8 March, 2011 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
International Women’s Day in Palestine 2011
IMEMC – Tuesday March 08, 2011 – 16:44, Tuesday marks International Women’s Day, a global celebration of women. In Palestine, rallies and conferences were organized to celebrate this day. These provided a chance and space to reflect on the achievement of Palestinian women, and the many steps still needed to attain full equality with men.
Bethlehem Celebrates International Women’s Day with Protest
IMEMC – Tuesday March 08, 2011 – 16:37, To celebrate International Woman’s Day, on Tuesday, women in Bethlehem protested against the annexation wall, that divides many parts of the West Bank and annexes Palestinian owned land.
Settlers Injure 3 Near Nablus
IMEMC – Tuesday March 08, 2011 – 12:39, The Ma’an News Agency reports that settlers shot and injured three Palestinians in As-sawiya vilage near Nablus.
Britain To Upgrade Palestinian Delegation To A Mission Status
IMEMC – Tuesday March 08, 2011 – 11:42, British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, stated Monday that his country has decided to upgrade the status of the official Palestinian delegation in London to the level of a Mission, similar to moves made by a number of European Union countries.
Israeli Seeks $20 Billion in US Aid
IMEMC – Tuesday March 08, 2011 – 10:52, The Israeli government is planning to head to the United States to ask for a $20 Billion in additional military aid to “cope with the new changes in the Middle East”.
Gaza’s Ministry Of Detainees Calls On Egypt To Release Palestinians Prisoners
IMEMC – Tuesday March 08, 2011 – 09:16, The Ministry of Detainees at the Hamas-led interim government issued a press release calling on the Egyptian government to immediately release all Palestinian detainees held in Egyptian prisons.
Hamas Police Detains Six Protestors In Gaza
IMEMC – Tuesday March 08, 2011 – 08:52, As hundreds of residents marched, Monday, in the streets on Gaza City calling for an end to the internal Palestinian divisions and urging for unity, the Hamas-controlled Palestinian police and security forces detained six residents.
Army To Demolish Homes, Barns, Near Jenin
IMEMC – Tuesday March 08, 2011 – 08:38, The Israeli Authorities handed on Monday evening eight orders for the removal of eight homes and barns that belong to residents of Barta’a Al Sharqiyya, isolated behind the Annexation Wall south west of the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Israel hands Jenin residents demolition orders
3/8/2011 – JENIN (Ma’an) — Israeli military vehicles escorted crews from the Israeli Planning Department to the northern West Bank town of Barta’a Ash-Sharqiya on Tuesday, where eight demolition orders were handed out. The village, located east of the Green like but west of Israel’s separation wall, is in the northern West…. Related: Arrests, demolition warnings in Beit Ummar and South Hebron community faces demolitions
Flotilla to set sail to Gaza in May
3/8/2011 – AMESTERDAM (Ma’an) – The Freedom Flotilla Coalition called on the states of participating activists to ensure the boats’ safety from Israeli aggression at a meeting in Amsterdam. The group plans to sail to Gaza in May. Campaigner Amin Abu Rashed noted that the international community condemned Israel’s raid of a Gaza….
Palestinian women rally for unity on Women’s Day
3/8/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Palestinian women in the West Bank and Gaza held rallies Monday to commemorate International Women’s Day. In Gaza, hundreds of women took to the streets urging Fatah and Hamas to end their rivalry. Demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing the division and calling for reconciliation. They urged Hamas and Fatah….
Arrests, demolition warnings in Beit Ummar
3/8/2011 – HEBRON (Ma’an) — A child, two teenagers and an adult were detained by Israeli forces from the town of Beit Ummar overnight, local officials said, adding that four home demolition orders were delivered at the same time. Popular committee spokesman Muhammad Ayyad Awad said that during the night raid, Israeli troops broke the doors…. Related: Israel hands Jenin residents demolition orders and South Hebron community faces demolitions
South Hebron community faces demolitions
3/8/2011 – HEBRON (Ma’an) — Four tent homes, four caves and four sheds will be demolished by Israeli forces in the coming weeks, orders from Israel’s Civil Administration handed out to residents of the southern West Bank neighborhood of Zif warned. The third set of demolition notices handed out to Palestinians in two days…. Related: Israel hands Jenin residents demolition orders and Arrests, demolition warnings in Beit Ummar
Child among villagers injured by settlers
3/8/2011 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Activists with the International Solidarity Movement in the village of Qusra said that evening clashes with settlers Monday night had left 13 injured, including a child. The group identified Ibrahim Hassan, 15, as the youngest victim, who doctors said sustained a bullet wound with an entry point at his back and….
Rafah to resume pre-Mubarak operations
3/9/2011 – CAIRO (Ma’an) — Palestinian embassy officials in Cairo released numbers from the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt Monday evening, which showed a steady number of passengers traveling in and out of the border terminal. The most recent number hovered at just under 300 travelers, with 224 recorded leaving Gaza, and 75 entering via….
Ban calls for release of Palestinian political prisoners
3/8/2011 – VIENNA, Austria (Ma’an) — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday said the plight of Palestinian political prisoners must be urgently addressed. In a message delivered by his representative Maxwell Gaylard, Ban said he had publicly urged for the release of detainees in 2010 during a visit to the region. Ban said the release….
NGO declares 2011 year of freedom for Arab women
3/8/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — A Palestinian human rights center has declared 2011 the year of freedom for Arab women. The Human Rights and Democracy Media Center SHAMS invited frontline women’s organizations and civil society groups to join its initiative on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Applauding the struggle of women….
PCBS: Palestinian women still ‘marginal’ in PA
3/8/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Palestinian women are increasingly involved in political life, but their presentation as decision makers in the Palestinian Authority is still marginal, a study found. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics conducted the study to mark International Women’s Day. The positions of president of the Stock Exchange Authority and governor….
Israeli detains Nablus businessman at border
3/8/2011 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained a Palestinian businessman returning to the West Bank from the United Arab Emirates, a rights group said Tuesday. Mahmoud Abdul-Rahim Mas’oud, 52, was detained by Israeli forces at the Allenby Bridge crossing on the West Bank’s border with Jordan, said International Solidarity and Human….
Family says Egypt security executed Yousif Abu Zuhri
3/8/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Abu Zuhri family on Tuesday accused Egyptian State Security of executing Yousif Abu Zuhri, brother of a Hamas spokesman, in October 2009. At a press conference in Gaza City, family members said they had received new information from two Gaza residents recently released from Egyptian prisons. The former detainees….
Beit Ummar demonstrators block settler road
3/8/2011 – HEBRON (Ma’an) — Beit Ummar’s popular committee closed down the main road between Hebron and Jerusalem on Tuesday, barring settler cars from traveling on the road, a committee spokesman said. Yousif Abu Maria said the closure was intended to remind settlers that Palestinians are prohibited from accessing their lands located near settlements….
Settlers to diplomats: Go home!
