How long before South Africans are accused of being anti-Semites?
South Africa to ban labeling West Bank settlement products as ‘made in Israel’, Amira Hass
Minister of Trade and Industry says South Africa recognizes the State of Israel only within the borders demarcated by the UN in 1948.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/south-africa-to-ban-labeling-west-bank-settlement-products-as-made-in-israel.premium-1.431342?localLinksEnabled=false
Dozens of Palestinian olive trees and grape vines were destroyed and anti-Arab graffiti was daubed in groves of the West Bank villageof Beit Omar, residents said on Saturday. The villagers said the attack had taken place on Friday night or early Saturday and blamed it on Jewish settlers of nearby Bat Ayin settlement, which lies north of the town of Hebron. Hebrew graffiti reading “death to Arabs” and “price tag” was also found sprayed on boulders in the area. “Price tag” is the name generally used for attacks carried out against Arabs and Palestinians and their property in response to Israeli government action against settlements in the West Bank. The Israeli army said it was unaware of the incident.
An unnatural thing: Israeli occupation plans to cut trees in the name of natural preservation, Charlotte Silver
The Wadi Qana belongs to the village of Deir Istya, but the Israeli occupation controls its fate. After labeling it a “natural reserve,” the occupation authorities have ordered the destruction of nearly 2,000 of its trees.
Interview: Michael Sfard, the Israeli lawyer battling illegal settlements
Michael Sfard has won two key rulings in Israel’s supreme court that are applying some pressure against Israeli expansion in the West Bank.
IOA orders closure of Palestinian shops in O. Jerusalem
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has ordered Palestinian merchants in occupied Jerusalem to close their shops on Sunday.
Today is the Jerusalem Day, the day Israelis celebrate the unification of the city of Jerusalem in 1967. It is one of the lowest rating holidays in Israeli attracting the least public participation and attention. I believe that for most Jewish Israelis the importance of the Jerusalem day, if at all, is to celebrate our return to the Old City, the holy sites and the Western Wall. Jerusalem is heart of the state of Israel. It is a symbol for the Jewish people and for the Jewish religion (just as it is for the Palestinians) and we cannot give up on Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. However, the very unification of Jerusalem (i.e. the annexation of 28 Palestinian neighborhoods in 70 sq.km around Jerusalem in 1967) was not a good thing for Jerusalem nor did it contribute to strengthen the status of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Most of the Jewish Israelis, including the Jerusalemites, are not really aware of the meaning of this unification. We don’t see nor visit the Palestinian neighborhoods that were annexed to Jerusalem in 1967, and we have almost no interaction with the 300,000 Palestinians residing in the united city of Jerusalem.
The Electronic Intifada has produced this interactive map that allows you to see information about any of the more than 400 Palestinian cities, towns and villages depopulated and destroyed during the Nakba – the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist and later Israeli forces from late 1947 into 1948.
Ha’aretz (Hebrew only) and Ynet (English, short) reported that school officials prohibited a Nakba commemoration on campus at the University of Haifa on Wednesday. The school cancelled the event just three hours prior to the time it was scheduled to begin. This was after the students had obtained all the necessary permissions.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/u-of-haifa-stops-nakba-commemoration-as-prof-writes-hate-post-calling-for-many-nakbas.html
Massive participation in Nakba festival in Amman
Thousands of Jordanians attended the festival that was held on Friday evening in Amman to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.
In photos: San Francisco commemorates Nakba, Ramsey El-Qare
Lives of more than 400 kidney patients at risk in Gaza
The Ministry of health in Gaza warned that the lives of 404 kidney patients are at risk because the stock of bloodlines, an essential dialysis machine consumable, is running very low.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recently issued its weekly report on Israeli violations in the occupied territory for the period between 9- 15 of May, revealing that Israeli soldiers shot at least 370 Palestinians during the Nakba commemoration, and continued their violations in the West bank and the Gaza Strip.
Two Injured As Settlers Attack Nablus Village
Palestinian medical sources reported that two Palestinian were injured during clashes with Israeli settlers who invaded, on Saturday evening, the eastern area of the Aseera Al-Qibliyya village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Soldiers Attack Nonviolent Protest Near Hebron
Israeli soldiers attacked, Saturday, a nonviolent protest held in solidarity with the secretary of the National and Popular Committee in Beit Ummar town, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, who was kidnapped by the army during the weekly nonviolent protest last week.
Israeli daily, Haaretz, reports today that the complaint about severe police violence against imprisoned protesters after a demonstration outside Ramle prison made by the Adalah advocacy group two weeks ago has been passed to the Israeli Justice Ministry because of the serious nature of the complaint. The police violence was said to include the use of Taser electroshock weapons, the beating and kicking of bound detainees, racist verbal abuse and sexual harassment of female detainees.
