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International Middle East Media Center
UN Report: Severe water crisis in West Bank
IMEMC – 17 Jul 2010 – According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli control of water supplies in the West Bank has led to a severe water crisis for Palestinian residents. The situation is worst in the Israeli-controlled stretch of land known as Area C, where the Palestinian Authority (PA) is technically responsible for water services, but simply unable to deliver.
Israeli forces invade Nablus and nearby villages
IMEMC – 17 Jul 2010 – In the pre-dawn hours on Saturday, Israeli forces invaded the northern West Bank city of Nablus, as well as the nearby villages of Zawata and Asira, raiding several homes and interrogating residents, then returning to the military base with no arrests.
U.S. To Grant Israel 2.775 Billion In Security Aid
IMEMC – 16 Jul 2010 – U.S.. Assistant Secretary of State, Andrew Shapiro, stated Friday that the US government intends to grant Israel the amount of 2.775 Billion U.S. Dollars in what was described as the largest single military-security aid grant to Israel.
AP, DPA, Reuters journalists targeted by Israeli forces
7/17/2010 – Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli forces fired percussion grenades directly at two journalists on Saturday, hitting them in the face and back during a Beit Ummar protest against continued land confiscations by a nearby Israeli settlement. A third photojournalist was physically assaulted by armed Israeli personnel, and was taken to hospital for treatment by Red Crescent Paramedics….
Israeli military ’significantly expanded’ under Obama
7/17/2010 – US Official: “Dynamics of…demography” threaten Israel – Ma’an – Israeli-US security relations are “broader, deeper and more intense than ever before,” a high-level US official said Friday.Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro told a Washington audience Friday that “preserving Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge” is his top priority. Reiterating the “unwavering dedication” of US President Barack Obama….” Related: Full Text: US Approach to Preserving Israel’s Military Edge
Al-Khudari to Ashton: Siege has not been eased
7/17/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian lawmaker Jamal Al-Khudari sent a letter to EU chief Catherine Ashton stating that Israel has not attempted to end its four-year blockade of Gaza, he told journalists Saturday. The letter was sent ahead of Ashton’s scheduled visit to the Strip on Sunday. Speaking to journalists in Gaza, the head of the local….
Witnesses: Hebron settlers assault local near mosque
7/17/2010 – Hebron – Ma’an – Unguarded Israeli settlers in Hebron’s occupied city center reportedly assaulted local resident Muhammad Al-Muhtasib near the Ibrahimi Mosque, eyewitnesses said. Separate accounts confirmed that a group of settlers approached Al-Muhtasib as he left his apartment. They said the assault was launched in plain view of soldiers patrolling the streets….
Libyan aid ship unloads in Egypt
7/17/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Egypt’s Red Crescent Society continued unloading supplies from a Libyan-sponsored aid ship originally destined for Gaza, Egyptian media reported Saturday. The society began the process of unloading the estimated 2,000 tons of aid aboard The Hope on Thursday, preparing it for transport to Gaza by land, the online news site Egypt News….
Despite military closure, protests continue in north
7/17/2010 – Nablus – Ma’an – Israeli soldiers fired dozens of tear gas canisters at anti-settlement protesters in a Nablus-area village Saturday, local officials said. As Israeli forces attempted to disperse peaceful rally in Iraq Burin in the the northern West Bank, Palestinian and international peace activists were reported to have suffered tear gas inhalation. Ghasan Daghlas, the PA….
PA: Lieberman ’conspiracy’ categorically rejected
7/17/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – President Mahmoud Abbas’ office denounced Saturday a plan that would see Gaza become an “independent entity,” put forward by Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said the Palestinian Authority rejected the proposal, which would see Gaza unilaterally declared a quasi-state with Israel absolving itself of any legal responsibility under….
Hizb Ut-Tahrir: PA arrests thousands
7/17/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – Officials from the Islamist movement Hizb Ut-Tahrir said Palestinian security services set up checkpoints on Friday to harass party supporters en route to an annual conference in Ramallah, which itself was quashed.”Security forces in Ramallah began installing security checkpoints early this morning on all of the entrances to Ramallah,” a statement from….
60 lawyers meet over flotilla lawsuits in Istanbul
7/17/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an – Sixty lawyers from 25 countries gathered in Istanbul to discuss their legal defense of activists on board the Freedom Flotilla, which was raided by Israeli forces in international waters, one of the fleet’s Turkish organizers said Friday. The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, known as IHH, said lawyers agreed….
Prisoner’s son says family life savings stolen in Gaza
7/17/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Unknown assailants stole $150,000 from the home of prisoner’s relative in the Ash-Shati refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, relatives and society officials said. A third of the money was the life savings of long-serving prisoner Muhammad Al-Abid Al-Husni, his son Wissam told the Al-Asra Center. The money was stolen….
Israeli court issues child with restraining order
7/17/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – A Jerusalem boy from the Baten Al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan was issued a restraining order by an Israeli district court on Friday, ordering the 12-year-old to stay away from a neighboring area. Identified by the Wad Hilwa Information Center as Ahmad Gheith, the boy’s family had to pay 4,000 shekels ($1,035) in….
Hebronites rally for opening of Shuhada Street
7/17/2010 – Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli forces used fists and riffle butts to push back demonstrators army attacked protesters in the West Bank city of Hebron with rifle butts and clashed with hands on Saturday. Demonstrators gathered in the old municipal building yard, now blocked off from the old town center, and marched toward Shuhada Street, closed off….
