Articles

Why Does Haim Saban Support Arab Spring?
May 21, 2011
Middle East
NOVANEWS   By Maidhc Ó Cathail   “The test of a first-rate intelligence,” F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, “is the ...Read more
The Responsibility to Protect – The Cases of Libya and Ivory Coast
May 21, 2011
Libya
NOVANEWS By Prof. Marjorie Cohn Global Research, Information Clearing House The United States, France and Britain invaded Libya with cruise ...Read more
Regime Change at the IMF: The Frame-Up of Dominique Strauss-Kahn?
May 21, 2011
Politics
NOVANEWS By Prof. Michel Chossudovsky Global Research, [Forward this article on Facebook or twitter, click above] The arrest of IMF ...Read more
The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order
May 21, 2011
World
NOVANEWS by Michel Chossudovsky In this new and expanded edition of Chossudovsky’s international best-seller, the author outlines the contours of ...Read more
Palestinian man murdered by Zio-Nazi
May 21, 2011
Human Rights
NOVANEWS     Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday reported that a man was shot to death by the ...Read more
U.S. denies allegations of ‘furious’ Clinton-Netanyahu exchange
May 21, 2011
USA
NOVANEWS   U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirms U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and PM Benjamin Netanyahu spoke ...Read more
Mondoweiss Online Newsletter
May 21, 2011
Middle East
NOVANEWS   Netanyahu has nothing to worry about On a NY stage, four strong characters seek out the meaning of ...Read more
A.Loewenstein Online Newsletter
May 21, 2011
Middle East
NOVANEWS   Fisk on what Obama should say about the Middle East (but won’t) Private prisons only help the private ...Read more
Imperialism: Bankers, Drug Wars and Genocide Mexico’s Descent in the Inferno
May 21, 2011
USA
NOVANEWS By Prof. James Petras Global Research, In May 2011, Mexican investigators uncovered another mass clandestine grave with dozens of ...Read more
Anti-Atzmon Zionist Campaign
May 21, 2011
United Kingdom
NOVANEWS The following is an email sent by Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi to selected 'revolutionary' chosen members within the UK ‘anti Zionist’ ...Read more
Jewish Clandestine Operation Exposed
May 21, 2011
United Kingdom
NOVANEWS Gilad Atzmon     Below you will find an embarrassing 'call for action' circulated (selectively) by Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, a ...Read more
Mondoweiss Online Newsletter
May 21, 2011
Nova Newsletter
NOVANEWS   Rosa Parks’s bus doesn’t stop in this country Obama won’t have to write another speech for AIPAC on ...Read more

Why Does Haim Saban Support Arab Spring?

NOVANEWS
 

By Maidhc Ó Cathail
 

“The test of a first-rate intelligence,” F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, “is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” When it comes to what’s been dubbed the “Arab Spring,” most Middle East analysts pass Fitzgerald’s test with flying colours.

Hardly anyone would dispute the claim that Haim Saban cares deeply about Israel. After all, the Egyptian-born Israeli-American media mogul has admitted to the New York Times, “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel.” A New Yorker profile last year elaborated:

His greatest concern, he says, is to protect Israel, by strengthening the United States-Israel relationship. At a conference last fall in Israel, Saban described his formula. His “three ways to be influential in American politics,” he said, were: make donations to political parties, establish think tanks, and control media outlets.

The think tank part of Saban’s tripartite Israel-protection formula was initiated in 2002 with a pledge of nearly $13 million to the Brookings Institution to establish the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. In 2007, the Saban Center expanded operations with the launch of the Brookings Doha Center. Its Qatar-based project was inaugurated in February 2008 by the founding director of the Saban Center, Martin Indyk. A former research director at the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Indyk had previously founded the AIPAC-created Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP).

All three experts at the Brookings Doha Center — its director, deputy director and director of research — are fellows at the pro-Israel Saban Center, while two of the three have close ties to Washington’s “democracy promotion” establishment. The center’s deputy director, Ibrahim Sharqieh, previously managed a long term USAID development project in Yemen, as well as a U.S. State Department Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) civic education project. According to a March 12 report in the Washington Post detailing U.S. support for Arab democrats, USAID grants “proved vital to activists in a half-dozen Arab lands,” financing, for example, the training by groups such as the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI) and Freedom House of up to 80 percent of the leaders of the Egyptian uprising. MEPI, according to an April 18 Washington Post report, has funneled up to $6 million to Syrian opposition groups since 2006. As further testament to Haim Saban’s contribution to Middle East democracy, MEPI is currently headed by Tamara Wittes, formerly director of the Saban Center’s Middle East Democracy and Development (MEDD) Project.

Shadi Hamid, the Doha center’s director of research, is aptly described as an expert on democratization in the Middle East. Prior to working for the Saban Center, he was a Hewlett Fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). CDDRL’s director, Larry Diamond, is the founding co-editor of the National Endowment for Democracy’s Journal of Democracy and a longtime advocate of Arab democracy. Hamid was also director of research at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), whose board of advisors, reading like a who’s who of the democracy promotion establishment, includes Diamond and the NDI and IRI presidents. Hamid has also served as a program specialist on public diplomacy at the U.S. State Department. James Glassman, the former Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy who brought Middle Eastern pro-democracy activists to New York for the inaugural Alliance of Youth Movements (AYM) summit in 2008, viewed public diplomacy as “the direct or indirect engagement of foreign publics to support national security objectives,” while observing that “it’s a lot easier to be influential when others are making the pronouncements.”

On its international advisory council, the Brookings Doha Center boasts such luminaries of democracy promotion as Madeleine Albright. The former U.S. Secretary of State currently chairs the NDI, the Democratic affiliate of the quasi-governmental National Endowment for Democracy (NED). As Kenneth Timmerman candidly admitted in 2009, “The National Endowment for Democracy has spent millions of dollars during the past decade promoting ‘color’ revolutions in places such as Ukraine and Serbia, training political workers in modern communications and organizational techniques.” During the protests in Egypt, Albright was interviewed by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, one of the corporate sponsors of Movements.org, the AYM’s online hub which supports the activities of pro-democracy digital activists. Considering her lack of scruples about the sanctions-induced deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children, Albright’s condemnation of the Mubarak regime’s brutality has to be taken with a large grain of salt. More importantly, however, the NDI chair acknowledged that her democracy-promoting organization had been “working within Egypt for a long time.” Around the same time, Martin Indyk was telling MSNBC’s “Meet the Press” that the time had come for Mubarak to go.

From the beginning of the Arab uprisings, the Brookings Doha Center has been churning out commentaries with titles like “Saleh Falls,” “In Syria, Assad Must Exit the Stage” and “If United States Doesn’t Make Qaddafi Go, Who Will?” which leave little doubt about their stance. In a recent Washington Post report, which reads more like an editorial in support of the Arab Spring, the center’s director, Salman Shaikh, warns, “If these Arab revolutions do become a footnote, and if people do become frustrated and see no light at the end of the tunnel, I don’t know where it could lead in terms of people thinking of al-Qaeda.”

Yet few Middle East observers seem to be asking: If the Arab Spring is backed so unreservedly by Haim Saban’s think tank, which was created to protect Israel, then how could it possibly threaten Israeli interests?

 

The Responsibility to Protect – The Cases of Libya and Ivory Coast

NOVANEWS

By Prof. Marjorie Cohn

Global Research,

Information Clearing House

The United States, France and Britain invaded Libya with cruise missiles, stealth bombers, fighter jets and attack jets. Although NATO has taken over the military operation, U.S. President Barack Obama has been bombing Libya with Hellfire missiles from unmanned Predator drones. The number of civilians these foreign forces have killed remains unknown. This military campaign was ostensibly launched to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 in order to protect civilians in Libya.

 
In addition, the United Nations and France have been bombing the Ivory Coast to protect civilians against violence by Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to cede power to the newly elected president after a disputed election. UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon insists that the United Nations is “not a party to the conflict.” France, former colonial ruler of Ivory Coast, has over 1,500 troops stationed there. Ivory Coast is the world’s second largest coffee grower and biggest producer of cocoa. The bombing of Ivory Coast is being undertaken to enforce Security Council Resolution 1975 to protect civilians there.
The UN Charter does not permit the use of military force for humanitarian interventions. The military invasions of Libya and Ivory Coast have been justified by reference to the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.
The Responsibility to Protect is contained in the General Assembly’s Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit. It is not enshrined in an international treaty nor has it ripened into a norm of customary international law. Paragraph 138 of that document says each individual State has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. Paragraph 139 adds that the international community, through the United Nations, also has “the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.”
Chapter VI of the Charter requires parties to a dispute likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security to “first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice.” Chapter VIII governs “regional arrangements,” such as NATO, the Arab League, and the African Union. The chapter specifies that regional arrangements “shall make every effort to achieve pacific settlement of local disputes through such regional arrangements . . .”
It is only when peaceful means have been tried and proved inadequate that the Security Council can authorize action under Chapter VII of the Charter. That action includes boycotts, embargoes, severance of diplomatic relations, and even blockades or operations by air, sea or land.
The Responsibility to Protect doctrine grew out of frustration with the failure to take action to prevent the genocide in Rwanda, where a few hundred troops could have saved myriad lives. But the doctrine was not implemented to stop Israel from bombing Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009, which resulted in a loss of 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians.
Security Council Resolution 1973 begins with the call for “the immediate establishment of a ceasefire.” It reiterates “the responsibility of the Libyan authorities to protect the Libyan population” and reaffirms that “parties to armed conflicts bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of civilians. The resolution authorizes UN Member States “to take all necessary measures . . . to protect civilians and civilian populated areas” of Libya.
But instead of pursuing an immediate ceasefire, immediate military action was taken instead. The military force exceeds the bounds of the “all necessary measures” authorization. “All necessary measures” should first have been peaceful measures to settle the conflict. Yet peaceful means were not exhausted before the military invasion began. A high level international team – consisting of representatives from the Arab League, the African Union, and the UN Secretary General – should have been dispatched to Tripoli to attempt to negotiate a real cease-fire, and set up a mechanism for elections and for protecting civilians. Moreover, after the passage of the resolution, Libya immediately offered to accept international monitors and Qadaffi offered to step down and leave Libya. These offers were immediately rejected by the opposition.
Security Council Resolution 1975 regarding Ivory Coast is similar to resolution 1973 regarding Libya. The former authorizes the use of “all necessary means to . . . protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence” in Ivory Coast. It reaffirms “the primary responsibility of each State to protect civilians” and reiterates that “parties to armed conflicts bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of civilians.”
The UN Charter commands that all Members settle their international disputes by peaceful means, to maintain international peace, security, and justice. Members must also refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state or in any manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United
Nations.
Only when a State acts in self-defense, in response to an armed attack by one country against another, can it militarily attack another State under the UN Charter. The need for self-defense must be overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation. Neither Libya nor Ivory Coast had attacked another country. The United States, France and Britain in Libya, and France and the UN in Ivory Coast, are not acting in self-defense. Humanitarian concerns do not constitute self-defense.
There is a double standard in the use of military force to protect civilians. Obama has not attacked Bahrain where lethal force is being used to quell anti-government protests because that is where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is stationed. In fact, the Asia Times reported that before the invasion of Libya, the United States made a deal with Saudi Arabia, whereby the Saudis would invade Bahrain to help put down the anti-democracy protestors and Saudi Arabia would enlist the support of the Arab League for a no-fly-zone over Libya.
The League’s support for a no-fly-zone effectively neutralized opposition from Russia and China to Security Council Resolution 1973. Moreover, the military action by the U.S., France and Britain has gone far beyond a no-fly-zone. Indeed, Obama, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain’s David Cameron penned an op-ed in the International Herald Tribune that said the NATO force will fight in Libya until President Muammar Qaddafi is gone, even though the Resolution does not sanction forcible regime change.
When Obama defended his military actions in Libya, he said “Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different.” Two weeks later, the Arab League asked the Security Council to consider imposing a no-fly-zone over the Gaza Strip in order to protect civilians from Israeli air strikes. But the United States, an uncritical ally of Israel, will never allow the passage of such a resolution, regardless of the number of Palestinian civilians Israel kills. This is a double standard.
The military actions in Libya and Ivory Coast set a dangerous precedent of attacking countries where the leadership does not favor the pro-U.S. or pro-European Union countries. What will prevent the United States from stage-managing some protests, magnifying them in the corporate media as mass actions, and then bombing or attacking Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, or North Korea? Recall that during the Bush administration, Washington leveled baseless allegations to justify an illegal invasion of Iraq.
During a discussion of the Responsibility to Protect in the General Assembly on July 23, 2009, the Cuban government raised some provocative questions that should give those who support this notion pause: “Who is to decide if there is an urgent need for an intervention in a given State, according to what criteria, in what framework, and on the basis of what conditions? Who decides it is evident the authorities of a State do not protect their people, and how is it decided? Who determines peaceful means are not adequate in a certain situation, and on what criteria? Do small States have also the right and the actual prospect of interfering in the affairs of larger States? Would any developed country allow, either in principle or in practice, humanitarian intervention in its own territory? How and where do we draw the line between an intervention under the Responsibility to Protect and an intervention for political or strategic purposes, and when do political considerations prevail over humanitarian concerns?”
The Responsibility to Protect doctrine violates the basic premise of the UN Charter. Last year, the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee declined funding for the office of the new Special Advisor on Responsibility to Protect. Some member States argued that the Responsibility to Protect had not been agreed to as a norm at the World Summit. The debate will continue. But for many States, this is a slippery slope that should be viewed with extreme caution.

Regime Change at the IMF: The Frame-Up of Dominique Strauss-Kahn?

NOVANEWS

By Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research,

[Forward this article on Facebook or twitter, click above]
The arrest of IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has all the appearances of a frame-up ordered by powerful members of the financial establishment, in liaison with France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, whose presidency has served the interests of the US at the expense of those of France and the European Union. While there is for the moment no proof of a plot, the unusual circumstances of his arrest and imprisonment require careful examination.

Immediately following Strauss Kahn’s arrest, pressures were exerted by Washington to speed up his replacement as Managing Director of the IMF preferably by a non-European, an American or a handpicked candidate from an “emerging market economy” or a developing country.

Since the founding of the Bretton Woods institutions in 1945, the World Bank has been headed by an American whereas the IMF has been under the helm of a (Western) European.

Strauss-Kahn is a member of elite groups who meet behind closed doors. He belongs to the Bildeberger. Categorized as one of the world’s most influential persons, he is an academic and politician rather than a banker. In contrast to his predecessors at the IMF, he has no direct affiliation to a banking or financial institution.

But at the same time he is the fall guy. His “gaffe” was to confront the Washington-Wall Street Consensus and push for reforms within the IMF, which challenged America’s overriding role within the organization.

The demise of Strauss-Kahn potentially serves to strengthen the hegemony of the US and its control over the IMF at the expense of what former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called “Old Europe”.


Blocking Strauss-Kahn, the Presidential Candidate

In recent years, a major shift has occurred in Europe’s political landscape. Pro-American governments have been elected in both France and Germany. Social Democracy has been weakened.

Franco-American relations have been redefined, with Washington playing a significant role in grooming a new generation of European politicians.

The presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy has, in many regards, become a de facto US “client regime”, broadly supportive of US corporate interests in the EU and closely aligned with US foreign policy.

There are two overlapping and interrelated issues in the DSK frame-up hypothesis.

The first pertains to regime change at the IMF, the second to Strauss-Kahn as a candidate in France’s forthcoming presidential elections.

Both these processes are tied into the clash between competing US and European economic interests.

Strauss-Khan as a favorite of the Socialist Party, would have won the presidential elections leading to the demise of “Our Man in Paris” Nicolas Sarkozy.
As documented by Thierry Meyssan, the CIA played a central undercover role in destabilizing the Gaullist party and supporting the election of Nicolas Sarkozy (See Operation Sarkozy: How the CIA placed one of its agents at the presidency of the French Republic, Reseau Voltaire, September 4, 2008)

A Strauss-Kahn presidency and a “Socialist” government would have been a serious setback for Washington, contributing to a major shift in Franco-American relations. It would also have contributed to weakening America’s role on the European political chessboard. It would also have changed the balance of power between America and “Old Europe” (namely the Franco-German alliance).  It would have had repercussions on the internal structure of the Atlantic Alliance and the hegemonic role of the US within NATO.

The Frame-Up?

Fifty-seven percent of France’s population, according to a May 17 poll, believe that Strauss-Kahn was framed, victim of a set-up. He was detained on alleged sexual assault and rape charges based on scanty evidence. He was detained based on a complaint filed by the Sofitel hotel where he was staying, on behalf of the alleged victim, an unnamed hotel chamber-maid:

The 32-year-old maid told authorities that she entered his suite early Saturday afternoon and he attacked her, New York Police Department spokesman Paul J. Browne. She said she had been told to clean the spacious $3,000-a-night suite, which she thought was empty.

According to an account the woman provided to police, Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway and pulled her into a bedroom, where he began to sexually assault her. She said she fought him off, then he dragged her into the bathroom, where he forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear. The woman was able to break free again and escaped the room and told hotel staff what had happened, authorities said. They called police.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7565485.html#ixzz1MfFWFlnY

Wednesday CFR.org Roundup: U.S. pressures Strauss-Kahn to resign

Challenging the Washington Consensus

What is at stake in the immediate wake of Strauss Kahn’s demise is “regime change” at the IMF.

The Obama administration has demanded his replacement by a more compliant individual. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, former CEO of the New York Federal Reserve Bank is pushing for the replacement of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, “suggesting he can no longer perform his duties” as IMF Managing director.

“Geithner called for greater formal recognition by the IMF board that John Lipsky, the fund’s second-in-command, will continue serving as temporary managing director for an interim period. Although Strauss-Kahn has yet to resign, sources say the IMF is in touch with his legal counsel to discuss his future at the organization.”

What lies behind the frame-up scenario? What powerful interests are involved? Geithner had a close personal relationship with Strauss-Kahn.

On the floor of the US Senate (May 18), Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, called for the resignation of DSK while calling upon the IMF’s deputy managing director John Lipsky to “assume full responsibility of the IMF” as interim managing director. The process of “permanent replacement should “commence at once,” he said. John Lipsky is a well connected Wall Street banker, a former Vice Chairman at JPMorgan Investment Bank.

While the IMF is in theory an intergovernmental organization, it has historically been controlled by Wall Street and the US Treasury. The IMF’s “bitter economic medicine”, the so-called Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), imposed on countless developing countries, essentially serves the interests of creditor banks and multinational corporations.

The IMF is not the main architect of these devastating economic reforms which have served to impoverish millions of people, while creating a “favorable environment” for foreign investors in Third World  low wage economies.

The creditor banks call the shots. The IMF is a bureaucratic entity. Its role is to implement and enforce those economic policies on behalf of dominant economic interests.

Strauss Kahn’s proposed reforms while providing a “human face” to the IMF did not constitute a shift in direction. They were formulated within the realm of neoliberalism. They modified but they did not undermine the central role of IMF “economic medicine”. The socially devastating impacts of IMF “shock treatment” under Strauss-Kahn’s leadership have largely prevailed.

Dominique Strauss Kahn arrived at the helm of the IMF in November 2007, less than a year prior to September-October 2008 financial meltdown on Wall Street. The structural adjustment program (SAP) was not modified. Under DSK, IMF “shock treatment” which historically had been limited to developing countries was  imposed on Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Under the helm of DSK as Managing Director, the IMF demanded that developing countries remove food and fuel subsidies at a time of rising commodity prices on the New York and Chicago Mercantile exchanges.

The hikes in food and fuel prices, which preceded the September-October 2008 Wall Street crash, were in large part the result of market manipulation. Grain prices were boosted artificially by large scale speculative operations. Instead of taming the speculators and containing the rise in food and fuel prices, the IMF’s role was to ensure that the governments of indebted developing countries would not in any way interfere in the “free market”, by preventing these prices from going up.

These hikes in food prices, which are the result of outright manipulation (rather than scarcity) have served to impoverish people Worldwide. The surge in food prices constitutes a new phase of the process of global impoverishment.

DSK was complicit in this process of market manipulation. The removal of food and fuel subsidies in Tunisia and Egypt had been demanded by the IMF. Food and fuel prices skyrocketed, people were impoverished, paving the way towards the January 2011 social protest movement:

Fiscal prudence remains an overarching priority for the [Tunisian] authorities, who also see the need for maintaining a supportive fiscal policy in 2010 in the current international environment. Efforts in the last decade to bring down the public debt ratio significantly should not be jeopardized by a too lax fiscal policy. The authorities are committed to firmly control current expenditure, including subsidies,… (IMF Tunisia: 2010 Article IV Consultation – Staff Report; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Tunisia)
“[The IMF] encouraged the [Egyptian] authorities to press further with food and fuel subsidy reforms, and welcomed their intention to improve the efficiency and targeting of food subsidy programs. [meaning the selective elimination of food subsidies].

“Consideration should be given to introducing automatic adjustment mechanisms for domestic fuel prices to minimize distortions [meaning dramatic increases in fuel prices without State interference], while strengthening cash-based social programs to protect vulnerable groups. (IMF Executive Board Concludes 2008 Article IV Consultation with the Arab Republic of Egypt Public Information Notice, PIN  No. 09/04, January 15, 2009)

Under the helm of DSK, the IMF also imposed sweeping austerity measures on Egypt in 2008, while supporting Hosni Mubarak’s “efforts to broaden the privatization program”.(Ibid)

The Frank G. Wisner Nicolas Sarkozy Connection

Strauss-Kahn was refused bail by Judge Melissa Jackson, an appointee and protégé of Michael Bloomberg, who in addition to his role as Mayor is a powerful figure on Wall Street.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. charged (using scanty evidence) Strauss-Kahn “with seven crimes, including attempted rape, sexual abuse, forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment”.

Who is Cyrus Vance Jr.?

He is the son of the late Cyrus Vance who served as Secretary of State in the Carter administration.

But there is more than meets the eye. Nicolas Sarkozy’s step father Frank G. Wisner II, a prominent CIA official who married his step mother Christine de Ganay in 1977 served as Deputy Executive Secretary of State under the helm of Cyrus Vance Senior, father of District Attorney Cyrus Vance Junior.

Is it relevant?

The Vance and Wisner families had close personal ties. In turn Nicolas Sarkozy had close family ties with his step father Frank Wisner (and his half brothers and sisters in the US and one member of the Wisner was involved in Sarkozy’s election campaign).
It is also worth noting that Frank G. Wisner II was the son of one of America’s most notorious spies, the late Frank Gardiner Wisner (1909- 1965), the mastermind behind the CIA sponsored coup which toppled the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran in 1953. Wisner Jr. is also trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Trust.
While these various personal ties do not prove that Strauss-Kahn was the object of a set-up, the matter of Sarkozy’s ties to the CIA via his step father, not to mention the ties of Frank G. Wisner II to the Cyrus Vance family are certainly worth investigating. Frank G, Wisner also played a key role as Obama’s special intelligence envoy to Egypt at the height of the January 2011 protest movement.
Did the CIA play a role?
Was Strauss-Kahn framed by people in his immediate political entourage including President Obama and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner?

District Attorney Cyrus Vance Junior, son of the late Cyrus Vance, Secretary of State in the Carter administration

Sarkozy’s Step Father Frank G Wisner II, Deputy Executive Secretary of State (1976-79)
under Cyrus Vance Senior during the Carter administration

In this courtroom drawing, Dominique Strauss-Khan, centre, stands next to his lawyer Benjamin Brafman, in front of Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson during his arraignment at the Manhattan Criminal Court for the alleged attack on a maid at his penthouse suite of a hotel in New York. Photo: AP

In this courtroom drawing, Dominique Strauss-Khan, next to his lawyer

Benjamin Brafman, in front of Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson during his arraignment at the Manhattan Criminal Court (AP)

File:Strauss-Kahn, Geithner (IMF 2009).jpg

DSK and Timothy Geithner

DSK and Timothy Geithner


Fair Trial?

