Video: Israeli military violently evicts Palestinians, internationals from Hebron house

Activists post mock eviction notices in campus dorms to highlight Israeli home demolition policy, Noor Fawzy
Residential students at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida responded in shock, dismay, and intrigue last Friday evening as they learned that their dorms were scheduled for demolition.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/activists-post-mock-eviction-notices-in-campus-dorms-to-highlight-israeli-home-demolition-policy.html

Land Day commemoration in Al Huda School, Khan Yunis
Al Huda School is a small, private primary school in Khan Yunis.  It serves about 400 students, a quarter of them orphans.  The school isn’t in the center of town, it is more out in the countryside. You look out the windows over fields of wheat and groves of olives.  The countryside is reflected in the building, nicely painted white and green with a large outdoor area for the children to play.  It has smaller classes than most schools in Gaza, only 20 to 25 students per class unlike the 40 to 50 that cram into UNWRA and government schools.  The classrooms are clean and stocked with books and supplies for the children.  Today, the school was showcasing their arts and culture program in honor of land day. They were doing art projects and put on a play.  We were honored guests.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/04/land-day-commemoration-in-al-huda-school-khan-yunis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29

Land Day Picture Worth a Thousand Words, Richard Silverstein
Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words, at least.  In the case of this image by Reuters’ Ammar Awad, this one may be worth 10,000 or more.  It’s also instructive that the NY Times headline for the slideshow presentation of Land Day images that includes this one was: Protesters Scuffle With Forces.  I don’t see protesters scuffling with Israeli forces.  I see Israeli border police mauling unarmed Palestinian demonstrators.  I see them pepper-spraying one at point-blank range.  You might not notice that his head has already been bloodied as a result of the blows he received at the hands of these border police goons, known for their savagery against such protesters.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/04/01/land-day-picture-worth-a-thousand-words/

Land Day in Lebanon: Within Reach of Palestine
On Land Day, hundreds in Lebanon answered the call for a symbolic Global March to Jerusalem by gathering at Beaufort Castle in Nabatieh, south Lebanon which overlooks Occupied Palestine.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/land-day-lebanon-within-reach-palestine?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Anti

Harvard University makes aliyah
Peres to announce establishment of first academic campus in Bedouin city as prestigious US university staff vow to support project.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4210642,00.html

SFO Jewish Library (you read that right– library) cancels panel on Jewish activism because participant supports boycott, Rae Abileah
I was scheduled to be a panelist on an event in May at the Jewish Library in San Francisco– “Reclaiming Jewish Activism.” After a library funder, the Bureau of Jewish Education, found out I was on the panel, the news traveled up to the Jewish Federation which put pressure on the Library to cancel the event because I was too controversial–apparently because of the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco guidelines re BDS. 
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/censored-in-san-francisco.html

Dear Red Hot Chili Peppers…
I’ve been a huge Red Hot Chili Peppers fan since I was 14 years old. The prospect of a live show in Israel has always been slim-to-non. I saved up some serious cash for their last slated show, way back when, needless to say I was heartbroken when they cancelled.
http://pulsemedia.org/2012/04/03/dear-red-hot-chili-peppers/

Discrimination

Hate speech: Stocking up fuel for murderous violence
Ami Kaufman has done the important work of translating a Channel 10 report on the vicious racism afflicting Israeli teens. The report was produced in the wake of the hideous commentsmade by some teens on the incineration of five Palestinian children in a bus crash in Jerusalem the other month. The first thing that comes to mind watching the video – in which some of the original teenage commentators are interviewed – is that they are no different from teens in any other area of sustained, protracted ethno-nationalist conflict. The other is that such discourse is nothing new in Israel, and is far from confined to teenagers.

