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Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
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Settlements/Land Theft and Destruction
Rendered
Homeless, Family Ordered To Pay Its Expulsion Expenses
The Jerusalem
Center for Social and Economical Rights (JCCER) reported that the
Israeli police handed Wednesday a Palestinian family from East Jerusalem
an order to pay 13.000 NIS, demanding family members to pay the
expenses of their expulsion from their home.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=58280
PM's spokesman: No limits in Jerusalem
In response to US demand for clarifications, Nir Hefetz says 'Jews and
Arabs can buy and sell private assets across the city'.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3867744,00.html
Another
East Jerusalem project gets OK
Approval for the 20-unit project
for Jewish residents funded by a U.S. businessman comes as Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Obama. Officials deny a
political motive. Another controversial housing project in East
Jerusalem has received approval to break ground despite strong U.S.
objections, officials said Wednesday.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/ads7YvEbPbo/la-fg-
jerusalem-housing25-2010mar25,0,6395928.story
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott,Sanctions
and Divestment
Gazans
To Protest The Siege Thursday
The Popular Committee Against the Siege on Gaza will be organizing a protest on Thursday before noon near
the monument that commentates the victims of Israel’s illegal and deadly siege on the coastal region.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=58281
Reading and
Writing, Dignity and Resistance
Joy Ellison - CPT Tuwani -
The bravery and determination of the school children of Tuba and Magher
Al Abeed and their parents always impresses me. But as I watched all
twenty-one the kids make their way home that day, I realized just how
highly these families value education. When these children go to school,
they`re learning more than reading, writing, and math. They are learning
what they will have to do to live with dignity. They are learning the
meaning of resistance.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=39004
UC Berkeley SJP’s Urgent Plea
Thank you so much to all of the people who joined us on Wednesday night
to support the ASUC bill urging divestment from companies that directly
fund Israel's illegal occupation and war crimes (General Electric and
United Technologies) , and to all who sent letters in support of the
bill to senators these last couple of weeks. We could not have
accomplished the 16-4 win without the massive support we received from
the UC community and beyond.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/03/uc-berkeley-sjps-urgent-plea.html
Norman Finkelstein booted, again
Norman Finkelstein may be a curmudgeon who can barely contain his
contempt for institutions he feels have violated the public trust. But
look past the attitude and sometimes poor choices (which, after all,
Finkelstein’s nemesis Dershowitz has in spades) and he’s an excellent,
even obsessively detailed scholar, and certainly no anti-Semite. And
he’s fundamentally morally right. We Jews especially should be outraged.
http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2010/03/24/norman-finklestein-booted-again/
Ain't no Party In Apartheid (copyright protected)
Here
is
a link to listen to the NPR coverage of our SXSW protest against the
Israeli Consulate showcase. Long story short, the Israeli consulate had
a show with Israeli artists and called is "Israel Invades SxSW" God
Forbid.
http://illuminarcy.blogspot.com/2010/03/aint-no-party-in-apartheid-copyright.html
Provocation/Violence
and
Aggression
Against Palestinians
Jewish
settlers
assault Palestinian home in OJ
Tens of Jewish settlers
attacked the home of a Palestinian Jerusalemite family in Ras Al-Amud
suburb in occupied Jerusalem on Thursday, eyewitnesses reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
23 March 2010: Soldiers shoot youth gathering wood
near the Gaza-Israel border
On the morning of 10 February, Muhammad Subuh, 17, Saleh Abu Leylah, 16,
and Maher Ghanem, 21, were in the area of the Israeli settlements that
had been evacuated in the northern Gaza Strip, near the border with
Israel. They were gathering wood, which they needed for cooking. Gas for
cooking is lacking in the area due to the reduction in importation of
cooking gas as part of the siege on the Strip.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Gaza_Strip/20100323_Shooting_near_Gaza_Fence.asp
IOF shoot Gazan fisherman
March 25, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) –
Israeli gunships opened fire on Thursday at Palestinian fishing boats
off the coasts of northern Gaza Strip and injured a fisherman. Hasim
Juma Qzaan was injured and taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia
in the northern sector, Palestinian sources said. Palestinian fishing
boats are targeted daily, as Israel claims that they exceed the
three-mile fishing limit.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/5024-iof-shoot-gazan-fisherman
Troops Attack School Students Near Hebron City,
Southern West Bank
Israeli soldiers fired tear gas on Wednesday at school student near the
southern West Bank city of Hebron. Local sources said that troops
stormed the school fired tear gas at students then forced them out of
their classrooms. Residents say the army is planning to open a settlers’
road near the school. Last night a military jeep crashed near the school
during a night invasion in the area, sources added.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=58276
Real News Network: "Palestinian teens killed as
tensions rise"
Want to see how your tax dollars are being spent? The Real News Network
reports on the killing this weekend of 4 Palestinians teenagers by the
Israeli military, as, in the words of blogger Phil Weiss, "AIPAC served
wine to congressmen and told them about the great economic development
in the West Bank" :More at The Real News, and check out a related
article at Electronic Intifada. News reports like this one are made
possible by you, the U.S. taxpayer, and by the billions of dollars of
U.S. military aid that we send to Israel each year. Find out more--and
learn what you can do to end it--at AidtoIsrael.org
http://endtheoccupationblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/real-news-network-palestinian-teens.html
Israeli army forced to investigate weekend's
killings
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Many Israelis like to believe, and
the cliche is repeated regularly in Israel, that their army is the "most
moral army in the world." However, following the Gaza war which left
1,400 Palestinians dead, most of them civilians, some Israelis have
begun to question this. Furthermore, the fatal shooting of four
Palestinian teenagers in the course of 24 hours over the weekend has
forced the Israeli military to investigate the incident amidst
contradictory statements issued by the soldiers involved.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11161.shtml
Detainees
IOF soldiers detain 20 Gazans
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained 20 Palestinian workers in
northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday and took them to an unknown location.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Israel
detains
3 Palestinians in Hebron
March 25, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) -
Israeli occupation forces detained on Thursday a citizen from Dura
village, southwest of Hebron in the West Bank, while the other
two citizens were detained Wednesday evening near Al-Hram Al-Ibrahimi.
