and other news from Today in Palestine, from Saturday Nov. 20:
Settlers / Land, property and resource theft and destruction / Ethnic cleansing
The Jewish National Fund (JNF) supported by the evangelicals is foresting the Negev
18 Nov – The residents of El-Araqib and activists of the Negev Coexistence Forum report that the JNF is once more extensively foresting just north of the village of El-Araqib. There is concern that the forestation will once more be extended onto the village lands. The tractors and heavy machinery have been busy since Sunday. The lands being currently forested belonged to the Alamat Tribe before 1948, and who have since been refugees in Jordan. It is extremely cynical that the donations are coming from an evangelical ministry named GOD-TV, who claim to have received “instructions from God… to prepare the land for the return of my Son… Plant a million trees.” (See their video on http://www.god.tv/excavation minute 21:00). So – the JNF, a Jewish organization, that is “redeeming land for the Jewish people”, is now supporting (and being supported by) an evangelical ministry that wishes to utilize Israel and the planting of trees – to bring about the return of Christ. Anything… that will make sure the Bedouin cannot utilize their ancestral lands for agriculture…
http://baduannaqab.wordpress.com/english/the-jewish-national-fund-jnf-supported-by-the-evangelical-is-foresting-the-negev/
Flirting with arrest at Jerusalem’s newest settlement / Bradley Burston
If it’s built lavishly like a settlement, and it causes diplomatic damage like a settlement, and it tarnishes Israel’s image like a settlement… Welcome to Jerusalem’s newest settlement. Or, as it is formally known, the Center For Human Dignity – Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem … Why hadn’t I seen it before? After all, the Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance has many of the classic characteristics of a settlement. Here are some of them: It is being built on disputed land … It will cause direct, prolonged damage to relations between Palestinians and Israelis … It erodes the basis of Israeli sovereignty, and bolsters allegations of Israeli arrogance … It tarnishes Israel’s image as a democratic state respectful of the rights of other faiths and peoples … It has a huge budget, aimed at establishing a superfluous, extrinsic, and lavish entity in a surrounding environment of social need.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/flirting-with-arrest-at-jerusalem-s-newest-settlement-1.325167
Shortcut through the West Bank — German Rail under fire for controversial Israeli project
Peace activists have strongly criticized a planned high-speed rail line in Israel that will cut through the West Bank and deprive Palestinian communities of land. A subsidiary of Germany’s national rail operator apparently helped plan the line, and critics claim they must have known about the controversial route. Germany’s state-owned national rail operator Deutsche Bahn is a world leader in railway technology, and other countries often call on German expertise when planning their networks. But the involvement of a Deutsche Bahn subsidiary in a controversial planned high-speed line in Israel, which cuts through the occupied West Bank, could prove embarrassing for the company.
http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=27723
Second committee approves text demanding Israel end depletion, endangerment of natural resources in Arab lands under its occupation
UN General Assembly. …By other terms of that text, titled “Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources” the General Assembly would recognize the right of the Palestinian and other Arab peoples to claim restitution for such illegal actions. Further by the draft, the Assembly would call upon Israel to cease all actions that harmed the environment in all the territories under its occupation, as well as the destruction of their vital infrastructure, including water pipelines and sewage networks.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-8BC3FZ?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Israel’s toxic chemical factories giving cancer to West Bank residents
…Dr. Kifaya Abu-El Huda of Cairo University has carried out extensive research on the environmental effects of chemical factories in the West Bank. “The western basin of the Tulkarem and Salfid area is very important for the rest of Palestinian land. The ground water is very close to the surface making it sensitive to pollution”, says Kifaya. She believes all the water in the western basin’s wells is polluted. Air pollution causes respiratory diseases and eye infections in the area’s residents. “Geshuri came to Tulkarem, cancer levels have increased, caused by the toxic fumes”. A whole family living close to the factory now has asthma. The Geshuri factory operates for eleven months in the year when winds blow the fumes into the West Bank. It closes down for the period when the winds change and blow into Israel, to ensure the toxic fumes do not pollute the Israeli environment.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1615
Testimony on 1948 by Palmach fighter Amnon Neumann
