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Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
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Land Theft and Destruction
West Bank college
boosts settlements, Jonathan Cook
NAZARETH,
ISRAEL // Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, approved last week the
upgrading to university status of a college in a settlement located
deep inside the West Bank, a move certain to further undermine
Palestinian confidence in the peace process.
The decision,
authorising the first Israeli university in Palestinian territory, is
expected to entitle the college to significant extra funding, allowing
it to expand its student population. About 11,000 students, most from
inside Israel, already attend the
college in Ariel, studying amid a population of 18,000 settlers.
http://www.jkcook.net/Articles3/0446.htm#Top
Soldiers
Get “Free Space In Settlements” For Military Service
Israeli
Paper, Yedioth Aharonoth, reported Monday that the Israeli Prime
Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, approved a deal that grants former
soldiers free pieces of land in the occupied Negev and Galilee.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57750
Israeli PM plants trees to signify claim to West
Bank settlement blocs
JERUSALEM,
Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday
planted trees in West Bank settlements, in a move which he said sent a
clear message that Israel would retain major settlement blocs under any
peace deal with the Palestinians. "The message is clear, we are here,
and we will stay here. We plant and build. This is an inseparable part
of the State of Israel forever," local news service Ynet quoted
Netanyahu as saying at the Kfar Atzon settlement, part of the Gush
Etzion settlement bloc.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/25/content_12868104.htm
‘This is our village!’ – a report from Nabi Saleh
The following is a shocking video from Nabi Saleh, a Palestinian
village of 500 residents located north of Ramallah. The village has
been engaged in growing demonstrations during the past few weeks to
protest the
illegal seizure of valuable agricultural land
by the Hallamish (Neve Tzuf) settlement. Settlers have also recently
uprooted of hundreds of the village’s olive trees.You can find more on
the recent protests in Nabi Saleh at Ibn Ezra.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/this-is-our-village-a-report-from-nabi-saleh.html
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott,
Sanctions
and Divestment
Settlers Attack Ta’ayush at Hilltop 18
“I
was shocked that they did it with so much hatred. Thirteen of us
arrived there, and we were attacked by four people, who were urged on
by others,” -Keren, Ta’ayush Activist.
http://josephdana.com/2010/01/settlers-attack-taayush-at-hilltop-18/
Army attacks Ni’lin overnight
January
24th, 2010-- Early this morning, Occupation forces attacked Ni’lin and
arrested Rateb Mustafa ‘Ameera. Fierce clashes broke out in the
streets, with residents defending their homes and soldiers firing live
ammunition. For nearly two weeks, Ni’lin has faced nearly nightly
incursions. 18 have been arrested this month.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2165.shtml
Two Ni’lin prisoners released, demonstrations
continue
January
23rd, 2010-- In spite of a week of arrests and raids, the people of
Ni’lin marched against the Wall this Friday. Prior to the
demonstration, residents celebrated the release of several prisoners,
on of whom had been held for some four months.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2164.shtml
Soldiers block tree planting, arrest one after
al-Ma’sara protest
January
23rd, 2010-- The village of al-Ma’sara held their weekly anti-Wall
demonstration, this Friday carrying young olive trees to plant on their
isolated lands. They were blocked by Occupation forces, who made good
on their threats against the popular committee and arrested one at the
close of the demonstration.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2163.shtml
Three more arrested in attempt to crush Ni’lin
anti-Wall movement
January
21st, 2010-- Soldiers pulled three more residents of Ni’lin from their
homes early this morning in the latest attack on the local popular
resistance. This is the fourth day this week in which villagers have
been arrested, marking a serious escalation in the repression of the
anti-Wall movement in the village.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2162.shtml
Three foreign activists injured in Jewish settlers'
attack
Three foreign solidarity activists were injured on Sunday after Jewish
settlers assaulted and threw stones at them east of Al-Khalil city.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Sheikh Jarrah: Settlers throw urine bottles,
activists arrested
Thursday,
January 22nd, settlers occupying the Gawi and Al-Kurd family’s homes
were reported to be harassing and attempting to provoke the evicted
Palestinians and solidarity activists to a violent response. Other
settlers stood by with film equipment, ready to record any response to
their provocation. The evening’s heckling resulted in the arrest of
Marwan Abu al Saber. Al Saber was released later that night.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/01/10963
BDS must target Israeli academia
The
movement of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions called for by Palestinian
civil society in 2005 against Israel continues to slowly but surely
gain traction around the world as many begin to understand the
importance of making Israel pay a price for its expansionism and
apartheid policies. However, one aspect of BDS that seems to make many
uncomfortable is the boycott of Israeli academic institutions, with
many saying that academia should never be a political target. The
counterargument to this point has been made many times over, here and
elsewhere, not least because Israeli academia in general contributes
directly to Israel’s military research, has a leading role in
formulating and developing apartheid policy and fails to stand up
against the Israeli government’s frequent denial of the Palestinian
right to education.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/01/bds-must-target-israeli-academia.html
LA
Jews for Peace and friends make their voices heard in front of the
Federal building on the 1 year anniversary of Israel's Operation
"Castlead "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yhASJ6cPVc&feature=player_embedded
Aggression/Violence
Israeli Occupation Forces fire on Iraq Burin
Israeli
Occupation Forces opened fire on Iraq Burin once again, following a
settler attack that has become almost a weekly routine for the village.
