27 November, 2010 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
European Parliamentarians Arrive In Gaza
IMEMC – 27 Nov 2010 – Saturday November 27, 2010 – 12:00, The Borders Authority in Gaza reported late on Friday at night that European Parliamentarians made it into Gaza on Friday evening through the Rafah Border Terminal between Gaza and Egypt. They crossed into Gaza half an hour before Midnight.
Britain To Act Against Arrest Warrants Targeting Israeli Officials
IMEMC – 27 Nov 2010 – Saturday November 27, 2010 – 10:47, The Jewish Chronicle reported that the United Kingdom will be taking measures meant to prevent British courts from issuing arrest warrants against Israeli military and political leaders accused of committing war crimes.
Non Violent Demos in Bil’in and Ni’lin Attacked by Israeli Troops
IMEMC – 27 Nov 2010 – Friday November 26, 2010 – 18:57, Dozens of people suffered tear gas inhalation during the weekly nonviolent protests against the Wall and Settlements in the West Bank Villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin, near Ramallah, on Friday; no arrest were reported.
Israeli forces shoot child on Gaza border
11/27/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – A Palestinian boy was shot and injured by Israeli forces in Beit Lahiya Saturday morning, after soldiers opened fire on the boy, who was with a group of men collecting stone aggregates along the Gaza-Israel border. Medics said the unidentified 12-year-old was shot in the foot and evacuated to….
PA: Female prisoner of Israel beaten in custody
11/27/2010 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The PA Ministry of Prisoners Affairs released a report Saturday alleging that a Palestinian woman in Israeli custody was brutally beaten in the Ramle prison after she refused to submit to a strip search. Twenty-two-year-old Sumoud Hasan Karaja, from the central West Bank village of Saffa, was transferred from Israel’….
Israeli forces fire on Gaza fisherman
11/27/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A Palestinian fisherman on the shore of the northern Gaza Strip was shot in the foot on Saturday, medics said, the second casualty of the day by Israeli fire. Spokesperson of Gaza’s medical services Adham Abu Silmiyya said a 19-year-old man was injured in his left foot….
Israel mulls rail link to West Bank settlement
11/27/2010 – JERUSALEM(AFP) — Israel is considering building a rail link to the sprawling Jewish settlement of Ariel, which lies deep inside the occupied West Bank, a transport ministry spokesman told AFP on Friday. The spokesman stressed that it was only one of a number of projects under consideration but the right-wing Ma’ariv daily said….
Tulkarem to send prisoners 250-meter letter
11/27/2010 – TULKAREM (Ma’an) — Arrangements are underway to launch the longest letter ever written to Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel at a ceremony in the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Sunday. Samir Nayfah, spokesman of a committee formed to prepare for the event, said the letter would be more than 250 meters long with….
Israeli plan has Jerusalem ‘the home of two capitals’
11/27/2010 – TEL AVIV (Ma’an) — The son of slain former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin has proposed a peace plan, under which Jerusalem would be the capital of both an Israeli and Palestinian state, Israel’s daily Haaretz reported Saturday. According to the report, Yuval Rabin and Israeli businessman Koby Huberman have put together….
Turkish foreign minister to hold talks in US
11/27/2010 – ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) – Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu starts a four-day visit to the United States Saturday for talks on bilateral ties and regional issues, the foreign ministry said Friday. Davutoglu was to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, national security advisor Tom Donilon and the head of the Senate foreign relations committee, Senator….
Leftists ask Abbas to go to UN for statehood
11/27/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine called on the Palestinian Authority on Saturday, to go to the UN Security Council seeking international recognition of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital. The leftist party released a wide-ranging statement outlining its position on the….
Syria: Lack of Mideast peace hurts development
11/27/2010 – DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said on Saturday the absence of peace in the Middle East harms the region’s economic development, following talks with the visiting Indian president.” The absence of peace in our region due to Israel’s policies. . . raises tensions and undermines economic development and prosperity,” Assad said….
Erekat demands UN intervention
11/27/2010 – JERICHO (Ma’an) — Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat met with UN and European officials in Jericho on Saturday and asked them to intervene to stop Israel imposing “facts on the ground” in the occupied Palestinian territories. Erekat held separate meetings with UN special envoy for the peace process Robert Serry, EU representative to Palestine….
