http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Israeli troops overrun village near Nablus
Nablus-Ma'an-Israeli troops launched a military operation on the Beita village south of Nablus at 11:00 pm on Wednesday.
More than 15 military vehicles unloaded dozens of Israeli troops, who spread out through the village. The soldiers broke into several houses, in some cases evicting residents and turning the homes into temporary military posts.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Army Invades Several Areas in Bethlehem, Officials Angered by Pre-Christmas Invasion
The Palestine News Network (PNN) reported on Wednesday that the Israeli army invaded several areas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, detaining and kidnapping a number of residents, as well as searched a number of homes after forcing the residents out. Officials in Bethlehem slammed the Israeli invasion and said that this attack is an attempt to disrupt the preparations for Christmas.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Soldiers invade Beit Sahour, detain 22-year-old Palestinian
Israeli troops overran the town of Beit Sahour Thursday morning where they detained a young Palestinian and took him to an unknown location. Palestinian security sources said Israeli military vehicles entered the town at 2:00am Thursday and broke into the Sh'ebat family house, destroying furniture and family valuables. The soldiers then detained 22 year-old Sa'id Awad Sh'ebat and removed him from the area.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Top Fatah lawmaker calls for release of Hamas PLC speaker
The leader of the Fatah bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Azam Al-Ahmad denounced on Thursday an Israeli court's sentencing of the PLC speaker, Aziz Dweik, to 36 months in prison. Dweik, a Hamas member, was seized by the Israeli military in 2006 in retaliation for the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian fighters. On Tuesday a military court sentenced him for his membership in Hamas. He has eight months to serve.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israelis continue to abuse Palestinian prisoners
Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli jails in a "goodwill gesture" Monday. This followed the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha and was an attempt to boost the waning popularity of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Several prisoners spoke to the assembled local and international media about their time in detention. They accused the Israelis of maltreating and physically abusing detainees despite Israeli claims that torture and the abuse of prisoners have been outlawed and no longer occur.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Palestinians issued 11 death sentences in 2008
New York-based Human Rights Watch says Palestinian courts in Gaza Strip sentenced nearly dozen men to death this year, mostly for collaborating with Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Palestinians: Man killed in Gaza strike
Air Force strike Qassam cell in Beit Hanoun following rocket attack on Sderot; Gaza sources say man died at home.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Palestinian man killed, wife & children wounded in IOF missile shelling
A 47-year-old Palestinian was killed Wednesday night in northern Gaza and his wife and two children were wounded in the Israeli artillery firing of a land-to-land missile on their home.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
IOF air raids blast Palestinian home, workshop
Israeli occupation forces blasted a Palestinian home and a workshop in northern and southern Gaza respectively during pre dawn aerial raids on Thursday, local sources reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Three Israelis Mildly Wounded in Sderot
Israeli sources reported on Wednesday that three Israelis suffered mild injuries after fighters from the Islamic Jihad fired, during evening hours, homemade shells at the Negev town of Sderot.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Mofaz: Israel should cut the heads of Hamas leaders
Israeli transport minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted by the Hebrew radio on Wednesday as saying that Israel should cut off the heads of Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
PFLP: Renewal of calm not acceptable
The PFLP has said that the past six months had proven that the "Zionist enemy" did not abide by the calm and continued its policy of aggression against the Palestinian people.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Hamas: No calm for free
The Hamas Movement on Thursday denied presence of contacts between Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Palestinian resistance factions on truce with Israel.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Hebrew press announces Israeli military preparing to assassinate Gaza leaders
Assassinating Hamas leaders is one option being explored as Israeli troops prepare for the end of the ceasefire, according to a Thursday report in the Israeli daily paper Maariv. The paper quoted military sources as saying Arab countries advised Israel to assassinate major Hamas leaders if they reject the truce.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
PRC: Israel ended the truce long before projectiles were fired
The occupation ended the truce long before Israeli killings and invasions did, said Spokesperson for the Popular Resistance Committees Abu Mujahid on Thursday. The PRC statement came one day ahead of the end of a six-month ceasefire between Israel and Gaza factions. "The occupation did not comply to the conditions of the truce at all," Abu Mujahid explained, "The siege was not lifted, the crossings were not opened and the attacks did not stop, dozens were killed during these attacks."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Barghouthi blames Israel for truce collapse; encourages Palestinian unity
Mustafa Barghouthi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and runner up in the 2005 Palestinian presidential election blamed the Israeli government on Thursday for the collapse of the Israeli-Gaza truce. Barghouthi issued a statement attributing the collapse to Israeli agression, stating that "Israel didn't commit to the truce conditions and killed people and overran many cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
PPP calls for truce among Palestinians, not with Israel
Palestine's communist party issued a call on Monday for a truce among competing Palestinian factions instead of a truce with Israel.