Security sources told SAFA news agency that the soldiers detained Hassan
Mohammed Nasr,39 , from Dura after raiding his home, Fouad Fares
Al-Qasrawi ,23, and Saif Mohammad Al-Qasrawi ,18 ,near Al-Hram
Al-Ibrahimi in Hebron. " Besides, Basil Faisal Al-Drabia, 16 years, was
delivered to the governmental hospital in Hebron after being beaten by
the by Israeli soldiers who detained him yesterday. The boy was severely
beaten before being freed. Also, IOF erected a checkpoint in the area
of Bear Al-Mahjar and checked the ID cards of the citizens. Ina addition
to, there was a heavy presence of the Israeli occupation army near
Al-Rayhia area in south of Hebron as Israeli military vehicle was
flipped there.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/west-bank/5023-israel-detains-3-palestinians-in-hebron
National committee for detainees appeals for saving
life of prisoner Sinwar
The national committee for the support of prisoners appealed to human
rights and medical organizations to send doctors to check and treat the
deteriorating health condition of prisoner Yahya Sinwar.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Humanitarian
Issues/Human Rights/Siege/Restriction of Movement
UN rights body censures Israel
Three resolutions condemning Israeli policies passed in UN Human Rights
Council.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/europe/2010/03/2010324194843763504.html
US stands alone in Human Rights Council votes on
Israel
lThe UN Human Rights
Council has roundly condemned the State of Israel in resolutions tabled
under the highly controversial agenda item 7, “Human Rights Situation
in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories.” Five
resolutions have been tabled against Israel, amounting to the greatest
number of condemnatory resolutions on a single country.
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2010/03/us-stands-alone-in-human-rights-council.html
International Water Day: Chronic shortage in West
Bank
International Water Day, which the UN has marked for 17
years, is devoted this year to water quality, emphasizing the importance
of clean
water and the need for sustainable management of water sources. For
Israelis and Palestinians, the ground water from the Mountain Aquifer is
a shared water source. It is the largest and highest quality water
source in the area, producing 600 million cubic meters (mcm) of water
annually. Israel holds almost complete control of the aquifer and
exploits 80 percent of the production for its needs, leaving the
remainder for the Palestinians’ use.
http://www.btselem.org/english/water/20100324_International_water_day.asp
Targeted
Citizen - English,by Adalah
The film “Targeted Citizen” (15
minutes), produced by filmmaker Rachel Leah Jones for Adalah, surveys
discrimination against the Palestinian citizens of Israel. With the
participation of experts Dr. Yousef Jabareen of the Technion and Dr.
Khaled Abu Asbeh of the Van Leer Institute, as well as Adalah attorneys
Sawsan Zaher, Abeer Baker and Hassan Jabareen, inequality in land and
housing, employment, education and civil and political rights are
eloquently addressed. These interviews are reinforced by the contrasting
informality of on-the-street conversations conducted by Palestinian
comic duo Shammas-Nahas and punctuated by the hard-hitting rhymes of
Palestinian rap trio DAM. The film's theme song “Targeted Citizen,”
written and recorded by DAM especially for Adalah, tells it like it is
without missing a beat.
http://vimeo.com/10302596
Animation produced in Palestine: struggles with breast cancer in Gaza
Fatenah
is a 27 year old woman living in the Gaza Strip.
