And more news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Lieberman: ‘There won’t be another building moratorium’
During visit to Golan Heights foreign minister adamant that Israel will not be pressured, says pressure must be put on Palestinians.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194907
Israeli military invades Palestinian village after Israeli Settlers attack family
On Thursday morning, in Tiqua village, near Bethlehem, a Palestinian family was attacked by Israeli settlers, which led to a clash between the residents of the village and Israeli forces.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59890
Jewish settlers release waste water on farmlands in Bethlehem
Residents of Bethlehem village said Jews from Beitar settlement recently released waste water on Arab farmlands causing heavy losses and health concerns.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7
Jewish settler attack two little girls and an elderly woman south of Bethlehem
Two little girls, aged 10 and 11, and an elderly woman were wounded south of Bethlehem city on Thursday morning when an armed Jewish settler from Tekoa settlement savagely threw stones at them.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k
Troops, settlers clash at outpost
Forces enter yeshiva, violently arrest 15-year-old as video cameras capture their every move.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3983394,00.html
The Public Face of Settlers, Palestine Monitor
David Ha’ivri of the Shomron Council is the public face of settlers in the West Bank. A regular on the BBC and CNN his well-spoken and calm demeanour masks a fierce belief in extremist Zionism.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1608
Green extremism threatens Israel’s future in the Negev
Bedouin advocacy organizations and academics, especially from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, are stirring up opposition to Jewish settlement in the Negev for political reasons.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/green-extremism-threatens-israel-s-future-in-the-negev-1.324083?localLinksEnabled=false
Barghouti: Settlements assasinated peace process
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian land has destroyed the peace process, Palestinian National Initiative chief Mustafa Barghouthi said on Thursday. In a statement the former information minister equated Israel’s theft of Palestinian land is to the actions of “highway robbers and bandits.” He also said that Israeli authorities encourage settlers to move into West Bank settlements, proving that they are “occupation authorities.” “These settlements assassinated the peace process,” the statement said. He argued that there is no need to negotiate with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333068
Jackson Diehl’s Settlement Delusion, Alex Kane
Weeks after an awful October 18 column in the Washington Post which argued that it was President Barack Obama’s fault that the “peace process” is faltering because “insisting on an Israeli freeze” created a “near-insuperable obstacle to the peace process,” neoconservative Jackson Diehl is at it again. This time, he penned a column that similarly claimed that it was “Obama who first turned the settlement issue from a minor to a major one.”
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/jackson-diehls-settlement-delusion/
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Israel raids Bil’in 5 times in 4 days
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces entered the central West Bank village of Bil’in on Thursday, residents said, and briefly detained a young boy after firing rubber-coated bullets in the air. According to locals, the noontime raid was the fifth in four days. Most of the incursions into the village, reports said, involved home searches, rubber bullets and intimidation. An Israeli military spokesman said he was unaware of the latest reported incident. Villagers said two jeeps entered the residential area shortly after 12:30, and chased several young boys who threw rocks at the vehicle, launching tear gas and rubber-coated bullets at the kids. Video here.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333110
Crushing Palestinian non-violent resistance in Bil’in, Joseph Dana
Over the past three days, the small West Bank village of Bil’in has been hit by wave after wave of violent night incursions by the Israeli army. These incursions have disrupted the lives of the farmer population of Bil’in and resulted in blanket of arrests of Palestinians involved in the weekly non-violent and unarmed demonstrations against the placement of Israel’s separation wall in the middle of the village, resulting in the almost complete disconnection between the village and its farmland. The incursions are a part of the Israeli strategy of crushing all non-violent resistance in the West Bank and targeting villages engaged in non-violent resistance for collective punishment. The leaders of the Bil’in popular committee against the wall have recently been given long jail sentences in the occupation legal system. What we are seeing with these Israeli actions is the slow dismantling of Palestinian non-violent resistance and the crushing of individual Palestinian Gandhi’s on a daily basis.
