Shadi Fadda brings us today's headlines relating to Palestine and other news from around the internet.Land theft / Destruction
Mayor defies court order to evacuate Jews from East Jerusalem home
By Akiva Eldar. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has gone on the offensive against the municipal legal system, state prosecutor and outgoing Attorney General Menachem Mazuz following Mazuz's order to the police to immediately evict the Jews living in a building in East Jerusalem's predominantly Arab Silwan neighborhood ... The building in question was built more than five years ago by the Jewish nationalist organization Ateret Cohanim without a permit.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Settlers build 15 new structures despite construction freeze
Settlers in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Netafim have built 15 new illegal structures despite the state-declared settlement freeze, Army Radio reported Friday. The state's response to the petition filed by the left wing human rights group Peace Now says the Civil Administration inspectors weren't able to bypass the decision due to lack of manpower.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Palestinian farmers are being treated like criminals / Amira Hass
Under the cover of the incessant noise from the roads in the Hebron district, an anonymous Arab is perpetrating a serious crime: With a small hammer, he is digging a cistern so he can collect rainwater on his rocky land. Other such criminals have other methods of carrying out their evil schemes - which is to say, to prepare their land for cultivation of vegetables, grain, grapevines or almond trees ... Experience shows that if you use heavy equipment to rehabilitate the land, it immediately attracts Civil Administration inspectors and local settlers, and is followed shortly afterward by stop-work injunctions.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Aggression / Violence
Medics: Settlers attack Iraq Burin village south of Nablus
Israeli forces injured two young men following clashes with settlers in the village of Iraq Bourin south of Nablus on Saturday, according to medical sources.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israeli police attack employee of Italian consulate in Jerusalem
Israeli policemen, and members of the Special Forces, attacked on Friday at night Khalid Daoud Oleyyan, 40, and several members of his family, including his 60-year-old mother. Oleyyan, an employee at the Italian Consulate in Jerusalem and several members of his family were moved to a Jerusalem hospital. Oleyyan suffered bruises and concussions, especially in his back, while his brother, Samer, remains hospitalized after he was run over by a police vehicle. Two of his brother, Yasser and Yousef, were arrested and were released after interrogation.
http://imemc.org/index.php?
Detention
Israel arrests son of Palestinian peace activist in West Bank raid
Israel security forces arrested three West Bank Palestinians suspected of involvement with terrorist activity late Saturday night, including the son of a prominent peace activist. The three residents of Beit Ommar, north of Hebron, were detained in a joint operation led by members of both Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet units. One of those arrested is the son of Khaled Abu-Awwad, the General Manager of the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israeli forces detain three journalists across the West Bank
Al-Quds TV representatives said that a journalist and a cameraman were detained near the illegal settlement of Ariel, south of Nablus. Correspondent for Al-Quds TV Mus'ab Al-Khatib, 25, and Ahmad Al-Kilani, 23, who works for Pal Media, were arrested whilst preparing a news report about a university near the settlement that was recognized recently by Israeli authorities. Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers detained a Pal Media journalist on Saturday reporting on a demonstration organized by farmers from the At-Tuwani village to protest the recent destruction of an olive grove near the Israeli settlement outpost of Havot Ma'on, the Christian Peacemaking Team said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israeli forces detain 20 in East Jerusalem
Israeli forces detained 20 protesters during a demonstration in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah early Friday evening, onlookers said. Among the eight arrestees was Yossi Sarid, former head of the Israeli Metetz Party. The protesters were accused of attempting to break into Palestinian houses taken over by Israeli settlers in the past few months, the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Activist Ryan Olander released from immigration detention
As the sun set behind watchtowers and barbed wire fences at Ramle prison Thursday January 15th, Ryan Olander emerged from the steel auto locking door and into the unrestricted air. Ryan had just spent 29 days locked in the Givon immigration detention center located in Ramle, Israel following his illegal arrest on December 18, 2009 in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Shekih Jarrah.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Prisoners Society in Gaza laments death of detainees' parents
