News
International Middle East Media Center
Five Injured, Eight Detained At Anti Wall Protest In Budrus Village Central West Bank
IMEMC – Friday March 19, 2010 – 17:01, Five Palestinians were injured, eight others detained when Israeli troops attacked an anti wall protest at the village of Budrus, near Ramallah city, central West Bank.
Bil’in Protest The Wall, Israeli And International Supports Join Braking Army Orders
IMEMC – Friday March 19, 2010 – 16:48, The villagers of Bil’in, central West Bank, along with international and Israeli supporters protest the Israeli-built wall on villager’s lands.
Villagers Protest Israel’s Wall Near Bethlehem
IMEMC – Friday March 19, 2010 – 16:27, Villagers of al-Ma’sara, near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, protested, the Israeli built wall on villagers’ lands, on Friday.
In Defiance of Military Orders, Scores Protest At The Village Of Nil ‘in, Central West Bank
IMEMC – Friday March 19, 2010 – 15:53, Villagers, along with international and Israeli supporters, protested on Friday at the village of Nil ‘in, central West Bank, the Israeli built wall on farmers lands.
Fatah and Hamas Trade Accusations Over Jerusalem Clashes
IMEMC – Friday March 19, 2010 – 07:15, The rival Fatah and Hamas movements have returned to trading accusations, this time over the Israeli violations in Jerusalem and its holy sites.
Two Wounded As Army Bombards Gaza
IMEMC – Friday March 19, 2010 – 06:42, The Israeli Air Force carried out a series of air strikes targeting several areas in the Gaza Strip, wounding two residents and causing excessive damage.
Resistance Clashes With Army East Of Gaza City
IMEMC – Friday March 19, 2010 – 03:22, Local sources in the Gaza Strip reported, Thursday evening, that clashes took place between Palestinian Resistance Fighters and Israeli soldiers east of Gaza City, and near the al-Shuhada Graveyard.
PCHR Weekly Report: 31 Palestinians wounded by Israeli forces
IMEMC – Friday March 19, 2010 – 02:47, In its Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that during the week of 11-17 March 2010, Israeli forces used excessive force against Palestinian peaceful demonstrations in the West Bank. 31 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children and 5 women, were wounded by Israeli gunfire. Israeli forces inaugurated a Jewish synagogue 300 meters away from the al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, in addition to conducting 13 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and a limited incursion into the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Military Detains Nine Civilians From The West Bank
IMEMC – Thursday March 18, 2010 – 16:08, Nine Palestinian civilians were detained on Thursday by Israeli troops during morning invasions targeting a number of West Bank communities.
Qassam Shell From Gaza Kills a A Kibbutz Worker, War Jets Bombards Targets In The Strip
IMEMC – Thursday March 18, 2010 – 14:34, One foreign worker was killed on Thursday in the Nativ Ha’asara kibbutz by a Qassam home-made shell fried form Gaza.
12 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza
3/20/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – At least 12 Palestinians were wounded as Israeli F16 warplanes struck the southern Gaza Strip on Friday night. Local sources said Israeli warplanes launched three attacks near the ruins of the Gaza airport. Medics said 12 people wounded people were transported to Abu Yousef An-Najjar hospital in the city of Rafah. Three people were moderately injured while the rest were only slightly hurt, they added. Israeli warplanes were still heard flying over the Gaza Strip at the time this report was filed. The bombing was the second aerial attack in less than 24 hours. Early on Friday morning Israel’s air force bombed six targets across the strip, including open areas near Khan Younis, a tunnel along the Gaza-Egypt border, and a factory. No one was reported injured. Palestinian militias also said they clashed with Israeli forces east of Gaza City on Thursday evening.
Protesters challenge village closures
3/20/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian and international protesters joined half a dozen demonstrations across the occupied West Bank on Friday afternoon, in the first reaction to Israel’s declaration of two villages as “closed military zones” last week. An American citizen was seriously injured after being struck in the arm by Israeli fire in Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, onlookers said. Her colleagues from the International Solidarity Movement later identified her as Ellen Stark. An ISM statement said she was “shot from less than four meters away with a rubber bullet, which lodged in her left arm, breaking her wrist. “ She was evacuated for medical attention by the Red Crescent, an Israeli military spokesman said. He described the woman’s injuries as light, and said they were caused by the use of riot-dispersal means. He said the injury came during “the violent and illegal riot near Dir Nizam, during which rocks were hurled toward security forces. “
Israel tightens Jerusalem restrictions
3/19/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israel planned to limit the entrance of male Palestinian worshipers to East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque area on Friday, officials said, preventing men under the age of 50 from visiting the site. Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the restrictions would not apply to women visiting the Old City landmark, and that the area remained open for other visitors as normal. Rosenfeld told Ma’an he was aware of “no unusual activity on the Temple Mount,” denying reports that police damaged several doors to ablution rooms at a Ministry of Endowment building, and that forces were seen standing on rooftops adjacent to the mosque. Israeli police were expected to deploy in force throughout the occupied eastern half of the city, officials said, following violent clashes over the past several days that left dozens of Palestinians and Israeli police injured.
Unrest in Hebron, Beit Ummar sees dozens injured
3/19/2010 – Hebron – Ma’an – Following Friday prayers on Hebron’s Tareq bin Ziad Street, clashes erupted between tens of worshipers and Israeli soldiers guarding the Ibrahimi Mosque, witnesses said. An Israeli military spokesman said soldiers responded with “riot dispersal mechanisms” when approximately 80 individuals began “hurling rocks and burning tires” in what he called a “violent illegal riot. “ Fifteen were injured, Red Crescent medics confirmed, with eight treated for tear-gas inhalation in the field, and six hospitalized including one man who was struck with a rubber-coated bullet during the clash, officials at the Al-Muhtaseb Hospital in Hebron said. Onlookers said soldiers fired on a Red Crescent ambulance as it evacuated some of the injured, shattering its windshield. The military spokesman said he was unfamiliar with the incident, and noted troops used no live or rubber-coated bullets during the clash.
Clashes across Jerusalem as court evicts 15
3/19/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Hundreds of young Palestinian men clashed with Israeli border police in the Shu’fat refugee camp north of Jerusalem on Friday, witnesses said. “ At least 15 boys were beaten and detained when they took shelter in an empty building 100 meters away from the military checkpoint” at the entrance of the camp, one witnesses said. “ Israeli soldiers disguised as Arabs and an under-cover unit that surrounded them inside the building,” the witness, who preferred not to be named, added. “When they were forced out they had blood on their faces. “Rubber-coated bullets and tear-gas were used against the group, and ambulances were unable to access the injured, locals said, with traffic being turned around as far away as the A’nata and As-Salam neighborhoods. Violence erupted when camp residents concluded Friday prayers and gathered at the military checkpoint at one entrance, throwing. . .
In photos: Farmers under fire in Qalqiliya
3/19/2010 – MaanImages / Khaleel Reash – 1-5: A Palestinian farmer holds a banner during a demonstration in front of an Israeli military checkpoint that leads to his fields after soldiers prevented him and other farmers from crossing near the West Bank city of Qalqiliya, March 17, 2010. – 6-10: Palestinian farmers use ploughs and hand tools while planting crops on their farmland near a section of the Israeli separation barrier, which surrounds on three sides the northern West Bank city of Qalqiliya, on March 16, 2010. [end]
Report: Israeli settlers uproot 25 olive trees near Nablus
3/19/2010 – Nablus – Ma’an – Settlers from Israel’s Eli area uprooted 25 olive trees from the Al-Batshisha neighborhood of Qaryut village in the northern West Bank, an official said Friday. Residents discovered the destruction Thursday morning, when they arrived at the agricultural lands approximately 600 meters away from the Eli settlement. Ghassan Daghlas, who holds the settlement file for the northern West Bank, reported the incident, which followed on the heels of the destruction of at least 40 fruit trees just north of the area the week before. Qaryut village council head Abed An-Naser Al-Qaryuti said “this is the second time the settlers had uprooted and chopped olive trees of the village only within a week. “ Al-Qaryuti said the trees were on land belonging to Mohammad Jaber,Ahmad Jaber, Abed Al-Aziz Al-Mardawi and Yaser Hasen.
