Israeli Violence / Aggression
Medics: 6 injured by Israeli forces in Iraq Burin
Nablus -- Five Palestinians and one Danish national were injured on Saturday afternoon by Israeli forces in Iraq Burin, a Nablus village, medics said. Medics told Ma'an that confrontations erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces when settlers attempted to enter the Palestinian village. Israeli forces intervened,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Palestinian injured as settlers stone Sheikh Jarrah restaurants
Israeli settlers injured Palestinian restaurant goers on Friday when they threw rocks at the terraces of a string of East Jerusalem eateries, lightly injuring one, witnesses said. Israeli news sources confirmed the report, saying stones were thrown by Palestinians and Israelis in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Israeli police arrived at the scene, reports said, and dispersed the stone throwers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Settlement guards threaten farmers near Nablus
Guards protecting Israeli settlers assaulted a Palestinian farmer in the Wadi Qana area of the Salfit governorate on Friday, mayor of the nearby town of Deir Istya reported. The guards approached a group of farmers and threatened them with bodily harm, assaulting one man Mayor Nathmi Salman said. They told farmers that settlers would be in the area between 7am and 2pm, and they could not harvest or tend crops during the visiting hours. The settlers arrived at the Wadi Qana spring, as dozens of farmers, who had not been notified of the visit, were irrigating orange groves, Salman reported. Wadi Qana is surrounded by five Israeli settlements and four outposts, strategically located around the spring at the base of the Qana valley....
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
In photos: Airstrike aftermath in Khan Younis
(Click the image to enlarge or see more photos) MaanImages/Hatem Omar -- Palestinians inspect the rubble of a factory in southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, 12 March 2010. A Rafah smuggling tunnel was bombed in addition to the facility, which locals said produced medical equipment and Israel identified as a weapons lab.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
OCHA weekly report: At least 72 Palestinians injured
JERUSALEM, March 12, 2010 (WAFA)- This week saw the highest level of Palestinian injuries in a single-week since the first week of July 2008: at least 72 Palestinians were wounded in various incidents; over half sustained injuries in clashes that took place in East Jerusalem. Twenty-one members of the Israeli security forces were also wounded during the week [March3-9], United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.
http://english.wafa.ps/?
In case you missed it:
Video: Springtime for Goldstein in Sheikh Jarrah / Richard Silverstein
A video obtained by Ynet depicts Jewish residents of east Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood during their Purim celebrations singing songs of praise for Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish terrorist who murdered 29 Palestinians 16 years ago at the Cave of the Patriarchs.
http://www.richardsilverstein.
Activism / Protests
Jerusalem and West Bank tense after day of turmoil
An uneasy calm returned to Jerusalem on Friday evening after a day of turmoil that saw Palestinians and leftwing protestors clash with security forces across the city. In East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrakh neighborhood police arrested eight leftwing activists demonstrating against Jewish construction there. The detentions sparked fury among protesters, some of whom told Haaretz that the arrests were unlawful. Police have discriminated against the 100-odd leftists who took part in the march, at the same time allowing a rightwing counter-demonstration to continue unimpeded, they claimed. Palestinian sources, meanwhile, reported that at least 15 Palestinians were injured in demonstrations in the West Bank villages of Bil'in, Na'alim and Dir Nizam, according to an Army Radio report.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
3,000 police stationed in Jerusalem, 3 rioters arrested
A full closure on the West Bank, 3,000 police officers stationed in east Jerusalem, and the police commissioner is touring the field – this is how the police hoped to prevent riots Friday after prayers on the Temple Mount. Overall, the prayers concluded peacefully, but, a number of disturbances occurred at police blockades and in the east of the city. One officer was lightly injured and three rioters were detained. Young Palestinians who were blocked from entering the Temple Mount complex tried to break through a police barrier in Ras al-Amud in order to reach the prayer area. Officers at the barrier stopped them.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israeli forces disperse women's march in Ramallah
A march celebrating International Women's Day toward the Qalandiya checkpoint into Jerusalem on Saturday was disrupted by Israeli forces, with two injuries reported. Dozens of women participated in the march, organized by the Palestinian Federation of Women's Action Committee, further celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Israeli forces thwarted the march and fired tear-gas canisters at the crowd, injuring two women and a journalist from Al-Fajer TV. Additionally, Sheery Hanoun, 50, and Salah Musameh, 18, from Tulkarem were detained during the unrest. An Israeli military spokesman described the incident as a riot,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Clashes break out near Jerusalem
Israeli soldiers have used tear gas against Palestinian women protesting at the Qalandiya crossing in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem. Scuffles broke out on Saturday when dozens of women tried to push through one of the crossing's gates. The women had gathered at the crossing chanting "Jerusalem is Arab, our eternal capital", briefly planting a Palestinian flag on one of its gates. Israel has imposed a 48-hour closure of the West Bank, not letting anyone in or out before Sunday dawn.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
State to reinvestigate wounding of US activist
The state this week agreed to reinvestigate the 2009 near-fatal wounding of American pro-Palestinian protester Tristan Anderson in the West Bank, after his lawyer complained that the discontinued probe of the case was "negligent." "We will reexamine the decision to close the case of Tristan Anderson," Justice Ministry spokesman Ron Roman told Anglo File. He said this after receiving an appeal from the lawyer of the 38-year-old American, who remains in critical condition at the Sheba Medical Center after police seriously injured him in the head exactly one year ago during a demonstration.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Rachel Corrie case stirs fresh pain and hope
...Palestinian Anees Mansour, 28, joined the work of Corrie and her fellow activists because he felt "they were doing something good — they were fighting the occupation by peaceful ways." He held back tears as he recalls running to the hospital and viewing Rachel’s body in disbelief. “This is the life here," he whispered. "She is still in our hearts. I call the day she was killed the black day." A month after Corrie's death, Mansour was just three feet away when a British member of ISM, Tom Hurndall, was killed by an Israeli Defense Forces sniper while trying to rescue children caught in gunfire.
http://www.globalpost.com/
Rachel Corrie's parents: 'She didn't expect to die that day'
HAIFA // Seven years ago, Cindy and Craig Corrie lost their daughter, Rachel, when an Israeli bulldozer flattened her into the ground as she tried to guard the home of a Palestinian family she had lived with for two months in the Gaza Strip. “[Rachel] knew that those children were behind that wall, she knew that both those families were in that house,” Mrs Corrie said, speaking to The National from an apartment in Haifa, where the couple are staying for the duration of a civil trial which is looking into the 23-year-old’s death in March 2003. “Knowing that they were back there, was she supposed to step aside and let the bulldozer go?
