Activism

Tadamun: Israel detained student because of computer engineering graduate project

Tadamun: Israel detained student because of his graduate project
The international Tadamun society for human rights said the Israeli occupation forces detained about one month ago a university student from Tulkarem city because of his graduate research project.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7O3qDRF3WREx3wYTrFgxMOSSQo9JgM%2bObc4F2HWdIdpTK5RUW2mdj%2fNoVq9I%2fj0wNQtH%2bO8LaCtjo6QTNLCz3g3TdLzAl98TKajRLGgrChaI%3d

Land Theft / Land Theft & Destruction /  Restriction of Movement / Apartheid
Israel plans to confiscate 650 dunums in occupied Jerusalem
The Israeli planning and construction committee has decided to confiscate 650 dunums of land in occupied Jerusalem to establish two garbage dumps.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Co%2b9y2HRjfgjfu0STpNz0SepvBr9Z%2fn%2bu0%2b7puS7Kv7bueSADPhBO8SPgQ8972MrWf1dy8FICUZzvnaEeHuKjorDsXjs0QSu%2fjYY%2bzKAxDQ%3d
Netanyahu has never ruled out that such a presence could be part of a larger international force. Israel will only sign an agreement with the Palestinians if it includes an Israeli security presence in the Jordan Valley, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday.  At the same time, Netanyahu has never ruled out that such a presence could be part of a larger international force. As reported in The Jerusalem Post on Sunday,  Yitzhak Molcho, Israel’s negotiator in the low level talks in Amman, told his Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erekat that Israel would not take any steps that endangered its security.  What that meant, he said, was that if the Palestinians continued to say that there could not be any IDF presence in the Jordan Valley in a future peace deal, that would impact on Israel’s ability to show flexibility on the territorial issue.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has made two overtures to West Bank settlers in the run-up to his party’s leadership race on Tuesday: It’s offering financial incentives to encourage people to move to settlements and opening the door to legalizing rogue settler outposts. The gestures appear to be aimed at appeasing hardline elements in the ruling Likud Party who are sympathetic to settlers. While Netanyahu is expected to win the leadership race, a relatively strong showing by his ultranationalist rival would suggest many Likud voters consider the prime minister too soft on peacemaking with the Palestinians. The moves threatened to derail tentative new peace efforts with the Palestinians. A round of low-level peace negotiations ground to a halt last week, in large part because of Palestinian objections to Israeli settlement construction. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon is expected in the region Wednesday in an effort to restart the talks.
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Israeli-government-offers-concessions-to-settlers-2865100.php
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority on Monday condemned Israel’s decision to offer financial incentives to encourage Israelis to move to settlements in the occupied West Bank. Some 70 settlements are on a list of “national priority areas” for housing and development grants, approved by Israel’s cabinet on Sunday, the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported. 
 
AIC video: Bedouin demand end to disposession
A small but spirited group of Bedouin and Israelis demonstrated outside of the Jewish National Fund’s Jerusalem offices on Sunday. The protesters, who numbered in the dozens, called for the JNF, a quasi-governmental organization, and the state of Israel to end discriminatory policies towards Bedouin residents of the Negev, including home demolitions and relocations.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/component/content/article/28-news/4101-aic-video-bedouin-demand-end-to-disposession

How do you continue your life after your home had been demolished? How do you cope with the uncertainty of having a roof for your children and protect them from the cold and rain? On the 23rd January, 6 homes of the community of the Arab al Jahalin, members of the biggest Bedouin tribe in the West Bank, in Anata were demolished in the middle of the night leaving more than 50 people homeless, many of them children. More demolitions are coming: more than 2,000 members of the Arab al Jahalin, who are scattered mostly around Jerusalem are threatened with forced displacement; one of the locations “proposed” by the Israeli authorities is a garbage dump in El Azzariya. I visited the community two days after the demolition. The children and women were helplessly sitting around. The personal belongings were all scattered around. The men were trying to pick up the pieces of their homes and lives and already were starting building up a new home out of woods and tins. Some tents were provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) but there is not enough to protect from the rain and cold. 
 