3/9/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank passed out threatening pamphlets to foreign diplomats on Thursday, instructing them to “go home” and put an end to their “meddling” in Israeli affairs. The flyers, handed to diplomats waiting at a military checkpoint into Ramallah, warned that “meddling” by the American government and….
US group fights ban on Israel ‘war crime’ bus ads
3/9/2011 – LOS ANGELES (AFP) — A US lobby group is taking legal action to challenge a local authority’s refusal to let it put posters on Seattle buses criticizing Israel’s “war crimes” in Gaza. The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign vowed to pursue a lawsuit, despite a judge’s refusal to force officials who…. Related: Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign
Ma’an, UNESCO hold safety training for Gaza journalists
3/8/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Ma’an Network began a training course for Palestinian journalists on Tuesday entitled “Media Coverage in Times of Danger.”Palestinian reporters and cameramen, working for several media outlets, will attend the first stage of the UNESCO-funded course. Head of Ma’an’s Gaza office Imad Eid gave….
Hamas: Gazans will turn Knesset into Tahrir Square
3/8/2011 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar told an audience in Sudan on Monday that the people of Gaza would triumph over the Israeli occupation and “raise the banner of Islam” over Jerusalem. Speaking at the eighth conference of the Iran-funded International Institute for Jerusalem, Zahhar said his party would “not quit until….
Abbas hints at resignation
3/9/2011 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — President Mahmoud Abbas hinted Tuesday that he would resign if an independent Palestinian state was not established by September. Abbas’ remarks came at a joint press conference with British Foreign Minister William Hague in London. Responding to reporters’ questions about his resignation, Abbas said all options were being considered….
Models strut in rare West Bank fashion show
3/8/2011 – RAMALLAH (AFP) — Draped in sleek evening gowns and frothy wedding dresses, the models at the West Bank’s first haute couture fashion show could have been walking at Paris Fashion Week. But the rare presentation was instead staged in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian territories, during….
Worker dies in fall from building
3/8/2011 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — A worker died on Monday after falling from the fourth floor of a school building east of the West Bank city of Nablus. Medics said Maher Hassan Najeh Awwad, 25, died instantly from the fall. His body was taken to the Rafedia Hospital….
Arab FMs to discuss Libya no-fly zone
3/9/2011 – CAIRO (AFP) — Arab foreign ministers are to hold crisis talks on Saturday to discuss imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, Arab League officials said, as Libyan jets keep up near daily strikes to crush a rebellion. The meeting was initially scheduled for Friday, but was postponed a day after requests from several foreign ministers, deputy….
In Mideast revolts, women emerge as driving force
3/8/2011 – BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — As popular revolts continue to rock autocratic regimes across the Arab world, women are defying both taboo and stereotype and emerging as a driving force that is keeping the momentum of the protests going.” Women played and continue to play an integral part in the uprisings and revolutions in the region, and…. Related: The Middle East feminist revolution
Gadhafi slams West; US says too soon to arm rebels
3/8/2011 – TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — Moammar Gadhafi’s regime accused the West of “a conspiracy to divide Libya” as Washington, under mounting pressure to help opposition forces, said it was premature to arm the rebels. Fresh fighting was reported in the city of Zawiyah just outside the Gadhafi-held capital Tripoli, while Gulf states including Saudi Arabia….
Tunisia Islamists back ban on polygamy, not head scarf
3/8/2011 – TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — Tunisia’s newly legalized Islamist movement said Tuesday it supported the country’s ban on polygamy but urged the government to lift one on wearing headscarves in schools and universities. Ennahda (Awakening) was legalized this month for the first time in the 30 years of its existence after the interim….
Heavy shelling heard on Libyan front west of Ras Lanuf
3/8/2011 – WEST OF RAS LANUF, Libya (AFP) — Heavy shelling was heard Tuesday on the front line of the Libyan rebels’ fight against forces loyal to Moamer Gadhafi, west of the rebel-held oil town of Ras Lanuf, an AFP reporter said….
Official: 1 killed, 60 hurt in Yemen prison riot
3/8/2011 – SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — One prisoner was killed and some 60 people, including around 20 police, were hurt Tuesday, in clashes between Yemeni security forces and inmates at Sanaa’s central jail, a security official said….
Website: Iran’s Mousavi, wife at home, not in jail
3/8/2011 – TEHRAN (AFP) — Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife are at their home and not in jail, the Iranian opposition leader’s Kaleme. com website said on Tuesday, apologising for previous claims that they were in prison….
Saudi minister: World oil supply ‘very adequate’
3/8/2011 – RIYADH (AFP) — Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said on Tuesday that crude oil available in the global market is “very adequate” and that the kingdom has an extra output capacity of 3. 5 million barrels per day if needed….
Israel and milking America.
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister in Bibi Netanyahu’s government announced to the Wall Street Journal that Israel would seek $ 20 Billions in upgrade for its already existing $3.2 Billions annual defense grants. It seems the…
The UNSC Veto and “The Israel Lobby”
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – This piece originally appeared at The Third Way Back in 2007, when John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt released their book, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy , I disagreed with many parts of their thesis. Most…
Thousands protest against Lebanon’s sectarian system
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Reuters – The constitution in Lebanon, which has been without a government since Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri was toppled by Hezbollah and its political allies in January, enshrines a division of power between different religious sects….
Trapped in the Middle East between Iran and America
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Jesse Rosenfeld, Foreign Policy – Iran is the largest nation state supporter of armed resistance to Israel’s occupation, a country whose current leadership justify seemingly provocative actions in the Middle East as counter measures to Israeli-American…
For better or for worse
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Israelis, like most Jews, worry for a living. The dark side of Jewish history and the security challenges of their national life compel them to. And these days there’s plenty to worry about. Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas,…
China’s deepening Arab ties: the dragon in the desert
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Reuters – 3,950 wholesale and retail shops, stretching 1.2 km, or about three-quarters of a mile, in a sinuous strip alongside a desert highway — is China’s trade outpost in the Gulf, selling everything from marble…
Israel continues to target Khirbet Tana
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Ma’an – Twenty portable water tankers brought into the hamlet of Khirbet Tana after Israeli forces destroyed the herder community’s wells in January, were confiscated on Monday morning, an official said. A group of Israeli military…
Fatah: Revolutions impact unity efforts
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Ma’an – Fatah official Osama Al-Qawasmi issued a statement Monday urging Palestinian factions to find a way to end the state of internal division. “We must be prepared for the establishment of a liberated Palestinian state,”…
Why Middle East Monarchies Might Hold On
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Shadi Hamid, The Atlantic – Arab monarchies were long thought to be more favorable to democratization than republics. Monarchs who enjoyed popular legitimacy and political security are on balance more willing to take risks, the argument…
The new Egypt: Leaving women behind
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Basma Atassi, Al Jazeera – Marwa Sharaf el-Din, an Egyptian law PhD candidate at Oxford University, will be in Tahrir Square this afternoon to perform Zajal, a popular traditional form of Arabic poetry. “Do I have…
Palestinian diplomatic status in the UK upgraded
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – The Guardian – William Hague said that Britain had upgraded the status of Palestinian diplomats in the UK, in a largely symbolic move aimed at encouraging progress in peace talks with Israel. The foreign secretary told…
Gaza food situation tight as Karni crossing closed
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – IRIN – The complete closure of Karni crossing on the Israel-Gaza border announced on 2 March will make the delivery of food aid to Gaza more difficult, according to UN agencies assisting Palestinians in the Gaza…
Abbas calls for full Palestinian membership in the United Nations
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Jerusalem Post – The time has come for Palestine to become a permanent member of the UN, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday as he reiterated his opposition to the idea of a state…
How Food Could Determine Libya’s Future
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Chris Albon, The Atlantic – As Libya’s protesters-turned-rebels fight a series of hard battles with forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi, the United States — and the much of the world — struggles to find a meaningful…
Brazil’s ‘lessons’ for Arab rebels
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Chris Arsenault, Al Jazeera – During Brazil’s two decades of military dictatorship, it would have been unthinkable that a female former revolutionary would lead the country in the 21st century. That transition, from autocracy to democracy,…
Jordanian journalists call for press freedom
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – The Washington Post – In the first protest of its kind here, journalists from state-controlled media demonstrated Monday for press freedom and demanded the ouster of the editor of the main government-controlled newspaper. “We’re fed up….
