Mondoweiss » Today in Palestine http://mondoweiss.net The War of Ideas in the Middle East Mon, 28 May 2012 13:50:14 +0000 en hourly 1 UN Committee: Israeli system ‘tantamount to apartheid’ http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/un-committee-israeli-system-tantamount-to-apartheid.html http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/un-committee-israeli-system-tantamount-to-apartheid.html#comments Sun, 27 May 2012 14:37:44 +0000 Today in Palestine http://mondoweiss.net/?p=76668 link to mondoweiss.net Ethnic Cleansing / Land Theft & Destruction / Occupation & Apartheid / Exile & Restriction of Movement / Refugees Report: Israel issued 13,000 demolition orders against Palestinian real estate Haaretz newspaper said the Israeli civil administration issued 13,000 demolition warnings … Continue reading →]]> link to mondoweiss.net

Ethnic Cleansing / Land Theft & Destruction / Occupation & Apartheid / Exile & Restriction of Movement / Refugees

Report: Israel issued 13,000 demolition orders against Palestinian real estate
Haaretz newspaper said the Israeli civil administration issued 13,000 demolition warnings against Palestinians accused of unlicensed construction in Area C of the West Bank.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

UN report shows that, in contrast to the tight restrictions placed on Palestinian construction in Area C, the Civil Administration's regulations allow settlements to proliferate.
 

Israeli military order expels Palestinian family from its land
The Israeli occupation forces expelled on Friday a Palestinian family from an area south of Al-Khalil, claiming that it is a closed military zone in which Palestinians are not allowed to live.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

 Deir Istiya’s Farmers Pray for Their Trees
Wadi Qana, occupied West Bank—About 30 residents of Deir Istiya gathered under an olive tree in the village’s Qana Valley farmland on Friday, 18 May 2012, for midday prayers. They were praying for a miracle. Last month, Israel’s Civil Administration (ICA)—the deceptive title allotted to the governing body running its occupation of the West Bank—handed nine of Deir Istiya’s farmers orders to uproot over 1,400 olive trees by May 1st or face the consequences. Nafiz Mansour, whose extended family owns most of the farmland in Wadi Qana, is rather despondent when looking towards the future. “What can we do? We are up against the one of the strongest militaries in the world – they can do whatever they want. We are living on 22% of historic Palestine and the are taking more every day.”
 
Occupation to confiscate 30 dunums of Palestinian land in Deir Estia
The Israeli occupation issued a military order to confiscate 30 dunums (1 dunum= 1000 square meters) of Palestinian land in the village of Deir Estia in the northern West Bank district of Salfit.
 
Jewish settlers wound Palestinian, set dozens of dunums on fire
A Palestinian youth was shot in his abdomen while hundreds of cultivated dunums of land were set on fire during Jewish settlers attacks on a number of villages to the south of Nablus on Saturday.

Arbitrary checkpoint in the middle of Silwan
 In the late hours of  Wednesday The Israeli forces located a sudden Arbitrary checkpoint in between Beer Ayoub’s and al Abassiya’s area near the protest tent in Silwan. The Israeli forces provoked the locals and it raised the tension in the area.   2 days ago a lot of confrontations happened as a result of the Israeli soldiers’ and the settlers’ guards  provocations, The Israeli forces tried to invade a house through its roof in the Beer Ayoub area, and it lead to an angry reaction from the local youth that attacked the Forces using stones and molotov’s cocktails . During the confrontations the Israeli forces used robber bullets, sound and gas bombs, but it didn’t stop the people’s anger, the Forces tried to control the situation but couldn’t as a result of their provocations. 
 
Israeli undercover units deployed in Sheikh Jarrah
The Israeli occupation authorities have deployed undercover policemen in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem to arrest young Palestinians.
 
IOA blocks travel of liberated prisoner
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has blocked on Friday the travel of liberated prisoner Thawra Hamur to Jordan for treatment.
 
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- A group of Palestinians deported to Gaza after the Nativity Church siege in 2002 on Saturday disputed claims by a former economic adviser that they had signed an agreement to be exiled. The 26 deportees told Israeli forces during the siege that only Yasser Arafat could negotiate on their behalf, denying claims that they themselves gave their approval to be deported, a statement said. 
 
UN Committee 2012 Session Concludes Israeli System Tantamount to Apartheid
Between mid-February and early March 2012, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination held its 80th session, in which it evaluated the compliance of several states with the 1966 International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). Among these states was Israel, which became a party to the Convention in 1979. The Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations are notable because they establish that Israel’s policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) are tantamount to Apartheid, and additionally determine that many state policies within Israel also violate the prohibition on Apartheid as enshrined in Article 3 of the Convention.   ... Israel is a party to ICERD but has neither signed nor ratified the Apartheid Convention. 
 
Discerning the likely direction of events in the Middle East and their impact on the Palestinian refugees is a speculative but important step in trying to avoid pitfalls and policy errors of the past. The challenge is particularly difficult at this moment of great change: a financial crisis of systemic proportions, the rise of China and India as global actors, the accelerating impact of climate change, and the start of the Obama presidency in the United States. This contribution briefly examines the current situation of Palestinian refugees before presenting an overview of wider trends in the world refugee populations under United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) jurisdiction with a particular focus on repatriation flows, resettlement, and local integration. It then focuses on possible scenarios in the resolution of the Middle East conflict, encompassing the continuation of the status quo of Israeli domination, the debate on bi-nationalism, and the two-state model for a peaceful solution. It concludes by examining these possible scenarios and applying them to specific options and programmes for the refugees and by arguing that demographic growth, the continuing preference of the international community for repatriation as a preferred option for refugees, and the results of climate change are the issues that will have the most significant impact on the future of the Palestinian refugees.
 
Did the State Department just create 5 million Palestinian refugees?
An analysis by the academic journal Refugee Survey Quarterly projected that if that definition remains intact, there will be 11 million Palestinian refugees by 2040 and 20 million by 2060. 
 
Palestinians in the occupied territories, the diaspora and in refugee camps protested earlier this month on the 64th anniversary of the Nakba, commemorating the expulsion of a quarter million Palestinians by nascent Israeli forces. Palestinians were sending a message to the world that the right to return to their homes would not be forgotten, and that millions of refugees are awaiting a solution.
 
Symbols of Nakba, Visions of Return: Al Majdal Special Issue on the Nakba and Resistance
For peoples engaged in struggle, the potency of symbolism is undeniable. In the Palestinian case, the symbols of struggle cover the world throughout which we have been dispersed, and exhibit the depth of a century-old quest for freedom. Among the most potent of these symbols is the kufiyyeh, a headdress associated with 1936-1939 Rebellion against British occupation and Zionist colonization. Large metal keys have become emblazoned in the Palestinian collective memory because refugees carried the keys to their homes to which they were sure they would return. Other symbols include Naji al-Ali’s Handhala, a caricature character with the spiky hair of a hedgehog bearing witness to the bitter ironies of loss and victory; the map of a homeland resembling a sharp shard of glass carved out by European powers and gifted to the world’s most famous Diaspora, only to create today’s largest and longest standing refugee population; and a flag designed as part of a British colonial campaign against its rival Ottoman empire, later to become a banned symbol of resistance raised in acts of defiance by protesting youth throughout the 1980s.
 
Siege of Gaza
 
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Two young men in their 20s sustained injuries Saturday while they worked inside a smuggling tunnel in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Gaza medical official Adham Abu Salmiya said the two were evacuated to Abu Yousif al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah for medical treatment. Since Israel and Egypt imposed a crippling siege on the Gaza Strip in 2006, about 170 Palestinians were killed in accidents in smuggling tunnels Gazans have been depending on to bring all kinds of merchandise from Egypt. More than 700 were injured. 
 
WHO adopts resolution slamming Israel's siege on Gaza
The general assembly of the World Health Organization adopted unanimously a draft resolution submitted by Arab countries including Saudi Arabia condemning the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
 
Fear to CPDS: Short Documentaries Tell the Story, Talgha Bendie – Gaza
The Centre for Political and Development Studies (CPDS) had the privilege of having Harry Fear, a young independent film maker, present a lecture on the importance of short documentaries. Harry who is 23 hails from Oxford, England. He has made many short documentaries which highlight issues such as social injustices which take place around the world. Fear recently returned from South Africa where he shot some short documentaries on location. He is currently working in the Gaza Strip shooting short documentaries which have a running time of up to thirty minuets or less and hopes to show the world the reality of life in Gaza as opposed to the mainstream bias of the Palestinian/ Israeli conflict. 
 
Power of Culture: PalFest Breaks the Siege of Gaza, Ayah Bashir - Gaza
Amid the focus on the economic hardships caused by Israel's ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, it has been easy for many to overlook the fact that the territory's 1.6 million people have been kept under a cultural siege as well. This is ironic because much international debate has emphasized the rights and wrongs of cultural boycott of Israel in the context of the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. For years, the Palestine Festival of Literature — PalFest — has been trying to break this siege.
 
Israeli Violence and Aggression / Attacks on Peaceful Protest
 
IOF troops open fire at southern Gaza
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened heavy machinegun fire at the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis, to the south of Gaza Strip, on Saturday morning, local sources said.

An Israeli settler shot and wounded a Palestinian man on Saturday in a clash that began when a group of settlers set fire to fields belonging to a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, officials said. Residents said about 25 settlers, some of them carrying guns, set fire to wheat fields in the village of Orif, which is near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
 
WATCH: Settlers set fire to Palestinian olive grove, man shot, Noam Sheizaf
Eyewitness report that a Palestinian who tried to put out a fire started by settlers in Urif was shot and injured. Throughout the day, there were reports of settlers from Yitzhar trying to set fire to Palestinian olive groves near the village of Urif, south of Nablus in the West Bank. The entire area is know for its frequent confrontations between settlers and local farmers. A team from B’Tselem who arrived at the spot caught one of the attacks on camera; Sarit Michaeli, spokesperson for B’Tselem who filmed the video, told me she had a very clear view of the settlers torching the field.
 
Jewish settler runs over Palestinian child
A six-year-old Palestinian child was rushed to hospital on Friday after a Jewish settler ran over him with his car near a Ramallah village.
 
Army Attacks Bil’in’s Weekly Nonviolent Protest
The Friends of Freedom and Justice Committee in Bil’in village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, reported Friday that dozens of residents and international supporters were treated for the effects of teargas inhalation after Israeli soldiers attacked the weekly nonviolent protest against the illegal Annexation Wall and Settlements.
 
IOF soldiers quell weekly village march in Beit Ummar
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) quelled on Saturday the weekly peaceful anti wall march in Beit Ummar village, to the north of Al-Khalil, local sources said.
 
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) persisted in attacking the weekly peaceful marches against the segregation wall and settlement expansion.
 
Detainees

IOF soldiers arrest Palestinian child, Jerusalemites
IOF arrested on Saturday a child from the Dhohsheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, while other forces raided several towns in Al-Khalil on Friday night and set up roadblocks on their entrances.

Hunger Strikers / Other Prisoner News
 
Abu Kweik to resume hunger strike after his administrative detention extended
Hamas official Hussein Abu Kweik said he would go on open hunger strike once again to protest the Israeli court order to extend his administrative detention for three months.
 
Sarsak and Rikhawi continue their hunger strike
Two Palestinian prisoners, held by the Israeli occupation, are still refusing food despite the deal to end a mass prisoner hunger strike, the prisoners’ center for studies reported.

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Prisoners in Israel's Huwwara detention center started a hunger strike Wednesday in protest of poor conditions, the Palestinian prisoners society said.  The society's lawyer visited the jail Thursday and said prisoners were returning their meals. Prisoner Rida Khalid, of al-Ain refugee camp in Nablus, said detainees were demanding decent food, cleaning products to wash their clothes and cells and adequate breaks, the society said in a statement. Khalid said prisoners' demands were basic yet the administration refused to meet them. He said the hunger strike would continue until the demands were met.
 
Hamas administrative detainees threaten to resume hunger strike
Administrative detainees from Hamas said they are seriously mulling over going on gradual hunger strike if the Israeli prison authority violated its agreement with them and extended their detention.
 
Ashkar: Prisoners from Gaza to receive family visits next month
The IPS told prisoners from Gaza that it will allow their relatives to visit them starting next June, under the recent agreement signed between the prisoners' leadership and the IPS.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Solidarity / BDS / Anti-Normalization
 
Rafah march for deteriorating hunger strikers as family appeals for support, Joe Catron
Hundreds of Palestinians, led by Scouts from throughout the besieged Gaza Strip, marched in Rafah today to demand that Israel release Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi, two detainees still on hunger strike.
link to mondoweiss.net
 
Palestinian Youth statement thanks football ultras group in Scotland for their solidarity
On the 13th of May, as the ‘deal’ to end the mass Palestinian hunger strike was about to emerge from the rumour-mill, far away from Palestine in Scotland’s biggest city Glasgow, a display of solidarity with the Palestinian hunger strikers was done supporters of Celtic Football Club. This was the final game of the season when Celtic were given the league trophy and crowned Scottish Football Champions and amid all the displays, colour, noise and party atmosphere a flurry of Palestine flags and a banner reading “Dignity is more precious than food” appeared in one particular corner section of the stadium.
link to weareallhanashalabi.wordpress.com
 
Sheikh Ekrema Sabri renews rejection of visits to Jerusalem
Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, the higher Islamic authority chairman, has renewed his rejection of Arab and Islamic visits to occupied Jerusalem in solidarity with Al-Aqsa mosque.

We are South Africans artists who have recently learned that in the course of your upcoming international tour (which will include Bulgaria, Greece, Lebanon and Turkey) the Red Hot Chili Peppers are also planning to perform in Israel in September. We appeal to you to heed the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel. As you may know, the boycott enjoys the support of the overwhelming amount of Palestinian civil society (including artists and artist groups) and an increasing number of progressive Israelis. You might wonder what purpose refusing to perform in Israel might serve? As a people whose parents and grandparents suffered under (and resisted) Apartheid in South Africa, our history is testament to the value and legitimacy that the international boycott had in bringing an end to the Apartheid regime in our country.  When artists and sportspeople began refusing to perform in South Africa, the world’s eyes turned to the injustices that were happening here. This then created a wave of pressure on politicians and world leaders representing their constituencies, to insist on a regime-change - this contributed to a free, democratic and non-racial South Africa. The same is not only possible for Palestine-Israel, but inevitable. The question is: on which side of history do you want to be? Performing in Apartheid South Africa during the 80s, or in Israel today, is choosing to be on the wrong side of history.
 
Why South Africa’s Decision to Rebrand Some Israeli Imports Packs a Punch, Karl Vick
The international effort to boycott products made in Israeli settlements got a boost recently from a formidable quarter. South Africa announced it would label imports from the West Bank not “Made in Israel” but perhaps “Made in Occupied Palestine.”  It seems a small thing. The new regulation stops well short of calling for a boycott on Ahava beauty products and other exports manufactured or grown by Israeli companies on Palestinian land occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
link to globalspin.blogs.time.com 
 
One of South Africa’s largest tertiary institutions, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, is a site of multiple controversies, but a near-disaster on Monday deserves more reflection because it points us in a positive direction: away from allying with the Israeli state and its apartheid policies during a time of heightened racism. A representative of Israel had been invited to speak but was then disinvited, after the university was called on by staff and students to respect the “academic boycott” of Israel.
 
Anti
 
It’s not every day you get the chance to grill a high-ranking representative of Lockheed Martin over its role in arming Israel. So I jumped at the opportunity to confront Chad Fulgham, a vice president of the corporation, with some unpalatable truths during his visit to Brussels today. After Fulgham had addressed a conference dealing with the future of NATO, I responded to an invitation for questions from the floor. “Mr Fulgham, in an advertisement published in the program of this event, Lockheed Martin says it is ‘proud to have contributed to smart defense with products such as the F-35’ fighter jets,” I said, looking directly at him. “Are you proud that in 2010, your company signed a contract to supply 20 of these fighter jets to the State of Israel?
 
Acting as "censor," New York's 14th Street Y abruptly cancels Jewish youth event on Israel boycott, Ali Abunimah
The 14th St Y in New York City abruptly canceled a Jewish youth educational event about boycotting of Israel in what organizers are calling an attempt to “censor” them.
 
Israel’s UK embassy plans Twitter campaign against boycott of Tel Aviv theater group, Ben White
The Israeli embassy in London, along with pro-Israel bodies in Britain, is coordinating a planned effort to counter the call for a boycott of drama group Habima, it has been revealed.
 
Israeli / Zionist Racism and Discrimination
 
During a class on Sabbath halacha relating to religious physicians, the spiritual leader of Shas said that while doctors are expected to do everything in their power – even if it requires violating the Sabbath – in order to save Jews whose lives are in danger, the same does not apply for gentiles.    "If a gentile were to get injured in a car accident during Sabbath, and he is brought to the hospital – Israel must not treat him," he said.
 
Following Wednesday's violent protest against African migrants in Tel Aviv, Likud MK Danny Dannon called to remove African asylum seekers from population centers in Israel. Speaking to Haaretz, Dannon said that the immediate solution for calming the situation and for putting a stop to the violence requires the evacuation of the African migrants from south Tel Aviv. "The infiltrators must be distanced immediately," he said. "We must expedite the construction of temporary detention facilities and remove Africans from population centers." MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union), who makes regular appearances at protests against the migrant population of Tel Aviv, nonetheless said he was “very upset by the violence.” Ben Ari pointed out, however, that “there are things that are outside of my control, that’s the reality.” Ben Ari expressed satisfaction that his campaign to remove the migrant population from Tel Aviv has begun to gain momentum. “Suddenly we see MK’s from Likud and Kadima showing up at protests. Suddenly I hear the Interior Minister saying things I’ve said myself,” said Ben Ari.
 
Mob against migrants: How far can the violence go?, Dahlia Scheindlin
The rioting last night in south Tel Aviv against African migrants – some of them asylum seekers –  was another one of those moments that paralyzed me with a mixture of disbelief, horror and sorrow. The photos of smashed windows were reflexively associated in many Jewish minds with Kristallnacht, as many people on social networks pointed out. One photo of Likud MK Danny Danon standing on a platform exhorting the masses to expel the strangers in their midst was reflexively associated in my mind with Benjamin Netanyahu “on the balcony” circa 1994 or 1995.
 
There is a disturbing connection to be made between Baron Cohen’s Zionist politics and his willingness to exploit real communities and to bastardize ethnic imagery. Zionism, an ideology that can accommodate liberal and humanistic discourses, cannot be practiced without a concomitant abrogation of the rights of those who are not Jewish, a reality that becomes even more severe when we consider that the vast majority of Palestine’s indigenous inhabitants are Muslim and Christian.
 
Other News and Developments
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released the US State Dept.'s annual report on human rights Thursday, criticizing Palestinian security forces for abusing detainees and restricting civil liberties. The 2011 report's sharpest criticism was leveled at the Hamas government which controls Gaza, but it also noted alleged violations by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and Israeli occupation in the West Bank.  It said the three most egregious violations across the occupied territories were arbitrary arrest and associated torture and abuse, restrictions on civil liberties, and government impunity in Gaza. 
 
Analysis / Op-ed
 
The Electronic Intifada Weekly Podcast - 24 May 2012
This week’s podcast includes several reports of home and property demolitions by Israeli forces against West Bank Palestinians as well as Palestinians with Israeli citizenship; an interview with BDS organizer and activist Nada Elia; and more!
 
In recent years, the one-state solution has claimed a large proportion of the Palestine/Israel bandwidth. For many people, interest in the issue arose out of necessity. The two-state solution lay still-born or smoldering – and apartheid was as untenable as ever. Others – like me – have never believed in a partition plan for Palestine. Liberalism and equal rights hold their own special appeal. That’s something no amount of moralistic or historical gymnastics can obviate. It was with a focus on the future that several of us at Harvard began to work toward a one-state conference. The main idea, however, was grounded in the present. Our goal – which built on the work done by many before us – was to begin exploring what a shared state could look like. We also wanted to encourage others to begin thinking seriously about alternatives to the two-state model. I alluded to the reason for that above: the two-state solution is over. Completely. Unequivocally. It’s worth briefly reviewing why.
 
Shiri Krebs is a PhD student at Stanford University law school. She was an international law advisor to Israeli Supreme Court president Dorit Beinisch and a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute.  She published a paper (for Hebrew readers, Haaretz offers this story) this month in the Vanderbilt Journal of Transitional Law about the rubber stamp offered by the Israel’s highest court to the security services in cases of administrative detention.  She pointedly argues against the reputation the Court enjoys for being “interventionist” in protecting the rights of security detainees and offering a robust defense of democratic rights.
 
German aid to Israel’s war machine is an invitation to abuse human rights, Annette Groth
Israel is constantly increasing its military expenditure. Recently published data indicate that Israel’s spending on “defense” rose by almost 7 percent in 2011, compared to the previous year. The business opportunities provided by a brutal occupation have helped three Israeli companies secure a place on the list of the world’s top arms dealers (“Business as usual for top arms producers despite slowdown in arms sales, says SIPRI,” Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 27 February 2012). All three of these firms — Elbit, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael — happen to be recipients of scientific research grants from the European Union European Union. This reflects how the EU has been eager to nurture both its relationship with Israel and the international market in “security goods.”
 
This week a sobering and highly informative closed door seminar was held on the plight of Palestinian Prisoners in the elegant surroundings of London’s Westminster Central Hall, a stone’s throw away from the Houses of Parliament and the 11th century Westminster Abbey, the all affirmation of stability and continuity — in starkest contrast to testimony at the proceedings of the meeting.  The seminar, hosted by Middle East Monitor, had been planned and organized at the height of the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike. Although most prisoners are reported to have ended their desperation-driven fasts following a deal with the Israeli authorities, the issues surrounding their shocking treatment and imprisonment are unchanged.
 
What are Israeli sweets doing in Sidon? How did they reach the heart of the Ein Al-Hilweh refugee camp? According to newspaper reports, this candy was distributed to shops with wrappers indicating that they were “made in Syria and Turkey.” When this packaging was removed, the original wrapper appeared with Hebrew writing. This is not the first time that Israeli products have intruded into our daily lives. For example, those who work in shops importing American or European clothes know very well that some of the famous names are made in enemy factories in occupied Palestine and their labels clearly say “made in Israel.” Moreover, their bosses make them pick out the clothes and remove the labels, threatening to fire them if they told anyone.
 
Last month, students at universities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank cast their votes for student governments. Unlike their popularity-contest equivalents at universities throughout the world, Palestinian student elections have long been the subject of national attention. In particular, Birzeit University, located in the town of Birzeit outside Ramallah, is seen as a forerunner of developments within the broader Palestinian political scene. Despite another year of electoral marginality, the student Left at Birzeit is confident that it will overcome the trials that confront it.
 
Being compared to Caroline Glick or the AIPAC crowd is never nice. I understand the superficial case for drawing direct comparisons—and I understand why it’s important for Peter Beinart to make the argument. But it’s not a good one. It is true that both Glick and I recognize that the two-state outcome is a “fable,” and we both offer prescriptions for what to do about it. But that’s it for the commonalities. Beinart and Glick however, may have some uncomfortable things in common.
 
Published on May 26, 2012 by : The Poem is called "Draw a Moustache on Antar's Face". Antar is a folk Arab warrior, he was a black slave and he grew up to be the hero of his tribe. He was in love with Abla and wrote many poems about his love for Abla. The poem likens Palestinian children to Antar in his childhood. The images are drawings from Palestinian children mostly from Gaza. - art was part of their therapy in the aftermath of Cast Lead. The poem calls on them to draw a moustache for Anter as he has grown into a warrior and draw for Abla, his beloved, a beautiful smile and laughter that sounds like bells chiming. The clip matches some of the drawings from the Palestinian children and real life images that inspired them.
 
JERUSALEM – As a result of the diplomatic momentum geared to disarm international suspicions over the explosive issue of Iran’s nuclear program, the one country not directly party to the two-track negotiation process feels more isolated than Iran. Following the putative breakthrough reached by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, according to which Iran would permit the nuclear watchdog to inspect secret Iranian military sites (including the Parchin base where nuclear weapons’ testing was apparently conducted in 2003), Israel fears the international community will lower its guard. 

The Elevation of Jeffrey Feltman
On one issue Feltman is remarkably consistent. When it comes to the Middle East, Feltman has been outspoken about the threats posed by Iran in the region. Whether in Beirut or Manama, he has publically denounced Iranian “interference” outside its own boundaries. At the same time, Feltman has generously offered US assistance to these same regimes. In other words, US interference is quite acceptable, but Iranian interference is utterly unacceptable. This might be adequate behavior for the diplomat of a country, but it is hardly the temperament for a senior UN official. It raises doubts about Feltman’s ability to be even-handed in his deliberations as a steward of the world’s political dilemmas.
 
A gripping, deeply informative account of the plunder, hypocrisy, and mass violence of plutocracy and empire; insightful, historically grounded and highly relevant to the events of today. This documentary is about the foreign policy of the United States. It demonstrates the importance of the political economy, the Mafia principle, propaganda, ideology, violence and force. It documents and explains how the policy is based on the interest of major corporations and a tiny elite to increase profits and the United States governments own interests in maintaining and expanding it’s imperialistic influence. Inside the United States this has been made possible with a propaganda of fear for the horrible enemies like the Soviet Union, Communists and so on and a love for “free markets”, “democracy”, “freedom” and so on. Externally (and increasingly internally) this has caused massive poverty and suffering, genocide, war, coups, crushed unions and popular movements and environmental destruction.
 
Bahrain
 
On 20 May a Bahraini court granted bail to the prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab. However the charges of ‘insulting a national institution’ have not been dropped and, despite paying the bail amount, he remains in detention awaiting another court hearing on a separate charge. This hearing is scheduled for 28 May.
 
Bahrain to quit Arabsat to protest Iran channels
Bahrain will stop broadcasting its channels on satellite operator Arabsat to protest an Iran-led "hostile" media campaign, the state news agency BNA reported on Saturday.
 
Last month in Bahrain’s capital of Manama, the police, supported by armored vehicles and troops, fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters to ensure a Formula 1 race would be showcased as scheduled. Inside the stadium, spectators like BBC's Dan Roan described the atmosphere as “relaxed”—like any other F-1 race. But across the city, burning tires set ablaze by pro-democracy protesters sent clouds of black smoke into the horizon as part of the opposition's “three days of rage.” Now, the furor of the international media that surrounded the race has unfortunately already moved on, returning to ignoring the repression of the country's democracy movement. Until the F-1 race, Bahrain’s uprisings had been largely passed over by the international media. It took a Grand Prix to swing the spotlight onto a crisis that’s been neglected and downplayed by the western media and politicians in the past year. The fact that much of the media focus fell on the “recklessness” of the F-1 organizers raises the question: Why did it take the media circus of a Grand Prix to shine light on the ongoing repression in Bahrain?
 
Fueled by a desire for liberty and dignity, the region’s various uprisings continue unabated. While each uprising faces its own set of challenges and obstacles, various interests have worked to ensure that a semblance of the previous geo-political status quo survives this staggering onslaught of people power. Amid the regional upheaval, world attention has predominately focused on events in Syria while Bahrain has teetered on the edge, with the repressive Al-Khalifa regime maintaining power with the help and encouragement of its Western and regional allies.  Unlike the Assad regime, the Al-Khalifa’s have been given a free hand to repress their own people thanks in large part to their close alliance with Saudi Arabia and Western powers. Despite attempts to silence the persistent intifada in Bahrain, whether by framing the dispute as sectarian or whitewashing the regime’s repression, the fight for the future of Bahrain, and the region as a whole, remains unclear.
 
Egypt
 
Cairo's poor hope new president will help them
As Egyptians took part in the country's first free presidential election, residents of one of Cairo's poorest quarters expressed hope that a new leader would help them with a simple request — finding a new home.
 
Hamdeen Sabbahi will file a lawsuit calling for the suspension of Egypt's presidential election because of alleged voting irregularities and a pending case over the right of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq to stand, Sabbahi's lawyer said Saturday. Sabbahi is a leftist presidential candidate who did not make it into the run-offs by a very small margin. "We will present an appeal on behalf of candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi ... to the Presidential Elections Commission, citing a series of irregularities ... that have affected the outcome of the first round," lawyer Essam El-Islamboly told Reuters.
 
A revolutionary activist group in Mansoura has accused the Ahmed Shafiq campaign of buying votes and threatening voters with violence at the polls. Shafiq took first place in the governorate, with 450,000 votes, but in a statement from the “Catch the Feloul” group, the organization said Shafiq had obtained many of these votes either by purchasing them or threatening voters with violence. “Catch the Feloul” is an activist group which works to expose members of the former regime and educate people about them.
 
Independent polls are pointing to a second round run-off between Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammad Mursi, and a man vowing to bring back security, Ahmad Shafik. These results, if they hold true, would come as a surprise with pre-voting indicators suggesting former foreign minister Amr Moussa and Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul-Fotouh were the frontrunners heading into the count. The second round is sure to intensify a showdown between the powerful Muslim Brotherhood – the largest bloc in parliament – and the ruling military, who are no doubt hoping for a Shafik victory to ensure the army retains its power in Egyptian politics.
link to english.al-akhbar.com 
 
Egypt Election: Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Could Face Mubarak's Ex-Prime Minister in Runoff
Preliminary results from Egypt’s first-ever competitive presidential election indicate there may be a runoff between Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, and Ahmed Shafik, the former prime minister under ousted president Hosni Mubarak. The elections appear to have been relatively free and fair, with voter turnout estimated at around 40 percent. While official results will not be announced until Tuesday, Morsi appears to be in the lead. The two candidates competing for second place are Shafik, the anti-revolutionary former prime minister, and Hamdeen Sabahi, a longtime protester of the Mubarak regime. We get an update from Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous in Cairo.
 
ALEXANDRIA - Praying for the best, Mabrooka Hassan Ali sat with her husband under the shade beside their voting station on the Mediterranean coastline. Ali, in her mid-60s, said she had just finished casting her vote for Hamdeen Sabbahi, Egypt’s secular, nationalist candidate. “I did it for the martyrs,” said Ali, who is from downtown Alexandria, the governorate’s most densely populated district. “I did it because we’re tired of being slapped around, youth have no jobs and we want to live.” Alexandria is the home of Khaled Said, a young man who was beaten to death in broad daylight by police in June 2010 and is considered the first martyr of the revolution. It is also considered a stronghold for Islamists, with thousands of Salafi followers and Muslim Brothers. Over the past few weeks, however, Alexandria has proven to be full of surprises.
 
Why Did Sabbahi - 'One of Us' - Do So Well?
During revolutionary times, remarkable social, cultural and economic changes occur. Each phase potentially carries new surprises as a reflection of these emerging changes. The emergence of Nasserist candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi in third place, so far, behind the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, Mohamed Mursi and Mubarak-era Ahmed Shafiq reveals the significant portion of Egyptians thirsty for social justice. After Islamists – the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists – successfully campaigned for a 'yes' vote in a referendum on the constitutional declaration in March 2011, and then swept the parliamentary elections later in the year, the Islamists managed to win only on average forty-two percent of votes in the presidential elections.
 
For years we have heard pro-Israeli supporters talk about how Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, well, that argument is no longer valid with the recent historical elections taking place in Neighboring Egypt. Pro-Israeli groups have often sought to legitimize themselves with this argument, that by virtue of being a democracy, Israel should be supported, and that since Israel is a democracy, it shows that they are somehow better than the Arabs.
 
Iran
 
Straight after P5 +1 talks over Iran's nuclear program in Baghdad, the head of the U.S. negotiating team, Wendy Sherman, traveled to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisers on Friday. Sherman will update Israeli officials on the talks in Baghdad, and on preparations for the third round of talks in Moscow on June 18 and 19. Sherman, who is undersecretary of state for political affairs, will also discuss broader bilateral and regional issues with senior Israeli officials during her visit, the State Department said in a statement on Thursday. Sherman will also "reaffirm our unshakable commitment to Israel's security," the statement said without mentioning the just-concluded Iran talks in Baghdad.
 
WASHINGTON, May 25, 2012 (IPS) - Negotiations between Iran and the United States and other members of the P5+1 group in Baghdad ended in fundamental disagreement Thursday over the position of the P5+1 offering no relief from sanctions against Iran.
 
Just as the "world powers" – as they’re eerily referred to in news accounts – were rejecting Tehran’s proposal to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent in exchange for lifting the draconian sanctions against Iran, an American cargo ship sent out a distress call near the Strait of Hormuz: pirates were attacking them.
 
Iraq
 
President Jalal Talabani posted on his website a plea for Iraqi's leaders to end the political dispute that threatens to break apar the Coalition government, and perhaps Iraq itself. Meanwhile, at least nine Iraqis were killed and 14 more were wounded.
 
Officials: Roadside bomb kills 3 Iraqi soldiers
Officials say a roadside bombing in northern Iraq has killed three soldiers.
 
Baghdad mortar attack kills one, wounds six
A mortar attack in Baghdad killed one person and wounded six others Thursday, in the second attack in Iraq's capital during key talks on Iran's nuclear programme, security and medical officials said.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
Lebanon
 
Kidnapped Lebanese Shiite pilgrims 'not in Turkey'
A group of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Syria and said by Lebanese authorities to have reached Turkey are not in the country after all, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Saturday.
 
Sayyed Nasrallah to Deliver Speech on Resistance and Liberation Day
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is to deliver a speech on the twelfth anniversary of Liberation.
 
Hezbollah chief Nasrallah: No fence will protect Israel
Speaking in televised address on anniversary of Israeli pullout from south Lebanon, leader of militant group warns Hezbollah has missiles that can reach any point in Israel.  In some of his harshest words against Israel in several months, Nasrallah delivered a similar speech two weeks ago, in which he said that Hezbollah was capable of striking any target in Israel. He also stressed that "the days when we fled and they did not are over."
 
May 25: South Lebanon Returns Home
On 25 May 2000, the Israeli army was forced out of the Lebanese territory it had occupied for 22 years. 12 years later, Lebanon celebrates its liberated lands which continue to be under threat from Israels military. Israeli fighter jets violate Lebanese airspace on a daily basis. In summer of 2006, Israel launched a war to destroy the Lebanese resistance.
 
With the expulsion of Israeli troops from South Lebanon in May 2000, hundreds of Lebanese collaborators and their families fled with the occupiers. Many have since returned and faced reduced prison sentences, others remain behind the wall that Israel is erecting to block the view of a land where it once roamed.
 
Mohammad Safa is a veteran of Ansar detention center set up by Israel during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Since his stint at Ansar, he has become one of the most prominent advocates for prisoners, detainees and the missing in Lebanon.
 
Lebanon is always on the verge of civil war, but this status does not always mean that civil war is necessarily around the corner. It may happen tomorrow, or Lebanese may find a way to postpone its eruption, but civil war is inevitable. Something is in the air in Lebanon and it reminds people of my generation of the atmosphere that preceded the civil war of 1975. But there are some differences.
 
Saudi Arabia
 
Militants post appeal of kidnapped Saudi diplomat
Militants have posted online a video in which a man identifying himself as a Saudi diplomat kidnapped by al-Qaida in Yemen appeals to Saudi Arabia's rulers to respond to his captors' demands and save his life.
link to news.yahoo.com

War Against Activists: Turning Saudi Arabia Into A Big Prison
In a secret session on 10 April 2012, the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh sentenced Mohammed Saleh Al-Bajady, who was denied legal representation, to four years in prison followed by a five-year travel ban. A day later, the same court sentenced Dr. Yousif Al Ahmad, dean of the law faculty of Imam Mohamed Bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, to five years in prison, a five-year travel ban, and a 27,500-dollar fine. The sentence of both Saudi political activists demonstrates a recent shift in the legal proceedings of Saudi prisoners of conscience. Not only has the imposition of travel bans as a form of punishment been alarmingly increased; peaceful political activists are also being tried in a court whose mandate is to prosecute terrorist and security-related offenses. Where the Ministry of Interior was once the sole institution that issued such punishments, today it is using the courts to give the arbitrary travel bans a legitimate façade. The ministry’s ability to render arbitrary travel bans and overstep the judicial branch are, however, still intact. In light of increasing political activism and mobilization across the Kingdom in the last year, the ministry has resorted to unwarranted travel bans and the special court to suppress freedom of speech and to give a distorted legal legitimacy to its orchestrated attack on dissent.
 
Syria
 
UN observers count at least 90 bodies, including 32 children, after Syrian government forces attacked the town of Houla, sparking foreign condemnation.
 
The Lede Blog: U.N. Observers View Bodies in Syrian Village, Robert Mackey
After what Syrian activists called a massacre in a village near Homs, video posted online showed United Nations military observers viewing dozens of bodies prepared for burial on Saturday.
 
Haunting images of dozens of dead children in Syria, among 90 killed in new regime attack
BEIRUT - Gruesome video Saturday showed rows of dead Syrian children lying in a mosque in bloody shorts and T-shirts with gaping head wounds, haunting images of what activists called one of the deadliest regime attacks yet in Syria's 14-month-old uprising.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
Videos of the victims from the Houla massacre, many of whom are children - very graphic
link to www.youtube.com
link to www.youtube.com
 
Ban-Ki moon blames the regime for 'unacceptable' violence as activists say 50 civilians killed in Homs.
 
Kuwaiti rally condemns Syria 'massacre'
Hundreds of Kuwaitis including several MPs rallied outside the Syrian embassy on Saturday to condemn a reported massacre in the Syrian town of Houla and to demand the arming of the rebel Free Syrian Army.
 
The Syrian regime and an increasingly organized rebel force are carrying out illegal killings and torturing their opponents.
link to www.freep.com
 
Rebel face control: US ‘to screen Syrian opposition for arms supply’
Washington is an inch from starting shipping arms to the opposition in Syria, anonymous US officials say. The biggest hitch is that it wants to be sure American guns will be pointed in the right direction and won’t end up in the hands of Al Qaeda.
 
Free Syrian Army says cannot commit to peace plan
The Free Syrian Army said on Saturday it could no longer commit to the ceasefire brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan unless there was an immediate solution to regime violence.
 
Opposition has failed Syrian people, says outgoing leader Burhan Ghalioun
The head of Syria’s main opposition bloc, Burhan Ghalioun, admitted after resigning Thursday that the Syrian National Council (SNC) was riven with divisions and has not lived up to Syrians’ sacrifices. “We were not up to the sacrifices of the Syrian people.
 
Syrian troops continue protest crackdowns
Activists say two killed in northern city of Aleppo, with reports of violence in Homs, Idlib, Damascus and Inkhel.

American banks are refusing to let Syria’s United Nations delegation open a bank account, its ambassador said Thursday blaming sanctions imposed over the conflict in his country. Syria’s U.N. envoy Bashar Jaafari said the refusal by U.S. banks was a “flagrant violation” of the U.N. charter. Syria was among a group of countries that lost their bank accounts when a major U.S. institution closed its branch at the United Nations last year. With U.S. banks applying tougher rules against all diplomatic missions because of fears over terrorist financing regulations, Syria’s U.N. mission was only able to find a new account in Washington. “This new bank has now closed our accounts unexpectedly,” Jaafari told a U.N. General Assembly committee.
 
Tucked away in the underground garage of a nondescript apartment building in northern Jordan, the door to “the warehouse” is easy to miss. It looks like it should be a janitor’s closet or a boiler room. In fact, the tiny basement apartment is a way station for smugglers moving a vital product.
 
The United States is reportedly developing a plan to vet members of the Free Syrian Army before Arab nations transfer arms to them. It hopes to avoid arming muhahideen who turn against America should they succeed in bringing down the Assad regime. The US does not want another al-Qaida on its hands. The race to arm Syria is heating up as Saudi arms shipments are said to be getting through now. Russia reportedly also has an arms shipment en route to Syria.  The UN is asking both sides not to send arms to Syria, but in vain. A new U.N. report blamed both sides for human rights violations, but explains that the Syrian army is still killing more people than the opposition.
 
Since the Washington Post’s May 16 report on an influx of arms to Syrian opposition forces, the Obama administration’s plans for a proxy war against Syria have become clearer still. The Post wrote of “significantly more and better weapons” reaching oppositionists, “paid for by Persian Gulf nations [Saudi Arabia and Qatar] and coordinated in part by the United States,” based upon a perspective that “an expanding military confrontation is inevitable.” Saudi Arabia and Qatar were sending weapons with approval from Washington, which has “expanded contacts with opposition forces to provide the gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure.”
 
U.S. and Other World News
 
At least 10 people were killed and several others sustained injuries when unmanned US predator drone targeted a mosque in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan Agency on Thursday.

32 Britons could be killed in drone strikes, claims lawyer
“I understand that there are 32 people who British intelligence are concerned about and may provide intelligence to the US that could result in them being killed,” he said.
 
IT was James, a thickset American interrogator nicknamed “the Elephant,” who first told Lakhdar Boumediene that investigators were certain of his innocence, that two years of questioning had shown he was no terrorist, but that it did not matter, Mr. Boumediene says. The interrogations would continue through what ended up being seven years, three months, three weeks and four days at the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. An aid worker handling orphans in Sarajevo, Mr. Boumediene (pronounced boom-eh-DIEN) found himself swept up in the panic that followed Sept. 11, 2001. He likens himself to a caged cat, toyed with and tormented by fate and circumstance. “I learned patience,” Mr. Boumediene, 46, said. He is a private man, trim and square-jawed and meticulously kempt, his eyes set in deep gray hollows. “There is no other choice but patience.”
 
Propaganda firm owner admits attacks on journalists
The co-owner of a major Pentagon propaganda contractor publicly admitted Thursday that he was behind a series of websites used in an attempt to discredit two USA TODAY journalists who had reported on the contractor.
 
www.TheHeadlines.Org
]]> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/un-committee-israeli-system-tantamount-to-apartheid.html/feed 1 Israel takes 30 dunams of land near Salfit ‘for security reasons’ http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/israel-takes-30-dunams-of-land-near-salfit-for-security-reasons.html http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/israel-takes-30-dunams-of-land-near-salfit-for-security-reasons.html#comments Sat, 26 May 2012 18:23:33 +0000 Kate http://mondoweiss.net/?p=76646 link to www.maannews.net

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid

Activist: Israel to seize more land in Salfit district
SALFIT (Ma‘an) 24 May -- Israeli authorities issued a decision to seize 30 dunums of land belonging to Palestinians from Deir Istiya, near Salfit, activists said Thursday.  Rizik Abu Nasser, head of the popular campaign against settlements in Salfit, quoted the order as saying the land was being seized "for security reasons and to prevent terrorist operations." The mayor, Nathmi Salman, condemned the decision. He said it was the third such order in a row to seize land from Deir Istiya.
link to www.maannews.net

Occupation forces Palestinian to demolish his house adjacent to Al-Aqsa
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 25 May -- Jerusalemite citizen, Azzam Afifi, demolished his house, on Wednesday, to avoid his arrest or pay fine, in context of the occupation's continuing restriction policy against Jerusalemites. The Israeli Municipal Court in Occupied Jerusalem has ordered the demolition of Afifi's house under the pretext of being constructed without permit ... He pointed out that the demolition order was issued in October 2010 where he was forced to tear down part of his own home. However, the court has ordered again in May 2012 to demolish the whole house, giving him a respite of 60 days or he will be jailed or fined.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israel expands settlement projects in West Bank
OCCUPIED WEST BANK (PIC) 24 May -- Jad Ishak, director of applied research center Areej specialised in settlements affairs, said that settlement building area in 8 districts in the occupied West Bank is larger than the Palestinian construction area in the same districts. Ishak told Quds press that the current Jewish settlements projects on Palestinian territories will turn 180 outposts in occupied West Bank and Jerusalem to settlements. The total outpost numbers which have been built since 1998 when the former PM Ariel Sharon ordered to occupy the Palestinian mountain tops, has reached 400 settlements.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Twilight Zone: 'I too am willing to die for this land' / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 18 May -- A visit to Biddya, a once-thriving West Bank town that was forced to rely on agriculture after the start of the second intifada ... "We used to travel from here to work every day, straight through all the way to Petah Tikva," whispers a villager named Yousef Abu-Sofia as we stand in front of the barrier that killed his bustling business - a sophisticated electronic fence that was erected at the edge of the shopping street that leads into the adjacent village, Mas'ha. This is the separation fence, which turned the long street into a road with no exit to the west from Biddya, with its approximately 20,000 residents. Nobody leaves and nobody enters through the closed yellow iron gate in the fence ... On the land of Mas'ha, a neighborhood of large gray edifices is under construction, an expansion of the settlement of Etz Efraim. "When the bulldozers arrive, it will already be too late," Sabah Der-Ahmed told us. The last time that Israel tried sending the bulldozers in to expropriate this land, his father, Ibrahim, tried to block them with his body and was shot to death by the soldiers, in front of his son.
link to www.haaretz.com

Violence / Raids / Arrests

Jewish Israelis attack students in Tel Aviv
PNN -- On Friday, 25th May, six female Palestinian students from the al-Tur School for Girls were injured when a group of Jewish Israelis attacked them in Yarkon in Tel Aviv. The attack occurred while the students were on a field trip in Manachem Begin Park. Two Jewish men and two Jewish women threw stones at the girls and beat them with sticks, while they were playing in paddleboats. The girls suffered bruises and six students were transferred to the hospital in Tel Aviv.
link to english.pnn.ps

Witnesses: Settler runs over child near Ramallah
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 25 May -- A settler ran over a child on the main road between Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidam villages on Friday, witnesses said. Ragheb Muhammad Tamimi, 6, was taken to Hadassah hospital in Ein Kareem, witnesses told Ma‘an. His health condition is unknown. The illegal settlement of Hallamish is located between the Ramallah area villages.
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli forces raid Hebron
PNN -- On Friday, 25th May, Israeli forces raided al-Thaheriyeh village, south of Hebron in the West Bank. Palestinian Sources said that a number of Israeli military jeeps raided several neighborhoods in al-Thaheriyeh and the soldiers roamed its streets.
link to english.pnn.ps

Israeli forces raid the West Bank, arrest Palestinians
PNN On Thursday, 24th May, Israeli forces raided Jenin governorate ... Security sources told Palestinian Official News Agency WAFA that Israeli forces raided al-Arka village, west of Jenin and arrested Alaa Bassam Yahya, 21, and Abdul Rahman Kamel Hammad, 27, after they broke into their houses and searched them. Israeli forces also raided Jaba' village, south of Jenin, and broke into the house of the released prisoner Nazeh Sa'id Abu Oun, Basel Mohammad Ghannam and Ibrahim Othman Hamamreh , after they searched their houses and interrogated the residents. Israeli forces arrested Abdul Salam Khader al-Herimi, 24, from Bethlehem city after they raided his house, searched it and rummaged with the contents.
link to english.pnn.ps

PA: Settlers torch farmland near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 24 May -- Israeli settlers on Thursday torched farmland near Nablus in the northern West Bank, a PA official said. Ghassan Doughlas told Ma‘an that residents of Yitzhar settlement set fire to large swathes of agricultural land in Madma village. Witnesses told Ma‘an that villagers clashed with the settlers and that Israeli forces intervened and detained two Palestinians, Ahmad Nassar, 20, and Muhammad Nassar, 23. An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers and border police were called to the area but she said there were no detentions. Meanwhile, Palestinian firefighters controlled the fires.
link to www.maannews.net

PCHR weekly report: 6 wounded, 30 abducted in 90 Israeli incursions this week [17-23 May]
IMEMC 25 May -- In its Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the week of 17– 23 May 2012, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) found that 4 non-violent protesters were wounded, and 30 Palestinians were abducted, including 12 children, by Israeli forces in the past week. In addition, a civilian was seriously wounded by Israeli troops south of Bethlehem, and a civilian was shot and seriously wounded in Gaza. Full Report
link to www.imemc.org

Why IDF soldiers stand idly by when settlers attack Palestinians / Dana Golan
972mag 25 May -- ...the soldier on the ground receives oral commands that preserve the order to do nothing in instances of Israeli fire towards Palestinians, and in instances of less severe violence, "to serve as a buffer." ... Perhaps its because I served in Hebron, or perhaps because I’ve been exposed to many soldier testimonies that describe incidents of settler violence towards Palestinians – but I cannot understand the Israeli public’s amazement surrounding the video from Saturday. After nearly 45 years of occupation, even those Israelis who never served in the Territories should already know that this is what life looks like in the "backyard" of our own State. This is the reality created by constant discrimination and the enforcement of two separate law regimes. The soldiers who just stood there should not be the targets of disgust for their unfit behavior. It is us, the civilians at home, who continue to send them there to enforce this discriminatory occupation, who should be looking in the mirror and asking ourselves how we let this reality develop and continue.
link to 972mag.com

American demands justice for her husband, murdered by Israel in broad daylight
Jerusalem (EI) 24 May by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours -- Moira Jilani’s voice wavers only once in a two-hour conversation, when she describes the impact the death of her husband, Ziad, has had on her three daughters ... Moira’s husband, 41-year-old Ziad Jilani, was shot and killed by Israeli border police officers on an East Jerusalem street in broad daylight two years ago. Moira and her three daughters -- Hannah, Mirage and Yasmin -- are still fighting to hold the Israeli officers who shot Ziad responsible ... "I just want the two men that shot him, with the bullets that my friends and my family’s taxpayer’s dollars paid for, behind bars. I’m an American, and they shot him with [American] taxpayers’ money."
link to electronicintifada.net

Gaza

Israel offered $6 million to victims of Gaza flotilla, say Turkish lawyers
Haaretz/Reuters 24 May -- One of several lawyers representing 465 victims and victims' relatives of the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid says Israel made proposal to him through an intermediary foreign ambassador a month ago ... He said the money would have been paid to a Jewish foundation in Turkey for distribution, and been followed by a statement of "regret" for the raid by the Israeli government. "I told the ambassador I did not think the offer was appropriate or moral and also discussed the issue with the victims and their friends and they also stated that they could not accept this," Ariturk said. link to www.haaretz.com

Dad does not want to know: a man on a Gaza roof / Mats Svensson
Pal. Chron. 24 May -- Daniel has returned home. He had felt a lump in his stomach even before stepping on the plane in Mumbai. He felt sick when he saw all the young boys and girls checking everyone’s identity at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv ... He had slept a lot in Goa. At first it had been difficult, but after three months he had started feeling better. It was above all nice to sleep on the beach, under the stars. Hear the voices and the sound of the waves. It was like he could hear normal sounds, hear life. Dad did not ask Daniel why he had had nightmares, why he had been feeling psychologically ill ... Daniel had wanted to tell them about his last year in Gaza ... In Gaza, Daniel spent most of his time on a roof top. They had taken over a two-story house. That was what he had really wanted to talk about. About the two families that had been forcibly removed.
link to palestinechronicle.com

Rafah's nicest tunnel: Siege meets surf in Gaza / Joe Catron
[photo essay] The Sea Huts are a coastal resort in Rafah, Palestine, a kilometer from the Egyptian border. Despite Israel's crippling siege of the Gaza Strip, the hotel's proprietors have engineered a solution to every need for their establishment, with the possible exception of paying customers. Because of the difficulty of importing building materials, the detached apartments, as well as the sculptures surrounding them, have been sculpted almost entirely from local clay ... The tunnel's design is conventional, if unusually spacious and well-lit. But unlike most in Rafah, it leads to the beach only meters away.
link to mondoweiss.net

Prisoners

Occupation extends administrative detention of two brothers from Al-Khalil
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 25 May -- The Israeli occupation authorities extended, on Thursday, the administrative detention of two brothers from the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil ... Sources from the family of Adeeb and Shafiq Qawasmeh, who are detained in the Negev desert prison, told PIC that the occupation authorities informed them of the extension of their administrative detention a further four months for the third time running. The sources said that the two brothers were arrested on 21 August 2011, during a broad campaign against Hamas supporters in al-Khalil district.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Sheikh Samih Alliwi is moved to administrative detention after his release
NABLUS (PIC) 24 May -- Ahrar center for prisoners studies and human rights stated that the Israeli intelligence had moved, on Tuesday evening, Sheikh Samih Alliwi, 50, to administrative detention immediately after his release. The center director, Fouad Khuffash, said that the detainee Samih's trial took place yesterday, represented by the lawyer Fares Abu Hassan who managed to get him released, the fact that was not welcomed by the Israeli intelligence service which moved him, after the lawyer's departure, to administrative detention for four months.
Khuffash added that the Intelligence service is using psychological torture against Palestinian prisoners. In addition it did not fulfill the agreement about limiting administrative detention, by contrast it has renewed the administrative detention of 25 detainees after the May 14 agreement.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Sick prisoner released to hospital
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 25 May -- Palestinian prisoner Zuheir Lubada arrived late Thursday to the national hospital in Nablus after being released from Israeli custody.  Fuad al-Khafsh, the director of Ahrar center for prisoners rights, said Lubada suffers from liver and kidney disorders and entered the intensive care unit.
link to www.maannews.net

The detainee Hassan Salameh to complete his university studies
GAZA (PIC) 25 May -- Sources confirmed that the detainee Hassan Salameh, a leader in Hamas military wing the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has registered at Al-Aqsa University in the Gaza Strip to study history. The sources confirmed to PIC that the detainee, who served 11 years in isolation, has registered at Al-Aqsa University in history department after he was released from isolation thanks to the Battle of the Empty Stomachs for Dignity that lasted 28 days. It is noted that the Al-Aqsa University has opened in coordination with the Ministry of Captives’ Affairs registration process for prisoners in occupation prisons.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Father of soccer player on hunger strike appeals for solidarity
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 24 May -- ...Mahmoud al-Sarsak, a forward in Palestine's national soccer team, has been detained without charge or trial since July 2009 when he was arrested while leaving Gaza for a match in the West Bank. He went on hunger strike on March 19 demanding to be informed of the reasons for his detention or released. He is being held in Ramle prison clinic. In a letter, al-Sarsak's father said it was "unbearable" for his family to see Israel awarded the hosting of the UEFA under-21s soccer championship and preparing to join the London Olympics "while it routinely arrests, tortures, imprisons and kills Palestinians, including football players, without consequence."
link to www.maannews.net

Jailed MP Aziz Dweik 'rejects exile offer'
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 24 May -- Jailed Hamas MP Aziz Dweik on Thursday rejected an Israeli proposal to release him to exile, a prisoners group said. Dweik, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, is being held in Ofer prison in administrative detention, without charge or trial. Israel offered to release him on condition he agreed to spend two years in exile, said Foad al-Khafsh, head of the Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights. Dweik said he would prefer to stay in jail, al-Khafsh told Ma‘an...
Some 27 Palestinian MPs are held in Israeli jails, 24 of them without charge or trial.
link to www.maannews.net

PLC denies group's claim of Dweik exile offer
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 25 May -- The office of the Palestinian legislative council's president on Friday denied a group's report that Israel had offered to release the imprisoned speaker of the council into exile ... Dweik's lawyer demanded that the Israeli military prosecution release him and he is still waiting for a response, the PLC said. Israel did not make an offer to release Dweik into exile, it added.
link to www.maannews.net

