And more news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers / Land, property and resource theft and destruction / Ethnic cleansing
Court documents show settlers got land deals in E J’lem
(AP) The government sold or leased properties in Arab areas of east Jerusalem to settlers at low prices and helped them cement a Jewish presence in disputed areas of the holy city, according to court documents published on Sunday. The documents are the first to show how easily settlers were able to put down stakes in these areas with the help of successive Israeli governments. The documents were released to anti-settlement activists who sought a comprehensive accounting of the government’s relationship with the groups Elad and Ateret Cohanim. The documents refer to 11 properties, but activists say the state is withholding information.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=194330
Settlers carry out work on seized Jerusalem home
Israeli settlers have expanded construction work on a Palestinian-owned house in Jerusalem’s Old City they took control of nearly a year ago. Witnesses said settlers brought construction equipment and furniture to the building, which is owned by Fatima Dahoody, 80. The Palestinian Prisoner Society’s Jerusalem chairman, Nasser Qaws, confirmed these reports, saying settlers are attempting to add another floor to the building. Dahoody, the elderly owner, still lives in a small part of the structure. In late January, Israeli settlers began an illegal squat in the home after an Israeli court granted settlers partial access to the building.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331656
MK: Remove memorial for Silwan riots instigator
Knesset Member Miri Regev (Likud) sent a letter to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat Sunday demanding he remove a memorial set up in Silwan for a Palestinian man who was shot to death by an Israeli security guard. The incident led to riots in east Jerusalem last September. In her letter, MK Regev claimed that the memorial is illegal and “perpetuates the legacy of a Fatah militant who headed a terrorist organization. Samer Sarhan was shot to death by a Jewish security guard in September 22.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3981064,00.html
Getting onto the map / Joanna Paraszczuk
Close to half of the Beduin population of the Negev lives in 45 ‘unrecognized’ villages that are fighting for recognition from the state — Around 13 kilometers west of Arad in the Negev desert, a narrow dirt track heads south off Route 31 toward a small cluster of buildings. Goats graze – somehow – on the stony ground near a signpost bearing the name of this tiny Beduin village: al-Sira. Underneath, in Hebrew, another line has been added – Founded in the Ottoman Era. Many places like to show off their historicity, but in al-Sira’s case there is a subtle but significant subtext to this assertion of pre-state establishment. It is a claim of legitimacy.
http://www.jpost.com/home/article.aspx?id=194046
Rahat mosque razed; police officers stoned
Land Administration personnel demolish mosque built in Bedouin city without a permit; residents demonstrate, throw stones at security forces; no injuries. Mayor: Crime committed against entire public by wicked government
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980592,00.html
Israeli police, Bedouin clash at mosque demolition
Israeli police on Sunday arrested five people protesting the demolition of a mosque in the Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel. Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the protesters had thrown rocks at the police, who were providing security for civil authority workers who were taking down the structure.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331558
Big settlement projects approved as Netanyahu flies to US
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli government approved three settlement projects in occupied Jerusalem on the eve of its premier’s departure for Washington to meet with US president Barack Obama. Different Israeli sources said that one of these projects is to build 1, 250 settlement units in Mount Abu Ghoneim in addition to building 983 units in the context of the plan number 10310, stage C. The second project is to finish stage B of building 42 settlement units in Har Homa B area, also located in Mount Abu Ghoneim. The plan number is 12825, according to the sources. They said that the Israeli government and its municipal council in Jerusalem have been imposing a news blackout on their settlement activities since the end of the alleged freeze. They also pointed out to a third project, number 4820B, to build 250 housing units and a huge shopping mall in Ramot settlement, which was established illegally on Palestinian lands in Beit Hanina village and another destroyed and deserted village called Lafta.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Uohfdcyeqh0ZyA2TgOaKiLAY9O6zB1wZGvCKHFEGYwrkYnaCcyD7QJAbPqrTWlaLpsIgWgOOLi7lfkLs%2bQXlQnxcKPdQdpuqi07P3iDziqM%3d
Israeli settlers threaten Sheikh Jarrah / Stephen Lendman
…The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published an October report titled, “The Case of Sheikh Jarrah,” explaining the growing threat, saying it’s “of serious humanitarian concern.” Settlers have used different methods to encroach, including: (1) taking over land or property confiscated or expropriated by Israeli authorities, one way, among others, under the 1950 Absentee Property Law (2) giving settlers land designated “public” or “state” for environmental, historic or religious reasons. (3) using Israeli law (denied Palestinians) to pursue alleged Jewish ownership of land or property prior to 1948. (4) buying land through intermediaries as well as through a process involving threats, deception, false depositions, or forged documentation, complicit courts cheating Palestinian owners.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/11/israeli-settlers-threaten-sheikh-jarrah.html