IOF soldiers arrest 3 Palestinian children
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested three Palestinian children in Azzun village to the east of Qalqilia on Friday evening, local sources said.
IOF troops, at dawn Friday, raided different neighborhoods in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil and some surrounding villages and refugee camps and arrested two Palestinians.
IOA extends administrative detention of municipal council member
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) renewed on Friday the administrative detention of Mohammed Nassar, the Jenin municipality council member, for four months.
The status of prisoners of war is a very complicated issue in international humanitarian law. Many people think – wrongly – that all of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are to be considered as prisoners of war. International humanitarian law, in particular the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 and its protocols, gives a very precise definition of “prisoner of war” which is not applicable to the majority of the Palestinians detained by the occupying power, Israel.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/briefing-papers/3774-palestinian-prisoners-in-israeli-jails-their-legal-status-and-their-rights
Birzeit students: The sit-in will not stop until the end of political arrests
Dozens of students, activists in the Islamic bloc at Birzeit University, continue in their sit-in, protesting the campaign of arrests and summonses against them by the PA preventive security.
following the call by Palestinian Civil Society Free All Palestinian Political Prisoners ! On April 17, 2012, over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners launched an open-ended hunger strike that came to an end two days ago after some of their demands were met.
Demonstration to protest BBC’s neglect of prisoners’ strike
Dozens of activists participated in a sit-in outside the BBC headquarters to protest the organization’s deliberate neglect of the Palestinian prisoners’ issue, and the constant bias.
Quakers Divest from Caterpillar!
Have you heard the wonderful news? After a roller coaster United Methodist divestment campaign ending in partial victory, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is so excited to announce that the Quaker Friends Fiduciary Corporation (FFC), which holds over $200 million in assets, hasdivested from Caterpillar! FFC divested $900,000 in sharesof Caterpillar, which continues to feel the pressure from all sides for its production and sale of weaponized bulldozers to Israel, used to violate Palestinian rights and destroy Palestinian homes, schools, hospitals, olive groves, and lives.
Arabic Not Allowed Among Teachers, Students, In Kfar Sava Hospital
Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that Arab teachers and students at the Kfar Sava medical center are not allowed to use their mother-tongue despite the fact that Arabic is one of Israel’s official languages. Arab families of children hospitalized at the medical center filed a complaint to the hospital’s management.
Yishai to Non-Jews: Wipe Our Butts & Don’t Have Kids
Israel Interior Minister Eli Yishai, speaking at the Ramle Conference on April 15, 2012
Rob sent me this: ”You quoted from the WWF report that listed Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE as the world’s three greediest resource users (US is number 5), but missed an important corollary: the lowest resource user per capita is… “Occupied Palestinian Territory“. (For the original graphs see pages 44 and 45 of the full WWF report)
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/05/worst-abusers-of-planet-and-least.html
Israeli Practices Perpetuate Palestinian Inequality
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its annual report on Israel last month, praising the strength of the Israeli economy while condemning a rate of inequality that has risen steadily over the last 20 years. The report designated Israel as one of the three IMF members with the worst inequality, and warned of the risk to Israel’s economic integrity posed by the growing disparity between the country’s rich and poor. In a widely publicized interview with Haaretz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained that, “if you deduct the Arabs and ultra-Orthodox from inequality indexes, we’re in great shape.”
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/israeli-practices-perpetuate-palestinian-inequality?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
The cancelation of the Manchester launch of Leila Khaled: Icon of Palestinian Liberation has only brought the book broader publicity, says author and Electronic Intifada contributor Sarah Irving.
