4 March 2013 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Detainees In Galboa’ Prison Hold One Day Strike, Warn Escalation
IMEMC – Monday March 4, 2013, Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, stated that the Palestinian detainees in the Galboa’ Israeli prison, are holding a one-day hunger strike, as an initial step, part of activities in support of hunger striking detainees, and to protest the ongoing Israeli violations. …
Obama Demands a Timetable For Israeli Withdrawal
IMEMC – American President, Barack Obama, demanded Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to present a timetable for the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank, the World Tribune has reported. …
Settlers Attack Three Children Near Jerusalem
IMEMC – Sunday March 3, 2013; a group of fundamentalist Israeli settlers assaulted thee Palestinian schoolchildren in Jaba’ village, north of occupied East Jerusalem. The three are brothers; this is the second attack against them since Thursday. …
Israeli forces clash with villagers in Ramallah
3/4/2013 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli forces clashed with villagers in north Ramallah late Sunday, injuring one man, medics said. Medics told Ma’an that a man was shot in the hand with a rubber-coated steel bullet during clashes in Ein Yabrud village. Local youths threw a molotov cocktail at an Israeli military jeep and….
Jerusalem man forced to demolish his own home
3/4/2013 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — A Palestinian was forced to demolish his own home in East Jerusalem on Monday after Israel issued a demolition order for his property. Daoud Eseid demolished his home to avoid paying the fees charged by Israeli authorities if Israeli forces had carried out the demolition, he told Ma’an.” I….
Mother of Bilin protestor killed by Israel files court petition
3/4/2013 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The mother of Bassem Abu Rahmah, who was killed in 2009 during a non-violent protest in Bilin, filed a petition to Israel’s High Court on Sunday to demand justice for the death of her son, B’Tselem said. The petition was filed jointly with Bilin village council, B….
Israeli guards clash with detainees at Negev jail
3/4/2013 – JENIN (Ma’an) — Israeli prison guards clashed with detainees overnight Sunday during an inspection raid in Ketziot prison in the Negev. The PA Ministry of Detainee Affairs said prisoners clashed with Israeli guards who raided ward six of the desert prison.”The Israeli Prison Service carried out inspections in ward six in a provocative….
Israel opens Palestinian-only bus lines in West Bank
3/4/2013 – JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Israel launched two Palestinians-only bus lines in the occupied West Bank on Monday, a step an Israeli rights group described as racist and which Israel’s Transport Ministry called an improvement in service.” Creating separate bus lines for Israeli Jews and Palestinians is a revolting plan,” Jessica Montell, director of the B….
Israel army detains 12 in overnight raids
3/4/2013 – HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces arrested 12 people in the West Bank overnight Sunday, locals and Israel’s army said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said five people were detained in Beit Khalil, two in Beit Awwa, two in Azzun, one in Nablus, one in el-Kharab, and one in el-Arrub. Locals said Mutaz Asafra….
Far-right MK attempts to enter Al-Aqsa mosque
3/4/2013 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — A far-right Israeli Knesset member attempted to enter the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Monday, a local foundation said. Likud’s Moshe Feiglin, surrounded by an Israeli police escort, attempted to enter the 7th century mosque but was stopped by Al-Aqsa guards and students, the Al-Aqsa Foundation said. The group….
Hamas closes Gaza crossing
3/4/2013 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Hamas government in Gaza closed the Kerem Shalom crossing on Monday, despite the fact Israel had agreed to reopen it after a one week closure. Israel closed the commercial crossing last Tuesday after a rocket was fired from Gaza toward Ashkelon in southern Israel, but agreed to reopen it….
Police remove unexploded Israeli ordnance from Nablus village
3/4/2013 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Palestinian Authority police on Monday removed a number of unexploded Israeli ordnance from a Nablus village, police said. Police officers found a number of unexploded sound bombs and flares in a school in Urif village, after concerned teachers had called the local police station. The devices were taken to a safe place and destroyed. [END]
Israel police question 3 women over Jerusalem assault
3/4/2013 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli police have questioned three women in relation to an assault in Jerusalem last week on a Palestinian women. Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told Ma’an that one female from a West Bank settlement was questioned Sunday evening in relation to the incident, while two women turned themselves into….
Abbas to meet Kerry in Saudi Arabia, official says
3/4/2013 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Saudi Arabia on Monday, a Palestinian Authority official said. Abbas and the US secretary of state will discuss requirements to launch peace negotiations, PA ambassador to Saudi Arabia Jamal Shoubaki said, official news agency Wafa reported. Shoubaki told….
Japan donates $10 million to Palestinian Authority
3/4/2013 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Japan donated $10 million to the Palestinian Authority on Monday, official news agency Wafa reported. The donation was made through the Palestinian Recovery and Development Plan Multi-Donor Trust Fund of the World Bank, a statement from Japan’s representative office in Ramallah said. Since the signing of the Oslo accords….
Netanyahu: Military threat needed to stop Iran’s nuclear program
3/4/2013 – WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Neither diplomacy nor sanctions have stopped Iran from pressing ahead with its nuclear ambitions and a clear and credible military threat is needed to stop Tehran’s program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.” Words alone will not stop Iran. Sanctions alone will not stop Iran. Sanctions must be coupled….
Hamas to launch crackdown on Israeli collaborators
3/4/2013 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Hamas government in Gaza will launch a campaign this week to crack down
on collaborators with Israel, a senior ministry official said Monday.” This week we are going to launch an intensive campaign to catch all agents collaborating with Israel in the Gaza Strip,”Muhammad Lafi, an interior ministry….
Union rejects measures by PA ministry to punish teacher strike
3/4/2013 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — The union of teachers in the West Bank on Monday rejected measures proposed by the PA Ministry of Education to punish teachers for strike action. The education ministry undersecretary Muhammad Abu Zeid said Sunday that it would apply a special schedule to make up lesson time lost to the strike, with….
Abbas, Fayyad at odds over finance minister’s resignation
3/4/2013 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The opposing statements by President Mahmoud Abbas and his premier Salam Fayyad over the finance minister’s resignation have stirred debates over the leaders’ jurisdictions. Nabil Qassis on Saturday announced his resignation, less than a year after he was appointed to replace Fayyad as finance minister. Abbas refused the….
Locusts reach Gaza Strip
3/4/2013 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Small numbers of locusts have reached the southern Gaza Strip, the agriculture ministry said Monday, days after swarms of the bugs descended on Egypt. Locusts were seen in Abasan, near Khan Younis, ministry official Salih Bakhit told Ma’an. So far, they are too few to pose a threat….
