and other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
Israeli government’s ‘price tag’:
Israel announces massive settlement expansion
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) — Israel on Sunday announced massive expansions to illegal Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank, a day after a five Israelis were killed in a brutal attack in Itamar settlement. The move was immediately slammed by the Palestinian Authority. Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina said the decision was “unacceptable and wrong,” in a statement … Some 500 new Jewish-only housing units have been approved in the Etzion, Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel and Kiryat Sefer settlements, a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. The ministerial committee for settlements met Saturday night to okay the construction, reports said … According to Ma’ariv, Netanyahu told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of his decision to expand illegal settlements when she telephoned him to condemn the attack.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=368010
Yishai: Israel must build 1,000 new units in settlements for every person murdered
Ynet 13 Mar — Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Sunday that the decision to build hundreds of new housing units in the West Bank settlements as a response to the Itamar terror attack is not enough and Israel must construct many more homes. During a Sunday cabinet meeting, Yishai said that Israel must build “at least a thousand new homes for each person murdered.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/yishai-israel-must-build-1-000-new-units-in-settlements-for-every-person-murdered-1.348879
Settler attacks against Palestinians escalate
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 Mar — As the Shabbat ended Saturday evening, Israeli settlers raided Palestinian villages and towns across the West Bank, injuring several Palestinians … Saturday evening, five members of the Abu Akar family were attacked by settlers as they drove back from Hebron to their home in Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. “Some 200 extremist settlers armed with guns, clubs, and knives obstructed our car on the road from Hebron to Bethlehem. We tried to run away, but they hurled stones at the car smashing its windshields. “My brother-in-law, the driver, sustained serious wounds and was forced to pull over. I tried to step out and take the wheel but they attacked me with clubs. Israeli forces who were watching did nothing to stop them,” Ammar Abu Akar told Ma’an … Local sources in Nablus told Ma’an that over 100 settlers stormed shops and homes in the northern West Bank village of Huwwara south of Nablus.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=367992
The village of Awarta faces repression from soldiers after attack on settlers
ISM 12 Mar — Today the village of Awarta, the Palestinian village located closest to the illegal settlement Itamar which witnessed the murder of an entire settler family this morning, was put under severe military restrictions. According to the village council, 19 people are still in custody after the Israeli military raided the village early this morning. Around 8 am the Israeli military cut off the roads to the village, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. Around 25 people were arrested in total, among them a 14-year-old boy. When the soldiers entered the houses to arrest people they flipped over furniture, smashed windows, threw sound grenades and shot bullets in the air. Around 3 pm the soldiers returned a second time to search houses of the families whose sons had been arrested. They forced the families to stay outside under armed guards for an hour while about 20 soldiers with dogs entered their houses. As they had done in the morning, the soldiers turned the houses completely upside-down, destroying the electricity by cutting the cables to the fuse box, and polluting the drinking water by throwing mud in the water-tanks. Computers and phones were destroyed and money and property were stolen by the soldiers. Once again the soldiers threw sound grenades inside and outside the houses … It has been reported that an 80-year-old woman who suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure was beaten by the soldiers. She was taken to the Rafidia hospital in Nablus.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/03/16975/
Armed Jewish settlers savagely attack Palestinians in Hawara
NABLUS, (PIC)- 13 Mar – Hundreds of armed Jewish settlers attacked at midnight Saturday Palestinian homes in Hawara village, south of Nablus city. Eyewitnesses told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the settlers went on the rampage through the villages damaging property, assaulting residents, burning cars and throwing stones at everything … The cities of Bethlehem and Al-Khalil also witnessed similar savage attacks by Jewish settlers. A group of settlers under military protection attacked on Saturday morning Palestinian homes near Rumeida neighborhood in Al-Khalil city. Samaan Abu Haikal said that armed settlers hurled stones at his daughters and threatened Palestinians that they would be shot dead if they left their homes .. In the Laban souk near Ibrahimi Mosque, other settlers severely beat a Palestinian citizen called Sufiyan Abu Asneineh as he was on his way to the Mosque for prayers….
