Land Theft and Destruction
Settlers Steal 25 Dunams Near Nablus
Israeli settlers stole on Thursday 25 Dunams (6.17 Acres) of Palestinian lands that belong to the residents of Dir Istia village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Local sources reported that dozens of heavily armed settlers from the Rifaka illegal settlement outpost grabbed by force 25 Dunams in Khallit Azzam and uprooted the trees using military bulldozers.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Southern West Bank farmers accuse settlers of uprooting trees
Palestinian farmers from Yatta village southern West Bank accused Israeli settlers of destroying 70 of their trees on Thursday. The farmers reported that as they arrived to their lands this morning, they found that 70 of their trees have been uprooted. The lands are located near the illegal settlement of Ma'on. Settlers from Ma'on attack the villagers of Yatta regularly in an effort to take over the land to expand the settlement, farmers reported. Ma'on settlement are built on land that was stolen by the settlers from the villagers of Yatta and nearby Palestinian villages.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment
Israeli Military Barricades Nili’n – Journalists Denied Access
Today in the village of Nili’n, central West Bank, the Israeli military closed all entrances and exits, and didn’t allow any journalists in the village. The demonstration started after midday prayers, with Palestinians marching alongside their anti-Zionist Israeli and international supporters. The group marched to the gate of the wall, deemed illegal under international law, that separates the villagers from their land.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
After Night Time Incursion, al-Ma'sara Protest Continues
After last night’s military incursion into the village of al-Ma’sara, central West Bank, the weekly, non-violent protest continued as usual. The protests in al-Ma’sara have occurred every Friday for the last [?] years. After assembling the villagers and internationals, who march in solidarity with the Palestinians against the construction of the wall, the confiscation of land, and the continued military occupation of the West Bank, the group peacefully marched their usual route, only to be confronted by a barricade.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Othman’s human rights activities may be circumscribed
However, his liberty is conditional on him not travelling outside the West Bank for an unspecified length of time and reporting to the police immediately whenever they summon him for questioning.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Video-photos: Gaza Support Rally at Israeli Consulate, Boston
About 50 pro-Gaza activists rallied in front of the building where the Israeli Consulate is located to protest the US-Israeli oppression of Gaza. Across the street was a pro-Israel counter protest.The police stood between the 2 opposing rallies.
http://boston.indymedia.org/
An English politician watches Israeli soldiers lose control at a peaceful demonstration and vows to bear witness, Philip Weiss
There were probably 200 of us, including several well known activists, Yonatan Shapiro and Ezra Nawi and actor Samieh Jabbarin. When we came to the concertina wire, we had a demonstration. The Palestinian way is to chant in a kind of song, their list of grievances and declarations. First the chanting was done in Arabic, and then Yonatan called out to the soldiers in Hebrew. Finally Sami Awad spoke in English. "These villagers seek to live in peace. But living in peace means living in dignity and respect…." That means visiting their grape vines and olive trees that are waiting for them on their lands.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
IRELAND-PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN: National Boycott Israeli Goods Day of Action
http://www.swp.ie/index.php?
Boycott Stolen Beauty - Don't Buy Ahava!
http://salsa.
Aggression/Violence/Detainees
Fishermen: Israeli warships fire on boats in three locations
Gaza – Ma'an – Israeli war boats opened fire on Gaza's fishermen and their boats on the shores of the central Gaza Strip, further south near Khan Younis and again in the Rafah coastal area on Friday morning, dozens of witnesses reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israeli troops snatch three from Tulkarem area
Tulkarem - Ma'an - Israeli forces detained three citizens from Tulkarem in broad daylight and took them to an unknown destination on Thursday, witnesses said. Two of the men were taken from the Ar-Ras and Kfar Saour villages south of Tulkarem as they worked surveying land adjacent to the separation wall. Locals identified them as Sinan Amir and Muhammad Taher.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israel To Deport 15 Detainees
The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees filed an appeal to the Israeli High Court demanding it to void a decision aimed at deporting 15 Palestinian detainees who have already served their terms and are supposed to be sent back home. Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe’, said that the detainees do not have identity cards due to Israeli restrictions, and that they were kidnapped by the Israeli army during the Israeli military offensive against the West Bank in 2002.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Human Rights/Humanitarian Issues/Siege/Discrimination
Weekly report on Israeli human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory 06 - 13 Jan 2010
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Joint letter sent to the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza; Calling for immediate commencement of internal investigations in compliance with UN GA Resolution A/RES/64/10
http://www.alternativenews.
