and other news from Today in Palestine:
Israeli undercover unit’s murder of Palestinian civilian was part of “training exercise”
At the beginning of this month, I blogged about the shooting of three brothers in the West Bank village of Rammoun on 27 March that resulted in the death of one and was conducted by undercover Israeli agents, an act tantamount to perfidy and thus a violation of international humanitarian law. Yesterday, Ynet reported that these undercover agents were actually performing a military training exercise and that the soldier responsible for killing Rashad Shawakha, 28, had been dismissed.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israeli-undercover-units-murder-palestinian-civilian-was-part-training?utm_source=EI+readers&utm_campaign=c7411d56ca-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Ethnic Cleansing / Land Theft & Destruction / Apartheid / Exile / Refugees
Netanyahu: Cabinet to vote on plan to legalize three West Bank outposts
Following recommendation of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Netanyahu will ask the cabinet to approve the status of the Bruchin, Sansana and Rachalim outposts.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-cabinet-to-vote-on-plan-to-legalize-three-west-bank-outposts-1.424822?localLinksEnabled=false
Likud lawmaker visits disputed Machpelah house, meets evacuated settlers at protest tent.
Palestinians evicted from two East Jerusalem houses
JERUSALEM — Israeli police evicted Palestinian families from two homes in East Jerusalem on Wednesday, clearing the way for Jewish residents to take over and creating a potential new flash point in the city’s long-running battle for control over disputed neighborhoods. The evictions of about 13 Palestinians, who last month lost their court case to retain the property, gives Jewish settlement groups their first foothold in the vast neighborhood of Beit Hanina, one of the holy city’s largest Arab communities.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/04/jerusalem-evictions.html
Jerusalem Family Displaced, Home Handed To Settlers
Israeli soldiers and policemen displaced resident Khaled An-Natsha and his family from their home in Al-Ashqariyya area, in Beit Hanina, north of Israeli controlled East Jerusalem. The eviction came following a court order that granted Israeli settlers ownership over the property.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63331
New settlement outpost in Ramallah
A new settlement outpost was established to the north east of Ramallah grouping 20 buildings so far, the Hebrew daily Ha’aretz said on Thursday.
IOF serves demolition notice to Palestinian family
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) served a demolition notice to a Palestinian family to the east of Yatta town, south of Al-Khalil, on Tuesday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7fixLeomTKLCio0RJ8HZg%2bODbeaQKzNw6ymcFl4MvTTPxhD22LLyj4oz7DUKSxrnKlbQuMYNGiGw8D6yDS7gll6MH%2byxGkZF9FWpyhRKi2tE%3d
Israeli municipality renews demand for demolishing Maghareba bridge
The Israeli-controlled municipality of Jerusalem has renewed a request for the demolition of the Maghareba bridge at the pretext it was posing danger to the public.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s78F%2bP4n5KRmoxYc4nLDKAqRfx%2fTOnsdOkH9YUypMK8pC%2fo6xOSX0y0pCj%2fZLmxuUI5T%2bMzdaBFxB1IktOX2X9QlG3lMuq1Y%2bKLjiy13IiuNY%3d
New Migron bill could lead to massive Israeli land grab in the West Bank, Allison Deger
Last year Migron, an illegal outpost home to around 50 families in the West Bank near Ramallah, was ordered to be evacuated. The encampment was built over ten years ago on privately owned Palestinian land in the West Bank—without the proper Israeli building permits. Then in February with support from a Knesset working group, the settlers negotiated a postponement of the Supreme Court-ordered eviction. Now, they have another two years on the hilltop. But a new Knesset bill to be introduced in two weeks may extend Migron’s mandate permanently by legalizing the outpost, and in the process, transforming the entire system of how Israel builds settlements in the West Bank. Under the bill, the West Bank will be ripe for any manifest destiny “greater Israel” pioneer, so long as compensation is paid to the Palestinian owner.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/new-migron-bill-could-lead-to-massive-israeli-land-grab-in-the-west-bank.html
“Present absentee” keeps fighting against Israel’s wall in al-Walaja, Tanzil Chowdhury
Sheerin al-Araj, a resident of al-Walaja village, is fighting tooth and nail against Israel’s encroaching settlement projects and the wall, which both continue to rapidly confiscate more village land.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/present-absentee-keeps-fighting-against-israels-wall-al-walaja/11173?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Nowhere Left to Go – documentary film on Jahalin plight launched
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein – The Jahalin Association – Harvey Stein`s documentary on the Jahalin Bedouins, constantly harassed and displaced to make place for expanding Israeli settlements, got its premiere at the French Cultural Centre in East Jerusalem. Unfortunately, not a single one of the Jahalin themselves was able to get a permit to enter Jerusalem and be there in person.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=52573
IOA bars Sheikh Ekrema Sabri from entering Aqsa for two months
The commander of the Israeli central command has imposed a ban on the entry of Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, Aqsa preacher, into the Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem for two months.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7PtavMJlsHaYMWLeZjlBAMoxWhD9ko8vwmY5DS%2f49TloZOCdW0dG7V91TptR2THQs0qUeenEHuoCAamDmyaP%2bnKgyKJoLgZ%2b74rYxiNPsk9Y%3d
Despite it all, hope is on the rainbow, writes Yousef M. Aljamal from Gaza, as his mother enjoys a long-awaited reunion with her family in the West Bank.
Siege on Gaza
No compensation for Gaza businesses damaged in raid
Israel is not liable to pay damages to two Gaza companies whose property was demolished during a July 2006 IDF aerial raid on the southern Gaza Strip, the Beersheba District Court ruled on Wednesday.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=266635
Through the eyes of Dr. Mads Gilbert, the Israeli siege in Gaza remains unchanged since its bombing three years ago during Operation Cast Lead. Gilbert, a volunteer doctor during the 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict, spoke at “Gaza, Three Years Later,” last night at the Busch Campus Center, sponsored by BAKA: Students United for Middle Eastern Justice.
http://www.dailytargum.com/news/professor-shares-concerns-with-current-state-of-gaza/article_cfcfb602-8846-11e1-be58-0019bb30f31a.html
THE ISRAELI immigration officer stamps my passport and hands it back along with my press card, my pass to Gaza. “Have a good day,” he says. The journey begins with two barred gates and a brisk hike through a covered walkway enclosed in mesh. At the Gaza end, a white taxi whisks me 200 meters to the Palestinian checkpoint, where a policeman asks for my entry permit. “What permit?” Foreigners need a permit, he replies. I ring Salah, a friend who works for an aid agency, and two members of a leading family. As Salah phones to say I might have to wait two or three hours, the interior ministry mudir (director) rings the policeman, who photocopies my passport and waves me on my way. Over coffee in the garden at Marna House hotel, Amjad Shawa, head of the Palestinian non- governmental organisation network, says: “The story in Gaza is control.”