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
Israeli troops attack Palestinian worshipers at Aqsa Mosque
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 13 Mar — Violent clashes broke out Sunday morning at the Aqsa Mosque between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli troops who desecrated the Mosque along with Jewish settlers. Palestinian eyewitnesses said the suspicious and blasphemous moves made by the settlers in the Mosque’s courtyards prompted the Palestinian worshipers to glorify the name of God, but all of a sudden the Israeli troops attacked them violently injuring one of them and detaining three others.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Settlers torch Palestinian car in Tel Rumeida, Hebron
ISM 12 Mar — At 8 PM tonight Palestinians living in the Tel Rumeida settlement, Hebron, discovered a flaming car parked just outside H2 that had been torched by settlers. They called the fire department, and ISM activists came to document the scene soon after the fire had been put out. No pictures were taken of the car while it was in flames, but witnesses say that earlier today they filmed seven or eight settlers walking up on the hill that appeared to be studying the area.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/03/16962/
Army: Palestinian detained with Molotov cocktails
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 13 Mar — Israeli forces detained a Palestinian whose car was full of Molotov cocktails on Sunday in Beit Ummar in the southern West Bank, an Israeli army spokeswoman said … The night before, mobs of settlers attacked Palestinian cars and homes on the main road in Beit Ummar and the nearby Al-Arrub refugee camp, destroying a plant nursery, home windows and car tires … On Sunday afternoon, Awad said an Israeli military patrol closed off a quarter of the town, dispatching what residents described as a bomb squad to inspect a parked car. Awad told Ma‘an that nothing was found in the vehicle, but an Israeli military spokeswoman said the car contained a number of “fire bombs,” which she later said were Molotov cocktails … Owner of the vandalized plant nursery near Beit Ummar, Shahda Al-Alami, said he feared further settler attacks, and wondered, “What do I have to do with the death of the settlers in the north? My home is 80 kilometers away from there.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=368230
Settlers throw Molotov cocktails at cars in Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 13 Mar — Israeli settlers threw Molotov cocktails at Palestinian civilian vehicles traveling in the northern West Bank Sunday evening, and set fire to cars at a nearby garage, witnesses said. The incidents took place at the Yitzhar junction near the illegal Israeli settlement of the same name, along the Huwwara road leading in and out of Nablus. Settlers also threw stones, breaking the glass of at least one car window, witnesses reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=368283
Israeli forces fire live ammunition in Wadi Hilweh
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 13 Mar 11:03 — Israeli forces fired live ammunition on Palestinians in Wadi Hilweh district of Silwan last night after a group of youth threw Molotov cocktails at the Beit Miyouhas settlement, located within the tourist-settlement City of David site. Violence and tension surged as a result. No injuries have been reported thus far.
http://silwanic.net/?p=13426
Video: Israel destruction of Jordan Valley
PressTV 7 Mar — INfocus – Palestinians living in minefields, water theft, shootings of people and livestock….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIf519nTf2w
Settlement attack
Thousands attend Itamar massacre victims’ funeral
Ynet 13 Mar — Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger told those on hand, “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt. Amalek is here – people who are capable of tearing and butchering a whole family when they came home from prayer services.” … Rabbi Metzger added that only God will be able to avenge the blood of the murdered family — “we don’t have the option of avenging their blood” — and said: “Itamar needs to become a major city in Israel as a response to this murder.” [see photo – the adults’ coffins are covered with dark blue cloths with Hebrew writing on them – looks almost like a Palestinian martyr’s funeral]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041585,00.html
Palestinian Popular Committee response to Itamar incident
AIC 13 Mar — “Palestinian Popular Committees against the Wall and Israeli Settlements express their deep sadness and sorrow concerning the killing incident in the Itamar colonial settlement. The Popular Committees view the killing incidence as a part of the escalation generated and mobilized by the policies and actions of the Israeli occupation. These policies created the circumstances for committing these heinous actions. Therefore, we believe that the Israeli government bears full responsibility for the occupation and its consequences. The Popular Committees are committed to nonviolence and civil disobedience in our struggle to end the Israeli occupation. Though the crime was committed on colonized land, we see the killing of children as a despicable crime regardless of their nationality, gender, color, race or religion.”
