and other news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
State transferred East Jerusalem lands to rightist groups without tenders
Investigation reveals Israel Lands Administration gave properties in Silwan and in Old City to Elad and Ateret Cohanim for low prices.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/state-transferred-east-jerusalem-lands-to-rightist-groups-without-tenders-1.322988?localLinksEnabled=false
Abbas: Israel building ferociously in Jerusalem
Palestinian president tells CNN, ‘To ask us to continue peace talks while settlement activities continue is unacceptable because eventually we will have nothing to negotiate for.’ Adds: Iran pressuring Hamas not to be part of any agreement.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980054,00.html
‘Netanyahu’s refusal to extend settlement freeze is hurting Israel’
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni says PM rejected a proposed Likud-Kadima government that would ‘do the right thing, in both domestic and foreign matters.’
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-s-refusal-to-extend-settlement-freeze-is-hurting-israel-1.323159?localLinksEnabled=false
Barghouthi tracking settlement expansion
NABLUS (Ma’an) — In the wake of the end of a partial Israeli settlement construction freeze, officials say the number of buildings going up on Palestinian lands has reached new highs. Palestinian National Initiative chief Mustafa Al-Barghouti said Thursday that new areas of land had been confiscated by Israel in the northern Salfit district, adjacent to the Barkan settlement. He said 62 new units were planned.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330749
(UNRWA) Summer camp supports Bedouin communities facing demolition threat
“It’s not easy living here. You never know what will happen tomorrow,” says N. Abu Dahuk, a community play worker at the Jahalin School in the Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar, in the West Bank. The school is under imminent threat of demolition.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-8AVSZN?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Israeli Settlers Threaten Sheikh Jarrah, Steve Lendman
Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, including Fourth Geneva’s Article 49 stating: “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of the motive.” In addition, various UN resolutions (including 446, 452 and 465) condemned Israel’s settlement building, declaring they have “no legal validity” to exist. However, they do and regularly expand, endangering all Palestinian communities, Sheikh Jarrah one of many and their longstanding residents.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/11/israeli-settlers-threaten-sheikh-jarrah.html
PLO: Settler violence on rise
JERICHO (Ma’an) — A PLO report on settler violence said Friday that a sharp increase in assaults on Palestinians and vandalism of property ws recorded for October. According to the report, Palestinians in the West Bank reported a total of 277 cases of settler violence from August through October 2010, with a sharp increase in incidents in the last weeks of October.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330969
Hilltop Youth presents: Cursing lexicon
Settler youth leaders publish ‘pocket dictionary’ with sophisticated, up-to-date swear words to be used against cops on different occasions. ‘Trash’, ‘scumbag’ – out; ‘wine vinegar’, ‘Indian’ – in. Officers who don’t keep their promise should be called ‘Bibi’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980144,00.html
Israelis mull leaving settlers in Palestine (AP)
AP – It has become an article of faith in the Israeli-Palestinian equation: Israel’s withdrawal from occupied lands must be accompanied by a removal of Jewish settlers.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_jews_of_palestine
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
An-Nabi Salih: Army enters home of protest leaders
AN-NABI SALAH, Ramallah (Ma’an) — The homes of two brothers were raided by Israeli soldiers overnight, with officers warning the men against participation in the village’s weekly protest against land confiscation. An-Nabi Salih, a village north of Ramallah bordered by an Israeli guard post in the north and the settlement of Hallamish to the south, is one of four population centers that participates in a regular demonstration against land confiscations, held every Friday afternoon following the prayer.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330989
Three Injured By Israeli Gunfire at al-Nabi Saleh Anti-wall Protest
Ramallah – PNN – Three civilians were injured and many others treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation on Friday after Israeli troops violently suppressed the weekly anti-wall protest at the village of al-Nabi Saleh in the central West Bank. Israeli and international supporters joined the villagers and marched towards the lands taken to build the wall. This week, the march was to mark the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9094
Israeli Troops Use Tear Gas To Suppress Anti-wall Protest Near Bethlehem
Bethlehem – PNN – A number of civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation during the weekly anti-wall protest on Friday in the village of Al Ma’sara, near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. Villagers along with international and Israeli supporters marched from the village mosque towards the village lands, where Israel has planned to built the wall. Soldiers stopped protesters at the village entrance near Settlers Road 60. Later, they fired tear gas at the unarmed protesters to force them back into the village. A number of civilians were treated at the local clinic for tear gas inhalation.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9093&Itemid=59
Israeli Troops Fire Tear Gas At Bil’in Protestors
