And other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft and destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
Obama will not veto UN resolution condemning settlements / Saleh Naami
US President Barak Obama opposes using veto against a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement, Israeli media reported. “President Obama is not willing to use the veto against any Arabic resolution presented to the Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements policy,” American sources told Tid Debaka, an Israeli website specializing in intelligence.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/4626/World/Region/Obama-will-not-veto-UN-resolution-condemning-Israe.aspx
Former US diplomats to Obama: Support UN draft condemning Israeli settlements
Former senior U.S. officials have sent President Barack Obama a letter urging him to refrain from vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The letter, signed by a former U.S. secretary of defense, a number of former assistant secretaries of state and U.S. ambassadors, calls on Obama to instruct the U.S. envoy to the UN to “vote yes” on the resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/former-u-s-diplomats-to-obama-support-un-draft-condemning-israeli-settlements-1.338565
Lieberman drafts own map of future Palestinian borders
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has drafted a map of a Palestinian state in provisional borders. The map would essentially “freeze the existing situation in the territories, with minor changes,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. The proposal is meant to show that Israel is genuinely interested in progress toward peace, and to force the Palestinians to say whether they really want a state.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/lieberman-drafts-own-map-of-future-palestinian-borders-1.338583
Lieberman’s ‘solution’: Palestinians will be forced to live on 13% of their original land
(with map) According to Lieberman, the Palestinian ‘state’ he proposes would consist of the areas known as “A” and “B” under the Oslo Agreement. This means 25 separate reservations in the West Bank, none of which are geographically contiguous. When such a proposal was made in the past, then-US President George W. Bush said that it was unacceptable, as it created a “swiss cheese state” with no geographic contiguity. Many Palestinians have compared the proposal with the ‘land reservation’ system in the United States, in which Native American nations which were virtually wiped out by colonial forces beginning in 1492 were allocated small swaths of land on which to survive, and these reservations are considered “sovereign” by the US, despite being surrounded by the United States.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60485
Erekat: Lieberman’s reported map of Palestinian state is a ‘joke’
Speaking with Army Radio, chief PA negotiator urges a return to peace talks, adding that a Palestinian state is coming, and there’s nothing Israeli can do about it.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/erekat-lieberman-s-reported-map-of-palestinian-state-is-a-joke-1.338667
Discussion on Gilo construction project put off
The discussion about the construction project of 1,400 housing units in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood will not be held this week by the city’s planning and construction committee. The Jerusalem City Council rejected claims of political pressure which led to postponing the approval of the project. A city council official said on Sunday the matter was never part of the committee’s agenda
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017576,00.html
Olmert: During my term there was no dispute over construction
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that during his term in office there was no construction freeze in Jerusalem or the settlements. Olmert claimed that while he was prime minister he supported construction “in areas that according to my belief would remain part of the State of Israel, regardless of the outcome of negotiations.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017857,00.html
Two settlers, detained by PA police in Nablus, handed over to Israel
After a group of extremist settlers went to the northern West Bank city of Nablus reportedly to visit Joseph’s Tomb, Palestinian police arrested two of them as they did not coordinate the visit with the Israeli and the Palestinian Coordination Offices. The Israeli army arrested six while the two arrested by P.A police were later handed to Israel. The incident started after a group of teenage settlers, affiliated with the Hilltop Youth Movement, marched towards Nablus and were stopped by Israeli soldiers who knew of the attempt to enter the city. Yet, despite the military deployment, 19 settlers made their way into Nablus through a number of nearby Palestinian villages.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60488
PA returns settlers who entered Nablus
Palestinian Authority security on Saturday night detained two Israeli settlers who attempted to visit Joseph’s Tomb near Nablus in the northern West Bank. Fifteen settlers arrived in the village of Kafr Qallil before midnight and clashed with locals, officials said. Youths pelted the settlers with stones forcing them to run toward Al-Quds street in Nablus. Palestinian security detained two settlers on Al-Quds street while the others fled. The settlers, according to the Palestinians, were trying to reach Joseph Tomb’s without coordination with the Palestinian side. Later, security forces contacted the Israeli liaison office and handed the two settlers back.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353335
Farming in Khoruba Valley / CPT Tuwani
On Saturday, 22nd of January, Palestinian farmers successfully plowed fields in Khoruba valley, despite heavy harassment by settlers from the nearby settlement of Ma`on. In the early morning, about twenty farmers from At-Tuwani started sowing seed and plowing fields in Khoruba valley, southeast from At-Tuwani. Soon thereafter, five settlers arrived from nearby Havat Ma`on outpost and positioned themselves in front of the tractors, in an attempt to prevent the farmers from completing their work.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=44713
West Bank village in Area C blocked from modern life
For the residents of a remote Palestinian village, located near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, it seems that the hands of the clock has stopped moving. Around 1,200 people live in the village with no water or electricity supply. The first ten years of the 21st century have passed, while the villagers of Froosh Beit Dajan in southeast of Nablus still lives in the “middle ages” — isolated, gloomy, with no sign of modern life, because it was classified as part of the Area C by Israel. The houses in the village were built with tins, with only one unpaved road leading to it. Tawfiq al-Haj Mohamed, headmaster of the only school in the village, told Xinhua that the Israeli authorities refuse to recognize the village as a village, and insist on considering it as part of “Area C” in the West Bank.
