activity, supplying arms to allies, diplomatic alliances with
regional and global powers, an economic boycott and diplomatic
isolation.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150897.html
Study: Occupation, internal violence threatens
women's safety
The sacrifices Palestinian women have made for
the larger political
struggle have gone largely unnoticed, Geneva Centre for Democratic
Control of Armed Forces Ronald Fredric said last week. The centre, which
recently published a report, titled Palestinian Women and Security:
Why Palestinian Women and Girls Do Not Feel Secure shared its
findings with a group of women, in Ramallah on Wednesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=262413
Iraq, other Mideast
Friday: 2 Iraqis killed, 1 wounded
Excerpt: The first official boycott of March 7 elections was called
when MP Mutlaq took himself and his party out of the running. The prayer
day
was otherwise fairly quiet with only two Iraqis having been reported
killed
while a third Iraqi was wounded. Also, Iraq has rejected
international calls to end its death penalty.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/02/19/friday-2-iraqis-killed-1-wounded/
Yemen arrests 16 separatists in southern provinces
(Reuters)
SANAA - Security forces arrested 16 people late on
Friday in three provinces in southern Yemen where the government is
facing a secessionist movement, accusing them of illegal separatist
activities, official sources said ... In a separate incident earlier on
Friday, security sources said
separatists killed the director of a criminal investigations unit in an
ambush on his vehicle. Another person died and three were injured in
the shooting.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE61J01S.htm
Syria dismisses IAEA call for more inspector access
(Reuters)
FM Moallem rejects
recommendation to adopt UN nuclear watchdog's Additional Protocol,
which permits unfettered inspections beyond declared nuclear site.
'Unlike Israel, our program is peaceful,' he says
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3851880,00.html
Syria's Assad: from pariah to power broker / Chris
Phillips
It's a remarkable recovery in political and economic
fortune that sees Syria and Assad being courted by the west and Arabs
alike
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/17/syria-assad-pariah-power-broker
U.S. and other world news
IMEU:
Credit Himes for stance on Gaza / Abbas F. Zuaiter
A thoughtful and measured letter from members of Congress
to President
Obama calling for easing the siege on Gaza has recently been subjected
to unfair and misleading criticism. The letter, signed by Congressman
Jim Himes and over 50 other members of the U.S. Congress, has been
maligned as pressuring "Israel to loosen security measures implemented
to counter the threat from terrorism originating from the Gaza strip."
The letter does no such thing.
http://imeu.net/news/article0018474.shtml
Three
men charged with financing Hezbollah in Miami (AP)
Three men were charged in an indictment unsealed
Friday with illegally exporting electronics and video games to a South
American shopping center that U.S. officials claim funnels money to the
Hezbollah militant group.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1151040.html
High Court to revisit terrorism support law
Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider one of the most
consequential cases to arise from the 'global war on terror'. The
Supreme Court case, originally brought in 1998, challenges the
constitutionality of the law that makes it a crime to provide 'material
support' to groups the administration has designated as 'terrorist'.
It will test whether a person in the U.S. may be held criminally
liable for speech advocating lawful, nonviolent activity that supports
an organization on the government’s terrorist list.
http://original.antiwar.com/fisher/2010/02/19/high-court-to-revisit-terrorism-support-law/
Omar Al-Deghayes: My Guantanamo nightmare
London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Omar Al-Deghayes, the Libyan national living
in Britain, considers his six-year incarceration in Oscar Block and
Fifth Block in Guantanamo as a service to God. He does not harbor any
ill will towards his jailers and views those days as a trial and
tribulation. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat in London,
Al-Deghayes recounts how he lost sight in his right eye while in
detention and says that three of his American guards came to London to
apologize to him after they left their military service for their
treatment of the prisoners, as he says.
http://www.uruknet.de/index.php?p=m63441&hd=&size=1&l=e |
| For further information contact Shadi Fadda |
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