A Middle East without borders?
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Mohammed Khan, Al Jazeera – The modern geography of the Middle East was carved out by British and French colonialists whose sole interest was in sharing the spoils of war between themselves and in maintaining their…
Arab Foreign Ministers to meet Friday over Libya
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Al Masry Al Youm – Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the latest developments in Libya, the Arab League said on Tuesday. In statements to the press today, Hesham Youssef,…
Israel plans work at controversial Jerusalem holy site
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Arabiya – Israel has given preliminary approval for renovations at a contested holy site in East Jerusalem where rebuilding has triggered violence in the past, a city official said on Sunday. “The municipality last week authorized…
Israel mulls temporary Palestinian state: report
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Al Arabiya – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu is likely to offer the Palestinians a provisional state within temporary borders, the country’s defense minister said in an interview published Tuesday, spelling out for the first time…
Models strut in rare West Bank fashion show
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Al Arabiya – Draped in sleek evening gowns and frothy wedding dresses, the models at the West Bank’s first haute couture fashion show could have been walking at Paris Fashion Week. But the rare presentation was…
Facebook activists seek to heal Hamas-Fatah split
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – Arabiya – Palestinian college students are using Facebook Inc. to organize rallies across the West Bank and Gaza Strip next week in a bid to heal the Hamas-Fatah rift that has paralyzed Middle East peace efforts….
Conversations with An Egyptian Friend
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – An Egyptian teacher told me, years ago, that the revolution in his country was coming. Around the same time, he asked me what Americans mean when we talk about “democracy.” He wanted to know what I…
Lessons From the Egyptian Revolution
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – The rush and tumult of events makes it hard, sometimes, to draw the most important general conclusions from their significance. This said, the revolutionary tidal wave, which began in Tunisia and Algeria, reached its crest in…
Jordan Increases Budget to Add Measures to Tamp Unrest
Palestine Note 8 Mar 2011 – The Wall Street Journal – The Jordanian government has presented a revised draft budget for 2011 to include some 460 million Jordanian dinars ($650 million) in additional expenditures, to cover a package of new social safety…
Egypt Swears In New Cabinet
Palestine Note 7 Mar 2011 – Protestors attacked by knife-wielding men over weekend Arabiya – Ministers of Egypt’s new government were sworn in on Monday by the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, at…
Libya oil tanks seen as ‘time bomb’
AlJazeera 8 Mar 2011 – Desperate Gaddafi might hit oil facilities in an attempt to fend off encroaching rebels, sparking a human catastrophe.
Copts, Muslims clash in Cairo
AlJazeera 8 Mar 2011 – At least one person killed as Egyptian Christians protesting the torching of a church clash with Muslims in the capital.
Libya Live Blog – March 9
AlJazeera 8 Mar 2011 – As the uprising in Libya continues, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe.
Yemeni police fire on protesters
AlJazeera 8 Mar 2011 – At least 75 pro-democracy demonstrators injured in the shooting as calls for president Saleh’s ouster gain momentum.
Protesters demand reform in Kuwait
AlJazeera 8 Mar 2011 – Demonstrations take place outside government offices amid calls for ruling family to loosen its exclusive grip on power.
Syria frees human rights activist
AlJazeera 8 Mar 2011 – Haitham al-Maleh’s release comes after president issues amnesty for older prisoners and those jailed for minor crimes.
Rafsanjani ousted from Iranian post
AlJazeera 8 Mar 2011 – ‘Moderate’ former president steps down as head of state body, a move which seems to tighten hardliners’ grip on power.
Q&A: Iraq’s former prime minister
AlJazeera 8 Mar 2011 – Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh interviews Iraq’s former prime minister on the status of Iraq’s political process.
Oman ruler orders cabinet reshuffle
AlJazeera 7 Mar 2011 – Move is the latest in a string of concessions aimed at appeasing protesters demanding jobs and political reforms.
Allawi: Iraq power sharing a myth
AlJazeera 7 Mar 2011 – Leader of cross-sectarian Iraqiya bloc tells Al Jazeera why he turned down position as head of national council.
EU Funds Data Center for Palestinian Courts
PNN – Ramallah — HJC to PNN – The Palestinian High Judicial Council (HJC) held a ceremony on Tuesday to highlight its brand new electronic court management system supported by a Data Center which…
American Methodist Church Calls for End to Settlements
PNN – Bethlehem — PNN- The American Methodist church called on Tuesday for an end to illegal Israeli settlement activity and American support of them, part of a “series of unprecedented steps” from the…
Bethlehem Celebrates International Women’s Day with Protest
PNN – by Circarre Parrhesia – To celebrate International Woman’s Day, on Tuesday, women in Bethlehem protested against the annexation wall, that divides many parts of the West Bank and annexes Palestinian owned land….
Soldiers Attack Sit-in in Southern West Bank
PNN – Hebron — PNN/Exclusive- On Tuesday, Israeli troops broke up a nonviolent protest organized by the villagers of Beit Omar, north of Hebron in the southern West Bank. Villagers along with Israeli and…
Troops Arrest Eight Civilians and Distribute Demolition Orders to Villagers in the West Bank
PNN – PNN — Hebron — Israeli troops arrested eight Palestinian civilians during morning invasions on Tuesday targeting a number of West Bank communities. The Israeli army radio announced that all eight men were…
Gisha: Israeli Defense Ministry Only Allow Christian Worshippers to Leave Gaza
PNN – Tal Aviv — Gisha to PNN – The Israeli Defense Ministry refuses to allow Muslim women from Gaza to enter east Jerusalem in order to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque but allows…
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory ( 24 Feb. 02 Mar. 2011)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Moussa says he would maintain Egypt’s peace with Israel
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Egyptian presidential hopeful says Cairo has “a responsibility to lay the foundations for peace,” but adds gas deal with Israel may be rethought; defends Muslim Brotherhood’s right to political participation.
