14 August 2013 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Nasrallah: “Hezbollah Fighters Behind Blast Targeting Soldiers Who Violated Border”
IMEMC – Secretary-General of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah Party, Hasan Nasrallah, stated during a televised interview with the Al-Mayadeen TV, on Wednesday August 14, 2013, that fighters of the Hezbollah part were behind last week’s attack against Israeli soldiers who violated Lebanese sovereignty. …
Israel To Hand P.A. Bodies Of Slain Palestinians
IMEMC – Israeli Yedioth Aharonoth issued a reported, Wednesday [August 14, 2013] of a secret agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) in the West Bank regarding the transfer of the remains of all slain Palestinians, buried in the Numbers Graveyard. …
Release of 26 detainees Concluded
IMEMC – The release of 26 Palestinian political prisoners, held by Israel, has been concluded as 11 West Bank detainees reached the Palestinian Presidential headquarters in Ramallah, and 11 Gaza Strip detainees made it to the coastal region, through the Erez (Beit Hanoun) crossing. …
Soldiers Bombard Gaza
IMEMC – Israeli military sources have reported that the Israeli Air Force fired, on Wednesday at night, a number of missiles targeted different areas in the Gaza Strip. …
Army Attacks Three Fishermen In Gaza
IMEMC – Tuesday evening [August 13, 2013] Palestinian medical sources have reported that three fishermen have been detained, and violently attacked by Israeli soldiers, in Palestinian territorial waters, resulting in moderate injuries. …
Abbas Asks Resigned PM To Form Government
IMEMC – Palestinian Presidential spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rodeina, stated that President Mahmoud Abbas asked, on Tuesday [August 13, 2013], the resigned Prime Minister of the caretaker government, Rami Hamdallah, to form a new government in the West Bank. …
Medics: Israeli naval forces assault Gaza fishermen
8/14/2013 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli naval forces assaulted three Palestinian fishermen on Tuesday, medics said. Israel’s navy detained Khader al-Saedi, Mohammad Noman, and Hassan Murad while fishing off Gaza’s coast. They were assaulted while in custody and transferred to Shifa medical complex for treatment. In May, the Israeli government re-extended Gaza’s fishing zone to six miles, after reducing….
1,500 Bedouin awaiting home demolitions
8/14/2013 – BEERSHEBA (Ma’an) – Around 1,500 Bedouin residents of Sawah are awaiting the demolition of their homes after an Israeli court rejected their appeal. In July, an Israeli court in Beersheba rejected an appeal to delay the court-ordered demolitions, which are expected to take place in the Negev village on Thursday.”We are waiting for our houses to be demolished, leaving us in the open….
Negev prisoners to protest conditions
8/14/2013 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Palestinians held in Israeli jails in the Negev desert will refuse meals and visits to protest prison conditions, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said Wednesday. Prisoners are protesting the intrusive inspections their visitors are subjected to, night-time cell raids, and the transfer of a number of prisoners to solitary confinement, the society said in a statement. They are also protesting the withdrawal….
Israel bombs Gaza after rocket fire
8/14/2013 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli aircraft targeted sites in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday after militants fired a rocket into southern Israel, an army spokesman said.”The IDF air strikes were conducted in response to the rocket launched at the civilians living in the Sha’ar HaNegev regional council yesterday (Tuesday) evening,” Peter Lerner said in an emailed statement. He added: “This is an….
Hezbollah chief claims blasts against Israeli troops
8/14/2013 – BEIRUT (AFP) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday said the blasts which wounded four Israeli soldiers inside Lebanese territory last week were the work of his Shiite militant group. The Lebanese army said two blasts on August 7 had wounded the soldiers as they crossed 400 meters into Lebanese territory. Israel’s army confirmed four of its soldiers were wounded but did not say….
In photos: Freed Palestinian prisoners greeted by relatives
8/14/2013 – MaanImages / Firas Tanina / AFP – After waiting for hours in front of the main gate of Israel’s Ofer detention center in Beitunia south of Ramallah early Wednesday, the families of 11 veteran prisoners from the West Bank finally saw the front lights of buses carrying their children back to freedom after they served more than 20 years in Israeli jails. [END]
Cousins taste freedom after 23 years
8/14/2013 – AZMUT, West Bank (AFP) — Tears streamed down Hosni Sawalha’s face as he recited from the Koran alongside the graves of his parents, who died while he was in Israeli jail since his teens. The 40-year-old and his cousin Mohammed Sawalha were released alongside 24 other long-serving Palestinian inmates early on Wednesday, hours before a new round of peace talks with Israel.”I….