PA forces destroy grenade in Tulkarem
7/17/2010 – Tulkarem – Ma’an – Palestinian security forces destroyed what a police report said was a grenade in Deir Al-Ghusun near the West Bank city of Tulkarem. A police record of the event explained that the grenade, detonated without injury, had been left behind by the Israeli army. Police appealed to families in the area to watch their….
Internal Israeli probe into flotilla violence expands
7/17/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Two new members were appointed to Israel’s internal investigation of a deadly raid by Israeli forces on a Gaza-bound aid boat, Israeli media reported on Friday. The committee, headed by former Israeli Court Justice Ya’akov Tirkel and initially only three members plus two observers, has steadily been handed an expanded mandate, stemming….
Egypt releases 2 Islamic Jihad supporters
7/17/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Egypt released two Islamic Jihad supporters from Gaza on Friday night, Palestinian officials told Ma’an. Representatives from Gaza’s border and crossings department said Ahmad Hajjaj and Talal Abdul Al were released from Egyptian custody after serving two months in prison. Islamic Jihad announced last week that two other supporters were released out of….
Nasrallah calls for execution of spies for Israel
7/17/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an/Agencies – Lebanese security forces detained a third national suspected of spying for Israel via Lebanon’s telecom sector, Agence France-Presse reported Saturday. In response, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said Israel had complete control over Lebanon’s telecom sector, calling for convicted spies to be hanged amid a widening probe into acts of espionage….
Report: 3 Hizbullah officials suspected collaborating with Israel
7/17/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces have informed Hizbullah of the names of three senior party members suspected of collaborating with Israel, Lebanese media reported. According to the Lebanese daily An-Nahar, quoting an anonymous source, Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa was told of the three suspects’ involvement.” [Hizbullah] is well aware of this matter,” the….
Report: Clinton, Carter may join Shalit talks
7/17/2010 – Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Cairo, Washington and Gaza City began talks aimed at bringing former US presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter to the Gaza Strip, Egyptian the daily newspaper Al-Mesryoon reported on Saturday. Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth accused the paper, affiliated with the Islamic opposition in Egypt, of failing to confirm the report with any….
Mitchell says Abbas meeting ’fruitful’
7/17/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell said his meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Saturday was “constructive and fruitful,” and said he was “looking forward to continuing discussions.” Coming in between talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday and a scheduled meeting with Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak on Sunday – and….
Hamas, Fatah meet in Lebanon
7/17/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Hamas and Fatah representatives held a meeting on Wednesday night in Beirut to discuss reconciliation, with news outlets reporting the meeting lasted long into the night. The meeting was meant to push forward a unity deal, stalled since Hamas refused to sign a unity document brokered by Egypt, which the Islamist party seeks….
Gaza detectives uncover forgery network
7/17/2010 – Gaza – Ma’an – Gaza police uncovered an extensive money forging network in the southern end of the coastal enclave, faking US and Israeli currency, detectives said Saturday. Khan Younis Chief of Detectives Abu Taher Al-Qidra said police were notified that a teenager had paid for groceries with a counterfeit 100-shekel-note. Police summoned the teenager, who….
Hamas: 5 supporters fired from PA, 4 detained
7/17/2010 – Jerusalem – Ma’an – Hamas said five supporters were dismissed from their employment within the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank “over political affiliation,” a statement read Saturday. The Islamist party accused the PA of firing four female teachers in public schools and one executive working an association in Yatta, a town in the southern West Bank….
Lawmakers protest elections deferral
7/17/2010 – Ramallah – Ma’an – Palestinian lawmakers and party officials gathered outside the Palestinian Legislative Council headquarters in Ramallahto protest the Palestinian Authority’s deferral of local elections originally scheduled for Saturday. PLC member Qais Abed Al-Karim, who heads the legislative body’s social affairs committee, said the PA’s decision was “illegitimate and contradicts Palestinian Basic Laws and the urgent….
In photos: Annual pilgrimage draw
7/17/2010 – MaanImages / Luay Sababa and Mouid Ashqar – Palestinian Muslims attend the yearly pilgrimage draw in the West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Tulkarem on 14 July 2010. Saudi Arabia has quotas for each country on the number of nationals allowed to travel for the Hajj pilgrimage, which follows the fasting month of Ramadan. Across the world….
Watheeqa: A true-life tale of horror
Palestine Note 17 Jul 2010 – What is that dreadful looking thing in the below picture, you ask? Why it’s a Watheeqa. In English, a travel document that has suffered a neurodevelopment disorder and could not fully mature to become a passport….
