News

Palestinian school girls hospitalized after Israeli attack and Jordan Valley mosque demolished for the 3rd time this year

Ten Palestinian female students hospitalized after IOF assault
Ten Palestinian female students were hospitalized in Al-Khalil on Tuesday morning after Israeli occupation forces assaulted and beat them up for refusing to pass through metal detectors.

CPT-Hebron: Seven children injured at Cortuba School checkpoint
Khalil Team – The refusal by the teachers to pass through the checkpoint container was an act of resistance because no justification for the new order prohibiting teachers to enter through the gate was given.

Local official: Israel demolishes Tubas mosque for third time
TUBAS (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Tuesday demolished a mosque in the village of Khirbet Yarza in the northern West Bank, a local official said. Head of Al-Malha village council Aref Daraghma told Ma’an that Israeli bulldozers and civil administration officials demolished the mosque, which is less than 60 square meters. This is the third time in seven months that the mosque has been demolished, Daraghma said.

And more news from Today in Palestine:

Settlers / Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction / Ethnic Cleansing
 
Likud MK Yariv Levin says his bill will ‘break the cycle of house destruction’; Rights groups call proposal ‘racist’ and ‘unconstitutional. 
MK Yariv Levin (Likud) plans to propose a bill that would compensate West Bank Palestinian land owners for their property in an effort to stop the state demolishing settler homes built on that land. The bill comes as an effort to stop the pending demolition this year of an unauthorized neighborhood in the Beit El settlement of Ulpana and homes on two outposts, Migron and Givat Assaf. It is part of an effort by Likud lawmakers to find an alternative solution to unauthorized Jewish structures on private Palestinian property in the West Bank. “The current situation in Judea and Samaria is intolerable,” Levin told The Jerusalem Post. “The judiciary is being used as a tool to promote the extreme Left’s political goals, such as harming settlers.”
 

Netanyahu seeks to legalize outposts built on private Palestinian land
Instruction issued under pressure from the right in response to the state’s decision to demolish several outposts built on private Palestinian land.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/netanyahu-seeks-to-legalize-outposts-built-on-private-palestinian-land-1.389233?localLinksEnabled=false

IOF demolishes mosque in Jordan Valley for the third time this year
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) razed Khirbat Yirza mosque near Tobas city in the Jordan Valley on Tuesday for the third time this year, local sources said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7kKaJ9K%2bJOthn1XIDw1%2f%2b9%2bzYsSlUeqsBEEMMggv6jrW4kOnT9%2bygm6%2b3oI0OqCzsOMS9CXeBBpRdofUHjZLln4OWMLzOk7qoP%2fSAQg7i2mM%3d
 
Locals: Israeli forces demolish home near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Monday demolished a house in the village of al-Jabaa, northwest Hebron, locals said.  Villagers told Ma’an that soldiers entered the village at dawn, before bulldozers demolished the home of Nasri al-Tous for not having a permit.  A spokesperson for the Israeli Civil Administration could not be reached for comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=427798

 Israeli Army Demolishes Tents, Barns of Palestinian Farmers in Jordan Valley
The Israeli army and civil administration destroyed tents and barns of Palestinian farmers living in the Jordan Valley community of Malha on Thursday 6 October.

 
JENIN, October 10, 2011 (WAFA) – The Israeli Authorities prevented on Monday Palestinian firemen from putting out the fire, which erupted in olive trees, behind the Apartheid Wall, in the village of Anin, west of Jenin, according to civil defense report. The Department of humanitarian and public relations in the civil defense said in a report that the civil defense in Jenin, received a call informing them of the fire. Sami Hamdan, head of the civil defense directorate in Jenin said that the fire crew headed to the location, after a prior coordination with the Israeli side, where they were informed that the Israeli side extinguished the fire to find out later on that the fire was still burning.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17712

Olive harvest reaps animosity in West Bank
Palestinian farmers say settler violence has led to a rushed harvest, while Israelis say they fear “terrorist activity”.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/10/20111011111235520439.html

Farmers harvest olives as wall cuts through village
AL-WALAJA (Reuters) — It is olive picking season in the Palestinian territories, an important harvest as the fruit represents an integral part of the agricultural livelihood of many. But, the farmers in the West Bank village of Al-Walaja say the construction of an Israeli barrier is threatening this activity. This small community of 2,300 people located on the edge of Jerusalem’s southwest is almost entirely surrounded by Jewish settlements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=428195