One villager was injured and treated at the hospital after being struck
in the thigh by a tear gas canister. An expectant atmosphere hangs
over the village each Saturday now. The peaceful silence, punctuated
only by donkey brays or the sound of children playing, offers a strange
prelude to what each resident knows is coming. ISM activists have been
maintaining a presence in Iraq Burin over the Saturday period – the
Jewish religious holiday of Shabbat – but better known in the Occupied
Territories for the territorial violence waged on this day by Israeli
settlers on the rural Palestinian population.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/01/10960
Settlers Attack Nablus Village, Two Youth Wounded By
Soldiers
Palestinian
medical sources reported on Saturday evening that two Palestinian
youths were wounded by Israeli military fire as the soldiers opened
fire at local residents who were defending themselves after being
attacked by fundamental settlers near Nablus.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57740
Border
Police Assault Bethlehem Labourers
Israeli
Border Police assaulted ten Palestinian labourers in the early hours of
Sunday morning. The men were seized on the Palestinian side of the
Al-Zaiem crossing, attempting to reach the construction site they work
at in East Jerusalem. The men, from Al-Khadr village south of
Bethlehem, did not possess working permits for Jerusalem. They were
captured on the Palestinian side of the fence and severely beaten with
sticks and rifles.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1244
Dweik
condemns 'attack' by PA security forces
Ramallah
– Ma’an – Aziz Dweik, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council,
and Hamas affiliate, condemned on Monday what he described as an attack
by security forces against his staff at the PLC headquarters, including
the searching his car and detaining its driver for two hours, he said
in a statement. "This attack represents a clear policy undertaken by
these parties, who seek to disable all efforts for the success of
reconciliation efforts," Dweik's statement read.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=256656
Detainees
Abbas’s militias kidnap six members of Hizb Attahrir
in Al-Khalil
Mahmoud
Abbas’s militias kidnapped Saturday evening six members of Hizb
Attahrir (the liberation party) during raids carried out in the towns
of Dora and Daheria, south of Al-Khalil city.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Israeli Occupation Forces kidnap 4 in Beit Ommar,
West Bank
At
4am on January 21st, at least 30 members of the Israel Police, Border
Police, Army and Secret Police (Shin Bet) raided the village of Beit
Ommar, arresting four men. At the home of Mohammed Salibi, the
Occupation Forces broke the window of the door in an effort to enter,
as well as another window. Upon entering with a search dog, they asked
for the whereabouts of Mohammed
from his brothers, Alah, 20, and Ahmed, 14, who were sleeping at the
time. Alah, who previously spent 3 months in Occupation jails, was
thrown against the wall. Three agents picked up Ahmed and threw him on
the ground. Cabinets were also smashed in the house and personal items
thrown on the ground.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/01/10954
IOF
soldiers round up 11 Palestinians
The
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up eleven Palestinians at the
early hours of Monday including nine in Ramallah, local sources
reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Fatah:
De facto security forces detain affiliate in Gaza
Bethlehem
- Ma'an - Sources within Fatah in Gaza accused the de facto
government's security forces on Monday of detaining one of the
movement's affiliates in the Strip. Relatives of Sameh Younis Al-Jedi
said that on 16 January he was taken in by Hamas security forces and
after being intensively questioned, his ID card was confiscated. He was
then told to visit the security headquarters in Abu Khadra on Sunday
and has not been heard from since, his family said. Al-Jedi's family
said that Hamas and the de facto government are responsible for his
life and called on human rights organizations in Gaza to intervene and
secure his release.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=256558
Egypt and Israel's Humanitarian War Against
Palestinians
Gazan
women search for gravel to feed their children
Gaza,
January 25, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - The four-year-old Israeli siege on
