and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land and Property Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
17 Palestinian homes, park declared illegal
TULKAREM (Ma’an) — Stop-work orders targeting 17 homes, a workshop, factory and municipal park were delivered to Tulkarem-area residents on Wednesday, village officials said, insisting that the construction was in "Area C" and therefore illegal. "The orders said the buildings did not have licenses from Israel," head of the Far’un municipal council Abed Al-Karim Omer told Ma’an, calling the pretext that the homes, factories, and park were in areas under Israeli control "unjustified."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=307374
Arab League condemns Israeli exile policy against Palestinians
CAIRO, Aug 12 (KUNA) — The Arab League renewed its condemnation of the Israeli exile policy against Palestinians, affirming that returning Palestinians to their rightful lands would be on the top list of its priorities. A statement by the League’s Department for Palestinian and Arab occupied lands Affairs said that the issue of exiled Palestinians would be an integral part of the Arab League’s draft resolution concerning the Palestinian cause that would be discussed in the upcoming 134th Arab Ministerial meeting on December 16th.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2105943&Language=en
Reut admits, Israel doesn’t want West Bank and Gaza unified
That Reut Institute report on Israel’s need to deal with the issue of Palestinian human rights in the wake of the Gaza flotilla disaster makes it clear that it is Israeli policy to divide the Palestinian people. Reut is close to the Israeli gov’t; and it’s no wonder that the West Bank and Gaza are turning into separate political entities, Israel has steered things that way. Reut pt. 16)
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/reut-admits-israel-doesnt-want-west-bank-and-gaza-unified.html
The borders of the Palestinian ’state’ come into focus, Ben White
An article this week in The Jerusalem Post suggested that "when the construction freeze in Judea and Samaria ends on September 26", Israeli PM Netanyahu intends to build mainly in the so-called settlement blocs "Israel will likely keep under an agreement with the Palestinians".
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/the-borders-of-the-palestinian-state-come-into-focus.html
Solidarity/Activism/Boycott, Sanctions & Divestment
Besieging Israel’s siege | Omar Barghouti
In just a few years the Palestinian campaign to boycott Israeli goods has become truly global. Despite Israel’s siege of Gaza, and the escalating displacement in the Negev and East Jerusalem, Palestinians have some reason to celebrate. In Washington a food co-op has passed a resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli products, confirming that the boycott movement – five years old last month – has finally crossed the Atlantic. Support for the move came from prominent figures including Nobel peace laureates Desmond Tutu and Máiread Maguire, and Richard Falk, the UN’s special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/12/besieging-israel-siege-palestinian-boycott
FAQ on Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)
http://imeu.net/news/article0019584.shtml
Palestinians ‘adamant about continuing boycott on settlement goods’
PA economics minister says after meeting with Ben Eliezer that Israel’s request to end the campaign proves that it is working.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinians-adamant-about-continuing-boycott-on-settlement-goods-1.307624?localLinksEnabled=false
Irish artists make BDS history, issuing the first nation-wide ‘pledge’ to boycott Israeli apartheid
PACBI – Occupied Ramallah, 11 August 2010 Photo Israeli apartheid wall in Palestine The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) strongly welcomes the Irish artists’ ‘pledge’ to boycott Israeli cultural institutions until Israel complies with international law.
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/7660
Gaza Police Disperses Peaceful Assembly by PFLP; Four Arrested and 21 Injured
At approximately 8am on Tuesday 10 August 2010, the Gaza police dispersed a peaceful protest organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The event took place in the Unknown Soldier Square, opposite the Palestinian Legislative Council in the Al Remal neighborhood in Gaza City. The protest was organized against the electricity cut-offs crisis in Gaza Strip.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SKEA-889G7U?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Summing-up Sheikh Jarrah solidarity day
A year has passed since the eviction/expulsion of the Ghawi and Hanoun families from their homes. A year in which we have struggled together, not only in solidarity with the families, but also for the future of us all: against the attempt to bury the possibility for a just solution for our peoples; against the injustice and oppression, which are part and parcel of so many in the reality we live in; and against the anti democratic current that is taking over Israeli society.
