And other news from Today in Palestine:
Land and Property Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Clinton renews US plea on settlements with one week to go (AFP)
AFP – With one week to go before Israel’s freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank expires, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton renewed Sunday a US call for it to be extended.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100919/pl_afp/israelpalestinianspeaceussettler
Lieberman: Freeze excuse to undermine talks
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the Palestinian demand for an extension to Israel’s temporary moratorium on illegal settlement construction in the West Bank was an excuse used to undermine talks, Israeli media reported Saturday. According to the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, Lieberman told his British counterpart William Hague over the weekend that Israel could not possibly extend the moratorium past its late-September deadline, despite US insistence that it should be prolonged so direct negotiations may progress.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=315940
Abbas says won’t negotiate ‘for single day’ if freeze ends (AFP)
AFP – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Monday he will not take part in US-backed peace talks “for a single day” if Israel does not extend a freeze on settlement building at the end of the month.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100920/ts_alt_afp/israelpalestinianspeacesettlerabbas
PA official: Settlers harvest Palestinian olives
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers began harvesting Palestinian olives on Monday in the northern West Bank district of Qalqiliya and Nablus, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghassan Doughlas, who heads the PA file on northern settlement activity, said settlers brought sheets and ladders “as though they were the owners of the land” and started harvesting the olives from Palestinian land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316247
Settlers uproot 100 grape trees east of Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Several Israeli settlers uprooted approximately 100 grape trees in the Al-Buera village in the southern West Bank district of Hebron on Monday, owners of the grape plantation said. The plantation belongs to Abdul Rahman Sharif Sultan, said Syfian Sultan, who estimated damages caused to reach thousands of dollars. He said settlers vandalized six dunums worth of grape trees, some as old as 15 years.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316237
Israeli high court stops mosque’s construction
RAMALLAH: A Palestinian official on Friday said that the Israeli High Court of Justice issued an immediate stop work order against builders of Al-Huda Mosque near the West Bank refugee camp of Al-Jalazoun, to the north of Ramallah.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article140954.ece
Yediot: NIS 9 million for settlement “tourism”, including 2 million for “City of David” in Silwan, Didi Remez
The fact that these grants will fund highly politicized and inflammatory projects is best exemplified by the NIS 2 million slated for the “City of David” project in Silwan. This East Jerusalem settlement in the guise of an “archeological park” is at the cutting edge of efforts to insert Israelis in Palestinian communities around the Old City basin.
http://coteret.com/2010/09/20/yediot-nis-9-million-for-settlement-tourism-including-2-million-for-city-of-david-in-silwan/
Israel Denies Gazans Access to Their Own Land and Waters, Stephen Lendman
Throughout 43 years of occupation, Israel has waged war on Palestinians’ human rights and civil liberties, a new UN report providing more evidence that keeps mounting exponentially, adding clarity about an out-of-control rogue state operating lawlessly.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/09/israel-denies-gazans-access-to-their.html
Court rules selling land to Israel is capital offense
A Palestinian court in Jerusalem ruled Thursday that selling land to Israel was a capital offense., Judge Ta’et At-Twil ruled that the act of selling – or attempting to sell – land to a foreign country was a criminal offense which could result in the death penalty., Under the instruction of general attorney Ahmad Al-Mughni, the court issued the ruling as a consolidation of the previous legal principle, a statement from the prosecution said, adding that the ruling aimed to protect the Palestinian national project to establish an independent Palestinian state.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316153
Freeze Lieberman, Akiva Eldar
The demand to suspend settlement building is no excuse – it’s as legitimate a position as the Palestinians can have. Why should they relinquish a condition that has the support of the entire world, with the sole exception of Israel?
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/freeze-lieberman-1.314699
Contesting Past and Present at Silwan, Joel Beinin
On September 1, Elad — a Hebrew acronym for “To the City of David” — convened its eleventh annual archaeological conference at the “City of David National Park” in the Wadi Hilwa neighborhood of Silwan. Silwan, home to about 45,000 people, is one of 28 Palestinian villages incorporated into East Jerusalem and annexed by Israel after the June 1967 war. It lies in a valley situated a short walk beyond the Dung Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City. Elad, a militant, religious, settler organization, claims that Silwan is the biblical City of David mentioned in the second book of Samuel and that the Pool of Shiloah (Siloam) located there watered King Solomon’s garden.
http://www.merip.org/mero/mero091710.html
Put the settlements in your pocket, Adam Horowitz
Americans for Peace Now have just released a neat new app for the iPhone and iPad (Android on the way) called Facts on the Ground (link to iTunes). It includes their entire settlement database and information on each settlement.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/put-the-settlements-in-your-pocket.html
Solidarity/Activism/Boycott, Sanctions & Divestment
3 protestors wounded in Bil’in protest in solidarity with the prisoners of the Popular Resistance
Sep 20, 2010– During the protest the participants raised Palestinian flags and pictures of the popular resistance prisoners.
