and other news from Today in Palestine for Sunday:
Settlers / Land, property & resource theft and destruction / Ethnic cleansing
Israel bulldozes PA-backed projects
NABLUS — Israeli forces demolished two agricultural projects south of Salfit in the northern West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said … The mayor of the village of Deir Istiyya Nathmi Salman said that Israeli forces raided Wadi Qana area near the village and declared the area a closed military zone. He said crews from the Israeli Civil Administration and the Society for Protecting Nature in Israel arrived with bulldozers which demolished the Wadi Qana rehabilitation project which cost the Palestinian finance ministry 120,000 US dollars. Salman added that a water canal was destroyed and parts of a reservoir and a water network carrying water to orange groves were confiscated. The fence surrounding the project was also removed.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=335662
Israeli bulldozers: demolishing homes, ruining livelihoods / Stella, ISM
26 Nov – In the last few days, with a wave of demolitions, Israeli bulldozers have spread destruction and despair in the villages across the West Bank: in Qarawat Bani Hassan near Salfeet, in al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley, in Hizma, near Jerusalem, in Khirbet Yarza, east of Tubas, and in the South Hebron Hills. Yesterday I went to the village of al-Rifayaia, east of Yatta in South Hebron, where at 8:15 AM Israeli forces had demolished a house that had been home to two families of twenty people (16 of them minors) … The many kids around had disoriented expressions while they were playing on the ruins of what used to be a nice 200 square meter house … The Israeli bulldozers didn’t even let them remove their belongings before demolishing the house.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/11/15879/
Israel mulls rail link to West Bank settlement (AFP)
JERUSALEM — Israel is considering building a rail link to the sprawling Jewish settlement of Ariel, which lies deep inside the occupied West Bank, a transport ministry spokesman told AFP on Friday. The spokesman stressed that it was only one of a number of projects under consideration but the right-wing Maariv daily said three million shekels (800,000 dollars) had been allocated for a feasibility study. The proposed rail line would link the town of Rosh Ha Ayin, east of Tel Aviv, with Ariel and also serve Barkan, another settlement.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101126/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictsettlerrail
Violence / Aggression
Workers shot on Gaza border
28 Nov – Israeli forces shot and injured four Palestinian workers who were collecting stone aggregates Sunday near the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities closed the terminal to all traffic except medical cases.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336617
Gazan rubble collectors shot by Israeli forces
[with photos] 27 Nov – Khalid Ashraf Abosita, 22 years, is in critical condition after being shot by the Israeli Offensive Forces in Beit Hanoun, a city on the north-east edge of the Gaza Strip. He is currently hospitalized in Shifa hospital in Gaza City. At 6 pm, more than three hours after the assault, Khalid was trembling all over his body and was still losing a lot of blood. The bullet hit his left calf, fractured the bone and exited his leg again. According to the hospital doctor he was in an unstable state. Equipped with a horse carriage, Khalid tries to make a living as a scrap collector. He married eight months ago and is trying to establish a family … Like hundreds of men and youth, collecting stones, metal, pieces of concrete, and brick in the border areas–under the eye of Israeli snipers in the control towers–is the only way of making an income. This afternoon Khalid was roughly 500 meters away from the fence when suddenly two shots were fired.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/11/15912
Israeli forces shoot Gaza fisherman at shore
[with photos] 27 Nov – At 12:30 pm, Ahmed Mahmoud Jarboh, aged 26, was shot in the back of the left knee by the Israeli Offensive Forces while fishing at the shore of Beit Lahya, in the north of the Gaza Strip. He is currently hospitalized in Kamal Udwan, in the neighboring town Jabalya, where his condition is being monitored … For over a year Ahmed has daily frequented the same area to fish with a small cast net. Today he and two of his colleagues were fishing from the shore at approximately 350 meters from the border fence. This incident again exemplifies a recent UN report conclusion that the danger zone does not halt at 300 meters: it can reach up to 1.5 kilometers … Ahmed Mahmoud Jarboh marks the tenth victim of IOF buffer zone aggression in four weeks.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/11/15906
PA: Female prisoner of Israel beaten in custody
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The PA Ministry of Prisoners Affairs released a report Saturday alleging that a Palestinian woman in Israeli custody was brutally beaten in the Ramle prison after she refused to submit to a strip search. Twenty-two-year-old Sumoud Hasan Karaja, from the central West Bank village of Saffa, was transferred from Israel’s Damon prison to the Ramle facility on 8 November