Innocent before proven guilty? The US media has already cast its verdict. Will the court procedures be manipulated?

One would expect that Strauss-Kahn be granted a fair trial, namely the same treatment as that granted to thousands of arrests on alleged sexual aggression charges in New York City.

How many similar or comparable alleged sexual aggressions occur on a monthly basis in New York City?  What is the underlying pattern? How many of these are reported to the police?  How many are the object of police follow-up once a complaint has been filed?

What is the percent of complaints submitted to police which are the object of police arrest? How many of these arrests lead to a judicial procedure? What are the delays in court procedures?

How many of these arrests lead to release without a judicial procedure?

How many of the cases submitted to a judicial procedure are dismissed by the presiding judge?

How many of the cases which are not dismissed are refused bail outright by the presiding judge? What is the basis for refusing bail?

How many are granted bail?  What is the average amount of bail?

How many are imprisoned without bail based on scanty and incomplete evidence?

How many of those who are refused bail are sent to an infamous maximum security prison on Rikers Island on the orders of  Michael Bloomberg.

Diplomatic Immunity

Press reports state that full diplomatic immunity does not apply to officials of the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions, namely that the US did not ratify the protocol.

“U.N. convention on privileges and immunities for international agencies that most countries have ratified. It gives the heads of U.N. agencies broad immunity in the countries where they are based. But the U.S. government never became a party to that treaty. Employees of international agencies are covered by a U.S. statute that gives only limited immunity.”

The relevant question is how has this limited immunity provision been applied in practice?  Namely how many people with limited immunity (UN officials, officials of the Bretton Woods institutions) have been arrested and sent to a high security prison?

Has Strauss Kahn been given the same treatment as those arrested under the provisions of “limited immunity”?

Does the Strauss Kahn arrest fit the pattern? Or is Strauss Kahn being treated in a way which does not correspond to the normal (average) pattern of police and judicial procedures applied in the numerous cases of persons arrested on alleged sexual assault charges?

Without a frame-up instrumented by very powerful people acting in the background, the head of the IMF would have been treated in an entirely different way. The mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg and Timothy Geithner would have come to his rescue.  The matter would have been hushed up with a view to protecting the reputation of a powerful public figure. But that did not happen.

Rikers Island Prison where DSK was imprisoned.

The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order

NOVANEWS



by Michel Chossudovsky


In this new and expanded edition of Chossudovsky’s international best-seller, the author outlines the contours of a New World Order which feeds on human poverty and the destruction of the environment, generates social apartheid, encourages racism and ethnic strife and undermines the rights of women. The result as his detailed examples from all parts of the world show so convincingly, is a globalization of poverty.

This book is a skilful combination of lucid explanation and cogently argued critique of the fundamental directions in which our world is moving financially and economically.

In this new enlarged edition –which includes ten new chapters and a new introduction– the author reviews the causes and consequences of famine in Sub-Saharan Africa, the dramatic meltdown of financial markets, the demise of State social programs and the devastation resulting from corporate downsizing and trade liberalisation.

Michel Chossudovsky is Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which hosts the critically acclaimed website www.globalresearch.ca . He is a contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica. His writings have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Published in 13 languages. More than 120,000 copies sold Worldwide.
In these unprecedented economic times, the world is experiencing as a whole what most of the non-Industrialized world has experienced over the past several decades. Michel Chossudovsky takes the reader through a nuanced examination of the intricacies of the global political-economic landscape and the power players within it; specifically, looking at how the World Bank and IMF have been the greatest purveyors of poverty around the world, despite their rhetorical claims to the opposite. These institutions, representing the powerful Western nations and the financial interests that dominate them, spread social apartheid around the world, exploiting both the people and the resources of the vast majority of the world’s population. As Chossudovsky examines in this updated edition, often the programs of these International Financial Instittutions go hand-in-hand with covert military and intelligence operations undertaken by powerful Western nations with an objective to destabilize, control, destroy and dominate nations and people, such as in the cases of Rwanda and Yugoslavia.
To understand what role these international organizations play today, being pushed to the front lines and given unprecedented power and scope as ever before to manage the Global Economic Crisis, one must understand from whence they came. This book provides a detailed, exploratory, readable and multi-faceted examination of these institutions and actors as agents of the ‘New World Order,’ for which they advance the ‘Globalization of Poverty.’

Palestinian man murdered by Zio-Nazi

NOVANEWS
 

 

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday reported that a man was shot to death by the IDF near the border fence with Israel, east of Gaza City.

An IDF spokesman said the troops opened fire at a suspect who entered a restricted zone near the border fence.

On Friday, following calls to renew the processions toward Israel’s borders, a few dozen Palestinians approached the border fence east of Khan Younis and torched tires.

The IDF stated that the soldiers aimed at the lower part of the body of one of the “main instigators” and hit him. Sources in the Strip reported that the Palestinian man participated in rallies calling for a third intifada.

After the shooting, the protesters drew back from the fence and continued their demonstration.

Last weekend, thousands held protests against Israel to mark the “Nakba Day.” Last Saturday, 78-year-old Ahmad Matar was shot to death by IDF soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip after he approached the border fence.

U.S. denies allegations of ‘furious’ Clinton-Netanyahu exchange

NOVANEWS
 

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirms U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and PM Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Thursday, however, claims was ‘a frank and cordial exchange reflecting their close relationship’.

Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, the U.S. State Department said but declined to confirm a report that it was an angry exchange.

The New York Times reported that the telephone conversation was “furious” and that the prime minister “reacted angrily to (U.S. President Barack Obama’s) plan to endorse Israel’s pre-1967 borders for a future Palestinian state.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected the feasibility of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, which he claims are “indefensible”.

“I can confirm, as we do, that she did speak to Prime Minister Netanyahu before his trip. Obviously we don’t get into the substance, but clearly they discussed the president’s speech,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Friday.

“(I’d) just say it was a frank and cordial exchange reflecting their close relationship,” Toner added. “I don’t want to get into what (the) press accounts may have been. … They discussed the speech and his (then) upcoming visit.”

A senior Israeli official confirmed that the call took place, said he thought the conversation was helpful and that some revisions were made to Obama’s speech but declined to provide details or to confirm it was an angry exchange.

The White House denied that any changes were made to those portions of the speech that dealt with the possible borders under an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

Mondoweiss Online Newsletter

NOVANEWS

 

Netanyahu has nothing to worry about

May 20, 2011

David Samel

Israeli PM Netanyahu has expressed dismay about President Obama’s Middle East speech. Bibi supposedly was outraged that Obama mentioned the pre-1967 borders as a starting point for negotiations.

Netanyahu has complained that Mr. Obama has pushed Israel too far – a point driven home during a furious phone call with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday morning, just hours before Mr. Obama’s speech, during which the prime minister reacted angrily to the president’s plan to endorse Israel’s pre-1967 borders for a future Palestinian state. Mr. Obama did not back down.

Another Times article notes Obama’s sharp break from past approaches.

Mr. Obama declared that the prevailing borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war – adjusted to some degree to account for Israeli settlements in the West Bank – should be the basis of a deal. While the 1967 borders have long been viewed as the foundation for a peace agreement, Mr. Obama’s formula of land swaps to compensate for disputed territory created a new benchmark for a diplomatic solution.

By the way, was there any communication between these reporters and the Times editorial staff, who more sensibly noted:

There was much hand-wringing in Israel over the president’s call for a two-state solution based on “the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.” The language was new, but it was not a major change in American policy. It must not become another excuse for inaction.

Bibi’s point man in the US, Alan Dershowitz, decried that Obama “insisted that Israel must surrender all of the areas captured in its defensive war of 1967, subject only to land swaps.” Dershowitz added for good measure that in 1967, a unanimous Security Council passed Resolution 242 with the explicit understanding that parts of Jerusalem, including “the Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem and the access roads to Hebrew University,” would be retained by Israel “without the need for any land swaps.” He would know, you see, because he “played a very small role in helping to draft” the resolution, and that was at least his understanding even if this provision was somehow omitted from the final text.

Relax, guys. Nothing’s changed. The old formula is still in place.

Of course the 1967 lines have always been the starting point for discussion – they were in Barak’s “generous” 2000 offer at Camp David, the more promising Taba negotiations in 2001 that were cut short due to the impending Israeli election of the rejectionist Sharon, and in Olmert’s 2008 “even more generous” offer.

Why the uproar now? What was Obama supposed to say – that the starting point was complete Israeli control from the river to the sea, and that Israel could expect concessions for each square kilometer that it graciously yielded? Even in our poisoned political atmosphere, that would never fly. The 1967 lines are the only logical starting point. The devil has always been in the details, and Obama explicitly included those devilish details in his speech.

First, there’s the “mutually agreed swaps” of land to determine permanent borders. By definition, such swaps require negotiations, which would be between the elected legitimate government of the only democracy in the Middle East and, and… Uh oh. The Palestinians have reached a unity agreement in which Hamas will be part of any negotiations. The Palestinians themselves and most of the international community applaud this reconciliation as a necessary step to meaningful progress, but to the US and Israel, it spells “DQ”.

Obama: “the recent announcement of an agreement between Fatah and Hamas raises profound and legitimate questions for Israel – how can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognize your right to exist.”

So negotiations are required to determine the “mutually agreed swaps,” and negotiations are impossible with Hamas included in the decision-making process. When Palestinians insist on their right to choose their own leaders and to have a more inclusive group represent them, guess whose fault it is when these land swaps cannot be agreed upon for lack of a legitimate negotiating partner?

And what about Jerusalem and right of return that Obama postpones for future consideration? We don’t even have to get there. The “peace process” will enter its 45th year of hopelessness, with those issues remaining trump cards to be called upon only in the unlikely event that there appears to be real progress toward a settlement.

It used to be that Israel could not negotiate while the threat of Iranian nuclear annihilation was hanging over its head. Before that, Ariel Sharon could not negotiate in the midst of terrorist attacks, and when such attacks were curtailed, he had forgotten about his promise to do so. Now the problem is the inclusion of Hamas in the Palestinian “government.” In September, it will be the confusion and uncertainty brought on by possible UN recognition of a Palestinian State. That’s another future obstacle already identified by Obama as a potential deal-breaker.

The certainty of unresolvable conflict, blamed on the Palestinians, is built in to Obama’s plan. The status quo has served the Israelis well over the past 44 years. Sure, they’ve had to endure various rounds of “terrorism,” that is, a small fraction of the violence they have visited upon the Palestinians and Lebanese. But the land has been theirs to play with. They get to rule over millions of stateless, powerless people, making extrajudicial decisions over every facet of their lives and even whether they have lives at all, and still get to call themselves a “democracy”; only a few people, and none who count, snicker in disgust.

The occupation may be intolerable, but only for its victims. Israel can continue for another 44 years, creating new “facts on the ground.” Such opinions presently are expressed only by its more outspoken politicians (e.g., Avigdor Lieberman, who dismissed peace with the Palestinians as being “decades away”), but they are shared by much of the government and the country as a whole. Netanyahu doesn’t really care where the starting point is. He just wants to make sure there’s no realistic possibility of an end point.

The fear that Obama has grown a spine is greatly exaggerated, though Netanyahu’s pretend “furious” reaction surely is designed to make Obama look and maybe feel tougher than he is. This doesn’t even address the underlying problem of the illegal settlements which make the two-state solution impossible. Obama’s criticism of the settlements was limited to the fact that they are “continuing,” and of course the Palestinians were to blame because they “walked away from talks.”

So Obama has endorsed a blueprint for no progress toward an unachievable outcome, and we are supposed to believe Netanyahu’s howls of outrage over a single reference to the long-standing “starting point” for the road to nowhere. How transparent is this? Even Jeffrey Goldberg doesn’t buy it!

On a NY stage, four strong characters seek out the meaning of Gaza and the Arab spring

May 20, 2011

Philip Weiss

Last night we had an event about Gaza in Manhattan with the Culture Project. It was so great and affirming that I was up most of the night savoring the experience. It was in a grand hall in midtown Manhattan, it was sold out, people actually paid money to go in, and they were rewarded with wisdom about Gaza, Goldstone and the Arab spring. Of the five people on the stage that night, four were women. Many people commented on that, and god knows I’m proud to have had a hand in that staging. But what did they say?

The four experts were like four big characters in a David Hare play. They were all so distinct. Each time they spoke you wanted to hear that character come out then, in the life of the evening. No one dominated, until the end. The thaumaturge (I think I get to use that word, you know I am a helpless showoff) was the moderator Laura Flanders, host and founder of Grit-TV, who called the players out of the shadows with deft phrases.

Naomi Klein was the headliner, and she did what she always does, takes a conversation to a big plane. At the start she said, we did not need human rights reports and international law and the 450 pages of the Goldstone Report, we knew what we saw in the last days of 2008 in Gaza and it was wrong. That is why we are here tonight, because we all saw that– and when she went to Gaza in June 2009 she met people who felt abandoned by the world.

Then at the end she tied it into global warming, and Jewishness too. She is working on a book and a movie on the subject and she said we will face more intensified water wars (implying that they have already begun) and people will become countryless. They will lose their land. And how can I as a north American Jew, Klein said, justify having not one but two countries, one as a possible refuge, in these circumstances. There was huge applause. I was deeply grateful to her for the injection of the privilege/selfishness note, and the Jewish note.

Seated across from Klein was Colonel Desmond Travers of the Goldstone Mission. He has a clipped white military mustache and a military mien and a twinklin sense of humor. He said that he had wanted to go to Gaza because it was a perfect lab for studying the new theories of asymmetrical warfare and counterinsurgency. He spoke of shells and command posts and control towers and tanks and mortars and reminded me a little of the fabulous Uncle Toby of Tristram Shandy, the hobbyhorsical military man. But a moral thread ran through everything he said: he doesn’t know what this asymmetrical warfare means, it is a justification for killing civilians whenever anyone walks toward a post.

Many an army practices scorched earth, many of them poison (pysen he pronounced it) wells, but Travers has never witnessed the terrain-destruction he saw in Gaza. 140,000 olive trees destroyed, 130,000 citrus. Farms and factories bulldozed and sacked, the border turned into a no-man’s land. The intention, he felt, was to burn into the Palestinians’ minds that they must never resist, and in answer to Goldstone’s reconsideration in the Washington Post, Travers said that were he to write the Goldstone Report all over again today, it would only be more emphatic.

But Travers offered a ray of hope. He spoke about Northern Ireland. He said the British had actually learned: you cannot arrest and abuse boys for throwing stones, they will be resistance fighters. And yesterday the Queen came to Ireland and bowed before the monument to the Irish resisters. We never thought we would see that day. Oh, can the Israelis learn?

Lizzy Ratner is my co-editor on the Goldstone volume and she was the storyteller of the event. She laid out what Gaza was, that Guernica of 22 days, she laid out the meaning of the Goldstone Report as a utopian document about international law and accountability. I know this stuff, but afterward a couple friends told me it is a rare thing to have a speaker so vigorously and clearly lay out the matter of the evening. “She was incredible,” says my sister-in-law, a film editor. “She opens her mouth and you’re just comfortable being in her space because she’s so confident and clear and speaks directly to the problem, and she’s accessible.” Ratner has a beautiful voice and I liked it when she took apart the Obama speech of earlier yesterday. She had found it so inspiring when he talked about the democracy movement in the Arab world, and the suicide of the Tunisian peddler. Then as soon as Obama came to the Palestinian case, “it was tsk-tsk.” He began by warning them not to undertake the “symbolic” action of seeking statehood at the U.N. in September. But what was the Tunisian peddler’s electrifying act if not a “symbolic” gesture? All the ideals ended when it came to Israel and Palestine… And in the Goldstone Report, she said, the U.S. fears the enforcement of international law to our drones and disproportions, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Isn’t that what shock and awe was all about?

Finally there was Noura Erakat. She is a Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist and at the end of the night she stole the show. For she spoke almost entirely in political terms. To Travers’s fear that the imprisonment of stone-throwers would create resistance fighters, she said that she honored acts of resistance to occupation, on the part of Hamas and Hezbollah. There was applause, I was surprised how much; but it shows how much the left has now accepted the Palestinian cause. The way to express Palestinian solidarity is through supporting the boycott movement, with its nonviolent language of human rights.

The politics of the Arab spring…  Erakat spoke of the effect of Oslo on the Palestinian movement. It splintered it into three or four parts: Israeli Palestinians, Palestinians under occupation, refugee populations in the Arab world, and the Palestinian Diaspora in the west. The Palestinian National Council was to represent the Diaspora but it has only met twice in the last 18 years, so it is “defunct.”

But the Arab spring has reunified the Palestinian national movement. It is coming to Palestine, liberating Palestine. People were thrilled; the affliction of the Palestinians was so much the matter of the evening that again, I say, the left is with her all the way.

But I also heard her selfishly. That was Laura Flanders’s specific effect on me: she said that solidarity must come from a selfish place, and I believe her all the way. I am in this movement selfishly, as an American Jew, two damaged communities. Noura Erakat and the refugees are the Jewish inheritance, they are ours. We rewrote the European Jewish experience on the backs of the Palestinians. We dispossessed them, we transferred them, we cleansed them, we subjugated them, we did to them much of what was done to us. And in the process we built what Europe created, a powerful Diaspora. However you feel about such power, such emotional displacement, the Jewish American achievement on my parents’ generation and mine was built out of such materials.

And now the Palestinian Diaspora is rising, and no one will be able to shut them out, and the world’s abandonment is coming to an end.

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‘Obama gave a speech? Really? As if I care’ – Egypt’s Hossam El-Hamalawy
May 20, 2011 12:03 pm | Seham

and other news from the Arab uprisings:

Bahrain
Amnesty International: Bahrain’s ‘revenge drive’ against protesters
Amnesty International researcher Said Boumedouha criticizes the ongoing detention and trials of pro-reform activists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_1A9G1LW6Q&feature=player_embedded
Bahrain wants to expand military bases (Reuters)
Reuters – Bahrain floated the idea of expanding military bases within a bloc of Sunni-led Gulf Arab allies that helped it quash Shi’ite protests in March, while U.S. President Barack Obama criticized Manama over its crackdown.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110519/wl_nm/us_bahrain
Cameron’s “rolling out the red carpet for Bahrain’s torturer-in-chief…”
“… David Cameron raised concerns over the use of violence against protesters in Bahrain (as he) met with Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa at his home at London’s Downing Street for discussions on the uprisings across the Middle East and north Africa, ….  Al Khalifa’s visit with Cameron — who posed for photographs shaking the leader’s hand outside Downing Street — comes after he declined an invitation to Prince William’s royal wedding …. In talks, Cameron “emphasized his support for the crown prince…”
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2011/05/camerons-rolling-out-red-carpet-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+friday-lunch-club+%28%22friday-lunch-club%22%29
Bahrain activists jailed following ‘politically motivated’ trials
A military court has sentenced 15 activists to between one and four years imprisonment for “participating in illegal demonstrations and inciting hatred against the regime”.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/bahrain-activists-jailed-following-politically-motivated-trials-2011-05-18
Bahraini troops raid Nuwaidrat village
The Saudi-backed Bahraini soldiers have conducted several raids in the village of Nuwaidrat as a deadly crackdown continues against peaceful protesters. Activists say gunshots have been heard in the area on Wednesday and several checkpoints have been set up. According to witnesses, thugs attacked residents as they did the previous night in other areas.
http://jnoubiyeh.com/2011/05/bahraini-troops-raid-nuwaidrat-village.html
Bahrain court adjourns Shiite death sentence appeal (AFP)
AFP – A special security court in Bahrain postponed Wednesday the appeal hearing of four Shiites sentenced to death and three others jailed for life for killing two policemen.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110518/wl_mideast_afp/bahrainpoliticsunresttrial
Bahrain: Shiite cleric sentenced by security court (AP)
AP – A Bahraini security court has sentenced a prominent Shiite cleric and eight others to 20 years in prison for the alleged kidnapping of a police officer.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110519/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_bahrain
Bahrain editors deny charges amid reports of continuing bloodbath
Three former editors of Bahrain‘s main opposition newspaper have pleaded not guilty to charges of unethical coverage of Shia-led opposition protests against the kingdom’s Sunni rulers. Among the charges faced by the Al Wasat journalists is one of “publishing fabricated news.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/may/19/press-freedom-bahrain
Bahrain solidifies its Orwellian system
“Bahrain has set up new units within its Information Affairs Authority to monitor the output of foreign news services and social media, it was announced on Wednesday.   Nawaf Mohammed Al Mawadh, the IAA’s director of publication and publishing and acting director of foreign media, said the move was part of a new strategic plan for 2011-15.   Al Mawadh said that the IAA had restructured its directorates and created new ones to “further help project the kingdom’s achievements and respond to false information that some channels broadcast”.  He said in comments published by state news agency BPA that new directorates included one for media monitoring, another for media relations and one for social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/bahrain-solidifies-its-orwellian-system.html
Bahrain Regime Tactics Squeezing Protests
Security force deployment around the country has significantly restricted the size of demonstrations – but people are determined to continue their struggle. We feel the world and its media have forgotten about Bahrain and this is really disappointing. The violence against its citizens is definitely working – but it is not a solution.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/bahrain-regime-tactics-squeezing-protests?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+iwprstories+%28IWPR+Stories%29
Egypt
Obama to offer debt relief to Egypt in Mideast speech (Reuters)
Reuters – President Barack Obama will unveil an economic aid program for Egypt and Tunisia on Thursday as part of a broad effort to support democratic reform in the Middle East and North Africa, U.S. officials said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110519/wl_nm/us_obama_mideast_aid
Egypt: Victims of protest violence deserve justice
The Egyptian authorities must provide justice to all of the victims of violent repression that took place during mass anti-government protests earlier this year, Amnesty International said in a comprehensive report into abuses that led to at least 840 deaths.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/egypt-victims-protest-violence-deserve-justice-2011-05-17
Egypt teenager’s death sentence condemned
Ahmed Marous Ibrahim was one of four people sentenced to death by hanging by Cairo’s Supreme Military Court for abducting and raping a 17-year-old girl. Amnesty International today condemned the death sentence handed down by a Cairo military court against a 17-year-old boy, warning that unfair military trials are corroding Egypt’s criminal justice system.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/egypt-teenager%E2%80%99s-death-sentence-condemned-2011-05-18
Egypt FM: Renewal of our ties with Iran shouldn’t worry Israel
Nabil Elaraby, who is known for his hard line regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict, says resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict is was the key to a regional peace agreement.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/egypt-fm-renewal-of-our-ties-with-iran-shouldn-t-worry-israel-1.362888?localLinksEnabled=false
Need confirmation : Hussein salem arrested in Israel !? “Updated”
Ya people I need a confirmation quickly , Youm 7 “Which I do not trust or read” claims that the National Egyptian “which I do not follow” has announced that the Interpol arrested Hussein Salem in Tel Aviv , Israel.  Allegedly he is using an Israeli passport and is currently staying in Israel. The ministry of interior allegedly has reported these details to the Interpol from couple of days in order he would be arrested yet there is nothing about his arrest yet. “Based on a tweet by an alleged police officer tweep” Here isHussein Salem’s page in the Interpol. Here is my post about him , my early post as I want to write about him but I need time.
http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/05/need-confirmation-hussein-salem.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EgyptianChronicles+%28Egyptian+chronicles%29
Interpol “arrests Egyptian businessman in Israel”
Reports in Egypt claim that Interpol, the international police body, has arrested the Egyptian businessman Hussein Salem in Israel. He has been wanted in his home country on charges of damaging Egyptian interests, including wasting public money for the benefit of others and selling Egypt’s natural gas to Israel below the contractual price and global market rates. Interpol posted a picture of Salem in the “wanted” section of its website along with some of his personal details. The Interpol site added that the fugitive businessman is wanted for questioning by the First Attorney General of Egypt’s Supreme State Security Department in Cairo, Mr. Hisham Badawi.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2375-interpol-qarrests-egyptian-businessman-in-israelq
Tahrir protests back in Cairo to renew the revolution
Egyptian activists and revolutionaries are gathering today in Tahrir square in a Friday protest called “Renewing the revolution and in memory of the martyrs.” Thousands have gathered so far, calling for the release of political prisoners and trials of corrupt regime figures, including ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons. Some protesters are also calling for national unity in response to recent sectarian violence.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/12543/Egypt/Politics-/Tahrir-protests-back-in-Cairo-to-renew-the-revolut.aspx
25 activists detained at the Israeli Embassy released with suspended sentences
Twenty five activists and journalists detained during nakba day demonstrations in front of the Israeli Embassy took suspended sentences at military trials today. The demonstrations turned ugly when military police and Central Security Forces broke up the protest, arresting 135 activists. Fifteen were sentenced to one year and 10 were sentenced to six months. All sentences have been suspended and activists are to be released tonight or tomorrow, according to Mona Saif, a rights activist with the No Military Trials movement. Several protests, supporting the detainees took place this week.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/12517/Egypt/Politics-/-activists-detained-at-the-Israeli-Embassy-release.aspx
Ex-housing minister and Alaa Mubarak’s father-in-law referred to criminal court
Prosecutor-general Abdel Megid Mahmoud has referred former housing minister Mohamed Ibrahim ‎‎Soliman, four of his deputies and businessman Magdi Rasekh to the criminal court on ‎‎charges of embezzling public funds.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/12406/Egypt/Politics-/Exhousing-minister-and-Alaa-Mubarak%E2%80%99s-fatherinlaw-.aspx
Nabil Fahmi
If Nabil Fahmi becomes the foreign minister of Egypt, you know that he will be a front for Saudi Arabia/US/Israel. He is Mubark incarnate.  It would be the biggest setback since the beginning of the uprising.  A campaign should be mounted against his candidacy for the job.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/nabil-fahmi_18.html
Reflections on the (In)Visibility of Copts in Egypt
I’ve been thinking lately about the circumstances under which Coptic Christians emerge on the Egyptian socio-political landscape. Those circumstances tend to be, in a word, ugly. Copts become a visible religious community when they are attacked. And then Westerners in particular wonder: “Who are the Copts?” (I should also point out, however, that although well aware of the existence of Copts, or al-aqbat in Arabic, most Egyptian Muslims are equally unfamiliar with Coptic religiosity.) This strange play between visibility and invisibility is the problematic that I take up here, arguing that what is desirable for Copts in a new Egypt is a visibility that takes seriously their religiosity. I do so by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork I have been doing among Copts and reflecting on recent events in Egypt.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/1624/reflections-on-the-%28in%29visibility-of-copts-in-egyp
Egyptian uprising’s reporter: ‘Two Egypts have emerged’
Ayman Mohyeldin was the face of al-Jazeera’s coverage. Time magazine named him one of the most influential people of 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/19/egptian-uprisings-reporter-two-egypts