Israel releases 26 veteran Palestinian prisoners
8/14/2013 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – After waiting for hours in front of the main gate of Israel’s Ofer detention center in Beitunia south of Ramallah early Wednesday, the families of 11 veteran Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank finally saw the front lights of buses carrying their children back to freedom after they served more than 20 years in Israeli jails. Crowds started to….
Peace talks to resume in Jerusalem
8/14/2013 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel and the PLO are to hold their first direct talks in almost three years on Wednesday, overshadowed by a deepening rift over settlements and following the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners. The resumption of the fragile peace negotiations comes just hours after the release of the prisoners as a confidence-building gesture, and a day after Israeli authorities announced the approval of 942….
UN chief to tour Middle East this week
8/14/2013 – UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — UN chief Ban Ki-moon will tour the Middle East this week to “buttress” Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the UN announced Tuesday. The trip will come on the heels of Ban’s visit to Pakistan, which wraps up Wednesday, and as Israeli and Palestinian parties are slated to return to the negotiating table for their next round of talks. The secretary-general will visit Jordan….
FM meets new head of Bulgarian mission to PA
8/14/2013 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said Wednesday that Bulgaria had maintained good relations with the Palestinians. The official was speaking in Ramallah where he received the credentials of the new representative of Bulgaria to Palestine, Svilen Bodganov. Al-Maliki updated Bodganov on the latest political development in Palestine and wished him a happy and fruitful stay in Palestine. [END]
Israelis, Palestinians to meet under settlement cloud
8/14/2013 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners Wednesday but pledged to build thousands of new settler homes, just hours before a new round of peace talks that followed a three-year hiatus. As Palestinians celebrated the release of a first batch of 104 prisoners, most of whom had been serving life for killing Israelis, Housing Minister Uri Ariel vowed to build thousands more settler homes in….
UN rights chief tells Hamas to halt Gaza executions
8/14/2013 – GENEVA (AFP) — UN rights chief Navi Pillay on Wednesday urged the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers Hamas to halt a string of executions planned after the end of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.”I am deeply concerned at the possibility that executions might be carried out over the course of the next weeks in Gaza and urgently appeal to the de facto authorities there….
PA to demand DNA tests before Israel returns bodies
8/14/2013 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority has refused to receive the remains of Palestinian fighters held by Israel because its request for DNA testing was denied, a PA minister said Wednesday. Since the 1960s, Israel has withheld the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians, interred in numbered, rather than named, graves in a cemetery in the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley. The Israeli….
In Israel, US army chief talks Iran
8/14/2013 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Iran’s nuclear program was at the center of discussions on Wednesday between US army chief General Martin Dempsey and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, public radio said.”The Iranian regime is involved in all of the conflicts in the region,” the radio quoted Yaalon as saying during talks in Tel Aviv with Dempsey which were also attended by Israeli armed forces….
Hamas condemns ‘terrible massacre’ in Egypt
8/14/2013 – GAZA CITY (AFP) — Hamas on Wednesday condemned Egypt’s bloody crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi as a “terrible massacre.” “Hamas condemns the terrible massacre in Nahda square and at Rabaa al-Adawiyya, and we call for an end to the bloodshed and to excesses against peaceful demonstrators,” its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP. Scores of people were killed as police moved….
Israeli, Palestinian negotiators meet in Jerusalem
8/14/2013 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met late Wednesday in Jerusalem for a new round of direct peace talks after a three-year break, local media said, as pessimism ran deep on both sides. There was no confirmation from Israeli or Palestinian officials who were maintaining a news blackout on details of the encounter. Palestinian officials had earlier told AFP that negotiators would meet in the….
Israel may shun key EU program over settlement spat
8/14/2013 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel warned on Wednesday that it might shun a key EU research programme unless a compromise is found over the bloc’s guidelines which bar funding to Jewish settlement entities. Its position was spelt out at a meeting with the European Union on Israel’s participation in Horizon 2020, the bloc’s six-year funding plan for research and innovation, the….
