And more news from Today in Palestine:
Land and Property Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Daniel Dukarevich: Eyewitness Account of the Razing of Al-Araqeeb: ‘You Will Not Erase It’
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/07/daniel-dukarevich-eyewitness-account-of-the-razing-of-al-araqeeb-%e2%80%98you-will-not-erase-it%e2%80%99/
Hundreds homeless as Israeli police raze village
Around 300 Palestinian bedouin living in Israel’s Negev desert were left homeless on Tuesday after hundreds of police raided their village and demolished their homes, police and rights groups said. Israeli rights activists who tried to prevent the operation said a huge number of police had arrived at the unrecognized village of Al-Araqib shortly before dawn in scores of vehicles and at least 12 coaches. “More than 1,500 police arrived at the village at around sunrise – They came in dozens of vehicles and began destroying the structures there,” said Chaya Noach, head of Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, a group fighting to protect the rights of the bedouin in the Negev.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=117533#ixzz0uv1R93YQ
Palestinian village and nearly $30,000 of aid destroyed by Israeli military
Catherine Weibel – Oxfam – The aid agency Oxfam today called upon the Israeli government to compensate Palestinian villagers after the Israeli army demolished 79 structures in the village of Al Farisiya in the West Bank on 19 July, forcing families into further impoverishment after years of harassment. Structures destroyed include homes, stables, storage sheds, water tanks, two tons of animal fodder, fertiliser and wheat.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=41350
Busloads of civilians cheer as Israelis uproot Bedouin village of 200, Philip Weiss
Witnesses told CNN that the Israeli forces arrived at the village accompanied by busloads of civilians who cheered as the dwellings were demolished. They said armed police deployed with tear gas, water cannon, two helicopters and bulldozers.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/report-bedouin-village-was-uprooted-after-netanyahu-described-non-jews-in-negev-as-real-threat-to-israels-character.html
Map of unrecognized villages in the Negev
http://www.neohasid.org/i/unrecognized_villages_map.JPG
Ethnic cleansing in the Israeli Negev | Neve Gordon
The razing of a Bedouin village by Israeli police shows how far the state will go to achieve its aim of Judaising the Negev region. A menacing convoy of bulldozers was heading back to Be’er Sheva as I drove towards al-Arakib, a Bedouin village located not more than 10 minutes from the city. Once I entered the dirt road leading to the village I saw scores of vans with heavily armed policemen getting ready to leave. Their mission, it seems, had been accomplished.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/28/ethnic-cleansing-israeli-negev
Abu Teir trial delayed until November
Jerusalem – Ma’an – An Israeli court deferred until 22 November on Wednesday the trial of a Palestinian lawmaker from Jerusalem who has been remanded in Israeli custody since his detention in May. Mohammad Abu Teir’s trial was postponed because of an Israeli Supreme Court hearing on 9 September to discuss the case, prompting the Magistrate’s Court to delay the lawmaker’s hearing until the higher court rules.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=303261
Mubarak to ask Peres to extend building freeze
President Shimon Peres to meet Egyptian counterpart in Cairo next Sunday. Is expected to be asked to facilitate transition to direct negotiations, make confidence-building gestures toward Palestinians.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3925943,00.html
Solidarity/Activism/Boycott, Sanctions & Divestment
Israel wages war against media and activists
NABI SALAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) – Palestinian activists are being jailed, Israeli activists are under surveillance, and the Israeli military is increasingly targeting journalists who cover West Bank protests.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11422.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
A Battle Over Medical Bill for U.S. Student Who Lost Eye in West Bank Protest, ISABEL KERSHNER
Ms. Henochowicz said she was not standing near the stone throwers. She was holding a Turkish and an Austrian flag when she was struck. Avi Issacharoff, an Israeli journalist from the Haaretz newspaper, was watching the demonstration. “The police fired a tear gas grenade, and then another and another,” he wrote in June . “I remember that what surprised me was the volley of grenade-fire directly aimed directly at the demonstrators, not at the sky. After the fourth grenade, if I am not mistaken, a shout was heard about 100 meters away.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/world/middleeast/28israel.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Volunteers plant on land to avoid confiscation
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Planting initiatives in the southern West Bank district of Bethlehem began Tuesday on land threatened with confiscation for Israel’s separation wall, officials said. In the Husan village, west of Bethlehem, volunteers began cultivating 300 dunums of land near the illegal settlement of Betar Illit under a Palestinian Authority Ministry of Agriculture program initiated by the ministry’s anti-wall and settlement activity unit.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=303147