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336345
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Police exonerate Israeli officers who shot tear gas canister into US activist’s eye
Art student Emily Henochowicz lost her eye during a protest against the IDF raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in late May — The Judea and Samaria district police found no criminal wrongdoing in the actions of the Border Police soldiers who left an American art student without an eye after getting hit in the face with a tear gas canister at a protest in Qalandiyah six months ago … Following the incident, Henochowicz’s family filed a complaint to the Judea and Samaria district police which is responsible for investigating the operational activity of the Border Police in the West Bank. The family argued the policeman shot the canister directly at the student, against regulations.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/police-exonerate-israeli-officers-who-shot-tear-gas-canister-into-u-s-activist-s-eye-1.327266
Activism roundup: Abu Rahme sentence extended, students stage mock checkpoint
Meanwhile, in the United States, South Africa, Scotland and England, solidarity activists continue to put pressure on the Israeli government while calling attention to the ongoing struggle for justice on the ground in Palestine.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11642.shtml
French firm drops out of rail project
Pressure from pro-Palestinian groups has forced a French multinational to drop out of a light rail project that cuts into disputed east Jerusalem, a would-be Israeli partner in the project said Sunday. France’s Veolia disputed the assertion, which would bolster an international campaign to boycott companies supporting Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Palestinians claim both areas for part of their future state.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3991032,00.html
Retaliation
Army: Gaza rocket hits Israel, no casualties
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into southern Israel on Sunday but caused no casualties or damage, the Israeli army said. The rocket exploded in mid-air as it headed towards the Shaar HaNegev region of southern Israel which lies along Gaza’s northeastern border, a spokesman said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336634
Israel army admits to false alarm on Gaza rocket
28 Nov 17:48 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — The Israeli army said its report of a rocket being fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Sunday appeared to have been a false alarm.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336819
Siege / Restriction on movement
[2 truckloads of] strawberries to be exported from Gaza
The Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, which is usually partly open every day in one direction, will operate in two directions Sunday after European countries convinced Israeli authorities to allow exports of strawberries from Gaza … Israeli authorities will open the Kerem Shalom crossing Sunday to allow entry of 150-160 truckloads of goods and humanitarian aid for the agricultural and the commercial sectors, Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said. Fattouh said two truckloads of strawberries would be exported for the first time in 2010. Limited quantities of domestic-use gas and industrial diesel will also be delivered to Gaza through the same terminal,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336559
18 European lawmakers arrive in Gaza
Eighteen European politicians arrived in Gaza on Friday evening to meet with Hamas lawmakers. The European delegation entered Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Egypt’s border. Crossings officials said the visit was coordinated by UNRWA’s Gaza office.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336397
War criminals
Leftists: Naveh involved in ‘illegal killings’
Shulamit Aloni, Nathan Zach and others object appointment of new IDF deputy chief of staff, claiming he’s ‘not morally suitable’. In High Court petition, they accuse him of illegal targeted killings while serving as central command chief … The petitioners claimed that debriefings published in the past based on IDF files’ findings state that Naveh, as well as other IDF officials, allegedly confirmed the assassinations and targeted killings of wanted persons, who could have otherwise been arrested, even though their killing cost the lives of innocent people.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3990817,00.html
Britain to act against arrest warrants targeting Israeli officials
The Jewish Chronicle reported that the United Kingdom will be taking measures meant to prevent British courts from issuing arrest warrants against Israeli military and political leaders accused of committing war crimes.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60028
IDF officers get photo of dead child