Top archaeologist decries Jerusalem dig as unscientific ‘tourist gimmick’
Dr. Eilat Mazar, who worked in close cooperation with the group – which promotes the ‘Judaization’ of East Jerusalem – says excavations carried out in violation of accepted procedures.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/top-archaeologist-decries-jerusalem-dig-as-unscientific-tourist-gimmick-1.389244?localLinksEnabled=false

Restriction of Movement

The letter that was sent to the ICRC
Wednesday, 5/10/2011 Mr.  Jacob Clainmberg President International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Geneva Dear Mr.  Clainmberg:   Greetings,   We are three legislatures, Ahmed Attoun, Mohammad Totah, and Khaled Abu Arafeh, who are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Mr. Abu Arafeh is also the former minister in the tenth Palestinian government. We took refuge at the headquarters of the International Red Cross in occupied Jerusalem on July 1, 2010, the day following the occupying Israeli authority’s arrest of a fourth Jerusalem-based member of the PLC, Mr. Mohammad Abu Teir. One month earlier, the Israeli authorities issued a decision to revoke our Jerusalem residency status and expel us from Jerusalem. This happened despite our possession of valid Jerusalem identity cards (blue IDs) and despite the fact that we, our parents, and grandparents were born in the city.

 
Israeli Regime Violence
Ten Palestinian female students hospitalized after IOF assault
Ten Palestinian female students were hospitalized in Al-Khalil on Tuesday morning after Israeli occupation forces assaulted and beat them up for refusing to pass through metal detectors.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7PlA8qC1ZRlbTPfQ5VB3yS4JtvE1kUDOL4rd40LK2W9OjqKVgsGWGgK%2b1sna9G4gvpgtv5y9yXqEXGQiwdmNBOOIaZyi21s5AzXMCuMekGyA%3d

IOF troops advance south, north of Gaza
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened indiscriminate firing at Palestinian residential quarters on Monday night as they infiltrated into southern and northern Gaza Strip areas.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s70L2XFwwSWZbMakuhd4rRvQbbX806%2fITGVmsrtuFVk%2fA3ftgBOYIjpSLVvye32qmF%2f2wl2OtKYiuNrKL6ILAoRDzKs82L9oRjYKSAV3gUC2I%3d

Confrontations in Al-Hara al-Wasta (middle town)
Confrontations erupted in Al-Hara al-Wasta district at approximately 8:30pm on Friday evening, 7 October. Israeli forces guarding the Israeli settlement in Ras al-Amoud sparked clashes with local Palestinian youth. Clashes are common in the area, with Israeli forces commonly citing the pretext of youth throwing stones as reason for the violence.

 
JENIN, October 10, 2011 (WAFA) – A Jenin military court Monday sentenced a Palestinian convicted of murder to death by a firing squad.   The Palestinian, a 22 year old member of the security forces from Jenin who was identified only by his initials, W.A.E., was found guilty of premeditated killing of a shopkeeper from Nablus in his shop in March 2011, illegal possession of a weapon and resisting an officer of the law. The court found W.A.E. guilty of all counts and sentenced him to death. However, the sentence cannot be commuted before it is approved by President Mahmoud Abbas. The convicted Palestinian can appeal the verdict at the Supreme Court.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17704

Settler Terrorism

UN urges Israel to stop settler attacks
Spokesman for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says Israel must protect Palestinian civilians, claims authorities tend to side with settlers in cases of violence.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4134028,00.html
 
Political Detainees
Arrest Of Ahmad Abu Hasham In Early Dawn Raid, Beit Ummar
Israeli forces arrested Abu Hasham, secretary of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, along with his son Yousef, age 18, in Beit Ummar early Tuesday morning, the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62248

IOF arrest seven Palestinians, including four minors in the northern West Bank
Israeli occupation forces arrested on at dawn Tuesday seven Palestinians, including four minors in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Qalqilya.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7mljf63c4EP77%2bVqTbGTV0n3IBxYCBrlxDeviT5LLpSbuL6TTyPqslaJXo7lCcCR3hCOc%2b%2blPaVQoRzvpkD88WUh7cENzBWD5rb8rbfHU1ck%3d