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/news/3397-palestinian-popular-committee-response-to-itamar-incident-
Israel distributing Itamar massacre photos
Ynet 13 Mar — Images of gruesome murders in West Bank settlement being released online by unofficial sources. PR expert: We must show the world what kind of animals Israel is dealing with. Analyst: It won’t change people’s opinion of Jewish state … Officials at the Prime Minister’s Office considered the option of releasing the shocking photographs to raise global awareness to the threats Israel is facing, but eventually decided against the move.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041557,00.html
Palestinian incitement: Jews receive ‘Der Stürmer’ depiction
Ynet 13 Mar — Horrific Itamar terror attack leads Jerusalem to launch efforts to counter Palestinian Authority incitement against Jews, Israelis. ‘Events of Friday night express way Palestinian Authority presents attitude of hatred, demonization towards Israelis,’ says Strategic Affairs Ministry chairman [was all this hasbara just sitting around waiting for something to happen so it could be used?]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041358,00.html
Israel demands CNN apology over attack coverage
Ynet 13 Mar — American network reporters present tendentious coverage of Saturday’s gruesome murder in Itamar, question fact it was a terrorist attack. Israel’s Government Press Office ‘dumbfounded, astonished’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041694,00.html
Rally: Havat Gilad led to Itamar massacre
Ynet 13 Mar — Rightists protest outside prison where soldier whose house was demolished is held, say IDF ‘confused’ as to who Israel’s enemy is … Gal, who helped organize the rally, added “when the IDF gets confused, the enemy gets the message. The same bullets that were directed at us in Havat Gilad turned into the knives that were placed on the throats of five Jews last night.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041318,00.html
Series of security failures led up to West Bank settlement attack, probe shows
Haaretz 13 Mar — Although alarm sounded when terrorists entered Itamar, settlement’s security team apparently failed to inform soldiers on patrol; this allowed terrorists to remain in settlement for three hours during which they murdered five people.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/series-of-security-failures-led-up-to-west-bank-settlement-attack-probe-shows-1.348807
Itamar: Cypress trees that hid terrorists to be uprooted
Ynet 13 Mar — The cypress trees on the edges of the West Bank settlement of Itamar are to be uprooted for fear that they allowed the terrorists who murdered the Fogel family members on Saturday to slip into town undetected. The project also aims to open another access route into the settlement.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041581,00.html
‘Blue-and-white’ operation to apprehend terrorists
JPost 13 Mar — In recent years, since the deployment of American-trained Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, the IDF has in many cases relied on the PA to arrest terror suspects, and sometimes even those known to have been behind attacks against Israel … This time, due to the type of attack and the brutality it took to murder sleeping children, the IDF will not be relying on anyone else as it hunts for those responsible.
