Land theft / Destruction / Settlements
PA official: Israel orders demolition of Nablus mosque
Israeli authorities ordered the demolition of a mosque under construction in the northern West Bank village of Burin on Sunday, head of the Palestinian Authority's settlement portfolio said. Ghassan Daghlas told Ma'an that the Israeli Civil Administration issued a stop-order on works at the Salman Al-Farisi Mosque, which consists of three floors, ordering the demolition of the mosque's already built structures. The order was issued under the pretext that the mosque's renovations were undertaken without the necessary licence, Daghlas said. The PA official said Israel's decision was a "dangerous procedure," unprecedented during the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
High Court rejects petition to stop building in West Bank outpost
The Supreme Court took an unusual step this weekend in rejecting a petition to stop illegal construction at a settlement outpost near Ramallah. Justice Neal Hendel denied the request despite the fact that, at the initial hearing on the matter, the state prosecutor told the High Court the building activity violates the terms of the settlement freeze order as promised to the U.S. government. This marks the second time in four weeks that Hendel has rejected a request for a temporary injunction to stop settlement building without first verifying the government's position.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Settlers destroy Palestinian properties near Nablus
Settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar south of Nablus in the northern west Bank destroyed Palestinian properties in the nearby area of Ash-Shamiyyat between the villages of Urif and Einabus on Sunday. Fawzi Shehada, head of the village council of Urif told Ma’an that “more than 20 settlers from Yitzhar tried to block the road between Urif and Einabus after they destroyed plants and chopped down several trees.” He affirmed that confrontations erupted between local residents and settlers. Shehada added that “Israeli forces raided the village after the incident and detained 15-year old Mustafa Fuad Abdullah Sabbah
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
How war murdered Gaza's soil / Rami Almeghari
In the Ezbet Abed Rabbo neighborhood of the northeastern Gaza Strip's Jabalia refugee camp, Masoud Al-Zin, owner of a two-acre farmland, has begun to observe strange symptoms on the leaves of his crops. These new symptoms have spread almost in all of the plants in the farm including citrus and flowers, the main crops that Al-Zin grows.
http://www.islamonline.net/
Locals: Israel forces training in Jordan Valley
Tubas – Ma'an – The Israeli army carried out a number of military drills in the Jordan Valley, deploying warplanes, tanks and ground troops in the exercise on Sunday, locals reported. Palestinian farmers told Ma'an that "Israeli forces raided the lands planted with wheat and vegetables, declaring a military zone and preventing us from accessing our lands." They added that Israeli helicopters were seen hovering at low levels over the area ... A representative from the Save the Jordan Valley campaign ... added that declaring closed military zones "means more than 95% of the Jordan Valley will be turned into areas where Palestinians are prevented to live."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Bedouins fight state for land near Dead Sea / Amira Hass
"Unless immediate action is taken to destroy the public buildings at the site, the illegal settlement there will be a fait accompli and could effectively dictate the status of the whole huge area between Ma'aleh Adumim and the Dead Sea ... It is easy to anticipate the complications the authorities would face when coming to implement demolition orders against a religious place of worship and a school, once their construction is completed and they begin to fulfill their functions." This is not a warning from the Palestinian Authority or Peace Now about a Jewish settlement in the West Bank: It is a petition, submitted in September 2009, to the High Court of Justice to order Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the head of the Central Command Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni and the area's Civil Administration chief, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, to exercise their authorities as representatives of the sovereign power in the West Bank to destroy structures that the Bedouin-Palestinian Jahalin tribe has built.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Photoessay: Umm Al-Kheir, where freedom stands for demolition
Umm al-Kheir means ‘Mother of Freedom’ in Arabic. But the eighty residents of this little Bedouin community in the South Hebron Hills aren’t free at all. With the settlers of Carmel as their neighbours, these shepherds have to deal with harassment, warrants of demolition, bulldozers and even gunshots. Written and photographed by FLV.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Zahalka: Evacuating Silwan will lead to intifada
The uproar surrounding Beit Yehonatan in Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood reached the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee. During a discussion of illegal construction in the capital's eastern neighborhood on Sunday, Jerusalem Municipality's legal advisor Attorney Yossi Havilio made a scathing attack on the city's conduct on the matter.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Photoessay: Zero hour in Sheikh Jarrah
Aside from the general reasons for the weekly Friday demos in Sheikh Jarrah, there is another reason that we’re there every Friday, even last week when we held the big rally. The reason is this: every Sabbath evening a group of extreme right-wing ultra-orthodox Jews (henceforth: the hooligans) congregate in front of one of the stolen houses in order to “pray”. So we come every Friday afternoon so as to maintain a presence. [video of 12 March S.J. demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.en.justjlm.org/?p=
Weekly protest video roundup
Up and down the country, protesters ignored the tropical humidity to voice their opposition to Israeli aggression, which was displayed once again. Here’s what happened. All Photos courtesy of FLV.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Police say will not allow rightist to lay foundation stone on Temple Mount
The police will not allow right-wing activists to hold a cornerstone laying ceremony for the third Temple on the Temple Mount. In addition, requests made by Palestinians and right-wing activists to hold a march near the complex have been rejected. "We will hard-handedly block any attempt by extremists on both sides to disturb the peace and security at the Temple Mount and in the east o the city," Jerusalem District Police said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Efrat synagogue foundations destroyed
Settlers laid foundation for synagogue after the moratorium went into effect -- Efrat Local Council head Oded Revivi woke up at 4:45 a.m. on Thursday, when his cellphone, beeper and home phone all rang at once. When he picked up the phone, a security guard told him that a massive bulldozer had just driven into the settlement, which is located in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank, just south of Jerusalem. Revivi told The Jerusalem Post that by the time he found it, it had already destroyed a cement foundation for a new synagogue.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/
Incursions / Detention / Humiliation
Locals: Israeli forces raid Bethlehem, detain elderly man, son
Israeli forces raided the Duheisha refugee camp south of Bethlehem and other neighborhoods of the city, detained an elderly man and his son, causing damage to Palestinian properties, locals said. Locals told Ma'an that Israeli troops detained Muhammad Hammad, 60, and his son 30, as hostages until Hammad's other son, Hamza, turns himself in to Israeli security services. In the Duheisha refugee camp, Israeli military vehicles struck and destroyed two cars belonging to the Mufti of Bethlehem Sheikh Abdul-Majid Ata Amarneh and his brother Mahmoud. Mahmoud Amarneh told Ma’an that Israeli military vehicles deliberately hit the Mufti’s car which was parked near the house, pushing it until it was crushed against a second car.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israel detains top Hamas leader in Ramallah
Mahir Uda, 47, was seized from the village of Beir Nabala south of Ramallah. A military statement said Uda had been wanted by Israeli intelligence for over a decade, suspected of planning and executing the 9 September 2003 simultaneous bombings of a Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem and a bus stop near the Tzrifin military base in central Israel. The Israeli army said the Hamas official was was detained by Palestinian Authority Security Services in 1998, but was shortly released after. The detention on Saturday was a joint effort undertaken by the Israeli army, Israeli police and the Shin Bet security service.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Families denied prison visits as West Bank closure continues
The Israeli Prison Services cancelled all family visits on Sunday to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody until the West Bank's lockdown is lifted ... As a result of the West Bank's closure, families wishing to visit imprisoned relatives will not be allowed entry into Israel. Under the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, detainees cannot be transferred to prisons in Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Jail ordeal of hundreds of Palestinian children arrested for throwing stones
Rights groups express concern at the rising number of juveniles as young as 12 who are held behind bars and 'treated like terrorists' -- Rory McCarthy in Hebron. ...The Israeli group B'Tselem said that security forces had "severely violated" the rights of a number of children, aged between 12 and 15, who had been taken into custody in recent months.The family of one 13-year-old boy from Hebron who was arrested on 27 February by a military patrol and detained for eight days have brought a legal case against the authorities. The teenager, Al-Hasan Muhtaseb, described how he had been interrogated without a lawyer late into the night, forced to confess to throwing stones, made to sign a confession in Hebrew that he couldn't read, jailed with adults and brought before a military court. He was only released on bail eight days later, after considerable legal effort by several human rights groups. http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Health Ministry, Israel Medical Association probing whether physicians failed to report torture of Palestinian detainee
The Health Ministry and the Israel Medical Association are examining claims that doctors at Laniado Hospital in Netanya and at Kishon Prison violated international law in failing to report that a Palestinian prisoner had been subjected to torture that resulted in serious injuries, and in releasing him back to Shin Bet interrogators after he allegedly told them he was being abused. A petition to the High Court was filed a week ago, requesting that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein order a criminal probe into the Shin Bet security service officer who interrogated the suspect, 21-year-old Jihad Mughrabi, in 2008
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israeli soldiers order Tulkarem farmers to strip
Isolated from their West Bank lands by the separation barrier, the farmers from Deir Al-Ghusun must obtain permits to pass agricultural gate 609, west of Attil village in the northern sector of the Tulkarem governorate. It was at the gate that they were ordered to strip, and scuffles broke out when the men refused. "We were about twenty farmers from Deir Al-Ghusun. When we arrived at the electronic gate known as gate 609 ... there were six Israeli soldiers who insisted that we undress completely including underwear, at gunpoint," Abdul-Latif Zeidan, one of the farmers said. When the men refused the orders a fight broke out,
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Restriction of movement / Siege / Humanitarian issues
Rights center: Restrictions in Jerusalem continue
An age limit remains in place for the third consecutive day for Palestinians wishing to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City, with individuals over 50 only being allowed entry. The JCSER said Israeli police and border guards stormed most of the Old City’s stalls, restaurants, coffee shops, and internet cafes. The soldiers confiscated the ID cards of all shop owners who do not live in the Old City, telling them their papers would be returned by Israeli forces manning checkpoints into Damascus Gate and Herod's Gate, the center said. Several complaints have been filed by Palestinian shop-owners in the Old City, the JCSER asserted, who were prevented from opening up shop on Friday morning by Israeli forces, citing that they do not reside in the Old City. Additionally, the center said, the shop-owners were asked to provide documents proving ownership of their stores, electricity and water bills, and payment of arnona (property tax).