State: Settlers have 2 weeks to seal outpost synagogue
If the building in Elmatan is not sealed by then, the state will do so itself, representative says … The building was completed in violation of a court order to stop construction and is currently used as a synagogue.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194116
Violence
Soldiers shoot worker on north Gaza border
A Palestinian man was injured Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire at a group of workers collecting stone aggregates near an evacuated Israeli settlement in northern Gaza. Eyewitnesses said 19-year-old Karam Al-Adham was shot in his left leg near the abandoned Eli Sinai structure northwest of Beit Lahiya.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331505
Gaza scrap gleaners risk life in tense border zone
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip (Reuters) – A Palestinian was wounded by Israeli forces on Sunday while collecting scrap from a no-go border zone in the Gaza Strip, the latest casualty in the blockaded enclave’s most dangerous way to scrape a living … Adham Abu Selmeya, a spokesman of the Hamas-run medical service, told Reuters most of the casualties were shot in the legs, in northern areas where the border with Israel is formed by a high concrete wall with watchtowers and machine guns. He said the Palestinians clearly did not pose real danger, otherwise the Israelis would not be firing at their legs.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101107/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_scrap
Israeli war jets hit southern Gaza targets
Israeli war jets struck two targets in southern Gaza Strip Saturday night in response to an earlier homemade projectile fired from [northern!] Gaza at southern Israel … The first airstrike targeted an empty olive farm east of the city of Khan Younis and the second targeted a smuggling tunnel under the borderline between Egypt and the salient, ruled by the Hamas movement … Medics at southern Gaza hospitals said that ambulances and rescue crews rushed to the theatre of the airstrikes; no injuries were reported [from either the projectile or the airstrikes] [later: one Palestinian was injured inside his house by shattering glass]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331430
Watch: Truth seekers
[This] latest documentary film produced by Ma’an, in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information, highlights the role of Palestinian journalists covering Israel’s occupation. Five journalists were interviewed for the project, each speaking about the dangers they faced reporting from the field. The documentary features photojournalist Nasser Shtayyeh, who was shot twice with live ammunition and six times with rubber-coated steel bullets, and brutally beaten twice. In 1995, settlers threw him in a well and left him to die as he covered a rally near the illegal Israeli settlement of Qedumim in the northern West Bank district of Qalqiliya. He was rescued by a colleague. [Warning: graphic content]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331157
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Israel refuses entry to Sweden MP and ex-Israeli who sailed on Gaza flotilla
MP Mehmet Kaplan and artist Dror Feiler planned to lodge complaint against IDF for violence, armed robbery, obstruction of freedom and kidnapping.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-refuses-entry-to-sweden-mp-and-ex-israeli-who-sailed-on-gaza-flotilla-1.323419
African academics launch boycott campaign against Israeli universities
JOHANNESBURG, (PIC)– Hundreds of African academics with the support of international influential figures announced an initiative to boycott Israeli universities until their state ends its occupation of the Palestinian territories. More than 200 academics from 13 African universities pledged in a statement reported by different media outlets on Sunday to support the initiative made the university of Johannesburg which calls for ending academic cooperation with the Israeli occupation.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7XRuOLGZ0gg5mUtyUaX6S8aM24m6p%2fXwCOtBEUMTS8e4iSpyQiadqs1sPLDCjegAStnGuol%2f8MWKt5M94148KJuD%2f5gETisrFNEbHwqJK31Y%3d
Open letter from Gaza students to the European Students’ Union: Oppose apartheid and war crimes
One Democratic State Group — Nov 6, 2010 — onedemocraticstategroup@gmail.com — We are writing to you as students from the besieged Gaza Strip whose entire educational system has been crippled as a result of Israel’s four-year long and ongoing blockade. We are deeply distressed that you held your annual conference this year in Jerusalem, a conference organized by the National Union of Israeli Students and the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, in addition to the Prime Minister’s Office. We are saddened that you failed to empathize with us and break through the silence imposed on our voices by the state you visited…
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=43268
The US to Gaza initiative and the Hillel controversy at Rutgers / Deepak Kumar
Last night I attended a fundraiser for the US to Gaza mission that intends to bring humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. It was an incredible success. About 350 mostly young people had crowded the hall, most of whom stayed on past 10 pm to listen to the invited speakers. The presence of so many students who had chosen to attend the event despite intimidation by those claiming to represent Rutgers Hillel was truly heartening … Hillel’s line of attack was predictable. In a press release Andrew Getraer, the executive director of Rutger’s Hillel, argued that there were “serious legal issues” involved. First on the list was the claim that the “blockade runners will attempt to deliver goods, services or technical assistance to Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).”
