and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property and resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Culture suppression
The Lifta that will never be / Esther Zandberg
Instead of building luxury homes over the abandoned village, Israel could use the hillside ruins to preserve Arab memory and heal a rift. Don’t hold your breath
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/the-lifta-that-never-will-be-1.340964
Awkaf: IOA bans athan in Ibrahimi mosque 50 times last month
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– The Awkaf (endowment) department in Al-Khalil said on Wednesday that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) banned the call for prayers (Athan) on 50 occasions during the past month of January. It said in a statement that the Athan is banned at the pretext that it “annoys” Jewish settlers present inside the mosque in the area allocated for them. The department charged that the IOA ignores all international norms and laws and heavenly religions that stipulate freedom of worship and the right to reach holy shrines in safety and security
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Louis Theroux: My time among the ‘ultra-Zionists’
…It might be easy to write off these “ultra-Zionists” as people on the fringe of a fringe in terms of their outlook and beliefs. And it is true that many, if not most, Israelis say they would be happy to pull out of most of the occupied territories if they were confident it would lead to peace. But what makes the extreme settlers more troubling is that they also enjoy a degree of support from the Israeli state. Surprising as it may seem, many illegal outposts like Yair’s are protected by the Israeli army … The anger and despair of the Palestinians at the settling of foreigners in their midst is palpable. Many say they would be happy to have Jewish neighbours but not while they don’t enjoy the same rights or have the same sovereignty.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12347050
Violence / War crimes
A young man beaten and kidnapped by soldiers in Hadidiya
(with photos) Today, 0/02/2011, Ghazi Bsharat, 19, was grazing his animals in Hadidiya area when he was beaten and arrested by Israeli soldiers. Ghazi was walking around with his animals, 700m from his home when his family saw him beaten by soldiers. Then he disappeared for two hours. His family didn’t know where he was, if he was injured, lying down alone somewhere or if he was arrested, as his phone was closed. Finally Ghazi came back home after hours of detention in the occupation jails. This [kind] of aggression on Al Hadidiya communities happen often. Al Hadidya is located in the Northern Jordan Valley and is surrounded by three military camps and two settlements, Ro’i and Beqarot.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=154:a-young-man-beaten-and-kidnapped-by-soldiers-in-hadidiya&catid=15:2010&Itemid=21
New settler aggression in Ein il Hilwe
29 Jan – …Thursday, 27/01/2011, more than 30 settlers from Maskiyyot attacked Palestinian families living in Ein Il Hilwe, in the Northern Jordan Valley. They beat a woman, Umm Ayman, and her 11 year-old daughter. They also attacked shepherds from the same area, trying to steal their cows. The settlers checked Umm Ayman’s tent, and threaten her, in front of her sons, to come back to cut her hands into pieces… This incident is not isolated, settlers often attack Palestinian in Ein Il Hilwe and all over the Jordan Valley. This is part of a strategy of pushing Palestinians to leave the area in order to take full control and possession of the Jordan Valley and its resources. Ein Il Hilwe community is surrounded by 5 settlements and military areas. Its access to water, electricity, health or education is almost impossible as occupational forces prevent “non Jewish” to have access to basic services in area C.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=152:new-settler-aggression-in-ein-il-hilwe&catid=15:2010&Itemid=21
Back to January Hamra killings
Hamra checkpoint is one of the five checkpoints that close the Jordan Valley from the rest of the West Bank. It is located on the way to Tubas, at the entrance of Frush Beddajan village, in the central Jordan Valley. Jordan Valley Solidarity volunteers cross this checkpoint everyday. On the 2nd January 2011, a young man from Tubas was killed by the occupation forces at Hamar checkpoint, two JVS volunteers were witnesses. Ahmad Musulmani was killed on 2nd January 2011 by the occupation forces at Hamra checkpoint on his way from Tubas to the Jordan Valley.