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/08/summing-up-sheikh-jarrah-solidarity-day/
A Pennsylvania woman bound for Gaza turns to Congress, Susan Johnson
Traveling to Gaza is a frustrating process. I’m trying to get things right before I leave in two weeks, but tracking down the official rules and regulations is not easy matter. If I had a dollar for every minute I’ve spent searching for them. I’d have enough money to pay for the trip. Last week I turned to the US Government for help.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/a-pennsylvania-woman-bound-for-gaza-turns-to-congress.html
Giving some love to the cultural boycott, Eleanor Kilroy
On Monday evening, Jethro Tull performed in Jerusalem with Shlomo Gronich as guest keyboardist. Gronich played riffs from Israel’s national anthem, the Hatikvah. Front man, Ian Anderson’s decision to play in the apartheid state was taken in spite of urgent calls for him heed the boycott call. It is clear from his interview with the Jerusalem Post that he was contacted by both pro- and anti-boycotters, but he used the opportunity to call the Palestinian boycott call “irritating and shallow,” and to join the chorus of contempt for Elvis Costello, although curiously he was keen to emphasise that his decision was also based on maintaining his ‘reputation’ for not cancelling shows unless he is ill. From his statement on the band’s official website in June 2010, we learned that he made up his "own mind in light of available facts, with my own experience and a sense of personal ethics.” That must be why he approached former British PM and the Middle East envoy of the risible Quartet, Tony Blair, for advice on which ‘co-existence’ charities he should donate his fee to for performing in Israel. Anderson’s good will is accepted unquestioningly by the Post who are triumphant with the headline: ‘Jethro Tull donates to co-existence’. Other apologists busy celebrating on a Jethro Tull internet discussion site: "The Jethro Tull Board proudly wishes a "yosha koach" to Jethro Tull for not yielding to the intense pressure, intimidation and lies of the Israel-bashing crowd. We are sure that Ian and the boys will receive unsurpassed love and gratitude from an audience, and from a nation…"
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/giving-some-love-to-the-cultural-boycott.html
The Siege (Gaza & West Bank)/Humanitarian and Human Rights/Restriction of Movement
Release Mordechai Vanunu
Many hundreds of people from around the World have signed an International Petition (http://humanrights.change.org/peti…, calling on President Obama, Prime Ministers Netanyahu and Cameron, and other world leaders, to ‘do all they can’ to gain the release from Israel of Mordechai Vanunu (the Israeli nuclear whistleblower). Vanunu was released from Ramle Israeli Prison, on Sunday 8th August, 2010, after serving almost 3 months in solitary confinement under cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions. This further sentence was imposed on Vanunu for speaking to foreign media. Although now out of prison he is still not allowed to leave Israel. The draconian restrictions remain on him, and he is unable to speak to foreigners, foreign media, or move freely within Israel without Government permission.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1509
Arab students: We’re being kept out of TAU dorms because we didn’t serve in IDF
Dozens of Arab students at Tel Aviv University were denied spots in college dormitories for the coming academic year, due to preference given to students with military records, students said a secretary in the dean’s office told them.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/arab-students-we-re-being-kept-out-of-tau-dorms-because-we-didn-t-serve-in-idf-1.307448?localLinksEnabled=false
Poisoning of Gaza water puts population at risk
Beyond tarnishing Gaza’s once pristine shores, the noxious consequences of the deterioration of the wastewater treatment operation in Gaza resulting from the closure hold much more grave implications: the Gaza Strip is, quite literally, being poisoned.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11455.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Group: PA rejecting Gaza passport applications
GAZA (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority is depriving citizens in Gaza from obtaining passports, a rights group said Thursday. The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights wrote to Ramallah-based Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in June urging him to comply with Palestinian Basic Law and issue passports to all citizens without discrimination. Since June, the center has issued further complaints on behalf of citizens denied passports, none of which have received responses from the PA, a statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=307629
Israel to give Bethlehem more water for Ramadan
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel will furnish the Bethlehem municipality with an additional 2,000 cubic meters of water per day for the month of Ramadan, Israeli Civil Administration officials told Ma’an on Wednesday. Iyad Sarhan, commander the civil administration of Bethlehem said the decision was made following months of water shortages in the city and its adjacent towns and villages.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=307419
EU monitoring may return to Rafah
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — European monitors will return to their posts at the Rafah crossing at the end of Ramadan, Egyptian security sources said Wednesday, adding that the issue was one of many discussed in relation to the Palestinian file. A spokeswoman for the European Union Border Assistance Mission said she could not confirm the report, adding that "EUBAM is ready to redeploy as soon as a political solution is reached."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=307411
Photo exhibit shows Palestinians as they go about their daily lives under occupation
Born of dual heritage, a Palestinian father and an American mother, Elena Farsakh grew up in the US and in the Middle East. Five years ago she chose to reside in the ancestral home inherited by her father in the West Bank town of Bir Zeit, but the Israelis refused to grant her permission to remain. She lives in exile today, allowed, like all other Palestinians with foreign passports, only brief visits to Palestine on a tourist visa and is then barred from returning for a year.
http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/art_culture/article99743.ece
Podcast/slideshow: Gaza’s trapped youth
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/220803/411934aea400df4e1fd0474e5b77bb35.htm
PCBS: 29% of youth drop out of school early
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics released a report on young Palestinians on the occasion of International Youth Day. The report revealed several unsettling figures, including statistics indicating that 72.2 percent of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces are between the age of 15-29. In the same age group, 29 percent do not finish high school, and 33 percent are unemployed. The survey found only 50.9 percent of young people aged 15-17 were enrolled in classes, with the dropout rate higher for boys (32.8 percent) than for girls (25 percent).
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=307352
On whose behalf is Egypt savaging the people of Gaza?
An influx of hair-raising stories keeps coming from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border terminal. Nearly all these stories underscore the degrading treatment meted out to Gazans.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xy
Detainees
Israeli forces arrest four Palestinians
RAMALLAH, Aug 12 (KUNA) — Israeli forces on Thursday arrested four Palestinians including a youth who was injured after being shot by them. Israeli forces opened heavy fire at a Palestinian vehicle, injuring 22-year-old Ahmad Dawlat near Fandaqumiya village north of the West Bank, Palestinian sources said. They arrested the injured youth and took him to an unknown location, sources added.