The participants wore masks representing the prisoner Abdallah Abu Rahme, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King drawing similarities between global protests from history.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2365.shtml
Nil’in places Palestine flag on Wall: Oppression won’t stop our struggle
Sep 20, 2010– On Friday, two demonstrators were wounded and dozens suffered teargas inhalation during the weekly protest in Ni’lin village, where a hundred of demonstrators gathered for the weekly protest against the Apartheid Wall and the settlements.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2364.shtml
Report: Syrian aid ship en-route to Gaza Strip
A Syrian aid ship has set sail toward the Gaza Strip, according to a report by Palestinian news agency Maan. The Syrian Red Crescent reported that the ship, which is scheduled to arrive at the Strip after stopping at el-Arish port in Egypt, is carrying 650 tons of humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3955820,00.html
Syrian Aid Ship Arrives In Al Arish Port
Lieutenant Hisham Al Janayni, assistant-director of Al Arish Port, stated that a Syrian aid ship heading to Gaza had arrived at Al Arish Port in Egypt on Sunday evening, and that the ship will be towed to the dock in order to be emptied under the supervision of the Red Crescent before the supplies are sent to Gaza by land.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59441
Jewish Activists Organise Boat, Ready for Voyage to Gaza
Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JfJfP), in cooperation with members of the German Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East, have organized a boat for Gaza.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/2857-jewish-activists-organise-boat-ready-for-voyage-to-gaza-
Artery Of Life 5 Arrives In Paris
Sunday September 19, 2010 – 23:17, The “Artery of Life 5” solidarity convoy heading to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian supplies, arrived in Paris on Sunday, and was welcomed by hundreds of French peace activists and Palestinians living in France.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59440
Artery Of Life Starts Its Trip From London
Sunday September 19, 2010 – 07:42, The Artery Of Life 5 solidarity flotilla had officially kicked of its trip to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian supplies and challenge Israel’s 4-year old illegal siege on the coastal region.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59438
The Importance Of The International Solidarity, Eyad Burnat
As the Nonviolence Resistance in Palestine is growing, I believe the international solidarity is one of the most important components of our struggle against the occupation. The presence of the international supporters in Palestine is very importance especially in the nonviolent protests like those in Bil’in, Nil’in, Al Ma’ssara, and Al Nabi Saleh villages; those supporters help in deescalating the violence used by the Israeli military during those weekly actions. They are also our ambassadors to the world, they transmit the full picture of what is happening here to their home countries though there presence and cameras.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8794&Itemid=56
Harvard students: Peretz invitation ‘lends legitimacy and respectability to views that can only be described as abhorrent and racist’
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/harvard-students-peretz-invitation-lends-legitimacy-and-respectability-to-views-that-can-only-be-described-as-abhorrent-and-racist.html
Le Moyne students hear Finkelstein despite calls to cancel lecture, Ira Glunts
A small group of faculty members convinced Le Moyne College officials to permit Norman Finkelstein to lecture at their school, despite an organized campaign to persuade Le Moyne to cancel the event. The week before Finkelstein was scheduled to appear, a number of local Rabbis, a high ranking member of the New York State Catholic hierarchy, and other prominent community members contacted the school to request that the event be called off.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/le-moyne-students-hear-finkelstein-despite-calls-to-cancel-lecture.html
Israeli representative attempts to influence local co-op board decision, Adam Horowitz
The following press release was sent out by the Jefferson County BDS Committee: A proposed boycott of products at a food co-op in Port Townsend prompted a visit from the Israeli Deputy Consul General for the Pacific Northwest. Five member/owners of the Port Townsend Food Co-op presented a proposal to co-op board of directors asking the store to pull seven products from its shelves until Israel complies with U.N. decisions regarding occupied territories and lifts both the siege on Gaza and apartheid on Palestinians. Proponents of the boycott have gathered hundreds of signatures in support of the proposal. Gideon Lustig, Israeli deputy consul general, flew from San Francisco to travel to Port Townsend, Washington, a rural town with a population of 8,000, located near the Canadian border. Lustig spoke at a public presentation arranged by “Stand With Us”, a Seattle lobbying group. Lustig also attempted to hold a secret meeting with the Food Co-op board of directors.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/israeli-representative-attempts-to-influence-local-co-op-board-decision.html
France’s “justice” persecutes BDS
On 29th October, representatives of CAPJPO Europpalestine, a French BDS group, are to appear in a French court in Paris, to answer charges that publishing the above video of a BDS action that took place in July 2009 at a Carrefour supermarket in Avry, constituted an “offense of incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence against a group of people on account of their belonging to the Israeli nation.” The plaintiff, the “National Bureau of vigilance against antisemitism (because, naturally, according to antisemites and fake “vigilantes against antisemitism” alike, to speak against Israel is to attack Jews for being Jewish), is looking for opportunities to promote repression of Palestine solidarity activism, and the French state is more than happy to oblige. Europalestine was chosen out either randomly or out of convenience. As a matter of fact, the action was sponsored by a long list of organizations, including a Jewish group (IJAN) and a national political party (the New Anti-Capitalist Party), both of which it would probably be counter-productive for the Zionists to attack in court.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2010/09/france-persecutes-bds.html
The Siege (Gaza & West Bank)/Humanitarian/Restriction of Movement/Human Rights/Racism
Industrial Fuel – Needs Vs. Supply –Aug 22 –Sep 18
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/09/industrial-fuel-%e2%80%93-needs-vs-supply-%e2%80%93aug-22-%e2%80%93sep-18/
Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – Aug 22 – Sep 18
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/09/goods-%e2%80%93-needs-vs-supply-%e2%80%93-aug-22-%e2%80%93-sep-18/
Israel denying PLC member access to hospital
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities are preventing a sick Palestinian lawmaker from accessing health care, a former European parliamentarian said Monday. Palestinian Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar was advised by doctors to undergo urgent brain scans more than two months ago, after tests at a Ramallah hospital revealed concerning results, former European Parliament vice president Luisa Morgantini said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316352
Israel to allow 20 cars into Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israel will permit the entry of private vehicles into Gaza on Monday for the first time since 2007, a Palestinian crossing official said. Raed Fattouh said 20 cars will enter the Strip, as well as oil, spare parts and rubber tires. Israel has slowly allowed the entry of car parts and oil for the first time in four years over the past week.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316203
Gaza: The Enduring Siege
Much attention has been paid to Israel’s “easing” of its siege of Gaza in early July 2010. Palestinians in Gaza now have access to previously banned items like pasta and chocolate.
