|
Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines ~ |
|
Land theft / Settlers
Israeli forces storm Al-Aqsa compound
28 Feb 16:55 local time - Seven Palestinians were detained as clashes
erupted on Sunday with
Israeli forces at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, after storming the site
with discord reported throughout the Old City of occupied East
Jerusalem. Ma'an's Jerusalem correspondent reported that four
right-wing Israelis were allowed access to the Al-Aqsa compound with a
police escort. Dozens of Palestinian worshipers spent the night at the
site, fearing a takeover during the Jewish holiday of Purim ... Over
200 Israeli soldiers and police surrounded the mosque, using
loudspeakers calling on worshipers to evacuate the site, Ma'an's
correspondent said. Palestinians responded by using the loudspeakers in
the mosque, used to call Muslims to prayer, to urge Palestinians to
head to the city.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264725
13 injured as Israeli police attack Palestinians in
Jerusalem's Old City
28 Feb, 11:42 local time ...Eyewitnesses
reported that five residents were arrested by the Israeli
police forces during the in suite clashes. Earlier on Sunday Israeli
soldiers looked down the Al Aqsa Mosque while people are praying
inside. Later troops stormed the outer courtyard of the third holiest
site for
Muslims worldwide and fired tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets
injuring at least 13 residents. Later in the day residents from
Jerusalem old city gathered outside the Aqsa Mosque in solidarity with
worshiper trapped inside. Clashes now are being reported across east
Jerusalem
http://imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=58076
and the AP version:
Israeli police storm holy site to quell rioter
Israeli
police
forces stormed a Jerusalem holy site on today to disperse
Palestinian protesters hurling rocks at visitors. Police spokesman
Micky Rosenfeld said police dispersed some 20 masked protesters who
were holed up inside the holy compound known to Jews as the Temple
Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. There were no injuries and
no arrests were made, Rosenfeld said and calm had been restored and
some thousand tourists had since visited the site.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/
israel-police-storm-holy-site-to-quell-rioters-1913388.html
Protest continues at Osh Ghrab; met with military
aggression
Despite recent storms in the Bethlehem area,
protest was held at the
site of the former military base of Osh Ghrab, east of the town of Beit
Sahour. The protest resulted in a display of force from the Israeli
military ... Today’s protest began at 11 a.m. With those in attendance
scaling the
hill and entering the area of the abandoned buildings. Once they
arrived at the summit two Israeli military jeeps entered the area and
informed protestors that they had 5 minutes to disperse. The majority
of the protestors peacefully complied with this request, with a few
members of the crowd remaining to engage the military in civil
dialogue, including Dr. Mazin Qumsiya of the Popular Committee to
Defend Osh Ghrab, and Palestinian MP, Mustafa Barghouti.
Despite this, the Israeli military began to fire concussion grenades,
tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets at the retreating
protesters causing them to flee.
http://imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=58077
Hebron Purim parade takes place without hitch
Festive atmosphere
along with wintry weather succeed in easing tension. Palestinians watch
Purim parade from sidelines, welcome participants with holiday
greetings while also acknowledging that situation could be dangerous.
'Hebron will be ours,' shouted intoxicated revelers
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3855814,00.html
Heritage sites controversy
PA cabinet to meet in Hebron
The Fayyad government is due to hold its weekly cabinet meeting in an
office the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday, in protest against
Israel's decision to include the Ibrahimi Mosque on a list of Israeli
heritage sites. Hebron Governor Hussein Al-Araj said the move
from Ramallah to Hebron was a signal Palestinian Authority rejected the
Israeli cabinet's decision, highlighting that Israel lacks the
sovereignty needed to change Palestinian landmarks on land occupied by
Israel in 1967.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264885
Russia slams Israel for adding WB mosques to heritage
list
Moscow disapproves of Israel's decision to put two mosques in the West
Bank on its national heritage list which would hamper the resumption of
peace dialogue, RIA Novosti quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying
on Friday ... 'We have repeatedly said that we are categorically against
any steps
and actions that foreshadow the outcome of negotiations on a final
Palestinian-Israeli settlement, and which cannot but hamper efforts
contributing to the resumption of dialogue between Palestinians and
Israelis,' Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.