Candid Bibi: Says way to handle Palestinians is “beat them up, not once but repeatedly”
Palestine Note 17 Jul 2010 – What a shocker! In 2001, Israel’s slick prime minister told precisely how he intended to destroy any chances for a Palestinian state. One thing you have to say for this guy. He’s a man with a…
Netanyahu exposed and more
Palestine Note 17 Jul 2010 – Young people do what is called ‘party hopping’: going from one party to another in the same night when the parties are held in parallel time. You get to meet more people but you have the…
Netanyahu: US won’t get in our way
Palestine Note 17 Jul 2010 – Israeli PM brags in video he derailed Oslo talks New York – Israel’s Channel 10 obtained a videotape this week that shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in 2001, boasting that he derailed the Oslo
…
US: We’ll maintain Israel’s military edge
Palestine Note 17 Jul 2010 – By Sarah Harlan Washington – The Obama administration plans to continue giving Israel a military advantage over its neighbors, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew J. Shapiro said on Friday, US President Barack Obama…
Report: Hamas, Fatah meet in Beirut
Palestine Note 17 Jul 2010 – Washington – Hamas and Fatah officials met Wednesday night in Beirut to discuss reconciliation, Ma’an News Agency reported Saturday. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh serves as de facto prime minister of the Gaza Strip According to other…
Egypt to demand confidence measures from Israel
Palestine Note 17 Jul 2010 – Washington – Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Sunday, and Mubarak is expected to demand several confidence-building steps from Israel as a condition for encouraging Palestinian leadership to reenter…
Jordanian report: Abbas announces conditions for direct talks
Palestine Note 17 Jul 2010 – Washington – In the Saturday edition of Jordan’s Al-Ghad newspaper, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he’ll reenter direct negotiations with Israel if Israel accepts “its 1967 frontier as a baseline for the borders of a Palestinian…
Red Crescent unloads Libyan aid in Egypt
Palestine Note 17 Jul 2010 – Washington – The Egyptian Red Crescent has been unloading and processing the cargo of a Libyan aid ship originally bound for Gaza, Ma’an News Agency reported Saturday. The Moldovan-flagged Amalthea arrived at El-Arish Thursday. [Marinetraffic.com] The…
Erekat: Demolitions threaten peace process
Palestine Note 16 Jul 2010 – Washington – Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has warned US Middle East envoy George Mitchell that unless Washington can keep Israel from demolishing Palestinian homes and putting up settlements, reviving the peace process will be difficult,…
Fatah, Hamas reject Israeli FM’s Gaza plan
Palestine Note 16 Jul 2010 – Washington – West Bank-leading Fatah and Gazed-based Hamas have rejected Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman’s plan to disengage from and seal Gaza from Israel, Ma’an News Agency reported Friday. Lieberman’s plan to disengage from Gaza and sealing…
Israeli cabinet to consider ‘loyalty bill’
Palestine Note 16 Jul 2010 – Tibi: law targets Palestinians Washington – The Israeli cabinet is expected to approve “a series of measures” in its Sunday meeting that will make acquiring Israeli citizenship by Palestinians more difficult, Haaretz reported Friday. The “most…
Iran blames West over mosque attack
AlJazeera 17 Jul 2010 – Scores arrested as officials blame the West and Israel for Thursday’s blasts at mosque.
Libyan Aid Ship Unloaded At Egyptian Port
PNN – Bethlehem — PNN — The Libyan aid ship Amalthea bound for Gaza was diverted to Egypt and unloaded at the Egyptian port of El-Arish on Wednesday. The ship, sponsored by the Libyan…
EU Urges Israel To End Gaza Blockade
PNN – Bethlehem — PNN — Yesterday Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, signalized that the EU is urging Israel to open all border crossings with Gaza. Ahead…
Flotilla Organizer Announces Continuing Aid For Gaza
PNN – Bethlehem — PNN — The Turkish NGO IHH, organizer of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in May, announced that the efforts to sent supplies to Gaza would continue Bulent Yildirim, the leader…
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (07-14 July 2010)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Knesset to examine IDF’s Gamla fire probe
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – IDF believed to have inadvertently started wildfires.
Israel Beiteinu vow to quash budget vote
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – Cuts in budgets prompted ministers to boycott cabinet vote.
Israel Beiteinu vows to quash budget vote
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – Cuts in ministries’ budgets prompted ministers to boycott cabinet vote
PM, Abbas to meet Mubarak in Egypt
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – Fatah, PLO urge PA president to resist US pressure on direct negotiations.
Schalit dismisses Clinton, Carter
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – Noam Schalit will not “hang his hopes” on foreign negotiators.
Noam Schalit dismisses Clinton, Carter
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – Gilad Schalit’s father calls on Netanyahu to act.
Photographers wounded by IDF
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – Journalists were among Palestinians in a W. Bank riot.
Abbas outlines terms for direct talks
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – PA head: Israel must agree to 3rd party guarding our borders.
‘Clinton, Carter to broker Schalit deal’
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – Unconfirmed Arab report says US
negotiating the pair’s arrival in Gaza.
Assad: Turkey is best mediator
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – Syrian president says Ankara is greatest hope for peace.
‘Assad’s decade marked by repression’
Jeruslalem Post 17 Jul 2010 – Human Rights Watch says Syrians have “No freedom, no rights.”
International Solidarity Movement
CPT: Israeli Border Police Demolish Cistern in Al Beqa’a Valley
7/16/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Christian Peacemaker Team — Hebron – Israeli border police demolished a rainwater cistern and removed irrigation pipes from several Palestinian fields in Al Beqa’a Valley just east of Hebron on July 14, 2010, the second day of incidents in the area this month. When international peace activists from Christian Peacemaker Teams arrived in the area at….
Turkish hackers steal personal details of tens of thousands of Israeli web surfers
Ha’aretz – In the wake the Gaza flotilla raid, hackers in Turkey have uncovered the e-mail addresses, passwords and personal details of tens of thousands of Israeli web users, an Israeli blogger…
Peres is a liar, he made me cry, says Turkey PM’s wife
Ha’aretz – Emine Erdogan tells PA paper that she is not usually prone to responding on political matters, but ‘Peres pushed me to my limits, as he constantly lies.’
Report: Two photojournalists injured by IDF at West Bank protest
Ha’aretz – The Foreign Press Association in Israel condemns recent harassment and arrests of journalists in the West Bank by the IDF.
Noam Shalit: I know nothing of reported Clinton, Carter mediation initiative
Ha’aretz – Egyptian newspaper reports the U.S., Egypt and Hamas have held talks to arrange a visit to Gaza by former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter., Fatah official says U.S….
