And other news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Arab states preparing UN resolution against Israeli settlements
Israeli officials fear that Washington will not rush to exercise its veto power against such a resolution, which calls for international pressure for construction freeze.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/arab-states-preparing-un-resolution-against-israeli-settlements-1.331364
Israeli army destroys buildings, intensifies its checkpoints in Hebron
altHebron, December 20, (Pal Telegraph) – The Israeli occupation vehicles started, Monday morning demolishing a number of establishments and shops in Al-Boqaa villages, east of Hebron. One of Al-Boqaa village people said to Safa that a number of occupation bulldozers and excavators began the demolition in the area near the entrance of “Kiryat Arba” settlement causing the destruction of five shops owned by Saeed Jaber.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7762:Israeli-army-destroys-buildings,-intensifies-its-checkpoints-in-Hebron&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=135
IOA scheme to build 130 housing units in OJ endorsed
The Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee approved the construction of 130 new housing units between Gilo and Beit Safafa south of occupied Jerusalem.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k
Spat over local spring turns into violent clashes between Palestinian protesters, security forces
Almost a year has past since the confrontation between Neveh Tzuf settlers and their Palestinian neighbors in the West Bank village of Nabi Salah erupted over usage of local spring water in the Ramallah area.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4001002,00.html
Israel Demolishing Talks, Mel Frykberg
ISSAWEYA, Occupied East Jerusalem – More and more Palestinians are paying the price for deadlocked talks over Israel’s continued settlement-building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Muhammad Robin Alyyan, 27, from the volatile Issaweya suburb of East Jerusalem, stands next to piles of rubble and twisted metal.
http://original.antiwar.com/frykberg/2010/12/20/israel-demolishing-talks/
Israeli ethnic cleansing surge: How many more Palestinian homes must be demolished before western governments act?
MEMO CommentaryAs Westerners busy themselves preparing for Christmas, Israel has accelerated its campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and within its own (non-declared) borders. Those familiar with the conduct of successive Israeli governments, right-and left-wing, will not be surprised. They have a long-standing reputation for using international diversions to advance their drive for lebensraum – living space – in Palestine.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/commentary-and-analysis/1863-israeli-ethnic-cleansing-surge-how-many-more-palestinian-homes-must-be-demolished-before-western-governments-act
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Israel Ramps Up Repression of Non-Violence in East Jerusalem, Joseph Dana
On November 28th, Adnan Gheith, a member of the Al-Bustan Neighborhood Committee and a dignitary of Silwan, was served with a letter informing him that Yair Golan, the Israeli Home Front Commander, is intending to expel him from Jerusalem for a period of four months. The expulsion is to be executed based on an Administrative Order – with no charges and no evidence – by power of the Emergency Defense Orders established under the British Mandate. Gheith’s lawyer was informed that the expulsion is intended to curb Gheith’s political activity, since the security apparatus considers him to be a central instigator of unrest in Silwan.
http://josephdana.com/2010/12/israel-ramps-up-repression-of-non-violence-in-east-jerusalem/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=israel-ramps-up-repression-of-non-violence-in-east-jerusalem
US Palestinians condemn FBI repression of solidarity movement
The United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) strongly condemns and denounces the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s political repression of 19 anti-war, Palestine solidarity and Palestinian activists.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11685.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
As Bethlehem Readies For Christmas, All Markets Declared Free Of Settlement Products
During a special meeting with heads and officials of government institutions, and mayors in the Bethlehem district, Bethlehem Governor, Abdul-Fattah Hamayel, stated that as Bethlehem readies to celebrate Christmas, its markets are now %100 free of Israeli settlement products.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60226
Boycott roundup: activists mark holidays with boycott carols and victories
Over the past two weeks, Palestine solidarity activists across the US launched holiday-themed actions encouraging shoppers not to buy Israeli-made products. Meanwhile, BDS activists in Scotland claimed a major victory when the Edinburgh city council rejected a bid by French urban contracting company Veolia to take over public services in the city.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11683.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Deck London’s Walls with Bethlehem’s Calls
Two dozen children, aged 5-17, from the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, cut out stencils of letters, stars and Christmas trees and sprayed painted ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS WORLD FROM BETHLEHEM GHETTO’ on Israel’s illegal separation wall. Photographed by UK-based photojournalist William Parry, images of the children and their message – along with powerful images of checkpoints and life under occupation – will temporarily ‘hijack’ prominent wall spaces in central London throughout the week leading up to Christmas, with the help of projection artist, Beverley Carpenter. (photographs of Bethlehem and of the projection project in London can be found over the fold!)
