and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Settlers
Medics: Man treated for wounds from settler beating
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 24 Mar — A 30-year-old Nablus man was accosted by a group of settlers Wednesday night, and hospitalized by a subsequent attack, medics reported. Traveling south of Nablus, Iyad Azzam told Red Crescent medics that he believed residents of the illegal settlement of Yitzhar were behind the attack. He remains in moderate condition at the Rafidya Hospital in Nablus.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371874
71 houses to be demolished in Salfit
SALFIT, 24 Mar (WAFA) – Israeli Authority Thursday handed demolition notices to Palestinians in Salfit, in the west bank. The Mayor of Burkin, a village west of Salfit, Akrama Samara, told WAFA that people of Burkin are severely attacked by settlers, in addition to demolishing their houses. He said that 71 demolition notices were handed to Palestinians
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=15624
Israel destroys road in West Bank for second time
SALFIT, 24 Mar (WAFA) – Israeli authorities Thursday morning destroyed an agricultural road in the village of Qurawa Bani Hassan, in the north of the West Bank, for the second time. Hassan Rayyan , head of the town’s municipality, told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers destroyed the road with no good reason for the second time within less than three months. The road is 2 kms long and cost about $400,000 to construct. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad personally supervised the project of the road construction since it benefits thousands of agricultural dunums (1 dunum= 1000 square meters or 1/4 acre), according to Rayyan.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=15618
The ‘A-word’ in Hebron / Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Forward 23 Mar — You’ve probably read about the situation in the West Bank city of Hebron, where some 800 Jewish settlers live in the midst of 170,000 Palestinians. But being there is something else. Being there can make you sick to your stomach; being there you can’t help thinking of the ‘A-word’. A few weeks ago, I spent an afternoon in places you won’t find on most synagogue tours, and there is no other word to describe what I saw. In the settlement of Kiryat Arba, Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch project, told our delegation from Americans for Peace Now, “From here, only Israelis can enter Hebron by car; Palestinians have to go on foot.” I thought she was joking. She wasn’t.
http://www.forward.com/articles/136418/
Racism
3 arrested for torching Arab cars in Safed
Ynet 24 Mar — Two young men, teenager deny allegations; ‘Death to Arabs’ spray-painted on local college walls – A week after cars belonging to two Arab students were set on fire in Safed, the Magistrate’s Court in the northern city allowed police to report that three suspects have been arrested in connection with the case. Additional details of the investigation are still under a gag order, as are the suspects’ identities … Relations between Arabs and Jews in Safed have deteriorated since local Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu called on Jewish residents not to rent apartments to Arabs.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4047353,00.html
Attacks – Reprisals – Attacks….
What about the Iron Dome? / Yossi Melman
Haaretz 24 Mar 02:53– For many months now, the Israel Air Force has had at its disposal one Iron Dome battery, developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. But for some very strange reason, the Israel Defense Forces refuses to deploy it to intercept the missiles that have been launched over the past few weeks, or before this, from the Gaza Strip.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/what-about-the-iron-dome-1.351460
A picture is worth a thousand words
http://i53.tinypic.com/f2r8y.jpg
Egypt warns Israel on new Gaza war
PressTV 24 Mar — In a statement released on Wednesday, [Egyptian Foreign Minister] Elaraby urged Israeli authorities to exercise self-restraint and avoid compounding a tense situation that would make it difficult to resume stalled negotiations with the Palestinians … He also called on Palestinian resistance groups not to give the Israeli regime an excuse to make further antagonistic threats and eventually push the region towards another war.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171494.html
Israel air strikes draw Gaza rocket fire
AJ 24 Mar 16:04 — Projectiles fired at Israel from Gaza Strip in apparent reprisal to air raids on the Palestinian enclave … “The Israeli army has just confirmed that a total of nine rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip,” Al Jazeera’s Nisreen El-Shamayleh, reporting from Jerusalem, said. “Two of them were Grad rockets, one of them landed in Ashdod, the other one just north of Ashdod – that one is the farthest these rockets have reached since the cross border tension started eight days ago,” she said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/2011324145153377198.html
Second wave of strikes injures 1 in Gaza,,
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 Mar 16:38– A second Israeli airstrike Thursday morning hit a group of men beside a gas station in the northern Gaza Strip around 8:30 a.m., hours after a wave of strikes targeted sites across the coastal enclave. Spokesman of the higher committee of ambulance and emergency services Adham Abu Salmiya said the latest bombing targeted a site near the Jabaliya refugee camp, and injured one.