http://english.wafa.ps/?action=detail&id=13813
A heritage covered up / Gideon Levy
...NIS 400 million, 150 "heritage sites," and one big,
old lie: A people without a land came to a land without a people. After
more than 100 years of Zionism and over 60 years since the state was
declared, Israel still needs to conceal, deny, cover-up and obfuscate
to justify its existence ... One must also accept the
approach which says that a
country and a people are allowed to immortalize their past and their
heritage. But a country that covered 416 abandoned Arab villages with
Jewish National Fund forests and isn't leaving behind a monument to
them - as in the words of the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko about Babi Yar -
must finally bestow the entire history upon its citizens, and not just
selected and misleading chapters of it.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1152789.html
Tombs and
heritage / Adam Keller
...The
story of Jakob and Rachel is one of the oldest love stories known to
human culture ... When the picture of Rachel's Tomb appeared on stamps
published by the
British Mandate, nobody opposed it and nobody protested. On the
contrary, the British chose this picture especially in order to have a
site acceptable to all of His Majesty's subjects in this country, Jews
and Arabs alike. Rachel's Tomb had been, for hundreds of years, one of
this country's symbols, part of the heritage of all its inhabitants.
Some people still remember the days when Jewish and Arab women alike
went on pilgrimage to Rachel's Tomb and prayed there, side by side.
Rachel's Tomb, that beautiful and modest structure which appeared on
stamps and also in various naïve and romantic paintings, no longer
exists. Under the rule of the State of Israel it was replaced by an
enormous concrete fortification, guarded day and night by a large
military force – a threatening enclave penetrating into Palestinian
Bethlehem. It is this location, as well as the Cave of the Machpela,
that the
government of Israel proclaimed to be "National Heritage Sites", which
are to be "rebuilt" and "reconstructed" at considerable expense for the
state treasury.
http://adam-keller2.blogspot.com/
Violence / Aggression
IDF officer suspended over shooting on Palestinian
car
Force apparently
mistook car's passengers for Palestinian who threw firebombs at IDF
checkpoint, opened fire in violation of army procedure --
An IDF reserves officer whose soldiers
opened fire on a Palestinian car travelling near the West Bank village
of Hussan Saturday night has been suspended until the conclusion of a
military investigation into the incident. Four members of
the same Palestinian family sustained light to moderate injuries in the
shooting.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3855799,00.html
Action: petition
Allow Palestinian farmers to participate in
Fairtrade Fortnight
3
PALESTINIAN FARMERS DENIED VISAS BY THE UK GOVERNMENT FOR FAIRTRADE
FORTNIGHT These farmers, whose olive oil is the only one in the world
to carry the Fairtrade mark, have been invited by a UK social
enterprise, Zaytoun, and were to be accompanied by a leading British
NGO. The shocking refusal to allow those producers from newly certified
Fairtrade Cooperatives into the UK to attend events across England,
Wales and Scotland, comes exactly one year after this: ...[Gordon]
Brown said: "Olive oil production provides an essential part of the
West Bank economy. In buying this oil, British shoppers wil be helping
the farmers of Palestine to make a living."
