and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land and Property Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Abbas asks US to step into settlement dispute (AP)
AP – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has asked the U.S. to settle a dispute with Israel over settlement expansion that is threatening to derail Mideast peace talks.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100907/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians
Edelstein: We’ll support Netanyahu to renew building in West Bank
"On September 26 the construction freeze will not be renewed, there will be no government decision to renew it," Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein (Likud) said. "We will fight for every home, every permit and every tender." "The ten months in which tens of thousands of families were frozen will not return," he promised, speaking to Likud activists. "Our mission is to prop up the prime minister so that construction will begin again throughout Judea and Samaria (the West Bank)."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3950683,00.html
Solidarity/Activism/Boycott, Sanctions & Divestment
Boycotting Ariel: Missing the Forest for the Trees, PACBI
Provoked by the recent announcement of the inauguration of a cultural center in Ariel, the fourth largest Jewish colony in the occupied Palestinian territory, 150 prominent Israeli academics, writers, and cultural figures have declared that they "will not take part in any kind of cultural activity beyond the Green Line, take part in discussions and seminars, or lecture in any kind of academic setting in these settlements". A few protestors went as far as reiterating the fact that all Israeli colonies built on occupied Palestinian land are in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and thus constitute a war crime.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16241
The Siege (Gaza & West Bank)/Humanitarian/Restriction of Movement
Ramadan in Gaza’s boundary zone
JOHR AL-DIK, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – With power cuts up to 16 hours to full days, a soaring heat wave and unbearable humidity, the Israeli-led siege on Gaza is but one of many factors leaving Ramadan miserable for the majority of Palestinians in Gaza.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11508.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Siege casts shadow over Ramadan
GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – The Muslim festival approaches, but not the end to power cuts that have darkened the month-long Ramadan fasting leading up to the festival. Or to the agony of Gazans, made worse by the reminder that it’s approaching festive time.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11509.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Hearing aids warn Gaza kids of bombs
Deaf children in Gaza don’t need hearing aids just to help them learn – they need them to simply survive. Hamilton woman and former Waikato Hospital nurse Helen Green flies out this week for the Gaza strip – one of the most volatile parcels of land in the world. It will be her third trip to the region to monitor progress on a governance project she’s working on for German non-government organisation CBM (Christoffel-Blindenmission), an organisation which acts on the needs and rights of people with disabilities in 113 countries around the world. The work Mrs Green is doing with the deaf and blind in Gaza is just a small part of that.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/4103630/Hearing-aids-warn-Gaza-kids-of-bombs
Discrimination/Human Rights
Details of ‘rape by deceit’ conviction surface
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — In July, an Israeli court sentenced a Palestinian, Sabar Kushur, to 18 months imprisonment for obtaining consensual sex by failing to reveal he was not a Jewish bachelor. An Israeli newspaper on Friday published testimony made in court by the complainant. Kushur was initially charged with rape by force, and the conviction of "rape by deceit" was a plea bargain agreed to, and according to the newspaper report initiated by, Kushur’s lawyers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=313647
War Crimes
Munir’s Story: 28 years after the Massacre at Sabra-Shatila, Franklin Lamb
The untreated psychic wounds are still open. Accountability, justice and basic civil rights for the survivors are still denied. Scores of horror testimonies have been shared over the past nearly three decades by survivors of the September 1982 Sabra- Shatila massacre. More come to light only through circumstantial evidence because would be affiants perished during the slaughter. Other eyewitness are just beginning to emerge from deep trauma or self imposed silence. Some testimonies will be shared this month by massacre survivors at Shatila camp. They will sit with the every growing numbers of international visitors who annually come to commemorate one of the most horrific crimes of the 20th century.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2010/09/06/munirs-story-sabra-shatila-massacre/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SabbahsBlog+%28Sabbah+Report%29
Violence and other Provocations against Palestinians
Report: Settler fires on Palestinian cars
Palestinian driving near Kedumim settlement says Israeli man fired at his vehicle; no injuries reported. Police believe shooting a case of road rage.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3951092,00.html
Clashes at Aroub refugee camp
Hebron, September 7, (Pal Telegraph) A Palestinian citizen was wounded and bruised after being beaten by Israeli soldiers who raided the refugee camp of Aroub, north of Hebron in the West Bank.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6920:clashes-at-aroub-refugee-camp&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=135
Detainees
IOF raids Hebron, arrests a whole family
Hebron, September 7, (Pal Telegraph) Israeli occupation forces arrested today a whole Palestinian family after a raid on their home in the town of Surif north-west of Hebron in the West Bank.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6918:iof-raids-hebron-arrests-a-whole-family&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=135