Fatah youth center names event after suicide bomber
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Sports event to take place near Ramallah named after Wafa Idris, the first Palestinian woman to carry out a suicide bombing.
Bahrain’s Shi’ites want Sunni monarchy toppled
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Protests hit Kuwait for first time; Syria releases dissident judge; Egyptian court rejects Mubarak’s appeal against seizure of funds.
Peace Now calls on A-G to probe Rabbi for incitement
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Move comes after Wolpe tells settlers “fire rubber bullets back at soldiers” who evacuate outposts; Wolpe retracts statements.
‘Iranian activists, police clash in Women’s Day protest’
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Heavy police presence reported in Tehran; dozens of women rounded up, beaten in Khartoum while attempting to stage anti-rape protest.
Peres doesn’t anticipate civil war if land ceded for peace
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Speaking in Ashkelon where he received honorary citizenship, president says settlers would be angry but willing to relocate.
Livni named one of 150 ‘women who shake the world’
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – “The Daily Beast” and “Newsweek” say Livni is ‘leading advocate of two-state solution’; 2 other Israeli women named on list.
Pro-Palestinian groups to send flotilla to Gaza in May
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Free Gaza movement organizers request governments of participating nationals to protect participants in flotilla which will include 15 ships.
‘IDF will remain on Jordan River in any future agreement’
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – In Jordan Valley, PM says “this is Israel’s line of defense”; stresses need for security border; military keeps terrorists at bay.
Iran’s Rafsanjani loses post as chair of state body
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Former Iranian president stripped of role after criticizing a crackdown on opposition protests after Ahmadinejad’s disputed 2009 re-election.
Torrential rains hit and snow falls on the Hermon
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Heavy precipitation, thunderstorms, cause traffic jams in Tel Aviv area, northern Israel; snow expected to spread to upper Galilee, Safed.
Farsi-dubbed ‘Shoah’ to be broadcast in Iran
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Los Angeles based Aladdin Project says lack of Holocaust information in Iranian, Arab world inspiration for telecast in Persian.
Barak: Israel may seek additional $20b. in US defense aid
Jeruslalem Post 8 Mar 2011 – Defense minister in interview: Aid will be used to guard from potential threats in light of changes, upheaval in MidEast.
International Women’s Day goes to the movies
Jeruslalem Post 7 Mar 2011 – Jerusalem Cinematheque hosts film festival on women and religion; Bar Ilan Univ. to screen ‘Bend it Like Beckham,’ Israeli films.
Bibi getting into gear
Jeruslalem Post 7 Mar 2011 – Credit where it’s due: Recent events have triggered Netanyahu to take decisive action; But if the PM wants to prevent the emergence of a binational state, he must announce the immediate freeze of settlement-building in the West Bank.
Israeli minister to visit Jonathan Pollard for first time in five years
Ha’aretz – Social Affairs Minister Moshe Kahlon to visit the convicted Israeli spy in a U.S. jail next week and pass on a message from Netanyahu.
U.K.: Mideast peace process is too vital to fail over regional turmoil
Ha’aretz – Britain’s Foreign Secretary Hague meets with Palestinian President Abbas in London and demands both sides resume discussions and seek a breakthrough on a permanent peace deal before end of 2011.
Netanyahu: Settlers’ price tag policy is unacceptable
Ha’aretz – On tour of Jordan Valley in West Bank, prime minister warns Israel will take action against lawbreakers.
Palestinians dismiss Netanyahu’s talk of interim peace plan
Ha’aretz – Direct peace talks have been frozen since September 2010 after Israel refused to extend a partial moratorium on settlement construction; Netanyahu said to be working on proposal to break the deadlock.
Israel: British upgrade of Palestinian mission is ‘unhelpful’
Ha’aretz – Foreign ministry spokesman says the Palestinians ‘are refusing to renew direct talks, and at the same time they are getting these gestures that are encouraging them in their current policy.’
Netanyahu: If enemy rockets get to Jordan Valley, all of Israel will be a target
Ha’aretz – PM tells soldiers on tour of area that Israel’s ‘line of defense begins’ in that strategic area, and must be preserved in any future agreement reached with the Palestinians.
IDF Chief makes surprise visit to army base in Jordan Valley
Ha’aretz – Chief of Staff Benny Gantz arrived at 5:30 A.M. with a group of army investigators to evaluate base operations.
Israel may ask U.S. for $20 billion more in security aid, Barak says
Ha’aretz – Defense Minister tells Wall Street Journal that Israel must be on guard considering the unrest sweeping the Arab world, adding increased aid could help make Israel a ‘stabilizer in such a turbulent region’.
Veteran Labor MK Ben-Eliezer hospitalized with lung infection
Ha’aretz – Former Defense Minister is connected to a respirator at Assaf Harofeh Hospital.
Social workers resume protests in front of Finance Ministry
Ha’aretz – The strike enters its third day as gaps remain over social workers’ demands for pay raises.
Woman found stabbed to death near Tel Aviv central bus station
Ha’aretz – Emergency aid workers were unable to revive the 25-year-old, who had been stabbed multiple times.
Bill to punish anti-Israel boycotters passes first Knesset hurdle
Ha’aretz – According to proposal, Israelis would face harsh punitive measures for such actions; controversial bill also calls for imposing sanctions on foreign nationals and groups and on states that give boycotts force of law.
High Court: Explain why Israeli Arabs discriminated against by airport security
Ha’aretz – Court responds to petition filed by civil rights group against Shin Bet and Airports Authority, complaining that entire sector is tagged as generalized ‘security risk’.
Strike enters 3rd day to reopen Karni crossing
8 Mar 2011 – Gaza Strip, (Pal Telegraph)-Truck drivers and workers continue their strike for the third day in the protest tent set up outside the gate of Rafah crossing demanding the reopening of Karni commercial crossing permanently.
Israeli forces open fire on southern Gaza Strip
8 Mar 2011 – Gaza strip, (Pal Telegraph)-Several Israeli military forces invaded Tuesday morning Palestinian lands near Sufa crossing in the south of Gaza Strip.
Israel to demolish Palestinian homes near Jenin
8 Mar 2011 – West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-Israeli forces stormed last night the village of Bartaa in Jenin city and handed eight citizens orders to demolish their homes under the pretext of illegal construction.
8 injured as settlers invade Qusra village
8 Mar 2011 – West Bank, (Pal Telegraph)-At least eight Palestinian citizens were injured yesterday evening by Israeli gufire in Qusra village in the south part of Nablus.
US to resume Guantanamo trialsUS president lifts two-year ban on controversial military tribunals as he acknowledges the prison will not close soon.