Her life is similar to the lives of many other women in Gaza. Her life
changes the day she discovers to have breast cancer. This animation, the
first produced in Palestine, shows with great accuracy the scenarios of
Gaza city. The 27 minutes long story is a breath-taking journey into
Fatenah’s daily struggles. It uncovers the human drama of her fight to
survive. This journey into the heart of the Gaza Strip will touch and
move you.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/03/11894
Waiting
for
the Next Time- an Update on Students Seeking to Leave Gaza
Between
March
1 — March 5, 2010, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was
open, and 4427 people passed through the crossing, including 461
students. Of these students, 100 were returned to Gaza by the Egyptians
either because Egypt believed that they would seek to remain in Egypt,
or because they were missing the requisite exit documents.
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/03/waiting-for-the-next-time-an-update-on-students-seeking-to-leave-gaza/
Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – Feb 21 – Mar 20
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/03/goods-needs-vs-supply-feb-21-mar-20/
Industrial
Fuel
– Needs Vs. Supply – Feb 21 – Mar 20
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/03/industrial-fuel-needs-vs-supply-feb-21-mar-20/
War Criminals
While Harvard Slept (Goldstone is in exile, and an
Israeli official speaks at the Martin Kramer institute)
Tomorrow evening Norman Finkelstein speaks on the Goldstone report at
Harvard Law. Notice that NO Harvard human rights group has co-sponsored
the event. Remember that Judge Richard Goldstone was a fixture on the
Harvard Law School and Harvard human rights landscape. I’m not sure if
everyone is now afraid to touch him.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
while-harvard-slept-goldstone-is-in-exile-and-an-israeli-official-speaks-at-the-martin-kramer-institute.html
Israel's Arab Helpers
OPT:
Egyptian steel barrier tests Gazan mettle
GAZA CITY, 25 March
2010 (IRIN) - Egypt’s imminent completion of an above-and-below-ground
steel barrier along its border with the Gaza Strip is putting Gazans on
edge: How will they survive without the huge trade conducted via
underground tunnels? A lucrative tunnel smuggling trade in a range of
commodities took off after Israel imposed an economic embargo on the
Strip after a Hamas takeover in June 2007. The World Bank and
Palestinian economists estimate that at least 80 percent of Gaza's total
imports come through the tunnels.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88552
Egyptian
guards close 5 smuggling tunnels
Al-Arish – Ma'an – Egyptian
authorities took control of and closed five smuggling tunnels along the
Gaza border in the Salah Ad-Din area overnight on Wednesday, officials
said. The tunnels emerged 120 meters from the Gaza-Egypt border,
officials said, noting no smugglers or goods were seized in the
operations.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=271438
Sudanese Man Wounded By Egyptian Fire Near Border
Thursday
March 25, 2010 - 10:02, A Sudanese man was shot and wounded by Egyptian
police fire on Wednesday evening as he tried to infiltrate into Israel
from an area south of the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=58283
Politics
and Diplomacy
MP Abu Juhaisha: Halting negotiations suitable
response to Netanyahu statement
MP Mohammed Abu Juhaisha has called for halting negotiations with the
IOA in response to the statement of Benjamin Netanyahu that asserted
retaining occupied Jerusalem as capital of Israel. Radwan slams Abbas for his thirst for talks with
Israel
Ismail Radwan deplored Mahmoud Abbas for running behind the frivolous
negotiations with Israel, while refusing to sit with Hamas in order to
bridge the gap and achieve the national unity.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Erekat: Settlement decision against peace
Bethlehem
-
Israel was straying further outside of the international consensus and
damaging its credibility as a serious partner for peace, chief PLO
negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement on Wednesday. The PLO
official's comments follow Israel's decision to build in the flashpoint
Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah at the site of the former
Shepherd Hotel, in occupied East Jerusalem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=271320
PA skeptical about US-Israel crisis
Palestinians closely following tensions between Obama, Netanyahu on
backdrop of building in Sheikh Jarrah. Senior PA official: Americans are
not really ensuring that Israel will stop building; we won't enter
negotiations like this.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3867768,00.html
Two meetings, but no agreement between Obama and
Netanyahu
Israeli and American leaders could not even agree on a joint statement
after their White House talks.