http://josephdana.com/2010/11/the-military-repression-of-non-violent-palestinian-resistance-cripples-the-west-bank-village-of-bilin/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-military-repression-of-non-violent-palestinian-resistance-cripples-the-west-bank-village-of-bilin
We would not have had to interrupt Netanyahu if the world listened to Palestinian voices, Emily Ratner
There’s no getting around it: What we did during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech was shockingly rude. We interrupted a head of state, repeatedly, shouting from the tops of chairs into a darkened hall of largely like-minded people, who most likely thought their space was safe from the ever-increasing disruptions of “Israel’s delegitimizers,” as some would call us. Worse still, we did this in my community. Neighbors, co-workers, professors, and fellow students were in attendance, or they’re otherwise finding out what we’ve done. My cheeks are still burning at the thought of what’s to come. And, of course, there’s family. Family. Family.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/we-would-not-have-had-to-interrupt-netenyahu-if-the-world-listened-to-palestinian-voices.html
Activism roundup: Netanyahu disrupters tell of “mob mentality”
Activists successfully disrupted a New Orleans speech given by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, Massachusetts voters said yes to equal rights for Palestinian citizens of Israel, Ireland saw the launch of a campaign focusing on Israeli “blood diamonds” and Australia held its first national BDS conference.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11620.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Young Jewish activists attract positive press for anti-occupation message / Wendy Elisheva Somerson
The five young Jewish activists who disrupted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech in New Orleans earlier this week shouted familiar criticisms of the Occupation. What was unexpected and new was the way the U.S. and Israeli media portrayed the protest, seeming to hear the critiques with fresh ears and unusual sympathy.
http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2010/11/11/young-jewish-activists-attract-positive-press-for-anti-occupation-message /
An open letter to participants in the Arava Institute’s online event “With Earth and Each Other”
Dear Participants in “With Earth and Each Other,” We are writing because we’ve uncovered very troubling new information to add to the information that we have already publicized[1] about Israel’s Arava Institute for Environmental Studies[2] and the online event “With Earth and Each Other: A Rally for a Better Middle East.”[3] We fully understand that many of you are participating in the event from a sincere desire to build “a better Middle East.” Unfortunately, it has become increasingly clear to us that supporting the Arava Institute and this event will actually damage the causes of justice and peace in the Middle East because Arava is a close and seemingly uncritical partner with right-wing institutions that continue to dispossess Palestinians from their homes and communities. Any efforts by Arava and the November 14th event to foster dialogue and improve the environment are just minor sideshows to the larger projects of Palestinian dispossession implemented by Jewish National Fund[4] and the Israeli government that Arava is serving to legitimize. Therefore, the best action that you can take to help create a better Middle East is to withdraw from this event.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/an-open-letter-to-participants-in-the-arava-institute%e2%80%99s-online-event-%e2%80%9cwith-earth-and-each-other%e2%80%9d.html
Siege/Humanitarian Issues/Rights Violations/Restriction of Movement
Gaza aid shipment off course after row with captain (Reuters)
Reuters – Workers trying to take aid by sea from Libya to Gaza are being held by the ship’s captain against their will along with Libyan police officers, and heading for Greece, their charity and the Libyan coast guard said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101111/wl_nm/us_britain_libya_ship
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (04.- 10 Nov. 2010)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/VDUX-8B4UBB?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
WHO: MONTHLY REPORT Referral of Patients from the Gaza Strip October 2010, Summary for October 2010
– A two-year-old girl suffering from leukemia died while waiting for an urgent referral to an Israeli hospital. Since January 2009 a total of 33 patients have died while waiting to access hospitals outside Gaza.
– The percentage of approved patient applications to cross Erez (76.2%) was the lowest in three months.
– 211 patients (21.6%) had their applications to cross Erez delayed. This is the third highest rate in 2010.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/JALR-8B4KL8?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
PA: Israel closes crossing, stranding 500 travelers
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities suddenly shut down the Allenby Bridge border crossing on Thursday, stranding some 500 Palestinian travelers on the West Bank side of the crossing to Jordan, officials said. Palestinian Authority officials said the closure was a violation of an agreement dictating that the crossing point is to operate until 9 PM every day except Fridays and Saturdays.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333206
Refugees
Overdue Accounting: Palestinian Forced Displacement from Kuwait, Toufic Haddad
The story of the Palestinian experience in Kuwait is a microcosm of the Palestinian experience overall in all its tragic footnotes. Yet the truth of what took place there – from the Palestinian experience of playing a formative role in the building this fledgling Arab state, to the ultimate moment the Palestinian community was cruelly forced out – is hardly a well-studied affair. Indeed, in researching this article, only a handful of scholarly articles in English on the subject were found. Of these, many lacked a sense for ‘the bigger picture’ of what was at stake, attempting to isolate these events from the historical and political processes and ideas which frame them, and deepen the signification of the expulsion of Palestinians from Kuwait.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16412
Racism/Discrimination/Israeli Injustice System
Migrant workers’ children win respite against deportation
Court halts the expulsion of 12 kids of foreign workers until their cases can be examined individually.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/migrant-workers-children-win-respite-against-deportation-1.324245?localLinksEnabled=false
When Israeli Police Become Criminals, Who Protects Citizens?