…we didn’t come to collect taxes, we came to inherit the land from foreigners. That was the foundation of our thinking. We drove them out because of the Zionist ideology. Pure and simple. We came to inherit the land. Who do you inherit it from? If the land is empty, you don’t inherit it from anyone. The land wasn’t empty so we inherited it, and whoever inherits the land disinherits others. And that’s why we didn’t bring them back. It was everywhere, in the north and the south, everywhere. That’s the most important point. The land wasn’t empty as I was told when I was a child.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=43492
Escalation in Gaza
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continue overnight
A second Israeli attack targeted the southern Gaza Strip overnight, with military officials confirming airstrikes on a smuggling tunnel and local sources saying air and artillery strikes also targeted the Gaza airport early Saturday morning. Witnesses said shells hit the Yasser Arafat airport – destroyed during the Second Intifada in 2000 – and artillery strikes followed, causing further damage to the bombed-out structure. Officials in the south said the strikes were preceded by two hits to smuggling tunnels in the Yebna and Nahda areas of Rafah.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=334244
Palestinian group tells members to act with caution
The Public Resistance Committees, which claimed responsibility for the fire towards Israel Friday, has ordered its members to “act with caution” and wariness following the events. Altogether seven incidents of fire were reported Friday, four of them phosphorous shells.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3987060,00.html
PFLP says says projectiles fired toward Israel
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The militant wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s General Command said fighters launched four mortar shells at Israeli targets on Saturday morning. The launch came following the second Israeli airstrike in 12 hours, which hit smuggling tunnels in the southern sector of the coastal enclave. Israeli military officials said the strike came in response to continued projectile fire from Gaza. The militant group, the Jihad Jibreel Brigades, said the latest projectile launch came as a response to the assassination of brothers Islam and Muhammad Yassin, killed by a drone strike on Wednesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=334257
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
High-velocity tear gas canisters and skunk water used in assault on Nabi Saleh demonstration
ISM …Illegal, high-velocity tear gas canisters were used. Unlike usual tear-gas canisters, they were made to be capable of breaking through walls, can fly long distances without a sound, do not emit a smoke tail, and have a propeller to accelerate the weapon mid-air. Thus they are very difficult to detect and substantially more dangerous than regular tear gas. In the past, demonstrators have been severely injured by high velocity tear gas canisters hitting them. In April 2009, Bassem Abu-Rahma, had been killed by a high velocity tear gas canister fired directly at him during the weekly demonstrations in the village of Bil’in. In March 2009, the American activist Tristan Anderson was shot in the head with a high-velocity tear gas canister, for which he suffered severe brain damage and disability.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/11/15594/
Direct action returns to Saffa
(with video) …Farmers often set fire to weeds in plots of lands that have not been tended to for a long time, in order to clean them and prepare them for plowing. Such controlled fires were set by the farmers today (1 Nov), which the military used as an excuse to detain the thirteen, and question four of them on suspicions of arson. The arson suspicions were brought against the activists despite the fact that the fires were completely controlled and well within Sheikh Aady’s property.
http://josephdana.com/2010/11/direct-action-returns-to-saffa/
‘End military aid to Israel’ message reaches thousands of Chicago commuters / Caren Levy-van Slyke
…How, we asked ourselves, could we spend less time “preaching to the choir” and more time reaching fellow-Chicagoans who don’t have access to information about the U.S. role in perpetuating the conflict? Inspired by the Albuquerque Stop $30 billion to Israel billboard campaign, we decided to take the issue of military aid to Israel directly to tens of thousands of Chicago area commuters who travel the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) system.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/end-military-aid-to-israel-message-reaches-thousands-of-chicago-commuters.html
DePaul University suspends sales of Sabra hummus
Today marks another win for the global boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) movement against corporations that profit from severe human rights violations. Chicago’s very own DePaul University just announced that their dining services will be discontinuing the sale of hummus manufactured by Sabra, an Israeli brand known for its vocal and material support of Israeli Defense Forces. The administration has temporarily suspended the sale of Sabra products and will likely move towards permanently banning the brand from campus.
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2010/11/depaul-university-suspends-sales-of.html
In case you missed this terrific video:
Philly BDS Flashdance!