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fairtradefarmersfrompalestine/
Detention
Jihad affiliate given 7th administrative detention
sentence
Israeli authorities handed down on Sunday the
seventh consecutive
administrative detention sentence to an Islamic Jihad supporter from
Beit Ummar, north of Hebron. Relatives of Imad Abu Maria, 30,
said he was preparing to leave the Negev prison and while fellow
prisoners were bidding him farewell, he was told that his sentence was
extended in relation to an undisclosed case. Following Maria's
third detention in Israeli custody and his brief release three days
earlier, Israeli forces detained him. He has served 36 months of
administrative detention (imprisonment without trial or indictment) in
total.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264816
Gaza prosecutor wants UK journalist's term extended
A Gaza military prosecutor wants to extend the detention of a British
journalist, claiming he poses a security threat, a local government
official told The Associated Press on Sunday. Freelance
journalist Paul Martin has been held in Gaza since 14 February, the
first foreign national to be arrested since Hamas took full control of
the territory in 2007. Martin's initial 15-day arrest order
expires on Monday. At that time, a prosecutor will ask a court to keep
Martin in custody, Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Al-Ghussein told
the AP ... Martin was arrested in a Gaza courtroom when he arrived to
testify at
the trial of a Palestinian who was accused of collaborating with
Israel. Martin reportedly interviewed the accused man for a documentary.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264897
3 Gaza workers detained at Israeli border fence
Three Gaza workers were detained by Israeli forces on Sunday as they
attempted to cross over the barbed-wire fence east of Al-Bureij refugee
camp, central Gaza Strip. Ma'an's Gaza correspondent said
Israeli troops opened fire after they spotted the workers. The three
were detained and taken to an unknown location, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264755
2 Palestinians detained by Israeli forces in the West
Bank
Two Palestinians were detained in the West Bank overnight on Friday,
Israeli media reported. An
Israeli military spokesman said the two were detained on suspicion of
involvement in 'terror activity', and were arrested in the north of
Ramallah and east of Nablus. According to the spokesman, the two were
taken for security questioning.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264392
Life term for Tulkarem man convicted of treason
A Tulkarem court sentenced a Palestinian man to life imprisonment on
Sunday, after he was found guilty of treason and making contact with
Israel. The 31-year-old man, identified only by his initials AK,
was sentenced in accordance with acticles 111 and 112 of the penal
code. The accused can appeal the sentence.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264870
Palestinian Authority ignores court, jails
journalist
New
York, Feb 26 -- The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the
Palestinian Authority (PA) to heed a High Court order and release
journalist Tariq Abu Zaid immediately. A four-person special military
court in Nablus sentenced Abu Zaid, a correspondent who reported on
camera for Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV, to 18 months in prison on February 16
on charges of "undermining the status of the authority, and resisting
the public policy of the Palestinian Authority," his lawyer, Bassam
Karajeh, told CPJ. Karajeh said authorities have not responded to
demands that they explain why the journalist was tried in a military
court. Abu Zaid has been held at Al-Junied prison in Nablus since he
was first arrested in August 2009.
http://cpj.org/2010/02/palestinian-authority-ignores-court-sentences-jour.php
War crimes
UN General Assembly urges further Gaza war
investigations (Reuters)
UNITED NATIONS
(Reuters) - The
General Assembly on Friday demanded credible Israeli and Palestinian
investigations into U.N. allegations of war crimes in last year's Gaza
war, reflecting concerns that the probes so far have fallen short. The
United Nations' 192-nation assembly of
member states approved the nonbinding Arab-drafted resolution with 98
votes in favor, seven against and 31 abstentions. Some 56 nations did
not participate in the vote. The Palestinian Authority's
permanent observer
to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, blamed a massive snowstorm that
closed down schools and many businesses in New York for the poor
attendance at the time of the vote.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61P4DU20100226
Extra-judicial killings
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was sedated before being
suffocated
By
Hugh Tomlinson, Dubai -- ...The results of a toxicology report released
today show that the Hamas commander was paralysed by an injection of
succinylcholine, a fast-acting muscle relaxant. He was then suffocated
with a pillow ... The drug does not induce loss of consciousness or
anaesthesia, meaning that al-Mabhouh would have been conscious but
unable to struggle as he was suffocated ... Dubai police also said that
they would soon name a new suspect in the case, bringing the total
number of named agents to 27.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article7044326.ece
Dubai has DNA, fingerprint evidence of Dubai
assassins; Israeli-American finance company provided killers' credit
cards
Several interesting developments in the Dubai assassination
investigation ... Clayton Swisher writes a strong post
arguing the case for U.S. involvement in the investigation as financial
dealings here enabled the killing. Turns out, a former officer in an
elite IDF unit runs a financial services firm, Payoneer, in the U.S.
