Land theft / Apartheid / Settlers
Separation wall to isolate Bethlehem village from Beit Jala
Israeli authorities confiscated 300 dunums of Palestinian land in Beit Jala, Bethlehem to complete the separation wall's construction, the head of the Bethlehem anti-wall committee said on Sunday. Khalid Azza said once the wall's construction is complete, Beit Jala would be isolated from the neighboring Al-Walaja village, describing the act as "terrorism and piracy against Palestinian land."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266617
Video: Bulldozers prepare way for extension of Wall in Beit Jalla March 3
As we arrived in Beit Jalla, a heart-breaking scene came into view - a huge pile of sawed trees and olive and lemon branches spread all across the yard of the house next to the wall's path.... (Also check out activists' photos from many protests at http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/ )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uss76bDKimw
Israel continues closure of Jericho's northern entrance
Israeli forces have maintained the closure of the northern entrance to Jericho with road blocks, forcing Palestinian passengers to drive an additional ten kilometers on the bypass road to reach the city center ... The northern entrance to Jericho has been closed since 27 September 2000, one day before the outbreak of the Second Intifada. According to Abu Muhammad, Israeli authorities use security pretexts to continue closing the route. He highlighted that the Palestinian Authority imposed security and order in the area. Jericho Mayor Hasan Salih said a five-minute journey can take up to one hour, rejecting Israel's security pretext and demanding the international community exert pressure on Israel to open Jericho’s northern entrance.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266418
Settlement deep in West Bank seen as peace spoiler (AP)
ARIEL, West Bank – Ariel has ambitions of becoming a city, and already boasts 19,000 people, a college, a $10 million sports complex, and a four-lane highway leading to it. But Ariel is a West Bank settlement, and its geography casts a heavy shadow over Palestinian hopes of a getting a viable state of their own. Ron Nachman, its founder and mayor, says the community he began with two tents on a hill 32 years ago is already an irreversible fact.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100307/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_in_too_deep
State to pay settlers millions over West Bank building freeze
The government will be paying NIS 100 million to NIS 150 million in compensation to settlers hurt by the freeze in construction in the West Bank settlements, under an agreement MK Danny Danon (Likud) reached with the Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office over the weekend. The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is expected to hear a bill Danon drafted on the matter on Sunday. Under the agreement, people who purchased homes in the West Bank but were unable to move in as schedule due to the freeze will be eligible for compensation in accordance with the rent they paid on their current residence in the interim. The government is supposed to pay compensation within 30 days after the approval of the request
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154544.html
Violence
Clashes erupt in East Jerusalem, 1 Israeli officer injured
An Israeli border guard was lightly injured when confrontations erupted on Saturday evening in the Shu’fat refugee camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem. Clashes ensued between Israeli forces and Palestinians at the main entrance to the camp where Israeli forces reportedly used riot dispersal means, including rubber-coated metal bullets, tear-gas canisters and sound bombs. Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld, said the officer was injured when Palestinians threw stones and bottles. Confrontations further erupted in Al-Isawiya between Israeli forces and young Palestinian men. Ma'an's correspondent said the incident was related to the raid of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israeli forces on Friday. Meanwhile, two demonstrations were held in Sheikh Jarrah by right-wing Israelis and peace activists respectively.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266515
Israeli police re-open Al-Aqsa after violence
Israeli police announced that the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem opened to all Muslim worshipers Sunday, lifting the age restriction imposed during last week's Jewish holiday. Despite the restriction on movement being lifted, heavy police and border guard presence is expected in the Old City in the aftermath of clashes that erupted between Israeli forces and Palestinians following the raiding of the compound after Friday prayers ... Forces were seen striking Palestinians with batons, injuring a number of elderly worshipers, and closed off gates into the Old City even before clashes erupted, preventing some worshipers from reaching the site. The number of injuries amount to more than 60, among them a woman who sustained injuries after being shot with a bullet in the eye, while others sustained injuries to the feet, chest and hands when attacked with rubber-coated bullets.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266540
