and other news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Um Al-Fahm in general strike after demolition of house
A general strike was observed on Wednesday morning in all areas of Um Al-Faham in response to a call by its municipality and political figures in protest over the Israeli demolition policy.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Israeli Troops Demolish a Home in Jerusalem, Arrest One civilian and Search Homes in Hebron
Jerusalem – PNN – Israeli army bulldozers leveled on Tuesday at dawn a Palestinian owned house at the town of Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem. Nayif Iskafee the owner of the house said that he build his home 10 years ago and was still fighting the demolition order at the Israeli court. The Israeli municipality has already demolished a home and a shop owned Iskafee before this one. Elsewhere Israeli troops invaded the southern West Bank city of Hebron and nearby al Fowar refugee in addition to a number of villages around the city.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9363&Itemid=64
Report: 107 Palestinians Killed by Israel; 16,479 Settlers Homes Approved During 2010
Ramallah – PNN – The international relations unit at the Palestine Liberation organization issued a report this week documenting the Israeli violations against Palestinians during 2010. According to the report 107 Palestinians were killed by Israeli last year while the Israeli government had destroyed 145 homes and approved 16,479 homes in West Bank settlements. The report says that the Israeli army has arrested 400 Palestinians during invasions targeting Palestinian communities.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9364&Itemid=64
Israel Demolishes First Palestinian Home in 2011
04/01/2011 The Israeli bulldozers on Monday demolished a house owned by a Palestinian north of Shaikh Jarrah area in the occupied East Jerusalem, the latest in the nonstop wave of Israeli demolitions in the illegally annexed city. The bulldozers arrived at the scene escorted by huge numbers of police and border security forces and demolished the house owned by Nasser Yousuf Siyam in Ard Al Samar. Sources told Gulf News that Israelis arrived when the house owner was not there. The sources said that the nine-member Siyam family have been living in the house for a long time but the Israeli authorities claimed the owner did not obtain the necessary permit for the house.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=168634&language=en
Center: Israeli forces issue 16 evacuation orders
TUBAS (Ma’an) — Israel’s civil administration handed 16 evacuation orders to Palestinians in a community northeast of the West Bank city of Tubas, a local center said. Israeli forces declared Khirbet Ibziq a closed military zone, and residents were told to leave the area within 72 hours, the Land Research Center said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=348224
Israeli plan to establish new settlement outpost in Silwan district
The Palestinian committee for the defense of Silwan real estate said that the Israeli municipal council in Jerusalem declared a plan on Tuesday to establish a settlement outpost in Silwan district.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87
Court rules settler, not Palestinian, can work field
The Palestinian farmer brought a complaint to the IDF with the aid of Rabbis for Human Rights, saying the land belongs to him. The army decided he should be granted access to the land.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/court-rules-settler-not-palestinian-can-work-field-1.335264
Murder of Non Violent Activist Jawaher Abu Rahmah
PA: Israel trying to cover up killings
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday said Israel was trying to cover-up the recent killings of a Palestinian anti-wall protester and a man shot by soldiers at a checkpoint. Jawaher Abu Rahmah was hospitalized after inhaling tear-gas fired by Israeli forces at a protest in Bil’in on Friday. Medics said she died Saturday morning after doctors were unable to revive her.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=348174
Bil’in eyewitnesses say woman killed by tear gas wasn’t even protesting
An investigation carried out by Haaretz, with the help of a number of eyewitnesses, concluded Abu Rahmah stood about 100 meters from her home, watching the protest.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/bil-in-eyewitnesses-say-woman-killed-by-tear-gas-wasn-t-even-protesting-1.335257?localLinksEnabled=false
Officers criticize IDF analysis of Bilin protestor’s death
IDF officers say army rused to conclude Jawaher Abu Rahma didn’t die of tear gas inhalation, never attended Bilin anti-fence protest. ‘One must base claims on facts rather than assessments,’ one officer says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4009090,00.html
IDF (IOF) lies about Bil’in tear-gas killing, Helena Cobban
Careful Israeli reporter and eye-witness Noam Sheizaf skilfully deconstructs all the lies the IDF/IOF told about last Saturday’s death from poison gas of Jawaher Abu Rahmeh of the West bank town of Bil’in. As with the IOF’s killing of eight unarmed Turkish citizens and one unarmed Turkish-American when Israeli naval commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara in international waters last May, once again the Israeli military feels obliged to slander the dead and claim that 36-year-old Ms. Abu Rahmeh was not in fact a victim of Israeli state violence. In a briefing given exclusively to a handful of rightwing Israeli bloggers, the head of Israel’s “Central Command” tried to claim she probably died of cancer. Heck, he even brought up the “possibility” that she had been the victim of an honor killing by members of her own family… Big thanks to Noam and all the other eye-witnesses and investigators who have pieced together and published the true facts about this killing.
http://justworldnews.org/archives/004120.html
Facts contradict Israel’s assertions in Bilin death
The facts of the circumstances of Jawaher Abu Rahmah’s death — which are supported by the testimony of eyewitnesses, as well as by the ambulance driver who evacuated her to the hospital — contradict completely the Israeli army’s version
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11712.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
IDF on Bil’in: spins, half-truths, lies
Jawaher Abu-Rahmah of Bil’in was rushed to Ramallah hospital last Friday during an unarmed protest against the fence in her village. She passed away Saturday morning. Her death gained relatively wide publicity, and the IDF scramble to pushing its own version of the story, first claiming that Abu-Rahamh took part in a violent riot, and later saying she wasn’t even there, and the whole thing was a Palestinian hoax.