http://www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=153:hamra-killings&catid=15:2010&Itemid=21
Two siblings detained by Israeli army in Bethlehem
West Bank, (Pal Telegraph) 3 Feb – Israeli military forces detained Thursday two siblings after violently raiding their house in Al-Khader town, in the south of Bethlehem, southern west bank. Local sources said that the detainees known as Salem Al-Balbul,37, and his brother Samer,35, were sent to security officials for interrogation. Adding that, a Palestinian child,7, was evacuated to the hospital due to severely beating by Israeli soldiers. Israeli troops broke into Bait Jala town stormed the streets and erected a military checkpoint in the main entrance of Bethlehem lasted for hours. They also raided Hebron city, southern West bank and several town around it; leaving no casualties.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/west-bank/8382-two-siblings-detained-by-israeli-army-in-bethlehem.html
Israel raids southern Rafah
RAFAH, (PIC)– Israeli warplanes shelled southern areas in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night but no casualties were reported. The PIC reporter said that the shelling targeted a tunnel linking the Strip to Egypt to the east of Rafah border terminal.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
‘Israeli WikiLeaks’: Kamm could face 9 years in prison
A plea bargain was reached in the case of Anat Kamm, the former soldier who leaked documents showing IDF senior commanders allegedly approved illegal assassinations of Palestinian militants
http://972mag.com/israeli-wikileaks-kamm-could-face-9-years-in-prison/
Detention
Israeli court extends child’s imprisonment
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) 3 Feb — The Israeli military court at the Ofer detention center extended the detention period of 14-year-old Islam Saleh Tamimi, to almost three months. The child, from the central West Bank village of An-Nabi Saleh, was detained from his home at 2am on the morning of 24 January. Local activist groups said he was taken to a police station and interrogated without his parents or a lawyer present and later beaten.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=356481
DCI – A report on the situation facing Palestinian children detained in East Jerusalem
The Report covers a three month period between October and December 2010 and is based on the sworn affidavits taken from 13 children arrested during this period from the neighbourhood of Silwan. In 77 percent of the cases the children were accused of throwing stones. The common complaints and areas of concern raised by the children in their affidavits are presented in the following table:
http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=1781&CategoryId=1
Abusing Palestinian children / Stephen Lendman
…Defence for Children International (DCI) Palestine “is a national section of the international non-government child rights organisation and movement (dedicated to) promoting and protecting the rights of Palestinian children,” according to international law principles. Each year, hundreds, under 18, are arrested, detained, interrogated, tortured, and prosecuted, around 6,500 since 2000 alone.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2011/02/01/abusing-palestinian-children/
9 detained overnight by Israeli forces; 2 injured
2 Feb 22:16 JENIN (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained three Palestinians from Jenin refugee camp during a raid overnight, security sources said. Eyewitnesses said Israeli forces threw stun grenades and searched the houses. Locals said forces withdrew from the camp but stayed near Wadi Barqin until the morning. In the southern West Bank, officials said Israeli forces entered Idhna village, west of Hebron and injured two others who were beaten during the arrests.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=356317
Abbas militias kidnap Hamas supporter, torture prisoners
AL-KHALIL, (PIC) 3 Feb — Security militias loyal to de facto Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas rounded up a Hamas supporter in Al-Khalil after four months of trying to capture him, local sources reported on Thursday. They said that the militias, of the preventive security apparatus, chased Sheikh Jamil Al-Jamal, who previously served five years in Israeli occupation jails, and detained him … Meanwhile, relatives of Bilal Al-Mutahasib, detained in PA security jails, said that he was repeatedly tortured at the hands of those militias, noting that he is the brother-in-law of Hamas MP Azam Salhab.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%
Seven Palestinians killed in Gaza last month at the hands of IOF
GAZA, (PIC) 3 Feb — Seven Palestinians were killed and 20 others wounded in the Gaza Strip in the past month of January at the hands of Israeli occupation forces (IOF) or in explosions of ordnance left over by the IOA. Adham Abu Almiya, the spokesman for the higher committee for ambulance and emergency, told Quds Press on Wednesday that among the dead were two unknown persons who were killed on 5th January in IOF artillery shelling north of the Strip. He added that a 21-year-old youth was killed in an IOF air raid targeting his motorbike in Khan Younis, …
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Israel deprives wife of prisoner from her right to visit him for one year
NABLUS, (PIC) 3 Feb — The Israeli prison authority banned wife of detainee Mahmoud Al-Qawasme from Al-Khalil from visiting him for a year after she refused to be strip searched the last time she went to see him, the Tadamoun foundation said on Thursday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%
