IMEMC - Israeli troops invaded, on Tuesday morning, the Al Makhrour area, in Beit Jala city, north of Bethlehem, and demolished four Palestinian homes. ...
Two Palestinians Injured By Army Fire In Gaza
IMEMC - Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported, Tuesday, that two Palestinians, including one child, were injured after the Israeli army invaded an area east of the Al Boreij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. ...
Settlers Break Into Israeli Military Base, Sabotage Property
IMEMC - Israeli sources reported Tuesday that a group of extremist Israeli settlers of the so-called Hilltop Youth settler movement infiltrated, on Monday at night, an Israeli military base near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, sabotaged property and vehicles, and hurled stones at the soldiers, wounding a senior officer. ...
Preparations For Second Phase Of Swap Deal To Start Tuesday
IMEMC - Member of the Political Bureau of the Hamas movement, Saleh Al Aroury, stated that the Israeli army will start gathering all Palestinian detainees who will be released under second and final phase of the prisoner-swap deal that was reached on October 11, between Israel and the Hamas movement. ...
Israeli Settlers Break Into Military Zone By Jordanian Border
IMEMC - Extremist right-wing Israeli settlers broke into a closed-off military zone in between the West Bank and the Jordanian border, at the site thought to be where Jesus was baptized. ...
Israeli Official Calls For Closing the Al Aqsa Mosque
IMEMC - An official at the Jerusalem City Council called for closing the Al Aqsa Mosque for all Muslim worshipers in an attempt to pressure the Muslims into accepting the demolishing of the bridge of the historic Al Magharba Gate that leads to the mosque. ...
Israeli Settlers Continue Their Systematic Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Their Property
IMEMC - The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns attacks launched by groups of Israeli settlers in the early morning in two Palestinian villages to the southeast of Nablus. PCHR calls upon the Israeli Occupation Forces to open investigations into these attacks and bring perpetrators to justice. ...
Israeli Military Issues statement, Tweets On The Killing Of Non-Violent Protester
IMEMC - In an official statement by the Israeli military, regarding the shooting of a Palestinian protester in the head with a tear gas canister at on Friday, military officials claimed that the shooter, an Israeli soldier in a jeep “did not see” Mustafa Tamimi when he shot him in the face. On Twitter, Israeli military officials tweeted pictures of a slingshot that Tamimi allegedly had in his possession, along with comments implying that the killing was justified because of the slingshot. ...
Protests Held In Jerusalem Against Plans Targeting Bedouin Villages
IMEMC - Thousands of Palestinians from the 1948 territories held a protest on Sunday in front of the Jerusalem office of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to protest the so-called “Braver Plan” targeting at least thirty Bedouin villages in the Negev, home to more than 100,000. ...
Egypt Denies Claims Of Hamas Training Centers In Sinai
IMEMC - Egyptian security officials denied claimed reported by the Israeli “Jerusalem Post” in which it said that the Hamas movement established basis and missile manufacturing facilities in the Sinai Peninsula as Israel bombards such facilities in Gaza, the Maan News Agency reported. ...
Ha'aretz - PM says will use 'all of his power' to stem violence by right-wing extremists; Livni: Government shares responsibility for attack on IDF base.
Right-wing activist calls on IDF soldiers to sabotage equipment
Ha'aretz - Yitzhar resident 'warns' soldiers not to take certain actions that may prevent evacuations, such as spreading nails on roads or damaging engines.
Israel Education Minister: Palestinian state in West Bank 'dangerous move'
Ha'aretz - Gideon Sa'ar says strengthening of radical Islam in region, as well as the conduct of PA should cause Israel to question establishment of Palestinian state.
Israeli law is powerless in the settlements
Ha'aretz - It is absurd when some 50 Jewish rioters attack a military base and IDF soldiers, but there is no one there to arrest them.
Abbas raises Palestinian flag at UNESCO
Ha'aretz - UNESCO members voting by an overwhelming majority to admit Palestine as the agency's 195th member state on October 31.
Israel's new Cairo envoy: Egypt peace treaty will be preserved
Ha'aretz - Ambassador Yaakov Amitai arrived in Cairo on Monday, three months after Egyptian rioters ransacked Israel's embassy.
U.S. House and Senate panel agree on new sanctions against Iran
Ha'aretz - Lawmakers say they agree to sanctions, despite Obama's misgivings; measures include targeting Iran's central bank.
West has no evidence of Iran atomic bomb program, senior Turkish diplomat says
Ha'aretz - Head of Organization of Islamic Cooperation tells Haaretz at Doha conference that Tehran has right to peaceful nuclear program, rejects military intervention.
IDF scrambles as right-wing activists seize structures near Jordan border
Ha'aretz - In planned provocation, about 25-30 activists enter sealed-off tract of land near border holy site, saying the incident is message to Jordan to keep out of Temple Mount affairs.
Israel hosts Greek Air Force for joint excercise
Ha'aretz - In recent effort to strengthen cooperation with NATO allies, Israel has been carrying out large-scale drills in foreign skies, as well as hosting foreign air forces to train in its training facilities.
Hamas: Israel declaring war on Muslim holy sites with closure of Jerusalem bridge
Ha'aretz - Wooden ramp leading from Western Wall Plaza to Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa mosque closed due to concerns it may collapse; Hamas condemns move as 'Zionist aggression.'
Lieberman: Russia elections not perfect but such errors also occur in Israel
Ha'aretz - FM comments on bill proposing to ban mosques from using loudspeakers to call worshippers to prayers, saying the proposal was 'legitimate,' has 'precedents in the West.'
Israel's new ambassador arrives in Cairo
Ha'aretz - Yaakov Amitai arrived in the Egyptian capital three months after the embassy was ransacked by angry rioters.
Hamas calls for calm with Israel after spike in cross-border attacks
Ha'aretz - Minister in Gaza-based Hamas government calls on its people to unite and restore calm in order to block a large-scale aggression.
Rocket fired toward Israel lands in south Lebanon, wounds woman
Ha'aretz - Overnight comes two weeks after several rockets were fired across Israeli-Lebanese border.
IDF agrees to expansion of West Bank settlement
Ha'aretz - Expansion of Gush Etzion settlement bloc with 40 single-family homes receives approval from Defense Minister Barak.
12/12/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel has approved construction of 40 homes and a farm in two new settler enclaves near the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem, Haaretz daily reported on Monday." Israel's military establishment has approved the establishment of a new, permanent neighborhood and a farm near the West Bank settlement of Efrat," the....
Hundreds of settlers attack Nablus village
12/12/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Hundreds of settlers stormed the Nablus village of Asira al-Qibliya overnight Sunday, causing damage to Palestinian property. Witnesses told Ma'an that around midnight more than 200 settlers from the notorious Yitzhar settlement entered the village and threw rocks at Palestinian homes. Local resident Ibrahim Makhlouf said that the settlers....