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Jerusalem burns / Malika Malini
Jerusalem burns. Thermometers peaked yesterday around 31 degrees. But Jerusalem is burning not only from the hot Saharan wind, known as the Khamasin, coming in from the desert, but by the rage of its Arab residents over the injustices they face once more -- Once again, Muslim worshipers aged over 50 were not permitted to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the old city of Jerusalem. Palestinian men were obliged to pray on stairs in the large square located in front the Damascus gate, the main access to the Muslim quarter.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
West Bank security lockdown extended until Tuesday
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday evening signed an order to extend a security lockdown in the West Bank to prevent Palestinians entering Jerusalem after a weekend of protests and rioting in the city. Barak's decision to continue the closure until midnight on Tuesday followed intelligence indicating the likelihood of disturbances, officials said. There were fears that plans to inaugurate a new synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday could lead to more violence.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Palestinians, activists rally against Gaza siege
(Xinhua) Hundreds of Palestinians and international activists marched near Israel's border with northern Gaza Strip Sunday against Israeli siege on the coastal enclave. Several participants raised a huge banner saying that 1,000 days have passed since Israel imposed the blockade in June 2007. Others waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against the siege. The demonstration took place only a few hundred meters away from Erez crossing point between Gaza and Israel.
http://english.cri.cn/6966/
Gov't approves construction of fence along Egyptian border
The [Israeli] government approved Sunday the construction of a fence along the Egyptian border at a cost of NIS 1.35 billion ($360 million) after a resolution of budget disputes. The project will be funded by the defense and finance ministries and is set to conclude in 2013.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
1 Gaza crossing partially open; flower export permitted
Israeli authorities partially opened the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip on Sunday, allowing the limited transfer of aid and export of flowers, Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said. Between 66 and 76 truckloads of humanitarian aid and commercial goods will enter the southern crossing, including two trucks carrying supplies for Gaza's sole power station, Fattouh explained.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Children of Gaza: scarred, trapped, vengeful / Rachel Shields
Omsyatte adjusts her green school uniform and climbs gingerly on to a desk at the front of the classroom. The shy 12-year-old holds up a brightly coloured picture and begins to explain to her classmates what she has drawn. It is a scene played out in schools all over the world, but for one striking difference: Omsyatte's picture does not illustrate a recent family holiday, or jolly school outing, but the day an Israeli military offensive killed her nine-year-old brother and destroyed her home.
http://www.independent.co.uk/
Gaza man marks 4 years of lower body amputation
Gaza – Ma'an – A Gaza amputee from Shuja'iyya in Gaza City marked the fourth anniversary of his critical injury by reciting verses of the Quran at the site where his limbs are buried. Khaled Yousif had both legs amputated to the hip bone after he was injured in 2006 when Israeli forces invaded the city ... Yousif's mother told Ma'an that her son is in need of prosthetic limbs ... Nash'at Al-Wahidi, coordinator for the popular prisoners' support movement and Palestinian rights, said President Mahmoud Abbas had arranged for Yousif to receive artificial limbs in Germany, but has been unable to travel for treatment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israeli racism
Africans decry operation's dirty codename
African workers said they were "deeply offended" by the codename given to a new crackdown operation on migrant labor, entitled "naki u'misudar," meaning "clean and tidy" in English. The operation, headed by the Population, Immigration and Borders Authority along with the Interior Ministry's Oz Unit on immigration, will include increased raids and raising public awareness to the negative aspects of employing illegal workers. "If this is a cleaning operation, then that makes us the dirt," Swaray Alusine, founder of the African Workers Union, told other community leaders at an emergency meeting in Tel Aviv this week. "It's outrageous. We are a law-abiding, productive element of Israeli society."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Closure order against school for Ashkenazi girls only
Ministry of Education Director-General Shimshon Shoshani issued a closure order Sunday against a temporary institution used as a school for Ashkenazi girls who have refused to study together with Sephardi girls.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Aid
Omani delegation to enter Gaza through Rafah
Al-Arish – Ma’an – A delegation of Omani officials will arrive in Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Sunday afternoon, Egyptian security sources said. "Egyptian authorities agreed to allow a donation of one million US dollars in cash from the Sutlan Qabus of Oman - a contribution toward breaking the Israeli imposed siege on Gaza," sources told Ma'an ...
Egyptian security sources revealed that Egyptian authorities are preparing for the entry of a Venezuelan aid convoy into the Gaza Strip, headed by President Hugo Chavez. Sources said authorities welcomed the convoy's decision to visit Gaza and will undertake the according arrangements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Egypt sends rice to Gaza through Al-Auja crossing
Amr Hadhud said 200 tons of rice donated by the Egyptian Red Crescent entered Gaza, the first stage of a food donation including 1,500 tons of rice, sugar, and flour. Israel agreed to the Egyptian Red Crescent's transfer of aid, he said. The remaining foodstuffs will be transferred into Gaza in the coming weeks on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israel's helpers
Palestinian police chief knows "the secret of the correct use of force"
RAMALLAH - The first thing one notices is the height: The scores of men in A-Sharta al Hasa, the elite Palestinian Special Police unit, are all exceptionally tall ... The second thing one notices about this unit is its discipline ... One of the special force's missions is dispersing demonstrations, and perhaps the best proof of its success was the relative quiet that prevailed in the West Bank during Israel's incursion into Gaza in December 2008-January 2009. At that time, this was virtually the quietest place in the Middle East, even in comparison to Israeli Arab towns. This was not due to a lack of solidarity among inhabitants of the West Bank for the Gazans, but rather because of the Palestinian Authority's decision to crack down on demonstrations in its jurisdiction.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Extra-judicial assassination
How Dubai unraveled a homicide, frame by frame
A mix of old-fashioned legwork and high-tech razzle-dazzle, scouring hundreds of hours of surveillance videos, helped police home in on suspects in a Hamas man's slaying, blamed on Israel's Mossad -- Reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates Lacking witnesses but blessed with hundreds of hours of video, the cops and spooks worked the case of the slain weapons smuggler like a movie in reverse. Dubai's cameras never blink. The security system allows law enforcement to track anyone, from the moment they get off an airplane....