and he arranged for the credit cards used fraudulently by the killers
... Haaretz reports
the strange news that the Mossad apparently photoshopped the passport
photos of the agents ... I find this report, written by Haaretz’s
military correspondent (and
someone likely to have Mossad sources and a vested interest in
showcasing them), dubious in some ways.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/02/26/dubai-has-dna-fingerprint-
evidence-of-dubai-assassins-israeli-american-finance-company-provided-killers-credit-cards/
Israeli spy 'sourced details for passports in
Dublin'
An Israeli spy based in Dublin is suspected of supplying information for the
forged Irish passports used by the team of assassins who murdered a Hamas commander in Dubai.
And
details of more fake Irish passports used in the assassination of a
Hamas official are expected to be given to the Irish Ambassador in
Dubai today.Ambassador
Ciaran Madden will meet with officials from the United Arab Emirates, who have confirmed that more
fake Irish passport numbers had been identified.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/israeli-spy-sourced-details-for-passports-in-dublin-2076414.html
Australia abandons Israel in UN vote
AUSTRALIA has softened its traditionally staunch support for Israel
in the United Nations but denied it was linked to tensions over the
country's apparent use of forged Australian passports in an
assassination in Dubai. At a vote in the UN General
Assembly - where Australia has been one of Israel's strongest
supporters - the government abstained from a resolution demanding that
Israel and the Palestinians investigate possible war crimes during the
assault on Gaza that Israel began in December 2008. Three months ago,
Australia voted against a similar resolution which sought to endorse
the Goldstone report ... One Department of Foreign Affairs source told
the Herald there was no doubt the decision to abstain was
intended as a sign to Israel not to take Australian support for granted.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/australia-abandons-israel-in-un-vote-20100228-pb70.html
Ben-Eliezer: Dubai hit not a failure
Despite
the ambiguity in Israel
over who killed Hamas
commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh
in Dubai last month, Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Sunday that
"the Mabhouh assassination was not a failure. I don't know who did it,
I am addressing the results." On an Army Radio broadcast,
the industry, trade and labor minister said, "I don't know if it was us
or not us." Ben-Eliezer said the assassination
brought with it deterrence
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3855459,00.html
Blockade
Fuel pumped into Gaza despite closure
Israeli authorities permitted the transfer of fuel through the Kerem
Shalom crossing into Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian border crossings
official Raed Fattouh said. Limited quantities of cooking gas
and industrial fuel were delivered through the border crossing, despite
its closure by Israeli authorities for the duration of the Jewish
holiday Purim, Fattouh said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264888
New York Times watch
*****US media and Israeli military all in the family /
Alison Weir
Recent exposés revealing that Ethan Bronner, the New York Times
Israel-Palestine bureau chief, has a son in the Israeli military
have caused a storm of controversy that continues to swirl and generate
further revelations ... As it turns out, Bronner's ties to the Israeli
military are not the rarity one might expect ... For a great many of
the reporters and editors determining what Americans learn about
Israel-Palestine, Israel is family. Jonathan Cook, a British journalist
based in Nazareth, writes of a
recent meeting with a Jerusalem based bureau chief, who explained: "…
Bronner's situation is 'the rule, not the exception. I can think of a
dozen foreign bureau chiefs, responsible for covering both Israel and
the Palestinians, who have served in the Israeli army, and another
dozen who like Bronner have kids in the Israeli army." ... Apparently,
intimate ties to Israel are among the many open secrets in
the region that are hidden from the American public. If, as the news
media insist, these ties present no problem or even, as the Times'
Keller insists, enhance the journalists' work, why do the news agencies
consistently refuse to admit them? The answer is not complicated. While
Israel may be family for these journalists and editors, for
the vast majority of Americans, Israel is a foreign country. In survey
after survey, Americans say they don't wish to "take sides" on this
conflict. In other words, the American public wants full, unfiltered,
unslanted coverage.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2010/02/27/us-media-and-israeli-military-all-in-the-family/