Israel demolishes East Jerusalem home
12/12/2011 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities demolished a home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina on Monday. Witnesses told Ma'an that the home belonged to Nidal al-Razim, whose brother was freed as part of the October prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. Israeli forces raided the neighborhood on Monday morning....
Israeli authorities inaugurate new checkpoint in Shufat
12/12/2011 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities officially inaugurated a new military checkpoint on Monday at the main entrance to the Shufat refugee camp in north Jerusalem. Israeli forces had clashed on Sunday with youth in the camp on Sunday, as residents protested against the construction of a checkpoint which they say will cut the 45,000....
UN: Refugees excluded from economic growth
12/12/2011 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Modest economic gains propelled by a growing construction sector are leaving Palestinian refugees behind, according to a UN report released Monday. Refugee unemployment in the West Bank grew 10. 3 percent in the first half of this year compared to 2010, and new employment lagged 3. 7 percent behind non-refugees, according....
Rocket fired towards Israel injures Lebanese villager
12/12/2011 - TYRE, Lebanon (AFP) -- A woman was injured after a rocket fired in southern Lebanon landed in a Lebanese village near the border with Israel, a senior security official told AFP. The Katyusha rocket, fired from Lebanon's Bent Jbail valley, landed in the village of Hula, Lebanon near the border with Israel, said the....
Report: Gaza rocket lands in southern Israel
12/12/2011 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Gaza militants fired a rocket into southern Israel on Monday evening, the Israeli news site Ynet reported. The projectile landed in an open area and no injuries or damage were reported, Ynet said....
Israel closes Al-Aqsa compound footbridge
12/12/2011 - JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel on Monday closed a footbridge at Jerusalem's holiest and most volatile religious site after deeming the structure unsafe. The wooden ramp was erected as a stopgap after a snowstorm and earthquake in 2004 damaged a stone bridge leading up from the Western Wall to the sacred compound where the al-Aqsa.... Related: Israeli settlers raid Jordan border
Gaza FM: Israeli aggression must end
12/12/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Gaza's Foreign Minister Mohammad Awad on Monday said the Hamas-run government was in talks with Egypt and the UN to end Israel's deadly attacks on the coastal enclave. Five people have been killed and dozens injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City since Wednesday. A 12....
Israeli forces detain PFLP activist near Nablus
12/12/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces arrested a man on Sunday evening at Huwwara checkpoint in Nablus. Hassan Ishtayya, an activist with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was detained on his way from Ramallah to Nablus, prisoners affairs official Muyassar Atiyani said. Ishtayya, 45, was released from an Israeli jail two years....
Report: Netanyahu endorses loudspeaker ban in Mosques
12/12/2011 - TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday expressed support for a bill to ban mosques from using loudspeakers for the Islamic call to prayer." There's no need to be more liberal than Europe," Netanyahu said during a Likud ministers meeting, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. The ban....
Israeli forces detain 7 in West Bank
12/12/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained seven people in the West Bank on Monday, security officials said. In Nablus, witnesses told Ma'an that three men were detained at the Beit Furik military checkpoint, on suspicion of carrying explosives. Locals in Hebron said forces detained Haroun Radwan Abu Turkey after raiding his home....
Detainees expect word of releases in days
12/12/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinians detained in an Israeli jail say they expect to be informed on Tuesday which of them will be released in the second stage of a prisoner release deal between Hamas and Israel. Detainees in the Negev prison told Ma'an on Monday that the timeline for the releases has....
Palestinian flag to fly at UNESCO headquarters
12/12/2011 - PARIS (AFP) -- The Palestinian flag will be hoisted Tuesday at UNESCO headquarters, over a month after its admission to the UN cultural agency sparked anger and reprisals from the United States and Israel. President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Paris to attend the event, which led Washington to pull funding to the UN organization, and....
Israel's growing wall of steel fences off Egypt
12/12/2011 - NETAFIM, Israel (AFP) -- Far from the uproar of Cairo's Tahrir Square, Israel has been doubling its efforts to erect a giant, impenetrable security barrier along its 240-kilometer border with the Egyptian Sinai. Work on the new border fence began a year ago, in a project initially aimed at stemming the growing tide....
PLO official invites Gingrich to Palestine
12/12/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- PLO official Hanan Ashrawi on Monday invited US Republican Newt Gingrich to visit Palestine as her guest, after the presidential candidate said the Palestinian people were "invented.""I personally offer to host Mr. Gingrich," Ashrawi said in a statement. In an interview Friday with the Jewish Channel, Gingrich said Palestinians were....
Israeli settlers raid Jordan border
12/12/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers raided the Jordanian borders on Monday evening in protest over Amman's involvement in a dispute over a footbridge to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque. An Israeli military spokeswoman said initial reports indicated that 30 Israelis crossed the security fence and entered a closed military zone on the.... Related: Israel closes Al-Aqsa compound footbridge
Hamas: Political detentions threaten reconciliation
12/12/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Committees working on the terms of a reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas have made little progress, and increasing political detentions may threaten the accord, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Monday. At the last meeting in Cairo, Hamas gave the Fatah delegation a list of 104 affiliates detained in.... Related: Hamas police 'release Fatah affiliate'
Hamas police 'release Fatah affiliate'
12/12/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Police in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Monday released a 40-year-old Fatah affiliate detained a day earlier on his return from Egypt, the man's relatives said. Salim Muhammad Zaanon was detained Sunday at the Rafah border crossing as he returned to Gaza after receiving a PhD in.... Related: Hamas: Political detentions threaten reconciliation
Allenby Bridge crossing to close for maintenance works
12/12/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Allenby Bridge crossing between the West Bank and Jordan will close on Tuesday at 3 p. m, the Palestinian Authority said Monday. The ministry of civil affairs urged Palestinians who wish to travel to Jordan, or those entering the West Bank, to arrive early as the last bus will leave....
Syrians vote as violence rages
12/12/2011 - DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Syrians were voting Monday in municipal elections even as violence raged in some parts of the country where security forces were pressing a deadly crackdown against dissent. Opposition activists meanwhile urged citizens to intensify a civil disobedience campaign launched on Sunday in a bid to bring down the government of President Bashar Assad....
Syria denies link to attack on French UNIFIL forces
12/12/2011 - DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Syria on Monday denied involvement in a bombing that wounded five French UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, a day after France said Damascus was probably behind the attack." Syria has no link whatsoever with this act which we condemn," foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi said in a statement that also criticized French Foreign....
Saudi woman beheaded for 'sorcery'
12/12/2011 - RIYADH (AFP) -- A Saudi woman was beheaded Monday after being convicted of practising sorcery, which is banned in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the interior ministry said. Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar was executed in the northern province of Jawf for "practising witchcraft and sorcery," the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency. It....
