NOVANEWS
11/03/2010
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Israeli state violence and the value of Palestinian life
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Ten years later, Palestinian citizens of Israel are still waiting for justice
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If a stranger spews hateful rhetoric in the woods in Maine, and no one’s there to hear him…
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UNRWA tells the story of Palestinian refugees in the new series ‘Peace starts here’
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B’Tselem documents cruel treatment of Palestinians arrested at night and held in windowless, cramped cells with artificial light for days
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The new Jewish upside-down world: intellectual who calls for equal rights is likened to KKK
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How can you tell whether an American politician is running for president (of the United States)?
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Help send Alex Kane to Israel/Palestine
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Rabbi Gordis once gritted his teeth over discrimination at WASPy school– and now urges Palestinians to learn that lesson
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Corries urge: Press Obama to end sales of Caterpillar bulldozers to Israel
Israeli state violence and the value of Palestinian life
Nov 02, 2010
Elia Zureik
Disregard for Palestinian life has characterized the attitudes of Israeli authorities towards its Arab citizens since the establishment of the state. The Palestinians constitute what the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls homo sacer, according to which the laws of humanity do not apply to them. For Israel, the Palestinians exist in conditions of “bare life”. Their minimal existence is tolerated but not enhanced.
Invariably, the law is suspended when it comes to rectifying Palestinian grievances. Israel is usually quick to cite “national security” as justification for its lethal actions. Life for Palestinian citizens of the state is in a perpetual state of emergency where exception to the universal application of the law is the rule. As a colonial state, life in Israel is best viewed from a racialized prism where ethnicity and race govern the treatment of its citizens. As in all colonial regimes, territory and population are the two central elements which occupy the colonizer, and Israel is no exception.
Both of these components provide the cornerstone of modern Zionism. Debates about demography, population, and settlements are the logical expressions of Zionism, and they will continue to be its cornerstone until Israel achieves its objectives of getting rid of as many of its Palestinian citizens as possible and bringing more land under its control.
When the law is applied (even minimally) in rare situations, it is a proof that the exception is the rule. For example, a policeman who shot and killed an Arab citizen in 2006 was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment – and this was an exception. In the majority of cases loss of life on the part of Palestinians at the hands of the state is treated with indifference. The lenient sentencing associated with criminal behavior of members of the security establishment is further evidence of total disregard for Arab life inside Israel. Indeed, this was the only case in which any policeman or soldier was indicted since the mass protests of October 2000.
In spite of the fact that 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed during the demonstrations, no indictments were ever filed against any of the policemen involved, and all the cases were closed by the attorney general. Worse still, none of the mild recommendations of the Or Commission of inquiry, concerning ways to close the gaps between Jews and Arabs in many different realms of life in Israel, were ever implemented by the government.
Dehumanizing Palestinians takes its place in standard Israeli rhetoric among members of the ruling establishment, and to a very large extent among the public at large – young and old – as revealed in countless public opinion polls. In August 2000, Ehud Barak called the Palestinians “crocodiles.” One-time Israeli chief of staff Moshe Yalon described them as a “cancerous manifestation,” and equated the military action in the Occupied Territories with “chemotherapy.” In March 2001, the Israeli tourism minister at the time, the late Rehavem Ze’evi, called Yasser Arafat a “scorpion.”
After Hamas won the majority of seats in 2007 in internationally supervised democratic elections, Israel tightened its grip on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and embarked on a systematic policy of collective punishment by cutting off the flow of funds and drastically reducing the food supply and other essentials to Gaza – all in the name of “security.” Dov Weissglasse, who had been Israel’s point man in advising successive Israeli prime ministers on policy towards the Palestinians, described the choking off of the food supply and other essential goods to Gaza’s population of 1.2 million people as akin to a “diet regime.” In 2006 he quipped cynically: “It is like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die.” Rafael Eytan, a former Israeli chief of staff, referred to the Palestinians as “cockroaches in a bottle.”
Former Prime Minister Menachem Begin called them “two-legged beasts.” A decade ago, the Shas party leader suggested that God should send the Palestinian “ants” to hell and called them “serpents.” More recently, in August 2010, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef pronounced that “God should strike” the Palestinians “with a plague.” Dan Schueftan, a professor at Tel-Aviv University, wrote in Maariv in October 2009 that “the Arabs are the biggest failure in the history of the human race. There’s nothing under the sun that’s more screwed up than the Palestinians.”
These individual positions are embedded in public opinion, where data released in September revealed that sixty four percent of Israeli teens aged 15 to 18 admitted that Arabs in Israel do not enjoy full equal rights in Israel, and from that group, 59 percent believe that they should not have full equal rights.
In October 2009, Netanyahu declared that the Jewishness of the state must be acknowledged by the Palestinians as a prerequisite for peace. Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister and an avowed racist, declared at the United Nations in New York on October 2010 that “without recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, we simply cannot reach peace.” The implication of this theocratic stance is clear: it rules out the return of any Palestinian refugees to their homes in Israel, and it robs non-Jewish citizens of the state of their universal human rights.
At best, the Palestinians in Israel are treated as a “suspect community” that has to be closely watched by the state’s various institutions and the Jewish public. The Zionist project remains in full throttle, and in line with the dream of the founders of the state, current and future leadership will not rest until the Palestinian presence in Israel is significantly reduced. According to Lieberman’s latest statements at the United Nations, this means swapping territory with a large Arab population in Israel with a Bantustan Palestinian state in the West Bank. Subsequently, the ongoing peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel are an imaginary project for achieving genuine peace, unless Palestinian leadership totally succumbs to Israeli dictates with the aid of the US government.
Elia Zureik is Professor of Sociology at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. This article originally appeared in Mada Al-Carmel’s October, 2010 issue of Jadal, a bimonthly online publication that gives voice to the major political and social concerns of the Palestinians in Israel.
Ten years later, Palestinian citizens of Israel are still waiting for justice
Nov 02, 2010
Dr. Mahmoud Yazbak
A decade has elapsed since the Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa uprising, and yet the killers remain free and at large. Perhaps some of us thought, naively, that the killers would receive due retribution. Such naivety was reflected in the actions of many of our people on October 1st, 2000. They took to the streets to demonstrate and protest, and called a general strike against Sharon’s violation of the sanctity of the Haram Al-Sharif and his defiance and disdain for the sentiments of Arabs and Muslims (or his deliberate attempt at provocation aimed at bringing a decisive end to the peace process, which was in its death throes at the time).
Many Palestinian citizens in Israel had believed that their “citizenship” and “blue ID cards” afforded them the right to practice basic rights in a “democratic state.” But no sooner did the first dawn rise in that October than the picture became patently clear and extremely shocking; they discovered, once again, that their blue ID cards in fact offered them no protection. The police, army and secret service poured onto the streets of their towns and villages. And something that no one, not even the pessimists, had anticipated occurred: they saw the rifles of “snipers” hiding on the roofs of houses and shops and firing live rounds at citizens regarded as enemies, worthy of no mercy. The blue ID cards could not protect these “citizens.”
Within eight days, the state security forces had slain thirteen Palestinian citizens in Israel, injured thousands and detained hundreds of others. In this situation, the Green Line ceased to have any real existence or import, as well as any of the other lines that had until then had demarcated some Palestinians as laying outside and others as falling inside of them. Israeli society as a whole, with the exception of a small few, looked upon all Palestinians as enemies.
Given that the dead and wounded were seen as enemies, the Israeli authorities did not instigate the regular procedures for initiating an immediate investigation. They did not gather evidence in order to identify the killers and those ultimately responsible for the killings, or even try to determine how the shots were fired, who fired them, and who gave the orders to open fire.
