4 September 2013 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Children, Women, Injured As Israeli Extremists Break Into The Al-Aqsa Mosque
IMEMC – Palestinian medical sources in occupied Jerusalem have reported that several children and women were among the injured after extremist Israelis broke into the yards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque since early dawn hours Wednesday [August 4 2013]. Fifty Palestinians have been kidnapped in the Mosque area overnight. …
Israeli Radio: “Sheikh Salah Accepts Release In Return For Being Denied Entry To Jerusalem”
IMEMC – The Israeli Radio has reported that head of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, has agreed to be released from prison in exchange for being denied entry into Jerusalem, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, for six months. …
Israeli forces detain 5 during Al-Aqsa clashes
9/4/2013 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli forces after Jewish rightists entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Wednesday, locals said. Local youths threw stones at a group of around 40 Israeli rightists who entered the compound, witnesses said. Israeli forces responded by storming the mosque compound and spraying protestors with pepper spray, lightly injuring three women. Israeli police closed all gates….
Israeli forces, students clash at Al-Quds university
9/4/2013 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Heavy clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli forces in Abu Dis on Wednesday, a Fatah official said. Anwar Bader said that Israeli border police raided the town at around 9 a. m. and entered the campus of Al-Quds university. Israeli forces fired tear gas at students and employees, with dozens of people suffering smoke inhalation. [END]
Lawyer: Israeli police release Raed Salah
9/4/2013 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli police released Raed Salah on Wednesday, his lawyer said. Khalid Zabarqa, a lawyer who runs al-Aqsa Foundation for Development, told Ma’an that an Israeli court released the Islamic Movement leader on condition that he stay at least 30 km from Jerusalem for six months. The bail for his release was set at 50,000 shekels ($13,761). Salah was arrested….
Bethlehem prisoner ends 4-month hunger strike
9/4/2013 – RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Palestinian prisoner Ayman Hamdan on Wednesday ended a four month hunger strike, his lawyer said. Jawad Boulos, from the Palestinian Prisoners Society, told Ma’an that Israel’s military agreed to release Hamdan after finishing a four month administrative detention term. Hamdan has notified his family about the decision, Boulos added. Hamdan has spent a total of six and….
Hundreds protest in Gaza against Al-Aqsa violations
9/4/2013 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hundreds of people in the Gaza Strip demonstrated on Wednesday to condemn Israeli violations at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The protest, organized by national and Islamic factions, marched from a square in central Gaza City to the main UN offices. Demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and banners reading: “Al-Aqsa is in danger” and “Resistance is the only way to liberate Al-Aqsa.”[END]
Israel closes Jenin crossing during Jewish new year
9/4/2013 – JENIN (Ma’an) — Israeli forces will close the Bartaa Sharqiya crossing in the northern West Bank from 6 p. m. until 7 a. m. for the four days marking the Jewish New Year, officials said. Village council member Tawfiq Qabaha told Ma’an that the closure will be imposed for 13 hours daily until Sunday. Qabaha added that it would be difficult for….
Israeli forces detain ex-prisoner in Qalqiliya
9/4/2013 – QALQILIYA (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Wednesday detained an ex-prisoner in the northern West Bank, a prisoners group said. The Palestinian Prisoners Society said that Israeli forces raided Qalqiliya and detained Nidal Nazzal after ransacking his home. Nazzal was arrested in 2004 and released in 2007. [END]
Nativity deportees: PA responsible for our exile
9/4/2013 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A group of Palestinians deported from Palestine in 2002 have demanded an explanation from President Abbas after he recently said that they would never return. Abbas said during a recent meeting of Fatah’s revolutionary council that although the deal to deport the fighters was “shameful”, it is doubtful that they will ever return.”No one knows about the….
AFC hails talks between Israel, Palestinians
9/4/2013 – KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — The head of Asian football has praised FIFA for bringing Israeli and Palestinian football chiefs together in a drive to end a bitter row over the Israel’s security measures. The heads of the two football associations shook hands Tuesday in landmark talks in Switzerland brokered by the game’s world governing body. It came just weeks after a politically….
In first, Arab to run in Beersheba municipal elections
9/4/2013 – BEERSHEBA (Ma’an) – For the first time since the creation of Israel, an Arab man will stand for municipal elections in Beersheba scheduled on Oct. 22. Amir Zreiq, an Arab lawyer from Beersheba, will be the second candidate on the Change 2013 list. Asked about the motives behind his decision, Zreiq said he was afraid the Arabs in Beersheba did not have a cultural….
2 men killed in Jerusalem motorcycle accident
9/4/2013 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Two men were killed in a motorcycle accident on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Wednesday. Mohammad Taysir Obid and Firas al-Hanini died after their motocycle crashed near the illegal Maale Adumim settlement east of Jerusalem. Both men, who are in their twenties, were pronounced dead at the scene. [END]
Angry crowds try to attack Salfit murder suspect
9/4/2013 – SALFIT (Ma’an) — Angry crowds outside of a police station on Wednesday tried to attack a man accused of murdering a pregnant women and her two sons. The suspect, know locally as the ‘Salfit assassin’, is accused of killing his brother’s pregnant wife Lina Fatooni, 27, and her children Majd, 4, and Jana, 5. Rescue workers initially believed the deaths….
Group: 2 Palestinian refugees killed in Syria clashes
9/4/2013 – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Two Palestinians were killed during clashes in Syria on Wednesday, a local Palestinian group said. The Workforce for Palestinians in Syria said in a statement that Omar Abbas and Adnan Qasem were killed after shelling in Yarmouk camp near Damascus. The group said that a Palestinian woman from al-Aedin camp died Wednesday after suffering a heart attack while on a boat….
Egyptians protest as army demolishes border homes
9/4/2013 – CAIRO (AFP) — Several hundred Egyptians protested Tuesday in the frontier town of Rafah against the military’s demolition of homes across the border from the Gaza Strip, witnesses and security officials said. Troops have bulldozed at least 15 homes in the restive border town which security officials said housed entrances to tunnels used to smuggle goods into Islamist-ruled Gaza. The military has intensified a….
Report: Senator caught playing iPhone during Syria hearing
9/4/2013 – LONDON (Ma’an) — US senator John McCain was caught playing his iPhone during a hearing of the Senate committee to discuss the use of military force in Syria. The former republican presidential candidate was caught playing poker on his iPhone by a Washington Post photographer during a three-hour hearing on Tuesday, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported. McCain later owned up, tweeting: “Scandal! Caught….
Putin softer over Syria, Obama gains support for strike
9/4/2013 – DAMASCUS (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday struck a more conciliatory tone ahead of this week’s G20 summit, saying Moscow would take “decisive” action if the West proved who used chemical weapons in Syria. Putin’s comments came as US lawmakers begin rallying behind President Barack Obama’s plan to launch military strikes against Syria over a suspected poison gas….
Sinai clan chief shot dead
9/4/2013 – EL-ARISH (Ma’an) — Gunmen on Wednesday killed a Sinai clan chief and former lawmaker in a drive-by shooting in front of the Swiss Inn Resort in el-Arish. Issa Kharafen, who was a supporter of the Egyptian army, was shot in the head and taken to el-Arish hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Kharafen was the head of the el-Armilat tribe in Egyptian….