Refugees
UNRWA Lebanon 2011 Nahr el-Bared Camp Relief and Recovery Needs
More than Three Years and Still Displaced: Urgent Assistance for Palestine Refugees in North Lebanon – Rationale for NBC Relief and Recovery Needs in 2011 The destruction of Nahr el-Bared Camp (NBC) during the conflict in 2007 and the resultant displacement of some 27,000 Palestine refugees from the camp and its adjacent areas created a humanitarian crisis, the effects of which are still being felt three years on. With generous support from donors since 2007, UNRWA has been able to meet the most basic needs of the displaced refugees.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-8DMTXX?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Palestinian refugees angry with leaders, but resigned to fate / Scheherezade Faramazi
Beirut – For 30 years, Mohammad Khalifa was a PLO guerrilla fighter who put his trust and his life in the hands of his Palestinian leaders. His cause: return to his ancestral homeland, a conviction that was enshrined in the psyche of every Palestinian refugee scattered around the Middle East following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 … Today, at 53, he’s a broken man, betrayed by his leaders who were prepared to all but abandon his historical claim of the right of return.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/africa-mideast/palestinian-refugees-angry-with-leaders-but-resigned-to-fate/article1883948/?cmpid=rss1
Siege / Restriction of movement
Single Gaza crossing operates
Commercial and humanitarian goods entered Gaza Thursday through a single crossing terminal opened by Israeli officials, a liaison officer told Ma’an. The southernmost transport terminal, Kerem Shalom, was opened for the transfer of 170 to 180 truckloads of goods, including 20 road vehicles and four truckloads of cement and iron bars for projects administered by the UN Relief and Works Agency, which serves Gaza’s refugee population.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=356616
A different kind of power struggle
Those following the weekly charts on Gaza Gateway might have been surprised to discover that the amount of industrial diesel transferred from Israel to the Gaza Strip has been nil for some weeks now. The fuel, needed to operate Gaza’s power plant, is usually transferred via the Kerem Shalom crossing, though lately, you would only find its low grade cousin, regular diesel, coming in through the tunnels in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, from Egypt and via coordination with the Gaza government, which collects taxes on it. The change of transfer point did not occur overnight but rather as a result of a, by now, three-year policy on the part of Israel and recently given a stamp of approval by the Turkel Commission
http://www.gazagateway.org/2011/02/a-different-kind-of-power-struggle/
Goods – Needs vs. supply Jan 2-29
http://www.gazagateway.org/2011/02/goods-needs-vs-supply-jan-2-jan-29/
Industrial fuel – Needs vs. supply Jan 2-29
http://www.gazagateway.org/2011/02/industrial-fuel-%E2%80%93-needs-vs-supply-%E2%80%93-jan-2-%E2%80%93-jan-29/
Egypt and Palestine
PA bans anti-Mubarak protest
3 Feb (AP) The Palestinian Authority has broken up a demonstration supporting anti-government protesters in Egypt [when?], while permitting a smaller protest backing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak – drawing accusations it is picking sides in the Egyptian unrest … The Palestinian Authority has prevented two other demonstrations in recent weeks in support of anti-government protesters in Tunisia and Egypt.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4023635,00.html
Rights body urges Palestinian aid cut over crackdown
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 3 Feb – Human Rights Watch urged the European Union and United States on Thursday to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority after security forces broke up up a pro-Egypt rally on the West Bank. It was the second time in four days that the security forces had broken up a rally in support of the Egyptian uprising, while Gaza’s Hamas rulers also came under criticism for quashing a similar demonstration in the Strip.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110203/wl_mideast_afp/egyptpoliticsunrestpalestiniansrights
Hundreds in Gaza rally against Egypt’s president
3 Feb (AP) …The demonstration in front of the Egyptian representative office is the first public gathering of its type in the seaside strip since the turmoil in neighboring Egypt erupted more than a week ago. Thursday’s protesters were Hamas supporters representing student councils from Gaza universities. Hamas security officials stood idly by and did not break up the protest. Hamas has largely kept quiet on the unrest in Egypt. But the group is perceived to oppose Mubarak’s regime because of its support for Israel’s blockade on the territory.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110203/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_egypt_protest
Fatah official calls for revolt in Gaza
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Major General Tawfiq At-Tirawi, former director of the PA general intelligence and Fatah Central Committee member called Wednesday in a statement for the people of Gaza to rise up in revolt against the Hamas government.The people of Gaza, he said, should take their cue from Egypt and call for the end of the “dictatorship that restricts their freedoms.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=356629
Why isn’t the PA supporting the Egypt uprising? / Amira Hass