Jordanian prisoner exposed to attempted killing last month
AMMAN (PIC) 24 May -- The mother of Jordanian prisoner Merei Abu Sa'aida said the Israeli jailers in Nafha prison tried to assassinate her son on 24 April. The mother told a reporter for the Palestinian information center (PIC) in Amman on Wednesday that she has reliable information that her son is in a very serious medical condition and the jailers refuse to send him to any hospital or allow the Red Cross to check on him. She added that her son was severely beaten with rifle butts on his head causing him to faint and his health to deteriorate.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

MK Tibi visits jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 24 May -- Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian member of Israel's Knesset, on Thursday visited Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti in Hadarim prison. Tibi also visited Karim Younis, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner who has been jailed since 1983, the minister's office said in a statement.
link to www.maannews.net

US lawyers express concern to Clinton over conditions of Palestinian prisoners
MEMO 25 May -- One of the largest lawyers' representative bodies in America has written an open letter to the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, urging her to apply pressure on her Israeli counterparts to end the illegal practice of administrative detention against Palestinian prisoners. The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) has expressed its grave concern over the recent Palestinian hunger strike, highlighting the causes as "the widespread and illegal practice of administrative detention... horrendous living conditions and ill-treatment to which [Palestinian prisoners] are subjected to in Israeli prisons". The NLG highlighted further the use of long-term isolation and secret evidence in a military court system ... The letter ends with a call for the immediate cessation of all US military aid to Israel, which amounts to $3.1 billion per annum. To read the full letter, click here.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk

Racism / Discrimination against Africans

Police arrest 9 suspected of attacking migrants
Ynet 25 May -- Gang of Israelis suspected of going around Tel Aviv at night looking for Africans to beat up --  Police on Friday arrested an 18-year-old suspected of being involved in recent attacks against migrants in south Tel Aviv, bringing the subtotal of detainees in the affair to nine. On Thursday, a 40-year-old man suspected of leading the gang of assailants was remanded in custody. Police plan to arrest further suspects. According to police, the gang members were in the habit of going around southern Tel Aviv at nights as part of what they called "Let's go beat up a Sudanese."
link to www.ynetnews.com

Marching in pain: Images from Tel Aviv's post-riot protest / Yuval Ben-Ami
972mag 25 May -- The demonstration following Wednesday night’s race riots was the mellowest I’ve seen here in years. Several hundred of concerned Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and marched to symbols of the political system that produced the incitement: the Knesset in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the Likud party in Tel Aviv. No confrontations with police were reported. This should not be taken as a sign that liberal Israelis view the events as trivial. Many of my friends and myself were so shocked and depressed at Wednesday’s news, that we found expressing our feelings difficult ... To many of us, the broken windows, looting and attacks on African passersby carried a clear memory of atrocities committed against Jews in Europe, and the internet was overflowing with references to pogroms and to Kristallnacht. It comes as no surprise then, that the resulting protest march felt somewhat more like a memorial event than a demo.
link to 972mag.com

Netanyahu condemns violence against African migrants, promises to solve problem
Haaretz 24 May -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on Thursday that his government would address the issue of African migrants in Israel, one day after a protest against them by residents of south Tel Aviv turned violent. "The infiltrator problem must be solved, and we will solve it," Netanyahu said on Thursday afternoon, speaking at an event in Tel Aviv. He also referred to the construction of a fence on the Egypt-Israel border, saying, "We will complete construction of the fence within two months, and soon we will begin sending infiltrators back to their countries of origin."
link to www.haaretz.com

How a Tel Aviv anti-migrant protest spiraled out of control
24 May -- Haaretz writer Ilan Lior describes how he narrowly escaped an encounter with a violent mob during a protest against African migrants in south Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood -- It started as a legitimate protest, and then it went out of control. The masses understood the message: the time for talking is over - it’s now time to act.
I have been a journalist for ten years. I’ve covered terror attacks, funerals, car accidents, and protests. I’ve seen fury, frustration, despair, and sadness in a variety of places and forms. But I’ve never seen such hatred as it was displayed on Wednesday night in the Hatikva neighborhood. If it weren’t for the police presence, it would have ended in lynching. I have no doubt.
link to www.haaretz.com

Rights group: Israeli govt must let migrants work
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 25 May -- The Israeli government must stop incitement against asylum seekers and take responsibility for their welfare, [said] an Israeli human rights group Friday. "Stop pushing the asylum seekers to desperation and crime, and let them work," the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said ... The group criticized the proposed policy of deporting migrants, noting that the vast majority of asylum seekers are Eritrean and would likely face imprisonment or torture if they were forced to return.
link to www.maannews.net

Interior minister: We will fine mayors who employ African migrants
Haaretz 24 May -- Eli Yishai tells Israel's Channel 2 news: Fines will make city mayors hire Israelis; more than 1,100 people signed a letter petitioning Attorney General for legal action against MKs in anti-migrant rally.
link to www.haaretz.com

An African migrant's plea for a few basic rights / Adam Ibrahim
Haaretz 24 May -- If the government doesn't want us here, let them deport us. But they can't have it both ways - exploiting our presence here without giving us basic rights ... It is important for me to say that we are not a burden on society. We work for less than minimum wage in jobs that Israelis wouldn't want to do themselves anyway. We pay rent, and make do with organizations that we established ourselves. It is hard for me to hear Eli Yishai's statements in the media.
link to www.haaretz.com

"Why did they smash our businesses? We're scared"
JPost 25 May -- Eritrean migrants react with shock and fear to anti-African violence in south Tel Aviv -- As he cleans up debris from the floor of his looted bar on Etsel Street in south Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood, Amin, an Eritrean migrant, holds up two bricks. Just a few hours ago on Wednesday night, rioters hurled those bricks through the plate-glass door of Amin’s bar, a cozy and popular local venue patronized by members of the Eritrean migrant community ... "They destroyed everything. Why? What for? What have we done to them?” said Amin, who didn’t look angry – just sad, tired and worried...
link to www.jpost.com

Twilight Zone: Between an uncertain future and a safe haven / Gideon Levy
Haaretz 25 May -- One endured torture at the hands of Sinai Bedouin and has an uncertain future, the other is glad to be living and working in a democratic country like Israel and is even reading Ariel Sharon's biography; two faces among a myriad of African refugees.
link to www.haaretz.com

Guards deployed in Tel Aviv after race riots
AFP 15 May -- A contingent of border guards has been sent in to help maintain law and order in Tel Aviv neighbourhoods rocked by race riots, a police spokesman said on Friday. "A unit of border guards comprising 60 men, including 40 police officers, has been deployed in south Tel Aviv to ensure order," Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
link to news.yahoo.com

Lapid: Rightist MKs don't understand Jewish morality
Ynet 24 May -- Yesh Atid chairman joins criticism against MKs Regev, Danon and Ben Ari, who made inflammatory statements during protest against migrants, says 'When I see a pogrom led by inciting MKs, I wonder how they have the nerve to call themselves Jews'
link to www.ynetnews.com

US report criticizes Israel's treatment of African migrants
Haaretz 25 May -- Report quotes statistics provided by the UNHCR, showing that during the year out of 4,603 new asylum applications 3,692 were rejected. Only one was approved.
link to www.haaretz.com

Other racism / discrimination

Israel AG against prosecuting authors of book justifying killing of non-Jews
Haaretz 25 May -- Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is tending toward not prosecuting the author or endorsers of the controversial book "Torat Hamelech," Haaretz has learned. The book, written in 2009 by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira and Rabbi Yosef Elitzur, was endorsed by two other rabbis, Yitzhak Ginzburg and Dov Lior. The authors describe it as a discussion of Jewish law on the conditions under which it is permissible to kill a non-Jew in times of war and peace. The book's publication led to the launch of a criminal investigation against the four rabbis for incitement to racism and violence.
link to www.haaretz.com

Airports Authority withdraws employment ban on Arab cab drivers
972mag 23 May -- The Israeli Airports Authority has withdrawn a directive ordering cab companies servicing Ben Gurion Airport employees to refrain from hiring Arab taxi drivers ...The Association for Civil Rights in Israel last week sent a complaint (Hebrew) to the Airport Authority, calling the directive a violation of constitutional principles of equality and freedom of occupation, particularly grave coming from a public institution. The Airports Authority this week canceled the directive and tried to distance itself from its wording
link to 972mag.com

After criticism, Haifa University adds Arabic text to new logo
Haaretz 22 May -- The University of Haifa was criticized of omitting text in Arabic on its new 40-year anniversary logo; university president Aharon Ben-Ze’ev: faculties can use any of the logos they see fit ... Arabic and Hebrew are both official languages of the State of Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/after-criticism-haifa-university-adds-arabic-text-to-new-logo-1.431991?localLinksEnabled=false

The Nakba

"Every day I dream of returning home": a Nakba survivor speaks
Rafah (EI) 24 May by Rami Almeghari -- Maryam al-Hout (known as Um Hasan) is in her late eighties but she still welcomes customers to a furniture store run by her grandson Mohammad. Selling mattresses, cushions and carpets, the store is located in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Um Hasan was forced to leave her home village of Julis during the Nakba (catastrophe), the systematic ethnic cleansing that led to Israel’s foundation in 1948. Before then, she was living there with her husband Abu Hasan (since deceased) and her parents. Julis is located near Asqalan, which is now the city of Ashkelon in present-day Israel.  "The Israeli forces entered the nearby Beit Daras village, then we moved to Asqalan, where we stayed about six months," Abu Hasan recalled. "Afterwards, we heard horrible things about a town near Jerusalem known as Deir Yassin. We heard that men, women and children were slaughtered..."
link to electronicintifada.net

Whatever you do, don't talk about the Palestinian Nakba / Yossi Sarid
Haaretz 25 May -- Knowledge causes pain, but also increases self confidence. Erudition strengthens us and ignorance weakens us. But those people over there, in Jerusalem, are afraid. And when, with the aid of a candle and a feather, they discover a crumb of acknowledgement of the pain of the other and the injustice caused to him - they immediately burn the books. At present the Education Ministry is also the Mental Health Ministry, which inoculates entire generations against the Black Plague of post-Zionism.
link to www.haaretz.com

Other news

Families anxiously waiting for return of corpses held by Israel
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 24 May -- Families of Palestinian fighters killed in action Thursday said they were anxiously waiting for the release of dozens of bodies Israel has been holding, some since 1967, in order to give them proper burial. Speaking to the press, families said they want their children to be able to visit the graves of their fathers and put flowers on them ...  Issam Arouri, director of Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, whose organization started in 2008 a campaign to get Israel to return corpses of Palestinians back to their families, said that the release of the corpses is not a favor to the Palestinians, rather a right ... He said Israel keeps the bodies in order to later trade them in any exchange with bodies of Israelis. Palestinians believe there are at least 350 bodies buried in the Israeli cemeteries, which have been declared a closed military zone, but that only 300 are known while the rest have been missing.
link to english.wafa.ps

PMF: PA uses judiciary to intimidate journalists
GAZA (PIC) 25 May -- The Palestinian Media Forum (PMF) has strongly condemned the PA judicial and executive authorities' decision to try the director of Radio Bethlehem 2000, George Canawati, because of comments on his Facebook page. The forum said, in a statement on Thursday, that the Magistrate Court of Bethlehem City adjourned on Wednesday George Canawati's trial to September 5.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

The Al-Aqsa Brigades to unify its ranks
IMEMC 25 May -- The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh movement, stated that all of its military branches will be united under one umbrella ... The Pal Press News Agency reported that Abu Mohammad, media spokesperson of the al-Aqsa Brigades, Martyr Imad al-Amoudy Branch, said that this unity will include all branches in different parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and will be run under one military council.
link to www.imemc.org

UN renews rights chief's mandate for two years
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) 25 May -- The UN General Assembly on Thursday renewed the mandate of the world body's human rights chief Navi Pillay, but she was given an abbreviated term as part of a compromise deal with the United States, which dislikes her criticism of Israel, envoys said.
link to www.maannews.net

US to reaffirm commitment to Israel's security
WASHINGTON (Reuters) 25 May -- A senior State Department official will travel to Tel Aviv on Friday to reaffirm the US commitment to Israel's security following just-concluded talks between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program.
link to www.maannews.net

groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
www.theheadlines.org (archive)

]]> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/israel-takes-30-dunams-of-land-near-salfit-for-security-reasons.html/feed 4 Senate fight today over the number of Palestinian refugees http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/senate-fight-today-over-the-number-of-palestinian-refugees.html http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/senate-fight-today-over-the-number-of-palestinian-refugees.html#comments Thu, 24 May 2012 16:16:53 +0000 Today in Palestine http://mondoweiss.net/?p=76544 link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com

'--> Senate fight today over Palestinian ‘refugees’ Thirty U.S. senators will vote today over whether there really are 5 million Palestinian "refugees" or just around 30,000 -- a hot-button issue that has already become the subject of a vigorous international debate involving … Continue reading →]]> link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com

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Senate fight today over Palestinian ‘refugees’
Thirty U.S. senators will vote today over whether there really are 5 million Palestinian "refugees" or just around 30,000 -- a hot-button issue that has already become the subject of a vigorous international debate involving Israel and its Arab neighbors. When the Senate Appropriations Committee takes up the fiscal 2013 State Department and foreign operations appropriations bill today, senators will vote on an amendment crafted by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would require the State Department to report on how many of the millions of people currently supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) are actually people who were physically displaced from their homes in Israel or the occupied territories, and how many are descendants of original refugees.
link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com

Eliminating 4,970,000 Palestinian refugees: Status Update
With the stroke of a pen, a new bill in Congress could slash the number of Palestinian refugees -- and open a world of controversy.


UK: Israel’s Settlements Harm its International Standing
The WAFA News Agency reported today a UK Foreign Office statement issued on Wednesday. British Foreign Secretary William Hague told his visiting Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman that Israel’s settlement expansion in Jerusalem and the West Bank harms its international standing.
link to www.imemc.org

IOF troops tear down six tents for Palestinian Bedouins
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) tore down six tents for Palestinian Bedouins near Yatta town to the south of Al-Khalil city.
 
Jewish settlers close main West Bank road
Jewish settlers from Tikwa and nearby settlements to the east of Bethlehem attacked Palestinian commuters and closed the main road linking north of the West Bank to its southern areas.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Latest Attempt at Legalization of Ulpana Settlement Neighborhood
Despite an Israeli High Court ruling that the Ulpana settlement neighborhood must be vacated and demolished because it is illegal, a Knesset bill that had been proposed to circumvent the court’s ruling has been stalled to allow more time for the government to settle the issue. Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his own Defense Minister to disobey the High Court and stall any demolitions.
 
Palestinian Hotel Occupation in First Quarter Decreases
The WAFA News Agency reported a press release by the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) today that hotel occupancy in the Palestinian areas decreased by 16% in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter, and by 13% when compared to first quarter 2011.
 

Senate fight today over Palestinian ‘refugees’
Thirty U.S. senators will vote today over whether there really are 5 million Palestinian "refugees" or just around 30,000 -- a hot-button issue that has already become the subject of a vigorous international debate involving Israel and its Arab neighbors. When the Senate Appropriations Committee takes up the fiscal 2013 State Department and foreign operations appropriations bill today, senators will vote on an amendment crafted by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would require the State Department to report on how many of the millions of people currently supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) are actually people who were physically displaced from their homes in Israel or the occupied territories, and how many are descendants of original refugees.
link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com

Eliminating 4,970,000 Palestinian refugees: Status Update
With the stroke of a pen, a new bill in Congress could slash the number of Palestinian refugees -- and open a world of controversy.
link to www.foreignpolicy.com 
 
Siege on Gaza
 

Health ministery: Gaza hospitals still threatened by the power and fuel crisis
The health ministry warned that the medical work in Gaza hospitals is still endangered by the power crisis and there is no sufficient fuel even to operate their generators in the coming days.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli Companies Win Bids For Gaza Reconstruction
The Palestinian Contractors Union stated that two Israeli companies won bids for reconstructing water distilling stations destroyed by Israel during the war on Gaza December 2008 – January 2009), the Palestine Press News Agency reported (Palpress).
 
Israeli Violence / Aggression / Raids
 
Annual report for 2012 says Israel killed 55 civilians in the West Bank and Gaza, including 11 children.
 
In the second such incident in three days, IDF soldiers are idle as settlers exert force and damage property on local Palestinian population in the West Bank. 
 
2012, settlers firing at Palestinians in the presence of soldiers
On Saturday, 19.5.2012, settlers descended on the eastern outskirts of the village 'Asira al-Qibliya, from the settlement Yitzhar. B'Tselem volunteer photographers filmed the events. The video shows the settlers throwing stones at Palestinian homes. Palestinian youths from the village soon arrived and threw stones at the settlers. The video later shows settlers aiming their weapons at the Palestinians and firing in the presence of soldiers. The firing injured village resident, Fathi 'Asayira, 24, in the head.
 
Ta’ayush video: A settler attacked a B’Tselem field researcher and broke his camera in the South Hebron Hills. Soldiers present did not intervene.
B’Tselem submitted a complaint to the Judea and Samaria district police against a settler who smashed a camera grabbed from one of its field researchers earlier this week in the South Hebron Hills. The incident was caught on video by a Ta’ayush activist.
 
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- An 18-year-old stabbed by Israeli soldiers near Bethlehem on Sunday is in a stable condition after surgery, the Palestinian prisoners society said Wednesday. Salah al-Zghayar underwent surgery at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center after he was stabbed in the abdomen at Gush Etzion junction, prisoners society lawyer Mofeed al-Haj said in a statement. Al-Zghayar, from Hebron, told the lawyer he was attacked by several soldiers who were guarded by police.
link to www.maannews.net 
 
Confrontations and large forces surround Hosh Ouda
The last few days witnessed many violent confrontations, the biggest one happened yesterday around Beer Ayoub’s area in Silwan. A few angry young men threw Molotov’s cocktails towards the settler’s guned guards Jeep, an incident that happened repeatedly, and the Israeli forces tried to invade Hosh Ouda  through the alleys of Al- Bustan that is attached to it.   The confrontations began when extremist Israelis celebrated  the so-called  ”United Jerusalem Day” in some streets in Silwan.  The Israeli forces invaded the area, so the local youth stood up against them by shutting the streets through stones and barricades, tens of young men participated in the confrontations, many locals said it was the most violent day for the last few weeks.   Tension was all over the area, especially after the Israeli forces blocked the entrances and allowed the settlers to drive freely while the Palestinians were not allowed to use thier streets.  
 
Israeli judge to issue verdict in Rachel Corrie case, Allison Deger
Nearly a decade after the Israeli military killed Rachel Corrie, 23, with a weaponized Caterpillar D9 tractor, the civil suit filed by her family will finally close. The verdict will be announced on August 28, 2012 by a Haifa District judge. In attendance will be Rachel Corrie's parents, Cindy and Craig, and sister Sarah Corrie Simpson.
 
Detainees
 
Press freedom watchdogs have called on the Israeli military to release the director of a Palestinian TV station who was detained last Thursday (17 May). Israeli soldiers arrested Baha Khairi Moussa, who runs the Palestine Prisoner Channel, a satellite broadcaster based in the West Bank. They also confiscated the station's equipment. But the reason for his arrest remains a mystery, as do his whereabouts. Both the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) have called for his release.
 
IOF kidnap six Palestinians in raids on W. Bank homes
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) Thursday kidnapped six Palestinians in Al-Khalil, Bethlehem and Jenin cities and raided many other West Bank areas.
 
Israeli Forces Abduct Palestinians From Across the West Bank, Take Them to Unknown Destinations
The Palestinian News Network, PNN, and Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, reported that Israeli forces invaded several areas of the West Bank on Tuesday, and abducted seven Palestinians. The Israeli Army transferred the detainees to unknown destinations to investigate allegations that they are wanted by the army.
 
Palestinian teen, two children rounded up in Qalqilia village
A Palestinian teen and two others under 18 years old were detained in Azzun village, east of Qalqilia city, in a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday by Israeli occupation forces.

Young men and kids from the Siwaneh were arrested and a brutal attack on the Tamimi family
The Israeli police extended the arrest of 5 youth from the Siwaneh near Mount of Olives in  Jerusalem  for 24 hours so they can transfer them to court. The young Palestinians and kids are being suspected in throwing stones at the Israeli forces, the arrested youth and kids  are Raja’i and Kayed al Tamimi, Abu al Elmi and Yussef Musha’sha’ and Ahmad Abu Armile. According to the locals of Siwaneh the police attacked and beaten the Tamimi family using clubs, tasers and pepper spray. Jad al Kadmani, Lawyer from the prisoner’s club visited the arrested youth in the  Police Station in Salah Eddin street and said that Kayed and Rajai al Tamimi were beaten by clubs and attacked by tasers, and there are clear marks on their bodies to prove that. Jad al Kadmani: “The police are charging them of attacking the Israeli forces, and of causing a menace to the system” They were held for 24 hours so they can be taken to court, Jad adds that other 3 youth from the same place were held for 24 hours during the raids in the area, and during the raids the Israeli forces ran over Akram Totah with their car and broke his leg.The Israeli forces also broke into the civilian Rajaei al Tamimi and arrested his son Kifah, during the arrest they attacked by clubs and tasers the 58 years old Rajai that suffers from diabetes, high pressure and heart problems, when his nephew Kayed tried to protect him he was sprayed by pepper spray and electricity shots by the tasers.Es’hak al Tamimi, who attended the incident said that the forces broke into the house and attacked all of the family members in a brutal way then arrested his father and his cousin Kayed and took them to the Police Station. Same time, youth from Al Tour area threw stones towards settlers’ cars after clashes broke out between settlers and Palestinians.
 
On Wednesday, May 23, 2012, Israeli forces entered Beit Ommar and arrested seven people during a night raid, the second one in two nights. We expect many more night raids before the end of the month, as the Israeli military rounds up those who participated in demonstrations on Nakba Day and in solidarity with the Palestinian hunger strikers earlier this month.
 
IOF soldiers arrest three Palestinians in Al-Khalil village
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested three Palestinians in Beit Ummar village, to the north of Al-Khalil, at dawn Wednesday, local sources said.
 
Prisoner News
 
An Appeal to save the life of Mahmoud Sarsak
Our brother and son, Mahmoud Sarsak, is a 25 years old professional footballer from Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, today entering his 67th day of hunger strike. We ask you to support Mahmoud and his demand for fair treatment. Your voice can contribute to saving his life and to a little victory against injustice.
 
Prisoners on Hunger Strike in Huwarra
Ma’an news agency reported earlier today that prisoners in Huwarra prison have taken part in an open hunger strike for the second day to protest to the inhumane treatment of the prisoners.
 
An Hour Before Release, Prisoner Transferred to Administrative Detention
In a PNN report today, the Al-Ahrar Centre for Prisoners' Studies and Human Rights stated that on Wednesday, May 23rd, prisoner Sameh Elaiwe, 50, was transferred from Nablus city to Administrative Detention one hour before his scheduled release date.
 
Prisoner Lubada suffering serious health deterioration
Ahrar Center warned that time is running out to save the life of administrative detainee Lubada who entered an extremely dangerous stage in light of the prison service's indifference.
 
BDS / Solidarity
 
BDS roundup: South Africa and Denmark to correctly label Israeli settlement products
South Africa and Denmark make historic rulings to correctly label Israeli settlement products; and international Quaker churches fully divest from the Caterpillar corporation.

But Davies, 64, who was made a minister by South African president Jacob Zuma as a “favor” to the trade union movement and the Left, is an old-style ANC Marxist (some say “Stalinist”) in the Joe Slovo mold. He completed his Ph.D. (in “political studies”) at the-then radical redbrick university, Sussex, in 1977 and joined the ANC in 1978 (in Mozambique) and the South African Communist party in 1989.
link to www.haaretz.com 
 
Alternattiva Demokratika is asking the Maltese government to ban the incorrect labelling of products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank as 'Made in Israel'. Prof. Arnold Cassola, Alternattiva Demokratika spokesperson on EU and International Affairs, said Maltese and EU consumers should be provided with correct information on product labels. "A product produced in a settlement on the West Bank, clearly not recognised as a legal settlement by the international community, should not be described as 'Made in Israel'.
 
Palestinian heritage event draws thousands
Kristin Szremski is a member of the US Campaign Steering Committee, an independent journalist and the director of media and communications at American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). The Chicago chapter of AMP recently held their second annual Palestine Parade to commemorate the Nakba. Kristen put together the following piece for CNN iReport about the entire day's events. 
link to blog.endtheoccupation.org
 
Israeli Racism and Discrimination against African Migrants
 
Violent Tel Aviv demo, African migrants attacked
Violence broke out as several hundred people demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night against the sizeable community of African immigrants in the city, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
 
Following up on Noam’s report on what’s developing into a night of unprecedented violence against African asylum seekers in Tel Aviv, here is a testimony uploaded onto Facebook after yesterday’s protest, by one of the many community activists who walked home a group of African children to make sure they weren’t attacked.
 
Video: Israeli mob demands all African refugees be deported from the country (and anyone who disagrees deserves to be raped), Adam Horowitz
At a demonstration in south Tel Aviv demanding the immediately expulsion of all non-Jewish African asylum-seekers, a lone Israeli woman who does not agree with the rest of the crowd is shouted down with ferocity and told that she deserves to be raped
 
Far-right activists organize march through Tel Aviv, call for expulsion of Sudanese and other Africans from Israel.
 
Africans attacked in Tel Aviv protest; MKs: ‘infiltrators’ are cancer, Noam Sheizaf
Coalition MKs incited the crowd against the refugees and asylum seekers during a protest in south Tel Aviv, which was followed by attacks on African immigrants and confrontations with police. A Likud MK called for the prosecution of Israelis giving shelter to Africans.
 
Israel will collapse unless Africans and Palestinians are expelled, fenced, says legal advocate, Ali Abunimah
“The separation fence must be closed and sealed. The Egyptian border fence must be closed and sealed. We must build a fence on the Jordanian border immediately, no one gets in or out! Jews who live in Judea and Samaria [West Bank] may come in and out - Arabs may not come in and out.”
 
How mainstream Israeli politicians sparked the Tel Aviv race riot, Noam Sheizaf
Israeli governments have neglected the poor neighborhoods of Tel Aviv for decades. Today, Knesset members use the asylum seekers to channel the anger of local residents and score easy political points.
 
How I survived a Tel Aviv mob attack, Haggai Matar
Last night I had to flee a raging mob not too far from my home in south Tel Aviv. After long speeches of incitement by right-wing parliamentarians, the masses stormed after me and a fellow journalist, and thenturned on African asylum seekers, their businesses and their homes. This is how it happened.
 
Is there a link between Israeli profits, anti-African incitement?, Mya Guarnieri
As Interior Minister Eli Yishai incites against African asylum seekers–leading to outbreaks of violence against Africans–his ministry issues visas to foreigners who pay tremendous amounts of money to come to Israel.
 
Israeli pogromist, dragging on a fag, proclaims 'Death to Sudanese.' Today, Israel moved one step closer to Nazi Germany circa 1938.  In Berlin, Nazis walked the streets terrorizing Jews, smashing windows, burning books and synagogues.  Today, in Tel Aviv’s poor Hatikva neighborhood, the cream of Israel’s political Übermenschen, Kahanists Michael Ben Ari, Itamar Ben Gvir and Baruch Marzel terrorized foreign workers who live there with mass violence and nothing less than a pogrom
 
Israeli Racism and Discrimination against Palestinians
 
Not All Israeli Citizens Are Equal, YOUSEF MUNAYYER
I’M a Palestinian who was born in the Israeli town of Lod, and thus I am an Israeli citizen. My wife is not; she is a Palestinian from Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Despite our towns being just 30 miles apart, we met almost 6,000 miles away in Massachusetts, where we attended neighboring colleges. A series of walls, checkpoints, settlements and soldiers fill the 30-mile gap between our hometowns, making it more likely for us to have met on the other side of the planet than in our own backyard. Never is this reality more profound than on our trips home from our current residence outside Washington.
 
The Israel Land Administration (ILA), the powerhouse behind Jewish territorial expansion, is being challenged in Israel's high court over race and gender discrimination. Yesterday a judge gave the government agency and steward over state-owned lands 60 days to come up with an explanation as to why women and Palestinians should not be appointed to their high council.
 
Jerusalem Day rife with racism
“See, these are the Arabs who want to throw rocks at us, but the police are taking them down one by one like this.” She made the hand gesture as the father, wearing a gun on his belt, agreed with a smile. Israeli youth gathered at the fence with only the width of the street separating them from the Palestinian youth and yelled racist slurs at them. Both sides were screaming “This is our land!”  It was disconcerting to see young Israelis, who used their larger number to scream racist slogans at Palestinians with such hatred, such as “Death to the Arabs!” and “Muhammad is dead!”
 
Other News and Developments
 
Four officers accused of ordering the raid on the Mavi Marmara, in which nine Turks were killed.
 
Report: Turkey seeks 10 life sentences for Israeli commanders
Turkish prosecutor prepares indictments against four top IDF commanders involved in Marmara raid, Sabah newspaper reports. Gabi Ashkenazi, three others to be charged with first degree murder. 
 
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A group of students protesting political detentions by the Palestinian Authority went on hunger strike Thursday in Birzeit University. The students, who are Hamas supporters, have been sleeping inside the university since May 5. They fear the Fatah-led PA's security forces will arrest them if they leave campus. In a statement, the students said they would remain on campus until the issue was resolved with the PA, adding that they would escalate the strike if political detentions did not stop.
 
The Minister of Public Works and Housing, Dr. Youssef Al Mansi, condemned the Zionist government's approval for the law encouraging settlements, stressing that it is a racist law.
 
BEIRUT (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that Palestinians in Lebanon should not arm themselves, as they are under the protection of the Lebanese state and its military, local media reported. “The weapons of Palestinians in Lebanon are illegitimate. We do not want them inside or outside camps. We respect the law and we are [under] the protection of the Lebanese state and army,” Abbas was quoted as saying. 

In response to decision by Press Complaints Commission, London's Foreign office says Israel's claim that that Jerusalem is its capital is not recognized by the U.K.
 
Fear mongering about missiles while Arabs and Iranians are in range of Israeli nukes: IDF: Israel in range of nearly 65,000 Hezbollah, Iran, Syria missiles
Hezbollah has some 60,000 rockets and missiles and is developing drones and sea-to-air missiles, IDF top brass tells Knesset committee.
 
Laurette Onkelinx posts 'My hands are clean!" on her official Facebook page, adding only an Iranian refused to shake hands with her before.
 
Police suspect Moti Malka raped woman in his chambers, sexually assaulted another, in addition to raping municipal worker.
 
Analysis / Op-ed
 
‘Obama will only go as far on Iran as AIPAC permits him to go’, Philip Weiss
The other day the Senate unanimously passed an Iran sanctions act upping the pressure in an effort to preempt the talks now going on between world powers and Iran.

Honest broker? Israeli consulate sponsors Obama’s former Middle East peace adviser at Stanford talk!, Philip Weiss
Dennis Ross worked for Obama for several years on Middle East peace. And before that he worked for Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush too. But he was always accused of bias toward Israel. Aaron David Miller called him Israel's lawyer. Abe Foxman celebrated him as Israel's advocate. But Obama's spox Jay Carney said Ross was a fair dealer when he left a year back...
 
Ambassador Michael Oren's recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal is timely - and appropriate. Israel is less popular among young Americans than ever before. And it will only grow more unpopular as more facts about the occupation make their way into the American mainstream. It is hard to know what Shalom Eisner -- an Israeli army officer -- was thinking when he brutalized a Danish bike protester several weeks ago. Probably his thoughts tracked what he was doing -- which is to say they weren't anything out of the ordinary. The Israeli officer was acting normally, on a normal day, in the normalized context of Israeli occupation. The only exceptional thing about the episode was the reaction it elicited.
 
Bio shows why Leila Khaled remains an icon of resistance, Asa Winstanley
Leila Khaled, an icon of the Palestinian resistance struggle, is the subject of a recommended new biography.
Israel – Self-made Global Pariah, Vacy Vlazna
Every time Israel bans Palestinians from leaving Israel's West Bank-Gaza Prison, and every time a well-meaning foreigner is refused entry to give humanitarian assistance to Palestinian
s, Israel is consolidating its reputation as a global pariah, now, according to the BBC poll, on par with North Korea for having the highest negative influence on the global stage.

Redefining the 'Arab Spring': Is Chaos Overtaking Revolution?, Ramzy Baroud
The age of revolutionary romance is over. Various Arab countries are now facing hard truths. Millions of Arabs merely want to live with a semblance of dignity, free from tyranny and continuous anxiety over the future. This unromantic reality also includes outside ‘players’, whose presence is of no positive value to genuine revolutionary movements, whether in Egypt, Syria, or anywhere else.
link to palestinechronicle.com

Love in the Time of Cassettes
Ahmad Ghossein’s My Father Is Still a Communist uses audio messages his mother recorded for his father who was away for work, Ghossein draws a picture of a social, economic and political landscape where people might not be heroes, but are so in the eyes of their children.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
Bahrain
 
GENEVA (AP) — Bahrain has agreed to consider recommendations to release political prisoners, outlaw torture and join the International Criminal Court, a move that could open it to international prosecutions of alleged abuses, the U.N.'s top human rights body said Wednesday.
In its highly anticipated review of the Gulf kingdom's record, the U.N. Human Rights Council said Bahrain will consider 176 recommendations submitted by other nations. The council's report, part of a process that all 193 U.N. members are required to undergo every four years, reflects international concern about the 15-month Bahraini uprising by majority Shiites against the ruling Sunni monarchy.
 
Bahraini female activist jailed over protest
A Bahraini court jailed on Thursday opposition activist Zainab al-Khawaja for one month after convicting her of attacking a policewoman and taking part in an illegal rally, witnesses said.
 
If I get released, every village I pass through will shout the names of countless prisoners of conscience. All the walls will show me their faces. Around me, I will see their grief-stricken mothers and fathers, their wives, their children crying for her children as I write. I am not Zainab only, I am Jaffar and Hassan, I am Ahmed and Abbas, I am Masooma and Mansoor. My case is the case of hundreds of innocent political prisoners in Bahrain, my release, without them, means nothing to me.  I will not be attending my trials, no matter how many they are. Freedom, and not my release, is what I want and dream of. I will sit in my prison cell, I will listen to its walls reciting the poetry of another political prison Sadeq Al-Ghasra, reminding me that our struggle for liberty shall continue not only from inside this prison but even from under the soil. All my admiration, for my imprisoned brothers and sisters. Whose determination and patience give me hope. --Zainab Alkhawaja Isa Town Prison 19th May 2012 
 
Human Rights in Bahrain, a Casualty of Obama's Double-Standard
Both the president of Syria and the King of Bahrain have worked hard this past year to portray their respective countries as stable and safe, hoping to distract from the popular uprisings they have brutally crushed. Both regimes have systematically tortured members of the opposition, killed and detained children, and banned journalists from entering the country to report, all the while alleging these popular movements are driven by "foreign terrorists."
 
The huge wave of protests for democracy and human rights sweeping across the Middle East over the last year has seen hundreds of thousands of previously politically inactive young people become dedicated revolutionaries. In Egypt they call them “first time activists,” people whose first taste of protest came in the early months of 2011.
Throughout the region, the demonstrations and subsequent violent government reactions have transformed a generation into a new political force using social media and other tools to fuel revolutions. In Bahrain in early 2011 a young woman was pursuing her hobby of photography, “taking mostly photos of flowers or landscapes. I wasn’t that interested in shooting pictures of people to be honest,” she said.  Then, on her way home from work on February 14 2011, everything changed. “It was around 6pm, I was passing the Pearl Roundabout with this huge crowed and Bahrain flags everywhere, I was like ’OMG It’s happening!’ I found myself parking on the flyover and stepping out of my car to have a look.”  She started taking pictures of the crowds and has been documenting the revolution ever since.

Egypt
 
Egyptians go back to polls to elect president
Egypt resumes its first free presidential election after voting passed off calmly on the first day.
link to www.aljazeera.com
 
Egypt Votes: Sharif Abdel Kouddous Reports From Cairo on Historic Post-Mubarak Election
A historic election is underway as Egyptians head to the polls for the first presidential election since their ouster of Hosni Mubarak. For the first time in the country’s history, the winner is not a foregone conclusion. We go to Cairo for an update from Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. Despite predictions of a high turnout, Kouddous says concerns remain over the role of Egypt’s military rulers: "Many say we cannot have a president without a constitution. The president is essentially being elected without knowing exactly [his] authorities vis a vis the military, the cabinet, the parliament. Many of these young revolutionaries say any president that comes will be a puppet for the Supreme Council and will not have any real power, and the real struggle will continue to be in the streets."
link to www.democracynow.org
 
Egyptian Voters on the Promise, and Limits, of Historic Election: Sharif Kouddous Reports From Cairo
Voters are heading to the polls for the second day in Egypt’s first competitive presidential election following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak 15 months ago. The first day of voting saw numerous reports of minor violations, but was largely hailed as free of fraud and violence. Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak’s last prime minister and now a leading candidate, was swarmed by protesters outside his polling station who hurled shoes and debris at him. Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous and videographer Hany Massoud spent the day traveling to polling stations around Cairo speaking to voters about their choices for president and their concerns in the election.

Former Hamas minister arrives in Ismailia to cast his vote
Mahmoud al-Zahar, the former foreign minister in the Hamas government, has arrived in Ismailia to cast his vote in the Egyptian presidential elections. The Hamas official, who lost his son in the 2008 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, has recently obtained the Egyptian citizenship through his Egyptian mother. An estimated 11,000 Palestinian nationals hold Egyptian citizenship and have the right to vote in the elections. "Now I can, for the first time, exercise my rights as an Egyptian citizen,” he said. He declined to disclose the polling station he is registered at. “I do not want the media to know,” he said.
link to www.egyptindependent.com

Egypt Votes!
For the first time in its presidential era, Egypt heads to the ballot boxes on Wednesday without knowing the name of the winner ahead of time. With many undecided voters narrowing down their choices to candidates from contradictory camps, the lines on that map are not that clear; they overlap and crisscross and are infused with other factors: mainly the economic and security elements in the candidates’ platforms, or at least their perceived ability to improve people’s daily lives.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
Egypt viewpoint: Democracy under military boots, Gigi Ibrahim
As Egyptians prepare to head to the polls to vote for a new president, the BBC News website asked Egyptians of contrasting political persuasions to write about their hopes and fears for the country's future. Gigi Ibrahim is a journalist, blogger, activist and socialist.

In Search of Egypt’s Fifth President: Hamdeen Sabahi
Longtime Nasserist activist and former MP Hamdeen Sabahi’s stock was on the rise in the last month before the elections. But will it be enough to make this candidate of humble origins the next president of Egypt?
Former foreign minister under Mubarak, Amr Moussa is confident of his chances of winning the presidential race. Al-Akhbar asks its fifth interviewee what he would achieve should he succeed.
In the last of Al-Akhbar’s series of interviews with Egypt’s presidential candidates, Abdel Rahman Youssef quizzes the former Muslim Brotherhood luminary who broke with the group to run as an independent.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

In Search of Egypt’s Fifth President: Hamdeen Sabahi
Longtime Nasserist activist and former MP Hamdeen Sabahi’s stock was on the rise in the last month before the elections. But will it be enough to make this candidate of humble origins the next president of Egypt?
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
Egyptian Presidential Elections: The Undecided Decide
For the first time in its presidential era, Egypt heads to the ballot boxes on Wednesday without knowing the name of the winner ahead of time.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Presidential Elections: Egypt’s Left Behind
As Day 1 of voting closes, the strife among the candidates of the Left in the Egyptian presidential elections demonstrates the inability of this political current to unite in order to grasp this revolutionary moment.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Inside Story - What kind of leader do Egyptians want?
Egyptians are preparing to elect a new president, and for the first time they have a real choice. But the conservatives are split over which candidate to support and votes are also likely to be divided in the liberal camp. So what kind of leader do the people want, and what kind of power will the winner have? Guests: Dina Zakaria, Mohammed Waked, Abdullah al Arian.
link to www.youtube.com

The role of religion in Egypt's election
Two of the main contenders for Egypt's presidential election are or were affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from the group's stronghold of Beni Suef, to find out what impact religion is likely to have on the vote.
link to www.youtube.com

Al Jazeera World - The Brotherhood and Mubarak
For years the Muslim Brotherhood was officially banned by Egypt's government, but following the 2011 revolution, the fall of Hosni Mubarak and the country's first free parliamentary elections, the Brotherhood - with its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party - has emerged as Egypt's most powerful political force.
link to www.youtube.com

Can Egypt Have a President Without a Constitution?
Everyone is awaiting the outcome of Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential election with baited breath. For many, the election of a new president will restore the stability Egyptians have been longing for since Mubarak's ouster early last year. For others, a new president means the end of the military's involvement in politics. For others still, the victory of their favorite candidate will usher in a new age of freedom and social justice.
link to www.jadaliyya.com

The Presidential Race: A Game of Egyptian Roulette
Before going to bed, I decided I was going to write an article on the presidential election first thing in the morning. I closed my eyes and before falling into a deep sleep I wondered if there was any use to add to the unbearably noisy pool of voices debating the elections. A group of huge, dark and hairy mountain rats with glittering eyes invaded my house like locusts. Only minutes later, a new group of rats came pouring into the house from every window and all balconies, moving as if following the orders of some remote leader. I was thrown into a panic as I watched them move like trained dogs in a Russian circus. I realized they were indeed moving according to a plan to occupy the entire house. I tried to reach my office room but a number of these rats were able to stop me from getting near the door. Suddenly, I remembered that my daughter is sleeping in the other room, so I ran to her — only to find that a group of rats had devoured her bare arms. With that horrible scene, I woke up.
link to www.jadaliyya.com

Civil-Military Relations: a Potential Fault-line in Egypt's Democracy, Hasan Afif El-Hasan
Arab people are demanding democracy after living for decades under authoritarian regimes suffering systematic violations of their natural rights where injustice, impunity, police torture, battering and excessive use of deadly force  were the norm. Ramzy Baroud put it this way: 'Arabs merely want to live with a semblance of dignity, free from tyranny and continuous anxiety over the future.' Those who succeeded in toppling their tyrants have already found there is more to a meaningfully democratic society than regime change and voting, although these are necessary. Because authoritarian political culture has been prevalent in the Arab countries, transition to democracy is a big challenge. Democracy as a normative system of legitimate government strengthens the realm of liberty, personal political responsibility, deals with social and economic equity, and civil control of the armed forces.
link to palestinechronicle.com
 
Egypt's Working Class and the Question of Organization, Hossam El-Hamalawy
“Who is the labor candidate in this presidential election?” This is a question I have been asked frequently in the past few days. My answer is “no one.” Despite the presence of left wing candidates in the race, including labor lawyer Khaled Ali, who by all accounts is the most experienced in labor organizing among his counterparts (even when he repeatedly denies the accusation of being a “socialist,” and advocates a “strong private sector” working hand in hand with a state-run public sector), neither Ali nor any other candidates can claim to speak for Egypt’s working class, simply because the working class does not have yet formal entities, organizations, parties, and unions that can claim their representation. 
 
Post-January 25 Iranian-Egyptian Relations: A New Dawn?
Iranian-Egyptian relations have been an often-overlooked aspect of Middle Eastern and international politics over the last thirty years, due in no small part to the almost complete lack of ties between the two states following Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979.  Whilst these two great Middle Eastern powers have been linked over thousands of years of history, the last thirty years have been characterized by a distinct lack of inter-state relations, and considerable enmity and distrust. However, with the fall of the Hosni Mubarak regime following the momentous events of 25 January 2011, will Iranian-Egyptian relations encounter a “new dawn”, characterized by friendship and amity? Or are Iran and Egypt doomed to the continuing enmity and distrust which has poisoned relations between these two great regional powers for the last thirty years? 
link to www.jadaliyya.com

Iran

Ahmadinejad says atomic weapons 'against Islam'
Islam forbids atomic weapons and other arms of mass destruction, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted on Wednesday ahead of his country's nuclear talks with world powers in Baghdad.
link to news.yahoo.com

Iran is offered new plans to ease nuclear concerns
Diplomats from six world powers offered Iran new proposals Wednesday to ease international concerns about its nuclear program, but appeared to reject Tehran's appeals to ease economic sanctions to help move along talks.
link to news.yahoo.com

Israel inches closer to compromise on Iran
"...Though Israel has been expressing zero flexibility regarding a possible deal with Iran, Defense Minister Ehud Barak a few weeks ago issued a written statement that Israel would consent to Iran's continuing enrichment of uranium to a low level of 3.5 percent, as well as to allowing a few hundred kilograms of 3.5-percent enriched uranium to remain in that country...... A senior Israeli source said that Barak's remarks, which were shared in private conversations with U.S. officials, contradict the tough line being presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
link to friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com
 
Bullish allies resist Iran's call for end to nuclear sanctions
World powers meeting in Baghdad yesterday produced new proposals aimed at limiting the levels of uranium enrichment in Iran's nuclear programme and edging towards a deal they hope could lift the threat of a Middle East war.

Activists Worry that Sanctions May Undermine Chances for Future Democracy
Since the story of the Syrian and Iranian opposition is similar in many ways and since both Damascus and Tehran are facing foreign sanctions and regime-change policies, a friend wrote to share this news of an encounter between Iranian opposition figures and State Department officials during a recent conference on Iran.
link to www.joshualandis.com

War With Iran Has Already Begun
On Friday, 93% of the U.S. House of Representatives affirmed a resolution escalating America’s already aggressive position on Iran, from “crippling” sanctions to a zero-tolerance policy on nuclear weapons.
link to www.counterpunch.org

Israel’s Strategic Analyst: Attack Iran, Propose Mideast Peace Deal, Richard Silverstein
Israel’s premier strategic analyst, Yehezkel Dror, has produced a new study for the Begin-Sadat Center which advocates a military attack on Iran accompanied by an Israeli proposal for a comprehensive peace deal.  Essentially, this paper is a blueprint for Bibi Netanyahu in his march toward war.  It outlines the major issues he faces in persuading the Israeli public and world opinion that his decision is just.  It warns him of the pitfalls that naysayers will suggest and offers him arguments against the nabobs of negativism.
link to www.richardsilverstein.com
 
The meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) with Iran in Baghdad is apparently producing a lot of detailed proposals for resolving the crisis. Apparently the one place there could be a breakthrough, if not at Baghdad then later this summer, is with regard to Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 19.75% (this is still low-enriched uranium or LEU) for the production of medical isotopes at its medical reactor. A stock of 19.75%- enriched LEU is much closer to the 95% enriched uranium typically needed to construct a nuclear warhead than the 3.5%-enriched uranium used to fuel ordinary electricity-generating reactors. The UNSC and Germany want to find a way to have Iran supplied with the fuel for the medical reactor from the outside, so that they do not have to make their own.
link to www.juancole.com 

Iraq 

14 Iraqis Killed As National Alliance Is Asked To Select A Replacement PM
A formal letter has been sent to the National Alliance, asking the bloc to select a replacement for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 11 more were wounded in new violence.
link to original.antiwar.com

Iraq attacks kill eight
Attacks in Iraq killed eight people and wounded 33 on Wednesday, security officials said, as Baghdad hosted key nuclear talks in its latest effort to emerge from decades of isolation.
link to news.yahoo.com

Three killed in Iraq attacks as world powers meet
Three people were killed and 18 others wounded in attacks in Iraq on Wednesday, security officials said, as Baghdad hosted key nuclear talks in its latest effort to emerge from decades of isolation. Three people were killed and 14 others wounded in a shooting and three roadside bombings in Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, a police lieutenant colonel and Dr Ahmed Ibrahim of Baquba General Hospital said.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Jordan

Jordanian worker dies after setting himself ablaze
A Jordanian man died after setting himself on fire on Thursday morning in apparent despair over having been fired from his job last week, police and a colleague said. 

Jordan bank fires Christian woman for refusing to wear headscarf
The Jordan Dubai Islamic Bank on Wednesday fired a Christian employee because she refused to wear a scarf to cover her hair as part of uniform for female staff, its spokeswoman said. “
link to english.alarabiya.net

Washington's Bahrain in the Levant
Despite sharing some of the socio-economic and political problems that propelled uprisings in other Arab countries, Jordan remains an exception to the trend. And if it can be kept that way, much of the world inside the Beltway will celebrate.
link to www.merip.org

Unearthing Jordan’s Soviet Cinema
A collection of decades-old films uncover some forgotten truths about Jordan’s dalliance with socialism. In 2008, Ali Maher, a commissioner for Jordan’s Royal Film Commission, received a phone call from a Russian friend. She was in the process of clearing out the old Amman headquarters of the Jordan-Russian (once Soviet) Friendship Society. The society had moved offices about 20 years prior, but had left behind piles of what appeared to be arcane junk. She thought that Maher might be interested in taking a look around, to see if there was anything worth salvaging.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
Lebanon
 
Killed Gunman in Karakass Related to Hariri’s Assassination Group
Security sources told Al-Manar that Shanti was among Al-Qaeda’s group of 13 people who had claimed the responsibility behind Rafik Hariri’s assassination.

Fresh clashes broke out in Lebanon's capital Beirut on Wednesday evening, with grenades thrown and gunfire heard near the Hamra area of the city. At least two grenades exploded in the late evening in the Caracas district of the city, which is next to the popular tourist destination of Hamra. Following the initial explosion there was a number of incidents of gunfire before Lebanese security forces intervened. It was not immediately clear who the groups involved were. A witness on the scene said the clashes started at around 10.30pm but things had gone quiet by 12.30am. He added that two grenades had exploded during the early part of the evening, followed by automatic gunfire.
 
At least two men were killed and seven soldiers wounded in fresh clashes throughout Wednesday evening in the Caracas district of Beirut, the Lebanese army and an Al-Akhbar correspondent confirmed. An army statement said one militant was killed and another injured during the storming of the apartment at roughly 6.15am, while an officer and three soldiers were wounded in the final stoush.
 
Lebanese pilgrims blown up in Iraq
A roadside bomb exploded near a bus carrying Lebanese Shia pilgrims in a Sunni area of western Iraq on Wednesday, killing three and wounding at least 10 others, police and medics said. "A roadside bomb exploded in the Khamsat Kilo area as a bus carrying Lebanese pilgrims... passed on the highway, killing three of them and wounding 10," a first lieutenant in the Anbar provincial police said, referring to an area west of the provincial capital Ramadi.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria
Abduction of several men in Aleppo, allegedly by Syrian rebels, prompts army raids, and protests in Beirut suburbs.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Released female Lebanese tell of kidnapping
Syrian rebels deny role in abduction of Shia pilgrims as violence in Syria heightens sectarian tensions in Lebanon.
 
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah and Amal movement are following the kidnapping of the Lebanese men in Aleppo very seriously, calling on people not to cut off roads or exercise any violence because it does not serve the issue.
 
A Syrian Islamist cleric said on Thursday that he was mediating the release of 13 Lebanese Shia men kidnapped in Syria two days ago. "They are well and safe, we are trying to secure their release, but the Syrian army shelling of the area has been blocking it so far," Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zoaby, head of Free People of Syria group, told Reuters. Zoaby said the kidnappers would issue a video or recording of the kidnapped men soon to show they were being treated well. He said the kidnappers want to hand the men to Lebanese authorities.
 
Amal thugs attack Syrian workers
Comrade Ibrahim talks about a racist campaign by Amal thugs against Syrian workers.  (I predict that Human Rights Watch will cover this because the culprits are not their friends in March 14).  
 
Berri: Resistance and Liberation Day Opportunity to Support Army
Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri congratulated the Lebanese people on the occasion of Resistance and Liberation Day, which falls on Friday, and reiterated his call for dialogue in Lebanon in order to prevent strife.
link to www.almanar.com.lb

Aoun: Israel Has Ambitions in Lebanon, Some Forget it
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Wednesday that some Lebanese forget the Israeli threats around Lebanon and try to link Syrian events with Lebanese ones in order to spread chaos.
link to www.almanar.com.lb 

Neil MacFarquhar justifies the kidnapping of innocent Lebanese, As'ad AbuKhalil
Look at this outrage:  "Activists reached in the Aleppo area said the Lebanese were grabbed on suspicion that they were Hezbollah “shabiha,” or thugs, working for the Syrian government."  Shame on Neil MacFarquhar.  In fact, the thugs are his contact in the armed Syrian opposition who are lying and justifying the kidnapping of innocent Lebanese.  Not even Saudi and Hariri media who are aligned with the Syrian opposition and Free Syrian Army have made this claim.  Not one Arab media have made those claims.  So now we know that the worst thugs are the contacts of Mr. MacFarquhar in Syria.  Some of the families are from the Amal movement and we know the names of the kidnapped and we know where they were in Iran and for what religious purpose.  Even the Free Syrian Army which earlier identified itself to the women who were released had to later lie and claim that they were not involved, when they were, because it was clear that those were civilians who were kidnapped to exchange them with prisoners in Syrian regime jail.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Phalangist and Hezbollah students clash at Beirut university
A brawl erupted at a major university in Beirut on Wednesday between student groups of rival political factions, prompting Lebanese security forces to intervene, local media reported. Supporters of Hezbollah clashed with pro-Phalangist and Lebanese Forces (LF) students at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ), before security forces broke up the fight. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Al-Jadeed TV network said Phalangist, LF and Hizballah student bodies were meeting to defuse the tension.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
But the shooting in Beirut should not be diminished. Gunmen back on the streets of the capital produces a mixture of intense fear and weariness among the Lebanese. The fighting centred around the Berjawi family – Sheikh Shaker Berjawi, who was once pro-Palestinian and then pro-Mourabitoun, a particularly venal militia, and is now pro-Syrian, versus other members of his anti-Syrian extended family who support the Prime Minister Saad Hariri. But it spread from Tarek el-Jdeideh into the shopping district of Verdun and then moved towards the museum, the old civil war crossing point in Beirut.The problem is that Syria now dominates Lebanon as surely as it did in the days when tens of thousands of its troops occupied much of the country. You only have to count how many times the phrases "pro-Syrian" and "anti-Syrian" appear in reports about Lebanon to grasp that the division between the government – electorally pro-Syrian and very much supported by Hezbollah and pro-Syrian Christian parties and the Shia Muslims – and the anti-Syrian Sunnis and Druze and Phalangist Christians is presently incurable. But every time the Lebanese have been offered another civil war, they have turned it down. The young men and women educated outside Lebanon during the 1975-90 war do not want another conflict and are contemptuous of the sectarian politics, introduced by the French almost 100 years ago. And no one can forget who won the civil war: the one neighbouring power whose soldiers were stabled across the land, that rock-solid, secure dictatorship which would never suffer internal dissent, a nation called Syria.
 
During his last visit to Beirut on 3 May 2012, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman met with former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, former finance minister Mohamad Chatah, Future Movement leader Nader Hariri, and a number of Future Bloc MPs at Saad Hariri’s residence in Beirut’s city center.  The meeting included discussions on many issues, mostly regarding the way forward in Syria and Lebanon, among others. Al-Akhbar was able to obtain a partial transcript of the meeting’s minutes.
 
