8 July , 2011 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Soldiers Kidnap Six Palestinians, Including Daughter Of Legislator
IMEMC – Saturday July 09, 2011 – 03:30, Israeli soldiers kidnapped on Friday three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank including the daughter of a female legislator from the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Three more Palestinians were kidnapped in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday at night.
Israel gives award to tank shell used against civilians in Gaza
IMEMC – Friday July 08, 2011 – 23:19, The Israeli Defense Ministry awarded the “Israel Defense Prize” to the Calanit artillery tank shell, a new type of shell which has been deployed in tanks stationed along the Israel-Gaza border.
Palestine Activists In Stand Off With Airline Company
IMEMC – Friday July 08, 2011 – 15:36, Fifty pro-Palestinian activists refused to leave the terminal at the Charles De Gaulle airport after being denied to board the plane headed to Israel on July 8, 2011.
PCHR Weekly Report: Three dead, one wounded by Israeli forces this week
IMEMC – Friday July 08, 2011 – 11:09, In its Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the week of 30 June— 06 July 2011, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights found that two Palestinians were killed by an Israeli air strike in the central Gaza Strip. A third Palestinian was wounded in the same attack. In addition, a Palestinian civilian died of a previous wound in the West Bank.
‘Welcome to Palestine’ tour organizers: “We are NOT an air flotilla”
IMEMC – Friday July 08, 2011 – 10:09, The organizers of a 300-person tour of Palestine this week have condemned Israeli efforts to derail the program by calling it an “air flotilla” and pre-emptively blocking participants from entering Israel.
Israel Confiscates Palestinian Land For Hayovel Settlement Outpost
IMEMC – Friday July 08, 2011 – 08:49, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week approved the confiscation of private Palestinian land in the Palestinian village of Karyut in the Occupied West Bank for Israeli settlement activity. The move is the first of its kind in three years and the first during Netanyahu’s current term. The confiscation breaks the terms of the agreement with the United States not to confiscate land for settlement expansion.
Israel bars pro-Palestinian activists
7/8/2011 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel refused entry to 69 people considered to be pro-Palestinian activists on Friday, with officials saying that most would be repatriated on the first available flights. Immigration spokeswoman Sabine Hadad said that four people had already flown out of Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, and the remainder were in custody…. Related: Ma’an interview: Welcomed in Palestine and A few Welcome to Palestine activists arrived yesterday
Israel uses Ottoman law to legalize settler outpost
7/8/2011 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — After Israeli authorities issued confiscation orders to Qaryut villagers for 189 dunams of land on July 1, an Israeli media report said Friday that the authorities were using Ottoman-era law to take land for a settlement outpost. One week ago, Israeli forces delivered a notification to the Nablus district village council…. Related: Israel confiscates 189 dunams near Nablus
Report: 1,552 Palestinians arrested in 2011
7/8/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — TheDetainees Center in the Gaza Strip reported Friday that 1,552 Palestinian citizens had been arrested by Israeli forces in the first half of 2011, including 215 children. Nineteen Palestinian lawmakers from the Hamas Movement are among those arrested in 2011. It is unclear how many have been detained indefinitely. The Center….
Palestinian detainee not released after sentence ends
7/8/2011 – HEBRON (Ma’an) — A detainee in Israeli jail completed his eight and a half year sentence on Wednesday, but his expectant family waited in vain. Ma’an correspondent learned that Israeli authorities refused to release Raed Samih Qefeisha on the date scheduled according to a decision by Israeli court. No reason was given….
UN bid to bypass Security Council as US veto likely
7/8/2011 – RAMALLAH (AFP) — The Palestinians may take their bid for statehood to the UN General Assembly rather than the Security Council, where a US veto is likely, an official said on Friday.” We will submit our request to the Secretary General, maybe in the last 10 days of July,” Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh told journalists.” Our….
US Congress backs PA aid cuts over reconciliation deal
7/8/2011 – WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US House of Representatives on Thursday warned the Palestinians that they risk cuts in US aid if they pursue UN recognition of a future state not defined in direct talks with Israel. In an overwhelming 406-6 vote, lawmakers backed a symbolic resolution sending a stern message to the Palestinians one week….
Ma’an interview: Welcomed in Palestine
7/8/2011 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Briditta, from Germany, arrived in the West Bank on Thursday.”As a German, I feel somehow drawn to Israel because of our history,” she told Ma’an, “but that does not mean I tolerate illegal behavior.” Briditta is looking forward to joining in with activities planned by Palestinian civil society…. Related: Israel bars pro-Palestinian activists and Welcome to Palestine participants start to arrive; Israel arrests 200 of them
Soldiers arrest daughter of Fatah lawmaker
7/8/2011 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli soldiers arrested the daughter of a Fatah lawmaker Friday at the Atara checkpoint near Ramallah. The girl was identified as Besan Mahmoud Abu Baker, 21, daughter of Najat Abu Baker, a Fatah official from Nablus.”Israeli soldiers present at the checkpoint of Atara had stopped the car the girl was….
Barghouti: Israeli ‘hysteria’ not stopping solidarity
7/8/2011 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti said Friday that Israeli “hysteria” over international solidarity would not stop foreign peace activists. Barghouti, who is head of the Palestinian National Initiative party, said the Israeli government had turned Ben Gurion airport into a “military post” and accused Israeli officials of “violating all international navigation laws….
Romania backtracking over Palestinian statehood vote
7/8/2011 – BUCHAREST (AFP) — Romania said Friday it had yet to decide on its vote on a unilateral Palestinian bid for statehood in September, two days after telling Israeli’s Benjamin Netanyahu it opposed any unilateral solution.” We are analyzing the forms and implications of the planned Palestinian bid,” the foreign ministry said.” As this bid….
Israeli forces detain Palestinian from Nablus village
7/8/2011 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained a young Palestinian from Nablus district village Salim at dawn on Friday morning. Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers entered the village from the south and searched a number of homes. Khaldun Hassen Isa, 25, was detained and taken to an unknown location. An Israeli army….
Israel ‘trusts Germany’ over Saudi tank deal
7/8/2011 – BERLIN (AFP) — A top Israeli official said he was unaware of a disputed German deal to sell hundreds of tanks to Saudi Arabia but had complete confidence in the German government, in an interview published Thursday. Saudi Arabia is reportedly about to buy 200 Leopard-2s, Germany’s main battle tank which is also….
Ma’an announces sports poll results at awards ceremony
7/8/2011 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Ma’an network announced the results of its sports poll on Thursday at an awards ceremony held in Ramallah. The ceremony was transmitted live by Ma’an Mix satellite channel as awards were presented to star players from different sports clubs across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The….
Thousands in Tahrir Square ahead of mass rallies
7/8/2011 – CAIRO (AFP) — Thousands converged onto Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday ahead of mass rallies planned nationwide to push the ruling military council to speed up the pace of reform, an AFP correspondent said. Dozens of tents were pitched in the middle of the square — the epicenter of protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak….
Iraq’s first new church since US invasion opens
7/8/2011 – KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq’s first new church since the 2003 US-led invasion opened in a poor Christian neighborhood of the northern city of Kirkuk, the region’s Chaldean Archbishop told AFP on Friday. The inauguration of Mar Bulos [Saint Paul’s] church in the multi-ethnic and multi-religious city comes despite the….
Mass Egypt demonstrations target new military rulers
7/8/2011 – CAIRO (AFP) — Thousands of people took to the streets across Egypt on Friday to defend the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, directing their anger at the new military rulers over the slow pace of reform. Flag-waving protesters converged on Cairo’s Tahrir square to push for democratic change and demand that former regime….
Jordanians protest despite cabinet reshuffle
7/8/2011 – AMMAN (AFP) — Hundreds of pro-reform Jordanians demonstrated on Friday in Amman and other cities, demanding the resignation of the government nearly a week after Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit reshuffled his cabinet.” Bakhit go home, the people want reform,” chanted around 200 opposition Islamist’s outside the premier’s office in Amman.” No to….