Lebanese premier in Tehran on ‘historic’ visit
11/27/2010 – TEHRAN (AFP) – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri arrived in Iran on Saturday on a first official visit amid a tense political stand-off between his pro-Western camp and rival Iran-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah. During his three-day visit, Hariri, accompanied by several ministers, will meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other officials, state media reported. Hariri’….
Arab League denounces home demolitions
11/27/2010 – CAIRO (Ma’an) — The Arab League on Saturday denounced Israel’s recent escalation in demolitions of Palestinians homes across the West Bank. In a statement, Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League for Palestine Mohammad Subeih said Israel’s attacks on Palestinians exceeded the racism of the apartheid regime of South Africa, and….
Hamas: PA detains 10 supporters in latest raids
11/27/2010 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Hamas officials in the West Bank accused the Palestinian Authority security services of detaining 10 of its supporters from three different municipal regions on Friday. A statement released the morning after the arrests accused the PA of “continuing their campaign against Hamas supporters,” naming ten affiliates from the Nablus, Tulkarem and….
Israel army says increase in Bedouin recruits
11/27/2010 – TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — The number of Bedouins joining the Israeli army has doubled since 2007, Israel Radio reported Saturday. Colonel Yosi Haddad told the national radio station that 1,100 Bedouins are currently in service to the army, and half of these recruits are from southern Israel. Further, Haddad said attempts to hinder….
Fatah praises cabinet reshuffle decision
11/27/2010 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Fatah’s Revolutionary Council praised President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to reshuffle the cabinet in its fifth session in Ramallah which concluded Friday. The council agreed the reshuffle would empower the Palestinian Authority and endorsed setting a government program of policies to develop economic and social security. During the three-day….
Amid drought, Jordan asks for rain prayers
11/27/2010 – AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — Jordan’s ministry of religious affairs on Saturday urged citizens to gather next week and hold special prayers for rain across the parched kingdom. A ministry statement said people should begin fasting for three days ahead of Thursday’s planned prayers in Jordan, where a lack of rainfall could trigger….
Egypt security on alert ahead of tense election
11/27/2010 – CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian security forces were on the alert on Saturday on the eve of a general election after activists clashed with police at the end of a campaign marred by violence and a crackdown on the opposition. Thousands of activists demonstrated in support of their candidates throughout the Nile Delta and in the south….
Lebanon PM seeks Iran support
AlJazeera 27 Nov 2010 – Saad al-Hariri visits Tehran amid political standoff at home over the UN investigation into his father’s murder.
Fraud fears cloud Egypt vote
AlJazeera 27 Nov 2010 – Residents set to vote in parliamentary polls following campaign marred by violence and crackdown on opposition.
Rabin?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s son unveils his Peace Initiative
PNN – Jerusalem — PNN – The son of late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Yuval Rabin joined forces with businessman and social activist Koby Huberman to come up with a Israeli Peace Initiative or…
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (11. — 24 November 2010)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Mashaal calls for armed ‘resistance’ in West Bank
Jeruslalem Post 27 Nov 2010 – Hamas leader in Damascus slams Palestinian Authority’s involvement in negotiations with Israel and PA security forces crackdown on Hamas operatives in West Bank.
Iran arrests would-be hijacker on Syria-bound plane
Jeruslalem Post 27 Nov 2010 – A number of Iranian lawmakers were on Teheran-Damascus flight; Revolutionary Guard says suspect affiliated with opposition group.
Fatah declares refusal to recognize Israel as Jewish state
Jeruslalem Post 27 Nov 2010 – Revolutionary Council urges PA to foil J’lem-Golan Heights referendum law; dismisses US supplying Israel weapons in exchange for freeze.
Hariri lands in Iran ‘to seek help with Hizbullah’
Jeruslalem Post 27 Nov 2010 – Lebanese ministerial source says Sa’ad Hariri wants Teheran’s help in pacifying Shi’ite group ahead of UN tribunal’s report on Rafik Hariri assassination; in exchange Lebanese PM will support Iran’s nuclear program.
