Land theft / Settlements / Matrix of control
Palestinians turn to jobs building settlements
Like most Palestinians, Ismail Harb resents the Israeli settlements that crown the hilltops of the West Bank, but every day he lines up before dawn to help build them. "It's not just the money we make in the Israeli construction projects, but also that the work in the settlements never stops," the 36-year-old says as he waits with hundreds of others in the chilly darkness before sunrise.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
House demolition NOW in Jaffa
there are more than a 100 hundred cops getting ready to destroy the house in pardes daka in yaffo gimmel. activists are badly needed, and even more, someone to coordinate media. please call fadi: 0504859046 or sami: 0504435996 for more details. (the house is in Socrates St.)
http://groups.google.com/
Third night in a row, Israeli forces close northern roads
Israeli troops closed the Qalqiliya-Azzun road, installed an impassible checkpoint and were seen searching areas east of Qalqiliya on Saturday night ... The closure marked the third night in a row that areas in the northern West Bank were closed by Israeli military personnel. On Friday, three roads in and out of Tulkarem were shut down, with witnesses describing a series of flying checkpoints installed and inspections being carried out. On Thursday, the city of Nablus was closed off, the Huwwara checkpoint locked down and similar searches performed, according to witnesses. An Israeli military spokesman said the closure was a part of regular security measures in the West Bank, "to ensure the safety of all residents in the area."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Activism / Solidarity
Video: Nebi Salah 15-1-10 demonstration against the creeping annexation of the village lands
At least three villages united to hold two simultaneous demonstrations at two sides of the area from which Palestinian farmers have been denied access. The land in question is close to the Halamish settlement also known as Neve Tzuf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
200 of us demonstrated outside the courthouse all night long, shouting to be heard by the 17 in the lockup / Assaf Sharon
My report from two demonstrations on Friday and their aftermath: 1. Al Masara. The military raided the Palestinian village on Thursday night (around 2 a.m.), entering homes with force and threatening people to stop the demonstrations "or things will get much worse… a child will be killed and it will be your fault…" Unfortunately the intimidation worked ... 2. Sheikh Jarrah – As usual, the police blocked our entrance to the neighborhood (while allowing settlers and their friends to go in of course). Shortly thereafter the troops approached and began arresting people who they perceived as organizers (almost everyone they got were the wrong people) ... Update: Due to the high profile of the arrested, some of the country’s most prominent lawyers represented them and exposed the lies of the police prosecutor who accused all 17 of "assaulting a police officer"....
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Palestine-Israel, the joint struggle against occupation and the separation fence expand and suppression increases / Ilan S.
The AAtW activists were busy during the week in court solidarity in Ofer military prison and with the families of Sheikh Jarrah. Special invitation of the AAtW for this Friday five main demonstrations resulted in the more than usual mobilization to Bil'in (50) and Maasara 30 - in addition to Ni'ilin (10) and the new location Nebi Saleh (5). More than half of these 90 activists continued to the Sheikh Jarrah to join others who went directly there.) State forces seems to start worrying even more last few weeks and increased significantly the persecution of our Palestinian partners.
http://ilanisagainstwalls.
Indonesian Muslims protest Egypt's Gaza wall (AFP)
Sun Jan 17, 3:30 AM JAKARTA (AFP) - More than 200 Indonesian Muslims protested in Jakarta Sunday against an underground wall being built to block a network of tunnels crossing Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/
Lebanese protest Egypt's Gaza barrier (AP)
BEIRUT (AP) - Lebanese protesters accusing Egypt's president Sunday of acting like an agent of Israel over his country's construction of an underground steel wall along the Gaza border. The Egyptian barrier could deprive Gaza's Hamas rulers of their only lifeline by blocking hundreds of smuggling tunnels. About 200 people took part in the protest near Egypt's embassy. Crowds set fire to U.S. and Israeli flags. Some of the Israeli flags had Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's picture on them. The protesters also carried banners depicting Mubarak as an Israeli agent, as well as portraits of the president with a Star of David on his forehead.
