16 February 2013 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Israeli settlers pump sewage into ancient Palestinian village
IMEMC – The Israeli settlement of Shafi Shamron, in the northern part of the West Bank, has routed its sewage pipes to dump directly into the historic village of Sabastiya, home to several thousand Palestinian families. …
Soldiers Kidnap 26 Palestinians, Mainly Children, In West Bank, 2 In Gaza
IMEMC – Palestinian media sources in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip reported that Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Friday evening and on Saturday at dawn, twenty-four Palestinians, most of them children, in the West Bank, and two children in the Gaza Strip. Dozens have been injured by Israeli fire in different parts of the occupied territories. …
Army Kidnaps A Wounded Palestinian Youth Near Jenin
IMEMC – Troops Attack Nonviolent Protesters Marching In Solidarity With Palestinian Political Prisoners Friday November 14; Palestinian medical sources reported that a Palestinian youth was injured after he was rammed by an Israeli military vehicle during clashes that took place between the residents and the soldiers who used excessive force against Palestinian protesters near the Al-Jalama roadblock, east of the northern West Bank city of Jenin. …
Israeli forces seize 5 teens from Beit Fajjar
2/16/2013 – BETHELHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained five teenagers from Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem, overnight Friday, and the army said they were held for involvement in a shooting. Locals told Ma’an that Israeli forces raided the town three times between 10:30 p. m. and dawn Saturday. Khalid Tareq Takatkah 16, Farhan….
Editorial: Inhuman living conditions in refugee camps in Lebanon
2/16/2013 – NAHR AL-BARID REFUGEE CAMP, Lebanon (Ma’an) — Trying to get a firsthand experience about the Palestinian refugees living under extremely dire conditions in Lebanon refugee camps, a Ma’an TV crew has visited several families in Beirut camps recently. Though media outlets have repeatedly tried to touch on the unbelievable living conditions, reality….
Israel detains Palestinian cartoonist, family says
2/16/2013 – JENIN (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities on Saturday detained a Palestinian cartoonist on his way back to the West Bank from Jordan, according to his family. Muhammad Abdul-Ghani Sabanah, 30, was detained at the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the West Bank, his brother Tamir told Ma’an, adding that Sabanah was in….
Armed group shuts down water plant in Sinai
2/16/2013 – EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma’an) — An armed group in the Sinai shut down a water plant on Saturday, claiming it was built on land belonging to their members. The gunmen evacuated all the staff and shut down operation of the Al-Taloul water station in Bir Al-Abed, north Sinai, a Ma’an reporter said. The….
Supreme Leader: Iran not seeking a nuclear weapon
2/16/2013 – DUBAI (Reuters) — Iran does not want nuclear weapons but if it did, no world power could prevent it from obtaining one, Iran’s Supreme Leader said on Saturday, according to Iranian media. The United States and some of its Western allies suspect Iran may be trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability under the….
Fatah, Hamas slam expulsion of Bulgaria delegation
2/16/2013 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas and Fatah officials on Saturday criticized Bulgaria’s decision to expel a Hamas delegation visiting the country, demanding an apology from the East European country. Bulgarian security forces on Friday raided the hotel rooms of a visiting Hamas delegation, ordering them to leave the country, the Islamist group….
Israel treats 5 Syrians wounded in civil war
2/16/2013 – JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Israeli soldiers treated five Syrians who had been wounded in fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels near Israel’s security fence on the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said on Saturday. The victims were taken to a hospital in Israel. The military did not say if they were combatants or civilians….
EU calls for better conditions for Palestinians in Israeli jails
2/16/2013 – RAMALLAH (Reuters) — The European Union on Saturday called on Israel to improve conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and a PA minister said there would be rallies next week to support hunger striking prisoners. Nearly 5,000 Palestinians are jailed in Israel, including 178 administrative detainees, 10 women and 193 children, according to the latest….
PA transportation minister arrives in Cairo for talks
2/16/2013 – CAIRO (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority minister of transportation arrived in Cairo on Saturday to meet with Egyptian officials, a Palestinian embassy official in Cairo said. Ali Abu Zuhri will meet with Egypt’s minister of aviation on Sunday to discuss ways to support the Egypt-based Palestinian airlines, including the possibility of creating….