Mother of Palestinian detainee in Israeli prison Mahmoud Nassar died in Beit Hanoun Saturday. She had not seen her son in six years. The Wa’ed Society for Detainees and Ex-prisoners denounced the refusal of Israeli authorities for a permit for the man's mother, who was prohibited from visiting him in prison. Umm Mahmoud is the third relative of a Gazan prisoners to pass away this month without being able to see their children, the society said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
6 hurt in Palestinian protest against 'settler land grab'
Security forces on Friday arrested six Palestinians who threw stones during a protest in the village of Nabi Saleh, which is next to Ramallah in the West Bank. The Palestinians reported that the six protesters, two of whom are Israeli citizens, were wounded after security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas at them. Nabi Saleh residents staged the protest against what they claim is an attempt by Jews from the settlement of Halamish to forcefully take over some of their land and block their access to it.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Local organizer arrested following weekly protest in al-Ma`sara
...The Israeli military had blockaded the road with a barbwire barricade and as the protesters peacefully tried to pass the soldiers forced them back, using their rifle butts and batons. No injuries were reported. In addition to the blockade, the Israeli military occupied the rooftops of houses along the protest route. This recent escalation in tactics has come in the New Year, following a warning issued to the leaders of the Popular Committee against the Wall & Settlement Construction, that protests would not be tolerated in 2010. After the protest ended peacefully, the Israeli military entered the village and kidnapped Saeed Ibrejiah from the local the Popular Committee against the Wall & Settlement Construction. Palestinian minister for agriculture, Ismael Du'eik, joined the demonstration today, to show his support for the village and stand in solidarity.
http://imemc.org/index.php?
Ni`lin's weekly protest ends in Israeli violence
Starting early in the morning, the Israeli military sealed off the village of Ni`lin, near Ramallah, in an attempt to prevent those from outside of the village gaining access, to support the protest march to the separation wall ... 2 members of the protest sustained injuries due to being shot by rubber-coated steel bullets and dozens suffered from the effects of tear gas inhalation. Troops entered the village, after the protest had ended and fired tear gas into homes. On Monday, four Palestinian civilians from the village were kidnapped by Israeli troops during a pre-dawn invasion. Israeli troops told their families that they have been kidnapped for their involvement in the weekly nonviolent protests against the Israeli built wall on villager's lands.
http://imemc.org/index.php?
Protester injured in Bil`in during weekly nonviolent demonstration
This Friday, the 22nd of January, 30 to 40 Palestinian, Israeli, and other international protesters marched through the West Bank village of Bil'in to the Israeli built separation barrier, ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice. Per usual, the demonstration was dispersed by tear gas projectiles and concussion grenades shortly after the marchers arrived at the gate.
http://imemc.org/index.php?
Norwegian academic backs debate on boycott of Israeli universities
The rector of a leading Norwegian university on Wednesday told Haaretz his institution would support and sponsor a "positive" debate on boycotting Israel. A leading anti-boycott activist said he was in favor of this, but only if the debate was "balanced."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
War aftermath
Israel pays 10.5 million dollars for damage to UN Gaza premises
Israel has paid a total of 10.5 million dollars for the damage it caused to UN properties in Gaza Strip during its three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip against Hamas last winter. The UN originally demanded 11.2 million dollars to cover seven raids by the Israeli Defense Forces that damaged or destroyed UN premises in Gaza, including schools and offices.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israel completing rebuttal to Goldstone report (NYT)
TEL AVIV — The Israeli military is completing a rebuttal to a United Nations report accusing it of grave violations of international and humanitarian law in its Gaza invasion a year ago. Its central aim is to dispel the report’s harsh conclusion — that the death of noncombatants and destruction of civilian infrastructure were part of an official plan to terrorize the Palestinian population.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/
What do you say now, Mr. Goldstone? / Doron Rosenblum