Israeli authorities prevent 17 Palestinians from getting necessary eye surgery
After the Israeli human rights group Physicians for Human Rights arranged a donation of 17 corneas to allow sight-impaired Palestinians from Gaza to receive necessary eye surgery, Israeli border agents stationed at Erez crossing prevented the sight-impaired patients from entering the West Bank. The cornea donations had to be discarded.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Israel Refuses to Take Responsibility for the Rehabilitation of Gaza’s Civilian Amputees
Shortly after the Israeli assault on Gaza ended last January, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR-IL) embarked on a campaign to obtain responsibility from the Israeli Ministry of Defense for the treatment of Gaza civilians seriously injured during the assault.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Noam Chomsky joins GAA to set up team in Gaza
Noam Chomsky is a man of many different hats. He's a Professor of Linguistics at MIT but he's probably better known worldwide for his incisive criticism of big media and US foreign policy (although not necessarily in that order). Now he's wearing yet another hat as co-president (with former Tyrone player Peter Canavan) of the new GAA club in Gaza. Yes, that Gaza. A story in today's Irish Examiner tells how Chomsky and Canavan are the honorary co-presidents of the team set up by Irish activist John Hurson.
http://www.irishcentral.com/
Israeli forces close road in north, install checkpoint
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli forces installed a military temporary checkpoint near Dir Sharaf east of the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Thursday. The military stop, known as a flying checkpoint, was installed just south of the area where Palestinian gunmen killed a settler on Christmas eve. On Boxing Day, Israeli troops raided Nablus and executed three men they said were responsible for the death. Witnesses said the men were shot on site in their homes.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
In a letter to UN, Gaza children demand justice
Gaza – Ma’an – Marking the aniversary of Israel's war on Gaza, hundreds of children gathered in Gaza City to sign a letter asking that the UN denounce as criminal the Israeli actions that lead to the death of their friends and loved ones.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Please pledge contribute for Yousif , 13 from Gaza
My buddy Maha Mehanna in Gaza and I are looking for ten really kind people to pledge and send $100 each -- to cover two crucial days for her nephew Yousif, age 13 going on 14, at the Pediatric Immunology Clinic at Safra Children`s Hospital at Tel Hashomer.
MIDEAST: Will You Marry Poor Me, Eva Bartlett
GAZA CITY, Jan 14, 2010 (IPS) - "If we had money we'd get married right away," says Samir*, 23. He has found his bride, but not the money to hold the wedding.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.
Egypt's Humanitarian War against Gazans
Gaza completes its siege by building a harbour at the end of the steel wall
Egyptian authorities are going to build a harbour at its sea border with the Gaza Strip to be used by Egyptian naval patrol boats, an Egyptian security source announced on Thursday.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Hamas urges Egypt to halt Gaza border wall (Reuters)
Reuters - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called on Egypt on Friday to stop building an underground wall along its border with Gaza, which the Islamist group says would put further strain on the isolated enclave.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Egypt's Gaza wall
BI: How big a problem will Egypt's iron wall pose for Gaza's underground smuggling industry?
Abu Murrad: It's not a big problem. There are already holes in the wall, and the Egyptians know this. We'll go through it or under it. Already there are tunnels deeper than the wall. This is what we do. When the Israelis were here we smuggled, either for profit or resistance. Whether the border is under Egyptian or Israeli control, smuggling never stopped, never will. The only way to stop the smuggling is to open the borders.
