And other news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Israel set to build more homes on annexed land
JERUSALEM, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Israel’s Jerusalem municipality took another step on Monday towards building 124 new apartments on annexed land around East Jerusalem, a move likely to draw international condemnation. The municipal planning committee authorised construction of 92 flats in East Talpiot in the southern part of Jerusalem and 32 in Pisgat Zeev to the north. Israel calls both areas Jewish “neighbourhoods” built on land it annexed following a 1967 war.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/israel-set-to-build-more-homes-on-annexed-land
124 housing units get construction approval in east Jerusalem
City’s factions divided over construction plans as Likud stresses housing unit shortage while Meretz focuses on inequality of municipality response.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4015088,00.html
Al-Araqib residents expelled to make way for trees
On Sunday, January 16th, 2011, the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) accompanied by a heavy police presence destroyed the Bedouin village of Al Araqib for the 9th time since its total destruction in July 2010. During the village’s destruction the police forces used large amounts of violent force, including sponge bullets (a police method of crowd dispersal) which injured eleven of the residents, one of them in his eye. This time it seems that the ILA has decided to expel the residents once and for all. This is corroborated by statements made by Shlomo Zeiser, the ILA officer in charge of inspection … The ongoing demolitions are not a coincidence. They are part of The 30 Day Plan, which is the plan to rid the Negev of its Bedouin residents.
http://groups.google.com/group/newprofile/browse_thread/thread/447600625c5cdc10
UK minister condemns latest Israeli settlement project
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The UK’s Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt, touring the region for the first time as minister, called the latest plans to build 1,400 new Jewish-only homes in occupied Jerusalem “deeply unhelpful.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=352056
European countries ask Palestinians to postpone anti-settlement draft resolution
RAMALLAH, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — Some European countries have asked Palestinians and Arab states to postpone presenting draft resolution against Jewish settlement to the United Nations, a Palestinian official revealed Monday. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, said that the European states want “more discussions” so that the United States would not veto the draft resolution at the Security Council.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-01/17/c_13694670.htm
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Weekly Anti-Wall Protest Update
Jan 18, 2011– Bi’lin marches in solidarity with its prisoners and martyrs. Occupation forces injure one in Ni’lin and open fire with live ammunition in al Nabi Saleh, where protestors clashed with soldiers in the center of the village.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2445.shtml
Police fire sponge bullets at Israeli citizens in al-Araqib, Joseph Dana
The Bedouin village of Al-Araqib was destroyed for the 9th time on Sunday morning in the wasteland of Israeli democracy. Today police forces were back in Al-Araqib destroying make-shift structures which had been erected over night. Villagers resisting the takeover have been arrested and beaten, with eyewitnesses reporting use of sponge bullets. Based on villagers’ and activists’ accounts, the state is planning a major offense to erase the village once and for all in order to make room for a forest to be planted by the Jewish National Fund (JNF).
http://josephdana.com/2011/01/police-fire-sponge-bullets-at-israeli-citizens-in-al-araqib/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=police-fire-sponge-bullets-at-israeli-citizens-in-al-araqib
MK praises resolve of Al-Araqib village
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Knesset Member Talab Al-Sanei on Monday commended the resolve of residents of Al-Araqib, a Bedouin village destroyed nine times by Israeli forces. Israeli forces carried out the latest demolition of the village in southern Israel on Sunday. Al-Sanei said the villagers’ attachment to their land showed “heroic determination and steadfastness.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=351987
Protest Held at Mercer County Plant Over Tear Gas
A Mercer County company is manufacturing and selling a type of tear gas to law enforcement agencies around the world. Monday, a group of protesters gathered outside of that facility, upset that the company is allegedly selling that product to Israeli military forces who are in turn using it against Palestinians. Combined Systems Incorporated, or CSI, based in Jamestown, Pa., manufactures and sells what they call less-lethal weapons to law enforcement.