Or: How we saved Haiti (but will anyone remember after we enter Gaza again?) ..."Angels in blue and white," we call ourselves, and this bit of self-indulgence brings tears of emotion to our eyes every time. "Thank you," we whisper to us and kiss our hand, "thank you for existing." But will anyone remember? Will anyone chalk up points for our side? Where are you now, Mr. Goldstone? Don't we deserve to have most of the items in your report erased?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Erekat: Americans promised Gaza building materials
The Palestinian leadership has received American pledges ensuring the provision of construction materials and basic needs for Gaza residents via UN bodies and the office of the Quartet, Head of the PLO negotiations department Saeb Erekat announced Friday. The news came following a meeting between Erekat and US Special Envoy for the Middle East George Mitchell.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
US policy in Gaza remains unchanged
One year ago Thursday, the last Israeli tanks were lumbering out of the Gaza Strip, ending the 22-day Gaza War and leaving in their wake a decimated landscape and population. A year later, the humanitarian and security situation in the devastated coastal enclave remains dire, yet the Barack Obama administration continues to overlook the crisis in Gaza, an approach which some experts say is an extension of the previous administration’s policy.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Second-class Israeli citizenship
Ariel college student says taken off bus for speaking Arabic
An Arab-Israel student at the Ariel College in the West Bank claimed she was told to get off a bus because she "dared" to speak Arabic on her cell phone. Muslah, who is originally from the Wadi Ara area and is studying for a degree in engineering at the establishment's architecture and interior design department, said two armed security guards boarded the bus near a checkpoint as it was leaving Ariel. She claimed that the guards questioned her after hearing her speak Arabic and eventually ordered her to get off the bus. Hanin Muslah said that during Thursday's incident she was also subjected to a full body search.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Public security minister bans Umm al-Fahm scholarship event
A Friday event in which scholarships were to be given to Arab students in Umm al-Fahm has been banned by Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Army Radio reported overnight. Aharonovitch said the Palestinian Authority was unlawfully involved. In response, MK Taleb A-Sanaa (United Arab List - Ta'al) said the event would be held as planned despite police prohibition. "This is political persecution. It is regrettable that the public security minister has not internalized the fact that the days of martial law are long gone," A-Sanaa said.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Political news / opinion
Gaza PLC member questions gov't legitimacy past 25 January
Palestine Legislative Council member with the Fatah bloc Faysal Abu Shahla in Gaza spoke out on Saturday, expressing concern that any move to extend the term of the legislative body beyond 25 January is illegal, and after that date the body will lose its legitimacy. The member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council cautioned lawmakers, saying after 25 January the PLC will no longer be a representative body according to article 47 of the Palestinian constitution.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Abu Rudeinah: Hamas must sign Egyptian document
Palestinian general and legislative elections could be held in June, if Hamas signs the Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation document, said presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh on Saturday. If Hamas were to ratify the agreement, elections could be held on 28 June 2010. "This is an important and last chance," Abu Rudeineh said in an interview with the Ma'an Radio Network.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Bardawil fears Egypt destroying Gaza relationship
Senior Hamas leader Salah Al-Bardawil slammed what he called an Egyptian slander campaign against Hamas, citing recent news reports in Egyptian media ... Al-Bardawil categorically denied a report in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masri Al-Youm that he said "claimed that the Egyptian Attorney General accused Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades of killing four Egyptians in the Az-Zeitoun area as they robbed a jewelery store."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Gaza wall: Angering the US and Israel may lose Egypt its privileged negotiating role at a time of declining regional influence....
OxfAn excerpts: "...Egypt's intensifying anti-smuggling measures and the erection of a border wall are at odds with its claim to back the Palestinian cause. It has several reasons for doing so -- chiefly its distaste for Hamas, and US pressure -- but its reference to national security is unlikely to be credible to the domestic audience. As the situation in Gaza deteriorates, Egypt's opposition could mobilise public opinion on the issue in the context of upcoming elections and expected presidential succession....
http://friday-lunch-club.