Israel closes all 3 Gaza crossings
3/19/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – The Gaza Strip’s three main crossing points with Israel were expected to be closed Friday, a Palestinian official said. Liaison official Raed Fattouh told Ma’an that there would be no transport of aid into Gaza. Fattouh said the three crossings, Kerem Shalom, Karni and Nahal Oz, were also scheduled to be closed on Saturday. Last week, 538 truckloads of goods entered Gaza, a United Nations report said Friday. The number is below the March average for 2009 of 761 truckloads per week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported. Before the siege began, 2,807 truckloads of goods entered the coastal enclave each week, according to the report. [end]
Report: Rafah Today journalist prevented from travel to US
3/19/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer was denied a visa to the United States where he was scheduled to speak in Chicago about the living conditions in Palestine, tour organizers said. “Effectively canceling a planned speaking tour, the U. S. consulate in the Netherlands has put an extended hold on the visa application of [Omer],” tour organizers in Chicago wrote in a news statement. When contacted, a representative said, the US Consulate in the Netherlands said it could not provide an update, while the US embassy told organizers they could not help. The tour would see Omer speak in Santa Fe, Houston, and Chicago, where he would have been hosted by Haymarket Books in Chicago at the Newberry Library, which will reportedly go ahead with the event via skype. The event is funded by Lannan Foundation, whose focus is the promotion of “cultural freedom, diversity and creativity. . . “
Barghouthi celebrates PhD conferral in prison
3/19/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian detainees at the Hadarim detention center celebrated the conferral of a Doctorate degree on Marwan Barghouthi from Cairo University on Friday, the Prisoners Society reported. Al-Barghouthi, a member of the Fatah revolutionary council and central figure in the Prisoners Document that proposed a unity deal between Fatah and Hamas in 2007,was sentenced to a life term for involvement in resistance to the Israeli occupation in 2002. During his incarceration Al-Barghouthi studied political science at the Cairo University, Prisoners Society head Ra’fat Hamdunah said. The prisoners said the conferral of a PhD on Barghouthi is a victory for Palestinians and a triumph over the occupation, Hamdunah reported. . . . .
3 Palestinians detained overnight
3/20/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Three Palestinians were detained overnight in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s army reported Friday morning. An Israeli military spokesman said the three were seized in the districts of Bethlehem, Qalqiliya, and Ramallah. Soldiers found weapons in the home of one of the unidentified detainees, the official said, in the Al-Fureidis area southeast of Bethlehem. Among the arms were a pistol, two knives, the detonator of an explosive, two bottles filled with bullets, and a pair of army binoculars, he said. The other two unidentified detainees were seized in the city of Qalqiliya and the town of Qatanna, southwest of Ramallah, the spokesman added. [end]
Settler lightly injured by rocks near Bethlehem
3/19/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli news reports said a settler was injured Thursday when his car was pelted by stones east of the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Israeli forces were combing the area searching for the alleged stone-throwers, the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported. [end]
Report: 10 Israeli soldiers mistakenly enter Hebron
3/19/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Ten Israeli soldiers mistakenly entered a section of the West Bank city of Hebron under control of the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, news reports said. Israel’s Channel 2 reported Thursday that a group of young Palestinian men noticed the soldiers and began to throw stones, which escalated into physical altercations during which three soldiers were lightly injured and their belongings stolen. An Israeli patrol arrived at the scene thereafter, firing tear gas and stun grenades, Channel 2 reported, citing confirmation from Palestinian sources in the southern West Bank city. Approached by Ma’an, however, Palestinian Authority security officials were not familiar with the report. . . . .
Unmanned drone goes down north of Gaza, media reports
3/19/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Israeli media reported the crash of a military drone shortly after it flew north over Gaza on Friday. The report said the drone was being used for surveillance, and said it was not taken down by Palestinian groups in Gaza, but rather as the result of an electronic malfunction on account of bad weather. [end]
Clinton: Settlement gaff ready for satisfactory end
3/20/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the BBC Friday she believes parts of the Israeli government behave in ways “that are not in the best interest of the government as a whole. “Clinton was referring to the Israeli Ministry of the Interior announcement of 1,600 settlement units to be constructed in settlements in East Jerusalem. The move came in the middle of US Vice President Joseph Biden’s visit to Israel, and embarrassed the US, which maintains the opinion of international law, that settlements built on occupied land are illegal. The secretary of state spoke after a meeting of the Quartet in Moscow on Friday morning, where representatives from the EU, US, UN and Russia gathered for discussions on the peace process. Clinton told the BBC that she spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone the night before the meeting, and said she. . .
Quartet demands real settlement freeze
3/19/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – In Moscow, the International Quartet reiterated on Friday its call for Israelis and Palestinians to implement their previous agreements and obligations, in particular adherence to the Road Map peace plan. “The Quartet urges the government of Israel to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, dismantle outposts erected since March 2001; and to refrain from demolitions and evictions in East Jerusalem,” a statement issued after the meeting said. The Quartet, made up of the US, UN, EU and Russia, also called on both sides to “observe calm and restraint and to refrain from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric especially in areas of cultural and religious sensitivity. “ The statement recalled that Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem remained unrecognized by the international community, and underscored that the status of Jerusalem is a permanent-status. . .
Abbas injured after fall in Jordan
3/19/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – President Mahmoud Abbas was lightly injured after falling in his hotel room in Amman, Jordan on Friday, an official said. Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Abbas suffered bruises and would require physical therapy and a few days of rest. “We are following up with treatment, but his health is good and there is no cause for concern,” said Dr Abdullah Al-Bashir, Abbas’ physician. Nasser Al-Lozy, the head of the Jordanian cabinet, visited Abbas shortly after the accident. Abbas, 75, has served as head of the PLO since 2004. He was elected Palestinian president in 2005. [end]
Ashrawi: Jerusalem hosts high-level meeting with EU’s Ashton
3/19/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi spoke out agaisnt the continuation of indirect negotiations carried out by Mahmoud Abbas and PLO officials, during an interview with Ma’an on Thursday. “Israel is the only side that will see positive results from such talks,” Ashrawi said, noting she expressed the same sentiment during a meeting with EU foreign policy cheif Catherine Ashton in the Spanish Consulate in Jerusalem earlier in the week. Spain currently holds the presidency of the European Parliament. Ashton traveled to Moscow Thursday night for a meeting with the Middle East Quartet, where representatives from the EU, US, UN and Russia will discuss the current situation in the region. Ashrawi called the meeting the first of its kind since the closure of the Orient House by Israeli officials in 2001.
Hamas: PA must unleash the resistance
3/20/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – The resistance is ready to “painfully strike at the heart of the occupation if any harm comes to Al-Aqsa,” a Hamas official told protesters out in support of Jerusalem on Friday. Massive rallies were held in south and central Gaza, organized by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in support of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and in protest of the rededication of a Jerusalem synagogue in the Old City. Hamas leader Mushir Al-Masri told protesters in the central Strip that “neither siege nor borders will stop us from moving to Al-Aqsa when it is harmed,” referring to what many believed was a series of provocative actions culminating in the rededication of a synagogue 300 meters from the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday. Increased restrictions on Muslim men wishing to pray at the holy site were put in place last week, and a closure of the West Bank was announced shortly after Israel announced the construction. . .