Ramallah – PNN – A number of civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation when Israeli troops attacked the weekly anti wall protest at the central West Bank village of Bil’in on Friday. International and Israeli supporters joined the villages shortly after the midday prayers at the local mosque and marched to farmers’ lands behind the Israeli wall built on land owned by Bil’in villagers. As people reached the gate of the wall, holding flags and banners demanding the wall’s removal, stationed troops fired tear gas and sound bombs at them. Many were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation. The weekly action ended with clashes between local youth and the Israeli soldiers. Bil’in has been organizing weekly anti-wall protests for the past six years. Earlier this year the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled in favor of the villagers and ordered the army to remove the wall built on their lands. Due to the court order, Bil’in farmers got back 750 dunums of the originally taken 1500 dunums. The Israeli military still refuses to adhere to the court ruling.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9091&Itemid=56
Five Injured by Army Fire During Weekly Ni’lin Anti-wall Protest
Ramallah – PNN – Five civilians were treated for tear gas inhalation on Friday after the weekly anti-wall protest organized in the village of Ni’lin in the central West Bank. Israeli and international supporters joined villagers after they held midday prayers. They marched to the gate of the wall separating villagers from their lands, where stationed Israeli troops fired rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs at them. Soldiers then chased the protesters back to the villages firing tear gas at them. The inhalation victims were treated at the local clinic.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9092&Itemid=59
Justice Dept. Renews Enforcement of Subpoenas for Anti-War Activists Targeted in FBI Raids
We get an update on the fallout from the FBI raids in late September that targeted antiwar activists in Minneapolis and Chicago. Subpoenas to appear before a grand jury were served on 13 people, but later withdrawn when the activists asserted their right to remain silent. But this week the Department of Justice said it intends to enforce the subpoenas for some of them and require them to appear before a grand jury.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/5/justice_dept_renews_enforcement_of_subpoenas
Boycott victory: Africa Israel suspends settlement construction
Africa Israel, the flagship company of Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, announced this week that it is no longer involved in Israeli settlement projects and that it has no plans for future settlement activities.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11609.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Interview: Budrus “built a model of civil resistance”
This Sunday, 7 November, will mark exactly seven years since Ayed Morrar first saw Israeli bulldozers arrive to destroy the land of his village, Budrus, in the occupied West Bank. Ayed al-Morrar, founder of the first popular committee to resist Israel’s wall, discusses with The Electronic Intifada contributor Jody McIntyre.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11608.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Cinema Politica: Artists Against Apartheid
Ezra Winton founder Cinema Politica @ Quebec BDS conference Montreal Oct 2010 Photo Ariel view on Israeli apartheid wall cutting though Palestinian lands. As someone working in the media arts sector, I signed the 500 artist BDS letter along with Cinema Politica’s Executive Director Svetla Turnin. We signed because it was a tangible action that connected art […]
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/8256
Action Alert: Tell your MP that war criminals should be prosecuted not welcomed!
Yesterday, the Foreign Secretary William Hague reiterated the government’s commitment to urgently resolve the “unacceptable situation” with regard to universal jurisdiction during his visit to Israel. The coalition government want to change the current legislation to give the Director of Public Prosecutions power over issuing arrest warrants against alleged international criminals who visit the UK
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/11/15402/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29
Canada’s largest drugstore chain censors criticism of Israel, Ibn Tufayl
Muslims are called primitive and pre-Enlightenment for not understanding the need for free and open debate – except, when it comes to the Holy Idol state. This censorship is insidious and takes place daily in local settings across North America.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/canadas-largest-drugstore-chain-censors-criticism-of-israel.html
My Hummus Tastes Like Apartheid, Abbas Naqvi
The recent attacks by Israel on the humanitarian Flotilla is yet another signal for us, as citizens of the United States, to hold the Israeli regime accountable for its reckless and illegal behavior. Israel has consistently prevented aid from entering the Gaza Strip, including medical supplies, cement and food. Consequently, the three-year old blockade has turned Gaza into the world’s largest open-air prison, with an entire population starved and deprived of basic necessities. The simple but tragic truth is that Israel acts with such audacity because the international community fails to hold it responsible for the ongoing occupation and apartheid system against the Palestinian people. However, this is slowly changing as people around the globe have begun to question Israel’s policies, with an increasing number and visibility.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16385
Israeli Abuse of Palestinian Children
Palestinian Teenage Boy Put Under House Arrest
A 13-year-old Palestinian boy has been placed under five-month house arrest on suspicion of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59835
Racism and Discrimination