WaPo’s Walter Pincus says US is ‘going above and beyond for Israel’, Adam Horowitz
Last year, Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus said the US must reevaluate aid to Israel in light of our country’s economic woes. Yesterday he revisited the issue and is aghast at the largess being thrown Israel’s way while the US economy continues to struggle.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/wapos-walter-pincus-says-us-is-going-above-and-beyond-for-israel.html
Egypt’s new role in the future of Palestine
Recently, millions of Egyptians crowded round TV sets in Cairo to watch two presidential candidates debate their country’s future. For citizens more used to having a political system imposed on them than joining in the discussion, they seem to have adapted quickly. Cheers and applause broke out as the candidates each exploited their opponent’s weaknesses. Interviews with spectators were forthcoming, something unthinkable under the ousted Mubarak.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/middle-east/3775-egypts-new-role-in-the-future-of-palestine
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19307
BADIL is delighted to announce the launch of the new ‘Ongoing Nakba Education Center’ (ONEC) website - www.ongoingnakba.org. The participatory website uses multi-media tools to build a significant advocacy resource relating to the historic and ongoing displacement of the Palestinian people. The website is already online in both English and Arabic, although it is constantly being updated and developed with new tools. In this regard, BADIL is launching an international call to Palestinians everywhere, and to non-Palestinians working to support the dissemination of stories of Palestinian displacement.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19304
Peacemaking Without Mediators, Nicola Nasser
A surplus of mediators have been around all the time, including the heavy weight Quartet of the UN, U.S., EU and Russia, as well as heaps of terms of reference of UNSC resolutions, bilateral signed accords and “roadmaps,” in addition to marathon bilateral talks that have left no stone unearthed, international as well as regional conferences were never on demand to facilitate the “peace process,” which has been lavishly financed to keep moving. However the Palestinian – Israeli peace-making is still elusive as ever as Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” has been, without a glimpse of light at the end of the endless tunnel of Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territory and people. Palestinian – Israeli peace-making has been for all practical reasons on hold since 2000, and bilateral peace contacts have been dormant since Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in 2009 except for a failed five-round “exploratory” talks hosted by Jordan last January.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/18/peacemaking-without-mediators/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=peacemaking-without-mediators
You Dare Call This Arab Feminism
Some Arab “feminist” writers out there are telling us that for the ‘real’ revolution to begin all Arab women and the Muslim ones in particular must realize that the real war is on them. I speak of propagandist journalists or cultural producers who write in the name of feminism. By presenting themselves as human rights activists, as women who are Arab, sometimes Muslim ( sometimes previously veiled but then seen as “closer to the truth” about women’s lives), they have played a large role in legitimizing wars in the region. I speak of the new face of this age-old propaganda in the name of “liberating oppressed women” which now justifies and poisonously legitimizes a cultural and ideological war on the revolution.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/you-dare-call-arab-feminism?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
The Arab Spring is Part of the General Strike of the South
Vijay Prashad’s new book, Arab Spring, Libyan Winter (AK Press, 2012) captures the complexity of the Arab revolts – by bringing out the history and historical forces behind them. The book exposes the West’s imperial anxieties and their fear of the organic – the mass character of these uprisings. It demonstrates the resoluteness of the “rebels from below”, that they will not allow the Arab lands to “be the same again”, that they are dissatisfied with the Present and they want something more than the “21st century delusions” that neoliberalism delivers. Most importantly, Prashad’s book reconfirms that “the rebellion from below has its own radical imagination.” The following discussion with the author is an attempt to read the book with him to understand the implications of his analysis of the Arab revolts.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/18/the-arab-spring-is-part-of-the-general-strike-of-the-south/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-arab-spring-is-part-of-the-general-strike-of-the-south
The Palestinian musician continues to defy convention, gathering admirers and enemies in droves along the way.
Bahraini regime forces have attacked anti-regime demonstrators in the western village of Shahrakan.
Bahraini authorities should drop politically motivated criminal charges against Nabeel Rajab, a human rights activist, and release him immediately. Rajab is scheduled to go on trial on May 16, 2012, for “offending an official institution” – namely, the Interior Ministry, which he criticized for allegedly ignoring attacks against boys and young protesters as well as Shia-owned businesses.
Bahrain’s Khawaja well, to continue hunger strike: lawyer
Jailed Bahraini dissident Abdel Hadi Khawaja, on hunger strike for more than three months, is well but still continues his fast to protest a life sentence, his lawyer said on Thursday.
http://news.yahoo.com/bahrains-khawaja-well-continue-hunger-strike-lawyer-180846759.html
Bahrain king attends UK queen’s jubilee lunch
The king of Bahrain, whose regime has been accused of rights abuses, was among nearly 50 foreign royals at a lunch Friday to mark the diamond jubilee of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
http://news.yahoo.com/bahrain-king-attends-uk-queens-jubilee-lunch-133729411.html
British Queen slammed after meeting Bahraini King
The British royal family has come under intense criticism after Buckingham Palace confirmed that the King of Bahrain would be attending a state lunch with the Queen, despite an ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the Gulf kingdom. Bahrain’s King Hamad al-Khalifa is among a number of ruling monarchs expected at a Windsor Castle lunch being hosted by the Queen on Friday. Al-Khalifa has been leading the crackdown on the pro-democracy protests in the country that began last year. The UK’s leading opposition party said it was wrong to allow the despot to visit, while a leading rights campaigner said al-Khalifa was “blood-stained.”
