Al-Hadidiyeh, February 2010: Israel effectively pressuring Palestinian Bedouin community to leave the Jordan Valley
B`Tselem - "The Jordan Valley is classified as Area C and is, therefore, under complete Israeli control. Israel has imposed harsh restrictions on building and movement there that apply to Palestinians alone, effectively pushing them to leave area"
http://www.btselem.org/
Four Palestinian citizens receive demolition notices
The Israeli occupation authorities on Friday served four Palestinian citizens with demolition notices for buildings they own at the entrance of Biet Ummar village to the north of al-Khalil.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
MIDEAST: Palestinians Excluded From Bulk of West Bank, Mel Frykberg
IDNA, Occupied West Bank, Feb 27, 2010 (IPS) - Israel’s illegal occupation and continued expropriation of Palestinian land in the West Bank has left 2.5 million Palestinians living there with effectively less than 40 percent of the territory.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?
Israeli settlers celebrate amid Hebron tensions (AFP)
AFP - The settlers sang, danced and drank themselves into a stupor, ignoring the growing outrage of the Palestinians who make up the vast majority of this West Bank town.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Kibbutz Givat Menachem set up again after being dismantled twice before by security forces. 'I guess the army has nothing better to do,' Binyamin Settlers' Committee spokesman says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott,
Weekly Protest Video Round-Up
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Rain and tear gas fail to stop demonstrations
February 27th, 2010-- Despite the stormy weather, anti-Wall activists rallied in demonstrations across the West Bank. Soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators in Bil’in, Nil’in, al-Ma’sara and Nabi Saleh. Prior to the demonstration, Occupation forces also invaded al-Ma’sara, delivering more threats to the local popular committee.
http://stopthewall.org/
Protest Continues In Beit Sahour
Once again, a peaceful demonstration in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, ended with army brutality. Around 80 people marched on Sunday in Oush Grab, in protest of the re-opening of a former military base. Israeli Army fired sound grenades, tear-gas canisters and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. All photos were taken by FLV. “It starts like this: First they take away our land, ruling it as a closed zone for everyone. Then the settlers build outposts. At the end, there is a settlement standing.” Here is the opinion of many in Beit Sahour: The base reoccupation by the Israeli army is the first step towards the construction of a new settlement.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Jordan activists stage sit in to protest Israel heritage listings
Politicians join condemn move to add two West Bank holy sites to the list of Jewish centers.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Egyptians, internationals rally against underground wall
Cairo, Feb. 28, 2010 (Pal Telegraph; by Max Ajl) - The building housing the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate is not beautiful. Its beige concrete is filthy with Cairene grit. Towering, meter-square, concrete columns stand in rows in front of a cobalt blue, mirrored-glass façade, a jarring mix of faux-Greek architecture and modernist conceit. It has a large set of steps in front of it, rising for five or six meters. On Saturday, on those steps, more than 200 Egyptian activists for Palestinian rights, alongside 20 or more international sympathizers, condemned the underground metal wall the Mubarak government is now building on the Gaza-Egypt border.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/
Universities worldwide mark 'Israeli Apartheid Week'
LONDON - A filmmaker, anthropologist and economic researcher are among those headlining events marking what pro-Palestinian organizers have declared as "Israeli Apartheid Week" - and all three speakers are Israeli.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Building international solidarity during Israeli Apartheid Week
Six years since its launch at the University of Toronto, Israeli Apartheid Week is taking place in more than 40 cities in five continents, and is a key event in the yearly calendar of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, launched by more than 170 Palestinian civil society organizations on 9 July 2005. Outside its North American and European centers, IAW is also taking place in South Africa, Palestine, Lebanon and Australia. Ilaria Giglioli comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Global movement joins Hebron protest to ‘Open Shuhada Street’
Last Thursday I joined Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists for the “Open Shuhada Street” demonstration to demand Palestinian access to one of the most important streets in Hebron. Hebron, along with East Jerusalem, is unique in having settlers and Israeli soldiers occupy the very heart of a large Palestinian urban area.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/02/
SF Activists Protest Hebron closures
On a normal Thursday evening, a group of protesters transformed San Francisco's busiest shopping district into a scene which reflected the realities of Palestinian life in Hebron in the West Bank.
