Land Theft & Destruction / Ethnic Cleansing / Palestinian History
Qusra looses more land to ever expanding settlements
Sunday, April 29, a group of settlers bulldozed agricultural lands belonging to the village of Qusra, in Nablus district. In the morning hours, the settlers went to the piece of land, which is even located far from the settlements surrounding the village but had been targeted before by the settlers. Many times, the area was a location of clashes between the people from Qusra that were out there to protect their lands against the settlers’ usurpation.
http://www.stopthewall.org/2012/04/29/qusra-looses-more-land-ever-expanding-settlements
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has informed Palestinian farmers in Wadi Qana in Deir Estiya village, west of Salfit, that one thousand of their olive trees would be chopped off.
Obama throws ’67 borders under the (campaign) bus, Philip Weiss
New video released by Obama campaign today begins by refuting Mitt Romney’s assertion that Obama would have Israel return to its 1967 borders. About 10 seconds in. Last May in a speech before the State Department, Obama said that a peace deal would be based on the ’67 borders. Israel reacted in anger. And ever since he’s been retreating.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/obama-throws-67-borders-under-the-bus.html
The Israeli government on Friday asked the Supreme Court for a three-month delay in the demolition of five apartment buildings in an illegal Jewish settlement on the West Bank, backtracking on a previous pledge to clear the site by May 1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government agreed last year to remove the houses at Ulpana, on the edge of the Beit El settlement, after a court ruled they were built on private Palestinian land. However, Netanyahu has come under intense pressure from within his own right-wing Likud party and from their extremist pro-settler coalition allies to delay the demolition.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/israel-seeks-another-delay-illegal-settlement-demolition?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
‘State defying rule of law on Ulpana’
Left enraged by State’s appeal over eviction of Beit El neighborhood; says PM ‘setting settlers above the law’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4221457,00.html
UN committee blasts move to ‘legalize’ settlement outposts
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A special UN committee on Palestinian rights says it is “deeply troubled” by Israel’s cabinet decision to “legalize” three outposts in the occupied West Bank. The bureau says Israel “has blatantly supported and engaged in the expansion of illegal settlements … these brazen actions amount to the first official establishment of new settlements” in 20 years.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=480213
Ulpana, high drama in the wild wild West (Bank), Annie Robbins
Israel has reneged on its pledge to demolish Ulpana, an illegal outpost built on Palestinian land just a stones throw from the religious nationalist settlement of Beit El near Ramallah in the West Bank. The reversal is happening days before the anticipated court-ordered demolition May 1st.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/ulpana-high-drama-in-the-wild-wild-west-bank.html
April 22 2012 the Israeli army bulldozers started leveling lands and announced the confiscation of 400 dunums from Qalandiya village lands in order to build a new route of the Wall. The Palestinian village, located 11km north of Jerusalem and covering a total area of 3948 dunums, is already surrounded by a maze of Walls from three sides, divided by these walls into two separate parts and will now loose more land to facilitate the construction of a new Israeli settlement industrial zone on the area of the Qalandiya airport.
Prior to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, the ancient City of Nablus had been a Palestinian principal trade and manufacturing center for centuries. Nablus natural beauty captured the imagination of visitors throughout recorded history. With its twenty gushing springs, fruit gardens, public fountains and mosques courtyards, Nablus City, embedded in a valley between two steep mountains, Jerzeem and Eibal, was described by Shams al-Din al-Ansari back in the fourteenth century as “a palace in a garden”.
Siege on Gaza
Human rights organization warns of blackouts in the Gaza Strip
A human rights institution has warned of the serious situation in Gaza due to electricity blackouts, saying that ignoring the crisis and not taking action quickly will result in a catastrophy.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7B3spDeoDbhfoM7FDXVrTOum2ShnczRNaE8eOc80EoY92GJ1q2Z%2bMy1Lg5THSZ4YFI8l8UWCc%2bAThTJEtOXcfTOe5pTvLGkZV7I0RwhtKI54%3d
Egypt Prevents Egyptian Convoy From Entering Gaza
The Egyptian Border Authorities prevented, on Saturday evening, an Egyptian convoy of the Egyptian Engineers Union from entering the Gaza Strip to deliver construction materials to the besieged coastal region.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63380
Violence / Aggression / Raids
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) assaulted a teenage Palestinian girl on entering the Ibrahimi mosque in Al-Khalil on Sunday.
Palestinian medical sources reported that a Palestinian man was seriously injured after being attacked by a pack of boars that belong to extremist Israeli settlers near Kufur Thuluth Palestinian village, near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia.
Jewish settlers stormed the Solomon Pools in Khader village, south of Bethlehem, under Israeli military protection, local sources said.