On the contrary, no prompt investigation was launched and the scenes of the crimes were left open to allow all traces of the deaths and crimes to be erased. Worse yet, the leadership of the security forces had no hesitation about charging the dead themselves with culpability, alleging that some of the dead had been killed by bullets they had fired at the police, which had then ricocheted back at their own throats.
None of us were able to demonstrate the plain truth: the dead had been killed in cold blood by the Israeli security forces, killed without committing any offense, executed without trial. They were executed for merely being Palestinians. If the matter had been left at that, the killings would have assumed two narratives: our narrative and theirs; that of the killed and that of the killer, as has occurred at several historical junctures involving us and them.
Despite the eradication of evidence at the scene of the crime, there was no alternative available other than to establish an official Israeli commission of inquiry to investigate the crime, as was called for by the martyrs’ families and the majority of Palestinians in Israel. Although the crime had been committed by the state security forces, and at the order of the government, the families had no option but to resort to the state authorities in their search for the truth.
Through several civil society organizations, particularly Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel- the Palestinian citizen victims, for the first time since receiving their blue “citizen” ID cards were able to furnish evidence to an official commission of inquiry (Or Commission) in order to prove that a crime had been perpetrated against them. However, although the Or Commision deemed there to be numerous pieces of evidence against specific Israeli police officers accused of involvement in unlawful killings, the Israeli legal establishment was unwilling to bring any of the accused to trial, or even to subject them to serious legal accountability.
The State Prosecution and the Attorney General were both involved in deliberate negligence in closing the files of the martyrs, the injured and those accused of committing the crime, as if no such crime had taken place. Such a situation would not have come to pass had the dead been Jewish. This conviction of ours demonstrates once more that the Israeli legal system continues to be tarnished by loathsome racism. I firmly believe that this racism was – and still is – the main motive behind the closure of the investigations into the circumstances of the killings and the failure to charge the killers with responsibility.
Neither Israeli society nor the State of Israel will be able to exonerate itself from the crime of murder simply by closing investigatory files. The families of the martyrs are continuing to challenge the relevant state authorities to reopen the files and bring them before judicial forums, since only there can the truth come to light.
Ten years after the Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa uprising, and despite the recommendations of the Or Commission, Israeli policy towards Palestinian citizens remains unchanged, and has even further degenerated. The policy of oppressing them in their places of residence remains intact and has been stepped up. The policy of accusing them of treachery and regarding them as a fifth column continues to preoccupy politicians and much of the security apparatus. The budgetary allowances allocated to them – both individually and collectively – remain far lower than those allocated to other citizens. The policy of demolishing their homes continues to be applied, indeed increasingly so. Large gaps remain between the infrastructure of Palestinian and Jewish towns and villages. Employment in the civil service remains largely closed off to them.
In light of the aforementioned, the circumstances of the Palestinian community inside Israel have continued to worsen over the last ten years. Furthermore, free channels of communication between them and other members of their people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been severed, and the stranglehold on their lives has tightened. In sum, between October 2000 and October 2010 the living conditions of the Palestinian community inside Israel have deteriorated and become more stifling. And in addition, the criminals remain free and at large.
Dr. Mahmoud Yazbak is senior lecturer at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Haifa University. This article originally appeared in Mada Al-Carmel’s October, 2010 issue of Jadal, a bimonthly online publication that gives voice to the major political and social concerns of the Palestinians in Israel.
If a stranger spews hateful rhetoric in the woods in Maine, and no one’s there to hear him…
Nov 02, 2010
Audrey Farber
Back in September, I wrote an op-ed that was published in the Portland Press Herald (my home-away-from-home local paper) describing my thoughts on the futility of the impending negotiations between Netanyahu and Abbas.
“These “negotiations” are happening only to appease and pacify the international community, a community that should recognize by now the futility of the endeavor. The world needs to further recognize that these men are essentially powerless when faced with entire societies at ideological odds with themselves and each other. It’s just a big joke.
And yet they persevere. Netanyahu could better spend his time working toward peace by disbanding and ceasing settlements entirely. Abbas could cede power and open elections within the West Bank, maybe even Gaza.
All sides – and believe you me, this issue has more than two sides – could work towards legitimate democracy for all citizens, taking down the wall, de-settling settlements and abandoning the idea of a theocracy once and for all….
Peace begins when all citizens and residents have the opportunities inherent in true freedom and equality, when they aren’t living under occupation, when human rights are something you have without fighting for, when hearing bombs on the nearby Lebanese border isn’t a regular occurrence, and when fighter jets aren’t constantly flying overhead as they are today.”
Almost a month later, the following “response” appeared (scroll down):
“The Maine Voices opinion of Audrey Farber (“Peace for Mideast a complex topic,” Sept. 8 ) was nothing more than a repetition of the same old anti-Israel propaganda that has been spewed for decades by Israel’s enemies.
Ms. Farber seems completely unaware of the amazing 3,000-year-old physical and spiritual connection that the Jewish people have had with the land of Israel and Jerusalem.
To deny the very real legitimacy of the Jewish people to their one and only, tiny homeland in the Land of Israel is to deny the existence of Abraham, Moses and Jesus, all Jews.
Ms. Farber has fallen under the spell of those who spread darkness and lies, when it is light and truth we need. Thank goodness Anwar Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan did not consult with her or they would never have signed their peace treaties with the Jewish State of Israel.”
Dismayed (read: offended, hurt) by his use of hateful rhetoric (he obviously has no idea I’m Jewish) and discouraged by the editorial staff’s decision to print this letter, I wrote to the editors expressing my concerns.
“I found his letter to be an attack targeting not my ideas but me as a person. Your choice demonstrated an irresponsible editorial decision, obviously opting for smear campaigns and mudslinging rather than rational debate on controversial topics. … It is clear from Mr. Goldman’s letter that he did not read what I wrote or, if he did, responded to something he did not find within. Mr. Goldman is welcome to his opinion – in fact, I would love to hear his thoughts on the peace talks and possible solutions for reconciliation within Israel and between Israel and Palestine. Neither the Press Herald nor Mr. Goldman provided this.
As the editorial staff, it is your duty to do due diligence in paring through responses to opinion columns, choosing those which engage the topic of discussion rather than incendiary personal attacks. As a member of Maine’s Jewish community, my goal was to bring a different perspective to a touchy issue.”
And the response I received from them was temporarily pacifying (at least, I wrote them off as ignorant), until I finally figured out what was so subtly frustrating about it.
“We’re sorry that you found Mr. Goldman’s letter offensive. We reviewed both your column and his response, and, while we agree with you that he referred to issues that you did not raise in your column, he did so in the context that he believed that they were germane to the topic you both were addressing. His letter used vivid language, but it was within the bounds of taste and legitimate argument, and it represented his opinion on that topic, as your column represented yours.
Ignoring that his language was neither tasteful nor legitimate, I still don’t know what our common topic of address was.
This letter – the attitude of the editorial staff – was most frustrating. I expect people to disagree with what I say, but I don’t expect libelous letters in retaliation. The editors had a responsibility to referee the debate and choose a letter that reflected a dissenting viewpoint on the topic of discussion, or none at all. His letter did not address the peace talks. His letter addressed doctored religious history and anti-anti-Semitic memes and still somehow he gets to legitimately represent me as baby-Satan. I was – and am – appalled that the editors could even suggest these be part of the same (mature, respectful) discussion.
