9 September, 2010 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Sha’ath: “PA Will Not Recognize Israel As Jewish State”
IMEMC – 9 Sep 2010 – Thursday September 09, 2010 – 03:45, Palestinian negotiator, Dr. Nabil Sha’ath, stated that Palestinian Authority will not recognize Israel as a Jewish State as this issue would harm the Palestinian residents of Israel and the internationally guaranteed Right of Return of the Palestinian Refugees.
Convicted Israeli Soldier Of Killing British Photojournalist Get Early Release
IMEMC – 9 Sep 2010 – Wednesday September 08, 2010 – 22:58, The Israeli soldier convicted of killing British human rights activist Tom Hurndall, was released from jail on Wednesday, after a special committee granted him an early release.
Gaza crossing closed until Monday
9/9/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — All the Gaza crossings will remain closed until Monday morning as Israel celebrates the Jewish new year and the start of the High Holidays. The closure means no aid or commercial goods will enter Gaza for four days, in the midst of preparations for the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, when Muslims….
Israel approves East Jerusalem center
9/10/2010 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israel has approved a plan to establish a medical center in occupied East Jerusalem. The Central District’s planning and building commission approved the new facility in Sheikh Jarrah for ZAKA, a first responder organization which employs experts in handling the deceased according to religious custom. The new center near….
Military releases soldier who killed UK activist
9/9/2010 – TEL AVIV (Ma’an/Agencies) — An Israeli military committee voted on the early released of a Bedouin soldier convicted of killing a British photographer and activists in Rafah in 2003. Taysir Hayb, the Israeli daily news site Ynet reported, was released when the committee decided he had “changed his lifestyle” and was “no longer….
Report: Projectile caused Negev explosion
9/9/2010 – TEL AVIV (Ma’an/Agencies) — A projectile from Gaza landed in an agricultural area of the western Negev on Thursday afternoon, Israeli news site Ynet reported. The site said no injuries or damages were reported. No militant group in Gaza has claimed the launch….
1 dead in West Bank shooting
9/9/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Gunmen shot dead one person near the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Adumim in the occupied West Bank late Thursday, Israeli security sources said. One other person was seriously injured in the apparent attack, medics said. Israel Radio reported that the victims were Palestinian citizens of Israel, and no suspected….
Lebanon official: Talk of refugees could rock camps
9/9/2010 – BEIRUT (Ma’an/Agencies) — When the issue of refugees comes up in ongoing peace talks, Lebanon’s parliamentary speaker warned that turmoil in camps could turn quickly into violence. Lebanon’s speaker Nabih Berri issued a statement of concern on Wednesday, Agence-France Presse reported, saying the issue could jeopardize security in southern….
Report: Iranian leader to visit Lebanon
9/9/2010 – BEIRUT (Ma’an) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to visit Beirut 13 October on a 2-day visit for talks with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and other key officials, a local newspaper reported Thursday. The Beirut-based daily An-Nahar reported that Ahmadinejad has expressed interest in visiting south Lebanon to inspect the scene of….
HRW: Israeli conviction of anti-wall activist unjust
9/9/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An Israeli military court’s conviction of Abdullah Abu Rahme, an advocate of nonviolent protests against Israel’s de facto confiscation of land from the West Bank village of Bil’in, raises grave due process concerns, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. On August 24, 2010, Abu Rahme, who…. Related: HRW: Activist Convicted After Unfair Trial
UNRWA gives $6 million to Gaza students
9/9/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The UN’s Palestine refugee organization finished distributing 22 million shekels ($6 million) to 240,000 students in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. UNRWA officials say the agency provided 100 shekels ($25) to each student over the holiday period to help them pay for back-to-school items like uniforms and school….
PLO: Don’t let Israeli extremists derail peace
9/9/2010 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — “The USA, the Quartet and the Arab world must exert their utmost efforts to ensure a complete cessation of settlement construction,” a statement from the PLO’s Executive Committee said Thursday night. The statement asked that parties invested in the talks work to “forbid extremist forces in Israel from derailing….
Next round of talks to be split in Egypt, Jerusalem
9/9/2010 – WASHINGTON (Ma’an) — US Mediators will meet in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm Ash-Sheikh on Tuesday, and then move Wednesday to Jerusalem where talks will continue.”The Egyptians have volunteered to host a round of direct negotiations,” State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley told reporters Wednesday, and confirmed that a move to Jerusalem for….
