I am a Jewish Israeli woman who was born in Tel Aviv and has been living in Ramallah and Nablus in the occupied Palestinian territories for the last 12 years. When Israelis, or people who have spent a lot of time with Israelis, hear where I live they often ask me "aren't you scared?" And I tell them the truth. Yes, I am sometimes scared of Israeli soldiers and even more of Israeli settlers. But other than that I feel more at home than I do anywhere else in the world.

But this was not always the case. When I first started visiting the occupied Palestinian Territories I was, like most Israelis, terrified of Arabs. It took me years to chip my way through this fear. Years in which again and again my heart would race, and I would think that the Arabs around me, want to kill me, only to discover time after time, that people had other things on their minds rather than me. And that if they did interact with me it was in a way that was more open and honoring than what I was used to.

It is for this reason that I was shocked, but not surprised, by the images of an angry Tel Aviv mob attacking African immigrants. The vehement racism was very familiar it was only it's target thats shifted. For example a slogan on a woman's t-shirt read: "Death to the Sudanese", an obvious rehash of the well worn "Death to the Arabs". Ilan Tsion chairman of the Israeli advocacy group "Fence For Life" said in a panel in Ramlah that, "The migration from Africa and the Palestinain Authority and Arab countries is about to sentence every single one of us to death". Tsion explained:

"I have figures here prepared by demographic experts showing that if the present situation continues then by the year 2030 there will be a drastic reduction in the percentage of Jews in the population of Israel ...we are a country surrounded by twenty enemy countries that want to annihilate us. They are just waiting for a moment that our army will grow weak. For the moment that foreigners take control of the army so they can overcome us and murder us."

"Fence for life," which has advocated for the creation of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank and for preventing family reunification of Palestinian families both In Israel and in the occupied territories, is now advocating for the expulsion of African immigrants from Israel. Their argument for all these issues are identical. They maintain that the existence of non-Jews in and around Israel is a mortal danger. This so called logic is something the vast majority of Israelis can relate to, at least on an emotional level. Most Israelis agree with Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak's statement they are living in "a villa in the jungle".

I often wondered where all this fear came from? In my case, while it was true that I was exposed to the Israeli media that only presents Arabs as terrorists, was fed similar propaganda at school, and thus saw the world through a Holocaust paradigm, all these things could not explain the scope and depth of my fears. Eventually, I realized that despite the fact that no one talked about the expulsion of the Palestinians in 1948 while I was growing up, my fear came from knowing that I was living on someone else's land. It came from knowing that the people who's houses and graves and trees and cactus plants I see everywhere around me are not allowed to be in this land but I am. I realized that this fear is not different than the fears that any colonialist or beneficiary of a racist system must develop towards the colonized or oppressed people in order to keep his peace of mind. The fact that this process happens unconsciously only makes it stronger.

My Israeli friend David lives with his family on a house surrounded by 5-6 dunams of land in Pardes Hanna near Haifa. David is exceptionally aware of his motivations. He told me that when he considers being engaged or opposed to what Israel was doing to the Palestinians, he asks himself, "Would I be willing to share what I have with a Palestinian refugee?" and since the answer is, "no", he does nothing. I think that it is essential to understand that it is greed, the desire to possess another's land and resources, and not fear that lies at the root of the Israeli-Arab conflict. The fear comes later, to justify having and not sharing what belongs to someone else.

But I no longer feel this way. I feel blessed that choices that I have made in my life have allowed me to remain in the country of my birth without feeling like I am stealing or taking the place of another people. This has allowed me to let go of the fear of the people around me and to enjoy and become a part of the Arab world in which I live.

A two-state solution that does not include the right of return of the Palestinian refugees is not only an unjust solution that would leave Palestinians with a non-viable, non-contiguous, so called state but it would leave Israelis trapped in their ethnocracy. As long as Israel wants to be a Jewish state, every non-Jewish ethnic minority is a threat to the "Jewishness" of the state, non Jewish Wombs are perceived as ticking bombs, babies as weapons in a never-ending demographic war.

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

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

And another day in Gaza

Another day in Palestine

A day in prison

And we live on

Despite Israel’s very much identified flying objects

That we see more than our family and friends

And despite Israel’s death sentences

Like lead

Cast upon the head

As we sleep

Like acid rain

Gnawing at our life

Clinging to it like a flea to a kitten

And stuffed in our throats

The moment we say ‘Amen’

To the prayers of old women and men

Despite Israel’s birds of death

Hovering only two meters from our breath

From our dreams and prayers

Blocking their ways to God.

Despite that.

We dream and pray,

Clinging to life even harder

Every time a dear one’s life

Is forcibly rooted up.

