Land Theft and Destruction
Israeli PM: Israel must keep Jordan Valley
JERUSALEM — Israel won't pull out of a key part of the West Bank even if there's a peace agreement with the Palestinians, the prime minister told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. Benjamin Netanyahu was referring to the Jordan River Valley, along the eastern border of the West Bank. Israel considers control of the border vital to block the flow of weapons from Jordan to the Palestinians.
http://www.google.com/
IOA plans demolition of tens of Palestinian homes in Silwan
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) is planning to demolish tens of Palestinian homes in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem, south of the Aqsa Mosque, in order to build a public park.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
MK Tibi: Barkat behaving like pyromaniac in east Jerusalem
Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) commented on reports of Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat's plan to legalize the Arab construction in the city and said he was "behaving like pyromaniac starting fires and rows in east Jerusalem." Tibi also added, "He should be blocked before it is too late in order to prevent violence." Tibi's statements come following Barkat's decision to create a national park in Silwan in the place of houses to be demolished or evacuated.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
US slams new Jerusalem settlements as 'counter-productive' (AFP)
AFP - The United States criticized Israel on Monday for authorizing more Jewish settlements in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, describing the move as "counter-productive."
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Will Israel heritage sites spark next Palestinian intifada?
The declaration of two biblical tombs in the West Bank as Israel heritage sites last week sparked clashes. Though Monday was quiet, some fear a new Palestinian intifada in response.
http://www.csmonitor.com/
Three more houses demolished in Gaza orchards bulldozed wheat fields destroyed, just so.
Eva Bartlett - Ingaza Blog - Of the three collectively-punished families, Abdel Hai Abu Said’s is the luckiest, although in addition to his house he lost 5 dunams of olive and date trees, and the 150 pigeons he bred. By most standards, Abdel Hai’s home is not habitable… yet in one room with 45 degree angle walls the family of 10 crowds nightly to take cover from the cold and rain.
http://www.countercurrents.
Israel forces Palestinians out of Jordan Valley
Al-Hadidiyeh, March 2, 2010 (Pal Telegraph)- 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 the Palestinians alone, effectively pushing them to leave area. The Civil Administration does not allow the Palestinians to build in Bedouin areas in the valley and systematically demolishes the temporary structures in which they live and raise their flocks. The army limits the movement of the Palestinians between the valley and the rest of the West Bank, allowing only the Palestinians registered as residents of the valley to enter it in private vehicles. The Palestinians from elsewhere in the West Bank are allowed to enter only on foot or by public transportation. The separation of the Jordan Valley from the rest of the West Bank severely infringes the human rights of many Palestinians.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/
Border Control / The outposts are still in
Next week will be five years since the publication of the report on the outposts by former top prosecutor attorney Talia Sasson at the request of prime minister Ariel Sharon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott,
With my life and soul I will free you Palestine-Demonstrators in Gaza
Thirty activists from the Local Initiative Beit Hannoun and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) participated in the weekly demonstration asking for Palestinian land to be returned to its rightful owners. The activists gathered at the site of the University College for Agriculture which now lies in rubble following air attacks during operation Cast Lead.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Palestinians in Damascus protest Israel's shrine plan
Damascus, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators gathered on Friday in Yarmouk refugee camp in suburban Damascus, protesting Israel's plans to include historical sites located in the West Bank to its heritage list.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Israeli Apartheid Week is here--and the world is taking notice!
Today kicks off the 6th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week, an international effort to raise awareness of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and to strengthen the global movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli occupation and apartheid. US Campaign member groups and supporters are joining organizations and individuals around the world in events and actions to educate, mobilize, and empower their communities toward a just peace based on international law, human rights, and equality for all.
http://endtheoccupationblog.
International call to action in solidarity with Sheikh Jarrah
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/
Land Day to be marked with Global BDS Day of Action
The BDS National Committee (BNC) is calling on you to unite in your different capacities and struggles for a Global BDS Day of Action on 30 March 2010 in solidarity with the Palestinian people and for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The BNC calls on people of conscience and their organizations around the globe to mobilize in creative, concrete and visible BDS actions to make this day a historic step in the movement against Israel's apartheid, colonialism and occupation, for accountability of the oppressor and for the fulfillment of the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people.