http://www.bitterlemons-
Egypt prevents local convoy from bringing aid to Gaza
Al-Arish – Ma'an – Egyptian security forces in Cairo dispersed a local initiative to deliver aid to Gaza, organized by Dr Mustafa Khalil's Kifaya Movement, as it began transporting supplies to the country's northern border for transfer into Gaza, the group reported. Under the motto, “No to the wall, no to the siege,” the group affiliated to Egypt's Labor Party under the movement's Chairman Muhammad As-Sikhawi gathered in Cairo near the headquarters of the Journalist Syndicate, but were dispersed by Egyptian police.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Abukar Arman: The Muffled Screams of Gaza
The Egyptian government's recent decision to seal the few "tunnels of life" that allowed the people of Gaza to bypass the on-going inhumane economic strangulation, harassment and cruel treatment experienced by the participants of Gaza Freedom March and the Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy, earned the country a prominent position in history's page of shame. This page is crowded by wealthy Arab nations who failed the Palestinian people and abandoned them at their most vulnerable time.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Israeli Racism
Ministry official: Too many Filipinas trying to marry Israelis
Shlomo Tzagir, an Israeli, and Suzanne Kapistrano, a Filipina, met and fell in love about 18 months ago. In January 2009, they submitted a request to the Interior Ministry to begin the gradual, five-year process to obtain citizenship for Kapistrano on the basis of their relationship, so that Kapistrano could remain in Israel. However, the Interior Ministry denied the request, citing doubts about "the sincerity of the relationship."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Political Developments
Worshipers in the West Bank revolt against PA-Dayton Imams
Worshipers in tens of West Bank mosques rejected attacks on the great Islamic scholar, Sheikh Yousuf al-Qardawi, for his patriotic stands against the Israeli aggression and siege on the Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
The PA in Ramallah instruct imams to assail Sheikh Qardawi
The ministry of awkaf and religious affairs in Ramallah distributed a Friday sermon to Imams around the West Bank. The sermon launches a scathing attack on Sheikh Yusuf al-Qardawi.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Bardaweel: “Hamas Ready To Sign Unity Deal”
Legislator Salah Bardaweel, a prominent political leader of the Hamas movement, stated that Hamas believes in reconciliation and is ready and willing to sign a unity deal based on the Egyptian vision under guarantees to preserve national interests.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
US security envoy meets Israeli, Palestinian leaders (AFP)
AFP - US President Barack Obama's national security adviser James Jones held talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders on Thursday aimed at furthering US-led peace efforts.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Other News
'Arrest made' over Jordan explosion
Taxi driver suspected of planting bomb targeting Israeli diplomats, Al Jazeera learns.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
Blast near Israeli convoy in Jordan
A bomb has exploded near a convoy of cars carrying Israeli diplomats in Jordan, without causing injuries. The incident occurred close to the Allenby Bridge that links Jordan and the Israeli occupied Palestinian West Bank at about 5pm (1500GMT) on Thursday, Israeli army radio said. Danny Nevo, Israel's ambassador to Jordan, was not in any of the vehicles that were travelling from Amman, the Jordanian capital, at the time, Israeli officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
Jordan to Israel: We're hunting those behind attack on your diplomats
Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh called Israel's ambassador to Jordan Daniel Nevo on Thursday after a roadside explosive device went off near a convoy of cars carrying three Israeli diplomats traveling from Jordan toward Israeli earlier. The blast occurred at around 6 p.m. close to the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the West Bank. No one was hurt.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/
In Gaza, Hamas calls prayers for rain (Reuters)
Reuters - The Islamist group Hamas held prayers in the Gaza Strip Thursday to ask God for rain, calling for divine help to ease a water crisis that is compounding the woes of Palestinians in the coastal enclave.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Gazans Support Egypt
Despite political tensions between Gaza and Egypt along the Rafah border, there is no doubt who Gazans still support when it comes to the "beautiful game". Ayman Mohyeldin visits a popular Gaza sports cafe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
'US architect withdraws from Jerusalem museum project' (AFP)
AFP - Leading US architect Frank O. Gehri has announced he is withdrawing from the Museum of Tolerance project in Jerusalem which detractors say is being built over an ancient Muslim graveyard, the Haaretz newspaper said on Friday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
The IDF's latest target: Supermodel Bar Refaeli
