NOVANEWS
Posted By: Sammi Ibrahem
Chair of Palestine Solidarity Campaign
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Why Zionists promote anti-Muslim law enforcement trainings
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Human Rights activist Ahmad Qatamesh, detained for 6 years in the 90s, is arrested again without charges
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Syrian repression continues and intensifies: Assad regime kills 150 since Friday
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Can you imagine being forced to organize a ‘humanitarian delegation’ in order to simply visit your grandparents?
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Love During Wartime: Interview with director Gabriella Bier
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A concoction of distortions, half-truths and emotionally-potent oversimplifications of scripture is Christian Zionism
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Young Arab Jews of Israel cry out for their Tahrir (and Palestine’s too)
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Two upcoming Goldstone events in Chicago & the Bay Area
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Shepherds vs settlers in the Holy Land as the IDF passively stands by
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‘Foreign Policy’ undermines Oren argument with graphic straight out of the ‘ZOG’ archives
Why Zionists promote anti-Muslim law enforcement trainings
Apr 25, 2011
Alex Kane
Following the September 11 attacks, American tax dollars began to flow to local law enforcement agencies around the country in order to enlist law enforcement in the “war on terror.” The major consequence of this enlistment, as a report on the counter-terrorism industry released by the Political Research Associates shows, is that anti-Muslim trainers have ample opportunity to propagate crude stereotypes about Muslim-Americans to police forces in the U.S. And a driving ideological force behind the percolation of Islamophobic trainings for law enforcement agencies is right-wing Zionism.
I interviewed Thom Cincotta, the author of the Political Research Associates’ report, for a piece on the report that appeared in AlterNet. I asked him to go into detail about the fact that right-wing Zionism in the U.S. feeds anti-Muslim counter-terrorism trainings, and this is what he told me:
All of the rhetoric around these trainings leave very little room for Muslim-Americans to dissent from U.S. foreign policy or domestic counter-terrorism policy. There’s the notion that if anyone is outspoken, then they are providing ideological support for terrorism. When Dr. Zuhdi Jasser testified a few weeks ago before the King hearings, he characterized this as the “pool” where the violent radicals swim. So when you demonize, or paint legitimate advocacy groups or community groups as potential terrorists merely for speaking out against U.S. policy and because there is some vague overlap between the political goals of, say, an al-Qaeda—related to for instance, U.S. occupation of a foreign land—it leaves very little room for dissent and it stifles free speech.
You could see these trainings through the lens that by stigmatizing groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations or the Islamic Society of North America and other groups, in the domestic political sphere, it’s an attempt to silence a key bloc who support Palestinian rights in the United States. Without that vocal bloc pushing Congress, it’s hard to see how U.S. foreign policy with regard to Israel is going to change.
Alex Kane, a freelance journalist based in New York City, blogs on Israel/Palestine and Islamophobia in the U.S. at alexbkane.wordpress.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.
Human Rights activist Ahmad Qatamesh, detained for 6 years in the 90s, is arrested again without charges
Apr 25, 2011
annie
Omar Barghoti released this statement earlier today accompanying an article (which follows) regarding Dr. Ahmad Qatamesh, a prominent Palestinian writer, academic and human rights advocate.
“They told him they will issue an “administrative detention” order against him, clearly indicating that they have arrested him for his writings and political views. Human rights organizations have squarely condemned administrative detention as an affront to justice, as the detainee is not formally charged and is not given a chance to defend him/herself or even access to the charges list. Please distribute this to your human rights and activists networks, urging everyone to do their best to pressure Israel to release him and all other Palestinian prisoners of conscience.”
In the early hours of dawn on Thursday, 21 April 2011, a large force of Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers raided the home of the prominent Palestinian writer and academic Dr. Ahmad Qatamesh in Al-Bireh and arrested him. An hour earlier, Qatamesh’s wife, 22-year-old daughter and two other female relatives, including a 14-year-old child, were taken hostage by Israeli troops in another apartment in an effort to compel him to surrender himself. He was led to “Ofer” detention center in Beitunia.
Ahmad Qatamesh was born in 1950 in a cave in Bethlehem to a refugee family expelled during the Nakba from the village of Al-Malihah, near Jerusalem.
Qatamesh earned his diploma in Arabic literature from the UNRWA-run Teacher Training Center in Ramallah.
In 1992, he was arrested by a massive Israeli force in the presence of his then 3-year-old daughter. Accusing him of being a particularly “dangerous” national leader, the Israeli Shabak tortured and ill- treated him for a hundred days, an experience that he articulately exposed in his well-read prison notes titled I Shall not Wear Your Tarboush (fez). After the Shabak failed to produce incriminating evidence, however, an Israeli military court issued an “administrative detention” order against him, in accordance with an emergency law that allows Israel to detain for renewable terms anyone under its jurisdiction without charges, trial or access to the charges against him/her. This unjust procedure was repeatedly condemned as a violation of internationally accepted standards of justice by leading human rights organizations, including Amnesty International*. Qatamesh’s detention was renewed continuously for almost six years, making him the longest serving administrative detainee ever. In April 1998, after a persistent public pressure campaign by Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights activists and organizations, Qatamesh was finally released.
Ahmad Qatamesh earned his master’s degree and later his PhD in political science from a Dutch university through distance learning, as he was under a travel ban by the Israeli occupation
LATimes ’98 describes Dr. Qatamesh’s previous 6 year imprisonment: “believed to have been imprisoned longer than any other Palestinian under what Israel calls “administrative detention.”
* Amnesty International (pdf)
Syrian repression continues and intensifies: Assad regime kills 150 since Friday
Apr 25, 2011
Seham
Syrian Crackdown Intensifies: Over 150 Killed Since Friday as Assad Regime Attempts to Crush Protest Movement
Syria has intensified its massive crackdown on demonstrators, despite the lifting of emergency rule last week that banned demonstrations. Al Jazeera reports thousands of troops backed with tanks have swept into the southern city of Daraa, where a curfew is in place, setting up snipers on rooftops and killing at least 20 people. Government security forces have also stormed the large Damascus suburb of Douma. These latest developments follow protests on Friday that ended with more than 100 people killed in the deadliest day since the uprising began. We go to Syria to speak to Rula Amin of Al Jazeera and Razan Zaitouneh, human rights lawyer and activist.