We live.

We live.

We do.

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 750,000 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.

One senator from Illinois, though, wants to write off those millions and change who is classified as a Palestinian refugee. Mark Kirk, a hawkish Republican whose political career has been boosted by right-wing Israel advocates, is leading a drive to fundamentally redefine who a Palestinian refugee is in the eyes of the United States.

Critics see the move as just one step in a larger strategy to take the issue of refugee rights for Palestinians off the negotiating table, and to cut funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN agency that assists Palestinians. One senior Senate aide who helped craft the amendment told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “this will have major implications for future negotiations over final status issues with regard to refugees.”

In a statement, UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said that “while UNRWA is following the debate in DC very closely, [the agency] does not comment in public about the internal workings of the legislatures of member states.”

Israel strongly opposes Palestinians’ right to return to their homes or their descendants’ homes, which they fled during the 1947-49 Arab-Israeli war and were never allowed to return to. Israel opposes the right to return because of their policy of maintaining a Jewish demographic majority. International law, though, strongly supports the rights of refugees to return to homes they were displaced from.

On Thursday May 24, a Senate committee passed an amendment by unanimous voice vote that would require the State Department to differentiate between Palestinian refugees who were displaced first-hand and those born after to families who were refugees.

The senator behind the amendment was Kirk, who is close to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and has received over a million dollars from Israel oriented political action committees during his political career. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) expressed concern at the bill and modified the amendment, but it still contains the State Department reporting requirement that Kirk was pushing. Kirk celebrated the passing of the amendment in a May 25 press release: "With U.S. taxpayers providing more than $4 billion to UNRWA since 1950, the watershed reporting requirement will help taxpayers better understand whether UNRWA truly remains a refugee assistance organization or has become a welfare agency for low-income residents of the Levant."

An earlier version of the bill pushed by Kirk would have made it US policy to classify as a refugee only those Palestinians personally displaced by Israeli forces. In practice, this would mean erasing the refugee status of almost all registered Palestinian refugees, cutting down the number to about 30,000.

It’s unclear how far the amendment will go in the legislative process. The State Department has come out strongly against Kirk’s idea to redefine Palestinian refugees. Their position, as Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy reports, is that “final status issues can and must only be resolved between Israelis and Palestinians in direct negotiations. The Department of State cannot support legislation which would force the United States to make a public judgment on the number and status of Palestinian refugees.” Rogin also reports that the State Department puts the number of Palestinian refugees at 5 million--the amount registered with UNRWA--and that US policy is in line with UNRWA’s practice of granting refugee status to descendants.

A diplomatic source with knowledge of the Kirk amendment outlined the key problems with it in an interview. The US has no interest in attacking UNRWA because in allied countries like Jordan, UNRWA is a stabilizing force. Jordan hosts some 2 million Palestinian refugees who are registered with UNRWA, which provides refugees with crucial services in education and health. If US funds to UNRWA were cut, for example, as Kirk tried to do when he was in the House of Representatives, Jordan could be destabilized.

Furthermore, Kirk’s amendment rests on the wrong assumption that Palestinian refugee status is uniquely passed on through generations. In fact, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a separate agency that oversees refugee situations outside of Palestine, also gives refugee status to generations of family members who remain displaced. For example, the son of a Cambodian refugee registered with the UNHCR as a result of being displaced is also considered a refugee by the UNHCR. The amendment also does not address the fact that the 1967 war created 500,000 Palestinian refugees, with an additional 175,000 Palestinians registering with UNRWA as a result.

Lara Friedman, an expert on Congressional policy on Israel/Palestine, criticized the bill in a recent post at the Daily Beast blog Open Zion. Kirk wants to “use U.S. law” to redefine “most Palestinian refugees out of existence” outside of a negotiations context. “Of course, it won’t work, even if this somehow makes it into law. Palestinians who consider themselves refugees don’t do so simply because UNRWA, or anyone else, gives them permission to do so,” wrote Friedman.

The big issue here, as Friedman notes, is that Kirk is pushing for a fundamental shift in US policy towards who is a Palestinian refugee. In turn, this shift could help scuttle Palestinian refugee rights in negotiations over resolving the Israel/Palestine conflict. If this amendment were to become US policy, it would boost Israel's attempts to take the right of return off the table.

Backers of the bill have been explicit about their aims. Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the neoconservative think tank Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, wrote that the aim of the bill is to “tackle” the “thorny” issue of the right of return. “By tackling one of the toughest challenges of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict without the bedlam that typically accompanies bilateral negotiations, there would theoretically be one less sticking point when the stars align again for diplomacy,” wrote Schanzer. “Under the leadership of Knesset member Einat Wilf, this idea now has the backing of the prime minister's office, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

According to Americans for Peace Now, Schanzer is reportedly "deeply engaged in this latest anti-UNRWA initiative." The group also reports that AIPAC "was reportedly pleased with the amendment but has issued no public statement."

