Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~

Land Theft and Destruction
IOA plans to expand Abu Ghunaim settlement in OJ
The IOA in complete disregard of international laws is going ahead in its construction plans in occupied Jerusalem and is expected to endorse a new expansion in Abu Ghunaim settlement on Monday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

IOA confiscate Palestinian land in Ramallah
The IOA has ordered the confiscation of 49 dunums of Palestinian land in Beitonia village, Ramallah district, in order to construct a new bypass road linking Jerusalem to Modi'in settlement.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Israel: No building restrictions in east Jerusalem (AP)
AP - Israel will not restrict construction in east Jerusalem, Israel's prime minister said Sunday hours before he left for Washington, despite a clear U.S. demand that building there must stop and a crisis in relations between the two longtime allies.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100322/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians


'US knew about settlements'
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said yesterday that he had told Washington in writing just before heading for talks with the US President, Barack Obama, that he would not stop Jewish settlement around Jerusalem.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-knew-about-settlements-1925045.html


Activism/Solidarity/Boycott,Sanctions and Divestment
Huwaida depicts her detention
an update from Huwaida on the happenings at Nabi Saleh last Friday, the conditions of her arrest along with 2 Palestinians (Amjad & Omar) and on the injury of the American activist (Ellen).
http://groups.google.com/group/newprofile/browse_thread/thread/c6240a06ef1f085c?pli=1


Bethlehem district: al Ma’sara and al Walaja defend their lands and homes
March 20th, 2010-- While in al Walaja Palestinians and internationals gathered to defend two homes under demolition order, the protest in al Ma'sara was dedicated to the memory of Rachel Corrie, who had tried to prevent a home demolition in Gaza when a bulldozer of the Israeli military ran over her body seven years ago.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2205.shtml


Moroccans organize massive demonstrations in support of the Aqsa
The justice and charity group organized 33 marches in various Moroccan cities after the Friday congregation in support of occupied Jerusalem and its holy Aqsa Mosque in face of Israeli attacks.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Open letter in defence of the right to boycott Israel
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign - "It is no more anti-Semitic to boycott Israel to end the occupation of Palestine than it was anti-white to boycott South Africa to end apartheid. Israel has a long history of deflecting criticism of its policies by calling its critics anti-semitic — a tactic typical of those who defend the indefensible"
http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3254:
open-letter-in-defence-of-the-right-to-boycott-israel&catid=332:trial&Itemid=200248


Provocation/Violence and Aggression Against Palestinians
Israeli warplanes bomb Gaza: officials (AFP)
AFP - Israeli warplanes struck the southern part of the Gaza Strip in an overnight raid following Palestinian rocket fire, Palestinian witnesses and the Israeli military said Monday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100322/wl_afp/mideastconflictgaza

Four Palestinian youth killed in less that 24 hours
March 21st, 2010-- Today, two 19-year old boys, Muhammad Faysal and Salah Muhammad Qawariq, were shot dead by Israeli military close to their village Awarta, south of Nablus. Nablus district has paid a high price for international recognition of role of popular resistance.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2209.shtml


Two Palestinian Teenagers Killed In Iraq Burin: Army Denies Using Live Ammunition
Two teenagers were killed by Israeli fire during a demonstration in Iraq Burin, south of Nablus, yesterday. Mohammed Qadus, 16 was fatally shot in the chest, Asaud Qadus, 19, received emergency treatment after being shot in the head and died early Sunday. In both cases medical staff reported the injuries were caused by live ammunition.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1309

2 injured in Beit Jala rally for Rachel Corrie
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Two locals were hurt on Sunday when Israeli forces used riot-dispersal means in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, against a rally commemorating the killing of Rachel Corrie.  Corrie, a US peace activist with the International Solidarity Movement, was killed on 16 March 2003 when she was crushed by a bulldozer operated by an Israeli soldier, preparing to demolish a Palestinian's home in Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=270476


Two cousins killed in West Bank
Tension escalate in the West Bank between Palestinian's and the Israeli army.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4CVzk4AmZA&feature=youtube_gdata


Israeli warplanes strike smuggling tunnel in Rafah
GAZA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes early Monday bombed one of the smuggling tunnels on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, witnesses and local sources said.  The sources said F-16 fighter jets fired at least two missiles targeting a tunnel in the Jeradat crossing east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.  No casualties were reported in the raid.  The Israeli Defense Force has not confirmed Monday's strikes.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-03/22/c_13219949.htm