5 dead after police fight protesters in Egypt’s Port Said
3/4/2013 – CAIRO (Reuters) — Two members of Egypt‘s security forces and three civilians were killed on Sunday and hundreds injured when shooting broke out during clashes between protesters and police in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, security and medical sources said on Monday. The violence erupted as hundreds of people demonstrated against the….
UN investigator urges US to pursue Bush-era abuses
3/4/2013 – GENEVA (Reuters) — A United Nations investigator called on the United States on Monday to publish its findings on the CIA’s Bush-era program of rendition and secret detention of terrorism suspects. Ben Emmerson, UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, voiced concern that while President Barack Obama….
Gunmen kill at least 40 Syrians being sent home from Iraq
3/4/2013 – BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Unidentified gunmen on Monday killed at least 40 Syrian soldiers and government employees who were being taken to the Syrian border by Iraqi authorities after fleeing into Iraq from a Syrian rebel attack, Iraqi officials said. The attack on the convoy carrying the Syrians occurred in Iraq‘s westerly Anbar province, they….
Amnesty: Saudi Arabia to behead 7 on Tuesday
3/4/2013 – RIYADH (Reuters) — Saudi Arabia is scheduled to execute seven men on Tuesday for crimes committed when they were juveniles aged under 18, the British-based rights group Amnesty International said. The seven were sentenced to death in 2009 for an armed robbery in 2006, but Amnesty quoted the men as saying they were tortured into confessions….
Syria opposition says captures eastern city of Raqqa
3/4/2013 – AMMAN (Reuters) — Syrian opposition fighters captured the northeastern city of Raqqa on Monday and crowds toppled a statue of President Bashar Assad’s father, opposition sources and a resident said. If confirmed, the fall of the provincial capital on the Euphrates River 160 km east of Aleppo would make it the first major city….
Israel launches segregated bus service
AlJazeera 4 Mar 2013 – A ‘Palestinians-only’ bus line is launched in Israel after settlers complain Palestinians are a ‘security risk’.
Abbas Discusses Peace with US Secretary of State
Palestine News Network
European Campaign to Boycott Israeli Phone Companies in West Bank
Palestine News Network
Israel Introduces ‘Palestinian Only’ Bus Lines in Jerusalem
Palestine News Network
Feiglin Denied Entry to the Dome of the Rock Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem
Palestine News Network
Abbas to Meet Kerry in Riyadh to Discuss Israeli-Palestinian Talks
Palestine News Network
IOF Forces Arrest Two Youngsters from Bethlehem, Jenin
Palestine News Network
Israel Closes Karam Abu Salem Crossing in Gaza
Palestine News Network
Norwegian Human Rights Activist Venke Aarethun Awarded with Honorary Palestinian Citizenship
Palestine News Network
Budget Draft Law to be Completed Before End of March, Says Cabinet
Palestine News Network
MADA: Alqadi Targeted by the Occupation, which is Another Crime Against Journalists
Palestine News Network
UFree: Palestinian Political Prisoners of 1948 oPt Live in Grim Conditions, Action Required
Palestine News Network
Israeli Court Rejects Appeal against Extending Detention of Journalist
Palestine News Network
Erdogan is Correct; Zionism is a Crime Against Humanity
Palestine News Network
Israeli Settlers Set up Settlement Outpost near Nablus
Palestine News Network
Arab League Condemns Israeli Police for Desecrating Quran, Attacking Women inside Al-Aqsa Mosque
Palestine News Network
World: UN Women calls on governments to deliver a concrete roadmap on ending violence against women
Relief Web 4 Mar 2013 – Source: UN Women Country: World Some 41 Governments respond with new initiatives. Largest-ever international gathering to address the pandemic commences today New York, 4 March, 2013) On the opening day of the two-week long Commission on the Status of Women—…
occupied Palestinian territory: Caught in the middle: movement restrictions imposed on Gaza residents
Relief Web 4 Mar 2013 – Source: Gisha Country: occupied Palestinian territory Since last Tuesday afternoon, the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel has been closed, blocking most goods from entering or leaving Gaza. Until this morning, it was Israel who kept the crossing closed….
Syrian Arab Republic: Decision Regarding Assistance for the Middle East and North Africa Regions
Relief Web 4 Mar 2013 – Source: Government of Japan Country: Japan, occupied Palestinian territory, Syrian Arab Republic 1.On February 26, based on the approval of the FY2012 draft supplementary budget at the Diet, the Government of Japan decided to extend assistance to the Middle East…
013
Relief Web 4 Mar 2013 – Source: Assessment Capacities Project Country: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, occupied Palestinian…
occupied Palestinian territory: Women’s Voices: Dua K. – Home demolition
Relief Web 4 Mar 2013 – Source: Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling Country: occupied Palestinian territory Name: Dua K. Age: 22 Location: Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem Date: 5 February 2013 Incident Property Destruction On 5 February 2013, a two storey house in East Jerusalem…
occupied Palestinian territory: 100% of Palestinian women in Israeli prisons held in violation of international law
Relief Web 4 Mar 2013 – Source: Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling Country: occupied Palestinian territory According to figures recently published by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), 9 Palestinian women and 1 girl were held in Israeli military detention at the end of January….
Biden says US is ready to use force if talks with Iran fail
The National 4 Mar 2013 – The US vice president tells Israel lobby that ‘all options are on the table’ to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Taimur Khan reports from New York
Syrian war spills into Iraq as nearly 50 Syrian troops are killed
The National 4 Mar 2013 – Iraqi PM says the attack ‘confirms our fears of the attempt of some to move the conflict to Iraq‘. Alice Fordham reports from Baghdad
Trial begins for 94 accused of sedition in UAE
The National 4 Mar 2013 – The group denies the plot to undermine the national security of the UAE.
‘Foreign ownership clause needed in business law’ say UAE lawyers
The National 4 Mar 2013 – Without it, they say, the purpose of the new Companies Law would be defeated.
Demand for UAE-made battle-ready vehicles on the rise
The National 4 Mar 2013 – Local companies report an upswing in demand for ordinary vehicles refitted with battle-ready armoury.
Protesters in Port Said set security headquarters on fire
The National 4 Mar 2013 – Fresh clashes break out in the Suez Canal city after thousands attend funerals for civilians killed in battles with police the day before.
Lustrous pearling heritage of the UAE lives on
The National 4 Mar 2013 – Before the discovery of oil, pearl diving was the UAE‘s main source of wealth, and the task of pearl divers was made easier thanks to the men who accompanied them on their journey, rowing their boats while singing poems to bring them luck.