Gaza police detain Fatah members for blocking voter record
2/16/2013 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Gaza police arrested two Fatah members for tearing up the electoral register at a voter booth on Friday. Sa’ed Ahmad Kilani and Ra’ed Atiya Kilani attempted to block the voter registration process at Al-Shaimaa school in Beit Lahiya, a police statement said. Fatah issued a statement….
Election body: 155,000 registered to vote in Gaza
2/16/2013 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Central Elections Commission said Saturday that 155,000 people have registered to vote in the Gaza Strip, with two days to go until the update of the electoral roll closes. The roll has not been updated in Gaza since Jan. 2005 and the operation of the CEC in Gaza is seen….
West Bank teachers to strike Sunday, Thursday
2/16/2013 – NABLUS (Ma’an) – All schools across the West Bank will be on general strike Sunday and Thursday, the general union of West Bank teachers announced Saturday. Secretary of the union of south Nablus area teachers Izz Dawabsha told Ma’an the decision to go on strike was taken unanimously in a meeting the….
1 killed, 5 injured in Hebron car crash
2/16/2013 – HEBRON (Ma’an) — One man was killed and five injured on Saturday in a car crash on a main road connecting Bethlehem and Hebron, witnesses said. Taha Izzat Abu Latifa, 45, was killed instantly when his car crashed into a truck, and his wife and three children, aged 5, 14, and 15, were seriously….
Suicide bomber kills senior Iraqi army officer, guards
2/16/2013 – MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) — A suicide bomber killed a senior Iraqi army intelligence officer and three bodyguards on Saturday when he detonated his explosives at the officer’s home in the northern city of Mosul, police said. Iraq has seen an increase in suicide bombings since the start of the year as Sunni Islamist insurgents….
Blogger’s death rekindles anti-Islamist protests in Bangladesh
2/16/2013 – DHAKA (Reuters) — Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi protesters, angered by the killing of one of their leaders, poured back onto the streets of the capital on Saturday to demand the death penalty for those found guilty of war crimes in the 1971 independence conflict. The demonstrators, who denounce a life sentence handed down this month….
Official: Iran to avenge killing of Guard commander in Syria
2/16/2013 – DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran will soon exact revenge on Israel for the recent killing of a Revolutionary Guards commander in Syria, an aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted on Saturday as saying. Iran said on Thursday that an Iranian military commander named Hessam Khoshnevis, also called Hassan Shateri in some news accounts….
Hezbollah says does not need weapons from Syria
2/16/2013 – BEIRUT (Reuters) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday that hisgroup does not need support from allies in Syria or Iran for any future battle against Israel. Nasrallah’s comments, during a speech from an undisclosed location, are the closest thing yet to a response to allegations that Israeli jets were targeting a Syrian….
Tens of thousands rally in Tunis to support Islamists
2/16/2013 – TUNIS (Reuters) — Tens of thousands of supporters of Tunisia’s Islamist-led government marched in the capital on Saturday, one of the biggest in a series of pro-government and opposition rallies sparked by the assassination of a secular politician. The Feb. 6 killing of Chokri Belaid, a human rights lawyer and opposition leader, has thrown….
UN’s rights chief says Assad should face war crimes probe
2/16/2013 – LONDON (Reuters) — The United Nations human rights chief said on Saturday Syrian President Bashar Assad should be probed for war crimes and called for immediate action by the international community, including possible military intervention. Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, repeated her call for the Syrian president to be referred to the….
International Solidarity Movement
12 year old boy beaten by soldiers in Azzun
2/16/2013 – International Solidarity Movement – 14 February 2013, International Solidarity Movement, Azzun, Occupied Palestine – Azzun is a village of 10,000 people in the West Bank, located near Route 55 and located between the Qarne Shomron, Ma’ale Shomeron and Alfe Menashe settlements. Unemployment stands at 49%. Azzun is surrounded by the Israeli military, which raids the village arresting youths….
Bassem Tamimi released from Israeli jails
2/16/2013 – International Solidarity Movement – 16 February 2013, International Solidarity Movement, Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine – Political prisoner and member of the Popular Committee in Nabi Saleh, Bassem Tamimi, was released on Sunday 10th February after spending almost four months inside Israeli military prisons. Bassem was arrested in the first BDS action in an illegal Israeli colony – a non-violent protest against…. Related: Bassem Tamimi injured and arrested with 3 others at Boycott Israel protest
Demonstrators open Hagai road gate for first time in decade
2/16/2013 – International Solidarity Movement – 15 February 2013, International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine – A peaceful demonstration was violently broken up by the Israeli occupation forces using tear gas grenades and canisters, and skunk water. Road opened for the first time in 13 years. At 1pm around 100 Palestinians marched towards the Hagai road gate in the Al Hareaq area….
