Shadi Fadda brings us today's headlines relating to Palestine and other news from around the internet.
Land Theft and Destruction
Israel Issues Stop-Work Order For Nablus Mosque
An Israeli government decision has stopped construction of the Salman Al Farisi mosque in Burin village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Settlers Uproot 15 Olive Trees Near Ramallah
A group of fundamentalist settlers uprooted on Sunday evening fifteen olive trees that belong to a resident of Dir Nitham village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Akiva Eldar: Only an idiot would say Israel has frozen settlement activity
Monday morning, as George Mitchell was on the way home from another diplomatic mission short on breakthroughs, Saeb Erekat did not sound dismayed. On the contrary, the head of the Palestinian negotiation team vehemently argued that the American envoy's last visit actually moved up the moment of truth for the White House.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
U.S. consultant offers to help fight settlement freeze for $300k
Yesha Council wants to hire consultant due to his relations with Netanyahu, but the price is too high.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment
Open Rafah for Ayman – a request for solidarity and a signature
Ayman Talal E. Quader is a Palestinian that was born on July 19, 1986 in Gaza and has lived in Gaza City for his entire life. As a young Palestinian student who truly loves his homeland and has always dreamed of freedom for his people, Ayman has worked very hard to achieve one of his most important goals in life; earning a scholarship for a Masters program in Europe.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Another divestment victory in the Netherlands as energy builds for campus divestment across North America
A Dutch bank has added two Israeli companies that profit from the Israeli occupation to their list of companies that fail to meet the bank's Socially Responsible Investment standards, according to the Copenhagen Post Online. A settlement-builder Africa Israel and Apartheid Wall-contractor Elbit Systems were added to the "no investment" list of Dankse Bank.
http://endtheoccupationblog.
Nil'in supporters plan fact-finding visit
Bethlehem - Ma'an - An urgent fact-finding mission to Ni'lin has been launched after the Israeli military began what activists termed an escalation of repression against human rights defenders in the village. Nil'in representatives will welcome delegations of political leaders and journalists to the Ramallah-area village on Tuesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israeli Apartheid Week 2010 to open in Toronto
Bethlehem - Ma'an - The 6th annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) will take place in Toronto from 1 March to 7 March 2010, organizers announced on Monday. IAW will feature lectures, film screenings, cultural activities, and demonstrations aimed at "raising awareness about Israel's apartheid policies toward Palestinians," a statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Nil'in photo takes top prize at Dutch contest
Bethlehem - Ma'an - A Dutch photographer has won the Silver Camera Award in the foreign news category for his shot during a weekly demonstration against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Nil'in.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israel Seeks To Crush Palestinian Voices For Peace
The son of one of Palestine's most prominent peace activists was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning. Khalid Abu Awwad is the Manager of the Parent's Circle, a pioneering NGO that reconciles bereaved families from both sides of the conflict. His son Mohanned, 20, has emulated his example and become a well known activist too, working to promote non-violence and democracy within the West Bank. Described as a community leader his arrest has sparked outrage in both Israeli and international circles leading to accusations that the security forces are deliberately seeking to thwart Palestine's peace movement.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Detainees
Soldiers Kidnap 15 Palestinian In Less Than Two Days
Israeli soldiers kidnapped on Sunday and Monday at least 15 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, and took them in for interrogation.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
The Israeli Military Kidnap Two Civilians from southern West Bank
Two Palestinian civilians were kidnapped Tuesday morning by Israeli troops during an invasion targeting the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Gaza families fight to visit relatives in Israeli prisons
Umm Faris Baroud of Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City wakes up early every Monday in the hope that she will be allowed to visit her son Faris, serving a life sentence in one of Israel's prisons. "For the past two and a half years I have been able to visit Faris," she explained. "Every Monday, I participate in a weekly protest along with many other families including mothers, wives and children of detainees, at the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross." Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Humanitarian Issues
American congressmen asks Obama to pressure Israel into lifting siege on Gaza
Members of the American Congress have asked president Barack Obama to pressure Israel to lift the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for almost four years.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
WHO: Serious deterioration in Gaza health, living conditions
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the Israeli siege on Gaza Strip and the latest war on it had led to a serious deterioration in the already terrible living conditions in the Strip.