http://www.fox12idaho.com/
Violence
Witnesses: Israeli navy detains four off Gaza coast, opens fire
The Israeli navy detained four Palestinian fishermen and held two boats off the Rafah coast of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to witnesses. Witnesses say Israeli naval boats approached the fishermen, opened fire, and detained four members of the As-Sa'idi family. Additionally, the Israeli navy dispersed fishermen in Rafah, Khan Younis and the An-Nusseirat Refugee Camp, as Deir Al-Balah saw intensive shooting, witnesses say.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Two Palestinians beaten by Israeli forces near settlement
Israeli forces attacked two Palestinians near the Betar Elite settlement near Husan village west of Bethlehem on Sunday morning. Both were hospitalized for serious injuries. Security sources said that Israeli soldiers stopped and beat Muhammad Halahleh, 35, and Mahmoud Ramadan, 15, both from Kharas in the Hebron governorate.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Arab taxi station attacked by Jews; police fail to come
Manager of Arab taxi station claims business repeatedly harassed by Jewish competitor. Young Jews threw stones, beat driver Saturday night; police take two hours to arrive. investigate both sides ... Abdu opened the business about a year and a half ago, and employed Arab drivers. About a year later, a competitor opened a business about 200 meters away employing Jews and began making his life miserable, he said. "They straight away began conspiring against me. They come every week, shouting 'death to Arabs', 'we don't want you here', 'we'll murder you'."
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Resident files complaint against PA security forces
Abbas, 20, from Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, filed a complaint with police concerning his treatment at the hands of Palestinian Authority security forces during a nonviolent demonstration in the camp on Wednesday. Abbas said he suffered blows and bruising as he tried to film a sit-in at the refugee camp, and was forcibly removed from the rally by PA security forces.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
4 policemen indicted for abusing Palestinian
Officers arrested last week on suspicion of mistreating man detainee suspected of stealing motorcycle, blackmailing its owner -- The Justice Ministry's police investigations unit filed an indictment with the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday afternoon against four policemen arrested on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian detainee. According to the indictment, filed by Attorney Moshe Saada, the four are accused of abusing a helpless person, sexual harassment, assault and breach of trust.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Boy injured in explosion; police suspect leftover Israeli charges
A boy was injured when an unknown object exploded in Khashm Ad-Daraj, near Yatta village in Hebron, a police report said on Saturday. Saleh Muhammad Al-Hathalin, 12, was transferred to the Hebron governmental hospital to undergo treatment for his injuries. Police rushed to the scene and are investigating the incident, suspecting the explosive to be a device left over by Israeli forces, the report added. Medical sources said Al-Hathalin was injured in his left hand and stomach. His condition was described as moderate.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Detention
Anti-wall activists freed as detentions persist
Following months of detention without charge in an Israeli prison, anti-wall activists Mohammad Othman and Jamal Juma have been released, a statement from the senior campaign officer said on Saturday. "Their release is a massive victory. Thank you to everyone who took action to help secure their freedom," the statement said. Juma and Othman work for Stop the Wall, an organization opposed to Israel's construction of the separation wall, which severely limits Palestinians' freedom of movement and leads to the confiscation of agricultural land. Their detention was part of Israel's ongoing crackdown on anti-wall activists.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israeli forces detain seven in Nablus
(Maan) Israeli forces detained seven Palestinian from the Al-Ein Refugee Camp and Al-Sikkah Street in Nablus on Sunday, following an incursion. More than 15 Israeli military vehicles entered the city, raided a number of homes and detained Muntaser Hamdi, Samer As-Salhi, Raed Al-Khatib and Mu'tasim Saleh, witnesses said. Three brothers were detained in Al-Sikkah Street before Israeli troops withdrew from at 8am, witnesses say, identifying those detained as Shadi, Muhannad and Maher Shalabi.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
IDF nabs Palestinian cell allegedly planning terror attack
(Haaretz) An Israel Defense Force unit working in cooperation with the Shin Bet security service arrested on Sunday a group of Palestinians in Nablus allegedly planning to carry out a terror attack. Soldiers from the IDF's elite Duvdevan ("Cherry") unit confiscated three improvised explosive devices from the Palestinian group. The explosives were detonated in a controlled explosion and the Palestinians were taken to be questioned. In a separate incident Sunday, two Palestinians were caught with five explosive devices near the Israeli settlement of Beka'ot.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Hamas: PA forces detained 12 members across the West Bank
