News
International Middle East Media Center
On Prisoners Day: 8500 Detainees Still Imprisoned By Israel
IMEMC – Saturday April 17, 2010 – 02:13, As the Palestinians mark the Palestinian Prisoners Day on Saturday March 17, at least 8500 detainees, including women and children, and several legislators and officials, are still imprisoned by Israel in several prisons, interrogation centers and camps.
Gaza; Thousands Protest Against Israeli Deportation Orders
IMEMC – Saturday April 17, 2010 – 01:25, The Hamas and Islamic Jihad Movements organized on Thursday massive processions in the Gaza Strip in solidarity with the Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel, and against Israel’s decision to deport Palestinians, and detainees, from the West Bank.
Detainee Dies Friday in Israeli Cell
IMEMC – Saturday April 17, 2010 – 01:04, Issa Qaraqe’, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported Friday that a detainee died at the Be’er Sheva Israeli prison after the Israeli authorities placed him in a cell instead of transferring him to a hospital.
Dozens Suffered Form Gas Inhalation During Anti-wall Protest In Ni’lin
IMEMC – Friday April 16, 2010 – 16:55, Dozens of residents from Ni’lin village near Ramallah in the northern West Bank took to the streets to protest the construction of the wall on their land.
Palestinian Killed, Another Wounded In Clashes With Israeli Troops In Gaza
IMEMC – Friday April 16, 2010 – 16:27, A Palestinian fighter was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops who invaded Al-Shuja’iya neighborhood in the central Gaza Strip, Friday noon, Palestinian medical sources reported.
PCHR Weekly Report: 2 Palestinian fighters killed; 7 civilians, 3 fighters wounded by Israeli forces
IMEMC – Friday April 16, 2010 – 09:36, According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights’ Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in the week 8-14th April 2010, 7 Palestinian civilians, including two children, were wounded by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank. Two Palestinian militants were killed and 3 others were wounded by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli fire kills 1 east of Gaza City
4/16/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian operative in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said, following witness accounts of heavy fire. Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades said its operatives clashed with Israeli forces along the Gaza-Israel border on Friday. In a statement, the armed wing reported that at 6am, its forces acted defensively against an undercover Israeli force that entered Gaza. Israeli forces reportedly opened fire at the Al-Aqsa fighters, killing one. Another affiliate remained missing Friday afternoon, the group said. Dr Mu’awiyah Hassanein, the head of ambulance and emergency services at the Health Ministry in Gaza, confirmed that one Palestinian was killed in the clashes. The deceased was not immediately identified. An Israeli military spokesman told Ma’an that an “IDF force identified a Palestinian gunman planting explosive devices near the security fence.
Israel seizes 4 water pumps in Jordan Valley
4/16/2010 – Tubas – Ma’an – Israeli forces raided the village of Khirbet Al-Farsieyah in the northern Jordan Valley and seized four water pumps used for agricultural irrigation and the provision of drinking water for the small farming community, witnesses said. Locals said the removal of the pumps would threaten thousands of dunums of fields of crops, and farmers estimated that each of the pumps cost 25,000 shekels (6,750 US dollars). The pumps were seized from the farms of Ali Az-Zuhdi, Fayeq Sbeih, and Taleb Radi. Tubas Governor Marwan Tubasi denounced the Israeli acts following a tour of the affected farms and residences, while Coordinator of the campaign to save the Jordan Valley Fathi Ikhdeirat, said the day’s events were part of “a series of attacks that carried out against the residents aiming at expelling them from their land.
PA: Sick prisoner in solitary dies in Israeli custody
4/17/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian Minster of Prisoners Affairs Issa Qaraqe identified a Palestinian prisoner in Israel, announced dead Friday afternoon, as 26 year old Raed Muhammad Ahmad Hammad. The death comes on the Day of the Palestinian Prisoner, marked by dozens of rallies across the West Bank and Gaza, commemorating the lives of more than 10,000 Palestinians currently held in Israel, and the hundreds of thousands of others who have spent years of their lives incarcerated by Israeli military courts. Former prisoner Abed An-Naser Farawneh said Hamad’s death came as a result of “intentional medical negligence,” and noted that Hammad was the 198th Palestinian to die in Israeli custody since the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. According to a report from the Palestinian Authority, Hammad was moved into solitary confinement in Israel’s Eshel Prison, despite medical reports indicating the young man was not well.
Israel army: 7 Palestinians detained overnight
4/17/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Seven Palestinians were detained in the occupied West Bank overnight, Israel’s army reported Friday. An Israeli military spokesman told Ma’an that four Palestinians were detained southeast of Nablus in the northern West Bank, while two more were seized south of the city, one each from the town of Huwwara and village of Duma. Another Palestinian was detained in Beit Anan, a village west of Ramallah, the official added. In 2009, the average number of Israeli military raids on the West Bank was 103 times per week. [end]
Locals say settlers torched cars overnight
4/16/2010 – Qalqiliya – Ma’an – Israeli settlers torched cars and sprayed graffiti on homes in the occupied West Bank overnight, locals said Friday. Residents of Jinsafut, a village east of Qalqiliya, said the incident began at about 2am, when locals awoke to shouting. The alleged assailants were identified by locals as residents of the illegal settlement of Qedumim east of Qalqiliya. The settlers reportedly entered Jinsafut late Thursday and wrote slogans on a residential wall. Hebrew-language graffiti left on the structure read “this is what you deserve.” The next morning, settlers set fire to two cars owned by local residents Muhammad Bashir and Abdullah Einash. An Israeli military spokesman said a complaint was filed with the Civil Administration. According to the complaint, the words “price tag” were inscribed on the wall, the official said.
Four Jerusalem children sentenced to house arrest
4/16/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Four boys accused of throwing rocks at soldiers were released after a month of administrative detention in an Israeli prison facility, and sentenced to an additional three months of housr arrest in addition to a fine. The family of each boy, identified as Nabil Al-Huseiny, Wisam Sari, Khaled Matar and Muhammad Shqirat all from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Al-Mukabbar, will also be obliged to pay 10,000 shekels (2,700 US dollars) upon their release, documents obtained by the Center for Jerusalem Social and Economic Rights showed. The tfour were detained in March during protests of Israeli closures targeting the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City of Jerusalem.