IOF arrests a child on checkpoint near Bethlehem
Hebron, September 7, (Pal Telegraph) Israeli occupation forces arrested today a child from the town of Dura in Hebron, in the West Bank, on an Israeli military checkpoint near Bethlehem.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6923:iof-arrests-a-child-on-checkpoint-near-bethlehem&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=135
PFLP to launch campaign in support of jailed leader
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A leftist Palestinian faction will begin a week of activities on 5 October to protest Israel’s decision to keep the movement’s leader in solitary confinement , a party source said Tuesday. Activities will coincide with an Israeli court hearing to determine if Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmad Sa’adat will remain in solitary confinement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=313712
Prisoners’ families protest salary deductions
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Gaza families of prisoners detained in Israeli jails held a protest Monday against the deduction of 170 shekels from prisoners’ salaries for electricity payments, a prisoners’ group said. The protesters gathered at Red Cross headquarters, and chanted slogans blaming the ruling Hamas party for the deduction, which they said increased prisoners’ suffering,group coordinator Nasha’at Al-Waheedi said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=313594
Retaliation
Qassam lands outside Sderot
Color Red alert sounds throughout city, Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council in wee hours of the night; rocket lands just outside city limits.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3950841,00.html
Israel‘s Arab Helpers
Egypt seizes Gaza-bound arms across Sinai
EL-ARISH (Ma’an) — Egyptian police took control of nine weapons caches across the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, nearly a week after discovering three stores in the same area. All of the stores, officials said, were ready to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip. Several types of weaponry were discovered in the hideouts, located in northern and central Sinai neighborhoods as well as the southern border city of Rafah and the port city of Al-Arish, police told Ma’an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=313727
"Peace" Talks/Political Developments
No meeting between Abbas, Netanyahu in Jerusalem in mid September: Palestinian official
RAMALLAH, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) — Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat denied on Monday that there will be a meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in mid September. "What has been agreed upon is a meeting between President Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sept. 14 only," Erekat told Xinhua. He added "No other meeting has been agreed upon, except the one in Sharm el-Sheikh."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-09/07/c_13481426.htm
Palestinian leaders slam Geneva Initiative for using their pictures in peace campaign
Furthermore, in the past several days, through an intermediary, Fayyad has asked that his picture be removed from the Geneva Initiative’s campaign. Abbas, who has been in Washington and North Africa over the past week, has not asked that the campaign stop using his likeness and has not withdrawn his participation in the campaign, but Fayyad, who was in the West Bank at the time, has sought to have his picture removed.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/palestinian-leaders-slam-geneva-initiative-for-using-their-pictures-in-peace-campaign-1.312609?localLinksEnabled=false
Abbas: No peace without Gaza
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority would "not leave Gaza or the West Bank to Hamas or others,” President Mahmoud Abbas told the Kuwait-based daily newspaper Ar-Ray on Tuesday. The interview followed one in the Ramallah-based Al-Ayyam newspaper on Monday, where Abbas said that if he was forced to concede on key issues such as refugees or borders during the next round of direct negotiations with Israel, he would "pack my bags and leave."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=313755
Israel PM sees deal possible in year: spokesman (Reuters)
Reuters – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told visiting U.S. congressmen he thinks it could be possible to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians in a year despite huge differences, his spokesman said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100906/pl_nm/us_palestinians_israel
Netanyahu tells Israeli public: No guarantee peace talks will succeed
In New Year’s greeting, prime minister lays down security and recognition of Israel as Jewish state as two criteria for a peace agreement with Palestinians.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-tells-israeli-public-no-guarantee-peace-talks-will-succeed-1.312743?localLinksEnabled=false
Palestinian Figures Condemn PA Remarks, Back Ahmadinejad
06/09/2010 Prominent Palestinian figures condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA) spokesman’s insulting remarks about the Iranian president, endorsing Iran’s supports for the rights of Palestinians. "The offensive remarks of Palestinian Authority Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the International Quds Day is indicative of the PA’s irresponsibility and serious crisis between the negotiating team and the Israelis in direct talks," Fars news agency quoted Hamas political leader Khezr Habib as saying on Sunday. On Friday, addressing large crowds of people at the Quds Day rally, President Ahmadinejad accused the Middle East mediators who have been engaged in direct talks with Israeli officials of being accomplices to Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians, saying, "Only Palestinians could decide on their own lands not foreign powers.”