Obama urges world support for strike on Syria
9/4/2013 – DAMASCUS (AFP) — US President Barack Obama Wednesday urged world support for punitive strikes against Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons, as Damascus vowed retaliation and resistance even if a third world war erupts. Obama, fresh from efforts in Washington to secure bipartisan support for military intervention, said in Stockholm that the world had set “a red line” for Syria and it could not….
Campaigners decry ‘extensive’ cluster bombs use in Syria
9/4/2013 – GENEVA (AFP) — The Syrian regime has used cluster munitions “extensively” in the second half of last year and first half of this year, causing many civilian casualties, according to a report published Wednesday. It said at least 165 people were killed or wounded by cluster munitions in Syria last year alone, representing a vast majority of the 190 known casualties from the weapons around the….
Large parts of Syria hit by power cuts after attack
9/4/2013 – DAMASCUS (AFP) — Large swathes of Syria were without electricity on Wednesday after a high voltage power line in the center of the war-torn country was sabotaged, the electricity minister said.”A terrorist attack against a high voltage line in the central region triggered a power cut in most of the Syrian governorates,” Imad Khamis said in comments carried on state television. In government terminology, “terrorist….
Kerry: Arab nations offered to pay for Syria strike
9/4/2013 – WASHINGTON (AFP) — Arab nations have offered to help pay for any US military intervention in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers Wednesday as he sought support for missile strikes.”With respect to Arab countries offering to bear the cost and to assist, the answer is profoundly yes, they have. That offer is on the table,” Kerry said as he appeared before a House….
Jihadists mock Egypt army claims of Sinai victories
9/4/2013 – CAIRO (AFP) — A jihadist group on Wednesday poured scorn on the Egyptian military’s claims of victories in the restive Sinai peninsula where the army said it launched deadly air strikes on militants. The fiercely anti-Israeli group Al-Salafi al-Jihadiya, in a statement posted on Islamist forums, condemned “the state media and the army as liars” who “celebrate. . . fake victories in the Sinai”. On Tuesday….
IOF and Settlers Assault Child and her Father in Hebron
Palestine News Network
PA to Provide ‘Grants’ for Prisoners Released from Israel
Palestine News Network
Near Impunity for IOF Soldiers who Kill Palestinians
Palestine News Network
Israel Summons 3 Palestinians near Jenin for Interrogation
Palestine News Network
Sheikh Nabbed by Israeli Intelligence Agents
Palestine News Network
Judaizing al-Quds: Zionists Target Muslim Holy Sites
Palestine News Network
Israel Population Exceeds 8 Million, According to Statistics
Palestine News Network
Israel Fires Test Missile in Mediterranean
Palestine News Network
Egyptian Treatment of Palestinian-Syrian Refugees at its Lowest Ever, reveals UFree Network
Palestine News Network
Elections Commission Signs MOU with its South African Counterpart
Palestine News Network
IOF Forces Arrest 7 Palestinians from Jenin, Hebron
Palestine News Network
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
PCHR and OHCHR Organize Seminar Entitled “Grassroots Organizations and Documentation of Human Rights Violations: Role an…
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
occupied Palestinian territory: UNRWA Welcomes Italian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs to Gaza
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – Source: UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Country: Italy, Lebanon, occupied Palestinian territory, Syrian Arab Republic The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic, Lapo Pistelli, has concluded his first official visit…
occupied Palestinian territory: A Motorcycle Ambulance and A Mini Ambulance Join PRCS’ Emergency Medical Services fleet in Jerusalem
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – Source: Palestine Red Crescent Society Country: occupied Palestinian territory Jerusalem (3-9-2013): Within the framework of cooperation between the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Qatar Red Crescent and for the first time in Palestine, A fully -equipped motorcycle ambulance and…
Lebanon: Shifting Sands: Changing gender roles among refugees in Lebanon
Relief Web 2 Sep 2013 – Source: Oxfam Country: Lebanon, occupied Palestinian territory, Syrian Arab Republic Refugees from Syria struggling for survival as years of conflict take their toll, says new report Research in Lebanon shows many families fled Syria because they feared for their lives,…
Man facing deportation granted bail after judge listens to wife’s plea
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Man appeals his conviction for embezzlement.
Police seizure of Dh75m worth of pills the largest of the year
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Gang caught with Dh75 million worth of Captagon pills.
Man arrested after allegedly harassing women
The National 4 Sep 2013 – The man is alleged to have touched women inappropriately while at a local mall.
Haj pilgrims urged to get vaccinations
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Pilgrims are being asked to get vaccines for meningitis and seasonal flu.
Egypt’s prison chief fired over Islamist meetings
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Interior minister removes the head of the country’s prison authority amid reports he facilitated meetings between detained Islamists.
‘Our last chance’ to get Egyptian economy right
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Many were optimistic when Hosni Mubarak was ousted. But the Muslim Brotherhood’s incompetence and cronyism has brought the economy to its knees. Alice Fordham reports from Cairo
Celebration of tradition
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Horses, falcons, folk-dancing and guns all feature prominently as the 11th Adihex begins, with 100,000 visitors expected to attend.
New guide for Abu Dhabi’s visitors
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Need help navigating your way through Abu Dhabi? there’s a guide for that.
Putin will not rule out a military strike on Syria
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Russian president insists he will act only if the UN Security Council is handed absolute proof that the ‘regular army’ of Assad’s government has used chemical weapons against his own people. Colin Randall reports
Seven Palestinians arrested in Jerusalem clashes
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Clashes break out when about 300 demonstrators attempt to block a group of visitors from reaching a sensitive hilltop compound revered by both Jews and Muslims.
Sheikh Hazza launches new housing authority
The National 4 Sep 2013 – The authority will be a “standpoint for all housing projects in the emirate of Abu Dhabi”.
Address for every home by 2015
The National 4 Sep 2013 – A system, similar to one used in the UK, will see the creation of over 200,000 unique building addresses and 12,000 new street signs.
Assad’s former defence minister and army chief ‘defects’
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Ali Habib Mahmoud, who is said to have defected to Turkey yesterday, would be the most senior Alawite official to break ranks with Bashar Al Assad. Phil Sands reports
Abu Dhabi ranked No4 in the world’s top cities
The National 4 Sep 2013 – The capital is a popular place for visiting and for conducting business.
Miss World organisers defend Indonesia pageant, despite protests
The National 4 Sep 2013 – The organisers of the Miss World beauty pageant in Indonesia insisted the show would go on, as Islamic hardline protests began to spread across the country days before the contest starts.
Campaign clamps down on 260 firms
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority has contacted companies who have recurring problems that could lead to unsafe conditions for drivers.
Gujarat police say leaders approved killings
The National 4 Sep 2013 – ‘Encounter killings’ were carried out against suspected terrorists or criminals. But it is now claimed that complicit politicians framed police. Samanth Subramanian reports
18 Shiite family members killed as Iraq unrest surges
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Attacks around Baghdad and northern Iraq have left 33 people dead, including 18 members of a Shiite family killed by militants.
Sharjah schools on the lookout for over 100 teachers
The National 4 Sep 2013 – Resignations and retirements have led to the gaps, which will continue to be filled after the academic year begins.
