And other news from Today in Palestine:
Land and Property Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
‘Freeze-ending’ settlement construction was legal, probe finds
Structures that were built in response to last week’s terror attack in the West Bank were not included in the terms of the settlement construction moratorium.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/freeze-ending-settlement-construction-was-legal-probe-finds-1.312980?localLinksEnabled=false
Solidarity/Activism/Boycott, Sanctions & Divestment
Israel: Activist Convicted After Unfair Trial
(Jerusalem) – An Israeli military court’s conviction of Abdullah Abu Rahme, an advocate of nonviolent protests against Israel’s de facto confiscation of land from the West Bank village of Bil’in, raises grave due process concerns, Human Rights Watch said today.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/09/08/israel-activist-convicted-after-unfair-trial
“We Are Going To Carry This Cause On For Everyone Who Cannot.” Rachel Corrie’s Family vs. the Israeli Government, Max Blumenthal
In a small courtroom in Haifa’s District Court, a colonel in the Israeli engineering corps who wrote a manual for the bulldozer units that razed the Rafah Refugee Camp in 2003 offered his opinion on the killing of the American activist Rachel Corrie. "There are no civilians during wartime,” Yossi declared under oath. Yossi made his remarkable statement under withering cross examination by Hussein Abu Hussein, the lawyer for the family of Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah on March 17, 2003. In the back of the courtroom were Rachel’s parents, Craig and Cindy, and her sister, Sarah, back in Israel for the second round of hearings in their civil suit against the state of Israel. They were joined by supporters, friends and a handful of reporters, including me. No reporters from the Israeli media were present — the case has been virtually ignored inside Israel.
http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/09/we-are-going-to-carry-this-cause-on-for-everyone-who-cannot-rachel-corries-family-vs-the-israeli-government/
Solidarity Ships To Sail To Gaza
Deeb Hijazi, coordinator of the National Initiative Committee Against the Siege, based on Lebanon, stated that four flotillas will be sailing to Gaza on September 18.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59378
Jeff Halper to Pete Seeger: Ditch the JNF and honor the boycott
Dear Pete, All the best from your friends in Israel/Palestine. In that spirit, I was surprised to hear of your planned participation in With Earth and Each Other: A Virtual Rally for a Better Middle East. While at first blush it might seem to have something in common with the work of ICAHD and other Israeli and Palestinian peace groups — attempting to build bridges between peoples — it is actually something quite different.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/jeff-halper-to-pete-seeger-ditch-the-jnf-and-honor-the-boycott.html
Revive the Economy–End Aid to Israel: Join Us at the One Nation march on DC, Oct. 2
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is proud to endorse "The Peace Table," the peace and anti-war voice of the "One Nation Working Together" October 2 march on Washington, DC "for a future of justice at home and peace abroad, where we create good jobs for all of us and take on the great challenges we face as a nation." We’ll be there to support demands for jobs and economic justice by calling for the United States to end military aid to Israel and redirect that money to unmet needs here at home.
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/section.php?id=366
US Campaign endorses push for divestment at TIAA-CREF
The US Campaign has endorsed an exciting petition at Jewish Voice for Peace (a US Campaign member organization), pushingUS financial services giant TIAA-CREF toward divestment from companies involved in Israel’s theft of land and abuse of human rights. Check out JVP’s campaign page, sign the petition and get resources to join this promising effort!
http://endtheoccupationblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/us-campaign-endorses-push-for.html
Dear Friends: On October 9, 2010, Americans in more than 40 U.S. cities will walk for a Free Palestine!
