Abbas refuses armed struggle even if negotiations failed
Mahmoud Abbas, the former PA chief, told France 24 radio station that he would not resort to armed struggle even if the current negotiations with the IOA failed to bring about any result.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

The PA's disingenuous boycott campaign, Ali Abunimah
In recent weeks, the US- and Israeli-backed Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) has made a show of calling on Palestinians to boycott goods manufactured in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.  Despite the rhetoric of defiance and resistance, and exaggerated screams of anguish from Israeli settler groups, the PA effort actually appears designed to co-opt, undermine and abort the much broader Palestinian civil society campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), and to reassure Israel of the continued docility and collaboration of its puppet regime in Ramallah.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11286.shtml

Abbas: 2nd intifada was a mistake
In interview with Egyptian TV, Palestinian president says, 'Arafat did not want the second intifada to spread, but he was unable to stop it.' Adds: Peace could be achieved in a week if Netanyahu government would actively pursue it.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3894519,00.html

Arab women join IDF rescue units
Young female residents of Kfar Kassem, Kfar Bara enlist in Home Front Command's operational rescue units to the pride of local leaders.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3894434,00.html

Prayer for the health of the rais
They have met four times since Netanyahu returned to power, and unlike U.S. President Barack Obama, Mubarak has no qualms about shaking Netanyahu's hand in public. "Ties are much closer than they seem," said a highly placed Israeli source.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/prayer-for-the-health-of-the-rais-1.292269

Hamas
Hamas lawmaker: We deal with Shalit according to Islam
Gaza – Ma'an – Hamas lawmaker in Gaza Jamal Nassar said his movement is treating captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in accordance with Islam and "not according to reactions," referring to the passing of a law that would bar Hamas prisoners from family visits.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=287324

Gaza police chief: Executions will continue
Gaza – Ma'an – Executions in the Gaza Strip will continue as a means to deter criminals and foster efforts to maintain security and order, Gaza's Chief of Police Abu Ubayda Al-Jarrah said Wednesday.  Speaking to a local radio station, Al-Jarrah said the de facto government's police forces were successful in preserving security and protecting the Strip's population, living under Israel's crippling siege, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=287210

Political Developments
Palestinians to U.S.: No talks on piecemeal gestures from Israel
PA officials tell U.S. envoy they have no interest conducting prolonged talks with Jerusalem over Israeli gestures that resemble "Jenin 2" project.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/palestinians-to-u-s-no-talks-on-piecemeal-gestures-from-israel-1.292239

MESS Report / Key U.S. figure in Israel-PA talks, Lt. General Dayton, steps down
Move could indicate Obama administration's intent to lessen its involvement in peace process; Palestinians pressure U.S.: Discuss Israeli withdrawals, not gestures.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/mess-report/
mess-report-key-u-s-figure-in-israel-pa-talks-lt-general-dayton-steps-down-1.292239

Netanyahu invited to meet Obama next week
After months of tensions between US, Israel over construction in east Jerusalem, Israeli PM expected to arrive in Washington for high-profile talks after official visit to Canada.
Other News
'Israeli Retaliation Must Include Major Muslim Sites'
A new paper from the BESA Center for Mideast Security and Policy says any Israeli response to a non-conventional attack from Arab countries must include an attack on sites of “major symbolic importance for the Muslim world”.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/186745

Bill revoking spies' citizenship approved in preliminary reading
MKs vote in favor of bill allowing courts to revoke citizenship of Israelis engaging in espionage on behalf of terror organizations.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3894608,00.html

Rabbi bans women from public office
Chief rabbi of Elon Moreh says women cannot have 'authority', advises to be heard through husband.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3893054,00.html

Maariv: IDF Blackhawk ferries Rahm Emanuel and family on private tour of Golan Heights
Rahm Emanuel is in Israel with his family on a private visit. Yesterday they toured the Golan Heights. Maariv (May 26 2010, page 5) runs a (here and at bottom of post) of his family exiting a military Blackhawk helicopter with a shoulder shot of Rahm inset.
http://coteret.com/2010/05/26/
maariv-idf-blackhawk-ferries-rahm-emanuel-and-family-on-private-tour-of-golan-heights/

