Articles

Zio-Nazi Soldiers stand by during settler revenge attack
May 13, 2011
ZIO-NAZI
NOVANEWS    On Saturday morning, 9 April 2011, settlers from Yizhar attacked Palestinians in ‘Asira al-Qibliya and ‘Urif, apparently in ...Read more
Army blocks access by car to Palestinian neighborhood with more than 150 residents
May 13, 2011
Human Rights
NOVANEWS   The village of Khirbet a-Deir, which lies next to the village of Tuqu’, is built on both sides ...Read more
Zio-Nazi Gestapo's Army set dogs on Palestinians trying to enter Israel to work without a permit
May 13, 2011
Human Rights
NOVANEWS At least three people bitten in April, two additional cases are being investigated by B’Tselem B'Tselem has written to ...Read more
Zionist Regime: Dispossession and Exploitation: Israel's Policy in the Jordan Valley & Northern Dead Sea
May 13, 2011
Human Rights
NOVANEWS   The Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea area contains the largest land reserves in the West Bank. ...Read more
The Fatah-Hamas Accord
May 13, 2011
Gaza
NOVANEWS Mouin Rabbani   The agreement between Fatah and Hamas to end the schism that has plagued the Palestinian system ...Read more
Burqa-clad women detained in France
May 12, 2011
Campaigns
NOVANEWS     One month after France’s banning of the burqa, women wearing the face-covering garment are being arrested and ...Read more
Poll: Egyptians want Islamic rule
May 12, 2011
Egypt
NOVANEWS   An Egyptian protester holds a cardboard bearing the Arabic writing ‘No collaboration with Israeli after the revolution, down ...Read more
NATO strikes on Gaddafi compound kill 6
May 12, 2011
Libya
NOVANEWS   Bab al-Aziziya, situated in the southern suburbs of Tripoli, is a military barracks and Gaddafi’s main compound. At ...Read more
Gasbag Hillary Blasts China on “Human Rights”
May 12, 2011
Human Rights
NOVANEWS   By Mike Whitney Is there anything more irritating than listening to US officials blabber about “human rights”? I ...Read more
Libyan state TV shows healthy Gaddafi
May 12, 2011
Libya
NOVANEWS   State TV shows Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi during a meeting with eastern tribal leaders in Tripoli. Libyan state ...Read more
US drone strike kills 8 in Pakistan
May 12, 2011
Pakistan & Kashmir
NOVANEWS A non-UN-sanctioned US drone strike has claimed the lives of at least eight people and left four others wounded ...Read more
Turkey’s Erdogan: Hamas is a political party, not a terrorist group
May 12, 2011
Gaza
NOVANEWS   Speaking to Charlie Rose on the burgeoning unity cabinet, Turkish PM says Palestinian reconciliation is a necessary step ...Read more

Zio-Nazi Soldiers stand by during settler revenge attack

NOVANEWS 
 

On Saturday morning, 9 April 2011, settlers from Yizhar attacked Palestinians in ‘Asira al-Qibliya and ‘Urif, apparently in response to a Palestinian attempt to enter the settlement the night before. During the attack, which lasted an hour or so, soldiers present at the scene stood by, even when settlers threw stones in front of their eyes. When Palestinians threw stones at the attackers, soldiers used tear gas and fired shots in the air to move them away.

B’Tselem complained to the police about the settler’s attack and demanded that the army investigate why the soldiers did not enforce the law. B’Tselem has frequently called on officials in the defense establishment to make it clear to soldiers that they have an obligation to protect Palestinians from settler violence and to detain the assailants until the police arrive. The recurrence of such incidents raises the suspicion that the army has not fully internalized its duty to protect Palestinians, and not only settlers.

The attack on ‘Asira al-Qibliya

B’Tselem’s investigation and video footage filmed by B’Tselem volunteers indicate that a group of about 20 settlers went from Yizhar toward a house on the outskirts of ‘Asira al-Qibliya and threw stones at the house. At least three of the assailants were armed and one was masked. With them were two soldiers, who did nothing to stop the attack.

Inside the house were the mother and three of her small children. A number of young men from the village came to remove the settlers, and threw stones at them. The soldiers ordered the Palestinians to leave, fired tear gas and also fired live ammunition into the air in the direction of the Palestinians.

A half hour after the incident began, military reinforcements arrived. They forced some of the settlers away but did not put an end to the attack. Based on the video footage, no arrests were made. A few of the settlers even had a confrontation with soldiers. After another half an hour passed, a Border Police contingent arrived, at which stage the settlers headed back toward the settlement.

In the attack, one resident of the village was injured. The owner of the house and the injured person told B’Tselem that they see no point filing a complaint with the Israeli authorities given their systematic failure to enforce the law on the settlers who assaulted them.

At the same time, settlers also attacked Palestinians at a quarry situated between ‘Asira al-Qibliya and ‘Urif.

According to eyewitnesses, some eight masked settlers came on Saturday morning and threw stones at persons working at the quarry. Two of the settlers were armed, one with a pistol and the other with a rifle. While the workers were removing equipment, the assailants broke the windows of a car and torched the vehicle, burning it completely. Although the torching took place on the Sabbath, a website identified with Yizhar settlers published an admission of responsibility for the action.