Friday protests continue, Walaja homes raided
4/17/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Following an anti-wall protest in Al-Walaja on Friday, Israeli border police entered the village and surrounded the home of a detained Palestinian, trapping at least 40 people in the home for two hours. The home of 40 year old Hatem Al-Araj was host to women and children when it was besieged. Witnesses said troops withdrew after two hours without incident, and said it was unclear what they wanted with those in the building. Village council representatives said the Al-Araj home was a gathering place for locals and internationals who had earlier participated in an anti-wall rally, where they had protested the latest site of wall construction, which cuts off large swaths of land from the Al-Walaja and Beit Jala areas, west of Bethlehem. Lands from the Cremisan Monastery will also be confiscated. One representative explained that solidarity groups traveled to the homes of. . .
Gaza borders closed Friday and Saturday
4/16/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli authorities announced Friday that the Gaza Strip’s two main border crossings would be closed Friday and Saturday. Raed Fattouh, a Palestinian liaison official in Gaza, said Israeli authorities announced the closure of all crossings for Friday, as has become the custom despite a scheduled opening. Crossings operated six days a week until August of 2009, after which officials announced their the morning of each Friday, barring the second Friday in February, when an emergency fuel import was delivered via the now closed Nahal Oz terminal. The crossing will remain closed for the scheduled Israeli weekend on Saturday, and will reopen on Sunday, Fattouh added. [end]
Report: Illegal outposts received state funds
4/16/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Residents of Hayovel, an illegal settlement outpost whose homes are due to be razed, received NIS 77,000 per family from the Israeli government when they settled the site, according to documents obtained by the Israeli daily Haaretz. The status of Hayovel came before the High Court on Wednesday, the newspaper reported. Defense Minister Ehud Barak asked the court to give the state another six months to respond to the question of when it plans to raze 12 illegal homes there and six others in Horsha. For their part, the settlers and politicians on the right have began lobbying to legalize the outpost, Haaretz reported Friday. In 2000, the then deputy defense minister in the government of Ehud Barak, Ephraim Sneh, ordered the construction of ritual bath even though he was aware that the community had not received legal approval for being there, Haaretz reported.
Israeli media: Projectile strikes Eshkol region
4/16/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – A projectile fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel on Friday morning, Israeli media reported. The Jerusalem Post, an English-language Israeli newspaper, reported that a rocket fired from Gaza landed in the Eshkol region. There were no immediate reports of damage or injury, the newspaper reported. [end]
Rallies in Gaza call for abduction of Israeli soldiers
4/16/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Marking Prisoners Day, large rallies were organized by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Jabaliya and Khan Younis areas of the Gaza Strip on Friday, where officials called for the capture of Israeli soldiers to exchange for the freedom of Palestinians. Hamas representative in the northern Gaza governorate Abed Al-Latif Al-Qanu told protesters that the “release of Palestinian prisoners will not be achieved until we have more soldiers” to bargain with. Islamic Jihad leader Mohammad Al-Hindi told the assembled group that Prisoners Day should be a day of silence across the Arab world, and taken as an opportunity for Palestinian factions to unify out of respect for those being held in Israeli jails.
Israel arrests Abbas guard
4/16/2010 – Nablus – Ma’an – Hours before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised recent Palestinian Authority security reforms, Israel arrested a member of President Mahmoud Abbas’ security detail, Ma’an has learned. Thabet Ja’aysa, 21, a member of the Palestinian Authority’s elite Presidential Guard unit, was detained along with two others Thursday evening at the Huwwara military checkpoint south of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Ja’aysa’s father affirmed that his son was detained. Israel’s army notified him by phone, he said. Meanwhile in Washington, Clinton cited US General Keith Dayton’s training of PA security forces as a positive development, but said “Israel can and should do more to support the Palestinian Authority’s efforts.” “The United States has partnered with the PA to improve the effectiveness of its security forces,” she said.
Marwan Barghouthi marks 8th anniversary of imprisonment
4/17/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Thursday marked the 8th anniversary of the abduction and imprisonment of Marwan Barghouthi by Israeli forces, in honor of which the detained PLC member presented a summation of the current Palestinian situation. The Palestinian leader, credited with cobbling together the Prisoners Document in 2007, which laid out a plan for Palestinian reconciliation following the first months of Fatah-Hamas violence, again urged rival factions to “put the black days of division” behind them. Palestinians must rally together under their common national interests, Barghouthi said, reminding that all “are committed to our national message and we will always remain faithful to all martyrs and detainees at Israeli prisons. We are keen on the right of return and protecting Jerusalem and the Holy sites.” He called on Hamas officials to sign the Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation document, saying the solution was a viable one and would put an end to division.
Report: Who Israel’s new military orders will affect
4/16/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The universally condemned Israeli military orders revealed on Sunday by Israeli rights group B’Tselem, went into effect on Tuesday, but have yet to be used in the deportation of any Palestinian in the West Bank. The new regulations, under Israeli military order number 1650, expanded the definition of an “infiltrator” to any person residing in the West Bank without Israeli permission. The revelation of the order sparked wide interpretations of who would be targeted by the new rules. PA Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein As-Sheikh said Tuesday that the new order “is not applicable to Gazans living or working in the West Bank; it is related to those who obtain a visa to visit Israel, who then won’t be allowed to enter the West Bank.”According to the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, however, the order is directed at “what appear to be specific groups, which include. . .
Israeli journalists: Don’t prosecute Haaretz reporter
4/16/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Journalists should not be prosecuted for obtaining classified documents in the course of doing their job, the Israel Press Council declared Thursday night following a meeting on the Anat Kamm case, Israeli media reported. Dov Alfon, editor-in-chief of the Israeli daily Haaretz, was quoted by his newspaper as explaining the background of the case, in which the soldier passed classified documents to Haaretz journalist Uri Blau, to the council and said he hoped ongoing negotiations would enable Blau, who is currently in London, to return to Israel in the coming days. Haaretz reported that Alfon also rejected accusations that his paper had not done enough to protect the identity of the source who gave Blau the documents, some of which were used in Blau’s reports on Israeli military activity in the occupied West Bank.