Tough road to Jerusalem for Palestinian Christians
But in his way are Israel’s walls and bureaucracy that restrict him and other Christian Palestinians from entering Jerusalem. Unlike the 280,000 Palestinians who hold Jerusalem residency, he – like most Palestinians from the West Bank, Christian as well as Muslim – must get Israel’s permission to visit the city that is his cultural and spiritual home. But yesterday, the Khoury family was part of a group of Roman Catholics from Ramallah allowed in to celebrate Palm Sunday.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/tough-road-to-jerusalem-for-palestinian-christians

Political “Developments” & Other News

ICC says has no jurisdiction in territories
International Criminal Court prosecutor rejects PA bid to file war crimes charges against Israel over 2008 Gaza conflict.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4212024,00.html

Israeli, Palestinian officials hold secret meeting amid stall in peace talks
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat is trying to convince Israel to set a meeting between a top PA delegation and PM Netanyahu, where Palestinian demands for continued talks will be presented.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/israeli-palestinian-officials-hold-secret-meeting-amid-stall-in-peace-talks-1.422352

Christie in Israel on 1st official overseas trip
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie kicked off his first official overseas trip Monday, meeting Israel’s leader in a visit that may boost the rising Republican star’s foreign policy credentials ahead of November’s presidential election.
http://news.yahoo.com/christie-israel-1st-official-overseas-trip-141220721.html

Palestinians honor columnist Helen Thomas
The top Palestinian envoy to the U.S. has awarded longtime American journalist Helen Thomas for taking a stand against the Israeli occupation, a senior official said Tuesday.

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=486868&CategoryId=12395 

Palestinian Women Take Charge Politically and Socially, Sophie Crowe
A conference took place on Saturday, 10 March, in Beit Omar in the Southern West Bank to mark the 101st International Women’s Day. The event, attended by about 400 people, was organised by the women’s committee of Beit Ummar’s Peace and Freedom Centre. Speakers included a number of Palestinian women active in empowering women politically, within the nation-wide anti-occupation resistance movement, and socially, encouraging and facilitating more independence for Palestinian women. A group of Israeli women working in civil disobedience within Israel also participated. One of the speakers representing Palestinian women was Ebtesam Zidan, the chair of the Palestinian Women’s Struggle Committee union, one of the popular organisations for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). She spoke to the Palestine Monitor about her work with women in Palestinian society.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=4572

Former State Dep’t official says Obama calls for human rights and democracy are ‘undercut’ by position on Palestinians, Philip Weiss
I spent a lot of time on twitter. I have about 27,000 followers around the world. Because it connects me to people of many different countries and many different beliefs certainly beyond my community in this town, but also the global academic communities. I spend a lot of time following articles and messages, and videos and personal testimonies about Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and Libya. Whenever I send out a message about the suffering, the detention without trial, civilian deaths by armed force in all these countries, I now get messages back that say to me, What about the Palestinians? I am not for a minute going to say that there are no differences between what’s happening in Syria, in Libya, in Yemen, in Egypt. There are many differences between those circumstances and what is happening between Israel and the Palestinians. There are many differences. But there are some similarities. And when I hear back from voices that I can shut out here in Washington– I can shut them out in Princeton– but I can’t shut them out in an open forum where I reach out to the world, and the world answers me….
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/former-state-dept-official-says-obama-calls-for-human-rights-and-democracy-are-undercut-by-position-on-palestinians.html

The Israel/Palestine conflict will be resolved when Arab countries kick the U.S. out of the region, Bruce Wolman
At the J Street Conference last week, Anne-Marie Slaughter participated in a panel discussion, “Can America Still Help to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict — and How?” Dr Slaughter, a former State Department official in the Obama administration, remarked that US “relations are strained with the old governments in the Middle East and with the new governments in the Middle East.” She went on to say “those governments desperately want us to engage in the peace process” and that increasing our involvement was the best way to improve our relations with these countries.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/the-israelpalestine-conflict-will-be-resolved-when-arab-countries-kick-the-u-s-out-of-the-region.html

Palestine Has Always Been Off the Agenda
It was recently noted, correctly, by Al Jazeera and the New York Times that the Palestinians and their situation have been “sidelined” and moved off the “world agenda.” On account of factors including US-Israeli tensions with Iran, unfolding Arab Spring developments, and the US election year, things have indeed been quiet, but more by a matter of degree. At the moment, the Palestinian national movement is simply further off the agenda, with the status quo firmly intact.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/04/03/palestine-has-always-been-off-the-agenda/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=palestine-has-always-been-off-the-agenda