Horse riding has become a popular hobby in the Gaza Strip but local Palestinians face constant hurdles — from a conservative society to Israel’s blockade on the territory — to practise the sport on their home turf.
http://news.yahoo.com/gaza-horse-riders-jump-unusual-hurdles-093547583.html
Israeli Violence / Aggression / Raids
Israeli Soldiers Shoot Teargas into Beit Ommar
Today, April 19, 2012, two 15-year-old boys, Fady Abu Fanoos and Hakeem Nasr, were arrested from Beit Ommar at about 2pm. Nasr was released after about 30 minutes. Israeli soldiers tried to arrest a third boy, but he escaped. A woman fainted when they tried to arrest her nephew, and an ambulance came to take her to the hospital. Soldiers shot teargas into the town and at people’s homes prior to the arrests.
A Palestinian man was seriously injured late Tuesday in the West Bank town of Hebron after some Jewish settlers beat him up at his home, a Palestinian medical source said. According to an ambulance driver who took 41-year-old Marwan Burkan to the hospital, “several (Israeli) settlers came and knocked on his door and beat him up at this house in Hebron,” he told AFP. Burkan lives in a house next to the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement, with some 6,500 people, on the outskirts of Hebron, the ambulance driver said.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/jewish-settlers-beat-palestinian-man-his-home?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Thousands of Jewish settlers storm Qalqilia village to perform rituals
Thousands of Jewish settlers stormed the village of Kufl Hares, south east of Qalqilia, on Tuesday night and offered Talmudic rituals at a shrine under Israeli occupation forces’ protection.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7TmXEPabtHL4%2fnPDt0ZADuOdAg%2fMpqxZh%2bL27BjTcLZoOkVWI289PRAqcyILnjhI3uDpQ1xF7jxs2FEHgCSHj1cLNLCP7E07IsJpRDRFgUVE%3d
Israeli soldiers and settlers are rebuked, not for the brutal ugliness of their assaults on Palestinians and international peace activists, but rather for failing to make sure there were no cameras.
Today, April 19, 2012, two 15-year-old boys, Fady Abu Fanoos and Hakeem Nasr, were arrested from Beit Ommar at about 2pm. Nasr was released after about 30 minutes. Israeli soldiers tried to arrest a third boy, but he escaped. A woman fainted when they tried to arrest her nephew, and an ambulance came to take her to the hospital. Soldiers shot teargas into the town and at people’s homes prior to the arrests.
IOF soldiers arrest Palestinian university student from her house
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Islam Hassan Al-Bashiti from her family home in Beit Ola village to the west of Al-Khalil at dawn Wednesday, local sources told the PIC reporter.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7DbtK6f1dFAyuIsc4sHN%2bMCpuqYGFYxRvZt70FqesRLLFmFaX2Y263lGwJ3Xg%2bDEQg9iAPEoplP4v4Fyg5m6bd12vxDyW0%2feFV8TzJu4sfVY%3d
IOF soldiers arrest Palestinian woman
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested a Palestinian woman at a roadblock in Al-Khalil city after claiming she had a knife in her possession.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7TV0MjLxBGWxv8EcPm32pBER%2bPPCqSy4sXRF1Z9u8BQgxQO6np2Dx0ZyvihWm8iKInLs9c1ubKQ9%2fIn1bkEz03AWFReRlVo56x9tUXnUXuW4%3d
IOF soldiers arrest 13 West Bankers
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up 13 Palestinian citizens in various West bank areas at dawn Wednesday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7pFnt9ZOP1PkyGiv8yZuUH2OZuTkcji1nyjdzHGxkRHPC18R2ZXFsi3RTSUQw%2b9WUm2L%2fCI0Hak%2bGGKgbhPu05rdbMjOPeyK5n6qCf9pg074%3d
There are still nineteen Palestinian prisoners in solitary confinement, in the Israeli occupation prisons, according to Ahmed Al-Betawi, researcher at Tadamun International.
Hunger Strikers / Prison Strike
Safadi to maintain hunger strike until his release
Detainee Hassan Safadi is adamant on maintaining his hunger strike in Israeli occupation jails after 45 days of starting it despite losing 25 kilograms so far, his family said on Wednesday.
Palestinian Detainees Initiate An Open-Ended Hunger Strike
Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel started on Tuesday an open-ended hunger strike demanding an end to all violations carried out against them by the Israeli Prison Administration, and demanding their internationally guaranteed rights.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63318
“We will live in dignity:” Palestinian political prisoners begin mass hunger strike
As an organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of Palestinian human rights, Al-Haq would like to take the opportunity of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day to highlight the ongoing violation of the rights of Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons, many of whom are interned without charge or trial. The continuing ill-treatment of some 4,600 political prisoners, which includes internment, the denial of family and lawyer visits, prolonged periods of isolation, and the lack of fair trial, has largely been overlooked ed by a wider international community that has grown more and more desensitized to such violations of international law. Click here to read more.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/04/we-will-live-in-dignity-palestinian-political-prisoners-begin-mass-hunger-strike/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29
On Palestinian Prisoners Day, the Suffering of Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails Doubles
Today, 17 April 2012, marks the Palestinian Prisoners Day, which has been devoted by the Palestinian people to support the cause of Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails. Since 1979, Palestinians have commemorated this day, which marks the anniversary of the release of Palestinian prisoners in the first prisoner swap deal of 17 April 1974.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63321
320 International Organizations Support the Prisoners Strikers’ Demands
It was announced in Gaza City, on Tuesday morning, the launch of the broadest international call under the name “thirsty for freedom” to support the Palestinian hunger strikers’ demands.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Truk6%2bs%2fs4dqnHF1uoi9%2fDul4hrTcetOBEJ1U%2bITUoZef0ETL92lgBxC5ZfSoLU6%2b%2bDVy3b0gbxcDD27aeAt%2fquHx2tAPFpSN4zQ2sjuxUc%3d
Report On The Palestinian Political Prisoners
Marking Palestinian Prisoners Day, the Palestinian Central Census Bureau and the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees issued a joint release revealing that 201 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since 1967 due to torture, medical negligence, and by use of live ammunition. More than a third of this number have died in Israeli prisons since late 2000. 4,700 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63320
