Land Theft & Destruction / Restriction of Movement / Refugees
Home Evictions in Sheikh Jarah
Below is an excerpt from the third trip report of the Interfaith Peace-Builders (IFPB) delegation to Palestine/Israel. It was written by Marianne Torres. ”They came for us at 5:00 in the morning when everybody was asleep. It was August 2, 2009 when the soldiers came after 10 families with 38 family members. They came, more than 100 soldiers and Special Forces, police on horses and water cannons filled with sewage water.” This is the beginning of a story we heard today from Mariam Alrawi in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2012/05/home-evictions-in-sheikh-jarah.html
June 5, 2012 marks the 45th anniversary of the start of the 1967 War, when Israel launched a surprise attack against Egypt and Syria and began its military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and Syrian Golan Heights. The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) has put together a fact sheet that provides an overview of Israel’s 45-year occupation of Palestinian territories and its settlement enterprise. The sheet includes facts and figures about settler violence, Palestinian prisoners and home demolitions carried out by Israel. There are also links to maps showing the continuing expansion of settlements and the route of the separation wall. This is a great resource to help in your efforts to change U.S. policy toward Palestine-Israel.
Dozens of international activists affiliated with the “Miles of Smiles” convoy landed in Cairo International Airport on Thursday in order to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. The convoy aims to show support to the Palestinian people.Cairo airport sources said that the majority of activists arrived from Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and some European countries carried medical aid for hospitals in Gaza. It added that 13 Palestinians also arrived to the airport intending to enter Gaza through Rafah.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/activists-arrive-cairo-enter-gaza-through-rafah-crossing-news2
Violence / Aggression / Attacks on Peaceful Protest
Sunday: Seven Injured In A Series Of Airstrikes Targeting Gaza
The Israeli Air Force carried out, on Sunday at dawn, several airstrikes targeting different areas in the Gaza Strip, mainly in central and southern Gaza, inflicting seven injuries among the Palestinians, medical sources reported.
Palestinian medical sources reported Saturday that several protesters were treated for the effects of teargas inhalation after the Israeli army attacked the weekly nonviolent protest against the illegal Israeli Annexation Wall and settlements, in Beit Ummar town, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Israeli soldiers also invaded several nearby area and broke into several homes before kidnapping four residents.
Dozens of Palestinians and activists suffered injuries in Masarah and Bil’in villages when their peaceful marches against the segregation wall and settlements were attacked by Israeli troops.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) attacked the funeral procession of the remains of a martyr in Beit Uwa village, west of Al-Khalil, on Friday, local sources said.
Israeli navy gunboats fired at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Sudaniya, to the north west of Gaza city, on Friday.
House arrest of three Jerusalemite youths extended
The Israeli central court in occupied Jerusalem has decided to extend the house arrest of three young men in Thawri suburb in the holy city for three months.
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces arrested a local journalist in Hebron early Sunday, relatives said. Soldiers raided the home of Sharif Rajoub in the village of Dura and took him to an unknown destination, his brother Mahmoud told Ma’an. Rajoub works as a reporter for al-Aqsa radio station. He was preparing for his wedding, which was set to take place next week, his brother added. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that a man had been arrested in Dura overnight Saturday, but could not provide further details about his identity.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=491674
Prisoner Hamid Amoudi unable to move due to torture
Palestinian prisoner Hamid Amoudi is hospitalized in Nablus national hospital suffering from a serious health condition.
Political prisoner Abudullah Al-Aker is insistent on continuing his hunger strike until the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatuses end his arbitrary detention.
Soldiers Break Into Detainees Rooms In Ofer Prison
Undercover soldiers of the Matzada and Nachshon brigades broke into Palestinian detainees’ rooms in section 14 of the Ofer Israeli Prison and searched them; the soldiers also used military dogs while searching the rooms.
Israel To Transfer 395 Detainees To Different Facilities
The Husam Institution For Detainees and Ex-Detainees reported that the detainees’ committee that led the most recent hunger-strike in Israeli detention camps, held on Friday a meeting with the Israeli Prison Administration to discuss the latest violations, including the transfer of 395 Gaza Strip detainees imprisoned in Nafha, to different detention centers.
Commander of the armed wing of Hamas in the West Bank prisoner Abdullah Barghouti warned of the procrastination of the IPS in the implementation of the deal it signed with the strike leadership.