"Our people and factions will never get any positive results from negotiations or any truce before ending the internal struggle," said Nafeth Ghneim, a member of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian People's Party (PPP).
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Turkey offers to mediate Hamas-Fatah conflict
Turkey has offered to mediate between the rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, in a bid to end over a year and a half of political division, a senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Khudari: UNSC resolution 1850 allows Israel to continue siege, judaization
MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the head of the popular anti siege committee in Gaza Strip, has said that the UN Security Council's resolution 1850 provides cover for Israel to continue besieging the Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Palestinians got $1.7bln in aid last year: France
AFP-The international community has given 1.7 billion dollars (1.18 billion euros) in aid to the Palestinian Authority over the last year, the French foreign ministry said Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Dignity boat to return to Gaza next Saturday
The Palestinian international campaign to lift the siege on Gaza has declared that the Dignity boat would return to the Strip Saturday carrying one ton of medical supplies and foreign activists.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Israeli blockade forces UN to suspend food aid to 750,000 in Gaza
The UN's relief agency for Palestinian refugees has suspended its food distribution program after Israel blocked food deliveries for days. The aid program feeds more than 750,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In a statement, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said that as of Thursday morning all regular food-aid programs have ceased to operate. The agency says it cannot predict when aid programs will resume.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
UNRWA Suspends Food Aid to Gaza Refugees Due to the Siege
The United Nations Works and Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), on Thursday suspended food aid to more than 750,000 registered Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Committee: 1,000 patients need treatment abroad
The committee of relatives of patients in Gaza has said that the health conditions of those patients, who obtained medical permits to travel abroad for treatment, were worsening.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
UN: Gaza unemployment rises to 49 percent
Israel's stringent closure of Gaza has created a "profound human dignity crisis," a UN report claimed on Thursday. The report said that Gaza's 1.4 million people are increasingly preoccupied with obtaining basic supplies such as water and food. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that unemployment now stands at 49 percent, up from 32 percent a year ago.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Egypt police detain Islamists trying to help Gazans
Egyptian police raided the homes of Muslim Brotherhood members in the Nile Delta on Thursday and took away at least 21 members of the Islamist opposition group, the Brotherhood and police sources said.
http://www.aawsat.com/english/
Azhar scholars support handshake with Perez
Members of The Islamic Research Center at al-Azhar University issued a statement in support of the Grand Imam's handshake with Israeli president Shimon Perez in a U.N. sponsored religious dialogue, which stirred outrage in Egypt and triggered calls for the Imam's dismissal. The statement came in the wake of a legal notice filed by an Egyptian lawyer calling on scholars of the center to use their authority to drop the membership of Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi since the handshake was constituted a violation of his duties as a Muslim scholar. This automatically entails his dismissal from the position as Grand Imam.
http://www.alarabiya.net/
"Days of Lifting Gaza Siege" Begin Friday
Lawyers from the opposition urged all lawyers and people in Lebanon to take part Friday in the civic events to lift the Gaza blockade as called for by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah. For its part, the Lebanese-Palestinian students committee called on all students to participate in tomorrow's action.
http://almanar.com.lb/
Israel: Starving Gaza for Christmas
You know it's getting bad in Gaza when Mr Murdoch's London Times announces Gaza families eat grass as Israel locks border.
http://sydwalker.info/blog/
North Gaza children bear brunt of humanitarian crisis reveals report
A baseline survey conducted in World Vision's North Gaza Area Development Programme (ADP) has revealed disturbing findings linked to the physical and psychosocial well being of children – underscoring the need for long-term, sustainable development among some 66,000 people.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Smugglers pumping cooking gas into Gaza for first time
Gaza City-Palestinian smugglers have for the first time succeeded in pumping cooking gas into the Gaza Strip via pipelines installed in an underground tunnel, tunnel owners said Thursday. The tunnel owners have been trying to lay pipes in their tunnels for pumping gas into the strip for months, but had thus far been unsuccessful. Several pipes even exploded, causing injuries.
http://www.monstersandcritics.