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Residents of a Nablus village announced Sunday they would start a hunger strike to protest against Israeli demolition orders and confiscation of their land. Palestinian MP Mustafa Barghouti met with residents of Khirbet al-Tawil on Sunday and called for more support in the residents struggle against land confiscation. The village of is facing a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Israeli forces, Barghouti said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=456205

Maqdesi: The IOA has closed 88 Jerusalemite institutions since 1967
The IOA has shut down more than 88 Palestinian human rights, social and charitable organizations in occupied Jerusalem since 1967 and forced 33 others to move its offices to the West Bank.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s721yr6huZoesKpVzzYUFoV41ojyBSMxgbhW8wtRe4%2bR0u14lbSGSb397P4Qwkloc2wzjzFjQRCRweLT37eBe3eV5vHRm%2fV8frnQvRthO3Jmc%3d
 

The first step in preventing all parking on Wadi Hilweh
 The Israeli police campaign to issue traffic tickets to Palestinians on Wadi Hilweh Street in Silwan continues. Tickets are being issued to cars parked on the sides of the street despite the absence of signs prohibiting parking on the street. According to one of the Wadi Hilweh Committee members, “while issuing tickets to Palestinians, the Israeli police neglect giving traffic tickets to the settlers’ cars which park at the northern entrance of Silwan, even though they cause traffic jams and block traffic movement.”Another citizen said, “I can’t make any differentiation between the Segregation Discriminative regimes and the one we have here in Jerusalem.”         

 

VIDEO: A view of the crowded streets in Balata Refugee Camp
Balata Refugee Camp was established to be a “temporary solution” after the 1948 War, after which the State of Israel was established. Eventually, it became a “permanent temporary solution.” Over time, its population has become increasingly demanding. In particular, the younger generation of refugees has been exposed to the influence of new technologies and lifestyles. As Subuh remarked, this is why “young generations feel more frustrated today.” Watch a video-portrait of Balata Refugee Camp, created by Giorgio Algeri.

 
BEIRUT (Ma’an) — The plight of a family of Palestinian refugees underscores the dire circumstances experienced by thousands of the stateless residents of Lebanon’s camps, a refugee rights group says. The Bourshli family were expelled from Akka in Palestine in 1948 as the state of Israel was created. They fled to Sidon in southern Lebanon. When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, the family was forced to flee again.
 

OPT: Boosting protection and tackling food insecurity
RAMALLAH 27 January 2012 (IRIN) – The humanitarian community’s 2012-2013 Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has a narrower scope than in previous years, focusing on two strategic objectives: improving the protective environment, including access to essential services like health care and education, and tackling food insecurity especially in areas where the Palestinian Authority (PA) has limited access.

 
Violence
Palestinian citizen wounded in IOF shooting
A 44-year-old citizen was wounded east of Gaza city at noon Tuesday in Israeli occupation forces’ shooting, medical sources said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7svC7N6BaVpbxfDXlSaMVG4BsjBvfenD7j1ZlhLaJRu2trxGGJMlvw%2b8ELOdCV7EavLGcgb%2b0Y4ONCreflKBggSBOXjQhICRFqgJTDvm%2fFFk%3d

Gaza medical official: Farmer shot near Israel border
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian farmer on Tuesday east of Gaza City, a medical official said. Emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said the farmer, who was not identified, suffered a gunshot wound while working on his land east of Gaza City. He was taken from Shajaiya to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City where he was said to be moderately injured, Abu Salmiya said. Israel’s army did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=456825

Israeli military incursion east of Maghazi refugee camp
Israeli tanks carried out a limited incursion into the eastern area of Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip and infiltrating troops day kidnapped citizens east of Rafah area.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7AZ7iyALPZ1vPvWxM4dANZ42s65A%2f0uZZVoR4B6FgeXq2DSUiRig0Szp%2faOVPMmVuxiWj1Q6Ud27WdJc%2bnSlgRzMBmmqbSpstbdxHzzCKiTk%3d

