And other news from Today in Palestine:
Land/Property/Resource Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Israeli annexation of Jordan Valley bleeding Palestinians dry
Although the valley has a third of the West Bank’s water resources, Palestinians have not been allowed drill wells since 1967, writes Michael Jansen. THE JORDAN Valley is a patchwork of different shades of brown and beige desert relieved by snatches of palm-frond green. Cropped fields are eating up the flat land while Israeli settlements and military zones are consuming the rolling hills, shrinking Palestinian space. A thick band of dead land stretches north to south for 120km behind barbed wire, security roads, and mine fields along the Jordan river border with the Kingdom of Jordan.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/1001/1224280078941.html
Israeli Army Bulldozers Pave the Way For Settlement Construction Near Bethlehem
Israeli bulldozers began, friday morning, bulldozing lands adjacent to the settlement of Tekoa’, south east of the city of Bethlehem.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59522
Settlers bulldoze land, expanding Nablus settlement
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Settlers began bulldozing Palestinian farmland to build a new settlement in the northern West Bank on Friday, a Palestinian Authority official said. Ghassan Doughlas, who holds the settlements file in the area, said a number of bulldozers were working in the area west of Urif village south of Nablus, which borders the illegal Yitzhar settlement. Days earlier, Doughlas said, settlers expanded the settlement from the north, carrying out digging work north of Yitzar on Madama village land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319864
Report: Four illegal outposts to be built in Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) — The infrastructure for four illegal outposts is being constructed around the West Bank city of Hebron, a settlement affairs expert said Thursday. In an interview with Ma’an Radio, Abed Al-Hadi Hantash said the outposts would be integrated to form a new settlement, which would be linked with Kiryat Arba, the largest settlement in the district.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319747
PA: Settlers lobbying to demolish mosque
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers have distributed fliers calling for the demolition of a mosque in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said Thursday. Ghassan Doughlas, who holds the settlements portfolio in the area, said large banners have been posted opposing a mosque in the Burin village, which is near the illegal Yitzhar settlement. “Several taxi drivers came across some 50-centimeter-long banners calling for demolition,” Doughlas said considering the call a provocation as mosques are places of worship.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319723
Arab League may call for UN Security Council session on settlement freeze expiration
At its meeting on Wednesday in Cairo, the Arab League will consider a proposal to initiate an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the expiration of Israel’s freeze on West Bank settlement construction.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/arab-league-may-call-for-un-security-council-session-on-settlement-freeze-expiration-1.316513?localLinksEnabled=false
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions & Divestment
Many Treated For Effects Of Tear Gas Inhalation During The Bil’in Weekly Protest
Ramallah – PNN – dozens were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation on Friday when Israeli troops attacked the weekly anti-wall protest in the central West Bank village of Bil’in. International and Israeli supporters joined the villagers after the midday prayers at the local mosque and marched towards the wall built on local farmlands. People demanded the halt of construction in West Bank settlements and asked Palestinian leaders to unite. As soon people reached the gate of the wall separating villagers from their lands troops stationed there showered them with tear gas, dozens of civilians were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation. Two years ago the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the Israeli military to remove the part of the wall built on Bil’in land and the army still refuses to comply.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8849&Itemid=59
Israeli Soldiers Use Tear Gas Against Protesters In Nabi Saleh Village
Ramallah – PNN – Israeli soldiers used sound and tear gas bombs on Friday midday to suppress an anti wall protest in the village of Nabi Saleh near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Villagers along with international and Israeli supporters marched after the midday prayers towards local farmers’ lands were Israeli is planning to build the wall. As soon as the people reached their lands soldiers stationed there used tear gas and sound bombs to stop their march. A number of people were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation. The head of the village council and member of the local popular committee against the wall, Bashier AL Tamimmi, said villages will continue to organize weekly actions against the wall and settlement.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8846&Itemid=59
Palestinians in Israel strike on intifada anniversary
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Follow-up Committee in Israel announced a comprehensive strike on Friday that included all Palestinian towns and cities marking the 10th anniversary of the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. On 1 October 2000, 13 Palestinians in Israel were killed while rallying in solidarity with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, the incident sparked a wave of popular protests that became known as the Second Intifada. Across Israel, Palestinians participated in ceremonies and demonstrations mourning the slain or celebrating the will to resist oppression and occupation. Israeli police told the media on Friday morning that preparations had been made to quell clashes if they erupted.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319829
Israel-bound submarines banned from testing in Norway’s waters
Following Oslo’s decision, the German shipbuilder HDW will have to carry out its deep-water testing of Israeli vessels at another site.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-bound-submarines-banned-from-testing-in-norway-s-waters-1.316518
Irish Nobel laureate to appeal deportation from Israel
Mairead Corrigan-Maguire returned to Israel, despite ban for participating in Gaza aid flotilla.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/irish-nobel-laureate-to-appeal-deportation-from-israel-1.316524?localLinksEnabled=false
Court: Nobel laureate won’t enter Israel
Mairead Maguire, who was detained at Ben Gurion Airport for taking part in Gaza-bound sail in late May, rejects court’s suggestion that she return to Ireland and submit formal entry request. ‘I swore during visit to concentration camps not to keep quiet in the face of suffering children,’ she says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962504,00.html
Days of action planned after FBI raids on activists
Activists are planning new actions after rallies took place in dozens of cities across the United States to protest raids by the FBI on homes of anti-war and Palestine and Colombia solidarity activists in Minnesota and Chicago last week. The FBI also subpoenaed at least 14 activists in Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan to testify at a grand jury.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11548.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Viva Palestina convoy heads to Gaza as ‘drop in the ocean’
The Viva Palestina 5 aid convoy, en route to Gaza, was given a warm welcome and wide media coverage when it entered Turkey on Monday. The Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), which organized an aid flotilla that was attacked by the Israeli navy as it sailed to Gaza, resulting in the deaths of eight Turkish and one Turkish-American volunteers, was also there to greet the convoy. The assault took place in international waters. A UN body is currently conducting an investigation into the Israeli assault. Another international investigation, also led by the UN Human Rights Council, was recently completed and found Israel guilty of an unacceptable level of brutality.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-223114-100-viva-palestina-convoy-heads-to-gaza-as-drop-in-the-ocean.html
Tunisian party calls for anti-normalization watchdog
The Tunisian Democratic Union party has called for the formation of an anti-normalization watchdog to thwart all forms and attempt to normalize ties with the Zionist entity.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Q
Broadway Group Performs in Bethlehem
Bethlehem – PNN – The New York Tap Ensemble, a Broadway Performance Group, performed for an audience of local Palestinian students at Bethlehem University on Friday. The Groups performance was set up by the U.S. Department of State Cultural Affairs Officer, Cynthia Harvey, and was meant to bring two divided cultures together and experience a new side of art. Tap is a form of dance and performance rarely seen or performed in the Middle East. It is a new forum, that the Cultural Affairs office, is trying use to open the minds of young people all over the Middle East.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8847&Itemid=1
#BDS: Jewish actor visits West Bank camp in quest for peace
In a small, bare room in a refugee camp in the southern West Bank, a Palestinian Muslim man and a British Jewish woman face each other on plastic chairs and grope towards a mutual understanding across decades of mistrust, injustice, hostility and violence. The man is Said Ali Banat Hajarah: 82, partially deaf, failing eyesight, a former farmer nostalgic about his fields and livestock, bitter at the loss of his family home more than six decades ago, still grieving the deaths of his father and a son at the hands of Israeli soldiers, convinced that the gun must be part of the toolbox of resistance alongside the pen and the voice.