Safed ads: Raed Salah plots to take over our city
Dozens of street ads in northern city inciting against mayor following his decision to build medical school. Ads claim: Evil plot destined to establish Arab refugee camp.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3979968,00.html
Hebrew U.: Harassment by El Al security could harm Israeli science
Neuroscientist Heather Bradshaw says she was interrogated, searched with no explanation by El Al security en route to Hebrew Univerity conference.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/hebrew-u-harassment-by-el-al-security-could-harm-israeli-science-1.322943?localLinksEnabled=false
Israel has turned ‘Jew’ into a hollow, separatist title / Avirama Golan
The small communities are the visible tip of an iceberg of systematic, ongoing ostracism that affects a great many Israelis — What is so terrible, G. asked me, about people in small communities wanting to choose their neighbors? … what’s so terrible about the fact that we don’t want Arabs? They are genuinely unsuited to a community with a Jewish-Zionist character. G. is a young computer programmer from central Israel. His wife is pregnant. The dream of a hilltop community in the Galilee beckons him, and he thinks he and his wife, both hard-working college graduates, will join one. Let’s start with the fact, I replied, that you haven’t a chance of being accepted. G. was shocked. You’re Mizrahi, a Jew of Middle Eastern origin, I explained, and your wife is the daughter of recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-has-turned-jew-into-a-hollow-separatist-title-1.322587
Restriction of Movement/Siege/Other Rights Violations/Humanitarian Issues
Gaza borders closed
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Crossing terminals between Israel and the Gaza Strip were closed on Friday, a day ahead of the scheduled weekend shut-down on Saturday, officials said. Set to open again on Sunday, Palestinian liaison officer Raed Fattouh said, the cessation of Friday operations comes in line with decisions announced each Friday since the summer 2009.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330974
Eroding Conditions for Israeli Arabs: Part II, Steve Lendman
An earlier article reviewed the April Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel report titled, “One Year for Israel’s New Government and the Arab Minority in Israel,” accessed through the following link: http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/07/deteriorating-conditions-for-israeli.html. This article discusses a new Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) report titled, “Project Democracy – Fighting for the Ground Rules” for Israeli Arabs.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/11/eroding-conditions-for-israeli-arabs.html
Report: West Bank checkpoints convert to Hebrew
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — Israel’s Military Police and Crossings Administration will begin a new campaign to upgrade and replace checkpoint signs to their Hebrew monikers, the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv reported Friday. The report also noted that some of the checkpoints, which never had Hebrew names and instead borrowed the names of the Palestinian towns and villages they abutted, would be changed in favor of more traditional Hebrew.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331038
German FM to visit Gaza Strip
BERLIN, Germany (DPA) – German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will visit the Gaza Strip on Monday, a government spokesman announced on Friday, in what would be the first such visit by a German government member since 2006. Westerwelle will assess “concrete possibilities for improving the situation” in Gaza, a foreign ministry spokesman said. Earlier in the year, Israeli authorities denied German Development Minister Dirk Niebel entry to the Palestinian-controlled territory, ruled by Hamas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331045
‘Gaza almost defies words’
As a journalist living in the West Bank, Jon Elmer doesn’t see peace on the Middle East’s horizon. Elmer, a Torontonian who has spent the last eight years working as a freelance journal-ist in Bethlehem, spoke yester-day at Laurentian University about his experiences living and reporting in the region. The talk, organized by the university’s Palestinian Soli-darity Working Group, was part of a lecture series focused on the day-to-day difficulties of Palestinians in the Middle East and Canada’s role in the area.
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2833090
Gaza surfer girls find freedom on the waves
SHEIKH IJLEEN, Gaza Strip, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Away from Gaza’s troubled reality and beyond its polluted shore, Shorouq and Sabah Abu Ghanem surf in a world of their own. The two girls, 13 and 12, learnt how to swim at the age of three at the hand of their lifeguard father. They can swim up to 10 km (6 miles), dive to seven meters (25 feet) and surf on plastic boards that they hope one day to trade in for competition-grade models. “In the sea I find my freedom. I feel free of everything I leave behind on land,” said 13-year-old Shorouq.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6A40MU.htm
Gaza’s ‘Tuk Tuks’ override donkey taxis
Donkey carts have been a traditional form of transportation in the Gaza Strip for years – due in part to an Israeli embargo that makes petrol hard to find. But a new innovative motorbike cart dubbed the “Tuk Tuk” is emerging as a more popular way to get around due to its greater speed and comfort. Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba reports on how a familiar sight from roads in the Far East is threatening to override the donkey taxi industry in Gaza.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy7OkXpBG_g&feature=youtube_gdata
War Criminals and their Enablers
Arrest fears prompt Israel to relocate strategic forum with U.K.