Israeli forces also arrested three other Palestinians including two brothers in Hebron and Ramallah, according to sources.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2105963&Language=en
PA releases 8 university staffers accused of Hamas ties
Attempt by detainees to establish new university in West Bank seen as part of effort to expand Hamas’s influence beyond Gaza.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=184485
Political/Flotila Developments
Netanyahu rejects Palestinian demand to base direct talks on 1967 borders
The Prime Minister reiterated the position in a meeting with U.S. envoy George Mitchell.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/netanyahu-rejects-palestinian-demand-to-base-direct-talks-on-1967-borders-1.307430?localLinksEnabled=false
Palestinians receive U.S. approval of proposal of reference for direct talks with Israel
RAMALLAH, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — A senior official revealed on Wednesday that the Palestinian leadership received a preliminary approval from the United States over a proposal that the Quartet committee for peace in the Middle East issue a statement defining a reference for direct peace talks with Israel. Hana Amira, member of Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) executive committee, told Xinhua that U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell informed President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday that the U.S. has accepted in principle the proposal that the Quartet Committee issues the statement.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/12/c_13440723.htm
Abbas continues Cairo meetings
CAIRO (Ma’an) — President Mahmoud Abbas sat with Egyptian intelligence chief Omer Suleiman in Cairo on Thursday, following a meeting between the the Palestinian leader and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak is expected to join Abbas again alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah II, as the president continues to brief regional officials on the latest discussions he held with US envoy for Middle East peace George Mitchell.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=307645
Abbas, Mubarak, Abdullah to meet in Cairo
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, will sit for a tripartite meeting in Cairo on Thursday, an aide to Abbas said. In a Wednesday statement published on the governmental news agency WAFA, Abbas’ political adviser Nimer Hammad said officials would discuss the US call to start direct negotiations. Earlier in the day, Abbas met with Mubarak in a one-on-one meeting in Cairo.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=307439
Mitchell, Netanyahu hold ‘good, productive talks’: Clinton (AFP)
AFP – US envoy George Mitchell held a "good, productive" meeting Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to revive direct Middle East peace talks, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100811/pl_afp/mideastdiplomacyus
‘Direct talks only way to test Netanyahu’s earnest’
New York Times’ editorial urges Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to agree to direct peace talks; warns him that he cannot prevail be staying on the sidelines.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3934502,00.html
Ashkenazi: Israel failed to use enough force against aid ships
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Troops failed to use enough force when taking over a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, Israel’s top general said on Wednesday, admitting that the army had not factored in the deadly melee that would ensue.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=118094
‘Navy prepared to handle future flotillas’
IDF chief speaks at sailors’ course graduation, says, ‘Flotillas aiming to deliver weapons to enemies will be halted by Israel’s defensive shield’. Navy commander says soldiers involved in Marmara raid ‘acted swiftly, while upholding battle ethics’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3934487,00.html
Netanyahu Testimony on Gaza Flotilla: PR over Human Rights and Security
Even seasoned pundits could not help but express dismay this week at the televised testimony by senior Israeli officials, beginning with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, before the Turkel Commission charged with investigating the Israeli military’s May 31 interception of ships bound for Gaza. As the Israeli daily Haaretz pointed out in a scathing editorial, Netanyahu readily acknowledged that Israel’s decisions on what to allow or prohibit into Gaza were based not on concern for the welfare of the population in Gaza but rather about Israel’s image in the international media.
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/08/netanyahu-testimony-on-gaza-flotilla-pr-over-human-rights-and-security/
Other News
Poland extradites alleged Israeli spy to Germany (AP)
AP – Polish police say the country has extradited a suspected Mossad agent to Germany, where he faces charges over a passport that was used in the slaying of a Hamas leader in Dubai earlier this year.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100812/ap_on_re_eu/eu_poland_hamas_slaying
IDF ups training in Golan Heights
Military holds wide-scale exercise in northern Israel meant to accustom troops to area’s terrain.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3934601,00.html
Victim’s son: I have no faith in police
Samer Alkam, whose father Kheiri was murdered 12 years ago, is angered by decision to release main suspect Haim Pearlman to house arrest.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3934519,00.html
IDF troops beat up Haaretz reporter
(Video) Soldiers resort to violence against journalists in West Bank: Troops apparently acted improperly, IDF says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3934322,00.html
IDF bans Israelis from Palestinian villages along Rt. 443
A new IDF decree bans Israelis from entering Palestinian villages along Route 443, despite these villages being located in Area C, which is under complete Israeli control. The ban was announced yesterday by GOC Central Command Avi Mizrahi. It joins other measures taken by the Central Command as the West Bank road is prepared to be opened to Palestinian traffic, in accordance with a Supreme Court verdict rendered earlier this year.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/idf-bans-israelis-from-palestinian-villages-along-rt-443-1.307434
Defense establishment fears riots during Ramadan
Arab Israeli sentiment towards authorities at low point after Negev demolitions of Bedouin village, imprisonment of Raed Salah. Concern that potential riots on Temple Mount could spread to other towns.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3935160,00.html
Netanyahu wishes world’s Muslims ‘easy’ month of Ramadan
Muslims mark first day of month-long fast; U.S. Jews decline Obama’s invitation to join White House Eid al-Fitr dinner as it falls on a Friday.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/netanyahu-wishes-world-s-muslims-easy-month-of-ramadan-1.307403?localLinksEnabled=false
Ma’an to break local borders with broadcast TV