Arab revolutions through Israeli eyes
Israeli researchers have been preoccupied from the very first days of the Arab revolutions to analyse the possible consequences for Israel; the Israeli establishment has not disguised its fear of the revolutions’ success. Perhaps the most important conference to discuss the revolutions was that organised by the Israeli National Security Research Institute in January; headed “Arab spring – a year has passed – a look at the future”, its importance was reflected by the wide participation of specialised and strategic researchers, as well as Israeli military leaders and decision-makers.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/middle-east/3581-arab-revolutions-through-israeli-eyes

They Shoot Youth, Don’t They?
On March 30, 1976, the Palestinian people declared a general strike and demonstrated against the Israeli confiscation of thousands of acres of land in the Galilee. The Israeli’s responded with violence, killing six unarmed Palestinian demonstrators and injuring hundreds. Every year Land Day is commemorated in Palestine in remembrance of those who would rise up to protect their land. On this Land Day, I was at Erez Crossing. Several hundred youth had managed to find their way around the Hamas policemen blocking the roads leading to Erez. At the crossing, they moved to within two hundred yards of the Israeli gate. There they found their path blocked by rows of concertina wire across the road. The shabob set fire to tires in the roadway and threw stones towards the Israeli wall, most falling into the roadway, well short of their target. Intermittently and without warning, the Israeli occupation forces open fire on the stone throwers. Each volley consists of one to three shots, and with each volley, young men fall. Others immediately retrieve them. Dozens of youth mob the wounded. Somehow they manage to carry them through the crowd and load them onto motorcycles where they are ferried to the Palestinian side of the crossing to waiting ambulances.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/04/03/they-shoot-youth-dont-they/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=they-shoot-youth-dont-they

Palestinian Hip Hop vs. Israeli Education System
Palestinian hip hop music vs. the Israeli education system. A startling review.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/component/content/article/28-news/4253-palestinian-hip-hop-vs-israeli-education-system

Osama Abu Ayyash tells his story to Israelis who’ve never met a Palestinian
Osama Abu Ayyash visits Israeli classrooms, telling his story of loss and forbearance to humanize Palestinians to Israelis who may have never met one.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/gFPfVIGvSJc/Osama-Abu-Ayyash-tells-his-story-to-Israelis-who-ve-never-met-a-Palestinian

Bahrain

Bahraini hunger striker on verge of coma
Jailed prominent Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja is in a critical condition and on the verge of lapsing into a coma after 55 days of a hunger strike, his daughter said in a statement on Tuesday. “He had two doctors accompanying him at all times last night, and today he is being moved to the fort prison due to lack of the necessary medical equipment in the central Jaw prison,” Maryam al-Khawaja said. “This is due to fears that he may go into a coma at any time, as his blood sugar and blood pressure have both further dropped.”
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/bahraini-hunger-striker-verge-coma?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Bahraini Hunger Striker’s Life in Peril as U.S.-Backed Forces Continue Anti-Democracy Crackdown
The U.S.-backed monarchy in Bahrain continues the crackdown on protesters, with reports of many injuries and at least one death over the weekend. We speak to Zainab Alkhawaja, the daughter of jailed human rights leader Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, who is now on the 54th day of his hunger strike. Doctors say her father could go into a coma at any point, and she has called on President Obama to pressure the government Bahrain, its strategic ally in the region, to secure his release. “With one word from the American government, my father would be released. I am sure of that,” Alkhawaja says. “But right now, Americans are more — the American administration, not Americans, is more concerned with their interests than they are with human rights and the lives of Bahrainis and democracy in Bahrain.” Zainab herself is an activist and has been detained in the past for protesting, most recently in February on the anniversary of the country’s pro-democracy movement. She reads a poem she wrote about her father while she was in jail called, “The Sultan Digs My Father’s Grave.” We’re also joined by Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, who was just released from detention. A police statement said Rajab was detained on charges linked to “illegal” demonstrations. His lawyer says he may stand trial in the future.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/2/bahraini_hunger_strikers_life_in_peril