Army Arrests A University Student, Takes Two Youth For Interrogation, Invades Villages In Jenin
On Tuesday morning, the Israeli army arrested a Palestinian university student, took two youth for interrogation, and invaded several villages in the southern part of the West Bank city of Jenin, Palestine news & info agency (WAFA) reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62242
 

RAMALLAH, October 10, 2011 (WAFA) – Palestinian prisoner Tareq Al-Amouri, 20, Monday was brutally beaten by an Israeli Interrogator, at Atzion Israeli prison, to force him to admit the charges against him, according to the Palestinian prisoner’s club (PPC). In a press release, PPC said that one of the interrogators slammed Al-Amouri’s head against the wall and tried to strangle him to force him to admit that he threw stones at Israeli soldiers. Prior to the interrogation, the prison’s administration put Al-Amouri in solitary confinement since seven in the morning until nine at night, where they had an air condition blow very cold air at him for 10 hours. Al-Amouri said that this attack against him is not the first, pointing that prisoners are constantly subjected to brutal attacks by the Israeli jailors and interrogators.
 

Occupation forces arrest three Palestinians in the southern West Bank
Israeli occupation forces arrested on Monday three Palestinians, including two minors, from al-Khalil and Bethlehem in the southern Gaza Strip.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7nK15076g%2fUjYteYnTIdFocvCVgng39l2%2fV41gSZTB32Hso00URi44tswFUUh2GMvgr%2fMPWAEzDSIg9MvWdZTtFuTFGGEe7rTyofEtPv8Ysk%3d

Israeli troops ‘briefly detain’ local official in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces briefly detained the secretary general of a popular committee and one of his sons in Hebron early Tuesday morning, a committee spokesman said. Soldiers raided the north Hebron home of Ahmad Abu Hashem at dawn, spokesman for the popular committee against settlements in Beit Ummar Muhammad Ayyad Awad said. Troops detained Abu Hasham and his son Yousef, 18, for several hours before releasing them. Soldiers clashed with village residents, Awad said, with no injuries reported. An Israeli army spokeswoman was not aware of the incident.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=428095
 
DCI submits complaint on behalf of child detainee
[19 September 2011] – On 7 September 2011, DCI submitted a complaint to the Israeli authorities on behalf 17-year-old Ahmad R. The complaint requests that the Judge Advocate General opens an investigation into allegations that Ahmad was mistreated by Israeli soldiers in May 2011. At around 1:30 am, on 20 May 2011, Ahmad was asleep at the family home in Azzun, in the occupied West Bank, when he was woken by a sound bomb. Ahmad was ordered out of the house with the rest of his family and made to strip naked in front of everybody. After being permitted to re-dress, Ahmad was tied and blindfolded, before being placed in a military vehicle and transferred to the nearby settlement of Zufin. Ahmad reports that he was beaten by soldiers whilst inside the vehicle. On arrival at the settlement, Ahmad was dragged out of the vehicle and fell down on his face, causing both his mouth and nose to bleed. Four days after being arrested, Ahmad was transferred to Petah Tikva interrogation centre, near Ben Gurion airport inside Israel, in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which expressly prohibits such transfers.

 
Name: Ahmad F / Date of arrest: 6 July 2011 / Age: 15 / Location: Burin village, occupied West Bank / Accusation: Throwing stones
On 6 July 2011, a 15-year-old boy from Burin village, near Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, is arrested by Israeli soldiers from the family home at 2:00 am. At around 2:00 am, on 6 July, 15-year-old Ahmad was up late socialising with family members who had just arrived from Jordan. “We were all sitting on the balcony […] when we heard people climbing up the stairs,” recalls Ahmad. “Suddenly, many soldiers stormed the house. We were surprised to see them. They started shouting at us and ordering us into the living room.” Some soldiers started searching the house causing a big mess. Ahmad’s two-year-old nephew started crying, and this “annoyed the soldiers who started shouting and asking his mother to shut him up.”
 