http://pulsemedia.org/2010/12/20/deck-london%E2%80
#BDS: Holiday Carolers Wish Settlement-builder Leviev “A Loss of Business and a Poor Fiscal Year”
New York, NY, December 18, 2010 – Sixty human rights advocates, many sporting Santa hats, performed Christmas carol parodies and theatrical skits calling for the boycott of Israeli diamond mogul and settlement-builder Lev Leviev outside his Madison Avenue store this afternoon. Carolers celebrated the boycott movement’s success in pressuring Leviev’s company Africa Israel to cease settlement building and demanded that Leviev’s company Leader Management and Development do the same.
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/12/bds-holiday-carolers-wish-settlement.html
A Request from Cindy Corrie
From: cindy@rachelcorriefoundation.org Date: December 19, 2010 2:33:31 PM EST Subject: Support Seattle bus ad effort – vote in King 5 TV poll Friends, The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign’s effort to publicize Israeli War Crimes support with U.S. tax dollars on city buses is getting considerable attention. Story broke about this on Seattle King 5 TV Friday evening. The Jewish Federation has put out a letter opposing the ads. If you haven’t taken the simple step of voting in The King 5 TV poll about the effort, please do! And please pass along to your lists and let others know. Seattle activists will need support this week. Note that those supporting the ads surged ahead in the unofficial poll yesterday after we put word out – but today the opposition has taken the lead. Over 4500 have voted in the poll in just over a day, and the story has been the first or second most read story for the past day – and the most frequently emailed. Comments are welcome. http://bit.ly/dWALp9 Cindy
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/a-request-from-cindy-corrie/
Refugees/Siege/Rights Violations/Restriction of Movement
Aid groups say they, not Hamas, are thwarted by Israeli restrictions on Gaza
GAZA CITY – Despite recent moves by Israel to ease construction in the Gaza Strip, restrictions on building materials are hampering international humanitarian efforts while doing little to impede the Hamas-led government they are designed to weaken, aid and nongovernmental groups say.
http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=24de3576de138fc5f8cbe745c5e9aed3
The Challenge of Feeding a Family in Gaza
December, 2010: Randa Al-Jarousha has seven children. Her husband is jobless. He used to work in construction but he got sick and lost his job. Even if he gets better, his chances of finding another construction job are slim since building materials are in short supply. Most days, Randa sends her son to school without breakfast and relies on the fortified snacks offered in the Milk for Preschoolers program run by ANERA.
http://www.care2.com/causes/human-rights/blog/the-challenge-of-feeding-a-family-in-gaza/
African Asylum Seekers in Israel
Debbie Herdan is a former Tel Aviv resident who was very active in the organization Hagar and Miriam, which works with African women in Israel who are either pregnant or have recently given birth. Debbie worked with Eritrean, Sudanese and Darfurian asylum seekers for several years and writes that they became like family to her. She passed on the following messages encouraging people in Israel to come out to a rally on December 24th in Tel Aviv (corner of Rothschild and Sheinkin at 10 am, for those who want to attend). The occasion is the declared intention of the State of Israel to require refugees to live in a refugee camp (run by the Prison Service).
