And more news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
IOA bars Palestinians from prayers at Ibrahimi mosque
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Saturday closed many gates and entrances leading to Al-Khalil’s Old City while forcing the remaining merchants in the area to close down their shops and beat up some of them. Jewish settlers, emboldened by IOF practices, threw stones and empty bottles at Palestinian pedestrians injuring a number of them while all businesses came to a complete standstill in the vicinity. The provocations also targeted worshippers heading for noon prayers in the Ibrahimi mosque as soldiers blocked their entry into the shrine, closed all mosque gates, and expelled them, claiming that no Muslim prayer is allowed on Saturdays.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Clashes in Shufat enter their third day running
Shufat Camp, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 21 Jan 23:26 — Violent clashes are currently underway in Shufat Camp, East Jerusalem. Confrontations broke out between Palestinian residents and Israeli military, who fired tear gas around Palestinian homes. 7 Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets.
http://silwanic.net/?p=11017
Resumed clashes in Silwan, East Jerusalem
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 21 Jan 17:49 — Clashes between the Israeli forces and Palestinian youth resumed this evening in the Baten el Hawa and the Bustan districts of Silwan. Four Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets fired by Israeli forces who used also tear gas and sound bombs during the clashes.
http://silwanic.net/?p=10954
New life for Tabitha / Tom Segev
…Next to all the major miracles described in the New Testament, the revival of the charitable Tabitha shrank to fairly trivial dimensions, but now the Tel Aviv municipality has decided that the presumed area where the good seamstress was brought back to life is to bear her name. In view of the wave of racism washing over the country, there is ostensibly cause to be grateful to the city fathers for this gesture, which is a show of respect for Christian tradition. However, the name of the ancient righteous woman is not being given to a nameless area: For the past 150 years it has been called Abu Kabir … The efforts not only to erase from the landscape the remnants of the Arab villages but also to Hebraize their names began as soon as the State of Israel was established. The decision to get rid of Abu Kabir, even at the price of replacing its name with that of some Christian do-gooder, reflects this same trend.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/new-life-for-tabitha-1.338345
Violence / Aggression / War crimes
The methodical shooting of boys at work in Gaza by snipers of the Israeli occupation force / David Halpin, retired orthopaedic surgeon
The deliberate injury of the limbs of 23 boys by high velocity weapons has been logged and described by Defence for Children International – Palestine Branch (DCI-P) since March 2010. Some of the facts have been published in national newspapers. These barbarous acts contravene international and national law but there are no judicial responses … The 23 boys who have been shot between 26/03/10 (Said H) and 23/12/10 (Hatem S) are listed in the table below with skeletal facts. … This paper was submitted to the Lancet and the British Medical Journal 4 January 2011 under the title ‘Ethical’. The refusal from the latter is here:
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=74165
Israel using expired tear gas on Palestinians of East Jerusalem
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) — Israeli troops are using expired tear gas against Palestinians in East Jerusalem in current and recent clashes, Silwanic can reveal. Silwanic recently obtained a tear gas grenade that had been fired at Palestinian residents, finding that the gas compound had expired almost 5 years ago. The use of expired tear gas has been warned against by doctors, who say that tear gas when expired turns toxic, and far more dangerous to humans and other organisms. The Israeli use of expired tear gas is not a new phenomenon…
http://silwanic.net/?p=11031
Gaza family remembers grandfather killed by Israeli bullet / Rami Almeghari
Shaban Qarmout, a 65-year-old farmer from the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, got up early on Monday, 10 January and headed out to his farmland as he usually did, accompanied by his 22-year-old son Khaled … Khaled Qarmout told The Electronic Intifada what happened: “My father and I were working normally, clearing some rocks from the land using a cart. At noon a number of people from a relief organization came to see my father. One of them wanted to take some pictures, but my father refused … After the visitors left, Shaban Qarmout resumed his work and Khaled moved about a hundred meters away. “Suddenly I heard my father screaming, ‘Khaled!’ and I rushed to see what happened. I found him silent and blood began to drip from his mouth,” Khaled recalled.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11742.shtml
Believing in peace, even after the unthinkable / Joseph Berger, NYT
…Now Dr. Abuelaish has written a memoir that reaffirms his belief that the decades-long conflict will only be transformed when individual Palestinians and Israelis recognize their shared, precarious humanity. As he often does, he turns to medical metaphors. “We are like conjoined twins with one heart and one brain,” Dr. Abuelaish said in a telephone interview from Canada, where he is now an associate professor in women’s health at the University of Toronto. “Any harm to one will affect the other.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/books/22doctor.html?_r=1
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Activism roundup: Israeli forces fire at demonstrators
protests, demos and petitions
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11743.shtml
Never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity / Joseph Dana
Right wing pundits have often said that Palestinians, when in talks with Israel, would never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. The more time that I spend in the West Bank and watch the behavior of the Israeli army towards Palestinians, the more I feel that the statement should be said about the army. The weekly demonstration in Bil’in last Friday is a perfect example.