Mideast churches denounce Quran burning
9/9/2010 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — A Florida church which says it intends to burn 200 copies of the Quran is not acting “within the teachings of Christianity,” the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church in Jerusalem said Thursday. The Council of Churches in the Middle East condemned the plans, calling them in a statement a “detestable….
Abbas proposes assistance for Lebanon refugees
9/9/2010 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — President Mahmud Abbas has ordered the establishment of a family solidarity charity which will be twinning Palestinian families in the occupied territories with refugees in Lebanon. Hasan Al-Ory, the president’s legal counsel, was quoted by the official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA as saying the initiative would see Palestinians….
Customs agents seize toys over malfunction fears
9/9/2010 – HEBRON (Ma’an) — Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are cracking down on dangerous toys, officials said Thursday. The directives come ahead of Eid Al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan and during which exchanging gifts is customary. In Hebron, the Palestinian Authority customs department has urged shopkeepers not….
Hebron police detain 2 for selling unregistered cars
9/9/2010 – HEBRON (Ma’an) — Police in Hebron detained two Palestinians on Thursday for selling cars listed fraudulently as imported. Police said a Hebron district resident filed a complaint after he purchased a car saying he was the victim of fraud. Police investigated the incident and detained two unnamed Palestinians suspected of involvement in the alleged….
Are you Muslim?
Palestine Note 9 Sep 2010 – Are you Muslim?” uttered the man who asked me about the time first. I wasn’t sure what to respond at first. I thought of the taxi cab driver who was attacked in New York City after…
Palestinian hip-hop artist held at gunpoint in Ben Gurion airport
Palestine Note 9 Sep 2010 – Washington – Shadia Mansour , also known as the “the first lady of Arab hip-hop” was surrounded by eight armed airport security officials and intelligence officers in Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on September 4, an…
Fidel Castro discusses prospects for Iran-Israel peace
Palestine Note 9 Sep 2010 – Washington – The Atlantic magazine’s Jeffrey Goldberg met recently with former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba to discuss an article of his regarding Iran-Israel relations. Castro used the opportunity as a venue to discuss…
Report: Netanyahu hopes to stretch out peace process for years
Palestine Note 9 Sep 2010 – Washington – Last week’s first round of direct negotiations in Washington concluded with an agreement to settle a “framework deal” within one year, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly hoping for a step-by-step implementation…
Iran to free one of three detained American hikers
Palestine Note 9 Sep 2010 – Washington – The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance issued a statement via text message announcing the release of the one of the three US hikers accused of espionage after straying into Iran via the Iraq…
Obama condemns Florida church’s Koran burning
Palestine Note 9 Sep 2010 – Washington – Evangelical Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida has planned an international “Burn a Koran Day” to be held on the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. This plan has received worldwide notoriety and condemnation,…
PA releases Hamas prisoners for Eid
Palestine Note 9 Sep 2010 – Washington – The Palestinian Authority released dozens of “Hamas operatives and political activists affiliated” with Hamas overnight Wednesday, Israeli daily Haaretz said. According to the report, the release came at the behest of Palestinian President Mahmoud…
PLO calls for cooperation on curtailing settlements
Palestine Note 9 Sep 2010 – Washington – The Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee said in a statement Thursday that “The USA, the Quartet and the Arab world must exert their utmost efforts to ensure a complete cessation of settlement construction,”…
Jewish actor defends settlement boycott
Palestine Note 9 Sep 2010 – Washington – Jewish Voice for Peace has been publicizing this week its star-studded roster of signatures in support of Israeli actors refusing to perform in settlements, and many of the names on that list are Jewish….
‘PA committing treason’
Palestine Note 9 Sep 2010 – Hamas accuses WB government of aiding ‘the enemy’ Washington – Islamist group Hamas, whose militant wing took credit for a series of deadly shootings in the West Bank last week, has accused the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority…
American to be released by Iran
AlJazeera 9 Sep 2010 – Iran says it will free on Saturday one of three US citizens it has held for more than a year.