Palestinian smugglers lay pipes to get cooking gas from Egypt
Palestinian smugglers succeeded in piping cooking gas into Gaza via pipelines laid beneath the border with Egypt in southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said on Thursday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Austrian president in W. Bank: Settlement construction must stop
Austrian President Heinz Fischer said Wednesday that Israeli construction in the West Bank must stop.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Days After Calling Israeli Blockade of Gaza "A Crime Against Humanity," UN Human Rights Investigator Richard Falk Detained, Expelled from Israel
The United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay has accused Israel of "unprecedented and deeply regrettable" treatment of UN human rights investigator Richard Falk. Falk was deported from Israel Monday after being detained at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport for twenty hours. Falk's detention and expulsion came days after he condemned Israel's blockade of Gaza as a "flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law" and "crime against humanity." We speak to Falk about his detention and expulsion from Israel.
http://www.democracynow.org/
Richard Falk, UN Rights Envoy, Speaks Out On Being Expelled From Israel (VIDEO)
The United Nation's top human rights official has condemned Israel's expulsion of Richard Falk, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territories, from the country, calling it "unprecedented" and "deeply regrettable." Al Jazeera's Ghida Fakry spoke to Falk about his expulsion and the potential repercussions.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Top US Mideast diplomat quits
AP-The top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East will step down from his post and move to the private sector at the end of the week, as President-elect Barack Obama's transition team weighs possible successors, State Department officials said Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Britain steps up fight against West Bank settlements
Barak Ravid-Haaretz-"Jerusalem is said to be furious over Downing Street`s decision to label products made in West Bank settlements."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Brown Slams Illegal Settlements in the West Bank as "Blockage" to Middle East Peace Process
On Monday, during a press conference in London, between British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, Brown slammed Israel for it's further expansion of illegal settlements, stating that they represent a "blockage" to the Middle East peace process, The Guardian, a British online daily reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Former Undersec'y of State Says Israel Bears Prime Responsibility for Lack of Justice for Palestinians
I have to start a thread on All the People Who say that I/P is the Big Enchilada. Brent Scowcroft/Brzezinski. Iraqi Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie. Well here's a video I've never seen before of Nicholas Burns, former under secretary of state, speaking in July, a few months after leaving gov't employment, saying that justice for the Palestinians is essential. And he basically takes the Palestinian side in the I/P debate.
http://www.philipweiss.org/
responsibility-for-lack-of-
Leftist U.S. Jewish group backs Israelis who shun IDF enlistment
Natasha Mozgovaya-Haaretz-"The Jewish Voice for Peace has recruited actor Ed Asner, historian and author Howard Zinn, and folk singer Ronnie Gilbert to the cause."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israeli Youth Resist Palestinian Occupation
Ira Chernus-Common Dreams-"When Judea was ruled by a much stronger neighboring nation, the Jews took up arms to free themselves from a military occupation. Yet when Palestinians even talk about taking up arms against the occupying army of their powerful neighbor today, the Israeli government and its supporters call that unjustified, immoral, an outrage."
http://www.commondreams.org/
Israeli teenagers jailed for refusing to serve in army
Peace activists in Israel and around the world are participating on Wednesday in a day of action to call on Israeli authorities to release teenagers imprisoned for refusing to serve in the army for reasons of conscience. Tamar Katz, Raz Bar-David Varon and Yuval Oron-Ofir are three conscientious objectors who are all serving their third prison sentences. At least six other teenagers – male and female – have been jailed in recent months for refusing to enlist and at least two more, both young women, are at risk of imminent imprisonment.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/
Twenty-Four US Resisters Support Israeli Conscientious Objectors
U.S. military servicemembers and veterans wrote a letter of solidarity with Israeli Shministim. We are U.S. military servicemembers and veterans who have refused or are currently refusing to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. We stand in solidarity with the Israeli Shministim (Hebrew for 12th graders) who are also resisting military service. About 100 Israeli high school students have signed an open letter declaring their refusal to serve in the Israeli army and their opposition to Israeli occupation and oppression policy in the occupied territories and the territories of Israel.
http://www.alternativenews.