uploaded 26 Oct – The Philly BDS Coalition dances into action in a local grocery store chain to push them to deshelve Sabra and Tribe of Hummus; both brands support Israeli war crimes. This marks the launch of our campaign: www.phillybds.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6dO9eVOY2I&feature=player_embedded
Canada: Photo exhibit shows conflict’s toll on Gaza residents
In a quiet gallery space tucked away from the hustle of weekday business, a travelling exhibit of raw and frightening wartime photographs is now on display downtown. The organizers of Human Drama in Gaza hope the collection of 44 photos will open eyes to the human toll of conflict in Palestine.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Photo+exhibit+shows+conflict+toll+Gaza+residents/3860475/story.html
War crimes/criminals
Covering up the murderous crimes of Cast Lead
CORRECTION 18 Nov: On closer examination of sources it appears that Lt. Col. Aliyan left his position as Rotem commander in May 2008, six months before Operation Cast Lead. Therefore, he is not the Rotem commander who suppressed the death report in the following post. My apologies for not vetting the source more carefully. But thanks to two other Israeli sources we’re all convinced that we now have the right guy. Lt. Col. Yehuda HaCohen, Rotem battalion commander, covered up possible Gaza war crime … HaCohen is 35, married and the father of two children. One wonders whether he thought of either of them at all when he buried that file in his laptop which concealed the cold blooded murder of a Gaza mother and daughter, whether he thought: that could’ve been my wife and daughter. Foolish me. Of course, he didn’t think of that.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/11/18/covering-up-the-murderous-crimes-of-cast-lead/
Stonewalling Goldstone / Stephen Lendman
…Goldstone’s report isn’t dead, but it’s on life support. Nonetheless, HRC’s Committee of Experts remains active, headed by John Dugard, former UN Special Human Rights Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine. However, whether or not it will matter is worrisome, given forces for delay, obstruct and whitewash in control. Wresting it from them may prove insurmountable, but serious efforts must be made to try. Otherwise, predictable consequences will follow, assuring violence, unaccountability and injustice.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/11/stonewalling-goldstone.html
Siege / Restriction of movement / Humanitarian
Qalqilya’s movement restrictions crushing local economy / Sophie Crowe
…Qalqilya, a town lying on the border of Israel and the West Bank, has been severely affected by the Wall’s construction, which has expropriated much agricultural land to the Seam Zone, the space between the Green Line and the wall. The town is surrounded by the wall and fences on four sides, accessible by one gate. “The economic situation is deteriorating”, Qalqilya resident Mohammed Zobah says, “businesses are only busy on Saturdays because Palestinians from Israel come to do their shopping . . . 10-15% have left Qalqilya since construction of the wall began in 2003”. Mohammed believes the encircling of Qalqilya is really about taking the town’s water supply, though Israel claims it is a security imperative. Qalqilya has lost 13 wells behind the wall.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1619
Checkpoints in the West Bank
Susan Lourenco, Machsomwatch. Summary: After so many years of occupation – of Separation Wall, apartheid roads, permits, settlements, high rate of unemployment, checkpoints open or closed, put up, taken down — of endless humiliation and harassment of Palestinians on their own lands, in their own homes, it`s often hard to go on, to view the “end of the occupation” or “the final status settlement” or even that peace will ever come. But then we remember that it depends on us, and that our Palestinian neighbours suffer, really suffer, but behave in the way they do, with “sumud” — staying put, standing firm despite a continuous onslaught of a psychological as well as physical nature
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=43450
Rafah crossing to resume operations Sunday
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will resume operations on Sunday according to a new schedule set by Egyptian authorities, officials announced. The crossing was closed during the Eid Al-Adha holiday, which started on 16 November. The new schedule will see the crossing open five days a week with Friday and Saturday as official holidays.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=334262
Gaza’s ongoing crisis is not news / Alex Kane
The following article originally appeared in the August 2010 issue of Extra!, the monthly magazine of the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. The trend highlighted in the article of corporate media completely ignoring the crisis in Gaza unless there are headline grabbing events like the raid on the Gaza aid flotilla continues to hold steady.
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/gazas-ongoing-crisis-is-not-news-routine-killing-hunger-off-tv%E2%80%99s-agenda/
Goods: needs vs. supply Oct 17 – Nov 13
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/11/goods-%E2%80%93-needs-vs-supply-%E2%80%93-oct-17-%E2%80%93-nov-13/
Industrial fuel: needs vs. supply Oct 17 – Nov 13
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/11/industrial-fuel-%E2%80%93-needs-vs-supply-%E2%80%93-oct-17-%E2%80%93-nov-13/
Gaza presents: High tech cow smuggling
A report by BBC’s Arabic network broadcasted ahead of Eid al-Adha documents sophisticated animal smuggling apparatus using electric elevators from Egypt into Gaza Strip
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3987142,00.html
Detention
Journalist released without charge after 3 years