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=211880
Perpetrators
Gaza gov’t: Settler attackers may not be Palestinian
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 12 Mar — Palestinians may not be responsible for killing a family of five Israelis in Itamar settlement overnight Friday, the Gaza government said Sunday. Israeli authorities immediately blamed Palestinians for the attack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Palestinian Authority of “daily incitement” against Israel in his response to the killings. However, Gaza government spokesman Taher An-Nunu said the Israeli government should not rule out the possibility that the attack was perpetrated by Israeli criminals …. An-Nunu warned Israel against using the killings to justify an escalation in violence against the Gaza Strip. He said that relocating Israel’s domestic crises toward incitement against Palestinians was “unacceptable political blackmail.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=368066
Group denied involvement in settler attack
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 Mar — Leaders of an armed faction calling itself “Imad Mughniyya Group” on Sunday denied involvement in the killing of five Israelis from the same family in Itamar settlement overnight Friday. West Bank affiliates of the group issued a statement Saturday claiming responsibility for the attack. But the faction’s leadership in Gaza said it the group was not responsible, and that the brigade’s struggle was for “freedom and dignity not killing and bloodshed.” The resistance had abandoned many attacks in the past due to the presence of children, the group said in a statement Sunday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=368298
Israeli TV: Settlement attack linked to Hamas
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) — Israeli analysts have speculated that Saturday’s brutal attack in a Nablus settlement was carried out by fighters affiliated to Hamas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=367971
Siege
Gaza: First wheat deliveries through Kerem Shalom
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 Mar – The private transport union in the Gaza Strip ended its strike and resumed delivering goods through the sole border crossing Kerem Shalom, said Raed Fattouh, coordinator of the crossings committee. Fattouh said the Kerem Shalom crossing would operate Sunday after a new mechanism to deliver wheat and animal feed through the terminal was installed following Israel’s decision to shut down the northern bulk goods terminal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=368032
UNRWA sit-in to expand to Gaza City from south
GAZA, (PIC) 13 Mar — Gazans whose homes were demolished by the Israeli occupation since 2002 have decided to expand a sit-in to UN Relief Works Agency main headquarters in Gaza City. They have been sitting in at UNRWA headquarters in Rafah and Khan Younis, where their homes were damaged, for the last two weeks to protest the relief agency’s failure to rebuild their homes.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7IAxZeRyC59N0wGnR%2bb%2bM3H8zbL9jz9tIIkM0IYYuOQOx%2b4ZB%2fvl4b0nIZatv1GuUacgEa6I0w8a1o5b2Ttun3h7qZsxW1vKMh3m0s88x1UE%3d
Detention / International kidnapping / Recruitment of child informers
Hamas appeals to Ukraine for release of engineer
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 Mar — Hamas officials appealed Sunday to the Ukrainian government asking that they apply international law and secure the release of the Gaza Power Plant’s chief engineer, allegedly abducted by Israeli intelligence from the Eastern European nation. Interior Minister for the Gaza government Fathi Hammad told Ma’an that the government was holding the Ukraine responsible for the life of Dirar Abu Sisi, 42, who disappeared on a train between Kiev and the northern city of Kharkiv and is believed to be in Israeli custody in Ashkelon.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=368138
Video: Missing Palestinian probe in Ukraine not satisfactory
Press TV Kiev 12 Mar — Veronica is a Ukrainian who lived in Gaza for almost 12 years with her husband and six kids. She has said that her Palestinian husband traveled to Ukraine to visit her family. However, while traveling through Ukraine Derar Abu Seesi went missing. This family is dissatisfied with the performance of the Ukrainian Law enforcement agencies. They say the police refused to register their missing person claim, because Seesi is a foreign citizen. And the government officials have so far failed to provide a statement on this case.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/169576.html
Undercovers try to recruit Silwan’s children in the role of informants
SILWANIC 13 Mar — “I was walking home, and as I was on the stairs leading to my house in Baten al-Hawa a stranger stopped me,” said [11-year-old] Mohammed. “I had never seen him before. Straight away, he asked me for information about children in my neighborhood who throw stones and I told him I don’t know any of them. I was so scared of this strange man. He asked me questions in broken Arabic, insisting that I tell him about the children who throw stones but I told him again I don’t know any. He then put his hand in his pocket and pulled out 200 shekels ($US55) and told me that I must meet with him next Friday to give him information on the children…
http://silwanic.net/?p=13450
3 youth arrested in dawn raid on Hara Wosta
Silwan, Jerusalem 13 Mar 11:23 — Israeli forces launched a dawn raid on the Hara Wosta district of Silwan this morning to arrest 3 youth, all aged 17 years, from their homes.