Israel’s threat to cut Gaza water supply would be "complete catastrophe"
Gaza, (Pal Telegraph) - “Taking our water is not like taking a toy. Water is life, they cannot play with our lives like this,” said Maher Najjar, deputy general director of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility of the recent Israeli threat to cut electricity, water and infrastructure services to the occupied Gaza Strip.
UNRWA: Palestinian Refugees unemployment increase
Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - The unemployment rate for Palestinian refugees reached 27.4%, which is about 5% above the average of the West Bank as a whole, an UNRWA report said Monday.
European Union: New Israeli settlements an obstacle to Peace
Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - The Acting Representative of the European Union in the West Bank and Gaza, John Gatt-Rutter, Monday reiterated in an interview with Voice of Palestine radio, the EU’s refusal of the Israeli settlements expansion in the Palestinian Territory that “does not serve peace.”
AlJazeera 13 Dec 2011 - UN cultural agency holds flag raising ceremony to welcome Palestine as organisation member despite controversy.
PNN - PNNOn Tuesday, Israeli forces accompanied by military vehicles and bulldozers raided the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala, razed agricultural lands and demolished four houses belonging to Palestinian citizens. Palestinian government news wire...
Israeli Forces Arrest Youth from Bethlehem, Three from Jenin
PNN - PNNOn Tuesday, Israeli forces arrested a youth from the town of Beit Fajjar town, south of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, and three Palestinians from Jenin in the north. Secure sources...
NGOs Raise Alarms on Accelerating Settlement Expansion, Settler Violence
PNN - Oxfam Israeli authorities have stepped up unlawful demolitions in the West Bank including East Jerusalem over the past year, displacing a record number of Palestinian families from their homes, an international coalition...
Japanese NGO Continues to Support Olive Farmers and Women’s Group in Tubas through Japanese Fund
PNN - Press Release On December 8th, 2011, the Representative of Japan to the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Naofumi Hashimoto and Ms. Mayumi Yoshida, the representative of NICCOD, a Japanese NGO, signed the grant contract...
Ashrawi Offers to Host Newt Gingrich
PNN - PLOIn response to Republican presidential nominee Newt Gingrich’s recent comments regarding the Palestinian people, PLO Executive Committee member and Palestinian lawmaker Dr. Hanan Ashrawi said in a press release, “It is unbelievable...
Settlers Throw Stones at Houses near Nablus
PNN - PNNOn Monday, extremist settlers from the settlements of Yitzhar attacked the Palestinian village of Asireh al-Qibliya, south of Nablus. Local sources said that a number of settlers came from one of Yitzhar,...
Israeli Forces Arrest Seven Palestinians from West Bank, Hand Notices to Others
PNN - PNNOn Monday, Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported that Israeli forces arrested seven citizens from Palestinian cities in the West Bank. Israeli forces raided al-Bireh, nearby Ramallah, as well as the refugee camp...
Israeli Bulldozers Demolish House in Jerusalem, Efrat Settlement to Expand near Bethlehem
PNN - PNNOn Monday, Israeli bulldozers started demolishing a house belonging to a Palestinian citizen in Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem, under the pretext that it had been built without an Israeli-issued permit. Eyewitnesses...
IRIN CAIRO 25 November 2011 (IRIN) - It took Ahmed Fawzi, a College of Islamic Studies graduate, only a few hours after seeing a man robbed and killed by a group of criminals to buy a gun. >
IPS Newt Gingrich has a well-documented reputation for bomb throwing, but his latest assertions about Palestinians threaten to blow at least two decades of U.S. Middle East diplomacy to pieces.
LIBYA: Old Ways Under a New Flag
IPS "They would call you a Gaddafist if you drove one of those 4 X 4 cars," says Bashar, emerging from one of those traffic jams in Tripoli. "Today almost every rebel commander has one."
ISRAEL: Togetherness Takes Wings
IPS Hasn't anyone dreamt once of taking refuge under the shelter of a bird's wings, coiled up in its feathers, catching a bird's eye view of what looks from above like paradise?
TUNISIA: Neo-Liberalism the Issue, Not Islam
IPS On the verge of officially forming a coalition government to run the country and rewrite the nation's pre-revolution constitution, Tunisia's dominant, Islamist political party Ennahda has come under fire for its economic neo-liberalism, both from opponents and from coalition partners.
Stop The Wall - Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign This photo story has captured some of the moments of the funeral of Mustafa Tamimi from Nabi Saleh. Mustafa Tamimi, 27, died on Saturday December 10 of wounds sustained after the Israeli occupation forces shot him in the face on Friday at the weekly popular...
Palestinian dies of wounds after being shot in the face by Israeli occupation forces
Stop The Wall - Palestinian Grassroots Anti-apartheid Wall Campaign Mustafa Tamimi shot at protest on Eve of Human Rights Day Nabi Saleh, West Bank – Palestinian activist Mustafa Tamimi, 28, died this morning of wounds sustained after the Israeli occupation forces shot him in the face on Friday at the weekly popular protest in...
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
International Solidarity Movement
Burin: Youth football surrounded by monuments to Israeli occupation12/12/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - By Ben Lorber, 12 December 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - On the 7th of December, a windy Wednesday morning behind the boys' school in the Palestinian village of Burin, 15 teenagers, dressed in red uniform, took to the football field under the coach's whistle. As the team began its warm-up exercises....
I was Mustafa Tamimi
12/12/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - By Refaat Alareer, 12 December 2011, In Gaza, My Gaza! - Fifteen years ago I was Mustafa Tamimi. Two months before that it was a relative who had his skull smashed by an explosive bullet from an Israeli sniper. Later that same week another neighbor lost his eye. Before and since then, the same situation has.... Related: In Gaza, My Gaza!
No miracle yesterday in Nabi Saleh: Mustafa Tamimi murdered
12/12/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - By Linah Alsaafin, 10 December 2011, The Electronic Intifada - "Ambulance! Ambulance!" So far, there were three people who had suffocated from the tear gas, and three people injured by rubber bullets. I saw gas, and so assumed that it was another case of suffocation. But the cries got louder, urgent, desperate "” quite unlike the previous....
Palestine mourns another real legend, a symbol of motherhood
12/12/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - By Shahd Abusalama, 11 December 2011, Palestine from My Eyes - My voice is muted but every feature of my face speaks sorrow and anger. There is no need to wonder why. It's Palestine, the rich land where smiles can turn to tears and laughs can turn to sighs in a second. It'.... Related: Palestine from My Eyes
Qalandia: White sky of tear gas looms over apartheid wall construction
12/12/2011 - International Solidarity Movement - By Rana H. , 9 December 2011, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank - Peaceful protesters came face to face with Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in Qalandia on Friday before soldiers began to fire tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at the civilian group including children, women, and elders. Qalandia village is protesting the construction of the apartheid....