Gaza flotilla organizer: We’ll send convoys to Gaza on land
Ha’aretz – Head of IHH, Turkish activist group behind recent aid flotilla that tried to reach Gaza, promises ‘surprises’ to be revealed soon.
Ashton: Gaza borders must open to revive local economy
Ha’aretz – EU’s FM meets with Palestinian Prime Minister in West Bank, says goods must flow in both directions through Gaza crossings.
U.S. official: More U.S. aid will help Israel make ‘tough’ decisions
Ha’aretz – U.S. is confident that Iron Dome will provide improved defense for the people of Israel, says assistant secretary of state.
Lieberman names envoy to Colombia as temporary new UN ambassador
Ha’aretz – Meron Reuven will replace Israel’s current Ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, in September.
Large South African convoy to move to Gaza soon
17 Jul 2010 – Gaza, July 17, (Pal Telegraph) The Secretary-General of a Relief Foundation of South Africa, Dr. Walid Al-Saadi, revealed the current processing of the biggest convoy of relief emanating from South Africa to the Gaza Strip after the next month of Ramadan, in order to help the besieged Palestinian people in Gaza and break the siege imposed since more than four…
Sources deny rumors of Carter’s near visit to Gaza
17 Jul 2010 – Gaza, July 17, (Pal Telegraph) The governmental Committee to break the siege on the Gaza Strip, denied the intention of former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton to visit Gaza. The Committee’s Chairman Ahmed Yousef, said that former President Carter visited the Gaza Strip earlier, and visited only after contacting us and told us about the files to be…
OCHA’s weekly report on civilians’ protection
17 Jul 2010 – Gaza, July 17, (Pal Telegraph) One woman killed in Gaza and 15 other Palestinians injured throughout the Palestinian Occupied Territories. In the West Bank, Israeli settler violence continues. Resumption of demolition of houses in East Jerusalem; new stop work orders. Movement and access update. In Gaza, incidents along the border continue. PA liaison office at Erez crossing vandalized. Crossings: volume…
Ashton visits Gaza on Sunday
17 Jul 2010 – Gaza, July 17, (Pal Telegraph) The European Union announced that the senior representative of the European Foreign Policy, Catherine Ashton, will reach the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The federation said in a statement issued on Friday, that Ashton will meet with officials from “Israel” and the Palestinian Authority as well as U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell,…
2 British female vices to arrive Gaza on Sunday
17 Jul 2010 – Gaza, July 17, (Pal Telegraph) It is expected that tow females Vices on the behalf of the British Labor Party to arrive to the Gaza Strip on Sunday, to see how are the people benefiting from Australia’s support to Gaza’s refugee camps. The ABC Network quoted the two female vices Linda Fultz and Sylvia Hill saying: “If we want to…
Israel erects 2 military checkpoints in Hebron
17 Jul 2010 – Hebron, July 17, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) erected today two military checkpoints in Dora in south of Hebron city, in the West Bank. Israeli soldiers erected two military checkpoints, adding that they were erected at Al-Kharsa and Al-Fwar crossroads in south of He
bron, security sources said. The sources added that IOF soldiers stopped the citizens and…
IOF raids Nablus, no detentions reported
17 Jul 2010 – Nablus, July 17, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) — Israeli occupation forces raided Saturday number of areas in the city of Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank, no detentions were reported. Witnesses said that the Israeli occupation forces raided Ain Al-Maa refugee camp, Younis street and Al-Majen. The occupation forces raided Zawata village and Asira near Nablus,…
Al-Khudari to Ashton: Siege has not been eased
Uruknet July 17, 2010 – Palestinian lawmaker Jamal Al-Khudari sent a letter to EU chief Catherine Ashton stating that Israel has not attempted to end its four-year blockade of Gaza, he told journalists Saturday. The letter was sent ahead of Ashton’s scheduled visit to the Strip on Sunday. Speaking to journalists in Gaza, the head of the local popular committee…
U.S. To Grant Israel 2.775 Billion In Security Aid
Uruknet July 17, 2010 – U.S.. Assistant Secretary of State, Andrew Shapiro, stated Friday that the Washington intend to grant Israel the amount of 2.775 Billion U.S.. Dollars in what was described as the largest military-security aid to Israel. He said that the money is considered a special military-security aid to Israel in order to ensure “its security needs are…
Netanyahu In 2001: ‘America Is A Thing You Can Move Very Easily’
Uruknet July 17, 2010 – A newly released video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could add some additional strain to the sometimes tense relationship between him and President Obama. In the video, which is from 2001, Netanyahu — who reportedly did not know his speech was being recorded — speaks frankly in Hebrew about relations with the Clinton White…
Judge: 5 year Delay = “Speedy Trial” (for a Guantanamo Prisoner)
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – Most people have some vague notion that the Constitution guarantees a speedy trial. But when it comes to the U.S. war of terror the Constitution has been repeatedly lost in our so-called system of justice. It was lost again on July 13th, when a federal judge rejected the claim that a five year delay in…
Israel Tortures Detained Children
Uruknet July 17, 2010 – “We will attach the electricity wires to your testicles and prevent you from marriage and having kids forever, if you don’t tell us exactly what you know.” This is a fraction of what the Israeli interrogator said to the child “A.M.M” of the city of Hebron when he was arrested two weeks ago, who threatened…
Clues Suggest Amiri Defection Was an Iranian Plant
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – U.S. officials are explaining Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri’s return to Iran as the result of a defector having a change of heart because of his concern about Iranian government threats to his family. Iran and Amiri himself have insisted that it is a simple case of a victim of abduction escaping his captors. But several…
Israel to UN: Human Rights Obligations Don’t Apply in Occupied Territories