Egypt’s uprising brings DIY spirit out on to the streets
In the hundred days since Hosni Mubarak was toppled, there has been an explosion of creative energy in the alternative arts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/19/egypts-uprising-diy-art-cairo-streets
Hamdy Reda, “To the Spanish People, a Message of Solidarity from Ard al-Liwa, Egypt” (Video)
All of the Egyptian people are behind you and anyone who wants to make a revolution, anyone who wants to achieve something. There is a saying: If the people want life, destiny should give it to them.”
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/reda200511.html
Libya
NATO: Libya Warships Sunk
BRUSSELS (Reuters) NATO aircraft sank eight warships belonging to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in overnight attacks, the alliance said on Friday. The ships were sunk in coordinated attacks on the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, an alliance statement said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/20/nato-libya-warships-sunk_n_864618.html
NATO: Gaddafi forces ‘significantly degraded’
Head of military alliance says military and political pressures are weakening the Libyan leader’s hold on power.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/africa/2011/05/201151914159509484.html
Rebels: Gaddafi fighters shell western mountains
TRIPOLI, Libya, (AP) – Hundreds of Muammar Gaddafi’s loyalists staged a show of support in the capital early Thursday, claiming the rebel insurgency is nearing its end, even as the Libyan leader’s forces have intensified their campaign to take strategic [..]
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=25225
Tunisia denies Gadhafi wife, daughter in country
Pan-Arab television channels quote the Tunisian Interior Ministry as denying that the wife and daughter of Muammar Gadhafi crossed into Tunisia several days ago.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/mideast-in-turmoil/tunisia-denies-gadhafi-wife-daughter-in-country-1.362684?localLinksEnabled=false
Libya releases four journalists
The Libyan government says it has freed four foreign journalists detained for illegally entering the country, amid the uprising by rebels.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-13447254
Defending Misrata
The Libyan footballer now trying to tackle Gaddafi’s forces.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-13462311
Libya: The Lives they Leave Behind
“My father didn’t even recognize me,” Abdel Wahed, 32, told me when I interviewed him in a hospital in southern Tunisia in late April. His entire face was blackened with serious burns from what he believed was a Grad rocket launched by Gaddafi forces that landed just outside his home in Zintan, in the Nafusa mountains of western Libya.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/05/18/libya-lives-they-leave-behind
Religious controls lifted in Benghazi
In the rebel-held eastern city of Benghazi the opposition’s version of governance is in full swing. Al Jazeera’s Tony Birtley reports on the city where reforms are already being put into action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAzT1s62AFs&feature=youtube_gdata
Libyan rebel TV channel trying to reach more people
DUBAI, May 19 (Reuters) – Rebels fighting to overthrow Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi have launched a television channel to promote their cause, but part of their broadcast is blocked by a regional satellite, a rebel media official said on Thursday.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libyan-rebel-tv-channel-trying-to-reach-more-people
Libya Revolt Sidelines Women, Who Led It
While Libya’s fledgling rebel government has more than doubled in size, women now occupy just 2 of the 40 or so positions in the leadership.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=83d3dc3b206ad207b1ef478f37a8e4d6
Oman
Oman must charge or release detained protesters
A group of people detained following recent pro-reform protests in Oman’s capital Muscat must be charged or released.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/oman-must-charge-or-release-detained-protesters-2011-05-18
Saudi Arabia
A Saudi crude propagandist explains Saudi counter revolution
Enjoy his reference to Saudi Arabia “leading” the Arab world.  This is like saying that Fouad Ajami speaks for Arabs.   “Saudi Arabia will not allow the political unrest in the region to destabilize the Arab monarchies — the Gulf states, Jordan and Morocco. In Yemen, the Saudis are insisting on an orderly transition of power and a dignified exit for President Ali Abdullah Saleh (a courtesy that was not extended to Hosni Mubarak, despite the former Egyptian president’s many years as a strong U.S. ally). To facilitate this handover, Riyadh is leading a diplomatic effort under the auspices of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council. In Iraq, the Saudi government will continue to pursue a hard-line stance against the Maliki government, which it regards as little more than an Iranian puppet. In Lebanon, Saudi Arabia will act to check the growth of Hezbollah and to ensure that this Iranian proxy does not dominate the country’s political life. Regarding the widespread upheaval in Syria, the Saudis will work to ensure that any potential transition to a post-Assad era is as peaceful and as free of Iranian meddling as possible.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/saudi-crude-propagandist-explains-saudi.html
Syria
Syrian forces ‘fire on Homs protesters’
Witnesses say at least nine killed, including two boys, in latest protests against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/201152013723847215.html
Iraqis flee violence in Syria, return home (AP)
AP – It’s easy to identify the Iraqis fleeing the violent uprising in Syria as they arrive by bus in Baghdad.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110520/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_returning_home
Dorothy Parvaz recounts detention
After returning to Doha, Al Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvaz has described her experiences while being detained in Syria for three days and then in Iran for 16 more. Parvaz was first held and interrogated in Damascus, Syria’s capital, upon her arrival there on April 29 to cover anti-government demonstrations. She was then deported to Iran. She was finally freed on Wednesday morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZY5KeGqo3c&feature=player_embedded
Syrian president admits mistakes
Syria’s president has said his security forces made mistakes during the uprising against his regime, blaming poorly-trained police officers for a crackdown that has killed more than 850 people in two months.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syrian-president-admits-mistakes-2285763.html
Syria condemns US sanctions on Assad
US says sanctions meant to pressure Assad to end violent crackdown, Syria condemns move as “serving Israel’s interests”.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/2011518164713908756.html
US to impose sanctions on Assad
The Obama administration will impose sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Assad and six senior Syrian officials for human rights abuses for their crackdown on anti-government protests, for the first time personally penalizing the Syrian leader for actions of his security forces, officials said.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-to-impose-sanctions-on-assad-2285859.html
Joshua Landis, “Who Benefits from Sanctioning Syria’s Assad?”
Sanctioning President Assad — what can it accomplish? Oddly, the sanctions against Syria’s top government figures come at a time when the regime is gaining control over the protest movement and suppressing dissent. The opposition failed to divide the Syrian army from the president as happened in Egypt. They also failed to provoke a confessional split in the army as happened in Lebanon. Sunni soldiers have not split from Alawis, despite all the talk about “shabbihas,” which is code for Alawis. Who in the world do they think is going to unseat Assad? This is most perplexing. Western leaders will certainly get a weakened Syria and a more isolated Assad from these sanctions but not regime change. Obama gains. Opposition leaders get more support. Syrians will get poorer.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/landis190511.html
Hassan Khaled Chatila, “The Revolt in Syria”
The revolt is not generalized across the country and society. It is more like a series of neighbourhood uprisings than a centralized revolution. The main actors so far have been educated youth and unemployed youth seeking access to modernity. . . . These youth do not put forward social demands; they think that political democracy and liberty can solve all the problems they face in their daily lives. . . . This movement has not been able to seriously threaten the regime’s existence. . . . The situation in Syria is far from generalized civil disobedience, principally because of the almost complete absence of slogans putting forward social and economic demands, notably the struggle against hunger, poverty and unemployment. Such slogans could come to the forefront alongside calls for democracy only in a broad democratic united front in which the left played an important role. But in Syria there is neither such a front nor a left.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/chatila190511.html
Report from Syria
A Lebanese comrade who works in Syria sent me this (I cite with his permission):  “I spent the day…first the road to there was normal, nothing special, on the way back there were two checkpoints before Damascus. Intelligence guys, young with their dirty looks and clothes, you would think the regime is smarter than that even in PR.   I mainly spoke to 3 colleagues who are from Dar3a and surroundings. They know me so they are comfortable to talk and share details.  The main point the 3 confirmed separately is Aljazeera coverage is not even 10 % of the truth !! they confirmed the story of the mass grave found, the media spoke of 1 but they are 4-5 so far. People even saw when the bodies were being disposed.    All these stories about confessions is bullshit, they know some of the guys who appeared on TV. They were put in prison and forced to say what they said   Even the images of people throwing rice on the army as it left Dar3a were staged, they can confirm from the people’s accent (not from Dar3a) and even the location of these images, close to govt headquarters.   The 4th division (Maher Asad) is in Dar3a as it was reported.   The big and somehow strange story is the 4 and 5 division fought each other ! but not cause of dissent but because how the 4 division treats the other army divisions. Apparently they bombed each other with tanks !! and literally hundreds of them were killed. People saw how they came with trucks and bulldozers to take the bodies.  The stories about army being killed is either army killing army or security killing army.One guy said, the point of no return was crossed like 2 weeks ago.    They are hopeful that it will pick up soon in Allepo where students on campus there are the ones who are trying at the moment. Two of them criticized a bit the people in Damascus and Allepo (one called them cowards)   Three of the arrested in Da3ra in the mosque were christian doctors. The Sunni families fleeing Dar3a were taking cover at christian families around the city, so the stories of Salafis and religious fantaticism is so untrue in that region. The regime is playing this card in Homs and Banias where they are arming the A3lawee areas surrounding the Sunni centers.   There are thousands of prisoners in Dar3a, and a security officer at each door, that is why it has calmed down a bit lately.The events at the Golan border last Sunday… Initially they wanted the Palestinians (7000-8000) to carry Bashar pics and Syrian flags but they refused and only carried Syrian flags.
One of the guys had to take out his family ouf of Dar3a because they were literally eating old stale bread at the end after 2 weeks of heavy curfew.   They all confirmed that there was no party leading the events, no muslim brotherhood, no Khadam, nothing. They are all weak. it is just a popular revolt where in each area, people are calling the shots.   We drove back yesterday night, all seemed fine on the surface but I had the feeling that it is all brewing and there is much more to come soon. it cannot go on like this.   that is all I remember now, but they will be giving me more info from now on.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/report-from-syria.html
Tunisia
Knowledge Liberation Front, “Notes from the Liberation Without Borders Tour in Tunisia”
This afternoon we also witnessed the arrest of a young activist by political police, only a short distance from the Interior Ministry. Another result of the rising tension, beyond the indefinite curfew imposed between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., is the new ban on all demonstrations in the city. In response to this growing repression, demos and strikes across the country have been called for the coming days. As one activist commented, “It was an error to have abandoned the Casbah . . . but now we will take back the streets to push the revolution forward.” . . . Contrary to the image portrayed by the Western media, far from being just a bread riot, what happened in Tunisia is an insurrection due to the global economic crisis: its genealogy lies in a long process of proletarian struggles (specifically the 2008 strike in a mining district) and conflicts in southern Tunisia. Moreover, its social composition of highly educated and yet precariously employed or unemployed workers and students has much in common with that of the movements in Europe and elsewhere. An example of that commonality can be seen in the fiercely contested decision made by the transitional government to continue to respect the existing agreements with the supranational institutions of global capitalism like the IMF and the World Bank and to pay the country’s debts, rather than investing in education and social welfare. It all underlines the transnational character of the struggle in Tunisia, which, however, goes well beyond the antiquated notions of international solidarity. “To liberate Palestine, for example” one activist forcefully pointed out, “we must liberate ourselves.” What is at stake in this extraordinary political laboratory, it appears, is whether the insurrectionary movement can find new forms of collective organization, building a constituent process and a new social relation.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/klf180511.html
Yemen
Saleh calls for early Yemen elections
Yemeni president’s call for early polls comes a day after he pledged again to sign a deal to end his decades-long rule.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/201152042816774534.html
Yemen rivals fail to sign GCC-brokered deal
Gulf mediator leaves Sanaa after president refuses to ink plan that would have seen him stepping down in a month.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/201151817048705436.html
Obama’s Speech
Obama’s speech
It is not that it brought nothing new: It was not even novel or original rhetorically.  I don’t see any reason why he delivered it.  I know that Obama’s administration, like previous US administrations, assumes that Arabs are fools and can be deceived easily, but did those who worked on the speech really think that any Arab would be fooled with those words?  Don’t forget that his speech in Cairo came early in his administration and Arabs had high hopes about him. But Obama is giving the speech in light of his lousy record.  I doubt that any Arab would follow it with interest even.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/obamas-speech.html
Obama’s racism
Typical of US policy, Obama rehashed the typical US racism where the deaths of the Palestinians is not not mentioned when only the deaths of Israelis is mentioned.  They invent a false equation: between “deaths of Israelis” and some vague formulation of “suffering” of Palestinians as if Palestinians are not victims of Israeli terrorism.  I watch the speech and remember all my friends who could not understand why I would never ever vote for Obama.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/obamas-racism.html
Swaps
Obama suggested that any Arab-Israeli “solution” should be based on the 1967 borders provided that Israel decide how much it wants to retain from those lands.  He suggested that a settlement would entail exchange of “swaps” of lands.  Let me translate: Israel would get to keep the West Bank and Gaza while Palestinians would get to retain the bones of their ancestors.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/swaps.html
Obama on Bouazizi
I don’t know why but it offends me deeply when Obama or any US official mentions the name of Muhammad Bouazizi.  I feel that they should not dare mention his name.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/obama-on-bouazizi.html

Street vendor in Tunisia
How dare Obama feign respect for Albouazizi?  He bows down to oil potentates and not to streets vendors in Arab cities.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/street-vendor-in-tunisia.html
Translating Obama’s speech
He said that the US supports “reform” and “transition to democracy” in the Arab world.  By reform, he means the repressive measures of the Bahrain dictatorship that his government has endorsed.  By transition to democracy, he means that the US fully supports democracy in Saudi Arabia and other monarchies provided the transition takes place over a period of at least two centuries.  Arabs are expected to cheer his words in the streets.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/translating-obamas-speech.html
Denying Israel’s right to exist
No, he got it wrong.  We are not saying that Israel does not exist.  It does exist.  But we certainly don’t want that state to exist, just as Apartheid South Africa should not have existed.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/denying-israels-right-to-exist.html
Women in the Middle East
Obama said that US supports women in the Middle East.  He added that US calls on US allies in the region to treat their multiple wives and concubines equally.  Feminist Majority applauded the speech and called on the US to invade any Muslim country of his choosing.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/women-in-middle-east.html
What Obama could not possibly say, Pepe Escobar
Facts on the ground will decide whether the United States really “values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator”. So let’s start with a fact. For US President Barack Obama, Saudi Arabia is not in the Middle East. Maybe the House of Saud has relocated the deserts and the oil to Oceania without telling anyone. In his major speech on Thursday from where the opening quote comes, and where, according to the Reuters gospel, he would “lay out a new US strategy toward a skeptical Arab world”, the skeptical Arabs, and the whole world for that matter, never heard these fateful two words, “Saudi” and “Arabia”. Even India, Indonesia and Brazil were mentioned.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ME21Ak01.html
Robert Fisk: Lots of rhetoric – but very little help
It was the same old story. Palestinians can have a “viable” state, Israel a “secure” one. Israel cannot be de-legitimised. The Palestinians must not attempt to ask the UN for statehood in September. No peace can be imposed on either party. Sometimes yesterday, you could have turned this into Obama’s forthcoming speech to pro-Israeli lobbyists this weekend. Oh yes, and the Palestinian state must have no weapons to defend itself. So that’s what “viable” means!
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-lots-of-rhetoric-ndash-but-very-little-help-2286711.html
Obama’s Middle East speech missed ‘historic opportunity,’ say many Arabs
While those involved in Arab uprisings welcomed Obama’s support, others were disappointed with his failure to apologize for US support for Middle East dictators.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/Z-pZu0VL6IM/Obama-s-Middle-East-speech-missed-historic-opportunity-say-many-Arabs
US urged to ‘learn from mistakes of the past’ in Middle East and North Africa
US president Barack Obama urged to use his speech on the Middle East to commit to the pursuit of a more even-handed approach to Arab states, with human rights at its heart.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/us-urged-learn-mistakes-past-middle-east-and-north-africa-2011-05-19
What Obama will not say, Issandr El Amrani
Tonight, US President Barack Obama will make his first major speech touching on the situation in the Middle East since the uprisings began in late 2010. The speech is intended to bring some clarity to US policy in the region in reaction to the tumultuous and ongoing changes it is facing, and counter criticism that the Obama administration has responded to these events in an haphazard and confusing way. It is meant to be, some have speculated (no doubt informed by leaks from the White House), a “reset” of relations between America and the Arab world.
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/443218
Another major policy speech on the Middle East? Yawn, Stephen M. Walt
I know I’m supposed to get excited about the “major policy address” on Middle East policy that President Obama is going to deliver today, and you can be sure that plenty of people will be standing by to parse and spin every syllable. And then they’ll do the same thing to his speech at the AIPAC policy conference on Sunday, and will hover with equal intensity over Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress next week.
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/19/another_major_policy_speech_on_the_middle_east_yawn
OBAMA ON THE MIDDLE EAST: STICKING WITH A FAILED SCRIPT
In an effort to define the dominant narrative about the on-going Arab awakening and America’s role in the Middle East, President Obama will give tomorrow what the White House is billing as a major address on Middle East policy.
http://www.raceforiran.com/obama-on-the-middle-east-sticking-with-a-failed-script
ANALYSIS-Arabs see Obama speech as late, not enough
Reflecting that disillusion, Egyptian activist Hossam El-Hamalawy wrote on social media site Twitter: “Obama gave a speech? Really? As if I care”.
http://af.reuters.com/article/tunisiaNews/idAFLDE74I0G220110519?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
Other Middle East News/Analysis & Op-ed
UAE to be first Arab country with NATO embassy
The United Arab Emirates is to make a landmark move, becoming the first Arab country to send an ambassador to NATO, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Wednesday.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/05/19/149686.html
Gates and Mullen: Stop leaking details of the bin Laden raid!
The nation’s top civilian and military defense officials are calling on their government colleagues to shut up about the details of the May 1 raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen held their first press conference on Wednesday since the mission to kill bin Laden. Gates stood by a remark he made May 12 at Camp Lejeune, in which he said there was an agreement by top Obama officials in the Situation Room to not reveal details of the raid — but that the agreement fell apart the next day.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/18/gates_and_mullen_stop_leaking_details_of_the_bin_laden_raid
Nir Rosen on Western media fraud in the Middle East
Journalist and author Nir Rosen writes the following in an article for Al Jazeera about the myriad obstacles to the dissemination of truth in Western reporting on the Middle East: Relying on a translator means you can only talk to one person at a time and you miss all the background noise.
http://pulsemedia.org/2011/05/19/nir-rosen-on-western-media-fraud-in-the-middle-east/
The future of the Arab uprisings, Joseph Massad
The US, with its allies, has already begun plans to subvert the Arab Spring to save its own regional hegemony.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/05/201151885013738898.html
Dressing Like a Terrorist
Like many others, I was dismayed to learn of the two imams wearing traditional Muslim garb who were forcibly removed from an airplane that was to carry them to a conference on Islamophobia. The passengers who were removed from a Delta/ASA flight in Memphis, Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul, apparently frightened other passengers and upset one of the pilots, who refused to fly with them on board. Not everybody was dismayed, however. The Delta/ASA pilot and the frightened passengers have received support from numerous voices among the American commentariat.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/1622/dressing-like-a-terrorist

With one signal — 1967– Obama decides to take on Netanyahu on the Arab Spring

May 20, 2011

Philip Weiss

I’m sure I misinterpreted the power-politics aspect of Obama’s speech yesterday. For players this speech boiled down to one word, Obama’s reference to the 1967 lines, and the signal he has sent with that word that he will not back Israel through thick and thin in days to come. The New York Times has a shocking story this morning saying that the speech was delayed 35 minutes because Netanyahu angrily called Hillary Clinton to try and jawbone 1967 out of it. So a foreign leader had a copy of the president’s speech. And Netanyahu failed. “No wonder Hillary looked pleased,” says a friend.

The evidence of 1967’s significance is the outright blitz from the right over this issue today. “The Auschwitz borders,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center affirms today in a crazy post. John Podhoretz in the Post: “he is an Israel-basher.”

And Obama is taking up the battle. Ben Smith reports that the Obama people are “furious” at Netanyahu.