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4828630
Jordan Valley, zone of silent Israeli-Palestinian conflict
by Maisa Bsharat, Osama Radi. (Xinhua) Fayeq Sbeih seemed [indignant] while compelling himself to accept the reality that he might pass away without being able to develop or rebuild what would help his grandchildren to stay in his hometown in the Jordan Valley, north of West Bank. Looking at some primitive houses that were built out of tin and randomly spread in the area, Abu Ra’fat waved with his dry hands and said “what I can see is that the Israeli occupation has not left us any chance to stay here.” Abu Ra’fat, like other residents of the Jordan Valley, lives on sheep herding and agriculture. He now lives in al-Fareseya neighborhood, 20 km east of the northern West Bank town of Tubas.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-01/22/c_13702991.htm
Violence
Witnesses: Israeli fire injures 1 near Gaza City
Israeli soldiers opened fire on homes east of Gaza City on Saturday evening, injuring one resident, witnesses said. Gaza emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said the injured man was 48 years old, and that he was transferred to the Ash-Shifa Hospital for treatment. Witnesses said Israeli soldiers deployed near the border randomly opened fire at homes in Ash-Shuja’iyeh.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353299
Soldier shoots Palestinians at Hebron checkpoint
Israeli soldiers shot and injured two Palestinian workers Sunday morning in the occupied West Bank, medics said. Israel’s military said they sped through a checkpoint. Muhammad Al-Qimary, 25, was treated for a gunshot wound to the foot and Akram Jamil Samamra, 28, for injuries to the torso that he sustained in the incident in Ar-Ramadin village, medical officials in Adh-Dhahiriya said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353376
Military exercise in ‘crowd control’ – CPT Hebron
A call came for the Hebron Team to come quickly to the street Friday, January 21,1:30pm. The military had stopped the people going home after Friday prayers at the Mosque … CPTers noted with joy the nonviolent ways the Palestinians were resisting. The young boys with the fruit carts were the heroes of the day. They lined their fruit carts up to form a blockade to protect the people and give them a little space apart from the soldiers. When a soldier was yelling in his face, one young boy calmly ate his apple and refused to budge … One upset young man went up to the soldiers and pleaded with them. The soldiers eventually arrested him and forced him into the military compound. Later, CPT heard from the boy himself that he was simply asking the soldiers over and over to let his father get to the hospital for a shot of medicine. The boy said, after the soldiers arrested him, they blindfolded him, made him kneel, tied his hands behind him and hit him with full force on the head. A man from Jordan who was in the crowd could not believe his eyes. When asked why they were doing this, the military said they saw someone with a gun.
http://groups.google.com/group/newprofile/browse_thread/thread/a04948e039476814
Activism / Solidarity
Anti-Wall demonstrations in four West Bank villages attacked by Israeli military
At the non-violent anti-Wall protests which took place on Friday afternoon, Israeli troops fired CS gas and other so-called ‘non-lethal’ weapons at demonstrators in Bil’in, Nil’in, and Nabi Saleh villages in the central West Bank, in addition to Al Ma’sara in the south. A 12-year old was wounded. (video from Bil`in)
http://www.imemc.org/article/60480
Viva Palestina Indonesia heads for Gaza
(video) Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has launched an aid convoy to the besieged Gaza Strip, in the latest international effort to help the Palestinian nation … Besides delivering aid, VPM, which is a coalition of Malaysian non-governmental organizations, aims to come up with a just, equitable, prompt and sustainable resolution to the conflict in Palestine. The group also plans to make employment opportunities available for Palestinian woman, provide them with soft loans and create small integrated animal husbandry, an agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161514.html
Siege / Restrictions on movement / Other rights violations / Humanitarian issues
My Gaza strip search / Kevin Flower, CNN
It’s an experience I had heard described dozens of times before; a frequent occurrence for Palestinians and an unwelcome rite of passage for some members of the international media covering the Middle East conflict. But if I thought during my four-and-a-half years serving as CNN’s Jerusalem bureau chief I had dodged this particular indignity, I was wrong … I am not normally shy nor modest, but the humiliation I felt at this moment was total. I was powerless and knew it. Nothing I could do or say was going to stop this search from happening and if I protested, things were only going to be worse. In an instant I could empathize with everyone who had ever told me their tales of humiliation at being subjected to a strip search.
