Shadi Fadda brings us today's headlines relating to Palestine and other news from around the internet.
Land theft and destruction / Settlers
Israel rejects bill allocating equal land to Jews and Arabs
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday rejected a bill proposed by MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al) proposing that the state enforce equal allocation of land to Jews and Arabs. "Yet again, the Israeli government has proven that it is avoiding the principle of civil equality," Tibi said in response to the ruling. "The same government which approved the selection bill of [Jewish] MKs David Rotem and Israel Hasson, ignores Arabs' rights, and hasn't approved the building of a new Arab village since 1948. The government failed at the challenge I placed before it, and that saddens me."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Settler tunnel causes another road collapse in Silwan, East Jerusalem
At around 4pm, on Saturday 2 January 2010 part of a main road in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan collapsed. The section of road runs above tunneling work carried out by the Elad settler organisation. Despite the road collapsing in the mid-afternoon, it was not until 8pm that Israeli police arrived at the scene, after an Israeli bus serving the settler population drove into the hole in the road. Silwan is a Palestinian village on the hills south of the Old City of Jerusalem, captured in 1967 by the Israeli army. It is one of several neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem where the Israeli state and settler organisations are forcing Palestinians from their homes. Tunneling by the Elad settler organisation, which also runs the ‘City of David’ tourist site in Silwan, has been frequently criticised for undermining the Palestinian neighbourhood. Elad director David Be’eri was filmed admitting that his excavations are carried out under people’s houses....
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Palestinian woman hospitalized following settler attack in Sheikh Jarrah
2 Jan - Nadia al-Kurd, from Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in Jerusalem, was taken to hospital today after being attacked by an Israeli settler in her own garden. At around 2pm, Nadia al-Kurd, 65, was violently pushed by a settler in an unprovoked attack. The settler, one of those currently occupying her neighbours’ house, forced open the gate of her garden, pushing Nadia to the ground. She suffered from breathing difficulties immediately afterwards. Some of those present administered first aid, however, as her state required professional medical treatment, she had to be transported by an ambulance to the hospital. She was discharged later in the afternoon. When the Israeli police arrived following the attack, they arrested the assailant, identified by several witnesses. The same settler has been arrested before after previous attacks in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, where daily harassment of the Palestinian population by settlers and police is on the increase.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Settlers illegally attempt to occupy land owned by Qarawat Bani Hassan and Deir Istiya
1 Jan - ...The Mayor of Qarawat Bani Hasan reported that over the period of the last month armed Israeli Settlers and Israeli military from the illegal outpost of Havot Yair had been harassing and attacking farmers and shepherds who work regularly on land approximately a kilometer from the village centre. The land in the region in question is jointly owned by the villages of Qarawat Bani Hasan and Deir Istiya and hosts an ancient fresh water spring which is regularly utilised by farmers and shepherds from both villages. The Mayor also informed IWPS volunteers that the area is often visited by children from Qarawat Bani Hasan, who have also faced physical abuse by armed settlers from Havot Yair.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Hung out to dry in the West Bank / Seth Freedman
...Severely-restricted access to water is one of the main weapons in the Israeli arsenal when it comes to making life intolerable for the Jahalin nomads. All around the camp is evidence of the authorities' constricting policies: water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink. While the neighbouring settlements boast lush foliage and pastures to rival farms in the Galil, the rest of the plain's residents exist in far more arid and parched conditions.....We are taken to a welded-shut filling station, where once bedouin farmers could take water for themselves and their animals, but which the Israeli water board decided to fence off with razor wire and permanently seal. As a result, the canal irrigation system that snakes alongside the main road is completely empty, its only function to act as monument to the oppressive sanctions put in place by an uncaring Israeli system
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Settlers in Jerusalem: We'll continue building despite freeze
Local Jewish councils in the West Bank launched a general strike on Sunday in protest against the government's decision to temporarily halt settlement construction in a bid to jumpstart the stalled peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Heads of settlement councils and West Bank municipal and council employees held a demonstration in front of the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem against the enforcement of the settlement building moratorium ... According to Shomron Regional Council head Gershon Mesika, the settlers are battling a "racist directive that forbids Jews to build on their land only because they are Jews while trampling on their individual rights."