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/kumar051110.html
Anti
Settlers counter artists’ call to boycott Ariel
Shomron Settlers’ Committee urges ‘supporters of Land of Israel’ to boycott performances, works of artists who refuse to appear in Ariel. Katzover: Separate politics from the arts
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980701,00.html
MKs: Stop funding ‘lunatic’ artists
A number of MKs are objecting to the ongoing artists’ boycott of the soon-to-open Ariel culture center, and on Saturday MK Yariv Levin (Likud) suggested the government withdraw funding from theaters supporting the protest.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980481,00.html
War criminals
Palestinian government asks Britain not to amend war criminals law
GAZA, (PIC)– The Palestinian government in Gaza has asked the British government to revoke an earlier decision to amend the legislation on prosecuting war criminals. The justice ministry said in a statement on Sunday that such an amendment would constitute a big insult to the British judiciary’s reputation, independence, and integrity. It charged that the step was meant to please Israel, noting that the British foreign secretary William Hague had said that the law would be amended, which meant treating criminals as official guests with diplomatic immunity and sparing them punishment.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7UHjOWCQWJ1gdUpfxnGfz2qfysqUxpuDp8Y7uPfmjHMNIV57uHMiZ6kLOM%2bgjVcY5kM%2bVbWgAdwxcTyotHF%2bq%2f61hq7UB34MGRQj2il382zI%3d
British activists slam cave-in to Israel
Britain’s decision to revoke a law which allows activists to request arrest warrants for Israeli officials during their visits to the UK over war crimes has outraged senior pro-Palestinian figures.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/149870.html
Detention
Nazareth imam charged with incitement and supporting terror
…Sheikh Nazem Abu Salim, who heads the Shihab A-Din Mosque, has delivered regular Friday sermons since 1997 at his own institution as well as in a number of other houses of prayer, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem. He also founded and runs a website called Muslim 48. The indictment presented to the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court states that Abu Salim has used his sermons, books and web site to disseminate the views of global jihad and to show solidarity with Al-Qaida.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/nazareth-imam-charged-with-incitement-and-supporting-terror-1.323412
PA security militias kidnap 10 citizens from Hamas
WEST BANK, (PIC)– The Palestinian authority (PA) did not cease for one day its arrest campaign in the West Bank in the context of its cooperation with Israel, where its security militias kidnapped during the last two days 10 other Palestinian citizens affiliated with Hamas Movement in the cities of Al-Khalil and Ramallah, according to local sources on Sunday. Among those who were arrested in Al-Khalil because of their political affiliation are two brothers called Yehya and Zakariya Saleh. Both of them are still students at Al-Khalil university and has a brother called Isa who was kidnapped two months ago by the PA intelligence and is still in prison.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7T87u7QCaUtFLjKXokhzpl%2bwxLzTZf%2fwq18MwzNLtwk%2bLMfPwxM0dtJK%2bHJduEnhtEZUg6Y28%2fQOCTtUAaVVzt9plynzJK0ohj3TPg17Mcj4%3d
Islamic Jihad: PA detains leader in Ramallah
…The movement said in a statement that Abdul-Hakim Masalma, 50, was taken to a detention center. The official had been wanted by Israeli forces for five years, the statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331638
Rights group: Female detainees in Talmond denied medical treatment
RAMALLAH, (PIC)– Several ill detainees in the female population of the Israeli Talmond prison have been denied medical treatment, a Palestinian rights group reported, adding that the prison administration has refused to allow a dentist into the facility.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7nakkO9QSRZopoTNDrAHF9R1dJ6ntt58WhMYo%2fYWEovpogsfCjahpejEv3VJFLbHXhtsmKvjoTcP3kog4vAO1Ah8pp6n%2bjfgpCOWyWBfbd8A%3d
Int’l jurist: Palestinian detainees are hostages under international law
CAIRO, (PIC) — International law expert Hasan Omar stated that the Palestinian detainees in Isreli jails are not prisoners, but they are hostages being held by the Israeli occupation state and they must be released according to the principles of international law. In an interview published by the journal of Muslim Palestine, Omar explained that the prisoner under the third Geneva convention is the one who is captured by an adversary during military operations and thus he is subject to the provisions of this convention which governs his release after the end of military actions.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s74t8Zpu%2bH6ERpIQvN9JurqRIdVmek2e7ftpoT6uKD6013%2btm7%2fpE470aO5ONaA5VmkLRDupnPkjvIlSLcRVHXEEEaxeN87%2bPvjDCbBphFDmU%3d
Siege / Restriction of movement / Other rights violations / Humanitarian issues
Zoabi petitions High Court to keep parliamentary rights
MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) petitioned the High Court on Sunday to nullify the Knesset decision depriving her of her parliamentary rights following her involvement with the Gaza flotilla in May. The petition, filed in conjunction with Adalah and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), claimed that the Knesset exceeded its authority and acted against the law of immunity, which prohibits abuse of the rights and immunity of parliament members if they engage in political activity.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194333
German FM urges end to Gaza export ban