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/12/african-asylum-seekers-in-israel/
Racism and Discrimination
Bat Yam rally: Death to Jewish women who date Arabs
200 people demonstrate in city center against ‘Arabs who are taking our daughters’; leftists wave signs reading ‘Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4002085,00.html
Violence/Aggression
Israeli fighter jets attack Gaza
Air raids appear to target fighters in several parts of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/12/2010122142226408227.html
Eight separate Israeli airstrikes reported throughout Gaza; 2 injured
Late Monday night, Israeli warplanes dropped bombs in different parts of the Gaza Strip – initial reports from the ground indicate that at least eight separate bombs were dropped in several areas in the crowded, 15-mile wide Strip.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60225
Police question Palestinian claim settlers burned his herd of sheep
Palestinian shepherd says he saw settlers light a fire in the field where his herd was grazing, burning to death 12 pregnant ewes, and then drive away.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/police-question-palestinian-claim-settlers-burned-his-herd-of-sheep-1.331714
Detainees (held by Israel, PA and Hamas0
Thirteen-year-old Sentenced to 21 Days House Arrest in Jerusalem
Jerusalem – Maysa Abu Ghazala – PNN – An Israeli Magistrate Court judge ruled today to confine 13-year-old Mustafa Jamjoum to 21 days in his house and an NIS 750 fine for “participating in stone throwing” at Israeli troops during a demonstration in Silwan. An Israeli border guard arrested Jamjoum last Thursday as he returned to his home after a protest; he was interrogated for more than six hours in the al-Moskobiyya (Moscow) prison compound in Jerusalem, transferred to Salah al-Din Police Station and held there until his trial. The Israeli attorney general demanded at the hearing that Jamjoun be sentenced to 90 days and an NIS 2000 fine. He was opposed by Muhammad Ramzi Mahmoud, a lawyer from the International Movement to Defend Children.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9293&Itemid=27
Israeli army detains 3Palestinians in Nablus
altNablus, December 20, (Pal Telegraph) – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained Monday three Palestinians from Kafer Kalel town, in south of Nablus city, in the West Bank. Eyewitnesses said that Israeli occupation forces detained three citizens from one family. They are: Saleh Amer, 20, a university student, and Rafat Amer, 28, Aand Tame Amer an ex-prisoner. They added that the IOF broke into and searched number of houses belonging to the family of the detainees. Israeli occupation forces raid the West Bank cities in a daily base and detain Palestinian citizens under the pretext of what they call “wanted Palestinians”.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7755:Israeli-army-detains-3Palestinians-in-Nablus&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=135
Hamas Militia Holds Khan Yunes Governor
Gaza City – PNN – A militia group under orders from the Islamic movement Hamas is holding Dr. Usama al-Fara, governor of the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunes and member of the Fatah Revolutinoary Council, inside his office in Gaza City. A Fatah source said that the militia summoned Dr. al-Fara to one of his offices before holding him there. Dr. al-Fara has been arrested once before and held for three months by Hamas after elections in 2006. Today’s arrest comes during a week of Hamas arrests of Fatah members. Dr. al-Fara is one of two Fatah members of the Palestinian Legislative Council members from Khan Yunes, the other being controversial strongman Muhammad Dahlan. The three other Khan Yunes representatives are from Hamas.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9291&Itemid=73
Ministry of prisoners: What is happening in WB is high treason
The ministry of prisoners in the Gaza Strip has urged the Palestinian people to stand up in solidarity with the political detainees in the West Bank.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?
Reprisals
Qassam explodes near kindergarten
Rocket hits kibbutz in Ashkelon Coast Regional Council; two people suffer from shock, including a child. Two gunmen injured Monday night as Israeli aircraft bomb targets in Beit Lahiya, Khan Younis in response to mortar fire at Negev.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4002195,00.html
Middle East Wikileaks
Amos Gilad: Abbas ‘won’t survive politically’ past 2011
Recently released diplomatic cable quotes top Defense Ministry official saying PA president weakened by Goldstone report, “stubborn Hamas.”
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=200265&R=R2
Netanyahu’s patience with Abbas has ‘run out’, says WikiLeaks cable
Premier’s senior policy aide told visiting U.S. senators in December 2009 – just three weeks after settlement freeze declared – that Israel would no longer make concessions to the Palestinians.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-s-patience-with-abbas-has-run-out-says-wikileaks-cable-1.331680
‘Israel enjoys peace with Egypt, Jordan, but not peoples’
WikiLeaks cable: “Israel believes moderate Arab states could fall victim to regime change, resume hostilities.”