‘How will you explain this to God?’ says letter sent from Spain to homes of officers exposed on ‘war criminals’ website. ‘I’ve gotten used to curses, but when such a thing arrives at your doorstep, it’s very unpleasant,’ reserve colonel tells Ynet … The poster includes a picture of a young child buried in the sand. His head is the only thing sticking out and he appears to be dead. [This was four-year-old Kaukab Al Dayah (female), killed in her house in Gaza City, bombed by an F-16 on 6 Jan 2009 during ‘Cast Lead’. Is it possible that Israelis, not to mention Israeli journalists, have never seen this photo? Most of the rest of the world has.]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3990611,00.html
Israel’s Arab helpers
Israel army’s West Bank presence ‘lowest in 20 years’ (AFP)
The number of Israeli troops operating in the occupied West Bank is at its lowest level in more than 20 years, a military source said on Sunday … However, there has been no reduction in the number of troops dedicated to surveillance, intelligence gathering and special operations, the source added. The army declined to comment on troop numbers. However, army spokesman Captain Arye Shalicar did say the West Bank was at its most stable since the outbreak of the second intifada due to “better coordination between the Palestinian Security Forces” and the Israeli military.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101128/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictmilitary
Israeli racism and discrimination
Israel’s cabinet approves building detention center for African infiltrators
Netanyahu clarifies that only infiltrators, not ‘refugees of war’, will be detained, says Israeli jobs and society under threat — Israel’s cabinet approved Sunday a plan to hold and deport thousands of illegal migrant workers whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “threat to the character of the country”. In remarks to the cabinet, Netanyahu said thousands of migrants who have entered Israel mainly through Egypt in past years would be housed at a special holding facility, due to built in Israel’s southern Negev desert … Israeli officials have yet to say exactly how many migrants would be sent to the facility, expected to be built at or near the site of a former prison camp for Palestinians deep in the desert.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-s-cabinet-approves-building-detention-center-for-african-infiltrators-1.327362
Rights groups: Planned refugees detention center disgraces Israel
A cabinet decision on Sunday approving a plan to hold and deport thousands of illegal migrant workers drew the ire of rights groups, who called the plan a disgrace on the State of Israel and said such a move would do nothing to halt the stream of infiltrators crossing over from Sinai … Responding to Netanyahu’s plan later Sunday, Physicians for Human Rights severely criticized the cabinet’s decision: “That victims of torture, rape, war and genocide are to be imprisoned indefinitely, without the supervision of a judicial authority and against the international treaty on the protection of refugees is a stain of shame on the State of Israel.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/rights-groups-planned-refugees-detention-center-disgraces-israel-1.327412
PM: Refugees threatening Israelis’ jobs
Netanyahu says Israel must create ‘humane response’ for African infiltrators ‘until they are removed from the country’. Detention facilities exist in European countries as well, he claims
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3990776,00.html
Infiltrators’ detention facility ‘a ghetto’
Foreign workers panic as government prepares to approve new Negev facility. ‘It’s like a refugee camp for forced and unlimited detention,’ says aid organization official
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3990663,00.html
foreigners???
Rabbi okays renting apartments to Arabs
Following rabbinical ruling against renting out flats to Arabs or migrant workers, head of Petah Tikva hesder yeshiva says ‘Jewish sovereignty cannot exist without caring for foreigners living among us’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3990204,00.html
Political and diplomatic news
Hamas: Palestinians must resist against Israel in West Bank (Reuters)
Khaled Meshal says only armed resistance would keep the Palestinian cause alive, despite Western aid to Abbas and his forces. Hamas leader Khaled Meshal said on Saturday that his group faced “huge challenges” in the West Bank as a force against Israel. Armed struggle has a powerful appeal among the inhabitants of the occupied territory, where the rival Fatah faction has been extending influence since a civil war with Hamas in 2007, Meshal told a conference in the Syrian capital … Meshal, who lives in exile in Syria, said only armed resistance would keep the Palestinian cause alive, despite Western aid to Abbas and his forces.”The Palestinian people will not be bribed. They will not be cowed by Dayton’s forces,” he said, referring to Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian territories, who heads training of 8,000 members at the core of the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatus.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-palestinians-must-resist-against-israel-in-west-bank-1.327237
Wulff: Germany ‘responsible’ for Israeli security