http://insidethemiddleeast.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/23/my-gaza-strip-search/
Machsom Watch slams checkpoint delays
Activists say soldiers detaining Palestinians for no reason. IDF: Women interfered with operations … Three activists made their way to Tiyasir checkpoint, in the northern Jordan Valley region, on Sunday afternoon, claiming that recently soldiers have been denying Palestinians access there for no reason. “This is a checkpoint located in an isolated area, and is therefore not frequented by human rights organizations,” explained Dafna Banai, of Machsom Watch. “Three weeks ago the soldiers were replaced and since then there have been many delays… Apparently there have been orders from above to make the checks more severe, for an unknown reason. At the end of the day the lines here are huge. Not a day passes without someone calling me to say they waited for hours.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017814,00.html
Peppers to be exported from Gaza for first time
Israeli authorities decided to partly open the Kerem Shalom and Karni crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Sunday for deliveries of goods, humanitarian aid and fuel while limited quantities of flowers and peppers will be exported to Europe.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353365
OPT: Farmers can export again, but livelihoods precarious
GAZA, 23 January 2011 (IRIN) … According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), between 28 November 2010 and 15 January 2011, a total of 157 truckloads of produce — 177 tonnes of strawberries, 2 millions stems of cut flowers, and sweet peppers — were allowed to leave Gaza … compared to a monthly average of 1,086 truckloads recorded in the first five months of 2007. The green hilltops near the Israeli border are dotted with untended strawberry farms and the remains of orchards destroyed during years of military incursions. Farmers whose land is in the ‘buffer zone’ — a restricted military area along the border where there is daily live fire — take their lives into their hands while tending crops. An estimated 35 percent of Gaza’s farmland falls in the buffer zone. There has been no relaxation of the blockade for Gaza’s fishermen.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=91701
Detention
Prison service cancels family visits at Nafha jail
…Activist in Palestinian prisoners affairs Muyassar Atiyani told Ma’an that the decision came to punish prisoners after they carried out comprehensive strike on Friday and Saturday. She explained that 350 Gazan prisoners at Nafha had been deprived of family visits since four years. The rest of prisoners at Nafha, 120, are from the West Bank, and their families help Gazan inmates by contacting families in the Gaza Strip to reassure them about their loved ones.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353410
Palestinians present testimony in Morocco
RABAT, Morocco (Ma’an) — Palestinians presented testimonies on Saturday to rights organizations, politicians and lawyers at a conference in Morocco to support political prisoners held in Israeli jails. The 3-day event, staged in Rabat, was an important opportunity to for supporters of Palestinian detainees to reach an international audience, Palestinian Authority Prisoners’ Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353296
Racism / Discrimination
L.A. Times on Israel: Rising racism, homophobia and discrimination
Racist, homophobic, and discriminatory, that’s the way Israel is portrayed in a new feature published by the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, following what the paper calls as a “wave of intolerance toward people of different races, religions, orientations and viewpoints” that is washing the country.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/l-a-times-on-israel-rising-racism-homophobia-and-discrimination-1.338687
Students to High Court: Haredi stipends discriminatory
After government extends arrangement awarding monthly living allowances to religious seminary students, social movements and student union continue legal battle against ‘shady deal at public’s expense’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017471,00.html
Flotilla raid / Gaza assault / War crimes
Israel inquiry finds Gaza aid flotilla raid ‘was legal’
…The 300-page Turkel Committee report found the actions of the Israeli navy in the raid and Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza were both legal under international law.The panel of inquiry – headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, with five Israeli members and two international observers – was set up in June.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12260983
Gaza flotilla report proves Israel is a law-abiding country, Barak says