On May 31, the US Campaign held a conference call with organizers from member groups around the country sharing their inspiring organizing efforts to raise awareness about and organize to end U.S. military aid to Israel.
http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2012/06/conference-call-features-organizers.html
Following decisions from the South African government and Switzerland’s largest supermarket chain to distinguish between products made in the occupied territories from those west of the green line, the Associated Press reports on the “Made in Israel” label.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/ap-investigates-the-made-in-israel-label.html
Thousands in Istanbul rally against Israel
We Are All Hana Shalabi activist statement on Mubarak sentence
*Any stupid liberal who loves trolling and loves reflecting their shallow philosophy, drawn from their vacuous sheltered life, please look away from this comment*, This is in response to the recent disgusting verdict that was given to the Zionist, the agent of America, the tyrant who oppressed many Arab Generations, the Dictator, Mohamed Hosni Mubarak., Mubarak alongside with his family and elite should have all been hung publicly in Tahrir Square after 11/2/2011. We are now going to learn the lessons of Steadfastness from our brothers and sisters in Bahrain and Syria., Justice has not been granted, Victory has not yet been achieved., The blood of Martyrs has not been shed for nothing., “Samidoun”, we are still standing., Revolution until Death, Revolution until Victory.
Anti-Solidarity / Normalization
‘Fear and censorship’ — How NY Jewish Y locked out young Jews’ discussion of boycott, Adam Horowitz
No matter what one believes about Palestinian non-violent movements and the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, we must allow these conversations in Jewish communities. Open, honest critical debate strengthens the Jewish community. Let’s talk about what our real questions are; and if people disagree, let’s respectfully hear each other out. The 14th Street Y—a Jewish community center—should not shut out young Jews eager to gather for learning and discussion. To the contrary, in a time when the Jewish community is deeply concerned about keeping younger generations engaged with Jewish life, we should celebrate a new generation of Jewish leaders trying to wrestle with the hard issues that are facing our community. We should do all we can to widen the circle of young Jews engaging in that conversation. Please open your doors to these young Jews.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/petition-to-14th-street-y-dont-shut-out-debate-over-israel.html
On Tuesday during a Knesset meeting a Kadima member and advocate for Tel Aviv’s social protest movement intensified an anti-African debate by proposing to round up leftists sympathetic to migrants in work camps. The remarks were made by Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich who stated the rights activists should be “jailed,” due to circulating an image on Facebook of fellow Knesset member, Miri Regev’s face doctored onto a saluting uniformed Nazi. The Photoshop picture went viral after Regev made anti-migrant remarks during a Tel Aviv protest that turned violent last week.
Stop excusing the ‘have-nots’ for racism and violence, Larry Derfner
The riots in South Tel Aviv are further evidence of the violent racism among Israel’s Sephardi underclass. It’s part of a worldwide, historic phenomenon among poor people that the left doesn’t want to face up to.
Many observant Jews struggle with same-sex attraction (SSA), with few resources to help them. One courageous group is offering a workshop.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/156384#.T8ji9FLgfPZ
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/guest-writers/3825-the-multiple-strands-of-racism
Palestinian students in Turkey make appeal after training revoked
TURKEY (Ma’an) — A group of Palestinian students in Turkey on Saturday appealed to President Mahmoud Abbas to intervene after authorities changed the terms of their scholarships to study medicine.
Analysis / Op-ed / Human Interest
Philip Giraldi, the executive director of the Council for the National Interest and an astute critic of America’s Israelocentric policy in the Middle East, recently made the case that United States support for Israel, and the concomitant Israeli power which depends on that support, has reached its tipping point and is now on an ineluctable downward slide. A “tipping point,” a term given wide publicity in the decade past by Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling book with that title, is defined by Giraldi as a point “where physical momentum, inclined in one direction, reverses its course, stabilizes, and then begins to move the opposite way.” And the movement usually accelerates after reaching the “tipping point.” In Gladwell’s definition: “The word ‘Tipping Point’ . . . comes from the world of epidemiology. It’s the name given to that moment in an epidemic when a virus reaches critical mass. It’s the boiling point. It’s the moment on the graph when the line starts to shoot straight upwards. AIDS tipped in 1982, when it went from a rare disease affecting a few gay men to a worldwide epidemic.”