Gaza has caused unemployment to soar and basic supplies to be expensive
and scarce. Seeking a little income any way they can, Gaza women are
being forced to dig for gravel, a basic construction material that can
then be sold. The blockade has deprived more than 50,000 Palestinian
workers of their source of income.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/diaries/featured-articles/3807-
gazan-women-search-for-gravel-to-feed-their-children
Obeid:
Gaza electricity station to come to a complete halt by Thursday
The
sole electricity generation station in Gaza Strip is to stop
functioning by Thursday because the EU stopped financing fuel shipments
to the Strip, Kenan Obeid said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Egypt's
"death wall" sparks continued protest
lRafah,
Egypt, January 25, 2010 - Three construction drills that look like
giant corkscrews pierce the ground close to Egypt's border with the
Gaza Strip, part of an effort to disrupt smuggling tunnels that has led
to shootouts. Smugglers and sympathizers of Hamas, the Islamic
movement that rules Gaza, say pipes inserted into the holes will house
motion sensors to detect underground traffic. Residents of the Egyptian
border town of Rafah say the Egyptians are also constructing a
subterranean wall made of steel panels to block tunnels at a depth of
18 meters.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/3794-egypts-qdeath-wallq-sparks-continued-protest
Hamas:
Mubarak helping Israel starve Gaza Palestinians
Hamas on Monday sharply criticized Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak's
defense of his country's expanded fortifications on its border with the
Gaza Strip. The Egyptian government has faced rising domestic and
regional criticism since a report first published by the Israeli
newspaper Haaretz said Egypt was building an underground steel barrier
along the Gaza border to curtail smuggling through tunnels under the
border. "Mubarak's remarks defending the steel wall are an address on
the blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip," Hamas
spokesman Mushir al-Masri told reporters in Gaza City.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1144989.html
Masri:
Mubarak's insistence on building the wall contradicts earlier
statements
Hamas
MP Mushir Al-Masri has regretted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's
assertion that his government would continue to build the steel wall
along its borders with the Gaza Strip.
Mubarak's Self-Defense: Let Them Provide What Egypt
Has to Palestine!
24/01/2010
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday criticized the
Arab-International Forum for the Support of the Resistance that was
held in Beirut mid-January. "We are being subjected to campaigns from
Arab and regional powers which have not once provided what Egypt has to
Palestine and its people," Mubarak said in a speech to mark Police
Day. "Egypt does not accept pressure or blackmail. It also does not
allow chaos on its borders or terrorism and sabotage on its
territories," he said. "It is the right of the Egyptian state, and
even its duty and its responsibility. It is the right of every state to
control and protect its borders," Mubarak added. "What we do not
accept, and will not accept, is that we take our borders lightly, or
that our territory is violated, or that our soldier or installations
are targeted," Mubarak said. "We continue with the construction and
reinforcements on our border, not to please anyone, but to protect our
national security from violations and from terrorist acts such as those
in Taba, Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab and Cairo," he added.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=121213&language=en
The Egypt-Hamas standoff in Gaza: a view from Israel
In
the
course of recent weeks, the relationship between Egypt and the
Hamas government in Gaza has deteriorated and their latent conflict has
become public. The specific reasons for this state of affairs are two
decisions taken by the Egyptian government.The first was a decision to
build a new metal wall that penetrates deep into the ground along the
Gaza border.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=111008
Mubarak
Slams Hamas, Defends Iron Wall
Egyptian
President, Hosni Mubarak, slammed Hamas for criticizing the Iron Wall
that Egypt is constructing along, and under, its border with Gaza.