http://www.thenational.ae/
and another view of the tragedy (probably the predominant US view):
How a miscaptioned photo made an accident into allegations of murder
...Ms. Corrie’s friend Joe Smith described how she sat on a mound of dirt facing the IDF bulldozer making its way to the house it was about to demolish. “Rachel had two options,” Mr. Smith said. “When the bulldozer started to dig in the dirt pile, the pile started to move, and she could have rolled sideways quickly or fallen backwards to avoid being hit. But Rachel leaned forward to climb to the top of the dirt pile. The bulldozer’s digging drew her downward, and its driver could not see her anymore. So, without lifting the scoop, he turned backward and she was already underneath the blade.”
http://thebulletin.us/
Retaliation
Qassam lands in southern Israel
13 March - A Qassam rocket landed in an open area in the Eshkol regional council in southern Israel. No injuries or damages were reported in the attack. [End]
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Al-Aqsa Brigades claim shots fired on Israeli patrol car
The Imad Mughniyya group, part of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed the shots fired at an Israeli military patrol car northwest of Jerusalem on Friday night, a statement said. Following reports of shots, several additional military vehicles entered the area and began a sweep, likely in search of the shooters. Military checkpoints were erected on all roads leading to the Givon Hahadasha, where the shots were heard. Israeli military sources said a border guard jeep came under fire, damaging the vehicle but not causing any injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Solidarity
The Maia Project: Bringing clean water to the children of Palestine
Today, the health and well-being of virtually every Palestinian child and adult is threatened by the shortage of clean, safe water. That's why MECA has launched the Maia Project, to install water desalination and purification units in Gaza schools, kindergartens and nurseries ... Now, our partner in Gaza, Afaq Jadeeda (New Horizons) has prepared a list of twenty schools, kindergartens and pre-schools where--with your help again now--we can build water units in the coming year. I'm asking you to make a special contribution to MECA now so that children in Gaza can have one of the most basic things every child needs.
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/
Interview: Education and resistance at the Ann Arbor Palestine film fest
The Electronic Intifada contributor Jimmy Johnson spoke with festival organizers Hena Ashraf, Ryah Aqel, Lauren Thams and Pomegranates and Myrhh director Najwa Najjar.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Racism and Sexism
[MK] Tibi: Israeli extremism exposed
...it is my sincere hope that all members of Congress will make a stop at my office a crucial visit when they travel to Jerusalem. There are more than 35 Israeli laws that discriminate against the 20 percent of Israelis who are Palestinians. While we are able to vote and hold office, rank discrimination in all other aspects of life significantly hold us back. Such treatment by Israel merits American censure and calls into question the wisdom and morality of knee-jerk American support for Israel. We are entering a time period similar to that faced by the United States 50 years ago. Then, at long last, some American allies finally were waking up to the reality of Jim Crow discrimination in the American South and not liking what they saw. Israel's policies are putting it in league with the West's most notoriously racist governments of the past five decades.
http://www.washingtontimes.
Jerusalem: Hundreds protest against gender-segregated buses
13 March - Hundreds of people have gathered at Jerusalem's Paris Square to protest gender-segregated buses in the capital. The protestors are carrying signs reading "Israel is not Tehran." [End]
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Haniyeh criticized for appointing female minister
The pacifist Islamist movement Hizb Ut-Tahrir criticized Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday for appointing a woman to his cabinet. In a statement, the group’s Palestine branch said the appointment was "a clear violation of the command of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him." In Hizb Ut-Tahrir’s interpretation of Islam, women are banned from taking leadership roles. The group said the appointment was a sign of unwanted Western influence, and at the same time criticized Haniyeh’s government for "accepting Israel’s existence." Haniyeh announced on Tuesday that he plans to appoint an as-yet unnamed woman to lead a newly formed Women’s Affairs Ministry in Gaza. “We are a national government, based on Islamic principles, and we call on women to become more involved in the parliament, municipalities, and ministries. We are proud of this for this is a woman’s right,” he said, speaking at the Palestinian Legislative Council building.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israel's helpers
Palestinian car racer denied permission to compete in Kuwait
Palestinian race car driver Rami Jaber was denied entry to Kuwait last week, where he traveled for the Rally Champion 2010 events. Jaber, who earned first place in the second round of the Middle East Rally Championships earlier in the year, arrived in the Gulf country with a letter of invitation from Kuwaiti organizers of the event, but was told to wait at the airport while customs officials checked his papers....
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Flouting its own laws, EU accommodates 'Made in Israel'
...The relaxed attitude of civil servants to how European and international law is being flouted by Israel -- Britain's 2008 initiative notwithstanding -- is in stark contrast to the courage displayed by numerous ordinary people. Supermarkets in several EU countries have been flooded with complaints from customers outraged at how they are stocking herbs or oranges from illegal settlements
http://electronicintifada.net/
Panel looks at US role in siege of Gaza
By Dec. 31, 2009, 1,400 people from 43 countries had arrived in Cairo, Egypt, as part of the Gaza Freedom March. They were planning to cross the border into Gaza to bring attention to the siege and blockade of that land by Israel’s armed forces. But after months of promises and negotiations, at the last minute Egypt refused to allow the marchers in. What happened? Why did Egyptian officials change their mind? What was the reaction of the more than 1,000 marchers already on the ground? What was the role of the U.S. government? Speakers at Greenwich [Connecticut, USA] Library Auditorium will tackle these topics and more as they explore the question “Why Does the U.S. Keep Gaza Under Siege?” on Tuesday, March 23 ... On the stage will be Felice Gelman, Fida Qishta and Adam Shapiro.
http://blogs.thehour.com/
Humanitarian issues / Human rights / Siege / Restriction of movement
Huwwara traffic at standstill as restrictions imposed
Israeli forces imposed increased restrictions on the movement of Palestinians at the Huwwara military checkpoint on Saturday, which runs north-south, connecting Nablus and Ramallah. Witnesses reported hundreds of cars waiting to pass through the military zone, as soldiers checked cars and identity cards of passengers traveling in and out of the terminal ... An Israeli military spokesman said the move was "nothing out of the ordinary" and a response to regular security assessments in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Gaza injured still lack prosthetics
IRIN – A half-finished two-story building in central Gaza City is one of the few places providing support to amputees, most of them civilian victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as they try and come to terms with their injuries ... The problem facing the center is that a blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel since June 2007 has interrupted imports of both prosthetic limbs – mainly from Germany – and the raw materials with which to make them. "We use hundreds of different parts, plastics and materials to make prosthetic arms and legs. Without even just one of the materials, the limb cannot be made," Ziada said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Large transit volume reported on Gaza borders
Between 4 and 10 March 296 Gaza residents entered the Strip via the Rafah crossing from Egypt, de facto government officials said on Saturday. During the same period, 1,541 exited the coastal enclave, the sources said. Travelers were almost excusively patients and family members accompanying them, with a handful of foreign passport holders. At the Erez crossing with Israel, officials announced, last week saw the transit of 725 Gaza residents, visitors, workers and international passport holders out of Gaza, while 616 individuals entered the Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Sending a laptop to Gaza / Ahmed Moor
I sat outdoors at a cafe on the Mediterranean Sea in al-Arish, a dusty seaside town in Egypt's northern Sinai. I drank a tea and smoked a water pipe; it gave me something to do while I waited for Ismail -- that's not his real name -- an Egyptian Bedouin tunnel smuggler who was going to deliver a package for me into Gaza.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Video: Najla Said reads from her play of visiting Gaza in the early 1990s
Najla Said, daughter of the late great Edward said, is not known for her father’s analytical acumen. She is all American sensibility and speech, and not as politically inclined as some of the rest of her family. But as an actress and playwright she gives a very human and compelling portrait of being an Arab-American, and specifically a Palestinian-American visiting Gaza as a teenager in this excerpt from her play. It was a trip that changed her, and coincided with highly personal events such as her father learning he had leukemia and her anorexia. And in this human portrait, Najla may well reach an audience which the best political analysis will miss.
