Shadi Fadda brings us today's headlines relating to Palestine and other news from around the internet.
Land theft and destruction / Settlements
Contractor may incur NIS 10m. losses from settlement freeze
The Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria halted Haim Zaken's 67-unit project in the Betar Illit settlement late last month, but it has yet to create a compensation committee to deal with his potential NIS 10 million loss. Zaken is just one of 20 contractors in the Jerusalem area alone who stand to lose millions as a result of the 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction, said Shmuel Levy, who heads the Association of Building and Infrastructure Contractors of the Jerusalem area. He said that as many as 1,000 units in his area have been frozen.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Lieberman: Building will resume in 10 months
"In practice, we have not been building for a year and a half, so why pretend," he said in an address at the Ariel University Center. "Like in soccer, you make tactical moves sometimes. It is clear to everyone that in ten months, we will be building again full force; anyone who understands anything knows this."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
EU hits out at settler credit scheme
(AFP) The European Union criticized Israel on Friday for listing some Jewish settlements in the West Bank as special zones, saying the move is against the spirit of a freeze on settlement building. "The European Union expresses its disapproval of the decision of the government of Israel on December 13 to include settlements in the National Priority Areas program," EU president Sweden said in a statement.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
State too busy to tear down El Bireh stadium
By Amira Hass. The Civil Administration has been too busy in the past two weeks enforcing the construction freeze in the settlements in the West Bank to demolish the nearly-completed soccer stadium in the Palestinian town of El Bireh ... Representatives of Psagot argue that the presence of thousands of Palestinians at the stadium, which is near the settlement, would constitute a threat to Psagot. They also say the stadium did not have the proper construction permits. In its response the state said a demolition order had been issued but could not be implemented because the defense establishment is engaged in enforcing the freeze on construction in West Bank settlements and cannot spare the personnel for other purposes
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Police chief: Settler violence has crossed the line
The recent violent clashes between settlers and security forces trying to enforce a construction ban in the settlements "went beyond legitimate protest and freedom of expression," police Insp.-Gen. David Cohen said on Thursday ... "Judea and Samaria" Police and other security agencies are leading the investigation of the mosque attack, Cohen said, adding that they were "receiving all of the intelligence and investigative means needed to track down the culprits." All legal means to bring law-breakers to justice would be employed, Cohen vowed.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
'It is time for us to put an end to this occupation'
Hassan Mousa and Jody McIntyre writing from Ni'lin. Hassan Mousa is a coordinator of the Nilin Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements and the uncle of Ahmed Mousa, an 11-year-old boy who was the first villager from Ni'lin to be killed by the Israeli army. ...Killing Ahmed did not suppress our demonstrations, it made our demonstrations stronger...The blood of Ahmed has aroused a patriotic passion in Ni'lin and awareness that the wall is illegal and we must resist it. I believe that the killing of Ahmed will be the start of our victory in Ni'lin.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Israeli army fires rubber-coated steel bullets at demonstrators celebrating the Arab Creativity Award for Bil‘in
(includes video) This Friday the demonstration organized by the Popular Committee against the Wall was joined by dozens of leaders, members and supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, marking its 42nd anniversary.... The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements just won the "Arab Creativity Award" for 2009, which was presented at a special ceremony held on 10 December in Kuwait.
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/
Jerusalem
27 arrested, 3 wounded during Sheikh Jarrah protest
Twenty-six Israeli protesters and one international solidarity activist were arrested and three Palestinian children wounded during a nonviolent demonstration against the Israeli settlement project in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah this Friday ... Towards the end of the protest a group of nearly 100 settlers arrived to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and began throwing rocks at the house of a nearby Palestinian family. One 12 year old Palestinian boy was also chased into the street and beaten by settlers. Three Palestinian children were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/
Settlers in Jerusalem attack Palestinian family, 3 injured, 25 detained
Three Palestinians were injured including two children and a journalist in an attack by Israeli settlers on homes in the East Jerusalem community of Sheikh Jarrah on Friday evening. From the scene, Ma'an's reporter described the incident as a "mob" of settlers who focusing their attack on the A’teiyah and Al-Ghuwar homes.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israeli repression of Palestinian celebrations in the heart of Jerusalem
A spectacular and proud celebration of Palestinian and Arab culture in Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday, December 17, 2009, was brutally repressed by Israeli military and police. A rare celebration of Palestinian and Arab culture in Jerusalem’s Old City started around 10:30am on Thursday, December 17, 2009, with a group of musicians leading a march from Damascus Gate to the very center of the Old City, attracting marchers and cheers from merchants and shoppers along the route.