Other news
War of words: Israel attacks Palestinian rhetoric
(Reuters)
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Concerned
that
its image abroad is suffering, Israel is going on the offensive to
show that Palestinians, not Israelis, are responsible for perpetuating
the region's cycle of violence. With the peace
process at a standstill since its
war in Gaza a year ago, Israel is trying to paint the Palestinian
Authority as the source of incitement to violence -- a violation of
Palestinian obligations under peace agreements ... In
January, Israel's Center for Near East
Research stepped up the anti-incitement campaign with the launch of a
monthly "Incitement Report." Aimed at Western legislators, it
chronicles language its writers say encourages violence ... Palestinians
say rhetoric from their side
about guns or bloodshed is nothing compared with the physical
subjugation and humiliation they suffer at the hands of Israeli
occupation troops manning West Bank checkpoints and armed patrols. Real
incitement isn't just words, they say, it is actions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61M39I20100223
Israel court to hear Citizenship Law challenge
The
Israeli High Court of Justice will soon hear a challenge to a law
which prohibits Palestinians with Israeli citizenship from bringing in
spouses from the occupied territories and countries deemed 'enemy
states' by the Israeli government. A petition was filed in
2007 by Adalah, the legal center for the Palestinian minority in
Israel, and other human rights groups, contesting the Citizenship Law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264784
YWCA in Ramallah sustains damage caused by heavy
rains
The ground floor of the Young Women's Christian
Association
headquarters in Ramallah was destroyed in Saturday as a result of heavy
rains throughout the governorate. Rainfall led to a deluge in
the old well in the headquarters, causing structural damage to the
building's walls, uprooting trees, and devastating the ground floor.
Officials estimated the damage caused at 70,000 US dollars.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264705
Heavy rain causes flash flooding in Nablus
Heavy downpours in the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday have caused
one meter flash flooding in the area, locals said. In some villages in
the governorate, floods exceeded one meter, with no injuries reported
as a result of the deluge.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=264811
Building the first 'Palestinian settlement'
The
slick 3D animation shows the planned town looks very much like an
Israeli settlement, except for the mosques -- ...the bulldozers are
here and building is now under way in what will be
the biggest construction project in modern Palestinian history. Rawabi,
which actually means "hills" in Arabic, will be the first purpose-built
Palestinian city. The developers say it will eventually house more than
40,000 people, and will take more than five years to build.It's costing
more than US$700m (£458m) most of which has been invested by the Qatari
government.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8537068.stm
Palestinian cafe owner faces threats for 'no
uniforms' policy / Tim King
(HAIFA / SALEM) - In spite of all
the hardship, Palestinians living in
Israel and the occupied territories find ways to survive. Sometimes,
amidst the political and ethnic tension and fear, they even find ways
to live well. This may be a fair description for a restaurant/cafe in
Haifa called 'Azad' ... In Arabic, Azad means 'The Free Person'
or simply, 'freedom'.
"This is a very peaceful place which allows people of all races or
religions to enter ... In fact, Azad's is so resolved to having a
peaceful atmosphere, that
the place has a policy banning people in military uniforms.
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/february272010/haifa-azad-tk.php
Analysis / Opinion / Human interest
For Israel, defiance comes at the cost of legitimacy
/ Henry Siegman
The Middle East peace process and its quest for a two-state solution to
the Israel-Palestine conflict that got under way nearly 20 years ago
with the Oslo accords has undergone two fundamental transformations. It
is now on the brink of a third ... The disappearance of the two-state
solution is triggering a third
transformation, which is turning Israel from a democracy into an
apartheid state ... At first, the collapse of the assumptions on which
hopes for a fair and
just resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict rested triggered much
despair. But that despair has begun to turn to anger, and options for
resolving the conflict, previously dismissed by the international
community as unrealistic, are being looked at anew. That anger is also
spawning a new global challenge to Israel’s legitimacy.