Two Brothers Resistance To The Occupation Of Tel Rumeida
2/16/2013 – International Solidarity Movement – 15 February 2013, International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine – Two brothers, Hani and Hashem Al Azzeh, who have had enough of the harassment they face on a daily basis from the Israeli occupation forces and settlers, are taking legal action to remove a military tower placed on the roof of one of their houses in….
Violent clashes in Kufr Qaddum
2/16/2013 – International Solidarity Movement – 16 February 2013, International Solidarity Movement, Kufr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine – Approximately 200 Palestinians, joined by a handful of International activists, participated in yesterdays weekly demonstration in Kufr Qaddum. At around 12 am, after midday prayers, protesters marched from the center of the village up the main road leading to Qedumim settlement. Clashes between Palestinian youth….
After Qaddafi, Libyans mark anniversary with uncertainty
The National 16 Feb 2013 – Protests held in Benghazi, where revolt began two years ago.
France and Britain have long-term commitment to Gulf security
The National 16 Feb 2013 – French and British ministers highlight the importance of the Arabian Gulf and reiterate their commitment to the region’s security.
013: Tomorrow’s systems today
The National 16 Feb 2013 – The National highlights some of the exhibits at the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (Idex) that is set to open its doors in the capital today.
Exhibition visitors to boost UAE tourism
The National 16 Feb 2013 – According to the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, Idex and Navdex will help boost tourism and hotel-occupancy levels in the UAE.
UAE defence exhibition doubles in size
The National 16 Feb 2013 – Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid describes Idex as “among the world’s most important defence shows”, expressing his pride in the event’s ability to constantly expand.
UAE and Italy navies boost cooperation
The National 16 Feb 2013 – The two militaries are looking to create partnerships in the development of maritime weaponry technologies, according to Italy’s navy chief of staff.
Police and mourners clash at funeral of teenager killed in demonstration
The National 16 Feb 2013 – Tear gas and stun grenades used to disperse crowds in Manama.
Afghan refugees leave Iran for Turkey
The National 16 Feb 2013 – Conditions increasingly difficult for Afghans in Iran due to economic pressures from international sanctions.
Jerusalem ice-cream parlor becomes hot property after being frozen out by Bibi
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
Heavyweight match
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
Lieberman fraud trial begins in Jerusalem today
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu calls for drafting 60 percent of Haredim up to age 24
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
Results of probe into death of Ben Zygier likely to be published in coming days
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
Hezbollah says ‘no comment’ on Burgas report; Hamas blames Israel for expulsion of lawmakers from Bulgaria
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
Syrian civil war edges closer as seven rebels taken to Israeli hospital
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
EU calls for better conditions for Palestinians jailed in Israel
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
Iran vows revenge against Israel for killing of Revolutionary Guards commander
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
Hundreds protest Iran-Argentina investigation pact in Buenos Aires
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
Saving Israel’s Foreign Ministry for Lieberman is ‘shaky ethics,’ say jurists
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
Former deputy FM Ayalon says Lieberman should move to finance ministry
Ha’aretz – 16 Feb 2013
State weighing release of Prisoner X cause of death file
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Justice Ministry is considering the publication of the forensic report examining the death of Ben Zygier; Likud Minister Ya’alon defends gov’t handling of case: “Israel is not a dark dictatorship.”
Hunger for change in eating disorders
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Israel has restricted the appearance of underweight models in media, but much remains to be done.
Signs of the ‘Times’
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – ‘The New York Times’ hostility toward Israel, its sparse coverage of anti-Semitism and its anthropological remoteness from Jewish issues except for culture evoke only occasional protest.
The dual loyalty slander
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – We ought not alter our behavior based on the totally illegitimate charge of “dual loyalty,” that is almost exclusively hurled against us as Jews.
Islam’s path to Africa
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – The more radical Islamic forces are on the march. Many of the victims of jihad are now in Africa, but they will probably not be the last.
Doing well
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – While we surely aspire for greater achievement, our glass is more than half full. There is much we can rightly take pride in.
Ya’alon on Prisoner X: Israel is not a dark dictatorship
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Likud minister defends government’s handling of Prisoner X case, tells Ch. 2 that when someone is imprisoned under a fake name “it’s done with the supervision of the judiciary, with the family, executive branch knowing.”
