Activism

Israeli military escalating arrests in Hebron of boys aged 12-15 years old; at least 10 children arrested last week

By 3

Hebron: At least 10 children arrested by Israeli military in one week
The extreme Golani Unit of the Israeli military is escalating its arrests of Palestinian children in Al Khalil (Hebron), targeting boys between the ages of 12 to15 years old with at least 10 reported cases of child arrests made just in the span of one week.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/02/hebron-at-least-10-children-arrested-by-israeli-military-in-one-week/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29

Ethnic Cleansing / Destruction of Homes & Property / Apartheid 

IOA mobilizes forces near Aqsa mosque
Hundreds of Israeli occupation soldiers and policemen were deployed since the early morning hours of Saturday in the vicinity of the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7hzQDbk%2fxJwcQx3mf3e%2fhggiCTj75HYv%2bfIzWefxNvLpbTRYCtn77KEbVUIbruzmQN0AyK4eA0wzDQApGQOkleNAVFWV1vEH%2fb4k3nIacnko%3d

IOA confiscates Palestinian land in Bethlehem village
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has served notices for the confiscation of 68 dunums of Palestinian land in Jaba’a village to the west of Bethlehem, local sources said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7goOqEtyVhGRIN0FADyzcMcQ%2fYmpXC42PfKjX5yVbYHO3tPFJL%2fFXuLmIAY0w1OScV42FwXgXsbVNnQMph2Nlt4oTgHGgnpNFivXSHP5Fabc%3d
 

Occupation approves the establishment of new settlement
Israeli occupation continue with plans to grab more Palestinian land to establish Jewish colonies and push Palestinians out. Ehud Barak approved the establishment of a new settlement in Bethlehem.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7iJY7Zrrh82uiRL4%2f3q%2bOICSrxOyODIPEw9evPsUyPKDgCySVrsfrpuxVsBTQpQu1LW3JCbQyTtktT3RWmTIFRTMTo1mhkspWMBU9X2D7fP8%3d

In the early morning hours of Sunday, 5 February, a group of settlers slipped into the small village of Al-Janiya, in the Ramallah district of the occupied West Bank, and defaced Ismail Mazloum’s home. The settlers wrote xenophobic slogans on the walls, such as “death to Arabs” and “Muhammad is a pig.” The graffiti also included the threat, “Wait for us, we are coming back.”
Hanna condemns Zionist falsification of the history of Christian holy places
Atallah Hanna, the Archbishop of Sebastia, condemned the campaign of falsification and deception lead by Zionist organisations that claim to be Christian with the help of Israeli ministry of tourism.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7B2nCZZDBzFhcoG0yvyn%2bhx8L2tqISBNr29%2b%2fSSrubgbHXNihkT%2b1nJ%2fs9co2KxTCS5WTt8R6YZ5115kuzRXlxF6MrRe9CwMBnKtzFheHT7M%3d
 

Report: occupation violate Palestinian journalists’ rights
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media (MADA) said in a report on Thursday that the beginning of 2012 was a bad one for Palestinian journalists in the occupied Palestinian territory.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7KqJ6boZuqpbSLFhRbw5W8qv4VA4%2bn7yOZ0DS%2fIQeUj%2fuVWIkLEAjc7lurDBgIayeE4%2bknMIz2jNsNdtY%2fUGqzq6%2buSEEMY5ODBBV5OoJexc%3d

Violence
 
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Islamic Jihad says a Palestinian resistance fighter was slightly injured late Friday when an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a military site in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip. Abu Ahmad, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad’s military wing, says the Israeli missile targeted the Hitteen base in Beit Lahiya. He confirmed that a fighter affiliated with the group sustained light wounds. 
 
Gaza
 
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Gaza Energy Authority said Saturday that the sole remaining power plant in the Gaza Strip would run out of fuel by the evening, causing a wide-scale blackout. Energy official Muhammad Abu al-Amreen appealed to Egypt to deliver more fuel to Gaza to avert the crisis. Fuel that reached Gaza overnight Friday can only run the plant for under 12 hours, and by Saturday evening it will have to shut down unless more supplies are transferred, he said.
 