http://www.sundayszaman.com/sunday/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=282297
The Arab world has forever changed, and so has the media. Some would argue governance, as we’ve known it, is also changing. Business is certainly changing; in fact, the whole world might just be changing too. The question is, is social media the catalyst? My simple answer is yes. For just over a year now, I’ve been fortunate enough to be immersed in a series of chaotic and fateful events that had deprived me of sleep, catapulted my career, but most importantly connected me through social media, at times intimately, to my shared generation of Arab brothers and sisters fighting for their right to self-determination.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5769/the-arab-world-and-the-medias-symbiotic-revolution
Offices of Egyptian presidential candidate attacked after Mubarak verdict
Offices of Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmad Shafiq, Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, were attacked early Sunday in two provincial towns, a security services official said. Shafiq’s campaign headquarters in Cairo had already been attacked on Monday.
Egyptians React After Former President Is Sentenced
Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison on charges of complicity in the deaths of some of the nearly 850 protesters who lost their lives in the uprising that swept him from power last year.
Protests grow in Tahrir after Mubarak verdict
Thousands of people descend on square in Egyptian capital to protest acquittals of senior regime officials.
The rise and fall of Hosni Mubarak
Less than 16 months after he was forced from power, Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, was sentenced to life in prison. It is a dramatic turn of events for a man who once controlled his country with an iron fist. Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford reports on Mubarak’s career, and his eventual downfall.
Egyptian state television will broadcast live the verdict and sentencing on Saturday of ex-president Hosni Mubarak, his sons and security chiefs in a murder and corruption trial, official media reported. State television will charge foreign media between US$7,000 and US$10,000 to buy the coverage, the official MENA news agency quoted the head the of the state’s Egyptian Radio and Television Union, Tharwat al-Mekki, as saying. The first several hearings of the trial, which started in August, were broadcast live, but chief judge Rifaat Said then ordered cameras out before witnesses began to take the stand.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/mursi-mubarak-should-never-be-freed?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
The dictator was sentenced to death yesterday. Twenty-five years is death, isn’t it, if you’re 84 years old? Hosni Mubarak will die in jail. And Habib al-Adli, his interior minister, 74 years old, maybe he will be killed in jail if he doesn’t live out his life sentence. These were the thoughts of two old Egyptian friends of mine yesterday. And Mubarak was sentenced for the dead of the 2011 revolution. That’s 850 dead – 34 people for each year of his term. Quite a thought.
The account confirmed reports in other domestic newspapers in the past months that have shown Mubarak, who is formally under arrest, as far more healthy than he appears in the court room, where he lies on his back on a stretcher. ”Mubarak is in excellent health. The former president will likely remain with us even after the verdict comes out,” the hospital source, who has seen the former leader, told Reuters. The source said Mubarak was free to walk around the garden or swim in a pool, and had a team of doctors including a physiotherapist. Mubarak also received visitors from the Arab world and the ruling military council. ”This is the best place for him. There is a plane and an airstrip at the hospital to allow for safe movement,” the source added. Mubarak is on trial for complicity in killings of protesters and the verdict could reverberate across an Arab world in the throes of political change. If found guilty, he could face from three years in prison to the death sentence, according to assessments from New York-based Human Rights Watch. The ruling on Saturday also comes in the middle of a presidential election that pits two polarising candidates against each other: the Muslim Brotherhood, banned under Mubarak, and the deposed leader’s last prime minister.Mubarak’s critics, including members of parliament, have demanded that he be moved to Torah prison just like his two sons Gamal and Alaa, who are also on trial. But Interior Ministry officials have said the prison was not equipped for Mubarak’s health needs.‘No arrangement to move him’ “He will not be imprisoned. He will live out his sentence here,” the source said. “There are no arrangements to move him out of here.”
The end of Egypt’s 31-year state of emergency must signal a return to the rule of law, Amnesty International said after the measure timed out on Thursday, two years after it was last renewed by the government of Hosni Mubarak. “The Egyptian authorities must make a clean break with state of emergency practices by combating the systemic abuses it facilitated and which still continue today under military rule,” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “These include serious human rights violations such as brutal crackdowns on peaceful protesters, arbitrary arrests, torture and unfair trials of civilians under military law.”