Solidarity / Activism
Thousands of protesters rally against Jewish presence in E. Jerusalem
About 5,000 left-wing activists and Palestinians gathered Saturday to protest the eviction of four Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Protesters carried Palestinian flags and chanted "Stop the destruction of homes" and "There is no sanctity in an occupied city." Despite the heavy police presence, the demonstration has remained peaceful.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154448.html
Journalists, residents hurt in Beit Jala anti-wall rally Sunday
Three journalists and several demonstrators were injured by Israeli forces at a protest against Israel’s construction of the separation wall in the town of Beit Jala, north of Bethlehem, on Sunday. Some 200 local protesters attended the rally, with residents attempting to plant 30 olive tree seedlings on land overturned by Israeli bulldozers. They were prevented by Israeli soldiers and border guards deployed in the area ... An Israeli court issued a stop-order on the wall's construction four days prior, after a petition was filed by Ghayyath Nasser, which stated that the digging undertaken by Israeli forces was illegal, having begun immediately following a land confiscation order without giving land-owners the stipulated 45 days to challenge the decision.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266713
Targeting Israeli apartheid / Stephen Lendman
... Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) Launched in Toronto in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations, it's an annual series of university lectures, rallies, multimedia events, cultural performances, films, and demonstrations held in cities worldwide to educate people about the nature and destructiveness of Israeli apartheid, and to strengthen the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.From March 1 - 14, 2010, they'll be held in 40 cities: http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15782
Colorado interfaith group takes on raw political power that stymies Obama / Philip Weiss
I’ve been waiting for this, for heartland America to take its power, for the intelligent and balanced folk out there to insist on fairness. The Denver Post has a great piece by John Kane calling on Christians to decry the injustice in Israel/Palestine. Kane is a professor of religious studies at Regis University in Colorado, and he is joined by other religious figures in this op-ed, including Rob Prince of Progressive Jewish News: "American Christians for too long have been largely silent about the most dangerous conflict threatening peace in our world: the decades-old crisis in Israel and Palestine...http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/colorado-interfaith-group-takes-on-raw-political-power-that-stymies-obama.html
French heart team completes week of surgeries in Jerusalem
A French surgery team left Jerusalem at the end of February having completed a number of pediatric cardiac surgeries in occupied East Jerusalem, supported by the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266493
At the Waldorf, helmet in hand...
Israeli generals live a life of luxury and extravagance, mostly shaded from public scrutiny, while their soldiers enforce a brutal and criminal occupation upon the Palestinian people. Now they appropriately choose the Waldorf Astoria in New York to solicit more American money. New Profile, an Israeli feminist movement for the civil-zation of Israeli society, asks US citizens just say NO ... On Tuesday March 9 the US-based non-profit "Friends of the Israel Defense Force" is scheduled to hold its annual fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. The event will host Israel's Chief of Staff as keynote speaker.
http://groups.google.com/group/newprofile/browse_thread/thread/b0baa0f28fb69cb5
US Jewish activist: Why I am boycotting the Friends of the IDF dinner
Why am I protesting the $1,000-a-plate Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dinner honoring Chief of the IDF Staff Gabi Ashkenazi at the Waldorf on March 9? Like many American Jews, I grew up hearing that the IDF was the most moral army in the world. An honest look at the historical and current evidence, however - most recently documented in the report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Israeli Invasion of Gaza (the Goldstone Report)- reveals a very different reality.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154654.html
Detention
Three Palestinian children detained while gathering herbs
HEBRON, March 7, 2010 (WAFA)- Israeli soldiers detained Saturday three Palestinian children, two aged thirteen and one fourteen, who were gathering herbs in the village of At-Tuwani, in the South Hebron Hills. The children were with members of Operation Dove on privately owned Palestinian land on Khelly Hill, near Ma'on's settlement, when soldiers arrived in a jeep.