Haaretz probe: Israel dismantling roadblocks, but Palestinians still can't move
Israel claims to have eased Palestinian movement in the West Bank, but the Palestinians insist that more roadblocks have been appearing throughout the area. It turns out both Israel and the Palestinians are telling the truth, Haaretz has learned. Israel promised the Obama administration and the international community that it has been working hard to enable freer movement for Palestinians in the West Bank over the last few months.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/
UNRWA launches new Hebrew website
Bethlehem - Ma'an - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Monday announced the launch of a Hebrew-language website. The new website marks a watershed for the agency, which is seeking to extend its outreach and advocacy efforts to Israeli audiences. The site, made possible through funding from the Dutch government, contains a wide range of resources designed to inform the Hebrew-speaking public about the reality of life for Palestine refugees.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
B’Tselem Releases Short Animated Video On Gaza Siege
As part of a campaign by the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem), the group launched a short animated clip challenging the effectives of this siege especially since Israel believes that ongoing blockade would bring Hamas on its knees.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
War Criminals
Israel to shun UN call for Gaza probe: minister (AFP)
AFP - Israel told the UN chief it will not conduct an independent probe of the Gaza war as demanded by a UN report, a minister said on Tuesday, two days before the Jewish state submits its official response to charges of war crimes.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Goldstone documented nightmarish case of a Palestinian ‘human shield’, Adam Horowitz
The Israeli government is starting to go all out in its war against the Goldstone Report. Israel is planning on issuing its response to the report this Thursday, and it seems Israel is aided by the fact that so few people have actually read the contents of the report itself. We will be posting segments from the report to make them more accessible to the public (you can find the entire report here). Hopefully the better the report is known, the better Israel will be held accountable.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
War on Goldstone now deploys human-rights orgs and, you guessed it, the Holocaust, Philip Weiss
The war that was launched this past weekend against the Goldstone report in the New York Times is aimed at the mildmannered Sec’y General of the United Nations. So Norman Finkelstein tells me, and this Haaretz piece confirms. On February 5, Ban Ki-moon will report to the General Assembly on the progress of the report (which was published last summer by the UN Human Rights Council). Before then Ban will have gotten the Israeli gov’t’s response to the Goldstone report–its effort to nullify the findings–and Haaretz says the goal is to get Ban to say, I accept the Israeli response to the charges, let the Israelis investigate the Gaza slaughter.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Israeli minister seems to liken Goldstone to Hitler, Philip Weiss
I’m gobsmacked by this. I believe that Realism describes the leaders of modern states as rational actors. This is from Agence France Presse, the article in which Israel’s Diaspora and Information minister Yuli Edelstein says the Goldstone report is anti-Semitic. It’s hard to follow the analogy, but:
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/I’m gobsmacked by this. I believe that Realism describes the leaders of modern states as rational actors. This is from Agence France Presse, the article in which Israel’s Diaspora and Information minister Yuli Edelstein says the Goldstone report is anti-Semitic. It’s hard to follow the analogy, but:
Polish bishop accuses Jews of using Holocaust as propaganda
A leading Polish Catholic bishop caused a stir on Monday when he was quoted as saying that Jews had "expropriated" the Holocaust as a "propaganda weapon."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israeli film comparing Holocaust to occupation loses state funds
The Israel Film Fund has ended its financial support for director Yonatan Segal's new piece Odem, after learning that it compares Israel's occupation of the West Bank to the Holocaust.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/
Political Developments and Diplomacy
U.S. proposes direct, but low-level, Mideast talks
President Mahmoud Abbas is studying a U.S. proposal for talks between Palestinians and Israel at a level below full-scale negotiations between their leaders, a Palestinian official said on Monday.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/
Aide: Abbas has 2 conditions for talks
Bethlehem – Ma'an – President Mahmoud Abbas laid out two preconditions for the resumption of negotiations with Israel, during his meeting with US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell on Friday, a senior aide said on Tuesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Abbas offended by Egyot, turns to Saudis Arabia
Palestinian leader asks Saudi, Jordanian kings to help him find way out from Egyptian president's pressure. Cairo demanding Abbas resume peace talks with Israel without complete settlement freeze, but he refuses.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israeli minister 'sought talks with Hamas chief'
MK Tibi: Yishai asked to meet Meshal; Druze MK stripped of immunity from prosecution over Syria trip.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
US diplomat against Israeli security guards
Senior American Consulate official refuses to have Israeli guard check US diplomats' cars. 'What if there are settlers among them? I will not have my people end up like Rabin,' he says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Other News
New York Times fails to disclose Jerusalem bureau chief's conflict of interest
The New York Times has all but confirmed to The Electronic Intifada (EI) that the son of its Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner was recently inducted into the Israeli army. Over the weekend, EI received a tip suggesting this had been the case and wrote to Bronner to ask him to confirm or deny the information and to seek his opinion on whether, if true, he thought it would be a conflict of interest. Susan Chira, the foreign editor of The New York Times wrote in an email to The Electronic Intifada this morning: "Ethan Bronner referred your query to me, the foreign editor. Here is my comment: Mr. Bronner's son is a young adult who makes his own decisions. At The Times, we have found Mr. Bronner's coverage to be scrupulously fair and we are confident that will continue to be the case."