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/egypt-must-return-rule-law-state-emergency-ends-2012-06-01
Hundreds joined marches after Friday prayers heading to Tahrir Square to participate in a demonstration protesting former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq’s participation in the presidential election runoff. Shafiq will compete against the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsy in the presidential runoff in mid-June. Protesters are calling for Shafiq to be banned from the race and for an investigation into corruption allegations against him.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/node/885236
Egyptian presidential candidate: Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood
Mohamed Morsi is one of two candidates to make the runoff of Egypt’s presidential election. He won the most votes in the first round – about 25 percent.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/HT7uHyZ5FW4/Egyptian-presidential-candidate-Mohamed-Morsi-of-the-Muslim-Brotherhood
Egypt presidential candidate: Ahmed Shafiq, former Mubarak man
Supporters see in Ahmed Shafiq a former military man who can restore stability after a chaotic 18 months. But others charge their revolution could end with a Mubarak man becoming president.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/ki9cR6FP_9w/Egypt-presidential-candidate-Ahmed-Shafiq-former-Mubarak-man
Comrades from Cairo, “Egypt’s Elections Under Military Rule: Join Our Resistance to the Counter-Revolution”
Egyptians now find themselves in a vulnerable moment. Official political discourse would have the world believe that the technologies of democracy presently spell a choice between ‘two evils’. These are: Ahmed Shafiq, who guarantees the consolidation of the outgoing regime and its return with a vengeance, openly promising a criminal assault on the revolution under the fascist spectres of ‘security’ and ‘stability’, and the false promise of protection for religious minorities (against whom the regime systematically stages assault and isolation as part of its fear-mongering campaigns); and Mohamed Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood whom we are expected to imagine might ‘save’ us from the ‘old regime’ through the myths of cultural renaissance — all while consolidating its financial stronghold and the regional capitalist hegemony that fosters and depends on it for a climate of rampant exploitation of Egypt’s people and their resources.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/egypt010612.html
Egypt presidential elections: Fruit of Tahrir Square tastes bitter to some
Many Egyptians feel they can’t vote for either candidate in the presidential election run-off.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/PSyq0yRqtoQ/Egypt-presidential-elections-Fruit-of-Tahrir-Square-tastes-bitter-to-some
Egyptian Elections: Choose None of The Above
An election boycott campaign against the remaining two candidates presents voters with a third option, as Egyptians refuse to choose between the Muslim Brotherhood and ex-prime minister Shafik.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egyptian-elections-choose-none-above?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Egypt defaulting on fuel purchases
Egypt has struggled to obtain bank payments for its fuel purchases, trade sources said, delaying diesel supplies for transport, industry and agriculture ahead of the second round of an election vote. The payment problems have caused shipping delays and prompted some suppliers to think again before offering oil into a forthcoming $1 billion import tender, half a dozen trade sources, including current suppliers, told Reuters. They said delays of up to two weeks in deliveries were a regular occurrence ahead of peak summer demand for diesel, blaming Egypt’s difficulties in obtaining letters of credit from banks.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypt-defaulting-fuel-purchases?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-egypt-enters-third-stage-revolution-and-no-one-watching
Iran builds new space center to launch satellites
Iran is finishing construction of a new space center that will allow it to soon launch more domestically made satellites into orbit, the country’s defense minister said Saturday.
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-builds-space-center-launch-satellites-125730061.html
The New York Times [has] published a report detailing how the Bush and Obama administrations created the cyberweapon known as Stuxnet and used it to disrupt Iran’s uranium enrichment program. Much has been written about Stuxnet, which, as ProPublica recently reported, remains a threat beyond Iran. But the Times account, based on interviews with unnamed U.S. and Israeli officials, is the most extensive account to date of U.S. cyberwarfare capabilities.
http://www.juancole.com/2012/06/behind-the-usisraeli-cyberattacks-on-iran.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+juancole%2Fymbn+%28Informed+Comment%29
Obama Ordered Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran
Even after the Stuxnet computer worm became public, President Obama accelerated cyberattacks against Iran that had begun in the Bush administration, temporarily disabling 1,000 centrifuges.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6627c96379dfb54816cbbea189d27dab
Obama’s Secret War Against Iran Dooms Diplomacy and Imperils American Interests
In May 2009, we published an op-ed in The New York Times, see here, in which we argued that “President Obama’s Iran policy has, in all likelihood already failed”—largely because “Obama is backing away from the bold steps required to achieve strategic, Nixon-to-China type rapprochement with Tehran.”
http://www.raceforiran.com/obama%e2%80%99s-secret-war-against-iran-dooms-diplomacy-and-imperils-american-interests
http://news.yahoo.com/us-ordered-decide-iranian-groups-fate-235323583.html
Iraq attacks kill four: officials
Bomb attacks and shootings in central Iraq on Friday killed four people, including a police colonel and an army officer, security and medical officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-attacks-kill-four-officials-170433709.html
Iraq: 20 Killed, 60 Wounded As Baghdad Sees String of Attacks
At least 20 Iraqis were killed and 60 more were wounded across the country. Meanwhile, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi’s trial in absentia resumed briefly today.