Hamas: PA arrests 8 West Bank members
3/19/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested eight Hamas affiliates in the West Bank, the party said Friday. In a statement, the Islamic movement said PA forces detained the Hamas members in Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, and Tulkarem. On Wednesday, Hamas said PA forces arrested 10 members in Nablus, Hebron and Qalqiliya. [end]
‘Full Signal’ explores risks of cellular technology
3/20/2010 – Soraya Bauwens-Nuseibeh – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Full Signal, the debut documentary by Palestinian-American director Talal Jabari, explores the potential health risks of wireless technology and the proliferation of cellular antennae across the world. Filmed in more than 10 countries, the documentary interviews scientists, activists and lawyers about the effects of cellular technology and its regulation, as the number of overall cell phone users increases globally. In an e-mail interview with Ma’an, Jabari spoke of increasing awareness of the issues surrounding the technology, comparative government regulation of the industry, and his own changing perceptions. What compelled you to make Full Signal? Our neighbor has had a cell antenna on his roof for a while, and I really never thought about it other than it provided me with full signal on my phone.
Israel to switch to summer time 26 March
3/19/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israel’s Ministry of the Interior announced Friday 26 March as the day Summer Time will set clocks forward in 2010, and set 12 September 2010 for the falling back of the clocks. At 12 midnight on 26 March in Israel, clocks will be set one hour forward. The Palestinian Authority is expected to meet on Monday and set the date for Summer Time. In 2009, the Palestinian Authority announced on Monday 23 March that summer time would go into effect at midnight on the 26th, the last Thursday of the month. In Gaza, clocks changed on 27 March 2009. [end]
At least 12 wounded in IAF missile strike on Gaza
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Israel retaliates after pro-al-Qaida militants fire five Qassam rockets in 24 hours, killing a Thai worker.
Gaza rocket strikes south Israel for fifth time in 24 hours
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – IAF aircraft attack at least six locations in Gaza, including smuggling tunnels, in response to deadly rocket.
’Israel will defend itself from Gaza rockets, regardless of Goldstone’
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – IAF strikes six targets in Gaza in response to Qassam rocket attack that killed a man Thursday.
Hezbollah official: Israel strike on Iran could ignite Mideast
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Group’s deputy chief says anyone who attacked Iran would pay the price, whether Israel or the U.S.
IDF troops assaulted after wandering into Hebron’s Arab area
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – 3 soldiers wounded after losing their way in Hebron during physical training exercise.
Lebanon arrests Saudi national for alleged Mossad links
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Man was reportedly communicating with an IDF patrol when he was arrested Lebanon security forces.
IDF vs. democracy and freedom of speech
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – The decision to declare two Palestinian villages a closed military zone on is anti-democratic.
The IDF’s spending list: Useless planes and broken English
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Israel is buying new planes capable of bombing Iran – to be delivered three years too late.
Jordan’s Abdullah: Israel trying to rid Jerusalem of Arabs
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Comment comes as Israel opens Temple Mount after a day of fierce clashes with rioting Palestinians.
Shalit’s father to address UN council on son’s release
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Noam Shalit to demand the execution of the Goldstone Gaza report which calls for his son’s release.
Israeli NGO: Hamas ‘used civilians as human shields’ in Gaza
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Goldstone report showed ‘systematic pro-Palestinian bias’, says Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
Report: U.S. positioning ‘bunker-busters’ for possible Iran strike
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Sunday Herald: 387 ‘Blu’ bombs are being shipped to U.S. military base on Diego Garcia in Indian Ocean.
IDF official: Neither Israel nor PA wants violence
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Hamas ‘day of rage’ leads to violence across Jerusalem; police chief: This will not lead to third intifada.
Egypt may try Israeli journalist for sneaking across border
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Yotam Feldman, who also reports for Haaretz, was working on piece for Ch. 10 about illegal immigration.
IDF declares West Bank protest villages a ‘closed military area’
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Police cite military edict restricting movement in Bil’in and and Na’alin until August.
Egypt’s wall along Gaza border nears completion
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Smugglers dimiss attempt to seal off Hamas-ruled Gaza: ‘We’ll just tunnel deeper’.
Settlers’ call sends Palestinian shepherd to IDF beating
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Soldiers reportedly bound and blindfolded civilian, then assaulted him repeatedly.
Iran tried to buy nuclear bomb from Pakistan as early as 1987
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – New documents reveal how a close ally of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei bid $10bn for ready-made weapons.
IDF chief in Turkey to mend damaged ties
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi’s visit is first Turkish trip by an army chief in five years.
Al-Aqsa omitted from Pesach Haggadah cover
Uruknet March 19, 2010 – Haggadot for Pesach distributed Thursday in kindergartens throughout religiously mixed Jaffa bore a photo of the Temple Mount on the cover, but the al-Aqsa Mosque, which is also located in the east Jerusalem compound, was conspicuously omitted. An image of a model of the “third temple” was superimposed on the photo in place of the mosque,…
Zionism’s Invented State: Book Review
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism arrived in the mail shortly after I completed sending a thank you note to two other authors and friends, Kathleen and Bill Christison. The Christison’s had just released their newest title, Palestine in Pieces: Graphic Perspectives on the Israeli Occupation (Pluto Press) and I felt that they deserved a…
Israel Is Boss
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – …Corporate media pretend U.S.-Israeli relations are in “crisis,” just as they have many times in the past. It’s all a charade, a play for national and international audiences. In real crises, relationships are called into question. But there has never been any question about who is in charge of this “partnership”: Israel. And don’t you dare…
Comrade Mizher: Mass action needed to support Palestinian steadfastness
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – Comrade Jamil Mizher, member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, called for an immediate and complete end to the farce of negotiations with the occupation, and ending the internal Palestinian division in order to confront the occupation and its newest attacks on Jerusalem and al-Aqsa. He emphasized the need…
Gazan Fisherman Struggle to Stay Afloat
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – Gazan 45 kilometers long, beautiful Mediterranean coast is fished by 3,500 professional fisherman. Many more people earn their daily bread doing jobs related to this trade, such as producing and repairing nets, transporting fish and selling it at the markets, running restaurateurs etc. We met Mr Mahfouz Kabariti the President of Palestine Sailing Federation and Palestinian…
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (11-17 March 2010)
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – Summary – Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law escalated in the OPT during the reporting period (11 ‚Äì 17 March 2010): Shooting: During the reporting period, 31 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children and 5 women, were wounded when IOF used excessive force against peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to the construction of the Annexation…
PCHR Strongly Condemns Inauguration of Synagogue in Occupied East Jerusalem
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns recent measures taken by Israel in East Jerusalem, the latest of which has been the inauguration of a synagogue in the old city. PCHR holds Israel responsible for the escalation of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). PCHR also confirms that East Jerusalem constitutes an…
The Lawfare Project’s Anti-Democratic Agenda
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – Its web site (thelawfareproject.org) calls Lawfare: “The use of the law as a weapon of war.” Fact Check: Provided they contradict no others, laws are sacrosanct, especially fundamental international ones like the UN Charter, Four Geneva Conventions, their Common Article 3, the Rome Statute, Nuremberg Tribunal and judgment, Genocide Convention, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and…