The Palestinian Authority announced that Palestinian Prisoners’ Day would mark the start of a massive new wave of hunger strikes. But factionalism threatens the success of this movement, says Addameer’s Mourad Jadallah in an interview with The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/interview-counterrevolution-threatens-mass-hunger-strike-palestinian-prisoners/11175?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Hamas: Fatah Attitude against the Prisoners’ Strike Serves the Occupation
The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas condemned ,yesterday, Fatah statement in which they have attacked the planned prisoners’ strike on Tuesday 17 April to coincide with Prisoners’ Day.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7kVsp%2fa9oi2HOBfOa%2fq9Sd2MzGcwE%2f73N6dGkFKTUTeTqhinw4KXUk3mMfgS5I0Fza5QILLYorK%2bDqSUWFZYbsQmPiKZrwRFY5hE2jDlwJxo%3d
Mass Palestinian Prisoner Hunger Strike, Stephen Lendman
On April 17, about 1,600 Palestinian prisoners began open-ended hunger strikes. More on that below. Palestinians face hellish conditions in Israeli prisons. They endure torture, deprivation, isolation, intimidation, and denial of basic rights. Administrative detainees are held indefinitely without charge or trial. Children young as 10 are treated like adults. So-called security prisoners are isolated punitively for extended periods.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2012/04/mass-palestinian-prisoner-hunger-strike.html
Other Prisoner News
Resheq: Resistance only means to liberate prisoners
Political bureau member of Hamas Ezzet Al-Resheq has said that liberating prisoners should precede the liberation of the occupied lands.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s79AKmNfTqMdZ3JL6AfmlPi7ZyyG8fyjTGW3nO6aYr0BitKli%2fVe8qs2TMWKeX1og4wuI048ebGIH3%2fwQkm5E7h3sU3zZeTWkz%2fudEENFvfWM%3d
Photo by E. Van R Bassem Tamimi, one of the leading figures of the weekly popular protests in the village of Nabi Saleh, has been granted short leave from prison to visit his ailing elderly mother in Ramallah Hospital. Bassem was arrested from his home on March.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=4765
Video: Palestinian prisoners and their families, Allison Deger
“Since September 2000 more than 20 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention have died cause of medical negligence,” said the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)in a short film released yesterday marking Palestinian Prisoners Day. “Dozens more have died after their release due to medical negligence during their detention,” said PCHR. The prisoners and family members in the video describe the abusive treatment commonly experienced in Israeli prisons. From denial of medical treatment, to soldiers stirring food for the prisoners with a broom used to clean the bathroom, the rights of these prisoners are constantly denied. Furthermore, the video, explains that for the past five years prisoners from Gaza have been died all family visits. This, PCHR says, is “collective punishment.”
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/video-palestinian-prisoners-and-their-families.html
Hamas calls solitary confinement and administrative detention “retaliation for prisoners’ steadfastness”
As Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s jails begin an indefinite hunger strike to protest against their conditions behind bars, Hamas has described Israeli policies such as solitary confinement and administrative detention as “retaliation for prisoners’ steadfastness”. The prisoners themselves say that an end to the imposition of solitary confinement is the most important demand of their latest hunger strike. It is important not least because the prison authorities use it as a punishment for even minor infringements of prison rules.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3642-hamas-calls-solitary-confinement-and-administrative-detention-qretaliation-for-prisoners-steadfastnessq
Khader Adnan
Photos: Khader Adnan returns home
Khader Adnan, who engaged in a 66-day hunger strike demanding the end of administrative detention, returned home, to his village of ‘Arraba, outside Jenin last night, April 17, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. He was warmly welcomed by huge crowds, celebrating the return of this hero of the prisoner movement.
The Israeli Prison Authorities on Tuesday night at midnight, Sheikh Adnan Khader, a leader of the Islamic Jihad who went on hunger-strike for 66 consecutive days demanding an end to his illegal detention without charges or trial.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63324
Freed Khader Adnan Greets Hunger Strikers
Khader Adnan arrived late Tuesday to his home town Arraba in the West Bank after being released from the Israeli occupation prisons.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=52949&cid=23&fromval=1
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2012/04/khader-adnan-freed-for-how-long.html
Addameer Calls for Continued Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners as Mass Hunger Strike is Launched
Ramallah, 18 April 2012 – Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons launched a mass hunger strike yesterday, 17 April, on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. The call for hunger strike came amidst a wave of individual hunger strikes initiated in the past few months, and prisoners on hunger strike continue to face punishments by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS).
Hundreds of European activists staged a sit-in before the European parliament in Brussels on Tuesday to mark the Palestinian prisoner’s day.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s72rOvh95ZAK8Tm7nSfK%2b%2bV0mEVmSVEsQBX4AfrVOf%2f0Kaebtj0PdimJZ3bOpL%2fWcv9HfWCL3oNTlgWUNK0N68xCxtf8fkMN0RBGpt%2fLfPX8U%3d
Video: Brussels protest for Palestinian Prisoners’ Day
A large protest was organized in Brussels, Belgium on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, part of the Global Day of Action for Palestinian Prisoners, April 17, 2012. Participants carried photos of imprisoned Palestinians in Israeli jails, saluting the over 1600 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike inside occupation prisons.
Detained activists from ‘Welcome to Palestine’ flytilla campaign, have begun a hunger strike in solidarity with prisoners on hunger strike for Palestinian Prisoners Day. Organisers of the ‘Welcome to Palestine’flytilla, which is currently in it’s third year, stated on Monday that the activists were hunger striking “in solidarity with the April 17 Palestinian Prisoners’ Day on one hand and to renew the demand for their basic right to move freely in the occupied West Bank, especially to Bethlehem.”