Gunfire as Syrian troops move into Deraa
Hundreds of soldiers move into flashpoint town, as Syrian intellectuals denounce continuing violence against protesters.
Syrian forces raid homes to quell protests
Two MPs resign amid reported deaths of 15 people as outrage at government’s response to pro-democracy protests spreads.
‘Nine killed’ at Syria funeral processions
Two MPs quit parliament after security forces reportedly open fire on processions for pro-democracy activists.
Syrian Update: ‘Three killed’ in Jableh
Residents tell Al Jazeera they remain trapped in mosque as security forces patrol streets.
Angry Arab: Imam of Dar`a
I just watched a clip by the Imam of Dar`a on Aljazeera. I can testify that he clearly seems to be a religious nut. I can see why Saudi Arabia and Qaradawi would be in favor of this guy. He spoke like St. Augustine (who used to swallow his food and not chew them because he did not want to indulge in any pleasures on earth: he wanted to save that for the hereafter. Of course, before he dedicated himself to his god, he indulged in earthly pleasures and admitted in his confessions that he would call on god to save him but…not yet (then): he said there are two trends: those who want the rule of God, and those who want earthly matters.
Angry Arab: Syria and Aljazeera
Comrade Hussein sent me this (I cite with his permission): “I am not sure how Syria is going to end up; but I am writing this with the assumption that the regime will fall, although it is still not very likely so far. I think al-Jazeera is covering up the highly sectarian agenda of many protesters while at the same time allowing for the Islamic nature of their slogans to be heard extensively on air to satisfy the broader Arab audience without having to deal with problematic issues at this point. This way, they cannot be accused of sectarianism bluntly, especially when they are heard chanting about national unity while slogans against other sects are swept under the rug (as when they said that it is part of ‘their’ religion to kill ‘us’ – Haytham Manna’ was at pains to repudiate that slogan by all means but to no avail). Now the really secular opposition forces, who are a minority, will probably commit the classic mistake of underestimating the fundamentalists’ power or their political acumen, only to find themselves victims of these people later on in case the regime falls (similar to the early Iranian scenario of 1979-1981, with the main difference between the presence of individual, almost self-financed, charismatic leadership and what we have with the Syrian MB). having said all this, I do think that no matter what, the Syrian people only have the right to decide on their government, even if it is a reactionary one.”
And more from the Arab uprisings:
Angry Arab: From Syria with doubt
A leftist comrade who I trust sent me this (I cite with his permission but I will keep him anonymous): “Hi As’ad, I have been going to Syria for several months now due to my work….i am …; So part of my work is to go to the client’s company…. I have been to Aleppo, Rakka, Hasaka Damascus and also the rural part of Aleppo and Damascus.
Except for Damascus and the Christian neighborhood of Aleppo you would think you are in Kandahar under the rule of Taliban (especially in the rural parts_…As’ad what you see there is scary…burqa3 everywhere…women are barely seen in the streets and the overwhelming majority is covered from head to bottom. Now I have been thinking about what is happening in Syria…and I have been trying to support the protesters…but I cannot…those people will only bring Taliban alike into power…Saudi Arabia will have the upper hand in the region and Syria will be divided between sects in the best case scenario. (Not to mention that the arms route toward Hezbollah will be cut). Yesterday in doma the chants were “Alawiyye bi eltabout…w masi7iey 3a Beirut”!! how can we ever support those guys…. I agree that there is another Syrian opposition but these are a minority….those leading the demonstrations are islamists – Saudi style….
All I am saying is that are you sure you want the Syrian regime to collapse…because the more I look at the “rebels”….the more I doubt the whole future of the region…..for the first time in my life I am doubting my decision to live in the region.”
Angry Arab: Communist Action Party in Syria
I have always admired this radical communist opposition group in Syria. It used to be named Communist Action League. It launched armed struggle against the Syrian regime back in 1976 when the orthodox Stalinist Bakdash communist party sided with the regime at all costs. The Communist Action Party was ruthlessly and brutally suppressed: the fact that the party was predominantly `Alawite in composition only incensed the regime more. I met a few of party members who fled to Lebanon over the years. I am getting information from comrades in Syria that the party has been active in the protests, especially in the sit-in in Homs. So no, not all the protesters are Salafite nuts, but Salafite nuts are there too. That can’t be denied.
Angry Arab: Iranian assistance to Syria
I have been reading in the Western Zionist press that Iran has been assisting Syria in repression. I totally reject such news. I just don’t believe it and I feel strongly about this: the Syrian regime is fully qualified on its own to handle any repression inside the country. Hell, Syrian Ba`thist regime is even qualified to teach Iran and Saudi Arabia lessons in repression.