Shortly before 2 a.m., Israeli aircraft opened fire on several areas in the Gaza Strip. Aircraft targeted a tunnel in the south and a site connected to Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades west of Gaza City, onlookers said. Jets also struck a power station causing blackouts in Gaza City, Reuters reported. Abu Salmiya said no injuries were reported, but sent waves of panic through homes across the Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371818
Barak: Israel holds Hamas responsible for Gaza rocket fire
Haaretz 24 Mar 17:53 — In a joint press conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Barak said that because Hamas is in power in Gaza, they are responsible for the actions of Islamic Jihad and other factions in the Strip, saying Hamas must control these groups.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/barak-israel-holds-hamas-responsible-for-gaza-rocket-fire-1.351607
PFLP, PRC claim joint launch toward Negev
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 Mar 16:34 — In a joint statement, brigades affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Resistance Committees announced the firing of a projectile toward the Eshkol region in Israel, adjacent to the southern Gaza Strip … Earlier in the day the brigades announced in separate statements that they were committed to continued resistance activities, amid heavy strikes from Israeli forces.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=372048
Hamas ‘vows to restore calm’ in Gaza
GAZA CITY (AFP) 23 Mar 21:33 – Gaza’s Islamist rulers on Wednesday vowed “to restore calm” in the coastal enclave after militants there stepped up rocket attacks on Israel, a statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371794
From Gaza to Jerusalem: JVP statement on the escalation of violence
24 Mar — Any act of violence, especially one against civilians, marks a profound failure of human imagination and causes a deep and abiding trauma for all involved. In mourning the nine lives lost in Gaza yesterday, and the one life lost in Jerusalem today, we reject the pattern of condemning the loss of Israeli lives while ignoring the loss of Palestinian life. We do not discriminate. Life is life. One lost life is one life too many-whether Palestinian or Israeli. Within the context of 44 years of the Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, in the past two years ( Jan 31, 2009 – January 31, 2011), over a thousand Palestinians have been made homeless by home demolitions, hundreds have been unlawfully detained, and over 150 men, women and children have been killed by the IDF and settlers, according to the Israeli human rights group B’tselem (1)
http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/blog/from-gaza-to-jerusalem-jvp-statement-on-the-escalation-of-violence
Yedioth’s military correspondent: Signs of planned escalation by IDF in Gaza
972mag 23 Mar — “The Chief-of-Staff, Benny Gantz, declared yesterday that Israel was not interested in an escalation in the Gaza Strip, but Southern Command’s activity sends the exact opposite message,” wrote Alex Fishman this morning in Yediot Acharonot. “[…] The more our side does not want an escalation, the more the border region gets heated up and by now we’ve had a week of it. Last night towns and villages were on alert for rockets and mortars. So whom to believe, the statements or the actions on the ground? […] Last night the IDF carried out targeted killings. A targeted killing is not just another step in an uncontrolled deteriorating spiral. It is a clear evidence of a planned escalation.”
http://972mag.com/yedioths-military-correspondent-signs-of-planned-escalation-by-idf-in-gaza/
Envoy: Jerusalem bomb, Gaza attacks appear ‘unrelated’
Jerusalem (CNN) 24 Mar 9:26 – The deadly terror bombing that rocked Jerusalem appeared to be “unrelated” to the rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel, Israel’s ambassador to the United States told CNN Thursday. Michael Oren said the rocket attacks probably have more to do with infighting in the Hamas-controlled territory of Gaza.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/24/jerusalem.bombing/
Two Grad rockets from Gaza reach deep into Israel
Haaretz 24 Mar 15:00 — Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two Grad rockets at southern Israel on Thursday, as cross-border tensions continued to escalate. One of the rockets struck south of Ashdod and the other just north of the city. It was not exactly clear where the second rocket hit, but the explosion could be heard in Yavneh, some 25 kilometers from Tel Aviv … Approximately five mortar shells and two Qassam rockets struck Israeli territory overnight, and another rocket was fired at the Ashkelon coast on Thursday morning, after militants fired dozens of rockets and mortars into the western Negev in the days prior.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/two-grad-rockets-from-gaza-reach-deep-into-israel-1.351588
Stop mortar fire at populated areas in the Gaza Strip
Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories 23 Mar — On 22 March ’11, the Israeli military fired “Keshet” mortar shells at the Shaja‘iya neighborhood east of Gaza City. The shells killed four Palestinian civilians, three of them from the same family, including two children. The media reported that the firing was a response to Palestinian firing at southern Israel a short time earlier. Mortar shells have a wide deviation range. “Keshet” mortars are more precise than other kinds of mortar shells, but their deviation range is still several dozens of meters wide. In the densely populated Gaza Strip, such a range can cause grave harm to civilians. Indeed, the use of “Keshet” mortars has already killed non-combatant civilians in the past.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/JARD-8F93CN?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Islamic Jihad commanders go into hiding