India’s president supports Syria’s claim on Golan Heights
Jeruslalem Post 27 Nov 2010 – Pratibha Devisingh Patil says India recognizes Syria’s “legitimate right” to Heights after meeting Assad in Damascus; Assad blames Israeli policies for “undermining economic development and prosperity” in Middle East.
‘If we win elections, we will work to end ties with Israel’
Jeruslalem Post 27 Nov 2010 – Ahead of Egyptian parliamentary elections, Muslim Brotherhood leader says his movement will focus on changing Egypt’s policy, staring with its “illegitimate” relations with Israel.
‘Prison Service not equipped to manage infiltrator detention center’
Ha’aretz – Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch says that his forces do not have the training or the tools needed to deal with a civilian population.
Akiva Eldar / An open letter to Benjamin Netanyahu
Ha’aretz – Tomorrow is my 65th birthday. Were it not for your reforms as finance minister, I would be a pensioner next week, and this would be my final column.
Victim of alleged sexual assault by prospective police chief exposes her identity
Ha’aretz – Dr. Orly Innes, a prominent anti-violence advocate and activist, says she relinquishes right to conceal her identity in order to empower other victims of sexual misconduct.
Lebanon PM arrives in Iran seeking help to avert tensions with Hezbollah
Ha’aretz – Ahead of a UN report expected to indict members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah for his father’s murder, Saad Hariri is to meet with Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khamenei on first official visit…
Lebanon PM: Cooperation with Iran indispensable
Ha’aretz – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri intends to firm up military ties with Iran during his state visit.
U.S.: Wikileaks release will put lives in danger
Ha’aretz – Warning follows American calls on Israel and other allies to prepare for embarrassment from exposure of classfified documents.
Night raid at Nabi Saleh
27 Nov 2010 – West Bank, November 27, (Pal Telegraph – ISM) In the early morning hours of November, the 26th, a night raid took place in the village of An Nabi Saleh. The four Soldiers entered the village at about 2:30 am with two jeeps, searching the house of Bassem Tamimi. Asked for the reason of their coming they claimed “it was their…
Road to Hope Convoy finally reaches Gaza
27 Nov 2010 – Gaza, November 27, (Pal Telegraph) The Road to Hope Convoy reunited in Egypt after having been split by the Egyptian requirement to charter a ship from Libya to El Arish and the kidnapping of 10 convoy members from Libya to Greece. Three members of the convoy travelled to Egypt by sea with 30 vehicles and ¬£500,000 of humanitarian aid, 29…
Israeli soldiers carry on their harassments in Beit Umar
27 Nov 2010 – West Bank, November 27, (Pal Telegraph — ISM) Israeli forces from the Gush Etzion military base came to the homes of brothers and National Committee members Yousef and Mousa Abu Maria. Both are also co-founders of the Palestine Solidarity Project. Mousa, whose wife and baby girl—both Israeli citizens—were visiting family, was forced outside while his home was searched. 3 computers…
Israeli bulldozers demolishing homes, ruining livlihoods
27 Nov 2010 – West Bank, November 27, (Pal Telegraph — ISM) In the last few days, with a wave of demolitions, Israeli bulldozers have spread destruction and despair in the villages across the West Bank: in Qarawat Bani Hassan near Salfeet, in al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley, in Hizma, near Jerusalem, in Khirbet Yarza, east of Tubas, and in the South Hebron Hills….
HRW: Israel: Soldiers’ Punishment for Using Boy as ‘Human Shield’ InadequateTwo Sergeants Demoted and Given Suspended Sentences
Uruknet November 27, 2010 – An Israeli military court’s sentence on November 21, 2010, for two soldiers found guilty of using a Palestinian boy as a “human shield” during the 2008-09 offensive in Gaza appears inadequate considering the gravity of the offense, Human Rights Watch said today. “The slap on the wrist for these soldiers is another slap in the…
WOMAN TO GOWomen for sale’ store highlights sex trafficking in Israel.