4 soldiers hurt after missile attack in Sinai
8/14/2013 – EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma’an) – Four Egyptian officers were seriously injured Tuesday evening after a Grad missile hit the building of military prosecution in El-Arish city near the beach. The missile was fired by Salafist groups, locals said. Witnesses told Ma’an they heard a huge explosion before flames and smoke were seen rising from the building. [END]
Morsi supporters ‘torch three churches’ in Egypt
8/14/2013 – CAIRO (AFP) — Supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi torched three churches in central Egypt on Wednesday in reprisal attacks as police dispersed demonstrations in Cairo, reports said. The assailants threw firebombs at Mar Gergiss church in Sohag, a city with a large community of Coptic Christians who comprise up to 10 percent of Egypt’s 84 million people, causing it to burn down….
At least 124 killed as police swoop on pro-Morsi protests
8/14/2013 – CAIRO (AFP) — Security forces Wednesday stormed two huge Cairo protest camps occupied for weeks by supporters of Egypt’s ousted president Mohamed Morsi, leaving at least 124 people dead in a crackdown that turned into a bloodbath. As clashes raged in the capital, three churches were attacked in central Egypt, with Christian activists accusing Morsi loyalists of waging “a war of retaliation against Copts….
Muslim Brotherhood: At least 250 killed in Cairo crackdown
8/14/2013 – CAIRO (AFP) — Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said at least 250 people were killed and over 5,000 injured Wednesday in a police crackdown on two major protest camps held by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.”250+ confirmed deaths. Drs saying most critical patients will die from their bullet wounds. over 5000 wounded. biggest massacre since #coup,” Brotherhood spokesman Gehad al-Haddad said on Twitter. There….
Egypt declares month-long state of emergency
8/14/2013 – CAIRO (AFP) — Egypt declared a month-long state of emergency Wednesday as violence raged across the country following a crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi. The nationwide state of emergency, announced by a presidency statement read out on state television, began at 4 p. m. The exceptional measures came as “the security and order of the nation face danger due to deliberate sabotage, and….
Jordan king, US army chief hold Mideast talks
8/14/2013 – AMMAN (AFP) — Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Wednesday held talks with US army chief General Martin Dempsey on developments in the Middle East and boosting ties, the palace said.”The king and Dempsey discussed regional issues and the means to boost military cooperation,” it said in a brief statement. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Dempsey was in Jordan as part of a regional….
Health ministry: 149 dead in Egypt clashes
8/14/2013 – CAIRO (AFP) — The health ministry said 149 people were killed in clashes across Egypt on Wednesday, prompted by a crackdown on protest camps set up by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi. It said another 1,403 people were injured as violence roiled several provinces. [END]
Egypt curfew enters into force
8/14/2013 – CAIRO (AFP) – A daily curfew slapped on Cairo and 13 other provinces by Egypt’s army-installed authorities entered into force at 7 p. m. on Wednesday. The curfew was to run until 6 a. m. daily. It applies to the provinces of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Beni Sueif, Menya, Assiut, Sohag, Beheira, North Sinai, South Sinai, Suez, Ismailiya, Fayoum and Qena. [END]
Jordan Islamists call protests to condemn Egypt crackdown
8/14/2013 – AMMAN (AFP) — Jordan’s opposition Islamists urged Egyptians to hold street protests to condemn Wednesday’s deadly crackdown on demonstrators loyal to ousted president Mohamed Morsi, warning the Arab world’s fate was at stake. Security forces supported by bulldozers moved in on empty two huge pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, leaving scores dead in a long-threatened crackdown.”The blood of the….
Scores killed in Egypt as police storm pro-Morsi protests
8/14/2013 – CAIRO (AFP) – Security forces Wednesday stormed two huge Cairo protests by supporters of Egypt’s ousted president Mohamed Morsi, prompting the resignation of vice president Mohamed ElBaradei and sparking nationwide violence which left at least 149 people dead. With clashes breaking out across the country and rioting erupting in Egypt’s second city Alexandria, Egypt’s army-installed authorities declared a month-long state….