http://uruknet.info/?p=m69900&hd=&size=1&l=e
A few scenes from the occupation, Philip Weiss
I go through the Qalandiya checkpoint, the dispiriting checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, famous for its galvanized-steel cattle chutes and gates. I am with a dozen other people lined up behind a turnstile that the guards control– they let a few people at a time into the inspection zone. A Palestinian woman is stopped at the front, and her son has been let through. He is about eight, and frightened. He can’t get his papers right and the soldier behind the glass keeps yelling at him and he keeps looking to his mother, who is locked in the turnstile. Men in line call out to let the woman through. At last she is let through to take care of her son.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/a-few-scenes-from-the-occupation.html
Violence/Aggression & Provocations
Medics: Gaza resident injured by Israeli fire
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A Palestinian was injured on Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire while he collected aggregate near the border area in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, medical sources told Ma’an. The source said Nader Ghubun, 23, was injured in his right leg during the incident and was transferred to the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=315998
Israeli Troops Invade Bil’in And Clash With Local Youth
Bil’in – PNN – an Israeli army force invaded on Monday midday the village of Bil’in in central West Bank and clashed with local youth. Israeli troops stormed a number of homes and tried to arrest local youth, during the search campaign, soldiers fired tear gas at local youth who responded by hurling stones at the soldiers. At least a dozen civilians suffered effects of tear gas inhalation and were treated locally, witnesses reported.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8791&Itemid=64
Border guards chase Palestinian workers near Jerusalem
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli Border Guards patrolling the area between Jerusalem and Bethlehem chased a car of Palestinian workers on Sunday morning entering Israel by the Tsur Hadassah area, an Israeli source said. The source said during the chase, the Israeli military vehicle hit the Palestinian car, injuring two officers. Six Palestinians were detained and the car was impounded, the source added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=315978
Some Killing More ‘Moral’ Than Other, Mel Frykberg
Controversy is building up over a 91-year-old man, his 17-year-old grandson and a 20-year-old neighbour, all farmers, who were killed by Israeli shelling and gunfire as they tried to tend their land 700 metres from northern Gaza’s border with Israel.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52886
IDF finally admits its three victims were civilians, David Samel
It cannot be much of a surprise to anyone with half a brain, but it’s now official. The 91-year-old Ibrahim Abu Sayed, his grandson Hossam and young family friend Ismail Abu Oda, who were blown away by Israeli tank shells in Gaza on September 12, were not terrorists after all. Even the IDF now admits it, although of course it still insists that these deaths were not the fault of the killers themselves. It was Hamas, and an imprudent, virtually suicidal gesture on the part of one of the victims, that are to blame. According to Ha’aretz: “Soldiers manning one of the IDF’s permanent lookout posts noticed three men on agricultural land at the edge of the no-go zone that the military imposes along the border fence. One of them, apparently the 21-year-old, was seen lifting a loaded rocket-propelled-grenade launcher, and seemingly aiming it at the border fence and in the general direction of an IDF patrol. The force commanders estimated the man was a terrorist preparing to fire the rocket, and an IDF tank opened fire on the group, killing all three.”