http://www.latimes.com/news/
Badge of shame / Amir Oren
Though the Dubai affair is no longer the focus of public attention, this does not accurately reflect the reality. The January assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, which since February the Dubai authorities have suspected was carried out by the Mossad, caused a great deal of damage to the State of Israel, regardless of whether this suspicion - which Israel has neither confirmed nor denied - is justified or baseless.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Political developments / Diplomacy
Obama tells Netanyahu: Show us you're serious about peace
A widely predicted crisis between Israel and the United States upon Benjamin Netanyahu taking office as prime minister finally erupted this weekend. U.S. President Barack Obama did not hold back in condemning the humiliation caused to Joe Biden with the Israeli announcement of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem during what was supposed to be the vice president's friendly visit to Israel. Instead of accepting Netanyahu's partial apology and letting bygones be bygones, Obama issued a stern warning to the Israeli prime minister and is now demanding that he take "specific actions" to show he is "committed" to the U.S.-Israel relationship and to the peace process itself.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Ambassador Oren reprimanded
Israel's envoy to US summoned for meeting at State Department, reprimanded over Israel's announcement of east Jerusalem construction; meanwhile, PM Netanyahu orders establishment of committee to prevent such mishaps in future
http://www.ynetnews.com/
US orchestrating Ramat Shlomo crisis, PM's office suggests
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that he was surprised by the U.S. administration's public condemnation of his government over Israel's announcement that it would construct 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem. Sources in the prime minister's bureau said the crisis appeared to be orchestrated by the U.S. administration, as Netanyahu had apologized to U.S. Vice President Biden and believed that the crisis was behind the two allies.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Clinton strikes back in drive to restore Obama's clout
13 March - Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, hit back strongly at Israel yesterday following its humiliation of Joe Biden, the vice-president, when it announced new construction in settlements while he was visiting the country ... Yesterday's strong intervention by Mrs Clinton follows growing angst about Mr Obama's declining clout in the region and rising concern that he has allowed Israel - and other foreign partners - to push him around too easily. The incident, which Mr Netanyahu brushed off as a problem of timing rather than substance, reinforced a growing sense of disillusionment among Mr Obama's -supporters.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/
Top Obama aide: East Jerusalem plan seemed meant to thwart talks
Earlier Sunday, President Barack Obama's chief political adviser David Axelrod slammed the Israeli construction plan in East Jerusalem and said that the move, which was announced during Biden's visit, looked like a deliberate attempt to frustrate upcoming proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians ... Responding to the possibility that Israel's move could have any effect on U.S. soldiers in the region, Axelrod said that he believed "that that region and that issue is a flare point throughout the region, and so I'm not going to put it in those terms." However, the top Obama aide added that he did "believe that it is absolutely imperative, not just for the security of Israel and the Palestinian people, who were, remember, at war just a year ago, but it is important for our own security that we move forward and resolve this very difficult issue."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Without homeland, Blair says no hope for Palestinians, peace
Former British prime minister Tony Blair, now a Special Envoy to the Middle East, says the problem has become so intransigent that there is “no hope” for Palestinians unless they have an independent state, an idea now rejected by a once-receptive Israeli government, which exacerbated the idea of a peace in the region by allowing the continued building of Jewish settlements ... “Whatever doubts there are regarding the talks, there are no other options,” Blair said. “Whether the talks succeed or fail, we have to give them a chance.”
http://www.neurope.eu/
PM faces ultimatum from Labor ministers
September deadline for "significant breakthrough" with Palestinians or Syria -- The Labor Party will leave Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition if serious diplomatic progress is not made by the time the 10-month West Bank construction moratorium ends in September, Labor ministers warned over the weekend. The ministers expressed concern over the failure to ignite talks with the Palestinians due to the crisis over plans to build 1,600 housing units in Jerusalem’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood. They are especially worried that if Netanyahu restarted West Bank building, they would not be able to justify staying in the coalition to their constituents.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/
Livni to PM: Don't leave Israel in Yishai's hands
The serious crisis with the United States has led opposition leader Tzipi Livni to speak out against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies on Sunday: "You cannot leave national security in the hands of coalition partners, with all due respect." President Shimon Peres also commented on the affair, saying, "The announcement of the construction of 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo during (US Vice President) Biden's visit, was a mistake."
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Jerusalem council drops construction, apparently due to US crisis
The Jerusalem District Planning and Building committee has canceled two meetings planned for this week, apparently out of concern that any more decisions on construction might result in further tensions with the United States ... Interior Minister Eli Yishai denied last week having ordered the committee to change its agenda following the recent crisis with the U.S. -- but committee members nevertheless have received a new schedule, on which all meetings pertaining to controversial construction areas were erased.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/
Sha'ath doubtful US to return with guarantees
Nabil Sha'ath, Fatah Central Committee member, said Saturday he does not expect US Middle East envoy George Mitchell to return with guarantees that Israel will revoke its decision to expand an East Jerusalem settlement. "I doubt there will be any written guarantees and they will try to urge us to return to negotiations, as always," Sha'ath said in an interview with Ma'an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Hamas: 4 years since electoral victory / Ahmad Yousef
The following is a speech delivered by Ahmad Yousef on Saturday in Gaza -- It is with great pleasure that I deliver this speech before you in this year and month in particular. January 2010 marks the 4th anniversary of Hamas in the government following its democratic victory in the 2006 Parliamentary election and the formation of its government in March of the same year. This year is also special because it also marks the fourth year of Hamas’ successful transition to a political party, despite the trials and tribulations faced and imposed by certain members of the international community that attempted to see Hamas toppled and to thwart Palestinian democracy.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
EU hints Israel must renew peace talks if it wants closer ties (Reuters)
The European Union could use closer trade ties as leverage to urge Israel to resume peace talks with the Palestinians, the EU's top diplomat said on Saturday ahead of a trip to the region. EU high representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, who begins her first visit to the Middle East on Sunday, said the European Union would be active in getting peace talks to resume and had influence in the issue.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Argentina slams Israeli build in East Jerusalem
The Argentinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship condmened on Friday Israel's decision to construct 1,600 new housing units in an East Jerusalem settlement ... The latest condemnation follows a series of similar statements issued by the international community. On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon denounced the move, saying in a statement that "settlements are illegal under international law."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Brazil leader talks Mideast peace, how to be friends with both Israel and Iran
In exclusive interview, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tells Haaretz it's time for more serious Israel-Palestinian talks. In a way that will undoubtedly disturb those who will host him in Israel next week, Lula draws a direct association between the failure to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace and his planned visit to Tehran; between the need to ensure that Iran will not manufacture nuclear weapons and the need to resolve the Middle East conflict; and between the failed attempts at mediation led by international players, first and foremost the United States, and the need to bring in fresh new players - Brazilians, in all likelihood.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
EU's Wallis condemns Ibrahimi Mosque's inclusion on Israeli list
"The Israeli government's decision is very worrying, and came at a time when the mayor of Hebron is working hard to register this site [the Ibrahimi Mosque] on UNESCO's world heritage list," Wallis said following a tour lead by Hebron Mayor Khaled Al-E'seili and committee head for rebuilding, Ali Al-Qawasmi. "I believe this site should be kept open for all beliefs, and have it become a place of peace and not of checkpoints, closures, and the barring of the freedom of worship and performing religious rights," she added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Other news
PA takes whistle-blower's house
Palestinian Authority security personnel over the weekend seized a house belonging to Fahmi Shabaneh, the former Palestinian intelligence official who exposed a series of scandals that have seriously embarrassed the PA leadership. Shabaneh told The Jerusalem Post that the security forces raided his house in Jericho, destroyed furniture, knocked down walls and confiscated equipment and personal items. He lives in Jerusalem and holds an Israeli ID card like all permanent Arab residents of the city. Shabaneh said that the raid was carried out by a joint force belonging to the PA’s General Intelligence Service and the Civil Police.
http://www.jpost.com/
IDF combat engineers to train in mock village
In an effort to better prepare soldiers for operations in Gaza and southern Lebanon, the IDF Engineering Corps is building a mock Palestinian village in its training base in the Negev that will include booby-trapped homes. The facility will include a few dozen concrete structures with underground passageways and tunnels, and will be similar to an urban-warfare training center the IDF built several years ago next to the Tze’elim Training Base in the western Negev. The new facility will be unique since it will be modeled after the Gaza Strip where Hamas has established dozens of kilometers of tunnels connecting homes and command centers
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/
Interview: Israel phasing out flechette tank shells (Reuters)
TEL HASHOMER, Israel, March 14 (Reuters) - Israel is phasing out a U.S.-made tank shell that sprays thousands of deadly darts over a wide area, in favour of a more precise round produced locally, a senior army officer said on Sunday. With their 300-metre kill zone, "flechette" shells fired in congested Palestinian areas, as well as in Lebanon, have caused frequent civilian casualties and attracted international condemnation.
http://www.alertnet.org/
West Bank university staff declare hunger strike, 6 days of protest
Nablus – Ma'an – The Union of University Employees in the West Bank announced an escalation in industrial action on Sunday, with six days of strikes to begin on Wednesday ... Among the demands are inclusion on the Palestinian Authority's retirement and pensions' scheme, and an increase in salary in accordance with the rise of living costs, which was afforded to civil servants at the beginning of 2010.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Haaretz Special Feature: The economy wakes up to Israel's Arabs
Haaretz and TheMarker take an in-depth look at the sector long overlooked by employers and investors, but which is now seen by some as the next 'big thing' in the Israeli market.http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Egypt cancels unveiling of restored synagogue (AP)
Egypt has canceled the inauguration of a restored synagogue citing the Israeli oppression of Muslims in the territories as well as excesses by Jews during an earlier ceremony at the synagogue.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Analysis / Opinion
Haaretz editorial: Netanyahu is trading Israel's security for right-wing ideology
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led Israel into a serious crisis in relations with the United States and to a collapse in peace talks with the Palestinians just when they were to be resumed. A year after he took office, it is apparent that his government's policies, which made it top priority to populate East Jerusalem with Jews, is leading to Israel's increasing international isolation and threatening its key security interests in the name of an extreme right-wing ideology.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
NYT columnist: Israel lost contact with reality
In article titled 'Driving drunk in Jerusalem', Thomas L. Friedman says US vice president should have gotten right back on Air Force Two immediately after Jerusalem construction decision, leaving behind a note reading, 'You think you can embarrass your only true ally in the world with no consequences?'