…”Germany considers that it has a responsibility concerning Israel’s right to exist and to security,” said Wulff, Germany’s first head of state to be born after World War II. He stressed, however, that Israel’s long-term security can only be guaranteed through peace based on an independent Palestinian nation living side by side with Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336745
Indian president backs Syria’s claim on the Golan Heights
Indian President Pratibha Patil said that India fully supported the return of the Golan Heights to Syria during a joint press conference with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Israel Radio reported Saturday.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/indian-president-backs-syria-s-claim-on-the-golan-heights-1.327233
Turkish bill bans Israelis from owning land
A bill being formulated in Turkey stipulates that Israelis will no longer be able to buy land in the country, though they will be able to continue renting apartments, the Turkish Milliyet reported Sunday … while all of the world’s citizens will be able to purchase land by presenting a passport, only those with an Israeli or Greek passport will be barred from having the pleasure.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3991055,00.html
Other news
17 Palestinians injured in traffic accident
A traffic accident injured 17 Palestinians Saturday when a vehicle pursued by the Israeli military crashed near Bethlehem, medics said. Bethlehem emergency services head Abed Al-Ja’afri said the vehicle was headed toward Israel when it flipped over near the Israeli settlement Betar Illit. The vehicle was carrying Palestinian workers, he said, and the injured were transferred in Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances to three hospitals in Bethlehem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336492
Soldiers ‘confiscate shirt’ from Palestinian
…Nader Rezeq Dweikat said he was walking near his home in Beta village to get fuel for his tractor when three soldiers in a military jeep stopped him. “Initially I thought they wanted to check my identity card, but they said ‘We do not want your ID card, just take off your shirt.’ I thought I misunderstood, but they repeated their order, ‘Take off your shirt,’ and I did so under force, they seized my shirt and immediately left the area, they didn’t ask me about anything else,” he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336811
Israeli army says increase in Bedouin recruits
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — The number of Bedouins joining the Israeli army has doubled since 2007, Israel Radio reported Saturday. Colonel Yosi Haddad told the national radio station that 1,100 Bedouins are currently in service to the army, and half of these recruits are from southern Israel … Haddad told Israel Radio that Bedouin soldiers were treated equally, and that there was even some positive bias toward them. However, he admitted that they face problems in society once they finish military service.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336422
IDF converts win ministerial backing, despite haredi opposition
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved Sunday a bill to protect the religious status of Israel Defense Forces soldiers who converted to Judaism through a military court.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/idf-converts-win-ministerial-backing-despite-haredi-opposition-1.327390
Ministers pledge to endorse expat bill
Prime Minister’s Office likely to try and postpone debate on bill enabling Israeli citizens residing abroad to vote in Knesset elections which is scheduled to be discussed by Ministerial Committee on Legislative Affairs
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3990584,00.html
Analysis / Opinion
Israel can’t put occupation up for immoral referendum / Gideon Levy
Israeli democracy at its best: The entire people will decide on the next peace arrangement, but not on the question of settlements and annexation, and not on the question of wars. Israeli trickery at its best: Legislators pass laws relating to the day an arrangement is forged whose point is to defer that day’s arrival for as long as possible. And Israeli morality at its best: A manifestly immoral question is formulated for a referendum, and insult is added to injury because only we Israelis, members of the chosen people, will decide on the fate of another people which has for generations lived under occupation, and we dare to call all this tomfoolery democracy. In fact, this is Israeli chutzpah at its worst.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-can-t-put-occupation-up-for-immoral-referendum-1.327291
Thanksgiving, tikkun olam and US Jews breaking the Israel barrier / Bradley Burston
…it’s in the direct interest of pro-settlement and right-leaning forces in the U.S. Jewish community to have an Israeli government which alienates and repels as many young, energetic, moderate American Jews as possible. It’s in the direct interest of the powerful minority of pro-occupation, pro-settlement (let’s call them POPS) activists and communal officials, along with a Sharansky-driven Jewish Agency and a Lieberman-driven Foreign Ministry, to have these voices of conscience out of the way. For the pro-occupation, pro-settlement American Jewish right, it’s not a problem that most Jews find the settlement enterprise repellent – it’s a godsend.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/thanksgiving-tikkun-olam-and-u-s-jews-breaking-the-israel-barrier-1.326087