Violence and Aggression
Gaza children shelled with flechette bombs
Nine-year-old Samah al-Massry is now being hospitalized in serious condition, having been hit by shrapnel and flechettes from an Israeli-fired nail bomb that landed 100 meters away, causing internal bleeding to the chest and severe head trauma. Adie Mormech reports for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11423.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Israeli police, Palestinian youths clash in east Jerusalem (AFP)
AFP – Israeli police and some 200 Palestinian youths clashed on Tuesday in a part of occupied east Jerusalem where a controversial Israeli archaeological project is underway, an AFP photographer reported.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100727/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictjerusalem
Detainees
IOF soldiers detain Palestinian businessman
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained a 50-year-old Palestinian businessman from his house in Tulkarem city at dawn Tuesday without any reasons given for the detention, local sources reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx
IOF troops detain Palestinian student on returning from the Ukraine
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) manning the King Hussein Bridge crossing point with Jordan detained a Palestinian student on returning from the Ukraine where he was studying medicine.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=
IOF raids Hebron, arrests seven
Hebron, July 28, (Pal Telegraph) Israeli occupation forces arrested early today seven Palestinians after raiding their homes and inspected them in the city of Yatta south of Hebron in the West Bank. The public relations officer in Yatta’s Municipality, Abdul Aziz Abu Fanar, said that the Israeli occupation forces detained today the following people: Mohammed Issa Al Jundi, Murad Jabour (27 years), Louay Houshia (21 years), Iyad Houshia (40 years), Khalil Houshia (25 years), Ahmad Al Saree’ (22 years) and Wasfi Nassar (21 years).
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6801:iof-raids-hebron-arrests-seven&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=135
The Siege (Gaza & West Bank)/Humanitarian and Human Rights/Restriction of Movement
The Palestinian Authority is imprisoning Gazans, Amira Hass
The same government that includes a call to end the blockade on Gaza, in practice aids in imprisoning the Gazans by preventing them from holding valid Palestinian passports.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-palestinian-authority-is-imprisoning-gazans-1.304481
Egypt remains complicit in Gaza siege
CAIRO (IPS) – Almost two months since Egypt announced it would reopen its Rafah border terminal with the Gaza Strip, operation of the crossing remains sorely limited. "Rafah has only been opened to passengers and some medical supplies," Hatem el-Buluk, journalist and resident of al-Arish, located some 40 kilometers west of Rafah, told IPS.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11425.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Egypt denies visas to Gaza-bound Iranian MPs: report
TEHRAN — Egypt has denied visas to four Iranian lawmakers who planned to travel to the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, Iran’s Press TV reported on Wednesday. "The Egyptian government has stonewalled the visa process… no visa has been issued for the MPs as of yet," Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash, one of the four lawmakers, was quoted as saying by the English-language television’s website.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izdhh840-Blg4Y6BiT-wwDbJ-AKQ
Egypt seizes 10 Gaza tunnels
Al-Arish – Ma’an – Egyptian forces took control of 10 smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border area of Salah Ad-Din in Rafah on Wednesday and thwarted a cement-smuggling operation, a security source said. Forces seized a tunnel after receiving information on its location, the official told Ma’an. The tunnels were raided and 30 bags of cement were found inside. The smugglers fled the scene before security forces arrived.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=303143
David Cameron faces Israeli storm over Gaza comments
No 10 denies it has raised rhetoric as row heats up over ‘prison camp’ comparison. David Cameron was embroiled in an angry diplomatic row with Israel tonight after describing the Gaza Strip as a prison camp for its 1.5 million Palestinian residents. The prime minister drew fire at home and in Israel for remarks he made in Turkey about the need to further ease the blockade of the coastal territory, following the lifting of some restrictions last month. But Arabs and many others will agree wholeheartedly with his words. "The situation in Gaza has to change," he told businessmen in Ankara. "Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/27/david-cameron-israel-gaza-comments
Group slams ‘discriminatory’ PA passport policy
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Palestinian Center for Human rights denounced Tuesday what it described as a policy of discrimination by the Palestinian Authority’s Interior Ministry in the issuance of passports to Gaza residents. A statement said the center approached the Interior Ministry in Ramallah with a list of seven Palestinians who said their application had been rejected because of their political affiliation to Hamas. The PCHR were told that applications were rejected following either a court decision, a police or attorney general complaint, or over doubts regarding the applicant’s provided information.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=302975
