DOROTHY ONLINE NEWSLETTER

NOVANEWS

Land and Property Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing

Israel demolishes Bedouin village

About 300 residents of a village in the Negev desert have lost homes and possessions.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/07/2010727133151458970.html
Alert: Thousands of police evacuating and demolishing the village of El-Araqib in the Israeli Negev

Thousands of police are in the village of el-Araqib right now – beginning a mass evacuation, demolition, and erasure of this historical Bedouin village. if you have access to the media, please send them to this village as soon as possible! the village of el-Araqib is between Rahat and Beer Sheva, and in a location that the Goldberg commission deemed outside of the areas allowed for the Negev Arabs… an area designated only for Jews… the JNF (Jewish National Fund) is planting a forest on this village lands – to make sure that the Bedouin cannot live on their village lands or use them for agriculture. the villagers turned to the israeli courts, as the JNF were planting this forest at the bequest of the Israeli government, but against Israeli law… the people of el-Araqib won the court battle… but this morning it seems that the Government of Israel has started a war — of the Government against its own citizens. for more information:  Dr. Yeela Raanan, Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages (RCUV).

Tel:00972 54 7487005 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting

oo +972 54 7487005      end_of_the_skype_highlighting yallylivnat@gmail.com.
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/07/
alert-thousands-of-police-evacuating-and-demolishing-the-village-of-el-araqib-in-the-israeli-negev/

1000s of Israeli police said to be evacuating/erasing historical Bedouin village, Philip Weiss
“Thousands of police are in the Negev desert village of el-Araqib right now (5:30 a.m. in Israel), beginning a mass evacuation, demolition, and erasure of this historical Bedouin village,” writes Yeela Raanan of the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages (RCUV).  “If you have access to the media, please send them to this village as soon as possible! The village of el-Araqib is between Rahat and Beer Sheva, and in a location that the Goldberg commission deemed outside of the areas allowed for the Negev Arabs… an area designated only for Jews…

http://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/
1000s-of-israeli-police-said-to-be-evacuatingerasing-historical-bedouin-village.html

JCSER: “Hundreds of Palestinians Losing Residency Rights In Jerusalem”

The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economical Rights (JCSER) issued a report detailing the latest numbers of Palestinians who lost their residency rights in occupied East Jerusalem due to Israeli restrictions and measures.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59189
Settlers block West Bank roads to protest building freeze

Settlers blockaded 11 intersections across the West Bank on Monday evening in response to the home demolition on Monday at the Givat Ronen outpost.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/settlers-block-west-bank-roads-to-protest-building-freeze-1.304315
Israel’s New Land Grab Master Plan, Stephen Lendman

The new plan updates older ones, going back to the first, what Israeli historian Ilan Pappe documented in his 2006 book, “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,” on David Ben-Gurion’s Plan D (Dalet in Hebrew), his final master plan following Plans A, B and C, what Palestinians call the Nakba, the catastrophe, commemorated annually to never forget.  By bombarding and besieging villages and population centers, destroying communities, and expelling or killing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, it planned an exclusive Jewish state, excluding Arabs by any means, including mass-murder, dispossession, and persecution, ongoing to this day, what Palestinians heroically resist. 

It took six months to complete, expelling or slaughtering about 800,000 people, and destroying 531 villages and 11 urban neighborhoods in Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and other cities. It was barbarous ethnic cleansing, Palestinians shown no mercy, including women and children, yet it was just the beginning, much more yet to come, including new ethnic cleaning plans.
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20Editorials/2010/July/27%20o/
Israel%27s%20New%20Land%20Grab%20Master%20Plan%20By%20Stephen%20Lendman.htm

Solidarity/Activism/Boycott, Sanctions & Divestment
Ahmad Burnat needs your support to get out of prison

At 1:30 in the morning on July 19th armed Israeli soldiers drove into our village, Bil’in, under the cover of the pitch black night, and raided the house of my friend and well known activist Wajeeh Burnat, who was featured in the documentary Bil’in Habibti. This time, the raid was conducted to take Ahmad, his 17 year-old son.  It is not often that we ask for such help, but we turn to you today asking for a donation, large or small, to help in securing his release.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/07/13264/
Report: Christian Peacemaker Team In Hebron