The Israel Defense Forces human resources chief Maj. Gen. Avi Zamir yesterday called for a boycott of products advertised by Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli. Speaking at a lecture at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Zamir was asked why the army did not act against Refaeli, who married under false pretenses so she could evade military service. Zamir said that, according to law, he could not act against Refaeli. "She went and married a 37-year-old guy, so what can I do?" he said. "At the end of the day," according to Zamir, "she is the one who has to look at herself in the mirror. We are a society that has an army, and Bar Refaeli doesn't have to participate in ads for Fox [clothing] - and if she advertises Fox then you shouldn't buy their products."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Analysis/Op-ed/Human Interest
The Unipolar Moment and the Culture of Imperialism: (Edward Said Memorial Lecture), Noam Chomsky
I have been quoting the assessment of Edward Said's literary contributions by his close friend and comrade in struggle Eqbal Ahmad, like Edward a rare and stellar example of an engaged intellectual, dedicated to truth and justice in word and in action. Their passing a few years ago is an irreparable loss for the poor and the suffering of the world, and for depth and clarity of thought and understanding. Among Edward Said's many achievements was to draw the "culture of imperialism" from the shadows and explore its deep roots and pervasive implications in many domains. In these remarks, I will try to explore some of its specific manifestations, focusing on the events that opened the way to the famous "unipolar moment" of unchallenged US global hegemony 20 years ago and the ways in which these are remembered on the 20th anniversary now being celebrated. To do so requires following two tracks: policy, and its interpretation through the prism of imperial ideology. The dawn of the unipolar moment is an instructive test case, in both domains.
http://chomsky.info/talks/
How Gaza could help Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
Hamas and a national unity government aside, the administration's inability to find a way to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in Gaza over the last year stands as a major missed opportunity. Addressing the blockade and misery of Gaza would have been the right thing to do morally, would have clearly signaled change from the Bush approach, and very likely would have undermined Hamas control over Gaza by removing its ability to control and tax the flow of goods through the tunnels. There were some early indications that the administration would do something. I suppose that initially they were waiting to use a move on Gaza as a bargaining chip, a step in their intricate early plan for Israeli concessions to be matched by Arab concessions. When that plan fell apart, Gaza seems to have just fallen off the radar... for Americans, at least, although Gaza remains a fixture on al-Jazeera and in Arab politics more broadly.
http://lynch.foreignpolicy.
Video: "U.S. Foreign Policy and the Inter-Palestinian Divide" with Dr. Nathan Brown
http://www.thejerusalemfund.
"This is life:" remembering earlier massacres in Gaza
"This is the first time I've returned here since my friends were killed," Ahmad Hammad says. He stands at the edge of a vacant plot and gestures to its far end which lies over 1 km from the border separating Israel and the Gaza Strip. Hammad, 24, recalls the day two years ago when three of his friends were torn apart by an Israeli-fired surface-to-surface missile. Eva Bartlett writes from the Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/
The spider, the road and the occupation
Even if the farce staged by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his deputy Danny Ayalon to make the Turkish ambassador feel small is forgotten, Route 443 is a better example of the wide gap between Israelis' self-image and the value of Israel and its arguments in the eyes of the international community. No propaganda campaign based on the cry "Gevalt, they're killing us" can save the occupation from the understanding that this is not a dispute about Jewish existence. Either way, Israel does not know how to defend this existence without groaning that "the spider of the settlements is proving burdensome, please help us handle it so we can continue settling everywhere, including in East Jerusalem."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
'Occupation tourism'
An old man in a black galabia who is leaning on a walking stick catches the attention of Ferdino Madno. In the center of Bil'in, while waiting for the start of the weekly demonstration against the separation fence, Madno, 41, scurries around with two cameras slung over his shoulders. "I came here with some of my fellow students," he says, pointing to a group of 10 Italians who are sitting peacefully on a stone wall, each carrying a camera with a spectacular zoom lens. "We are studying photography in a school in Rome. We have finished learning how to take portraits and now we are working on reportorial photography. That is why we are here, as part of a workshop on reportorial photography. We have been to Myanmar and now we have come to Bil'in to take pictures," Madno explains.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Twilight Zone / Waltz in Batir, Gideon Levy
Reader Nidal Zeghayer, 22, sent me an e-mail. He'd read what I wrote about Highway 443 and wanted to tell me about the other separation roads Israel is paving around his village of Batir, between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. "Will you come see?" he asked. Something about his writing style led me to accept his offer. When we arrived in his village, he was waiting outside, wearing stained clothing: He's in the midst of helping his father paint their house.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Sharon's real legacy - keeping the Arabs out of sight, Aluf Benn