Israeli Jetfghters Conducts Five Air Raids Targeting Areas In Gaza
PNN – Gaza — PNN — Israeli air force jetfighters conducted on Thursday night five air raids that targeted a number of locations in the Gaza Strip; no injuries reported. The attacks come shortly…
Patriarch Of Jerusalem: Koran Burning Goes Against The Teachings Of Christianity
PNN – Jerusalem — PNN – Theophilos III, Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, announced on Thursday that calls of Terry Jones, who heads the Dove World Outreach Center, to burn Koran…
Hamas: PA forces are Torturing The Movement Members In West Bank Jails
PNN – Bethlehem — PNN — Hamas sources announced on Thursday that many of the movement’s activists and leaders who were detained by the Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank are being subjected…
MADA Doceuments Attacks On Palestinian Journalists During August
PNN – MADA – PNN – Despite the holy month of Ramadan, which usually the violations against journalists and media outlets in the occupied Palestinian territory oPt decreases dramatically, but, unfortunately the violations have…
Following the footsteps of BBC: The Palestinian government Supports Independent Media
PNN – Fadi Yacoub- PNN/exclusive — Since the announcement of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s new plan entitled ” A Date with Freedom,” talks have been under way about the seriousness of this initiative….
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (02-07 September 2010)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
IAF bombs Gaza after Rosh Hashana Kassam attacks
Jeruslalem Post 9 Sep 2010 – Army strikes Hamas offices in Gaza City, a smuggling tunnel in the southern Strip and other targets in response to third rocket attack on Israel in two days.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad will visit Lebanon in October
Jeruslalem Post 9 Sep 2010 – AFP reports that the president may also tour southern Lebanon; trip will be first of its kind since he took office in 2005; will meet with various gov’t and Hizbullah officials.
Erekat denies apology to Israel in Geneva Initiative clip
Jeruslalem Post 9 Sep 2010 – Palestinian chief negotiator tells Ma’an news agency his comments were “altered,” complete opposite to what he actually said; “I never intended to apologize, Israel are the ones who should apologize.”
PA committed ‘treason’ for arresting W.Bank terror suspects
Jeruslalem Post 9 Sep 2010 – Hamas spokesman claims PA “crossed all red lines, directly cooperating with enemy” after arresting several suspects linked to fatal attacks that left 4 Israelis dead; Barhum: “arrests only increase determination to continue resistance.”
International Solidarity Movement
Israel bombs Gaza on the eve of Eid ul-Fitr
9/10/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Gaza City, GAZA STRIP – The Israeli military carried out air strikes on three regions of the Gaza Strip late last night, as inhabitants were preparing to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, the Mulim holiday marking the end the holy month of Ramadan that starts today. It constitute the second missile attack by Israel on Gaza since negotiations….
Aqraba inhabitants facing confiscation of yet more farmland to serve the expansion of an illegal settlement
9/9/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – Aqraba, NABLUS – On Monday 6th September, farmers in Aqraba were forbidden by the Israeli army to work on a 200 dunam area of land near the village. The land is currently in the process of being converted, by a combination of local workers and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, from rocky terrain into usable….
ISM is seeking a qualified Media Coordinator to join the Ramallah team
9/9/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – The International Solidarity Movement are currently looking for a Media Coordinator to join the team in Ramallah, Palestine. We are looking for someone who has previous media experience and is able to commit a minimum of 3 months, ideally 6. Applications will be interviewed and reference checked and training and guidance will be offered by….
Three pedestrians killed in Galilee road accident
Ha’aretz – Married couple and Nazareth court judge killed instantaneously as car swerves off Route 70 at Kfar Yasif.
‘Freeze-ending’ settlement construction was legal, probe finds
Ha’aretz – Structures that were built in response to last week’s terror attack in the West Bank were not included in the terms of the settlement construction moratorium.
IAF strikes Hamas Gaza training facility in wake of recent Qassam, mortar attacks
Ha’aretz – Hamas officials reported 5 people wounded in the attack; military says aircraft also strike southern Gaza, where Palestinians operate underground smuggling tunnels.
Peres to Abbas: Netanyahu is a trustworthy partner
Ha’aretz – Palestinian president calls Israeli counterpart to offer Rosh Hashanah greetings; Peres urges Abbas not to abandon peace talks.
One person killed, another hurt in shooting near Jerusalem
Ha’aretz – Police believe shooting motivated by feud between crime families; both victims Israeli Arabs.