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=153058&language=en
MK Ahmed Tibi, do you believe Netanyahu has changed and will move toward peace?
Deputy Knesset Speaker Tibi, who is considered close to the PA negotiating team in the peace talks, says he is pessimistic about Netanyahu and the peace process.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/mk-ahmed-tibi-do-you-believe-netanyahu-has-changed-and-will-move-toward-peace-1.312639?localLinksEnabled=false
Hamas: Achieving inter-reconciliation still an American decision
GAZA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) — Gaza Strip-ruling Islamic Hamas movement on Monday said that achieving the inter-Palestinian reconciliation and ending the internal rift is still an American decision. Hamas leader Salah al-Bardaweel told journalists in southern Gaza Strip that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party " rejects achieving the reconciliation because its decision is still a hostage in the Americans’ hands." Disputes between the two rivals, Fatah and Hamas, mounted after signing the historic reconciliation agreement in Mecca in Feb. 2007. Their feuds reached its peak after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip by force in June 2007.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-09/07/c_13481450.htm
Muhammad Dahlan: the rejectionist
When I saw that Muhammad Dahlan was not part of the Palestinian delegation to the surrender talks in Washington, DC, I knew that he would come out to oppose them. Sure enough, he uses strong language against the talks and offers a damning characterization of the ruling prime minister of the Zionist entity.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/09/muhammad-dahlan-rejectionist.html
Egypt FM: Palestinians could get $50 billion in compensation under peace deal
Aboul-Gheit did not elaborate on where he had received that information, nor did he say who would supply the funds.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-fm-palestinians-could-get-50-billion-in-compensation-under-peace-deal-1.312694?localLinksEnabled=false
Jordan and Syria call for Israeli withdrawal from all Arab lands
Leaders of both states say that Israel must return to pre-1967 borders in order to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/jordan-and-syria-call-for-israeli-withdrawal-from-all-arab-lands-1.312585?localLinksEnabled=false
Other News
Palestinian family’s tragedy saves 3 dying Israelis
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – On 27 August, a Palestinian 4-year-old, Abdul-Hayy Salhout, fell from a balcony at his family’s home in the Jabal Al-Mukabbir village in occupied East Jerusalem. Doctors at the Hadassah Medical Center spent eight hours trying to revive the toddler in the ICU, where he died six days later. Abdul-Hayy’s parents decided at the time to donate his organs.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=313648
WATCH: Gaza’s first female truck driver breaks rules
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Women do not drive trucks in Gaza. Not until Lina Ibrahim broke the social taboo and insisted that she be allowed to take a course in truck driving, and use the skill to pay for her university studies. With Gaza’s economy in ruins, women have increasingly joined the formal and informal workforce sectors to help support themselves and their families.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=312195
Austrian tycoon may face Israel charges: report (AFP)
AFP – Israeli police are recommending an Austrian billionaire be charged with bribery for funnelling millions of dollars into the pockets of former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100907/wl_mideast_afp/israelpoliticscorruptionsharonaustria
Deportation of foreign workers’ kids to begin after holidays
Last ditch effort to prevent deportation of migrant workers’ children underway; protest rally scheduled in Tel Aviv, Kibbutz Movement says will disperse kids between volunteers.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3950857,00.html
Yishai: Probe sedition against deportation
Interior minister urges attorney general to launch investigation against head of Kibbutz Movement’s task force for calling on public to hide foreign workers’ children.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3951061,00.html
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
No Restrictions: Gaza Journalist Rebel Against The Rules