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/british-queen-slammed-after-meeting-bahraini-king?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Bahrain protests: Shias rally against closer ties with Saudi Arabia
Tens of thousands of Shia protesters demonstrate against further integration between Sunni rulers of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Tens of thousands of mainly Shia protesters in Bahrain have joined a march to denounce proposals for closer ties between the unrest-torn Gulf kingdom and neighbouring Saudi Arabia. There were no immediate reports of violence, but the large turnout on Friday points to strong opposition to further integration between the Sunni rulers of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Gulf leaders this week delayed a decision on the proposals. Bahrain’s majority Shia population began demonstrations against unification 15 months ago. They are seeking a stronger political voice in the Sunni-ruled region.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/18/bahrain-protests-shia-saudi-arabia
Sunni Bahrainis stage rally in support of Saudi union
Thousands of Sunnis staged a rally in Manama on Saturday in support of of a controversial proposal to unite Bahrain with neighbouring Saudi Arabia, witnesses said.
http://news.yahoo.com/sunni-bahrainis-stage-rally-support-saudi-union-182641582.html
Thousands of people demonstrated in Tehran on Friday to protest a proposed union of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, in the first step toward closer links among six Arab monarchies across the Gulf.
http://news.yahoo.com/demonstration-tehran-over-bahrain-saudi-union-131231158.html
Inside Story – Saudi troops in Bahrain a warning to Iran?
Troops from Saudi Arabia rolled into Bahrain last year purportedly to quell protests but was there another motive, such as a warning to Iran? Iran recently criticised GCC efforts on the Saudi-Bahrain unity proposal. What is the latest escalation in tensions in the Gulf between the two regional heavyweights likely to achieve? Guests: Abdel Aziz Abu Hamad Aluwaisheg, Sadegh Zibakalam, Mustafa Alani, Saeed Al Shehabi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izUJkjuG1ZE&feature=youtube_gdata
Bahrain: A Hot Potato Across The Persian Gulf
Fifteen months into their uprising, Bahrainis balk at both the proposed union with Riyadh and statements reviving the Iranian claim to their country. Tensions are running high between the two coasts of the Persian Gulf. The war of words pitting Saudi Arabia and Bahrain against Iran may be part of a regional struggle that is essentially over Syria rather than Bahrain. But Bahrain is its current focus, and it is the Bahraini people who are being made to pay the price.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/game-hot-potato-across-persian-gulf?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Egypt
Polls give few clues to Egypt vote
Contradictory opinion polls give few clues on Egypt’s election.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18110194#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Egypt shuts down newly-opened Shiite mosque in Cairo
The Egyptian authorities shut down a Shiite “Husseiniya,” a name given to the Shiite mosque, which was lately opened by Lebanese Shiite cleric Ali al-Korani during his recent visit to Cairo, sources close to Al Arabiya said.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/17/214718.html
Saudi religious persecution, As’ad Abukhalil
You may not be aware of this, or you may most likely not care but Arab (and Muslim) governments that receive Saudi financial aid are under pressure always to show firm resolve against any manifestation of Shi`ite religious worship. Morocco famously declared that it cracked a huge conspiracy of Shi`itization of the country, in return for Saudi cash. Now, the Egyptian Military Council has ordered the closure of a Husayniyyah. If those crackdowns and persecution were directed against Jewish worship, the Security Council would have taken up the matter.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/05/saudi-religious-persecution.html
Across Egypt there are millions of people living in slums. Last year’s revolution focused on Egyptians demanding their rights in Tahrir Square – but have the country’s slum-dwellers gained anything from the uprising? With just a few days to go before the Presidential election, Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal went to find out.
The wife of Ahmed al-Gizawy, a lawyer and activist imprisoned by Saudi Arabian authorities, said she is considering taking his case to an international court if the matter is not soon resolved. “I’m concerned about my husband’s future,” Shahenda Fathy told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Thursday. “I need him to have a fair trial. But I have not decided yet.” Gizawy was arrested last month after allegedly bringing into the Gulf kingdom 21,380 Xanax tablets, which are banned there except for use by psychiatric institutions and under close supervision. Fathy criticized Ahmed Rashed, the Saudi lawyer defending her husband, for spending his time talking to the media rather than working on the case.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/node/846756
Egypt: Owner of belly dancing TV station arrested
Egypt’s vice police on Thursday arrested the owner of a belly dancing TV station on suspicion of operating without a license, inciting licentiousness and facilitating prostitution, a security official said.
http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-owner-belly-dancing-tv-station-arrested-174406283.html
Egypt’s Presidential Election: Meet the Contenders
Egypt’s first presidential election after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak is scheduled to take place on 23 and 24 May 2012, with a possible run-off race on 16 and 17 June 2012. The following guide to the presidential candidates is based on a series of articles published by Egypt Independent. For more information on prominent presidential candidates, click on any of the names below.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5604/egypts-presidential-election_meet-the-contenders
In the third installment of the series of interviews with Egypt’s presidential candidates, Al-Akhbar sat with conservative Islamist candidate Salim al-Awa.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/search-egypt%E2%80%99s-fifth-president-salim-al-awa?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Candidate Aboul Fotouh highlights diversity of Egypt’s Islamists
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh has emerged as a top candidate in next week’s Egyptian presidential elections.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/LijMEE4Y3uA/Candidate-Aboul-Fotouh-highlights-diversity-of-Egypt-s-Islamists
For many in Egypt, the presidential vote is not about Islam
Egyptians have more earthly matters to contend with: jobs and the sagging economy. Polls find the Muslim Brotherhood candidate trailing moderate rivals.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/DXvTAorPIpk/la-fg-egypt-election-islam-20120518,0,7383501.story
Iran
IAEA chief Amano to visit Iran on Monday
The chief of the UN nuclear watchdog, Yukiya Amano, will visit Iran on Monday and meet Tehran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, the IAEA said.