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – Addressing the United Nations today regarding its many, many violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Israeli government declared that it believes the treaty, which it ratified in 1991, does not apply in the occupied territories. The delegation to Geneva argued that the Israeli government believes the ICCPR “does not…
State Dept Official: More Military Aid to Israel Needed to ‚ÄòEncourage Peace Talks’
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – Weeks after reports that the US was growing increasingly frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s unwillingness to take the indirect peace talks seriously and reluctance to even address core issues, Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro announced a plan to “encourage” Israel to move forward with the process. The answer is, as it ever…
Wakeup Call: The Outrageous and Ominous Sentencing of Lynne Stewart
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – On July 15, radical lawyer Lynne Stewart was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In February 2005, Lynne had been convicted on 7 counts of “conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists, and defrauding the U.S. government”. The government had alleged that Lynne had facilitated communication between a man she was defending in court, fundamentalist Islamic…
Mother of five killed by Israeli artillery fire close to Gaza buffer zone
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – A mother of five was killed by Israeli artillery fire when she went to fetch her two-year-old son from outside her village home close to the “buffer zone” created by Israel along its border with Gaza. Three of her relatives were wounded in the shelling earlier this week, but Red Crescent ambulances were not permitted…
No help from Washington
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – Now Abbas has to choose. Either he gives way to the Americans, which is what he’s done since Annapolis in 2007, or he gives up on the Americans. In the first case, he would lose any remaining credibility. In the second, he will have to step down. He has gambled everything on negotiations, and now…
Water and Drug War
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – In the occupied towns, cities, villages and refugee camps of Palestine, stealing water and spreading drugs by the Israeli occupation are symptoms of a daily cold war in which the Palestinians are suffering of shortage of drinking water and the basic daily needs, and the increasing number of Palestinian drug dealers under control of the…
US university suspends Muslim student group for Palestine protest
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – In response to intense political pressure by multiple pro-Zionist organizations, the administration at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) recently decided to suspend Muslim students’ right to assemble and practice their faith together on campus. Alleging that emails anonymously “leaked” to the university prove that the Muslim Student Union was responsible for a protest of…
Why are equal rights dangerous?In today’s Israel, advocating equal rights for all can prove fatal
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – In the 11 years that I have served in Israel’s Knesset I have received numerous death threats. Pulsa Denura (the term for a rabbinical death curse) has evidently taken exception to my consistent call for equal rights for Israel’s Palestinian minority. Recently I
received a letter — the second in as many days — that…
Israel imprisoned my father for nonviolently resisting the occupation
Uruknet July 16, 2010 – On 12 January 2010 my father Ibrahim was arrested by the Israeli army and sentenced to two years in prison for organizing and participating in nonviolent protests against the Israel’s wall in the occupied West Bank. The wall cuts us off from our land and our olive groves, robbing our family of its livelihood. To…
Egypt’s spinsters turn to suicide
The National 17 Jul 2010 – As more women are becoming financially independent, they are also missing out on marriage, with increasingly fatal consequences.
Netanyahu admits on video he deceived US to destroy Oslo accord
The National 17 Jul 2010 – Israeli prime minister boasted nine years ago that while making minor withdrawals from the West Bank he was actually entrenching the occupation.
Israel to make Palestinians take pledge of allegiance
The National 17 Jul 2010 – Activists say the legislation expected to be passed today is a means to keep families separated and purge non-Jewish residents.
AIC Upgrades Website Infrastructure
Alternative Information Center – The Alternative Information Center (AIC) is currently upgrading its website infrastructure. We will be back online by Tuesday 22 June 2010.
Abu Rdeina: Lieberman’s Plan Completely Rejected
WAFA – RAMALLAH, July 17, 2010 (WAFA)- Presidency Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdeina Rejected, today, Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman’s plan, considering that it aims at returning to the conspiracy of
Leadership Asks Clarification of U.S. Administration Position
WAFA – RAMALLAH, July 17, 2010 (WAFA)- Following a meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and the U.S. Envoy to the Middle East peace process, a senior official told reports that the Palestinian
Ashton Arrives in Ramallah at Start of Three-Day Mideast Visit
WAFA – RAMALLAH, July 17, 2010 (WAFA)- The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, Catherine Ashton, held Saturday in Ramallah talks with Prime
OPT: Remarks made by High Representative/Vice-President Catherine Ashton after meeting Prime Minister Fayyad
Relief Web 17 Jul 2010 – Source: European Commission
US-IRAN: Mosque Blasts Denounced by Obama, Clinton
IPS Both U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday denounced Thursday’s suicide bomb attacks on a Shi’ite mosque in Sistan-va Baluchistan province in southeastern Iran by a Sunni extremist group that Tehran charges is being supported by Washington.
Egypt to demand Israeli gestures
YNet News – Palestinian president, special US envoy George Mitchell discuss jumpstarting….
Assad reaffirms Turkey’s role as mediator
YNet News – Syrian president says other countries ‘can play supportive role, not alternative….
Report: Clinton, Carter may join Shalit talks
YNet News – Egyptian paper says Cairo, Washington, Hamas in talks to have former US….
Human rights activists slam Assad
YNet News – Human Rights Watch report reviews Syrian president’s first decade in power, says….