More Syria deaths as half a million flood Hama
7/8/2011 – DAMASCUS (AFP) — Syrian security forces opened fire on anti-regime protests on Friday, killing at least 13 people, two of them in the capital Damascus, activists said. The continuing crackdown on opponents of Bashar Al-Assad came as the president’s regime accused US Ambassador Robert Ford, who had visited the city, of inciting violence. Opposition….
Arab Spring bad for region’s economies says UN report
Palestine Note 8 Jul 2011 – The National- The wave of pro-democracy uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa is stalling economic growth and threatens to reverse gains made over recent years against poverty, hunger and inequality, the UN warns. The non-oil producing countries of…
East Jerusalem suffers heroin plague
Palestine Note 8 Jul 2011 – Al Jazeera- “I didn’t think I would ever stop”, Abu Salah tells the circle. “After 14 years of buying and selling, hashish, heroin and cocaine, I had lost control of my life. I had no job. I would never speak…
Bulgaria unexpectedly rebuffs Israel over Palestinian UN bid
Palestine Note 8 Jul 2011 – Ma’an- Israel suffered an unexpected rebuff from close ally Bulgaria on Thursday when it failed to get its immediate backing against a planned Palestinian bid for statehood in September. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been traveling around European capitals…
UK to deliver $420 million to Palestine over next 3 years
Palestine Note 8 Jul 2011 – Ma’an- Ramallah Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and the British Minister for International Development Alan Duncan signed an agreement Thursday to provide ¬£262 million [$420 million] UK aid to Palestine between 2011-2014. The aid agreement will contribute ¬£100 million [$160 million]…
US Congress backs PA aid cuts over reconciliation deal
Palestine Note 8 Jul 2011 – Ma’an- The US House of Representatives on Thursday warned the Palestinians that they risk cuts in US aid if they pursue UN recognition of a future state not defined in direct talks with Israel. In an overwhelming 406-6 vote, lawmakers…
Israel uses Ottoman law to legalize settler outpost
Palestine Note 8 Jul 2011 – Ma’an- After Israeli authorities confiscation orders to Qaryut villagers for 189 dunams of land on July 1, an Israeli media report said Friday that the authorities were using Ottoman-era law to take land for a settlement outpost. One week ago,…
Israel blocks ‘flytilla’ activists
Palestine Note 8 Jul 2011 – BBC News- Israeli officials asked foreign airlines to stop black-listed travellers reaching the country. Activists are planning to spend a week in the occupied West Bank. Their so-called “flytilla” comes as the Greek authorities have blocked the sailing of an…
UN: World Misses Hunger Reduction Goals
Palestine Note 8 Jul 2011 – Global poverty rate falling but Secretary General says there is still “a long way to go” AFP – The world is on course to miss United Nations hunger reduction targets set in 2000, despite successes in curbing extreme poverty, a…
Turkey PM repeats call for Israeli apology
AlJazeera 8 Jul 2011 – Erdogan says Ankara will not normalise relations unless Israel says sorry for flotilla raid and lifts Gaza blockade.
Tahrir Square: ‘This time we’re here to stay’
AlJazeera 8 Jul 2011 – Ask about the “new” revolution in Egypt and activists will say the last one never ended, and won’t.
Israel arrests six pro-Palestinian activists
AlJazeera 8 Jul 2011 – Pro-Palestinian activists barred from entering, with hundreds blacklisted and dozens deported or detained at airport.
Saleh’s speech ignites deadly protests
AlJazeera 8 Jul 2011 – At least 11 people dead in Yemen in protests that erupted a day after injured Ali Abdullah Saleh broke his silence.
UN launches Horn of Africa drought appeal
AlJazeera 8 Jul 2011 – Refugee chief highlights Somalis’ desperate plight, while UNICEF says crisis threatens two million children’s lives.
New protests rage across Egypt
AlJazeera 8 Jul 2011 – Demanding faster reforms and prosecution of Mubarak era officials, protesters gather to put pressure on military rulers.
Welcome to Palestine Participants Start to Arrive; Israel Arrest 200 of Them
PNN – PNN Exclusive / By Ghassan Bannoura – Hundreds of participants from the Welcome to Palestine Campaign started to arrive at Tel Aviv international airport on Friday, July 8. In Europe, French activists were…
Villages March in Solidarity with Freedom Flotilla and Welcome To Palestine
PNN – Ramallah — PNN — Israeli troops attacked on Friday nonviolent protests organzied every week in a number of West Bank villages. This week protesters marched in solidarity with Freedom Flotilla 2 ships…
ICJ Ruling on Illegal Wall: Seven Years On
PNN – Bethlehem – PNN Exclusive – Tomorrow, Palestinians will commemorate the seven year anniversary of the International Court of Justices (ICJ) ruling that the Israeli built wall and settlements in the Occupied Territories…
US House Votes to Cut Funds from PA
PNN – Washington- PNN – On Thursday the US House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill to suspend aid to the Palestinian Authority if it continues forward with its plan to ask…
Land Confiscated by Israel to ?¢‚ǨÀúLegalise?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ Israeli Settlement
PNN – Ramallah – PNN – Netanyahu’s government moves to confiscate Palestinian land in the West Bank so as to ‘legalise’ the settlement outpost of Hayovel using an archaic Ottoman law. Israeli daily Haaretz…
International Solidarity Movement
A few Welcome to Palestine activists arrived yesterday
7/8/2011 – International Solidarity Movement – Alternative Information Center – Others are in flight and hundreds more prevented from boarding – The first international activists participating in the Welcome to Palestine campaign arrived yesterday to Ben Gurion airport from Europe. This morning hundreds more tried to board planes to Tel Aviv to join the week of activities in the West Bank, but they…. Related: Israel bars pro-Palestinian activists
Welcome to Palestine participants start to arrive; Israel arrests 200 of them
7/8/2011 – International Solidarity Movement – Palestine News Network – Hundreds of participants from the Welcome to Palestine Campaign started to arrive at Tel Aviv international airport on Friday, July 8. In Europe, French activists were denied from boarding their planes after the Israeli interior ministry handed out black lists to airlines of the people not allowed to travel to Israel. In…. Related: Source
Alternative Information Center
A few Welcome to Palestine activists arrived yesterday, others are in flight and hundreds more prevented from boarding
Alternative Information Center – The first international activists participating in the Welcome to Palestine campaign arrived yesterday to Ben Gurion airport from Europe. This morning hundreds more tried to board planes to Tel Aviv to join the week of activities…
2010 Annual Report
Relief Web 8 Jul 2011 – Source: Development Assistance Research Associates Country: Pakistan , Afghanistan , Colombia , Democratic Republic of the Congo (the) , Haiti , Indonesia , occupied Palestinian territory , Philippines (the) , Somalia , Sri Lanka , Sudan (the) , Zimbabwe The President Diego Hidalgo New dimensions of DARA Each year when we…
24,318 cubic meters of water
Relief Web 8 Jul 2011 – Source: DanChurchAid Country: occupied Palestinian territory That is how much water DanChurchAid (DCA) and partner East Jerusalem YMCA — Women’s Training Program (EJ YMCA-WTP) have created for the Bedouins in the desert of Bethlehem. 51 agricultural cisterns have been rehabilitated…
For second year, Andaluc??a regional government supports UNRWA perinatal care
Relief Web 8 Jul 2011 – Source: UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Country: occupied Palestinian territory , Spain 8 July 2011, Madrid Mrs Mar??a del Mar Moreno Ru??z, President of the Ansalusian International Cooperation for Development Agency and Mr Filippo…
A vehicle for poverty reduction – UNDP launches export development project for Palestinian businesses
Relief Web 7 Jul 2011 – Source: UN Development Programme Country: occupied Palestinian territory The Palestinian National Trade Promotion Organization (PalTrade) and the United Nations Development Programme marked the launch of a 4 year export development project to further strengthen Palestinian capacities in using trade as…
Sameh Habeeb quits Palestine Telegraph
8 Jul 2011 – Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) – This is to confirm that Sameh A. Habeeb has quit the Palestine Telegraph. He has neither a managerial nor an editorial role. Mr. Habeeb is welcomed to write opinion articles as all other people.