On the bright side, enlightenment. The two letters have shown me (yet again) the tragedy that is the current discourse here. The fact that the “neutral” third party (the editors) cannot differentiate between sub-topics, even between legitimate commentary and incendiary hate mail, within the entirety of “issues relating to Israel” demonstrates how truly broken this framework is.
That opinion editors of a real live print newspaper would even publish something so hateful – even if I had been overtly critical of Israel – is bad enough, but considering such a response relevant to the issues I addressed is downright shameful. By sanctioning this reaction, they perpetuate the polarization of the debate, barring the way for a diversification of knowledge and opinion where it is desperately needed.
Everything that is Israel can not be dichotomized into Am Yisroel Chai vs. Push Israel Into the Sea, but those seem to be the only choices. And because I was critical of a process – not of a country or of a people, but a process involving the US, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel – this rhetorical structure doesn’t know what to do with me so I am shoved into the “anti-” camp.
When realistic criticism of something so discrete is seen as part of the hate-driven anti-Israel dark side and not even journalists can discern this catastrophe, I wish I could just pack up and go home to the woods of Maine where no one will hear me scream.
Audrey Farber did her undergrad at UPenn majoring in Modern Middle East Studies. Her activism has involved resettling Somali, Iraqi, and Burmese refugees in Maine, researching forced migration issues in Amman, and she is currently interning at Mada al-Carmel – Arab Center for Applied Social Research, in Haifa.
UNRWA tells the story of Palestinian refugees in the new series ‘Peace starts here’
Nov 02, 2010
Adam Horowitz
The video above is from the new series produced by UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) called Peace Starts Here. UNRWA is the UN agency established in December, 1949 to work with Palestinian refugee communities in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Peace Starts Here series will eventually tell the story of 15 different refugee families from the communities that UNRWA works with. Here is the text that accompanies the video entitled “Home”:
How does it feel to lose your home? Home is a first-hand account of a family of refugees whose house was demolished before their eyes.
Like many Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem, Ala’a and his family faced insurmountable obstacles when trying to obtain an Israeli building permit to build their home. They were left with practically no choice but to build without a permit, rather than not at all. In 2001 the family moved to their new home in Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem. They were fined 70,000 shekels for not having a permit.
Three months after they paid the last installment of this fine, the family received a demolition order for their home. Shortly after that, they watched as their home – and with it their entire life savings – was demolished.
Unfortunately Ala’a’s story is far from unique. Palestinians make up about 30 per cent of Jerusalem’s population but can only apply for permission to build on 13 per cent of the land in the eastern half of the city, much of which is already built-up.In addition, the number of permits granted to Palestinians each year does not meet demand for housing. The gap – around 1,100 houses each year – has caused a serious housing shortage.
The UN estimates that between 28 and 46 per cent of Palestinian homes could be at risk of demolition.
In 2009, 300 Palestinians, including 149 children, were displaced by house demolitions in East Jerusalem. A third are refugees registered with UNRWA, who now must cope with further displacement and dispossession.
UNRWA seeks to protect refugees against infringements of their human rights, such as eviction, displacement, or restriction of movement. UNRWA monitors violations of international law, including human rights and international humanitarian law, and advocates for the protection of Palestine refugees’ rights. It also provides emergency assistance to victims of house demolitions, evictions, and refugees whose property is damaged as a result of the conflict.
B’Tselem documents cruel treatment of Palestinians arrested at night and held in windowless, cramped cells with artificial light for days
Nov 02, 2010
Seham
and other news from Today in Palestine:
Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
Carwash Demolished in Jerusalem, Bulldozing Resumes in Karm Etsur Settlement
Hebron – PNN – Israeli forces demolished a carwash in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, saying it was unlicensed. The business was owned by Ma’moun and Majdi Yasir Salhab of Beit Hanina.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9058&Itemid=62
Fayyad: Jerusalem suburbs will one day be part of Palestinian capital
Palestinian PM skips inauguration of school in East Jerusalem after Israel issues warrant banning PA events in Jerusalem municipality.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/fayyad-jerusalem-suburbs-will-one-day-be-part-of-palestinian-capital-1.322466?localLinksEnabled=false
Israel banning official Palestinian event in East Jerusalem
Public Security Minister Aharonovitch issues warrant forbidding the participation of Palestinian PM Fayyad in ceremony marking PA-sponsored school renovations.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-banning-official-palestinian-event-in-east-jerusalem-1.322320?localLinksEnabled=false
Palestinian PM skipping East Jerusalem event due to Israeli pressure
Fayyad was to appear at reception in Dahiat al-Salam marking completion of 15 new East Jerusalem schools; police issued warrant banning event at hall, leading owner to move reception to the streets.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinian-pm-skipping-east-jerusalem-event-due-to-israeli-pressure-1.322428?localLinksEnabled=false
A wall runs through it: Jerusalem and the West Bank
The wall in Jerusalem has been a reality for many years now, and people plan their travel carefully, budgeting the extra time it takes to go through security checkpoints. Some of my classmates live on the other side of it and it takes them longer to get to school even though they live closer to the university than students who live in Jerusalem center.
http://www.uscatholic.org/blog/2010/10/wall-runs-through-it-jerusalem-and-west-bank
Olive Harvest in the South Hebron Hills: What the Occupation Has Become, Joseph Dana
How many Israeli soldiers does it take to remove an elderly Palestinian woman from harvesting olives? It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but it is an unfortunate reality of life in the West Bank. We are in the middle of the olive harvest season and with it comes episodes of violence as well as the harsh face of Israeli occupation. The following video taken last Saturday by a group of Ta’ayush activists is a small window into the strange reality of the Kafkaesque occupation where every detail of Palestinian life requires a permit which is unattainable. The video does not include subtitles from Hebrew but the basic plot is clear: Israeli activists assist Palestinian farmers harvest olives. The army arrives and informs everyone that they do not have the proper permit to be there. The permit is virtually impossible to obtain because of the nature of Israeli settlement security procedure and the unwillingness of the Israeli government to grant Palestinians in the south Hebron Hills basic civil privileges such as building additions to their homes, digging a well or harvesting olives.
http://josephdana.com/2010/11/olive-harvest-in-the-south-hebron-hills-what-the-occupation-has-become/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=olive-harvest-in-the-south-hebron-hills-what-the-occupation-has-become
Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing Laws, Fouzi Al Asmar
At no time in its modern history has Israel been a state for all of its citizens. Its discrimination against its citizens, especially the Palestinians living in that state since 1948, has been in effect in various forms all through its 60-year history.
http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/16941/pid/895
Hijacking the history
Athough it won’t say so, the recent decision by UNESCO to define two mosques in the occupied territories as Palestinian is a reply to Israel that earlier this year registered the mosques — the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque near Bethlehem, and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron — as its national heritage sites.
http://arabnews.com/opinion/editorial/article176811.ece
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
VIDEO: Twenty Two Demonstrators injured in Nabi Saleh, Joseph Dana
Seven of those hurt were evacuated to the hospital due to the severity of their injuries. Two journalists, a ten year-old girl hit with a rubber-coated bullet and a woman who suffered a broken ankle among those injured.
http://josephdana.com/2010/11/video-twenty-two-demonstrators-injured-in-nabi-saleh/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=video-twenty-two-demonstrators-injured-in-nabi-saleh
Ni’ilin Protesters Cut Through Electronic Fence During Weekly Demonstration, Joseph Dana
Demonstrators were able to remove a segment of the barrier using bolt-cutters before being interrupted by soldiers.