Netanyahu on Mitchell-Abbas meet: Stop wasting time
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday called on the Palestinian Authority to "stop wasting time talking about how to enter the peace process," following a failed meeting between the U.S. Mideast envoy and the Palestinian Authority president regarding a restart of peace talks. George Mitchell was unsuccessful in luring Mahmoud Abbas back to peace talks with Israel, as Abbas stuck to his insistence that an Israeli settlement freeze come first.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Whose failure is the Mideast peace process? / Akiva Eldar
Exactly a year after trumpeting the appointment of former senator George Mitchell as his special envoy to the Middle East, U.S. President Barack Obama is holding Israel and the Palestinians equally responsible for the stalemate in the peace process.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Tough words turn into whisper / Orly Azoulay
Instead of whining, Obama should have presented detailed peace plan -- After a year in office, Obama looks back at the Middle East with anger. From his point of view, there is in fact nobody to talk to because in the Middle East there are no brave leaders able to take bold decisions. He feels betrayed and disappointed ... Instead of patronizing and whining like a pampered kid that all the efforts he invested were in vain, Obama could have pounded the table and do what the world expected him to do: Take initiative, grab the refuseniks by the hair, and not let go until they say “yes.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Has Obama given up?
"Expectations were too high". "We overestimated our ability". Time magazine’s interview with the President made for grim reading, unless you’re Israeli. Obama’s claim that "divisions within their societies" made "meaningful conversation...very hard" can be taken as a significant climb-down from the bold stance taken in Cairo. It begs the question-what was he expecting? Following decades of inertia, would a dose of the rhetoric he so successfully employed in gaining office, really do the trick? Such an admission reveals either naivety, or worse, insincerity in his vocal commitment to finding a solution. For the most powerful man in the world to plead helplessness is unacceptable.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Russian FM: Moscow in contact with Hamas
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow is intensifying its contacts with Hamas, which it considers vital. Lavrov further said that Moscow is suggesting quadrilateral talks at a ministerial level on peace talks between Israel and Palestinians, which are to commence immediately.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Arab coalition to press for Middle East, Palestinian unity
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Libya have joined forces to pressure split Arab camps as well as Palestinian factions into a unity, member of the politburo office of the Palestine People’s party Walid Al-Awad said Saturday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Other news
Abu Ijheisha says impounded car was licensed
Hebron - PLC and Hamas affiliate Mohammad Abu Ijheisha denied on Friday that the car seized by PA security forces was unlicensed. "The car belongs to my wife; it had papers to prove it was licensed. These papers will be handed over to the police to reclaim the car," he told Ma'an during a telephone interview. Abu Ijheisha said that he was stopped by policemen and five police cars were called to scene, where he waited for an hour and half "preventing me from going to Friday prayer." He added that when residents tried to intervene in assistance, security forces opened fire on them and assaulted his wife and children, without injury.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Hamas celebrates strength in massive Khan Younis rally
"One year after the Israeli war on Gaza, Hamas is stronger than ever before," member of the Hamas politburo office Khalil Al-Haya said at an event commemorating the lives of the Gaza dead on Friday. The event took place in Bani Suheila, a town east of Khan Younis, with dozens of senior political figures, PLC members, and resistance factions members and their families, as well as family members of those killed during the Israeli war on Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
First female governor sworn into office by Abbas
Laila Ghannam became the first female governor to hold the title within the Palestinian Authority, when she was sworn into office as the new Governor of Ramallah by President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Gaza militants: We nearly abducted an Israeli soldier
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization on Saturday claimed that its militants had tried without success to abduct an Israel Defense Forces soldier whose glider accidentally drifted across the border and landed in the Gaza Strip. The organization's military wing, Al-Quds Brigades, said in a statement that floods in the area on the border between central Gaza and Israel had prevented the abduction of the soldier. According to Israeli media, Islamic Jihad claims to have video footage of the attempted abduction, "which will be aired in due time."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Analysis / Opinion
The Liebarak / Uri Avnery
...At the outset of the occupation, the then Minister of Defense, Moshe Dayan, discovered that the occupation is really an ideal situation. It gives the occupier absolute power without any obligation to accord the inhabitants any citizenship rights whatsoever. If Israel were to annex the territories, it would have to decide what to do with the population. That would create an embarrassing situation. The inhabitants of East Jerusalem, which was formally annexed to Israel in 1967, did not receive citizenship, but only the status of ”residents”. Successive Israeli governments have been afraid that the world would not accept a “democratic” state in which a third of the population have no rights.