Security sources say settlers behind fire on Israeli patrol car
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Palestinian security source cast doubt Monday on Israeli news reports alleging young men opened fire at an Israeli patrol car south of Hebron overnight.  The incident, where young men were said to have attacked an Israeli military patrol car near the Nahal Negohot settlement, was reported by several Israeli media outlets, all unsourced.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=270622


Detainees
IOF troops detain Palestinian mother in OJ, 10 workers in northern Gaza
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained a Palestinian mother of six children at a road barrier to the entrance of Shufat refugee camp north of occupied Jerusalem on Saturday night, eyewitnesses said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/


Palestinian Retaliation
Resistance Opens Fire At Army Vehicles Near Hebron
Palestinian sources reported Sunday that a Palestinian resistance group opened fire at Israeli army vehicles near Beit Awwa town, in the southern West Bank district if Hebron. The army reported no injuries.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=58254


Israel's Arab Helpers
Abbas’s militias kidnap three Palestinian cadres of Hamas and Hizb Attahrir
Mahmoud Abbas’s militias on Sunday kidnapped three Palestinian citizens in the districts of Salfit and Nablus, two of them were affiliated with Hizb Attahrir faction and one with Hamas Movement.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Sha'ath: We will not be dragged into violence
Bethlehem – Ma'an – Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Sha'ath said Sunday there will be no return to talks with Israel until a full settlement halt is upheld, following a meeting with the PLO executive and leaders of Palestinian factions in Ramallah.  In reference to the recent killing of four Palestinian teenagers in Nablus, Sha'ath said "we will not be dragged behind Israeli escalation that wants us to enter into armed confrontation. Israel is trying to force such a confrontation to cover up its denial of Palestinian rights."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=270535


The Trouble with North Sinai
"I had very good relations with the director of Israeli military intelligence."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1973918,00.html#ixzz0irO27iZS


Egyptian coast guards detain 2 Gaza fishermen
Gaza – Ma'an – Egyptian coast guards detained two Gaza fishermen on Sunday evening on charges of entering Egyptian territorial water, officials said.  The fishermen told Egyptian authorities they had unknowingly entered the country's territorial waters. Police identified them as Ahmad Sa'id An-Najjar, 17, and Basim Abed Rabbo, 36.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=270652


Humanitarian Issues/Human Rights/Restriction of Movement
Industrial Fuel – Needs Vs. Supply – Feb 14 – Mar 13
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/03/industrial-fuel-needs-vs-supply-feb-14-mar-13/

Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – Feb 14 – Mar 13
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/03/goods-needs-vs-supply-feb-14-mar-13/

Besieged Gaza denied water
Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip has brought immense sufferings to Palestinians living in the coastal territory. The siege even impedes the supply of water, the most basic need for human survival. Now - 80 per cent of Gazans lack access to clean water. The head of Gaza's water authority says he has plans and the means to import water from other countries until self-dependency is reached, but Israel's blockade is the only thing in the way. Al Jazeera's Casey Kauffman reports from Gaza.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Udnyng82EY&feature=youtube_gdata

'Women in Gaza': Siege, not Hamas, is the problem
For Majia Shawa, 29, she has not felt any "direct pressure" from Hamas to change how she dresses or lives her life: "I still wear the same clothes, I don't wear the veil, I go to places with men and women."  Says Shawa, several Hamas policies aimed at making social society more Islamic - like the recent ban on male hair dressers - have been lip service as best.  Shawa says her hair dresser was and is a man: "I saw him the other day and he said: 'Yes, I'm still here, it's my job!' "  Of Gaza's future, Shawa says: "There may not be many [religious extremists] now, but the numbers will increase unless conditions in Gaza improve... The closure of Gaza creates the perfect conditions for breeding an extremist mentality. I am not optimistic about the coming generation, unless Gaza opens up."
http://palestinenote.com/cs/blogs/news/archive/2010/03/22/
women-in-gaza-siege-not-hamas-is-the-problem.aspx


Zionism
Arab family denied right to rent home, Jonathan Cook
NEVATIM, ISRAEL // The Zakai and Tarabin families should be a picture of happy coexistence across the ethnic divide, a model for others to emulate in Israel.  But Natalie and Weisman Zakai say the past three years – since the Jewish couple offered to rent their home to Bedouin friends, Ahmed and Khalas Tarabin – have been a living hell.  “I have always loved Israel,” said Mrs Zakai, 43. “But to see the depth of the racism of our neighbours has made me question why we live in this country.”
http://www.jkcook.net/Articles3/0467.htm#Top