Hebron – PNN – Finding the way to the Christian Peacemaker Team (or CPT for short) office was not easy. We eventually found our way down Chicken street, so called for the chicken market which used to flourish just a couple of years ago. Now, every shop is closed down. At the end of the street is a 6 foot high stretch of barbed wire, with around 8 feet of concrete behind it.  Our guide, a local named Salaam, shows us a doorway, right next to the wire, where a sign clearly says ‘Doctor’s surgery’. However, with further inspection, there is a doorbell with CPT written above it, next to the rather misleading sign. After around 5 minutes of waiting, a call comes down to, “come on up.”
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8581
Turkey working to prevent Lebanese sail to Gaza

According to Israeli officials, Ankara deems additional flotillas pointless after partial lifting of blockade on Gaza. ‘Turkey wants to lower its profile, let diplomacy take its course,’ official says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3925690,00.html
Violence and Aggression
Israel army fires tear gas at funeral

Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli forces raided a cemetery during a woman’s funeral processionnorth of the West Bank city of Hebron on Sunday.  Soldiers chased the mourners into the cemetery in Beit Ummar and fired tear-gas canisters at them, Palestine Solidarity Project spokesman Muhammad Ayyad Awad said.  An Israeli army spokeswoman said the soldiers fired in response to rocks which were thrown at them from the funeral procession.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=302380

Army Invades Beit Forik

Israeli soldiers invaded on Monday at night Beit Forik village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus after closing all of its entrances.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59190
IOF attacks Burin villagers in efforts to protect settlers

July 27th, 2010– Israeli Occupation Forces arrested four Palestinians and wounded three others after a group of approximately 20 settlers attacked the home of Ibrahim Eid, which is located close to Bracha, a new Israeli settlement in the area.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2331.shtml
Settlers riot in Burin, shooting and setting fire to olive trees

At 11:30 yesterday, 26th July 2010, settlers from the Berakha Shomronim settlement began shooting at Palestinians in the village of Burin and setting fire to crops on their land.  Trouble flared when Israeli authorities ordered the demolition of a structure in an illegal settler outpost because of the freeze on settlement construction. Israeli police failed to contain the settler riot which followed and closed Huwara checkpoint, near Nablus, in response.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/07/13270/
Settlers launch new attack

Nablus – Ma’an – On Monday evening, settlers launched their second attack of the day on a northern West Bank village, setting fire to land and olive trees and throwing rocks., Ambulances and firefighters rushed to Burin village to control the flames apparently started by residents of the illegal Yizhar settlement, Palestinian Authority settlement affairs officer Ghassan Doughlas said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=302706
No words to console Gaza child after mother is killed by Israeli shelling

Around 8:45pm on 13 July, 2010, a few of the women of the Abu Said family in the northern Gaza Strip were enjoying the cool of the evening in the courtyard in front of their house. They heard a muffled shooting sound, followed soon after by another, and then by a loud buzzing noise, as if a swarm of insects was approaching at full speed. Vittorio Arrigoni reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11419.shtml
Revolving Door For Israeli Criminals
Police release rabbi arrested for inciting to kill non-Jews

Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of the Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva, released from police custody hours after being arrested for encouraging the killing of non-Jews.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/police-release-rabbi-arrested-for-inciting-to-kill-non-jews-1.304261
Detainees
PA police arrest 6 in Beit Ummar

Hebron – Ma’an – Police arrested five residents for using fireworks and one for firing a weapon in the southern West Bank village of Beit Ummar on Monday.  A police statement said the gun, which was fired in celebration, was seized and warned of the dangers of fireworks and weapons.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=302684
Returning doctor detained by Israeli intelligence

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli authorities detained a doctor returning Monday from five years of medical study in Ukraine, witnesses said.  Bahaa Abdullah Jaradat was taken by Israeli intelligence officers at the Allenby crossing on the West Bank-Jordan border, onlookers said.  It is not known where Jaradat, from Sa’ir in the southern West Bank Hebron district, was taken.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=302710
The Siege (Gaza & West Bank)/Humanitarian and Human Rights/Restriction of Movement
Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – June 27 – July 24
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/07/goods-needs-vs-supply-june-27-july-24/
Cameron calls Gaza ‘prison camp’ (AFP)