Jeffrey Feltman's children: Al-Qa`idah in Lebanon, As'ad AbuKhalil
This is one of the most unreported story: how the US government has sponsored and cultivated (directly and indirectly through the Hariri camp in Lebanon under the umbrella of March 14 movement--dubbed "pro-Western" in the Western press) Sunni Salafite groups, including those with a Jihadi bent.  In their eagerness to prop up rivals and opponents to Hizbullah, the US has midwifed the rise of various Salafite groups in the country.  Some, of course, are parts of Al-Qa`idah.  Of course, this won't be the first time the US has done such a thing: this movie has been shown many times before and the last time was in Libya, and not in Afghanistan in the 1980s.  So today, the Lebanese government under Saudi/Qatari/Hariri pressures released Shadi Al-Mawlawi who admitted his membership in Al-Qa`idah.  The US is now eager to support, arm, and finance any groups opposed to the Syrian regime, that they will be given birth to a monster in Syria (no, I am not making an argument for the preservation of the lousy Syrian regime which should be overthrown by its own people).
 
No sooner had Hassan Nasrallah ended his televized address, urging residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to get off the streets and not to harm Syrian citizens in their areas, than groups of hoodlums responded by going on vile racist anti-Syrian rampages in various places. Most of these were members or followers of the Amal movement. In the Lebanon of the 1970s and 1980s, racist behavior against Syrians was a Christian monopoly. After 2005, the Sunnis and Druze joined in. Following the outbreak of the Syrian crisis, so did a considerable portion of the Shia, thus making the picture of Lebanese racism complete.
 
Pilgrimage Trips: The Dangerous Road to Faith
Three Lebanese women were killed and 14 others were injured when a road bomb exploded near their bus west of Baghdad, while on their way to visit holy sites in the Najaf and Karbala.
 
Syria
 
A UN panel said on Thursday that government forces are to blame for most rights abuses in the latest violence sweeping Syria, as a watchdog reported renewed shelling of a rebel bastion. Meanwhile, President Bashar Assad said Syria's government was capable of finding a way out of the crisis gripping his country, as he met with a visiting minister from main regional ally Iran.
 
Amnesty sees possible crimes against humanity by Syria
The Syrian government may have committed crimes against humanity by using "lethal" force and "torturing" detainees in its crackdown on a 14-month uprising, Amnesty International said on Thursday.
 
Assad says Syria 'able' to get out of crisis
Meeting Iranian official, Syrian president says Syria "able to get out of this crisis" ahead of parliament address.

Anti-government demonstration broken up violently by security forces in Aleppo, according to activist groups.
 
Apart from over the dozen Lebanese pilgrims abducted by armed groups... Three Iranian Truck Drivers Abducted in Syria
Three Iranian truck drivers have been abducted by “armed opposition groups” in Syria, Iran’s charge d’affaires in Damascus was quoted by media sources Wednesday as saying.
link to www.almanar.com.lb

Speculation over 'killing' of Assad brother-in-law
Speculation was rife on Wednesday among Syrian anti-regime activists over the alleged "killing" of President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law who is also Syria's deputy defence minister.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
The Assef Shawkat controversy continues to gain traction. Was he assassinated? Not since JR of Dallas fame, has murder been so mysterious and talked about. Chances are, however, that he is alive and kicking. Assef Shawkat’s town-folks deny that he is dead, according to the on-line news site, “Syria Politic.” When their journalist, called people in the town, townfolks laughed at the news, claiming that they don’t even have a tradition of raising a black flag for the dead. Opposition sources claimed that the people of Madhale had raised a black flag for him. The townsfolk interviewed by Syria Politic say the news about his death is bunkum. This doesn’t prove much, but it does suggest that opposition members who write about the assassination are making parts of the story up.
link to www.joshualandis.com 

Syria says sanctions have cost country $4 billion
Syria's oil minister acknowledged the heavy toll international sanctions have taken on the country's oil sector, saying Wednesday that they had sucked about $4 billion from the economy.
link to news.yahoo.com

Venezuela delivers oil to Syria
Syrian oil minister Sufian Alao said on Wednesday a Venezuelan oil tanker with 35,000 tonnes of diesel had docked in Syria a day earlier and another was being prepared. "A Venezuelan tanker carrying 35,000 tonnes of diesel docked in Syria yesterday and Venezuela is preparing another tanker which will come to Syria soon," state news agency SANA quoted Alao as saying. Ship tracking data on Reuters shows that the Negra Hipolita, which is managed by state oil firm PDVSA, left Venezuela at the start of May and docked at the Syrian port of Banias this week.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Turkey accuses Syria of harboring Kurdish rebels
Syria is allowing Kurdish rebels who are fighting Turkish forces to establish bases in Syrian territory, as ties between the two neighboring countries deteriorate, a Turkish minister said Wednesday. Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said Turkish intelligence indicates that Syria is allowing rebels to establish themselves in areas close to the Turkish border. Some Kurdistan Workers' Party rebels have even taken charge of running small Syrian towns, Sahin claimed, describing the development as an apparent act of revenge against Turkey.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
...The one positive observation, in the US assessment, is that despite sustaining heavy losses at the hands of the Syrian regular army, the FSA is in better shape and more eager to fight on, and that the terms of the confrontation have improved despite the splits in the opposition. Washington knows that Iran is well aware that its support for Syria puts it at loggerheads with the entire Arab world. Yet Tehran evidently views things differently, and sees the loss its closest Arab friend – and its conduit to Hezbollah – as a worse outcome than losing all the other Arabs. The US, for its part, has not kept secret an approach made to it by Saudi Arabia, to declare its willingness to supply the world market with any additional oil it needs via the Red Sea in the event of Israel directing a severe military blow to Iran.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

U.S. and Other News

Amnesty criticizes U.S. for ‘unlawful’ bin Laden raid
WASHINGTON — Amnesty International criticized the United States on Wednesday for its use of lethal force, particularly for the “unlawful” killing of Osama bin Laden in a clandestine US commando raid in Pakistan last May. “The US administration made clear that the operation had been conducted under the USA’s theory of a global armed conflict between the USA and Al-Qaeda in which the USA does not recognize the applicability of international human rights law,” it said in its annual report. “In the absence of further clarification from the US authorities, the killing of Osama bin Laden would appear to have been unlawful,” it said.

BAE signs £1.9bn Saudi jet deal
British defence giant BAE signs a £1.9bn ($3bn) deal with Saudi Arabia to supply Hawk trainer jets, safeguarding over 200 UK jobs.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

Saudi university holds urgent meeting on use of ‘Persian Gulf’ in exam
The administration of King Khaled University in the Saudi province of Asir held an urgent meeting over an English exam that contained the term “Persian Gulf”, a phrase which has been a major bone of contention between Iran and Gulf nations. 
 
www.TheHeadlines.Org
]]> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/senate-fight-today-over-the-number-of-palestinian-refugees.html/feed 23 Palestinian Authority and Israel on an arresting spree, children and activists detained http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/palestinian-authority-and-israel-on-an-arresting-spree-children-and-activists-detained.html http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/palestinian-authority-and-israel-on-an-arresting-spree-children-and-activists-detained.html#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 14:53:48 +0000 Today in Palestine http://mondoweiss.net/?p=76355 link to news.yahoo.com
Detainees and Other Prisoner News Palestinians arrest 10 Islamic Jihad members Palestinian security forces arrested 10 members of the Islamic Jihad in the Jenin refugee camp on Monday, a local leader of the radical movement said. link to news.yahoo.com Islamic … Continue reading →]]> link to news.yahoo.com

Detainees and Other Prisoner News

Palestinians arrest 10 Islamic Jihad members
Palestinian security forces arrested 10 members of the Islamic Jihad in the Jenin refugee camp on Monday, a local leader of the radical movement said.
link to news.yahoo.com

Islamic Jihad holds PA security responsible for assaults on its cadres
The Islamic Jihad said that the PA security men broke into houses of a number of the Islamic Jihad leaders and cadres, on Monday, in the Jenin refugee camp in Burkin town.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOF soldiers nab ten Palestinians including three children in Jerusalem and Al Khalil
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up ten Palestinians in Al-Khalil and Jerusalem over the past 24 hours including three children. 
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

In the past twenty-four hours, three male Palestinian children have been arrested in separate raids by Israeli soldiers in Beit Ommar. Jowad Muhammad Jameel Za’aqiq (15 years old) was arrested at around 5pm on Monday, 21 May, 2012. He was helping his father tend to his family land when the arrest took place. His father asked the soldiers present why his son was being taken. He was informed that Jowad (his son) had been seen throwing stones. Muhannad Mershad Awad (12 years old) and Alaa Yousef Mohammad Abu Maria (14 years old) were both arrested from their respective family homes in night raids at around 2am on Tuesday, 22 May, 2012. The reason for their arrests is unknown. Night raids are an almost daily occurrence in Beit Ommar. Night raids typically target Palestinian minors, activists and organizers involved in popular resistance initiatives against the Israeli occupation. Israeli soldiers often fail to explain why the ‘suspect’ is being arrested. The 
 

IOF soldiers detain child, summons liberated prisoner
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained a 15-year-old child in Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, on Monday evening, local sources said.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli police arrest six Jerusalemites
Israeli border police arrested six Jerusalemite youths in confrontations in Tur suburb in occupied Jerusalem on Monday after they tried to prevent the policemen from kidnapping a child.
 
Khaled Abu Qash, a student activist at Bir Zeit University, was seized by undercover occupation forces from his home in the town of Abu Qash, Ramallah district on Friday, May 18, 2012. Abu Qash is the secretary of the Progressive Student Action Front at Bir Zeit University and was active in events at Bir Zeit and mass demonstrations in Ramallah in solidarity with the prisoners over the past month. This arrest has come among a number of arrests that have taken place against youth and student activists in recent weeks, and Palestinian activists have noted that these arrests have specifically targeted students and youth who engaged in and led many of the protests and solidarity events supporting the 28-day hunger strike of over 2500 Palestinian prisoners.
 
PARIS, May 22, 2012 (WAFA) - Reporters Without Borders strongly condemned on Monday the arrest by Israeli troops of Baha Mousa, director of the Palestinian Prisoner Channel, which broadcast from the northern West Bank city of Jenin. The troops raided the station on May 17, arrested Mousa and seized broadcasting equipment, computers, video cameras and documents. “Such abuses aimed at stifling the Palestinian media must cease,” the press freedom organization said in a statement.
 
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A Gaza engineer kidnapped by Israel in the Ukraine last year is the last remaining prisoner held in solitary confinement, after the hunger-strike deal sought to end the practice, his lawyer said Tuesday. Dirar Abu Sisi is still being held in an isolation cell in Ashkelon prison, while all others have been returned to normal wards, lawyer Karim Karim Ajwah said, noting his case was "kept secret in an unusual way."

VIDEO: "We are All Palestinian Prisoners" Exclusive Interview with Artist Hafez Omar
Hafez Omar, the young Tulkarm-based artist and activist, is the man behind many of the images we have come to associate with online Palestinian and Arab revolutionary campaigns--from the hunger striker Khader Adnan's stencil with a lock for a mouth to the late Egyptian Azharite Sheikh Emad Effat killed by the military police in Cairo in December. His most recent design, that of a faceless, blindfolded Palestinian prisoner became a Facebook sensation as thousands adopted it and other variations of the image to raise awareness about the countless prisoners observing a hunger strike in Israeli jails in protest of harsh conditions and inhumane detention procedures. Within 24-hours of posting the image on his Facebook page Hitan, Omar's design became a meme across the globe, prompting variations from Egypt and Syria to Ireland and the United States.
link to www.jadaliyya.com
 
Ethnic Cleansing / Land Theft & Destruction / Apartheid / Refugees

Netanyahu: Israel will continue to build Jerusalem and keep it united
Marking Jerusalem Day, PM says 'Israel without Jerusalem is like a body without a heart'; thousands of religious-Zionist youths march through the city and Arab neighborhoods.
link to www.haaretz.com

Fayyad: Water crisis due to Israel's control of resources
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israel's control of Palestinian water resources in the West Bank is responsible for the water crisis, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Monday. Opening a conference on water and the prospects for agricultural development in Palestine, Fayyed said strategic vision and a long-term plan were needed to resolve the crisis.
link to www.maannews.net

Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem sells Real Estate to Zionists
The Hebrew newspaper "Maariv" has revealed, on Monday, a new scandal about selling real estate in Jerusalem to the occupation by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

The occupation escalates its siege on Jerusalem
The occupation authorities have imposed strict military measures since Sunday morning, around the city of Jerusalem.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Named for the crash site of an airforce plane shot down during the Six Day War in 1967, Givat HaMatos may yet prove the place where Palestinian hopes of a creating a capital in Jerusalem also plunge to earth. 'Airplane Hill' lies on the southern fringes of Jerusalem's city limits -- rock-strewn land dotted with shabby, prefabricated bungalows and the occasional pine tree.
link to www.maannews.net 

Jerusalem Day in the Old City: The Conflict Marches On, Karl Vick
Sunday was Jerusalem Day in Israel, a holiday once again observed by thousands of young Jews who chanted as they marched through Arab neighborhoods conquered in the 1967 Six Day War. The tension is always highest in the narrow passages of the largely Palestinian Old City. 
link to globalspin.blogs.time.com

The IOF suppress counter-demonstration held in Jerusalem
The occupation forces suppressed hundreds of Jerusalemites who demonstrated in response to the Zionist settlers’ marches on the anniversary of what they call "Jerusalem Day", on Sunday night.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
 
Palestinians flee Syria for Jordan 
Violence in neighbouring Syria has driven increasing numbers of Palestinians into Jordan. But, the conditions at the former industrial complex where many of them are housed is only making the situation for the refugees increasingly difficult. Palestinian refugees from Syria held inside the Cyber City compound say the building resembles a detention facility. Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh reports. 
Nahr al-Bared was the first official Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. It was then completely destroyed by the Lebanese army during clashes with Fatah al-Islam in 2007. Although the government designated the newly built camp as a military zone, residents insist that their return is a symbolic step towards return to Palestine.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

The Meaning of the Nakba, Naseer Aruri
During the middle of May, Zionists celebrate an event that they call the War of Independence. The same occasion is observed by Palestinians, who call it al-Nakba, meaning the catastrophe, which began with the internal displacement of some 200,000 Palestinians, reaching 800,000 or two-thirds of the population by the armistice of 1949, plus the organized destruction of some 600 Palestinian villages.
link to www.counterpunch.org

Siege of Gaza

The Arab Doctors Union calls to immediately support Gaza
The Emergency Relief Committee of the Arab Doctors Union has called for urgent support for Gaza and supplying it with necessary medications in order to meet the large deficit in hospitals.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
 
Freed Palestinians find Gaza exile a challenge
"Gaza is a big prison, but some prisons are better than others," admits Nihad Abu Kishk, a former detainee from the West Bank who was exiled by Israel to the Gaza Strip. 
 
Falling between the cracks in the paperwork: What a single form can reveal
Bureaucracy isn’t photogenic. A clerk’s signature doesn’t film well. For that matter, writing about it isn’t easy either. A description of it can lead even the most determined reader to despair, but bureaucracy controls the lives of thousands of people and a single form might be the only distance separating an individual from her family. In a world such as this, one form can provide a lot of insight into the lives of hundreds of thousands if you look at it closely enough.
link to www.gazagateway.org
 
The Ministry of Agriculture in the Gaza Strip has launched the opening of the melon harvest season for 2012. At a ceremony conducted in the southern district of Rafah, it was confirmed that self-sufficiency targets set by the government have been attained. A number of senior officials from the ministry, engineers and farmers participated in the ceremony.

Israeli Violence and Aggression

From the start of the second intifada in September 2000 through December 2011, the human rights group B'Tselem filed 57 complaints over soldiers who allegedly did not stop violence such attacks.
 
IOF soldiers break into Aqsa mosque
Israeli occupation forces and border police broke into the Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem in their uniform on Monday.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Jewish settlers assault woman, lawyer in Yatta
A Palestinian human rights lawyer and a woman were assaulted by Jewish settlers to the east of Yatta town in Al-Khalil province at noon Monday.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Palestinian teen injured in West Bank
A Palestinian teenager has been seriously injured in a clash with Israeli soldiers in north of the city of al-Khalil in the occupied West Bank.
link to www.presstv.ir

Where’s the Palestinian Gandhi? Soaking in Blood Shed by Settlers, Richard Silverstein
Yesterday, in the northern West Bank, outside the village of Aserra, a Jewish settler shot a Palestinian boy who was participating in a demonstration.  Here is the picture of the assassin aiming his rifle and there is the picture of the boy after the bullet has hit its target.
link to www.richardsilverstein.com

B’Tslem appeals closing of investigation into death of Firas Qasqas
On 15 May 2012, on behalf of B’Tselem, Attorney Gabi Lasky, filed an appeal to the State Attorney against the decision by the Central District Attorney’s office to close the investigation into the fatal shooting of Firas Qasqas by reserve-duty soldiers on 2 December 2007. The appeal was submitted after an examination of the material from the investigation into this case revealed that there is concrete evidence that necessitates an indictment for the negligent shooting of Qasqas, and that the decision to close the case is patently unreasonable and should be reversed.
link to www.btselem.org
 
Campaign: A message from Moira Jilani, Moira Jilani
My beloved husband, Ziad Jilani, was executed by Israeli Border Policeman, Maxim Vinogradov on June 11, 2010. There is undeniable evidence that my husband was lying unarmed and wounded on the ground, posing no threat when Israeli Border Policeman Maxim Vinogradov shot him point blank in the head. Despite the multiple contradictions, revisions and blatant lies in the testimony of the soldier who killed him, exposed by the autopsy, the Israeli authorities have closed the case against Maxim Vinogradov and his commander Shadi Kheir Al-Din.

Activism / Solidarity / BDS

Islamic bloc's students in Birzeit threaten open hunger strike
The Islamic bloc's students, who remain in sit-in at Birzeit University campus, threatened to go on an open hunger strike if the PA arrest and persecution campaigns against them does not stop.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

UK student union to support campus divestment initiatives, Ben White
The National Union of Student’s (NUS) National Executive Council has unanimously adopted a proposal mandating the body to work with local Student Unions to lobby universities to cancel contracts with Eden Springs.
link to electronicintifada.net

Pressure increases to deny Dutch bus contract to Israeli settlement profiteer Veolia, Adri Nieuwhof
Pressure to deny a public transport contract to Veolia because of its role in Israel’s violations of international law increases in the Netherlands.
link to electronicintifada.net
 
UK Community split over JNF Invitation to Avigdor Lieberman
In the UK, the Jewish National Fund and more than 280 "concerned" Jews, including the religious head of the Reform Movement, clashed this week over the charity's invitation to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman, the Head of the far right Yisrael Beiteinu Party, is due in the UK next week to give a talk to JNF members and meet Foreign Secretary William Hague. 
 
How did I, who carefully checks every item on the supermarket shelves to avoid buying products made in the settlements, miss the fact that the halva I eat is made in northern Samaria?
  
Anti

Israel blasts foreign proposal on settlement goods
The Palestinian campaign to boycott goods produced in Jewish settlements in the West Bank has received a boost from abroad with an unprecedented South African proposal to have the name of Israel dropped from labels on merchandise made in the settlements.
link to news.yahoo.com

Israeli Racism / Discrimination 

"Civil Rights": 84% of Palestinian Children in Jerusalem Live Below the Poverty Line
The Israeli Association for Civil Rights stated in a report published on Sunday that 84% percent of the Palestinian children of Jerusalem live below the poverty line.
link to www.imemc.org
 
Israelis sling racial epithets to mark 45 years of a Jerusalem ‘unification’, Allison Deger
Meanwhile en route to the Western Wall, by way of the Damascus Gate, extremist Israelis shouted, "the Temple will be rebuilt, the mosque will be burned," "Mohammed is dead," "sons of whores," and "death to the leftists". When the right-wing marchers entered Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter, protests were sparked amongst the Palestinian residents of the city and left-wing Israelis. Police on horseback then suppressed the demonstrators, arresting five. Ten Israelis were also arrested. 

Netanyahu: Israel could be overrun by African infiltrators
Netanyahu praises border fence being built in the south as a means of preventing infiltrations, but added that it is also important 'to physically remove the infiltrators.'
link to www.haaretz.com

Israeli MKs engage in stormy debate over African asylum seekers
Israel Police commander tells Knesset committee that increase in violent and sex crimes can be curbed by letting asylum seekers work.
link to www.haaretz.com

The Interior Minister’s call to expel African immigrants, in context, Paul Mutter
Interior Minister Eli Yishai's most recent remarks on African immigrants, calling for their expulsion and painting all of them (both refugees and migrant workers) as a criminal element in Israeli society, don't seen to be drawing much censure. Yishai is getting criticism from the Israeli police, but not for his bombast: Yediot Ahronot reports that the police inspector-general and one of Netanyahu's confidants are criticizing Yishai over the crime rate in South Tel Aviv - often blamed on African residents - and the two men promised that the government would devote more money to enforcing border controls and enforcing laws that prohibit hiring undocumented workers. 
link to mondoweiss.net
 
Lieberman and the JNF - a racist among racists
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, is paying a visit to the racist Jewish National Fund in London tonight.  That the racist JNF and the racist Lieberman support each other shouldn't surprise anyone.  I am however surprised that the JNF is so open about it. There is a bright side to this.  The meeting should help those of us who have been trying to expose the inappropriateness of the JNF's charitable status since hosting a foreign politician can hardly be deemed non-political. 
 
'Non-Jews are brainless thieves'
Rabbi Shteinman, leader of Lithuanian branch of ultra orthodox Jewry claims world was created for righteous, says nations have no principles
link to www.ynetnews.com

Other Developments and News

Israel set to impose further limits on privacy
The Israeli Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is proposing a new law that would allow a small number of official organizations to access public telephone calls, emails, and the contents of personal computers. This law would open the way for the Israel Antiquities Authority and the National Parks Authority to use what is known as “Confidential Eavesdropping,” a system used by Israeli police and military intelligence  to track emails and access the content of personal computers. For Palestinians, this law is another example of the violation of the democratic principles that Israel claims to uphold. This law is racially biased targeting Palestinians while helping settlers’ organizations take over Palestinian lands, using “democracy”  as a catchword to justify the law.  In the opinion of Palestinians, there is no need to create such a law because police and military intelligence are loyal to settlers’ organizations, and the same settlers control the Antiquities and National Parks Authorities. Settlers’ organizations are the sole source of information for these authorities. A local Palestinian said that Israel is the country that most often violates the public’s right to privacy especially for Palestinians. For example, cameras have previously been planted inside Palestinians’ houses so the settlers can monitor their movements.
link to silwanic.net 
The Obama administration is trying to convince the US Congress to approve the sale of spy drones to Turkey for its campaign against Kurdish rebels, the Turkish president was quoted as saying on Tuesday. However it is expected that powerful pro-Israeli lobbying groups will try to scupper any potential deal to punish Turkey for its hostile stance towards the Jewish state. "Actually the administration has a positive stance (over the sale)," President Abdullah Gul was quoted as telling the Anatolia news agency in Chicago where he was attending a NATO summit.
link to english.al-akhbar.com 

Austria minister: Lieberman's presence in Israeli cabinet 'unbearable'
In an interview to Die Presse daily, Norbert Darabos says Israel directing attention at enemies such as Iran, Palestinians in order to avoid internal social issues.
link to www.haaretz.com
 
Qatar's ruler says Israel is more isolated by the Arab uprisings and will face increasing pressures over issues such as its nuclear arsenal. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani urged Israel's leaders to view the Middle East uprisings as an opportunity for serious peace talks with Palestinians. The fall of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak last year wiped away Israel's main Arab ally, and Qatar's emir predicts the region's new governments will press Israel harder over its policies, including a widely suspected nuclear arms program.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Israel denies planning troops in Cyprus
Israel denied Monday reports in the Turkish press that it planned to deploy thousands of troops in Cyprus to protect oil and gas interests in the sensitive region.
link to news.yahoo.com

Occupation Inc.: Exporting Israeli Occupation to Cyprus, Richard Silverstein
Israel figures it can’t have too much of a good thing with its Occupation of Palestine.  Now it proposes to expand it to Cyprus as well, under slightly different terms.  Occupation by any other name would be just as sweet.
link to www.richardsilverstein.com
 

Suspicion: Israelis harvested organs from the needy
Police suspect organ-harvesting network operated mainly in Kosovo, Azerbaijan; probe was launched after Turkish man told authorities in Kosov he was 'thrown out to the street' following operation.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Some 65,000 attend mass rally calling for kosher web; spokesman says event aimed at learning how to use the Internet responsibly.
 
Analysis / Op-ed

Monumental Dutch exhibit: Zionism built ‘a house, a cage, a UN shelter… a zoo’, Annie Robbins
ZOO, or the letter Z, just after Zionism is a far-out exhibit at an architecture center NAIM /Bureau Europa in the city of Maastricht, The Netherlands . It's also an adventure, an exploration into an unexpected world of architecture in conflict. First conceived by Israeli architect Malkit Shoshan, the founder and director of the Amsterdam based architectural thinktank FAST (the Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory), "ZOO, or the letter Z, just after Zionism" was an extension of her award winning book Atlas of the Conflict. Israel-Palestine.link to mondoweiss.net
 
In response to questions rating which country '… is having a mainly positive or mainly negative influence in the world?' Israel was tie with N Korea for third place with highest negative influence on the global stage. The 2012 BBC Country Ratings Poll was conducted jointly by GlobeScan, an international opinion research consultancy, and The Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, USA. Respondents were asked to rate 16 countries for their “mostly positive” or “mostly negative” influence on the world. A total of 24,090 citizens in 22 countries were interviewed in late 2011 and early 2012. People’s perception was based on the world’s view of the country’s foreign and domestic policies.
link to palestinechronicle.com

Interview: racism of Britain's rulers in Palestine explored in major new exhibition, Sarah Irving
Unearthed photographs shed new light on the British army’s Mandate of Palestine which paved the way for Zionist colonization.
link to electronicintifada.net

Nazism, Zionism, and the Arab World, Annette Herskovits
The intricate, sprawling architecture of deception that shapes understanding of the Israel-Palestine conflict in America is probably unique in history. For over six decades, the U.S. Congress, successive presidents, media, public opinion, all have supported a story which portrays Israel as wholly good and innocent, while painting those resisting its violence and injustice as anti-Semites, Nazis, and terrorists. The myth that Israel is the victim of unprovoked attacks by uncivilized Arabs persists, even in the face of Israel’s brutality and violations of international law in its 44-year long occupation of the Palestinian Territories.
link to dissidentvoice.org
 

Al-Jazeera's (R)Evolution?
In March of 2011, an unusually forthright editorial by an anonymous writer made its way into the Peninsula Qatar, an English language daily bankrolled by a member of the emirate’s ruling family. At the time of publication, protesters had already toppled the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, uprisings were in full swing in Libya and Yemen, and in the Persian Gulf, Bahrainis were gearing up for what would prove a bloody battle only days after the op-ed ran. 
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5610/al-jazeeras-(r)evolution

The Melancholia of a Generation
Mohammed Achaari is not new to Morocco’s literary scene; though The Arch and the Butterfly (al-Qaws wa-al-farashah) is only his second novel, he is the author of nine collections of poetry, a collection of short stories, and has served as both Minister of Culture and president of the Moroccan Writer’s Union. The brief synopses thataccompanied the announcement of his selection as one of two recipients of the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (popularly known as the Arabic Booker) for his most recent work inevitably focused on the novel’s connection to terrorism. The text’s opening line shows the narrator reading a compressed letter, presumably sent by an al-Qaida affiliate in Morocco, informing him in a single sentence that the son he had believed was studying engineering in Paris has been killed as a martyr in Afghanistan. The astuteness of Edward Said’s point that “the designation of a beginning generally involves also the designation of a consequent intention” remains, but the interpretation that the intention of The Arch and the Butterfly is of the same nature as that of novels like Yasmina Khadra’s Wolf Dreams and John Updike’s The Terrorist rests on a significant misreading.[1] There is little doubt that Achaari’s beginning is purposefully engaged in the production of meaning, but it is not precisely the meaning that has been widely asserted.
link to www.jadaliyya.com

The Most Unpopular Arab Uprising, Asad AbuKhalil
Certainly, Tunisia and Egypt have been the most popular Arab uprisings at the pan-Arab level. Certainly, the momentum of the counter-revolution has dashed the enthusiasm and excitement that followed the fall of Mubarak and Ben Ali. But Arab excitement and optimism gradually gave way to caution, pessimism, and dismay.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
Bahrain

Bahrain activist attends retrial
Leading Bahraini political and human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja appears in court in the capital, Manama, for his retrial.
United Nations member states should scrutinize Bahrain’s deplorable human rights record during the country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council on May 21, 2012. The international community should push Bahrain to adopt specific measures to ensure free expression and peaceful assembly, end torture, free political prisoners, and establish credible accountability mechanisms for continuing abuses.
link to www.hrw.org
 

Lawyer: Jailed Bahrain activist granted bail
A court in Bahrain granted bail Sunday for a jailed rights activist, but he remained in detention to await another court hearing later this week, a defense lawyer said.
link to news.yahoo.com

Despite Being Granted Bill, Nabeel Rajab Still Detained
Although he was granted bill, prominent Bahraini activist Nabeel Rajab remained in jail of Al-Khalifa regime.
link to www.almanar.com.lb

Bahrain in UN spotlight over political prisoners
Bahrain faced calls at the United Nations on Monday to release its political prisoners, including prominent rights activist Nabeel Rajab who is charged with tweeting insults against the government.
link to news.yahoo.com

Leading Bahraini human rights activists, including hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, recalled their torture at the hands of the security forces on Tuesday. Al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike since February 8 but has recently been force-fed, appeared in court in a wheelchair as he is too weak to walk. The prominent activist, who is being retried at a civil court after a military tribunal had sentenced him to life in prison, looked frail but moved his chair forward without medical assistance.
 
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today released a report that details the impact of the ongoing militarization of Bahrain’s public health system on the country’s citizens especially the sick and wounded. The report, Under the Gun: Ongoing Assaults on Bahrain’s Health System, is based on 102 interviews, the examination of medical records and radiographic images, and site visits by PHR investigators in April 2012.
 
Secret Clinics Tend to Bahrain’s Wounded, Kareem Fahim
Amid an uprising, “no one goes to the hospital,” one protester said. The police are there.
 
Mohammed Al-Sheikh won his first prize for his photography in Austria back in 2008 for a photo of a small Bahraini child holding a rock in the middle of a chaotic scene on a street in Manama. The boy of no more than 7 years had his entire face, except for his eyes, covered. It was only years later that Mohammed learned who this child of the Bahraini resistance with, a mysteriously strong, determined look in his eyes, was. Mohammed was more eager to show me his work than to talk about himself. Very modest, every time my friend or I would compliment one of his photos or something he had done, he would find a way to pass on the credit to the fortunate light conditions, the strength of the subject in the photo, or to the Bahraini people in general.
 

Bahraini Prince Should Not be Welcomed in UK, Petition Asserts
The petition drawn up by Avaaz, the world's largest and most effective online campaigning community for change, will call on the British Prime Minster David Cameron and Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to prevent Sheikh Nasser's entry to the UK, declaring him as "persona non grata", the Ahlul Bayt News Agency reported.
link to www.albawaba.com 

Opposition to the grand prix was fuelled by anger towards the excesses of prestige projects and the squandering of resources. In the Gulf Arab states, opulent hotels with gold-plated toilet handles, shopping malls larger than several football pitches, cloud-reaching skyscrapers, artificial islands visible from space and almost racially segregated gated communities have all been hailed as "miracles" in the scorching deserts. These are the visible signs of unregulated capitalism: political systems that are in many ways still very traditional are chasing each other along the road to urban ultra-modernity.
link to www.guardian.co.uk
 
Egypt

Egypt: Widespread Military Torture of Protesters Arrested in May
Military soldiers beat and tortured protesters they arrested at a demonstration near the Defense Ministry on May 4, 2012, Human Rights Watch said today, after interviews with numerous victims and lawyers. The military also failed to protect the protesters from attacks by armed groups in the early morning hours of May 2, at the same demonstration, which began on April 27 in Cairo’s Abbasiyya neighborhood.
link to www.hrw.org
 
An Egyptian court sentenced five policemen on Tuesday to 10 years each in prison for their role in killing protesters in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, the first such convictions against a force that was blamed for hundreds of deaths. One of the driving forces behind demonstrations that have erupted since Mubarak was ousted in February last year has been anger that no officials or police have been held accountable for the deaths of more than 850 people during the uprising.
link to english.al-akhbar.com 
 
Blood money, see below: Saudi finalizes Egypt aid package
Saudi Arabia's Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf said in a speech on Tuesday that the OPEC country was in the process of finalizing its US$2.7 billion aid package for Egypt. The funds are aimed at helping Cairo secure a US$3.2-billion IMF loan following the uprising that swept Hosni Mubarak from power in February 2011. After the transfer of US$1 billion to Egypt's central bank earlier this month, the Saudi package also includes US$500 million of support for development projects, US$250 million to finance purchases of petroleum products and US$200 million for small- and mid-sized firms.

Egypt's top cleric: Shias bring instability
Egypt's top Islamic cleric on Monday denounced Shia houses of worship in an outburst against the Muslim sect, telling Iran's envoy in Cairo that the husseiniyas promoted "instability." Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the imam of the prestigious Sunni Al-Azhar institute, met with the envoy a day after scholars from Al-Azhar and Islamist groups issued a statement condemning what they said were attempts to spread Shiism in Egypt.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Egypt vote: The Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty
Unpopular neighbour, But one foreign policy issue does bubble away beneath the bread and butter business of electoral politics here; what should newly-democratic Egypt do about the peace treaty with Israel signed more than 30 years ago back in the days of authoritarian military rule?, It is a campaign issue, although it has not dominated campaigning., The truth is that the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel was a deal between leaderships, not a deal between peoples, and it is now deeply unpopular with the Egyptian street. 
link to www.bbc.co.uk

Israeli expert: Moussa a rival, but Abouel Fotouh hostile to Israel
Presidential candidate Amr Moussa sees Israel as a rival that should be fought through diplomatic and political means, as opposed to rival candidate Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, who is hostile to the Jewish state, according to an Israeli expert on Egypt quoted in Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. The report highlighted Moussa’s campaign statements about his foreign policy vis-à-vis the Palestinians. The former foreign minister and former Arab League chief has said he would call for a Palestinian state in accordance with the borders as they were before the end of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, with East Jerusalem as its capital. He has also called for a nuclear-free Middle East.
link to www.egyptindependent.com
 
Voting results from Egyptian expatriates in Qatar, announced Saturday evening, showed Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh won the race in the Gulf country. A diplomatic source from the Egyptian Embassy in Doha said there was a turnout of 19673. Abouel Fotouh garnered 6134 votes to win, and was followed by Mohamed Morsy with 5975 votes. Hamdeen Sabbahi came in third with 3274 votes, Amr Moussa fourth with 2143 votes, Ahmed Shafiq fifth with 1191 votes, and Mohamed Selim al-Awa sixth with 299 votes. Khaled Ali received 121 votes, the diplomatic source said.
 
I recently interviewed Egyptian presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Fettouh. In three short parts below, Mr. Abul Fettouh discusses the most important aspects of his electoral platform, covering a variety of economic and political issues.
 
Egypt Islamist warns against vote fraud ahead of election
The powerful Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohammed Mursi warned Sunday against any attempt to tamper with Egypt's presidential poll this week as thousands of supporters rallied across the country on the last day of campaigning.
 
Khalid Ali. Egypt presidential candidate joins hunger strike
Several hundred Egyptians including a presidential candidate began a 24-hour hunger strike on Sunday to protest the continued detention of around 300 people rounded up in a mass arrest who face possible military prosecution.
 
Hamdeen Sabbahi: Egypt’s underdog presidential candidate?
Egyptian presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi rolls into the village of Dakarnas with a retinue of enthusiastic young supporters who are convinced their underdog candidate can surprise the nation.
 
Hamdin Sabbahi, As'ad AbuKhalil
Hamdin Sabbahi is a cultural-political phenomenon in Egypt and yet there is not a single article about him in the Western press, perhaps because he is neither an Islamist nor a pro-Saudi (fake) liberal, a la Amr Musa.  He is a staunch secularist Arab nationalist opposed to the very existence of Israel.  The bulk of Egyptian cultural elite is supporting Sabbahi but you would not know it from the coverage of the Western (and Saudi and Qatari) media.  
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

`Umar Sulayman: the new Egypt, As'ad AbuKhalil
It is hilarious.  `Umar Sulayman gives his first interview to Jihad Al-Khazin of Al-Hayat (the mouthpiece of Prince Khalid bin Sultan).  He is worried about the new Egypt and worries about a war with Israel.  Mubarak's proteges are always worried about Israel.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
 
In Al-Akhbar’s fourth interview with Egypt’s presidential candidates, Mubarak’s former prime minister talks about Saudi Arabia, the US and his hope for economic revival.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Egypt presidential race gets new twist: Mubarak-era figure surges
Presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafik, Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, rises in the polls days before the election. He may not win but could become a spoiler.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/Nl9N2w6_2Kc/la-fg-egypt-election-campaign-20120521,0,5329955.story

Cairo Journal: In Streets and Online, Campaign Fever in Egypt
Three days before Egypt’s presidential elections, a combination of high stakes, suspense and confusion has made for a heady atmosphere.
link to feeds.nytimes.com

Egypt’s Choice
In Egypt, no one knows what comes next. In a moment as fretful as any in decades, Egyptians are preparing to freely vote for a president, trading the certainties of rigged rule for a future with no guarantees. After the election, the malfunctioning state awaits an overhaul. Yet the moment is more hopeful, and more vibrant, than any in recent memory. Since last year’s revolt, Egyptians have repeatedly humbled their critics, including their deposed president, who called them unfit to choose their leaders. Now, Egypt’s once-opaque politics are a rich public spectacle, bubbling with talk of candidates, their missteps and their plans, as Egyptians recover something they had lost. “They feel they are citizens now,” said Hani Shukrallah, a journalist and author. “They have rights. And they have the ability, and the willingness, to fight for those rights.”
link to feeds.nytimes.com

The Making of Egypt’s President, Esam Al-Amin
Ever since the toppling of Egypt’s former dictator Hosni Mubarak, the United States has been very nervous with regard to its former client state. Likewise, most Israeli leaders have been sounding the alarms, warning that the peace treaty with Egypt is in danger and that its relationship with its western neighbor has never been more fragile. Last month, Egyptian authorities, under intense pressure from the public and revolutionary groups, abruptly ended all natural gas shipments to Israel. In addition, the parliamentary elections late last year, which resulted in the overwhelming victory of Islamic candidates, gave early warning signs that Egypt might chart a new independent course to the detriment of U.S. and Israeli policies in the region.
link to www.counterpunch.org

Iran
 
Deal with Iran reached on probe: U.N. nuclear chief
Despite some differences, a deal has been reached with Iran that will allow the U.N. nuclear agency to restart a long-stalled probe into suspicions that Tehran has secretly worked on developing nuclear arms, the U.N. nuclear chief said Tuesday.
 
Israeli warmongering at its finest: Israeli premier says Iran wants to destroy Israel
Iran is seeking atomic weapons to destroy Israel and world powers should not make any concessions over its nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.
link to news.yahoo.com

Neocons in Washington Post: Military strike on Iran would ‘calm nerves in the region’,  Philip Weiss
The Washington Post seems to think that the United States is not in enough overseas wars. It runs a piece by Matthew Kroenig and Jamie Fly urging us to pursue the military option with Iran. "On Iran, it’s time for Obama to set clear lines for military action." The excerpt below includes the shocking claim in my headline. Jamie Fly is at the neoconservative Foreign Policy Initiative. Its board consists of four directors, Robert Kagan, Bill Kristol, Dan Senor and Eric Edelman. A lot of robust diversity there! Looks like a front organization. Kroenig is at the Council on Foreign Relations and worked in the Obama Defense Department-- so much for change you can believe in. Probably a Lester Crown play, the Obama supporter who is militant on Iran. Steve Walt took Kroenig's argument for war apart last December as a "textbook example of war-mongering disguised as 'analysis'"
link to mondoweiss.net
 
Iraq
 
Iraq bombings kill six, including four children
Bombings in the centre of the ethnically-mixed city of Baquba, north of Baghdad, killed six people including four children on Tuesday, an army officer and a doctor said.

Iraq attacks kill three
Shootings and bombings killed three people and wounded nine in central Iraq on Monday, security officials said.
link to news.yahoo.com

Iraq buying US drones to protect oil
Iraq is buying unmanned drones from the United States to help protect its southern oil platforms as the OPEC nation ramps up production after the withdrawal of the last American troops, US and Iraqi officials said on Monday. Protecting the vital infrastructure around its oil reserves, the world's fourth largest, is crucial as Iraq rebuilds an industry battered by years of war and sanctions against former dictator Saddam Hussein.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Kurdish oil deal stirs Iraqi tensions
Autonomous region's oil minister outlines plans to export oil and gas to Turkey, increasing tensions with Baghdad.
link to www.aljazeera.com
 
Lawyers for fugitive Iraqi VP quit case in protest
Lawyers for Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice president charged with running death squads quit the case on Sunday in protest after judges rejected their request for evidence for his defense.
 
Ankara and Baghdad on Sunday both condemned the burning of a Turkish flag at a rally in south Iraq at which protesters decried Turkey's refusal to hand over Iraq's fugitive vice president. The remarks were a rare show of unity amid cooling ties between the two countries in recent weeks as Turkey has accused Iraq's government of stoking sectarian tensions and Baghdad has responded that Ankara was becoming a "hostile state."
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Inside Baghdad’s Sharaf Prison
The Iraqi government organized a trip for journalists to Sharaf Prison in the capital Baghdad, following a report by Human Rights Watch about prisoners being beaten up and electrocuted.
link to english.alarabiya.net
 
Bush and Blair's pre-Iraq conversation must be disclosed, tribunal rules
Foreign Office loses appeal against release of extracts from phone call that took place a few days before invasion. Extracts of a phone conversation between Tony Blair and George Bush a few days before the invasion of Iraq must be disclosed, a tribunal has ruled. The Foreign Office lost an appeal against an order by the information commissioner, Christopher Graham, to disclose records of the conversation between the two leaders on 12 March 2003. Graham's order was made in response to a freedom of information request by Stephen Plowden, a private individual who demanded disclosure of the entire record of the conversation. "Accountability for the decision to take military action against another country is paramount," Graham had said in his original order.
link to www.guardian.co.uk
 
Lebanon
 
Anti-Assad Lebanese cleric bailed
An anti-Syrian Sunni cleric whose arrest sparked sectarian clashes in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli is released on bail.

The Lede Blog: Video of Street Fighting in Beirut
A Lebanese broadcaster captured harrowing footage of the fighting between rival Sunni factions that support opposite sides of the Syrian conflict, including armed men squeezing off rounds and darting through darkened streets.
link to feeds.nytimes.com

Beirut Battle: One Night, One Street, Photo Blog by Haitham Moussawi
Street battles between pro and anti Syrian groups in Beirut overnight left two people dead, a security official said on Monday, however the Lebanese capital was largely quiet on Monday morning. "During the night, groups of young men cut off the road in the Tariq al-Jdideh district and street battles followed," the official said, requesting anonymity. "Two people were killed and 18 were wounded," he said, adding that machineguns had been fired.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Two dead after overnight street battles but Beirut calm
Street battles between pro and anti Syrian groups in Beirut overnight left two people dead, a security official said on Monday, however the Lebanese capital was largely quiet on Monday morning. "During the night, groups of young men cut off the road in the Tariq al-Jdideh district and street battles followed," the official said, requesting anonymity. "Two people were killed and 18 were wounded," he said, adding that machineguns had been fired. Supporters of the anti-Syrian Future Movement clashed with members of the pro-Assad Arab Movement, with fighting continuing until 3.00am.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Qahwaji: We won’t Allow Sedition in any Area in Lebanon
Lebanese Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed Monday that what happened in Akkar in North Lebanon after the killing of Sheikh Ahmad Abdul Wahid and his bodyguard was the result of political tension in the region. Lebanese armyIn an interview with Al-Jomhouriya newspaper, he urged Lebanese to put an end to sedition in the country, because people adhere to the state and army.
link to www5.almanar.com.lb

High Tension in Lebanon after Death of Sheikh Abdul Wahid
Several areas in Lebanon are witnessing high tension with roads being cut and gunshots heard after the Lebanese army fired at a convoy of cars which declined to stop at an army checkpoint in the town of Alkwykhat in Akkar.
link to www.almanar.com.lb
 
Protests after Lebanese sheikh killed in Akkar
A Lebanese sheikh was shot and killed by the country's army in the northern district of Akkar on Sunday, in circumstances that were initially unclear. Sheikh Ahmad Abdel Wahed and his companion Muhammad Hussein Merheb were killed in the town of Halba, the state run National News Agency (NNA) said.  The article claimed Wahed had been heading to a sit-in protest organized by the Future Movement but had failed to stop at a military checkpoint.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

US and Russia concerned by Lebanon security situation
The United States and Russia on Monday voiced concern about security in Lebanon after two clerics were shot and killed amid violence between between pro and anti Syrian groups. US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner issued a statement welcoming a pledge by the Lebanese authorities to probe the shootings and urged all sides to show restraint amid fears the violence in Syria was spilling into Lebanon.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Russia Urges Lebanon to Take Stabilization Measures
Lebanon has largely managed to remain neutral in the conflict that began in neighboring Syria last March, but violence has recently spread to the country’s northern region, which saw frequent clashes between rival Sunni groups in the past two weeks.On Sunday, Lebanese troops shot dead a Sunni cleric at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon. At least two people were killed and 18 injured in Beirut in clashes overnight. “Moscow is seriously concerned over the rise of public discontent in Lebanon…we are calling on Lebanese politicians to show restraint and high patriotic responsibility in this uneasy moment both for the country and for the region,” the Foreign Ministry said urging Lebanese authorities to restore order in the country. The ministry also said that “forces that are unable to implement their destabilization plans in Syria have turned their attention to Lebanon.” 
link to en.ria.ru
 
Lies of the US government, As'ad AbuKhalil
The recent clashes in Tripoli started with the arrest of Shadi Al-Mawlawi, a man with Al-Qa`idah connection.  The arrest was widely condemned by the "pro-Western"--according to Western media--coalition of March 14.  The other side revealed that the arrest was at the behest of the CIA.  That embarrassed the sponsors of the March 14, so pro-Saudi/US media in Lebanon, LBC TV and An-Nahar, quoted US officials as denying that they were behind the arrest.  Now, Sulayman Franjiyyah, revealed on New TV that the CIA was behind the arrest of the Jordanian suspect, and that led to the arrest of Al-Mawlawi.  So the US government was being too cute in its propaganda through March 14 media in Lebanon.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

"Armed kids on scooters were using the anarchy to try to assassinate soldiers from behind"
"The Shiites have [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah and [Amal leader Nabih] Berri to tell them when to fight and when to stop, and their people listen," one frustrated Beirut Sunni told me late in the evening as he checked the casualty reports on his phone. "The Sunnis? We have a poster of a dead man."
 
A day after an all night battle in the Future Movement’s stronghold of Tariq al-Jdideh in the Lebanese capital, residents of the neighborhood have mixed feelings that range from the thrill of “victory” to the fear of what’s next.

America's favorite Salafites, As'ad AbuKhalil
The Hariri Salafites in Lebanon are of the Jihadi-Bin Ladenite type.  Those were the folks who recruited fighters in Iraq.  They have been burning Lebanon in the last few days and yet not a word against them from the US government.  They are those allies: this is one of the most unreported stories.  Western journalists who were going to Lebanon on media junkets paid for by Hariri family were introduced to the Whiskey sipping members of the Hariri media office and they were not introduced to the muscle on the street.  Can you imagine if the culprits were from Hizbullah? The UN Security Council would have met in an emergency session and sanctions would have been ordered against Lebanon. 
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

The Salafi monster in Lebanon and Jeffrey Feltman, As'ad AbuKhalil
I will write about that later but make no mistake about it: Jeffrey Feltman and US policies in Lebanon during the Bush administration are responsible for the rise of the Jihadi-Salafi monster in Lebanon.  They wanted a sectarian counter to Hizbullah and found one.  I hope that they are enjoying it.  Hariri camp has been speaking about "a civil state" in Lebanon (this is very much a code word by the Muslim Brotherhood to mask their aim at Islamization of society and state): I believe them but we did not know that they wanted Ayman Adh-Dhawahiri as its head.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Muhammad Ra`d: Hizbullah's second thoughts on Syria, As'ad AbuKhalil
On the sinking Syrian regime ship.  People did not notice the speech by Muhammad Ra`d (the head of Hizbullah parliamentary bloc who has a unique way of expressing his political views--he was a teacher of Arabic).  Ra`d spoke about Syria in a tone that can be contrasted with the rest of Hizbullah's rhetoric about Syria.  He spoke about the right of the Syrian people to determine their future, and spoke about the freedom of the Syrian people to chose.  The party must have realized how much fodder he has provided to his enemies in Saudi/Hariri media by his unconditional and unlimited support for the lousy regime.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Kuwait warns residents not to visit Lebanon
Kuwait's Foreign Ministry has told its citizens to leave Lebanon and avoid traveling to the country because of increasing violence fueled by the revolt in neighboring Syria, state-run news agency KUNA reported on Monday, citing a ministry source. "Kuwaitis...should not travel to Lebanon under any circumstances," KUNA quoted the source as saying. The decision follows similar announcements by Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE on Sunday. At least two people were killed in Beirut in heavy clashes between rival Sunni Muslim gunmen early on Monday. 
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Tripoli: Salafis Make Their Move
The repeated security breaches in the Northern Lebanese city of Tripoli raise questions about who’s in control of the security situation on the ground. There are no definitive answers to these questions, but the growing influence of Salafi forces is visible.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Don't blame Syria – Lebanon's leaders are fuelling the fighting in Tripoli, Patrick Galey
The resulting flare-ups have been carefully managed by sectarian leaders and have helped maintain the real reason why Tripoli is such a hotbed for hostility. For behind all of Syria's influence in Lebanon, and underneath a past of political manipulation, the true cause of Tripoli's violent present lies in the city's appalling neglect. The figures speak for themselves. Close to 40% of all Lebanon's poor live in Tripoli or the surrounding areas. More than half of Tripoli residents are classed as either "poor" or "extremely poor." Of those families who live in the trouble hotspots of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, 82% live on less than the equivalent of £336 per month. Illiteracy and unemployment rates in the city are way above the national average.  While it is true that all areas of Lebanon have suffered in recent decades as the country attempts to recover from its civil war and subsequent conflicts, Tripoli residents have endured special hardship. Compared for example to parts of southern Beirut and the south, where inhabitants worst affected by Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel have had their homes rebuilt and infrastructure improved, the people of Tripoli receive precious little by way of financial support from either state or private sponsors.
link to www.guardian.co.uk

About Last Night
Last night the sound of gunfire punctuated the Beirut soundscape. Supporters of the anti-Syrian and majority Sunni Future Movement clashed with members of the pro-Assad and Sunni Majority Arab Movement. The fighting, which was most intense around the Beirut Arab University, continued until the early hours of the morning.
link to www.jadaliyya.com

The Number One Sunni in Lebanon, Qifa Nabki
The Future Movement has seized on these events to make a typically hamfisted play, pressuring Miqati to resign. I don’t see that succeeding unless the situation in Tripoli becomes far worse. And even in such a case, I continue to believe that Hariri has no desire to return to the limelight so soon. He is biding his time abroad not because of security threats but because the position of the Lebanese Prime Minister — the Number One Sunni in Lebanon — is precisely where he doesn’t want to be right now.
 
Syria
 
Bomb kills 5 in Syrian capital
A bomb that apparently struck a restaurant in the Syrian capital killed at least five people, the state-run news agency said Tuesday, as activists reported intense clashes between army defectors and soldiers in the restive north.
 
Syria forces kill deserters as NATO rejects action
Syrian forces ambushed and killed nine army deserters in a north Damascus suburb on Monday, a human rights watchdog said, as NATO ruled out military action against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
Ex-detainee: Syrian prisons are 'slaughterhouses'
A prominent Palestinian writer who was jailed in Syria for nearly three weeks described the facilities as "human slaughterhouses," saying security agents beat detainees with batons, crammed them into stinking cells and tied them to beds at night.
 
NATO chief says 'no intention' to intervene in Syria
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Sunday voiced concern about violence in Syria, but said the alliance has "no intention" of taking military action against the regime.
 
Bomb detonates near UN observers in Syria
No casualties reported in blast in Damascus suburb, as UN peacekeeping chief urges all parties to exercise restraint.
 
Opposition groups report clashes in Syrian capital
A restive district of the Syrian capital that has been a hotbed of dissent against President Bashar Assad was rocked by fighting overnight between government forces and army defectors, opposition groups said Sunday.
 
High-ranking Syrian officials deny reports of their own assassinations
Two high-ranking Syrian officials denied in interviews with state television on Sunday reports by pan-Arab channels that they, along with four other regime stalwarts, had been assassinated. 

This photo of an opposition banner hung on a dormitory at the University of Aleppo shows the growing reach of the opposition in Aleppo. Another sign of the growing capability of the opposition is its ability to set off car bombs with growing regularity near intelligence offices and in Syria’s major cities, such as this one: Car bomb hits Syrian city of Deir al-Zour, killing 9 instantly and wounding 100. An intelligence headquarters was the target. 

Syrian opposition to announce new leader
Syria's opposition group, the Syrian National Council says it's almost ready to announce a new leader. The group's been in disarray, increasingly accused of being ineffective and out of touch with the armed struggle. Laurence Lee looks at whether a new chief might restore some of its legitimacy.
link to www.youtube.com
 
Inside Syria: An opposition divided 
The Syrian opposition appears to have come apart at the seams as different factions vie for leadership roles. James Bays discusses with Bassma Kodmani in Paris, Dr. Kamal al-Labwani in Cairo and Josh Landis in Oklahoma.
link to www.youtube.com

Syria: Losing Its Youth
The newly-politicized generation of young Syrians are constantly facing fresh challenges and bleak prospects. As employment opportunities dwindle, it becomes even harder to stay in their country.
 
The US ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, is to leave his post this summer, the embassy in Kabul confirmed on Tuesday. "Amb Crocker has confirmed with regret that he will be leaving Kabul this summer," the embassy said on its Twitter feed, a day after the conclusion of a NATO summit in Chicago in which leaders charted a path out of the Afghan war. The veteran diplomat, who was appointed to Kabul 10 months ago, previously served as the US envoy to Iraq, Pakistan and Syria.
 