http://josephdana.com/2010/11/niilin-protesters-cut-through-electronic-fence-during-weekly-demonstration/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=niilin-protesters-cut-through-electronic-fence-during-weekly-demonstration
General strike in Silwan in protest at visit made by Israeli municipal head
Local sources said a general strike was prevailing Monday morning in all neighborhoods of Silwan district in protest at the visit that was made by Nir Barakat to nearby Ras Al-Amud area.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k
Beit Ummar Demonstrators Joined by EU Parliment Member Luisa Morgantini, Joseph Dana
Former Vice President of the European Parliament and current European Parliament member, Luisa Morgantini, joind the weekly anti-settlement demonstration in Beit Ummar.
http://josephdana.com/2010/10/beit-ummar-demonstrators-joined-by-eu-parliment-member-luisa-morgantini/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beit-ummar-demonstrators-joined-by-eu-parliment-member-luisa-morgantini
Ayed Morrar: Civil Resistance to Bring Down the Walls
Palestinians’ wishes are simple — we want what is ours, our land, with true sovereignty, freedom, equality and civil rights — what Martin Luther King, Jr. called in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail “our constitutional and God-given rights.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ayed-morrar/post_1175_b_776257.html
Bil’in Demands the Release of All Political Prisoners, Joseph Dana
Residents of Bil’in, joined by a Norwegian parliament member, as well as Israeli and international supporters were bombarded with tear-gas by the Israeli army.
http://josephdana.com/2010/11/bilin-demands-the-release-of-all-political-prisoners/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bilin-demands-the-release-of-all-political-prisoners
Corries urge: Press Obama to end sales of Caterpillar bulldozers to Israel, Philip Weiss
At a State Department briefing, Assistant Secretary Philip Crowley did not deny the U.S. government has delayed the delivery, going only so far as to say that he is “not aware of any contacts between the United States Government and Caterpillar, but perhaps it’s a question to ask Caterpillar.”
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/corries-urge-press-obama-to-end-sales-of-caterpillar-bulldozers-to-israel.html
Breakdance breaks Israeli-imposed Gaza blockade
Breakdance, the hip hop dance style that appeared in New York City streets about 40 years ago, recently broke through the tight Israeli-imposed blockade on the Gaza strip drawing applauds from some and repulsion from others.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/11/01/124544.html
British acrobatic troupe performs for Gazan kids
GAZA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) — Gazan boys and girls laughed and laughed as they gathered at al-Qattan Cultural Center for Children, watching acrobatic performance by a British troupe. They has not seen such an entertainment since the Israeli military offensive 22 months ago. The small troupe, consisting of only three women and two men, arrived in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 21 with campaigners of the ” Lifeline 5″ aid convoy through the Rafah crossing between the strip and Egypt. They attracted a houseful of excited children and parents, for whom, the common entertainment was an unique experience.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-11/02/c_13586061.htm
IJAN Statement: No Loyalty to Apartheid, Max Ajl
This is the question to be put, not to the leadership of the organized Jewish community, because they will never make decisions ahead of their membership, but to their memberships, who can make decisions. Why apartheid? Why ethnic cleansing? To maintain Israel as the biggest Jewish ghetto in the history of the world? Crappy idea. I’m with IJAN. You should be, too.
http://www.maxajl.com/?p=4379&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+http%2Fwwwmaxajlcom%2Ffeedrss2+%28Jewbonics%29
Progressive Canadians must challenge JNF’s charitable status
Last month, Greg Selinger, the New Democratic Party (NDP) Premier of the Province of Manitoba, and two of his ministers visited Israel. Among other things, the official delegation strengthened the longtime “progressive” government’s ties to the Jewish National Fund (JNF). The trip was a sad spectacle that should embarrass every Canadian who opposes racism
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11601.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Siege/Rights Violations/Restriction of Movement
Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – Oct 3 – Oct 30
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/11/goods-%e2%80%93-needs-vs-supply-%e2%80%93-oct-3-%e2%80%93-oct-30/
Industrial Fuel – Needs Vs. Supply – Oct 3 – Oct 30
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/11/industrial-fuel-%e2%80%93-needs-vs-supply-%e2%80%93-oct-3-%e2%80%93-oct-30/
Kept in the Dark: Treatment of Palestinian Detainees in the Petach- Tikva Interrogation Facility of the Israel Security Agency
The treatment of detainees is one of the tests of human rights protection. Harm to Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories held in Israeli detention facilities has engaged HaMoked: Center of the Defence of the Individual and B’Tselem since their inception. Over the years, the manner of harm to inmates has changed, partly due to pressure from human rights organizations and international bodies, yet the phenomenon persists.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/201010_Kept_in_the_Dark.asp
Majority of Shin Bet prisoners claim mistreatment, report says
Shin Bet prisoners are often incarcerated and interrogated under unsatisfactory conditions, according to a report to be released by B’Tselem and Hamoked.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/majority-of-shin-bet-prisoners-claim-mistreatment-report-says-1.322353?localLinksEnabled=false
Israel Targets Students, Palestine Monitor
On 26 August, Israeli forces stormed a student apartment in Birzeit. “They arrested six students with political or activist ties,” said Anan Quzmar, coordinator of Right 2 Education (R2E), a student’s rights organization based in Birzeit University. “They came in the middle of the night,” said Quzmar. “They arrested half a dozen students and trashed up the house.” The students were taken to detainment facilities and then prison. A few were released, but most have remained behind bars, waiting for their hearing, to meet their lawyers, and see the single judge who will decide their fate.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1594
Patrolling Al-Khalil during a tense Jewish holiday
Saturday in Al-Khalil much of the city was under alert for another Jewish holiday; the old city was overwhelmed with thousands of settlers and tourists. The atmosphere was tense and people were restricted from entering the area surrounding the Ibrahim Mosque until 4 p.m. Access to the mosque was completely denied to Muslims for the entire day. ISM volunteers patrolled the city all day, following soldiers stopping Palestinians at random to check their ids, and monitoring children on their way to school.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/11/15366/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29
Israeli troops enforce closure on northern village
NABLUS (Ma’an) – Israeli troops entered the northern West Bank village of Madama overnight, with locals reporting several home invasions, shop closures and what was described as a sector lockdown. Several shop owners were said to have been forced to close their stores, while residents said they were threatened by the troops when windows of homes were opened to survey the situation.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329970
World Forum Boosts Education for Palestinians, Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH, Nov 1, 2010 (IPS) – Education in Palestinian areas and the longing for a homeland were given a major boost over the weekend through the World Education Forum (WEF). The four-day education conference Oct. 28-31 was held in cities across the West Bank and in Gaza, as well as Lebanon.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53428
School’s out: why Gazans can’t reach class in the West Bank
I am a Palestinian human rights lawyer living in Gaza. Earlier this year, I was accepted into the Master’s degree program in Human Rights and Democracy Studies at Birzeit University, located in the West Bank. Before the “easing” of the blockade, I tried repeatedly to persuade the Israeli authorities to allow me to leave Gaza and attend my classes, but was blocked at every turn. Would Israel’s new announcement mean that I’d finally be able to go to school this year?