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/nonviolence/1403-flytillaactivists-on-hunger-strike-for-palestinian-prisoners-day
Relatives of Egyptian prisoners in Israeli jails have staged a sit-in in front of the Egyptian military intelligence headquarters in El-Arish in northern Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Ceif4h4ikR2ZZRAb%2f7LL930m%2b7kYLlWXp0KBWkcs0OJe2E8ErIYEPbVHFEXyGabYE9OKBj%2ffsPQpQ6eaJLGCZ94oRWIjgaxxk%2fNTbKJBBZ4%3d
Tunisia: Call for a ship to cruise Mediterranean in solidarity with prisoners
“The Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights” called for an international campaign in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners who started an indefinite hunger strike in occupation jails.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7a%2fu3ha1gHdoVN5O%2bOoLV0h0jVNYBYQ3%2blvU93Xjj2GDObROQbkgegKPmQqRfHcw7J8Q3Gc5epVj%2fpoicxnd34HuC7uGzqn5GwL4t1q822cA%3d
Gaza rallies on Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, Joe Catron
Thousands of Palestinians rallied outside Gaza’s International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters this morning to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. “Today we marched from every street of Gaza,” said Shahd Abusalama, an Al-Azhar University student and blogger. “All generations marched to convey a message to our prisoners behind Israeli bars that they are not forgotten, and that we are fighting for their freedom.” “And we marched to congratulate Khader Adnan on his,” she added, referring to the former administrative detainee and hunger striker’s expected release today.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/gaza-rallies-on-palestinian-prisoners-day.html
International solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers
A joint appeal has been made by international human rights and legal aid groups for solidarity with Palestinian detainees on hunger strike in protest against their prolonged detention without trial and inhumane treatment. The NGOs from Europe, North American, Africa and Asia praised the detainees for their courage and strength. The longest-serving detainees have been isolated for 13 years under conditions which, it is alleged, are tantamount to torture. Many are strip-searched repeatedly, sometimes in front of their families to humiliate them and their loved ones. Israel’s refusal to honour internationally recognised rights of due process and humane treatment is a flagrant violation of international law.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3638-international-solidarity-with-palestinian-hunger-strikers
Khader Adnan was expected to return to his village of Arrabeh today after waging a 67-day hunger strike that led to Israel agreeing to release him on 17 April, by chance coinciding with the annual Palestinian Prisoners Day. However, at the time of publishing, Khader had still not been released and the Israeli Prison Service had not communicated with either his lawyer or family on his status. When Khader Adnan is finally allowed to return to his home village of Arrabeh, just outside of Jenin, he will return to a resurged prisoners’ movement that he very well may have sparked.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/palestine%E2%80%99s-prisoners-day-footsteps-khader-adnan?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, protest mounts against world’s largest security contractor, Allison Deger
Today Palestinians are marking Palestinian Prisoners’ Day with mass hunger strikes protesting Israel’s practice of detaining political prisoners and abusing the rights of all prisoners. Inside of Israel’s detention facilities a reported 1,600 prisoners out of a total 4,700 are on hunger strike. And an additional 2,300 prisoner are refusing all meals. But outside of Israel’s prisons, Palestinians are mounting pressure against a private security contractor by calling for boycotts of the company.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/on-palestinian-prisoners-day-protest-mounts-against-worlds-largest-security-contractor.html
A delegation of the foreign solidarity activists participating in the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign visited Silwan town in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Israeli authorities deport 9 French activists on arrival at airport
The Israeli authorities at Lod airport deported nine French activists on arrival at the airport on Tuesday as part of “Welcome to Palestine” event.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7wayKoqYh4anXcIl4HSMboYef93f0ls1n9OHS4WIx9fjpZV3p1Cm%2fKnLBhS5FYtHr%2fviCnucw5VM32n9TCg8f7TnCPfxZIu1myAOn1AK7wa4%3d
A Response to Lufthansa Airlines on Cancelling the “Flytilla”, Felicity Arbuthnot
Dear Herr Hansen, I write, to coin a phrase, more in sorrow than in anger, that your airline caved in to pressure from Israel and joined Air France, Alitalia, Turkish and Brussels Airlines, Jet2 and Easy Jet (mission statement: “ … to effect and offer a consistent and reliable product …”) in refusing “flytilla” passengers en route to Bethlehem in Palestine, with fully paid tickets, on to your flights to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/04/a-response-to-lufthansa-airlines-cancelling-the-flytilla/
Urgent appeals to support upcoming US church divestment initiatives
Next week, the United Methodist Church will vote on a major BDS initiative at its general conference in Tampa, Florida, where delegates will consider divestment from Caterpillar,Motorola Solutions and Hewlett-Packard — corporations that sell equipment, technology and communication systems to the Israeli military, thereby supporting Israel in its occupation and apartheid policies against Palestinians.
On Monday, an Israeli teenager, Noam Gur, began an initial ten-day prison sentence because she publicly refused to serve in the Israeli army.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-teens-enter-jail-rather-take-part-army-crimes-against-palestinians
Conscientious objector Noam Gur sentenced to prison for her refusal to join the Israeli Army
Noam Gur, 18 year old from, Kiryat Motzkin near Haifa, arrived yesterday morning, Monday, 16 April, to the Induction Base in Tel Hashomer, where she declared her refusal to serve in the Israeli Army as it is an occupying force. She was sentenced to 10 days of imprisonment for her refusal.
http://palestinianprisoners.blogspot.com/2012/04/conscientious-objector-noam-gur.html
Anti
This is a press release by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, based in Gaza, denouncing Israel for preventing solidarity activists from across Europe traveling to the occupied Palestinian territories.
http://www.imemc.org/article/63326
At Israel’s behest, woman removed from Air France flight for not being Jewish, Ali Abunimah
Air France demanded to know the religion of a passenger on a flight from Nice to Tel Aviv and removed her because she is not a Jew.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israels-behest-woman-removed-air-france-flight-not-being-jewish
How California uni chief conflates real bigotry with criticism of Israel, Dalia Almarina
University of California President Mark Yudof has double standards when it comes to on-campus criticism of Israeli policies.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/how-california-uni-chief-conflates-real-bigotry-criticism-israel/11163?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
UCLA prof reprimanded for linking to website advocating boycott of Israel, Adam Horowitz
In a situation that stirred questions about academic freedom, a UCLA professor has been asked not to link his class online syllabus in the World Arts and Cultures/Dance Department to a website that called for a boycott of Israel, according to the head of the campus faculty Senate. The link from class materials last quarter to that boycott campaign stepped too far into political activities, according to Andrew Leuchter, chairman of UCLA’s faculty Senate. Leuchter said the professor, David Delgado Shorter, has agreed not to repeat the link in future courses. But Shorter said he made no such promise.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/ucla-prof-reprimanded-for-linking-to-website-advocating-boycott-of-israel.html
Israeli Racism & Discrimination
Scandinavian Airports Reject Shin Bet Racial Profiling Security Screening Procedures, Richard Silverstein
So much for the vaunted Israeli security screening procedures the media was touting only a few years ago in the aftermath of the Nigerian underwear bomber. Now, airports in Sweden and Denmark have rejected the racial profiling techniques employed by the Shin Bet to screen passengers boarding Israel’s Arkia Airlines flights to and from Israel: Israeli security inspections…involve ethnic and personal profiling, extensive questioning and selective inspections based on the perceived degree of risk to security.