U.S. Senate panel approves resolution on Syria military strikes
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Benjamin Netanyahu, the man who will shape Israel’s destiny in 5774
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Obama weighs Egypt aid suspension
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Iranian President wishes all Jews ‘a blessed Rosh Hashanah’ on Twitter
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Obama visits Swedish synagogue, alludes to Syrian crisis
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Women of the Wall is the least of Anat Hoffman’s achievements
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Former Syrian defense minister defects in break with Assad
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Defining ‘who is a Jew’
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Obama: Get approval from Congress on Iran now
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Obama says hopes Putin will change position on Syria
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Israeli archaeologists: 3,000-year old cinnamon traces attest to ancient trade
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Potentially the most political park in the world: Mt. Scopus Slopes
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Lieberman emerges as king of Israeli politics – what will he do with his domain?
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Former PM Ariel Sharon undergoes abdominal surgery
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Israel Police arrest seven amid Temple Mount clashes
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Plea agreement reached in case of IDF commander who struck Danish activist with rifle
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Tel Aviv municipality to change bylaw so businesses can open on the Sabbath
Ha’aretz – 4 Sep 2013
Israel was testing a missile, not the waters
Ha’aretz – 3 Sep 2013
Investing, not donating: Updating how American Jews give to Israel
Ha’aretz – 3 Sep 2013
The Israeli morality squad
Ha’aretz – 3 Sep 2013
My choice for woman of the year
Ha’aretz – 3 Sep 2013
Police to resume using tasers gradually, under tighter restrictions
Ha’aretz – 3 Sep 2013
One more year of stoking fear in the hearts of many
Ha’aretz – 3 Sep 2013
French driver indicted in deadly Tel Aviv hit-and-run
Ha’aretz – 3 Sep 2013
FIFA chief hosts Israeli-Palestinian soccer talks with clear goals in mind
Ha’aretz – 3 Sep 2013
Joyriding Palestinian car thieves alarm Ben-Gurion Airport
Ha’aretz – 3 Sep 2013
US Senate panel passes authorization for use of military force in Syria
Jerusalem Post 4 Sep 2013 – Resolution is passed by a vote of 10-7; result clears way for vote on resolution in the full Senate likely next week, as Obama administration presses for action in Congress and says US credibility is at stake.
USS San Antonio arrives in Haifa for ‘routine port visit’
Jerusalem Post 4 Sep 2013 – Captian of ship says visit is well-deserved break for crew.
Obama on Syria response: ‘Int’l community’s credibility is on the line, not mine’
Jerusalem Post 4 Sep 2013 – One day before G20 meeting in Russia , US President says he hopes Putin would change his position on Syria; Putin says US Congress had no right to approve force against Syria, and Russia has no data Assad used chemical weapons.
Russia sends missile cruiser to Mediterranean
Jerusalem Post 4 Sep 2013 – Cruiser to take over the navy’s operations in the region
Russia suspends delivery of S-300 missile systems to Syria
Jerusalem Post 4 Sep 2013 – Russian official says Assad regime has yet to pay for arms.
Poll: Israeli Jews not worried by security situation
Jerusalem Post 4 Sep 2013 – Only 16.4% of Israeli Jews feel security situation will worsen.
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee green-lights authorization of use of military force in Syria
Jerusalem Post 3 Sep 2013 – Draft of authorization sets a 60-day limit on military action.
Top Republicans, Israel Lobby Weigh for Obama’s Syria Strike
IPS President Barack Obama meets with his National Security Staff to discuss the situation in Syria, in the Situation Room of the White House, Aug. 30, 2013. From left at the table: National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice; Attorney General Eric Holder; Secretary of State John Kerry; and Vice President Joe…
U.N. Chief Dodges Question on “Illegal” Attack on Syria
IPS Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses a Sep. 3, 2013 press conference on the latest developments related to the crisis in Syria. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider When Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was South Korea’s foreign minister during 2004-2006, his answers to reporters were so predictably evasive the press corps in Seoul affectionately dubbed…
Splintered Damascus Holds Its Breath
IPS President Bashar al-Assad greets people from almost every street in the areas of Damascus that are under his control. Credit: Karlos Zurutuza/IPS. “Life is almost normal in the centre of Damascus,” local resident Hisham says from the predominantly Christian neighbourhood of Bab Touma. “Only the occasional noise of artillery on…
[Uruknet 100653 05-sep-2013 03:44 ECT] American War Crimes
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – The US military has killed, maimed and made homeless well over 20,000,000 people since the Vietnam War…Very few countries have violated as many humanitarian laws and codes of war on such a large scale, and for…
[Uruknet 100652 05-sep-2013 03:04 ECT] The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission Against Amos Yaron
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – The defendant Amos Yaron perpetrated War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Genocide in his capacity as the Commanding Israeli General in military control of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Israeli occupied Lebanon in September…
[Uruknet 100650 05-sep-2013 02:56 ECT] The Last Chance to Stop the NDAA
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – I and my fellow plaintiffs have begun the third and final round of our battle to get the courts to strike down a section of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that permits the military to…
[Uruknet 100649 05-sep-2013 02:28 ECT] With eye on Iran, Israelis seek US action in Syria, but not ouster of Assad
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – Behind an official wall of silence, Israel is signaling it wants the U.S. to strike Syria sooner rather than later, fearing that continued inaction could hurt American credibility in the region.Yet at the same time, Israel…
[Uruknet 100648 05-sep-2013 02:22 ECT] Forcing their Hand: Self-demolitions in East Jerusalem
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013- Ziad Ameira was forced to demolish his East Jerusalem house last week in order to avoid the 73,000-shekel demolition cost leveled by the municipality. On Monday, 19 August, Ziad hired a bulldozer and truck, at a personal…
[Uruknet 100647 05-sep-2013 02:14 ECT] Powerful symbols and the British-Zionist alliance: approaching the centenary of the Balfour Declaration
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 -The Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917 was central to the wartime British-Zionist alliance and a powerful Zionist-Jewish propaganda tool. As the centenary of the Declaration approaches it is timely for a reassessment of the impact of…
[Uruknet 100646 04-sep-2013 23:35 ECT] Israel escalates attacks on UN agency after killing employee during raid
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – During the early morning hours of Monday, 26 August, undercover and uniformed Israeli forces invaded Qalandiya refugee camp, near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, during an arrest operation. When residents confronted them, clashes ensued….
[Uruknet 100645 04-sep-2013 22:45 ECT] August 2013 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – …A Bureau investigation appears to confirm the CIA briefly revived its controversial tactic of deliberately targeting rescuers. The Bureau first exposed these so-called double-tap strikes in February 2012. The new study focussed mainly on strikes around…
[Uruknet 100644 04-sep-2013 21:06 ECT] Continuing artificial chaos
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – The artificial chaos was inaugurated in Iraq, by dividing it between different leaders; Iran received its share and Kurds. The plan was to weaken the surrounding countries of Israel and Iraq was a powerful military power that engaged in an…
[Uruknet 100643 04-sep-2013 20:56 ECT] Imperialism Wins! The Westerners know BETTER!