Click Here to Organize a Free Palestine Walk in Your City. Last Chance. The Free Palestine Walks’ central goal is to raise funds for a powerful Ad Campaign to inform and inspire millions of Americans about Palestine. To Support this Excellent Project, Please Register to Walk in Your City or Town Today! Register to Walk in the Free Palestine Walks Today!
http://www.aaper.org/site/lookup.asp?c=quIXL8MPJpE&b=5399785
Divestment: from the campus to the streets
Following a sharp increase in divestment efforts across North American college campuses last spring, this academic year promises an even greater number of initiatives, as well as resistance from university administrations to embrace the social justice movement. Mohammad Talaat comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11512.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
PACBI: Artists support for Ariel boycott is ‘a groundbreaking, precedent-setting initiative that will significantly contribute to ending Israel’s impunity’, Adam Horowitz
Two days ago I posted a statement from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) regarding the Israeli actors’ boycott of a new theater in the Ariel settlement. Many people understandably misunderstood the post (I was unclear) and thought the PACBI statement was referring a letter of support for the boycott from US and British artists, which it wasn’t. Today PACBI has released a statement in appreciation of the solidarity effort.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/pacbi-artists-support-for-ariel-boycott-is-a-groundbreaking-precedent-setting-initiative-that-will-significantly-contribute-to-ending-israels-impunity.html
The reasons the BDS movement is ‘gaining speed’, Lawrence Davidson
On September 5, 2010 the Israel newspaper Haaretz published an article the headline of which read "Anti-Israel Economic Boycotts are Gaining Speed." The subtitle went on to state that "the sums involved are not large, but their international significance is huge." Actually, what seems to have triggered the piece was not international. Rather, it was the decision of a "few dozen theater people" to boycott "a new cultural center in Ariel," an illegally settled town in the Occupied Territories. This action drew public support from 150 academics in Israel. The response from the Israeli right, which presently controls the government and much of Israel’s information environment, was loud and hateful.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/the-reasons-the-bds-movement-is-gaining-speed.html
The Siege (Gaza & West Bank)/Humanitarian/Restriction of Movement
Gaza crossing closed until Monday
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — All the Gaza crossings will remain closed until Monday morning as Israel celebrates the Jewish new year and the start of the High Holidays. The closure means no aid or commercial goods will enter Gaza for four days, in the midst of preparations for the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, when Muslims around the world celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. In Jerusalem, religious leaders declared that Friday would be the start of the celebrations, setting Thursday as the final day of the dawn to dusk fast. Crossings officials said the terminals would partially open on Monday, and said sufficient fuel had been transferred into Gaza to cover the needs of the power plant until the end of the holidays.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=314216
Violence and other Provocations
The lucky ones had third degree burns: survivors of Israel’s latest Rafah tunnel bombing tell the story
Peace talks started on September 2nd. Following the resumption of negotiations, Israel refrained from attacking Gaza for just 2 days. Then it ordered the bombing of 2 Rafah tunnels, killed 2 workers, and left 2 severely injured. ISM activists filed this report. “Out of the blue, the tunnel was bombed, there was an enormous crash and I fell unconscious, I didn’t feel anything. When I woke up, I found myself at the tunnel entrance, screaming for help. There was fire all over the place, fire over me.”