It’s all in line with the recent attacks on UNRWA by Likud Party member Danny Ayalon. Ayalon created a video in conjunction with the right-wing Israel lobby group Stand With Us which argued that UNRWA was prolonging the refugee conflict and the conflict with the Palestinians. But as Randa Farah, an expert on UNRWA and Palestinian refugees recently wrote, it is Israel’s “repressive apparatus” of control over Palestinians that perpetuates the conflict and “increases the dependence of refugees on UNRWA’s meager aid, while at the same time creating even more refugees and internally displaced persons.”

The right of return is not something Palestinians plan on giving up, as the recent Nakba Day protests show. But that won’t stop Kirk from trying to legislate their status as refugees out of existence. Kirk is holding water for the Israeli demand that Palestinian refugees should never be allowed to return to the homes they were forced out of over six decades ago.

from those "personally displaced" in 1948. (Photo: Zehra Hirji)

Today the U.S. government approved a resolution to differentiate between Palestinians "personally displaced" in 1948 and their millions of descendants. The count will be conducted by the State Department and will only include refugees who receive United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) services. Known as the "Kirk amendment" after the drafter, Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL). The bill reads:

United Nations Relief and Works Agency.- Not later than one year after the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations detailing the number of people currently receiving United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) services 1) whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who were personally displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict ('such persons'); 2) who are children of such persons; 3) who are grandchildren of such persons; 4) who are descendants of such persons and not otherwise counted by criteria (2) and (3); 5) who are residents of the West Bank or Gaza; 6) who do not reside in the West Bank or Gaza and are citizens of other countries; and 7) whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who were personally displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, who currently do not reside in the West Bank or Gaza and who are not currently citizens of any other state.

Originally, the text of this morning's resolution called to re-define Palestinian refugees as those who were expelled during 1948 and not their decedents. However, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) amended the text in committee. The previous draft read:

It shall be the policy of the United States with regard to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that a Palestinian refugee is defined as a person whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who was personally displaced as a result of the 1948 or 1967 Arab-Israeli conflicts, who currently does not reside in the West Bank or Gaza and who is not a citizen of any other state.

Under the Kirk amendment's category system of Palestinian refugees, the number of "displaced" persons would be reduced to a mere 30,000, and the remaining 4,700,000 listed as heirs.

The U.S. is UNRWA's largest single donor, contributing $250 million per year. Foreign Policy's blog the Cable suggests the goal of the amendment is to cut UNRWA’s U.S. funding and to trim down the number of Palestinians with a legal rights of return enshrined by international law.

Yet Kirk's office says the law is about accounting, not cuts. "The amendment simply demands basic transparency with regard to who receives U.S. taxpayer assistance," says Kate Dickens, a spokesperson for Kirk. "A vote against this amendment is a vote to deny taxpayers basic information about an agency they are funding."

Palestinians constitute the world's largest refugee population. There are over seven million Palestinian refugees worldwide and over five million are registered with the United Nations.
 

People who are still fuming over Bob Simon’s 60 Minutes piece from last month, which was critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinian Christians and called Michael Oren to task for attempting to kill the story before it aired, received a gift last Sunday – a fluffy superficial ode to the city of Tel Aviv’s undeniable awesomeness.

First I’ll say that I like Bob Simon, I think he’s an excellent journalist well versed in Middle East politics in general and Israel/Palestine specifically. That’s why I found his report so objectionable. It seems Simon left his A-game in his hotel room. I think it’s safe to assume that Simon knows the situation Tel Aviv finds itself in today is far too complex to characterize as a utopian “island of sanity” where the larger problems of the country and the region at large are nonexistent.

For instance, that beach looks really nice, but Palestinians in the occupied territories cannot go there. That might be worth mentioning. The place looks like a liberal bastion with a thriving art scene; politicians party till the wee hours. “Compared to the rest of Israel, Tel Aviv is not only more cosmopolitan but more tolerant,” that is unless you’re seeking asylum from Eritrea or Sudan and living in South Tel Aviv. If that’s the case then mobs of racist Israelis will protest your presence, a kindergarden in your neighborhood can be firebombed and if you work for an NGO dedicated to helping those people then you can be threatened with rape, with the blessing of the Israeli Interior Minister. If Simon wanted to do a serious piece about the city he could have touched on this. Nightlife is wild because maybe “people believe that tomorrow Tel Aviv is going to be attacked.” Perhaps, but whatever potential Hamas and Hezbollah have to rein terror on the city pales in comparison to whatever potential Israel has to bring hell to southern Lebanon or Gaza – or whatever Israel already has done.