Bahrain
Bahrain seeks death sentence for protesters on trial (Reuters)
Reuters – Bahrain is seeking death penalty for a group of protesters accused of killing two policemen during anti-government demonstrations in the Gulf island kingdom, state media reported on Monday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110425/ts_nm/us_bahrain_trial
Bahraini forces open fire on protesters
Saudi-backed Bahraini troops have opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in the village of Karzakan, injuring at least one protester.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/176147.html
Amnesty International, “Bahraini Opposition Leader Ebrahim Sharif Feared Tortured”
Ebrahim Sharif was admitted to the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) military hospital in al-Riffa’, central Bahrain, reportedly for the second time on or around 10 April and his family does not know if he is still there. According to information received by Amnesty International, a patient at the hospital saw Ebrahim on 10 April and recognized him despite his swollen face, raising concerns that he may have been assaulted and otherwise tortured in detention. His family has officially requested visits to Ebrahim Sharif twice; the first time days after his arrest and the second time in the week of 18 April, but their requests have not received any answer from the authorities. Amnesty International fears that Ebrahim Sharif remains at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/ai220411.html
Shiite mosques demolished in Bahrain crackdown (AP)
AP – Bahrain’s main opposition party says authorities have demolished 16 mosques as part of crackdown on Shiite dissent in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom over the past month.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110423/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_bahrain
Iraqi Shi’ites want Saudis to withdraw from Bahrain (Reuters)
Reuters – Hundreds of Iraqi Shi’ites rallied in Baghdad on Saturday to demand the immediate withdrawal of Saudi troops from Bahrain, which has sparked reminders of Iraq’s own sectarian divide.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110423/wl_nm/us_iraq_protests_bahrain
Iran urges Bahrain to heed people’s demands (AFP)
AFP – Iran on Saturday urged Bahrain to heed the demands of its people before it was too late, and insisted nothing could justify Saudi intervention amid Shiite-led protests in the Gulf kingdom.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110423/wl_mideast_afp/bahrainpoliticsunrestiran
Iran says offers ‘moral’ support to Bahrainis (AFP)
AFP – Iran said Friday it offers “moral support” for the demands of the people of Bahrain and denied having any role in the Shiite-led protests in the tiny Gulf kingdom ruled by a Sunni dynasty.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110422/wl_mideast_afp/gulfpoliticsiranbahrainsaudigcc
The father/mother of all buffoons
“Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa is perhaps the most tech-savvy of the Gulf states’ foreign ministers. In addition to his official government day job, Shaikh Khalid also maintains an active personal Twitter account through which he presents the official Bahraini point of view regarding the recent protests in the kingdom to his thousands of followers. Born in 1960 and educated at St Edward’s University in Texas, graduating with a BSc in History and Political Science, Shaikh Khalid, while in the US, volunteered in Jimmy Carter’s 1980 presidential campaign.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/04/fathermother-of-all-buffoons.html
Bahrain FM finds parody of himself on Twitter (AP)
AP – Bahrain’s top diplomat and prolific tweeter Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa has warned followers about a spoof version of himself on the Twitter social media site.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110425/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_bahrain_twitter_parody
Bahrain: Below the radar
The Arab uprising that has failed to capture the international media’s attention.
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/listeningpost/2011/04/2011423132118992455.html
Egypt
Mubarak to be moved to military hospital
Egypt’s top prosecutor orders the transfer after medical exams showed that the ex-leader is stable enough for the move.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/04/201142421469638622.html
Egypt’s Copts vie for bigger role
As Egypt tries to forge a new political future, Coptic Christians aim to move out of the political shadows.
http://english.aljazeera.net//video/middleeast/2011/04/2011424202515638238.html
Egypt makes concession to anti-governor protesters
CAIRO, April 25 (Reuters) – Egypt’s military-led government tried to quell more than a week of protests against the new governor of a southern province on Monday by saying he would not take up his duties for three months. Sate media reported the activities of Emad Mikhail, a Christian and former police officer who was appointed as governor of Qena province this month, would be “frozen for three months”.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/egypt-makes-concession-to-anti-governor-protesters
Egyptian revolutionary comrades
…are calling for a demonstration against the Zionist embassy in Cairo. BE THERE: or Be Like Mubarak.
Jamal kindly translated:
“March and Stand-In In Front of the Embassy of the Zionist Entity
“The Supporters of the Palestinian Revolution” invite you to a march and stand-in in front of the embassy of the Zionist entity which gets moving from in front of the main gate of Cairo University on Wednesday 27 April at exactly 2:3pm demanding the following:
-Condemning the Zionist occupation of our Arab land in flesh, blood, roots, and history
-Cancelling normalization in all its forms
-Ceasing the export of natural gas to the Zionists immediately along with the return of all that the Zionists have stolen from us in this shameful normalization.
-Ceasing the building of the steel wall of shame immediately
-Treating Palestinians the same as Egyptians are treated in Egypt, acknowledging their rights to residency, education, work, and health just the same as Egyptians.
Shimon Peres called on the youth of Egypt to normalize, this will be our response to him in front of their embassy.”
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/04/egyptian-revolutionary-comrades.html
Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Mubarak’s protege
It is refreshing to read things against Saudi Arabia in the Egyptian press these days. It is delightful. I can’t wait until the Egyptian press goes all out against the House of Saud. So there is a brewing scandal which did not bring any attention in the US: Mubarak’s corrupt businessman (who was involved in the corrupt deal of gas sales to Israel and who was in the Egyptian mukhabarat and who bought a villa for Mubarak in Sharm Al-Shaykh) was caught (not personally as he fled) trying to smuggle precious items from Cairo airport headed to Saudi Arabia and addressed to son of Prince Muqrin (head of Saudi mukhabrat).