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/09/14345/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29
MADA Doceuments Attacks On Palestinian Journalists During August
MADA – PNN – Despite the holy month of Ramadan, which usually the violations against journalists and media outlets in the occupied Palestinian territory "oPt" decreases dramatically, but, unfortunately the violations have continued during last August, by the Israeli occupying forces and even more by the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms reported in its monthly report. ImageWhere Alnajah press office director and Alnajah University lecturer Dr. Farid Abu Duhair, was arrested by Palestinian intelligence services members, Aljazeera Net correspondent Ahmad Fayyad was attacked by members of special police officers of the dismissed government in Gaza.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8753&Itemid=63
Hamas Apologizes For Attack Against PFLP Members In Gaza
The Hamas movement issued an apology to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) after members of the Hamas police, running under the Ministry of Interior in Gaza, attacked senior members of the front.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59380
Detainees
Israeli forces arrest 11 Palestinians in West Bank
RAMALLAH: Israeli forces operating in West Bank cities on early Wednesday arrested eleven Palestinians, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said. The Palestinian sources said that three Palestinians were arrested in Hebron, one at the Innab military checkpoint east of Tulkarm, and seven in Ramallah and Nablus areas. The sources added that the eleven were arrested after meticulous house search operations. Israeli security sources told the Army Radio that the detainees were wanted by the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet and were taken to unknown locations for questioning.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article113443.ece
Hamas lawmakers released from Israeli prison
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Two elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council were released into the West Bank on Wednesday gaving served several consecutive terms in Administrative Detention. Officials at the Al-Ahrar Prisoners Society said that Azzam Salhab, 45, was released after 56 months in Israeli prison without charge, and Nizar Abdel Hamid Ramadan, 50, was released for the second time, following his 19 March 2009 detention. He was also kept in administrative detention.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=314124
While In Solitary, Detainees In Eshil Declare Hunger Strike
Palestinian detainees placed in solitary confinement at the Eshil Israeli detention facility declared on Tuesday a hunger strike in protest to the bad meals provided to them and the bad living conditions.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59377
Israel’s Arab Helpers
Detainees in PA jails tortured, interrogated by Israeli officers
Israeli intelligence officers are participating in the interrogation of Palestinian detainees held in West Bank prisons, the committee of relatives of detainees said in a statement on Thursday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz= [Hamas website, may be banned for some]
Hamas: PA forces are Torturing The Movement Members In West Bank Jails
Bethlehem – PNN – Hamas sources announced on Thursday that many of the movement’s activists and leaders who were detained by the Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank are being subjected to torture. The Hamas movement says since the two separate attacks last week on Israeli settlers , the Palestinian police and security forces have arrested 750 Hamas members and leaders from West Bank communities. Last Tuesday and Wednesday Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, attacked Israeli settlers and killed four them and injured two. Since May Israeli Settlers and army attacked left 14 Palestinians killed.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8754&Itemid=61
Hamas asks members to resist arrest by PA security forces
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has called on all its members and affiliates to refrain from turning themselves in to the Palestinian Authority security services, the Ma’an News Agency reported Wednesday afternoon.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59374
Hamas: Fatah protecting enemy
Palestinian Authority ‘crossing all red lines, directly cooperating with Zionist enemy in clear light of day,’ says Hamas spokesman on arrests of six terrorists believed to have committed West Bank attacks, threatening revenge.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3951894,00.html
"Peace" Talks/Political Developments
PLO: Don’t let Israeli extremists derail peace
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — "The USA, the Quartet and the Arab world must exert their utmost efforts to ensure a complete cessation of settlement construction," a statement from the PLO’s Executive Committee said Thursday night. The statement asked that parties invested in the talks work to "forbid extremist forces in Israel from derailing peace talks," and reiterated the support of the body for the negotiations. Palestinian negotiators have repeated their stance on settlements, with President Mahmoud Abbas saying in a series of interviews with Gulf and locally-based newspapers, that if construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinain lands continue, he would quit talks.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=314205