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?ID=200316&R=R1
WikiLeaks: Mubarak refused black market Soviet nukes
Cable reports “Egypt had been offered nuclear scientists, materials following collapse of Soviet Union, but Egypt refused.”
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=200197&R=R3
WikiLeaks cables: Syria believed Israel was behind sniper killing
Assassination of Syrian president’s top security aide caused anxiety among the political elite, US embassy cables reveal.
‘Evil’ Syria regime would collapse in war with Israel, former MI chief told U.S.
Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin made the statement in light of fears of a military clash between Syria and Israel in the summer of 2007, newly released WikiLeaks cables reveal.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/evil-syria-regime-would-collapse-in-war-with-israel-former-mi-chief-told-u-s-1.331713?localLinksEnabled=false
PM to US: How will you handle Iran?
Leaked document reveals that on April 2009, shortly after taking office, Netanyahu met with American lawmakers and asked them at least three times what US planned to do about nuclear threat.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4002188,00.html
Political Developments
Bolivia recognizes Palestinian state; Ecuador may be next
The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, announced on Friday that Bolivia recognizes a Palestinian state along the 1967 border with Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has also started conversations with Ecuador to enlist that country’s support for a Palestinian state.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60222
Israel on offensive over Palestinian diplomacy: report (AFP)
AFP – Israel has ordered its envoys abroad to launch a “comprehensive defence” against Palestinian efforts for international recognition of an independent state, Haaretz newspaper reported on its website Monday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101220/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestinianspeacediplomacyun
Israeli ministers float limited West Bank pullout (AP)
AP – With Mideast peace talks at an impasse, two senior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party are shopping around a new idea: In the absence of peace, Israel should pull large numbers of Jewish settlers out of the West Bank while leaving its soldiers in place.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101221/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_new_thinking
Abbas faces ‘power grab’ by key rival [Abbas and Dahlan]
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec. 20 (UPI) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is cracking down on one of his main political rivals, former security chief Mohammed Dahlan, amid signs of a growing rift in the Palestinian leadership as U.S. efforts to revive the moribund peace process founder. Sources in the ruling Fatah movement have reported that in recent days Abbas’ security services have interrogated a number of party activists on suspicion that Dahlan had recruited them for an armed militia.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/12/20/Abbas-faces-power-grab-by-key-rival/UPI-63321292872272/
Palestinian leaders contradict each other [Abbas and Fayyad]
JERUSALEM, Dec. 20 (UPI) — The Palestinian Authority’s president Monday rebuked the group’s prime minister for contradicting him on unilateral statehood recognition, observers said. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad opposed the group’s intention to unilaterally pursue recognition of statehood from the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly, while its president, Mahmoud Abbas, said the group is determined to seek a non-negotiated, one-sided statehood based on 1967 borders, The Jerusalem Post reported.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/12/20/Palestinian-leaders-contradict-each-other/UPI-54761292899265/
No peace in Middle East with U.S. mediation: Lula
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday that there will be no peace in the Middle East while the United States acts as a mediator. “I am convinced that there will be no peace in the Middle East as long as the United States is the tutor of peace there,” he said. Lula, who will leave office on Jan. 1, commented on the impasse with Iran’s nuclear program, which ended in several sanctions applied by the United Nations Security Council.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-12/21/c_13658109.htm
Erdogan: Israel is to blame for failed peace talks
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that while there were recently high level talks between the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Israel in Geneva, there were no changes in Turkish demands regarding the “Israeli aggression against the humanitarian aid ships in Gaza” and the “murder” of nine Turkish citizens, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=200214&R=R3