http://www.indybay.org/
Hamas, Jihad urge escalation of protests
Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas and Islamic Jihad urged on Sunday an escalation of protests in the West Bank against they perceive as an Israeli assault on Palestinian religious sites. Islamic Jihad staged a mass rally in Gaza denouncing renewed violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and Israel’s recent decision to lay claim to two holy sites in Bethlehem and Hebron.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
In photos: Islamic Jihad rally in Gaza
Islamic Jihad supporters shout slogans as they march in Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip during a rally against an Israeli initiative to nationalize two holy sites in the occupied West Bank, 26 February 2010.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Cultivating Resistance: Khirbet Bir al ‘Idd
Last week, two small, rural outposts were awaiting two payloads from a 4×4 that was snaking its way along the winding, West Bank roads of the South Hebron hills. The first was the material to construct some alternative energy sources for these small communities, the second was an international presence that would aid them in the fight for their legitimacy.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Spanish children urge Israeli envoy to 'stop murdering Palestinians'
Israeli Embassy in Madrid receives hundreds of letters of protest from local pupils. 'Why does Israel murder Palestinians?' one letter notes. Foreign Ministry protests phenomenon.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Josh Ruebner: U.S. Can't Afford Military Aid to Israel
In his recent State of the Union address, President Obama pledged to "go through the budget line by line to eliminate programs that we can't afford and don't work." One week later, he sent his FY2011 budget request to Congress, which included a record-breaking $3 billion in military aid to Israel.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Protest at UC Irvine against Israeli official still reverberates
The strongest reaction to the disruption of the ambassador's speech has come from outside groups, all but drowning out sentiments of students on campus. More than two weeks after 11 students were arrested at UC Irvine for disrupting a speech by the Israeli ambassador, the incident continues to draw sharp reactions from Jewish, Muslim and civil liberty organizations.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/
On-line collection of 300 anti-occupation Jewish video
http://www.youtube.com/user/
Violence and Aggression
Palestinians: 1 dead, 4 injured from IDF fire in Gaza
Sources in Gaza say Israeli force opened fire on group of people near Beit Lahiya, adding that it's unclear whether casualties farmers or gunmen.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3856218,00.html
Medics: Child hit by Israeli military jeep
Nablus – Ma'an – A Palestinian child was struck down by an Israeli military jeep on Monday near the Al-Hamra checkpoint, north of Nablus, witnesses said. Palestine Red Crescent medics later identified the girls as Dalal Abu Sa'da, 6, from Beit Dajan east of Nablus, and said she sustained moderate to serious injuries after she was hit by an Israeli military jeep.
Medics: Child hit by Israeli military jeep
Nablus – Ma'an – A Palestinian child was struck down by an Israeli military jeep on Monday near the Al-Hamra checkpoint, north of Nablus, witnesses said. Palestine Red Crescent medics later identified the girls as Dalal Abu Sa'da, 6, from Beit Dajan east of Nablus, and said she sustained moderate to serious injuries after she was hit by an Israeli military jeep.
Siege/Humanitarian Issues/Human RightsIOF sets up two checkpoints in Hebron
March 1, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - Israeli occupation forces set up today morning two main checkpoints on the northern and southern entrances of Hebron where they stopped cars and citizens and checked out their ID cards. Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli occupation forces established a military checkpoint at the main entrance of north Hebron. They added that Israeli soldiers stopped the citizens and their cars for a while under the rain to humiliate them. The Israeli occupation soldiers set up military barrier on Al-Fawar crossroad, the main road to Dura town, where they stopped and humiliated the citizens too. The Israeli occupation forces continuously humiliate the citizens in different areas in Hebron while the city lives great tension following the decision of the Israeli occupation to seize Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi and Bilal Mosque to the historical sites of "Israel".