Bodies of Kurds killed during Saddam era found in Iraq
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVZIMfi_gf4&feature=youtube_gdata
A series of intertwined political crises that began with accusations that Iraq’s prime minister was consolidating power have escalated into calls to unseat him, and paralysed the country’s government.
U.S. asks Iraq to extradite Hezbollah suspect
The United States has formally asked Iraq to extradite a suspected Hezbollah operative accused of killing American troops, a U.S. official told Reuters, amid heightened concerns in Washington that he may go free.
Nasrallah responds to kidnappers, calls for stronger state
“You said yesterday that you have no problem with a religious sect so you must prove this – these people are pilgrims and they must return to their families,” he said. “If you have a problem with me there are many ways to solve this. If you want to solve it with war lets solve it with war, if you want to solve it with peace lets solve it with peace.” “Solve your problem with us but to take the innocent people hostages for this problem is a big injustice that you must put a stop to.”
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/nasrallah-responds-kidnappers-calls-stronger-state?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Sayyed Nasrallah to Kidnappers: Release the Lebanese and We’ll Deal with You
Sayyed Nasrallah called for a national constituent assembly: the abducted Lebanese are State’s responsibility.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=57559&cid=23&fromval=1
Syrian group claims kidnap of Shia pilgrims
Armed “revolutionaries” from Aleppo say Lebanese hostages in good health and will be released after Nasrallah’s apology.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/05/201253119208172183.html
Lebanese hostages, As’ad AbuKhalil
These are the Lebanese hostages held by the gangs of the Free Syrian Army. Their case has not received much attention in the Western press. If the captors were enemies of the US, their names and faces would be on front pages of US newspapers. Those older pilgrims are supposed to be Hizbullah fighters: the lies of the exile Syrian opposition are worse even than Ba`thist lies. Al-Akhbar reporter, Firas Ash-Shufi wrote sarcastically on Facebook a few days ago that one of the hostages is in charge of the missile unit of Hizbullah, and another is in charge of commando unit, etc. His joke was later used by Syrian exile opposition site as evidence of their culpability.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/06/lebanese-hostages.html
Burhan Ghalyun spent his life writing (not necessarily with originality) about democracy and secularism. This week, this man made the round in the Saudi-funded and Qatari-funded Arab media to justify the kidnapping of Lebanese civilians. What an end to his career: an advocate of kidnapping. Would the career of an Arab academic in any Western university survive one day after that person advocates the kidnapping of Western hostages? Can you imagine the uproar?
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/05/shame-on-new-york-times-disgrace-of.html
Lebanese Allowed to Attend World Cup Qualifier against Qatar
The Lebanese interior ministry allowed Friday Lebanese fans to attend Lebanon’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against Qatar in Beirut.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=57549&cid=23&fromval=1
Dear Collaborators: We’re Sorry for Wronging You
The country and its people have been hit by the curse of the military court of appeals. Or maybe it is the curse of Fayez Karam and those who beat him to collaboration and were later released by that court without flinching.Yesterday, it was the turn of collaborator Ziad Homsi to be granted freedom. He had spent three years and two months in jail following his arrest by army intelligence under suspicion of collaborating with Israel. At the time, the permanent military court sentenced him to 10 years based on the charges and increased it to 15 years. On Thursday, the military court of appeals decided to commute the sentence to time served.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/dear-collaborators-we%E2%80%99re-sorry-wronging-you?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Solidere Takes Another Bite Into Lebanon
In its latest exploits, Solidere has laid its hands on land that, officially, is still public domain. Applying its own “laws,” the company illegally turned the building permits it obtained from allowing temporary to permanent structures, amongst other violations. This article is about the Skybar project that Solidere is building on reclaimed land – the backfilled area that used to be the Normandy Landfill. Solidere owns 25 percent of the project’s shares and the majority owner is Sky Management company. The project is riddled with violations and fraud. In 2009, during Bilal al-Alayli’s term as head of the Syndicate of Engineers, Ali Saad – the engineer in charge at Solidere – requested from the Syndicate of Engineers in Beirut a building permit for temporary structures over 1,300 square meters. His application was registered under the number 6510.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/solidere-takes-another-bite-lebanon?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/HBYcLpTriFs/12-men-murdered-Thursday-by-pro-Assad-gunmen-Syrian-activists-say
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=491527