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/
France angered over Israeli interference at J'lem cultural event
The French government called Israel’s decision to quash celebrations for Jerusalem’s Arab Capital of Culture 2009 events “doubly excessive” when forces targeted an event in the French Cultural Center on Thursday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Subterranean volcano
In the next few weeks, between making decisions about the deal for captive soldier Gilad Shalit, the settlement freeze and renewal of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have to make another fateful decision: Is the cellar beneath Abed Hirbawi's East Jerusalem shop holy ground?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Violence and aggression
Israeli soldiers assault Hebron family, detain members
Israeli forces raided the home of the Abu Heikal family in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron on Friday afternoon, detaining five of the men, one family member said. Firyal Abu Heikal, who was in the home during the Israeli raid, said solders beat the men and women of the family. She identified those beaten as sisters Samah and Majd, noting that their aunt Ghadir was also beaten. Male relatives Mohamed and Murad were also injured, she said ... The Abu Heikal home is in an area of Hebron blocked off from the main street by several settler trailers housing large families of aggressive youth. The trailer-homes are guarded by dozens of Israeli soldiers, who have in many instances protected the settlers as they attacked the Abu Heikal family.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israeli forces report coming under fire in Hebron
Palestinians opened fire at Israeli forces at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron early Friday morning, an Israeli military spokesperson said. The troops were performing what was described as "a routine deployment" near the holy site when Palestinians opened fire, the spokesperson added. Other sources said a Palestinian car approached the group and fired three bullets, adding that the troops exchanged fire. The spokesperson did not comment on the exchange of fire. No one was injured in the incident, according to sources, and the car fled the scene.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Settlers, Palestinians clash in West Bank
Palestinian sources reported that settlers from the illegal West Bank outpost of Mitzpe Asael clashed with Palestinians from a nearby village Saturday, as well as left-wing activists who were with them. The IDF stated in response that a group of Palestinians and activists arrived at the settlement and began to plough fields that did not belong to them. However the Palestinians claim that the land belongs to residents of the village, and that the settlers were responsible for picking a fight. The sources say they arrived with dogs that attacked the farmers. The IDF arrested a Palestinian tractor farmer who refused to leave the area after it had been declared a closed military zone.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Detention
Israeli forces seize two in overnight ops
A Palestinian from the Salfit and a second from the Hebron district were detained by Israeli forces, the information office of the Palestinian police said Saturday ... 22-year-old Izzat Suleiman from the village of Marda near Salfit [was] detained by Israeli soldiers as he passed through the Huwwara checkpoint, which separates the northern from the central West Bank. The second detention came during a raid on Ithna village south of Hebron, where soldiers detained 33-year-old Ziad Al-Masri.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
To some Palestinian children the antidote to Israeli occupation is Israeli prison
By Jo Ehrlich. Two boys from Dheisheh were arrested the other day at the Beit Jala/Jerusalem checkpoint. According to Ma'an, the military spokeswoman said "... the two were carrying a "15cm knife and a Japanese knife" respectively" ... I wasn’t able to find any more information on the Internet so I asked some friends in Dheisheh if they knew what had happened. They knew about the incident of course, one of the boys lived on their street. What happened? I asked They brought guns [apparently mistake for 'knives'] to the checkpoint my friend Ahmad answered. And what did they do with them? I asked. They just brought them to the checkpoint he said. They didn’t want to do anything with them. Then, why? I asked incredulous. They wanted to get arrested. They think that maybe jail is better then the refugee camp. They see the boys who come back, who get some money and respect. They don’t realize what it is like in prison.