In this case, too, the Palestinian whose property was damaged told B’Tselem that he saw no point filing a complaint, given the systematic failure of the authorities to enforce the law on the settlers who assaulted him.

Army blocks access by car to Palestinian neighborhood with more than 150 residents

NOVANEWS
 

The village of Khirbet a-Deir, which lies next to the village of Tuqu’, is built on both sides of Route 356 that connects Bethlehem and Hebron. On 9 February 2011, a bulldozer accompanied by two army jeeps laid dirt piles and boulders at the two entrances to the Abu Ghassan neighborhood, which is the northern section of the village, and at the entrance to the nearby village of al-Halqum, thus blocking access by car through these entrances. The action was taken without informing the residents in advance and without explanation.

Residents of Abu Ghassan carry provisions on foot. Photo: Suha Zeid, B'Tselem, 10 Feb. '11.
Residents of Abu Ghassan carry provisions on foot. Photo: Suha Zeid, B’Tselem, 10 Feb. ’11.

Following firm exchanges between residents and representatives of the Civil Administration, the army opened the entrance to al-Halqum the same day. The entrances to the Abu Ghassan neighborhood remain closed. As a result, 150 people have been left with no ability to access their neighborhood by car.

Taysir Abu Mifrah, who works for the Tuqu’ Municipality, went to the Etzion Coordination and Liaison Office the day after the piles were laid, to find out why the entrances had been blocked. He was told that the action had been taken for security reasons, and also because the access roads are close to a dangerous curve in the main road.

A supply truck blocked from entering the village. 10 Feb. '11.
A supply truck blocked from entering the village. 10 Feb. ’11.

For more than a month now, residents of Abu Ghassan have had to leave their cars on the main road and climb over the dirt piles and boulders to reach home. They have to carry all shopping products, including gas canisters and animal feed, on their backs. As the village has no medical services whatsoever, residents have carry persons needing medical care over the piles and boulders to reach the main road. Children meeting the school bus are in danger, as they now have to walk out to the main road.

The blocking of car access to an entire neighborhood infringes the villagers’ rights to freedom of movement, to earning a livelihood, and to receiving medical treatment. On 14 April 2011, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel wrote to the military commander of Judea and Samaria, demanding that the blocks be removed immediately.

Zio-Nazi Gestapo's Army set dogs on Palestinians trying to enter Israel to work without a permit

NOVANEWS

At least three people bitten in April, two additional cases are being investigated by B’Tselem

B’Tselem has written to the OC Central Command and to the judge advocate general, demanding that they immediately terminate the use of attack dogs against Palestinian workers who enter into Israel without permits. In the last month alone, at least three Palestinians were bitten as a result of the practice. B’Tselem is looking into two additional cases that raise serious suspicions that dogs attacked Palestinians who tried to cross the Separation Barrier.

In her letter, B’Tselem Executive Director Jessica Montell writes: “This policy harms and terrifies those affected. It also contradicts Israeli and international law. Israel has the authority to control the entry of Palestinian into its territory and prevent harm to the barrier, but there are less harmful ways to achieve these goals”.

The incidents took place in the area of a-Ramadin, southwest of Hebron. Most of those injured attempted to enter Israel to work, and one, to receive medical treatment. Two of them were arrested by soldiers and remain in custody. In some of the cases, the laborers told B’Tselem that the dogs did not respond to their handlers’ order to stop, and the handlers had to use an electric-shock device to calm the dogs. In one case, the injured worker filed a complaint with the police and was arrested on suspicion of entering Israel illegally. He was released the following day.

According to a report on the Walla website the army confirmed that dogs from the army’s canine unit are used in making arrests, but stated that the dogs are only used against Palestinians who damage the fence and that prior approval is obtained in each case.

A policy of setting attack dogs at civilians is fundamentally unacceptable, and cannot be justified as an attempt to protect the fence. Furthermore, in the cases documented by B’Tselem, the soldiers apparently released the dogs at groups of Palestinian laborers attempting to cross the fence, and the dogs bit laborers who did not manage to flee, rather than specific suspects of damaging the fence. In one case, the Palestinians were attacked when they arrived at a break in the fence and before they tried to pass through.

The Cases

The first case B’Tselem knows of occurred on 9 April. M, a 20-year-old resident of a-Ramadin, and his friend tried to enter Israel to work. When they reached a break in the fence, a dog attacked him from behind, knocked him down, and bit him in the hip. When he tried to push the dog away, the dog bit him a few times. M also stated that, while fighting with the dog, a soldier filmed the incident on his cell phone. Soldiers then stunned the dog with an electric-shock device. The dog stopped the attack and his mouth was covered with a muzzle. The soldiers then gave M first-aid and took him to an army base, where a physician examined him. He was then taken to the Tarqumiya checkpoint and taken by Palestinian ambulance the government hospital in Hebron.