Israel released a Nablus journalist on Friday after detaining him for three years in administrative detention, a prisoners’ center said. Sami Al-Asi, 38, was detained on 16 December 2007 and was never charged with any offense, the center said. Al-Asi worked at various local stations in Nablus … Israel has administratively detained thousands of Palestinians, sometimes for many years, without prosecuting them. Prisoners are never told what they are charged with, and their lawyers are not allowed to see evidence.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=334210
Hamas condemns Israeli occupation decision to hold Dr. Ramahi in administrative detention
DAMASCUS, (PIC)– Hamas has condemned the Israeli occupation decision to hold Dr. Mahmoud al-Ramahi, secretary general of the Palestinian Legislative Council, in administrative detention for six months, considering the step as an attempt by the occupation to prevent one of the leaders from playing an effective role in defending his people, land and national rights.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s70WjCb%2f8NhzRnrcKgezbtktqvNA%2bHTJrLNsDrri%2fitMR7UUWQrEbDXpWlrD4Nbrp15Rbt5W%2fQDV7c63z%2bPHCJS63JUXWUcRquy69UPchMHlA%3d
Raids on Madama see 4 detained
…Member of Madama village council Hassan Ziyada told Ma’an that several Israeli military vehicles raided the village at 2 a.m., and entered a number of homes and ransacked them in what appeared to be a search operation. Following the home invasions, four young men were detained, the official said, identifying them as 24-year-old Mahmoud Abdullah Qit, 23-year-old Mursi Nizar Ziyada, 25-year-old Basim Arran Nassar, and 20-year-old Asadullah Wajieh Qit.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=334238
PA Intelligence detains radio manager
20 Nov – Palestinian Authority intelligence forces detained the manager of a local radio station in Bethlehem on Monday. George Canawati, the financial and administrative manager of Radio Bethlehem 2000, was detained from the studio at 4 p.m., witnesses said, adding that forces also stopped the station’s broadcast for several hours. PA sources said the detention was likely related to a news broadcast by the station about the PA, but they did not specify what the broadcast concerned or why it would justify a person’s arrest.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=334137
Ofer, Courtroom 2
(Ofra Ben-Artzi reporting) Even though Wednesday is not juveniles’ day in court, there were two underage detainees today, one, Ahmed Muhammad Haled, 13, is recognized as a minor by the Israeli authorities, so he was tried by a juvenile court judge, Sharon Rivlin-Ahai … We have previously reported on the “method of hunting minors”: The soldiers enter a village, wait outside the school until classes are over, then provoke the students by engaging them. This leads to throwing rocks, and then, in the dead of night, the soldiers abduct the kids from their bedrooms and bring them to the interrogation rooms at the GSS. Hundreds of such minors are in custody at any given time.It is our contention that picking on Palestinian minors is a calculated and well-planned strategy: the massive incrimination of an entire generation, turning some of them into collaborators and stool pigeons, thus compromising the next generation. This kind of treatment “sears the consciousness” of the younger generation, preparing them for adult life under occupation. The system must have experts and advisors, manuals and bibliographies to aid it in this undertaking.
http://www.machsomwatch.org/en/ofer_wed_31110_morning
Political/Diplomatic news
Israel to complain to UN about phosphorus fire
[Chutzpah doesn’t begin to describe complaining about having your own previously fired illegal weapons fired back at you] Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has ordered Israel’s UN ambassador, Meiron Reuven, to file an official complaint on the mortar and phosphorous shells fired from Gaza Friday. “This is another reminder for the international community that the residents of southern Israel are forced to live in perpetual fear of unrestrained terror, which operates with the support of the Hamas regime in Gaza,” Lieberman said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3987070,00.html
US offers Israel written guarantees (AJ)
The United States is prepared to offer Israel written security guarantees if it would help to restart stalled Middle East peace talks. “We continue our discussions with the Israelis. If there is a need to put certain understandings in writing, we will be prepared to do that,” PJ Crowley, the US state department spokesman, said. He declined to say what the details of the package may be.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/11/20101119185747476210.html
National Security Adviser: Israel can’t rule out interim agreement with Palestinians
National Security Adviser Uzi Arad said Saturday in an interview with Channel 2 that an interim agreement with the Palestinians cannot be ruled out. “It is unclear whether we have a partner for a permanent agreement,” said Arad, who accompanied Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his recent United States visit.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/national-security-adviser-israel-can-t-rule-out-interim-agreement-with-palestinians-1.325736?localLinksEnabled=false
Egypt denies collaborating with Israel against Gaza’s Army of Islam (dpa)
A high level Egyptian security source denied Thursday Israeli reports that there is a joint Israeli-Egyptian effort to eliminate leaders of the al-Qaida-affiliated Army of Islam in Gaza and Sinai. “There are no terrorist organizations in Sinai, neither Palestinian nor Egyptian. Sinai is completely safe and under control, and there are no joint efforts with Israel, not explicitly or behind the scenes,” the source told the DPA German news agency … The source said that what happens in the Gaza strip is a “Palestinian internal affair.” Israeli radio had quoted an Israeli security official saying that there was a covert Israeli-Egyptian operation under way to eliminate leaders of the Gaza-based Army of Islam.