Mubarak claims the construction of the wall is a sovereign decision
despite support and supervision from the United States.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57745
Why all Israel lobbyists should be forced to go thru
the Qalandia checkpoint, Philip Weiss
When I went through the Qalandia checkpoint in Palestine a week or two
back, I kept thinking, Anyone who lobbies for Israel in the U.S. should
be forced through this checkpoint. All the congressmen should come here
too. What upset me was the banality of humiliation: experiencing the
draggy line that took 20 minutes, and the cattle car/industrial
buzzings and lights and automatic gates; seeing a dapper middle-aged
guy forced to go back for who knows what reason; seeing the fingerprint
reader; and then watching a matronly woman whose papers weren’t perfect
standing in paralysis or fear or helplessness before looking around
with a redfaced childish expression of dauntedness. Observing her
humiliation angered me. Then I went through and the young Israelis
barked, "Open it, open it," at me as I held up my passport.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/why-all-israel-lobbyists-should-be-forced-to-go-thru-the-qalandia-checkpoint.html
I Have a Dream, by Ayman Quader
This
is Ayman Talal Quader, a Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip, where
its people have been besieged for almost 4 years. I was born in July,
1986. I received my education in the UNRWA schools since my childhood.
Then I finished my studies from the Islamic University of Gaza from the
English Department in 2008.
http://intifada-palestine.com/2010/01/24/i-have-a-dream-by-ayman-quader/
Gaza's
children speak of their desire for freedom
Gaza
– Ma'an – Dozens of children living in the besieged Gaza Strip
expressed their desire to live decent lives where their rights are
guaranteed in a world far from war and internal conflict, during the
final stages of a three week event dedicated to children's art and
drawing.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=256578
Young
people endeavor to have fun in besieged Gaza
GAZA,
Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Bathed in warm winter sunshine, 21- year-old Noor
al-Harrazin chatted with her companions while smoking hookah in a Gaza
City restaurant. In the impoverished Gaza controlled by Hamas
militants and battered by Israel's massive offensive a year ago, a
group of girls and boys sitting together and smoking hookah in a public
cafe makes people wonder: is this Gaza ? "Yes, this is Gaza," said
Noor.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-01/25/c_13150344.htm
Refugees
Sign this Petition to Support Civil Rights of
Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=121156&language=en
Political Developments and Diplomacy
Fatah and
Hamas no nearer to unity as Palestinian parliament's term ends
Legislature still hamstrung as rival faction accuse each other of
sabotaging democracy.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1144997.html
New
US initiative to restart peace talks: Palestinians (AFP/File)
AFP/File
- The United States has proposed a new initiative to nudge Palestinians
back into peace talks with Israel, a Palestinian official told AFP on
Monday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100125/wl_mideast_afp/mideastdiplomacyuspalestinian
Israel's ex-negotiator: Full Mideast peace deal
impossible
"I
do not believe that in the foreseeable future there is a possibility of
an agreement with the Palestinians on all the issues, especially on the
problematic core issues," says Udi Dekel, who headed the negotiations
task force in the previous government.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1144854.html
Israel stops Belgian minister from entering Gaza
Israel
has
barred Belgian Development Minister Charles Michel from crossing
the border into Gaza, saying the "political" visit would legitimize the
Hamas-led government.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5165530,00.html
Belgium
To Ask E.U For A Unified Stance Against Israel For Preventing Officials
From Entering Gaza
Belgium
has decided to ask the European Union to make a decision as to whether
it will sanction Israel for preventing E.U. officials from entering the
besieged Gaza Strip to observe the destruction and suffering that is
being inflicted upon the residents.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57746
Time
for George Mitchell to resign, Stephen M. Walt
If Mideast special envoy George Mitchell wants to end his
career with his reputation intact, it is time for him to resign. He had a
distinguished tenure in the
U.S. Senate -- including a stint as majority leader -- and his
post-Senate career has
been equally accomplished. He was
an effective mediator of the conflict in Northern Ireland, helped
shepherd the
Disney Corporation through a turbulent period, and led an effective
investigation of the steroids scandal afflicting major league baseball.