Political Developments and Diplomacy
Abbas: Palestinian people have national right to resistance
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday said that the Palestinian people had a national right to resistance against Israeli occupation, adding that his government would not acquiesce to any Israeli demands with which it disagreed.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1158122.html


Shaath: “No Negotiations Amidst Settlement Activities”
The Higher Political Committee of the Fateh movement held a meeting on Sunday in Ramallah and decided that there will be no resumption of peace talks with Israel while it is ongoing with its illegal settlement activities.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=58253


EU official to Israel: Jerusalem is not Tel Aviv
European Union foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to look for ways to pressure Israelis and Palestinians into launching proxy peace talks, amidst fears that the peace process is in jeopardy.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1158110.html


Clinton to AIPAC: Settlement activity undermines U.S. role in peace process
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians should be serious and substantive, warning that new Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank were jeopardizing progress and undermining U.S. mediation.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1158094.html


US-Israel relations 'rock solid'
Hillary Clinton emphasises US commitment to Israel's security after settlements row.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/03/2010322103339747893.html


Israeli PM defiant before US trip
Netanyahu says he will not stop building in East Jerusalem as UN chief visits Gaza.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2010/03/2010321154750607742.html


Obama's Mideast Game Changer: Healthcare
This one is for all the marbles. Democrats seem poised to squeak through President Obama's landmark healthcare legislation late on Sunday, and the repercussions could be profound, especially on America's Middle East policy.  Forget for a moment that Obama's domestic approval ratings are at their lowest - less than 50 per cent - or that he has disappointed many around the world by failing to fulfil major objectives, like the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison.  By scoring a victory of this scale - one that has eluded American presidents for close to 100 years -  Obama could not only bring the bounce back to the step of his administration, but provide himself the bandwidth to focus on some of the changes he campaigned on. He can now begin to fulfil his promise to recalibrate America's relations with the Arab and Muslim world, starting with the Arab-Israeli conflict, as he promised in his Cairo speech in June 2009
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/03/21/obamas-mideast-game-changer-healthcare

Other News

Palestinian anti-corruption activist vows to 'go to the end'
After getting a top Palestinian official suspended over an embarrassing sex tape, self-styled anti-corruption campaigner Fahmi Shabaneh feels unstoppable.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1158091.html


PA employees asked to encourage family to vote
Tulkarem – Ma'an – Employees of the Palestinian Authority, particularly members of the security forces, were called on Monday to encourage their relatives to vote in the July municipal elections.  The call was put forward by PA political advisor Adnan Ad-Dmeiri, where he spoke in Tulkarem of the role of the Palestinian Security Services, which he said aim to protect the law, constitution, Palestinian people, and independent decision-making. Tulkarem governor Talal Dweikat echoed the sentiments.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=270421


Israel: as a "secular democracy"
"Alionel Ltd., owner of the McDonald's franchise in Israel, was fined NIS 30,000 (about $8,000) for illegally having a youth work during Shabbat, the Tel Aviv Labor Court announced Thursday. This would not be the first time that the franchise has committed the offense. In 2003, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor filed a complaint against Alionel after finding out that a McDonald's chain owned by the company employed a Jewish youth on a Saturday. Under the Youth Employment Law, it is forbidden to have Jewish youth employees during Sabbath."
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/03/israel-as-secular-democracy.html


Poll: Most Israelis support east Jerusalem construction
War and Peace Index finds that despite support for Ramat Shlomo homes, most people don't believe Netanyahu was unaware of plan to announce them during Biden's visit.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3866367,00.html