Qasr Al Hosn fort has starring role in Thesiger’s famed photos
The National 4 Mar 2013 – British adventurer Wilfred Thesiger had photos that included portraits and line-ups of sheikhs standing outside the high walls of Qasr Al Hosn.
Palestinian attacks in West Bank and Jerusalem surged last month
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
The Haredi parties’ last hope
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Attorney General orders a halt to Israel’s deportation of Eritrean migrants
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Security guard kills three in Haifa, commits suicide
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Rabbi Menachem Froman of West Bank settlement Tekoa dies at 68
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Locusts invade Israel’s Negev, after plaguing Egypt
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Yesh Atid endorses David Stav for chief Ashkenazi rabbi
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Anti-AIPAC posters in downtown Washington greet conference delegates
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Lapid and Bennett: Progress on Israeli coalition talks with Likud
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Hamas offers Israel collaborators temporary amnesty
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Rare Imperial Eagle gets flying lessons in Israel
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Netanyahu to AIPAC: Only credible military threat will stop Iran
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Netanyahu to request Jonathan Pollard’s release during Obama visit
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
A quiet revolution in Haredi society
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Biden at AIPAC conference: Obama is not bluffing on Iran
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
IDF courts in West Bank cancel just 2.6% of Palestinian administrative detention orders
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Israel Police arrest Jewish youths suspected of beating Arab in Tel Aviv
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Israeli court rejects bid to postpone hearings in Holyland trial
Ha’aretz – 4 Mar 2013
Reporter’s Notebook: Personal politics
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Biden’s AIPAC address assuages some, but others still in doubt when it comes to Obama.
Kerry sees ‘finite’ time for Iran nuclear talks
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – IAEA chief says granting access to Parchin site would help Iran show its willingness to engage.
Biden: Obama ‘not bluffing’ on stopping Iran nukes
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – US VP tells AIPAC that US committed to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapon; says of peace process: It takes two to tango.
Bennett: Spring is here – coalition talks are in bloom
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Lapid asks for patience, says negotiations are far from over; Bennett may be candidate for Finance Minister; Yacimovich insists she will remain in opposition.
Israel warns UN of Syria war spilling over its borders
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – UN Ambassador Prosor tells Security Council that Jerusalem cannot be expected to “stand idle” as the lives of its citizens are being put at risk by shells from Syria landing in Golan Heights.
013 billionaires list
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Idan Ofer is the world’s wealthiest Israeli with a fortune estimated by “Forbes” at $6.5 billion; Arison richest Israeli woman.
Police probing potential triple-murder, suicide
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Haifa-area man believed to have killed three people in two separate incidents before taking own life.
Rabbi Froman passes away after battle with cancer
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Rabbi of Tekoa settlement, an advocate of peace with Palestinians, dies at 68; Bennett: He was a Jew with a gigantic heart.
Israel issues locust alert after bugs plague Egypt
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Winds, climactic conditions in region make possible arrival of locusts from Egypt to Israel, Agriculture Ministry says.
The sequestration burden
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – US aid to Jordan and Egypt is expected to be cut while the direct impact on Israel will be a reduction in annual military aid.
Beauty and the bears
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – In a week in which Hollywood and New York exhibit poor taste, Israel shines.
Verbal combat: The rise of Israel’s word warriors
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – No Holds Barred: Yarmulkes off to John Kerry who pushed back against the repellent, nauseating comments of Turkish Prime Minister.
The Zionist Federation policy of exclusion
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Borderline Views: The Zionist federation is not an organization which takes cue from any single Zionist movement or from any government.
Time to ‘man up’ on Iran
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – The phrase appears to suggest preparations for military action; but being tough on Iran means acting to facilitate regime change from within.
Jordan’s king, Assad and Iran
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Egypt is in turmoil as the secularists and non-Islamists refuse to accept the fact that the Islamists have hijacked their revolution.
An Apple a day to keep Syria at bay?
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Over the next three months, Israel will export 18,000 tons of apples to its northeastern neighbor, Syria.
PM: Words alone won’t stop Iran nuclear weapon
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – PM addresses AIPAC conference, reiterates view that sanctions against Iran must be coupled with credible military threat.
‘Abbas to Kerry: Push Israel for settlement freeze’
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – PA official says Abbas urges Kerry to exert pressure on J’lem to release Palestinian prisoners in Saudi Arabia meeting.
Tel Aviv runner-up in innovative city competition
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Tel Aviv lost out to Medellin, but beat New York City, in the competition organized by The Wall Street Journal and Citi.
Lapid: Talks to form coalition ‘fa
r from over’
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – PM has begun negotiating a coalition without the haredi parties as pact between Bayit Yehudi and Lapid continues to hold.
NY: Baby dies after Jewish parents killed in wreck
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Newborn dies overnight from injuries after Orthodox Jewish parents die in car wreck en route to NY’s Bellevue Hospital for birth.
Alternatively Speaking: Getting in the mood
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Alternative medicine expert Natalie Marx answers your questions: Any recommendations for herbs to help boost a woman’s sex drive?
PM vows to raise Pollard case during Obama visit
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Esther Pollard says Obama‘s visit to Israel later this month is a “golden opportunity” for her husband’s release.
Shin Bet uncovers Hamas terror cell in Hebron
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Security forces say cell led by Hamas man from Gaza released in Schalit deal; suspects “planned to carry out various terror attacks.”
Eritrean who left Israel faces deportation in Cairo
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Tesfamihret Habtemariam left Israel voluntarily but was denied entry to Uganda, now awaiting flight from Cairo to Asmara.
Palestinians-only bus lines open in West Bank
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Transport Ministry says move will “relieve overcrowded buses,” improving service; rights group calls move “simply racism.”
Bennett ‘hopeful’ for new Israeli government soon
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – PM has begun negotiating a coalition without the haredi parties as pact between Bayit Yehudi and Lapid’s Yesh Atid continues to hold.
The myth of Jewish settlements in int’l law
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – Because time works in favor of legal perversions, today’s absurdity vis-à-vis the settlements could become tomorrow’s law.
For Chabad misfits, a place to call home
Jerusalem Post 4 Mar 2013 – For those who grew up in a hasidic home but are no longer religious, living in Crown Heights helps them keep in touch.