Centuries-old bathhouse provides relief from Gaza turmoil
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – In the steamy depths of a centuries-old bathhouse beneath Gaza’s crowded streets, Murad Awad channels positive energy by prying toxins from tired flesh. The bathhouse, known as Hamam al-Samra, has survived centuries of conflict, and these days Awad uses Asian massage therapy to ease the more recent pain of war and isolation in the beleaguered Palestinian enclave. As he smears rosewater on fingers and squeezes lemon juice over toes, he speaks of a symbiosis of mind, body and universe and discusses forces that transcend the toxic political disputes gripping the territory.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/7658471/centuriesold-bathhouse-provides-relief-from-gaza-turmoil/
Political/Other Developments
Fatah official: PA to disband government
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Ramallah-based government led by premier Salam Fayyad will be disbanded and a new Palestinian Authority cabinet will be formed next week, a high-ranking Fatah official said Tuesday. Fatah’s parliament speaker Azzam Al-Ahmad told Ma’an radio that President Abbas would consult with Palestinian factions over the new structure of the PA. Fayyad or another politician will be tasked with forming a government, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=303073
Israel: Palestinians have set ‘impossible’ conditions for direct peace talks
Vice PM Shalom slams Palestinian terms for direct talks, AFP reports; Abbas expected to tell Arab League that indirect talks have not progressed enough to justify face-to-face negotiations.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-palestinians-have-set-impossible-conditions-for-direct-peace-talks-1.304580?localLinksEnabled=false
Israel rejects Abbas terms for direct talks (AFP)
AFP – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has laid down "impossible" conditions for moving to direct peace talks, Israel’s vice prime minister charged on Wednesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100728/wl_mideast_afp/mideastdiplomacyusisrael
Other News
Ex-interrogator, accused of torture, tapped to advise police on Arab affairs
As part of his duties, ‘Captain George’ will oversee the sensitive relationship between the police and the Arab community in Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/ex-interrogator-accused-of-torture-tapped-to-advise-police-on-arab-affairs-1.304450
‘Rightist protest in Umm al-Fahm could lead to violence’
State Prosecutor rejects a petition from right-wing activists to protest opposite Islamic National Movement offices in the Arab city, saying police believe it could lead to loss of life.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/rightist-protest-in-umm-al-fahm-could-lead-to-violence-1.304608?localLinksEnabled=false
Netanyahu, Abdullah discuss rail cooperation
Prime minister says meeting with Jordan’s king was ‘very good’, included ideas for Ashdod-Eilat-Aqaba railway.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3926029,00.html
Renowned poet Natan Zach accused of racism after TV comments
"The idea of taking people who have nothing in common arose. The one lot comes from the highest culture there is – Western European culture – and the other lot comes from the caves." …The petition states: "It is inconceivable that students, certainly the Mizrahim [Jews of Middle Eastern descent], will be asked to memorize poems by the man who scorns their culture and publicly defines it as an inferior culture… It is the obligation of the Ministry of Education to make it clear to him and to the entire public that it will not permit such despicable opinions to be sheltered under its wing."
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/renowned-poet-natan-zach-accused-of-racism-after-tv-comments-1.304445?localLinksEnabled=false
Press Freedoms Fall Victim To Fatah, Hamas Disunity
Rami Almeghari – The split between the Hamas-run Gaza wing and the Fatah-run West Bank wing of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has overshadowed every aspect of public life, including, many rights groups have documented, infringements on press freedoms and the work of journalists.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8586
Gaza City ceremony honours journalists killed reporting in Gaza
Journalists killed by Israel while reporting in Gaza were remembered at an award ceremony in Gaza City yesterday; family members and co-workers received a plaque in their honour. Abu Walid Az-Ziq of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF), the group organising the event – on their 43rd anniversary – presented awards in memory of ten journalists. One of those was James Miller, a British documentary-maker killed in Gaza in May 2003, whose award was accepted on his behalf by current members of the International Solidarity Movement working in Gaza.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/07/13307/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29
Gaza MC’s
Gulf News speaks to the members of DARG, a Gaza based rap group who are drawing international attention despite living under oppression.