Prisoners’ Strike

Israeli Soldiers Repress Peaceful Protest in Solidarity with Prisoners
RAMALLAH, October 11, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers Tuesday broke with force a peaceful protest in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons in front of Ofer prison, west of Ramallah, according to witnesses. They said that the soldiers heavily used tear gas bombs and stun grenades to break up the protesters, which led to several suffocation cases among the protestors. The protestors called to release the prisoners and treat them as war prisoners. They chanted slogans supporting the strike. A mass strike in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners will take place on Wednesday from 8:00AM till 10:00AM.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17727
 

RAMALLAH, October 10, 2011 (WAFA) –The meeting between representatives of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement in prisons and the Israeli prisons’ administrations failed due to the administrations’ insistence on their solitary confinement policy and prevention of education rights, Monday said Minister of Prisoners Affairs, Issa Qaraqi. He told voice of Palestine that all members of the prisoners’ movement will join the hunger strike during the next two days, warning that prisoners will widen their strike by abstaining from drinking water.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17711

Palestinian captives on hunger strike accuse PA of ignoring their suffering
Palestinian captives on hunger strike in Israeli occupation jails accused the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas of reneging on its responsibilities towards them.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7qaCiaTG2cjOXJMO%2f8edteDn7mfh8MDmfjPP0%2bwPQqy71MTXCsa7w11VHLCXA5j9kScvAHsjDl9vr%2bQUlWyLWhTBp1p3xstHLThkC9Dr%2fQfU%3d
 
Support grows for Palestinian’s prison strike
Activists start open-ended hunger strike in support of prisoners in Israel fasting against “worsening jail conditions”
 

Naim warns of imminent danger threatening Palestinians in Israeli captivity
Dr. Basem Naim, the health minister in Gaza, has warned of imminent danger threatening the lives of Palestinian captives in Israeli occupation jails as a result of deliberate medical neglect.

 
Beit Sahour Holds “Freedom Race” for Hunger-Striking Prisoners
Hundreds of Palestinians gathered on Sunday to watch and partake in the inaugural “Freedom Race” taking place in Beit Sahour, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

http://www.imemc.org/article/62240

#TweepStrike: A Call from Gaza to Support Palestinian Prisoners
In solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held under harsh conditions in Israel’s jails, a new twitter trend emerged today from Gaza. The trend is #TweepStrike and is an open invitation to everyone across the globe to go on a hunger strike on Wednesday Oct. 12th. A few months ago, I was on visit to one of the prisoners’ families. With moist eyes and a shaky voice the prisoner’s mother told me that she had, for many times, tried to visit her son but “Mr. Kalb,” Mr. dog, had always been there to turn her back home. My instinct told me then that Mr. Kalb must be a nickname of a cruel Israeli officer. I was wrong. “Mr. Kalb is a huge police dog and he is responsible for the prison’s visits.” She had told me. “According to his mood, we’re either allowed to see our loved ones or ordered to escort ourselves back home. If Mr. Kalb is in a bad mood and barks a lot, we have to understand that visits are not allowed, if he is friendly, officers will let us in” her explanation followed.
http://electronicintifada.net/blog/rana-baker/tweepstrike-call-gaza-support-palestinian-prisoners-0#.TpRGTHIRSBM

Palestinian bloggers called to join prisoner hunger strike, Joseph Dana
On 27 September 2011, activists with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) launched a prisoner hunger strike in protest of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians prisoners in Israeli jails. Rallies have been held throughout the West Bank in support of the hunger strike and now activists are calling on bloggers throughout the world to join.
link to Mondoweiss

Palestinians on 24 Hour Hunger Strike to Support Prisoners
JENIN, October 11, 2011 (WAFA) – Several Palestinians Tuesday went on hunger strike for 24 hours in a tent set up in the city of Jenin, north of the West Bank, in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners who have been in an open hunger strike for 15 days, said a local official. Director of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club in Jenin, Ragheb Abu Diak, said the 24-hour hunger strike is part of the official and popular movement in Jenin to support the prisoners. Abdullah Zakarneh, coordinator of the Popular Committee in Jenin, said that the supporting activities may include an open hunger strike in the set up tent. He further called on prisoners’ families, institutions and rights organizations to engage in the solidarity movement.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17719

Gaza

Gaza represents the ultimate failure of politics, David Miliband
My visit to Gaza with Save the Children gave me a sense of life beyond the statistics. The international community must do more.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/11/david-miliband-gaza-politics-save-the-children?newsfeed=true
 

