NOVANEWS
01/09/2011
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The siege of Gaza: Due to attacks on fishermen, now even fish must come thru tunnels from Egypt
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Report we ran on settlers burning Palestinian tent got some details wrong
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Wild woman lament for dead children
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One small step for a man– Jewish Journal states that Israel is ‘imperfect’
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Youtube + Warner Music Group + Motorola = internet censorship
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Jawaher Abu Rahma inspires Boston protesters in snow
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Israeli killing of 65-year-old Palestinian in bed in Hebron could catalyze Hamas-Fatah talks
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Some thoughts on Omar, Jawaher and Isabel
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WWJD
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They spoke to each other in Arabic about the nature of love… They said they will keep doing this till the world takes notice
The siege of Gaza: Due to attacks on fishermen, now even fish must come thru tunnels from Egypt
Jan 08, 2011
Alice Rothchild
A torrential rain sweeps through Nablus, the city of hills, and the street is briefly turned into a rushing river as we come to meet Dr. Allam Jarrar, our friend and partner at Palestinian Medical Relief Society. He looks fit and cheerful, but I notice rivulets of sweat beading on his face as he discusses “the situation” which has grown increasingly difficult, especially over the last 6 months with the failure of the Obama “peace process” and the explosion in settlement growth.
Allam reviews the usual disasters:
1 ½ million people in Gaza are completely cut off from the world with the Rafahcheckpoint in the south controlled by Egypt (with Israeli blessings) and the Erez checkpoint in the north controlled by Israel; maybe 12 Gazans are allowed to enter daily into Israel, mostly for extreme medical needs and sometimes forced to become collaborators in exchange for the permit. (This is well documented by multiple sources.)
There are now 500,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank and ever expanding Jerusalem, and over 200 settlements, with Israeli control of 60% of the area. The Palestinian Authority “controls/administers” the remaining areas A and B, but in actuality everything is under Israeli control. Twelve Israeli governmental Ministers currently reside in settlements and the Israeli government is increasingly right wing.
Some 600 checkpoints (according to the UN OCHA) damage the geographic and social integrity of the West Bank.
Palestinians have been divided into three political, social, and economic entities:
1. East Jerusalem with 220,000 “residents” who carry an East Jerusalem ID,
2. West Bank where Allam describes a pass system reminiscent of South Africa. This does not include the areas around the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley as those areas are a closed military zone (where a Palestinian was recently killed at a checkpoint )and includes 2 million people
3. Gaza with 1 ½ million people
He explores the various social movements around the separation wall, settlements and in East Jerusalem and the growing nonviolent resistance that is becoming a major feature of the Palestinian struggle. There was even a recent article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz about reviving the pacifist movement based on ethical values within Israel to join Palestinians. Allam is also encouraged by the BDS movement which is now supported by Palestinian NGOs as a strategy that will make the Israeli policies more visible. “Israel can’t hide; there is a price for its behavior.” He worries about the talk of Israel launching attacks on Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and Iran.
Allam explains that Palestinian Medical Relief Society was established in 1979 by volunteers to address the needs of marginalized communities and to build an infrastructure of resistance and steadfastness against the occupation. It is now the biggest health related NGO with 25 health centers and focuses on direct care, women’s empowerment, disability, health education, youth development, school health programs, training first aid workers, emergency interventions, support during curfews, and more. I notice in the office a woman receptionist with severe scoliosis and another working in a wheelchair. They practice what they preach. Funding comes from European and US NGOs. Allam notes that Palestinians have the worst record for international dependency, approximately $800 per capita of foreign aid.
This is the end result of the occupation and the repeated destruction of the infrastructure of the society and economy. A painful example is the destruction of the Gazan fishing industry by the Israeli’s repeatedly shrinking the miles that fishing boats are allowed to go out to sea. These families then become dependent on international aid.
And then we begin our meeting with colleagues in Gaza. SKYPE is set up and the images are projected on the wall, faces flickering, sometimes fragmented Picasso –like, but definitely present and in conversation with us in Nablus. Amjad from the International Siege of Gaza and PENGO (a Palestinian civil society organization) outlines the horrific consequences of Cast Lead and the siege of Gaza. Thousands of houses cannot be rebuilt due to lack of materials, the recent opening to construction materials is for UNRWA construction only. 20,000 people remain homeless and 100,000 housing units are needed. 80% of the population depends on international agencies for basic needs, 40% of the population lives in severe poverty. UNRWA schools run 3 sessions per day and sometimes use containers for classrooms. 3,800 factories are not functional and there are no exports, 35% of agricultural land has been confiscated by the IDF often for “buffer zones,” the once vigorous flower and strawberry industries are decimated. 90% of the water is undrinkable.
He notes that there are still daily incursions, 140 people have been injured in the past few months with several deaths, and the IDF arrested 3 fishermen today for fishing 3 miles from shore, well within the latest limits and well beyond years of previous regulations. He adds that Israel is trying to demonize Gaza and make them totally dependent. Tens of thousands of university students are now graduating with no possibilities for work, so there is also a brain drain along with no hope and no unity. His first priority is ending the siege and he strongly supports the BDS movement.
Aed Yaghi, an administrator for PMRS, then discusses the failing health sector. There are currently 180 essential medications unavailable, equipment cannot be maintained due to lack of parts, there are frequent losses of electricity, patients are unable to leave for advanced medical therapy and hundreds have died due to lack of referrals. PMRS is trying to cover the needs of patients with chronic illness. Since June 2010, some patients are able to leave via the Rafah crossing in Egypt (250-300 people per day) which is open five days per week, 8 hours per day, for the eight hour trip to an Egyptian hospital. (Imagine being critically ill, having to jump through hoops to obtain a permit to leave Gaza, getting to and waiting at the Rafah Crossing and THEN, making an eight hour trip to reach a hospital. This almost sounds like a death sentence to me.)
The rare patients that get permits to leave through the Erez checkpoint are interrogated, may be forced to become collaborators in exchange for passage, can still be denied access and if traveling by ambulance, there are 400 meters between the Palestinian and Israeli ambulances. (Can you imagine when you are in pain, have cancer or severe heart disease, or you are a child whose mother could not get a permit and you are traveling alone? And let’s say you are receiving weekly chemotherapy treatments in Israel, you have to do this each time and if you are delayed and miss your appointment there is no recourse.) What ever happened to the universal right to health or the Geneva Conventions regarding health care personnel and access?