Israel frees Hebron child on bail
(with child's photo) Hebron - Ma`an - Al-Hasan Al-Muhtaseb, 12, was released on bail Sunday, when an Israeli military court in Ofer prison ordered his father to pay a 2,000 shekel fine. The Palestinian Prisoners' Society appointed ten lawyers to assist in the child's defense, with many of the boy's relatives allowed to be present during the hearing.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266692
Hebron boy, 13, jailed for days because father can't afford bail
The military court at Ofer Prison will rule Sunday on extending the remand of a 13-year-old Hebron boy held for nine days on suspicion of throwing stones at soldiers. At the first remand hearing, on March 2, the boy's father was unable to pay the NIS 2,000 the court required for him to be released on bail. An Israel Defense Forces soldier detained the boy, identified by his initials A.M., and his 11-year-old brother in Hebron's Old City, on the afternoon of February 27. The boys' father tracked down his younger son and was able to bring him home around 10 P.M. (military law prohibits the detention of minors under the age of 12).
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154521.html
Siege
Gaza marks 1,000 days of Israel's siege
Protests against the crippling siege imposed on the Gaza Strip should spread across the world, said Palestinian lawmaker Jamal Al-Khudari on Sunday, as the blockade entered its 1,000th day ... He announced that 500 Gaza residents have died as a result of the siege, most of whom were patients who could not receive appropriate medical treatment. Al-Khudari pointed out that one million Gaza residents live on humanitarian aid channeled by Arab and foreign countries as well as the UN. "The Palestinian economy in Gaza has been completely destroyed with more than 140,000 people unemployed, which amounts to 80% of Gaza’s manpower....
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266599
4 Gazans detained trying to enter Egypt
Two Palestinians from Gaza were detained on Sunday morning by security forces as they entered Egyptian waters on board a fishing boat off the coast of Rafah. The detainees were interrogated on charges of illegally entering Egypt ... Security sources said the arrests marked the third incident of Palestinians attempting to enter Egypt by boat this month. Separately, Egyptian forces seized two Palestinians on Saturday when they emerged from a smuggling tunnel in Egypt. They were identified as Hasan Hamdan, 17 and Mahmoud Abu Harb, 18. Security sources revealed that the two were carrying a large amount of cash and told interrogators they were attempting to flee dire conditions in Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266720
EU official can enter Gaza through Egypt -- Israel
High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton could visit Gaza, but should enter the strip through Egypt, Israeli political sources said. Israel Radio quoted on Sunday the sources as saying that Israel does not allow figures that visit it to enter Gaza through Israel, fearing that would be considered as recognition of Hamas’s government.
http://news.brunei.fm/2010/03/07/eu-official-can-enter-gaza-through-egypt-israel/
As siege continues, Israel opens 1 Gaza crossing
...Between 84 and 94 trucks transporting humanitarian aid passed through Gaza's southern crossing, two of which delivered equipment for the telecommunications company PalTel. Three trucks of cut carnations left the Gaza Strip for export, Fattouh added. Limited quantities of industrial diesel and domestic gas will be shipped through the same terminal,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266539
Retaliation
Fatah, DFLP militias: 3 projectiles fired at Israeli outpost
The military wings of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Fatah claimed responsibility on Sunday for jointly shelling an Israeli military outpost, east of Al-Maghazi, central Gaza Strip. A joint statement issued by the armed groups said three homemade projectiles were launched at the Megan outpost.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266672
Israel: Palestinian seized carrying bombs near Nablus
A Palestinian was detained at a checkpoint east of Nablus, after three pipe bombs were discovered after a search, Israeli media reported on Saturday. The devices were handed over to explosives sappers and the Palestinian was taken for questioning with Israeli security forces, according to the Hebrew daily Yedioth Aharanot.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266541
PA Arabs invade Yitzhar, destroy property
Israel National News -- Palestinian Authority Arabs entered the Jewish village [illegal settlement] of Yitzhar in Samaria undetected on Sunday and managed to cause serious damage to property. The infiltrators stole a cement mixer and destroyed construction equipment. Resident of Yitzhar estimated the cost of the damage at 5,000 shekels ($1,325).