What is this all about? What stand did Obama take yesterday? What is being signalled? Is it about the alleged two-state solution? No. I think it is the warning that when the Arab spring comes to Israel, as it has already, with Nakba Day, that Obama will not support Israel all the way. Obama saw the ugly Israeli response and knows that he is dealing with Mubarak redux. The Israel lobby wanted an outright affirmation of support. It wanted “the only democracy” language and even explicit condemnation of the demonstrators and support for Israel’s facts on the ground. It didn’t get that. The speech contained no praise for Netanyahu, it gave Israel no assurance on the continued occupation. Haaretz sees the writing on the wall: the American climate is changing, and thanks to Netanyahu we are on our way to becoming “a pariah state.”

The game is on in the U.S., the Arab spring is thawing our frozen discourse. Says Ed Moloney: “His remarks measure the change in the debate about the Middle East that has come about in the last few months and years. although they may well be undermined by lobby money, or its threatened absence, in 2012, the words ‘1967 borders’ cannot be unsaid. ‘Auschwitz Borders’ is  desperate language for a desperate situation and surely a sign of how much things have changed. The iceberg is cracking…. What’s important here is the size and symbolism of the gesture, the acknowledgement of where the settlement lies, the fact that he has said what no other US president has dared say and what every sensible person knows is the way forward. For evidence of the significance of this  look at Bibi’s reaction and that of his disciples – all going ballistic because they know they are losing the PR game and the balance is tipping away from them. Although i have little faith in Obama’s willingness or courage to put rhetoric into practice and that the devil is truly in the detail, it is now out in the open in a new way. and if he set out to frustrate any effort at the UN to recognise a palestininan state, that goal was immediately undermined by the 1967 stuff. Who could object to the UN recognising what the US president now says should be?! What would be really wonderful now would be if he won 2012 in the face of AIPAC hysteria.”

Challenging Pastor Hagee on his home turf: “We caught him off guard…with just our thoughts and our courage.”

May 20, 2011

Max Blumenthal

On May 15, a group of San Antonio-based community organizers disrupted a service at Pastor John Hagee’s Cornerstone Church dedicated to celebrating Israel. The Christian Zionist Pastor Hagee has sent tens of millions to Israeli organizations, including illegal settlements and the far-right McCarthyite student group Im Tirtzu. After the action, which was dispersed aggressively by members of Hagee’s congregation, Glenn Beck posted an open letterfrom Hagee on his website. Incidentally, Beck will be delivering the keynote speech at Hagee’s upcoming Christians United for Israel Washington-Israel Summit, an event I covered back in 2007. Following publication of the letter, an organizer of the action against Hagee, Genevieve Rodriguez, began received death threats by phone and email. I interviewed Rodriguez about the protest and its aftermath.

MB: Why did you decide it was necessary to protest Hagee from inside his church, and in such a confrontational way?

GR: First of all, we are a group of 24 who are community organizers working on a range of issues. We were not from any single organization, we are just people coming together. We were keeping up with what was going on in Palestine and the call from action from Palestinians on May 15. And for organizers here in San Antonio we feel the effects of the racism and Zionism and homophobia that comes out Hagee’s church every day. The corporate executives that go to his church go downtown every day and carry out the message they get from his church. They treat people that work with them the way he teaches them to treat people — so they are treating gays a certain way or taking away the message that brown people should be persecuted. That gets carried out in the way working people are treated in this city. And all the while he’s getting rich off a message of hate. So we decided that we couldn’t sit here in our city and not hold this man accountable when what’s happening here and what’s happening in Palestine is atrocious. How can we sit here in the same city as him and not take action in a non-violent way? So in a matter of four days we came up with this action.

MB: Did any other actions by others inspire you, at least from a tactical point of view?

GR: One of the really recent actions that inspired us was by young Jewish people in New Orleans who interrupted Netanyahu in New Orleans and told him that he delegitimizes Israel. It was really moving. We realized Hagee’s sermon was being broadcast live to 35 countries on the web uninterrupted. So we realized we had to do it.

MB: How were you treated once the protest began? It seemed like things got pretty rough after it became clear you weren’t going to stop.

GR: The EMS was called after I was dragged off the pew. An usher in front of me grabbed me and dragged me over a pew and I hit my head on the pew. Then 5 or 6 men were grabbing at all parts of my body and they lifted me up like a roasted pig and hoisted me in the air. It was all congregation members including a guest pastor — no security. A young white man involved in the action stood up and some woman said, ‘Oh my God, he’s a Palestinian!’ Apparently these people didn’t even know what palestinians look like. And they curse them every day. As a young woman was carried out shouting, ‘Free Palestine!’ she was slammed to the ground. Then she was getting dragged out. Several congregation members stood up and began accusing a group of brown women of being with the demonstrators. They were just singling out all kinds of brown people because of the way they looked.

MB: Was there any fallout after the action?

GR: John Hagee sent an open letter to Glenn Beck trying to give his version of the story, saying this is all the more reason to show support for Israel and that our congregation acted like it was the Super Bowl after this demonstration, they were so unified. beck is speaking at CUFI, coming up this year. There are infomercials inside Cornerstone for the CUFI conference that includes glenn beck highlights, really using the event to promote him. Our goal was to stand in solidarity with Palestine and tell San Antonio that we are not going to let this happen without Hagee being held accountable. He’s doing this for profit, and we caught him completely off guard just entering there with just our thoughts and our courage. And they didn’t know what to do, they were completely shaken.

MB: So how did the group feel afterwards? Did you feel like you had succeeded?

GR: It was really hard afterwards for us to hear that Israeli forces were opening fire on protesters after we got home. It was such a moment of righteous anger and feeling like we were right in our actions and that they [the congregation members] should be embarrassed for the comments they made about us. During the service people were literally being killed. And Hagee said, ‘Isn’t this exciting?’ Well, we weren’t there to have fun.

MB: Why do you think Hagee commands so much influence in San Antonio? And why besides the obvious theological reasons does his message resonate with people who apparently know very little about Israel and Palestine?

GR: There is so much fear of the other in this city and the fact that they live a different way. It sounds childish, I know. But all those people who go to that church have a much better economic reality than a lot of the other people on the other side of town. These people in this church are going to hold on to anything and stick to anything that’s going to protect that because they don’t want to face the reality on the other side. The israel issue has been cloaked in religion but with the settlements and Hagee, well, we’re talking about money. This is about money and resources. And i feel bad for some of the congregation members who are kept in the dark and are so ignorant. They shouted at us stuff about us being Muslims. We didn’t make a single reference to islam. We were Latino, white, queer, including brown queer women, people with Middle Eastern heritage, and almost all of us are young. Religiously, there were Christians among us and every other kind of religion including atheists.

MB: I heard you received death threats as a result of the protest. Is that true?

GR: I put my phone number out in the video because I believed there were people who were ready to do something about this racism that is taking over San Antonio. And we want people without access to internet can call in to join us. As a result we’ve connected with organizers who don’t even live here. Then we also got death threats. one guy called me this morning and said he was going to rape me. I’ve received messages since my address is public that people from Dallas are going to come to my house and picket me. I got a phone call today from a man who said, ‘I want to destroy arabs and i’m going to destroy you too.’ A reporter from the San Antonio Express News was there and she recorded the whole call.

MB: Do you plan to do any similar actions in the future?

GR: We want to do more actions in solidarity with the Palestinians and we want to continue to expose Hagee financially. We have contacts inside his church and we want to set a serious campaign up that makes a dent into his support for the settlements and to Israel since they depend on people like Hagee. People inside Hagee’s organization are starting to realize the hypocrisy that he represents and are starting to build relationships with us. As far as the way he handles business [our inside contacts have] hinted that he’s corrupt, that he mistreats women and workers, and that there’s a whole lot of evidence of it.

This post originally appeared on Max Blumenthal’s website.

Nakba Day, in the Atlantic no less

May 20, 2011

Philip Weiss

Great series of photos at The Atlantic no less on the Nakba Day protests on the borders. 35 pictures showing the Palestinian uprising. Check out 20, Israeli border officer dressed as a Palestinian woman complete with hijab.

Ethnic dry cleaning

May 20, 2011

Max Ajl

Jerry Haber, in a mostly sensible comment on Peter Beinart, writes that

    Tony Kushner was, in my view, imprecise when he referred to the “ethnic cleansing”  conducted by the Zionists at Israel’s founding. The phrase conjures up mass murder and genocide along racial, ethnic, or religious lines. What we have had in Israel for over sixty years is not so much ethnic “cleansing,” with its implication of blood and destruction, but rather ethnic “dry-cleaning”, ridding the homeland of most of its Palestinian population through legal stratagems that ensure that the natives of Palestine will be effectively barred from full participation in their homeland.

I don’t know what Haber is talking about. It’s pretty clear that Israel is a state founded on ethnic cleansing, and I’m sure Haber is aware of that too. Palestinians know that very well, and many Israeli Jews will obliquely acknowledge it, even if they do their best to feign ignorance. We’ve all read our Ilan Pappé. But it’d be good to understand what happened as a result of that process of ethnic-cleansing, and so move from condemnation to consciousness-raising.

The Ashkenazi over-class is the richest class in Israel precisely because of its proximity to the land and resources-theft that occurred in the context of that process of ethnic-cleansing, not “dry-cleaning,” as Haber puts it.

The nexus of ethnicity, wealth, and proximity to the original dispossession has been systematically erased from Zionist historiography. Furthermore, Zionist ideology distracts lower-class Israeli attention from the fact that Mizrahis were not the beneficiaries of ethnic cleansing. They were the human material with which Zionists stocked their newly-formed nation-state, complete with a Jewish working-class, a Jewish bourgeoisie, and a Jewish peasantry. Mizrahi did not get to become bourgeoisie.

Instead, in Zionist-induced flight from their homelands, they staffed the lower ranks of the socio-economic ladder and were settled in “development towns” near the borders or in moshavim. Badly treated by the immigration absorption system and the MAPAI governments, the Mizrahim formed the social base for the Likud party in the post-1967 era and, later, the Shas movement, both in rejection of labor Zionism’s ideological hegemony over Israeli society and because the occupation became a means for socio-economic advancement denied to them within pre-1967 Israeli society. As a group of Moroccan Jews explained to Amos Oz,

I’ll tell you what shame is: they gave us houses, they gave us the dirty work; they gave us education, and they took away our self-respect. What did they bring our parents to Israel for? … Wasn’t it to do your dirty work? You didn’t have Arabs then, so you needed my parents to do your cleaning and be your servants and your laborers. And policemen, too. You brought our parents to be your Arabs. But now I’m a supervisor. And he’s a contractor, self-employed. And that guy has a transport business. Also self-employed. Small-scale—lives off the crumbs Solel Boneh leaves—but so what? If they give back the territories, the Arabs will stop coming to work, and then you’ll put us back into the dead-end jobs, like before. If for no other reason, we won’t let you give back those territories. Not to mention the rights we have from the Bible. Look at my daughter: she works in a bank now, and every evening an Arab comes to clean the building. All you want is to dump her from the bank into some textile factory, or have her wash the floors instead of the Arab. The way my mother used to clean for you. That’s why we hate you here. As long as Begin’s in power, my daughter’s secure at the bank. If you guys [i.e., Labor] come back, you’ll pull her down first thing.

Is it any wonder the occupation continues, with Palestinians and then migrant workers pushed into the lowest jobs previously staffed by Mizrahi Jews? Is it any wonder nationalism becomes an integument binding together Israeli society against the external enemy, the Arab? Is it any wonder Israeli elites far prefer a focus on nationalism to a focus on resources? This should not be taken to mean that the hands of the under-class are not bloodied. But there are levels of responsibility. The highest is inhabited by those who profusely profit off torturing another people.

Zionism plays a somewhat similar binding role in the American context, distracting American Jewish attention from the fact that most American Jews are not wealthy and so do not benefit from their association with the Israeli state. Instead, it is wealthy Jews, like wealthy people in general, who benefit from the American-Israeli Special Relationship, which is why it continues, and why it should be opposed.

Changing it will require both change abroad and change at home. De-Zioning the Israeli state is not just about scouring legal discrimination out of the state structure, although that matters. It is about radical redistribution of resources, and it is exactly that distribution or future re-distribution of resources that forms the foundation of a coherent call for a one state solution, rather than basing that call on the notion that the settlements are “too entrenched” for a two-state “solution” to succeed. That seems like a recipe for severe disappointment when suddenly Israeli elites, under immense international pressure, suddenly find that, yup, Ariel and Ma’ale Adunim are negotiable, after all.

Three Haiku for the JNF

May 20, 2011

Michael Levin

Notes:

1] pushka

Yiddish for “little box.” A small, blue box with a slot on the top for depositing change [contributions to the Jewish National Fund], JNF pushkas are found in many Jewish homes, schools, and stores.

2] Canada Park

“Canada Park (Hebrew: פארק קנדה‎, Arabic:كندا حديقة) is a national park established and maintained by the Jewish National Fund . . . . The park lies on land formerly occupied by four Palestinian villages: Dayr Ayyub, Imwas, Yalo, and Bayt Nuba. Israeli forces demolished these villages immediately after the Six-Day War as part of the Israeli strategy to widen the Jerusalem Corridor. Imwas, Beit Nuba, and Yalo were captured by the Israeli Defense Forces during the Six-Day War. On orders of Yitzhak Rabin, the villages were immediately razed and their 14,000 inhabitants expelled.”

For further information about Canada Park see the CBC video: “Canada Park: Park with No Peace.”

Additional information can be found at the website “Palestine Remembered“:
3] Uri Geller’s spoons
“Uri Geller (Hebrew: אורי גלר‎; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli born, self-proclaimed mystifier living in England known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other supposed psychic effects. Throughout the years, Geller has been accused of using simple conjuring tricks . . . .”

Caterpillar tries to project a caring image

May 20, 2011

David Cronin

Paolo Fellin, a Caterpillar (CAT) vice-president, was the main corporate speaker at a session of the European Business Summit devoted to the global trade agenda. In his presentation, Fellin posited the highly disputed theory that unfettered free trade could lift millions out ofpoverty. He also sought to display his tree-hugging credentials by bragging of how he supports the recycling of spare parts from old machinery.
When I asked Fellin how his championing of the poor could be squared with CAT’s role in the dispossession of Palestinians, he said: “I am proud of what our products have done in building the world’s infrastructure: agricultural development, dams, roads, freeways in these countries. If our products end up in certain parts of the world, then I have no control over that.”

Fellin’s hand-washing should not be taken at face value. For a start, his job title gives him responsibility for distribution in Europe and the Middle East, so he can’t plead ignorance about Palestine. And more to the point, Caterpillar’s exports to Israel are covered by the US foreign military sales programme. That means they have been tailored to meet Israel’s “requirements” and are effectively categorised as weapons.
Last year, Israel’s Channel 2 reported that CAT had decided to stop deliveries to Israel. The decision was taken because of the adverse publicity the company received as a result of the legal proceedings initiated by the parents of Rachel Corrie, the courageous activist who died in 2003 after an Israeli soldier ran over her in a D9 bulldozer (one of CAT’s best-known vehicles). However, the suspension of deliveries was temporary. It does not alter the fact that CAT’s logo has been displayed prominently during thousands of house demolitions in the occupied territories since 1967.
In a December 2010 blog post, Amnesty International’s Edith Garwood wrote: “CAT equipment has been used to uproot olive trees and destroy other agricultural products and land. During Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip two years ago, Israel used armored D9 bulldozers to demolish wide swathes of homes, factories, agricultural land and civilian infrastructure, including water pipes and networks needed for basic survival.”
CAT’s record of profiting from war crimes does not trouble BusinessEurope, the employers’ federation that organised this week’s “summit”.In 2008, another senior CAT figure, Michael Baunton, addressed a similar BusinessEurope event and argued that his company’s vehicles shouldn’t be subject to robust pollution controls.
Paolo Fellin had good reason to be satisfied with his trip to Brussels. The European Union’s trade commissioner, Karel de Guchtwas, heard asking Fellin for ideas about how American entrepreneurs can be convinced to be a little more enthusiastic about the Doha round of world trade talks launched in Qatar almost a decade ago. Official Europe appears so desperate to see these protracted negotiations bear fruit that it is turning to merchants of death for advice.
David Cronin’s book Europe’s Alliance With Israel:Aiding the Occupation is published by Pluto Press.

Praise for Obama

May 20, 2011

Peter Voskamp

There is an old adage in journalism that says if both sides are mad at you, then you’ve done your job. FOX and Drudge are foaming at the mouth, accusing Obama of capitulating to terrorist demands (though Clinton and W. both suggested the 1967 lines), while those on the other side, including many on this website, are equally enraged. Frankly I’m still trying to figure out why.

True, the first three-quarters of the speech were fairly rote and uninspired — a yawn inducing string of platitudes, it seemed. But when Obama reached the critical portion he had my attention.

When the president turned to the matter of Palestine and Israel I had the stirring feeling one gets when Obama is at his most impressive, when he’s warming to his subject, and starts hitting his preacher’s stride.

From his bully pulpit, after calling for the ball, he dared to tell some simple truths that the world is not used to hearing from an American leader. Still, some on this side of the issue accuse him of traitorous timidity (indeed, the fact that the few things he said could be considered the stuff of the third rail is itself an indictment of how straitjacketed the discussion is). But for him to do so just before Bibi shows up for his annual AIPAC pep rally — to be followed by a Congressional command performance — and with 2012 so close, seemed downright brave.

This site prides itself on its adherence to “realism.” So let’s be real.

For me, the crux of the biscuit — the heart of the speech — was the president’s description of the fathers rising above the deaths of their children. It was a simple comparison, but with a multi-dimensional effect.

Not only was it incredibly moving, but it was also the first time I’ve heard Obama refer to the horrors of Operation Cast Lead. What’s more, he drew a kind of obvious and terrible equivalence: an Israeli child’s death at the hand of Hamas is as awful as young Gazan sisters blown to bits by an Israeli shell.

And by providing these parental illustrations — parent/child being arguably the most fundamental and precious of human relations — Obama laid out the stark “realistic” choice before both parties: either maintain the eternal heart-wrenching standoff, or rise above it. Make your choice.

More realism. Palestinians, Jordanians, Lebanese, Syrians, Iranians, Egyptians and Saudis — Hamas and Hezbollah, Shia and Sunni — Israel isn’t going anywhere without a terrible fight; Israel, millions of Arabs are not about to magically disappear. Make your choice.

Either listen to your better angels, like the two fathers described by Obama, or prepare for this six-decade blood feud to reach its dénouement.

Obama’s pragmatism can be infuriating. It’s understandable why many who voted for him feel as if they were hoodwinked, ala Cornel West. But I think we have to give credit where credit is due.

Obama’s words were more powerful than I expected them to be. Will they change anything? We can only hope.

A.Loewenstein Online Newsletter

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Fisk on what Obama should say about the Middle East (but won’t)

Posted: 19 May 2011

 
Spot on:

 
OK, so here’s what President Barack Obama should say today about the Middle East. We will leave Afghanistan tomorrow. We will leave Iraq tomorrow. We will stop giving unconditional, craven support to Israel. Americans will force the Israelis – and the European Union – to end their siege of Gaza. We will withhold all future funding for Israel unless it ends, totally and unconditionally, its building of colonies on Arab land that does not belong to it. We will cease all co-operation and business deals with the vicious dictators of the Arab world – whether they be Saudi or Syrian or Libyan – and we will support democracy even in those countries where we have massive business interests. Oh yes, and we will talk to Hamas.
Of course, President Barack Obama will not say this. A vain and cowardly man, he will talk about the West’s “friends” in the Middle East, about the security of Israel – security not being a word he has ever devoted to Palestinians – and he will waffle on and on about the Arab Spring as if he ever supported it (until, of course, the dictators were on the run), as if – when they desperately needed his support – he had given his moral authority to the people of Egypt; and, no doubt, we will hear him say what a great religion Islam is (but not too great, or Republicans will start recalling the Barack Hussein Obama birth certificate again) and we will be asked – oh, I fear we will – to turn our backs on the Bin Laden past, to seek “closure” and “move on” (which I’m afraid the Taliban don’t quite agree with).
Mr Obama and his equally gutless Secretary of State have no idea what they are facing in the Middle East. The Arabs are no longer afraid. They are tired of our “friends” and sick of our enemies. Very soon, the Palestinians of Gaza will march to the border of Israel and demand to “go home”.
…
What Mr Obama doesn’t understand however – and, of course, Mrs Clinton has not the slightest idea – is that, in the new Arab world, there can be no more reliance on dictator-toadies, no more flattery. The CIA may have its cash funds to hand but I suspect few Arabs will want to touch them. The Egyptians will not tolerate the siege of Gaza. Nor, I think, will the Palestinians. Nor the Lebanese, for that matter; and nor the Syrians when they have got rid of the clansmen who rule them. The Europeans will work that out quicker than the Americans – we are, after all, rather closer to the Arab world – and we will not forever let our lives be guided by America’s fawning indifference to Israeli theft of property.

Private prisons only help the private companies

Posted: 18 May 2011

 
The reality, according to this piece in the New York Times, is that privatising prisons doesn’t save money or bring more accountability or make people’s lives any better. Politicians and commentators who say otherwise are obsessed with “market” solutions. Besides, who feels comfortable making money from the misery of others?

The conviction that private prisons save money helped drive more than 30 states to turn to them for housing inmates. But Arizona shows that popular wisdom might be wrong: Data there suggest that privately operated prisons can cost more to operate than state-run prisons — even though they often steer clear of the sickest, costliest inmates.
The state’s experience has particular relevance now, as many politicians have promised to ease budget problems by trimming state agencies. Florida and Ohio are planning major shifts toward private prisons, and Arizona is expected to sign deals doubling its private-inmate population.
The measures would be a shot in the arm for an industry that has struggled, in some places, to fill prison beds as the number of inmates nationwide has leveled off. But hopes of big taxpayer benefits might end in disappointment, independent experts say.
“There’s a perception that the private sector is always going to do it more efficiently and less costly,” said Russ Van Vleet, a former co-director of the University of Utah Criminal Justice Center. “But there really isn’t much out there that says that’s correct.”
Such has been the case lately in Arizona. Despite a state law stipulating that private prisons must create “cost savings,” the state’s own data indicate that inmates in private prisons can cost as much as $1,600 more per year, while many cost about the same as they do in state-run prisons.
The research, by the Arizona Department of Corrections, also reveals a murky aspect of private prisons that helps them appear less expensive: They often house only relatively healthy inmates.
“It’s cherry-picking,” said State Representative Chad Campbell, leader of the House Democrats. “They leave the most expensive prisoners with taxpayers and take the easy prisoners.”
In the 1980s, soaring violent crime, tougher sentencing and overcrowding led lawmakers to use private prisons to expand. Then, as now, privatization advocates argued that corporations were more efficient. Over time, most states signed contracts, one of the largest transfers of state functions to private industry.
Nationally, the number of state inmates in private prisons grew by a third over the past decade to more than 90,000, but it has stagnated, and some states have reduced total prison populations — shifting nonviolent offenders to treatment programs while bolstering probation. Now, Ohio lawmakers want to privatize prisons with 6,000 inmates, and Florida will transfer institutions with 15,000 inmates to private management. The Arizona plan would add 5,000 private prison beds.
Matthew Benson, spokesman for Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, a Republican, did not dispute the state research. But he said officials had a “pretty wide lens” to interpret the cost-savings mandate, like taking into account the ability of private companies to recoup hundreds of millions in construction costs over the life of contracts.
“It is a significant advantage to have a private firm be able to come in and front the costs,” he said.
Privatization advocates play down the data. Leonard Gilroy, director of government reform for the Reason Foundation, a libertarian research organization, questioned whether all costs were included and said the figures were too narrowly drawn, particularly on medium-security prisons, to prompt conclusions. “It is looking at a limited slice,” Mr. Gilroy said.
 Competing studies — some financed by the prison industry — have argued over claims of savings. But when a University of Utah team including Mr. Van Vleet reviewed years of research, it concluded in 2007 that “cost savings from privatizing prisons are not guaranteed and appear minimal.”

