7 December, 2010 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Israeli Man Missing In Jericho
IMEMC – 7 Dec 2010 – Tuesday December 07, 2010 – 04:49, The Maan News Agency reported that an Israeli man went missing on Monday evening near Nabi Mousa area, near Jericho, and that the Israeli army declared the area as a closed military zone.
Israeli troops surround mosque, question worshipers
IMEMC – 7 Dec 2010 – Tuesday December 07, 2010 – 04:41, According to local sources, Israeli forces entered a town south of Qalqilia, in the northern West Bank, and surrounded a mosque where Palestinians were praying, preventing people from leaving and then questioning worshipers on their way out of the mosque.
PCHR Condemns Shutdown of Peaceful Assembly and Arrest of 16 Participants by the Palestinian Police
IMEMC – 7 Dec 2010 – Tuesday December 07, 2010 – 04:09, The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the shutdown of a peaceful assembly and the arrest of 16 participants by the Palestinian police. The peaceful assembly was held by a number of young people protesting against the Attorney General in Gaza’s decision to close Sharek Youth Forum.
‘Don’t rent to non-Jews,’ Israeli rabbis warn
12/7/2010 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Fifty Israeli rabbis have signed an open letter warning Jews not to rent or sell property to non-Jews, saying those who do should be “ostracized,” a copy of the letter showed on Tuesday.” In answer to the many questions, we say that it is forbidden in the Torah to sell a house or….
Witnesses say limited Israeli incursion in central Gaza
12/7/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Several Israeli military vehicles reportedly entered the Gaza Strip east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp on Tuesday morning, firing light ammunition into the area, witnesses said. An Israeli military spokesman said no military activity was reported in the area during the morning, but said forces were aware that a projectile….
Gaza: Brigades claim clash with Israeli forces overnight
12/7/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — On Monday evening, the military wing affiliated to the Popular Resistance Committees, the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, claimed to have fired three mortar shells at an Israeli force as it penetrated the border in the central strip. In a statement, the brigades said Israeli vehicles crossed the Gaza border east….
Army: Gaza militants fire into Israel
12/7/2010 – JERUSALEM (AFP) – Palestinian militants fired two projectiles into southern Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a military spokeswoman said. It was not immediately clear if they were mortars or rockets, but the projectiles “landed in an open area without causing damage or injuries,” the spokeswoman said. According to an army count, Palestinian militants….
EU: Israel’s Jerusalem policy threatens peace
12/7/2010 – JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel’s policies in occupied east Jerusalem are harming the prospect of the Palestinians having their future capital there, which “seriously endangers” a two-state solution, the EU said on Tuesday.” If current trends are not stopped as a matter of urgency, the prospect of east Jerusalem as the future capital of a….
Palestinian art up for auction in Sotheby showcase
12/7/2010 – DOHA, Qatar (Ma’an) — On sale for the first time at a Sotheby’s auction, Gaza native Laila Shawa’s Against the Wall illustrates an emerging trend in the world of calligraphic art; the use of graffiti, merging the ancient tradition with the contemporary. Fellow national Kamal Boullata, who has been showcased….
Single Gaza crossing operates
12/7/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Gaza’s southernmost crossing, Kerem Shalom, was announced open for imports of humanitarian aid, fuel and commercial goods, in addition to the export of limited strawberries, Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said Tuesday. The second operating crossing in the north, used for the bulk transport of wheat, animal feed….
Cables: US fails to stop Hamas arms flow
12/7/2010 – WASHINGTON (AFP) — US diplomats play a major role in trying to prevent arms from reaching world hotspots, but cables released to The New York Times show an uphill battle against the likes of Iran, Syria and North Korea. In one cable given to the paper by WikiLeaks, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is reprimanded for supplying….
Israel ‘regrets’ recognitions of Palestinian state
12/7/2010 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel on Monday described as “regrettable” decisions by several Latin American countries to recognize a Palestinian state, as President Mahmoud Abbas expressed his “pride.” “This regrettable decision will not help at all to change the situation between Israel and the Palestinians,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told Agence France-Presse.” It is a disappointing….
Cables show Hezbollah has 50,000 rockets: report
12/7/2010 – WASHINGTON (AFP) — Leaked US diplomatic cables show the militant group Hezbollah has acquired an arsenal of some 50,000 rockets and missiles, raising fears of an enlarged conflict with Israel, the New York Times reported Tuesday. The Times, which said it had advance access to leaked documents from the WikiLeaks website, said one cable quoted a….
Bahar: Shalit remains in captivity until ‘honorable’ deal reached
12/7/2010 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will remain in captivity until an honorable prisoner swap deal is finalized, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Ahmad Bahar said Tuesday. Speaking during an international Arab forum on prisoners in Algeria, Bahar urged Palestinian resistance factions to capture more Israeli soldiers in order….