http://electronicintifada.net/
An Open Letter to the Pixies
We are a group of Israeli human rights activists. We heard through the media that you are planning a concert in Israel in June. As much as some of us are huge fans and would love to hear your show, we won't cross the international picket line that is growing in numbers steadily nowadays to come and see you.The picket line might not always be visible; yet it is there. Are you prepared to perform in Tel-Aviv while just under your nose millions of human beings are suffocating under a cruel Israeli military regime, denying them elementary human rights? Please take a few minutes to consider our appeal.
http://boycottisrael.info/
Phony website counters Israel's PR campaign
Information Ministry believes Palestinians or radical leftists behind launching of website containing footage of Palestinian casualties, IDF soldiers' funerals. 'This site offers a different, more complete picture of the issues at hand,' homepage reads. Ministry plans to file police complaint.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
IDF recording license plates of Israeli anti-fence protesters
Amira Hass - Haaretz - A document was presented to a number of left-wing activists during the last three Friday demonstrations in Bil`in and Na`alin. The activists were forbidden from crossing the Rantis checkpoint. At one occasion a soldier asked whether they belong to the "anarcho-mobile" - the term activists use among themselves. "Perhaps they are listening in on our phone calls, looking into our e-mails, or they have a snitch."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Soldiers prevent filming in West Bank
Although the army states that filming in the Occupied Territories is permitted, B'Tselem's staff and volunteers have been harassed, and even assaulted, by soldiers and officers while filming in the West Bank.
http://www.btselem.org/
Boycott committee rejects French PM's smearing of movement
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee is deeply disturbed by the inaccurate and inflammatory insinuations made by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon during his speech at the annual dinner of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, 3 February 2010. Fillon's remarks came in the context of expressing commitment to fighting anti-Semitism, implying that the boycott against Israeli products may somehow be anti-Semitic.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Canadian human rights org is swallowed by the Israel lobby, Philip Weiss
When people tell me that in harping on the Israel lobby, I am seeing a conspiracy, I say they are correct, and respond that in 1858, Lincoln pushed the rise of the Republican Party because he saw a "conspiracy" of all the existing political structures– northern Democrat, southern Democrat, Whig, presidency, Supreme Court, Congress, the eastern press– in the racist colonization of Kansas/Nebraska in violation of the affirmed US policy, the Missouri compromise, which is a very neat parallel to the complete cooperation of the American power structure in the racist colonization of the West Bank in violation of stated U.S. policy. You simply cannot talk about foreign policy in that region without talking about the influence of the lobby. And things are even worse now in Canada, where the orthodoxy is more extreme (and the power structure is solidified by Sidney Crosby). Here is an amazing piece in Maclean’s showing how a human rights organization has been taken over by neoconservatives with one concern, Israel.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
Israel Ballet bombs (artistically) in DC
The Israel Ballet, which reportedly receives around $1 million annually in funding from the Israeli government, gave a performance Saturday in suburban Washington DC that was panned by influential WaPo dance critic Sarah Kaufman.
http://justworldnews.org/
Aggression/Violence/Detentions
39 army raids, 28 arrests: Just another day in the West Bank
"The year 2009 was the quietest for Israelis from the security point of view and the most violent for the Palestinians from the point of view of attacks by settlers in the West Bank."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Report: Israel Kills Four Palestinians, Detains 300 In February
Israel's military had killed four Palestinians and detained 300 others during the month of February 2010, the International Solidarity association for Human Rights reported on Monday.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
IOF soldiers raid southern Gaza, cut trees and round up 19 in WB
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided agricultural areas east of Khan Younis to the south of the Gaza Strip at an early hour on Tuesday, local sources said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Four civilians detained by Israeli troops during raids targeting West Bank
Four Palestinian civilians were detained by Israeli troops on Monday during military invasions targeting a number of West Bank communities. Local sources announced that those invasions targeted the southern West Bank city of Hebron as well as Nablus and Jenin, northern west Bank.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Humanitarian Issues/Siege/Human Rights
12-year-old Child To Be Prosecuted As An Adult By An Israeli Military Court
The Israeli Authorities decided to file charges against a 12-year-old Palestinian child from the southern West Bank city of Hebron after arresting him and charging him with throwing stones at the Israeli military.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Under blockade, coastal Gaza now a fish importer (AP)
AP - Gaza's desperate fishermen, hemmed in by an Israeli sea blockade, have found new ways of hauling in their daily catch: They're sneaking into Egyptian waters in tiny motorboats and buying fish from their Egyptian counterparts.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
PHOTO GALLERY: Mud brick houses in Gaza
GAZA CITY Tuesday, March 02, 2010 (IRIN) - More than 4,036 houses in the Gaza Strip were totally destroyed or beyond repair in the aftermath of Israel’s 23-day conflict with Hamas from 27 December 2008 to 17 January 2009, according to an April 2009 UNRWA and UN Development Programme assessment.