Bahraini forces attack, arrest protesters
Saudi-backed Bahraini regime forces have fired tear gas at protesters holding demonstrations against an upcoming Formula One car race scheduled to be held in the country.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/234203.html

Bahraini police tear gas demo in Diraz
Bahraini regime forces have used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse anti-government demonstrators in the northwestern village of Diraz, Press TV reports.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/234369.html
 
Bahrain lawyer: Leading activist could face trial
A lawyer for a leading Bahrain rights activist says his client could face possible trial on charges of taking part in anti-government protests in the Gulf kingdom.
http://news.yahoo.com/bahrain-lawyer-leading-activist-could-face-trial-085315837.html

Bahraini villagers fear effects of tear gas
Many towns are blanketed nightly with the gas, raising fears of cancer and other long-term health problems.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241122912440203.html

Bahrain youths protest against Formula One
Bahraini police fired tear gas and arrested demonstrators Sunday in two Shiite villages as protests were mounted against the Formula One race to be held in the Gulf kingdom, activists said.
http://news.yahoo.com/bahrain-youths-protest-against-formula-one-185624228.html

Protestor’s death and rioting rekindles Bahrain fears
While race organisers and Formula One officials have been upbeat about their decision to go ahead with the Bahrain Grand Prix in three weeks time, their fears that the event would lead to an escalation of protests within the kingdom appear to have been realised after a weekend of violence which left one person dead. Unrest on Saturday escalated after it emerged a 22-year-old had been killed after being hit by a shot from a civilian vehicle following closely behind the police. That triggered more widespread protests, some specifically against the staging of the race, on Sunday and police fought running battles to try to maintain control. They fired teargas into crowds and made a number of arrests.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/120331/man-shot-at-bahrain-protest-dies

Bahrain Update
Angry Arab chief Bahrain correspondent:  ”This is an update from a friend on the doctors case. If the government can’t even clear the doctors from charges, despite the international outcry, what do we expect is to happen to other less famous cases?: The doctors trial is still going on. The court requested the forensic records to evidence torture from the BICI but the BICI did not respond. The group of medics have suggested a list of internationally accredited medical professionals to hold the forensic tests for the torture victims as the court has ordered such test be administered. The verdicts are expected to come out after approximately three weeks and the doctors have not been able to practices medicine, some of which still cannot, for over a year now. The consequences are for those without private clinics is that they are not able to secure their license and being unable to practice for the past year along with however longer they are prohibited from it jeopardizes their medical licenses. Even those who might choose to leave the country and practice medicine elsewhere will have to re-pass some significant parts of the medical examination and accreditation process which also puts their career at a standing point. One of the doctors stated that the social, economic and legal effects of this are taking a toll on on their lives as their source of income is stalled, their families are severely affected, some are suffering from debts and fear the loss of their medical license after these trials. Moreover, Bahrain has such a limited number of professionals and this does not only limit the services provided for injured protesters but also for regular patients who need specific treatments that is provided by only a handfull of the country’s leading doctors, some of which are on trial since last year’s arrests. Apparently there is a 100% deficiency in the transplant department as well as 100% failure in the Neurology department since the Minister of HR & Minister of Health Fatema Albeloushi has attempted to make up for the missing professionals by promoting from grade 5 to 10 who are now failing to perform adequate procedures to their lack to experience on that level. Also, Mrs. Albeloushi attempted to hire medics from India which rejected so they requested people from Pakistan & Jordan.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/04/bahrain-update.html

Bahrain royal goons

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/04/bahrain-royal-goons.html

Bahrain: A Case Study in Despotism, Stephen Lendman
In summer 2010, sporadic protests began. By mid-February last year, major ones erupted. From then to now, they challenged repressive rule nonviolently. They continue daily. At issue is King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa’s regime. Bahrainis want democratic change, sectarian Shia discrimination ended, equitable distribution of state wealth, political prisoners released, and terrorizing stopped. They also want popularly elected leaders replacing Al-Khalifa rule. It’s despotic, ruthless and intolerable.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2012/04/bahrain-case-study-in-despotism.html