Carlos Cortiglia: you’d look smug too if you were a white supremacist and the Jewish Chronicle offered you a regular column. Stephen Sizer reports that the UK national Jewish community’s Jewish Chronicle has offered a blog- column to Carlos Cortiglia, a leader of the British National Party, the nation’s leading white supremacist political party. Cortiglia is the BNP candidate in the London mayoral race.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/04/17/uk-jewish-chronicle-names-british-white-supremacist-as-regular-columnist/
It is not unusual to realize that across the world, Easter has been fully commercialized with colored eggs and bunnies. For a lot of people it is a holiday spent with family and friends. Easter is one of the holiest days for Christians, as it marks the resurrection of Jesus from the dead following his crucifixion. It is an occasion that thousands of Christians celebrate with a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
The Israeli ambassador to the US appears to really believe that Palestinian Christians suffer significantly from Palestinian Muslims, and just occasionally from Israeli intolerance. Palestinian Christians’ reality is the complete opposite. The ambassador’s latest missives in the American press have provoked Palestinian Christian leaders to remind him and his readers that Israel really isn’t all that friendly to its Christians.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=475979
Palestinian PM to set out grounds for negotiation with Israel
Salam Fayyad to deliver Binyamin Netanyahu letter describing conditions under which Palestinians will resume talks. The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, is to deliver a letter to his Israeli counterpart in the pair’s first ever meeting, setting out the grounds on which the Palestinians are prepared to resume negotiations and warning that the status quo cannot continue.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/17/palestinian-pm-grounds-negotiation-israel
US court: PA, PLO cannot be sued under torture law
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Palestinian Authority and PLO cannot be sued under a 1991 US victim protection law over the alleged torture of an American in a West Bank prison, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, holding that the law only applies to individuals. The justices unanimously agreed with the Obama administration that the Torture Victim Protection Act allowed civil lawsuits in US courts only against a person who had engaged in torture or killing, not against groups.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=477691
Celebrating criminals: Netanyahu among Time’s 100 most influential people
Prime minister described as ‘iconic’ leader who deserves credit for drawing world’s attention to Iranian threat
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4217882,00.html
Analysis / Op-ed
Britain’s duty to the Palestinian people, Raed Salah
I came to the UK to talk about the plight of the Palestinians but ended up fighting deportation. This is what I wanted to say. In June 2011 I came to Britain to begin a speaking tour to draw attention to the plight of my people, the Palestinian citizens of Israel. The tour was meant to last 10 days. Instead I had to stay for 10 months in order to resist an attempt by the home secretary, Theresa May, to deport me – itself the result of a smear campaign against me and what I represent. I fought not just for my own sake, but for all who are smeared because they support the Palestinian cause.
The War Around Us is produced and directed by Abdallah Omeish who also co-directed Occupation 101.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/the-war-around-us-new-film-on-the-journalists-who-covered-cast-lead.html
Israeli response to fly-in proves West Bank is the Palestinians’ prison
Noam Sheizaf – +972 – By refusing to allow members of the flytilla entry into the West Bank, Israel actually proved right their original claim: that the level of control Israel exercises over the Palestinian population in the occupied territories for nearly half a century makes the occupation a unique phenomenon, well deserving of the world’s attention.
http://972mag.com/israeli-response-to-fly-in-proves-west-bank-is-the-palestinians-prison/42164/
Gaza’s Christians like “birds who will always return to their nest”, Rami Almeghari
Despite common media depictions of Gaza as being under harsh, Islamist rule, Gaza-based Palestinian Christians emphasize the close ties between families regardless of religion.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/gazas-christians-birds-who-will-always-return-their-nest/11179?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Question for Israel: Where are the Palestinian Gandhis . . . and what have you done with them?, Sami Sulaiman
The question, asked by well meaning liberals and Zionist propagandists alike, has become anathema to those of us with familiarity with the long history of patient Palestinian non-violent resistance. Our emotional responses range from burning frustration to somber resignation. Sometimes the question is asked in ignorance or as a cynical tactic of hasbara. Depending on whether or not we had our morning coffee, we sometimes respond with a fumbling bullet point list of Palestinian villages and their popular committees, and we sometimes respond with eloquent narratives, but we always respond.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/question-for-israel-where-are-the-palestinian-gandhis-and-what-have-you-done-with-them.html
The ugly face of Israel
Ziv Lenchner – Ynet – The blow delivered by Lieutenant Colonel Eisner is particularly painful because it was delivered by a senior officer, rather than a young, inexperienced soldier who lost his head.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4216976,00.html
Israel rides the rollercoaster of mass hysteria, Ilan Pappe
French grandmas, a retired poet and nuclear holocaust are all threats of the same magnitude in the post-modern world of the current captains of the Israeli Titanic.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-rides-rollercoaster-mass-hysteria/11177?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
‘My Lords, I was in Gaza six weeks ago,’ began Baroness Tonge, when she spoke at the House of Lords in January 2009. ‘Now, as a result of the impotence of the international community, not just in Gaza, but…over 40 years of occupation of Palestine by Israel, those institutions that I visited are rubble and many of the children with whom I played are dead.’ Jenny Tonge, then a member of the UK’s Liberal Democrat party, was a dangerous British politician as far as Israel was concerned. She not only dared to use strong language while referencing Israeli actions in the occupied territories, she also demanded action from her government .
A recent skit on the sketch comedy “Eretz Nehederet” featured a “debate” about the Iranian nuclear program between U.S. and Israeli leaders. After some discussion, U.S. President Barack Obama accedes to the position of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and he urges them to attack Iran. Netanyahu and Barak exchange frightened glances and plead with Obama to stop them.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/04/18/netanyahus-real-fear/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=netanyahus-real-fear
Meeting the Demands of the Occupation in the UK, Richard Irvine
Amongst what remains of the Israeli left, the siren cry for many years has been that the Occupation is destroying Israel. This view, brilliantly propounded by Pulitzer Prize Winner Richard Ben Cramer in his 2004 book How Israel Lost, makes a simple case. Israel cannot remain a Jewish and democratic state whilst it rules the lives of four million Palestinians, it will either cease to be Jewish or cease to be democratic.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19239
Bahrain
Jailed Bahraini Shiite activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who is on a hunger strike, will refuse intravenous infusions from Wednesday and drink only water, his wife said.
http://news.yahoo.com/bahraini-hunger-striker-refuse-iv-fluids-drink-water-164406619.html
Iraq’s Sadr calls for Bahrain activist’s release
Anti-US Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called for the release of jailed Bahraini activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for more than two months.
http://news.yahoo.com/iraqs-sadr-calls-bahrain-activists-release-152236886.html
The Crown Prince of Bahrain faced angry crowds on Wednesday as protests continued ahead of Sunday’s planned controversial Formula One Grand Prix. Dozens of protesters chanted “the people demand the fall of the regime” at Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, after he appeared at a funeral in the village of Sanabis. Banners were held, with some depicting dead activists, while the Prince was quickly shepherded away to a nearby car, unverified footage on YouTube showed.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/bahraini-crown-prince-confronted-angry-protesters?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
VIDEO: Stun grenades used at F1 protest
Bahraini security forces have fired stun grenades at protesters outside a cultural exhibition in Manama ahead of Sunday’s Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Bahrain has arrested about 80 leading democracy activists in an attempt to contain anti-government protests ahead of this weekend’s Formula One Grand Prix race, a rights group said Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/wave-arrests-ahead-bahrain-grand-prix-ngo-002115916.html
Porsche Supercup Squad MRS has withdrawn from this weekend’s opening rounds of Bahrain’s Formula One Grand Prix 2012, blaming “ongoing unrest” and “security situation” in the sheikdom.