Uruknet March 8, 2011 – The US president has approved the resumption of military trials for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba. The move ends a two-year ban and was the latest acknowledgement that the prison Barack Obama had vowed to shut down within a year of taking office will remain open for some time to come….
Child among villagers injured by settlers
Uruknet March 8, 2011 – Activists with the International Solidarity Movement in the village of Qusra said that evening clashes with settlers Monday night had left 13 injured, including a child. The group identified Ibrahim Hassan, 15, as the youngest victim, who doctors said sustained a bullet wound with an entry point at his back and exit through the kidney,…
Palestinian Women Deserve Celebration
Uruknet March 7, 2011 – Tomorrow, March 8 is International Women’s Day, a global event celebrating women’s rights and honoring women’s achievements throughout history. Palestine observes the occasion every year, marking it with marches, activities and events that focus on the Palestinian woman as an integral part of her own society and of the global village. Like in other parts…
Israeli Apartheid: A Socialist View
Uruknet March 7, 2011 – The resistance of the Palestinian population to Israeli occupation since 1948 has been central to resistance in the Middle East to western imperialism. The reinvigoration of the movement since the second Intifada in 2000 has also inspired anti-imperialist resistance throughout the region, significantly in neighbouring Egypt. It is the more recent boycott, divestment and sanctions…
Gadhafi: Crackdown on Libya revolt is like Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza
Uruknet March 7, 2011 – Long-time Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi said Monday in an interview with TV network France 24 that his violent crackdown on opposition protesters is akin to Israel’s efforts to defend itself from extremism during its 2009 Gaza war against Hamas… Speaking with France 24 later Monday, however, Gadhafi defended his military’s right to oppress rebel activity,…
Report: Mubarak’s sons received millions of dollars for backing Israeli gas sales
Uruknet March 7, 2011 – Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, the two sons of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, received hundreds of millions of dollars in “commissions” from the sale of Egyptian natural gas to Israel, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported yesterday. Gamal initially demanded a 10% commission but eventually agreed to half of that, while his elder brother and businessman…
Why is Israel aid exempt?As US fiscal conservatives cut food programmes for poor children, military aid for Israel is left untouched.
Uruknet March 7, 2011 – Once upon a time, social security was considered the “third rail” of American politics. The “third rail” is the train track that carries the high-voltage power; touching it means instant death. The “third rail” metaphor has for decades been applied to social security, a government program so popular with the American public that proposing any…
Egypt: A Virtual Smoking Gun?
Uruknet March 7, 2011 – …Prior to his involvement with “democracy promotion”, Glassman was a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, the neoconservative propaganda mill that pushed the concept of a “global war on terror” primarily to advance the national interest of Israel. While there, he founded The American, a magazine of ideas for business leaders and was its…
An Urgent Call to Release Detainee Ahmad Asfour
Uruknet March 7, 2011 – At the Algeria conference on Palestinian Political Prisoners I met a desperate father, Samir Asfour. He told me the story of his son. Ahmad was a 17 year old student when he was severely injured outside his home during the invasion of Gaza on January 9, 2009. He was hit by a bomb, probably a…
Extrajudicial Assassinations: Official Israeli Policy
Uruknet March 7, 2011 – …On July 22, 2002, an Israeli jet bombed a three-story apartment building in densely populated Al-Daraj, a residential Gaza City neighborhood. Suspected Izzidin al-Qassam Brigade leader Salah Shehade was killed. So were 14 civilians, including eight children, Shehade’s wife, son, daughter, and bodyguard among them. Eight nearby apartment buildings were completely destroyed, nine others partly,…
Nablus: Settler, soldiers open fire on Palestinians
Uruknet March 7, 2011 — Ten Palestinians and a Jewish settler were wounded on Monday during clashes in a village near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, a Palestinian official and witnesses said. Ghassan Daghlas, an official in charge of tracking settler activity, said six Palestinians were taken to hospital and another four were on the way after being…
Video: Gaddafi insists al Qaeda is to blame for chaos and killings
Uruknet March 7, 2011 – In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi repeated his claim that al Qaeda was responsible for plunging the country into chaos and denied media reports of mass killings. Al Qaeda is responsible for the violent uprising in Libya, but Western media has overstated the extent of the political crisis and its…
‘Downcast’ Benjamin Netahyahu under increased pressure over Israel’s poor image
The National 9 Mar 2011 – Fast-moving recent developments in the region and strains with the US and Europe, notably with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, add to Israel¬øs isolation.
Alternative Information Center
El Araqib Destroyed for 21st time, JNF Changing Facts on Ground
Alternative Information Center – Israeli forces demolished the little that remains of the Bedouin village of El Araqib on Monday, as they work to permanently change facts on the ground, erasing the village’s very existence and history.
UK Upgrades Palestinian Envoy to Full Diplomatic Mission
Alternative Information Center – The Palestinian envoy to the UK, also known as the Palestinian General Delegation in London,is being promoted to the status of full diplomatic mission, announced British Foreign Secretary David Hague on Monday (7/3).
Nine Palestinians Injured by Settlers and Israeli Army in Nablus District
Alternative Information Center – Nine Palestinian residents of the West Bank village of Qusra were injured when settlers opened fire on them and the Israeli military shot rubber bullets. Three remain hospitalized in serious condition.
Temporary Injunction against New Building in Palestinian Village Destroyed in 1948
Alternative Information Center – An Israeli court has issued a temporary injunction on selling luxury lots on the site of the historic Palestinian village of Lifta, whose residents were expelled and forced out in 1948.
Iraqi forces defuse bomb at Baiji oil refinery
Daily Star 8 Mar 2011 Iraq’s security forces foiled a plot Tuesday to bomb the Baiji oil refinery, the country’s largest, days after militants attacked and shut down the refinery, a provincial official and a police source said. The bomb was…
Iran’s Rafsanjani ousted as head of state clerical body
Daily Star 8 Mar 2011 TEHRAN: Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani lost his position as head of an important state clerical body Tuesday, a move which tightens the hard-liners’ grip on power. The defeat for one of the great survivors…
Peace process cannot become victim of regional unrest: U.K.