Disagreements linger after US-Israel talks: White
House (AFP)
AFP - Talks between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu have failed to resolve "disagreement" thwarting US
efforts to revive Middle East peace talks, the White House said
Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100324/pl_afp/mideastusisrael
Obama's strategy in Israeli-Palestinian conflict at
crossroads (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - There were no kiss-and-make-up photos
after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's two-hour meeting at
the White House with President Obama Tuesday night, suggesting that
differences between the United States and Israel particularly over
settlements in Arab East Jerusalem are more than a passing
misunderstanding.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100324/ts_csm/289926
Obama talks with Netanyahu 'honest': White House
(AFP)
AFP - President Barack Obama asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu to take steps to build "confidence" in the peace process in
"honest and straightforward" talks, the White House said Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100324/pl_afp/mideastusisraelobamanetanyahu
Sama
News:
“Angered By Netanyahu, Obama Leaves Meeting”The Sama News
Agency reported that the President of the United States, Barack Obama,
insulted the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, when he told
him “the meeting is over” as Netanyahu continued to try to connect the
settlements issue with the Iranian “Nuclear File”, and refused to halt
settlement activities in East Jerusalem.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=58286
Israeli media slams PM's bid to end US row (AFP)
AFP -
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to the United States to patch
up relations ended in "humiliation" as Washington dressed down its close
ally over settlements, Israeli media said on Thursday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100325/wl_mideast_afp/mideastusisraelpress
Kadhafi hosts first Arab summit in bid to 'rescue'
Jerusalem (AFP)
AFP - Libya's maverick leader Moamer Kadhafi hosts his first Arab summit
this weekend that aims to "rescue" Jerusalem as Israel defies
international calls for a settlement freeze in the Holy City.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100324/wl_mideast_afp/arabsummit
UN chief will urge Arabs to back Mideast talks (AP)
AP
-
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he will urge Arab leaders this
weekend to support indirect talks between the Palestinians and Israelis
despite their anger over Israel's approval of new homes for Jews in
predominantly Arab east Jerusalem.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100324/ap_on_re_us/un_un_mideast
Report: Australia may expel Israeli diplomat over
Dubai hit
Australia is expected to follow the lead of
Britain, which ejected an Israeli diplomat Tuesday over the alleged use
of forged passports by suspected killers of a Hamas commander in Dubai,
The Australian newspaper reported quoting Israeli government officials.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1158802.html
Jordan: Israel playing with fire with settlements (AP)
AP
- Jordan's king warned Israel in a rare public rebuke that it is
"playing with fire" with its settlement policy, and said in comments
published Thursday the Jewish state must decide whether it wants peace
or war.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100325/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_jordan_israel
Other News
Nativity
Church
deportee to be buried in West Bank
Bethlehem – Ma'an –
The body of Nativity Church deportee Abdallah Dawood will be repatriated
and buried in Palestinian soil on Sunday, 28 March, officials from the
caretaker government's Civil Affairs Ministry announced. The decision
came one day after the death of the Nablus native following heart
surgery in Algeria.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=271467
Hamas to execute suspected Israeli spies in Gaza
(AFP)
AFP - The Islamist Hamas movement which rules Gaza said on Wednesday it
would soon begin executing people convicted of spying for Israel despite
objections from human rights groups.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100324/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpalestinianjusticerightshamas
Gaza police ban motorcycle riding after midnight
Gaza –
Ma'an – De
facto government police in Rafah announced on Thursday a ban on
motorcycle driving after midnight in the Rafah governorate, which
officials said would be effective immediately. Lieutenant Colonel
Hassan Abu Kashef, director of the police in Rafah, said the decision
comes after complaints from citizenry.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=271481
8 Arabs arrested for attacking troops
Gang suspected of stealing soldiers' M-16 rifles; police insist motive
was monetary, not terror.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3867620,00.htmlU.S.
aviation security pick favors Israeli model
President Barack Obama's nominee to oversee security at U.S. airports
said on Tuesday he wants to shift screening closer to the Israeli model
to include more behavior detection in a bid to thwart terrorism plots.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100323/pl_nm/us_usa_security_aviation_1
Israeli Schoolchildren Learn to Count with Tanks
Rela Mazali - Israel: the only democracy in the Middle East? - In
January 2010, an official UN body determined for the first time that the
militarization of Israel’s government-run school system was in violation
of the International Convention of the Rights of the Child and, in
particular, of Israel’s implementation of the Optional Protocol to the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children
in Armed Conflict (OPAC), to which it is a signatory. Unprecedented in
an international legal document, this was one of the conclusions of a
report submitted by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
reviewing Israel’s adherence to and breaches of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol.
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/03/schoolchildren-learn-to-count-with-tanks/
Media WatchBBC
puts US media to shame on E. Jerusalem, Susie Kneedler
The BBC puts U.S. corporate and public media to shame, violating taboos
on Israel. On "BBC World News America" last night, host Matt Frei asked
Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen point-blank about the Israeli
government’s announcement yesterday (news ignored by other outlets) of
"another settlement in the heart of East Jerusalem." Frei even
emphasized the gall of the new grab as Netanyahu met privately with
President Obama: "Talk about timing, there was news today"–of Israel’s
new seizures of Palestinian land.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/16762.html
Pssst–
Al
Jazeera platforms American views that our media suppress, Ahmed MoorAl
Jazeera’s
Inside
Story
program recently hosted Ali Abunimah, John Mearsheimer, and Meagan
Buren of the Israel Project. As usual, Abunimah spoke clearly without
euphemism. For instance: “Because of the intransigence of the lobby,
there will be no two-state solution and that really means the end
of a Jewish state of Israel.”