Gulf leaders back PA stand on settlements
12/7/2010 – ABU DHABI (AFP) – Gulf leaders threw their support behind the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to negotiate with Israel in the absence of a settlement freeze, in a statement Tuesday at the end of their annual summit. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also emphasized that any settlement freeze should include occupied East Jerusalem. The….
Hamas: PA forces detain 21 affiliates
12/7/2010 – TULKAREM (Ma’an) — Hamas officials in the West Bank accused the Palestinian Authority’s security services of detaining 21 of the movement’s supporters, a statement released Tuesday said. The statement explained that the detainees were from the Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarem districts in the northern West Bank as well as Hebron….
Officials: Missing Israeli found near Jericho
12/7/2010 – JERICHO (Ma’an) – An Israeli man reported missing Monday night near Jericho was found by Israeli forces, Palestinian security sources said Tuesday. The circumstances of the case remained unclear, with sources saying only that the man was handed over to to Israeli police, who started an investigation into the case. Palestinian sources said they…. Related: Israel says citizen missing near Jericho
Israel says citizen missing near Jericho
12/7/2010 – JERICHO (Ma’an) — Israel’s Coordination Office for Government Activities in the Territories told Palestinian officials Monday night that an Israeli man had gone missing in the Jericho area, and said an area would be cordoned off for a search. The man’s car, officials said, was discovered near An-Nabi Musa’…. Related: Officials: Missing Israeli found near Jericho
Israel PM proposes regional firefighting force
12/7/2010 – JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday proposed the creation of a regional firefighting team in phone calls with several heads of state, his office said. The move came as Israel thanked hundreds of foreign firefighters and pilots for their role in quelling Israel’s worst-ever blaze, which killed 42 people and….
Experts say Carmel region faces long recovery
12/7/2010 – HAIFA, Israel (AFP) – Scorched and blackened areas of Israel’s Mount Carmel forest, razed by the flames of the country’s worst-ever fire, will take decades to return to their once-lush glory, experts say. The blaze, which began on December 2 and raged for four days, consumed at least 12,000 acres of forest….
Assange op-ed: WikiLeaks ‘fearlessly’ defending the public
12/7/2010 – SYDNEY (AFP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, in a newspaper opinion piece published Wednesday after his arrest in Britain, said the whistle-blowing website was “fearlessly” exposing facts in the public interest. In his commentary for The Australian newspaper, Assange made no mention of a legal case against him in Sweden over allegations of rape. He appeared….
Medic: Israeli policies to blame for Gaza health woes
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – Maan – The head of an award-winning group of Israeli medics said Monday the health woes of Palestinians in Gaza and Arab Bedouins living in Israel were the direct consequence of government policies. As her group…
Jailed Palestinian Atheist Sorry
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – AP – A Palestinian atheist jailed for more than a month for sharing his anti-Islam views on the Internet has apologized for offending Muslims, and a Palestinian military spokesman said he expected “positive” developments in the…
Barak: U.S. put settlement freeze talks on hold due to WikiLeaks
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – Haaretz – Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that contacts with the United States over a renewed moratorium on West Bank construction had been frozen in the wake of the WikiLeaks crisis and the tensions between…
26 Humanitarian and Human Rights Groups Blast Continued Israeli Closure of Gaza
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – Amnesty International UK Director says, “its time for the world to refuse Israel’s ‘easing’ rhetoric.” Foreign Policy – As anyone who’s ever seen or heard Israeli Prime Minister’s spokesman Mark Regev in action will know, Israel…
Iran nuclear talks: New round agreed in Geneva
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – BBC News – Iran and key world powers have agreed to meet for further talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear programme, in January in Istanbul. It follows two days of talks in Geneva which EU foreign affairs…
EU: Israel’s Jerusalem policy threatens peace
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – Maan – Israel’s policies in occupied east Jerusalem are harming the prospect of the Palestinians having their future capital there, which “seriously endangers” a two-state solution, the EU said on Tuesday. “If current trends are not…
Germany asked U.S. to force settlement freeze on Israel, WikiLeaks cables show
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – Haaretz – The WikiLeaks website expos?© of the inner workings of American diplomacy continued Wednesday, with revelations that Berlin pushed for the U.S. to impose a settlement freeze on Israel. According to a telegram published by…
Jordanian soccer match shows East, West bank tensions
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – Jerusalem Post – Anti-Palestinian taunts at a Jordanian soccer game last year revealed an undercurrent of rarely reported ethnic tension inside the Hashemite Kingdom, according to one of the US cables released by WikiLeaks on Monday….