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Settlers warn of imminent demolitions
Settlers believe security forces could enter their communities as early as Sunday to destroy structures the IDF believes are being built illegally, in defiance of the 10-month moratorium on new Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria. An IDF document leaked to the media two weeks ago revealed a detailed plan under which the Border Police would demolish such structures as the IDF secured the perimeters of the sites.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Blockade
Galloway Gaza convoy leaves Syria
A British-led aid convoy bound for the Gaza Strip is on its way to the Egyptian port of Al-Arish after departing Syria by boat, organizers said on Sunday. The Viva Palestina convoy, led in part by firebrand British MP George Galloway, loaded 210 truckloads of food and medical supplies onto a ferry in the Syrian port of Latakia ... In a message released on an affiliated website on Sunday, Viva Palestina’s organizers said they received verbal assurances from Egypt that they would be allowed to dock in Al-Arish on Monday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Egypt uncovers more smuggling tunnels
Egyptian authorities discovered two smuggling tunnels along the border with Gaza near Rafah and seized quantities of goods ready to be smuggled into the besieged enclave on Friday evening. Egyptian security sources told Ma’an that large quantities of water bottles and food products were seized. No one was arrested. Authorities have discovered and closed some 500 smuggling tunnels in 2009. Separately, Egyptian border police seized an African immigrant attempting to cross the border to Israel two kilometers to the south of the Kerem Shalom crossing, police said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Egypt opens Rafah crossing
The Egyptian authorities declared that it will open Rafah crossing today for the people who have visas. The total number of the people who want to leave the Gaza Strip is 6000 including 700 students. Rafah crossing was opened 2 months ago for patients and students. Thousands of patients, students and people who have visas wanted to leave the Gaza Strip. But the Egyptian authorities closed Rafah crossing before allowing all of them to leave Gaza because two or 3 days were not enough to able all of them from leaving Gaza due to the large number of travelers.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/
Israelis make pilgrimage to Yaakov Abuhatzeira's tomb in Egypt
...Cairo airport officials said some 290 Israelis arrived Sunday on their way to the tomb of Rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira near the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. The commemoration of the anniversary of his death will take place Saturday. Egypt has in years past limited the number of pilgrims. Israeli newspapers say, however, that President Hosni Mubarak accepted a request from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on his visit to Egypt last week to allow unlimited numbers.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Israel opens one Gaza crossing; produce exported
Israeli authorities opened the Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday into the Gaza Strip while all other terminals remain closed, Palestinian border crossing official Raed Fattouh said. Fattouh explained that between 64 and 74 truckloads of commercial merchandise and humanitarian aid would be allowed into Gaza. He added that, for the first time, four truckloads of strawberries would be exported from the besieged Gaza Strip to Israel and abroad. Furthermore, one truck carrying flowers for export will be allowed to transit. The Palestinian official pointed out that limited quantities of domestic fuel and industrial diesel, needed for the functioning of the sole power plant in Gaza, would be shipped through Kerem Shalom.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Gaza Hamas rulers approve $540 million budget
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Gaza's Hamas parliament approved a government budget of $540 million for 2010, legislators said Saturday, suggesting that a tight border blockade isn't stopping the cash flow to the Islamic militants. Up to $60 million stems from local taxes and the rest from "gifts and outside assistance," said legislator Jamal Nassar ... However, a border blockade by Israel and Egypt - first imposed in 2006 and tightened after Hamas overran Gaza a year later - has not weakened the militants. With only humanitarian aid and a few basic items entering Gaza through border crossings, the tunnels are the main supply line for cash, weapons and a wide range of commercial goods.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
American charity using recycled materials from the war in Gaza
By Peter Eyre. Open email to the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) - ...I was extremely shocked to note one of your latest projects in Gaza which came under the following headline: "Preschool Rehabilitation" - "ANERA is renovating preschools throughout Gaza using materials recycled from war destruction." ... I do not know if the ANERA Board of Directors are aware of the terrible consequences and usage by US, UK, NATO and IDF forces of weapons containing uranium components.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/
Gaza robbed of the most basic human right - the right to health / Stuart Littlewood
Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, marked the start of the New Year in a way that many campaigners for justice and liberty will find lamentable. The charity MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians) had written an open letter to Brown asking him to "urgently use all available diplomatic means to bring an immediate and unconditional end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip".