Israeli Official Promises More Settlement Construction to Come
Palestine News Network
Increase in the Price Index during July, According to Statistics
Palestine News Network
Ban Ki-Moon to Visit Jordan, Israel and Palestine
Palestine News Network
36 Protesters Dead in Egypt amid Security Operation
Palestine News Network
26 Prisoners Welcomed with Joy
Palestine News Network
Negotiations to Resume in Al-Quds, While Settlements Continue to Rise
Palestine News Network
The Killers of Peace
Palestine News Network
Weiss: Zionism Has Created ‘Rivers of Blood’
Palestine News Network
Students Forced to Attend “Re-Education” Program Designed by Israel Lobby Group
Palestine News Network
Israeli army Attacks Three Fishermen In Gaza
Palestine News Network
PCHR is Concerned Over Hamas’ Arrest and Summon Campaign of Fatah Members
Palestine News Network
EU is Concerned at the Announcement of Gaza Authorities to Carry Out More Executions
Palestine News Network
Israeli Drone Strikes Northern Gaza Strip
Palestine News Network
Releasing Palestinian Prisoners is Welcomed, but Long Overdue
Palestine News Network
occupied Palestinian territory: UN human rights chief Navi Pillay urges Hamas to halt Gaza executions
Relief Web 14 Aug 2013 – Source: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Country: occupied Palestinian territory GENEVA (14 August 2013) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has urged the Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip not to carry out…
occupied Palestinian territory: While Officials Talk, Israelis Build
Relief Web 14 Aug 2013 – Source: Inter Press Service Country: occupied Palestinian territory Analysis by Jillian Kestler-D’Amours HAR BRACHA SETTLEMENT, Occupied West Bank , Aug 14 2013 (IPS) – Large spools of black tubing and plastic-wrapped water tanks lay strewn across a dusty construction site. A…
occupied Palestinian territory: Cheat sheet for fresh Mideast peace talks
Relief Web 13 Aug 2013 – Source: Agence France-Presse Country: occupied Palestinian territory 08/14/2013 03:08 GMT JERUSALEM, August 14, 2013 (AFP) – Israel and the Palestinians are set to resume peace talks in Jerusalem on Wednesday, and have set themselves a nine-month goal of trying to…
occupied Palestinian territory: Israelis, Palestinians to meet under settlement cloud
Relief Web 13 Aug 2013 – Source: Agence France-Presse Country: occupied Palestinian territory 08/14/2013 12:41 GMT by Jean-Luc RENAUDIE JERUSALEM, August 14, 2013 (AFP) – Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners Wednesday but pledged to build thousands of new settler homes, just hours before the sides begin…
Dubai gym’s latest controversial ad has ‘gone too far’, says former client
The National 15 Aug 2013 – ‘I’m outraged and disgusted,’ said Khaled Akbik, 34, a former Circuit Factory customer, after watching the 12-minute YouTube clip that kicks off the gym’s latest campaign.
Bloody end to Egypt’s crackdown on Islamists
The National 15 Aug 2013 – With interactive map: Cairo under curfew as interim president Adly Mansour declares state of emergency after bloody crackdown kills at least 278. Alice Fordham reports from Cairo
Mideast peace talks begin with chastening reminders of path ahead
The National 14 Aug 2013 – The negotiations, the third attempt since 2000 to agree on the terms of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, were again overshadowed by Israel’s construction of Jewish settlements. Hugh Naylor reports from Ramallah
Iran’s speaker tells MPs to stop ‘creating a spectacle’ and tone down anti-Rouhani rhetoric
The National 14 Aug 2013 – The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, told parliamentarians to cool their rhetoric after two days of heated debate over the nominees for the cabinet of the president Hassan Rouhani.
British cat DNA database helps nab killer
The National 14 Aug 2013 – Fingerprints are not the only thing that killers can leave behind – add cat hair to that list.
Ajman quarries shut down for violating safety rules
The National 14 Aug 2013 – Two quarries in Ajman have been shut down for failing to observe regulations set by the Ministry of Environment and Water.
Winners set to be high fliers
The National 14 Aug 2013 – When Mohammed Al Shamsi, 24, asked members of his robotics club at Dubai Men’s College if they wanted to enter the contest to design, build and fly a drone in 2011, they were all keen – though none of them knew about flying.
Bahrain security forces deploy to stop planned three-day protest
The National 14 Aug 2013 – Demonstrators marching toward the city centre met barricades manned by security forces who fired tear-gas and stun grenades to disperse them. Elizabeth Dickinson reports
Israel’s ethnic demon isn’t so terrible
Ha’aretz – 13 Aug 2013
Netanyahu needs a kitchen, for all our sakes
Ha’aretz – 13 Aug 2013
A boycott by any other name
Ha’aretz – 13 Aug 2013
The heavy price of not taking the EU seriously
Ha’aretz – 13 Aug 2013
Tel Aviv shutting African migrant businesses in mass crackdown
Ha’aretz – 13 Aug 2013
For Israel, size does matter
Ha’aretz – 12 Aug 2013
Hadassa Margolese, fighter for religious tolerance, quits Beit Shemesh
Jerusalem Post 13 Aug 2013 – Allowed her 8-year-old daughter to tell an Israeli reporter how religious men had spit on her as she walked to school.