Top rabbis move to forbid renting homes to Arabs, say ‘Israel belongs to Jews’
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – Haaretz – A number of leading rabbis who signed on to a religious ruling to forbid renting homes to gentiles — a move particularly aimed against Arabs — defended their decision on Tuesday with the declaration…
WikiLeaks Cables and the Right’s Hypocrisy Over Democracy in the Middle East
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – Peter Beinart, The Daily Beast – Conservatives are crowing about the WikiLeaks revelations about the Middle East, and that’s strange. It’s strange, first of all, because most conservatives wish WikiLeaks didn’t exist and Julian Assange was…
The Jordan valley: a dry bone of contention
Palestine Note 7 Dec 2010 – The Economist – You might have thought the Jordan Valley was already empty enough. After almost half a century of Israeli occupation its Palestinian population has shrunk from over 200,000 to fewer than 60,000. But UN…
Iran refuses enrichment halt
AlJazeera 7 Dec 2010 – There will be no discussion on uranium enrichment at the next meeting on Iran’s nuclear programme, negotiator says.
Ruling party sweeps Egypt’s vote
AlJazeera 6 Dec 2010 – Results indicate ruling party takes 80 per cent of parliament seats, which the opposition parties denounce as rigged.
Daily Roundup: Couple Detained in Hebron, Israeli Troops Issue Stop-Work Orders to Nahalin Residents
PNN – Bethlehem — PNN – Israeli troops raided the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday and arrested a Palestinian couple inside their home. Near Bethlehem, Israeli troops issued a series of…
Palestine Tourism Hitting Records with Female Minister
PNN – By Yusef Daher – Palestine was blessed by prophets, by artists, writers, revolutionaries and many other personalities of its own children. As a place it is also blessed by many holy places,…
America’s Latest Bribe to Israel
PNN – By Daoud Kuttab – The secret talks between US and Israeli officials, aiming at convincing the Israelis to change their position regarding the settlement freeze, started to smell more and more like…
Arab Investigative Journalism coming of Age
PNN – By – Daoud Kuttab – Nearly seven years ago, I met Jesper Hojberg from Denmark and mentioned that we needed help in the Arab region with investigative journalism. Before long, Hojberg and…
Eighteen Israeli Rabbis Sign Religious Ruling Banning Home Rental to Arabs
PNN – Safed — PNN – Israeli media reported on Tuesday that 18 Israeli rabbis signed a new religious ruling calling on Jews not to rent or sell apartments to non-Jews and Arabs in…
Abbas: Turkey Will Broker More International Recognitions
PNN – Ankara — PNN – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) requested help from Turkey in getting recognition from other countries for an independent state along the…
Analysis: Notes from an undeclared cold war
Jeruslalem Post 7 Dec 2010 – The diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks offer details of Iran’s push for regional dominance in the Middle East.
WikiLeaks: Immigrants have warmed Israel-Russia ties
Jeruslalem Post 6 Dec 2010 – However, close ties to Israel do not appear “to have had much impact on Moscow’s ‘pragmatic’ positions on issues such as arms sales to Syria.”
International Solidarity Movement
Shootings in Gaza ‘buffer zone’ continue
12/7/2010 – International Solidarity Movement – 4 December, ISM Gaza – On Saturday, the 4th of December 2010, three people were shot and injured at the northern border near to Bait Lahya. All of them sustained multiple fractures that required surgery, and two of them were hit with ‚Äòdum-dum’ bullets, which explode on impact. The three of them were civilians….
Notes from the Olive Harvest
Uruknet December 7, 2010 – “We lived in a paradise”. My grandmother used to say about Jrash; her village to the west of occupied Jerusalem, her home and only home. “We had lots and lots of trees, countless trees, so many trees that stretched as far as the eyesight would reach, planted by my father, his father and his grandfather…
Shootings in Gaza ‚Äòbuffer zone’ continue
Uruknet December 7, 2010 – On Saturday, the 4th of December 2010, three people were shot and injured at the northern border near to Bait Lahya. All of them sustained multiple fractures that required surgery, and two of them were hit with ‘dum-dum’ bullets, which explode on impact. The three of them were civilians who have no other way to…
There is Nothing ‘Divine’ About Haifa’s Fire
Uruknet December 7, 2010 – It is always disappointing when politicians refuse to see further than the tips of their noses. Unfortunately, this is the case far too often here in Palestine. The effects of this tunnel vision are ridiculous in the best case scenario, extremely damaging in the worst. One such case of short-sightedness came from Hamas’ deposed leader…
Statistics: Israel razed about 1, 000 Palestinian homes in Jerusalem in 10 years
Uruknet December 7, 2010 – Statistics published by the land research center of the Arab studies society stated that Israel have demolished 995 Palestinian homes and displaced 5,783 individuals, including 3,109 children in occupied Jerusalem since the start of 2000. These data was published in a book issued on Monday by the center under the title “Jerusalem under occupation.” According…
P.A. Denounces Israel for Testing Different Drugs With Palestinian Prisoners
Uruknet December 7, 2010 – On Monday, the Prisoner Affairs specialist of the Palestinian Authority, and former prisoner, Abdul Nasir Farawneh reported that Israel uses Palestinian prisoners to test the effects of different drugs, through the experimental medicine. Through a statement from Algeria, Farawneh echoed the recent report “Palestinian Prisoners and Israeli Medical Experimentation: More than 5,000 Experiments Run Annually,”…
What are Israel’s priorities in time of natural disaster?