http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/11/01/schools_out_why_gazans_cant_reach_class_in_the_west_bank
Gaza businesses boxed in by Israeli export ban
Manal Hassan, manager of the Al Awda biscuit factory in central Gaza The biscuit factory run by Manal Hassan could go out of business. Israel may have eased its blockade of the Gaza Strip earlier this year, but a continuing ban on exports from the territory is causing misery for many Palestinians, the BBC’s Jon Donnison reports from Gaza.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11668080
Racism and Discrimination
Jerusalem Catholic church claims discrimination
Father Michael O’Sullivan of Maison D’Abraham in Ras al-Amud accuses police of failing to protect church, investigate robbery and harassment complaints. ‘I expected more from the only state claiming to be a democracy in the Middle East’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3978583,00.html
Hezbollah Condemns Attack on Church: Zionist Hallmarks Clear
“01/11/2010 Hezbollah vehemently condemned on Monday the attacks on the Archeological Baptist Church in Al Quds and Sayyidat Al Najat -Our Lady of Deliverance- Church in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, which resulted in tens of victims, some of which were worshippers in the Church. In a statement it released, Hezbollah said that the malicious Zionist hallmarks in this crime are clear as the Zionist scheme is based on fragmenting this region into feuding entities in order to dominate it.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=160521&language=en
Haaretz: US brain scientist forced to give up her books and remove her bra before boarding El Al flight, Philip Weiss
Last summer Donna Shalala got humiliated by Israeli airport security because of her Arab name. And Shalala, a university president (i.e., fundraiser), smiled and waved. Now Haaretz is reporting that an Indiana University scientist, Heather Bradshaw, had to run the gauntlet at Luton, an English airport, when she sought to board an El Al flight to attend a conference at Hebrew University. Bradshaw is a brain scientist at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute, was on her fourth trip to the country, and was forced to remove her bra and give up her many books, about which she was repeatedly questioned. Apparently she made the mistake of having the same name as an activist on Israel’s lists. Haaretz: When she arrived in Israel, she expected someone from the airline to wait for her and update her regarding her luggage and belongings that were left behind, but no one knew anything, Bradshaw told Haaretz. She said she felt helpless and was holding back tears.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/haaretz-us-brain-scientist-forced-to-give-up-her-books-and-remove-her-bra-before-boarding-el-al-flight.html
Violence & Aggression/Detainees
OCHA Report: 1,000 Palestinians Injured By Israeli Forces in 2010, Palestine Monitor
The Office for The Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) Protection of Civilians report announced this week that 1,000 Palestinians have now been injured by Israeli forces during 2010. The figure is a 38% increase on the last year’s total for the same time frame.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1595
Medics: Israeli forces shoot Gaza man on border
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian civilian in the central Gaza Strip east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp on Tuesday, medical officials said. An unidentified 35-year-old man was transported to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the town of Deir Al-Balah, also in the central Strip. Medics said he was lightly injured with a gunshot wound to the shoulder.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330085
PFLP group survives IOF shelling
The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the PFLP, said that a group of its cadres survived shelling by Israeli occupation forces in central Gaza Strip at dawn Tuesday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k
Two Arrested in Beit Amer, Near Hebron
Hebron – PNN – Israeli forces detained two Palestinians in Beit Amer in the Hebron Governorate in the southern West Bank. Muhammad Awad, spokesman for the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, said those apprehended were Saba’ Sabarneh, 17, and Nidal Husayn Za’qeeq, 20, after their homes were razed in Beit Amer. Ofer Military Court also handed down the following sentences: 10 months in prison and a 1000 NIS fine for Yusuf Ahmed Khil Abu Hashem, 18, and 18 months in prison for Husayn Khalil Khalayel, 17.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9060&Itemid=68
War Criminals
Deputy PM Meridor cancels London visit following lawsuit threat
Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister reportedly faced charges linked to his role in the IDF raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/deputy-pm-meridor-cancels-london-visit-following-lawsuit-threat-1.322328?localLinksEnabled=false
Spain says it cannot offer Dichter immunity against arrest
Spanish authorities said it cannot grant Avi Dichter immunity from arrest and interrogation if he intends to visit its territories because of an arrest warrant was issued against him.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7
Fatah
Hamas: PA detains 6 supporters in West Bank
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinian Authority forces detained three Hamas supporters in the West Bank, the Islamist movement said in a statement on Monday. The statement said the six were arrested in Nablus, Hebron, Qalqiliya, and Tulkarem. Hamas says the Fatah-dominated PA is engaged in an ongoing political crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank. The PA denies arresting people for political reasons.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329626
Hamas: PA arrests 9 party members
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Hamas officials in the West Bank accused Palestinian Authority security forces of detaining nine party affiliates for political reasons. Hamas said in a statement that the men were detained from Tulkarem, Hebron, Qalqiliya and Jenin. The detentions come as tensions between rival factions Hamas and Fatah persist, and the latest attempts at reconciling the parties through high-level meetings in Syria remain in limbo following a PA-Syria spat at the last Arab League meeting in Libya in October.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329997
IDF waits to see PA’s treatment of W. Bank terror suspects
Military expects reformed Palestinian Authority legal system to charge Hamas operatives, suspected of perpetrating shooting attack on two Israelis, with attempted murder. In what some view as a test of the Palestinian Authority’s newly reformed legal system, the IDF is waiting to see what charges the PA brings against the alleged perpetrators of a recent shooting in the West Bank.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=193590&R=R3
PA minister suspected of corruption
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority Anti-Corruption Commission submitted an official request to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to strip the immunity of a minister suspected of corruption, Ma’an has learned. The request was based on the recommendations of a presidential commission formed to investigate misuse of public funds and violations of public office, an official familiar with the matter said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329868
Hamas
Group: Hamas prevents Balfour protest
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas authorities banned a demonstration planned for the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in Gaza on Tuesday, a local official said. Mahmoud Zak, an official with the tiny Palestinian Popular Struggle Front said the group had planned to hold a protest outside the United Nations compound in Gaza City.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330133
Salafist group says leader arrested by Hamas
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas authorities have imprisoned the leader of one of Gaza’s radical Salafist factions for launching attacks against Israel, an official said Tuesday. A spokesman for Jaysh Al-Umma (“Army of the Nation”), told Ma’an that the group’s secretary-general, Abu Hafez Al-Maqdisi, was arrested six weeks ago. The spokesman, who identified himself as Abu Abd Al-Maqdisi in a telephone call, declined to explain why the group waited until Tuesday to make this announcement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330061
Political “Developments”
Hamas to meet Fatah in Damascus
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Hamas leader Ismail Radwan said Monday that the next round of unity talks with Fatah would be held in Damascus on 11 November, a Hamas media site said. Radwan would lead the delegation, and the rival factions would discuss security, the final point of contention on an Egyptian-backed unity deal, the report said. “We hope this meeting will lead to unity and national reconciliation,” Radwan added. Negotiations to reconcile the parties came to a sudden halt in October when Fatah pulled out of scheduled talks in the Syrian capital after President Bashar Al-Assad criticized the Ramallah government.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329930
PA denounces remarks by UNRWA official
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority Cabinet on Sunday denounced the statement of UNRWA official Andrew Whitley, who said Palestinian refugees should give up their right to return and resettle in Arab countries. Whitley, outgoing New York director of the UN refugee agency, said refugees should not live in the “cruel illusion” that they will return. He said UNRWA did not publicly advocate the issue, which was not “politically palatable.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329858
Israel mulls US proposal on leasing Palestinian land: report (AFP)
AFP – Israel is mulling a US proposal for addressing key security concerns that would entail leasing swathes of the Jordan Valley from a future Palestinian state, army radio said on Monday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101101/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestinianspeaceus
Sources: Netanyahu expects Obama to resume Mideast efforts after midterms
PM asks Clinton to meet with him during his visit to the U.S. next week, already planning to hold talks with Biden in New Orleans.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/sources-netanyahu-expects-obama-to-resume-mideast-efforts-after-midterms-1.322463?localLinksEnabled=false
Ayalon: PA dedicated to political, legal warfare on Israel
“We have to understand that we are facing a very dedicated enemy,” says deputy FM at Jerusalem seminar; continued de-legitimization will be an “obstacle to peace.”
http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Article.aspx?id=193681
Other News
IDF intelligence chief hints at Israeli role in strike on Syrian nuclear facility
In farewell meeting at the Knesset, outgoing military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin hints for first time at Israeli involvement in 2007 strike.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-intelligence-chief-hints-at-israeli-role-in-strike-on-syrian-nuclear-facility-1.322484?localLinksEnabled=false
90% of Palestinians would no longer back the peace process if West Bank settlement building restarted
The issue of Israeli settlement building in the West Bank is critical to the success of any direct peace talks. 90% of respondents would no longer back the peace process if settlement building recommenced. However, only 49% believed that the expiration of the Israeli settlement moratorium (on 30 September) would bring an end to this round of peace talks.