AFP – Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday urged Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, slamming the current state of the Palestinian enclave as a “prison camp.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100727/wl_uk_afp/mideastconflictgazabritainturkeydiplomacy
Clean Water for Gaza: Maryam’s Story

Early last year, Israel destroyed much of Gaza’s rudimentary water infrastructure in a protracted bombing campaign. Since then, an ongoing economic blockade has prevented Gazans from importing materials they need to rebuild the water system. Contaminated drinking water is putting people at risk for cholera, typhoid and other diseases.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-87R3LG?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Taking water to the Jordan – International humanitarians deliver water to parched Palestinians

Date: 26 Jul 2010, YANOUN, West Bank, A few days ago, I was handing out bottles of water within a few miles of Israel/Palestine’s only major river, the Jordan., The village of Al Fasayel lies in a desert landscape, a contrast to nearby Israeli settlements, which have access to almost unlimited water. Al Fasayel itself has not had water on tap for over seven weeks.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-87R3CP?OpenDocument
Gaza kids struggle to leave their world of silence

GAZA, July 26 (Xinhua) — The four-year-old Gaza boy Noor stuttered when he tried to utter the word “baba”. A deaf specialist, sitting next to him, was teaching him to say the easy word, hoping to help the boy leave the world of silence.  Noor and another eight hearing-impaired children were in one room with their specialist mentor who produced several musical sounds and slowly moved her tongue and lips to teach them the correct pronunciation of the early childhood expressions.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-07/27/c_13416138.htm
Life on hold as construction material restricted into Gaza

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip — Salah Jalal Abu Leila lives in a crowded tent with his family of 12 beside a dusty main street in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya; they have been living here for more than a year.  “Our home was completely destroyed in the war. I worked for 16 years in Israel to build my home and in one attack the Israelis destroyed everything I worked to build,” Abu Leila says.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=302904
Political/Other Developments
Israel signals new cooperation with UN over Gaza flotilla (The Christian Science Monitor)

The Christian Science Monitor – Israel appears to have improved its cooperation with the United Nations over its controversial Gaza policy after coming under pressure from activists seeking to break Israel’s sea blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory. The latest fleet of activist ships is preparing to set sail from Lebanon.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100726/wl_csm/316152
U.S. warns Abbas: Direct talks or lose backing for state

U.S. President Barack Obama may not help set up a Palestinian state if PA President Mahmoud Abbas does not enter direct negotiations with Israel soon, according to an internal Palestinian document.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-warns-abbas-direct-talks-or-lose-backing-for-state-1.304255
Hamas warns Abbas to reject direct peace talks (AFP)

AFP – Hamas on Tuesday warned Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas not to relaunch direct peace talks with Israel, which it said “would only serve the Zionist occupation.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100727/wl_mideast_afp/mideastdiplomacyuspalestinianhamas
Abbas to ask for extension to proximity talks

Bethlehem – Ma’an – President Mahmoud Abbas will request an extension to US-mediated indirect talks with Israel from the Arab Peace Initiative Committee when in Cairo on Thursday, a PLO official said Monday.  Executive Committee member Hannah Amireh told Ma’an radio that Abbas would ask for talks to continue until 8 September, one month over the 4-month deadline sanctioned by the Arab League.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=302652
Fatah lawmakers to assess rumored cabinet shuffle

Ramallah – Ma’an – Palestinian lawmakers affiliated to Fatah are scheduled to hold a meeting Tuesday in Ramallah in the central West Bank to discuss the expected PA government’s reshuffle and other developments.  Azzam Al-Ahmad, speaker of the Fatah bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council, will head the meeting which all Fatah lawmakers based in the West Bank are expected to attend.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=302901
Report: Mitchell tells Abbas Bibi here to stay

George Mitchell urges Abbas to enter direct talks, says Netanyahu unlikely to be replaced soon, according to Palestinian document.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3925526,00.html
Mishaal Explains Hamas’s Strategy in Dealing with the Israeli Occupation