600 NGOs were destroyed or damaged during Cast Lead, including the Gaza Community Mental Health Center. Food enters from Israel day by day, there are bread shortages and malnutrition and only Israeli agricultural products are permitted. The tunnel system between Rafah and Egypt was built out of sheer desperation and provides basic food, cooking gas, medications, sheep, cows, etc.
Even the fish is now imported from Egypt through the tunnels. 150 people have been killed from tunnel collapse. Aed claims that the Israeli government uses the tunnels and the products that then end up on the shelves of local markets as proof there is no problem. But there is a corruptive black market, high priced, often low quality, that only contributes to a small number of Gazans enriching themselves and the lack of a viable economy. He reminds us that a humanitarian crisis needs a political solution and this particularly applies to Gaza.
While this information is readily available on a variety of websites, there was something so powerful for me that we were actually talking with colleagues in Gaza despite the intense siege, listening to their concerns, asking questions, bearing witness, promising to bring their voices to our communities, verbally and visually breaking the blockade . Who ever thought SKYPE could be such a powerful political tool?
Report we ran on settlers burning Palestinian tent got some details wrong
Jan 08, 2011
Samuel Nichols
This 31 December 2010 post about Israeli settlers setting fire to a Palestinian tent as a family slept inside it needs amending as some of the account has turned out to be wrong.
We said then that seven people were sleeping in the tent when it was set on fire on 29 December. The post was based on a press release and supplemented with accounts taken from two Susiya villagers who live in close proximity to where the incident took place. Since then we’ve seen an account that was taken from the family whose property was burned. We have learned that in the early morning hours of 28 December 2010, settlers set fire to a kitchen in Susiya village. The Villages Group, who spoke directly with the family affected, reports that three members of a family awoke to find that two kitchen tents, adjacent to their sleeping quarters, had been set ablaze.
The remainder of the details and the analysis in the original post remain the same.
To be clear: the date, type of tent burned, and number of people in the tent have changed. The incident occurred on the 28th not on the 29th, two kitchen tents were burned rather than tents where people were sleeping, and three people were sleeping adjacent to the tent that burned, not seven. Note that the details are different but the crux of the incident remains the same: under the cover of night a group of thugs intentionally set fire to part of a Palestinian family’s dwelling.
We feel the need to correct ourselves because Israeli authorities that investigate incidents of violence against Palestinians will use any inconsistency in Palestinian accounts to allow settlers to avoid prosecution, or even investigation. The system is already grossly slanted in settlers’ favor, so great diligence is required on the part of Palestinians and solidarity activists to eliminate any reasons for Israeli authorities to dismiss their claims.
Samuel Nichols works with Christian Peacemakers Teams. His blog is Do Unto Others.
Wild woman lament for dead children
Jan 08, 2011
Lillian Rosengarten
1/6/11
What is this strange, strange world where children die?
Question the killers, dark wars. Suffering everywhere. Callous indifference
deadened in pursuit of blood on the ground of Palestine stolen from the living.
Little screams on still faces. I cannot hear you! Speak to me please!
Hundreds of thousands of children, stench of burnt flesh
Life without value as missiles slam
Smoldering in the moonlight.
I am bursting through my skin, dismembered, I am nowhere I am everywhere.
I am your murderer lost soul of deception nailed in a coffin of hate.
I am your mother stooped in grief. I am your father’s vacant eyes.
I am the children. When death stretches its arms to me I sink into the earth
covered in moss and wildflowers.
Remember the spring of our years before a troubled twilight
Lifted its tentacles to crush you in a sea of tears?
Once we held you in our arms to suckle you with tenderness.
I had three children one is dead. I had eight children, four are dead or two or eight
or all of them.
There is a fire burning across the earth.
Burns in my heart smells of ash, smells of death, ash covered flowers
Mixed with the blood of death.
They are all our children and we are their parents.
War, trampler of the soul. Death to the poets and lullabies.
How do they do it arrogance of the armies?
Philip, do you even know you left last century behind?
After the millennium your beloved twin towers
Melted in flames turned to dust.
Wild with grief we cry for lost children. They were to make a better world,
lift us from this morass, the empty space of ashes.
Nightgown wrapped to suffocate, I tear it from my body soaked in sweat
As if to free myself from death or something else.
I dreamed a fire scorched the earth. Wild woman trapped, hold me I am cold.
Ism’al our child, how cruelly you were taken
I am your spirit mother guarding a legacy.
Is the world listening?
Bisan, Mayar Aya and Nur Abuelaish, you are all our dead children.
Now we shall be your storytellers your painter of dreams. We will paint your canvas
Filled with small details, rich memories.
We must be the keepers of the earth.
One small step for a man– Jewish Journal states that Israel is ‘imperfect’
Jan 08, 2011
Philip Weiss
Forum at the LA Jewish Journal between two Israel supporters, though one doesn’t want to excommunicate people who are for boycott. A kind of progress. “COUNTER-POINT: How best to support an imperfect Israel…” Thanks to Jeff Blankfort.
Youtube + Warner Music Group + Motorola = internet censorship
Jan 08, 2011
Anna Baltzer
In a shocking move of selective and possibly unlawful censorship, Motorola’s partner Warner Music Group (WMG) compelled YouTube to remove the St Louis Boycott Motorola Flash Mob video seven days after it was posted last month. (The original video was reposted here.)
The video featured more than forty members and friends of the St Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee (STL-PSC) serenading holiday shoppers in Brentwood, MO with a parody of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s “Telephone.” The singers and dancers urged patrons to join the boycott of Motorola products because of the company’s involvement in Israel’s illegal occupation and war crimes. The video went viral, garnering coverage around the world. It acquired more than 35,000 hits in less than a week.
Shortly after the count hit 35,000, YouTube shut down the video, citing a copyright infringement claim by WMG. However, parodies of songs are protected under a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose, and STL-PSC’s video clearly constituted “fair use.” There are more than 1,000 Lady Gaga flash mob videos on YouTube and hundreds more parodying Beyoncé songs. Many of them are using the same song, and none of them have been shut down by WMG. What doesn’t WMG want the world to know about Motorola, and why not?
The case gets more interesting… Upon further investigation, it appears that the song’s copyright never belonged to WMG to begin with (it belongs to Universal Music Group, Inc.). WMG has zero claim to the song and their actions could constitute DMCA take-down abuse.
So who is WMG connected to? Motorola. The two companies announced their global partnership to collaborate on “the development of digital products, marketing campaigns and strategic planning” three years ago.
STL-PSC believes that this is an infringement on freedom of expression and plans to challenge the take-down.