Israel could drag out peace deal over decades
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to introduce any terms agreed in a Middle East peace deal over a period of decades rather than years, it has been claimed.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7989499/Israel-could-drag-out-peace-deal-over-decades.html
Erekat did not intend to ‘apologize to Israel’
JERICHO (Ma’an) — Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat issued a statement on Wednesday alleging his televised address to Israelis asking that they be his "peace partner" was altered. The negotiations official said of the video that "Unfortunately, my statements were changed and contextualized as if I were apologizing to the Israeli nation. This is the opposite to what I said, I did not say that at all. I was speaking as a negotiator and I mean that as Palestinian and Israeli negotiators we hand been unable to come up with a solution after many years."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=314169
PNA rejects settlers’ presence in future Palestinian state
RAMALLAH, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) — The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) rejected Israel’s proposal on Wednesday to keep the Jewish settlers living in the West Bank when an independent Palestinian state is established. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told "Voice of Palestine" Radio that keeping some Jewish settlements would be blocked under the Palestinian jurisdiction. The American World net daily had earlier reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sent a proposal in secret to U.S. President Barack Obama to keep some Jewish settlers living in the future Palestinian state.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-09/09/c_13485571.htm
Report: After Egypt, talks to continue in Jericho
TEL AVIV (Ma’an) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas will meet in the West Bank city of Jericho ahead of 26 September, Israeli press reported Tuesday. Direct negotiations between the leaders resumed in Washington on 2 September, and will continue in Egypt’s resort town of Sharm Ash-Sheikh on the 14-15 of the month. The meeting in Jericho would be held after the Sinai sit-down, but before Israel’s settlement freeze expires on 26 September, the country’s Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth said Tuesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=314157
Clinton: Summit best
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks before Council on Foreign Relations, says Washington optimistic as to peace talks chances, if parties overcome ‘initial obstacles’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3951705,00.html
Obama to Rabbis: Ignore negative public statements by Abbas and Netanyahu
President Obama, in a private conference call Wednesday, told an audience of Jewish leaders to discount non-constructive statements made by Israeli and Palestinian leaders as Middle East peace talks move forward, saying that such remarks are all part of the negotiating game. The groups represented on the call were from across the Jewish religious spectrum: They included the orthodox Rabbinical Council of America, the conservative Rabbinical Assembly, the reformed Central Conference of American Rabbis, and the reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/09/08/obama_to_rabbis_ignore_negative_public_statements_by_abbas_and_netanyahu
Other News
Sources: Algeria refuses to receive Abbas
Algeria refused to receive Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas on its soil during his tour in the north African Arab countries, including Libya, Tunisia, and Morocco, well-informed Algerian sources revealed.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz= [Hamas website, may be banned for some]
U.S. court sets $1m bail for Israeli charged in human trafficking case
Mordechai Orian, head of Los Angeles-based Global Horizons Manpower Inc., accused of involvement in importing and exploiting 400 workers from Thailand.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/u-s-court-sets-1m-bail-for-israeli-charged-in-human-trafficking-case-1.313035?localLinksEnabled=false
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
An Interview with Gideon Levy; The Punishment of Gaza, JAMIE STERN-WEINER
For decades Gideon Levy has used the platform provided by the liberal Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz to shine a light on the brutal realities of Israel’s occupation. His journalism, along with that of his colleague Amira Hass, has been an invaluable resource not only for Israeli readers but, through the Ha’aretz website, for international audiences seeking an informed and humane Israeli perspective on the conflict. It would be difficult to overstate how isolated Levy is within his own society, an isolation that increased over the past decade as Israeli public opinion stampeded to the right. He has described elsewhere how Ha’aretz keeps a thick folder of subscription cancellations from readers outraged by his articles. Despite this hostility, his critique of Israeli policies has become more, not less, radical over time.
http://www.counterpunch.org/stern09082010.html
"It’s like a situation where two people are sitting negotiating over a piece of cheese…"