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/
Norwegian FM under fire for praise of "Eyes in Gaza"
Norway, January 3 - Israeli officials and Jewish organizations criticized the Norwegian foreign minister's praise for a book accusing Israeli troops of perpetrating a monstrous, systematically implemented and comprehensive massacre in Gaza. The Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon replied that the book is "outrageous and borders on frustrations made up of fabrication and lies."
http://www.paltelegraph.com/
In Gaza photoessay: Saber, patience
“I haven’t been on my land since we harvested the wheat last August. It’s too dangerous. There was an Israeli operation here yesterday…6 tanks and 4 bulldozers. I could see them from my rooftop in the village, but didn’t know if they’d destroyed my land.”
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/
Arrests / Detention
IOF troops detain six Palestinians
AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up six Palestinians at dawn Sunday three of them in Al-Khalil's Arub refugee camp and three in Bethlehem city. Local sources said that the IOF soldiers searched the detained young men's homes in the refugee camp before taking them away. The IOF soldiers on Saturday prevented farmers from tending to their lands near the Beit Ummar village, Al-Khalil district, and arrested a youth in Edhna village in the same district.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Two young men from Bil‘in arrested on 29 December still held by Israeli military
...The boys were arrested at 2am on Tuesday, 29 December 2009, when the Israeli army, composed of a number of military jeeps and approximately 50 soldiers on foot, invaded the village and raided their houses. They are still being held by the military, while their relatives are being kept in the dark as of when they will be released and the legal reasons for their detention. The only explanation given by the Israeli authorities was that they detained Hamouda and Khalil in order to ensure their presence as witnesses at a hearing with Mohammad Khatib, member of the Bil‘in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, that was scheduled to take place later that day, 29 December 2009 at the Ofer military prison.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Freedom for Ryan Olander, justice for Sheikh Jarrah: US citizen held in Israeli prisons for over two weeks
...Minnesota resident Ryan Olander is facing deportation after being held in Israeli prisons for over two weeks. He spent his Christmas and New Year at a deportation facility in Ramle, where his request for release has been rejected by the prison judge. Ryan Olander was arrested from a tent the Palestinian al-Kurd family built in their own backyard following a recent setter take-over of a section of their house. He was drinking tea and talking to the family members when six Israeli police walked into the tent and took him for questioning at the Russian Compound police station in west Jerusalem. Despite being released without charges the following day, Ryan was illegally re-arrested by immigration police only a few moments later, right outside of the same police station that told him he was free to go.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Israeli police arrest 2 in Beer Sheba following scare
Israeli police arrested two young men in the central bus station of the city of Beer Sheba on Sunday after an alert was declared. The men were reported by bystanders as carrying a bag that appeared suspicious, Israeli media reported. Shots were reportedly fired during the arrest. Police sappers determined that the bag contained nothing indicating an attack, while the two men were held for interrogation.A state of high alert declared in the city was called off following the arrest.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Hamas vs. Fatah
Mash‘al: Hamas in 'final stages' of reconciliation with Fatah
Hamas leader Khalid Mash‘al said on Sunday the group was in the final stages of ending a power struggle with the rival Fatah movement after he held talks with Saudi officials in Riyadh. "We achieved great strides toward achieving reconciliation," Mash‘al told reporters at the Foreign Ministry during a visit to the Saudi capital, according to Reuters news agency. "We are in the final stages now." He also reiterated that Hamas has points that it wants revised in an Egyptian proposal for reconciliation with Fatah. "We all agree that the signing of the [reconciliation] will take place in Cairo," he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Hamas VIDEO: 'Special Mission'
In the backdrop of reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah, Hamas' television aired a cartoon titled "Special Mission" slandering the Palestinian Authority apparatuses, which, according to the clip, serve Israel and the settlers. The video portrays a Palestinian officer carrying out orders of IDF troops while being humiliated by them, and assisting settlers. The eight-minute video takes place near the security coordination HQ. Palestinian officer Bahlul (clown) is shown to be asked by his Israeli counterpart: "What is your mission?" to which he replies: "To defend the rule of law." When the Israeli officer asks what that is, the Palestinian replies: "To defend settlers."