Media Watch
Ethan Bronner's sources in one article
Sarah collected the sources in one article by Ethan Bronner:
1. "said a former official who remains a consultant to the Israeli government and would speak only on condition of anonymity to guard his official relationship."
2. "Another government adviser, however, said neither of the promises had been made, nor would they be."
3. "A senior official agreed. Speaking on the condition that he not be named, he said that Israel considered itself sovereign in Jerusalem and that even though the world disagreed, Israel would do nothing to foster, even tacitly, the de facto division of the city."
4. "Yaron Dekel, a morning radio host and former Washington correspondent of Israel Radio, said in a telephone interview."
5. "Meir Sheetrit, a member of Kadima, said the tension between Washington and Jerusalem was not really about building in Jerusalem but about Mr. Netanyahu’s failure to move peace talks forward in the past year."
6. "Mr. Netanyahu and his top aides disagree." When asked about such bias in coverage (can you find one article about the Palestinians in the New York Times, even if it is about Palestinian poetry, that does not quote and cite Israelis?), he said that the Palestinians are not allowed to speak but that they are allowed to wash dishes in the kitchen of his house.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/03/ethan-bronners-sources-in-one-article.html

‘NYT’ peddles meaningless Peres plan, Ira Glunts
Isabele Kershner, writing in the NY Times the other day, presented a scoop that surely made her controversial boss proud.  Her boss, Jerusalem Bureau Chief Ethan “AbuBenTzali*” Bronner, has been criticized for his lack of objectivity, but his colleague Kershner showed that she too can compose pro-Israel slanted news stories.  Kershner reports that the octogenarian Israeli President, Shimon Peres, who she incorrectly implies has a moderating effect on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, floated a bridging proposal which was meant to mend the current rift between feuding American and Israeli officials.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/nyt-peddles-meaningless-peres-plan.html


Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
Pictures: Gaza's Old Wounds
At its most distant point, the Gaza Strip is 25 miles long and seven miles wide. Its total area is only about twice the size of Washington, D.C. But, as the most recent eruption of violence there has made clear, its size belies its capacity to stir the fiercest emotions of billions of people around the world. Once again, the perennial question returns: why has so much blood been shed over such a small stretch of land? Here, focusing specifically on Gaza, NEWSWEEK constructs a chronology of the land's transformation from ancient city-state to present-day battle zone, to make some sense of its recent descent into the madness of yet another Israeli-Palestinian war.
http://photo.newsweek.com/content/photo/2009/1/photos-gazas-history-of-violence.html


Yezid Sayigh on Hamas, Fayyad, Helena Cobban
The distinguished Palestinian historian and analyst Yezid Sayigh gave a tremendous talk Friday at the Palestine Center in Washington DC, where he reported on a recent, four-day visit to Gaza and assessed the situation and standing of the two rival Palestinian administrations in Gaza and Ramallah.  While he started off by noting that both the administrations have succeeded in stabilizing themselves since the terrible rift that occurred between them in June 2007, a lot of the content of what he said seemed clearly to indicate that he thinks the Hamas-led administration in Gaza has been significantly better at achieving more public goods at less cost than the Fayyad administration in Ramallah.
http://justworldnews.org/archives/003936.html


Huh– ‘New Yorker’ says liberal Jews were right to deplore Gaza war, Philip Weiss
I hit the New Yorker for protecting Americans from the dark Israeli reality, well David Remnick does a modified limited hangout of Israel’s bad news in a piece that ends by acknowledging that Israel faces a crisis if a viable Palestinian state is not created. (The crisis is already here, but that statement is progress.) Other info is conveyed to American readers.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/huh-new-yorker-says-liberal-jews-were-right-to-deplore-gaza-war.html


Norman Finkelstein's Best Revenge
Norman Finkelstein's enemies will suffer series of heart attacks when they read his latest book, which is not published yet. "This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion" (which will be out soon, but I read a pre-publication copy last night) is a powerful and devastating dissection of the Israeli war crime festival in Gaza. Norman is at his best, and he marshals all the facts and use them in a most effective way. It is a succinct summary of the Israeli methods of war and propaganda. The polemical skills of the authors are as sharp as ever. Now, Norman had warned me that I will not like the conclusions and he was right: I cant stand for the Gandhian methods of struggle: in fact, my reaction to the Gandhian methods of resistance as a recipe for Palestinian struggle is probably not different from Mrs. Gandhi's reaction to Mahatma's explanation to her regarding his methods of "testing" his chastity. I also bitterly oppose the two-state solution. But Norman is a special case: I am not normally tolerant of disagreements regarding Palestine, but the man has paid his dues and his services to the anti-Zionst, anti-Israeli cause have won him a special place in the struggle for Palestine.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/03/norman-finkelsteins-best-revenge.html


Either one state for all, or open-ended conflict
Some reluctant voices in Washington D.C. have finally admitted that the persistence of the Palestinian plight is undermining American strategic interests in the Muslim world.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