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/pssst-al-jazeera-platforms-american-views-that-our-media-suppress.html
Analysis/Opinion/Human
Interest
Will
Israeli
settlement push spur US to tackle the issue?
Israel looks
set to carry out plans to build 20 new apartments in East Jerusalem
despite reported strong objections from the US. While there is
nothing new about Israel's illegal building in the occupied territory
nor Washington's stance in opposing it, Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros
looks at whether recent events will push the US to finally tackle the
thorny issue, or gloss it over for the sake of "proximity talks" and an
appearance of progress. (Mar 25, 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HiR18fGOiI&feature=youtube_gdata
Why isn’t Obama outraged over yet another slap to the
face?, Alex Kane
Just before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President
Barack Obama at the White House yesterday, Israeli news outlets reported
that Jewish settlers had recently received a permit from the Jerusalem
municipality to construct "20 housing units, shops and a carpark at the
Shepherd hotel compound in Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighbourhood in
East Jerusalem," according
to Al Jazeera. [Susie
Kneedler picked up
this news, below]. The announcement of the illegal construction is
only the latest in a string of Israeli actions taken in the Palestinian
Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, which has seen Palestinians being thrown out
of their homes and replaced by Jewish settlers.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/why-isnt-obama-outraged-over-yet-another-slap-in-our-face.html
Next for Obama: The muscular foreign policy you
didn’t expect?, David Rothkopf
To some who will be influential in advising the White House
and shaping the view of the U.S. policy community, it may well lead to a
stance
where the U.S. plays a more aggressive role in establishing the terms of
a
settlement and then seeking to win support for those terms from other
influential third parties, such as Arab nations in the region. If the
Palestinians can't get their act together and the Israelis won't, you
may well
see the United States try to play an unprecedented role as an engine of
consensus
building on the Arab side and then returning in the position to be much
tougher. Frankly, this is the strategy that the Netanyahu team is
forcing on
the United States, but it is one which could prove more productive than
other failed
past efforts.
http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03/23/
next_for_obama_the_muscular_foreign_policy_you_didn_t_expect
Netanyahu
leaves U.S. disgraced, isolated and weaker, Aluf Benn
Details
emerging
from Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington remain incomplete, but
the conclusion may nonetheless be drawn that the prime minister erred in
choosing to fly to the United States this week. The visit - touted as a
fence-mending effort, a bid to strengthen the tenuous ties between
Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama - only highlighted the deep
rift between the American and Israeli administrations.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1158992.html
MJ Rosenberg: Netanyahu Hits An Iceberg
My
friend, who has been to at least a dozen AIPAC conferences, said that
this year's reminded him of the scene in Titanic where the first class
passengers chipped pieces off the iceberg to make their drink. Then he
corrected himself. "The ship isn't going to sink. The conference was
more like those people outside the Capitol screaming 'kill the bill'
after everyone knew Obama had the votes."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/bibi-engineers-worse-us-i_b_511475.html
The fallacy of Netanyahu's worldview
Netanyahu
seems
to believe there is no tie between how Israel conducts itself and
Arab rejectionism.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1158686.html
Against ‘Pro-Israel’, ROBERT WRIGHT
Are you anti-Israel? If you fear that, deep down, you might be, I have
important news. The recent tension between Israel and the United States
led various commentators to identify hallmarks of anti-Israelism,
and these may be of diagnostic value. As you’ll see, my own view is
that they aren’t of much value, but I’ll leave it for you to
judge.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/against-pro-israel/?hp
Barghouti: The first intifada has begun again,
Philip Weiss
Israeli soldiers killed 4 Palestinian teenagers allegedly carrying
garden tools during protests in the northern West Bank this weekend as
AIPAC served wine to congressmen and told them about the great economic
development in the West Bank. Mustafa Barghouti says: "It’s popular,
it’s non-violent and it’s peaceful… It is happening everywhere now….
There is an agreement between all these groups, that we don’t use
military actions… These people are unarmed and they have nothing to
defend themselves with, encountering the Israel army and Israeli
settlers… both using guns." Great reporting by Jesse Rosenfeld, via Lia
Tarachansky. [And I'm sorry reader for my goddamn ethnocentrism, but you
will see several young freedom-rider Jews in this video, defying an
enormity on behalf of an oppressed people.]