Ma'an - Hamas reported on Sunday that Palestinian Authority security services detained 12 of the Islamist movement's affiliates across the West Bank on Saturday, including a leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades, a statement issued by the movement said. Al-Qassam Brigades leader Ayoub Al-Qawasmi was apprehended in Hebron after being pursued by PA security forces, the statement said. The remaining members were detained in Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarem, Jenin and Bethlehem governorates.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
PA arrests wanted Hamas gunman in Hebron
Ynet - The Palestinian Authority (PA) arrested a wanted Hamas gunman in Hebron last week, Ynet learned Saturday. Ayoub al-Qawasma, a gunmen belonging to the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, was apprehended during an operation launched by PA Intelligence forces four days ago. Three other Hamas figures were detained in the West Bank city, including a clerk in the Palestinian Interior Ministry. According to a source in Hebron, during the activity shots were fired at the PA officers, but there were no reports of injury. The arrests were the culmination of intense PA activity against Hamas strongholds in the West Bank, which included the capture of senior Hamas officials, including local council heads who are affiliated with the Islamist group, a staunch rival of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' regime.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Blockade / War
Experts: Egypt's wall will destroy Gaza's aquifer
Experts in Gaza determined on Sunday that Egypt's underground steel wall will lead to the destruction of Gaza's aquifer, during a symposium entitled The Metal Wall between Egypt and Gaza: Impacts, Environmental and Human Consequences, held in Gaza. Experts and specialists called on universities and research centres to partake in studies of the impact of Egypt's steel wall on the Gaza border.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Mubarak's iron wall / Jeremy Salt
Mubarak is not Egypt ... Were fair elections to be held in Egypt, Mubarak and his National Democratic Party would be finished. On the question of Palestine, whatever their other differences, there is no difference between the Muslim Brotherhood and the secular opposition parties and movements. Outside the ranks of Mubarak's party there is no support for the actions he has taken, including his recent prevention of the Viva Palestina convoy from delivering aid to Gaza. The Egyptian people are with the Palestinians and amongst them there is a deep sense of shame at what Mubarak is doing. This is the country of the revolution of 1952, the staunch defender of the Palestinians, of the Third World struggle against imperialism and colonialism, turned into a humiliating dish rag by the west's satrap in the presidential palace in Cairo.
http://www.palestinechronicle.
Day 20: 'Israel knew of the location of the UNRWA premises'
On the morning of 15 January 2009, the field office compound of UNRWA, situated in the southern Rimal area of Gaza City, came under sustained shelling from the Israeli armed forces. At least three high explosive shells and seven white phosphorous container shells struck the workshop and warehouse area of the compound causing massive damage as a result of ensuing fires.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Freedom of the press
Detained American journalist Jared Malsin goes to court today to fight deportation from Israel
By Adam Horowitz. Four days ago we posted on the the case of Jared Malsin, the chief English editor at the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency. Malsin was detained at the Ben Gurion Airport for the past four days and is in danger of deported from Israel/Palestine today. Apparently, the primary reason for his detention was his critical reporting of Israeli policy. Here is a timeline of Malsin’s case so far. People who have been in touch with Malsin say he has been kept in a windowless room for five days.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Ma'an urges hearing for detained US journalist
17 January 2010 For immediate release. Ma'an filed its response to Israel's case for expelling detained journalist Jared Malsin on Sunday evening in Tel Aviv. Minutes earlier, District Judge Kobi Vardi heard arguments from the Attorney General's Office in favor of the deportation without a hearing. A comprehensive translation from Hebrew into English is underway. A preliminary reading indicates that the attorney general requests there be no hearing because bringing Malsin into the country would necessitate changing the terms of his visa status and would therefore make it more difficult to deport him. Furthermore, the attorney general argues that Israel is a sovereign state, that the Ministry of the Interior has denied Malsin entry for its own reasons, and that this explanation is valid in and of itself.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
No such thing as a Palestinian work visa / Stephanie Rhodes
...It seems to me that Jared is being held not because he’s a journalist and not even really because he’s been critical of Israel. It’s that he’s doing so under the banner of a Palestinian news agency. Never mind that both Israeli and international media outlets routinely quote Ma’an; it’s still Palestinian. When you’re entering or leaving Israel, the last thing you want is to be linked with anything Palestinian ... Many people do what it seems Jared may have done and rely on tourist visas to live, work or study in Palestinian areas, since Israeli-issued visas for those areas are nearly impossible to obtain unless you’re backed by a major international organization.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Turkey and Israel
Lieberman: Humiliation of Turkish envoy a mistake