MARK COLVIN: Direct formal Middle East peace talks begin in Washington tomorrow, after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had separate meetings with Barack Obama at the White House today. President Obama is pushing hard for a return to a real peace process, and the leaders of Jordan and Egypt are also there to push things forward. But Hamas killed four Israelis in the West Bank as the conference was being prepared, and the history of these processes is not particularly optimistic. Mustafa Barghouti is an independent member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He finished second to Mahmoud Abbas in the 2005 Palestinian presidential election. He told me he was still deeply sceptical because of the Israeli refusal to freeze settlements while the negotiations go on.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1530
Anna Baltzer: Palestinians "come second" at Peace Talks
A visit to the occupied territories of Palestine can change one’s perspectives forever. Such was the case of Anna Baltzer. Baltzer is a Jewish-American granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. In 2005, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to teach English in Ankara, Turkey and volunteered with the International Women’s Peace Service in the West Bank. There she was exposed to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. She documented human rights abuses for the IWPS, returned to Palestine and Israel over the years, and published her experiences in a book called "A Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christian-avard/anna-baltzer-palestinians_b_709100.html
Maybe it should have been called ‘why Israel doesn’t care about traffic accidents’, Adam Horowitz
The ADL is not happy with Time. The organization sent the magazine a letter today in response to it’s current cover article, "Why Israel Doesn’t Care About Peace." The gist of the article is that Israel is doing so well economically that its more affluent citizens don’t really care about making peace with the Palestinians. The ADL finds this thesis (wait for it . . .) anti-Semitic.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/maybe-it-should-have-been-called-why-israel-doesnt-care-about-traffic-accidents.html
Yale anti-Semitism conference continues to make waves, Adam Horowitz
We’ve been following the ongoing debate over the disgraceful anti-Semitism conference held at Yale University that seemed more interested in ending criticism of Israel than challenging anti-Jewish sentiment. Earlier we posted the exchange between US PLO representative Maen Rashid Areikat and Yale President Richard Levin’s office. Areikat has a letter today in the Yale Daily News addressing the controversy.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/yale-anti-semitism-conference-continues-to-make-waves.html
Rizwan A. Rahmani: The Art of Talking Middle East Peace with a Forked Tongue
If you believe the media, great strides are being made in the direction of Middle East peace, and the prospects are hopeful. Personally, I am not as hopeful.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rizwan-a-rahmani/the-art-of-talking-middle_b_708473.html
Hamas Re-positioning Themselves?, Stuart Littlewood – London
‘Negotiation today does not serve the Palestinian side… Just as there is currently no parity in the field of confrontation, there is also no parity around the negotiating table,’ says Mesh’al. Hamas have been criticised recently for dragging their feet over the need to re-think their image. They now seem to have at least made a start on this important task judging by a remarkable interview with Hamas chief Khaled Mesh’al by Middle East Monitor.Headed ‘Khaled Mesh’al lays out new Hamas policy direction’, the interview runs to 14,000 words and is not an easy read unless you find yourself on a long train journey without an attractive companion.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16255
Can Obama Outwit Netanyahu?, By George S. Hishmeh – Washington, D.C.
In the wake of last week’s peace talks in Washington heralding the imminent start of face-to-face peace negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, will Benjamin Netanyahu now follow the footsteps of Anwar Sadat, Mikhail Gorbachev or Richard Nixon who reached out to their adversaries. Will he travel to Ramallah and pledge peace with the Palestinians, like Anwar Sadat when the Egyptian leader addressed the Knesset in 1977, Mikhail Gorbachev in succumbing to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 or Richard Nixon in traveling to China in 1972 and agreeing to establish relations with the Communist regime of Mao Zedong. Each of these headline-grabbing events ushered a new historic page in international relations.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16254
Lebanon
Lebanese speaker warns relaunched talks could raise tensions (AFP)
AFP – Lebanon’s parliament speaker warned on Wednesday that the relaunched Middle East peace talks could raise tensions on the border with Israel and ignite clashes in Palestinian refugee camps.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100908/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestinianspeacelebanonrefugees
Rifi Hails Police Intelligence for Discovery of Israeli Spy Networks
08/09/2010 Police chief General Ashraf Rifi on Wednesday hailed the intelligence department for its achievements, particularly in the fight against terrorist crimes and the discovery of Israeli spy networks. Describing police officers in this department as active and motivated, Rifi said they are carrying out their duties assigned to them in al "professional manner, particularly in the fight against terrorist crimes and the discovery of Israeli spy networks." Rifi said the intelligence bureau has dismantled 23 spy networks since the beginning of 2009, "thus creating an atmosphere of satisfaction and appreciation to both the Arab and local public opinion."