http://electronicintifada.net/
Ethan, take the buyout, Philip Weiss
The larger issue here is of course Zionism in the mainstream media, how deep does it go, and will anyone ever look into it? And on from that, Why are so many of the MSM reporters on Israel/Palestine Jews with intimate ties to Israel? Bronner is married to an Israeli and has a son in the most moral military in the world. The other Times person, Isabel Kershner, is "thoroughly Israeli," per the Jewish Forward, and married to an Israeli. The new Washington Post reporter, Janine Zacharia, is a Jewish woman from Long Island (I’m told) who once went over there to work for the Jerusalem Post. Wolf Blitzer worked for AIPAC and the JPost. Jeffrey Goldberg was in the IDF too. It’s like a credential.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Inside Story - Al-Qaeda and the Palestinians
Osama bin Laden has warned Barack Obama that al-Qaeda will attack again. In an audio tape he said there will be more attacks if the situation in Palestine is not resolved. But has the Palestinian issue ever been part of al-Qaeda agenda? And does the group serve or scupper Palestinian dreams?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Centuries-old Holy City cellar at heart of Byzantine battle (AFP)
AFP - An Arab-Israeli shopkeeper is locked in a Byzantine battle with the Coptic Church over an ancient Jerusalem cellar, in a saga involving Christianity's holiest site and a 12th century Muslim general.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Knesset OKs pardons for disengagement objectors
MKs overwhelmingly approve legislation that annuls sentences given to pullout rivals, with exception of prison terms; Knesset Speaker Rivlin: At certain junctions, democracy needs to forgive and forget.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israeli couples choosing IVF baby's sex prefer boys
Israeli couples who are entitled to request their future baby's sex were more than three times as likely to ask for a boy in 2009 as they were to request a girl, according to data recently released by the national committee on newborn sex selection.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/
Analysis/Op-ed/Human Interest
Remembering Al-Hakim George Habash: A Revolutionary Life, a tribute to the great Palestinian Arab leader
Commemorating the second anniversary of the death of Al-Hakim George Habash, we reprint three articles published in homage to this great man who remains an inspiration and a source for millions. The first briefly recounts the legacy of this great man, the second is an interview in which Dr. Habash in his own words describes the decisive moment of his life and the third is a tribute delivered in London by the Communist Party.
http://palestinethinktank.com/
Michel Sabbah, “Israeli Occupation Main Cause of Instability in the Middle East”
Seventy-seven years old and with the strength of one who continues calling for freedom and reconciliation, the Patriarch emeritus Michel Sabbah is a key figure in understanding two important documents in the life of Palestine and in the Middle East: the Kairos document, presented in Bethlehem on 11 December, and the Lineamenta for the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, published Tuesday, 19 January.
http://www.alternativenews.