US protesters condemn NATO
Protesters gathering in Chicago for the NATO summit geared up on Sunday for the largest demonstration of the weekend, as thousands are expected to march from a downtown park to the lakeside convention center where President Barack Obama and other world leaders were meeting. Hours before the main demonstration was set to start, protesters – including peace activists, war veterans and those more focused on the economy – began arriving at Grant Park, holding signs denouncing NATO, including ones that read: "War(equals)Debt" and "NATO, Go Home."
link to english.al-akhbar.com

"No NATO, No War": U.S. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Return War Medals at NATO Summit
We broadcast from Chicago, site of the largest NATO summit in the organization’s six-decade history. On Sunday, veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as members of Afghans For Peace, led a peace march of thousands of people. Iraq Veterans Against the War held a ceremony where nearly 50 veterans discarded their war medals by hurling them down the street in the direction of the NATO summit. We hear the soldiers’ voices as they return their medals one by one from the stage. "I am giving back my global war on terror service medal in solidarity with the people of Iraq and Afghanistan," said Jason Heard, a former combat medic who spent 10 years in the U.S. Army. "I am deeply sorry for the destruction that we have caused in these countries and around the globe."
link to www.democracynow.org

Scott Olsen, U.S. Vet Who Nearly Lost Life at Occupy Protest, Brings Antiwar Message to NATO Summit
We’re joined at the NATO summit in Chicago by Scott Olsen, who survived two tours in Iraq but almost died when he was hit with a police projectile at an Occupy Oakland protest last year. Olsen returned four of his medals at Sunday’s antiwar march. When asked why he’s joined the Occupy movement and is protesting against the heavily-policed NATO summit, Olsen says, "I am going to make every effort I can to show them that we’re doing the right thing. No matter what they do to any of us, we’ve got each other’s backs and we’re going forward."
link to www.democracynow.org

U.S. Army Vets Join With Afghans For Peace to Lead Antiwar March at Chicago NATO Summit
Sunday’s antiwar march at the NATO summit in Chicago was led by members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Afghans For Peace. "We’re here to protest NATO and call on all NATO representatives to end this inhumane, illegal and barbaric war against our home country and our people," says Suraia Sahar, a member of Afghans For Peace who marched alongside Afghan war veteran Graham Clumpner during anti-NATO protest in Chicago. "I feel honored standing next to this veteran because in my opinion they are doing the right thing by speaking out against the occupation and war alongside us." Clumpner says, "I reject any affiliation with this war."
link to www.democracynow.org

Chicago Police Face Accusations of Entrapment, Brutality in Crackdown on NATO Protesters
Dozens of anti-NATO protesters have been arrested in Chicago over the past several days including five men who were jailed on domestic terrorism charges. Three of the men were accused of plotting to attack President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home and other targets. Their lawyers say they were entrapped by government informants. The Chicago police have also been criticized by activist groups for using violent force to break up protests and accused of targeting independent media activists who have been streaming the protests live over the Internet. On Saturday night three helping to live stream video of the protests were detained at gunpoint.
link to www.democracynow.org
 
Imagine the reaction if a Muslim cleric in the U.S. said this: North Carolina pastor: Send LGBT people to concentration camps to die
Pastor Charles Worley of the Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina recently told his congregation that LGBT individuals should be rounded up and detained in camps until they’re all dead. During a sermon on May 13, Worley berated President Barack Obama for claiming that same sex couples should be allowed to marry. “The Bible is against it, God is against it, I’m against it and if you’ve got any sense you’re against it,” he said. “I figured a way out to get rid of all the lesbians and queers. But it isn’t going to pass in Congress. Build a great, big, large fence — 150 or 100 mile long — put all the lesbians in there. Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals, and have that fence electrified so they can’t get out, feed em, and you know what, in a few years, they’ll die out. You know why? They can’t reproduce!” “I am not going to vote for a baby killer and a homosexual lover,” Worley added. “God have mercy, it makes me puking sick.”
 
UAE ruler cancels debts of defaulting borrowers
Citizens of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates who defaulted on hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans could soon see their debts wiped away.

Kuwaiti Shiite tweeter 'denies insulting prophet'
A Kuwaiti Shiite tweeter on Monday denied in court charges that he insulted Islam's Prophet Mohammed, his wife Aisha and some companions, his lawyer Khaled al-Shatti said.
link to news.yahoo.com
Suicide bombing kills nearly 100 soldiers in Yemen
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a military parade rehearsal Monday in Yemen's capital, killing 96 soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks in the city in years, officials said.
link to news.yahoo.com

Robert Fisk: Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is dead. Now we'll never know the truth about Lockerbie
So the old scoundrel has died. Midday Tripoli time, at his home, peacefully, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, after a long struggle with cancer, "bravely borne" no doubt. But "scoundrel", nonetheless, not because he arranged the Lockerbie bombing – many have the gravest doubts he ever did – but because he was a member of Gaddafi's intelligence services and no-one who served the Great Leader as a "mukhabarat" agent had clean hands. If he was wrongly convicted, what did he do in the service of his master? Cliché time: his secret dies with him.
 
www.TheHeadlines.Org
]]> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/palestinian-authority-and-israel-on-an-arresting-spree-children-and-activists-detained.html/feed 4 ‘Homeless in Your Own Home’: New website focuses on housing issues of Palestinian citizens of Israel http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/homeless-in-your-own-home-new-website-focuses-on-housing-issues-of-palestinian-citizens-of-israel.html http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/homeless-in-your-own-home-new-website-focuses-on-housing-issues-of-palestinian-citizens-of-israel.html#comments Tue, 22 May 2012 14:30:09 +0000 Kate http://mondoweiss.net/?p=76314 link to www.mossawacenter.org

The Mossawa Center launches 'Homeless in Your Own Home' blog
Haifa -- On May 16th, in honor of the 64th commemoration of Nakba Day, the Mossawa Center launched a blog which features articles and audio-visual content about Arab localities throughout Israel in which Palestinian Arab citizens are facing acute housing problems such as home demolitions, lack of basic services, rent discrimination, etc. While the international media often focuses on housing issues of Palestinians in the West Bank, or maybe even in Naqab/Negev region of Israel, it remains understated how common issues of land, planning and housing are for Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, including citizens in the North, the Center and mixed cities. The first entry of the blog focuses on the town of Hurfeish, a Druze Arab town near the Lebanon-Israel border. The story highlights the reality of a town in which a majority of its male residents serve in the Israeli military and meanwhile a quarter of their houses are considered 'illegal' by the Israeli government due to an old, discriminatory government master plan. The main interview is with a resident named Handa, who is living in an 'illegal' house which is facing a demolition order and has no access to basic services, such as electricity, water, waste collection, paved roads, etc.
link to www.mossawacenter.org

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid / Restriction of movement

Well-known Beit Jala restaurant destroyed by Israel, again
Beit Jala (EI) 21 May by Ryan Brownell -- In the early morning of Thursday, 3 May, representatives from several human rights organizations were scheduled to have breakfast in the popular al-Makhrour restaurant near Bethlehem. The purpose for the scheduled workshop was to discuss house demolitions and property confiscation by Israeli forces in Area C, a zone comprising 60 percent of the West Bank that is under full Israeli control. As people arrived for the meeting, though, the first thing they saw was a bulldozer leaving the site, alongside some Israeli officials. The restaurant -- which is located beside the village of Beit Jala -- had been demolished two hours earlier.
link to electronicintifada.net

Israeli forces destroy crops, seize irrigation equipment
HEBRON (WAFA) 21 May -- Israeli forces Monday destroyed crops and confiscated irrigation equipment in al-Baqa‘a, an area east of Hebron, according to local sources. They told WAFA that Israeli forces accompanied by border guards, police and staff from Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, destroyed more than 13 dunums of agricultural land planted with vegetables and confiscated its irrigation equipment. The area targeted by the Israelis is fertile agricultural land located not far from the illegal Jewish settlements Kiryat Arba and Kharseena. Israel wants the area’s Palestinian residents to leave it to eventually incorporate it into the nearby settlement.
link to english.wafa.ps

Israeli forces 'demolish East Jerusalem home'
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 21 May -- Israeli forces demolished a home in East Jerusalem on Monday on the pretext that it was being built without a permit, Wafa news agency reported. The house in the Mount of Olives was under construction, owner Samih Idris told Wafa, adding that bulldozers arrived without any prior warning and destroyed the structure. Idris said he was also fined by the Jerusalem municipality.
link to www.maannews.net

Israelis seize quarry equipment, vehicles
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 21 May -- Israeli forces Monday seized a truck and a bulldozer from a quarry in Rafat, a village near Ramallah, under the pretext of not having a license to operate the quarry, according to the owner Akram Qandeel ... He said almost 70 workers make a living from working in the quarry.
link to english.wafa.ps

Settlers set fire to agricultural land in Hebron
HEBRON (WAFA) 20 May -- Jewish settlers Sunday set fire to Palestinian Agricultural land in an area near Khirbet Susiya, a locale south of Yatta in Hebron, according to a local activist. Ratib al-Jabour, coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in southern Hebron, told WAFA that settlers from the Israeli settlement of Susiya, under Israeli soldiers protection, set fire to the harvested barley crops belonging to several Palestinians in the area.
link to english.wafa.ps

Settlers uproot, destroy trees in Hebron, Nablus
HEBRON, NABLUS (WAFA) 19 May -- Israeli settlers Sunday uprooted and destroyed olive and fruit trees in Beit Ummar, a town north of Hebron, and in the Nablus-area village of Bourin, according to local activists. Spokesman of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Ummar, Mohammed Awad, said dozens of Israeli settlers from the nearby settlement of Beit Ein sneaked into Palestinian private land at dawn and uprooted grape, olive and almond trees under the Israeli army protection. The settlers wrote racist slogans and threats, including "death to Arabs", "expel Arabs and revenge", "price tag" and "peace from Beit Ein," said Awad.
He added that Israeli settlers from Karmi Tsur, another illegal settlement built on Beit Ummar village land, raided Palestinian land near the settlement and used toxic substance to destroy dozens of grapes and almond trees.
In Nablus, Israeli settlers raided olive fields in Bourin, a village south of Nablus, and cut down dozens of olive trees.
link to english.wafa.ps

In remote Palestinian villages, catastrophe becomes routine / Amira Hass
Haaretz 21 May -- Demolition orders are the norm in small Palestinian villages; thankfully some 'nudniks' won't let us forget -- If it were not for a few nudniks, I wouldn't have to deal with a report about every work stoppage order for every tent, or demolition orders for bathrooms, or actual demolitions of tents or rooms made out of concrete blocks ... So how have these people, and the places about which they speak, become such nuisances? Because of my hesitation as to whether and how I can transform the information into a news item. I can hear in my head the following conversation with a news editor: "But you brought a report about a demolition order last week." That was about a work stoppage order, and the report wasn't published. "And two weeks ago Akiva Eldar and Gideon Levy wrote their features about demolition orders." But those were about different demolition orders. This is the crux of a genuine dilemma: the steady, ever-proliferating stream of demolition orders issued against Palestinian construction are routine. A routine that stems from policy. A routine that reveals or conceals a sequence of personal and group catastrophes, delivered by the Netanyahu government to the Palestinians. That is, a routine of catastrophes.
link to www.haaretz.com

A Jerusalem you don't know about / Mohammed Aweida
Haaretz 20 May -- I want to tell you about my Jerusalem, a Jerusalem you don't know about. You're unfamiliar with East Jerusalem, with its many villages, because you've never visited. You even changed the names of those villages. Silwan, the village where I was born and where I still live, became the village of Shiloah. A-Tur became the Mount of Olives. Jabal Mukkaber became Armon Hanatziv. It pains me to have to describe to you a place you've often been only 100 meters from. And even if you've been there, you may not have believed it was Jerusalem. My Jerusalem is villages in ruins, with ugly construction, without infrastructure and without security. In my Jerusalem there aren't enough schools, there's no childhood and no adulthood (or matriculation ). It makes no difference which village you've entered, the picture is identical everywhere in the city where no Jews live. link to www.haaretz.com

Evictions of Palestinians from their homes and other properties using affidavits
IMEMC 21 May -- A recent court case, from May 8 2012, reported by Haarez has highlighted how the Absentee Property Law together with unsupported affidavits has been used to secure the evictions of Palestinians from their homes in sensitive areas of East Jerusalem ... One method they use is exemplified by the recent decision of the Israeli Supreme Court to confirm the judgment of a lower Court and evict the families of Ghazi Zalloum and Ismail Wazwaz from their homes in the neighbourhood of al-Qurma in the Old City of Jerusalem. This ruling was based on the Court’s judgment that both properties had belonged to Jews before 1948, the date of the foundation of the State of Israel. It is a good question whether, the principle having now been established, Palestinian families will be able to recover houses they lived in before 1948 which are now occupied by Jewish families, but that’s another story.
The Haaretz report dealt with a second method based on the 'Absentee Property Law'. Passed in 1950 but not invoked in East Jerusalem until 1977 by PM Menachem Begin, this law states that if it can be proved that a property owner was residing in an enemy country -- including any Arab country and the West Bank -- at the time East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel in 1967, then s/he loses the rights to his/her property.
link to www.imemc.org

A researcher: 66% of Jerusalemites threatened with displacement
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 20 May -- A Palestinian researcher revealed that more than two thirds of [?East] Jerusalemites owe money to the Israeli occupation's different organs and departments. The Jerusalemite activist and researcher, Fakhri Abu Diab, said that Israeli official data showed that there are over 43 thousand debt files in the Israeli official debt collection department , estimated at tens of millions of shekels ... He added that the largest proportion of the Jerusalemites' debts are owed to the Municipal Property Tax "Arnona", followed by the Insurance Institute that goes to withdrawing citizenship from Palestinians who do not pay the debts. He also warned of the repercussions of the growing indebtedness on Jerusalemites which is becoming a "factor of economic displacement and expulsion that will be used by the occupation to displace Jerusalemites." He added, "Since the poverty rate in Jerusalem is 78 per cent (according to reports and researches), the Jerusalemites will not be able to pay their debts as they can hardly live.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Right of return and the right to rob / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 21 May -- Today it is Israel that is insisting on the right of return to Sheikh Jarrah and the right to rob the land of Dura Al-Kara ... The grandson of a Jewish woman, a man who arrived on Sunday from Kiev, can receive a key to his new house in the heart of Hebron, proof of the fact that we are lovers of peace and moreover, that we are lovers of negotiations. On the other hand, the key around the neck of the elderly refugee from the Talbieh neighborhood in Jerusalem, whose name we changed to Kommemiut, attests to the Palestinian plot to destroy the Jewish state. Fact: They asked the United Nations to recognize the state of Palestine within the 1967 borders, which would live in peace alongside the State of Israel.
link to www.haaretz.com

Quietly, East Jerusalem Palestinians are becoming Israeli citizens / Riman Barakat
972mag 20 May -- There has been a trend in recent years of Palestinian permanent residents of East Jerusalem applying for – and getting – Israeli citizenship. Will this trend provide freedom, or further fragment Palestinian national identity? ... I believe the trend is the result of a well-planned and consistently applied Israeli strategy to pressure the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem. In 1996, Israel developed the “Center of Life Policy,” under which residents must continuously prove that they reside and work in Jerusalem, as a condition for continued residency status. Palestinian Jerusalemites slowly began to recognize the imminent threat of losing their Jerusalem residency status ... These factors have led people to feel that an Israeli passport may provide some measure of improvement in their lives. Most of all, they hope  it will safeguard them against displacement from property, from the land and from the city that they call home.
link to 972mag.com

Knesset passes bill giving tax breaks to settlement donors
JERUSALEM (JTA) 21 May -- The Knesset passed a bill that provides tax benefits to Israelis who donate to West Bank settlements. The bill, an amendment to the Income Tax Act, grants a 35 percent tax break on donations to nongovernmental organizations that encourage settlement anywhere in the country, such as the Negev and the Galilee, and including the West Bank.
link to www.jta.org

Apartheid facts trump another hasbara claim / Joe Catron
21 May -- The claim: "The difference between the current Israeli situation and apartheid South Africa is emphasised at a very human level: Jewish and Arab babies are born in the same delivery room, with the same facilities, attended by the same doctors and nurses, with the mothers recovering in adjoining beds in a ward. The facts: Palestinian human rights organization in occupied Palestinian territories called for an end to the discrimination practiced against 1948 Palestinians in Israeli hospitals. Mossawa Center (MC) for Arab citizens in Israel pointed out that Meir hospital in the Zionist settlement “Kfar Saba” in 1948 occupied Palestine had separated between Arab and Jewish mothers in maternity wards.
link to joecatron.wordpress.com

Jerusalem Day

Jerusalem Day marchers clash with Palestinians
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 20 May -- Right-wing Israeli marchers scuffled with Palestinians as a procession marking the Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem entered the old city's Muslim quarter on Sunday, police said. Tens of thousands of Israelis turned out to celebrate the anniversary of the capture of the territory in a 1967 war. Fifteen people were arrested after fighting between some marchers and Palestinians who gathered outside the Old City walls, said police. "Ten Jews were arrested for calling out racist slurs and attacking Arabs. Five Arabs (were arrested) for throwing objects and attacking (Israelis)," Jerusalem's police force said in a statement.
link to www.maannews.net

Settlers ride past Beit Ommar on Jerusalem Day
PSP 21 May -- On Sunday, May 20th, 2012, around fifty thousand Jews marched to the Old City in Jerusalem to celebrate ‘Jerusalem Day’ ... Sections of highway 60 around Beit Ommar were closed so that around five hundred settlers could cycle to Jerusalem for the march. Highway 60 connects Beit Ommar with the rest of the West Bank. Amidst an extremely heavy presence of soldiers and police the main entrance to Beit Ommar was also temporarily closed, almost completely halting Palestinian life as a result. Many of the settlers shouted ostentatiously at Palestinian bystanders (many of whom were waiting for the roads and checkpoints to reopen in order to carry on with their respective journeys). A jeep playing loud celebratory music also accompanied the settlers.
As the procession neared the settlement of Gush Etzion (a few kilometres north of Beit Ommar), an 18 year old Palestinian man, Salah Zaghir, was shot by an Israeli soldier on the suspicion that he may have been carrying a knife and planned to attack a soldier or settler. He is thought to be in a critical condition.
Near Damascus Gate, East Jerusalem, a peaceful pro-Palestinian counter demonstration was forcibly suppressed by border police and horses. Five Palestinians were arrested. Jewish youths provocatively danced in front of local Arab residents and cheered when the pro-Palestinian demonstrators were removed by police.
link to palestinesolidarityproject.org

Armed border officer chases 10-year-old Palestinian boy for holding flag / Lisa Goldman
[photos & video] 972mag 21 May -- During Sunday’s Jerusalem Day events, a Palestinian boy, perhaps 10 years old, was chased down an East Jerusalem street by a very angry officer of the Border Police ... an Orthodox Jewish man grabbed the Palestinian flag from the hands of a 10 year-old boy and refused to return it. The boy, enraged, tried to prise it out of the Jewish man’s hands. A Border Police officer, seeing the struggle between a 10 year-old Palestinian boy and a fully grown Jewish man, chased the Palestinian boy rather than ordering the Jewish man to return the flag. Someone made a montage of the incident and posted it on Facebook, with commentary. Note the expression of rage in the Border Police officer’s eyes, as seen in the second photo ... Meanwhile, there are some violent reactions on Facebook to the image of the enraged Border Police officer chasing the frightened Palestinian boy ... As of this writing, the last response belongs to Amitai Ben-Abba: "200 comments, most calling for IDF soldiers to kill children. Congratulations, you’re a light unto the nations."
link to 972mag.com

Report: Israeli MKs tour Al-Aqsa to mark Jerusalem Day
TEL AVIV (Ma‘an) 20 May -- Two Israeli Knesset members on Sunday toured the Al-Aqsa compound accompanied by over 20 right-wing activists as part of Jerusalem Day celebrations, Haaretz reported. National Union parliamentarians Uri Ariel and Michael Ben-Ari participated in the tour, which was organized by Yehuda Etzion, a former member of militant religious group the Gush Emunim Underground. During the tour, Ben-Ari and other activists kneeled down to pray, before being prevented from doing so by police. Yehuda Etzion was then forcibly removed from the compound after sitting on the ground and refusing to move, the Israeli daily said. Ben-Ari is a known supporter of Meir Kahane, who founded the far-right Kach party now banned under Israeli anti-terrorism laws. Etzion was jailed for five years in the 1980s for plotting to blow up the Al-Aqsa mosque.
link to www.maannews.net

Change and Reform bloc: the storming of the Aqsa Mosque sets off alarm bells
GAZA (PIC) 20 May -- The Change and Reform bloc held the occupation fully responsible for allowing and protecting Zionist settlers during storming Al-Aqsa Mosque. The bloc said in a statement, on Sunday, that the Zionist occupation continues committing crimes against the Palestinian people, lands, and holy places. Zionist settles stormed today Al-Aqsa's courtyards in Jerusalem under IOF protection as an attempt to strengthen what they claimed to be the status of the temple. These repeated Jewish attacks on the Aqsa Mosque reveal the malicious intents to demolish it to establish an alleged temple on its ruins, the statement stated.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Netanyahu: 'Fatal mistake' to concede sacred sites
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 21 May -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday it would be a "fatal mistake" ever to give up control over Jerusalem's holy sites. His remarks, in a parliamentary speech, went a little further than Israel's longtime policy of viewing Jerusalem, a city at the heart of Middle East conflict, as its "indivisible capital" ... Netanyahu said that sites holy to Judaism, Islam and Christianity enjoyed a "wonder of inter-religious peace that is maintained thanks to Jerusalem's unity under Israeli sovereignty." "The Temple Mount is in our hands and ... it shall remain in our hands," Netanyahu added.
link to www.maannews.net

Gush Shalom: Abolish 'Jerusalem Day', a holiday of settlers and racists
"Jerusalem Day" is not a holiday to Israel's citizens or to residents of Jerusalem. It is a holiday only for the young settlers, who are given by the Jerusalem Police a free hand to hold a provocative "Flag Dance" throughout East Jerusalem – even though in previous years this "dance" developed into an ongoing chain of racist harassment and violence against Palestinian inhabitants.
link to zope.gush-shalom.org

Violence / Raids

Videos: Settlers firing live ammunition at Palestinians in the presence of soldiers
B'Tselem 20 May -- On Saturday, 19.5.2012, around four thirty in the afternoon, a large group of settlers descended on the eastern outskirts of the village ‘Asira al-Qibliya, from the settlement Yitzhar. B'Tselem volunteer photographers filmed the events from two angles. The video shows the settlers, some of whom were masked and armed, throwing stones at Palestinian homes, and fires beginning to burn. One of the masked settlers was armed with a "Tavor" rifle which is only used by infantry soldiers, raising the suspicion that he is a soldier on leave.
link to www.btselem.org

Settler attack: Palestinian man shot in head in ‘Asira al-Qibliya
ISM 20 May by Maria Erdely -- ‘Asira al-Qibliya, a village located south-west of Nablus, was attacked by illegal Israeli settlers yesterday. The attack lasted all afternoon leaving 7 Palestinians injured, of which 5 required hospitalization. Settlers fired live ammunition at the Palestinians, and one man was in critical condition after being shot in the head. Israeli settlers arrived at Asira in the afternoon and before any Palestinians or Israeli soldiers came they began the attack by setting fire to the land. The people of ‘Asira arrived and responded by throwing stones towards the settlers, attempting to force them off the land they were destroying. Three of the 60 settlers were carrying weapons with live ammunition. They began to fire at the Palestinians and 20 year old Nemer Fathir Asaira was shot in the head. Paramedics were prohibited from entering the street so a private car had to evacuate Nemer to an ambulance. Four more Palestinians were seriously injured by stones that were thrown by the Israeli settlers, including an elderly woman, who was hit in the head, Ahmed Jaber Saleh, whose nose and cheekbone were shattered, and his brother whose leg was broken.
link to palsolidarity.org

The Israeli undercover forces attacked and arrested Rani G'arib
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 21 May -- Even though Rami G’arib lost his eye 2 years ago and he wasn’t part of the latest confrontations, it wasn’t a good enough reason for the Israeli undercover forces, they still attacked and arrested him while he was walking down the main street near the confrontations that happened in the Nakba day. In his interview to the Bukra website Rami said, "I was walking around the village’s street at the same time that the confrontations between the Palestinians and the Israeli forces were happening, suddenly I was tackled by The Undercover Forces, they dropped me to the ground,  one of them put his finger into my eye until my glass eye came out, I couldn’t take the pain so i screamed and they sprayed pepper spray in my mouth and started beating me, they accused me of participating in the confrontations and arrested Me for 24 hours while ignoring the pains i was in, and finally they released me after nothing was proven." Rami added that he have to put a new glass eye even though he can’t afford it because he haven’t worked since he lost his eye 2 years ago.
link to silwanic.net

Palestinian seriously wounded, kept on ground as soldiers stepped on his hands
IMEMC 21 May -- Palestinian medical sources reported Sunday that a Palestinian youth was injured near the Israeli settlement of Etzion, between Bethlehem and Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The soldiers then stepped on his hands to pose for pictures as the youth continued to bleed. The Israeli army claimed that the resident, identified as Salah Sghayyar, 18 years old, attempted to stab an Israeli soldier, but "fell on his knife during a scuffle with the soldier." Yet, initial media reports indicated that the youth was shot, not stabbed, in the chest.
link to www.imemc.org

Old woman, two others treated for gas suffocation
TULKAREM, (PIC)-- A Palestinian old woman and two other citizens were treated for breathing difficulty in the Tulkarem town of Saida on Sunday evening following Israeli teargas attacks, local sources said. They said that Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the town in the afternoon then in the evening and in each time fired gas bombs at young men who threw stones at them. The sources said that two men were treated on the field but the 50[!]-year-old lady was taken to hospital for treatment. They pointed out that the IOF soldiers returned to the town at dawn Monday and broke into houses and questioned inhabitants. Other IOF units broke into the city of Tulkarem at a late night hour on Sunday and on Monday morning, erected roadblocks, and scrutinized IDs.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli forces arrest six Palestinians during raids on West Bank governorates
PNN 21 May -- ...Security sources said that Israeli forces also raided the houses of the two released prisoners Taher Fawzi Qatit and Osama Ezul-Deen Najem, in Serses village, searched them and rummaged with the contents. The Israeli forces also raided the villages of Sanour, Mithloun, al-Jaded and Wad al-Fare'a. In Kufurdan village, west of Jenin, Israeli forces raided the houses of Murad Abed and As‘ad Sholi, searched them and interrogated their owners. In Hebron, Israeli soldiers arrested Jabriel Shaher Abu Haded, 25, and Shadi Abdul Hakim Abu Daoud, 22, after they broke into their houses, searched them and rummaged with the contents.
link to english.pnn.ps

Siege of Gaza

Medics: Farmer shot in south Gaza, moderately injured
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 21 May -- A young Palestinian farmer was shot by Israeli soldiers while working on his land in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, a medical official said. Waheed, 22, is in a moderate condition in Nasser hospital after suffering a bullet wound in the thigh, emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said. He was working in fields near al-Qarara, north-east of Khan Younis, when a soldier opened fire from a military watch-tower, Salmiya added.  An Israeli military spokeswoman said she had no record of the incident.
link to www.maannews.net

Medics: Man dies in Gaza tunnel fall
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 20 May -- A man was killed in a tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border on Sunday, a medical official said. Nader Omar Masraah fell inside the tunnel near the southern Rafah border in the Gaza Strip, emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said. Another man was injured when he received an electric shock in the tunnel, and was transferred to Abu Yousef Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, he added.
On Thursday, 18-year-old Jihad Barakeh died after suffocating in a smuggling tunnel beneath the border, medics said.
link to www.maannews.net

Egypt: Yasser Osman -- Govt did not delay fuel shipment to Gaza on purpose
20 May -- The Qatari fuel cargo heading to Gaza Strip was held up in Suez Canal due to its huge size which requires a lot of procedures, approvals and preparations to pass, Egyptian Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority Yasser Osman told MENA on 20/5/2012. Egypt is not putting off the delivery of the shipment, he said, adding that it will enter Gaza through el-Ouja terminal in the next few days.
link to allafrica.com

Gaza court rejects death sentence appeal
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 21 May -- The supreme court in Gaza on Monday rejected an appeal against the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a family member. The defendant was sentenced to death on Dec. 12, 2010 after he was found guilty of killing his female cousin. Judges unanimously rejected his appeal against the sentence, a court report said.
link to www.maannews.net

Detention / Court actions

Military court clears Tamimi of incitement charge
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 20 May -- An Israeli military court on Sunday convicted a Palestinian human rights defender of taking part in demonstrations and solicitation to throw stones, but cleared him of the central charge of incitement. Bassem Tamimi, a prominent non-violence activist from Ramallah-district village Nabi Saleh, was also cleared of charges that he obstructed justice and failed to attend legal summons, the Popular Struggle Committee said. Tamimi was detained by Israeli forces on March 24, 2011. He was released on bail on April 24, 2012 but confined to the city of Ramallah and house arrest between Thursday and Sunday. Ofer military court said he will be sentenced this week ... Tamimi has been recognized as a human rights defender by the European Union and a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
The same military court on Sunday postponed a verdict on fellow Nabi Saleh activist Naji Tamimi, who was detained at a Nakba Day rally near West Bank village Ni‘lin last Tuesday, a Ma‘an correspondent said.
Since protests began in Nabi Saleh in December 2009, Israeli forces have detained more than 80 residents, around 10 percent of the entire village, according to the Popular Struggle Committee. Two of Bassem Tamimi's sons have been injured by Israeli soldiers at protests, and his wife has been detained twice. Israeli's Civil Administration has ordered the demolition of his home, which was built in 1965.
link to www.maannews.net

West Bank activist convicted over stoning
RAMALLAH (AFP) 21 May -- An Israeli court yesterday convicted Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi of dispatching stone-throwers and protesting illegally, in a case closely watched by the EU ... Jonathan Pollak, a veteran Israeli activist who has closely followed Tamimi’s trial, said the solicitation to throw stones was a lesser charge than the broader allegation of incitement, of which he was cleared. "After 13 months in jail it is not possible he would not have been convicted for something in such a high-profile case," Pollack said. "They had to do something." But in a court which almost invariably finds against Palestinian defendants, the fact that Tamimi was acquitted on two charges was verging on the miraculous, he said. "In a military court with a 99.74% conviction rate the very fact that he was even partially acquitted could be regarded a miracle," he remarked.
link to www.gulf-times.com

Israel transfers former hunger-striking prisoner for interrogation
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 20 May -- The Israeli Prisons Service (IPS) Sunday transferred prisoner Tha‘er Halahleh, who went on hunger strike for 77 days protesting his administrative detention, to Ofer military prison for interrogation, said a statement released by the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs. Minister Issa Qaraqe‘ condemned the Israeli measure since Halahleh, who suffered health issues and significant weight loss, did not fully recover from his long-term hunger strike since he only ended his strike on May 15, and remains in need of further special medical care to restore his health.
link to english.wafa.ps

Ministry: Prisoners refuse visits to protest shackling
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 21 May -- Two Palestinian prisoners who left solitary confinement under the hunger-strike deal are refusing visits from their lawyer in protest against ongoing restrictions by Israeli prison authorities, a PA ministry said Sunday. Ministry of Prisoners Affairs lawyer Rami al-Alami said Hasan Salameh and Ahmad al-Mughrabi refused to meet him in an Israeli jail, as they still receive worse treatment than other prisoners despite the deal.
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli army detains 3 overnight in West Bank
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 20 May -- Israeli forces detained three Palestinians overnight Saturday, an Israeli military official said. Locals told Ma‘an that Israeli soldiers detained Salem Badi Der Setawi, 40, in Ramallah-area town Al-Bireh. Forces broke into a number of homes in the town using explosive devices, they said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said one person was arrested in Al-Bireh, as well as others in Anata and Hebron, she was looking into the use of explosive devices during the raid.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel arrests seven Palestinians in West Bank
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 21 May -- Israeli forces Monday arrested seven Palestinians from the West Bank cities of Nablus, Hebron and Jenin, according to local sources.
link to english.wafa.ps

Soldiers arrest 70-year-old man in Nablus, relatives say
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 21 May -- Israeli forces arrested two people in Nablus early Monday, including a 70-year-old man, witnesses said. Soldiers detained Sami Mustafa, 70, after raiding his home west of Nablus, his daughter Muna told Ma‘an. He was taken to an unknown destination. A PFLP activist was also arrested in Ein Beit el-Ma' refugee camp on Monday. Witnesses identified the man as Ridha Khalid, 48.
link to www.maannews.net

Tadamun: Prisoner Lina suffers from severe pains
NABLUS (PIC) 20 May -- The international Tadamun (solidarity) society for human rights said female prisoner Lina Al-Jerboni suffers from acute inflammation of the gall bladder causing her severe pain all the time. Spokesman for Tadamun society Ahmed Al-Betawi stated that Jerboni, a prisoner in Hasharon jail, was transferred several days ago to an Israeli hospital for medical tests and taken back to prison without any improvement in her health condition. Betawi said the hospital decided to delay her surgery until the inflammation goes away. Another female prisoner in the same jail named Wuroud Qasim told Betawi that "Lina is screaming loudly in pain and crying all day and night without stop. "She lost more than 20 kilograms; our hearts are torn apart for her condition," Wuroud added.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

'Graves for the living': my father's memories of an Israeli jail / Shahd Abusalamah
EI 20 May -- Twenty-seven years ago, my father’s eyes saw the sun after being in the dark of Israeli prison for 13 years. On 20 May 1985, my father regained his freedom. "I was sentenced for seven lifetimes plus 10 years and I thought that this prison, Nafha, would be my grave. Thank God I didn’t stay that long there, and I was set free to marry your mother and to bring you to this life," my father told me, smiling. He considered the 13 years of misery as not that long. Yes, it’s not that long if compared with the life sentence to which he was bound if the deal to exchange Palestinian and Israeli prisoners didn’t happen.
link to electronicintifada.net

Zionist injustice system / As‘ad AbuKhalil
Angry Arab 20 May -- Do Palestinian prisoners in the Zionist usurping entity receive vacations?  "Former Israeli president Moshe Katsav went on his first vacation from jail on Sunday since he began serving time for his rape conviction in December.  Katsav, who was convicted of rape and a number of sex offenses, was granted vacation to attend his son's wedding."
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Islamic Jihad: Israel detained 5 members
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 May -- Palestinian Authority security forces on Monday detained five Islamic Jihad members in the West Bank, the party said. Islamic Jihad said in a statement that forces from the Fatah-led PA detained Khaled Abu Zeina from his home in Jenin even though he fell unconscious during the raid. Abu Zeina suffers from heart disease and high blood pressure, the movement said.
link to www.maannews.net

Alleged Palestinian kidnap crew indicted
JERUSALEM (UPI) 20 May  -- Israeli security agents Sunday announced the arrest of an alleged Palestinian kidnapping team that attempted to snatch Israelis off the streets of the West Bank. The accused militants were nabbed by Shin Bet officers two months ago after allegedly trying to abduct Israeli citizens and use them as bargaining chips for the release of Palestinian prisoners, officials said Sunday. The indictment alleges the nine accused kidnappers tried to grab Israeli motorists on three occasions by zapping them with a stun gun and then stashing them in a safe house or even a cave.
link to www.upi.com

Activism / Solidarity / BDS

Stop the Wall Weekly Report 18.5.12
[recap of popular demonstrations for the week] 20 May -- Nabi Saleh: During the weekly protest at Nabi Saleh on Friday 18th March, against the wall and settlements, the Israeli Occupation Forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets and skunk water at protesters, injuring two Palestinians, Wa'ad Tamimi (15 years), and Walid al-Tamimi (16 years) and one international activist. A choir from Scotland attended the protest and sang songs of solidarity at the front of the procession. They then proceeded to sit in front of the Israeli soldiers and continue singing until the skunk truck was used to enforce retreat.
link to stopthewall.org

Young men from Jerusalem dive in the Red Sea while carrying the Palestinian flag
[photos] Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 21 May -- Three young men from Jerusalem, Bassem Zidani, Ahmad Bouja and Ismail Al Julani, leaders in the in the Palestinian First AID, annunciated a diving in Em al Rishrash (Eilat) while carrying the Palestinian flag as a part of an initiative  to encourage the Palestinian youth to practice the sport of diving that most of the Palestinians are forbidden from as a result of the difficulties  that Israel is forcing on them.  All of the people that live in the West Bank are forbidden from reaching the Mediterranean Sea and more than 2.5 million Palestinians can’t reach the Red Sea.
link to silwanic.net

Volunteer in Gaza with the ISM
21 May -- The International Solidarity Movement is appealing for activists to join our team in the besieged Gaza Strip.  After being barred from Gaza in 2003 following the murders of Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall, ISM Gaza was reinstated in August 2008 when ISM and other volunteers traveled aboard the historic, siege-breaking voyage of the first Free Gaza Movement boat. ISM has maintained a constant presence in Gaza since that time, for over three years of Israel’s crippling siege ... Those interested in joining the ISM Gaza team are required to attend a preliminary training in their home country and must communicate with the volunteers in Gaza prior to arrival. Entering Gaza is an arduous process that may require some time to be spent in Egypt. All ISM volunteers in Gaza must agree to ISM principles as delineated on palsolidarity.org.
link to palsolidarity.org

Occupied Palestine: farce, tragedy, travesty
ISM 20 May by Patrick Keddie -- The three snapshots below are composed from interviews conducted whilst working for the International Solidarity Movement in the West Bank from September to December 2011. FARCE Rodni Jaber is a Palestinian woman who lives and works as a farmer in Al-Baqa‘a, a windswept valley situated a few kilometers East of Hebron in the West Bank. Her family is regularly attacked by Israeli settlers and harassed by the Israeli military. In 1998 Rodni’s son Raja was born. A few days after his birth, settlers attacked the house; one settler made a complaint to the police that someone named 'Raja' had put a knife to his chest, threatening to kill him. Rodni: "Several days later the soldiers came to arrest my son. So I showed them my son who was 40 days old and I showed them his birth certificate because they didn’t believe he was Raja." The soldiers left but they contacted the family shortly afterward with a demand. Rodni: "They said that Raja should come to the court and at the age of 50 days I had to take him. They said, 'where is the defendant Raja' and I showed them my son." OK, so that was the end of it then? Rodni: "No -- the judge ruled that when he reaches 16 years old he will have to come to back to court!"
link to palsolidarity.org

PSP activists join building project in Um Fagara
21 May -- On Saturday, May 19th, 2012, locals together with more than 30 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists (from Norway, the USA, Britain and Italy, amongst others) built a single story prefabricated house in the village of Um Fagara (South Hebron Hills). The event was organized by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee of Al-Tuwani with the aim of peacefully resisting the Israeli occupation by affirming the right to live of the community of Um Fagara. Um Fagara is in area C, under both Israeli military and administrative control. It has been subject to a range of evacuations, abuse and demolitions by the Israeli military in recent years. On 24 November, 2011, the Israeli army demolished two houses, a mosque, a barn and a structure containing the village’s generator. Two Palestinian girls were also [brutally] arrested. They were released several days later.
link to palestinesolidarityproject.org

Conference about Palestinian prisoners' situation in Israeli jails
PNN-Ufree 21 May -- This Conference on the Plight of Palestinian Prisoners in Israel Prisons was convened by UFree Network and Irish Friends of Palestine on 19th May 2012. We have gathered in Belfast uniting elected representatives, former prisoners and prisoners' relatives and human rights activists ... Click here for more coverage on the conference:
https://www.facebook.com/ufreepnet
link to english.pnn.ps

SA university pulls plug on Israeli Embassy
MEMO 21 May -- South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) has pulled the plug on the Israeli deputy ambassador to South Africa, Yaakov Finkelstein. This is yet another blow to Israel-South Africa relations that have recently become tense. Finkelstein was due to speak at UKZN later on today, Monday (21 May 2012), but yesterday afternoon, UKZN's Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Joseph Ayee, sent an email informing his staff that he has cancelled the lecture:
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk

Israel: South Africa's desire to label West Bank goods is 'racist'
CSM 21 May -- When South Africa requested imports from Israeli settlements be labeled 'made in the occupied West Bank,' Israel's Foreign Ministry said the move 'bears clear racist characteristics.' ... "When people are asking, 'is it from the territories, is not?' It’s mostly a political blow, not an economic blow," says Alon Liel, a former director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. "Because of South Africa’s history of apartheid, it attracts attention regarding the legality of the settlements and fixes attention on the 'A’ word. That is very meaningful because Israel has a soft belly here."
link to www.csmonitor.com

Political issues / Diplomacy

PNC calls for dissolving PA and its security agencies
BEIRUT (PIC) 21 May -- The Palestinian national committee (PNC) called for dissolving the Palestinian authority (PA) and its security agencies and described them as the stumbling block to resisting the occupation. This came in a statement issued following a meeting held on Friday in Beirut by the PNC, a wide coalition of Palestinian NGOs, trade unions and networks ... "There is no escape from the need to dissolve the PA, to dismantle its security apparatuses and to end the financial subordination that leads to the liquidation of the Palestinian cause at the pretext of securing the salaries of 170,000 individuals from the Palestinian people whose number is more than 11 million," the PNC said.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Fatah, Hamas meet in Gaza after Cairo deal
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 21 May -- Fatah and Hamas are meeting in the Gaza Strip to discuss a deal agreed in Cairo late Sunday, officials present said on Monday. Other factions will also attend the meeting, which is held regularly in Gaza ... Under the deal agreed in the Egyptian capital, the Palestinian Elections Commission will begin work in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on May 27, after which President Mahmoud Abbas will immediately begin consultations on a consensus government as previously agreed by party leaders. Members of the new cabinet will be agreed upon within 10 days from the start of consultations. The unity government will operate for six months, during which time it will set a date for general elections.
link to www.maannews.net

Teachers' political dismissal claims referred to top court
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 20 May -- The case of a group of teachers claiming wrongful dismissal was referred to the highest judicial authority in the West Bank on Sunday, lawyers said ... Amid the Palestinian factional division since 2007, several teachers in the West Bank have filed suit against the Fatah-led PA over wrongful dismissal, alleging their contracts were terminated due to their political support for Hamas.
link to www.maannews.net

Official: Special judges to hear journalist cases
JERICHO (Ma‘an) 20 May -- The Palestinian Judicial Authority will appoint special judges to handle lawsuits directed against journalists in a bid to strengthen freedom of expression, a judge said Saturday.  Izzat al-Ramini, head of the judicial courts' administration department, made the remarks during a conference in Jericho on justice and the media. The conference conclusions also recommended that the union of journalists should be notified of all legal cases against journalists, and a representative should be present during any interrogation. Several journalists have been arrested in the West Bank in recent months, drawing protests from the journalist syndicate....
link to www.maannews.net

Mashaal heads delegation to Kuwait
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 21 May -- A Hamas delegation led by Khalid Mashaal began an official visit to Kuwait on Monday. The group will meet Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, to discuss developments concerning national reconciliation and Israel, Hamas politburo member Izzat Rishiq said in a statement.
link to www.maannews.net

Abbas meets officials in Qatar
DOHA (Ma‘an) 20 May -- President Mahmoud Abbas concluded a visit to Qatar on Sunday, after meeting a number of Arab officials over the state of the peace process with Israel.
link to www.maannews.net

Racism / Discrimination

Revealed: Arab cabbies banned from driving BG Airport staff / Dimi Reider
972mag 21 May -- Turns out that the Arab cab driver -- any Israeli cab driver who happens to be Arab -- is deemed so much a security risk simply by virtue of his excessive Arabness that he can’t be allowed to drive staff to and from Ben Gurion Airport. We learn this from an urgent letter sent today by the Association for Civil Rights Israel (ACRI), to the director of the Israel Airport Authority, Yaakov Ganot, demanding he cancels forthwith a directive issued from the office of the director of Ben Gurion Airport to a cab company servicing the employees of Israel’s main international hub. The directive, signed by the airport’s transportation director Shuki Shemer, quite simply bans the company from employing "drivers from minorities, including all routes." Palestinian citizens of Israel  are commonly referred to as 'minorities', a euphemism comparable in sophistication to using 'coloureds' instead of 'blacks' in American discourse.
link to 972mag.com

Using rape to justify racism / Yossi Gurvitz
972mag 19 May -- ...In the last two weeks, there were three incidents of rape, all allegedly carried out by non Jews – two allegedly by Sudanese and Eritrean refugees, and one allegedly by a Palestinian illegal resident -- and the Israeli government and media lost their minds. Those rape incidents were prominently displayed in the media, and the usual creeps rolled from under their stones ... So what’s going on? It’s simple, really. When the Israeli media reports a rape by "foreigners," it engages in dog-whistling. It informs its readership that something much worse than rape took place: the defilement of the blood and honor of the Jewish people, the defiling of the honor of a daughter of Israel. It’s easy to forget, when you hear Ben Ari, Danon and Yishai’s latest statements, that they were inciting against the refugees long before these rape incidents took place.
link to 972mag.com

Police distortion of crime data encourages rising violence against refugees / Sigal Rozen
972mag 19 May -- ... The press similarly reported in early May that “asylum seekers are involved in 40 percent of crimes,” relying on police figures recently presented to the government. This statistic is shocking, but not as shocking as the fact that senior Israel Police officers are willing to tell lies in an effort to gain a chunk of the huge budget that the government has allotted to the war against African refugees. Real police data, presented in a meeting held by the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers on March 19, indicate that the crime rate among foreigners in Israel stood at 2.24 percent in 2011 (1,223 criminal cases out of a total of 54,497 foreigners) ... The 2011 data on Israeli crime has not yet been published, but according to police data reported to the Knesset, the crime rate among the general population in Israel stood at 4.99 percent in 2010.
link to 972mag.com

Faculty demands return of Arabic to university of Haifa's logo
Haaretz 21 May -- The University of Haifa has removed the Arabic script from its new logo, which appears as part of special design issued in honor of the 40th anniversary of the university's founding. The logo now appears with the words "University of Haifa" in Hebrew and English only, whereas the previous university logo included the words in Arabic as well. Several lecturers noticed the missing Arabic script in the new logo, which now appears on official university documents. Arabic and Hebrew are both official languages of the State of Israel.
link to www.haaretz.com

Discrimination against 1948 Palestinians in Israeli hospitals
NAZARETH (PIC) 20 May -- Palestinian human rights organization in occupied Palestinian territories called for an end to the discrimination practiced against 1948 Palestinians in Israeli hospitals. Mossawa Center (MC) for Arab citizens in Israel pointed out that Meir hospital in the Zionist settlement "Kfar Saba" in 1948 occupied Palestine had separated between Arab and Jewish mothers in maternity wards.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli court ruling to help fight gender pay gap
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 18 May -- Israel's high court on Friday put the onus on employers to pay men and women equally in a landmark ruling that may help narrow wage gaps, which are bigger than in most Western countries.
link to www.maannews.net

Other news

Family of Hamas figure seeks to block Israeli movie
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) 20 May -- Relatives of a slain Hamas operative seek to block the release of a movie being made in Israel about his 2010 assassination in a Dubai luxury hotel, a family member said Sunday ... Ahmed al-Mabhouh said the family learned about the movie from the media and hopes to prevent its release. "We consider this movie ... a distortion of our late martyr and reject the Zionist conspiracy against him after his death which everyone knows is a lie," he said.
link to www.google.com

Sudanese refugees flocking to Israeli Arab, Druze towns
Haaretz 20 May -- What started out as a few dozen is now hundreds, says Kafr Manda's imam ... "Any work is a blessing for us, but I don't know how much longer we can go on," says Ismail, 26.  "I know people are starting to look at us suspiciously and that bothers me. I see young women walking down the street who, when they see one of us, they run away, and that's hard. We didn't come here looking for problems, but to make a living and get away from worse conditions," Ismail says.
link to www.haaretz.com

Palestinian Airlines seeking to expand in Gulf
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 19 May -- The Palestinian national airline plans to resume flights between Amman, Jordan, El-Arish, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, a company official said Friday ... Palestinian Airlines resumed weekly flights between Amman and El-Arish on May 9. Al-Beda said flights were going on regularly and without significant obstacles. The tiny Palestinian Airlines has a fleet of three aircraft and about 100 employees. All the staff including pilots, engineers and technicians are Palestinians. It operates out of El-Arish and offers charter services to Saudi Arabia during the annual Muslim pilgrimage season.
link to www.maannews.net

Coca Cola Palestine wins award for sustainable development
RAMALLAH/ISTANBUL (Ma‘an) 20 May -- A Palestinian company producing Coca Cola products has won the international group's first award for sustainable development in Africa and Eurasia.
link to www.maannews.net

Film / Books / Reviews

Watch: Short film 'Yala to the moon (Yala al Amar)' by Suhel Nafar and Jackie Salloum
[6 minutes] EI 20 May -- Yala to the Moon (Yala al Amar) is a new film by Suhel Nafar (of DAM) and Jacqueline Reem Salloum. It was selected for exhibition in the TIFF Kids International Film Festival (Toronto), London Palestine Film Festival and Boston Palestine Film Festival. Peddling CDs on the streets of the West Bank, Aseel uses her imagination to magically remake the world around her.
link to electronicintifada.net

An Arab impostor masquerading as a Jew
Haaretz 21 May -- Sayed Kashua’s new novel centers around an Arab lawyer who can pass for Jewish, but who feels like an impostor in both societies ... The lawyer, who remains nameless throughout the book, works in West Jerusalem but lives in the Arab neighborhood of Beit Safafa. He drives a black Mercedes to impress his Jewish peers but hires the daughter of a senior Fatah official for his law office to win an Arab 'seal of approval.'
link to www.haaretz.com

Ahdaf Soueif on books on Palestine
Telegraph 21 May -- Raja Shehadeh is known in the UK for Palestinian Walks, the book that won him the Orwell Prize in 2008. Now, with his wife, Penny Johnson, he has edited Seeking Palestine (2012), a collection of personal essays and memoirs about Palestine from writers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Israel and the Palestinian diaspora. A reflection of the variety of Palestinian voices speaking in English today.
link to www.telegraph.co.uk

Palestine in film
End the Occupation 21 May -- To commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a US Campaign coalition member, announced the online publication of a guide to Palestinian film and film making. It features information on and access to hundreds of films and film institutions, giving an unprecedented overview of almost every aspect of Palestinian film making.
link to blog.endtheoccupation.org

groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
www.theheadlines.org (archive)


]]> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/homeless-in-your-own-home-new-website-focuses-on-housing-issues-of-palestinian-citizens-of-israel.html/feed 2 South African artists, intellectuals and gov’t ministers take steps to isolate Israel http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/south-african-artists-intellectuals-and-govt-ministers-take-steps-to-isolate-israel.html http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/south-african-artists-intellectuals-and-govt-ministers-take-steps-to-isolate-israel.html#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 18:08:23 +0000 Today in Palestine http://mondoweiss.net/?p=76183 link to www.economist.com

'--> 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 … Continue reading →]]> link to www.economist.com

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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.
link to www.haaretz.com 

AGRICULTURE MEC Gerrit van Rensburg has decided against taking a trip to Israel after the Department of International Relations and Co-operation told him visits by government officials to that country had to be kept to a minimum, his spokesman, Wouter Kriel, has said.
 
As South African Artists and Cultural Workers who have lived under, survived, and in many cases resisted apartheid, we acknowledge the value of international solidarity in our own struggle. It is in this context that we respond to the call by Palestinians, and their Israeli allies, for such solidarity. As artists of conscience we say no to apartheid - anywhere. We respond to the call for international solidarity and undertake not to avail any invitation to perform or exhibit in Israel. Nor will we accept funding from institutions linked to the government of Israel. This is our position until such time as Israel, in the least, complies with international law and universal principles of human rights. Until then, we too unite with international colleagues under the banner of “Artists Against Apartheid.”
 
“I wish you empowerment to resist; to fight for social and economic justice; to win your real freedom and equal rights.” These are the stirring words of Omar Barghouti in his open letter to “people of conscience in the West”. The prominent Palestinian human rights activist gave an indication of the poetic ability and charisma that inspires this letter in a recent discussion over Skype. The newly established Rhodes University Palestinian Solidarity Forum (RUPSF) engaged Barghouti in an attempt to inspire students and academics to feel the immediacy of the struggle to our own pasts, and by extension, the power South African voices can hold in the contemporary international sphere. Palestinians are cognisant of the potentiality of the emotive cord that joins us: the Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign have candidly based their agenda and discourse on the international anti-apartheid campaigns of the 80s and 90s. Professor Adam Habib, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg (UJ), in a recent conversation with me, recalled how Palestinian academics imparted the moving reflection on him that, compared to the bi-partisan stance of many academic institutions globally, Palestinians “expect more from South Africa”, “we expect different”.
Ethnic Cleansing / Land Theft and Destruction / Restriction of Movement
 
The national bureau for defending the land and resisting settlement said the Israeli government stepped up its settlement activities and its annexation of more Palestinian lands.
 
Jewish settlers ‘uproot trees near Hebron’
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.

International, local Palestinian and Jewish activists met in Al Araqib on May 13 where the Jewish National Fund has been attempting to plant trees on a plot of land over the ownership of which the Beersheva District Court has yet to rule. The JNF had previously agreed to refrain working on the plot in question, number 24.
 
RAMALLAH, May 19, 2012 (WAFA) – Muslim leaders have warned against attempts by Jewish fanatics to desecrate al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday as thousands are expected to participate in marches celebrating Israel’s occupation of the east part of the city 45 years ago. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during its 1967 war against its Arab neighbors and it later annexed it despite international opposition and condemnation naming both sections of Jerusalem as its capital. No country has so far recognized Israel’s rule over or annexation of occupied East Jerusalem. Sheikh Yousef Ideis, head of the Muslim Sharia courts in the Palestinian Territory, called Saturday on Palestinians to be alert for possible infiltration of fanatic Jews into al-Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem’s Old City, Islam’s third holiest site and which houses al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
 
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.
 
There`s a method in Mr Netanyahu`s game that dates all the way back to Israel`s founding in 1948. Israel`s founders didn`t like the terms of the partition plan offered by the UN in 1947, but they accepted them in principle - and then substantially revised them on the ground in the war that followed.
 
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.
 
The Israeli occupation authority decided to cordon off tomorrow Silwan district ahead of the marches which extremist Jewish settlers intend to organize.
 
The Ugly Parade of Jerusalem Day
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.
 
Nakba
 
Interactive map of Palestine villages destroyed in Nakba
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.
 
U. of Haifa stops Nakba commemoration, as prof writes hate post calling for ‘Many Nakbas’, Ira Glunts
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.
link to mondoweiss.net
 
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.
 
A Palestinian man was arrested at Ni’lin checkpoint on Tuesday, April 15 during a Nakba Day demonstration. The procession successfully crossed the checkpoint which separates the West Bank from Palestinian territories seized in 1948. They were violently forced back by occupation soldiers and police. A Palestinian woman and an international woman were also detained but released that same afternoon. During the morning rush hour, several dozen Palestinians and solidarity activists took the Israeli army by surprise and walked through Ni’lin checkpoint. The procession stated their intention to return to their homes in the territories occupied by Israel in 1948 and each presented a placard reading, “permission to enter Palestine: inevitable return,” and bearing the names of Palestinian villages depopulated in 1948.
 