DAMASCUS, (PIC)– Khaled Mishaal, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, has explained Wednesday that his Movement follows firm and well-studied strategy in dealing with the Israeli occupation, the internal Palestinian social fabric, and the international community.  In an interview with the Jordanian Al-Sabeel newspaper, Mishaal said that his Movement doesn’t reject negotiations with the enemy as an option but he explained that the Israeli occupation is an extraordinary condition being a foreign body implanted in Palestinian uprooting millions of Palestinian people out of their homes at gunpoint. Such a situation made negotiation with the Israeli occupation as the only option something unacceptable because it was proven that negotiations without having force to back your stand is a waste of time, he elaborated.
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2010/07/
mishaal-explains-hamass-strategy-in-dealing-with-the-israeli-occupation/

Israeli, Jordan leaders discuss Palestinian talks (Reuters)

Reuters – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah discussed on Tuesday ways of launching direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians, a Jordanian palace official said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100727/wl_nm/us_jordan_israel
Israel PM meets king on surprise Jordan visit (AFP)

AFP – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on the Middle East peace process during a previously unannounced visit to Amman on Tuesday, the palace said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100727/wl_mideast_afp/mideastjordanisraeldiplomacy
Other News
Gazans want “Marshall Plan”, Israel policy falls short (Reuters)

Reuters – Wael El Wadiah’s Gaza snack food factories once employed 250 people. Today, denied access to the West Bank market by Israel, he employs a few dozen workers in what is left of a business built up over 25 years.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100727/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_gaza
Hamas leader says group considering Gaza draft

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The top security official in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Tuesday he is considering setting up a bigger military force, first with volunteers and eventually with conscripts as well.  Such a step could further tighten Hamas’ control of Gaza and deepen the rift with the group’s Western-backed rivals in the West Bank. Hamas seized Gaza by force in 2007, wresting control from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.  Currently, Hamas has a paid security force of about 18,000.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD9H7CMGO2
Paying the price of lies:  Arab man convicted of raping Jewish sex partner because he lied to her speaks out

One of the most prominent features of Sabar Kashour, with the exception of his large puppy eyes, is the presence of a massive wedding ring on his finger. Had this ring been on his finger in September 2008, he might have avoided the entanglement that currently stirs up great emotion among members of Israel’s legal system and human rights group.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3925330,00.html
Law providing released soldiers with free higher education in settlements might damage Israeli academia

Gush Shalom – As if it was not enough that Israeli youths are conscripted for military service often spent in daily oppression of the Palestinians, from now on also after discharge they will be directed towards an `academic` strengthening of the occupation, settlement and dispossession of Palestinians.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=41336
Press freedoms fall victim to Fatah, Hamas disunity

The split between the the Hamas-run Gaza wing and the Fatah-run West Bank wing of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has overshadowed every aspect of public life, including, many rights groups have documented, infringements on press freedoms and the work of journalists. Rami Almeghari reports from Gaza for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11420.shtml
Foreign investors took time off from Israel in 2009

Foreign direct investment in Israel fell by 64% in 2009 to only $3.9 billion, down from $10.9 billion in 2008. Israel fell from 54th place in 2008 to 80th in 2009 in terms of FDI.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/foreign-investors-took-time-off-from-israel-in-2009-1.304050
MESS Report / Crash raises questions over Israel’s ageing helicopter fleet

Decisions to replace helicopters, like the CH-53 that crashed in Romania on Monday, are complex, involve heavy costs and take a long time.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
mess-report-crash-raises-questions-over-israel-s-ageing-helicopter-fleet-1.304243

Mubarak’s Racist Pen Pal: Mubarak says ‘fully recovered’ in letter to Rabbi Yosef
Egyptian president responds to letter sent by Shas spiritual leader inquiring after his health, says he’s in best condition ‘contrary to several reports in Israeli press’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3925720,00.html
Oliver Stone apologizes for saying Jews control the media

Less than 24 hours after Sunday Times interview, in which Oscar-winning director says Hitler’s actions should be ‘put into context’, Stone issues apology.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/oliver-stone-apologizes-for-saying-jews-control-the-media-1.304387
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
Abu Mazen and Obama’s Peace Pantomime, Tony Karon