Four activists were injured when Israeli occupation forces (IOF) beat participants in the Beit Ummar weekly anti wall march on Saturday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7GvwIVF2fg6xsGp0D4NmitwS4SXymu%2fMEoWyy4EzNMJGDAl%2bqviewcwXN70SaNxBXhR4K5DPeW%2bpDtV3wFeb7Bw3AYDjwmqYosKaRLYrJl%2bc%3d
Israeli policemen violently quell protests in O. Jerusalem
Israeli police and border guards have violently quelled protesters in Beit Hanina in occupied Jerusalem who were protesting the eviction of two Palestinian families from their homes in the suburb.
Two people were severely injured, and dozens of protesters were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation this week when Israeli troops attacked anti-wall and settlement protests on Friday in four West Bank communities.
Occupation forces suppress popular weekly anti-wall protests
Two protesters were wounded, one seriously, at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in Kafr Quaddoum weekly protest against illegal settlements and the apartheid wall.
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Four Palestinians were injured Thursday when clashes erupted at a demonstration outside Israel’s Ofer detention center near Ramallah, a Ma’an correspondent reported. Israeli forces fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets as protesters threw rocks at soldiers in a demonstration for Palestinian detainees on hunger strike in Israeli jails. Forces detained Abdullah Abu Rahmeh, a leader in the non-violent resistance movement from Bilin, the reporter said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=479968
http://original.antiwar.com/richard-silverstein/2012/04/27/ziad-jilani-a-kill-shot-in-wadi-joz/
IOF soldiers detain 13-year-old child for hours
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed a number of Jenin villages on Saturday night and at dawn Sunday and took away a 13-year-old child for several hours of interrogation.
Israeli police arrest two children, two teens in Silwan
Israeli police forces stormed Silwan town in occupied Jerusalem on Saturday and arrested a father and his two teen sons, local sources said.
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Saif, the son of MP Hasan Yousef, at Za’tara roadblock on Friday night, the family told PIC reporter on Saturday.
Khafsh: 2800 prisoners on hunger strike
Fuad Al-Khafsh, the director of Ahrar center for prisoners studies, confirmed that 2800 Palestinian prisoners have gone on hunger strike while one thousand others will join the strike this week.
Hamas prisoners escalate the strike and refuse to take their medication
The protest steps of hunger striking Palestinian prisoners in the occupation’s jails escalated in line with their rejection of the Israeli occupation’s oppressive measures against them.
Detained PFLP Leader Moved To Prison Hospital
Palestinian sources reported, Sunday, that detained secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmad Sa’adat, was moved to the Ramla prison hospital after a sharp deterioration in his health condition.
Eighth hunger striking prisoner transferred to hospital; at least 2,000 still on hunger strike
On Saturday, Palestinian prisoner Muhammed Halas was transferred to Ramleh prison medical center after twelve days on hunger strike, joining seven other long-term hunger strikers, including two that have had no food for sixty days.
Ex-detainee Assaad Fahmi Abu Salah was transferred to intensive care in Beit Hanoun hospital, after his health deteriorated due to his open hunger strike in solidarity with his detained sons.
Bilal Diab, on hunger strike for 62 days, sent a letter from Ramla prison hospital in which he confirmed his determination to continue his hunger strike until “his release or martyrdom”.
In an illegal attempt to force an end to her hunger-strike, the Israeli Prison Administration has placed detainee Lina al-Jarbouni, 37 years old, into solitary confinement at the Ramla Israeli prison. Al-Jarbouni’s hunger-strike began on Tuesday, joining thousands of other Palestinian detainees on hunger strike. Her decision made her subject to constant harassment and abuse by her Israeli jailers in an attempt to force her break her strike.
http://samidoun.ca/2012/04/lina-al-jarbouni-placed-in-solitary-confinement-as-penalty-for-hunger-strike/
Palestinian political detainee, Bilal Thiab, sent a letter from his hospital bed at the Ramla Israeli Prison hospital that lacks adequate supplies and equipment, stating that he is persistent and determined to continue his hunger-strike until death or until he is released.
Palestinians are railing against Israeli administrative detention, imprisonment without charge, with over 2,000 prisoners currently on hunger strike, two of which are in critical condition, now in their 59th day of strike. Yet the new wave of protests that began on April 17, 2012, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, are receiving little media attention.