Peaceful Anti-colonization Rally and Prayer in Beit Sahour
A number of Palestinians and Internationals rallied at the Ush Ghrab site east of Beit Sahour in the Bethlehem area on Thursday evening, in protest to the Israeli settler attempts to build a settlement and claim the land.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Poverty
"46% of Palestinians do not have enough food to meet their needs. The number of people in deep poverty, defined as those living on less than 50 cents a day, nearly doubled in 2006 to over 1 million, according to the United Nations Relief and works Agency (UNRWA)."
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Children
"Life is becoming more violent for children in the Palestinian Territory. By the end of 2006 more than 120 children had died due to the conflict, more than double the number of child deaths in 2005. Many more have been injured, some for life."
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Refugees
"The UN General Assembly reaffirms the right of all persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities to return to their homes or former places of residence in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967"
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Non-Violent Resistance
"Non-Violence is a powerful weapon that can and will weaken the iron fist of the Occupation"--Sami Awad, Director of the Holy Land Trust.
http://www.palestinemonitor. org/spip/spip.php?article49
Poll: Majority of Palestinians believe they live in unequal society
Sixty-six percent of Palestinians believe their society does not provide equality for women, a recent social survey by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center found. The survey, which polled 1,200 Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, focused on the perception of women's rights.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Drug abuse rampant among Arab youths
Study finds long-term use of cannabis, heroin, and cocaine more prevalent among Arab teens than Jewish. No extensive program offered at Arab schools, says criminologist.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israel hosts anti-Islam conference
Israel on Sunday, 14 December, hosted a virulently anti-Islam conference in Jerusalem, with a number of fascist-minded speakers from Israel and abroad taking part in the one-day event.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Hebron violence underscores dilemma over settler anarchy
Hebron, West Bank-Days after Israeli authorities evicted Jewish settlers from a disputed house in Hebron, the dust has settled and a tense calm has returned to the divided West Bank city. But a trail of damage remains of the violence that raged through the Biblical town. Broken grave stones, some of them with black and blue Stars of David painted on them, lie scattered around a Muslim cemetary located just metres from the evacuated house.
http://www.monstersandcritics.
"Even to Live in a Cave Has Been Denied Us": The Story of Abed al-Fattah Abed Rabbo
A Palestinian family from the West Bank village of Walajah near Bethlehem sitting near the rubble of their home following an Israeli military demolition. All my life, I have lived in a cave on my land with my parents, and later in life, with ten members of my family, but they [Israel] didn't want me to be on my land and they are going to demolish the cave." With these words, a resident of the Palestinian village of Walajah, located to the west of Bethlehem, began telling his story to the Jerusalem Municipality and Interior Ministry.
http://www.alternativenews. org/content/view/1463/494/
Obama and the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Writing recently in The Washington Post ("Middle East Priorities," Nov. 21), Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, two former US National Security Advisors, a Republican and a Democrat, declared: "We believe that the Arab-Israeli peace process is one issue that requires priority attention [from the incoming Obama Administration]."
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Bush Extends Jerusalem Waiver
US President George W. Bush extended his waiver of a law mandating the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Wednesday. The order, sent Dec. 4 to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, cites the "national security interests of the United States" in waiving the Jerusalem Embassy Act for six months.
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/
Christmas under Occupation
When I look out the balcony of the faculty lounge at Bethlehem University I hear the constant hammering of the construction in the settlement that separates us from Jerusalem and I see Israeli settlements built on Palestinian lands surrounding Bethlehem on three sides. Every two weeks, Jewish settlers "visit" the hill on the fourth side (called Ush Ghrab) that they have set their eyes on. Yet, I hear the US media is focused on other things including the weighty matter of dodging shoes.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Report: 1.3 Million Tourists Visited Palestinian Territories in 2008
Approximately 1.3 million tourists visited the Israeli – occupied Palestinian territories during 2008, compared to 700,000 last year and 400,000 in 2006, The Media Line cited a repor as saying Wednesday. Tourism revenues in the Palestinian territories have climbed this year to their highest level since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising in 2000, a report by the economic magazine Middle East Business Intelligence (MEED) reveals.