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136377
Hamas / Fatah
Hamas: PA forces arrest 5 West Bank affiliates, sentence two others
..."The arrests were carried out in Hebron, Salfit, Qalqiliya and Nablus," Hamas officials said, noting the detentions signaled a continued state of rivalry between the two parties. Hamas added that a PA military court served a number of the movement's affiliates with sentences, among them Ahmad Najem, sentenced to 8 months and Ali A'shur, sentenced to six months jail time.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266391
Hamas police seize Red Crescent headquarters office equipment
Sources in Gaza reported the confiscation of Red Cross files, computers and equipment when de facto government forces broke into the organization's headquarters in Gaza City on Thursday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266301
Fatah condemns Hamas assaults against its official
The Fatah Revolutionary Council condemned on Saturday the refusal of the de facto government to allow the one of the council members to exit the Gaza Strip ... The statement called the decision to detain Hamad "strange," but noted that it corresponded with the de facto government decision to bar a delegation of West Bank Fatah officials from entering Gaza the week before ... In the same statement, the council condemned the gunfire directed at the home of Revolutionary Council member Muhammad Juda An-Nahhal by Hamas gunmen earlier in the week.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266322
Conflicts loom between Hamas, Jihadi Salafists
Gaza observers said on Saturday that the recent mysterious blasts in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip showed unseen conflicts between Islamic Hamas movement and other Islamic extremist groups, better known as the "Jihadi Salafists," pointing out it might turn into violence ... However, the Jihadi Salafists denied in a series of leaflets their responsibilities of the latest blasts in Gaza, saying these bombings are related to internal conflict between commanders of Hamas armed wing Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/6911209.html
Haniyeh: Hamas is united
Hamas is a unified movement, de facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Sunday. “There is no competition for positions, no struggle among the generations. All are here to serve our people, religion and belief,” he said a ceremony in Gaza. Haniyeh said his Hamas-led government is entering a phase of developing security and deepening the rule of law after “restoring security.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266721
Voter registration begins for Palestinian local polls (AFP)
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinian Central Electoral Commission began registering voters on Saturday for municipal elections in July, its president said. “We began registering voters this morning,” Hanna Nasser told a news conference, adding the process would continue until March 16. Last month, the Palestinian Authority said it would hold local elections on July 17 in the Palestinian territories, but the rival Islamist Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip rejected the move as “illegal.”
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/March/
middleeast_March117.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
Hamas calls for boycotting municipal elections
(Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement on Sunday urged Palestinians to boycott municipal elections which the Palestinian government decided to hold in July. Justifying the call, Ahmed Bahar, deputy speaker of the Hamas- dominated Palestinian parliament, said the decision to hold polls "was taken unilaterally and would deepen rift and boost separation." On Saturday, the Central Elections Commission (CEC) started registering eligible voters for the local elections that are supposed to be held in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-03/07/c_13200934.htm
Political developments / Diplomacy
PLO gives approval for indirect talks with Israel (AP)
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A skeptical Palestinian leadership agreed Sunday to begin U.S.-mediated peace talks with Israel, effectively ending a 14-month breakdown in communications between the two sides. Sunday's decision marks a first achievement for U.S. diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. The announcement was made as the U.S. mediator, George Mitchell, was meeting in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD9E9RMVG0
Biden to try to boost Mideast peace prospects (Reuters)
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama dispatches his vice president to the Middle East on Sunday to try to build support for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks despite deep scepticism on both sides.