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
The price of peace: Interview with detained activist
By Kieron Monks. Twenty-three-year-old Sami from al-Essawaya village near Nablus has always believed in peaceful coexistence with Israelis. However, he and his family have paid a dear price for his convictions ... He invited Daisy and Tal, also from Jaffa, to visit al-Essawaya and spend a few nights in his home. Despite some apprehension, neither having stayed in a Palestinian village before, both accepted. [As a result of their stay] Daisy and Tal were held for a day, facing many consecutive hours of interrogation by Shabak officers ... Without informing his family or anyone else, the army had transferred Sami to the infamous Hadarim detention center which also houses Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti. Like many of the 11,000 Palestinians kept in Israeli jails, Sami was not formally charged but went through debilitating sessions of interrogation and torture.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Sandstorm devastates Negev prison inmates
A ferocious sandstorm hit Israel's Negev desert prison this week, blasting the tent-compounds with raging winds and debris for three days, a prisoners society reported Saturday. The story caused severe losses at the camp, destroying many of the personal possessions of Palestinian prisoners and causing harsh living conditions
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Siege
Egypt lifts state of alert after shots fired by Palestinian gunmen
Al-Arish – Palestinian gunmen in Gaza fired on Egyptian workers installing a steel wall on the Egypt-Gaza border Saturday, Egyptian security sources said, prompting a state of alert to be declared in the area. The sniper shots targeted Egyptian soldiers, reportedly coming from a tower area within the Gaza Strip. Egyptian security said the incident took place 3km south of the Salah Ad-Din area of Rafah. No injuries were reported. The series of sniper shots were the second reported by Egyptian security, following a similar event on Wednesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Barhoum: Occupation more of a threat than Hamas
The comments came following reports from Egyptian security that Gaza snipers shot at workers building a new 25-meter-deep and ten km long steel wall along the Rafah border. “Gaza does not represent a danger to anyone” Barhoum said in relation to both the building of the wall and concern over sniper attacks on Egyptian workers. Barhoum called the construction of the wall a failure of the international community to realize the establishment of international forces along the border.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Gaza City holds emergency meeting on floods
An emergency committee was convened in Gaza Saturday in an effort to coordinate efforts around floods caused by recent downpours that overwhelmed the city streets ... "Though we lack of the necessary equipment and tools on account of the Israeli siege on Gaza, there must be an appropriate solution developed to combat the issue of winter rains and floods," Al-‘Atbash said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Concern grows in Gaza as 10 die from swine flu; 10,000 doses of vaccine let in
By the beginning of the week, 67 people had been diagnosed with the swine flu (also known as the H1N1 virus) in the Strip, "including a number of serious cases," said Hassan Khalaf, a spokesman for Gaza's Health Ministry. Hundreds of others are feared to have contracted the illness ... Gaza has largely been spared the swine flu pandemic, in part because of the near-hermetic blockade imposed by Israel. However, now that the virus has arrived, the high population density and poor hygiene in Gaza's poorest areas could result in its spreading much faster than elsewhere in the world. ... Israel allowed the 10,000 doses of swine flu vaccine into the Strip in a bid to prevent the latest outbreak from spreading to the Jewish state
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
The Gaza I know
By Nancy Murray. The Gaza I have been visiting for the past twenty-one years bears little relation to the dehumanizing imagery to which it has been reduced by the mainstream media. The Gaza I know is home to friends and strangers who are as welcoming and humane as they are resilient and determined to achieve their freedom.
http://jnoubiyeh.blogspot.com/
War criminals
Net around Israeli war crimes suspects tightens
By Adri Nieuwhof and Ziyaad Lunat. ...The warrant for the arrest of Tzipi Livni is not the first time universal jurisdiction has been used in an attempt to try Israeli war crimes suspects -- before last winter's attacks on Gaza, several suspects were already facing warrants. In September 2005, the evidence of Doron Almog's involvement in the destruction of 59 homes in Rafah in the Gaza Strip in January 2002 persuaded a district judge in London to grant a warrant for his arrest. However, Almog was tipped off before leaving the plane at Heathrow airport and did not leave the El Al aircraft that brought him to the UK. Former Israeli intelligence head Ami Ayalon faced an arrest warrant in the Netherlands following a complaint by a Palestinian who said Ayalon was involved in his torture. However, the Dutch authorities colluded with Israel to undermine the effort to prosecute.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Activism / Solidarity
Gaza Freedom March's message to Israelis: Don't shoot us!