Four Injured as Beit Ommar Marks Anniversary of Yousef Ikhlayl’s Murder
On Tuesday, January 31st, 2012, Beit Ommar villagers demonstrated near Route 60 at the entrance of the village to commemorate the one year anniversary of the murder of Yousef Ikhlayl, a 17-year-old Beit Ommar youth who was murdered by Israeli settlers on January 28th, 2011. The demonstration was organized by the Popular Committee in Beit Ommar and was supported by the Palestine Solidarity Project, the Popular Committee in Yatta, and several other Palestinian organizations.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2012/01/31/four-injured-as-beit-ommar-marks-anniversary-of-yousef-ikhlayls-murder/

Political Detainees
 

Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan at risk of imminent death after 45 days hunger strike, Ali Abunimah
Khader Adnan, 34, a Palestinian being held without charge or trial, is at grave risk of death after 45 days of continuous hunger strike, according to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR), whose doctors examined him.

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/palestinian-detainee-khader-adnan-risk-imminent-death-after-45-days-hunger-strike

IPS to break Adnan’s hunger strike by force
The Israeli prison service has decided to break the hunger strike of detained Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Khader Adnan by force, the Hebrew radio said on Tuesday.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7H00rurQbBUBadqIjbbkSyXyu7bI423wR8BfLU2uswja75evs3Y1FYHjNYWiPc41Id47BI9FJtbhOq1DmlD8vtIFdABn7lGwHbfCWAx%2fKWpQ%3d

IOF soldiers detain liberated prisoner, Hamas leader among others
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested an ex-prisoner who was liberated in the exchange deal with Hamas movement in Al-Khalil province and a 50-year-old lecturer in Jenin among others on Tuesday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7L2bEYs%2bTpjGgKDnqPt0viP9ssZEA80YB3jwI9k3DIoqAW6vNuxQSPFYRoqcAvgVkDBaZEPZxZETmBQTIrpSlTSY1YjDcs2wPpFBb5Nvtpwg%3d

IOF soldiers arrest seven Gazans in January including three minors
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested seven Palestinians from the Gaza Strip on its borders and at the crossings in January 2012 including thee minors, a human rights activist said on Tuesday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7SEqggXEdvlz4XxTDnz1EbpOpX%2byVPRDlsV2xKLI11vLE8CdEmA1hrsAbwtphcv2dTLIaXbOoub9cg9%2bWsROt2jVKlMK41aZ2IsFOjIRJAOo%3d

Israeli forces ‘detain 5 from Qalqiliya village’
QALQILIYA (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained five men from a Qalqiliya-district village overnight Monday, locals told Ma’an. Troops raided a number of houses in Kafr Qaddum, before seizing Ali Juma, 20, Ahmad Juma, 20, Aqba Obeid, 33, Majd Abu Khaled, 23, and Abdul Latif Obeid, 18, residents said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said four were detained in the village and “taken for security questioning.” Kafr Qaddum holds a weekly protest against the decade-long closure of the area’s main entrance. The village lies beside Jewish-only settlement Qedumim. The army spokeswoman said six others were detained across the West Bank overnight Monday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=456735
 

West Bank resident, who until recently lived in Abu Dhabi, questioned by two different Arab security services; says Israel wants him extradited.
 
IOF soldiers arrest Palestinian in front of PA security building
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested a Palestinian man from his home in front of the PA security building in Jenin city at dawn Monday.

 
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli Magistrate court in occupied Jerusalem has extended the detention of Palestinian MP Mohammed Totah and former Jerusalem minister Khaled Abu Arafa until Thursday. The Israeli radio said on Sunday that the Israeli prosecution is accusing both officials of violating the order not to reside in Jerusalem after their Jerusalemite IDs were taken from them. Israeli forces kidnapped Totah and Abu Arafa from their sanctuary at the Red Cross headquarters in Jerusalem on 23rd January where they have spent more than a year.
 