http://www.irinnews.org/
Israel's Arab Helpers
Hamas: PA security detained three supporters in West Bank
Bethlehem – Ma'an – Palestinian Authority security forces detained three Hamas supporters across the West Bank, the movement reported on Tuesday. The alleged detentions followed accusations of three seizures on Monday night. According to a statement, the most recent activity targeted supporters in the Jenin and Tulkarem governorates.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Hamas leader disowns son for spying for Israel (AFP)
AFP - A jailed senior Hamas leader disowned his son on Monday after the young man admitted to having spied on the Islamist group for Israel and playing a major role in the arrest of senior militants.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Report: Gaza police chief's car bombed
Gaza – Ma’an – A bomb was detonated in the car of the Gaza police operations chief on Monday morning, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said. “At approximately 06:00 on Monday, 01 March 2010, unknown persons detonated a bomb in a car belonging to Talal Banat, 44, chief of police operations in Gaza, when it was parked near his house in al-Nasser Street in the north of Gaza City,” PCHR said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
War Criminals and their Enablers
Israel`s report to the UN misstates truth
The report praises the military`s investigative and judicial systems, ignoring essential flaws in their operation. To date, only one soldier who participated in Operation Cast Lead has been prosecuted - for stealing a credit card. B`Tselem again urges Israel to immediately establish an independent, non-military investigative apparatus.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_
Funding Israeli Militarism and Occupation
From birth, Israel was a regional menace until America became its benefactor in the late 1960s. Now it's a global one, powerful with a large standing army and the latest weapons and technology, nuclear armed and ready to use them. It's belligerent on the slightest pretext or none at all, and a threat to world peace and security because US administrations since Lyndon Johnson supported a nation of 5.6 millions in an area the size of New Jersey, partnering in its worst crimes and abuses.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Political Developments and Diplomacy
U.S. answers not yet enough for Mideast talks: Dahlan (Reuters)
Reuters - A Palestinian official said on Monday the United States had yet to give adequate answers to Palestinian queries on a proposal for indirect negotiations with Israel.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Christian MP dismayed at blocking Dweik from entering PLC
Hussam Al-Tawil, the independent Christian PLC member said that PLC speaker Dr. Aziz Dweik is entitled to enter the PLC premises in Ramallah and to exercise his duties as chairman of the council.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Dweik denounces obstruction of PLC session
Dr. Aziz Dweik has strongly denounced those responsible for blocking the PLC emergency session on Monday that was supposed to discuss Israeli attacks on Islamic holy shrines.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
SMH: Australia abandons Israel in UN vote
Australia has softened its traditionally staunch support for Israel in the United Nations but denied it was linked to tensions over the country's apparent use of forged Australian passports in an assassination in Dubai.
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=
Hamas Official: prisoner exchange talks "playful"
GAZA, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Germany-sponsored talks to free an Israeli soldier for Palestinian prisoners "became playful," a Hamas official said Monday, blaming Israel for "violating all previous agreements." "The Israeli side canceled everything that had been agreed upon and wanted to draw up a swap unilaterally and impose it on us," Mahmoud Zahar, a member of Hamas' politburo, told reporters in Gaza. Thus, the talks "became playful and can't go on."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Indian premier: Palestinian state key to stability
RIYADH: India's Premier Manmohan Singh said on Monday that an independent Palestinian state was key to Middle East stability and discussed energy and regional security during a visit to Saudi Arabia."There is no issue more important for peace.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Extra-Judicial Assassination
Hamas: Jordan or Egypt likely behind Dubai hit
Hamas suspects the security forces of an Arab state were behind the assassination of a senior group operative in Dubai earlier this year, the Al-Quds Al-Araby daily reported on Tuesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Australian police head to Israel on passport probe (AFP)
AFP - Australia said Tuesday it will send police to Israel to investigate how Australian passports were used in an elaborate assassination plot in which a senior Hamas figure was killed in Dubai.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Dubai puts wind under the wings of… Goldstone
Wow, I missed this. Fallout from Dubai assassination is hurting Israel’s push against Goldstone!! "Australia Abandons Israel." You see, Australia abstained on the vote in the UN calling for further investigation of the Gaza onslaught, stemming from the Goldstone Report. And France and England switched their votes, to call for more investigation.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
The Assassins in Dubai
The assassination of Hamas commander, Mahmoud Al Mabhouh in Dubai on January 19th underscored the ruthlessness of Israeli politics in the region and how it intends to project its un-checked power onto the Arab states. At the beginning, Dubai was taken aback by this brazen assassination which took advantage of the open-door policy with which Dubai treats European and American citizens. Arab and Israeli press reported that the governments of Dubai and the UAE did not wish to have this issue blown out of control so as not to tarnish the image of this economic powerhouse emirate.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Other News
AP: Israel factor could derail Armenian genocide resolution, Philip Weiss
The House is preparing to condemn the World War I-era genocide of Armenians by Turkey. The AP has a good story on the politics of the resolution that points out that Israel is as usual a factor in our foreign policy. (Though note that in this instance, many of the good actors, including Adam Schiff and Hillary Clinton, are strongly pro-Israel. So no, these matters are not simple.)