Uruknet December 7, 2010 – Despite Israel’s international call for aid to help fight the raging wildfires in the north of the country, the Isrli army had plenty of extra soldiers to suppress the weekly unarmed demonstrations in Nabi Saleh, Ni’ilin and Bil’in. Instead of diverting all available resources to suppressing the fire, the government continued to devote resources to…
‘Don’t rent to non-Jews,’ Israeli rabbis warn
Uruknet December 7, 2010 — Fifty Israeli rabbis have signed an open letter warning Jews not to rent or sell property to non-Jews, saying those who do should be “ostracized,” a copy of the letter showed on Tuesday.”In answer to the many questions, we say that it is forbidden in the Torah to sell a house or a field in…
Top Shi’ite Cleric Told US to Back Sistani to Counter Iran
Uruknet December 6, 2010 – A new WikiLeaks release from 2008 quotes top Shi’ite cleric Sayyed Emad Klanter, a nephew of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, as saying that the ayatollah was growing frustrated by the lack of indirect consultation with US occupation forces. Incredibly, Klanter claimed that Sistani was “alarmed” by the growing Iranian influence over Iraqi politics and said…
WikiLeaks: Israel weapons manufacturer listed as site vital to U.S. interests
Uruknet December 6, 2010 – One of the latest U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks listed an Israeli weapons manufacturer as one of the global sites which the United States considers vital to its security interests. The U.S. cable listed a Haifa weapons development facility belonging to the Israeli company Rafael as a site of vital interest, due to its…
The Carmel Wildfire is burning all illusions in Israel
Uruknet December 6, 2010 – Four days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to place thousands of migrant workers in a prison camp deep in the Negev Desert because, as he claimed, they pose a “threat to the character of [the] country,” a burning tree trunk fell into a bus full of Israeli Prison Service cadets, killing forty…
On the hunting of Palestinian children and re-education at the Ofer prison
Uruknet December 6, 2010 – On 15 November 2010 the IDF spokesman issued the following news flash: “During the night IDF forces in the Judea and Samaria area and in the Jordan Valley arrested 11 wanted persons.” A routine announcement that is published nearly every morning, but it does not receive much attention, because whom does it interest? And if…
IOA using prisoners as medical guinea pigs
Uruknet December 6, 2010 – Former prisoner and expert on prisoners’ affairs Abdulnasser Farwana has said that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) was performing more than 5,000 experimental drug tests on Palestinian prisoners per annum. Farwana said in a research paper presented at the Algerian conference for support of Palestinian prisoners that the Israeli health ministry was granting permits to…
US Middle East peace plan flounders
The Guardian 7 Dec 2010 – ‚Ä¢ Washington abandons bid for settlement moratorium ‚Ä¢ Inducements fail to win over Binyamin Netanyahu The White House has abandoned its attempts to pressure Israel to halt Jewish settlement construction as a means to kickstart peace…
US embassy cables: Israel warns of reprisals against Lebanon in case of rocket attacks
The Guardian 7 Dec 2010 – Thursday, 18 June 2009, 08:49 S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 001324 SIPDIS DEPT FOR S/SEMEP EO 12958 DECL: 06/18/2019 TAGS PREL, LE, SY, UN, IS SUBJECT: GOI DISCUSSES LEBANON…
OPT: Al Jazeera Children’s Channel and UNRWA sign groundbreaking online learning agreement
Relief Web 7 Dec 2010 – Source: UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
Top UN humanitarian official in Gaza concerned over closure of youth NGO
Relief Web 7 Dec 2010 – Source: UN News Service
Occupied Palestinian Territory: Gaza Strip – Areas Restricted for Palestinian Access – as of Oct 010
Relief Web 7 Dec 2010 – Source: OCHA
Occupied Palestinian Territory: Demolitions in East Jerusalem in 2010 – as of October 2010
Relief Web 7 Dec 2010 – Source: OCHA
Barak: WikiLeaks affair delayed settlement freeze
YNet News – Defense minister says peace process stalled in part because Washington immersed….