Gaza leaders pledge support for Palestinian prisoners
Leaders in the Gaza Strip on Friday vowed not to abandon the thousands of Palestinian detainees held by Israel, with an Islamic Jihad figure calling on militants to abduct Israelis and use them as bargaining chips to secure their freedom. Human rights groups say up to 2,000 prisoners have joined an open-ended hunger strike to protest against jail conditions and thousands of Palestinians staged a rally in the Gaza Strip to support their cause.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/gaza-leaders-pledge-support-palestinian-prisoners?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Photos: April 28 protests in Edinburgh and London for Palestinian prisoners
The delegates to the Annual Conference of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), the umbrella group for every trade union in Scotland, today voted unanimously and ——repeatedly against Israeli apartheid. The 450 delegates voted to:
-campaign to expose the role of the racist JNF (Jewish National Fund) in the Israeli apartheid system
-support the participants in the Welcome to Palestine initiative who tried to travel peacefully to Palestine via Tel Aviv Airport
-fully support the Palestinian-Brazilian call for the World Social Forum-Free Palestine in Brazil in November
-support the Palestinian hunger strikers and the work of Addameer, the Palestinian prisoner support organisation.
A number of British NGOs have called on supporters to join them outside Downing Street on Saturday 27th April, in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who are currently on hunger strike. In a press release made available to Quds Press, the Palestine Forum of Britain called on Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims in the UK, and on all freedom lovers, to take part in the protest, in solidarity with the hunger strike prisoners. Since 17 April, 1,600 Palestinian prisoners embarked on a mass hunger strike in protest against Israel’s administrative detention and solitary confinement policies, as well as their detention conditions and the violations conducted by the Israeli prisons’ authorities against them and their families. The protest is co-organised by the Palestine Forum in Britain (PFB), the British Muslim Initiative, and the UK-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/europe/3672-british-ngos-call-for-vigil-outside-downing-street-in-solidarity-with-palestinian-prisoners-on-hunger-strike
Moment of Truth: Report from day two of the United Methodist General Conference, Pam Bailey
When I am in the United States, and not in Gaza, I sometimes have difficulty identifying activism that will actually make a difference on behalf of Palestinians. When the call went out for volunteers to travel to Tampa to speak to delegates at the United Methodist Church General Conference, where a resolution in favor of divestment from three companies that facilitate the occupation was heading for a vote, I didn’t hesitate to hop on a plane and GO. Although I do not identify as any one denomination today, I was baptized and confirmed as a Methodist. Here is an account from Day Two of the conference.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/moment-of-truth-report-from-day-two-of-the-united-methodist-general-conference.html
Despite the fact that in their Kairos manifesto of 2009, Palestinian Christians had specifically appealed for divestment, and despite the fact that no less than the World Bank has reported that until movement and access restrictions are removed, the West Bank economy cannot thrive, the subcommittee concluded that selling the church’s shares in three companies that enable the Israeli “matrix of control” was an unnecessary sacrifice. Their attitude seemed to be part orientalist condescension (none of the Palestinian Christians present at the conference were consulted) and part pure self-interest, plain and simple. After all, it’s their own pension fund we are talking about. As one member noted, there are about 25 companies in the pension fund portfolio that could be challenged by one party or another due to their questionable activities. If divestment from three of them were to set a precedent, what then? (But shouldn’t the question really be, why are those companies in the portfolio to begin with? Maybe a careful look at all of them is in order. That is, unless the UM principles are just words on paper.)
As hostility, intimidation and even death threats mount against students for organizing non-violent actions to educate about Palestine, a number of rights groups have issued a call for their rights to be protected.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/following-death-threats-rights-groups-issue-call-support-us-students-right-speak
Anti
The controversy over the permissibility or impermissibility of visits to occupied Jerusalem by non-Palestinian Muslims seemed to have given many ignoramuses a certain pulpit to emit their ignorance.
Racism and Discrimination
TA man suspected of torching migrant homes
Police say evidence links Shapira neighborhood resident to recent firebomb attack on homes of African refugees.
Aid organizations file complaint after Molotov cocktails are thrown at apartments where asylum seekers are currently residing in southern Tel Aviv. Police confirm they received complaints.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4221435,00.html
Molotov cocktail attacks on refugees in Tel Aviv
Yesterday night, unknown persons threw five Molotov cocktails into houses in South Tel-Aviv in which African refugees live. The attacks appeared coordinated, meditated and with the intention to harm. In one case, a window to a room in which people were sleeping was opened from the outside and the bomb was thrown in. This is based on reports from a photographer, Ziv Oren, who lives in the neighborhood. The police did not alert the journalists as it usually does when a crime is committed.
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2012/04/molotov-coctail-attacks-on-refugees-in.html
Political “Developments” & Other News
Palestinians ask UNSC to ‘intervene’ on settlements
The PLO envoy to the United Nations on Wednesday sent a letter to the presidents of the Security Council and General Assembly Wednesday condemning settlement in the West Bank and calling on the Security Council to intervene. Saying that Israel is obligated by the road map to freeze settlement activity, Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour wrote that Israel “continues directly to neglect and violate all international commitments,” Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported. Mansour continued by claiming Israel’s settlement activity is proof Jerusalem rejects a two-state solution based on pre-1967 lines and that settlement is destroying geographic contiguity of a future Palestinian state, according to the report.
