9 February, 2011 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Amnesty Lobbies for Justice for Gazans
IMEMC – Wednesday February 09, 2011 – 17:07, Amnesty International has announced that it will lobby the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) regarding justice for the victims of Operation Cast Lead, according to reports from the Alternative Information Centre.
Man Injured by Israeli Army Near Nablus
IMEMC – Wednesday February 09, 2011 – 13:11, A Palestinian youth was wounded after being shot in the leg by the Israeli Army in Urif.
Fundamentalist Settler Rabbi Says Killing “Non-Jews” Is Justifiable
IMEMC – Wednesday February 09, 2011 – 12:56, Dov Lior, Chief Rabbi of the Keryat Arba’ illegal settlement in Hebron, in the southern part of the West bank, stated that killing non-Jews is justifiable, in some cases, without any restrictions.
Settlers Planning 200 Units in Sheikh Jarrah
IMEMC – Wednesday February 09, 2011 – 11:52, Arieh King, founder and director of the Israel Land Fund, stated that within five to ten years 200 units for Jewish settlers will be built in the Palestinian neighborhood in Sheikh Jarrah, in occupied East Jerusalem.
Extremist Settler-leader Describes Spanish Foreign Minister As Anti-Semite
IMEMC – Wednesday February 09, 2011 – 11:21, During her visit to the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, also referred to as the Cave of the Patriarchs, extremist settler leader, Itamar Ben Gavir, shouted at Spanish Foreign Minister, Trinidad Jimenez, describing her as an anti-Semite and as “Israel hater”.
Child Wounded By Army Fire In Hebron
IMEMC – Wednesday February 09, 2011 – 10:38, Palestinian medical sources reported that a Palestinian child was wounded on Tuesday evening after Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated bullets in Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron in the southern part of the West Bank. Several army attacks reported across the West Bank on Wednesday at dawn.
Ten Palestinians Wounded In A Number Of Israeli Air Strike Targeting Gaza
IMEMC – Wednesday February 09, 2011 – 10:21, Palestinian medical sources reported that ten residents were wounded in a number of air strikes targeting several areas in the Gaza Strip.
Four Projectiles Fired Into The Negev
IMEMC – Tuesday February 08, 2011 – 16:42, Israeli daily, The Jerusalem Post are reporting, on Tuesday, that four projectiles have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Southern Israel.
10 Palestinians injured in Gaza strikes
2/9/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Ten Palestinians were injured Wednesday morning in Israeli air strikes which started after midnight and hit in a series of explosions running from the northern end of the Strip to the south. Spokesman of the higher committee of ambulance and emergency services Adham Abu Salmiya said that eight were lightly….
Red Cross tents demolished in village
2/9/2011 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli military bulldozers demolished barns and tents in Khirbet Tana village on Wednesday, marking the fourth time in a week dwellings in the area set up by the International Red Cross were forcibly taken down. Beit Furik Mayor Ated Hanini told Ma’an that Israeli bulldozers demolished more than 25….
WHO: Gaza drug shortage ‘serious’ risk to health
2/9/2011 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — A World Health Organization report found “serious health risks” were at play during an investigation probing the availability of essential medications in the Gaza Strip. In coping with the unavailability of medications, the report said, doctors prescribe alternative medications that are sometimes less effective or have worse side effects. In other….
Palestinian injured in clashes south of Nablus
2/9/2011 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — A teenager was hospitalized Wednesday morning after being shot in the leg by Israeli forces with a rubber-coated bullet, as witnesses said the force entered the village of Urif. South of the illegal Yitzhar settlement, locals said the military patrol sparked clashes as a group of armored cars drive through the….
Center: Expired food at Israel prison
2/10/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – The detainees center reported Wednesday that prisoners in Huwarra prison fell ill sickened because they were given expired food. Detainees had stomachaches and severe pains after eating breakfast, the center said. They called to complain and ask for help. The center said that the prison administration is responsible for the detainees….
Abbas aide comes out against Egypt uprising
2/9/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — A senior aide to President Mahmoud Abbas launched a scathing attack Wednesday against pro-democracy protesters who have demonstrated for weeks against the authoritarian rule of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. Tayeb Abdel-Rahim says the protesters have “suspicious allegiances” against the regime and hope to undermine Egypt’s “leading role.””Creative….
Center: Woman detained en route to brother’s cell
2/10/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Ahrar prisoners organization said Israeli forces detained Rahma Abdul Qader Hijaz, 32, on Monday while she was on her way to visit her brother, Yasser Hijaz, in Asqalan jail. Fuad Al-Khafsh, the director of the center, said Rahma is a mother of six children and lives west of Ramallah. She….
Hamas says Egypt ex-minister tied to church attack
2/10/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas says legal action against former Egyptian Minister of Interior Habib Al-Adili linking him to the Alexandria church bombing exposes the baselessness of the minister’s accusations against Palestinians. The Islamist movement said in a statement that accusations that Palestinians targeted the Saints Church on New Year’s…. Related: Hamas: investigation linking Al Adly with church bombing exposes involvement in incitement against the resistance
Jordan PM names Islamist, leftists to new cabinet
2/9/2011 – AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit named a new cabinet including an Islamist and five leftists Tuesday following the dismissal of the previous government by King Abdullah II earlier this month. The new line-up, which was sworn in, includes independent Islamist Abdelrahim Akur, who is a former leader of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood….
Journalists arrested in Bethlehem
2/9/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Preventive Security Service prevented two journalists from covering a protest Tuesday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem and then placed them in custody, a press freedom group said. Quds TV correspondent Mamdouh Hamamrah was covering a teachers’ sit-in in at the Education Ministry in Bethlehem when Preventive Security….
Overnight raid, checkpoint near Tubas sees 1 detained
2/9/2011 – TUBAS (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained a Palestinian man from Tamoun village south of Tubas on Wednesday morning, after raiding his house and searching his belongings, local sources said. Witnesses said eight Israeli military vehicles entered the village overnight, storming the house of Adam Abdul Aziz Beni Odeh, who was later detained, following a….
Britain says time for Israel to compromise
2/9/2011 – LONDON (Ma’an) — Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday that Israel was putting itself at risk by failing to compromise on the Mideast peace process, The Times reported. Hague made the remarks en route to Amman, Jordan, from Tunisia, The Times reported. According to a British official in Jerusalem, Hague’….
Gaza vulnerable despite resumption of Egyptian petrol deliveries
2/9/2011 – GAZA CITY (IRIN) — Despite ongoing protests calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s immediate resignation, petrol is once again flowing through the tunnels from Egypt into Gaza after supplies were cut for a week due to the unrest, according to the Palestinian General Petroleum Corporation. The corporation reports that almost one million tons of….
Israel’s Barak in US for top-level talks
2/10/2011 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak is to hold a series of top-level talks in Washington later on Wednesday which Israeli media say will center on the unfolding crisis in Egypt. Barak left Israel on Tuesday for a two-day visit to Washington and New York, and is expected to meet US Secretary….
Palestinians face uncertain reception at Cairo airport
2/9/2011 – NABLUS/GAZA (Ma’an) — An official at the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo denied reports that Palestinians were being denied entry into Egypt, saying all those with residence permits could access the country freely. The director of the Egyptian borders authority, however, told AFP that the entry of at least 12 Palestinians had been denied….
Islamic Jihad: Elections will deepen crisis
2/10/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Palestinian factions in Gaza said Tuesday that no Palestinian faction is entitled to unilateral decisions to hold national elections to serve special interests. Islamic Jihad it was committed in principle to elections but it rejects Fatah’s control of the decision because it is a national issue and should….
Israel aims to head off strike over soaring prices
2/9/2011 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday with union officials in a bid to stave off rising public anger and a general strike threat over spiralling food and petrol prices, officials said. During the talks with Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini and the heads of the manufacturers’ association and the local authorities….
Two Gaza crossings operate
2/9/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Two terminals were opened Wednesday for the introduction of aid and commercial goods into Gaza, Israeli officials informed Palestinian liaison officers early in the day. Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said he was told to expect 170 to 180 truckloads of goods, including 10 loads are cement for UNRWA, and….