Let's assume the optimistic forecast by special U.S. envoy George Mitchell comes true and in two years the establishment of an independent Palestine is declared at a ceremony. The event will be broadcast on prime time, but most Israelis will opt to view "Big Brother 6," "Survivor 7" or whatever the next television hit is. Viewers will behave this way not because they oppose a Palestinian state but because they are indifferent. Palestine-shmalestine simply does not interest them.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Rattling the Cage: To be Israeli today, Larry Derfner
It's nice to know that the economy's good, or relatively good, and that the hi-tech sector is a miracle, that we're the "start-up nation." There's a lot of economic opportunity in this country for well-educated, shrewd, hard-working people (or well-educated, shrewd, hard-working Jews, anyway). There's great wealth in Israel, a whole class of rich people. That's a change, and a good one. I can't say I'm inspired by it, because there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of trickle-down from all that wealth, but prosperity, even if it's spread narrowly, is a good thing. A positive thing. Other than the economy - the rise of the nouveau-riche and the staving off of recession - everything else in national life, everything else that comes to mind when you think "Israel" or "being Israeli" - is negative.
Being Israeli today is about being against. Against Palestinians. Against people who criticize the way we treat Palestinians. Against Muslims in general.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Israeli Democracy or Hypocrisy, Stephen Lendman
An October 2007 Haaretz editorial titled “Democracy or hypocrisy” contrasted the “occupying Land of Israel to the democratic Israel” in calling for a “debate about Israel’s control over the lives of Palestinians deprived of civil rights,” saying its democracy is flawed and not addressing it is hypocrisy. Throughout history, regimes rhetorically embraced democracy as cover for more despotic policies, no different today throughout the world in countries like India, Pakistan, America and Israel practicing what Michael Parenti calls “democracy for the few,” (the) “shadier sides of US political life (in which) proponents of the existing social order have tried to transform practically every deficiency into a strength.”
http://dissidentvoice.org/
Rawabi, and the American mission to civilize the West Bank, Ahmed Moor
When I first heard about the Rawabi plan I was repulsed. It took some time for me to distill exactly what made me so uncomfortable. It wasn’t the Pavlovian conditioning; direct exposure to the Jewish settler colonies in the West Bank and Gaza has created a psychological association between objectively neutral architectural features – red-tiled roofs, trimmed hedges, cul-de-sacs – and racism and apartheid for me. It wasn’t that though; Rawabi seemed more profoundly wrong.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Could the Taliban be genetically linked to the Jews?
Israel has asked an Indian geneticist to study the link between the Indian Geneticist Shahnaz Ali has been asked to study the link between the Afridi Pathans, based in the Lucknow region of India, and certain tribes of Israel who migrated across Asia thousands of years ago. Ali is based in Haifa where she is working in collaboration with Israel's prestigious university the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Some experts attribute Israel's decision to fund the research to a theory supported by many that Afghanistan's Pashtun fighters, the community from which the Taliban draw their strength, are descendants of Afridi Pathans.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/
Israel and Turkey
Israelis furious over government handling of row with Turkey
The Israeli media on Thursday slammed the government's handling of a diplomatic row with Turkey in which it humiliated Ankara's ambassador and then retreated with public apologies."The policy of 'no more groveling' led by Foreign Minister [Avigdor] Lieberman, was transformed within a matter of days into a situation in which Israel was forced to dispatch an official and diplomatic apology,” Israel’s Maariv newspaper said in an article entitled “Capitulation.”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Turkey: Diplomatic spat with Israel won't scupper $190 million drone deal
Turkey's military will accept a delivery of Israeli drones in March - despite a diplomatic row that has brought the relations between the countries close to breaking point, Turkish officials said on Thursday. Israel will send four Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Turkey, the first part of a consignment of 10 drones purchased by the Turkish government, with the remainder to be shipped by the year's end, officials told the Turkish daily, Zaman.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Livni Slams Netanyahu; Says Turkey Has to Choose a Side
15/01/2010 As the most recent confrontation with Turkey, over Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon humiliating Turkish ambassador to Israel Ahmet Oguz Celikkol on Tuesday, began to abate, Kadima and opposition leader Tzipi Livni said that Ankara would have to decide which side to align itself with. "Every country in the region must decide which side it is on. This goes for Turkey, too," Livni said Thursday. "The choice is not between Israel and the Palestinians or the Jews and the Arab but between Israel, the legitimate Palestinian Authority, Egypt, and Jordan and the world of fundamental Islam."