Two of the cases occurred the following day (10 April). Y, who is 22 and lives in a village next to a-Dhahiriya, was with a group of Palestinians trying to sneak into Israel. He told B’Tselem that, once on the other side of the fence, on his way to get into a car that would take him to his worksite in Israel, a dog jumped on him and bit him from behind and on his left hand. He managed to push the dog away and get into the waiting car, and they entered Israel. Later that day, he returned to the West Bank and went to the government hospital in Hebron, where the doctors found he had a torn tendon in one of his fingers. Three days later, when he went to the police station in Hebron to complain about the attack, he was detained on suspicion of entering Israel, disturbing a public official in the course of carrying out his duty, and fleeing. He was released the following day.

That same morning, R, 29, a father of six from a village near Yatta, arrived by car at a place where he intended to cross through the fence and enter Israel. He was the first of the passengers to get out of the vehicle. He told B’Tselem that, immediately after getting out, and before he crossed the fence, he was attacked by a dog, which bit him in the lower back and tried to knock him to the ground. When he tried to push him away, the dog bit him in the right arm. The dog kept his teeth fastened to his arm for a few minutes. When soldiers arrived and saw the injury the dog had caused, they stunned the dog with the electric-shock device, and the dog released R’s arm. The soldiers gave R first-aid and then took him, along with a few other Palestinians who had been caught, to an army checkpoint, where an army physician treated him. From there, he was taken to the police station in Kiryat Arba for questioning. On his release, he went to the government hospitals in Yatta and Hebron for treatment.

In two other cases, B’Tselem has partial information only, since the injured Palestinians remain in custody. On 25 April, K, a 45-year-old resident of al-Burej, Hebron District, tried to enter Israel illegally. During the attempt he apparently was wounded by gunfire and was bitten by a dog and was taken to Soroka Medical Center, in Beersheva. A few hours later, K was taken from the hospital and is now in the army’s prison at Ofer. Since he is incarcerated, B’Tselem presently unable to obtain further details on the incident.

On the morning of 26 April, A, a resident of a-Dhahiriya, was bitten in the leg and hand and detained by soldiers at the same place. An Israeli photographer who documents Palestinian laborers in the area met A and other laborers while they were being detained at the site of the incident and photographed his wounds. Due to A’s detention, B’Tselem is presently unable to obtain further information about the incident.

Zionist Regime: Dispossession and Exploitation: Israel's Policy in the Jordan Valley & Northern Dead Sea

NOVANEWS

 

The Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea area contains the largest land reserves in the West Bank. The area covers 1.6 million dunams, which constitute 28.8 percent of the West Bank. Sixty-five thousand Palestinians, live in 29 communities, and an estimated additional 15,000 Palestinians reside in dozens of small Beduin communities. Some 9,400 settlers live in the 37 settlements (including seven outposts) in the area.

Israel has instituted in this area a regime that intensively exploits its resources, to an extent greater than elsewhere in the West Bank, and which demonstrates its intention: de facto annexation of the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea area to the State of Israel.

Taking control of land

Greenhouses of settlements next to ‘Ein al-Bida, in the Jordan Valley. Photo: Eyal Hareuveni, B'Tselem, 23 March 2011.

Greenhouses of settlements next to ‘Ein al-Bida, in the Jordan Valley. Photo: Eyal Hareuveni, B’Tselem, 23 March 2011.

Israel has used various means to take control of most of the land in the area, as follows:

  • Thousands of dunams were taken from Palestinian refugees and used to build the first settlements there, beginning in 1968 and extending throughout the 1970s. This, in violation of a military order.

  • By legal manipulation, Israel has enlarged the inventory of “state land” in the area, such that 53.4 percent of the area, four times greater than pre-1967, is now deemed state land.

  • Israel has declared 45.7 percent of the area military firing zones, although they are situated next to main traffic arteries, alongside settlements’ built-up areas and farmland, or include land of settlements that is under cultivation.

  • Israel has closed some 20 percent of the land by declaring them nature reserves, although only a small section of them has been developed and made suitable for visitors. Two-thirds of the nature reserves areas are also areas of military firing zones.

  • Israel has seized lands in the northern Jordan Valley for the Separation Barrier and has placed 64 landmine fields near the route of the Jordan River. The army itself contends the landmines are no longer required for security purposes.

Using these means, Israel has taken control of 77.5 percent of the land and has prevented Palestinians from building on or using the land or remaining there. Twelve percent of the area has been allocated for settlements, including the entire northern shore of the Dead Sea. Israel’s policy has cut up the Palestinian spatial sphere and isolated Palestinian communities in the area. In the last two years, the Civil Administration has repeatedly demolished structures in the area’s Beduin communities, although some of them were established before 1967.

Taking control of water sources

The dry ‘Ein Uja spring. Photo: Eyal Hareuveni, B'Tselem, 23 March 2011.

The dry ‘Ein Uja spring. Photo: Eyal Hareuveni, B’Tselem, 23 March 2011.

Israel has taken control of most of the water sources in the area and has earmarked them for the almost exclusive use of the settlers.

Most Israeli water drillings in the West Bank – 28 of the 42 drillings – are located in the Jordan Valley. These drillings provide Israel with some 32 million m3 a year, most of which is allocated to the settlements. The annual allocation of water to the area’s 9,400 settlers from the drillings, the Jordan River, treated wastewater, and artificial water reservoirs is 45 million m3. The water allocated to the settlements has enabled them to develop intensive-farming methods and to work the land year round, with most of the produce being exported. The water allocation to the settlements is almost one-third the quantity of water that is accessible to the 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.

