Shadi Fadda brings us today's headlines relating to Palestine and other news from around the internet.
Land Theft and Destruction
Palestinian official: Israel destroyed 150 Arab homes in West Bank
Israeli security forces on Sunday knocked down shelters that were home to about 150 Palestinians in the West Bank, Palestinian officials said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Activists: Army prevents tree-planting near Hebron
Hebron – Ma'an – Israeli forces reportedly prohibited Palestinian farmers from planting 1,500 olive trees in the Abu Ar-Rish area of the Beit Ummar village near Hebron on Monday. "Despite the decision by an Israeli court allowing Palestinian farmers to work on their lands, Israeli troops banned farmers today from planting [olive trees]," said Muhammad Awad, media spokesman for the Palestine Solidarity Project. "The troops said that it is a closed military area," Awad said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
New risks in East Jerusalem
Israel continues to implement a long-term plan to transform the demographic structure of occupied East Jerusalem. Demonstrations against Israeli policies continue. Every Friday, human rights activists and individuals- Palestinians, Israelis and internationals - have been peacefully demonstrating in the streets of East Jerusalem. They demand the end of the settlements construction and protest against evictions of Palestinian families from their houses in East Jerusalem and, especially in Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment
West Bank Popular Leader Arrested in Ni’ilin
Ibrahim Amirah, the coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Ni’ilin, was arrested tonight from his home during a night-time raid tonight. Amirah, together with another man, Zaydoun Srour, were arrested under suspicion of organizing anti-Wall demonstrations in the village.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Interview: Disabled activist continues struggle in Bilin
The Electronic Intifada contributor Jody McIntyre interviews disabled Palestinian grassroots activist Rani Bornat: "These are peaceful protests; if we don't fight for our land, then who can? If we don't fight for the truth, then who can? If we don't stand side by side and resist this occupation together, then who can? Peaceful demonstrations don't hurt or kill anybody; they are only there to serve the oppressed. We must tear down this wall, so that we can live with peace ... and freedom."
http://electronicintifada.net/
Czech pro-Palestinian activist returns home after expelled by Israel
A Czech pro-Palestinian activist returned to Prague on Tuesday after she was expelled from Israel, officials said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Gaza Freedom March: Why I went to Cairo, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
Operation Cast Lead was a massacre filled with thousands of heart breaking stories. Each of the 1400 persons killed represents an entire world. Yes, it is also a war crime to fire kassam rockets into Israel with the intention to kill civilians. Over 2,000 rockets and 1,600 mortar shells were fired into Israel in 2008 alone. Some among the Palestinian population use armed force to resist Israeli’s military occupation and blockade of Gaza and the West Bank. According to international law, armed resistance against illegal occupation can be considered a just cause, as long as the rules of war are observed. However, as a person committed to nonviolence, I view the use of militarism by states or non-state actors to ensure security or resist occupation as a self-defeating strategy that promotes more violence and suffering and does not, in the end, result in well-being or peace for beleaguered populations. However, for those who believe in the use of military force as a viable option, Israel’s response to kassam attacks went far beyond legal and ethical boundaries. The much maligned Goldstone report proved beyond reasonable doubt that Israel intentionally targeted civilians and civilian institutions with deadly weapons. This is nothing new.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
The ethereal promise of midnight in the Sinai
Cheyenne Stern is a pseudonym for a member of the Gaza Freedom March who wishes to preserve her ability to travel in the region. She has been in Egypt since December 26 with the Gaza marchers. The Egyptian government prohibited the group from even from leaving Cairo, and the march came to a close with the drafting of the Cairo Declaration to End Israeli Apartheid. Subsequently, hundreds of marchers set out on their own to try and make their way into Gaza at the Egyptian border of Rafah.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Aggression and Violence
Palestinians say Israel kills two in Gaza
GAZA, Jan 11 (Reuters) - An Israeli missile strike killed two Hamas gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, Palestinian hospital officials said, but Israel denied mounting any military action in the area.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Palestinians: Masked settlers assaulted farmers
"Where else can something like this happen? We were assaulted on our lands and then asked to evacuate them"
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israeli incursion reported near Gaza cemetery
Gaza – Ma'an – Residents reported an Israeli military incursion into the eastern Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon. A convoy of eight army vehicles and bulldozers reportedly entered the coastal enclave 200 meters northeast of Ash-Shaja'yeh.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Palestinian driver detained, car detonated at Jenin checkpoint