http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2010-02-24/henry-siegman-for-israel-defiance-comes-at-the-cost-of-legitimacy/
Once seemingly impregnable, Hamas shows signs of
vulnerability (Washington Post)
Struggling to maintain its
strength in the West Bank amid a crackdown by Israel
and Palestinian police and suffering after the assassination of one of
its top leaders, Hamas has sustained another blow with news that the
son of one its founders had been spying on it for Israel ... Shin Bet's
high-level penetration of Hamas, if true, is a "catastrophe
for Hamas," said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Al
Azhar University in Gaza. It is not clear whether the report will cause
Hamas to target other suspected informants or if the movement's leaders
will simply regard it an isolated incident, Abusada said ... The news
of Yousef's spying was no less painful for his family.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/26/AR2010022604257.html
Hamas U.
(with photos) By Thanassis Cambanis. GAZA - The first sign that this is a
different place from the Western universities it resembles comes when a
bell rings in the library. Quickly the students on odd-numbered floors
- all men - gather their books and file into the stairwells. Women file
in to take their turn. In keeping with a puritanical interpretation of
Islamic law, men and women aren’t allowed to study together, so they
switch floors every two hours. They lounge in separate student unions
and eat in separate cafeterias. At intervals during the day, the call
to prayer sounds from the minarets of the campus mosque, and classes
come to a halt.Their
strict observance might sound extreme, but the Islamic University is no
fringe institution: It’s the top university in Gaza. The majority of
students here study secular topics; not all of them are even religious.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/02/28/hamas_u/
Sleepless in Gaza . . . and Jerusalem
On March 1st - this coming Monday-the premier episode of a 90 part
series, "Sleepless in Gaza...and Jerusalem" will be launched on
YouTube. It will be a video diary about four young Palestinian women,
Muslim and Christian, two living in Gaza and two in Arab Jerusalem/West
Bank. PINA TV Production camera crews will be covering Ashira Ramadan,
a broadcast journalist based in Jerusalem; Ashira's friend in Gaza, the
documentary film maker Nagham Mohanna; Donna Maria Mattas, a 17
year-old student at the Holy Family school in Gaza who dreams of
growing up to be a journalist, and Ala' Khayo Mkari who works with
Caritas in Jerusalem. The intention of this series is
neither rant nor rhetoric. It is rather an opportunity for all of us,
who do not live in Gaza, occupied Arab Jerusalem and the rest of the
West Bank, to grasp how these four young Palestinian women live out
their daily lives
http://arabinform.org/news/quotsleepless_in_gazaand_jerusalemquot/2010-02-28-225
Yasmin opens the Braille Little Oxford Dictionary
One
of our Villages Group’s strongest connections is with Yasmin
Gebara, a very special young woman from the village of Salem near
Nablus. Yasmin is blind from birth. A younger brother, Muhammad, is
also blind. In September 2004, Yasmin’s father Saael, a taxi driver,
was killed in cold blood by Yehoshua Elitzur, from the nearby Itamar
settlement. Elitzur was sentenced in an Israeli court for eight years,
but then fully exploited the pro-settler leniency of the Israeli
justice system who let him go home before reporting to jail, and has probably escaped the country without serving a
single day.
In the meanwhile, Yasmin’s Mother Muna was left on her own with six
children in the ages 9-18. We started to visit Yasmin’s family
regularly after Saael’s murder.