Watch the video for more information on Motorola’s involvement in war crimes, and learn more about the campaign to Hang Up on Motorola. The effects of Motorola’s recent corporate split on the boycott campaign are still unclear, but Motorola (Solutions) unquestionably remains a prime target for divestment, as through the JVP-led TIAA-CREF Campaign.
Don’t let Motorola and WMG silence people of conscience! Please keep watching and sharing the video. As we’ve seen, this is precisely what Motorola and WMG don’t want. It seems to be making them feel uncomfortable, as they rightly should. Let’s keep the pressure on.
Jawaher Abu Rahma inspires Boston protesters in snow
Jan 08, 2011
Noam Lekach
Photos from ActiveStills. Account by Noam Lekach, an Israeli citizen:
Dozens of American, Palestinian and Israeli activists gathered today (Friday) in front of the Israeli Consulate in Boston to commemorate the death of Jawaher Abu Rahma, a Bil’in resident who was killed as a result of tear gas inhalation during a demonstration in the village last Friday.
The event opend with a candle light vigil, and continued as a march in the snow towards the Boston Common, carrying candles and pictures of Jawaher and of her brother, Bassem, who was killed by a gas canister thrown by an Israeli soldier during a demonstration in Bil’in in April 2009.
The protestors chanted in support of the non-violent joint struggle, denouncing US military aid to Israel while calling for endorsement of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.
Israeli killing of 65-year-old Palestinian in bed in Hebron could catalyze Hamas-Fatah talks
Jan 08, 2011
Kate
And other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property, resources theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing
Israel threatens to eject 15 families from Jordan Valley village
JORDAN VALLEY, (PIC)– The Israeli army handed 15 families in the northern Jordan Valley village of Bazeeq eviction notices amid claims that their homes were erected on a closed military zone, the Jordan Valley defense committee said. The Israelis have prohibited usage of the region and set it aside for military training and expansion of local Jewish settlements. The army gave the families three days to evacuate their residences, and threatened them to remove them by force, demolish their homes, and seize all livestock in their possession.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7rpEUHKStUUPOkmP4kYg06jqxa9CsV91iNHC76oUCXYRS%2fnp6iK5t5VQlq6cjZFXks8VK4Ti8B2NPw%2f%2b%2fXOBuqcR3OK2JcxHC2%2bZZrgdetbs%3d
Israel intensifies Judaization process in O. Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage that caters for Muslim holy shrines in occupied Palestine, has accused Wednesday the Israeli occupation authorities of expediting the Judaization process in occupied Jerusalem. In a field visit it made after receiving reports about Israeli occupation affixing amulets to gates of the old city [an amulet is a mezuzah in Hebrew which is a parchment inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah contained in a decorative cases and placed on doors], the foundation discovered that it was true and they found such objects affixed to at least two gates of the old city; Al-Khalil Gate and Nabi Daud Gate.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s74o34cLEU0IilzpjCNc2qse2REWhqtfeHzFZTr%2fwEBQ6XmXiyEX9lUyudfL4LYMyPYlOjqtEkVD0YZ%2fAzLTTrP4aZojAeNqfMYJuGg2Q7tgE%3d
Violence
PLO reports serious Israeli human rights violations during week
The report highlighted three killings in the West Bank during the week … Meanwhile in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities demolished two Palestinian homes and several Palestinian businesses … In Nablus district in the northern West Bank, the report added, Israeli settlers launched several attacks including ransacking the home of a Palestinian woman in Burin village. The woman was rescued by villagers who responded to her calls for help. Settlers also killed sheep in Qusra southeast Nablus, the PLO said. Hebron district in the southern West Bank witnessed several Israeli violations by settlers and by Israeli forces. Bulldozers dug up lands belonging to residents of Yatta to expand the illegal Israeli settlement Karmi Zur. In the same area, Israeli forces declared a closed military zone on Palestinian agricultural lands, denying farmers access to their fields.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349157
Silwan under siege after IDF forgets ammunition
Last night (Friday) clashes erupted between Israel Border Police and Palestinian residents in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The soldiers entered the area and positioned themselves on a rooftop of a Palestinian building that they often use for a lookout. According to Palestinian residents, when Border Police entered the house, they assaulted a woman, which resulted in many youths from the neighborhood throwing stones in protest. The soldiers were forced to leave the area, but then large forces of police were sent back later on after realizing that large amounts of ammunition had been left there, which was was taken by Palestinian youths. The police raided homes looking for the missing ammunition, and arrested somewhere between 7-10 residents in the process. More arrests are expected.
http://972mag.com/silwan-under-siege-after-idf-forgets-ammunition/
Gaza: Israeli soldier killed by friendly fire
One soldier was killed and four others wounded when Israeli soldiers patrolling the Gaza border fired a mortar shell which deviated from its course and hit the patrol, an Israeli military spokesman confirmed Friday night … Israeli media initially said the attack injuring the soldiers had been carried out by Palestinian fighters operating inside Gaza … The military spokesman said all casualties on the border were the result of the apparently misfired mortar and not from Palestinian fire.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349089
IDF halts operation of Keshet system
Initial IDF probe into Friday incident at Gaza border that killed one soldier, injured five, reveals one of three mortar shells launched by IDF missed target, hit paratroopers. IDF halts operation of mortar deployment system until investigation completed … At least two other incidents were reported during the past two years, in which soldiers and civilians were injured from improper use of the system.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4010491,00.html
3 Thai workers hurt in mortar strike
Three foreign workers from Thailand were injured Saturday by a mortar shell that exploded in a kibbutz at Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council … The military wing of Islamic Jihad, the al-Quds Brigades, took responsibility for the attack, claiming it targeted a military base. The group issued a statement saying its cell managed to fire a total of six mortar shells. “It’s the resistance’s right to stand up to any Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people,” the statement said. Meanwhile, Southern Command Chief Tal Russo vowed to respond to the mortar strike, saying that “we will take care of the masterminds and those who executed it.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4010560,00.html
DFLP-affiliated fighters say projectile fired toward Israel
GAZA CITY — The National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said in a statement on Friday afternoon, that its fighters sent two mortars into Israeli territory. The statement said the projectiles were fired from an area in the central Gaza Strip, east of Wadi As-Salqa. The Israeli military said a projectile fired from the Gaza Strip in the morning “hit Eshkol Regional Council,” east of central Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349099
Israeli forces shoot Palestinian at checkpoint
NABLUS — Israeli troops stationed at Hamra checkpoint east of Nablus on Saturday shot and killed a Palestinian man, medics said. Onlookers identified the victim as 25-year-old Khaldoun Sammoudi, of Al-Yamun village near Jenin … An Israeli military spokesman said a man approached the checkpoint in a taxi, then got out of the vehicle and ran towards forces holding a suspicious object and shouting “Allah Akbar.” He did not heed orders to stop and forces followed operational procedures and shot him, the army official said. The spokesman said the man was carrying a pipe bomb
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349195
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
A week after Jawaher Abu Rahma’s death, Bil`in continues to march / Hamde Abu Rahme
At today’s demonstration, three persons were wounded, in addition to dozens of more cases of people choking on tear gas. The Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in organized today’s demonstration. The march began after Friday prayers from the center of the village, towards the site of the wall. … Today’s demonstration was led by feminist and women’s organizations.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/a-week-after-jawaher-abu-rahmas-death-bilin-continues-to-march.html
‘Gas won’t tear us apart’ a return to Bil`in / Joseph Dana
The former vice president of the European Parliament, Lusia Morgantini and a current Israeli Parliament member Mohammed Barakeh (Hadash) joined the demonstration which was lead by over thirty women’s organizations from the West Bank and Israel. During the protest, demonstrators managed to tear down portions of the barrier.