http://www.paltelegraph.com/
"Sleepless in Gaza...and Jerusalem" Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
American father struggles to reunite with Gazan wife and son
Kansas City, US, March 1, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - In Gaza, a 1-year-old boy sees pictures of his daddy and says, "Baba." In Kansas City, Baba toils away in his car-repair shop. He longs to embrace the son he has never met, whose wartime birth made the news, and to reunite with his wife. Texts and cell phone photos from the Middle East help Yaser Wishah only so much.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/
War Criminals
Tzipi Livni: "the ONLY targets are Military targets" A Video by Shadi Nassar
http://palestinethinktank.com/
Russell Tribunal aims to hold the international community to account
Today, the first session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RTP) will be held in Barcelona. The RTP is a peoples' tribunal focusing not on Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law such as the Fourth Geneva Convention, but on the obligations of the international community of signatory states which sustain and enable Israel's continuous violations of international law. Frank Barat comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Israel's Arab Helpers
Uraikat: Hamas a block to peace
Sa'eb Uraikat, the senior negotiator of the PA in Ramallah with the IOA, said in a document published on Friday in Ha'aretz that Hamas was a block before the peace process.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, "PA Security Forces Arrest PFLP Comrades in Nablus"
PFLP Political Bureau member Khalida Jarrar notes that the Nablus arrests come alongside other arrests throughout the West Bank targeting the PFLP and other resistance factions.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.
Egyptian police detain Gaza child inside smuggling tunnel
Al-Arish – Ma'an – Egyptian security arrested a Palestinian child working inside a smuggling tunnel in the Salah Ad-Din area in Rafah on Monday, reportedly extracting him from the subterranean passage beneath Egyptian soil. Egyptian security forces were searching the area when they located 14-year-old Mustapha Shukry as he hooked up pallets of goods to transport machinery in the tunnel. The security unit removed the child, searched the tunnel for additional workers then began setting up explosives that would destroy the passage, they said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Political Developments and Diplomacy
Irish councilmen snub Israeli ambassador
Irish newspaper reports town councilmen voted to rip out page of town's visitor's book signed by Israel's Ambassador Zion Evrony.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Barghouthi: No peace with a settler government
Ramallah - Ma'an - "It is time to impose sanctions and an international boycott on Israel," Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Barghouthi said Friday. "The Israeli government has proved time and again that it is a government of settlements and settlers, and means to destroy the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state," the leader said, after being hospitalized for tear-gas inhalation during protests in Hebron.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Extra-judicial Assassination
Dubai: Israelis will be denied UAE entry (AP)
AP - Dubai's police chief says travelers, suspected of being Israeli will not be allowed into the United Arab Emirates even if they arrive with alternative passports.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Dubai police chief: Israel's Mossad has insulted us
Israel's intelligence agency Mossad has insulted Dubai and countries whose forged passports were used by its agents in the assassination of a Hamas military commander last month, Dubai's police chief said on Monday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Dubai murder suspects hiding out in Israel: police (AFP)
AFP - Dubai's police chief said on Monday the suspects in a Hamas chief's assassination in the emirate are now hiding out in Israel to avoid arrest and urged the Jewish state to wage its wars at home.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Report: 2 Mabhouh assassins traveled to US
Wall Street Journal reports one suspect in slaying of Hamas commander in Dubai entered US using Irish passport day after hit, while another suspect followed some three weeks later using British passport. Source says no records of two leaving country. Meanwhile, Dubai police chief says 27th suspect identified.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
MJ Rosenberg: AIPAC Decides Next Week If California Senate Candidate Passes Muster on Israel
Get a load of this. The lobby that supposedly doesn't exist is being called in to determine if a GOP candidate for the US Senate, Tom Campbell, is sufficiently devoted to Israel's interests. Those who reject the idea that the lobby is the 800 pound gorilla in American politics will say this is normal. I suppose it would be if the French, Italians and Japanese were able to throw this kind of weight around and get away with it. But they don't and can't.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Ehud Barak: a few facts to remember, As`ad Abukhalil
Israeli terrorist, Ehud Barak, who shot Palestinian poet, Kamal Nasir, along with his girlfriend in their bed while they slept, along with other terrorist crimes that he has committed, spoke in Washington, DC the other day. He was raving and making threats against Lebanon and "its infra structures". Imagine if an Arab makes threats against Israeli civilian targets. Can you imagine the uproar? The UN Security Council would have met, I swear. And when an Arab responds by saying, that IF Israel were to attack us, we will attack back, the entire Western press carries sensational headlines to the effect that: Arabs are making threats at poor Israel.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
Moshe Dayan's widow: Israel doesn't know how to make peace, Gideon Levy
"Perhaps this perpetuated the occupation?