Nobody can expect to be universally
admired in the United States, but Mitchell may have come as close as any
politician in recent memory.
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/blog/2072
Other News
Another
housekeeper sues Sara Netanyahu
Yedioth
Ahronoth reports that two months before former Netanyahu housekeeper
filed lawsuit, case filed by another employee. Gag order imposed on
details of suit.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3839075,00.html
Global Screening Of Gaza War Documentary “To Shoot
An Elephant”
To Shoot An Elephant is a documentary by Spaniard Alberto Arce
and Palestinian Mohammad Rujailah, filmed in Gaza during the war a year ago. To mark the first anniversary
of the end of the war, the film, released under a Creative Commons
licence, was shown at special screenings around
the world.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/01/22/global-screening-of-gaza-war-documentary-to-shoot-an-elephant/
Analysis/Op-ed/Human
Interest
Ethan
Bronner's propaganda services, As`ad Abukhalil
It has reached new lows: the propaganda services of the Ethan Bronner on
behalf of Israel and its war crimes. You need to do a search: the New
York Times devoted more space to Israeli and Zionist criticisms of the
Goldstone report than to the report itself. And now, every two weeks,
Ethan Bronner interviews Israeli war criminals who tell him that the
Goldstone report was inaccurate. Here is a very long
article from yesterday's NYT about how Israel plans to respond to the
Goldstone report. I mean, Bronner could have waited for the Israeli
bogus report to be issued, but he could not wait. He wanted to cite
Israeli responses before they even have official responses. Of course,
once the Israeli whitewash report is issued, Bronner will have yet
another article about it. [end]
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/01/ethan-bronners-propaganda-services.html
Gaza's thin red line one year later, Eva Bartlett
"The
last Israeli attacks were the hardest, the most dangerous. It wasn't a
war, it was a massacre. They shot anyone walking, anyone outside of
their home, in their home ... it didn't matter. And it didn't matter if
the victims were children or adults; there was no difference."
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11026.shtml
What is the endgame in Gaza?, Ahmed Moor
I
want to focus attention on an issue that hasn’t gotten enough press.
The Mubarak regime is building a subterranean steel wall on the border
with Gaza. Conservative estimates put the depth of the wall at 18
meters (nearly 60 feet). The BBC
reports that American engineers designed the wall panels, which were
constructed in America.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/what-is-the-endgame-in-gaza.html
Akiva Eldar / What would Netanyahu do without Peres?
Last
spring
President Shimon Peres went all the way to the White House to
convince the heads of the U.S. administration that "peace is at the top
of the agenda" for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Perhaps this is
what U.S. President Barack Obama meant when he told Time magazine that,
had he foreseen earlier the political problems between the two sides he
would have been careful not to place expectations so high.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1144872.html
God Bliss / Gila Svirsky
...It’s
hard work transforming international public opinion after the Israeli
bombardment of Gaza one year ago, which played out so poorly in the
Goldstone Report and European capitals. But in Israel, there’s no need
to shift public opinion at all, after that very popular war. “What
blockade? There’s no blockade of Gaza,” said my cousins in Jerusalem,
who are as well informed as most Israelis. If you place a million
people under siege and the local media are not there to cover it, does
the siege exist? ... So is it all about image? Inside Israel, it’s
about no image. Israeli media carried no reporting whatsoever from
inside Gaza during the bombardment, and it was considered subversive
during the fighting to listen to reports from CNN, the BBC or, God
forbid, al-Jazeera. It is still forbidden for Israeli journalists to
enter Gaza....
http://groups.google.com/group/newprofile/browse_thread/thread/56056c4f7a7aee14?hl=en
Israel and Islamic Terrorism: A study in symbiosis,
Justin Raimondo
The most recent audio missive from Osama bin Laden, claiming
responsibility for the attempted Christmas bombing of Northwest Airlines
flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, rationalizes Umar Farouk Abdul
Mutallab’s act in the name of the suffering of the people of Gaza:
"America will never dream of living in peace unless we live it in
Palestine," avers the Muslim Pimpernel. "It is unfair that you enjoy a
safe life while our brothers in Gaza suffer greatly. Therefore, with
God’s will, our attacks on you will continue as long as you continue to
support Israel."