http://pulsemedia.org/2010/03/
Political developments / Diplomacy
Israel believes East Jerusalem row won't stop Mideast talks
13 March - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that despite the crisis with the United States over the plan for new housing in East Jerusalem and the protests by the Palestinian Authority and Arab world, indirect talks with the PA will continue as planned early next week. "The crisis is behind us," sources in the Prime Minister's Bureau said Thursday. They said proof was the invitation to Netanyahu by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to meet in Washington in 10 days while Netanyahu visits a meeting of the AIPAC lobby group. Nonetheless, senior American officials said that even though the crisis is over publicly, it will take time to restore trust between the two sides.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Abbas: no talks before stop of Jewish settlements in E. Jerusalem
RAMALLAH, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not accept resuming any talks with Israel before the latter stopping settlement construction in East Jerusalem, a senior Palestinian official said Friday. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a press statement that Abbas informed the U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell that the talks with Israel will not be resumed until the latter withdraws its decision to construct 1,600 units in the Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. Erekat revealed that Abbas made his condition during a telephone conversation with Mitchell on Thursday night.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Palestinians study postponing proximity talks with Israel
A senior Palestinian official said Saturday that President Mahmoud Abbas was holding discussions with high-ranking Palestinian figures about whether to postpone proximity talks with Israel. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Gaza-based news agency Quds Net that Abbas' discussions come at the request of Palestinian Authority officials to postpone the talks.
http://www.earthtimes.org/
Clinton call to Netanyahu: Israel settlement move a 'deeply negative symbol'
Later Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got a telephone call from a "frustrated'' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who reiterated America's displeasure over the surprise announcement of a 1,600 home development project in East Jerusalem, a move that upended Mr. Biden's visit. In what was reportedly a 43-minute conversation, Clinton "[made] clear the United States considered the announcement a deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship and counter to the spirit of the vice president's trip," said State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley. "The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States' strong commitment to Israel's security," added Mr. Crowley.
http://www.csmonitor.com/
Deputy FM tells US: Israel won't make any more concessions
11 March -Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Thursday defended Israel's decision to approve construction of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, saying sovereignty over the capital has never been negotiable and that Israel would not make any more concessions for peace.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Report: US vows to halt Israeli building in East Jerusalem
13 March - U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell promised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that the U.S. will bring a halt to Israeli building in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian official told the newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi on Saturday. "In a telephone conversation, Mitchell said the U.S. would make sure Israel stops building in the area," the Palestinian official told the London-based Arabic daily newspaper.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Abbas blames Iran for blocking Palestinian reconciliation (AFP)
TUNIS — Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas lashed out at Iran on Friday, blaming Tehran for being behind the latest failure to reconcile his secular Fatah movement with its Isalamist rival Hamas. "Iran doesn't want Hamas to sign the Cairo reconciliation document," Abbas said during a meeting in the Tunisian capital.
http://www.google.com/
European Parliament wants Shalit freed
STRASBOURG, FRANCE -- The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The resolution adopted Thursday said Hamas is violating the Geneva Convention by holding Shalit in Gaza with no communication with the outside world, the EU Observer reported. Shalit, who holds both French and Israeli citizenship, was taken prisoner in 2006 during a raid across the border.
http://www.officialwire.com/
Other news
Israeli media: Mossad trained in the Gulf
Dozens of Israeli reserve soldiers and Mossad agents trained in several Gulf countries with a private company which instructs special army units, Israeli media reported on Friday. According to the Hebrew daily Yedioth Aharonoth, all Israeli intelligence agents and reservists were under 25, and used foreign names and passports including German, Irish, and Australian, speaking only English during their three-month training. The training focused on the protection of oil wells and the means of data collection on "terrorists," as well how to apprehended them in populated areas, the daily reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Otherwise occupied: How green is my valley / Amira Hass
The moderator at the inauguration of the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry's new offices in the northern Jordan Valley paced uneasily behind the speaker's back, and twice tried to stop him. Then Agriculture Minister Ismail Du'ek got up to speak. Smiling, he said that the previous speaker, Fathi Khdirat of the valley's Popular Struggle Committees, is "naughty, and we need naughty people." The dedication of the new branch, located in an old building that was renovated, took place on February 22. This is only the ministry's second office in the valley, in addition to the one in Jericho. The new branch and the ceremony constitute a small part of a determined effort by the government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to expand its involvement in 60 percent of the West Bank areas, which its predecessors completely neglected.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
If a radio for settlers - then also for the peace camp
To MK Moshe Kahalon, Minister of Communications, Ministry of Communications, Jerusalem Re: establishing a regional radio for the supporters of a peaceful solution to the conflict -- On 06.06.07 it was confirmed that your predecessor, Minister Ariel Atias published a tender for the establishment of a regional radio station whose declared objective was to broadcast for "Israeli residents in Judea and Samaria", ie the settlers. Recent media reports indicate that the station leaders openly consider it a radio station with a clear political and ideological nature, which will compete with radio stations nationwide, distinguishing itself as being a nationalist radio, religious nationalist in particular.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/
Audio: Palestinian business hampered by visa problems
Vice President Biden’s Middle East trip could not change the impression that the peace process there is as stalled as ever. A viable Palestinian state is not imminent and developing the Palestinian economy remains difficult. Investors are even having trouble getting visas to the Palestinian territories – and that’s blocking economic growth in the West Bank. Daniel Estrin reports from Ramallah.
http://www.theworld.org/2010/
United States to assist Palestinian refugees
Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Eric P. Schwartz welcomed Filippo Grandi, recently appointed Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), to Washington DC on March 11, 2010, and announced that the U.S. will make an additional planned contribution of $55 million to UNRWA. The United States is UNRWA’s largest donor.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/
Opinion / Analysis
Questions abound after Biden's Israel visit
Oddly timed news that Israel was approving new housing in disputed East Jerusalem antagonized the Palestinians and the Americans. Why was it made public during the vice president's trip?