http://www.promisedlandblog.com/?p=3659
Another arrest over US ambassador protest; Israel ramps up intimidation of leftists, Joseph Dana
Another Israeli activist has been arrested and jailed in connection to the protest in front of the US ambassador’s house last Saturday night. The activist was summoned for ‘questioning’ yesterday afternoon and arrested upon arrival. He has been charged with the same crimes as the other activists who were released yesterday on no bail. Unlike the other activists, he has been given a five day house arrest sentence. The state has appealed the decision and asked for a harsher punishment. The judge honored their request and has decided to keep him in jail another night until his appeal is heard tomorrow morning.
http://josephdana.com/2011/01/another-arrest-over-us-ambassador-protest-israel-ramps-up-intimidation-of-leftists/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=another-arrest-over-us-ambassador-protest-israel-ramps-up-intimidation-of-leftists
Friday January 7 at 11.30 in Bili’in Call for Women to come to remember, to honor Jawaher Abu Rahmeh, killed by Israeli occupation
As the world was celebrating the new year, Jawaher Abu Rahmeh, a 36 year old Palestinian women and resident of Bili’in, was killed by tear gas used in a massive way by the Israeli occupation forces against nonviolent and peaceful people, Palestinian, International and Israeli, who together act to stop the wall and end the occupation. Jawaher every Friday was marching towards the fence which stole the land of the Palestinian farmers for a new Israeli colony. Like many Palestinian women, she was courageous, proud and full of dignity. Her mother is still mourning the loss of her beloved son, Bassem also killed two years ago by the IDF and now alongside him, she is mourning the loss of her beloved daughter. We need to stand with the Abu Rahmeh family in this — another terrible moment of loss and great sacrifice.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1660
If you can make it here, Philip Weiss
These folks from Existence is Resistance were carrying Palestinian flags through Times Square in remembrance of Jawaher Abu Rahma when they got on to TV, the Jumbotron, with love. Sweet moment. Watch the whole video. Thanks to Max B.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/if-you-can-make-it-here.html
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Mohammed Khatib, Prominent Anti-Wall Activist Acquitted by Military Court
On Monday, Mohammed Khatib, the coordinator of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, was acquitted of all charges for lack of sufficient evidence.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60342
Israeli troops arrest European activists at Hamra checkpoint
Israeli troops intercepted Tuesday five volunteers from a European pro-Palestinian movement when crossing the Hamra military checkpoint en route to the West Bank provinces of Tubas and Jenin.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%
Protestors call Barak ‘child murderer’
Defense minister speaks in Tel Aviv University conference on Iran, repeatedly interrupted by protestors waving pictures of Palestinian victims.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4009049,00.html
Stunner: Protesters in Tel Aviv call Barak ‘child murderer’ of Gaza!, Philip Weiss
Unbelievable.This fills my eyes with tears. Jews are coming home. Two years after Gaza, Goldstone is resonating and the blood can’t be washed away. A beautiful moment in the moral arc of the universe. Gaza can’t be forgotten. Israel will be changed by this, so will the lobby… Remember that the Defense Minister is the charming man who hoodooed Bill Clinton and whose knee Barack Obama sat at, months after the Gaza massacre, in which 300-400 children were killed and hundreds more maimed and every child in the strip terrorized/traumatized.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/stunner-protesters-in-tel-aviv-call-barak-child-murderer-of-gaza.html
#BDS: Teachers in Canada launch divestment campaign
“On the anniversary of Gaza massacre, Teachers for Palestine is launching a website and petition, calling for Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to divest from companies supporting Israeli apartheid. Teachers for Palestine is a group of elementary and secondary teachers in Toronto who are raising awareness among Canadian educators about apartheid in Palestine and working for divestment of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) from corporations that support Israeli apartheid and occupation within ’48 Palestine and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Targeted for divestment are companies involved in the theft of Palestinian land and resources. One is Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH), which through its share in an Israeli subsidiary contributes cement to the Wall. Siemens AG has also been included for collaborating with Mekorot, the Israeli national water carrier. Mekorot is responsible not only for cutting off water to Palestinian villages, but also supplies settlements and smaller “outposts” with water.”
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2011/01/bds-teachers-in-canada-launch.html
#BDS: Minnesota State Legislature: Divest from Israel Bonds!
“As the 2011 Minnesota legislative session opens today, January 4th, at 12:00 noon, MN Break the Bonds (MN BBC, mn.breakthebonds.org) stands strong in our conviction that we, as people of Minnesota, want to cease our financial support of Israel’s atrocities.