Israel says South American ‘Palestine’ nods hurt peace
YNet News – Foreign Ministry’s Ayalon says recognition of Palestinian state by Argentina,….
Dutch politician urges Jews to ’emigrate to US or Israel’
YNet News – Former European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein says no future for Orthodox Jews….
Turkish official: Fire diplomacy boosts Israel ties
YNet News – Israeli, Turkish reps meet for second time in Geneva in bid to mend relations….
Talks between Iran, world powers focus on nuclear program
YNet News – Source tells Washington Post world powers condemn recent assassination of top….
Egypt’s ruling party sweeps parliament vote
YNet News – Outcome leaves Mubarak’s National Democratic Party in firm control of new….
Report: Hezbollah missiles can reach Tel Aviv
YNet News – New York Times quotes Pentagon official as saying Lebanese Shiite group has….
Lieberman associate: Turkey should compensate Israel
YNet News – A close associate of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that “an apology to Turkey is like surrendering to terror,” adding that Ankara should compensate …….
Did Mossad try to kill Ahmadinejad?
YNet News – Did Mossad try to assassinate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to Lebanon six weeks ago? This claim was made by an Iranian source in an interview …….
IDF: Hezbollah to take over Lebanon, dozens will die
YNet News – The tensions in Lebanon are growing as the release of recommendations by the international tribunal tasked with probing the Hariri murder nears. Hezbollah has …….
Netanyahu, Peres honor foreign firefighters
YNet News – After the devastating Carmel fire died out, Israel turned to honor the foreign delegations which came to Israel’s rescue and helped extinguish the deadly flames. In a …….
The Barrier strangles al-Walajah
B’tselem 13 Nov 2010 – The Barrier currently under construction runs close to the homes of al-Walajah, in southwest Jerusalem, damaging the ancient agricultural terraces and blocking villagers’ access to them. The goal is to leave as much village land as possible west of the Bagram F
Palestinian Information Center
Oglo warns of true dangers threaten the existence of the Aqsa Mosque
PIC 7 Dec 2010 – Ekmal El-Dien Ehsan Oglo, the secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), has warned Tuesday of true dangers engulfing the Aqsa Mosque ..
Erdogan: Israeli siege on Gaza must end
PIC 7 Dec 2010 – Recep Tayyep Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, has urged Tuesday the Zionist entity to lift the five-year old siege on Gaza, reiterating his governments conditions ..
Statistics: Israel razed about 1, 000 Palestinian homes in Jerusalem in 10 years
PIC 7 Dec 2010 – Statistics published by the land research center stated that Israel have demolished 995 Palestinian homes and displaced 5, 783 individualsin occupied Jerusalem since the start of 2000.
Palestinian women: UN role must be re-evaluated
PIC 7 Dec 2010 – Palestinian women leaders called for re-evaluating the role of the UN in the Palestine cause and its ability to abide by the essence of its charter.
Mother of hunger striker says her son in very serious health condition
PIC 7 Dec 2010 – The mother of prisoner Majd Obeid, one of the six hunger strikers in West Bank jails, said that the health condition of her son is extremely bad and deteriorating everyday.
Uruguay to follow the footsteps of Latin neighbors, recognize Palestine
PIC 7 Dec 2010 – The deputy foreign minister of Uruguay has said that his country would recognize Palestine as an independent state by next year 2011.
Ahrar lashes out at IOA for renewing detention of female captive
PIC 7 Dec 2010 – A Palestinian human rights center lashed out at the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) for renewing the administrative detention of Kifah Jibril only few hours before her release date.
Lieberman: No reason for renewing freeze on settlement building
PIC 7 Dec 2010 – Israeli foreign minister Lieberman has said that his government does not find a reason for renewing the freeze on settlement building because it did not contribute to activating the “peace process”.
Galloway: More aid to be sent to Gaza via land, air, and sea
PIC 7 Dec 2010 – Former British MP George Galloway revealed that new humanitarian aid convoys would be sent to the Gaza Strip next year to break the Israeli siege on it for the past four and a half years.
Abu Sha’ar: Israel is racing against time to Judaize O. Jerusalem
PIC 7 Dec 2010 – Dr. Taleb Abu Sha’ar warned of the Israeli occupation state’s intention to build 846 settlement units in occupied Jerusalem, stressing Israel is racing against time to Judaize the entire holy land.