In Gaza, 61 families lost their homes this week
This morning there was a lot of noise outside Dr. Mona’s apartment building so I got out of bed to see what was happening. Dr. Mona lives on the 10th floor in an apartment building in Gaza City facing the beach. About a block down the road there was a group of very old homes on the beach where 61 families have lived since 1948. Some of them have lived there since the early days of the first intifada when Sharon [Ariel Sharon, an Israeli government minister during the first intifada] came to Gaza and demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes to make the roads wide enough for the Israeli tanks to enter the cities. These wide roads were called Sharon Highways. Imagine the shock of the Palestinians to see their own elected government behaving the same way as the Israelis did. They and their sons and daughters are fishermen and fisherwomen. I had met the families a few days ago when one of the daughters, Ibtisam, came to see Dr. Mona. Dr. Mona El-Farra is the person you go to in Gaza if you have a problem or need help. She knows everyone. Ibtisam was very upset and she asked Dr. Mona and me to come and speak with her father. So we walked down the street to where the she lived and went into her house where I met the whole family. The problem was that the government (not the Israeli Government, the government in Gaza) was demanding that all 61 families move out of their homes in 3 days but the families refused saying that they had lived next to the sea in their homes for 63 years. But they were willing to discuss this as long as the government found housing for all of them near to the sea.
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=4850389ae3e2d55804103e6af&id=4120fa2909

Gaza,(Alresalah.ps)– As it is one of many families , who badly affected by the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza strip since over 6 years, Abu Muhammad family still has a hope, not to have a wide house to live in , or to have source of income , but to get rid of debts and rent of the bedrooms they are living in now. Accumulated debts cause Abu Mohammed so much concern. The owner of bedrooms threatens to chase him if he does not pay the rent of the home he lives in. ” what shall I do . I get no income source. None give me anything . I could hardly get the living of my family through support and help of whom I asked for help. Really , life is so tough” Abu Mohammed said in cracked voice. Abu Mohammed used to work as a tailor, but he lost his job since the factory was closed because of the siege , which banned clothe to get to it.
 
Khader Adnan
 

Israel: Hunger Striker’s Life at Risk
Israeli military authorities should immediately charge or release a Palestinian detained since December 17, 2011, without charge on the basis of secret evidence that he is not allowed to see or contest. Khader Adnan Mousa went on hunger strike on December 18 to protest his administrative detention.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/11/israel-hunger-striker-s-life-risk

Petition to save Palestinian hunger striker
An online petition has called for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to put pressure on Israel to release a Palestinian detainee who has been on hunger strike for 56 days. Khader Adnan is said to be close to death after refusing to eat shortly after his arrest in December.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/petition-calls-icrc-help-save-palestinian-hunger-striker?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29 
 

Palestinian prisoners to go on hunger strike en masse in solidarity with Adnan
Palestinian prisoners in all Israeli occupation jails have announced they would go on hunger strike on Sunday in solidarity with detained Jihad leader Sheikh Khader Adnan.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7dP4lKMH4NdXaJzlvbO1eKwanhj%2bRQzR4yCFWB2rubJKpqtsD2RdGUXikTxK42UyiK76tyXfolq%2fC8pDKXYckmER1eB2dMsAQKZJmSFF6Dmc%3d

 Jihad: No calm if any harm befalls Adnan
Secretary general of the Islamic Jihad movement Dr. Ramadan Shallah has warned that his movement would not be committed to calm with Israel in the event any harm was done to Sheikh Khader Adnan.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Dr4rk3veP7hYxuYlrWd1yCooUIDJ5zadRmpe2ZsVKF0jFPXZRizeUMnTvVOtlQ42zqdRoD8s1BA5BtHDVl%2bED3EYfSNcySZOpKsVFnYtEq8%3d
 

16 Palestinians wounded in confrontations near Ofer prison while protesting in solidarity with Khader Adnan
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at Palestinians near Ofer jail on Saturday and wounded 16 including a journalist.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s78dMXRciT3h3AWA9OSWAXtguGGLyGn%2fclydsAlsBLMO7In%2b3EQY8LbOQ5tlJFTGvoSB%2fke9Pmo94WcAaYlZxHjDBx9RnLOa%2bY6gh4n7%2fMexg%3d

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — A demonstration in support of hunger-striking prisoner Khader Adnan near an Israeli detention center in the West Bank was shut down by Israeli forces on Saturday, injuring 16 Palestinians including a TV journalist. Soldiers detained two Palestinians and two Israelis at a separate protest against Adnan’s continued detention in Hebron-district Beit Ummar, as the Islamic Jihad leader entered his 56th day without food.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=459530 