‘I’ll make sure that people who love me are around me’
Jerusalem Post 13 Aug 2013 – Sister of man murdered in Gaza in April 1993 describes how she’ll cope today, when the second of his killers is released.
Egypt clashes kill 235 as sit-ins dispersed – state media
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 Clashes between security forces and supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohamed Mursi killed 235 people across the country on Wednesday, the state news agency MENA said.
Egypt’s interior minister promises Mubarak-era security
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 Egypt’s interior minister pledged on Wednesday to restore the kind of security seen in the days of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, a sign of renewed confidence permeating a police force whose reputation for brutality fuelled the…
Egypt says 43 policemen killed in clashes
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 Forty-three members of Egypt’s police force were killed on Wednesday in clashes with supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi, the interior minister said.
Kerry: Egypt violence ‘deplorable,’ Egyptians must ‘step back’
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 The United States strongly condemns Egypt’s violence, calls for the state of emergency to end as soon as possible and urges all sides to seek a political solution, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on…
Egypt violence kills 41 in Minya province
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 Forty-one people were killed in the Egyptian province of Minya on Wednesday in violence ignited by the security forces’ assault on protest camps set up by supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Mursi, Health Ministry officials…
Hezbollah says will confront any Israeli incursion into Lebanon
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 Hezbollah says will confront any Israeli incursion into Lebanon
Hezbollah ambushed Israeli soldiers in s. Lebanon: Nasrallah
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 Nasrallah said his party was responsible for wounding Israeli soldiers that crossed in Lebanon last week and vows to confront the Jewish state should it take any similar action in the future.
Egypt arrests wanted Muslim Brotherhood leaders
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 Egyptian security officials and state television say several wanted Muslim Brotherhood leaders have been arrested after troops stormed a protest camp of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.
Official: Israelis, Palestinians begin peace talks
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 An Israeli official says a new round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians has begun.
2 journalists killed in Egypt turmoil
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 A cameraman for British broadcaster Sky News and a Dubai-based newspaper reporter were killed during violence in Egypt on Wednesday, their employers said.
Ten killed in Egypt’s Alexandria
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 Ten people were killed in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on Wednesday, a senior Health Ministry official said, in clashes between supporters of deposed president Mohamed Mursi and the police.
Egypt party chief sees no government resignations
Daily Star 14 Aug 2013 Nobody will resign from the Egyptian cabinet following the government’s decision to break up Muslim Brotherhood protest camps by force, said the leader of the political party to which both the prime minister and one of…
3 journalists killed in Egypt turmoil
YNet News, 14 Aug 2013 – ….
Interim Egyptian PM praises police for ‘self-restraint’
YNet News, 14 Aug 2013 – ….
String of vandalism hits Mount Herzl
YNet News, 14 Aug 2013 – ….
Peace negotiation teams’ meeting concludes
YNet News, 14 Aug 2013 – ….
Hundreds of Israelis stranded in Sinai
YNet News, 14 Aug 2013 – ….
Righting the wrong
YNet News, 14 Aug 2013 – Op-ed: Release of Palestinian prisoners justified in light of violent Israeli occupation ….
Palestinian Information Center
Fascist Liberals, treacherous Nasserites and CIA- funded Communists
PIC – The recent bloody military coup in Egypt against the country’s democratically-elected leadership has exposed the ideological and moral bankruptcy of the anti-Islamic camp in the Arab world.
Hamas calls for an end to bloodshed Egypt
PIC – Hamas has condemned the Egyptian authorities for targeting the peaceful protestors at Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda Squares resulting in horrific massacres claiming hundreds of lives.
IOF arrests 5 citizens including journalist in WB
PIC – Tadhamun Foundation for Human Rights said that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested at dawn Tuesday a Palestinian journalist from the city of Ramallah.
Hamas exposes details of Kerry-Abbas meeting in Amman
PIC – Hamas has warned of the serious implications of the ongoing negotiations between the PA and the occupation fearing that such negotiations will culminate in a second Oslo accord..
Kairos Palestine rejects attempts to recruit Christians to Israeli army
PIC – The Palestinian Christian Initiative (Kairos Palestine) issued a statement strongly denouncing the Israeli attempts to recruit Arab Palestinian Christians to the Israeli military.
IOA releases two Palestinian female captives
PIC – Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) released two Palestinian female captives, from al-Khalil and Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank, after the completion of their sentences.
Palestinian factions support formation of coalition against the negotiations
PIC – Palestinian MPs and officials expressed support for the formation of a coalition of all national and Islamic factions on the Palestinian arena to stand against the negotiations with the occupation.