Uruknet November 27, 2010 – In a shopping center in Tel Aviv, women standing in a window display tagged with price tickets, were being offered for sale. Each woman’s price tag detailed her age, weight, height, dimensions and country of origin — written as “Made in…”, like a piece of clothing. It was part of a protest to highlight the…
Obama Style Fascism
Uruknet November 27, 2010 – The germs of fascism infest both parties, thriving among Republican and Democratic hosts, alike. Barack Obama’s 2008 victory was also a new lease on life for George Bush’s foreign wars and strangulation of domestic civil liberties, most recently in the assault on travelers bodies at airports. The first Black president rules very much like the…
Video: Frost over the World – Ilan Pappe
Uruknet November 27, 2010 – The Israeli historian talks about the possibility of a one-state solution in the Middle East peace process. Plus, Mark Regev, Binyamin Netanyahu’s spokesman, talks about settlement building in the West Bank and the stalled Middle East peace negotiations. And actress Samantha Bond talks about playing Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films and working alongside…
Making peace impossible
Uruknet November 27, 2010 – In a move primarily aimed at making it harder to cede occupied Arab land as part of any peace agreement with Syria or the Palestinians, the Israeli Knesset this week approved a bill requiring a two-thirds Knesset majority, as well as a general referendum, for any prospective withdrawal from the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem,…
Israeli forces fire on Gaza fisherman
Uruknet November 27, 2010 – A Palestinian fisherman on the shore of the northern Gaza Strip was shot in the foot on Saturday, medics said, the second casualty of the day by Israeli fire. Spokesperson of Gaza’s medical services Adham Abu Silmiyya said a 19-year-old man was injured in his left foot and was evacuated to Kamal Udwan Hospital in…
In photos: Wave of demolitions in Jordan valley, 26.11.2010
Uruknet November 27, 2010 – A wave of demolitions by Israeli forces occurred in the Jordan valley, Palestine on 24 and 24 November 2010. In just two days, in two different locations, 8 Palestinian structures were demolished, including 2 homes, one mosque and animal sheds. In total 25 Palestinians were made homeless. In the village of Khirbet Yarza, a village…
Israeli troops violently attack Bil’in and Ni’lin anti-wall marches
Uruknet November 27, 2010 — Dozens of Palestinian citizens and multinational activists suffered suffocation and some of them fainted when the Israeli occupation forces attacked the weekly anti-wall protests organized yesterday in the villages of Bil’in and Ni’lin in the West Bank. In the village of Bil’in, in central West Bank, Israeli and international supporters joined villagers after the midday…
The future of Fayyadism
Uruknet November 27, 2010 – …The central issue is that of labor dependency. Israel long ago replaced Gaza-as-bedroom-community with near-slaves from the Philippines and other Asian countries, and does not rely on West Bank-based Palestinian labor. In contrast, South Africa was vitally dependent on black labor from the Bantustans. So what’s the plan for economic growth in the West Bank (…
Israeli forces shoot child on Gaza border
Uruknet November 27, 2010 – A Palestinian boy was shot and injured by Israeli forces in Beit Lahiya Saturday morning, after soldiers opened fire on the boy, who was with a group of men collecting stone aggregates along the Gaza-Israel border. Medics said the unidentified 12-year-old was shot in the foot and evacuated to the Kamal Udwan Hospital where he…
Fraud fears cloud Egypt vote
Uruknet November 27, 2010 – Egyptians are set to go to the polls to elect a new parliament amid fears of vote fraud following a campaign marred by violence and a crackdown on the opposition. The Middle East’s most populous nation will elect 508 members of parliament in Sunday’s polls. Security forces are on high alert after violent clashes erupted…
Eviction Notices Not Enforced Against Hebron’s Squatter Settlers
Uruknet November 26, 2010 – This week saw Palestinian shopkeepers from Hebron petition the High Court of Israel to honour an eviction notice given to settlers over two and a half years ago. In 2001 settlers moved illegally into part of Hebron market, which remains under the control of Israel’s Civil Administration. Today a number of settler families are squatting…
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (11. — 24 November 2010)