2 Palestinians Arrested During Beit Ommar Demonstration in Solidarity with Khader Adnan
On Saturday, February 11, 2012 the popular committee of Beit Ommar and Palestine Solidarity Project held their weekly demonstration against the occupation and settlements. Residents of Beit Ommar, accompanied by Israeli and international solidarity activists, marched to an area of Beit Ommar’s agricultural land near the illegal Israeli settlement Karmei Tsur. The demonstration, which carried pictures of Palestinian political prisoner Khader Adnan and included owners of land which had recently been confiscated by the settlement, was met with dozens of Israeli soldiers who immediately began to attack the demonstration. Two Palestinians, Saqqar Abu Maria and Beit Ommar popular committee spokesman Yousef Abu Maria were both arrested, along with two Israeli solidarity activists. Saqqar was sprayed with pepper spray as he was being held on the ground by soldiers who fiercely attacked the demonstrators and prevented others from helping the detained individuals. Yousef Abu Maria, who was injured in the face earlier this month at a demonstration, was also thrown to the ground and suffered additional injuries while being arrested. They remain detained while the two Israeli activists were released later Saturday.
http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2012/02/12/2-palestinians-arrested-during-beit-ommar-demonstration-in-solidarity-with-khader-adnan/

Khader Adnan has quickly become the focal point and symbolic face of the inherent injustice thousands of Palestinians face on a daily basis within the Israeli penal system.  Entering into the 55th day of his hunger strike, Adnan is protesting the Israeli Occupation Authority’s (IOA) illegal application of administrative detention and its inhumane treatment of Palestinian detainees.
 
Adnan’s a political prisoner hunger striker against gross Israeli repression and injustice. Two previous articles discussed his case and grave health condition after 55 days without food. Irish republican/British MP Bobby Sands lasted 66 before expiring at age 27. Global marches, strikes and riots followed his death. In France, many towns and cities named streets after him. Iran renamed Winston Churchill Street Bobby Sands Street. New Jersey’s legislature passed a resolution 34 – 29 honoring his “courage and commitment.”
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2012/02/murdering-khadar-adnan.html
 
Other Detainees
 
IOF arrest three people in al-Khalil
IOF troops on Friday morning arrested three Palestinians after raiding a number of neighbourhoods in al-Khalil district in the southern West Bank.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s73hTc0rJBiV9nog5%2b3CrsnVR7q8I2fgFcjYyOOZ97JXpUB2o7oaLqw25MZF49R9naiHWQcbix6cihtEdDAgVHF9rA7UHS1%2fj1oognX%2fHj7Rg%3d
 

Occupation penalise captive with solitary for second time in a couple of weeks
Researcher in prisoners’ affairs, Reyadh al-Ashqar, said that the Askalan prison administration penalised Muhammad al-Rajabi (44) from al-Khalil to a seven day spell and a ban on visits for 5 months.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7ejRF8fP%2fj1FRwGuHg3Z9kUVTXfcZdONDHsMDkrbWYlAiE1bPIu8PNscHmVRW%2b9TT1E2h1O1fdv5%2fUaWO6atVv%2fRrOYSveo9Ny4rQi0kbXjE%3d

HEBRON (Ma’an) — As Palestinian security forces prepared for a raid into the Israeli-controlled zone of Hebron at dawn on Friday, a Ma’an correspondent was given an inside glimpse into the first mass arrest-sweep of this refuge since a 1997 deal split the city. Forces arrested some 55 Palestinians sheltering in the southern West Bank city’s H2 area, which had been off limits to Palestinian security under an agreement that separated Hebron into Israeli and Palestinian jurisdictions. 
 
Popular Palestinian Protest
 

Peaceful W. Bank marches violently attacked by Israeli soldiers
Dozens of Palestinians and foreign activists suffered suffocation from tear gas and some were injured by Israeli soldiers during their peaceful anti-wall marches in different West Bank villages.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7QQ544uY7bh5JdD2jxKNaTx%2bnIA1KO18CvDXqQcQ5k3ZHg7rKMkpMZSwN5p9wnLdOrCIMZmHKFdeGomQf1Uu8AXeR%2fZR3HspwFbF27Co1%2flc%3d

Joining other West Bank villages such as  Bil’in, Ni’ilin, Ma’asara, Nabi Saleh, Beit Umar and Walajeh – where demonstrations have become part of daily life –  the residents of A-Dik invited Israeli activists to join them in first unarmed, popular, demonstration against the occupation held Friday
 
HEBRON, February 11, 2012 (WAFA) – Palestinians and international supporters Saturday removed barbed wire Israeli settlers had the day before put around Arab land in an area south of Hebron, according to a local activist. Rateb Jabbour, from the committee to resist the wall and settlements in the Hebron area town of Yatta, said the participants in the weekly protest activity in Yatta removed the wire settlers had put up to prevent land owners from reaching or working on their land. Israeli soldiers used force to push the Palestinians and their supporters away from the area, he said. There were no reports of injuries.
 