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/04/israel-saudi-arabia-and-mubaraks.html
Iraq
Iraqis rally against extending U.S. troops presence
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) -Thousands of Iraqis rallied in the northern city of Mosul Sunday in one of the biggest protests yet against any extension of the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/24/us-iraq-protests-idUSTRE73N21C20110424
Libya
Three Libyan state TV stations go off air after explosions
TRIPOLI, April 24 (Reuters) – Three Libyan state television stations went briefly off air after three loud explosions were heard in central Tripoli soon after midnight. Libyan Television, Jamahiriya and Shababiya all stopped broadcasting but returned to air within half an hour.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/three-libyan-state-tv-stations-go-off-air-after-explosions
Nato strike hits Gaddafi compound
A Nato air strike on the Libyan capital Tripoli badly damages buildings in Col Muammar Gaddafi’s compound, officials and witnesses say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-13184594
Kadafi fighters flee Misurata, but their artillery onslaught continues
The victorious Libyan rebels in this key western city have lost hundreds of fighters in block-by-block battles. Meanwhile, explosions continue to shake the buildings. Fighters loyal to Col. Moammar Kadafi fled their last position inside the western Libyan city of Misurata on Sunday morning, leaving the center of the besieged port community in the hands of rebels seeking to oust the longtime leader.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/kTrHu_EeYFc/la-fg-libya-misurata-20110425,0,3872358.story
Libyan foreign minister crosses Tunisian border-TAP
CAIRO, April 23 (Reuters) – Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi crossed the border into Tunisia on Saturday, Tunisia’s state TAP news agency said. TAP said Obeidi, who entered Tunisia through the main transit point of Ras Jdir on the Tunisian-Libyan border, was heading to Djerba airport. It said he was believed to be on his way to Cyprus, but a senior Cypriot government source said: “We cannot confirm this report, he is not coming to Cyprus.” A security source at Djerba airport said Obeidi later took a flight to the capital Tunis. Obeidi was promoted to foreign minister after the defection of his predecessor Moussa Koussa to Britain. He visited Cyprus earlier this month to discuss the conflict, and held talks with government officials in Greece, Turkey and Malta as deputy foreign minister
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libyan-foreign-minister-crosses-tunisian-border-tap
Fifteen dead in Gaddafi ambushes – rebel spokesman
CAIRO, April 23 (Reuters) – At least 15 people were killed by booby-traps and in ambushes set up by Gaddafi brigades on Saturday while withdrawing from the Libyan city of Misrata, a rebel spokesman told Al Jazeera television. “I have received information about 15 people were martyred and 31 wounded as a result of ambushes by the Gaddafi brigades at the site of their withdrawal,” the spokesman, Abdel Basset Abu Mezerik, told the station. He said forces to the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had also used “dirty methods” of booby-trapping bodies and cars while withdrawing from Misrata.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/fifteen-dead-in-gaddafi-ambushes-rebel-spokesman
Libyan children suffering rape, aid agency reports
Children as young as eight have been subjected to sexual assaults, according to accounts given to Save the Children. Libyan children as young as eight have suffered sexual assaults, including rape, amid the worsening conflict across the country, a British aid agency has warned. Although Save the Children said it could not confirm the reports, the charity said the accounts by children were consistent and they were displaying signs of physical and emotional distress. The allegations come from 200 children and 40 adults who have fled from Misrata, Ajdabiya and Ras Lanuf and are now in temporary camps in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/23/libyan-children-suffering-rape?CMP=twt_gu
Reports of pro-Gaddafi sleeper cells in Ajdabiya
Doctors and nurses in a hospital in Ajdabiya tell Al Jazeera they suspect men loyal to Gaddafi are among them, posing a constant threat. Sue Turton reports from Ajdabiya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vv87WPvAoo&feature=youtube_gdata
Battle for Libya: Update from Benghazi
Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, sheds light on the current situation in Libya, and the role “tribes” are playing in the battle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPBrRzckfEQ&feature=youtube_gdata
Gaddafi forces pulling out of Misurata
Gaddafi’s forces say they have suspended the fighting in Misurata, but they have planted booby trapped bombs, which have caused many casualties. As Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons reports, the city’s hospitals are struggling to cope.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQIhbkhsGU0&feature=youtube_gdata
Report from Misurata
Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons is in the Libyan city of Misurata. He says attacks on the city are intensifying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKOONZTfL9g&feature=youtube_gdata
Libya rebels claim ‘Misurata is free’
The Pentagon has confirmed it has launched its first drone attack, but gave no details on the target. A spokesman for opposition forces, meanwhile, says they have won over control of Libya’s third largest city, Misurata. There is no independent confirmation of this. But the city’s hospitals have been reporting an influx of injured, among them – government soldiers. Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna reports from the opposition stronghold of Benghazi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dajcIH9YUuI&feature=youtube_gdata
Update: Fighting continues in Misurata
Anti government forces had claimed they were in control of Misurata. However, Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from Misurata, says the city has “not been liberated at this stage” despite certain claims being made by opposition forces. Listen here to our correspondent’s latest update.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P76PKybW5o&feature=youtube_gdata
Inside Story: Battle for Misurata
Located in western Libya, Misurata has become the most dramatic battleground in the country’s uprising which began in February. But there has been confusion – while Colonel Muammer Gadaffi’s forces announced a withdrawl from the city on Friday, they have continued to bombard the city. Inside Story discusses with guests: Faraj Najem, a Libyan author and historian; Mohammed Ali Abdallah, the deputy secretary general of the National Front for Salvation of Libya; and Hesham Jaber, a military analyst. This episode of Inside Story aired on Sunday, April 24, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao10o-uUYZ8&feature=youtube_gdata
Frost Over the World – What next for Libya?
Next month, Italy hosts the next international conference on the situation in Libya. In the last few weeks Italy has become a key player in NATO’s response to the conflict there. Sir David talks to Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, about this. Plus, Mohammed El Senussi, the exiled crown prince of Libya, and Alex Stubb, Finland’s foreign minister, join the show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6epZU5auZE&feature=youtube_gdata
Taking Qaddafi out (and not for dinner), Stephen M. Walt
When my clock radio went off this AM, the first story I heard was about a NATO air attack on Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi’s compound near Tripoli. Although NATO officials have denied that this was an attempt to kill Qaddafi, it is hard to believe that the officials responsible weren’t hoping for a lucky shot. U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham told CNN that it was time to “to cut the head of the snake off, go to Tripoli, start bombing Qaddafi’s inner circle, their compounds, their military headquarters.” Similarly, Senator Joe Lieberman called for “going directly after Qaddafi,” saying that “I can’t think of anything that would protect the civilian population of Libya more than [his] removal.”