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/10/bds-jewish-actor-visits-west-bank-camp.html
#BDS: Full List of Irish Artists Who Endorsed the Boycott of Israel
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/10/bds-full-list-of-irish-artists-who.html
#BDS: More varsities check Israel links
Major South African universities began looking into their own ties with Israeli universities within hours of the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) decision on Wednesday night to terminate its links with Ben-Gurion University unless it fulfils, within six months, two conditions UJ has specified. After the Mail & Guardian’s report last week that Unisa vice-chancellor Barney Pityana had signed a petition calling on UJ to sever all ties with Ben-Gurion, three more varsity heads added their names: Saleem Badat (Rhodes), Derrick Swartz (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) and Dan Ncayiyana (former vice-chancellor of what is now the Durban University of Technology).
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/10/bds-more-varsities-check-israel-links.html
#BDS: Platini threatens to annul Israel’s membership of UEFA
The president of the European Union of Football Associations (UAFA), Michel Platini, has threatened to annul Israel’s membership to the union because of the restrictions it imposes on Palestinian football players. In a meeting with Jibril al-Rajoub, head of the Palestinian football union, Platini confirmed that Israel’s non-adherence to international sporting regulations will lead to the cancellation of its UEFA membership. He added; “We accepted them in Europe and furnished them the conditions for membership and they must respect the letter of the laws and international regulations otherwise there is no justification for them to remain in Europe. He continued; “Israel must choose between allowing Palestinian sport to continue and prosper or be forced to face the consequences for their behaviour.”
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/09/bds-platini-threatens-to-annul-israels.html
#BDS: AOL and Google Gobbling Israeli Startups
The past few months have been fruitful for Israeli startups. Several U.S. and European tech giants have made high-profile acquisitions. Foreign VCs are making massive capital injections. Now local publications such as Calcalist and The Marker are filled with rumors of upcoming purchases. 5Min Media, an Israeli-American video startup, is the most recent acquisition. AOL bought the company for an estimated $65 million, with chairman Tim Armstrong praising 5Min for helping to complete “our end-to-end video offering from content creation through syndication and distribution.” In other words, AOL is going to raid the hell out of 5Min’s video library of 200,000-odd shorts and make use of both their (considerable) API development and existing syndication partners. 5Min comes to AOL with a robust library of content. The firm inked previous content-sharing agreements with CBS, Hearst and Scripps to convert existing programming into bite-size “how-to” videos. Additional video content comes from other media providers, which is then augmented with crowd sourced footage.
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/09/bds-aol-and-google-gobbling-israeli.html
Lessons from the UC Berkeley Divestment Effort, Hillel on Campus
[Editor’s note: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s video report (above) on Israel-defense training for students made me think that now would be a good time to re-publish Lessons from the UC Berkeley Divestment Effort. My colleague Sydney Levy and I wrote it this summer in response to the UC Berkeley divestment struggle and Israeli Consul General Akiva Tor’s rather strange response to the effort. In watching the JTA video in which the national head of Hillel is trying to make a subtle point but revealingly ends up comparing Muslims to vampires, I’d add that it has never been so clear to me how older Jews have failed this younger generation. Students are smart enough to handle an open conversation about complexity and Israel. But many in the older generation in power don’t want that to happen. The fundamental irony, of course, is that when it comes to both delegitimizing and existentially threatening Israel, no critic can hold a candle to Israel itself and its ever-expanding settlement project (and human rights abuses etc…) There is no faster way for Israel to continue down the path of self-destruction than to continue the status quo, unhindered. In that very important sense, the BDS movement may be Israel’s last chance. Especially now that we know that Congress and the Obama administration is no more willing to hold Netanyahu accountable than previous administrations.]