BDS
 

The 8th annual ‘Israeli Apartheid week’ is focused on BDS
The 8th annual Israeli Apartheid week is approaching, and it’s approaching fast. Israeli Apartheid Week is a week where Palestinian solidarity groups from around the globe mobilize events to spread awareness of the atrocities happening to the Palestinians because of Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid system. It also is a week where these solidarity organizations can answer the call of the Palestinian civil society and launch or continue their Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/02/the-8th-annual-israeli-apartheid-week-is-focused-on-bds.html 

Commemorating Palestinian Land Day: Join the BDS Global Day of Action on 30 March 2012!
Commemorating Land Day, the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) invites people of conscience around the world to unite for a BDS Global Day of Action on 30 March 2012 in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, justice and equality and for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it fully complies with its obligations under international law.
http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2012/02/commemorating-palestinian-land-day-join.html
 

Get Your City to Take a Stand against Weapons to Israel
On Monday, President Obama is scheduled to submit his 2013 budget request to Congress, which could include as much as $3.1 billion in military aid to Israel!   Weapons that we taxpayers give to Israel demand an unacceptable moral cost, enabling Israel to injure and kill Palestinian civilians, entrench its 44-year military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, expropriate Palestinian land for illegal Israeli settlements, and perpetuate its apartheid regime over Palestinians.
http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2012/02/get-your-city-to-take-stand-against.html

The North Coast Coalition for Palestine  in the San Francisco North Bay are preparing to present a letter to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors opposing the county’s contract with Veolia. The French multinational company currently operates the county’s bus system and has come under international pressure due to its involvement in a light rail line in Occupied East Jerusalem. Activists plans to collect signatures and present the letter to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/02/norcal-activists-take-on-veolia.html
 

Peter Tatchell protests Israel’s pinkwashing and endorses BDS
This is a bit of a turn up. Peter Tatchell has added his name to a letter supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions against the State of Israel and protesting Israel’s PR tactic of “pinkwashing”, ie, presenting itself as a progressive democratic state on account of supposedly gay-friendly policies.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2012/02/peter-tatchell-protests-israels.html

BDS is going mainstream because it speaks about universal human rights
After America’s first national BDS conference, the Jewish Forward newspaper explains the “threat” from the Zionist community’s perspective; who can seriously deny equal rights for everybody inside Israel and Palestine (oh, apart from liberal Zionists who cling to the two state solution delusion and rejectionists and the Zionist lobby who just love occupying Palestinians)?
http://antonyloewenstein.com/2012/02/10/bds-is-going-mainstream-because-it-speaks-about-universal-human-rights/

I only recently learned of Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s trip to Israel this past summer (2011) for a “week-long educational mission where he sealed two important agreements and received briefings from high-ranking Israeli officials, academic experts and business leaders on topics ranging from high-tech development (read Motorola), energy, water conservation and environmentalism (sic) to disaster preparedness, Iran, and U.S.-Israel relations.” This is reported on the website of Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. The reader is expected, of course, to find the high-minded and triumphant tone of this article to be unproblematic.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/02/the-israel-lobby-on-campus-in-illinois-a-challenge-for-bds.html
 
Tadamon! collective statement, February 2012. Photo: Israeli apartheid wall in Occupied Palestine. Last fall, the Conservative government announced plans to expand the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA), a set of policies that serves to further legitimize Israeli occupation and apartheid, and deepen Canadian corporate and state involvement in Israeli racism and colonialism.
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/9814
 
Political Developments
 

Haniyeh to Iranian People: You Are Partners in Arab Victories
“The resistance will continue until all the Palestinian land, including Al-Quds, is liberated and all the refugees return.”
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=45249&cid=23&fromval=1

First vice-president Rahimi tells Hamas’ Haniyeh during his visit to Iran that soon Israel ‘will be punished for its aggression,’ according to an AFP report.
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – Premier of the Hamas-run government Ismail Haniyeh said Friday that it is too early to talk about standing for presidential elections as Hamas has yet to decide if it will participate. But Haniyeh said he had no intention to retire anytime soon: “I am not a football player to retire,” he told the Kuwaiti satellite channel Ar-Rai, speaking during his second trip abroad in recent weeks. 
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal will meet again in the next ten days, a Fatah official said Saturday.  The party leaders will get together in Cairo before the PLO meeting scheduled for Feb. 21, Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Mhaisen told Ma’an.  To prepare for the summit, Fatah official tasked with overseeing reconciliation Azzam al-Ahmad will meet deputy chief of Hamas’ politburo Musa Abu Marzouq in the Egyptian capital on Sunday, he added. 
 