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2011/01/bds-minnesota-state-legislature-divest.html
International activists visit Gaza War exhibition
Gaza, (Pal Telegraph) – A delegation from Europe, including Italian singer Joseph Valese, paid a visit to the Gaza Strip Sunday to attend an exhibition staged by Hamas’s Tuffah district media committee. Valese is a key activist against the Gaza siege, having taken part in the first ever naval Gaza aid mission, Lifeline 1, and the Freedom Flotilla, which was lethally attacked by Israel’s navy late last May.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/8106-international-activists-visit-gaza-war-exhibition.html
The return of the Mavi Marmara
Faiz Ahmed witnessed the Mavi Marmara’s return to a hero’s welcome at Istanbul’s Sarayburnu port late last month.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11713.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Anti
Rights groups slam proposal to investigate anti-IDF organizations
Knesset to vote on a proposal by Yisrael Beiteinu to establish a parliamentary committee of inquiry into groups it says participate in delegitimization campaigns against IDF soldiers.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/rights-groups-slam-proposal-to-investigate-anti-idf-organizations-1.335267?localLinksEnabled=false
Israeli police raid leftist homes
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an)– Israeli activists who participate in protests against their country’s separation barrier came under state attack on Wednesday, with special forces entering homes in Tel Aviv. Israeli special police forces showed up outside one home in central Tel Aviv, shared by a number of left-wing activists. After spending some time outside the residence, forces attempted to enter and conduct a search. Activists said that they were not shown a search permit and refused to submit to the search.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=348425
Human Rights/Humanitarian Issues/Siege
WikiLeaks: Israel aimed to keep Gaza economy on brink of collapse
Cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv says Israeli officials wanted Gaza’s economy ‘functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/wikileaks-israel-aimed-to-keep-gaza-economy-on-brink-of-collapse-1.335354?localLinksEnabled=false
‘Totalitarian diets and other corrupted ethics, Yaniv Reich
Elsewhere, I have argued that Israel’s policy of siege against the people of Gaza brings up all-too-familiar, yet still wretchedly uncomfortable, connotations for anyone familiar with Nazi practices toward those they imprisoned in ghettos and concentration camps. Since then, of course, even more dramatic evidence of Israeli planning over the caloric consumption and development of Gaza’s 1.5 million human beings.
http://www.hybridstates.com/2011/01/totalitarian-diets-and-other-corrupted-ethics/
Israel’s Solitary Confinement, Stephen Lendman
Social psychologist Hans Toch coined the term ‘isolation panic’ to describe symptoms he observed in men he interviewed, including panic, rage, a sense of total loss of control, emotional breakdown, regressive behavior, and self-mutilation. He distinguished between difficult but tolerable incarceration and intolerable long-term isolation, how America and Israel treat thousands, subjecting them to barbaric torture. If sustained long enough, it destroys the human spirit, psyche, mind and body.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16527
PA closes institute for disabled in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority’s general prosecution on Tuesday shut down an unlicensed institute for the disabled near Bethlehem due to its conditions. Ma’an’s correspondent joined police in an inspection of the Right Way institute in Battir village west of Bethlehem, and said conditions in the facility were dire.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=348234
Racism & Discrimination
Israeli Facebook groups may face investigation for inciting racism
Deputy attorney general requested police open investigation into groups “Death to all Arabs”, and “Protest in Umm al-Fahm against the Islamic Movement”.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-facebook-groups-may-face-investigation-for-inciting-racism-1.335378?localLinksEnabled=false
Judge: Refugee tricked into deportation
Administrative Court slams Interior Ministry, Ketziot Custody Court for forcing asylum seeker to sign request to return to Chad without being given translation of document.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4009124,00.html
Violence/Aggression/War Crimes
Israeli warplanes hit Gaza: Palestinians (AFP)
AFP – Israeli warplanes attacked two targets in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Tuesday without causing any casualties, Palestinian security sources said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110104/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictgaza
Two Israeli Airstrikes Hit Gaza Overnight
The Israeli Air Force attacked two areas in the Gaza Strip overnight under the pretext of responding to a Qassam homemade shell that was allegedly fired from Gaza into an open area in Ashkelon (Asqalan); no injuries were reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60346
Hebron settlers scuffle with local governor
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Recently appointed Hebron Governor Kamil Hamid was visiting Wednesday the homes of locals who face constant settler harassment, when a mob of settlers surrounded the home he was in shouting “terrorist,” preventing the delegation from leaving the area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=348453
Gaza police: Israel dropped over 3,000 tons of explosives on Gaza population
Major Tahseen Saad, director of the police explosives engineering department, said that Israel used over 3,000 tons of bombs and projectiles during its war on the Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%
Detainees
IOF soldiers detain head of charity committee
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) broke into and ransacked the home of Sheikh Ahmed Salatna, the director of the Zakat (Alms) committee in Jenin district, before taking him away.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Detainee enters 29th year in Israeli jail
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — An 80-year-old Palestinian on Tuesday entered his 29th year in Israeli detention, the Gaza government Detainees’ Ministry said. Sami Younis is considered a Sheikh among detainees due in part to his age, the ministry said. The father-of-five was detained in 1983 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=348135
Ex-Fatah prisoner: Israel targeting Hamas prisoners over Shalit capture
Saad Al Ashi, a Fatah-supporter who was released a week back after a nine year term in Israeli jails, said the prison administration has been pressuring Hamas prisoners.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87M
Israel’s Arab Helpers
Islamic Jihad concerned over its cadres detained in PA jails
The Islamic Jihad movement has expressed concern over the condition of its cadres held in the West Bank jails of de facto president Mahmoud Abbas and his security apparatuses.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Nazzal: Hamas will not cover the violations in PA jails