EU concerned over arrest of Dweik and other MPs
The European Union expressed concern in a statement on Sunday over the Israeli arrest of Palestinian legislative council speaker Dr. Aziz Dweik and other MPs.

 
Gazans slam Israeli detentions
Palestinians have staged a sit-in outside the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza to condemn Israel’s detention of a senior Islamic Jihad official, Press TV reports. 

Detention of Palestinian political prisoners

As candidates prepared for elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in 2006, the Israeli authorities began a campaign of detention and imprisonment to thwart the growing move towards democracy in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli authorities began to arrest members of Hamas: 450 were detained in 2005 to prevent their participation in the election the following year; many were held in administrative detention, without trial or charge. Despite this the elections took place and a number of the candidates in prison were elected to the PLC.
 
AICafe 31.1.12: Women in Struggle- female political prisoners
Please join us on Tuesday, January 31, at 8:00 pm for a free screening of the documentary “Women in Struggle” by Palestinian filmmaker Buthina Khoury

 
 
Gaza (other Gaza news posted in sections for detainees and violence)
18 Jan. ’11: Harm to unarmed civilians in Operation Cast Lead: Update on B’Tselem’s demands for investigation
After Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, B’Tselem wrote to the MAG Corps demanding investigations of the Military Police Investigation Unit (MPIU) into 20 incidents that had taken place during the operation. In each of the incidents, B’Tselem’s field research raised serious suspicions that military actions had harmed unarmed, uninvolved civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law.
http://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/cast_lead_cases_refrred_to_jag
 
TEHRAN – Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini announced that Iran is ready to make a movie about the 22-day resistance of the Gazans against the Zionist regime. In 2009, in the course of the 22 days Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, a total of 1,434 Palestinians were killed. Of these, 235 were combatants. The vast majority of the dead however, were civilians and non-combatants. Hosseini paid a visit to the Palestinian Minister of Youth and Sport Mohammed Ibrahim Al Madhoun Sunday morning in Tehran and stressed on cultural affinities between the two countries.
 
GAZA STRIP – In Hamas-ruled Gaza, where Islamic fundamentalism controls every aspect of daily life in the city that has been under an Israeli-imposed siege since June 2007, a group of eight young men from the Nuseirat refugee camp are breaking boundaries by break dancing. The Camps Breakerz took their moves out onto the rundown streets of Gaza for the first time this month, even though members have been practicing together since 2005. The dancers released a video on YouTube that shows them doing elaborate dance moves – from spinning head stands to arms stands and flips in “I heart Gaza” t-shirts all over Gaza. 
 
Protest / Activism / BDS 
 

Tunisians to launch campaign against normalization with Israel
Ahmed Kahlaoui, leader of Tunisia’s National Committee to Support Arab Resistance to Normalization, has appealed for the awaited Tunisian constitution to include an article outlawing the normalization of relations with Israel. He asserted that the Committee would move to Pardo, set up a protest tent, and stage a sit-in which would continue until its demands have been met.

 

Istanbul conference: Worldwide marches in support of J’lem next March
The global alliance for the support of Jerusalem and Palestine invited all Arabs, Muslims and friends to participate in the marches to be held next March all over the world in support of Jerusalem.

 

Beit Ommar Organizers to Host Second Annual Womens’ Conference
The Center for Freedom and Justice, an organization in Beit Ommar committed to combining activism against the occupation with social service and popular education, will be hosting the second annual Womens’ Organizing Conference to strengthen female participation and leadership in nonviolent resistance initiatives. The conference will take place in Beit Ommar village in the Hebron District of the southern West Bank on March 10th 2012. Last year, over 300 Palestinian, international, and Israeli women attended the first conference in Beit Ommar. Please consider donating towards the cost of this conference and supporting women organizing against the occupation. Links to the Center’s Paypal account can be found below.

http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2012/01/30/beit-ommar-organizers-to-host-second-annual-womens-conference/

 
The participation of Arab officials and institutions at a major Israeli security conference has drawn staunch criticism from Palestinian and human rights activists. The annual Herzliya conference, which includes high-profile guest speakers focusing on Israel’s major security challenges, invited a number of key Arab speakers, including Jordan’s Prince el Hassan bin Talal and senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat.
 