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/egypt-denies-collaborating-israel-against-gaza%E2%80%99s-army-islam
Other news
In photos: Palestine vs. Golan
A soccer team from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights played against the Palestinian national team at the Hussein Ben Ali stadium in the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday. Players said the match aimed to break the Israeli siege on Palestinian sport, and showed that soccer could break down barriers and borders … The Golan team stepped in to play after the Central African Republic canceled a scheduled game, a move the Palestinian Authority Foreign Affairs Ministry said showed deference to Israel. Gambia also recently canceled a planned friendly at the Hebron stadium.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=334206
By keeping ‘Kahane alive’ one Israel soccer club in edging toward demise
Beitar Jerusalem’s racist hardcore fan-base may cause the team to be booted out of any future European competition.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/sports/by-keeping-kahane-alive-one-israel-soccer-club-is-edging-toward-demise-1.325471
Shas’ enfant terrible is a voice of haredi sanity
Amsellem is the enfant terrible of Shas. He’s a one-man opposition to Shas leader Eli Yishai and he fearlessly opposes Shas’ distorted worldview on all important issues – conversions, core studies in the schools, military service and employment. He doesn’t even hesitate to accuse the party of “throwing all the wretched into a deep pit, just as Joseph was thrown.”
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/shas-enfant-terrible-is-a-voice-of-haredi-sanity-1.325490
Allegedly Israel-trained Colombia guerrilla lands in Israel after release from Russian jail
Lt.-Col. Yair Klein wanted in Colombia on charges of training the ‘death squads’ released from jail and is on his way back to Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-allegedly-trained-colombia-guerillas-lands-in-israel-after-release-from-russia-jail-1.325655
Analysis / Opinion / Human interest
Robert Fisk: An American bribe that stinks of appeasement
20 Nov – In any other country, the current American bribe to Israel, and the latter’s reluctance to accept it, in return for even a temporary end to the theft of somebody else’s property would be regarded as preposterous. Three billion dollars’ worth of fighter bombers in return for a temporary freeze in West Bank colonisation for a mere 90 days? Not including East Jerusalem – so goodbye to the last chance of the east of the holy city for a Palestinian capital – and, if Benjamin Netanyahu so wishes, a rip-roaring continuation of settlement on Arab land.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-an-american-bribe-that-stinks-of-appeasement-2139101.html
Wait — we are giving who?? 20 F35 stealth jets?? for what?? / Virginia Tilley
With 25 years of experience under my belt analysing the Middle East conflict, and as a close observer of US foreign policy with a pragmatic attitude toward its realist exigencies, I have never seen anything as destructive, humiliating and ruinously conceived as the “incentive” package now being offered by the US to Israel for a 3-month settlement freeze. It is our country’s foreign policy nadir: a deal is so damaging to US interests that it is hard to find words for it.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/wait-we-are-giving-who-20-f-35-stealth-attack-jets-for-what.html
Another act in a sad and sick comedy / Reuven Kaminer
…You would have be a political illiterate to not understand that the US is trying to buy off Bibi by sacrificing Palestinian rights and paying him with Palestinian concessions. Now this was to be expected by all, including most Palestinians. For some indecipherable reason, this Palestinian “leadership” thought that by ingratiating itself with Washington, they could hope for a modicum of fairness. How naïve. The Americans think that renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will improve their image in the region. Indeed, everyone harbors their own set of illusions to get through the day.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=43447
Economic prison zones / Sam Bahour
19 Nov – When a project mixes the feel-good words of jobs, economic development and Israeli-Palestinian cooperation, how can anyone complain? These things are some of what the international community has been promising to deliver through the construction of industrial free trade zones in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The free trade zone model has been promoted locally and globally by powerful third parties like the United States, France, Germany, Turkey and Japan for two decades, but none has much to show for the enormous efforts and amounts of money spent to bring these zones to life. Nonetheless, the project’s proponents expect the zones to constitute the economic foundation for a future Palestinian state
http://www.merip.org/mero/mero111910.html
One step forward, ten back
Hopes appear to dim of inter-Palestinian reconciliation as a war of words erupts between Hamas and Fatah. When will it end, asks Saleh Al-Naami … “Israel is vehemently opposed to Hamas participating in any Palestinian security forces under any circumstances, and has publicly declared its absolute opposition to national reconciliation. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon asserted that Fatah must choose between negotiations with Israel or reconciliation with Hamas.”