http://972mag.com/gas-wont-tear-us-apart-bil%E2%80%99in-commemorates-jawaher-abu-rahmah/
Videos: Bil`in Friday 7 Jan 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuGEYslA7QU&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php
Bil`in: A village in mourning
One West Bank family has paid the highest price for their village’s peaceful pursuit of justice — People say that time heals, but the Abu Rahmah family feels as though it is living in a recurring nightmare from which there is no respite. Their nightmare is set in the West Bank village of Bil’in, which has been cut into pieces by Israel’s “separation” wall. It is a unique village: On the front lines of the conflict with Israel, it has also been the site of weekly non-violent protests since the wall was constructed in 2005. It even has its ownwebsite
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/01/20111513358119488.html
In Bil`in, protesters wear yellow start with ‘Palestinian’ written on them / Alice Rothchild
If you are going to be tear gassed, I strongly suggest you rub Vicks Vapor Rub in your nostrils, bring an onion to smell, or alcohol swabs although fragrant baby wipes work fairly well, and don’t forget to bring a scarf and good running shoes. Needless to say, this was not on our delegation itinerary.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/in-bilin-protesters-wear-yellow-stars-with-palestinian-written-on-them.html
Wadi Hilweh Information Center director, Jawad Siyam, released today
7 Jan 14:42 – Detained Wadi Hilweh Information Center director Jawad Siyam was released this morning following his hearing in the Jerusalem Magistrates Court. Siyam was released due to police’s failure to present sufficient evidence in support of the assault charge laid against him. Siyam was initially ordered by the judge to complete a week-long period of house arrest once released, but Siyam refused to accept these conditions. The court agreed that Siyam may serve his house arrest period at the Information Center.
http://silwanic.net/?p=10197
YouTube retracts rejection of Palestine Christmas video
We would like to inform you that YouTube has indeed lifted the restrictions from the Palestine Christmas Video. We are not sure what prompted the site administration to revisit its decision, but we are certain that the support we received from activists and surfers ‘facilitated’ it.
http://endtheoccupationblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/youtube-retracts-rejection-of-palestine.html
Israeli activists push for ‘BDS’ in Boston
Dozens of American, Israeli and Palestinian protesters gathered Friday in front of the Israeli consulate in Boston to mark the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah. Jawaher was killed by American made tear gas fired by the IDF on New Year’s Eve during a weekly unarmed demonstration in the West Bank village of Bil’in. The Boston demonstrators marched through the snow and frigid cold weather demanding an end to US military aid to Israel.
http://972mag.com/israeli-activists-push-for-%E2%80%98bds%E2%80%99-in-boston/
Tehran to name a street after Rachel Corrie
Hamsayeh.Net – Tehran municipality announced naming of a street in Tehran after American freedom activist and supporter of the rights of Palestinians Rachel Corrie who was killed by an Israeli military bulldozer on March 16, 2003. The city councilor said the administration supported request from various bodies including 10 universities to rename one of Tehran’s streets after Rachel Corrie.
http://hamsayeh.net/world/204-tehran-to-name-a-street-after-rachel-corrie.html
Egypt allows Iranian aid to reach Gaza
Egypt has opened its border with Gaza to humanitarian aid and relief, allowing medical supplies from Iran to be delivered to the besieged enclave through the Rafah border crossing … Earlier this week, Egyptian authorities had denied entrance to a number of Iranian activists and refused to allow 10 generators donated by the Islamic Republic to pass through the Rafah border crossing.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158999.html
US activists facing grand jury garner broad support
Activists and concerned citizens around the United States are preparing for a national day of action on 25 January, the date that several Palestine solidarity activists and Palestinian American community organizers have been summoned to appear before a federal grand jury in Chicago. Meanwhile, dozens of civic, labor and student organizations in the United States and around the world have condemned the crackdown by US authorities on anti-war activists … The Electronic Intifada reported in November that the investigation targeting the subpoenaed activists is just the latest chapter in a long history of US government attempts to criminalize Palestine community organizing and support work in the country.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11720.shtml
Anti
StandWithUs to place ads at BART stations saying ‘Stop Palestinian terrorism, teach peace’
[San Francisco area] …The posters have received BART [Bay Area Rapid Transit] approval and will go up in the Berkeley, 12th Street/Oakland, MacArthur, Civic Center, Balboa Park and Embarcadero BART stations starting Jan. 17, a StandWithUs spokesperson said … the campaign has been launched, organizers said, to counter a recent poster campaign co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, a group often critical of the government and military of Israel. Those posters, still on display at three BART stations (according to the StandWithUs release), depicted Palestinian and Israel fathers with their young children, along with the headings “Be on our side: We are on the side of peace and justice” and “End U.S. military aid to Israel.” The StandWithUs posters feature the image of a masked terrorist with the heading “Stop Palestinian Terrorism.”