Why we must resist Netanyahu and the hawks’ reckless push for war on Iran | Murtaza Hussain
The Guardian 4 Mar 2013 – Now, just as diplomacy is yielding results, has never been a better time to ignore the lobbying of Israel’s prime minister for war “If Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons, this could presage catastrophic consequences, not…
Facts – review
The Guardian 4 Mar 2013 – Finborough, London How do you tackle the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Most British dramatists, with the striking exception of David Hare in Via Dolorosa , shy away from it. But Canadian playwright Arthur Milner has had…
Military Resistance 11C1 : the Next Day
Uruknet
Bradley Manning: Profile in Courage Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
Uruknet
DOJ Urges Federal Court to Approve Sweetheart Deal with Drug-Tainted HSBC
Uruknet
Obama Clings to his Three No’s on the Syrian Crisis
Uruknet
Abuse of powerTorture, say human rights activists, is on the rise under President Mohamed Morsi
Uruknet
Who Will Stand Up to Big Oil’s Profiteering? The Gas Gougers
Uruknet
Palestinian youth severely beaten by Israeli soldiers near Huwara
Uruknet
Israeli officer writes: “It’s a shame the Arab whore didn’t die”
Uruknet
MSNBC Doesn’t Cover Bradley Manning’s Statement or Guilty Pleas At All
Uruknet
The US built Al-Qaeda and Osama’s encampments – exclusive interview Kathy Kelly
Uruknet
Egypt: Christian arrested on molesting charge
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 An official says a Coptic Christian has been arrested on charges of molesting a neighbor child, adding to sectarian tensions in Egypt‘s south.
48 Syrian soldiers killed in Iraq ambush
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 Dozens of Syrian soldiers who had crossed into Iraq for refuge were ambushed Monday with bombs, gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in an attack that killed 48 of them.
Oman court orders retrial of 11 activists
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 Oman’s Supreme Court has ordered a retrial of 11 democracy activists convicted of forming an illegal gathering, their lawyer said on Monday, after they staged a prison hunger strike last month.
Obama nominates 3 to Cabinet-level posts
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 President Barack Obama on Monday nominated two Cabinet officials who are expected to focus on tackling climate change, one of the priorities in his second term of office.
U.N. nuclear chief presses Iran on access to military base
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 The U.N. nuclear watchdog raised pressure on Iran to finally address suspicions that it has sought to design an atomic bomb, calling for swift inspector access to a military base where relevant explosives tests are believed…
Suicide car bomber hits Yemen militia, kills 12
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 A suicide bomber blew up an explosives-filled vehicle at a pro-government Yemeni militia headquarters on Monday, killing 12 people and wounding 17, a security official and witnesses said as the country.
US, Saudi present united front on Syria, Iran
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 The United States and Saudi Arabia on Monday presented a united front to Iran and Syria. They warned Syrian President Bashar Assad that they will boost support to rebels fighting to oust him unless he steps…
Baghdad to resist spread of Syria conflict to Iraq
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 Baghdad will resist any attempts to spread the bloody conflict in Syria to Iraq, the prime minister’s spokesman said on Monday, after gunmen killed 48 Syrian soldiers and nine Iraqi soldiers in an ambush.
Libyan army restores order at gas complex, flows suspended
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 Libya said on Monday the army had restored order at an energy complex near Tripoli after weekend clashes between militia guards, but that gas exports to Italy would remain suspended and oil production cut back for…
Mikati ranked Lebanon’s richest man: Forbes
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 Prime Minister Najib Mikati is ranked the 384th richest man in the world and the wealthiest in Lebanon followed by his brother Taha, according to Forbes Magazine.
Netanyahu: Iran closer to nuclear ‘red line’
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 Netanyahu said Monday that diplomacy has so far failed to deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear program, warning the Islamic republic was getting closer to crossing a crucial “red line.
Syrian rebels capture most of northern city
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 Syrian rebels pushed government troops from most of the northern city of Raqqa, setting off celebrations in a central square where scores of cheering protesters tore down a bronze statue of President Bashar Assad’s late father.
Security HQ in flames as 6 dead in Egypt’s Port Said
Daily Star 4 Mar 2013 The main security building in Egypt‘s Port Said was set ablaze on Monday as fighting which cost six lives erupted anew between police and protesters in the restive Suez Canal city, an AFP correspondent said.
Syrian rebels report capture of provincial capital
YNet News, 4 Mar 2013 – ….
Israel warns it cannot ‘stand idle’ as Syria war spills over border
YNet News, 4 Mar 2013 – ….
Security HQ in flames as 6 dead in Egypt’s Port Said
YNet News, 4 Mar 2013 – ….
Queen Elizabeth leaves hospital after stomach bug
YNet News, 4 Mar 2013 – ….
Report: Wife of North Korean leader secretly gave birth
YNet News, 4 Mar 2013 – ….
Best of both worlds
YNet News, 4 Mar 2013 – Op-ed: Ultra-Orthodox parties cry ‘Gevalt!’ now that they are treated like any other player in political arena ….
Things you can’t see from DC
YNet News, 4 Mar 2013 – Op-ed: Palestinians will never be satisfied with small independent state; they want revenge ….
Palestine Information Center
Jerusalemite citizen forced to demolish his own home
PIC – A Palestinian citizen was forced to demolish his own home in Bab Hetta, in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Monday after the Jerusalem Municipality issued a demolition order for his property.
Haniyeh calls on Malaysia to make more efforts to protect Jerusalem
PIC – Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, called on Malaysia, as well as Arab and Islamic countries and international community, to make further efforts to protect Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Mosque..
International Jerusalem: occupation treats Al-Aqsa as a shared holy site
PIC – A Jerusalemite Center has warned of the Israeli occupation’s attempt to impose its control over Al-Aqsa Mosque and its public and private affairs.
IOF launches arrests campaign in West Bank
PIC – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched a campaign of raids and arrests on Sunday evening and at dawn Monday in the occupied West Bank.
Tension in the Negev prison after attacking prisoner
PIC – A state of high tension still prevails at Negev prison after elements of the IPS special units stormed the prison yesterday evening and violently attacked a Palestinian prisoner..
Warning against excluding Jerusalem from any decision to stop settlement
PIC – The Islamic-Christian Committee for Protecting Jerusalem considered freezing settlement projects for a period, with the exception of the eastern part of Jerusalem a violation of international law.
Palestinian prisoners’ rooms were stormed 15 times in February
PIC – Israeli prison guards savagely stormed prisons 15 times in February 2013, especially Meggido and Negev prisons, Ahrar center revealed.