Egypt: Two Israeli involved in espionage affair
Three men are accused of “espionage and endangering the interests of Egypt” and “carrying out activities which could lead to a breakdown in relations” with Syria and Lebanon,” a judicial source said Monday. Egyptian Tarek Abdel Razzak, 37, who owns an import-export company, is accused of having worked together with two Israelis, he is a fugitive from the law, and the Israelis are being tried in absentia. An arrest warrant has been issued against the three.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4001869,00.html
Assad says he sees no partner for peace in extremist Israeli government
Syria has no partner for peace in Israel’s “extremist” current government and US President Barack Obama has created more despair in the Middle East, Syrian President Bashar Assad was quoted as saying Monday. “We are prepared for peace and we have a clear plan that can lead us there,” Assad was quoted as saying in an interview with the German Bild daily in Damascus.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=122724
Absence of war with Israel not the same as peace, says Spanish defense minister
BEIRUT: Spain’s Defense Minister Carme Chacon said Monday that the absence of war between Lebanon and Israel did not mean that peace prevailed between the two countries. “The absence of war in Lebanon does not mean that there is peace,” she said, during a short visit to Lebanon.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=122744
Other News
Israeli military announces deployment of new ‘Windbreaker’-enabled tanks along Gaza border
A new technology known as ‘Windbreaker’ shielding will be deployed in tanks stationed along the Israel-Gaza border, announced an Israeli military spokesperson on Sunday. According to the website ‘Military Analysis’, “The system carries a price tag of $150,000-$200,000, permitting its advanced operational abilities to intercept a rocket before it can strike.” The ‘Windbreaker’ system detects the heat of incoming shells, then fires a series of defeating particles to destroy the shells before they get near the tank. Israeli forces deployed along the border with Gaza will use the new system against shells fired by Palestinian resistance fighters across the border with Israel, most of which have no aiming capabilities and land on the Negev desert.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60219
WEST BANK: Poll finds Palestinians afraid to criticize authority
A Palestinian public opinion poll published Monday in the West Bank city of Ramallah found out that only a quarter of the Palestinians in the West Bank believe they can criticize the Palestinian Authority. In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the record was even worse as less than a fifth of the Palestinians there believed it is possible to criticize Hamas rule of the coastal enclave.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/12/west-bank-poll-finds-palestinians-afraid-to-criticize-authority.html
PM considers requesting Jonathan Pollard pardon
Israel to submit pardon request to free spy? Esther Pollard begs PM to send Obama formal request, saying: ‘Change tactics.’ Netanyahu: Give me 24 hours.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4002056,00.html
Zionist violence isn’t violence at all, jokes Rudd
An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald today that highlights an amazing recent comment by Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd showing the inherent racism of Western backers of Zionism: “Rudd made a distasteful joke about Menachem Begin carrying out ”some interior redesign” of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel – referring to a terrorist bombing in 1946 that killed 91 people. Has Rudd really has got it as a diplomat?”
http://antonyloewenstein.com/2010/12/21/zionist-violence-isnt-violence-at-all-jokes-rudd/?utm_source=Twitter%20Referral&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Twitter
Palestine Analysis/Op-ed
The Palestinian Authority and the Problem of Reform under the Occupation
Real reform of the Palestinian authority possible? Or is reform simply a matter of “dancing to the Occupation’s tune?” Also, can the types of reform be divided and classified in such a way so that some administrative, economic, educational, and social reforms are achieved, with the understanding that political and security reforms are much more difficult – if not impossible? Or will reform solely improve the image of the occupation and prolong its existence, which in itself is considered a deviation from the prime objective that Palestinian Authority was established to achieve – namely ending the occupation and not merely improving the status quo under its reign?!