Israel’s control of the water sources in the area has caused some Palestinian wells drying up and has led to a drop in the quantity of water that can be produced from other wells and from springs. In comparison, in 2008, Palestinians pumped 31 million m3, which is 44 percent less than Palestinians produced in the area prior to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement of 1995. Due to the water shortage, Palestinians were forced to neglect farmland that had been in cultivation and switch to growing less profitable crops. In the Jericho governorate, the amount of land used for agriculture is the lowest among the Palestinian governorates in the West Bank – 4.7 percent compared to an average of 25 percent in the other governorates.

Israel’s control of most of the land area also prevents equal distribution of water resources to the Palestinian communities in the area; it also prevents the movement of water to Palestinian communities outside the area. Water consumption in Beduin communities is equivalent to the quantity that the UN has set as the minimal quantity needed to survive in humanitarian-disaster areas.

Restrictions on movement

Tayasir Checkpoint, in the Jordan Valley. Photo: Keren Manor, 26 December 2010, Activestills.org.

Tayasir Checkpoint, in the Jordan Valley. Photo: Keren Manor, 26 December 2010, Activestills.org.

In the framework of the easing of restrictions on movement in the West Bank that was carried out in 2009, Israel did not eliminate the movement restrictions in the Jordan Valley, despite the security calm in the area. Israel still operates four checkpoints in the Jordan Valley – Tayasir, Hamra, Ma’ale Efrayim, and Yitav. At these checkpoints, only Palestinian-owned vehicles that Israel recognizes as belonging to residents of the area are allowed to pass.

The restrictions on movement seriously impair Palestinian life, since most of the educational facilities and medical clinics that are supposed to serve the local residents are situated outside the area.

Restrictions on building

Huts demolished by the Civil Administration in al-Farsiya, in the Jordan Valley. Photo: Atef Abu a-Rub, B'Tselem, 19 July 2010.

Huts demolished by the Civil Administration in al-Farsiya, in the Jordan Valley. Photo: Atef Abu a-Rub, B’Tselem, 19 July 2010.

Israel’s planning policy in the Jordan Valley makes it impossible for Palestinians to build and develop their communities. The Civil Administration has prepared plans for only a tiny fraction of the Palestinian communities. Furthermore, these plans are nothing more than demarcation plans, which do not allocate land for new construction and development. For example, the plan for al-Jiftlik, the largest community in Area C (the area that is under complete Israeli control), left 40 percent of the built-up area of the village outside its borders; as a result, the houses of many families are in danger of demolition. The plan for al-Jiftlik is smaller in land area than the plan issued for the Maskiyyot settlement, although al-Jiftlik has 26 times as many residents.

Taking control of tourist sites

Israeli bathing beach Bianqini, on the northern Dead Sea. Photo: Keren Manor, 13 March 2011, Activestills.org.

Israeli bathing beach Bianqini, on the northern Dead Sea. Photo: Keren Manor, 13 March 2011, Activestills.org.

Israel has taken control of most of the prominent tourist sites in the area – the northern shore of the Dead Sea, Wadi Qelt, the Qumran caves, the springs of the ‘Ein Fashkha reserve, and the Qasr Alyahud site (where John the Baptist baptized Jesus). Israeli entities administer these sites. Israel also limits tourist access to Jericho, channeling tourists to the southern entrance to the city. As a result, few tourists visiting Jericho city spend the night there, resulting in heavy losses for the tourist industry in the city.

Exploitation of natural resources

Production room at AHAVA, which produces cosmetics based on the Dead Sea’s high-mineral-content mud. Photo: Keren Manor, 13 March 2011, Activestills.org.

Production room at AHAVA, which produces cosmetics based on the Dead Sea’s high-mineral-content mud.  Photo: Keren Manor, 13 March 2011, Activestills.org.

Israel enables entrepreneurs in Israel to exploit the area’s resources. The Ahava cosmetics firm, in Kibbutz Mizpe Shalem, produces products from the high-mineral-content mud of the northern Dead Sea. An Israeli quarry next to the settlement Kokhav Hashahar produces building materials. Also, Israel has established facilities in the Jordan Valley for treating wastewater and for burying waste from Israel and from settlements.

International law prohibits the establishment of settlements in occupied territory and exploitation of the resources of occupied territory. B’Tselem calls on Israel to evacuate the settlements, to enable Palestinian access to all the lands that have been closed to them, and to allow them to use the water sources for their purposes. In addition, Israel must remove the restrictions on movement in the area and enable construction and development in the Palestinian communities. Israel must also close down the enterprises that profit from the minerals and other natural resources in the area, and it must also shut down the facilities for disposal of Israeli waste.

The Fatah-Hamas Accord

NOVANEWS

Mouin Rabbani

 

The agreement between Fatah and Hamas to end the schism that has plagued the Palestinian system since June 2007 surprised not only the world but also most Palestinians. More than anything, it reflects the profound changes the Middle East is experiencing and the new regional dynamics unleashed by the ouster of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. For the better part of four years, Palestinian reconciliation was not an option. From the perspective of PLO, PA and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, it came down to a simple choice: US-sponsored bilateral negotiations with Israel, which, accompanied by Western funding and other forms of support, would maintain Fatah control in the West Bank and lead to an independent Palestinian state; or Palestinian reconciliation, which would produce renewed international sanctions while strengthening the relative position of Hamas.