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=74170
With eyes on Gaza / Praveen Donthi
For Pradyumna Jairam (22), a postgraduate student, till recently Gaza was a ‘burning issue’ that touched him mostly as bad news. And outraged him. But now it has faces and names: Asma and Mafaz, the pretty Palestinian girls he had befriended in University of Gaza; Jihad Muhammad, who was less of a security guard and more of a friend; and all the people who welcomed him with moist eyes and warm hugs. Jairam was one among 60 Indians who went as part of 160 member rainbow coalition — the Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan — crossing 7 countries by land.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/With-eyes-on-gaza/Article1-653171.aspx
Controversial judge defends human rights at Stanford
One civilian death is one too many, says Richard Goldstone, the author of a report on the 2008-2009 war in Gaza, during a Stanford panel discussion on Civilians in War Zones Thursday. Goldstone defended his controversial findings during the panel, where a standing-room-only audience filled the CISAC Conference Room of Encina Hall to hear the visiting judge.
http://paloalto.patch.com/articles/controversial-judge-defends-human-rights-at-stanford
Vigil pays tribute to thousands killed in Gaza Strip
A vigil commemorating the second anniversary of the Gaza massacres in which 1,400 lives were lost was held last night on the steps of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus [at Rutgers University]
http://www.dailytargum.com/news/vigil-pays-tribute-to-thousands-killed-on-gaza-strip-1.2436871
Censorship prevents ‘deranged individuals’ from seeing ads on Israeli war crimes
(with censored video) Bravo to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington State for suing King County after it censored bus ads, sponsored by US Campaign member group Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, spotlighting how U.S. military aid to Israel enables its war crimes against Palestinians … We’ll continue doing our work to educate our fellow citizens about Israel’s war crimes and our complicity in them.
http://endtheoccupationblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/censorship-prevents-deranged.html
Artists playing Tel Aviv should insist on Palestinians attending Noam Sheizaf
The debate regarding the cultural boycott of Israel is framed around the wrong questions … instead of discussing Israelis, I want to speak about Palestinians. After all, the main problem about the occupation is not the privileges of Israelis, but the way it affects Palestinians; and so the political action in confronting the occupation is not about hurting Jews, but rather about helping Palestinians get their rights. The same goes for the boycott issue: It’s not the fact that Israelis want to go to a music concert that should bother people, but rather that Palestinians can’t attend the same shows. Even though they live under Israeli rule and on the same territory, the Palestinians are locked in their towns and villages, unable to travel or to have anyone visit them without a special permit from Israel. The inability to come to the concert is a symbol of the bigger problem.