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Hamas slams Abbas's confession to his security coordination with Israel
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Movement of Hamas said Saturday that Mahmoud Abbas’s threat to sever the security ties with the Israeli occupation is evidence that the arrests and security campaigns carried out in the West Bank are coordinated with the occupation. In a press statement to the Palestinian information center (PIC), Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that such remarks refuted previous claims made by Abbas that the arrests, taking place in the West Bank, are carried out against criminals and not in the context of the security coordination with Israel.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Hamas, Fatah trade arrest accusations
Hamas and Fatah traded accusations on Sunday of politically motivated arrests in their respective territories. Fatah said that Hamas security forces arrested 13 members in northern Gaza. Hamas also issued a statement saying Palestinian Authority security forces arrested 527 members of the party in December ... Separately Hamas accused PA security forces of arresting four of the movement's affiliates on Sunday from the West Bank districts of Nablus and Jenin. "PA security forces summoned Hamas affiliates over the past few days particularly in the district of Qalqylia," Hamas said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Ramallah MoH: Hamas bans surgical society elections
The Ramallah-based Ministry of Health accused Hamas on Sunday of preventing the elections for the Palestinian Surgeons’ Society (PSS) by taking over its Gaza headquarters. The Ministry said in an official statement that the shutdown was a result of Hamas’ “rejection of democratic processes” and unions’ freedom as defined by the Palestinian law, adding that the prevention of elections for the PSS was considered an obstruction of scientific development in Gaza, which is vitally needed in the besieged Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Hamas inmates say torture ends in West Bank jails
NABLUS, West Bank – Hamas inmates say they are no longer subjected to torture in West Bank prisons run by the group's Palestinian rivals. The prisoners spoke to The Associated Press during a tour of the West Bank's most notorious prison. The change in practice is said to have taken effect in October and was confirmed by a West Bank Hamas leader, human rights activists and the Palestinian prime minister. Hamas legislators say they still get sporadic reports of prisoners being slapped. But they say the worst abuse is over. Prisoners say that for more than two years, abuses included being beaten with clubs and cables and being suspended from the ceiling in painful positions. Palestinian officials say 43 officers have been punished for abuse.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Press bias
Naked in Abu Ghraib/Naked in Gaza - the U.S. press's double standard / Philip Weiss
Nakedness, humiliation, and torture made Abu Ghraib an important story in the American media five years ago ... Now read the Goldstone report on the Israeli assault on Gaza of a year ago. The 575 page report published by the U.N. Human Rights Council last September documents incident upon incident of Palestinians stripped naked at gunpoint ... Goldstone was unstinting in his description of this barbaric treatment. He said that it violated international norms, including those governing the treatment of women ... I ask you: Where is the American press, which burnished its brass buttons over Abu Ghraib? The Goldstone report has been dismissed out of hand. No American paper has printed extended excerpts of its findings, let alone sought to confirm and extend them. The New York Times has used its op-ed page to attempt to nullify the report. The only serious efforts by Americans to look into the report have come from bloggers, Richard Silverstein and Jerry Haber (and new blogger Jerry Slater says he plans to follow).