Uruknet November 26, 2010 – Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (11 — 24 November 2010): Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF extra-judicially executed a Palestinian activist and his brother in the Gaza Strip, and wounded 17 Palestinians, including two children and a woman, in the West Bank and the…
SPF Deivers Tonfa Training to 37 Recruits
WAFA – RAMALLAH, October 20, 2010 (WAFA)- The Palestinian Special Police Force (SPF) has successfully delivered a Tonfa training course to 37 new SPF recruits, according to a press release by EUPOL-COPPS,
Abu Rdeineh: All Settlement Forms are Illegal, Rejected
WAFA – RAMALLAH, October 19 (WAFA)- The Presidency spokesperson , Nabil Abu Rdeineh confirmed today that all the forms of settlement (outposts and non-random) in Palestinian lands are illegal. Commenting
Netanyahu Declines Demolishing Settlements’ Random Units
WAFA – TEL AVIV, October 19 (WAFA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided that he wouldn’t demolish the unregulated construction in a various settlements although the government has issued
The Elders Urge Comprehensive Approach to Arab-Israeli Peace
WAFA – DAMASCUS, October 19, 2010 (WAFA)- The Elders have called for a more comprehensive approach to the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks following discussions with officials, civil society, business and
France Provides €4 million for Gaza Wastewater Treatment Plant
WAFA – JERUSALEM, October 19, 2010 (WAFA)- On Sunday 17 of October 2010, at Ministry of Planning, Mr Dov Zerah, CEO of the French Development Agency (AFD), Dr Ali Jarbawi, Minister of Planning and
IOF deploys Ariel Settlement
WAFA – SALFIT, October 19 (WAFA)- The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) deployed, today, the Ariel Settlement that is established by force on the lands of the Salfit, Iskaka, Yasuf and Burkin
Dr. Erakat: Israel Seeks De Facto Recognition of Illegal Practices
WAFA – RAMALLAH, October 19, 2010 (WAFA)- Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Negotiations Affairs Department Dr. Saeb Erakat said, yesterday, “By hosting the OECD conference in Jerusalem,
Observer: Israeli Government on Division Verge, Netanyahu Negotiates Kadima
WAFA – LONDON, October 17, 2010(WAFA) – The British Newspaper ‘Observer’ wrote that the Israeli government is facing the division risk because of the deadlock in the negotiations with the Palestinians
Iran nabs would-be hijacker on Syria-bound plane
YNet News – Armed man arrested after confessing to planting bomb on board flight to Damascus….
US: Somali-born teen attempts terror attack
YNet News – Oregon resident arrested after attempting car bomb attack that turned out to be….
Princeton students: Boycott Sabra hummus
YNet News – Palestinian group wants Israeli product removed from campus stores because it….
State officials: US-Israel freeze talks deadlocked
YNet News – Recent talks between Israel and the Unites States have indicated that the sides are close to reaching a conclusive draft on a guarantees document, which will give Israel …….
Mashaal: Resistance must be launched in West Bank
YNet News – Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said on Saturday that his group faced “huge challenges” in the West Bank as a force against Israel. Armed struggle has a powerful appeal …….
Lebanese PM Hariri on ‘historic’ visit to Iran
YNet News – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri arrived in Iran on Saturday on a first official visit amid a tense political stand-off between his pro-Western camp and rival …….
Indian president backs Syria’s claim on Golan
YNet News – Indian President Pratibha Patil said Saturday that she supports Syria’s demand for Israel’s withdrawal from the Golan Heights. In a joint press conference with …….
Muslim Brotherhood threatens to sever Israel ties
YNet News – Egypt’s Opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood, is threatening to end ties with Israel if it emerges victorious from an upcoming vote for parliament. “We are …….
Iran says Bushehr begins operating
YNet News – Iran said Saturday its first atomic power plant built by Russia in Bushehr has begun operations, ahead of a new round of talks with Western powers over the country’s …….
Palestinian Information Center
Israeli troops violently attack Bil’in and Ni’lin anti-wall marches
PIC 27 Nov 2010 – Dozens of Palestinian citizens and multinational activists suffered suffocation and some of them fainted when the Israeli occupation forces attacked the weekly anti-wall protests in Bil’in and Ni’lin.