Qalqiliya man sentenced for collaboration
2/10/2011 – QALQILIYA (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority Court of First Instance sentenced a suspect to 14 years in prison and hard labor after he was convicted of collaborating with the occupation. The Public Prosecution in Qalqilya charged the unidentified man with spying for Israel. The charge carries a maximum penalty of death, but it is….
Egyptian humor touches Palestine
2/9/2011 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — “If the Egyptian revolution succeeds,” the joke in Cairo goes, “it will meet with Tunis for the finals.” Images of protesters in Tahrir Square calling for the ouster of embattled President Mubarak have also wrought wry smiles from Palestinians riveted to television and computer screens.” Leave, I miss my wife,” the….
Ambassador: Fatah had nothing to do with pipeline blast
2/9/2011 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Palestinian ambassador to Cairo Barakat Al-Farra said Wednesday that Egyptian media reports had accused Fatah-affiliates of being behind a blast that targeted the Israel-Egypt-Jordan gas pipeline in the Sinai last week. The blast hit a line of the Israeli-Egyptian gas company, East Mediterranean Gas, on Saturday and destroyed a measuring station….
In photos: UN human rights chief tours Jerusalem
2/9/2011 – MaanImages / Mustafa Abu Dayeh, Pool – PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and United Nations High commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay tour Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. The tour stopped for two hours in the village of Beit Ijza, a small community surrounded by Israel’s Giv’on HaHadasha settlement. The village is in….
Nilesat lifts Al-Jazeera ban
2/9/2011 – CAIRO — (Ma’an) – The Egyptian satellite company Nilesat lifted Wednesday morning a ban on Al-Jazeera and Al-Jazeera Live, giving the Qatar-based channels access to the same bands widths they had used before the restrictions, Reuters reported. In the two days following the outbreak of protests at the end of January, the Egyptian Ministry of….
Palestinian FM: Holland can help make peace
2/9/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — PA Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki told his Dutch counterpart Wednesday that Holland must play a serious role in peacemaking, and urged the leader to seize the current opportunity of American impasse. With a recent track record of positive relations with Israel, Al-Maliki asked Minister Uri Rosenthal to help realize the end….
US warns Mideast nations on popular ‘discontent’
2/9/2011 – WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States called on Middle East leaders to heed popular unrest in the region, as key regional ally Israel Wednesday sent Defense Minister Ehud Barak to Washington for top-level talks. Despite a push by US officials on Egypt to begin enacting reforms and broaden dialogue with opposition groups, Vice President Omar Suleiman….
Gazan students hold Egypt solidarity rally
2/9/2011 – GAZA CITY (AFP) — Several hundred Islamist students rallied in central Gaza on Wednesday in a show of solidarity with the ongoing anti-government protests in Egypt, onlookers said.” Gaza salutes the Egyptians” they shouted, denouncing embattled President Hosni Mubarak as “an American collaborator.” Waving Egyptian and Palestinian flags, they also shouted angry slogans against Egyptian Vice….
PA allocates public land for school, water reservoir in north
2/9/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — During its weekly cabinet meeting, the PA approved an application to allocate government land “for public good” in Jenin. The application was made by the Anza Village Council, and sought to take lands from Ras Al-Farah in Tubas for the establishment of a school and a water reservoir. A second plot….
Ashrawi welcomes elections date
2/9/2011 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — PLO official and lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi welcomed Wednesday the decision to hold local elections on July 9. She stressed that elections were a basic requirement for a future democratic and sovereign Palestinian state.”Palestinians should take advantage of these elections to raise their concerns and to ensure that their voices are….
Rainfall up after years of drought
2/10/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The PA Department of Agriculture released rainwater statistics for the West Bank on Wednesday, showing significant boosts to annual numbers as showers continue across the region. Six out of twelve regions have already seen more than 90 percent of the historic average number of millimeters of rain fall, with Tulkarem region…. Related: Statistics (PDF)
Syria renews direct access to Facebook, YouTube
2/9/2011 – DAMASCUS (AFP) — For the first time since 2007, Syrians can directly log onto Facebook and YouTube without going through proxy servers abroad, Internet users said on Wednesday. The authorities issued no statements regarding the development, but Syria’s leading media and technology entrepeneur, Abdulsalam Haykal, told AFP that the request to lift the block….
Iranian ‘checkmates’ Israeli to win back record
2/9/2011 – TEHRAN (AFP) — An Iranian grandmaster said he ousted the Israeli title holder on Wednesday to regain the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games after facing more than 600 players in over 25 hours. Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, 28, won 96 percent of his games which began on Tuesday in Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University, a….
Tunisia Senate grants leader wide powers
2/9/2011 – TUNIS (AFP) — Tunisia’s Senate agreed unanimously Wednesday to grant wide powers to the interim president struggling to restore order to the country following the overthrow of ex-leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The upper house followed the lead of the lower house of parliament which on Monday authorised interim president Foued Mebazaa to….
Minister: Egypt army would intervene in case of chaos
2/9/2011 – CAIRO (AFP) — The army would be forced to intervene to protect the country if anti-government protests push Egypt into chaos, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Wednesday, according to the state news agency….
Egypt’s Tahrir Square MC rocks protest crowds
2/9/2011 – CAIRO (AFP) — Like a rock star, Ali Elfi faces adoring crowds, a microphone in hand as he belts out lines. But his lyrics are anti-regime chants and his stage is Cairo’s protest central: Tahrir Square. Elfi is dressed like a rocker, in jeans and a leather jacket, but his role is more like….
Jordan tribes break taboo by targeting queen
2/9/2011 – AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — Popular discontent took a new turn with unprecedented public criticism of King Abdullah II’s wife, Queen Rania, who stands accused of “corruption” by large tribes, the bedrock of Jordan’s regime.” We call on the king to return to the treasury land and farms given to the Yassin family….
Mubarak regime warns of crackdown as revolt spreads
2/9/2011 – CAIRO (AFP) — Egypt’s embattled regime warned of a military crackdown on Wednesday as massive protests demanding its overthrow spilled out across the country and deadly unrest flared in the remote south. Hundreds of demonstrators marched on parliament from the epicentre of the uprising in Cairo’s Tahrir Square the day after the….
Latest events in Egypt drama
2/9/2011 – CAIRO (AFP) — Key events on Wednesday, the 16th day of the popular revolt against Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak:— Demonstrators keep up the pressure on Mubarak to quit, a day after the biggest demonstrations since the start of the protests on January 25. Late on Tuesday Vice President Omar Suleiman had cautioned against hasty….
Google executive earns star status in Egypt’s revolt
2/9/2011 – CAIRO (AFP) — Cyberactivist Wael Ghonim, a young executive at internet giant Google, rallied thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators and catapulted to star status among Egypt’s youth thanks to Facebook. Part fashionable marketing man, part engaging cyber-geek, the 30-year-old who launched the January 25 online call to arms against the Egyptian regime, has the….
Egypt culture minister announces resignation
2/9/2011 – CAIRO (AFP) — Egypt’s Culture Minister Gaber Asfour, appointed just nine days ago to a new cabinet after a reshuffle prompted by massive anti-government protests, has resigned, he told AFP on Wednesday….
White House critical of Egypt’s reform progress
2/9/2011 – WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States Wednesday delivered a critical assessment of Egypt’s tentative steps toward reform, saying they did not meet the “minimum threshold” required by the Egyptian people….
US urges Egypt army to continue showing restraint
2/9/2011 – WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States on Wednesday encouraged the Egyptian army to continue showing “the restraint that they have shown,” after Cairo raised the possiblity of military intervention in the protests….
Tunisia announces talks with unions
2/9/2011 – TUNIS (AFP) — Tunisia’s interim president Foued Mebazaa on Wednesday announced that talks with unions would be held soon, after he was given wide powers to restore order following the ouster of ex-leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali….
Obama’s many broken promises in the Middle East.