Please help little Amal from Gaza
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – A couple of nights ago I watched the documentary ‘Children of Gaza’ on Channel 4’s ‘Dispatches’. The film was made by the award winning documentary maker Jezza Neumann. Since then I can’t get the face of Amal, one of the four children featured in the film, out of my head. Amal was wounded during Israel’s attack…
So much for freedom of speech: Nakba Law passes first Knesset vote
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – The Knesset voted yesterday in favor of Israel Beitenu’s “Nakba Bill”, which authorizes the finance minister to hold funds from institutions or groups who question the nature of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, or who mark the Palestinian Nakba on Israel’s Independence Day. The goal of this bill ‚Äì as stated by MK Alex…
A Prosthetic Leg at the Palestinian Auschwitz
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – Monday 14 March 2010 at quarter past nine in the morning at the Zionist Qalandiya checkpoint towards entry into Jerusalem, the gate of Auschwitz 2. A female Israeli Nazi soldier orders an invalid Palestinian girl to take off her pants in front of the crowd of Palestinians waiting at the checkpoint, thousands of waiting men and…
A Very Dangerous Racial Israeli Publication in Jerusalem! ÿ®ÿߟÑÿ?ÿ±ÿ®Ÿäÿ© , English and French
Uruknet March 18, 2010 – These are translated copies (English and French) of the publication which was published by the Israelis in Arabic to people of Jerusalem within their savage campaign to judaize Jerusalem and the historical holy land of Palestine: […]
EU foreign policy chief visits Gaza
Gaza, March 18, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) – EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton arrived Gaza City today for an hours-long visit to the Gaza Strip. Ashton’s first stop was a UN-run girls school in the Jabalya refugee camp, in north Gaza city. The English baroness was also due to hold talks with UN officials during her brief visit to the…
Israel arrests 120 in Jerusalem violence
Occupied Jerusalem, March 18, 2010 (Pal Telegraph)- Israeli occupation forces arrested 120 Jerusalemites during the past 24 hours, in mass demonstrations organized in the Old City and the nearby towns in the occupied Jerusalem, to protest the construction of a Jewish synagogue near Al-Aqsa Mosque. Amjad Abu Assab, spokesman for Jerusalemite detainees’ families, said: “A large group of young detainees…
Israel suppresses student march in Ramallah
Ramallah, March 18, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) ‚Äì Israeli occupation forces suppressed student march in which hundreds from Al-Nabi Saleh School protest in north-west of Ramallah. Eyewitnesses said that Israeli occupation forces fired tear gas at the students who protest to support the steadfastness of Jerusalem city against the Israeli attacks. When the student march arrived to Al-Bourj area, opposite Halmish…
Israel intensifies military actions in WB checkpoints
West Bank, March 18, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) – Israeli occupation force erected a sudden checkpoint on Thursday at Aja crossroads Jenin – Nablus Street, in Jenin in the West Bank. It blocked the traffic and checked the citizens’ ID cards. It also tightened its military actions on the Al-Container checkpoint in Bethlehem. Eyewitnesses said that three military patrols stationed in…
Israel arrests 9 Palestinians in West Bank
West Bank, March 18, 2010 (Pal Telegraph)- Israeli occupation forces arrested early Thursday nine Palestinians during raids on different parts of the West Bank. Security sources said: “Israeli army raided Azzun town, Qalqilya, and Qablan and Beta towns in Nablus, and searched several houses before arresting nine people and then taking them to an unknown destination.” The sources explained that…
Haifa divides over restaurant’s ban on Israeli soldier
The National 19 Mar 2010 – Israelis mount angry demonstrations and threaten staff after an Arab-owned restaurant refuses to serve an IDF soldier wearing his military uniform.
Big Four set Palestine deadline
The National 19 Mar 2010 – US, UN, EU and Russia also back freeze on all new construction in East Jerusalem.
Middle East talks tense after air strikes
The National 19 Mar 2010 – Israeli air strikes over the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a fatal rocket attack lend a fresh sense of urgency to international Middle East talks held in Moscow today.
Iran Launches Anti-Sanctions Car Engine
The Media Line 18 Mar 2010 – Tehran responds to United States’ push for tougher fuel sanctions with launch of new kerosene car engine. Iran has revealed a new dual fuel car engine that will run both on gas and kerosene, a move…
Israel hits Gaza after rocket death
AlJazeera 19 Mar 2010 – Aircraft launch strikes on Gaza after rocket attack kills worker on Israeli farm.
Egypt appoints senior Sunni figure
AlJazeera 19 Mar 2010 – Sheikh Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed al-Tayeb named as head of Al-Azhar Islamic institution.
Gazans wounded in Israeli strikes
AlJazeera 19 Mar 2010 – Up to seven missiles strike targets in Gaza Strip after day of clashes in West Bank.
Quartet calls for settlement freeze
AlJazeera 19 Mar 2010 – Middle East negotiating bloc meets in Moscow amid tensions between Israel and US.
Alternative Information Center
Why Protest Building a Synagogue?
Alternative Information Center – Thursday, 18 March 2010, The Hurva synagogue was destroyed in the 1948 war by the Jordanian army. Before 1948, synagogues were used by Zionist underground forces for illicit activities including hording weapons.* But why is there…
Upcoming AIC Publication: Social Chaos: A Critical Perspective on the Israeli Educational System
Alternative Information Center – Wednesday, 17 March 2010, In April the Alternative Information Center (AIC) will release a new publication entitled Social Chaos: A Critical Perspective on the Israeli Educational System. Social Chaos is a compilation of articles written by…
It is Time to Hear the Palestinian People
Alternative Information Center – Tuesday, 16 March 2010, Israel’s dangerous and arrogant escalation in settlement building, house demolitions and evictions of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem indicates that the government of Netanyahu-Lieberman’s is pushing for overt clash and conflict‚Äì and…
Rachel Corrie’s Memory, Israel’s Image
PNN – Thursday, 18 March 2010
“Christ at the Checkpoint” Conference Completes its Work in Bethlehem
PNN – Thursday, 18 March 2010
Quartet to Israel: Freeze settlements
Jeruslalem Post 19 Mar 2010 – Abbas welcomes statement, but says implementation by Israel is the real test.
’Quartet’s comments distance peace’
Jeruslalem Post 19 Mar 2010 – In Brussels, Lieberman says peace must be built meticulously, not forced.
IAF strikes in Gaza after Kassam attack
Jeruslalem Post 19 Mar 2010 – 6 targets hit, 2 reported wounded; Security sources: Hamas not behind attack.
Security and Defense: 2011 – The year Palestine is born?
Jeruslalem Post 19 Mar 2010 РBy the summer of 2011, Salam Fayyad may finally succeed in totally reforming the Palestinian Authority – and that could spell big trouble for Israel.
US, Russia disagree over Bushehr
Jeruslalem Post 19 Mar 2010 – Iran’s Russian-built nuclear plant cause for concern, Clinton tells Lavrov.
Clinton: US pressing for talks
Jeruslalem Post 19 Mar 2010 – UN and Russia also intent on relaunching peace negotiations.
Police brace for rioting in Jerusalem
Jeruslalem Post 19 Mar 2010 – Planned protest march by Right in Silwan is postponed until late April.
MKs to PM: Stand up to US on J’lem
Jeruslalem Post 19 Mar 2010 – 78 members sign or support letter backing building in capital.
UN, Russia intent on restarting peace
Jeruslalem Post 18 Mar 2010 – Meeting in Moscow, commit to pushing Israel and Palestine to resume talks
MIDEAST: ‘Day of Rage’ Engulfs Palestine
IPS QALANDIA, West Bank, Mar 17 (IPS) – On Tuesday tens of hundreds of Palestinians of all political persuasions took to the streets, alleys and sidewalks as widespread rioting and protests spread across East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and into Israel proper.
WORLD CUP: But South Africa Will Win
IPS JERUSALEM, Mar 17 (IPS) – Less than a hundred days to go, and the world looks on, often more with scepticism than anticipation.
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (11-17 March 2010)
PCHR 17 Mar 2010 – Israeli troops detain an international peace activist during a protest over land confiscation in Beit Ummar village near Hebron….
PCHR Concludes Training Course in Khan Yunis
PCHR 18 Mar 2010 – Ref: 32/2010 Today, Thursday, 18 March 2010, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded a training course in human rights and gender issues in Khan Yunis. The 20-hour course was held in PCHR’s sub-office in Khan Yunis in the period 14-18 March 2010. The number of participants in the course was 27 persons, representing 12 community-based organizations in Khan….
