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5 Broken Cameras’ loses out to ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ for best doc Oscar

 
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Emad and Soraya Burnat with their son Jibreel on the red carpet entering the Academy Awards.
(Photo: 5 Broken Cameras)

Congratulations to “Searching for Sugar Man”…..And to all other documentaries and films recognized at this years Academy Awards!
— 5 Broken Cameras (@5brokencameras) February 25, 2013

The awards have been announced and alas 5 Broken Cameras didn’t win the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary (the Oscar went to Searching for Sugar Man). Regardless, Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi’s film continues to be an inspiration.
Read Emad Burnat’s Oscar nominee questionnaire:

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(Image: Twitter)

Visualizing Palestine created the following graphic for the film:

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Autopsy reveals Arafat Jaradat died of extreme torture in Israeli custody
Annie Robbins

Jaradat
Father of Arafat Jaradat, after identifying his son’s tortured body, Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, Feb. 24,2013 (Photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Ma’an News reports Arafat Jaradat died of extreme torture.
Minister: Autopsy shows torture killed Jaradat:

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An autopsy has revealed that Arafat Jaradat died of extreme torture in Israeli custody and did not have a cardiac arrest, the PA Minister of Detainee Affairs said Sunday.
At a news conference in Ramallah, Issa Qaraqe said an autopsy conducted in Israel in the presence of Palestinian officials revealed that 30-year-old Jaradat had six broken bones in his neck, spine, arms and legs.
“The information we have received so far is shocking and painful. The evidence corroborates our suspicion that Mr. Jaradat died as a result of torture, especially since the autopsy clearly proved that the victim’s heart was healthy, which disproves the initial alleged account presented by occupation authorities that he died of a heart attack,” Qaraqe said……
The minister said Jaradat had sustained injuries and severe bruising in the upper right back area and severe bruises of sharp circular shape in the right chest area….. evidence of severe torture and on the muscle of the upper left shoulder, parallel to the spine in the lower neck area, and evidence of severe torture under the skin and inside the muscle of the right side of the chest. His second and third ribs in the right side of the chest were broken, Qaraqe said, and he also had injuries in the middle of the muscle in the right hand…Palestinian Prisoners Society president Qaddura Fares added that the autopsy revealed seven injuries to the inside of Jaradat’s lower lip, bruises on his face and blood on his nose…… no signs of bruising or stroke, the minister added.
…..
“Jaradat died due to torture and not a stroke or heart attack,” he said, adding that those responsible must be sued either through Interpol or the International Criminal Court.
Jaradat’s lawyer Kameel Sabbagh said he was tortured by Israeli interrogators. ……”When I entered the courtroom I saw Jaradat sitting on a wooden chair in front of the judge. His back was hunched and he looked sick and fragile,” Sabbagh said in a statement Sunday.
“When I sat next to him he told me that he had serious pains in his back and other parts of his body because he was being beaten up and hanged for many long hours while he was being investigated..When Jaradat heard that the judge postponed his hearing he seemed extremely afraid…..”

 

Wait, why would a liberal Democrat line up with Dick Cheney?

Philip Weiss
William C. Thompson Jr. is a progressive black Democrat running for mayor of New York, and he’s courting Jewish voters, according to this profile by David Chen in the Times. Thompson went to AIPAC, the Israel lobby, and evidently agreed with Dick Cheney there.

Mr. Thompson’s courtship of Jewish voters is emblematic of calculations being made by all of the candidates: perhaps 600,000 New Yorkers are expected to participate in the Democratic primary, and many of those voters are expected to be black or Jewish….
Mr. Thompson said he was the first comptroller to make city investments in Israeli bonds. He also took part in a panel, at a 2007 conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee headlined by Vice President Dick Cheney, on financial sanctions against “Iran and other state sponsors of terror.”

This is the PEP paradox. Progressive Except Palestine. Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal was ranked the most liberal senator in the nation, by National Journal two days ago.
But as we reported during the Chuck Hagel confirmation hearing, Blumenthal is a hawk on Israel; he called on Hagel to correct his error of 13 years ago and endorse a letter he had declined to sign in 2000, which was signed by 96 Senators affirming their solidarity with Israel during the Second Intifada. Blumenthal lectured Hagel: 

And I just want to say about that letter: I wasn’t here when the letter was circulated; I would have signed it. But I would certainly join in urging that you reconsider and commit to the statement of support in the letter for the support of Israel. And if it’s appropriate now and applicable to today’s events, I hope you will consider expressing your support for it.