The original sin / Uri Avnery
…Jewish religion, as fostered in Israel. It does not resemble the Judaism which existed in the Diaspora – neither the Orthodox nor the Reform model. It must be said: the Jewish religion in Israel is a mutation of Judaism, a tribal, racist, extreme nationalist and anti-democratic creed. There are now three religious educational systems – the national-religious, the “independent” one of the Orthodox, and “el-Hama’ayan (“to the source”) of Shas. All three are financed by the state at least 100%, if not much more. The differences between them are small, compared to their similarities. All teach their pupils the history of the Jewish people only (based, of course, on the religious myths), nothing about the history of the world, of other peoples, not to mention other religions.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1290871909/
Left standing: Signs of life in Israel’s peace camp / Shay Fogelman
Armed with self-confidence and ambition, Eldad Yaniv, a lawyer and former adviser to Ehud Barak, is promoting his idea of what Israel’s left should look like. He says he has no private political aspirations, but believes his National Left movement is just what the country needs. Others beg to differ
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/left-standing-signs-of-life-in-israel-s-peace-camp-1.327008
Iraq
Saturday: 8 Iraqis killed, 7 wounded
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki insisted today that Iraq has no need of continued U.S. presence after 2011. Nevertheless, at least eight Iraqis were killed and seven more were wounded in light violence. Meanwhile, Iraqi refugees who have returned to unacceptable conditions are again leaving the country. Christians in particular are fleeing to Turkey.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/11/27/saturday-8-iraqis-killed-6-wounded/
US troops in convoy kill Iraqi civilian driver (AP)
BAGHDAD — U.S. troops who thought they were under attack killed an Iraqi airport employee Sunday as he drove near a military convoy on his way to work, officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101128/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
Iraq’s troubles drive out refugees who came back
BAGHDAD — A second exodus has begun here, of Iraqis who returned after fleeing the carnage of the height of the war, but now find that violence and the nation’s severe lack of jobs are pulling them away from home once again. Since the American invasion in 2003, refugees have been a measure of the country’s precarious condition, flooding outward during periods of violence and trickling back as Iraq seemed to stabilize. This new migration shows how far the nation remains from being stable and secure.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/world/middleeast/27refugees.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all
Twelve arrested over deadly Baghdad church siege
Jawad Bolani said the arrests were made in raids over recent days and described them as a blow to al-Qaeda. The suspects are said to include Huthaifa al-Batawi, the Baghdad chief of the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni militant umbrella group to which al-Qaeda in Iraq belongs, according to AFP news agency. The group has said it carried out the attack.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11853451
Afghanistan
Talking to the Taliban about life after occupation / Ghaith Abdul-Ahad
Special report: In the last of his series from Afghanistan, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad asks Taliban leaders past and present what kind of regime they would run – and whether there is a chance of negotiated peace … In a striking parallel with what the Americans have been advocating as part of their counterinsurgency initiative, the Haqqanis have set up local shura (consultation) councils made up of village elders and clerics to run the affairs of villagers in the “liberated” areas and create local security.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/26/taliban-afghanistan-occupation
Afghanistan war: US says violence reaches all-time high
Violence in Afghanistan has reached an all-time high, with clashes up fourfold since 2007, the Pentagon has said … Approximately 97,000 US troops and 48,800 troops from other countries are in Afghanistan at present.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11825294
US Marines shrug off Afghan anger at civilians’ killings / Jason Ditz
Most complaints in Sangin district not even investigated — As Taliban leadership admonish their fighters to avoid civilian deaths, locals in the Sangin District of Afghanistan’s Helmand Province are increasingly angry, complaining that the US Marines who recently took over the district have been regularly killing the civilians and refusing to investigate. The US denies the allegation of the killings, but admitted that they don’t bother to investigate the vast majority of the complaints because they assume them to be “Taliban propaganda.” The commander of the Marines is the district says that the Taliban are to blame for “every single instance” of a civilian casualty in the district.