PFLP accuses PA of holding many of its cadres in its jails
PIC 27 Nov 2010 – The popular front for the liberation of Palestine said that the Palestinian authority’s security apparatuses are detaining a number of its cadres and other members of factions in West Bank jails.
Prisoner Abul Haseen on hunger strike again because of delaying his due release
PIC 27 Nov 2010 – Prisoner Shadi Abul Haseen, from Gaza Strip, declared his intention to resume his hunger strike next Tuesday in protest at not releasing him after he finished serving his sentence in August 2010.
Abu Marzouk: Fatah’s security engagements with the US, Israel are a real problem
PIC 27 Nov 2010 – Mousa Abu Marzouk said that Fatah faction has a real problem regarding its reconciliation with his Movement over the security file because of its involvement in agreements with America and Israel.
Haneyya sends messages to foil Israeli military escalation
PIC 27 Nov 2010 – Palestinian premier Ismail Haneyya has sent messages to Arab and international parties in a bid to thwart Israeli attempts to justify new aggressions on the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian child injured in IOF shooting
PIC 27 Nov 2010 – A Palestinian child was hit and wounded when the Israeli occupation forces fired at him north of Beit Lahia town, north of the Gaza Strip, on Saturday morning.
Totah: We prefer living in tents rather than in palaces away from OJ
PIC 27 Nov 2010 – Palestinian lawmaker Mohamed Totah, facing eviction from Jerusalem, said he prefers living in the sit-in tent to living inside a luxury house away from his birth place in the holy city.
Knesset right-winger calls for declaring O. J’lem capital for Jews
PIC 27 Nov 2010 – A right-wing Knesset member called for changing the text which describes occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital into the capital of the Jewish people.
Israel mulls rail link to West Bank settlement
PIC 27 Nov 2010 – Israel is considering building a rail link to the sprawling Jewish settlement of Ariel, which lies deep inside the occupied West Bank, a transport ministry spokesman told AFP on Friday.
Bahar embarks on foreign tour
PIC 27 Nov 2010 – A Palestinian parliamentary delegation led by Dr. Ahmed Bahar, the first deputy speaker of the Palestinian legislative council, started an Arab-Islamic tour starting with the Sudan.
Lebanon’s prime minister begins Iran visit
LA Times 28 Nov 2010 – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri begins his first official visit to Iran at a time when an international tribunal is expected to indict members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in the 2005 assassination of his father, Rafik Hariri. Lebanon’s prime minister kicked off a three-day visit to Iran on Saturday meant to strengthen economic and political bonds between the United States’ chief regional adversary and a nation Washington once upheld as a model for Western-leaning Arab democracy.
SOUTH HEBRON HILLS: Israeli Army arrests young Palestinian man in South Hebron Hills
Christian Peacemaker Teams – Palestine –
AL-KHALIL (HEBRON): Shepherd made homeless, livelihood threatened, son in prison
Christian Peacemaker Teams – Palestine –
Naturalists Complicate Al Walaja’s Fight Against the Wall
Palestine Monitor – This month, the Israeli High Court of Justice heard arguments against the army’s proposed route of the Separation Wall around al Walaja, a small village between Jerusalem, Bethlehem and several expanding Israeli settlements. Despite the absence of security reasons for constructing the Wall in al Walaja,…
Dershowitz is unreliable narrator
Mondoweiss – Former Senator Jim Abourezk gave a speech lauding Helen Thomas a week ago and it was published later on Counterpunch . Alan Dershowitz, the subject of an Abourezk anecdote, complained to the website about the piece. From Alex Cockburn’s column : From: “Alan Dershowitz” < dersh@law.harvard.edu > Date:…
Americans are catching a clue, I tell you
Mondoweiss – From the always-entertaining Matt Bors, who works for many newspapers in the U.S. and lives in Portland. Thanks to Ali Gharib :
NPR’s Holocaust obsession
Mondoweiss – After waking up this morning to yet another Holocaust story on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, I headed to npr.org’s search page to check my impression that such stories been coming thick and fast lately. Narrowing my query to “Heard On Air” (excluding the blogs, Associated…
Halper predicts collapse of P.A. in 2011, and ‘violence, chaos,’ and hope
Mondoweiss – In “Palestine 2011 ,” Jeff Halper says the peace process has failed: “There will be no negotiated settlement, period.” And he imagines two outcomes in the next year, one being that the Palestinians declaring a state unilaterally, the other being more catastrophic/lytic. (Thanks to Hazel Kahan .) I’m…