JERUSALEM (AFP) – German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Sunday urged Israel to lift export restrictions against the Gaza Strip, on the eve of a visit to the impoverished Hamas-run Palestinian territory. After talks with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, Westerwelle said the Palestinians needed improved economic prospects if peace talks were to stand a chance.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101107/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestinianspeacegermanydiplomacy
Shortage of medicines felt by patients in Gaza
…Al-Barsh asserted that hospitals in the besieged Strip are short of 100 types of medicines and 160 types of medical requirements such as cotton, gauze and other stuff. He explained that the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health was mostly responsible for that shortage because in 2008 they delivered to the only 48 percent of the needed medical equipment; in 2009, they sent 50 percent and in 2010, only 37 percent has been delivered. He noted that the World Bank pays for 100 percent of equipment costs … Asked about the tons of medicines and medical equipment the Gaza Strip receives through solidarity activists who keep arriving to the Gaza Strip, he said, “They can’t bring every medication and medical device for all 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331345
Easing of Gaza blockade leaves many smugglers idle
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s relaxing of its blockade on Gaza has accomplished something that bombing raids and an underground steel wall could not: It has devastated the Hamas-ruled territory’s once thriving smuggling industry. Now that most consumer goods can again reach Gaza through Israel — after three years of tight border closures — many of the hundreds of smuggling tunnels that once served as the Palestinian territory’s lifeline have simply shut down. Only a few dozen are still active, compared with a total of about 400, a Hamas government official said. And an Associated Press spot check in one former smuggling hot spot found only 1 in 4 tunnels working.
http://www.statesman.com/news/world/easing-of-gaza-blockade-leaves-many-smugglers-idle-1027105.html
Gaza: Kerem crossing partly open, Karni closed
Israeli authorities will partially open one crossing into the Gaza Strip on Sunday for the limited delivery of food and fuel, a Palestinian liaison official said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331442
Dubai Cares to implement de-worming program in Gaza and West Bank in partnership with global network
The program which will be implemented for a period of one year will eventually benefit 258,000 children enrolled with UNRWA schools. Commenting on this new initiative, Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares, said, “Intestinal worms are considered to be one of the most critical mortality factors causing malnutrition and anemia among children in Gaza and the West Bank, resulting in an increase in absenteeism and drop in performance…” A survey conducted by UNRWA in 2005 revealed the prevalence of anemia among 23.95% of all school children and 36.3% of first grade students in Gaza.
http://www.ameinfo.com/248210.html
Racism / Discrimination / Segregation
Court okays Jews-only building in Jaffa
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish rejected an appeal filed by Arab residents of the Jaffa neighborhood of Ajami, in which they inveighed against a decision allowing for the construction of a Jewish-only apartment complex. Beinish, however, hinted that the permit for the building constituted “wrongful discrimination”.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980909,00.html
State prosecutor: Probe anti-Arab flyers in Safed
Authorities continue to battle racism in northern city as teen indicted for calling ‘Death to Arabs’ – The State Prosecutor’s Office ordered police on Sunday to investigate the distribution of fliers against Safed’s mayor and the city’s Arabs. The fliers took aim at Mayor Ilan Shohat because, they say, his support of the establishment of a medical school in the city will attract secular students. Mayor Shohat wants to “found a refugee camp and a shelter for sadistic, deranged Arabs” in the city, the fliers say.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3981071,00.html
Artists: Stop racist legislation
Academic, humanitarian figures sign petition sent to PM and Knesset demanding firm action against ‘racist laws and inciting rabbis’ forbidding renting or selling apartments to Arabs. Prof Shenhar: Reaching level of discrimination never imagined
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980731,00.html
Shulamit Aloni: I feel like stranger here
As artists protest ‘wave of racism’ sweeping country, Lieberman slams renewed call to boycott Ariel center — Academics, artists and civilians demonstrated Sunday afternoon in Tel Aviv against what they call racist laws recently approved by the government and Knesset, which they say are contrary to the spirit of Israel’s Declaration of Independence.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3981038,00.html
State scholarships for haredi students support segregation
Discrimination, Education Ministry style: Only haredim who study at colleges that separate between men and women will be eligible for State scholarships, those who choose to study at “regular” universities will be forced to do without them.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980623,00.html
ADL condemns racism against Arabs in Safed
The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement condemning racism towards Beduin students in Safed on Thursday. Recently, an 89-year-old holocaust survivor and resident of the northern city was harassed and threatened for renting an apartment to Beduin students studying at the Safed Academic College. The ADL statement said, “All citizens of the state of Israel, according to the law, have equal rights, including renting apartments.” The statement continued, “Citizens should not be discriminated against for their ethnic background.”