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/1023/re3.htm
Netanyahu knows there’s no turning back now / Yossi Verter
With the U.S. getting antsy, the settlers ratcheting up the pressure, the Prime Minister clearly has his work cut out for him — Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to learn two key lessons from Ariel Sharon’s tenure as prime minister. The first is: Always adapt your coalition to the policy you are pursuing. The second is: There is no such animal as a “natural partner.” Coalition partners are used and discarded according to immediate needs.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/netanyahu-knows-there-s-no-turning-back-now-1.325602
Who’s laughing? / Uri Avnery
…HOW DID Peace Now reach this point? I am not against the movement. On the contrary, I appreciate very much its struggle against the settlements. True, they did not join the boycott of the products of the settlements which we started 12 years ago, but they are monitoring the construction activities in the settlements and bringing them to the attention of the world. This is an important and very laudable action. The trouble is that the movement, which could once call hundreds of thousands onto the streets, finds it hard nowadays to mobilize even a few hundred.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1290258779/
How the pro-Israel community supports its own / Justin Elliott
19 Nov – Here’s a story that shows just how committed the nationwide network of pro-Israel donors are to their cause: Court filings suggest that several super-rich AIPAC donors stepped in to support a former top AIPAC official who was locked in a dispute with the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group. The payments to the ex-official, Steven Rosen — who had been fired in 2005 after criminal espionage charges were brought against him — amounted to at least $670,000, Ken Stein of the Washington Post reports.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/11/19/aipac_donors_supported_ex_official/index.html
Cantor crosses the line / Rannie Amiri
Even the United States Congress’ most rabid pro-Israel supporters have not dared propose what incoming House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) has. Cantor told the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) that he wants to see Israel’s massive three billion dollar annual stipend — the largest of any U.S. aid recipient — reclassified and not considered “foreign” aid. Its enormous subsidy would no longer be the purview of the State Department, but the Pentagon. If he had his way, Israel would be directly funded by the U.S. military.
http://www.counterpunch.org/amiri11192010.html
Letter to Congregation Beth Avodah / Dahlia Scheindlin
Dear American Jewry, and Congregation Beth Avodah in particular: I am your model child. I grew up in a warm and nurturing Conservative synagogue in Brooklyn. I was raised on deep democratic values and a strong Jewish identity … At age 25, I made Aliyah. I respect the powerful connection many of you feel toward Israel, even without living here …Sometimes when you pepper me with questions about Israel, I’ve sensed that you don’t always want the full answers. This is how I take the resistance to hearing J Street. So please hear this instead: In the Israel you love, ours is a lonely struggle. I lived here during the second Intifada when hopelessness raged. I shook for days after a terrorist blew herself up near my bus in Jerusalem, and saw ghosts in the blackened coffee shops of Tel Aviv; I had nightmares about what might have happened in Jenin in that awful spring of 2002. Each new development led back to the conviction that only a negotiated two-state solution will help, with all its obstacles and flaws.
http://972mag.com/letter-to-congregation-beth-avodah/
How occupation and humiliation can destroy a life
In memoriam R. / Aya Kaniuk
He was nineteen then, and had just begun work in the Palestinian police force, and was terribly proud. And I wondered why guys just love uniforms and guns so much, and was also a bit saddened because I wanted at least the victims – even just because they are victims of gun-bearing uniform-wearers – to be different, but I was also glad for him that he finally had a job and congratulated him, and meant it … The soldier looked amazed at the certificate that R. handed him. With a look of slight disgust that turned into light derision he said flatly, “get back”. And R. didn’t move, he just couldn’t believe it. And then the nineteen-year old Jewish youngster with his uniform and rifle raised his voice and said, “Get back, I told you. Get back”.
And I saw R. cave in at once, like a tower of cards collapsing, turned around and left, bent over in spite of his youth, walking slowly, his eyes quenched, turned in and lost.