http://www.latimes.com/news/
Now the Americans are certain no one is in charge here / Yossi Verter
One day last November, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was surprised to discover that his government was energetically building in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood, beyond the pre-1967 Green Line. This was right in the middle of a very delicate and tense period vis-a-vis the American administration. As it happened, a local planning and building committee had casually approved the construction in Gilo of 900 housing units. Netanyahu was subjected to a barrage of condemnations from around the world, the most resounding one from U.S. President Barack Obama. The premier tried to spare himself any further surprises.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Our government is a joke / Sima Kadmon
Diplomatic disaster during Biden visit just another Bibi-era mishap -- The answer to the following question is just like the answer to what’s better, the plague or cholera? Do we prefer a prime minister who endorses an announcement on east Jerusalem construction at the most miserable timing possible, or a prime minister who has no idea of what goes on around him and whose clumsy conduct and inability to control his surroundings allow elements within his own government to trip him up. Netanyahu didn’t know. We have a first-hand witness to this: Knesset Member Nachman Shai, who was at the PM’s Office Tuesday evening when Netanyahu got the news.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
A matter of timing / Uri Avnery
... Every government official knows that the nationalist Prime Minister is pushing for the Judaization of East Jerusalem, that the extreme nationalist Minister of the Interior is even more eager, and that the super-nationalist Mayor of Jerusalem practically salivates when he imagines a Jewish quarter on the Temple Mount. So why should a bureaucrat postpone the confirmation of a new Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem? Just because of the visit of some American windbag? Therefore, the timing is not important. It’s the matter itself that’s important.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/
Commentary: Biden's Operation Boondoggle
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE, UPI Editor at Large. WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- The anemic Middle East "peace process" is beginning to look like The Fool's Errand, the computer game that is a meta-puzzle with a cryptic treasure map for a road that's no longer on the map for the benefit of a wandering fool who seeks his fortune in the mysterious and magical land of Tarot.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/
MESS Report: The US will no longer turn a blind eye to Israeli settlements
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel. Even Mahmoud Abbas would have been hard put to dream up a greater victory for Palestinian diplomacy than the one handed to him Tuesday on a silver platter by the Israeli Interior Ministry. The condemnations have been pouring in since the plan to build 1,600 homes in Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood was announced. Not only from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, but from the United Nations, the European Union and world leaders, all of them slamming the decision. While government officials were busy yesterday blaming each other for the bad timing, it seems they were missing the bigger picture: Washington and the international community will no longer accept, even by looking the other way, Israeli construction in East Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
America to the rescue, (not) again / Sam Bahour
It has been reported in Ha'aretz that President Obama submitted a letter of commitment to the Palestinian side to get these indirect "proximity talks" off the ground. The letter notes, "Our core remains a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian State with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967." This is not the first time a US administration has used its creativity in creating new terminology to deal with the conflict instead of relying on the time-tested body of international law that provides the keys to real progress. In the past, in place of "independent state" the US has attached such adjectives to the word "state" as "contiguous," "viable," "economically viable," "territorial continuity," and the like. In his use of words, President Obama has just picked up where the failures of past administrations left off. International law clearly defines what an independent state is and any attempt to redefine it is an act of bad faith.
http://tpmcafe.
Political suicide of a peace-loving party / Matt Beynon Rees
The Israeli party of conscience dissolves, and with it a rare leftist voice in a rightist country -- TEL AVIV — Israel’s politics is in a mess. How do I know? The party that stands most firmly for peace talks, environmentalism, liberal education, social justice, separation of religion and state, women’s rights, equality between Jewish and Arab citizens and human rights is considering dissolving itself.
http://www.globalpost.com/
Where is the spirit of Passover? / Mya Guanieri
Pesach is right around the corner. And while Israel will go through the motions of the holiday, it won't reach the spirit of Passover. Why? Israel has lost its moral compass. I'm not talking about Gaza, the occupation, or 1948, although the expulsion of the Palestinians is where Israel's steps first foundered. With Pesach in mind, I'm talking about how Israel is treating the strangers in its land. The Oz Unit, an arm of the immigration police, is on the streets now cracking down on illegal residents and those that employ them. The campaign, part of Israel's ongoing attempt to rid the country of non-Jewish foreigners, has been given the revolting name 'Clean and Tidy', evoking images not of law enforcement but of ethnic cleansing.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Iraq
Friday: 3 Iraqis killed, 4 wounded
Excerpt: Amidst a tight race and allegations of ballot fraud, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is forming a committee that will negotiate with other political blocs to build a new coalition government. Final election results are still days away. Meanwhile, light violence left at least three Iraqis dead and four more wounded on the prayer day. Also, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq hinted at a need for U.S. combat forces to remain in Iraq after an Aug. 31st deadline. A car bomb following prayers in Karbala left two dead and three wounded....http://original.antiwar.com/
Women miss Saddam
BAGHDAD – Under Saddam Hussein, women in government got a year’s maternity leave; that is now cut to six months. Under the Personal Status Law in force since Jul. 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women had most of the rights that Western women do. Now they have Article 2 of the Constitution: "Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation." Sub-head A says "No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam." Under this Article the interpretation of women’s rights is left to religious leaders – and many of them are under Iranian influence.
http://original.antiwar.com/
US general: Combat troops might be needed in Iraq beyond August
Warns troops need to maintain buffer between Iraqi, Kurdish troops -- The number of potential excuses for having to back off President Obama’s August “deadline” for having all combat troops out of Iraq continues to grow, with Major General Tony Cucolo, the commander of US troops in Northern Iraq, providing the latest possible reason.
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/
Lebanon
Interview -- Hariri: All our wars are down to Arab-Israeli conflict
Beirut - The failure of the international community to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the heart of Lebanon's tense relationship with the Jewish state, which is seeking a pretext to strike against the country, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has told the German Press Agency dpa Friday in an exclusive interview.
http://www.earthtimes.org/
Yemen
Yemeni government upset over foreign media coverage
Security officials storm the offices of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya and seize broadcast equipment. The stations say their coverage of unrest in Yemen's south triggered the incident.