Jenin - Ma'an - Faulty brakes and a lurching vehicle approaching the Reikhan Barta'a military checkpoint west of Jenin saw a man pulled from his car, detained and the vehicle detonated, witnesses said Tuesday. Reports from witnesses working on the Barta'a bridge near the checkpoint said they saw an old Volkswagen approach the military zone, said soldiers fired on the vehicle.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Nablus executions: Shoot first, ask questions later
The brutal killing of three Palestinian men by Israeli military forces in Nablus last week on 26 December 2009 sparked grief and outrage across Palestine and brought the northern West Bank city to a standstill as thousands mourned the lethal attack. However, their voices are drowned out yet again by a well-played hand of Israel's propaganda machine and repeated by the mainstream media. Bridget Chappell writes from Nablus.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Detainees
OPT: Detention of young children up 40%
[Ramallah, 11 January 2010] - According to the latest figures compiled by DCI-Palestine from sources including the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) and temporary Israeli army detention facilities, the number of Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons and detention centres inside Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory at the end of December 2009, was 305.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Egypt's Humanitarian War against Gazans
Israel to build wall along Egyptian border
Israel has approved plans to erect a wall along part of its southern border with Egypt, a project that will cost at least $270 million dollars. Benyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said in a statement on Sunday that the wall is a "strategic decision to ensure the Jewish and democratic character of the state of Israel." However, Palestinians believe the new barrier is another example of Israeli land grab. Israeli police estimate that 100 to 200 people infiltrate Israeli's 210-kilometer southern border every week while a large majority of those are refugees from northern Africa illegaly crossing the border. Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Jerusalem. Jan 11, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Hamas: Israeli decision to build wall with Egypt reveals scheme
Hamas on Monday said that the Israeli decision to build an electronic wall along its borders with Egypt revealed that the construction of Egypt's steel wall had nothing to do with Egyptian security.
http://www.palestine-info.co.u
American Muslims Decry Egyptian Government's Mistreatment Of Palestinians
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Muslims Task Force (AMT), an umbrella organization of major American Muslim organizations, has called a press conference for 10 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2009, to express its outrage at recent developments in Egypt as they relate to the occupied Palestinians of Gaza.
http://www.thestreet.com/
Khalil Bendib: At the Egyptian Border
http://www.bendib.com/newones/
Human Rights/Siege
Gaza hopes earthen brick homes will be temporary
* Compressed earth homes "better than tents"
* Transitional shelter "does not let Israel off the hook"
* Gazans suspect they may never replace concrete homes
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Political Developments
Egypt: Netanyahu willing to see East Jerusalem as Palestinian capital
Egypt's foreign minister said in Cairo last week that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to discuss making "Arab Jerusalem" the capital of a Palestinian state.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Netanyahu: Israel will never share Jerusalem
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that Israel would never cede control of occupied East Jerusalem, according to a bureau statement quoted by Israeli news reports.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
State Dept.: U.S. not planning to withhold Israel loan guarantees
The U.S. State Department on Monday reiterated that special Mideast envoy George Mitchell's suggestion that Washington could withhold loan guarantees if Israel continues to delay the peace process was merely a fact of "historical context."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Yoel Marcus / Obama blowing threatening winds at Israel
We can deny it all we like, but if it looks like a threat and sounds like a threat, then it's a threat. U.S. special envoy George Mitchell, who is coming to Israel next week, suggested in an interview with the U.S. public television network PBS that Washington might withhold loan guarantees to Israel. When this was interpreted as a hint meant to pressure Israel, "clarifications" poured forth from the American capital. Mitchell wasn't threatening, he was only giving a hypothetical response to the interviewer's question about the options for pressure that were available to the administration. The White House itself sent a message to the effect of, "We didn't want to threaten, only to speed up the negotiations."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
A Year of Israeli Rebuffing the US on Gaza Crossings
As we near the 1-year anniversary of the end of the Gaza War, the Gaza Strip remains under siege, with Israel allowing very little - in terms of either goods or people - to enter or exit the area. Last week, in an appearance on the Charlie Rose show, Middle East Special Envoy George Mitchell said that he thought Israel would have be better off if it opens the crossings (and thus lifts or seriously alleviates the siege).