Daily Star 8 Mar 2011 Britain warned Tuesday of a risk that the peace process could fall victim to the unrest sweeping the region if Israel and the Palestinians don’t return quickly to stalled talks. The warning by Foreign Secretary William…
Shiite groups in Bahrain call for setting up of a republic
Daily Star 8 Mar 2011 Three Bahraini Shiite groups raised tensions Tuesday by forming a coalition aimed at establishing a republic; neighboring Kuwait became the latest Gulf state to witness protests calling for sweeping reforms while Saudi Arabia decided to release…
Families find terror on road out of Libyan town
Daily Star 8 Mar 2011 AJDABIA, Libya: They were trying to flee to safety but were lucky to escape with their lives. As cars loaded with people and possessions streamed down the desert road east from the Libyan oil town of…
Israeli plan to demolish unauthorised West Bank outposts condemned
The Guardian 8 Mar 2011 – Settlers’ groups label decision to raze settlements built on privately owned Palestinian land as treasonous The Israeli government has seemingly set itself on a collision course with hardline settlers after announcing it intends to demolish all…
United Nations International Meeting on Question of Palestine, in Outcome Text, Stresses Need to Internationalize’ Issue of Palestinian Political Prisoners
Relief Web 8 Mar 2011 – Source: UN General Assembly
Israel: Stop Discriminatory Home Demolitions
Relief Web 8 Mar 2011 – Source: Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Council concludes interactive dialogue on enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and internally displaced persons
Relief Web 8 Mar 2011 – Source: UN Human Rights Council
Applicability of International Law to Palestinians in Occupied Territory Reaffirmed at International Meeting in Vienna
Relief Web 8 Mar 2011 – Source: UN General Assembly
The New Egypt: Leaving Women Behind
IPS Marwa Sharaf el-Din, an Egyptian law PhD candidate at Oxford University, spent part of International Women’s Day in Tahrir Square this afternoon to perform Zajal, a popular traditional form of Arabic poetry.
Commemorate Land Day 2011 by Joining the Global BDS Day of Action 30 March
Stop The Wall – The BDS National Committee (BNC) is calling on you to unite in your different capacities and struggles to join the Global BDS Day of Action on Land Day, 30 March 2011, in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s right to self determination on their ancestral land. [
Aharonovitch: Settlers should rage at themselves
YNet News – Minister speaks of settler violence over Havat Gilad eviction, gives complete….
Iran: Opposition supporters mark Int’l Women’s Day
YNet News – At least 10 opposition supporters detained in Tehran rally; in Ankara, some….
PM: IDF must remain deployed in Jordan Valley
YNet News – Netanyahu tours Jordanian border, stresses importance of army presence in area….
Iran’s Rafsanjani ousted as chair of state body
YNet News – Former president loses position as head of Assembly of Experts after being….
Israel seeks $20 billion in US military aid
YNet News – Defense Minister sees no immediate threat in Egypt but fears repercussions of….
Settlers resume construction in Havat Gilad
YNet News – Residents of village of Jit claim outpost settlers have begun building prep work….
‘No Palestine without Jordan Valley’
YNet News – While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking international support for continued Israeli military presence in the Jordan Rift Valley, even in the event of a peace …….
UK: Middle East peace process is too vital to fail
YNet News – Britain warned on Tuesday of a risk that the Middle East peace process could fall victim to the unrest sweeping the region if Israel and the Palestinians don’t return …….
Plastic bullet used in Havat Gilad sent to PMO
YNet News – Shomron Settlers’ Committee head Benny Katzover on Tuesday sent the chief of security at the Prime Minister’s Office a plastic bullet that was fired during last week’s …….
Palestinian Information Center
US lobby group fights judge’s refusal to force anti-Israel ads
PIC 8 Mar 2011 – A US advocacy group has taken legal action to appeal a ruling by local government that removed anti-Israel advertisements from city buses, the AFP reported on Tuesday.
Netanyahu: Jordan Valley would remain under Israeli control
PIC 8 Mar 2011 – Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu renewed assertion that his government would not relinquish control on the Jordan Valley in any future settlement.
Israel arrests Palestinian businessman residing in UAE
PIC 8 Mar 2011 – A Palestinian businessman residing in the UAE was arrested a few days back while returning to his hometown of Talfit near Nablus, the Tadhamon international human rights foundation reports.
IOF serves more demolition notices
PIC 8 Mar 2011 – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) served demolition notices to owners of eight installations in Barta’a Al-Sharqiya village, south of Jenin, last night, local sources said.
New evidence condemns Egyptian security in Yousef Abu Zuhri death
PIC 8 Mar 2011 – Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri has accused the Egyptian security force of killing his brother Yousef in October 2009 while jailed in Egypt based on solid new evidence.
IOF troops raid southern Gaza
PIC 8 Mar 2011 – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) advanced into southern Gaza Strip areas to the east of Khan Younis city amidst heavy firing, Palestinian sources reported.
Ban Ki-moon calls for release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails
PIC 8 Mar 2011 – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on Israel to free Palestinian political prisoners from its jails, affirming that such a step would boost peace chances in the region.
Freedom Flotilla coalition asks governments to ensure safety of passengers
PIC 8 Mar 2011 – The Freedom Flotilla coalition has called on governments partcipating in its next mission due to set sail mid-May to take concrete steps to ensure the safety of citizens from possible Israeli attacks.
Israel changes names of Jerusalemite streets into Hebrew ones
PIC 8 Mar 2011 – Jerusalem center for social and economic rights said that the Israeli municipal council started recently to replace the Arab names of some alleys and streets of the old city with Hebrew names.
Gaza workmen protesting Israel’s closure of Mintar crossing
PIC 8 Mar 2011 – Dozens of Palestinian workmen on Monday morning rallied near Al-Mintar (Karni) crossing in the industrial zone east of Gaza to protest the Israeli closure of the crossing.
Ayatollah Rafsanjani, Iranian opposition backer, loses clerical post
LA Times 8 Mar 2011 – Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president, is replaced as head of Iran’s Assembly of Experts in what is viewed as a victory for his conservative rivals, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The Iranian opposition’s most powerful sympathizer lost his post…
Hard-Liners Ruling Iran Gain an Ally In a Key Post
New York Times 8 Mar 2011 – The move to replace Ayatollah Ali Akbar Rafsanjani is seen as strengthening the president’s hand in his effort to crush opposition.
Netanyahu Vows to Keep Jordan River Posts
New York Times 8 Mar 2011 – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military presence east of any future Palestinian state was all the more necessary given the tumult rocking the Middle East.
World Briefing | MIDDLE EAST: Iran: U.N. Official Says Iran’s Nuclear Program May Be Aimed at Making Atomic Weapons
New York Times 8 Mar 2011 – The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, Yukiya Amano, said he could not guarantee that Iran was not trying to develop atomic arms.
Al Arakib destroyed for 21st time
Mondoweiss – And more news from Today in Palestine: Settlers resume construction in Havat Gilad Ynet 8 Mar — Residents of village of Jit claim outpost settlers have begun building prep work on privately owned Palestinian land. Havat Gilad spokesman says lands were bought by Jews years ago…
When will the ADL stand up to oppose Peter King’s witchhunt against Muslims?