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20101102070304
ADL: Carter returns to anti-Israel bias, despite apology to U.S. Jews
Last year, ex-U.S. president apologized to the American Jewish community for ‘stigmatizing Israel’ in a letter published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/adl-carter-returns-to-anti-israel-bias-despite-apology-to-u-s-jews-1.322336?localLinksEnabled=false
Israel’s Tea Party draws few supporters to ‘Say No to Obama’ event
Movement is not a breakaway from Netanyahu’s party, Likud MK and organizer says, but is meant to help PM reject Obama’s pressure to bend to Palestinian conditions for peace talks.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-s-tea-party-draws-few-supporters-to-say-no-to-obama-event-1.322182
Israelis celebrating terrorists: Bar-Ilan students to party on Rabin murder anniversary
Student union of university which Yigal Amir attended decides to hold party for opening of school year on November 4.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3978111,00.html
If this were a Muslim organization… Canada: Jewish leader jailed for child pornography
Former B’nai Brith director Bill Surkis found in possession of 21 pornographic videos featuring prepubescent girls in 2008; to spend 45 days in prison as result of plea bargain deal.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3978272,00.html
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
Meet Eric Cantor: On Israel/Palestine, Contempt for International Law and Justice, Alex Kane
With the Republican Party set to take the House of Representatives tomorrow, it’s worth taking a look at the new potential majority leader, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia and the only Jewish Republican in the House, and his positions on Israel/Palestine, an area that he is “particularly active on.” As Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy writes, “GOP lawmakers stand to play a huge role” in a variety of foreign policy areas, and their impact will be even greater if they are the majority party in the House.
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/meet-eric-cantor-on-israelpalestine-contempt-for-international-law-and-justice/
US foreign policy hostage to Israeli diktats, Ramzy Baroud
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to claim that the resumption of peace talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority have thus far yielded nothing of value, at least not as far as settling the decades-long struggle.
http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article171011.ece?comments=all
Q&A: Maen Rashid Areikat
Ambassador Maen Rashid Areikat is a skilled and patient negotiator who represents the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington. A robust, dark-skinned man with salt-and-pepper hair and black-rimmed architect’s glasses, he is a protégé of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who supervised Areikat’s work as director-general of the Negotiations Affairs Department of the PLO.
http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/48834/qa-maen-areikat/
Godard and Zionist hoodlums
I have to ask this to Zionist hoodlums: is there one–one, not two or three–anti-Zionist that you don’t believe is anti-Semitic? Has there been one anti-Zionist that you did not accuse of harboring anti-Semitic views? Do you know how lacking in credibility you are? I mean, there has not been one case in which an anti-Zionist has not been accused of anti-Semitism. Look at this front page story about Godard: they said it is about a controversy when the New York Times itself created the controversy and wants to stir it further. What is the crime of Godard?
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/11/godard-and-zionist-hoodlums.html
Israeli Settlers’ Terror, Dr. Elias Akleh
Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West Bank face waves after waves of Israeli terror campaigns throughout the year. These terror waves are committed by Israeli extremist settlers (colonizers) as well as the Israeli army. The most common attacks include violent trespassing on Palestinian properties during the night, stone throwing at civilians and their homes, physical assaults on farmers, children and women, destruction of all types of properties, burning civilian structures, crops and trees, shooting livestock, poisoning wells, and theft of crops and cutting fruit trees. The worst of these Israeli terror attacks are committed during harvest seasons, especially during olive season.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16378
My Encounter with a Zionist in Crisis with Her Beliefs, Susan Abulhawa
I received a lovely letter from a reader who identified herself as a Jewish American. To preserve her anonymity, I’ll call her ‘Sally’. She wrote that she loved Mornings in Jenin, even though the historic backdrop of the narrative did not reconcile with what she learned about Israel growing up. It seemed a heartfelt letter and thus worthy of a similar response. I did not see Sally as a Zionist or even as a Jew. I saw her as a woman, a mother, and a fellow writer. So, I was delighted when she came to my panel debate with Alan Dershowitz at the Boston Book Festival, and when she asked if we could talk more after the event, I was happy to invite her to lunch with a group of friends. She was soft spoken, with a gentle demeanor and through the course of the table conversation, I realized that we also shared similar beliefs regarding some matters of spirituality.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16377
Book review: understanding the economics of occupation
In his debut book The Political Economy of the Occupation, economist Shir Hever synthesizes a slew of sources to come to a solid analysis of the economic factors behind the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11600.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
MJ Rosenberg: Bill Maher Is A Consistent Bigot, But He’s Cool So Its Okay
The right is right about one thing. Progressives are hypocrites about bigotry. Check this out about Bill Maher. He is “spooked” by babies named Mohammed because he does not want the “western world” overrun by Muslims. Maher fancies himself anti-religion. He’s not. He hates Muslims. His film “Religulous” mildly ridiculed the faith of his mother and father (Judaism and Catholicism) but eviscerated Islam. He loves Binyamin Netanyahu and says that he, more than anyone else, has the answers to the problems of the Middle East. In short, Maher doesn’t like Muslims because of what he learned in Sunday school. Just like a lot of the other bigots.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/bill-maher-is-a-consisten_b_776965.html
Lebanon
Al-Akhbar: STL Indictment to Be Issued Soon
01/11/2010 The Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported on Monday that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will issue its indictment in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri before the end of the year. The daily said it has gotten copies of secrete correspondence between the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the Swedish Justice Ministry, and the Swedish Embassy at The Hague regarding the appointment of two Swedish police officers who are experts in forensics and evidence investigation. The embassy had issued a letter to the Swedish foreign and justice ministries stating that the “tribunal plans on issuing the indictment before the end of the year” and that the “investigation requires additional expertise as soon as possible,” the daily added. It also quoted a legal source in the tribunal as saying that the indictment will be issued in the second or third week of this month.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=160473&language=en
Lebanon: 3 ‘Israel spies’ sentenced to death
Military court sentences three Lebanese nationals to death for helping Israeli attacks during war; two of them sentenced in absentia.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3978265,00.html
In Beirut, a crash course in Arabic — and Mideast politics (AFP)
AFP – When Amtissal signed up to learn Arabic in Beirut, she was in for a bonus: class trips to the offices of Hezbollah and Hamas, both classified as terrorist organisations by her native America.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101101/lf_afp/lebanonlanguagepoliticshezbollah
Iraq
Monday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 13 Wounded
Baghdad is still in a state of shock a day after a deadly attack on a Catholic church left dozens of casualties in the captial. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was just one of the many to express dismay at the assault, but at least seven Iraqis were killed and 13 more were wounded in attacks since then.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/11/01/monday-7-iraqis-killed-13-wounded/
Iraqi police commander held in church attack (AP)
AP – An Iraqi police commander was detained for questioning Tuesday in connection with the deadly attack on a Catholic church in the capital as a top political leader blamed the carnage in part on lax security.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101102/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