Israel Takes Steps to Tighten Information Security in Wake of Wikileaks
The Media Line 6 Dec 2010 – Despite advances in technology, no system is immune The flood of internal U.S. State Department cables uploaded onto the Wikileaks website has heightened efforts in Israel to better secure information in a country, which has seen…
Israel Thanks Foreign Fire Fighters for Help in Dousing Carmel Fire
The Media Line 6 Dec 2010 – Representatives from Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and PA skip ceremony A festive luncheon held in Jerusalem by Israel to thank the foreign teams that helped battle the devastating Carmel Mountain forest fire were missing some of the…
South American Nations Recognize Palestinian State
The Media Line 6 Dec 2010 – gentina and Uruguay announced they would join Brazil in recognizing an independent Palestinian state. Moving at a faster pace than the Palestinians themselves, Brazil stated its recognition of the state of Palestine on Fri…
Teen Admits to Accidentally Starting Israeli Forest Fire
The Media Line 6 Dec 2010 – rthern Israel by carelessly discarding simmering ashes from the hookah pipe he had just smoked. During interrogation, the youth reportedly told police he was scared by the rapid conflagration and returned to school without alerting anyone…
Talks fail to achieve limits on Iran’s nuclear program
LA Times 7 Dec 2010 – The six world powers agree to meet again with Iran next month in Istanbul. Six world powers ended a long-awaited meeting with Iran on its nuclear program Tuesday with plans for another meeting but no other visible result.
U.S. Ends Push to Renew Israeli Freeze on Settlements
New York Times 7 Dec 2010 – The Obama administration has abandoned an effort to get Israel’s government to renew a freeze on the construction of Jewish settlements, two senior officials said.
More Nuclear Talks With Iran Are Set
New York Times 7 Dec 2010 – The United States and other world powers ended two days of talks with Iran on its nuclear program, saying they would resume negotiations at the end of January.
Nations Start Talks With Iran on Its Nuclear Program
New York Times 7 Dec 2010 – Talks began Monday as world powers seek reassurances that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions are peaceful.
Obama’s Policy of Appeasement in Israel
Palestine Monitor – Even those familiar with the long and shameful history of America’s appeasement of Israel were taken aback by the Obama administration’s extraordinary offer to Netanyahu. Written by Maidhc ?ì Cathail. In exchange for a paltry one-off 90 day freeze on illegal settlement expansion in the occupied…
Hamas aims to kill ‚Äòall Jews worldwide,’ Oren says (after laying wreath on King’s grave)
Mondoweiss – Three years ago I heard the American-born Israeli Michael B. Oren promoting his new book Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present at a university near my home in upstate New York. Oren is a tall, good looking man who…
US role in Palestine is ‚Äòperfect symbol’ for recruiting Islamic terrorists —US Embassy in Algeria
Mondoweiss – “After the latest Algiers bombings” is the title of a December 2007 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Algeria following two December 11 bombings of government and U.N. buildings in Algiers that killed dozens and shook the government. AQIM isAl-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. I picked…
Solarz got his wish
Mondoweiss – The late Stephen Solarz left Congress in ’92 after being beaten in a Democratic primary in his redrawn Brooklyn district. From an exit interview in the Times: “I suppose my deepest regret is that by the end of the year, when I’m out, Saddam Hussein will…
Not sure whether to laugh or cry
Mondoweiss – The Guardian : The WikiLeaks crisis is holding back talks on Jewish settlements in the West Bank, according to the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak. Haaretz : “Racism originated in the Torah,” said Rabbi Yosef Scheinen, who heads the Ashdod Yeshiva. “The land of Israel is designated for…
Rabbis say don’t rent to Arabs, Israeli forces surround mosque, more scrap collectors shot
Mondoweiss – And more news from Today in Palestine: Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing Statistics: Israel razed about 1, 000 Palestinian homes in Jerusalem in 10 years Statistics published by the land research center stated that Israel have demolished 995 Palestinian homes and displaced 5,…
Palestinian refugees and Israel’s A1 rail project – example of Beit Iksa
Global BDS 7 Dec 2010 – The A1 rail project constitutes yet another step in the i read more
US scraps settlements freeze bid
BBC 7 Dec 2010 – The US is abandoning efforts to persuade Israel to renew a freeze on settlement-building as part of efforts to revive Middle East peace talks.
Fresh Iran nuclear talks agreed
BBC 7 Dec 2010 – Two days of talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear programme end in Geneva, with a new round agreed for January in Istanbul.
Israel rejects shark plot claims
BBC 7 Dec 2010 – Israel dismisses Egyptian claims that shark attacks in the Red Sea could have been caused by its foreign intelligence agency, Mossad.
Israel anger at S America moves
BBC 7 Dec 2010 – Israel reacts angrily as Argentina joins Brazil in recognising a Palestinian state within 1967 borders.