UN human rights chief urges halt to Gaza executions
4/16/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged the Gaza’s de facto government on Friday to halt any plans for further executions and to abolish the use of the death penalty in the Strip entirely. The statement followed directly on the heels of announcements from human rights organizations in Gaza that executions of two men had taken place overnight Wednesday. According to rights workers, the families of the men, were notified and permitted a last visit, and the two were executed by firing squads. Both were charged with collaboration with Israel.”I am deeply concerned by the executions, and the possibility that some others might be carried out soon,” said the High Commissioner.”It is extremely disappointing that Hamas has now returned to the use of the death penalty, despite the fact that no officially-sanctioned death sentences have been carried out in Gaza since 2000,” the high commissioner said in a statement.
In photos: Gaza kids protest child labor in tunnel industry
4/16/2010 – MaanImages / Hatem Omar — Children in Rafah protest the continued use of child labor in the tunnel industry on 15 April 2010. MaanImages/Hatem Omar. The tunnels link Gaza Strip to Egyptian markets via the smuggling trade, and provide one of the sole ports for Gaza goods. Israel has slowly increased the number of products permitted into Gaza, including clothing. All clothing articles in Gaza had previously been smuggled in. [end]
Al-Aqsa: Forces acted defensively when Israeli soldiers entered Gaza
4/16/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades said its operatives clashed with Israeli forces along the Gaza-Israel border on Friday. In a statement, the armed wing reported that at 6am, its forces acted defensively against an undercover Israeli force that entered Gaza. Israeli forces opened fire at the Al-Aqsa fighters, killing one. Another affiliate remained missing Friday afternoon, the group said. Dr Mu’awiyah Hassanein, the head of ambulance and emergency services at the Health Ministry in Gaza, confirmed that one Palestinian was killed in the clashes. The deceased was not immediately identified. [end]
Israeli military to mobilize equipment on Independence Day
4/16/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli helicopters, fighter jets naval vessels will be mobilized for “demonstrations throughout the country” marking Israel’s Independence day on 20 April, an Israeli military statment said on Friday. Israel celebrates its independence day on the 5th of the Jewish month of Iyar. Israel declared independence on 15 May 1948, a day Palestinians around the world commemorate Yom An-Nakba (The Day of Catastrophe), marking the last of weeks of violence that saw families driven from their homes by waves of violence perpetrated by Zionist armies. The military announcement noted army bases would be open to the public on 19-20 April as part of the commemoration events. [end]
Clinton: Stalemate threatens regional stability
4/16/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – The lack of peace between Israelis and Palestinians threatens Israel’s future, holds back the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, and destabilizes the region and beyond, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday.”Every step back from the peace table and every flare-up in violence undermines the positive players across the region who seek to turn the page and focus on building a more hopeful and prosperous Middle East,” Clinton said. Speaking in Washington at the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, Clinton asserted that Israel’s failure to pursue a comprehensive peace takes place in an “ideological struggle” for the future of the region, emboldens Hamas, and undermines President Mahmoud Abbas’ credibility.
Fatah-aligned Sami Al-Ghoul Brigades call for resistance
4/16/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – A small militant brigade aligned with the Fatah movement announced its committment to continued resistance in a statement made public on Friday. The group, known as the Sami Al-Ghoul Brigades, last claimed an attack on Israel one year ago, on Friday 17 April 2009. In a statement released at the time, which was reiterated almost word for word in the Friday statement, said the group was committed to resistance activities and called on all military wings of Palestinian factions to declare a state of high alert and be ready to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem from colonizing settlers. The latest statement, rather than rallying calls around the Al-Aqsa Mosque, called on allresistance brigades to stay committed to resistance and stay faithful to martyrs and detainees. The statement also noted that they remain loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the caretaker Palestinian leadership.
Hezbollah: Our missiles are none of Israel’s business
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Hezbollah government minister responds to charge that Syria shipped scud missiles to the group.
Lebanese villagers dismantle part of Israel border fence
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – IDF goes on alert under gaze of Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers who were near the area.
IDF soldier kills himself after learning of friend’s suicide
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Soldier shot himself with army-issued at base, hours after his friend did so in yard of his home.
IDF troops kill Palestinian in clashes at Gaza border
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – IDF spokesman says Palestinian gunman hurled grenade at soldiers, who responded by firing back.
Two Palestinian cars torched, scrawled with ‘price tag’ graffiti
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Similar incident occurred earlier this week, apparently by settlers angry at government policy on construction.
As a democracy, how can Israel censor citizens’ right to know?
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Unfettered by censorship and armed with the First Amendment, The New York Times published top-secret material in 1971 about the Vietnam War. Similarly, says Times lawyer Floyd Abrams, Israel’s military activity in the territories ‘is something the public should know about’.