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Programs from Haifa will be seen in Bethlehem during Ramadan, and for the first time, several of Ma’an’s programs will air across Israel and the Middle East, via a joint initiative between Ma’an and the Mix TV Channel. Mix TV, based in Haifa, broadcasts throughout the Middle East, and will reach Palestinians from Lebanon to Jordan to Gaza to the Gulf, with a series of 16 locally produced programs, including a Ma’an produced Ramadan soap opera series, as well as morning shows and documentaries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=307421
Rabbi Amar: Stop Reform Jews
Chief Sephardic rabbi urges Israel’s religious leaders to pressure government to prevent involvement of non-Orthodox movements in state and religion issues. ‘They are sticking their claws into the people residing in Zion and trying to dictate our lifestyle,’ he says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3935261,00.html
Report: Israeli serial killer arrested in US
(Video) American media outlets say man suspected of terrorizing three states removed from flight from Michigan to Tel Aviv. Authorities say killer responsible for at least 16 attacks, five of them fatal; 14 of victims said to be black men.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3935115,00.html
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
Disemboweling the Right of Return, Franklin Lamb – Beirut
For months, as Lebanon’s historic debate over basic civil rights for Palestinian refugees has unfolded, the Obama administration has watched idly along the sidelines. As hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees cough and slow-bake while inhaling rancid camp air in Lebanon’s sweltering breezeless heat, the White House has now sent Lebanon’s Parliament a message. The United States will not support meaningful civil, social or economic rights for the world’s largest and oldest refugee population and it wants them naturalized anywhere except anyplace in Palestine.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16188
Obama’s Chinatown, Philip Weiss
An Israel connection comes in, just possibly, there but more plainly when you connect two other dots: Nesbitt works with the Pritzker Realty Group, and another close Obama friend is Penny Pritzker, a scion of the family of the Hyatt fortune, which has has been used for projects far less liberal in Israel than the Pritzker-Nesbitt politics are in the U.S.("In 2003, Forward reported on how he had ‘been courting the pro-Israel constituency.’ He co-sponsored an amendment to the Illinois Pension Code allowing the state of Illinois to lend money to the Israeli government. Among his early backers was Penny Pritzker — now his national campaign finance chair — scion of the liberal but staunchly Zionist family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain. (The Hyatt Regency hotel on Mount Scopus was built on land forcibly expropriated from Palestinian owners after Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967)"–Abunimah). All these people are linked through the Chicago Housing Authority and Valerie Jarrett (chair 1992-95, Chicago Department of Planning and Development; chair 1995-2005, Chicago Transit Board). If I were a Republican J.J. Gittes looking for the Noah Cross among all these Mulwrays, I’d be looking here.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/obamas-chinatown.html
‘Edward Said’s critique was important in the years after Oslo’
Ali Abunimah follows up on post recalling his comment that he had been upset when he learned of the signing of the Oslo accords, in 1993: That’s accurate! What I would have told you is the accords were signed on the day I was driving from NJ to Chicago (to move there), and I was driving alone listening to it all on the radio (and then watching it on CNN at a motel) and very upset — as were many Palestinians of course whose voices were subsequently silenced by the strictly-enforced feel-good narrative. After that if you didn’t support Oslo you were an Enemy of Peace. Oslo demoralized and demobilized Palestinians, split them, froze out the diaspora and made it much much harder to advocate for our rights. All this for a "state" we saw then would never come, despite the slogans and promises. Edward Said’s critique was extremely important to me in the years right after Oslo. His articles and books chronicling its failures and betrayals were among the few voices we had access to (remember the Internet as we know it today did not quite exist) and his critique was really formative for me (which is why it was also excluded from the mainstream). Everything else followed from there.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/edward-saids-critique-was-important-in-the-years-after-oslo.html
Interview with "Salt of This Sea" star before nationwide premiere in NYC
Salt of This Sea (2008), Annemarie Jacir’s groundbreaking feature film, premieres in the US this week after two years on the road and winning over 20 awards in countless international film festivals. Nora Barrows-Friedman interviewed the film’s star, Suheir Hammad, for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11458.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Meet the Methodist Friends of Israel, Stuart Littlewood
A few weeks ago the Methodist Church’s annual conference did a very courageous and praiseworthy thing. It voted to boycott products from Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestine, regarded as illegal under international law, and to encourage Methodists across Britain to do the same. “The decision is a response to a call from a group of Palestinian Christians, a growing number of Jewish organisations, both inside Israel and worldwide, and the World Council of Churches,” said the press release.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/08/another-insult-to-christianity%e2%80%a6-meet-the-methodist-friends-of-israel-2/
Gaza flotilla video mashup: Internet Killed Israeli PR
http://www.youtube.com/user/MinorDemogrphcThreat#p/a/u/0/ME_NpnH7jDc
Richard Cohen says that Arabs want to exterminate Jews, Philip Weiss
I get a circle-the-wagons feeling from Israel’s defenders in Washington. Thomas Friedman’s column the other day was unhinged, lumping Oliver Stone with the British Prime Minister, and not acknowledging what has changed world opinion, the slaughter of civilians and denial of human rights to Palestinians for decades. Richard Cohen, who wanted to sing Hatikvah when he read Walt and Mearsheimer’s book, is equally unbalanced in The Washington Post.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/richard-cohen-says-that-arabs-want-to-exterminate-jews.html
Ray Hanania Plays the Sectarian Card: Old Zionist Tactics And More Proof He Does not Speak Arabic
One of the tactics Zionists and their supporters often employ is to make a partially accurate assertion about a reality or condition, blow it out of proportion and then exploit both the minor truth it may contain and the exaggerated extrapolations in order to deceive, mislead, and deflect attention from the racism and violence of the Zionist state. Ray Hanania, the failed comedian, Jerusalem Post (JP) columnist, and newest ADC board of directors member who does not speak Arabic, is now claiming to speak for and defend Christians Arabs and other Christians across the entire “Muslim world.”