http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2010/09/30/lessons-from-the-uc-berkeley-divestment-effort-hillel-on-campus/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Muzzlewatch+%28MuzzleWatch%29
The Siege (Gaza & West Bank)/Humanitarian/Restriction of Movement/Human Rights/Racism
Hunger and poverty worsen in Gaza
GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – According to the World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization, the food insecure in Gaza are an alarming 61 percent, with another 16 percent vulnerable to food insecurity.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11546.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Nikki Tillekens, “71% of Aid to the Palestinians Ends Up in the Israeli Economy”
Aid has become a larger and larger share of Palestinian GNI between 1994 and 2008. In this period of 15 years, aid increased from 14% of the GNI in 1994 to 49% of GNI in 2008. . . . On average 71% of aid given to the Palestinians ends up in the Israeli economy, meaning that, of the more than 12 billion dollars of foreign aid given to the Palestinians between 2000 and 2008, 8.7 billion dollars ended up in the Israeli economy. It also means that a larger share of the aid that is actually meant for the Palestinians ends up in the Israeli economy than in the Palestinian economy.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/tillekens300910.html
Days before birthday, my son sees Gaza’s horror
The Electronic Intifada reporter Rami Almeghari was in the hospital with his son, whose lips were being stitched up, when the victims of an Israeli air strike were rushed into the admissions room.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11547.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Hamas crackdown further limits Gaza’s distractions from the siege, Hani Almadhoun
I have been watching with disappointment the news coming from Gaza regarding the government’s crackdown on popular attractions where many Gazans plan their staycations. According to a number of Gaza investors, making a large investment in Gaza requires you to be an affiliate of Hamas or partner with one who is. Otherwise, your investment is doomed. One technique used by the local government to discourage non-Hamas businesses is to impose outrageous tax rates (upward of 20%) on those places. If legal and municipal intimidation do not work, then there are always the masked gunmen. Founders of the Crazy Water Park in Gaza learned that the hard way when their new beach resort was set on fire during the night.
https://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/hamas-crackdown-further-limits-gazas-distractions-from-the-siege.html
Violence/Aggression & Provocations
Army Fires At Farmers, homes, In Rafah
Palestinian farmers stated Thursday evening that Israeli soldiers stationed near the border in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, fired rounds of live ammunition at them, their lands and homes. No injuries were reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59515
Locals: Soldiers enter Iraq Burin village
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Two Israeli military jeeps entered Iraq Burin village in the northern West Bank on Thursday morning, locals reported. Soldiers closed off a road and entered a resident’s home, before heading to the roof, witnesses said. Forces reportedly looked around, and then left when approached by villagers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319718
jerusalem police take over a house in Silwan waiting for “suspect”
YouTube – Sara Benninga “A police force, under the command of Avi “the brave” Cohen (bald, on car, middle) is waiting for `a suspect` to return home so they can arrest him. in the mean while, a women comes to visit a sick sister who is inside the house, but she is refused entry by the police, who keep an ominous silence. Life under occupation in `liberated` East Jerusalem”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNEY3jzpiFM
Detainees
Sources: Israeli forces detain Hebron judge
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained a magistrates’ court judge in Hebron overnight on Wednesday, security sources said. Sources said forces ransacked Jamal Abdul Majeed Shadeed’s home before taking him to an unknown destination. An Israeli military spokeswoman said no arrests were made in the West Bank overnight on Wednesday as it was a Jewish holiday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319608
Israeli Police Detains 12 Palestinians In Jerusalem
Israeli policemen detained on Thursday 12 Palestinians near the Al Aqsa Mosque and took them to unknown destinations.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59514
Health of MP Totah deteriorates inside sit-in tent
The International campaign for the release of kidnapped Palestinian lawmakers has warned that health of MP Mohammed Totah was deteriorating more and more while in the sit-in tent..
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?
This is Zionism
As-Safir interviews this kid who was terrorized by Israel and arrested.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/09/this-is-zionism_30.html
Israel’s Arab Helpers
Hamas says PA detained 8 supporters
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Hamas leaders accused Palestinian Authority security forces on Friday of detaining eight party supporters across the West Bank The Islamist movement said the PA was continuing its arrest campaign against Hamas affiliates, adding that recent detentions were made in the Ramallah and Hebron districts.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319799
West Bank to get 10 new police stations
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority Ministry of the Interior approved on Thursday the construction of ten police stations for West Bank towns and cities, out of 55 new structures approved for financing at the 2008 donors conference. Representing Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), German donors backing the latest project, official Alexander Fritsch said the approved designs were selected based on priorities in West Bank services and security to residents.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319796
Egypt shuts down 580th tunnel
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma’an) — Egyptian security forces seized eight smuggling tunnels in the Salah Ad-Din area of Rafah on Friday, police sources said. The state intelligence department received information regarding the operation of the tunnels, an official said, describing them as 1.5 meters wide and running six meters underground.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319837
ATFP Defends Relationship With Zionist Groups And Denies Its The Voice Of The PNA In Washington
Earlier Today the American Task Force on Palestine issued, through a tweet on Hussein Ibish’s blog, an “important” policy statement. In it the ATFP attempts to defend its relationship with Zionist groups in the US. The policy statement also states the “ATFP was not founded to represent any group other than itself, has faithfully stuck to its founding mission, and does not adhere to the policies or agenda of any other entity, including the United States government, any other government, or any other institution or organization.”
http://ikhras.com/2010/09/atfp-defends-relationship-with-zionist-groups-and-denies-its-the-voice-of-the-pna-in-washington/
yet… Israel Project criticizes PA
http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=689705&ct=8736071
“Peace” Talks/Political Developments
White House offers Israel a carrot for peace talks
In its scramble to salvage Middle East peace talks, the Obama administration has dangled incentives before the Israeli government that touch on some of the most sensitive issues of final status talks between the two sides, administration sources said.
http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=d5bb543fff2c340bc76ec37872cae5e8
Jerusalem Post: Obama Promises Israel The World In Exchange For 60 Day Freeze
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that President Obama is making Prime Minister Netanyahu an offer it is hard to imagine him refusing.
In return for agreeing to a 60-day extension of the just lapsed settlements freeze, the Obama administration will not ask for an extension beyond that point. According to David Makovsky, an official at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (the AIPAC-founded think-tank), Obama’s offer was incorporated “in a draft letter negotiated with Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak and chief Israeli peace negotiator Yitzhak Molcho, and ultimately sent from President Obama’s desk to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.”