Egypt was critical to maintaining this equation. Under Mubarak, Cairo monopolized reconciliation talks; but its proposals were formulated for rejection by Hamas. It then used the failure of its mediation as a pretext to collude in Israel’s punishing blockade of Gaza. At the same time, Egypt deployed its considerable clout to provide cover for Abbas’s increasingly compromised diplomacy and pressured him on America’s and Israel’s behalf when further Palestinian concessions were required.

As the division of the occupied territories into separate Fatah and Hamas fiefdoms solidified, vested institutional, economic and political interests emerged on both sides of the divide. In the West Bank the government led by Salam Fayyad owed its very existence to the schism. In Gaza Hamas developed a taste for arbitrary practices whose denunciation had helped it win the 2006 legislative elections. These comforts and privileges were in turn sustained by a thriving underground economy—literally, through hundreds of tunnels—along the border with Egypt. The main legacy of both governments is a severe blow to Palestinian pluralism and levels of repression that would have been unthinkable under Yasir Arafat.

Egypt’s transition and the prospect of further regime changes in the region left Abbas strategically weakened; but Barack Obama deserves equal credit for the recent Palestinian agreement. Having shattered every Palestinian illusion about US-sponsored diplomacy by acquiescing in Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s intransigence—most notably by thrice leading Abbas by the nose on the issue of an Israeli settlement freeze—the US president performed the miraculous feat of convincing Abbas that Palestinians had to explore alternatives to negotiations, because Washington would never deliver on an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. Indeed, the “Palestine Papers,” leaked by Al Jazeera this January, demonstrated not only the extent to which Palestinian negotiators were prepared to jettison basic rights but also Israel and America’s insatiable appetite for more concessions, dealing a further body blow to the PA leadership’s already shattered credibility. If diplomacy as practiced required a Palestinian schism, the alternatives—including the chosen path of a UN proclamation of Palestinian statehood in September—are strengthened by a unified Palestinian polity. Particularly so since both Fatah and Hamas have now identified a sovereign state in the occupied territories as their strategic objective.

While previously Abbas had been the primary obstacle to reconciliation, conventional wisdom had it that Hamas—no fiery advocate of this objective—in the wake of Mubarak’s ouster would show even less interest. Perennially assured that time is on their side, the Islamists appeared to be waiting for the Muslim Brotherhood to gain a foothold in Cairo and hoping that Abbas would self-destruct.

Several factors persuaded Hamas that time is not only a friend. Within the occupied territories, the emergence of a youth movement operating outside the strictures of the established system seemed to be growing fastest in Gaza—whose rulers surely recognized that if Arab uprisings are about bread and freedom, Gaza was a more logical point of departure than Tunisia. Second, the Islamist leadership quickly recognized the benefit of resetting relations with the new Egypt. In exchange for the latter’s achievement of reconciliation, the blockade of Gaza is gradually being lifted, and Hamas is no longer a dirty word in the most important Arab state. And more recently, the extension of the revolt to Syria, where the Hamas exile leadership is based, has let Hamas see that it needs all the friends it can get in uncertain times.

Precisely because the agreement amounts to a maintenance of the status quo in the occupied territories, it is unlikely to unravel as quickly as the ill-fated Mecca agreement of 2007. That said, there are also key challenges—such as the release of political prisoners in the short term and, over the course of the next year, the conduct of elections and the integration of Hamas and Islamic Jihad into the PLO.

The more pertinent questions are whether Palestinian pluralism can recover to challenge an attempt by Fatah and Hamas to share hegemony under a new guise. And, more important, whether any of this makes a difference to the strategic issue of achieving Palestinian self-determination. The two are not unrelated. Only if the Palestinian national movement is set right, and re-established on an inclusive basis that represents and mobilizes its various political and geographic constituencies, can an effective strategy for self-determination be formulated and implemented. It is a profound challenge that under the circumstances is nothing short of existential. For all its shortcomings, the current agreement provides an opportunity—perhaps a final one—to overcome it.

Burqa-clad women detained in France

NOVANEWS
 

 

One month after France’s banning of the burqa, women wearing the face-covering garment are being arrested and forced to remove their veils in public to avoid police harassment.

Five women were immediately detained by police for wearing the burqa on city streets, as they attempted to attend a conference on the controversial law in the capital Paris, a Press TV correspondent reported on Wednesday.

The conference was organized by the multicultural association Don’t Touch My Constitution, which has raised funds to help women pay the fine that the government has imposed for disobeying the new law.

In April, Paris declared that any woman — French or foreigner — who wears a niqab or burqa in public will be fined 150 euros and those who force women to wear such covers will face a much larger fine and a prison sentence of up to two years.

During the conference, the organizer of the meeting was forcibly prevented by police from talking to one of the women, who had reportedly become ill during questioning on burqa ban.