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/04/25/taking_qaddafi_out_and_not_for_dinner
Rap Music Inspires Libyan Rebels To Defeat Gadhafi
AJDABIYA, Libya — Libyan rebel fighter Jaad Jumaa Hashmi cranks up the volume on his pickup truck’s stereo when he heads into battle against Moammar Gadhafi’s forces. He looks for inspiration from a growing cadre of amateur rappers whose powerful songs have helped define the revolution.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/25/rap-music-inspires-libyan_n_853105.html
Morocco
Moroccans stage peaceful pro-democracy protests
RABAT — Several thousand demonstrators marched peacefully in Moroccan cities Sunday to demand more democracy and social justice despite King Mohammed VI’s concessions, including the release of political prisoners. Protest rallies began Sunday morning in Casablanca, Tangiers and Marrakesh, correspondents said, while others were scheduled later in the day in Rabat and Fes in response to a call by the pro-reform February 20 Movement.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/24/moroccans-stage-peaceful-pro-democracy-protests/
Oman
Protests break out in Omani city
Thousands take to the streets in southern city in Gulf state to press for better wages, jobs and end to corruption.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/04/201142215140646886.html
Saudi Arabia
Women not allowed to vote in Saudi elections
As voters show up to register for Saudi Arabia’s upcoming elections – the second ever in the country’s history – women still seem to be missing from the picture. Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra reports from Riydh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jErZMVq2xj4&feature=youtube_gdata
Yemen
Two shot dead at Yemen protests
At least two anti-government protesters have been killed in separate clashes with security forces in Yemen, medical sources and witnesses say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-13185699
Saleh defiant, day after agreeing to handover plan
SANAA, April 25 (Reuters) – Yemen’s veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh has struck a defiant tone in an interview, a day after his government said he had accepted a Gulf Arab plan to hand over power within weeks. Saleh has faced down three months of street protests as well as pressure to go from his main backers Saudi Arabia and the United States, and opposition groups fear his verbal acceptance of the plan may be no more than a tactic.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/saleh-defiant-day-after-agreeing-to-handover-plan
Yemen protesters reject US-backed transition
SANAA (AFP) – Yemen’s protest movement insisted Sunday on President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rapid exit and prosecution after his party accepted a Gulf plan for him to quit in 30 days in a move hailed by Washington. The United States urged a peaceful transition after Saleh’s ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) party said late Saturday it accepted a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plan under which he would quit following months of protests.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/24/yemen-protesters-reject-us-backed-transition/
Yemen president agrees Gulf plan to resign
Aide to Ali Abdullah Saleh says leader has agreed to step down under a 30-day transition plan after weeks of protests.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/04/20114231818133946.html
Analysis/Op-ed
Ghassan Bin Jiddu: resigns from Aljazeera
This is big: the Beirut bureau chief for Aljazeera, Ghassan Bin Jiddu, who hosts the program Hiwar Maftuh (widely watched), hassubmitted his resignation. It is due to the recent radical shift of Aljazeera’s coverage in alliance with the Saudi-Israeli alliance in the Middle East. Ghassan Bin Jiddu is one of the most visible personalities of the network and he was seriously considered to be the director-general of the network before Waddah Khanfar was given the job. Ghassan belongs to the Arab nationalist mold and is a fierce supporter of resistance to Israel. I last saw him last year when he invited me to dinner with Samir Al-Quntar. Bin Jiddu was very influential in Aljazeera and this step will bring further embarrassment to the network. On a related note, I must report this: I have heard from a number of people who work in Aljazeera Arabic and English and I am hearing that the majority are quite irate at the coverage of the network especially in relation to the Bahrain issue. There will be marked changes in Arab media in the next months and years: comrade Hicham yesterday observed that Egyptian media in the new era will once again play the leading role that it had played in the 19th and 20th century, before the Sadat-Mubarak era.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/04/ghassan-bin-jiddu-resigns-from.html
Empire – The evolution of Arab revolutions
The Arab Spring is in full bloom. Peaceful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt sparked a democratic tide that has swept across the region. In Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain, it is now a tale of two protests, with the situation deteriorating into widespread violence and outright war. It seems some regimes will stop at nothing to resist change. So with no unified leadership or clear agenda, and with domestic complications in each and every country, is this truly a revolution? And if this is an Awakening — what path will it follow — that of Turkey? Of Iran? Or rather a third way, an Arab way. Empire finds out. Joining Marwan Bishara to discuss these issues are: Rabab el-Mahdi, a professor of political science at American University, Cairo; Christopher Dickey, Middle East editor of Newsweek and The Daily Beast; Patrick Seale, author of The Struggle for Arab Independence. Our interviewees are: Ahmed Maher, founder of the 6 April Youth Movement, Egypt; Mohamed Arafat, from Egypt’s Social Deomocratic Party; Shaeera Amin, former deputy director of Nile TV; Hugh Miles, author of Al Jazeera – How Arab TV News Challenged the World.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxY87ZkT6l8&feature=youtube_gdata
Can you imagine being forced to organize a ‘humanitarian delegation’ in order to simply visit your grandparents?
Apr 25, 2011
Lydda Four Eight
My grandma just had a stroke this weekend, in Gaza. She’s crying out constantly to her children, she wants them to be next to her in the hospital. We’re scrambling for a way to get into Gaza. I’ve pleaded on my facebook status for help. One of my friends suggested I “organize a humanitarian delegation” so that the Egyptian Embassy will give me special permission to travel through Rafah to Gaza. Really?
Ben-Gurion is much closer to Gaza and travel would be less complicated, less
visas. Usually one travels through Israel to get to Gaza, as it is much closer and you pay an Israeli tourist visa/ entrance whether through Rafah or Ben-Gurion anyhow. But since Israel’s siege on Gaza, Israel has closed crossings into Gaza which means I can not travel from Ben-Gurion airport to Gaza unless Israel permits me to enter through the Erez Crossing.
Even going through Ben-Gurion, there is the harassment, the interrogation, the strip
search, the constant verbal assaults on identity and of course to top that off
the deportations. After all that trouble there’s no guarantee to get in through
Ben-Gurion, and then there is even much less of a possibility of getting to Gaza
through the Erez crossing. First Israel made the Erez crossing more complicated
by making us get out and switch cars, then they made it more complicated by
making us walk a 1/2 mile distance with countless pieces of luggage (filled with
gifts for family in Gaza), then Israel shut down Erez all together. What is the word for that? Degradation?