3 Feb – Palestinian leadership has been careful not to support the uprisings, banning demonstrations in solidarity with the Egyptians; Palestinian television has virtually ignored the events in Egypt … What is that Palestinian Authority afraid of when it bans solidarity demonstrations? There are two reasons. Due to the close relations with the Mubarak regime, the leadership is perplexed by expressions of support for the opponents of a friend. The second reason – when a regime is insufficiently democratic, it fears that popular demonstrations might spin out of control.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/why-isn-t-the-pa-supporting-the-egypt-uprising-1.340966
In Palestine, squabbles on Facebook / Nasser Lahham
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Inspired by the uprising in Egypt, Hamas and Fatah are taking to Internet as supporters set up rival Facebook pages calling for revolutions against their Palestinian rivals … On Jan. 28 a group of Fatah supporters set up a group on the social networking site Facebook, where they called for a revolution in Gaza, appointing Feb. 11 a day of protest against the Hamas government. Fatah officials have been putting in requests since early in the week for Ma’an to cover the page. Four days later, a group was set up on the same site, calling for a revolution in Ramallah and the ouster of President Mahmoud Abbas. The same Fatah officials are less enthused about that one.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=356765
Israel
Knesset may vote down inquiry into leftist NGOs
3 Feb – The Knesset might yet vote down a motion to convene two parliamentary committees of inquiry on the activities and funding sources of certain left-wing Israeli nongovernmental organizations, an examination by Haaretz shows. The proposed committees, which were prompted at least in part by allegations that the organizations were engaged in delegitimizing the Israel Defense Forces, have been widely criticized as anti-democratic, and the bid to establish them currently enjoys only a razor-thin majority.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/knesset-may-vote-down-inquiry-into-leftist-ngos-1.340947
Israel refuses to let Barbra Streisand’s cousin make aliyah
Dale Streisand, 57, was reportedly denied new immigrant status on the grounds that his Facebook profile indicated he had been involved in Christian missionary activity in the past. … In November, he was told his application was under consideration but that there was a problem because he had married a citizen of the Philippines. He was then told that there was not any problem with his wife, but that his application had been rejected because he believes that Jesus is the messiah … Streisand said he did not know how the link appeared on his Facebook page.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-refuses-to-let-barbra-streisand-s-cousin-make-aliyah-1.340949
Politics / Diplomacy
Poll: Palestinians prefer UN mediation to direct peace talks
RAMALLAH, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) — A majority of Palestinians agree to win the Palestinian statehood through the UN Security Council instead of direct peace talks with Israel, a poll released on Wednesday shows. The poll, conducted by the Arab Institute for Research and Development, shows 73 percent of the respondents agree to gain the international recognition of an independent Palestinian sate through the UN Security Council, while 22 percent opposed the idea.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-02/03/c_13717458.htm
Egypt crisis ‘means Israel must resume peace talks’
JERUSALEM (AFP) 3 Feb – Israel must relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians in light of the massive protests rocking Egypt, a senior Israeli politician said, as the popular uprising on Thursday entered its tenth day. Shaul Mofaz, head of the powerful parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defence, said the revolt in Egypt is creating a new strategic reality in the region, making it imperative for Israel to restart talks with the Palestinians.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110203/wl_mideast_afp/egyptpoliticsunrestisraelpalestinianspeace
France hosts Palestinian PM in new peace drive
PARIS (AFP) 3 Feb – Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad was due in Paris Thursday to meet French leaders and international peacebrokers on an official visit aimed at boosting flagging efforts for Middle East peace.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110203/wl_mideast_afp/palestiniansdiplomacymideastquartetfrance
Sparking outrage, political storm / Hasan Abu Nimah
2 Feb – On January 23, Al Jazeera Satellite Channel began to release a large cache of secret documents on Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, all of them obtained, it would appear, from Palestinian sources … Out of the 1,600 or so documents, all now released on Al Jazeera website (transparency.aljazeera.net), only a few … were featured on the television. This may mean that there is much more in this huge collection of documents that academics and others should study in the coming months and years to learn how a “peace process” that was supposed to bring justice and peace ended up bringing us farther away from those goals than ever … Stunned observers asked why such excessive Palestinian concessions were not adequate to prompt the Israelis to agree to a settlement. The explanation is simple. It is precisely because the PA was constantly lowering its negotiating ceiling that the Israelis never needed to do anything but sit and wait for more concessions.