Hamas slams Bulgaria’s ‘bowing to Israeli pressure’
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Official expelled by Bulgaria says Hamas members’ parliamentary immunity violated, claims PA played part in expulsion.
Ayalon: Liberman pressured me to appoint people
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Former deputy foreign minister says Liberman should take the Finance, not the Foreign Ministry if exonerated in trial.
Hezbollah chief warns Israel against attack
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – “They know their power plants, airports are under threat,” Nasrallah states; says Hezbollah doesn’t need weapons from Syria.
Iran warns Israel: We’ll avenge Guards commander
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Tehran has said Revolutionary Guard commander killed by Syrian rebels, but Khamenei aide vows to exact revenge on Israel.
7 Syrians hurt in civil war treated in Israel
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Syrian army bombards rebels in Syrian Golan Heights near border; IDF treats Syrians, evacuates them to hospital in Safed.
EU demands rights for Palestinian hunger strikers
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Day after widespread rioting in West Bank, Ashton says Palestinian detainees must be charged without delay or released.
Khamenei: Iran not seeking a nuclear weapon
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Iranian leader says country does not want a nuke, but if it did, no world power could prevent it from obtaining one.
France mulls labeling Hezbollah a ‘terrorist group’
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Pending result of Bulgarian investigation into Burgas bombing, Paris could raise issue of Hezbollah at European Union.
Syrian rebels: Israel assassinated Iran commander
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – After Iran blames “Israeli agents” for killing of IRGC leader earlier this week, rebel faction also points fingers at J’lem.
Liberman set to deny all charges as trial kicks off
Jerusalem Post 16 Feb 2013 – Case to determine political fate of Yisrael Beytenu leader, will likely go down in history alongside trials of Olmert, Katsav.
Sarah Silverman tweet puts women’s Wailing Wall protest in global spotlight
The Guardian 16 Feb 2013 – US comic’s support for civil disobedience by her sister focuses attention on decades-long campaign for women to be allowed to pray on equal terms It was a single tweet that propelled a 24-year-long protest at the…
Yemen’s Youth Denied the Revolutionary Change
IPS This week in Sana’a thousands of Yemenis – mostly youth – crowded the highway near the landmark ‘Change Square’ to celebrate the second anniversary of the revolution. Adjacent to the university, this was the site of a tented encampment that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators throughout 2011. But in…
Did prisoner X really commit suicide?
Uruknet
Financing humanitarian and human rights abuses
Uruknet
Pakistani Disapproval of US Highest Ever, Contra Brennan Fantasy That Drones Are ‘Welcomed’
Uruknet
The African Union, Algeria and Mali The West’s War Against African Development Continues
Uruknet
A U.S. Friend Now More than Ever France Re-conquers Mali
Uruknet
2 shot with live ammunition at Ofer prison demonstration
Uruknet
2 injured by Israeli fire in north Gaza
Uruknet
Obama’s Failed State
Uruknet
013 (Warning: Graphic Videos)
Uruknet
Egypt telecoms authority says can’t block YouTube
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 An Egyptian rights group and the nation’s telecommunication’s ministry have filed appeals to reverse a court order to block YouTube.
Israel treats five Syrians wounded in civil war
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 Israeli soldiers treat five Syrians who were wounded in fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels near Israel’s security fence on the Golan Heights, the Israeli military says.
Bahrain police, youths clash after funeral
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 Police firing tear gas clash with hundreds of stone-throwing youths in Bahrain in heightened unrest that could complicate new efforts to end political deadlock in the strategically placed Gulf Arab kingdom.
Hezbollah chief slams Hariri over ‘provocative’ speech
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 Hezbollah chief slams Hariri over ‘provocative’ speech
Hezbollah says can fight Israel without arms from Syria
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 Nasrallah says his group is fully equipped to combat Israel in any future war, even in the event its allies in Syria and Iran cannot lend it support.
Hezbollah warns Israel against launching strike on Lebanon
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 Hezbollah warns Israel against launching an assault on Lebanon, saying the resistance group could target key installations in the Jewish State.
Nasrallah: Israel implicated Hezbollah right after Burgas blast
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 Nasrallah casts doubt over his party’s involvement in the 2012 bombing in Bulgaria that claimed the lives of five Israeli tourists, saying the Jewish State had implicated the resistance group soon after the incident occurred.