http://972mag.com/selling-tickets-to-macy-gray-in-ramallah/
Siege / Restriction of movement / Humanitarian issues
Israel allows wheat into Gaza
Israeli authorities on Friday allowed 86 truckloads of wheat and animal food to enter Gaza, following severe shortages in the Strip … Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said Israel opened the terminal under intense pressure, as flour mills and bakeries across the Strip shut down due to a lack of wheat. Bakery union chief Abdul Nasser Al-Ajrama said around 2,000 tons of wheat were delivered. Fattouh said Israel agreed to open the crossing on Sunday and Monday to allow more wheat into the besieged coastal enclave.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353071
Gaza workers rally against crossings closures
Truck drivers and crossings workers rallied on Saturday in Gaza City to protest Israel’s ongoing closure of crossings into the coastal enclave. The Society of Transport organized a sit-in outside the Society of Palestinian Businessmen, calling for the unrestricted opening of crossings to allow supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip. Transport society secretary Jehad Salimah said the northern Karni crossing was like an artery into Gaza, feeding life into the Strip … Officials in Gaza say Israel will close Karni crossing permanently at the end of January … UNRWA spokesman in Jerusalem Chris Gunness told Ma’an “Kerem Shalom is a bottleneck through which we are forced to bring assistance to over one million people.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353247
New equipment is lifeline for Gaza blood bank
…Thanks to a generous $100,000 donation from the National American Arab Medical Association (NAAMA), The American Near East Refugee Aid – ANERA – was able to deliver much-needed equipment to the Bank, including refrigerators, refrigerated centrifuges, an electric sealer, chemistry analyzer, Eliza reader, CBC machine, water bath and micro-plate washer. With the donation, the Bank has increased its blood storage capacity and laboratory services.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9439&Itemid=63
Germany welcomes Israeli approval of Gaza sewage works
Berlin – German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Friday welcomed an Israeli decision to allow the German-funded upgrading of a sewage works in Gaza … The plant currently receives sewage from households totalling around 600,000 people, though it can process only around half that. The rest is pumped into the Mediterranean or runs into the groundwater. After its upgrading, it should be able to treat all of the sewage
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1613502.php/
PA to increase support for poor families
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said his government has launched initiatives to fight poverty and unemployment. The number of families receiving regular financial support would rise to 95,000 in the first quarter of 2011, up from 65,000 in 2010, according to a government statement released Thursday. Unemployment in the West Bank reached 17.3 percent in the first three quarters of 2010, compared with 17.7 percent in 2009, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip unemployment dropped to 37.9 percent in 2010, from 37.9 percent in 2009.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=352978
Detention
Israeli troops seize 10-year-old from the streets of Silwan
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 21 Jan 23:04 — A 10 year old child was seized by Israeli forces from the streets of Silwan this afternoon. Mahmoud Abbasi was arrested by Israeli soldiers from a street bordering al-Bustan and Wadi Hilweh neighborhoods of Silwan and was then transferred to the City of David settlement compound at Wadi Hilweh main street entrance to Silwan. Confrontations erupted between Palestinian residents and Israeli troops when residents tried to find out the reason for the young boy’s arrest. Abbasi has now been transferred to police custody and is being held at the police station.
http://silwanic.net/?p=10999
Zahhar: Shalit case sensitive for politics, people
The protest and media fallout in the wake of an Israeli public radio misquote of France’s foreign minister shows how sensitive the issue of prisoners is, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar said Friday … For tens of thousands of Palestinians, an exchange deal for the captured soldier is the only hope of seeing their imprisoned loved ones.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353124
Palestinian political prisoners in Israel – Adalah series
Since the beginning of the illegal occupation of West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza (the Occupied Palestinian Territories or OPT), over 700,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel.* This is approximately 20 percent of the population of the OPT. Over 40% of the male population of the OPT has been imprisoned. On 30 November 2010, the Israeli authorities held 5741 prisoners and detainees on that day. 4652 were serving sentences, 162 were detained, 3 were detained under legal combatant laws, 719 were detained until the conclusion of legal proceedings, and there were 205 administrative detainees. The data excludes those held on criminal counts.