http://www.latimes.com/news/
UK, US
UK: Sent to jail for throwing a single bottle
Last year, during [London] protests against the attack on Gaza, a mixed group of demonstrators clashed with police. But when the alleged culprits were arrested in dawn raids, nearly all those taken were young Muslims -- ..."Many were on their first demonstration and were protesting because they were appalled about what was happening in Gaza," Gilmore says. "These people and their families are in shock and say that they will never take part in political demonstrations again."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
ADL: US criticism of Israel troubling
WASHINGTON - The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) says it is shocked by the harsh public criticism recently directed at Israel by the US Administration. "We are shocked and stunned at the Administration’s tone and public dressing down of Israel on the issue of future building in Jerusalem," Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said in a statement. However, another US Jewish organization, J Street, chose to slam Israel's conduct while endorsing the Administration's position.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
--
www.TheHeadlines.org
Medics: 6 injured by Israeli forces in Iraq Burin
Nablus -- Five Palestinians and one Danish national were injured on Saturday afternoon by Israeli forces in Iraq Burin, a Nablus village, medics said. Medics told Ma'an that confrontations erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces when settlers attempted to enter the Palestinian village. Israeli forces intervened,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Palestinian injured as settlers stone Sheikh Jarrah restaurants
Israeli settlers injured Palestinian restaurant goers on Friday when they threw rocks at the terraces of a string of East Jerusalem eateries, lightly injuring one, witnesses said. Israeli news sources confirmed the report, saying stones were thrown by Palestinians and Israelis in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Israeli police arrived at the scene, reports said, and dispersed the stone throwers.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Settlement guards threaten farmers near Nablus
Guards protecting Israeli settlers assaulted a Palestinian farmer in the Wadi Qana area of the Salfit governorate on Friday, mayor of the nearby town of Deir Istya reported. The guards approached a group of farmers and threatened them with bodily harm, assaulting one man Mayor Nathmi Salman said. They told farmers that settlers would be in the area between 7am and 2pm, and they could not harvest or tend crops during the visiting hours. The settlers arrived at the Wadi Qana spring, as dozens of farmers, who had not been notified of the visit, were irrigating orange groves, Salman reported. Wadi Qana is surrounded by five Israeli settlements and four outposts, strategically located around the spring at the base of the Qana valley....
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
In photos: Airstrike aftermath in Khan Younis
(Click the image to enlarge or see more photos) MaanImages/Hatem Omar -- Palestinians inspect the rubble of a factory in southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, 12 March 2010. A Rafah smuggling tunnel was bombed in addition to the facility, which locals said produced medical equipment and Israel identified as a weapons lab.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
OCHA weekly report: At least 72 Palestinians injured
JERUSALEM, March 12, 2010 (WAFA)- This week saw the highest level of Palestinian injuries in a single-week since the first week of July 2008: at least 72 Palestinians were wounded in various incidents; over half sustained injuries in clashes that took place in East Jerusalem. Twenty-one members of the Israeli security forces were also wounded during the week [March3-9], United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.
http://english.wafa.ps/?
In case you missed it:
Video: Springtime for Goldstein in Sheikh Jarrah / Richard Silverstein
A video obtained by Ynet depicts Jewish residents of east Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood during their Purim celebrations singing songs of praise for Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish terrorist who murdered 29 Palestinians 16 years ago at the Cave of the Patriarchs.
http://www.richardsilverstein.
Activism / Protests
Jerusalem and West Bank tense after day of turmoil
An uneasy calm returned to Jerusalem on Friday evening after a day of turmoil that saw Palestinians and leftwing protestors clash with security forces across the city. In East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrakh neighborhood police arrested eight leftwing activists demonstrating against Jewish construction there. The detentions sparked fury among protesters, some of whom told Haaretz that the arrests were unlawful. Police have discriminated against the 100-odd leftists who took part in the march, at the same time allowing a rightwing counter-demonstration to continue unimpeded, they claimed. Palestinian sources, meanwhile, reported that at least 15 Palestinians were injured in demonstrations in the West Bank villages of Bil'in, Na'alim and Dir Nizam, according to an Army Radio report.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
3,000 police stationed in Jerusalem, 3 rioters arrested
A full closure on the West Bank, 3,000 police officers stationed in east Jerusalem, and the police commissioner is touring the field – this is how the police hoped to prevent riots Friday after prayers on the Temple Mount. Overall, the prayers concluded peacefully, but, a number of disturbances occurred at police blockades and in the east of the city. One officer was lightly injured and three rioters were detained. Young Palestinians who were blocked from entering the Temple Mount complex tried to break through a police barrier in Ras al-Amud in order to reach the prayer area. Officers at the barrier stopped them.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israeli forces disperse women's march in Ramallah
A march celebrating International Women's Day toward the Qalandiya checkpoint into Jerusalem on Saturday was disrupted by Israeli forces, with two injuries reported. Dozens of women participated in the march, organized by the Palestinian Federation of Women's Action Committee, further celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Israeli forces thwarted the march and fired tear-gas canisters at the crowd, injuring two women and a journalist from Al-Fajer TV. Additionally, Sheery Hanoun, 50, and Salah Musameh, 18, from Tulkarem were detained during the unrest. An Israeli military spokesman described the incident as a riot,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Clashes break out near Jerusalem
Israeli soldiers have used tear gas against Palestinian women protesting at the Qalandiya crossing in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem. Scuffles broke out on Saturday when dozens of women tried to push through one of the crossing's gates. The women had gathered at the crossing chanting "Jerusalem is Arab, our eternal capital", briefly planting a Palestinian flag on one of its gates. Israel has imposed a 48-hour closure of the West Bank, not letting anyone in or out before Sunday dawn.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
State to reinvestigate wounding of US activist
The state this week agreed to reinvestigate the 2009 near-fatal wounding of American pro-Palestinian protester Tristan Anderson in the West Bank, after his lawyer complained that the discontinued probe of the case was "negligent." "We will reexamine the decision to close the case of Tristan Anderson," Justice Ministry spokesman Ron Roman told Anglo File. He said this after receiving an appeal from the lawyer of the 38-year-old American, who remains in critical condition at the Sheba Medical Center after police seriously injured him in the head exactly one year ago during a demonstration.
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Rachel Corrie case stirs fresh pain and hope
...Palestinian Anees Mansour, 28, joined the work of Corrie and her fellow activists because he felt "they were doing something good — they were fighting the occupation by peaceful ways." He held back tears as he recalls running to the hospital and viewing Rachel’s body in disbelief. “This is the life here," he whispered. "She is still in our hearts. I call the day she was killed the black day." A month after Corrie's death, Mansour was just three feet away when a British member of ISM, Tom Hurndall, was killed by an Israeli Defense Forces sniper while trying to rescue children caught in gunfire.
http://www.globalpost.com/
Rachel Corrie's parents: 'She didn't expect to die that day'
HAIFA // Seven years ago, Cindy and Craig Corrie lost their daughter, Rachel, when an Israeli bulldozer flattened her into the ground as she tried to guard the home of a Palestinian family she had lived with for two months in the Gaza Strip. “[Rachel] knew that those children were behind that wall, she knew that both those families were in that house,” Mrs Corrie said, speaking to The National from an apartment in Haifa, where the couple are staying for the duration of a civil trial which is looking into the 23-year-old’s death in March 2003. “Knowing that they were back there, was she supposed to step aside and let the bulldozer go?