Lieberman: Abbas poses obstacle to peace
Foreign minister maintains hard-line approach towards Palestinian leader, tells foreign ambassadors recent Palestinian unity deal based on personal interests.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4187753,00.html

Other News
 

The Saturday Profile: Palestinian Helps Romania Remake Its Emergency Care System
Dr. Raed Arafat returned to his post at the Romanian Health Ministry after protesters in the streets supported him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/11/world/europe/palestinian-helps-romania-remake-its-emergency-care-system.html 

AIPAC member identified as Abileah assailant during Netanyahu speech to Congress, Annie Robbins
A recent response to a subpoena from the United States Capitol Police has revealed the main assailant of a peaceful demonstrator who was physically attacked and injured on May 24, 2011, to be Stanley Anthony Shulster, allegedly a member of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). According to the lawsuit, Mr. Shulster, a retired lawyer, admitted to assaulting Rae Abileah, a member of CODEPINK, in the House of Representatives while she protested the Israeli occupation of Palestine during the speech by Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel. The Capitol Police issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Shulster for this attack
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/02/aipac-member-identified-as-assailant-of-rae-abileah-during-netanyahus-speech-to-u-s-congress.html

Bahrain
 

Bahrain police break up peaceful protest
Police fire tear gas and stun grenades on march in Manama, also arresting two US rights monitors who face deportation.
http://www.aljazeera.com//news/middleeast/2012/02/2012211144559680830.html

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Bahraini police detained two US rights activists at a protest in the capital city on Saturday, after firing tear gas and stun grenades to block protesters reaching the roundabout at the center of a crushed pro-democracy uprising. Riot police seized Palestinian Huwaida Arraf and Radhika Sainath, both US citizens, who are part of a team of activists calling themselves Witness Bahrain. Arraf was dragged away by security forces while sitting on the ground, a statement from the group said. 
 

Bahrain protests seek new `Freedom Square’ (AP)
AP – Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in Bahrain are streaming toward a site they seek to occupy for the one-year anniversary of their uprising in the Gulf kingdom.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120210/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_bahrain

Hezbolllah: Bahraini Regime Escalating Repression with Arabic, Int’l Collusion
Hezbollah on Saturday denounced the continuous crimes committed by the Bahraini regime against its people.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=45339&cid=23&fromval=1
 
The U.S. never stopped arming this regime: US concern over escalating violence in Bahrain
A senior US official visiting Bahrain on Thursday expressed deep concerns about a possible escalation of violence before the uprising’s one-year anniversary and called for restraint from the government and opposition. Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner said Bahrain needs to do more to rebuild relations with the opposition after it crushed pro-democracy protests last year, despite taking “important steps” toward reform. “We call on all Bahrainis to refrain from violence…[It] is a moment for all Bahrainis to come together, to move beyond the pain of last year,” Posner told reporters.
 
Egypt
 

Egypt protesters call for nationwide strike
As country marks one year since fall of Hosni Mubarak, protesters says military council is derailing revolution.
http://www.aljazeera.com//video/middleeast/2012/02/20122115740245306.html

By the time you watch this video, the Egyptian general strike will likely have begun. Cf. Salma Said: “I think that the impasse in the revolution right now is because we’ve reached a dead-end in our escalation tactics…We’ve tried peaceful demonstrations and peaceful sit-ins…One of the most effective tactics the world over is civil disobedience, when civil disobedience leads to a general strike, this can completely cripple the state…the dictatorial state that is killing and wounding us everyday…And I think that the key to the success of a general strike, or civil disobedience, lies in the participation of the large sectors, the sectors most capable of crippling the machinery of the state, the industrial workers, teachers, and doctors…”; the Egyptian governmentstates regarding the general strike: “We face conspiracies hatched against the homeland, whose goal is to undermine the institutions of the Egyptian state and whose aim is to topple the state itself so that chaos reigns and destruction spreads”; Muslim Brotherhood Secretary-General Mahmoud Hussein adds, “These calls are extremely dangerous and threaten the nation and its future…A general strike would see train traffic halted, no transportation, and no work in factories, institutes or universities…It also means no one would pay taxes to the government, or fees for public utilities, which would damage the already crippled economy and lead to the country’s decline.”
http://www.maxajl.com/egyptian-general-strike/
 