http://ikhras.com/?p=603
Lebanon
Sayyed Nasrallah – Hariri Assasination Evidence Expose – Full Press Conference
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2010/08/sayyed-nasrallah-hariri-assasination.html
Hariri: Sayyed Nasrallah’s Revelations Important, Sensitive
12/08/2010 Three days following the exceptional press conference made by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah in which he directly accused the Israeli enemy of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the revelations of Sayyed Nasrallah are still making the headlines in Lebanon and the region… While the Lebanese political scene seemed to be as usual divided over the evidence revealed, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the slain Prime Minister, broke his silence and was quoted as rejecting the attempts to undermine the importance and the value of Sayyed Nasrallah’s revelations. Following Monday’s press conference, Hariri made several external calls with world leaders seeking to reinforce internal unity and justice at the same time. He met with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz in Riyadh on Wednesday after holding talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=150123&language=en
Lebanon defiant over US aid freeze
Defence minister says will not take US aid if weapons cannot be used against Israel.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2010/08/201081255738315663.html
Lebanon says aid to army must be unconditional (Reuters)
Reuters – Lebanon criticized on Wednesday moves by U.S. lawmakers to block aid for the military over concerns it was working closely with militant Shi’ite Hezbollah, after a deadly cross-border clash between Lebanon and Israel.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100811/wl_nm/us_lebanon_army_usa
Lebanon: US can keep aid, give it to Israel
Spiteful response: Lebanon’s defense minister slams American decision to halt military aid to Beirut following deadly border skirmish with Israel; ‘Let them keep their money or give it to Israel,’ he says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3934357,00.html
US: Lebanon military aid conditional
Following US decision to suspend military aid to Lebanon, State Department spokesman says, ‘Conditions placed on any military assistance that we give to any country in the world in terms of how the weapons will be used’; adds US hopes to "strengthen relationship’ with Lebanon once matter is settled.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3934632,00.html
Syria, Iran underline support for Lebanon against Israel (AFP)
AFP – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki underlined on Wednesday their joint support for Lebanon in the face of Israeli "aggression," state news agency SANA said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100811/wl_mideast_afp/syriairanlebanondiplomacy
Top US lawmaker seeks Pentagon briefing on Lebanon (AFP)
AFP – Amid rising US-Lebanon tensions, a top US lawmaker asked the Pentagon in a letter released Wednesday for assurances that military aid from Washington is not indirectly helping Hezbollah.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100811/pl_afp/mideastconflictlebanonisraeluspolitics
Administration to Lebanese Army: no more incidents and don’t cozy up to Iran
The Obama administration has made it clear to the Lebanese government that it should do everything in its power to avoid another border skirmish with Israel and be careful about cozying up to Iran if they value their defense relationship with the United States.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/08/11/administration_to_lebanese_army_no_more_incidents_and_dont_cozy_up_to_iran
Judge issues arrest warrant against Karam for spying
BEIRUT: Military Investigative Judge Riad Abu Ghayda issued an arrest warrant against retired Brigadier General Fayez Karam after interrogating him, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Wednesday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=118133
Devoted crowds throng Hezbollah’s Lebanon theme park
If you have an urge to inspect mangled Israeli tanks, toy with a rocket launcher or explore a genuine rock-cut guerrilla bunker, Hezbollah’s multi-media theme park in south Lebanon is just the place.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6790OH.htm
Hariri’s ambiguity … & the cost of Sunni & ‘Western’ support
Hizbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah confirmed rumours that the STL is expected to indict his party, accusing the STL of working at the behest of Israel. This unprecedented attack on the STL prompted renewed commitment by Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to the tribunal. Although Nasrallah last month claimed that Hariri had assured him that any Hizbollah members accused would be regarded as undisciplined elements of the party, officials close to Hariri have denied this. It may have been one of a number of deals Hariri was considering to persuade Hizbollah to accept the court’s decision, but which Hizbollah declined… Hizbollah’s position. Nasrallah’s media appearances set the stage for a new political controversy regarding the STL. Following his lead, the March 8 coalition is waging a campaign against the international tribunal, demanding its abrogation. Hizbollah’s strategy is designed to send a signal to the STL and its Western backers either to delay any announcement or dismantle the tribunal altogether. Nasrallah accused the STL of basing its conclusions on fabricated evidence and false witnesses, linking the Israeli spies with the evidence gathered. He accused Israel of Hariri’s assassination, claiming to have evidence which he will soon make public… Hariri’s position. Hariri has taken an ambiguous stance, reasserting his commitment to the STL while claiming that the tribunal will not be a cause for a renewed civil strife. He is aware that his government depends on the underlying political consensus, and that Hizbollah has the means to bring it down. More widely, he knows that an indictment of Hizbollah could destroy the precarious social stability between Sunnis and Shia that has endured since 2008.