In this blog, I focus less on purely internal Israeli politics and more on the bigger picture of Israeli democracy and relations with its Palestinian minority and the Occupation. But Eyal Clyne has written a riveting, tremendously comprehensive report on a massive pattern of corruption and violence by the police against the entire Israeli public. The culture of brutality exhibited by the Israeli police can only flourish in a nation obsessed, as Israel is, by security. It can only flourish in a nation which had made a Faustian bargain with the police and security forces: protect us and we will allow you anything.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/11/10/when-israeli-police-become-criminals-who-protects-citizens/
Growing Fascism in Israel, Stephen Lendman
Disturbing signs are ominous. On November 8, Israel demolished and ransacked a Negev Bedouin Arab mosque in Rahat, removing it for Jewish development. Professor Yousef Salamah called it “a criminal act,” done on the pretext that it was unlicensed. “These are not new acts but were preceded by many incidents and attacks, when the Israeli authorities demolished dozens of mosques inside Israel, turning some into museums, barns, restaurants, synagogues and parking lots.”
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16410
Checkpoint Stabbing Trial Descends Into Farce, Palestine Monitor
The state has charged Karajeh with attempted murder, while her defence argues that Karajeh only attacked the soldier after being harassed by several soldiers, ordering her to give her Quran to them. Karajeh refused their demand because it would have been harram (forbidden) for her to give them the holy book. Yesterday’s trial focused on the police’s mishandling of evidence. Protocol requires that written documentation accompany every piece of evidence, describing any transfer or treatment of all items. After Karajeh stabbed the soldier, she was immediately detained and all items on her body and present at the scene were taken in as evidence. However, written documentation of evidence only began on November 3, 2009, signifying that nearly a week lapsed before proper records were kept. Hassan stated, “The evidence is weak because it is incomplete.”
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1609
Violence & Aggression
Israeli military helicopters, tanks shell Palestinian house in southern Gaza
Israeli army choppers and tanks shelled a Palestinian house in Abasan Al-Jadida east of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, on Thursday, local sources reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Israel army raids Jenin-area town
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Shooting and firing tear gas, Israeli soldiers raided the town of Jaba, near Jenin in the northern West Bank on Thursday evening, residents said. Residents of the town barricaded streets in the village and threw stones at the invading soldiers, residents also said. The reason for the incursion was unclear.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333186
Detainees
Prisoner Speaks Out From Israeli Jail, Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH, Palestine – Samer Hamdan*, a 26-year-old Palestinian prisoner, recalls being beaten until he bled. Seeing other prisoners covered in blood and screaming is the norm in the Israeli prison, he says. Hamdan is serving a nine-year sentence in Ketziot prison in the Negev desert for membership of an “illegal organization”.
http://original.antiwar.com/frykberg/2010/11/11/prisoner-speaks-out-from-israeli-jail/
Israel releases professor after 3 years’ imprisonment
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israel released from prison on Thursday a Palestinian university professor from the West Bank city of Nablus, a local prisoners’ association said. Ahrar for Prisoners’ Studies and Human Rights said that the Israeli prison authority freed professor Ghaasan Thuqan. The director of the center, Fuad Al-Khufash, said professor Thuqan, 52, had been held in administrative detention, without charge, for three years.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333127
War Criminals
Video shows Israeli soldiers cheering destruction in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli soldiers appear on camera cheering on the destruction of Palestinian houses in Gaza in a video that surfaced Thursday. The video, shot with a mobile phone during Israel’s winter attack on Gaza, shows soldiers laughing and exclaiming as they witness a series of explosions destroying three Palestinian houses. Sporadic gunfire is heard in the background.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333227
Video shows Israeli soldiers celebrating the demolition of houses in Gaza. Adam Horowitz
The video above was posted to YouTube by Assaf Kintzer, an Israeli activist with Anarchists Against the Wall. The caption reads, “IOF soldiers celebrating the destruction of houses in Gaza during ‘Cast Lead’.” Kintzer says the video, which was shot using a mobile phone, was sent to him by an anonymous Israeli soldier who served in Gaza.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/video-shows-israeli-soldiers-celebrating-the-demolition-of-houses-in-gaza.html
Fatah
Palestinian held for Facebook criticism of Islam (AP)
AP – A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_facebook_atheist
Abbas vows to walk in Arafat’s footsteps to Palestine
In Gaza, Hamas bans and disrupts events marking sixth anniversary of former leader’s death; PA president speaks at rally marking Arafat’s death.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=195026&R=R3
MESS Report / Fragile Palestinian unity threatened by Fatah split
President Abbas faces challenges from Fatah inner circle just as ruling movement seems ascendant once again.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/mess-report-fragile-palestinian-unity-threatened-by-fatah-split-1.324238
Hamas
Gaza security forces release 30 detained at Arafat events
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas-allied security forces have released 30 people two hours after arresting them at an event in Gaza commemorating the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a local rights group said. The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights confirmed in a statement in Arabic that security forces had detained the Fatah supporters at an event at the home of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Ashraf Juma’a in Rafah.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333160
Hamas and the Peace Process: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?