Obama is unable to offer Abbas an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, because that is not what Netanyahu has in mind. Indeed, recent reports suggest that during his meeting last weekend with Egypt’s President, Hosni Mubarak, the Israeli prime minister presented a proposed map of a Palestinian State that fell well short of the Arab League’s proposal for peace. Nor is Netanyahu under pressure from the US to offer more. In fact, Netanyahu believes that he can bend Washington to his will, as he so memorably explained to a family of Israeli settlers in a recently surfaced video clip from 2001: “I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction.”
http://tonykaron.com/2010/07/26/abu-mazen-and-obamas-peace-pantomime/
Israel’s Secret Police Exposed, Jonathan Cook – Nazareth

The arrest by Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet, of an Israeli Jew accused of killing at least four Palestinians has thrown a rare light on the secret police, including attempts by one of its agents to enlist the accused to assassinate a Palestinian spiritual leader.  Chaim Pearlman, who was arrested a fortnight ago, has been charged with murdering four Palestinians in Jerusalem and injuring at least seven others in a series of knife attacks that began more than a decade ago. Police are still investigating whether he was involved in additional attacks.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16165
Joel Rubin: Swiftboating Sestak on Israel

A new right-wing neoconservative attack group on Israel policy has been formed by the same ideologues that brought you the war in Iraq. This group — the Emergency Committee for Israel — has decided to make Pennsylvania’s upcoming Senate race its pivotal moment to enter national politics. It has done so by running television ads against Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak that turn Israel into a political wedge issue, cynically playing on the worst fears of Americans who do not share their policy views on Israel.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-rubin/swiftboating-sestak-on-is_b_659490.html
Progressive Brian Lehrer channels intolerant rightwingers in grilling a Muslim leader, Philip Weiss

WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer is progressive. He reflects liberal Manhattan values and he takes on rightwingers on countless issues, gun control, gay rights, feminism, economic justice. But not when it comes to the Middle East. Last week Lehrer did an interview with a woman who supports the mosque at Ground Zero. Daisy Khan, executive director for the American Society for Muslim Advancement, is married to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is leading the mosque plans; and anti-Muslim prejudice suffused Lehrer’s interview. He channeled Rick Lazio, the Republican candidate for N.Y. governor, who has made attacks on the Cordoba mosque a centerpiece of his campaign.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/
progressive-brian-lehrer-channels-intolerant-rightwingers-in-grilling-a-muslim-leader.html

L.A. Times: ‘Many’ Palestinians ‘prefer the one-state solution’, Alex Kane

The one-state solution debate is picking up steam and media coverage in the wake of Israeli journalist Noam Sheizaf’s Ha’aretz article on prominent right-wing calls for the incorporation of the West Bank into Israel. For more on the significance of Sheizaf’s article and the growing calls from the right for some type of one-state solution, I would recommend reading Ali Abunimah’s analysis here.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/l-a-times-%e2%80%98many%e2%80%99-
palestinians-prefer-the-one-state-solution.html

The Forgotten American, ROGER COHEN

TROY, New York — The Dogans were a quiet family little noticed by their neighbors here in upstate New York. Ahmet Dogan had come to the area from Turkey to study accounting at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  He was a serious student; the Dogans did little entertaining. But when their younger son, Furkan, was born in 1991, the family threw a party and a neighbor recalled a toast “to the first U.S. citizen in the family.”  Furkan Dogan would live just two years in Troy, returning to Turkey with his family in 1993. But he was proud of his American passport and dreamt of coming back after completing medical school. Five Israeli bullets — at least two of them to the head — ended that dream on May 31. Dogan was 19.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/opinion/27iht-edcohen.html
Caterpillar Caught in Web Of Middle East Politics

At first glance, the contention that a construction equipment company in Peoria, Ill., is implicated in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems strange. But earlier in July, the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States adopted a resolution that strongly criticized Caterpillar Inc., the manufacturer whose tractors, bulldozers and mining equipment help build and farm America, for its role in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.
http://www.forward.com/articles/129547/
Iraq
Monday: 28 Iraqis Killed, 74 Wounded