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=153433&language=en
Berri praises Hariri’s honesty regarding Syria
BEIRUT: Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri described Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s remarks to pan-Arab daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat as "a window to truth and an important window especially regarding false witnesses."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=119138
LPDC, army okay ‘media plan’ at Nahr al-Bared
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army’s communications and public outreach department will closely cooperate with the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC) in a bid to improve accessibility of information, it was announced on Tuesday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=119134
Israel conducts maneuvers in tunnel combat
BEIRUT: The Israeli Army kicked off drills on the northern Israeli borders with Lebanon, during which soldiers will train on fighting in tunnels similar to those used by Hizbullah fighters in south Lebanon.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=119140
Lebanon: Blair’s other Middle East mistake
A Journey presents Blair’s actions during the 2006 Lebanon war as those of a committed ideologue, not simply Bush’s poodle.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/09/lebanon-blair-middle-east-mistake
Iraq
Thursday: 9 Iraqis Killed, 53 Wounded
As the Eid al-Fitr holiday draws near, small attacks are on the upswing. At least nine Iraqis were killed and 53 more were wounded in the latest violence.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/09/08/thursday-9-iraqis-killed-53-wounded/
Bombs targeting Iraqi police kill three in Baghdad (Reuters)
Reuters – A car bomb and a roadside bomb exploded near a bus terminal in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding a score of others, police and interior ministry sources said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100908/wl_nm/us_iraq_violence
4 Iraqi Prisoners Escape US Prison In Baghdad
Four alleged Al Qaida members escape US custody in Iraq. They escaped from the same prison that used to hold Saddam Hussein.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/09/09/129746296/4-iraqi-prisoners-escape-us-prison-in-baghdad?ft=1&f=1010
Al-Qaeda in Iraq turns to extortion (AFP)
AFP – Al-Qaeda has increasingly turned to extortion and organised crime to fund its activities, with businesses bearing the brunt of intimidation, US and Iraqi commanders in northern Iraq told AFP.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100907/wl_mideast_afp/iraquscrimeqaeda
Koran burning could be ‘pretext’ for violence: Iraq PM (AFP)
AFP – Plans by a Florida church to burn Korans on the anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks could be used by extremists as a "pretext" for acts of violence, Iraq’s prime minister said on Thursday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100909/wl_mideast_afp/usattacksreligionislamiraq
Baghdad to Damascus, a road with no way back
As a member of an insurgent group that worked the west side of the Iraqi capital, she had fought a guerrilla war against American troops for two years, often disguised as a poor street vendor as she helped to set bombs to blow up their patrols.
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100902/FOREIGN/709019903/1042/rss
US Leaving Iraq in Worse Shape Than Saddam, Michael O’Brien
I spent 14 months as the Real Estate Advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense in Baghdad. My job was to assist the ministry in its efforts to rebuild the infrastructure for its army, air force, and navy: the land and facilities they would need in the future. The need for my services, and those of the other Coalition staff there, was primarily to reverse what Paul Bremer did when he dissolved the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior. This work was being done exclusively by the US military, which was part of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, or MNSTC-I (pronounced "min-sticky").
http://original.antiwar.com/obrien/2010/09/08/us-leaving-iraq-in-worse-shape-than-saddam/
Iran
Report: Ahmadinejad to visit Lebanon’s border with Israel
Iran announces official presidential visit to Lebanon next month, Ahmadinejad’s first since taking office in 2005.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-ahmadinejad-to-visit-lebanon-s-border-with-israel-1.313064?localLinksEnabled=false
Why Iran suspended woman’s stoning sentence
Iran suspended the stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery amid mounting international pressure, including the European Parliament’s 658-1 resolution against such punishment.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/PrlJyZ_b_gk/Why-Iran-suspended-woman-s-stoning-sentence
In case you missed it: Does Iran’s President Want Israel Wiped Off The Map – Does He Deny The Holocaust?