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman addressed Israel's diplomatic row with Turkey for the first time on Sunday, saying, "In essence, (Israel's) protest was justified." However, the FM also said that the public humiliation of the Turkish Ambassador Oguz Celikkol by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon was a mistake. "I hope we can bring things back to the way they were," said Lieberman following a meeting in Jerusalem with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Stoere ... "We must keep in mind that Israel's protest followed a number of measures (on Turkey's part) that are not in line with good neighborly relations. There was the incident with (President Shimon) Peres in Davos, the television shows. This is not good-neighborliness," the foreign minister claimed.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Barak visits Turkey, praises Atatürk
ANKARA – Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrived in Ankara Sunday surrounded by heavy guard, and despite threats of an arrest warrant for his involvement in Operation Cast Lead and the recent diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel, was received without uproar. Barak laid a wreath on the grave of the founder of modern and secular Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and said he had started a legacy of peace in the region.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israel, Turkey ministers overcome diplomatic row
Defense minister, Turkish counterpart Gonul tell reporters in Ankara they are working to boost relations, advance joint security projects. Barak: We apologized for humiliation of Turkish envoy
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israel is engaging in gangster diplomacy / Zvi Bar'el
Now we have also shown the Turks who we are, because when it comes to the Jewish, Zionist honor of a nation that endured the Holocaust and the Goldstone report, no one will make a movie about us - certainly not the Turks - portraying us as war criminals. If Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan thinks he can reprimand us without a reaction, we'll show him and all the other countries of the world.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Political developments
Fatah: Abbas won't attend Kuwait talks until Hamas signs document
Members of Fatah's Central Committee told Ma'an on Sunday that President Mahmoud Abbas will not meet with senior-most Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al until Hamas signs the Egyptian reconciliation document. Their statements follow news that the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad As-Sabah said that a reconciliation meeting will be held within the next ten days between Abbas and Mash’al, Kuwaiti media reported on Sunday
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Abbas urges US 'endgame' unless Israel halts settlements (AFP)
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas urged Washington on Sunday to declare an "endgame" to resolve the decades-old Middle East conflict if Israel does not agree to halt settlement growth. Abbas, in a statement carried by the official Wafa wire service, said Arab states and the Palestinians would present a unified position to the United States offering two options.
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/
Hamas to study future of calm with Israel with Palestinian factions
By Saleh al Naeimi. Gaza, Asharq Al-Awsat- The Hamas movement will start in the coming days a series of meetings with representatives of Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip to discuss the future of the calm with Israel in view of the latter's recent military escalation that killed 20 Palestinians within three weeks, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned. Informed Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hamas aims to reach a general framework that organizes the issue of responding to the Israeli attacks
http://www.aawsat.com/english/
Diskin to Abbas: Defer UN vote on Goldstone or face 'second Gaza'
By Akiva Eldar. The request by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the United Nations Human Rights Council last year to postpone the vote on the Goldstone report followed a particularly tense meeting with the head of the Shin Bet security service, Haaretz has learned. At the October meeting in Ramallah, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told Abbas that if he did not ask for a deferral of the vote on the critical report on last year's military operation, Israel would turn the West Bank into a "second Gaza."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Other news
Real per capita income of Palestine plunges
Armed with growing global financial aid, the Palestinians in the occupied territories struggled to alleviate years of poverty, unemployment and other economic woes but their efforts have been ruined by Israel's hostility. In such conditions, the aid was only helpful in preventing a human disaster in 2008. While their economy recorded modest growth rates in 2008, the per capita income has steadily eroded over the past decade, investment has dived, unemployment deteriorated and the farming sector continued to shrink.
http://www.business24-7.ae/
Fatah man asks to return to Gaza for mother's funeral (AFP)
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Senior Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan, who is despised by the Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza, has asked to return to the territory for his mother's funeral, an aide said Sunday. Dahlan "asked that Arab bodies and Palestinian factions intervene with Hamas to allow him to go to the Gaza Strip to attend the funeral of his mother, who passed away this morning in Khan Yunis at the age of nearly 80," the aide told AFP on condition of anonymity ... Hamas indicated it would not oppose Dahlan's return.