History lessons for US policy on Israel?
With US-Israeli ties at a low ebb over plans to build new homes for settlers in disputed East Jerusalem, the BBC's Paul Adams wonders if a former secretary of state offers lessons for Hillary Clinton in taking on Washington's powerful Israel lobby.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8577691.stm


Avi Shlaim: Cut off the cash and Israel might behave
President Netanyahu is undermining US interests. The sooner President Obama makes his support conditional, the better.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/
avi-shlaim-cut-off-the-cash-and-israel-might-behave-1924650.html


Israel admits it has an image problem,  Jonathan Cook
NAZARETH, ISRAEL // A new government campaign to train Israelis in how to use propoganda in order to improve their country’s image when they are abroad has been condemned for advancing a right-wing agenda.  The public relations drive, which includes giving travellers tips on how to champion the country’s illegal settlements, is the government’s latest attempt to shore up support abroad following the harsh criticisms of Israel’s attack on Gaza last year made by the UN-commissioned Goldstone Report, which produced evidence of war crimes.
http://www.jkcook.net/Articles3/0465.htm#Top


Zakaria: Palestinians are ’serfs’
Fareed Zakaria nails it, in Newsweek:  Meanwhile, the central problem persists: Israel rules more than 3 million Palestinians who will never become citizens of Israel and yet do not have their own state. As they multiply, Israel’s status as a democracy becomes more and more complex; the country looks more and more like an island of rich Israelis set in a sea of Palestinian serfs.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/zakaria-palestinians-are-serfs.html


Make Israel pay an 'occupation tax'
Arab intellectuals and policymakers have often accused Europe of using financial generosity to cover up its political impotence over the Arab-Israeli conflict. If Europe is to be taken seriously as a global player, they argue, it must also flex some muscle when it delivers the money.In Arab eyes, European officials implicitly plead guilty to these charges.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=112996


Planet AIPAC: Obama should declare ‘I’m a Zionist,’ Goldstone is ‘token court Jew,’ and please don’t boo Hillary, Philip Weiss
I watched a few hours of AIPAC’s policy conference on streaming video today– they wouldn’t let me attend the conference, said there was no room at the inn–and had a few impressions. AIPAC is more out of touch than ever. It’s glaring/weird. Look, even The New Yorker is giving props to J Street, which termed Obama’s response to Netanyahu "appropriate;" but AIPAC is in complete denial about the settlements and the Gaza war. The tenor of the first day was almost purely defensive, all about what a technological miracle Israel is, making a barren country bloom, with the occasional spiteful comment about Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinians being responsible for their serfdom. At the end they brought out Alan Dershowitz to denounce what is (truly) the greatest threat to Israel, the recent reports that Biden and Petraeus look on the special relationship as endangering American lives. Dershowitz said this was a lie, that it’s Islamic extremists who endanger American lives because they hate our freedom. That line felt like a time warp. He invoked the names Walt and Mearsheimer a half dozen times, along with Goldstone, Joe Klein, and Roger Cohen. The five horsemen of delegitimization. Dershowitz did not fail to be vicious towards Goldstone, calling him the U.N.’s "token court Jew," who when the report was challenged, issued the "ad hominem" argument, But I’m a Jew, my daughter lived in Israel. That is horse manure. I’ve never heard Goldstone say such a thing as an answer to factual/legal criticisms of his report.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/planet-aipac-
obama-should-declare-im-a-zionist-goldstone-is-token-court-jew-and-please-dont-boo-hillary.html


Plus-ca-change agent Obama to meet Netanyahu
It’s curious but not surprising that this has been first announced by the JTA and also by Ha’aretz before the NY Times or the Washington Post sent it out. So apparently there has been no change in the White House’s priorities. The big question is what will Obama give Netanyahu when the two meet? Netanyahu already has the keys to the city and to Congress. How about Air Force One equipped with bunker busters?
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/plus-ca-change-agent-obama-to-meet-netanyahu.html

Time to Move Past Camp David Envy, Alan Bock
The most significant problem between the United States and Israel, pace the absurd little flap that developed over Vice President Biden getting blind-sided on a trip to Israel a couple of weeks ago, is that the United states still wants to micromanage an illusory "peace process" that the two entities directly involved in have little interest in furthering – at least for now. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government is frail and dependent on coalition partners who don’t want to talk about compromise just now, and Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority still has little control, although recent developments might make a coalition with Hamas, which controls Gaza, slightly more likely.
http://original.antiwar.com/bock/2010/03/21/camp-david-envy/