After Baghdad church attack, Christians shocked but say ‘we still have a mission here’
At least 58 people were left dead after Iraqi commandos stormed a Baghdad church attacked by Islamist militants.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/NDXJhjqZ9Tw/After-Baghdad-church-attack-Christians-shocked-but-say-we-still-have-a-mission-here
Italian foreign minister in bid to stop Aziz execution (AFP)
Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, pictured in june 2010, will fly to Baghdad to try to stop the execution of former Saddam aide Tareq Aziz, who was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court last week, his office said Monday.(AFP/File/Attila Kisbenedek)AFP – Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini will fly to Baghdad to try to stop the execution of former Saddam aide Tareq Aziz, who was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court last week, his office said Monday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101101/wl_mideast_afp/italyiraqpoliticsexecutionaziz
Iraqi anger at lawmakers’ ‘lavish’ salaries
Iraqi lawmakers have collected their £56,000 stipend, they’re raking in £14,000 a month in salaries and allowances, and they’re spending free nights in Baghdad’s finest hotel – and they’ve only worked about 20 minutes this year, without passing a single law.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraqi-anger-at-lawmakers-lavish-salaries-2122635.html
Shiite Iraq government is anathema to Arabs
Iraq has broken the world record for the time required to form a government, surpassing the Netherlands that in 1977 took 208 days. The March 7 elections were inconclusive, producing a hung Parliament with four major blocs, the largest of which is Iraqia of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Article 76 of the Iraqi Constitution states that the bloc with the most seats forms the government.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=121057
Iraqis gather plant samples to replace destroyed collection
MOUNT PERMAGRONE, Iraq — On this mountainside in Iraqi Kurdistan, botanists are gathering hundreds of plant samples in an effort to protect their country’s diverse environment, ranging from northern mountain ranges to the marshes of southern Iraq. Mount Permagrone is home to one-sixth of the roughly 3,300 plant varieties intended to be collected and preserved in a new national herbarium – a catalog of the country’s plant specimens that was looted and destroyed in Baghdad after Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/01/1902374/iraqis-gather-plant-samples-to.html
Iraqi rowing team makes a splash in the US
Entire team – six rowers, two coaches – was invited to US to train and compete in the world’s biggest crew event.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/Jmyh0ko1lkk/Iraqi-rowing-team-makes-a-splash-in-the-US
Wikileaks
Torture Orders Were Part of US Sectarian War Strategy, Gareth Porter
The revelation by WikiLeaks of a U.S. military order directing U.S. forces not to investigate cases of torture of detainees by Iraqis has been treated in news reports as yet another case of lack of concern by the U.S. military about detainee abuse. But the deeper significance of the order, which has been missed by the news media, is that it was part of a larger U.S. strategy of exploiting Shi’a sectarian hatred against Sunnis to help suppress the Sunni insurgency when Sunnis had rejected the U.S. war.
http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2010/11/01/torture-orders-were-part-of/
Iran
Saudi Arms Deal Is About Iran, Rep. Ron Paul
This month the U.S. administration notified Congress that it intends to complete one of the largest arms sales in U.S. history to one of the most repressive regimes on earth. Saudi Arabia has been given the green light by the administration to spend $60 billion on some 84 new F-15 aircraft, dozens of the latest helicopters, and other missiles, bombs, and high-tech military products from the U.S. weapons industry.
http://original.antiwar.com/paul/2010/11/01/saudi-arms-deal-is-about-iran/
British FM planning secret Iran talks during Israel trip
William Hague arrives in Israel on Tuesday for his first visit since being appointed foreign secretary in Britain’s recently elected Conservative government.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/british-fm-planning-secret-iran-talks-during-israel-trip-1.322347?localLinksEnabled=false
Iran postpones trial date for U.S. “hikers” (Reuters)
Reuters – Iranian authorities have delayed the trial of two Americans arrested near the Iraqi border in July 2009, a judiciary spokesman said on Monday, less than a week before they were due their first day in court.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101101/ts_nm/us_iran_usa_hikers
Khamenei challenged by senior cleric
Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Dastgheib, known as the “Green Ayatollah” after the color adopted by the opposition, in critical comments of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has effectively questioned both the man and his position. Dastgheib’s outspokenness could cost him his position on the powerful Assembly of Experts. – Sahar Namazikhah (Nov 1, ’10)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LK02Ak02.html
U.S. and other world news
Witness – Bismillah
How do perceptions of faith impact on the democratic process? A young Muslim woman runs for office in Minnesota and tests the system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKlF24E79ws&feature=youtube_gdata
US ban on openly gay troops to stay
Appeals court says law should stay in place while Obama administration challeges decision to allow openly gay recruits.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/11/201011213039247643.html
Cluster bomb ban gaining ground
Newly released report finds that even though deaths caused by munitions high, states move swiftly to destory stockpiles.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/asia-pacific/2010/11/20101119574346382.html
Saudi Arabia: Free Debtors From Prison: Human Rights Watch
(New York) – Saudi authorities should release insolvent debtors from jail, including Tariq Yunis al-Mashharawi, who has been held in Buraiman Prison in Jeddah for close to four years, Human Rights Watch said today. Al-Mashharawi is being held on a court order that says he owes a Saudi princess US$640,000. He says he does not have the money, which he claims he turned over to his boss at a luxury car dealership, and disputes that he owes her anything. Al-Mashharawi’s case is not an isolated one, Human Rights Watch said. “Throwing a penniless person in prison for a debt is not going to get that money back,” said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Putting someone in prison should be reserved for real crimes.”
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/3f0c63424fe673c0a1446e38e6791255.htm
Saudi fatwa bars women from cashier jobs
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s top clerics have challenged the government’s policy to expand jobs for women with a fatwa ruling that they should not work as cashiers in markets, in a statement obtained Monday. In the statement obtained by AFP, the official fatwa issuing body said “it is not permissible for a woman to work in a place where they mix with men.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=121022
Danish party urges Arab TV ban
People’s Party says Al Jazeera and other Arabic channels sow hatred against Western society in immigrant communities.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/11/2010111134217747559.html
www.TheHeadlines.org
The new Jewish upside-down world: intellectual who calls for equal rights is likened to KKK
Nov 02, 2010
Philip Weiss
Last month we picked up the news that Jewish groups in New Mexico are trying to stop Ali Abunimah’s talk at the University of N.M. next week. Well Abunimah’s blog contains the disgusting news that a local Jewish leader has likened him to the KKK in an interview with the Albuquerque Journal:
Sam Sokolove, executive director of the Jewish Federation who signed the letter, said Abunimah represents a hate movement that is not interested in dialogue. He compared a Jewish conversation with Abunimah to a debate between the NAACP and the Ku Klux Klan.
For shame. Also this from the Journal:
Abunimah, in an interview with the Journal, said the opposition isn’t a surprise. The letter-writing campaign is an attempt to stop the conversation before it occurs because the debate is one critics don’t win, he said. “I’m against apartheid in Israel. I’m against discrimination. I’m for equal rights for everyone, I say that every time I speak. … I believe Israeli Jews and Palestinians have a right to live in peace, tranquility and equality, just like Americans do,” he said. “But that’s a very threatening message for people who believe there should be a system where one group of people has more rights than another. I’m assuming that’s why they don’t want me to be there and speak.”
How can you tell whether an American politician is running for president (of the United States)?