Holocaust Surviver Hedy Epstein’s Emotional Speech in Support of the Divestment at UC Berkeley [VIDEO]
Uruknet April 16, 2010 – This is an emotional speech by Holocaust surviver Hedy Epstein speaking out in support of Divestment at the Universtity of California at Berkeley, California. How often do we have 12 hour teach-ins, with Holocaust survivors and Nakba survivors speaking out about war crimes in the presence of representatives from the Israeli consulate? How often do student…
BIL’IN: A moving memorial to Bassem Abu Rahmah
Uruknet April 16, 2010 – Exactly one year ago today, Bassem Abu Rahmah got killed in Bil`in when he was hit with a tear gas canister. A lot of Palestinians, internationals and Israeli activists came to the village to remember Bassem and to participate in the weekly demonstration. Around 1 PM some Palestinian leaders and the family and ‚Ķfriends of Bassem…
All Palestinian political parties will join the 5th Bil’in International Conference on Nonviolent Resistance
Uruknet April 16, 2010 – The Palestinian village of Bil’in will host the next 21-23 April 2010 the conference “Khalas! Enough occupation! We’re winning! 5th Bil’in International Conference on Popular Resistance” All the Secretary Generals of the Palestinian Political Parties will participate in one of the panels of the conference in an unprecedented move since the breakup of the two main…
‘Over 7,000’ Palestinians in Israel jails
Uruknet April 16, 2010 ‚Äì More than 7,000 Palestinians, including 270 who are under the age of 18, are currently held in Israeli prisons, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. Three of the prisoners have been in jail for more than 30 years, and 315 for more than 15 years, PCBS said in a statement released to coincide…
Destruction of videotapes documented in CIA e-mail
Uruknet April 16, 2010 – Internal CIA e-mails show the former agency head, Porter Goss, agreed with a top aide’s 2005 decision to destroy videotapes of the harsh interrogation of a terror suspect, a controversial action that remains the focus of an FBI investigation. The documents show that, despite Goss’ apparent agreement, CIA officials almost immediately began worrying they’d done something…
“In the eyes of the state, we don’t exist here”
Uruknet April 16, 2010 – Israeli forces carried out several major home demolition operations on Wednesday, 14 April, within three separate areas in the occupied West Bank. The demolitions left dozens of people homeless in Hares (near the northern town of Tulkarem); and the towns of Beit Sahour and al-Khader near Bethlehem. Several Palestinian-owned shops in Hares were also reduced to…
Gaza: necessity and defiance
Uruknet April 16, 2010 -… Although it is still somewhat early for harvesting, the family hopes to harvest their 5 dunams quickly, preferring the early harvest over the possibility that Israeli soldiers will demolish or lit afire their crops, as they have routinely done in the past. [One such incident occured in Johr Ad Dik last May, when Israeli soldiers shot…
Israeli fire kills 1 east of Gaza City
Uruknet April 16, 2010 – Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian operative in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said, following witness accounts of heavy fire. Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades said its operatives clashed with Israeli forces along the Gaza-Israel border on Friday. In a statement, the armed wing reported that at 6am, its forces acted…
Israel to turn Islamic burial site into hotel
Uruknet April 16, 2010 – The Aqsa Heritage and Endowment Foundation has confirmed that the Israeli “local committee for planning and construction” in the city of Jaffa has conclusively ratified a bid by the Zionist investment company “Nakish” to build a tourist hotel on the site of the Islamic burial grounds of al-Qishleh. The planned hotel building will extend three floors…
Palestinians face a the third wave of expulsions
Uruknet April 15, 2010 – When he began his first period in office in 1996, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received advice from a group of scholars and experts. Under the chairmanship of Richard Perle, one of the staunchest of US Zionist neo-conservatives, the group aimed to formulate an alternative strategy to Oslo-Taba, which was associated with the Israeli leaders Yitzhak…
Would You Buy Stolen Goods?
Uruknet April 15, 2010 – The British umbrella body of trade unions, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has launched a campaign calling for an import ban for goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The campaign was launched together with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, a campaign based in England which aims to raise public awareness about the occupation of…
Settler Harassment: VIDEO ROUND-UP
Uruknet April 15, 2010 – According to OCHA’s weekly “Protection of civilians” report, “since the beginning of 2010, 22 Palestinians have been injured as a result of settler violence in the West Bank”(1). But settler violence consists of much more than injuries. Here are few recent events that exemplify what the daily life of Palestinians living close to settlements in the…
‘From Washington to Jerusalem’: Creating space for peace in the Middle East
Palestine Note 16 Apr 2010 – By Thomas O’Brien – Reporter, Palestine Note If J-Street and the Muslim Public Affairs Council agree on anything, they agree on the need for a strong US role in resolving conflict between Israel and Palestinians. In…
Encountering peace: The disposal of myths
Palestine Note 16 Apr 2010 – JERUSALEM – Too much of what is commonly known about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is generated by the constant repetition of truisms that fit the justifications of one side’s explanations. Too few of us bother to weigh…
The Holocaust isn’t just about Jews
Palestine Note 16 Apr 2010 – Last week I flew to Eilat with two young officers of the IDF Spokesperson Unit. One of them inquired what book I was reading. It was Carole Angier’s magisterial biography of Primo Levi. “Who is that?”…
Independence day and al Nakba
Palestine Note 16 Apr 2010 – JERUSALEM – The inevitable clash between the historical narrative of the Jews and their attachment to the land and that of the Arabs citizens of Israel takes on many forms. The one aspect of this clash…
War games: An Israeli strike on Iran
Palestine Note 16 Apr 2010 – By Sarah Harlan Iran’s nuclear program has never created a pleasant atmosphere, but the climate has gotten much hotter. New brusque language from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (as well as new centrifuges for uranium enrichment ) coupled…
Syria says Scud accusation is ‘pretense for attack’
Palestine Note 16 Apr 2010 – The Syrian government says accusations against them could mean Israel is preparing for a strike on Syria, Haaretz reports. Israel’s president Shimon Peres accused Syria Tuesday of sending long-range Scud missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The…
Hamas executes two for ‘spying’
AlJazeera 16 Apr 2010 – The men, accused of collaborating with Israeli military, were killed by a firing squad.
Khatami ‘banned’ from leaving Iran
AlJazeera 16 Apr 2010 – Former president blocked from attending nuclear conference in Japan, aide says.
Palestinian killed in Gaza clash
AlJazeera 16 Apr 2010 – Man shot dead by Israeli soldiers near Gaza border.
New Israeli Military Order Renders Additional Palestinians as Hostages
Alternative Information Center – Thursday, 15 April 2010, Seventy thousand. This is the number of people targeted by the new Israeli military order in force since this week on Tuesday. The decision taken at the highest level of the Israeli…
Hamas executes two ‘Israel collaborators’ in Gaza
PNN – Thursday, 15 April 2010
Publish banned Gaza ‘war crimes’ report, says Arab Israeli MP
PNN – Thursday, 15 April 2010
‘Missiles not Israel’s business’
Jeruslalem Post 16 Apr 2010 – Hizbullah minister refuses to confirm or deny that group has Scuds.
‘Israel made world better’
Jeruslalem Post 16 Apr 2010 – Petraeus: Nation built by Shoa survivors “one of our greatest allies.”