Do you think this conduct has not affected the American image in the Arab world? Of course it has.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Now wait, who's censored? / Philip Weiss
Last night in Tel Aviv there was a great demonstration against the Gaza slaughter of a year ago. 1000 people marched through the middle of the city, from Rabin square to the Defense Ministry. They carried signs showing a blood-soaked land. Anarchists against the wall denounced apartheid. They said that Israel had targeted women and children. Some called for a binational state ...Two foreign crews were there. One was Brazilian. Another was a hardworking woman journalist who walked through the body of the protest, asking people why they were there and filming their posters and banners. She was from Al Jazeera ... Joseph Dana told me that he regularly runs into Al Jazeera at protests in Israel ... He has also seen al-Arabiya at protests. “I’ve never been interviewed by American media. I’ve never seen them at a demonstration. They are all stationed here. CNN is here. Bloomberg is here. ABC and CBS. They’ve never interviewed me. Even the BBC. Where is the BBC?”
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/
Political developments
Israel FM questions Palestinian president's authority
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday questioned whether president Mahmoud Abbas represents all Palestinians, given his lack of authority in the Gaza Strip. "Our Palestinian partner Abu Mazen (Abbas) is problematic. Does he represent all of the Palestinian people? It is clear that he does not represent Gaza and that his legitimacy in the West Bank is in doubt," Lieberman told public radio. "To sign an accord with Abu Mazen would be to sign a deal with the leader of Fatah," the Palestinian president's political party, he added.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Netanhayu vows to react 'aggressively' to Gaza fire
“Our policy is clear to all and I think it also became clear over the weekend – to respond aggressively to any firing at our territory and at our communities,” he said at the opening of his weekly Cabinet meeting. “There is no doubt that this policy, in addition to Operation Cast Lead, has increased deterrence against attack on our communities,” he said, referring to Israel’s name for the three-week offensive Israel waged on Gaza last winter that left 1,400 Palestinians dead. Before dawn on Saturday Israeli warplanes struck targets across the Gaza Strip in the most intense bombardment in weeks. Witnesses also reported Israeli tank and artillery fire in several locations. The Israeli military said the strikes were in response to the firing of a Grad-type rocket from Gaza into the Israeli town of Netivot on Thursday night. The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for that attack.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Abbas begins Middle East tour in Jordan
President Mahmoud Abbas began his tour of the Middle East with a meeting on Sunday in Jordan with King Abdullah II and senior Jordanian officials, Palestinian sources told Ma’an. Abbas and the King of Jordan are expected to discuss Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestions to restart peace negotiations. The second leg of Abbas’ tour will be in Egypt for similar talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Other news
Will Arab MKs be required to swear loyalty to a Jewish state?
The Knesset ministerial legislative committee was set to vote Sunday on a bill requiring MKs to take a "loyalty oath" to the Jewish state before taking office ... The bill aims to require Israeli Arab MKs, who are not Jewish, to pledge loyalty to the Jewish character of the State of Israel, which by definition marginalizes them as non-Jews.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Haredim join Arabs in opposing allegiance law
Ultra-Orthodox join Arabs in opposing Yisrael Beitenu's allegiance law: The chairman of the United Torah Judaism faction, MK Menachem Eliezer Moses, expressed his opposition Sunday to the bill which proposes changes to the oath of allegiance taken by MKs. Moses said to Ynet, "I understand Judaism, and I also understand democracy, but I don't understand why we need the word 'Zionism'."