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194129
Political / Diplomatic news
US ambassador: Midterm results won’t affect US-Israel relations
US Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham said the results of the US midterm elections would not affect relations between the US administration and Israel. During a conference at Bar-Ilan University, Cunningham said the US wanted peace in the region, and this policy would not change. He added the US would maintain Israel’s security superiority and assist in its defense against Hezbollah and Hamas rockets.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3981072,00.html
Palestinian leadership warns US concessions to Netanyahu is destroying talks
Palestinian leaders have warned that the US role as an honest broker in Middle East peace talks has been severely undermined by President Barack Obama’s concessions to Israel’s ruling coalition … Mr Obama’s strategy of mollification could tip him over the edge, Mr Shaath said. “There is an increasing malaise in the Palestinian ranks,” he said. “The Palestinian leadership is totally convinced that they have been victims of a game of deception. That feeling has pushed Palestinians to discuss alternatives.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/8115887/Palestinian-leadership-warns-US-concessions-to-Netanyahu-is-destroying-talks.html
Israel must extend settlement moratorium: Italy FM
RIYADH (AFP) – Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Saturday urged Israel to reinstate a moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank until a final peace deal is reached with the Palestinians. Europe has to make a greater effort to convince the Jewish state “that it is in the best interest of Israel to reach a peace deal,” he told reporters on a visit to the Saudi capital.
http://news.yahoo./s/afp/20101106/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestinianspeaccomesaudiitaly_20101106193946;_ylc=X3oDMTEwYThkNnUzBF9TAzIwMjM4Mjc1MjQEZW1haWxJZAMxMjg5MDc3NTg1
Ashqar leaves Gaza to join Hamas delegation in reconciliation talks
GAZA, (PIC)– MP Ismail Al-Ashqar, a Hamas leader, left Gaza on Sunday heading for Syria to participate in the next round of reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah that would be held in Damascus on Tuesday … The MP had earlier said that the next round of dialog in Syria would focus on formation of a security committee to supervise the restructuring of the PA security apparatuses.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7pwQNkMBYRLBRWattgfi3NHNNG7XaV%2b8A%2byU0JaR%2b5XLVAuwNybmjnAN5hiQip7ortRBqbQ2TUz91RqPRuMyrFlKRNCxWchhoCj8XqKCvvt4%3d
Britain’s first Jewish envoy to Jerusalem negotiates dual identity with aplomb / Nathan Jeffay
Tel Aviv — The day before his interview with the Forward, Great Britain’s first Jewish ambassador to the State of Israel met with a senior member of the government to discuss Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank — a topic on which London and Jerusalem sharply disagree. “In the course of this discussion he started quoting various pieces of talmudic wisdom to me,” marveled Matthew Gould, the British envoy. “Now, I just don’t think there’s any other job in the British Foreign Service where I could go and see a senior government minister and, arguing over an incredibly important point of geopolitical significance, end up discussing it in terms of talmudic debate.”
http://forward.com/articles/132930/
Other news
Peres expresses support for the legal system of the IDF
President meets with Mandelblit; says he is “shocked to the depths of his soul” at “traitor” graffiti painted on the walls of military legal chief’s home.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194331
IAF receives first batch of small diameter bombs
The 250-lb. (113.6-kg.) bomb was developed by Boeing Company as a low-cost weapon capable of high-precision and low-collateral damage strikes. [no comment] Israel received approval from Congress in late 2008 to buy 1,000 units. Israel is the first country outside of the United States to receive the weapon. The IAF has named the new bomb “Sharp Hail.”