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/idf-finally-admits-its-three-victims-were-civilians.html
Detainees
IOF troops detain 5 demonstrators including journalist
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) quelled on Saturday the Beit Ummar, Al-Khalil district, weekly march protesting the confiscation of the village land to build the separation wall. [Hamas website, may not be accessible to all]
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7
Israeli army abducts citizens from Jenin
Israeli military abducted three citizens from the villages of Jaba and Seelit Aad-Dahr, and invaded the northern West Bank city of Jenin Monday morning.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59443
Lawyer: Detainees at Huwara prison suffer malnutrition, food poisoning
SALFIT (Ma’an) — Palestinian detainees held in Israeli detention are suffering from food poisoning and malnutrition, a human rights lawyer said Sunday. Ahmad Tubasi said the administration of Huwara detention center does not provide sufficient food, and often just an egg and yoghurt is provided. The food is often rotten, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316057
Soldiers Break Into Ramon Prison, Attack Detainees
The Ahrar Center for Detainees’ Studies And Human Rights reported that Israeli soldiers broke, on Sunday at night, into the Ramon prison and attacked dozens of detainees; clashes were reported following the attack.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59442
Israel’s Arab Helpers
Hamas: PA detains 20 affiliates
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Hamas accused Palestinian Authority forces of detaining 20 party affiliates across the West Bank overnight, a statement issued Monday read. The Islamist movement said the PA Preventive Security Services has “escalated” its detention campaign against party members and supporters in the West Bank since it claimed responsibility for the killing of four Israeli settlers on 31 August.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316233
PA’s militias kidnap Hamas official Abu Eida
The Palestinian Authority’s security militias kidnapped on Sunday senior Hamas leader Wajih Abu Eida in Nablus city despite his suffering from several chronic diseases. [Hamas website, may not be accessible to all]
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=
Sudanese Migrant Killed, Three Wounded By Egyptian Border Police Fire
Sunday September 19, 2010 – 03:43, Egyptian medical sources reported Saturday that a Sudanese man was killed and three others were wounded by Egyptian Border Police Fire while trying tin infiltrate into Israel to seek work.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59437
“Peace” Talks/Political Developments
Hamas: We told U.S. in the past that we would accept Palestinian state along 1967 borders
In semi-annual report cited by Israel Radio, the militant group also says it asked the U.S. to engage in dialogue and to lift veto on reconciliation efforts with Fatah.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-we-told-u-s-in-the-past-that-we-would-accept-palestinian-state-along-1967-borders-1.314765?localLinksEnabled=false
Obama responds to Palestinian petition
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — US President Barack Obama responded to a petition Sunday signed by Palestinians calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and support for Palestinian self-determination. The letter was delivered to Sabri Seiydem, who coordinated the campaign, via the US Consulate in East Jerusalem. The letter was signed on behalf of the president by US Secretary of State assistant Jeffrey Feltman.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316114
Other News
Barak: US will supply Israel with bunker busters
Defense minister to meet with top US security officials in DC; Jerusalem believes Washington will agree to supply Israel with advanced cruise missiles, bombs designed to penetrate underground facilities.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3956902,00.html
Olmert: US was ready to absorb 100,000 Palestinian refugees
Former prime minister also says he “wrote things as they were” in his autobiography regarding Barak’s desire to join Kadima; Defense secretary slams remarks as “pathetic, not deserving of reaction.”
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=188578&R=R2
Turkish president won’t meet Peres
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Monday he would not be meeting with his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres in New York due to a tight schedule, Turkish media reported. On Sunday, reports suggested the presidents would meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, marking the first official meeting between Gul and Peres since Israel raided a Turkish-flagged aid vessel in international water in May, killing nine Turkish nationals on board.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316272
How dozens of Israeli Arab ‘espionage’ arrests ended in minor convictions
Attorney describes legal clause on contact with agents as ‘a trap’ that turns any interaction with an Arab from an enemy state into a criminal offense.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/how-dozens-of-israeli-arab-espionage-arrests-ended-in-minor-convictions-1.314677?localLinksEnabled=false
Israeli official: We’ll sell arms to Russia’s enemies
Jerusalem angered at sale of Russian cruising missiles to Syria, calls it ‘prize for extremist states’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3956186,00.html
Israeli universities dropped from list of top 200 in world
Haaretz learns that most Israeli universities were not on the list because they failed to respond to repeated requests for information, including on faculty and students.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-universities-dropped-from-list-of-top-200-in-world-1.314520?localLinksEnabled=false
Deri: Freeze made Ovadia curse Abbas
Former minister Aryeh Deri explains controversial words of Shas spiritual leader who wished death on Palestinian president, Palestinian nation. ‘He’s very sensitive,’ disgraced leader says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3956798,00.html
Nuclear museum to open in Beersheba
Not a word on Israel’s alleged nuclear program in center aimed at teaching kids about atomic energy.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3956349,00.html
Arafat’s companion dies at 105
NABLUS (Ma’an) — The close friend and companion of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died on Monday at the age of 105 in his native village of Bita in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, his family announced. Hajj Mussa Salama Jaber Duweikat fought in several battles leading up to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, including the Battle of Beit Furik. He was detained several times by British forces in Mandatory Palestine and later by Israel. In 1999, he was barred from leaving the occupied Palestinian territories. Duweikat is survived by 12 children and 150 grandchildren.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316224
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
Murder by way of national insanity, Hatim Kanaaneh
Here was a most capable pair of Palestinian lawyers bearing down with full force on a series of witnesses representing the best Israel could produce in its defense, formerly in the face of the intruding ISM and now to counter the petty claims of a sad family set on discrediting ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’ and its valiant soldiers, members of the ‘most moral army in the world.’ I had seen and heard of innumerable cases where again and again the Israeli judicial system squeezes Palestinian defendants literally lifeless. But here I was witnessing the reverse process: Palestinians pressing proud Israelis, former and current members of Israel’s proud and mighty field units, into a state of denial, meekness, confusion and regression.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/murder-by-way-of-national-insanity.html
It’s not about cultural merit, Anees of Jerusalem
In yesterday’s Ha’aretz, Gideon Levy argues for the abandonment/removal of Israel’s illegal settlements from an uncommon standpoint: He lambasts the settlements, as civic/economic/aesthetic entities, for their lack of contribution to the betterment of Israeli society, and says that this ‘uselessness’ is why we need to stop the settlement project. While I agree with much of what it says, I really don’t like this Gideon Levy piece—even though I get that he could just be trying to persuade Israeli society to oppose settlements using a new rationale. But to argue merit through cultural achievement is a rotten game. As a Palestinian, this makes me easily recall how Israelis often use the supposed cultural/industrial inferiority of “the Arabs”—How many Arab Nobel laureates are there compared to Jewish, they propose—to soothe their guilt for what Israel has done to Palestinians. (By the way I sense, through his writings, that even the leftist Israeli Uri Avnery is guilty of this.)