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – … When push comes to shove, when the most widely condemned atrocities are added to atrocities that started from shooting peaceful protesters and arbitrary arrest and torture of civilian political opposition and even of children, leading up…
[Uruknet 100642 04-sep-2013 20:34 ECT] GTMO Clock: 100 Days Since President Obama Promised to Resume Releasing Prisoners from Guantánamo, Just Two Men Freed
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – Getting men released from Guantánamo has become more difficult than getting blood out of a stone, even though over half of the 164 men still held were approved for release in January 2010 by President Obama…
[Uruknet 100641 04-sep-2013 20:14 ECT] Faces From Gitmo
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 -America wants to forget about Gitmo. Sure, we gloat about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. When I visited Guantanamo in June to cover the 9/11 military commissions for VICE, I drew him through three layers of bulletproof glass. Khalid…
[Uruknet 100640 04-sep-2013 20:09 ECT] Divided Egyptian Capital Appears United Against U.S. Strike on Syria
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 — This city has endured pitched battles for two months since the army deposed President Mohamed Morsi — bloody physical fights between Egyptian security and Morsi backers, and some passionate political ones over the rightness of his…
[Uruknet 100639 04-sep-2013 20:01 ECT] Afghan Police Deaths Soaring, Officials Admit
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – The Afghan government doesn t release official troop death tolls anymore – the figures are just too depressing and officials said they didn t want to damage morale. Today, however, newly appointed Interior Minister Umer Daudzai…
[Uruknet 100638 04-sep-2013 19:52 ECT] An education in inequality for East Jerusalem s children
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – In cities around the world, most parents agonize about their kids first day of school. They worry about whether their kids will connect with their teachers. They worry about bullying. Mostly they anguish over the quality…
[Uruknet 100637 04-sep-2013 19:44 ECT] Israel Attempts to Impose Education System On Palestine
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 – PLO Executive Committee Member and Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat condemned the Israeli attempt to impose its own educational system on Palestinian schools in Palestine s Capital, East Jerusalem: “Israel has been trying to change…
[Uruknet 100636 04-sep-2013 19:41 ECT] The excuses Israel comes up with to destroy Palestinian villages
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 2, 2013 -“Our Bibi has three houses, three houses does our Bibi have,” sang social protest demonstrators two years ago, paraphrasing a well-known children s song in reference to his villa in Caesarea and two apartments in Jerusalem. No…
[Uruknet 100635 04-sep-2013 19:22 ECT] Syria News – September 1, 2013 (Warning: Graphic Videos)
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 1, 2013 – By the end of Sunday the cordination committees were able to document 118 martyrs includings 13 children, 6 women, 3 under torture: 55 Martyrs in Damscus and its suburbs; 29 in Idlib; 9 in Aleppo; 7…
[Uruknet 100634 04-sep-2013 11:37 ECT] Top Sunni authority against US strike
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 1, 2013 -Cairo: Al Azhar in Cairo, Sunni Islam s highest authority, on Sunday declared its firm opposition to any US strikes on Syria, saying this would amount to “an aggression against the Arab and Islamic nation”. The institution…
[Uruknet 100633 04-sep-2013 11:13 ECT] Taliban statement Communique of Islamic Emirate regarding the mass killings in Syria
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 1, 2013 – Everyone is aware that for the past two years, the oppressed Syrian nation has been burning in a raging fire; more than a hundred thousand men, women and children have died, millions have become refugees and…
[Uruknet 100632 04-sep-2013 11:09 ECT] Palestine and the Left
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 1,2013 – The Left has a checkered history when it comes to Palestine. For at least the first two decades of Israel s existence, due in part to the attempted extermination of European Jewry, in part to the distorting…
[Uruknet 100631 04-sep-2013 10:57 ECT] Fidel Castro denies Russian claim that Cuba snubbed Edward Snowden
Relief Web 4 Sep 2013 – September 1, 2013 – Fidel Castro has criticised a claim in a Russian newspaper that his country buckled to US pressure and blocked the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden from travelling through Cuba to exile in Latin America.Castro, who ceded…
[Uruknet 100630 03-sep-2013 21:08 ECT] Military Resistance 11I1 Johnny Horror Picture Show
Relief Web 3 Sep 2013 – September 1, 2013 – …Some opponents of the government are loath to see direct American military intervention in their fight, fearful it will hijack and discredit the uprising they have waged for more than two years at great cost .”We…
Tunisia’s opposition threatens protests after talks fail
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 Tunisia’s secular opposition threatened on Wednesday to launch more mass protests to force the Islamist-led government to step down, saying negotiations to end a political stand-off had failed.
Russia’s Putin calls John Kerry a liar on Syria
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 Russian President Vladimir Putin has called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a liar for denying that al-Qaida was fighting with the Syrian opposition in that country’s civil war.
U.S. Senate panel passes authorization for use of military force in Syria
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday approved a resolution authorizing the use of military force in Syria by a vote of 10-7, with one senator merely voting “present.”
Mansour: Egypt security takes precedence
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 Egypt’s interim president has defended the military’s ouster of his predecessor and said his government’s top priority was restoring security, as gunmen killed a police officer Wednesday in the country’s south.
Obama administration to extend veterans’ benefits to married gays
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter to members of Congress on Wednesday that the Obama administration will allow same-sex spouses of veterans to access federal benefits currently only available to heterosexual couples.
Hagel estimates cost of Syria strike at ‘tens of millions’ of dollars
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told lawmakers on Wednesday that a limited military strike against Syria was expected to cost “tens of millions” of dollars.
Syria rebels attack regime-held Christian village
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 A nun and activists say rebel fighters have attacked a regime-held, predominantly Christian village, commandeering a mountaintop hotel and shelling the ancient community from there.
Russia warns of catastrophe if Syria reactor hit by U.S. strike
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 Russia said on Wednesday that a military strike on Syria could have catastrophic effects if a missile hit a small reactor near Damascus that contains radioactive uranium.
US senator: Vote on Syria measure might be delayed
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 A Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the panel may not vote Wednesday on a resolution authorizing President Barack Obama’s proposed military intervention in Syria. Sen. John Barrasso said it was still meeting…
Arab nations offered to pay for Syria strike: Kerry
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 Arab nations have offered to help pay for any US military intervention in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers Wednesday as he sought support for missile strikes.
U.S. defense chief says attack on Syria would not be ‘pin prick’
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told lawmakers on Wednesday that a planned military strike on Syria over its chemical weapons use would not be a “pin prick” and would significantly reduce President Bashar al-Assad’s military power.
French PM: Assad could strike again if no one acts
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 France’s prime minister made a passionate appeal Wednesday for intervention in Syria, placing the blame for a chemical attack on Syrian President Bashar Assad and warning that inaction could let him carry out more atrocities.
Libya PM warns time running out for oil protests
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 Libya’s patience with protesters who have halted its onshore oil output is running out and action against them nearer, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Wednesday.
German spy agency sees Assad behind gas attack, cites phone call
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 A Hezbollah official has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered a poison gas attack last month and that it considered the move a mistake which showed he was losing his grip, according to German intelligence.
“No military solution” in Syria, says political group
Daily Star 4 Sep 2013 An international political grouping headed by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan came out against military action in Syria Wednesday, as the US sought allies for strikes following alleged chemical attacks.
Iran’s Rohani tweets Rosh Hashana blessing
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – ….
Catholic church removes Dominican Republic envoy
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – ….
Senate panel votes to authorize force in Syria
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – ….
Hagel estimates cost of Syria strike at ‘tens of millions’ of dollars
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – ….
Obama weighs Egypt aid suspension
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – ….
Obama in Rosh Hashana greeting: I was proud to visit Israel
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – In special Jewish New Year greeting, US president says ‘we live in challenging times, but if we work together we can make this moment one of hope for all our neighbors’ ….
PA official: Israel offered to evacuate settlements, leave them intact
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – Official who was briefed on peace talks says Palestinians oppose proposal, fear any temporary arrangement with Israel will become permanent ….