http://silwanic.net/?p=13431
Palestinians forgotten in European jails
JENIN, (PIC) 13 Mar — The Oslo Accords have left many Palestinians forgotten in European jails, Amjad Salfiti, president of the Arab Organization for Human Rights in the UK has told Quds Press … “”The reason is that after Oslo, the [Palestinian] passport has lost its value, as it is a travel document and not an identity. So if a Palestinian is arrested or indicted no one knows if he is Palestinian, and there is no consular protection. The number of Palestinian detainees in Europe cannot be counted, and their conditions cannot be monitored by any official Palestinian party.”
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Hamas members summoned by PA militias following death of settlers
JENIN, (PIC) 13 Mar — The Palestinian authority security militias summoned many Palestinian citizens affiliated with Hamas Movement on Saturday after the killing of five Jewish settlers from Itamar settlement in Nablus city. Local sources stated that dozens of summonses were handed to Hamas members in different West Bank cities, mostly in Jenin.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
PFLP slams PA security for arresting its cadres in Nablus
NABLUS, (PIC) 12 Mar — The popular front for the liberation of Palestine (PFLP) strongly denounced the Palestinian Authority security militias for arresting a number of its members in Nablus city at the behest of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF). The PFLP demanded the PA to stop its security cooperation with Israel and release all political detainees from its jails, pointing out that many of its members have been in jail for over a year.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd8
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Video: Solidarity visit, tree planting, and protest vigil in Al-Araqib
12 Mar –The Israel Land Administration demolished the village of Al-Raqib for the 21st time this week. The Bulldozers of the Jewish National Fund are currently completely redacting the village and flattening its lands, preparing it for artificial forestations, meant solely to deprive the Bedouin residents of Al-Araqib from their lands. Thousands of fruit trees have been cultivated by the villagers were uprooted. This Saturday will replant some trees , as a sign for the return of the people of Al-Araqib to their lands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ekolskdwz0
Settlement products seized in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 13 Mar — Crews of the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy’s consumer protection department in Hebron seized on Saturday 2.5 tons of raw plastics manufactured in Israeli settlements … In the West Bank, the sale and trade of products made and manufactured in Israeli settlements is illegal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=368095
COSATU supports call for termination of U Johannesburg relations with Ben Gurion U
13 Mar — The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) fully supports its affiliate NEHAWU in calling on the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to terminate any relationship with the Israel’s Ben Gurion University (BGU).
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/economy-of-the-occupation/3402-cosatu-supports-call-for-termination-of-u-johannesburg-relations-with-ben-gurion-u
Palestinians, Israelis, allies oppose exploitation of LGBT rights at Berlin’s international tourism fair
AIC 13 Mar — The activists are asking the fair organizers to refuse to allow the “Gay Vibe” stand at the fair. Tel Aviv Gay Vibe Campaign in Berlin is sponsored by the Israeli government. Activists argue that this portrayal serves to distract the international community from Israel’s serious and ongoing human rights violations of Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Additionally, Israel makes political use of homophobia in their portrayal of the surrounding Arab states.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/economy-of-the-occupation/3403-palestinians-israelis-allies-oppose-exploitation-of-lgbt-rights-at-berlins-international-tourism-fair-
Danish security group G4S drops West Bank services
12 Mar — Anglo-Danish security firm G4S says it’s ending some of its operations in the West Bank after criticism from Danish media, politicians and activists. G4S is withdrawing contracts involving the servicing of security equipment at checkpoints in Israel’s separation barrier as well as prisons and police stations in the West Bank.