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/30/jerusalem_post_obama_promises_israel_the_world_in/?ref=c3
PM rejects U.S. guarantees in exchange for renewing freeze
U.S. reportedly incensed over PM’s rejection of a draft letter that would have extended moratorium on West Bank settlement construction.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/pm-rejects-u-s-guarantees-in-exchange-for-renewing-freeze-1.316517
‘Mitchell denies that U.S. offered to support an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley’
Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath: Mitchell told Abbas that Obama did not offer U.S. support for an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley in exchange for a two month settlement freeze.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/mitchell-denies-that-u-s-offered-to-support-an-israeli-presence-in-the-jordan-valley-1.316491?localLinksEnabled=false
Erekat: Israel holds key to resuming talks
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The chief PLO negotiator says Israel can restart peace negotiations by freezing settlements. Saeb Erekat said Thursday that the PLO had repeatedly demanded that Israel stop housing construction in the occupied Palestinian territories, including so-called natural growth, to give the peace process “the opportunity it deserves.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319736
PFLP calls for immediate withdrawal from talks
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Thursday called on the PLO to withdraw from talks in the absence of a total end to settlement building. The leftist faction rejected a two-month extension to the partial freeze on settlement building, which US President Barack Obama was reported to have suggested in a bid to save collapsing peace talks.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319720
Hamas: West continues to make contact
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas leader Ismail Radwan told a political discussion panel that western leaders continue to make efforts at contacting the party, often through representatives of other Arab nations with which Hamas enjoys good relations. Talks sponsored by the west have come to a “big zero,” Radwan said, and President Mahmoud Abbas now “waits for the Arabs to decide on peace.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319823
Other News
Senior UN officials visit Hebron
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Hebron Mayor Khalid Al-Useili met with senior UN officials Thursday to discuss the situation in the West Bank city. Al-Useili was joined by local councilors to brief UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Robert Serry and UN Development Programme special representative Jen Anders Toyberg-Frandzen.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319646
Arabs mark decade since October riots
Arab Monitoring Committee wants cases of 13 victims reopened, says frustration growing in sector.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962345,00.html
Dutch advertising watchdog criticizes Israel tourism information as ‘misleading’
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Dutch advertising watchdog has criticized Israel for publishing “misleading” information on its tourism website that blurs the borders between Israel and occupied Arab territories. The Advertising Code Committee says in a nonbinding ruling that material distributed by the Dutch branch of the Israeli National Tourism Board does not “clearly show where the border lies between what is internationally recognized as Israeli territory and ‘disputed’ areas.” Pro-Palestinian activists complained that the maps gave the impression that parts of the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem are in Israel, as well as the Golan Heights captured from Syria.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gJ9Iu_ZqgxU9FD-RtSRkA5-NBEIg?docId=4688606
Newly-elected Labour leader speaks at Friends of Palestine fringe event
This Labour Party conference has hosted three fringe events on Palestine, which were all well attended: a joint Middle East Monitor (MEMO) and LFPME fringe, with journalist Michael White interviewing long standing Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufmann; a joint PSC, Unite the Union and LFPME event on Gaza, with special guest speaker MK Haneen Zoabi and speeches from Richard Burden MP and Andy Slaughter MP; and the joint LFPME and Friends of Al-Aqsa reception. At the latter event, the newly-elected Labour leader, Ed Miliband, shared the platform with seasoned campaigners for Palestine and former MP and Director of LFPME, Martin Linton. Mr. Miliband paid homage to the dedicated activists who have been working for the rights of the Palestinian people. He gave specific mentions for Richard Burden MP, Andy Slaughter MP and Martin Linton (former MP) who have been campaigning for the Palestinians for many years.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/europe/1569-newly-elected-labour-leader-speaks-at-friends-of-palestine-fringe-event
Fayyad signs $40 million World Bank agreement
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — World Bank representative Miram Sherman signed an agreement with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Thursday to deliver a $40 million grant to the PA. Fayyad said the grant was aimed at enabling the PA to continue building state institutions and developing the infrastructure for a Palestinian state.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319755
Union instructs employees not to return cars to PA
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The civil servants’ union has instructed employees not to hand in their cars as a dispute over the Palestinian Authority’s decision to reduce the number of government-issued vehicles continues. Government spokesman Ghassan Al-Khatib announced in August that 6,200 government cars would be revoked from high-level civil servants as part of the cabinet decision to reduce government spending and become less reliant on foreign aid.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319658
Report: Bodies of 18 Ottoman soldiers found near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma’an) — The bodies of 18 Ottoman soldiers have been found in the northern West Bank, a Turkish news network reported Thursday. The bodies were found in a cave near Aqaba village in the Nablus district, and initial investigations suggested the soldiers were killed by British soldiers in 1918, the Jerusalem-based Turkish news network TRT-Turk said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=319760
If the perpetrator was Muslim, it would be headline news… Lawsuit: Rabbi sexually abuses student; affair hushed by college
Teacher at religious college in Jerusalem files suit against rabbi for allegedly harassing former student. Teacher claims affair was silenced by college, which reached financial settlement with Takana forum in return for immunity.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3961880,00.html
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
Israel’s Jewish Character Is Subject for Debate, Ahmed Moor
Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama have spent a great deal of energy trying to forestall any discussion of Israel’s Jewish character and what that actually means. The Israelis want the feckless and illegitimate Palestinian Authority head, Mahmoud Abbas, to affirm Israel’s “right to exist as the Jewish state.” But that raises the question: Does Israel have a right to continue as a race-exclusive state? Israel is the Jewish state for the Jewish people. It came to be through an act of ethnic cleansing — creating the world’s most protracted refugee crisis in the process. Today, the Jewish state is home to about 1.5 million non-Jews. To be a non-Jew in the Jewish state is to be a second-class citizen. The ideology that underpins the existence of the Jewish state — Zionism — is a racist doctrine.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ahmed-moor/israels-existence-is-subj_b_742784.html
Palestinians are loath to invest in a one-state solution
The idea of the one-state solution keeps popping up, particularly when the two-state solution is undergoing difficulties. Maybe this is because people in the Middle East are unable to imagine anything other than one- or two-state solutions.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=119863
The Ball is Now in Obama’s Court, George S. Hishmeh - Washington, D.C.