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israel demands peace from Palestinians as its own racism spreads / Zvi Bar'el
The Strategic Affairs Ministry never ceases to bring us peace of mind. How nice to know that someone in Israel is monitoring Palestinian incitement, ensuring they "create an environment of peace" and striving "to push them toward a culture of peace". After all, what do we care about construction in Jerusalem, Efrat or Ramat Shlomo, or about checkpoints, arrests, home demolitions, the army's "neighbor policy," bone breaking, land appropriation or the blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza? All of these are minor issues compared with naming a square near Ramallah after Dalal Mughrabi, a Palestinian woman who took part in a bloody terror attack three decades ago, calling for confronting the occupation or referring to suicide bombers as martyrs. These are the real threats to peace. After all, according to the road map, the Palestinians are responsible for ending incitement.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israel's Arabs have been misbehaving lately / Gideon Levy
Our Arabs have been misbehaving lately. After all we did for Scandar Copti - funding and grooming him and sending him off to Hollywood - he dared say that his film "Ajami" - our film, the film of us all - doesn't represent us in the end. After we allowed MK Ahmed Tibi to study medicine at Hebrew University (!) and even let him be elected to the Knesset, he dared compare our saintly Zionist militants - the Olei Hagardom who were hanged by the British during the Mandate period - to their terrorists. That's not nice, Scandar. That's not right, Ahmed. The young are going wild in the streets: a survey published in Haaretz last week offered a suitable Zionist answer to the rebellious Arabs. Half our [Jewish] young people think that Arabs do not deserve the same rights as Jews; 56 percent believe that they should not be allowed to run for a Knesset seat.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Demonizing Israel in Spain / Monica Cooper
...With 430,000 daily copies and an Internet readership of over two million, El PaÃs is considered the “leader of the mainstream press in Spain.” And alongside every single article about Israel on the website of this pre-eminent newspaper is a profile of Israel that lists Tel Aviv as the country’s capital. In its section “Corresponsales” (reporters), El PaÃs explains that reporter Juan Miguel Muñoz reports from “Jerusalem, Near East.” No other reporter is identified like this as based in a geographic area; they are all in a named country (except those who report on the EU from Brussels).
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Human interest
Dina's Jaffa / Neri Linveh
They say the real estate market in Jaffa is hot, but that's true for Jews only. Ostensibly, the Jews living there have been attracted to Jaffa because of its charms - as an Arab port city, an exotic place full of the sounds of the muezzin, bustling markets, Middle Eastern restaurants, pita bakeries and even because of its environmental neglect. But, in fact, these are Jews who came to Jaffa to seal themselves off as much as possible from their immediate surroundings. Most live in the new housing projects, from which they emerge from stone houses surrounded by a wall, via a luxurious lobby or atrium, car keys in hand, and walk straight to the covered parking lot beneath the building. Then, in their car, with closed windows, they drive straight to Tel Aviv without encountering unnecessary blights, such as the Arab residents of Jaffa, along the way ... And yet, there are exceptions, of course. One of them is Dina Lee, also known as "Dina from Jaffa," after the Jaffa Cafe that she established with an Arab partner from Lod, on the upper part of Margoza Street. A pioneering and prize-winning project, the cafe is truly an exceptional place
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
In Gaza: relations
“My grandmother was Jewish,” a voice drifts out from behind the meagre selection of second-hand clothes. The souk al fres, a massive market in Gaza’s old district, Sahaa, carrying just about all one needs used to thrive with second-hand clothes and goods brought through open borders via Israel. It was a thrift-shop-junkies dream. Today, after 1000 days of siege (complete siege, from June 2007, but in reality the siege goes back to Hamas’ election, back to post-Oslo ‘peace years’ when the closures began, denying Palestinians in Gaza of freedom, of work, of medical treatment outside, of imports and exports, and now of all but less than 40 items) (painstakingly acquired), the used-clothes market is bare-bones.Wa’el is sitting in a room devoid of nearly all but some scarves and many empty hangers.
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/
Gaza's male hairdressers: time to cut and run?
"Maybe I will emigrate to Somalia or Afghanistan," says hairdresser Adnan Barakat with a wry smile. "There's no life for me in Gaza." Mr Barakat is one of only five or six male hairdressers in the Gaza Strip who cut women's hair. He has been serving female clients at his small salon in Gaza City for more than 25 years. But he worries Hamas's new policy banning men from cutting women's hair could put an end to that ... Mr Barakat says a lot of his customers are foreigners, or from Gaza's Christian minority of about 3,000. Some of his clients are liberal Muslims.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
Iraq, other Arab states
Saturday: 11 Iraqis killed, 21 wounded
Excerpts: More partial election returns trickled out of Iraq today. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appears to be leading, especially in Baghdad, but other blocs have seen success in outlying provinces. At least 11 Iraqis were killed and 21 more were wounded in the latest attacks. In Baghdad, a bomb blast killed one person and wounded ten others in the Doura neighborhood. A bomb in Ghazaliya wounded three people, including two policemen. Six people were wounded by a pair of blasts in Shuala. Three gunmen were killed in Tal Afar when the car bomb they were preparing exploded prematurely.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Those who say history will absolve the Iraqi warmongers are deluded / Henry Porter
If you argue that last week's election proved the war was right, you are stepping over 100,000 bodies -- Despite the bombs last week and allegations of votes being dumped, the triumphalism of the pro-war faction represents an important challenge to those who were against the war. Their taunt is this: large numbers of people were killed but would you prefer Saddam to be still in charge, butchering the Shia Muslims and torturing his opponents?Surely the only people who can answer that are the Iraqis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Jumblatt apologizes to al-Assad
Walid Jumblatt, a Lebanese MP and leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, has made a public apology for "indecent comments" he made in the past against Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president. Jumblatt, who was part of the anti-Syria March 14 movement, had described al-Assad in 2007 as "Damascus' dictator", "a savage" and "an Israeli product".
http://english.aljazeera.net/
Yemen separatist shot dead near southern checkpoint (Reuters)
* State media said man was wanted by state, resisted arrest * Opposition described killing as an assassination -- SANAA, March 14 (Reuters) - Yemeni security forces shot dead a southern separatist near a remote military checkpoint, local sources said on Sunday, in violence that could inflame already high tensions in the south.
http://www.alertnet.org/
U.S.
"...an emasculated White House" that lacks "Mideast muscle"
Vice President Joseph Biden set out to massage US-Israeli relations this week, but instead rain up against the reality of Israeli politics, manifested in the Netanahu government's announcement of the construction of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem. The result, as described by the normally rhetorically sober Financial Times, has been to expose "an emasculated White House" that lacks "Mideast muscle." This criticism is completely deserved, because Biden's debacle in Israel is the fruit of the Obama Administration's fatally flawed approach to the Middle East. The first and most fundamental flaw in that approach is President Obama's failure to pursue strategic realignment with the Islamic Republic of Iran with the kind of strategic focus and political determination with which President Nixon pursued strategic realignment with the People's Republic of China in the early 1970s.
http://friday-lunch-club.