Of course there’s a powerful Zionist lobby in the US

Posted: 18 May 2011

 
The Mearsheimer/Walt thesis on America’s (worrying powerful) Israel lobby is proven right time and time again. Today’s Wall Street Journal:

Jewish donors and fund-raisers are warning the Obama re-election campaign that the president is at risk of losing financial support because of concerns about his handling of Israel.
The complaints began early in President Barack Obama’s term, centered on a perception that Mr. Obama has been too tough on Israel.
Some Jewish donors say Mr. Obama has pushed Israeli leaders too hard to halt construction of housing settlements in disputed territory, a longstanding element of U.S. policy. Some also worry that Mr. Obama is putting more pressure on the Israelis than the Palestinians to enter peace negotiations, and say they are disappointed Mr. Obama has not visited Israel yet.
One top Democratic fund-raiser, Miami developer Michael Adler, said he urged Obama campaign manager Jim Messina to be “extremely proactive” in countering the perception in the Jewish community that Mr. Obama is too critical of Israel.
He said his conversations with Mr. Messina were aimed at addressing the problems up front. “This was going around finding out what our weaknesses are so we can run the best campaign,” said Mr. Adler, who hosted a fund-raiser at his home for Mr. Obama earlier this year.
“Good friends tell you how you can improve. They don’t tell you ‘everything’s great’ and then you find out nobody buys the food in your restaurants,” he said.
It is difficult to assess how widespread the complaints are. Many Jews support Mr. Obama’s approach to the Middle East, and his domestic agenda. But Jewish fund-raisers for Mr. Obama say they regularly hear discontent among some supporters.
The Obama campaign has asked Penny Pritzker, Mr. Obama’s 2008 national finance chairwoman, to talk with Jewish leaders about their concerns, Ms. Pritzker said. So far, she said, she’s met with about a half dozen people. She said the campaign is in the process of assembling a larger team for similar outreach.
“I do think there’s an education job to be done, because there’s lots of myths that abound and misunderstandings of the administration’s record,” she said. “The campaign is aggressively getting the information out there.”
Robert Copeland, a Virginia Beach, Va., developer, who has given large donations to many Democrats, has already decided he won’t vote for Mr. Obama in 2012. “I’m very disappointed with him,” he said. “His administration has failed in Israel. They degraded the Israeli people.”

Serco wants to hide its behaviour from us all

Posted: 18 May 2011

 
This move has all the hallmarks of attempting to keep real people out of the media spotlight. Humanising refugees is the last thing this government and Serco wants:

The company running the country’s immigration detention centres has upgraded how seriously it takes the unauthorised presence of media, putting it on par with a bomb threat or an escape.
The Serco document says “unauthorised” media presence at a detention centre is now considered “critical” – the highest possible threat level.
There has been an intense focus on the detention system over recent months after a number of protests and riots.
The Government says it is a serious issue if the media tries to gain unauthorised entry to a detention centre.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says it is important that people’s asylum claims are not compromised and they not be filmed.
He says the heightened alert is a matter for Serco.
“There is a media protocol in detention centres, and on those very rare occasions that media do not say they are media or attempt to gain unauthorised entry, that is a serious matter,” Mr Bowen said.
The Immigration Department says new classifications for incidents within detention centres only relate to how they are reported to the Government.
A department spokesman says the document only deals with the timeframe for reporting issues to the Government and has no bearing on how they are dealt with.

Wikileaks reveals how US views anti-Americanism

Posted: 18 May 2011

 
Very narrowly:

 
Discussing a draft declaration from South American and Arab State leaders, a United States government operative lists a series of “anti-American digs” against the US and Israel that were later excluded from the text.
What is considered anti-American is stunning and revealing. This quiet, unassuming cable shows a bizarre and expansive US foreign policy agenda in 2005.
Among statements considered to be anti-American:

  • Reaffirming the necessity of resolving all conflicts non-violently;
  • Emphasizing the importance of respecting the unity, sovereignty, and independence of Iraq, and not interfering in its internal processes;
  • Committing to implementing all UN resolutions non-selectively;
  • Recognizing the need for protection of intellectual property, but not when it affects national development, especially in terms of national health policies;
  • Emphasizing the need to eliminate distortions (subsidies) in agriculture, which impede developed nations from exploiting comparative advantages;
  • Welcoming the recent entry into force of the Kyoto Agreement, and calling on the international community to better protect the global climate.

The cable also described aspirations for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East as “anti-Israeli sentiment”.
An unusually clear window into a USG operatives’s worldview at the time.

Imperialism: Bankers, Drug Wars and Genocide Mexico’s Descent in the Inferno

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By Prof. James Petras

Global Research,

In May 2011, Mexican investigators uncovered another mass clandestine grave with dozens of mutilated corpses; bringing the total number of victims to 40,000 killed since 2006 when the Calderon regime announced its “war on drug traffickers”. Backed by advisers, agents and arms, the White House has been the principal promotor of a ‘war’ that has totally decimated Mexico ’s society and economy.
If Washington has been the driving force for the regime’s war, Wall Street banks have been the main instruments ensuring the profits of the drug cartels. Every major US bank has been deeply involved in laundering hundreds of billions of dollars in drug profits, for the better part of the past decade.
Mexico ’s descent into this inferno has been engineered by the leading US financial and political institutions, each supporting ‘one side or the other’ in the bloody “total war” which spares no one, no place and no moment in time. While the Pentagon arms the Mexican government and the US Drug Enforcement Agency enforces the “military solution”, the biggest US banks receive, launder and transfer hundreds of billions of dollars to the drug lords’ accounts, who then buy modern arms, pay private armies of assassins and corrupt untold numbers of political and law enforcement officials on both sides of the border.
Mexico’s Descent in the Inferno
Everyday scores, if not hundreds, of corpses – appear in streets and or are found in unmarked graves; dozens are murdered in their homes, cars, public transport, offices and even hospitals; known and unknown victims in the hundreds are kidnapped and disappear; school children, parents, teachers, doctors and businesspeople are seized in broad daylight and held for ransom or murdered in retaliation. Thousands of migrant workers are kidnapped, robbed, ransomed, murdered and evidence is emerging that some are sold into the illegal ‘organ trade’. The police are barricaded in their commissaries; the military, if and when it arrives, takes out its frustration on entire cities, shooting more civilians than cartel soldiers. Everyday life revolves around surviving the daily death toll; threats are everywhere, the armed gangs and military patrols fire and kill with virtual impunity. People live in fear and anger.
The Free Trade Agreement: The Sparks that lit the Inferno
In the late 1980’s, Mexico was in crisis, but the people chose a legal way out: they elected a President, Cuahtemoc Cardenas, on the basis of his national program to promote the economic revitalization of agriculture and industry. The Mexican elite, led by Carlos Salinas of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) chose otherwise and subverted the election: The electorate was denied its victory; the peaceful mass protests were ignored. Salinas and subsequent Mexican presidents vigorously pursued a free trade agreement (NAFTA) with the US and Canada , which rapidly drove millions of Mexican farmers, ranchers and small business people into bankruptcy. Devastation led to the flight of millions of immigrant workers. Rural movements of debtors flourished and ebbed, were co-opted or repressed. The misery of the legal economy contrasted with the burgeoning wealth of the traffickers of drugs and people, which generated a growing demand for well-paid armed auxiliaries as soldiers for the cartels. The regional drug syndicates emerged out of the local affluence.
In the new millennium, popular movements and a new electoral hope arose: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). By 2006 a vast peaceful electoral movement promised substantial social and economic reforms to ‘integrate millions of disaffected youth’. In the parallel economy, the drug cartels were expanding and benefiting from the misery of millions of workers and peasants marginalized by the Mexican elite, who had plundered the public treasury, speculated in real estate, robbed the oil industry and created enormous privatized monopolies in the communication and banking sectors.
In 2006, millions of Mexican voters were once again denied their electoral victory: The last best hope for a peaceful transformation was dashed. Backed by the US Administration, Felipe Calderon stole the election and proceeded to launch the “War on Drug Traffickers” strategy dictated by Washington .
The War Strategy Escalates the Drug War: The Banking Crises Deepens the Ties with Drug Traffickers
The massive escalation of homicides and violence in Mexico began with the declaration of a war on the drug cartels by the fraudulently elected President Calderon, a policy pushed initially by the Bush Administration and subsequently strongly backed by the Obama – Clinton regime. Over 40,000 Mexican soldiers filled the streets, towns and barrios – violently assaulting citizens – especially young people. The cartels retaliated by escalating their armed assaults on police. The war spread to all the major cities and along the major highways and rural roads; murders multiplied and Mexico descended further into a Dantesque inferno. Meanwhile, the Obama regime ‘reaffirmed’ its support for a militarist solution on both sides of the border: Over 500,000 Mexican immigrants were seized and expelled from the US ; heavily armed border patrols multiplied. Cross border gun sales grew exponentially .The US “market” for Mexican manufactured goods and agricultural products shrank, further widening the pool for cartel recruits while the supply of high powered weapons increased. White House gun and drug policies strengthened both sides in this maniacal murderous cycle: The US government armed the Calderon regime and the American gun manufacturers sold guns to the cartels through both legal and underground arms sales. Steady or increasing demand for drugs in the US – and the grotesque profits derived from trafficking and sales— remained the primary driving force behind the tidal wave of violence and societal disintegration in Mexico .
Drug profits, in the most basic sense, are secured through the ability of the cartels to launder and transfer billions of dollars through the US banking system. The scale and scope of the US banking-drug cartel alliance surpasses any other economic activity of the US private banking system. According to US Justice Department records, one bank alone, Wachovia Bank (now owned by Wells Fargo), laundered $378.3 billion dollars between May 1, 2004 and May 31, 2007 (The Guardian, May 11, 2011). Every major bank in the US has served as an active financial partner of the murderous drug cartels – including Bank of America, Citibank, and JP Morgan, as well as overseas banks operating out of New York , Miami and Los Angeles , as well as London .
While the White House pays the Mexican state and army to kill Mexicans suspected of drug trafficking, the US Justice Department belatedly slaps a relatively small fine on the major US financial accomplice to the murderous drug trade, Wachovia Bank, spares its bank officials from any jail time and allows major cases to lapse into dismissal.
The major agency of the US Treasury involved in investigating money laundering, the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, deliberately ignored the blatant collaboration of US banks with drug terrorists, concentrating almost their entire staff and resources on enforcing sanctions against Iran . For seven years, Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey used his power as head of the Department for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence to pursue Israel ’s phony “war on terrorism” against Iran , rather than shut down Wachovia’s money-laundering operations with the Mexican drug terrorists. In this period of time an estimated 40,000 Mexican civilian have been killed by the cartels and the army.
Without US arms and financial services supporting both the illegitimate Mexican regimes and the drug cartels – there could be no “drug war”, no mass killings and no state terror. The simple acts of stopping the flood of cheap subsidized US agriculture products into Mexico and de-criminalizing the use and purchase of cocaine in the US would dry up the pool of ‘cartel soldiers’ from the bankrupted Mexican peasantry and the cut back the profits and demand for illegal drugs in the US market.
The Drug Traffickers, the Banks and the White House
If the major US banks are the financial engines which allow the billion dollar drug empires to operate, the White House, the US Congress and the law enforcement agencies are the basic protectors of these banks. Despite the deep and pervasive involvement of the major banks in laundering hundreds of billions of dollars in illicit funds, the “court settlements” pursued by US prosecutors have led to no jail time for the bankers. One court’s settlement amounted to a fine of $50 million dollars, less than 0.5% of one of the banks (the Wachovia/Wells Fargo bank) $12.3 billion profits for 2009 (The Guardian, May 11, 2011). Despite the death of tens of thousands of Mexican civilians, US executive branch directed the DEA, the federal prosecutors and judges to impose such a laughable ‘punishment’ on Wachovia for its illegal services to the drug cartels. The most prominent economic officials of the Bush and Obama regimes, including Summers, Paulson, Geithner, Greenspan, Bernacke et al, are all long term associates, advisers and members of the leading financial houses and banks implicated in laundering the billions of drug profits.
Laundering drug money is one of the most lucrative sources of profit for Wall Street; the banks charge hefty commissions on the transfer of drug profits, which they then lend to borrowing institutions at interest rates far above what – if any – they pay to drug trafficker depositors. Awash in sanitized drug profits, these US titans of the finance world can easily buy their own elected officials to perpetuate the system.
Even more important and less obvious is the role of drug money in the recent financial meltdown, especially during its most critical first few weeks.
According to the head of United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, “In many instances, drug money (was)… currently the only liquid investment capital…. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system’s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor…interbank loans were funded by money that originated from drug trade and other illegal activities… (there were) signs that some banks were rescued in that way.” (Reuters, January 25,2009. US edition). Capital flows from the drug billionaires were key to floating Wachovia and other leading banks. In a word: the drug billionaires saved the capitalist financial system from collapse!
Conclusion
By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it has become clear that capital accumulation, at least in North America, is intimately linked to generalized violence and drug trafficking. Because capital accumulation is dependent on financial capital, and the latter is dependent on the industry profits from the multi-hundred-billion dollar drug trade, the entire ensemble is embedded in the ‘total war’ over drug profits. In times of deep crises the very survival of the US financial system – and through it, the world banking system – is linked to the liquidity of the drug “industry”.
At the most superficial level the destruction of Mexican and Central American societies – encompassing over 100 million people – is a result of a conflict between drug cartels and the political regimes of the region. At a deeper level there is a multiplier or “ripple effect” related to their collaboration: the cartels draw on the support of the US banks to realize their profits; they spend hundreds of millions on the US arms industry and others to secure their supplies, transport and markets; they employ tens of thousands of recruits for their vast private armies and civilian networks and they purchase the compliance of political and military officials on both sides of the borders
For its part, the Mexican government acts as a conduit for US Pentagon/Federal police, Homeland Security, drug enforcement and political apparatuses prosecuting the ‘war’, which has put Mexican lives, property and security at risk. The White House stands at the strategic center of operations – the Mexican regime serves as the front-line executioners.
On one side of the “war on drugs” are the major Wall Street banks; on the other side, the White House and its imperial military strategists and in the ‘middle’ are 90 million Mexicans and 40,000 murder victims and counting.
Relying on political fraud to impose economic deregulation in the 1990’s (neo-liberalism), the US policies led directly to the social disintegration, criminalization and militarization of the current decade. The sophisticated narco-finance economy has now become the most advanced stage of neo-liberalism. When the respectable become criminals, the criminals become respectable.
The issue of genocide in Mexico has been determined by the empire and its “knowing” bankers and cynical rulers.

Anti-Atzmon Zionist Campaign

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The following is an email sent by Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi to selected ‘revolutionary’ chosen members within the UK ‘anti Zionist’ network.

Dear xxx

Countering racism, fighting Zionism

A potent Zionist weapon in undermining the Palestinian cause is the

accusation of anti-Semitism. While the pro-Palestinian cause is

overwhelmingly anti-racist and does not tolerate anti-Semitism, there

have been some signs recently that individuals promoting views that

can only be viewed as anti-Semitic have been gaining an audience

within the solidarity movement.

As just one example, a number of activists were present at a meeting

in London on May 3 (http://goo.gl/sdRoz) at which they applauded a

platform speaker explaining his view that “Jewishness is the real

problem.” “Jewishness”, he said, was “a tendency towards segregation”

and a form of “supremacist ideology fuelled by chosenness”. He

attributed to “Jewish Marxists . . . a very strange form of national

socialism”.

We are organizing a meeting to discuss this developing situation, and

to arrive we hope at an agreed strategy for countering it.

There is a strange symmetry. Zionists equate Judaism and being Jewish

with their own racist political philosophy. It is embodied in the

State of Israel as ‘ the state of the Jews ‘. They allege that

anti-Zionism equals anti-Semitism. Any Jew who does not agree is a

‘self-hater’. Likewise racists and religious extremists also equate

Zionism with Judaism and being Jewish, and use the atrocities being

committed on behalf of the Zionist project as a stick with which to

beat Jews, regardless of their views about Israel.

The equation Jew  =  Zionist is a lie promoted by the state of Israel

to boost its international support and so weaken the Palestinian

cause. For supporters of Palestine to blame ‘Jewishness’ (rather than

Western colonialism) for the oppression of Palestinians is a

potentially damaging diversion from the real argument. Any significant

spread of this viewpoint would give some credibility to the Zionists’

allegations of anti-Semitism in the Palestine solidarity movement, and

so divide and discredit it.

Proponents of such ideas pose as friends of Palestine while attacking

and condemning Jews within the movement and those who work with them.

Behind such views lies a sinister, far-right dimension exposed, for

example, in these links: http://goo.gl/PGruW

http://goo.gl/huOml

Those who equate Zionism with Jewishness do not belong in the

movement. Their political home is elsewhere — among fellow racists.

In order to ensure that this is better understood among the whole

community of activists and sympathizers with the Palestinian cause, we

propose to produce a briefing document examining and exposing these

destructive, anti-Semitic arguments.

The purpose of this message is to invite you and/or a representative

of your organisation to join us at a meeting to discuss the content of

such a document and how it could best be used. Please reply to the

sender. This invitation is not intended for wider circulation.

The meeting is proposed for Saturday 18/6 at 3pm. Venue is Lucas Arms,

245a Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/clubs_bars/venue-1583.php

In solidarity,

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi


Jewish Clandestine Operation Exposed

NOVANEWS

Gilad Atzmon

 


 

Below you will find an embarrassing ‘call for action’ circulated (selectively) by Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, a prominent UK Jewish ‘anti Zionist’ and one of the founders of ‘J- Big’, an exclusive Jewish cell, advocating the boycott of Israeli goods.

Wimborne-Idrissi’s intentions are ambitious: she wants to form an ‘Anti Atzmon party’ or, in her words- “We are organising a meeting to discuss this developing situation (Atzmon’s popularity), and to arrive we hope at an agreed strategy for countering it.” You may as well notice that this Judeo-centric sectarian attempt is taking place at a time Palestinians seem to be united.

Wimborne-Idrissi’s argument is staggering — on the one hand she is criticising me for suggesting that “Jewishness is a tendency towards segregation” — and yet, her call for action ends with the following sentence: “this invitation is not intended for wider circulation.” It is obviously clear that instead of a ‘wider and open Palestinian solidarity discourse’, the Jewish ethnic campaigner actually prefers to operate within small segregated cells as I suggested above.

Wimborne-Idrissi is devastated by the success of our May 3rd Panel Event, “Zionism, Jewishness and Israel”. While our panel discussion was a public event, open to all, Wimborne-Idrissi and her half a dozen Jewish ‘comrades’ seem to prefer to operate ‘underground’, in a clandestine mode.

It is obvious to all that their defeat is colossal. I wonder, why don’t they just admit it and move on?

Let’s face it. Wimborne-Idrissi is at least correct in some regards — I do indeed argue that:

1.     “Jewishness is a tendency towards segregation and a form of a supremacist ideology fuelled by choseness.”

2. “Jewish Marxism is a very strange form of national Socialism.”

3.   I do believe that Zionism is a continuation of Jewishness (a tendency towards segregation and a form of a supremacist ideology fuelled by choseness).

4. I forcefully argue that Zionism is not colonialism.

And yet, not one of the above statements are anti Semitic or racist — As you may note, there is not one single reference to Jews as a people, a race, as a group united ‘by blood lines’, or collection of genes. Instead, I criticise Jewish ideology. And In case Wimborne Idrissi is willfully missing something, criticising ideology is still actually considered to be a legitimate endeavour until further notice.

But I suppose that Wimborne-Idrissi considers that Jews as well as Jewish ideology are beyond criticism. And that is clearly just another symptom of her deeply supremacist worldview.

Shamelessly, Wimborne-Idrissi writes,  “those who equate Zionism with Jewishness do not belong in the movement.” Once again a Jewish ethnic activist seems to suggest to us what the Palestinian solidarity movement is all about. Sadly enough, Wimborne-Idrissi refuses to admit the obvious — that Israel defines itself as the Jewish State. Israel also drops bombs on Gazans from planes decorated with Jewish symbols. Surely then, Wimborne-Idrissi had better explain to us, once and for all; why can’t we then question what Jewishness stands for?

But I guess that I know the answer: Wimborne-Idrissi, understands that any criticism of Jewishness will also apply to her own ‘Jews Only’ political cell, for — categorically and by definition — both Israel and Wimborne-Idrissi’s ‘J-Big’ are exclusive Jewish clubs. They are both driven by the idea that being Jewish is somehow unique: otherwise, I cannot understand why Wimborne-Idrissi refuses to boycott Humus Sabra together with the Goyim.

It is important to mention that neither I nor anyone else in our movement has ever condemned ‘Jews within the movement and those who work with them’. No one is criticising Jews as people.  And no one — except the Jews only cells — believes in trying to silence anyone.  I believe in freedom of speech. I believe that vibrant discourse is crucial for any political or ideological  movement.

And I would support Wimborne- Idrissi — once she decides to engage in an open debate instead of conspiratorial clandestine strategies.

I am afraid that I have some bad news for Wimborne-Idrissi & Co. Being an ex-Jew and an independent thinker, I am not a member of any synagogue or Trotsky-ite congregation. From a Jewish perspective then, I am untouchable. The large variety of old Jewish tactics such as Excommunication and Exclusion have already proved to be futile with me. The few Jews in this movement who attempt to perform these old Middle ages Rabbinical rites and strategies against me will achieve little, besides exposing themselves for who they are and what they are : i.e. crypto Zionists.

And I wish them luck.

As I was about to publish this post, a mole within the ‘progressive’ Jewish  league sent me  the date and location of the first ‘anti Atzmon gathering’. The meeting is proposed for Saturday 18/6 at 3pm. Venue is Lucas Arms,245a Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/clubs_bars/venue-1583.php

I would love to be there. I would be the perfect leader for this new Jewish revolutionary party. As a self-hater, I also have a lot of problems with Atzmon. Every night when I am desperate to go to bed and close my eyes, he  keeps on writing about Israel, AIPAC, Lord Levy, Jews Only Clubs and so on. I am sick of it, I have been stuck with him for too long. Considering my intimate and deep knowledge of this character, I should probably be the secretary of the new party. But unfortunately, I will be with Atzmon that Afternoon. He is performing that day in front of those ‘clueless anti Semite idiots’ who for some bizarre reason love him, oppose tribalism, defy racism and follow his universal ethical dribble.

Mondoweiss Online Newsletter

NOVANEWS

 

Rosa Parks’s bus doesn’t stop in this country

May 19, 2011

Anonymous

Two friends in the Palestinian solidarity community weigh in anonymously on Obama´s speech:

1, It’s a) another effort for “evenhandedness” in the Palestine issue where evenhandedness is a joke given the disparities in power. b) it´s remarkable that he didn´t completely shut the door on talking to Hamas, but c) he basically tries to take all the tools away from the Palestinians to put pressure on Israel by repeatedly and strongly condemning their UN strategy (and making clearer demands on Hamas than he has ever made on Israel since he folded on settlements). And it´s kind of striking how his repeated and very strong endorsement of “self determination” and revolution (a la Boston Tea Party and Rosa Parks) somehow didn´t continue when he finally arrived at the issue of Palestine.
I´m not a prophet, but this will not move the “peace process” forward. He´s just trying to buy time to the next election. But he also realizes that this issue is a ticking bomb.
A last thought: He implicitly countered Palestian efforts to “internationalize” the conflict bey reiterating his insistence on a continuing, strong American presence and position in the region.