U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague says Britain will soon change a law that has threatened Israeli officials with arrest for war crimes if they visit Britain.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/arrest-fears-prompt-israel-to-relocate-strategic-forum-with-u-k-1.322946?localLinksEnabled=false
UK: Israeli officials shouldn’t fear arrest (AP)
AP – Israeli officials should not fear arrest warrants initiated by pro-Palestinian activists when they travel to Britain on official business, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101104/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_britain
Violence/Aggression and Detainees
Military Operations in Jerusalem Near Al-Aqsa, Silwan
Jerusalem – PNN – Wafa reported that Israeli authorities commenced “major military procedures” in Jerusalem neighborhoods near the walls of the Old City, and in particular al-Aqsa Mosque. According to a Wafa reporter, a large force of Israeli soldiers surrounded Silwan, ostensibly to prevent the outbreak of violence after Friday prayers. Clashes on Thursday night lasted until nearly midnight. The reporter added that Israel justified the incursion with information about a developing “security situation” involving an al-Aqsa congregation demonstrating in the Old City near the Western Wall.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9090&Itemid=64
Jerusalemite beaten, hospitalized
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The family of a Jerusalem resident said undercover Israeli officers beat Haitham Samih Darwish while he was working near the Austrian Hospice in the Old City on Thursday night. When Haitham’s brother Abed As-Salam intervened, he was detained, they added, along with at least four others on the same job site.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330997
Israeli army denies hinting at US clearance over Gaza assassination
TEL AVIV, Israel (DPA) — The Israeli military denied Thursday that it had hinted it had received clearance from the United States, before it used a bomb to assassinate a suspected Palestinian militant in Gaza City the previous day. Lieutenant-Colonel Avital Leibovich, who briefed reporters on the assassination Wednesday night, said her remarks were not meant as a hint that Israel had given Washington advance notice of the hit.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330887
Lawyer calls for end to cell raids in Negev prison
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – Ramallah’s Mandela Institute called on the administration at Israel’s Nafha prison in the southern Negev to stop what prisoners have called a campaign of cell raids. Lawyer with the institute Buthaina Duqmaq said that during her Thursday visit to the facility, she witnessed a cell raid and was forced to evacuate the room of several detainees ten minutes after she arrived to conduct interviews. Following the procedure, Duqmaq said detainees related that the raids had been ongoing on an almost daily basis, up to three times a day, with prison guards reportedly looking for mobile phones.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?hl=en&shva=1#drafts/12c1c69fff3fe13b
Israel’s Arab Helpers
Egypt finds 13 Gaza tunnels used by smugglers (AFP)
AFP – Thirteen tunnels used to smuggle goods under the border between Egypt and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have been found in the past two days, an Egyptian security official told AFP on Thursday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101104/wl_mideast_afp/egyptgazasmugglingtunnels
Palestinians complain of widespread torture in PA Lockups
“It is a slaughter house,” “even the Gestapo didn’t do this;” I spent many years in Israeli jails, and never experienced some thing like that.” These are some of the comments and observations made by people who have just been released from Palestinian Authority (PA) lockups and detention centers. The PA said it formally and completely stopped physical torture in its numerous detention centers as of October 2000, especially following protests by the donor countries which complained that their tax-payers’ money was being used to torture suspected political opponents in the West Bank.
http://ramallahonline.com/2010/11/palestinians-complain-of-widespread-torture-in-pa-lockups/
Clinton: Abbas ‘made clear’ he would accept peace terms
Former US president offers new insights at NY ceremony marking Rabin anniversary, recalls trust inspired by slain prime minister.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=194091&R=R3
Political “Developments”
Hamas: Peace talks with Israel are dividing the Palestinian people
Senior Hamas politburo member says that reconcilliation with Fatah is not imminent; calls peace talks with Israel ‘futile’.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-peace-talks-with-israel-are-dividing-the-palestinian-people-1.322966?localLinksEnabled=false
Fatah official: Resistance will continue under unity pact
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Members of armed Palestinian groups will be protected under security arrangements that are a part of a planned unity agreement, a senior Fatah official in Gaza said Thursday. “We are protecting resistance which is committed to the political decision,” Faisal Abu Shahla said in an interview. He was referring to security arrangements planned under an Egyptian-backed plan to reunite Fatah and Hamas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330933
In Gaza, rise of Hamas military wing complicates reconciliation with Fatah
The rising clout of Al Qassam in Gaza dims prospects for mending the Hamas-Fatah rift. Reconciliation talks are slated to start Nov. 9.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/KvAEZm-sihc/In-Gaza-rise-of-Hamas-military-wing-complicates-reconciliation-with-Fatah
Unity hinges on security forces deal
Officials commenting on the latest unity rumors say the issue of a re-hauled security service amalgamating the West Bank and Gaza units remains the final stumbling block to inter-party reconciliation., Representative of independent officials seeking unity Yaser Al-Wadieyah said he expected Hamas and Fatah officials in Damascus to discuss the final arrangements of the security issue, saying all other files were all but resolved.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331001
New US talks with Palestinians held in Washington (AFP)
AFP – US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat met Thursday in Washington on efforts to salvage peace talks with Israel, the State Department said,
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101104/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestinianspeaceus
Palestinians to give US peace effort more time
WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The Palestinians will give the United States several more weeks to try to relaunch direct peace talks with Israel, but will not buckle on their key demand for a halt to Israeli settlement activity, a top Palestinian official said on Thursday. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that an Arab League decision on Oct. 9 giving the United States one month to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop settlements could slip — but that the core demand would remain unchanged.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04185074.htm
Israel PM to meet Egyptian intelligence chief
JERUSALEM — Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu was on Thursday to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Tel Aviv for talks expected to focus on the deadlocked peace talks, a government source said. “He will meet Omar Suleiman in Tel Aviv during the afternoon,” the source told AFP on condition of anonymity, without giving further details.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hgEpLDjm4ahPyxwxnuewsW7MR8qA?docId=CNG.827251c8451748f06ec8f6c79b2a2b8f.711
Egypt intelligence chief to Peres: Mubarak is worried about region
Omar Suleiman visits Israel to help jump start Middle East peace talks; Peres: Egypt is always attentive to needs of all sides.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-intelligence-chief-to-peres-mubarak-is-worried-about-region-1.322951?localLinksEnabled=false
Saudi prince rules out engagement with Israel until Arab land is returned
Saudi Arabia will refuse to “directly or indirectly engage Israel” until it leaves all land captured during the 1967 Six-Day War, a leading member of the Saudi royal family said Thursday, dashing any hopes the Obama administration might have had for rapprochement before a final peace deal.