Hunger strikers Ayman Atbish and Adel Hureibat in serious health condition
PIC – An Israeli doctor at Kaplan medical center warned hunger strikers Ayman Atbish and Adel Hureibat that they would go into a coma and then die if they kept refraining from taking vitamins.
MAB strongly condemns the massacre taking place now in Egypt
PIC – MAB on Wednesday condemned the brutal massacre committed in the early hours of Wednesday by the Egyptian army and police in Cairo against peaceful demonstrators protesting the military coup.
Hundreds killed, thousands wounded in new massacre in Cairo
PIC – Hundreds were killed and thousands were wounded by Egyptian army and police in an attempt to end a peaceful sit in held in Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda Squares in Cairo.
World leaders condemn Egypt violence; Islamists back showdown
LA Times 14 Aug 2013 – World leaders Wednesday denounced the violence unleashed by Egyptian security forces to disperse Islamist protesters in Cairo. But Muslim Brotherhood allies of the demonstrators applauded their defiance as important in the quest for Muslim power throughout the region.
Israel frees 26 Palestinian prisoners, who receive heroes’ welcome
LA Times 13 Aug 2013 – The prisoners arrive in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to boisterous celebrations. The release comes hours before a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. JERUSALEM — Hours before a second round of peace talks was set to resume, Israel early Wednesday released the first 26…
In Syria, pro-Assad Damascus suburb feels targeted
LA Times 13 Aug 2013 – Jaramana residents believe rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad are the culprit in the recent deadly car bombings. JARAMANA, Syria — They were cleaning up the debris the other day at Alaa’s falafel shop, its windows blown out and its interior in shambles…
Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt’s much maligned voice of reason
LA Times 13 Aug 2013 – The Nobel laureate opposes crackdowns and has angered hard-liners with calls for compromise. But his presence gives Cairo credibility as it seeks billions of dollars in foreign investments. CAIRO — Mohamed ElBaradei has cut a curious path through Egyptian politics, rising from reluctant opposition figure…
A Bloody Crackdown in Egypt
New York Times 14 Aug 2013 – Egyptian security forces killed more than 200 protesters in an operation to clear two camps of supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi.
Egypt Bloodshed
May Be Ill Omen for Broader Region
New York Times 14 Aug 2013 – The violence in Egypt has underscored how the Arab Spring revolutions have devolved into bitter political power struggles among competing groups.
Jordan Asks for Assistance in Securing Syrian Border
New York Times 14 Aug 2013 – Jordanian authorities appealed to the United States on Wednesday for surveillance airplanes and intelligence help to secure a border that is favored by arms smugglers.
Nearly 300 Killed as Egyptian Forces Storm Camps
New York Times 14 Aug 2013 – The scale and brutality of the attack on supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, was the clearest sign yet that the old Egyptian police state was re-emerging in full force.
The Lede: Updates on Security Crackdown in Egypt
New York Times 14 Aug 2013 – The Lede is following events in Egypt on Wednesday, where the security forces used deadly force to disperse sit-ins by supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi.
Mideast Talks Start After Rocket Fire and Air Strikes
New York Times 14 Aug 2013 – Israeli war planes struck two sites in Gaza in response to rocket fire, demonstrating the steep obstacles the negotiations face.
Appointment of 19 Generals as Provincial Governors Raises Fears in Egypt
New York Times 14 Aug 2013 – The move was a return to a tactic used by President Hosni Mubarak, in which governorships are dangled to cultivate top officers’ loyalty while extending the police state’s grip.
Kerry Condemns Egyptian Military’s Crackdown
New York Times 14 Aug 2013 – Secretary of State John Kerry, who was speaking on behalf of a vacationing President Obama, did not disclose any specific American response to the crackdown.
Israel frees Palestinian prisoners
BBC 13 Aug 2013 – Twenty-six Palestinian prisoners released by Israel arrive in the West Bank and Gaza, as part of a deal that will see peace talks resume on Wednesday.
Morsi supporters and opponents clash
BBC 13 Aug 2013 – A person is killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi in the capital Cairo.
Israel frees Palestinian prisoners
BBC 13 Aug 2013 – Twenty-six Palestinian prisoners released by Israel arrive in the West Bank and Gaza, as part of a deal that will see peace talks resume on Wednesday.
Morsi supporters and opponents clash
BBC 13 Aug 2013 – A person is killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi in the capital Cairo.