Hezbollah chief praises ‘martyred’ Iranian official
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 Hezbollah head Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah praises and offers condolences over the recent death of an Iranian official killed en route from Damascus to Beirut.
Iran vows to avenge Guard commander’s killing
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 A senior Iranian official has vowed to take revenge on Israel for its alleged involvement in the killing of a commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard.
Bomb kills at least 10 Shiite Muslims in SW Pakistan
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 A remote-controlled bomb targeting Shiite Muslims kills at least 10 people in Pakistan’s insurgency-hit southwest, police say.
Thousands in Tunisia rally behind Islamist party
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 Thousands of supporters of the ruling Islamist party, waving banners and chanting, march in the capital in response to rising criticism about Tunisia’s direction two years after its revolution.
Activist group says hundreds kidnapped in Syria
Daily Star 16 Feb 2013 An activist group says pro-government gunmen have kidnapped more than 300 people in northwestern Syria in retaliation for the abduction of 42 Shiite Muslims this week.
Quake hits rural area south of Rome
YNet News, 16 Feb 2013 – ….
Student questioned after pulling down teacher’s pants
YNet News, 16 Feb 2013 – ….
NASA: Meteor explosion 30 times stronger than Hiroshima
YNet News, 16 Feb 2013 – ….
Egypt’s police to get 100,000 9mm pistols
YNet News, 16 Feb 2013 – ….
Egypt court orders belly dancing station off air
YNet News, 16 Feb 2013 – ….
An inconvenient truth
YNet News, 16 Feb 2013 – Op-ed: Continued stalemate in peace process helps Palestinians reach their goal of demographic superiority ….
Palestinian Information Center
Barhoum: No negotiations with Israel on blockade
PIC – Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, has denied that his movement was engaged in direct or indirect talks with Israel over ending its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.
23 attacks on Palestinian journalists in Jerusalem in 2012
PIC – Palestinian official data revealed that the Israeli occupation forces have escalated their violations against Palestinian journalists in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
IOF troops storm Jenin villages
PIC – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the villages of Sanur and Zawiya, south of Jenin, at dawn Saturday and combed a number of suburbs.
Hayya: Freedoms file is the real obstacle facing reconciliation
PIC – Dr. Khalil al-Hayya, member of the Political Bureau of Hamas, confirmed that the file of liberties in the occupied West Bank has been obstructing the achievement of Palestinian reconciliation.
Report: Issawi suffers nerve paralysis
PIC – The commission of detainees and ex-detainees said that Palestinian hunger striker Samer Issawi suffered nerve paralysis following a sharp decline in his health condition.
Bardawil: Necessary measures to be taken against Bulgaria’s expulsion of MPs
PIC – Dr. Salah Bardawil, Hamas leader and member of its parliamentary bloc, confirmed that necessary measures will be taken to respond to Bulgaria’s expulsion of Hamas’s delegation visiting the country.
Action group: Two Palestinian refugees killed in attacks on Yarmouk camp
PIC – The action group for the Palestinians in Syria said the Syrian regime forces killed two Palestinian refugees in Al-Yarmouk refugee camp and shelled the camps of Dara’a and Husseiniya.
Mass rally in Arraba in solidarity with prisoners
PIC – Citizens from the town of Arraba, south of Jenin, participated on Friday in a mass rally in solidarity with the prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails.
IOF attack Palestinians in Jenin, injure dozens of them
PIC – More than 50 Palestinian young men sustained injuries during clashes on Friday with Israeli troops in Yabud town south of Jenin city, and at the Jalama checkpoint to the north of the city.
IOA isolates two minors in Megiddo jail
PIC – The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) isolated two minors from Zawiya village in Salfit province over the past few days.
Police Discover Rare Artifacts at a Jericho Store
WAFA – 16 Feb 2013
Unprecedented Numbers of Voter Registrants, says Election Commission
WAFA – 16 Feb 2013
EU’s Ashton ‘following with concern’ issue of striking prisoners
WAFA – 16 Feb 2013
Pro-Palestinian Group at US College says Anti-Semitic Allegations Unfounded
WAFA – 16 Feb 2013
Quartet Representative: Prisoners Issue Should be Resolved Quickly
WAFA – 16 Feb 2013
Weather Forecast: Cloudy, Rainy through Sunday
WAFA – 16 Feb 2013
Syrian Kidnappings Raise Fear of Expanded Conflict
New York Times 16 Feb 2013 – The recent kidnappings of more than 140 have demonstrated not only the high level of insecurity in the area, but also the determination of residents to defuse tensions.