http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=48e64510310f56fa4e8713e6846e2c66
Window of opportunity for two-state solution is closing, William Hague warns Israel
British foreign secretary ends two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories with call for Netanyahu to renew freeze on settlement construction to allow talks to resume. William Hague warned today that the window of opportunity for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was closing and failure by the two parties to reach agreement would be a “serious setback”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/04/william-hague-two-state-solution-israel
Other News
Child abuse is underreported throughout country
Percentage of sexual abuse cases reported are higher in Jerusalem; the 33,751 child abuse cases reported in 2009 “only the tip of the iceberg.”
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=193931&R=R2
A West Bank dairy farm churns out gourmet cheese
With funding from international organizations, a dairy farm in Tubas in the West Bank produces gourmet Italian cheeses with a little Palestinian spice.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/ORhAZURESQw/A-West-Bank-dairy-farm-churns-out-gourmet-cheese
Culture
Gaza on Canvas With Mohammed Al-Hawajri, Palestine Monitor
The devastated Gaza strip, still reeling from Operation Cast Lead and scarred by chronic rates of poverty and malnutrition, would be few artists’ idea of a creative paradise. For Mohammed Al-Hawajri, recently honoured with Birzeit University’s artist of the month award, the “life rich in details and contradictions” is one he would not swap for Manhattan or Barcelona.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1601
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
Witness – Encounter Point: Ali’s story
Ali, a Palestinian intifada veteran, is struggling with how to go forward peacefully after the death of his younger brother by the Israeli army. It is a film about hope, courage, and Palestinian and Israeli grassroots peace efforts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lozUtT1EY4&feature=player_embedded
Queen Noor Brings Palestinian Struggle to MSNBC; Scarborough Repeats Israeli Talking Points, Alex Kane by Alex Kane
It’s not often that the story of Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation gets told in a fair way to American consumers of media, but today on MSNBC‘s “Morning Joe” that’s exactly what happened. Queen Noor of Jordan was a guest on the show, promoting the powerful documentary “Budrus,” which tells the story of how the West Bank village of Budrus successfully beat back Israeli attempts to confiscate Palestinian land as part of the Israeli effort to build a “separation barrier,” which was ruled to be illegal by the International Court of Justice in a 2004 advisory opinion.
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/queen-noor-brings-palestinian-struggle-to-msnbc-scarborough-repeats-israeli-talking-points/
The Real Yitzhak Rabin, Alex Kane
Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of when former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli extremist for Rabin’s signing of the Oslo Accords with Yasir Arafat. With the anniversary comes the obligatory mourning of Rabin as a “man of peace,” as the Israeli leader who, had he survived, might have been the one who brought lasting peace to Israel and Palestine.
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/the-real-yitzhak-rabin/
Did Rabin assassination mark decline of Israel’s peace camp?
At the time of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, his Labor party controlled more than one-third of parliament. Today, it’s barely 10 percent – and slipping.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/WNKDZCHcUfc/Did-Rabin-assassination-mark-decline-of-Israel-s-peace-camp
Thoughtcrimes, Neve Gordon – Israel
Would Meryl Streep, Spike Lee, Tim Robbins or Susan Sarandon be willing to swear an oath of loyalty to the United States and its policies in order to receive public funding for feature films that they star in, direct or produce? In Israel, the far-right Knesset member Michael Ben Ari has proposed a bill that would require entire film crews to pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and to declare loyalty to its laws and symbols, as a condition for receiving public funding. It’s just one of more than ten bills to be discussed during the Knesset’s winter session that several commentators in Ha’aretz have characterised as proto-fascist.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16384
A tale of two ghettos, Adam Horowitz
The images above are raising some hackles, especially the comparison between the Warsaw ghetto and Gaza today. They are from the current issue of Adbusters magazine, which had 3,500 copies taken off the racks of Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest drugstore chain, after the CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Bernie M. Farber, called them anti-Semitic in the National Post.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/a-tale-of-two-ghettos.html
The reunification of my parents, Linah Alsaafin
Yesterday my mother crossed the Allenby bridge, from the West Bank to Jordan, to see my father in Amman. What makes this banal act unusual is that she had to wait almost a year to be finally granted permission to cross the border.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/the-reunification-of-my-parents.html
Israel slams Arab incitement, ignores clarion Jewish racism
Is a state like Israel, whose entire existence has been based on ethnic cleansing, land theft, and mendacity, qualified to preach to the world about incitement?