“The real objective of this law is the stigmatization of the Muslim community; why make a law for just a few hundred people. French lawmakers have completely exaggerated the situation for their benefits.” Hassan Ben M’barek , an activist observing the meeting told Press TV.

The controversial ban on burqa has set off a frenzy of debates in France with proponents of the law claiming that the ban protects the country from radicalism and opponents arguing that behind the veil of France’s new law lies a certain sense of animosity toward Muslims in the country.

Many Muslims have complained that French media coverage consistently ignores the religious convictions of those who wear a niqab or burqa in public and quite unfairly portrayed them as mere tools, with domineering men controlling their every move.

Poll: Egyptians want Islamic rule

NOVANEWS
 

An Egyptian protester holds a cardboard bearing the Arabic writing ‘No collaboration with Israeli after the revolution, down with Israel’ during a demonstration in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo on April 27.

A recent survey has found that majority of Egyptians will back an Islamic and democratic system in the North African county.

Sixty percent of the 1,000 Egyptians surveyed by Al-Ahram daily say they want to establish an Islamic state with real democratic values.

Meanwhile, 24 percent of the respondents only emphasized on sole democratic values without an explicit mention of religion.

Four percent of the respondents suggested that a secular system in Egypt would indeed be desirable, while three percent said a military rule was suitable for the future of their country.

This comes more than two months after a popular revolution ousted US-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak from power.

Analysts say that the recent developments in Egypt and other North African countries are the result of an “Islamic Awakening.”

Egyptians have called for free and fair elections after Mubarak’s ouster, saying that people must decide the kind of government they want.

They have also demanded their military rulers to abandon the Israeli regime and lift the blockade on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Egypt’s political parties say the Gaza blockade serves the interests of Israel and the US and threatens regional stability and independence.

Under the US-backed Mubarak regime, Egypt consistently served Tel Aviv’s objectives in the region by helping to impose a crippling blockade on the impoverished Gaza Strip after the democratically-elected Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007.

NATO strikes on Gaddafi compound kill 6

NOVANEWS
 

Bab al-Aziziya, situated in the southern suburbs of Tripoli, is a military barracks and Gaddafi’s main compound.

At least six people have been killed and 10 others wounded after NATO airstrikes struck headquarters of embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli.

Explosions roared across the Libyan capital early on Thursday as missiles landed in Bab al-Aziziya compound. It was not immediately known which of the compound’s buildings were targeted, AFP reported.

“There were three dead here and three dead in another place in addition to 10 others wounded,” an unnamed government official said as he was pointing to scattered sandbags next to a crater in the ground in a street of Bab al-Aziziya compound.

NATO airstrikes came hours after Libyan state TV showed a footage of Gaddafi meeting with officials in Tripoli. His appearance was the first since his son was killed nearly two weeks ago.

Gaddafi’s youngest son, Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, and three of his grandchildren were killed in a NATO aerial strike on April 30 in what the government labeled as a direct attempt to assassinate the Libyan ruler.

The video, which was aired late on Wednesday, showed Gaddafi in a meeting with a group of Libyan tribal leaders from the eastern part of the country in a Tripoli hotel. The footage did not specify the date of the meeting and was only a few minutes long.

“We tell the world those are the representatives of the Libyan tribes,” Gaddafi said in the meeting, as he pointed to the dignitaries and then introduced some of them. The footage also showed an old man telling Gaddafi, “You will be victorious.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Libyan revolutionary forces seized control of the airport in the western city of Misratah after heavy fighting with pro-Gaddafi forces.

Misratah has been under siege by pro-Gaddafi forces for nearly two months with regime forces repeatedly bombing and shelling the city.

Misratah has a population of more than half a million, many of whom are still grappling with shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

The US and NATO have unleashed a punishing UN-mandated offensive against Gaddafi to force him to cede power, but the Libyan ruler has shown scant signs of a willingness to abandon his 41-year-old reign.

Gasbag Hillary Blasts China on “Human Rights”

NOVANEWS
 

By Mike Whitney

Is there anything more irritating than listening to US officials blabber about “human rights”?

I mean, really, doesn’t it drive you crazy? Here’s Hillary Clinton bashing China for their “deplorable” human rights record, and meanwhile Bradley Manning sits naked and freezing in a 6′ by 8′ cinderblock cell in some far-flung American gulag waiting to get fingernails yanked out. Can you see the hypocrisy?

And that’s just for starters. What about Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram and the myriad other dungeons, concentration camps and black sites the US has scattered across the planet. Seriously, the United States is the biggest human rights abuser in the world today. No one else even comes close. Clinton’s in no position to be giving other people lectures.

Remember, all the phony indignation over Saddam gassing his people in Halabja? What a joke. Obama probably kills more people in his sleep every night than Hussein killed in a year. And Halabja’s small potatoes anyway. Just look at Falluja; a city of 300,000 that had about 40,000 of its people wiped out by US bombs, 80% of its buildings and infrastructure reduced to rubble, and a legacy of cancers and birth defects until the end of time. Now that’s how you kill people!

And then there’s the drone attacks. In fact, another 5 people were killed on Tuesday when US missiles blew up their vehicle in northwest Pakistan. What about their human rights? And what about the rights of the other 957 people who’ve been killed in 2010 alone? Don’t they count?