Iraq’s Sadr calls for Bahrain F1 race boycott
Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called for a boycott of the upcoming Formula 1 race in Bahrain over the kingdom’s continued crackdown on dissidents, in a statement released on Thursday.
From Angry Arab chief correspondent in Bahrain: ”The Formula 1 race begins in 3 days. In preparation the regime is raiding houses in various areas and has arrested 100s. The funny thing about F1 is that the debate centered on whether it is safe for the racers and fans to go to bahrain. No one seems to care about the safety of ordinary Bahrainis. As we can see the regime is stepping up its crackdown days before the race and throwing everyone in jail to ensure that there are no protests when the race begins. I’m pretty sure that the villages will be under military lock down pretty soon. All this so that f1 fans can have some fun and racers can drive fast around a track. Also to those who accuse the protesters of politicizing the race – the regime politicized it when it keeps using the race as an indicator that all is well in Bahrain and decided to use UniF1ed as their slogan.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/04/bahrain-update_18.html
Egypt
Egypt panel turns down candidates’ appeal
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/2012417152921205420.html
Egypt Brotherhood candidate: army wants to retain power
The Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate who was disqualified from Egypt’s first presidential race since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster said on Wednesday that the ruling army council was not serious about transferring power to civilians. “The military council does not have the serious intention to transfer power,” Khairat al-Shater, a millionaire businessman and top Brotherhood official, said after he was pushed out of the race by the election committee because of a criminal conviction during Mubarak’s rule when the group was banned.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/presidential-frenzy-after-egypt-bars-10-candidates?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Egypt Salafist’s massive support
Anger at disqualification shows Egyptian Salafist’s popularity.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17735162#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Egypt’s Presidential Elections: And Then There Were Three
The race for the Egyptian presidency has been narrowed down to three likely candidates after the High Elections Commission refused the appeals of 10 candidates, including three front-runners, that were disqualified from the elections last Saturday.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypt%E2%80%99s-presidential-elections-and-then-there-were-three?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Egypt is creaking under the weight of revolution, but it will survive
Upcoming elections are blighted by paranoia and a national crisis of confidence. It doesn’t mean revolution was a bad idea. In Egypt it’s sometimes impossible to determine whether chaos is the work of sinister counter-revolutionary forces, or just normality. There’s a big fire almost every week – the latest being in an oil depot in Suez. This immediately sparked fears that “enemies of the revolution” were again at it. Chaos, people say, will convince the average Egyptian that the revolution was a bad idea – with the result that he/she will vote for “stability” in the coming presidential election, or even worse, call on the ruling military junta, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), to stay in power.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/17/egypt-creaking-weight-revolution-elections
The Art of Narrating the Egyptian Revolution: An Interview with Alaa Awad
The paintings on the walls of Mohamed Mahmud Street have generated a great deal of attention in the past months. In an interview with Mona Abaza, artist Alaa Awad takes us through the journey of creating the impressive murals he painted on the walls of Mohammed Mahmud and the area surrounding the former Greek Campus of the American University in Cairo (AUC). Awad’s art narrates the Egyptian revolution through reviving the centuries old pharaonic tradition of murals. The video was filmed by Rudolf Thome.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5134/the-art-of-narrating-the-egyptian-revolution_an-in
Iran
In a reminder that Persian rhetoric is not always easy for English-speakers to interpret, a senior Israeli official has acknowledged that the Iranian president’s rhetorical flourish had been misinterpreted.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/israeli-minister-agrees-ahmadinejad-never-said-israel-must-be-wiped-off-the-map/
Iran to Annan: We’re With You, but Assad Stays
The Iranians warned the UN-Arab League envoy that Syria’s Arab and Western adversaries were out to foil him and that the consequences of failure would be devastating for Syria and the region. Iran views Kofi Annan’s plan for Syria as a last chance to resolve the crisis there peacefully and is backing it to the hilt – as long as it provides President Bashar Assad with enough of a chance to enact the political reforms he has promised.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iran-annan-we%E2%80%99re-you-assad-stays?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
U.S. official says Netanyahu was fully briefed on Iran talks
After Israeli PM claimed that Iran was handed a ‘freebie’ at Istanbul talks, senior official says Netanyahu was fully briefed on strategy of six world powers; at next meeting, major powers to demand Iran suspend uranium enrichment at level of 20 percent at next meeting.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-official-says-netanyahu-was-fully-briefed-on-iran-talks-1.424945?localLinksEnabled=false
Bibi: Specter of Iran Nuke Will Strike Terror into Israelis, Cause Mass Population Flight, Richard Silverstein
The list of Israeli paranoiac notions about Iran has just grown one item longer: but this one’s a doozy. The Jerusalem Report notes: Even if the Iranians don’t use the bomb, he [Bibi Netanyahu] fears the very fact that they have it, could lead to a mass exodus of Jews from an Israel under nuclear threat, weakening the state and compromising the Zionist dream…
The Barack Obama administration’s new interest in the 2004 religious verdict, or “fatwa,” by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banning the possession of nuclear weapons, long dismissed by national security officials, has prompted The New York Times to review the significance of the fatwa for the first time in several years.
Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian to win a Nobel Peace Prize, also spoke with the Monitor about her fight for human rights in Iran and challenged the supreme leader’s role.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/lyuWjCGiN-Q/Nobel-laureate-Shirin-Ebadi-speaks-out-against-Iran-sanctions
Iran thanks Saudis for sparing death row citizens
Iran — a country slammed by international rights groups for its state executions — on Wednesday welcomed Saudi Arabia suspending death sentences against several of its nationals convicted for drug trafficking.