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/01/24/israel-and-islamic-terrorism/
Good
Morning, Mr. President; All is Not Well
It
took Barack Obama just over a year to realize what we Palestinians have
known all along. This conflict is much more complicated than outsiders
choose to believe it is. "Intractable" was the word President Obama
used to describe the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in an interview given
to Time Magazine on January 21. "It is just really hard," he admitted.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=21540&CategoryId=3
Iraq
Baghdad
suicide bombers kill dozens in hotel attacks
Three separate attacks on targets used by westerners in centre of Iraqi
capital.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/25/baghdad-hotels-bomb-blasts
Iraqi killed, policeman injured in Mosul
An
Iraqi
civilian was killed and a policeman was injured in Mosul, while
three bodies were bodies were found in the northern Iraqi city, a
police source said Saturday.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2056423&Language=en
Moqtada Sadr Defends Iraqi Resistance
Shiite
cleric
Moqtada Sadr blasted Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakim on Friday for
tacitly supporting an extended stay for foreign troops in Iraq.
http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=81317
Inside Iraq - Iraq's election dilemma
Inside
Iraq
asks what the ramifications will be of the decision to ban some
candidates from participating in the upcoming election.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJYkT2gbEs4&feature=youtube_gdata
'Chemical
Ali' executed in Iraq
Ali
Hassan al-Majid, the cousin of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein,
has been executed in Iraq for crimes against humanity, a government
spokesman said. Al-Majid - nicknamed "Chemical Ali" by the Western
media - was sentenced to death last week for ordering the gassing of
Kurds in the Iraqi village of Halabja. "The condemned Ali Hassan
al-Majid has been executed by hanging until death today," spokesman Ali
al-Dabbagh said on Monday. In March 1988, Iraqi jets swooped over the
village of Halabja and sprayed it with a deadly mix of mustard gas and
the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX. Three-quarters of the victims
in the five-hour assault were women and children. It is thought to have
been the deadliest gas attack ever carried out against civilians.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/01/201012514645847464.html
One on One - Ahmed Alsoudani - Part 1
Meet the Iraqi artist and find out how his art forced him to flee Saddam
Hussein's Iraq.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9VGiAcgF8U&feature=youtube_gdata
One on One - Ahmed Alsoudani - Part 2
Meet
the Iraqi artist and find out how his art forced him to flee Saddam
Hussein's Iraq.
Lebanon
Tragedy
off the Lebanon coast
Rescue
boats and helicopters scoured the Mediterranean Sea after an Ethiopian
Airlines flight crashed just off the coast of Lebanon early on Monday.
The passenger jet carrying 90 people, which took off from Beirut en
route to Addis Ababa, disappeared off the radar just minutes after
take-off. Some witnesses say they saw the aircraft go up in flames
before it plunged into the sea. Bodies and pieces of the wreckage began
to wash up on the coast within hours of the crash. But the reason for
the accident is still far from clear. Al Jazeera's Tarek Bazley reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn3xfC3D57U&feature=youtube_gdata
Hezbollah's New Political Platform
What
stands out in the political platform issued by Hezbollah at the
conclusion of its recent general congress is how it assesses its own
history and development since its founding in the mid 1980's. This
document reviews a quarter of a century of multi-faceted experiences
and sacrifices. It reflects a multiplicity of alliances and
inspirations, if not splintered identities. At one and the same time,
Hezbollah aspires to be a "national liberation" movement among other
such movements in the world; a "resistance" movement at the regional
level, with all the connotations the latter designation evokes among
Arabs in relation to the Palestinian struggle; and increasingly a
"force of national defense" for Lebanon. In this third designation,
Hezbollah dispenses with any lingering doubt regarding its resolve to
become a full partner in Lebanon's confessional system, if not its
acceptance of the socio-economic conditions underlying such a system.
http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticlePrint/23709
"Why is Nasrallah demonized in the western media?"