My other option is to fly to Cairo, get in a taxi and drive 5 hours or so to Rafah and go to Gaza through the Rafah border. The Rafah border is intermittently closed, limits number of travelers, requires multiple visas (one for Egypt another for Israel) will be very exhausting as one of the people I need to bring to Gaza is wheelchair bound and crossing through Rafah requires multiple ins and outs of buses (by Egypt and Israel) and taxis over a distance of 1/4 mile or so. This is all followed by a final interrogation and strip search at Israeli customs (at least that’s what it looked like the last time I was able to get through Rafah) before freedom to Gaza.
Of course we’re not even guaranteed permission to travel through Rafah once we land in Egypt hence my friend’s suggestion to “organize a Humanitarian Delegation.” Can you imagine being required to “organize a Humanitarian Delegation” in order to visit your grandparents? Maybe it’s just me being sympathetic to my own circumstances, but something is strikingly Kafka-esque and painfully cruel that instead of just jumping on a plane to see my tata (grandmother) I’m forced to “organize a Humanitarian Delegation” to get permission from a neighboring country to enter Gaza.
Unfortunately, the “humanitarian delegation” sounds like our best hope! Thank you Israel and your supporters. My 89 yr old grandmother’s one wish while she rests in the hospital is for her children to be with her, and we have the visas, the passports,
and the money to buy airplane tickets, but we don’t have Israel’s permission to
enter Gaza. So what seems like a normally simple task of getting on a plane to visit family has become overshadowed by MASSIVE obstacles by the Penal Colony.
“Lydda Four Eight” is a stay at home mother with a black hole in her heart. Her last attempt to go to her grandmother’s home was rejected by Israeli Army Commander at the Erez Crossing. This post combines several comments Lydda Four Eight has made on Mondoweiss
Love During Wartime: Interview with director Gabriella Bier
Apr 25, 2011
Laura Durkay
Young artists Jasmin and Osama are newlyweds, but building a life together seems impossible: she’s a Jewish citizen of Israel; he’s a Muslim Palestinian living in the West Bank. Israeli law prevents them from living together in Israel, and life in the Occupied Territories has its own challenges. Bureaucratic and social pressures eventually force them into exile in Germany, but their problems are not over yet. Love During Wartime demonstrates how life in Palestine/Israel subjects even the most personal and basic of goals—trying to build a life together with someone you love—to the pressures of apartheid and occupation.
Love During Wartime is currently screening in the World Documentary Competition at the Tribeca Film Festival. Screening times can be found here. Director Gabriella Bier sat down with me to talk about the film.
LD: Tell me a little about your background and why you decided to make the film.
GB: I’m Jewish, and I was brought up in a pro-Israel family. My parents were a bit different from the majority, they could think for themselves, but I went to Jewish schools and everything. I started working as a journalist. I traveled for many years in West and East Africa, and many of my parents’ friends told me, “You should do something in Israel”—I assume they wanted something pro-Israel—but I always felt that this is too emotional for me; it’s much too complicated to get into, and I didn’t know enough. But then the Second Intifada broke out. I live in Stockholm, and on the Swedish left there was very strong anti-Israel sentiment, while in my own community the climate was very hostile to the Palestinians. I’m in a mixed marriage. I have two children, and my son was very small at the time, and I thought, I can’t stay out of this, because this is about my children and about the future.
I wanted to make a love story. So often the portrayal in the media and in certain documentaries removes the human element. One of my aims with the film was not to reach only people who thought that mixed marriages were okay, but also people who were biased against them. Maybe this love story could make them feel something different. I want to communicate with the people who are against this, too.
I also discovered about myself—I mean, I traveled for many years in the West Bank, but I was brought up in these Jewish Zionist surroundings, and there was a great fear of Palestinians and Muslims and Arabs. I have relatives in Israel, and when I went to the West Bank, everyone was like “You’re crazy,” and I was afraid. But I discovered meeting people and becoming friends was the way to overcome that.
LD: Did you have any problems with Israeli security while you were filming?
GB: Not really. For me, the hostilities on the personal level were much more difficult—people can really hate each other and that disturbed me much more. That and of course the difficulties in people’s everyday lives in Palestine, for Osama’s family. [In Osama’s family’s village] every man had been to prison.
LD: There’s one scene in Osama’s sister’s house where you can see that there are bullet holes in the wall.
GB: Yes, it’s from the Israeli army. You see these traces of the occupation everywhere, and that’s just part of life. You’ve heard these stories many times, but to see it, visually…in a film, you can’t tell everything, for example, the fact that Israel is much more powerful and much stronger; what the living conditions are like in the West Bank. I felt it was much stronger to visualize it—you don’t have to say it if you can show it.
LD: Were there other moments like that, when the occupation found its way into people’s daily lives?
GB: I wasn’t there to film it, but one of the times Jasmin was in the village with Osama, he was scheduled to have an art exhibition in Ramallah, and they invited some Israeli friends to come, and somehow it got through to the Shabak [GSS, the Israeli secret police]. At night, when Jasmin and Osama were sleeping, they broke the door down, just to tell Osama, “We want to see you at the office at 8 o’clock in the morning.” When he went to the office, they told him he wasn’t allowed to bring any Israelis to his exhibition.
Another example: Jasmin and Osama were going to have a hearing [in an Israeli court, on whether they would be allowed to live together], and Osama wanted to be at the hearing, so he asked for a permit from the military, and he’s calling every day to get the permit, and eventually he gets it, but the hours are later than the hearing. It turned out the hearing was postponed, but the military didn’t know that. So you see a lot of things that are done just out of spite.
LD: What do you hope that people get out of watching this film?
GB: I want people to feel something for them, to maybe see things differently. I’m not a politician; I’m a filmmaker, so I concentrated on the personal part of the story. I struggled, myself, a lot, seeing things that Israel does that I think are terrible. It was very hard to digest on a personal level. I’m conflicted because Israel still means a lot to me, but the government now is terrible; it’s super nationalistic, and it’s totally scary and damaging. I struggled with it a long time, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s possible to be critical of Israel and still love it and feel at home there. The country has gone very far in the wrong direction, but I always think that there is a way back, or there is a new way.
People like Jasmin and Osama are the future of their country, and the fact that they have basically been kicked out and have to live in Germany in order to save their marriage—that is a tragedy. But they are the future. They’re an example for all people.