Organizers of the Gaza Freedom March, which is set to bring 1350 internationals to Egypt and Gaza at the end of the month, have tried repeatedly to meet with Israeli authorities about their plans and been rebuffed, says Medea Benjamin, a leader of the event sponsor, Code Pink.
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
Neturei Karta to Yasuf elders: We're anticipating Palestine's liberation
In aftermath of mosque torching, members of haredi group tell residents of West Bank village, 'Everything Zionists are doing to the Arabs is forbidden by Judaism'
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Arabs in the service of Israel
Qatar fails to show for torch-passing event in Nablus
Palestinians have no answers as to why invited officials from all of the Arab states did not come to the closing ceremony of the Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture 2009 events, organizers said. Head of the organizing office Varsan Aghabekian told Palestine Radio on Friday that she was particularly perplexed over the absence of Qatar, whose capital Doha is listed as the capital of Arab culture 2010, and to whose official President Mahmoud Abbas was meant to hand over the ceremonial flag.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Official: Arab states failed to support Jerusalem celebrations
Nablus - Ma’an - "We received promises of millions of dollars but we received nothing," Head of the administrative council for the Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture 2009 events said the day of the closing ceremony.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Abbas' West Bank is flourishing but Hamas is not worried
By Avi Issacharoff. ...since the Hamas coup in Gaza in June 2007, Abbas has become an all-powerful leader in the West Bank. The successes of the Palestinian security forces there have aroused jaw-dropping admiration in the Israel Defense Forces, notably because of the Palestinians' capabilities in fighting Hamas and other terrorist groups. Indeed, the Palestinian forces have surprised even the Shin Bet security service and Military Intelligence by uncovering dormant Hamas cells (of which there are plenty) whose existence was unknown even to the Israeli defense establishment. On Sunday and Monday alone, 300 Hamas activists were arrested in the West Bank. Apparently almost every action by the Islamist organization in the West Bank is detected by the Palestinian security forces.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Political developments
Report: Abbas backs Egypt's right to build Gaza wall
(dpa) Cairo - Egypt has the sovereign right to build a wall along its border with the Gaza Strip, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was cited as saying Saturday. In remarks to Egypt's Al Ahram newspaper, the Palestinian leader said the wall, which extends underground in an apparent attempt to curtail a network of smuggling tunnels, was "a matter of Egyptian sovereignty."
http://www.earthtimes.org/
Abbas defends actions around decision to postpone Goldstone vote
President Mahmoud Abbas said he was not responsible for the October delay of the Goldstone report, he told an interviewer at Al-Filistine TV on Friday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Abbas blames Iran for continued political split
President Mahmoud Abbas accused Iran of putting pressure on Hamas to delay the signing of a conciliation agreement brokered by Egypt, an interview with the Palestinian leader in Egypt's Al-Ahram revealed Saturday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Abbas: Israel has three weeks to approve Shalit deal
Palestinian president tells Al-Ahram German mediator in Shalit talks gave Israel 'two, three weeks' to approve deal before he halts mediation efforts; Hamas official says talks frozen due to state's refusal to release prisoners
http://www.ynetnews.com/
As leaders of EU presidency, Spanish to push for Palestinian state
Weeks before the country assumes the presidency of the European Parliament, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told reporters his leaders would strive for the creation of a Palestinian state. Spain will hold the rotating presidency, currently held by Sweden, for six months starting in January. During this time, Moratinos told reporters in Brussles, leaders will "work for having in 2010, finally, a Palestinian state that could live in peace and security with Israel," AFP quoted the official as saying.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Turkey warms relations with Israeli amid Gaza blockade
Citizens of Turkey gave the Viva Palestina convoy an "overwhelming" welcome on Friday, as the country's leaders met with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres around the reestablishment of "positive and stable" diplomatic ties between the nations.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israeli fracture lines
Haredim dub women Western Wall worshippers 'Nazis'
Confrontation broke out in the Western Wall on Friday, as Haredi worshippers protested an attempt by members of a women's organization to conduct a massive prayer session at the holy site by calling out "not-Jews" and "Nazis," Army Radio reported on Friday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Taliban already here
Gideon Eshet slams growing gender-based discrimination in Israel’s public sphere -- Three years ago, Naomi Rashi and her partner opened an account at the Poali Agudat Israel Bank. The Rashi family’s financial status is apparently solid, as can be concluded by the invitation they received from the bank to attend a meeting for preferred customers. However, this preference is given to “men only,” and thank you Army Radio for breaking this story. As it turns out, the Israeli branch of Bank Taliban isn’t the only one. Channel Two recently reported that the Clalit HMO introduced separate lines for men and women at Jerusalem clinics.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Haredim stone police in Jerusalem
Orthodox demonstrators hurl stones, torch garbage dumpsters to protest parking lot opening on Shabbat
http://www.ynetnews.com/
The new converts
Israel has allowed its citizenship law to be hijacked by a narrow political and religious lobby. There is an urgent need for new legislation that will take into account divided Palestinian families. In order to determine its borders, Israel must also decide what it means to be a citizen, says Anshel Pfeffer. Twelve thousand Ethiopians live around a compound in the city of Gondar. They left their villages for a promise of a better life in a new country ...None of them are Jews. But if all goes according to the plan, they will undergo mass conversion and become Israeli citizens. This is part of a plan to swell the ranks of Jews between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River.