Hezbollah warns Lebanon telecom ‘exposed’ to Israel
YNet News – Shiite group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah says Israel has complete control over….
Turkey: Our new drone better than Israel’s
YNet News – Engineers say new surveillance craft, capable of 24-hour excursions, is better….
EU: Open Gaza crossings
YNet News – EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton says Gaza’s borders must open to enable the territory’s battered economy to recover. “There needs to be an opening of the …….
Turkish PM’s wife: Peres’ lies made me cry
YNet News – Getting a little emotional: “Peres’ lies made me cry,” the wife of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan charged in a meeting with Palestinian businesswomen Friday. …….
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warn US
YNet News – The United States will face “fallout” from a deadly rebel bomb attack in southeast Iran, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted as saying on Saturday by a …….
Abbas wants international border force
YNet News – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he’ll resume direct peace talks if Israel accepts its 1967 frontier as a baseline for the borders of a Palestinian state and …….
Palestinian Information Center
IOA exiles Jerusalem child for throwing stones
PIC 17 Jul 2010 – An eleven-year-old boy from Jerusalem was exiled by Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) for throwing stones at Israeli military forces.
PSL warns against Israeli marches in Jerusalem
PIC 17 Jul 2010 – The Palestine Scholars League has warned of the dangers of upcoming extremist marches and rallies, organized with the full support o
f the Israeli occupation government, in occupied Jerusalem.
Hamas: Mitchell’s visit worthless
PIC 17 Jul 2010 – Hamas described the visit by American envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell to the region as “worthless” and carries nothing of benefit to the Palestinian people.
Malaysia distributes 100 thousand dollars worth of relief aid in Gaza
PIC 17 Jul 2010 – 100 thousand dollars worth of relief aid was distributed throughout the Gaza Strip by the Aman Palestine Institute in Malaysia in partnership with 42 Gaza Strip organizations.
EU foreign ministers postpone Gaza visit
PIC 17 Jul 2010 – Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini has announced that the delegation of European foreign ministers had postponed a planned visit to Gaza Strip.
Islamic Jihad warns of deceptive direct negotiations
PIC 17 Jul 2010 – The Islamic Jihad Movement has urged the Arab League not to give a political cover for direct negotiations between the Fatah authority in Ramallah and the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA).
IHH announces more convoys to break Gaza siege
PIC 17 Jul 2010 – Bulent Yildirim has asserted that his organization prepares for more sea and land convoys to break the unjust siege on Gaza Strip, revealing “many surprises” to come in the coming three months.
IOF troops quell peaceful marches, fire at residential quarters
PIC 17 Jul 2010 – Israeli occupation forces’ excessive use of tear gas bombs against peaceful anti wall marches in Ramallah and Bethlehem districts led to breathing problems among dozens of participants.
Hamas-Fatah meeting in Beirut tackles reconciliation, settlement process
PIC 17 Jul 2010 – Osama Hamdan and Azzam Al-Ahmed met in Beirut on Wednesday to discuss a number of important topics, a senior Palestinian source told the PIC on Friday.
Lieberman proposes complete disengagement from Gaza
PIC 17 Jul 2010 – Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman has proposed a new plan aimed at ridding Israel of any responsibility for the Gaza Strip, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Friday.
Iran merchants and tax collectors end standoff
LA Times 18 Jul 2010 – An intermittent strike at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar left a normally bustling marketplace quiet and tense, casting a spotlight on a troubled economy. In a compromise, taxes will be raised 15%, not 70%. A standoff between Iranian merchants and tax collectors ended Saturday as the two sides reached a compromise in a weeks-long on-and-off strike that had cast a spotlight on the economic troubles of a nation now facing tightened sanctions.
Standardized English Tests, Including TOEFL, Are Halted in Iran
New York Times 17 Jul 2010 – Registration for tests given by the Educational Testing Service, including the Test of English as a Foreign Language, was suspended in what may be one of the first tangible effects of new sanctions.
Hamas Moves to Enforce Water Pipe Ban in Gaza
New York Times 17 Jul 2010 – In a new attempt to try to impose a conservative Islamic way of life, Hamas started this weekend to enforce a ban on smoking water pipes in public.
A Defector Goes Home, but to What End?
New York Times 17 Jul 2010 – The fate of spies who un-defect can be bad. Now Iran has a scientist who left and came back. And it has some questions for him.
IDF Raids Across the West Bank
Palestine Monitor – Thursday morning saw simultaneous raids take place in homes throughout the West Bank: the Northern village of Beit Furiq was one of the targeted areas with 8 residents taken, including 2 women. Over 50 soldiers surrounded the Abu Ghalam family home in Beit Furiq and entered…
Brief notes on the emerging right-wing one-state solution
Mondoweiss – Years ago I was close to relatives in the religious settler camp. They were generally warm, generous and honest toward members of their families and communities, but unapologetically racist toward Arabs. I remember one woman who walked miles in the summer heat every Sabbath to visit…
‚ÄòThe world won’t say a thing’— Netanyahu on ongoing Israeli expansion
Mondoweiss – The Washington Post , and Glenn Kessler, have picked up the story that Netanyahu said that “America is a thing that can be easily moved,” back in 2001. Good to have this knowledge inside the Beltway at last. Below is a transcript of the Second-Intifadah era conversation,…
One-state Palestinian thinktank says, We cannot wait for Israel to shape our future
Mondoweiss – A few weeks back, our Jerusalem correspondent, Anees, reported that signs were popping up in Ramallah promoting the one-state solution— one of them is above. The group behind the signs was “Takamol,” but Anees could get no fix on what the agenda is. Now he has:…
Obama aide says John Adams supported idea of Israel, and Lincoln too!