Whitewashing the regime: Bahrain, press freedom paradise?
Inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt, the people of Bahrain took to the streets on 14 February, 2011 demanding change. More than a year after protests began on Pearl Roundabout, the epicentre of the Bahraini revolution, many argue that little has changed for the better. For the press, this sentiment is echoed most acutely. A number of organisations have conducted missions and produced reports that investigate the state of freedom of expression in Bahrain, only to come up with one common result; things are getting worse. Journalists and human rights defenders have faced military trials, life imprisonment, torture, harassment, and in some cases even death whilst in the custody of the Bahraini authorities.
http://www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/5139

Egypt

Egypt Brotherhood under fire over president bid
The Muslim Brotherhood’s surprise decision to field a presidential candidate is stirring fears that the two biggest powers to emerge from the ouster of Hosni Mubarak — the Islamists and the military — are maneuvering to put in place a new rule in Egypt not much different from the old, authoritarian one.
http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-brotherhood-under-fire-over-president-bid-204044516.html

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood backs presidential candidate
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood will field its Deputy Chairman Khairat al-Shater as a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, despite earlier saying they would not seek the nomination, the group’s party and supreme guide has said. “The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) will nominate Khairat al-Shater as a candidate for the presidency,” the FJP said on its Facebook page. The 61-year-old professor of engineering and business tycoon will be standing in the country’s first presidential election since a popular uprising ousted veteran leader Hosni Mubarak last year.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypts-muslim-brotherhood-backs-presidential-candidate?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Israelis express fears about millionaire who may be Egypt’s next president
Will a 62-year-old engineer, businessman and father of 10 sons, who was removed from his university post by former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and was arrested by ousted President Hosni Mubarak five times, but is still considered to be a symbol of moderation in the Muslim Brotherhood, be the next president of Egypt? This is how Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper opened its report on Israeli and Western fears after the Muslim Brotherhood announcement that it will, after all, be putting forward a candidate, Khayrat El-Shater, for the presidency of Egypt.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3582-israelis-express-fears-about-millionaire-who-may-be-egypts-next-president

Egypt’s Copts latest to boycott constitution panel
Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox church has decided to boycott an Islamist-dominated panel charged with drafting the future constitution, the official MENA news agency reported on Monday. The agency reported that the decision was taken unanimously by the 20 members of the Holy Synod to remove the two church officials who sit on the committee. The church “considers it inappropriate to continue to be represented given the reservations of various political forces on how the constitutional commission was composed,” the report said.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypts-copts-latest-boycott-constitution-panel?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Inside Story – The Brotherhood’s quest for the presidency
What impact will the Muslims Botherhood’s decision to nominate Khairat el-Shater as a candidate in Egypt’s upcoming presidential election have? Guests: Yahya Hamed; Yehia Ghanem; and Khalil al-Anani.

Iran

Rafsanjani urges better Iran-Saudi ties
Iran should forge better ties with regional rival Saudi Arabia and negotiate directly with the United States, a former president who now chairs an advisory body to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged on Tuesday. “If we had good relations with Saudi Arabia, would the West have been able to impose sanctions (on Iran’s oil)?”, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani asked in the latest issue of the International Studies Journal, a three-monthly Iranian publication.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/rafsanjani-urges-better-iran-saudi-ties?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Iran attack would breach intl. law: Russia
Russia has warned that a military attack on Iran would violate international law and also lead to chaos throughout the entire Middle East and the South Caucasus.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/234309.html

Turkey’s Erdogan: Israeli strike on Iran would devastate Mideast
Speaking on his return from a Tehran visit, Turkish Prime Minister criticizes world for keeping mum on reported Israeli nuclear warheads while sanctioning Iran for a peaceful program.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkey-s-erdogan-israeli-strike-on-iran-would-devastate-mideast-1.421934?localLinksEnabled=false

Why Israel is even less likely to strike Iran now
Obama appears to be hemming in Israel at every turn. Case in point: A report in which unnamed US officials allege that Israel has obtained access to bases in Azerbaijan, on Iran’s border.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/nfgaQ-QPB6o/Why-Israel-is-even-less-likely-to-strike-Iran-now