That could be. I don't think it did. Even Arafat, the man who would kiss me when we met, told me he admired Moshe. Even the Jordanian chief of staff told me in 1948: "What a pleasure it is having your husband as an enemy." His behavior toward the Arabs was positive even after the Six-Day War. He would travel alone to Nablus; he liked being with them. He had a dialogue with them. Today, who talks with them? For the current government, peace is just a word.
Have you lost hope for peace?
I think Zionism has finished its work. I've endured many wars and I can't ignore the fact that they didn't want us. When I go to the territories, I don't even bother instilling hope in them. Out of courtesy, I tell them that I hope something will change, but the deterioration is just awful. Particularly the fence. This is something I can't tolerate."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Naomi Klein: they are trying to ‘extremize’ us
Last week Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that "pro-Palestinian extremists have sought the head of Ethan Bronner." This is not true. Among those who have pushed for Bronner to be reassigned (not fired) are NYT public editor Clark Hoyt, Alison Weir, Ali Abunimah, and, I believe, MJ Rosenberg and Richard Silverstein. None of them is an extremist.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/Last week Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that "pro-Palestinian extremists have sought the head of Ethan Bronner." This is not true. Among those who have pushed for Bronner to be reassigned (not fired) are NYT public editor Clark Hoyt, Alison Weir, Ali Abunimah, and, I believe, MJ Rosenberg and Richard Silverstein. None of them is an extremist.
Bombs won't fix Israel's problem
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was at it again during a weekend speech in Washington; while we acknowledge that he gave a succinct and accurate picture of the demographic reality facing his country, we regret that his and Israel's only reaction to the situation appears to be to export their problem to the destabilization and misfortune of the region.Barak put it bluntly: Soon there will be more Arabs than Jews in Israel.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
The decline of the Israeli Right and the increasing desperation of the "anti-Semitism" charge
Juan Cole - Informed Comment - The great divide between liberal Jewish Americans and the Israeli Right has lurked as an issue since the Likud Party first challenged Labor dominance in the late 1970s. It is now coming to a boiling point, even as Israel`s reputation in the world is sinking. As rightwing policies more visibly fail, the Likudniks are flailing around making fools of themselves by smearing critics of those policies as racists. (Anyone who knows how Likud supporters talk among themselves about Arabs and other outsiders can only be amused at their impudent hypocrisy in playing the race card.)
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_
Ending Imbalanced Reporting On Israel Is In Everyone’s Interest
Sunday, February 28, 2010, According to the Talmud, “It is forbidden to even harbor in one’s possession an unbalanced weight or measuring implement—even if there’s no intention to use it.”, While the sages wrote specifically about weights and measures, in many ways newspapers and the media are modern-day measuring tools we use to get a sense of the world around us. We judge whom we admire and with whom we side, versus whom we dislike or regard as an enemy often based on media reports. The unfortunate reality is that hardly a day goes by without an unfair, distorted report on Israel from reporters who seem to have their thumb on the scale. Here are but a few areas of misportrayal.
http://thebulletin.us/
Judith Butler: Identity ‘allegiance’ stands in the way of peace
Here is Judith Butler, interviewed by Udi Aloni in Haaretz, and speaking about the strict construction of Jewish identity and how that process must be taken apart so that people in Israel/Palestine can live together. Note that in the second half of the interview, Butler makes a very strong BDS call.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/Here is Judith Butler, interviewed by Udi Aloni in Haaretz, and speaking about the strict construction of Jewish identity and how that process must be taken apart so that people in Israel/Palestine can live together. Note that in the second half of the interview, Butler makes a very strong BDS call.