Palestinian female prisoner sentenced to 30 months
PIC – The Israeli District Court sentenced the Jerusalemite female prisoner Intissar Sayad to 30 months (two and a half years), on charges of stabbing an Israeli soldier.
Palestinian infant and university student killed in Syria
PIC – Palestinian two-days-old newborn and a female university student, from Neirab refugee camp in Syria, were killed when a bus carrying a number of the camp’s residents was targeted by the Syrian army.
Report: IOF rounded up 116 Palestinians over the past week
PIC – The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) nabbed 116 Palestinians from occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank over the past week, a report by Hamas on Monday said.
European Campaign to Boycott Israeli Phone Companies in West Bank
WAFA – 4 Mar 2013
Abbas Discusses Peace with US Secretary of State
WAFA – 4 Mar 2013
Japan Donates $10 Million to PA’s Budget
WAFA – 4 Mar 2013
Norwegian Activist Awarded Honorary Palestinian Citizenship
WAFA – 4 Mar 2013
Abbas to Meet US Secretary of State in Riyadh
WAFA – 4 Mar 2013
Syria’s president says rebels must disarm before talks
LA Times 3 Mar 2013 – In a rare interview with a British newspaper, Bashar Assad lays down a precondition that appears to dim the prospects for negotiations in the Syrian conflict. BEIRUT — Syrian rebels must give up their weapons before the government will agree to hold peace talks with…
Syrian Rebels Said to Take Much of Raqqa After Heavy Fighting
New York Times 4 Mar 2013 – Syrian rebels seized control of the city of Raqqa on Monday after days of clashes with government forces, activists said, which would make it the first provincial capital taken by the resistance.
Biden Tells Pro-Israel Group That President ‘Is Not Bluffing’ on Iran
New York Times 4 Mar 2013 – Three weeks before President Obama travels to Israel, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. sought in a speech at the Aipac conference to smooth over any friction between the two allies.
Kerry Criticizes Iran and Russia for Shipping Arms to Syria
New York Times 4 Mar 2013 – Making a case for increased support to Syria’s opposition, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized Russia and Iran on Monday for providing arms to the Syrian government.
U.N. Nuclear Official Seeks Access to Iranian Site
New York Times 4 Mar 2013 – The head of the United Nations nuclear regulatory body urged Iran on Monday to permit access to a site near Tehran to ascertain whether nuclear bomb trigger tests have been carried out there.
Journal on Education in the Arab World Cancels Event
New York Times 4 Mar 2013 – Al Fanar, a new publication, said it would not hold its inaugural event in Dubai over concerns about academic freedom there.
Iran Says 3,000 Centrifuges Being Built
New York Times 3 Mar 2013 – The announcement comes after talks between Iran and world powers about its nuclear work and underlines Iran’s continued refusal to bow to Western pressure to curb its nuclear program.
013 billionaires list
Globes Main News – Idan Ofer is the world’s wealthiest Israeli with a fortune estimated by “Forbes” at $6.5 billion, followed by his brother Eyal with $6 billion.
Carmel Forge fraudulently tested engine parts – report
Globes Main News – Pratt & Whitney told “The Wall Street Journal” the alleged fraud affected tens of thousands of engine parts used on business jets.
Samsung widens lead as top mobile phone provider
Globes Main News – Samsung boosted its Israeli market share from 24.5% in 2011 to 38% in 2012 at the expense of Nokia.
Mon: Leumi fails to drag market down
Globes Main News – Bank Leumi fell 1.9% following its profit warning, but Bank Hapoalim gained ground.
3D printer co Stratasys jumps on strong results
Globes Main News – The company today reported double-digit revenue and profit growth for 2012 and predicts further strong growth in 2013.
Tel Aviv runner-up in innovative urban center competition
Globes Macro Economics – Tel Aviv lost out to Medellin, but beat New York City, in the competition organized by “The Wall Street Journal” and Citi.
Treasury seeks to raise retirement age to 70
Globes Macro Economics – The Finance Ministry plans a graduated retirement, with a final mandatory retirement age.
Palestinian Family Appeals to Supreme Court in Abu Rachmeh Murder, IDF Drags Heels
Tikun Olam – Accused of Murder (Javier Martinez) The following story is a perfect parable of the cluelessness of the IDF in enforcing the Occupation regime. Military forces routinely kill or maim protesters (Palestinian, Israeli and foreign activists) at the weekly protest in Bilin against the Separation Wall. One…
Colonizer as lender: How Liberty Square and Bab al-Shams spring from similar roots
Mondoweiss – View of Bab al-Shams from area E1 near Za’I’m villag
e. (Photo: Allison Deger/Mondoweiss) This statement originally appeared in Tidal: Occupy Theory, Occupy Strategy , a magazine emerging from the occupation of Zuccotti Park in the financial district of New York City in the Fall of 2011. Strike…
Netanyahu agenda for Obama leaves out Palestinian state– ‘especially in this Middle East’
Mondoweiss – Benjamin Netanyahu says he will discuss “peace” with Obama later this month but spoke only of a “meaningful compromise” with Palestinians, nothing about a Palestinian state. And he set a new condition for peace, that Israel’s neighbors first educate their children to live in peace. “This…
In pictures: Hundreds join ‘Expose AIPAC’ to protest AIPAC Policy Conference
Mondoweiss – (Photo: Emmanuel Jean Marie/Codepink) Yesterday more than 200 people gathered to protest in front of the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington DC. (Photo: Emmanuel Jean Marie/Codepink) Expose AIPAC is a coalition effort by activists from Codepink, Interfaith Peace Builders and the US Campaign to End the…
Dershowitz unveils new hasbara claim: IDF has lowest rape rate
Mondoweiss – Alan Dershowitz is at it again. He recently was embarrassed when he bitterly complained that the Political Science Department’s co-sponsorship of the Brooklyn College BDS conference was an egregious violation of students’ academic freedom, only to have it revealed that he gave his own unopposed anti-BDS…
Will AIPAC’s overreach on sequester/Iran elicit one complaint from a legislator?