http://thestar.com.my/news/
Secret Israeli report: US cozying up to Palestinians
...The classified report claims that in the preparatory discussions for the Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks the Obama administration adopted positions that are closer to Palestinian demands. "The recent American statements point to the adoption of wording in line, even if partially and cautiously, with Palestinian demands in regard to the framework and structure of negotiations," the report stated. "Still, the [U.S.] administration is making sure to avoid commenting on its position on core issues."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154530.html
PA moves to ban Palestinians from working in settlements
The Palestinian Authority is moving to prevent Palestinian workers from taking jobs in settlements, as officials Ramallah repeatedly declare their refusal to resume direct negotiations until all Israeli construction in the West Bank is halted. Palestinians vehemently oppose the settlements Israel has built on land they want for a future state. But with unemployment high in the West Bank, thousands of Palestinians work in settlements.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154670.html
Other news
Al-Quds Brigades leaders turn themselves in to PA security
Two leaders of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, turned themselves in to Palestinian Authority Preventative Security Services in Jenin on Saturday. The move followed an Israeli incursion into a number of towns west of Jenin on Wednesday, attempting to locate the two leaders, identified as Ala' Sha'aban Zayoud, 25, and Bajes Adel Hamdia, 32. Relatives of the leaders told Ma'an they have been on Israel's "wanted" list for over eight years on charges of commanding the brigades, and have survived five assassination attempts.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=266510
UN refugee agency for Palestinians in another funding crisis
JERUSALEM -- The 60-year-old U.N. agency that provides education and social services to 4.7 million Palestinian refugees will be asking the United States, its major benefactor - and critic - for more funding and political support this week. U.S. backing is critical to the survival of the agency, according to Filippo Grandi, the Italian-born international civil servant who heads the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which he said was once again in the midst of a funding crisis ... UNRWA has increasingly come under fire, however, most recently by a group of members of Congress led by Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., who during a visit to Israel last month said that UNRWA has "perpetuated" the plight of Palestinians by keeping them in refugee status ... "My pitch to them is that U.S. support is indispensible, and necessary," Grandi said. "Even if you made UNRWA disappear, the refugee problem would continue to exist. We are not the cause of the problem, we are the tool for the international community to deal with this problem."
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/07/1517138/un-refugee-agency-for-palestinians.html
Capital Anglos mobilize against practice of spitting at Christians
Shocked by growing reports about Ultra-Orthodox Jews spitting at Christians in Jerusalem's Old City, a group of Anglo residents is now mobilizing against this ugly practice. Although such incidents reportedly have decreased since a council of Haredi rabbis issued an official condemnation in January in response to the public outcry, Christian and Jewish activists agree the problem is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154366.html
New bill would make conversion insufficient for Israeli citizenship
The bill, put forth by MK David Rotem of Yisrael Beiteinu, is the result of negotiations he held with both Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. According to this legislation, conversion - even if done in Israel - will be insufficient basis for requesting Israeli citizenship. The bill proposes that the Law of Return only be applicable to Jews or their offspring, and not to non-Jews who opted to convert - even if the conversion follows Orthodox procedure in line with state religious courts in Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154520.html
Family unable to bury boy, 16, who died in fall from Netanya roof
The family of Sisai Astan, the 16-year-old who fell to his death from a school roof in Netanya on Saturday, has been unable to find a Jewish burial plot for the youth ... Families that are not considered Jewish by Israeli authorities face burial problems. Sisai's father failed his conversion test because he is not fluent in Hebrew, says the family, and as the sole breadwinner, he lacks the time to study ... The boy's father emigrated to Israel with the child when he was two after his mother died.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154647.html
Comptroller probing charges of discrimination in Haredi schools
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss is examining allegations of ethnic discrimination in the ultra-Orthodox school system ... At the meeting at the Knesset on Tuesday, Lindenstrauss said investigators had already heard testimony from a number of Jewish families of Middle Eastern descent who reported that their children had been discriminated against, primarily in seeking admission to some ultra-Orthodox schools.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1153811.html
Haredim riot over archaeological dig
Border Guard officer injured as ultra-Orthodox protest excavation at Jewish burial cave found in Tzippori