http://www.thenational.ae/
and another view of the tragedy (probably the predominant US view):
How a miscaptioned photo made an accident into allegations of murder
...Ms. Corrie’s friend Joe Smith described how she sat on a mound of dirt facing the IDF bulldozer making its way to the house it was about to demolish. “Rachel had two options,” Mr. Smith said. “When the bulldozer started to dig in the dirt pile, the pile started to move, and she could have rolled sideways quickly or fallen backwards to avoid being hit. But Rachel leaned forward to climb to the top of the dirt pile. The bulldozer’s digging drew her downward, and its driver could not see her anymore. So, without lifting the scoop, he turned backward and she was already underneath the blade.”
http://thebulletin.us/
Retaliation
Qassam lands in southern Israel
13 March - A Qassam rocket landed in an open area in the Eshkol regional council in southern Israel. No injuries or damages were reported in the attack. [End]
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Al-Aqsa Brigades claim shots fired on Israeli patrol car
The Imad Mughniyya group, part of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed the shots fired at an Israeli military patrol car northwest of Jerusalem on Friday night, a statement said. Following reports of shots, several additional military vehicles entered the area and began a sweep, likely in search of the shooters. Military checkpoints were erected on all roads leading to the Givon Hahadasha, where the shots were heard. Israeli military sources said a border guard jeep came under fire, damaging the vehicle but not causing any injuries.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Solidarity
The Maia Project: Bringing clean water to the children of Palestine
Today, the health and well-being of virtually every Palestinian child and adult is threatened by the shortage of clean, safe water. That's why MECA has launched the Maia Project, to install water desalination and purification units in Gaza schools, kindergartens and nurseries ... Now, our partner in Gaza, Afaq Jadeeda (New Horizons) has prepared a list of twenty schools, kindergartens and pre-schools where--with your help again now--we can build water units in the coming year. I'm asking you to make a special contribution to MECA now so that children in Gaza can have one of the most basic things every child needs.
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/
Interview: Education and resistance at the Ann Arbor Palestine film fest
The Electronic Intifada contributor Jimmy Johnson spoke with festival organizers Hena Ashraf, Ryah Aqel, Lauren Thams and Pomegranates and Myrhh director Najwa Najjar.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Racism and Sexism
[MK] Tibi: Israeli extremism exposed
...it is my sincere hope that all members of Congress will make a stop at my office a crucial visit when they travel to Jerusalem. There are more than 35 Israeli laws that discriminate against the 20 percent of Israelis who are Palestinians. While we are able to vote and hold office, rank discrimination in all other aspects of life significantly hold us back. Such treatment by Israel merits American censure and calls into question the wisdom and morality of knee-jerk American support for Israel. We are entering a time period similar to that faced by the United States 50 years ago. Then, at long last, some American allies finally were waking up to the reality of Jim Crow discrimination in the American South and not liking what they saw. Israel's policies are putting it in league with the West's most notoriously racist governments of the past five decades.
http://www.washingtontimes.
Jerusalem: Hundreds protest against gender-segregated buses
13 March - Hundreds of people have gathered at Jerusalem's Paris Square to protest gender-segregated buses in the capital. The protestors are carrying signs reading "Israel is not Tehran." [End]
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Haniyeh criticized for appointing female minister
The pacifist Islamist movement Hizb Ut-Tahrir criticized Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday for appointing a woman to his cabinet. In a statement, the group’s Palestine branch said the appointment was "a clear violation of the command of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him." In Hizb Ut-Tahrir’s interpretation of Islam, women are banned from taking leadership roles. The group said the appointment was a sign of unwanted Western influence, and at the same time criticized Haniyeh’s government for "accepting Israel’s existence." Haniyeh announced on Tuesday that he plans to appoint an as-yet unnamed woman to lead a newly formed Women’s Affairs Ministry in Gaza. “We are a national government, based on Islamic principles, and we call on women to become more involved in the parliament, municipalities, and ministries. We are proud of this for this is a woman’s right,” he said, speaking at the Palestinian Legislative Council building.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israel's helpers
Palestinian car racer denied permission to compete in Kuwait
Palestinian race car driver Rami Jaber was denied entry to Kuwait last week, where he traveled for the Rally Champion 2010 events. Jaber, who earned first place in the second round of the Middle East Rally Championships earlier in the year, arrived in the Gulf country with a letter of invitation from Kuwaiti organizers of the event, but was told to wait at the airport while customs officials checked his papers....
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Flouting its own laws, EU accommodates 'Made in Israel'
...The relaxed attitude of civil servants to how European and international law is being flouted by Israel -- Britain's 2008 initiative notwithstanding -- is in stark contrast to the courage displayed by numerous ordinary people. Supermarkets in several EU countries have been flooded with complaints from customers outraged at how they are stocking herbs or oranges from illegal settlements
http://electronicintifada.net/
Panel looks at US role in siege of Gaza
By Dec. 31, 2009, 1,400 people from 43 countries had arrived in Cairo, Egypt, as part of the Gaza Freedom March. They were planning to cross the border into Gaza to bring attention to the siege and blockade of that land by Israel’s armed forces. But after months of promises and negotiations, at the last minute Egypt refused to allow the marchers in. What happened? Why did Egyptian officials change their mind? What was the reaction of the more than 1,000 marchers already on the ground? What was the role of the U.S. government? Speakers at Greenwich [Connecticut, USA] Library Auditorium will tackle these topics and more as they explore the question “Why Does the U.S. Keep Gaza Under Siege?” on Tuesday, March 23 ... On the stage will be Felice Gelman, Fida Qishta and Adam Shapiro.
http://blogs.thehour.com/
Humanitarian issues / Human rights / Siege / Restriction of movement
Huwwara traffic at standstill as restrictions imposed
Israeli forces imposed increased restrictions on the movement of Palestinians at the Huwwara military checkpoint on Saturday, which runs north-south, connecting Nablus and Ramallah. Witnesses reported hundreds of cars waiting to pass through the military zone, as soldiers checked cars and identity cards of passengers traveling in and out of the terminal ... An Israeli military spokesman said the move was "nothing out of the ordinary" and a response to regular security assessments in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Gaza injured still lack prosthetics
IRIN – A half-finished two-story building in central Gaza City is one of the few places providing support to amputees, most of them civilian victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as they try and come to terms with their injuries ... The problem facing the center is that a blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel since June 2007 has interrupted imports of both prosthetic limbs – mainly from Germany – and the raw materials with which to make them. "We use hundreds of different parts, plastics and materials to make prosthetic arms and legs. Without even just one of the materials, the limb cannot be made," Ziada said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Large transit volume reported on Gaza borders
Between 4 and 10 March 296 Gaza residents entered the Strip via the Rafah crossing from Egypt, de facto government officials said on Saturday. During the same period, 1,541 exited the coastal enclave, the sources said. Travelers were almost excusively patients and family members accompanying them, with a handful of foreign passport holders. At the Erez crossing with Israel, officials announced, last week saw the transit of 725 Gaza residents, visitors, workers and international passport holders out of Gaza, while 616 individuals entered the Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Sending a laptop to Gaza / Ahmed Moor
I sat outdoors at a cafe on the Mediterranean Sea in al-Arish, a dusty seaside town in Egypt's northern Sinai. I drank a tea and smoked a water pipe; it gave me something to do while I waited for Ismail -- that's not his real name -- an Egyptian Bedouin tunnel smuggler who was going to deliver a package for me into Gaza.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Video: Najla Said reads from her play of visiting Gaza in the early 1990s
Najla Said, daughter of the late great Edward said, is not known for her father’s analytical acumen. She is all American sensibility and speech, and not as politically inclined as some of the rest of her family. But as an actress and playwright she gives a very human and compelling portrait of being an Arab-American, and specifically a Palestinian-American visiting Gaza as a teenager in this excerpt from her play. It was a trip that changed her, and coincided with highly personal events such as her father learning he had leukemia and her anorexia. And in this human portrait, Najla may well reach an audience which the best political analysis will miss.