25 pro-Palestinian activists from Germany stopped upon arrival in Israel
Ha’aretz – Passengers from Lufthansa flight expected to be denied entry to Israel, after 65 other ‘fly-in’ activists were transferred to detention facilities and 4 were deported; police estimate that bulk of events related to ‘fly-in’ have ended.
Leader of Islamic Movement in Israel to remain in U.K. jail after court denies appeal
Ha’aretz – London court rules against Sheikh Ra’ad Salah’s appeal of detention order; demonstration held outside U.K. embassy in Israel.
Turkey PM: Israel must still apologize for last year’s Gaza flotilla raid
Ha’aretz – Erdogan says that if Israel wants to normalize ties with Turkey it must also pay compensation to victims of the flotilla raid and lift its blockade of Gaza.
Harel and Issacharoff / Palestinians are preparing for September, but is Israel?
Ha’aretz – A simulation exercise by Palestinians, designed to help them assess what will happen after the UN vote in September, leads to a few conclusions. One is that widespread violence is possible – but not inevitable or desired.
Clinton swears in Dan Shapiro as U.S. Ambassador to Israel
Ha’aretz – Former director of Middle East and North Africa at the National Security Council says Israel’s security is his top priority; former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi attends swearing-in ceremony.
Syrian security forces kill 15 as protests unabated
Ha’aretz – Around 500,000 protesters took to the streets in the Syrian city of Hama on Friday.
ADL calls on UN human rights chief to condemn Richard Falk for anti-Semitic cartoon
Ha’aretz – U.S. representative to the Human Rights Council joins ADL in condemnation of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Palestinian territories, saying his status as UN mandate holder is ‘blight on UN system’.
U.K. police arrest ex-Cameron aide over News of the World scandal
Ha’aretz – Pressured U.K. prime minister vows media reform while fielding hostile questions over why he had hired Andy Coulson, the former editor of Rupert Murdoch’s paper, in 2007.
Libya’s Gadhafi threatens ‘martyr’ attacks in Europe
Ha’aretz – Libyan leader addresses crowd of 50,000 people in desert town in Sabha, about 800 km south of Tripoli.
Thousands of Egyptians flood Cairo streets demanding justice and democracy
Ha’aretz – Egyptians frustrated over lack of reform since ouster of Mubarak launch biggest protest in months.
Omar Suleiman announces will not run for Egypt presidency
Ha’aretz – Egypt former intelligence chief appointed vice president in last days of Mubarak’s rule says wants to spend time to ‘relax.. and look after his family’.
65 pro-Palestinian ‘fly-in’ activists transferred to detention facilities
Ha’aretz – Police estimate that bulk of events related to ‘fly-in’ have ended; four activists have already been deported.
Israel questions dozens of pro-Palestinian ‘fly-in’ activists attempting to enter country
Ha’aretz – 55 pro-Palestinian activists have either been questioned or are still undergoing questioning by authorities after arriving on flights at Ben-Gurion Airport.
Israel blocks 200 pro-Palestinian activists from flying into country
Ha’aretz – The 200 passengers are on list of 342 blacklisted passengers refused entry to Israel in bid to stymie influx of pro-Palestinian activists; passengers demonstrate at Paris airport after barred from boarding flights.
Israel Police deport two pro-Palestinian ‘fly-in’ activists at airport
Ha’aretz – Activists barred from boarding Israel-bound flights throughout Europe after Israel issues list of blacklisted passengers.
HSBC’s Steven Major: ‘Greece is heading for default, it’s just a matter of time’
Ha’aretz – The credit rating agencies have made clear that Greece is heading for selective default, Major explains, which is exactly the case in Ireland and Portugal today.
Health Ministry to take over importing and distribution of medical marijuana
Ha’aretz – Israel is obligated by international treaty to establish a government agency regulating the distribution of marijuana and opium for medicinal purposes.
Will they vote with their feet?
Ha’aretz – Executives of cafe chains say customers are being patient about price increases due to pesky raw-material costs. At least for now.
U.S. House passes resolution threatening to suspend aid to Palestinians
Ha’aretz – Resolution 268 was voted in by a majority of 407 of 435 representatives, and calls for renewal of direct talks between Israel and Palestinians.
Separate car accidents in Binyamina, Poleg kill three
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – Ten-year-old boy killed crossing Coastal Highway; Kadima MK Yaakov Edri’s nephew, Or Akiva resident die in head-on collision
6 Israeli activists arrested at airport; planes diverted
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – Left-wing activists arrested after causing disturbance at airport; police checking EasyJet, Alitalia flights believed to carry bulk of pro-Palestinian “flightilla” activists; Aharonovitch: 100 activists expected to land.
Egypt clamps down on organ trafficking
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – But experts are skeptical about a new law banning the practice of paying for human organs, as poverty, ignorance ensure a supply of donors.
Egyptians rally to demand swifter reforms, justice
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – Muslim Brotherhood, others back protest; Egyptians express anger after police charged with killing demonstrators freed on bail.
UK PM, pressed over Murdoch ties, vows press shake-up
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – Cameron demands press reforms as his own ex-spokesman is arrested, says police, politicians must face questions over phone hacking probe.
Mullen: Iran supporting extremist groups in Iraq
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – Top US military officer says Tehran giving arms to groups who are attacking US troops; talks underway about keeping some soldiers in Iraq.
US, French envoys in Syria’s Hama for protests
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – Syrian gov’t condemns visit of Robert Ford saying it is proof that US is playing role in unrest; security forces storm Damascus suburb, 2 hurt.
This Week in History: Jewish right to aliya becomes law
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – 1950 Law of Return legally enshrined Jewish immigration as a legal right, recognizing that “Every Jew has the right to come to [Israel] as an oleh.”
Arabic becoming the language of Facebook
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – It’s expected that within a year, Arabic will overtake English to become the most popular Facebook language in the region.
Nahal Zin operations halted following huge oil spill
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – Environmental Protection Ministry says insufficient cleanup cited for stoppage after one of the worst disasters this year.
4 arrested for desecration of 20 tombs on Mt. of Olives
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – Three Arab boys from A-Tur in e. J’lem allegedly damaged tombstones in the cemetery’s American section.
US academic leaders visit to learn ‘complexity of region’
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – The 17-member delegation won’t just focus on the peace process “but also on higher education, budgets, technology and the economy.”
Chief Rabbinate ‘against’ shackle-and-hoist method
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – Kashrut, other dietary activists: South American practice of chaining steer’s leg to lift animal for ritual slaughter is cruel, abusive.
Olmert: ‘Talansky never gave me gifts, it’s all fantasy’
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – State attorney to former prime minister on third day of cross-examination: You attack anyone who causes you problems
Ashkenazi-haredi girls school improves on discrimination
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – In letter to Education Ministry, principals of secondary schools respond to scathing State Comptroller’s report alleging bias.
UN’s Richard Falk under fire for ‘anti-Semitic’ cartoon
Jerusalem Post 8 Jul 2011 – Caricature seen in UN’s special rapporteur’s blog post alleging that ICC arrest warrants issued against Gaddafi were politically motivated.
A Palestinian architect designs the foundation for a state
Jerusalem Post 7 Jul 2011 – RIWAQ (Arabic for gallery) is a nonprofit organization that renovates, restores old buildings, heritage sites in the Palestinian territories.
‘US made a really concerted effort to support Israel’
Jerusalem Post 7 Jul 2011 – ‘Jpost’ exclusive interview: James Cunningham speaks about the US-Israeli relationship, Obama’s speech, unilateral moves by PA at UN.
Oh, my Goshen
Jerusalem Post 7 Jul 2011 – The food at this kosher restaurant in Tel Aviv is so good, you can’t even tell the desserts are parve.
A gypsy celebration
Jerusalem Post 7 Jul 2011 – 12 musicians and dancers will celebrate virtuoso Gypsy swing in a festive program.