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=74169
Court date set for Palestinian charged for insulting president by Facebook image
A Palestinian reporter tagged in a Facebook image that mocked the Palestinian president said Saturday he faces trial for insulting a public figure despite already being detained for more than 50 days. Mamdouh Hamamreh said security forces detained him in September, just hours after the image appeared on his Facebook feed. The picture showed President Mahmoud Abbas standing next to an actor who plays a villain on a popular Syrian soap opera, the reporter said. Abbas’ security forces have previously mined social networks to catch dissenters.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hP_h8_guC6CmT1Ngjnwc6I23u28A?docId=5726267
Hamas: PA continues to carry out political arrests
Hamas officials in the West Bank said Saturday that Palestinian Authority security services detained three party supporters in the West Bank. In a statement, the officials claimed that politically-motivated detentions were carried out in the Jenin and Nablus areas of the northern West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353129
Politics / Diplomacy
French FM continues regional tour in Egypt
CAIRO (Ma’an) — France is determined to see the establishment of a Palestinian state, Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Saturday after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The French minister, who had just arrived from a visit to the Gaza Strip, told reporters that her government opposed Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353248
EU ‘deplores’ Israeli violation of activist rights
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Ma’an) — EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton issued a second statement Friday, on the case of a Bil’in activist detained by Israel, calling the recent decision to extend his sentence “deplorable.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353077
UN chief: Settlements hamper peace talks
(AFP) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon concerned by peace impasse, says settlements illegal under international law and hamper efforts to bring Israelis, Palestinians back to negotiating table [see text of speech]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4017069,00.html
UN urges halt to ugly Israeli-Palestinian rhetoric
Ban said the Palestinians have the right to an independent state, Israel has a right to live in peace within secure borders, and a way must be found for Jerusalem to emerge as the capital of the two states “with arrangements for the holy sites acceptable to all.” “There is no place for irresponsible rhetoric that calls into question these fundamentals, seeks to delegitimize the other’s heritage or incites hatred and violence,”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110121/ap_on_re_us/un_un_palestinians_israel
Israeli tribute to Palestinian Authority support ‘confirms threat to West Bank Palestinians’
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has called the tribute paid by the Israeli Defence Minister and the Director of Israel’s intelligence service to the Palestinian Authority for its security cooperation with the occupying power “a threat to the people of the occupied West Bank”. In a press statement, Hamas said, “The blessings given by Ehud Barak and Yuval Diskin confirm the growing and widespread belief that the main concern of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah is the security of the Zionist state and not the defence of citizen’s rights as they struggle under Israel’s military occupation.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/1979-israeli-tribute-to-palestinian-authority-security-support-qconfirms-threat-to-west-bank-palestiniansq
Direct Palestinian-Israeli meeting predicted
The resumption of direct meetings between the Palestinians and Israelis has been predicted by Israeli media sources. The talks will be held under American auspices, said Israel Radio. According to the sources, high-profile Palestinian officials are expected in Israel by the end of this week to meet with the two American envoys, Dennis Ross and George Mitchell.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/1978-direct-palestinian-israeli-meeting-predicted
After failed peace talks, US aid to Israel questioned / Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM, Israel — The role of the United States as the largest single donor to both Israel and the Palestinians was thrown into sharp relief last November when the Israeli government rejected 20 U.S. F35 Joint Strike Fighter jets worth $2.75 billion in return for extending a West Bank settlement freeze by 90 days. The offer — some called it a “bribe” — of military material equal in value to nearly an entire year’s worth of U.S. aid to Israel, renewed questions about the purpose of U.S. aid in the region and whether it might be more effectively deployed to better serve American strategic interests. Israel receives more U.S. foreign aid than any other country, now around $3 billion every year. It is used only for military purposes — Israel voluntarily gave up U.S. civil aid more than a decade ago.
http://www.minnpost.com/globalpost/2011/01/21/25075/after_failed_peace_talks_us_aid_to_israel_questioned
Other news
1 dead, 2 injured in blast east of Gaza City
Medics identified one dead and two injured as stone collectors were hit by what was initially believed to have been Israeli fire on Saturday afternoon … A Hamas-affiliated website said an Israeli drone fired on the men, which it also identified as stone collectors. The website later changed its report saying the blast was caused by an unexploded ordnance. Abu Salmiya later confirmed the report, saying a blast was let off when the collectors disturbed the earth over an explosive device.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353180
Gaza births down 6,000 from 2009
The Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Interior reported Saturday that 59,154 newborns were registered in 2010 and 3,976 deaths, rates that were both down from the previous year’s levels … A 15:1 ratio of births to deaths was recorded, with an average of 162 births per day and 8 deaths …
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353172
Audio: Palestinian cyber activists push for change
Two of the eight members of a group calling itself “Gaza Youth Breaks Out” agreed to meet and talk with me at a restaurant in Gaza City, but only if they could use their pen names and have their voices are altered. “Abu-Yazan” is a fast-talking, coffee-guzzling, chain-smoking student in his early 20s. He told me the news of Tunisians overthrowing their government had been exhilarating to watch. “They were under a dictatorship for 20 years,” Abu-Yazan said. “Right now it’s over. [Tunisians] can speak, they can vote, and we need the same thing.”
http://www.theworld.org/2011/01/20/palestinian-cyber-activists-push-for-change/comment-page-1/
In West Bank, work to save stunning mosaics
(AFP) – Near the ancient West Bank town of Jericho, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor is creating a masterpiece of his own in a bid to save the Middle East’s biggest mosaic. Recruited by the Palestinian Authority and UNESCO, the 67-year-old has developed a unique shelter that should both protect the stunning mosaics inside Hisham’s Palace and keep them accessible to tourists.