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1540914&lang=eng
Freedom Flotilla 2 calls upon governments for protection of its citizens
11 Mar — Press Statement: Amsterdam – The organisations united in Freedom Flotilla 2 call upon their respective governments to take concrete action to ensure the safety of their citizens and prevent a repetition of last year’s lethal assault on their flotilla.
http://www.freedomflotilla.eu/en/news/announcements/97-ff2-calls-upon-governments
Political / Diplomatic news
Binyamin Netanyahu calls on world to act after killing of Jewish settlers
Guardian 13 Mar — Israel’s prime minister demanded international condemnation of the murder of five members of a Jewish settler family that Palestinian militants said was in reprisal for Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/13/binyamin-netanyahu-murder-jewish-settlers
Intervene to halt settlement – PLO
Palestinian officials urged the international community today to “intervene and implement the two-state solution” after Tel Aviv gave the green light to yet more settlement construction … Palestine Liberation Organisation activist Saeb Erekat said: “We condemn this act of accelerated settlement construction. “We urge the international community to intervene and implement the two-state solution. This is the only way out of this vicious circle of violence and counter-violence.”
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/102171
UN officials concerned over new settlements
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 Mar — UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry expressed concern Sunday after news of an Israeli government decision to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank. Serry’s spokesman Richard Miron said the official was “concerned after seeing media reports announcing 500 new housing units in the occupied West Bank. Settlement activity is illegal and such a decision is not conducive to efforts to resume negotiations and achieve a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=368167
AJC urges UN General Assembly president not to screen ‘Miral’
NEW YORK, March 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — AJC is urging the President of the UN General Assembly to reconsider his decision to sponsor the screening of “Miral,” a new film about a young Palestinian and her view of the conflict with Israel. Diplomats are invited to view the film tomorrow, ahead of a March 25 release to select theaters in the U.S. “The film has a clear political message, which portrays Israel in a highly negative light,” AJC Executive Director David Harris wrote in a letter on Friday to Ambassador Joseph Deiss, President of the UN General Assembly.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20110313/pl_usnw/DC64164
Other news
Earthquakes and Israel’s nuclear project: a nightmare scenario / Noam Sheizaf
13 Mar — The policy of nuclear opacity forbids Israelis from dealing with the very real danger of a nuclear catastrophe following a natural disaster. Will the earthquake in Japan change that? … Israel’s nuclear facility is located near the town of Dimona, just West of the Dead Sea, and practically on the Syrian-African Fault Line, at the heart of the area most prone to earthquakes in the entire region. Statistically, every hundred years or so a major earthquake shakes the Syrian-Africa Fault Line.
http://www.promisedlandblog.com/?p=3791
How to friend an Israeli soldier / Charlotte Alfred
Ma‘an 12 Mar — “We sent the press release to people that dislike us, that’s why I sent one to you,” 24-year-old Israeli soldier Nisman drawls casually down the phone. So far, so cordial, I think. I interviewed the founder of website FriendaSoldier.org Daniel Nisman, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and a former special forces operative in the West Bank and continuing army reservist.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=367970
Analysis / Opinion
The Itamar victimization dance is disgusting / Yossi Gurvitz
13 Mar — …The Beasts: When I woke up yesterday morning and read about the massacre, there already were reports about settlers’ reprisals, pogroms which the IDF, as usual, did not stop. Were one to use the IDF’s logic, all of the settlements should be have been put under curfew as soon as the massacre took place, to prevent acts of vengeance: After all, after Baruch Goldstein carried out his massacre in the Cave of the Patriarchs, the IDF put the Palestinians under curfew, precisely for this reason. The IDF proved, once more, it either incapable or unwilling to defend the majority of the residents of the West Bank, contrary to its duty under international law. The leaders of the settlers went into a seizure, challenging each other to be more ruthless (Hebrew). The prize goes, as usual, to the representative of Kahane and Rabbi Wolfa in the Knesset, Michael Ben Ari: “I call upon the government to carry out a ‘price tag’ [euphemism for pogrom – YG] and expel the residents of the village from which the murderers emerged, and to demolish the village and build in its place apartments for young couples of army veterans.” In short, Ben Ari wants a Lidice-like collective punishment … Demons: The Israeli media preferred treating the murderers of the Fogel family as human-shaped monsters. The record was broken by Gilad Sharon, the shady son of the former prime minister, writing in Yediot. According to Sharon (Hebrew), “You can put a mask on the Palestinian wild beast, such as a speaker who speaks fluent English. You can put it in a three-piece suit and a silk tie. But once in a while – when the moon is born, when a raven defecates on the head of a howling jackal, or when the pita-bread with za‘atar (hyssop) has gone wrong, the beast feels this is its night, and out of a primal instinct it goes ambushing its prey.”