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194285
IDF presents: Missile alerts on your cell phone
Home Front Command to launch new cellular application alerting citizens about missile attacks starting June 2011 … The system enables sending alerts in several languages simultaneously (Hebrew, English, Russian, Arabic and Amharic)
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/idf-presents-missile-alerts-on-your-cell-phone-1.323395
Union: UNRWA rejected PA mediation
Striking UN workers accused UNRWA of obstructing attempts by the Palestinian Authority’s Labor Ministry to resolve the dispute. Workers at the UN refugee agency have been on strike since mid October in protest over the agency’s refusal to pay salaries during the last strike and other issues. UNRWA officials have described the workers’ demands as “absurd.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331375
Luxury hotel to open in Gaza
Nablus businessman Munib Al-Masri on Sunday toured industrial projects being carried out by the Palestine Development and Investment Company in the Gaza Strip … The West Bank multimillionaire told journalists Friday that after three years of waiting, his company decided to inaugurate a five-star hotel in the northern Gaza Strip. The hotel was completed in 2007, but its opening was delayed due to the dire conditions in the Strip. In Ramallah, officials announced the opening of the city’s first five-star hotel on Monday. The Movenpick Ramallah, a locally owned franchise of the Swiss-based chain, includes 171 rooms and suites, an outdoor pool, fitness center and seven conference rooms, Agence France-Presse reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331456
Stones thrown at ambulance treating Palestinian
Stones were thrown Saturday at an ambulance and an MDA mobile intensive care unit near the village of Al-Azariya just a day after some young Israelis were attacked as they drove through nearby Issawiya, in east Jerusalem. The ambulance teams had been called to village to treat a young man who had fallen from the fifth floor of a building … “Unfortunately, we see once again how terror groups operate without limits, even when it’s clear to all that ambulances don’t do any damage anywhere in the world” said Danny Rotenberg, MDA spokesman in the Jerusalem region. [Right, and the Israelis have never, never shot at Palestinian ambulances…]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980498,00.html
Off-duty cop arrested for deadly Gaza shooting
Authorities in the Gaza Strip have arrested a police officer for shooting two civilians in a Gaza City market last week, the local Ministry of Interior said Sunday … The ministry said AN was not working in his capacity as a police officer at the time of the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331476
Analysis / Opinion / Human interest
Dear American Jews, if you love Israel, criticize it / Gideon Levy
Today, your representatives will open your great annual convention, the General Assembly … I read that your menu includes an Israeli breakfast, and also several discussions about the global delegitimization of Israel. Doubtless the speakers will tell you it’s because of anti-Semitism. Don’t believe them. There is anti-Semitism in the world, but not to the extent they will tell you. Nor is there any “delegitimization of Israel.” There is only delegitimization of Israel’s policy of force and occupation.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/dear-american-jews-if-you-love-israel-criticize-it-1.323314
Education is Palestinians’ path to independence / Daoud Kuttab
I can see the path to the state of Palestine. And education is an integral part of it. Palestinians have always prided themselves on being among the highest educated among all Arabs, but if this was true in the past, it is not true anymore, and it is certainly not true for Palestinians in the occupied territories.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daoud-kuttab/education-is-palestinians_b_779104.html
The Incitement Index / Adam Keller
…This week, at long last, marked the launching of the “Index of Incitement” project, on which Prime Minister Netanyahu and his aides have been working for almost a year. A team of senior officials led by Ron Dermer, Netanyahu’s political advisor, and retired Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser have carefully monitored and recorded unsympathetic statements made by Palestinians. They are to be published and widely distributed, divided into four major categories: explicit incitement to violence, encouraging the creation of an atmosphere of violence and terror, promoting hatred and demonization and failing to prepare the hearts for a positive change. Of course, this project is limited solely to monitoring Palestinian performance in the field of incitement. Still, it is worthwhile to ask Nethanyhau’s experts in which of their four categories they would have placed “The King’s Torah”.
http://adam-keller2.blogspot.com/2010/11/incitement-index.html
Gideon Orwell / Adam Keller
George Orwell described in his famous “1984” a monstrous tyrannical regime which calls everything by an opposite word. The distributors of lying propaganda are called “Ministry of Truth”, the constant wars are run by the “Ministry of Peace”, and the dreaded secret police is managed from the “Ministry of Love.” 1984 is long past, but Mr. Gideon Sa’ar, Minister of Education in the State of Israel, has proven himself a worthy Orwell pupil. The Minister of Education announced this week that he intends to formulate “guidelines” which would be imposed on Israel’s universities forbid lecturers from expressing “anti-Zionist positions” of the kind disliked by the minister. To these guidelines the minister refers by the name “Principles of Academic Freedom.”