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Ashton, meets with PCHR on her visit to Gaza
PCHR 17 Mar 2010 – Ref: 33/2010 Today, the 18 March 2010, Hamdi Shaqqura on behalf of PCHR participated in a joint meeting with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, Catherine Ashton, on the occasion of her first official visit to the Gaza Strip…..
PCHR Receives World Bank Delegation
PCHR 17 Mar 2010 – Ref: 31/2010 On Thursday morning, 18 March 2010, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) received Ms. Dina Abu-Ghaida, Deputy Country Director of the World Bank; Ms. Miski Burhane, Civil Development Expert in the World Bank Mission to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; and Ms. Sameera Hillis, Projects Officer in the Human Development Department in the Mission…..
International Solidarity Movement
ISM activists to face first hearing, Supreme Court rules arrests illegal
3/19/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – 19 March – The Israeli Supreme Court handed down its verdict last week regarding the arrest of International Solidarity Movement activists Bridget Chappell and Ariadna Jove Marti from Ramallah on February 7. The decision ruled that the arrests were illegal, but refrained from further comment on which Israeli department was responsible. Chappell and Marti’s first hearing in the Tel Aviv District Court regarding their deportation orders will take place at 3pm this coming Monday, March 22. The illegality of their arrests will be pursued in this case. A panel of three judges’ decision issued last week declared that the arrest of Australian and Spanish nationals Chappell and Marti in Area A of the Palestinian Authority (under full Palestinian civilian and military control under the 1994 Oslo Accords) was illegal, but did not specify whether it was the military’s invasion of the ISM’s. . . .
Bil’in and Ni’lin demonstrate in the face of closed military zone orders
3/19/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – The smell of tear gas hung over the villages of Ni’lin and Bil’in today. The shouts demanded an end to apartheid and access to farmlands. The odd and surreal status quo was maintained this Friday. The attempts to squash the nonviolent popular resistance have been in vain. Like the rocky, Palestinian landscape, dotted with olive trees, this resistance is fertile. As these olive trees have been uprooted or burned, the state of Israel has attempted to sow these popular demonstrations with salt. It has been to no avail. Last week’s orders posted in Bil’in and Ni’lin declaring the villages closed military zones for all of Friday had no effect on the demonstrators or village-life in general. Butchers displayed their wares, children laughed and kicked their footballs about and the cries for freedom echoed off the walls. The midnight raids did nothing to deter the groundswell of the popular struggle.
Israeli military unsuccessfully attempt to invade Iraq Burin: repeat tomorrow?
3/15/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – 14th March – The Israeli military sent eight jeep loads of soldiers to Iraq Burin, near Nablus, on Saturday to prevent villagers from accessing their farmland. Violent settler attacks on previous Saturdays leave the villagers and their land threatened. The military’s solution to these attacks has not been to protect the Palestinians, but rather to deny them access to their land. As the men of Iraq Burin sat peacefully at the edge of their village, watching soldiers and settlers on their terraces and in their olive groves on the opposite hillside, another group of soldiers approached from the hill immediately above the village. With no apparent provocation or reason, soldiers fired volleys of tear gas and percussion grenades at the assembled villagers, then seized houses at the edge of the village to fire rubber bullets and more tear gas into the street. Despite this barrage of weaponry, villagers refused to run and hide, and the soldiers ultimately retreated at dusk.
Clinton: Decision to escalate row with Israel ‘is paying off’
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – U.S. Secretary of State says pressure over East Jerusalem construction could restart negotiations.
Top U.S. Reform rabbi to Israel: Freeze East Jerusalem building
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Rabbi Eric Yoffie: Building in Arab sections of Jerusalem in current political climate isn’t prudent.
Suspects in N.Y. synagogue-bomb plot say FBI was involved
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Four men face life in prison for trying to bomb synagogues and shoot down planes in New York last spring.
Putin: Russia could back UN sanctions against Iran
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – UN resolution ‘possible’, Russian prime minister tells Hillary Clinton in Moscow.
Lieberman on Quartet call: You can’t make artificial peace
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Quartet eyes Palestinian state within two years, urge end to East Jerusalem building plans.
Report: Obama, Netanyahu to meet in U.S. on Tuesday
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Israel confirms the leaders scheduled last minute meeting amid growing tension, Fox News reports.
Did Nazis exaggerate death toll in WWII Dresden air raid?
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Dresden historians say only 25,000 Germans were killed in allied bombing of Dresden, not 500,000.
Israel to engage in ‘trust-building’ moves in wake of East Jerusalem row
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Netanyahu delivers Israel’s response to U.S. demands, reportedly offers ‘don’t ask don’t tell on future builds.
ADL: Petraeus wrong to link anti-U.S. attitude to Mideast peace
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Abraham Foxman says Israel is seen as the problem whenever the Mideast conflict comes into focus.
Poll: Nearly half of U.S. voters support total settlement freeze
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Survey shows 75% of American voters agree Palestinians should acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.
Auschwitz sign thieves get jail sentences from Polish court
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Court sends 3 men to 18-to-30 months in jail; alleged Swedish mastermind to be extradited in coming days.
U.S. imposes sanctions on Gaza institutions over Hamas links
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Ban to prohibit Americans from dealing with Strip bank, TV station and freeze their U.S. assets.
Assad: Mideast peace ‘impossible’ with Netanyahu
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Syrian president blames building of new settlements as reason for stalling peace talks, AFP reports.
Clinton urges Russia to delay launch of Iran nuclear plant
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Putin announces Russia would start the reactor it is building at Iran’s first atomic power plant in mid-2010.
Senior U.S. diplomat in Syria in effort to restart peace talks
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – Obama last month appointed Robert Ford as the first U.S. ambassador to Damascus in five years.
East Jerusalem: One bit of land, two opposing communities
The Guardian 19 Mar 2010 – In the neighbourhood of Ramat Shlomo, ultra-orthodox Jewish residents remain indifferent to the diplomatic storm On a quiet hillside, where streets are named after rabbis and lined with synagogues and yeshivas, the residents are indifferent to…
Israeli-Palestinian peace hopes rise as US envoy prepares to get talks moving
The Guardian 19 Mar 2010 – ‚Ä¢ Mitchell’s trip to region back on after concession ‚Ä¢ Blair expects resumption of indirect negotiations The US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, is due to fly to the region on Sunday to…
Middle East quartet’s cut-and-paste diplomacy
The Guardian 19 Mar 2010 – Statement is strong on the face of it, but mostly restates the ground rules for peace between Israel and the Palestinians Full text of the Middle East quartet statement The US and Israel may have defused…
Middle East quartet statement: full text
The Guardian 19 Mar 2010 – Document condemns Israeli settlement building in East Jerusalem and calls for Palestinian state within 24 months Middle East Quartet Statement Israel Palestinian territories Middle East guardian.co.uk ¬© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this…
Holding back a settlement | Stephen Pollard
The Guardian 19 Mar 2010 – Palestinian demands to halt construction in East Jerusalem are a ruse to end negotiations, and delegitimise Israel It’s easy to look at the past week’s events in Israel and paint Binyamin Netanyahu as the guilty party….