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3859042,00.html
Report: DNA tests support Zimbabwe tribe's claim of Jewish roots
British scientists have succeeded in proving the Lemba tribe of Zimbabwe and South Africa descended from Jewish ancestors, according to a report by the BBC. According to the report, the scientists conducted DNA tests on a large sample of the Lemba people, which confirmed Semitic origins dating back more than two millennia.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154631.html
Israeli women are more educated than men, but still earn less
Israeli women are more educated than men, but earn less. Fewer women are employed in senior positions than men and the majority of those receiving income supplements are women, says a report examining the progress of women's rights in Israel over the past five years. These are some of the findings of the Israel Women's Network's report for 2010, which will be submitted to the UN ahead of International Women's Day Monday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154519.html
Opinion / Analysis / Human interest
Never was and never will be / Gideon Levy
The Israeli peace camp didn't die. It was never born in the first place. While it's true that since the summer of 1967, several radical and brave political groups have been working against the occupation - all worthy of recognition - a large, influential peace camp has never existed here. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154539.html
Indirect talks bring Israel, Palestinians back to square one / Zvi Bar'el
Finally, a ladder has been found that enables Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to descend from the tree he had climbed. The Arab League follow-up committee authorized him to hold indirect talks with Israel. They are not to exceed four months, and the progression to direct talks is dependent on a total freeze on construction in the West Bank settlement. The negotiations, as everyone knows, cannot actually die so once again they are being put on an IV drip.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154540.html
The harlot's grave / Uri Avnery
...THE LATE Yeshayahu Leibowitz, an observant Jew and a resolute opponent of the religious establishment, used to praise a deed of the Wahhabis, the radical sect that arose more than 200 years ago to cleanse Islam of impurity. The first thing they did upon conquering Mecca was to destroy the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad. The sanctification of graves was, to their mind, a pagan abomination. Leibowitz lauded this act and poured his wrath on religious Jews who sanctify “holy” sites.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1267893414/
Feature: Hebron patriarchs' tomb focus of bitter controversy
Hebron, West Bank - Jews and Muslims revere the same forefathers. But in the divided city of Hebron, this common heritage does not create unity, only enmity. "For 1,400 years it was solely a mosque," says Hebron's Palestinian mayor, Khaled Osaily, of the city's main religious shrine. Known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as Me'arat Hamahpela (literally, the Double Cave), the fortress-like, rectangular Cave of the Patriarchs tells a history of conquests.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312734,
hebron-patriarchs-tomb-focus-of-bitter-controversy--feature.html
Once justice dwelled in Jerusalem ,now settlers do / Avraham Burg
Greater, unified Jerusalem is being torn apart. The Israeli - Jewish and Arab - capital is becoming the capital of the hallucinatory, dangerous fanatics. This is not the city of all its residents nor the capital of all its citizens. It is a sad city that belongs to its settlers, its ultra-Orthodox, its violent residents and its messiahs.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154537.html
Twilight Zone: Unanswered questions / Gideon Levy
...Fayez Faraj was the last person who might have been expected to attack Israel Defense Forces soldiers. He had a permit to enter and sleep over in Israel, which few Palestinians are given - and then only after a thorough security check. He had worked for 15 years for Kriza, a footwear company in Tel Aviv, crafting soles for the women's shoes. Aged 41, he spoke Hebrew fluently, hung out in Tel Aviv, had Israeli friends, was well-off economically and lived in a relatively spacious stone home. No one in Hebron believes that Faraj attacked the soldiers. One of his Tel Aviv employers, who asked to remain anonymous, also refuses to believe it.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1153972.html
Weekend interview: 'They need to be liberated from their God'
The 'Son of Hamas' author on his conversion to Christianity, spying for Israel, and shaming his family.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703915204575103481069258868.html
In case you missed it:
I am Israel (6-minute documentary film - English version)
I am Israel. http://iamisrael.com/ For the people who keep saying that this video is Anti-Semitic: Jews against Zionism: http://www.nkusa.org/ "Another" Jews against Zionism: http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/ Jewish Voices for Peace: http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/ Stop Funding Israel: http://stopfundingisrael.com/vids.html by the American Jew, Steve Johnson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4gymxY2zM8
Opposing Israel lobby is not the same as supporting Palestinian rights / David Green