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – When President Obama ran for office, America and the world looked for and prayed for change, a change that never came at least to the Middle East. It did not come to Iraq, did not come…
Journalists arrested in Bethlehem
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Ma’an – The Preventive Security Service prevented two journalists from covering a protest Tuesday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem and then placed them in custody, a press freedom group said. Quds TV correspondent Mamdouh…
Jordan PM names Islamist, leftists to new cabinet
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Ma’an – Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit named a new cabinet including an Islamist and five leftists Tuesday following the dismissal of the previous government by King Abdullah II earlier this month. The new line-up, which…
Gazan students hold Egypt solidarity rally
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Ma’an – Several hundred Islamist students rallied in central Gaza on Wednesday in a show of solidarity with the ongoing anti-government protests in Egypt, onlookers said. “Gaza salutes the Egyptians” they shouted, denouncing embattled President Hosni…
NATO chief: Israel-Palestinian talks must resume given ‘new dynamic’ in Mideast
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Haaretz – NATO’s secretary-general on Wednesday urged a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks amid the “new dynamic” in the region. Speaking to the annual security conference in Herzliya, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said a resumption…
War and Peace on Champollion Street
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Huda Lutfi, New York Times – As I write this I can hear the sounds of bullets, banging and shouting on Champollion Street, close to Liberation (Tahrir) Square in central Cairo. I have lived for 13…
Middle East peace process at risk, William Hague says
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – BBC News – William Hague, who is touring the region, said it could “lose further momentum” if international focus shifts to countries like Tunisia and Egypt. He urged Israel to avoid “belligerent language” and called for…
Gaza youth vent anger on Facebook
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – BBC News – A young man in his 20s peers into the room cautiously before walking in and shaking my hand. He looks nervous and tired, dark circles under his eyes. “Don’t use my real name…
Unrest poses short-term economic challenges, long-term opportunities
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Lahcen Achy, Los Angeles Times – Egypt’s nationwide protests have come at a significant cost in the short term. Economic growth is projected to decline, job losses and poverty to increase, inflation to heighten, and the…
What will become of Israel if Mubarak falls?
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – The Guardian – The Israeli perspective of the historic events currently under way in Egypt is quite different from those commonly found in western countries. The US and Europe are more likely to support the removal…
Envoy says Russia will not interfere in Egypt
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Al Masry Al Youm – Russia vowed on Wednesday not to interfere in Egypt’s internal affairs amid mass demonstrations staged since 25 January. Many international leaders have joined protesters in their calls for President Hosni Mubarak’s…
Labor Strikes Add To Pressure On Egypt’s Leaders
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – NPR – Thousands of workers across Egypt went on strike Wednesday to demand better pay, benefits and conditions in unrest that could add momentum to anti-government protests. More than 5,000 workers from a variety of companies,…
In Egyptian Uprising, A Tale Of Two Risks For U.S.
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – NPR – For U.S. policymakers trying to gauge how American interests are at stake in Egypt, the popular uprising there is a tale of two risks. The democratic process, if allowed to run its course, could…
Iraqis Enthused by Egypt Protests
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – IWPR – Iraqis, frustrated with high unemployment, poor services and corruption, have been fixated by media coverage of Cairo’s mass demonstrations – though seen reluctant to follow suit. In cabs and teahouses, through text messages and…
Cairo’s Protests Reverberate in Tehran
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Reza Aslan, The Atlantic – A wide range of observers, from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Fox News’ Glenn Beck, are warning that the downfall of the U.S.-backed dictator in Egypt could lead to another…
Egyptian protesters gain labor allies
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – US continues to press for faster change BBC News – Anti-government protesters in Egypt are continuing their occupation of Cairo’s Tahrir Square for a 16th day and have blocked the entrance to parliament. There are reports…
Free, fair elections still distant prospect for Egypt
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Washington Post – As Egypt comes under pressure to hold free and fair elections, democracy activists are expressing growing doubts about whether a ballot slated for September is feasible, and fearing that it could set the…
Ignoring Egyptians, Iran continues to hail ‘Islamic awakening’
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Los Angeles Times – Both the Egyptian foreign ministry and the opposition Muslim Brotherhood have said the popular protest movement sweeping the country has nothing to do with Iran, or Islam. But that hasn’t stopped Iranian…
A Political Battle of Wills in Egypt
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Thanassis Cambanis, The Atlantic – On Tuesday, the revolutionaries in Tahrir Square took over the street in front of Parliament and the building where the presidential cabinet meets. A professors’ march took a few unplanned turns,…
Overcoming Fear and Anxiety in Tel Aviv
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs – The revolt against President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt invokes fear and anxiety among Israelis. Mubarak, Israel’s oldest neighbor, is suddenly moving out, and Israelis are afraid of the consequences: Who will…
Governments clamp down on Egypt-inspired protests, rights group says
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Los Angeles Times – Human Rights Watch says governments in the Arab world are clamping down on protests inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. “Images of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have mesmerized…
Recent wave of Palestinian recognition draws Israeli ire
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Deutsche-Welle – Since Brazil in December officially recognized a Palestine as a sovereign, independent state within its borders prior to 1967 a whole wave of other Latin American nations have followed. In recent weeks Argentina, Uruguay,…
The Muslim Brotherhood: True or False?
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Neil Hicks, Human Rights First – As the political future of Egypt has been plunged into uncertainty by mass protests that broke out on January 25, commentators and policy makers are expressing concerns about the implications…
Egypt counts cost of turmoil, protesters undaunted
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Alert Net – Egyptians counted the economic cost of more than two weeks of turmoil on Wednesday as protesters on Cairo’s Tahrir Square looked ahead to their next big push to oust President Hosni Mubarak later…
Palestinian statehood would require real changes
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Avi Primor, Deutsche-Welle – In recent weeks a number of South American countries including Brazil, Chile and Argentina have officially recognized Palestine as an independent state. Palestinian Foreign Minister Malki predicted that by September of this…
Egyptian novelist Alaa Al-Aswany on why he backs the revolution
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – T he Daily Beast – Egypt’s best-known contemporary novelist, Alaa Al-Aswany, author of The Yacoubian Building , is also one of the country’s most prominent political activists. Newsweek ‘s Christopher Dickey caught up with him after curfew…
IAF jets strike Gaza tunnels, wounding eight Palestinians
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Haaretz – Officials in Israel and Gaza said Wednesday that Israel Air Force jets have carried out retaliatory airstrikes in the territory after militants launched rockets into Israel. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya says…
U.K. urges Israel to tone down ‘belligerent’ rhetoric amid Mideast uprisings
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Haaretz – The Middle East peace process could become a casualty of the current unrest sweeping the region unless “bold leadership” is shown by all sides to push it forward, Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said…
Egypt, and the post-Islamist middle east
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Asef Bayat, openDemocracy – For years, western political elites and their local allies have charged the Arab peoples with political apathy and lethargy. The argument that Arabs are uninterested in seeking to wrest greater democratic freedoms…
Time to change Obama Mideast team
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera – There seems to be lack of clarity on the part of the Obama administration regarding Egypt. Where does Washington stand today? Caught in the headlights, the Obama administration has been playing…
The different shades of Tahrir
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Editors, Al Jazeera – In the two weeks that have passed since Egyptians began street protests aimed at overturning president Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule, central Cairo’s Tahrir Square has become the movement’s beating heart and most…
Syria: ‘A kingdom of silence’
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Al Jazeera – Despite a wave of protests spreading across the Middle East, so far the revolutionary spirit has failed to reach Syria. Online activists have been urging Syrians to take to the streets but the…
Russia urges UN council Mideast visit to boost peace
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Al Arabiya – Russia proposed early Wednesday that the U.N. Security Council make its first visit to the Middle East in more than three decades to help restart stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians….
Rawabi developer to replace trees donated by JNF
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – Ma’an – Bashar Al-Masri, developer of a new West Bank city Rawabi, said Tuesday that trees donated to the project by the Jewish National Fund would be replaced by olive trees. Masri said there was some…
Emotions of a Reluctant Hero Galvanize Protesters
Palestine Note 9 Feb 2011 – New York Times – The television host narrated the pictures of the dead protesters on the screen, young men with sweet smiles whom she compared to roses in a garden. “They went out only for the…
Cables: Suleiman favoured by Israel
AlJazeera 8 Feb 2011 – Preference for Egypt’s new vice-president to succeed Mubarak disclosed by leaked documents obtained by WikiLeaks.