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
Farrakhan: Obama is targeted by U.S. Jewish lobby, Zionists
U.S. President Barack Obama is targeted because of standing up to the Jews who control American politics as well as its economy, the Chicago Sun Times quoted the leader of Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan as saying on Monday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Police: Girl gang raped for 3 years
Thirteen boys from affluent Tel Aviv neighborhood charged with rape, abuse of 15-year old.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Sex segregation continues in Jerusalem Municipality
Many municipal employees, including religious councilmen, outraged over decision to hold liturgical poems event for men only.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
No country would accept Netanyahu's conditions for peace, Akiva Eldar
The decision to add the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb to the list of historical heritage sites up for renovation was not made with the intention of inflaming tempers and sabotaging efforts to revive final-status talks with the Palestinians. It was merely a routine move by a rightist government, further proof that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "two states" speech at Bar-Ilan University was a milestone on the road to nowhere. The only difference between "the rock of our existence" that launched the Western Wall tunnel violence in 1996 and the 2010 model is that this time Netanyahu is wearing a mask, trying to pass himself off as peace activist Uri Avnery, with the generous help of Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
NY Times' Jerusalem property makes it protagonist in Palestine conflict
The New York Times' Jerusalem bureau chief lives on property Israel seized from Palestinian refugees forced to leave their homes during the Nakba in 1948. EI's Ali Abunimah reveals for the first time details of The Times' acquisition and use of this property and the story of the Palestinian family whose home it was. What are the implications for its reporting of a case that places the "newspaper of record" at the heart of the Palestine conflict?
http://electronicintifada.net/
Israeli journalists: Pretending we’re normal is futile
Over the past week, two prominent Israeli political analysts have written columns that pull no punches in portraying the current government as a collection of embarrassing buffoons at best; and dangerously paranoid at worst. Neither Haaretz’s Aluf Benn nor Maariv’s Ofer Shelah is a novice critic of the Netanyahu government. This round of criticism, however, goes beyond the normal gibes directed by cynical journalists at even-more-cynical politicians. Their articles reveal a sense of deep disquiet over the state of the state, and how the actions of the current government will affect Israel’s future in the long term. For both, there is something deeply disturbing about a government that goes to such extreme measures to pretend that everything is fine, that Israel is a perfectly normal country, when everything is so obviously not fine.
http://coteret.com/2010/03/02/
There is a controversy raging in North America over Israeli Apartheid Week (March 1-7 2010).1 A resolution was passed in the Ontario Provincial Parliament which was unanimously supported (only 30 MPPs voted) and declared the comparison of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to apartheid as “odious.” To quote an article in the Toronto Star Canada’s largest circulation paper.
http://dissidentvoice.org/
Apartheid and Ethnic Cleansing as Diversion
Although apartheid must be opposed by social justice activists, does the focus on apartheid serve the exigencies of social justice? First, it must be stated that, given its obviousness, a discussion of whether apartheid is practiced by Israel is nugatory. Still, why the focus on Israel as an apartheid state? Others target Israel for its ethnic cleansing. Others declare that Israel is guilty of genocide, usually prefixed withe words “slow motion.”
http://dissidentvoice.org/
Finkelstein in Gaza by Philip Weiss
This month OR Books publishes Norman Finkelstein’s important new book about the Gaza conflict, ‘This Time We Went Too Far.’ What follows is an excerpt from the book, Chapter 5, "Inside Gaza." (all rights reserved to Finkelstein and OR Books.)