Balad MK Hanin Zuabi, who took part in the flotilla, says report completely ignored the killing of 9 Turkish activists during the May 2010 raid … “The Gaza flotilla was a provocation which had nothing to do with humanitarian aid,” Barak said, adding that the State of Israel would continue to “vigorously defend its sovereignty and borders. It is its right to defend itself and its citizens anywhere, any time, and in any manner.” Speaking of Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, Barak said the enclosure was “motivated by security concerns only, and its enforcement, including in international waters, is just and legal,”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/gaza-flotilla-report-proves-israel-is-a-law-abiding-country-barak-says-1.338728
‘IHH activists were crucial factor leading to deterioration’
The Turkel Commission members determined that the IHH activists, who were on board the Mavi Marmara making its way to the Gaza Strip, were violent towards IDF soldiers and were ‘the crucial factor leading to the deterioration of the situation.’ Evidence presented to the commission stated that the activists were armed with iron rods, knifes, hatchets, bats and metal-ware.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017661,00.html
Turkey: Israel’s Gaza flotilla probe has no value or credibility
Erdogan told reporters in Ankara on Sunday that the Israeli report had “no value or credibility.” The Turkish Foreign Ministry also issued a statement in response to the Israeli inquiry and said it was “appalled and dismayed” at the findings, which cleared Israel of wrongdoing in the raid on the Turkish ship.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkey-israel-s-gaza-flotilla-probe-has-no-value-or-credibility-1.338741
Gisha: Israeli flotilla inquiry cannot authorize the collective punishment of a civilian population
In response to today’s publication of the interim report of the Turkel Commission to Examine the Maritime Incident of 31 May, 2010, and its conclusion that the naval closure of the Gaza Strip, as well as the actions Israel took to enforce it, are consistent with the provisions of international law, Gisha notes: No commission of inquiry can authorize the collective punishment of a civilian population by restricting its movement and access, as Israel did in its closure of Gaza, of which the maritime closure was an integral part. Gisha notes that a primary goal of the restrictions, as declared by Israel, was to paralyze the economy in Gaza and prevent its residents from leading normal lives. International law forbids using civilians to advance “strategic” goals, under circumstances in which Israel controls their ability to transfer goods.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/gisha-israeli-flotilla-inquiry-cannot-authorize-the-collective-punishment-of-a-civilian-population.html
MK Zoabi: I was not summoned by Turkel Commission
MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) who was onboard the Marmara making its way to the Gaza Strip said on Sunday she was not summoned to testify by the Turkel Commission. “The commission purposely and intentionally failed to summon the civilian and the only witness to see what happened out of fear her testimony would damage the harmony of the report,” she said. “The report is a scanty version of the official Israeli version. The report cannot clear Israel’s image as a serial international law breaker,” Zoabi added.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017690,00.html
Turkel Commission: Israel not trying to starve Gaza residents.
The Turkel Commission members stressed they did not find any evidence to the claims Israel was trying to prevent food from entering Gaza or attempting to destroy the population by starving them. They added that the Gaza Strip suffers from a ‘lack of nutritional stability’, not starvation. The commission clarified that Israel is trying to diminish the suffering in Gaza.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017650,00.html
Hamas condemns Turkel report: Desperate attempt to cover up crimes
(AFP) Hamas condemned the Turkel Committee report published on Sunday, according to which the IDF flotilla raid was legal. A Gaza-based Hamas spokesperson said the findings prove that “the Zionist entity lacks justice.” “The report is a desperate attempt to legitimize the crimes of occupation and improve Israel’s image by covering up their crimes,” the statement read.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017757,00.html
IDF soldier claims wrong information led to Gaza family’s deaths / Amira Hass
Though two years have passed, ‘Uri’ still exhibits clear signs of distress. He talks in a near whisper as he begins to relay the story of his most traumatic experience as a soldier … Breaking the Silence had chosen not to publicize Uri’s testimony, which appears below, in accordance with a rule that requires at least two eyewitnesses to such grave incidents before they are publicized. Uri’s responses to Haaretz’s questions corroborate testimonies of Palestinians survivors of the onslaught, underscoring their importance and value.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/idf-soldier-claims-wrong-information-led-to-gaza-family-s-deaths-1.338609
Witness for Gaza’s victims of conflict – audio slideshow
Photographer Kai Wiedenhöfer talks about his compelling photographs documenting the damage left after Israel’s assault on Gaza in 2009, published in The Book of Destruction.