http://peacenow.org/entries/a_
U.N. memo: Israel’s ‘provocative’ actions in Jerusalem could ‘derail’ peace process, Philip Weiss
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was advised to tell George Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy on the Middle East, that Israel’s house evictions in East Jerusalem are "provocative" and "that the volatile situation in East Jerusalem is capable of de-railing a [peace] process," according to a confidential U.N. "talking points" memo prepared for Ban before his meeting with Mitchell last week and obtained by Mondoweiss.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Palestinian anger could doom US mission (AP)
AP - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday spurned a new U.S. effort to revive Mideast peace talks, saying he will not resume negotiations without an Israeli settlement freeze.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Palestinian PM accuses Israel of trying to isolate PNA
RAMALLAH, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad accused Israel on Tuesday of trying to isolate the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) through a campaign against President Mahmoud Abbas and Fayyad's government.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Other News
Turkey summons Israeli ambassador
Envoy to Ankara Gabby Levy summoned over reprimand meeting between Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon and Turkish ambassador to Israel. Turkish FM says government discussing incident, to publish response shortly. Meanwhile, industry, trade, labor minister called Ayalon's behavior 'undignified'.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israel media splashes 'hazing' of Turkish envoy (AFP)
AFP - Israeli newspapers on Tuesday played up what they called the "hazing" of Turkey's ambassador by Israel, in an incident likely to ratchet up already high tensions between the two allies.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Work begins on first planned Palestinian city (AP)
AP - Work crews have broken ground on what they hope will be the first modern, planned Palestinian city — a step officials say will help build an independent state in spite of the current deadlock in the peace process with Israel.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
No easy riding for Gaza bikers
GAZA CITY — When Munzer Diyya wants to get away from it all, he sits astride his motorcycle and takes to the open road -- all 45 kilometres of it. Diyya has the misfortune of being an open road enthusiast living in the Gaza Strip, a tiny territory sandwiched between Israel and Egypt and blockaded by both.
http://www.google.com/
Palestinians find ancient coin hoard in Gaza (AFP)
AFP - The Hamas-run ministry of tourism and antiquities in Gaza on Monday announced the discovery of ancient artifacts near the Egyptian border town of Rafah.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Analysis/Op-ed/Human Interest
The looming war in Gaza
Can Obama stop it before it starts?: The countdown to the Second Gaza War has begun in earnest.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Church in hot water over Jerusalem land sales
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Israel's bid to keep occupied East Jerusalem under its sovereignty and prevent its incorporation into a future Palestinian state has been boosted over the years with the acquiescence of the Greek Orthodox Church. The church's sale of politically sensitive land in East Jerusalem under dubious circumstances and amidst charges of political blackmail have caused outrage amongst Greek Orthodox Palestinians and threatened to split the church.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Uphill battle for academic freedom in US universities
Despite the expanding and momentous student-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, open dialogue around the reality of the situation in occupied Palestine continues to be an uphill battle for many professors inside the classrooms. Nora Barrows-Friedman reports on recent cases of academic freedom infringement for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/
One-state solution is debated in California congressional race, Philip Weiss
Here’s a fine piece by Linda Milazzo in the LA Progressive, showing how viciously the lobby responds to talk of a one-state solution. LA Congressman Henry Waxman, chairman of Energy and Commerce and a big liberal, goes haywire against Marcy Winograd, the challenger to Congresswoman Jane "AIPAC" Harman in a neighboring district. Milazzo points out that Israel/Palestine is not a huge issue to Harman’s beachfront district but that for both Waxman and Harman, it is the political litmus test.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Support Ahmad Mesleh & support independent media in Israel/Palestine, Adam Horowitz
Last week I posted on the kick off of a new website from Israel/Palestine called The Daily Nuisance. The post featured an incredibly striking photo of a Palestinian protester holding an enormous Palestinian flag jumping off the stumps of a destoyed olive tree in front of the Separation Wall. That photo was taken by Ahmad Mesleh. Mesleh is from the West Bank village Nil’in, which has been at the forefront of the protests against the Israeli Separation Wall which is stealing their land. Mesleh has helped document that struggle, like in the photo above.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Iraq