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/60437/standwithus-BART-ads-take-aim-at-palestinian-terrorism/
Security firm G4S confirms involvement in Israel’s occupation
The Danish-British security firm G4S recently confirmed in a letter its involvement in the Israeli occupation and violations of international law — reported on last month by The Electronic Intifada … confirming that it had withdrawn from contracts providing security officers to residential settlements in the West Bank in 2002. “However, we continue to serve major commercial customers, for instance supermarket chains, whose operations include the West Bank,” the company stated … By providing security services to illegal settlement businesses, G4S facilitates Israel’s violations of international law.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11718.shtml
‘It’s not politics – it’s just business’
Bashar Masri’s plan to purchase Israeli real estate firm plagued by debt is rocking the business sector, right-wing elements. This may be the first time a Palestinian takes over an Israeli public company – Digal Investments & Holdings, which is building luxury apartments for Jews in east Jerusalem. Proposed deal emerges as micro-cosmos of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Masri insists: ‘It’s just business’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4010020,00.html
The murder of Jawaher Abu Rahmah
Twilight Zone: Lightning strikes again / Gideon Levy
Amani Abu Rahmah sat on her dead sister’s bed this week. Huddled in a woolen blanket, her head covered in a white scarf, she did not take her gaze off the floor, not even for the village women who came to console her – neighbors, acquaintances, schoolgirls and women representing one of the Palestinian Authority ministries.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/twilight-zone-lightening-strikes-again-1.335741
Israel’s attempt to blame victim fails / MJ Rosenberg
The death of a 36-year-old woman, Jawahar Abu Rahmah, at a protest against the route of Israel’s “separation wall” in the West Bank village of Bil’in last Friday, is deeply troubling on many counts. Abu Rahmah died at the hands of the IDF simply because she was standing in the general vicinity of the protesters when the soldiers started shooting off tear gas. Almost as bad, the Israeli authorities intentionally set out to lie about the circumstances of Abu Rahmah’s death. The IDF both lied to journalists and then actually enlisted a group of bloggers to spread the story that she died of natural causes (asthma or cancer), and that her supposed killing by soldiers firing tear gas was some kind of Palestinian stunt. Frankly, I find this story sickening.
http://politicalcorrection.org/fpmatters/201101070004
I004 IDF study: High concentrations of tear gas could be lethal
….Seven years ago, the IDF Medical Corps published a study on CS gas … That study, based on animal experiments, concluded that to kill a person, you would need a dose 800 to 5,600 times larger than the quantities used to disperse demonstrations. Nevertheless, it added, a high concentration of the gas in a given location could cause serious or even lethal harm, and therefore, the gas cannot be considered innocuous. Over the last year the IDF has begun using a tear gas grenade launcher in Bil’in, the Ringo, that allows them to shoot six canisters at once into the same place, creating a thick cloud of gas. The Palestinians say Abu Rahmah was caught in such a cloud.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/2004-idf-study-high-concentrations-of-tear-gas-could-be-lethal-1.335667
The murder of Omar Salim Al-Qawasmi
4,000 attend funeral of Hebron slain
HEBRON (Ma’an) — At least 4,000 gathered Friday afternoon to attend the funeral of Omar Salim Al-Qawasmi, 66, executed [warning: graphic] by Israeli forces early that morning, in what military officials later admitted was a case of mistaken identity. Hamas and Fatah officials joined in the event, hosted following the Friday prayers at a Hebron mosque. The joint participation followed a day of accusations by party officials, with Hamas accusing the PA of being responsible for the death, and accusing the government of coordinating with Israel ahead of the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349051
When killing an old man is ‘returning fire’ / Yossi Gurvitz
Early yesterday morning (Friday), IDF gunmen shot Amr Al Qawasme, aged 66 and residing in Hebron, to death, apparently while he was in bed. An early version of the IDF response, before the IDF was forced to “express its regrets” and admit that oops, we did it again, showed in the Nrg news site. It said (Hebrew) that the soldiers, while arresting a wanted man, “identified another Palestinian, who wasn’t supposed to be present in the building, and – according to them – behaved in a suspicious and threatening manner”. As a result, wrote Nrg, “The force was forced to return fire” … In this case, only one side fired: frightened gunmen – they are always frightened, dammit; who’s brilliant idea was it to arm these panic-prone young men? – shot a helpless old man, who was merely trying to climb out of bed.
http://972mag.com/when-killing-an-old-man-is-%E2%80%9Creturning-fire%E2%80%9D/
In wake of Hebron execution, rival parties to talk
Gaza’s Hamas official Ahmad Yousef said Friday that the lessons learned from the death of a Hebron man in a mistaken identity execution earlier in the day could provide new ground for unity talks between rival factions … The brutal killing of a sleeping civilian in his home shows “Israel does not respect international laws or any agreement with the Palestinian Authority,” whose security services are generally told to evacuate an area under PA control when Israeli forces plan a raid, Yousef said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349075
Hamas: Hebron shooting botched assassination attempt
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The shooting of an elderly Palestinian man was a botched assassination attempt by Israeli forces, and represents an escalation against Palestinians by Israeli forces, a Hamas spokesman said Friday following the death. At a mass rally organized in Gaza on Friday afternoon, Hamas leader Hamas leader Ismail Radwan called for an end to PA-Israel security coordination, asking “who holds the ultimate security decision in the West Bank?”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=348972
Islamic Jihad: Fragile WB security situation behind Hebron death
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Islamic Jihad leaders said in a statement on Friday that the movement held Israel fully responsible for the death of a Hebron man executed in his bed in a case of mistaken identity as soldiers hunted five Hamas members who had been released the day before from PA prisoners. “The resistance will respond in the correct fashion,” the statement said … The movement blamed the situation on “commitments the Palestinian Authority has with the occupation, under which none of its security men dare defend the people.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349014
War crimes
Israeli pilot describes ‘good strike’ that killed 15 Gazans in 2002 / Amira Hass
The airmen who bombed the home of a Hamas military leader in 2002 did not know or did not want to know the identity of their target before the strike, according to T., one of the crewmen directly involved, who spoke recently with students at a secular yeshiva in Tel Aviv. The July 22 bombing of the home of Salah Shehadeh, who had headed Hamas’ military wing, in the densely populated Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, killed a total of 15 people, including Shehadeh and his assistant. The other victims included eight children(ranging in age from less than a year to 14 years old) and three women.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-pilot-describes-good-strike-that-killed-15-gazans-in-2002-1.335660
Medics shocked at number of child deformities in last Gaza war
BEIRUT, (PIC)– A Lebanon-based doctors association interested in breaking the Gaza siege expressed shock over the number of Gaza children who were deformed by internationally-banned weapons in the last Israeli war on Gaza. Briefing a Friday press conference in Beirut after a trip to the Gaza Strip to assess its medical situation, the campaign said the Strip was rife with children deformed by white phosphorus, depleted uranium, napalm, cluster bombs, and other internationally-prohibited arms in the last Gaza war.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m73709&hd=&size=1&l=e
On the verge of Cast Lead II, a look back / Ken O’Keefe
(GAZA STRIP) – Today our team in Gaza met the Awaja family from Thabat. There were nine members of this family, seven children aged 1 to 12 years old, but one son was murdered during Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009), so seven children is now six. Today we visited a few days in the life of this family, courtesy of a magnificent Palestinian mother named Wafaa. Before Cast Lead Thabat was known as Beit Lahia. Thabat means perseverance, determination, steadfastness, resolution, in a nut-shell, never give up. When you hear this family’s story, which in terms of heartbreak is not so uncommon, you will understand why this area was renamed.