VIDEO: Women of Tahrir: What you need to know
Shaimaa Khalil from BBC Arabic explains the role played by Egyptian women during the revolution.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-16984534

Why Egypt may not care about losing US aid
Some say that Egypt’s military rulers may be willing to forgo $1.3 billion in aid if it means a boost in popularity.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/world/~3/Kxnd7oORxII/Why-Egypt-may-not-care-about-losing-US-aid
 
Iran
 

Ahmadinejad to make major nuclear annoucement
Iranian president tells crowds celebrating anniversary of 1979 revolution to expect important statement within days.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/02/201221192922203166.html

 ‘Mossad base near Iran – ground zero for intelligence work’
London Times claims Mossad agent in Azerbaijan confirmed existence of intelligence agency base near Iran. spy networks are ‘open secret’ in Baku, Azeri source says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4188260,00.html
 

MSNBC: Israel trains Iranian terror group to kill nuclear scientists, Allison Deger
Yesterday, MSNBC reported that Mossad agents trained an Iranian group on the U.S. terror list, in order to carry out assassinations of nuclear scientists. Active since the 1970s, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran are credited as responsible for five deadly attacks on scientists since 2007.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/02/msnbc-israel-trains-iranian-terror-group-to-kill-nuclear-scientist.html

Speaking in Washington, Ahmet Davutoglu says that while Turkey does not want any nuclear power in the region, a military attack on Iran should not be an option.
 
New Facebook group asks Prime Minister to postpone any plans to a strike of Iran’s nuclear facilities until after the Queen of Pop’s planned May 29 visit.
 
Husband of ‘NYT’ Jerusalem correspondent calls for attack on Iran, Philip Weiss
When does the Caesar’s wife standard kick in? When do warlike statements from Israeli Hirsh Goodman, who is married to Isabel Kershner, a New York Times Jerusalem correspondent, become too much for the Times to bear? When do those pronouncements affect the paper’s reputation for straightforward reporting?
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/02/husband-of-nyt-jerusalem-correspondent-calls-for-attack-on-iran.html
 
Iraq
 

Iraq: 65 Executions in First 40 Days of 2012
Iraqi authorities should halt all executions and abolish the death penalty. Since the beginning of 2012, Iraq has executed at least 65 prisoners, 51 of them in January, and 14 more on February 8, for various offenses.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/09/iraq-65-executions-first-40-days-2012

 Saudi Arabia
 

The Lede Blog: Second Protester Is Reported Killed in Saudi Arabia
Activists in Saudi Arabia said that for the second straight day, a protester was shot dead by security forces during demonstrations in the country’s oil-rich eastern region.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/second-protester-is-reported-killed-in-saudi-arabia/

Saturday has been announced as a public day of mourning in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia over the killing of a protester by the security forces of the House of Saud on Friday.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226035.html

Hamza Kashgari, a Saudi Writer, Detained in Malaysia Over Twitter Posts
A Saudi Arabian writer who flew to Malaysia amid calls for his execution after he posted messages considered blasphemous will likely be repatriated, authorities said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/11/world/asia/malaysia-detains-saudi-over-twitter-posts-on-prophet.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
 

Interpol accused after journalist arrested over Muhammad tweet
Saudi Arabia used Interpol’s system to get journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad on Twitter. Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation’s red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport “following a request made to us by Interpol” the international police cooperation agency, on behalf of the Saudi authorities. Kashgari, a newspaper columnist, fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet on the prophet’s birthday that sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats. The posting, which was later deleted, read: “I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don’t understand about you … I will not pray for you.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/10/interpol-journalist-arrested-muhammad-tweet 

Syria
 

Government renews tank assaults on Homs and Hama, while opposition forces are said to have killed high-ranking general.
http://www.aljazeera.com//news/middleeast/2012/02/2012211131327549801.html

The state news agency reports the high-ranking officer was killed by gunmen as he left his home, a sign that violence is reaching the Syrian capital.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/world/~3/TUV2uk9_TCY/Syrian-general-gunned-down-in-Damascus
 
Updated 17.15: The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has denied “any connection or involvement” with two deadly bombings in Syria’s second largest city Aleppo. Reports on the French news channel FRANCE 24 said that Colonel Arif Hamood of the FSA had claimed responsibility for the two huge blasts on Friday morning. However a message posted on the group’s Facebook site denied they had planted the bombs, which killed at least two dozen people. ”The Free Syrian Army denies any connection or involvement with the bombing in Aleppo,” the statement said. The statement made no specific reference to the comments attributed to Hamood by FRANCE 24.
 