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2010/08/hariris-ambiguity-costing-him-sunni.html
Lebanon debates giving Palestinians rights (AP)
AP – Mohammed al-Amin spends his days doing little more than playing billiards and smoking cigarettes in this sprawling Palestinian refugee camp, where gunmen roam narrow alleyways dotted with tin-roofed, cement-block homes.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100812/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_lebanon_palestinian_rights
Iraq
Wednesday: 21 Iraqis Killed, 9 Wounded
At least 21 Iraqis were killed and nine more were wounded as Ramadan began for Sunni Muslims. Meanwhile, Iraq’s top army officer, Lieutenant General Babakar Zebari, warned that the U.S. pullout is premature and asked politicians to find a way to fill the void after 2011. Ideally, he wants American troops to stay until 2020. Outgoing Ambassador Christopher Hill, however, is more hopeful and thinks the political deadlock over the premiership might break soon.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/08/11/wednesday-21-iraqis-killed-9-wounded/
Eight Iraqi soldiers killed in booby-trapped house
BAQUBA, Iraq: Insurgents lured Iraqi troops into a booby-trapped house early Wednesday, killing eight soldiers in coordinated blasts that marked the start of Ramadan, when violence typically peaks.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=118105
Unknown gunmen kill Iraqi doctor
The manager of Al Ilwiya Hospital, Dr. Intisar Hassan Mohammed, was killed by unknown gunmen after raiding her house in Al Karrada region, central Baghdad, police reported. Gunmen stole all the money and jewelry in the house and kept her husband handcuffed but alive, police added.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-53000-Unknown-gunmen-kill-Iraqi-doctor.html
Al Qaeda in Iraq targets Baghdad’s developing police force
The Iraqi Army is gradually handing responsibility for Baghdad security to Iraq’s developing police force – a transition Al Qaeda in Iraq is exploiting with increased attacks.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/S_BQB31LI9U/Al-Qaeda-in-Iraq-targets-Baghdad-s-developing-police-force
Iraq’s new K-9 bomb detectors
Iraqi police have employed a new canine security force in their fight against bomb attacks. Up to 100 dogs will be deployed at various checkpoints across the country with the aim of sniffing out explosives from vehicles passing by. Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh reports from Baghdad on why the animals are proving more successful than modern technology to detect bombs. [August 12, 2010]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTu8P7pz8vg&feature=youtube_gdata
Iraq ‘needs US military support until 2020’
The Iraqi army will require American support for another decade before it is ready to handle the country’s security on its own, Iraq’s army chief of staff told AFP on Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100811/wl_mideast_afp/iraqmilitarysecurityus
U.S. commander stresses importance of funding Iraq security forces
Gen. Ray Odierno and other American officials have been urging U.S. lawmakers to reconsider plans to substantially cut the amounts the military and State Department have requested for Iraq initiatives next year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/10/AR2010081002717.html
Iraq reconstruction ‘hindered by shortfall in US funds’
The reconstruction of Iraq is set to be hindered by a huge shortfall in American funds after US troops begin leaving the country later this month, senior officials in Washington have warned.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/7939530/Iraq-reconstruction-hindered-by-shortfall-in-US-funds.html
Ambassador hopeful Iraq will form government soon (AP)
AP – The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Iraq said Wednesday that after five months of post-election "pushing and shoving" by Iraqi politicians, raising concerns about U.S. troop withdrawals, Baghdad may finally be headed to forming a new government.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100811/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq
Obama, national security team hold meeting on Iraq (AFP)
AFP – President Barack Obama convened his national security team Wednesday to discuss the situation in Iraq, with just three weeks to go before the official end of the US combat mission there.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100811/pl_afp/usiraqpoliticsunrestmilitary
Winning Iraq’s Political Game
Smaller parties should break stalemate by backing one of the two main parties.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/winning-iraq%E2%80%99s-political-game
Azzam Alwash Fights To Restore ‘Garden Of Eden’ Marshlands In Iraq
U.S.-Iraqi citizen hopes to replenish the unique wetlands in southern Iraq destroyed by Saddam Hussein.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/11/azzam-alwash-fights-to-re_n_678453.html
Iran
Obama may be prepared to meet Ahmadinejad
US national security advisor says ‘only time will tell’ as far as meeting between American, Iranian heads of state. Washington has enough ‘wiggle room’ to give sanctions time to work, Jones adds.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3934890,00.html
Kuwait to get US Patriot missiles
The US says it plans to sell Kuwait its latest Patriot anti-ballistic missile to meet "current and future threats". While the perceived threats were not specified, analysts said the sale was part of a drive to contain Iran. Kuwait lies only a short distance from Iran across the Gulf.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10945524
Turkey backs gasoline sales to Iran despite sanctions
Turkish energy minister says will support sales to Iran; country’s main gasoline exporter: Iran more important to us than the U.S.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/turkey-backs-gasoline-sales-to-iran-despite-sanctions-1.307407?localLinksEnabled=false
Brazil will back Iran sanctions
President Lula da Silva signs decree despite pushing nuclear fuel swap proposal.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/08/2010811171030436791.html
What do Arabs really think about Iran?, Amjad Atallah
Are Arab governments considering yet another war? Despite the repeated unconfirmed reports about anonymous Arab leaders urging Obama to follow Israel’s lead, the circumstances today are very different than 1979 or 1991. There is no threat from either Iraq or Iran toward any neighboring Arab state, not real or imagined. Iran’s unique blend of western parliamentary democracy and the "rule of jurisprudents" hasn’t really gained any adherents outside Iran. The two other Shia majority states, Iraq and Lebanon, have effectively adopted western parliamentary forms of government without any clerical overlay. And the popularity of Iran’s leaders has been eclipsed – not by any Arab leader – but by the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan whose ambitious and vigorous diplomacy in the region (combined with very real economic engagement) has made him a superstar – draining the air out of the Ahmadinejad bubble. The final popping of that bubble for Arab states will not come from a disastrous U.S. attack on Iran, but from resolution of the Israeli-Arab conflict. And finally, of course, no one in the region believes that Iran will invade any other country.
http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/08/11/what_do_arabs_really_think_about_iran
Why are the Israelis Telling Their ‘Secret’ Iran Attack Plans to Jeffrey Goldberg?, Tony Karon
The first question to ask when considering how seriously to take Jeffrey Goldberg’s latest alarmist screed about Israel gearing up to attack Iran, is “Why do people talk to Jeffrey Goldberg?” In the course of an Atlantic Monthly cover story that veers all over the place but whose intended message is that if President Obama won’t bomb Iran, then Israel will — and that everyone will be better off if the U.S. does the job because it can do it so much better — Goldberg describes conversations with 40 leading decision makers in Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And all of them pretty much tell him the same thing; that Israel will give the Obama Administration’s sanctions until the end of this year to demonstrate results in forcing Iran’s surrender on the nuclear question, after which the Israelis will take matters into their own hands, launching an air strike on Iranian nuclear facilities without getting Washington’s go-ahead — because most of Israel’s key decision makers doubt whether Obama is willing to launch another war in the Middle East.