‘NYT’ Op-Ed congratulates Obama for laying off Israel ’cause solving I/P won’t solve anything, Jeffrey Blankfort
Has the NY Times response to the complaints about Ethan Bronner led it to be even more forceful in pushing its pro-Israel agenda including getting the US to attack Iran? Apparently so. In today’s op-eds, they’ve imported the thoughts of a British Jewish professor, Efraim Karsh, (another Bernard Lewis, and a Nakba denier) who uses his abbreviated paternalistic version of Islamic history to conclude that the Arabs countries will not object to the US attacking Iran. And, in passing, he welcomes Washington’s less "imperious" attempts at bringing Israel to the bargaining table:
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/02/
Martin Indyk's 'conversion', Helena Cobban
Back in the late 1980s, when I was working in Washington as a writer/researcher on the Middle East, with several years of experience as a Beirut-based correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor and other serious MSM outlets, and two books (on the PLO and Lebanon) already to my name, there was another researcher in town, about my age, who was much better plugged-in to the corridors of power and to sources of seemingly endless funding than I was. His name was Martin Indyk. He hadn't actually done any major writing or research projects by then. But oh, he had been deputy research director at AIPAC! (Working for the infamous Steve Rosen.) And he parlayed that into getting funding from some big California-based money people to set up his own, always staunchly pro-Israeli "think tank", the so-called Washington Institute for Near East Policy...
http://justworldnews.org/
Growth that Palestine can believe in
A rise in GDP may look good on paper, but it obscures the public's daily hardship and the need for real political changes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Whether One State or Two, Settlements Need to Go
With the option of two-state solution continually dwindling in the face of Israeli expansionist measures on the ground, other ideas have been rising to the surface, including the age-old bi-national state or a Palestinian state where a small settler population remains. While the first idea of establishing a nation for Palestinians and Israelis alike on all of historical Palestine would seem the most appealing, it is highly unlikely that this would ever happen for one reason. Israel, in its current state, would never accept the notion of a non-Jewish country, which is exactly what would happen if the two peoples merged.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.
Tariq Shadid – Palestine is full of heroes
idf pushing backAlthough people in our modern times have been educated to believe that having the 'right' ideas, methods or ideologies is what causes revolutions, history teaches us that drastic changes usually happen when the majority of the people rally behind a certain leader, more than behind an ideology. While Palestinian society continues to be torn apart by factional strife, and people increasingly see each other as adversaries based on differences of opinion or conviction, what they really need is not a new philosophy, but simply a truly charismatic leader. We may idealize human intellect and enlightenment, but in practice, human social biology usually proves to be stronger than ideology. While most people today believe that their strength lies in the success of their perceived Utopian model of society, and that the ideas of a prominent persona are more important than his personal characteristics, their behavior is often indicative of the opposite. Being herd animals, changes usually happen when the majority of the human herd flocks behind a leader who is perceived as charismatic, strong, sympathetic and courageous.
http://palestinethinktank.com/
Iraq
Sunday: 4 Iraqis Killed, 21 Wounded
At least four Iraqis were killed and 21 more were wounded in central and northern Iraq. Thousands of Christians and supporters spent the day protesting attacks against the minority group. Meanwhile, P.M. Maliki came out in support of an election blacklist while distancing from its creators.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Iraqi death toll rises markedly in February (AFP)
AFP - The number of Iraqis killed in violence last month was nearly double the toll for January, authorities said Monday, just days before voters go to the polls in nationwide parliamentary elections.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Iraq VP slams corruption, urges a vote for 'change' (AFP)
AFP - Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi has warned that corruption and sectarian divisions were rife in his country but the March 7 general election was an opportunity to turn things around.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Refugees watch Iraqi elections with doubts and hopes
Source: UNHCR Many refugees hope the March 7 parliamentary elections in Iraq will restore security and allow the safe return of hundreds of thousands of them.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Member of Iraqi royal family sets sights on parliamentary seat
Sharif Ali bin Hussein, a descendant of Iraq's second king, is convinced of the need for a constitutional monarchy with him at the helm, but for now is only fighting for a seat in parliament.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Najaf's return as a religious tourist destination
The city of Najaf in Iraq is thriving as a religious tourist destination for Shia Muslims, with thousands of Iranians making a weekly pilgrimage to the sacred Imam Ali shrine. Could it be challenging the Iranian city of Qom as the centre of Shia religious authority?