Although some may blame Benjamin Netanyahu and even Mahmoud Abbas for dropping the ball soon after their peace negotiations began three weeks ago, the more likely person who will be blamed should the talks collapse totally will be no other than Barack Obama on whom many had banked. The American president has been very reluctant to be forceful, much as this could have favorably tipped the balance in favor of a final settlement. On the other hand Obama’s public remarks, including his speech at the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly earlier this month, were noteworthy for his bluntness over Israeli suspension of colonization and ethnic cleansing that has been evident again this week in occupied East Jerusalem. Yet, as one columnist said on another subject, “when we really need (Obama) to take a strong stand, he’s halfhearted” – a view that is gaining ground among several Mideast observers.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16301
Israel’s Stranglehold over US Foreign Policy, Maidhc Ó Cathail
If Israel’s stranglehold over U.S. foreign policy is to be broken, Americans will need to be informed about the harm that Washington’s unconditional support for the Jewish state is doing to American interests, say leading analysts of U.S.-Israeli relations. According to John J. Mearsheimer, co-author of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, “The only plausible way to weaken the lobby’s influence on U.S. foreign policy is for prominent policymakers and opinion-makers to speak openly about the damage the special relationship is doing to the American national interest.” “Plenty of people in the United States, especially inside the Beltway, know that Israel is an albatross around America’s neck,” says Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. “But they are afraid to stand up and say that for fear that the lobby will attack them and damage their careers.”
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16300
Israel Conscripts More ‘Ambassadors’, Belen Fernandez
While attempting to read an article on the Haaretz website this afternoon about the brutality of the IDF takeover of the Gaza-bound boat Irene, filled with Jewish activists, I was distracted by an advertisement at the top of the page. The ad featured a cheerful non-Israeli woman with bangs and a flowered scarf around her neck, a picnic scene in the background, and a skewer of meat oscillating at her side. The accompanying speech balloon, which alternately appeared in Hebrew, Russian, and English, was a reference to the skewered meat: “Cooking methods in Israel are quite primitive…”. The balloon was then replaced by a black box of text with the following appeal: “Are you tired of seeing how we are portrayed in the world? “You can change the picture! Now in English, Russian and Hebrew.”
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16299
A New Low in Middle East Diplomacy, Stephen M. Walt
Yesterday the Jerusalem Post reported that the Obama administration has offered Israel a generous package of new benefits if it will just extend the settlement freeze for another two months. The source for the report was David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a key organization in the Israel lobby. Makovsky is also a co-author with Obama Middle East advisor Dennis Ross, so presumably he has accurate knowledge about this latest initiative. Assuming this report is true, it marks a new low in U.S. Middle East diplomacy. Just consider the message that Obama’s team is sending the Netanyahu government. Netanyahu has been giving Obama the finger ever since the Cairo speech in June 2009, but instead of being punished for it, he’s getting rewarded for being so difficult. So why should any rational person expect Bibi’s position to change if this is what happens when he digs in his heels?
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/09/30/rewarding_failure_a_new_low_in_middle_east_diplomacy
And so the settlement expansion continues, Antony Loewenstein
Will they or won’t they? The international media was counting down the hours until Israel’s self-described “settlement freeze” ended this week. Most Western journalists, based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, looked for any signs from the government of Benjamin Netanyahu that would appease the perceived outrage of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas who claimed he would walk out of US-backed talks if colonies continued construction. The elaborate dance came and went, building resumed and Palestinians were once again left standing at the altar with no concessions and less land without Zionist footprints. In fact, if reporters had actually travelled around the West Bank during the last months they would have found extensive settler work. Dror Etkes writes in Haaretz that even according to official Israeli figures the number of housing units built in settlements barely reduced over the last 10 months.
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s3026935.htm
Caught Between a Wall and a Shipwreck, Alex Kane
The Israel/Palestine conflict has become so all-consuming that even objects are central to the struggle. Two recent books illustrate this fact. René Backmann’s A Wall in Palestine looks at the planned 490-mile-long, 25-foot-high wall, complete with fencing, trenches, thermal imaging and sniper towers, that Israel is building in parts of the West Bank. The second work, Midnight on the Mavi Marmara, is a collection of essays examining the deadly Israeli attack on an international seaborne convoy. The “Freedom Flotilla” was attempting to break the crippling blockade of Gaza, which began in 2007 when Hamas took power after winning democratic elections and defeating a U.S.-backed effort to install Fatah, the party that lost the elections, into power.
http://www.indypendent.org/2010/09/30/caught-between-a-wall-and-a-shipwreck/
What You Get for Not Rocketing Israel
Throughout its short life, Israel has engaged in many actions that the world democracies have deemed dubious and inconsistent with Israel’s claim to be “the only democracy in the Middle East.” One can mention the Israeli wall in the West Bank, Wars on Lebanon and Gaza, a choking and indiscriminate blockade on the citizens of Gaza, ethnic discrimination against Arabs and attack on and killing of a number of individuals on board a Turkish flotilla in international waters just over the past few years alone. Israel has consistently countered condemnations and repeated U.N. Security Council resolutions denouncing its actions with one argument: those actions are necessary because of the actions of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza has refused to accept the existence of Israel and repeatedly fired rockets into Israel.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-sedaei/what-you-get-for-not-rock_b_741088.html
Abbas Must Forge Palestinian Unity, James Gundun – Washington, D.C.