http://tonykaron.com/2010/08/12/why-are-the-israelis-telling-their-secret-iran-attack-plans-to-jeffrey-goldberg/
You must do what we can’t, because if you don’t, we will, Paul Woodward
Worried about an Israeli attack on Iran? That’s the idea. You must do what we can’t, because if you don’t, we will. This is how some Israelis are trying to twist Washington’s arm to get the US to attack Iran. A more honest way of making the argument would be to say this: If the US won’t attack Iran, then Israel will — even though it won’t accomplish its military objectives and it will open Pandora’s box. Desperate nations sometimes do desperate things. You have been warned. Another name for this: blackmail.
http://warincontext.org/2010/08/11/you-must-do-what-we-cant-because-if-you-dont-we-will/
Will Israel Bomb Iran?, Stephen M. Walt
If you are worried that the United States might be foolish enough to attack Iran, then you might take comfort from Jeffrey Goldberg’s lengthy and alarmist Atlantic article on the subject. Based on a flock of mostly anonymous interviews, Goldberg has concluded that odds are better than 50-50 that Israel will attack Iran sometime next spring. Given his track record as a Middle East analyst — particularly when it comes to the wisdom of using force — you might be justified in viewing that prediction as a sign that war was in fact quite unlikely.
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/08/11/mainstreaming_war_with_iran
Bush called Krauthammer and Kristol ‘bomber boys’, Philip Weiss
The best line from the Jeffrey Goldberg piece in the Atlantic, picked up by Think Progress:Bush would sometimes mock those aides and commentators who advocated an attack on Iran, even referring to the conservative columnists Charles Krauthammer and William Kristol as “the bomber boys,” according to two people I spoke with who overheard this.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/bush-called-krauthammer-and-kristol-bomber-boys.html
U.S. and Other World News
Reagan insider: ‘GOP destroyed U.S. economy’, Paul B. Farrell
We’ve arrived at a historic turning point as a nation that no longer needs outside enemies to destroy us, we are committing suicide. Democracy. Capitalism. The American dream. All dying. Why? Because of the economic decisions of the GOP the past 40 years, says this leading Reagan Republican.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/reagan-insider-gop-destroyed-us-economy-2010-08-10
The US Arms Bonanza in the Middle East, JONATHAN COOK
Two of the United States’ closest allies in the Middle East, Israel and Saudi Arabia, are on the brink of signing large arms deals with the US in a move designed to ratchet up the pressure on Iran, according to defence analysts. America has agreed to sell Saudi Arabia 84 of the latest model of the F-15 jet and dozens of Black Hawk helicopters. The deal also includes refurbishing many of the kingdom’s older F-15s, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
http://www.counterpunch.org/cook08112010.html
British taxpayers funding US arms lobbyists
Exclusive: Government paying a secretive lobbying firm to push American politicians to award contracts to British defence companies.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7937529/British-government-pays-US-lobbying-firm-to-improve-transatlantic-relations.html
The Omar Khadr case makes a mockery of US justice
Omar Khadr was a badly wounded boy of 15 when, in 2002, US forces captured him in Afghanistan. As the dust settled on a suspected al-Qaeda compound after a firefight that July, troops discovered him slumped in the rubble among the dead, leaning against a wall.
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/08/omar-khadr-case-obama-trial
Maher Arar: Why Is Canadian Child Soldier Omar Khadr Being Tried by a Military Court?
Was Omar Khadr captured in Manhattan trying to blow up a civilian or a government installation? Of course not. We all know his story by now. Canadian Omar Khadr was captured in a battlefield in Afghanistan that was illegally invaded by the US army. He was 15 years old at the time. He is the perfect example of a child soldier. But the US army and the Department of Defence had another opinion, they charged Khadr with a never-heard-of-type-of-charge called "murder in violation of the laws of war." So if the alleged crime was done on Afghan soil, why didn’t the US officials put Khadr on trial in Afghanistan? Why did they wait for almost 7 years to send him to a kangaroo court? Whoever has read the story in detail perfectly knows that there is contradictory evidence whether Khadr is the one who threw the hand grenade that killed the US medic.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maher-arar/why-is-canadian-child-sol_b_677748.html
The aggression is ongoing: their maps and our destinies, Bouthaina Shaaban
Our peoples in the region have become a target for war-mongers who spread pain, destruction, blockade and bloodshed. We have become the West’s guinea pigs for torture and assassination. In the beginning, we are accused of “possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMD),” “hosting terrorists” and “endangering world peace and security” before they wage their international wars on our cities. Then, inquiries are set up, just for public consumption, to find out the truth but without the possibility of restoring to our nation its lost security and future.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=118099#axzz0wL4JWRut
Change That’s Not: ‘Obama On Bush Route’, Video Interview With John Pilger
"For the first time in US presidential history — it has not happened before — a president has taken the entire defense department bureaucracy, and the Secretary of State for Defense, from a previous discredited administration. We have basically Robert Gates and the same generals running American foreign policy with a lot of help from people of like mind."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UJ87MptxaU&feature=player_embedded
Pentagon: Wikileaks Has ‘Potentially More Explosive’ Undisclosed Documents
Pentagon officials say they are sifting through 15,000 classified Afghanistan war documents for sensitive material that could harm troops or civilians–documents they believe the on-line site WikiLeaks has obtained and might disclose. The records at issue contain material that is "potentially more explosive, more sensitive" than the information in the 77,000 Afghanistan field reports and assessments WikiLeaks put on-line last month in an effort to shed light on the U.S. military’s war in Afghanistan, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/11/wikileaks-pentagon-explosive-documents_n_679295.html
U.S. Urges Allies to Crack Down on WikiLeaks, Philip Shenon
The Obama administration is pressing Britain, Germany, Australia, and other allied Western governments to consider opening criminal investigations of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and to severely limit his nomadic travels across international borders, American officials say.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-10/a-western-crackdown-on-wikileaks/2/
A War on Wikileaks?, MAXIMILLIAN C. FORTE
In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of Wikileaks’ many financial donors. I have downloaded their entire Afghan War Diary, and numerous other documents in the past, and I have shared them. I am also one of the critics of some aspects of the Wikileaks review process. Some might rush to conclude that this puts individuals such as myself in a difficult position. Not from our standpoint. Instead the difficult positions are owned by the U.S. State Department and Pentagon, whose emissions have been chock full of absurd assertions, twisted logic, while appealing to us with as much charm as that of a delinquent about to commit date rape: first the appeal to our good side (ethics), then the threat of destruction (prosecution).