Human Rights Watch blasts light Gaza sentences, Amnesty International blasts Bedouin village removal
Mondoweiss – and other news from Today in Palestine Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing Four People Detained At Peaceful Protest Near Bethlehem The Israeli army detained three Israeli peace activists and one young Palestinian man during the weekly Friday non-violent demonstration in the West bank village…
Israeli Fire Wounds Gaza Child: Palestinian Officials
Al-Manar 27 Nov 2010 – A 12-year old boy gathering gravel near the Gaza border with the occupied palestinian territories was wounded on Saturday by Israeli army fire, Palestinian medical officials and witnesses said. The boy was shot in the leg as he foraged for building materials near the northern…
Pal. Rights Group: Dozens of Palestinians Die due to Ill Supply of Medication
Al-Manar 26 Nov 2010 – “The four-year Israeli siege on Gaza has resulted in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians suffering from health problems due to the ill-supply of medication in Gazan hospitals,” Palestinian rights groups revealed. “This problem is worsened by the inability of Palestinians to travel abroad for…
Internal battles
BBC 26 Nov 2010 – Party divisions on show ahead of Egypt’s parliamentary election
(en) Palestine-Israel, Media: Rattling The Cage: The Face of Israel in a West Bank Courtroom
A-infos 27 Nov 2010 – Here’s a look at justice for Palestinians in the only democracy in the Middle East. — This was justice as I’d never seen it, as very, very few Israelis have seen it. —- The judge was an IDF officer in a light-green uniform and knitted kippa….
Articles
Publish it Not
Jonathan Cook, Israeli Occupation Archive11/26/2010
A shorter version of this article originally appeared in AMEU – The Link — Nov/Dec 2010
PART I
Probably like many other journalists, at some point in my childhood I fell in love with the idea of the crusading, fearless reporter — unafraid of bullying figures of authority and always looking out for the little guy. This image was fed by the greatest of all myth-making movies about journalism: All the President’s Men, the glamorous coupling of Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as the daring Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein who exposed the corruption of the Nixon presidency Watergate.
Life, of course, has proved to be less simple. Who is the bully and who the little guy? I, like more notable reporters who preceded me, would find that conundrum expressed most powerfully in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the mid-1990s, I arrived in Jerusalem for the first time — then as a tourist — with another potent Western myth at the front of my consciousness: that of Israel as “a light unto the nations”, the plucky underdog facing a menacing Arab world ranged against it. A series of later professional shocks as a freelance journalist reporting on Israel would shatter my assumptions about both Israel and courageous reporters.
These disillusioning experiences came in the early stages of the second intifada, the Palestinian uprising that began in late 2000. At the time I was often writing for Britain’s Guardian newspaper, first as a staff member based in the foreign department at its head office in London and then later as a freelance journalist in Nazareth. The Guardian has earnt an international reputation — including in Israel — as the Western newspaper most savagely critical of Israel’s actions. That may be true, but I quickly found that there were still very clear, and highly unusual, limitations on what could be written about Israel. — See also: Short version: The Link more.. e-mail
The Original Sin
Uri Avnery, Dissident Voice11/27/2010
A friend of mine in Warsaw told me about a Polish journalist who visited Israel for the first time. On his return he reported with great excitement: “You know what I’ve discovered? In Israel, too, there are Jews!”
For this Pole, Jews are people who wear a long black kaftan and a big black hat. In almost every souvenir shop in Poland, little figures like this are exhibited along with other classics like the nobleman, the artisan and the peasant.
This distinction between Israelis and Jews would not have surprised any of us 50 years ago. Before the foundation of the State of Israel, none of us spoke about a “Jewish state”. In our demonstrations we chanted: “Free Immigration! Hebrew State!” In almost all media quotations from those days, there appear the two words “Hebrew state”, almost never “Jewish state”.