As we entered the courtyard of the shrine, the shouting and bustle of the street faded away, and we heard the sound of singing, and the dull rhythmic thudding of fists beating chests.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
Lebanon
Who is the most powerful?
Look at this picture. I feel it speaks for itself, in that Nasrallah seems the dominant one. That is why I find it laughable how in the US press they view Nasrallah as a mere tool of Ahmadinajad.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
Report: 5 Israeli spy suspects detained in Lebanon
Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV reported that five Lebanese citizens have been detained on suspicion of spying for Israel, raising the number of suspects captured this week to six.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israeli spies in Lebanon
Several Lebanese intelligence agencies have succeeded in uncovering some 26 or more networks of Israeli spies in Lebanon. One of those intelligence agencies (which works closely with Prince Muqrin) stumbled on Israeli spies by accident. It was monitoring Hizbullah leaders and by accident it discovered that somebody else is...monitoring Hizbullah leaders.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
Agent Michel Abdo Admits Involvement in Awali's Assassination
Day after another, more Israeli spy networks "collapse" and more "secrets" are discovered…, Security sources told Al-Manar on Monday that agent Michel M. Abdo has admitted during investigations his involvement in the assassination of Resistance Martyr Ghaleb Awali., The sources said that a group of the Israeli Mossad has met with the mentioned agent at his home where that planned the assassination and its execution., Meanwhile, a military force detained a resident of Tripoli in northern Lebanon on suspicion of collaborating with the Israeli Mossad. The suspect, Jawdat H., was taken in for interrogation.
http://almanar.com.lb/
Nasrallah: Israel incapable of starting war
Hezbollah chief tells Syrian, Iranian presidents 'Zionist regime engaging in psychological warfare'.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
MP Moussawi Says US Embassy in Lebanon “State within a State”
28/02/2010 Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Nawwaf Moussawi called on Sunday for putting an end to US Ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison’s interference in Lebanese affairs. “She does not commit to norms and diplomacy limits,” he said, adding “The US Embassy in Lebanon is a state within the state.” According to Moussawi, US security services meddle with Lebanese politics and constitute a threat to Lebanon. He also said that the US interference participates in Israeli violations of Lebanese national security, because, “Whatever the Americans know about Lebanon, they pass it on to the Zionist enemy.” This comes after daily As-Safir’s report last week that the US Embassy in Lebanon requested information from the forensic investigation chief of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) on communications in Lebanon, including details on cellular phone networks and their locations.
http://almanar.com.lb/
Report: US tells Lebanon can't stop Israeli strike
Al-Hayat newspaper says US secretary of state conveys message to Lebanese parliament speaker saying Washington cannot stop Israel from striking in Lebanon as long as arms smuggling to Hezbollah continues.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Let's calm down on Syria and Hezbollah
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has visited Syria four times, twice during the past year. Bashar Assad has visited Tehran four times since Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005. If reciprocal visits by the presidents of Iran and Syria are cause for panic, let's calm down: the balance between the two has been preserved. Hamas leader Khaled Meshal has also visited Tehran many times, most recently in December, so his meeting with Ahmadinejad last week is not unusual. If Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are planning a war against Israel, they don't need showcase meetings. But why not panic when you can panic? Why not see every meeting as a threat?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
U.S. and other world news
John Kerry: Israel knows not to act alone against Iran's nuclear program
The United Sates does not believe Israel will act on its own against Iran's nuclear program, Democratic U.S. Senator John Kerry told reporters in Jerusalem on Monday, adding that Washington and Israel were in agreement as to how to deal with the issue.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
MIDDLE EAST: Israelis suspected of using Australian passports to spy on Iran, Syria and Lebanon, report says
A stunning report in this weekend's Sydney Morning Herald alleges that Australian counterintelligence officials are investigating at least three Israeli citizens suspected of using Australian passports to spy in the Middle East.According to two unnamed Australian intelligence sources cited in the Morning Herald report, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization, or ASIO, has for at least six months been investigating three Australian-Israeli dual nationals who allegedly have been working for the Israeli national intelligence agency the Mossad.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.