MADA: Attacks on Journalists Increased in January
PNN – Ramallah – PNN – The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) issued its monthly report for January 2011 documenting violations against journalists and media organizations in the Palestinian territories. Israeli…
Human Rights Watch Reports 297 Killed in Egypt
PNN – Cairo – PNN – The international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch reported on Wednesday that 297 people had been killed since the beginning of the Egyptian revolution three weeks ago. At least…
UN Ban Ki-moon: Egypt’s Future is Decided by the Leadership and People
PNN – UN – To PNN – United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a press conference following his meeting with the Security Council in New York on Tuesday called on all parties in…
Germany to Donate EUR 6.5 Million to Palestinian Education Sector
PNN – Ramallah – to PNN – Germany signed an agreement to support the Palestinian Education sector with EUR 6.5 million on Wednesday. The was signed by the Palestinian Authority, represented by Dr. Ali…
At the Touch of a Button: Electronic Elections Seek to Solve Problems
PNN – Hiba Lama – PNN/Exclusive – Imagine a long line of people, pushing and arguing and standing and waiting for hours and hours, with flags of various colors fluttering all around and the…
Daily Roundup: Four Arrested near Hebron, Gunfire near Nablus, Assault in Sheikh Jarrah
PNN – Jerusalem – PNN – Wednesday morning reports from around the West Bank indicated that four Palestinians were arrested near Hebron, one man was injured by Israeli army gunfire near Nablus, and two…
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (27 Jan. – 02 Feb. 2011)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Israel expects 200,000 Ukrainian tourists a year
Jeruslalem Post 10 Feb 2011 – “The cancellation of the visas is expected to double the number of Ukrainian tourists to Israel,” says tourism minister.
Migrant worker indicted for murder of wife in J’lem
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Jerusalem court indicts 23-year-old Eritrean man accused of stabbing his wife to death last month.
Turkel Committee approves Gantz appointment
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – After two days of testimonies the committee approves Benny Gantz for IDF chief of General Staff, saying he “radiates integrity.”
Report: ‘Egyptian army involved in torture’
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – The ‘Guardian’ reports that the Egyptian military secretly detained hundreds and possibly thousands of gov’t opponents; army accuses detainees of acting for Israel, Hamas.
High Court to State: Dig deeper in Lieberman investigation
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – The Police Investigations Department must continue search for inside source who leaked classified information about FM.
NATO offers troops if Israel, Palestinians make peace
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Rasmussen says Israeli-Palestinian issue “not only problem” in region but still undermines Mideast stability.
Congress wary of Muslim Brotherhood role in Egypt
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Defense Minister Barak holds meetings in Washington with top officials to discuss Cairo crisis.
Steinitz might boycott Likud meeting on price increases
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – 40% of Likudniks may not vote for party, poll finds; Lieberman reportedly says coalition may fall if IDF conversion bill doesn’t pass.
Barbour to Israel: We’re with you, and glad you’re with us
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – At Herzliya Conference, possible presidential candidate says J’lem understands Iranian threat better than US.
PA paying salaries to Hamas men in Israel’s prisons
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Official says PA deals with prisoners “professionally and without political considerations.”
Jordan’s King Abdullah swears in new Cabinet
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Reshuffle follows protests by thousands of Jordanians demanding jobs, reduced prices of food and fuel and change to election law.
1000’s attend funeral of J’lem judge who took own life
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Judicial officials concede the caseload is burdensome and that remedies are slow in coming.
Israel to expel German partner of slain youth
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Israel set to expel the partner of slain Nir Katz who was killed along with 17-year-old from Holon in attack on gay community center in 2009.
Watch: Are sanctions on iran taking a toll?
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Panel at Herzliya Conference to discuss international sanctions and Iran’s domestic arena.
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: We won’t take over gov’t
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Representatives of the movement say they won’t have a presidential candidate; 3 killed, 100 wounded in southern Egypt riots.
Bumperstickers from Cairo
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – A sampling of the most commonly referred to and most frequently uttered myths and conventional wisdoms on the events in Egypt, each accompanied with the counter-argument.
PM visits Steinitz in hospital, delays press conference
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Finance minister says he was suffering of dehydration, flu; admitted to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem where he will remain for 24 hours.
Egypt protesters fear revenge if Mubarak holds on
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Protesters suspect undercover cops documenting protests, fear that an emboldened security establishment will identify and round them up.
Egypt: Hizbullah and Iran want to ‘ignite the region’
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Cairo spokesman says Nasrallah walking in footsteps of his mentor, Khamenei; Hizbullah denies escaped terrorist returned to Lebanon.
Steinitz in good condition after fainting scare
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Finance minister says he was suffering of dehydration, flu; admitted to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem where he will remain for 24 hours.
Hague: ‘Belligerent’ Israel should tame its rhetoric
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – British foreign secretary says there is legitimate fear that Middle East peace process will lose further momentum and be put to one side.
City Bites: Romance on corner of Ben-Yehuda, Provence
Jeruslalem Post 9 Feb 2011 – Bistro Mimi brings the decadent delights of the French kitchen to the heart of Jerusalem.
‘Reviving Sanhedrin may help bridge gaps with Diaspora’
Jeruslalem Post 8 Feb 2011 – IDC scholars suggest system based on council of Jewish jurists could improve discourse between Jews in Israel and those around the world.
Abbas, Dahlan take out Jordanian citizenship
Jeruslalem Post 8 Feb 2011 – Move comes as Palestinian Authority urges Amman to stop giving Palestinians citizenship to “consolidate their identity.”
International Solidarity Movement
Dismantling Impunity: Campaign to help Palestinian victims of army abuse
2/10/2011 – International Solidarity Movement – Popular Struggle Coordination Committee – The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee is proud to announce a new campaign, the “Dismantling Impunity Fund”. This fund will directly challenge Israel’s culture of impunity surrounding the murder and maiming of Palestinians. The fund will be managed by a committee that will include representatives of Popular Committees and Palestinian…. Related: Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
Several detained in An Nabi Saleh
2/9/2011 – International Solidarity Movement – 07 February, International Women’s Peace Service – On Friday, 5 February, approximately 20 international and Israeli activists joined the residents of the village of An Nabi Saleh in the Ramallah district for the village’s regular non-violent demonstration against land confiscation and Israel’s occupation policies. The village had been placed under…. Related: International Women’s Peace Service
Jewish Israeli woman gives birth at Palestinian West Bank hospital
Ha’aretz – The woman, who is married to an Arab Israeli man, refuses to be transferred to an Israeli hospital, saying she hoped her baby would have Palestinian citizenship.
‘Despite Egypt unrest, Arab world and Israel are unified on Iran’
Ha’aretz – U.S. assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs says America will ensure that Egypt respects peace with Israel during its transition.
In possible snub, official U.S. schedule omits Barak-Clinton meet
Ha’aretz – White House confirms Defense Minister is indeed to meet U.S. Secretary of State, despite the fact that his name is not included in the official schedule.
NATO chief: Israel-Palestinian talks must resume given ‘new dynamic’ in Mideast
Ha’aretz – NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen offered NATO’s peacekeeping services to Israelis and Palestinians if both sides requested it as part of future peace treaty.
U.S. official: Israel’s actions in East Jerusalem go against Mideast peace efforts
Ha’aretz – Comment by U.S. State Department official comes after Israel approves construction of new buildings in Sheikh Jarrah, declares foundation of a new East Jerusalem Jewish neighborhood.
Facebook page urges Gazans to topple Hamas government
Ha’aretz – The page, titled ‘Honor Revolution’, was created anonymously and urges Gazans to take to the streets to topple Hamas’ rule over the strip.
U.K. urges Israel to tone down ‘belligerent’ rhetoric amid Mideast uprisings
Ha’aretz – British Foreign Secretary William Hague warns peace process could become casualty of current unrest sweeping the region.
IAF jets strike Gaza tunnels, wounding eight Palestinians
Ha’aretz – IDF says strike responds to over 40 rockets fired from Gaza into Israeli territory since start of 2011; Gaza health ministry says one strike set fire to a Health Ministry medicine warehouse.