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/11/26/us-marines-shrug-off-afghan-complaints-of-civilian-killings/
US General McChrystal approved peace talks with fake Taliban leader
*American Nato commander asked MI6 to develop contacts *News contradicts Hamid Karzai’s attempt to put blame on UK — Peace talks conducted with an impostor who posed as a Taliban leader, and which led to a meeting with Hamid Karzai in Kabul and thousands of dollars in “goodwill payments”, were started by the Afghan government and approved by the former American commander, Stanley McChrystal, the Guardian has learned.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/26/us-general-mcchrystal-taliban-impostor
An overeager Petraeus ignored danger signs on Taliban imposter / Gareth Porter
IPS — The revelation that the man presumed to be a high-ranking Taliban leader who had met with top Afghan officials was an imposter sheds new light on Gen. David Petraeus’s aggressive propaganda about the supposed Taliban approach to the Hamid Karzai regime.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/11/an-overeager-petraeus-ignored-danger-signs-on-taliban-imposter/
Lebanon and other Mideast
Hezbollah: Evidence held by Hariri court is worthless (AP)
Nasrallah reiterates claim that Israel manipulated Lebanon’s telecommunications network to frame Hezbollah for 2005 murder of Rafik Hariri.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/hezbollah-evidence-held-by-hariri-court-is-worthless-1.327426
War in Lebanon depends on Israel / Zvi Bar’el
Israel and Egypt are probably the only two countries in the region eager to see how the international tribunal will indict Hezbollah and its secretary general. The hell with Lebanon, as long as it’s possible to condemn Nasrallah once again. Let justice see the light, despite the cost. We’ll be ready. As always. After all, the forum of seven has already discussed, recommended and approved an Israeli response if Hezbollah launches even a single small missile. Four summers have passed without war in Lebanon. Prophecies are not coming true. The situation is intolerable. Maybe this time we’ll succeed; maybe the Hariri trial will rescue Israel from the corner it has painted itself into.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/war-in-lebanon-depends-on-israel-1.327290
Lebanese premier arrives in Iran
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri arrived in Iran on Saturday, seeking its help to prevent political tensions turning violent if a U.N.-backed tribunal indicts Hezbollah members for killing his father.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101127/wl_nm/us_iran_lebanon_hariri
Ex-Israel PM doesn’t deny Israeli air strike on Syria (AP)
JERUSALEM – Israel’s former prime minister said Thursday that he can’t deny ex-President George W. Bush’s claim in a new book that Israel destroyed a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria. It was Ehud Olmert’s first public comment on the mysterious September 2007 incident, which happened while he was in office.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101125/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_syria
Iran offers Hariri to help Lebanese military
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi on Sunday told Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri that Tehran was prepared to help the Lebanese army, state television’s website reported. “We have stated on several occasions, and we say it again today, that we stand alongside the Lebanese army and are prepared to cooperate” with it, Vahidi said during a meeting with the visiting premier, the report said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336752
Iran: Bushehr nuclear power plant has been fueled up (AP)
‘We hope the Bushehr power plant will be connected to the country’s national power grid within the next one or two months,’ says Iranian vice president.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/iran-bushehr-nuclear-power-plant-has-been-fueled-up-1.327215
Voting begins in Egypt parliamentary election
Egyptian government aiming to squeeze Islamist Muslim Brotherhood out of parliament before presidential vote in 2011; meanwhile, opposition candidates complain of fraud in polls.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/voting-begins-in-egypt-parliamentary-election-1.327334
Islam is the Solution / Ashraf Ezzat
The streets are crammed with banners and posters everywhere advertising different candidates for the coming Egyptian parliamentary elections due on next Sunday 28th, November. The banners and posters carry photos and names of candidates and often a slogan that summarizes the candidate’s plan of action if he is to be elected. For anyone who didn’t know better this might seem as the sign of a fierce and free democratic competition between candidates of different political parties, but frankly it isn’t; this whole show is a one party show disguised in a make-believe democracy. The national Democratic Party (NDP) is the ruling party headed by Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt for almost a world record of 30 long years.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/11/islam-is-the-solution/
Egyptians shrug off voting in Alexandria (AFP)