http://www.middle-east-online.
Analysis / Opinion
The ongoing repression of Palestinian protesters / Jonathan Pollack
Despairing over the futility of perpetual negotiations, figures like Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and West Bank Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are openly supporting a resumption of the strategies of the first Palestinian Intifada. This being a grassroots uprising, saying "Those who have to resist are the people [...] like in Bil'in and Ni'ilin, where people are injured every day." ... Fearing a paradigm shift to grassroots resistance, Israel reacted in the only way it knows - with violence and repression ... Israel's desire to quash the popular resistance movement is no hidden agenda, nor should it come as a surprise. Recent acts by the Israeli army point directly to this goal. Over the past six months, 31 Bil'in residents have been arrested, including almost all the members of the Popular Committee that organizes the demonstrations.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
What the NYT won't tell you: Israel has lost the battle for int'l legitimacy
Ali Abunimah said at Hampshire College that the decadent period of Zionism has begun, in which Zionism loses the war for hearts and minds in the west, and delegitimization/BDS force Israeli introspection, and force Israel to change its behavior. Well this won’t happen till the New York Times becomes just halfway as honest with its readers as Anshel Pfeffer, in Haaretz: "[As for] Israel’s battle for international legitimacy…. [t]he reality is that in many countries, that battle is over, that battle has been lost. In some of the most "enlightened" nations of the Western world, identifying Israel as a racist, warmongering apartheid state is no longer a radical view, shared mainly by anti-Semites and "Arab lovers" – it has become the mainstream opinion." When are American publications going to start telling their readers what an enlightened Israeli publication is telling its readers? And why aren’t they honest? Why are they protecting American readers? Who is pulling the strings? (You know how I answer that question!)
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
The Golem is on the rampage / Yossi Sarid
...The whole hesder concept was a huge mistake - separate ideological-political streams are a recipe for trouble ... Who could have imagined that the yeshivas would be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, that every good-for-nothing would be called great and a rabbi, and that every one of them would hand down rabbinical rulings? And not only on matters of women's ritual purity, but also on matters of state. Who could have imagined that every gang would choose its own rabbi and every rabbi get his own gang? Who could have imagined that every second settlement in the territories would be given its very own hesder yeshiva?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
On brink of religious war?
Fanatic wave sweeping through region, both in Arab states and in Israel - By Dan Caspi. The torching of the mosque in Yasuf, displays of insubordination by soldiers from hesder yeshivas, the rabbis’ revolt against the construction freeze policy, and Justice Minister Ne’eman’s endorsement of Torah law in Israel combine to create a worrying picture: Israel is radicalizing, and with a more religious IDF is confidently heading towards a regional religious war ... The Middle East’s soil is drenched with the blood of the faithful who arrived here via long Crusades in order to save the Holy Land from infidels. After all, no monotheistic religion can bear the faithful of another religion. When faith is burning in one’s bones, logic and common sense grow silent. This was the case in the past, and apparently this is happening right before our eyes at this time.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Despair in Ramallah
We’re gradually losing best Palestinian peace partners we ever had - By Uri Misgav. I recently committed a criminal act. I cannot even plead ignorance. A large red sign at the roadblock near the Qalandiya refugee camp made it clear. Israelis are forbidden from entering Area A in the West Bank. It may be a security constraint, but it also has a symbolic significance. The moderate and quiet capital of the Palestinian Authority is located a few minutes away from Jerusalem, yet visiting it is a crime.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Rabbis vs. Christmas: Religious rivalry in Jerusalem benefits no one
The 'Lobby for Jewish Values' is trying to exorcise Yuletide festivities from the streets of Jerusalem. By Morten Berthelsen. ...In Israel, where there is no division of synagogue and state, religion - and religious muscle - rules, but to what end? Samuel J. Scott, an American former journalist now working at the Refuah Institute in Jerusalem raises an important question. "The secular, Westernized celebration of the holiday season - and the rabbinical efforts to clamp down on the phenomenon - is yet another example of one of the central paradoxes facing Israel," he writes. FIXXXXXXX!!!