Hiba Lama – PNN/Exclusive – As girls becomes women in Gaza they slowly get dragged into the world of restrictions. These rules have become an art those who govern Gaza have perfected. They are meant to segregate women from men.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8745
Who are we stand in moral and legal judgment of the settlers’ killers?, Max Ajl
Aware of that, return to the issue of the right to criticize. Before criticizing, there’s a necessary question: are we innocent, do we stand apart from the society that produced the Hamas killings? Can we stand in moral and legal judgment of them? Not a chance. Samel, and take Samel as an avatar for all of us, is not innocent. By not being innocent, through condemnation, we become hypocrites. We live in privilege and we have lived in privilege. Our lives are the product of that privilege. Their ease is the experience of privilege. That privilege came at a cost. We are the condensed, living subjects of a tremendous, bloody, messy, tragic, horrible history of violence that has constituted us as privileged Westerners and has left the Palestinian people scrabbling in the sands of Gaza and the Jordan Valley, in refugee camps scattered around the Levant.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/who-are-we-stand-in-moral-and-legal-judgment-of-the-settlers-killers.html
God Announces Palestinian State in Uganda, Belen Fernandez
In an interview this week with Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, omnipresent Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev addressed the difficulty of defining the border between Israel and Palestine without knowing “what’s going to be on the other side” and whether whatever it is will recognize the Jewish state. Deftly skirting Rattansi’s interjection that the Palestinians had already recognized Israel in 1993 by saying he would “answer that in a second” despite the fact that it was not a question, Regev continued: “How can we agree to a border unless we know what’s the nature and the character of the society on the other side of the border?” As for the nature and character of the Jewish state, comparable spiritual exclusivity on the other side of the fence such as an Islamic Republic of Palestine would presumably not merit comparable insistence by Regev of the state’s utter democracy.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16245
Imagining Palestinians as Equal, George Polley
‘The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.’ — Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963) If the question is, are the Israeli government and its supporters serious about addressing the issues that cause them their biggest public relations problems, the answer is no. Instead of changing its behavior, Israel’s response to criticism is a simple one: Deny wrongdoing, play the role of victim, punish those who resist, and attack and destroy the credibility of those who criticize it. Earlier this year The Reut Institute, an Israeli think tank founded in 2004 by Gidi Grinstein and others, published a 93-page report titled: “Building a Political Firewall against Israel’s Delegitimization”. A primer in designing and carrying out a propaganda campaign (called “public relations” in the report), it is a very revealing document. (For a copy, click here).
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16246
When the Israeli Jews Lose Their Moral Compass; Burg: Israeli Jews are the judges and the masters of the land,Hasan Afif El-Hasan
On the first day of the Palestinian-Israeli direct negotiations, I was reading a book by Avraham Burg on Israel. Avraham Burg, a man who once was at the heart of the Israeli establishment as the speaker of the Knesset, asked the same question which I spent years trying to answer. Why the Jewish people, the yesterday’s victims of Hitler and the survivors of the Holocaust do not view the indigenous Palestinians as people with possibly legitimate needs? Burg wants his fellow Jews, the victims of anti-Semitism, to establish a just and compassionate society that lives according to the principles of its Bible including: “What is hateful to thee, do not do unto thy fellow.” He reminds the Jews that their “existence has not been just to the Father, the King, up in heaven, but up toward the great human calling.” The moral issue of the Israeli Jews was put eloquently by one of their intellectuals, David Grossman, “I could not understand how an entire nation like mine, an enlightened nation by all accounts, is able to train itself to live as a conqueror without making its own life wretched.”
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16247
God’s Humor In Promoting Taybeh?