Arab governments are dumb if they don't check every Australian visitor for 10 hours at the airport
"A stunning report in this weekend's Sydney Morning Herald alleges that Australian counterintelligence officials are investigating at least three Israeli citizens suspected of using Australian passports to spy in the Middle East. According to two unnamed Australian intelligence sources cited in the Morning Herald report, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization, or ASIO, has for at least six months been investigating three Australian-Israeli dual nationals who allegedly have been working for the Israeli national intelligence agency the Mossad. The three suspected Mossad spies are Australian nationals who emigrated to Israel at some point over the last 10 years, a relatively common step for Australian Jews. But these three might have aroused authorities' suspicions when they traveled back to Australia to change their names multiple times, turning their "European-Jewish" sounding names into more "Anglo-Australian" names, according to the report. Then the alleged operatives used their Australian passports to enter Iran, Syria and Lebanon, which do not recognize Israel, the report says. One even sought the help of the Australian Embassy in Tehran in 2004, the report says. The Morning Herald contacted two of the men, who vehemently denied being involved in any espionage activities." Arab government should at least wait before they allow Australians to enter their lands especially that Australians with Israeli passports are entering Arab countries to kill Arabs.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
Rampant sectarian violence is undermining Egypt's society
A complex and rampant phenomenon in Egyptian society, sectarian violence, has been infesting Egypt for a long time. It has been spawned by a host of economic, social and cultural woes.There is a direct and undeniable link between the emergence of these tensions in the Egyptian political landscape and the political system that has been in place since the 1952 military coup.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Splitting Egypt's political atom | Khaled Diab
Mohamed ElBaradei is no stranger to explosive – even nuclear – situations. As head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he managed, using his legal and diplomatic expertise, to diffuse tensions over Iran's nuclear programme between the bomb-ho George Bush in Washington and the hot-headed radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran. His astute diplomacy even earned him the Nobel peace prize in 2005.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
An appeal to anti-war organizations & activists to oppose the increasing threats against Iran
The U.S. government claims that Iran represents a serious threat to the Middle East region and the entire world. Without a shred of evidence
http://www.campaigniran.org/
Eugene Rogan,The Arabs: A History. A Critical Review, As`ad Abukhalil
I have been looking forward to this book by Rogan (seen above, to the left). Really. I like the sweeping histories of the Middle East--when they are good. I am still biased: I am not ashamed to admit that I like and enjoy Philip Hitti's classic. That volume is a work of art: the man read all that was available in every language and distilled the best nuggets. And with the pen, Hitti was an artist, methodological problems aside. Hitti's book has not been surpassed since, in my judgement. I also am a fan of Ira Lapidus' History of Islamic Societies. It is a majestic work: covering so much (too much perhaps) but meticulously researched and organized.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
Eugene Rogan: and writing the history of the Arabs (II), As`ad Abukhalil
I received a few responses to my critical review of Rogan's book, but I will keep responses that I have received from some of his students to myself. But a well-known professor of Middle East studies in the UK wrote me this (she/her does not want to be identified but I cite with her/his permission): "i thought you'd be really pissed off by the the last bit of the book where he says that there is still hope, and then he points to the Emirates, for potato's sake! He says that the Dubai miracle and "democracy" is a symbol of the great future to come! And not a word about the labourers." I will take this as a chance to add a few notes. I totally agree with my colleague here. I could have said more, on this and other. Nobody who understands Arabic would describe Arab Gulf media as "free". And certainly no one would talk about Saudi Arabia as "broadening participation" (p. 496). He also channels Thomas Friedman in talking about the Arab Human Development report and says that it is "written by Arabs, for Arabs". Oh, no it is not.
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