In photos: San Francisco commemorates Nakba, Ramsey El-Qare
Palestinian activists and their political allies held a silent vigil in San Francisco’s Union Square, May 15, to commemorate the "Nakba," or catastrophe, an expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland between 1947 and 1949. Around 70 people participated in the event, including a group from Occupy San Francisco who marched to join the protesters from their downtown encampment.
 
Siege on Gaza
 
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egyptian forces on Saturday seized two vehicles in the Sinai peninsula with fuel destined for the Gaza Strip, security sources said. The vehicles had broken through a checkpoint between the city of El-Arish and Sheikh Zweid before Egyptian security fired at their tires, bringing the vehicles to a halt. One of the vehicles was carrying 1,100 liters of fuel in nine barrels and 10 jerrycans. The other vehicle contained 900 liters of petrol destined for sale on the black market. 
 
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.
 
Ten Palestinian volunteers harvested wheat in Gaza’s northern no-go zone on Wednesday, May 16, only 350 meters from where the Israeli Apartheid wall encircles the Gaza Strip. Two weeks ago the barley was cut and gathered and on Wednesday, volunteers loaded the harvest onto donkey carts to transport it for sorting, in the face of Apache helicopters, tanks, and F-16 fighter jets.
 
This series is not meant to say that Gaza is all beautiful and has no problem. I came back sick from Gaza, I think partly because of the physical exhaustion. This is a tough place. But also from all the stories I heard and from the general situation. I visited families in refugee camps who live in very dire conditions: up to 11 people in one small room, some people have to sleep in the kitchen or above the toilets. In those families several members are often sick, from children having asthma to mental illness. In one house, a woman had her legs broken in different parts because the roof fell on her. No jobs, no hope in the future, confined to a tiny space without electricity for several hours every day: how can one stay sane?  A family that I have been visiting before are still living in tents after they decided that they could not stay in their houses after it was shelled two times (in one bombing one woman, mother of 5 children was killed). So yes the general situation is very grim and desperate.
 
Israeli Violence / Attacks on Protesters 
 
OCHA Report: “370 Injured During Nakba Commemoration”
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.
 
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces shut down a protest in Hebron-district town Beit Ummar on Saturday, organizers said.  A group of Palestinian and foreign activists gathered in the town and marched with Palestinian flags towards the neighboring Karmi Zur settlement, the popular committee said. Demonstrators are protesting Israel's detention last week of secretary-general of the popular and national committees in Beit Ummar Ahmad Abu Hashem, the group said.
 
Complaint About Extreme Police Violence to Demonstrators Passed to Israeli Justice Department
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.
link to www.imemc.org
 
Illegal Arrests
 
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 raid neighborhoods in al-Khalil, arrest 2 people
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.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
 
Prisoner News
 
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Ten-year-old Jumanah Abu Jazar is preparing to visit her father for the first time since he was detained by Israeli forces in 2003. Following the recent agreement between prisoners and Israeli authorities to end hunger strike action, families from Gaza can now visit their relatives in Israeli jails. After the agreement was signed last week, Jumanah began looking through old photos of her father, Alaa Abu Jazar, to remind herself of what he looked like. "I recognize my father only from his photos. When I receive my school transcript, I weep because there is nobody to share my joy with. My father is in jail, my mother is dead as well as my grandfather and my uncle. I don't even wear new clothes during holidays," she told Ma'an.
 
Palestinian sources reported that detainee Mahmoud Kamel As-Sarsak, currently held at the Ramla Prison Hospital is determined to continue his hunger strike until his release or death.
 
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 Qassam leader, captive Sheikh Ibrahim Hamed, from Silwad town northeast of Ramallah, was transferred from his solitary cell to Hadareem prison, as confirmed by his family on Wednesday. 
 
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails: Their legal status and their rights
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.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
 
Solidarity
 
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.

Solidarity for Palestinian political prisoners
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. 
 
On the second anniversary of an Israeli attack on Mavi Marmara Freedom Flotilla, IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation will be organizing a march in İstanbul’s Taksim neighborhood. We expect everyone to show up for this march on May 31.
 
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.
 
BDS
 
Israel should be excluded from Olympic unions and committees, head of the Palestinian Football Association says.
 
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.

Report comes after South Africa says only recognizes State of Israel within borders demarcated by UN in 1948; move is in line with U.K. recommendation from 2009.
 
Minister of Trade and Industry says South Africa recognizes the State of Israel only within the borders demarcated by the UN in 1948.
 
AGRICULTURE MEC Gerrit van Rensburg has decided against taking a trip to Israel after the Department of International Relations and Co-operation told him visits by government officials to that country had to be kept to a minimum, his spokesman, Wouter Kriel, has said.
 
As South African Artists and Cultural Workers who have lived under, survived, and in many cases resisted apartheid, we acknowledge the value of international solidarity in our own struggle. It is in this context that we respond to the call by Palestinians, and their Israeli allies, for such solidarity. As artists of conscience we say no to apartheid - anywhere. We respond to the call for international solidarity and undertake not to avail any invitation to perform or exhibit in Israel. Nor will we accept funding from institutions linked to the government of Israel. This is our position until such time as Israel, in the least, complies with international law and universal principles of human rights. Until then, we too unite with international colleagues under the banner of “Artists Against Apartheid.”
 
“I wish you empowerment to resist; to fight for social and economic justice; to win your real freedom and equal rights.” These are the stirring words of Omar Barghouti in his open letter to “people of conscience in the West”. The prominent Palestinian human rights activist gave an indication of the poetic ability and charisma that inspires this letter in a recent discussion over Skype. The newly established Rhodes University Palestinian Solidarity Forum (RUPSF) engaged Barghouti in an attempt to inspire students and academics to feel the immediacy of the struggle to our own pasts, and by extension, the power South African voices can hold in the contemporary international sphere. Palestinians are cognisant of the potentiality of the emotive cord that joins us: the Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign have candidly based their agenda and discourse on the international anti-apartheid campaigns of the 80s and 90s. Professor Adam Habib, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg (UJ), in a recent conversation with me, recalled how Palestinian academics imparted the moving reflection on him that, compared to the bi-partisan stance of many academic institutions globally, Palestinians “expect more from South Africa”, “we expect different”.

Israeli Hate and Racism
 
A new report reveals that 78 percent of Palestinians in Jerusalem - and 84 percent of Palestinian children - live under the poverty line., According to the report by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the 360,000 Palestinian residents of the city - 38 percent of Jerusalem’s total population - have reached the highest poverty rate ever in 2011. By comparison, in 2006, 64 percent of the Palestinian population and 73 percent of the children lived under the poverty line., Read more: link to forward.com
 
According to Association for Civil Rights in Israel, main reason for the poverty is the high unemployment rate - 40 percent of the men are unemployed, as are 85 percent of the women.
 
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 

Other News
 
Emerging Arab democracies don't need American blood money:  State Department’s new Middle East fund in trouble on Capitol Hill
The biggest single new initiative in the State Department's $51.6 billion budget proposal for next year was a Middle East Incentive Fund -- $770 million in mostly new money to help State respond to the Arab Spring by supporting emerging democracies and their civil societies. But the House of Representatives declined to fund it in their version of the appropriations bill. The House Appropriations Subcommittee for State and Foreign Ops didn't give any money to fund the initiative in their fiscal 2013 appropriations mark, released last month. The leaders of that subcommittee claim that State failed to give them enough detail about the program to justify the new outlay of funds. Now, the State Department is depending on its allies in the Senate to save the program when the Senate Appropriations Committee marks up its bill next week. The episode is an example of the disconnect between State and Congress over how to respond to the Arab Spring as well as the difficulty of securing new money for diplomatic initiatives in this tight budget environment.
link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com
 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Surrounded by aides, including one whose only task seems to be light his cigarettes, Mahmoud Abbas sits in a vast presidential office and speaks of his ambition to create a Palestinian state. But outside his sprawling compound on the hills of the West Bank town of Ramallah reality on the ground is different -- his dream is being built over by ever-expanding Jewish settlements.

Worst abusers of the planet--and the least
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)
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
 
Citi Field, home of the Mets, is sold out for Sunday evening — but not for a baseball game. More than 40,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews plan to pack the stadium to hear about what the event’s organizers call the dangers of the Internet and how to use it in a religiously responsible way.
link to www.nytimes.com 

Analysis / Op-ed

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."
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
More than ever, Israel finds itself under siege. The British Guardian newspaper published a long article naming the apartheid walls built or being built by our enemy to separate the Zionist elite from the rest of the world. Their latest achievement in this vein is an almost completed wall between the Sinai and Naqab deserts on the Egyptian-Palestinian borders, costing almost half a billion dollars.
 
Watch this brief video clip of J Street's Ben-Ami debating Bill Kristol Tuesday night in New York. Ben-Ami makes the point that there are two choices, either come up with a border or give everyone equal rights.  Kristol "totally disagrees"
 
If Kristol’s latest prediction comes true, a Romney presidency would put U.S. foreign policy even more firmly under the control of a foreign power.
 
It was a big story the other day when demographers reading the census data reported that today in the U.S., births of ethnic and racial minorities have surpassed white American births. I think the trend has clear implications for US support for Israel, whose advocates routinely speak about a demographic "threat" -- too many non-Jewish births.
 
The political earthquake that shook Israel last week went, at first, almost completely unreported in America. I can put forward some explanations why it wasn’t reported – in a nutshell, because the story is a lethal combination of confusing and embarrassing. By yesterday, however, the initial stench and general sense of disgust at the surprise “unity government” deal have apparently faded away as the news traveled the Atlantic – and Israeli PM Netanyahu (hereafter, “Bibi”), the deal’s apparent winner, landed on a Times Magazine cover crowning him as “KING BIBI”, no less.
 
I struggle with something that Israel supporters say: Well you did it to the Native Americans, who are you to tell us not to do it? Some of these hasbarists even show up wearing Indian headdresses and war paint to try and rub it in-- you're as racist as we are. Recently a liberal American-Israeli Zionist even made the dig personally, saying, You live on ethnically-cleansed land. And it's true, I look out my window and see a hickory tree whose nuts Native Americans made liquor from. But they're not here anymore. And my awareness of the ethnic cleansing here sometimes stops me.
 
Interview: Launch of Leila Khaled biography by EI contributor canceled after Zionist pressure
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.
link to mondoweiss.net

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.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
 
Throughout contemporary history, movement of people outside their own countries for long or short intervals has occurred for various reasons: education, work, marriage, family ties, fleeing hardships, and so on. Foreigners exist in every country in the world, forming their own sub-societies and clinging with varying degrees to their own cultures as they integrate into the new ones. Sometimes, the second or third generations that arise after this movement experience the drive to return to their home countries, find their roots and re-integrate into their societies of origin.
link to palestinechronicle.com

Global Appeal for Stories of Palestinian Displacement
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.
link to palestinechronicle.com

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.
link to www.counterpunch.org

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.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

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.
link to www.counterpunch.org
 
Jowan Safadi: Breaking The Mold
The Palestinian musician continues to defy convention, gathering admirers and enemies in droves along the way.
Annexation - that's what tens of thousands of protesters in the Middle East are calling new Arab union plans. It comes after Saudi Arabia said it wants to form an alliance with Bahrain.

Bahraini police attack Shahrakan demo
Bahraini regime forces have attacked anti-regime demonstrators in the western village of Shahrakan.

Bahrain: Drop Charges Against Rights Activists
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.
link to news.yahoo.com

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.
link to news.yahoo.com

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."
link to english.al-akhbar.com

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.
link to www.guardian.co.uk

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.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
Demonstration in Tehran over Bahrain-Saudi union
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.
link to news.yahoo.com

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.
link to www.youtube.com

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.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Egypt

Egyptian Ambassador to Kuwait Abdel Karim Sulaiman on Saturday announced that the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate in the presidential election won 30.9 percent of the votes of expatriate Egyptians in Kuwait, Reuters reported.
 
Polls give few clues to Egypt vote
Contradictory opinion polls give few clues on Egypt's election.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

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.
link to english.alarabiya.net

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.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
 
Egypt's revolution fails to benefit slum dwellers 
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.
 
Wife of lawyer detained in Saudi may take case to international court
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.
link to www.egyptindependent.com

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.
link to news.yahoo.com

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.
link to www.jadaliyya.com
 
Presidential hopeful Khaled Ali said that a second revolution was inevitable in Egypt in spite of who is elected president because the people want to achieve the objectives of the revolution. He said that this struggle will continue even after the new president is elected, and that while the success of a revolutionary candidate could delay the second revolution, it is still unavoidable. Ali said in an interview with the London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on Friday that he feared elections-rigging more than Islamists or former figures reaching power. He added that he would accept the results of the election even if a Mubarak regime figure won the race.
link to www.egyptindependent.com

In Search of Egypt’s Fifth President: Salim al-Awa
In the third installment of the series of interviews with Egypt’s presidential candidates, Al-Akhbar sat with conservative Islamist candidate Salim al-Awa.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

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
 
Egyptian presidential candidate (and Mubarak official), Ahmad Shafiq, is hit with shoes.  (For the significance of shoes in Arab culture, please consult any US newspaper).

Iran

"At some point such actions which undermine state sovereignty may lead to a full-scale regional war, even, although I do not want to frighten anyone, with the use of nuclear weapons," Medvedev said. "Everyone should bear this in mind."
 
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.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
The Former Chief of Staff of Secretary of State Colin Powell has stated that this resolution "reads like the same sheet of music that got us into the Iraq war." 
link to www.informationclearinghouse.info 

US strike plan on Iran 'ready'
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.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

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.
link to www.richardsilverstein.com

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.
link to www.jadaliyya.com
 
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.  
 
Hopefully he won't flip flop, like he did with Palestine: Ron Paul and America's "Military Option" against Iran
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.  
 
Iran Hawks in Congress in Some Disarray, Jim Lobe
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. 
link to original.antiwar.com
 
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.
link to www.hrw.org
 
An Iraqi anti-terror officer, his wife and three children have been shot dead by gunmen in north Baghdad, security and medical officials said on Saturday.
link to news.yahoo.com

15 Killed, 67 Wounded at Baghdad Pet Market, Restaurant and Home
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.
 
'Get some new lawyers.' -- 1999: Then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook on his assertion that the bombing of Balkan States was illegal under international law. In this sixteenth anniversary year of Madeleine Albright stating her endorsement of half a million child sacrifices at the altar of the UN Embargo on Iraq as a “price worth it”, this silent holocaust is to be commemorated annually. In New Haven, Ct., On 12th May, marking the day of Albright’s infamous broadcast, a banner was unfurled and a minute’s silence held as the Middle East Crisis Committee, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CT), the Tree of Life Education Fund and We Refuse to be Enemies, inaugurated the first Iraq Genocide Memorial Day.

Beating the Drums of Orientalism
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. 
link to www.jadaliyya.com

Lebanon

A tentative truce in Lebanon’s second city of Tripoli appeared to be holding on Saturday, with only a few reports of violence in the past 24 hours. A number of hand grenades were thrown on Friday night, Lebanese state media said, but there were no reports of casualties and the city appeared to be calm on Saturday morning. The Lebanese army has deployed more heavily in the city in the past 24 hours, breaking up violence between armed gangs. There were a couple of violent incidents on Friday evening, with grenades being through in the Haret Al Saydeh and Omari areas, as well as a sound bomb in Kawah, state media said.
 
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.
link to news.yahoo.com

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.
link to www.guardian.co.uk
 
Saad Hariri: One Year Leading by Remote Control
Scene One: Saad Hariri put a piece of property up for sale in the Barbir area. According to sources close to the Saudi embassy in Beirut, the property forms part of a plot of land the Saudis want to turn into housing projects for the people of Beirut. The sale of the land is not particularly noteworthy. Its value is merely pocket change for Hariri. The surprise lies in the names of those who stepped in to buy it. They are the president of Riyadi (Sporting) Club, Hisham Jaroudi, the “republic’s contractor” and businessman, Jihad al-Arab (brother of the head of Hariri’s personal security detail), and the former head of Future TV, Nadim al-Munla.
 
As an openly religious organization, Hezbollah promotes strict adherence to Islamic Sharia among its members. This translates into a largely homogeneous wardrobe, specially among women, making those who dress differently stand out in a Hezbollah crowd.
 
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?
link to english.al-akhbar.com

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.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

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.
link to gulfnews.com

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.
link to www.juancole.com

Syria

Car bomb in eastern Syrian city kills 9
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.
 
Activists: Syrian forces shell rebel town
Opposition groups say Syrian government forces are pounding a rebel-held town north of the central city of Homs.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
The Lede Blog: U.N. Observers Dodge Bullets and Mockery in Syria
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.
link to thelede.blogs.nytimes.com
 
Syria: Activists Arrested, Held Despite Pledge to Annan
Syrian security forces are arbitrarily arresting and holding peaceful activists incommunicado, despite the government’s commitment under Kofi Annan’s six point plan to release everyone who has been arbitrarily detained. People being arrested include peaceful protesters and activists involved in organizing, filming, and reporting on protests and humanitarian assistance providers and doctors, Human Rights Watch said after interviewing dozens of activists, witnesses, and family members.
link to www.hrw.org

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.
link to feeds.nytimes.com

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.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
The largest demonstrations held in Syria’s second city, Aleppo, since the beginning over a year ago of the revolutionary movement in that country, were held on Friday. In part, they were provoked by the brutality of regime troops toward student protesters at the university in Aleppo on Thursday. The Baathist regime of President Bashar al-Assad responded with tear gas and batons, and there were some injuries reported. Tens of thousands of people came out in the streets in other cities as well on Friday in a continued effort to topple the regime.
link to www.juancole.com 

Protesters Are Attacked at Aleppo University in Syria
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.
link to feeds.nytimes.com

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.
link to english.alarabiya.net
 
Panel's report says N Korea "continues to defy" UN sanctions on selling of arms and related technology to other nations.
link to www.aljazeera.com
 
And will there be probes of U.S. transfers of weapons to Syrians? U.S. Organizing Syrian Rebels: Syrian Rebels Get Influx of Arms with Gulf Neighbors’ Money, U.S. Coordination
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.
link to www.washingtonpost.com
 
Annan deputy to visit Syria
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.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

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.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
Head of UN mission in Syria 'pessimistic'
Major-General Robert Mood gives bleak assessment of task his team faces as violations of ceasefire continue.

UN: Monitors alone cannot end Syria bloodshed
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.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
U.S. tells G8 Syria's Assad must go, cites Yemen as model
U.S. President Barack Obama told G8 leaders meeting at Camp David that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power, and pointed to Yemen as a model of how political transition could work there, the White House said on Saturday.
 
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.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

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.
link to english.alarabiya.net
 
Syria: Church under attack as Christians leave Homs
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.
link to www.inspiremagazine.org.uk 

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.
link to www.dailystar.com.lb
 
Turkish PM calls for up to 3000 observers for Syria
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.
link to english.alarabiya.net

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.
link to news.yahoo.com
 
The Syrian situation is complex like any other uprising, but the situation has added complexity because it is at the juncture of several conflicts in the region. Those struggles involve local, regional, and international power plays that make the situation a lot more charged. For instance, we have Syria at the center of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Syria is part of an axis, so to speak, with Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, confronting imperialism in various forms from inside and outside the region, particularly in relation to U.S. domination and Israel's occupations and belligerence. There is also resistance to the conservative Arab camp that includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other conservative countries that are usually allies with the United States. Also, Syria is, in many ways, the guarantor of stability in Lebanon. Syria's presence in Lebanon has guaranteed some stability despite many violations of Lebanon's sovereignty by Syria. For all these reasons, Syria's position in the region is pivotal. This is not simply another uprising against a dictator. It is also being transformed by other players into an effort to redraw the political map of the region and curtail further protests elsewhere. A lot of the anti-regime actors and analysts are placed in an odd position. They do not support the regime or the turn that the uprising has taken since fall of last year. So perhaps the task is to build an independent opposition away from the dictates of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or the United States. Military intervention in Syria will bring in Iran and Hezbollah, and that will change the dynamic of the conflict. Most people in the region are opposed to the Syrian regime's domestic behavior during the past decades, but they are not opposed to its regional role. The problem is the Syrian regime's internal repression, not its external policies. If there is no interference from the outside, the uprisings will be seen as legitimate. If it becomes regional and you bring in the U.S. and Israel in a fight against the Syrian regime, it changes the strategic dynamics of the conflict -- and not just the players involved.
link to www.jadaliyya.com 

Other World News

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.
link to www.youtube.com
 
The survivors’ accounts lend an urgency to the official version of events, and they convey the brutality and the seeming randomness of what took place in those early-morning hours. 
link to www.thenewstribune.com

House OKs indefinite definition of terror suspects
The House on Friday endorsed the indefinite detention without trial of terrorist suspects, even for U.S. citizens seized on American soil.
link to news.yahoo.com

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.
link to www.democracynow.org

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.
link to www.democracynow.org
 
Number of people imprisoned in the United States: 2.3 million. Number of victims of rape or sexual abuse in U.S. prison, jails and juvenile detention facilities in the past year according to the Justice Department: 216,600.
link to www.informationclearinghouse.info 

U.S. provided intelligence for Turkish air raid: official
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.
link to english.alarabiya.net

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.
link to www.nytimes.com
 

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.
link to www.economist.com

Libyans cast ballots in Benghazi elections
Local elections in Libya's second city, for the first time since the 1960s, intensifies federalism debate in Libya.

Tunisia-uprising injured sew lips in protest
Protesters stage demonstration outside parliament, claiming lack of treatment and that their plight is being ignored.
link to www.aljazeera.com

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.
link to www.hrw.org

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.
link to english.alarabiya.net
 
www.TheHeadlines.Org
]]> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/south-african-artists-intellectuals-and-govt-ministers-take-steps-to-isolate-israel.html/feed 3 Daily escalations in Occupied Palestine http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/daily-escalations-in-occupied-palestine.html http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/daily-escalations-in-occupied-palestine.html#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 15:47:26 +0000 Today in Palestine http://mondoweiss.net/?p=75994 link to english.al-akhbar.com
Ethnic Cleansing / Land Theft and Destruction / Nakba
 
Joseph's Tomb is located in the West Bank city of Nablus which is under full Palestinian control since the Oslo Accords were signed.
link to www.haaretz.com

Thousands of Israelis to visit West Bank site after court decision
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are likely to visit a West Bank tomb in the coming year, after a Jerusalem court awarded two rabbis legal and administrative control over it in contravention of international law. Joseph's Tomb in Nablus is in the part of the West Bank that the Oslo Accords assigned to full Palestinian control. Consequently, the Israel Defense Force officially have no jurisdiction in the area and any Israeli involvement there is illegal.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Minister says Israel will not give up settlements of Ofra and Beit El near Ramallah
Israel's Minister of Defence has said that any political agreement with the Palestinians will exclude a number of settlements in the occupied West Bank. Ehud Barak claimed that the Zionist state will not "abandon" the illegal settlements of Ofra and Beit El near Ramallah. Barak told Israeli Army Radio, "In any map I can think of for final status negotiations, Ofra, Beit El and Baal Hazor must be part of Israel." He added, "I think that there are many things to be done in order to promote Beit El as a very important settlement and I have no doubt whatsoever regarding its future." The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz called such statements "a change in Barak's position". In the Camp David negotiations when he was Prime Minister of Israel, noted Haaretz, he had agreed to transfer most West Bank land to the Palestinians, including East Jerusalem
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk

In pictures: portraits of al-Aqaba, a village surrounded by the Israeli army
Al-Aqaba is a small Palestinian village in the Jordan Valley of the occupied West Bank surrounded by Israeli military checkpoints and training grounds.
link to electronicintifada.net


AJC hasbara video includes ethnically cleansed Palestinian village, Ben White
A hasbara video called “The Rhythm of Israel”, produced by the American Jewish Committee’s initiative ‘Project Interchange’, includes a church from an ethnically cleansed Palestinian village.
link to electronicintifada.net

An Nakba
 
The Naqba “Right of Return” march begins from Damascus Gate
As part of the Naqba Day memorial activities, a large crowd marched from the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem through the streets of the city, demonstrating their commitment to the Right of Return and claim to the land that hundreds of thousands lost in 1948. Today 5 millions Palestinian refugees living in neighboring countries and in Palestine itself, are waiting to return. The march also criticized the silence from the international community, and the weakness of the Arab leaders to address the ongoing violation of human rights by the Israeli occupation. Israeli forces tried to block the march but were unable to delay the determined protestors.
link to silwanic.net

Palestinians face repression on Nakba Day rallies
Palestinians across the West Bank held rallies and protests to commemorate Nakba Day Wednesday with many protests facing violent repression.
link to www.english.rfi.fr
 

Nakba day at Ofer prison, May, 15, 2012
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.434889723188004.106848.136633479680298&type=1

Nakba Day clashes on West Bank between Palestinians and Israeli forces – video
Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces clash in the West Bank on Tuesday as Palestinians mark Nakba Day.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/may/16/nakba-day-palestinians-israeli-video

Today, May 15, 2012, Palestinians are remembering the 64th anniversary of the Nakba. In Arabic, “nakba” means “catastrophe,” and it refers to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, which was accompanied by the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. Many Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes, while others fled when they heard the news of massacres in nearby villages, such as Deir Yassin and Tantura. More than 450 Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated by Zionist forces, and most of them were razed to the ground to prevent the return of the Palestinian refugees. Many refugee families still carry the keys to the homes that they were forced to leave.
 
Palestinians and their pro-justice supporters around the world have remembered the 64th anniversary of the Nakba, the Catastrophe caused by the creation of the state of Israel in historic Palestine. In 1948, almost a million Palestinians were driven out of their homes by Zionist Jewish militias and were forced to find relief and shelter in neighbouring Arab countries and the wider world, as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Events were held around the world to commemorate Nakba Day, including demonstrations, protests and conferences. In Gaza, old and new faces came together as hundreds of Palestinian artists visited universities in Gaza City and painted murals on the walls depicting different aspects of the Nakba, including the initial expulsion and the lives lost during the Catastrophe. The main theme of the artwork was that the key to peace is Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homeland. Below is a selection of artwork from the streets of Gaza City.
 
Coalition Of Youth Revolution, the Arab Spring forces have organized a massive march in Tahrir Square on Tuesday after noon prayers to mark 64th anniversary of "Nakba."
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7DtYAqanJBSVUfI0bZvexNb6A7YpIcSUd1Ad%2fKXX2ajb52dCQZnKCe3GNLCK1zEXq1VwG247F8k9shm0oq2RYgW8wkd4DGca89TBybU3BX1E%3d
 
ISTANBUL (Ma'an) -- Palestinians in Turkey on Tuesday held a rally to commemorate the anniversary of Palestinian exile in 1948. Ahmad Abu Saleh, a member of the Palestinian community in Turkey, gave a statement stressing Palestinians' right to return to their homes. The rally was attended by Turkish politicians and a Turkish association that supports Palestine on the day commemorating the Nakba, or catastrophe. 
 
Dan Sisken took these photos in Washington, D.C., yesterday at the Nakba commemoration.
 
A sit-in tent outside the Netherlands parliament to mark Nakba
The Palestinians in the Netherlands commemorated the 64th anniversary of the Nakba in a sit-in tent outside the Parliament in The Hague, highlighting the prisoners' issue.
KARACHI - Imamia Students Organisation on Wednesday led a rally from Numaish Chowrangi to the Press Club to express solidarity with Palestinians.The protesters, including children, marched on MA Jinnah Road, Preedy Street and Regal Chowk, supporting Palestinians on the 64th anniversary of proclamation of Zionist regime of Israel on the land of Palestine.The demonstrators, carrying placards and banners, burnt US and Israeli flags and chanted slogans against Israel’s aggression. Addressing the protesters, Maulana Sadiq, Allama Aftab Haider Jafri, Maulana Munawar Naqvi and Muhammad Rizvi said Palestinians had been deprived of their legitimate rights while the world leaders were dragging their feet over the matter.They cited the massacre of Palestinians in May 1948 and took a swipe at the major powers for their failure to resolving the longstanding issue.
link to www.nation.com.pk
 
An Australian court has rejected a request made by the police force in Sydney to postpone a march commemorating the Nakba. The police asked for it to be held at the weekend instead of midweek to avoid disrupting the city's traffic. Judge Christine Adamson rejected the request after a hearing on Monday evening, explaining that freedom of expression takes precedence over any potential traffic congestion. In any case, she added, the importance of the actual date of the Nakba made it essential for the commemoration to take place on 15th May, not on any other day.
 
Walid Khalidi on Nakbah
"The UN partition plan, presented as a compromise between the two communities was anything but. It gave the Jewish population, which by then had artificially grown into about 30 percent of the population, over half (55 percent) of Palestine where Jews owned less than 8 percent of the land. It condemned hundreds of thousands of Palestinians within the UN-drawn boundaries to live in separation from their compatriots as a minority in the Jewish state-to-be. The Jews were overjoyed, but the Palestinians were outraged at this dismemberment of their country and fragmentation of their society – a prolonged nightmare realized. Artfully the Zionist leaders represented their “acceptance” of partition as evidence of their readiness to “compromise” and to comply with the will of the international community. 
 
Erasing the Nakba, Neve Gordon
I first heard about the Nakba in the late 1980s, while I was an undergraduate student of philosophy at Hebrew University. This, I believe, is a revealing fact, particularly since, as a teenager, I was a member of Peace Now and was raised in a liberal home. I grew up in the southern city of Be'er-Sheva, which is just a few kilometres from several unrecognised Bedouin villages that, today, are home to thousands of residents who were displaced in 1948. I now know that the vast majority of the Negev's Bedouin population was not as lucky, and that, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, most Bedouin either fled or were expelled from their ancestral lands to Jordan or Gaza.
 
QALANDIA, Occupied West Bank , May 16, 2011 (IPS) - Israeli confidence that Nakba day, marked by The Great March on May 15 in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel and neighbouring Arab countries, would remain under control, has backfired badly.
link to ipsnews.net

Siege on Gaza

Medics: Man suffocates in Gaza tunnel
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A man died on Thursday after suffocating in a smuggling tunnel beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, medics said. Jihad Barakeh, 18, was pronounced dead upon arrival at a Gaza hospital, having been pulled out of a tunnel by other workers. Since Israel tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007, goods smuggled in from Egypt through underground tunnels have provided a lifeline to the coastal enclave. Under siege, Gaza's economy collapsed and a 2011 UN study found that unemployment rates in Gaza were among the highest in the world. Gaza officials say over 160 young men have died at work in smuggling tunnels, but with a lack of alternatives many are still drawn to the hazardous profession.
link to www.maannews.net

Gaza-bound activists arrive in Egypt
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Over 120 activists arrived in Egypt on Thursday en route to the Gaza Strip, a security official said. An Egyptian security officer told Ma'an that 40 activists arrived at Cairo airport and 84 flew into El-Arish airport to join the 12th Miles of Smiles convoy and the Jordanian Supporters of Gaza group. They are bringing medical aid and vehicles adapted for disabled people and will enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing.
link to www.maannews.net

Jordanian aid convoy "Ansar 2" leaves for Gaza
The aid convoy dubbed "Ansar 2" on Thursday left for Gaza to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians caused by the Israeli blockade., The convoy headed by Head of the Jordanian "Artery of Life" committee Wael Saqqa and about 100 participants from various local activities left Amman International Airport to the Egyptian Al Areesh Airport. It is expected to arrive at Gaza Strip on Thursday noon., Saqqa told (Petra) that "Ansar 2 " aims to confirm Jordan’s solidarity with Gazans, adding that it will support the sector’s small productivity projects, visit the Jordanian field hospital in addition to other activities.
link to en.ammonnews.net

Israeli Violence and Aggression

PCHR Weekly: “46 Palestinians Wounded, Army Continues Its Invasions”
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), based in Gaza, issued its weekly report (May 10 - 16) on Israeli violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, revealing that Israeli soldiers shot and wounded 46 Palestinians, including children and reporters, and carried out more than 41 invasions. The army continued to use excessive force against nonviolent protesters.
link to www.imemc.org

Israeli tanks fire on Gaza Strip, 7 injured
Israeli forces opened fire on northern and eastern Gaza, medical officials say.
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Seven people were injured on Thursday when Israeli forces fired artillery rounds at the northern and eastern Gaza Strip, medics said.  Gaza medical spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya told Ma'an that two people were seriously wounded and five moderately injured when Israeli forces opened fire on Beit Lahiya, north Gaza, and east of Gaza City.
link to www.maannews.net

Farmers critically wounded in unprovoked Israeli attack
Eight Palestinian farmers were injured this morning in the Shujaeya district, east of Gaza City, in an unprovoked attack by Israel. All the victims were working on their farms during the attack; two are in a critical condition in hospital. In a similar incident, a number of farmers were wounded by Israeli forces in Bayt Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip. In the south of the beleaguered territory, Israeli forces infiltrated the area east of Khan Yunus. Eyewitnesses report that a number of Israeli bulldozers and tanks eventually retreated under air cover. Commentators point out that these are the sort of daily infringements which provoke resistance groups in Gaza to fire rockets into Israel. Subsequent Israeli "responses" are given maximum media coverage to illustrate how dangerous life is for Israeli civilians. No such sympathetic coverage is afforded to Palestinian civilians trying to go about their daily business under the threat and reality of Israeli bombs and bullets.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
 
Israeli police kill Palestinian in Tayeba city
The Israeli occupation police on Wednesday killed a Palestinian citizen in Tayeba city of the 1948 occupied lands and wounded others during a raid on a house.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Two workers seriously injured during IOF chase
Two Palestinian workers were injured when a wall fell over their head while escaping chase of Israeli occupation forces (IOF) near Beit Awa village in Al-Khalil, local sources said.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOF troops fire teargas bombs on civilians in northern Gaza
Palestinian citizens were treated for breathing difficulty after Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired a number of teargas canisters on northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday night.
 
Tension in the Issawiya area, tens of injuries
Many confrontations since this early morning in the Issawiya village in Jerusalem between the locals and the Israeli forces as a result of the memorial Naqba day, The Israeli forces attacked the Palestinians in Gas and robber bullets, witnesses said that the under cover forces (Mista’revim) kidnapped 7 young men and beat them then they took them to the Post Office police station and then transferred them to the Maskubiya jail. At the same time the Israeli forces maintained their raids in the area, they kept assaulting the youth and the children.  The Israeli forces  kidnapped another 4, among them 2 children, Ismail Kweder and Muhammad Abbas, they were assaulted in a brutal way, they also arrested and attacked a guy that suffers from mental illness till he bled, eye witnesses added that an Israeli soldier was injured from the stones. During the confrontations the Israeli forces broke into Mahmood Eliyan’s house and they beat him, his wife and his children in a brutal way. As was mention before, the Issawiya  decided to have a general strike for the Naqba Memorial Day.
 
The assault on Diala Jwejan the journalist from Jerusalem
The Israeli forces assaulted the journalist that is known for covering the incidents in Jerusalem, the assault happened during the Naqba day memorial in the Issawiye village in Jerusalem, Diala told Silwanic over the phone the Israeli forces  broke her equipment then they started beating her.
link to silwanic.net

PA: Settlers torch car in Nablus
NABLUS (Ma'an) -- A group of settlers on Thursday set fire to a car in Nablus, a PA official said.Three settlers from Yitzhar settlement set fire to the car in Einabus village, PA official Ghassan Daghlas told Ma'an.The owner, Zain Mustafa Allan, said the car was parked outside his home when the attack took place. Earlier, settlers threw rocks at Palestinian cars driving near Yitzhar settlement, Daghlas said. The Nablus district experienced the majority of settler violence in 2011, The Palestine Center says.
link to www.maannews.net

Jewish settlers, officials storm Aqsa mosque
A group of 25 Jewish settlers accompanied by an Israeli minister stormed the holy Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Thursday morning.

Illegal Arrests / Detainees

IOF rounds up seven Palestinians
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up seven Palestinian citizens in various West Bank areas at dawn Thursday.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli special force shoots, arrests Palestinian youth in Alezariye
A special force of the Israeli army shot and wounded a Palestinian youth in Alezariye town in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israel 'arrests TV director, confiscates equipment'
JENIN (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces arrested the director of a Jenin-based satellite channel on Thursday after raiding his home, the executive director of the channel said. Saher Qassem, chief of the Al-Asir channel, told Ma'an that a group of soldiers arrested Baha Khayri Ata Musa, 32, after raiding his home in Mirka village.
Soldiers Kidnap Child Near Hebron; Israeli Soldiers Attack Nakba Protests
Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Tuesday, a Palestinian child in Beit Ummar town, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, on Tuesday. He was repeatedly kicked and punched to various parts of his body.
link to www.imemc.org
 
Child wounded in Arub clashes
A Palestinian child was hospitalized in Al-Khalil on Wednesday when Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired bullets and tear gas grenades at protestors.
 
Tension in the Issawiya area,11 arrests
Many confrontations since this early morning in the Issawiya village in Jerusalem between the locals and the Israeli forces as a result of the memorial Naqba day, The Israeli forces attacked the Palestinians in Gas and robber bullets, witnesses said that the under cover forces (Mista’revim) kidnapped 7 young men and beat them then they took them to the Post Office police station and then transferred them to the Maskubiya jail. At the same time the Israeli forces maintained their raids in the area, they kept assaulting the youth and the children.  The Israeli forces  kidnapped another 4, among them 2 children, Ismail Kweder and Muhammad Abbas, they were assaulted in a brutal way, they also arrested and attacked a guy that suffers from mental illness till he bled, eye witnesses added that an Israeli soldier was injured from the stones. During the confrontations the Israeli forces broke into Mahmood Eliyan’s house and they beat him, his wife and his children in a brutal way. As was mention before, the Issawiya  decided to have a general strike for the Naqba Memorial Day.
 
Prisoner News
 
Details emerge of Israeli concessions that ended historic Palestinian mass hunger strike,Ali Abunimah
Details of the Israeli concessions that ended an historic 28-day mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and the more than two-month hunger strikes of several prisoners, emerged today.

Two Palestinians ‘restart’ hunger strike
Two Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are refusing food, despite the signing this week of a deal to end a mass prisoner hunger strike, Israeli and Palestinian officials said on Thursday.
link to english.alarabiya.net

Several prisoners still on hunger strike in Israeli jails
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Several prisoners in Israeli jails are still on hunger strike, officials said Thursday, days after a deal was struck to end a mass hunger strike movement. Israeli Prisons Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told Ma'an that Mahmoud al-Sarsak and Akram al-Rekhawi are refusing food. They are being held in Ramle prison clinic, she said. Al-Sarsak has been on hunger strike for 60 days and is protesting his detention without charge or trial. A soccer player, al-Sarsak was detained in July 2009 while leaving the Gaza Strip to join the national team in the West Bank.
link to www.maannews.net
 
Nizam Abu Rumuz was denied from a medical treatment in the Gilboa prison
Nizam Abu Rumuz from Silwan is serving 22 months in the Gelboa prison after he was accused in resisting the settlements and the Israeli forces, although he needs an immediate surgery in his Back the prison administration is denying him as a punishment for his strike hunger that’s been going on for 25 days, he is striking with the rest of many prisoners that’s demanding to improve their bad circumstances in the prison. Nizam’s family informed us that the Red Cross told them that he is forbidden from visitors, as well, new information reached Silwanic’s website that he is being transferred to  different prisons without any doctor’s examination, Nizam is suffering from over fat in his back and its causing him extreme pains and still the prison administration is denying him from an immediate surgery.
 
The family of administrative detainee Suleiman Skafi demands his release
The family of the administrative detainee Mohammed Suleiman Tawfiq Skafi, from Al-Khalil city in the West Bank who had participated in the dignity strike in an attempt to achieve his release.
 
This morning (15 May 2012), the media reported that an agreement was reached between Israel and representatives of the Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. The agreement follows a hunger strike by almost 2,000 prisoners that lasted some six weeks. The prisoners raised a number of demands, focusing primarily on the conditions of their imprisonment. One of the demands was the resumption of family visits for the prisoners from Gaza, which were stopped in 2007 when Hamas took control in the Gaza Strip. According to the initial media reports, Israel has agreed to resume family visits, with a number of limitations that have not yet been clarified.
 
Despite repeatedly stating that a key demand was an end to administrative detention, and that no partial offer would be accepted, an Israeli offer was yesterday accepted by the Higher Committee for the Hunger Strikers on behalf of the prisoners. Although Israel has agreed to release 19 prisoners from solitary confinement – several of whom have been in isolation for more than ten years – and to lift the ban on family visits for prisoners from Gaza, the agreement states only that administrative detention will not be ‘renewed’ automatically and that after six months, the prisoner must be released, or charged. Current administrative detainees will be released, or charged, at the end of their current sentence.
 
Israeli Racism
 
Hotline for Migrant Workers files a police report about the calls and also filed a complaint against Interior Minister Eli Yishai for incitement.
link to www.haaretz.com

Growing tensions between locals and migrants in Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel (IRIN) -- Blessing Akachukneu was already looking for a new place to live when her south Tel Aviv apartment, which doubles as a day-care center, was firebombed in April. Her Israeli neighbors, she explained, had complained to the landlord about the noise from the day-care center and she had been asked to leave. Otherwise, she had not had any problems in Shapira neighborhood.
link to www.maannews.net

Incredibly vile racist Israeli rant: Terra Incognita: How racism crept into my neighborhood
African migrants are viewed through the prism of “victims”; their own racism is not usually acknowledged.
link to www.jpost.com
 
Other News

Abbas makes “big error” in naming new cabinet: Hamas
President Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has sworn in nine new ministers to his cabinet in a reshuffle condemned by the opposition Hamas as a “big error.” PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was retained in his role but had to relinquish his influential second post as finance minister. The move is a blow to reconciliation efforts with Hamas, which governs Gaza, as the PA appears to be moving away from plans for a unity government.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Palestinians now merit full ambassador
The Foreign Ministry has given diplomat Naofumi Hashimoto, chief of the Representative Office of Japan to the Palestinian Authority, the title of ambassador in charge of Palestinian affairs. It is an extraordinary step for a diplomat in charge of an area that Japan has not yet recognized as a state to be designated as an ambassador. The new title, bestowed Tuesday, does not carry extraordinary and plenipotentiary representative powers equivalent to those of the Japanese ambassador to the United States, for instance, but the title will enable him to engage in diplomatic activities more smoothly, sources said. Hashimoto was formerly deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Iraq.
link to www.japantimes.co.jp
 
Jill Stein, the prospective Green Party presidential nominee, hailed yesterday's agreement regarding solitary confinement, family visitation rights, and more by Israeli prison authorities as a significant victory for non-violent resistance and human rights. The agreement was the result of a hunger strike by over 1600 Palestinian prisoners that lasted in some cases as long as 77 days.
 
Israel 'violates' Turkey airspace
Turkey says it scrambled two military jets to chase away an Israeli plane which allegedly violated the airspace of Turkish-held northern Cyprus.
link to www.bbc.co.uk
 
IDF to boost intelligence efforts on Jordanian border
Army hopes to deploy advanced observation system currently installed in south, in Jordanian border area too.
 
Israeli military intelligence chief Aviv Kochavi made a "secret visit" to Washington earlier this month to discuss the upcoming talks between world powers and Iran, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. An Israeli security official confirmed the visit, which was reported in Haaretz newspaper, but could not provide further details. As well as discussing Tehran's nuclear program, the major general also held talks with senior White House and intelligence officials in New York and Washington on "the Syria crisis and Hezbollah's increasing power in Lebanon," the paper said.
 
US gas giant works to avoid Israel electric shortage
Noble Energy is to hook up two small natural gas fields to Israel's central gas supply to avoid electricity shortages over the summer due to the cut in Egyptian supplies, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

BBC Poll: Israel's global image plummets
Israel ranks among states perceived to have most negative influence on world, according to BBC poll; only Iran, Pakistan do worse, Israel's image hits nadir in Europe.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Israel Tied with North Korea in BBC Negative Influence Poll
Israel’s foreign and domestic policy seems to have tarnished its image on the world stage as it came joint third in an annual international BBC poll assessing the negative influence of major countries. The poll asked which states were perceived to have had the most negative influence on the world. Iran and Pakistan took first and second place respectively, with Israel sharing third place with North Korea.
link to www.imemc.org

Verdict in Corrie Lawsuit to be Announced August 28, 2012
(Olympia, WA USA - May 16, 2012) - The verdict in the civil lawsuit against the State of Israel for the killing of peace activist Rachel Corrie more than nine years ago will be announced August 28, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. at the Haifa District Court.
Analysis / Op-ed

"Above and Beyond" for Israel
Is the United States "going above and beyond for Israel?"  According to the Washington Post's Walter Pincus, the answer is yes. In his column today, Pincus asks provocatively, "Should the United States put solving Israel’s budget problems ahead of its own? When it comes to spending, it appears that the United States already is."
link to blog.endtheoccupation.org
 
New Texts Out Now: Past Is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine
This open-access (and therefore freely accessible) special issue emerges out of a conference we organized in early March 2011, convened by the SOAS Palestine Society. The impetus for the conference came from two main directions. First, we all work on one aspect of Palestine or another, and each of us has grown distressed by the tendency to treat Palestine as a series of temporal and spatial set pieces. Second, we were perplexed by the ongoing application of ever-newer theoretical approaches that seek to understand the constantly shifting situation on the ground: we feel that, taken together, these discrete approaches tend to undermine holistic, structural analysis. The framework of comparative settler colonialism offers important insights and interventions that, while not all new, provide productive scaffolding for thinking about Palestine. Comparative settler colonialism rejects the exceptionalism that is ascribed to Zionism and Israel, and to Palestine and Palestinians, and it opens the situation to comparison with other contemporary and historical settler colonial cases. It is, for us, a paradigm that is coherent and elastic, and it helps to illuminate characteristics and tendencies that are too often treated in isolation. 
 
Protest Outside the BBC: End Your Silence on Palestine
Protestors will gather outside the BBC in central London later today to protest at its biased coverage of Palestine and the Israeli occupation. They will hand in a letter, signed to Helen Boaden, the BBC's Director of News, highlighting the BBC's sparse coverage of the mass hunger strike by more than 2,000 Palestinians held in Israel's jails which lasted four weeks and came to an end on Monday (14 May). During this time, while ignoring the Palestinians' hunger strike, BBC television and radio news gave prominent coverage to Chinese dissident, Chen Guangcheng, and the hunger strike of Ukrainian politician, Yulia Tymoshenko.

link to english.pnn.ps

Manchester launch for Leila Khaled biography CANCELLED
I’m very sad to say that the Manchester launch of my Leila Khaled biography, which was due to take place a week on Thursday, has been cancelled. A very shaken staff member called me earlier to say that the shop had been subjected to a deluge of phone harassment since opening this morning, and that they simply could not cope. As a mainstream bookshop, Blackwell’s hasn’t experienced anything like this (or not for a very long time – I seem to remember tales of someone trying to firebomb it over another controversial title, but that was in the 1980s!) and they are simply not equipped to cope. This is, of course, immensely disappointing, but I absolutely do not blame Blackwell’s for taking this decision, and they have been incredibly kind about it (I feel rather guilty about not foreseeing this and for putting their very sweet but rather literary staff through this!). It is, of course, a measure of the desperate rearguard action which apologists for the actions of the State of Israel are currently fighting that they feel the need to close down all debate and discussion of issues around Palestinian history, politics and culture. It’s also worth noting that some of the callers hadn’t even bothered to properly find out what the event was – they thought that Leila Khaled herself was planning to appear, something which is currently impossible because she is denied visas by the UK government. But it is revealing that Zionist campaigners are happy to close something down when they don’t even know what it is.
link to www.sarahirving.co.uk

Michael Oren is ambassador of Israel to the U.S., which makes him the chief public relations employee of Israel. And he sees the writing on the wall. His piece in the Wall Street Journal is titled "What happened to Israel's reputation?" You can see that he is enraged by Sarah Schulman's pinkwashing piece in the New York Times, you can see that he knows that Israel exhibits "brutal conduct" in war and has demonstrated arrogance with the alleged peace process. He is afraid of BDS. And calls it a more "sinister" tactic than what? Than violence? Yes; he would prefer violence. We don't know how to fight Gandhi, the Israelis say.
 
Jewellers Profit While Palestinians Bear The Cost
As the leaders of the global diamond industry gathered in Vicenza, Italy on Monday for the annual meeting of the World Diamond Council, Palestinians remained trapped in a surreal nightmarish existence under the cosh of a diamond-funded, nuclear-armed belligerent regime.  Despite the fact that cut and polished diamonds from Israel are funding war crimes and crimes against humanity, the US Chair of the international diamond-regulatory system known as the Kimberley Process (KP), said on Monday, "We cannot be everything to everyone and our role is to cover the rough distribution process."
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
Amidst Fragmentation and Disposession, Which Palestine?, Fida Jiryis
Throughout contemporary history, movement of people outside their own countries for long or short intervals movement of people outside their own countries has occurred for long or short intervals has occurred for various reasons...
 
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.
 
Israelis Not Keen on Changing the Status Quo, Stuart Reigeluth
The Israelis are anything but stupid. However their cleverness and innovation in perfecting the technological, logistical and financial dimensions of the military occupation and colonisation of Palestinian land make the situation nearly impossible to reverse — but not impossible, if it weren’t for European endorsement. While the United States continues with its carte blanche foreign policy of supporting Israel blindly in all forms of security and military material, Europe — that has much more to gain from changing its policies towards the Palestinians — is still essentially paying for the continuation of the Israeli occupation by covering costs to maintain the Palestinian National Authority.

Artistic Depictions of Arab Women: An Interview with Artist Lalla Essaydi
The intersection of gender, perception, identity, and space have, for centuries, collided to illustrate a skewed depiction of Arab women. The art of Orientalism brought about imagined scenes of women in harems, hidden in seclusion behind veils and walls. As these images continue to shape Western perception of Arab women, Moroccan-born artist, Lalla Essaydi, reclaims and deconstructs these images. In her exhibit, Lalla Essaydi: Revisions, at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, through her experiences as an Arab woman living in the West, she presents her past. 
 
Should a visitor from another planet happen to arrive here and look around at the reality between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea without the usual lenses of distortion, she would see that in Israel/Palestine—the land stretching from the river to the sea which has been under one rule for over forty years—almost half the population is Palestinian Arab and Arabic is their mother tongue, as well as that of nearly half of the Israeli Jewish population. Should our guest distinguish—as does the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, as well as the Israeli academy and media—between Israeli citizens and occupied Palestinian subjects, she would find that within the category of “Israeli citizens,” the majority is of Arabic-speaking (and to a large extent reading and writing) origin. Our guest would likely notice that Israel is located in the heart of the Arab world and that each and every one of its neighboring countries is Arab.

Bahrain

Bahrain activist says charge over tweets 'vindictive'
Prominent Bahraini rights activist Nabeel Rajab told a court on Wednesday that a charge that he tweeted insults against the government was "vindictive," as dozens of lawyers turned up to defend him.
link to news.yahoo.com

Rights group chides US arms sale to Bahrain
A Bahraini rights group urged the US to reconsider its planned arm sales to Bahrain citing continued human rights violations with the use of US-made weapons. Washington lifted its freeze on supplying arms to Bahrain last week after initially raising concerns that US weapons were being used by Bahraini authorities to brutally suppress pro-democracy protesters. Locally based rights group Bahrain Watch said the deal was "problematic" as it did not take into account Bahrain's ongoing violent crackdown on the uprising.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

US Arms Sale Sends Wrong Signal to Bahrain, Groups Say, Jim Lobe
The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is sending the wrong signal to the government of Bahrain in proceeding with a partial sale of new arms to Manama, according to human rights activists and some lawmakers.
link to original.antiwar.com

Bahrain and Iran in 'union' row
Bahrain's foreign ministry summons Iran's charge d'affaires following Iranian comments objecting to a proposed union between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

Egypt

Egypt: Court acquits police in protesters' deaths
An Egyptian court has acquitted 14 policemen charged with killing protesters during last year's popular uprising.
link to news.yahoo.com

Egypt: New Law Keeps Military Trials of Civilians
Egypt’s parliament on May 6, 2012, approved amendments to the Code of Military Justice that failed to end the unprecedented expansion of military trials of civilians, despite pleas for reform from the legal and human rights communities. In 2011 more than 12,000 civilians, including children, faced unfair military trials which fail to provide the basic due process rights of civilian courts, more than the number of military trials of civilians during 30 years of rule by former president Hosni Mubarak.
link to www.hrw.org

Rights group documents 841 deaths in 2011 uprising
An Egyptian rights group released Tuesday the most comprehensive list to date of the more than 800 civilians killed by security forces in last year's uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak last year. The report by the Arab Network for Human Rights Information follows what many in Egypt see as a failure by officials to adequately investigate what happened during the 18 chaotic days of street protests in January and February 2011, or to hold those responsible for killing protesters to account.
link to www.egyptindependent.com

Revolutionary youth demand release of prisoners, formation of Constituent Assembly
Revolutionary movements announced that they will organize a number of activities to pressure for the release of prisoners arrested after different incidents since the start of the revolution till the Abbasseya clashes. The activities will start with a march on Wednesday evening from Cairo High Court to the headquarters of Parliament demanding it take real steps to release prisoners, said a statement Tuesday by the Revolutionary Forces Coalition, the Second Revolution of Anger, the Revolutionary Youth Coalition, the April 6 Youth Movement Democratic Front, the Revolution Youth Union and the Free Front for Peaceful Change.
link to www.egyptindependent.com

Copts fear an Islamist president, mostly back Shafiq or Moussa
Egypt's Coptic Christians complained of discrimination under Hosni Mubarak but fear it may get worse if an Islamist takes his place in next week's presidential election. Long-suppressed Islamists already dominate Parliament. Islamist contenders for the presidency say Christians, who form about a tenth of Egypt's 82 million mostly Muslim people, will not be sidelined, but mistrustful Copts will not vote for them.
link to www.egyptindependent.com

Shafiq: Relations with Saudi Arabia priority over Iran
Presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq has said that if elected president he would work to develop deep and strategic relations with all countries, with priority given to Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia. He emphasized Egypt could cut relations with Iran if it comes at the expense of Saudi relations. Iran and Egypt severed ties in 1980 after the Islamic revolution in Iran and the normalization of relations between Egypt and Israel. Both nations have long vied for power in the Middle East. Egypt has been allied with the US and Israel for decades, but relations between Cairo and Tehran have warmed since the resignation of Hosni Mubarak.
link to www.egyptindependent.com

Egyptian director sends messages to Islamists, and Israel in Cannes
About his film being projected in Israel, Nasrallah said he did not want the movie to be sold there, believing that the country is “not an ally” of the Egyptian revolution. “I do not know at all if the film was sold to Israel, but if you want my opinion, no, I do not want it to be. Not as long as the Israelis still occupy the Palestinian territories,” he said during the conference, as several journalists applauded.
link to english.alarabiya.net

Egyptian presidential hopeful Amr Moussa still committed to decade-old Arab Peace Initiative
The decade-old Arab Peace Initiative “is our initiative and we will stick to it,” Egyptian presidential candidate Amr Moussa told The Electronic Intifada in an audio interview.
link to electronicintifada.net

Rap Group at the Leading Edge of Egyptian Rebellion
Alexandria, with a rich and cosmopolitan past, these days is a focal point of revolutionary fervor, expressed in a vibrant underground art and rap music scene.
link to feeds.nytimes.com

Iran

Sanctions are focused on foreign banks that handle transactions for Iran's national oil and tanker companies.
 