Iran FM: Zionists behind U.S. church’s plan to burn Koran
Ha’aretz – Manouchehr Mottaki also blames former U.S. President George Bush for inciting Islamophobia following Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Report: Ahmadinejad to visit Lebanon’s border with Israel
Ha’aretz – Iran announces official presidential visit to Lebanon next month, Ahmadinejad’s first since taking office in 2005.
PA releases dozens of Hamas-linked detainees despite rising tensions
Ha’aretz – Hamas accuses PA of acting as ‘protector of enemy’s security’ for arresting suspected Hamas terror perpetrators.
Clinton: Arab momentum building for two-state solution
Ha’aretz – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that those who doubt the prospects for success of Israel-Palestinian peace talks are ‘wrong’.
Aqraba inhabitants facing confiscation of yet more farmland to serve the expansion of an illegal settlement
Uruknet September 9, 2010 – On Monday 6th September, farmers in Aqraba were forbidden by the Israeli army to work on a 200 dunam area of land near the village. The land is currently in the process of being converted, by a combination of local workers and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, from rocky terrain into usable farmland to…
No Eid for the Occupied and the Oppressed
Uruknet September 9, 2010 – Every Eid, we greet our family, relatives, friends and neighbours with: next Eid in a liberated Palestine. Every Eid we send postcards, emails and messages which say: next Eid in a liberated Jerusalem. Every Eid we repeat so the whole world hears: Our Eid is the day of our return. For us Palestinians, there is…
Hamas Re-positioning?
Uruknet September 9, 2010 – …It will be hard for western readers, unless they are dyed-in-the-wool Israel stooges, to find much that’s objectionable in the new policy. Given the decades-long suffering and the 90 years of betrayal, many will feel it makes perfect sense from the Palestinian perspective. So it is a powerful weapon — or would be if edited…
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (02-07 September 2010)
Uruknet September 9, 2010 – Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (02 — 07 September 2010): Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed two Palestinian civilians and wounded 4 others in the Gaza Strip. They also wounded a 5th civilian in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, on 04…
Provocative Behavior: Pertinent Concerns Over the Burning of Korans
Uruknet September 9, 2010 – American policy, at the highest levels of state, is specifically and deliberately designed to kill, despoil, dispossess, insult and outrage Muslims, in operations all over the world. That’s what the Terror War is all about. We have spent more than $3 trillion burning Korans — and their readers — in the last decade. This policy…
Mideast churches denounce Quran burning
Uruknet September 9, 2010 — A Florida church which says it intends to burn 200 copies of the Quran is not acting “within the teachings of Christianity,” the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church in Jerusalem said Thursday. The Council of Churches in the Middle East condemned the plans, calling them in a statement a “detestable crime against the teachings…
The refugees are the crux of the matter
Uruknet September 8, 2010 – Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit hinted recently that Palestinian refugees would receive $50 billion dollars as a compensation for giving up the right of return. The Egyptian official didn’t elaborate or reveal the source of the information. More to the point, he didn’t say where the money would come from or whether the current Palestinian…
During war there are no civiliansSitting in on the Rachel Corrie trial alarmingly reveals an open Israeli policy of indiscrimination towards civilians.