http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20110202044213/Palestine:%20Sparking%20outrage,%20political%20storm
Humanitarian / Human interest
For Gaza’s children, act now / Omar Sha’ban
3 Feb – The siege imposed on the Gaza Strip since June 2007 and the Israeli attack on it during Operation Cast Lead in 2008 have resulted in a massive destruction of the economic, social and political infrastructure of Palestinian society there. But beyond these immediate consequences, what concerns me even more is the internal siege of minds that has set in, particularly among youth.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2011/February/opinion_February10.xml§ion=opinion
Israeli extends helping hand to sick Palestinians
Jerusalem (CNN) — Aya Abu Mouwais, a 3-year-old who lives in the West Bank, can barely walk or talk because of a failing kidney and liver. For much of her life, the Palestinian child has needed dialysis to survive. Thankfully, an Israeli man has been able to help her get the treatment she so desperately requires. More than 500 times in the past two years, Yuval Roth and his volunteers have driven Aya and her mother round trip from a checkpoint near the West Bank border to Rambam Medical Center, which is an hour away in Haifa, Israel. [Roth is a member of Parents Circle-Families Forum “a grassroots organization of bereaved Palestinians and Israelis. The PCFF promotes reconciliation as an alternative to hatred and revenge.”]
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/01/cnnheroes.roth/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Analysis / Opinion
Netanyahu’s economic peace tested by Palestinian construction roadblocks / Jonathan Ferziger
2 Feb – When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed two years ago to help strengthen the Palestinian economy, developer Bashar Masri set out to test his word. Masri, the Palestinian-American chief executive of closely held Massar International Group, has since watched his $500- million Rawabi project to build a new West Bank city delayed for almost a year by Israeli objections. His bid for a failed housing complex in east Jerusalem was turned down by bondholders — because of his Palestinian origin, the winning buyer said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-02/netanyahu-s-economic-peace-tested-by-palestinian-construction-roadblocks.html
Suddenly peace is an asset? / Gideon Levy
3 Feb – Suddenly peace has become an asset for Israel, and suddenly Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has become Israel’s best friend. Like a man about to lose the woman he abused for years, and only then recognizes her value – far too late – Israel is now hunkering down, frightened of what the future will bring. What if the new government in Egypt revokes the peace treaty? Quick to the draw, as usual, spreading the typical fear of real and imagined dangers, Israel’s prime minister has forbidden his cabinet ministers from speaking on the subject – and they are even obeying him. Warning, danger: the peace is about to be torn up.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/suddenly-peace-is-an-asset-1.340971
As an Israeli, I want the Egyptians to win / Bradley Burston
…only the inconceivable that turns into the inevitable can bring change to this place … It is beginning to dawn on my people, the Israelis, that freedom for Arabs may have nothing to do with annihilation for Jews. I have you to thank for that … And there’s another lesson we need to learn, most of all. What is the common thread that ties Hosni Mubarak and Ehud Barak, that makes Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman increasingly resemble the rulers of unapologetically non-democratic Mideast regimes? It is the sense of entitlement. The leader’s myth of personal exceptionalism. It is a curse, and we are all either under its spell or under its shadow. http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/as-an-israeli-i-want-the-egyptians-to-win-1.340886
Goldstone’s legacy for Israel / Naomi Klein
Feb 14 issue of The Nation – This essay is adapted from the introduction to The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict (Nation Books). A sprawling crime scene. That is what Gaza felt like when I visited in the summer of 2009, six months after the Israeli attack. Evidence of criminality was everywhere—the homes and schools that lay in rubble, the walls burned pitch black by white phosphorus, the children’s bodies still unhealed for lack of medical care. But where were the police? Who was documenting these crimes, interviewing the witnesses, protecting the evidence from tampering? For months it seemed that there would be no investigation. Many Gazans I met on that trip appeared as traumatized by the absence of an international investigation as by the attacks.