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
Khalid Amayreh – The Musa’ab Yousuf Story: a classic example of Israeli disinformation
In addition to its protracted war of terror against the Palestinian people, Israel has long waged an unrelenting campaign of psychological warfare against the Palestinian will, aimed at debilitating the domestic front across the occupied territories. The Israeli media, which often operates in sync with the Israeli occupation army and intelligence agencies, readily and routinely parrot the carefully concocted lies coming out of the Disinformation Department at the Israeli Defence Ministry headquarters at Hakirya in Tel Aviv.
http://palestinethinktank.com/
E tu Yale: conference will be led by prof who claims Goldstone seeks ‘elimination’ of Israel, Philip Weiss
Last night at a New York fundraiser for Jewish Voice for Peace, Naomi Klein explained the power of Richard Goldstone. Here is a man whose professional life has been dedicated to cementing the principle of "Never again" in international law, starting with his own country, South Africa. Thus he has the stature to actually give force to world opinion in the wake of Gaza that "in the face of this kind of lawlessness, there had to be an application of international law." And it is because of Goldstone’s power (moral, personal, legal/investigative) that Goldstone is "driving Israeli politicians out of their minds"–and why Israel supporters have mounted such a "McCarthyite" attack.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
At what point will the West dump Israel?
For those of us who view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as being an issue of injustice, there’s plenty of reason to believe no resolution is in sight simply because justice is one of the weakest among the principles governing world affairs. To this extent, Israeli leaders can feel confident in their sense of impunity. But there is another line Israel crosses at its peril: where its actions conflict with the commercial interests of its allies. Israel can be a moral liability but it cannot be a financial liability.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
First They Came for the Mosques, but I Was Not a Muslim
When Israeli Defense Forces responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and arrests towards neo-nonviolent Palestinians who were trying to prevent Jewish extremists from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, it was mindful of Pastor Martin Niemoller’s poem: “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a communist.” Pastor Niemoller was a German minister who witnessed disappearances and atrocities during the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. By the time he tried to speak-out and criticize the Nazi’s, though, it was too late. He, along with millions of Communists, Socialists, Gypsies, Jews, Pacifists and other opponents of nazification, was sent to a concentration camp.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Germany's Fear of Finkelstein
Norman Finkelstein, an internationally renowned scholar of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, was due to talk about the state of the decades-old conflict and the situation in Gaza one year after the Israeli assault last week in Munich and Berlin. As part of a European speaking tour which would have led him to Germany for the first time since 2002, Finkelstein has been invited to speak in Prague at a number of prestigious institutions, such as the Institute of International Relations Prague, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts at Charles University in Prague.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
What Israel Fears
It seems that for the first time in many years the Israeli peace camp is now reaping the fruits of its labor. Petrified by the success of the struggle which exposes Israel as an apartheid state, the state’s power players have begun a smearing counter-campaign, wasteful and vile, which sweeps Israel’s severe human rights violation under the carpet. The campaign includes for example, the Reut Institure’s report, which portrays BDS activists as a kind of Elders of Zion cabal, acting according to methods taken from the famous (forged) protocols. An unprecedented media attack against the “delegitimizers” has also begun. Minister Avigdor Lieberman claimed that the activity is “financed by enemy states”.