Uruknet September 8, 2010 – “During war there are no civilians,” that’s what “Yossi,” an Israeli military (IDF) training unit leader simply stated during a round of questioning on day two of the Rachel Corrie trials, held in Haifa’s District Court earlier this week. “When you write a [protocol] manual, that manual is for war,” he added. For the human…
America’s Grand Strategy: Militarizing Space
Uruknet September 8, 2010 On January 3, 2001, the UN General Assembly’s Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space Resolution A/55/32 said: “The exploration and use of outer space….shall be for peaceful purposes and be carried out for the benefit and in the interest of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development. (The) prevention of…
Anna Baltzer: An Up-close Look At The Israeli Occupation Of Palestine
Uruknet September 8, 2010 – …There are too many myths to name, but many fall into a few categories: Myth 1:”This is an age-old conflict based on religion and mutual hatred.” This is a conflict about land and human rights, not about religion. Prior to the Zionist movement, Jews were better treated in the Arab world than they were in…
Israeli soldier jailed for killing British activist Tom Hurndall released early
Uruknet September 8, 2010 – The Israeli soldier convicted of killing British activist Tom Hurndall was released from prison today, two years before completing his sentence. Tasyir Hayb was found guilty of manslaughter in 2005, when a military court found he had violated orders. He was also convicted him of obstruction of justice and false testimony. He has served six…
CIA Rendition: US Court Throws Out Torture Case, Citing State Secrets
Uruknet September 8, 2010 – A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit seeking to hold a government contractor partly responsible for a secret CIA program to whisk terror suspects to undisclosed prisons overseas for brutal interrogations. The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals voted 6 to 5 to dismiss the lawsuit filed on behalf…
While In Solitary, Palestinian Detainees In Eshil Declare Hunger Strike
Uruknet September 8, 2010 – Palestinian detainees placed in solitary confinement at the Eshil Israeli detention facility declared on Tuesday a hunger strike in protest to the bad meals provided to them and the bad living conditions. Palestinian Detainee Committee issued a press release on Wednesday stating that the prison administration is refusing to hand the detainees their meals by…
Syria looks to be loosening human rights stance
The National 9 Sep 2010 – Rights activists cautiously optimistic’ after traditionally hardline Damascus government opens door to United Nations investigator for the first time.
Clinton: Iran is becoming ‘military dictatorship’
The National 9 Sep 2010 – The US secretary of state said she believed the Iranian people eventually will respond to what called a ‘sad confluence of events’ in the oil-exporting nation.
Settler Violence Report, July-August 2010
Alternative Information Center – Hebron and Southern West Bank – On 9 July, four Palestinians workers from the town of Yatta in the Hebron District were injured when a group of settlers beat them with stakes. The aggression happened after…
Israeli and the OECD
Alternative Information Center – In May 2010 Israel ascended to the Organisation for Economic Co-coperation and Development (OECD). OECD acceptance of Israel as a member of this prestigious group of “democratic” countries was a significant political decision which provides…
The Political Economy of Israel’s Occupation: Book Review
Alternative Information Center – The existing literature on the Israeli occupation is highly compartmentalized. Most works on the subject are written from a political or sociological standpoint. There are also some that focus on the so-called “economics of the occupation.”…
Spanish Parliament Condemns Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s Conviction
WAFA – MADRID, September 9, 2010 (WAFA)- The Spanish Parliament followed the footsteps of the EU and the Desmond Tutu of the Elders, and joined the rising tide of international criticism over Abu Rahmah’s
Flash Floods DREF Operation in Palestine
WAFA – GENEVA, September 9, 2010 (WAFA)- CHF 68,271 was allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) on January 27, 2010 to support the Palestine Red Crescent Society deliver
Israel Tal, father of the ‘Merkava’ tank dies
Daily Star 9 Sep 2010
EU presidency says suspension of Iran stoning case not enough
Daily Star 9 Sep 2010
Clinton comments on Sudan split ‘incorrect’ – official
Daily Star 9 Sep 2010
Sfeir, LF, Hizbullah slam plans to burn Korans
Daily Star 9 Sep 2010
Israel boosts troop training close to Blue Line
Daily Star 9 Sep 2010
Ahmadinejad to visit Lebanon, tour south of country October 13-14
Daily Star 9 Sep 2010
Lebanon: U.S. EXPANDS INCOME GENERATION PROJECTS TO ADDITIONAL COMMUNITIES NEAR NAHR EL BARED CAMP
Relief Web 9 Sep 2010 – Source: US Agency for International Development
OCHA ROMENACA Regional Humanitarian Update – August 2010
Relief Web 9 Sep 2010 – Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Lebanese speaker warns relaunched talks could raise tensions
Relief Web 8 Sep 2010 – Source: Agence France-Presse
Erekat denies apologizing to Israel
YNet News – Palestinian negotiator says his comments in Geneva Initiative campaign video….
Hamas: Fatah protecting enemy
YNet News – Palestinian Authority ‘crossing all red lines, directly cooperating with Zionist….
IDF strikes Gaza Strip targets
YNet News – Palestinian security officials say explosions have rocked several sites in the Gaza Strip, wounding at least five people. The targets hit by Israel included the Ansar …….
Peres to Abbas: Don’t quit without peace
YNet News – President Shimon Peres spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the phone Thursday, assuring him that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a partner who can be …….