Senior Hamas delegation discusses key issues with Egyptian intelligence chief
A senior Hamas delegation led by its supreme leader Khaled Mishaal has discussed three important topics with the Egyptian intelligence chief Murad Muwafi in Cairo on Saturday.
Qatar emir, Hamas leader meet in Doha
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The emir of Qatar met Friday with a delegation from Hamas headed by its top official Khalid Mashaal, officials said. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and members of Mashaal’s delegation discussed developments in the Palestinian arena and the efforts to implement reconciliation, a politburo member told the Palestine Information Center. Ezzat al-Resheq said in a statement that Mashaal told the emir about recent developments with regard to reconciliation and assured him of Hamas’s continuing efforts to end the rift and achieve unity.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=480218
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri expressed his support for Palestinian reconciliation in a telephone conversation with Gaza-based senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh, the Future Movement leader’s press office said in a statement Wednesday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Apr-25/171347-hariri-haniyeh-discuss-palestinian-reconciliation-efforts.ashx#axzz1tIjJDo3D
Gaza PM tops Hamas poll but Meshaal ‘still boss’
Ismail Haniya, head of the Hamas government in Gaza has emerged in voting as the movement’s leader there, but incumbent Khaled Meshaal is expected to retain his position as overall chief.
http://news.yahoo.com/gaza-pm-tops-hamas-poll-meshaal-still-boss-131007871.html
In 1948, Israel stole 78% of Palestine. In 1967, they took the rest. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict remains the longest unresolved one of our time. Long denied justice awaits. Western complicity with Israel prevents Palestinians from living free. So did Arafat’s Oslo surrender. Abbas and PA cronies continue working against their own people for whatever benefits they derive. Palestine’s an isolated prison. State terror is official Israeli policy. So is attacking nonviolent Palestinian protesters. Edward Said once said, “Jonathan Swift, thou shouldst be living at this hour.”
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2012/04/land-day-why-it-matters.html
Michigan professor named in “Nazi” ad hits at New York Times for “aiding and abetting environment of fear”, Ali Abunimah
Earlier this week, The New York Times published an ad accusing a number of named US college professors of inciting the murder of Jewish children because they’ve supported the boycott of Israel. One of those named shared this response.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/michigan-professor-named-nazi-ad-hits-new-york-times-aiding-and-abetting
Gurvitz on ‘Israel’s not-so-stellar record on treatment of Christians’, Annie Robbins
The 2010 State Department report on religious freedom in Israel and the occupied territories found that the Israeli Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is harassing Christian priests by demanding they renew their visas time and time again. It limits the number of visas Christian religious workers receive, and makes onerous demands on them. The visa application process, when successful, takes months. During 2010, the MOI refused to renew the Jerusalem Anglican bishop’s residency permit, claiming that he was involved in forgery. The bishop denies the claim, and it is noteworthy that he was not indicted.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/gurvitz-on-israels-not-so-stellar-record-on-treatment-of-christians.html
Ozick, anti-Palestinian polemicist, is shortlisted for a big prize, Eleanor Kilroy
The Guardian has recently given the American author Cynthia Ozick a platform, following the shortlisting of her novel Foreign Bodies for the 2012 Orange prize for excellence in fiction written by women. This is the writer who declared in a Wall Street Journal 2003 op-ed titled, “What does the ‘Palestinian nation’ offer the world?” that “the Palestinians have invented a society unlike any other, where hatred trumps bread. They have reared children unlike any other children, removed from ordinary norms and behaviors.”
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/ozick-anti-palestinian-polemicist-is-shortlisted-for-a-big-prize.html
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/after-115-years-it-s-time-for-zionism-to-retire-1.426843
The Haaretz Pardes and Gideon Levy
There are are, according to traditional Jewish hermeneutics, four levels of interpretation. The last one is really dangerous. Haaretz, apparently, has a new twist on that distinction. Articles in the first three categories (pshat, remez and drash) are translated into English and offered on the internet. Maybe that is part of being “a light onto the nations”. Articles in the fourth category, sod, secret, are kept strictly in the holy language, out of the reach of the nations.
Zionism: The Ultimate Art of Inception, Nima Shirazi
Iman Aoun, artistic director of Ramallah’s Ashtar theater group, discusses the upcoming performance an Arabic-language version of Shakespeare’s Richard II at the Globe Theater in London.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/shakespeare-palestine-theater-director-speaks-arabic-version-richard-ii/11218?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Bahrain
Bahrain lawmaker says business attacked by gunmen
A Sunni lawmaker who has criticized Bahrain’s harsh tactics against the opposition says gunmen attacked a business he owns in what he calls a possible assassination attempt.