http://gulfnews.com/gntv/arts/gaza-mc-s-1.660551
Hamas targets women’s underwear in modesty drive
GAZA (Reuters) – The Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip have ordered lingerie shops to display more modesty. A week after banning women from smoking water pipes in public places, the Hamas-run police force has told stores selling women’s underwear to remove scantily-clad mannequins and any posters of racy undergarments.
http://af.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idAFTRE66R32020100728
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
Israelis rally around officer convicted of killing unarmed Palestinian motorist
A decision by Israel’s high court to double a 15-month jail term for a policeman who shot dead an unarmed Palestinian driver suspected of stealing a car has provoked denunciations from police commanders and government officials. Jonathan Cook reports.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11426.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Ten years after Camp David, Israel has made peace even harder, Ben White
A decade after the failed accords at Camp David, a just peace is still possible, but only if Western leaders act to end Israel’s discriminatory policies toward Palestinians.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0726/Ten-years-after-Camp-David-Israel-has-made-peace-even-harder
Indyk: Obama backed off because of campaign money, Philip Weiss
Why do I insist on talking about Jewish money when I talk about the Israel lobby? Because it’s a real factor (and I am struggling to study reality). Here is Martin Indyk, of the Saban Center at Brookings (funded by Haim Saban, a giant giver to Democrats, whose central concern is Israel), talking to Natasha of Haaretz, (Mozgovaya that is).
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/indyk-obama-backed-off-because-of-campaign-money.html
Rape, Deception, or Racism?, Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM – “It was consensual, I owe an apology to no one other than my wife and two children. They’re the ones who’ve suffered from this. And myself.” Sabbar Kashur, 30, is a Palestinian Arab resident of the Shuafat neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem. He’s just been convicted by an Israeli court of “rape by deception” and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Is the judgment right for the protection of women, or is it plain racism? That’s a question gripping Israelis. It was a single chance encounter. A fateful encounter. According to Kashur, around midday one day back in September 2008, he’d just stepped out from a store in downtown Jerusalem where he’d bought cigarettes, when a woman in her late 20s began to engage him in conversation. She said she was interested in his scooter (he used to be a delivery man of legal documents). The pair went to a nearby building and had hasty sex on the roof.
http://original.antiwar.com/kessel-klohendler/2010/07/27/rape-deception-or-racism/
Why a young Israeli woman spies on Israeli settlements in West Bank
Hagit Ofran tracks Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank with a pocket-sized camera and a deep sense of mission, often making news well beyond Israel with her findings.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/bkQiyuo2i-Q/Why-a-young-Israeli-woman-spies-on-Israeli-settlements-in-West-Bank
When Zionists carried out atrocities, Israeli press calls it "resistance"
Interesting to note that a Ynet article profiling one of the Zionists who bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on July 22, 1946, killing almost one hundred people including dozens of civilians, refers to the act as "Jewish resistance." Of course Zionists were not "resisting" anything when they introduced terrorism as we know it today to Palestine. They were in the process of a violent takeover of Palestine from its indigenous people. This is notable given that the Israeli media routinely refer to attacks or self-defence by Palestinians, even against armed, combatant Israeli occupation soldiers as "terrorism."