More rockets: 2 Qassams land in south
YNet News – For the second time during Rosh Hashana, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired rockets on southern Israel. Two Qassam rockets fired from the Strip landed Thursday in …….
Iran opposition group exposes secret nuke site
YNet News – Race to bomb continues: An Iranian opposition group exposed Thursday the existence of another uranium enrichment site in the country operated by Iran’s Defense Ministry …….
CNN report: IDF sexually abused Palestinian children
YNet News – Explosive accusations on CNN: A CNN investigative report aired Thursday slammed the treatment of Palestinian children by IDF soldiers. The report included …….
Palestinian Information Center
Hamas: Burning the Quran a provocative act
PIC 9 Sep 2010 – Hamas denounced plans by an American pastor to burn copies of the holy Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, describing the plan as “a provocative act for all Muslims”.
Detainees in PA jails tortured, interrogated by Israeli officers
PIC 9 Sep 2010 – Israeli intelligence officers are participating in the interrogation of Palestinian detainees held in West Bank prisons, the committee of relatives of detainees said in a statement on Thursday.
Abu Shaar condemns storming of Aqsa, calls on world to intervene
PIC 9 Sep 2010 – Minister of Awkaf (Endowment) and religious affairs in Gaza Dr. Taleb Abu Shaar has urged the world community to intervene and protect occupied Jerusalem and its holy shrines.
Palestinians held in isolation organize single day hunger strike
PIC 9 Sep 2010 – Palestinian prisoners held in isolation cells in the Israeli Eshel prison went on hunger strike on Tuesday to protest bad incarceration conditions along with bad quality meals.
Bahar: Detaining resistance fighters in WB a big crime
PIC 9 Sep 2010 – Dr. Ahmed Bahar has denounced the Ramallah authority’s militias for reportedly detaining those who carried out the attacks on Israeli targets in the West Bank a few days ago.
The Economist: No agreement without Hamas
PIC 9 Sep 2010 – The British magazine “The Economist” has ruled out the possibility of forging a settlement agreement between the PA in Ramallah and Israel without the consent of Hamas.
Iran to release one of 3 imprisoned American hikers, official says
LA Times 9 Sep 2010 – Sarah Shourd is expected to be freed Saturday. She, Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer were arrested in July 2009 after possibly straying into Iranian territory. An American woman, one of three U.S. hikers jailed in Iran last year after possibly straying into Iranian territory, will be released Saturday, an Iranian official said Thursday.
A West Bank Enclave Is on Edge
New York Times 9 Sep 2010 – Residents of Ariel once assumed their enclave would remain under Israeli control, but now they are not so sure.
Dissidents Claim Iran Is Building a New Enrichment Site
New York Times 9 Sep 2010 – The dissident group showed satellite photographs of an extensive tunnel-digging operation near a military garrison northwest of Tehran.
HEBRON REFLECTION: Shuhada Street: Keeping the quiet (when there’s no peace to be kept)
Christian Peacemaker Teams – Palestine – Honest words between a soldier and peacemakers shed light on the difference between “keeping the peace” and making it.
AL BWEIREH, PALESTINE: Settlers “heat up the air”; outpost dismantled
Christian Peacemaker Teams – Palestine – Roadblocks are emblematic of a decade of military and settler harassment of Palestinians in Al Bweireh. Will the new one be more than a bump in the road for the Hill 86 settlement outpost?
PALESTINE: Ongoing action alert: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions
Christian Peacemaker Teams – Palestine – CPT-Palestine invites you to join people from all over the world in boycotting Israeli goods and cultural events, divesting from all companies that profit from the occupation of Palestine, and pushing for international sanctions on Israel.