Mohamed Nazzal said his Movement would never provide cover for the slaughter of detainees in the Palestinian authority’s jails, especially after some of them neared death as a result of torture.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
Sudanese Migrant Wounded By Egyptian Fire
Egyptian security personnel shot and wounded, on Wednesday morning, a Sudanese migrant while attempting to infiltrate into Israel, apparently seeking work.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60345
Political Developments
‘Hamas stronger despite Gaza siege’
Despite an Israeli plan to weaken Hamas through its long siege on the Gaza Strip, the resistance movement is getting stronger day by day, an analyst tells Press TV.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158634.html
Abbas suspends Dahlan from Fatah over ‘coup plot’
Mohammed Dahlan has been suspended from Fatah’s central committee pending an investigation into the allegations, which he describes as “fantastical”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12114595
Dahlan Denies Coup to Overthrow Abbas
04/01/2011 Former Fatah security strongman Muhammad Dahlan on Tuesday again rejected claims of an attempted military coup against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, calling them fantastical. Dahlan stated that the investigation conducted last Sunday confirmed his negative statements concerning Mahmoud Abbas’s sons, but did not reveal any personal involvement with a weapons cache or a possible coup, London-based Arabic language daily Al-Hayat reported.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=168623&language=en
PA releases Dahlan-affiliate
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Palestinian Authority security services released Wednesday the director of Mohammad Dahlan’s office in Ramallah, following his detention five days earlier. Mu’taz Khuder was detained in the course of an investigation by the Fatah Central Committee, the ruling party’s top body, into the actions of Dahlan. While officials have remained tight lipped over the content of the investigation, reports in the Israeli press said it hinged on accusations that Dahlan had attempted to assemble a private militia in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=348377
Palestinian figures humiliated by PA embassy to Brazil
High-profile Palestinian figures operating in Brazil have denounced what they called “humiliating treatment” from the Palestinian Authority embassy in Brazil.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87M
Medvedev to visit PA despite canceled Israel tour
President Peres apologizes to Russian counterpart for Foreign Ministry strike which caused latter to cancel Israel visit, learns Medvedev planning to visit Palestinian Authority, Jordan.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4009109,00.html
Netanyahu makes official request to Obama: Free Pollard
PM sends letter to Obama calling for convicted spy Jonathan Pollard’s release on humanitarian reasons; U.S. Justice Department declines to comment on the matter.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-makes-official-request-to-obama-free-pollard-1.335209?localLinksEnabled=false
No Mideast peace for ‘at least a decade:’ Lieberman (AFP)
AFP – Controversial hard-right Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told AFP on Tuesday “at least a decade” would be needed to reach a peace accord with the Palestinians.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110104/wl_afp/israelpalestinianspeacelieberman
Turkey’s apology demand is “chutzpah”: Israeli Foreign Minister (Reuters)
Reuters – Israel’s ultranationalist foreign minister on Sunday dismissed as “chutzpah” a Turkish offer to restore ties if Israel apologizes for a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound ship, saying it was up to Ankara to make amends.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110105/wl_nm/us_turkey_israel
Other News
Abu Maher Yamani dead, As`ad Abukhalil
A giant of Palestinian/Arab struggle has died. Abu Maher Al-Yamani a veteran leader of the Movement of Arab Nationalists and of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has died in Beirut. This was a unique struggle: a giant in the contemporary history of Palestinian struggle. A man who lived in Beirut but refused to allow the Lebanese scene to corrupt him as it has corrupted many leaders of the Palestinian resistance movement. For years, he was chosen as the PFLP’s representative in the Executive Committee of the PLO: and that enraged Arafat. Because Arafat favored representative that he could buy and sell. Not with Abu Maher. This man used to ride his bike during the Lebanese civil war: he said that gasoline is precious and that it should be left for the fighters. I last saw Abu Maher maybe in 2005 when he introduced me to a Palestinian audience in Beirut. He told me privately that a volume of his memoirs would not be published until after his death because it may cause embarrassments due to its treatment of internal matters in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. I offer my condolences to his family. Why does the young radical Arab generation know about Che but not about Abu Maher Al-Yamani? I wonder.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/01/abu-maher-yamani-dead.html
Marxist Palestinian group co-founder Yamani dies
BEIRUT: One of the founders of the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (P.F.L.P.) Ahmad Yamani died in Beirut at the age of 86, it was announced Tuesday. Yamani, better known as Abu Maher Yamani, was one of the moderate figures of the P.F.L.P. A member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the P.F.L.P. was launched by the late Palestinian leader George Habash.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=123265
Palestinian psychiatrist wins Olof Palme Prize (AFP)
AFP – Palestinian psychiatrist Eyad El-Sarraj on Tuesday won the 2010 Olof Palme Prize for his “self-sacrificing and indefatigable struggle for common sense, reconciliation, and peace” in the Middle East, the Swedish jury said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110104/wl_mideast_afp/swedenpalestiniansmideastisraelrightsprize
Pro-Israel activists: New congress will remain Israel ally
New congress loses 4 Jews; Majority Leader Cantor to be highest ranking Jewish member ever; AIPAC: will be most pro-Israel congress ever.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?ID=202282&R=R1
US Homeland Security chief in Israel for working visit
JERUSALEM, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano met with the Israeli president and other senior officials on Tuesday during a two-day working visit discussing Israel’s homeland security threats and strategies. Napolitano’s first stop was with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, where the two held what Peres’ office described as a “working diplomatic meeting”, that included improving strategic cooperation between the two countries, and the peace process.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-01/05/c_13676627.htm
‘Israeli airport security unsuitable for US’
Security chief comes to learn Israeli-style airport security methods; notes common aims but also differences between small country, major superpower.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4009267,00.html
Netanyahu’s bargaining tool?