http://www.wkbn.com/content/news/local/story/Protest-Held-at-Mercer-County-Plant-Over-Tear-Gas/FT3eVYLOu0uC1zKZoa3XHg.cspx
Israeli Activists Call on UK Telecommunications Giant to Cut Ties with Israeli Phone Company
Tel Aviv – PNN – Israeli activists on Tuesday called on UK telecommunications giant BT to “live up” to the company’s “professed ethical standards” and “cut all ties with Israel’s occupation” by severing links with Israeli phone company Bezeq. On the one year anniversary of BT accepting Bezeq into its exclusive ‘Global Alliance’, Israeli citizens from ‘Boycott From Within’ said they were “saddened and dismayed” at BT’s relationship with a company deeply involved in illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9425&Itemid=62
‘Boycott From Within’ making international waves against the occupation, Joseph Dana
Boycott From Within is taking credit for the recent cancellation of French pop star Vanessa Paradis’s visit to Israel. The group, made up of Israeli citizens who advocate the Palestinian national call for international call for boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) of Israel, believes that there efforts helped persuade Paradis to cancel her March performance in Tel Aviv. Officially, her concert was cancelled for ‘professional reasons’ but those close to singer believe that she was driven by calls for boycott.
http://josephdana.com/2011/01/boycott-from-within-making-international-waves-against-the-occupation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=boycott-from-within-making-international-waves-against-the-occupation
#BDS: ‘Undip Sabra’ campaign hits DePaul’s bulletin boards and cafeteria cash registers
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2011/01/bds-undip-sabra-campaign-hits-depauls.html
#BDS: ACTION ALERT: Remove Sabra Hummus from DePaul University
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2011/01/bds-action-alert-remove-sabra-hummus.html
There is no substitute for seeing it for yourself – Travel to Israel/Palestine with Interfaith Peace Builders in May 2011, Adam Horowitz
I am incredibly excited to make this announcement. If you’re reading this site you are most likely very interested in events in Israel/Palestine. There are many ways to learn about the conflict – books, films, websites – but nothing beats seeing it for yourself. I am going to be co-leading a delegation to Israel/Palestine from May 21 – June 3, 2011 with Huwaida Arraf. Please consider joining us – it should be an amazing time.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/there-is-no-substitute-for-seeing-it-for-yourself-travel-to-israelpalestine-with-interfaith-peace-builders-in-may-2011.html
Human Rights/Humanitarian Issues/Siege
Gaza children ‘at risk’ near border
New report says 26 children killed by Israeli troops near the border in 2010, while the blockade is ‘ravaging’ economy.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201111804035568365.html
Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – Dec 19 – Jan 15
http://www.gazagateway.org/2011/01/goods-%e2%80%93-needs-vs-supply-%e2%80%93-dec-19-%e2%80%93-jan-15/
Industrial Fuel – Needs Vs. Supply – Dec 19 – Jan 15
http://www.gazagateway.org/2011/01/industrial-fuel-%e2%80%93-needs-vs-supply-%e2%80%93-dec-19-%e2%80%93-jan-15/
Israel blocks entry of medical team into Ramle prison hospital
RAMALLAH, (PIC)– The Israeli prison services (IPS) refused to allow an independent medical team to enter the Ramle prison hospital to check on Palestinian sick detainees. The prisoner’s committee in 1948 occupied Palestine said in a statement on Monday that it presented a list of prisoners to be checked by this team but the IPS rejected the step. The committee noted that Ahmed Tamimi, from Ramallah, as one example, and who is serving a life sentence, was suffering from an unknown health condition, recalling that he was detained since 19/7/1993.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7
Palestinian factions: Refugee camps source of stability for Lebanon
SIDON: Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon are a source of stability and security in the country, Palestinian factions said Monday. Following talks at the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh on the outskirts of Sidon, Palestinian factions, including Islamist groups, stressed in a statement their keenness “on preserving the stability and security of [Palestinian] refugee camps.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=123801
Violence/Aggression/War Crimes