http://www.google.com/
PICTI opens branch in Gaza
The Palestinian Information and Communication Technology Incubator (PICTI), an organization that assists technology entrepreneurs to commercialize their ideas, announced on Saturday that it will be opening a branch in Gaza. The new Gaza branch has begun to hire staff able to offer services to clients in the IT and communications sector to support the Palestinian economy by creating job opportunities of IT graduates in Gaza, as well as those interested in establishing a company in the field, its representatives said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Foundations of Bethlehem industrial zone underway
Minister of Economy Hasan Abu Libdeh announced on Sunday that preparations are underway to lay the foundations of Bethlehem's industrial zone, due to take place on 15 February 2010, he said during a meeting with a delegation of the French Agency for Development. Construction for the new industrial zone will be undertaken in two stages; building the external and internal infrastructure, creating 50 industrial buildings for the zone and secondly, building high quality infrastructure according to internationally recognized standards which will "promote and attract investors from abroad," said Abu Libdeh ... The industrial zone is partly funded by French donations
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Fayyad launches building restoration project in Bir Zeit
It is the project of the Palestinian Authority to create new and positive facts on the ground in efforts to achieve a Palestinian state that meets the needs of its people, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told Bir Zeit residents on Friday. Fayyad was inaugurating the restoration of an ancient building in the heart of the village, supported by the Swedish Development Agency and the Dutch government and in cooperation with the Bir Zeit municipality. He also noted several other restoration projects would be soon underway, supported by the United States.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israel - More severe laws planned against foreign workers
Finance minister to present plan designed to decrease presence of foreigners in work force ... Steinitz will present data saying that 255,000 foreign workers were residing in Israel in December of 2009, constituting a total of 10.4% of the work force. Around 125,000 of these are illegal immigrants. The workers are employed in five major fields: Nursing, agriculture, construction, ethnic restaurants, and industry.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Analysis / Opinion / Human interest
Family ties are finally renewed
With the help of a Mail Tribune reporter, an engineering professor who grew up on the West Bank reconnects with his long-lost American-born nephew -- ...While [his father] Ali was adjusting to the culture in the United States in the late 1990s and trying to fit in his Muslim background, Sadi Jr. was being brought up in Catholicism in Louisiana by his mother, stepfather and maternal grandparents. As a teenager, he went duck hunting with his maternal grandfather and maternal uncle. In high school, he joined a heavy metal band, and after high school, he went to college for a spell and then joined the military.
http://www.mailtribune.com/
Why not Somalia? Why not Darfur? Why not Mars? / Khalid Amayreh
Zionist spin doctors are visibly upset by growing world awareness about the manifestly cruel Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip. These malicious propagandists, hell-bent as they are on diverting attention from the slow-motion genocide being meted out to the helpless people of Gaza, are asking “why not Somalia? Why not Darfur? They think that Israeli-made Gaza tragedy shouldn’t deserve all this attention and that the thoroughly tormented Gazans should suffer, starve and die as silently and as quietly as possible. Well, to begin with, it is highly unlikely that such questions are motivated by good will or any real desire to see real problems in Somalia and Darfur and other parts of the world rectified.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Why was I silent about my politics in the Holocause survivor's house? / Philip Weiss
...I am upset with myself for my silence. I will write that letter to my mother’s friend. And I think my work is among Jews. They are in the power class in America, they are the ones standing in the road of our foreign policy. If we are to make progress on these issues it is necessary to convert the Jews to the idea of Israel’s non-necessity. But still Jews don’t believe it; by overwhelming majority they do not believe it. They are attached to the idea of the Jewish state out of an ancient Jewish sense of their own isolation in the world community. I feel that one role I have is to engage on this question, within my ethnic community, my original tribe, to try and get them past it. It won’t happen with bludgeoning
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Damn the collaborators
Iky Elner slams politicians, rabbis who contribute to growing draft-dodging phenomenon -- The figures are frightening: The enlistment rate for 2008 stood at 72% of Jewish males and 54% of females. Major General Zamir especially condemned the female draft-dodging – 38% of it on religious grounds. He said that soon the figure will reach 50%. At the current rate, Zamir predicts that the overall draft-dodging rate will hit 40% in the coming decade.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Young men of Gaza face treacherous temptation
By Jason Koutsoukis. January 18, 2010 - Collaborating with Israel can often be the only way out of Gaza's misery. For young Palestinian men trapped in Gaza, the desire to escape can become so overwhelming that some inevitably give in to the temptation to collaborate with Israel. Yet so reviled are collaborators within Palestinian society, that anyone suspected of helping the Israelis risks torture, at the very least, and in many cases execution.