Gen'l Petraeus channels Walt and Mearshaimer / Philip Weiss
The establishment consensus is cracking. A new report by Mark Perry has it that David Petraeus has gotten religion on the Israel/Palestine conflict– as any thinking person with responsibility for American lives in the Middle East does– and is now mainlining the Walt and Mearsheimer realist critique of our foreign policy in the Middle East into the Obama administration, lately, in a briefing to the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen that played out in the days after the Biden slap:
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
In Almontaser coverage, 'NYT' gives Israel lobby a pass / Philip Weiss
Did you see the NYT article on the EEOC decision that Debbie Almontaser was the victim of bias when she was forced to resign as head of a Arabic-language high school? It is a classic case of the Times refusing to acknowledge the lobby’s efforts.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
Saudi ex-Gitmo prisoners get suspended jail time
A Saudi court gave suspended prison sentences to 10 former Saudi Guantanamo detainees who had completed a rehabilitation program, Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Saturday ... Returnees from Guantanamo are routinely tried and given prison sentences by Saudi courts which are then suspended based on their already having passed time in U.S. custody, and also on successfully passing through the Saudi "Care" rehabilitation program.
http://www.alarabiya.net/
--
www.TheHeadlines.org
PA official: Israel orders demolition of Nablus mosque
Israeli authorities ordered the demolition of a mosque under construction in the northern West Bank village of Burin on Sunday, head of the Palestinian Authority's settlement portfolio said. Ghassan Daghlas told Ma'an that the Israeli Civil Administration issued a stop-order on works at the Salman Al-Farisi Mosque, which consists of three floors, ordering the demolition of the mosque's already built structures. The order was issued under the pretext that the mosque's renovations were undertaken without the necessary licence, Daghlas said. The PA official said Israel's decision was a "dangerous procedure," unprecedented during the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
High Court rejects petition to stop building in West Bank outpost
The Supreme Court took an unusual step this weekend in rejecting a petition to stop illegal construction at a settlement outpost near Ramallah. Justice Neal Hendel denied the request despite the fact that, at the initial hearing on the matter, the state prosecutor told the High Court the building activity violates the terms of the settlement freeze order as promised to the U.S. government. This marks the second time in four weeks that Hendel has rejected a request for a temporary injunction to stop settlement building without first verifying the government's position.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Settlers destroy Palestinian properties near Nablus
Settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar south of Nablus in the northern west Bank destroyed Palestinian properties in the nearby area of Ash-Shamiyyat between the villages of Urif and Einabus on Sunday. Fawzi Shehada, head of the village council of Urif told Ma’an that “more than 20 settlers from Yitzhar tried to block the road between Urif and Einabus after they destroyed plants and chopped down several trees.” He affirmed that confrontations erupted between local residents and settlers. Shehada added that “Israeli forces raided the village after the incident and detained 15-year old Mustafa Fuad Abdullah Sabbah
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
How war murdered Gaza's soil / Rami Almeghari
In the Ezbet Abed Rabbo neighborhood of the northeastern Gaza Strip's Jabalia refugee camp, Masoud Al-Zin, owner of a two-acre farmland, has begun to observe strange symptoms on the leaves of his crops. These new symptoms have spread almost in all of the plants in the farm including citrus and flowers, the main crops that Al-Zin grows.
http://www.islamonline.net/
Locals: Israel forces training in Jordan Valley
Tubas – Ma'an – The Israeli army carried out a number of military drills in the Jordan Valley, deploying warplanes, tanks and ground troops in the exercise on Sunday, locals reported. Palestinian farmers told Ma'an that "Israeli forces raided the lands planted with wheat and vegetables, declaring a military zone and preventing us from accessing our lands." They added that Israeli helicopters were seen hovering at low levels over the area ... A representative from the Save the Jordan Valley campaign ... added that declaring closed military zones "means more than 95% of the Jordan Valley will be turned into areas where Palestinians are prevented to live."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Bedouins fight state for land near Dead Sea / Amira Hass
"Unless immediate action is taken to destroy the public buildings at the site, the illegal settlement there will be a fait accompli and could effectively dictate the status of the whole huge area between Ma'aleh Adumim and the Dead Sea ... It is easy to anticipate the complications the authorities would face when coming to implement demolition orders against a religious place of worship and a school, once their construction is completed and they begin to fulfill their functions." This is not a warning from the Palestinian Authority or Peace Now about a Jewish settlement in the West Bank: It is a petition, submitted in September 2009, to the High Court of Justice to order Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the head of the Central Command Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni and the area's Civil Administration chief, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, to exercise their authorities as representatives of the sovereign power in the West Bank to destroy structures that the Bedouin-Palestinian Jahalin tribe has built.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Photoessay: Umm Al-Kheir, where freedom stands for demolition
Umm al-Kheir means ‘Mother of Freedom’ in Arabic. But the eighty residents of this little Bedouin community in the South Hebron Hills aren’t free at all. With the settlers of Carmel as their neighbours, these shepherds have to deal with harassment, warrants of demolition, bulldozers and even gunshots. Written and photographed by FLV.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Zahalka: Evacuating Silwan will lead to intifada
The uproar surrounding Beit Yehonatan in Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood reached the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee. During a discussion of illegal construction in the capital's eastern neighborhood on Sunday, Jerusalem Municipality's legal advisor Attorney Yossi Havilio made a scathing attack on the city's conduct on the matter.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Photoessay: Zero hour in Sheikh Jarrah
Aside from the general reasons for the weekly Friday demos in Sheikh Jarrah, there is another reason that we’re there every Friday, even last week when we held the big rally. The reason is this: every Sabbath evening a group of extreme right-wing ultra-orthodox Jews (henceforth: the hooligans) congregate in front of one of the stolen houses in order to “pray”. So we come every Friday afternoon so as to maintain a presence. [video of 12 March S.J. demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.en.justjlm.org/?p=
Weekly protest video roundup
Up and down the country, protesters ignored the tropical humidity to voice their opposition to Israeli aggression, which was displayed once again. Here’s what happened. All Photos courtesy of FLV.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Police say will not allow rightist to lay foundation stone on Temple Mount
The police will not allow right-wing activists to hold a cornerstone laying ceremony for the third Temple on the Temple Mount. In addition, requests made by Palestinians and right-wing activists to hold a march near the complex have been rejected. "We will hard-handedly block any attempt by extremists on both sides to disturb the peace and security at the Temple Mount and in the east o the city," Jerusalem District Police said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Efrat synagogue foundations destroyed
Settlers laid foundation for synagogue after the moratorium went into effect -- Efrat Local Council head Oded Revivi woke up at 4:45 a.m. on Thursday, when his cellphone, beeper and home phone all rang at once. When he picked up the phone, a security guard told him that a massive bulldozer had just driven into the settlement, which is located in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank, just south of Jerusalem. Revivi told The Jerusalem Post that by the time he found it, it had already destroyed a cement foundation for a new synagogue.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/
Incursions / Detention / Humiliation
Locals: Israeli forces raid Bethlehem, detain elderly man, son
Israeli forces raided the Duheisha refugee camp south of Bethlehem and other neighborhoods of the city, detained an elderly man and his son, causing damage to Palestinian properties, locals said. Locals told Ma'an that Israeli troops detained Muhammad Hammad, 60, and his son 30, as hostages until Hammad's other son, Hamza, turns himself in to Israeli security services. In the Duheisha refugee camp, Israeli military vehicles struck and destroyed two cars belonging to the Mufti of Bethlehem Sheikh Abdul-Majid Ata Amarneh and his brother Mahmoud. Mahmoud Amarneh told Ma’an that Israeli military vehicles deliberately hit the Mufti’s car which was parked near the house, pushing it until it was crushed against a second car.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israel detains top Hamas leader in Ramallah
Mahir Uda, 47, was seized from the village of Beir Nabala south of Ramallah. A military statement said Uda had been wanted by Israeli intelligence for over a decade, suspected of planning and executing the 9 September 2003 simultaneous bombings of a Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem and a bus stop near the Tzrifin military base in central Israel. The Israeli army said the Hamas official was was detained by Palestinian Authority Security Services in 1998, but was shortly released after. The detention on Saturday was a joint effort undertaken by the Israeli army, Israeli police and the Shin Bet security service.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Families denied prison visits as West Bank closure continues
The Israeli Prison Services cancelled all family visits on Sunday to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody until the West Bank's lockdown is lifted ... As a result of the West Bank's closure, families wishing to visit imprisoned relatives will not be allowed entry into Israel. Under the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, detainees cannot be transferred to prisons in Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Jail ordeal of hundreds of Palestinian children arrested for throwing stones
Rights groups express concern at the rising number of juveniles as young as 12 who are held behind bars and 'treated like terrorists' -- Rory McCarthy in Hebron. ...The Israeli group B'Tselem said that security forces had "severely violated" the rights of a number of children, aged between 12 and 15, who had been taken into custody in recent months.The family of one 13-year-old boy from Hebron who was arrested on 27 February by a military patrol and detained for eight days have brought a legal case against the authorities. The teenager, Al-Hasan Muhtaseb, described how he had been interrogated without a lawyer late into the night, forced to confess to throwing stones, made to sign a confession in Hebrew that he couldn't read, jailed with adults and brought before a military court. He was only released on bail eight days later, after considerable legal effort by several human rights groups. http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Health Ministry, Israel Medical Association probing whether physicians failed to report torture of Palestinian detainee
The Health Ministry and the Israel Medical Association are examining claims that doctors at Laniado Hospital in Netanya and at Kishon Prison violated international law in failing to report that a Palestinian prisoner had been subjected to torture that resulted in serious injuries, and in releasing him back to Shin Bet interrogators after he allegedly told them he was being abused. A petition to the High Court was filed a week ago, requesting that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein order a criminal probe into the Shin Bet security service officer who interrogated the suspect, 21-year-old Jihad Mughrabi, in 2008
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israeli soldiers order Tulkarem farmers to strip
Isolated from their West Bank lands by the separation barrier, the farmers from Deir Al-Ghusun must obtain permits to pass agricultural gate 609, west of Attil village in the northern sector of the Tulkarem governorate. It was at the gate that they were ordered to strip, and scuffles broke out when the men refused. "We were about twenty farmers from Deir Al-Ghusun. When we arrived at the electronic gate known as gate 609 ... there were six Israeli soldiers who insisted that we undress completely including underwear, at gunpoint," Abdul-Latif Zeidan, one of the farmers said. When the men refused the orders a fight broke out,
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Restriction of movement / Siege / Humanitarian issues
Rights center: Restrictions in Jerusalem continue
An age limit remains in place for the third consecutive day for Palestinians wishing to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City, with individuals over 50 only being allowed entry. The JCSER said Israeli police and border guards stormed most of the Old City’s stalls, restaurants, coffee shops, and internet cafes. The soldiers confiscated the ID cards of all shop owners who do not live in the Old City, telling them their papers would be returned by Israeli forces manning checkpoints into Damascus Gate and Herod's Gate, the center said. Several complaints have been filed by Palestinian shop-owners in the Old City, the JCSER asserted, who were prevented from opening up shop on Friday morning by Israeli forces, citing that they do not reside in the Old City. Additionally, the center said, the shop-owners were asked to provide documents proving ownership of their stores, electricity and water bills, and payment of arnona (property tax).