Israeli tank shell kills Gaza resident-medics
GAZA, Jan 18 (Reuters) – An Israeli tank shell killed a Palestinian and wounded two others close to the border fence in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medical officials at a Gaza hospital said. The Israeli army had no comment and a spokeswoman said she was checking for details.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/israeli-tank-shell-kills-gaza-resident-medics
Israel raids Al-Burage camp, no causalities
Gaza Strip , (Pal Telegraph) – A number of Israeli machines and bulldozers raided the east of AL-Burage refugee camp ,central Gaza strip. Witnesses reported to local sources that four military vehicles advanced about 300 meters toward AL-Burage refugee camp and started firing, leaving no causalities. A case of fear and panic was created among Palestinian civilians, especially children. Israel justified that the raid was in response to rocket attacks by Hamas fighters. It’s noteworthy that occupation machines daily provoke military operations along Gaza borders, causing great damage with civilians’ properties.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/8232-israel-raids-al-burage-camp-no-causalities.html
Israeli navy fire damages dozens of Palestinian fishing boats
Israeli navy gunboats opened machinegun fire at dozens of Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, on Monday night, a PIC reporter said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Woman loses finger after prison guards slam door
A Palestinian woman’s finger was amputated when prison guards slammed a door on her when she was visiting her son Bilal Abbas in the Israeli Ohlikdar prison.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD
10 January 2010: Israel Police refutes claims of Ni’lin video forgery
In July 2010, the special military court on the Kirya base convicted Lt. Col. Omri Borberg, former commander of Battalion 71 of the Armored Corps, for the offense of attempted threats, and convicted Staff Sgt. (Res.) Leonardo Corea for the unlawful use of a weapon. The two were also convicted of unbecoming conduct. The offenses for which they were convicted carry a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment and the convictions will be listed in their criminal records.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Firearms/20110110_Nilin_Tape_verified.asp
Detainees
3 Palestinians Detained in Hebron-area by Israeli Forces
On Tuesday morning, the homes of three men in the southern West Bank towns of Beit Ummar and Adh-Dhahiriya were raided and searched by Israeli forces, resulting in the men’s detention.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60441
Hamas says PA detained 17 supporters
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Hamas officials in the West Bank issued a statement on Tuesday saying Palestinian Authority’s security services detained 17 of the movement’s supporters. The party listed 17 individuals they said were detained in Bethlehem, Tulkarem, Qalqilya and Nablus. Ma’an could not independently verify the report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=352103
Islamic Jihad to PA: Release our activists
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Two members of Islamic Jihad were detained by Palestinian Authority police without arrest warrants on Monday night, a statement from the party said, and demanded their immediate release. The men were said to have been detained in the Tulkarem region, and taken to the Juneid Prison in the northern West Bank district of Nablus.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=352108
Shin Bet agent makes attempted hit on Eshel prisoner
A Shin Bet agent inside the Eshel Prison in Beersheba made an obvious attempt to assassinate another prisoner in the facility, the Gaza prisoners ministry said Tuesday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Gaza inhabitants demand right of visiting their detained relatives
Relatives of Gazan prisoners in Israeli occupation jails have demanded the right of visiting their next of kin after four years of visit deprivation.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Political Developments
European countries may recognize Palestinian state – Shin Bet
Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yuval Diskin said on Tuesday that he believed that international recognition of a Palestinian state will spread.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60445
Norway to be first EU nation to recognize Palestine?