By: Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D. – I am sitting in the middle of the wilderness and most of the days I am sincerely happy that the whole world is willing to come to me. I clearly have nothing to do with this fame since my brother-in-law, Nadim Khoury, worked extraordinarily hard since the early 90’s to make one of the best products that exist in Palestine. People from all of the world want to come and see how we make this great micro brewed beer, the only micro brew beer in the whole Middle East, Taybeh Beer.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8746&Itemid=1
Lebanon
84 charged over deadly Beirut shootout (AFP)
AFP – Eighty-four people have been charged in connection with a deadly clash last month between Hezbollah and a pro-Syrian Sunni faction, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100906/wl_mideast_afp/lebanonunresttrial
Sleiman responds fiercely to criticism from Aoun
BEIRUT: Criticisms by head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Kesrouan MP Michel Aoun against President Michel Sleiman and a number of ministers stirred a wave of disapproving reactions on Monday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=119070
Hezbollah Supports Aoun’s Criticism as “Cry of Pain”
One day after the head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun raised the voice against the current situation in the country, Hezbollah declared solidarity with its ally in its frank ‘cry of pain’.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=153230&language=en
Death threat stokes tensions in Ain al-Hilweh
BEIRUT: Tensions arose in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp as a circulating statement bearing the signature of an Al-Qaeda-inspired group threatened to assassinate the head of the Armed Struggle in the camp, saying he was involved in the recent killing of the group’s leader.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=119075
Iraq
Monday: 10 Iraqis Killed, 28 Wounded
At least 10 Iraqis were killed and 28 more were wounded in new violence. Meanwhile, the U.S. military admitted that attacks against American troops increased during Ramadan, which ends this week. Also, the long war has destroyed the hopes of many older Iraqi women who are seeking marriage.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/09/06/monday-10-iraqis-killed-28-wounded/
Unknown gunmen kill Al Iraqiya anchor
Religious programs anchor on Al Iraqiya Satellite TV network and head of Al Sheala District Riyad Al Saray was killed by unknown gunmen in central Baghdad. Unknown gunmen opened fire from mute weapons in a drive-by shooting on a car in Al Harithiya region, an informed source told Alsumaria.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-54133-Unknown-gunmen-kill-Al-Iraqiya-anchor.html
Iraqi Al Qaeda group says it behind army base raid (Reuters)
Reuters – Al Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a daylight raid by suicide bombers on an army base in central Baghdad in which 12 people died.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100907/wl_nm/us_iraq_violence_alqaeda
Iraq’s Allawi sees progress on forming government by end-October
BAGHDAD: Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi hopes coalition talks will have progressed by end-October and said forming a government was key to security in Iraq after the United States formally ended combat operations.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=119054
SYRIA: Iraqi refugee children dropping out of school
Source: IRIN Iraqi refugee children in Syria are struggling to keep up at school, or are dropping out to seek paid work, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/ca87bb26465745589ec7e8bf42c125d8.htm
Iraq: The forgotten ‘nakba’; Why has the plight of Iraq failed to capture the imagination and interest of the Arab world?, Lamis Andoni
The US invasion of Iraq marked a dramatic turning point for the Arab world, but the recent partial American withdrawal generated notably little interest across the region. This is partly because it signaled neither an unequivocal end to the occupation nor an explicit continuation of US military control. But the silence also reflects the bitter reality that many have simply tuned out of Iraq. When Baghdad fell in 2003, it drew comparisons with the loss of Palestine and the dispossession of its people in 1948. And while the US invasion did not lead to, or aim at, colonising the country, changing its name or razing its towns and villages, it did serve to remove a once powerful state from the regional political equation and, in so doing, weakened the Arab world. This emboldened Israel and Iran, while striking a critical blow against pan-Arabism.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/2010/09/2010967352979398.html
Iran
Iran has enough fuel for 2 nuclear warheads, report says
The International Atomic Energy Agency also reports that Tehran’s efforts to master uranium enrichment at one facility could be slowing. Iran says it has 6,180 pounds of low-enriched uranium. Iran has produced more than enough nuclear fuel to power two atomic warheads if it were to further enrich its supply and disregard its treaty obligations, according to a report issued Monday by the world’s nuclear energy watchdog.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/9zXJgEZpPO8/la-fg-iran-nuclear-report-20100907,0,572622.story
translation from Persian and Ahmadinajad’s speeches