The Phildelphia Inquirer today publishes opposing op-eds on the upcoming boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) conference one by Ali Abunimah and the other by former CIA chief James Woolsey and Jonathan Schanzer of the pro-Israel neocon group Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
 

Take Action: Pro-BDS Op-Ed Needs Letters to Editor
US Campaign member group WRITE! for Justice, Human Rights, and International Law in Palestine issued the following action alert yesterday. Please respond by writing a letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer in support of Ali Abunimah’s op-ed promoting boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS).

The global struggle for freedom, justice, and dignity
The international Social Movements Assembly, now meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil–and buoyed by the spirit of the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement– issues a declaration for a global struggle against capitalism, colonialism, occupation, and inequality, calling on activists around the world to take to the streets on June 5, 2012. Palestine and boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) are on the agenda, too. 

 
As noted here yesterday, The Philadelphia Inquirer published two opposing opinion pieces on the upcoming BDS conference being held at the University of Pennsylvania. One piece, supporting the conference, is written by Ali Abunimah. The other, opposed to the “BDS agenda,” is written by ex-CIA director James Woolsey and Jonathan Schanzer.
 

Targeting AIPAC
On January 23, Occupy AIPAC announced plans to confront the powerful Israeli Lobby in Washington from March 2 – 6. More on what’s planned below. Since last September, OWS inspired affiliate groups. Among others they include Occupy Together, Occupy Everything, Occupy Arrests, Occupy Police, Occupy Marines, Occupy Veterans, Occupy Writers, Occupy Filmakers, Occupy Schools, Occupy the World Wide Web, Occupy Freedom, Occupy NATO, Occupy Congress, Occupy the White House, and Occupy Your State Capital America.

 

Racism / Discrimination

Behind the curtain of a right-wing campaign against an Israeli-Arab actor
A vendetta by Zionist campaigners from the Im Tirtzu group is pursuing actor Mohammed Bakri as he takes to the stage for a rare and impressive performance.
http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/behind-the-curtain-of-a-right-wing-campaign-against-an-israeli-arab-actor-1.410100?localLinksEnabled=false
 

Support a Palestinian family fighting to stay together under Israel’s citizenship law
There has been a flood of new laws, practices and rules of apartheid in Israel. Sometimes many of us feel paralyzed because of the racist manifestations in the judiciary, legislature and executive and don’t know where to start fighting. Yet when those laws begin to destroy the lives of close friends, we know this is a good place to start.

 
More than a fifth of those harassed reported that their productivity at work had decreased as a result, and 9.3 percent either quit their jobs or were fired.
 
PM’s bureau chief Natan Eshel will be investigated by the Civil Service Commission and his alleged victim, R., will be asked to testify; Eshel instructed to take 10-day vacation.
 
Political Developments / Diplomacy
Newspaper: PA diplomats in Paris involved in espionage activities
Different informed Palestinian sources revealed the involvement of diplomats from the Palestinian authority embassy in Paris in espionage activities for Arab, western and Israeli intelligence agencies.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7G6xnS7d5WTP5UE0ebzRiCQJ5xMNAVgJBhmASGLxjs3%2f%2bofWXbjuKQazse8Hm4tl3Jr5hFCfVmUFayccxjMp7c63%2b8fVklt2hMs%2fJ6%2fyuwMM%3d

Fateh: “No Talks Without Israeli Commitment to International Law”
Media spokesperson of the Fateh movement, Osama Al-Qawasmi, stated that the Fateh movement and the Palestinian leadership has a unified position regarding rejecting peace talks with Israel before Tel Aviv recognizes International Law and the two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62923
 

Meshal: Hamas won’t tolerate Israeli schemes to turn Jordan into Palestinian homeland

Hamas chief Khaled Meshal on Sunday made his first official visit to Jordan since the kingdom expelled him more than a decade ago and after talks with King Abdullah insisted that Jordan will not be a substitute homeland for the Palestinians.