http://salem-news.com/articles/january072011/gaza-families-ko.php
Siege / Blockade
Israeli gunboats fire at Palestinian fishermen
GAZA, (PIC)– Israeli navy vessels opened heavy machinegun fire at Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Gaza Strip on Friday night but no casualties were reported. Security sources said that the gunboats repeatedly targeted fishing boats off the Sudaniya area north of Gaza Strip forcing fishermen to return to the shore fearing for their lives.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7825wHIKmbsyZQDXVgy%2bq2HU4pPD1w%2b%2fenMszlSNS3ioVyy96%2fNlOo6STVjd0X5aNuDxzeD8lx0z3rQ8WDsiXUSmbDnkrA%2fy3pf2LqTImJ54%3d
Gaza crossing shut down ahead of weekend
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Crossings between Israel and Gaza were closed on Friday, Israeli officials told Palestinian liaison officers early in the morning. The crossings, Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattuh said, would stay closed until Sunday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=348936
Detention
Fatah prisoners on hunger strike in Gaza
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights expressed concern Friday over the condition of six Fatah-affiliated men detained by Hamas and held in a Gaza City prison. Families of the prisoners said they had begun the hunger strike one week earlier in an effort to protest the conditions in the prison, and to be formally recognized as political prisoners.
Abbas’s militia bars the raising of Hamas’s flag during Qawasmi funeral
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)– The militia of the de facto PA President Mahmoud Abbas arrested on Friday afternoon a number of participants in the funeral of Omar al-Qawsmi because they chanted slogans in support of Hamas and called on the Qassam Brigades to retaliate to the cold-blooded murder of Qawasmi. The militia also barred the participants from raising the green flags of Hamas during the funeral despite the participation of hundreds of Hamas supporters in the funeral and instead forced young boys to raise Fatah’s flag
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7qWTwaHkJ4wH3QKUtzNeBuCQtNMDP2nYpxG0Zgbhj6c2zJKnfq77dIRAM7N42vtR%2bCAf38cwh%2fyMLz2AgeaTXj1595OgQ528bHdW6NSOk7lg%3d
Arsonists set fire to car of PA officer
NABLUS (Ma’an) – Unidentified arsonists set fire on Friday morning to the private car of Samir Samaro, director of the PA Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs office in Nablus in the northern West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349181
Tadamun: Real danger threatening life of cancer-stricken prisoner
NABLUS, (PIC)– Real danger is threatening the life of detainee Akram Mansour after he contracted cancer four years ago, due to deliberate medical neglect on the part of the Israeli prisons authority (IPA), the Tadamum (solidarity) institution for human rights said on Saturday. Ahmed Al-Beitawi, a researcher with Tadamun, said that Mansour, who has been held in Israeli occupation jails for 32 years, is one of the oldest serving Palestinian prisoners.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7LqPCOX%2frLzaeU5fqSQyFv2kJg41kmYEQAyPDYtq2rXsfWJkZO25lbpMjvsey95FtsWRv6Zl4k5rHwqj7bYyMlVq9owqqMLFMbznWuHC%2fz4c%3d
Suppression of dissent in Israel
Former Knesset speaker urges Israeli human rights groups to shun Knesset probe
Avraham Burg, an ex-Knesset speaker and former head of the Jewish Agency, called on Israeli human rights groups not to cooperate with the Knesset committee expected to be set up to investigate them. Sympathetic MKs should also shun the probe, Burg said.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/former-knesset-speaker-urges-israeli-human-rights-groups-to-shun-knesset-probe-1.335665
When did it become illegal to be a leftist in Israel? / Gideon Levy
The police, the legal system, the Knesset, the Shin Bet, and the IDF have joined forces with the propagandists of the right to act as prosecutors without a trial.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/when-did-it-become-illegal-to-be-a-leftist-in-israel-1.335503
Knesset Committee on un-Israeli Activities / Roi Maor
…why are Israeli elites so afraid? Although they will never admit it, perhaps not even to themselves, their true concern is about Israel’s internal strength, rather than its standing abroad. As I’ve written in the past, Israeli society has been demobilizing for decades now. Its formerly Spartan ethos has been almost completely reversed, creating soaring socio-economic gaps. Cohesion now has to be maintained by constantly fomenting nationalist paranoia. Although it is effective in the short term, fear mongering is a shaky long-term prop.
http://972mag.com/knesset-committee-on-un-israeli-activities/
Ta’ayush activist and filmmaker targeted in witch hunt against Israeli left / Mairav Zonzstein
Fellow Ta’ayush activist and independent filmmaker Nissim Mossek, who produces reports for the Israel Broadcasting Authority (which operates the country’s national public news station, “Channel One”) was recently made aware of the attempt by an Israeli nonprofit called “The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel” to censor his work due to what they deem to be his “extremist” politics. (The full translation of the letter is below and worth the read.