50,000 Palestinians register for Hajj
Bethlehem - Ma'an - More than 50,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip signed up on Tuesday to take part in this year's Hajj lottery, hoping to participate in the Muslim pilgrimage due at the end of Ramadan in September.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=287081

70% of PA security forces under 30
Nablus – Ma'an – Seventy percent of Palestinian Authority security officers are under the age of 30, and 700 hold an undergraduate law degree, PA security adviser Adnan Dmeiri told reporters Wednesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=287192

Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
Is it time for the west to engage with Hamas and Hezbollah?
Debate in Qatar this week between groups at heart of Middle East conflict adds weight to calls for international dialogue.  Al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite TV network, rarely shies away from controversy, so it was not surprising that one of the most interesting sessions at its annual forum in Doha this week was entitled: Engaging Resistance: Choice or Necessity?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/25/west-engage-hamas-hezbollah

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Biggest Boycotter of them All?
Everyone is at least a little hypocritical — that’s human nature. But fundamental contradictions are hard to let slide, especially when they are ostensibly made in the name of some moral superiority. And this is exactly what Gideon Levy so eloquently pointed out in his opinion piece in Haaretz, “Boycotting the Boycotters,” from May 16th.
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/05/mirror-mirror-on-the-wall-whos-the-biggest-boycotter-of-them-all/

Obama's Jewish minefield is Israel's bomb
The damage caused by the Netanyahu government to this core support of American Jews is no better than the threat of a nuclear Iran.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/obama-s-jewish-minefield-is-israel-s-bomb-1.291841

Settlement Policy Wrong, Say European Jews
PARIS – Prominent Jewish intellectuals living in Europe have begun denouncing the Israeli policy of allowing settlements to come up on Palestinian territories as “morally and politically wrong.”  In a collective declaration, presented in the Belgian capital Brussels on May 3, hundreds of prominent European Jews also said that the main danger to the state of Israel “lies in the occupation and the continuing pursuit of settlements in the West Bank and in the Arab districts of East Jerusalem.”
http://original.antiwar.com/julio-godoy/2010/05/25/settlement-policy-wrong-say-european-jews/

Israel's Nukes Out of the Shadows, JONATHAN COOK
Nazareth.  Israel faces unprecedented pressure to abandon its official policy of “ambiguity” on its possession of nuclear weapons as the international community meets at the United Nations in New York this week to consider banning such arsenals from the Middle East.  Israel’s equivocal stance on its atomic status was shattered by reports on Monday that it offered to sell nuclear-armed Jericho missiles to South Africa’s apartheid regime back in 1975.
http://www.counterpunch.com/cook05262010.html

Dangerous Emulations, By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
Perhaps, the worst punishment besides death meted out against the Palestinian population by Israel is the demolition of their homes. It is cruel, inhumane and humiliating. We have seen far too many pictures of wailing women and distraught men standing beside a heap of rubble and mangled steel, a book caught between two bricks or a dolly's arm stretching out grotesquely from between iron bars. For over 40 years, Israel has demolished tens of thousands of homes in the West Bank, in Gaza and in east Jerusalem. In Rafah alone, hundreds of Palestinian homes have been razed to the ground by invading Israeli troops. Rachel Corrie, a young American peace activist, lost her life to this terrible practice in 2003 when she was run over and crushed by an Israeli bulldozer tearing down a Rafah home. It is an abhorrent practice, and for good reason. It strips people, not only of their actual house, but of their sense of security and safety, many of their keepsakes and their memories and leaves them to sleep in the street in a makeshift tent or forces them to seek refuge with a relative or a compassionate neighbor.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=22149&CategoryId=13

Vilifying Goldstone, Stephen Lendman
"The Human Rights Council (HRC) today announced the appointment of Richard J. Goldstone....to lead an independent (four-person) fact-finding mission to investigate international human rights and humanitarian law violations related to the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip....The team will be supported by staff of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights....Today's appointment comes following the adoption of a resolution by the Human Rights Council....to address 'the grave violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly due to the recent Israeli military attacks against the occupied Gaza Strip."
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15986

Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1u2H_QP0y8&playnext_from=TL&videos=MWTRLtGMMAU&feature=sub