Gideon Levy: ‘Zionism in its present meaning, in its common meaning, is contradictory to human rights, to equality, to democracy’
Mondoweiss – Jamie Stern-Weiner has a wonderful wide-ranging interview with Israeli journalist Gideon Levy at the New Left Project . In addition to discussions about the Israeli left, Gaza, the Israeli media and the prospects for peace, the interview includes this interesting exchange below. Please be sure to read…
Two Palestinian Legislative Council members released from Israeli administrative detention, one held 56 months without charges
Mondoweiss – And other news from Today in Palestine: Land and Property Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing ‘Freeze-ending’ settlement construction was legal, probe finds Structures that were built in response to last week’s terror attack in the West Bank were not included in the terms of the settlement construction…
‘There Are No Civilians In Wartime’: Rachel Corrie’s family confronts the Israeli military in court
Mondoweiss – Cindy, Sarah, and Craig Corrie in the Haifa District Court for the second round of hearings in their civil suit against the Israeli government. (Photo: Max Blumenthal) In a small courtroom in Haifa’s District Court, a colonel in the Israeli engineering corps who wrote a manual…
New ways to follow Mondoweiss
Mondoweiss – Just a quick site update to say there are some new and exciting ways to follow Mondoweiss, wherever you are. While you have always been able to follow Mondoweiss on Facebook and Twitter , we have now redesigned the site to be easier to read on smartphones….
PACBI: Artists support for Ariel boycott is ‘a groundbreaking, precedent-setting initiative that will significantly contribute to ending Israel’s impunity’
Mondoweiss – Two days ago I posted a statement from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) regarding the Israeli actors’ boycott of a new theater in the Ariel settlement. Many people understandably misunderstood the post (I was unclear) and thought the PACBI…
PA Official: We Will Never Recognize Israel as Jewish State
Al-Manar 9 Sep 2010 – “The Palestinian Authority will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state,” senior Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said at a press conference in Ramallah on Wednesday. His announcement comes just a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas launched direct talks in…
On ads, misdirection and the occupation
Joseph Dana 9 Sep 2010 – In the run up to the latest round of ‘mirage’ peace talks, the Palestinian Authority created a series of campaign commercials directed at the Israeli public. The commercials attempt to demonstrate the “partners’ that Israel can find in the Palestinian Authority. On first viewing, I thought…
Iran to release US woman hiker
BBC 9 Sep 2010 – Iran is set to release on Saturday Sarah Shourd – one of three detained US hikers held since last July and accused of espionage, officials say.
Iran human rights lawyer detained
BBC 9 Sep 2010 – A prominent human rights lawyer in Iran, Nasrin Sotoudeh, is detained by the authorities on security charges.
Iran’s President Ahmadinejad should desist from harmful rhetoric
Sabbah report 9 Sep 2010 – By Paul J. Balles* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes. — John Ruskin The following headline appeared in a breaking news update from the Israeli news website Ynet and the French news agency AFP (23 August):…
The boycott of Israel is “gaining speed”
Sabbah report 9 Sep 2010 – By Lawrence Davidson* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz On 5 September 2010 the Israel newspaper Ha’aretz published an article the headline of which read ‘Anti-Israel economic boycotts are gaining speed’. The subtitle went on to state that “the sums involved are not large, but their international…
The lights are going out on Gaza
Sabbah report 9 Sep 2010 – By Mohammed Omer* in Gaza City | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz The Muslim festival Eid approaches, but not the end to power cuts that have darkened the month-long Ramadan fasting leading up to the festival. Or to the agony of Gazans, made worse by the reminder…
Hamas re-positioning themselves?
Sabbah report 9 Sep 2010 – By Stuart Littlewood* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz Hamas have been criticised recently for dragging their feet over the need to re-think their image. They now seem to have at least made a start on this important task judging by a remarkable interview with Hamas chief…
Articles
The Punishment of Gaza
Jamie Stern-Weiner, CounterPunch9/8/2010
An Interview with Gideon Levy
For decades Gideon Levy has used the platform provided by the liberal Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz to shine a light on the brutal realities of Israel’s occupation. His journalism, along with that of his colleague Amira Hass, has been an invaluable resource not only for Israeli readers but, through the Ha’aretz website, for international audiences seeking an informed and humane Israeli perspective on the conflict. It would be difficult to overstate how isolated Levy is within his own society, an isolation that increased over the past decade as Israeli public opinion stampeded to the right. He has described elsewhere how Ha’aretz keeps a thick folder of subscription cancellations from readers outraged by his articles. Despite this hostility, his critique of Israeli policies has become more, not less, radical over time.