IDF agrees to expansion of West Bank settlement
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - Expansion of Gush Etzion settlement bloc with 40 single-family homes receives approval from Defense Minister Barak.
Rocket fired toward Israel lands in south Lebanon, wounds woman
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - Overnight comes two weeks after several rockets were fired across Israeli-Lebanese border.
Hamas calls for calm with Israel after spike in cross-border attacks
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - Minister in Gaza-based Hamas government calls on its people to unite and restore calm in order to block a large-scale aggression.
Israel's new ambassador arrives in Cairo
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - Yaakov Amitai arrived in the Egyptian capital three months after the embassy was ransacked by angry rioters.
Lieberman: Russia elections not perfect but such errors also occur in Israel
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - FM comments on bill proposing to ban mosques from using loudspeakers to call worshippers to prayers, saying the proposal was 'legitimate,' has 'precedents in the West.'
Hamas: Israel declaring war on Muslim holy sites with closure of Jerusalem bridge
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - Wooden ramp leading from Western Wall Plaza to Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa mosque closed due to concerns it may collapse; Hamas condemns move as 'Zionist aggression.'
Israel hosts Greek Air Force for joint excercise
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - In recent effort to strengthen cooperation with NATO allies, Israel has been carrying out large-scale drills in foreign skies, as well as hosting foreign air forces to train in its training facilities.
IDF scrambles as right-wing activists seize structures near Jordan border
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - In planned provocation, about 25-30 activists enter sealed-off tract of land near border holy site, saying the incident is message to Jordan to keep out of Temple Mount affairs.
West has no evidence of Iran atomic bomb program, senior Turkish diplomat says
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - Head of Organization of Islamic Cooperation tells Haaretz at Doha conference that Tehran has right to peaceful nuclear program, rejects military intervention.
U.S. House and Senate panel agree on new sanctions against Iran
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - Lawmakers say they agree to sanctions, despite Obama's misgivings; measures include targeting Iran's central bank.
Israel's new Cairo envoy: Egypt peace treaty will be preserved
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - Ambassador Yaakov Amitai arrived in Cairo on Monday, three months after Egyptian rioters ransacked Israel's embassy.
Abbas raises Palestinian flag at UNESCO
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - UNESCO members voting by an overwhelming majority to admit Palestine as the agency's 195th member state on October 31.
Israeli law is powerless in the settlements
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - It is absurd when some 50 Jewish rioters attack a military base and IDF soldiers, but there is no one there to arrest them.
Israel Education Minister: Palestinian state in West Bank 'dangerous move'
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - Gideon Sa'ar says strengthening of radical Islam in region, as well as the conduct of PA should cause Israel to question establishment of Palestinian state.
Right-wing activist calls on IDF soldiers to sabotage equipment
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - Yitzhar resident 'warns' soldiers not to take certain actions that may prevent evacuations, such as spreading nails on roads or damaging engines.
Netanyahu: All lines were crossed when Israeli citizens attacked IDF soldiers
Ha'aretz 13 Dec 2011 - PM says will use 'all of his power' to stem violence by right-wing extremists; Livni: Government shares responsibility for attack on IDF base.
The Guardian 13 Dec 2011 - The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, symbolically hoists the Palestinian flag at the Unesco headquarters
Israeli military base attacked by Jewish extremists in West Bank
The Guardian 13 Dec 2011 - Attack came hours after settlers stormed monument as some say 'homegrown terrorism' is now greatest threat to security A gang of 50 Jewish settlers and rightwing activists have broken into an army base near the Israeli...
Jewish protesters gain access to Qasar al-Yahud baptism site - video
The Guardian 13 Dec 2011 - Israeli settlers staged a protest near the border with Jordan over the al-Aqsa mosque bridge row
Israeli settlers clash with troops in West Bank
The Guardian 13 Dec 2011 - Jewish settlers vandalise Israeli army base in protest over planned evacuations of unauthorised settlement outposts Israeli settlers have clashed with troops at an army base in the West Bank and along the border with Jordan in...
Syria holds elections amid crackdown – Monday 12 December 2011
The Guardian 12 Dec 2011 - • Clashes between Syrian defectors and army spread • Low turn-out expected in local vote as opposition calls for boycott • Speculation of Homs assault mounts ahead of 'deadline' • Read the latest summary 8.46am: Good...
Newt Gingrich calls Palestinians 'terrorists' – video
The Guardian 12 Dec 2011 - Leading Palestinian officials have rounded on the Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich for his description of Palestinians as an "invented" people and "terrorists"
New Israeli ambassador arrives in Cairo months after embassy was ransacked
The Guardian 12 Dec 2011 - Yaakov Amitai's predecessor left when protesters stormed the Israeli embassy after the deaths of six Egyptian soldiers Israel's new ambassador to Egypt has arrived in Cairo three months after rioters ransacked the Israeli embassy there. Yaakov...
Newt Gingrich condemned for calling Palestinians 'terrorists'
The Guardian 12 Dec 2011 - Palestinian officials say Republican frontrunner's claim children are taught to kill in textbooks is based on Israeli propaganda Leading Palestinian officials have rounded on the Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich for his description of Palestinians as...
Israeli women stand up to gender segregation with musical protest
The Guardian 13 Dec 2011 - Women sing and dance in central Jerusalem to resist Haredi Jews' campaign The performers were mostly women, as was the audience. On a cold night in the centre of Jerusalem this week, they sang, swayed and...
Ha'aretz - French President Nicolas Sarkozy has lobbied for the release of French-Palestinian Salah Hamour who was jailed in 2005 for the assassination plot.
Netanyahu calls urgent meeting after rightists attack IDF base
Ha'aretz - PM calls attack by right-wing activists on IDF officer, soldiers 'intolerable' and calls on Israeli security forces to act decisively against the perpetrators.
Netanyahu, right-wing leaders condemn attack on IDF base in West Bank
Ha'aretz - Yesha council chair, Im Tirtzu leader strongly condemn attack by right-wing activists on IDF soldiers; Defense Minister Barak says actions carry an 'air of self-made terrorism.'
Netanyahu: Equality between women and men in Israel must remain absolute
Ha'aretz - PM speaks at award ceremony commemorating the fight against human trafficking, saying that exclusion of women is a 'minor phenomenon' that contradicts Jewish traditions.
Former IDF Chief Rabbi: If violence continues, I will leave Itamar settlement
Ha'aretz - Rabbi Avichai Ronsky, current head of Itamar settlement in West Bank, also called on settlement heads to meet urgently in wake of rightist attack on IDF base Tuesday.
Israel's AG seeks to keep press from reporting criminal investigations
Ha'aretz - Proposal would contradict fundamental principles of democracy, says attorney representing Haaretz and other media outlets protesting the proposal.