The glib tone of the report continues. When Yossi Vardi, the “godfather of a vast software empire” is asked why Israel has so many startups he answers it’s a cultural phenomena and the secret source is the Jewish mother. “Every startup kid here has a Jewish mother which drive (sic) him crazy, which will push them and challenge them and inspire them.” Aside from the absurdity of his explanation, that same sort of reasoning by someone else in a different context might be construed as anti-Semitic. But hey, it’s a light-hearted piece so no harm no foul. Tel Aviv is beyond gay-friendly, and plenty has been written on the cynical use of this. As for incidents of violence in the West Bank, Simon describes them as “rituals which have been going on for decades” and that’s it.

Watching this segment one could be forgiven for believing that what happens in the West Bank (and Gaza) is not deeply connected to the situation in Israel proper. But in fact, rather than being an exception to Israel’s history of dispossessing the Palestinians, Tel Aviv stands as a monument to it. The city itself sits on top of the ruins of four Palestinian villages destroyed during the Nakba. To his credit Simon allows Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy a few words of wisdom: Tel Avivians have “no idea what’s going on there (in the West Bank), it’s their dark backyard to which they will never go…about which they know so little, they don’t care, they really want to close their eyes.” “Because this is what a bubble is about: the illusion of the moment. It can work for a while… and it will blow in our faces,” Levy says. Simon doesn’t ask how so? or why? Because this is a feel-good story.

At the end Yossi Vardi the software tycoon says, “We have this damn conflict that I hope we will finish one day. And I hope we will do peace. But in the meantime, look what we created.” Indeed, and perhaps that’s the problem. I’m reminded of something Udi Aloni said, “The liberal city, a very vibrant city liberal city in the middle of a colony, it’s not an exception of the colony. This is very important. Tel Aviv is the example used to show that, that the barbarians around the colony are in fact barbarians. Every colonization has its vital liberal city, which in turn is the essence of colonialism itself.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 

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."

link to friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com 

 

Beirut Battle: The Day After Future’s Victory

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.

link to english.al-akhbar.com 

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.

link to qifanabki.com

 

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.

link to news.yahoo.com

 

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.

link to news.yahoo.com

 

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.

link to news.yahoo.com

 

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.

link to www.aljazeera.com

 

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.

link to news.yahoo.com

 

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. 

link to english.alarabiya.net

Opposition Says it has Killed Top Six Regime Figures, But Claim is Doubtful

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. 

link to www.joshualandis.com

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.

link to english.al-akhbar.com

Other World News

 

US ambassador to Afghanistan quits amid worsening relations

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.

link to english.al-akhbar.com

 

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.”

link to www.rawstory.com

 

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.

link to news.yahoo.com

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.

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 

Zionist mythology paints the war of independence as a heroic epic in which a tiny Jewish nation fought desperately for survival against an onslaught of invading Arab armies. Well-documented facts tell a less flattering story. From the beginning, the Zionist leadership had no doubt about their ultimate victory. Palestinian resistance, they knew, would be negligible after the suppression of the 1936-1939 revolt. Arab armies didn't intervene until May 14-15, 1948, by which time 250,000 Palestinians had already been expelled. Those armies were greatly outnumbered by the Zionist forces and, with one exception, were ill-equipped, poorly trained and ineptly led. The one disciplined force that actually posed a threat to the Zionist takeover was the British-led Arab Legion of Transjordan. It conquered the West Bank but chose not to interfere with the ongoing ethnic cleansing in the remainder of Palestine, possibly because of a secret agreement with the Zionists.

That is why the Green Line that defines the present state of Israel excludes the West Bank. In June 1967, Israel conquered the remainder of Palestine, and it has subjected the millions of Palestinians living there to an increasingly oppressive occupation ever since, dispossessing them of 40 percent of their remaining homeland to accommodate more than half a million Jewish settlers.

The Nakba and its aftermath are a shameful chapter in Jewish history. For Jews of good conscience everywhere, repudiating and resisting the injustice perpetrated in their name is an urgent mitzvah. This doesn't mean Israeli Jews must be expelled from their homeland, for that would be to pile a new injustice on the old one. But it does mean the Jews of Israel must at long last grant the Palestinians they've ruled for so long the same rights as they themselves enjoy, even if it means an end to the ethnically exclusivist Jewish state.

George P. Smith is a nonreligious member of Congregation Beth Shalom.