Jonathan Pollard has been in prison in the US for 26 years, convicted in 1985 for being an Israeli spy. Now, the Israeli government has formally requested his release. But some speculate that Israel is using Pollard as a bargaining tool to meet American demands in the frozen Israel-Palestinian negotiations. Al Jazeera’s Nisreen El-Shamayleh reports from West Jerusalem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb6inV0hiSQ&feature=youtube_gdata
Rabbi Bans Jewish Women from Driving
Ahram Online reported that a chief Jewish rabbi issued an order banning Jewish women from driving unless absolutely necessary. The religious decree by Rabbi Avraham Yosef prohibits women to drive, particularly in Israeli cities predominantly inhabited by ultra-orthodox Jews, Press TV Ahram News Website reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60338
Former justice minister: Katsav should be pardoned after he is sentenced
Yossi Beilin tells Channel 1 that ex-president’s trial was traumatic for the country but that Israeli democracy passed the test.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/former-justice-minister-katsav-should-be-pardoned-after-he-is-sentenced-1.335247?localLinksEnabled=false
Peres aides sought to use Katsav rape suspicions against him in 2000 election campaign
Peres’ aide asked the Knesset speaker at that time to persuade Katsav to drop out of the race for the sake of his own dignity and that of the Knesset.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/peres-aides-sought-to-use-katsav-rape-suspicions-against-him-in-2000-election-campaign-1.335259?localLinksEnabled=false
Two Netanya men suspected of raping 12-year-old girl
Investigation began when girl became pregnant and underwent an abortion; more arrests are expected.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/two-netanya-men-suspected-of-raping-12-year-old-girl-1.335346?localLinksEnabled=false
One in five Israeli households receive welfare services
Number of households receiving social services rose from 298,000 in 1998 to 433,500 in 2009; Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog: This proves that societal security is no less important than national security.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/one-in-five-israeli-households-receive-welfare-services-1.335256?localLinksEnabled=false
Bereaved Israelis, Palestinians Unite Across Violent Borders
JERUSALEM – With Middle East peace talks at a standstill, a group of activists is taking matters into its own hands. The Parents’ Circle Families Forum, a group comprising Palestinians and Israelis who have lost family members in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, aims to build a bridge between the two fractured communities.
http://original.antiwar.com/frykberg/2011/01/04/bereaved-israelis-palestinians-unite-across-violent-borders/
Jerusalem boxing club unites Jews and Arabs in and out of the ring
JERUSALEM – In a converted bomb shelter in a low-income Jewish neighborhood, Ismail Jaafari, a Palestinian boxer from across town, bobbed and weaved in the ring, trading punches with an Israeli opponent.
http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=db080b4618187446ae927e2bc9ebbd09
Analysis/Op-ed
Hopes of Gaza cast in lead, Richard Falk
Israel is gearing up for another major offensive into Gaza, yet the world community still remains bafflingly silent.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/2011147844745636.html
One Family in Gaza, Jen Marlowe
Just months after the Israeli assault that killed 1,390 Palestinians, I visited Gaza. Among dozens of painful stories I heard, one family stood out. I spent several days with Kamal and Wafaa Awajah, playing with their children, sleeping in the tent they were living in, and filming their story.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/one-family-in-gaza.html
Global Thinkers vs. Non: A Chat with Gideon Levy, Belén Fernández
Two years have passed since Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s 22-day war on Gaza that began on 27 December 2008 and resulted in over 1400 Palestinian deaths. At the time, Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy noted the ironic application of the term ‘war’—defined by the Even-Shoshan dictionary as “an armed clash between armies, a conflict between state bodies (nations, states) in battle operations with the use of weapons and by force of arms”—to a situation in which only one of the sides possesses a state, an army, and a senior military officer who describes the conflict as “a superb call-up and training exercise”.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16528
Media Occupation, Palestine Monitor
A journalist is supposed to collect, verify, disseminate and analyze the events happening worldwide. To ensure independence from any power or control, journalists must establish transparency, objectivity and credibility with the audience. Unfortunately, we can obviously monitor this in not the case in many stories.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1657
Why is NYC Mayor’s Office posting pro-Israel article from the Jewish press on a government website?, Philip Weiss
New York City maintains two semi-private networks. One is called “Cityshare”, available to NYC city workers, and the other, CityNet, looks to be more for city business.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/why-is-nyc-mayors-office-posting-pro-israel-articles-from-the-jewish-press-on-a-government-website.html
‘Charlie Rose’ transcript saves Hoenlein from on-air allegation he served as Netanyahu’s emissary, Philip Weiss