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/
UNESCO's 2009 Arab Capital of Culture: Jerusalem
The head of the Board of Celebrations for the annual Arab Capital of Culture announced on Tuesday preparations for events planned for 2009's designated city, Jerusalem. Dr. Rafiq Al-Husseini launched preparations on Wednesday for celebrations in this year's United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)-designated Arab Capital of Culture. The opening celebrations will be held on 22 January 2009 in Jerusalem. UNESCO named Jerusalem as 2009's Cultural Capital in 2007.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Twilight Zone /Non-Jews need not apply
The Israeli national flag flies high, defiant and arrogant over the Palestinian home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. This flag has never looked as repulsive as it does in the heart of this Palestinian neighborhood, above the home of a Palestinian family that suddenly lost everything. The head of the house, Mohammed al-Kurd, died 11 days after the eviction. Now his widow lives in a tent. The house is reached via a narrow alley: Here Moshe and Avital Shoham and Emanuel and Yiska Dagan live happily. They are the settlers who managed to expel the Palestinian tenants and take over another outpost, in the heart of East Jerusalem. House after house, the transfer here is especially quiet: The media barely report on these houses of contention.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Unfulfilled promise
Israeli politics hit its moment of grace three years ago. After repulsing terrorism but withdrawing from Gaza as well, then prime minister Ariel Sharon enjoyed unprecedented political power. He became tired of the right but was also deterred by the left, and so Sharon was determined to establish a centrist party. When Sharon's power was combined with his determination, an opportunity arose to bring about a "big bang." In November-December 2005 an elderly and popular prime minister was granted a privilege that had not been granted to any of his predecessors: an opportunity to redefine Israeli politics, to get rid of extremism, to get rid of wheeling and dealing and to offer Israel a sane and high-quality party of hope.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israeli Patrol Terrorizes Lebanese Farmer
An Israeli patrol opened automatic rifle fire at a Lebanese farmer in the southern region of Blida on Thursday, but no casualties were reported. The state-run National News Agency said the Israeli patrol also fired two smoke grenades at 75-year old Mohammed Ahmed Zaher while working in his field. Two patrols from the Lebanese Army and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) arrived at the area and started an investigation into the attack, the report said without further elaboration.
http://www.naharnet.com/
Families of the disappeared seek answers
It was the summer of 1982 when Zahira Najjar, 66, last saw her son Abdallah, then 17 years old. The family was in Bhamdoun, a mountain resort east of Beirut, at the height of Lebanon's 15-year civil war. Only Syrian forces were on the ground when Abdullah went to find transport to the capital to get his wounded leg seen to, Najjar said. She has seen and heard nothing of him since. "I can't describe my feelings. A mother's heart cries blood," Najjar said, pulling a black-and-white photograph of the youth from her wallet.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Wednesday: 32 Iraqis Killed, 66 Wounded
Excerpt: At least 32 Iraqis were killed and 66 more were wounded during a bloody day that also saw a visit from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. No Coalition deaths were reported. At the same time, the health of the journalist shoe-lobber remains in question as his brother presses for more information.
http://www.antiwar.com/
18 Iraqis killed in 2 consecutive explosions
18 people were killed and 53 others wounded in two consecutive explosions in Al Nahda District. The first resulted of a car bomb explosion that was parked near a police headquarters while the second occurred near a hospital.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/
U.S. troops kill three sleeping Iraqi guards as they storm state-run flour mill
U.S. troops have killed three Iraqis guarding a state-run flour mill, the trade ministry said. The killing of the three guards, assigned to protect the mill, has fuelled further anger at the U.S. occupation troops in the country. Trade Minister Abdulfalah al-Soodani has asked the troops for a formal apology and compensation. "The minister (Soodani) denounces and condemns the incident which has lead to the killing of three guards while they were asleep," the statement said.