Quartet blasts Israel over East Jerusalem settlements
The Guardian 19 Mar 2010 – Strongly worded statement from Middle East peace envoys calls for pullout from Palestinian territories within 24 months The Middle East quartet has strongly denounced Israeli moves to build 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem and urged…
Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu in climbdown over US demands for peace
The Guardian 19 Mar 2010 – ‚Ä¢ Prime minister agrees to postpone building plans ‚Ä¢ Some concessions made in private, say diplomats The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, last night caved into US demands over the Middle East peace process, opening the…
Hillary Clinton in Russia for nuclear and Middle East talks
The Guardian 18 Mar 2010 – US secretary of state arrives in Moscow to discuss bilateral arms reduction deal and peace in the Middle East Hillary Clinton arrived in Moscow this morning for talks on nuclear arms reduction and the Middle East,…
Israel faces new pressure as Lady Ashton visits Gaza
The Guardian 18 Mar 2010 – Palestinian president appeals to EU foreign policy chief to pressure Israel over settlements Israel faced new international pressure over the deadlocked Middle East peace process today with a visit by Lady Ashton, the European Union’s new…
Eyewitness: Flashpoint in East Jerusalem
The Guardian 19 Mar 2010 – Photographs from the Guardian’s Eyewitness series
Gaza rocket strikes south Israel for fifth time in 24 hours
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – A rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip struck the western Negev on Friday, for the fifth time in 24 hours. …
Shas journal: Obama is ‘a stone-throwing Palestinian’
Ha’aretz 19 Mar 2010 – The official Shas journal “Day to Day” published Thursday an editorial depicting United States President Barack Obama as “a Palestinian stone throwing youth in East Jerusalem, and not a strategic leader.” …
Israeli firm Teva to acquire Germany`s Ratiopharm for $5.1 billion
Ha’aretz 18 Mar 2010 – Israel’s Teva (TEVA.TA) (TEVA.O) won the battle for generic drugmaker Ratiopharm, paying $5.1 billion to fix its weakness in Germany, the world’s second-largest generics market. …
Mcdonald’s fined NIS 30,000 for illegally employing minors
Ha’aretz 18 Mar 2010 – The Tel Aviv Labor Court fined Alonial LTD – the company that operates the McDonalds fast food chain in Israel – NIS 30 thousand for employing minors on their weekly day of rest, in violation of the law. …
Former PM Olmert ranked most corrupt leader in Israeli history
Ha’aretz 18 Mar 2010 – While just over half of Israelis think the Benjamin Netanyahu regime is just as corrupt as Ehud Olmert’s government was, the former prime minister won the contest for most corrupt ever, hands down. …
OPT: Statement by Middle East Quartet
Relief Web 19 Mar 2010 – Source: UN Secretary-General
Israel/OPT: Report on the events in Jerusalem, March 16, 2010: Severe violence, injuries, arrests, delays and prevention of medical treatment
Relief Web 19 Mar 2010 – Source: Physicians for Human Rights
Mideast mediators condemn Israeli settlements again
Relief Web 19 Mar 2010 – Source: Reuters – AlertNet
Israel strikes in Gaza after deadly rocket
Relief Web 18 Mar 2010 – Source: Reuters – AlertNet
14 Palestinians injured in Gaza strike
YNet News 19 Mar 2010 – Air Force jets bomb Hamas facility near Dahaniyeh airport in retaliation for earlier Qassam fire
Erdogan: Israel erasing Palestinians
YNet News 19 Mar 2010 – Turkish prime minister slams Israeli approval of new homes in east Jerusalem, says normalization of relations depends on lifting of Gaza siege
Clinton: Pressure on Israel paid off
YNet News 19 Mar 2010 – US secretary of state explains peace talks are back on track due to US pressure on government
Turks protest Israeli housing plans
YNet News 19 Mar 2010 – Hundreds take to Istanbul streets in protest against east Jerusalem building plans, some burn flags
Netanyahu to meet Obama in Washington
YNet News 19 Mar 2010 – Fox News reports prime minister will meet US president on sidelines of AIPAC convention. Netanyahu also set to meet Clinton, offer to slow down Jewish housing projects in areas beyond Green Line
Quartet calls on Israel to freeze all settlements
YNet News 19 Mar 2010 – Mideast mediators slam east Jerusalem housing plan, Lieberman responds: You can’t force peace
Hundreds protest against West Bank security fence
YNet News 19 Mar 2010 – Despite IDF edict declaring area a closed military zone, demonstrators gather for weekly protest in Bilin, Naalin. Security forces arrest three rioters
Qassam hits near Negev kibbutz
YNet News 19 Mar 2010 – Day after foreign worker killed in Netiv Ha’asara, another rocket fired from Gaza; no injuries, damage
Palestinian demonstrators, Israeli forces clash in West Bank, occupied Jerusalem
Daily Star 19 Mar 2010 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Palestinian demonstrators clashed with Israeli security forces in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during anti-settlement protests after the Muslim Friday prayers, as simultaneous protests took place across the region. In Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, troubles broke out in the Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp, where AFP
Mousavi vows ‘year of perseverance’ in Iran fight
Daily Star 19 Mar 2010 TEHRAN: Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi vowed a “year of perseverance” in his fight against the government, in an internet message on Friday marking the Persian new year. Mousavi, who remains steadfast in rejecting the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June last year, said a “retreat would be treason to Islam
Quartet tells Israel to halt settlement activity, reach peace by 2012
Daily Star 19 Mar 2010 MOSCOW: The Middle East Quartet on Friday urged Israel to stop building settlements and set a bold target for a final deal with the Palestinians by 2012 as it tried to kickstart the stalled peace process.But Israel’s foreign minister – whose country angered the international community by announcing last week the construction of 1,600 new settler homes
EU agrees to act to stop Iran jamming broadcasts, internet
Daily Star 19 Mar 2010 BRUSSELS: EU nations are determined to take action to end Iran’s “unacceptable” jamming of satellite broadcasts and internet censorship, according to a text agreed by European ambassadors in Brussels. “The EU calls on the Iranian authorities to stop the jamming of satellite broadcasting and Internet censorship and to put an end to this electronic interference
Russia says Tehran wasting opportunity for dialogue
Daily Star 19 Mar 2010 MOSCOW: Russia warned Iran Friday it was missing out on a chance to start a broad dialogue, as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton again sought to win the Kremlin’s assent for a tougher stance on Tehran.Iran’s defiance over its nuclear program means the nation is wasting a chance for talks to find a solution, Russian Foreign Minister
Egypt TV shows footage of Mubarak talking, working
Daily Star 19 Mar 2010 CAIRO: Egyptian television on Friday aired new footage of President Hosni Mubarak, who has been recovering in Germany after surgery, showing the 81-year-old making phone calls from hospital. Footage showed Mubarak, wearing a grey cardigan, sitting at a table and going over paperwork with his chief of staff Zakaria Azmi at the Heidelberg
Palestinian Information Center
Kuwaitis march in support of the Aqsa Mosque
PIC 19 Mar 2010 – Thousands of Kuwait youths have staged a sit-in Thursday in support of the Aqsa Mosque and the occupied city of Jerusalem and condemning the Israeli practices against the first Muslim Qibla.
IOF troops quill a women demonstration in Jerusalem
PIC 19 Mar 2010 – A large number of Palestinian women took part in a demonstration after the end of the Friday prayer the Aqsa Mosque, according to local sources in the occupied holy city.
Aqsa tv condemns US treasury for putting it on “terrorist-financing list”
PIC 19 Mar 2010 – The Aqsa Satellite tv station strongly condemned a decision by the US Treasury to put Al-aqsa tv on its terrorist-financing list..
Erdogan condemns Israeli measures in occupied Palestinian territories
PIC 19 Mar 2010 – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Friday the Israeli practices in occupied Palestinian territories, particularly the decision to build more Jewish settlements..
At least 11 Palestinians wounded in Israeli occupation airstrike
PIC 19 Mar 2010 – At least eleven Palestinians were wounded Friday evening as a result of an Israeli occupation airstrike targeting the airport east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to medical sources.
Jewish extremists distribute a picture of Jerusalem without the Dome of the Rock
PIC 19 Mar 2010 – Jewish extremists distributed a picture in Tel-Aviv depicting the holy city without the Dome of the Rock, according the Yedioth Ahronoth on Friday.