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/51828?tid=14
Analysis / Opinion / Human interest
In the line of duty / Gideon Levy
Khalil Givati-Rapp, a medic in the Nahal Brigade, could no longer bear the role society had forced upon him — “I would like you to write about Khalil. This time Khalil is a Jew, whose grief over the wrongs of the occupation led to his death at the age of 20 and a few months.” Those words, which reached me in an email from the father of Khalil Givati-Rapp, left me thunderstruck. It took a few days before I could muster the courage to reply, and another few weeks before I gathered the strength to make the visit.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/in-the-line-of-duty-1.338375
British double standard on recognizing Palestine lets Israel off the hook / Nima Shirazi
…Ha’aretz reports that “a British Foreign Office minister said Thursday that only direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations can achieve peace, adding that the U.K would not recognize a unilaterally declared Palestinian state.” Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Alistair Burt, while in Jordan today, said that London could not “recognize a state that does not have a capital, and doesn’t have borders.” The irony here is striking considering Israel has no internationally recognized capital and no internationally recognized borders.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/british-double-standard-on-recognizing-palestine-lets-israel-off-the-hook.html
Why did Rahm Emanuel take his family to the occupied Golan last spring? / Philip Weiss
James Warren reports on Rahm Emanuel’s war chest for Chicago mayor. 23 checks for over $100,000. Note Haim Saban, the big Israel lobbyist, gives nearly a quarter million. How can you go against this guy in the Democratic Party, without some reckoning? You can’t. This is why Obama folded on Netanyahu. He needs Saban. Perelman too. I wonder how many other Israel-right-or-wrong folks gave money. When are we going to have the conversation?
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/rahm-emanuel-draws-the-curtain.html
Free speech, Caroline’s glitch, and other Jerusalem Post ditties / Dimi Reider
+972 is hosting today an op-ed written by B’Tselem chief Jessica Montell, in response to particularly insidious accusations levelled at the organisation by The Jerusalem Post star columnist, Caroline Glick … Among other things, Glick claimed that a Palestinian shepherd whose complaint of a settler attack was monitored by B’Tselem “admitted he made the attack up”, a claim the shepherd has since consistently denied. She also accused B’Tselem of forging a video documenting a settler attack on Palestinians:
http://972mag.com/free-speech-carolines-glitch-and-other-jerusalem-post-ditties/
Israel: the ugly truth / Mya Guanieri
As it slides further into open and violent racism, Israel offers the Western world a reflection of itself. January 22, 2011 There was that jarring week in December – a protest against Arab-Jewish couples, a south Tel Aviv march and demonstration against migrant workers and African asylum seekers, the arrest of Jewish teenagers accused of beating Palestinians and the expulsion of five Arab men from their home in south Tel Aviv. It left me with the question: What is next? It is impossible to predict the future. But there are signs that violence, perpetrated by citizens, could be spreading.