JERUSALEM – Guyana became Thursday the seventh Latin American state to recognize an independent Palestinian state. Although the official recognitions are largely nominal, they have irked the State of Israel as they expose its growing diplomatic isolation in the face of the current peace deadlock.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/16-2
Medvedev: As we did in 1988, Russia still recognizes an independent Palestine
Russian president makes announcement after meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in West Bank; Israeli officials fear recognition will cause a domino effect of other states following Russia’s lead, including China.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/medvedev-as-we-did-in-1988-russia-still-recognizes-an-independent-palestine-1.337774?localLinksEnabled=false
Israel concerned Russia will recognize Palestinian state
Fatah official Nabil Sha’ath tells Al-Hayat newspaper that Dmitry Medvedev will affirm Soviet Union’s 1988 recognition of a Palestinian state during West Bank visit.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-concerned-russia-will-recognize-palestinian-state-1.337748
Israel’s Barak breaks from Labor Party, fortifying bond with Netanyahu
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak left his Labor Party to form a faction that would preserve his alliance with Prime Minister Netanyahu, throwing the political system into turmoil.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/Rz-FlexUspc/Israel-s-Barak-breaks-from-Labor-Party-fortifying-bond-with-Netanyahu
Senior official: Israeli attack on Hezbollah will bring war with Syria, Akiva Eldar
Departure of the relatively moderate Labor ministers makes the irrationality with regard to the idea of an attack on Lebanon a more cardinal condition for its existence.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/senior-official-israeli-attack-on-hezbollah-will-bring-war-with-syria-1.337655?localLinksEnabled=false
Braverman to Haaretz: Lieberman harmed Israel’s relations with its Arab citizens
Labor’s Minority Affairs minister, who resigned from the government on Monday, says present goal is to ‘topple the regime of Netanyahu, Lieberman, Barak.’
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/braverman-to-haaretz-lieberman-harmed-israel-s-relations-with-its-arab-citizens-1.337614?localLinksEnabled=false
Other News
Israeli man arrested for alleged involvement in Bosnia genocide
The International Investigations Unit arrests Aleksandar Cvetković after Bosnia files extradition request over suspicions that he was involved in 1995 mass murder.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-man-arrested-for-alleged-involvement-in-bosnia-genocide-1.337736?localLinksEnabled=false
Study: 61% of men don’t see forced sex with acquaintance as rape
Over half of Israeli men – 61 percent – do not consider forcing sex on an acquaintance as rape, a study conducted by Tel-Hai Academic College recently found. Moreover, 41 percent of Israeli women share that view.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/study-61-of-men-don-t-see-forced-sex-with-acquaintance-as-rape-1.337637?localLinksEnabled=false
Rabbi: Lower marriage age to 15
Initiator of new bill says legislation would financially help large families, curtail sexual offenses. ‘Girls who do not want to study or work are a burden to the household,’ says Rabbi Asher Idan.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4013584,00.html
Analysis/Op-ed
WEST BANK: Political upheaval in Tunisia spurs Palestinian leaders to issue reassurances on own economy
The factors that led to the popular upheaval in Tunisia set off alarm bells throughout the Arab world, and the Palestinian Authority was no different. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad spent more than two hours on Sunday talking to 40 Palestinian journalists at his Ramallah office about the economic situation and living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/01/west-bank-factors-to-tunisian-upheaval-alarmed-palestinian-authority.html
The Shepherd’s lost sheep–As Palestinians call for recognition of their state, its contours are blurring
FEW architectural sites in East Jerusalem, the side of the city that Palestinians see as their future capital, capture the flavour of Palestine’s British Mandate more acutely than the Shepherd Hotel. It was where British officers hobnobbed with Palestinian high society before the territory was partitioned in 1948. General Sir Evelyn Barker, in command of British troops under the mandate, dallied there with a celebrated Arab hostess, Katy Antonius.
http://www.economist.com/node/17913606?story_id=17913606&fsrc=rss
Israel’s ‘disobedient women’ questioned over illegal trips for Palestinians | Harriet Sherwood
Days out to Israel for West Bank women and children come under police scrutiny amid fears of rising intolerance. In a small village between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, I joined a remarkable group of women and children for lunch last weekend, a noisy and cheerful crowd enjoying plates of chicken, fish, rice and salad. All of them were breaking the law. The party consisted of around 20 mostly middle-aged Israeli women, slightly fewer and younger Palestinian women and a handful of the latter’s children.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/view-from-jerusalem-with-harriet-sherwood/2011/jan/17/israel-s-disobedient-women-illegal-trips
All paperwork was in place for the 8 and 9-year-olds to see the beach, and permission issued…, Jeff Loewenstein
It’s plain sick! There is nothing original in the statement that whatever one might have read, or seen, about Israel and the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, can prepare one for seeing things for oneself “on the ground”. The large, obscene blot of a Wall (sometimes with gun towers) dominating the skyline and looking down on the people it surrounds. The checkpoints and border-crossings and everything associated with them.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/all-paperwork-was-in-place-for-the-8-and-9-year-olds-to-see-the-beach-and-permission-issued.html
Winter Break in Gaza, MAX AJL
I got to Gaza three weeks ago after being away for over five months, and almost nothing has changed. F-16s continue to unload their cargoes of heavy explosives on “suspected” military sites nearly every night, terrifying everyone in Gaza as we all wonder if this is the explosion which heralds Cast Lead II, while “suspected militants,” or any Palestinian male under the age of 80, are consistently shot down by the IDF for loitering within a couple hundred meters of the border, especially if a bit of debris kicked up by the wind scares a frazzled and homicidal IDF sniper.