Shin Bet chief: We have our own James Bond-style department
Ha’aretz – In a lecture before a high-tech forum, Diskin says that although scientists may be enticed to join the private market, the Shin Bet offers the movie-like action of being part of an organization which fights terror.
Kadima launches new campaign against Netanyahu’s government
Ha’aretz – Opposition’s campaign features a scoreboard reading, ‘Netanyahu 2, Israel 0’ with the slogan ‘Two years of Netanyahu, Israel loses.’
Histadrut declares labor dispute on behalf of social workers
Ha’aretz – Dispute announced after negotiations between the social workers union and a finance ministry official in charge of the sector’s salaries reached a dead end.
Finance minister collapses with exhaustion, hospitalized in Jerusalem
Ha’aretz – Steinitz was hospitalized in Hadassah Ein Karem were he underwent a series of examinations; he is currently in good condition.
Death of judge in central Israel appears to be work-related suicide
Ha’aretz – Identity of judge has not yet been disclosed; police find suicide note next to the man’s body saying he could not handle his heavy work load.
For the 4th time, Israeli army demolishes Khirbet Tana
9 Feb 2011 – West Bank , (Pal Telegraph) -Israeli bulldozers started Wednesday demolishing houses and animal stores in Khirbet Tana in the northeast of Nablus city for the Fourth time, claiming their built without a permit .
Israeli air force hit Gaza with 7 rockets, 8 civilians wounded
9 Feb 2011 – Gaza, (Pal Telegraph) – Israeli air force raided the Gaza Strip early in Wednesday. A number of Israeli war jets have carried out airstrikes pretending that rockets were launched against Israeli which was not reported nor victims or wounded took place. Yet a number of civilian Palestinians wounded in the deadly raids.
Freedom Flotilla II to Commemorate 1st Anniversary of Deadly Raid
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – The Freedom Flotilla II will sail for Gaza during the last two weeks of May 2011, to commemorate the anniversary of the deadly attack on the first Freedom Flotilla on 31 May 2010, which left nine activists dead. The International Coalition of the Freedom Flotilla II met in Madrid, Spain from the 4-6th of February…
WikiLeaks: Suleiman told Israel he would ‘cleanse’ Sinai of arms runners to Gaza
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – The news is more evidence of the close ties between Israel, the United States and Mr Suleiman, who is tipped to replace Hosni Mubarak as Egypt’s president. The close relationship has emerged from American diplomatic cables leaked to the WikiLeaks website and passed to The Daily Telegraph. Mr Suleiman is Israel’s preferred candidate to replace…
People Power v. Duplicity in Egypt and Washington
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – Inspired by Tunisia’s uprising, Egyptians chose January 25 (the National Police Day holiday) to begin street demonstrations, rallies and marches, demanding regime change, no ifs, ands or buts if they stay resolute. Initially, small numbers in front of Egypt’s Supreme Court became crowds chanting “Mubarak must go!” So far, they remain in massive numbers, defying…
Despite PA repression, Palestinians rally for Egypt
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – On Saturday, 5 February, cities around the world and throughout the Israeli-occupied West Bank held demonstrations in solidarity with the people’s uprising in Egypt against Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade-old regime. In Ramallah, security forces belonging to the Palestinian Authority attempted to pacify a protest of 2,000 persons. In the West Bank, demonstrating solidarity takes on a…
Democrats on the Mubarak payroll
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – The extraordinary endorsement of Egypt’s longtime military strongman Hosni Mubarak by the US special envoy to Egypt, Frank Wisner, has put the spotlight on the close ties between the Egyptian regime and an array of Washington lobbyists with close ties to the Democratic Party. Wisner is himself a veteran State Department official who served the…
Egypt’s working class is on the move
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – The revolution in Egypt has partially been built on the back of workers’ struggles going on for several years, especially since the magnificent insurgency in Mahalla, the general strike in 2008, and the big strikes in Suez and Alexandria in 2009. This uprising has seen new groups of workers form independent trade unions, as a…
Egyptian workers take the lead
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – There are situations in which mass demonstrations are sufficient to bring about the fall of a regime. But Egypt is not one of them. All the efforts of the masses to bring about the overthrow of Mubarak through demonstrations and street protests have so far failed to achieve their principal objective. The protests have left…
Report: Egypt used Israeli technology to disable state’s internet
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – Egypt used advanced Israeli technology to disable the internet across the nation during the first week of popular revolutionary protests that began January 25, the Israeli Yediot Ahronot newspaper said. The ruling regime was forced to ask for Israeli technology experts to block the internet in order to curb the swelling of protests that eventually…
5 dead, 100 wounded in south Egypt clash: Official
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – At least five people were killed and around 100 wounded in two days of clashes between police and demonstrators in a town in southern Egypt’s New Valley region, medics told AFP on Wednesday. Earlier, a security official had confirmed three dead. Police fired live rounds Tuesday when local people rioted in the oasis town of…
Remembering Gaza
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – In Arabic, when we talk about who or how we marry, we say something to the effect of “it was all written in the stars”. In other words, our choice is our destiny, not fully designed by us. For those of us whose message in the stars meant marrying a Jerusalemite, we were forced to…
Omar Suleiman warns of coup as tensions rise between Egyptian demonstrators, army
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – Tensions rose in Egypt’s capital Wednesday as the army confronted protesters occupying new territory in front of the parliament building and the vice president warned of a possible coup, saying demonstrations must end or “the dark bats of the night” would emerge to terrorize the nation…He said he foresaw “the dark bats of the night…
Education in East Jerusalem: A Prohibited Democratic Right
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – Access to schools, adequate education budgets and quality of education are all barriers to Arabs in Jerusalem who try to get an education. One vital democratic right is guaranteed freedom of movement, but after the passing of the Nationality and Entry into Israel Law of 2003, and the building of the Apartheid Wall around Jerusalem,…
Israel bombs medical aid warehouse in GazaEXCLUSIVE PICTURES
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – Israeli aircraft carried out a number of air raids on the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday 9 February, destroying a medical aid warehouse in Gaza City. The raids began shortly after midnight, hitting several places across the Strip, from Jabaliya in the north to the Rafah border with Egypt in the south. Fires raged through…
10 Palestinians injured in Gaza strikes
Uruknet February 8, 2011 – Ten Palestinians were injured Wednesday morning in Israeli air strikes which started after midnight and hit in a series of explosions running from the northern end of the Strip to the south. Spokesman of the higher committee of ambulance and emergency services Adham Abu Salmiya said that eight were lightly injured including two children and…
Labour unions boost Egypt protests Thousands of factory workers stay away from work as pro-democracy protesters continue to rally seeking Mubarak’s ouster.
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – Egyptian labour unions have gone on a nationwide strike, adding momentum to pro-democracy demonstrations in Cairo and other cities. Al Jazeera correspondents, reporting from Egypt, said around 20,000 factory workers stayed away from work on Wednesday. Al Jazeera’s Shirine Tadros, reporting from Cairo, said that some workers “didn’t have a political demand”. “They were saying…
“All those involved in my treatment should be jailed for war crimes”Former Guant?°namo Bay prisoner Mamdouh Habib speaks with WSWS
Uruknet February 9, 2011 – Testimony from Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni, who was incarcerated with Habib in Egypt and Guant?°namo Bay and repeatedly tortured, is equally damning. He was released from Guant?°namo in 2009, without charge. Madni states: “I was handcuffed the whole time and was either suspended from hooks on the wall. I was badly beaten, I was punched,…
Egypt VP: Protests must end soon
Uruknet February 8, 2011 – Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian vice-president, warned on Tuesday that his government “can’t put up with continued protests” for a long time, as tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters rallied in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for the sixteenth day in a row. In a sharply worded statement reflecting the regime’s impatience and frustration with the mass demonstrations,…
Prices soar in Gaza as Rafah, tunnels close
Uruknet February 8, 2011 – More than a week of political unrest in Egypt has heightened the threat of a humanitarian crisis in neighbouring Gaza. Egyptian soldiers fled their posts on the northern border on 30 January, forcing the Rafah crossing – a critical valve for the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza – to close. Around 60 Palestinians, attempting…
Arab Media: U.S. Is Hijacking Egyptian Uprising
Uruknet February 8, 2011 – Arab journalists were shocked by recent comments made over last weekend by Frank Wisner, President Obama’s envoy to Egypt, in which he said, “President Mubarak’s continued leadership is critical. It’s his opportunity to write his own legacy.” Wisner also said, “We need to get a national consensus around the preconditions for the next step forward….