http://aliabunimah.posterous.com/when-zionists-carried-out-atrocities-israeli
Iraq
Twelve killed in Iraq as Shiite pilgrimage ends (AFP)
AFP – A series of attacks in Baghdad and a holy Iraqi city killed 12 people, while five others died in a helicopter crash, as major religious ceremonies came to a close, officials said on Wednesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100728/wl_afp/iraqunrest
Two Iraqi women killed, 12 civilians injured in Mosul
Two women were killed and at least 12 civilians were injured in two separate incidents in Mosul, northern Iraq, on Tuesday, police said.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2103097&Language=en
Tuesday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 35 Wounded
Admiral Mike Mullen arrived in Iraq, where he lauded Iraq’s "stunning progress" in security over the last three years, while new attacks left at least seven Iraqis killed and 35 more wounded. Parliament again delayed meeting thanks to a political impasse that threatens long-term security. Meanwhile, inquiries and investigations in the U.K. and U.S. further underscore the lack of accountability in the build-up to the war and in the U.N.’s Oil-for-Food program.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/07/27/tuesday-7-iraqis-killed-35-wounded-2/
Iraq executed 230 people from 2005-2009 (AFP)
AFP – Iraq executed 230 people from 2005 to 2009 and a further 1,200 have been sentenced to death, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100727/wl_mideast_afp/iraqexecutionrights
$8.7 billion in Iraq funds not accounted for: audit (AFP)
AFP – The Pentagon cannot properly account for nearly nine billion dollars in Iraqi oil revenues and other funds it received for reconstruction programs after the US invasion in 2003, a US audit found Tuesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100727/pl_afp/usiraqmilitaryfunds
Lebanon
Arab Leaders Meet in Beirut on Friday to Contain Tensions
28/07/2010 Lebanon is gearing up to welcome Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday for summit talks with President Michel Sleiman aimed at warding off an "explosion" in the country. Informed sources told An Nahar daily in remarks published Wednesday that the importance of the visits of the Arab leaders, including Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, lies in their attempts to "ward off an explosion whose shrapnel could reach the entire region because the Lebanese issue is the hottest during this stage."
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=148238&language=en
Man arrested at airport for Facebook jabs at Sleiman
BEIRUT: A suspect wanted for defaming the president was arrested at the Rafik Hariri International Airport of Tuesday, upon returning to the country. Ahmad Ali Shuman, one of four people suspected of using the social networking website Facebook to defame President Michel Sleiman, was arrested by security forces as he arrived in Beirut from Kiev, Ukraine.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=117543#ixzz0uv1JqJiq
Iran
Venezuelan bank penalized for alleged link with Iranian plan
The European Union ordered on Tuesday to freeze all the funds and economic resources from the International Development Bank of Venezuela, a subsidiary of Iran’s Export Development Bank, for presumed ties with the Iranian nuclear program.
http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/07/27/en_eco_esp_venezuelan-bank-pena_27A4254177.shtml
Iran must end harassment of stoning case lawyer
Amnesty International urges Iran to stop harassing human rights lawyers amid continuing uncertainty over the whereabouts of the defence counsel in a controversial stoning case. Amnesty International has urged the Iranian authorities to stop harassing human rights lawyers amid continuing uncertainty over the whereabouts of the defence counsel in a recent controversial stoning case and the arrest of two of his relatives. Mohammad Mostafaei’s whereabouts have been unknown since shortly after he was released from questioning by judicial officials last Saturday.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/iran-must-end-harassment-stoning-case-lawyer-2010-07-28
U.S. and other World News
Russia: EU sanctions on Iran ‘unacceptable’
Russia on Tuesday criticized the decision by the EU to impose a fresh round of sanctions on Iran. Using sanctions outside the UN Securtiy Council framework was "unacceptable," a Foreign Ministry statement released in Moscow said.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5841109,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-eu-2092-rdf
Israel lauds new EU nuclear sanctions on Iran
Move sends Tehran clear message that behavior is unacceptable, foreign ministry says, calling on more nations to impose extra measures.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-lauds-new-eu-nuclear-sanctions-on-iran-1.304232
Wikileaks: US Attack Killed 300 Civilians In Afghanistan: Report
Locals told Reuters that up to 300 civilians – as well as a number of Taliban – were killed in the air strike after they had been rounded up to watch a Taliban-organised public hanging of two suspected spies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/26/afghanistan-war-logs-helmand-bombing
New York Times Reporters Met With White House Before Publishing WikiLeaks Story
The administration "praised" New York Times reporters for their handling of leaked Afghan war material.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/story/index.html?story=/news/politics/war_room/2010/07/26/times_wikileaks_white_house_meeting
WikiLeaks report cites previously unknown "friendly fire" incident involving Canadians
The dramatic WikiLeaks report contains details of what appears to be a previously unknown "friendly fire" incident in Afghanistan in which it says four Canadians were killed and seven were injured.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Report+Four+Canadians+killed+previously+unknown+friendly+fire+incident/3325446/story.html
Afghan files: Task Force 373 – the Taliban hunters
Channel 4 News analyses claims Task Force 373 appeared to botch attempts to kill al-Qaida operatives.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/wikileaks+files+show+karzai+assassination+attempt/3723902
Congress’s response to WikiLeaks: shoot the messenger
Despite the release of some 92,000 classified documents that cast doubt on the success of the US war effort in Afghanistan, all but the staunchest antiwar members of Congress focused their most scathing words Monday on WikiLeaks, the website that published the material.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0727/Congress-s-response-to-WikiLeaks-shoot-the-messenger
Pentagon Eyes Accused Analyst Over WikiLeaks Data
Military investigators are checking computers used by Bradley Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst charged this month with leaking classified information, to see if he is the source of thousands of military documents published Sunday by WikiLeaks.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704700404575391523088194344.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories
Legal Fund Established to Fight Imprisonment of Accused WikiLeaks Whistleblower
At 4PM EST on July 27, the Bradley Manning Support Network (www.bradleymanning.org) will begin accepting online donations for the legal defense of Private First Class Bradley Manning.