Mondoweiss – Last month The Anti-Defamation League condemned Glenn Beck for comments he made about Reform Judaism. Speaking on his radio show, Beck dismissed the branch as akin to “radicalized Islam.” Reform rabbis, he said, “are generally political in nature. It’s almost like Islam, radicalized Islam in a…
Amanpour says P.A. has ‘not missed the opportunity to miss an opportunity’
Mondoweiss – Last night I heard Palestinian doctor Izzeldin Abuelaish speak at the Cooper Union in New York, in a conversation with Christiane Amanpour, an event that was canceled at the 92d Street Y uptown because the Jewish writer the organization had lined up to counter or balance…
Israel looks to cash in on upheaval in the Middle East; may request $20 billion more in military aid from the US
Mondoweiss – According to an interview with Ehud Barak in today’s Wall Street Journal , Israel is looking to “upgrade” its defenses in light of the democratic movements sweeping the Middle East, and, as per usual, is wanting the US to foot the bill. The U.S. is already slated…
On International Women’s Day, Palestinian women are faced with two struggles — freedom from occupation and liberation within their own society
Mondoweiss – The following interview is with Hitam Saafin, the Chair of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), which was founded in 1980. UPWC’s aim is to empower Palestinian women, while contributing to the Palestinian national struggle against the Israeli occupation. According to its mission statement, UPWC “…
Graffiti History of Palestine
Palestine Monitor – When 2006’s elections split Gaza and the West Bank politically, Anas Maraqa was looking at a pictorial battle between Hamas and Fateh. Then it hit him. “They were telling their peoples’ opinions in graffiti,” Maraqa said, puffing a cigarette. “I was like wow, this is really…
Protecting Palestinian Susya
Palestine Monitor – March 5, 2011. Al Tawamin End of winter, early spring: the hills of south Hebron are a shocking green. It won’t last long. Very soon now, unless there’s one last burst of rain, green will revert to the usual palette of yellow and brown; already the…
Iran’s Green Protests: Elite power struggle intensifies as Supreme Leader nears death
WSWS – In the midst of an historic uprising of the working class in North Africa and the Middle East directed against the region’s authoritarian US-backed regimes, Iran’s rightwing Green opposition has failed to relaunch itself.
CMEP Bulletin: Settlements, Residents, and Plans in the Holy Land
Churches for Middle East Peace 8 Mar 2011 –
133 Palestinians held in Israel’s jails for over 20 years
Sabr 8 Mar 2011 – GAZA ( Ma’an ) — Gaza’s Ministry of Detainees reported Monday that the number of prisoners held in Israeli jails for over two decades has increased to 133. Ministry spokesman Riyad Al-Ashkar said 39-year-old Imad Al-Masri entered his 21st year in Israeli detention on Monday. Al-Masri, from Tubas,…
Family says Egypt security executed Yousif Abu Zuhri
Sabr 8 Mar 2011 – Relatives of Yousef Abu Zuhri mourn during his funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, October 14, 2009. Abu Zuhri died in an Egyptian prison where he was held for entering Egypt illegally. His family says the young man died after being tortured by Egyptian…
Israeli Defense Ministry: For worshippers from Gaza, access to holy sites allowed for Christians only
Gisha 8 Mar 2011 – Bread prices expected to rise
Libya no-fly zone ‘UN decision’
BBC 8 Mar 2011 – Any decision to impose a no-fly zone over Libya should be made by the UN and not by Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says.
Rafsanjani leaves key Iran post
BBC 8 Mar 2011 – Iran’s former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has lost his position as head of a powerful clerical body, reports say.
Buying Friends Creates More Enemies
Antiwar.com 8 Mar 2011 – Last week Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and I had the opportunity to raise some of my concerns regarding U.S. foreign policy and the costs of our interventionism around the world. Many observers claim that the recent overthrow of…
The unraveling of the police state
Sami Jamil Jadallah, Palestine Note3/6/2011
For the past few days, I have been watching live news reports of the unraveling and dismantling of Hosni Mubarak police state, with officers and commanders of the “state security service” or “amn aldwla” on the run after succeeding in shredding hundreds of millions of important files implicating the Mubarak regime in torture, cold blooded murder, invasion of privacy and abuse of citizens rights with the entire force of 1.4 million strong serving Mubarak, his cronies, business associates and his political allies. When it became clear General Ahmed Shafiq was on his way out, deliberate fires were set to offices of state security services all over the country. Citizens came to the rescue but it was too late in many instances.
Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the PLO and president of the Palestinian Authority (his term expired more than 2 years ago) forged a close partnership with both Mubarak and General Omar Suleiman making the PA an extension of Mubarak Egypt specially when it came to Hamas, the continued siege of Gaza and reliance on security services as the backbone of the regime with Ramallah becoming not so different from Cairo’s Mubarak.
Notwithstanding what we hear about ‘state buildings” and “institutional building” the future Palestinian state if and when it comes will be nothing but a police state. This was the theme of an article I posted on 29 November 2007 ” The future Palestinian state will be nothing but a police state”, the same theme was also the subject of an article written by Aisling Byrne dated 18 January 2011 titled ” Building a police state in Palestine” that appeared in Foreign Policy.
The late Yasser Arafat was so committed to the security of Israel and committed to Oslo that he made “security services” his top priority anywhere he went. On his first visit to the UK rather than seeking substantial compensation for Palestinians for crimes committed by England under its mandate and Balfour Declaration, he could not find anything to seek support for except his security forces. — See also: Building a police state in Palestine more.. e-mail
The UNSC Veto and ‘The Israel Lobby’
Mitchell Plitnick, Palestine Note3/8/2011
It’s very clear that AIPAC is always the 800-pound gorilla in the room
Back in 2007, when John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt released their book,The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, I disagreed with many parts of their thesis. Most of the criticisms at the time attacked the authors as anti-Semites or made straw man arguments about points the authors were not making. Thus, Christopher Toensing of MERIP and I put together an article responding to Walt and Mearsheimer in what I think was a more rational manner. I later issued an update to that article.
While not agreeing with the Walt/Mearsheimer thesis, I disagree at least as much with the two major alternatives: what I’d call the Foxman thesis, and what I’d call the Chomsky thesis.
Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League wrote a book in response to Walt and Mearsheimer which offered very little beyond the same straw man arguments and insinuations of nefarious motives about the Israel Lobby authors. But Foxman’s case, separate from his critique of Walt and Mearsheimer, is that the Israel Lobby, as symbolized by the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) simply educates the public and Congress but is only one of many lobbying groups and, in the end, American Middle East policy was based on a careful analysis of American interests, which, to Foxman, are usually identical to Israeli ones.
Professor Noam Chomsky, well-known critic of American and Israeli policy, contends that the Lobby is very powerful as long as it goes along with extant US policies. That is, it does not play a significant role in determining those policies, but does close off debate and discussion about it. more.. e-mail
Libya and the Return of Humanitarian Imperialism
Jean Bricmont, CounterPunch3/8/2011
The Old Gang’s All Here
The whole gang is back: The parties of the European Left (grouping the “moderate” European communist parties), the “Green” José Bové, now allied with Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who has never seen a US-NATO war he didn’t like, various Trotkyist groups and of course Bernard-Henry Lévy and Bernard Kouchner, all calling for some sort of “humanitarian intervention” in Libya or accusing the Latin American left, whose positions are far more sensible, of acting as “useful idiots” for the “Libyan tyrant.”