US warship docks in Haifa to refuel
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – USS San Antonio commander says visit to Israel ‘well-deserved break for sailors and Marines.’ Port says visit unrelated to Syria, ship refueling ….
61% of Israelis: Separate State, religion
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – On eve of Jewish New Year, Hiddush association’s Religion and State Index shows half of public believes religious-secular tension is most serious conflict in Israeli society. About two-thirds support opening businesses on Shabbat, 62% are in favor of recognizing all types of marriages – but 61% would rather get married in Rabbinate ….
Historians will mock Obama
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – Op-ed: US leader wasted time and energy on forming unneeded western coalition, as if Syria crisis was world war three ….
Israel jams up as hundreds of thousands hit roads before holiday
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – Vehicles have started blocking country’s highways ahead of Rosh Hashanah eve. INF prepares for massive turnout in parks, forests tomorrrow ….
Man allegedly burns spouse with hot iron
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – Sudanese national suspects spouse to be cheating, allegedly assaults her after she denies, beats her with electric cable and presses hot iron to her body ….
1-on-1 on Route 1: Couple caught in the act on highway
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – Police on holiday duty shocked to find newly engaged couple having sex on backseat on entryway to main road. Driver arrested for suspected DUI claims: I didn’t do anything ….
Fewer Hasidim fly to Uman this year
YNet News, 4 Sep 2013 – Members of Breslov Hasidic group irked by decision to stop subsidizing trips to Rabbi Nachman’s grave in Ukraine. Meanwhile, travel agencies experience drop in reservations following community leader’s escape to Morocco over sexual harassment allegations ….
Thousands of Islamists take to Egypt’s streets again
YNet News, 3 Sep 2013 – Sporadic clashes with security forces reported as Morsi supporters chanting ‘down, down with military rule’ ….
Palestinian Information Center
Abu Zuhri: demolishing tunnels threatens humanitarian situation in Gaza
PIC – Hamas movement stressed its rejection to the demolition of tunnels before providing the alternative to the people of the Gaza Strip.
Prisoner Hamdan ends 3-month hunger strike
PIC – Palestinian prisoner Ayman Hamdan, 32 from the city of Bethlehem, on Wednesday ended a three month hunger strike after a deal with the Israeli prison administration, his family said.
IOF soldiers set up roadblock near Al-Khalil village
PIC – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in 16 armored vehicles set up a roadblock near the village of Kharsa, south of Al-Khalil, at dawn Wednesday and searched all passing cars.
UFree: Egyptian authorities mistreat Palestinian refugees who fled from Syria
PIC – UFree Network for the defense of the rights of Palestinian political prisoners and detainees expressed its deep concern over the deteriorating situation of Palestinian refugees who fled Syria.
Report: 30 Palestinian children from Qalqiliya are still in Israeli jails
PIC – The Palestinian prisoner society said that the number of Palestinian children from Qalqiliya who are detained in Israeli jails rose to 30 prisoners after the IOF kidnapped seven others last August.
Sewage of Ariel settlement flood houses of Bruqin in Salfit
PIC – The sewage of Ariel settlement flooded the Palestinian houses in the village of Bruqin near Salfit, which led to large numbers of rodents, mosquitoes and pigs inside the town.
AOHR: Jerusalem exposed to systematic Judaization amid international silence
PIC – The Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) in the UK said that the city of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque are being subjected to a systematic Judaization process.
Gaza govt. refuses any military intervention in Arab or Islamic countries
PIC – The Palestinian Government denounced in a statement on Tuesday any foreign military intervention in any Arab or Islamic country referring to any possible foreign military strike in Syria.
Hemaya center demands Egypt to provide alternative to Gaza tunnels
PIC – Hemaya (protection) center for human rights appealed to the Egyptian regime to spare the Gaza Strip any further humanitarian difficulties and end its restrictions on the tunnels.
Hamas demands Lebanon to stop dealing with refugee camps as security issue
PIC – The Hamas Movement renewed its call on the Lebanese government to stop dealing with the Palestinian refugee camps as a security issue, reiterating the Palestinians’ keenness on Lebanon’s stability.
Italy Signs 60M Euro Support Agreement with PA
WAFA – 4 Sep 2013
Three More Prisoners End Hunger Strike
WAFA – 4 Sep 2013
Abed Rabbo: No Progress what so ever in Talks so far
WAFA – 4 Sep 2013
Striking Prisoner Suspends Fast
WAFA – 4 Sep 2013
World Bank Transfers $72M to Palestinian Authority
WAFA – 4 Sep 2013
Police Releases Head of Islamic Movement Raed Salah
WAFA – 4 Sep 2013
Jewish Fanatics Provoke Muslim Worshippers at al-Aqsa
WAFA – 4 Sep 2013
Obama warns of more chemical-weapon attacks if world stays passive
LA Times 4 Sep 2013 – STOCKHOLM — President Obama on Wednesday warned of more chemical-weapon attacks if the international community doesn’t respond to the alleged assault in Syria two weeks ago.
U.S. figure for casualties in Syria attack much higher than others’
LA Times 4 Sep 2013 – Britain, France and a key opposition group cite lower numbers of dead in the alleged chemical attack. WASHINGTON — The death toll given by the Obama administration for an alleged Syrian chemical weapons attack is far higher than confirmed counts of two key allies and…
Obama lines up key support in Congress for Syria attack
LA Times 3 Sep 2013 – Many lawmakers remain undecided on military action, but key leaders in the House and Senate say they support a limited mission. WASHINGTON — Key lawmakers in both parties endorsed President Obama’s call for a punitive strike on Syria, giving momentum to his drive to win…
Israel rattles region with ballistic missile test over Mediterranean
LA Times 3 Sep 2013 – JERUSALEM — Israel said Tuesday that it had tested a new version of its Sparrow target missile over the Mediterranean Sea, an unannounced launch that was immediately detected by Russia and quickly raised tensions in a region already on edge over a possible U.S. strike…
Number of Syrian refugees surpasses 2 million, U.N. says
LA Times 3 Sep 2013 – BEIRUT — As the United States debates whether to strike at Syria, the United Nations said Tuesday that the number of Syrians who have fled their homeland has exceeded 2 million — a figure rising daily as the conflict in that country continues to rage….
Obama Faces Barrier in His Own Party on Syria
New York Times 4 Sep 2013 – Democrats say they are confronted with a difficult choice: go against the wishes of President Obama or defy voters who are overwhelmingly opposed to involving the United States in another unpredictable Middle East war.
Split Senate Panel Approves Giving Obama Limited Authority on Syria
New York Times 4 Sep 2013 – The 10-to-7 vote in the Foreign Relations Committee sets up a showdown next week in the full Senate on whether President Obama should be given the authority to strike Syria.
Rockets in Syrian Attack Carried Large Payload of Gas, Experts Say
New York Times 4 Sep 2013 – Rockets delivering toxic sarin gas to neighborhoods around Damascus held up to 50 times more nerve agent than previously estimated, a study by weapons experts concluded.
Report Says Syrian Forces Have Used Cluster Bombs
New York Times 4 Sep 2013 – Human Rights Watch said it had documented dozens of locations in Syria where cluster bombs, a widely prohibited munition, had been fired in the past year.