Syrian Opposition Group Is Open to Talks, If Assad Is Excluded
New York Times 15 Feb 2013 – The group formally endorsed an initiative to pursue a political solution with the government, provided that President Bashar al-Assad is excluded.
Afghan Withdrawal’s Main Hurdle: Getting Gear Out
New York Times 14 Feb 2013 – After 11-plus years of war, the American military faces a huge task in getting more than 600,000 pieces of equipment out of a landlocked country with bad roads.
Israel: End Censorship Now!
Tikun Olam – I am the bane of the Israeli censor and security services. I am proud of it. There is no need for censorship in Israel. If Israel wishes ever to be a normal country and western democracy it must end censorship, just as it must end Occupation:…
Video: Celebrating 20 years of the peace process!
Mondoweiss – Wonderful, written and performed by Azizi bin Habeebi . Media, please see Pinocchio moment at 1:28 and, at 2:00, Habeebi’s use of the maps made famous in New York by that great ad campaign. “Mommy, daddy, look at the map!” Habeebi: Also, more and more souls are…
Defense of separation wall = Prize for service to humanity
Mondoweiss – Wieseltier is in the money : New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier has been awarded with the $1 million Dan David prize [from a foundation at Tel Aviv University], Israel’s pre-eminent award for individuals who have made “an outstanding contribution to humanity.” In its announcement, the Dan David…
Abrams calls Hagel anti-Semitic for questioning legitimacy of the Israel lobby
Mondoweiss – I frequently criticize Brian Lehrer because he is an intelligent/progressive/influential public-radio host in New York City and also a reflexive defender of Israel. He’s what I’m up against in liberal Jewish establishment opinion. Well, the other day Lehrer interviewed neoconservative Elliott Abrams (who is due to…
‘Gentiles of the Year 2012? include singer who performed for Israeli army benefit in LA
Mondoweiss – The tragedy of Zionism: Apparently the Jewish question that stymied Europe for hundreds of years has now become the Israel lobby question. And the category “Righteous Gentiles” — non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from anti-Semitism in Europe– has become the category of non-Jews…
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Ice Cream Drama Lures Crowd to Jerusalem Gelateria
The Foward Breaking News 16 Feb 2013 – Hundreds of curious customers flocked over the weekend to Glida Metudela, the Jerusalem ice-cream parlor recently outed as the beneficiary of a generous government contract. Click here for the rest of the article…
Israel Treats 5 Syrians Wounded in Civil War
The Foward Breaking News 16 Feb 2013 – Israeli soldiers treated five Syrians who had been wounded in fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels near Israel’s security fence on the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said on Saturday. Click here for the rest of the article…
Haneen Zoabi, Israeli Lawmaker, Is Reviled by Jews — and Adored by Arabs
The Forward New 16 Feb 2013 – Haneen Zoabi is the Arab lawmaker Israel loves to hate. Despite — or perhaps because of — the attention lavished on her, she is adored by her Palestinian constituents. Click here for the rest of the article…
Four foreigners arrested in Libya
BBC 16 Feb 2013 – Four foreign nationals are arrested in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on suspicion of attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity.