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/
Common activist errors and some proposals to rectify them / Yousef Abuddayeh et al.
A Palestine Think Tank editorial - This is a summary of some of the things that we believe are some common activist errors and our proposals for avoiding that errors lead to damage. In the coming weeks we will elaborate on each of these points in essays. We hope that our observations and proposals can be of use for ourselves and for those who commit their time and energy to the Palestinian cause.
http://palestinethinktank.com/
From a West Bank settlement: Rabbinic text or call to terror? / Daniel Estrin
Jerusalem — The marble-patterned, hardcover book embossed with gold Hebrew letters looks like any other religious commentary you’d find in an Orthodox Judaica bookstore — but reads like a rabbinic instruction manual outlining acceptable scenarios for killing non-Jewish babies, children and adults. “The prohibition ‘Thou Shalt Not Murder’” applies only “to a Jew who kills a Jew,” write Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Non-Jews are “uncompassionate by nature” and attacks on them “curb their evil inclination,” while babies and children of Israel’s enemies may be killed since “it is clear that they will grow to harm us.”
http://forward.com/articles/
Is 'Jewish pride' abetting racism? / Yitzhak Laor
...The Holocaust has become part of Europe's new religion. Under its aegis, one has the right to hate foreigners and migrants. The greatest Islamophobes are also friends of Israel, and the Jewish communities for the most part do not dare to defend the victims of the "new" European racism - Muslims, Africans and Gypsies. Sometimes they consider this xenophobia to be some kind of "victory," as if the Jewish race has finally succeeded in joining the "white man's" bandwagon - something it was prevented from doing until the second half of the 20th century.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Not all settlers and Palestinians want each other to disappear / Bar-Gefen & Rapoport
In a Palestinian village somewhere between Hebron and Bethlehem, it was so cold and misty one day last month that you could barely see more than a meter away. It was as if the fog served as camouflage, a hiding place behind which a few dozen settlers and Palestinians were concealed. They had crowded together in the hall of a local school, ostensibly to talk about joint prayers for rain - which came even without the prayers - but in essence to talk about themselves. This time, for a change, within earshot of the other side. It would be an exaggeration to say that brotherhood reigned in the school auditorium.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
History: Cache as cache can / Nir Mann
...The residents of Jaffa, the biggest Arab city in the country at the time, led the Arab revolt that erupted in 1936. The Yishuv (pre-state Jewish community) had, as mentioned, prepared the arms caches for that eventuality, and they were located in the Levinsky teachers seminary, in the city's Balfour High School and a number of other schools.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Iraq
Friday: 2 Iraqis killed, 4 wounded
Excerpt: At least two Iraqis were killed and four more were wounded in light, prayer day violence. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden flew to Iraq to stress Washington’s concerns about upcoming elections. Despite that, the De-Ba’athification committee could add more names to a list of banned political candidates as early as tomorrow ... In Baghdad, two policemen were killed in separate small arms attacks. In Mosul, two people were wounded when gunmen threw a hand grenade inside a store. A bomb left outside a Christian family’s home wounded a child. A suicide bomber in Baaj blew up a truck, injuring an army officer in the process
http://original.antiwar.com/
Iraqi troops mobilize in Saddam hometown after row (Reuters)
TIKRIT, Iraq, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Iraqi troops have surrounded the provincial council building in Saddam Hussein's former home province after a row between the council and the governor raised the possibility of violence, officials said.