http://972mag.com/taayush-activist-and-filmmaker-targeted-in-witch-hunt-against-israeli-left/
Political/Diplomatic developments
Israel: Chile’s recognition of Palesinian state useless
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Chile’s recognition of an independent Palestinian state is “useless” and will not help advance peace, a senior Israeli official told AFP on Saturday. “It is a useless and empty gesture because it will not change anything,” the official said a day after Chile announced it has recognized Palestine as an independent state, in the footsteps of other Latin American countries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349270
Mashal meets resistance leader in Damascus
DAMASCUS (Ma’an) – Secretary-general of the Palestinian Popular Resistance Movement Sheikh Zakariyya Dughmush on Friday met with Hamas leader-in-exile Khalid Mashal in Damascus.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349271
Egypt’s Mubarak warns Israel against new Gaza war
CAIRO (AFP) — Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday warned Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu against launching a new war on Gaza, as they met in a bid to break the impasse in Middle East peace negotiations.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=348865
Fatah’s consultative council to hold first meeting
Fatah’s consultative council is scheduled to convene for the first time Saturday in Ramallah in the central West Bank, secretary-general of the Revolutionary Council Amin Maqboul said. Maqboul said the council was the connecting link between the movement’s Central Committee and Revolutionary Council, and that President Mahmoud Abbas would attend the meeting.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349160
Hamas: Not aware of ban on Fatah officials
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Saturday he was not aware that senior Fatah officials in Gaza were prevented from leaving the Strip to attend a Consultative Council meeting in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=349321
Other news
New Israeli military technology speeds up warfare
Sophisticated communication system that compiles battlefield information in video game-like map interface designed to knock down military’s response time … The Associated Press was given rare access to the exercise by a military eager to reclaim some of the deterrence it lost over technologically inferior Arab forces.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4010405,00.html
PM: We’ll double number of haredim in IDF
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has adopted Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi’s stand and will aim to double the number of haredim serving in the army within five years. Netanyahu’s office said Friday afternoon that the prime minister would ask the government to vote on a plan to advance military and civilian service in the ultra-Orthodox sector as early as Sunday.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4010387,00.html
Israel to ramp up Birthright investment
NEW YORK (JTA) — Israel’s government will more than double its investment in the popular Birthright Israel program. “My government will give
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/01/06/2742445/israel-to-ramp-up-birthright-investment
Ousted patriarch behind locked doors in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM – Six years ago, Irineos I was the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem with about 100,000 followers. Today, he sits behind locked doors in his Old City apartment, claiming he has been imprisoned by the successor who ousted him in a dispute over sale of church land to Israelis. The only way Irineos could speak to The Associated Press Thursday was through a wireless microphone hoisted at the end of a rope to his roof
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/06/ousted-patriarch-locked-doors-jerusalem/
Did golden calf cause Carmel blaze?
Poster at Holon Religious Council, building funded by Israeli public, blames deadly fire on debauchery and desecration of Shabbat. ‘I understand that it offends people, so we’ll take it down,’ says religious council chief, adding that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef did say blaze was result of desecration of Shabbat [oh, right, and according to Pat Robertson, voodoo caused the Haiti earthquake]
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4010274,00.html
Other opinion / analysis
Some thoughts on Omar, Jawaher, and Isabel / Seham
Omar al-Qawsmi and Jawaher Abu Rahmah are this week’s unfortunate symbols of Israeli stupidity and short-sightedness. And not just those two brutal killings, but all of the actions that we see that defy logic, the law and morality that Israel undertakes … I wasn’t surprised that Isabel Kershner of the NYT failed to question the morality or legality of breaking down a door and shooting a man to death as he lay on bed next to his wife because he is a suspected Hamas member. Maybe she doesn’t know that extra-judicial assassinations are illegal or maybe she doesn’t care because the victim was just a Palestinian … And then Kershner goes on to absolve Israel of all of the other murders that were prominent in the news this week:
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/some-thoughts-on-omar-jawaher-and-isabel.html
Seeking haredi Rosa Parks / Ariana Melamed
Op-ed: Ariana Melamed hoping to see first haredi woman refusing to enter bus through backdoor … Haredi women live in a community where any public presence of a woman in the public space is a sort of threat. They will not be able to remedy this situation via the legal route, as they do not speak out politically … In recent years, instead of the unification and tolerance Justice Joubran hopes for, these leaders and rabbis are slowly starting to prevent women who are not haredi from realizing their rights for equality in the public sphere.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4010159,00.html
Haaretz editorial: Persecution in place of policy
The more Israel’s isolation in the world increases as a result of the government shunning the peace process, the more energy the right-wing parties, led by Yisrael Beiteinu, are investing in silencing internal criticism.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/persecution-in-place-of-policy-1.335504
Hi, Joe! / Uri Avnery
…This week, the Knesset adopted a bill tabled by Kirschenbaum, a settler who is also the Director General of Avigdor Lieberman’s party. The bill calls for the appointment of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to investigate whether international funds or foreign countries are financing organizations that “take part in the campaign to de-legitimize IDF soldiers” … It is easy to guess what such an investigation by a committee composed of politicians, appointed by the rightist-racist majority of the Knesset, will look like. The infamous Anti-American Activities Committee will look distinctly liberal in comparison.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1294492787/
A Special Place in Hell: When the Messiah comes, Israel will deport him / Bradley Burston
When the Messiah comes, he will be without papers. When the Messiah comes, he will be taken into a small room, off-white and chilled, with one gray metal chair at each side of a gray metal desk. When the Messiah comes, he will be questioned by a junior officer of the Shin Bet …When the Messiah comes, no one will know. His donkey, which is white and is named Snowpea, will be impounded in a leaky underground police lot near the Lod railroad station. When the Messiah comes, the first sign will be a gag order … When the Messiah comes, rabbis will treat him like Jesus. They will brand him disloyal, diseased, Reform.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/when-the-messiah-comes-israel-will-deport-him-1.335566
Forgotten history
This week in Haaretz: 1946. Eight-day curfew has Jerusalem reeling
…The curfew, which lasted eight days, was instituted in the wake of a Jewish attack on British police headquarters … The “highly inconsiderate spirit “of the British leadership, he said, “was an integral part of the occupation of the country, in a place where the government is foreign to the population, a place where the government does not take on concern for their economic future … I am doubtful whether the democratic leadership of any country would allow itself to paralyze economic life so often even in the case of violent fighting.” Collective punishment “only increases bitterness,” and pushes people “into the camp of complainers and rebels,” [columnist Ben Natan] wrote, expressing the position of many Jewish moderates at that time.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/eight-day-curfew-has-jerusalem-reeling-1.335500
Iraq, other Mideast/Arab world
Friday: 8 Iraqis killed, 4 wounded
At least eight Iraqis were killed and four more were wounded in unusually light violence. Gunmen killed five people, including a policeman’s sister, during a home invasion in Husseiniya. Two people were killed and a third person was wounded during a car bomb in Nasariya. The attack targeted a former Mahdi Army member, or it resulted from explosives the man was carrying himself….
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/01/07/friday-8-iraqis-killed-4-wounded/
Al-Sadr calls on Iraqis ‘to resist’
Shi`a leader urges peaceful resistance and a rejection of violence in his first address since returning from exile … In his first public address since returning from self-imposed exile, he called on the newly formed government to make sure all US forces left Iraq by the end of the year as planned.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/01/20111872647305497.html
US to consider Iraqi militia leader Al-Sadr visa application if submitted
The United States on Friday gave a favorable nod to prominent Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to visit American soil, saying that Washington would consider his visa application on par with other applicants, according to the State Department. According to leaked documents, there were efforts to invite the religious leader to the U.S. to address a congregation at the National Prayer Breakfast, but the organizers decided to discourage the moves saying, “Not yet time.”