Gul points to possible opening of Hamas office in Turkey
Consultations are under way between Ankara and Hamas movement to open an office for the latter in Turkey, America press reports said.

 

Palestinians blame Israel for exploratory talks’ failure (Reuters)
Reuters – Palestinian leaders blamed Israel on Monday for the failure of exploratory talks aimed at resuming peace negotiations, and said they plan to explore alternative ways to bring about a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

 
Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan says that amid regional instability, the advanced weaponry acquired by Middle Eastern countries could fall into the hands of terrorists.
 
The Law in These Parts by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, which deals with the IDF’s court system, wins the film festival’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize in Documentary.
 
CAIRO (Ma’an) — Israeli officials arrived in Cairo on Sunday to discuss security on their Sinai border, Egyptian media reported. Three Israeli security officials flew into Egypt for several hours, Egyptian daily Al-Ahram reported. The border Sinai peninsula has seen a series of bomb attacks on the pipeline supplying Israel with gas from Egypt, and Israel is attempting to crack down on African migrants coming through the porous border. 
 
Other Mideast News
Secret documents reveal Israeli plan to strike Suez Canal – with Mubarak’s knowledge
Documents obtained by the Egyptian “Rose al-Yusef” newspaper have revealed that during the period between January-December 2011, Israel sought to gather the signatory consent of European, North and South American, and Southeast Asian countries for an Israeli project aimed at establishing an alternative to the Suez Canal. The content of the documents exposing the plan, which were marked Top Secret from the offices of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were hugely shocking. They revealed that ousted President Hosni Mubarak was aware of and in agreement with the project despite it being a wholly Israeli political and strategic plan to channel 50% of revenues from the Suez Canal into the Israeli Treasury.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3329-secret-documents-reveal-israeli-plan-to-strike-suez-canal-with-mubaraks-knowledge
 

12 Iraqis Killed As V.P. Warns Against Widespread Sectarian Violence
At least 12 Iraqis were killed and 14 more were wounded in new attacks. The violence targeted security personnel. Meanwhile, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi gave an interview to C.N.N. in which he reiterated his innocence.

http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2012/01/30/12-iraqis-killed-as-v-p-warns-against-widespread-sectarian-violence/

Iraq Security Forces arrest 16 of Hashemi’s bodyguards
Iraqi Interior Ministry announced, on Monday, that 16 of Vice-President Tarek Al Hashemi’s bodyguards were arrested for assassinating officers and judicial investigators with silenced weapons.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-73340-Iraq-Security-Forces-arrest-16-of-Hashemi%E2%80%99s-bodyguards.html

AP – The United States is selling some military equipment to Bahrain as it walks a fine line between pushing the Sunni monarchy to open talks with the opposition while proceeding cautiously with a strategic ally to counter Iran.

 

Bahrain’s use of tear gas against protesters increasingly deadly
Bahrain must investigate more than a dozen deaths that followed the misuse of tear gas by security forces, Amnesty International has said after another person was seriously injured by a tear gas canister in Manama this week.  On Tuesday, 20-year-old Mohammad al-Muwali was seriously injured and hospitalized after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister launched by riot police responding to an anti-government protest in the capital city’s Karrana neighbourhood. 

 

Bahrain must release woman activist convicted for listening to ‘revolutionary’ music
The Bahraini authorities must release the first woman activist to be convicted over her involvement in last year’s pro-reform demonstrations, Amnesty International said today after a court rejected her appeal and upheld her prison sentence. Fadhila Mubarak’s 18-month prison sentence for protesting and listening to “revolutionary” music was today upheld by the Court of Cassation in the capital, Manama. 