Mondoweiss – If you go to the AIPAC website and read the talking points they are sending their member attendees with to Capitol Hill you will see an unabashed chutzpah that will be sure to raise some hackles. They are pushing that (1) sequester cuts not be applied…
Joe Biden Tells AIPAC That Obama Is Not ‘Bluffing’ on Iran Nuclear Threat
The Foward Breaking News 4 Mar 2013 – Vice President Joe Biden told America’s biggest pro-Israel lobbying organization on Monday that President Barack Obama is “not bluffing” about the United States’ determination to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Click here for the rest of the article…
Netanyahu Plans To Ask Barack Obama To Free Jonathan Pollard During Israel Trip
The Foward Breaking News 4 Mar 2013 – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ask President Obama to grant clemency to Jonathan Pollard while Obama was in Israel. Click here for the rest of the article…
Critics Slam ‘Revolting’ Plan for Divided West Bank Bus Systems
The Foward Breaking News 4 Mar 2013 – Israel launched two Palestinians-only bus lines in the occupied West Bank on Monday, a step an Israeli rights group described as racist and which the Transport Ministry called an improvement in service. Click here for the rest of the article…
Benjamin Netanyahu Says Nuclear Talks Have Given Iran Time To Build Arsenal
The Foward Breaking News 3 Mar 2013 – Renewed international efforts to negotiate curbs on Iran’s disputed nuclear programme have backfired by giving it more time to work on building a bomb, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. Click here for the rest of the article…
Rabbi Menachem Froman’s Unique Legacy of Jewish-Muslim Coexistence
The Forward New 4 Mar 2013 – Rabbi Menachem Froman was an absolute original. A founding member of a hardline settlers group, he maintained deep friendships with Palestinian leaders and radical Islamists. Click here for the rest of the article…
AIPAC Offers Clues to Barack Obama as He Heads to Israel
The Forward New 3 Mar 2013 – If President Obama wants to know what Israeli officialdom is thinking, he could be a fly on the wall at AIPAC. It’s all about Iran, with barely a peep about the Palestinians. Click here for the rest of the article…
South Sudan: South Sudan’s Vote On Palestine UN Status – How Amb. Nazario Is Victimised
allAfrica.com 4 Mar 2013 – [Sudan Tribune]Last year on 29, November, 2012, the United Nations General Assembly in its sitting No: sixty-seventh General Assembly Plenary 44th & 45th meetings overwhelmingly voted and accorded Palestine as a Non-Member Observer State in the United Nations family for the first time since establishment of…
Israeli security forces stand by while settlers harass Palestinian shepherds, witnesses say
Palestine Solidarity Project 4 Mar 2013 – Article by HAARETZ By Amira Hass Mar.03, 2013 Photo circulated over the weekend shows Border Police officer shaking hands with masked settlers who proceeded to harass Palestinians who just moments before had been denied access to their land; Border Police: Officers were trying to stop the…
Israel introduces ‘Palestinian only’ bus lines, following complaints from Jewish settlers
Palestine Solidarity Project 4 Mar 2013 – HAARETZ- By Chaim Levinson Afikim bus company to have special buses for Palestinian workers commuting from the West Bank to jobs in central Israel; announcement follows complaints from settlers that Palestinians are a security risk. Starting on Monday, certain buses running from the West Bank into…
Egypt security headquarters torched
BBC 4 Mar 2013 – The security headquarters in the Egyptian city of Port Said is set on fire in a second day of clashes between police and protesters.
Nuclear watchdog demands Iran access
BBC 4 Mar 2013 – The chief of the United Nations nuclear watchdog calls for access to Iran‘s Parchin military site “without further delay”.
Libya rendition man ‘will settle’
BBC 4 Mar 2013 – A Libyan man suing the UK government for its alleged role in his rendition to Libya offers to settle the case for an apology and a token payment of £1.
Whitewashing Israeli Murder by Torture – by Stephen Lendman
Sabbah report 4 Mar 2013 – Torture is official Israeli policy. It’s longstanding. Palestinian suffering explains best. Thousands every year are subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment. Their physical and emotional scars bear witness. Accountability is long overdue. Arafat Jaradat is Israel’s latest victim. Israel tortured him to death. His body bore…
Israel And America: The “Special Relationship” That Isn’t – By Dr. Alan Sabrosky
Sabbah report 4 Mar 2013 – Whenever Israel’s supporters today speak of a “special relationship” with the US that is supposedly graven in stone, it is useful to remember that something very different existed when Israel came into existence in 1948 on the gutted carcass of Palestine. The US recognized Israel, but…
Torture in Kuwait: Who Deserves It!
Al-Akhbar Blogs 4 Mar 2013 – Two days ago, Kuwaitis reacted online to a new case of torture. Mubarak Mishaal Mubarak, a 19-year-old Kuwaiti student in Sharjah, was beaten and tortured for three days by two other Kuwaiti students, one of them a member of the ruling family. Related Articles: Kuwait to…
Ahmad al-Assir and Lebanon’s Despondent Sunnis
Al-Akhbar Opinion 4 Mar 2013 – Assir has been even more successful in reinforcing a Shia mindset that simply wants the state to deal with him. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah) Assir has been even more successful in reinforcing a Shia mindset that simply wants the state to deal with him. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)…
94 defendants plead ‘not guilty’ of attempted coup in UAE trial
Al-Akhbar News 4 Mar 2013 – The aerobatic team of the United Arab Emirates forces perform during a military show in Kuwait City on 25 February 2013. The Gulf country has accused 94 of its citizens of attempting to overthrow the government. (Photo: AFP – Yasser al-Zayyat) Ninety-four people in the United…
A Thread of Life
Al-Akhbar News 4 Mar 2013 – This image is from Bushra Al-Fusail’s series “The Threads of Life,” recently exhibited at the Spanish Embassy in Sanaa. Al-Fusail, a photographer and visual artist, used fabrics popular among Yemeni women to explore what she calls their varied emotional spectrum. This image is from Bushra Al-Fusail’s…
US Not Relenting on “Assad Must Go”
Al-Akhbar News 4 Mar 2013 – People inspect damaged areas in Deir al-Zor, March 3, 2013. (Reuters – Khalil Ashawi) People inspect damaged areas in Deir al-Zor, March 3, 2013. (Reuters – Khalil Ashawi) Despite recent suggestions – including by Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad – that the US administration is…
Lebanese Banks Sacrifice Privacy for ‘Efficiency’
Al-Akhbar News 4 Mar 2013 – The problem here does not lie in the pretext invoked by the US authorities, but rather in the mechanism that allowed them to detect and confiscate the funds. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah) The problem here does not lie in the pretext invoked by the US authorities, but…
Thousands rally for Egyptians killed in Port Said clashes
Al-Akhbar News 4 Mar 2013 – Flames light the sky as Egyptians protesters clash with security forces in Port Said late on 3 March 2013. (Photo: AFP) Thousands of residents of the restive Egyptian city of Port Said rallied Monday in a funeral procession for civilians killed during street battles with security…
Britain opens inquiry into murder of 20 Iraqis by UK troops
Al-Akhbar News 4 Mar 2013 – The venue of the Al-Sweady Inquiry is seen on the first day of the inquiry, in central London on 4 March 2013. (Photo: Reuters – Stefan Wermuth) A long-awaited public inquiry into allegations that 20 or more Iraqi civilians were murdered by British troops in Iraq…
Confessions of a Kuwaiti Hash Dealer
Al-Akhbar Series and Features 3 Mar 2013 – Military jet fighter take part in a military exercise at Udaira military range, 140 km North of Kuwait City, on 26 February 2013 (Photo: AFP – Yasser Al-Zayyat) Military jet fighter take part in a military exercise at Udaira military range, 140 km North of Kuwait…
Egypt security headquarters torched
BBC 4 Mar 2013 – The security headquarters in the Egyptian city of Port Said is set on fire in a second day of clashes between police and protesters.