Watch this Charlie Rose episode from last night to hear Rashid Khalidi soberly explain reality: Palestinians were promised a state 63 years ago and the check is still in the mail; and meantime, there is only one sovereign political entity between the river and the sea and it is or will be majority Palestinian but ruled by Jews. Palestinian statehood without the ability to keep Israeli soldiers from entering any one’s home in the West Bank whenever they like is meaningless. Ramallah is an “excrescence” on Palestine, it is a bubble of prestige and sink of international dollars where, yes, you can get a cappucino for $12.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/charlie-rose-transcript-saves-hoenlein-from-on-air-allegation-he-served-as-netanyahus-emissary.html
Good guys actually won this shootout at the Hasbara Corral, Philip Weiss
I hear that NPR had a very good report on Israel cracking down on dissent; you can see the Jawaher Abu Rahma Killed-by-Israel poster at the link. And the IDF already seems to be abandoning the claim that Abu Rahma wasn’t even at the protest in Bil’in. Hanan Greenberg, who offered the original report that “Palestinians lied” about her teargassing, now tries to walk the story back in Ynet.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/good-guys-actually-won-this-shootout-at-the-hasbara-corral.html
In Ramallah: ‘Today an orchestra, tomorrow a state’, Alice Rothchild
A few tales from Ramallah: The dangerous qanun and the intoxication of power…We leave the taxi at Qalandia checkpoint and for 50 shekels grab a ride in the back of a truck with Israeli license plates. The truck doors advertise flooring and construction, three scruffy men sit in the front seat, and soon we are staring through dusty windows at the imposing separation wall, massive amounts of construction and garbage, new cream white apartment and office buildings, and a disarray of cars all heading in opposing directions. In Ramallah, people do not give you their addresses; we are in search of Supermarket Baghdad. After a dizzying tour of the rainy, foggy city (it seems that men in this culture do not ask for directions easily), we find the supermarket and discover that Israeli Orange phone cards are no longer sold in the West Bank, (first sign of boycott). After a quick call on the one remaining functional phone, Ali Amr, a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston who is home to see his family after a year, meets us a block from the market. The son of a Moroccan mother and Palestinian father and a talented musician, Ali’s journey home was infinitely more torturous than ours.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/in-ramallah-today-an-orchestra-tomorrow-a-state.html
Holocaust survivors, racism, Jerusalem boxing club, U.S. congress, etc.
The 7 items below run the gamut from Holocaust survivors to the U.S. congress. Item 1, “Seven levels of hell” accuses Israeli governments of using reparations intended for Holocaust survivors for other purposes. This is a known fact. The government continues not to worry about locating survivors and seeing to it that they receive the properties belonging to them, but there is now a company that does. Ever hear of the Holocaust industry? While Israel’s leaders use the Holocaust to squeeze tears and money from all, it leaves the victims who survived to live out their lives in poverty. Nice, no? No, not nice. But this is Israel.
http://groups.google.com/group/newprofile/browse_thread/thread/7e9aa25966b4faa5/e7f90337c5e6635a?show_docid=e7f90337c5e6635a
Rehabbin’ Rick Sanchez to rent his garments at NY synagogue, tickets $25 a pop, Philip Weiss
Memo to Helen Thomas. Rick Sanchez has a new p.r. guy, Ronn Torossian, and has announced a public confessional with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach for Jan. 13 at a synagogue in New York. “What did he really say? What did he really mean?” Tickets available here. Per Wikipedia, Torossian is a big Israel supporter who has handled Girls Gone Wild, the Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat, and other rightwing Israeli figures. Oh and the Hebron Fund. And you thought Sanchez was going to start talking about the Israel lobby? (Well, I did.)
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/rehabbing-rick-sanchez-will-rent-his-garments-at-ny-shul-tickets-25-a-pop.html
The Angry Arab Explains The “Weak Arab”
[IKHRAS NOTE] After reading with pleasure this comment (see our previous post below) on the Angry Arab Blog we asked Professor As’ad AbuKhalil to expand on the meaning of the “weak Arab-American”, a topic that goes to the heart of what Ikhras is about. He kindly responded with the following: A weak Arab-American is somebody who believes himself/herself inferior to other Americans. Weak Arab Americans tend to concentrate in Washington, DC. They feel elation around people with power in the city, and are willing to prostrate very low for a mere photo-op with any American official–even if an assistant secretary to an assistant secretary to a deputy secretary. Weak Arab Americans are ashamed of Arab support for the Palestinian cause and spend careers trying to distance themselves from passions of Arab people, and from their own past passions. Weak Arab Americans line up to talk to Israelis because they hope this will enhance their stature in the eyes of US officials. They are the ones who think that a “gala” in a fancy hotel in Washington, DC is the best path for the liberation of Palestine. They also feel really good about themselves in tuxedos: it makes them feel closer to the White Man. Weak Arab Americans are fans of US puppets in the Middle East: they promote Dahlan when Bush promoted him, and then they promote Fayyad when Obama promotes him. If orders come, they discard Dahlan. They are also keen on obeying Saudi oil money (UAE oil money is just as good). Look around you: weak Arab Americans are reminding someone for the umpteenth times that they are Americans, damn it. [end]
http://ikhras.com/2011/01/the-angry-arab-explains-the-weak-arab/