http://adam-keller2.blogspot.com/2010/11/gideon-orwell.html
Israel confronts flagging interest in military service / Janine Zakaria
TEL HASHOMER, ISRAEL – Since Israel’s founding, the military here has served not just as a defender against outside threats, but as the glue that brings together a patchwork nation of immigrants. Now, the Israel Defense Forces’ position as the country’s most venerated institution appears to be slipping. While service is compulsory for most young men and women, a growing minority is avoiding conscription
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/06/AR2010110604283.html?wprss=rss_world/mideast
Blind West Bank woman conquers disability by unremitting efforts
Ikhlas Ijbara, a 23-year- old Palestinian girl in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, has never put an end to her ambitions, although she was born blind. She insists on continuing her higher education, where she showed brilliant talents in learning foreign languages, in addition to practicing her other hobbies of sports that many healthy people in her city are not able to master.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/7190773.html
Apple pie and bitter loss — a Palestinian’s 60 years in America
Saleh always thought he would return to his mother and family in Yafa’s suburbs of Beit Dajan once he completed his master’s degree at Berkeley. He even planned to go back and work with the Arabic government there, but never did. In fact, Saleh could not return home – because it was taken. He learned that his family was forced to leave their home and orange grove in Yafa’s suburbs of Beit Dajan, which became part of Israel. Saleh could not leave the United States to see what happened to his family. His British passport was revoked after England withdrew from Palestine and he became stateless. Both the governments of Israel and Jordan, which controlled the West Bank then, rejected his letters asking for permission to return to his family.
http://newamericamedia.org/2010/11/apple-pie-bitter-loss—-a-palestinians-60-years-in-america.php
Iraq
Iraq rivals ‘agree to share power’ eight months after poll
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq’s political rivals reached a breakthrough power-sharing deal in which Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, retains the premiership, a spokesman said on Sunday, exactly eight months after inconclusive elections. “An agreement was reached yesterday among the political parties in which Jalal Talabani will continue as head of state, Nuri al-Maliki will stay on as prime minister and Iraqiya will choose its candidate for parliament speaker,” government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told AFP.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101107/wl_afp/iraqpolitics
Saturday: 2 Iraqis killed, 52 wounded
At least two Iraqis were killed and 52 more were wounded in mostly light violence. The worst attack occurred in Kirkuk, where three cars bombs apparently targeted Kurdis officials. Meanwhile, about three-dozen Iraqis wounded in Sunday’s attack on a church in Baghdad will be flown to France for further treatments.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/11/06/saturday-2-iraqis-killed-42-wounded/
Sunday: 10 Iraqis killed, 25 wounded
Eight months after national elections, lawmakers have tentatively resolved a deadlock preventing the selection of the new government. Meanwhile, several of today’s attacks focused on Awakening Council (Sahwa) and other security forces. At least 10 Iraqis were killed and 25 more were wounded across the country.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/11/07/sunday-10-iraqis-killed-25-wounded-2/
Iraqi Christians hold Mass in assaulted church
Just a week earlier, 58 people died in the worst attack against the country’s Christian minority since 2003 — BAGHDAD (AP) The walls were still splattered with blood and pieces of flesh as Iraqi Christians celebrated Mass on Sunday in the church that just a week before had been the scene of a horrific bloodbath in which dozens died.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40055091
Al-Qaida is turning its focus on Iraq’s vulnerable Christians / James Denselow
Over the last week in publicity trailing the release of his autobiography, former president George W Bush admitted that when it came to Iraq he felt a “sickening feeling”. Sadly for those looking for greater remorse he was only referring to the failure to discover weapons of mass destruction. But as a man of devout Christian faith it would be interesting to discover what Bush’s thoughts are on the fact that one of the consequences of his war is that Iraq’s Christian community of 1 million pre-war has shrunk by 60% since 2003, as its members have fled abroad or been killed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/07/alqaida-iraq-christians-disappearing
Other Mideast
Anger at Israel flares in Jordan election campaign
ZARQA, Jordan (AP) — Frustration with the interminable deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is bleeding over into Jordan, where bitterness at Israel is flowing more freely than ever during campaigning for this week’s parliamentary elections. Behind the anger expressed by candidates and voters lies U.S. ally Jordan’s greatest fear: that if peacemaking collapses, Israel will try to force it to take in the residents of the West Bank and stand as the Palestinian state. Recent talk by right-wing Israelis about the “Jordanian option” has only fueled the belief here that this is Israel’s ultimate plan.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101107/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_jordan_election
Netanyahu to tell UN: We’ll withdraw from Ghajar soon
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to present UN chief Ban Ki-moon with Israel’s plan to withdraw from the northern sector of the village of Ghajar, Ynet reported Sunday. A border drawn by the United Nations in 2000 split Ghajar between Lebanon and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israel has occupied all of Ghajar since its 2006 war with Hezbollah