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Jerusalem burns / Malika Malini
Jerusalem burns. Thermometers peaked yesterday around 31 degrees. But Jerusalem is burning not only from the hot Saharan wind, known as the Khamasin, coming in from the desert, but by the rage of its Arab residents over the injustices they face once more -- Once again, Muslim worshipers aged over 50 were not permitted to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the old city of Jerusalem. Palestinian men were obliged to pray on stairs in the large square located in front the Damascus gate, the main access to the Muslim quarter.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
West Bank security lockdown extended until Tuesday
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday evening signed an order to extend a security lockdown in the West Bank to prevent Palestinians entering Jerusalem after a weekend of protests and rioting in the city. Barak's decision to continue the closure until midnight on Tuesday followed intelligence indicating the likelihood of disturbances, officials said. There were fears that plans to inaugurate a new synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday could lead to more violence.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Palestinians, activists rally against Gaza siege
(Xinhua) Hundreds of Palestinians and international activists marched near Israel's border with northern Gaza Strip Sunday against Israeli siege on the coastal enclave. Several participants raised a huge banner saying that 1,000 days have passed since Israel imposed the blockade in June 2007. Others waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against the siege. The demonstration took place only a few hundred meters away from Erez crossing point between Gaza and Israel.
http://english.cri.cn/6966/
Gov't approves construction of fence along Egyptian border
The [Israeli] government approved Sunday the construction of a fence along the Egyptian border at a cost of NIS 1.35 billion ($360 million) after a resolution of budget disputes. The project will be funded by the defense and finance ministries and is set to conclude in 2013.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
1 Gaza crossing partially open; flower export permitted
Israeli authorities partially opened the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip on Sunday, allowing the limited transfer of aid and export of flowers, Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh said. Between 66 and 76 truckloads of humanitarian aid and commercial goods will enter the southern crossing, including two trucks carrying supplies for Gaza's sole power station, Fattouh explained.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Children of Gaza: scarred, trapped, vengeful / Rachel Shields
Omsyatte adjusts her green school uniform and climbs gingerly on to a desk at the front of the classroom. The shy 12-year-old holds up a brightly coloured picture and begins to explain to her classmates what she has drawn. It is a scene played out in schools all over the world, but for one striking difference: Omsyatte's picture does not illustrate a recent family holiday, or jolly school outing, but the day an Israeli military offensive killed her nine-year-old brother and destroyed her home.
http://www.independent.co.uk/
Gaza man marks 4 years of lower body amputation
Gaza – Ma'an – A Gaza amputee from Shuja'iyya in Gaza City marked the fourth anniversary of his critical injury by reciting verses of the Quran at the site where his limbs are buried. Khaled Yousif had both legs amputated to the hip bone after he was injured in 2006 when Israeli forces invaded the city ... Yousif's mother told Ma'an that her son is in need of prosthetic limbs ... Nash'at Al-Wahidi, coordinator for the popular prisoners' support movement and Palestinian rights, said President Mahmoud Abbas had arranged for Yousif to receive artificial limbs in Germany, but has been unable to travel for treatment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israeli racism
Africans decry operation's dirty codename
African workers said they were "deeply offended" by the codename given to a new crackdown operation on migrant labor, entitled "naki u'misudar," meaning "clean and tidy" in English. The operation, headed by the Population, Immigration and Borders Authority along with the Interior Ministry's Oz Unit on immigration, will include increased raids and raising public awareness to the negative aspects of employing illegal workers. "If this is a cleaning operation, then that makes us the dirt," Swaray Alusine, founder of the African Workers Union, told other community leaders at an emergency meeting in Tel Aviv this week. "It's outrageous. We are a law-abiding, productive element of Israeli society."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Closure order against school for Ashkenazi girls only
Ministry of Education Director-General Shimshon Shoshani issued a closure order Sunday against a temporary institution used as a school for Ashkenazi girls who have refused to study together with Sephardi girls.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Aid
Omani delegation to enter Gaza through Rafah
Al-Arish – Ma’an – A delegation of Omani officials will arrive in Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Sunday afternoon, Egyptian security sources said. "Egyptian authorities agreed to allow a donation of one million US dollars in cash from the Sutlan Qabus of Oman - a contribution toward breaking the Israeli imposed siege on Gaza," sources told Ma'an ...
Egyptian security sources revealed that Egyptian authorities are preparing for the entry of a Venezuelan aid convoy into the Gaza Strip, headed by President Hugo Chavez. Sources said authorities welcomed the convoy's decision to visit Gaza and will undertake the according arrangements.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Egypt sends rice to Gaza through Al-Auja crossing
Amr Hadhud said 200 tons of rice donated by the Egyptian Red Crescent entered Gaza, the first stage of a food donation including 1,500 tons of rice, sugar, and flour. Israel agreed to the Egyptian Red Crescent's transfer of aid, he said. The remaining foodstuffs will be transferred into Gaza in the coming weeks on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Israel's helpers
Palestinian police chief knows "the secret of the correct use of force"
RAMALLAH - The first thing one notices is the height: The scores of men in A-Sharta al Hasa, the elite Palestinian Special Police unit, are all exceptionally tall ... The second thing one notices about this unit is its discipline ... One of the special force's missions is dispersing demonstrations, and perhaps the best proof of its success was the relative quiet that prevailed in the West Bank during Israel's incursion into Gaza in December 2008-January 2009. At that time, this was virtually the quietest place in the Middle East, even in comparison to Israeli Arab towns. This was not due to a lack of solidarity among inhabitants of the West Bank for the Gazans, but rather because of the Palestinian Authority's decision to crack down on demonstrations in its jurisdiction.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Extra-judicial assassination
How Dubai unraveled a homicide, frame by frame
A mix of old-fashioned legwork and high-tech razzle-dazzle, scouring hundreds of hours of surveillance videos, helped police home in on suspects in a Hamas man's slaying, blamed on Israel's Mossad -- Reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates Lacking witnesses but blessed with hundreds of hours of video, the cops and spooks worked the case of the slain weapons smuggler like a movie in reverse. Dubai's cameras never blink. The security system allows law enforcement to track anyone, from the moment they get off an airplane....