http://www.counterpunch.com/forte08112010.html
What They Do in Our Name, Sheldon Richman
Thanks to Wikileaks and heroic leakers inside the military, we now know the U.S. government has killed many more innocent Afghan civilians than we were aware of heretofore. We also know that American military and intelligence personnel roam Afghanistan assassinating suspected bad guys.
http://www.fff.org/comment/com1008b.asp
US — Venezuela: The Empire Strikes Back (and Loses), James Petras
US policy toward Venezuela has taken many tactical turns, but the objective has been the same: to oust President Chavez, reverse the nationalization of big businesses, abolish the mass community and worker based councils and revert the country into a client-state.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26134.htm
Muslims outraged as U.S. church plans to burn Koran
Florida’s Dove World Outreach Center to burn the Islamic holy text on church grounds in remembrance of the victims of 9/11.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/muslims-outraged-as-u-s-church-plans-to-burn-koran-1.307575?localLinksEnabled=false
"I Fear For My Country": Muslim Leader Daisy Khan on Opposition to Ground Zero Mosque and Others Nationwide
Debate is intensifying over the planned construction of an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from New York’s Ground Zero—but it is not just a local issue. Across the country Muslim groups are facing attacks over plans to build new mosques. We speak to Daisy Khan, of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, one of the main organizations behind the mosque project and the wife Imam Feisal Abdul Rau; and Stephan Salisbury, cultural writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and author of "Mohamed’s Ghosts: An American Story of Love and Fear in the Homeland."
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/12/i_fear_for_my_country_muslim
The Pavlov Response and the Cordoba House
Reactions to the construction of Cordoba House reveal more than ingrained prejudice and hypocrisy; they reveal jealousy, incomprehensible attitudes of self-importance, condescension, and patronization, ignorance that emphasizes separation, and a possible conspiracy that can easily pass unnoticed.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/08/the-pavlov-response-and-the-cordoba-house/
Some Comedy: Municipal Land-Use Update – Ground Zero Mosque
Wyatt Cenac fears that Muslims will take over by building mosques every two blocks until New York City is completely covered.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-august-10-2010/municipal-land-use-update—ground-zero-mosque
The Muslim Community Center at Ground Zero: a Manufactured Controversy, ANTHONY DiMAGGIO
A substantial racist uproar is taking place in conservative America, particularly in right-wing radio and television. Reactionary pundits are drawing increased attention to plans to build an Islamic community center in downtown Manhattan, near Ground Zero. Republicans and conservatives have long been known to harbor racist views of Islam, although they’re hardly alone in this. Many on the right frame the entire religion as radical, fundamentalist, and a threat to national security. In light of this pattern, there’s little surprising about the right’s most recent attack on Muslim Americans as a secret, under the radar threat.
http://www.counterpunch.com/dimaggio08122010.html
Witness – Halal on the Prairie
Dearborn is the largest Arab city in the Western world. Schools are bi-lingual, with much emphasis on Islamic culture, religion and history. Despite the battle against terrorism and the animosity surrounding the Middle East conflicts, all of which affect the Arab community, Dearborn remains a success story. The community shows that desegregation in the US works, and that limited knowledge of English or wearing headscarves have little to do with the potential achievement of minorities in a modern, multicultural society.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ScLURRxuGI&feature=youtube_gdata
FYI: This September 11th Muslims Will Celebrate, Don’t Panic
Ramadan begins in most Arab countries today August 11 2010….a month from then is September 11th, the 10th anniversary of the terrorist and violent attacks on America’s soil. Many talking heads and demagogues have argued Muslims have danced on the streets in celebration. And something tells me the same talking heads will strike again and take advantage of this and show images of happy Muslims on September 11th 2010, the date that will be the Eid, one of two Muslim holidays. While the majority of Muslims will join the rest of the world in commemorating the tragic events of September 11th, they will also be partying it up for the Eid. In other words, they will take the words of former President George Bush to heart and do what he told the American people to do few people after 9/11 "Go and shop", that’s why the Muslim holiday like everything in this world has been commercialized.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/08/fyi-this-september-11th-muslims-will-celebrate-dont-panic.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kabobfest%2FGrillMe+%28KABOBfest%29
www.TheHeadlines.org