EU calls on Israel to respect Palestinian prisoners’ rights
Al-Akhbar News 16 Feb 2013 – Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian protestor during clashes at the entrance of the Jalama checkpoint, near the West Bank city of Jenin, on 15 February 2013. (Photo: AFP – Saif Dahlah) The European Union on Saturday called on Israel to respect its human rights obligations towards…
Palestinian Hunger Strikers Battle on a New Front
Al-Akhbar News 16 Feb 2013 – The Mother of Samer Issawi, a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for more than 200 days, attends a solidarity sit-in outside the Red Cross offices in Jerusalem, on 14 February 2013. (Photo: Ahmad Gharabli – AFP) The Mother of Samer Issawi, a Palestinian…
Hamas and Israel in truce talks: report
Al-Akhbar News 16 Feb 2013 – Israel and Gaza-rulers Hamas have been holding indirect talks on easing the blockade on the Palestinian enclave, Channel 2 television reported Friday, under the terms of a truce deal reached last year. The report said the talks have been going on for “a number of weeks,”…
Iraq intelligence officer dies in suicide bombing
Al-Akhbar News 16 Feb 2013 – A suicide bomber killed a senior Iraqi army intelligence officer and two bodyguards in a northern town on Saturday after storming his well-guarded home. One bomber was shot outside the home of Brigadier-General Aouni Ali, the director of the Defense Ministry’s intelligence school, in the northern…
EU Fishing Fleets Booted from Mauritanian Seas
Al-Akhbar News 16 Feb 2013 – A young Malian, who fled the violence in the historic city of Timbuktu, carries a cup in a refugee camp in the Mauritanian town of Fassala on 28 January 2013. (Photo: AFP) A young Malian, who fled the violence in the historic city of Timbuktu, carries…
Things Get Awkward with Mohamed Morsi
Al-Akhbar News 16 Feb 2013 – A protester, who opposes Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, shouts slogans while holding a cross and a Koran as he stands on top of a burnt riot police vehicle at Tahrir Square in Cairo 15 February 2013. (Photo: Reuters – Amr Abdallah Dalsh) A protester, who opposes…
Raid on Syrian Media Center: One Year On
Al-Akhbar Series and Features 15 Feb 2013 – Women protest at a gathering of the ‘One Billion Rising’ campaign in central London 14 February 2013. (Photo: Reuters – Toby Melville) Women protest at a gathering of the ‘One Billion Rising’ campaign in central London 14 February 2013. (Photo: Reuters – Toby Melville) A year…
Double Standards for Prisoners Vanished In Israel
Al-Akhbar Politics 15 Feb 2013 – People stand outside Israeli Ayalon prison in Ramle near Tel Aviv on 14 February 2013. (AFP – Jack Guez) People stand outside Israeli Ayalon prison in Ramle near Tel Aviv on 14 February 2013. (AFP – Jack Guez) The case of Ben Zygier, known as ” Prisoner…
Top Iraq intelligence man killed
BBC 16 Feb 2013 – The head of Iraq’s intelligence academy, Ali Aouni, and two bodyguards die in a suicide attack in the northern town of Tal Afar, police say.
Four foreigners arrested in Libya
BBC 16 Feb 2013 – Four foreign nationals are arrested in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on suspicion of attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity.
VIDEO: Herod exhibition provokes dig row
BBC 16 Feb 2013 – The first ever exhibition devoted to the life and works of King Herod of Judea has caused controversy, and not because of the king’s historical reputation.
Curious case of Israel’s Prisoner X
BBC 16 Feb 2013 – Mysterious case sparks debate about censorship and civil rights
Articles
Inhuman living conditions in refugee camps in Lebanon
Editorial, Ma’an News Agency 2/16/2013
NAHR AL-BARID REFUGEE CAMP, Lebanon (Ma’an) — Trying to get a firsthand experience about the Palestinian refugees living under extremely dire conditions in Lebanon refugee camps, a Ma’an TV crew has visited several families in Beirut camps recently.
Though media outlets have repeatedly tried to touch on the unbelievable living conditions, reality is still much more difficult and living there is really intolerable.
The very question that came to mind was where the international community is when it comes to those Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Are those refugees nothing more than numbers or names listed in registers of a state waiting for death to rescue them from hunger, cold and endless pain?
Surprisingly, the long awaited Palestinian unity was felt while the crew toured the alleys of Nahr Al-Barid camp and other communities. Photos of late President Yasser Arafat, and other “martyrs” regardless of their political affiliation could be seen everywhere on the walls in the streets. There are photos of “martyrs” affiliated to Fatah, to Hamas, to the PFLP, the DFLP, Islamic Jihad and all other factions.
Many refugee families have living in shipping containers in war-torn Nahr al-Barid camp for six years. These containers can never be fit for human residence as they are nothing more than steal boxes. To quote late Palestinian novelist Ghassan Kanafani, these refugees have knocked on the tanker thousands of times, but in vain. It seems that their knocks fell on deaf ears both at Palestinian and international levels. [END] e-mail
Israel’s rightward shift leaves Palestinian citizens out in the cold
Jonathan Cook, Israeli Occupation Archive 2/14/2013
Shortly before polling day in Israel’s January general election, the Arab League issued a statement urging Israel’s large Palestinian minority, a fifth of the country’s population, to turn out en masse to vote. The League’s unprecedented intervention — reportedly at the instigation of the League’s Palestinian delegation — was motivated by two concerns.