2. Look at Obama framing Palestinian suffering as the humiliation of occupation, never living in a country of their own.  He skips right over the dispossession of 1948.

Then what was he hinting at with the line about the growing number of Palestinians west of the Jordan?  Was he talking demographics? If so, why didn’t he say it forthrightly?

We’re going to talk about the Israelis want most, security, along with borders while putting off the key Palestinian concerns about Jerusalem and refugees?  Once Israel has secured its settlements, does he seriously think they’ll talk about Jerusalem and Right of Return?

No mention of Palestinian nonviolence in all the talk about regional nonviolence.  He’s just totally abandoned them in the two years since the Cairo speech.  Palestinian nonviolence somehow doesn’t count. Terrible that he dropped it post-Cairo.

Finally, his reference to all men being created equal really set me off.  He said this must guide our actions in North Africa and the Middle East.  Really, when he spent part of his speech talking up a Jewish and democratic state? How does Jewish privilege in a Jewish state square with all people being created equal?  It doesn’t.  But because people who wouldn’t stand for a white, Christian state in the US suddenly fall stupid or hypocritical regarding Israel it just slides right on by.  And why is this?  Take a look at the AIPAC conference and the race of members of Congress to be there this weekend. And what’s being promoted?  Jewish exceptionalism and rights for Jews that aren’t extended to Palestinians.  White folks were made to give this stuff up in the US.  And the country is much better for it.  When will it happen in Israel? It’s being delayed by this administration and Congress refusing to look at the facts and discriminatory realities.

Obama won’t have to write another speech for AIPAC on Monday

May 19, 2011

Philip Weiss

Well, democracy and nonviolent protest are great for the Arab world, says Obama, but not for Palestine. So there is reference to the “humiliation of occupation” but not to the fact that the people under occupation have no rights. A friend says the speech could have been delivered to AIPAC.

One reference to “settlement activity,” some acknowledgment that the peace process has produced nothing. Idrees Ahmad says, this is how it’s being interpreted in Israel:“@alufbenn No criticism of the settlements, not illegitimate.”

Another friend: I/P formulation about the same as in the Cairo speech, I think. (Hillary Clinton in December speech at the Saban Forum was a little more explicit actually.) As I read it, he begs off personal engagement following advice of Thos. Friedman. Advises “the parties” to solve territory and security first and go on to right-of-return and Jerusalem later. His act of courage, in his own mind, was saying the word 1967.

Chuck Todd and Richard Engel on MSNBC were much more impressive than Obama. Todd acknowledged the domestic Jewish politics of the issue as pressure on Obama– at last! And Engel said that the Arab spring will demand that Palestinians get freedom, the new Arab street is no different from the old Arab street in that respect, and if Obama can’t get ahead of these forces, he will be “overtaken by events.” Hints of violence to come. 73 percent of Palestinians believe a third intifada is about to begin by the way, according to Palestinian Center for Public Opinion.

Here are Obama’s Israel/Palestine remarks:

Let me conclude by talking about another cornerstone of our approach to the region, and that relates to the pursuit of peace.

For decades, the conflict between Israelis and Arabs has cast a shadow over the region. For Israelis, it has meant living with the fear that their children could get blown up on a bus or by rockets fired at their homes, as well as the pain of knowing that other children in the region are taught to hate them. For Palestinians, it has meant suffering the humiliation of occupation, and never living in a nation of their own. Moreover, this conflict has come with a larger cost the Middle East, as it impedes partnerships that could bring greater security, prosperity, and empowerment to ordinary people.

My Administration has worked with the parties and the international community for over two years to end this conflict, yet expectations have gone unmet. Israeli settlement activity continues. Palestinians have walked away from talks. The world looks at a conflict that has grinded on for decades, and sees a stalemate. Indeed, there are those who argue that with all the change and uncertainty in the region, it is simply not possible to move forward.

I disagree.  At a time when the people of the Middle East and North Africaare casting off the burdens of the past, the drive for a lasting peace that ends the conflict and resolves all claims is more urgent than ever.

For the Palestinians, efforts to delegitimize Israel will end in failure. Symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won’t create an independent state. Palestinian leaders will not achieve peace or prosperity if Hamas insists on a path of terror and rejection. And Palestinians will never realize their independence by denying the right ofIsrael to exist.

As for Israel, our friendship is rooted deeply in a shared history and shared values. Our commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable. And we will stand against attempts to single it out for criticism in international forums. But precisely because of our friendship, it is important that we tell the truth: the status quo is unsustainable, and Israel too must act boldly to advance a lasting peace.

The fact is, a growing number of Palestinians live west of the Jordan River. Technology will make it harder for Israel to defend itself. A region undergoing profound change will lead to populism in which millions of people – not just a few leaders – must believe peace is possible. The international community is tired of an endless process that never produces an outcome. The dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation.

Ultimately, it is up to Israelis and Palestinians to take action. No peace can be imposed upon them, nor can endless delay make the problem go away. But what America and the international community can do is state frankly what everyone knows: a lasting peace will involve two states for two peoples. Israel as a Jewish state and the homeland for the Jewish people, and the state of Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people; each state enjoying self-determination, mutual recognition, and peace.

So while the core issues of the conflict must be negotiated, the basis of those negotiations is clear: a viable Palestine, and a secure Israel. TheUnited States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. The borders of Israel andPalestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state.

As for security, every state has the right to self-defense, and Israel must be able to defend itself – by itself – against any threat.  Provisions must also be robust enough to prevent a resurgence of terrorism; to stop the infiltration of weapons; and to provide effective border security. The full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption of Palestinian security responsibility in a sovereign, non-militarized state. The duration of this transition period must be agreed, and the effectiveness of security arrangements must be demonstrated.

These principles provide a foundation for negotiations.  Palestinians should know the territorial outlines of their state; Israelis should know that their basic security concerns will be met. I know that these steps alone will not resolve this conflict. Two wrenching and emotional issues remain: the future of Jerusalem, and the fate of Palestinian refugees. But moving forward now on the basis of territory and security provides a foundation to resolve those two issues in a way that is just and fair, and that respects the rights and aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians.

Recognizing that negotiations need to begin with the issues of territory and security does not mean that it will be easy to come back to the table. In particular, the recent announcement of an agreement between Fatah and Hamas raises profound and legitimate questions for Israel – how can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognize your right to exist. In the weeks and months to come, Palestinian leaders will have to provide a credible answer to that question. Meanwhile, theUnited States, our Quartet partners, and the Arab states will need to continue every effort to get beyond the current impasse.

I recognize how hard this will be. Suspicion and hostility has been passed on for generations, and at times it has hardened. But I’m convinced that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians would rather look to the future than be trapped in the past. We see that spirit in the Israeli father whose son was killed by Hamas, who helped start an organization that brought together Israelis and Palestinians who had lost loved ones. He said, “I gradually realized that the only hope for progress was to recognize the face of the conflict.” And we see it in the actions of a Palestinian who lost three daughters to Israeli shells in Gaza. “I have the right to feel angry,” he said. “So many people were expecting me to hate. My answer to them is I shall not hate…Let us hope,” he said, “for tomorrow”

That is the choice that must be made – not simply in this conflict, but across the entire region – a choice between hate and hope; between the shackles of the past, and the promise of the future. It’s a choice that must be made by leaders and by people, and it’s a choice that will define the future of a region that served as the cradle of civilization and a crucible of strife.

Shifting the occupation to the academic battlefield – South African academic Na’eem Jeenah detained and deported

May 19, 2011

Ayesha Jacub

Academic, community leader, author and journalist Na’eem Jeenah has been the latest academic to face detention by Israeli authorities. In his capacity as director AMEC: the Afro Middle East Centre, Jeenah was en route to Palestine to participate in research meetings. AMEC is a South African based think-tank which aims to maintain public discussion and shape public discourse on issues related to the Middle East. At its inception AMEC was headed by Waddah Khanfar, the present General Manager of the Al Jazeera network. AMEC has since established itself as a credible commentator in South Africa on Middle East issues.

This Tuesday, some hours after Mr Jeenah was first detained at Ben Gurion airport, AMEC staff received news of his detention via the South African Ambassador to Israel, H.E Ismail Coovadia. They were also informed about his pending deportation to Istanbul. On Tuesday evening, Israeli authorities were repeatedly refusing to disclose information about Mr Jeena’s location.

By Wednesday, Mr Jeenah was deported to Istanbul after ten hours of interrogation. According to Ambassador Coovadia, “his treatment (by Israeli officials) has been extremely bad”. Jeenah’s passport and personal possessions were not returned.

Na’eem is the latest casualty in the long list of influential personalities who have been denied access to Palestine. In 2008 Professor Richard Falk , the UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory was deported to Switzeland after a nightlong detention by Israeli authorities. Professor Falk was to collect information to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council. Israeli authorities reasoned that he was denied access because of his description of Israel’s blockade on the Gaza territory as being a “Holocaust in the making”.

In 2008 Archbishop Desmond Tutu was named as the head of a fact-finding mission to the Gaza strip. He subsequently cancelled this trip after his travel clearance was declined by Israeli officials, fearing that the report would cast a negative shadow over Israel.

A less unexpected refusal of entry was that of academic Norman Finkelstein in May 2008. Finkelstein has been an outspoken critic of Israeli policies and accuses Israel of misrepresenting the Holocaust towards furthering its nationalistic aims.
Another critic of Israeli policy is renowned linguist, Professor Noam Chomsky who was barred from accessing the West Bank in May 2010. Israeli authorities tried to brush this incident off as a logistical error, suggesting that if Mr. Chomsky attempted to re-enter, he would succeed.

With Freedom of Speech being a tenant of democracy ,this pattern of denying academics and dissenting voices access to Palestinian territories seems incongruous with Israel’s claim to being the only true democracy in the Middle East.

Academic tensions between South Africa and Israel have previously come under the spotlight in march this year with the landmark decision by the University of Johannesburg to sever ties with Israel’s Ben-Gurion university. In September 2010 a set of criteria were issued for BGU to comply with, within the following 6 months. BGU failed to meet these conditions which ‘ included a requirement that a Palestinian university must be included in the research relationship’.
Evidence was presented to the UJ Senate (one of its highest decision making bodies)
‘showing clearly BGU’s active restriction and violation of political and academic freedom; its direct and deliberate collaboration with the Israeli Defence Force (an occupying military force in flagrant violation of international law); and its maintenance of policies and practices that further entrench the discriminatory policies of the Israeli state.’

BGU spokesperson Faye Bittker said ‘cancelling this agreement, which was designed to solve real problems of water contamination in a reservoir near Johannesburg, will only hurt the residents of South Africa.’ This was in reference to the joint project between UJ and BGU exploring efforts to reduce water contamination. IOL news quoted Palestine Solidarity Campaign spokesman Salim Vally’s response: ‘As UJ’s deputy vice-chancellor, Adam Habib, has pointed out, ensuring clean water in South Africa has nothing to do with Israeli research and assistance, and has everything to do with the South African government’s investment.’

This academic boycott by UJ of BGU was a pioneering move hailing an important victory for the International Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement. The moral relevance of this call being made by a South African University is important considering the previous international pressure (including academic pressure) applied on institutions complicit in supporting apartheid structures.

The academic boycott of BGU and Na’eems deportation are some examples of the struggle against occupation being played out on the academic field. Na’eem Jeenah returned to South Africa this morning. In a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, Na’eem’s wife Melissa expressed appreciation to family, friends and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, the Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim and the Ambassador to Tel Aviv, HE Ambassador Ismail Coovadia for their ongoing support.

Ayesha Jacub is a freelance writer and medical Doctor from South Africa now living in Doha.

Netanyahu pushes two settlement expansions today, to spit in Obama’s eye

May 19, 2011

Philip Weiss

Mitchell Plitnick:

Today, the day of President Barack Obama’s long-anticipated “Middle East reboot” speech and one day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet with Obama, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office (PMO) took up discussion on two major East Jerusalem settlement expansion projects, in Pisgat Ze’ev and Har Homa. …

This is not coincidence, nor bureaucratic happenstance…. Terrestrial Jerusalem posted information about this more than a week ago. The discussion was intentionally put off before in order not to upset Netanyahu’s discussions with European leaders. Upsetting the Americans is not a concern.

Obama’s speech is irrelevant

May 19, 2011

Jack Ross

Why do you care about what Chris Matthews says? Or NPR for that matter?  The fact is that the US has no control over events on the ground any more. You and your friends and the neocons should stop pretending otherwise.

Impunity: Settlers enter village late at night, steal 7 sheep, kill two, blind another, and spill yogurt and water

May 19, 2011

Kate

and other news from Today in Palestine:

Tuesday-Wednesday, 17-18 May 2011
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
Jerusalem
Rightist Jewish organization sues Sheikh Jarrah activists for libel
Haaretz 18 May — Elad demands NIS 500,000 in damages from leftist activists for claiming that Elad’s operations cause harm to East Jerusalem Palestinians.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/rightist-jewish-organization-sues-sheikh-jarrah-activists-for-libel-1.362403
1-minute video from 22 April: Blindfolded in Silwan (Kfutim)
Solidarity activists tried to give the visitors of the “City of David” site, located in Silwan and run by the radical settler organization “ELAD”, a taste of the reality that exists only yards away. Some did not like to be reminded what their entrance fees support. [very ugly language from the ELAD people]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo-AMxM20Q4&feature=player_embedded#at=15
Israeli forces break into mosque in Jerusalem, arrest two youths
JERUSALEM (WAFA) 18 May — Israeli forces Wednesday broke into Ebn-Qudamah mosque, in Wadi el Joz, a neighborhood in Jerusalem, tampered with its content and arrested two Palestinian youths present at the area, according to witnesses. Witnesses told WAFA that an Israeli reinforced force, including intelligence, soldiers, and police broke into the mosque, smashed its front door, seized the loudspeakers, closed the mosque and hung on the door a closing order issued by the Israeli Minister of Internal Security, Isaac Aheronovic, under the pretext of ‘the mosque belongs to Hamas’ as well as they arrested two youths.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16179
Jerusalemites foil Jewish settlers’ attempt to capture Palestinian land
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-18 May — Jerusalemite youths managed to foil an attempt by a group of settlers to seize a land lot owned by a Palestinian family in Thawri suburb in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday. Rasem Abdulwahid, a specialist in Jerusalem affairs, said that the Jewish fanatics installed barbed wire round the land owned by Istanbuli family. He said that the young men managed to cut the wire around the land, 1500 square meters, and threw stones and empty bottles at the Israeli soldiers who came to protect the settlers forcing them to retreat after firing gas bombs and rubber bullets at the youth.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Israeli activist attacked, unprovoked, by Israeli soldiers in Silwan
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 18 May — Pro-Palestinian Israeli activist Gil Gutglick was detained today by Israeli troops, after he and several other activists attempted to non-violently defend a tract of land in Silwan slated for settler annexation on Tuesday afternoon. Despite the act triggering no confrontation, Gutglick was attacked by Israeli troops and arrested. He was then transferred to Oz police station and moved to another, unknown station.
http://silwanic.net/?p=16610
Settlers attempt to annex land in Wadi Rababa, resident arrested
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 18 May — Israeli troops arrested Silwan resident Khaled al-Zeer on Tuesday when a settler lodged a claim against him. Al-Zeer was accused by a settler to have assaulted him when settlers attempted to annex a tract of Palestinian land in the Wadi Rababa district of Silwan yesterday. Khaled was transferred to Oz police station and is set to stand trial this morning in the ‘Magistrate Court’.
http://silwanic.net/?p=16624
Court extends detention of injured youth from Silwan
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 18 May — Silwan youth Muhammad Abu Sakran’s detention was extended yesterday by the Jerusalem Magistrates Court, in order that he may be indicted tomorrow in the Central Court. Abu Sakran is accused by police of stone-throwing and participation in clashes that occured in the area Tuesday night. Abu Sakran’s brother Hussein Abu Sakran denounces the allegations as false, pointing to the shoulder injury suffered by his brother and the circumstances of his arrest. Hussein stated that his brother and another detainee were transferred from the neighborhood to hospital when they were the victims of a hit-and-run that also hit undercover police officers. Although Abu Sakran was suffering severe injury and discomfort, the judge refused his release on the basis of Israeli officers’ testimonies … His brother added that Abu Sakran was taken directly from hospital to Maskubiya prison.
Undercover Israeli forces also kidnapped two children from Assawiya. Walid Alayyan, 16, and Ahmad Hussein Alayyan, 16, were taken without warning from the neighborhood yesterday afternoon.
http://silwanic.net/?p=16634
Female prisoner’s detention without charge extended for the seventh time
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 18 May — The Jerusalem Magistrates Court extended the detention of Silwan woman Su‘ad Shoyoukhi on Tuesday for a further 24 hours, marking the seventh time since the beginning of May that such a decision be passed. Shoyoukhi remains in detention without charge. Her mother states that “Su‘ad is blessed with high morale, but it is clear that this experience has damaged her. She is forced to undergo perpetual interrogation, and has been beaten and tortured during these days in detention.”
http://silwanic.net/?p=16679
Tell me who your friends are
SettlementWatchEastJerusalem 15 May — The close relationship between the Jerusalem police and the settlers is proved again at the ceremony for new Jerusalem District Commander.  The newly appointed Jerusalem Police Commander Niso Shaham invited some old friends, among them settlers and extremists rabbis. A local Haredic website published some interesting pictures from the event in which Shaham was seen exchanging hugs, and posing for photographs with the East Jerusalem settler leadership, among them Yonatan Yossef, the head of the Sheikh Jarrah settlers gang …. Who was not invited? The citizens of Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah and other East Jerusalem neighborhoods that are suffering daily from the pressure and violence of settlers’ guards in their midst.
http://settlementwatcheastjerusalem.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/tell-me-who-your-friends-are%E2%80%A6/
PLC members get their first hearing after five years
Pal. Monitor 18 May — On Tuesday, 17 May, Israel’s High Court in Jerusalem heard the case of four legislators from Jerusalem whose residency rights were revoked in 2006 when they were elected to the Hamas-led Palestinian Legislative Council. While the judge did not adjudicate on their case, after five years of waiting, the hearing is seen as progress … For Mohammad Totah, the ramifications of Israel deporting the men on charges of “disloyalty” are huge. In an interview conducted by Electronic Intifada, Totah warned that their deportation could unleash a watershed of deportations on similar grounds, “It means deporting thousands of people from East Jerusalem for disloyalty. This word does not have any dimensions or any measures, so they can claim that anybody living in East Jerusalem … is disloyal to the Israeli occupation and then deport him. We know that it is one of the main objectives of the Israeli plan to empty East Jerusalem of the Palestinian people.”
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1819
Jewish settlers storm Palestinian school in occupied Jerusalem, attack homes in Al-Khalil
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 17 May — Jewish settlers, escorted by Israeli occupation forces, stormed a school for orphans in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday and assaulted a number of students. The Palestinian ministry of education said that the occupation forces arrested the headmaster and his deputy, adding that three of the students were injured in the settlers’ attack. It said in a statement that the students’ lives were in danger after they were forced out of school and left easy prey for settlers’ attacks.
Meanwhile, Jewish settlers threw a firebomb at a Palestinian home in Al-Khalil on Tuesday during an attack on a number of suburbs in the city. Witnesses told the PIC that setters threw a firebomb at a home for El-Baradei family south of the city as other groups were seen throwing stones at Palestinian cars in downtown.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Elsewhere
Knesset members to storm Nabi Yusuf tomb in Nablus in broad daylight
NABLUS, (PIC)– Israeli war minister Ehud Barak has agreed to allow a “visit” by 20 Knesset members, mostly affiliated with the far right parties, to Nabi Yusuf [Prophet Joseph] tomb in Nablus in broad daylight for the first time. Hebrew daily Ma’ariv said on Wednesday that the “visit” would take place within the few coming days with full escort on the part of the Israeli army to ascertain their right to visit the site during daytime and to control the road leading to the shrine. Previous “visits” by Jewish settlers to the shrine were always made at night and after coordination with the Palestinian Authority’s security.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
Rampaging Israeli settlers invade Palestinian village of Tuba
AIC 16 May — Late last night (15 May), Israeli settlers invaded the village of Tuba, damaged property, and killed and stole several sheep belonging to the Ali Awad family.
Palestinians of Tuba reported that they counted seven masked settlers, who entered and left the village on foot, and saw two cars at the outskirts of Tuba, near the chicken barns of Ma’on settlement. The rampaging settlers stole seven sheep, killed two, and injured others, including one which lost an eye.  In addition, the settlers upended three water tanks, which held a total of 4.5 cubic meters of water.  They destroyed fences, punctured a storage tent and three large sacks of yogurt, damaged a goat pen and destroyed the ventilation pipe of an outhouse.  They also set loose a donkey, which later returned.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/hebron/3599-rampaging-israeli-settlers-invade-palestinian-village-of-tuba
Settler attacks with Molotov cocktails in Nakba Day in Hebron
ISM 17 May — Jamal Abu Saifan told the International Solidarity Movement that around 6.30 pm on Sunday, four masked settlers appeared and started to throw Molotov cocktails and glass bottles towards one of the houses of the Abu Saifan family in Western Hebron. 19 people live in the house which was attacked, including several children. The family has five houses, situated just below a religious school of the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba. The attackers were standing in the school yard.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/05/18368/
Video: Daily life in Hebron: Israeli settlement activity in the Old City
uploaded by Alhaqhr on May 17, 2011 — “On Saturdays, I do not wash laundry or use the back yard of my house. Also, out of fear, I do not leave my house.” [doesn’t harassing Palestinians constitute ‘work’, not to be done on the Sabbath??]
http://palestinevideo.blogspot.com/2011/05/daily-life-in-hebron-israeli-settlement.html
IOF troops storm Wadi Qana, block entry of farmers
SALFIT, (PIC) 17 May — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the Wadi Qana region near Salfit and expelled farmers from it after declaring it a closed military zone. Nazmi Salman, the Deir Estiya village council head, said in a press release on Tuesday that the soldiers occupied the valley and forced the farmers out of it. He added that he went to the soldiers to ask them for the military order but they refused to show it. Wadi Qana is located on eight mountains and surrounded by nine Jewish settlements that distorted the valley’s features and confiscated almost all of its fertile land leaving only tens of dunums to the rightful Palestinian owners, which are also the target of constant settlers’ attacks.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
UN: Israel has displaced 149 Palestinian children in 2011
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) 16 May — Israel’s policy of demolishing Palestinian homes has displaced 149 children in the West Bank so far this year, figures from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees show … The figures show a sharp rise from with the same period in 2010, when 142 Palestinians — including 61 children — were forcibly displaced.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=387987
Caught: Ahava’s theft of occupied natural resources finally exposed
CODEPINK 18 May — WASHINGTON – May 18 – After years of strenuous denial, Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, an Israeli cosmetics firm with its main manufacturing plant in an illegal West Bank settlement, is proven by documentary evidence to be in violation of international law through its theft of Palestinian resources. This evidence was recently discovered by Who Profits (www.whoprofits.org), a research project of the Israeli Coalition for Peace, which documents corporate activity in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territory. Prior to this finding representatives of Ahava repeatedly claimed that the company does not make use of natural resources from the West Bank:
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/05/18
Detention / Court actions
IPS refuses to free a Palestinian mother despite court order
GAZA, (PIC) 18 May — The Israeli prison service (IPS) has refused to release a detained Palestinian mother of six despite a court order to the effect, the Ahrar center for prisoners’ studies and human rights said … the Ahrar director added in a statement on Tuesday that Samha Hijaz, 37, was detained while on her way to visit her two detained brothers … on 8 February 2011 and charged with planning to smuggle mobile phones to her brothers. Samha categorically denied the charge … Khafsh said that an Israeli military court decided last Sunday that Samha should be released but the IPS refused.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
2 more prisons join strike action
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 May — Palestinian detainees in six Israeli prisons continued protest action Wednesday, observing another two days of hunger strike as a move to secure the release of their peers from extended periods in solitary confinement. This is the third week in a row that strike actions have been implemented, and saw the Palestinian population in the Hadarim and Gelboa prisons join the more than 600 already striking prisoners from the Ramon, Nafha, Ashkelon and Eshil facilities, ministry of prisoners affairs spokesman in Gaza Riyadh Al-Ashqer said. The detainees on strike have said that dozens of their peers are in solitary confinement, some for years, and they are calling for their release into the general prison population.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388809
IOF nabs 12 West Bankers at dawn Wednesday
WEST BANK, (PIC) 18 May —  The IOF nabbed six boys, five of them under 18, at 2:30 a.m. in Azzoun village east of Qalqilya after patrolling the village and then raiding their parents’ homes and tampering with their property. The IOF arrested two more young men after raiding several homes in Houssam west of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank after carrying out search raids on several homes.
The same day, Israeli authorities have transferred Waleed Khalid, director of the West Bank newspaper “Falastin”, to administrative detention for six months, claiming that he poses a threat to the Israeli state.Khalid has spent a total of around 16 years in Israeli prisons and solitary confinement.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Nablus: 1 detained during village raid
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 18 May — Israel’s military raided the village of Al-Lubban Ash-Sharqeiyah south of Nablus on Wednesday, detaining one young man following what residents said was a stone-throwing incident on the nearby highway. The village is next to the main road connecting Nablus to Ramallah, which also connects to illegal Jewish-only settlements in the area, and is often the site of stone-throwing by both settler youth and Palestinians. Soldiers entered the village after a report had been made that stones were being thrown at settler cars, blocking off the entrance to the area and carrying out a search of several homes. Twenty-year-old Ahmad Mousa was detained
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388956
Army arrests 4 Palestinians at Tulkarem checkpoint
TULKAREM (Ma‘an) 18 May — Four were detained from their car on Wednesday, as they drove through Israel’s Jabra military checkpoint west of Tulkarem, local officials said.  Soldiers pulled the unidentified men from their vehicle and transferred them to an unknown location.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388929
Israel actions ‘surpass barbarism of apartheid South Africa’, group says after Na’eem Jeenah deportation / Ali Abunimah
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign of South Africa (PSC) has confirmed that prominent scholar Na’eem Jeenah is expected back in Johannesburg Thursday morning after he was detained by Israeli authorities, interrogated and held incommunicado on arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport on 17 May, before being deported to Istanbul without his passportor belongings.
http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/israel-actions-surpass-barbarism-apartheid-south-africa-group-says-after-naeem
IOF soldiers storm home of MP
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed the house of MP Mohammed Abu Juhaisha in Al-Khalil at dawn Tuesday and handed his son Musab a summons to the intelligence office in Etzion. Two of Abu Juhaisha’s other sons are held in Israeli occupation prisons … The seven sons of the Hamas MP have been repeatedly held by Israel and the PA security apparatuses over the past ten years.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Witnesses: Israeli forces detain 6 near Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 May – Israeli forces raided the southern west Bank town of Al-Khadir near Bethlehem overnight Monday and detained six young men, local sources said. Al-Khadir resident Khalid Mahmoud Marzouq told Ma‘an on Tuesday morning that Israeli forces ransacked the home of his neighbor Mahmoud Abdullah Subih shortly after midnight. Marzouq said soldiers detained three of Subih’s sons identified as Mahir, 25, Mazin, 17, and Basil 20. He added that three others visiting the family were also detained.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388412
Family says Israeli jailers poured boiling oil on its son
NABLUS, (PIC) 17 May — A Palestinian family said its son, Raf’at Bani Odeh, was exposed by Israeli jailers to excruciating physical and psychological torture at the time of his six-year detention. The family added that its son spent most of his imprisonment term in solitary confinement and boiling oil was once poured on him by Israeli interrogators, so he suffers from serious physical and psychological scars as a result of that …  The Palestinian prisoner society also confirmed that Bani Odeh suffers from serious mental problems a result of his exposure to torture and medical neglect in prison and thus he is in dire need of urgent treatment.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd8
West Bank teens who confessed to killing Israeli family are resigned to fate, lawyer says
LATimes 18 May — Nobody seems to know what was going through the heads of Amjad Awad, 19, and a distant cousin, Hakim Awad, 18, when they broke into a Jewish settlement near their village in the northern West Bank in February and killed a family of five people, including three children.A family member of Hakim expressed disbelief, saying the pair were just kids. But none of the Awads’ family members have been allowed to visit them in prison to question the pair, who confessed to the killings shortly after their arrest in mid-April by the Israeli army. “They said they have done it and they are not going to plead innocent or claim they made their confession under duress,” their attorney, Faris Abu Hasan, said. “I do not know what kind of state of mind they were in when they confessed.” … “I do not think I will have a case in court,” Hasan said. “It seems that it is already decided.”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/05/west-bank-teens-who-killed-israeli-family-gave-in-to-their-fate.html
Former IDF spokesperson and Southern Brigade commander to testify in Corrie civil trial. May 22 to be final court hearing
RCF 17 May …The lawsuit, filed in 2005 by Attorney Hussein abu Hussein, charges the Israeli government and Ministry of Defense with responsibility for killing American peace activist Rachel Corrie in Rafah, Gaza in 2003. Since the trial opened in March 2010, nearly 2000 pages of court transcripts have been recorded, from more than 20 testimonies, including that of 14 military personnel. Most government witnesses were identified only by their initials, and nearly half testified while hidden behind a screen.
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/05/18379/
Golan Heights ‘infiltration’
Israel expels 2 Palestinian returnees from Syria
JERUSALEM (AFP) 17 May– Two Palestinian protesters who entered Israel from Syria on Sunday during huge demonstrations on the armistice line were deported on Tuesday, a military spokeswoman said … Israeli army radio said the two were a man and a woman but no further details were available.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388659
‘It was always my dream to reach Jaffa,’ Syrian infiltrator says
Reuters 16 May — Hassan Hijazi, 28, surrenders to police a day after he pushed through Syrian border, and then hitch-hiked and took a public bus to Jaffa in search of his parents’ former house — A man identifying himself as a Syrian civil servant said on Monday he hitch-hiked and rode a bus alongside Israeli soldiers to Tel Aviv after pushing through an Israeli frontier fence with Palestinian demonstrators. – 
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/it-was-always-my-dream-to-reach-jaffa-syrian-infiltrator-says-1.362166
Golan’s Druze community divided over protests
MAJDAL SHAMS, Syria (IRIN) 15 May — When thousands of Palestinian refugees gathered on the Syrian border with Israel near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights recently, local villagers were stunned. It was the first time in more than 20 years that there had been trouble on this border … But the May 15 incident was only the latest sign of unrest in the usually calm hilltops of Golan. Since protests began in Syria in March, the Druze community in Golan has been divided between those who support the current regime of President Bashar Assad and those who support the protesters. The Druze are a small monotheist religious sect found in several Middle East countries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388653
After Nakba Day violence, normal life resumes in Majdal Shams
Haaretz 17 May — One day after more than 100 infiltrators crossed the Syria-Israel cease-fire line at Majdal Shams, and a total of 14 infiltrators were killed on the Syrian and Lebanese borders, things returned to normal in the Golan Heights Druze town on Monday … Majdal Shams’ restaurants, coffee houses and pubs, where the alcohol flows freely, were full. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking we’re part of Israel,” a young local man, who would not give his name, told Haaretz. “We still feel part of the Syrian people, but at the same time we want to see change in Syria, we’re waiting for democratization and liberalism,” he said … The sight of hundreds of Syrian Palestinians crossing from Syria into Majdal Shams is something people do not seem to have fully digested yet. “It’s had a great emotional impact on us,” Sfadi said.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/after-nakba-day-violence-normal-life-resumes-in-majdal-shams-1.362184
Video: Israelis secure line of control inside occupied Syria
Land mine exploded when military vehicle rolled over it – so there were landmines, only luck that none of the ‘infiltrators’ stepped on one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Url9CUBA2c8
Another Nakba Day video – a bit different
Nakba Day demonstrations started by young schoolgirls in Beit Ommar
Palestine Solidarity Project — Video of Nakba demonstrations on May 15, 2011, in the West Bank village of Beit Ommar and nearby refugee camp of Aroub. The girls make three attempts to reach the checkpoint, but soldiers stop them with tear gas. They fire tear gas directly at protesters (illegal by Israeli law, potentially lethal) instead of shooting the canisters in an arc. After the street is cleared the army advances, using rubber-coated bullets and live ammunition.
http://palestinevideo.blogspot.com/2011/05/nakba-day-demonstrations-started-by.html