Bashiti family: We own the land on which Hurva synagogue was built
PIC 19 Mar 2010 – The Palestinian Bashiti family have asserted Thursday that the land on which the Hurva synagogue was built belongs to them and that they have the title-deeds to prove their claim.
Israeli occupation used tens of banned weapons during war on Gaza
PIC 19 Mar 2010 – Dr. Basim Na’im said that analysis of samples taken from the bodies of war victims as well as samples of soil from Gaza confirmed the use by the Israeli occupation of banned weapons
Israeli occupation escalates attacks on Gaza
PIC 19 Mar 2010 – Israeli occupation aircraft attacked seven targets around the Gaza Strip since dawn Friday in response to a rocket fired from the Strip by a Palestinian group into 1948-occupied Palestinian lands.
Abbas’s militia quell a demonstration in Bethlehem on behalf of IOF
PIC 19 Mar 2010 – Abbas’s militia on Thursday quelled a demonstration, in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, against the opening of the ruin synagogue just meters from the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
Gaza rocket kills Thai worker in southern Israel
LA Times 19 Mar 2010 – The latest in a recent spate of attacks causes the first such fatality in the area in more than a year. A group taking responsibility cites the ‘Judaization of holy sites’ in Jerusalem. A rocket launched Thursday from the Gaza Strip killed a Thai farmworker in southern Israel, the first such fatality in the area in more than a year.
Hillary Clinton, Russians clash publicly over Iran reactor
LA Times 19 Mar 2010 – With Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at her side, the secretary of State reproaches Moscow for building and fueling the plant without assurances on weaponry. Lavrov stands his ground. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had barely arrived in Moscow for nuclear arms and Mideast talks when tensions over Iran flared up publicly Thursday.
U.S. envoy trip to Mideast is back on
LA Times 19 Mar 2010 – George J. Mitchell, whose planned visit had been called off amid a diplomatic dispute with Israel, will head back to the region this weekend to resume talks. The Obama administration said Thursday that its Middle East peace envoy is headed to the region this weekend to resume consultations, a visit that had been postponed earlier in the week over a diplomatic dispute with Israel.
Clinton Calls Israel’s Moves to Ease Tension ‘Useful’
New York Times 19 Mar 2010 – At an international meeting on Friday, the emphasis was on starting Israel’s indirect talks with the Palestinians.
Iran Releases Opposition Leaders, Rights Advocates Say
New York Times 19 Mar 2010 – Rights advocates said that Iranian authorities have released on bail dozens of high-profile opposition figures who were arrested after the disputed June presidential elections.
Israeli Suggests Steps to Aid Peace Talks
New York Times 18 Mar 2010 – Israel’s premier called Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to propose steps to be taken by Israelis and Palestinians to help restart peace negotiations.
Times watch
Mondoweiss – 19 Mar 2010 – There’s a disappointing story in the New York Times today about that fatal rocket attack on Israel yesterday. It plays pretty big, on page three. In the first paragraph we are informed that the rocket was fired from “Hamas-controlled” territory. It isn’t till we reach the…
Obama could study Reagan and grow a pair
Mondoweiss – 19 Mar 2010 – MJ Rosenberg at media matters lays out the power an American president can exercise over Israel, and the lobby’s fear of his doing just that. Rosenberg doesn’t fully explore the hidden dimension here‚Äì of course it’s our national interest and of course Obama has power, why…
Is Israel’s crackdown on free speech coming here?
Mondoweiss – 19 Mar 2010 – Mohammed Omer, the Gaza journalist who was beaten by Israeli forces at immigration after he accepted a prize for his reporting in Europe last year, is apparently now being blocked from doing a speaking gig in Chicago, with Ali Abunimah. His support group has called for…
Israel lobbyist warns Obama, he’ll pay on health-care vote
Mondoweiss – 19 Mar 2010 – At TPM, Justin Elliott has tracked David Schenker, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, doing some highlevel horsetrading, suggesting on Alhurra, the US-sponsored Arabic station, that Obama has to back down on his fight with Netanyahu because of his need for votes on the…
Oren’s historical fiction about Lebanon war has long tradition in MSM hasbara
Mondoweiss – 19 Mar 2010 – Michael Oren has an op-ed in Thursday’s NY Times about the Bibi-Biden flap. While a comprehensive dissection would consume many times the length of the original, my attention was drawn to a very narrow issue that appears in the following sentence: “Previous withdrawals, from Lebanon and…
World Education Forum in Palestine Launched
Alternative Information Center – 19 Mar 2010 – Tuesday, 16 March 2010, The Palestinian National Committee in charge of the preparations of the World Social Forum on Education hosted a delegation of the International Advisory Committee of the World Social Forum in Ramallah from March 11 -13. Together they launched the organizing process that…
AIC Participates in Moroccan Social Forum for Another World
Alternative Information Center – 19 Mar 2010 – Tuesday, 16 March 2010, Seven hundred people attended the 5th Moroccan Social Forum, held in Bouznika, near Casablanca, from 5-7 March 2010. The Alternative Information Center (AIC) and the Teachers’ Creativity Centre from Palestine joined the meeting; the friendly and helpful atmosphere among the participants,…
It is Time to Hear the Palestinian People
Alternative Information Center – 19 Mar 2010 – Tuesday, 16 March 2010, Israel’s dangerous and arrogant escalation in settlement building, house demolitions and evictions of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem indicates that the government of Netanyahu-Lieberman’s is pushing for overt clash and conflict‚Äì and demonstrates that it has absolutely no real…
Why Protest Building a Synagogue?
Alternative Information Center – 19 Mar 2010 – Thursday, 18 March 2010, The Hurva synagogue was destroyed in the 1948 war by the Jordanian army. Before 1948, synagogues were used by Zionist underground forces for illicit activities including hording weapons.* But why is there a furor over building it again? First we must recognize…
Upcoming AIC Publication: Social Chaos: A Critical Perspective on the Israeli Educational System
Alternative Information Center – 19 Mar 2010 – Wednesday, 17 March 2010, In April the Alternative Information Center (AIC) will release a new publication entitled Social Chaos: A Critical Perspective on the Israeli Educational System. Social Chaos is a compilation of articles written by AIC co-founder and board member Marcello Weksler, Director of Educational…
Articles
Ayalon the moderate
Alaa Tartir, Ma’an News Agency 3/19/2010
Under unusual security arrangements and a high level of anxiety at the London School of Economics, the Brahimi panel took place on 8 March 2010 to discuss the Goldstone report and the peace process in the Middle East. Organized by LSE Global Governance and chaired by Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, this panel brought together former head of the Shin Bet and member of the Knesset Admiral Ami Ayalon, two members of the Goldstone fact-finding mission; Professor Christine Chinkin and Colonel Desmond Travers; and Karma Nabulsi, director of the Civitas project at Oxford University and a former PLO representative.
Prof. Chinkin gave a brief presentation on the mandate and methodology of the Goldstone report and Colonel Travers followed with a detailed explanation of the legality and effectiveness of the use of certain weapons in the Gaza war. As Admiral Ami Ayalon took the podium, he announced “war is horrible. There is no ideal war.”
With such a ‘promising’ introductory statement, I assumed that the admiral or the ‘moderate’ leader would argue for a better world based on justice and peace. However, and perhaps not surprisingly, his arguments were a frightening prescription for the future of the peace process, declaring that international law cannot bring peace, that meetings and diplomacy should come later, and that there is no need to look for justice. If such views can be dubbed ‘moderate’ and by issued from an Israeli leader who claims to be a peace-keeper and who launched the People’s Voice Peace Initiative jointly with professor Sari Nusseibeh, then what hope for peace? Where does that leave the prospect of peace? Lots of questions can be raised here.more..e-mail
To risk arrest and cover the protests?