http://www.counterpunch.com/
Iraq
Monday: 1 Iraqi Killed, 6 Wounded
With only days left before Sunday's national elections, Iraqi officials have confirmed an increase in Iraqi deaths over the last several weeks. Nevertheless, only one Iraqi was killed and six more were wounded in light violence today. Also, Kirkuk could become a battlefield after Sunday's elections; some politicians would like to see U.S. troops keep the peace there.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Iraqi Christians protest over killings
At least eight Christians have been killed in the past two weeks in the volatile northern city of Mosul.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
Iraq death toll spikes ahead of election (AFP)
AFP - The number of Iraqis killed in February almost doubled month on month, official figures showed on Monday, just days ahead of a March 7 general election which Al-Qaeda has threatened to disrupt.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Iraqi women look to lift voice in March 7 polls
* Women's role in decision-making a barometer
* Iraqi women have suffered in seven years of war
http://www.alertnet.org/
Iraq's political campaign methods
It is election season in Iraq, on the 7th of March Iraqis will go to the polls and decide who will make up their next government. Iraq's politicians want to be part of the new parliament but they are using a very old method of speaking to voters - the political poster. As a result, Baghdad's printers and party activists are working around the clock. Omar al-Saleh reporting from Baghdad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Rival groups see Iraqi vote as way to claim Kirkuk (AP)
AP - Young men hurtle down dusty streets in cars, waving flags and blaring campaign slogans in a fervor that highlights this city's dangerous ethnic divisions. Arabs, Turkomen and Kurds each see Iraq's parliamentary elections as a chance to prove one thing: Kirkuk is ours.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Iraq: Poor selling their votes for cash
“There are lots of people willing to sell their votes, and lots of people who want to buy them.”
http://www.thenational.ae/
Maliki office denies orders to arrest Sadr
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki’s office denied reports about orders to arrest Sayyed Moqtada Al Sadr once he returns to Iraq. Al Maliki’s office denied firmly the news which it considered was driven by electoral motives, the office told Alsumaria.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/
Iraq 'names first envoy to Kuwait in two decades' (AFP)
AFP - Iraq has named Mohammed Hussein Bahr al-Ulum as its first ambassador to Kuwait since Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of the emirate, a senior Iraqi official was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Iraq says it wants better Syrian ties (AFP)
AFP - Iraq's vice president said in Damascus on Tuesday that his country wanted to improve relations with its neighbour, which soured following last year's massive bomb attacks in Baghdad.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
SYRIA: The road to third country resettlement for Iraqi refugees
Source: IRIN Only a tiny fraction of the estimated two million Iraqi refugees and asylum-seekers in the Middle East end up being resettled in a third country. Why is this, and how does the system work?
http://www.alertnet.org/
Lebanon
Sayyed Nasrallah to Israelis: You’ll Never Return to Lebanon!
01/03/2010 Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah noted on Monday that the Israeli enemy was forced to change its tone and to seek pacification on its northern border, warning that the choice of war has major and dangerous implications and it is not limited to Israel. While emphasizing that the resistance is strong because it is embraced by its people, the thing that frightens Israel, Sayyed Nasrallah addressed Israeli President Shimon Peres who declared Israel's failure and that it pulled out from Lebanon for good, saying: “You will never return to Lebanon.”
http://almanar.com.lb/
Nasrallah: Arabs must help Palestinians
Hezbollah leader lashes out at Arab states, tells them to learn from Iran, Syria.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Hezbollah chief issues tough warning to Lebanon 'spies' (AFP)
AFP - Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned the Lebanese government on Monday against sharing telecommunications information with the United States, saying any such move would be tantamount to collaborating with the Israeli enemy.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Lebanon: We nabbed man linked to alleged Mossad Hezbollah hit
A Lebanese arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel has confessed to have helped in the assassination of a Hezbollah commander in 2004, a senior security source said on Tuesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Nasrallah: It's 'dangerous' to give US Embassy information
BEIRUT: Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday that giving information to the US Embassy on the Lebanese cellular network was not only a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty but also provided Israel with information that threatens the country's security. "What is presented to the US Embassy helps in Lebanon's destruction.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Bail granted in Fla. Hezbollah finance case (AP)
AP - A judge has granted bail to a Miami businessman accused of exporting video game consoles and cameras to a South American mall that authorities say is a financing conduit for the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
SLA in the US, As`ad Abukhalil
A source who does not want to be identified sent me this: "Former members of the SLA have been living comfortably here in Dearborn, Michigan for over a decade (and not just lowly functionaries, but men with blood on their hands - blood of relatives of their neighbors here in US). During the late 1990s a few SLA bigwigs bought homes and sent their wives and children here (of course these are Shiite members of SLA, who have relatives here already). Either they were told by their Israeli masters that the gig was up, or they read the writing on the wall. One notorious member, nicknamed 'Jalbout' never got to enjoy his new home here - after buying a house and sending his family here, he was killed shortly before the 2000 withdrawal. Another notorious member, who for respect for his privacy I will refer to as Mr. X (Kamal F.) had his house raided by local police and the FBI a few weeks ago. Apparently he has been dealing in stolen goods. This character has his house fitted with hi-tech surveillance equipment- apparently to protect him from his not so welcoming neighbors. In fact, when Mr. X first moved into his house he was harrased by many members of the community (he had his house vandalized and people would constanlty drive by and yell threats and insults). It got so bad that agents in dark suits and wing-tip shoes came knocking on the doors of Mr. X's neighbors (true story) and warned them not to bother Mr. X. When harassment continued, the agents showed up again and invited the neighbors to a meeting at a local public library (it was an invitation, with a 'strong recommendation' to attend). At the meeing, the agents were more direct - they informed attendees that Mr. X is a guest of the US government and that he was being looked after by the agency that employed the agents in wing-tipped shoes. The neighbors were basically told 'don't fuck with Mr. X.' Rodents like Mr. X are all over the community. It is widely known they enjoy the protection of US Federal Government and that they are sometimes above the law. It will be very interesting to see how this recent raid plays out. Many in the community are aware of details, however, nothing has been reported in the press (although the FBI does not publicize anything until charges are filed). It will be interesting to see how this plays out."