A keen and knowledgeable Western correspondent in the Middle East sent me this (he/she does not want to be identified):
"Hi As’ad. This is unreal. Or rather I’m astounded, but I shouldn’t be. we had a story last night on Ahmadinejad in Qatar. I heard the Arabic in passing on TV and it said he said Israel should be destroyed siyasiyyan. I come in today and find, as I feared, [] story misquoting him: Any Israeli attack against Iran means the elimination of the Zionist entity from the world map. no mentioned of "politically"
So I check the Farsi on IRNA. He says: هر اقدامي عليه ايران به معناي پاك شدن رژيم صهيونيستي از جغرافياي سياسي است
i.e. he does NOT say ‘map’ and he says the Zionist ‘regime’, as well as ‘political geography’; i.e. he means that as a political entity it would cease, not that it’s people would be destroyed. the rest you probably know: the original quote from 2005. I got curious and checked it (I read at time it was questioned but I didn’t know Farsi then). [] ran him saying "israel should be wiped off the map", baldly; no other words of context. as far as I’m aware, it was this story that provoked the world reaction. but he actually said: imam goft een regime -e ishghalgar -e quds bayad az safheh -ye ruzgar mahv shavad, the Imam said this regime that occupies Jerusalem should be effaced from the page of time. i.e. he’s talking about the political entity. I’m not defending him one bit, but he’s making a point about the state of Israel, not that the population therein should be exterminated as the Nazis did. and look how successful this propaganda has been: the phrase has become so well-known that someone translating automatically jumped to these phrases "wiped off" and "map" when translating what Ahmadinejad said in Doha last night, fitting his words into this linguistic cast pre-prepared by media, without realising the distortion involved. (or not so successful this time: i caught it.. but not after the story was translated into every [] language service you can imagine)".
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/09/translation-from-persian-and.html
Obama Follows Bush on Iran, Muhammad Sahimi
When Barack Obama was running for the presidency in 2008, he wanted, first and foremost, to differentiate himself from George W. Bush, who was despised by a large majority of people practically everywhere on this planet. Obama had opposed the invasion of Iraq, and during his campaign he continued to criticize the invasion and its aftermath. He criticized the Bush administration for what he considered its neglect of the “right war” (if there is such a war), namely, the war in Afghanistan. And while the Bush administration conducted a relentless program of propaganda and threats against Iran for eight years, Obama offered to negotiate with Iran without any preconditions. To make his offer sound credible, he even quoted President John F. Kennedy: “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
http://original.antiwar.com/sahimi/2010/09/06/obama-follows-bush-on-iran/
Land or a nuclear umbrella?, Akiva Eldar
The right way to cope with the Iranian threat is by boosting regional peace, in combination with an American assurance of a nuclear umbrella and an improvement in Israeli deterrence.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/land-or-a-nuclear-umbrella-1.312426
U.S. and Other World News
ElBaradei eyes Egypt poll boycott
Egyptian opposition figure Mohammed ElBaradei calls for a boycott of November’s parliamentary election, saying it is certain to be rigged.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-11212449
One woman’s nightmare, and a crime against humanity, Robert Fisk in Amman
Forced to marry her own rapist, Hanan now lives in terror of losing her son – and of being murdered by her family. Her case-history introduces a four-day series investigating a global scandal that destroys many thousands of lives every year
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/one-womans-nightmare-and-a-crime-against-humanity-2072200.html
The crimewave that shames the world, Robert Fisk
It’s one of the last great taboos: the murder of at least 20,000 women a year in the name of ‘honour’. Nor is the problem confined to the Middle East: the contagion is spreading rapidly
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/the-crimewave-that-shames-the-world-2072201.html
Internet Evangelist Bill Keller Preaching Against Islam Near Ground Zero
NEW YORK — An Internet evangelist from Florida has begun holding services near ground zero to preach against Islam as debate continues over plans for a nearby Muslim community center. Bill Keller has gained a following through his Liveprayer.com website, and has promised to establish a "9/11 Christian Center" to counter what he referred to Sunday as "the lies of Islam."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/06/bill-keller-ground-zero-internet-evangelist-islam_n_706732.html
Michael Moore on His Life, His Films and His Activism
In a Democracy Now! special broadcast, we spend the hour with one of the most famous independent filmmakers in the world: Michael Moore. For the past twenty years, Michael has been one of the most politically active, provocative and successful documentary filmmakers in the business. His films include Roger & me; Fahrenheit 9/11; Bowling for Columbine, for which he won the Academy Award; and his latest, Capitalism: A Love Story.[includes rush transcript]
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/6/michael_moore_on_his_life_his
www.TheHeadlines.org