Lebanon
Israel continues military drills, fires into south Lebanon
BEIRUT: Israel renewed its military exercises Tuesday by firing ammunition into Lebanon in a continuation of several weeks of muscle-flexing maneuvers. The National News Agency (N.N.A.) reported that Israeli patrols had fired on Lebanese territory for several hours until eventually ceasing Tuesday morning.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=123276
Lebanon urges UN to curb Israel offshore drilling (AFP)
AFP – Lebanon’s foreign minister on Tuesday asked the United Nations to curb Israel’s offshore drilling plans, days after a US firm announced the discovery of a large field off the Jewish state’s coastline.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110104/wl_mideast_afp/lebanonisraelenergygasun
Nicholas: Christians suffer due to reliance on Israel
BEIRUT: Metn M.P. Nabil Nicholas said Tuesday said dangers facing Christians in the Middle East resulted from the reliance of some Christian groups on Israel, the U.S. and France. The M.P. said Christians were driven away from Middle Eastern countries, such as Egypt, Iraq, and occupied Palestine, where Israel has tangible influence.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=123269
Hizbullah: France should release activist Abdallah
BEIRUT: Hizbullah’s deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said Tuesday the ongoing detention of leftist Lebanese activist George Ibrahim Abdallah in a French prison was a “political one.” “Abdallah’s prison sentence ended in 1999 and the French government cannot keep him in custody,” Qassem told a delegation of the International Campaign for the release of George Ibrahim Abdallah.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=123268
Aoun: Sunni-Shiite strife will not erupt in Lebanon
04/01/2011 The head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun said on Tuesday that the indictment in the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri will not create a conflict in Lebanon. “Even if a hundred indictments are issued, Sunni-Shiite strife will not erupt in Lebanon,” he told reporters following his bloc’s weekly meeting. Addressing Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea’s recent statements, Aoun said: “My problem with Syria existed when it was in Lebanon, today, it is no longer here … whoever wants to antagonize his neighbor must be from another planet.” Regarding Geagea’s statement that Christians should fear each other and his claims that Aoun is a threat to them, the MP said: “This is because I am adopting a policy of dialogue and openness … unfortunately, political decisions that contradict their surrounding are a danger to Christians.” The Free Patriotic Movement leader also criticized Labor Minister Butros Harb’s draft law on real estate saying that it is unconstitutional and illegitimate. “The law is not based on national principles as the Lebanese citizen has the right to buy property from anyone.”
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=168721&language=en
Iraq
Tuesday: 6 Iraqis Killed, 5 Wounded
At least six Iraqis were killed and five more were wounded in light violence. The only reports of attacks came from Baghdad and cities just north of the capital. Meanwhile, A Spanish court opened an investigation into possible crimes against humanity at Camp Ashraf, where thousands of Iranian exiles have established a home. Under its universal jurisdiction doctrine, Spain claims authority in foreign countries where crimes against humanity may have occurred.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/01/04/tuesday-6-iraqis-killed-5-wounded/
Iraqi woman killed, female lawyer seriously wounded in Baghdad violence
BAGHDAD, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — An old woman was killed and a female lawyer seriously wounded in bomb and gunfire attacks in Baghdad on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source said. An old woman was killed and her son wounded when a bomb exploded at the door of their home in Abu Ghraib area, just west of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-01/04/c_13676572.htm
Iraq police chief denies role in camp raid (AFP)
AFP – An Iraqi police chief called to appear before a Spanish court as part of a probe into a deadly assault by Iraqi forces on an Iranian opposition camp on Tuesday denied involvement in the raid.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110104/wl_mideast_afp/spainiraniraqunrestjustice
Radical cleric Sadr back in Iraq (AFP)
AFP – Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday returned to his home city of Najaf in central Iraq after an absence abroad of about four years, a source in his movement said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110105/wl_mideast_afp/iraqpoliticsreligionsadr
IRAQ: New government plans to tackle population displacements
BAGHDAD Wednesday, January 05, 2011 (IRIN) – Iraq’s new government plans to tackle internal displacement and closely monitor and assist Iraqi refugees abroad, the country’s newly appointed migration and displacement minister said on 3 January.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=91536
Chirac and Saddam’s money
In his book on his experience with the Iraqi Ba`th, former Saddam’s ambassador to India, (the Lebanese) Jihad Karam describes how Iraqi intelligence funded the Congress Party in a key election in the late 1970s. I am waiting for a book to detail the Iraqi Saddam cash payments to Chirac’s campaigns especially that Saddam’s former chief-of-protocol (search this site), detailed the valuable gifts that Saddam used to send to corrupt Chirac. An American journalist has obtained information on Hariri funding for Chirac over the years, but the information is yet to be published alas (alas is a polite version of “damn it”).