Twelve years later, it is Kosovo all over again. Hundred of thousands of Iraqis dead, NATO stranded in an impossible position in Afghanistan, and they have learned nothing! The Kosovo war was made to stop a nonexistent genocide, the Afghan war to protect women (go and check their situation now), and the Iraq war to protect the Kurds. When will they understand that all wars claim to have humanitarian justifications? Even Hitler was “protecting minorities” in Czechoslovakia and Poland.
On the other hand, Robert Gates warns that any future secretary of state who advises a US president to send troops into Asia or Africa “must have his head examined”. Admiral Mullen similarly advises caution. The great paradox of our time is that the headquarters of the peace movement are to be found in the Pentagon and the State Department, while the pro-war party is a coalition of neo-conservatives and liberal interventionists of various stripes, including leftist humanitarian warriors, as well as some Greens, feminists or repentant communists.
So, now, everybody has to cut down his or her consumption because of global warming, but NATO wars are recyclable and imperialism has become part of sustainable development. more.. e-mail
Graffiti History of Palestine
Palestine Monitor: 8 Mar 2011 – When 2006’s elections split Gaza and the West Bank politically, Anas Maraqa was looking at a pictorial battle between Hamas and Fateh. Then it hit him. “They were telling their peoples’ opinions in graffiti,” Maraqa said, puffing a cigarette. “I was like wow, this is really saying something.” “We want to make the book from the first intifada until today,” Maracas said, outlining a plan of following a time-line linking events to their symbols called History of Palestine Through Graffiti . “There is lots of things from words written on walls – people get shot, things happened in Palestine, outside Palestine.” “it’s all on the walls.” In the First Intifada, for example, freedom fighters wrote messages to stir the masses, Maraqa said, while just two years ago a Dutch company charged ‚Ǩ30 to paint custom designs uploaded from anywhere in the world “It used to be a way for Palestinians to…more
Protecting Palestinian Susya
Palestine Monitor: 8 Mar 2011 – March 5, 2011. Al Tawamin End of winter, early spring: the hills of south Hebron are a shocking green. It won’t last long. Very soon now, unless there’s one last burst of rain, green will revert to the usual palette of yellow and brown; already the sun is strong, a taste of the fierce summer to come. The rocky trails are white with asphodels in full bloom—what the Palestinians call ghosalan and the Jews call irit . On the drive down we pass dozens of almond trees, another white miracle, in their short spring flowering. I am so glad to be back, to be outside in the air and light and not at my desk, to be with these people again, to act. We wind our way slowly uphill over the rocks, a long early-morning walk. We pass a herd of sheep and goats, with their lone Palestinian shepherd; here, on…more
Is Israel Ready for the New Middle East?
Palestine Chronicle: 8 Mar 2011 – By Yacov Ben Efrat It so happens that the week of the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia was also a week of internal Israeli shenanigans. Defense Minister Ehud Barak resigned from the Labor Party and established a faction called “Independence,” into which he drew four other Laborites. The move, coordinated with PM Binyamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu, enabled Barak to avoid being overthrown in upcoming Labor elections. It also enabled the Netanyahu government to stay afloat, supported now by Independence. The Labor ministers had long been threatening a pullout over the lack of progress toward peace. They made good on the threat, but with little result. Thanks to Independence, the government now seemed unshakeable. The Barak-Netanyahu ploy came after heavy Democratic losses in the US Congressional elections, which impel US President Barack Obama to concentrate on domestic issues. Where the Palestinians were concerned, Bibi and Ehud could heave a sigh of relief. The…more
A Comment on Saeb Erekat’s Statement in the Palestine Chronicle
Palestine Chronicle: 8 Mar 2011 – By Issa Khalaf In the Palestine Chronicle comments by Dr. Saeb Erekat, (‘ Palestine Papers Revealed Nothing: A Response to Ramzy Baroud ‘), he writes, “The issues discussed were mechanisms by which Palestinian rights would be realized, rather than forfeited‚Ķ” I suppose he’s correct in a technical sense. That is, Palestinians were stuck since Oslo in a “peace process” industry that suited both Washington and Israel for obvious reasons. The industry’s essence was subsuming, or substituting, peace’s basis or components for endless talks about getting to peace, of form over substance—hence Erekat’s mechanisms. But how else to characterize these talks except as negotiations, or the Palestine Papers, in fact, revealing reality as we’ve all known it? No analyst would describe the Palestinian-Israeli talks during 2008, a period that apparently is particularly damning judging by the Palestine Papers, merely as mechanisms or exploratory just because they are dubbed as such or even entered…more
Here It Comes to Save the Day!
Dissident Voice: 8 Mar 2011 – Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under Clinton, speaks of real progressive economic change and how to restore the relevancy of the Democratic Party. His points on the former would almost make one think there’s a shred of socialism in his DNA. Perhaps so, but there’s a gaping hole in his genome sequence; his reliance on the Democratic Party to achieve equity and fairness in our economic woes of today. The tax code today, given to us by both the Democrats and Republicans, in Congress and in the White House, favors the filthy rich and the corporations. It is ironic that the last time the wealthy had to pay their fair share was during the Eisenhower administration, where the tax rate on the highest earners was 91%. Today, it is they who have complete control over who pays for their lifestyle. The last time the Democratic Party had a spine…more
Bradley Manning Is Punished for Seeking a More Perfect Union
Dissident Voice: 8 Mar 2011 – Reports that Bradley Manning is being held nude every night at the Quantico Brig, then forced to stand naked in the hallway while he waits for his clothes, shows the inconsistency of the treatment of Manning with basic American values of due process, fair trial and human dignity. Here is how his lawyer, David Coombs, describes his treatment: The Brig has stripped PFC Manning of all of his clothing for the pastthree nights, and theyintend to continue this practice indefinitely. Each night, Brig guards force PFC Manning to relinquish all of his clothing. He then lies ina cold jail cell naked until the following morning, when he is required toendure the humiliation of standingnaked at attention for the morning roll call. According to Marine spokesperson, First Lieutenant Brian Villiard, the decision to strip him naked every night is forPFC Manning’sown protection. Villiard stated that it would be ‘inappropriate’ to explain…more
Could Pariah Status Spell the End for Zionism?
Dissident Voice: 8 Mar 2011 – Definition: Pariah — a social outcast (Chambers Dictionary) One eminent Israeli who apparently thinks the answer could be yes is Ilan Baruch, a veteran diplomat who resigned ahead of his retirement because, he said, he could no longer represent his government’s “wrong” policy. He also ridiculed Zionism’s assertion that global anti-Israeli sentiments generated by occupation are a manifestation of anti-Semitism. While serving as a tank platoon commander on the Suez Canal front, Baruch lost an eye and, Dayan-like, he wears a black eye-patch. His 30 years of service with Israel’s foreign ministry included postings to Singapore, Copenhagen and London and he served as ambassador to the Philippines and South Africa. In September 1993 he travelled with Prime Minister Rabin to Washington for the ceremony on the White House lawn which ended with the historic handshake after the signing of an interim agreement. (Prior to that trip, Baruch would have known…more
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