Bolton: ‘Israel should have struck’ Iran several years ago
Former United Nations’ American ambassador John Bolton continued his campaign to have the country of Iran bombed Tuesday evening, feeling that Israel should have accomplished the task several years ago. Appearing on Fox News’ On The Record with Greta Van Susteren, Bolton expressed to van Susteran how Israel needed to be clever with its approach to any military action with Iran. “I thought the Israelis should have struck about three and a half years ago,” he said. “So as far as I’m concerned, everyday that goes by just increases the risk that our intelligence maybe imperfect. I just throw that out there for what it’s worth. Iran could be a lot farther along to developing nuclear weapons than we think.”
link to www.rawstory.com

Top U.S. think tank warns against Israeli, American strike on Iran
Amir Oren - Haaretz - "RAND Corporation sides with Mossad chief Meir Dagan and former Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin, openly disagreeing with Netanyahu and Barak`s belligerent stance on Iran."
link to www.haaretz.com

More ‘magnet than a mallet’: RAND Corporation warns against striking Iran, Annie Robbins
One week before the next P5+1 meeting with Iran in Baghdad, the RAND Corporation, one of the most influential and respected U.S. think tanks advising the Pentagon, has published a comprehensive report in the Rand Review warning against striking Iran. The report, co-authored by RAND's director James Dobbins, advises the US to  persuade Iran against nuclear-arms through diplomatic means including economic sanctions instead of a military attack.  "No effort at persuasion can begin, though, until the United States acknowledges that the Iranian nuclear program might not be reversed and thus commences preparations to deal with the consequences."
link to mondoweiss.net

RAND Calls for U.S., Israel to Prepare for Nuclear Iran, Richard Silverstein
The U.S. national security think-tank, RAND, just published an eye-opening report on the issue of the Iranian nuclear program and how the U.S. should approach the issue.  In a number of ways, it ratifies the Obama administration approach including supporting sanctions against Iran (with a significant caveat, read below).  But in a number of other ways it is significantly more dovish than current administration policy and certainly rebuts the approach of the Barak-Netanyahu war party in the Israeli government.
link to www.richardsilverstein.com

That Was Now, This is Then:Another Pro-War Resolution Hits the House Floor, Nima Shirazi
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives debated H.Res. 568, an AIPAC-sponsored bill designed to outlaw diplomacy with Iran and take the United States Congress one step closer to authorizing an illegal, unprovoked and premeditated military attack on Iran. Debunking statements about Iran made by House Representatives and Senators on the floor of Congress is tedious and boring. Most of the statements are inarticulate readings of AIPAC-drafted talking points and boilerplate hasbara. M.J. Rosenberg has already excellently addressed the point of this legislation and there is no need to repeat, ad nauseum, why most of what's in the bill is wrong, how 13,000 AIPAC operatives were dispatched through the halls of Congress to garner sponsorship and support for the bill, how shameful it is for elected officials to spout pure propaganda about silly cartoon drawings and absurd assassination plots, and how - despite the many repetitions of the same infamous and long-debunked claim (which has literally appeared in over 50 Congressional resolutions since 2005) - even Israeli Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy Dan Meridor admitted on Al Jazeera that Iran has never threatened to "wipe Israel off the map."
link to www.wideasleepinamerica.com
 
Removing MEK from the terrorist list would raise chance of war, Ira Glunts

Robert Wright at The Atlantic has a good piece on the campaign to remove the name of Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) from the U.S. terrorist list. As Wright states, legitimizing this terrorist group whose main goal is to overthrow the current Iranian regime is not a big confidence builder for the upcoming second round of nuclear negotiations with Tehran. This is especially true since MEK has been responsible for recent Israeli-sponsored acts of sabotage including assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists.
link to mondoweiss.net

Iraq

17 Bodies Found Across Iraq
At least 17 Iraqis were killed, while three Iraqis were injured in a blast in the capital. Meanwhile, a government spokesman blamed technical difficulties for the absence of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi name from a presidential website and said the vice president's presence will return in the coming days.
link to original.antiwar.com

5 Iraqi soldiers killed in suicide bombing
Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber who drove an explosives-rigged fuel truck into the front gate of an army post has killed five soldiers in the country's north.
link to news.yahoo.com

The Already Forgotten Iraq War
Will there be autocracy in Iraq or renewed civil war? The country seems headed for either one or the other, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki tightens the noose on Iraqi democracy and sectarian bombings resume.
link to original.antiwar.com

Lebanon

Child Killed in Tripoli despite Lebanese Army’s Deployment
The National News Agency reported that the Lebanese army and security forces heavily deployed in the streets and squares of the northern city of Tripoli but that a boy was killed and two Lebanese army soldiers were wounded.
Several wounded in renewed Lebanon clashes
At least four people were wounded on Wednesday in clashes between the army and residents of two areas of Lebanon's city of Tripoli supporting opposite sides in the crisis in neighbouring Syria, a security official said.
link to news.yahoo.com

Uneasy calm prevails in Lebanon's Tripoli
The latest bout of violence in the northern city of Tripoli, which has left nine people dead and several dozen more wounded, began after the authorities arrested Shadi el Mawlawi. Islamic groups in the north of Lebanon have closed one of the city's main squares in protest against Mawlawi's arrest, who is now facing terrorism charges. The city is home to a large Alawite minority, which is the sect that Syrian president Bashar al Assad belongs to, as well as a Sunni majority, who support the Syrian opposition. Lebanese troops deployed on Tuesday in sectors of Tripoli affected by clashes. They are said to be on Syria Street, the fontline of the fighting between the residents of Bab el Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen. "Hostilities have ceased in Tripoli," Najib Mikati, Lebanese prime minister, said on Tuesday in Beirut, adding that "the past 48 hours have been difficult." Mikati said he had met political officials and Islamist leaders to discuss the crisis. "We reached an understanding on a number of issues," including a ceasefire, he said. Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports from Tripoli, Lebanon.
link to www.youtube.com

Saudi-Brokered May 17 Agreement Worse than Camp David
Those who talk about Hezbollah’s “illegal weapons” are the same people who were enthusiastic towards May 17 agreement.
link to www.almanar.com.lb

Syria

At least 10 more killed in Syria: watchdog
Regime troops shot dead at least five people in a new assault on the flashpoint town of Khan Sheikhun and opened fire on a refugee camp in southern Syria on Wednesday, monitors said.
link to news.yahoo.com

Syrian activists say regime fires on funeral
Syrian activists say regime forces fired on a funeral procession in the presence of U.N. observers, causing many casualties.
link to news.yahoo.com

UN mission to Syria comes under attack in Idlib
An IED went off yesterday in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, damaging a UN observer convoy and killing at least 20 locals, but no UN observers. The government and opposition blame each other.
link to rss.csmonitor.com

Syrian forces out to 'destroy' rebel town Rastan: NGO
Regime forces sent shells crashing into rebel stronghold Rastan early Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, while calling on UN observers to rush to the town in central Homs province.
link to news.yahoo.com

Syrian regime torture
Palestinian-Syrian writer, Salmah Kilah, shows signs of torture on his body, after he was released from Syrian regime prisons.  The Syrian regime interrogator also insulted the Palestinian people and their cause.  This is a regime that does not have a legitimacy of one second.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Syria accused of blocking relief efforts
Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups complain that they are not allowed to enter the country.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Assad: Ready to show foreign mercenaries to world
Syrian President Bashar Assad says his country has captured foreign mercenaries who were fighting for the opposition and is ready to show them to the world.
link to news.yahoo.com

Assad warns against sowing chaos in Syria
President pours scorn on armed opposition group and says countries igniting chaos in Syria may be affected themselves.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Israeli defense minister says Assad is ‘doomed,’ urges more pressure on him
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is “doomed” and called for increased pressure on his regime amid reports that Israel’s intelligence no longer sees Assad’s continuity as beneficial for the Jewish state.
link to english.alarabiya.net

US facilitating arms flow to Syrian rebels
Gulf states are sending more weapons to Syrian rebels battling President Bashar Assad's regime with coordinated assistance from the United States, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. Obama administration officials denied the claims accusing the United States of supplying or funding lethal material, which includes antitank weapons, the report said. Instead, they claimed that the administration had expanded contacts with armed rebels to provide the Gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure, the Post said.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

U.S. Organizing Syrian Rebels: Syrian Rebels Get Influx of Arms with Gulf Neighbors’ Money, U.S. Coordination
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.
link to www.washingtonpost.com

Exclusive: Iran flouts U.N. sanctions, sends arms to Syria: panel
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria remains the top destination for Iranian arms shipments in violation of a U.N. Security Council ban on weapons exports by the Islamic Republic, according to a confidential report on Iran sanctions-busting seen by Reuters on Wednesday. Iran, like Russia, is one of Syria's few allies as it presses ahead with a 14-month old assault on opposition forces determined to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
link to news.yahoo.com

UN team stayed with Syria rebels
The six UN observers who came under fire in northern Syria have spent the night with the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), UN officials say.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

The Lede Blog: Syrian Activists Question U.N. Observer Mission After Deadly Attack on Protesters, ROBERT MACKEY
Syrian activists claimed that government forces moved tanks into a northern town on Wednesday, in clear violation of a ceasefire agreement, just after the departure of a team of United Nations observers.

link to feeds.nytimes.com

Opposition Syrian National Council head Burhan Ghalioun 'to resign'
The head of Syria's main opposition alliance, the Syrian National Council, has said he will resign amid growing criticism and rifts within the group.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

Another senior figure walks out on SNC
A prominent dissident resigned from the Syrian National Council (SNC) on Tuesday, dealing another blow to the Istanbul-based opposition that has seen several senior figures quit in the last few months. The resignation of Fawaz Tello came hours after the council's general secretariat, a body of 45 of whom 33 were present, re-elected Burhan Ghalioun as president for another three-month term at a meeting in Rome organized by the Italian government to prod the SNC toward reform.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/another-senior-figure-walks-out-snc?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Turkey warns against Sectarian outlook in Syria
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday the violence in Syria should not be viewed as a sectarian or ethnic conflict, and those who did so risked setting the whole region on fire. Erdogan made a specific call to on Shia Muslims to see the conflict in Syria only through "brotherly eyes," despite harboring Syrian Sunni Islamists on its own soil. Majority-Sunni Turkey, which shares a 900km long border with Syria, fears the internal conflict could develop into sectarian and ethnic fighting that could spill across borders, pitting Shia Muslims against Sunnis.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/turkey-warns-against-sectarian-outlook-syria?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

U.S. and Other World News

How Many Innocent Civilians Did NATO Kill in Libya?
When the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meets next week at a summit in Chicago, expect a lot of self-congratulatory rhetoric about the alliance’s bombing campaign in Libya last year. Backed by a U.N. Security Council mandate, NATO charged in, citing its “responsibility to protect” civilians threatened by the bloody rampages of the late Libyan tyrant Muammar Gaddafi. The near 10,000 sorties launched by NATO strike craft helped push back Gaddafi’s forces; targeted attacks on the regime’s arsenals and defenses allowed rebel fighters on the ground to eventually sweep into Tripoli and bring down Gaddafi. Not long thereafter, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron were greeted raucously as heroes in Tripoli and Benghazi.
link to globalspin.blogs.time.com

Julian Assange's The World Tomorrow: Surviving Guantanamo
The 5th episode of The World Tomorrow takes us to the very heart of America's War on Terror: Guantanamo Bay. In the episode Julian Assange speaks with Moazzam Begg - former Gitmo prisoner and a rights campaigner fighting for those still trapped behind the wire, and Asim Qureshi - former corporate lawyer, whose human rights organization Cageprisoners Ltd exists solely to raise awareness of the plight of prisoners who remain in Guantanamo Bay.
link to www.youtube.com

US rendition 'torture' case heard
A German man who alleges he was subjected to "extraordinary rendition" by the CIA takes his case to the European Court of Human Rights.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

President Obama executive order gives Treasury authority to freeze Yemeni assets in U.S.
President Obama plans to issue an executive order Wednesday giving the Treasury Department authority to freeze the U.S.-based assets of anyone who “obstructs” implementation of the administration-backed political transition in Yemen.  The unusual order, which administration officials said also targets U.S. citizens who engage in activity deemed to threaten Yemen’s security or political stability, is the first issued for Yemen that does not directly relate to counterterrorism.  Unlike similar measures authorizing terrorist designations and sanctions, the new order does not include a list of names or organizations already determined to be in violation. Instead, one official said, it is designed as a “deterrent” to “make clear to those who are even thinking of spoiling the transition” to think again.  The official was authorized to discuss the new order on the condition of anonymity.
link to www.washingtonpost.com

Al Jazeera exposes 2nd anti-Islam class taught to US military officers, Alex Kane
Al Jazeera English has revealed that a second anti-Muslim class was taught to senior US military officers. The class was titled “Understanding the Threat to America,” and claimed that Islamists from Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have infiltrated the US government at the highest levels.
link to mondoweiss.net

Islamists & Necrophilia: How Western Media Fell For Bogus Islam-Bashing Tale
The making of a hoax: how a story about a law allowing Egyptian men to have sex with their dead wives went from rumor to front page of the Daily Mail, the Huffington Post and Al-Arabiya.
link to www.worldcrunch.com

FBI Crackdown on Anti-War Groups Targets Chicano, Brown Beret Activist Carlos Montes
Supporters of a longtime California activist, Carlos Montes, rallied outside a courthouse in Los Angeles Tuesday calling on authorities to drop his prosecution. Montes faces four charges including one for firearms possession that dates back to the 1960s. A longtime leader in the Chicano, immigrant rights, and antiwar movements, Montes’ arrest in a May 2011 raid followed similar FBI raids on activists in Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois targeting fellow members of a political group called the Anti-War Committee. "They are attacking me for my activism against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also because of my solidarity work with oppressed people throughout the world — whether they be in Palestine, Colombia or Mexico," says Montes, who plans to march against NATO this weekend in Chicago. Montes helped organize the Brown Berets and took part in the famous 1968 walkout by high school Chicano students in East Los Angeles to protest academic prejudice and dire school conditions.
link to www.democracynow.org

"What Have We Been Doing?": Decorated Veteran Aaron Hughes to Return War Medals at Anti-NATO Protest
Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will join thousands of protesters this Sunday at the NATO summit in Chicago. We speak to Iraq Veterans Against the War’s Aaron Hughes, who’s among a number of Afghanistan and Iraq war vets planning to return their medals of honor to visiting NATO generals. "[Veterans] have to live with the failed policy of the global war on terror on a daily basis," Hughes says. "What have we been doing in this decade-long war? There is a real moral disconnect between that the idea that our military can build a democracy and the idea that our military is trained and designed to control, dominate and kill people... Occupations do not build democracies. Occupations do not extend individuals’ freedoms. The movements of the Arab Spring, that was building democracy. The movements of Gandhi, of civil rights in this country, people’s movements, that’s what extends democracy."
link to www.democracynow.org

Queen Rania
According to sources in Amman, the previous head of the Mukhabarat secret police told the queen she needed to lower her profile for the good of the monarchy. It is rumoured that a journalist who published negative stories about her was on the Mukhabarat payroll. A claim that she was helping Palestinians acquire Jordanian citizenship was especially damaging.
link to www.guardian.co.uk

Keffiyeh Crime in Turkey
On February 20th 2010 Cihan Kırmızıgül, a junior industrial engineering student of Galatasaray University, was waiting at a bus stop in Istanbul after a visit to a college friend’s home.  Suddenly he was approached by Turkish police who arrested him violently, one cracking his skull with a blow from his rifle butt, and took him away to be detained at a prison in the west of Istanbul, charged with “membership of an illegal organization” and “harming private property”.  The reason for his surprise arrest was the scarf he was wearing around his neck – the traditional black and white checked Arab headdress known as the ‘keffiyeh’.
link to www.counterpunch.org


www.TheHeadlines.Org
 

]]> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/daily-escalations-in-occupied-palestine.html/feed 6 Israeli officer threatens to rape Palestinian activists in custody (if this happened in Syria it would be headline news) http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/israeli-officer-threatens-to-rape-palestinian-activists-in-custody-if-this-happened-in-syria-it-would-be-headline-news.html http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/israeli-officer-threatens-to-rape-palestinian-activists-in-custody-if-this-happened-in-syria-it-would-be-headline-news.html#comments Sun, 13 May 2012 15:30:56 +0000 Today in Palestine http://mondoweiss.net/?p=75641 link to www.flickr.com

Israeli police brutally arrest hunger strike demonstrators, threaten them with rape, Sawsan Khalife
Thaira Zoabi, a 27-year-old activist from Nazareth, also suffered injuries at the hands of police on 3 May. “As soon as the protest began, the Israeli Yassam and police forces first arrested the bus driver and eight protesters. That did not stop us from continuing our protest demanding to release them all,” she said. “I was first attacked by a police officer when he lifted me up the ground with my kuffiyeh [traditional checkered scarf] that was around my neck, suffocating me and making it hard for me to breathe. They arrested me and eight other protesters. There were also Israeli and foreign activists amongst us. “The Israeli forces used [taser guns] and I have bruises on my arms and legs. I saw them open a protester’s mouth by force and spit in it, and they spit in my face as well. They beat us and used massive verbal violence. They did a full body search. While being under custody, a police officer of Ramle district addressed both me and another female activist while being cuffed with verbal sexual harassment, threatening to rape us. I have to admit I burst in tears.”
link to electronicintifada.net

 
Palestinian Hunger Strike
 
Israel: Stop Jailing People Without Charge or Trial
Israel should immediately charge or release people jailed without charge or trial under so-called administrative detention.
link to www.hrw.org
 
Israel facing major West Bank uprising over Palestinian hunger strike
Israel has been warned that it faces a major uprising in the West Bank after six Palestinian prisoners taking part in one of the largest and most protracted hunger strikes ever staged in its jails were said to be close to death. 
Reports indicate that progress in negotiations has been made, though hunger strike to continue as a number of issues remain unresolved.
 
Palestinian officials said on Saturday they expected a breakthrough soon on efforts to end a mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israel, some of them close to death. But Amin Shoman, head of a monitoring group of Palestinian political factions, said that if Israel gave a negative response, prisoners would intensify their fast and break off further talks with prison authorities. "The prisoners will stop taking vitamins and water and stop negotiations with the Israel Prisons Service if they get a negative answer," he said.
 
Palestinian hunger strikers 'in danger'
At least six out of 2,000 hunger-striking prisoners in Israeli jails at imminent risk of dying, lawyers say.
 
The Palestinian Center for Defending the Detainees (PCDD) issued a press release stating that, contrary to certain media reports, no agreement has been reached between the hunger-striking Palestinian detainees and the Israeli Prison Administration.
Prisoner Jamal Al-Hawr said strikers might escalate their strike soon and refrain even from drinking water if the Israeli prison authority did not respond to their just demands.
 
Detained MP Natshe loses 15 kilograms of his weight
MP Mohammed Jamal Al-Natshe has lost 15 kilograms of his weight in the hunger strike he has been waging along with hundreds of other Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails for 26 days.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Hunger strikers stop to take vitamins from Israeli jailers
The Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners said the hunger strikers in Israeli jails started on Wednesday to refrain from taking vitamins sent by their jail administrations.
 
Thaer Halahleh's letter to his daughter: "My Beloved Lamar...Forgive me", Linah Alsaafin
On his 75th day of hunger strike, Thaer Halahleh sends a heartbreaking message to his 2 year old daughter Lamar: “Lamar my love: I know that you are not to be blamed and that you don’t yet understand why your father is going through this battle of the hunger strike for the 75th day, but when you grow up you will understand that the battle of freedom is the battle of going back to you.”
 
JENIN (Ma'an) -- Hunger-striker Bilal Diab has sent a will to his family in the northern West Bank on his 75th day without food, relatives said on Saturday. Diab, 27, has refused food since Feb. 29 to protest his detention without charge in Israeli jail. His family, from Jenin-district town Kufr Rai, said they received his will on Saturday detailing his wishes in case of his death.
 
EMOHR calls for UN human rights council's session on hunger strikers
The Euro-Mediterranean observatory for human rights (EMOHR) called on the member states of the UN human rights council to request a special session addressing the issue of Palestinian hunger strikers.
 
Khudari calls for urgent Palestinian unity to support prisoners
Independent Palestinian MP Jamal Al-Khudari has championed speedy unity of Palestinian ranks to support demands of prisoners in Israeli occupation jails.
 
Ahrar center said prisoner Mahmoud Issa is still on hunger strike in solidarity with other hunger strikers after his transfer from his solitary confinement to the general wards.

Abdullah al-Barghouti Solitary Confinement Prisoner #2
"To see my children is tastier than food, and being with other human beings is more stimulating than drink" Abdullah al-Barghouti is on hunger-strike to obtain a mere fraction the rights he is entitled to as a human being and as a father. He has been prohibited from seeing his family since he was arrested over ten years ago and has remained in solitary confinement for the same duration.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
 
Israeli Attacks on Solidarity Protests for Hunger Strikers
 
A complaint has been lodged with the Israeli ministry of justice after the violent arrest of 17 demonstrators at a hunger strike solidarity protest near Ramle prison.
 
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) mainly quelled Palestinian protests, organized in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, over the past week, an international report said.
 
Four casualties in IOF quelling of March including child, foreign activist
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) violently suppressed a rally in Beit Ummar village, to the north of Al-Khalil, on Saturday injuring four participants including a child and a foreign activist.
 
In Beit Ommar, Israeli soldiers entered the town in the afternoon and occupied several people’s homes, firing teargas and rubber-coated bullets at the children in the street. In the evening, villagers marched in the town.
 
12 Jerusalemites injured in Israeli quelling of their march
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired rubber bullets and teargas at a march for relatives of Palestinian prisoners and supporters in Abu Dis east of occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday night.
 
Support and Solidarity for Hunger Strikers
 
The Electronic Intifada Weekly Podcast - 10 May 2012
This week on The Electronic Intifada podcast: Up-to-date coverage of the ongoing hunger strike protests by thousands of Palestinian prisoners; Linah Alsaafin and Asa Winstanley report from the West Bank on prisoner solidarity actions; and much more.
 
 
The liberated captive, student Fatima Zahra Sidr, said that the occupation is unable to confront the Palestinian prisoners’ strong will and their determination to carry on their battle.
 
Youth protest by Red Cross, UN offices in Gaza Strip
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Dozens of Palestinian youth held demonstrations outside the offices of international organizations in Gaza City on Sunday morning, calling for a stronger stance in support of hunger-striking prisoners. Protesters blocked employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations Development Programme from accessing their offices for two hours, witnesses said.
link to www.maannews.net
 
Palestinian youth lead united solidarity with hunger strikers
On the 17th of April, Palestinian Prisoner’s Day, 1500 prisoners held in Israeli jails began a open ended hunger strike  protesting the use of administrative detention, strip searches, the denial of access to education, the prevention visits, and demanding an end to solitary confinement and other human rights abuses practiced in the Israeli jails. The strike is an inspiring act of national unity against the Israeli occupation - there are representatives from all Palestinian political factions involved, with a united representative leadership.The Palestinian community has united to support the cause of the hunger strikers. There have been mass demonstrations in city centers, and at checkpoints and along the Wall, as well as demonstrations in front of the prisons on an almost daily basis.
 
Some 12,000 people attend rally organized by Islamic Movement in village of Qana in support of security prisoners staging hunger strike. 'Prisoners will be triumphant,' says deputy head of Islamic Movement's northern branch.
 
Reaching a new height in protests supporting the 2,500 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, thousands demonstrated in cities across the West Bank yesterday. Marches were held in Hebron, Kafr Qaddoum, Nablus, Nabi Saleh, Ni'lin, Ramallah, al-Walaja and outside of Ofer prison.
 
Every day the support for the Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails spreads, creating national unity in solidarity with their protest. As groups across Palestine show their support, it becomes more apparent how pivotal this strike is in terms of the wider struggle – it is becoming a rallying point, a symbol of national cohesion reminiscent of the Intifadas. Despite internal disputes, unity is being displayed by Palestinians across the country in the face of Israeli occupation and repression of all shows of support of the prisoners. Momentum is building on the back of the “War of Empty Stomachs”, a war being raged to gain the recognition of rights guaranteed by International Law, but denied by the Israeli occupier.
 
Protest in East Jerusalem against Judaization of the city and in support of the hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners
Photos by Lazar Simeonov.   On Friday, 4 May 2012, approximately 75 demonstrators gathered outside Damascus Gate in the old city of Jerusalem to protest Israel’s occupation at large and its facilitation of home evictions and settler take-overs in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
 
Thousands of Jerusalemite demonstrators marched after Friday prayers in solidarity with the hunger striking prisoners.
 
Today, May 12, 2012, Palestinian, Israeli and international activists joined together for the weekly demonstration in Beit Ommar. Today’s demonstration was in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike and to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Nakba. Khader Adnan, who was released from administrative detention on April 17th, 2012 and was on hunger strike for 66 days, also took part in the demonstration.
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- A group of young protesters demonstrated in Bethlehem on Thursday to show support for prisoners on hunger strike, a Ma'an correspondent said. The demonstration was a youth initiative to support prisoners in their battle for dignity and freedom, protesters told Ma'an. Demonstrators wore black clothes and carried the Palestinian flag.
 
On Friday, May 11, 2012, Palestinian, Israeli and international activists gathered outside Ofer prison in Ramallah to protest in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. Over two hundred activists came and joined the demonstration. Israeli soldiers shot countless canisters of teargas at the demonstrators, as well as skunk water and rubber-coated and plastic-coated bullets. The activists set over a dozen tires on fire, creating a thick wall of smoke that made it difficult for the soldiers to see the demonstrators, so the soldiers shot into the crowd at random. Over 20 people were taken into the ambulances, and at least one was taken to the hospital.
 
AMMONNEWS - Ghalib Barghouthi, an engineer whose son Abdullah is serving 67 life sentences in an Israeli prison, on Thursday said he had not seen his son in 15 years.  “The Israeli authorities do not allow us to visit him,” Ghalib told The Jordan Times during a demonstration held by members of the Jordan Engineers Association to express solidarity with Jordanian and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who are on hunger strike. He indicated that his son was arrested because he joined his fellow Palestinians to fight Israelis when the second Intifada broke out in 2000.
 
Solidarity and human rights activists Elizabeth West and Domenica Bianca have initiated a new project, Fasting on Fridays (see the Fasting on Fridays website: http://fastingonfridays.wordpress.com/), calling for international solidarity with the Karameh Hunger Strike by fasting on Fridays. Fasters will engage in 24-hour fasts each Friday (May 11, May 18, May 25 and June 1) or until Palestinian prisoners achieve their demands and end their hunger strike. The site provides instructions and information about conducting a 24-hour fast, as well as an opportunity to sign a Pledge to Fast. The fasting project began yesterday, Friday May 11, with eight fasters, who are updating their experiences via this blog. Fasters are encouraged to sign on from around the world and join the project.
 
 
Turkish rally supports Palestinian striking prisoners
Turkish demonstrators marched in downtown Istanbul on Friday in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike for almost four weeks in Israeli occupation jails.
 
Malaysian support to the prisoners’ issue
The Malaysian people and the Arab and foreign communities in Malaysia showed great support for the Palestinian issue during the Palestine Week event in Kuala Lumpur.
 
Continuing sit-ins in London in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners
The PFB organized, on Wednesday, a sit-in outside the Israeli embassy in London as a part of continuing solidarity activities in support of Palestinian prisoners which started two weeks ago.
 
 
 
Hunger Strike Analysis / Op-ed
 
The hunger strike launched by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails created a large splash into the stagnant waters of Palestinian politics. It has forced voices to come forth from the monotonous silence, in an attempt to create a tune that is at once different and authentic. The strike in which thousands of Palestinian prisoners are now participating was initially characterized by a profound paradox.
link to english.al-akhbar.com 
 
A critical shift in the Palestine-Israeli conflict is now underway. The shift promises an endgame for the Israeli plot in Palestine, and a possible collective response from the Palestinian people. Every Palestinian uprising in the past — from as far back as the late 1920s to the second Intifada in 2000 — has been sparked by a single event, which was a critical accumulation of numerous prior events that forced Palestinians to act en masse. Such a moment is now approaching.
 
Empty Stomachs, Palestinian Spring, Patrick O. Strickland
Following the examples of Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi, 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have joined a mass hunger strike campaign inside Israeli military prisons. They are calling for an immediate termination of the policy of administrative detention and the excessive use of solitary confinement, and demanding humane living conditions, family visits, and reasonable access to educational materials.
 

Land, Property & Resource Theft & Destruction / Ethnic Cleansing / Restriction of Movement / Refugees

European Union to slam Israel's actions in West Bank
Netanyahu envoy Isaac Molho delivers letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
 
Most ministers oppose legalization of West Bank outpost
High Court of Justice gave the government until July 1 to demolish five homes built on Palestinian-owned land in the neighborhood, near Ramallah in the West Bank.
 
Settlers Steal Palestinian Farmlands Near Bethlehem
A group of armed extremist Israeli settlers occupied at gunpoint privately-owned Palestinian farmland that belongs to a resident of Al-Khader city, south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
 
Battir, West Bank — One of the last Palestinian farming villages that still uses irrigation systems from Roman times says its ancient way of life is in danger as Israel prepares to lay down its West Bank separation barrier. With construction possibly beginning in the coming weeks, the people of Battir hope a legal battle, backed by recent U.N. recognition of the village's agricultural practices, will help change Israel's mind. Battir's 6,000 inhabitants live in limestone-faced houses built into a hillside southwest of Jerusalem. On the lands around the homes, stone retaining walls have transformed scrubby hills into orderly terraces of olive trees and vegetable gardens.
 
This must-see video chronicles the continued displacement of the Jahalin Bedouin community. The Palestinian-Bedouin communities live in the hills to the east of Jerusalem and have been forcibly evicted time and again. The community was issued eight eviction orders by the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) last Sunday May 6th and was scheduled to be evicted today. This morning, 20 minutes before the demolition order was to go into effect, they got a notice of delay from the court. This is a temporary injunction preventing the demolition of homes.
 
Israel is planning to revive a controversial form of collective punishment by razing the family homes of two Palestinians convicted of murdering Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
 
The recent escalation of Israeli attacks on Muslim and Christian religious sites in Palestine, including Jerusalem, other cities in the occupied West Bank and the area occupied in 1948, can be viewed as part of Israel's assault on all things Palestinian since 1967. It is a war declared by Israel and waged by the occupation authority's military and security forces as well as the illegal Jewish settlers. The latter form the spearhead of attacks against mosques with the cooperation and support of military personnel. Although the Israeli occupation authority describes such attacks as "criminal activity", in reality they are attacks of a religious and socio-political nature.
 
Islamic-Christian body calls for urgent action to deter settlement escalation
The Islamic - Christian Commission in Support of Jerusalem warned of the occupation authorities’ settlement activities that have been escalated recently, especially in Jerusalem.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Visiting the Institute for Middle East Understanding site this morning I recognize the friendly familiar face of blogger/activist Morgan Bach in this video by Haitham Katib. It's self explanatory.  As thousands of Palestinians protested all across the region yesterday in solidarity with prisoners on hunger strikes, settlers continued their scorched earth policy this week. And so the actions of Israel's armed forces perpetuates the toxicity of the occupation both literally and figuratively in Bil'in...
 
Israel’s monopoly over distribution of fuel to the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip has yet to be challenged by the Palestinian Authority.
 
An international campaign to break the siege on Jerusalem kicks off in Cairo
The Committee of Foreign Relations in the Egyptian Press Syndicate launched the "International Campaign to break the siege on Jerusalem,"
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
 
The 9th May marks the 22nd day of the Palestinian prisoners mass hunger strike. Today as with every day, the prisoners’ families and friends met at Nablus Prisoners’ tent in a show of solidarity, paying respect to their sons, brothers, daughters and sisters suffering in Israeli prisons in conditions which constantly violate international laws. Said al Kabi, 54, is just one father whose anguish is worn on his worried face. He has suffered greatly, lost many family members and both of his legs to the illegal Israeli occupation. His son, Jawad al Kabi, 26,  is sentenced to 13 years in prison and has now served six of them. Said lost both his legs in 1967. One morning whilst going out in his tractor to farm his land as usual, Said turned down a dirt road and hit a land mine left by the Israeli army. In 1984 a demonstration in Balata Refugee Camp claimed the life of Said’s mother. The demonstration was to resist the occupation but tragically Said’s mother was shot in the heart and died immediately. Ten years later, in 1994, Said’s brother was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper, also in Balata Refugee Camp.
 
Insight from the Palestinian Diaspora
“Eventually, nobody prevents me from returning to my country and living in a place we always dreamed of.” These are the words of Fath Hamdan, a Palestinian from the Diaspora living in Palermo, Italy. He left his hometown Tulkarem almost 30 years ago, and defines himself as an “advantaged” migrant since he became easily integrated into the new environment and he has the legal right to return and live in Palestine anytime. The following interview is a brief account of his experience as an economic migrant living in Italy and his perspective about the future in the Occupied Palestinian territories.
 
Nakba
 
1948 Arabs to stage events and general strike on 64th Nakba Anniversary
The Arab political parties and popular committees in the 1948 occupied lands decided to form a committee to make outstanding preparations for the 64th anniversary of the Palestinian nakba.
 
Sabeel, Code Pink, the Washington Report for Middle East Affairs, and several other organizations are sponsoring a Nakba remembrance outside the White House next week. The groups are hoping for 500 to attend so as to commemorate every village extirpated.
 
Palestine Nakba 64 Years Later, Jamal Kanj
Each year on May 15 Palestinians commemorate the Nakba or Catastrophe. On that May Day, Palestine ceased to exist from the world’s map and 85 percent of its natives were evicted from their historical homes and villages. The expulsion of Palestinians was part of Zionism’s early obsession with creating a nation with a Jewish majority. Their increasing preoccupation with changing the population demography in Palestine was envisaged by the World Zionist Organization (WZO) in the late 1800s. In his writings in 1896 Herzl, founder of WZO foretold expelling “… the poor [native] population across the border unnoticed.”
 
Siege on Gaza
 
Minister seeks halt to Gaza gas supply over local shortage fears
Speaking ahead of the cabinet vote on preparations for summer power shortages, Minister Gilad Erdan asked ministers to support his proposal according to which any initiated power shortage in Israel would mean that Israel halts the power supply to Gaza. In a communiqué sent to the ministers Erdan said: "This isn't a sanction against Gaza or against its residents, rather it is a basic move that is demanded when fully recognizing the truth of 'the needy of your city come before those of another.'"
link to www.ynetnews.com
 
Abd al Moti stares vaguely from the deck of his fishing trawler moored in Gaza Harbour, just at the peak of the fishing season, as the fuel crisis has all but grounded the entire Palestinian fishing fleet. "It's the first time in the 20 years that I've owned this trawler that you can find me on the dock," Abd al Moti says. "I should be out at sea with my men. Missing the fishing season is a disaster."
 
UN official: Gaza does not receive the required attention
The new Director of operations of Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees "UNRWA", Robert Turner, said he will launch a campaign to draw attention to the difficult conditions in the Gaza Strip.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
Dr Ashraf Kodra, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman, warned of the serious health situation in Gaza due to lack of medicines in the ministry's warehouses, pointing out that 202 types of medicines.
 
Over the past few days, the question of whether sale of goods from Gaza will be allowed has seemed more relevant than ever following the reported rise in tomato prices (Hebrew); the response of the Israeli Vegetable Growers Association that it does not oppose the marketing of tomatoes from the Gaza Strip in Israel, and; theend of the season for agricultural export from the Gaza Strip to Europe. We decided to try and provide some answer to the main questions on the topic.
Israeli Violence / Past War Crimes
 
A Jewish settler attacked and beat up a Palestinian Jerusalemite on Wednesday night claiming he tried to assault him.
 
The failure to properly investigate and punish injustices in the Samouni family case is a crime itself.
 
Shaul Mofaz, Netanyahu’s new partner, ordered ‘revenge’ op that killed Palestinian police in 2002, Alex Kane
Mofaz was also one of our crueler defense ministers - no less than 1,705 Palestinians were killed on his watch, including 372 children and teens and 191 targeted killings: that is no great honor, either. True, those were the days of the second intifada, but Mofaz was also one of the fathers of the doctrine of targeted killings, which has been completely forgotten. He was also the one heard whispering into a microphone that Yasser Arafat should be expelled from Ramallah, another genius idea at the time. "I thought we should strike very hard," he told the Winograd Commission investigating the Second Lebanon War, and in so doing said everything there was to say about his doctrine of warfare and his military-political creed. Perhaps he has changed his mind since then, but it is up to him to prove it, and he has not yet done so.
 
Detainees / Political Arrests
 
NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority security forces on Friday arrested four men in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a security source said. Forces arrested Nizar Guadreh, Qadre Seedan, Sati Awawdeh and a fourth man, a security official told Ma'an. They were transferred to Jericho prison, he added. The official did not disclose the reason for the arrests. 
 
Israeli soldiers and Policemen arrested, on Thursday, two Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem under the claim that they stabbed an Israeli person several days ago, inflicting injuries.
 
Other Prisoner News
 
Haneyya: Important development in Egyptian talks with Israel on prisoners
Gaza premier Ismail Haneyya said in a statement on Saturday that important developments had occurred in the Egyptian talks with Israel over the issue of Palestinian prisoners.
 
Other Activism / Solidarity / BDS
 
Ashraf Abu Rahmeh, a leading figure in the weekly demonstration in his village of Bil’in, was released last month on 15 April  after spending six and a half months in Israeli prison. Every Friday, demonstrations in Bil’in are held to protest the Israeli illegal separation wall which is built on the lands of the villagers. The land is used to build Jewish-only settlements. Ashraf was arrested on 21 October 2011 during one of the weekly Friday protest just outside Bil’in. He was charged with participating in illegal protests (all protests inside the West Bank are illegal according to the Israeli occupying force and Military Order No. 101) and throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, despite video evidence that prove the contrary. Ashraf spent the first three months of his detention without seeing a lawyer. When he finally had access to one, Ashraf was given a further three months of administrative detention. Defiantly, Ashraf told the judge: “I don’t care how much you charge me, and for how many times because you arrest and charge people without any reason.”
 
UK students slam anti-Palestinian policy
More than 100 student leaders in Britain have signed a letter condemning a recent decision by Zefat Academic College that prevents Palestinians from running for the role of president in Student Union elections.
 
Palestinian, Dutch groups tell The Hague: don't give contract to Israel settlement profiteer Veolia, Adri Nieuwhof
Palestinian and Dutch rights organizations call on the urban region of The Hague, to end its business with Veolia.
 
Normalizers / PA Collaborators

Abbas is upset because Israel won't give him weapons to repress Palestinians: Mahmoud Abbas Says Israel Is Hindering West Bank Security
President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority said Israel was withholding authorized weapons, and he expressed worries about a widespread prison hunger strike.
 
See above: PA security services take measures to prevent a third intifada
PA security services held a meeting at the beginning of this week where they discussed the solidarity activities in support of the striking prisoners for the fourth week running.
 
Oren-Asali photo leads to call for Asali to resign from American Task Force on Palestine, Adam Horowitz
Controversy has surrounded the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) since Haaretz's Natasha Mozgovaya tweeted a photo of the Task Force's President Ziad Asali at an "Independence Day" party held at the Israeli embassy in Washington DC.
 
Ignoring boycott calls, Algerian author Boualem Sansal will be a “guest of honor” at Israel’s International Writers Festival in Jerusalem as Palestinians commemorate Nakba.
 
Former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Ekrima Sabri criticized a controversial visit by Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa to al-Aqsa Mosque, saying it was wrong both religiously and politically. “On the religious level, one should not deal with, support, or recognize the enemy,” Sheikh Sabri said in an interview with Al Arabiya’s “Noqtat Nezam” (Point of Order), scheduled to be aired on Friday. Defenders of Gomaa’s visit to Jerusalem have cited the Prophet Mohammed’s visit to Mecca while the city was under control of the tribe of Quraish , his enemy at the time. But Sheikh Sabri rejected this comparison saying: “When Prophet Mohammed went to Mecca, it was not under occupation while Jerusalem is.” Sheikh Sabri said from a political perspective Gomaa’s visit implied the recognition of Israeli’s occupation.
 
Zionist Racism & Bigotry
 
Arab-Israeli drivers denied access to Kirya canteen
After Japanese defense minister's convoy parks in military compound, security guards instruct Arab drivers to remain in their vehicles; Jewish drivers allowed to do as they please.
 
Next week, StandWithUs and the UC San Diego pro-Israel student advocacy group, Tritons for Israel, will host a rather mysterious campus event.  According to a speaker contract SWU uploaded to the web in March, it is a conference called, Rescuing Human Rights, featuring the Wall Street Journal’s leading anti-jihadi columnist,Brett Stephens, necon legal scholar Avi Bell who was one of the Goldstone Report’s harshest critics, anti-jihadi “human rights” lawyer Brooke Goldstein, and the anti-jihadi Muslim activist Zuhdi Jasser.  He was the founder of the American-Islamic Forum for Democracy, and featured star of several Clarion Fund Islamophobic films including Obsession and Third Jihad.
 
Since the mid-1960s law enforcement and regulatory agencies suspected a small nuclear processing facility in Pennsylvania had illegally diverted U.S. government-owned weapons-grade nuclear material into Israel's clandestine nuclear weapons program.  The Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation received start-up capital organized by a mysterious former smuggler with deep and ongoing ties to Israeli intelligence.  FBI investigations revealed NUMEC President, Zalman Shapiro also had repeated unexplained interactions with Israeli intelligence and organized a joint venture with the primary front organization of the Israeli nuclear weapons program.  According to a 2001 US Department of Energy report, NUMEC still holds the record for the highest losses of bomb-grade material of any plant in the United States.
 
The U.S. House of Representatives Defense Appropriations Subcommittee approved over $948 million in funding for Israel’s various anti-missile defense programs, chief among them the Iron Dome. Approximately $679 million of the funding will go to the Iron Dome, thanks in large part to legislation initiated last month by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.), chairwoman and ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, respectively. The remaining $269 million will go to Israel’s other anti-missile initiatives: the short-range David’s Sling ($149.7 million), and the current long-range Arrow anti-ballistic missile system and its successor the Arrow 3 ($119.3 million).  These projects, unlike the Iron Dome, are joint Israel-US projects. While the increase in funding for the Iron Dome was expected, with the Department of Defense stating in March that it “intends to request an appropriate level of funding from Congress to support such acquisitions based on Israeli requirements and production capacity,” the funding for the other projects represents an increase of $169 million over the Obama administration’s proposed number.
 
UN ambassador, at Boca Raton synagogue, asserts U.S. solidarity with Israel
The Obama administration is committed to preserving the "unshakeable bond" between the U.S. and Israel and preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, UN Ambassador Susan Rice told a crowd of about 500 at a synagogue west of Boca Raton.
 
A Palestinian official said that Israeli envoy Yitzhak Molcho will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday evening in Ramallah to submit a letter regarding the possibility of substantive talks. Molcho's letter is a response to a note that Palestinian negotiators gave to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month clarifying their positions if talks were to resume. 

Isaac Molho to deliver letter to the Palestinian Authority president in Ramallah, in reponse to Palestinian missive given to Netanyahu last month.
link to www.haaretz.com 
 
Both sides issue rare joint statement, saying they are committed to achieving peace through "exchange of letters".
 
Riad Malki says new Palestinian bid for statehood recognition at UN is 'imminent'; Netanyahu envoy to deliver letter to Abbas urging renewal of peace talks.
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A Fatah central committee member said Friday that a new government would be announced sometime this weekend during a meeting of the party's leadership in Ramallah. Mahmoud al-Aloul told Ma'an that he was not slated for the post of deputy premier, despite rumors, on the sidelines of a demonstration in Walaja village near the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath made a number of visits in Gaza City on Saturday, officials said. The Fatah international relations coordinator is in the Gaza Strip heading a delegation of party officials tasked with organizing party affairs, as well as meeting leaders of rival party Hamas. Shaath on Saturday visited the sister of Yasser Arafat, Khadija Al-Qudwa, and the Ata orphanage run by his wife Raja Abu Ghazaleh Shaath, officials said.  The delegation arrived in Gaza on Wednesday, after spokesman of the Hamas-run government in Gaza Tahir al-Nunu said premier Ismail Haniyeh welcomed the Fatah officials to Gaza in a phone call with Shaath.
 
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Saturday called for unity between Palestinian factions during the mass hunger-strikes in Israeli jails. The group said in a statement the new Israeli coalition government will not advance the cause of peace, but only increase extremism and settlement building. It condemned settlements as a "war of ethnic cleansing and apartheid," saying the original inhabitants of Jerusalem are being silently expelled from their land. 
 
During former president's rape trial, the Kiryat Malachi mayor said he hoped Katsav would be proven innocent.
Analysis / Op-ed
 
By once again demonstrating Congress's bottomless cup of munificence for Israel, actions this week by the House of Representatives make painful across-the-board budget cuts more likely. U.S. taxpayers will be even more complicit than before in bankrolling Israel's nearly 45-year military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. Additionally, the American "generosity" will shred whatever little credibility the United States has left in attempting to portray itself as an "honest broker" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on an equitable basis. And urging new weapons systems for Israel could help facilitate an attack on Iran. 
 
Questioning US-Israel relations 
How are US-Israel relations affecting foreign policy in the Middle East?
 
American Presidents have long been criticised for being too in thrall to the Jewish lobby. So what happens if American Jews fall out of love with Israel? That's what the Jewish American academic Norman Finkelstein claims is happening. He says they are now so unhappy with what Israel is doing that they want to distance themselves from the country. But then he is nothing if not controversial. He, after all, is famous for accusing Jews of exploiting the Holocaust. And his actions have so incensed Israel it's banned him from entering the country. Could he be right and if he is what does that mean for Middle East policy?
 
The Red and White Bird in Gaza, Mats Svensson
The young girl from Gaza tells me how she yearns for the red and white bird. It used to come every morning to the little veranda where her mother served a breakfast of bread, tea, water and fruit when the weather was good. Each morning her father left to look for work in Gaza City, and sometimes he was successful. Most of the time he came home late at night. She used to throw out a few seeds or bread crumbs to the red and white bird. It came every morning at the same time, as if it had its own clock. They used to have breakfast together.
 
Bean Counting States, Sam Bahour
As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict faces hunger strikes and the threat of renewed conflict, the question being tirelessly reiterated is whether a two-state solution is beyond us. The answer is "Yes" and "No." But counting the number of states required for bringing about a final status solution is entirely misguided.
 
Haaretz Publishes Pseudonymous Apologia for Torture, and They’ll Make You Pay to Read It, Richard Silverstein
Imagine you’re the op-ed page editor of the NY Times and a CIA torturer comes forward who wants to publish an anonymous op-ed not just defending torture, but arguing that any and all acts in which he engages should be retroactively approved by the State and its judicial bodies.  In other words, he’s arguing that every torturer who ever works for the security services should begin his career knowing that any act of torture he commits will automatically offer him immunity from prosecution.  All this on the grounds that the good he does for his fellow citizens and the State far outweighs any harm done.
Israeli Air Force seeks to replace pilot judgement with "ethical algorithm", Richard Silverstein
Among the worst of Israeli journalism there’s a sort of gung-ho, testosterone-infused reporting style about military and security stories that makes my blood curdle.  It’s super-credulous about virtually anything and everything offered by security sources.  Examples of this sort of journalism can be found in the reporting of Eli Lake, Ami Issacharoff, and now Amir Mizroch.  He’s the editor of Yisrael HaYom’s (Bibiton) English edition, who does some freelancing for Wired.
 
On Wednesday evening, May 9, Ido Aharoni, the Israeli consul general in New York, spoke at Ansche Chesed, a Conservative synagogue on New York's Upper West Side to which our family belongs. I attended with two aims: to see how members of our quite liberal but strongly Zionist congregation responded to the talk, and secondarily to ask a question or make a comment if the audience turned out to be too willing to swallow what I was sure would be a large dose of Israeli hasbara. I was pleasantly surprised on several counts.
 
On Monday, Akiva Tor, Israeli consul general of the Pacific Northwest, shed more light on the bitterness Israel feels towards the Arab Spring in a lecture at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Although the event was supposed to focus on the implications of political shifts in the region for Israel, Tor used the event to scapegoat the Palestinians for the stagnant peace process while all the audience wanted to talk about was Iran.
 
Thanks to Audrey Jacobs of StandWithUs, I’ve managed to confirm that the far-right Israel advocacy group is indeed sponsoring Rescuing Human Rights, and that the program will feature four controversial figures in the national anti-jihadi movement. This event is part of Israel Awareness Week on campus. This in turn is directly connected to Israel Apartheid Week held at the same time. One of SWU’s key missions is to take the pro-Israel message directly to those it considers enemies on campus. Getting in the face of campus Muslim or Palestinian groups is SWU’s stock-in-trade.
 
Tumultuous Israeli Politics Will Not Usher Peace, Ramzy Baroud
Israel is currently experiencing the kind of turmoil that may or may not affect its political hierarchy following the next general election. However, there is little reason to believe that any major transformations in the Israeli political landscape could be of benefit to Palestinians. Former politicians and intelligence bosses have been challenging the conventional wisdom of right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu through a series of charged statements and political rhetoric.
 
Demographic Majority: At What Cost?, Jamal Kanj
In the US, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish Human Rights organization, prescribes racial integration, equality and multiculturalism for America society. ADL and other Jewish organizations work closely at local levels with school administrators throughout the US educating young children the virtues of tolerance and multiculturalism.
 
Imagine a world plunged in darkness and extreme cold with the sunlight screened off by a thick pall of dust cloud. Imagine a world flung back into chaos. This is an image conceived of a world abandoned to dereliction by doomsday weapons. According to Samson Option theory, Israel reserves the option to retaliate massively with nuclear weapons when its existence is gravely endangered by the military might of another country although the regime refuses to admit to the possession of a huge nuclear arsenal.
link to palestinechronicle.com
 
A Tipping Point for Israel, Philip Giraldi
A tipping point is where physical momentum, inclined in one direction, reverses its course, stabilizes, and then begins to move the opposite way. Those of us who have been arguing for a sane United States foreign policy in the Middle East have well understood that the odds on shifting the prevailing narrative have been heavily against us thanks to the overwhelming resources possessed by a powerful domestic lobby. Ten years ago in America, it was impossible to place even a letter in a mainstream newspaper or magazine that was in any way critical of Israel. Apart from Pat Buchanan, no one on television provided a critique of Israel and its policies. In the U.S. media, Israel was ever the beleaguered little democracy surrounded by savage Arabs.
 
Israelis barely had time to absorb the news that they were heading into a summer election when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu yesterday pulled the rug from underneath the charade. Rancourous early electioneering had provided cover for a secret agreement between Netanyahu and the main opposition party, Kadima, to form a new, expanded coalition government.
 
Palestinian artists take on identity and politics with humor in "Subversion" exhibition, Sarah Irving
Subversion, an exhibition at Manchester’s Cornerhouse gallery, shows that young Palestinian artists are at the cutting edge of contemporary Arab art.
Film review: Palestinians in Israel honored in debut comedy feature, Maureen Clare Murphy
The under-recognized steadfastness of Palestinians who clung onto their land in the areas of Palestine upon which the State of Israel was declared is lovingly praised in Sameh Zoabi’s lighthearted debut feature Man Without a Cell Phone.
 
Stephen Walt: Iraq, Iran and the Israel Lobby
Harvard Professor Stephen Walt giving his recent Hisham B. Sharabi Memorial Lecture, titled Deja Vu All Over Again?: Iraq, Iran and the Israel Lobby.
link to pulsemedia.org

Long Live “Our” Gulf Bastards, Pepe Escobar
Life is a golden gift from Allah if you’re a certified member of the Gulf Counter-Revolution Club (GCC), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council; Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can torture, kill, repress and demonize their own subjects – in full confidence the “master” will let you get away with it.
 
Bahrain

US resumes arms sales to Bahrain
The US partially resumes sales of weapons to Bahrain, but says it is excluding equipment that can be used to suppress protests.
link to www.bbc.co.uk
 
Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa came to Washington this week to attend his son's college graduation, but he left with hands full of gifts from the U.S. State Department, which announced new arms sales to Bahrain today. The crown prince's son just graduated from American University, where the Bahraini ruling family recently shelled out millions for a new building at AU's School of International Service. But while he was in town, the crown prince met with a slew of senior U.S. officials and congressional leaders, including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, Senate Armed Services Committee ranking Republican John McCain, as well as several other Washington VIPs.

The Lede Blog: Protests Over Arms Sales to Bahrain
Activists in Bahrain denounced the measure, as demonstrators descended on the country's capital city to protest the government's detention of political prisoners.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=238cf94ea22982f0fe20fa6f55e9be6a

In Bahrain, anti-regime protesters have once again come under attack by Saudi-backed forces across the tiny Persian Gulf Kingdom.
link to www.presstv.ir

Bahraini security forces fires tear gas and birdshot on Saturday to disperse protests staged in Shiite villages in solidarity with jailed opposition activists, witnesses said.

Bahrain police attack protesters as crackdown continues
Bahraini police fired tear gas and birdshot during overnight clashes with protesters demanding the release of jailed activists, opposition leaders said, as an intensified month-long crackdown continued. The attacks against protesters in villages around the capital Manama started when hundreds of demonstrators flooded the streets chanting anti-regime slogans and calling on the authorities to release the prisoners, including human rights leader Nabeel Rajab.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
Gulf leaders will discuss a proposal for a closer political union among them that could begin with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the Bahraini information minister said on Saturday.
 