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/its-not-about-cultural-merit.html
What Would Recognition Of A Jewish State Achieve?
The talks which only America wanted have already run aground on a seemingly trivial issue relative to the core problems of borders, settlements and Jerusalem. The inertia and outright hostility on this point speaks broadly of a lack of faith shared by both parties for this road so travelled. Resentment at being shoehorned into photo opportunities for Hillary Clinton can be divined from high level dissenting talk. Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai declared himself “very sceptical” at the outset. Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat has made plain his willingness to walk away from the table.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1543
How Israel views its public relations problem, Adam Horowitz
This ad is currently running on Haaretz for a new website set up by the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/how-israel-views-its-public-relations-problem.html
Peace Talks? What’s on TV?
ROGER COHEN – IHT – “Question: What kind of government has its prime minister and foreign minister on different planets, spans secular-Labor to rightist-religious parties, and talks of peace within a year as it calls peace impossible for generations?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/opinion/14iht-edcohen.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq=Palestinians%20Sept%2018&st=cse
In West Bank, corruption-busting teenagers shake up local government
While Israeli-Palestinian talks aim for Palestinian statehood, a devoted band of educators is grooming the rising generation to be citizens of a vibrant democracy.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0918/In-West-Bank-corruption-busting-teenagers-shake-up-local-government
Something is Rotten in This State, Too, Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
Most people involved or interested in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are currently focused – and rightly so – on newly started up direct talks between the two parties. However, as appealing as these negotiations may seem to be and regardless of whether they fail or succeed in the end, there are other just as important issues pressing on the Palestinians right here at home. If these “pressing issues” are not solved internally, not even a peace settlement will calm the fires of dissent slowly burning within.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=22590&CategoryId=3
One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State
I think there’s a degree of wishful thinking in the positive reaction from some pro-Palestinian one-staters to recent suggestions by a few Israeli rightists that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be resolved by gradually offering citizenship of a Jewish state of Israel to some of the Palestinians of the Occupied Territories. The wishful thinking lies in the assumption that “we” are talking about one state, and “they” are talking about one state, so regardless of the differences in the details we’re all to some extent reading off the same page.I don’t think there’s any basis to that assumption at all. What the Likud’s apparent “converts” mean by the one state solution is that there will be no Palestinian state, only an expanded Jewish state encompassing Israel and the West Bank. Some of the West Bank Palestinians may be granted citizenship in the Jewish state, so long as they formally accept Zionist supremacy and don’t expect to become citizens in the sort of numbers that would make them a “demographic threat” to Zionist rule. Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip and its inhabitants can fulfill Yitzhak Rabin’s dearest wish, and sink into the sea.
http://lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com/news/2010/09/one-state-two-state-red-state-blue-state-1.html
Salem Music Center: 3-Year Plan
The Salem Music Center is a venture developing gradually thanks to the ongoing cooperation between its local Palestinian initiators, from the village of Salem near Nablus, the Israeli volunteers of the Villages Group, and donors from Israel and abroad (especially from Australia and the U.S).
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/09/salem-music-center-3-year-plan/
LOWKEY – TERRORIST? (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmBnvajSfWU&feature=player_embedded
Lebanon
Hizbullah units successfully test new Iranian missile – report
BEIRUT: Special Hizbullah units in Iran have successfully launched and tested a new Iranian missile “Fatah 110,” according to a report by Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai. The report, which was carried by Israel’s Channel 2 and Jerusalem Post, was also posted on the website of Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=119475
Hezbollah slams western-backed faction over killing of HaririBEIRUT, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah slammed the western-backed Future Movement on “false witnesses” over the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Hezbollah’s spokesperson Ibrahim Moussawi said in a statement issued on Sunday that the Future Movement, through its recently adopted stands, is practicing a forgery operation of the largest scale in Lebanon’s modern history. The Future Movement is also practicing “coup d’etat” against the state’s institutions from within, through exploiting them to its own total benefit and administering the country in a rather chaotic manner, he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-09/20/c_13520199.htm
Hezbollah Rejects Mustaqbal’s Sectarian Rhetoric as Shameful
18/09/2010 Suddenly and without prior notice, the sectarian rhetoric found its way in the Lebanese political scene… Despite its known sectarian color, Hezbollah backs the man who’s threatening the leader of the Sunnites in Lebanon,” Future Movement MP Ammar Houri said on Friday, in one of the most suspicious statements made so far. The “blue” MP was commenting on the statement made by Hezbollah in which it condemned State Prosecutor Said Mirza’s request to summon former General Security Chief Jamil as-Sayyed, saying that the request was “political par excellence,” and calling on authorities to back down this judiciary decision.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=154593&language=en
Sayyed to Hariri: Criminals around You Must Be Held Accountable
18/09/2010 On Saturday, Lebanese delivered again a clear message to their state and judiciary… They believed the judicial decision to summon former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed following his latest press conference was illogical. Instead of examining the accuracy of his dangerous revelations, the “judiciary” chose to “summon” him, simply because he “threatened” the state, the Prime Minister and the judiciary. A man who was unfairly put in jail for four years in the file number one in Lebanon, the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, has no right to express himself. Perhaps, he might have no right to reject his political detention and should thank God his arbitrary arrest saw an end, after four years of injustice.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=154592&language=en
Indicted Johnny Abdo entered Lebanon secretly, and was ‘escorted’ by Saad Hariri’s ‘security contingent’…
Just a reminder: Johnny Abdo was indicted in absentia by a court in Lebanon for slandering the President, and yet he flew to Beirut a couple of weeks ago, did not go through any immigration control or else at the airport, and was escorted by Hariri’s men under the cloak of night .. Jamil Assayed is accused of attacking Lebanon’s prime minister (who is himself in absentia) …
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2010/09/indicted-johnny-abdo-entered-lebanon.html
Lebanon general decries judiciary
Former general Jamil al-Sayyed says he would respond to court summon only if Lebanon’s judiciary is ‘de-politicised.’