Two IDF soldiers commit suicide in North
Jeruslalem Post 16 Apr 2010 – 21-year-old shoots self at base after learning of friend’s death.
Two IDF soldiers commit suicide
Jeruslalem Post 16 Apr 2010 – 21-year-old shoots himself in army base after learning of friend’s suicide.
Palestinian property vandalized in W. Bank
Jeruslalem Post 16 Apr 2010 – 2 cars torched, “Price-tag” sprayed on house in village near Kedumim.
IDF guns down Gaza terrorist
Jeruslalem Post 16 Apr 2010 – Palestinian was apparently trying to plant bomb next to border fence.
Daimler drops plans to sell Teheran missile-launch trucks
Jeruslalem Post 16 Apr 2010 – German auto giant also giving up stake in Iran engine firm.
Irish trade conference allegedly ‚Äòdemonizes’ Israel
Jeruslalem Post 16 Apr 2010 –
IDF launches internal ‚ÄòeBay’ Web site
Jeruslalem Post 16 Apr 2010 –
OCHA: 34 Palestinians Injured by Israeli Forces
WAFA 16 Apr 2010 – JERUSALEM, April 16, 2010 (WAFA)-In multiple incidents that occurred during the two‚Äêweek reporting period (March 31 – April 13), Israeli forces injured 31 Palestinians, including ten
Renovations at Jericho Hospital Begin
WAFA 16 Apr 2010 – JERICHO, April 16, 2010 (WAFA)- The Palestinian Ministry of Health and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have announced a $2.5 million project to rehabilitate the Jericho Government
West Bank Bedouin Facing Crisis
WAFA 16 Apr 2010 – HEBRON, April 16, 2010 (WAFA)- Twenty-two families live in the Bedouin community of Um Al Khayr on a hilltop southeast of Hebron. Mere metres away, on the other side of a high wire fence, live some
HRW Calls on Hamas to Halt Executions
WAFA 16 Apr 2010 – JERUSALEM, April 16, 2010 (WAFA)-The Hamas authorities in Gaza should immediately halt the use of the death penalty, Human Rights Watch said today. A firing squad executed Mohammed Ismail, 37, and
MIDEAST: Gaza Border Tension Sparks Security Concerns
IPS GAZA CITY, Apr 15 (IPS) – Tension on Israel’s border with Gaza has increased over the last two weeks. A number of rockets hit Israel while ensuing clashes between the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and armed Palestinians left a number of Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers dead.
Bil’in Commemorates the 1st Anniversary of the Murder of Basem Abu Rahmah
Stop The Wall – The Popular Committee of Bil’in organized a ceremony today to commemorate Prisoners Day as well as the death of Basem Abu Rahmah, who was murdered last year when he was shot with a tear gas canister in the chest during one of the weekly protests, and, as well, the 22nd anniversary of the killing of Abu Jihad by the Mossad. [
Ni’lin: every Day is Prisoners’ Day
Stop The Wall – More than one hundred fifty people joined the weekly march against the Apartheid Wall today, April 16, Prisoners’ Day. Protestors called for the release of all Palestinian prisoners and in particular the 14 anti-Wall activists from Ni’lin that currently languish in the jails of the Israeli prisons. [
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (08-14 April 2010)
PCHR 14 Apr 2010 – Palestinian civilians and international solidarity activists run away from tear gas smoke fired by Israeli troops during a peaceful demonstration organized in Bal’ein village, west of Ramallah, in protest to the construction of the Annexation Wall Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) ¬? 7 Palestinian civilians, including two….
Ahmadinejad: U.S. facing isolation from the world
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – CNN reports that Iranian president has written a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama.
Wiesel: For me, as a Jew, Jerusalem is above politics
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – In ad published in the Washington Post, Elie Wiesel writes that pressure will not lead to solution in J’lem.
British bishop convicted on Holocaust denial charge
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Richard Williamson alleged in interview that the Nazi gas chambers never existed.
Court upholds arrest of former Jerusalem mayor Lupolianski
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Police: Suspicions against Olmert in Holyland case well-foundedl ex-PM allegedly took NIS 3.5 million in bribes.
Can Obama stop the slaying of Isaac and Ishmael?
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – A U.S. peace initiative is needed to break the tradition of filial sacrifice associated with Jerusalem.
Flight disruptions from Iceland volcano likely to last another day
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Airlines across Asia – including in Israel – have canceled or delayed flights to most European destinations.
Clinton: U.S. won’t impose peace deal, but Israel must do more
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Improved security created false belief that settlement can be postponed, says U.S. Secretary of State.
A Facebook page for 6,000,000 lost Jewish friends
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Holocaust memorialization is moving onto social-networking sites like Facebook and presenting new opportunities for remembering the victims – and bringing a whole new set of complexities.