Ynet 24 Mar – …The Islamic Jihad terror group in Gaza ordered all its commanders to go into hiding for the next few days at least, for fear that the IDF will aim to assassinate group leaders. The move reinforces the IDF estimate that Islamic Jihad was behind the bombing in Jerusalem Wednesday
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4046981,00.html
Mystery deepens over deadly Jerusalem bus bomb
Time.com 23 Mar 4:25 pm — The package bomb that exploded at a busy Jerusalem bus stop Wednesday, killing a 60-year-old woman and wounding 39, was exceptional in more ways than one … No organization claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack, which appeared to be significant in itself. Israeli security officials said the bomb appeared to be the work of a small group, perhaps local self-starters able to operate below the radar.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110323/wl_time/08599206108800
Detention
Four arrested after heated clashes in Beit Ummar
AL-KHALIL, (PIC) 24 Mar — Clashes broke out Wednesday night as Israeli soldiers infiltrated the town of Beit Ummar north of Al-Khalil with intent to arrest Palestinians there, locals reported. They entered the town accompanied by undercover soldiers and arrested brothers Suhail and Omar Ibrigeith after assaulting them. The undercover soldiers also assaulted a woman who is seven months pregnant during the operation, the sources added. She was transported to the hospital for treatment … The Israeli occupation force (IOF) brought a bulldozer to the town and blockaded the entrance with dirt after the clashes cooled down … The IOF prohibited the travel of Palestinians in and out of the city through the military checkpoint set up at the main entrance of the town.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Islamic Jihad: PA detains leaders, tracking members
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 Mar — Officials from the Islamic Jihad movement said Thursday that Palestinian Authority security forces detained two of the movement’s leaders from their homes in the city of Jenin overnight … Jihad officials said PA forces were tracking members in the wake of a blast in West Jerusalem that went off near the central bus station, killing one woman and injuring 30 others … No group has claimed the bombing in Jerusalem, though Israeli officials told the nation’s Radio Israel that investigators knew who was behind the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371841
Palestinian militant group says 10 members arrested in West Bank
AP 24 Mar — The Islamic Jihad militant group says Palestinian security forces have arrested 10 of its members in the West Bank. The group says two leaders of its West Bank operations were among those detained in overnight raids. Arrests of Islamic Jihad militants in the West Bank are rare. Typically, raids on Palestinian militants target Hamas
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5j984jJNYZ7cTmiSpwXtnDf4fLr_g?docId=6348143
Hamas: PA detained 2 members overnight
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 24 Mar — Hamas officials in the West Bank said Thursday that Palestinian Authority forces detained two supporters in Tulkarem and Nablus overnight. A statement from the group said the detentions were politically motivated.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371943
Siege
Egyptian FM: Ending Gaza siege a priority
GAZA (ABNA) 23 Mar — Egyptian foreign minister Nabil al-Arabi has said ending the five-year siege on the Gaza Strip is a priority in Egypt.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=232942
Rafah opened for Egypt cement import
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) — An Egyptian delegation will arrive in Gaza Thursday afternoon, bringing ten truckloads of cement, in an attempt to ease the Israeli-led siege on the coastal enclave, which prohibits the import of building materials … The import was organized by the International Egyptian Federation, which obtained permission to travel into Gaza via the Rafah crossing. Organizers said the initiative was part of a larger effort that hopes to see the Rafah crossing turned into a commercial terminal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=372038
Single Gaza crossing operates
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 24 Mar — The only operating commercial goods crossing into Gaza was opened on Thursday by Israeli officials, who announced that 240-250 loads of goods would be permitted entry … Fattouh was told that a single load of carnations grown by Gaza farmers would be permitted for export, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371844
Palestine and the Egyptian revolution: a view from Gaza / Haidar Eid
EI 23 Mar — When I was asked by a solidarity activist about the impact of the end of the Mubarak regime on the Gaza Strip, my immediate answer was that it would definitely mean the end of the deadly siege that has been imposed on Gaza since 2006. Yet, we in Gaza are still waiting … Do we have to ‘understand’ the difficulties the new rulers of Egypt have to deal with, while we are starving and still besieged in Gaza? If this is the case, why do we, Palestinians of Gaza, have to pay the price? Are all other Egyptian crossings and border posts ‘partially’ open like the Rafah gate? And are we, by posing such questions, still considered ‘a threat to Egypt’s national security?’