Israeli Racism, Sexism and Discrimination
 
The end of the school day at the Orot Girl’s Elementary ought to be an oasis of peace in the family day – a chance for mothers and daughters to chat over teachers and lessons and who-said-what-to-whom. But from the beginning of the current term a grim and disturbing drama has been played out instead in the busy street outside the school gates in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh. As the children and their mothers make their way home, intimidating pickets of ultra-orthodox Jewish men have been waiting for them a little way up the street – some, say the families, have thrown stones and tomatoes and faeces as they have tried to pass.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15239538

Mea She’arim to ban women from certain Jerusalem streets during Sukkot
Large billboards posted throughout capital’s ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods this week forbade women during the celebration, despite court order.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/mea-she-arim-to-ban-women-from-certain-jerusalem-streets-during-sukkot-1.389237

BDS & Anti BDS

ABC interview on BDS, Palestine and far-right love affair with Zionism
The ongoing blind establishment embrace of Israel and condemnation of BDS as akin to Nazi Germany shows no sign of abating in Australia. Yesterday’s ABC Radio National Breakfast featured a story on the issue and included a brief interview with me explaining the growing alliances between the fascist right and Israel; a mutual hatred of Islam is joining these forces. Note the comments by Zionist lobbyist Danny Lamm, President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, who denies there is even an occupation of Palestinian lands and demands Palestinians be grateful for Israel bringing universities to the occupied Arabs. Such is warped Zionist “logic”:
http://antonyloewenstein.com/2011/10/12/abc-interview-on-bds-palestine-and-far-right-love-affair-with-zionism/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+antonyloewenstein%2Ffeed+%28Antony+Loewenstein%29

Riyadh bans Jordanian company for sending Israeli goods to Saudi (Saudi Arabia does business with Israel, this is political theater)
A news report has revealed that the authorities in Riyadh have slapped a ban on any dealings with a Jordanian company which has, it is claimed, exported Israeli produce to Saudi Arabia. The company involved manufactures fertilizers and industrial chemicals and apparently used phosphoric acid from Israel in the materials it then exported to Saudi. According to the Saudi newspaper Okaz, a source at the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Riyadh said that the decision to ban this Jordanian company came after the Israeli material was discovered during routine inspections by customs officers. The matter was referred to higher authorities for a banning order against the Jordanian company responsible on the grounds that it had “clearly violated the instructions and regulations banning the entry of Israeli products into Saudi markets”. Amman and Tel Aviv have had normal economic and diplomatic relations since the 1994 signing of the controversial Wadi Araba Peace Treaty between Israel and Jordan.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2927-riyadh-bans-jordanian-company-for-sending-israeli-goods-to-saudi

Irvine 11 conviction reveals double standard and bias,  Amirah Mizrahi, Antonia House and Emily Ratner
When we disrupted Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s keynote speech at the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual general meeting last November in New Orleans, we were met with hisses, boos, verbal harassment and even physical attacks from other members of the audience. But criminal charges were never so much as mentioned. Yet, on September 23rd, ten students who interrupted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech at UC Irvine in February 2010 were convicted of two misdemeanors for their participation in that protest. Today, October 11, 2011, is a national day of action to protest those unjust convictions. We think it’s a perfect opportunity to look at the similarities and differences in these two actions. 
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/10/irvine-11-conviction-reveals-double-standard-and-bias.html

Jewish Community Heroes Competition Violates Own Rules in Barring Surasky, Richard Silverstein
Several days ago, the Jewish Federations of North America unceremoniously and without explanation dumped Cecilie Surasky from it’s  Jewish Heroes competition, where she was running neck and neck with Chabad Rabbi Manis Friedman, whose claim to fame is that he told Moment Magazine he supported the killing of Palestinian civilians in war.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/10/10/jewish-community-heroes-competition-a-fraud/
 

Diplomatic / Political News
Shaath: Palestine has 9 votes in Security Council
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Fatah central committee member Nabil Shaath said Monday that nine countries in the Security Council were committed to supporting Palestine’s bid for membership in the UN. Shaath told Ma’an “the nine states that have confirmed voting to us, and we do not question their stance, are the following: Gabon, Bosnia, Brazil, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, South Africa, China and Russia.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=428092