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2010/09/2010919113139470629.html
Aoun: We Aren’t Leading a Coup but Intellectual Revolution on Corruption
20/09/2010 Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP General Michel Aoun denied on Saturday that he, along with his allies, were carrying out a coup in the country but trying to bring back some apparatuses to the legitimacy and preserve the rights of the people. “We are carrying out an intellectual revolution against corruption,” Aoun said. In an interview with al-Jazeera network Saturday night, Aoun added, “It is a political revolution against corruption, breaking laws and abusing human rights. We live under illegal systems that we don’t know how they were found, what their missions are or who gives them the directions.” The FPM leader reiterated his call for forming a parliamentary investigation committee to examine the actions of Attorney General Said Mirza, Internal Security Forces (ISF) Director General Achraf Rifi, and ISF-Information Branch head Major Wissam al-Hassan, and added that he is supporting former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed’s case because Sayyed was falsely accused; however, “unfortunately, the false witnesses have immunity.”
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=154718&language=en
“Mustaqbal Performing Biggest Fraud Operation in Lebanon’s Modern History”
20/09/2010 Hezbollah Media Relations Officer Dr. Ibrahim Moussawi on Sunday accused the Future Movement (Mustaqbal) of “performing the biggest fraud operation in Lebanon’s modern history.” Moussawi slammed the “latest stances voiced by some of its (Mustaqbal) leaders,” saying the movement was “staging a coup against state institutions, from the inside, through fully taking advantage of them to serve its interests and run the country as if it was a abandoned farm.” Dr. Moussawi added, “The most dangerous thing is the acts of some of this movement’s symbols who are charging the atmospheres with sectarian tension through dragging the country into the rhetoric of sectarian strife – by classifying political stances according to sectarian basis, and by describing any stance that opposes the premier as opposition against its sect.”
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=154763&language=en
State fails to secure bedouin adequate equal healthcare
BEIRUT: The nation’s 100,000 to 150,000 estimated bedouin are not receiving adequate medical access and are discriminated against by primary healthcare providers, a EU-backed project has concluded. The lack of citizenship papers, an overall exclusion, and the near total lack of official policy planning for bedouin healthcare were the most significant problems, findings from the “Bedouin Health Project” have shown. The three-year study, now concluding its final phase, has been jointly operated by the American University of Beirut and Oxford University and is primarily focused on assessing reproductive and child health care delivery in bedouin villages in central Bekaa.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=119444#axzz102a3cidA
Iraq
Sunday: 56 Iraqis killed, 171 Wounded
Updated at 8:22 p.m. EDT, Sept. 19, 2010 An unusually quiet Saturday was followed by a very bloody Sunday in which at least 56 Iraqis were killed and 171 more were wounded. Baghdad again received most of the violence, for which a member of the Iraqi National Alliance blamed al-Qaeda and the political vacuum. Underscoring the unreliability of news accounts from Iraq since many international reporters left, a couple of the attacks that occurred yesterday went unreported until today and Mosul saw very little violence.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/09/19/sunday-47-iraqis-killed-157-wounded/
Iraq: Civilian shot down by gunmen fire in Mosul
A civilian man was killed by gunmen fire in eastern Mosul city on Saturday, a source from Ninewa police said.