Does Mid-East peace process matter?
BBC 12 Aug 2013 – Jonathan Marcus on why the Israeli-Palestinian talks matter
Articles
The Jewish State’s Bottom Line
Jonathan Cook, Nazareth, CounterPunch 8/14/2013
Futile Peace Talks Again
There are many flies waiting to spoil the ointment of the Middle East peace talks, not least Israel’s recent announcement of a rash of settlement-building. That triggered an angry letter to Washington last week from the Palestinian leadership, though it seems Israel’s serial humiliation of Mahmoud Abbas before the two sides meet was not enough to persuade him to pull out.
However, as the parties meet today for their first round of proper negotiations, it is worth highlighting one major stumbling block that has barely registered with observers: the fifth of Israel’s population who are not Jews but Palestinians.
The difficulty posed to the peace process by this Palestinian minority was illustrated in the defining moment of the last notable effort to reach an agreement, initiated in Oslo two decades ago.
In 1993 Yitzhak Rabin, then prime minister, assembled a 15-person delegation for the signing ceremony with the Palestinians at the White House. The delegation was selected to suggest that all sectors of Israeli society favoured peace.
When Rabin was asked why he had not included a single Palestinian, he waved aside the question: “We are going to sign a peace treaty between Jewish Israel and the PLO.”
Rabin believed his own Palestinian citizens should be represented not by their government but by the adversary across the table. The mood 20 years on is unchanged. The Palestinian minority is still viewed as a fifth column, one a Jewish state would be better off without.
Significantly, it was a matter relating to Israel’s Palestinian citizens that nearly scuppered the start of these talks….more.. e-mail
What peace are they talking about?
Oraib Rantawi, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) 8/13/2013
We knew in advance that the negotiations would resume without the Palestinians’ basic requirement for a freeze on settlement construction.
The construction of 1,200 housing units in the occupied West Bank does not threaten the peace process, although Israel finds it difficult to accept the “unfair accusations” that activities of the sort are “expansive” and “aggressive”. The “Arab idol” winner Mohammad Assaf sang about a “flying bird” and threatens the peace process because the lyrics urges the destruction of the State of Israel. The singer calls on soaring birds to send regards to the Palestinians in Nazareth, Acre and Tiberias, which rattles those who insist that Israel is a “Jewish state”. Such recognition is a precondition to the negotiations. Israel has US support for such a designation and now wants to extract it from the Palestinian Authority, 22 Arab countries and 57 other Islamic states.
In order to justify and sell the release of a few pre-Oslo prisoners to the Israeli electorate, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government have approved 1,200 new settlement housing units. It is as if Israel is negotiating with itself and arriving at “adjustments” and “deals” that please its ruling class, and no more. By the time that all of the 140 detainees are released according to the “Kerry understandings” Israel will have built more than five thousand new housing units. It is also possible, if previous experience is anything to go by, that the Israelis will simply re-arrest the men at the first sign that they are not getting their own way in the talks. Israel has used such a “revolving door” policy before and will do so again.
A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority has called the new settlement construction “a nail in the coffin of the peace process” but how many nails have already been hammered into this coffin? How many more nails will the peace process coffin withstand before it turns into “sawdust”? Smarter spokesmen have said that decisions of like this confirm that Israel is only interested in expansion and occupation and not in the two-state solution and the peace process….more.. e-mail
Cousins taste freedom after 23 years
Agence France-Presse, Ma’an News Agency 8/14/2013
AZMUT, West Bank (AFP) — Tears streamed down Hosni Sawalha’s face as he recited from the Koran alongside the graves of his parents, who died while he was in Israeli jail since his teens.
The 40-year-old and his cousin Mohammed Sawalha were released alongside 24 other long-serving Palestinian inmates early on Wednesday, hours before a new round of peace talks with Israel.
“I still can’t believe I’m free,” Hosni said on arriving at 3.30 a.m. back to his hometown of Azmut, near Nablus in the West Bank.
He and Mohammed received a heroes’ welcome from villagers, friends and family, who gathered to cheer the return of their native sons, who had served 23 years of a life sentence.
The two men, alongside accomplice Jaafar Duweikat, were arrested during the first Palestinian intifada i
n 1990, accused of stabbing and killing one Israeli and wounding three others aboard a bus near Tel Aviv.
Duweikat was shot dead by the bus driver.
“Mohammed and Hosni are heroes, seen by their contemporaries as imprisoned in Israel for the sake of the (Palestinian) nation,” said Ghassan Mohammed, a 37-year-old taxi driver.