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k
Tablet calling Israel “A Liberal’s Paradise” (!)
Even as a joke, this is taking it a bit far. Recent Hasbara efforts to portray Tel Aviv as a sort of fun & arts capitol have apparently got Mr. Tracy a bit confused. Or it’s the medical pot.
http://www.promisedlandblog.com/?p=3557
Palestinian Writer Shehadeh Straddles “A Rift in Time”
Jerusalem – PNN/Exclusive – Palestinian author Raja Shehadeh’s new book “A Rift in Time” is aptly titled to straddle past and present. Yet it also spans genres, crosses rivers, and connects two men from two very different eras—Shehadeh himself and his great uncle Najib Nassar, a proud subject of the Ottoman Empire, conscientious objector, and exile. Shehadeh read selections from the book at the Swedish Christian Study Center, near Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate, on Thursday night. The book is his fourth; his third, “Palestinian Walks,” won Britain’s prestigious Orwell Prize for political writing. A writer, lawyer, and founder of the human rights organization Al-Haq, Shehadeh has spent most of his life in Ramallah.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9086&Itemid=1
Conned by Democracy: The Middle East’s Stagnant ‘Change’, Ramzy Baroud
Democracy in the Middle East continues to be a hugely popular topic of discussion. Its virtues are tirelessly praised by rulers and oppositions alike, by intellectuals and ordinary people, by political prisoners and their prison guards. Yet, in actuality, it also remains an illusion, if not a front to ensure the demise of any real possibility of public participation in decision-making.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16386
The Battle of Nahr al-Barid: Iraq Comes to Lebanon – an excerpt from Nir Rosen’s new book Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America’s Wars in the Muslim World, Adam Horowitz
A sense of foreboding united people in Lebanon and throughout the region in response to the destabilizing occupation of Iraq. It also made Sunnis feel vulnerable. North of Tripoli, by the village of Qubat Shamra, where a boy was selling watermelons off the side of the road the day I visited, there was a stretch of broken wall with two lines of graffiti. “We tell you, o rulers, of treachery and tyranny, the blood of the martyr Hariri is not to be forgotten,” said one. The other listed the successors of the Prophet Muhammad whom Sunnis revere and warned that “the blood of Sunnis is boiling.” It was signed by an unknown group called the Mujahideen Battalions of Tel Hayat, in reference to a nearby village. Further up the road toward the Syrian border, past tall pine and eucalyptus trees, one side of an apartment building was covered with a large painting of Rafiq al-Hariri. “They feared you so they killed you,” it said. “Truly they are pigs.” It quoted from the Koran as well, an example of the strange juxtaposition of Islamism and the Hariri cult. I stopped at Kusha and met a twenty-three-year-old third-year law student called Muhamad, who had learned English from listening to rap music. Muhamad had joined the Interior Ministry’s new Information Branch earlier that year as a volunteer “because of the Shiite campaign against this government,” he said. “You have to do something.” His responsibility was to “keep an eye open for anything strange in town.”
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/the-battle-of-nahr-al-barid-iraq-comes-to-lebanon-an-excerpt-from-nir-rosens-new-book-aftermath-following-the-bloodshed-of-americas-wars-in-the-muslim-world.html
If al-Qa’ida Really Want to Hit the West, They Can, PATRICK COCKBURN
The ability of al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula, now based in Yemen, to smuggle sophisticated bombs concealed in ink cartridges for printers on board planes is even more ominous than it sounds. This is because Western governments have so often exaggerated the threat from the most amateur and ineffective conspirators since 9/11 that they do not have any rhetoric left to describe the development of new and more serious threats.