(en) Palestine-Israel, The joint struggle of 63 – 43 – 7 years continue in spite burnout
A-infos 7 Dec 2010 – The joint struggle against naZionist settler colonialism, occupation, and transfer continue in waves. The last year included a new wave as significant part of Israeli radical joint the struggle and direct actions both within 1948 Israel and 1967 occupied lands. The struggle against the separation fence…
Articles
Defending Palestinian solidarity
Ali Abunimah, AlJazeera12/7/2010
There has been a recent escalation by the ‘Israel Lobby’ to muzzle the growing Palestinian solidarity movement.
The Electronic Intifada, the online publication about Palestine that I co-founded in 2001, finds itself at the centre of a storm as a pro-Israel group applies pressure to have a grant from a Dutch foundation withdrawn.
This assault on our freedom of conscience is about much more than our website. It is part of a well-coordinated, escalating Israeli government-endorsed effort to vilify individuals and cripple organisations that criticise Israel’s human rights record and call for it to respect Palestinian rights and international law.
The latest salvo came in a scurrilous article in The Jerusalem Post based on allegations from a group called NGO Monitor, accusing The Electronic Intifada of “anti-Semitism” – without citing a single example from the almost 12,000 articles we have published. The Electronic Intifada has responded to NGO Monitor’s accusations. Of course the charge of “anti-Semitism” has long been a weapon in the hands of Israel’s apologists when they cannot find a factual basis to challenge the site’s reporting and analysis.
NGO Monitor zeroed in on a grant The Electronic Intifada has received from the Dutch foundation ICCO, which is itself subsidised by the Dutch government. Since 2006, this grant has made up about a third of The Electronic Intifada’s budget (our total expenses were around $180,000 in 2009 as our public filings show and the majority of our funding comes from donations by our readers).
In published comments, Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said he would investigate the matter personally…. more.. e-mail
Israel Reduces Wheat Supply to the Gaza Strip: Food Security in Gaza at Greater Risk as Israeli Siege Continues
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights12/7/2010
The Israeli authorities have reduced the amounts of wheat allowed into the Gaza Strip. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), lower quantities of wheat grain and animal feed have been allowed to enter Gaza during the past few months. Between January and May 2010 the 64,237 tons were allowed to enter Gaza through a special conveyer belt at Karni Crossing. Since June 2010, the Israeli authorities allowed only 48,609 tons into Gaza. Wheat is allowed to enter Gaza only through the Karni Crossing. This crossing operates for two days a week. The conveyer belt used to bring in wheat grain during the two days it opened. However, Israel has started to allocate only one day for wheat grain and animal feed while the other day has been allocated to bring in construction materials for approved housing projects implemented by UN agencies. Al Mezan is concerned by the ongoing decline in the amounts of wheat grain and animal feed allowed to enter Gaza under the siege conditions that continue to reflect insensitivity toward the needs and welfare of Gaza population.
The reduction of amounts of wheat and animal feed harms the direct humanitarian needs of Gaza population. During the past years, the Israeli continuous closures imposed on the Gaza Strip have prevented Palestinians from keeping any strategic stockpile of basic commodities; including wheat grain. Within a few days the signs of scarcity of wheat and animal feed started to appear in Gaza. Lines of people waiting for bread in front of bakeries have started to form around Gaza’s towns and refugee camps. The prices of meat and chicken; already expensive for most of Gaza’s impoverished population, have also started to increase.
Other human rights problems are also caused by the reduction of these two commodities; including an increase in poverty and unemployment. Many Palestinians have lost their jobs in work related these materials. According to information obtained by Al Mezan, Gaza’s six mills have run out of the wheat grain stocks and decreased their working hours by half. Livestock and animal breeders have also made plans to reduce their production in order to avoid dramatic losses due to death of their birds and animals or high prices of animal feed. more.. e-mail
A just peace, not religion is the solution in the Middle East
Uri Avnery, Redress12/5/2010
“Islam is the Solution”
First, an apology: I am not going to write about the Wikileaks.
I like gossip as much as the next (wo)man. The leaks provide a lot of it, interspersed with some real information.
But there is nothing really new there. The information only confirms what any intelligent person could have worked out already. If there is anything new, it’s exactly this confirmation: the world is really managed the way we thought it was. How depressing.
Four hundred years ago, Sir Henry Wotton, a British diplomat, observed that “An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.” Since then, nothing has changed except that the ambassador has been joined by the ambassadress. So it is quite refreshing to listen to what they say in secret messages home, when they don’t have to lie.
That said, let’s move on to more important things. This week’s elections in Egypt, for example.
Years ago, the story goes that a Soviet citizen went to the polling station on election-day and was handed a sealed envelope to put into the ballot box.
“Aren’t I allowed to see who I am voting for?” he asked.
“Of course not!” the stern-faced official retorted indignantly, “In our Soviet Union, the elections are secret!”