The wife of detained Bahraini activist and hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja said on Thursday she is being denied the right to call or visit the prominent Shiite dissident.
http://news.yahoo.com/bahrain-hunger-strikers-fate-concerns-wife-163640409.html
Family concerned Al-Khawaja may be being force fed
The daughter of Bahraini hunger striker Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja said she fears her father is being force-fed in an undisclosed location, after state media claimed he was taking nutritional supplements. The state-run newspaper Gulf Daily News on Friday said that human rights leader Abdulhadi, who has been on hunger strike for 79 days, had been drinking a nutritional supplement for the past two days. The paper also said he was in “high spirits” but Abdulhadi’s daughter Maryam, also a human rights activist, said her father would not be taking the supplements voluntarily.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/family-concerned-al-khawaja-may-be-being-force-fed?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
‘Al Khalifa covers up brutal crimes’
The wife of Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja has criticized the country’s authorities for denying her the right to call or visit her husband in a prison hospital.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/238420.html
Press Release: Front Line Defenders Demand “Proof of Life” as Abdulhadi al-Khawaja Enters 79th Day of Hunger Strike
PRESS RELEASE—for immediate release. On the 78th Day of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja’s hunger strike in Bahrain, Front Line Defenders calls upon the Bahraini Minister of Interior, Lieutenant-General Sheikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, to provide a ‘proof of life’ to confirm that Abdulhadi is still alive.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5271/press-release_front-line-defenders-demand-proof-of
Bahrainis demand Khawaja’s release
Bahraini protesters have held anti-regime rallies near the capital, Manama, to demand the release of prominent human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/238385.html
Bahrain insists it allows peaceful protests
Bahrain’s foreign ministry has insisted it respects the right to hold peaceful protests in the Gulf state and that its security forces only intervene when demonstrations turn violent.
http://news.yahoo.com/bahrain-insists-allows-peaceful-protests-151222269.html
Maryam al-Khawaja, the daughter of Bahraini activist Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja on the fight for human rights; Mohamed Nasheed, the ousted president of the Maldives; and journalist William Shawcross: how does society deal lawfully with the lawless?
For all intents and purposes, Bahrain is forgotten. The people of Bahrain and their struggle will never get the attention and admiration of people and governments in the West.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/angry-corner/forgotten-bahrain-0?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Egypt
Egypt Arrests Two Palestinians In Sinai
The Egyptian Security Forces arrested, Sunday, two Palestinians at a roadblock in Sinai after claiming that the two entered Egypt illegally.
Cairo demonstrations over Egyptian lawyer arrested in Saudi Arabia lead Riyadh to recall ambassador and close missions.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/2012428145141344663.html
Western press is busy: it is very busy skyping with people whose names is supplied by Syrian Ikhwan in Western capitals, and in Beirut and Cairo. They have missed an important story: the rising anti-Saudi sentiments in Egypt. Egyptian Youth have become very vocal against the House of Saud. I just got word that Saudi Arabia is closing its embassy and consulates in Egypt and that the ambassador is being recalled for consultation. This is very significant. Yesterday, I heard that a Saudi diplomat was chased in Suez but no news media confirmed the story.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/04/saudi-arabia-recalls-its-ambassador.html
Israel still freaked out: Lieberman’s right: A rupture with Egypt would be a disaster
Protesters injured in Egypt clash
Scores of protestors staging a sit-in to demonstrate against the barring of a presidential candidate are injured in clashes in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
Egyptians protest against Mubarak stooge presidential bid
Thousands of Egyptian Islamists protested in Cairo on Friday against what see as a bid to bring back deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak’s old guard after his last prime minister was allowed to stand in the presidential election. But youth movements and liberal activists who led the anti-Mubarak revolt last year did not join the demonstration, exposing divisions less than a month before the historic vote.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egyptians-protest-against-mubarak-stooge-presidential-bid?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei launches his “Constitutional Party” which he hopes will bring him to power in Egypt in four years time.
Egypt Salafis back Abol Fotouh for president
Abdel-Moneim Abol Fotouh, ex-Muslim Brotherhood member, gets backing of Al-Nour party.
In less than a month, voters in Egypt will go to the polls to elect the country’s new president. There are thirteen men taking part, as Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna reports from Cairo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdoVjilJQJ8&feature=youtube_gdata
nservative Muslim clerics who meticulously question them, including on how they intend to implement Islamic law.