The rebel Free Syrian Army on Friday announced it was resuming militant operations after the expiry of its ultimatum for the regime to respect international envoy Kofi Annan’s six-point peace plan. “We will now resume defensive operations,” FSA spokesman Kassem Saadeddine told AFP via Skype. “We will not go on the offensive because we do not want to be singled out as the ones responsible for breaking the peace initiative.” The decision came 48 hours after the FSA’s military council from inside Syria gave the regime until Friday 0900 GMT to observe the Annan plan which calls for the withdrawal of government forces and heavy armor from towns and cities.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/free-syrian-army-declares-resumption-attacks?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Houla massacre may have been ‘crime against humanity’: UN
UN rights chief Navi Pillay said Friday that crimes against humanity may have been committed during the massacre in the Syrian town of Houla last week.
http://news.yahoo.com/danger-whole-region-syria-conflict-erupts-un-105628941.html
Survivor describes Syria’s Houla massacre
The images of dead women and children shocked the world after 108 people were killed in Syria’s Houla on May 25. Activists say armed loyalists of President Bashar al-Assad carried out most of the killings, while a government inquiry has blamed rebels. Survivor Ali el-Sayed says he witnessed most of his family being shot in front of him. Al Jazeera’s Khadija Magardie reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksXS53N6mwI&feature=youtube_gdata
Syria blames rebels for Houla massacre
Syria on Thursday blamed up to 800 rebel fighters for the massacre in central Syria last week that killed more than 100 people, nearly half of them children, in its most comprehensive explanation to date of the bloodshed.
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-blames-rebels-houla-massacre-171550508.html
The Lede Blog: Syrian Government Investigates Massacre and Finds Syrian Government Blameless, ROBERT MACKEY
Although survivors said the slaughter was carried out by pro-government militiamen from neighboring villages, the commission of inquiry appointed by President Bashar al-Assad found the Syrian government blameless.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/syrian-government-investigates-massacre-and-finds-syrian-government-blameless/
Sectarian affiliation of the victims in Hula, As’ad AbuKhalil
I have received information in the last few days that some of the victims in Hula were Shi`ites. That was also reported on New TV and on the Syrian dissident website, Al-Haqiqah. I was told that the victims from the families of `Abdur-Razzaq and As-Sayyid were Sunnis who had converted to Shi`ism in the 1980s. I contacted those who reported that and I contacted people in Hula itself and I can tell you that there is no evidence whatsoever to that claim (which has obvious propaganda value particularly since that Syrian regime media never discuss issues of sects–unlike the Syrian opposition media which are blatant in its sectarianism and sectarian agitation). And if you add this (the story that has not been proven) to the lousy and empty press conference in Damascus yesterday about the Syrian regime investigation of the massacre, I can only conclude that the Syrian regime is looking more and more guilty. We don’t have all the facts as of yet, but this is my feeling now in the absence of evidence to the contrary. What makes the Syrian regime more frustratingly noncredible is that it never ever admits killing an innocent person–not even by mistake.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/06/sectarian-affiliation-of-victims-in.html
The Houla massacre: reconstructing the events of 25 May
Interviews with survivors reveal the full story of the bloody horror that left more than 100 Syrians dead
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/01/houla-massacre-reconstructing-25-may?CMP=twt_gu
World leaders agree Syria is on the brink of civil war
World leaders voiced fears on Friday that Syria stands on the brink of civil war but found little agreement on how to bring it back from the abyss, as 18 more people died in the relentless violence. Talks in Berlin between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin exposed the sharp differences between Arab and Western governments and Damascus allies Beijing and Moscow on the way forward. The two leaders found common ground on backing the peace mission of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan but the former UN chief himself admitted to frustration at the slow progress he was making in staunching the bloodshed. Security forces opened fire on demonstrators in several towns amid protests across the country against the killing last week of 108 people, most of them women and children, near the central town of Houla, activists said.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/01/world-leaders-agree-syria-is-on-the-brink-of-civil-war/
UN officials acknowledge armed gangs’ role in Syria unrest
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant must have heard a mouthful in a closed-door UN Security Council briefing on Wednesday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4pzeI0FTHA&feature=player_embedded
US backtracks on Syria intervention call
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that any military action in Syria would need backing from the United Nations, backtracking from an earlier statement by Washington’s UN envoy that the superpower could pursue options outside the world body. Asked if he could foresee a scenario in which the United States would back military intervention even without UN authorization, Panetta said: “No, I cannot envision that.” Panetta said his duty as Pentagon chief was “to make sure that when we deploy our men and women in uniform and put them at risk, that we not only know what the mission is but we have the kind of support that we need in order to accomplish that mission.”