The limits of the public’s right to know
Jerusalem Post 7 Jul 2011 – The newspaper has already admitted invading the privacy of eight individuals, but the number of accusations is in the thousands.
Editor’s Notes: We love you, too!
Jerusalem Post 7 Jul 2011 – It’s been thrilling to take up the mantle of editor — and I invite you to join me on this journalistic journey.
Column One: Syria’s rival hegemons
Jerusalem Post 7 Jul 2011 – While it is true that Turkey and Iran are rival hegemons, it is also true that they’re allied hegemons.
Letters: Palestinians launch campaign to embargo arms sales to Israel
The Guardian 8 Jul 2011 – Today marks seven years since the international court of justice ruling that the apartheid wall being built by Israel in the occupied West Bank is illegal and should be torn down. Yet the wall continues to…
Gaza flotilla II: This time, Israel took the diplomatic route | Stephen Pollard
The Guardian 8 Jul 2011 – With Greece and Turkey desperate to repair relations, it was an easy matter to stop the flotilla reaching Gaza ‚Ä¢ Cindy Corrie: My daughter’s death shows the cruelty of an America that won’t protect its own…
US collusion in the Gaza blockade is an affront to human rights | Cindy Corrie
The Guardian 8 Jul 2011 – My daughter’s death shows the cruelty of an America that won’t protect its own and is complicit in harming Palestinian civilians ‚Ä¢ Stephen Pollard: This time Israel got it right When Greek authorities prevented the US…
MIDEAST: A Weekly Walk to the Border
IPS It is another sweltering morning in Gaza. Despite the heat, a tenacious group of women, men and children gathers near the bombed Agricultural College in Beit Hanoun for the weekly march to the “buffer zone”, the 300 metres flanking the Gaza-Israel Green Line border which Israeli authorities have declared off-limits…
Nato strikes at Libya’s oil in bid to oust Gaddafi
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – Nato forces have attacked Libya’s oil facilities for the first time in this conflict in an attempt to starve Muammar Gaddafi’s army of fuel, as rebels, following fierce clashes, moved to within 50 miles of the capital Tripoli. The airstrikes on the complex at Brega, one of the countries’ biggest petrochemical complexes and port…
US collusion in the Gaza blockade is an affront to human rights
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – When Greek authorities prevented the US ship the Audacity of Hope leaving its port in Athens this week, they dealt a blow to a group of brave and principled Americans who were trying to carry thousands of letters from US citizens to those who wait on Gaza’s shores. I know many of the people…
Israel Confiscates Palestinian Land For Hayovel Settlement Outpost
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week approved the confiscation of private Palestinian land in the Palestinian village of Karyut in the Occupied West Bank for Israeli settlement activity. The move is the first of its kind in three years and the first during Netanyahu’s current term. The confiscation breaks the terms of the…
Bahrain’s opposition and pro-government supporters hold rival rallies
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – Bahrain’s opposition and pro-government supporters held opposing rallies Friday, as political tension on the streets of the small Gulf island continue to rise. The two demonstrations took place after provocative Friday sermons on both sides – and a day after limited clashes broke out between opposition protesters and police forces in Bilad al-Qadem on…
Dispatch From Tripoli NATO’s War Against Libya’s Civilians
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – Briefly noted below are five recent instances of undisputed NATO bombings on Libyan civilians selected because they still among the most frequently discussed by residents of Tripoli. On May 13, 2011, a peace delegation of Muslim religious leaders having arrived in Breda to seek dialogue with fellow Sheiks from the east of Libya was…
Gaza: three years of protesting Israel’s killing zone
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – It is another sweltering morning in Gaza. Despite the heat, a tenacious group of women, men and children gathers near the bombed Agricultural College in Beit Hanoun for the weekly march to the “buffer zone”, the 300 metres flanking the Gaza-Israel Green Line border which Israeli authorities have declared off-limits to Palestinians. Around a…
Baghdad: 4 demonstrators arrested – Activist
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – Coordination member for Popular Movement Laith Mohammed Redha said today that a security force arrested, at a check point mid of Baghdad, four youths of the movement which demanded an end to external interventions in Iraqi internal affairs. Redha told Aswat al-Iraq that the force arrested the four activists following the end of the…
The tactic of arresting Palestinian children
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – Dozens of Palestinian children clamoured excitedly in the East Jerusalem village of Silwan on June 26, each clutching the strings to as many helium-filled balloons as they could. Moments later, the children watched as the sky above this flashpoint Palestinian neighbourhood filled with red, green, black and white – the colours of the Palestinian…
Hundreds of thousands revitalise Egypt’s revolution on Determination Friday
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – Angered that no change is yet visible since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak, hundreds of thousands have gathered again at Tahrir square and in cities around the country, insisting that the basic demands of the revolution be met. Demonstrators came from across Egypt’s provinces to assemble at Cairo’s downtown square, now a…
Freedom Flotilla II: Blocked but not Defeated
Uruknet July 8, 2011 -…On July 6, hundreds of Israeli police and anti-terror squad members manned Ben-Gurion Airport, awaiting the arrival of hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists. Some already got in. Most will arrive on July 8 or shortly thereafter. Foreign airlines were told to reveal their passenger names 48 hours prior to departure. Suspect incoming flights will be diverted…
Israel expels pro-Palestinian activists
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – Israel expelled 25 pro-Palestinian activists who landed at Ben Gurion airport on Friday and was interrogating another 30 suspects there, police told AFP. “Twenty-five have been sent back where they came from,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. “Thirty are still being questioned.” Israeli police at Ben Gurion airport had deported two American women Friday…
More Syria deaths as half a million flood Hama (Video)
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – Syrian security forces opened fire on anti-regime protests on Friday, killing at least eight people, activists said, while nearly half a million people demonstrated in the protest hub of Hama. The continuing crackdown on opponents of Bashar al-Assad came as the president’s regime accused US Ambassador Robert Ford, who had visited the city, of…
Dozens to be deported from TLV airport, 5 Israeli activists arrested
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – On one of the busiest travel days of the week, Ben Gurion International Airport just outside of Tel Aviv was in a state of near chaos this afternoon. Hordes of tourists mixed with hundreds of police officers and journalists in the grand arrival terminal as Israel prepared for the landing of hundreds of pro-Palestinian…
Mass protest in Egypt calls for “second revolution”
Uruknet July 8, 2011 – Hundreds of thousands of workers and youth are expected to turn out to the streets today in protests dubbed “Friday of Persistence” or “The Revolution and the Poor first”. In recent days, protests and strikes have swept Egypt, calling for a “second revolution” against the US-backed military junta led by Field Marshal Mohamad Hussein…
The Evil of Two Lessers
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – “Not only is Obama keeping the country in a perpetual state of war,” but he abandons core Democratic programs “at the first sign of Republican resistance.” As a consequence the GOP, which has fought and schemed for decades to “starve the beast” by cutting social programs while fattening the military and the wealthy, “are…
Gaza: Destroyed Mosques Carry the Scars of War
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – “The mosque was just 100 metres from our house. We prayed there every day, five times a day. But it was more than a house of prayer,” says Mohammed, a Beit Hanoun resident, of one of the 34 mosques completely destroyed during the 23-day Israeli war on Gaza in 2008-2009. The Israeli bombing on…
Welcome to Palestine’ campaign responds to Israel’s denial of entrance to international visitors who support human rights
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – The Israeli authorities are escalating attacks on anyone they suspect of participating in the peaceful events of the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ campaign. Israeli authorities sent hundreds of names to airline companies telling them to deny travel to individuals on the list. Several people on the list who had booked flights were sent letters from…
PA report: Israeli settler violence on the rise
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – – Israeli settler violence against Palestinians increased “dramatically” in June, according to a Palestinian Authority report released Wednesday. The report documented 139 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank by the Israeli army and settlers during the month, including the demolition of 95 buildings and over 3600 olive trees and vines. Fires in the…
Holder Announces Torture Whitewash
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – On Thursday, June 30, 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder announced another of the Obama administration’s cover-ups of the crimes of the U.S. government in regard to torture and death conducted by the Bush regime and now continued by the current administration. Holder stated that the Justice Department (DOJ) is launching a “full criminal investigation”…
Libya: NATO Intensifying Bombing To Aid Rebel Push
Uruknet July 7, 2011 — A senior Libyan official Thursday accused NATO of intensifying its bombing campaign and backing foreign mercenaries to lay the groundwork for an advance by rebels trying to topple Moammar Gadhafi’s regimeThe intensified campaign, he said, is focused on targeting civilian infrastructure and police checkpoints, and providing additional weapons to rebel fighters. “The aim of…
Egypt vs IMF: Time to Default?