The book is published by Steidl/Fondation Carmignac Getion in June.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/interactive/2011/jan/21/gaza-photography-wiedenhofer-audio-slideshow
Factions
Gaza salaries cut; no reasons stated
As part of a ongoing Fatah initiative in Ramallah, the salaries of civil servants working in Gaza will be cut, as tensions persist between Hamas and its West Bank counterpart
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/4574/World/Region/Gaza-salaries-cut;-no-reasons-stated.aspx
Islamic Jihad: PA responsible for attack on leader
The Islamic Jihad movement said Saturday that Palestinian Authority security services were responsible for an assault by masked men against Sheikh Khadr Adnan, one of the movement’s West Bank leaders. A statement from Islamic Jihad claimed that several masked assailants attacked Sheikh Adnan at his place of work in the town of Qabatia south of Jenin in the northern West Bank
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353330
PLC member accuses PA of stalling elections
Palestinian Legislative Council member Hasan Khreisheh on Friday accused the Palestinian Authority of trying to further delay elections. PA Minister for Local Governance Khaled Qawasmeh said Thursday that the government would amend elections law and hold the vote for municipal elections in the West Bank only.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353072
PA minister says Hamas delaying Palestinian state
The Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs said Friday that Hamas was stalling the establishment of a Palestinian state.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353064
Other news
Hamas cracks down on rogue militants to avoid war with Israel / Jason Koutsoudas
22 Jan – GAZA CITY: Hamas says it has begun an exhaustive crackdown on maverick resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip to prevent an Israeli military offensive even more deadly than the 2009 war. Intelligence indicating that Israel was ready to strike Gaza was passed to Hamas officials last week via Egypt, they said, after more than 30 rocket and mortar attacks against Israel since January 1. ”The message was very simple,” Hamas’s national security spokesman, Ihab Ghusain, told the Herald this week. ”If the rockets continue, then Israel will launch a war against Gaza.”
http://www.smh.com.au/world/hamas-cracks-down-on-rogue-militants-to-avoid-war-with-israel-20110121-19zyr.html
Pilgrims to site where Jesus was baptised risk landmines / Jonathan Cook
QASR AL YAHUD // Thousands of pilgrims flocked this week to Israel’s latest tourist attraction, touted as the place where Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan. Visitors to Qasr al Yahud, in the Jordan Valley, received an unusual welcome, however. They had to pass through a fenced-off corridor warning that landmines surrounded them on all sides. And at the river’s edge, they were watched over by armed Israeli soldiers in watchtowers with orders to stop anyone trying to cross the short stretch of water that marks the border with Jordan.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/pilgrims-to-site-where-jesus-was-baptised-risk-landmines
Teitel’s associates: He’s gone mad
Sources close to ‘Jewish terrorist’ say Prison Service trying to conceal his deteriorating mental state before court decides if he is fit to stand trial. In one incident, they say, he injured himself while ‘fighting demons’ in his cell … In November 2009 Teitel was indicted for a string of offenses he had allegedly committed over the course of more than a decade, including the murder of two Palestinians, planting an explosives device outside the home of left-wing professor Ze’ev Sternhell and placing a bomb at the home of Messianic Jews in Ariel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017400,00.html
History: Peter Kosminsky: Britain’s humiliation in Palestine / Rachel Cooke
Peter Kosminsky is one of Britain’s most acclaimed directors of hard-hitting television drama. His latest project – 11 years in the making – tells the story of postwar Palestine and Israeli independence through the eyes of a British soldier serving in the territory. It promises to be an event. Between 1945 and 1948, some 100,000 soldiers served in the British-controlled Mandate of Palestine. Kosminsky’s team spoke to around 80; he found the men’s stories to be both gripping and moving, so he carried on, wading next through letters, diaries, memoirs and history books. Slowly, a theme began to emerge. “The thing that came out most strongly,” he says, “was that the men all arrived in Palestine feeling incredibly pro-Jewish…” … The Promise, which will be screened in four parts, and runs to some seven and a half hours, is the best thing you are likely to see on television this year, if not this decade.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/jan/23/peter-kosminsky-palestine-mandate-drama
Analysis / Opinion / Human interest
If Israel continues to quash nonviolent protest without sanction, Palestinians will conclude that nonviolence is an ineffective path to freedom / Adam Horowitz
Mohammed Khatib and Jonathan Pollak write in the Huffington Post about Israel’s ongoing crackdown on the Palestinian nonviolent movement: When Jonathan and his friends first came to Bil’in, we Palestinians were surprised to meet Israelis who believed in our rights. But after we saw these Israelis injured and arrested, the people of Bil’in opened homes and hearts to them. We became partners in a joint struggle against Israel’s occupation.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/if-israel-continues-to-quash-nonviolent-protest-without-sanction-palestinians-will-conclude-that-nonviolence-is-an-ineffective-path-to-freedom.html
For the wrong reasons / Gideon Levy
…The Galant affair only proves the eclipse that has darkened Israeli society, which is upset by (relatively) small matters and ignores the truly serious ones. A few dozen dunams of rocky soil trouble it much more than hundreds of people killed for nothing. Half-truths and lies about an olive grove infuriate it more than lies that are not white about phosphorus that is. The monstrous dimensions of the commander’s palace produce a greater scandal than the monstrous destruction sown by that commander.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/for-the-wrong-reasons-1.338612