Two brothers drown, cousin missing, at reservoir in Yatir forest
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – The bodies of two young brothers from the Bedouin village of Hura were pulled from a water reservoir in the Yatir forest south of Mount Hebron Friday evening. …
Israeli actions are turning Jerusalem into a settlement
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Thanks to an attempted settler takeover of the Sheikh Jarrah quarter, that quiet neighborhood of East Jerusalem has turned into a kind of microcosm of the illnesses that are poisoning relations between Jews and Arabs. The worst of these is the refusal to recognize the finality of the situation that was created at the end of the War of Independence. It is possible to understand the settler right, whose existential aim is the continued conquest of the land. But how is it possible that state institutions will lend a hand to an act that destroys the very land under our feet? …
Olmert’s political career ended in a sad TV announcement
Ha’aretz 16 Apr 2010 – Ehud Olmert concluded his career as a public figure in a sad television announcement on Thursday, one he read with a fallen face. Even if his questioning in the Holyland affair leads to naught, and even if he is exonerated in the Rishontours, money envelopes and the Investments Center affairs, he will not be able to return to politics. It’s over. Henceforth, all he can do is defend what is left of his good name. …
Illegal outposts marked for destruction got millions in state funding
Ha’aretz 15 Apr 2010 – Residents of Hayovel, an illegal outpost whose homes are due to be razed, received NIS 77,000 per family from the state when they settled the site, according to documents Haaretz received. …
As Independence Day nears, Israel would be wise to heed Obama
Ha’aretz 15 Apr 2010 – I don’t know how to start summing up the 62nd year since the establishment of the State of Israel. That not one day went by in this country without some scandal among its leadership? That the country’s former president has been charged with rape? That the person who was prime minister is now suspected of receiving bribes? That Holyland “rhymes” with unholy corruption? Or perhaps with the unbearable lightness with which an anonymous thief can go into the chief of staff’s bureau and take his credit card and revolver? Or a junior clerk can steal 2,000 secret documents because of faulty security arrangements? And this is a country where the prime minister asks Elie Wiesel to intercede with a good word for it to U.S. President Barack Obama, like the Jews in the Diaspora would look for intercessors to put in a good word for them to the nobleman. …
OPT: The Humanitarian Monitor – March 2010
Relief Web 16 Apr 2010 – Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
OPT: UN human rights chief urges halt to Gaza executions
Relief Web 16 Apr 2010 – Source: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
DPKO-DFS release of first quarter 2010 statistics on allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse involving UN peacekeeping personnel
Relief Web 16 Apr 2010 – Source: UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations
Ahmadinejad: Obama needs Iran
YNet News 16 Apr 2010 – Iranian president writes letter to US counterpart saying he owes his success, power to Iran. ‘We don’t need you to do anything for us to come out of isolation, rather we want to help you come out of isolation,’ he says
Soldier injured in West Bank
YNet News 16 Apr 2010 – Hundreds attend weekly anti-fence protests in various villages, throw stones at security forces
Hezbollah: Scuds not Israel’s business
YNet News 16 Apr 2010 – Minister says group always arming itself, as it is only natural to want to defend Lebanon against Israel
Fayyad sets out to fulfill vision
YNet News 16 Apr 2010 – As Palestinian prime minister advances his plan for independent state next summer, even his greatest opponents find it difficult not to give him credit for recent calm and order in West Bank
Police: Lupolianski refusing to cooperate
YNet News 16 Apr 2010 – Petah Tikva District Court denies appeal against former Jerusalem mayor’s arrest in Holyland corruption affair
Arson, graffiti in West Bank village
YNet News 16 Apr 2010 – Residents blame settlers from Havat Gilad outpost for incident. Civil Administration officials erase graffiti. ‘We won’t be anyone’s victim,’ rightist says
Travel chaos as cloud of ash drifts over Europe
Daily Star 16 Apr 2010 LONDON: Volcanic ash sifted down on parts of northern Europe on Friday and thousands of planes stayed on the tarmac to avoid the hazardous cloud. Travel chaos engulfed major European cities and the UN warned of possible health risks from falling ash. The cloud caused disruption to a number of flights leaving from Lebanon. At least four Middle East
Netanyahu must show sincerity on peace – Clinton
Daily Star 16 Apr 2010 WASHINGTON: The United States called Thursday on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prove his commitment to a Palestinian state, warning that prolonged conflict only strengthened extremists. Amid US tensions with Netanyahu, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged “bold leadership” from all sides to resolve one of the world’s
Eight wounded as army clashes with Baalbek clan
Daily Star 16 Apr 2010 BEIRUT: Army clashes with a powerful clan in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek on Friday wounded eight people, including three soldiers, a security official said. There were conflicting reports over whether a person was killed in the violence. An army patrol was fired upon by members of the Jaafar clan during a raid in the city’s Sharawna neighborhood
France accuses Iran of shunning dialogue on nuclear program
Daily Star 16 Apr 2010 France again accused Iran on Tuesday of shunning dialogue on its nuclear program, raising the pressure on the Islamic Republic as key powers push for more sanctions.”It takes two to have a dialogue,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters. “Up to now, we have seen that rather than a dialogue, it has been more like a monologue or soliloquy
Palestinian Information Center
European MPs warn Israel of intercepting their convoy to Gaza
PIC 16 Apr 2010 – European lawmakers warned Israel of any foolish attempt to intercept the fleet of ships slated to sail for the besieged Gaza Strip in May carrying humanitarian aid.
Bahar: The execution of spies fully agrees with the Palestinian law
PIC 16 Apr 2010 – Dr. Ahmed Bahar said Friday that the execution of collaborators who were sentenced to death lately was fully consistent with the Palestinian law and constitution.
Israeli shelling kills Palestinian in Shujaiyah area
PIC 16 Apr 2010 – A Palestinian citizen was killed Friday morning during Israeli artillery and aerial attacks on the eastern part of Al-Shujaiyah neighborhood to the east of Gaza city.
IOA to open Jewish museum adjacent to Aqsa Mosque
PIC 16 Apr 2010 – A Palestinian source in occupied Jerusalem warned that the IOA intends to open the museum of the temple a few meters away from the western fa?ßade of the Aqsa Mosque.
Israel hails level of security cooperation with Abbas’s militias
PIC 16 Apr 2010 – The Israeli military command of the central region expressed its satisfaction of the level of security cooperation between its troops and Mahmoud Abbas’s militias.
New rules on terror custody being drafted
LA Times 15 Apr 2010 – The Obama administration guidelines aim to help decide whether captured suspects are tried or face indefinite detention, U.S. officials say. The Obama administration is for the first time drafting classified guidelines to help the government determine whether newly captured terrorism suspects will be prosecuted or held indefinitely without trial, senior U.S. officials said.
Scion of Israel political dynasty begs to differ
LA Times 17 Apr 2010 – Avinadav Begin, grandson of a prime minister and son of a Cabinet member, has written a book on conflict resolution departing from their views. He looks to ‘something deeper than national identity.’ Avinadav Begin, 36, comes from one of Israel’s most famous political families. His grandfather Menachem Begin, as prime minister, signed the historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt; his father, Benny Begin, a minister without portfolio in the current government, opposes a Palestinian state.
3 nations skeptical on Iran sanctions
LA Times 16 Apr 2010 – Brazil’s foreign minister said there was an “affinity” between his nation’s opposition to new sanctions on Iran and the positions of China and India, as leaders met during a summit Thursday.
Scuds for Hezbollah?