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
U.S. and other world news
In U.S., Barak signals Israeli autonomy against Iran
Washington's clout over its Middle East ally is under scrutiny after Israel's veiled threats to attack Iran preemptively if international "diplomacy" fails.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
Israel offers 'full intelligence picture' to get China to agree on Iran sanctions
A delegation led by Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon and central bank chief Stanley Fischer tried last week to persuade China to support sanctions on Iran by offering "the full intelligence picture available to Israel."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
British journalist warns of Israeli plot to draw US into war with Iran
It is a matter of immense regret that the US is weak when it comes to Israel and the Europeans as well as Arabs remain divided on the Issue, he added
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.
Caterpillar moves to cut links with Iran
While the lobbyists have close connections with figures in the Obama administration and the Republican party, peace and human rights groups maintain that some campaigns act as a front for foreign policy hawks seeking to pursue a strategy of confrontation.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/
See also: Global Movement To Boycott Caterpillar Gathers Momentum
Marking the meeting of Caterpillar shareholders on Wednesday 13th April, activists have held a series of over 30 protests spanning the globe making it clear that the consumer boycott and divestment campaign of Caterpillar is well under way. As part of a comprehensive movement to Isolate Apartheid Israel, such campaigns allow global activism to focus its energies and bring about concrete results against companies involved in international complicity with Israel, And while Caterpillar has formed one such campaign, as it forms a potent symbol of Israel’s vicious occupation and racist colonization, it is one of many tactics within various boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns to isolate, and apply pressure to, Apartheid Israel.
http://www.stopthewall.org/
Caterpillar Campaign
The company which best exemplifies the interest of US corporations in the Occupation and the complete refusal to address human rights concerns in the region is Caterpillar. The most destructive weapon of the Occupation may not be an F-16 or helicopter gunship, but rather, an armor plated D-9 or D-11 bulldozer. These are the machines that have demolished thousands of homes, uprooted countless olive trees, and carved gaping holes in roads, making them impassable. Even when used in Israel’s colonial intrusions on the land through construction of illegal housing or bypass roads, CAT equipment is being used daily in the commission of war crimes and violations of human rights.
http://www.endtheoccupation.
Syria's president has been rubbing shoulders with his Iranian counterpart despite calls from the US to move away from his neighbour. The call comes as Washington takes steps to normalise ties with Syria. Have US overtures failed to break the three-decade Syrian-Iranian alliance? And how will it affect the nuclear issue?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Robertson: “God Even Angrier with Chile than Haiti"
Pat Robertson today argued that the 8.8 magnitude of the earthquake that struck Chile early this morning should serve as a warning to the population that “God is even angrier with them than he is with the people of Haiti.”
http://open.salon.com/blog/
Riz Khan - America vs free speech
Washington always claims that one of its top foreign policy initiatives is to spread democracy and freedoms around the world. But in December the US House of Representatives voted by an overwhelming majority to pass a bill punishing Arab TV stations that engage in "anti-American incitement to violence". What are the implications of such a law for the concept of free speech?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Egyptian blogger trial criticised
Egypt is strongly criticised by Human Rights Watch for trying a blogger who wrote about corruption before a military court.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-
* Fatwa to declare terrorists to be unbelievers
* Qadri seeks to persuade young Muslims to shun terrorism
http://www.alertnet.org/
www.TheHeadlines.org
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