Cry Freedom: Cairo Crowds Shred the Lies of the Power Players
Uruknet February 8, 2011 – …But what we did see on Tuesday? The false reality painted for us by our betters simply melted away, and Cairo saw perhaps the largest protest yet, as hundreds of thousands of people filled Tahrir Square — including multitudes who were joining the uprising for the first time. Thousands more were gathering in front of…
Weeks of protest take toll on Egypt’s economy
The National 10 Feb 2011 – Production down by 80% in two weeks as thousands on strike as protesters defy warning from vice president to ‘end the crisis’.
Egypt revolt’s dead victims recalled as real people
The National 10 Feb 2011 – Egypt’s newspapers, Tahrir Square posters, and websites speak of friends, children, parents among the hundreds known to have died.
Egypt’s state media foments anti-foreigner paranoia
The National 10 Feb 2011 – Foreigners blamed as Egyptians are fed reports focusing on ‘outside hand’ in country’s outbreak of civil unrest.
Alternative Information Center
Israel Demolishes Nablus Area Village for 4th Time
Alternative Information Center – Israeli forces demolished the homes of two Palestinian families as well as animal shelters in the northern West Bank town of Khirbet Tana. This is the fourth demolition suffered by the community in the last few…
Palestinian City Planted Trees Donated by JNF
Alternative Information Center – The planned Palestinian city of Rawabi has planted 3,000 trees donated by the Jewish National Fund, according to a recent editorial in Maan News by Dr. Uri Davis, an Associate Professor at Al-Quds University and member…
Amnesty International to Lobby UNHRC on Gaza, Ahead of Meeting
Alternative Information Center – With the passing of the second anniversary of Israel’s deadly invasion on Gaza in December 2008-January 2009, Amnesty International has announced that it will be lobbying the United Nations Human Rights Council to ensure that the…
Freedom Flotilla II to Commemorate 1st Anniversary of Deadly Raid
Alternative Information Center – The Freedom Flotilla II will sail for Gaza during the last two weeks of May 2011, to commemorate the anniversary of the deadly attack on the first Freedom Flotilla on 31 May 2010, which left nine…
Knesset Investigation into Israeli Human Rights Organizations Suppressing the Truth
Alternative Information Center – For decades, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have instituted policies that violated Palestinians’ human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT).
William Hague’s call to revive Middle East peace process faces obduracy
The Guardian 9 Feb 2011 – Foreign secretary’s intervention in the middle of Egypt unrest unlikely to move Israel – or impress US William Hague has said that Egypt’s turmoil is good reason to inject some life into the Middle East peace…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/09/egypt-protest-hamas-militant-escapes
What will become of Israel if Mubarak falls? | Amos Harel
The Guardian 9 Feb 2011 – The growing possibility of a radically Islamist Egypt has serious Middle East security implications The Israeli perspective of the historic events currently under way in Egypt is quite different from those commonly found in western countries….
Whose Aid is it Anyway? Politicizing aid in conflicts and crises
Relief Web 9 Feb 2011 – Source: Oxfam
Economic crisis in Gaza worsens: UNRWA
Relief Web 9 Feb 2011 – Source: UN Radio
Gaza Solid Waste Management Project
Relief Web 9 Feb 2011 – Source: World Bank
OPT: Gaza vulnerable despite resumption of Egyptian petrol deliveries
Relief Web 8 Feb 2011 – Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks
EGYPT: Muslims and Christians Protest as One
IPS Over recent years, Egypt has witnessed mounting tension between its Muslim majority and its sizeable Coptic Christian minority. But in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the site of ongoing mass protests against the ruling regime, members of both faiths chant in unison: “Muslim, Christian, doesn’t matter; We’re all in this boat together!”…
Behind the Spin, Egypt Gives Tehran Political Heartburn
IPS Judging from official propaganda in both Iran and much of the Arab world, the uprisings that toppled Tunisia’s dictatorship and threatens Egypt’s authoritarian regime is the direct descendent of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
3 protestors killed, 100 hurt in south Egypt in past 2 days
YNet News – Despite VP Suleiman’s warning that government ‘can’t bear mass protests for a….
Partner of gay shooting victim to be deported
YNet News – Thomas Schmidt of Germany, who built life with Nir Katz in Israel, ordered to….
Livni on price hikes: Netanyahu lying
YNet News – Opposition chairwoman slams prime minister in special Kadima press conference,….
Gantz interviewed by Turkel Committee
YNet News – IDF chief-designate arrives at Prime Minister’s Office to meet with committee….
UK to Israel: Drop negative stance on Egypt
YNet News – British Foreign Secretary Hague urges Jewish state to tone down its….
IDF strikes in Gaza after mortar fire
YNet News – Palestinians report eight people lightly injured in Air Force attack in Strip…..
Egypt, US swap barbs as tension mounts
YNet News – A top Egyptian minister accused the United States Wednesday of imposing its “will” on its Arab ally, even as the White House warned Cairo had fallen short of a “minimum …….
Cops cleared of abuse charges
YNet News – Policemen accused of abusing a Palestinian thief from Hebron have been cleared of charges due to lack of evidence, the Police Investigations Unit said Wednesday. …….
IDF razes settler outpost, illegal Palestinian structures
YNet News – The illegal outpost Mitzpe Avichai near Kiryat Arba was demolished Wednesday for the eight time, but Jewish settlers rebuilt it just a few hours later. “Each time …….
NATO chief: Israel, PA must take advantage of ‘new dynamic’
YNet News – Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated Wednesday that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was an obstacle to regional …….
Lieberman: We may have to dissolve government
YNet News – Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Yisrael Beiteinu members that the party would have to advance certain bills “even at the price of disbanding the government.” …….
Activist: Israel becoming country of servants and lords
YNet News – Nearly eight years after she marched from Mitzpe Ramon to Jerusalem as part of a campaign launched by single mothers against then-Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s …….
Official: Israel keeping low profile on Egypt uprising
YNet News – “Israel is keeping a low profile with regards to the uprising in Egypt. The last thing we wanted was to be linked to this whole affair, and despite attempts to do so by …….
Palestinian Information Center
IOF sweeps West Bank arresting at least 7, including man from Hamas
PIC 9 Feb 2011 – Israeli forces stormed the town of Tamoun south of Tubas arresting one man linked with Hamas amid escalated military activity that swept the West Bank Wednesday morning.
IOF levels entire village in Jordan Valley
PIC 9 Feb 2011 – The IOF leveled an entire village near the West Bank city of Beit Furik on Wednesday morning also confiscating private property. It argued it was established on a closed military zone.
Hamas holds Abbas, Fatah responsible for ramifications of its election decision
PIC 9 Feb 2011 – The Hamas Movement held Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah fully responsible for the serious repercussions of holding unilateral elections in the West Bank on the unity of the Palestinian people.
Chief West Bank rabbi issues ruling that legalizes killing Arabs
PIC 9 Feb 2011 – The chief rabbi of the Kiryat Arba has ruled it legal to kill all Gentiles (non-Jews) without qualification.
Report: Egypt used Israeli technology to disable state’s internet
PIC 9 Feb 2011 – Egypt used advanced Israeli technology to disable the internet across the nation during the first week of popular revolutionary protests that began January 25, Yediot Ahronot newspaper said.
Nile: Fatah cadres bombed the gas pipeline, crackdowns launched to find them
PIC 9 Feb 2011 – Nile channel said the popular committees deployed throughout Al-Arish area initiated a campaign to pursue and find members of Fatah faction who bombed a gas pipeline leading to Jordan a few days ago.
200 housing units to be built for Jews in Sheikh Jarrah zone
PIC 9 Feb 2011 – Head of Israel’s land fund and extremist Zionist Arieh King said that within five to ten years, 200 units for Jewish settlers will be built in of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
IOA denies Palestinian prisoner urgently needed dental treatment
PIC 9 Feb 2011 – The medical clinic in the Israeli Hasharon jail has refused to offer treatment for Palestinian prisoner Qahera Al-Saadi, the lawyer of the international Tadamoun institution for human rights said.