http://news.yahoo.com/iaea-chief-amano-visit-iran-monday-155905494.html
The US has plans in place to attack Iran if other measures fail to stop it developing nuclear weapons, Washington’s envoy to Israel says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18110191#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Senior Israeli Official: Leadership’s Made Decision for War Against Iran, Richard Silverstein
Reuters is reporting that several well-placed Israeli sources are confirming both that the senior government leadership has gone into “lockdown” mode regarding Iran indicating that something is afoot; and that the decision to attack Iran has already been made and that the strike will come before the U.S. elections. From an independent source, I’ve learned that one of the informants for this article is the regular source of my Israeli national security scoops. So I take the comments in this article with even more seriousness than I normally would.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/05/17/senior-israeli-official-leaderships-made-decision-for-war-against-iran/
Iran Will Require Assurances: An Interview with Hossein Mousavian
Hossein Mousavian has served as visiting research scholar at Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security from 2009 to the present. Prior to this position, he held numerous positions in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including director-general of its West Europe department and ambassador to Germany from 1990 to 1997. Ambassador Mousavian was also head of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran during both terms of Mohammad Khatami’s presidency (1997-2005). In this capacity, he served as spokesman of the Iranian nuclear negotiations team from 2003 to 2005. When that team was replaced following the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mousavian served for two years (2005-2007) as foreign policy adviser to Ali Larijani, who was secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and the chief nuclear negotiator in the Ahmadinejad administration. The ambassador was arrested in 2007 for allegedly passing confidential information to the British Embassy and others, but was eventually cleared of the charges. As part of those proceedings, he was suspended from serving in diplomatic posts for five years, due to his criticism of the nuclear negotiating strategy adopted by the Ahmadinejad administration. He left Iran in 2009 and his work at Princeton has included the preparation of the forthcoming book Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir, to be published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in June. Asli Bali interviewed Ambassador Mousavian at his office in Princeton, New Jersey on April 26.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5603/iran-will-require-assurances_an-interview-with-hos
Did Obama take the military option against Iran off the table?
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, whose relationship with President Obama dates back to Obama’s days in the Senate, made headlines this week with his statement, in an address to Israel’s bar association, that America’s military option against Iran is “not just available,” but “ready.
We note that, even though he is leaving the U.S. Congress in just a few months, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) continues to fight the good fight on Iran-related issues. Last week, Paul was one of the few to speak out, clearly and forthrightly, against the latest congressional resolution “expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the importance of preventing the Government of Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.” Dr. Paul’s statement bears reading, see here.
Hopes by Iran hawks here to get the U.S. Congress to wield the threat of a U.S. military attack on the Islamic Republic on the eve of next week’s critical negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program appear to have fallen unexpectedly short.
http://original.antiwar.com/lobe/2012/05/18/iran-hawks-in-congress-in-some-disarray/
Iraq
Iraq: Mass Arrests, Incommunicado Detentions
Iraq’s government has been carrying out mass arrests and unlawfully detaining people in the notorious Camp Honor prison facility in Baghdad’s Green Zone, based on numerous interviews with victims, witnesses, family members, and government officials. The government had claimed a year ago that it had closed the prison, where Human Rights Watch had documented rampant torture.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/05/15/iraq-mass-arrests-incommunicado-detentions
http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-anti-terror-officer-family-shot-dead-083805207.html
In the capital, multiple attacks harkened back to the height of sectarian tensions. At least 15 Iraqis were killed and 67 more were wounded.
Maliki, in charm offensive, invites scholars to Baghdad
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, concerned by his portrayal in U.S. media as an autocratic leader intent on consolidating power, has invited several influential Washington scholars to Baghdad to meet his team next week. The rare invitation was extended to Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution, Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institution and Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group, Reuters has learned.