Mondoweiss – A friend sent me a transcript of Ass’t Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro’s comments on the US-Israel relationship to Brookings yesterday . I can’t find the transcript online. Oh here it is! (Thanks to my pal). Shapiro lays it on real thick, and threw…
‚ÄòAmerica is a thing you can move very easily’ (said Netanyahu)
Mondoweiss – The push against Netanyahu begins inside the Jewish community. Here’s a piece reported by Tablet , saying that Netanyahu in a 2001 conversation, after his first run as Prime Minister, boasted of gaming the United States on the Oslo accords. Much of the talk involves military zones…
Israel Tortures Detained Children
Sabr – By Atef Douglas – Nablus Child prisoners are being tortured and threatened with rape (Al Jazeera) Israel-Palestine News , July 17, 2010 “We will attach the electricity wires to your testicles and prevent you from marriage and having kids forever, if you don’t tell us exactly what…
Funerals for Iran mosque victims
BBC – Funerals are held in the Iranian city of Zahedan for victims of the devastating bombing of a mosque.
Making a living from Lebanon’s land
BBC – Families in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley region are being encouraged to maintain traditional farming methods.
Israel Stops Listening to Its Judges
Antiwar.com – The Israeli government is facing legal action for contempt over its refusal to implement a Supreme Court ruling that it end a policy of awarding preferential budgets to Jewish communities, including settlements, rather than much poorer Palestinian Arab towns and villages inside Israel. The contempt case…
Bibi Caught Speaking The Truth: ‘America Is A Thing You Can Move Very Easily’
Sabbah report – Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6KLFrye9Xk Israel’s Channel 10 released a video (Hebrew) of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recorded in 2001. The video could add some additional strain to the sometimes tense relationship between Bibi and Obama and should be a new lesson for Arabs who believes in…
Arab autocracy: Thank you and goodbye
Sabbah report – For good or ill, change is coming to Egypt and Saudi Arabia soon THE fate of the Arab world’s two most important states lies in the hands of ageing autocrats. Hosni Mubarak, an 82-year-old air-force general who has ruled Egypt since 1981, is widely reported to…
Articles
They’re All Grovelling and You Can Guess the Reason
Robert Fisk, The Independent7/17/2010
It is the season of grovelling.
Only a week after CNN’s Octavia Nasr and the British ambassador to Beirut, Frances Guy, dared to suggest that Sayyed Hassan Fadlallah of Lebanon was a nice old chap rather than the super-terrorist the Americans have always claimed him to be, the grovelling began. First Ms Nasr, already fired by the grovelling CNN for her effrontery in calling Fadlallah a “giant”, grovelled herself. Rather than tell the world what a cowardly outfit she had been working for, she announced that hers was “a simplistic comment and I’m sorry because it conveyed that I supported Fadlallah’s life’s work. That’s not the case at all”.
What is this garbage? Nasr never gave the impression that she supported “Fadlallah’s life’s work”. She merely expressed her regret that the old boy was dead, adding – inaccurately – that he had been part of Hizbollah. I don’t know what her pompous (and, of course, equally grovelling) “senior vice president” said to her when she was given her marching orders. But like victims of the Spanish Inquisition, Nasr actually ended up apologizing for sins she had never even been accused of. Then within hours, British ambassador Guy began her own self-flagellation, expressing her regrets that she may have offended anyone (and we all know what that means) by her “personal attempt to offer some reflections of a figure who, while controversial, was also highly influential in Lebanon’s history and who offered spiritual guidance to many Muslims in need”.
I loved the “controversial” bit – the usual “fuck you” word for anyone you want to praise without incurring the wrath of, well, you know who. The Foreign Office itself took down poor Ms Guy’s blogapop on old Fadlallah, thus proving – as Arab journalists leapt to point out this week – that while Britain proclaims the virtues of democracy and the free press to the grovelling newspaper owners and grotty emirs of the Middle East, it is the first to grovel when anything might offend you know who. more.. e-mail
‘Beware of Small States’: journalist David Hirst interviewed
Robin Yassin-Kassab, Electronic Intifada7/9/2010
Veteran Middle East correspondent David Hirst, author of the seminal work on the Palestinian plight The Gun and the Olive Branch, has a new release: Beware of Small States, an equally important book on Lebanon’s complex tragedy. The Electronic Intifada contributor Robin Yassin-Kassab interviewed Hirst on his work and views.
Robin Yassin-Kassab: You did your national service in Cyprus and Egypt just before the 1956 Suez War. What effect did your first experience of the Middle East have on you? Why did you end up spending your life in the Middle East, particularly in its more violent corners? Have kidnappings and bannings discouraged you?
David Hirst: Yes, I was one of the last generation of British 18-year-olds obliged to do two years of military service. Politically speaking, it had virtually no effect on me; I was an immature youth from a thoroughly apolitical middle class background, and knew next to nothing about international affairs, and hardly knew, for example, the difference between Arabs and Israelis. But — unusually for a mere private soldier — I sought and secured permission to use a fortnight’s leave to travel round Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. I enjoyed the experience. After three years at Oxford, I could not think of a career to embark on. Remembering the American University of Beirut, I wrote and asked them if there were any kind of introductory course about the Middle East that I could follow there. There was. With a vague idea of staying there for a couple of years or so, I found myself drifting into journalism, a
nd, taking to it, I ended up staying fifty.