http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/12/20/dr-moshen-m
The future of the Middle East is in the grip of Israeli extremism, Fahmi Howeidi
It seems that we have come to the moment of truth in the Palestinian conflict, where all the signs indicate that the future of the issue, and the entire region, is now determined by Avigdor Lieberman, a far-right racist in Israel, in league with other extremists and fanatics in the Knesset. Some may say that Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is the most powerful man in the arena. After all, he’s the one who has humiliated the Palestinians, insulted all the Arabs and challenged President Obama personally, beating them all in the process. This is true because it depicts the reality as recorded by the headlines. But it does not convey the whole message; it makes no mention of the forces which drive and guide Netanyahu.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/middle-east/1858-the-future-of-the-middle-east-is-in-the-grip-of-israeli-extremism
I Dreamed This was Only a Nightmare, Lillian Rosengarten
I woke up this morning from a nightmare. I dreamed of Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish. Perhaps the world has forgotten or does not know about this Gazan physician who has dedicated his life to reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. I had known about him and perhaps because this month is the birthday of my beloved son who died in 1996, I dreamed of this man whose 3 daughters were murdered while they slept in their beds in their home in the Jabaliya refugee camp. They were murdered by the Israeli Defense Force as they shot directly into their bedroom during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, January 2009.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16495
Economic Espionage Haunts AIPAC, Grant Smith
Steven J. Rosen’s $20 million defamation lawsuit against his former employer, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has now taken a predictable turn. AIPAC fired Rosen and fellow analyst Keith Weissman over their indictments under the Espionage Act in 2005. The criminal prosecution was ultimately quashed by the Obama administration to the chagrin of prosecutors in early 2009. A November 8, 2010 AIPAC defense filing in Superior Court asked Judge Erik Christian to dismiss the civil suit, alleging that Rosen’s use of company computers to surf pornographic websites and selections from damning depositions proved AIPAC’s statements that he did not comport to company standards were not slander. As predicted, Rosen has now gone for AIPAC’s jugular by deposing Executive Director Howard Kohr (PDF) and legislative deputy director Esther Kurz about their roles in an earlier espionage caper against US industries and workers involving AIPAC’s use of classified information.
http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2010/12/17/economic-espionage-haunts-aipac/
AIPAC’s Scandalous Behaviors, Dallas Darling
If it was not enough for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to condemn the Palestinians for publicly suggesting that they have a right to consider a unilateral declaration of statehood, the extremely influential and powerful Jewish-American lobbying group has worked diligently to associate Israel’s commitment to a settlement freeze and the restarting of talks with the Palestinians as something akin to appeasing Hitlerism. Including AIPAC’s manipulation of the Holocaust, such scandalous and reprehensible behaviors have sabotaged peace efforts between the Palestinians and Israelis for decades. These political ruses and false associations have also led to unnecessary conflicts and wars, causing suffering and death for thousands of innocent people.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16496
Israeli Castigation of Global Activism as ‘Lawfare’, Iqbal Jassat – Pretoria
Reading details of a press conference hosted by Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon to mark International Human Rights Day makes one aware not only about how far removed the apartheid state is from human rights, but also how inimical the state is towards legitimate campaigners for this fundamental right. In addition to the event being far removed from the theme, it was held primarily to release a new study or monograph, Lawfare – Exploitation of Courts in the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16499
O Little Town of Bethlehem Today, Ron Forthofer
During Christmas time, the town of Bethlehem in the West Bank, the birthplace of Jesus, comes to mind. I wonder what Jesus would think were he to return to Bethlehem, to Jerusalem and to the rest of the West Bank today. Unfortunately, he would still see a foreign military force occupying the land. Since Jesus had experienced the Roman occupation when he was alive, he might not be too surprised about the occupation.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16500
Last Call for a Peaceful Settlement, Joharah Baker
Last week when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assigned blame to both the Palestinians and Israelis for the faltering negotiations process, the Palestinians took offense and for good reason. Not only had the American administration suddenly reneged on its former tactic of pushing Israel to extend a settlement freeze but it was now saying the Palestinians also “have not yet made the difficult decisions that peace requires.” Other, unofficial sources (namely Wikileaks) have shown just how much the US administration blames the Palestinians. One purported cable entitled “ME policy recalibration” notes that the “USG focus on obtaining freeze in Israeli settlements in the West Bank for additional 90 days has been discontinued. Recognized that previous 10-month freeze was wasted by Palestinian Authority, which failed to enter direct talks in good faith.”