http://www.mahsanmilim.com/InmemoriamE.htm
Ahdaf Soueif in conversation with Daud Abdullan about Palestinian cultural resistance
MEMO’s Director, Daud Abdullah, recently sat down with leading novelist, Ahdaf Soueif, to discuss Palestine. Their conversation covered a number of issues ranging from culture to politics and the current peace process.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/interviews/1761-ahdaf-soueif-in-conversation-with-daud-abdullah-about-palestinian-cultural-resistance
Israeli documentary ‘Precious Life’ shortlisted for Oscar
…Sholmi Eldar’s film, which tells story of Palestinian mother’s struggle to get treatment for her baby, on list for Best Documentary Film. The movie tells the story of Mohammed Abu Mustafa, a four-month-old Palestinian infant who suffers from a genetic disorder in his immune system which may lead to his death.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=195995
Film review – Cinematic therapy for Israeli soldiers
Director Samuel Maoz’s reduction of Lebanon to the interior of an Israeli military vehicle alerts us to the film Lebanon’s insular vision right away. Belén Fernández comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11633.shtml
Iraq
Friday: 2 Iraqis killed, 2 wounded
The only reports of violence came out of Mosul today, where a bomb targeted a convoy carrying three Iraqiya lawmakers. While it did not harm them, the blast killed one bodyguard and injured two others. South of town, gunmen killed a guard working for an oil facility. Meanwhile, Secretary-General of Iraq’s National Chaldean Council demanded self-rule and more protection for Iraqi Christians. News reports are scant this week because of Eid al-Adha observances.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/11/19/friday-2-iraqis-killed-2-wounded/
Iraqis credit government deal for peaceful holiday (Reuters)
* Violence ebbs during Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday * Residents positive about political agreement * Security checkpoints dotting Baghdad still a big complaint — By Aseel Kami Baghdad, Nov 20 — Iraqis who spent a peaceful Eid al-Adha religious holiday this week credited the lull in violence on a political deal to form a new government and end an eight-month deadlock.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM029594.htm
US says Iraq pullout won’t cause dramatic violence (AP)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military’s planned withdrawal from Iraq by the end of next year is not expected to trigger a dramatic increase in violence, a senior U.S. defense official told Congress Thursday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101118/pl_nm/us_usa_iraq
Other Mideast
Hezbollah: Arms needed to resist Israel (AP)t
Israeli decision to withdraw from northern border village won’t end Hezbollah’s armed struggle against Jewish state, senior group member says; ‘Resistance and its weapons still a national need,’ Hussein Khalil says
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3987235,00.html
Report: Lebanon, Hezbollah divided over Ghajar pullout
BEIRUT, Lebanon (Ma’an) — Lebanon’s Central News Agency quoted diplomatic sources on Friday, saying Israel’s unilateral decision to withdraw from the former Syrian village of Ghajar and hand it over to Lebanon was a strategic plan against Hezbollah. The source said the withdrawal, which would put the Syrian Golan Heights village occupied in 1967 into Lebanese control, was “aimed at cornering Hezbollah on the eve of the announcement of the indictment in the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=334237
How Israel and the US hope to destroy Hezbollah / Dr. Franklin Lamb
The current project includes continuing the public threats and hyping threats that Israel is ready to attack Lebanon…
http://salem-news.com/articles/november192010/us-israel-haz-fl.php
Hundreds held after Egypt rallies (AJ)
Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested after clashes broke out at political rallies across the country.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/11/20101119212833744148.html
How to win power in Egypt (AJ)
Al Jazeera’s Ayman Mohyeldin examines the key to controlling Egypt ahead of a parliamentary election … So what is missing in Egypt’s democracy or, as it is often called, “sham-ocracy”? The short answer is: belief. Nobody in Egypt believes they can make a difference, and more importantly no one in Egypt is entitled to believe they can make a difference.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/11/20101117115630882819.html
Egypt rejects religious freedom criticism
Egypt on Saturday angrily dismissed complaints from the United States concerning religious freedom in its key Middle East ally, saying that Washington has no right to hand down judgments … The annual International Religious Freedom Report, released Wednesday by the US State Department, carried a sharp complaint about the status of religious freedom in Egypt.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=334410
Cairo accuses US of interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs (AFP)‘
…Egypt was particularly upset over a November 2 meeting in Washington between US President Barack Obama’s national security advisers and a group of US foreign policy analysts who are pushing for reforms in Egypt. The bi-partisan group was described as “the same type of groups that want to spread chaos in the Middle East.”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=121646#axzz15qWtYzrf
US-Saudi arms deal on track (AFP)
WASHINGTON — Barring unlikely 11th-hour objections, a $60 billion US arms sale to Saudi Arabia was set Friday to go into effect despite initial worries from US lawmakers over its impact on Israeli security. The Pentagon unveiled plans for the sale on 20 October, and the US Congress had 30 days to move to block or change the terms of the transaction, which partly aims to help Saudi Arabia counter Iran’s regional influence.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=334209
‘Iran nuclear worm targeted Natanz, Bushehr nuclear sites’
German computer security expert releases new study claiming the Stuxnet worm, which some claim slowed down activity in the Iranian sites, was designed to act as a ‘digital warhead.’ … Most experts feel that the virus represents a new kind of computer worm, one which is capable not only of targeting computers but also industrial infrastructures which are controlled by those computers … Experts claim only an organization with the highest technological capabilities could have performed such a cyber attack, with some attributing it to the Israel Defense Force’s 8200 intelligence unit or a U.S. intelligence organization, with some saying the worm was the result of a joint Israeli-U.S. effort.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/iran-nuclear-worm-targeted-natanz-bushehr-nuclear-sites-1.325596
Iran tests air missile (AJ)
Missile system called the S-200 successfully launched as Tehran boosts defences to protect nuclear plants.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/11/20101120132633570393.html
Exclusive report: Evidence of Iran nuclear weapons program may be fraudulent / Gareth Porter
Since 2007, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – with the support of the United States, Israel and European allies UK, France and Germany – has been demanding that Iran explain a set of purported internal documents portraying a covert Iranian military program of research and development of nuclear weapons. The “laptop documents,” supposedly obtained from a stolen Iranian computer by an unknown source and given to US intelligence in 2004, include a series of drawings of a missile re-entry vehicle that appears to be an effort to accommodate a nuclear weapon, as well as reports on high explosives testing for what appeared to be a detonator for a nuclear weapon.