Envoy: Abbas, Sarkozy to meet in Paris
BOGOTA (AFP) — President Mahmoud Abbas and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet in Paris in the coming days to discuss the Palestinian bid for UN recognition, Abbas’s envoy said.  Foreign minister in the West Bank government Riyad al-Malki said Abbas would depart for France after meeting Tuesday with Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos on the request for UN Security Council recognition of a Palestinian state.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=428035

The Foreign Minister Of Tanzania Affirms His Country’s Support For The Palestinian People
The Foreign Minister of Tanzania, Bernard Membe, affirms his country’s continuous and concrete support for Palestine, and its legitimate rights to achieve national independence, the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62247
 

When U.S. Congress confirmed last week that it was blocking the transfer of $200 million in aid to the Palestinian territories, accusations of the U.S. resorting to “aid blackmail” and “collective punishment” quickly followed. The administration of President Barak Obama has been clear about its opposition to the Palestinians’ request for statehood recognition by the U.N. But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas defied the admonishment and submitted his formal application for full U.N. membership despite Washington’s pleas.
 
Palestinian leader in Latin America to advance statehood cause
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visits Colombia a day after announcing plans to establish ties with El Salvador. His trip is aimed at gaining recognition for a Palestinian state. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was touring Latin America this week, his second visit to the region in less than a year as part of a worldwide lobbying effort to gain recognition for a Palestinian state.
 

Israeli prime minister accepts EU invitation to meet Palestinians
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accepted a European Union invitation to meet Palestinian leaders in an effort to restart peace talks, his office said in a statement.

 

Romney vows to increase defense aid to Israel
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says that if elected he would ‘bolster and repair alliance’ with Israel; enhance US deterrent against Iranian regime. ‘Our friends should never fear that we will not stand by them in an hour of need’ he says.

 

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan poses challenge for Obama
Many advisors to the president see Erdogan’s government as a possible model for others in the Middle East. But the Turkish premier’s feud with Israel and a tendency to make threats are problematic. In the space of a few weeks this summer, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed President Obama’s approach to Mideast peacemaking, threatened to block U.S. business from drilling for oil and gas in the Mediterranean, and warned he might mobilize Turkish warships to protect activists sailing to Gaza against America’s chief regional ally, Israel.

 
Other Mideast News
 
“Chaos and Bloodshed”: 25 Die in Cairo as Egyptian Military Attacks Coptic Christian Protesters
In Egypt, at least two dozen people died on Sunday when the Egyptian military attacked a large gathering of Coptic Christian protesters. The violence broke out after a protest in Cairo against an attack on a church in Aswan province last week. Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous was in Cairo and witnessed the killings. “Then the military attacked. They came rushing forward, beating anyone in their path. Then they started opening fire. The sound of gunfire filled the air,” said Kouddous. “It was really a scene of chaos, a scene of bloodshed, the likes of which I have not seen since the revolution here in Cairo. And the reaction of the army does not bode well for the future.”

 

String of deadly explosions hit Baghdad
At least 10 people killed and 21 others wounded as three blasts rock mainly Shia neighbourhood of Iraqi capital.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/10/20111010192932422596.html

Hopes dim to change Iraq laws to protect women (AP)
AP – Salma Jassim was beaten, kicked out of her marital home with her newborn daughter on her shoulder and then deserted by her husband. But she says the threat she faces from her own family, who feel shamed because of her divorce, is just as bad as the abuse.

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111011/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_domestic_violence
 

40 Yemeni women wounded celebrating Nobel win
Forty women were wounded in Yemen’s second largest city when regime supporters attacked an all-female street celebration of the Nobel Peace prize win of Tawakkul Karman, medical officials said Monday.

Nobel Peace Winner Tawakkul Karman on Yemen and the U.S. War on Terror
Yemeni activist and journalist, Tawakkul Karman, was one of the recipients of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize awarded Friday. Karman spoke in New York City at the Brecht Forum in September 2010 about state violence, targeted killings and human rights abuses enabled by the so-called “war on terror.” Democracy Now! was there and brings you part of her address. Karman notes that by cooperating with the Yemeni government’s repression of its opponents, the United States “has transitioned from being the leader of the free world to a watch dog for tyrant regimes.” 