Lousy BBC take on Aleppo bombings, As’ad AbuKhalil
It is amazing, if you think about it.  I posted down about the incredible account told by Riyad Al-As`ad of the Free Syrian Salafite Army about the Aleppo bombings: how he admitted that they were there and shooting at “shabbihah” at the center, but that they left, and the bombing occurred after they had left. So the “Shabbihah” of the regimes bombed themselves to blame them.  This account is being told with a straight face by Western media, and the BBC.  The BBC added its own flavor: they talked to a man in Aleppo who said: that he heard loud explosions and building shook and…that the regime was behind it to deter protesters. He was not even asked for evidence. Just like that.  They then turned to their correspondent, Jim Muir who is “monitoring developments in Syria from Beirut (just as I am monitoring developments in Syria from Modesto, California–so my take is as valid as his).  Muir said that the bombings were the work of “intelligence networks” and that they are inconsistent with the “bulk” and “mainstream” uprising in Syria which is–he said–peaceful.  Kid you not.  Protesters now hail the two Armies (there is the Free Syrian Army and the new Syrian Supreme Military Council) and the main opposition group, Syrian National Council just last week said that it “elevated” its coordination with the Free Syrian Army, and our Jim Muir is still under the impression that the uprising is peaceful.   Muir added that since the bombings “appear to be” the work of intelligence networks, they have to be blamed on the regime.  I kid you not. The man has been in the Middle East for years, and he surely must have heard of various organizations (secular and religious) that resort to car bombs or bombings in general.  Finally, when he talks about “intelligence network” is he implying that there are no hostile intelligence network operating in Syria?  I mean, the enemies of the regime in the region are not even discreet or shy.  And how did NATO fight its way in Libya: peaceful protests too.  Please answer us, Mr. Muir.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/02/lousy-bbc-take-on-aleppo-bombings.html 

Senators call for aiding the Syrian opposition
A bipartisan group of senators will introduce a resolution Friday calling on the Obama administration to start providing direct material and technical assistance to the Syrian opposition. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs subcommittee, and committee member Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) are leading the charge on theresolution, which will be formally introduced Friday afternoon but was obtained in advance by The Cable. The resolution would set into writing that it is the sense of the Senate that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should leave power and that the United States should begin providing direct support to the opposition to make that happen.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/02/10/senators_call_for_aiding_the_syrian_opposition

Jordan’s Brotherhood official says group is against foreign intervention in Syria
Abdul Latif Arabiyat, head of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood Consultative Council, said the Islamic group does not approve of foreign intervention in Syria, yet supports the Syrian people’s right to freedom and democracy.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/02/10/193872.html

Assad: Reforming Party and State, Ibrahim al-Amin
It is war on Syria. That has become the main feature of what is happening in the country. This does not in the least mean that there isn’t a major domestic problem, or that the regime isn’t in need of radical changes, economic and administrative, as well as political. Such changes in turn require fundamental amendments to the constitution. Nobody still thinks that this can be ignored. But there is something hysterical about the escalation to which Syria’s foreign adversaries have resorted, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov observed. And that forces the international dimension onto center-stage.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/assad-reforming-party-and-state?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Veteran US Diplomat Questions Syria Storyline
The problem with US policy in the Middle East is that it now operates almost entirely at the political level: gone are the days when area experts were the heavyweights in the command center, weaving historical context, relationships and nuance into vital policy decisions. Today you are more likely to have single-issue interest groups, commercial projects and election cycles impact key deliberations. It’s a short-term view: tactical more than strategic and black and white in its approach. Like a high-octane marketing campaign, it is heavily focused on key phrases, scene-setting, and narrative building.
 