Mahmoud Abbas, acting president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), seems to have an infinite number of reasons to disengage from US-sponsored negotiations with Israel. Reduced to a singularity, Palestinians possess little trust in America to negotiate an equal two-state solution and none in Israel. But Abbas wisely chose to await a special Arab League meeting, scheduled for October 4th, before deciding the near-term fate of direct talks with his counterpart, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Although Abbas is talking a tougher game since Israel’s settlement “freeze” in the West Bank expired, he can’t move either way without covering fire.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16303
The West Bank’s reluctant movie star
Away to the west of Budrus, a startlingly red sun was sinking towards the horizon behind Jaffa as the Israeli border police patrol arrived. They had driven at speed in their two jeeps along the military road beside the footprint-detecting sand track and the electronic fence that help to make up the separation barrier here. To the north, beyond a straggling, rocky olive grove and perched on top of a 160ft pylon, we could just make out the security camera, capable of taking a recognizable image of a human face from three miles. “What are you doing here,” asked the armed and uniformed men donning their helmets as they jumped from the jeeps, and used their keys to open the locks in the barrier to reach us. “You should be 150 metres back from the fence,” they said. “And you certainly shouldn’t be taking pictures. You are being held for questioning.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-west-banks-reluctant-movie-star-2094531.html
Farewell to Arms: Jenny, Iraq and the Next War, Ramzy Baroud
Let’s call her Jenny. Jenny was alone, and clearly confused. Her face was dotted with acne, and her short, blond hair was stiff at the ends. As the Skyline train sped towards the next destination, she stood ‘at attention’ in her military fatigue and boots staring aimlessly into the vastness of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Jenny was not the only returnee from Iraq. The airport was bustling with men and women in uniform. There seemed to be little festivity awaiting them. The scene was marred with the same confusion and uncertainty that have accompanied this war from the start: unclear goals that kept on changing while its own advocates – in the media, the government and within right-wing think tanks – began slowly and shamelessly disowning it. They all changed their tune, and many of them redirected their venom at Iran. In the meanwhile, the soldiers continued to fight, kill and fall in droves. Following the recent reduction of troops in Iraq, thousands were expected to come home, while others headed to Afghanistan to battle on, carrying with them their inconceivably heavy gear and their continued bewilderment.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16304
G-d’s Little Air Force, Gordon Duff
Mickey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation have been fighting the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs for a very long time. Weinstein’s group is working to restore normal constitutional rights and practices in a military organization that has been hijacked by Christian Zionists who call themselves “Evangelicals.” The idea is simple. To get into the Academy or to remain there, un-raped, unbeaten, you have to attend regular “bible study” groups and continually mumble prayers.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/10/g-d%e2%80%99s-little-air-force/
Lebanon
Hezbollah: Egypt arming rival Lebanese militias
Sources close to Shiite group say Egypt, Jordan training Sunni militias as part of ‘subversive initiative against Lebanon for Israel’s benefit’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962430,00.html
“STL Taking Wrong Direction, Hariri Can Prevent Hezbollah Accusation”
01/10/2010 Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said Hezbollah won’t take the initiative to the civil strife, but will put an end to it in appropriate ways. “Hezbollah would defend itself and the defense could be political or through the media,” his eminence said. In an interview on LBC television, Sheikh Qassem said that Hezbollah will wait for the tribunal’s indictment on the assassination of former premier Martyr Rafiq Hariri to react, adding that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s upcoming speech in a few weeks will tackle the STL issue. Sheikh Qassem noted that Hezbollah has not yet been informed of “the outcome of contacts conducted by the parties of the tripartite summit on the (Special Tribunal for Lebanon) indictment issue.” “Any indictment that accuses Hezbollah is an unjust indictment because we have nothing to do with this case whatsoever, and we even reject mere accusations,” he added.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=156288&language=en
Hezbollah bars members from Hariri court interview (AP)
AP – Hezbollah has denied a request from the international tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister to interview some of its members, the group’s deputy leader said Thursday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100930/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_hariri_tribunal
American Study: Saudi Arabia Want to Close out STL
30/09/2010 Middle East Policy Survey, published by the US-based Middle East Policies, revealed a study saying that it is expected that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) would soon sentence indictments against parties which it believes they are involved in PM Rafiq Hariri’s assassination. The study considered that the predictions were lately focusing on the claimed part that Hezbollah took in the assassination, referring that the Lebanese are afraid that if Hezbollah was accused, it would lead to violence and chaos all over Lebanon. The Middle East Policy Survey study also mentioned that Syria’s President Bashar Assad wants Lebanon to condemn the STL and stop any financial contribution. The study also added that high ranked US officials said that apparently, Saudi Arabia aims at the same outcome. According to informed sources, The Middle East Policy Survey study added that Saudi Arabia wants to close out the STL, where Lebanon is no longer important enough to it.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=156233&language=en
Ain al-Hilweh residents skeptical about peace talks
SIDON: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon seem unmoved by the recent Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, with many believing the negotiations’ failure or success won’t affect their situation. At Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh near the southern city of Sidon, residents widely differ in political views and affiliations, but most can agree that the Washington negotiations are nothing more than a “formality.” “Talks are only formalities … only blood and the power of the gun will stop the occupation of Palestine … everything else is meaningless,” says resident Mostafa al-Mawaad.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=119878#axzz112qv1ljM
Mossad and the Phalanges
“The Mossad is simply an instrument. Our job was to provide intelligence and to create contacts with the Christians in Lebanon. These contacts began as far back as the 1950s and 60s, as part of an all-encompassing policy conceived by David Ben-Gurion.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/09/mossad-and-phalanges.html
New initiative hopes to codify human rights in Lebanon
BEIRUT: A number of activists launched an initiative aimed at reinforcing human rights in Lebanon on Thursday.