Nov 02, 2010
Philip Weiss
Yes even Grizzly moms with irritating high-pitched nasal voices know the story. The Weekly Standard’s Daniel Halper spotted this, in a photo from a West Virginia rally. Hat tip: Mark Wauck.
Help send Alex Kane to Israel/Palestine
Nov 02, 2010
Adam Horowitz
As many of you know Alex Kane is a frequent contributor to Mondoweiss. His work on Islamophobia, media analysis, the Freedom Flotilla, and general news from Israel/Palestine has been invaluable. Alex is now raising money to travel to Israel/Palestine as part of a delegation organized by American Jews for a Just Peace. Please help him get there!
This is from Alex’s blog:
In January, I plan on joining a “Health and Human Rights” delegationorganized by members of American Jews for a Just Peace. I will be traveling throughout the West Bank and Israel, meeting with various Palestinian organizations doing amazing work under horrific circumstances. I plan on staying in Israel/Palestine for over two weeks, learning, experiencing, reporting, writing and blogging. But I need your financial help. My initial goal is to raise $1,500 by mid-November—that will cover my plane ticket and additional costs related to the delegation as well as food and other necessities.
The support I received last year enabled me to go to Gaza, and it was a trip that profoundly changed my life. I saw what it meant to be locked inside a open-air prison, learned from my Palestinian peers what it was like to know of the outside world but be blocked from reaching it by a cruel and illegal blockade and saw images of destroyed schools and buildings that will never leave me. I also saw people that have amazing spirit, that refuse to give up to the crushing force of the Israeli occupation. Since returning from Gaza, I have become obsessed with everything Palestine.
I’d be lying if I said we didn’t have a vested interest in getting Alex back to Israel/Palestine, because I think there will be some great posts in it for Mondoweiss, but we need all the honest, hard-hitting reporting from the ground that we can get and I know your investment in Alex will be well worth it. You can donate to his trip, and follow his work, through his website here.
Rabbi Gordis once gritted his teeth over discrimination at WASPy school– and now urges Palestinians to learn that lesson
Nov 02, 2010
Philip We
Daniel Gordis is a rabbi who grew up in Baltimore but moved to Israel (I attended seders at his parents’ immaculate suburban Baltimore house when I was a boy). He has lately published a book called Saving Israel: How the Jewish People Can Win a War That May Never End. Sounds fun!
The Magnes Zionist, who is also from Baltimore (he was bar mitzvah’d at the same conservative synagogue as I was, though I was in the inner city branch), has written a great post showing that Gordis is implicitly arguing for expelling Palestinian Arabs from Israel before too long. I’m going to quote two passages from Jerry Haber’s post.
The second passage is particularly compelling. In it, Haber says Gordis’s belief that Israeli Palestinians should simply lower their heads and put up with Jewish theocratic rules originates in Gordis’s own experience as a Jew experiencing Christian prayer/religious instruction at an Episcopalian school in Baltimore. Haber believes the unnamed school is the same one he attended: Gilman, which eliminated the Christian portion of the curriculum years after he left the school.
I think this is a hugely-important point.
I went to public high school, but Gilman was the establishment institution in Baltimore, the prep school that trained young men for leadership. I used to curse the place as a bastion of privilege and WASPiness. And well that it did eliminate the Christian instruction; for the Establishment was changing under the weight of the meritocracy, it was beginning to include Jews, and WASPs were saying sayonara. There are no Protestants on the Supreme Court today.
So our society changed; and a religious burden that Gordis today finds exemplary but when he was young was obnoxious– a religious burden that likely played some role in forming his view of Christian life, from which he fled– is a religious burden that our society eliminated 20 or 30 years ago out of a sense of fairness.
The lesson of the story is simple: In their dealings with Palestinians, Zionists have consciously and unconsciously taken as models forms of anti-Semitism that prevailed in the west many decades ago, but that the west has long ago eliminated. Nationalism of the 19th century, gentlemanly anti-Semitism of the 20th century: these traditions molded Zionism, but they’re gone. I.e., Zionism is anachronistic. Haber:
As he puts it, “Given their history and their families on the other side of the line, Israel’s Arabs are unlikely to become patriots.” Rather, Arab Israelis are potentially an existential threat to the Jewish state. Today, they do not constitute such a threat, but they may very well in the future.
What is particularly striking about the account (aside from its chilling similarity to ethnic exclusionary language used against Jews in nineteenth and twentieth century Europe) is the utter failure to understand why most Israeli Arabs refuse to leave Israel: Their motivation is crystal clear from their writings and their statements: This land, and this state, are their homes in three ways: As natives, it is their home in a way never can be for Rabbi Gordis and myself, who were born and lived much of our lives outside of Israel. As members of the Palestinian people, with the consciousness of having a common history and identity, this land is their homeland. And finally as Israeli citizens, it is most assuredly their homeland.
For despite the best efforts of ethnic nationalists on both sides, there has evolved an Israeli identity shared by native-born Israelis, whether Jew, Arab, and immigrant children of foreign workers. With all due respect to Rabbi Gordis, neither he nor I can ever be as Israeli as Ahmed Tibi, Emile Habibi, or Azmi Bishara. We are immigrants; they are not….
A final comment: When Rabbi Gordis considers the place of Israel Arabs in a Jewish state, he is reminded of his position as a young Jewish student in an Episcopalian prep school. All students including Jews were required to attend Morning Chapel, during which there was a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. As a proud Jew, he balked at bowing his head and saying the prayer, but he did not try to change the policy. He understood that it was a Christian school, that it wished to foster traditions, and that it would have been unreasonable to try to change them.
He could always leave if he didn’t like them, which he eventually did. He thought the policy “eminently fair”. The moral is clear: If you are an Arab living in a Jewish state, you are encouraged to take advantage of its benefits. But don’t think you have any right to try to claim more rights than you have been given, or to lobby to change the system.
What Rabbi Gordis doesn’t write, and what he doesn’t know, perhaps, is that several years after he left the school, it eliminated the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and the singing of hymns altogether – as a result, in part, of complaints from Jewish parents over the years. At first there was an attempt to replace the hymns that mention Christ’s name explicitly with ones that did not. But finally, all Christian prayers were dropped. Morning Chapel became Morning Assembly. No doubt some fine and meaningful traditions were lost, but the school still teaches classes in religion, still has a chaplain, and has retained much of its Episcopalian heritage.
How do I know this? You see, unless I’m mistaken,* I attended the very same Episcopalian school in Baltimore that Rabbi Gordis attended, albeit at an earlier date. Like Rabbi Gordis, I stood in silence when the school said the Lord’s Prayer (though hearing it every morning drove into my head); I sang the hymns, omitting Christ’s name. When I attended the school, Catholic students were exempted from the mandatory religion classes, during which period they received their own instruction; they had their own religious educational autonomy, as it were. Jewish students were not exempt, and much of what I know about the New Testament and Christianity I learned from those classes, which were not always pleasant for a proud “in-your-face” Jew like myself.
As a result of my experiences at the school, where I encountered both genteel and not so-genteel anti-Semitism from students and faculty, I resolved never to be as insensitive to the feelings and position of a minority as they had been of mine. Fortunately I made lifelong friends with some of my fellow students, who, as Christians, were genuinely pained by the insensitivity of the majority, and who later worked hard to make the school more inclusive, and to preserve what was true and good in its traditions.
Like Rabbi Gordis, I, Bezalel Manekin, thought the policy of requiring students to attend Morning Chapel eminently fair, at the time. Unlike him, I understand now that when circumstances change, holding on to discriminatory practices can be eminently unfair.
*If I am mistaken, then at least the Episcopalian schools we attended were sufficiently alike for the point to remain.