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/barghouti-the-first-intifada-has-begun-again.html
The Jerusalem 'Compromise', Jonathan Cook -
Nazareth
Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the United States this week armed with a
mandate from the Israeli parliament. A large majority of legislators
from all of Israel’s main parties had supported a petition urging him to
stand firm on the building of Jewish settlements in occupied East
Jerusalem -- the very issue that got him into hot water days earlier
with the White House.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15835
Israel's inclusion in economic organization a threat to democracy
Membership
in
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which
includes 30 of the world's most developed countries, does not provide
money or any special economic benefits. Yet it is easy to see why the
Israeli government attributes great importance to Israel becoming one of
its members. Shir Hever analyzes for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11158.shtml
Greenwald doesn’t weasel on Amanpour, Philip Weiss
Glenn
Greenwald reveals just how much of a weasel Paul
Krugman is in his Christiane Amanpour defense when he, Greenwald,
goes after Amanpour’s attacker, Tom Shales, hammer and tongs for the
clear agenda Shales thinly veils: pro-Israel convention. Greenwald
points out that what seems to bother Shales most of all is Christiane
Amanpour’s Iranian background. Then he goes down the list...
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/greenwald-doesnt-weasel-on-amanpour.html
Netanyahu’s Ring and the Legitimacy of Zionism,
Ahmed Amr
You can’t make this stuff up. It was a Monday, the
first day of spring in 2010, a time usually reserved for a little fresh
air. Alas, the Prime Minister of Israel was dispensing noxious fumes in a
speech to AIPAC, the pro-Israeli lobbying conglomerate that is
considered the single most effective arm-twisting organization in
Washington. Did I forget to mention the Prime Minister’s name? It’s
Benjamin Netanyahu. The significance of that factoid will become
apparent as we move along.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/03/netanyahu%e2%80%99s-ring-and-the-legitimacy-of-zionism/
Noura Erakat: Its Either Me or the Settlements: A
Marriage on the Rocks?, Noura Erakat
Recurring Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu met with President Obama
in Washington this week and, without flinching, attributed the stalled
peace process to the U.S. Administration's concern with illegal
settlements and not to Israel's violation of the peace process's terms,
which unequivocally mandate the cessation of settlement expansion. In
absurd fashion, Netanyahu urged its primary benefactor, on whom it has
relied for financial, military, and diplomatic support since 1968, to
stop troubling itself with settlements, which he referred to as "homes
for Jews," and to move on to
more important things like the peace process.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noura-erakat/its-either-me-or-the-sett_b_511872.html
US intent on dragging Israel to negotiating table,
Jonathon Cook
Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the United States this week armed with a
mandate from the Israeli parliament. A large majority of legislators
from all of Israel's main parties had supported a petition urging him to
stand firm on the building of Jewish settlements in occupied East
Jerusalem -- the very issue that got him into hot water days earlier
with the White House. Jonathan Cook analyzes.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11162.shtml
you can take the boy out of the country, but you
can’t take the eretz out of Peretz, Philip Weiss
I missed this when I landed on Marty Peretz last week. In celebrating
Israel’s right to the West Bank, and probably Jordan too, he
called David Axelrod a "Jewboy." His commenters are upset about it.
Please– give him a break. We need him to keep saying stupid stuff. It
drives thinking people away.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
you-can-take-the-boy-out-of-the-country-but-you-cant-take-the-eretz-out-of-peretz.html
"... a shifting alliance" Kessler
"U.S.
pressure can work, but it needs to be at the right time, on the right
issue and in the right political context," said Robert Malley, a peace
negotiator in the Clinton White House. "The latest episode was an apt
illustration. The administration is ready for a fight, but it realized
the issue, timing and context were wrong. The crisis has been deferred,
not resolved."
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2010/03/-a-shifting-alliance-kessler.html
"Israel's
'consensus
on Jerusalem' has cracked" -- Ben Meir, Helena Cobban
Today's Haaretz carries a very significant op-ed
from Yehuda Ben Meir,
a former MK from the National Religious Party who, looking at the
results of two recent polls asks: Who would have believed that we would
reach a situation where more than 40 percent of the public supports a
construction freeze in East Jerusalem and only half say building should
continue? The significance of these surprising numbers is that the
Jewish consensus on
united Jerusalem has been cracked, if not shattered.