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/bahrain-must-release-woman-activist-convicted-listening-revolutionary-music-2012-01-30

World Briefing | Middle East: Bahrain: Clashes After Teen’s Funeral
Antigovernment protesters clashed with riot police officers on Monday after the funeral of a teenager who died last week while in police custody.

http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=f9759811e376fa28e27419745fe6f27c
 

Diplomatic battle looms in UN over Syria

As fighting raged near Damascus, the Arab League and the West wants the Security Council to act on a peace plan.
 
‘Street fighting rages’ near Damascus
Reports of gunfire and explosions in suburbs of Syrian capital after security forces launch campaign to regain control.

 

Syrian Activist Speaks from Hiding: The Bloodshed is Continuing Despite International Criticism
Street battles are raging at the gates of the Syrian capital of Damascus, and activists say at least 62 people were killed nationwide on Sunday. This comes as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the Syrian leadership, particularly President Bashar al-Assad, to end the violence against the demonstrators immediately, and plans to take up a draft resolution this week calling on him to step down and transfer power. “They are just watching the bloodshed in Syria and keep talking and talking without doing anything,” says Razan Zaitouneh, a lawyer and human rights activist, who joins us from Damascus. We also speak with Karam Nachar, a U.S.-based cyber-activist who is working with Syrian protesters via social media platforms. [includes rush transcript]

 

The US/Saudi Agenda and the Syrian Rebellion 
Some people consider it a bit rich that Saudi Arabia is the one leading the charge or helping to lead the charge with Qatar, which is also a bit rich, demanding human rights in Syria. On the other hand, the people of Syria certainly have a right to rebel against dictatorship. It’s a complicated question.

 

The Syrian rebels’ war of attrition

The rebels know they’re out-gunned and out-manned, at least for now, so their strategy is to resort to guerilla warfare operations to exhaust and vitiate the resources of Assad’s security forces and army.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/michaelweiss/100133520/the-syrian-rebels-war-of-attrition/

 

U.S. uses drones to protect envoys; Iraq said outraged (Reuters)
Reuters – The State Department said on Monday it has used unarmed drones to help protect its diplomats overseas and the New York Times reported that the program had outraged senior Iraqi officials.

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/pl_nm/us_iraq_usa_drones

 

Yemen: Amnesty for Saleh and Aides Unlawful
A new law granting amnesty to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his aides violates Yemen’s international legal obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. The sweeping law provides domestic immunity from criminal prosecution for serious international crimes such as the deadly attacks on peaceful demonstrators in 2011. 

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/01/23/yemen-amnesty-saleh-and-aides-unlawful

VIDEO: Tunisian Jews reject calls to leave
In the wake of the Arab Uprising, which began a year ago in Tunisia, an Israeli government minister said that for their own safety all of Tunisia’s remaining Jews should move to Israel.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-16805329
 

The Maspero Sit In, Max Ajl
The amber streetlights standing sentry over the Nile Cornice running in front of the communications building in the Maspero complex in downtown Cairo do something odd to peoples’ coloration at night, flattening and softening bright colors, turning the assemblages of people into a chiaroscuro – here and there a green laser lacing through the smoke and smog to mark out one of the snipers perched in the windows of the hulking rotunda.

 
Iran
 

Iran seeks to halt some oil sales
The dispute between Iran and Western economies escalates after Tehran says it will stop oil sales to some countries.

 
Coastguard and naval forces of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) group of Arab countries have contingency plans for a possible attempt by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, a Kuwaiti maritime official said on Monday. Five of the six GCC members – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait – rely on the world’s most important energy shipping lane being open to export most of their oil and gas.
 

Is Iran really ‘one year away from a bomb’ or did Obama defense secretary just cave in further to Israel lobby?, Ali Abunimah

The relentless drumbeat for war against Iran got a little bit louder last night with comments by US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on CBS’ 60 Minutes that Iran is only a year from making a nuclear bomb.