His recent book, The Punishment of Gaza, is a select compilation of his Ha’aretz columns from 2006, when Hamas’s electoral victory prompted harsh sanctions and violent reprisals from Israel and its international backers, through to the aftermath of last year’s Gaza massacre, which represented a bloody culmination of that same anti-democratic reaction. This chronology is itself something of a novelty — for most journalists, even those critical of the attack, the relevant background to the massacre stretched to the month of Qassam rockets that preceded it, or at most to the year and half since Hamas took control of the Strip. But Gideon Levy is not most journalists, and his critique of Israeli policies and society goes far beyond the weasel words and euphemistic equivocation offered by most of his contemporaries in the media, and those on the ‘Israeli left’. Whereas liberal Zionist intellectuals like Amos Oz and David Grossman supported the attack in principle, if subsequently criticising its excesses, Levy is clear: this wasn’t a “war”, he writes, it was “a wild onslaught upon the most helpless population in the world”, an “aimless, futile, criminal, superfluous offensive”…. more.. e-mail
Galant, why?
Saleh Al-Naami, Al-Ahram Weekly9/2/2010
Israel’s new prospective army chief of staff is a man who makes war his only option
Aisha Al-Rahhal, 49, walked the three- kilometre length of the road connecting Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in the centre of Gaza and the cemetery on the eastern border of Al-Masdar Village, south of the camp, on Thursday, to recite Quran verses at the gravesite of her husband Hassan. Aisha does this every Thursday since Hassan was killed on the first day of the last war on Gaza.
Despite the passage of time, there is no consolation for Aisha who still remembers how Hassan died. On the morning of 28 December 2008, Hassan headed to the police station in the Central District in Gaza to take care of business pertaining to his shop in Al-Maghazi, returning home as body parts after he was killed when a jet plane dropped two bombs, each weighing one tonne, on the police headquarters. Hassan died, as did another 70 people with hundreds more injured.
Like other women in Gaza who have lost their husbands, children, brothers and loved ones, Aisha is not aware of the controversy that erupted when Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak nominated Yoav Galant, the current head of the Gaza Regional Division in the Israeli Army’s Southern Command, for the post of Armed Forces chief of staff. These widows do not know that their personal tragedies are the main reason why Galant was nominated for the top post.
Barak and Israeli public opinion believe that the war that resulted in the death of 1,500 people, 80 per cent of whom were civilian, was the measure of “success” of the war that Galant led in the Gaza Strip, especially that it came at the heels of a huge failure for the Israeli army in the second war on Lebanon…. more.. e-mail
British Palestinian rapper conducts a ‘musical intifada’
Jon Donnison, Axis of Logic9/8/2010
Hebron – The 24-year-old has been on tour in the West Bank.
“It’s a musical intifada, a musical uprising,” says Shadia Mansour squinting in the sunshine outside the hip hop workshop she is running in the West Bank city of Hebron.
From inside, a DJ can be heard cutting out beats on his decks.
Ms Mansour has been dubbed “the first lady of Arabic hip hop”, but she is perhaps the only lady of Arabic hip hop.
The 24-year-old British Palestinian rapper grew up in South London, but she is currently on tour in the West Bank.
Ms Mansour is giving concerts in Bethlehem, Hebron and Ramallah but is also working with local young rappers in free flowing jam sessions.
Revolutionary music
“They’re impressive,” she says. “The first thing I noticed with the local hip hop artists is that their music is revolutionary – very similar to mine.”
Ms Mansour says she first started singing at the age of five or six, often accompanying her parents at pro-Palestinian rallies in London as a child.
“We would sing protest songs,” she says. “I come from a musical family, a revolutionary musical family.” — See also: Palestinian hip-hop artist held at gunpoint in Ben Gurion airport and Video: Shadia Mansour “el Kofeyye 3arabeyye” 2010 Promo more.. e-mail
Boycott leadership: solidarity with French activists
Electronic Intifada: 9 Sep 2010 – The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), on behalf of its constituent organizations and unions representing the majority of Palestinian civil society, strongly condemns the decision taken by French authorities to prosecute people of conscience for calling for a boycott of Israeli produce.more
Respect the Palestinian-led picket line
Electronic Intifada: 9 Sep 2010 – The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel warmly salutes the tens of American and British theater, film and TV artists for their recently published statement supporting the spreading cultural boycott of Ariel and the rest of Israel’s colonial settlements illegally built on occupied Palestinian territory due to their violation of international law.more
More material available from Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel – www.vtjp.org
To subscribe, please write to OccupationNews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OccupationNews/join
The New Dark Age 