Nakba Day violations
Amnesty calls for investigation into Nakba Day deaths
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 18 Mar — A “full, impartial and independent investigation” must be launched into the Israeli military’s use of force against Palestinians and Syrian Druze during Sunday protests which saw 13 killed, international rights group Amnesty International said …  In its call for an investigation, Amnesty criticized Israel for its characterization of the events marking the Palestinian Nakba – the “catastrophe” of 1948 – “as ‘riots’ and attempts to ‘infiltrate’ into Israel illegally, and in several of the protests, demonstrators threw rocks towards Israeli troops,” noting that in no accounts have Israeli officials “claimed that any protesters fired on Israeli troops.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388509
Israel broke international law by firing at unarmed protesters
MEMO 17 May — A legal expert in Israel has said that the country’s soldiers “broke international law” by firing at unarmed protesters at the weekend … According to Dr. Daphne Richmond-Barak, an expert in international law from the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Centre, firing on civilians is a breach of international law and that once the details of the event were made clear, it would be required of Israel to explain its actions. Her comments were quoted in the Jerusalem Post. The Israeli lawyer believes that there were “less violent” options that the military could have used in response to the protesters who crossed the border with Syria, such as detaining them.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2362-israel-broke-international-law-by-firing-at-unarmed-protesters
IDF: No external probe into ‘Nakba Day’ border incident
Ynet 18 May — Criticism from within, as IDF chief decides GOC Northern Command internal inquiry into events on Syrian border, Majdal Shams sufficient. ‘It is inconceivable,’ says one officer … Senior officers in the IDF reserves have criticized the decision and told Ynet that in the past, smaller and less significant incidents were followed by independent inquiries.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4070580,00.html
Reprisals
Six Jerusalemites arrested following firebomb attack
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 17 May — Israeli policemen arrested six Palestinian young men in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday morning after firebomb attacks on a number of Israeli vehicles. The Israeli radio said that three Molotov cocktails were hurled at Israeli vehicles in the occupied holy city. It added that cars were passing near an Israeli security roadblock south of the city, adding that no injuries or damages were reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Gaza – under siege for 1435 days
IOF soldiers fire at Palestinian farmers
KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC) 17 May — Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened machine gun fire at Palestinian farmers in southern Gaza on Tuesday while reaping their crops, local sources said. They told the PIC reporter that the farmers were harvesting their wheat and barley crops in Abasan Al-Kabira east of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip. The sources noted that IOF soldiers opened fire from positions behind the security fence at the farmers but no casualties were reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd
Photographer deliberately shot by Israeli soldier during Nakba Day clashes
Reporters without Borders 17 May — Palestinian news photographer Mohammed Othman was badly injured by a shot fired by an Israeli soldier while covering clashes between young Palestinians and Israeli troops at the Beit Hanoun (Erez) border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel on 15 May … Reporters Without Borders was told that Othman was clearly identifiable as a journalist at the time of the shooting and was deliberately targeted … Two other journalists were injured during the 15 May clashes at the Beit Hanoun border crossing
http://en.rsf.org/palestinian-territories-photographer-deliberately-shot-by-17-05-2011,40293.html
Official: Malaysia flotilla to dock at Egypt port
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 17 May — A Malaysian aid flotilla [actually one boat] docked in the El-Arish port after Israeli forces forbade it from reaching Gaza, port director Maj.-Gen. Jamal Abdul Maqsoud said Tuesday. The Egyptian authorities will allow the flotilla remain in post until preparations are made to transfer the goods to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, Abdul Maqsoud said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388675
IHH: Mavi Marmara ready for next flotilla
Ynet 18 May — The Turkish IHH organization announced Wednesday that the Mavi Marmara ship, which was subjected to a deadly IDF raid while attempting to breach Israel’s maritime blockade on the Gaza Strip last May, is ready to set sail once more. … A few weeks ago, the organizers of the upcoming flotilla postponed the departure of the Gaza-bound maritime convoy to the end of June, and Israeli elements speculated that the measure was taken because the event failed to attract participants. But the IHH said that the event was delayed because of the elections in Turkey, and that 10,000 people have already signed up to take part.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4070717,00.html
New boats to be delivered to Gaza fishermen
MEMO 16 May — The Minister of Agriculture in the Gaza Strip, Dr Mohammad Ramadan al-Agha, has announced government plans to supply 50 fishermen with fishing boats free of charge. Forty of these boats will be given to fishermen who have lost their own boats over the last year as a consequence of Israeli attacks, while 10 others will be given to the poorest Palestinians in need. The fishing boat project is being launched within the context of a wider programme to help fishermen funded by the Islamic Bank.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2359-50-new-boats-to-be-delivered-to-gaza-fishermen
Gaza coast guards demand pay rise
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Coast guards [lifeguards] stationed along Gaza’s beaches protested Tuesday, demanding a salary increase … Coast guard spokesman Omar Ayyash told Ma‘an the workers had received many promises of pay raises, but that their wages never increased … He added that some coast guards didn’t join the strike “because they are honest and they are afraid that anyone could come to the shore and drown. So they stood there to save people’s lives.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388546
UNRWA union strikes in Gaza, says 3 dismissed unfairly
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 May  — Palestinians working for the UN refugee agency in Gaza announced a comprehensive strike for Wednesday, over the dismissal of three employees union officials say were wrongfully let go.  The strike will last all day Wednesday through Thursday, and see all of UNRWA’s unessential services, like schools, clinics, and administration offices close. Nearly 11,500 workers will walk out of their jobs, affecting 238 schools and 25 clinics.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388783
300 truckloads of goods enter Gaza as siege continues
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 17 May — Israel will permit 300 truckloads of goods and humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Israeli officials informed Palestinian liaison officers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388417
Gaza crossing to receive 300 loads of goods
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 18 May — Israeli authorities decided to partially open Gaza’s sole remaining commercial crossing terminal on Wednesday, to allow aid and goods into the Strip … Construction materials remain limited to international aid agencies, and prohibited for commercial sale and use … The liaison official noted also that imports for Tuesday fell short of estimations.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388743
Arrigoni Memorial Well project opened
MEMO 18 May — A well project in memory of Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni has been opened by the Municipality of Jabaliya El Nazla. Mr Arrigoni was killed by criminals in Gaza more than a month ago. The opening ceremony was attended by an Italian delegation along with officials from the Municipality, who told the audience that the project’s cost of €120,000 will be met by the French Committee for Supporting Palestine. When completed, the well will serve 70,000 Palestinians, giving a partial solution to the problem of fresh water in Jabaliya.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2370-arrigoni-memorial-well-project-opened
Stay Human blog: Women resisting…
17 May — ‘They came, and we offered them water: they spilt it, but we forgave them. They came, and we offered them food: they threw it away, but we forgave them. We set off to find food, and when we came back, the roads were blocked.’ This is how Israel has occupied Palestine, killing and torturing mothers, fathers and children, destroying houses, obstructing roads and stealing water”. Palestinian women have always resisted and will continue to resist. This is what Mariam, of the Union of Arab Women, tells us. The Union was formed in 1982 and supports and fights for women’s emancipation in all aspects of their daily life.
http://vik2gaza.org/en/2011/05/17/resistenza-al-femminile/
Stay Human blog: Our meeting with professors of agronomy from Al-Azhar faculty
16 May — In the afternoon, a delegation from the ‘Stay Human’ Convoy met some of the professors of agronomy from the faculty of Al-Azhar, in order to get a better understanding of the issues surrounding agriculture in the Gaza Strip … Palestinian soil is fertile and fecund. The climate is perfect for a wide range of high quality crops, such as peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, flowers, tomatoes. Once upon a time, sesame was also grown here, but not anymore … Intensive crop farming that would not require much land, would therefore cover the population’s needs. The Israeli occupation and economic stranglehold aimed at paralyzing self-sufficiency and maximizing benefits for Israel are obviously the biggest obstacles for the local economy. Israel’s expropriation of most of the area’s water resources have caused the collapse of the area’s irrigation networks: nowadays, rainfall is unfortunately the only remaining way to replenish underground water-tables.
http://vik2gaza.org/en/2011/05/16/incontro-con-i-professori-di-agronomia-della-facolta-di-al-azhar/
Racism / Discrimination
Israeli police’s Facebook page rife with racist comments
Haaretz 17 May — The Israeli police’s official Facebook page faces criticism after allowing a stream of offensive and racist comments to be published on its page. The police say they regularly delete inappropriate comments, and have deleted over 1,500 responses during the past three weeks. Here are some of the comments Haaretz found on the Facebook page: “We’re leading the Arabushes around by the nose”; “With God’s help let this be the first one killed today and not the last”; “They have to be sprayed like cockroaches”; “Every stinking SOB Muslim who dies is a holiday for me.”
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-police-s-facebook-page-rife-with-racist-comments-1.362188
Why has University of Haifa banned on-campus political activity?
MK Hanin Zuabi (Balad ) canceled a scheduled lecture at the University of Haifa Sunday after the university announced it was banning on-campus political activity and called in security forces. The lecture, which would have coincided with Nakba Day, was arranged and approved by the university a month ago. Zuabi, who was invited by the Balad student association, had planned to discuss anti-Arab discrimination and other issues. MK Hanin Zuabi’s appearance was canceled after being invited by the Balad student association to speak of anti-Arab discrimination during Nakba Day.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/why-has-university-of-haifa-banned-on-campus-political-activity-1.362180
No school for 180 Sephardic girls
Ynet 17 May — The 2011-2012 school year will open in four months, but it seems racial discrimination is already raising its ugly head: Ynet has learned that nearly 200 haredi girls in Jerusalem have yet to be admitted into educational institutions in the city, although registration has already ended. The students, most of them of Sephardic descent, make up 7% of the city’s ultra-Orthodox female students and are slated to begin studying in a seminary (high school for girls) next year. Almost a year after thearrest of parents of Ashkenazi students in the community Emmanuel over local schools’ discriminatory policies, it seems racial discrimination in Israel is still alive and kicking.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4069420,00.html
Shas rabbi: Woman’s voice allowed on radio
Ynet 18 May — Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party, has ruled that a woman’s voice can be heard on the radio. The rabbi was asked to address the issue following complaints filed against haredi Sephardic radio station Kol Barama for refusing to have women present programs or call in as listeners
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4070194,00.html
Political / Diplomatic / International news
Third Intifada Youth to declare action plan to commemorate Naksa Day
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 18 May — The third intifada youth coalition said on its Facebook page it would declare soon a series of events to commemorate the 1967 naksa (setback) when the Zionists completed their occupation of Palestine. It added it had an action plan on this anniversary and would be posted on its Facebook page soon.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcO
EU official: No restrictions — no Gaza crisis
Ynet 18 May — EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Kristalina Georgieva believes that more access and freedom of movement will solve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza .. “There is no reason for there to be a crisis, not in the West Bank and not in Gaza. If Palestinians had more opportunities, it would translate into more security for Israel.” … Georgieva’s duties as the EU’s humanitarian aid chief include helping Palestinian families whose homes are in danger of being razed by Israeli authorities and providing them with legal assistance. According to Georgieva, 60,000 such households are in danger of being evicted. During her tour of east Jerusalem, she met some of these families.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4070269,00.html
Report: Jailed leader urges unity progress
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) — Imprisoned Fatah leader and unity champion Marwan Barghouthi urged his party and Hamas to quickly implement the reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo two weeks earlier.  Barghouthi, convicted by an Israeli court for masterminding the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council while serving five consecutive life terms, and was the keystone figure in the creation of the Prisoners Document, one of the first attempts to reconcile the rival parties.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388823
Hamas insists: No talks with Israel
Ynet 18 May — Hamas spokesman Mahmoud al-Zahar insisted his organization would not negotiate with Israel despite a statement to the contrary made by Hamas politburo chief Khaled Masha‘al, the Palestinian paper Al-Quds reported Wednesday. Masha‘al’s statement “does not represent the movement’s official stance, which is based on a plan of resistance and not negotiations”, al-Zahar said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4070581,00.html
Report: Hamas, Fatah say progress in Cairo
CAIRO (Ma‘an) 17 May — Fatah and Hamas officials say talks in Cairo to work out the details of reconciliation have so far been positive, Egyptian media reported Tuesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388398
Abbas: UN statehood bid no ‘stunt’
NEW YORK (AFP) 17 May — President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that his bid to secure international recognition for a Palestinian state was no “stunt” and would contribute to peace efforts with Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388504
PA delays local elections until October
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 May — The caretaker Palestinian Authority decided Tuesday to delay municipal elections until October 22, a cabinet statement said … Citing the 2005 elections law stipulating that elections must take place simultaneously in the West Bank and Gaza, the statement said officials concluded that it would not be possible to register all Gaza voters in time for a July vote.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388503
‘70% of Palestinians expect third intifada if talks fail’
JPost 17 May — Palestinian poll shows one quarter oppose new intifada, 70% oppose firing rockets from Gaza; majority believes Israel interested in peace deal.  A vast majority of Palestinians expects an eruption of a third intifada if Israeli-Palestinian peace talks reach an impasse, according to the results of a public opinion poll published on Tuesday. The poll, which was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion [PCPO], also showed that nearly 80% of Palestinians supported the recent reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=220974
Obama reaffirms commitment to Israel
Ynet 18 May —  WASHINGTON – United States President Barak Obama reaffirmed Washington’s “unshakable support and commitment” to the security of State of Israel Tuesday night during a reception in honor of Jewish American History Month held at the White House. “Jewish Americans have always stood up for freedom and democracy around the world,” noted Obama.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4070327,00.html
World Bank gives Palestinians mixed marks on corruption
Haaretz 18 May — The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday got mixed grades from the World Bank on official corruption: It’s doing well in managing public finances and reducing nepotism in civil service hiring, but has failed to prosecute most senior officials suspected of dipping into the public coffers.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/world-bank-gives-palestinians-mixed-marks-on-corruption-1.362506
Russia expels Israeli military attaché
JERUSALEM (AFP) 18 May — Russia has expelled Israel’s military attaché at its Moscow embassy on spying allegations, Israeli defense officials said on Wednesday, dismissing the charges as unfounded.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=389080
Israel, Lebanon make rival UN protests over clashes
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) 17 May — Israel and Lebanon filed rival protests to the United Nations over deadly clashes involving thousands of Palestinian demonstrators who converged on Israel’s borders, diplomats said. Israel blamed Lebanon for the 10 deaths and hundreds wounded when its troops shot at the thousands of Palestinian refugees commemorating the mass displacements of 1948 … In Lebanon, the government accused Israel of using “excessive force” against unarmed civilians.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388397
Arafat adviser: Mitchell resigned over deputy’s ‘bias’
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 May — A political adviser to the late president Yasser Arafat issued a statement Tuesday, alleging that US Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell resigned because of the “extreme bias” of his deputy Dennis Ross. Bassam Abu Shareef said Ross obstructed all US initiatives aiming to achieve progress in the peace process … The official paraphrased comments he said were made by Mitchell during a meeting, where he asked: “How can Dennis Ross assist in the peace process when he refuses to meet with the Palestinians, when he despises their leadership and hates their president?”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388408
Knesset to discuss Armenian genocide amid deteriorating Turkey ties
Haaretz 18 May — Planned Knesset panel meet would be the first public discussion of a subject that Israel has longed sought to avoid as a result of its long-time alliance with Turkey.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/knesset-to-discuss-armenian-genocide-amid-deteriorating-turkey-ties-1.362576
Israel-Turkey ties threatened by new Gaza flotilla
ISTANBUL (AFP) 17 May — A new aid flotilla aiming to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip threatens to deal a fresh blow to Turkish-Israeli ties, a year after a bloody Israeli seizure of a Turkish activist ship. Bilateral relations remain stuck in crisis after several fence-mending meetings between the one-time allies over the past year failed to yield results, a Turkish diplomat told AFP.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388574
Davutoğlu refuses withdrawal of Turkey from UN’s Gaza flotilla panel
ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency 17 May — Despite its dissatisfaction with how a U.N. inquiry into an Israeli flotilla raid is progressing, it is out of the question for Turkey to withdraw from the panel, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Tuesday. “Talks continue. However, our reaction will not be positive if a stance contradicting the U.N. report of last year is taken,” Davutoğlu told a TV program.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=davutoglu-refuses-withdrawal-of-turkey-from-un8217s-gaza-flotilla-panel-2011-05-17
Shaath: Slovenia to recognize Palestine before September
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 17 May — Slovenia has promised to recognize an independent state of Palestine before September, a Fatah official said Tuesday. Nabil Sha‘ath met with the Slovenian president and others during a visit to Slovenia heading a delegation of Fatah leaders.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388711
PA: Palestine may join Gulf Cooperation Council
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 17 May — Palestine may join the Gulf Cooperation Council when it establishes its statehood, a Palestinian Authority official said Monday. PA cabinet chief Naim Abul Huomos said joining the council was important on political, economic and geographic levels. Jordan’s decision to join the GCC encouraged officials to seriously consider the move, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388454
Other news
Watch: Former IDF soldiers reveal nature of the occupation / Mairav Zonszein
972mag 16 May — Breaking the Silence, the organization of former Israeli soldiers who literally  ‘break their silence ‘ by sharing experiences from their military service and exposing the IDF to criticism, launched a video campaign on YouTube this week in which soldiers are seen identifying themselves for the first time in front of the camera … Here is another video of a former border policewoman. Yesterday, BTS’ website was hacked and it was impossible to access it for most of the day. But now it is back up.
http://972mag.com/breaking-the-silence-launches-video-campaign/
Former Israeli soldiers break the silence on military violations / Harriet Sherwood
Guardian 16 May — Testimonies posted on YouTube by campaign group describe routine harassment and humiliation of Palestinian civilians
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/16/former-israeli-soldiers-break-silence
Fleeing unrest, students appeal for spots at home universities
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 May — Students returning from universities in Libya and Yemen are appealing to the ministry of education this week, for exemptions from records transfer requirements, saying they could not obtain proper documents as uprising hit their host nations … As violence continues in both nations, students who have returned home to the West Bank are seeking opportunities to continue their studies at local institutions, but have met with opposition from university administrations saying they lacked the proper papers to transfer into classes.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388904
Israeli Knesset to discuss new law that bans Muslim calls for prayers
Bethlehem —  PNN 17 May — Israeli sources reported on Tuesday that Anastasia Michaeli, from the right wing Israel Betanu party submitted a bill of a law that forbids using loudspeakers to call for the prayers in mosques in Israel. The proposed bill will make it illegal to call for the prayers and anyone who violate the new law will be fined or serve jail time. During a tour in Nazareth city Michaeli said that she support freedom of worship but this freedom must not affect the “quality of life of thousands of Jews and Arabs” that, as she called it “suffer every day.”
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10053&Itemid=64
Palestinian refugees making high fashion
[photos] CNN 18 May — Women living in refugee camps are embroidering clothes and accessories sold in high-end department stores, through a business started by a 27-year-old Palestinian woman. Zeina Abou Chaaban runs a social business called“Palestyle” selling embroidery made by Palestinian women in refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/05/18/palestinian.refugees.fashion/index.html
PA finds loophole to allow paving of road to new Palestinian city
Haaretz 18 May — The Civil Administration is set to approve the paving of a road to the planned Palestinian city of Rawabi, after officials tweaked the relevant planning regulations to stave off opposition by the right. The move is being seen as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinian Authority ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to the United States.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/pa-finds-loophole-to-allow-paving-of-road-to-new-palestinian-city-1.362404
Tel Aviv University promotes pro-Israeli delegations to international campuses
AIC 17 May — An invitation to an information meeting about ‘pro-Israel’ student delegations was sent by the secretariat of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Political Communications to all of its graduates on Monday (16 May). The invitation, sent from an official Tel Aviv University email account, invites recipients who may be “interested in taking part in this important work” to attend a meeting about a new Israeli student initiative, “What is Rael,” “which aspires to act for the good of the branding and public diplomacy of Israel on university campuses abroad, which are strongholds of anti-Israeli actions.”
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/economy-of-the-occupation/3603-tel-aviv-university-promotes-pro-israeli-delegations-to-international-campuses-
Jaffa gang suspected of plotting to kill sheikh, blame rightists for crime
Haaretz 17 May — Attorney Gur Finkelstein, who represents the Scientology Center in Israel, was detained several weeks for allegedly hiring this gang to help him with his own criminal endeavors — Israel Police forces have uncovered a Jaffa-based gang allegedly behind a series of attacks and attempted assassinations in the Tel Aviv area, including a plot to kill a senior sheikh of a local mosque, it was revealed after a gag order was lifted on Tuesday. Those mobsters are suspected of plotting to plant an explosive device at the Hassan Bek Mosque in Jaffa after Friday prayers, to kill a senior sheikh.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/jaffa-gang-suspected-of-plotting-to-kill-sheikh-blame-rightists-for-crime-1.362301
WAFA monitors incitement and racism in Israeli media
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 18 May – Palestine News and Information Agency (WAFA) monitored incitement and racism against the Palestinians and Arabs published by the Israeli media between May 6 and 13. [Examples:] Makor Richmon religious newspaper published an article by David Merhav titled “Nakba is the Outcome of Arab Nazi Acts”; in which he considered the Arabs’ 1948 disaster a continuation of the catastrophic outcomes of the Germans after they failed to exterminate the Jews. “What they call ‘Nakba’ is an absolute lie and an attempt to distort history; they aim to hold Israel responsible for the Arabs’ disaster to overcome the fact that the ‘Nakba’ is the outcome of the Arabs’ attempts to finish what the Nazi started,” Merhav added. “We Must Launch War for Judea and Samaria” (the West Bank) is the title of an instigating article by Israeli Army Reserve Major, Moshe Hsdai, published on Kikar Hashbat website….
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16177
Israel was infiltrated, but no real borders were crossed / Gideon Biger
Haaretz 17 May — The Syrians penetrated an area held by the State of Israel, but they did not cross the Israeli border. Nor did Palestinians from the Gaza Strip attempt to cross the Israeli border in the south — On Sunday, May 15, which the Arabs call Nakba Day, the media reported that Syrian civilians had crossed over the Israeli border on the Golan Heights. The prime minister even issued a dramatic announcement of the fact and promising that Israel will protect its borders. The incident raises the question of whether Israel has a border with Syria on the Golan Heights. The answer seems obvious, but in fact it is not. 
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-was-infiltrated-but-no-real-borders-were-crossed-1.362215
The Nakba continues / Amira Hass
Haaretz 18 May — Israel crowns itself as the winner in the global competition of victimhood; yet it manufactures methods of oppression and dispossession — How natural it is for Israeli spokesmen to assert that the Nakba Day marches from Syria and Lebanon were the product of incitement and foreign calculations. The state, which bases its existence on 2,000 years of longing for and belonging to this country, shows contempt toward palpable displays of belonging to and longing for the same country of those who we expelled 63 years ago – and of their descendants. 
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-nakba-continues-1.362433
Understanding the 1947 UN partition plan / Yousef Munayyer
[with map] 18 May — Yesterday, PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas published an Op-Ed in the New York Times where he discussed his personal experience as a refugee. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Abbas’ piece with the token Zionist response to any Palestinian claims on the events of 1948. Netanyahu “emphasized the Palestinians’ rejection of the UN’s partition plan in 1947, while the Jews were willing to accept it.” “Don’t you see,” says the Zionist narrative, “they don’t want a state. They want everything. We were ready to make a deal but they rejected it. All they do is reject, reject, reject, and that is all you need to know about the Arabs, so you can stop thinking now.”But wait a minute. What was this partition plan and why did the Palestinians reject it?
http://blog.thejerusalemfund.org/2011/05/understanding-1947-un-partition-plan.html
On the anniversary of the Nakba, demands for the right of return grow louder / Ali Badwan
MEMO 18 May — …Even Israel – that part of Palestine occupied in 1948 – witnessed marches to a number of Palestinian towns and villages in the Galilee region which were destroyed and had their population displaced in what has been described as ethnic cleansing. Palestinians commemorate the Nakba not only to mark the anniversary of the start of this tragic and ongoing process, but also to renew the national covenant, upholding their natural right to return to the land of Palestine, no matter how long it may take or how great the odds. There are now around 11 million Palestinians, 5.5 million of whom live in historic Palestine between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/middle-east/2368-on-the-anniversary-of-the-nakba-demands-for-the-right-of-return-grow-louder
Haaretz editorial: Not all Palestinian demands are a threat to Israel
17 May — The defense minister was right to say he refuses to get excited over the fact that “a few dozen” Palestinians succeeded in entering Israel from Syria and thereby “violated Israel’s sovereignty.” Ehud Barak was also right to say that the Israel Defense Forces cannot station thousands of soldiers along the border to prevent such a “violation of sovereignty.” But it’s a pity this approach was lacking when Israel decided to attack a Turkish-sponsored flotilla to Gaza, that it vanishes when Israel uses dogs to chase off Palestinian laborers seeking to “violate its sovereignty” by entering the country to work, and that it’s the exact opposite of the manner in which the IDF maintains its meticulous closure of the Gaza Strip. 
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/not-all-palestinian-demands-are-a-threat-to-israel-1.362218
Historian writes of ‘pleasure’ at murder of pro-Palestinian activist / Harriet Sherwood
Guardian 18 May — Author of op-ed article in Jewish Chronicle tells me he ‘rejoiced’ at death of Vittorio Arrigoni — I was sent a link this week to a piece published in the Jewish Chronicle by historian Geoffrey Alderman, the opening sentence of which I found pretty shocking. Under the headline This Was No Peace Activist, Alderman wrote: Few events – not even the execution of Osama bin Laden – have caused me greater pleasure in recent weeks than news of the death of the Italian so-called ‘peace activist’ Vittorio Arrigoni.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/view-from-jerusalem-with-harriet-sherwood/2011/may/18/israel-palestinian-territories
For Palestinians, every day is Nakba Day / Bradley Burston
Haaretz 17 May — …This year, a third day of remembrance fell exactly a week later. It was Nakba Day, commemorating the displacement and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs from their homes in the 1948 war that established the state of Israel, and the ensuing loss of hundreds of their villages effectively erased by the Jewish state. It may be fair to assume that Nakba Day is not for the millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants in Gaza, in West Bank camps, in Lebanon and Syria and Chile and San Francisco. For them, every single day is Nakba Day. No, Nakba Day is for the rest of us, who go through our lives thinking that we can afford not to give it a second thought. And so it is that Israel’s government – in its zeal to blot out the very concept of the Nakba, in its paralysis in the face of an unprecedented Palestinian drive for statehood, in its inability to anticipate a Facebook-organized mass march past minefields and razor wire and assault-rifle bullets on a northern border — has inadvertently but irrevocably established 2011 as the Year of the Nakba … What we stand to learn from the three memorial days, each of them singular but all three intertwined, is that we remain, both Arab and Jew, prisoners of our own narratives.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/for-palestinians-every-day-is-nakba-day-1.362322
Interview with Milad Ayyash’s sister
PalMon 17 May — Some have called him the first martyr of the Third Intifada. Milad Ayyash, who was shot to death last Friday, 13 May — two days before the anniversary of the 63rd Palestinian Nakba — was 17 when he died. His sister told Palestine Monitor that on the day he died, Milad woke early to spray-paint on a wall outside his house, “Palestine is Free on May 15th.” … Palestine Monitor spoke with one of Milad’s two sisters, Waed Ayyash, 24, in the Ayyash home in Ras al-Amud. Four days after her brother’s death, Waed says everything still feels like a dream.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1817
The long overdue Palestinian state / Mahmoud Abbas
NYTimes 16 May — Ramallah, West Bank — SIXTY-THREE years ago, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was forced to leave his home in the Galilean city of Safed and flee with his family to Syria. He took up shelter in a canvas tent provided to all the arriving refugees. Though he and his family wished for decades to return to their home and homeland, they were denied that most basic of human rights. That child’s story, like that of so many other Palestinians, is mine. This month, however, as we commemorate another year of our expulsion — which we call the nakba, or catastrophe — the Palestinian people have cause for hope: this September, at the United Nations General Assembly, we will request international recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 border and that our state be admitted as a full member of the United Nations.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/opinion/17abbas.html?_r=1&hp
Netanyahu: Abbas is distorting known historical facts
Reuters/Haaretz 17 May — Responding to Palestinian PM’s New York Times op-ed, PM says Palestinian leadership sees establishment of independent state as a way to continue the conflict with Israel, rather than end it.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-abbas-is-distorting-known-historical-facts-1.362362
Here comes your nonviolent resistance
Economist 17 May — For many years now, we’ve heard American commentators bemoan the violence of the Palestinian national movement. If only Palestinians had learned the lessons of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, we hear, they’d have had their state long ago. Surely no Israeli government would have violently suppressed a non-violent Palestinian movement of national liberation seeking only the universally recognised right of self-determination … Palestinian commentators and organisers, including Fadi Elsalameen and Moustafa Barghouthi, have spent the last couple of years pointing out that these complaints resolutely ignore the actual and growing Palestinian non-violent resistance movement …  In any case, if you’re among those who have made the argument that Israelis would give Palestinians a state if only the Palestinians would learn to employ Ghandhian tactics of non-violent protest, it appears your moment of truth has arrived.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/05/israel_and_palestine_0
Palestinian collaborator: ‘I am a traitor. I sold my people. But for what?’ / Harriet Sherwood
Guardian 17 May — New film The Collaborator and his Family charts informant’s dark struggle to make fresh start in Israel … His story is not unique, and not even unusual. A report last year by the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel estimated that 6,000 Palestinian collaborators and their families have moved to Israel but not been given adequate protection or proper status, and have essentially been abandoned by the security establishment to which they passed information.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/view-from-jerusalem-with-harriet-sherwood/2011/may/17/israel-palestinian-territories
www.theheadlines.org (archive)
groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)