LA Times 16 Apr 2010 – Israel says Damascus has provided missiles to Hezbollah, raising fears of war. That is exactly why Washington should send an envoy to Syria. Israeli officials this week accused Syria of providing the armed Islamic group Hezbollah with medium-range Scud missiles, which would make the Lebanese militants the first irregular army to possess such weapons, and would enable them to target virtually all of Israel. U.S. officials have not confirmed that the weapons were actually delivered, and Syria adamantly denies the charge. Israel and Syria each are warning that the other is preparing for war, raising concerns about a new military conflict in the region and prompting Republican calls for President Obama to delay sending a U.S. ambassador to Damascus for the first time in five years. That would be a mistake. The United States does not send ambassadors as a reward to countries for their behavior, but to provide tools for defusing crises precisely like this one.
When Armageddon lives next door
LA Times 16 Apr 2010 – Obama is denying Israel the right to self-defense when it is not his, or America’s, life that is on the line. I take it personally: Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wants to murder me, my family and my people. Day in, day out, he announces the imminent demise of the “Zionist regime,” by which he means Israel. And day in, day out, his scientists and technicians are advancing toward the atomic weaponry that will enable him to bring this about.
Checkpoints
Palestine Monitor – “The right to freedom of movement provides that people are entitled to move freely within the borders of the state, to leave any country and to return to their country.” Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 12 of the International Covenant…
New Israeli Military Order Renders Additional Palestinians as Hostages
Alternative Information Center – Thursday, 15 April 2010, Seventy thousand. This is the number of people targeted by the new Israeli military order in force since this week on Tuesday. The decision taken at the highest level of the Israeli army establishes that tens of thousands of Palestinians and internationals…
The scene from Berkeley
Mondoweiss – Related posts: scene from an intermarriage UC Berkeley divestment vote‚Äìit isn’t over yet Showdown for Human Rights in Berkeley
On behalf of ‚Äòthe Jewish people,’ Chairman Ackerman is ‚Äòappalled and utterly disgusted’ by Goldstone bar mitzvah bar
Mondoweiss – One reason the South African Jewish religious authority, the board of deputies, has tried to back away from the Goldstone bar mitzvah disinvitation is surely the condemnation below from NY congressman Gary Ackerman (after the jump). Note that Ackerman identifies himself as the Chairman of the…
Wiesel to Obama: Laissez les bons temps rouler a Jerusalem
Mondoweiss – A week or so back Netanyahu asked Elie Wiesel to intercede with Obama. Wiesel said he would, when the two have lunch presently. Well, Obama’s good friend has come to Washington: here is a grotesque ad signed by Elie Wiesel in today’s Washington Post , saying that…
Former FL senator Graham regurgitates the talking points, in Beirut
Mondoweiss – I had the privilege of attending a talk by former Florida Senator Bob Graham at the American University of Beirut yesterday. The talk was entitled “From 9/11 to Obama, US Relations with the Muslim World.” When I arrived, Senator and Mrs. Graham were greeting attendees at…
Rabkin: We cannot have a rational approach to the peace process till we decouple the fate of Israel from the Jewish future
Mondoweiss – Yakov Rabkin, a professor of history at the University of Montreal, lately presented a paper on the challenges to Israel’s legitimacy at the National Press Club in Tokyo. Rabkin is the author of A Threat from Within : A History of the Jewish Opposition to Zionism. Rabkin (…
Articles
Begin was right, deportation is a Nazi policy
Daoud Kuttab, Ma’an News Agency4/16/2010
There is a reason for the fact, that in modern times laws are written by representatives of the people to whom they are applied: Governments and parliaments come and go, but laws often outlive them.
Except in dictatorships, laws are not written by the executives who enforce them or the judges who interpret them. Even some totalitarian rulers create a symbolic legislature, made up of people’s representatives to write new laws into existance. Laws were not mean to be written by foreign rulers, and certainly not by foreign military rulers. Well, everywhere except in the occupied Palestinian territories.
When the Israeli army occupied Palestinian lands in 1967, the Israeli military commander issued an order giving himself the sole right to legislate for the people under his army’s control. Military order number one combined executive, legislative and judicial powers regarding Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Since then, thousands of laws have been issued by successive military commanders who single-handedly amend existing laws or issue totally ones without discussion, debate or even a public announcement.
The orders are issued in Hebrew and the Palestinian public is by and large unaware of their existence.
As a responce, the Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq began, in the 1980s, the hard work or translating and publishing these laws. One of the co-founders of the human rights organization, Raja Shehadeh, wrote an entire book on the process of Israeli control of the West Bank. The mechanisms of occupation, he wrote, turn around the concept of the “rule of law” to “rule by law.”
This long introduction is meant to highlight the Kafkaesque legal structure that Palestinians under occupation are subject to. They have an elected Palestinian parliament whose laws are argued by civilians coming from the communities where the laws are to be implemented….more..e-mail
Analysis: ‘Ethnic Cleansing By Any Other Name’
Yousef Munayyer, Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development4/15/2010
Background
The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since 1967. Israel maintains authoritative jurisdiction over the happenings in the West Bank via its military apparatus. Decisions governing the simplest aspects of Palestinian life, from traveling from one area to another to building a home, ultimately lie under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Military’s High Command in the West Bank. In October of 2009, amendments were made to military orders governing the legitimate presence of persons in Occupied Palestinian Territory. The changes, effective six months after the signing of the orders, are beginning to take effect. It is important to note that Palestinians are not in control of the Palestinian population registry. Israel maintains strict control over this database and continues to do so. It is because of this that Israeli authorities can determine the residencies of Palestinians and only through the Israelis can the Palestinian Authority issue identification documents.