http://pulsemedia.org/2010/03/
Political developments / Diplomacy
Israel believes East Jerusalem row won't stop Mideast talks
13 March - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that despite the crisis with the United States over the plan for new housing in East Jerusalem and the protests by the Palestinian Authority and Arab world, indirect talks with the PA will continue as planned early next week. "The crisis is behind us," sources in the Prime Minister's Bureau said Thursday. They said proof was the invitation to Netanyahu by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to meet in Washington in 10 days while Netanyahu visits a meeting of the AIPAC lobby group. Nonetheless, senior American officials said that even though the crisis is over publicly, it will take time to restore trust between the two sides.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Abbas: no talks before stop of Jewish settlements in E. Jerusalem
RAMALLAH, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not accept resuming any talks with Israel before the latter stopping settlement construction in East Jerusalem, a senior Palestinian official said Friday. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a press statement that Abbas informed the U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell that the talks with Israel will not be resumed until the latter withdraws its decision to construct 1,600 units in the Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. Erekat revealed that Abbas made his condition during a telephone conversation with Mitchell on Thursday night.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Palestinians study postponing proximity talks with Israel
A senior Palestinian official said Saturday that President Mahmoud Abbas was holding discussions with high-ranking Palestinian figures about whether to postpone proximity talks with Israel. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Gaza-based news agency Quds Net that Abbas' discussions come at the request of Palestinian Authority officials to postpone the talks.
http://www.earthtimes.org/
Clinton call to Netanyahu: Israel settlement move a 'deeply negative symbol'
Later Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got a telephone call from a "frustrated'' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who reiterated America's displeasure over the surprise announcement of a 1,600 home development project in East Jerusalem, a move that upended Mr. Biden's visit. In what was reportedly a 43-minute conversation, Clinton "[made] clear the United States considered the announcement a deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship and counter to the spirit of the vice president's trip," said State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley. "The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States' strong commitment to Israel's security," added Mr. Crowley.
http://www.csmonitor.com/
Deputy FM tells US: Israel won't make any more concessions
11 March -Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Thursday defended Israel's decision to approve construction of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, saying sovereignty over the capital has never been negotiable and that Israel would not make any more concessions for peace.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Report: US vows to halt Israeli building in East Jerusalem
13 March - U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell promised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that the U.S. will bring a halt to Israeli building in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian official told the newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi on Saturday. "In a telephone conversation, Mitchell said the U.S. would make sure Israel stops building in the area," the Palestinian official told the London-based Arabic daily newspaper.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Abbas blames Iran for blocking Palestinian reconciliation (AFP)
TUNIS — Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas lashed out at Iran on Friday, blaming Tehran for being behind the latest failure to reconcile his secular Fatah movement with its Isalamist rival Hamas. "Iran doesn't want Hamas to sign the Cairo reconciliation document," Abbas said during a meeting in the Tunisian capital.
http://www.google.com/
European Parliament wants Shalit freed
STRASBOURG, FRANCE -- The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The resolution adopted Thursday said Hamas is violating the Geneva Convention by holding Shalit in Gaza with no communication with the outside world, the EU Observer reported. Shalit, who holds both French and Israeli citizenship, was taken prisoner in 2006 during a raid across the border.
http://www.officialwire.com/
Other news
Israeli media: Mossad trained in the Gulf
Dozens of Israeli reserve soldiers and Mossad agents trained in several Gulf countries with a private company which instructs special army units, Israeli media reported on Friday. According to the Hebrew daily Yedioth Aharonoth, all Israeli intelligence agents and reservists were under 25, and used foreign names and passports including German, Irish, and Australian, speaking only English during their three-month training. The training focused on the protection of oil wells and the means of data collection on "terrorists," as well how to apprehended them in populated areas, the daily reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Otherwise occupied: How green is my valley / Amira Hass
The moderator at the inauguration of the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry's new offices in the northern Jordan Valley paced uneasily behind the speaker's back, and twice tried to stop him. Then Agriculture Minister Ismail Du'ek got up to speak. Smiling, he said that the previous speaker, Fathi Khdirat of the valley's Popular Struggle Committees, is "naughty, and we need naughty people." The dedication of the new branch, located in an old building that was renovated, took place on February 22. This is only the ministry's second office in the valley, in addition to the one in Jericho. The new branch and the ceremony constitute a small part of a determined effort by the government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to expand its involvement in 60 percent of the West Bank areas, which its predecessors completely neglected.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
If a radio for settlers - then also for the peace camp
To MK Moshe Kahalon, Minister of Communications, Ministry of Communications, Jerusalem Re: establishing a regional radio for the supporters of a peaceful solution to the conflict -- On 06.06.07 it was confirmed that your predecessor, Minister Ariel Atias published a tender for the establishment of a regional radio station whose declared objective was to broadcast for "Israeli residents in Judea and Samaria", ie the settlers. Recent media reports indicate that the station leaders openly consider it a radio station with a clear political and ideological nature, which will compete with radio stations nationwide, distinguishing itself as being a nationalist radio, religious nationalist in particular.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/
Audio: Palestinian business hampered by visa problems
Vice President Biden’s Middle East trip could not change the impression that the peace process there is as stalled as ever. A viable Palestinian state is not imminent and developing the Palestinian economy remains difficult. Investors are even having trouble getting visas to the Palestinian territories – and that’s blocking economic growth in the West Bank. Daniel Estrin reports from Ramallah.
http://www.theworld.org/2010/
United States to assist Palestinian refugees
Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Eric P. Schwartz welcomed Filippo Grandi, recently appointed Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), to Washington DC on March 11, 2010, and announced that the U.S. will make an additional planned contribution of $55 million to UNRWA. The United States is UNRWA’s largest donor.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/
Opinion / Analysis
Questions abound after Biden's Israel visit
Oddly timed news that Israel was approving new housing in disputed East Jerusalem antagonized the Palestinians and the Americans. Why was it made public during the vice president's trip?