A concoction of distortions, half-truths and emotionally-potent oversimplifications of scripture is Christian Zionism
Apr 25, 2011
Craig Nielsen
I converted to the Christian faith some 13 years ago and the overwhelming nature of the love of God in Christ for myself and all of humanity (with particular emphasis on the despised of society) left a mark on me that inspires me every single day of my life.
Over the years, I have seen a number of spiritual fads and movements in the Church come and go and have come to terms with the fact that many leaders of the Christian Church are poorly theologically educated. I have also come to know that some denominations of the faith are definitely more vulnerable to gross distortions of the scriptures than others while realising that no denomination is free from error or can afford to be arrogant and self righteous about their understanding of the scriptures.
Having made that point, I believe that Christian Zionism is the most harmful distortion of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible that I have ever come across in what is known as mainstream Christianity.
The Gospel of Christian Zionism is held together by three basic tenets.
1. The Jewish people (by the simple virtue of their Jewishness) own the land of Palestine due to the fact that God gave them the land as an everlasting possession in an eternal covenant.
2. The current Zionist State of Israel has come about as the result of God fulfilling His promise to the Jewish people in the Old Testament. Hence the Zionist State is directly connected to the Israel of the Old Testament and its existence is an unambiguous portent of the imminent return of Jesus.
3. The Old Testament instructs us that anyone who criticises the current Zionist state of Israel will come under a divine curse and conversely, any who bless the Zionists will be the recipient of a divine blessing. The Zionist state must be supported politically and militarily in an unconditional manner (unless of course it chooses to allow a Palestinian state to exist in Eretz Israel).
It suffices to say that all of the above teachings are either not a part of the teachings of Orthodox Torah Judaism or have had any consensus within the Christian Church for two thousand years. They are a concoction of distortions, half truths and emotionally potent oversimplifications of scripture. I will deal with them briefly here.
The Old Testament relationship between the Jewish people and the land of Palestine clearly reveals that the possession of the land is not absolute but conditional upon the Jewish people’s acceptance of the “yoke” of the Torah (the ethical and religious traditions of the Law of Moses which demand equality between Jew and non-Jew living in Israel). This covenant relationship is extremely specific. Leviticus 25: 23 states “… the land is Mine and you are but aliens and My tenants” The land of Palestine/Israel is no more owned by the Jewish people than the “Holy of Holies” (the inner sanctum of the Temple) is owned by the High Priest. Failure to live up to the covenant responsibilities of the Jewish people while in the land will result in expulsion and exile. Even Moses and the entire first generation of Hebrews that were liberated from Egypt in the book of Exodus were barred from entering the land of Canaan due to their continued and profound disobedience to God. The Jewish people have no legitimacy as a people in authority in Israel (in Biblical terms) outside of the terms of their tenancy or covenant agreement with God. The expulsion of Jews from Israel in history is evidence of God’s determination with regard to this point.
The secular, colonialist ideology of Zionism falls dismally short of the covenant responsibilities of the Jewish people in this regard. This is part of the reason why Orthodox Jews recoiled in horror at the idea of the Zionists trying to recreate the nation of Israel in modern times. The famous three oaths of the Talmud which forbid Jews to retake Palestine either by force or by political activism were a further barrier to the acceptance of Zionism.
As to the second point, there has been no consensus within the Church as to whether or not anything at all can be termed an unambiguous portent of the return of Christ. This comes from the very words of Jesus which inform us that His coming will be like a thief in the night with no one knowing the hour or the day of His final return. All movements within the Church that have claimed that the return of Jesus was imminent depending on particular historical events have ended up with egg on their faces. The Christian Zionists’ insistence that Jesus return was due in 1988 is an obvious example of this.
The current Zionist state of Israel has no connection to the Israel of the Bible. Virtually every Orthodox Jew on earth agrees to the fact that the exile of the Jewish people has not ended. The exile is a spiritual problem and cannot be solved by nuclear arsenals or secular European colonialist ideologies. It is a spiritual problem which requires a spiritual, non material solution, coming directly from the hand of God, not David Ben Gurion.
The scripture in Genesis that refers to God blessing those who bless Abraham and cursing those who curse him has never been interpreted by Orthodox Jews or Christians in the manner that Christian Zionists demand. The criticism of Israel by prophets like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and even Moses (let alone Christ) stand in mute defiance to Christian Zionist doctrine. Being a chosen people of God only acts to increase the Jewish people’s responsibility to God and humanity rather than gives them a license to behave as they want. This has been the understanding of Torah Judaism for hundreds of years.
Christian Zionist ethics are driven by a mantra of “the end justifies the means”. For them, since God is bringing back the Jewish people to Israel according to prophecy, the Jewish people’s responsibility to treat non-Jews with equality and mercy in Israel can be ignored. What matters is that they take all the land, every other consideration is trumped by the golden rule of “take the land by whatever means necessary”.
Christian Zionism promotes an ideology totally foreign to the love of God revealed in Jesus’ care and concern for all the vulnerable in the land of Israel including, the non-Jew. Christian Zionism’s betrayal of Arab Christians in Palestine is also a telling indictment on their theology. Much more could be added to this list of issues with the Christian Zionist dogma.
For a more detailed discussion see:
Rabkin, Y. (2006). A Threat from Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism. Fernwood Publishing: Canada, Zed Books: London. Sizer, S. (2004).
Christian Zionism: Road-Map to Armageddon? Intervarsity Press: Downers Grove, Illinois. Nielsen, C. M. (2010).
Israel-Palestine: A Christian Response to the Conflict. Nielsen Adelaide, South Australia.
Craig Nielsen runs a site taking on Christian Zionism from a Christian perspective. He sent us this article on the religious issues.