http://www.counterpunch.com/ajl01182011.html
Amira Hass on the Israeli Policy of Separate Development
Amira Hass, an Israeli, moved to the Gaza Strip to cover the Palestinian side of the peace process for Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, Ha’aretz. She argues that over the past 20 years, Israel has placed the Palestinians under severe and complex movement restrictions, forcing them to live in disconnected and congested enclaves of limited self-rule. Perceived by many Israelis (and even Palestinians) as a coincidental process of ad hoc measures against terrorism, she has discovered a pattern at odds to both the Oslo accords and security considerations.
http://pulsemedia.org/2011/01/17/amira-hass-on-the-israeli-policy-of-separate-development/
I get a closeup picture of the health care system and women’s lives in Palestine, Alice Rothchild
For the second week of the delegation, we divide into different interest groups and the medical folks are based in Nablus, working with Palestinian Medical Relief Society. On the second day we are standing in the waiting area of the Community Based Rehabilitation offices when a staff member, a beautiful somewhat demure woman with large black eyes and a graceful white hijab framing her face, beams and offers us chocolates. I decline (I am still recovering from breakfast), but she insists. “You must, my father just got out of prison and we are celebrating.” We learn he was imprisoned for four years. I take the chocolate.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/i-get-a-closeup-picture-of-the-health-care-system-and-womens-lives-in-palestine.html
In Nablus, An Invasion of Cardboard Tanks
Sidqi Musa – Nablus – PNN – He lines up the Israeli army tanks on a street in Zawata, a small village west of Nablus in the northern West Bank, reminiscent of scenes from the Israeli invasions of the Second Intifada. Except this time, the tanks are cardboard, made by twin brothers Sabhi and Bakr Saleh.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9424&Itemid=1
Obama puts peace process in concrete shoes and pushes it off the Staten Island ferry, Philip Weiss
Laura Rozen at Politico reports that Obama administration is seeking “new ideas” on the Middle East “from outside experts on how to advance the peace process.” Can you believe this roster? One of em’s a Bush neocon! Anyone who’s failed or who has street cred with the Israel lobby counts. Obama thinks he can put everything in Park till 2012. This is why civil society is so important.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/obama-puts-peace-process-in-concrete-shoes-and-pushes-it-off-the-staten-island-ferry.html
Majida Abu Rahmah: A Melancholy Martin Luther King Day in Bil’in
As the people of the United States commemorate the non-violent leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, they must be reminded of the Palestinian sisters, fathers and husbands held in Israel.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/majda-abu-rahmah/a-melancholy-martin-luthe_b_809918.html
Levy: Labor never really took on nationalist Revisionism, Philip Weiss
Smart analysis of Labor Party’s dissolution in Israel, from Daniel Levy at Foreign Policy. A few different moods in the piece.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/levy-labor-never-really-took-on-nationalist-revisionism.html
Bra-gate, the plot thickens, Annie
Did you read about Israel’s new charm offensive? Me too, but apparently I failed to grasp the “charm” of strip searching pregnant journo Najwan Simri of Al Jazeera (left) down to her birthday suit was for the purpose of stimulating positive coverage of Israel! Eyewitness Roee Ruttenberg reports +972blog (my bold): Inside the hotel ballroom, Netanyahu was lecturing (yes, lecturing!) the foreign press, asking why they are not covering Israel’s more positive image? He cited the strong economy, booming tourism, vastly advanced R&D facilities, and the standard bearers of Israeli self-defined success. All the while, an invasive strip search was taking place on the other side of the door. Did he really expect Simri to leave the event only to go home and blog about Tel Aviv’s beaches?