The first was the appearance of polls indicating that, for the first time in an Israeli general election, more than half of the country’s 1.4 million Palestinian citizens might fail to vote. There has been a gradual decline in turnout among the community since optimism about the Oslo “peace process” peaked in the late 1990s. Voting then stood at 75 percent; a decade later, in 2009, turnout had fallen to a historic low of 53 percent.
The second anxiety was that another low turnout would further erode the influence of what Israelis term the “center-left bloc,” the electoral opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the right-wing and religious parties that had joined him in government. In the view of the Arab League, the only hope the opposition bloc had of stopping the formation of another right-wing coalition — and thus an ongoing impasse in negotiations with the Palestinians — was that Israel’s three Palestinian or Palestinian-dominated parties would bring out the minority’s voters and win a large number of seats to bolster the center-left bloc.
In fact, the Arab League’s call revealed a profound, if by now well-established, misunderstanding of Israeli politics, one shared, it seems, even by Mahmoud Abbas and other officials of the Ramallah wing of the Palestinian Authority. It assumed that the Israeli polity can be divided neatly into left and right wings, and that the differences between the two correspond primarily to relative willingness to make concessions to advance the cause of peace. This misperception is one that the Israeli political parties of the right and left have been only too willing to conspire in promoting. more.. e-mail
Rewarding the lawbreakers: New settlement homes on confiscated lands
Yesh Din, written by Yossi Gurvit, +972 Magazine 2/13/2013
Israel approves 90 new settlement homes in Beit El to reward evacuees from the evacuated settlement neighborhood of Givat Ha’Ulpana. The problem? The homes are to be built on lands confiscated for security purposes, a practice the High Court ruled against decades ago.
One of ancient Greece’s sages, legend says, mocked the Athenian lawgiver Solon for writing his constitution and laws. He told Solon laws were like fishing net: It stops the weak fish, but the larger, stronger ones will simply tear it to bits.
Ynet reported earlier this week that the government intends to reward the evacuees from the illegal settlement of Givat Ha’Ulpana for their blatant violation of the law by building them 90 new apartments in the settlement of Beit El. Unfortunately, no lands are available in Beit El for such purposes.
The only land available in Beit El is land that was confiscated by the army in the 1970s, and it can only be used for military purposes. There was a short period in which the army and the settlers worked hand in hand in arguing that the settlements are a “security necessity,” but those halcyon days were over after the HCJ decision of Elon Moreh. Since then, the government and the settlers had to find new and innovative ways of stealing land, the most prominent of which is designating Palestinian land as “state land”, and then, strangely enough, giving it away to people residing in another country. But that’s a whole new story.
So now the government says that it intends to build houses for individual settlers on land that was confiscated solely for security reasons. One may, of course, see it as yet another way for the government to stick its thumb into Obama’s eyes, seeing as this declaration comes a month before the president’s visit, but that’s barely the tip of the iceberg. — See also: Yesh Din more.. e-mail
Whatever happened to the Facebook revolutions?
David Tresilian, Al-Ahram Weekly 2/13/2013
Optimistic accounts of online activism are being called into question two years after the Arab Spring.
During the Arab Spring revolutions two years ago that led to the overthrow of long-established regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and threatened or destabilised certain others, Western and Arab commentators seemed to be at one in emphasising the appearance of new political actors and new political tools that had brought about the kind of change that more traditional forms of politics had failed to achieve.
The youth groups that led the protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square over the 18 days of Egypt’s 25 January Revolution had little or no connection to the political parties that had previously led the opposition to the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak any more than the demonstrations that took place in Tunisia following the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, the young fruit-seller who killed himself in protest against the regime of former Tunisian president Zein Al-Abidine bin Ali, had been organised by Tunisia’s traditional opposition groups or parties.
Young people took the lead in bringing about both revolutions, and in doing so they also demonstrated the political force of online digital activism, with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networking sites being used to organise and publicise the protests.
According to Wael Ghoneim, the former Google executive whose Facebook postings were widely credited with raising awareness of the human rights abuses of the Mubarak regime, the 25 January Revolution was the world’s first Internet revolution since it had been online activism that had given rise to the mobilisation that eventually swept away the Mubarak regime. more.. e-mail
Solidarity with Samer Issawi, day 207 of his hunger strike to protest being held under adminstrative dentention by Zionist occupation forces
In Gaza: 16 Feb 2013 – call for action for Samer Issawi and Palestinian Political Prisoners in Zionist Jails Filed under: gaza randommore
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