http://www.thenation.com/article/158098/goldstones-legacy-israel
How about a clean break – with Israel? / Philip Giraldi
3 Feb – Back in 1996, a group of leading neoconservatives led by Richard Perle drafted a memorandum for then (as now) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, recommending that Israel adopt a more aggressive and assertive policy towards its neighbors. They called it a “Clean Break” to suggest that it would be a major shift in policy. Today, as American foreign policy looks more like a shipwreck than a victory lap, there is perhaps a need for a Clean Break by Washington. As the relationship with Tel Aviv has an impact far beyond Israel’s size and importance it should, ironically, be the first element in the foreign policy disaster that is examined.
http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2011/02/02/how-about-a-clean-break-with-israel/
Somebody please hand Abbas the revolver on the silver tray / Stuart Littlewood
2 Feb – In all our joy and excitement for Egypt let us not lose sight of the grey and sinister blob that is Mahmoud Abbas. He must be asking himself – fearfully – why he has so far escaped the purge while his bosom-buddies Hosni and Zine are sent packing in disgrace. Some say Abbas isn’t a bad guy, he just lost his way. Actually there’s a long crime-sheet against him, too tiresome to catalogue in detail here.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2011/02/02/somebody-please-hand-abbas-the-revolver-on-the-silver-tray/
Is Al Jazeera trying to bring down the Palestinian Authority? / Zvi Bar’el
The Qatari news network has instigated a media revolution throughout the Arab world.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/is-al-jazeera-trying-to-bring-down-the-palestinian-authority-1.340716
The Arab ‘street’ is more complex than we grasp / Donald Macintyre
For decades, pundits, including those in the Middle East itself, have talked airily about the Arab “street”. It is a convenient if somewhat patronising term, of course – a necessary nod to the fact that there are peoples in the region as well as regimes. But it has also been sometimes used to conjure the notion of a homogeneous, poorly educated, restive mass whose true feelings, such as they are, can be grasped only by some form of almost mystical osmosis; and one prey to seduction by extremists without the firm hand of a strong ruler.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/donald-macintyre/donald-macintyre-the-arab-street-is-more-complex-than-we-grasp-2202398.html
Book review: Rich definition of “What it means to be Palestinian” / Asa Winstanley
“This is what it means to be Palestinian, to care, because if you stop caring, then you let go. We cannot let go” (p. 110) explains Jerusalemite Samia Nasser Khoury in Dina Matar’s landmark new book, What it Means to be Palestinian. Matar is a lecturer in Arab media at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. In researching the book, Matar conducted countless interviews across the Arab world with fellow Palestinians, recording their experiences … Above all, the book aims to “ascribe agency to the Palestinians, not as helpless victims of forces beyond their control, as they have often been portrayed, but as actors at the center of critical phases of their modern history”
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11755.shtml
Iraq
Wednesday: 7 Iraqis killed, 18 wounded
At least seven Iraqis were killed and 18 more were wounded in light violence. A new U.S. Senate report warns that Americans remaining in Iraq could be in danger once U.S. troops leave at the end of the year, while a top diplomat defended the scope of the U.S. State Department‘s operations that will replace the soldiers. Separately, a former U.S. military interrogator, Air Force Reserve Maj. Anthony Camerino, describes in a new book how he raided the wrong homes in about half of the terrorist searches he participated in.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/02/02/wednesday-7-iraqis-killed-18-wounded/
Three shot as Iraqis protest power, food shortages
BAGHDAD (Reuters) 3 Feb — Iraqi police opened fire on Thursday to disperse hundreds of angry residents protesting against shortages of power, water and other services near the southern city of Diwaniya, wounding three, officials said. The crowd of about 1,000 tried to force its way into a local council building in the al-Hamza district south of the Diwaniya provincial capital, demanding improved food rations and more power and water. Diwaniya is a poor, largely Shi’ite province that has suffered serious shortages.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110203/wl_nm/us_iraq_electricity_protest