Haiti Hypocrisy Hides Another War Crime in Gaza, Tammy Obeidallah
The human catastrophe gripping Haiti since a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated that nation on January 12 rightfully dominated nearly every newscast for a week. With devastation of such unimaginable proportions, there are the riveting stories of despair and courage, along with a relatively new and hideous phenomenon: politicization of the disaster and its aftermath. Media opportunists have reached new depths of hypocrisy and ineptitude in covering the tragedy. Mainstream television networks and newspapers touted the overwhelming US military response, as well as other countries that were among the first to reach the victims in Haiti, including Israel. Conspicuously absent from the kudos list were two of the first responders, Cuba and Venezuela.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Iraq
Baghdad blast kills 17, injures 80: ministry (AFP)
AFP - A suicide car bomber has killed 17 people and injured 80 in central Baghdad, while destroying Iraq's forensics headquarters, an interior ministry official said updating an earlier toll.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Monday: 46 Iraqis Killed, 104 Wounded; Chemical Ali Executed
Chemical Ali was executed for genocide and crimes against humanity today. In Baghdad, three suicide bombs that exploded shortly before news became public could have been in retaliation for the execution. Not including Chemical Ali, at least 46 Iraqis were killed there and elsewhere. Another 104 Iraqis were wounded. Meanwhile, a controversial bomb detector will be kept in service.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Maliki sees remnants of Saddam past as obstacles to Iraq's future
To hear Iraq's prime minister tell it, the country's future depends on purging its past links with Saddam Hussein's regime.And Nouri al-Maliki is saying it every chance he gets. He has become something of a one-man tribunal passing judgment on the reach of suspected loyalists to Saddam's now-outlawed Baath party.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Iraqi ex-MP convicted to death sentence
Karkh Central Criminal Court convicted former MP Mohammed Al Daini to death sentence for terrorist charges. For more details, click on play movie.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/
Ali Hassan Al-Majid executed in Iraq
Ali Hassan al-Majid, the cousin of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, has been executed in Iraq for crimes against humanity. 25 Jan 10 Later recognised as one of the president's most feared military leaders, al-Majid's rise to power came only after his cousin became president. It was under Saddam that Majid became a general, defence minister and trusted member of the president's inner circle, and forged a reputation as a strongman. But it was during the government's campaign against the Kurds in northern Iraq that Majid's most notorious crimes took place. Al Jazeera's Tarek Bazley reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Lebanon
Lebanon, Middle East Reject AIPAC's H.R. 2278, Franklin Lamb - Beirut
It is being reported in Beirut this morning that at exactly 3 a.m. Beirut time, a supporter of the National Lebanese Resistance led by Hezbollah, on duty above the Mediterranean coastal town of Saadyat, between Damour and Saida was watching the skies of over Beirut for signs of Israeli aircraft, which daily violate Lebanese airspace. What sources report to this observer was that he saw a Boeing 737-800 aircraft which had taken off from Rafiq Hariri airport gain altitude as it headed for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Hezbollah, on full military alert these days, presumably called in the report to Al Manar station which it founded in 1991 and which since 2004 has been on one o the various US Terrorism lists.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
U.S. and Other World News
Italian official calls U.S. relief effort in Haiti 'pathetic'
Italy's top disaster official called the Haiti quake-relief effort a "pathetic" failure Sunday, criticizing the militarized approach of the U.S. as ineffective and out of touch for the emergency at hand.
http://www.cleveland.com/
Nearly Half of Americans Admit to Anti-Muslim Bias
(RNS) Close to half of Americans admit to harboring prejudice against Muslims and negative feelings about Islam, a new study from the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies shows. The level of anti-Muslim prejudice -- 43 percent of Americans admitted feeling at least "a little" -- is more than twice as high as Americans' reported feelings toward Buddhists, Christians and Jews. Fifty-three percent of respondents said their view of Islam was "not too favorable" or "not favorable at all," according to a 32-page "Religious Perceptions in America" report that was released Thursday (Jan. 21). "It was interesting to note that Americans admit no more prejudice against Buddhists and Jews than they do against Christians," said Dalia Mogahed, director of the Washington-based center. "So this isn't just simply a problem against minority religions. There is a somewhat unique issue with Muslims in particular."
http://blog.beliefnet.com/
Here’s a report that the only TV studio available to Al Jazeera English to do satellite feeds from New Hampshire– WMUR in Manchester– has arbitrarily rescinded the Arab network’s access to the station. I’m told that WMUR is the only broadcast affiliate in NH, and the one that presidential candidates live and die by every 4 years.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Wanted: Tony Blair for war crimes. Arrest him and claim your reward
Chilcot and the courts won't do it, so it is up to us to show that we won't let an illegal act of mass murder go unpunished.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Muslim students monitored in UK
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian who allegedly tried to explode a US bound airliner on Christmas day, spent three years studying at the University College London (UCL). He was also the president of the university's Islamic Society, which has since been under intense scrutiny - along with UCL administration. The UK is setting up a panel to consider ways to prevent extremism while protecting freedom of speech. Al Jazeera's Nadim Baba reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
France considers ban on face veil
A report due on Tuesday is expected to recommend that Muslim women be banned from wearing face-covering veils in public places throughout France. The report follows a six month inquiry after Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, said the veils were not welcome on French territory. Al Jazeera's Estelle Youssouffa reports from Paris. Jan 26, 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
www.TheHeadlines.org
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