http://www.azzaman.com/
Iraq again is deadliest place for journalists
AP-Iraq was the deadliest place for journalists in 2008, a respected media watchdog group said Thursday, putting the country atop the list for the sixth consecutive year.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Iraqi official: Leader of women's group killed
AP-Iraqi police say attackers have decapitated the leader of the women's league of the Kurdish Communist Party.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Iraqi prisons' conditions appalling, says minister
Human rights abuses and violations are a commonplace in Iraqi prisons, says Women Affairs Minister Nawal al-Samarrai. The minister accused prison authorities of most of these violations. Samarrai said conditions were grave in some prisons and she was aware of shortages of food and other essentials.
http://www.azzaman.com/
Security pact could stymie military efforts
MAHMOUDIYA, IRAQ — U.S. soldiers preparing for raids study maps, examine photos of wanted men and check their weapons. Starting next month, they'll have to go see a judge. For nearly six years, American troops have been free under a U.N. mandate to search any home and detain anyone deemed a security risk.
http://www.chron.com/disp/
Iraq wants all non-US troops out by July
THE Iraqi cabinet has approved a bill calling for all foreign soldiers except for American forces to pull out of the country by the end of July, a top MP said.
http://www.news.com.au/
UK troops 'to leave Iraq by May'
British forces will wrap up their mission in Iraq in the first half of next year, Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, has announced during a surprise visit to Baghdad.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
Not So Fast
American and Iraqi military and diplomatic officials insist that a residual U.S. force of considerable size is likely to remain for the medium to long term, as will the U.S. bases in Iraq that Democrats over the last two years have insisted must not be permanent.
http://www.tnr.com/politics/
Iraq Officials Arrested For Trying To Resurrect Saddam's Baath Party
BAGHDAD--Up to 35 officials in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior ranking as high as general have been arrested over the past three days with some of them accused of quietly working to reconstitute Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, according to senior security officials in Baghdad. The arrests, confirmed by officials from the Ministries of the Interior and National Security as well as the prime minister's office, included four generals, one of whom, Gen. Ahmed Abu Raqeef, is the ministry's director of internal affairs. The officials also said that the arrests had come at the hand of an elite counterterrorism force that reports directly to the office of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
35 Iraqi officials arrested over coup plot-NYT
About 35 Iraqi officials have been arrested at the interior ministry, some accused of planning a coup, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing senior security officials in Baghdad. The arrests over the past three days were carried out by an elite counterterrorism force that reports directly to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the report said.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Conflicting reports surface about alleged coup attempt in Iraq
Iraqi Interior Ministry officials accused of plotting a coup on the government of Nouri Al Maliki are being investigated for being part of a hostile political organization, Major General Hussein Ali Kamal, Iraq's Deputy Interior Minister and chairman of the Iraqi Intelligence Agency, told Gulf News.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/
Bagdhad's park turned graveyard
In Baghdad a once beautiful park has turned into a testament to the horrors of the war in Iraq. A graveyard filled in the past three years with 6000 victims of sectarian violence.
http://www.clipsyndicate.com/
Iraqi Justice System Is Faulted
Defendants are often abused in custody and held for months or even years before being referred to a judge, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
Panel calls for dropping Blackwater guards in Iraq
AP-A State Department advisory panel is recommending that Blackwater Worldwide be dropped as the main private security contractor for American diplomats in Iraq, The Associated Press has learned.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
U.S. should be ready if Iraq bars Blackwater: report
Reuters-A U.S. government report raises the possibility that private security firm Blackwater could lose its license to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq and advises making contingency plans, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
Patrick Cockburn: Our troops had few friends in Basra
Britain's long campaign in Iraq achieved almost nothing. The 46,000 UK troops who took part in the initial invasion in 2003 helped to overthrow Saddam Hussein – but this would have happened even if they had stayed at home. The decisive moment in Britain's intervention came on 24 June that year, when six soldiers were killed in the grim, dangerous Iraqi marsh town of Majar al-Kabir, a centre of resistance to Saddam. Local people were asking what British troops were doing using dogs to search for weapons in their houses. The killings revealed for the first time the dangers facing our forces in southern Iraq. All the people in the town were Shia Arabs who had suffered under Saddam. They welcomed his overthrow but did not want to be occupied by Britain, or anyone else. They saw UK forces as colonial occupiers, little different from the British armies that occupied Iraq in the First World War.