The Israeli Position Toward the Events in Syria
Israel’s stake in what takes place in Syria stems from geographic proximity, the ongoing official state of war between the two countries, Syria’s demands to recover the Golan, and Israel’s fear that events in Syria could lead to the collapse of the ceasefire between the two countries and/or a re-heating of the Golan front. Israel’s interest is also due to Syria’s important influence, role and stature in the Arab world and the broader Middle East region – all of which have implications for Israel, its security, and its regional relations.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/4336/the-israeli-position-toward-the-events-in-syria

Analysis / Op-ed
 
Ethnic Cleansing in a Zionist Fairyland
‘De-Arabizing the history of Palestine is another crucial element of the ethnic cleansing. 1500 years of Arab and Muslim rule and culture in Palestine are trivialized, evidence of its existence is being destroyed and all this is done to make the absurd connection between the ancient Hebrew civilization and today’s Israel. The most glaring example of this today is in Silwan, (Wadi Hilwe) a town adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem with some 50,000 residents.  Israel is expelling families from Silwan and destroying their homes because it claims that king David built a city there some 3000 years ago. Thousands of families will be made homeless so that Israel can build a park to commemorate a king that may or may not have lived 3000 years ago. Not a shred of historical evidence exists that can prove King David ever lived yet Palestinian men, women, children and the elderly along with their schools and mosques, churches and ancient cemeteries and any evidence of their existence must be destroyed and then denied so that Zionist claims to exclusive rights to the land may be substantiated.’ – Miko Peled, Israeli dissident.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17768
 
Hanan Ashrawi was the public face of the PLO for many years. In a one on one interview, she speaks about the complexity of Palestinian reconciliation and the difficult options Palestinians face today.
 

Debut novel unflinchingly portrays Palestinian divisions, Maureen Clare Murphy
In Selma Dabbagh’s debut novel Out of It, 27-year-old twin misfits Iman and Rashid Mujahed try to find belonging in a contemporary Gaza groaning under Israeli siege and air strikes, and street battles between competing political factions.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/debut-novel-unflinchingly-portrays-palestinian-divisions/10918?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29

Two opposing phenomena are interacting in the Middle East; the first is Israel, moving back to the past with its policies, laws and ideology, looking ever more like a “typical” Middle East country: closed, exclusive, violent, and culturally and religiously rigid. The second phenomenon is the effort made by some Arab countries to break away from the stereotypical image assigned to them for decades. They are shedding their unhappy past to move into a positive future, embracing modernity and democracy. That is the aim of the popular revolutions, despite the complexities and difficulties being faced.
 
I chuckled softly to myself last week when I followed the news coverage of how angrily the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, condemned the Russian and Chinese vetoes of a Security Council resolution that sought to end the escalating conflict in Syria. The media emphasized that Rice was really, really angry, as only a righteous American ambassador can be when condemning moves by other great powers to use their veto to stop collective action by the council in the service of applying the rule of law. Rice said that she was “disgusted” by the double veto, and added that, “A couple of members of this council remain steadfast in their willingness to sell out the Syrian people and shield a craven tyrant.”
 
www.TheHeadlines.Org

Related Posts

3 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

All the arrests and arbitrary detentions and home demolitions and torture and hasbara and cruelty are all supposed to convince the Palestinians that they are alone, that nobody knows about them , that they are subhuman, that the Israelis have conquered them and that this is the end of the story.

But if they really believed in the justness of their cause they wouldn’t be so hysterical every time a flo or flytilla arrives

And the spring is on the way and with it more direct action . I really liked this flytilla piece from last year that was quoted in the Financial Times

http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/welcome-to-palestine-%E2%80%98welcome-to-palestine%E2%80%99-campaign-responds-to-israel%E2%80%99s-denial-of-entrance-to-international-visitors-who-support-human-rights/

“We are pleased that this episode further exposes Israeli policies towards anything or anyone relating to ‘Palestinians’ as dictatorial, racist, and criminal and not complying with basic elements of democracy or human rights.”

Every day Israelis have to choose between justice and darkness and so far darkness is winning .
So I look forward to the flotillas, the flytillas and the Land Day actions. Because this cause is only going to get stronger

0
0
View Replies (1)

Release 1000. Arrest 1200 more. Business as usual.

The thing that gives [dark] hope is that now Israel is operating above the radar of the international community by its increasing use of indeterminate child detention (among other things like “what’s yours is ours, resource extraction.”

They seem to have given up all pretense of “no big deal” and are heading full on toward “we can’t help ourselves”/”it’s our right, who are these Palestinians anyway?”

They (GoI) are sealing their own doom (from their perspective) and opening (with their increasingly barbaric treatment of the Palestinians) avenues of leverage to achieve justice.

0
0