Mya Guarnieri, Ma’an News Agency 3/19/2010
On Monday morning, I received an email with the subject line “A Strange Night Raid in Bil’in.” An enclosed link led to video footage that I would call more chilling than strange: Israeli soldiers stalk through the West Bank village, taping Hebrew documents to shuttered storefronts.
The village is black, silent. The soldiers don’t speak; we hear the low rumble of the army jeeps, the hiss of tape being stripped away from the roll, the click of a camera as the soldiers records their work.
The papers, it turns out, are orders declaring both Bil’in an Ni’lin closed military zones on Fridays, between the hours of 8 AM to 8 PM, until mid-August. For Bil’in, the area between the eastern edge of the village and the separation wall is covered in the zone, and in Ni’lin, the entire village will be declared closed Fridays.
Palestinians and Israelis who enter the village during this time risk arrest; internationals risk deportation. As the weekly non-violent protest against the separation barrier begins shortly following Friday afternoon prayers, the message is clear—resistance, of any kind, is not welcome.
As a citizen of Israel who has attended the demonstration on numerous occasions, I was offended by the army’s attempts to censure Palestinian, Israeli, and international voices of dissent. As a journalist, I felt that I was watching an extremely important clip. Yes, the army has been cracking down on protesters for some time now. But this seemed to be an even sharper turn, a veer towards an ever darker road.more..e-mail
UnPACking AIPAC’s White House Slam, Israeli style
Marsha B. Cohen, Lobelog 3/15/2010
The home page of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC’, offers no hint that anything is amiss between ‘America’s pro-Israel lobby’and the Obama administration. On the contrary. ‘Today’s Briefing’features Vice President Joe Biden, who spoke at Tel Aviv on Thursday, affirming that ‘The U.S. has no better friend than Israel’and and even provides a link to the full text of the Vice President’s speech. The highlighted plenary speaker at AIPAC’s upcoming Policy Conference (March 21-23) is none other that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
However, the home page is not where the AIPAC’s heart is. A behind-the-scenes statement being circulated by AIPAC publicist Josh Block, places all blame for the disdain shown for US peace efforts in general, and the contemptuous affront to Biden during his Israel visit last week in particular, exclusively on the Obama administration:
“The Obama Administration’s recent statements regarding the U.S. relationship with Israel are a matter of serious concern. AIPAC calls on the Administration to take immediate steps to defuse the tension with the Jewish State.
“Israel is America’s closest ally in the Middle East. The foundation of the U.S-Israel relationship is rooted in America’s fundamental strategic interest, shared democratic values, and a long-time commitment to peace in the region. Those strategic interests, which we share with Israel, extend to every facet of American life and our relationship with the Jewish State, which enjoys vast bipartisan support in Congress and among the American people.
“The Administration should make a conscious effort to move away from public demands and unilateral deadlines directed at Israel, with whom the United States shares basic, fundamental, and strategic interests.”more..e-mail
Protest the US’ silencing of Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer
Electronic Intifada: 19 Mar 2010 – Effectively canceling a planned speaking tour, the US consulate in the Netherlands has put an extended hold on the visa application of award-winning Palestinian journalist and photographer Mohammed Omer, scheduled to speak on conditions in Palestine, on 5 April in Chicago.
Time to bury dead ideas about Palestine
Electronic Intifada: 19 Mar 2010 – There is a growing recognition that the Israeli settlement enterprise in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is, in practical terms, irreversible. The two-state solution, which for decades has been characterized as the preferred solution of an amorphous “international consensus” has generally been understood to involve a return to the pre-1967 occupation boundaries (referred to as the green line) with minor territorial adjustments by the parties. By now, even optimists refer to this solution as “unlikely” and “virtually impossible,” while realists recognize that the concept has outlived its usefulness as a political aspiration. Martha Reese comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Book review: Higher education under occupation
Electronic Intifada: 19 Mar 2010 – Gabi Baramki’s Peaceful Resistance: Building a Palestinian University under Occupation (Pluto Press, 2009) is a memoir of Palestine’s flagship university, Birzeit, by its former acting president. The memoir is an indispensable tool for teaching Westerners about the ways in which Palestinian education exists and flourishes under a constant state of siege and the barriers to academic freedom that Palestinians experience on a daily basis. Marcy Newman reviews for The Electronic Intifada.
UC Berkeley student senate votes in favor of divestment
Electronic Intifada: 19 Mar 2010 – Early yesterday morning, the University of California Berkeley Student Senate (ASUC) passed a bill to divest from companies that provide military support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Debate began the night before at 9:00pm and ended and six hours later when the vote was held at 3:00am. psst– voices calling loud
In Gaza: 16 Mar 2010 – Today, the latest in growing demonstrations in the Israeli-imposed ‘buffer zone’, demonstrators again protested this lethal Israeli ban (shoot to kill threat) which renders roughly 30% of Gaza’s best agricultural land off-limits and under which in August 2009 the UN’s OCHA reported 33 Palestinian civilians (among them 11 children) had been killed and another 61 civilians (among them 13 children) injured. From January 18 2009 to September 15 2009 alone, ISM reported 7 civilians (among them 4 children) killed and 28 (among them 8 children and 2 women) injured by Israeli soldiers in the border regions. Bearing in mind that the Israeli assaults on farmers and civilians in the border regions have continued , and that these assaults occur far beyond the 300 metres that Israeli authorities say make up the ‘buffer zone’ [the actual off-limits area veering up to 2 km in some areas ], those protesting weekly have serious, valid… Gazan Fisherman Struggle to Stay Afloat
Palestine Chronicle: 19 Mar 2010 – By Rada Daniell and Bianca Zammit – Gaza Gazan 45 kilometers long, beautiful Mediterranean coast is fished by 3,500 professional fisherman. Many more people earn their daily bread doing jobs related to this trade, such as producing and repairing nets, transporting fish and selling it at the markets, running restaurateurs etc. We met Mr Mahfouz Kabariti the President of Palestine Sailing Federation and Palestinian Association for Fishing and Maritime Sports and a group of fishermen at the end of January for a long evening chat to find out more about what it means to be a fisherman in Gaza. A few days ago Mr Kabariti took us to the the Mina (Port) of Gaza to meet another group of fishermen who we chatted with while they were preparing for their next fishing trip. The majority of them wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of being targeted by Israelis for…more
President Obama’s Personal Crisis
Palestine Chronicle: 19 Mar 2010 – By James Gundun – Washington D.C. The display shouldn’t be so shocking. President Barack Obama was a professor before a politician, and that scholarly charm and cool helped get him elected. As if explaining a basic science problem – what goes up must come down, and vice versa – Obama calmly dismissed the suggestion that US-Israeli relations have reached a crisis. “We and the Israeli people have a special bond that’s not going to go away, but friends are going to disagree sometimes. There is a disagreement in terms of how we can move this peace process forward.” Say what they wish, but Israel and America are in a crisis. A crisis isn’t world ending, it’s a time of trial when an important decision must be made. The present qualifies, but let’s issue Obama a temporary pass since he has larger problems at hand. Suppose US-Israeli relations aren’t in a…more
Activism is Change, Not academic Squabbles and Bickering
Palestine Chronicle: 18 Mar 2010 – By Ramzy Baroud An activist is a person who feels strongly about a cause and who is also willing to dedicate time and energy towards advancing and realizing this cause. This might be my own limited interpretation of what activism means. I was born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp where the daily struggles of the community included challenging military occupation while attempting to survive under the harshest of circumstances. Activism then involved civil disobedience, general strikes, confronting armed Israeli soldiers with stones and slingshots. But it also involved much more than that. Activists in my refugee camp, whether they’re identified as Islamist, secularist, socialist or any other name, ensured the community remained unified in the face of adversity. They did not always succeed, but efforts were abound. Activists provided sustainable community support to families with sons and daughters that were killed in clashes or incarcerated in Israeli prisons….more
The New Dark Age 
Leave a comment