Despite extra precautions, belligerents detonated a car bomb in Karbala. A separate car bomb destroyed the al-Arabiya studios and a lawmaker’s home in Baghdad. At least 28 Iraqis were killed and 74 more were wounded in those two attacks. Curiously, no other attacks in Iraq were reported. Meanwhile, members of the Iraqiya party refuse to allow the political impasse preventing the formation of the next government to become “internationalized.”

http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/07/26/monday-28-iraqis-killed-74-wounded/
Iraq’s parliament fails to convene as scheduled (AP)

AP – A lawmaker from Iraq’s largest Shiite bloc says a parliament session expected Tuesday will not be held as discussions faltered again over the formation of a new government.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100727/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
Iraq’s political impasse is a bad omen for the Arabs

In June 2004, I was invited for a dinner at a restaurant near an airport in the Gulf. I saw a group of bodyguards dressed in traditional Gulf attire entering the restaurant. Before I knew it, we were sitting next to a table whose guest of honor was Iyad Allawi, the newly appointed prime minister of Iraq, who was being hosted by the foreign minister of that Gulf country. I witnessed how warm their relationship seemed to be. They were exchanging laughs as though they were two old friends, catching up after a prolonged absence.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=117489#ixzz0upJAt0bB
Iraqi Shiite group promoted ‘virtue’ by the sword (AFP)

AFP – A group of masked, sword-wielding Shiite youths aiming to “promote virtue and fight vice” terrorised a southern Iraqi city from early July until its members were rounded up.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100727/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestarrest
Iraq fights another form of violence – in the home (Reuters)

Reuters – As the violence of sectarian warfare ebbs, Iraq’s government has taken tentative first steps to combat another kind of violence — domestic abuse, primarily against women.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100727/wl_nm/us_iraq_women_abuse
IRAQ: My Baghdad field trip

Fifteen kidnapped people released, 238 raids, 14,008 searches, 227 arrests (including 126 without warrants), 18 mortars found, 213 weapons found, eight explosive belts found, four terrorists killed, 167 IEDs dismantled, 18 sticky IEDs dismantled and one car bomb dismantled.” I was reading the achievements of an Iraqi army division in the four months leading up to June. I went on reading: “The enemy activities: 24 clashes, 46 IEDs, 38 sticky IEDs, nine car bombs, 10 bodies found, 15 assassinations, nine houses exploded, three grenade attacks, three explosive belts.”We were spending our day with a general, who narrated his achievements before Western and Iraqi reporters. “We were honored by the killing of the heads of terrorism Abu Omar al Baghdadi and Abu Ayoub al Masri,” he said.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/07/iraq-my-day-in-baghdad.html
Lebanon
Lebanon arrests alleged German spy

Engineer accused of passing sensitive information to handlers.  A German engineer was arrested in Lebanon Tuesday on suspicion of espionage in the country’s latest attempt to root out alleged Israeli spies, Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar reported.  The suspected spy, reportedly named Manfred Peter Mog, was employed at a cheese factory in the Bekaa valley in eastern Lebanon, were he was in charge of machine maintenance. He was suspected of using transmitters to pass sensitive information to his handlers, according to the report.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=182778
Natural gas could lead to new Lebanon-Israel war (AP)

AP – The discovery of large natural gas reserves under the waters of the eastern Mediterranean could potentially mean a huge economic windfall for Israel and Lebanon, both resource-poor nations — if it doesn’t spark new war between them.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100727/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_lebanon_israel_gas_threats

Lebanese Druze leader warns against sectarian tension

BEIRUT, July 26 (Xinhua) — Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblat on Monday called for dialogue among political factions in order to defuse rising tensions.  Jumblat told Al Anbaa newspaper that dialogue is the only way to preserve “calmness” in Lebanon.  “For those who forget, let’s remember that we were talking to each other at the peak of political divisions and the period of sharp tensions,” said the Lebanese MP.  “Why don’t we return to dialogue in order to prevent Lebanon from sliding again toward divisions and sectarian tension,” he added.  Jumblat said that the capability to return to dialogue is possible if the factions showed the “political will.”
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-07/27/c_13416171.htm
Saudi king to visit Lebanon amid tensions: govt official (AFP)

AFP – Saudi King Abdullah will visit Lebanon on Friday and will urge rival parties to exercise restraint amid tensions over the possible implication of Hezbollah in the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, a government official said on Monday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100726/wl_mideast_afp/lebanonsyriasaudidiplomacy