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980625,00.html
Israel to pull out from Lebanon border village
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel is planning to withdraw its troops from part of a disputed village on the Lebanese border and hand over control to a UN peacekeeping force, an official said on Sunday … UNIFIL confirmed it has been pressing Israel to withdraw from northern Ghajar in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah … Northern Ghajar is in Lebanon and the rest lies in the Golan Heights, but Israel took over the Lebanese half during the 2006 war. The villagers of southern Ghajar were Syrian nationals when Israel occupied the region but they took Israeli nationality after the Golan annexation, a move not recognised by the international community. Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar hailed the planned pullout and said it should extend to other areas of dispute along the border.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101107/wl_mideast_afp/israellebanonconflictsyriaunwithdraw
Lieberman: Israel will quit Lebanon town unilaterally due to Hezbollah refusal to cooperate
Netanyahu to inform UN of expected disengagement from disputed border village of Ghajar; FM: We told Netanyahu we could not wait for Lebanese government to comply … The international border between Israel and Lebanon runs through the middle of the village of Ghajar, and according to UN Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War, Israel was required to cease all operations north of the border, with an emphasis on military operations.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/lieberman-israel-will-quit-lebanon-town-unilaterally-due-to-hezbollah-refusal-to-cooperate-1.323414
US deploying drones in Yemen to hunt for Al-Qaeda, has yet to fire missiles
The United States has deployed Predator drones to hunt for al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen for the first time in years but has not fired missiles from the unmanned aircraft because it lacks solid intelligence on the insurgents’ whereabouts, senior U.S. officials said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/06/AR2010110604454.html?wprss=rss_world/mideast
Iran’s middle class to be hard hit as subsidy program is overhauled
TEHRAN – Last year, Tehran’s writers, doctors and small-business owners formed the backbone of a grass-roots opposition movement against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Now these middle-class urbanites feel they’re being singled out by a government plan that will soon cut off state subsidies and boost the prices of a wide array of everyday products. Members of Iran’s middle class are already bearing the brunt of U.S. and European sanctions intended to curtail the country’s nuclear weapons program.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/06/AR2010110603061.html?wprss=rss_world/mideast
Iran suggests new nuclear talks be held in Turkey
FM Mottaki says Tehran informed its ‘friends in Ankara’ it is willing to conduct negotiations with world powers there; adds ‘situation in US after election is boiling’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980785,00.html
‘Black cloud season’ sees rise in health problems
CAIRO (IRIN) — Every year a noxious black smog hangs over Egypt as the seasonal burning of rice straw by farmers begins, and with it comes a surge in allergic reactions and lung infections. The inky haze lasts from October to November;
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331512
Egypt vows to protect Christians after Qaeda threat
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak promised to protect Coptic Christians in the country after Al-Qaeda renewed threats against them, state-run media said Sunday … Last week, the group made threats against Christians, and called for the “release” of two Egyptian women, which it said had converted to Islam and were now being forcibly held by the Coptic church.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=331495
US and other world news
Detainee’s release is put on hold
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An appeals court yesterday [Friday] overturned a judge’s order for the release of a Guantanamo Bay detainee accused of helping Al Qaeda recruit two men who became Sept. 11 hijackers. A lower-court judge had ruled that Mohamedou Ould Salahi should be freed after eight years in the US military prison in Cuba because he was abused by interrogators, which tainted the evidence against him.
http://af.reuters.com/article/mauritaniaNews/idAFN0511003820101105
US to step up military presence across Asia, into Indian Ocean / Hamish Macdonald
THE United States military will store equipment and supplies in Australia as part of a new regional posture to respond faster to natural disasters and other contingencies, and conduct more intensive training with Australian forces. The two militaries will also build a new space-monitoring facility in Western Australia, as previously reported in the Herald, to extend tracking of space activity, including missiles from rogue states like North Korea and orbiting debris.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/11/05-3
Muslim president inaugurates Jewish school
Azerbaijan leader applauded at Jewish education center in Baku, says hopes ‘school’s graduates will be proud Jews and proud Azeri citizens’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980207,00.html
Open season on Muslims in America / Stephen Lendman
More than ever today, Muslims are public enemy number one. Post-9/11, they’ve been ruthlessly vilified and persecuted for their faith, ethnicity, prominence and activism. As a result, innocent men and women have been spuriously called terrorists, or charged with conspiracy to provide them material support.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/11/open-season-on-muslims-in-america.html