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AFP) – It’s a hazy Sunday in Egypt’s northern city of Alexandria, a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold, where many residents are ignoring the elections as they go about their daily chores … Voter apathy is rife across Alexandria, Egypt’s second city, with low turnout as many see Sunday’s election as a foregone conclusion that will help the ruling National Democratic Party tighten its grip … The Brotherhood, outlawed but tolerated, is fielding 130 candidates across the country … The group, which has seen at least 1,000 of its supporters detained in the past two months and a dozen of its candidates disqualified, is predicted to win far fewer seats than the fifth it secured in 2005 legislative polls.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336735
Son of Egypt election candidate stabbed to death (AFP)
The son of an independent candidate in Egypt’s parliamentary election was stabbed to death on the eve of the vote as he was putting up posters of his father in Cairo, relatives and a medic said Sunday … A Palestinian boy was shot and injured a day earlier after soldiers opened fire on a group of men collecting stone aggregates in the same area along the border. Medics said his injuries were moderate.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336669
Muslim Brotherhood threatens to sever Israel ties
Egypt’s Opposition leader says ‘illicit marriage with Tel Aviv’ will be scrapped if elections won … ”Leaders of the regime know that if we rise to power we will change many aspects of its policy, first and foremost relations with Israel, which have contributed significantly to the maladies that have ailed us,” Badie said. “We will not allow the Palestinians to die of hunger and close the door on them while opening it to Israelis who can enter Sinai whenever they so choose.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3990446,00.html
U.S. and other world news
WikiLeaks says it is under cyber attack
LONDON (AFP) — WikiLeaks said Sunday it was under a cyber attack but stressed this would not stop the publication of classified US documents, in a message on Twitter. “We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack,” the whistle-blower website said in a statement on its Twitter feed, just hours before an expected mass release of the documents. But it insisted that the Spanish, French, German, British and US newspapers that were planning to publish the information later Sunday would go ahead, in the face of strong opposition from the United States. “El Pais, Le Monde, Spiegel, Guardian and NYT (the New York Times) will publish many US embassy cables tonight, even if WikiLeaks goes down,” it said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336882
US warns WikiLeaks’ Assange on possible leak
The US has written to the founder of whistleblower site Wikileaks, Julian Assange, requesting him not to release a cache of diplomatic files. The release of classified state department documents is against US law and will put “countless” lives at risk, the letter warns.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11856122
Netanyahu: Israel will not stand at center of new WikiLeaks report
Material concerning Israel will not be the focal point of a new exposé by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, as Israel and the United States tensely awaited the imminent release of American classified diplomatic cables expected to include secret communiques between the two countries. “Israel is not the center of international attention,” the premier said, adding that Jerusalem had not “been updated by the Americans about specific sensitive materials to be disclosed regarding Israel.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-israel-will-not-stand-at-center-of-new-wikileaks-report-1.327416
US briefed Palestinians on WikiLeaks cache
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The United States has informed the Palestinian government in Ramallah that some of the hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables set for release by the whistle-blowing group WikiLeaks will deal with US-Palestinian relations. Washington’s message, delivered by phone to the Office of the President a few days in advance of the scheduled release, was quick and to the point: Don’t overreact.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=336864
Book: Suicide bombers and what makes them tick / Arshad M. Khan
Chalmers Johnson died last Saturday. An intellectual stalwart and a powerhouse in political economy, he will be sorely missed. He was ever the pragmatist — first, when he realized its futility, turning against the Vietnam war … His views of the causes of terrorism also come to mind as the empirical analysis in a new book, Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It (University of Chicago Press, 2010) by Robert A. Pape and James K. Feldman, validates his thinking … So what fuels such terrorism? The media would have us believe it is religious extremism … But Pape and Feldman, after exhaustive research into 30 years of data, conclude otherwise; instead they contend the evidence places the blame squarely on foreign occupation. The principal objective of the terrorist, it seems, has always been to compel a democracy to withdraw from prized land.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/11/suicide-bombers-and-what-makes-them-tick/