Egyptian FM warns against harming Lebanon’s stability

BEIRUT: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit warned on Monday against undermining Lebanon’s stability by resorting to force to resolve regional and international disputes. Abu al-Gheit made his statements ahead of scheduled talks between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz in Egypt on Wednesday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=117498
Ghanem: Labor Ministry will boost Palestinians’ conditions

BEIRUT: West Bekaa MP Robert Ghanem conveyed assurances by the labor minister that the government will enhance the living and working conditions of Palestinians in Lebanon, on Monday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=117502
Iran
West should discard carrot-stick policy before dialogue with Iran: MP

TEHRAN, July 27 (Xinhua) — A senior Iranian lawmaker said Tuesday that the West should first discard the carrot and stick policy prior to any dialogue on Iran’s nuclear program, local media reported.  “The European Union (EU)’s call for the continuation of nuclear talks with Tehran is in direct contradiction to its recently approved package of anti-Iran sanctions,” head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) Alaeddin Boroujerdi was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-07/27/c_13417800.htm
Iran: U.S. will likely attack 2 Mideast countries within 3 months

Speaking on state television, Iranian President Ahmadinejad also list of demands before Iran will resume nuclear talks.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
iran-u-s-will-likely-attack-2-mideast-countries-within-3-months-1.304361

EU to hit Iran with ‘toughest ever’ sanctions, diplomats say

Proposed EU sanctions are understood to go further than current UN sanctions, calling for a ban on ‘dual-use’ goods which can be used for both military and civilian purposes.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/eu-to-hit-iran-with-toughest-ever-sanctions-diplomats-say-1.303690
Iran won’t trade with countries imposing sanctions

“Any country that creates limitations for Iran’s assets, we will stop trading with them,” Hamid Borhani, deputy head of the Central Bank of Iran, told the semi-official Mehr news agency. “We have to protect our assets.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100724/wl_nm/us_iran_banks_assets
Iran delivers response to IAEA

“Through submitting an official letter, I expressed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s readiness to engage in negotiations over fuel [provisions] for the Tehran nuclear reactor,” Soltanieh said.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136323&sectionid=351020104
Pipes: To Get Obama To Act, Netanyahu Should Threaten To Nuke Iran

“I think it’s realistic for the Israelis to attack and do real damage,” Pipes said.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/25/pipes-to-get-obama-to-act-netanyahu-should-threaten-to-nuke-iran
U.S. and other World News
US Attack Kills 52 In Afghan Village

A Nato rocket attack on a village in Afghanistan last week killed 52 civilians, including women and children, the office of Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has said in a statement.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/07/2010726143021529494.html
Download Afghan War Diary, 2004-2010
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary,_2004-2010

Wikileaks Afghanistan files: download the key incidents as a spreadsheet

Key incidents from the Wikileaks Afghanistan war logs selected by Guardian writers. As a spreadsheet, with co-ordinates
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/2010/jul/25/wikileaks-afghanistan-data
US criticises Wikileaks release of Afghan war documents

The White House has condemned the leaks of more than 90,000 classified documents on the war in Afghanistan posted by the whistleblower website, Wikileaks. The Pentagon earlier called the release “criminal”, and said it could take weeks to assess any damage that the leaks may have caused. Rosiland Jordan reports on Washington’s reaction to what is now being called the Afghan war logs. (July 27, 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfKgRAwxYIc&feature=youtube_gdata
Documents leak leaves White House on defensive about Afghanistan policy

There are few bombshells, but the volume of data and the focus on the conduct of the war are likely to embolden critics at a time when Congress has expressed doubts about Obama’s Afghanistan policy. The leaking of a trove of U.S. documents has put the Obama administration on the defensive about its Afghanistan policy and may deepen doubts in Congress about prospects for turning around the faltering war effort.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/XVNNCbXT3xI/la-fg-
leaked-documents-20100727,0,6215714.story