Hillary Clinton tells Israel it faces difficult choices to secure peace
US secretary of state vows 'rock solid' commitment to country's security and future in address to pro-Israel lobby.  Hillary Clinton will today assure Israel it enjoys "rock solid" US commitment to its security while warning that the country faces difficult decisions if it wants to secure peace.  The US secretary of state will address a leading pro-Israel lobby in Washington. The visiting Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, is due to speak to the same organisation, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, later in the day.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/22/hillary-clinton-warns-israel-peace

Assassinating Hamas won't work | Arik Diamant and David Zoneshine
As the dust settles on the publicity storm triggered by the Dubai assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a deep feeling of disappointment has descended on the Israeli-Palestinian peace camp. What started as an important public discourse with a potential for real change eventually missed the essential point of the affair.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/22/hamas-assassination-israel-palestine

The "I-Word" Hillary Didn't Use, RANNIE AMIRI
As the diplomatic row over Israel’s smack down of Vice President Joe Biden unfolds, governmental officials in both the United States and Israel continue to question the timing of Interior Minister’s Eli Yishai’s announcement of plans to build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem. The substantive matter—further expropriation of Palestinian land—is clearly of secondary importance.
http://www.counterpunch.com/amiri03192010.html


"My fellow Americans, tonight I'm going to talk frankly about a pesky little nation called Israel ... ", ALEXANDER COCKBURN
Don’t get excited. It’ll never happen. Is there really a crisis in US-Israeli relations?  Yes and No. Yes, because the world’s premier power doesn’t care to have its vice president publicly humiliated by a midget of a nation whose entire population is smaller than that of Los Angeles county. No, because the elected politicians nominally running the government of the world’s premier power live in mortal fear of the Israel lobby in the United States. This time, as always, No will carry the day. (You can find a detailed narrative by Jeffrey Blankfort on this site today, from which much of this Diary is drawn.)
http://www.counterpunch.com/cockburn03192010.html


Israelis are behaving like spoiled rich brats
The terrifying specter of non-violent resistance to the occupation and the apartheid regime is hovering over the State of Israel, and all the state's dignitaries have been recruited to battle it.   This non-violent resistance operates both in areas under Israel's reign of control, in the form of a popular struggle on both sides of the green line, and across the globe, through the Israeli and international affirmative response to the Palestinian call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions on Israel, until it ends the occupation and grants full equality to people from both nations living under its rule.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1157854.html


Red Rag Column: ’Olei ha-gardom
On 9 March 2010 the Knesset held a special session in memory of 12 Jewish terrorists, members of the Etzel and Lehi [1] underground organizations, who were hanged by the authorities of the British Empire. They have received the description `olei ha-gardom`[2] and are also sometimes called “harugei malchut”. [3] Terrorists? God forbid! Only in the eyes of the British Empire. According to Prime Minister Netanyahu, who gave a speech at the session, they were freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for their people’s liberty and therefore, he said, `today we salute the heroism of the 12 members of the underground.`
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=38847

Modernity In Our Lives
A catholic and particularly Palestinian interpretation of modernity informs the images on display in Al-Hoash's 2010 photography competition. “Modernity in our Lives” was the theme at the Khalil al Sakakini Centre in Ramallah as the best of the submissions to Al- Hoash's annual photography competition were unveiled.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1313

art for art’s sake
“The colors of sunset are wonderful but the sun is the most wonderful. When the black clouds with their golden warm colors play on the sound of a bird that dialogues with the leaves of trees that were eaten by the wind and dance with a beautiful golden dress coloured by the sunset appearing in the far horizon behind the clouds I try to touch the sun before it closes its eyes to mix my brush with its colour and my white painting is the mirror.”
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/art-for-arts-sake/


Iraq
Four killed in Baghdad shootings (AFP)
AFP - Four people were killed, including two policemen, in shootings in Baghdad on Monday, Iraqi security officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100322/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestbaghdad


Sunday: 9 Iraqis Killed, 20 Wounded
Updated at 6:22 p.m. EDT, March, 21, 2010 At least nine Iraqis were killed and 20 more were wounded in light violence. Full election results are now expected on Friday, but calls for a recount reached a higher level as President Talabani chimed in today.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/03/21/sun-9-iraqis-killed-20-wounded/