Monday: 3 Iraqis Killed, 9 Wounded
At least three Iraqis were killed and nine more were wounded in light violence. Among them is one election employee, only one of several who have suffered thanks to their connection to the March poll.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Baghdad gridlock after bomb scare
Iraqi security forces are been deployed en-masse in Baghdad, bringing the capital to a near standstill.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-
Iraqi forces seize explosives, arrest 25 in raids (Reuters)
Reuters - Iraqi security forces on Tuesday arrested 25 people suspected of plotting attacks and imposed a temporary curfew on parts of the capital as they conducted raids and seized explosives.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Lebanon
Tourist buses with Syrian plates comes under attack
Unidentified attackers threw stones at two buses with Syrian license plates near Majdal Aanjar, Sunday. The buses were carrying Lebanese tourists visiting Al-Sayyida Zainab shrine in Damascus. The vehicles were damaged but no injuries were reported, As-Safir newspaper said Monday. The Lebanese Armed Forces are investigating the incident, said the daily.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Jumblatt says reconciliation complete after Aoun meeting
Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt said his meeting on Monday with Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun was the last step in the reconciliation process he started with opposition figures."Enough is enough. My meeting with Aoun brings the reconciliation process to an end," Jumblatt told reporters from Aoun's residence Rabieh.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Hezbollah denies Der Spiegel's report of its cocaine smuggling
BEIRUT, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah denied here on Tuesday the German magazine Der Spiegel's report on the Shiite party's alleged cocaine trafficking as "fabrications," aimed at "distorting" the group's image, the country's state-run National News Agency reported.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Lebanon asks U.S. to cancel it from airport security list
BEIRUT, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Minister of Information Tarek Mitri Tuesday requested the U.S. authority to cancel it from the recent airport security measures list. Mitri told a news briefing on Tuesday that Lebanese government understood any measure that any country chooses to take to enhance security in airports, however, what is under question is that citizens of Lebanon are singled out.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Franklin Lamb – Al Manar, Press TV and Al Alam should show this documentary!!
If every building has a story to tell, then Gaza Hospital, a medical center-turned-refugee-shelter in the Sabra and Shatila camp, can recount a saga. It is this saga that director Marco Pasquini sets out to capture using archival footage and testimonies from former voluntary medical staff and refugees currently living in the building in his documentary of the same name.
http://palestinethinktank.com/
Arab and other world news
Jordan embarrased by Al Qaeda links
Jordanian authorities are struggling in their fight to curb Al Qaeda's influence in their country. As news emerges of another Jordanian with Al Qaeda links, killed in Pakistan, Nisreen El Shamalyeh reports on the growing influence of Al Qaeda ideology amongst the US allied country's youth. Jan 12, 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Israeli general Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam denies Iran is nuclear threat
A general who was once in charge of Israel’s nuclear weapons has claimed that Iran is a “very, very, very long way from building a nuclear capability”. Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam, 75, a war hero and pillar of the defence establishment, believes it will probably take Iran seven years to make nuclear weapons. The views expressed by the former director-general of Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission contradict the assessment of Israel’s defence establishment and put him at odds with political leaders.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
Egypt says Jewish slaves didn't build pyramids
Egyptian archeologists presented new evidence Monday that the people who worked on the Great Pyramids of Giza were not Jewish slaves, but paid laborers. Newly discovered tombs show construction workers were honored by being buried near the pyramids.
http://www.csmonitor.com/
U.S.
Helen Thomas Deviates From the Terrorism Script, Glenn Greenwald
January 10, 2010 "Salon" -- Following up on Thursday's post concerning our collective refusal to discuss how American actions and policies fuel Terrorism: at a White House press conference yesterday with Janet Napolitano and John Brennan, Helen Thomas shows -- yet again -- that she's one of the very few White House reporters willing to deviate from approved orthodoxy scripts. She asks the prohibited question about the motives of Terrorists, and keeps asking as she receives complete non-responses, until they all just decide to ignore her.
http://www.salon.com/news/
www.TheHeadlines.org
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