In school we acquired an ardent love for the country, the language and the Bible (which we considered the classic book of Hebrew literature.) We learned to regard with disdain — if not worse — Jewish life in the Diaspora. (All this, of course, before the Holocaust.)
In 1933, I lived for half a year in Nahalal, the legendary communal village. Seeing it for the first time, I marveled at the communal hall building, the milk processing plant and the large agricultural school for girls (in which Moshe Dayan was the only male pupil). Out of curiosity I asked about the synagogue and was shown a ramshackle wooden hut. “That’s for the old ones,” one of the local boys told me pityingly. more.. e-mail
The Lesser of Many Evils: Plea Bargain of Ameer Makhoul and the Israeli Legal System
Hisham Naffa’, Al-Ittihad, Alternative Information Center11/17/2010
Advocate Hussein Abu Hussein spoke to the Haifa Arabic-language daily Al-Ittihad about the plea bargain that was reached by the state prosecutor and the defendant of Ittijah’s Executive Director Ameer Makhoul.
In this interview, Abu Hussein, who is also one of Makhoul’s advocates, speaks about the current complex conditions on the legal and political levels that led to the acceptance of the arrangement which, surprisingly, leads him to yearn to the days of the military courts [that Israel closed in 1992].
According to official Israeli statistics, the percentage of convicted defendants in criminal cases in Israel ranges between 96% and 99% of the cases. When compared to the same official statistics in the state of New York, for example, according to which in 50% of the criminal cases brought to court the defendant is found guilty, the figure in Israel seems irrational. Furthermore, a closer study of the Israeli statistics shows that the percentage of convicted Arab citizens of the state of Israel in criminal courts is much higher than that of Jewish citizens. This disproportion is not a secret, for it has already appeared in many studies concerning political persecution in the Israeli state, and most recently in a report prepared by the Information and Research Center of the Israeli Knesset to the parliamentary Law, Constitution and Judiciary Committee, according to which “the percentage of convicted Arabs is much higher than that of Jews in all cases of criminal background and others.”
Given this situation, the reason why most defendants in criminal cases prefer to sign a plea bargain with the prosecutor is now clearer. “As for cases related to state security, I don’t even remember a single case in which the defendant has been acquitted,” Abu Hussein told Al-Ittihad. Hussein Abu Hussein is one of Ameer Makhoul’s lawyers, whose court case is about to close following the plea bargain that was reached with the state prosecutor. “It was choosing the least of many evils,” Abu Hussein said. more.. e-mail
Naturalists Complicate Al Walaja’s Fight Against the Wall
Palestine Monitor: 27 Nov 2010 – This month, the Israeli High Court of Justice heard arguments against the army’s proposed route of the Separation Wall around al Walaja, a small village between Jerusalem, Bethlehem and several expanding Israeli settlements. Despite the absence of security reasons for constructing the Wall in al Walaja, the Israeli army is pushing forward with 2006 plans that would encircle the residential center, severing it from surrounding agricultural land belonging to the village. The wall will sit directly next to villagers’ homes and cut families off from 1,800 dunums of land that have been a part of al Walaja for generations. Written and photographed by Charlotte Silver. Homes next to the wall in al Walaja Shereen, a resident and activist of al Walaja explained, “It will seal the village completely, and disconnect it from its surroundings, and there will be no way to grow.” Upon the completion of the wall, there will…more
Keep Your Promises, Mr. President
Palestine Chronicle: 27 Nov 2010 – By George Polley — Japan Dear President Obama, I am deeply concerned about your administration’s recent agreement with the Netanyahu government supposedly aimed at resuming peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. According to media reports, this agreement involves the sale of $3 billion worth of US military aircraft, a veto of any UN Security Council resolution deemed unfavorable to Israel, the removal of East Jerusalem from peace process discussions, and a written promise that this will be the last time you ask the Israelis to halt settlement construction in Occupied Palestine. I shouldn’t need to remind you that establishing settlements in occupied territory is against international law, to say nothing about it being a violation of human rights. I look at this Mr. President, and I cannot believe it. In your books, when you were running for President, and when you came into office you represented hope for…more
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The New Dark Age 
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