Egypt passport official: No Palestinians allowed into Egypt
PIC 9 Feb 2011 – An official at the Egyptian passports authority said on Wednesday that instructions were received banning entry of Palestinians into Egypt.
MP Azaboun slams PA security for violating his immunity
PIC 9 Feb 2011 – Hamas lawmaker Anwar Azaboun strongly denounced the Palestinian authority security militias in the city for violating his parliamentary immunity and issuing an arbitrary summons against him.
Obama’s advisors split on when and how Mubarak should go
LA Times 9 Feb 2011 – White House aides acknowledge that the differing views among Obama’s team of advisors has resulted in a mixed message on Egypt. The Obama administration’s shifting response to the crisis in Egypt reflects a sharp debate over how and when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak should leave office, a policy decision that could have long-term implications for America’s image in the Middle East.
Protests against Hosni Mubarak fracture friendships in Egypt
LA Times 9 Feb 2011 – As demonstrators pack Tahrir Square and state TV promises stability, the most stinging debates come in conversations among longtime friends. ‘This is revealing things about their characters I never suspected,’ one man says. Their friendship is falling apart amid a nation’s revolt.
Omar Suleiman warns of coup as tensions rise between Egyptian demonstrators, army
LA Times 9 Feb 2011 – Protesters occupy new territory near the Egyptian parliament building, sparking a temporary confrontation with troops. Vice President Omar Suleiman warns of tougher measures to prevent a possible coup. Tensions rose in Egypt’s capital Wednesday as the army confronted protesters occupying new territory in front of the parliament building and the vice president warned of a possible coup, saying demonstrations must end or “the dark bats of the night” would emerge to terrorize the nation.
More Egypt protesters turn out, drawn by Google’s Wael Ghonim
LA Times 9 Feb 2011 – Released Google executive Wael Ghonim emerges as an impassioned but reluctant symbol of resistance. Wael Ghonim stood on a tiny stage in a corner of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, a spindly figure in a sea of tens of thousands of anti-government protesters, his shouts of “Long live Egypt!” rippling out before evaporating in the noisy squall.
Egypt uprising has its roots in a mill town
LA Times 9 Feb 2011 – El Mahalla el Kubra has long worried the Mubarak government. And the city’s dogged labor leaders now want more than just better working conditions. The revolt shaking Cairo didn’t start in Cairo. It began in this city of textile mills and choking pollution set amid the cotton and vegetable fields of the Nile Delta.
Protesters in Egypt Regain Initiative as Workers Strike
New York Times 9 Feb 2011 – Pressure intensified on President Hosni Mubarak as local media reported widespread labor unrest.
Allies Press U.S. to Go Slow on Egypt
New York Times 9 Feb 2011 – Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have pressed the United States not to cut Egypt’s president loose too hastily.
Iranian Claims Chess Record
New York Times 9 Feb 2011 – An Iranian grandmaster who played 614 people over two days at a university in Tehran says he broke a world record set by an Israeli grandmaster last October.
I know you all fear that our fervor is waning. It is not
Mondoweiss – Almost universally, everyone I’ve spoken to who isn’t in Egypt over the past few days has expressed a concern that the revolutionary fervor here is waning. I am happy to report that isn’t what I’ve been witnessing. But a few new developments both here and internationally…
Wael Ghonim addresses the crowd at Tahrir Square
Mondoweiss – Wael Ghonim embraces the mother of slain blogger Khaled Said. and other news from the Egyptian revolution: Developments Free our detainees Yes Wael Ghonim was released but what about those hundreds in fact thousands who were detained since January 28,2011. This is a small list made…
Our Cairo twitter feed
Mondoweiss – @import “http://embed.tweetizen.com/embed.css”; The latest from Cairo on Twitter:
Orthodoxy: Re Egypt, House Foreign Affairs Committee will hear two Israel lobbyists and one other rightwinger, no Arab-Americans
Mondoweiss – This morning and tomorrow the House committee on Foreign Affairs is holding hearings on Egypt. The committee is now chaired by Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, an Israel hardliner. But the ranking minority member, Howard Berman, presumably had a hand in this too. The two Israel lobbyists are…
Yes but what should we tell the goyim?
Mondoweiss – Daniel Gordis in the Jerusalem Post last week: DOMESTICALLY, TOO, we are doing ourselves enormous harm. Something ugly and dangerous is bubbling to the surface of society, endangering the very democracy and decency that have rightly been the very source of our pride for decades. There…
From Egypt to Palestine: U.S. Corporation supplies tear gas in order to violently repress protesters
Palestine Monitor – Tear gas is one of the many products that American allies in the Middle East import from U.S. corporations. Used primarily to suppress protests, Egyptian, Tunisian and Israeli security forces all employ tear gas manufactured and shipped from Combined Systems Inc., a U.S. corporation based in…
Middle Eastern Despots Tell Obama, ‚ÄòGo Slow’ on Egypt
Tikun Olam – Abdullah and Obama: throwing in our lot with the despots (AFP/Getty) The NY Times notes that some of the most despotic of the U.S.’ Middle Eastern allies have engaged in a full court press on the Obama administration to persuade it that siding with the Egyptian…
Omar Suleiman—longtime collaborator with Israel and US
WSWS – Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show Suleiman’s collaboration in repression of the Palestinians and torture of CIA prisoners
Dismantling Impunity Campaign to Help Palestinian Victims of Army Abuse
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee – The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee is proud to announce a new campaign, the “Dismantling Impunity Fund”. This fund will directly challenge Israel’s culture of impunity surrounding the murder and maiming of Palestinians. The fund will be managed by a committee that will include representatives of Popular…
Israeli army represses Palestinian dissent by arresting children at 3am (Part 1)
Joseph Dana 9 Feb 2011 – “They come for our woman and our children,” Bassem Tamimi, the leader of the Popular Committee of Nabi Saleh recently told me, “they [the Israeli army] know that woman are half our population and half our strength and so they target them along with the children.”…
PACBI Asks Macy Gray Not To Come To Ramallah
Joseph Dana 9 Feb 2011 – The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel has released the following statement to Macy Gray: PACBI | 9 February 2011 Open Letter to Macy Gray Occupied Ramallah February 9, 2011 The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) views…
White House raises Egypt pressure
BBC 9 Feb 2011 – The US administration steps up its criticism of Egypt’s leadership after a 16th consecutive day of protests against the rule of President Mubarak.
VIDEO: Gaza photo exhibition in London
BBC 8 Feb 2011 – An award-winning German photographer has been documenting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for more than two decades. The new images form part of an exhibition which is on in London.
VIDEO: Concern for Egypt’s missing protesters
BBC 9 Feb 2011 – Human rights activists in Egypt have told the BBC that the country’s security forces have been detaining increasing numbers of people over the last fortnight, including doctors who treated the injured in Tahrir Square.
Pollard Espionage Ring Still Unfolding
Antiwar.com 9 Feb 2011 – Almost one year ago Victor Gilinsky and Roger J. Mattson penned the stunning article “Revisiting the NUMEC Affair” in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. It describes how in the 1960s Israeli agents and their U.S. collaborators stole highly enriched uranium from the Pennsylvania NUMEC plant for…
People Power v. Duplicity in Egypt and Washington
Sabbah report 9 Feb 2011 – Hundreds of thousands of protesters in Egypt’s capital and across the country remain resilient. They continue “mass demonstrations, with a new wave of optimism reaching the pro-democracy camp.
Israel’s whitewash report into the Mavi Marmara massacre
Sabbah report 9 Feb 2011 – Richard Lightbown examines the flawed evidence considered by the Turkel Commission, the phoney inquiry set up by the Israeli government to investigate the Gaza flotilla raid and the blockade of Gaza, which exonerated the Israeli military of the murder of nine humanitarian aid workers aboard the…
Mubarak’s Thirty-Year Dictatorship
Sabbah report 9 Feb 2011 – Egypt’s brutal police enforced hardline control, targeting activists, dissidents, Islamists, opposition forces, and anyone perceived threatening as well as ordinary citizens suspected of crimes or looking suspicious. In June 2010, a young man, Khaled Said, was beaten to death for not showing his identity card after…
Articles
Counter-revolution brought to you by …
By Pepe Escobar, Asia Times2/8/2011
Historically, what Washington always really feared is Arab nationalism, not crackpot self-made jihadis.