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=22939&CategoryId=3
Hidden Histories – Book Review, Jim Miles
(Basem L. Ra’ad. Hidden Histories – Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean. London: Pluto Press, 2010.) The clear majority of the modern works that examine the Palestine/Israel conflict do so with a strong emphasis on the ‘nakba’ of 1948, with subsequent arguments based on covering events that led up to it, and then arguments based on events that have followed from it. For the former it is usually a discussion of the early Zionist writings merging into early Christian Zionist beliefs in the U.S. and Britain, and then gaining huge momentum from the Balfour Declaration, a statement of policy and not international law or international agreement. For the latter, the post nakba events, much of the focus is appropriately placed on the mechanisms of control established by the newly declared Israeli state up to the 1967 war, and after that critical juncture, a discussion of the settlements and their expropriation/annexation of occupied Palestinian land. The formation of valued international norms of law and human rights since the Second World War, established through various international means (the Nuremburg trials, the UN, the Geneva Conventions and other accepted norms of customary law), plays in important role in these discussions.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16498
Eyes in Gaza – Book Review, Jeremy Salt – Ankara
(Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse. Eyes in Gaza. London: Quartet Books, 2010.) “They bombed the central vegetable market in Gaza City two hours ago. 80 injured, 20 killed, all came here to Shifa. Hades! We are wading in death, blood and amputees. More children. A pregnant woman. I have never experienced anything so terrible. Now we hear tanks. Pass this on, send it on, shout it out. Anything. DO SOMETHING! DO MORE! We are living in the history books now, all of us.” So wrote Dr Mads Gilbert at 1.50 pm on January 3, 2009. It was a message he tapped into his mobile phone. A professor of medicine at the University of North Norway in Tromso, he had come to Gaza with his old friend Erik Fosse, a professor of medicine at the University of Oslo, specialising in general surgery. Eyes in Gaza (London: Quartet Books, 2010) is their record of what they saw and experienced during this onslaught on a civilian population by ‘the most moral army in the world’, as the Israeli government and the army command itself routinely describe their military.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16501
Other Op-ed/Analysis
Ashura is about more than bloodletting | Ahmed Moor
Bloodletting may seem an excessively literal act, but it should not distract from the universality of grief expressed at Ashura. Ashura is mostly acknowledged in the west for the symbolic bloodletting some Shia communities engage in. Indeed, I witnessed a limited amount of that in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on 16 December. But it seemed incidental to what was really going on. The people around me were mourning; they coped with loss and they turned to their coreligionists for strength like anyone else would. What I witnessed was a resonant show of community. There was nothing extraordinary about that.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/dec/20/ashura-bloodletting-grief
Max Blumenthal: The Great Islamophobic Crusade
Erupting so many years after 9/11, this spasm of anti-Muslim bigotry might seem oddly timed and unexpectedly spontaneous. But little of recent American Islamophobia is sheer happenstance.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/the-great-islamophobic-cr_b_799277.html
How the U.S. Government Promotes Islamophobia, Alex Kane
I often focus on organizations and individual right-wing activists outside the U.S. government that have stoked anti-Muslim sentiment here. But the U.S. government itself is just as culpable in promoting a McCarthyist climate of fear where every Muslim-American is considered a “terror threat” and Islam is turned into the new bogeyman of the day.
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/how-the-u-s-government-promotes-islamophobia/
5 Ridiculous Things You Probably Believe About Islam
Well, if there’s one thing everyone thinks of when they hear “Cracked.com” it’s “friend of Islam.” Which is why we feel compelled to clarify a few misconceptions for our readers. Also, there is no way this article will ever come back to haunt us in any way.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/20/5-ridiculous-things-you-p_n_799296.html
Lebanon
Warrant targets Ali Awada over spying for Israel
BEIRUT: Military Investigative Judge Imad al-Zein issued an arrest warrant Monday against Ali Awada on charges of collaborating with Israel from 1984 until 2009. The arrest warrants were issued after Zein interrogated Awada. The suspect was charged with providing Israel with information on military and civil locations in Beirut’s southern suburbs, as well as other sensitive data.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=122752
Hajj Hassan: Content of indictment irrelevant
BEIRUT: Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan said Hizbullah rejected the looming indictment to be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) irrespective of its content and evidence.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=122749
Iraq
Monday: 2 Iraqis, 4 Libyans Killed; 12 Iraqis Wounded
Last minute bickering from the Sadrist bloc has delayed voting for the new cabinet for at least one day, but attacks continued without debate. At least two Iraqis were killed and 12 more were wounded, while security forces killed four Libyans accused of planning Christmas Day attacks. Also, Amnesty International has called on Iraq to protect its Christian population.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/12/20/monday-2-iraqis-4-libyans-killed-12-iraqis-wounded/
Iraqis await ‘torture claim’ ruling
The High Court is due to rule in an action brought on behalf of more than 200 Iraqi civilians who allege they were tortured and suffered inhuman and degrading treatment at the hands of British soldiers and interrogators in Iraq. Their lawyers have challenged a refusal by Defence Secretary Liam Fox to order a new, wide-ranging inquiry to investigate all the allegations being made and whether there was systemic abuse, as opposed to ill treatment by “a few bad apples”.