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – It is no secret that Egypt has put all its faith in the US and Western international institutions since the days of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, contracting a huge foreign debt, a process that was increasingly corrupt, despite being carefully watched over by those very agencies. This debt is financed by foreign banks, and…
Remembering Vittorio Arrigoni-Stay Human summer camp
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – At Vittorio’s funeral in Gaza the crowds chanted “Viktor is with the fisherman, Viktor is withthe farmers”, Vittorio is still with the people of Gaza. He lives on in their hearts. He has been honored with a football tournament in Rafah, with a street in Gaza, with a school in the JordanValley, but I…
Iraq snapshot – July 7, 2011
Uruknet July 7, 2011. Chaos and violence continue, more US soldiers are announced dead, Chair of the Joint Chiefs talks US forces in Iraq beyond 2011, Camp Ashraf betrayed?, and more…As for pulling our troops out of Iraq, don’t hold your breath. There are all kinds of official hints that our withdrawal from Iraq may take a longer time…
Greece ‘sold its soul’ on Gaza: Henning Mankell
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – Swedish bestselling crime author Henning Mankell slammed Greece for blocking the aid flotilla to Gaza as some of Sweden’s pro-Palestinian activists returned home on Thursday. “That we were not able to leave (for Gaza) has to do with the fact that the Greek government has sold its soul for a silver coin,” the 63-year-old…
Gaza youth still determined to welcome flotilla
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – Gaza’s children are still planning a welcome ceremony for the Freedom Flotilla II, despite how Greece and other countries have connived with Israel to block its voyage of solidarity. On Saturday last, many such children lined up on Gaza’s shore. News of their action appears to have reached the flotilla’s participants, who have injected…
Baghdad roadside bomb kills 2 US soldiers
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – A roadside bomb killed two U.S. soldiers Thursday outside the main American military base in Baghdad in what U.S. officials said appeared to be another attack by Shiite militias hoping to drive U.S. troops out of Iraq. The attack follows the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq in two years. Fifteen U.S. soldiers…
Libyan Family Takes Legal Action Against NATO For Killing Relatives
Uruknet July 7, 2011 – A family who say they lost five relatives in an air strike Nato admitted was a mistake are taking legal action over the deaths. They told Sky News they have started court proceedings with the help of the Libyan government and plan to sue Nato. Mohamed Ali Gurari says he lost his daughter Karima,…
Khartoum first to recognize South Sudan as independentcountry
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 South Sudan became an independent state upon the stroke of midnight Friday night after Sudan became the first country to recognize its independence…
U.S. emboldens Hama protesters
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Hundreds of thousands of Syrians poured into the streets of the opposition stronghold Hama Friday…
Police call off search after Justice Palace bomb hoax
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Police called off an explosives search Friday, launched after someone phoned the Justice Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, and said they had planted a bomb.
Maronite patriarch treks through northern towns and villages
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 On the way to his summer residence in Diman, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai trekked through a series of towns and villages in the country’s north Friday…
Asarta visits UNIFIL’s latest Irish contingent
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 The commander of the U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon visited the force’s latest contingent of Irish troops Friday, following the appointment of a new chief of staff.
Ghassan Tueni honored at AUST’s 10th graduation
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 The American University of Science and Technology (AUST) celebrated its tenth graduation ceremony Thursday evening by handing 800 students their diplomas…
Abbasieh residents block roads over building ban
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Residents of the municipality of Abbasieh near Tyre demonstrated and blocked the municipality’s entrance road with burning tires Friday, to protest the ban on their building on public land, the National News Agency reported.
Lilian Malaeb earns AUB’s first civil engineering Ph.D.
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 The American University of Beirut has awarded its first doctorate in civil engineering to Lilian Malaeb.
Summer camp looks to topple technology gender barriers
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Geek Chic, it seems, is much more than a fading fashion trend that has succeeded in bringing thick-rimmed spectacles to the world’s catwalks.
Local high school students to visit California for field study
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Two Lebanese high school students are set to take part in a field study program next week in the United States, where they will explore ocean conservation and marine science first hand.
Authorities destroy more cannabis fields
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 The Drug Control Office of the Internal Security Forces destroyed 1,080 dunums of cannabis plantations in the Bekaa Friday, said a statement released by the Directorate General of the ISF.
Hemp offers cannabis farmers legal alternative
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 It’s destruction season in the Bekaa Valley. Caravans of army trucks and civilian tractors rumble through the area, upturning massive fields of illegally grown cannabis.
ICRC steps up aid role in Syria after deal for wider access
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 The International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday it had stepped up its humanitarian operations in Syria, in line with a deal for unlimited access negotiated two weeks ago.
Israel orders pro-Palestinian air passengers deported
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Israel ordered the deportation Friday of at least 65 incoming air passengers suspected of being pro-Palestinian activists and prevented hundreds of others from boarding flights for Tel Aviv.
Jordanian Islamist leader slams security services amid protests
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Jordan’s Islamist opposition leader issued a rare public denunciation Friday of the country’s feared security apparatus, accusing it of controlling government policies and seeking to limit free expression.
Mubarak deputy won’t run for Egyptian presidency
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 The man appointed as Egypt’s vice-president in the dying days of Hosni Mubarak’s rule will not run for head of state in an election later this year, a local newspaper reported Friday.
Egyptians rally to demand faster reforms, justice
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Tens of thousands of Egyptians packed city centers across the country Friday, demanding faster reforms and voicing frustration at what they see as foot-dragging by military rulers and government officials.
Turkey: Israel must apologize to repair ties
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Turkey’s prime minister said Friday it was unthinkable to normalize ties with Israel unless it apologized for a bloody raid on a Turkish ship bound for Gaza last year and lifted a blockade on the Palestinian…
Top Shiite scholar in Bahrain slams national dialogue
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Bahrain’s top Shiite scholar criticized reconciliation talks Friday between the Shiite-led opposition and the kingdom’s Sunni rulers…
No quick fix to east Libya’s woes as war with Gadhafi drags on
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Oblivious to thunderclouds of flies, Mohammad Ibrahim sifts through heaps of rubbish on the outskirts of the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi in search of anything of value.
Omanis demand release of jailed protesters
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Some 100 people demonstrated in the Omani industrial city of Sohar Friday demanding the release of their colleagues who were jailed for protesting earlier this year.
World’s newest capital, a ramshackle refuge
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 The world’s newest capital is a war-damaged city of tin-shack housing and bumpy roads, strung out along the steamy banks of the White Nile river.
Saleh speech underscores Yemen’s divide
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 The appearance of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh for the first time since an assassination attempt sent supporters into the streets to celebrate and led opponents to conclude he had no intention of stepping down.
Libyan rebels set for renewed push toward Tripoli
Daily Star 8 Jul 2011 Libyan rebels renewed their push against leader Moammar Gadhafi’s forces Friday, coming under heavy fire just days after making hefty advances toward Tripoli on two fronts.
Impose an immediate, comprehensive military embargo on Israel!
Stop The Wall – Jul 8, 2011— While the Arab Spring for freedom, democracy and social justice has exposed and challenged the collusion of world governments with autocratic and oppressive Arab regimes, many states and corporations continue their business-as-usual arms trade and military cooperation with Israel. [
Palestinian civil society calls for comprehensive military embargo on Israel
Stop The Wall –
Hundreds of Internationals and Hundreds of Palestinians Gear-up for July 8-16 activities
Stop The Wall – Jul 3, 2011— Some 40 Palestinian civil society organizations, popular resistance committees, and political factions announce the launching of the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative July 8-16. [
Who’s behind the ‘flytilla’?