And, can we please stop talking about democracy? Everyone knows it’s just shorthand for capitalism. And–not even capitalism really, but slash-and-burn, take-no-prisoners, scorched-earth predatory capitalism, the hybrid strain of the virus that’s particular to America’s ‘oligarchy of racketeers’. So, can we just put a sock in it for a while?

Here’s a clip of Hillary moaning about the “repressive Chinese system of government.”

“We have made very clear, publicly and privately, our concern about human rights. We see reports of people, including public interest lawyers, writers, artists, and others, who are detained or disappeared. And we know over the long arch of history that societies that work toward respecting human rights are going to be more prosperous, stable, and successful.”

Can you believe this gibberish? The United States has a higher percentage of its population in prison than any other country in the world. And, Clinton dares to scold China about “detained or disappeared” people? Now that’s the pot calling the kettle black.

But, yes, it’s true; the Chinese haven’t mastered democracy like we have in the good old USA, where 5 right-wing jurists pick the president, and where the government taps your phoneline, sifts through your e mail, and gropes your scrotum before hopping on a flight to Boise. That’s capital “D” democracy; land of the free and home of the Ponzi-scamster. We might boot you out of your home, kick you out of your job, and fleece you out of your retirement, but we’ve got our principles, dammit!

Can you see how crazy this is?

But, let’s cut to the chase. Do you know what this is really all about, all this duplicitous foot-stomping and pontificating by Ms. Clinton?

The Obama team is trying to pressure China into opening their markets to Wall Street so Big Finance can peddle their garbage paper to 1.5 billion new suckers. That’s what it’s all about. I’ll bet you even-money that Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon spent the better part of Sunday evening quaffing single malt scotch and high-fiving while they put the finishing touches on Clinton’s speech. That’s how incestuous the Obama-Wall Street relationship is now.

Just take a look at this report from Bloomberg and decide for yourself.

Bloomberg: “Geithner will say China should relax controls on the financial system and give foreign banks and insurers more access, said David Loevinger, the Treasury Department’s senior coordinator for China. Officials from both nations are meeting in Washington today and tomorrow as part of the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

….Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Jeff Merkley of Oregon called May 6 for a “rebalancing” in the U.S.-China economic relationship. The two lawmakers, who just returned from a trip to China, said the Chinese need to open their financial sector, address “abnormally low deposit and lending rates” and allow broader market access to foreign firms….

The American Chamber of Commerce in China said last month that foreign banks play an “insignificant role” in China.

Foreign lenders’ market share in China has dropped since the government first opened the industry in December 2006. Banks such as New York-based Citigroup Inc. (C) and London-based HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) want to tap household and corporate savings that reached $10 trillion in January as China overtook Japan to become the world’s second-biggest economy” (“U.S. Will Urge China to Boost Interest Rates as Talks Start”, Bloomberg)

Repeat: “Banks…. want to tap household and corporate savings that reached $10 trillion in January.”

That says it all, doesn’t it? Wall Street is already licking its chops over its next victim. They can’t wait to sink their teeth into all that luscious money that Chinese workers have been scrimping and saving for the last decade or so. That’s why they’ve ordered Clinton to castigate China’s leaders in public, because they think it will help them pry the door open wide enough to set up shop in the world’s fastest growing market.

So this isn’t about “human rights” at all. It’s about coercion; forcing China to do what we want so Wall Street can rake in even bigger profits.

Are you surprised?

Libyan state TV shows healthy Gaddafi

NOVANEWS
 

State TV shows Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi during a meeting with eastern tribal leaders in Tripoli.

Libyan state TV has showed footage of Muammar Gaddafi meeting officials in Tripoli, dampening mounting speculations that the embattled ruler was injured in an April airstrike.

The 68-year-old Libyan Gaddafi, who had kept a low profile since the April 30 strike on his Bab al-Aziziyah compound in the capital Tripoli, looked healthy in his trademark brown robe, dark sunglasses and black hat, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Gaddafi’s youngest son, Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, and three of his grandchildren were killed in the NATO’s aerial strike that the government labeled as a direct attempt to assassinate the Libyan ruler.

The video, which was aired late on Wednesday, showed Gaddafi in a meeting with a group of Libyan tribal leaders from the eastern part of the country in a Tripoli hotel. The footage did not specify the date of the meeting and was only a few minutes long.

“We tell the world: ‘those are the representatives of the Libyan tribes,’” Gaddafi said in the meeting, as he pointed to the dignitaries and then introduced some of them.The footage also showed an old man telling Gaddafi that “You will be victorious.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Libyan revolutionary forces seized control of the airport in the western city of Misratah after heavy fighting with pro-Gaddafi forces.

Misratah has been under siege by Gaddafi forces for nearly two months with regime forces repeatedly bombing and shelling the city, which has a population of more than half a million, many of whom still grappling with shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

The US and NATO have unleashed a punishing UN-mandated offensive against Gaddafi to force him to cede power, but the Libyan ruler has shown scant signs of abandoning his 41-year-old reign.