Europe, on Sidelines, Waits for Next Move on Syria
New York Times 4 Sep 2013 – Europeans, divided over Syria, arrive at this week’s meeting of the Group of 20 nations waiting for the United States to take the lead on the conflict.
Iran’s President to Speak at the U.N.
New York Times 4 Sep 2013 – President Hassan Rouhani intends to deliver three speeches at the United Nations in New York this month, and the visit will afford him a chance to distinguish himself from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Obama Says ‘World Set a Red Line’ on Chemical Arms
New York Times 4 Sep 2013 – Opening a trip overseas, President Obama declared that the confrontation with Syria over chemical weapons was a test for Congress, the United States and the world.
Questions on Leadership and Policies Swirl as Obama Heads to G-20
New York Times 4 Sep 2013 – The president’s standing has undoubtedly suffered from recent turmoil over Syria and American spying, even though he can point to a strengthening economy.
In Hearing, House Panel Seems Split on Syria Strike
New York Times 4 Sep 2013 – Members of President Obama’s national security team took the case for intervention before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, a day after appearing before the panel’s Senate counterpart.
Putin Says Proof of Chemical Arms Attack Is Not Enough to Justify U.S. Action
New York Times 4 Sep 2013 – In an interview, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia warned that an attack on Syria without authorization from the United Nations Security Council would violate international law.
Assad Wages War Shielded With a Smile
New York Times 3 Sep 2013 – President Bashar al-Assad’s public activities mask increasing aggression in battle and belie fears among many supporters of an American attack.
Allies’ Intelligence Differs on Details, but Still Points to Assad Forces
New York Times 3 Sep 2013 – The United States and its allies differ on some intelligence estimates when it comes to chemical weapons use in Syria, but all agree that only the Assad government had the means to launch attacks.
Gloves Come Off: Israel Lobby Goes All-In for Syrian Intervention, While New York Times Self-Censors
Tikun Olam – Today’s the day I knew was coming. Despite the fact that Jodi Rudoren mistakenly said that the Lobby would maintain radio-silence about Obama’s plan to strike Syria, I knew she was wrong. And she was. Today, Obama pulled out all the stops and the Jewish leadership…
Pelosi begs Democrats for cooperation on Syria, but serious concerns remain
Mondoweiss – Nancy Pelosi (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/ AP) It would seem the White House is having trouble getting all the votes it needs to move forward with a Syria attack. Mondoweiss has received a Dear Colleague letter from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to House Democrats begging for cooperation on…
Rosh Hashanah and the Primal Prophetic
Mondoweiss – This is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page . As Rosh Hashanah arrives, the Jewish Reform movement debates the detrimental aspects of the Bar Mitzvah event – citing rote memorization and synagogue…
Israel closes Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron for Rosh Hashanah
Mondoweiss – Israel closes Ibrahimi Mosque for Jewish New Year HEBRON (Ma‘an) 2 Sept — Israeli authorities will close the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron to Palestinian worshipers during the Jewish new year, a Palestinian official said Monday. Israel informed the PA ministry of endowment that the mosque will…
Mondoweiss partners with TinyPass for Fall drive — $5 a reader
Mondoweiss – Later this afternoon we’re unveiling a new donation campaign. We want $5– at least– from every regular reader to help keep this site going. If you’re a visitor, welcome. Please check us out. But if you’re someone who’s come to rely on the information and opinion…
‘There’s no stupider reason to go to war than fear that people will think you are weak’ — Chris Hayes
Mondoweiss – Thank god, Chris Hayes is serving as a node for opposition to the Syrian strike. On last night’s show he did the Stephen Colbert thing, but more subtly, playing earnest devil’s advocate for the strike, while continually graveling at the plans. “I still haven’t heard anything…
Women of Wall Leader Anat Hoffman Named Haaretz’s Person of Year
The Foward Breaking News 4 Sep 2013 – Anat Hoffman, chairwoman of Women of the Wall, is the clear winner of Haaretz’s Person of the Year poll conducted over the past week on Haaretz’s Facebook page in English. Click here for the rest of the article…
Tel Aviv Won’t Fine Open-on-Sabbath Businesses
The Foward Breaking News 4 Sep 2013 – Tel Aviv told the Israeli Supreme Court that it will not fine businesses that have until now opened on Shabbat as it works to change a city bylaw that bans business from opening on the Jewish Sabbath. Click here for the rest of the article…
Ariel Sharon Undergoes Surgery for Feeding Tube
The Foward Breaking News 4 Sep 2013 – Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had successful surgery to insert a feeding tube. Click here for the rest of the article…
Netayahu Calls Israel a Beacon for World Jewry
The Foward Breaking News 4 Sep 2013 – Benjamin Netanyahu said that Jewish communities around the world will continue to stand by Israel and said that “Israel will continue to be there for the Jewish people everywhere,” in a Rosh Hashanah message. Click here for the rest of the article…
How White House Push to Jews Spurred Shift on Syria
The Forward New 4 Sep 2013 – After Barack Obama demanded that Congress back his plan to strike Syria, aides called pro-Israel groups with a simple message: You have to take a stand. Click here for the rest of the article…
Uganda: Israel, Uganda Discuss Deal for African Asylum Seekers
allAfrica.com 4 Sep 2013 – [VOA]Kampala -Israel says it is likely to send at least some of its Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers to Uganda. In return for accepting the refugees, Uganda would receive aid and weapons. Such a trade would provide Uganda the weapons it seeks, but could create legal…
Egypt: Biblawi Receives Cypriot FM, Kuwait’s Ambassador
allAfrica.com 4 Sep 2013 – [Egypt Online]Prime Minister Hazem El Biblawi on Tuesday 3/9/2013 received the Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides and the Ambassador of Kuwait in Cairo. Following the meeting, the Cypriot Foreign Minister said Cyprus supports Egypt at this critical juncture adding he conveyed a message from the Cypriot…
Namibia: Brent Holds Above U.S.$114 As Demand Hopes Offset Easing Syria Worries
allAfrica.com 4 Sep 2013 – [Namibian]BRENT futures edged lower yesterday as worries over a military strike on Syria eased, but held above US$114 a barrel as investors focused on prospects of a revival in demand growth with factory output across most of the world improving.
US Senate panel backs force in Syria
BBC 4 Sep 2013 – President Obama’s push for military action to punish Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons clears its first hurdle in the US Congress.
New date for origin of ancient Egypt
BBC 3 Sep 2013 – Ancient Egypt formed into a state 5,000 years ago much quicker than previously thought, according to research by scientists in Britain.