Khalid Mishal, the head of Hamas’ political wing, announced in an interview with Newsweek on October 14, 2010 that “there is a position and program that all Palestinians share. To accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as the capital. With the right of return. And this state would have real sovereignty on the land and on the borders. And with no settlements.” Mishal added that Hamas would accept any agreement with the Israelis upon which the majority of Palestinians agreed, before going on to say that “the American administration should hear from us directly.”
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/arb/?fa=show&article=41916
Arab Helpers
Report: Egypt rounds up terror cell plotting attacks on Israel
At least 25 arrested in latest in a series of raids against Islamist groups operating in Sinai Peninsula.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-egypt-rounds-up-terror-cell-plotting-attacks-on-israel-1.324202?localLinksEnabled=false
Bush: Mubarak Informed US that Iraq Had Biological Weapons
Former U.S. President George W. Bush says Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak informed the U.S. that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He also spoke of other people who had influence on his decision to invade Iraq.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Bush-Says-Egypts-Mubarak-Informed-US-that-Iraq-Had-Biological-Weapons-107247693.html
Other Political “Developments”
Abbas urges US action on Palestinian state (AFP)
AFP – Mahmud Abbas called on Thursday for concrete US efforts to deliver a Palestinian state, as crowds marked the sixth anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101111/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestinianspeacearafatanniversary
Top US Republican meets Netanyahu
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A top US Republican has assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the party, which romped in last week’s elections, cherishes the allies’ “special relationship,” the lawmaker’s office said Thursday. Number-three House Republican Eric Cantor and Netanyahu also discussed Iran and the embattled Middle East peace process during an hour-long meeting late Wednesday in New York, the congressman’s spokesman Brad Dayspring said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333171
Lengthy Clinton, Netanyahu meeting fails to revive Mideast peace talks
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met in New York with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over a seven-hour period Thursday in an unusually lengthy but apparently unsuccessful attempt to rekindle moribund Middle East peace talks.
http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=543432f153373bcef89dfc0a1a71a748
Top of agenda at Clinton-Netanyahu meeting: new rift over settlements (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor – The Obama administration is once again at odds with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and once again the issue is construction of Jewish settlements on Arab lands.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20101111/ts_csm/342650
Israel ‘serious’ on peace talks, Netanyahu tells Clinton
PM vows commitment to U.S.-sponsored negotiations despite plans for new Jewish housing in West Bank.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-serious-on-peace-talks-netanyahu-tells-clinton-1.324198?localLinksEnabled=false
Israeli gov’t concocting plan requiring Arab states to compensate Jews
Israeli foreign ministry announced Thursday a plan requiring Arab states to pay monetary compensation to former Jewish residents who were transported to lands occupied by Israel after 1948 war.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6
Other News
Palestinians plan first sukuk in 2011 – regulator
RAMALLAH, West Bank: The Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) plans to issue Islamic bonds to banks in the first quarter of 2011 as a tool for injecting and withdrawing liquidity from the money market. PMA Governor Jihad al-Wazir said late Wednesday the banks would trade the bonds, or sukuk, among themselves.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=121448
Anti-terror bureau: Leave Sinai at once
Officials issue grave warning, citing credible terror threat to abduct Israelis in Egyptian peninsula; however, travelers unimpressed by alert, ‘we know Sinai is safer than Israel,’ one tourist says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3983468,00.html
Analysis/Op-ed/Human Interest
Review: “Gaza in Crisis” leaves readers wanting more
The new book Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel’s War Against the Palestinians will surely attract the attention of Palestine solidarity activists because of the implied promise of a collaboration between its prominent co-authors, Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé, and because of its highly topical focus on Gaza. Unfortunately, readers will likely be disappointed
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11619.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Harper on Israel: Is the Prime Minister Mentally Sound?, Murray Dobbin
Watching and listening to Stephen Harper’s bizarre and unnerving speech about anti-Semitism and Israel raises the question as to whether or not the man is mentally fit to be prime minister.