Iraq
Tuesday: 17 Iraqis Killed, 20 Wounded
Gunmen at a Baghdad gold market staged a bold robbery that left over a dozen merchants and bystanders dead. At least 17 Iraqis were killed and 20 more were wounded in that attack and other violence across Baghdad and northern Iraq. Meanwhile, Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin III has been tapped to lead U.S. forces in Iraq.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/05/25/tuesday-17-iraqis-killed-20-wounded/

Iraqi PM condemns killing of rival politician
* Politician gunned down in Mosul
* Maliki government blamed for security failures
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE64O2EX.htm

Sunni official’s death may destabilize Iraq
Gunmen in northern Iraq killed a newly elected lawmaker from a Sunni-backed list that narrowly won Iraq’s March elections, officials said, in a slaying certain to rattle the fragile political system.
http://newsok.com/sunni-officials-death-may-destabilize-iraq/article/3463638?custom_click=rss

Firas Al-Atraqchi: Soldier Taunting Iraqi Children is Hardly the Worst Act
Recent news of a video of a US soldier taunting two Iraqi male children is disturbing but hardly the worst account of improper actions to have emerged from the war-ravaged country since the US invasion of Iraq.  Since 2003, several US service men and women have been put on trial or court-martialed for murder, rape, sodomy, purgery, tampering with the scene of the crime, conspiracy, planting weapons on Iraqi victims, torture, theft and other improper acts committed against Iraqis.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/firas-alatraqchi/soldier-taunting-iraqi-ch_b_589255.html

Iraqi Airways drops Europe routes
Iraqi Airways drops flights to London and Sweden after a row with Kuwait over reparations, and the airline may be wound up.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/world/middle_east/10160016.stm

False university certificates in Iraq
Forging university certificates is another face of corruption in Iraq. Will appropriate measures succeed in curbing this occurrence? For more details, click on play movie.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-49670-False-university-certificates-in-Iraq.html

Lebanon

    
In Any Future War, Only Israelis Fleeing From Occupied Palestine May Be Safe
25/05/2010 Hezbollah marked the tenth anniversary of the Resistance and Liberation Day Tuesday at the Sayyed Al-Shouhada compound in Beirut’s southern suburb. Official, religious, military, and popular figures attended the ceremony in which Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah delivered a speech for the occasion and tackled recent developments in Lebanon and the region.  The Hezbollah chief set a new formula that will be adopted in any new war with Israel saying that Hezbollah will attack Israel-bound ships if the Zionist entity imposed a sea blockade on Lebanon. "When the world will witness how these ships will be destroyed in Palestine's regional water nobody will dare to go there just as they will block (others) from coming to our coasts," his eminence told thousands of supporters.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=139021&language=en
    
Israel Still Paying Price of Televised Lebanon Disgrace
26/05/2010 Yedioth Aharonoth’s Ron Ben-Yishai analyzed the events leading up to the humiliating withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000.  “To this day, I cringe with shame when I recall that night in May 2000. I cannot forget the Armored Corps soldier screaming into his cell phone: “Mom, I’m out.” I can’t forget the regional commander locking up the Good Fence gate behind him with a frozen expression; I can’t forget Four Mothers group members celebrating their political victory in a press conference (an odd one, to say the least) with the army chief and Northern Command head. In the face of these images, I also cannot forget (Sayyed) Nasrallah, who during the same hours likely polished his famous “spider-web” speech. He already knew that the withdrawal from the security zone was merely the beginning of a new chapter, rather than an end to the bloodshed,” Ben-Yishai wrote.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=139133&language=en

10 Years of “Israeli” Variations on the Term “Withdrawal”, Belén Fernández
As the "Israeli" occupation army withdrew from southern Lebanon on May 24, 2000, Zeinab al Mohammad, a resident of Tyre, set out for the liberated village of Adaisseh with her sister Siham, Siham's husband-a native of the village-and their children. En route, Zeinab's jeep was attacked by "Israeli" helicopters, causing the passengers to abandon the vehicle, which was subsequently destroyed. There were no casualties, although Siham's infant daughter was dropped during the family's dispersal and only recovered once the helicopters had moved on.  This is merely one of a countless number of episodes confirming that unilateral "Israeli" territorial withdrawals are not indicative of a shift in the state's bellicose orientation, something that was underscored yet again in July and August of 2006 with the murder of approximately 1200 Lebanese civilians.
http://english.moqawama.org/essaydetails.php?eid=11168&cid=214