http://972mag.com/the-itamar-victimization-dance-is-disgusting/
Israel can no longer pretend there is no Mideast conflict / Aluf Benn
Haaretz 13 Mar — The security coordination between Israel and the PA, which contributed much to the relative calm of recent years, is now in a crisis … Whoever planned and carried out the attack sought to shake up the status quo, which has been working for Israel. The quiet allowed Israelis on both sides of the Green Line to live prosperously and pretend there simply was no conflict. The Palestinians and the settlers were perceived by Israelis as public-relations issues, nuisances in the relations with the United States and Europe, not key problems that needed to be taken care of. All this has changed.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-can-no-longer-pretend-there-s-no-mideast-conflict-1.348810
The Itamar massacre and Bibi’s trap / Amir Oren
Haaretz 13 Mar — The Itamar attack proved once again that intelligence information furnished by the Shin Bet’s efficient regional security chief R. and by the most experienced, skilled IDF officers (including Brig. Gen. Nitzal Alon of the Sayeret Matkal commando unit ) doesn’t provide a foolproof ability to thwart terror attacks. Intelligence officers come and go, but hundreds of settlements and outposts like Itamar remain on the ground, stuck down the Palestinians’ throats.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-itamar-massacre-and-bibi-s-trap-1.348832
Permanent temporariness / Alistair Crooke
LRB 3 Mar …It was Sharon who pioneered the philosophy of ‘maintained uncertainty’ that repeatedly extended and then limited the space in which Palestinians could operate by means of an unpredictable combination of changing and selectively enforced regulations, and the dissection of space by settlements, roads Palestinians were not allowed to use and continually shifting borders. All of this was intended to induce in the Palestinians a sense of permanent temporariness. Maintaining control of the Occupied Territories keeps open to Israel the option of displacing Palestinian citizens of Israel into the Territories by means of limited land swaps. It also ensures that Israel retains the ability to force future returning refugees to settle in their ‘homeland’, whereas a sovereign Palestinian state might decline to accept the refugees. It suits Israel to have a ‘state’ without borders so that it can keep negotiating about borders, and count on the resulting uncertainty to maintain acquiescence.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n05/alastair-crooke/permanent-temporariness
AIPAC’s latest strategy / MJ Rosenberg
10 Mar — There are three reasons why monitoring AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is a valuable use of time for anyone following events in the Middle East. The first is that AIPAC faithfully reflects the positions of the Netanyahu government (actually it often telegraphs them before Netanyahu does). The second is that AIPAC’s policies provide advance notice of the positions that will, not by coincidence, be taken by the United States Congress. And third, AIPAC provides a reliable indicator of future policies of the Obama administration, which gets its “guidance” both from AIPAC itself and from Dennis Ross, former head of AIPAC’s think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and now the president’s top adviser on Middle East issues.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/aipacs-latest-strategy_b_834084.html
Iraq
Saturday: 9 Iraqis killed, 6 wounded
At least nine Iraqis were killed and six more were wounded in only three reported attacks. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has asked tribal leaders to discourage ongoing protests — which seem to be having an effect on some politicians. Lawmakers tentatively agreed to halve their salaries, but not their benefits, to appease protesters who continue to demand better living conditions and an end to corruption…
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/03/12/saturday-9-iraqis-killed-6-wounded/