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – Who’s behind the Ben-Gurion Airport fly-in? Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists who arrived on flights to Israel on Friday and denied entry by authorities were sent by … ….
New US Ambassador to Israel sworn in
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – WASHINGTON — New United States Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro on Friday was sworn in by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a ceremony attended by hundreds of … ….
‘Activists asked about Israeli prisons’
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – Israeli passengers who shared flights with pro-Palestinian “flytilla” activists recalled their encounter in European airports and the experience during the flight back … ….
Egyptians demand justice after Mubarak
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – Tens of thousands of Egyptians braved scorching summer heat to hold one of their biggest protests in months Friday, filling streets in Cairo and other cities to demand … ….
Dozens of activists detained at airport
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – Fly-in continues — Over 300 tourists who landed on Friday in Israel were taken in for questioning by the Interior Ministry’s Population Immigration and Border Control … ….
‘Israel must apologize to normalize ties’
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – No apology, no normalization — After delaying the publication of a UN report that probed the events of the Gaza flotilla last May, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep … ….
Gaza fly-in gains momentum
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – Security forces were on high alert at Ben Gurion International Airport Friday afternoon, ahead of the potentially volatile second wave of Gaza fly-in arrivals. A … ….
Syria: Over 450,000 protesters in Hama
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – Hundreds of thousands call for downfall of President Assad; four killed during….
Gaza fly-in: Activists arrested
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – Pro, anti-fly-in protesters rally at Ben Gurion Airport after relatively quiet….
UK: Cameron announces News of the World inquiry
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – British premier announces official probe into phone hacking scandal which….
Iran’s killing spree stifles Arab spring
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – Tehran pursues campaign of public intimidation, covert killing to subdue….
Congress votes in favor of PA aid suspension
YNet News, 8 Jul 2011 – US House of Representatives backs proposal that will see aid to PA suspended….
Palestinian Information Center
Five Fayyad ministers to face corruption charges in West Bank
PIC – Rafik Al-Natshe, the head of the anti-corruption bureau in the illegitimate Ramallah government of Salam Fayyadh said Thursday that the bureau would lift the immunity of five ministers.
IOA destroys solidarity tent supporting sit-in legislators in O. Jerusalem
PIC – The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has destroyed the solidarity tent that human right activists erected in support of the three Palestinian officials the IOA threatens to deport.
Haneyya calls for opening Rafah crossing point being the symbol of crises
PIC – Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haneyya has called on the Egyptian authorities to permanently open the Rafah crossing point, describing the closing of the border gate as the “symbol” of crises.
AF: IOA wants to wipe historical Mamanullah cemetery from memory
PIC – The Aqsa Foundation has warned Thursday that the Israeli plan to put a fence on what remained of Mamanullah cemetery was meant to wipe the historical cemetery from memory.
PA security summon four citizens from Yatta
PIC – PA security on Friday morning handed four citizens from Yatta town summonses. Those summoned include two brothers who work at the Islamic Orphans Welfare Society.
IOF arrest 3 Jerusalem Palestinians, try 3 others
PIC – IOF troops arrested on Thursday night three young men from the Jerusalem suburb of Silwan after raiding the suburb and mounting raids on a number of Palestinian homes there.
Occupation confiscate more Palestinian land to expand settlement
PIC – The Israeli occupation authorities confiscated about 20 Hectares of land belonging to the village of Qaryout in the northern West Bank for a Jewish settlement, Peace Now movement said on Friday.
Israeli occupation police arrest 30 solidarity activists at Lod airport
PIC – Israeli occupation police arrested on Friday 30 international solidarity activist who managed to arrive at Lod Airport and said they would remain in detention until their deportation.
Palestinian man succumbs to injuries he sustained during Israeli war on Gaza
PIC – A Palestinian man died Friday morning as a result of serious injuries he sustained during the Israeli occupation war on Gaza at the end of 2008 and start of 2009 from which he never recovered.To unsubscribe, please click here to opt-out.
One Third of Libya Turns Out to Support Qaddafi in World’s Largest March Ever
Intifada-Palestine: 8 Jul 2011 – 1.7 million people, or around 95% of the population of Tripoli, one third of the entire population of Libya, have turned out in perhaps the largest demonstration ever in world history last Friday, to demand an end to the NATO bombings… more
Kiss Of ‘Democratic’ Death: Israel’s Plot To Take Down Syria II
Intifada-Palestine: 8 Jul 2011 – by Jonathan Azaziah / Intifada Palestine Part 2 In the the first part of the series, priorplots against Syria were broughtto light andthe modernalliance between Zionism and the House of Saud was exposed, as were the directors of the Zionist-Saudi axis”Syrian Revolution.’… more
Kiss Of ‘Democratic’ Death: Israel’s Plot To Take Down Syria I
Intifada-Palestine: 8 Jul 2011 – Part 1 by Jonathan Azaziah The Zionist entity and its criminal network of allies have initiated operations to destroy Syria. This is the first of a 2-part series that exposes the ‘Syrian Revolution’ as a destabilization operation commanded by the usurping… more
Mubarak Allies Charged in Tahrir Square Attack
New York Times 8 Jul 2011 – The attack, on Feb. 2, was memorable in part because the assailants, onetime officials and allies of former President Hosni Mubarak, rode in on horses and camels.
Envoys Stay in Syrian City Where Protests Continue
New York Times 8 Jul 2011 – In Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city, tens of thousands of Syrians protested as the French and American ambassadors remained there in a gesture of support.
Senior Rebel Is Doubtful Qaddafi Can Be Routed
New York Times 8 Jul 2011 – Shortages of fuel, personnel and weapons make it unlikely that the rebels will try to take Tripoli, said a colonel who claimed he defected from Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s army.
House Sends Conflicting Signals on Libya
New York Times 8 Jul 2011 – Lawmakers turned down a measure to stop United States military operations but also voted to block aid to the Libyan rebels.
Israel Blocks Air Travelers to Palestinian Conference
New York Times 8 Jul 2011 – Foreigners who planned to fly to Tel Aviv and join the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative were prevented from boarding flights to Israel by foreign airlines, on instructions from the Israelis.
AL-KHALIL (HEBRON): Many people injured in clash between Hizb-ut Tahrir demonstrators and Palestinian police
Christian Peacemaker Teams – Palestine – On 2 July 2011, the Islamic political organization, Hizb-ut Tahrir (The Party of Freedom), staged a last-minute demonstration in Hebron after the Palestinian Authority (PA) blocked a planned demonstration in Ramallah. Over 1000 demonstrators descended upon the Palestinian-controlled area of the city in the late afternoon….
Times coverage of ‘fly-in’ protest masks nature of Israeli control over Palestinian lives
Mondoweiss – A friend writes: Isabel Kershner has some useful information about Israel’s hysterical response to the fly-in today, though she leaves out the frightening scenes of angry crowds at the airport. But she obfuscates the basic reality that the fly-in was mean to underline, that Israel controls…
Israel included on Homeland Security terrorism watch list
Mondoweiss – Yep, you read the headline right. On May 1oth, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General committed the diplomatic equivalent of a Freudian slip when it included Israel on a list of rogue terror states, YNet reports . Nor was Israel the only ally…
Welcome to Israel
Mondoweiss – @import “http://embed.tweetizen.com/embed.css”; A crowd attacks participants in Ben Gurion Airport (Photo: Joseph Dana ) Joseph Dana has been stationed in Ben Gurion Airport all day reporting on the ” Welcome to Palestine ” initiative. The scene he has shared can only be described as chaos. Israel has barred journalists…
Will abstracted, isolated Obama be prey to neoconservative policy elite re Iran attack?