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=74162
Who’s afraid of the Palestinians? / Hussein Agha & Robert Malley
…For seventeen years, the peace process has been fueled by illusions. Bilateral negotiations have cultivated the pretense that Israelis and Palestinians are equal parties when they are not. US involvement has fed Palestinian delusions and shielded Israel. The international community’s treatment of the PA as a quasi state has not brought Palestinians closer to statehood. It has deceived Palestinians about what to expect from the world and corrupted their politics. Throwing money at the Palestinians has not ended the occupation but made it more palatable: it has reduced Israeli costs and created a Palestinian culture of dependency, diverting Palestinian energy from addressing their predicament to financing it. The illusions helped perpetuate the status quo.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/feb/10/whos-afraid-palestinians/
Can the PA tackle corruption? / Khaled Amayreh
To clean up its image, the Palestinian Authority is moving to stamp out corruption. But can it be enough if the big names are exempt, asks Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2011/1032/re6.htm
Israel’s first step to Mideast peace: opening the door / Carlo Strenger
Only moving toward peace with the Palestinians and engaging with the Arab League Peace initiative can save Israeli society from falling apart completely … the Palestinian offer was not even opened because it might actually be reasonable. And that, for Netanyahu’s government, would be a catastrophe. This is indeed mind-boggling: Israel’s elected government cannot live with a presumably reasonable offer that would finally grant the country internationally recognized borders and, in the long run, normalization with the entire Arab world.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-s-first-step-to-mideast-peace-opening-the-door-1.338259
Palestinians find freedom in the surf of Gaza / Adel Zaanoun
GAZA CITY (AFP) — Mohammed Abu Jayab feels alive while he’s surfing the waves off the Gaza Strip, relishing the brief sense of freedom from the harsh realities of life under siege … Hatem Krazm, 23, says surfers in Gaza face a lot of problems, particularly if their boards get damaged. “If I break the fin, we can’t get it repaired or change it because Israel prevents the entry of surfboards or spare parts into Gaza,” says Krazm, who has just recently begun working as a life guard.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=353078
The beautiful life in Gaza / Yasmeen El Khoudary
…there is no point in fretting over anything. This is more of a life lesson than a general statement, a life lesson that you can only learn in Gaza. Here, you learn that beauty lies in the simple joys of life: being around your family and your friends, and spending priceless time with them at your house, on the beach, or in any of Gaza’s many restaurants and cafes … Bearing witness to bombings, incursions, wars, and death leave a deep scar in the hearts of the eyewitnesses, but it also teaches them to appreciate what they have no matter how little or small.
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/the-beautiful-life-in-gaza.html
Lebanon
Lebanon Druze leader Walid Jumblatt sides with Hezbollah in crisis
The U.S.-backed coalition led by caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri is on the verge of losing its grip on power after Jumblatt’s defection to Hezbollah.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-lebanon-jumblatt-20110122,0,2728503.story
Geagea: Hezbollah will turn Lebanon into another Gaza
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea warned during a press conference on Saturday that if the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance assumes power it will turn Lebanon into another Gaza, the economy will be devastated and freedoms will be repressed.
http://www.yalibnan.com/2011/01/22/geagea-hezbollah-will-turn-lebanon-into-another-gaza/
Tunisia
Tunisia’s Muslims worship freely after revolution
TUNIS, Jan 21 (Reuters) – For 23 years, Tunisians prayed in fear. They limited their visits to the mosque. They talked to no one. Women could not wear the veil on the street and men could not wear long beards for fear of arrest. On Friday, for the first time since the overthrow of secular ex-president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisians attended their weekly sermon without fear that this public expression of piety would cost them their jobs or their freedom.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/tunisian-muslims-worship-freely-after-revolution
Tunisian media enjoy freedom, fear for future
TUNIS, Jan 21 (Reuters) – At their union headquarters in central Tunis, journalists long used to rigid censorship meet to ponder the meaning of an era of freedom they never saw coming … “There’s a big fear that journalists will be the exception to the revolution and the new republic will behave the same as before towards the media,” Taba says as journalists wander in and out of the union’s offices in a small colonial-era villa.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/feature-tunisian-media-enjoy-freedom-fear-for-future
Tunisia to pay abuse victims, hunt Ban Ali clan
TUNIS (Reuters) 21 Jan — Tunisia will pay compensation to the families of victims of human rights abuse under its ousted authoritarian leader and will send envoys to other Arab states to pursue him, its prime minister said on Friday. Anti-government protesters again took to the streets as Tunisia began three days of mourning for the dozens of people killed during president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s overthrow.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110121/wl_nm/us_tunisia
Tunisia PM vows to quit after polls
Al Jazeera – Mohamed Ghannouchi, the Tunisian prime minister, has pledged to quit politics after elections that he says will be held as soon as possible. In an interview on Tunisian television on Friday, Ghannouchi said he will leave power after a transition phase that leads to legislative and presidential elections “in the shortest possible timeframe.”