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/01/chirac-and-saddams-money.html
Did the US Really Give Saddam Fake OK to Invade Kuwait?, PATRICK COCKBURN
Twenty years ago there was a witch-hunt in Washington over why nobody had forecast that Saddam Hussein would invade and occupy Kuwait. A chief casualty of this was April Glaspie, the US ambassador in Baghdad, who had met for two hours with the Iraqi leader on 25 July 1990, a week before the invasion. During this meeting she was alleged to have “given a green light for the invasion” or at least not made clear that the US would use military force to reverse an Iraqi takeover of Kuwait.
http://www.counterpunch.com/patrick01052011.html
U.S. and other world news
Dr. Atul Gawande: Solitary Confinement is Torture
The physical and psychological effects experienced by people held for extended periods in solitary confinement is a topic Dr. Atul Gawande has written extensively about. Yesterday, four prisoners in the supermax Ohio State Penitentiary launched a hunger strike to protest being held for more than 17 years years of solitary confinement. The alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower, U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning, has also been held in solitary confinement for much of the past seven months. “People experience solitary confinement as even more damaging than physical torture,” says Dr. Gwande.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/5/dr_atul_gawande_solitary_confinement_is
US Embassy Cables: : Documents expose Egyptian regime as stooge of US imperialism
The leaked documents, personally despatched from Cairo by US Ambassador Margaret Scobey, expose leading Egyptian politicians as unscrupulous agents of the US.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/muba-j04.shtml
Wikileaks Reveals That The US Won’t Comply With Treaty Obligations Concerning Investigations Into CIA Rendition
The US Justice Department is failing to comply with its treaty obligations with other countries in their investigations into US (mainly CIA) “rendition” operations, where they take people captured elsewhere and find some place to torture them.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110102/00322412483/wikileaks-reveals-that-us-wont-comply-with-treaty-obligations-concerning-investigations-into-cia-rendition.shtml
WikiLeaks’ Most Terrifying Revelation: Just How Much Our Government Lies to Us
Wikileaks has shown that our government and military form a ‘vast lying machine’ that perpetrates mass murder in our name.
http://www.alternet.org/story/149393/wikileaks%27_most_terrifying_revelation:_just_how_much_our_government_lies_to_us
Fox News allows guest to promote ‘holy war’ on Muslims
The year has just begun, and already Fox News’ Sean Hannity is telling the story of how Christians are being persecuted in the Arab world. Hannity observed that a holy war may be “brewing” in the Middle East, as he reported on the New Year’s Eve bombing of a Christian church in Egypt.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/fox-neocon-guest-religious-war/
Only Islamic laws scare Americans
“Instead, Mr. Friedman, an Orthodox Jew, finds himself scrutinized in the Jewish press, condemned by important rabbis, and attacked in aYouTube video showing about 200 people protesting outside his Silver Spring, Md., apartment on Dec. 19. They were angered by Mr. Friedman’s refusal to give his wife, Tamar Epstein, 27, a Jewish decree of divorce, known as a get. The Friedman case has become emblematic of a torturous issue in which only a husband can “give” a get. While Jewish communities have historically pressured obstinate husbands to give gets, this was a very rare case of seeking to shame the husband in the secular world.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/01/only-islamic-laws-scare-americans.html
US forces ‘interfere’ in Afghan affairs
“I ask our foreign friends not to interfere in our internal affairs, not to interfere in our constitution,” Karzai said on Tuesday.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158632.html
Afghan resistance statement
Response of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in Reaction to Senator Lindsay Graham Remarks to Maintain us Permanent Bases in Afghanistan.
http://uruknet.com/?p=m73569&hd=&size=1&l=e
In Syria, a kernel of democracy
The Iraqi refugee crisis in Syria helped open the door for aid and rights groups, serving as one catalyst in the strengthening of civil society.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/NsfWhCVJhF4/In-Syria-a-kernel-of-democracy
Obama takes a Syrian gamble
United States President Barack Obama’s decision to bypass the senate and appoint Robert Ford as ambassador to Syria has bigger implications for the US than its Syrian interests in the Middle East. While Republicans say the appointment sends “the wrong message”, Damascus has the ear of top Iranian and Iraqi officials, and clear influence in Lebanon, making it a significant broker in the Middle East peace process. – Sami Moubayed
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MA05Ak02.html
Students reignite violent Tunisian protest after brief lull
TUNIS: Tunisian police used tear gas to disperse a protest by hundreds of students Tuesday in a town in the west of the country, witnesses said, as violent protests resumed after a brief lull.”Hundreds of students took to the street this morning in solidarity with the youths of Sidi Bouzid.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=123235
Tunisian protester dies of burns
Mohamed Bouazizi, the 26-year-old unemployed man whose self-immolation sparked nationwide unrest, dies of severe burns.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/201115101926215588.html
A young man’s desperation challenges Tunisia’s repression
On Dec. 17, Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old university Tunisian graduate who took to selling vegetables when he was unable to find work, set himself on fire after police confiscated his unlicensed vegetable cart. His desperate act has caused a spontaneous outpouring of public anger in Tunisia over economic conditions and the ruling family’s endemic corruption.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/01/03/young-mans-desperation-challenges-tunisias-repression
Riots erupt in Jordan’s southern city
AMMAN, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — Violent riots erupted Tuesday in the southern Jordanian city of Maan after the burial of two persons who died Monday in a brawl that broke out between Disi Water Conveyance Project workers in Shidiyeh in the south, the state-run Petra news agency reported. Following the burial of two Jordanians, unidentified and masked armed persons headed to the old market in Maan city and put several stores on fire, while others broke into Maan Court of First Instance, a training center affiliated to the city’s municipality and Maan Municipality Court and set them ablaze, head of Maan police Colonel Aref Weshah said Tuesday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-01/05/c_13676626.htm
Inside Story – ‘A vile gesture of death’
We discuss if the anger among Egypt’s Coptic Christians is now directed at their government.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2i6DzsZTvo&feature=player_embedded
www.TheHeadlines.org