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/bra-gate-the-plot-thickens.html
An educated Palestinian explains her rightslessness, Alice Rothchild
I thought my last day in Ramallah, January 15, would be a reflective, low key day to catch up, finish blogging, look at my 700+ emails, and pack, when my host asks me to join him and the US student he is mentoring on an extraordinary visit to the village of Al Walajeh near Bethlehem. Soon we are in a taxi hurtling along Wadi El Nar Road, with hair-raising rollercoaster curves and more USAID road building projects. My friend reflects on the changes underway in the West Bank: in particular a huge NGO, donor, and governmental focus on security. I have noticed the PA forces in their fresh new uniforms standing on many corners. He tells me that under the guise of “law and order, justice, and building prisons,” there is now one Palestinian policeman, security agent, or intelligence officer for every 50 West Bankers. Prime Minister Fayyad, the World Bank trained technocrat, is getting everything under control. During Eid this year, my friend reports that every kid wanted a plastic gun, wanted to be powerful.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/an-educated-palestinian-explains-her-rightslessness.html
Road Map to Peace Beginning with Justice (An Open Letter to Sandy Berger and Stephen Hadley), William A. Cook
Let me introduce myself lest you discard a letter from someone you do not know. I am a citizen of this nation having lasted beyond the biblical three score and ten with an ancestry that can be traced back to 1636. That’s not necessarily a positive thing as our own ethnic cleansing of the natives of this continent can testify. But as a professor who has written three books about the mid-East, Tracking Deception: Bush Mid-East Policy, The Rape of Palestine, and an edited work, The Plight of the Palestinians, all specifically focused on Israel and Palestine, and, let me add, a novella that drew its inspiration from Ariel Sharon, a morality tale The Chronicles of Nefaria, I do my best to find recourse in the moral premise that underlies America and its potential for good in the world.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16559
Hollywood, Israel and the Pursuit of Normalcy, Basil Abdelkarim
While flipping through channels on television last week, I ran across an episode of Friends, the long running hit NBC sitcom (1994-2004), which grabbed my attention. In this episode from 2004, paleontologist and professor Ross Geller proudly announces to his circle of attractive young friends that he has just earned tenure at a New York university. This glorious occasion prompts the young dinosaur expert to break out a bottle of Israeli champagne in celebration. There are actually two references to Israeli champagne (‘Israel’s finest’) in this episode, and these moments are played ostensibly for laughs. (Israel? Champagne? Whoda thunk it?)
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16560
‘Sumoud’ in Palestine: To Exist is to Resist, Kim Bullimore
On Tuesday, the Israeli military demolished the dreams of a family of five in the Palestinian village of Azzoun Atma. At 8.30am, on January 11, more than 100 Israeli soldiers surrounded their home, forced them onto the street and then locked them in the neighouring house for the next three and half hours. As “the most moral army in the world” stood guard around the neighbouring house, ensuring the family could do nothing to stop what was about to happen, a heavily armoured Caterpillar bulldozer smashed down the walls of the home they had lived in for more than 8 years. The Israeli occupation forces then made their way to the other side of the village and demolished a farm house belonging to another family, along with their agricultural pens.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16561
Israel’s Actions Reflects the Arrogant Mentality of an Occupier, Daoud Kuttab
Sometime over the weekend and somewhere within the Israeli military’s decision making apparatus, a decision was taken. Thousands of decisions like this are taken daily. For sure no one thought much of it, after all, who cares about such insignificant decisions that affects the Palestinian population. The Israeli army which is generally in charge of the occupied territories and specifically in charge of all declared military areas, decided to close a particular area off for security reasons. The area in question is the King Hussein bridge, the only crossing point in and out of the occupied Palestinian territories for three million Palestinians.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9423&Itemid=58
Lebanon
Shami summons U.S. ambassador: Minister tells Connelly her visit to Fattoush counts as meddling in country’s internal affairs