 
READ THIS NOW: A ‘worthy’ invasion of Iraq is the model for Syria!
Yup, the crescendo is half way! But Diehl & his ilk should factor in this & well: this is not gonna happen; not under Obama’s watch nor, and most importantly, under Bashar’s watch!

 
Many Arabs hold their largest protests on Fridays, but the people of Bahrain come out in force every day of the week and at any time of day. . . . The roundabout has become a focal point for the regime’s security forces. If two cars stop at the same time, officers become nervous and aggressively ask the drivers why they have stopped. But from the ruins of Pearl Square, it appears that the revolution is about to rise again, despite the frenzied proliferation of Gulf security forces. Something about people’s movements suggests a return to the vigorous activity of the first days of the revolution.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/ah101011.html

Iranian president criticizes student’s flogging
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke out Tuesday against the weekend flogging of a student convicted of insulting him, saying other, more powerful people criticized him with impunity, the presidency website said. “Since influential people can freely defame us, I disapprove.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/11/171275.html
 
Amreeka
 
Cornel West: Herman Cain ‘needs to get off the symbolic crack pipe’
Princeton University professor Cornel West thinks Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is wrong to suggest that racism no longer matters in this country. Cain had told CNN’s Candy Crowley Sunday that some simply used racism as an excuse when they failed to achieve their goals. “I have seen blacks in middle management move up to top management in some of the biggest corporations in America,” the candidate explained. “They weren’t held back because of racism. No, people sometimes hold themselves back because they want to use racism as excuse for them not being able to achieve what they want to achieve.”

 

The Occupy movement comes to Oakland
from SFGate: Bay Area News Stories by jtucker@sfchronicle.com (Matthai Kuruvila,Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writers) Hundreds of protesters poured into Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza this afternoon, joining a multi-city movement taking aim at economic inequality and corporate excess.

 

Occupy San Francisco Camp Grows Again: 120 Protesters Sleep On Market Street (PHOTOS)

What started as a modest protest at the Bank of America building has swelled to near-daily Occupy San Francisco marches in the financial district, populated by families, businesses and union groups including National Nurses United and the labor union. On Monday, similar protests launched in Berkeley and Oakland. ”This is the right thing to do,” said local architect Danny Jackson at a recent San Francisco march, holding a homemade sign. The protests have officially become a movement.

 

Cain calls Occupy Wall Street protesters ‘anti-American’
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain claimed Sunday that the Occupy Wall Street protests going on in New York City and across the country were a conspiracy designed to help President Barack Obama. “The proof is quite simply the bankers and the people on Wall Street didn’t write these failed policies of the Obama administration,” Cain told CBS’ Bob Schieffer. “So it’s a distraction. So many people won’t focus on the failed policies of this administration.”

 
Dozens were arrested at the first Occupy Des Moines event Sunday night, including a former Iowa state representative and a 14-year-old girl. All but one of them have pleaded not guilty, and some are now asking how much the state’s governor knew beforehand. Video from the event shows police officers dragging or carrying away some protesters. Others were escorted away with their hands zip-cuffed. According to some who were arrested or witnessed the arrests and later spoke with The Huffington Post, many had bruises, cuts and scrapes from the arrests — and they believed police had used excessive force. Police arrested the protesters remaining on the Iowa statehouse’s west lawn Sunday night for “trespassing” because they said the area closes to the public at 11 p.m.
 
An assistant editor for the conservative magazine The American Spectator admitted in print Saturday to infiltrating an antiwar protest in Washington, D.C. in hopes of undermining the “Occupy” movement. Patrick Howley — “for journalistic purposes” — was one of the antiwar protesters who clashed with security staff at The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on Saturday, leading to one arrest and numerous people being pepper-sprayed. The progressive blog Firedoglake has condemned the editor as an agent provocateur, but it is unclear if Howley actually incited the clash with security guards.
 

Slavoj Zizek Joins Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street got some Slovenian philosopher star power on Sunday, as Marxist academic Slavoj Zizek joined the movement. “We are not destroying anything,” he said. “We are only witnessing how the system is destroying itself.” Using the “Human Microphone” system, where protestors repeat back the words of the speaker so that others can hear, Zizek spoke for over an hour to the enthusiastic crowd, who whooped and cheered as he went on.