http://www.alertnet.org/
US VP Biden flies into Iraq amid Baathist row (Reuters)
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Baghdad on Friday to meet with Iraqi leaders amid a squabble over a decision to bar candidates from March elections due to suspected links to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party. Biden, making his third visit since U.S. troops pulled out of Iraqi urban centres last June, was expected to discuss with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki the move to exclude more than 500 politicians from the vote, which has threatened to reopen sectarian wounds.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Lebanon
Lebanon's record 2009 tourism exceeds pre-Civil War figures
BEIRUT: Nearly 2 million tourists visited Lebanon in 2009, a record that exceeds even the glamorous years before the Civil War when Beirut was known as the Paris of the Middle East.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
At least 3 hurt in Lebanon during protest over Egypt's Gaza barrier
At least three people were injured in clashes between police and stone-throwing demonstrators who gathered outside Egypt's embassy in Beirut to protest Egypt's construction of a barrier with Gaza. About 200 people took part in Saturday's protest over the construction of an underground steel wall along Egypt's border with Gaza.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Hezbollah: Israel afraid of retribution for Mughniyeh death
A senior official of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah said Saturday evening that Israel is afraid of retribution for the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, as the anniversary of his death approaches, citing recent threats made by Israeli officials as proof of Israel's fear ... The Hezbollah commander of southern Lebanon, Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, said Saturday that the organization was actively bolstering its military capabilities.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
'Israel, Hezbollah inch toward military conflict'
Israel is heading toward a confrontation with Lebanon militant organization Hezbollah, Minister without portfolio Yossi Peled said on Thursday, adding that "Israel's main goal is to ensure the posterity of the Jewish state."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
PM's office: Israel seeks no war with Lebanon
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues reassuring statement after Minister Peled says war in north a matter of time; senior Hezbollah figure says Israeli threats put region on path of 'danger and aggression'
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Yemen
Zaydis post video online to show Houthi alive and well
DUBAI: Yemen’s Shiite rebels said on Friday their leader, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, had not been seriously wounded, and posted a video on their website showing him in good health. On Tuesday, a Yemeni official said Houthi had been seriously wounded about a month ago and had entrusted a relative with leading the northern rebellion in his stead.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Saudi claims Yemeni rebels linked to al-Qaeda
RIYADH/SANAA, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said again on Saturday it believes Yemeni Shi'ite rebels have links to the Sunni militant group al Qaeda, even though it acknowledged it had found no such evidence in combat.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Yemen's ills go much further than the Al-Qaeda presence / Alistair Lyon
(Reuters) BEIRUT: Yemen, a land of beauty and engaging people, has gained an evil public image since an Al-Qaeda group based there claimed a failed December 25 attack on a US airliner. But the West and its Arab allies should not just focus on fighting terrorism if they are to help the southern Arabian nation stifle the threat from militants exploiting internal conflicts, poverty and weak central authority, analysts say.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
U.S.
Teffilin layer's rabbi: Put on phylacteries after landing
Some 30 minutes after taking off from New York's La Guardia Airport, US Airways flight 3079 to Kentucky made an emergency landing in Philadelphia when suspicions were aroused by a 17-year-old boy from White Plains, New York who was laying tefillin, which passengers and crew mistook for a bomb. As it turns out, the passengers and crew were unfamiliar with the Jewish custom of donning phylacteries during morning prayers, and no one was willing to take any chances after a terrorist attack was thwarted on Christmas.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Report shows Israel studies flowering on campus
...The study, conducted by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, surveyed 246 campuses across America and compared the results to a similar survey it had conducted for the 2005-2006 school year. The study found a 69% increase in the number of courses focused primarily on Israel, from 325 four years ago to 548 in the 2008-2009 academic year.
http://forward.com/articles/
Who would Jesus shoot? / Charles V. Peña
The U.S. military has specific rules prohibiting proselytization of any religious faith in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to prevent charges that America is engaged in religious crusade against Muslims. It has been recently discovered, however, that Biblical references are inscribed on optical gun sights used by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan ... Having weapons with Biblical references certainly creates the impression that those weapons have religious significance and are being used for religious purposes, i.e., for Christians to kill Muslims.
http://original.antiwar.com/
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