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m73698&hd=&size=1&l=e
EU to reject Iran invitation to tour nuclear facilities
Reuters – EU’s Catherine Ashton: Touring nuclear facilities is not our job; looking at sites and establishing what they are there for is for IAEA inspectors.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/eu-to-reject-iran-invite-to-tour-nuclear-facilities-1.335752
Tunisia’s bitter cyberwar
Thousands of Tunisians have taken to the streets in recent weeks to call for extensive economic and social change in their country … That battle is taking place not just on the country’s streets, but in internet forums, blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds. The Tunisian authorities have allegedly carried out targeted “phishing” operations: stealing users passwords to spy on them and eradicate online criticism. Websites on both sides have been hacked.
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=73691
Robert Fisk: The forgotten martydom of Algeria’s reporters
How quickly we forget the murder of colleagues. The Algerian press, freer than it has been for years (though that’s not saying a lot), now boasts a smart and cynical edge … A sober, black-covered book by journalist Lazhari Labter now records the martyrdom of the reporters of Algeria. It makes terrible reading – not least because we have, all of us outside, forgotten these literal pages of suffering. I reported many of their deaths and I had forgotten them.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-forgotten-martyrdom-of-algerias-reporters-2179196.html
U.S.
Obama strongly backs US trials for terror suspects (AP)
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama forcefully declared his support Friday for U.S. civilian trials of Guantanamo detainees, pledging to overturn language in a sweeping defense bill that would effectively block such trials anytime soon.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110108/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_guantanamo
Guantanamo detainee asks NY judge for leniency
NEW YORK – The first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be convicted on a terrorism charge in a U.S. civilian court has asked for leniency at sentencing, citing his “mistreatment” at an overseas CIA camp, prosecutors said in papers filed Friday in which they seek to keep him incarcerated for life. The treatment of Ahmed Ghailani after his 2004 arrest was not mentioned at his trial last year
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110108/ap_on_re_us/us_guantanamo_detainee
Package to US Homeland Security chief ignites in Washington
Reuters – Police say postal worker was tossing mail into a bin when package addressed to Janet Napolitano was discovered ‘popping, smoking and with a brief flash of fire.’
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/package-to-u-s-homeland-security-chief-ignites-in-washington-1.335865
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks: Israel planned to strike Hamas financially
BEIRUT, (PIC)– A WikiLeaks document states that Israeli Anti-Terrorism Bureau chief Danny Arditi had devised a plan to strike Hamas by boosting financial support to the West Bank government headed by Salam Fayyad, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Safir said Friday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s70AhHriCrD%2f5eq5pq5k27PT9jBfdqJgLG5mtzn4TbyQjjjVMwKUnPU3rapMsOckDIq9r6IeOMEEV950CWlofTCCgT63pEnVJQhOn9136riS4%3d
US orders Twitter to hand over WikiLeaks records
(Reuters) – A U.S. court has ordered Twitter to hand over details of the accounts of WikiLeaks and several supporters as part of a criminal investigation into the release of hundreds of thousands of confidential documents.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70716420110108
US relocates some named in WikiLeaks cables, fearing reprisals
Reuters – State Department fears that hundreds discussed in leaked diplomatic documents might be at risk for attacks by repressive governments.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/u-s-relocates-some-named-in-wikileaks-cables-fearing-reprisals-1.335852
How the US let al-Qaida get its hands on an Iraqi weapons factory
In an exclusive extract from his new book, A History of the World since 9/11, Dominic Streatfeild explains how despite expert warnings, the US let al-Qaida buy an arsenal of deadly weapons – then tried to cover it up
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/07/iraq-weapons-factory-al-qaida-us-failure
Afghanistan: War of choice, not necessity / Sheldon Richman
Today virtually no al-Qaeda operate in Afghanistan, and U.S./NATO forces are mostly fighting warlords who were allies during the Soviet invasion. Staying even one more day is immoral — and criminal.
http://www.fff.org/comment/com1101c.asp
Some thoughts on Omar, Jawaher and Isabel
Jan 08, 2011
Seham
Omar al-Qawsmi and Jawaher Abu Rahmah are this week’s unfortunate symbols of Israeli stupidity and short-sightedness. And not just those two brutal killings, but all of the actions that we see that defy logic, the law and morality that Israel undertakes, like forcing Palestinians to demolish their own homes, killing Palestinians that drink soda at checkpoints, imprisoning non-violent activists, depriving children of medical care, raiding universities and imprisoning children. It amounts to a systematic attempt at ethnic cleansing. They hope that the Palestinians will get fed up and leave but they haven’t figured out that the Palestinians aren’t going anywhere because they have nowhere else to go. They also fail to grasp that their actions make it possible that the demise of Israel might occur during my lifetime because they can’t seem to look past a day or two into their futures.
Also, I wasn’t surprised that Isabel Kershner of the NYT failed to question the morality or legality of breaking down a door and shooting a man to death as he lay on bed next to his wife because he is a suspected Hamas member. Maybe she doesn’t know that extra-judicial assassinations are illegal or maybe she doesn’t care because the victim was just a Palestinian.
She seems more concerned in explaining to readers that it was simply a matter of regrettable mistaken identity. Kershner also tells us that there is bickering among the Palestinians about who is responsible for the slaughter of al-Qawsmi:
The killing also heightened tensions between the authority, which the West backs, and Hamas, its militant Islamist rival. Hamas accused the Palestinian Authority of collaborating with Israel in the case and bearing joint responsibility for the man’s death. The authority has been reining in Hamas activists and militants in the West Bank since the Islamist group, which won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, seized full control of Gaza a year later. There, Hamas has detained loyalists of Fatah, the dominant party of the authority.
And then Kershner goes on to absolve Israel of all of the other murders that were prominent in the news this week:
The other recent deaths include the case of a Palestinian woman, 36, who died last Saturday after inhaling tear gas on the sidelines of a protest the day before in the West Bank, according to her family and Palestinian medical officials. Initially, Israeli military officials anonymously raised questions about whether those accounts were fabricated; Friday brought the first official comment. The army commander in the West Bank, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, was quoted by Haaretz as saying the woman probably died not from tear gas but from other medical “complications, combined with problems in the medical care she received at the Palestinian hospital.”
On Sunday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man as he approached a checkpoint in the northern West Bank. The military said that he was holding a glass bottle, and that he had approached the checkpoint in an unauthorized lane and failed to heed orders to stop.
On that note, I end with Malcolm:
The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make a criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. — Malcolm X