http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=136920
Iraq arrests suspect responsible for recruiting suicide bombers
Joint security forces arrested a suspect responsible for recruiting Al Qaeda suicide bombers and four of his aides. An ammunition cache including explosives belts and high explosive materials was found as well during a security operation in northeastern Fallujah.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-54678-Iraq-arrests-suspect-responsible-for-recruiting-suicide-bombers.html
Post-U.S. invasion economic strategy ‘complete shambles’, says Iraq Central Bank official
The years since the 2003-U.S. invasion of Iraq have done more harm than good to Iraq’s economy, a senior Central Bank official says. “One of the reasons for the failure of the economic administration in the past seven years is the misuse of the resources which the country owns,” said Mudher Saleh, the bank’s official consultant. He said there was imbalance and mismatch in Iraq’s economy with the state in control of 80 percent of the country’s riches and other sectors the remaining 20 percent. “This mechanism cannot achieve any economic feasibility and therefore its unproductive and doomed to failure .. it is a complete shambles,” Saleh said.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2010-09-19\kurd.htm
Iraqi Kurds refuse to cooperate with Oil Ministry on oil exports
Iraqi Kurds have not delivered on promises to ship 100,000 barrels of oil a day to the outside world through Iraqi national pipeline network, the Oil Ministry said. The ministry’s spokesman, Assem Jihad, said the sides had reached an agreement under which the Kurds would have pumped the volume for exports. “The Ministry of Natural Resources in the (Kurdish) region has exhibited no sign of cooperation so far. It has not supplied us with 100,000 barrels we had agreed to be exported to the outside world,” Jihad said. The agreement was that the proceeds from oil exports originating in the Kurdish region would go to central government coffers.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2010-09-17\kurd.htm
“New Order, Same Abuses”: Amnesty Condemns Iraq for Holding 30,000 Prisoners Without Trial
Amnesty International is condemning Iraq for holding an estimated 30,000 prisoners without trial, including 10,000 prisoners who were recently transferred from US custody. In a new report, Amnesty documents that Iraqi prisoners are being arbitrarily detained and often beaten to obtain forced confessions.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/20/new_order_same_abuses_amnesty_condemns
Iraqi Refugee Describes Torture, Imprisonment of Husband Who Returned to Iraq to Free Jailed Son
Rabiha al Qassab, a British Iraqi woman who lives in London, describes the harrowing story of her husband, Ramze Shihab Ahmed. Having fled in 1998 after being accused of trying to overthrow Saddam Hussein, Ramze returned to Iraq last year to get his son out of prison. He, too, was arrested and was tortured. Like 30,000 other Iraqis, he and his son are being held without charge.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/20/iraqi_refugee_describes_torture_imprisonment_of
Iraq finds missing artifacts in premier’s storage (AP)
AP – More than 600 ancient artifacts that were smuggled out of Iraq, recovered and lost again have been found misplaced among kitchen supplies in storage at the prime minister’s office, the antiquities minister said Monday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100920/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_antiquities
Iraq war saga: A Baghdad family cherishes good grades, dreams of an Xbox (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor – After years of study, sacrifice, and sleepless preparation, the two graduating girls of the Methboub family in Baghdad both held their breath this summer for the results.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100919/wl_csm/325012
Syrian-Iraqi relations start to thaw
Ties between Damascus and Baghdad are warming after the deep freeze when Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed Iraqi Ba’athists in Syria for last summer’s triple attacks in Baghdad. Maliki realizes he needs Syria’s support to hammer out alliances vital to his ability to retain power after indecisive elections in March. The rapprochement doesn’t mean he has been fully forgiven. – Sami Moubayed
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LI21Ak02.html
Iran
Ahmadinejad: Iran economy isn’t suffering from West’s sanctions
Iranian President tells American television that Iran has ‘no problem’ with sanctions, and insists that the country is actually benefiting from them.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/ahmadinejad-iran-economy-isn-t-suffering-from-west-s-sanctions-1.314638
Ahmadinejad Wants Release of Iranians Held in U.S.
New York Times 19 Sep 2010 – As a hiker held in Iran for 13 months arrived in the United States, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran said that the United States, as “a humanitarian gesture,” should now release eight Iranians.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8380356be3d7f7bc10e1279b22b8f5ae
Poll: Vast majority opposes attack on Iran
Two-thirds want US to be neutral in Israeli-Palestinian conflict Americans increasingly accept torture, survey finds Fewer than one in five Americans would support a US military strike on Iran if the Middle Eastern country continued to pursue its nuclear program in the face of international sanctions, a new poll indicates.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/poll-vast-majority-opposes-attack-iran/
Jail sentence for Iran activist
Shiva Nazar Ahari sentenced to six years in prison for plotting crimes against state and waging war against God.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/09/2010918161829135229.html
Journalist jailed in Iran speaks
Like two Americans who remain incarcerated in Iran on spying charges, the journalist Roxana Saberi knows what it is like to be stuck in an Iranian jail. The freelance reporter was imprisoned last year on espionage charges, but she was later released. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, Americans who say they were hikers, are still in an Iranian jail on spying charges. Sarah Shourd, a third American woman who was traveling with them, was just released. In a studio interview with Al Jazeera, Roxana Saberi discusses prison, journalism and naïveté.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9lucu237wk&feature=youtube_gdata
Reality Check: Iran is Not a Nuclear Threat, Scott Horton
Forget the neoconservative hype. The facts show Iran is not and has not been a nuclear threat to either the United States or Israel.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0917/Reality-check-Iran-is-not-a-nuclear-threat
U.S. and Other World News
Army: U.S. Soldiers Killed Afghan Civilians For Sport, Dismembered Bodies
According to charging documents, the unprovoked, fatal attack on Jan. 15 was the start of a months-long shooting spree against Afghan civilians that resulted in some of the grisliest allegations against American soldiers since the U.S. invasion in 2001. Members of the platoon have been charged with dismembering and photographing corpses, as well as hoarding a skull and other human bones.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/18/armyus-soldiers-killed-af_n_722209.html
Afghans scrub fingers clean to cast extra votes
One voting station in the capital Kabul, suspected frauds included three middle-aged women who turned up to vote with the registration cards of women half their age. Three more had real voting cards but couldn’t give the names printed on them.
http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-51587120100918?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=southAsiaNews&rpc=401
Inside Story – Afghanistan: Credible elections?