http://www.latimes.com/news/
Badge of shame / Amir Oren
Though the Dubai affair is no longer the focus of public attention, this does not accurately reflect the reality. The January assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, which since February the Dubai authorities have suspected was carried out by the Mossad, caused a great deal of damage to the State of Israel, regardless of whether this suspicion - which Israel has neither confirmed nor denied - is justified or baseless.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Political developments / Diplomacy
Obama tells Netanyahu: Show us you're serious about peace
A widely predicted crisis between Israel and the United States upon Benjamin Netanyahu taking office as prime minister finally erupted this weekend. U.S. President Barack Obama did not hold back in condemning the humiliation caused to Joe Biden with the Israeli announcement of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem during what was supposed to be the vice president's friendly visit to Israel. Instead of accepting Netanyahu's partial apology and letting bygones be bygones, Obama issued a stern warning to the Israeli prime minister and is now demanding that he take "specific actions" to show he is "committed" to the U.S.-Israel relationship and to the peace process itself.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Ambassador Oren reprimanded
Israel's envoy to US summoned for meeting at State Department, reprimanded over Israel's announcement of east Jerusalem construction; meanwhile, PM Netanyahu orders establishment of committee to prevent such mishaps in future
http://www.ynetnews.com/
US orchestrating Ramat Shlomo crisis, PM's office suggests
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that he was surprised by the U.S. administration's public condemnation of his government over Israel's announcement that it would construct 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem. Sources in the prime minister's bureau said the crisis appeared to be orchestrated by the U.S. administration, as Netanyahu had apologized to U.S. Vice President Biden and believed that the crisis was behind the two allies.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Clinton strikes back in drive to restore Obama's clout
13 March - Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, hit back strongly at Israel yesterday following its humiliation of Joe Biden, the vice-president, when it announced new construction in settlements while he was visiting the country ... Yesterday's strong intervention by Mrs Clinton follows growing angst about Mr Obama's declining clout in the region and rising concern that he has allowed Israel - and other foreign partners - to push him around too easily. The incident, which Mr Netanyahu brushed off as a problem of timing rather than substance, reinforced a growing sense of disillusionment among Mr Obama's -supporters.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/
Top Obama aide: East Jerusalem plan seemed meant to thwart talks
Earlier Sunday, President Barack Obama's chief political adviser David Axelrod slammed the Israeli construction plan in East Jerusalem and said that the move, which was announced during Biden's visit, looked like a deliberate attempt to frustrate upcoming proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians ... Responding to the possibility that Israel's move could have any effect on U.S. soldiers in the region, Axelrod said that he believed "that that region and that issue is a flare point throughout the region, and so I'm not going to put it in those terms." However, the top Obama aide added that he did "believe that it is absolutely imperative, not just for the security of Israel and the Palestinian people, who were, remember, at war just a year ago, but it is important for our own security that we move forward and resolve this very difficult issue."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Without homeland, Blair says no hope for Palestinians, peace
Former British prime minister Tony Blair, now a Special Envoy to the Middle East, says the problem has become so intransigent that there is “no hope” for Palestinians unless they have an independent state, an idea now rejected by a once-receptive Israeli government, which exacerbated the idea of a peace in the region by allowing the continued building of Jewish settlements ... “Whatever doubts there are regarding the talks, there are no other options,” Blair said. “Whether the talks succeed or fail, we have to give them a chance.”
http://www.neurope.eu/
PM faces ultimatum from Labor ministers
September deadline for "significant breakthrough" with Palestinians or Syria -- The Labor Party will leave Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition if serious diplomatic progress is not made by the time the 10-month West Bank construction moratorium ends in September, Labor ministers warned over the weekend. The ministers expressed concern over the failure to ignite talks with the Palestinians due to the crisis over plans to build 1,600 housing units in Jerusalem’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood. They are especially worried that if Netanyahu restarted West Bank building, they would not be able to justify staying in the coalition to their constituents.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/
Livni to PM: Don't leave Israel in Yishai's hands
The serious crisis with the United States has led opposition leader Tzipi Livni to speak out against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies on Sunday: "You cannot leave national security in the hands of coalition partners, with all due respect." President Shimon Peres also commented on the affair, saying, "The announcement of the construction of 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo during (US Vice President) Biden's visit, was a mistake."
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Jerusalem council drops construction, apparently due to US crisis
The Jerusalem District Planning and Building committee has canceled two meetings planned for this week, apparently out of concern that any more decisions on construction might result in further tensions with the United States ... Interior Minister Eli Yishai denied last week having ordered the committee to change its agenda following the recent crisis with the U.S. -- but committee members nevertheless have received a new schedule, on which all meetings pertaining to controversial construction areas were erased.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/
Sha'ath doubtful US to return with guarantees
Nabil Sha'ath, Fatah Central Committee member, said Saturday he does not expect US Middle East envoy George Mitchell to return with guarantees that Israel will revoke its decision to expand an East Jerusalem settlement. "I doubt there will be any written guarantees and they will try to urge us to return to negotiations, as always," Sha'ath said in an interview with Ma'an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Hamas: 4 years since electoral victory / Ahmad Yousef
The following is a speech delivered by Ahmad Yousef on Saturday in Gaza -- It is with great pleasure that I deliver this speech before you in this year and month in particular. January 2010 marks the 4th anniversary of Hamas in the government following its democratic victory in the 2006 Parliamentary election and the formation of its government in March of the same year. This year is also special because it also marks the fourth year of Hamas’ successful transition to a political party, despite the trials and tribulations faced and imposed by certain members of the international community that attempted to see Hamas toppled and to thwart Palestinian democracy.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
EU hints Israel must renew peace talks if it wants closer ties (Reuters)
The European Union could use closer trade ties as leverage to urge Israel to resume peace talks with the Palestinians, the EU's top diplomat said on Saturday ahead of a trip to the region. EU high representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, who begins her first visit to the Middle East on Sunday, said the European Union would be active in getting peace talks to resume and had influence in the issue.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Argentina slams Israeli build in East Jerusalem
The Argentinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship condmened on Friday Israel's decision to construct 1,600 new housing units in an East Jerusalem settlement ... The latest condemnation follows a series of similar statements issued by the international community. On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon denounced the move, saying in a statement that "settlements are illegal under international law."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Brazil leader talks Mideast peace, how to be friends with both Israel and Iran
In exclusive interview, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tells Haaretz it's time for more serious Israel-Palestinian talks. In a way that will undoubtedly disturb those who will host him in Israel next week, Lula draws a direct association between the failure to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace and his planned visit to Tehran; between the need to ensure that Iran will not manufacture nuclear weapons and the need to resolve the Middle East conflict; and between the failed attempts at mediation led by international players, first and foremost the United States, and the need to bring in fresh new players - Brazilians, in all likelihood.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
EU's Wallis condemns Ibrahimi Mosque's inclusion on Israeli list
"The Israeli government's decision is very worrying, and came at a time when the mayor of Hebron is working hard to register this site [the Ibrahimi Mosque] on UNESCO's world heritage list," Wallis said following a tour lead by Hebron Mayor Khaled Al-E'seili and committee head for rebuilding, Ali Al-Qawasmi. "I believe this site should be kept open for all beliefs, and have it become a place of peace and not of checkpoints, closures, and the barring of the freedom of worship and performing religious rights," she added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Other news
PA takes whistle-blower's house
Palestinian Authority security personnel over the weekend seized a house belonging to Fahmi Shabaneh, the former Palestinian intelligence official who exposed a series of scandals that have seriously embarrassed the PA leadership. Shabaneh told The Jerusalem Post that the security forces raided his house in Jericho, destroyed furniture, knocked down walls and confiscated equipment and personal items. He lives in Jerusalem and holds an Israeli ID card like all permanent Arab residents of the city. Shabaneh said that the raid was carried out by a joint force belonging to the PA’s General Intelligence Service and the Civil Police.
http://www.jpost.com/
IDF combat engineers to train in mock village
In an effort to better prepare soldiers for operations in Gaza and southern Lebanon, the IDF Engineering Corps is building a mock Palestinian village in its training base in the Negev that will include booby-trapped homes. The facility will include a few dozen concrete structures with underground passageways and tunnels, and will be similar to an urban-warfare training center the IDF built several years ago next to the Tze’elim Training Base in the western Negev. The new facility will be unique since it will be modeled after the Gaza Strip where Hamas has established dozens of kilometers of tunnels connecting homes and command centers
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/
Interview: Israel phasing out flechette tank shells (Reuters)
TEL HASHOMER, Israel, March 14 (Reuters) - Israel is phasing out a U.S.-made tank shell that sprays thousands of deadly darts over a wide area, in favour of a more precise round produced locally, a senior army officer said on Sunday. With their 300-metre kill zone, "flechette" shells fired in congested Palestinian areas, as well as in Lebanon, have caused frequent civilian casualties and attracted international condemnation.