One blogger likes this post.
B.A.Frémaux-Soormally

Comments

  1. DR.NUR says:


    THE TRUTH ABOUT GHADDAFI ON RUSSIATODAY / JOURNALIST LAURA EMMET INTERVIEWS BRITISH POLITICAL ANALYST IAN CRANE
    IN FACT,THE SO CALLED TUNISIAN AND EGYPTIAN “REVOLUTIONS” WERE TRIGGERED AS “SETTING” BY THE RAT-CAT-DOG-ZIOCON-NARCOPETROL-BANKSTERS-MILITARY-GENOCIDAL-COMPLEX-TALMUDIST-MAFIA TO TAKE A LONG PLANNED SHOT AT LIBYA,THE HIGHEST LIVING STANDARD IN AFRICA,LEADER OF AFRICAN UNION,AND GADHAFFI,SO AS TO DEPRIVE CHINA OF ACQUIRING NEEDED RESSOURCES…
    …THRU A HOLLYWOODIAN CIA-ENGINEERED “REBELLION” AS HE REFUSED TO BORROW/OWE ANYTHING TO JEWISH WORLD BANK AND WAS ABOUT TO ESTABLISH A NEW PAN-AFRICAN GOLD CURRENCY TO REPLACE DOLLAR…

  2. B.A.Frémaux-Soormally says:

    DR.NUR says:
    May 12, 2011 at 3:15 pm
    Good boy!
    Ghaddafi should have passed on leadership to somebody HE TRUSTS! He rules as if he is immortal, and this is a colossal mistake!
    Thanks for your many emails.

US drone strike kills 8 in Pakistan

NOVANEWS

A non-UN-sanctioned US drone strike has claimed the lives of at least eight people and left four others wounded in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal area of North Waziristan, local security forces reported.

The incident occurred on Thursday morning when a US drone aircraft fired missiles at a vehicle in the Datta Khel area, near the border with Afghanistan, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The United States frequently carries out such attacks on Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The aerial attacks, initiated by former Republican US President George W. Bush, have escalated under Democratic President Barack Obama, who had earlier promised major changes in the American militaristic policies.

The United States claims that the air raids target Pakistani militants, but Pakistani officials say many civilians are also killed in the attacks.

Meanwhile, Pakistani sources have stated that the US drone strikes kill 50 civilians for every one militant.

Islamabad has frequently slammed the United States over the drone attacks, saying they violate its sovereignty.

 

Turkey’s Erdogan: Hamas is a political party, not a terrorist group

NOVANEWS
 

Erdogan Turkey – 8.02.2011 - AP

Speaking to Charlie Rose on the burgeoning unity cabinet, Turkish PM says Palestinian reconciliation is a necessary step en route to achieving Mideast peace.

Haaretz

Hamas is not a terror organization, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview with U.S. television late Wednesday, saying he felt the recently penned Palestinian reconciliation agreement was an essential step toward Mideast peace.

Erdogan’s comments came one day after Hamas Gaza strongman Mahmoud Zahar said that while his organization would accept a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, it would never recognize Israel, as a result of the damage such a move would do to Palestinian refugees in the “diaspora.”

Senior Israeli officials, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have voiced opposition to Fatah’s new unity deal with Hamas, saying that a Palestinian government that included a terrorist group calling for Israel’s destruction could not be a partner for peace.

Speaking to Charlie Rose on Wednesday, however, the Turkish PM chimed in on the recently achieved unity agreement between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, indicating that he did not feel Hamas was an obstacle in achieving Mideast peace.

“Let me give you a very clear message, I don’t see Hamas as a terror organization. Hamas is a political party — it emerged as a political party that appeared as a political party,” Erdogan told Charlie Rose, adding: “it is a resistance movement trying to protect its country under occupation.”

Going further, the Turkish PM said the world should not “mix terrorist organizations with such an organization, and they entered into the elections,” adding that Hamas “won the elections, they had ministers, and they had parliament speakers who were imprisoned by Israel, about 35 ministers and members of parliament in Israel prisons.”

“Where is terrorism? They entered into the elections and after the elections this is how they were reacted, I mean, calling them terrorists, this would be disrespect to the will of the Palestinian people,” Erdogan added.

Referring to the impact the unity agreement Hamas signed with Fatah, Erdogan said: “I am very pleased with what had happened. I am very pleased. Let me express it very clearly, because this is what we wanted to see for many years.”

The Turkish PM added that “if peace will come to Palestine, if peace will come to Middle East, this will start from the internal peace in Palestine, and then and this target ahead will be discussed much more — much effectively. I discussed it with Tony Blair when he was chairing this Quartet.”

Erdogan also referred to ongoing diplomatic tensions with Israel, a once stable relationship that has been descending in a downward spiral ever since Israel’s Gaza war against Hamas and the raid by Israeli forces on a Turkish Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

“This is absolutely certain. I mean, to this, embargo, three things: apology, compensation, and lifting of embargo on Gaza. It has to be lifted,” Erdogan said.

“We in the Middle East, we are a country that’s accepted the statehood of Israel and Palestine,” the Turkish PM said that his recommend “this to everybody, we defend this.”

“And we bring together the sides. We believe that we can. But, of course, we need everybody should know their limits, their borders, and then we can take these steps,” Erdogan said.