The New America: Between Modesty and Madness
Al-Akhbar Opinion 4 Sep 2013 – A picture downloaded on 4 September 2013 from the US Navy website and taken on 30 August 2013 shows an F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the Black Knights of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 154 launching from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Arabian sea. (Photo:…
Syrian government defiant as French, US senates debate military action
Al-Akhbar News 4 Sep 2013 – French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, left, delivers a speech during a debate about a military intervention in Syria at the French National Assembly in Paris, on 4 September 2013. (Photo: AFP – Patrick Kovarik) Syria’s deputy foreign minister said Wednesday the government would not give in…
Lebanon, Syria, and Cowardly Capital
Al-Akhbar News 4 Sep 2013 – Despite the threats and doomsday proclamations, the Lebanese economy paints a different picture. (Photo: Marwan Bu Haidar) Despite the threats and doomsday proclamations, the Lebanese economy paints a different picture. (Photo: Marwan Bu Haidar) Even before talk of a US strike on Syria took center stage,…
Lebanon: 40 Syrian Businesses Shut Down in the Bekaa
Al-Akhbar News 4 Sep 2013 – A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on 2 September 2013 shows men gathering at the site of a mortar attack near Al-Jahez park in Damascus’ Abu Rummaneh district. (Photo: AFP – SANA) A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News…
Gaza: Egypt Army Establishes Border Security Zone
Al-Akhbar News 4 Sep 2013 – A Palestinian worker rests at the entrance of a smuggling tunnel dug beneath the Gaza-Egypt border in the southern Gaza Strip on 27 August 2013. (Photo: AFP – Said Khatib) A Palestinian worker rests at the entrance of a smuggling tunnel dug beneath the Gaza-Egypt border…
PLO official on peace talks with Israel: “Hope is nonexistent”
Al-Akhbar News 4 Sep 2013 – A Palestinian protester is detained by Israeli policemen outside the entrance to al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s old city on 4 September 2013. (Photo: AFP – Marco Longari) Palestinian-Israeli peace talks have so far proved “futile,” a senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday, calling for greater US…
Five Saudis on trial in Yemen for alleged al-Qaeda involvement
Al-Akhbar News 4 Sep 2013 – Five Saudis accused of belonging to al-Qaeda and of plotting attacks went on trial Wednesday in a Yemeni court set up for terrorism cases, the official Saba news agency reported. The five men face charges of plotting “in association with an armed group belonging to al-Qaeda…
Israel Absorbs Shock of Delayed US Strike on Syria
Al-Akhbar Politics 3 Sep 2013 – An Israeli soldier checks a Merkava tank stationed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights along the border with Syria on 1 September 2013. (Photo: AFP – Jack Guez) An Israeli soldier checks a Merkava tank stationed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights along the border with Syria on…
Syria: Local Negotiations Collapse as Damascus Countryside Ignited
Al-Akhbar Politics 3 Sep 2013 – Syrians take a picture at a public garden in Damascus on 3 September 2013. (Photo: AFP – Louai Beshara) Syrians take a picture at a public garden in Damascus on 3 September 2013. (Photo: AFP – Louai Beshara) Takfiri forces have sought to block any effort…
US Senate panel backs force in Syria
BBC 4 Sep 2013 – President Obama’s push for military action to punish Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons clears its first hurdle in the US Congress.
Deadly attack on Shia family in Iraq
BBC 4 Sep 2013 – An attack on a Shia family living near Baghdad has left at least 16 people dead, Iraqi officials say.
New date for origin of ancient Egypt
BBC 3 Sep 2013 – Ancient Egypt formed into a state 5,000 years ago much quicker than previously thought, according to research by scientists in Britain.
Articles
Palestine talks doomed to repeat history
Ramzy Baroud, Asia Times 9/4/2013
Suppose several armored vehicles belonging to a branch of the Palestinian Authority raided an Israeli border village at the eve of a new round of peace negotiations. One can picture PA President Mahmoud Abbas defending the killings, stating that the attack was made in the cause of protecting the security of the Palestinian public. Would the Israeli delegation return to the talks with handshakes and smiles?
The answer is an obvious no. Yet the Palestinian delegation did return to real recently renewed peace talks after Israeli forces’ raided a refugee camp in north Jerusalem on August 26, killing three. This was not the only lethal Israeli attack to take place during “peace talks”, and it will not likely be the last.
Granted, Palestine is an occupied nation, and its leadership possesses far fewer advantages than its Israeli counterpart; but if negotiations, exist under such humiliating circumstances, can Abbas and his chief negotiator Saeb Erekat reasonably expect any fair outcome from these talks?
Of course not. Yet Abbas continues to offer more concessions that defy logic and the history of diplomacy. After volunteering last year to terminate claims to historic Palestine during an Israeli TV interview, which was rightly understood as a direct dismissal of Palestinians’ right of return to land occupied in 1947-48, he is still unrepentant.
“The Palestinians would abandon historic claims to land that is now in the state of Israel in the event of a far-reaching peace deal,” he told a group of Israeli parliamentarians, as reported by The Guardian newspaper on August 23.
Abbas, who serves no purpose aside from filling the US-entrusted role of the “moderate” Palestinian, has no vision of his own. Rather he is an assortment of confounded ideas about peace and justice and international law. He is willing to abandon the internationally enshrined rights of his people, yet expects a “just” agreement that would usher in “an end of the conflict”. more.. e-mail
PHOTOS: Life before expulsion in the South Hebron Hills
+972 Magazine 9/4/2013
A woman from the village of Khirbet al Fakheit gazes from her tent. Her village of nine families is one of the eight Palestinian communities slated for demolition in the area of the South Hebron Hills designated by the Israeli military as “Firing Zone 918″
Monday, the Israeli High Court of Justice heard the case of eight Palestinian villages that the Israeli government plans to displace in favor of a live-fire military training area known as “Firing Zone 918?. Some 1,000 people live in these villages in the South Hebron Hills, which include Jinba, Khirbet al Majaz, Khirbet at Taban, Khirbet a Safai, Khirbet al Fakheit, Khirbet al Halawah, Khirbet al Markez, and Khilet a Dabe’. The families living in these communities have eked out their existence on their barren and rocky hills for generations. For the past 14 years, this has meant living under the threats of eviction orders and home demolitions, while Israeli Jewish settlements in the same area have faced no such orders. These photos show the faces and the lives of those struggling to remain on their land.
Rather than render a final decision in the matter, the court recommended mediation between the residents and the government. In similar negotiations with the villagers a decade ago, the government proposed moving the communities to a smaller area of nearby land. The residents refused to be displaced, and after three years, the mediation ended inconclusively. In spite of these past failures, the residents have accepted the court’s proposal for a new round of mediation, and the government has one month to decide whether or not it will participate as well.
Captions: An Israeli military “firing zone” warning sign near the village of Jinba.
Students play football outside of their school in the village of Khirbet al Fakheit. The school faces a demolition order, and teachers who come from nearby Yatta have been harassed by the Israeli military and told they are prohibited from driving their cars in the area…. more.. e-mail
Oslo 20 years later: The origins and dangers of ’security zones’
Shemuel Meir, +972 Magazine 9/3/2013
How Israel succeeded in diluting the implementation of the Oslo Accords through a combination of hypothetical worst-case military scenarios and the misleading and incorrect attribution of the term ‘security zones’ to diplomatic texts.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regularly declares that in any agreement with the Palestinians, “security zones” – code for large settlement blocs and the “Jordan Valley” – will remain under Israeli sovereignty. But what is the origin of “security zones,” which repeatedly appear in the discourse of Israeli decision makers? The following is an analysis of “security zones” and the stories that we tell ourselves.
The main and lasting achievement of the Oslo Accords, whose 20th anniversary is approaching, was the mutual Israeli and Palestinian recognition of each side’s national aspirations. The anniversary provides us with a
n opportunity to examine a forgotten dimension of these accords – the birth of the “security zones.”