http://www.independent.co.uk/
basra-1202314.html
James Denselow: Gordon Brown has announced a date for troops to leave Iraq. Next, he should start an official investigation into the war
Now that the British have put a timetable on their 2009 exit from Iraq (despite Gordon Brown saying in July that "I am not going to give an artificial timetable") there is more reason than ever for an official inquiry into the war. Such calls were heard last week from the Conservatives who have asked for a public inquiry into the "origins and conduct" of the war in Iraq. The Tories have promised to hold one if elected, with William Hague proclaiming: "I call again on ministers to establish a full privy council inquiry into the origins and conduct of the war so that all can learn from its mistakes and apply the lessons as soon as possible, and I make it clear today that if they do not establish such an inquiry, one of the first acts of a Conservative government will be to do so."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Audit: FBI agents billed $45k each for Iraq OT
AP-A new Justice Department report shows that FBI agents each billed an average of $45,000 in overtime during three-month tours in Iraq and were sometimes paid for watching movies, exercising and going to parties.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Creating art amid the chaos of war
DUBAI--When Iraqi film student Emad Ali set out to make an innocent portrait of Baghdad's Shabandar Cafe, nobody anticipated the destruction that would follow. Shortly after he began filming, Ali's wife and father were killed in an attack on his house. When a suicide bomb destroyed the legendary literary haunt, Ali returned to complete filming in a move that all but cost him his life. Such is the price of filmmaking across many war-torn regions of the world where filmmakers regularly take great risks, or sometimes simply can't avoid them, to bring a project home.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.
Iraqi journalist says sorry for throwing shoes at George Bush
An Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush has publicly apologised and asked the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to forgive him, Iraqi officials said today. Muntazer al-Zaidi said in a letter that his "big ugly act cannot be excused," said Yasin Majeed, Maliki's media adviser.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Montazer Al Zaidi appears before Iraq court
Iraqi journalist Montazer Al Zaidi who threw his shoes at US President Georges Bush appeared before court. His attorney, head of Iraqi lawyers' Syndicate, Diyaa' Al Saadi, declared that he will request from the government to see his defendant in order to check out his health and will call as well to bail him out as Al Zaidi would appear before the investigation judge when needed. Meanwhile, an official from Al Baghdadiya clarified that the TV has appointed three Iraqi lawyers to defend Al Zaidi. On the other hand, US President Georges W Bush affirmed that Iraqi authorities should deal reasonably with the reporter noting that the shoe-throwing incident was one of the weirdest moments encountered during his presidential term.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/
Iraqi journalist's shoes 'destroyed' after Bush attack
AFP-Security agents destroyed the shoes thrown at US President George W. Bush by an Iraqi journalist during checks to ensure they did not contain explosives, the investigating judge said on Thursday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush asks for pardon
AP-A spokesman for Iraq's prime minister says the journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush has asked for a pardon.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Iraqi shoe-thrower apologises for embarassing Al Maliki
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's office says the Iraqi journalist who shot to fame for throwing his shoes at US President George W. Bush has apologised.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/
Shoe-hurling journalist 'taken before judge' in Baghdad
The Iraqi journalist who became an instant media star for hurling his shoes at US President George W. Bush appeared Wednesday before a judge investigating the incident, his brother said, as rallies around the Muslim world called for his release. Muntazer al-Zaidi, 29, a television reporter whom relatives and colleagues said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Iraqi police disperse demonstrators Bush shoe-thrower
Iraqi police dispersed dozens of demonstrators who took to streets near the city of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, on Thursday to demand the release of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush during a news conference four days ago, a local police source said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Shoe throwing journalist beaten, according to brother
The journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush is reported to have suffered various injuries after being beaten up by security officials. Some reports have said that Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who has since been admitted to hospital, was hit on the head with a rifle butt. His brother, Dargham al-Zaidi, told the BBC on Tuesday that Muntadhar al-Zaidi had suffered a broken hand, broken ribs, internal bleeding and an eye injury as a result of being beaten after his arrest. He was also said to have been handed over to the judicial authorities.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/
Iraqi shoe-thrower faces charges of attacking head of state
The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush appeared before an Iraqi investigative judge Wednesday and will face charges of attacking a head of state, a judicial spokesman said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/
Iraqi shoe-thrower gets first court hearing; protests continue
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush appeared before an Iraqi investigative judge Wednesday and will face charges of attacking a head of state, a judicial spokesman said.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/
Shoe chucker
The man who threw footwear at George W Bush.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-
Shoe Thrower's Brother: We are Not Afraid
London-Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat-Muntadhar Al Zaidi, the Iraqi journ alist who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush during his recent visit to Baghdad appeared before an investigating judge
http://www.aawsat.com/english/
IFJ backs calls for release of Bush shoe attacker
BAGHDAD /Aswat al-Iraq: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Wednesday said the reporter who threw a pair of shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush over America's role in Iraq should be released. The federation said that his protest "reflected deep anger at the treatment of Iraqi civilians during the US occupation over the [...]