http://justworldnews.org/archives/003938.html
The empty desert of Joseph Biden
American Vice President Joseph Biden's speech in Israel on March 11
sounded like an official American statement, providing absolute and
candid support to all the crimes committed by Israel; since it is an
entity which embodies the aspirations of Jewish and non-Jewish Zionists
in their crimes against unarmed Palestinian civilians.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=113131
The more Things Change, the more they Stay the Same
Joharah Baker - MIFTAH - What is even more audacious from the cheeky
Bibi is his offer to withhold from publicly announcing settlement
construction, especially when US officials are visiting so that nobody
would be embarrassed. Talk about an insult. Is this the kind of loyal
ally the US is so proud of? Apparently so. Clinton, who last week
spurted out some of the strongest-toned language ever towards Israel,
heaped loads of praise on the country and reassured it once again of the
US commitment to Israel. "Guaranteeing Israel`s security is more than a
policy position for me. It is a personal commitment that will never
waiver." If this were not clear enough, Clinton spelled it out for the
pro-Israel Americans listening to her, just to set their minds at ease.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=38990
Columbia J School class covers the occupation, after
all, Philip Weiss
A couple weeks ago I scoffed
at the fact that Ari Goldman’s "Covering Religion" class at the
Columbia Journalism School was taking a caravan to the Holy Land and had
scheduled Yad Vashem for Friday– when Fridays are the time of nonviolent
popular resistance actions across the West Bank and in Judaized East
Jerusalem, which maybe you noticed is about the biggest international
story these days. Well Goldman’s class is back and here is
a good
report by student Rory Kress on Palestinian clashes with Israeli
occupying forces in Shuafat, the refugee camp that borders the
neighborhood in which Israel plans yet more settlement units, Ramat
Shlomo. It appears that the clashes took place last Friday. Kress also
has footage of the nonviolent demo in Sheikh Jarrah and of Muslims under
50 barred from entering the Old City to worship at the Dome of the Rock.
It’s great when journalists show the Muslims barred from worship–an
angry-making fact of racial profiling in annexed East Jerusalem. I see
that student Carolyn Phenicie also covers
this ugly practice
here, for Goldman’s class. Good work.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/columbia-j-school-class-covers-the-occupation-after-all.html
The Crisis That Wasn’t, Philip Giraldi
Israel wins again, says Philip Giraldi -- is war next?
http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2010/03/24/the-crisis-that-wasnt/
The real price of Israel's settlements | Seth Freedman
The
cost of building Israeli settlements in the occupied territories stands
at more than $17bn, according to a report
released this week. The painstaking study into the economics of
construction in the West Bank encompasses every building and road in the
settlements, which cover a combined space of 12m square metres, and in
doing so quantifies the enormity of the 43-year-old project of
colonisation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/25/israel-settlements-palestinian-territories-price
Palestine:
Don’t
Wait for the Americans to Save You
One benefit of the US
occupation of Iraq is that Americans now care a bit more about what
happens to Palestinians. I hate that Palestinian political gains and
Iraqi subjugation may be linked in such a way that they cannot both win.
Part of the reason for this is that America's position in the region now
entails costs for Israel's brutalities. But don't hold out hope for a
benevolent America to really help the Palestinian people.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/03/palestine-dont-wait-for-the-americans-to-save-you.html
Uncrushed,
Judt
explains why we single Israel out
Suffering from Amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis, Tony Judt has demonstrated bravery by using his
celebrity to call attention to his disease. Here he endorses an inspiring,
two-month bicycle trip across the country that young people are
undertaking to raise awareness about ALS. You can watch him, in the
accompanying video, attempt to scratch his nose– and then describe the
experience of the disease as being in a prison cell that gets steadily
smaller, till some day the cell will crush him. And here is Tony Judt, interviewed
in
LRB by Kristina Bozic, bearing witness to historical truths. Notice
his statement that modern European states don’t have political
prisoners. AIPAC spent a lot of time talking about Gilad Shalit. Yes:
one Israeli prisoner. And there are nearly 10,000 Palestinian prisoners,
many of them children arrested for throwing stones against an illegal
occupation.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/uncrushed-judt-explains-why-we-single-israel-out.html
Iraq
Teenage bomber kills three in west Iraq blast (AFP)
AFP - A teenage suicide bomber killed three people on Wednesday in an
attack targeting a local anti-terror chief, police said, amid a spate of
violence across Iraq that left 10 dead.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100324/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrest
Iraqi interior minister demands vote results delay (AP)
AP -
Iraq's interior minister is demanding the release of full, final
election results scheduled for Friday be delayed because of security
concerns.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100325/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
Bid for Iraq vote recount intensifies
An
analysis of the latest figures by the U.S. military has projected that
Maliki's slate will lose the popular vote but win 90 parliamentary
seats, compared with 87 seats for the Iraqiya list of his rival Iyad
Allawi, a secular Shiite and previous prime minister. Such a narrow
outcome would make it difficult for Maliki to cobble together a ruling
coalition in parliament, observers say, explaining the unease among
Maliki supporters.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/23/world/la-fg-iraq24-2010mar24
Poll body rejects Iraq recount call
Iraq's election commission has dismissed calls from Nouri al-Maliki, the
prime minister, for all of the votes in the March 7 parliamentary
election to be recounted by hand.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/2010321163545857542.html
Haditha
massacre
A legal snafu could clear the way to freedom for the Marine
sergeantperhaps most responsible for the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in
the infamous Haditha massacre of 2005.