Expecting, wanting or relying on Americans for anything is a mistake: Clinton must do more to support Bahrain democracy: opposition
A leading Bahraini opposition figure has called on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to do more to support the country's pro-democracy movement, after she met with the Gulf state's rulers amid ongoing protests. Clinton held talks with Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa in Washington on Wednesday and urged Bahrain to take further steps to tackle continuing human rights abuses. Mattar Ebrahim, a leading member of the opposition Al-Wefaq party, said Clinton was merely talking about human rights, but had done little to force the government to make concessions.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Bahrain delays medics' retrial until June
A Bahraini defense lawyer says the retrial of 20 medical professionals on allegations of aiding the Gulf kingdom's uprising has been adjourned for a month.
link to news.yahoo.com

Watch Jordanians interrupt Bahrain's Minister of Culture
link to www.youtube.com

Anti-Bahraini rally held at UK PM office
Supporters of the Bahraini uprising have rallied at British Prime Minister’s office in London condemning the Queen’s invitation of the Bahraini dictator for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
 
You wouldn’t think Bahrain and Syria were much linked. Both are Arabic-speaking countries, though about half of Bahrain’s residents are non-citizen guest workers who speak anything but Arabic. One is a geographically fairly large country of some 23 million abutting the eastern Mediterranean. The other is a set of tiny islands in the Mideast’s Gulf. But Bahrain and Syria are tied in destiny, since they are numbers 5 and 6 of the series of Arab Spring countries that staged major rallies against their government. (The successful such movements were Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen). Bahrain and Syria are in some ways mirror images of one another. Syria has a Shiite, secular ruling elite and a Sunni majority that is treated like a minority. Bahrain has a Sunni ruling elite and a Shiite majority that is treated like a minority. Syria is backed by Russia and Iran, and has given the Russians a naval base on the Mediterranean at Tartous. Bahrain is backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia; it has given the US a naval base as HQ for the Fifth Fleet at Manama, and has garrisoned 1,000 Saudi troops on its soil.
 
Egypt
 
Egyptian paper al Aheam claims Cairo, Jerusalem to sign deal on Saturday that will see Israeli citizen Ouda Tarabin freed in exchange for 63 Egyptian prisoners held in Israel.
 
Egypt ends curfew around defence ministry
Egypt's military rulers lifted on Friday a curfew around the defence ministry in Cairo that was imposed after deadly clashes ahead of this month's presidential election, state news agency MENA reported.
link to news.yahoo.com

Cairo contacts Tel Aviv for release of Egyptian prisoners in exchange deal
Diplomatic sources have revealed that the Egyptian government has contacted its Israeli counterpart to strike a deal for the release of its nationals being held in Israel's prisons. At the same time, Cairo is hoping to obtain information about the health of those Egyptian prisoners who have gone on hunger strike as part of the general protest by Palestinian prisoners. Human rights reports suggest that 65 Egyptian prisoners are taking part in the hunger strike in protest against the conditions of their imprisonment.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3740-cairo-contacts-tel-aviv-for-release-of-egyptian-prisoners-in-exchange-deal

Egyptian presidential candidates agree Israel is an enemy
The two leading candidates to become Egypt's first democratically elected president both stated that Israel is an enemy of the country during a heated televised debate on Thursday. The country has a long-standing peace treaty with the Jewish state, but since the overthrow of dictator Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising last year there has been increased pressure on Egyptian leaders to abandon the pact.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

U.S. urges Egypt’s candidates to respect Israel peace treaty; military rulers lift Cairo curfew
The United States on Friday welcomed Egypt’s televised presidential debate as a “good and healthy thing,” while implicitly urging the candidates to respect the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty as the country’s military rulers lifted a curfew around the defense ministry in Cairo.
link to english.alarabiya.net

Egypt's Presidential Duel an Epic Moment (Video)
Millions of Egyptians were glued to their TV sets on Thursday evening, 10 May 2012, watching the first-ever televised debate between the two presidential candidates leading opinion polls in recent weeks. The live telecast—two weeks before the country’s first multi-candidate Presidential elections—was an opportunity for Egyptians to learn more about the two expected election front runners‘ visions for “the new Egypt” and hear their stances vis-a-vis issues like security and the relationship between religion and the state. More importantly, Egypt’s  independent media broke significant new ground in Arab media election coverage by sponsoring the debut high level face-off between liberal diplomat Amr Moussa (a former foreign minister and Arab League Secretary General) and moderate Islamist Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh. The debate was shown simultaneously on privately owned channels ONTV and Dream, in collaboration with co-sponsors El Shorouk and AlMasry AlYoum, independent dailies. 
link to www.jadaliyya.com

The Lede Blog: Live Updates on Egypt's Presidential Debate
Two of the leading candidates to be Egypt’s next president square off in a televised debate on Thursday evening in Cairo, and The Lede will report on the clash between Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Amr Moussa, a former diplomat under Hosni Mubarak, as it unfolds.
link to feeds.nytimes.com

Egyptian prison authorities "sexually assaulted protesters"
Women protesters and rights groups have accused Egyptian troops and prison authorities of sexual assault during the latest crackdown on demonstrations, reviving allegations they are using abuse to intimidate female detainees and protesters. The charges made on Wednesday added new tension to Egypt's presidential election campaign, just two weeks before the voting. More than a dozen women were among more than 300 protesters detained following a protest outside the Defense Ministry in Cairo last weekend.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Women who accuse military of sexual assault seek limelight, general says
Military judicial chief Major General Adel al-Morsy dismissed as false rumors that women arrested during Abbasseya protests last week were sexually harassed by security forces or forced to undergo virginity tests. “The females were referred to the military prosecution without investigations by the authorities who arrested them while they were assaulting security forces at the Defense Ministry,” Morsy said in an interview with CBC satellite channel on Wednesday, according to state-run news agency MENA.
link to www.egyptindependent.com

In prisoners' long plea, empty stomachs raise the case
Laila Soueif, a long-time Egyptian activist in her 50s and assistant professor at Cairo University, chuckles softly and humbly at the suggestion of being interviewed as a hunger striker for a piece prompted by the mass hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners in Israel jails. “What I did was nothing compared to the Palestinians,” she says. Her action was taken out of prison. Nevertheless, she agrees to talk about her thoughts on and the experience of hunger striking for 22 days in response to her son and fellow activist, Alaa Abd El Fattah, being imprisoned and tried by a military court last year.
link to www.egyptindependent.com
 
Mosireen, "Egyptian Workers Speak Out"
"What were the reasons for this revolution if not for us to have a voice, to establish our worth, our dignity, to feel like we're humans, with the right to say yes or no?"
 
Iran

U.S. Vice President Biden: No options off table on Iran nuclear program
Republican Jewish Coalition blasts Biden over comments suggesting previous U.S. administration shares blame for Iran nuclear program
link to www.haaretz.com

Biden to Israel: Bomb Away!, Nima Shirazi
Speaking to an international assembly of 1,600 conservative rabbis in Atlanta today, self-proclaimed Zionist Joe Biden said that Israel still had time to attack Iran if it so chooses. "The window has not closed in terms of the Israelis if they choose to act on their own militarily," the Vice President told the congregation. "I would not contract out my security to anybody, even a loyal, loyal, loyal friend like the United States."
link to www.wideasleepinamerica.com

Iran: Free Students Jailed for Speaking Out
Iranian authorities should immediately free dozens of university students currently behind bars solely for peacefully expressing political opinions, and end harassment of student activists on university campuses throughout the country. Human Rights Watch issued the call as part of a joint campaign initiated by Iranian and international student and rights groups to highlight the government’s systematic crackdown against university students for their political activism.
link to www.hrw.org

Iraq

7 Dumped Bodies Found in Iraq
Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's trial was postponed for a second time as his lawyers continued to argue for a venue change. At least seven bodies were discovered while four Iraqis were also wounded.
link to original.antiwar.com
 
Iraq’s Maliki Forced to Reinstate His Deputy PM
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was forced to reinstate Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq after trying to sack him. Meanwhile, only two Iraqi deaths were reported.
link to original.antiwar.com
 
Iraq's fugitive VP has medical checks in Turkey
Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who faces trial in absentia in Baghdad on charges of running a death squad, has undergone "routine" medical checks in Turkey, his office said on Friday.
link to news.yahoo.com

Turkey refuses to extradite wanted Iraqi vice-president
Turkey will not extradite Iraq's fugitive Vice President Tariq Hashemi, who is being tried in absentia in Baghdad accused of running a death squad, its deputy prime minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "We will not extradite someone whom we have supported since the very beginning," Bekir Bozdag was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. The decision means Turkey has refused to cooperate with Interpol, which issued an international Red Notice for Hashemi's arrest on Tuesday on suspicion of "guiding and financing terrorist attacks."
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Maliki Slams Turkish Remarks: Show No Respect
"We do not want to antagonize Turkey, or Iran, or America, or Saudi Arabia, or any other country, but what happened and the remarks issued by Turkey do not show mutual respect."
link to www.almanar.com.lb
 
Jordan
 
In Jordan, growing discontent over pace of reform
Israel’s last reliable Arab ally since the fall of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak.
link to www.washingtonpost.com

Lebanon

Sayyed Nasrallah: The Time has Come when We Stay and They Disappear
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reminded Friday of Tel Aviv-Dahiyeh equation indicating that Hezbollah is capable of striking very specific targets in Tel Aviv and in every part of occupied Palestine as well. "For every building in Dahiyeh, several buildings will be destroyed in Tel Aviv in return. The time when we were displaced and they don't has gone. The time when our homes were destroyed and theirs remain has gone," Sayyed Nasrallah said adding that the time when "we will stay and they disappear has definitely come." His eminence was talking in a ceremony on the occasion of the conclusion of Waed (promise) project to rebuild Beirut’s southern suburbs (Dahiyeh) which was destroyed after the Israeli July war on Lebanon.
 
Lebanese army exchanges fire with Islamists
Lebanese troops exchanged fire late on Saturday with a group of young Islamists protesting in Tripoli for the release of a terrorism suspect.

Lebanon: Future Movement Turns to Islam
In light of recent developments in the Syrian and Lebanese political scenes, Doha and Riyadh seek to prop up the Saad Hariri’s Future Movement with a strong ally. This ally is none other than the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
 
The Lebanese Election Law Conundrum
Walid Jumblatt has opened fire on all fronts in the battle over the election law. That’s even before the start of election season, and even before being sure that parliamentary polls will be held in 2013 at all – and not encounter a domestic impediment that leads to their postponement or the extension of the current parliament’s mandate. From the very outset, Jumblatt set out his opinion of what his opponents are trying to achieve: to eliminate him and his role. He said the confrontation would be a matter of “to be or not to be”.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Review: Lebanese villagers work it out in 'Where Do We Go Now?'
At the outset of the new film"Where Do We Go Now?"the usual constant fighting between Muslim and Christian men in a remote Lebanese village has reached a fragile peace aided by the arrival of a television set. When a series of events threatens this uneasy accord, the women of the town must band together to bring things back to an even keel with a plan that comes to involve Eastern European belly dancers and baked goods laced with hashish.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/LtYD0Zl7kOU/la-et-where-do-we-go-now-capsule-20120511,0,48884.story

Saudi Arabia

Justice Saudi-Style – Treat “Peaceful” Dissidents as Terrorists
The counter-terrorism court in Saudi Arabia is wrongly targeting people who criticise government policy and religious institutions as well as those who advocate greater respect for the rule of law – says campaign group. The Saudi justice minister Dr Muhammad al-'Issa was in London in late April. But, at the last minute, he cancelled a meeting with interested organisations and academics that I was to attend because – we were told – he preferred to meet only with the British government.
link to www.hrw.org
 
Saudi king fires sexist adviser
Saudi King Abdullah on Friday sacked one of his advisers, an outspoken critic of the sexes mingling outside the home, something banned in the ultra-conservative kingdom. The state news agency SPA published the decree announcing the dismissal of Sheikh Abdelmohsen al-Obeikan, an adviser to the royal cabinet, without providing further details. The move comes several days after Obeikan, speaking on local radio, lashed out at the interaction of men and women in court, accusing the judges of seeking to "Westernize society."
link to english.al-akhbar.com
 
Syria
 
Saturday: Deaths in Idlib as UN expands mission
Several people reported dead in latest clashes even as number of UN monitors charged with overseeing truce reaches 145.
 
Friday: 'Large blast' hits Syrian city
A large blast has hit the Syrian city of Aleppo, opposition sources say, hours after the authorities said they had foiled a major car bomb attack.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

Thursday: Desperate search for loved ones amid Damascus carnage
A hand here, a leg there, part of a crushed face, the scene in central Damascus is apocalyptic, as emergency workers fill nylon bags with what is left of dozens of people killed by two suicide bombers.
link to news.yahoo.com

Syria says thwarts 1,200 kg car bomb in Aleppo
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces foiled an attempted suicide car bombing with 1,200 kg (2,640 pounds) of explosives in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday, state television said, a day after two bombs in the capital Damascus killed at least 55 people. The would-be bomber was killed in the al Shaar district of Syria's largest city which, like Damascus, has seen increasing street protests against President Bashar al-Assad and rising levels of bloodshed after months of relative calm.
link to news.yahoo.com

'Arms flowing' between Lebanon and Syria
UN special envoy says weapons are being smuggled in both directions, and warns region is "at brink of war".
link to www.aljazeera.com
 
Mangled and smouldering vehicles are seen at the site of an explosion in Damascus 10 May 2012. (Photo: Reuters - SANA - Handout)
Al-Nusra Front, an Islamist group unknown before the Syrian revolt, released a video on Saturday claiming responsibility for twin suicide bombings in Damascus that killed 55 people. The video said the bombings on Thursday, the deadliest since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime erupted in March 2011, were "in response to regime bombing of residential areas in Damascus, Idlib, Hama, Daraa provinces and others."
 
In Beirut speech, Hezbollah leader also says his movement can accurately hit targets throughout Israel in case of war.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Kerry: Time to consider safe zones and arming the opposition in Syria
The United States needs to do more to protect civilians in Syria, including considering setting up safe zones inside Syria and potentially arming the opposition, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry (D-MA) told The Cable in an interview Tuesday. 
link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com
 
Five years after being jailed, beaten, and tortured by government forces as a student in Damascus, Ahed al-Hendi is a Syrian dissident in the U.S. calling for Washington to arm the opposition fighting President Bashar al-Assad and his forces.

Syrians strive to survive in 'frontline' town
Families face acute shortages and daily dangers in conflict-ravaged border town of al-Qusayr.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Syrian doctors smuggle in aid from Turkey
A group of expatriate Syrian doctors and volunteers have teamed up to smuggle much-needed medical supplies into Syria through Turkey. Laurence Lee reports.
link to www.youtube.com
 
Iran helps release of Turkish reporters in Syria
One Turkish journalist detained in Syria is a devout Muslim who was on a Gaza-bound aid ship targeted in an Israeli raid in 2010, and reported being wounded by American bombing on a trip to Afghanistan. His cameraman is a film school student who, ahead of his Syria trip, ducked his father's disapproval by claiming he was headed to Italy.
link to news.yahoo.com

Christians on Syria's border wary of future
Syriac people in southeast Turkey have strong ties with relatives and fellow Christians across the border in Syria. In the ancient Assyrian city of Midyat, Christians say they fear their community could endure what Christians in Iraq suffered when the country fell into violence and chaos. Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught reports from Midyat.
link to www.youtube.com

Penetrated Opposition and Failure of Consensus in Syria: Interview with Haytham Manna`(Part 4 of 4)
On April 27th, around the Jadaliyya Co-Sponsored Conference at Lund University ("Contesting Narratives, Location Power"), I sat down for an extensive interview with Haytham Manna`, one of the icons of the independent Syrian opposition and a leading founder of the National Coordinating Body for Democratic Change (in Syria). The interview was long and candid, and addressed several topics, including the current impasse in Syria, the stages and transformation of the uprising, the questions of international intervention and of resistance, the Syrian National Council and its relations with other opposition groups and the Arab Gulf States and beyond, and the relationship between Syria and Hizballah.
link to www.jadaliyya.com
 
The U.S. is not concerned with dead Syrians, just with saving face: Syrian Opposition’s Turn to Violence Creates U.S. Dilemma
Syria’s deadliest bombing to date highlights the Obama administration’s dilemma as foes of President Bashar al-Assad increasingly adopt tactics the U.S. and its allies have condemned as terrorism.

Damascus Blasts: Are Terrorists the Wild Card in Syria’s Power Struggle?, Tony Karon
The twin suicide car bombings that reportedly killed 55 people and wounded 372 in Damascus on Thursday prompted a familiar set of responses: state television blamed unspecified “terrorists” for the atrocity, in keeping with its habit of linking all antiregime violence to jihadist extremism; opposition groups denied responsibility and instead accused the regime of staging the blasts as a propaganda exercise designed to ease international pressure to observe a U.N.-backed cease-fire. For both sides, the intended audience is the international community, playing the new political game in which both sides have publicly committed themselves to the cease-fire plan brokered by U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, but neither is actually observing it — instead, each is maneuvering to ensure that the other side is blamed for the failure of a plan deemed by Annan to be the “last chance” to avoid a full-blown civil war. 
link to globalspin.blogs.time.com

Syria: Is This an Arab Spring or a Balkan Winter?, Tony Karon
Special envoy Kofi Annan told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that his struggling peace plan is the last hope to prevent Syria from plunging into an all-out civil war.
link to globalspin.blogs.time.com
 
“The Hamas-Syrian Split, a Dilemma for Iran’s Palestinian Strategy,” By Mohammad Ataie, Mohammad Ataie
Since the advent of the Iranian revolution, the Palestinian issue has been at the heart of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy. For ideological and strategic reasons, supporting the Palestinian cause and resistance against Israel has been an integral part of the Islamic Republic’s identity and international approach. However, Iran’s Palestinian policy has, to a great extent, been forged under the influence of its alliance with Syria. That is why the tensions between Damascus and Hamas, brought about by the latter’s equivocal stance on Syrian crisis, have spilled over into the Palestinian movement’s relationship with Tehran.
Starving the Syrians for Human Rights
The wing of the U.S. human rights movement which targets foreign countries can wind up as a cruel business, aiding the ruthless and violent actions of the U.S. Empire, wittingly or not. For the U.S. all too often uses human rights as a cover for taking action against countries that defy the Empire’s control. Some weeks back, I decided to look into one such group, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), an organization I had long refrained from joining out of skepticism. But perhaps, I thought, PHR had sidestepped the dangers inherent in this work. So I joined to find out.
link to dissidentvoice.org
 
Middle East expert Fawaz Gerges discusses Syria crisis 
Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics, tells Al Jazeera the regional and international variables have not been conducive to an international military intervention in Syria.
 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Keen for a little bit of certainty in a turbulent Arab world, Israeli leaders persuaded themselves last year that Syrian President Bashar Assad -- the devil they knew next door -- was finished, and something possibly better might be on the way. But it was not to be. With the Syrian uprising now into its 14th month and Assad still firmly in power, Israel has few options other than to sit the crisis out, unable to influence the outcome of an upheaval that is sure to affect it.

Other World News
 
NATO Admits Killing Afghan Mother, 5 Children in Air Strike
NATO has admitted it mistakenly killed an Afghan mother and five of her children in an air strike last week. Meanwhile, there are reports that as many as 14 civilians were killed in another incident in northwestern Badghis province.
Hollande's communications director, Manuel Valls, confirmed to the Telegraph on Monday that France will "announce the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan between now and the end of the year." The announcement will take place at the NATO summit being held in Chicago on May 20 and 21.
link to www.huffingtonpost.com

Turning their budget knife to domestic programs to protect the Pentagon, House Republicans on Thursday approved legislation cutting food stamps, benefits for federal workers and social services programs like day care for children and Meals on Wheels for the elderly.
 
US military school taught “total war” against Muslims
A senior US military official has been forced to condemn a class taught at a military college that advocated a "total war" against Muslims. The course at the Joint Forces Staff College in Virginia also suggested possible nuclear attacks on holy Islamic cities such as Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The story, originally published on Wired.com's danger room blog, risks damaging America's already tarnished image in the Islamic world, where it maintains a heavy military presence.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Bush found guilty of war crimes
A symbolic War Crimes Tribunal in Malaysia has found former US President George W. Bush and several other members of his administration guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity , Press TV reports.
UN says three Libya prisoners likely tortured to death
Several prisoners likely were tortured to death at a detention center in Libya under government control, the United Nations said on Thursday as it urged the country to make stamping out such practices a top priority. 
 
www.TheHeadlines.Org
]]> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/israeli-officer-threatens-to-rape-palestinian-activists-in-custody-if-this-happened-in-syria-it-would-be-headline-news.html/feed 8 ‘Battle of the Empty Stomachs’: Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab surpass 70 days on hunger strike http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/battle-of-the-empty-stomachs-thaer-halahleh-and-bilal-diab-surpass-70-days-on-hunger-strike.html http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/battle-of-the-empty-stomachs-thaer-halahleh-and-bilal-diab-surpass-70-days-on-hunger-strike.html#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 15:22:24 +0000 Today in Palestine http://mondoweiss.net/?p=75289 link to www.addameer.org

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Palestinian Prisoners’ “Battle of the Empty Stomachs” Continues: Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab Surpass 70 Days on Hunger Strike
Ramallah, 8 May 2012 – Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab’s petitions to the Israeli High Court regarding their administrative detention orders were rejected yesterday, four days following their High Court hearing on 3 May. Thaer and Bilal are on their 71st day of hunger strike and at immediate risk of death. In complete disregard to their critical medical condition, the High Court judges stated in their decision that the hunger strikes do not provide reason for releasing Thaer and Bilal from administrative detention or reducing the period of detention.
link to www.addameer.org

Hundreds protest in solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers
Hundreds of people have protested in the West Bank in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel. People gathered in Al Manara Square in Ramallah on Tuesday, as almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners entered the fourth week of a hunger strike. Two others have refused food for more than 70 days. Israel's Supreme Court on Monday denied their appeals against administrative detention.


Hunger Strikers

Halahle refrains from drinking water after 70 days of hunger strike
The family of Palestinian detainee Thaer Halahle said that their son had refrained from drinking water and taking medicine after 70 days of his hunger strike.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

The Red Cross is worried about the striking prisoners’ health conditions
The International Committee of the Red Cross expressed, on Monday, its concern for the health conditions of the hunger striking Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

EU: Israel must allow medical, family visits to hunger-strikers
Ma`an - Physicians for Human Rights -- Israel on Monday said Israeli authorities rejected its appeal for Diab`s family to visit him. "Allowing family visits to people at such deteriorated medical condition, some that can die any day, is a requirement emphasized in medical ethics and in Israel`s Patient Right Law. In addition to mental support, consultation with the family can save lives."
link to www.maannews.net

Two Palestinians on hunger strike nearing death, lawyer says
(CNN) -- The lawyer representing two Palestinian prisoners entering the 70th day of a hunger strike said his clients were nearing death and accused an Israeli high court of procrastination in delivering a ruling that could save their lives. "Their medical condition has gone from very bad to extremely worse," Jamil al-Khatib said of clients Bilal Diab, 27, and Tha'er Halahlah, 33, "I believe what the court is doing here is trying to break the will of both prisoners so they will back down in their hunger strike."
link to edition.cnn.com

Jihad Movement: the Occupation Decides to Execute Diab and Halahleh
The Islamic Jihad Movement has considered the Israeli court refusal of the appeal submitted by the lawyer of Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, against their administrative detention as a death sentence.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Concern Mounts for the Lives of Prisoners on Protracted Hunger Strikes
Detainees Bilal Diab, Thaer Halahleh and Hassan Safadi are Subjected to Medical Negligence, this is a joint press release issued on May 6, 2012, by the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel).
link to www.imemc.org

New prisoners join the strike in Negev prison
The prisoners in occupation jails leaked several letters asserting the escalation of the open hunger strike aiming to achieve their demands.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Prisoners: Hunger strike reached point of no return
A delegation of the Israeli prison authority has met with two members of the committee representing Palestinian prisoners, who are on hunger strike, in Ramon and Nafha jails. 


Statement No. 4 of the Hunger Strikers’ Leadership
link to samidoun.ca

Detainee Hassan Safadi continues his hunger strike for the 63 days
Mahmoud Hassan, the lawyer of Addameer Foundation for Prisoners and Human Rights, met, on Sunday in Ramla prison hospital, the detainee Hassan Safadi who has been on hunger strike for 63 days.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IPS isolates hunger striking detainee
The Israeli prison service (IPS) has isolated a hunger striker detainee in the Negev jail in line with its penal measures against those prisoners.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Rights group submits court appeal to visit hunger striker
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A human rights group has submitted an appeal to Israel's courts to allow doctors to visit hunger-striking prisoner Bilal Diab. Physicians for Human Rights submitted an appeal based on the recommendation of Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset. "After 68 days on hunger strike, Bilal Diab’s medical condition has become serious and he must be checked by a doctor from outside the prison service," a statement from the group said. A report from Tibi was attached to the appeal.
link to www.maannews.net

Duqmaq: The incarceration conditions of isolated prisoners are very harsh
Lawyer of Mandela foundation Buthaina Duqmaq said the Palestinian prisoners in solitary cells have been on hunger strike because they are deprived of the most basic human rights in Israeli jails.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Prisoners are continuing the strike despite attempts to break it
The Central Strike Committee confirmed, in an urgent statement to the Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs in Gaza , that it rejects any attempt to undermine the strike that entered its twentieth day.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Prisoner Sabha: The hunger strikers enjoy high morale
Senior Hamas official and prisoner Mohamed Sabha said on Monday that the hunger strike is going better than what has been planned for and the hunger strikers are in high spirits.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

'Victory will be greater if hunger strikers die'
Khader Adnan, who refused food for two months until Israel agreed to release him, says Palestinian prisoners' strike will be hailed as victory regardless of its outcome.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Haneyya delivers message from prisoners to Erdogan
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails have addressed a message to Turkish premier Recep Erdogan asking for his personal intervention to support their cause.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Mother of hunger striker taken to hospital unconscious
The mother of hunger striker Thaer Halahle, who has been on hunger strike for 65 days, was taken to Al-Khalil government hospital on Saturday after she fainted.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Mothers worry about sons who fast in Israel jails
Ramallah Motasser Abd Al Haleem was barely out of his teens when the Israeli army took him away. Now the fresh-faced Palestinian stares out from a framed portrait clutched to his mother's chest. "When they arrested him, he was only 20 years old," she says in the centre of Ramallah, the capital of the West Bank, just miles from the barbed wire barrier that divides Israel from Palestine.
link to gulfnews.com

Solitary confinement and administrative detention
Administrative detention provides a vehicle for the arrest of Palestinians where there is no genuine reason for them to be taken into custody, even under Israel's draconian military occupation. Nobody sees the "evidence" provided by intelligence officers apart from the Israeli judge. The lawyers acting for the detainee can't see what the evidence against their client is; in any case, it is probably fabricated by a spy. The intelligence service is not bothered by this as long as it has something to put before a judge and claim that the detainee "threatens the security of Israel".
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk

Palestinian Hunger Games, Juan Cole
Some 2000 of the estimated 4600 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are now hunger striking. Three hundred of them have been deprived of the right of habeas corpus and are being held in without charge or trial. Others are routinely tossed into solitary confinement, which, depending on how it is deployed, could be a severe violation of their human rights. Some 10 of the hunger strikers are severely affected and some near death.
link to www.juancole.com

Solidarity with our Hunger Strikers

IOF soldiers violently quell solidarity demonstrations
Dozens of Palestinians were treated for breathing difficulty when Israeli occupation forces fired tear gas canisters at them near Ofer in Ramallah and near Arub refugee camp in Al-Khalil on Monday.

5 hunger strikers in solidarity with prisoners transferred to hospital in Gaza
Local sources stated that four people in Gaza City were taken to the hospital on Saturday 5th May after fainting due to their hunger strike in solidarity with the hunger striking prisoners.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Hundreds Of Gaza Women March To Join Hunger Strikers Rally
Hundreds of women today marched to "Al Jundy," the Square of the Unknown Soldier in Gaza City to join those already gathered in solidarity for the Palestinian hunger-strikers in Israeli jails. Some 40 released prisoners have set up beds in the solidarity tents, in an open-ended public hunger strike in support of the current prisoners, whose situation they know only too well. (link to video Helal Jaradat video) Thousands of locals pass through every day, staying a few hours or all day, to support them all in their demands for the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in accordance with international law.
link to www.scoop.co.nz

Students, public employees to join solidarity sit-ins
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- School students and civil servants will suspend work on Tuesday to take part in a public sit-in to support Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, their union said. The Union of Workers said public employees and students would stop work at 11 a.m. to allow participation in rallies centered on protest tents in cities across the West Bank. On April 17, Palestinian prisoners day, over 1,000 prisoners joined a group of hunger-strikers protesting detention without charge. Around 2,000 are now taking part in the strike, prisoners rights groups estimate. Administrative detainees Bilal Diab, 27, from Jenin, and Thaer Halahla, 33, from Hebron -- are in a precarious condition after 69 days without food, a doctor from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel warned last week.
link to www.maannews.net

PFLP members protest in Ramallah
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine protested in Ramallah on Saturday in support of prisoners' rights. Protesters burned Israeli, US, Arab League, EU and UN flags in response for their perceived silence in the face of Israeli violations. PFLP members called for armed resistance against Israel, saying that it is the only way to liberate occupied land and free prisoners. The group of demonstrators also called for a mass popular uprising to support prisoners, adding that Israel has violated all boundaries and norms.
link to www.maannews.net

Bahrain and Palestine
Political prisoners in Bahrain declare solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Children in Amman protest in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners
In solidarity with the prisoners illegally incarcerated by the Israeli occupation throughout Palestine and conducting an open-ended hunger strike in Israeli jails, a sit-in protest took place on Wednesday May 2nd in Amman, Jordan, in front of the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The protest, organized by independent activists, included many children, and the theme of this protest was banging on pots and pans and blowing whistles, to grab the attention of the ICRC in particular and the society/international community at large, to alleviate the suffering of said prisoners and demand their rights.
link to samidoun.ca

AOHR Egypt announces solidarity hunger strike
AOHR in Egypt announced a series of solidarity activities in support of the Palestinian prisoners’ on hunger strike, starting by a solidarity hunger strike, on Sunday for 12 hours.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Seattle: Educational vigil for Palestinian prisoners May 5
As reported by SIRATYST, Seattle’s Voices of Palestine held an educational vigil on Palestinian prisoners on May 5, 2012. Voices of Palestine holds educational vigils every 1st & 3rd Saturday, near Westlake Park, 4th & Pine, Seattle.  Join them next Sunday, May 13, 2012, from noon-5 p.m. at Westlake Park for Nakba Commemoration, Palestine Stolen Homeland.
link to samidoun.ca

Land Theft & Destruction / Ethnic Cleansing / Refugees

Knesset panel passes benefits for West Bank settlements
Opponents say Likud bill tailored for West Bank settlements; proponents insist it can help Arab settlement, too.
link to www.haaretz.com

Stunned by High Court decision, Ulpana settlers unwilling to negotiate evacuation
Residents of West Bank outpost argue that state must solve their problem; Yesha Settlement Council to convene Tuesday.
link to www.haaretz.com

Court orders Palestinians out of Jerusalem home
Israel's Supreme Court on Monday ordered two Palestinians to leave their properties in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, ruling that the properties were owned by Jews, their lawyer told AFP.
link to news.yahoo.com

Israel issues eviction orders to Sheikh Jarrah home
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli officials on Monday issued an eviction order to a home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, Wafa news agency reported. The eviction notice was issued to Fatima Salamieh, who has lived in the home since the 1950's. The Salamieh family say that the authorities want to hand the property over to settlers, who claim it is owned by Jews. On April 18, Israeli police forcibly evicted 14 members of the Natsheh family after an Israeli court ruled in favor of settlers, who moved into the property.
link to www.maannews.net

Kufur Qaddoum: More homes to be demolished in the West Bank
The Israeli occupation forces have recently handed notices to citizens in Kufur Qaddoum village in Qalqilia district, stating its intention to demolish houses in the village and ordering the cessation of the construction of other houses that are currently being built. The village lies in Area B* of the West Bank, in the south west. Villagers said the occupation forces attacked the village on April 30 in the morning and handed out notices to Shaker Radwa, Basem Barham, Mousa Barham, Ahmad Barham, and Subhi Barham.
link to www.stopthewall.org

Israel serves notification for more demolitions in occupied territories
The Israeli occupation authorities handed over, on Sunday, May 6, notifications for the demolition of Palestinian farmers' houses and sheds used for livestock in Khirbet At-Taweel, near Akraba town, in the West Bank. Hamza Deria, a member of the committee for defending Akraba lands, reported that soldiers and representatives of Israel's Department of Planning and Building handed over the notices; giving the farmers 72 hours to evacuate their property before they proceed with demolition. Israel claims the area is a closed military zone and the establishment of all facilities in it is strictly prohibited.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk

New settlement on a former Jordanian military base near Al Khalil
The Israeli army has recently handed an abandoned military base built on Palestinian land near Dura village, to the south of the southern West Bank city of Al-Khalil, to be used by Zionist settlers.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOF digs tunnel along Gaza border
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) are digging a big tunnel along the Gaza eastern and northern borders with Palestine occupied in 1948, the Quds Press reported.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli authorities 'uproot trees in Hebron village'
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli authorities uprooted around 350 trees while leveling fields in a southern West Bank village on Tuesday morning, the Land Research Center said. Bulldozers, escorted by Israeli forces, demolished stone terraces and uprooted around 100 olive trees on 13,000 square meters of land belonging to Hasan Muhammad Abdul-Ghani Al-Amlah in the Attous area of Beit Ula village, the center said. Authorities razed approximately 250 fruit trees in and uprooted irrigation networks in nearby groves belonging Fayiz Muhammad Abdul-Ghani Al-Amlah, they added. The Jerusalem-based research group said Israeli authorities designate Al-Amlah's land as Israeli state property and ordered him to vacate. A court hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, but forces razed the land before it could take place, the center said.
link to www.maannews.net

Easing the burden: maternal health care in Palestinian camps
Sitting in a dark, cramped living room in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, Sawsan, 24, tenderly rocks her three-month-old son Bayan on her knee, whispering sweet-nothings to calm the agitated baby. As his crying subsides, Sawsan gingerly hands Bayan over to Zeina, one of five midwives and nurses employed in Ain al-Hilweh by the non-governmental organization Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), as part of its maternal and child health care program. Zeina takes the child and smiles affectionately at him while gently wrapping a blood pressure cuff around his delicate arm.
ttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-mct-easing-the-burden-maternal-health-care-in-20120505,0,840357.story

In Their Name, We Remember the Nakba
To the memory of all who have lost their land, homes, lives during the Nakba and to this day, may Palestinians around the world never lose hope. In Their Name, We Remember The NAKBA.  Come congregate with us- 531 of us, 1 for every village lost,-for a memorial in front of the White House on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 from 6:30pm till sunset. We will be joined by local students on a hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.
link to blog.endtheoccupation.org

Siege on Gaza

Gaza health authorities sound alarm on depleting medicines
Gaza City, May 6 (Petra) -- The Gaza government's health ministry on Sunday warned of a "humanitarian catastrophe" resulting from an impending collapse of the health system as stocks of medicine in the Israeli-blockaded territory continued to decline sharply. "Gaza hospitals are suffering from a huge crisis as 186 items of medications had run out totally from the ministry's warehouses and that large types of medicines will also be depleted in the next three months, said Director of the General Administration for Pharmaceuticals, Munir Al-Barsh. He said that some hospital wards had run the risk of closure due to the severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies, but stressed that service at the wards would continue even at a minimum. The ministry called for intervention by rights groups and international health bodies to ease the hardship at Gaza health facilities and ensure a steady supply of medicine. Marking International Thalassaemia Day, the Gaza health ministry warned that running out supplies of medicine had put at risk the lives of 75 Palestinian children suffering from excess iron in blood and body tissue.
link to www.petra.gov.jo

Gaza health catastrophe likely due to lack of essential drugs
A catastrophic situation is likely in Gaza due to a lack of more than 200 essential drugs, a senior official in Gaza's Ministry of Health has warned. Ashraf Al-Qudra, the Director of Public Relations and Information at the ministry said that the level of supplies in Gaza's hospitals and the government's central warehouse is "dangerously low".
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk

Israel 'must lift blockade, not just for tomatoes'
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israel must lift its blockade on Gaza and stop limiting exports to the needs of the Israeli market, the deputy agricultural minister said Monday. The Vegetable Growers' Association in Israel is considering buying tomatoes from the Gaza Strip in response to a sudden price hike in Israeli tomatoes, Voice of Israel radio reported Sunday.
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli Violence / Raids

Action alert: STW office raided by Israeli military
At 1.30am this morning ten armoured jeeps of the Israeli occupation forces and intelligence surrounded and raided the offices of Stop the Wall in Ramallah. Israeli military stole 2 laptops, 3 hard drives and 10 memory cards containing files and photos as well as archive material relating to the work that the organisation does in opposition to Israel's apartheid wall and the attack on Palestinian human rights that the wall and the settlement represent. This is a renewed attack upon Palestinian civil society and their struggle against the physical and psychological oppression, land confiscation and ethnic cleansing policies of the Israel.
link to www.stopthewall.org

Jewish settlers sneak into Aqsa mosque
Jewish settlers sneaked into the Aqsa mosque on Sunday morning and offered rituals on the eve of calls for breaking into the holy site.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

'Undercover Israeli combatants threw stones at IDF soldiers in West Bank'
Testimony by commander of the Israeli Prison Service's elite 'Masada' unit sheds light on IDF methods in countering demonstrations against barrier.
link to www.haaretz.com

Barakeh's Trial Sheds Light On Israeli Military Undercover Methods Of Disrupting Peaceful Protests
During the recent trial of MK Mohammad Barakeh accused of assaulting a border guard, disruptive methods used by the Israeli Military to discredit peaceful demonstrations came to light.
link to www.imemc.org

We will never forget
 

Slamming the door to justice on Palestinians, Ali Abunimah
Israel's ability to commit crimes against Palestinians with impunity relies on international complicity. There is a determined international effort to ensure that Palestinians are shut out of every legal forum where they could pursue justice for Israel's crimes against them. Nothing illustrates this better than the horrifying case of the Samouni massacre.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Palestinian Authority Collaborators

PA forces launch security crackdown in Jenin
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority forces launched a large scale security crackdown in the Jenin district on Saturday. "Security services are sending summons to all suspects who possibly partook in the shooting at the house of the late Jenin governor Qaddura Musa, and suspects involved in murder, blackmailing or other assaults," the commander of Jenin's security forces Radi Asida told Ma'an. The governor of Jenin died from a heart attack on Wednesday, which officials say was brought on by an attack on his home by gunmen.
link to www.maannews.net

Islamic student blocs stage sit-ins to protest arrest of students
The Islamic student blocs at the universities of Al-Quds Abu Dis and Birzeit staged sit-ins on campus in protest against the arbitrary arrest of some students by the PA intelligence agency.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Detainees and Prisoner News

Israeli Court Agrees to Release Activist on Bail
QALQILIA, May 8, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli court agreed to release a local Palestinian activist on a $5,000 bail, after he was arrested for participating in non-violent weekly demonstrations in Kufr Qaddum, a village east of Qalqilia, said local sources on Tuesday. Media Coordinator of the weekly demonstrations in Kufr Qaddum Murad Shtewi said that Palestinian activist Riyad Shtewi was arrested along with another 19 activists in April 5.  The coordinator said that Israeli courts set huge bails for detained Palestinian activists to discourage them from participating in future protests. He added that around $15,000 (57, 000NIS) were paid in order to release over 50 activists who were detained since the demonstrations first started. Kufr Qaddum residents and organizations called on international human rights groups to intervene in order to expose the Israeli policies to blackmail Palestinians, insisting that such policies fall under collective punishment. 
link to english.wafa.ps

IOF soldiers round up 12 Palestinians
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched an arrest campaign in various West Bank areas at dawn Tuesday that ended with rounding up 12 citizens.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Women 'detained in Hebron after settlers raid homes'
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- A Palestinian woman was detained in the city of Hebron on Sunday after Israeli settlers raided her house, locals told Ma'an. A group of Israelis from a nearby settlement entered several homes along Shuhada street in the center of town, residents said. Jamila Hassan Abdul Fattah Al-Shalaldeh was accused of attacking settlers after they entered her home and was detained by Israeli forces, locals added. An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
link to www.maannews.net
 
IOF soldiers arrest son of martyr
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Musab Saleh Talahme, 19, near Al-Burj village in Dura town, south of Al-Khalil, on Monday morning, locals said.

Metsada forces attack section 12 of Ofer jail
Special forces from Metsada unit stormed on Saturday section 12 of Ofer jail and ransacked three rooms inside it and cut off power.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israel admits: Administrative detention unnecessary
Michael Omer-Man - +972 - "Less than three weeks after at least 1,400 Palestinians in Israeli prisons launched a widespread hunger strike, Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Thursday made several astounding admissions regarding Israel’s use of administrative detention. In private meetings with security officials, Aharonovitch called for reducing Israel’s use of the practice, applying it `only if there is a need and not in all cases,` according to a Haaretz report"
link to 972mag.com

Other Solidarity / Activism / BDS

Campaign to Boycott Adidas
Palestinian Youth launched a campaign to boycott an international company for its participation in a marathon in occupied Jerusalem.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Respecting BDS Guidelines: Self Determination and International Solidarity
In the Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), we often face criticism from people who wish to stand in solidarity with Palestinians without respecting the boycott guidelines set by Palestinian civil society. Setting guidelines, the argument goes, is too restrictive and rigid, alienating the liberal mainstream from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The alternative proposed by some is to let everyone decide how he or she wants to implement BDS, thus allowing for maximum flexibility and growth for the movement. We are specifically criticized for insisting that internationals and Israelis who wish to support our struggle against Israel’s apartheid and colonial oppression must take their lead from the oppressed—in this case, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), of which PACBI is a small but critical part.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Normalization

Turkish mayor visits Israel, dreams joint projects
He is 1 of 37 mayors from 28 countries in Israel for a four-day conference organized by American Council for World Jewry.
link to www.jpost.com

Turkey and Israel: business as usual after the Mavi Marmara
Economic relations between Turkey and Israel have not been impacted by the political crisis that resulted between the two nations following a raid by Israeli troops on the Mavi Marmara ship, which resulted in the deaths of eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish American. Turkey's top officials declared, following the attack, that Israel would suffer the consequences, describing the incident as “state terror.” Yet although Turkey has taken political measures against Israel, including downgrading diplomatic relations to the level of second secretary, boycotting Israel's national day reception held by its embassy in Ankara and suspending all military agreements, it has so far not taken any concrete economic measures as part of this response.
link to www.todayszaman.com

Israeli Racism

Report: Arson attack targets African migrants in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Two firebombs were thrown at the Tel Aviv home of African residents on Saturday night, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. It is the second such attack of its kind in the last two weeks targeting African residents in south Tel Aviv. In late April, firebombs were thrown at a kindergarten and apartments used by the African community.
link to www.maannews.net

The Tribalism & Latent Racism of Jeremy Ben-Ami, Nima Shirazi
J Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami disavowed support for Peter Beinart's recent settlement boycott call in an with American Jewish establishment bouncer Jeffrey Goldberg just days before Beinart's official book release event at J Street's annual conference.
link to www.wideasleepinamerica.com

Developments / Other News
   
MK takes to Knesset podium for speech in Arabic
Knesset Member Talab El-Sana takes advantage of Knesset's final moments to make speech in Arabic in which he criticized government. MK Eldad: Will propose bill to have Hebrew as only official language.
link to www.ynetnews.com
 
Fatah official: Fayyad will keep PM post after reshuffle
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said Sunday that current Palestinian Authority premier Salam Fayyad is certain to remain head of the government after the coming ministerial reshuffle. President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to announce the new cabinet by Tuesday, his adviser said earlier. Al-Ahmad confirmed earlier reports that Fayyad will keep the prime ministerial post. He cautioned about any discussion about elections, calling it "premature".
link to www.maannews.net

Mashaal starts diplomatic moves to revive stalled reconciliation
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum revealed that head of the political bureau Khaled Mashaal initiated contacts with Egyptian leaders in Cairo and other parties to reactivate the reconciliation file.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk
 
No difference between any political parties in apartheid Israel: Netanyahu in surprise coalition with Kadima
Deal effectively cancels moves by Israeli parliament to clear the way for early elections that the PM had wanted.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Palestinians don’t have high hopes for Mofaz
New unity deal catches Palestinians by surprise but officials doubt change will lead to resumption of peace talks.
link to www.ynetnews.com

U.S. Jewish leader: Release of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard is 'inevitable'
Speaking to Haaretz, Obama supporter Jack Rosen says 'it looks like he'll be released in the next few years – shortly'; this is despite the Obama administration's stated refusal to discuss Pollard's release.
link to www.haaretz.com

The rapist isn't dangerous... Katsav not 'sexually dangerous,' psychiatric evaluation shows
Former president serving seven-year sentence for rape meet with psychiatrist following request to attend son's wedding.
link to www.ynetnews.com
 
Analysis / Op-ed / Human Interest

The “Jordan is Palestine” Scheme is no Illusion
The “Alternative Homeland” is a topic of incessant debate in Jordan. There is vague general agreement that a US-backed Israeli scheme of this kind exists. But many believe it to be consigned to imperialist and Zionist filing cabinets, and that one can therefore suffice, at present, with rejecting it verbally. However, the supporters of naturalization and quota-allocation believe it is merely a scarecrow, whose aim is to perpetuate the “diminished rights of Jordanian-Palestinians.” Hard-line Jordanians, on the other hand, imagine it to be a coup-like “conspiracy” to change the legal status of the Jordanian state along with its name, flag, and institutions in order to create a Palestinian state in the country.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Unified Palestinian Authority: A House of Cards
The idea of a unified political authority consisting of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) factions and other Palestinian factions has come to an end. It is no longer ever mentioned by any leaders of the Palestinian factions. And if they do, it is to make fun of it. Criticism of the unified authority has increased lately from two of its main components, Fatah and Hamas. Such criticism centers on the thought that the unified political authority is actually just an example of the Palestinian government acquiescing to a British demand to speed up the formation of a Palestinian police force. They see this as part of a Western concept of a final resolution to the Palestinian cause in a way that annuls the efficacy of the right of return. But even if this authority serves as a facade for a Western demand, divisions between Fatah and Hamas prevented its creation even before signs of a “foreign conspiracy” appeared.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

The House That Sabri Built, Raja Shehadeh
BEIT IJZA, West Bank — One of the first statements under oath that I took for Al Haq, a human rights organization I helped establish, was from Sabri Garaib, a farmer from Beit Ijza, a Palestinian village ten miles northwest of Jerusalem. I remember sitting on the porch of his house overlooking the garden and the low, undulating hills planted with wheat and barley that spread out on all sides. All 112 acres, I was told, were in danger of being expropriated by the new Jewish settlement of Givon Hahadasha. It was 1982. In the many years since then Sabri repeatedly fought the settlers in order to hold on to his land. He would go to the Military Objection Committee to counter claims challenging his ownership. He would appeal to the Israeli high court, using every recourse available. He would go to jail for fighting off settlers who tried to stop him from farming or for removing fences they’d put up. But the settlement kept growing all around his house, claiming his land one acre at a time.
link to www.palestinemonitor.org

Horowitz smear will only invigorate boycott Israel campaign
David Horowitz’s New York Times attack ad exploits the Holocaust to distract from Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.
link to electronicintifada.net

After LGBT forum, Oren will headline for notorious homophobic pastor John Hagee, Phan Nguyen
What does the Equality Forum’s LGBT Summit and a conference hosted by a notorious homophobic pastor have in common? The same headlining speaker. Last Saturday, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren gave the keynote address at the Equality Forum’s “International Equality Dinner” in Philadelphia. The dinner was part of the Equality Forum’s annual Global LGBT Summit, which this year highlighted Israel as a “featured nation.” Queer activists protested the summit for being used in a “pinkwashing” campaign to cover Israel’s oppression of Palestinians by exploiting queer struggles.
link to mondoweiss.net
 

Time for the Palestinian Oslo Team to Leave!, Hasan Afif El-Hasan
The current leaders of the West Bank Palestinians are physically, politically and financially taken hostages by the Oslo agreements that they negotiated, signed and promoted. Oslo City was the venue of the secret Israeli-Palestinian 'peace agreement.' Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat signed the agreement's 'Declaration of Principles' on the lawns of the White House, hosted by US President Clinton on Sep 13, 1993. Arafat who sold Oslo to his people as 'the peace of the brave' was jailed in his Ramallah headquarters and he allegedly was executed by his Israeli Oslo partners after fulfilling his role in recognizing the State of Israel.
link to palestinechronicle.com

European Politics on Palestine: Interview with David Cronin, Dan Freeman-Maloy
David Cronin is one of the leading public critics of European policies on Palestine. He has written for a variety of publications across Europe, has served as European correspondent for The Sunday Tribune (Dublin) and as Brussels correspondent for the Inter Press Service news agency, and is the author of Europe's Alliance with Israel: Aiding the Occupation (2011). His book – described by Ken Loach as 'essential reading for all who care about justice and the rule of law' – is available here from Pluto Press. 
 
Zionist History: a Short Quiz
Take this test to find out how much you know about the gradual shift in Israeli political thought over the decades. Not long after Israel celebrated its 64th Independence Day on April 26, a friend prepared a quiz of sorts. She read out loud political quotes to about ten guests who were having dinner at my house, and asked us to identify the politician who had uttered each statement. Truth be told, none of my guests did very well on the quiz, but I thought that readers acquainted with Zionist history might do better and would be able to identify the source of each of the following statements. There is only one rule to this game: all search engines, including Google, are off limits.
link to www.counterpunch.org
 
Above is an excerpt of the conversation between the host of 60 Minutes and the Israeli ambassador to the United States, from the 22-Apr installment about the dwindling local Christian community in Palestine/Israel. Governments’ manipulation and influence of the press is nothing new, but why would the Israeli government, an administration considered a friend by many Christians, regarded this program as a “potential strategic terrorist attack”, and went out of its way to interfere with a show which aimed to expose the difficulties faced by the local Christians? Even more bizarre, a Christian organization in the United States joined the effort and mobilized its members in a writing campaign, who then sent more than 16,000 emails to the TV network in just four hours. Why would a “Christian” organization deter a show which sought to raise the awareness of the plight of its fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? 
 