An analysis of media rhetoric on its way to war against Iran – Commenting on the alleged statements of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12790.htm
U.S. and Other World News
US soldiers ‘killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies’
Soldiers face charges over secret ‘kill team’ which allegedly murdered at random and collected fingers as trophies of war.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/09/us-soldiers-afghan-civilians-fingers
U.S. Interpreters In Afghanistan Can’t Speak Afghan Languages, Whistleblower Reports
More than one quarter of the translators working alongside American soldiers in Afghanistan failed language proficiency exams but were sent onto the battlefield anyway, according to a former employee of the company that holds contracts worth up to $1.4 billion to supply interpreters to the U.S. Army.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/08/afghanistan-interpreters-failed-language-tests_n_709948.html
Jailed for Facebook Friending: Animal Rights Activist Rod Coronado Ordered Back to Prison After Accepting Friend Request from Fellow Activist
The longtime radical animal liberation activist Rod Coronado has been sent back to prison for four months after a US district judge in Michigan ruled he had violated the terms of his parole. Coronado’s offense was associating with fellow radical activist Mike Roselle by accepting a friend request from Roselle on the social networking website Facebook. We speak with Dean Kuipers, author of Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado’s War to Save American Wilderness. [includes rush transcript]
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/8/jailed_for_facebook_friending_animal_rights
Torture claims
Bahrain officials accused in crackdown on Shia activists.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-11227914
Robert Fisk: The lie behind mass ‘suicides’ of Egypt’s young women
There’s a sewer outside Azza Suleiman’s office, a hot ditch in which the filth of one of Cairo’s worst slums has been reduced to a slowly moving swamp of black liquid. A blue mist of exhaust fumes and dust moves down alleyways thick with scarved women, men in white robes, coffee sellers, donkey carts and garbage boys, the five- and six-year-olds who come down from the Mokkatam hills to gather up Cairo’s garbage every morning. Some of it feeds their goats and – yes – the pigs bred in the rotting suburbs. A veil of smog lies over this misery. But a veil of a different kind lies over Egypt, a covering which Azza Suleiman is determined to tear away.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-lie-behind-mass-suicides-of-egypts-young-women-2074229.html
Inside Story – Egypt: Political change?
Mohammed el-Baradei, a former Egyptian diplomat, is demanding political reform and a boycott of the upcoming elections. But he transform Egypt into a genuine democracy? How far will he be able to go? And is Egypt about to enter a new phase in its democratic transformation?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peQUMErnQG4&feature=youtube_gdata
Inside the mind of a suicide bomber
Pacha Khan, a 25-year-old Taliban fighter from Logar in Afghanistan, has announced that he is ready to become a suicide bomber. "God willing, our leaders have prepared everything for me, I am now waiting for my orders," he said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/09/20109811014343417.html
Fault Lines – Politics of death row
With the US continuing to execute prisoners, Fault Lines looks at the politics driving capital punishment in the US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvTpZiB1sfc&feature=youtube_gdata
The United States of Inequality, Timothy Noah
All my life I’ve heard Latin America described as a failed society (or collection of failed societies) because of its grotesque maldistribution of wealth. – But according to the Central Intelligence Agency (whose patriotism I hesitate to question), income distribution in the United States is more unequal than in Guyana, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and roughly on par with Uruguay, Argentina, and Ecuador.