http://almanar.com.lb/
Turkish public won't forgive Israel's insult
Not a single cabinet minister is running to the media to condemn the tarring and feathering of the Turkish ambassador by Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon. Not even Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who expects, despite the insult, to be received in Turkey on Sunday with a seat befitting a minister. He obviously also wants to forge a compromise between the Turkish defense ministry and Israel Aerospace Industries over a deal involving unmanned aircraft. He will very much want to pave the way for future Turkish deals with Israeli industries, which have done NIS 4 billion in business already.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israel's Attitude, Andrew Sullivan
The Netanyahu government has all but declared war on the Obama administration and then openly disses a vital ally, Turkey. The slow cultural shifts in Israel - toward ever more arrogance, more fundamentalism, more Russian immigrant racism, contempt for the Muslim world, military adventurism, and the daily grinding of the Palestinians on the West Bank and pulverization and inhumane blockade of the people of Gaza ... well maybe some others can explain it.
http://andrewsullivan.
MIDEAST: Israel Cannot be Sultan
JERUSALEM, Jan 14, 2010 (IPS) - A bizarre diplomatic incident - even by the Byzantine-like standards of the old near East - has threatened already strained relations between Israel and Turkey. For a quarter century the two democracies were the region's most unlikely allies. Since Israel's assault on Hamas in Gaza a year ago, they have been the most problematic allies. On Monday, Israel created a scene reminiscent of a famous scene in Charlie Chaplin's movie The Great Dictator: Chaplin's parody of Hitler is receiving 'Mussolini'. Each confronts the other by trying to elevate his seat above the other - until they both hit the ceiling.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.
Iraq
Thursday: 21 Iraqis Killed, 54 Wounded
At least 21 Iraqis were killed and 54 more were wounded in today’s attacks. Among them was a multiple bomb attack in the holy city of Najaf. Meanwhile, a former Iraqi leader criticized the controversial decision to ban 500 Iraqis from running in March elections.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Iraq election officials bar nearly 500 candidates from poll (AFP)
AFP - Iraq's election organisers on Thursday barred nearly 500 politicians and parties from contesting the country's upcoming national poll, including many linked to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Former Iraqi PM warns of intimidation before vote (AP)
AP - Iraq's former prime minister said Thursday that a recommendation to bar some political parties from March elections because of suspected ties to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party amounts to intimidation.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Lebanon
Accused spy for Israel denies role in Islamic Jihad killings
An accused Israeli collaborator on Thursday denied involvement in the assassination of Islamic Jihad leaders in 2006, saying that he was busy in surveillance for the Israelis elsewhere at the time of the murder.The testimony by retired Surete General Brigadier Adib Alam came during the trial of Mahmoud Rafeh at the Military Tribunal, for the May 26, 2006 murder of brothers Mahmoud and Nidal Majzoub from the group Islamic Jihad.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Sayyed Nasrallah: We Will Defeat Enemy, Change Region's Face
15/01/2010 Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said on Friday that in case of any confrontation with Israel, the Resistance will foil the aggressions' objectives, defeat the enemy, and change the face of the region. Sayyed Nasrallah was delivering a speech via video link before the Arab and International Forum for Supporting the Resistance at the UNESCO Palace in Beirut. Sayyed Nasrallah started his speech by saying that Lebanon has abandoned the myth saying "Lebanon's strength is in its weakness" to adopt the truth saying "Lebanon's strength is in the solidarity of its army, people, and resistance."
http://almanar.com.lb/
When Calling to Abolish Sectarianism Turns to Be… A Crime!