This Year on Nakba, I Am Celebrating!, Samah Sabawi
The passengers' names have finally appeared on the exit list and they have lined up to board the bus in the early hours of the morning. They were finally given permission to leave Gaza, a Palestinian city that has been under Israeli occupation for 44 years and has often been described as the world's largest open-air jail. But things got complicated and the line was held up for nearly one hour as an elderly man insisted on boarding the bus even though he had no travel documents and his name didn't appear on the list.
link to palestinechronicle.com

Zionism, Israel, and Occupation – Book Review, Ludwig Watzal
(Speaking the Truth. Zionism, Israel, and Occupation, edited by Michael Prior, Interlink Publishing, Northampton, MA, 2005, 254 pp.) When the South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu paid his first visit to Palestine, he was shocked by the similarities between his former Apartheid South Africa and the dismal situation under which occupied Palestinians have been living since the establishment of the State of Israel. In his foreword to this outstanding collection of essays, written by 12 internationally respected scholars and experts, he stated: “Now, alas, we see apartheid in Israel, complete with the ‘Separation Wall’ and Bantustans that keep Palestinians rounded up in prisons. History tragically repeats itself. Yet, injustice and oppression will never prevail.”
link to palestinechronicle.com

How Arab revolutionary art helped break the spell of political oppression
Graffiti, murals and other dissident art have transformed public spaces and mobilised public opinion in the Middle East. In January 2011 the Tunisian dictator Ben Ali fled Tunisia. Ten months later, his giant smiling face appeared on the side of a building in the busy port city of La Goulette. At first people just gathered beneath it and stared. Then they started to get angry. Urged on by the crowd, a group of men pulled the dictator's image down. The poster crumpled – and revealed a second poster: "Beware, dictatorship can return. On Oct 23rd, VOTE."
link to www.guardian.co.uk

Ramadan’s Arab Awakening, Robin Yassin-Kassab
A mangled version of this review appeared in the Independent. What is happening in the Middle East? Tariq Ramadan, one of the foremost Muslim intellectuals, calls the contemporary events ‘uprisings’, more concrete and permanent in their effect than ‘revolts’ but still short of thoroughgoing ‘revolutions’.
link to pulsemedia.org

Robert Fisk: Arab Spring has washed the region's appalling racism out of the news
How many tracts, books, documentaries, speeches and doctoral theses have been written and produced about Islamophobia? How many denunciations have been made against the Sarkozys and the Le Pens and the Wilders for their anti-immigration (for which, read largely anti-Muslim) policies or – let us go down far darker paths – against the plague of Breivik-style racism?
link to www.independent.co.uk

That was Jane Harman of Newsweek trying to quash Medea Benjamin’s stellar soliloquy against drones, Philip Weiss
Last week Medea Benjamin wrote about confronting John Brennan on drones at the Wilson Center. I only watched the video today, and was awed by Benjamin's bravery. Watch her being frogmarched from the hall and with perfect timing proclaiming exit lines that would make Shakespeare proud: " I love the rule of law. I love my country. You are making us less safe by killing so many innocent people around the world. Shame on you."
link to mondoweiss.net

Bahrain

Bahrain: Activist arrested over 'insulting' tweets must be freed
A prominent human rights activist detained for posting tweets deemed "insulting" to Bahrain's Ministy of Interior must be released, Amnesty International said. Nabeel Rajab, the director of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was arrested on Saturday evening and has been charged with "insulting a national institution". "This is the Bahraini authorities' latest attempt to clamp down on dissenting voices in the country," said Philip Luther, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. "Nabeel Rajab is a prisoner of conscience and he must be immediately and unconditionally released."
link to www.amnesty.org

Bahrain rights leader arrested for 'offensive' tweets: BCHR
Human rights leader Nabeel Rajab is being held in a Bahraini jail because of comments he made on Twitter, his daughter said on Monday. Rajab, head of the Bahrain Center of Human Rights (BCHR), was arrested on Saturday evening after flying into the country, and was charged with a string of offenses on Sunday afternoon. Maryam al-Khawaja, who has taken over as acting head of the BCHR while Rajab remains incarcerated, said the charges against him were based on comments he had made on the social networking site.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Bahraini rights leader Rajab detained after BBC interview
A Bahraini human rights leader was arrested on Saturday night two weeks after an interview with the BBC that angered the country's autocratic government, an official statement and opposition activists said. Nabeel Rajab, co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), has become a leading figure in the opposition since pro-democracy protests broke out last year and had been on an international tour in which he spoke with media organizations including the BBC.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Bahrain adjourns Khawaja trial for fortnight
A Bahraini court on Tuesday adjourned for two weeks an appeals hearing for 13 dissidents, including Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a prominent activist on a hunger strike, a judicial source said. Eleven of the defendants appeared in court except for Khawaja, who is at a military hospital as he has been on a hunger strike since February 8, and Mirza al-Mahroos, who was also admitted to hospital, the source told AFP. The court demanded both Khawaja – co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) – and Mahroos show up in court when the retrial is to resume on May 22.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Bahrain king opposes reforms
Bahraini security forces have arrested a human rights activist in the country Nabeel Rajab with the interior ministry giving no particular reason for the act.
link to www.presstv.ir

Egypt

Media watchdogs decry Egypt attacks on reporters
Two media rights groups on Tuesday condemned the Egyptian military for assaulting and arresting journalists who were covering a recent violent crackdown on anti-military protesters in Cairo.
link to news.yahoo.com

Egypt judges send 293 to trial for violent protest
Investigating judges sent 293 Egyptians to trial Monday on charges of resisting authorities, damaging public property and carrying knives and fire bombs during an anti-government protest last year.
link to news.yahoo.com

Egypt military extends nightly curfew
Egypt's military rulers decided on Monday to slap a curfew around the defense ministry in central Cairo for a fourth straight night in the wake of deadly clashes ahead of a landmark presidential poll. State-run MENA news agency, quoting a military source, said the overnight curfew would be imposed from 11:00pm until 6:00am local time, like previous nights.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Egypt Presidential Candidate Pledge to Protect Military
The generals’ willingness to submit to civilian authority will determine whether last year’s uprising lives up to its billing as a democratic revolution or amounts instead to a coup.
link to www.nytimes.com

Amr Moussa: the Camp David Treaty is a Dead Letter
The Eygptian Presidential nominee, Amr Moussa, reiterated that the Camp David treaty, signed by Israel and Eygpt in 1979, is a dead letter, the Maan News Agency reported Sunday morning.
link to www.imemc.org

Sabbahi says he would tear up Israel peace treaty
Presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi has said that if it were up to him, he would tear into pieces the peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979. The Nasserist candidate said he would not recognize a Zionist entity that usurps Arab land. In an interview with the Iranian Fars News Agency, Sabbahi said he is committed to any international treaty signed by Egypt so long as the Egyptian Parliament has not amended it or its cancellation is put to a public referendum.
link to www.egyptindependent.com

Moussa leads Egyptian presidential race
Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa remains the most likely winner in the upcoming Egyptian presidential election, a poll released on Monday found. Moussa received the backing of 39 percent of the electorate, 15 percent clear of his nearest rival just two weeks ahead of the official polling day, the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies poll found. Former Muslim Brotherhood member Abul Fotouh came second with 24.5 percent, followed by former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq with 17.2 percent.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Brotherhood leader backs Abouel Fotouh
A leader of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party announced his support for the presidential hopeful and former Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh Saturday. On his Facebook account, Freedom and Justice Party leader Hassan al-Beshbashy wrote that Abouel Fotouh was  "key proponent of the Islamic awakening in the 1970's and the second founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
link to www.egyptindependent.com

April 6 movement to stage anti-Shafiq protest
The April 6 Youth Movement said on Monday that it will stage a silent protest in the city of Khanka coinciding with a rally for presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq there. Mahmoud Afify, head of the movement’s media office and political bureau, said the move is in line with the general opposition to presidential candidates associated with the former regime. “We ensure, through our actions, that the victory of those people is a reproduction of the former regime and the defeat of the revolution,” Afify added, referring to organizing protests and distributing flyers to showcase their past association with the regime and to warn of the consequences of electing them.
link to www.egyptindependent.com

Presidential Sidelining: a Blow for Egyptian Democracy
Egypt’s first-ever democratic presidential election seems to be heading toward a showdown between two main candidates. Crucially, the machinations of the presidential elections commission have ensured that the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is not fielding a serious contender. Far from celebrating this weakening of the MB’s chances of winning the presidency, secularists should be worried about what it means for the development of democracy in Egypt.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Egyptians take Tahrir Square to the junta's doorstep
Violent clashes at Abbassia Square, a stone's throw from the defence ministry, suggest Egypt has a new battleground. Egypt's military junta (known as Scaf, short for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces), has learned to live with the vitriol and revolutionary bravado reaching it from Tahrir Square in the distant city centre.
link to www.guardian.co.uk

Cairo subway
A reader in Cairo sent me this:  "Two days ago, the New York Times published an article () praising the "dependability" and "efficiency" of Cairo's subway amid the "chaos" above ground. But the article failed to even mention that, many times over the past year, subway trains in Cairo have systematically skipped station stops close to ongoing protests or sit-ins in order to curtail the inflow of protestors and not allow those already there to flee from thugs and arbitrary detention. The very next day, near the Abassiya area, a brave man threw his body in front of one such subway train that was refusing to stop, so that hundreds crammed in the station have a chance to escape violence and the prospect of arrest. Here is the unbelievable video."
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/05/cairo-subway.html

Egyptian Delegation in Saudi Arabia,  AbuKhalil
The visit by an Egyptian delegation to Saudi Arabia was illustrative. It shows that not only Lebanese politicians excel at the art of prostration before the kings of oil and gas. The origin of the idea of the visit is contested: the Egyptian Parliament’s speaker claimed that the idea was his alone, while ambitious Egyptian liberal politician, Ayman Nour — a man desperate for a role at any cost — claimed that it was his idea.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Iran

Iran slams West's nuclear double standards
Western powers are mounting pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program, while supplying Israel with nuclear capable submarines, a double standard noted by Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday. The broadside by the ministry's spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast appeared to be a response to a US call the previous day for Iran to take "urgent practical steps" to build confidence ahead of nuclear talks with six major powers in Baghdad on May 23.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

India tells US that Iran an important oil source
India said Tuesday it shared the United States' goal of preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon, but insisted the Islamic republic remained an "important source of oil".
link to news.yahoo.com

Hillary Clinton to drill India on Iranian oil
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on a three-day visit to India. At the top of the agenda is the country's imports of Iranian oil despite US sanctions.
link to rss.csmonitor.com

Iran and the US Anti-War Movement
This article is based on a talk given at the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) Conference on 24 March 2012 in Stamford, Connecticut. It was part of a workshop called, “Solidarity Not Intervention,” organized by Raha Iranian Feminist Collective. Just before this workshop, the conference overwhelmingly voted down a resolution put forward by Raha and Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions, and State Repression that read: “We oppose war and sanctions against the Iranian people and stand in solidarity with their struggle against state repression and all forms of outside intervention"
link to www.jadaliyya.com

Iraq

Interpol issues warrant for Iraqi VP
Organisation issues 'Red Notice' alert for Tariq al-Hashemi on suspicion of guiding and financing terrorist attacks.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Iraq VP: Judge Supervised Torture of Guards
Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi again claimed that his guards have been tortured while in detention on trumped-up terrorism charges. Meanwhile, at least eight Iraqis were killed and 27 more were wounded.
link to original.antiwar.com

Iraqi Leaders Threaten No Confidence Vote For Maliki
A letter on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was released to the public through a state newspaper yesterday. Four senior politicians, who had met last month in Kurdistan, sent the letter summarizing coalition demands to Maliki's political bloc. Meanwhile, light violence over the weekend left eight killed and nine wounded.
link to original.antiwar.com

Iraq court rules to release Hezbollah prisoner
An Iraqi court on Monday declared a Hezbollah commander accused of killing U.S. solders in Iraq in 2007 not guilty for lack of evidence and ruled that he be set free.
link to news.yahoo.com

Lebanon

Lebanon seizes ammunition on ship in Tripoli
Lebanese authorities have seized 60,000 rounds of ammunition hidden in two cars on an Italian container ship docked at Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli, a security source said on Tuesday. The source did not say where the shipment was heading. But Syria has repeatedly said weapons are being smuggled over its border from Lebanon and other countries to arm rebels fighting President Bashar Assad.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Lebanese protest against confessionalism
More than 1,000 people marched in the Lebanese capital on Sunday calling for the establishment of a secular state in the country which is ruled by a system of power-sharing along religious lines.
link to news.yahoo.com

Will secularists be given recognition and rights in Lebanon?
Activists are marching again today for citizenship and law changes on domestic violence, rape and censorship. You don't become a Lebanese citizen by being born in Lebanon. Nor is having a Lebanese mother enough – or even living in the country for your whole life. In fact, you're only recognised as a Lebanese citizen if you belong to one of the country's 18 legally recognised religious groups. Without belonging to one, you can't get married or divorced, or resolve child custody or inheritance issues.
link to www.guardian.co.uk

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Liberals Take to The Web
A group of Saudi liberals are planning to commemorate May 7 as “Saudi Liberalism Day” in a challenge to the dominant hard-line religious current that has already provoked a frenzy of verbal and electronic attacks against the organizers.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Syria

Red Cross: 1.5 million in Syria lack basics
Fighting in parts of Syria has morphed into local guerrilla wars, the Red Cross said Tuesday, where the number of prisoners remains unknown and 1.5 million people need help getting food, water, shelter, power and sanitation.
link to news.yahoo.com

Red Cross seeks more Syria funds
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appeals for an extra $27m (£17m) for its operations in Syria, saying humanitarian needs remain huge.
link to www.bbc.co.uk

Exclusive: Sanctions block Syria's vital grain trade
LONDON (Reuters) - Syria is finding it increasingly hard to buy grain on international markets because sanctions have blocked its access to trade finance, while growing numbers of its citizens are struggling to obtain food after more than a year of conflict. The European Union, the United States and other Western countries have imposed sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's government in response to his bloody crackdown on a revolt that has cost more than 10,000 lives.
link to news.yahoo.com

Sanctions cost Syria $3bn: minister
Western sanctions on Syrian oil exports have cost the country nearly US$3 billion dollars in losses, Petroleum Minister Sufian Allaw said on Tuesday. "The petroleum sector has suffered significant losses due to sanctions, and Syria has reduced its production," the minister said in a statement. Output has been cut by 35 million barrels per day (bpd), since the European Union and the United States imposed their sanctions in April last year, he said.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Islamist group claims revenge suicide bombing in Syrian city of Hama
An Islamist group calling itself Al-Nusra Front has claimed responsibility on the Internet for a deadly suicide bombing near the Syrian city of Hama last month, the SITE Monitoring Service said Saturday.
link to english.alarabiya.net

Free Syrian Army 'regrouping'
Opposition fighters tell Al Jazeera they are using the lull in fighting to amass arms.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Syria holds parliament vote; opposition boycotts
Syrians cast ballots Monday in parliamentary elections billed by the regime as key to President Bashar Assad's political reforms, but the opposition dismissed the vote as a sham meant to preserve his autocratic rule.
link to news.yahoo.com

Syrian regime can't last 'very long': Turkish leader
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said here on Monday that Syria's regime cannot not continue in power for long and urged the international community to stop a humanitarian crisis.
link to news.yahoo.com

Syrian Parliamentary Elections: Cynicism Wins The Day
Syria’s parliamentary elections are being met with cynicism on the streets of Damascus despite being billed as the first multi-party elections the country has seen in decades.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Sarkozy forced out, Assad still in power: Syrian press
A Syrian daily on Monday hailed the defeat in France's presidential elections of Nicolas Sarkozy, whose foreign minister Alain Juppe had raised the prospect of military intervention to end the crisis. "The Sarkozy-Juppe duo in the dustbin of history," announced the front page headline of pro-government daily, Al-Watan. "These two worked for 15 months to find a way, through the UN Security Council, to destroy Syria using false pretexts," said the newspaper.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

How the Syrian Uprising Started, the "Rise" of the Syrian National Council, and The Role of The Arab Gulf Countries: Interview with Haytham Manna` (Part 3)
On April 27th, around the Jadaliyya Co-Sponsored Conference at Lund University ("Contesting Narratives, Location Power"), I sat down for an extensive interview with Haytham Manna`, one of the icons of the independent Syrian opposition and a leading founder of the National Coordinating Body for Democratic Change (in Syria). The interview was long and candid, and addressed several topics, including the current impasse in Syria, the stages and transformation of the uprising, the questions of international intervention and of resistance, the Syrian National Council and its relations with other opposition groups and the Arab Gulf States and beyond, and the relationship between Syria and Hizballah. Below you will find the third part of the 4-part interview.This segment addresses the beginnings of the Syrian uprising, the "rise" of the Syrian National Council, and, briefly but potently, the role of the Arab Gulf countries. The first part can be found here and the second part can be found here.
link to www.jadaliyya.com

Other Arab & World News

Jordan, Forever on the Brink, Marc Lynch
The sudden, unprecedented resignation by Jordan's Prime Minister Awn Khasawnah last week threw a sudden spotlight on the ongoing shortcomings of political reform in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The deficient new election law rolled out last month, like every step the King has taken over the last year and a half, did too little, too late to respond to the concerns of Jordanian citizens. Limited reforms have done little to stem a rising tide of protest across the towns of the south, a deeply struggling economy, loud complaints of corruption, and an intensifying edge of political anger. Add in the potential impact of the ongoing crisis in Syria or of a new escalation in the West Bank, and concerns for Jordan's political future seem merited.
link to lynch.foreignpolicy.com

Former Libyan rebels attack interim government HQ
Former Libyan rebels angry over unpaid stipends opened fire on the headquarters of the interim government on Tuesday after surrounding the building.
link to news.yahoo.com

US should return stolen land to Indian tribes, says United Nations
UN's correspondent on indigenous peoples urges government to act to combat 'racial discrimination' felt by Native Americans. A United Nations investigator probing discrimination against Native Americans has called on the US government to return some of the land stolen from Indian tribes as a step toward combatting continuing and systemic racial discrimination.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/04/us-stolen-land-indian-tribes-un

NATO kills as many as 20 civilians in two Afghan provinces
Reports: There were conflicting accounts on the number of deaths in Bala Murghab district of northwestern Badghis province, where unconfirmed reports put the civilian deaths at 14. An airstrike Friday killed six members of a family in the Sangin area of southern Helmand province. 
 
Sarkozy’s Loss in Part due to his Islamophobia, Juan Cole
The bad economy in France and outgoing President Francois Sarkozy’s refusal to do a stimulus program, preferring instead “austerity,” were the primary reasons he lost the election to Socialist Francois Hollande. That and Sarkozy really is an annoying, strutting peacock who wore out his political welcome among voters. But some of the margin of his defeat came from his pandering to the discourse of the French anti-immigrant far right, which he did especially vocally after he was forced into a run-off against Hollande. Sarkozy said there are too many “foreigners” (he meant immigrants) in France, that police should have greater leeway to shoot fleeing suspects, that the far right are upstanding citizens. He even talked about “people who look Muslim.”
link to www.juancole.com
 
In the past ten days, 5 people of different professions and area of residence committed suicide due to the financial crisis and the Memorandum policy. 
link to greece.greekreporter.com

Lawyers say 9/11 five using 'peaceful resistance' in court
The five 9/11 accused took a path of "peaceful resistance" at a marathon Guantanamo hearing to protest years of torture and inhumane treatment, their lawyers said Sunday.
link to news.yahoo.com

www.TheHeadlines.Org

 
]]> http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/battle-of-the-empty-stomachs-thaer-halahleh-and-bilal-diab-surpass-70-days-on-hunger-strike.html/feed 7 Israel destroys al-Araqib for the 38th time http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/israel-destroys-al-araqib-for-the-38th-time.html http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/israel-destroys-al-araqib-for-the-38th-time.html#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 13:41:26 +0000 Kate http://mondoweiss.net/?p=75217 link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

Israeli authorities raze Araqib village for 38th time
NEGEV (PIC) 7 May -- The Israeli authorities razed the Palestinian village of Araqib in the Negev desert for the 38th time running. Eyewitnesses said that Israeli army and police forces escorted military bulldozers and heavy tractors and encircled the village. They said that the troops tore down the tents that the inhabitants had pitched over their destroyed homes.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

Jewish National Fund resumes forestation project in Al Araqib / Mairav Zonszein
972mag 7 May -- After having their homes destroyed by the State over 30 times in the last two years, the residents of al-Arakib can do little else but watch as a forest is built on the ruins of their homes ... JNF equipment escorted by heavy police presence showed up Monday morning and sealed off the entrance to the village.  Families and activists watched from the village cemetery, the only spot that has been deemed untouchable due to its historic and emotional significance. Residents told +972 that JNF representatives gave their word in private conversations a couple of months ago that they would not plant on a specific plot of land -- known as plot 24 -- since it is the subject of an ongoing court case, however this morning they prepared this precise piece of land for cultivation.
link to 972mag.com

State of Israel dispossesses Negev Bedouin / Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam 7 May -- Photo: Nuri el Okbi, Negev indigenous activist, imprisoned for 'being Bedouin without a license'  --  ... The government’s plan is based on the wrong assumption that Bedouins have no land ownership rights, and a Supreme Court appeal is now the only way to stop these draconian plans. Therefore, it is highly important to lodge an appeal on the el-Okbi Land Case ... In order to be eligible to lodge such an appeal, however, el-Okbi must pay no later than May 10 the punitive 'court expenses' which had been imposed on him by the Be’er Sheba Court, as well as rendering various other legal fees – altogether amounting to the sum of 70,000 Shekels (about 20,000 US dollars). This amount Nuri and his family – who have already spent considerable funds on ongoing legal procedures ever since 1973 – are unable to pay from their own resources.
We therefore call upon you to provide an urgent donation and give Nuri el-Okbi a chance to try redressing a blatant miscarriage of justice. Checks should be sent to: Yoav Haas POB 1335 Kfar-Sava, Israel 44113
link to www.richardsilverstein.com

Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing

Israel to evict Palestinian family from its Jerusalem home
JERUSALEM, May 7, 2012 (WAFA) – A Palestinian family from Jerusalem Monday received an Israeli court eviction order from its house in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem in order to hand it over to settlers, according to the family. The order was issued in the name of Fatima Salamieh, who has been living in her Sheikh Jarrah house since the 1950s. Israeli groups claim the house and the entire area where the house is located is owned by Jews and that they were claiming it back. Several Palestinian families have lost their homes in the same neighborhood and under the same pretext in recent months.
link to english.wafa.ps

Israeli authorities order construction on road to stop
JERUSALEM, May 6, 2012 (WAFA) – The Israeli authorities Sunday ordered residents of Beit Sorik, a village northwest of Jerusalem, to halt the construction work on one of the village’s agricultural roads, under the pretext of lacking a building permit, according to local sources. They told WAFA that Israeli forces stormed the village, handed the local council in the village several notices to stop the construction work on the two-kilometer road, and confiscated a road roller compactor. Villagers said that the road has been used for hundreds of years by farmers to reach their agricultural lands, which form the only source of livelihood, located on top of mountains and in steep valleys.
link to english.wafa.ps

Israeli forces demolish water well east of Hebron
HEBRON, May 6, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Sunday demolished a water well in an area southwest of the town of Bani Na’im, east of Hebron, according to local sources. They told WAFA that forces demolished a water well and uprooted three old olive trees belonging to one of the town’s residents.
link to english.wafa.ps


Rejecting state request, High Court orders demolition of West Bank outpost to go forward
Haaretz 7 May -- The High Court of Justice rejected on Monday an appeal by the state to reconsider the demolition of illegally-built structures in the Ulpana neighborhood, part of the West Bank settlement of Beit El ... In their ruling, the justices wrote that it was especially important for the state to honor its obligations to the High Court, adding that, by "accepting the state's position, according to which the need to revisit policy is a reason to reopen a finalized process, my lead to difficult consequences."
link to www.haaretz.com

Israeli officials: Knesset must approve West Bank outpost condemned by High Court
Haaretz 7 May -- The Knesset must quickly advance a law to bypass the Supreme Court and approve the West Bank outpost of Ulpana, a senior Likud MK said on Monday, following the High Court of Justice's rejection of a state bid to forestall Ulpana's demolition ... "The current High Court's ruling exactly showcases the need for High Court-bypassing laws, to pass flash legislation, and to sanction the neighborhood," [Likud MK Danny] Danon said, adding that it was "public officials, headed by the Likud government, are the ones to decide on essential issues of values, not the High Court which does not represent the will of the people, but their own views." "The Ulpana neighborhood will not be evacuated," he added.
link to www.haaretz.com

IDF order in '97 paved way for construction of flashpoint West Bank neighborhood
Haaretz 7 May by Akiva Eldar -- Military order came to light as part of state's request to delay the evacuation of the Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El -- The state's request to delay the evacuation of the Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El reveals that a military order, giving the settlement jurisdiction over lands outside its borders, was part of the process leading to the construction of those homes.
link to www.haaretz.com

Palestinian students at Israeli college say they were forced to stand to honor war dead / Annie Robbins
Mondoweiss 6 May -- Palestinian ['Israeli Arab' in Israeli parlance] students were forced to stand to honor an Israeli memorial day ceremony at Western Galilee College in Northern Israel in April, according to new reports. Benches were watered down so the students couldn't sit, they said, and the doors and gates were locked so they couldn't leave the premises.
link to mondoweiss.net

Violence / Raids / Provocations

Woman 'detained in Hebron after settlers raid homes'
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 6 May -- A Palestinian woman was detained in the city of Hebron on Sunday after Israeli settlers raided her house, locals told Ma‘an. A group of Israelis from a nearby settlement entered several homes along Shuhada street in the center of town, residents said. Jamila Hassan Abdul Fattah Al-Shalaldeh was accused of attacking settlers after they entered her home and was detained by Israeli forces, locals added.
link to www.maannews.net

University student hit in the eye with an Israeli bullet at protest
RAMALLAH (PIC) 6 May -- A 21-year-old Palestinian student was hit in his right eye with a bullet fired by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) while quelling a peaceful pro-prisoners rally near Ofer jail south of Ramallah on Saturday. Local sources told the PIC reporter that Mousa Al-Shi’ani was hospitalized in moderate to serious condition, noting that the IOF refused to allow him treatment in a Jerusalem hospital at the pretext of a security ban.
https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/palhunger-university-student-hit-in-the-eye-with-an-israeli-bullet-at-protest/

'Undercover Israeli combatants threw stones at IDF soldiers in West Bank'
Haaretz 7 May --Testimony by commander of the Israeli Prison Service's elite 'Masada' unit sheds light on IDF methods in countering demonstrations against barrier -- Undercover soldiers hurled stones in the "general direction" of IDF soldiers as part of their activity to counter weekly demonstrations in the Palestinian village of Bil‘in, the commander of the Israeli Prison Service's elite "Masada" unit revealed during his recent testimony in the trial of MK Mohammed Barakeh (Hadash). Barakeh has been charged with assaulting a border guard in Bil'in who was attempting to arrest a demonstrator.
link to www.haaretz.com

Commander admits: Undercover Israeli officers threw stones at soldiers in Bil‘in / Haggai Matar
[with Gush Shalom video of the demo] 972mag 7 May -- At the time, almost nobody believed what the activists had said. The village of Bil‘in was organizing one of its first mass demonstrations against the fence built on its lands, in the very early days of the local popular struggle. Organizers made a special point of making sure that no stones would be thrown at the soldiers at any point of this specific demonstration, in April 2005, even if the soldiers were to attack first – which was and to this day still is the trigger to attacks against them. However, as the demonstration progressed towards the construction site of the fence, several young men of Arab appearance, unknown to organizers and thought to have come from neighboring villages, started throwing stones, giving the soldiers the queue cue they needed to disperse the demonstration with tear gas and make arrests. According to several witnesses, leaders in the popular struggle approached the young men and asked them to stop throwing stones – at which point the strangers pulled out concealed guns and handcuffs and arrested the people who asked them to stop. It would later be made known that these were combatants in the IPS elite anti-riot unit Metzada ("Masada"), lent to the army to infiltrate demonstrations and make them violent. And yet – most Israelis would not believe this story.
link to 972mag.com

Military 'approves demolition of Awarta convicts homes'
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma‘an) 6 May -- The heads of Israel's military on Sunday decided to demolish the homes of two Palestinians convicted of murdering an Israeli family last year, Israeli media said ... The move -- recommended by Israel's internal security service the Shin Bet -- will be subject to legal scrutiny in coming weeks by the Israeli parliamentary legal advisers, the report said. Lawyer with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel Tamar Feldman told Ma‘an: "Demolishing the houses of families of convicted criminals, despicable as their crimes may be, is collective punishment, which is absolutely banned under international law." The army ceased home demolitions as a punitive measure in 2005 after an internal committee ruled there was no evidence the practice was effective as a deterrent, she said.
link to www.maannews.net

Gaza

Egyptian authorities block entry of international delegation of investors to Gaza
CAIRO (PIC) 7 May – The Egyptian authorities blocked on Sunday the entry of a 124-member delegation of international investors into Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing despite obtaining prior approval. The Cairo-based Palestinian affairs center said in a statement that the Egyptian security authorities at Rafah border point claimed that the delegation, from 16 countries, did not obtain prior coordination necessary for its entry. The center said that the authorities at the crossing summoned additional forces and threatened to return the participants by force. It held the Egyptian authorities responsible for any harm done to members of the delegation.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

Egypt forces seize fuel truck headed to Gaza tunnels
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 6 May -- Egyptian authorities on Sunday seized a fuel truck headed to tunnels under the border with Gaza Strip, security officials said. Security forces confiscated 10 thousand liters of fuel carried by the truck in the northern Sinai, the official told Ma‘an. Egypt moved in February to shut down fuel deliveries to Gaza via the tunnel network -- used to bring goods into the blockaded coastal strip -- sparking a fuel shortage that caused widespread blackouts.
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli agricultural body considers Gaza tomato import
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 7 May -- An Israeli agricultural body is considering importing tomatoes from the Gaza Strip in response to a sudden price increase, Israeli media said Sunday ... Gaza would be ready to export tomatoes to Israel if there was an official request, Palestinian border crossing official Raed Fattouh told Ma‘an in response. Israeli military forces control the export process of Palestinian products into Israeli markets, Fattouh said, adding that the Palestinian Authority has not received any official request to export vegetables to Israel.
link to www.maannews.net

Israel 'must lift blockade, not only for tomatoes'
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 7 May -- Israel must lift its blockade on Gaza and stop limiting exports to the needs of the Israeli market, the deputy agricultural minister said Monday ... Ibrahim al-Qudra told Ma'an that Israel must allow Gaza traders to export all goods rather than allow selective produce to leave the enclave based on the needs of the Israeli economy ... "When the crossings are officially opened, we will respond to Israel, but we refuse the control of crossings based on Israel’s personal benefits," he added. The deputy minister also said that Gaza had exported hundreds of thousands of tons of tomatoes to Israel prior to the blockade, but said Israel closed the crossing to cut off competition to its local produce.
link to www.maannews.net

Gaza: New study shows strong correlation between birth defects and white phosphorus exposure of parents / Fabio De Ponte
4 May -- According to a new scientific study there is "a strong correlation of birth defects newborns and parent's exposure to attacks with white phosphorus": at the registration at birth 27% of parents with birth defect children declared exposure to white phosphorus while only 1.7% of parents with normal children made the same declaration. The report entitled "Birth Defects in Gaza: Prevalence, Types, Familiarity and Correlation with Environmental Factors", published today by International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, was carried out by a team of Palestinian and Italian researchers at the Al Shifa hospital, where 28% of total births in Gaza Strip occur.
link to www.uruknet.info

Hunger strikes

Israeli court rules against Palestinian hunger-strikers
JERUSALEM (Reuters) 7 May -- Israel's Supreme Court turned down on Monday an appeal by two Palestinians, who have been on hunger strike for nearly 70 days, to free them from detention without trial. But in its decision, released by the justice ministry, the court said security authorities should consider freeing them for medical reasons. Administrative detainees Bilal Diab, 27, from Jenin, and Thaer Halahla, 33, from Hebron -- are in a precarious condition after refusing food since Feb. 29, a doctor from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said this week.
link to www.maannews.net

In ruling against hunger strikers, Israel High Court shows its fear of security services / Ali Abunimah
EI 7 May -- Today, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, two Palestinian prisoners who have been on hunger strike for 70 days against their detention without charge or trial and are close to death. Yet the judges also appeared to send a signal that Israeli authorities should find a way not to let the men die in custody.
link to electronicintifada.net

Dying to live: the stories of our hunger strikers / Lina Alsaafin
EI 7 May -- Today, Palestinian prisoners Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh entered their 70th day on hunger strike. Hasan Safadi has entered his 64th day; Omar Abu Shalal his 62nd day; Mohammad al-Taj his 51st day; Ja’far Ezzedine his 47th day; Mahmoud Sarsak his 46th day. I interviewed and spoke with some of the families of these prisoners. I first went to see Hasan Safadi’s family in their house in the old city of Nablus ... Hasan’s mother revealed that she doesn’t sleep because she is afraid she’ll see Hasan dead in her dreams. She has collapsed more than once and had to be taken to the hospital numerous times for conducting her own hunger strike in solidarity with her son. I saw her again on Saturday when she came to the solidarity tent set up in Ramallah’s city center, and asked her how her morale was. She nodded and whispered "Hamdulilah" ("Praise to God") ... This diabetic 65-year-old mother, whose oldest son was killed by Israeli soldiers back in 1996, is clearly exhausted: "I don’t want Hasan to know of my hunger strike," she said speaking softly. "I don’t want him to worry about me. One of my grandchildren wanted to write on his Facebook page about my hunger strike but I forbade him from doing so."
link to electronicintifada.net

70 days for Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh as their appeal is rejected - take action for 2500 prisoners on hunger strike
Samidoun 7 May -- Act now - send a letter to Israeli authorities [addresses supplied] expressing your outrage and demanding full implementation of the prisoners’ demands Tweet now: 70 Days of #PalHunger for #BilalDiab #ThaerHalahleh, 20 Days of Empty Stomachs for 2500 #PalestinianPrisoners. Act now: link to samidoun.ca.
Addameer reported that: Both Thaer Halahleh and Bilal Diab’s petitions to the Israeli High Court regarding their administrative detention orders were rejected today. They are on their 70th day of hunger strike and at immediate risk of death. In complete disregard to their critical medical condition, the Court stated in their decision that "hunger strikes are not relevant to decide on length of administrative detention as such."
link to samidoun.ca

IOA offers deportation for Halahle, Dhiab in return for ending hunger strike
RAMALLAH (PIC) 6 May -- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has offered the release and deportation to Gaza for each of Thaer Halahle and Bilal Dhiab in return for ending their hunger strike. Detainee Azzam Dhiab, the brother of Bilal, said that he was surprised at the presence of Askalan jail wardens in his cell on Sunday morning. He said that they asked him to go with them to Ramle prison hospital to convince his brother and Halahle to agree to end their strike in return for their deportation to Gaza. Azzam, who is serving a life sentence and who has been on hunger strike for the 41st day in solidarity with his brother, refused, saying that he would not be used as a pressure tool on his brother. He said that the wardens told him that his brother and Halahle had turned down the offer.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

PFLP leader Saadat refuses to negotiate with Israelis on hunger strike
RAMALLAH (PIC) 7 May -- Secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmed Saadat refused an Israeli request to negotiate with him regarding the hunger strike. Saadat told a lawyer from Al-Dameer association that a committee from Shabas, the Israeli prison authority, visited him last Tuesday in order to discuss the issue of the collective hunger strike in Israeli jails. Saadat told the committee members that he would not accept anything less than the demands set by the captive movement and the committee representing the hunger strikers. The PFLP official also told them that he was not the party that is entitled to talk about this issue, reiterating his commitment to the decisions taken by the hunger strike committee.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

MP Natshe asks for doctors to visit and examine him
GAZA (PIC) 6 May -- The captive MP Mohammed Jamal Natsheh, after being on an open hunger strike since 20 days, called for the urgent need to send him specialist doctors to see his deteriorating health condition.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Nafha prisoners: We will start second stage of our strike
RAMALLAH (PIC) 7 May – Palestinian prisoners who are on hunger strike in the Israeli Nafha jail said in a message that they would start on Monday the second stage of their hunger strike. They said in a message on Sunday that after 20 days of "legendary steadfastness" they decided to start the second stage of their hunger strike, which, they said, would contain a lot of surprises for the "Zionist enemy" ... The prisoners said that the Israeli responses to the strike did not meet the minimum of their demands, affirming that they would proceed in their battle till those demands were met.
https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/palhunger-nafha-prisoners-we-will-start-second-stage-of-our-strike/

Abu Zahri: PA arrest of prisoners' supporters could abort the strike
GAZA (PIC) 6 May -- Hamas denounced the broad arrest campaign launched by PA in occupied West Bank against students from Birzeit and Abu Dis Universities on the backdrop of their participation in a march organized in solidarity with the hunger striking prisoners in the occupation jails, as well as chasing the injured in Ofer prison’s events and detaining some of them. Abu Zahri said in a press statement on Sunday: "These arrests confirm the complicity of PA against the prisoners’ strike and its quest to quell all voices that are in solidarity with the hunger strikers."
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

10 hunger strikers moved to clinics as Fatah eyes deal
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 7 May -- Ten detainees in a southern Israeli jail were transferred to medical facilities after 21 days on hunger-strike, prisoners told Ma‘an on Monday. Inmates at Nafha jail in the Negev said prison doctors had diagnosed hunger-striker Shadi al-Rekhawi, from Gaza, with partial paralysis.
On Saturday a representative for Fatah prisoners said detained affiliates accepted half of the proposals made by an Israeli committee in response to the demands of hunger strikers. Fatah-affiliated detainees said Monday that representatives will hold a meeting with prison authorities in Ramon jail, which they described as "the moment of decision" whether remaining Fatah detainees will join the hunger-strike. Around 500 of 3,000 Fatah affiliates are on hunger strike, along with 1,500 detainees linked to other political parties, the representatives said.
But Yousef Rizqa, political adviser to Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, warned on Monday that Israel was trying to use party affiliations to sow rifts between the hunger-strikers.
link to www.maannews.net

Barghouthi: Prisoners united behind hunger strikers
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 7 May -- Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi said Sunday that Palestinian prisoners would remain united to support detainees on hunger-strike. Prisoners affiliated to different political factions and in prisons across Israel all support the hunger strikers, who are "fighting a battle for freedom and dignity," the Fatah leader said in a letter received by Ma‘an. Commenting on negotiating with Israeli prison authorities, Barghouthi said that the hunger strike committee is the only body authorized to take decisions on behalf of the strike action.
link to www.maannews.net

Meeting between Fatah detainees and jailers to end hunger strike
RAMALLAH (PIC [Hamas site]) 7 May --  A meeting took place in Ramon jail Monday morning between Israeli officials from the prison authority Shabas and many Fatah prisoners who were brought from different other prisons in order to discuss the formation of a committee aimed at breaking the hunger strike of Fatah prisoners. A senior Fatah official, who is a prisoner in Ofer jail, said in a leaked letter sent to the Palestinian information center (PIC) that Israeli prison officials embarked in the morning on arranging for their meeting with Fatah leaders in prison. The prisoner affirmed that those leaders would delegate one of them to coordinate with the Israeli prison authority on the steps to be taken to convince or force Fatah prisoners to break their hunger strike.
Informed sources from inside Israeli jails reported that 65 Fatah prisoners ended their hunger strike on Sunday, most notably, prisoner Naser Abu Hamid. after they were pressured by the leadership of Fatah faction. The Fatah leadership threatened those prisoners to freeze their membership and their financial rights for two years if they did not end their hunger strike immediately.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

Video: Solidarity to Bilal, Thaer and the hunger strikers from Irish striker Laurence McKeoun
Samidoun 7 May -- In 1981, Laurence McKeown took part in the Irish Hunger Strike that was led by Bobby Sands. Laurence endured 70 days without food before ending his fast. Today, 2 Palestinian men, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, are on day 70 of their Hunger Strike in an Israeli prison. Plus, over 2,000 other Palestinians are about to enter their 4th week on Hunger Strike. As Bilal and Thaer suffer in their protest, Laurence sends them a message of support and solidarity.
link to samidoun.ca

Detention

IOF soldiers arrest three students including son of MP, confiscate PCs and cellphones
NABLUS (PIC) 6 May -- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested three Palestinian university students from the Najah university in Nablus including the son of MP Omar Abdul Razek ... The MP’s wife told Quds Press that IOF soldiers encircled their home in Salfit city at 0200 am local time and blasted their front door. She described the IOF break and entry as savage. She said that the soldiers searched the house using police dogs and confiscated three personal computers and a number of mobile phones before taking away her son Mohammed. The wife said that her son was expected to complete his university studies in economics in two weeks, adding that he was held in Israeli custody for three months last year.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

IOF rounds up five Palestinians
WEST BANK (PIC) 7 May -- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up five Palestinians in various West Bank areas at dawn Monday, PIC reporters said. They said that the IOF soldiers stormed several West Bank cities and villages and arrested five citizens, but no names were available. PIC reporter in Jenin said that IOF soldiers stormed three villages in Jenin, arrested a citizen, and questioned a number of others.
The reporter quoted local sources in Tamon village, Tobas province, as saying that an unprecedented IOF military campaign was witnessed in the village at dawn Monday, adding that IOF soldiers burst into the village from various entrances and broke into 15 houses. The sources said that Omar Bani Odeh was arrested while the homes of seven others of the same family were stormed including one of a prisoner.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Army kidnapped 29 Palestinians on roadblocks in April
IMEMC 7 May -- ...Ahmad Tubassy, a lawyer and a legal researcher at the International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights reported that Israeli soldiers deliberately humiliate the residents at roadblocks, close them at will, and deliberately force the residents to wait in some cases for several hours. Tubassy said that the Israeli army kidnapped 29 Palestinians at the roadblocks after handcuffing and blindfolding them for several hours, and then took them to unknown destinations. He said that these roadblocks are usually installed on main roads and junctions linking different Palestinian cities and towns leading to their isolation. In these cases the roadblocks were mainly around the West Bank districts of Nablus, Ramallah and Bethlehem. Despite repeated Israeli claims of easing restrictions on roadblocks in the West Bank, and claims that it has removed many roadblocks, freedom of movement of Palestinians remains severely restricted especially due to dozens of 'flying' roadblocks that the soldiers install and dismantle at will.
link to www.imemc.org

Arab League asks UN to hold session on Palestinian prisoners
CAIRO (PIC) 7 May -- The Arab League decided to ask the UN general assembly to convene a special session to discuss the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. This came in an extraordinary meeting held Sunday by the Arab League at the level of permanent representatives who listened to a report about the inhumane practices and violations which the prisoners and hunger strikers are exposed to in Israeli jails. The Arab League also called on the UN in its report to invite the international human rights council in Geneva to table [propose consideration of] this issue in its session to be held next June and make a resolution forcing the Israeli occupation state to comply with the fourth Geneva convention and open its jails before international probe committees. The Arab League also decided to form a committee composed of members from Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait and other Arab countries to prepare for an international conference addressing the issue of Palestinian prisoners.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

Otherwise Occupied: One country, two legal codes / Amira Hass
Haaretz 7 May -- Palestinian suspects - including minors - can be legally detained for far longer periods than Israelis, and for lesser offenses.
link to www.haaretz.com

Four brothers jailed by Israel for prisoner solidarity activism / Asa Winstanley
EI 6 May -- Late one night in March, Rami Halabi was working on a laptop at his family’s apartment home in Kufr Aqab, on the road between Ramallah and Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank. Suddenly, a group of Israeli soldiers banged on the door and demanded to be let in. They confiscated the iPhone his employer had lent him, and, despite the pleas of his mother, father and sister, they took Rami away to prison. This is a scene all too familiar for many Palestinian families living under the boot of Israeli occupation. But there is one difference for the Halabi family that night: all three of Rami’s brothers were already imprisoned by Israel. In a translated interview with The Electronic Intifada, their mother Samira recounted her plea to the soldiers not to part her from her last free son: "I went to hug my son, and I said, no, you’re not taking this one, you have three already, leave this one!"
link to electronicintifada.net

The Nakba

Palestine's exiles find family bonds thru Facebook
SIDON, Lebanon  (AP) -- As Jewish forces advanced on their village during the war that surrounded Israel's creation in 1948, the Palestinian Faour family piled children and belongings into donkey carts and fled, hoping to return home when the fighting stopped. Only some of them got back, and the family is still divided. Some are in the Lebanese city of Sidon as stateless refugees. Others are 80 kilometers (50 miles) away as Israeli citizens in their village of Shaab, across a fenced and hostile border ...
Social media have produced a boom in communications between Palestinians in Israel and the Arab world, once connected only through rare letters carried by intermediaries or the International Red Cross. Younger exiles like Maarouf are tracking down and getting to know relatives separated for decades. Many Palestinians say they now know more about their extended families than at any time since the birth of Israel, an event Palestinians mourn every May 15 as the "Nakba," or catastrophe.
link to seattletimes.nwsource.com

Activism / Solidarity / BDS

In Photos: Widespread solidarity with hunger striking Palestinian prisoners
EI 6 May -- ...In contrast to the deafening silence from world media and governments, there has been widespread support for the mass hunger strike throughout historic Palestine and in exile. Nearly all Palestinian families living under Israeli occupation have been affected by Israel’s regime of arrest and detention and Palestinian political prisoners are celebrated as national heroes.
link to electronicintifada.net

Popular resistance supports Palestinian prisoners
[roundup of protests] Stop the Wall 6 May -- This Friday the demonstrations against the Wall and the settlements across the West Bank were dedicated to the ongoing struggle of the Palestinian prisoners. The protests have supported the brave hunger strike of the prisoners and called for international solidarity.  Al Ma‘sara: occupation forces prevented citizens and peace activists from reaching the territory captured by the occupation authorities in the village Al Ma‘sara, south of Bethlehem, and suppressed the weekly march organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements after Friday prayers at noon.  A solidarity delegation of German professors and students from the University of Birzeit participated in the weekly march....
link to stopthewall.org

The Wall, 10 years on / Part 5, a new way of resistance / Haggai Matar
972mag 5 May -- Just as it is a story of suicide attacks, security, annexation, legal questions and political controversy -- the story of the separation wall is also that of the popular, unarmed and joint struggle of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals against it. What started in September, 2002 as a small spontaneous action by a few farmers became the heart of Palestinian resistance to the occupation ... ‘There was no plan – people just went to protect their trees’  In fact, the whole struggle began quite spontaneously. The year 2002 was the bloodiest of the second intifada, with 47 suicide attacks killing 225 Israelis, and 989 Palestinian casualties (421 of them did not take part in hostilities, according to B’Tselem) ... It was in this deadly month of September that bulldozers arrived in Jayous. The original route in this area would later engulf most of the village’s agricultural lands, also leaving one house on the wrong side of the fence. The villagers, whose income depended on agriculture, saw the bulldozers and ran to their groves to protect their trees. They stopped construction work, hugged the trees, got beaten and dispersed, some were arrested -- yet the next day they came out again. Almost two years after Israel crushed the popular demonstrations at the dawn of the second intifada and Palestinians turned to arms -- nonviolent popular resistance was making its initial comeback.
link to 972mag.com

Court to decide Rachel Corrie case in August
JPost 7 May -- The Haifa District Court announced on Sunday that it will give a verdict in August in a civil suit filed by the family of Rachel Corrie, the American pro- Palestinian activist struck and killed by a bulldozer in Gaza ... Corrie’s family filed the civil suit against the Defense Ministry in the district court five years ago. They claim that the IDF either deliberately killed Corrie or is at least guilty of gross negligence.
link to www.jpost.com

Atuda soldier refuses to enlist after completing studies
Ynet 7 May -- IDF soldier who recently completed his medical school through Academic Reserves program refuses to serve in IDF 'for ideological reasons'; sentenced to prison – for sixth time ... Over the past two years, the soldier became an outspoken left-wing activist and took part in leftist demonstrations in the settlements. He also stressed his political views on his Facebook page, where he came out against "the violence shown by security forces against protesters." He also supported the call to "free Palestine."
link to www.ynetnews.com

Security firm G4S provides services to Israeli prisons, police, and army / Adri Nieuwhof
6 May -- British-Danish security firm G4S has been severely criticized for its operations in the occupied Palestinian territories and in prisons and detention centers in Israel, including those housing children and “administrative detainees” held without charge or trial. On 17 April Palestinian organizations called for action against G4S for its role in Israeli prisons where Palestinian political prisoners from the occupied territories are held in contravention of international law. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre in London published Michael Deas’s report on the call and invited G4S to respond. G4S submitted an update with old statements that does not address the criticism of the provision of services to prisons in Israel ... Who Profits - a research project of the Coalition of Women for Peace – has provided the information on G4S activities in Israel for the rejoinder below, including its extensive G4S report of March 2011.
link to electronicintifada.net

LGBT rights in Israel: 'Pinkwashing oppression or illuminating the Middle East? / Natasha Mozgovaya
Haaretz 6 May -- Tel Aviv is the best gay destination in the world. That's what a worldwide survey hosted in January by GayCities.com and American Airlines showed, and Israeli diplomats in Western countries proudly put the fact on display. Many liberal pro-Palestinian activists saw this as "pinkwashing" the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The website pinkwatchingisrael.com called upon Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community members to boycott the 20th Annual Equality Forum in Philadelphia, which features Israel this year and has invited Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren to be a keynote speaker.
link to www.haaretz.com

Ambassador Oren boasts Israel's record on gay rights but gets facts wrong / Yossi Gurvitz
972mag 7 May -- Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren claims “Israel fought for gay rights even before 1967.” Problem is, homosexuality was illegal until 1988. Michael Oren, the American Jew turned Israeli ambassador to the US, is apparently not content with embarrassing himself about Israel’s record regarding its Christian citizens.
link to 972mag.com

Anti-BDS

New French president says boycott of Israeli goods 'illegal', but Paris court acquits more BDS activists / Ali Abunimah
EI 7 May -- French president-elect François Hollande has told a Jewish community publication that he opposes the boycott of Israeli goods, even apparently from Israeli settlements in occupied territories, and considers such boycotts "illegal." Hollande also promised to visit Israel as president and echoed hardline Israel lobby rhetoric about Iran.
His statements published Tribune Juive (Jewish Tribune) on 1 May contrast sharply with the decisions of French judges who on 3 May acquitted another group of French activists on charges related to calling for the boycott of Israeli goods.
link to electronicintifada.net

Ireland: Justice minister slams Palestinian supporters after band cancels Israeli tour
Irish Central 6 May -- Ireland’s Justice Minister has launched an astonishing attack on Palestinian ‘cyber bullies’ who forced Irish band Dervish to cancel an Israeli tour. Alan Shatter has claimed that the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Group staged a "concerted" campaign to stop the series of three concerts by the traditional music group. The band canceled their June tour after "an avalanche of negativity and venom" directed towards them on social media sites. Now Shatter, of Jewish origin, has slammed the actions of the IPSG and their attempts to stage a boycott of Israel by Irish acts.
link to www.irishcentral.com

Journalism / Freedom of expression

Gaza journalist wins courage award
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 7 May -- Gaza journalist Asma al-Ghoul has won an international award for courage in journalism, the International Women’s Media Foundation said. Al-Ghoul, 30, was awarded the 2012 IWMF prize alongside female journalists Reeyot Alemu from Ethiopia, Khadija Ismayilova from Azerbaijan and Zubeida Mustafa from Pakistan. She has worked for Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam and her popular blog, AsmaGaza, was discontinued in February for unstated reasons. Her reporting on the Palestinian internal division and social and political issues has earned international acclaim, receiving awards from Human Rights Watch and the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Foundation.
link to www.maannews.net

Abbas lifts ban on critical websites
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 5 May -- President Mahmoud Abbas issued formal instructions Saturday to reverse an order censoring news websites linked to one of his fiercest critics. "From this point forward, the attorney general and the judiciary are prohibited from shutting down or blocking websites, and they are instructed to lift any existing bans," Abbas said of the order. "Freedom of expression and opinion is a natural right enshrined in the (Palestinian) Basic Law," or constitution, Abbas said. He urged journalists to nevertheless maintain their objectivity.
link to www.maannews.net

MADA welcomes President Abbas' decision to unblock websites
PNN 7 May -- The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) welcomes President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to unblock eight websites. MADA hopes this is the start of a real improvement in media freedoms in Palestine. This was not the case over the past year, during which MADA observed a reduction in media freedoms. In fact, last year for the first time Palestinian violations exceeded Israeli violations (106 and 100 respectively.)
link to english.pnn.ps

Arab Spring stirs Palestinian journalists to test limits
RAMALLAH (NY Times) 7 May by Isabel Kershner -- Yousef Shayeb, 37, a Palestinian journalist from Ramallah, published an article in a Jordanian newspaper this year charging officials at the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Paris with corruption and espionage. In an interview here last week, he said that he had imagined people might thank him for his exposé. Instead, he spent eight days in a Palestinian Authority jail. Jamal Abu Raihan, a Palestinian blogger, has been in prison for three weeks, after he posted a satirical column lampooning the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as a donkey on a Facebook page he ran titled, "The people want an end to corruption." And in recent months, on the orders of the attorney general, the authorities have tried to block Palestinians’ access to a number of Web sites that officials said were supportive of Muhammad Dahlan, a onetime Gaza security chief and now a rival of Mr. Abbas.
link to www.nytimes.com

Racism / Discrimination

African residents in south Tel Aviv targeted by second firebomb attack in two weeks
Haaretz 6 May -- Two firebombs were hurled on Saturday night at a house in south Tel Aviv. No injuries were reported, but police are investigating whether the incident is connected to a similar attack a week and a half ago that targeted African residents.
link to www.haaretz.com

From asylum seeker to community leader
Haaretz 4 May -- As racial tensions mount, Ethiopian refugee Yohannes Bayu warns of a dangerous anti-African sentiment in Israel, and stresses the need for a constructive solution.
link to www.haaretz.com

3 'Ethiopian' schools to close next year
Ynet 7 May -- Education Ministry to close schools with majority of Ethiopian students in order to promote integration
link to www.ynetnews.com

Other news

Turkel committee to call for stronger civilian review of IDF probes
Haaretz 6 May -- The Israel Defense Forces should no longer be the only body to investigate its own conduct when it is charged with ostensible war crimes or various human rights violations, especially against Palestinians. That is expected to be the main conclusion of the Turkel Committee, which is likely to recommend significantly augmenting civilian review of IDF probes. The committee was formed to investigate Israel's actions in intercepting the flotilla to Gaza in May 2010. The report, the second part of the Turkel Committee's recommendations, is to be submitted to the prime minister and made public in the coming weeks.
link to www.haaretz.com

PA forces launch security crackdown in Jenin
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 6 May -- Palestinian Authority forces launched a large scale security crackdown in the Jenin district on Saturday. "Security services are sending summons to all suspects who possibly partook in the shooting at the house of the late Jenin governor Qaddura Musa, and suspects involved in murder, blackmailing or other assaults," the commander of Jenin's security forces Radi Asida told Ma‘an. The governor of Jenin died from a heart attack on Wednesday, which officials say was brought on by an attack on his home by gunmen. The perpetrators of the attack have not been found and security services are working around the clock to bring them in, Commander Asida said.
link to www.maannews.net

Ex-Fatah fighter denies being arrested in Jenin crackdown
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 6 May -- Former Fatah fighter Zakaria Zubeidi said Sunday that he was not arrested by Palestinian Authority forces in Jenin, as mothers in the city protested against a sweep of arrests by PA forces. Israeli media reported on Saturday that Zubeidi was arrested by PA forces as part of the security crackdown in the northern West Bank city.
link to www.maannews.net

Commander: Corrupt officers responsible for security chaos in Jenin
JENIN (Ma‘an) 7 May -- Corrupt officers are responsible for the security chaos in Jenin, the district's commander said Monday.  Radi Asida told Ma‘an that authorities had overlooked the corruption "for some time," leading to the current state of lawlessness. Jenin Governor Qaddura Musa died of a heart attack on Wednesday brought on by a shooting attack on his home, PA officials said. On Sunday, Asida told Ma‘an that a number of PA security officers had been arrested on various charges as part of a crackdown on the city in the wake of the shooting attack.
link to www.maannews.net

Netanyahu cabinet agrees Israeli elections to be held September 4
Haaretz 7 May -- PM says stability must be restored to Israel's government, and calls for speedy, early elections ... After the ministers' approval, the bill is due to be voted on in the Knesset. The Knesset committee approved the government’s request to bring  dissolution of the current Knesset to a vote. Kadima MK’s, wishing to advance their alternative for the "Tal Law," voted against the resquest to dissolve. ..
link to www.haaretz.com

How the settlers embarrassed Netanyahu, again
Haaretz 7 May -- Of the 130,000 registered Likud members, only about 9,000 are settlers. But in Sunday night's Likud party convention they were the majority ... the most frustrated veteran [party member] of all was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; he had planned to be unanimously elected president of the convention so that, down the road, he could dictate the way the candidates for the next Knesset would be chosen.
link to www.haaretz.com

Bob Marley's heirs threaten to sue right-wing Israeli MK
Haaretz 6 May -- Heirs of Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley have sent a warning letter to MK Aryeh Eldad, threatening legal action over the unauthorized use of the song "Iron Lion Zion" for propaganda purposes. In the film clip, which was removed from the Internet in light of the warning, the National Union MK can be seen with his grandchildren, while Marley's song plays in the background. Added to the words of the famous song were phrases that promote Eldad's political outlook:
link to www.haaretz.com

Human interest stories / Reviews

Life savings sold for 7 shekels in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 7 May -- Those who think the older generation of Palestinians no longer stash their life-savings in unexpected places seem to be mistaken. An elderly man from Hebron told Ma‘an on Monday how all his worldly wealth almost ended up on the scrap-heap. "I was out pasturing my sheep when my teenage son came to give me seven shekels ($2)," Amir Ayyoub Abu Shakhdam recounted. "When I asked where he got that money from, he said he sold some old tins he found in the house. I lost my head and asked him who he sold it to. He said a peddler who buys scrap." "I hurried home at once to find that the child has sold the tin in which I kept my life savings."
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli spy flick reimagines Dubai killing
EILAT, Israel (Daily Star) 7 May -- The brazen 2010 assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai, in which Israel's spy agency was accused, unfurled like a spy movie thriller - and in fact much of it was caught on camera. Now an Israeli movie plays it as a spy caper, complete with a sly seductress played by Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli. The movie "Kidon", or Spear, gives the plot a twist by having a small-time gang of criminals murder Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in an attempt to frame Israel's Mossad spy agency. Dubai police accused the Mossad of carrying out the actual hit in a five-star hotel, and released surveillance camera footage of the assassination team tracking al-Mabhouh. A number of countries also cast suspicion on Israel, angrily accusing its intelligence agency of forging passports under their citizens' names for the killers to use. Israel and the Mossad, as is their policy, never confirmed or denied involvement.
link to www.dailystar.com.lb

Phil Monsour transcends Palestine's tragedy in rousing new rock album / Samah Sabawi
EI 7 May -- When a profound human experience is expressed through art, the result is often extraordinary. When this experience is inspired by a human catastrophe that has altered the lives of millions over generations, the art becomes a vehicle for resistance. In his latest album, Ghosts of Deir Yassin, Australian rock musician and activist Phil Monsour evokes revolutionary courage. Monsour’s album was written during a trip to Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. The title track -- dealing with Deir Yassin, a Palestinian village destroyed during the Nakba (the wave of ethnic cleansing leading to the foundation of the state of Israel) showcases his talent for transforming the painful into the inspirational. The chorus "You see that we are rising / Our day is surely coming / No longer in the shadows of the ghosts of Deir Yassin" captures the spirit of Palestinian resistance today.
link to electronicintifada.net

DNA links prove Jews are a race, says genetics expert
Haaretz 7 May -- In his new book, Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People, Harry Ostrer, a medical geneticist and professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, claims that Jews are different, and the differences are not just skin deep. Jews exhibit, he writes, a distinctive genetic signature. Considering that the Nazis tried to exterminate Jews based on their supposed racial distinctiveness, such a conclusion might be a cause for concern. But Ostrer sees it as central to Jewish identity.
link to www.haaretz.com

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