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11874.shtml
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Israel Apartheid Week in Gaza
24 Mar — Israeli Apartheid Week took place in Gaza City and was a huge success with many attendees from Gaza of all ages benefiting from a mix of events including talks from some of the most renowned and visionary scholars and activists, films and interactive video conferences. These were held over 11 days from March the 7th beginning with a day dedicated to Israel’s apartheid system and the similarities with the struggle against the South African Apartheid regime during the latter half of the 20th Century.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16743
Rachel Corrie family requests observers attend upcoming hearings in suit against Israel
AIC 24 Mar by Cindy Corrie — After a five month recess, hearings resume Sunday, April 3, in my family’s lawsuit against the Israel Ministry of Defense in the case of my daughter Rachel Corrie. I am writing with hope that you may be able to send one or more observers to the upcoming court sessions. The sessions are currently scheduled for April 3 and 6 between the hours of 9:00-16:00 before Judge Oded Gershon, 6th floor, Haifa, District Court, 12 Palyam St., Haifa, Israel.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3448-rachel-corrie-family-requests-observers-attend-upcoming-hearings-in-suit-against-israel
University of Arizona students erect mock border wall
HuffPost 23 Mar — Student activists at the University of Arizona have erected a nearly 1,000-foot-long mock border wall — the longest in the country — with an aim to create a “crisis on campus” that will force members of the campus community to confront border issues in the U.S. and the Middle East. According to the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the installation, titled “Wall to Wall — Concrete Connections/Conexiones Concretas,” is designed to represent the walls present at the U.S./Mexico and Israel/Palestine borders.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/23/arizona-mock-border-wall-_n_839279.htm
UJ cuts ties with Israeli university
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has officially severed ties with Israel’s Ben-Gurion University (BGU), deputy vice chancellor Adam Habib said on Wednesday … “UJ is the first institution to officially sever relations with an Israeli university – a landmark moment in the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel campaign,” [the statement] said. The committee said the decision, coming from a South African institution, was of particular significance as it could start “a domino boycott effect.”
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/uj-cuts-ties-with-israeli-university-1.1046158
Litigating Palestine: can courts secure Palestinian rights?
UC Hastings College of the Law, California — 3/25/2011 to 3/26/2011 The objective of this one-and-a-half day conference is to critically evaluate the strategies, limitations, successes and failures of efforts to address Palestinian rights in a variety of different court systems in the United States and abroad. [Speakers/panelists include Diana Buttu, George Bisharat, Noura Erakat, Emily Schaeffer among others.]
http://www.uchastings.edu/media-and-news/event/2011/03/Litigating-Palestine.html
Fundraiser for IFPB ‘African Heritage’ delegation to Palestine/Israel, Saturday [26 Mar] in Washington, DC
22 Mar — …The delegation will: Exchange lessons learned from Black Power, Civil Rights, anti-apartheid and anti-racist, pro-justice, struggles in the US with those waging similar campaigns in Palestine/Israel; strengthen a cadre of African Heritage leaders who have on-the-ground experience in Israel/Palestine; and further link activism in African Heritage communities with peace and justice work in other communities.
http://endtheoccupationblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/fundraiser-for-ifpb-african-heritage.html
Anti-boycott
It’s official: Bob Dylan to perform in Israel on June 20
24 Mar — Bob Dylan will hold a single concert in Israel on June 20 at the Ramat Gan stadium, where Leonard Cohen and Elton John recently performed, it was confirmed yesterday.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/it-s-official-bob-dylan-to-perform-in-israel-on-june-20-1.351457
Sacramento Co-op board abandons democratic principles – won’t let members vote on proposed Israel products boycott
23 Mar — What started out as a question of whether the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op should stop carrying certain products based on human rights considerations has now become a matter affecting the Co-op’s very democracy.