Barak Unmasked / Ron HaCohen
In an unusual scandal even for cynical Israeli politics, “Defense” Minister Ehud Barak, together with a four other rather anonymous Knesset members, left the party officially named “Labor under the leadership of Ehud Barak” and turned into a satellite faction, ironically called “Independence,” of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud … Ever since he entered politics, I have considered Barak to be one of the most dangerous politicians in the Middle East. His greatest achievement was, in the year 2000, the destruction of the Israeli peace camp, from which the Israeli left has not yet recovered.
http://original.antiwar.com/hacohen/2011/01/20/barak-unmasked/
Fight against Iran nukes has nothing to do with Israel / Zvi Bar’el
Israel is in the grip of separation anxiety after becoming aware that the Iranian threat is shrinking and that the military option has fallen off the table … Israel itself realizes quite quickly that having a monopoly over the fight against Iran is a double-edged sword. It conditions the international community’s willingness to stop Iran on Israel’s policy in the territories and its general morality.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/fight-against-iran-nukes-has-nothing-to-do-with-israel-1.338611
My Khan Younis / Fidaa Abu Assi
I felt no difference. Although I hadn’t physically been there before, every single street I passed through looked so familiar to me. I felt I belong to a place my feet had never trod and my eyes never seen. I wasn’t a mere visitor and I hated to be treated so. Khan Yunis is my home, too. “How come I was damn passionate about travelling and exploring the outside world and I forgot I needed first to explore the world I came from?” I thought. It was too painful to realize that I hardly knew about my Gaza, let alone my Palestine.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/my-khan-yunis.html
Lebanon
Hezbollah chief to address Lebanon crisis
BEIRUT (AFP) — Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah will give a televised speech on Sunday to address a deepening political crisis in Lebanon, the powerful Shiite party said in a statement … The address comes on the eve of parliamentary talks with the president to appoint a new prime minister after Hezbollah toppled the unity government of Saudi-backed Saad Hariri this month.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353466
Christian leader backs Hariri for Lebanon PM
BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanese Christian leader Samir Geagea called on Saturday for caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri to be re-appointed as government leader as the country’s political groups jockeyed for power. “We are in a tense conflict over every parliamentary vote,” Geagea told a news conference at his residence in Maarab, 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of the capital Beirut.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353370
Lebanon’s Sunni leaders warn against ignoring sect
(AP) BEIRUT – Lebanon’s Sunni Muslim religious leaders warned Hezbollah on Sunday not to ignore their sect’s opinion ahead of key parliamentary talks to pick a new prime minister. The Shiite Hezbollah and their allies said they won’t name caretaker prime minister Saad Hariri to form a new Cabinet during two days of consultations that begin Monday. They have not publicly said whom they will name instead.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_lebanon_politics
Lebanon’s political turmoil may undo years of economic growth
(AP) The political crisis in Lebanon is threatening to derail economic progress after a year that saw 7 percent economic growth, a record number of tourists and bank deposits among the highest in the Middle East.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/lebanon-s-political-turmoil-may-undo-years-of-economic-growth-1.338646
Report: US to end Lebanon aid if Hebollah takes control
Report by the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat comes days after an endorsement by Lebanon’s Druze leader raises the chances for the formation of a Hezbollah-led coalition.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/report-u-s-to-end-lebanon-aid-if-hezbollah-takes-control-1.338662
Iraq
Sunday: 13 Iraqis killed, 30 wounded
Two days of seeming respite were broken by a string of deadly bombings around the capital. At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 30 more were wounded there and in northern Iraq. One Iranians was killed and nine more were wounded as well. The Iranians are in Iraq to visit holy sites for the Arbaeen holiday and easy targets for bombers. While it is unlikely that no violence occurred after three consecutive days of large-scale attacks, it is not unusual, for local reporters to be on leave during holidays such as Arbaeen.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/01/23/sunday-13-iraqis-killed-30-wounded/
Series of bombs kills 10 in Iraqi capital
BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of bombs in and around the Iraqi capital killed 10 people on Sunday, and an intelligence official warned of a campaign to undermine security before a much anticipated meeting of Arab heads of state in March … The three-hour drumbeat of explosions began around 7 a.m. in Baghdad’s rush hour at the start of the local workweek. Besides the dead, 34 people were wounded. The attacks appeared to involve roadside bombs, suicide bombers and car bombs. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
Official: Iraq militia chief behind pilgrim blasts
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police arrested the local leader of a government-backed Sunni Muslim militia for planning the deadly bombings on Shiite pilgrims this week, Iraqi officials said Saturday. If the Awakening Council leader is found guilty of the charges, it would affirm widespread government doubts about integrating the Sunni fighters into the nation’s security forces