Jerusalem closes Mughrabi Bridge leading to Temple Mount
Ha'aretz - Due to safety concerns, Western Wall Heritage Foundation shuts down historic bridge, which has become a sensitive issue for both Egypt and Jordan.
Dozens of rightists break into IDF base in West Bank, wound officer
Ha'aretz - Some 50 right-wing activists throw rocks, burn tires, and vandalize military vehicles; no one arrested in incident; earlier, right-wing activists arrested on Jordan border.
Dozens of Israeli businesses sign modesty agreement after ultra-Orthodox push
Ha'aretz - Haredi group 'asks' shops in Sderot to tell female employees to dress 'dignified'; dress code also applies to ads and notices for the businesses.
Israel's Channel 10 faces closure after Knesset rejects delay of debt repayment
Ha'aretz - Move comes less than three months after affair in which Netanyahu ally and billionaire Sheldon Adelson pressured the station into apologizing for a piece it aired on him.
Israel State Comptroller: Interior Ministry overfunded Hebron Jewish settlement
Ha'aretz - Report criticizes 'flawed' decision making process in funding of Israeli local councils, including several West Bank settlements.
Israel introduces first national air pollution reduction program
Ha'aretz - Ministry of Environmental Protection says program will substantially reduce emission of most harmful pollutants.
Israeli bank cancels charity project after outcry over rightist NGO's participation
Ha'aretz - Participation of rightist Im Tirzu group in Bank Leumi's charitable donation project sparked public campaign against the project.
Israel's Nobel Prize winner: Scientists must watch over politicians
Ha'aretz - Dan Shechtman, a professor at Haifa's Technion Institute, receives prize for cutting-edge work he did during the 1980s in the field of crystallography, discovering the existence of quasicrystals.
Netanyahu to visit Africa in bid to stem illegal migration to Israel
Ha'aretz - Cabinet ministers approve a 2% across-the-board cut to fund measures to halt influx of migrants; PM says that most infiltrators in Israel are labor migrants, not refugees.
Israel's Dan Shechtman receives Nobel Prize in chemistry
Ha'aretz - The prominent scientist receives the prize for cutting-edge work he did during the 1980s in the field of crystallography, discovering the existence of quasicrystals.
Lunar eclipse observed over Israel
Ha'aretz - Saturday’s eclipse was an extremely rare event, as it took place while the moon was rising and the sun was setting.
Thousands march in Israel to mark International Human Rights Day
Ha'aretz - 130 groups participate in Tel Aviv march, covering full range of the political spectrum; around 500 people take part in Haifa event.
Israeli doctors, Finance Ministry sign deal ending health system crisis
Ha'aretz - Agreement includes grant of NIS 60,000 in two stages for every medical resident; young residents will get paid more for evening, night shifts.
Netanyahu set to present plan to tackle illegal immigration from Africa
Ha'aretz - According to the plan, the fence along the Egyptian border will be completed within a year and a new detention center will be built.
Netanyahu shelves cabinet discussion on bill to limit foreign funding to NGOs
Ha'aretz - Sources in prime minister's office say Netanyahu wants to mull over the proposal after Attorney General said he could not defend the bill in High Court; Britain says bill would undermine Israel's democracy.
Relief Web 12 Dec 2011 - Source: UN General Assembly Country: occupied Palestinian territory Sixty-sixth session Agenda item 70 (b) Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance: assistance to the Palestinian people Albania, Angola, Australia,...
occupied Palestinian territory: Israel expands settlement bloc near Bethlehem
Relief Web 12 Dec 2011 - Source: Agence France-Presse Country: occupied Palestinian territory , Israel JERUSALEM — Israel has approved construction of 40 homes in a new settler enclave near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, effectively expanding a large settlement bloc there, the defence ministry said...
occupied Palestinian territory: Ban voices deep concern over settlement expansion in the West Bank
Relief Web 12 Dec 2011 - Source: UN News Service Country: occupied Palestinian territory , Israel 12 December 2011 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern after reports emerged today that the Israeli Government has approved the construction of another 40 houses and a farm in the...
occupied Palestinian territory: Drinking water in Gaza and rule of law: EU supports the PA in two focal sectors of intervention
Relief Web 12 Dec 2011 - Source: European Union Country: occupied Palestinian territory Jerusalem PR/27/2011 12/12/2011 The European Union (EU) announced today its latest contribution in two major sectors of support to the Palestinian Authority (PA): the sustainable management of natural resources and the rule of...
occupied Palestinian territory: Israeli settlers continue their systematic attacks on Palestinian civilians and their property in the West Bank
Relief Web 12 Dec 2011 - Source: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Country: occupied Palestinian territory Ref: 136/2011 Date: 12 December 2011 Time: 11:50 GMT The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns attacks launched by groups of Israeli settlers in the early morning in two...
occupied Palestinian territory: In the Context of Efforts to Create Jewish Majority in Occupied East Jerusalem, IOF Transform Shu’fat Checkpoint into International Crossing
Relief Web 12 Dec 2011 - Source: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Country: occupied Palestinian territory The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns, in the strongest terms, the ongoing policies adopted by Israeli occupation authorities aimed at creating a Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem,...
occupied Palestinian territory: On 63rd Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Israel Continues to Violate Palestinian Human Rights amid Silence from the International Community
Relief Web 12 Dec 2011 - Source: Al Mezan Center for Human Rights Country: occupied Palestinian territory Reference: 91/2011 Yesterday, Saturday 10 December 2011, marks the 63rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It is an occasion on which people around the world...
occupied Palestinian territory: Labour market in the West Bank: Briefing on first-half 2011
Relief Web 12 Dec 2011 - Source: UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Country: occupied Palestinian territory Palestinian refugees hardest hit in the West Bank according to new UNRWA report 12 December 2011, Jerusalem - According to a new report...
occupied Palestinian territory: 'For the Children' donates USD 1mn to help Palestinian children
Relief Web 11 Dec 2011 - Source: Emirates News Agency Country: occupied Palestinian territory Dec 11, 2011 - 06:01 - WAM Sharjah , Dec 11th, 2011 (WAM) -- 'For the Children' (Salam Ya Sighar), the Sharjah emirate's initiative to support Palestinian children has signed an agreement with...
occupied Palestinian territory: General Assembly, on Recommendation of Fourth Committee, Adopts 26 Texts, including 9 on Arab Israeli Conflict, 11 on Decolonization
Relief Web 11 Dec 2011 - Source: UN General Assembly Country: occupied Palestinian territory GA/11191 Sixty-sixth General Assembly Plenary 81st Meeting (AM) Consensus Eludes Assembly on Texts Concerning Middle East, Five On Decolonization, including on Implementation of Decolonization Declaration Acting on the recommendation of its Fourth...
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - The United States on Tuesday urged Russia to back UN Security Council action on Syria, after UN officials said the death toll in the months-long Syrian protests had ... ....