14/01/2010 "Where is the crime in calling for the formation of a mere committee that would be charged with studying the appropriate ways to abolish political sectarianism?" The question, raised by the head of the Democratic Gathering MP Walid Jumblatt following the campaign launched against Speaker Nabih Berri over his call to form the mentioned law, seems to be more than "logical." Indeed, in a country like Lebanon, all parties can claim day and night that they reject sectarianism in politics, that sectarianism is the major "disease" of the Lebanese system, that fighting sectarianism should be everyone's duty, that sectarianism and competence cannot come together.
http://almanar.com.lb/
Women's Council hits out at 'immoral' TV shows
Racy and objectionable content on local television stations continued to draw fire on Thursday, even after government authorities promised to see outlets tone things down.The Lebanese Women's Council strongly condemned certain television shows it deemed "of a low media, cultural and moral level."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
LEBANON: Iranian film festival kicks off in Beirut, highlights ties between the two countries
Scores of veiled women, men and families poured into a cultural center in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday night for the opening of the third annual Iranian film festival in Beirut. The festival is sponsored by the Iranian cultural center in Beirut and Hezbollah’s TV channel Al-Manar, among other organizations, and highlights the intertwined relationship between the two countries. For the next four days, festival-goers can watch two Iranian films per night at the festival center, located two floors underground.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.
Iran
Inside Story - Who killed the nuclear scientist?
Iran faces more politcal intrigue after Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a prominent nuclear scientest, was killed by a bomb blast on Tuesday. [13 Jan 2010] Who was the assassinated professor? Was he a "staunch supporter" of the regime as Iran's media claims, or a subversive as Iranian reformists allege? A new Middle East cold war
Ahmadinejad slams Saudi Arabia over Yemen, Gaza, setting off Sunni-Shiite tension
While American security officials are focused laser-like on the 300 or so al-Qaida members in rural Maarib province of Yemen, and worry about further strikes on the U.S. planned by this small group, a regional food fight has broken out between Iran and Saudi Arabia about a different sort of local insurgency, the Huthis, who have so far not been seen by the U.S. as an international terrorism threat.
http://www.salon.com/news/
IBA Radio: Israeli tech company boasts of $1 million deal with Tehran Chamber of Commerce
Note that the only substantial question from the interviewer is about the danger of cancellation by the Iranians following the local media exposure. This report may come in handy for journalists when and if pressure builds for comprehensive trade sanctions. Glass houses and all that.
http://coteret.com/2010/01/15/
U.S. and other world news
Amnesty International criticizes UAE sheikh's acquittal
Rights group Amnesty International has sharply criticized the acquittal of a United Arab Emirates sheikh accused of torture and rape, calling the verdict "very questionable.""We were not in court and so cannot be certain as to the judge's reasoning, but this does appear to be a very questionable verdict," the organization's Middle East and North Africa director Malcolm Smart said in a statement late Wednesday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
101 East - Malaysia: Whose God?
Religious tensions are rising in Malaysia following a High Court ruling which declared non-Muslims could use the Arabic word 'Allah' when referring to God. [14 Jan 2010]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Haitians struggle to cope amid aftermath of earthquake
Barack Obama, the US president, gave a televised speech in response to Haiti's catastrophic earthquake as victims spent their second day struggling with the destruction it left behind. Thousands of Haitians are now left to survive without water, sanitation or electricity. The Red Cross in Haiti fears up to 50,000 people were killed in Tuesday's earthquake, but Haitian officials say it could be twice that. Al Jazeera's Sebastian walker reports from the capital, Port-au-Prince. [Viewers may find some of the images distressing] Jan 12, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Haiti's history of hardship
Haiti's fate as one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere has not been inevitable. It's history has been marked not only by natural disasters, but by political and economic conflict. It is a story of international intervention that has left the country particularly vulnerable. Al Jazeera's Avi Lewis reports. (14 Jan 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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