Iraq

Qatar rejects Iraq’s call to extradite VP
Doha refuses to send Tareq al-Hashemi, an Iraqi politician accused of running death squads, to Baghdad to stand trial.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/20124312344166963.html

Qatar: Iraq’s fugitive VP arrives for visit
Fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi traveled to Qatar on Sunday on what the Gulf nation’s state news agency called an “official visit.” The trip could intensify tensions between Baghdad’s Shiite-led government and the Sunni monarchies of the Gulf.
http://news.yahoo.com/qatar-iraqs-fugitive-vp-arrives-visit-122220410.html

Iraq demands Qatar hand over VP
Iraq has demanded Qatar hand over fugitive Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi after he began what the emirate described as an “official visit”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-17583666

“Curveball” confesses to lying about WMDs, Issandr El Amrani
Man whose WMD lies led to 100,000 deaths confesses all – The Independent
A man whose lies helped to make the case for invading Iraq – starting a nine-year war costing more than 100,000 lives and hundreds of billions of pounds – will come clean in his first British television interview tomorrow. But Mr Janabi, speaking in a two-part series, Modern Spies, starting tomorrow on BBC2, says none of it was true. When it is put to him “we went to war in Iraq on a lie. And that lie was your lie”, he simply replies: “Yes.”
http://www.arabist.net/blog/2012/4/2/curveball-confesses-to-lying-about-wmds.html

Saudi Arabia

Saudis urge release of injured activist
Protesters have held demonstrations in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province to demand the release of a detained human rights activist, shot and injured by security forces before being arrested in March.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/234184.html

The Draft Anti-Terrorism Law in Saudi Arabia: Legalizing the Abrogation of Civil Liberties, Saleh Al Amer
In July 2011, Amnesty International published a leaked copy of the draft Saudi Arabian Penal Law for Terrorism Crimes and Financing of Terrorism. This Anti-Terror Law, which grants the Ministry of Interior unprecedented levels of authority and discretion in intelligence gathering, policing, and detention, has already been reviewed by the Security Committee of the Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura) and the Committee of Experts in the Ministers’ Council, and awaits final approval for its enactment. Given the recent appointment of the Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdulaziz as the new Crown Prince, it seems likely that the law will soon be adopte
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/4839/the-draft-anti-terrorism-law-in-saudi-arabia_legal

Syria

UN team expected in Syria within 48 hours
Peacekeeping unit scheduled to arrive for ceasefire monitoring mission that would have 200 to 250 unarmed observers.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/20124313937942708.html

Syria ‘agrees’ ceasefire deadline
Syria accepts a deadline of 10 April to begin implementing a six-point peace plan, UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan tells the UN Security Council.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-17587438

Syrian forces storm rebel areas, torch homes
The Syrian government sent troops backed by tanks into rebellious areas Monday, hunting down activists and torching their homes and bulldozing others, opposition groups said.
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-forces-storm-rebel-areas-torch-homes-175910956.html

Syria Dismisses Notions of Foreign Intervention
On Monday, Syrian authorities dismissed the weekend’s “Friends of Syria” conference as “another failure,” while activists reported continued fighting in several parts of the country.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8eff1fe7510224e7b9023bdb798f9f37

Russian destroyer heads for Syria port
A Russian navy destroyer will dock at the Syrian port of Tartus in the coming days after setting out on a planned mission to the region, agencies quoted military officials as saying on Monday., The Smetlivy guided-missile destroyer sailed for the Mediterranean from its Black Sea base of Sevastopol over the weekend and will shortly arrive at the Russian-leased port in Syria, state news agency and other reports said., The ship will take on new supplies of food and water before conducting planned exercises near Syria’s coast, navy officials said.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/russian-destroyer-heads-syria-port-report?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

The Lede Blog: Citizen Journalist in Syria Is Captured and Tortured, Activists Say
A citizen journalist in Syria who has been instrumental in assisting those covering the conflict in Homs has been seized and perhaps tortured by the Syrian government, an activist told CNN on Saturday.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d5dd0db59095ad82812e4ab165a635c9