Egypt Islamists offer 'sin-free' tourism
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Islamists are dominating Egypt's elections and some of them have a new message for tourists: welcome, but no booze, bikinis or mixed bathing at beaches, please. That ... ....
IDF chief: Settler violence absurd
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz called the recent settler riots in the West Bank "inconceivable absurd." Speaking at a reunion of National Security College ... ....
US indicts alleged drug smuggler tied to Hezbollah
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - US prosecutors have indicted a Lebanese national who they say leads a massive international drug smuggling ring with links to the terror group Hezbollah and has allegedly ... ....
Guests asked to 'dress modestly' for IDF ceremony
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Parents of soldiers who recently completed an IDF medics' course were shocked to discover that in the invitation to the graduation ceremony they were instructed to arrive ... ....
Violence in Syrian border province leaves 28 dead
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Syrian security forces fired on a funeral procession in a restive northwestern border region, killing two people and raising Tuesday's death toll to at least 28, ... ....
General Mizrahi: I've never seen such hatred against soldiers
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - IDF Central Command Chief Major-General Avi Mizrahi called the rioting of dozens of settlers on Monday night "a very serious incident" during which "Israeli Jews rioted ... ....
Yishai downplays issue of women's exclusion
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Interior Minister believes that phenomenon of excluding women from public sphere....
Palestinian flag flies at UNESCO
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Mahmoud Abbas attends Paris ceremony celebrating PA's admission to UN's cultural....
Settlers: Barak to blame for rightist riots
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Samaria Regional Council head points finger at 'pyromaniac' defense minister for....
Iran scoffs at Obama request for US drone’s return
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Islamic Republic says US downed drone is now its property, dismissive of Obama's....
Peres: Recent legislation is 'march of folly'
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Ever since he left Knesset, President Shimon Peres has been trying to stay out....
PM orders emergency meeting on settler violence
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Netanyahu to convene IDF chief, police commissioner and defense minister to....
Congress panel agrees on new Iran sanctions
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Democrats, Republicans say they agree to legislation compromise imposing new....
Livni blames PM for radicalization wave
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Settler violence draws extensive criticism by political figures. PM instructs....
Settlers raid IDF base, injure commander
YNet News, 13 Dec 2011 - Two violent incidents recorded overnight as settlers protest expected outpost....
Settlers gear for outposts' eviction
YNet News, 12 Dec 2011 - Tensions run high as security forces set to evacuate several illegal West Bank....
UN: Syria death toll over 5,000
YNet News, 12 Dec 2011 - UN's Human Rights chief briefs Security Council on brutal crackdown in Syria.....
Iran: Steel mill blast caused by gas leak
YNet News, 12 Dec 2011 - Tehran offers yet another explanation for mysterious explosion at steel factory....
10 Dec 2011 - On Friday, 9 Dec. '11, at the end of the weekly demonstration in the West Bank village of a-Nabi Saleh, a soldier killed demonstrator Mustafa Tamimi by firing a tear-gas canister directly at his face. For...
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 British Prime Minister David Cameron urged Bahrain's king on Monday to quickly implement reforms recommended in a scathing report into human rights abuses during the Arab nation's uprising.
Iran must chose between a bomb or survival: Israel
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 A senior Israeli cabinet minister on Monday said Iran must be forced to face an existential question over its nuclear drive: choose between getting an atomic bomb, or survival.
Obama demands Iran return downed US drone
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 President Barack Obama said Monday the United States has asked Iran to return a US drone that Tehran said it brought down while overflying its territory.
Ex-opposition leader Marzouki elected Tunisia president
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Tunisia's veteran opposition leader Moncef Marzouki was elected president Monday, a month and a half after the north African country held its first post-revolution election.
Canada bans burka at citizenship swearing in
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Canada's immigration minister says new Canadians will have to remove any face-coverings, such as the Islamic niqab or burka, while they take the oath of citizenship.
Arab uprisings reshape map of US influence
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 The case is often made that Washington was caught flatfooted and now must adapt to diminished influence in a Middle East with new priorities.
Hamas in Gaza says it's learning from Arab Spring
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Several senior members said Hamas has matured in five years in power and learned lessons from the Arab Spring.
Detained Syrian blogger charged with three crimes
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Razzan Ghazzawi, the Syrian blogger who was detained earlier this month, tried in front of the magistrate and charged with three crimes.
Documentary looks at life of Palestinian leader
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Associates of Yasser Arafat offer personal recollections in a documentary screened in Dubai this week on his search for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that descended into violence and failed to lead to a Palestinian state.
Blast kills 7 in steel mill in Iran
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 A blast caused by leftover ammunition killed at least seven workers including foreign nationals at a steel mill in the central Iranian city of Yazd.
Obama meets Iraq's Maliki at White House
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 President Barack Obama welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to the White House on Monday, showcasing the end of the American war in Iraq as he campaigns for reelection next year.
Lindsay Lohan says has learned from mistakes
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Actress Lindsay Lohan, in her first interview since being sent to jail last month for a probation violation, tells Playboy that she has learned to be accountable for her mistakes.
A few Chinese hacker teams do most US data theft
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 As few as 12 different Chinese groups, largely backed or directed by the government there, do the bulk of the China-based cyberattacks stealing critical data from U.S. companies and government agencies.
Siniora, Qabalan affirm need for unity among Muslims
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, vice-president of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council, met with Future Movement MP Fouad Siniora to affirm the need for unity among Muslims and condemn all acts of sectarianism.
Baby dies after being rushed to hospital by daycare employees
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Three-month-old baby boy dies after being rushed to hospital by employees at a Beirut daycare center.
Iran says it's almost done decoding US drone
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Iranian experts are in the final stages of recovering data from the U.S. surveillance drone captured by the country's armed forces, state TV reported Monday.
GLC announces general strike Dec. 27
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Head of the General Labor Confederation confirms general strike across Lebanon to be held Dec. 27 in protest against Cabinet’s decision on pay hikes.
Hezbollah: CIA agents hold open meetings in north Beirut
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Hezbollah MP Nawaf Musawi Monday said there were open meetings taking place by U.S. intelligence agents in the Metn area gathering information that serves the interest of Israel.
Hariri meets new Saudi defense minister
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Monday with Saudi Arabia’s newly appointed Defense Minister Prince Salman bin Abdel-Aziz to congratulate him on his new post.
Lebanese Army denies clash with Israeli troops
Daily Star 12 Dec 2011 Lebanese Army denies reports that soldiers clashed with Israeli troops along the border.
Palestinian Information Center
IOA isolates 50000 JerusalemitesPIC - The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has officially opened the Shufat crossing that would isolate 50000 Palestinians in the Shufat refugee camp from occupied Jerusalem.
Interior ministry: No Qaeda elements in Gaza
PIC - The Palestinian interior ministry has denied Hebrew press reports claiming that elements of Al-Qaeda had entered Gaza from Sinai through the tunnels.