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
Iran
Ahmadinejad: Israel wants Iran nuclear issue to remain unresolved
(Reuters) In wake of failed P5+1 talks in Turkey, Iranian president says he hopes to resume talks with world powers concerning Iran’s nuclear program, urging mutual justice and respect.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/ahmadinejad-israel-wants-iran-nuclear-issue-to-remain-unresolved-1.338693
US: Iran’s nuclear program has slowed, there is time for diplomacy
After nuclear talks in Istanbul end without agreement, a senior U.S. official says six world powers united on pursuing diplomatic solution, and choice is up to Iran.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/u-s-iran-s-nuclear-program-has-slowed-there-is-time-for-diplomacy-1.338540
Report: Iran’s nuclear capacity unharmed, contrary to US assessment
(Reuters) Federation of American Scientists publish report saying Iran has capability of making nuclear weapon and have not suffered setbacks
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/report-iran-s-nuclear-capacity-unharmed-contrary-to-u-s-assessment-1.338522
Israel launches Persian-language site on Holocaust
Israel’s Holocaust museum launched a YouTube channel in Farsi on Sunday with the aim of countering Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s public denials that acts of genocide ever happened in World War Two.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017822,00.html
Tunisia
Protest march calls on Tunisian PM to quit
TUNIS (AFP) — Anti-government protesters from rural central Tunisia marched through the capital Sunday, raising the pressure on Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi to quit in the wake of the ex-president’s ouster … The new transitional government, put in place following president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s downfall on January 14, has unveiled unprecedented democratic freedoms but is still led by Ghannouchi and other old regime figures who have held on to key posts.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353367
Tunisia arrests TV channel owner for ‘treason’
Tunisia has arrested the owner of a private TV station and his son for “grand treason” for inciting violence and working for ousted leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s return, the state news agency said on Sunday.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017832,00.html
Rural protesters tell tale of the other Tunisia
TUNIS, Jan 23 (Reuters) – They came from the grim cities and bleak farms of Tunisia’s interior to make their voices heard in the capital on the coast. But the hundreds who joined Sunday’s “freedom caravan” may as well have come from another world.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/rural-protesters-tell-tale-of-the-other-tunisia
Tunisia to investigate security forces over killings
(Reuters) An independent commission set up by Tunisia’s new government promised on Saturday to investigate the role of security forces in the deaths of dozens of protesters during weeks of anti-government rallies.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017334,00.html
Egypt
ElBaradei: Egyptians should copy Tunisia
BERLIN (AFP) — Opponents of Egypt’s long-running regime should be able to follow the lead set by the toppling of Tunisia’s veteran president, leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei said in comments released Saturday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353314
Egypt Islamists lukewarm on calls for mass protest
CAIRO, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Young members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said on Sunday they would join an anti-government protest this week prompted by the turmoil in Tunisia, although the opposition group has not made a direct call to participate … Egypt’s Web activists, among the state’s most vociferous critics, have sought to galvanise support via a Facebook group which attracted 50,000 online supporters within days of its launch.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/egypt-islamists-lukewarm-on-calls-for-mass-protest
Egypt blames Palestinian group for New Year’s Day church bombing
(Reuters) Al-Qaida-linked Army of Islam said responsible for attack in Alexandria earlier this month that killed over 20 Coptic Christians.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/egypt-blames-palestinian-group-for-new-years-day-church-bombing-1.338699
Palestinian group denies bombing Egyptian church
(Reuters) “The Army of Islam has no connection to the church attack in Egypt, though we praise those who did it,” said a spokesman for the group.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/palestinian-group-denies-bombing-egyptian-church
Hamas blames Israel for Egyptian church attack
Hamas published an announcement accusing the Mossad of being behind the New Year’s Day suicide bombing that killed at least 21 Christians and wounded about a hundred outside a church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017706,00.html
Other Mideast / Arab world
Jordan PM: Relations with Israel at all time low
Jordan’s Prime Minister Samir Rifai said that the relationship between his country and Israel is “at an all time low” since the signing of peace agreements between the two countries. In an interview with Qatari newspaper Al-Sharq, Rifai ascribed it to Israel’s settlement construction policies, its unilateral steps – as he defines them, and “the ongoing breach of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017482,00.html
Mauritanian who torched himself dies
Nouakchott/Khartoum (AFP) A Mauritanian businessman who set himself on fire has died of his burns in Morocco, where he had been evacuated for treatment, his family said Saturday … He had alerted journalists that he intended to carry out the act because he was “unhappy with the political situation in the country and angry with the government.”