The Beirut Initiative was conceived of as an open framework for communication and discussion between Lebanon and the diaspora in order to create a national charter for the fundamental rights of Lebanese.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=119889
Lebanon’s dirty laundry
How dirty is your laundry? Maybe I should ask your maid and quite possibly she will air out information dirtier than your clothes. Yes, I am referring to the treatment these workers are subjected to that reminds me of history class in the United States when I used to read about slavery.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=119880#axzz112rae5zK
Hariri’s House of Cards, RANNIE AMIRI
A war of words has erupted between Lebanon’s Hezbollah-led March 8 Coalition and Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s ruling March 14 Coalition, posing the greatest challenge to Hariri’s leadership yet and threatening the viability of his “national unity” government. As indictments loom following the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) investigation into the February 2005 assassination of the late premier Rafiq al-Hariri, his now-prime minister son finds himself trapped between diametrically opposed forces. Those in his parliamentary bloc and own Future Movement back the STL—and importantly, its funding—while the March 8 opposition has called for it to either seriously consider claims of alleged Israeli involvement in Hariri’s killing or be shut down.
http://www.counterpunch.com/amiri10012010.html
Iraq
Thursday: 3 Iraqis Killed, 10 Wounded
At least three Iraqis were killed and 10 more were wounded in light violence. Despite the seemingly quiet news day, one story underscored the deterioration of news reporting in Iraq.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/09/30/thursday-3-iraqis-killed-10-wounded/
Iraq breaks record for longest time with no government
BAGHDAD – Iraq on Friday will surpass the previous record for the country that has gone the longest between holding a parliamentary election and forming a government, experts say. The Netherlands had held that unfortunate honor after a series of failed attempts left the country without an elected government for 207 days in 1977, according to Christopher J. Anderson, director of the Institute for European Studies at Cornell University.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/30/AR2010093006546.html?wprss=rss_world/mideast
Aides: Iraqi Shiite cleric backs al-Maliki (AP)
AP – Powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has agreed to support the bid by Iraq’s prime minister to retain power, aides said Friday, in a move that could speed an end to the seven-month political impasse and bring dealmaking that may give key concessions to al-Sadr’s anti-American bloc.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101001/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
Iran
NYT links Iran worm to bible
File named ‘Myrtus’, moniker for Esther, has experts believing Israel planted virus in Iran’s computers.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962247,00.html
Obama pressed to weigh Iran strike
Senator Joe Lieberman, Congressman Howard Berman say US must put time limit on sanctions.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962291,00.html
U.S. sanctions selectively under its Iran policy
The administration penalizes a Swiss subsidiary of Iran’s national oil company but avoids confronting Russian and Chinese firms, which may have added to diplomatic friction. The Obama administration rolled out its first penalty Thursday under the new U.S. sanctions on Iran, but carefully avoided any challenge to Russian and Chinese companies that would have risked diplomatic fallout.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/N85_HaOXpds/la-fg-iran-sanctions-20101001,0,4887736.story
Ominous signs in Iran under siege
An Iraq war in slow motion, the impasse between Iran and the United States has all the ingredients of a major crisis. With Washington – still angry at the Iranian president’s audacity in New York – leading a concerted destabilization campaign, and oil majors adding bite to sanctions, the stage is set for more ominous developments. – Kaveh L Afrasiabi
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LJ02Ak01.html
Pakistan
‘Horrifying’ Swat Valley Executions: WARNING- Video Contains Graphic Images
An Internet video showing men in Pakistani military uniforms executing six young men in civilian clothes has heightened concerns about unlawful killings by Pakistani soldiers supported by the United States, American officials said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/world/asia/30pstan.html?_r=1
US attack Kills 3 Pakistani Soldiers
Pakistani military officials said two NATO helicopters crossed over into Pakistan’s Kurram tribal region along the Afghan border before dawn and fired on paramilitary troops at the Mandata Kandaho border patrol post. When the soldiers fired back at the helicopters, the aircraft retaliated by firing two missiles, destroying the post and killing the three soldiers, the Pakistani military said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-airstrike-20100930,0,1294697.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29
Pakistan Cuts NATO Supply Line In Apparent Retaliation For Killed Troops
A permanent stoppage of supply trucks would place massive strains on the relationship between the two countries and hurt the Afghan war effort. Even a short halt is a reminder of the leverage Pakistan has over the United States at a crucial time in the 9-year-old war.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/30/pakistan-cuts-nato-supply_n_744835.html
Drone attacks will continue: Panetta
The ISI DG asked the CIA Director to provide secret information to the Pak-Army, adding that the Pak-Army would conduct an operation on the secret tip-off provided by the CIA, the channel reported. daily times monitor.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C09%5C30%5Cstory_30-9-2010_pg7_11
[Shameless] CIA promises to ‘respect’ Pakistan sovereignty
Pakistan said Thursday that visiting CIA chief Leon Panetta had promised to respect its sovereignty and examine reports that NATO helicopters conducted deadly cross-border raids from Afghanistan.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100930/wl_sthasia_afp/pakistanafghanistanusintelligence
Pakistani tribesmen protest against US drone strikes
“We are protesting against the drone attacks. Americans are killing innocent civilians but the government has completely failed to protect us,”Malik Jalal, a tribal elder and one of the strike organisers told AFP.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/pakistani-tribesmen-protest-against-us-drone-strikes-jd-02
New Poll: Pakistanis Hate the Drones, Back Suicide Attacks on U.S. Troops
A plurality of respondents in the tribal areas say that the U.S. is primarily responsible for violence in the region. Nearly 90 percent want the U.S. to stop pursuing militants in their backyard and nearly 60 percent are fine with suicide bombings directed at the Americans.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/09/new-poll-pakistanis-hate-the-drones-back-suicide-attacks-on-u-s-troops/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Fpolitics+%28Wired%3A+Politics%29
Afghanistan
7 Civilians Killed in NATO Airstrikes
Residents in the Central Logar province say a tank of the American forces was hit by a road-side mine blast in the province’s Baraki Barak district on Wednesday night, after which NATO forces started air-bombardments in the province killing three civilians.