Israeli policemen beat up 8-year-old Jerusalemite child, igniting clashes
PIC - 11/12/2011 - 05:42 PM
Gingrich's obscene canard
PIC - 11/12/2011 - 11:02 PM
Israeli ministers threaten new war on Gaza
PIC - 12/12/2011 - 10:37 AM
Dweik: Parliamentary blocs hold consultative meeting
PIC - 12/12/2011 - 10:39 AM
IOA to build new settlement suburb near Bethlehem
PIC - 12/12/2011 - 10:41 AM
Resheq slams Gingrich's remarks against people of Palestine
PIC - 12/12/2011 - 10:54 AM
Israeli court orders demolition of Umm Hayran village in Negev
PIC - 12/12/2011 - 11:15 AM
Report: The IOF kidnapped 50 Palestinians in Al-Khalil last month
PIC - 12/12/2011 - 11:23 AM
Jewish settlers wreak havoc in West Bank village
PIC - 12/12/2011 - 05:25 PM
Awad: Israel insists on retaining Gaza under pressure
PIC - 12/12/2011 - 05:31 PM
LA Times 11 Dec 2011 - Coptic Christians are anxiously watching a theological and political battle between Muslim parties expected to win 60% of parliament seats. The struggle will define an emerging political Islam. Fears and worries murmur like prayers beneath the hammered crosses of the Church of the Virgin Mary....
New York Times 11 Dec 2011 - The government said it would spend $160 million to build an Egyptian border fence, expand detention centers and increase the policing of companies that hire immigrant workers.
Articles
I was Mustafa Tamimi
Refaat Alareer, In Gaza, My Gaza! 12/12/2011
Fifteen years ago I was Mustafa Tamimi. Two months before that it was a relative who had his skull smashed by an explosive bullet from an Israeli sniper. Later that same week another neighbor lost his eye. Before and since then, the same situation has been repeating itself again and again: an armored jeep, a soldier armed to teeth, a tiny figure of mere flesh and bones, and a stone smeared with blood on the side of the road. That’s the saga of Palestine. That’s our tale, full of injustice and oppression, whose hero struts and frets and whoever gets in his way is doomed. But we get in his way anyway.
The pain the two rubber-coated bullets caused I can’t feel now. They do not hurt. But the grinning face of the Rambo-like Israeli soldier still does. I was mature enough then to realize that those were enemies, our enemies who are messing up everything in our lives. (I did not need anyone to teach me that by the way because I have eyes that see and ears that hear). Never had I thought then that those soldiers were sometimes doing the occupation thing for “merry sport”. Despite the glaring gazes, the frowns that left their faces wrinkled and the beatings some of my friends and I had for just being there, I had the impression that the Israeli soldiers who hit a Palestinian boy spent their nights mooning about what they did. They apparently did not. And that grin was the proof. And Mustafa Tamimi’s the most recent walking (had not he been put down) evidence.
Yet, I blame Mustafa.
Yes, he is to blame. He is to blame for believing deep in his heart that those trigger-happy soldiers may not shoot directly at him and if they do they might not shoot to kill. He is to blame for not armoring his body with shields of steel. He is to blame for fighting for his rights. 10 thousand dead Palestinians in the past ten years or so prove without doubt that when Israeli soldiers shoot they shoot to kill and when they aim, they aim to hit... -- See also: In Gaza, My Gaza! and EI: No miracle yesterday in Nabi Saleh: Mustafa Tamimi murdered
Palestine mourns another real legend, a symbol of motherhood
Shahd Abusalama, Palestine from My Eyes 12/11/2011
My voice is muted but every feature of my face speaks sorrow and anger. There is no need to wonder why. It’s Palestine, the rich land where smiles can turn to tears and laughs can turn to sighs in a second. It’s Palestine, where series of sad stories mixed with strength, will, and glory never end.
Anees and Akram Al-Namoura are brothers who were released in the first stage of the prisoner exchange on October 18 after spending ten years, originally supposed to be two life sentences, in prison. They joined the resistance by the beginning of the second Intifada, answering the call of their occupied lands and oppressed people to defend them, ready to pay any price that their precious homeland, Palestine, would require. While Israel was aggressively and continuously attacking, killing, wounding, and detaining Palestinian citizens, the brothers took to arms against the occupying army hoping for a better future for their family, their neighbors and their community. They planted a bomb beneath an Israeli tank, killing two Israeli soldiers.
I coincidentally met Anees, the elder brother, in his hotel while I was interviewing some other former detainees. After having a short chat, I learned that he was somehow related to my mother’s family. Then he told me that his imprisonment started five months before his brother’s. I commented innocently, “I can’t imagine how hard it is for your mother to have two sons in prison at the same time. But it is a little fortunate that you and Akram met each other there.” He shook his head, smiling at my naïveté, and corrected me. “No. We were in prison at the same time, but separated by the Israeli Prison Administration for the first five years. We tried legal remedies, but no lawyers and no courts could bring us together. So we started an open hunger strike to pressure them, and we were clear that our hunger strike would end only after they had met our demands. We could eventually meet and live as brothers in Armon Prison, in the same cell, for the last five years of our imprisonment.“ -- See also: Palestine from My Eyes
Why the US & Israel May Agree to Bombing Iran
Franklin C. Spinney, CounterPunch 12/12/2011
Shaping the Popular Psyche in America's Post-Information Era
The arguments for attacking Iran are crazy, like those for attacking Iraq in response to 9-11. But that does not mean such an attack by the American and/or the Israelis will not occur.
Indeed, I think the political pressure for such an attack is increasing. My reasons for saying this are as follows:
On 11 October, Patrick Seale wrote a very important essay, Will Israel Bomb Iran. Seale described secret internal deliberations in the Israeli government over the twin questions of (1) how short a time window existed for Israel to launch a sneak attack on Iran and (2) how to suck in the United States into supporting such an attack, even if an Israeli attack was launched without US approval or if the US was kept in ignorance beforehand? Seale, who is extremely well connected and very knowledgeable on the Middle Eastern affairs, also reported the Americans knew of the Israeli discussions, and the idea of Israeli decision makers thinking their window of opportunity was closing was causing alarm in Washington.
Seale did not address the speculative question of whether or not Israel, motivated by the opportunities implicit in the US election cycle, was running a ‘perception shaping’ operation on the Obama Administration and/or Obama’s opponents in the Republican party.
Also on 11 October, the US Attorney General Eric Holder held a spectacular press conference announcing the FBI had uncovered an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States on US soil and to attack embassies of unnamed third countries. But the story was full of holes, and as I argued here, it smacked of a botched sting operation or, even worse, a false flag operation, perhaps by the Israelis or the Saudis. The story quickly lost its traction and vanished, but the impression was planted in a sound-byte-addicted popular psyche.