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/murray-dobbin/2010/11/harper-israel-prime-minister-mentally-sound
Oedipal issues also killed the two-state solution, Philip Weiss
Netanyahu’s father Ben Zion, a former secretary to Jabotinsky and creator of the Israel lobby here in the 40s, is over 100 years old and people say that Netanyahu himself cannot transgress his father while his father is alive and spitting. The father is also said to have favored the hero eldest son, Jonathan, who died in the Entebbe raid, and described his middle son’s first term as prime minister as a poor performance. I am just saying, this vicious man has some great power over his son.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/oedipal-issues-also-killed-the-two-state-solution.html
Would Julius and Ethel be Zionists had they lived?, Philip Weiss
The Nation has an excellent piece by Victor Navasky on the latest chapter in the Rosenberg saga– a new book that fingers Ethel Rosenberg’s brother and sister-in-law the Greenglasses as the spies. I will save you the details, it’s not my cup of tea. But what impressed me about Navasky’s piece was his willingness to look on the Rosenberg saga for what I have always seen it as, a reflection of the Jewish response to modernity.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/would-julius-and-ethel-be-zionists-had-they-lived.html
Bush Didn’t Write No Damn Book, Ahamad Amr
The first lie you’ll encounter in ‘Decision Points’ is the identity of the author; Bush didn’t write no damn book and if I’m wrong about that, I’ll eat the shoe that Iraqi journalist threw at him. ‘Decision Points’ is a hoax as transparent as Clifford Irving’s fake autobiography of Howard Hughes.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16411
Lebanon
Nasrallah: We will not allow arrest of fighters
BEIRUT: Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday the group would “cut off the hand” of anyone who tries to arrest any of its members charged in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=121473
Can there be justice as well as stability?
As the UN prepares to announce indictments for a series of murders and assassinations, the mood in Lebanon is getting edgy.
http://www.economist.com/node/17463379?story_id=17463379&fsrc=rss
Iraq
Thursday: 2 Iraqis Wounded, New Government Selected
Updated at 8:42 p.m. EST, Nov. 11, 2010 The long-awaited selection of the new government overshadowed any other news coming out of Iraq today, to the point that only two casualties were reported. Those two occurred in the capital.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/11/11/thursday-2-iraqis-wounded-new-government-selected/
A day after Iraq’s political breakthrough, bloc bolts parliament
The walkout by Iyad Allawi’s Iraqiya faction underscores the cloud of uncertainty that looms over the new government despite the accord that formed it. Just a day after cutting a deal to end a lengthy impasse, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s main political rivals walked out of parliament Thursday, illustrating the perils facing a government being built despite a near-complete absence of trust.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/OdeMajyfZ7c/la-fg-iraq-next-20101112,0,7995461.story
Tumultuous parliamentary session threatens Iraq’s fragile, new government (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor – Iraq’s Parliament ended a political crisis Thursday that left the country without a new government for a record eight months, but the tumultuous first session laid bare the deep divisions with the emerging governing coalition.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20101111/wl_csm/342858
Iraq parliament approves Sunni Nujaifi as speaker
BAGHDAD, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Iraq’s parliament elected Sunni lawmaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a senior leader of the Sunni-backed, cross-sectarian Iraqiya alliance, as speaker on Thursday, a key step toward the formation of a new government. Iraqi politicians reached agreement late Wednesday on a power-sharing deal that divides the three top government posts among Shi’ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions, a major breakthrough in an eight-month political impasse that followed an inconclusive March election
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6AA1WC.htm
Iraq Sunnis angry as Shi’ite-led govt takes shape
BAGHDAD, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Some of Iraq’s Sunni minority swore not to vote again after the main political blocs agreed on Thursday to appoint incumbent Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi’ite, to a second term as prime minister. The country’s main political factions broke an eight-month deadlock and agreed on the country’s top government posts.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6AA1RH.htm
France defends reception of wounded Iraqis (AFP)
AFP – France’s immigration minister Thursday defended his decision to bring to France those wounded in an attack at a Baghdad church, after Iraq warned against encouraging Christians to abandon their homeland.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101111/wl_mideast_afp/franceiraqunrestchristians
UN: Iraqi Mandaeans hard to resettle in 1 place (AP)
AP – A United Nations refugee official says no single country wants to take all the Iraqi Mandaean (man-DAY’-an) refugees who seek to resettle, and acknowledges that’s putting the tiny religious group at risk.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101111/ap_on_re_us/us_disappearing_religion_refugees
Formation of New Iraqi Govt Hailed – Tentatively – by US, Jim Lobe
After an agonizing eight-month delay, the first concrete steps toward the formation of a new coalition Iraqi government were greeted by senior U.S. officials here Thursday as a major advance in stabilizing the long-suffering nation.