Syrian doctors speaks of horrors faced by civilians
Dr. Mousa al-Kurdi is a consultant physician from Syria and the Chairman of the Arab Institute for Clinical Excellence. He addressed the Friends of Syria summit on what he witnessed recently in Damascus and Homs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYttYiOXkVw&feature=youtube_gdata

An Executioner for Syria’s Rebels Tells His Story
Hussein can barely remember the first time he executed someone. It was probably in a cemetery in the evening, or at night; he can’t recall exactly. It was definitely mid-October of last year, and the man was Shiite, for sure. He had confessed to killing women — decent women, whose husbands and sons had protested against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime. So the rebels had decided that the man, a soldier in the Syrian army, deserved to die, too.Hussein didn’t care if the man had been beaten into a confession, or that he was terrified of death and had begun to stammer prayers. It was his tough luck that the rebels had caught him. Hussein took out his army knife and sliced the kneeling man’s neck. His comrades from the so-called “burial brigade” quickly interred the blood-stained corpse in the sand of the graveyard west of the Baba Amr area of the rebel stronghold of Homs. At the time, the neighborhood was in the hands of the insurgents.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,824603,00.html

Syria rebel fighters ‘to be paid’
The opposition Syrian National Council says rebels fighting the government in Syria will receive salaries, reportedly paid for by wealthy Gulf states.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-17578248

Lebanese and the Conflict in Syria, Asad AbuKhalil
There should be a moratorium imposed on all Lebanese statements regarding Syria. Of course, some statements are more vulgar and more crude than others. Walid Jumblatt – as always – deserves the award for the most opportunistic shifts and transformations in a matter of months.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/angry-corner/lebanese-and-conflict-syria?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Tunisia

Tunisia Islamist leader rules out normal ties with Israel
The head of Tunisia’s governing Islamist party has said the country cannot normalise ties with Israel, the official TAP news agency reported Sunday.
http://news.yahoo.com/tunisia-islamist-leader-rules-normal-ties-israel-151724718.html

Criminalizing normalization with Israel

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/04/criminalizing-normalization-with-israel.html

Al-Ghannouchi says a threat to Palestine is a threat to all Muslim countries
The head of Tunisia’s Al-Nahda (Renaissance) movement, Rashid Al-Ghannouchi, has said that his country’s January 14 revolution was not only against injustice, tyranny and corruption. It was also, he said, against what he called the “suspicious links” of the former regime, especially with Israel. This was a reference to Israel’s assassination of some Palestinian leaders on Tunisian territory.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3589-al-ghannouchi-says-a-threat-to-palestine-is-a-threat-to-all-muslim-countries

Other Mideast News

Survivors of Kandahar villages massacre speak to western journalist, Roqayah Chamseddine
Yalda Hakim of Australia’s SBS network is the first western journalist to visit the villages of Kandahar, Afghanistan, where 17 people were killed in a massacre this month. Survivors of the attack allege that there was not simply one “rogue soldier”, US Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the story the mainstream media is peddling; instead, the survivors, some of whom are children, claim there were more soldiers present that bloody morning “Do you know where your father is?” a voice off-screen asks. “He died”, replies the small Afghan child. “How did he die?” “The Americans.”
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/survivors-of-kandahar-villages-massacre-speak-to-western-journalist.html

Polish PM Reveals that US Tortured at Black Sites in his Country, Juan Cole
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk is now more or less admitting what has long been suspected: The Bush administration established a secret CIA prison in Poland and had Polish security officials help torture al-Qaeda suspects there. These steps were unconstitutional in Poland on two grounds: first, high Polish officials surrendered sovereignty over Polish territory to the US Central Intelligence Agency. Second, torture is forbidden in Poland. In addition, it contravenes European Union conventions and treaties.
http://www.juancole.com/2012/04/polish-pm-reveals-that-us-tortured-at-black-sites-in-his-country.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+juancole%2Fymbn+%28Informed+Comment%29

www.TheHeadlines.Org