http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=
Al Zaidi's shoe protest spurs Arab delight
While "shoe attacker" Muntadar Al Zaidi appeared before a judge on Wednesday in his jail cell for throwing his shoes at US President George W. Bush, many Arabs continue talking about the incident, prompting the question: Why the fascination?
http://archive.gulfnews.com/
Iraq: Journalist Hailed as National Hero
For many, Muntather Alzaidi's action of throwing his famous shoes at George W. Bush during press conferences in Baghdad has optimized Iraqi people's feelings about George Bush and his legacy in Iraq as they see it. Alzaidi expressed his sentiments of resentment against Bush by a harmless weapon, his shoes, accompanying by his famous words " this your kiss goodbye ya Kalb,(dog)" which is taken as a great insult in the Arab world.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Latin leaders joke about Bush shoe attack
Reuters-Latin American leaders meeting in Brazil this week couldn't resist poking fun at U.S. President George W. Bush over his recent shoe-throwing incident in Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
The 'Baghdad Clogger' who threw his footwear at Bush is a hero. Sometimes, only a shoe will do
Sam Leith: If anyone was asking for it, it was the outgoing president of the United States.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
The Lesson of the Iraqi Shoe Thrower
Time.com-It's a small but powerful sign of the predicament facing the US in Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/
Cartoons
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
Book: Tenet drunkenly mocked Bush neocons, right-wing Israelis
The director of the CIA in the pool of a Saudi prince, ranting drunkenly about neocons and Jews?Priceless.
In a scene described in the upcoming Patrick Tyler book A World of Trouble, former CIA director George Tenet was visiting the house of Prince Bandar bin Sultan when he allegedly let loose after imbibing on whiskey, reports Jeffrey Goldberg on his blog at The Atlantic. Tenet, Tyler writes, was in Bandar's swimming pool complaining loudly about Bush administration officials "who were just then trying to pin the Iraq WMD fiasco on him."ht wing of Israel's political establishment, referring to them with exasperation as, 'the Jews.'"
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/
Gitmo 'worst place in the world'-freed inmate
An Algerian-born man who has just been freed from Guantanamo described the US "war on terror" prison camp as the worst place on Earth, as leaders in his adoptive country Bosnia hailed his homecoming Wednesday. "For almost seven years, I was at the end of the world, at the worst place in the world," Mustafa Ait Idir told the Dnevni Avaz daily.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Assessing The Bush Legacy (Part I)
George W. Bush. US president: January 20, 2001-January 19, 2009. Born of privilege. Unimpressive by every measure. A history of underachievement. Chosen by big money. Arranged through electoral fraud. Installed by the Supreme Court. Empowered by a dubious "terrorist" act, and ending with a record unmatched by the worst of his predecessors. Assessing the Bush legacy-from its illegitimate birth; through its lawless, belligerent years; to the world potentially on the brink at its end. Exploring it fully as a change of command approaches, and an unenviable task awaits the new incumbent.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Assessing The Bush Legacy (Part II)
George W. Bush. US president: January 20, 2001-January 19, 2009. Born of privilege. Unimpressive by every measure. A history of underachievement. Chosen by big money. Arranged through electoral fraud. Installed by the Supreme Court. Empowered by a dubious "terrorist" act, and ending with a record unmatched by the worst of his predecessors. Assessing the Bush legacy-from its illegitimate birth; through its lawless, belligerent years; to the world potentially on the brink at its end. Exploring it fully as a change of command approaches, and an unenviable task awaits the new incumbent.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
--
www.TheHeadlines.org
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