Mohammed and Hosni were reluctant to talk about their actions, both saying they now simply wished for peace.
“I hope the resumption of talks will achieve something and won’t just be a waste of time. I hope we can gain our rights and all our prisoners are freed,” said Mohammed, also 40. more.. e-mail
The battle for hearts and minds: Entry permits during Ramadan
Fady Asleh, +972 Magazine 8/13/2013
The Palestinian, in whose head is engraved an image of the lands that were torn away from him, now faces an entirely different picture that clashes with the narrative and imagery of his grandparents’ stories. Haifa of today is not the Haifa of Al-Shrak Cafe or the 1920s and 30s capital of Palestinian culture. An entry permit is a statement in and of itself: Here, you are permitted to enter once again, to have a good time, to pray. That is, as long as you behave yourself.
One of the questions that came up during Ramadan last year, and it’s probably relevant again this year, is why the Israeli security establishment decided to allow hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into Israel? On the Palestinian side, you hear the claim that Israel is trying to get its hands on the money Palestinians save all year for shopping during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. According to that logic, the decision was made only considering economic factors. On the other side, the Israeli government claims there are no economic factors, and that its motivations are purely “humane.” In other words, it is simply easing restrictions for Ramadan. According to that approach, there’s no shortage of money in Israel and the state doesn’t need Palestinians’ money; its intentions are pure and reflective of “Israeli compassion.” In other words, easing restrictions is aimed at improving relations. A taste of sorts, of the further easing of restrictions Palestinians might see when they stop their resistance against Israel and end the “cycle of violence.”
There’s some truth to both claims. It’s only reasonable to assume that Israel, as a country that invests vast amounts of money in security, wouldn’t endanger itself by allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to enter just for a one-time economic boost of a few million shekels. Actually, because the Palestinian economy isn’t independent, but rather dependent on the Israeli economy, the Israeli economy would benefit from Ramadan shopping anyway, whether Palestinians buy in the West Bank or inside the Green Line. At the same time, that doesn’t mean that the decision is a product of “Israeli compassion” whatsoever, because there’s no “compassion” in politics. Politics is composed of interests and power relations, in which the perception of “compassion” plays a role in exercising political power. more.. e-mail
Canada’s double standards on Middle East sink to new low
Electronic Intifada: 14 Aug 2013 – Aiding projects linked to Hizballah is a criminal offense; aiding the Israeli military is considered an act of charity.more
Video: Ramzy Baroud: The Reality of War in the Middle East
Palestine Chronicle: 14 Aug 2013 – Ramzy Baroud speaks to the Post Globalization Initiative on the reality of war in the Middle East . Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is: My Father was A Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press).more
The Killers of Peace
Palestine Chronicle: 14 Aug 2013 – By Nicola Nasser The Israeli Jewish settlers of the Palestinian territory, which was occupied by Israel in 1967, are dictating unilaterally the demarcation of the borders with any future Palestinian state, thus rendering its creation impossible; holding the Israeli decision-making process hostage, they have become the real killers of peace, who brought the twenty –year old Palestinian – Israeli peace process to its current stalemate. As early as the summer of 1995, the Iraqi born Israeli – British “new historian” Avi Shlaim wrote in the Journal of Palestine Studies: “The settlers now are the ones who determine Israel’s internal political agenda.” Their numbers then were in the tens of thousands; now there are three quarters of a million settlers. The Head of the “Samaria Regional Council” of the Israeli illegal settlements in the Israeli – occupied Palestinian West Bank (WB) of River Jordan, Gershon Mesika, on this August 6 boasted…more
Futile Peace talks, again: The Jewish State’s Bottom Line
Palestine Chronicle: 14 Aug 2013 – By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth There are many flies waiting to spoil the ointment of the Middle East peace talks, not least Israel’s recent announcement of a rash of settlement-building. That triggered an angry letter to Washington last week from the Palestinian leadership, though it seems Israel’s serial humiliation of Mahmoud Abbas before the two sides meet was not enough to persuade him to pull out. However, as the parties meet today for their first round of proper negotiations, it is worth highlighting one major stumbling block that has barely registered with observers: the fifth of Israel’s population who are not Jews but Palestinians. The difficulty posed to the peace process by this Palestinian minority was illustrated in the defining moment of the last notable effort to reach an agreement, initiated in Oslo two decades ago. In 1993 Yitzhak Rabin, then prime minister, assembled a 15-person delegation for the signing…more
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The New Dark Age 