http://original.antiwar.com/lobe/2010/11/11/formation-of-new-iraqi-govt-hailed-tentatively-by-us/
Braving Iraq
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, news about the fate and future of this Middle Eastern country has been at the forefront of our national consciousness, making an impact on our daily lives, appearing in every newspaper and news program, the subject of endless numbers of personal and political discussions. But if you think you’ve heard every imaginable story about life within Iraqi borders, think again. There is at least one major element in this geopolitical drama that the American media has mostly overlooked, and it lies at the cross section of regional politics and the natural environment. NATURE’s Braving Iraq unravels this tale about what was once one of the richest and most important wetlands in the world – from its virtual destruction by a ruthless dictator to its exciting, new prospects for a miraculous recovery.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/braving-iraq/introduction/5957/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/braving-iraq/full-episode/6028/
About that Iranian Influence in Iraq, Ali Gharib
When the Wikileaks document dump came out, many hawks and anti-Iran agitators grumbled that the document “proved” Iran’s nefarious influence in Iraq. I wrote, twice, about the lack of caution in these assessments, based mostly on anonymous conclusions and single-source reports. Well, now the deputy commander of U.S. operations in Iraq is telling us that Iranian influence appears to be waning and not scaling up, contrary to what Iran hawks would have you believe.
http://www.lobelog.com/about-that-iranian-influence-in-iraq/
U.S. & Other World News
Pressure rises on Obama to investigate Bush for torture
from RawStory.com Headlines by David Edwards
President Barack Obama is facing new demands that he investigate former President George W. Bush for ordering torture. The former president admitted in his new book Decision Points that he ordered waterboarding of terrorist detainees. Amnesty International, and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) have both called on the Obama administration to launch an investigation.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/pressure-rises-obama-investigate-bush-torture/
Democratic Congressman Nadler: ‘Shameful’ ‘dereliction of duty’ not to prosecute Bush
Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) told MSNBC’s Ed Schultz that United States Attorney General Eric Holder should launch an investigation into former President Bush’s authorization of waterboarding. In his new memoir, titled Decision Points, Bush admits he personally authorized waterboarding to be used on CIA detainees.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/rep-nadler-holder-prosecute-bush/
Nelson Mandela condemned “small man” George W Bush over Iraq
Nelson Mandela condemned former US President George W Bush as a “small man” who was seeking to dominate the world over his decision to invade Iraq, it has emerged.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/8126326/Nelson-Mandela-condemned-small-man-George-W-Bush-over-Iraq.html
Holocaust survivors condemn Glenn Beck’s ‘monstrous’ report on Soros
Rosenberg: ‘Glenn Beck era will likely end sooner than expected’. Holocaust survivors and prominent Jewish groups are targeting Fox News personality Glenn Beck for his claim that billionaire George Soros helped in the effort to exterminate Jews during World War II. Some political observers are wondering whether Beck may have gone too far this week with a series on Soros, the billionaire financier and philanthropist of Jewish extraction who survived the Nazi occupation of his native Hungary.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/holocaust-survivors-slam-becks-monstrous-report/
Tennessee Republican lawmaker compares immigrants’ children to ‘multiplying rats’
At a hearing about a Tennessee state health insurance program Tuesday, a state lawmaker compared children born to undocumented immigrants to multiplying rats. Tennessee state Rep. Curry Todd (R) wanted to know if the Cover Kids health-insurance program required “proof that you are here legally before you can get assistance.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/gop-lawmaker-compares-immigrants-multiplying-rats/
Texas man executed for hair that didn’t belong to him
WASHINGTON — A Texas man was condemned to death and executed in 2000 on the basis of hair that did not belong to him, according to the results of a DNA test released Thursday. A test by Mitotyping Technologies published by the Texas Observer magazine — which fought a three-year legal battle to gain access to the evidence — showed that Claude Howard Jones was “excluded as the contributor of this questioned hair.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/texas-man-executed-hair/
Does This Google Veterans Day Logo Look Muslim to You?