http://tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/650-7-civilians-killed-in-nato-airstrikes-
US attack kills 4 Afghan civilians
An airstrike by NATO forces killed four Afghan civilians and wounded three others in Ghazni province, southwest of the capital Kabul, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Thursday.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/VVOS-89SPYW?OpenDocument
‘Afghan children’ killed in Nato raid
Wednesday’s incident comes days after Nato was accused of killing 13 civilians in Laghman province on Sunday.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/09/2010929114014622446.html
U.S. and other world news
Ecuador Declares State of Emergency as President Correa Escapes Attack from Rogue Armed Forces
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is denouncing what he calls an attempted coup against him by members of Ecuador’s armed forces. Protesting police and armed forces stormed Congress, blocked roads and took control of the airport. Correa was trapped inside a hospital for twelve hours before armed forces loyal to him stormed the building and rescued him.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/1/ecuador_declares_state_of_emergency_as
U.S. Approval Gains Nearly Erased in Middle East/North Africa
Approval fell significantly between 2009 and 2010 in 6 of 10 countries. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Approval of U.S. leadership is now similar or lower than what it was in 2008 in several of the Middle East and North African countries Gallup surveyed in 2010, erasing gains seen after the transition from the Bush administration to the Obama administration. Egypt, Syria, and Algeria are the exceptions, though in all cases approval remains relatively low.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/143294/Approval-Gains-Nearly-Erased-Middle-East-North-Africa.aspx
Soldier suicides spike: 4 Fort Hood soldiers take their lives in 3 days
“It is frustrating that so many Fort Hood soldiers have decided to take their own lives,” Maj. Gen. William Grimsley, Fort Hood’s senior commander, said.
http://kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=44805
Study: Wars could cost $4 trillion to $6 trillion
Joseph Stiglitz, who received the 2000 Nobel Prize for Economics, and Linda Bilmes, a public policy professor at Harvard University, said the number of veterans seeking post-combat medical care and the cost of treating those individuals is about 30 percent higher than they initially estimated.
http://www.stripes.com/blogs/stripes-central/stripes-central-1.8040/study-wars-could-cost-4-trillion-to-6-trillion-1.120054
At least 78 GOP candidates would force women to bear rapists’ babies
A partial list of Republican candidates running for US Congress in this year’s mid-term elections shows that at least 78 of them have professed to oppose abortion in all cases, including where rape or incest are involved. The Republican National Coalition For Life, a political action committee formed by anti-feminist activist Phyllis Schlafly, sends out questionnaires every election season to Republican candidates asking them to lay out their positions on abortion.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/78-gop-candidates-force-rapists-babies/
US to apologize for ‘atrocious’ STD experiments in Guatemala
Unlike Tuskegee experiments, doctors intentionally infected patients with gonorrhea, syphilis, encouraged them to spread the STDs and many were left untreated Nearly forty years ago, the Associated Press reported, “For 40 years, the U.S. Public Health Service has conducted a study in which human guinea pigs, not given proper treatment, have died of syphilis and its side effects. The study was conducted to determine from autopsies what the disease does to the human body.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/apologize-atrocious-std-experiments-guatamala/
People & Power – White Power USA
People & Power looks at America’s neo-Nazis. Is the US heading toward a future of greater diversity and racial tolerance, or of racially-motivated violence and separation?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8PsZwlv0Uk&feature=youtube_gdata
You get the truth only from ‘former’ officials
Warning from the Obama administration’s submission to Israeli pressure, in an interview with OTV, Michael Scheuer, a “former” senior CIA officer, said: “Three hundred million Americans could wake up tomorrow to discover that a foreign leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, led them to war with Iran, which might lead to war with the rest of the Muslim world.” He added, “Israel has no value whatsoever when it comes to American interests. It does not produce or give us anything we need. The only thing we get from it is that it is leading us to a religious war it seeks with Islam.”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=119851#axzz112spbsy3
Syrian sweets becoming an international sensation
Syrian sweets are becoming so popular that they rival Turkish baklava and bring in $60 million in revenue from sales abroad.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/B98khk2QVoM/Syrian-sweets-becoming-an-international-sensation
Who wants to visit the Middle East? Twice as many people as in 2000
Amid greater political stability and increased efforts to attract visitors, Middle East tourism is outstripping the markets in Asia and Europe.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/6YDINR05GJg/Who-wants-to-visit-the-Middle-East-Twice-as-many-people-as-in-2000
Islam in the West
Kingsborough Community College honchos slapped for firing Muslim professor Hanaa Khalil
Honchos at Kingsborough Community College have been ordered to take a workplace discrimination class after a chemistry professor charged she was fired for being a Muslim. Hanaa Khalil, who filed a complaint with the city’s Human Rights commission, was also awarded $7,700 in back wages and $10,000 in damages. “I am hoping that I will be the last one to go through this at this school,” she told the Daily News.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/29/2010-09-29_unclassy_act_community_college_honchos_slapped_for_firing_muslim_professor.html#ixzz114T3YHYD
Disneyland in veil compromise
Disneyland, the renowned theme park in the Californian city of Anaheim, has allowed a Muslim employee to wear a specially designed headscarf in a compromise after initially prohibiting her religious veil. Noor Abdallah was told she could not wear the hijab at work because the Disney dress code does not allow for religious apparel of any kind before she sought the legal assistance of an attorney. Abdallah, although not fully satisfied, says the scarf approved by Disney is a “good first step” in letting her dress in compliance with her beliefs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbBBsFRmjMQ&feature=youtube_gdata
Report slams UK cameras used to snoop on Muslims
Report criticizes UK police for installing surveillance cameras in Muslim neighborhoods British police apologized Thursday for a counterterrorism project that installed surveillance cameras in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods, saying that although the cameras had never been switched on, the program had damaged trust and caused anger in the community.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/report-slams-uk-cameras-snoop-muslims/
‘Burqa ban’ key to Dutch coalition
Political deal to form minority government including anti-immigration party could result in ban on face-covering veil.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/09/2010930175521991437.html
Rabah Ghezali: France’s Illegal Ban of the Burqa
It is nonsensical to suppose that an individual’s free and deliberate choice to veil their person violates their own human dignity.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabah-ghezali/frances-illegal-ban-of-th_b_739516.html
www.TheHeadlines.org