Syrian soldiers ‘killed in Iraq’
BBC 4 Mar 2013 – At least 40 Syrian soldiers and Iraqis have been killed by gunmen in western Iraq, officials in Baghdad say.
Yemen suicide bomb attack kills 12
BBC 4 Mar 2013 – Twelve members of a pro-government militia group have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack in south Yemen.
UAE ‘coup plot’ trial under way
BBC 4 Mar 2013 – Ninety-four people, said to be members of an Islamist organisation, go on trial charged with plotting the overthrow of the government of the United Arab Emirates.
Nuclear watchdog demands Iran access
BBC 4 Mar 2013 – The chief of the United Nations nuclear watchdog calls for access to Iran‘s Parchin military site “without further delay”.
Five police die in Iraq suicide bomb
BBC 4 Mar 2013 – Five police officers are killed and others are injured in a suicide car bombing in Mosul, northern Iraq, say police and a doctor.
Articles
Herod exhibit digs up controversy
Jonathan Cook, Israeli Occupation Archive 3/4/2013
More than four years in the making, the largest exhibition ever staged by Israel’s national museum, dedicated to the life of King Herod, has generated unprecedented excitement both at home and abroad.
Entitled “Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey”, the exhibition follows in the footsteps of Herod’s funeral cortege 2,000 years ago, when his body was carried from the royal winter palace near Jericho to his resting place on a man-made hill close to Bethlehem.
The exhibition was made possible by the discovery in 2007 of what is assumed to be Herod’s tomb at the hill fort of Herodium. An Israeli archeologist, Ehud Netzer, found the burial chamber after a search that began 35 years earlier.
More than 250 artefacts excavated from the two sites, weighing 30 tonnes in total and including three elaborately decorated limestone sarcophagi and a bath carved from a single slab of stone, have been brought to the Israel Museum in West Jerusalem for the nine-month show.
But the sites of Herod’s death and his entombment are both located in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, outside the recognised borders of Israel.
Palestinian Authority officials, backed by some Israeli archeologists, have complained that, in excavating the sites and transferring the artefacts out of the West Bank, Israel has violated international law.
Hamdan Taha, the PA official responsible for antiquities, denounced the exhibition, saying: “This is just the latest example of an Israeli policy to use archeology to cement its political claims to land that belongs to the Palestinian state. This is an assault on the Palestinians’ cultural heritage.” more.. e-mail
Reframing Palestinian human rights work
Amjad AlQasis, BADIL Resource Center, Alternative Information Center 3/3/2013
If civil society seeks to struggle against the colonial process of forcible displacement, we should not stratify Palestinian people, but rather, use language as a common struggle against the colonial project which aims at erasing the existence and presence of the indigenous Palestinian community and population in Mandate Palestine.
Many Palestinian human rights organizations limit their scope to territorial divisions propagated by the occupying power – Israel. Organizations are adapting to the current state of affairs rather than seeing the historic origins of the conflict. The Zionist colonialists entered this territory with the intention to permanently colonize it. Movements that started to emerge in struggle against this colonization slowly began to disconnect from each other, from one common struggle into various different struggles. So today, in 2013, based on the realities on the ground (the Wall, settlement expansion, discriminatory laws within Israel, the siege on Gaza), the reality which the colonial power evolved into has had a huge impact on those who are trying to resist this colonization.
Most organizations limit their mandate either to the occupied Palestinian territory or Israel only, based on Israeli realities on the ground, which aim to geographically isolate these two areas. Moreover, some organizations circumscribe their scope of intervention even more narrowly – for example, only to the West Bank, to the Gaza Strip, to Area C within the West Bank, or to East Jerusalem. When they restrict their mandate in such a way, organizations are actually confirming the notion that the problem they are trying to combat is confined only to areas occupied in 1967. Taking this faulty approach to a further extreme, in the cases where organizations limit their operations to the Gaza Strip or the West Bank only, the implicit starting point could even be considered the 1994 signing of the Oslo Accords.
Yet the realities that we all deal with did not begin in 1994 nor in 1967; they began with the emergence of Zionist thought and the development of the idea of colonizing the area of Mandate Palestine…. more.. e-mail
Now Bibi is calling Yair Lapid an anti-Semite
Larry Derfner, +972 Magazine 3/3/2013
People who see Netanyahu as the great Jewish avenger should know how low he’s willing to go in exploiting the memory of Jewish suffering.
I can never get over the shamelessness with which Israeli nationalist power freaks will exploit people’s memories of anti-Semitic persecution for their own low purposes. Nobody’s better at it than Netanyahu; he can barely make a speech without waving around a document or two from some Holocaust-era archive. And he’s always got that furious expression on his face, as if to warn his audience not to even dare think that he’s faking it, that he’s using the memory of Jewish tragedy in the most calculated way, strictly to help him and his team get away with some new or old outrage – bombing Iran, killing Palestinians, building settlements, whatever. Netanyahu is very far from being the only Israeli nationalist known to work this scam, of course, but he’s the best at it. He looks so hurt and angry up there when he’s going on about Jewish victimhood, and he’s so audacious in wrapping himself in that mantle, that the average shmo is too intimidated to even say to himself that this guy is obviously laying it on too thick, he’s been doing it for 30 years, it’s a highly polished act. After all, that’s Bibi Netanyahu up there; snickering at him is like snickering at the Holocaust. So our leader goes on getting away with it.