In Egypt president race, Muslim clerics seek voice
Egypt’s presidential contenders have been passing through a new campaign rite of passage. One by one over recent weeks, they appeared before a panel of bearded, ultraco
http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-president-race-muslim-clerics-seek-voice-204947797.html
Mixed Legal Outcome for Egyptian Comic Adel Imam
Adel Imam was acquitted on charges of insulting Islam after being fined in a similar case, underscoring the confusion and irregularity in the application of Egypt’s religious defamation laws.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=4a218b4f470bd91ad1c81f04cd1ec4b6
Pledges to put an end to years of marginalization under Mubarak have fallen on skeptical ears in an area of Egypt that is used to hearing scores of unfulfilled promises. Abd al-Halim Hafez’s song “Good Morning Sinai,” adapted from the poem by Abd al-Rahman al-Abnoudi, is always sung on the anniversary of the liberation of the Sinai Peninsula from Israeli occupation. Egyptians celebrated the 30th anniversary on Thursday.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egyptian-presidential-candidates-discover-sinai?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Birds of Darkness in the Egyptian Sky
The Misdemeanor Court in al-Haram, Cairo held up a three-month prison sentence on Tuesday against Adel Imam, one of the most popular comedians in the region. He was accused by Islamists of insulting religion in his films, some dating back 30 years.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/birds-darkness-egyptian-sky?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
It’s Revolution Again in Egypt, Shahira Amin – Cairo
Tens of thousands of protesters returned to Cairo’s Tahrir Square in a massive demonstration Friday (April 20) demanding that the ruling military generals immediately hand over power to a civilian government. The protesters also called for former regime members to be barred from running in next month’s presidential elections. Revolutionary forces had earlier called for a day of rage which they dubbed “Self Determination Friday”. They accuse the military generals running the country in the transitional phase of “hijacking the revolution” and hope to steer the country back on the right path of democratic reforms.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19257
Iran
U.S. Amasses Stealth-Jet Armada Near Iran
“The U.S. Air Force is quietly assembling the world’s most powerful air-to-air fighting team at bases near Iran. Stealthy F-22 Raptors on their first front-line deployment have joined a potent mix of active-duty and Air National Guard F-15 Eagles, including some fitted with the latest advanced radars. The Raptor-Eagle team has been honing special tactics for clearing the air of Iranian fighters in the event of war.The fighters join a growing naval armada that includes Navy carriers, submarines, cruisers and destroyers plus patrol boats and minesweepers enhanced with the latest close-in weaponry…”
Yuval Diskin accuses Israel’s leaders of misleading the public on Iran, says they are making decisions ‘based on messianic feelings.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak insisted that Iranian leaders are not rational, rebutting comments made earlier in the week by IDF chief Benny Gantz.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/6I6rIgEw0Qs/Israeli-leadership-denies-divisions-on-Iran-after-army-chief-made-a-stir
SANTIAGO — US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Thursday he hopes that statements from Israel’s military chief describing Iran’s leadership as rational were “correct.” Israeli Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told the Haaretz newspaper on Wednesday that the Iranian leadership “is composed of very rational people,” and that while Tehran was reaching the point at which it could decide to build a nuclear bomb, the leaders had not yet decided whether to proceed.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/26/panetta-hopes-israeli-general-correct-on-iran/
Rubio’s audition for VP slot features full-throated support for neoconservative agenda, with Iran front and center, Alex Kane
Senator Marco Rubio, the Cuban-American politician from Florida and a rising star in the Republican Party, garnered a lot of attention for his speech on foreign policy yesterday at the Brookings Institution. Seen by some as an “audition” of sorts for the GOP vice presidential slot–Rubio has been campaigning with Romney in recent days–the speech is an indication that the neoconservative wing of the party still commands immense influence.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/rubios-audition-for-vp-slot-features-full-throated-support-for-neoconservative-agenda-with-iran-front-and-center.html
Iraq
Top Iraqi Leaders Demand Maliki Honor Agreement; 11 Killed in Attacks
Several of Iraq’s top politicians met today in Arbil to discuss the political impasse that threatens to destroy Iraq’s coalition government. Meanwhile, at least 11 Iraqis were killed and 10 more were wounded.
Attacks in and around Baghdad seemed to mimic last Thursday’s coordinated attacks against security personnel. However, today’s violence targeted gold dealers and civilians instead. At least 29 Iraqis were killed and 50 more were wounded. Meanwhile, an impromptu summit in Kurdistan could signal an intensified campaign to force Maliki to comply with a power-sharing deal.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2012/04/26/29-iraqis-killed-50-wounded-in-violence-against-civilians-and-jewelers/
Twelve killed in Iraq bombings
A suicide car bombing near a cafe and another bomb attack inside it killed eight people in central Iraq on Thursday, while bomb attacks in Baghdad killed four others, security officials said.
http://news.yahoo.com/eight-killed-iraq-bombings-180913417.html
Iraqi mother, three children gunned down
A Sunni mother and her three children were shot dead in an apparent sectarian attack in a village in central Iraq, after twin bombings killed eight people, mostly Shiites, police said Friday.