http://www.counterpunch.com/patrick11052010.html
The Phantom Left, Chris Hedges
The American left is a phantom. It is conjured up by the right wing to tag Barack Obama as a socialist and used by the liberal class to justify its complacency and lethargy. It diverts attention from corporate power. It perpetuates the myth of a democratic system that is influenced by the votes of citizens, political platforms and the work of legislators. It keeps the world neatly divided into a left and a right. The phantom left functions as a convenient scapegoat. The right wing blames it for moral degeneration and fiscal chaos. The liberal class uses it to call for “moderation.” And while we waste our time talking nonsense, the engines of corporate power—masked, ruthless and unexamined—happily devour the state.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_phantom_left_20101031/
Murdoch’s Imaginary War, Stuart Littlewood
In his recent pep-talk to the Anti-Defamation League, media magnate Rupert Murdoch complains about “an ongoing war against the Jews.” He seems desperate to divert attention from the mounting resentment around the world towards Israel. But his threadbare argument collapses straightaway because no distinction is made between criminal Israelis and Jews generally. The one remains carefully hidden behind the other.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16383
“The Truth Is There Is No Al Qaeda”, MONA EL-NAGGAR and ROBERT F. WORTH
The Yemeni government has used jihadists as proxy soldiers in the past, and sometimes conflates the Qaeda threat and the unrelated political insurgencies it has fought in northern and southern Yemen in recent years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/world/middleeast/04yemen.html?_r=2&emc=eta1
Lebanon
Authorities charge 19 terror suspects, issue indictment against spy for Israel
BEIRUT: Judicial authorities filed a lawsuit against 19 terrorism suspects Thursday and issued an indictment against an Israeli spy. Government Commissioner to the Military Tribunal Judge Saqr Saqr filed a lawsuit against 19 suspects who were arrested by the Lebanese Army in October.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=121189
MP: Public must know about Israel’s telecom violations
BEIRUT: Parliament’s Media and Telecommunications Committee said Thursday the Lebanese public ought to be made aware of Israel’s violations of their country’s telecommunications sector.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=121186
Communist Party says indictments will cause strife
BEIRUT: Secretary General of the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) Khaled Hadadeh said Thursday the indictment to be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) would instigate an internal strife, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=121197
Higher Shiite Council: Tribunal threatening security
BEIRUT: The Higher Shiite Council said Thursday the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) was threatening Lebanon’s security and blocking the chances of uncovering the truth in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=121193
Hezbollah boycotts Lebanese talks over UN tribunal (AP)
AP – Hezbollah and its allies boycotted the latest round of Lebanon’s national dialogue on Thursday because of tensions surrounding a U.N. tribunal’s investigation of the 2005 assassination of a former prime minister.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101104/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_hariri_tribunal
Britain: Hizbullah’s arms threaten peace process
LONDON: Hizbullah’s continued possession of non-state weapons risks torpedoing the stuttering peace process, the British government has said. Foreign Office spokesperson Barry Marston warned this week continued tension in south Lebanon, derived largely from the existence of contraband arms, was “potentially damaging” to lasting regional stability.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=121184
Iraq
Thursday: 9 Iraqis Killed, 28 Wounded
At least nine Iraqis were killed and 28 more were wounded in a small surge of violence today. Meanwhile, Iraqis are demonstrating against the deadly attacks that rattled Baghdad earlier this week.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/11/04/thursday-9-iraqis-killed-28-wounded/
Three Iraqi police die trying to defuse bomb
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) — More than 150 Iraqis have been killed since Friday, including three police officers who died north of Baghdad on Thursday when the bomb they were trying to defuse exploded, police said. The roadside bomb was in the town of Shirqat, according to police officials in Salaheddin province. Six people were wounded. Shirqat is about 300 kilometers (186 miles) north of Baghdad.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/11/04/iraq.violence/
Islamic State of Iraq claims responsibility for Baghdad bombings
After it claimed responsibility for Our Lady of Salvation Church massacre in Karrada District, Baghdad, Al Qaeda group Islamic State of Iraq claimed as well responsibility for the series of bombings that hit the capital on Tuesday.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-56067-Islamic-State-of-Iraq-claims-responsibility-for-Baghdad-bombings.html
Iraqi Qaeda claims bombs against Shiite ‘insults’ (AFP)
AFP – Al-Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate said on Friday it was behind car bombings against Shiites in Baghdad this week that killed 64 people, saying they were revenge for “insults” and threatening more attacks.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101105/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestqaeda
Extra security at Iraq churches
There is extra security around churches and other Christian institutions in Iraq, in response to threats from a militant Islamist group linked to Al-Qaeda.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-11690823
Baghdadis Despair Over Security
In aftermath of recent attacks, residents say years of frustration about security situation now turning to hopelessness. Baghdad has been stunned by two days of bombings that have left security officials searching for answers and residents bracing for more violence.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/baghdadis-despair-over-security
Iraqi eyewitness: Mistreatment by UK troops
The High Court in London will is hearing allegations that 142 Iraqis were mistreated by British forces in Iraq between 2003 and 2008.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11696329
Video: Secret British military video of interrogation techniques in Iraq
Clip submitted during high court proceedings shows a prisoner threatened, intimidated, subjected to sensory deprivation and complaining of starvation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/nov/04/secret-british-military-video-interrogation-iraq
Baghdad Carnage: Could It End Iraq’s Political Impasse? (Time.com)
Time.com – Seven months have passed since Iraq elected a new parliament but no new government has been formed. Will two horrific days scare the powerbrokers into action?