Wait, who started this asymmetry?

May 19, 2011

Lizzy Ratner

Editor: Tonight Lizzy Ratner will be speaking about Gaza on a panel we’re doing in New York. Still some tickets available–click on the Culture Project ad in right column.

Did you see this Michael Walzer interview in Haaretz?  It’s interesting, revealing — and utterly problematic, particularly all the “asymmetrical warfare” talk.

What did you think of the article by Judge Richard Goldstone in The Washington Post expressing regret for some of the claims of his commission investigating Operation Cast Lead?

“There’s a crucial mistake for which Goldstone didn’t apologize. That is his committee’s refusal to take into account the difficulties involved in asymmetric warfare and to discuss them seriously. How do you deal with an enemy who uses a civilian population as a human shield? The Goldstone Report didn’t discuss that at all, and that is its great failure. The members of the commission write like lawyers, not like people who are trying to analyze the reality.”

Do you think there’s a need for a fundamental change in the rules of warfare in order to suit them to fighting terror?

“The basic principles of a just war must apply even in such a situation. In targeted killing it is still important that the target be legitimate and that the collateral damage be reduced to the absolute minimum. The basic principles are similar: It is necessary to distinguish between combatants and noncombatants and to act so as to minimize the death and injury of noncombatants (‘collateral damage’ ). The tough question is whether civilians who are being used as human shields must be treated differently. But the term ‘human shield’ tells only half the story. The terrorists also use civilians in order to expose them – because they believe (and they are right ) that civilian deaths caused by the opposing army will help the struggle of the terror organization. So that’s a good reason to shield the shields as best you can.”

This argument gets me every time. I mean, isn’t the real cause of asymmetrical warfare the fact of a technologically omnipotent death force that can deploy the most sophisticated military hardware ever created against an ill-equiped, impoverished, and captive population? Aren’t countries like Israel and the US — the US which pioneered the use of nuclear weapons for crying out loud! — the real perpetrators of asymmetry? What an obscene trick of language!

Some other interesting points in the Walzer:

–He says the US committed the same crimes as Israel — intentionally targeting the civilian infrastructure — during Iraq War 1, and he adds that this is not a “legitimiate” military tactic, in the process validating one of the key claims of the Goldstone Report, a report he claims to disagree with. This raises a second important question: if the US has committed the same crimes as Israel, and these crimes are war crimes, as the Goldstone Report charges, where’s the UN investigation into our military conduct?

–He says that students at military colleges feel a real sympathy for Israel because they see Israel as being engaged in the same kind of warfare the US is engaged in in Afghanistan, undergirding my belief that at least part of the reason for the US condemnation of the Goldstone Report is the fear that someday our government will be held similarly accountable.

–Finally, he says that political leaders who are also military leaders are fair game for targeted assassination. Does this mean that the US president, who as we all know is the nation’s Commander in Chief, is also a legitimate target for assassination by other countries? I think we’d all find that thought pretty outrageous and horrifying. I wonder what he’d say.

Nabulsi: Nakba Day shows that Palestinian Diaspora must be counted politically

May 19, 2011

Philip Weiss

The Nakba is being discovered by the world in something of the way that the Holocaust was in the 70s and 80s. This discovery process will only go one way, more enlightenment about a long-suppressed political injustice, and yes, likely political consequences. Here is Karma Nabulsi in the Guardian, an important piece on the significance of the Nakba Day demonstrations.

What made this moment and others like it across the region so radical in gesture, democratic in purpose, and universal in intent? It brought the entire world suddenly face to face with the intimate and immediate in the very human struggle for freedom of each Palestinian, whether refugee or not. Sixty-three years ago the entire body politic of the people of Palestine was violently destroyed and dispersed. All Palestinians, whether refugee or not, share that terrible history – it is what unites us.

This is the shared experience we commemorate every year on Nakba Day: the year-long expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians that began in 1947 and continued straight through 1948 into the terrible snowstorm winters of 1949, creating what is now the world’s largest refugee population.

On Sunday, this moment of return was enacted simultaneously in Haifa and among Palestinians displaced inside Israel, on the borders of Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and Gaza, in the West Bank near the Qalandia refugee camp – wherever the more than 7 million stateless Palestinian refugees now live, very near their original villages and towns. Just out of sight, over the hill, across the border.

This basic injustice has yet to be addressed by any of the schemes currently on the table to solve the Palestinian issue. For this is not about the reconciliation of political parties, the search for a state or the establishment of two, negotiations or the lack of them, the enfranchisement of a third of our people over the disenfranchisement of the rest.

Indeed, what happened on Sunday was not the plan of Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority prime minister, nor that of Fatah or Hamas; it most certainly wasn’t the American, European or Israeli plan for dealing with the Palestinian people. Like the rest of the Arab people who have taken their fate into their own hands – and in doing so provided lessons and models in the meaning of democracy and citizenship to the rest of the world for years to come – the Palestinians have demonstrated, quite perfectly and with great courage, what it is to be fully human, and how to hold on to one’s humanity in spite of more than six decades of violent oppression.

‘Jewish donors warn Obama on Israel’

May 19, 2011

Philip Weiss

In the Wall Street Journal. That’s their headline. About time. (“Here is why Obama will give a Netanyahu speech tomorrow”– MJ Rosenberg.) Where’s Chris Matthews?

Jewish donors and fund-raisers are warning the Obama re-election campaign that the president is at risk of losing financial support because of concerns about his handling of Israel.

The complaints began early in President Barack Obama’s term, centered on a perception that Mr. Obama has been too tough on Israel.

Notice some of the unspoken narrative in the piece– Jews are only 2 percent of the population, but a huge percent of the Democratic fundraising base, which is why Deborah Wasserman-Shultz is head of the Democratic National Committee. Note that when an Obama campaign spokesperson is asked about his problem with Jews, she refers the reporter to Obama supporter Ken Solomon, of the Tennis Channel. Solomonhas been honored by AIPAC for boycotting an Arab tennis tournament and used his channel to promote Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer.

Help me, James Madison. ‘NYT’ runs Zionist piece that hints at ethnic cleansing of West Bank

May 19, 2011

Philip Weiss

The New York Times has a piece today by Danny Danon, a Likudnik member of Knesset, threatening the Palestinians with further dispossession and hinting at ethnic cleansing if they declare statehood. We will no longer be responsible for Palestinians in the West Bank, they can’t be citizens, he says. The implication: move to Jordan. And this is in the New York Times? “Making the land of Israel whole”. What is wrong with American society? The New York Times feels a responsibility to run this kind of racist argument, to placate an important bloc in the American establishment, rich conservative Jews. And I am told it is not accepting comments on this piece.

In addition to its obvious ideological and symbolic significance, legalizing our hold on the West Bank would also increase the security of all Israelis by depriving terrorists of a base and creating a buffer against threats from the east. Moreover, we would be well within our rights to assert, as we did in Gaza after our disengagement in 2005, that we are no longer responsible for the Palestinian residents of the West Bank, who would continue to live in their own — unannexed — towns.

These Palestinians would not have the option to become Israeli citizens, therefore averting the threat to the Jewish and democratic status of Israel by a growing Palestinian population.

While naysayers will no doubt warn us of the dire consequences and international condemnation that are sure to follow such a move by Israel, this would not be the first time that Israel has made such controversial decisions.

In 1949, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion moved the Knesset to Jerusalem and declared it the capital of the State of Israel despite the 1947 United Nations partition plan, which had designated the city an international zone. Immediately after the 1967 Six-Day War, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol annexed East Jerusalem and declared that the city would remain a united and undivided entity. And in 1981, Prime Minister Menachem Begin extended Israeli sovereignty to the Golan Heights.

In each of these cases, Israel’s actions were met with harsh international criticism and threats of sanctions; all of these decisions, however, are cornerstones of today’s reality

Our leaders made these decisions based on the realization that their actions would further Zionist values and strengthen the State of Israel. The diplomatic storms soon blew over as the international community moved on to other issues. It would be wise of Mr. Netanyahu to follow in their footsteps.