Rumsfeld defends handling of Iraq war in new book
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld concludes in his new autobiography that the war in Iraq has been worth the cost and remains largely unapologetic about his handling of the conflict, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. Had the government of Saddam Hussein remained in power the Middle East would be “far more perilous than it is today,” Rumsfeld wrote in his 800-page memoir, scheduled for release on Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110203/ts_nm/us_rumsfeld_memoir
Other Mideast, Arab world
Algeria plans to end 19 years of emergency rule
(Reuters) 3 Feb – Pressure from opposition groups inspired by protests in Egypt and Tunisia prompts government plan to scrap extra powers.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/algeria-plans-to-end-19-years-of-emergency-rule-1.341081
Jordan’s new government may include opposition
AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — Jordan’s premier and Islamists have met as part of efforts to form a new cabinet that could include opposition figures but pro-reform protests are set to continue, officials said on Thursday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=356763
Tens of thousands of Yemenis demonstrate in Sanaa
SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — Tens of thousands of protesters amassed Thursday at Sanaa University for a “day of rage” calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, while a similar number of government loyalists flooded a central square. “We are here to bring down a corrupt and tyrannical regime,” Najib Ghanem, a lawmaker from the Islamist Al-Islah party that is part of the Common Forum alliance of opposition parties, told the sea of anti-Saleh protesters.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=356688
TIMELINE: Saleh’s 30-year rule in Yemen
(Reuters) 3 Feb – Here is a timeline of Saleh’s 30-year rule: July 1978 – President Ali Abdullah Saleh takes power in the former North Yemen.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/timeline-salehs-30-year-rule-in-yemen
Calls for weekend protests in Syria
3 Feb — Social media used in bid to mobilise Syrians for rallies demanding freedom, human rights and the end to emergency law.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122171649677912.html
Hezbollah man escapes from Egypt prison: sources
CAIRO (Reuters) 3 Feb — A member of the Lebanese group Hezbollah jailed in Egypt for planning attacks in the country has escaped from prison, Egyptian security sources said on Thursday. Sami Chehab, sentenced last April to 15 years in prison, escaped on Sunday, they said. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has previously said Chehab was a member of a Hezbollah cell that was working to smuggle weapons through Egypt to the Gaza Strip.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110203/wl_nm/us_egypt_hezbollah
U.S.
Muslims want to change the way Hollywood tells their stories
(AP) After years of watching Muslims portrayed as terrorists in mainstream TV and movies, an advocacy group hopes to change that image by grooming a crop of aspiring Muslim screenwriters who can bring their stories – and perspective – to Hollywood. The Muslim Public Affairs Council is hosting a series of workshops taught by Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated veterans over the next month, an initiative that builds on the group’s outreach for a more representative picture of Muslim-Americans on the screen. http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/muslims-want-to-change-the-way-hollywood-tells-their-stories-1.340845
Lawsuit on Hamas slayings lingers in court in Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE, R.I. 3 Feb (AP) — A long and tortuous legal wrangle that brought the fallout of Mideast terrorism to U.S. courts, culminating in a $116 million default judgment against the Palestinian Authority, may be moving toward resolution.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110203/ap_on_re_us/us_hamas_lawsuit_ri
Privacy versus security / Joan Wickersham
WAS OUR flight home to Boston last week safer because the TSA supervisor in the Houston airport groped my husband’s groin? It’s hard to apply rational intelligence to this question, because the experience was so surreal and upsetting.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/02/03/privacy_versus_security/
WIkiLeaks among nominees for Nobel Peace Prize
OSLO – Anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks has been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian politician behind the proposal said on Wednesday
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/02/02-7