http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-mother-three-children-gunned-down-134605920.html
Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr opposes toppling the Iraqi government but discussed during a visit to Kurdistan not renewing the premier’s mandate, Sadr Movement officials said on Friday.
http://news.yahoo.com/sadr-against-fall-current-iraqi-government-130132113.html
Hard-line Iraqi cleric urges political unity
Two political leaders who put Iraq’s prime minister in power met Thursday to discuss if they should withdraw their support, now that a bitter sectarian political deadlock has even led to calls for secession.
http://news.yahoo.com/hard-line-iraqi-cleric-urges-political-unity-154107350.html
Iraq at ‘a crossroad’, fugitive VP tells AFP
Iraq has reached a “crossroad,” its fugitive vice-president told AFP Friday but strongly rejected the country’s partition amid a deepening crisis stoking sectarian tensions.
http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-crossroad-fugitive-vp-tells-afp-135241874.html
Syria
Norwegian takes charge of UN Syria mission
Robert Mood heads to Damascus to lead team of ceasefire observers, a day after a deadly bombing rocked the capital.
Ban Ki-moon condemns Syrian regime for using excessive force against civilian population despite ceasefire.
http://www.aljazeera.com//news/middleeast/2012/04/2012426171521401699.html
A suicide bomber blew himself up across the street from a mosque in the Syrian capital Friday, killing at least five people and wounding 20, state TV said. Thousands of Syrians protested elsewhere to denounce persistent violence by President Bashar Assad’s regime.
http://news.yahoo.com/explosion-rocks-syrian-capital-protesters-mass-114711862.html
U.N. monitors in Syria visit scene of deadly blast
Antigovernment activists say the explosion a day earlier in Hama killed 70 people. The government blames a ‘terrorist group’ and says 16 people died.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/_VIb7XCVqmw/la-fg-syria-violence-20120427,0,2351236.story
Detained Syrian human rights defenders report torture
Concern is growing for three human rights defenders being held incommunicado at a military base near Damascus, amid reports they may be facing ongoing torture, Amnesty International said. Hani Zitani, Abd al-Rahman Hamada and Mansour al-Omari are being held in the town of al-Mo’damiya outside the capital, at a base run by the Fourth Armoured Division, under the de facto command of the Syrian president’s brother Maher al-Assad. Another three of their colleagues detained with them there from 19 March until 22 April were brought before a military court on Sunday, where they alleged that Fourth Armoured Division officials had tortured, including by beatings, all six men during that time.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/detained-syrian-human-rights-defenders-report-torture-2012-04-27
Ship originally from Libya and loaded with arms reportedly destined for Syrian opposition is stopped by Lebanese navy.
Syria accuses rebels of 1,300 truce violations
Syria on Thursday accused “armed terrorist groups,” which it blames for the unrest sweeping the country, of committing more than 1,300 violations of a truce that came into force on April 12. “Armed terrorist groups have intensified (the number of) massacres, explosions and acts of aggression, committing more than 1,300 violations since the ceasefire came into force on April 12,” Adnan Mahmoud told AFP.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syria-accuses-rebels-1300-truce-violations?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Rebel rivalry and suspicions threaten Syria revolt
(Reuters) – Rebel fighter Mustafa and his trio of burly men look out of place at a trendy Turkish cafe near the Syrian border, dressed in tattered jeans and silently puffing on cigarettes as they scoop into tall ice-cream sundaes. Their battleground is across the frontier in Syria, where they are fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad. But like many rebels in northern Syria, they are so desperate for weapons and money, they are searching for new donors in Turkey. “When it comes to getting weapons, every group knows they are on their own,” says the 25-year-old with a patchy beard. “It’s a fight for resources.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/27/us-syria-rebels-idUSBRE83Q0S120120427
Sleiman hopes military intervention will not occur in Syria
President Michel Sleiman on Thursday voiced hope that a foreign military intervention will not take place in Syria, adding that “any intervention should occur in coordination with Syria,” according to the National News Agency. Sleiman was speaking during a joint press conference following a meeting with his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer at the Baabda Presidential Palace. Sleiman also voiced hope that international peace envoy Kofi Annan’s plan for ending violence in Syria “would bear a peaceful solution in accordance with what Syrians desire themselves.” The president added that Lebanon “deals with Syria as a state and not as [a group of] people.” To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=390121#.T5ncQwHJa5k.blogger
Should U.S. call for Assad to go? Republicans can’t decide
The Republican Party appears to be deeply split on whether the United States should call on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, a Senate committee vote revealed today. The divisions were on display during a one-hour debate Thursday at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), after which the Republican members of the panel remained irreconcilably divided over how aggressively the United States should work for Assad’s removal.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/04/26/should_us_call_for_assad_to_go_republicans_can_t_decide
Arabs to ask UN to review policy on Syria
The Arab League says it will ask the U.N. Security Council to “review” its policy on Syria if the regime there fails to fully and immediately honor its commitment to a cease-fire.