Mondoweiss – Great piece by David Bromwich in NYRB on Obama’s political temperament— a preference for imperial utterance… extreme abstraction alternates with spasmodic engagement… seeks isolation/vacation from Washington, and is vulnerable for that reason. So no wonder Netanyahu cleaned his clock, and why “the neoconservative policy elite” is…
Naomi Klein: How climate change should affect a N. American Jew’s view of Israel
Mondoweiss – Great stuff happens and then goes by the boards, but below is an exchange from 6 weeks ago that I don’t want to forget. In May we ( along with the Culture Project ) staged a panel on the Goldstone Report with Naomi Klein among others on stage…
Imagine, U.S. Congress Voted Against Israeli Statehood in 1947
Tikun Olam – Picture, it’s 1947, you’re a Jewish resident of the Yishuv contemplating an impending vote in the UN General Assembly to recognize the UN Partition and create a new State of Israel. You’re anticipating the support of both the Soviet Union and the United States. But nothing…
Et Tu, Bulgaria? Bibi Strikes Out on Grand Tour
Tikun Olam – Bibi Netanyahu is in the midst of his Grand European Tour in which he is begging, cajoling and wheedling erstwhile allies to vote against the September UN Palestinian statehood bid. He began with two of Israel’s biggest pushovers: Romania and Bulgaria. These are countries that if…
Barak Vetoes Knesset Testimony by IDF Chief of Staff on Iran Military Options
Tikun Olam – IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz and Ehud Barak (Yehuda Lechiani) Maariv is reporting (Hebrew) that Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak vetoed an appearance by newIDF chief of staff Benny Gantz before the Knesset’s subcommittee on covert intelligence operations. This group, chaired by former IDF chief…
US collusion in the Gaza blockade is an affront to human rights
Rachel Corrie Foundation 8 Jul 2011 – By Cindy Corrie, Originally published in The Guardian My daughter’s death shows the cruelty of an America that won’t protect its own and is complicit in harming Palestinian civilians When Greek authorities prevented the US ship the Audacity of Hope leaving its port in Athens this…
Welcome to Palestine/Bienvenue en Palestine On Its Way, Despite Huge Israeli Intervention
Palestine Solidarity Project 8 Jul 2011 – Welcome to Palestine (Bienvenue en Palestine), an initiative with over 550 activists from Europe, the U.S. and Canada, began flights into Ben Gurion Airport today. The action was begun by a group in France, who was invited by 15 Palestinian civil society organizations, including Palestine Solidarity…
Israel’s Hamas, Akiva Eldar’s Obituary for Oslo, Adam Shatz’s Picture of the Palestinians
The Magnes Zionist 8 Jul 2011 – My day job has kept me very busy lately, but there are three short points I would like to make before Shabbat enters. 1. Israel’s hamas Today’s Haaretz headline says it all: Israel Expropriates West Bank Land in Order to Legalize Settlement. How many similar headlines…
Palestinians serving 25+ years in Israeli prisons reaches 43
Middle East Monitor 8 Jul 2011 – The number of Palestinians who have spent more than twenty five years in Israeli prisons has now reached 43 out of a total of around 6,500 Palestinian prisoners held by the Zionist state. According to the Ministry of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs in Gaza, the new…
Number of illegal settler-colonists shows marked increase
Middle East Monitor 8 Jul 2011 – According to official statistics from Israel, the number of illegal Jewish settler-colonists in the Occupied West Bank has risen by 14,000 in the past 12 months. The statistics published by Israel’s Population Record Service reveals that the total number of settler-colonists in Jewish settlements in the…
Syrians ‘spied on protests in US’
BBC 8 Jul 2011 – Syria’s ambassador to the US is summoned to the State Department after reports of Syrian diplomats filming peaceful protesters in the US.
Thousands gather for Egypt rally
BBC 8 Jul 2011 – Tens of thousands of people rally in Cairo to press Egypt’s government to speed up reforms, in one of the biggest protests since the fall of President Mubarak.
Israel blocks ‘flytilla’ protest
BBC 8 Jul 2011 – Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists trying to reach the West Bank via Israel have been blocked at airports in Europe.
Thousands protest in Syrian city
BBC 8 Jul 2011 – Hundreds of thousands of people take part in an anti-government protest in the Syrian city of Hama, activists say.
Fund Community Needs, Not Israel’s Misdeeds!
US Campaign to End the Occupation 8 Jul 2011 – July 8, 2011
Articles
On flotillas and the law: civil society versus Israel lobbies in US and Europe
Lawrence Davidson, Redress7/9/2011
“If we persist there will come a time, as was the case with South Africa, when the power of civil society will be such that politicians and bureaucrats will see the cost of defying popular opinion as greater than defying Zionist lobbies.”
Civil society movements versus corrupt politics
When it comes to the struggle against Israel’s policies of oppression there are two conflicting levels: that of government and that of civil society. The most recent example of this duality is the half dozen or so small ships held captive in the ports of Greece. The ships, loaded with humanitarian supplies for the one and half million people of the Gaza Strip, are instruments of a civil society campaign against the inhumanity of the Israeli state. The forces that hold them back are the instruments of governments corrupted by special interest influence and political bribery.
Most of us are unaware of the potential of organized civil society because we have resigned the public sphere to professional politicians and bureaucrats and retreated into a private sphere of everyday life which we see as separate from politics. This is a serious mistake. Politics shapes our lives whether we pay attention to it or not. By ignoring it we allow the power of the state to respond not so much to the citizenry as to special interests. Our indifference means that the politicians and government bureaucrats live their professional lives within systems largely uninterested in and sometimes incapable of acting in the public good because they are corrupted by lobby power. The ability to render justice is also often a casualty of the way things operate politically. The stymying of the latest humanitarian flotilla to Gaza due to the disproportionate influence of Zionist special interests on US and European Middle East foreign policy is a good example of this situation. more.. e-mail
‘Air Flotilla’ successful in exposing Israeli blockade of West Bank
Noam Sheizaf, +972 Magazine7/7/2011
Israeli authorities deployed hundreds of police officers to arrest and deport pro-Palestinian visitors. The Minister of Tourism announced that “good tourists” will be greeted with flowers.
Panic. There is no other way to describe the Israeli reaction to a plan organized by a few activists—no more than a thousand, according to the most generous estimates—to try and travel to the West Bank via Ben Gurion International Airport. A handful of those visitors arrived (five of them have already been deported), and it seems that the whole country has gone mad.
Haaretz has reported a special deployment of hundreds of police officers and special units both inside and outside the terminals, “in case one of the arrivals tries to set himself on fire.” The Petach Tikva court, in charge of the airport area, is to have more arrest judges on alert, and the minister for Hasbara (propaganda) Yuli Edelstein demanded that the government take no chances, “because we should remember what happened on 9/11.”
All this, lets not forget, in order to welcome between a few dozen to a few hundred Westerners (most of them quite old, according to reports), who would arrive on separate flights and on different hours, who went through extensive security checks before boarding their planes, and who openly declared their intentions to visit the Palestinian territories. This is the national threat that has captured all the headlines for some days now in a country armed with one of the strongest armies in the world as well as an extensive arsenal of nuclear bombs.
While events at the airport are more absurd than tragic (there is a torrent of jokes on twitter about this, like: “attention all units, attention all units, a Swedish woman is now getting off flight 465?, or “security personnel have been ordered to report all those not singing ‘Heve’nu Shalom’ at landing”)…. more.. e-mail
In dealing with flotilla, Israel is anything but smart
Amira Hass, Ha’aretz7/7/2011
Outsourcing, aggressive and vocal diplomacy and ridiculous lies thwarted the flotilla, but they have not taken Gaza off the international agenda.
CRETE – Like an anti-Semitic caricature, Israel has extended its long tentacles around the globe in an effort to stop 10 decades-old ships from sailing to Gaza. Many Israelis interpreted this as a great victory.
The story could be read as follows: The Greek government wanted to save people whom it surely views as eccentrics and professional trouble-makers, even if naive, from a traumatic and perhaps even fatal experience. The Greek foreign minister rejected claims that Israeli pressure led his government to ban the flotilla’s departure. He explained that Greece wanted to prevent a “humanitarian disaster” in the event of a clash between the Israel Defense Forces and the protesters.