Wikileaks
US threatened ‘retaliation’ to bully EU into accepting biotech crops, cable shows
Reacting to a French pledge to represent the “common interest” in considering biotech foods, a former US ambassador recommended publishing a “retaliation list” of European locations where genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were being grown in hopes that activists would destroy them and “cause some pain” for officials, a leaked diplomatic cable shows.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/us-retaliation-list-gm-crops-cablegate/
Rove’s hand seen in Julian Assange prosecution, sources allege
Fredrik+Reinfeldt Roves hand seen in Julian Assange prosecution, sources allege. Former Bush political strategist Karl Rove may be connected to a Swedish effort to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, sources for several legal experts suggest. Rove is a longtime adviser to Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who recently tapped the Republican operative to aid his 2010 reelection campaign.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/rove-connection-prosecution-julian-assange/
Q&A: Julian Assange, Publisher & Editor-in-chief, WikiLeaks: ‘What we released has moves towards a more just State.’
Anarchist or messiah, WikiLeaks founder and Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange wears both mantles with ease. His avalanche of words continues to rock world capitals from Washington to Wellington, but the man himself is rather soft-spoken. S Kalyana Ramanathan braved Arctic weather conditions and jostling photographers outside Beccles police station in Suffolk, where Assange must report daily as part of his bail conditions, for an exclusive interview. Excerpts:
http://www.afaqs.com/media/story.html?sid=29147_QA:+Julian+Assange+Publisher++Editor-in-chief+WikiLeaks
Wikimania and the First Amendment, Ralph Nader
Thomas Blanton, the esteemed director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University described Washington’s hyper-reaction to Wikileaks’ transmission of information to some major media in various countries as ‘Wikimania.’ In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last Thursday, Blanton urged the Justice Department to cool it. Wikileaks and newspapers like The New Yorks Times and London’s Guardian, he said, are publishers protected by the First Amendment. The disclosures are the first small installment of a predicted much larger forthcoming trove of non-public information from both governments and global corporations.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16497
U.S. and other world news
Qatari Emir In Iran For Talks
Iran and Qatar have stressed the necessity of amity and affinity among Muslim states in the face of enemy endeavors to create rift among the followers of Islam. In a Monday meeting in Tehran, visiting Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad emphasized the importance of vigilance among regional states in order to strengthen unity and cooperation, IRNA reported.
http://www.payvand.com/news/10/dec/1195.html
Erdogan Attends Ashura Ceremony in Istanbul, Addresses Mourners
16/12/2010 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan participated on Thursday in Ashura ceremony in Istanbul, to be the first Prime Minister to attend a Ahura mourning ceremony in Turkey’s history. There was a huge turnout at the ceremony of the tenth of Muharram in Turkey where marches and mourning consolations were taking place in Ankara and Istanbul, and many other places. Erdogan delivered a speech about the moral meanings of the occasion. senior adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ali Akbar Velayati, was among the attendees in the ceremony and addressed the mourners describing the third Shia Imam, Imam Hussein (PBUH), as the symbol of fight against oppression.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=166201&language=en
Erdogan: Hussein’s Sacrifice Source of Unification, Brotherhood and Solidarity
17/12/2010 The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended an Ashura Day ceremony in Istanbul emphasizing that Imam Hussein’s sacrifice is a source of unification rather than a farewell, a beginning rather than an end, brotherhood rather than separation. “It is solidarity and integration,” Erdogan emphasized at the ceremony, adding that the Karbala tragedy had caused all Muslims pain for more than a millennium. He said that the Karbala tragedy affects all Muslims and should serve as a source of unity among Sunni and Shia Muslims.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=166257&language=en
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