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/us-backtracks-syria-intervention-call?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Mitt Romney, Obama offer different takes on arming Syrian rebels
The opposition needs to have the ability to defend the Syrian people…” Romney senior foreign-policy adviser Dan Senor told McClatchy on Thursday….The White House disagrees strongly that it should be arming Assad opponents, saying that ….“there are elements to the Syrian opposition that do not share the democratic ideas of the broad Syrian people – who are not necessarily friends of the United States.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/05/31/150747/mitt-romney-obama-offer-different.html?storylink=addthis#.T8kaPOr6_i0.blogger
Russian Church Opposes Syrian Intervention
Leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church say protecting Syria’s Christians means supporting the rule of Bashar al-Assad. It’s a position the government cannot ignore.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/europe/russian-church-opposes-syrian-intervention.html
US students remember slain Syrian friend
After 14 months of unrest, the UN estimates that more than 10,000 people have been killed in Syria. With so many victims, the scale of the uprising is difficult to grasp. But the death of Bassel Shhadeh, a 28-year-old Syrian filmmaker, in the city of Homs has personalised the conflict for students and staff at Syracuse University in New York. Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey reports from New York.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3byr2Triegk&feature=youtube_gdata
VIDEO: Crises at heart of Syria’s opposition
As the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has said Syria could be moving towards a “catastrophic” civil war, the opposition based in Turkey is divided and beset by infighting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18291330#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Syrian refugees draining water-poor Jordan dry
Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who have fled from carnage and violence at home to neighbouring Jordan are draining the desert kingdom’s meager water resources, officials and experts say.
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-refugees-draining-water-poor-jordan-dry-160637584.html
Russia: Give us a good reason to jilt Syria’s Assad
One Russian analyst summed up Moscow’s resistance by saying, ‘We simply don’t believe Western leaders know what they’re doing, and we’re not listening to all that chatter anymore.’
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/gCfLYKyrxY8/Russia-Give-us-a-good-reason-to-jilt-Syria-s-Assad
You can’t say it enough: Syria is really different from Libya
Syria’s war is as violent today as at any point of the over year-long conflict, and a UN peace plan spearheaded by Kofi Annan is in tatters. But that doesn’t spell military intervention.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/ieJq0FfZgZg/You-can-t-say-it-enough-Syria-is-really-different-from-Libya
Killed by Syrian government — but young filmmaker had focused on Israel, Philip Weiss
Last night Charlie Rose asked Fawaz Gerges about the new Arab public opinion and the Israel-Palestine conflict. He said: Israel and the United States really are making a major strategic mistake, to underestimate, that deep down– yes the focus [of the Arab spring is] on domestic politics, but once the dust settles– the Palestinian conflict remains the most fundamental question, identity question for Arabs and Muslims.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/killed-by-syrian-government-but-young-filmmaker-had-focused-on-israel.html
UN body says changes to Canada’s immigration laws risk human rights violations
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/06/01/pol-un-report-torture-canada-milewski.html
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/43355.aspx
Tunisia’s police are allowed to use live rounds when needed, the interior minister warned Thursday after Salafist groups attacked police stations over the weekend.
http://news.yahoo.com/tunisia-warns-salafists-police-live-rounds-171519049.html
ICC lets Libya keep Kadhafi son pending legal challenge
Libya does not need to hand the son of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi over to the International Criminal Court while Tripoli contests the court’s jurisdiction, ICC officials said Friday.
http://news.yahoo.com/icc-lets-libya-keep-kadhafi-son-pending-legal-170651519.html