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/01/22/134581.html
Libyans are just as hungry as Tunisians / Hisham Matar
We Arabs have been trapped between dictators and their friends in the west, but Tunisians have shown us a way out
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/21/libyans-are-as-hungry-as-tunisians
Thousands demand ouster of Yemen’s president
(AP) Drawing inspiration from the revolt in Tunisia, thousands of Yemenis fed up with their president’s 32-year rule demanded his ouster Saturday in a noisy demonstration that appeared to be the first large-scale public challenge to the strongman.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017309,00.html
Yemeni student arrested over call to topple government
(Reuters) Sanaa University activist inspired by events in Tunisia which proved that autocratic Arab leaders can be overthrown by a popular uprising — Yemen has arrested a woman activist who led student protests against the government in the capital last week, a security source said on Sunday.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/yemeni-student-leader-arrested-over-call-to-topple-government-1.338676
Seeking dreams in realm of jinn
RAS AL KHAIMAH // The world’s leading cave scientists have joined an Emirati geography professor to search for a fabled cave near the Oman border. Dr Asma al Ketbi, the head of the Emirates Geographic Society and a geography professor for UAE University, hopes to find her “dream cave” in the mountains of northern Ras al Khaimah, where the cries of jinn – supernatural creatures that occupy a parallel world in Arab folklore – are said to be common. [dreams are nice for a change from violence and suffering…]
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/seeking-dreams-in-realm-of-jinn
U.S.
Arizona ‘honor killing’ trial set to start
PHOENIX (Reuters) – An Iraqi immigrant is due to begin trial on Monday to face charges he murdered his daughter by running her over with a Jeep because he believed she was too Westernized … The 50-year-old Almaleki faces life in prison if convicted by the 12-member jury.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110123/us_nm/us_iraqi_trial
The disappearance of Keith Olbermann / Robert Parry
Keith Olbermann’s abrupt departure from MSNBC should be another wake-up call to American progressives about the fragile foothold that liberal-oriented fare now has for only a few hours on one corporate cable network … In nearly eight years at “Countdown,” Olbermann was the brave soul who charted the course for other mainstream media types to be even mildly critical of Bush.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/22-4
The NYPD’s Islamophobia problem / Alex Kane
Tom Robbins of the Village Voice has a disturbing report on the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) use of an anti-Muslim video as part of its “counter-terror” training for police officers:
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/the-nypds-islamophobia-problem/
United States Air Force responds in defense of Christian dominionists and proselytizing
Updated: The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and its allies waged a new line of attacks toward Lt. Gen. Michael Gould, the Superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), demanding that the self-proclaimed ‘Lord’s Army’ soldier, McClary Clebe, not be allowed to proselytize Academy cadets at the USAFA prayer breakfast scheduled for February 10, 2011 … The demand comes as Marine Vietnam War veteran, writer and activist, Gordon Duff (Veterans Today Senior editor), derided the growing Christian dominionist movement in the U.S. military as an “extralegal chain of command” that is “sectarian and detrimental to good order and discipline.”
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/01/23/united-states-air-force-reponds-in-defense-of-christian-dominionists-and-proselytizing/