http://www.slate.com/id/2266025/entry/2266026/
Sept. 11: A Day Without War, Amy Goodman
The ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States should serve as a moment to reflect on tolerance. It should be a day of peace. Yet the rising anti-Muslim fervor here, together with the continuing U.S. military occupation of Iraq and the escalating war in Afghanistan (and Pakistan), all fuel the belief that the U.S. really is at war with Islam.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26326.htm
Arab regimes’ autocratic nature masks their vulnerability | Brian Whitaker
Lack of public debate makes Arab societies less compliant to new laws – and explains the heavy-handed state enforcement. There is a popular assumption – especially in the west – that because Arab regimes tend to be autocratic and authoritarian, the state in Arab countries is also strong. Yesterday on Cif, Ahmed Moor wrote about the problem of disbanding Palestinian militias in Lebanon. Why, you might wonder, doesn’t the Lebanese government just pull its finger out and disarm them? The short answer is that it can’t because it’s too weak. Similarly, as I pointed out myself in an article a couple of weeks ago, most Arab governments are incapable of collecting taxes effectively.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/09/arab-regimes-autocratic-nature-disguises-vulnerability
Islam in the West
New Muslim College Welcomes Freshmen In California
BERKELEY, Calif. — Amid the uproar over the proposed mosque near ground zero in New York, a new Islamic college recently opened its doors in California with plans to educate a new generation of Muslim-American leaders. Founded by three prominent Islamic scholars, Zaytuna College in Berkeley is a small school with just five faculty members and 15 students in its inaugural freshman class. The school wants to become the country’s first fully accredited Muslim academic institution.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/09/zaytuna-college-muslim-we_n_710210.html
Merkel to honour Mohammed cartoonist at press award [If this cartoonist offended Judaism he would not be honored by anyone]
BERLIN, Sept 8 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel was due to speak at an awards ceremony on Wednesday honouring a Danish cartoonist whose caricature of the Prophet Mohammed sparked sometimes violent protests by Muslims five years ago. The 75-year-old cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, whose drawings of Mohammed that offended Muslims worldwide first appeared in Danish paper Jyllands-Posten in late 2005, will receive a prize on Wednesday evening at a conference on freedom of the press.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6871SP.htm
Obama: Planned Koran burning boosting al-Qaeda
US president slams Florida pastor’s plan to burn copies of Koran on September 11 anniversary, says move risks US troops, contradicts American commitment to religious tolerance; Iran: Zionists behind move.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3951998,00.html
India Leads Calls For Action to Stop Koran Burning
KABUL (Reuters) – India led calls on Thursday for the United States to intervene to halt a small church’s plan to burn copies of the Koran in commemoration of the September 11 attacks and urged a media blackout to calm tensions.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/09/09/world/international-uk-usa-muslims.html
Mideast churches denounce Quran burning
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — A Florida church which says it intends to burn 200 copies of the Quran is not acting "within the teachings of Christianity," the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church in Jerusalem said Thursday. The Council of Churches in the Middle East condemned the plans, calling them in a statement a "detestable crime against the teachings of Jesus Christ, and all of the values of the Church."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=314248
Quran burning ‘to go ahead’
US pastor is determined to go through with his plan to burn copies of Muslim holy book on September 11, despite outcry.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/americas/2010/09/201098185822713338.html
Koran-burning pastor: Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism ‘of the devil’
Pastor opposed mosque construction in Germany before being forced out Conservative CNN pundit slams Petraeus for opposing Koran-burning Terry Jones, the president of the Florida church that’s planning to burn Korans on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, doesn’t just have Islam in his sights.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/koran-burning-pastor-judaism-of-devil/
Controversy over Quran burning plan
A Florida pastor says he is still determined to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, despite an international outcry. The Vatican has described Pastor Terry Jones’ plans as "outrageous and grave", while Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, says the act would not be representative of America or Americans. But the leader of the small Protestant church says he is not ready to back down. Al Jazeera’s Monica Villamizar reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrj4Drlnr2E&feature=youtube_gdata
Why the planned Koran burning causes outrage and alarm
To devout Muslims, the Sept. 11 Koran burning proposed by the Florida preacher Terry Jones is akin to burning the word of God. Muslim leaders and US military and civilian officials have asked Jones to reconsider his plan.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/FF6fmoAE5ns/Why-the-planned-Koran-burning-causes-outrage-and-alarm
Why Muslims dare not burn the Bible in return, Ashraf Ezzat
Islam decrees that Muslims should respect and honor the Bible and Torah as well. There is always an angle worthy of discussion in this megalomania of “Burn al Quran Day”. May be that is why so many comments have been voiced and they are all against this disgraceful and stupid plan by a discredited pastor who can’t get the support of his mother church in Germany nor the sympathy of his own daughter. I hate to contribute to the man’s psychic lust for publicity- for that’s what he is after- and join the flocks of writers who have penned many articles on the subject.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/09/09/why-muslims-dare-not-burn-the-bible-in-return/