Six killed in spate of Iraq attacks (AFP)
AFP - Six people, including a policeman and a soldier, were killed in a spate of attacks across Iraq on Sunday, security and ministry officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100321/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrest


Allawi holds narrow lead in Iraq vote as Maliki demands recount
BAGHDAD: Secularist challenger Iyad Allawi retained a slim lead in Iraq's tight election race after a preliminary count of 95 percent of votes released on Sunday. The lead from Iraq's March 7 parliamentary election has switched several times between Allawi's cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's mainly Shiite bloc.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=113006


'UK army ran secret torture unit in Iraq'
LONDON: UK's military intelligence ran a secret torture unit in Iraq which "reported directly to London" and authorised harsh treatment of detainees, a media report said on Sunday.  In fact, prisoners were kept hooded for long periods in intense heat and deprived of sleep by military intelligence officers who were answerable only "directly to London", the Independent reported, citing documents.  The revelations, about the use of illegal "coercive techniques" in Iraq by Joint Forward Interrogation Team, came during the inquiry into Baha Mousa, an Iraqi hotel worker who was beaten to death in the custody of British troops in 2003.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/UK-army-ran-secret-torture-unit-in-Iraq/articleshow/5709999.cms

Anthony Shadid: in the footsteps of Thomas Friedman?, As`ad Abukhalil
"A friend once called it the culture of the “kundara,” the word here for shoe. “When anyone is against you, when anyone has differences with me, I will put a kundara in his mouth, I will shove a kundara down his throat, I will hit him with a kundara,” he said in 2006, long before the spectacle of President Bush’s visit to Baghdad. “We live in a kundara culture,” he said. The roots of political violence run deep in Iraq, long a turbulent frontier between Romans and Persians, Ottomans and Safavids and, now, Americans and Iranians." Such simplistic cliches and wild generalizations about Iraqi people and their history. I mean, when I see a reference to the speech of Al-Hajjaj, I really squirm and I know what is coming. Colin Powell's presentation on his plan for the invasion of Iraq in 1990 was more violent and wild than the speech of Al-Hajjaj, by far. And the silly reference to "kundarah" what does that mean? I can speak about a gun culture here in the US, where crime is far more frequent than in Iraq? And did European history have less violence than Iraqi history? I mean, we speak of the 100 years war, for potato's sake. And the worst part about the whole article, it draws an offensive and insulting portrait of the Iraqi people and attributes violent impulses to them and yet, there is not a single word about the violence that has been imposed on Iraq by the US since 1991. I mean, Bush has caused inflicted more violence and harm on Iraq than Hajjaj.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/03/anthony-shadid-on-footsteps-of-thomas.html


Lebanon
Hizbullah and UAE
When I was in Lebanon last January, I learned so many things that I forgot to report on so many things. I will be there in late May, so I will learn more. Here is another one that I forgot about. I was talking to a friend the other day, and he reminded me of the story that I had told him in Beirut in January (in light of the Dubai assassination and the high-profile role of the Dubai chief of police.) Months ago (in 2009), the UAE sent a very high envoy to Beirut on a secret mission to meet with Hasan Nasrallah. The man met with Hasan Nasrallah for several hours. His message from UAE rulers was that they want Hizbullah to use its influence among the Shi`ites of the Gulf to prevent disturbances in the event of an Israeli/US war on Iran. I am told, that what the man heard from Nasrallah left him terrified and he told aides that he is not comfortable in relaying the message to UAE rulers. I am told that the message said in effect that those countries would suffer if they host an attack on Iran, and a reference was made to the high rises in Dubai. The man was shaking when he left to the airport to leave on his private jet.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/03/hizbullah-and-uae.html


Other World News
Egypt's disabled demand assistance
Dozens of disabled campaigners protest outside parliament, demanding government help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p59zTL2t1Sg&feature=youtube_gdata


Yemeni women oppose proposed under-17 marriage ban
SANAA: Thousands of Yemeni women demonstrated outside Parliament Sunday to oppose proposed legislation banning the marriage of girls under 17. The protesters held up banners proclaiming "don't ban what Allah made permissible," or "stop violating Islamic Sharia law in the name of rights and freedoms," an AFP correspondent said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=113000
For further information contact Shadi Fadda

 
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