 

Occupy Wall Street Emerges as “First Populist Movement” on the Left Since the 1930s
As the “Occupy” movement expands from the “Occupy Wall Street” protest in New York City throughout the United States, we look at its historical significance. “This is an incredibly significant moment in U.S. history,” says Dorian Warren of Columbia University. “It might be a turning point, because this is the first time we’ve seen an emergence of a populist movement on the left since the 1930s.” We also speak to Firedoglake blogger Kevin Gosztola, who has been reporting from the occupations in Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Analysis / Op-ed
Stop Lying To America: “We Will Not Recognize Israel”
This photo will upset the likes of Ziad Asali, Hussein Ibish, Ray Hanania, and James Zogby and it will infuriate Mona Eltahawy.  It represents 99.9% of Arab public opinion and exposes the lies the House Arabs tell in America.  The Washington Arabs can recognize Israel and collaborate with the Zionist lobby because garnering support among the mainstream media and the exigencies of life on the margins of US officialdom require them to do so, but they do not speak for the Arab-American community and they do not speak for the Arab world. Its time they stop lying to the country they decided to make their home. The Arab world and all freedom loving people everywhere will never recognize the usurping Zionist entity in Palestine. There will never be any recognition of Israel and there will never be any peace with Zionism.  Peace comes after Zionism.
http://ikhras.com/2011/10/stop-lying-to-america-we-will-not-recognize-israel/

The Real Story of How Israel Was Created, Alison Weir
To better understand the Palestinian bid for membership in the United Nations, it is important to understand the original 1947 U.N. action on Israel-Palestine. The common representation of Israel’s birth is that the U.N. created Israel, that the world was in favor of this move, and that the U.S. governmental establishment supported it. All these assumptions are demonstrably incorrect. In reality, while the U.N. General Assembly recommended the creation of a Jewish state in part of Palestine, that recommendation was non-binding and never implemented by the Security Council. Second, the General Assembly passed that recommendation only after Israel proponents threatened and bribed numerous countries in order to gain a required two-thirds of votes. Third, the U.S. administration supported the recommendation out of domestic electoral considerations and took this position over the strenuous objections of the State Department, the CIA, and the Pentagon.
http://original.antiwar.com/alison-weir/2011/10/10/the-real-story-of-how-israel-was-created/
 

Israel is destroying America, period
There is no doubt that one of the main reasons for America’s phenomenal economic and financial problems, which affect America’s overall global standing, has to do with the so-called Israeli factor.

 
A drinker’s guide to Islam, Khaled Diab

 A Palestinian beerfest is not as bizarre as it seems. Alcohol has long been a tolerated aspect of Muslim culture. If I said that we went to an Oktoberfest last weekend, readers may wonder why I am writing about it. If I added that the beer festival in question was in the West Bank and there we encountered a couple of self-deprecating young Germans dressed in lederhosen, some may start asking themselves what I’ve been drinking, or perhaps smoking.
 

Peres Offers Condolences on Erdogan’s Mother’s Death, Won’t Offer Condolences for Mavi Marmara Dead

The Israeli president’s offer is not “noteworthy,” other than a hypocritical attempt to substitute empathy for one individual for actually showing remorse for the suffering of nine murdered Turks and the anger of the rest of the nation at their treatment. If Peres wanted to express condolences he might’ve tried doing so to the entire Turkish people for the Mavi Marmara massacre.  As for Peres’ effort, it’s pure hypocrisy.
 
Discussing Palestine at Occupy Boston, Ahmed Moor
I spent my day in downtown Boston in and around the Occupy Boston encampment. Appropriately, the protesters bivouacked across the street from The Federal Reserve Bank here; the image they’ve conjured is a symbolically potent one. My main task for the day was to lead a Palestine teach-in. About twenty people – from a variety of backgrounds – sat in a circle to offer comments and ask questions. Significantly, the teach-in was organized at the request of the Occupy Boston leadership.

 
In a tight presidential election this 2012 we can expect Obama to trade on Pollard’s release, in exchange for a big cash injection by Zionist contributors to fund his last-minute media blitz.
 
www.TheHeadlines.org
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I wonder if eee has seen this yet, since the other day he was wondering why anyone would accuse Israeli Jews of “pogroms” against the Palestinians.

One pogrom by Israeli Jews after another, 24/7, for so many decades.