 
Analysis / Op-ed
 

‘Former thug who found Judaism hopes to be first African-American in the Knesset’, Philip Weiss

Why is Haaretz eating the New York Times’s breakfast on the most important international story? Because Haaretz runs headlines like the one above about the guy at left, who used to call himself American Thug!  And you heard the right of return of Palestinian refugees was Israel’s nightmare? No, no, no. The law of (Jewish) return is Israel’s nightmare. The right of return might actually heal the place!

 

Putting Israel First
The campaign to lure the US into attacking Iran has one big problem to overcome before the War Party can taste success: the rather obvious fact that such a war would benefit Israel, and not the United States. This is why Israel’s partisans in the US constitute the spearhead of the pro-war agitation, why AIPAC […]

 

Anti-Zionism in the 21st Century, Tariq Shadid
The essence of the Palestinian struggle is the battle against Zionism. It is a battle against its racism, against its murderous war crimes, against its insatiable territorial hunger, against its disdain for non-Jewish human rights, and against its devoted attempts to destroy Palestinian national identity. As voices of normalization are on the rise, and social media is invaded by paid pro-Zionist bloggers, there is an increased need for anti-Zionists to draw attention to the crimes committed by ‘Israel’, and to speak up against the ongoing media silence and the apologist activities of those misleadingly portraying themselves as ‘peace doves’. Let us first look briefly at the history of the anti-Zionist struggle, and then see where we stand today.

 

The Palestine Nakba: Decolonising History
The Palestine Nakba: Decolonising History, Narrating the Subaltern, Reclaiming Memory. Nur Masalha. (London: Zed Books, January 2012). 288 pp. Hardback. ISBN: 978-1848139718.  2012 marks the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba – the most traumatic catastrophe that ever befell Palestinians. This book explores new ways of remembering and commemorating the Nakba. In the context of Palestinian oral history, it explores ‘social history from below’, subaltern narratives of memory and the formation of collective identity. Masalha argues that to write more truthfully about the Nakba is not just to practise a professional historiography but an ethical imperative. The struggles of ordinary refugees to recover and publicly assert the truth about the Nakba is a vital way of protecting their rights and keeping the hope for peace with justice alive.  This book is essential for understanding the place of the Palestine Nakba at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the vital role of memory in narratives of truth and reconciliation.

 
Accompanying the covert war between Iran and the west is a sideline industry consisting of all manner of spies, exiles, and others with mixed motives regarding this confrontation.  There are supposed Iranian dissidents who’ve escaped, made their way to the west, and been taken into the bosom of the neocon political and media world.  One of these is Amir Abbas Fakhravar.  To hear him tell it, he escaped from an Iranian jail with the help of Richard Perle, who whisked him off to America where he became the darling of the Cheney neocon apparatus.  To hear former jailed Iranian reformers tell it, he was a jailhouse snitch for the regime.
 
Last week, Haaretz’s Barak Ravid broke the story that Dennis Ross, late of the Obama administration, had never actually given up his security clearance and was still playing an outsized, and seemingly unchecked, role in advising the president. Now Ravid has a follow-up revelation that suggests just how strong the Ross-White House connection still is: shortly after leaving the White House, the Obama team requested that a special secure phone line be installed in Ross’s office. That’s right, in his office, which just happens to be at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the AIPAC-affiliated neocon redoubt that boasts Marty Peretz and Henry Kissinger among its Board of Advisors and Daniel Pipes among its “adjunct scholars.”
 

Alan Hart: Is Israel on the Road to “Self-destruction”?

One very well informed and courageous Israeli who thinks the answer is “Yes”

www.TheHeadlines.Org

1 Comment
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

According to Betawi, the student young man chose a graduate project on the construction of a pilotless plane model and started to make online research on the subject before the IOF detained him.

Israeli interrogators told the student he could not go on with his graduate project for security reasons and should pledge to choose another one of no threat to Israel’s security in order to release him.

uuuu threatens israel no doubt.