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/20111212306587886.html
Other Mideast, Arab world
It’s not just Tunisians who are hungry / Cam McGrath
CAIRO (IPS) – “Break my heart but don’t come near my bread” goes an old Arabic proverb. Failure to observe it has often come at a high political price. Just ask Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who has now fled … Providing cheap food to the masses is part of an unwritten pact between Arab dictators and their people. Since the 1950s, authoritarian Arab regimes have committed to distributing subsidized food staples such as bread, milk and eggs to their populations in exchange for political quiescence.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11741.shtml
The Tunisia Effect: taking stock of Yemen’s future / Saleem Haddad
The recent popular uprisings in Tunisia have sparked debate about the potential influence these events may have on other countries in the region. Will people across the Arab world rise up against the repressive regimes, which dominate so many of these states? Yemen, like many other regional countries, possesses many of the elements, which inspired the Tunisian protests: widespread corruption, a nepotistic regime that has increasingly centralised power with the President, a declining economy, price hikes, and widespread unemployment.
http://muftah.org/?p=687
The Power of One: the Tunisian ‘revolt’, neoliberal economics, and a new paradigm for political action / Maryam Jamshidi
…That Tunisians single-handedly toppled Ben Ali is, in and of itself, no small success. That this was done in less than a month makes the feat that much more profound. While it remains to be seen whether Tunisia will emerge as a democratic, pluralistic, and prosperous state, the country’s surprising achievements thus far have already provided important insights into the current state of political activism and popular discontent in the region. Perhaps the most striking revelations relate to the power of individual action to inspire political transformation.
http://muftah.org/?p=683
Algeria’s midwinter uproar / Jack Brown in Algiers
As protests washed away the rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, a wave of riots swept through neighboring Algeria as well, as youths in the capital and nearly every other major town set upon police stations and other symbols of the state. The disturbances were driven by the same popular fury with regime policies that ignited Tunisia, yet have fizzled out without really shaking the Algerian power structure. Why?
http://www.merip.org/mero/mero012011.html
Protesters clash with police in Algerian capital
ALGIERS, Jan 22 (Reuters) – A small group of Algerian opposition supporters trying to hold a banned protest clashed with police in the capital and several people were injured, protest organisers and official media said on Saturday … The head of the RCD party, the biggest opposition group in Algeria’s parliament, said party officials were surrounded by riot police when they tried to leave their headquarters building to go to the planned protest.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/protesters-clash-with-police-in-algerian-capital
Iran defiant at nuclear talks
Tehran says its uranium-enrichment drive is not up for debate as it meets world powers for fresh talks in Istanbul.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/europe/2011/01/201112117117933889.html
U.S.
N. Va. teen who was on no-fly list tells of his ordeal in Kuwait
A Northern Virginia teenager who had been barred from flying home from Kuwait landed in Washington on Friday morning, four weeks after being detained, allegedly beaten by Kuwait authorities and questioned by FBI agents about possible terrorist connections … His family said they have been shaken by the experience. “We did not expect this from America,” said his brother, Leeban Mohamed, 24. “We’ve seen America change.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/21/AR2011012107062.html?wprss=rss_world/mideast
Lawsuit: Federal prisoners with ‘unpopular political beliefs’ isolated, abused / William Fisher
…Two federal prisons are being used as CMUs and overwhelmingly hold Muslim prisoners and prisoners with unpopular political beliefs. Opponents charge they are practicing religious profiling, retaliation and arbitrary punishment. These are the principal allegations in a lawsuit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) against US Attorney General Eric Holder and the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
http://www.truth-out.org/lawsuit-federal-prisoners-with-unpopular-political-beliefs-isolated-abused66991
Guantanamo tribunals may resume
The prospect of the United States charging Guantanamo Bay detainees before new military tribunals has unleashed a torrent of protests from human-rights groups. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Robert Gates, US defence secretary, would soon lift an order blocking new cases from being initiated against detainees in special courts known as military commissions, a ban Barack Obama, US president, had ordered on his first day in office. The Pentagon would not immediately confirm the report.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/01/2011121135536636376.html
Prisoner describes peaceful protest in Guantanamo on the anniversary of Obama’s failure to close the prison as promised / Andy Worthington
…Upon the anniversary of President Obama’s broken promise to close Guantánamo, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) reported that a man detained at the prison, who prefers to remain anonymous, told his attorney during an unclassified call of a spontaneous peaceful protest that has swept through Camp 6, where most of the remaining detainees are currently being held.
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=74163
WikiLeaks
Video: ‘US was cheerleader for Gaza massacre’
21 Jan – WikiLeaks’ cables on U.S.-Israeli communications revealed that the United States misrepresented the democratically-elected Hamas in Gaza, which led to the Israeli onslaught in the Gaza Strip, says former CIA political analyst and author Kathleen Christison.
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/161234.html