http://villagesgroup.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/yasmin-opens-the-braille-little-oxford-dictionary/
Recent Israeli films are less political
With
Scandar
Copti's and Yaron Shani's "Ajami," Israel has just landed
its third consecutive foreign-language Oscar nomination. That's a feat
few other countries -- including global cinema powerhouses like France
and Spain -- have pulled off ... A startlingly dramatic and touchingly
human work from one Palestinian
and one Israeli filmmaker, "Ajami" tells the story of warring Arab
families in the working-class Israel port town of Jaffa, using multiple
points of view and an intoxicating mix of genres. "Ajami" is a crime
thriller, cultural biography and family drama all rolled into one, a
film that manages to expose subtle layers of character while still
weaving a tight narrative ... But more than the many things the movie
is, perhaps more significant is what it isn't: a topical film.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/mideastemail/la-et-israeli27-2010feb27,0,459942.story
Iraq, other Mideast
Saturday: 1 Iraqi killed, 8 wounded
Excerpt:
Light violence left at least one dead and eight wounded across
Iraq. In one case the number of wounded is unknown, but at least three
casualties were counted. U.S. forces also accidentally killed a tribal
leader’s son. Meanwhile, voters are heavily divided ahead of the elections, but some Iraqis can
still find humor in the colorful campaigns styles of some
candidates. Also, the Accountability and Justice Commission will release evidence they used to bar candidates.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/02/27/saturday-1-iraqi-killed-8-wounded/
Family slain amid election terror in Iraq
The
slaughter of the al-Kaabi family last week horrified Iraqis who had
prayed that the parliamentary elections next Sunday would be free from
political violence ... Relatives said the only crime committed by
Hussein, a guard for a
wealthy farmer, was to have been hanging posters for Entifadh Qanbar, a
candidate standing for the Shi’ite Iraqi National Alliance (INA).
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article7043978.ece
Egypt lifts ban on gas to Israel (BBC)
The
supreme court in Egypt has overturned an earlier ruling by a lower
court that banned gas sales to Israel ... Egypt's gas trade with Israel
is controversial, as many Egyptians
are opposed to links between the two countries - despite a 1979 peace
deal. Some opposition figures in Egypt are against
the sale of gas to Israel because they disagree with its policies
towards the Palestinians.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8540715.stm
Khamenei tells top Palestinian militants resistance
is key (AFP)
TEHRAN — Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told
Palestinian militant chiefs on Saturday that sustained resistance was
the key to liberating their land. "Palestine, surely and
definitely, will be freed by sustained resistance from the people of
Palestine and by maintaining unity among jihadist groups," Khamenei
said. He met with Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal, Islamic Jihad
leader Ramadan Abdullah, and the head of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) Ahmed Jibril, all
of whom live in exile.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iaoThIgb8NajLweEgWX39ES-ySJw
Ahmadinejad once again fails to call for annihilation
of Israel / Juan Cole
I
saw Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN
Friday afternoon. Oren said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
had called for the annihilation of Israel, and was therefore speaking
of genocide. It is dreary to see this constant drumbeat of dishonest
propaganda. Whatever one thinks of Ahmadinejad or the Iranian regime,
one should not misrepresent their statements, since that will lead to
bad policy-making.
http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node/9518
U.S.
Helping
Jews by helping Palestinians
As news of Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza
headlined the nightly newscasts and daily newspapers last winter, two
Jews and two Palestinians in the United States who had toiled to fund a
micro-financing venture in the West Bank found themselves in a tricky
situation.
But the seven ordinary Palestinians who have relied on micro-loans
to launch small businesses in the West Bank could breathe a sigh of
relief that cool heads prevailed, and there was no stopping last
February's launch of LendforPeace.org - a culmination of efforts by the
four Ivy Leaguers to make a difference in an area where diplomats and
generals have failed to do so.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1152586.html
Four Gitmo prisoners released to Albania, Spain /
Andy Worthington
On Wednesday, four prisoners were released from Guantánamo: an
Egyptian, a Libyan and a Tunisian arrived in Albania, and a Palestinian
arrived in Spain. All four had been cleared by military review boards
at Guantánamo under the Bush administration, and had then been cleared
by President Obama’s interagency Task Force, but, like dozens of
prisoners in Guantánamo, they could not be repatriated because of fears
that they would be tortured if returned to their home countries, or
because they were effectively stateless.
http://original.antiwar.com/worthington/2010/02/25/four-gitmo-prisoners-released-to-albania-spain/ |
| For further information contact Shadi Fadda |
|
|