Changes in Israeli Military Orders
The main changes come as amendments to the Israeli Military Order No. 329 titled “Order Regarding Prevention of Infiltration” which was signed into effect two years after the occupation began in 1969. This order defines so-called “infiltrators” as persons who “enter the Area knowingly and unlawfully having been present in the east bank of the Jordan, Syria, Egypt or Lebanon.” In 1969, prior to peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, infiltrators as defined by this order were persons entering the West Bank from enemy states. The amendment to this order, order number 1650, signed in late 2009 changes this definition to “a person who entered the Area unlawfully following the effective date, or a person who is present in the Area and does not lawfully hold a permit.” [emphasis added]
The original order also defines a “resident of the Area” as a “person whose permanent residence is in the Area.” The new order eliminates this definition, apparently leaving determination of residency in the hands of military commanders.more..e-mail
Israel Targets Ha’aretz
Jonathan Cook, Nazareth, CounterPunch4/15/2010
“A Shin Bet State”
An Arab member of the Israeli parliament is demanding that a newspaper be allowed to publish an investigative report that was suppressed days before Israel attacked Gaza in winter 2008.
The investigation by Uri Blau, who has been in hiding since December to avoid arrest, concerned Israeli preparations for the impending assault on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead.
In a highly unusual move, according to reports in the Israeli media, the army ordered the Haaretz newspaper to destroy all copies of an edition that included Blau’s investigation after it had already gone to press and been passed by the military censor. The article was never republished.
Blau has gone underground in London after the Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, demanded he return to Israel to hand back hundreds of classified documents they claim are in his possession and to reveal his sources. He published several additional reports for Haaretz in 2008 and 2009 that severely embarrassed senior military commanders by showing they had issued orders that intentionally violated court rulings, including to execute Palestinians who could be safely apprehended.
Haneen Zoubi, an MP who previously headed an Israeli media-monitoring organization, said it was “outrageous” that the suppressed report was still secret so long after the Gaza attack. She is to table a parliamentary question to Ehud Barak, the defense minister, today demanding to know why the army suppressed the article and what is preventing its publication now. Barak must respond within 21 days.
She said publication of the article was important both because Israel had been widely criticized for killing many hundreds of civilians in its three-week assault on Gaza, and because subsequent reports suggested that Israeli commanders sought legal advice months before the operation to manipulate the accepted definitions of international law to make it easier to target civilians.more..e-mail
“In the eyes of the state, we don’t exist here”
Electronic Intifada: 16 Apr 2010 – In addition to destroying homes in three areas of the West Bank this week, Israeli forces this week invaded villages inside Israel and bulldozed and handed out further demolition orders. Nora Barrows-Friedman reports for The Electronic Intifada.
Did banned media report foretell of Gaza war crimes?
Electronic Intifada: 15 Apr 2010 – An Arab member of the Israeli parliament is demanding that a newspaper be allowed to publish an investigative report that was suppressed days before Israel attacked Gaza in winter 2008. The investigation by Uri Blau, who has been in hiding since December to avoid arrest, concerned Israeli preparations for the impending assault on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead. Jonathan Cook reports.
necessity and defiance
In Gaza: 16 Apr 2010 – Mohammed Abu Jerrad, 12, works with his older brother and 4 others to gather their wheat. Although it is still somewhat early for harvesting, the family hopes to harvest their 5 dunams quickly, preferring the early harvest over the possibility that Israeli soldiers will demolish or lit afire their crops, as they have routinely done in the past. [One such incident occured in Johr Ad Dik last May , when Israeli soldiers shot incendiary devices into ripe wheat and barley fields, setting nearly 3 km, 200 dunams, of crops and fruit trees afire.] Abu Jerrad’s 5 dunams lie roughly just over 300 metres from the border, along which Israeli military tower and remote controlled machine gun towers loom. From these towers, Israeli soldiers regularly shoot on farmers , workers gathering rubble and scrap metal for construction uses, and civilians on the land. This plot of wheat is on rented land. “We grow…
Is US Embassy in Lebanon Squandering Its Diplomatic Immunity?
Palestine Chronicle: 16 Apr 2010 – By Franklin Lamb – Beirut Tensions are rising in Lebanon between elected representatives in Parliament, ‘Unity’ Cabinet members and the American Embassy, as the 27th anniversary of the attack 1983 attack on the US Embassy approaches and the Embassy issues another warning for Americans to leave Lebanon. On March 29, 2010 the US Embassy instructed Americans not to travel to Lebanon citing ‘safety and security concerns.” Simultaneously it warned those who are in Lebanon to seriously consider leaving. Advising that, Lebanon, placed on a US list of 14 countries “linked to Terrorism” following the Christmas Day attempted aircraft bombing near Detroit, has “the potential for a spontaneous upsurge in violence , US citizens living and working in Lebanon should understand that they accept risks in remaining and should carefully consider those risks, as Embassy personnel may not be able to aid them in case of conflict.” The “Warder Warning” to American…more
Accelerating Fascism in Israel
Palestine Chronicle: 16 Apr 2010 – By Stephen Lendman Occupied Palestinians and Israeli Arabs never had rights in a state affording them solely to Jews. Now even they’re at risk as democratic freedoms fast erode on their way to extinction; to wit, free expression, a right without which all others are endangered. It includes free speech, a free press, freedom of thought, culture, intellectual inquiry, and the right to challenge government authority peacefully, especially in times of war and cases of injustice, lawlessness, incompetence, and abuses of power. Israel has no constitution or specific laws guaranteeing equality or free expression. Yet its Basic Laws protect human dignity and liberty as fundamental democratic values, more rhetoric than fact given its persecution of journalist Anat Kam and Haaretz’s national security reporter Uri Blau. Kam (held under house arrest since December) will be tried in mid-April for passing confidential documents she removed while stationed in IDF General Yair Naveh’s…more
Did Banned Media Report Foretell of Gaza War Crimes?
Palestine Chronicle: 15 Apr 2010 – By Jonathan Cook – Nazareth An Arab member of the Israeli parliament is demanding that a newspaper be allowed to publish an investigative report that was suppressed days before Israel attacked Gaza in winter 2008. The investigation by Uri Blau, who has been in hiding since December to avoid arrest, concerned Israeli preparations for the impending assault on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead. In a highly unusual move, according to reports in the Israeli media, the army ordered the Haaretz newspaper to destroy all copies of an edition that included Mr Blau’s investigation after it had already gone to press and been passed by the military censor. The article was never republished. Mr Blau has gone underground in London after the Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, demanded he return to Israel to hand back hundreds of classified documents they claim are in his possession and to reveal his sources….more
The New Dark Age 
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