BEIRUT: Caretaker Foreign Minister Ali Shami summoned the United States ambassador to Lebanon Monday over what he termed “interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs.” Shami, a March 8 figure, told U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly that her visit Sunday to M.P. Nicholas Fattoush “is interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs that violates diplomatic tasks stipulated by national and international conventions and laws, especially the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1962.” Connelly held a one-hour meeting with Fattoush at his hometown of Zahle. The visit came on the eve of parliamentary deliberations that President Michel Sleiman was scheduled to carry out Monday and Tuesday to nominate a prime minister, but which he later postponed for one week to help reach a consensus over a prime minister-designate.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=123797#ixzz1BLLP3xSI
Hezbollah’s Nasrallah Could Be Right, Alan Hart
It’s not impossible that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was right when he described the tribunal investigating the assassination of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 as “an American and Israeli tool”. Though I, myself, see Israel’s military and political leaders as those with most to gain – I mean thinking they have most to gain – from a successful attempt to pin the blame on Hezbollah.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/01/hezbollah%e2%80%99s-nasrallah-could-be-right/
Iraq
Tikrit bombing kills 40, wounds 60
A major suicide bombing left behind around 100 police recruits among killed and wounded in central Tikrit. The death toll of the bombing that targeted a police recruit center in central Tikrit raised to 40 killed and more than 60 wounded, a police source from Salahuddin province said.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-59139-Tikrit-bombing-kills-40%2C-wounds-60.html
Monday: 9 Iraqis Killed, 22 Wounded
At least nine Iraqis were killed and 22 more were wounded in attacks across central and northern Iraq. To the south, Kuwait is planning to clean oil contamination left from the 1990 Gulf War.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/01/17/monday-9-iraqis-killed-22-wounded/
Three killed, five wounded in suicide explosion in Iraq
The suicide bomber blew his explosive-laden vehicle in Ramadi city targeting Al-Anbar governor Qassim Mohammad Abdu.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2138471&Language=en
Policeman killed in attack on Iraqi governor
A policeman was killed and five people were injured Monday in a car bombing targeting the governor of Iraq’s central Anbar province, media reports said.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1612332.php/Policeman-killed-in-attack-on-Iraqi-governor
Detainees don police uniforms in Iraq jailbreak
BAGHDAD (AP) — A dozen terror suspects disguised in police uniforms broke out of an Iraqi jail Friday, prompting a manhunt across the nation’s south for what officials called a dangerous group of top–ranking insurgents linked to al–Qaida.
http://topnews360.tmcnet.com/topics/associated-press/articles/2011/01/17/135456-detainees-don-police-uniforms-iraq-jailbreak.htm
Tunisia
Tunisians sceptical of new govt
Tunisians have expressed dissatisfaction with inclusion of ruling party members in new ‘national unity’ government.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/africa/2011/01/2011117224856588521.html
Tunisian anger at ‘unity govt’
A new national unity government has been announced in Tunisia, but protesters are angry at how many members of the previous government have been allowed to keep key posts, including the ministers of defence, finance, the interior and foreign affairs. Tear gas and water cannons were used by police to disperse demonstrators, who have demanded, along with opposition parties, a government consisting of more members not belonging to the ruling RCD party. Al Jazeera’s Ayman Mohyeldin reports from the Tunisian capital, Tunis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXvbiTMXfkc&feature=youtube_gdata
Tunisian vegetable seller a resistance symbol-brother
TUNIS, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Mohamed Bouazizi, the vegetable seller whose self-immolation inspired protests that toppled the Tunisian ruler, has become a “symbol of resistance” against Arab autocrats, his brother said. “Freedom is expensive and my brother paid the price of freedom,” Salem Bouazizi told Reuters by telephone from the central town of Sidi Bouzid, where the revolt began. Bouazizi set himself on fire on Dec. 17 after police seized the vegetable cart by which he earned his living, becoming a martyr to crowds of students and the unemployed protesting against poor living conditions.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/tunisian-vegetable-seller-a-resistance-symbol-brother