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/haditha-killings-marine-trial/story?id=10171003
March 2010 Iraq War Protests: Video
There was a protest or demonstration in over 150 cities the week of
March 20th. This video shows video and photos of maybe twenty events
across the country combining interviews, speeches, and demonstration
observations.
http://pjep.org/resources/detail.php?rid=2396
U.S.
and Other World News
US panel debates drone legality
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UVA's) or drones are remote-controlled
aircraft without people onboard, which can carry and utilize missiles.
It is widely suspected that the US has used drones frequently to target
al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan, although
Washington has never admitted nor denied it. But in alleged UVA attacks
targeting the fighters, collateral damage has reportedly claimed the
lives of many civilians. As the US plans to order more drones to add to
the more than 7000 they already have, there is still no legal framework
or set of standards for how to use the new technology. John Terret
reports from Washington, where a US congressional committee has been
held to debate the legality of UVA's usage in conflicts. [March 24,
2010]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mREHmwBDZQ&feature=youtube_gdata
The day I tried to arrest Tony Blair
Is it possible to perform a citizen's arrest for war crimes on the
former prime minister for war crimes? One man decided to find out . . .
It was only when I saw the glow from
Tony Blair's tan that I knew I couldn't chicken out. I'd hatched a vague
plan the previous day to place the former prime minister under
citizen's arrest, during his scheduled visit to the European Parliament –
but wasn't certain I would have the guts to go through with it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/24/tonyblair-iraq
Assad: Israel only understands force
BEIRUT:
Syrian
President Bashar Assad stressed on Wednesday that Syria would not stand
neutral regarding Lebanese domestic affairs in the event of political
alliances against the resistance. "Syria cannot be neutral when it comes
to the resistance," Assad said during an interview with
Hizbullah-affiliated television station Al-Manar.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=113149
Al-Manar’s
Interview
with Syrian President Bashar Assad
Introduction: Whenever
they criticize the official Arab regime, Arab journalists usually use
the expression: "The majority of the Arab regimes," to distinguish some
Arab leaders, at the top of whom comes President Bashar
Assad who enjoys special characteristics in the minds of the Arab
citizens, characteristics that actually add to his responsibilities and
commitments. The dialogue with President Assad exceeds in its value and
meaning the limits of any traditional journalistic dialogue with a
leader or president. The Arab journalist in this circumstance cannot but
be a representative, in one sense or another, of a broad range of Arab
audiences which gave its confidence to this President.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=130804language=en
Saudi Arabia arrests over 'terror plot'
Saudi
Arabia
has arrested 101 people accused of plotting to attack its oil
installations. It is one of the kingdom's biggest security swoops in
years. A ministry spokesman said 47 Saudis and 51 foreigners in three
independent groups were planning to target oil facilities and security
forces. Security officials say one captured Yemeni is a prominent member
of al-Qaeda. Al Jazeera's Hazem Sika reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtIVgiOsudQ&feature=youtube_gdata
Predominantly Muslim Egypt renovates the Christian
faith's oldest monastery
Amid an escalating sectarian divide, a predominantly Muslim Egypt is
touting the completed renovation of the world's oldest monastery as a
symbol of tolerance and harmony with the Christian faith community.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/yzz7VF4M2Pw/
Predominantly-Muslim-Egypt-renovates-the-Christian-faith-s-oldest-monastery
Leaders
to
snub Arab League summit
The Arab League is a regional
organisation of 22 Arab nations - established with the main goal of
drawing closer relations between them. But this week's Arab league
summit set to be hosted by Libya is being overshadowed by serious
political rows between Muammer Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, and other key
Arab leaders. The long list of absentees for the summit is said to
include Saudi Arabia's king, the presidents of Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon,
and the sultan of Oman. Mike Hanna reports from Sirte, Libya, where the
issue of Palestine among others is shedding light on growing divisions
between numerous Arab nations. [March 25, 2010]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndc76cVl_zY&feature=youtube_gdata
Not much blog for your buck | Brian Whitaker
Home Office
research has thrown up some blindingly obvious insights into the Muslim
blogosphere. Why did they bother? "Government names most influential
'pro-Islamic' bloggers" was the headline on yesterday's story
about a new report from the Home Office's counter-terrorism information
unit, RICU. So, they've been rumbled at last, you might think. But
look more closely and you'll find that the man identified in the report as Britain's third
most influential "pro-Islamic" blogger is actually an atheist based in
the United States. As'ad AbuKhalil, a Lebanese-American professor of
political science at California State University who blogs as The Angry Arab is furious about it. "How ignorant are the
researchers of the Home Office?" he writes. "How many times does one have to
espouse atheist, anarchist, and secular principles before they realise
that their categorisation is screwed up?" He suspects that his blog was
included because of its name. He rarely talks about religion on his
blog, except when mocking the fatwas issued by reactionary clerics.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/mar/25/blogs-islamic-home-office-report |
| For further information contact Shadi Fadda |
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