http://dailycensored.com/2011/03/23/sacramento-co-op-board-abandons-democratic-principles-wont-let-members-vote-on-proposed-israel-products-boycott/
Refugees
Japan donates US $2.4 million to Nahr el-Bared Camp reconstruction
UNRWA – Beirut 22 Mar — The Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon, H.E. Koichi Kawakami, and the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, Salvatore Lombardo, signed today an exchange of notes formalizing a ¥201 million (US$ 2.4 million) donation to the Reconstruction of Nahr el-Bared Palestine refugee camp in north Lebanon. This contribution will be earmarked to the reconstruction of Package 3, which includes the main commercial street and as such is a key component of the Nahr el-Bared camp reconstruction.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SMDL-8F9FFW?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Politics / Diplomacy / Unity
Ramallah youth message Palestinian leadership
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 24 Mar — Representatives of youth on hunger strike on Thursday delivered messages to Hamas lawmakers in Ramallah and to the office of President Mahmoud Abbas. The messages stated that the activists would continue their hunger strike if the division does not end, particularly as they gave notice to all parties to take serious steps to end division.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=372124
‘PA must choose: Peace with Israel or Hamas’
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 24 Mar — Israel Radio reported Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that the Palestinian Authority choose between peace with Hamas or peace with Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371720
Abbas asks Israel for ‘peace, not war’
UFA, Russia (Ma‘an) 24 Mar — President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that he hopes officials will take the Middle East Quartet meeting in April as an opportunity to push forward the peace process.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=372024
Other news
Take down intifada page, Israel tells Facebook
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 24 Mar — Israel’s diplomacy minister wrote to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg Wednesday demanding the removal of the group,”Third Palestinian Intifada” from the social networking site, Israeli media reported. While it remains unclear whether the group will be taken off the site, Third Palestinian Intifada’s administrators insisted via a posting on the site that they were committed to a peaceful approach and international standards of freedom of expression.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=371938
Israeli cyber attacks target Press TV
Press TV 24 Mar — Cyber attacks launched against Iran-based English-language news site Press TV from Israeli sources have failed to take down the website.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171502.html
MKs to learn about US Jewish community
Ynet 24 Mar — New poll shows 82% of Israelis support needs to educate political leaders on American Jews, with 87% viewing community as vital to Israel’s security and political existence
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4046653,00.html
AIPAC apologizes for fundraising off bomb attack
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) — The American pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC apologized Wednesday for using a bomb attack in Jerusalem to solicit money from its supporters, news reports said … The Washington Jewish Week reported that AIPAC official Jonathan Missner sent out a second note to donors saying the pro-Israel lobby was “deeply sorry” for soliciting funds in such a manner.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=372070
Analysis / Opinion
The Palestinian narrative has won / Oudeh Basharat
Haaretz 24 Mar — When the Knesset approves legislation banning the Nakba commemoration, it seems surreal. Yet, there is also something good in this commotion. At least, there’s no denial of the Nakba. Nobody claims the whole thing is a fairy-tale. The Palestinian narrative has won. The narrative that in ’48 a people was exiled, by force, from its land, has been seared into Israeli and global consciousness. A vibrant, lively nation lived in Palestine, and a brutal act severed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-palestinian-narrative-has-won-1.351497
Israel’s dissidents are saving the country / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 24 Mar — The dissidents do not need to apologize for anything. Their country owes them a great deal — Imagine a different Israel in the eyes of the world. There is no B’Tselem, no Breaking the Silence, no Anarchists Against the Fence, no Gush Shalom. There is no New Israel Fund and no small band of radical and dissenting intellectuals and journalists. Imagine a different Israel, which silences and crushes every such voice. Imagine how it would look to the world. The little sympathy Israel still receives it owes to these groups.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-s-dissidents-are-saving-the-country-1.351496
Iraq
Wednesday: 8 Iraqis killed, 18 wounded
At least eight Iraqis were killed and 18 more were wounded in new violence that focused on Baghdad and Mosul.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/03/23/wednesday-8-iraqis-killed-18-wounded/
Iraqi Kurdistan building 11 dams, 28 more planned
ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) 24 Mar — Authorities in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan area are building 11 dams and plan dozens more, the region’s agriculture minister said Thursday, a move that could raise tensions over water … In the multi-ethnic Kirkuk province, Arab farmers accuse the Kurdistan region of ruining them by closing the valves to a dam in winter. A growing water deficit and dams built by Iraq’s neighbours have significantly reduced the water flow in a country that was until the late 1950s a breadbasket of the Arab world.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110324/wl_mideast_afp/iraqkurdistanenvironmentwaterdams
U.S.
Agents can delay Miranda warnings in some cases
WASHINGTON (AP) 24 Mar — After being criticized for providing Miranda warnings in terrorism cases, the FBI has reminded its agents that in some instances they can question terrorist suspects without immediately reading them their rights. The Justice Department said Thursday the FBI guidance issued late last year was a reminder that investigators can delay telling suspects of their rights to an attorney and to remain silent when there is immediate concern for the safety of the public.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110324/ap_on_re_us/us_miranda_terror