I wish people who see Bibi as the Jewish avenger, brave and true, would be aware of how this guy used the memory of Jewish persecution yesterday. He broke new ground. For the purpose of removing Yair Lapid as the obstacle
to his forming a right-wing/ultra-Orthodox government, Netanyahu likened the Yesh Atid party leader’s refusal to sit in a government with Haredi parties to past boycotts against Jews. He also identified Lapid’s stance with current international boycotts of Israel and of products made in the settlements. For the goal of pressuring Naftali Bennett, leader of the settler-backed Habayit Hayehudi party, to break his alliance with Lapid and join up with the Haredi parties in his next government, Netanyahu told a news conference last night…. more.. e-mail
No unity without real partnership
Ali Badwan, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) 3/2/2013
“Nobody can break the will of the Palestinian people when they are united behind a cause.”
The internal split within Palestinian ranks has damaged the national cause and has been foremost in its negative impact on the resistance in occupied Palestine post-first and second intifadas. Nevertheless, the second Intifada lasted longer despite all obstacles and in spite of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Although a positive atmosphere dominated the reconciliation talks held in Cairo last month, the outcome was modest; they failed to match the optimism expressed by observers of Palestinian affairs. Some serious challenges remain which hinder the chances of a real breakthrough in rebuilding national unity.
For a start, we must acknowledge that the issue has gone on for far too long at a time when the Palestinian people are in dire need of unity. There can be no excuses for any Palestinian political faction to bank on the abandonment of the lengthy struggle for a united front against the Israeli occupation.
When negotiations were chosen by the PLO as the way forward there were a number of objectives, starting with the implementation of international resolutions and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the territories occupied in 1967. However, when such objectives evaporate under the pressure and arrogance of the Israeli occupation and its policies, we must stop and review the path being taken. The people of Palestinian must not be imprisoned by this decline and fall for empty forecasts about “surprises” that may result from Barack Obama‘s visit later this month.
The signs are that Obama will propose a number of trade-offs accompanied by some sweet talk for consumption by the Arab and Muslim world, as he did in Ankara and Cairo. His empty promises produced nothing of note before, so we should not be duped into expecting anything this time around. more.. e-mail
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Electronic Intifada: 4 Mar 2013 – 4 March 2013 A monthly roundup of photographs documenting Palestine, Palestinian life, politics and culture, and international solidarity with Palestine.more
Novel with Hollywood potential exposes Israel’s lies
Electronic Intifada: 4 Mar 2013 – Selma Dabbagh 4 March 2013 Jewish American writer Michelle Cohen Corasanti pulls no punches in describing Zionist brutality.more
surreal moments in Gaza
In Gaza: 4 Mar 2013 – roar of Zionist warplane, breaking the truce yet again, threatening to drop its bombs once again; out-of-tune tinkle of a vendor’s truck playing “it’s a small world”. Filed under: daily life Gaza , psychological terrormore
‘Our Prisoners Are Dying’: Students Mobilize in Gaza
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Mar 2013 – By Adie Mormech – Gaza City ‘Our prisoners are dying.’ said Gaza student Khaled Shehab from the Islamic University. “We won’t wait till the death of another prisoner to move in solidarity with all the detainees.” Khaled was joining the thousands attending the growing number of demonstrations in the Gaza Strip right now. It is not lost on young people in Palestine acting in support of Palestinian prisoners that many who have spent years in Israeli jails were at the same age when they were originally imprisoned. While there has recently been a spotlight on the 219 Palestinian children currently detained by Israel, it is often forgotten that the majority of detainees arrested are youths or in their early twenties. Some have spent the entire decade of their twenties removed from their parents, their families and communities, a young person’s life defined by Israeli prison walls. Mohammed Al Adini explained…more
Palestine, a Provisional Government and Non-Lethal Civil Disobedience
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Mar 2013 – By Hasan Afif El-Hasan The resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly for the establishment of a nonmember observer independent Palestinian State has officially transformed the occupied territories into an occupied country. The idea of a Palestinian state has been popular within the Developing Nations and widely supported by the Arab masses. But the US regrettably voted against the resolution; and if the US will ever reverse its stand and recognize the Palestinian State, it will be the last after Israel to provide such recognition. By refusing to adopt a position opposed by Israel, the US policy toward the Palestinians has never been a matter of rational or logical decision. The US support to the Israeli policies can be expec
ted to continue indefinitely. The Palestinians need Israel’s withdrawal from their occupied lands; recognition by Israel must not be a precondition for the withdrawal. The Palestinians as a nation can survive…more
Afghanistan; And It Snowed – Poems
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Mar 2013 – By Zahra Zamorano Afghanistan millennium eyes sigh with no smile years gone by on the face of a child memories run greener than the deepest of seas history is never forgotten in the confines within: behold! the truth and all of it’s consequences. And It Snowed it snowed cherry blossoms in the garden of your neighbor while the war bleeds in many places i drink pink lemonade and eat pretzels i would like to share with kids in the camps and pass out balloons while they try to play didn’t you know somewhere it snowed cherry blossoms for them today? – Zahra Zamorano is a poet and artist living in the Bay Area of California. She contributed these poems to PalestineChronicle.com.more
What Say You, Um Mas’oud? – A Poem
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Mar 2013 – By Nasser Barghouty Someone left heaven’s gate ajar Um Mas’oud a lingering half prayer half answered but enough for me to slip in uninvited from afar and into this glimmer of a realm that is forever foreign forever not from here or there always unchosen but always from this side of Safed with all that’s left to share but a key, a sigh and a stare among the abodes of rough tenderness that hide tall the rescued pride of a captured sun and the decaying scars of justice denied What say you, Um Mas’oud of fate of the aimless or fortune of the hopeless when it wanders into your heaven? Displaced no longer I wandered in buoyed from below and from within to all that is you about you, and for you Um Mas’oud Unrehearsed and unsanctioned I have become your dual and you, Um Mas’oud my true, my cue…more
A Reckless Apartheid Fighter
Dissident Voice: 4 Mar 2013 – Andre Pshenichnikov (24) is a most unusual kid. So unusual that he is languishing in Egyptian jail for crossing the border without proper papers. But his story begins earlier. I first heard of him when this young programmer from a Tel Aviv suburb stayed in Deheishe refugee camp near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. He did not go there to explore Palestinian way of life, or to write for a newspaper; he was not looking for publicity, he did not hide nor emphasize his Israeli identity. He did not act as an activist, marching at demos and enjoying popularity. He just rented a room, worked at a building site or waited tables in a tourist restaurant just like any Palestinian youth of his age in Deheishe, lived with ordinary people on his salary. Andre did the impossible. He crossed the biggest chasm there is. Imagine a white boy from…more
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The New Dark Age 