http://www.truth-out.org/the-iaea-and-fraudulent-iranian-nuclear-documents65241
Pakistan and Afghanistan
Pakistani officials: US missiles kill 4 in vehicle (AP)
Pakistani intelligence officials say suspected US missiles have killed four militants as they were driving in a vehicle near the Afghan border. The officials said unmanned drones fired two missiles Friday on a vehicle near Marsi Khel village in North Waziristan.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3987035,00.html
Pakistan says Obama seeking to expand drone sites (AP)
ISLAMABAD – A senior Pakistani intelligence official said Saturday the Obama administration is seeking to expand the areas where American missiles can target Taliban and al-Qaida operatives but that Pakistan has refused the request because of domestic opposition to the strikes … The U.S. launched more than 100 strikes this year, killing hundreds.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/11/20-1
Could nonviolent resistance defeat Petraeus’s night raids in Afghanistan?
“Many Afghans see the raids as a flagrant, even humiliating symbol of American power, especially when women and children are rousted in the middle of the night. And protests have increased this year as the tempo has increased.” (<NY Times) It is a striking symptom of the moral depravity of the US war in Afghanistan that the policy of night raids, which press reports have suggested is one of the most hated aspects of the US military occupation among the Afghan population, has been the subject of almost no public debate in the United States.
http://www.truth-out.org/could-nonviolent-resistance-defeat-petraeus-night-raids-afghanistan65228
Study: Few Afghans know about 9/11, reason for war (Reuters)
92 percent of men in key province are unaware of 2001 attacks on U.S. — KABUL – Afghans in two crucial southern provinces are almost completely unaware of the September 11 attacks on the United States and don’t know they precipitated the foreign intervention now in its 10th year, a new report showed on Friday.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/11/20
Civilian safety top Afghan priority, warn agencies
NATO must put protection of civilians at the heart of Afghanistan ‘transition strategy’, warn aid agencies — 2010 is already the deadliest year in a decade for civilians, but risks could increase unless NATO takes immediate action
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/11/19
NATO endorses plan to withdraw from Afghanistan by end of 2014 (AP)
Despite formal agreement, U.S. and its allies appear to take conflicting views on when NATO combat operations would end — NATO nations formally agreed Saturday to start reducing troop levels in Afghanistan next year and to hand over control of security to the Afghans in 2014 … Meanwhile, a senior Obama administration official says the U.S. has not committed to ending its combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/nato-endorses-plan-to-withdraw-from-afghanistan-by-end-of-2014-1.325717
U.S. and other world news
Gitmo inmates settlement: Why Britain decided to pay (TIME)
There is always a price to be paid for keeping secret intelligence secret. On Tuesday, the British government paid it by agreeing on a compensation settlement with 16 Guantánamo Bay detainees — all but one who are now free — who claim they were tortured during their time in captivity. And according to speculation by the British media, that price — which is confidential — is anywhere between £5 million ($8 million) and £10 million ($15 million), with at least one of the alleged victims set to be made a millionaire as a result. But that hefty sum also buys the U.K. the guarantee of confidentiality in its controversial dealings with Guantánamo prisoners — and may even have avoided a rift with U.S. Intelligence agencies.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2032004,00.html
Obama plans for civilian terror trials dealt blow (AFP)
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s hopes of bringing “war on terror” suspects out of the shadows to try them in the full glare of civilian courts may have been dealt a fatal blow by a New York jury, experts said Thursday … “The verdict has offered a vision of the nightmare scenario — acquittal in a terrorism case involving a high value detainee — and that vision will be enough to ramp up the already intense pressure not to try something like this again,” said legal expert Benjamin Wittes from the Brookings Institution.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101119/pl_afp/usattackstanzaniaguantanamotrial
Sick Sept 11 workers agree to $712 million settlement (Reuters)
NEW YORK – More than 10,000 workers suffering health problems stemming from the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center have agreed to a $712 million settlement with New York City, officials said on Friday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101119/us_nm/us_newyork_sept11_settlement