The US occupation of Iraq, coupled with its attendant deployment of sectarianism as a political technology, has foreclosed the possibility of non-sectarian modes of seeing, or critiquing political life in Iraq. In “Shiites and Sunnis in post-US Iraq: separate and unequal; some predict dissolution of country,” the five contributors, four of whom are writing from Iraq, adopt this lens in reflecting on the contentious relationship between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq. In the article, originally published by The Associated Press and re-posted by The Washington Post and The Washington Times, the authors hone in on the Shia persecution of vulnerable Sunnis in the aftermath of the withdrawal of US troops. Such a portrayal produces the occupying imperial power as a neutral arbiter of Iraq’s religious communities, or in the authors’ words, as Iraq’s “peacemakers.” Without them, we are told, Iraq’s Sunni minority has to fend for itself in a now Shia-dominated country.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5594/beating-the-drums-of-orientalism-
Lebanon
Sectarian clashes injure 3 in Lebanon: official
Shelling between two pro- and anti-Syrian neighbourhoods in the north Lebanon port city of Tripoli on Friday left three people wounded, a security official and hospital sources said.
http://news.yahoo.com/sectarian-clashes-injure-3-lebanon-official-171308257.html
Don’t blame Syria – Lebanon’s leaders are fuelling the fighting in Tripoli
The ongoing fighting in the northern city of Tripoli between Sunni and Alawite militias is among the worst witnessed by Lebanon for several years. And, in a nod to their shared past and intertwined present, whenever security in Lebanon is discussed, the mention of Syria is never far behind. No surprise, then, that this week’s Tripoli fighting has been reported as the inevitable progeny of the violence that has divided Syria and is now finally spilling over into Lebanon. The logic is not necessarily unsound, given Syria’s historic tutelage, and given that Lebanon’s political heavyweights – and, by extension, its people – are mortally divided over Bashar al-Assad. If you ask the fighters themselves, they tell you that their actions are derived either from love or loathing for the Syrian leader.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/18/lebanon-leaders-fuelling-tripoli-fighting
Manar TV: Hiding the Unveiled
Restrictions have been imposed at Hezbollah’s Manar television to avoid the appearance of unveiled women on the station’s programs. Is the resistance channel backtracking on years of openness and now moving in a more conservative direction?
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/manar-tv-hiding-unveiled?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Saudi Arabia
Al-Qaeda chief: Saudis must rise up against ruling family
Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri has urged Saudis to rise up against the kingdom’s ruling Al-Saud family, suggesting they draw inspiration from uprisings that have deposed leaders across the Middle East and Africa in the past year and a half. Speaking in a video clip that was posted on an Islamist website, Zawahri, who took over the leadership of Al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan just over a year ago, said Arabs should no longer accept the ruling Al Saud family.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/al-qaeda-chief-saudis-must-rise-against-ruling-family?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Saudi Arabia bans using Gregorian dates
Saudi Arabia has banned all government and private agencies from using the Gregorian calendar in official dealings. The use of the English language to answer calls or communicate, mainly in companies and hotels, has also been banned, a local daily said. All ministries and agencies have to use the Hijri dates (Islamic calendar) and the Arabic language, the interior ministry said. The ministry attributed its decision to preserving the Islamic calendar and the Arabic language, Arabic daily Al Watan reported.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-bans-using-gregorian-dates-1.1024301
Saudi ban on women’s sports blamed for rising obesity (Zambarakji), Juan Cole
Angie Zambarakji writes at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism: A girl’s school in Saudi Arabia has defied a ban on sport for girls by letting pupils play basketball. This comes comes after Human Rights Watch has claimed that women’s limited access to sport was contributing to rising obesity in the country. Under the Kingdom’s strict Islamic legal system, girls are not allowed to play sports at state-run schools, although some private girls’ schools have sports programmes. Powerful Saudi clerics have also issued religious rulings against female participation in sports.
http://www.juancole.com/2012/05/20699.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+juancole%2Fymbn+%28Informed+Comment%29
Syria
A car bomb in the parking lot of a Syrian military compound killed at least nine people Saturday, the latest in increasingly frequent bombings in the country’s major cities to target the regime’s security services.
Opposition groups say Syrian government forces are pounding a rebel-held town north of the central city of Homs.
http://news.yahoo.com/activists-syrian-forces-shell-rebel-town-074631425.html
The head of the U.N. military observer mission in Syria was forced to defend his team from the ridicule of protesters on Friday. The inability of the monitors to compel the security forces to stop attacking protesters was underlined twice this week by video clips that showed one monitor crawling along a street in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, to avoid shots that were being fired at demonstrators, and another looking on helplessly from his vehicle as students were beaten in the city of Aleppo.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/u-n-observers-dodge-bullets-and-mockery-in-syria/
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/05/13/syria-activists-arrested-held-despite-pledge-annan
The Lede Blog: Student Protest in Syria Unfolds Live Online
Syrian activists managed to broadcast live video to the Web from their phones of a demonstration by students in Aleppo, during a visit by United Nations observers.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6aa2ed0df7ceafe4f992907e5022d38f
Largest protests yet in Syrian city of Aleppo
Syrian security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse thousands rallying Friday in the northern city of Aleppo, which activists said saw the largest turnout since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in March 2011.