Electronic Intifada
New film documents resilience of Bedouin village destroyed 30 times
Electronic Intifada: 12 Dec 2011 - Nora Barrows-Friedman The Electronic Intifada Jillian Kestler-D’Amours talks to The Electronic Intifada about her new film focusing on the Bedouin village of al-Araqib and the women, men and children who resist displacement by the Israeli government and the Jewish National Fund.more
West Bank village steps up protests against Israel's theft of land
Electronic Intifada: 12 Dec 2011 - Ben Lorber The Electronic Intifada Palestinians in the northern West Bank village of Kufr Qaddoum have been holding regular protests against the Israeli occupation and settlement encroachment.more
In Gaza
Israel’s threat to cut Gaza water supply would be “complete catastrophe”
In Gaza: 10 Dec 2011 - *Gaza’s sole power plant still maimed by Israeli bombing in 2006. GAZA CITY, Dec 9, 2011 (IPS) -By Eva Bartlett** [re-published at Electronic Intifada ] “Taking our water is not like taking a toy. Water is life, they cannot play with our lives like this,” says Maher Najjar, deputy general director of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility ( CMWU ) of the recent Israeli threat to cut electricity, water and infrastructure services to the occupied Gaza Strip. “Everything will be affected: drinking and washing water, sewage and sanitation, hospitals, schools and children,” says Ahmed al-Amrain, head of power information at the Palestinian Energy and National Resources Authority ( PENRA ). The Israeli Electric Company provides 60 percent of the Strip’s needs, paid by Palestinian customs taxes collected by the Israeli authorities. Gaza buys 5 percent from Egypt and tries to generate the remaining 35 percent at Gaza’s sole power plant, maimed by the 2006 Israeli...more
Masked in Gaza: The Untold History of Palestinian 'Militancy'
Palestine Chronicle: 13 Dec 2011 - By Ramzy Baroud Essam Al-Batsh and his nephew, Sobhi Al-Batsh, are the latest in a long line of reported Palestinian ‘militants’ killed by Israel. The civilians were both targeted while driving in a car in downtown Gaza on December 8. According to an Israeli army statement, “(They) were affiliated with a terrorist squad that intended to attack Israeli civilians and soldiers via the western border” (Reuters, December 8). Another ‘militant’ had been killed two days earlier. Israeli military aircraft “had targeted two militant squads that were preparing to fire rockets into southern Israel,” according to the Associated Press. AP quoted Israeli official saying the army would “continue to take action against those (who) use terror against the state of Israel.” It really doesn’t take much to kill a ‘militant’ in Gaza. Israeli military intelligence officers simply select a weapon and zoom in on their chosen person on any given day....more
Newt Unleashes His Tetrodotoxin at the Palestinians
Palestine Chronicle: 13 Dec 2011 - By William A. Cook 'Remember there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire. And I think that we've had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community…' -- (Newt Gingrich, Fox News. December 10, 2011) Many “Newts” produce toxins, the rough skinned Taricha, for example, produces enough to kill an adult human, and while all “Newts” go through a metamorphosis from tadpole to lizard, few expected that metamorphosis to reach human form in the person of the front running Republican candidate for President, Newt Gingrich. This Newt avoided the Vietnam War draft while studying for his degrees, then accepted a position as an historian and geographer at West Georgia College, a position he lost when his colleagues denied him tenure. A resourceful man, Newt ran for a congressional seat numerous times before capturing the 6th...more
Iran, the Revolution and the Language of War
Palestine Chronicle: 12 Dec 2011 - By Deepak Tripathi A few days ago, I revisited a lecture given by Fred Halliday, FBA, an intellectual giant among scholars of Middle East and Cold War history, at the London School of Economics in 2009. His topic was “The Islamic Republic of Iran After 30 Years.” For nearly a quarter century, Halliday was professor of International Relations at the LSE and recognized worldwide as a leading expert in the study of Islam, the Middle East and great power relations in the region. He died just over a year ago, but for more than three decades before that he was also in great demand in media outlets, including the BBC World Service at Bush House, my professional base next door to the LSE. He often came to take part in World Service programs and I came to regard Fred as a friend. Watching him interpret the Iranian Revolution thirty years...more
Washington's Alliance with 'Moderate Islam'
Palestine Chronicle: 12 Dec 2011 - By James Petras The dynamic of democratic, nationalist and class struggles throughout the Muslim world has set in motion a new constellation of alliances between the imperial West (US and European Union) and Islamist parties, leaders and regimes, dubbed “moderate” by US officials, propagandists and academics. This essay analyzes the changing contemporary context of imperial domination, especially the demise of longstanding client regimes. It then examines the previous significant ties between western imperial powers and Islamist movements and regimes and the basis of ‘historical collaboration’. The third part of the paper will outline the political circumstances in which the imperial powers embrace “moderate” Islamists in government and utilize “armed fundamentalists” in opposition to secular regimes. We will critically analyze how “moderate” Islam is defined by the Western imperialist powers. Is this a tactical or strategic alliance? What are the political “trade-offs”? What do imperialism’s neo-liberal clients and their new ‘moderate’...more
'To Exist is to Resist': On Intifada and Sumud
Palestine Chronicle: 11 Dec 2011 - By Mohammed ALNadi - Gaza As I write this, I'm listening to 'Ween el Malayeen' song, meaning 'where are the millions', a revolutionary song which used to stir the patriotic emotions inside millions of raging Arabs at the time of the first Intifada. This song is the Intifada's trademark which is reminiscent of vivid bittersweet memories of Palestinians in their most courageous images. It is associated with the unarmed, bare-chested Palestinian who stood firmly catapulting his stone at the Israeli killing machine, and who dared to grab the fuming tear gas grenade with his bare hands and throw it back at the Israeli soldier. The first Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, began 24 years ago, as an accumulative result of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967, and its mounting brutal, repressive actions against Palestinians in all the occupied territories. Every year on December 8, Palestinians...more
Who Will Watch the (Pro-Israeli) Watchdog?
Palestine Chronicle: 11 Dec 2011 - By Maidhc Ó Cathail On December 2, the Geneva-based UN Watch welcomed that day's 'strong condemnation' of Syria by a UN Human Rights Council emergency session, and its establishment of a special rapporteur to monitor the situation there following what it called "a global campaign to create the post by a coalition of prominent democracy dissidents and human rights groups" led by UN Watch itself. The non-governmental organization, whose self-appointed mandate is "to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter," expressed regret, however, that the UNHRC resolution "paid special deference" to Syria's "territorial integrity" and "political independence," decrying the provision as "a clear jab at NATO’s intervention in Libya, and a pre-emptive strike against the principle of the international community's responsibility to protect civilians under assault." On the same day, UN Watch delivered a speech to the Human Rights Council plenary session in...more
News Links Subs
No comments:
Post a Comment