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Rabbi seeks sex-segregated bus line in Tiberias
A prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbi has asked a Tiberias bus company to launch a line similar to the ones in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak that segregate women from men ... A veteran woman resident of Tiberias who spoke on condition of anonymity said the request was "an enraging attempt to take over the city." ... But Idan says the segregated line will change people's minds once it is launched. "The secular people of this city will see and learn how good this modesty is," he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Brawl between Ashkenazi, Sephardis haredim in Ashdod
Some 500 haredim clashed on Saturday night in a brawl that broke out in Ashdod's Zayin quarter on the backdrop of an ongoing conflict between Ashkenazi and Sephardic haredim in the area. Four haredim were arrested and brought in by the police for investigation.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Opinion / Analysis
The Iron Wall / Uri Avnery
...One may well wonder about the Egyptian participation in the blockade of the Gaza Strip ... the entire blockade would be ineffective without Egyptian participation ... Egypt has started building an iron wall – literally - along the full length of the Gaza border, consisting of steel pillars thrust deep into the ground, in order to block all tunnels. That will finally choke the inhabitants ... Why do they do it? ... Cynics point out that the Egyptian government receives a huge American subsidy every year – almost two billion dollars – by courtesy of Israel. It started as a reward for the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. The pro-Israel lobby in the US Congress can stop it any time. Others believe that Mubarak is afraid of Hamas. The organization started out as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, still the main opposition to his autocratic regime. Many people believe that Mahmoud Abbas is interested in the tightening of the Gaza blockade in order to hurt Hamas ... All these explanations make sense, yet the Egyptian government’s attitude is still astonishing ... It is a very dangerous policy. Why does Mubarak follow it? The real answer is, probably, that he has no choice.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/
Settlers, tell us, what do you think will happen? / Gideon Levy
...The settler goes to and from his home without seeing anything. He does not see his neighbors, he does not see the danger he exposes his children to, he does not see the moral baggage he carries on his back. He does not want to see all this, and an entire system surrounds him that makes life easy for him despite his blindness. ... Go ask them. Try to get their opinion on how things will look here in another decade or two. For how many more years can 3.5 million people live without any civil rights? For how many more years will the world continue to turn a blind eye and remain silent? What will become of a state that is dependent on others like no other country? And what will happen when the Palestinians become the majority? The settlers will be evasive in their response. Make them give one.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
No justice and no wisdom / Arie Arnon
Despite legal authorization, Israel's actions in Sheikh Jarrah are immoral - Almost every Sunday, we receive reports about protests, violent clashes and even arrests in Sheikh Jarrah or in what is referred to in some of the reports as the "Simeon the Just" compound. What is the capital raging about? The issue, according to the mayor and those responsible for the entry to the homes which led to the protest, appears to be a simple one: The disputed property is owned by Jews and the time has come to return it to its owners. The matter even reached the court and this was the ruling ... But will the mayor, in the name of justice and consistency, call for restitution of Palestinian property found in west Jerusalem? Or does Israel, by force of power or by force of Israeli legislation, aspire to work to return the property to Jews but not to Arabs?
http://www.ynetnews.com/
They know everything / Zvi Bar'el
Three people have a monopoly on knowledge: the heads of the Mossad, Shin Bet and Military Intelligence ... And what about the head of the Shin Bet? It's an organization capable of finding a wanted man's address and locating assassins at praiseworthy speeds, but it falls on its face when it is asked to provide a more extensive assessment. That group, like Military Intelligence, couldn't predict that Hamas would take over the Gaza Strip, and didn't think that an intifada was likely in 2000 or 1987. It also is unable to say what is going on now. But they talk, and they are listened to like true prophets.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
When Obama took his eyes off the Palestine ball / Daoud Kuttab
For a few minutes on Sunday I wondered what would have happened if I was reading rather than listening to US President Barack Obama's statement from Hawaii. The US president took time off his Christmas vacation to speak about the incident that occurred on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Had I not heard his voice and seen his picture, I would have thought that the speaker was none other than former US president George W. Bush. What has happened to Obama in less than one year?
http://www.paltelegraph.com/
Iraq, other Mideast
Saturday: 1 US soldier, 7 Iraqis killed; 27 Iraqis wounded
Excerpts: At least seven Iraqis were killed and 27 wounded in new violence. One U.S. soldier died of non-combat injuries as well. Many Iraqis are outraged that the case against Blackwater Worldwide (now Xe Services) fell apart and consider the dismissal proof that U.S. contractors operate above Iraqi law. Iraq has vowed to appeal or take other measures to seek justice for the 17 Iraqis killed in Nisour Square two years ago. In Baghdad, one person was killed and 21 others were wounded when a pair of blasts hit 20th Street in Bayaa. Two young men were wounded when a bomb attached to their car exploded in Jamiaa. A roadside bomb in Qahira wounded one policeman. Gunmen killed an army officer in Sadr City....