http://news.yahoo.com/largest-protests-yet-syrian-city-aleppo-132651836.html
http://www.juancole.com/2012/05/aleppo-joins-the-syrian-revolution-are-al-assads-days-numbered.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+juancole%2Fymbn+%28Informed+Comment%29
The crackdown on the demonstration at Aleppo University came less than a week after it had reopened following a raid by security forces that left at least four students dead.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=dbb7ae9416281b2a93f2ec538dfe02c9
Syrian activist sentenced to death for ‘treason’
The League dismissed the charges as “null and void” and said that Hariri, an engineer in his late 30s arrested on April 16, was “brutally tortured” and forced to make confessions. It said Hariri was awaiting his execution in the notorious Saydnaya prison -once identified by Amnesty International as “Syria’s black hole” as inmates have limited access to the outside world. “He was tortured from the first day of his arrest. They broke his backbone and authorities refused to give him the proper medical care,” the League said in a statement. Hariri was arrested after discussing on Al-Jazeera television the terrible humanitarian and security situation in southern Daraa province, cradle of the anti-regime uprising that erupted in March 2011, the group said.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/18/214885.html
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/05/201251842358932543.html
Syrian rebels have begun receiving significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, an effort paid for by Persian Gulf nations and coordinated in part by the United States, according to opposition activists and U.S. and foreign officials.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/syrian-rebels-get-influx-of-arms-with-gulf-neighbors-money-us-coordination/2012/05/15/gIQAds2TSU_story.html?wprss=rss_world
A deputy of Kofi Annan, the international mediator on Syria, plans to travel to Syria but the exact timing is confidential, Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a regular UN briefing on Friday. Fawzi declined to elaborate on reports that an “important person” would visit Damascus later on Friday. He said Annan intended to go there at some stage, and his deputy had a specific travel plan. He did not name the deputy.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/annan-deputy-visit-syria?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
UN observers chief calls for end to Syria violence
The head of a U.N. observer team says that no amount of observers in Syria can achieve a permanent end to the violence without dialogue.
http://news.yahoo.com/un-observers-chief-calls-end-syria-violence-083330779.html
Major-General Robert Mood gives bleak assessment of task his team faces as violations of ceasefire continue.
The head of a U.N. observer team in Syria cautioned Friday that the mission cannot achieve a permanent end to the violence without genuine talks between the two sides that have been locked in a violent conflict for more than a year.
http://news.yahoo.com/un-monitors-alone-cannot-end-syria-bloodshed-100545261.html
The UN chief Ban Ki-moon says that Islamist militants from al-Qaeda must be behind two recent devastating suicide car bomb attacks in Syria.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18115084#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Radical mosques invite young Tunisians to jihad in Syria
Some of Tunisia’s radical mosques are calling on young people to fight in a jihad in Syria against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a religious affairs official said Friday.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/18/214947.html
During the worst of the conflict, the opposition forces attacked churches (see photo right) and also occupied an evangelical school and home for the elderly, which were then shelled by the army. Church leaders have reported that Muslim neighbours are turning on the Christians, and that Muslim extremists from other countries have been coming to Homs to join the fighting. Christians have also suffered kidnappings and gruesome murders. Some Christian families, unable to pay a ransom for their relatives’ release and fearing that they may be tortured, have been driven to ask the kidnappers to kill their loved ones at once.
http://www.inspiremagazine.org.uk/news?newsaction=view&newsid=5977
Intellectuals blast Syrian opposition calls for Adonis’ death
BEIRUT: Lebanese and Syrian intellectuals are issuing online condemnations in the wake of a call from elements of the Syrian opposition that Syrian poet and literary critic Adonis be killed.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Books/2012/May-18/173770-intellectuals-blast-syrian-opposition-calls-for-adonis-death.ashx
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the United Nations on Friday to boost the number of military observers in Syria to far more than a planned total of 300.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/18/214945.html
Syrian revolt’s Islamist slogans under criticism
The use of Islamist slogans by protesters during weekly Friday demonstrations against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has triggered criticism among an already-fractured opposition.
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-revolts-islamist-slogans-under-criticism-111048965.html
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5575/on-syria-and-its-neighbors_jadaliyya-co-editor-bas
Inside Story Americas – How many has the US wrongfully executed?
More than 20 years after Texas executed Carlos DeLuna, a study reveals he was innocent. Support for capital punishment in the US has been on the decline over the last two decades. We take a closer look at the DeLuna case and what it says about capital punishment in the country, and the flaws in its implementation. Guests: Shawn Crowley, Bruce Fein, Richard Dieter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEvOihl_cw8&feature=youtube_gdata
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/05/17/2147790/lets-run-lets-get-out-of-here.html
The House on Friday endorsed the indefinite detention without trial of terrorist suspects, even for U.S. citizens seized on American soil.