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Inglorious JTS
By Philip Weiss. I don’t want to say a lot about this, it’s too weird, Jewish religious groups getting mixed up with jihadi feeling. The same week we learn that leading American Jewish figures are financing a settlers group that backs a rabbi who spouts racist venom about murdering gentiles, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the leading Conservative academy in NY, screened Quentin Tarantino’s Nazi revenge fantasy, Inglourious Basterds, with a prestige panel discussion after. "Sickmaking," as Jack Ross told me; and a sign of the unhealed wound of the Holocaust in American Jewish life. JTA reports that someone said, Well this has no real-life applications. Actually, it does. It has served to rationalize violence against Palestinians
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
Iraq, other Mideast
Friday: 2 Iraqis killed, 4 wounded; mass grave found
Excerpt: Iranian troops briefly entered a disputed border area of Iraq and seized an oil well. No fighting was reported there, but two Iraqis were killed and four others were wounded elsewhere in Iraq. Iraqi investigators have finished excavating a mass grave containing 185 Kurds that dates to the Saddam era. Meanwhile, Admiral Michael Mullen visited troops near Nasariya, and Iraq war vets are finding organic farming to be great therapy in California.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Saturday: 5 Iraqis killed, 1 wounded
Excerpt: There was little violence to greet the Islamic New Year, but the oilfield standoff at the Iranian border in Missan province continues. At least five Iraqis were killed and one more was wounded across the country in northern Iraq. Although it is unclear if Iranian troops are occupying an oilfield in Missan province, Iraqi troops have amassed nearby, ahead of any possible clashes.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Syria, Lebanon leaders meet in bid to end 5-year feud
(Reuters) Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri met Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Saturday for talks to end nearly five years of animosity between Damascus and a broad political alliance led by Hariri.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Hariri in Damascus!
CNN/ here "... The visit by Hariri was "very difficult on the personal level" and involves "great sacrifice," said Hariri loyalist and former lawmaker Mustafa Alloush. "But as prime minister of Lebanon, it is quite normal to have such a visit. ... It is necessary and there is a need to settle all aspects of the relationship," Alloush told The Associated Press.
http://friday-lunch-club.
U.S.
Obama grants Israel US$2.775 billion in security aid
US President Barack Obama has signed the Foreign Aid Budget Law of 2010 which includes granting $2.775 billion in security aid to the state of Israel. This budget is the second in two years and is considered part of the US aid to Israel which will total $30 billion in the coming ten years ... The US government said this aid will only be transferred to a government that recognizes the conditions of the Quartet Committee
http://www.imemc2.org/index.
Forward reports: Rghtwing Israeli maumau'd gormless Ford Foundation to drop I/P grants
How does the Israel lobby work? Let me count the ways… Liberal Israeli Yossi Alpher has an interesting piece in the Forward taking on Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor. Below the piece says that the august Ford Foundation has been maumau’d out of doing work on Israel/Palestine by… whom? By a neocon Israeli.. a former consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Why is such an individual able to manipulate the work of one of America’s leading foundations? (One reason, because Establishment WASPs have put their tails between their legs on this issue.)
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
Israeli pleads guilty to leaking classified US documents
An Israeli lawyer and left-wing activist who worked as a linguist for the FBI has pleaded guilty to leaking classified documents to a blogger who posted the information online.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
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www.TheHeadlines.org
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