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20101104/wl_time/08599202950100
Iraq’s idle MPs urged to return $40 mln in pay (AFP)
AFP – Civil society groups said on Friday they are to launch a legal battle for Iraqi MPs left idle since a March 7 poll to return 40 million dollars received in salaries and allowances over the past eight months.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101105/wl_mideast_afp/iraqpoliticscourtparliament
One ton of gold for the dome of Samarra Mosque in Iraq
An Iraqi restoration team is about to complete the reconstruction of the damage Golden Mosque in the city of Samarra north of Baghdad, the head of Samarra antiquities office said. Omer Abdulzahra, who is also a member of the supervising committee charged with the restoration, said one ton of gold has been earmarked for the dome. The mosque’s two minarets, its golden dome and much of its magnificent interior were blown up in 2007 in an attack which the authorities then attributed to al-Qaeda. The attack sparked a deadly and ruinous cycle of Sunni-Shiite reprisals that left thousands dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2010-11-04\kurd.htm
Americans Still Turn Blind Eye to the Savagery We Unleashed in Iraq
Bush & BushIt was bad enough when, before the fourth game of the World Series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, George Bush drove his father and himself out to the pitching mound in a golf cart to toss out the traditional first ball. (One could be forgiven for wondering if it was part of his book tour.) But it was galling when he threw a near-perfect pitch. Worst of all, though, as opposed to when he performed the same function on baseball’s 2008 opening day at Nationals Park in Washington and was jeered, this time only cheers could be heard on T.V. by the naked ear. No doubt many in the crowd weren’t happy to see him and held their applause. Still, even though it was Bush’s home state, couldn’t anybody see his or her way clear to expressing contempt for his poor excuse for a presidency?
http://www.fpif.org/blog/americans_still_turn_blind_eye_to_the_savagery_we_unleashed_in_iraq?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FPIF+%28Foreign+Policy+In+Focus+%28All+News%29%29
U.S. and Other World News
Jewish Settler Leaders Praise Republican Gains
The U.S. midterm elections heartened some right-leaning Israelis, including settler leaders, who have seen President Barack Obama’s Mideast policy as antagonist and now view his repudiation in the polls as a sign he may be less able to pressure Israel into concessions in stalled peace talks.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/11/03/jewish-settler-leaders-praise-republican-gains/
CIA lawyer: U.S. law does not forbid rendition
Daniel Pines, an assistant general counsel at the CIA, has asserted in a law journal that the abduction of terrorism suspects abroad is legal under U.S. law, even when the suspect is turned over to countries notorious for torture.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/11/cia_lawyer_says_no_law_against.html?referrer=emaillink
War criminal: Bush makes clear he approved use of waterboarding
In a memoir due out Tuesday, Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of that coercive technique against alleged Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission the human rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for him.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/03/AR2010110308082.html
229 Afghan civilians killed in October
Official: 15 percent increase in compare with the previous month,” Bashari told a press briefing here, Xinhua reported.
http://en.trend.az/regions/world/afghanistan/1777118.html
Chomsky: US-led Afghan War, Criminal
Noam Chomsky says US invasion of Afghanistan was illegal since to date there is no evidence that al-Qaeda has carried out the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26756.htm
US embassy accused of spying in Norway, Oslo demands answers
OSLO — Norway has demanded an explanation from the United States after a television documentary said its embassy had conducted illegal surveillance of hundreds of Norwegian residents over the past decade. According to the TV2 News channel, the US embassy in Oslo employed between 15 and 20 people, including former high-ranking police officers, to monitor local residents in a bid to ward off attacks on US interests in the country.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/embassy-accused-spying-norway/
Iran detains ‘UK-linked fighters’
State TV says four people are arrested on suspicion of belonging to a Kurdish rebel cell funded by a UK-based commander.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/11/20101148308255326.html
Iranian lawyer on hunger strike
Jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh is in a serious condition after going on hunger strike, a New York-based Iranian rights group says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-11699603
Syria: Jailed Rights Defender Assaulted, Punished in Prison
(London) – Eight leading human rights organizations today called on the Syrian government to guarantee the safety of Muhannad al-Hassani, a human rights defender serving a three-year prison term, after he was assaulted last week in ‘Adra prison, Damascus. The eight organizations – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and Front Line – urged the Syrian government to investigate the assault and protect al-Hassani from further brutality or ill-treatment.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/b8e7698f74e8d23504f7d293bb733a74.htm
Arabs make development strides, challenges remain: UN (AFP)
AFP – Some Arab states have made significant strides in human development over the past 40 years, but challenges such as public empowerment and official accountability remain, a new UN report said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101104/wl_mideast_afp/mideastarabsdevelopmentrightsun
Saudi prince: Iran is on ‘explosive’ path in Middle East
Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former ambassador to the U.S., says Washington shouldn’t take military steps against Iran to reassure Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/saudi-prince-iran-is-on-explosive-path-in-middle-east-1.322982?localLinksEnabled=false
Islam in the West
Justice Stevens voices support for NYC mosque
Justice Stevens says Americans should accept mosque near Ground Zero in spirit of tolerance Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said Thursday that Americans should be tolerant of plans to build an Islamic center and mosque near the site of the World Trade Center in New York.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/justice-stevens-voices-support-nyc-mosque/
www.TheHeadlines.org