Of the several Jewish-oriented pro-Palestinian websites and blogs to achieve some notoriety over the past several years, that of journalist Philip Weiss seems to have found a secure niche and a loyal following. I commend Weiss for providing a news service that covers the suffering and heroism of the Palestinians, and a forum for many serious voices and views. Nevertheless, I find profoundly disturbing the conventional and often condescending perspectives that seem to dominate this blog: The Lobby, according to Mearsheimer/Walt and Jeffrey Blankfort; the “dual loyalty” of prominent Jewish-American supporters of Israel, according to Weiss; and one-state and boycott, divestment, sanctions as strategy and tactics for the Palestinian rights movement. This analysis marginalizes leftist principles and, more important, pragmatic political action.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15781
My critique of the leftwing critique of Israeli lobby theory /Philip Weiss
...Green is, like Chomsky, whom he quotes a lot, a materialist; he sees wealth as a great motivation for states and political actors. So do I. The error, though, is that they dismiss religious ideology as a political motivator; and in doing so Green shows himself to be shallow and mechanistic. He reminds me of all the commentators who said that the religious right were voting against their economic self-interest in supporting Bush in 2004. Right. People have other motivations than strict material self-interest. AIPAC is filled with rich people who can’t wait to give away their money. They are motivated by ethnocentrism, and Zionism.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/reductivism-sucks.html
J Street - two years after its formation / Dan Lieberman
Two years ago, J Street, a newly registered pro-Israel lobby, hit the American Streets with optimism, vitality and promise. Its thrust: To replace or diminish the punch of the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC). J Street intends to subdue AIPAC’s charge and steer United States Middle East policy to bring peace to the Middle East - a worthy objective reinforced with strong rhetoric – two state solution, achieve regional comprehensive peace, broaden debate on issues, diplomatic solutions favored over military solutions, an immediate and total freeze of settlement construction, Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem to be under Israeli sovereignty and Arab neighborhoods to be under Palestinian sovereignty. Nevertheless, long time critics of Israel’s policies suspect J Street could have unintended consequences; will not achieve objectives and might sidetrack activists from properly engaging Israel.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15780
The Dubai assassination and the 'war on terror' / Patrick O'Connor
The reaction of governments around the world to the murder of Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month underscores the extent to which basic precepts of international law have been torn up under the “war on terror”. As far as the US government and its allies are concerned, extra-judicial executions and so-called targeted killings now constitute a legitimate state activity and do not warrant comment, let alone condemnation.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/pers-m02.shtml
A tale of two Richards / Nadia Hijab
They hail from opposite parts of the globe, but they have much in common: Jewish; experts on and passionate defenders of international law; and pummeling bags for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. And the future of the law of war lies at the heart of the campaigns against them.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2010/03/06/a-tale-of-two-richards/
Israel's Ajami neighborhood in Oscar spotlight
The neighborhood in Jaffa, a mix of Jews and Arabs, rich and poor, hopes the Oscar-nominated 'Ajami' wins, though not all residents are pleased with the area's portrayal as a hard-knocks crime hub.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/mideastemail/la-fg-israel-ajami7-2010mar07,0,2496116.story
Why do Zionists like 'Ajami'? / Michelle J. Kinnucan
Clearly, as an Israeli film, it falls within the scope of Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel (BDS) ... In short, Zionists like Ajami for the reasons pointed to by Raja Shehadeh. The film reinforces negative stereotypes about Arabs-Palestinians and decontextualizes life in Ajami from the socio-political reality of Jewish apartheid and the historical realities of the Nakba and the ongoing occupation of Palestine.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15786
Palestinian sees lesson translating an Israeli's work / Ethan Bronner
Having lost his land to Israel and his father and son to Palestinians, Mr. Khoury is in a rare position to petition both sides to re-examine themselves. A Palestinian nationalist, fluent in Hebrew and English, Mr. Khoury said he believed that the Oz autobiography, with its account of Jewish refugee life here in the 1930s and ’40s, could be a vehicle to help Palestinians and other Arabs see the Jews in a different light.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/world/middleeast/07khoury.html
Iraq
Saturday: 4 Iraqis, 4 Iranians killed, 1 Iraqis, 34 Iranians wounded
Excerpt: Only three successful attacks were reported on election eve; however, one was not only significant, it also harmed pilgrims visiting from Iran. At least four Iraqis and four Iranians were killed. Another 20 Iraqis and 37 Iranians were wounded. Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr made a rare public appearance in Tehran to urge his followers to participate in tomorrow’s election. He had been expected to say a message to his followers; however, many had hoped he would return to Iraq ahead of the election. Any chance of that was dashed when rumors over an arrest warrant for him circulated around Iraq.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/03/06/saturday-3-iraqis-4-iranians-killed-17-iraqis-34-iranians-wounded/