WikiLeaks emerges as powerful online whistle-blower

WikiLeaks website and founder Julian Assange operate in relative secrecy even as they seek to publish classified or private documents to spark public debate. Partnering with news media adds new heft. Though propelled to fame by its recent disclosures about the U.S. military, WikiLeaks has homed in on targets as wide-ranging as corruption in the family of a former Kenyan ruler, alleged illegal activities by a Swiss bank and Sarah Palin’s private e-mail account.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/_y7cy04CWCc/la-fg-
wikileaks-20100727,0,7443621.story

Leading article: A light shone on the dark side of this war

The tens of thousands of secret US military documents passed to the Wikileaks website paint a far grimmer picture of the war in Afghanistan than our political leaders have ever conveyed. They show that Western forces are often scandalously careless of civilian life in that country. Some 140 incidents are recorded in which Afghan civilians were killed. They died in misdirected airstrikes, shooting sprees by panicking troops, or raids by Special Forces. And it not only the US military which has been responsible for such carnage. Polish, French, German and British troops are also recorded as killing civilians. While it is impossible to verify all that is contained in these documents, it is clear enough that appalling events have gone unreported by Western forces.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/
leading-article-a-light-shone-on-the-dark-side-of-this-war-2036231.html

The Wikileaks ‘source’: Former army analyst facing 52 years in prison

As governments around the world assessed the damage done by Wikileaks’s Afghanistan war logs, thoughts also turned to a lonely US Army private, who goes by the screen-name bradass87, currently behind bars in Kuwait.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/
the-wikileaks-source-former-army-analyst-facing-52-years-in-prison-2036181.html

Pakistan ex-intelligence chief denies aiding Talban

US officials believe that the intelligence agency of ally Pakistan has been secretly supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan, leaked records say. Wikileaks, the online whistleblower organisation, published more than 90,000 secret US military documents on Sunday, revealing alleged support for the Taliban in their conflict with US-led Nato troops. The unverified files say that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, the country’s spy service, has been holding strategy sessions with Taliban leaders to aid them. Al Jazeera interviewed to the man mentioned in that report – retired Lieutenant General Hamid Gul, the former head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence who accused of being actively involved in supporting the Afghan Taliban. He denies the allegations against the ISI and says the sources of the leaks have ulterior political motives. [July 26, 2010]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2OvMhxkQZo&feature=youtube_gdata
Digesting the Wikileaks document dump, Stephen M. Walt by Stephen M. Walt

I’m just starting to digest the Wikileaks material on Afghanistan, but suffice it to say that it confirms all my misgivings about our current commitment there.  As I’ve said since I started blogging, the stakes in Afghanistan are not worth the current level of cost and effort, and the prerequisites for a meaningful “victory” are lacking.  Obama made a basic error when he escalated the war effort (not once but twice), and our best hope now is to shift from a largely military strategy towards one that reduces our military footprint, emphasizes power-sharing, political reconciliation, and broader diplomatic engagement with other regional stake-holders.   If you want a quick survey of other reactions, look at the digest offered by Andrew Sullivan here.
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/07/26/digesting_the_wikileaks_document_dump
Who will explain the havoc wreaked to the families still reeling with grief? | Rachel Reid

Since the period covered by these leaked war logs, the situation on the ground has got worse – not better – for Afghan civilians.  Seven children killed by rockets in a mosque, a 16-year-old girl abused by a district police chief, more than 80 civilians killed in bomb attacks written off as insurgents. This dismal glimpse into the relentless chaos of war, seen through the hazy eyes of international soldiers in Afghanistan, comes from the massive leak of military field reports. And while US department of defence officials were quick to say that things have changed, this is sadly only half true.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/26/afghan-war-logs-more-afghans-might-suffer
Revealed: Document Exposes US Double-talk On Lockerbie

The document, acquired by a well placed US source, threatens to undermine Obama’s claim last week that all Americans were “surprised, disappointed and angry” to learn of Megrahi’s release.
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article353568.ece
Inside Story – Al-Qaeda’s French hostage killing

A French national held hostage by al-Qaeda’s North African wing has been confirmed dead. Seventy-eight-year old Michel Germaneau was kidnapped in Niger some three months ago by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Is this killing a show of force? And how much of a threat is this al-Qaeda-affiliated armed group becoming?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvfhdhG5B9g&feature=youtube_gdata
www.TheHeadlines.org

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