http://news.yahoo.com/house-oks-indefinite-definition-terror-suspects-135300876.html
U.S. Secret Drug War in Honduras: Botched DEA Raid Leaves 2 Pregnant Women, 2 Men Dead
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has confirmed its agents were on board a U.S.-owned helicopter with Honduran police officers when four people were shot and killed on a boat earlier this week. Two of the victims were said to be pregnant women. The deadly incident has highlighted the centrality of Honduras in the U.S.-backed drug war. Honduras is the hub for the U.S. military operations in Latin America, hosting at least three U.S. bases. We speak to Dana Frank, a Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/18/us_secret_drug_war_in_honduras
All-White Jury Acquits Houston Ex-Police Officer in Videotaped Beating of Black Teen Chad Holley
Hundreds of people rallied in Houston on Thursday to protest the acquittal of a former police officer in the videotaped beating of an African-American teenager. On Wednesday, the officer, Andrew Bloomberg, was found not guilty by an all-white jury in the beating and stomping of 15-year-old burglary suspect Chad Holley. Video taken of the March 2010 incident shows Holley being stopped by a police vehicle. After Holley falls to the ground, he is clearly seen surrendering and putting his hands behind his head. But instead of placing him in handcuffs, Bloomberg and six fellow officers proceed to attack Holley with stomps and kicks. “It seems we have become jaded, willing to accept in too many instances, young black people being grossly mistreated,” says NAACP President Ben Jealous.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/18/all_white_jury_acquits_houston_ex
American spy drones provided intelligence to Turkey’s air force for an errant bombing raid in December that killed 35 civilians instead of Kurdish separatists, a U.S. defense official said Thursday.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/17/214793.html
World Briefing | Middle East: Kuwait: Islamic Law Proposal Blocked
Kuwait’s emir, Sheik Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, has blocked a proposal by Parliament to amend the Constitution to make all legislation in the country comply with Islamic law.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/world/middleeast/kuwait-islamic-law-proposal-blocked.html
When he took office, Mr Khasawneh raised hopes for reform. He vowed to end election-rigging, engage Jordan’s Islamists and deal with popular demands roused by the Arab awakening. To his chagrin, he soon felt he was mere window-dressing for a shadow government run by the intelligence services. His overtures to the Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan’s biggest political organisation, floundered, after the authorities drafted an electoral law limiting single parties in the 138-seat parliament to only five MPs. His efforts to end the ostracising of Hamas, a Palestinian branch of the brotherhood, which the king once expelled, fizzled. The anti-corruption investigation, announced with a fanfare, has ground to a halt. His justice minister watched powerlessly as a military tribunal jailed a journalist who had accused the king of suspending an inquiry into bribes concerning a housing scheme.
http://www.economist.com/node/21554229
Local elections in Libya’s second city, for the first time since the 1960s, intensifies federalism debate in Libya.
Protesters stage demonstration outside parliament, claiming lack of treatment and that their plight is being ignored.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/05/20125184154285527.html
Morocco: Prison for Rapper Who Criticized Police
The sentencing of a rapper on May 11, 2012 to one year in prison for “insulting the police” shows the gap between the strong free-expression language in Morocco’s 2011 constitution and the continuing intolerance for those who criticize state institutions. The sentence was handed down one week before the opening of the international Mawazine music festival in Rabat, which is held under the patronage of King Mohammed VI.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/05/12/morocco-prison-rapper-who-criticized-police
More than 30,000 Moroccan children homeless: study
A recent study revealed that more than 30,000 Moroccan children are homeless in what is seen as a growing phenomenon which places a lot of pressure on both the government and society.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/17/214732.html
should the 404 palestinians die whose lives are threatened because the stock of blood line tubes for their dialysis machines is running low, the cause of their deaths should be attributed to the israeli siege of gaza. add in all the palestinians who prematurely die on account of lack of medicines &/or access to medical facilities and the following poem becomes yet more real –
gaza and the warsaw ghetto
same place
different time
while the world stands by
genocide*
live
*slow motion in gaza
will mainstream african american organizations such as the naacp & urban league join south african artists, intellectuals and government ministers in denouncing israeli apartheid? this assumes, of course, that said organizations won’t let fear of being labeled antisemitic by israel firsters deter them from the moral obligation of supporting all anti-apartheid struggles, no matter where such arise and regardless of who are the victims and who are the perpetrators. likewise where are other human rights organizations (latino, lgbt and asian, for example) on this issue. surely they must realize that until the last chain is broken, none of us will be free?
Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced that the South African ambassador in Tel Aviv would be called in for a reprimand today, adding that “this is not political opposition to settlements but negatively tagging a state through a special marking, according to national-political criteria. Accordingly, this is a racist measure”.
Knesset Member Arieh Eldad of the far-right Yechud Leumi goes further, calling on the government to mark all products imported from South Africa with a prominent label of “Warning! Product of South Africa. The history determines: anti-Semitism is liable to result in the death of Jews!”
http://leftwing-christian.net/2012/05/22/palestine-bds-movement-notches-up-a-couple-of-wins.aspx