I grew deeply interested in the politics of the region; I also like to think that — having come to the area entirely devoid of preconceptions, or anything more than the most rudimentary knowledge, tabula rasa as it were — the opinions and interpretations I developed about the Arab-Israeli conflict were always as near as possible spontaneously personal and first-hand ones…. more.. e-mail
A Parliamentary Mob
Uri Avnery, Dissident Voice7/17/2010
There is no brake.
When I was first elected to the Knesset, I was appalled at what I found. I discovered that, with rare exceptions, the intellectual level of the debates was close to zero. They consisted mainly of strings of clich?©s of the most commonplace variety. During most of the debates, the plenum was almost empty. Most participants spoke vulgar Hebrew. When voting, many members had no idea what they were voting for or against, they just followed the party whip.
That was 1967, when the Knesset included members like Levy Eshkol and Pinchas Sapir, David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Dayan, Menachem Begin and Yohanan Bader, Meir Yaari and Yaakov Chazan, for whom today streets, highroads and neighborhoods are named.
In comparison to the present Knesset, that Knesset now looks like Plato’s Academy.
What frightened me more than anything else was the readiness of members to enact irresponsible laws for the sake of fleeting popularity, especially at times of mass hysteria. One of my first Knesset initiatives was to submit a bill which would have created a second chamber, a kind of Senate, composed of outstanding personalities, with the power to hold up the enactment of new laws and compel the Knesset to reconsider them after an interval. This, I hoped, would prevent laws being hastily adopted in an atmosphere of excitement.
The bill was not considered seriously, neither by the Knesset nor by the general public. The Knesset almost unanimously voted it down. (After some years, several of the members told me that they regretted their vote.) The newspapers nicknamed the proposed chamber “the House of Lords” and ridiculed it. Haaretz devoted a whole page of cartoons to the proposal, depicting me in the garb of a British peer. more.. e-mail
IDF Raids Across the West Bank
Palestine Monitor: 17 Jul 2010 – Thursday morning saw simultaneous raids take place in homes throughout the West Bank: the Northern village of Beit Furiq was one of the targeted areas with 8 residents taken, including 2 women. Over 50 soldiers surrounded the Abu Ghalam family home in Beit Furiq and entered by force at 2.30 am, arresting 20 year old Laith Abu Ghalam, and confiscating electronic equipment and the ID of one family member according to the residents of the home. Apparently around 50 soldiers entered the home following sound bombs: the use of riot dispersal gear in the raid was confirmed by an Israeli Military spokesperson. At the same time two other homes in the village were raided. Hani Aref Abdu As-Su’od and Hamada Hanany, along with Mas’ab and Sajed Abdul-Latif Maltyat were taken from the Maltyat home. All electronic equipment was also stripped from this home. Ayman Abu Ghalam, released only one month…
Gaza’s Electricity Crisis
Dissident Voice: 17 Jul 2010 – Under siege for over three years, Gaza’s humanitarian crisis continues unabated, Israel’s bogus easing doing little to relieve it, including a serious electricity shortage, what the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement addressed in a May report titled, “Electricity Shortage in Gaza: Who Turned Out the Lights?” Besides earlier attacks, Cast Lead severely damaged Gaza’s sole power plant, putting it on the verge of collapse, exacerbated by inadequate industrial diesel supplies and the destruction of power lines supplying electricity from Israel and Egypt. As a result, Gaza experiences outages of up to 12 hours a day, severely disrupting “normal functioning of humanitarian infrastructure, including health and education institutions and water and sewage systems, as well as the agricultural sector.” In addition, faulty generators at times kill or injure users, an untenable situation because of Israeli attacks and siege, in violation of international law. Chronology of Gaza’s Electricity Crisis…
This Is the Real Netanyahu : ‚ÄòAmerica Won’t Get in Our Way…It’s Easily Moved’
Intifada-Palestine: 17 Jul 2010 – Israel’s Channel 10 secured a video (Hebrew) recorded in 2001 during the height the Palestinian Intifada against Israel and the settlements. It records a condolence call Bibi Netanyahu, recently “retired” from politics after losing the prime ministership several years earlier, pays on a group of West Bank widows whose husbands had been killed by Palestinian attacks. For those on the Israeli right who claim that the Oslo Accords broke down due to Palestinian terror or any such thing, watch this and you will see that Bibi brags that he destroyed Oslo. Even if you discount this by half as the braggadocio of a macho Israeli politician, it’s still eye-opening. Gideon Levy too has written about this footage in Haaretz. Note in the first passage how Bibi brags that he has America wrapped around his thumb. The cynicism is breathtaking. Here is Dena Shunra’s translation: Bibi:…The Arabs are currently focusing on…more
Tricky Bibi
Intifada-Palestine: 17 Jul 2010 – “Israel has had many rightist leaders since Menachem Begin promised “many Elon Morehs,” but there has never been one like Netanyahu, who wants to do it by deceit.” Netanyahu is “de-legitimizing” the presence of 70,000 Palestinian citizens in their homeland in order to legitimise the presence of more than half a million illegal colonial-settlers on Palestinian land By Gideon Levy This video should have been banned for broadcast to minors. This video should have been shown in every home in Israel, then sent to Washington and Ramallah. Banned for viewing by children so as not to corrupt them, and distributed around the country and the world so that everyone will know who leads the government of Israel. Channel 10 presented: The real (and deceitful ) face of Binyamin Netanyahu. Broadcast on Friday night on “This Week with Miki Rosenthal,” it was filmed secretly in 2001, during a visit by Citizen Netanyahu…more
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The New Dark Age 
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