Indeed, a Greek police officer – one of those who tried (in vain ) to discover from passengers on the Tahrir who was piloting their ship – did not beat around the bush. We wanted to save you from the Israeli army, he told one of them. The Jew of the blood libel, of whom one must be wary, has been replaced by an Israeli navy commando.
In anti-Semitic caricatures, the cunning Jew is doomed to lose and his control over the world is fated to come to an end. But Israel’s government is revising the caricature and sketching a glorious victory. A war of attrition, in the form of mysterious breakdowns and unprecedented red tape by the Greek authorities, thwarted the flotilla’s original plan to anchor off the Gaza coast. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly thanked the Greek government, he knew full well what he was thanking it for. more.. e-mail
Cash shortage hampers rebuilding of mosques destroyed by Israel
Electronic Intifada: 7 Jul 2011 – Eva Bartlett The Electronic Intifada Gaza City According to Hassan Saifi, a representative of the ministry for religious affairs in Gaza, a quarter of the Gaza Strip’s 800 mosques were damaged or destroyed in the Israeli attack on Gaza in winter 2008-09.more
Take one za’atar tea and call me in the morning
In Gaza: 8 Jul 2011 – one of the varieties of za’atar, wild thyme, popular in Palestinian food and drink. New Internationalist blog by Eva Bartlett Palestinians seem to have this inherent knowledge of what foods and herbs are best according to the situation, time, ailment or celebration. Certainly, the average Palestinian knows a lot more than I do. When I was ill last year with a nasty sinus infection, I wasn’t given any nose-drops or other medication. I was made to eat lemons, peel and all, or when not eating them, stuff them up my nose and inhale. Fairly painful, but also amazingly successful. Lemons are a natural healer for a variety of ailments and are a general boon to the immune system. Not surprisingly, lemon is found in most Palestinian dishes: hummous, roasted eggplant, salad, and is added liberally to chicken and fish meals, served as a juice, or just eaten peeled like an orange….more
Greece, Gaza and the Grand Drama
Palestine Chronicle: 8 Jul 2011 – By Kathy Kelly — Athens It looked like a scene from an opera. Massed in the doorway and second floor balconies of a quaint building in Athens, facing a magnificent view of the Parthenon, Spanish activists hung banners and flashed peace signs and proclaimed that they wouldn’t leave the building, the Embassy of Spain, until their government assured them that their boat, “The Guernica,” could at last leave for the suffering and besieged territory of Gaza. Like other boats in the “Freedom Flotilla 2,” an international flotilla aiming to end the naval blockade of Gaza, the Spaniards’ boat has been blocked from sailing by bureaucratic measures imposed by the Greek government. This was unacceptable to the activists. On July 4, 2011, the Spanish Ambassador to Greece had agreed to meet with only four of the Spanish activists, but at a pre-arranged time, one of the four had gone downstairs, opened…more
Children of Qalandiya: Mahmoud
Palestine Chronicle: 8 Jul 2011 – By Tamar Fleishman This child has a face and a name. He has a father and a mother who worry, who don’t know where Mahmud had been taken to and on what grounds. They probably wonder where he spends his days, and worse- his nights, whether he had been bitten so badly that he had become disabled (as had happened to many unlucky others), maybe he is bleeding, maybe he hurts, he might be crying, he might be asking for his mother, calling for his father, maybe he is silent, maybe it is a smothered and restrained cry as there is no one to hear and comfort him. Indeed, It happens every day, every year, all around the West Bank, but when I went over to give thirteen year old Mahmud the photo of him that I took the last time we met, and he was not among the children…more
Instilled Memory, and Ten Little Boats
Palestine Chronicle: 8 Jul 2011 – By Uri Avnery For Several weeks now, our army and navy have been in a state of high alert, bravely facing a deadly threat to our very existence: ten little boats trying to reach Gaza. These vessels are carrying a dangerous gang of vicious terrorists, in the form of elderly veterans of peace campaigns. Binyamin Netanyahu has affirmed our unshakable determination to defend our country: We shall not let anyone break the blockade to smuggle rockets to the terrorists in Gaza, who will then launch them to kill our innocent children. This is a kind of record even for Netanyahu: not a single word is true. The flotilla is not carrying any weapons — the representatives of respected international media in the boats provide assurance of this. Also, I think we can rely on the Mossad to plant at least one agent in every boat. (After all, what am I…more
We Will Return to Gaza until Palestine is Free
Palestine Chronicle: 7 Jul 2011 – By Richard Levy As you will probably know from press reports, our efforts to sail the US boat to Gaza — the Audacity of Hope — has fallen short of its mission. We had expected to be confronted by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in Gazan or international waters. Instead, we were confronted with Greek commandos in the waters near Pireaus. As one passenger put it, “Israel has outsourced the blockade to Greece, Turkey and other countries.” It gained their cooperation through heavy diplomatic pressure from its allies (most significantly the US) and economic threats. Presently, eight boats headed for Gaza carrying passengers from 22 countries are locked down in Greek and Turkish ports. Although the intended mission was not accomplished, the stories of the boats’ attempts to sail gained considerable international press coverage and shined a light, once again, on Israel’s morally and legally indefensible imprisonment of the Palestinian…more
Caution: Negotiation Hazard Ahead!
Palestine Chronicle: 7 Jul 2011 – By Midhat Ayyad Even during the long years of armed struggle, Palestinians aspired to a different and more effective method of dealing with Israel. At their 1988 Algiers conference, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) decided—perhaps belatedly—that the time for diplomatic negotiations had arrived. Relying on armed resistance alone was akin deploying an aircraft carrier without jet assisted take-off. In prolonged exile, and a financial pariah following the PLO’s support of Suddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the PLO—created by the Arab League—began negotiations with Israel. While this was truly a hazard for the dreams and interests of millions of Palestinian refugees, the PLO consensus was that negotiations were crucial to obtaining Palestinian statehood along the pre-1967 borders, or the “Green Line.” Achieving political parity with Israel and the “peace process” affiliates, notably the United States, was no cause for celebration, however. Palestinians had feared that direct negotiations (oftentimes proximity talks)…more
Starving Gaza is Not Cricket
Palestine Chronicle: 7 Jul 2011 – By Stuart Littlewood Setting sail with the Gaza Flotilla is no Sunday afternoon game of cricket. You’re suddenly in the blockade busting business and if you succeed in getting through you’ll put a lot of noses out of joint and symbolically squidge the evil ambitions of racist-supremacists like Netanyahu, Barak, Lieberman and Peres. You’re interfering in their economic terror war to crush Hamas. And the Israelis don’t take kindly to anyone spoiling their sick fun. They know nothing of the Laws of Cricket, have never played the game and are skilled only in lying, cheating, sabotage, grand theft and crimes against humanity. So expect maximum nastiness. Expect even bribery and arm-twisting by Israel to push the frontiers of their illegal blockade beyond Gaza’s shores and out to susceptible countries like Greece whom they can easily bully into doing the Zionists’ dirty work. Expect extreme “sledging”, bodyline, beamers, bouncers, daisy-cutters, constant…more
Israeli Civilization?
Dissident Voice: 8 Jul 2011 – In an audio interview , Harvard University Yiddish Professor Ruth Wisse has condemned ongoing attempts by international activists to set sail for Gaza, on what she calls a “kill-the-Jews flotilla.” “The purpose of the flotilla is to discredit the Israeli attempt to protect itself and to give Hamas a free hand amassing weapons to use against Israeli civilians.” Wisse also forms a new type of ‘Jewish solipsism,’ saying “It should be called for what it is: a ‘kill-the-Jews flotilla. If it is called by its proper name, then it will be recognized for what it is.” Here is the Yiddish logic: label first, then grasp accordingly. However, I would like to remind Wisse that as things stand in the Middle East, it is not the Flotilla peace activists or the democratically elected Hamas who kill. It is actually the Jewish State that is doing the killing, en masse, and in the…more
More material available from Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel – www.vtjp.org
The New Dark Age 