http://www.latimes.com/news/
Now the Americans are certain no one is in charge here / Yossi Verter
One day last November, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was surprised to discover that his government was energetically building in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood, beyond the pre-1967 Green Line. This was right in the middle of a very delicate and tense period vis-a-vis the American administration. As it happened, a local planning and building committee had casually approved the construction in Gilo of 900 housing units. Netanyahu was subjected to a barrage of condemnations from around the world, the most resounding one from U.S. President Barack Obama. The premier tried to spare himself any further surprises.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Our government is a joke / Sima Kadmon
Diplomatic disaster during Biden visit just another Bibi-era mishap -- The answer to the following question is just like the answer to what’s better, the plague or cholera? Do we prefer a prime minister who endorses an announcement on east Jerusalem construction at the most miserable timing possible, or a prime minister who has no idea of what goes on around him and whose clumsy conduct and inability to control his surroundings allow elements within his own government to trip him up. Netanyahu didn’t know. We have a first-hand witness to this: Knesset Member Nachman Shai, who was at the PM’s Office Tuesday evening when Netanyahu got the news.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
A matter of timing / Uri Avnery
... Every government official knows that the nationalist Prime Minister is pushing for the Judaization of East Jerusalem, that the extreme nationalist Minister of the Interior is even more eager, and that the super-nationalist Mayor of Jerusalem practically salivates when he imagines a Jewish quarter on the Temple Mount. So why should a bureaucrat postpone the confirmation of a new Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem? Just because of the visit of some American windbag? Therefore, the timing is not important. It’s the matter itself that’s important.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/
Commentary: Biden's Operation Boondoggle
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE, UPI Editor at Large. WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- The anemic Middle East "peace process" is beginning to look like The Fool's Errand, the computer game that is a meta-puzzle with a cryptic treasure map for a road that's no longer on the map for the benefit of a wandering fool who seeks his fortune in the mysterious and magical land of Tarot.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/
MESS Report: The US will no longer turn a blind eye to Israeli settlements
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel. Even Mahmoud Abbas would have been hard put to dream up a greater victory for Palestinian diplomacy than the one handed to him Tuesday on a silver platter by the Israeli Interior Ministry. The condemnations have been pouring in since the plan to build 1,600 homes in Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood was announced. Not only from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, but from the United Nations, the European Union and world leaders, all of them slamming the decision. While government officials were busy yesterday blaming each other for the bad timing, it seems they were missing the bigger picture: Washington and the international community will no longer accept, even by looking the other way, Israeli construction in East Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
America to the rescue, (not) again / Sam Bahour
It has been reported in Ha'aretz that President Obama submitted a letter of commitment to the Palestinian side to get these indirect "proximity talks" off the ground. The letter notes, "Our core remains a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian State with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967." This is not the first time a US administration has used its creativity in creating new terminology to deal with the conflict instead of relying on the time-tested body of international law that provides the keys to real progress. In the past, in place of "independent state" the US has attached such adjectives to the word "state" as "contiguous," "viable," "economically viable," "territorial continuity," and the like. In his use of words, President Obama has just picked up where the failures of past administrations left off. International law clearly defines what an independent state is and any attempt to redefine it is an act of bad faith.
http://tpmcafe.
Political suicide of a peace-loving party / Matt Beynon Rees
The Israeli party of conscience dissolves, and with it a rare leftist voice in a rightist country -- TEL AVIV — Israel’s politics is in a mess. How do I know? The party that stands most firmly for peace talks, environmentalism, liberal education, social justice, separation of religion and state, women’s rights, equality between Jewish and Arab citizens and human rights is considering dissolving itself.
http://www.globalpost.com/
Where is the spirit of Passover? / Mya Guanieri
Pesach is right around the corner. And while Israel will go through the motions of the holiday, it won't reach the spirit of Passover. Why? Israel has lost its moral compass. I'm not talking about Gaza, the occupation, or 1948, although the expulsion of the Palestinians is where Israel's steps first foundered. With Pesach in mind, I'm talking about how Israel is treating the strangers in its land. The Oz Unit, an arm of the immigration police, is on the streets now cracking down on illegal residents and those that employ them. The campaign, part of Israel's ongoing attempt to rid the country of non-Jewish foreigners, has been given the revolting name 'Clean and Tidy', evoking images not of law enforcement but of ethnic cleansing.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Iraq
Friday: 3 Iraqis killed, 4 wounded
Excerpt: Amidst a tight race and allegations of ballot fraud, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is forming a committee that will negotiate with other political blocs to build a new coalition government. Final election results are still days away. Meanwhile, light violence left at least three Iraqis dead and four more wounded on the prayer day. Also, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq hinted at a need for U.S. combat forces to remain in Iraq after an Aug. 31st deadline. A car bomb following prayers in Karbala left two dead and three wounded....http://original.antiwar.com/
Women miss Saddam
BAGHDAD – Under Saddam Hussein, women in government got a year’s maternity leave; that is now cut to six months. Under the Personal Status Law in force since Jul. 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women had most of the rights that Western women do. Now they have Article 2 of the Constitution: "Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation." Sub-head A says "No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam." Under this Article the interpretation of women’s rights is left to religious leaders – and many of them are under Iranian influence.
http://original.antiwar.com/
US general: Combat troops might be needed in Iraq beyond August
Warns troops need to maintain buffer between Iraqi, Kurdish troops -- The number of potential excuses for having to back off President Obama’s August “deadline” for having all combat troops out of Iraq continues to grow, with Major General Tony Cucolo, the commander of US troops in Northern Iraq, providing the latest possible reason.
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/
Lebanon
Interview -- Hariri: All our wars are down to Arab-Israeli conflict
Beirut - The failure of the international community to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the heart of Lebanon's tense relationship with the Jewish state, which is seeking a pretext to strike against the country, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has told the German Press Agency dpa Friday in an exclusive interview.
http://www.earthtimes.org/
Yemen
Yemeni government upset over foreign media coverage
Security officials storm the offices of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya and seize broadcast equipment. The stations say their coverage of unrest in Yemen's south triggered the incident.
http://www.latimes.com/news/
UK, US
UK: Sent to jail for throwing a single bottle
Last year, during [London] protests against the attack on Gaza, a mixed group of demonstrators clashed with police. But when the alleged culprits were arrested in dawn raids, nearly all those taken were young Muslims -- ..."Many were on their first demonstration and were protesting because they were appalled about what was happening in Gaza," Gilmore says. "These people and their families are in shock and say that they will never take part in political demonstrations again."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
ADL: US criticism of Israel troubling
WASHINGTON - The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) says it is shocked by the harsh public criticism recently directed at Israel by the US Administration. "We are shocked and stunned at the Administration’s tone and public dressing down of Israel on the issue of future building in Jerusalem," Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said in a statement. However, another US Jewish organization, J Street, chose to slam Israel's conduct while endorsing the Administration's position.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
--
www.TheHeadlines.org
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