Thanks to Scott McConnell. And oh: Alex Kane covered the fact that Bill Thompson has allied himself with Assemblyman Dov Hikind a couple weeks ago.

The Israel Project– and Chris Matthews– say you can’t make deals with Palestinians

Philip Weiss
The Israel Project, a hardline Israel lobby group, responds to the new wave of Palestinian protests of occupation and imprisonment by stating that Palestinians are incapable of participating in a peace process– so why is Obama wasting his time. TIP’s press release is below.
I would add that on Hardball the other night, Chris Matthews echoed this same theme. In a conversation with former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele, Matthews said that even when the Israelis have a “good government” (i.e., not Netanyahu) they can’t find anyone on the other side of the Green Line “to deal with”– just as Obama confronts intransigence in the Republican Party: “It isn’t a bargaining party, that’s the problem, and the president needs someone to bargain with.”
I wonder how long the Palestinians are expected to endure occupation and disfranchisement and wait for the international community to act? They were promised a state 66 years ago, have never gotten one; when will they be granted rights?
From TIP: “Palestinians Increase Violence, Reduce Chances for Peace”:

Jerusalem, Feb. 24 – With U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to the region just a month away, the latest violent Palestinian protests are placing a serious question mark over Obama’s plan to reboot the peace process.
There has been a noticeable increase in fire-bombings and stonings by Palestinians in recent weeks against Israelis….
Today some 3,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are launching a hunger strike, after one of their number died on Saturday, seemingly from a heart attack.
Abbas himself is beginning to talk up a third intifada (popular uprising) although so far he is speaking about a “peaceful intifada” – a concept jointly conceived with Khaled Mashaal, leader of the Iran-backed Hamas terror organization that controls the Gaza Strip.
While the first intifada in the 1980s was largely dominated by popular protests, many of them violent, the second intifada, which began more than a decade ago, was anything but a popular uprising. Thousands of Israeli civilians were killed and wounded in wave after wave of suicide bombings.
Abbas’ remarks, coupled with violent protests in favor of prisoner releases and the ongoing attacks against Israelis are not creating a helpful environment as the various officials planning Obama’s visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah arrive in the Middle East.

A friend points out that 1100 Israeli civilians were killed in the Second Intifada, and more than 4,000 Palestinians, many of them civilians.
P.S. Even J Street is aware of the Palestinian grievances. Jeremy Ben-Ami, from his latest email (thanks to Peter Belmont):

We heard very clearly the rising anger and frustration from Palestinians. While we were there, prisoners were on hunger strike again, large-scale protests were building, and it seems there is very little recognition of the rising frustration among Palestinians on the Israeli side of the green line.

And here is Yossi Gurvitz, writing that the Palestinians of Qusra are experiencing settler “pogroms,” with Israeli soldiers standing by.

 

In pictures: Thousands in Gaza protest the prison death of Arafat Jaradat

Joe Catron
Thousands marched and rallied in Gaza this morning to protest the death of Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian detainee in Israel’s Megiddo prison, yesterday.

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GAZA, PALESTINE, February 24 – Thousands protested the death of Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian detainee in Israel’s Megiddo prison, yesterday. (Photo: Joe Catron)
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“Tortured to Death” Protesting the death of Arafat Jaradat, GAZA Feb. 24 (photo:Joe Catron)

Translation: “Their freedom.. Our duty…We demand the international community to pressure on the occupation to release all of our detainees in the Israeli prisons.”:

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“Their freedom.. Our duty…We demand the international community to pressure on the occupation to release all of our detainees in the Israeli prisons.” Gaza Feb 24 (photo: Joe Catron)
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“Will the world remain silent till the toll reaches 1,000,000” Feb.24 GAZA (photo: Joe Catron)
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GAZA, PALESTINE, February 24 – Thousands protested the death of Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian detainee in Israel’s Megiddo prison, yesterday. (Photo: Joe Catron)
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Arafat Jarada protest Gaza, Palestine February 24, 2013 (photo: Joe Catron)
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Gaza, Palestine February 24, 2013 (photo: Joe Catron)
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Banner of Prisoners and Hunger strikers held in Israeli jails GAZA Feb.24(photo: Joe Catron)

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