Young Arab Jews of Israel cry out for their Tahrir (and Palestine’s too)
Apr 25, 2011
Philip Weiss
At +972, excerpts of a truly beautiful letter by young Israeli Mizrahi Jews to Arabs across the Middle East expressing solidarity with their uprisings. The signatories’ names are at the link, it looks to be about 60 of them. Really a fabulous manifesto. Note the inclusion of their brothers in the occupied territories. This is the anti-rough beast slouching from Jerusalem, a great healing. Excerpt (thanks to Peter Belmont):
We are a part of the religious, cultural, and linguistic history of the Middle East and North Africa, although it seems that we are the forgotten children of its history: First in Israel, which imagines itself and its culture to be somewhere between continental Europe and North America. Then in the Arab world, which often accepts the dichotomy of Jews and Arabs and the imagined view of all Jews as Europeans, and has preferred to repress the history of the Arab-Jews as a minor or even nonexistent chapter in its history; and finally within the Mizrahi communities themselves, who in the wake of Western colonialism, Jewish nationalism and Arab nationalism, became ashamed of their past in the Arab world.
Consequently we often tried to blend into the mainstream of society while erasing or minimizing our own past. The mutual influences and relationships between Jewish and Arab cultures were subjected to forceful attempts at erasure in recent generations, but evidence of them can still be found in many spheres of our lives, including music, prayer, language, and literature.
We wish to express our identification with and hopes for this stage of generational transition in the history of the Middle East and North Africa, and we hope that it will open the gates to freedom and justice and a fair distribution of the region’s resources.
We turn to you, our generational peers in the Arab and Muslim world, striving for an honest dialog which will include us in the history and culture of the region. We looked enviously at the pictures from Tunisia and from Al-Tahrir square, admiring your ability to bring forth and organize a nonviolent civil resistance that has brought hundreds of thousands of people out into the streets and the squares, and finally forced your rulers to step down.
We, too, live in a regime that in reality—despite its pretensions to being “enlightened” and “democratic”—does not represent large sections of its actual population in the Occupied Territories and inside of the Green Line border(s). This regime tramples the economic and social rights of most of its citizens, is in an ongoing process of minimizing democratic liberties, and constructs racist barriers against Arab-Jews, the Arab people, and Arabic culture. Unlike the citizens of Tunisia and Egypt, we are still a long way from the capacity to build the kind of solidarity between various groups that we see in these countries, a solidarity movement that would allow us to unite and march together–all who reside here–into the public squares, to demand a civil regime that is culturally, socially, and economically just and inclusive.
We believe that, as Mizrahi Jews in Israel, our struggle for economic, social, and cultural rights rests on the understanding that political change cannot depend on the Western powers who have exploited our region and its residents for many generations. True change can only come from an intra-regional and inter-religious dialog that is in connection with the different struggles and movements currently active in the Arab world. Specifically, we must be in dialog and solidarity with struggles of the Palestinians citizens of Israel who are fighting for equal political and economic rights and for the termination of racist laws, and the struggle of the Palestinian people living under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and in Gaza in their demand to end the occupation and to gain Palestinian national independence.
In our previous letter written following Obama’s Cairo speech in 2009, we called for the rise of the democratic Middle Eastern identity and for our inclusion in such an identity. We now express the hope that our generation – throughout the Arab, Muslim, and Jewish world – will be a generation of renewed bridges that will leap over the walls and hostility created by previous generations and will renew the deep human dialog without which we cannot understand ourselves: between Jews, Sunnis, Shias, and Christians, between Kurds, Berbers, Turks, and Persians, between Mizrahis and Ashkenazis, and between Palestinians and Israelis.
Two upcoming Goldstone events in Chicago & the Bay Area
Apr 25, 2011
Philip Weiss and Adam Horowitz
We have two speaking events coming up in Chicago and Oakland in connection with our book The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict.
The first one is tomorrow evening in Chicago, and we’re very excited thatGoldstone Report contributor Ali Abunimah will be appearing with Adam at the University of Chicago (right). The event is being organized by the American Friends Service Commitee and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Chicago. You can learn more about the event here, or find the details on Facebook.
Also, we’re honored that the The Middle East Children’s Alliance will be throwing a Bay Area book release party on Thursday, May 5. We are both going to be speaking, and we’ll be introduced by UC Hastings Law School professor George Bisharat, an incredible honor. That event will be raising money for MECA’s Maia Project, which works to bring clean water to children in Gaza.
We hope you can join us for one of these events if you’re nearby, and if not we hope to visit your town soon!
Shepherds vs settlers in the Holy Land as the IDF passively stands by
Apr 25, 2011
annie
This is Palestine. It is hard to watch. Notice the IDF as they passively stand by and let the settlers run wild. At the end they come to the aid of the landowner after he has been attacked but during the abuse they do nothing. What kind of arrangement is this?
Poster Avi has translated the Hebrew text that accompanies the youtube link.
The Moor family has a large agricultural plot East of the Sussyia settlement. ……… About a decade ago, the [Moor] family was attacked after the murder of Ya’ir Haar Sinai. The family fled its land fearing attacks by settlers and relocated to live in the village of Manzal, not far from their own land. ……… From that point onward, Moors’ land and their water wells supposedly became, ipso facto, the property of the widow Daliya Haar Sinai. ………. With the encouragement of Ta’ayush activists and with the legal assistance of rabbis for human rights, members of the Moor family returned to graze their sheep on their own land. ……… In the last year, friction grew between the activists and settler groups from the vicinity who came to interfere and create provocations with the aim of forcing the military to close the area for everyone, in addition to the expulsion/eviction of the Palestinian land owners. …….. Usually, the Israeli army stood by and was party to that dirty trick. A legal appeal forced the army to abide by the law. At the start of the month, a major general’s order was issued, allowing members of the Moor family to return and use their own land. ………. The order forbids Israelis in general from entering the area, settlers and activists alike. But, as usual, the masters of the earth don’t give a hoot about the regional commander’s order. In front of them stands the moral and heroic, the terrorizing army, trigger-happy when it comes to the Palestinians; it bends and is easily trampled over by the settlers. Without lifting a finger, the army gazes with apathy at the settlers who assault and injure the land owner. ……….. Cameraman: Eid Moor