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-thanks-saudis-sparing-death-row-citizens-102049909.html
The United States and the lost art of grand strategy – Flynn Leverett at Penn State
Earlier this month, Flynt gave a public lecture at Pennsylvania State University’s School of International Affairs and Dickinson School of Law, where he teaches. His presentation was entitled “Energy, Economics, and the Lost Art of Grand Strategy: American Policy Toward the Persian Gulf and Rising Asia in the 21st Century,” and can be seen here.
http://www.raceforiran.com/the-united-states-and-the-lost-art-of-grand-strategy-flynt-leverett-at-penn-state
Iraq
Blasts in Baghdad, northern Iraqi cities kill 30
Bombings struck several areas in Baghdad and to the north Thursday, killing at least 30 people in the first major attacks in Iraq in nearly a month. The violence stoked fears that insurgents were trying to undermine confidence in the Shiite-led government amid rising sectarian tensions.
The lawyer for a Hezbollah commander jailed in Iraq for targeting US soldiers predicts that his client will be released soon because of flimsy evidence. Attorney Abdul-Mahdi al-Mitairi said on Wednesday that Ali Mussa Daqduq could be freed after his first court appearance in the next few weeks. Daqduq is accused of training militias and helping plot the 2007 killing of four American soldiers in the Iraqi city of Karbala. Daqduq was captured in 2007 and held without formal charge or access to a lawyer by the US military until troops left Iraq last December.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraqi-lawyer-hopeful-hezbollah-prisoner-will-be-freed?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Lebanon
Julian Assange’s The World Tomorrow: Hassan Nasrallah
Hezbollah urged the Syrian opposition to engage in dialogue with Assad’s regime, but they refused. Hezbollah leader Sayyid Nasrallah confirmed this in his first interview in 6 years, the world premiere of Julian Assange’s ‘The World Tomorrow’ on RT.
A group calling itself “Raise Your Voice” hacked into 15 Lebanese government websites on Tuesday, demanding an improvement in living standards and an end to widespread electricity and water shortages.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/04/17/208369.html
Lebanon’s Disconnect from Reality
It would be truly tragic were the Lebanese public not fully complicit in it: the state and role of Lebanon’s government and politicians, and of its democracy, which has degenerated from a game into a total farce. There is a complete disconnect between reality, what we see on TV, and what the politicians say. The reality is that the entire country is living on the edge of civil and regional war, with struggles and international conflicts raging all around it, fires burning in Syria, and the revolution’s vain attempts to effect change over the northern and eastern borders. The Lebanese sects see a day coming when they can resume invading each other, and plunge the land of incense and honey back into a conflict aimed at settling the cardinal question: “Which sect rules Lebanon?”
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon%E2%80%99s-disconnect-reality?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Qana: A Stigma on Israel’s face (In Pictures)
April 1996 was a black month in Lebanon’s history, and the 18th of it was a stigma on Israel’s face. At five past twelve, on the 18th of April 1996, when the Israeli enemy was launching its “Grapes of Wrath” war on Lebanon, families fled from several southern towns to the UNIFIL post in Qana believing they will be safe there. However, their safe haven became their slaughter place. Israeli shell targeted the UN post’s courtyard. The panicked families went into hangars for shelter. It was not long before rounds of Israeli phosphoric shells put an end to the fright and astonishment of more than a hundred of innocent men, women and children. This was Israel’s notorious Qana massacre that stunned the world. It was not the only “Qana” blood bath Israel had committed. More than 60 people were killed, including over 36 sleeping children, when Israeli warplanes bombed the village of Qana for another time in July 2006 Israeli War on Lebanon. Because a picture is worth a thousand words, following are pictures of some of the tragic massacre during Israel’s 1996 April War on Lebanon.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=52939&cid=23&fromval=1
Saudi Arabia
Saudi sentences rights activist to four years
A court in Riyadh has sentenced prominent Saudi rights campaigner Mohamad al-Bajadi to four years in prison, activists said on Tuesday. Bajadi was detained in March 2011 after voicing support for families demonstrating outside the interior ministry in Riyadh to demand the release of jailed relatives, according to fellow activists. They say he has been on hunger strike for one month.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/saudi-sentences-rights-activist-four-years?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Saudi Diplomat Kidnapped in Yemen Held by Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said it was holding the Saudi diplomat who was kidnapped in the country last month.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=52849&cid=23&fromval=1
Saudi Arabian authorities may order execution of woman after man reported her for casting a spell on his daughter. A Sri Lankan woman could face the death penalty by beheading after she was arrested on suspicion of casting a spell on a 13-year-old girl during a family shopping trip, a police spokesman said on Wednesday. The daily Okaz reported that a Saudi man had complained his daughter had “suddenly started acting in an abnormal way, and that happened after she came close to the Sri Lankan woman” in a shopping mall in the port city of Jeddah.
Human rights activists criticized on Wednesday a Saudi interior ministry statement calling for schools and universities to suspend students who are perceived to dress like “emos” or “tomboys.” The ministry statement, released on March 21, condemned an “emo” and “tomboy” phenomenon among teenagers that “contradicts Islamic ethics and morals.” “Emos is a phenomenon alien to our society and is considered a wrong and perverted behavior,” the statement read.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/saudi-cracks-down-perverted-emo-teens?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Osama bin Laden’s family due to be deported to Saudi Arabia
Pakistan hopes chapter on al-Qaida leader’s death in US raid will close with departure of three widows and nine children. Osama bin Laden’s three widows and their nine children are due to be deported to Saudi Arabia around midnight on Tuesday, almost a year after US Navy Seals killed the al-Qaida chief at a compound in north-west Pakistan, their lawyer said. The family was detained by Pakistani authorities immediately after the pre-dawn raid on 2 May in Abbottabad. The American commandos left them behind but took Bin Laden’s body, which they later buried at sea.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/17/osama-bin-laden-family-deported
Child brides: Will Saudi Arabia set age limit for marriage?
Saudi Arabia Justice Ministry is considering setting a minimum age for marriage. In 2009, Saudi courts refused to nullify the marriage of an 8-year old girl to a 58- year old man.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/UEGJ1k-G5xc/Child-brides-Will-Saudi-Arabia-set-age-limit-for-marriage
Syria
UN chief says Syria has broken ceasefire
Ban Ki-moon calls for an expanded observer mission, saying Damascus has failed to adhere to agreed peace plan.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/201241972848683539.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/un-observers-tour-deraa-under-the-watchful-eye-of-syrian-forces-7654796.html
Shots fired in Syria town where observers visit
Opposition activists say Syrian troops opened fire on protesters, wounding eight in a Damascus suburb visited by a U.N. observer team.
http://news.yahoo.com/shots-fired-syria-town-where-observers-visit-134042583.html
Syria says six soldiers killed in Idlib bombing
Six members of the Syrian security forces were killed in a bombing in the northern province of Idlib on Wednesday, state news agency SANA said. It said an “armed terrorist group” carried out the bombing, which also injured 11 others.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syria-says-six-soldiers-killed-idlib-bombing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Foreign minister Walid al-Muallem says deployment of 250 UN monitors is “reasonable and logical”, during visit to China.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/201241873011444737.html
Syrian forces fired a barrage of mortar shells at an opposition stronghold Wednesday even as the foreign minister promised the regime would respect a week-old cease-fire and withdraw troops from urban centers in line with an international peace plan.