Sunday: 50 Iraqis killed, 133 wounded
Excerpt: As predicted Iraq suffered a barrage attacks during the election day, particularly in Baghdad where scores of blasts were heard across the city. At least 50 Iraqis were killed and 133 more were wounded. Despite the danger, Iraqis did go to the polls in droves, though early morning violence delayed many voters until late afternoon. The polls have already closed, but due to a number of security operations, travel is still curtailed in many cities. U.S. President Obama congratulated Iraqis on their national vote. Due to the massive number of attacks, some media outlets chose to combine casualty figures instead of listing them separately, making an accurate tally more difficult than usual.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/03/07/sunday-50-iraqis-killed-133-wounded/
Iraq after America: From oppressed to governing
Hassan Suneid, like many among Iraq's Shiite elite, is torn between a desire to build a state that transcends sectarian divisions and an instinct to strike back hard against his former oppressors.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/mideastemail/la-fg-iraq-inner-circle7-2010mar07,0,1349613.story
Baghdad diary: At home with Umm Sheyma
I wanted to spend the day with Umm Sheyma and her extended family to get a sense of how the daily challenges of life in Baghdad - the intermittent electricity supply, the endless checkpoints, the underlying fear of violence - was shaping people's views of this election.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8551339.stm
The Iraqi bridge to stability
As Iraq goes to the polls, Gabriel Gatehouse looks at the fragile relationship between Sunni and Shia communities which holds the key to stability in Iraq -- Last time Iraq held parliamentary elections, in 2005, the poll was largely boycotted by Sunni Arab voters, a fact which contributed to years of vicious sectarian fighting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8552174.stm
Other Mideast
Mubarak stable, recovering after gallbladder surgery (Reuters)
BERLIN, March 7 (Reuters) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is making satisfactory progress after successful gallbladder surgery in Germany on Saturday, his doctor and Egypt's health minister said on Sunday ... Mubarak, who gave a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, handed power temporarily to his prime minister before the operation, Egyptian media said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6260EN.htm
Women's rights take baby step forward in Mideast (AFP)
WASHINGTON – Women's rights have inched forward in the Middle East, but gender inequality remains the norm in the region and in some countries the situation has taken a turn for the worse, says a US study. "The Middle East remains the most repressive region when it comes to women's rights but we have noticed some modest gains
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20100307-257135/
Womens-rights-take-baby-steps-forward-in-Mideast
U.S., U.K., and other world news
Jewish leaders work furiously to preempt European adoption of Goldstone report
The Goldstone report could next week receive its most meaningful international endorsement yet, according to Jewish leaders who are working to block a possible adoption of the controversial document by the European Parliament. If the legislative body of the European Union votes Wednesday to adopt the report accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza last year, it would expose the EU's "two-faced attitude to Israel" and come in "strong contradiction" with statements that the EU is a friend of Israel, according to Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1154370.html
7 Muslim men detained by Nevada police for praying in parking lot, civil rights group claims
A Los Angeles Muslim civil rights organization has filed a misconduct complaint and requested an internal investigation of police in Henderson, Nev., after seven Southern California Muslim men were detained and questioned for praying in a parking lot.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/7-muslim-men-
detained-by-nevada-police-for-praying-in-parking-lot-civil-rights-group-claims.html
Report: Pakistan arrests American-born al-Qaeds (AP)
Pakistani intelligence officers say they have arrested Adam Gadahn [born Adam Pearlman], the American-born spokesman for al-Qaeda. Two officers say Gadahn was arrested in the city of Karachi in recent days. Gadahn [also known as Azzam al-Amriki] has been wanted by the FBI since 2004 and two years later was charged with treason. There is a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3859218,00.html
Letting women reach women in Afghan war
...Next month they will begin work as members of the first full-time “female engagement teams,” the military’s name for four- and five-member units that will accompany men on patrols in Helmand Province to try to win over the rural Afghan women who are culturally off limits to outside men. The teams, which are to meet with the Afghan women in their homes, assess their need for aid and gather intelligence, are part of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s campaign for Afghan hearts and minds. His officers say that you cannot gain the trust of the Afghan population if you only talk to half of it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/world/middleeast/07women.html
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