This could not happen in Egypt. First of all, because Egyptians are a very humorous people. If told that their elections were secret, they would burst out laughing. more.. e-mail
Obama’s Policy of Appeasement in Israel
Palestine Monitor: 6 Dec 2010 – Even those familiar with the long and shameful history of America’s appeasement of Israel were taken aback by the Obama administration’s extraordinary offer to Netanyahu. Written by Maidhc ?ì Cathail. In exchange for a paltry one-off 90 day freeze on illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem), Israel were to get 20 F-35 stealth fighter jets worth $3 billion and a slew of other goodies. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly spent eight hours with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu trying to persuade him to accept one of the most generous bribes ever bestowed by the United States on any foreign power. Praising the Israeli prime minister for eventually agreeing to put the offer to his security cabinet, President Barack Obama took it as “a signal that he is serious”. Is there any reason to believe that Netanyahu is any more “serious” about consenting to the…more
The Palestinian People Have Rights too
Palestine Chronicle: 7 Dec 2010 – By Dr. Abdel-Qader Yassine If there is one thing a Palestinian cannot understand, or If he did understand cannot forgive, it is the apathy and hypocrisy with which governments in the ‘Free World’, especially in the United States, react towards issues of right and wrong in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Indeed, questions of morals and of justice seem to have no relevance, and policy appears in most cases to be determined solely by considerations of what one party only to the conflict might agree to, or at least not protest about. Ninety-three years ago, Lord Arthur James Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, signed a document which has bedeviled the peoples of the Middle East ever since. Although I do not propose to discuss here this document at length, in any serious debate on the Palestinian — Israeli conflict the Balfour Declaration can hardly be avoided given its place in the mythology of…more
Israel First: Discrediting Rule of Law in Britain
Palestine Chronicle: 7 Dec 2010 – By Stuart Littlewood — London Professor Richard Falk put it most eloquently: ‘The idea of Nuremberg after World War Two was that crimes against the peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes are also offences against the whole of international society…’ The law that was applied to surviving German criminals of World War Two would not be respected unless those who sat in judgment upheld it in relation to their own behaviour. The UN Special Rapporteur was speaking in London at a parliamentary briefing on Universal Jurisdiction, the principles of which the British government intends to undermine for the benefit of its Israeli friends. “Universal jurisdiction is part of the struggle against impunity for the Israeli military and the country’s political leaders,” said Falk. “That impunity has been possible both because Israel itself doesn’t impose accountability on those who perpetrate violations of international criminal law and because the US, and…more
I Wish — A Poem
Palestine Chronicle: 7 Dec 2010 – By Nadeem Fayaz I wish I could take to the streets with a million men behind me Chanting words of freedom, peace and honesty Be the image that defines our generation, the event that changed history Those British that marched in the name of humanity Be the living revolution from these shores far from the siege But changing the lives of those children far from at ease I wish I could take to the streets with a million men behind me And tell those world leaders, ‘the revolution has started’ They will quiver on their thrones and behind their bold statements we will know What they are most frightened of is us, for they will speak amongst themselves “The people have spoken, the people have taken to the streets!” And there are a million more behind them No more settlements, no more wall, ‘free my people’ is the call The…more
WikiLeaks: What, Really, Is the Problem?
Dissident Voice: 7 Dec 2010 – Some commentators, bloggers and other writers, were quick to jump to the conclusion that the avalanche of documents being released by WikiLeaks is part and parcel of an Israeli/Mossad deception strategy. One implication being that WikiLeaks’ founder, Julian Assange is, knowingly or not, manipulated by Zionism. On the basis of the first two or three days of the Wikileaked revelations as reported by the mainstream media, in America especially, there most definitely was a case for saying that the agenda best served by the leaked diplomatic cables was that of the Zionist state of Israel, its lobby in America and its many stooges in Congress. The essence of the case was in the message that Iran is the biggest single threat to the peace of the region and the world not only because the Israelis say so but also because Arab leaders agree with them. In my last post I…more
Power, Faith and Fantasy
Dissident Voice: 7 Dec 2010 – Three years ago I heard the American-born Israeli Michael B. Oren promoting his new book Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present at a university near my home in upstate New York. Oren is a tall, good looking man who radiated a quiet confidence. His book had the truly fanciful goal of showing that the intense American involvement in the Middle East and especially our engagement with the idea of a renewal of Jewish sovereignty in the region, was not a recent development. Oren claimed that both the Zionist idea and the friction between Americans and Muslims is an important and persistent narrative thread running through American history from very early times. For instance, he describes the military confrontations of a young American republic with the Barbary pirates as the first battles in what we now call the “War On Terror.” My own conclusion…more
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The New Dark Age 
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