First, a few preliminary remarks. Wide ranging “security zones” are not equivalent to defined “security arrangements,” which are basically of a military character and are designed to facilitate the attainment of a peace agreement. According to the September 1995 Interim Agreement (Oslo II) the Palestinian Authority’s territory in the West Bank would be gradually expanded in three “stages” of withdrawal and “further redeployment.” At the conclusion of this agreement, the PA territory would include all of the West Bank except Jerusalem, settlements and specified military locations which would remain under Israeli control until the anticipated Final Status Agreement, which is derived from the Interim Agreement. The key lies in the concept of “specified military locations” that appears a number of times in the Interim Agreement.
Those who claim that Israel can unilaterally define large “security zones” – that would remain under Israeli control – create an equation, which has no basis in the peace process, between “specified military locations” and “security zones.”…. more.. e-mail
Journal: The day of the stolen donkey
Nablus Team, Kafr Qalil, Occupied Palestine, International Solidarity Movement 9/2/2013
A few days ago, I and some other volunteers were invited to join a family harvesting almonds on their land in the village of Kafr Qalil. We went and spent a tranquil two hours enjoying the beautiful scenery, drinking tea, eating bread and zataar and clambering in the almond trees, shaking the nuts to the ground.
But our time on the land was shadowed by threats – the family are unfortunate enough to have had the settlement of Bracha illegally built overlooking their land, looming on the hill overhead. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the settlers of Bracha are infamous for their extremism and violence – even named by the UN as some of the most violent colonists in the West Bank. As well as this, the road next to their trees is a settler-only road, out of bounds for Palestinians; requiring them to bring two donkeys with them to carry their supplies and to carry the almonds back over the difficult route back to the village. This in turn means that there are regular Israeli military patrols along this road and around the area.
So that explains the presence of soldiers next to the farmers as soon as we arrived on the land – at first harassing the family, asking what they were doing there, why they had come, how long they would stay; all of this on private Palestinian land, where they should have no right to dictate Palestinian actions. But this land, because it is near the settlement and the settler road, has been named Area C, giving the Israeli authorities full military and civil control. So despite us being on Palestinian land in Palestine, there is Israeli rule of law. The family had been required to apply for permission from the Israeli authorities to pick on their land on this day.
Considering all of this, after our first two reasonably tranquil hours (except for the army hanging about nearby), when the settlers arrived it really wasn’t a surprise. Three of them, brazen in their bright white outfits, came marching down the hill towards us. We continued harvesting the almonds, attempting nonchalance through the anxiety and trying to look natural on the land, as if they wouldn’t notice us if we just ignored them. But of course the Palestinians were the reason they approached and the reason they were now shouting at us “Get off our land!” more..e-mail
Oslo Dead but Still Matters: Abbas’s Village Leagues and Palestinian Silence
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Sep 2013 – By Ramzy Baroud Suppose several armored vehicles belonging to a branch of the Palestinian Authority raided an Israeli border village at the eve of a new round of peace negotiations. One can picture PA President Mahmoud Abbas defending the killings, stating that the attack was made in the cause of protecting the security of the Palestinian public. Would the Israeli delegation return to the talks with handshakes and smiles? The answer is an obvious no. Yet the Palestinian delegation did return to real recently renewed peace talks after Israeli forces’ raided a refugee camp in north Jerusalem on August 26, killing three. This was not the only lethal Israeli attack to take place during “peace talks”, and it will not likely be the last. Granted, Palestine is an occupied nation, and its leadership possesses far fewer advantages than its Israeli counterpart; but if negotiations exist under such humiliating circumstances, can…more
Jordan Invites US Targets for Syrian Retaliation
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Sep 2013 – By Nicola Nasser Located at the crossroads of several regional crises, including the Palestinian – Israeli and Iraqi conflicts, Jordan has been in the eye of the Syrian storm for more than thirty months, and managed to navigate safely so far, but the reportedly imminent US strike is pressuring the country between the rock and the hard place of the antagonists of the war on Syria. Heavily burdened by the pressure of its strategic allies and financers in the US and the GCC Arab states, who have been leading an unwavering bloody campaign for a “regime change” in Damascus, Jordan could not but yield to their demands for logistical facilities in the country, consequently shooting its self-proclaimed neutrality in the legs. Thus
, grudgingly or otherwise, Jordan has in practice invited potential US targets for Syrian retaliation on its territory if and when the Syrian government perceives that those facilities are…more
Normalizing Israel – The Almond Tree Book Review
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Sep 2013 – By Vacy Vlazna Jewish American, Michelle Cohen Corasanti’s The Almond Tree should be retitled, The Normal Tree, because, as Shahada, the tree is witness, since 1947, to the normal daily atrocities by the Israeli occupiers of Palestine, and mainly because the author’s overall purpose is the normalisation of the illegal occupation through the turning of every Palestinian cheek. Once upon a time, in this silly saccharine fairy tale, there were two brothers Ichmad and Abbas; the GOOD Palestinian who owes his good fortune to the Israelis and the BAD Palestinian who resists Israel’s violent occupation. Both brothers are victims of Israeli atrocities but the author chooses different paths for them. The GOOD brother, sadly like many diasporan Palestinians, takes the path of least resistance i.e. do nothing except take care of one’s own. The BAD brother takes the path of political and armed resistance on behalf of all his people….more
François Hollande and the ICC
Palestine Chronicle: 4 Sep 2013 – By John V. Whitbeck Now that Prime Minister David Cameron has sought parliamentary approval for “military action” against Syria and President Barack Obama has announced his intention to seek congressional approval, can President François Hollande, as a political if not a strictly constitutional matter, afford not to do likewise? A parliamentary session devoted to Syria is already scheduled for September 4, although no formal vote had been planned. Hollande’s Socialist Party has a comfortable majority in the National Assembly and a razor-thin majority in the Senate. Party discipline in France tends to be more rigid and dependable than in the U.S. and the U.K., but the most recent poll showed 64% of the French people opposed to French involvement in any “military action” against Syria. It would therefore be both highly interesting and encouraging for the future of democracy in France if Hollande were to permit a free and open…more
Oslo Dead but Still Matters
Dissident Voice: 4 Sep 2013 – Suppose several armored vehicles belonging to a branch of the Palestinian Authority raided an Israeli border village at the eve of a new round of peace negotiations. One can picture PA President Mahmoud Abbas defending the killings, stating that the attack was made in the cause of protecting the security of the Palestinian public. Would the Israeli delegation return to the talks with handshakes and smiles? The answer is an obvious no. Yet the Palestinian delegation did return to real recently renewed peace talks after Israeli forces’ raided a refugee camp in north Jerusalem on August 26, killing three. This was not the only lethal Israeli attack to take place during “peace talks”, and it will not likely be the last. Granted, Palestine is an occupied nation, and its leadership possesses far fewer advantages than its Israeli counterpart; but if negotiations exist under such humiliating circumstances, can Abbas and his…more
Towards the Vindication of a Syria Invasion
Dissident Voice: 4 Sep 2013 – In a stern tone, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday not to indulge in any one-sided military action against Syria amid increasing fears that Washington is preparing to put this sinister idea into practical shape in cahoots with regional puppet regimes. In an interview with Channel One television, Putin clarified his stance on the issue, saying that only the “UN Security Council can give approval for the use of force against another state,” and warned against any such move which would be considered as an act of “aggression.” “Any other ways to justify the use of force against another sovereign and independent state are unacceptable and cannot be qualified as anything other than aggression,” Putin said. Yet, in a not-too-clandestine move, US Secretary of State John Kerry has formed a union with regional puppet regimes including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey and marshaled…more
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The New Dark Age 