http://www.theage.com.au/
Iraq
'Chemical Ali' sentenced to death over Halabja poison gas attack (AP)
Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin "Chemical Ali" was convicted today of crimes against humanity, receiving a death sentence for his involvement in a poison gas attack on Halabja, Iraq. Families of victims in court cheered when the judge handed down the guilty verdict against Ali Hassan al-Majid in a trial for one of the worst poisonous gas attacks against civilians. He had already received three previous death sentences for atrocities committed during Saddam's rule, particularly in the government's campaigns against the Shias and Kurds in the 1980s and 1990s.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Shell signs Iraq oil field deal
Oil giant Shell and Malaysia's state-run Petronas oil company finalised a contract on Sunday to develop Iraq's giant Majnoon oil field. In December Shell and Petronas beat a rival bid from France's Total and China's CNPC to develop the 12.6bn barrel field in southern Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
Saddam official Tareq Aziz hospitalized, son says (Reuters)
BAGHDAD, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Tareq Aziz, a former deputy prime minister who was the public face of Saddam Hussein's regime, suffered a blood clot in the brain and was moved from prison to an American military hospital, his son said on Sunday.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Friday: No Iraq casualties reported
Excerpt: No casualties were reported on the prayer day. However, even as Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdulmahdi and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were in Washington, D.C. discussing the security situation ahead of March elections, another Iraqi vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi, warned that the situation will deteriorate. Two Katyusha rockets struck a home in Kirkuk, but no casualties were reported.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Saturday: 6 Iraqis killed, 7 wounded
Excerpt: At least six Iraqis were killed and seven more were wounded in light violence. Three U.S. soldiers were wounded on Tuesday when two "improvised rocket assisted munitions" struck a base near Amara. Meanwhile, the U.S. Marines are packing up their belongings to either go home or to Afghanistan. Also, the Iraqi government has announced plans to hold a full census in October.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Yemen
Yemen tightens security at oil and gas faciliti (Reuters)
SANAA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Yemen has boosted security at oil and gas facilities to guard against militant attacks on the vital installations days after the government declared open war on al Qaeda. Yemen, a small oil producer with output of around 300,000 barrels per day, vowed on Thursday to crack down on al Qaeda and a day later said six al Qaeda militants had been killed in an air strike in northern Yemen.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Yemen-Horn of Africa: African arrivals in 2009 up 55%
SANAA, 17 January 2010 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) received 77,802 new arrivals from the Horn of Africa in 2009, a 55 percent increase over 2008 and the first time Somalis were not the majority nationality, the agency's external relations officer Rocco Nuri told IRIN in Sanaa on 16 January. The biggest change over 2008, he said, was that the number of Ethiopians making the perilous boat journey across the Gulf of Aden more than doubled to 44,814, while 32,988 Somalis reached Yemen's shores.
http://www.alertnet.org/
U.S.
Spanish MP's photo used for Osama bin Laden poster
A Spanish politician has said he was shocked to find out the FBI had used his photo for a digitally-altered image showing how Osama Bin Laden might look. Gaspar Llamazares said he would no longer feel safe travelling to the US after his hair and parts of his face appeared on a most-wanted poster. He said the use of a real person for the mocked-up image was "shameless".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
SCENARIOS: What comes next for the U.S. and Haiti? / Andrew Quinn (Reuters)
WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's pledge for long-term U.S. help to earthquake-stricken Haiti could saddle Washington with a lead role in yet another of the world's most desperate countries -- a risky proposition ... U.S. officials sketch out a long-term strategy under which the United Nations -- which already has a peacekeeping force of about 9,000 in the country -- takes the lead.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Book review: A country called Amreeka
Alia Malek may very well be the first to narrate a comprehensive contemporary American history from the perspective of Arabs in America. If others have grown up in a situation anything like mine, then their experience reading textbooks in grade school is not unlike that of many other non-white peoples in the United States, who read what passes as American history often wondering what role people like them played.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2010/
--
www.TheHeadlines.org
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