Ex Tunisia President’s Wife Left with 1.5 Tons of Gold: Report
The French government suspects that former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family may have fled the country with 1.5 tons of gold, French daily Le Monde reported Monday.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41115532
Tunisian events likely to spark wider Arab reforms, but not revolutions
A number of copycat self-immolations across the Middle East are raising questions about whether the protests that drove Tunisia’s Ben Ali could soon threaten other Arab autocrats.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/9cDaYaUFQns/Tunisian-events-likely-to-spark-wider-Arab-reforms-but-not-revolutions
Dyab Abou Jahjah, “Tunisia: The Struggle for Legitimacy”
In Tunisia, a new government is being formed under the leadership of the RCD (the party of the fallen dictator) and with the participation of some legalized opposition parties. All parties that were illegal under the old regimes are being excluded, however, and this is stirring up a lot of controversy among parts of the Tunisian population who feel that the Revolution is being driven away from its ideals. . . . In my opinion, the Americans and the French have certainly played a role in convincing parts of the mild opposition to support this government in order to guarantee continuation of the old economic structure and its integration as a service economy for France, plus the political and military alliance with the U.S and NATO. . . . The risk is that this government will not be so transitory after all and will only serve as an excuse to win more time and allow intelligent services and regime loyalists to work on their strategy to take back control of the country, albeit under another leader who will govern slightly differently than Ben Ali but will be just as autocratic and corrupt and pro-Western. This is a real risk and the people started protesting against this government today and in Tunis the governmental police used tear gas against the demonstrators.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/jahjah170111.html
U.S. and Other World News
Sean Hannity: U.S. Can ‘Go In’ To Kuwait, Iraq, ‘Take All Their Oil’ (VIDEO)
“You know, we have every right to go in there and frankly take all their oil and make them pay for the liberation.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/16/sean-hannity-iraq-kuwait-oil_n_809645.html
Banking secrets handed to WikiLeaks
Former Swiss banker passes on details of alleged tax evasion by politicians, celebrities and business leaders.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/europe/2011/01/201111716474682302.html
Reacting to leak, Swiss officials accuse US of illegal spying operations
The government of Switzerland said Monday that it was investigating whether the United States had conducted illegal spying operations within its jurisdiction. The Swiss ministry said that US contacts asked for permission in 2007 to conduct an intelligence operation, but were denied “due to a lack of legal basis.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/reacting-leak-swiss-officials-accuse-illegal-spying-operations/
Turkey allowed US ‘extraordinary rendition’: WikiLeaks
The US secret services used Turkey as a base to transport terrorism ” suspects as part of its extraordinary rendition programme, German daily Die Welt reported today citing a WikiLeaks cable.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/turkey-allowed-us-extraordinary-rendition-wikileaks/articleshow/7305629.cms
Al-Turabi arrested in Khartoum
Opposition leader arrested by government security forces from his home after calling for a ‘popular revolution’.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/africa/2011/01/2011117214831300377.html
Egyptian, Mauritanian men set themselves alight
Two men set themselves on fire in Egypt and Mauritania Monday, raising to three the number of self-immolation attempts apparently influenced by a similar action in Tunisia that helped trigger a popular uprising.
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/egyptian-mauritanian-men-set-806342.html
Two torch themselves in Egypt, taking cases to 10
Two men set themselves ablaze in Egypt on Tuesday, security officials said, bringing to 10 the number of such cases in the Arab world, including a Tunisian whose action sparked a revolution.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/01/18/133991.html
Will Egypt Follow Tunisia’s Lead?
CAIRO – “Where can I find a Tunisian flag?” The question flooded Egyptian blogs, Twitter, and Facebook pages minutes after news that popular protests had forced out long-time Tunisian dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Egypt is feeling the ripple effect from Tunisia already.
http://original.antiwar.com/emad-mekay/2011/01/17/will-egypt-follow-tunisias-lead/
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