Votes are being counted in Afghanistan after the country held its parliamentary elections over the weekend. But do Afghanistan’s people believe in democracy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grQInLBHYOA&feature=youtube_gdata
Kuwait bans public gatherings to curb Shiite-Sunni tensions
KUWAIT CITY: The Gulf state of Kuwait on Sunday banned public gatherings in a bid to contain rising tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims over inflammatory remarks by a Shiite activist in self-imposed exile.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=119453
Bahrain revokes citizenship of top Shiite cleric
BAGHDAD — Bahrain stripped a powerful Shiite cleric with close ties to Iraq of his citizenship as authorities Monday widened a crackdown against alleged dissidents ahead of next month’s elections in the tiny Gulf nation. The move against Ayatollah Hussein al-Najati — the Bahraini representative of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite figure — shows the increasingly hard line by the island kingdom’s Sunni leadership against the majority Shiites, who have religious and cultural ties to both Iraq and Iran.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jaj0xcaw4G6BeKCVLTf2UaK_4oYQD9IBL02G1
Bedouins cry foul in Egypt
Egyptian Bedouins in the Sinai Peninsula lead a traditional lifestyle not far from the bustling holiday resorts that are being developed in south of the country. The Bedouins say that they have been increasingly marginalised from the development projects as the Egyptian government denied them their share of profits from the country’s lucrative tourism industry. They also claim that the authorities employ excessive force against them, saying that between 1,000 and 3,000 Bedouins are held in Egyptian jails. Al Jazeera’s Ayman Mohyeldin reports from the Sinai Peninsula.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tzsQqWli38&feature=youtube_gdata
The oil weapon for another war, As’ad Abukhalil
Khalid kindly translated per my suggestion the article by comrade Fawwaz about the Saudi arms deal: “Saudi Arabia has announced the “Deal of the century” to buy American “F-15s”, and around 150 Military Choppers at the time when the negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians had taken place. The timing between the two events could have been a coincidence, but it’s a coincidence that does not abandon the significant evidence of the new forming relationship between Arab Oil, Israel, and the Palestinian cause. The United States is the biggest Arms dealer in the world, its arms Industry is the umbilical cord that feeds its economy. And the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the biggest client for the American Weaponry. Its military expenditure has reached $11.2bn in the years of 2005 and 2008. Its not confidential that the purchases of Oil producing countries of American arms, as well as operating trillions of dollars in the purchase of American Treasury Bonds like the private sector, has played an important role in reducing the commercial imbalance between Saudi and the US. Beside that, it should be added that the role of this Aero-Deal (And another Navy-Deal which could follow) would compensate a good percentage of the Trillionic’ Military Expenditure which the US has spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan & “International Terrorism”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/09/oil-weapon-for-another-war.html
Professor AbuKhalil: “The shift from a unipolar US world to a multipolar world is overstated”
As’ad AbuKhalil, or Angry Arab, as he is more commonly known after his blog The Angry Arab News Service is in real life, a most friendly, and forthcoming man. The Lebanese-born author of four books on the Middle East, he is professor of Political Science at California State University, and is visiting professor at UC Berkeley. Rather rare among American academics he is openly and adamantly critical of US foreign policy, so-called, moderate Arab regimes, such as Mubarak’s Egypt and the Kingdoms of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and of the state of Israel. At the same time, the resistance axis is never safe from his biting criticism either.
http://www.mepei.com/interviews/603-professor-abukhalil-qthe-shift-from-a-unipolar-us-world-to-a-multipolar-world-is-overstatedq
Translation of “Arab Lobby,” As’ad Abukhalil’s appearance on Min Washington
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/09/arab-lobby.html
First Bush’s Torturers — Now Obama’s Assassins
Uruknet September 19, 2010 – Many thought that the Obama White House would take a very different stance on the overt and systematic violation of human rights which had become infamous policy in the US “war on terror” under G.W. Bush. Instead, aside from a cosmetic banning of “enhanced interrogation techniques” and an unfulfilled pledge to close the notorious Guantanamo.
http://uruknet.info/?p=m69912&hd=&size=1&l=e
The “Obscenity” of Comparing Americans to “Killers and Terrorists”, Glenn Greenwald
The nature of tribalism is that one always thinks their side is better and the other side worse, and that comparisons between the two sides (or even equal application of standards to each) is deeply unfair and offensive (“moral relativism”).
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/18/taliban/index.html
Burning and Building, RICHARD PHELPS
Should a building that isn’t a mosque be built on a site that isn’t all that near to where the Twin Towers once stood? Should a pastor of a church that no-one had ever heard of until recently be allowed to burn some books that he himself can’t read, but that folk he has never met often do read? As the frenzy of the past week quietens, this is not yet another article concerning either case. For herein lies the precisely the point: what could possibly be said regarding either case that was not obvious right from the beginning? This is about propaganda and distraction.
http://www.counterpunch.com/phelps09172010.html
Legendary British Author John le Carré on Why He Won’t Be Reading Tony Blair’s Iraq War-Defending Memoir
David Cornwell, the legendary British novelist who writes under the name John le Carré, joins us in London. A former British spy, his books include The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and The Constant Gardener. On the heels of the publication of British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Iraq war-defending memoir A Journey, le Carré explains why he refused to interview Blair and why he won’t be reading his memoir. [includes rush transcript]
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/20/legendary_british_author_john_le_carr