It will be a long, winding, treacherous and perhaps bloody road before the popular Egyptian revolution even dreams of approaching the post-Suharto Indonesian model (the largest, most plural democracy in a Muslim-majority country) or the current Turkish model (also sanctioned at the ballot box).
As predicted (Rage, rage against the counter-revolution – Asia Times Online, February 1) the counter-revolution is on, and brought by the usual suspects; the Egyptian army; Mubarakism’s comprador elites; and the triad of Washington, Tel Aviv and European capitals.
After more than two weeks of protests on the streets of Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak, this is what the White House’s “orderly transition” is all about – with Washington still playing all sides even as the Egyptian street smashed the mirror and defied for good the “stability”/terror imposed on it by the dark side.
The counter-revolution goes way beyond comments by Frank Wisner, a United States Central Intelligence Agency/Wall Street asset who is US President Barack Obama’s secret agent to Cairo and a personal friend of the Egyptian president, on the desirability of Mubarak stay and supervise the transition.
It comes across almost casually as Robert Springborg, professor of national security affairs at the US Naval Postgraduate School, tells Reuters, “The military will engineer a succession. The West – the US and the EU [European Union] – are working to that end. We are working closely with the military … to ensure a continuation of a dominant role of the military in the society, the polity and the economy.” Translation; erase the people to ensure “stability”. more.. e-mail
Did Israel Provoke Increase in Rockets to Justify Operation Cast Lead?
Mitchell Plitnick, Palestine Note2/9/2011
Prior to Operation Cast Lead, the devastating Israeli attack on Gaza in 2008-09, there had been six months of a truce which both sides claimed the other did not maintain in good faith. Still, the truce endured.
When Israel escalated the tensions on November 4, 2008, killing six Hamas men in an operation Israel said was meant to thwart a tunnel Hamas was building to abduct more Israeli soldiers, some people felt that Israel was intentionally raising the stakes because the truce was holding and Hamas was fortifying its position in Gaza.
Therefore, the thinking went, Israel struck hard at Hamas with an excuse knowing that Hamas would feel it had no choice but to retaliate.
Well, that line of thinking got quite a boost when Wikileaks released a cable earlier this week containing an American report on a meeting with Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak. Here is the relevant passage:
3. (S) Regarding the Tahdiya, Hacham said Barak stressed that while it was not permanent, for the time being it was holding. There have been a number of violations of the ceasefire on the Gaza side, but Palestinian factions other than Hamas were responsible. Hacham said the Israelis assess that Hamas is making a serious effort to convince the other factions not to launch rockets or mortars. Israel remains concerned by Hamas’ ongoing efforts to use the Tahdiya to increase their strength, and at some point, military action will have to be put back on the table. The Israelis reluctantly admit that the Tahdiya has served to further consolidate Hamas’ grip on Gaza, but it has brought a large measure of peace and quiet to Israeli communities near Gaza. more.. e-mail
Pollard Espionage Ring Still Unfolding
Grant Smith, Antiwar.com2/9/2011
Israel sent over its top spies to pick up American taxpayer-funded highly enriched uranium from Shapiro, a devout Israel supporter and president of a local Zionist Organization of America chapter.
Almost one year ago Victor Gilinsky and Roger J. Mattson penned the stunning article “Revisiting the NUMEC Affair” in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. It describes how in the 1960s Israeli agents and their U.S. collaborators stole highly enriched uranium from the Pennsylvania NUMEC plant for Israel’s first atomic weapons.
The two former Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials’ exposé reveals how 337 kilograms of material, enough for several weapons, made their way into Israel’s Dimona nuclear weapons facility likely packed in the same sealed containers as lawful radioactive agricultural and scientific equipment shipments. It cites a secret CIA diversion briefing held at the NRC, credible official audits of materials lost to processing waste and absorption versus diversion, accounts of CIA recovery in Israel of HEU traces matching the Portsmouth signature of NUMEC’s government-supplied uranium, and the plant owner’s deep and ongoing ties to Israeli intelligence case officers and suspicious activities.
Inadvertently, these expert nuclear diversion researchers make a very strong case against releasing Jonathan J. Pollard, currently sentenced to life in prison for spying for Israel. In 1986 espionage investigators discovered and alerted the press that Pollard’s handler, Rafael Eitan, shared the same birth date as a supposed “chemist, Ministry of Defense, Israel” who visited NUMEC on Sept. 10, 1968, as part of a “four- man team.” But it is now clear that the entirety of the Israeli spy network of agents and operations has not yet been fully revealed. more.. e-mail
The ascent of the Palestinian pharaoh
Electronic Intifada: 9 Feb 2011 – Economic dependency and an oppressive security state is the recipe that many dictatorial, one-person, or one-party regimes apply across the region. This model was followed by the once American-supported, and then American-deposed Saddam Hussein, to Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, who was first a pariah in the West and then became its darling, to Tunisia’s Zine El Abedine Ben Ali who was overthrown by his people, among others. While the Egyptian people stand steadfast in an effort to overthrow their own Pharoah, a similar “pharoah regime” is steadily being built for Palestinians in the West Bank.more
Despite PA repression, Palestinians rally for Egypt
Electronic Intifada: 9 Feb 2011 – In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah last weekend, security forces belonging to the Palestinian Authority attempted to pacify a protest of 2,000 persons.more
From Egypt to Palestine: U.S. Corporation supplies tear gas in order to violently repress protesters
Palestine Monitor: 9 Feb 2011 – Tear gas is one of the many products that American allies in the Middle East import from U.S. corporations. Used primarily to suppress protests, Egyptian, Tunisian and Israeli security forces all employ tear gas manufactured and shipped from Combined Systems Inc., a U.S. corporation based in Jamestown Pennsylvania. Tear gas is a seriously dangerous chemical used to disperse crowds, however many deaths and serious injuries have been caused by the military’s use and misuse of the product. Adalah-New York, a U.S.-based campaign to boycott Israel, is calling upon U.S. citizens to pressure their government to end support for such undemocratic and inhumane policies. An Israeli and American flag fly next to each other in front of CSI headquarters in Jamestown, PA Due to the massive amount of economic assistance provided to Israel and Egypt by the U.S. government, most of which comes in the form of military aid, it is…more
Netanyahu Must Go Now
Palestine Chronicle: 9 Feb 2011 – By George S. Hishmeh – Washington, D.C. Why is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (and many other Israelis) behaving like an ostrich? He is digging his head in the sand and wondering why the Egyptian uprising, triggered by the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, has engulfed the Middle East and posed a threat to Israel. Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing cabinet may now be regretting their failure to push harder or, at least, be more accommodating in reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinian National Authority. All they had to do was to comply with international law and refrain from expanding colonies in the Occupied Territories. This has gone on for the last 43 years without much ado from western powers, especially the US. The Israeli media has underlined the fact that the Israelis have been “terrified” since January 25, when the Egyptian uprising broke out, much to everyone’s surprise. These…more
It’s Love-All in the Blame Game
Dissident Voice: 9 Feb 2011 – U.S. and Swiss officials are reportedly meeting in secret to work out details of a possible extradition exchange of film director Roman Polanksi for ex-U.S. President George W. Bush. Bush recently canceled his planned February 12 talk to a Swiss group after international organizations pressured the Swiss government to detain Bush on charges of torture and other human rights violations. Last year Swiss authorities refused a request by U.S. officials to send Roman Polanski back to California to face decades-old rape charges. Vigilantes on both sides of the Atlantic have been left frustrated by this stalemate. “Why should criminals be allowed to go free simply by avoiding the jurisdictions where they committed their crimes?” wondered Bernard Schittkopf, legal counsel for many ex-Nazis brought back from foreign hidey-holes to face justice in Israel or The Hague. Bush told an interviewer last week that he was through with politics. “Hell, after invading…more
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The New Dark Age 