http://www.bradleymanning.org/
Inside Story – War zones under the spotlight
Wkileaks has disclosed over 90,000 classified military documents – suggesting the reality on the ground in Afghanistan may be worse than what has been officially reported. How will the release of the military documents impact the US strategy in Afghanistan? Will Barack Obama, the US president, now be forced into reviewing what is still a newly implemented policy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuAjVLuzkhc&feature=youtube_gdata
WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange: "Transparent Government Tends to Produce Just Government"
We spend the hour with Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, talking about the biggest leak in U.S. history: the release of more than 91,000 classified military records on the war in Afghanistan. As the Pentagon announces it is launching a criminal probe into who leaked the documents, Assange asks what about investigating the "war crimes" revealed in the leaked military records? He also talks about the media, why he isn’t coming to the U.S. anytime soon and what gives him hope. "What keeps us going is our sources. These are the people, presumably, who are inside these organizations, who want change," Assange says. "They are both heroic figures taking much greater risks than I ever do, and they are pushing and showing that they want change in, in fact, an extremely effective way."
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/28/wikileaks_founder_julian_assange_transparent_government
UN’s Blix: UK, US relied on dubious intelligence (AP)
AP – The United Nations inspector who led a doomed hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq told Britain’s inquiry into the 2003 invasion Tuesday that the U.S. and U.K. relied on flawed intelligence and showed dubious judgment in the buildup to war.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100727/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_iraq
Systemic Racism in the U.S. Criminal Justice System
The biggest crime in the U.S. criminal justice system is that it is a race-based institution where African-Americans are directly targeted and punished in a much more aggressive way than white people.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26028.htm
Will the burka’s biggest foe soon be praising Allah?
French Minister Eric Besson promised his Tunisian fiancee’s family he would convert to Islam, and then passed a law banning religious veils.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/will-the-burka-s-biggest-foe-soon-be-praising-allah-1.304478?localLinksEnabled=false
The noble, criminal Western democracies, Rami G. Khouri
One of the paradoxes of leading Western democracies is how they can be at once so noble and so criminal. A particularly impressive aspect of countries like the United States and the United Kingdom is their political openness, particularly their insistence in many cases on publicly analyzing and evaluating their government’s policies, to learn if mistakes were made, and presumably to learn from those mistakes. A case in point is the ongoing inquiry in the UK into the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=117528#ixzz0uv1ZEDJ3
Iara Lee: Hip Hop as Global Resistance
In making my documentary film about electronic music, Modulations (1998), I learned a great deal about rap music. The genius of hip hop emerged first as party sport — the urban poor salvaging musical parts to create something entirely new — but soon morphed into an expression of grief and outrage as Ronald Reagan, crack cocaine, and gang violence sewed misery among African American communities, and ghettos from Harlem to Compton sprouted up on the map as MCs defiantly chronicled the uncensored history of Reagan’s America. Now the cat is out of the bag, and hip-hop has since expanded beyond our borders to give voice to the muted masses of places like Gaza, Lebanon, and Iraq — places suffering from racial inequality and foreign occupation, and the likewise negative fallout of ill-conceived US policies.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/iara-lee/hip-hop-as-global-resista_b_660608.html