http://news.yahoo.com/syrias-fm-claims-government-abiding-truce-111708355.html
Each Side Accuses the Other of Violating Syria’s Cease-Fire
The sides traded accusations as an advance team of United Nations observers, sent to monitor the cease-fire, was spotted in the southern city of Dara’a.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/world/middleeast/each-side-accuses-the-other-of-violating-syrias-cease-fire.html
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said that international sanctions against the Syrian government have cut its foreign currency reserves by half.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17741730#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Activist reports of attacks by Syrian forces were a response, the Russian foreign minister said.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8d59261ef1e5b23a9affed78652c9b33
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17760615#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
The problems of funding Syria’s rebels
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/morocco-syrian-opposition-urge-russia-press-syria-ceasefire?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Annan in talks with Arab ministers on Syria
Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League special envoy, is briefing Arab League on plans to end conflict raging despite ceasefire.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/201241713213460359.html
Bashar al-Assad’s wife Asma to pressure him to end the suppression of Syria’s uprising.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17753841#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Syria’s Olympic chief could face being refused entry to Britain for the London 2012 Games.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/syria-olympic-chief-may-be-blocked-from-london-2012-games-7657633.html
No fans of Assad, Syria’s Kurds distrust uprising
Syria’s Kurds, who have long complained of discrimination under President Bashar Assad, would seem a natural fit to join the revolt against his rule. Instead, they are growing increasingly distrustful of an opposition they see as no more likely to grant them their rights.
http://news.yahoo.com/no-fans-assad-syrias-kurds-distrust-uprising-062508466.html
Golan residents mark Syria’s independence: ‘We back Assad’
Hundreds of Druze wave Assad posters, Syrian flags. ‘Golan Heights must be returned to Syria,’ they say.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4217361,00.html
Syria’s Email Wars: The Opposition Leaks
Starting today, Al-Akhbar will be publishing a series of documents that electronic activists managed to obtain after hacking into the email account of Syrian National Council president Burhan Ghalioun.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syria%E2%80%99s-email-wars-opposition-leaks?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
All Quiet on the Damascus Front
There’s little sign of revolution in the Syrian capital. Either it is simmering underground awaiting the moment to surface, or the confidence expressed by the regime is well-founded.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/all-quiet-damascus-front?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Other Mideast and World News
Protests against veil ban in Tunisian universities bring lectures to a halt
The controversy over the face veil, which emerged following the fall of former Tunisian President Zein Abidine Ben Ali’s secular regime, has resurfaced again on campus with lectures coming to a halt following ongoing disputes on the issue.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/04/18/208661.html
Rights groups urge US to come clean on Yemen strike
Two US rights groups on Tuesday urged the United States to divulge details of a 2009 missile strike in Yemen that allegedly targeted Al-Qaeda militants, but left dozens of civilians dead. Yemen initially said it launched the 17 December 2009 strike in a remote mountain village, but media reports later quoted unnamed US officials saying it was an American operation. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement they had filed a request for details on the strike under the Freedom of Information Act.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/rights-groups-urge-us-come-clean-yemen-strike?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29
Pentagon Asked Newspaper Not to Publish Photos
Whether to publish images of soldiers in Afghanistan posing with body parts was the subject of intense debate, one that the Pentagon weighed in on, too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/world/asia/pentagon-asked-newspaper-not-to-publish-photos.html
Defendant tells court on the second day of his trial he acted out of “goodness, not evil” in attacks that killed 77.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/04/201241765242481364.html
“You will be punished if you don’t become an informant”: ACLU’s Nancy Murray on Tarek Mehanna case, Maureen Clare Murphy
Last week, a federal judge sentenced 29-year-old Boston-area pharmacist Tarek Mehanna, convicted earlier this year of various material support for terrorism charges, to 17.5 years in a supermax prison. Mehanna has been in lockdown for most of the past four years, held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day in a cell “the size of a small closet,” as Mehanna described during his powerful statement to the judge at the hearing.
A police department in Milledgeville, Georgia is standing behind a cop’s decision to arrest a kindergarten student in her school after she had a tantrum in class. Acting police chief Dray Swicord told WMAZ-TV Tuesday that he continues supporting one of his officers’ judgement to arrest 6-year-old Salecia Johnson after she threw a tantrum at Creekside Elementary School Friday.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/17/cops-arrest-6-year-old-kindergartener-in-georgia/
A Duke University study released today has found that black defendants who face all-white juries in the U.S. are more likely to be convicted of the charges leveled against them, according to a report at Mother Jonesmagazine’s “MoJo” blog. The study found that a single black juror, however, can significantly alter that outcome.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/17/study-finds-white-juries-more-likely-to-convict-black-defendants/
Funder of Santorum campaign and anti-Muslim causes to back Romney, Alex Kane
Last week’s announcement that Rick Santorum was suspending his presidential campaign signaled the start of the general election season. It also signaled the start of right-wing donors coalescing around Mitt Romney, the presumed Republican nominee. Foster Friess, a multi-millionaire financial investor and a backer of Islamophobia, is a prominent case in point. Friess was a major Santorum backer. According to Open Secrets, Friess donated over $1 million to the pro-Santorum “Red, White and Blue” Super PAC.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/funder-of-santorum-campaign-and-anti-muslim-causes-to-back-romney.html
www.TheHeadlines.Org
Wikipedia on the Spartan institution of Krypteia:
Gangs in this country do the same thing, i.e., have a killing as part of their initiation rite.
Video: Palestinians turned away from Dead Sea resort as Israelis, Europeans and dogs enter freely. The beach in question, “Kalia Beach,” is very much within the Occupied Territories, near the northwest corner of the Dead Sea. It is quite close to Khirbet Qumran, of Dead Sea Scrolls fame.
“Perfidy” a fine word. Of course, every Palestinian attack on Israel that is done in civilian clothing is an example of this. Yet, somehow, I’ve never seen a complaint about it in any article I’ve read here. A strange omission.
You don’t understand the word “perfidy” Fred. This is perfidy
http://www.economist.com/node/1778572
On the other hand this isn’t
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/israeli-undercover-agents-boast-of-killing-palestinians-on-t.html
i was thinking along the same lines, lysias, not just regarding the occultic angle, but targetted assassination. my ears prick up whenever professional murderers ‘mistakenly’ murder someone. were the brothers a bother to someone?