Boy howdy, Google has done it now! The company’s special Veterans Day logo this year, you see, features a mysterious crescent shape. And you know who loves crescent shapes? The Muslims. Yeah, some people are actually upset about this.
http://gawker.com/5687649/does-this-google-veterans-days-logo-look-muslim-to-you?skyline=true&s=i
US soldier kills Afghan policeman
A US soldier with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) shot dead an Afghan policeman in southern Kandahar province Thursday noon, a source revealed.
http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2010/11/11/us-soldier-kills-afghan-policeman
Afghanistan War: Bulldozing through Kandahar
The U.S. military has destroyed hundreds of Afghan civilian homes, farm houses, walls, trees and plowed through fields and buildings using explosives and bulldozers in war-torn Zhari district, a practice that has begun to anger Afghan villagers.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/afghanistan/101109/afghanistan-war-us-bulldozes-villages-final-offensive
France supplied images for Saudi strikes in Yemen
report: Paris began supplying the data following a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Riyadh in November 2009, the Post said, citing unnamed Saudi officials.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101111/wl_mideast_afp/yemenunrestsaudifranceweaponsus
Obama extends emergency regarding Iran
U.S. President Barack Obama said he notified the Federal Register of his decision to continue the state of emergency beyond Sunday.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/11/11/Obama-extends-emergency-regarding-Iran/UPI-35531289494054/
Egypt arrests Islamist election candidates
CAIRO (AFP) — Egyptian police have arrested dozens of Muslim Brotherhood members, including three candidates for this month’s parliamentary election, security officials and the Islamists said on Thursday. Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsud said 31 members were detained in the port city of Ismailia on Wednesday and Thursday, including three candidates for the district. “They were taken from their homes. The candidates were arrested on the street,” Abdel Maqsud said, adding that they were detained along with three lawyers on Wednesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=333192
US and Israel are fans of Mubarak’s repression: more Gaza tunnels to be destroyed
“Egyptian authorities must immediately release blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman, known online as Karim Amer, who completed his four-year prison sentence on November 5, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also calls on authorities to investigate and punish a security officer who reportedly assaulted Amer on Tuesday. The government’s continued imprisonment of Amer reflects its overall abusive treatment of the blogger, who was subjected to repeated instances of harassment and abuse during his detention. Authorities moved Amer last week from Borg al-Arab Prison outside Alexandria to a State Security Investigations facility in the city, where he was to undergo release procedures. The agency has continued to detain Amer without explanation, and he was beaten by a security officer, his lawyer, Rawda Ahmad, told CPJ.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/11/us-and-israel-are-fans-of-mubaraks.html
Egyptians struggle to find affordable homes in growing metropolis
CAIRO: On the outskirts of Cairo, across the street from gated compounds where residents play golf on an 18-hole course, plush apartments sit vacant without buyers. As their luxury fittings gather sand blown in from the desert, many Egyptians say they cannot afford a home in the city of 20 million, where buildings are huddled so close together the only view is often of their neighbor’s kitchen.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=121447#axzz151uqDiLw
Mexico’s La Familia cartel to government: We’ll disband if you protect citizens
La Familia of Michoacán, one of Mexico’s most violent drug trafficking organizations, allegedly sent a letter to the government saying it will dissolve if authorities ‘promise to take control of the state with force and decision.’
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/1111/Mexico-s-La-Familia-cartel-to-government-We-ll-disband-if-you-protect-citizens?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fworld+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+|+World%29
British politician arrested over ‘stoning’ tweet
British politician arrested over ‘stoning to death’ tweet apologizes, says he was joking A local politician in England has been arrested after allegedly posting a message on Twitter calling for a journalist to be stoned to death. Police say Birmingham city councilor Gareth Compton was arrested on suspicion of sending an offensive or indecent message.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/british-politician-arrested-stoning-tweet/
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