http://original.antiwar.com/
One injured in clashes in Palestinian camp in Lebanon
Two Palestinian militant groups clashed on Saturday in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon, according to local and international news agencies. "The Fatah Movement and Jund al-Sham Islamist militants used all kinds of machine guns during the clashes in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in southern Lebanon," the National News Agency in Lebanon reported. One person was injured following 30 minutes of fighting, the Lebanese news website Naharnet reported ... The clashes were the result of a report by Lebanese daily An-Nahar on Tuesday alleging that Al-Qaida militants were plotting attacks against Lebanese institutions and foreign missions from the refugee camp, as well as training militants and trafficking fighters from Pakistan into Lebanon, Xinhua reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Jordan: Significant decline in fruit and vegetable imports from Israel
There has been a significant decline in fruit and vegetable imports to Jordan from Israel, Amman has said, citing the steps taken by authorities to prevent the sale of Israeli goods produced in West Bank settlements. In remarks to A-Dustour published Sunday, Jordanian Agriculture Minister Sayid Al-Masri said a delegation of experts from his ministry visited Israel from time to time, and monitored the imported produce to ensure they did not originate in the settlements.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Reports: Jordan arrests 5 Israelis on boat near Aqaba
Jordanian naval forces reportedly arrested three Israelis on a fishing boat who violated Jordanian territorial water on Saturday. The Israeli defense establishment expected that Jordan would release the country's citizens, apparently fishermen, after interrogating them in the Jordanian port of Aqaba, news reports said. Last week Egyptian authorities arrested two Israeli bikers riding along the border.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Women-only taxis take on Middle East
Taxis driven by women and exclusively serving the fairer sex are the rage in Arab capitals as women seek a safe and comfortable mode of transport ... Now, following the Lebanese success, two Egyptian governors in Cairo and Alexandria have stirred controversy with proposals to service women-only taxis
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Yemeni air attacks on al-Qaida fighters risk mobilizing hostile tribes
Killing of tribal leader's wife and children sparks condemnation of Sana‘a and the west - When Yemeni MiG-29 aircraft sent missiles crashing into a suspected terrorist training camp in al-Majalah, a remote area of Abyan in the south, the local reaction quickly turned from horror to anger.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
U.S.
U.S., U.K close embassies in Yemen over Al Qaida threat
(Reuters) The United States and Britain closed their embassies in Yemen on Sunday over security concerns about possible militant attacks after the failed bombing of a U.S.-bound plane on Christmas Day. The U.S. Embassy said it had received a threat by Al-Qaida, which U.S. intelligence agencies believe has a growing presence in the poor Arab country
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Threats to Yemen prove America hasn't leaned the lesson of history / Patrick Cockburn
Extraordinarily, the US is making exactly the same mistake as in Iraq and Afghanistan - ...There is ominous use by American politicians and commentators of the phrase "failed state" in relation to Yemen, as if this some how legitimised foreign intervention. It is extraordinary that the US political elite has never taken on board that its greatest defeats have been in just such "failed states"
http://www.independent.co.uk/
Security at airports: racial and vowel profiling / As‘ad AbuKhalil
I was subjected to a most thorough search at San Francisco Airport. The agent at British Airways handed me my boarding pass and a special priority pass for security, and yet added: but I need to warn you that you have been "selected" for a special security screening. I said: so what good will that special priority pass do me? She said: well, you dont have to sand in line to get to security. So I said: So I will not stand in line to get to security, but once I get there, I will be waiting and waiting. And then I asked her: how random are those random selections? Because if those selections are really random I should be winning the real Spanish lottery almost daily ... I should say: that the search and screening that I was subjected to was the most thorough that I was ever subjected to at US airports. Every item in my luggage was felt carefully, and I am afraid that I too was felt very carefully--to my great displeasure and annoyance. What do you do in those cases? Nothing really ... They put you in a little corner in view of all other passengers who are being whisked through with their luggage, boxes, and kitchen appliances while you sit there and hear somebody yelling (about you): Level two check.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
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www.TheHeadlines.org
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