http://news.yahoo.com/arabs-ask-un-review-policy-syria-203140005.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-syria-oppositionbre83p0rf-20120426,0,6059287.story
With their demands no closer to being met today than they were a year ago, more and more Syrians choose neutrality over siding with either the regime loyalists or the opposition.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syria-silent-majority-expands?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Other World and Middle East News
Africans shocked by uncivilized antics of European savages
Africans say they have little hope that Europe will ever become civilized, after a week in which Spain’s King Carlos went on an elephant-killing spree and the Swedish Culture Minister was entertained by a racially offensive cake. “You can take the European out of the jungle, but you can’t take the jungle out of the European,” sighed one resident of Kinshasa. August Mwanasa, of Libreville in Gabon, said the latest atrocities didn’t surprise him as Europeans were still “savages”.
http://www.hayibo.com/africans-shocked-by-uncivilized-antics-of-european-savages/
US judge rules that first stage of trial should be broadcast by closed-circuit TV due to significant public interest.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/04/2012427163639839808.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/enhanced-interrogation-techniques-senate-probe_n_1457968.html
The Vatican has reprimanded the largest group of Catholic nuns in the United States, saying they have focused too heavily on issues of social justice, while failing to speak out enough on “issues of crucial importance,” such as abortion and same-sex marriage. In a report issued last week, church leaders accused the nuns of promoting “radical feminist” ideas and challenging key teachings on homosexuality and male-only priesthood. An archbishop and two bishops — all of them male — have been appointed to oversee the nuns. “To me, it’s quite puzzling that our work with the poor, which Jesus told us to do in the gospels, would be the source of such a criticism,” says Sister Simone Campbell, head of the Catholic social justice group NETWORK, which was harshly criticized in last week’s report. The rebuke comes as the so-called “war on women” has become a key issue in the 2012 presidential race. Some Catholic nuns have opposed the bishops by supporting Obama’s healthcare reform law and contraceptive mandate. Campbell says she believes the Vatican targeted her group because of their support for healthcare reform. “They like it when we just do service, but don’t have thoughts, don’t have questions, don’t have criticism,” Campbell says. “That is a real challenge in a political society, when we have to do a deep, nuanced analysis in order to know the way forward for this, for the common good.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/27/us_nuns_face_vatican_crackdown_for
Two Israeli reconnaissance planes have penetrated Lebanese airspace and flown over parts of the country in flagrant violation of a UN Security Council resolution.
The current government should have explained to its citizens the danger posed by the two young activists, Khodor Salameh and Ali Fakhry, and the solidarity protest of a few dozens of their supporters. It should have explained how their actions could have sparked a civil war in Lebanon or tainted the good relations between Lebanon and Syria, according to the accusations being levelled against them. But the wisdom of the prime minister solved the issue in a few tweets. He spoke calmly to the crowd of a few dozen while pressing charges against the two young men and their paint, achieving another brilliant smash hit for centrism.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/danger-khodor-and-ali?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Western media are accomplices in Saudi oppression. They covered up and/or not covered: 1) the case of the Saudi student who tweeted about Muhammad and then fled the country only to be brought back by Interpol. He now languishes in jail in Saudi Arabia and no one brings up his case. It this happened in Iran , New York liberals would be holding vigils and they would be doing public readings of his tweets. Western governments would be “expressing concern; 2) they have barely covered the shooting at demonstrators in Qatif. 3) They have not been covering the cases of political prisoners and hunger strikes in the Kingdom. 4) they have not covered to my knowledge the statement of the highest religious authority in the Kingdom (the chief Mufti) in which he called for the destruction of all churches in Arabia. Not one Saudi official dared speak against that, and Saudi (so-called) liberals were silent as well–how could they not when they work at the pleasure of this or that Saudi prince. 5) They disregard the statements of sectarian hate that are being vomited daily by Saudi media: western media and governments don’t care as long as hate is not being expressed to Israel or Zionists.
Why Are Saudis Killing Themselves?
Suicide has become a troubling phenomenon in Saudi Arabia, particularly among young people. The rise in suicide cases has been accompanied by growing rates of poverty and unemployment, as well as a lack of opportunities for Saudi youth. Recently, a number of stories have come to light in which cases of suicide involving young Saudis were linked to economic issues.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/why-are-saudis-killing-themselves?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Even as President Barack Obama touts his progress in extracting the U.S. from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, his administration appears to be deepening its covert and military involvement in strife-torn Yemen. Washington is worried about recent advances by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), particularly in the southern part of the country.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that there is a lawyer who is archiving all Israeli crimes against the Palestinians (past, present & future). Wish I had bookmarked that article.