--An interview with Franklin Lamb, PhD
Are the Lebanese people grateful to Hezbollah for forcing Israel to
retreat in the war of 2006?
Franklin
Lamb---I think in their hearts most Lebanese are indeed grateful and
even proud that for the first time since the founding of the State of
Israel Lebanon has been able to effectively resist its numerous
aggressions. Certainly Hezbollah has plenty of detractors particularly
among the American and to a lesser extent French supported right wing
Phalangist Christian factions and some Sunni communities fearful of the
rise of the long discriminated against Lebanese Shia. But when Lebanon
is threatened by Israel they tend to unite behind the National Lebanese
Resistance. Expelling Israel on May 24, 2000 earned Hezbollah general
respect in Lebanon and the region.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24486.htm
U.S.
and other world news
Petraeus receives some important medicine from
believers in human rights
On
Thursday, January 21, 2010, General David Petraeus addressed Georgetown
students and faculty in Gaston Hall. Approximately 10 student
protesters gathered inside and outside Gaston to condemn Petraeus’s
strategy in the Middle East – paying off “enemies” and using tactics of
brutal counter-insurgency to “win” the local population – and the
university’s decision to invite him.
http://antonyloewenstein.com/2010/01/25/
petraeus-receives-some-important-medicine-from-believers-in-human-rights/
Firm will remove Bible references from gun sights
A
spokesman for U.S. Central Command initially said the Trijicon
sights didn't violate the ban and compared the citations on the sights
to the "In God We Trust" inscription printed on U.S. currency. On
Thursday, however, Army Gen. David Petraeus, Central Command's top
officer, called the practice "disturbing."
http://www.dailyfinance.com/article/firm-will-remove-bible-references-from/867656
The price of our Middle East policy
Glenn
Greenwald - Salon - The connection between our conduct in the Middle
East and the motivations for anti-American Terrorism receives far too
little attention in general, and the role played by our steadfast
support for Israel receives less attention still. It goes without
saying that the mere fact that Islamic radicals object to a certain
policy (and that policy thus fuels anti-U.S. Terrorism) is not, by
itself, a reason to discontinue that policy, but it`s certainly a cost
that ought to be seriously weighed in deciding whether that policy is
wise.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=37952
Obama czar wrote that Muslims are ‘prone’ to ‘virulent’ conspiracy
theorizing– maybe due to bad parenting, Philip Weiss
Cass Sunstein is in Obama’s Harvard klatsch, a Harvard professor who has
gone on leave to serve as a czar: heading Obama’s
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Well, two years back
Sunstein wrote a paper called "Conspiracy Theories," (here,
co-authored by another Harvard prof, Adrian Vermeule) that is mostly
about the bad opinions that circulate in Muslim societies about
American foreign policy. The paper argued that Muslims are specially
prone to conspiracy theorizing. The paper blamed this chiefly on the
lack of free flow of information in their societies (and while it said
that many westerners are also prone to conspiracy thinking) entertained
the idea that this febrile thinking comes from Muslims’ childhood.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/obama-czar-wrote-that-
muslims-are-prone-to-virulent-conspiracy-theorizing-maybe-due-to-bad-parenting.html
Canada's man in Tehran was a CIA spy
Ken
Taylor, the Canadian diplomat celebrated 30 years ago for hiding U.S.
embassy personnel during the Iranian revolution, actively spied for the
Americans and helped them plan an armed incursion into the country.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/canadas-man-in-tehran-was-a-cia-spy/article1441545/
Reporters without Borders say Arab TV police plan
"disturbing"
Cairo - Media watchdog Reporters without Borders said Saturday that the
Arab joint proposal to create a regional office to monitor satellite
channels is a 'disturbing' move. 'This proposal is disturbing,'
Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. 'The danger is that this
super-police could be used to censor all TV stations that criticize the
region's governments. It could eventually be turned into a formidable
weapon against freedom of information.'
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1527796.php
Inside Story - Berbers in North Africa
Would
a unified Berber entity be a threat to the existing regimes in the
region?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v4Lg9fD3Zc&feature=youtube_gdata |
| For further information contact Shadi Fadda |
|
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