http://www.alertnet.org/
West Bank university staff declare hunger strike, 6 days of protest
Nablus – Ma'an – The Union of University Employees in the West Bank announced an escalation in industrial action on Sunday, with six days of strikes to begin on Wednesday ... Among the demands are inclusion on the Palestinian Authority's retirement and pensions' scheme, and an increase in salary in accordance with the rise of living costs, which was afforded to civil servants at the beginning of 2010.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Haaretz Special Feature: The economy wakes up to Israel's Arabs
Haaretz and TheMarker take an in-depth look at the sector long overlooked by employers and investors, but which is now seen by some as the next 'big thing' in the Israeli market.http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Egypt cancels unveiling of restored synagogue (AP)
Egypt has canceled the inauguration of a restored synagogue citing the Israeli oppression of Muslims in the territories as well as excesses by Jews during an earlier ceremony at the synagogue.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Analysis / Opinion
Haaretz editorial: Netanyahu is trading Israel's security for right-wing ideology
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led Israel into a serious crisis in relations with the United States and to a collapse in peace talks with the Palestinians just when they were to be resumed. A year after he took office, it is apparent that his government's policies, which made it top priority to populate East Jerusalem with Jews, is leading to Israel's increasing international isolation and threatening its key security interests in the name of an extreme right-wing ideology.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
NYT columnist: Israel lost contact with reality
In article titled 'Driving drunk in Jerusalem', Thomas L. Friedman says US vice president should have gotten right back on Air Force Two immediately after Jerusalem construction decision, leaving behind a note reading, 'You think you can embarrass your only true ally in the world with no consequences?'
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Israel demands peace from Palestinians as its own racism spreads / Zvi Bar'el
The Strategic Affairs Ministry never ceases to bring us peace of mind. How nice to know that someone in Israel is monitoring Palestinian incitement, ensuring they "create an environment of peace" and striving "to push them toward a culture of peace". After all, what do we care about construction in Jerusalem, Efrat or Ramat Shlomo, or about checkpoints, arrests, home demolitions, the army's "neighbor policy," bone breaking, land appropriation or the blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza? All of these are minor issues compared with naming a square near Ramallah after Dalal Mughrabi, a Palestinian woman who took part in a bloody terror attack three decades ago, calling for confronting the occupation or referring to suicide bombers as martyrs. These are the real threats to peace. After all, according to the road map, the Palestinians are responsible for ending incitement.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israel's Arabs have been misbehaving lately / Gideon Levy
Our Arabs have been misbehaving lately. After all we did for Scandar Copti - funding and grooming him and sending him off to Hollywood - he dared say that his film "Ajami" - our film, the film of us all - doesn't represent us in the end. After we allowed MK Ahmed Tibi to study medicine at Hebrew University (!) and even let him be elected to the Knesset, he dared compare our saintly Zionist militants - the Olei Hagardom who were hanged by the British during the Mandate period - to their terrorists. That's not nice, Scandar. That's not right, Ahmed. The young are going wild in the streets: a survey published in Haaretz last week offered a suitable Zionist answer to the rebellious Arabs. Half our [Jewish] young people think that Arabs do not deserve the same rights as Jews; 56 percent believe that they should not be allowed to run for a Knesset seat.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Demonizing Israel in Spain / Monica Cooper
...With 430,000 daily copies and an Internet readership of over two million, El PaÃs is considered the “leader of the mainstream press in Spain.” And alongside every single article about Israel on the website of this pre-eminent newspaper is a profile of Israel that lists Tel Aviv as the country’s capital. In its section “Corresponsales” (reporters), El PaÃs explains that reporter Juan Miguel Muñoz reports from “Jerusalem, Near East.” No other reporter is identified like this as based in a geographic area; they are all in a named country (except those who report on the EU from Brussels).
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Human interest
Dina's Jaffa / Neri Linveh
They say the real estate market in Jaffa is hot, but that's true for Jews only. Ostensibly, the Jews living there have been attracted to Jaffa because of its charms - as an Arab port city, an exotic place full of the sounds of the muezzin, bustling markets, Middle Eastern restaurants, pita bakeries and even because of its environmental neglect. But, in fact, these are Jews who came to Jaffa to seal themselves off as much as possible from their immediate surroundings. Most live in the new housing projects, from which they emerge from stone houses surrounded by a wall, via a luxurious lobby or atrium, car keys in hand, and walk straight to the covered parking lot beneath the building. Then, in their car, with closed windows, they drive straight to Tel Aviv without encountering unnecessary blights, such as the Arab residents of Jaffa, along the way ... And yet, there are exceptions, of course. One of them is Dina Lee, also known as "Dina from Jaffa," after the Jaffa Cafe that she established with an Arab partner from Lod, on the upper part of Margoza Street. A pioneering and prize-winning project, the cafe is truly an exceptional place
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
In Gaza: relations
“My grandmother was Jewish,” a voice drifts out from behind the meagre selection of second-hand clothes. The souk al fres, a massive market in Gaza’s old district, Sahaa, carrying just about all one needs used to thrive with second-hand clothes and goods brought through open borders via Israel. It was a thrift-shop-junkies dream. Today, after 1000 days of siege (complete siege, from June 2007, but in reality the siege goes back to Hamas’ election, back to post-Oslo ‘peace years’ when the closures began, denying Palestinians in Gaza of freedom, of work, of medical treatment outside, of imports and exports, and now of all but less than 40 items) (painstakingly acquired), the used-clothes market is bare-bones.Wa’el is sitting in a room devoid of nearly all but some scarves and many empty hangers.
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/
Gaza's male hairdressers: time to cut and run?
"Maybe I will emigrate to Somalia or Afghanistan," says hairdresser Adnan Barakat with a wry smile. "There's no life for me in Gaza." Mr Barakat is one of only five or six male hairdressers in the Gaza Strip who cut women's hair. He has been serving female clients at his small salon in Gaza City for more than 25 years. But he worries Hamas's new policy banning men from cutting women's hair could put an end to that ... Mr Barakat says a lot of his customers are foreigners, or from Gaza's Christian minority of about 3,000. Some of his clients are liberal Muslims.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
Iraq, other Arab states
Saturday: 11 Iraqis killed, 21 wounded
Excerpts: More partial election returns trickled out of Iraq today. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appears to be leading, especially in Baghdad, but other blocs have seen success in outlying provinces. At least 11 Iraqis were killed and 21 more were wounded in the latest attacks. In Baghdad, a bomb blast killed one person and wounded ten others in the Doura neighborhood. A bomb in Ghazaliya wounded three people, including two policemen. Six people were wounded by a pair of blasts in Shuala. Three gunmen were killed in Tal Afar when the car bomb they were preparing exploded prematurely.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Those who say history will absolve the Iraqi warmongers are deluded / Henry Porter
If you argue that last week's election proved the war was right, you are stepping over 100,000 bodies -- Despite the bombs last week and allegations of votes being dumped, the triumphalism of the pro-war faction represents an important challenge to those who were against the war. Their taunt is this: large numbers of people were killed but would you prefer Saddam to be still in charge, butchering the Shia Muslims and torturing his opponents?Surely the only people who can answer that are the Iraqis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Jumblatt apologizes to al-Assad
Walid Jumblatt, a Lebanese MP and leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, has made a public apology for "indecent comments" he made in the past against Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president. Jumblatt, who was part of the anti-Syria March 14 movement, had described al-Assad in 2007 as "Damascus' dictator", "a savage" and "an Israeli product".
http://english.aljazeera.net/
Yemen separatist shot dead near southern checkpoint (Reuters)
* State media said man was wanted by state, resisted arrest * Opposition described killing as an assassination -- SANAA, March 14 (Reuters) - Yemeni security forces shot dead a southern separatist near a remote military checkpoint, local sources said on Sunday, in violence that could inflame already high tensions in the south.
http://www.alertnet.org/
U.S.
"...an emasculated White House" that lacks "Mideast muscle"
Vice President Joseph Biden set out to massage US-Israeli relations this week, but instead rain up against the reality of Israeli politics, manifested in the Netanahu government's announcement of the construction of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem. The result, as described by the normally rhetorically sober Financial Times, has been to expose "an emasculated White House" that lacks "Mideast muscle." This criticism is completely deserved, because Biden's debacle in Israel is the fruit of the Obama Administration's fatally flawed approach to the Middle East. The first and most fundamental flaw in that approach is President Obama's failure to pursue strategic realignment with the Islamic Republic of Iran with the kind of strategic focus and political determination with which President Nixon pursued strategic realignment with the People's Republic of China in the early 1970s.
http://friday-lunch-club.
Gen'l Petraeus channels Walt and Mearshaimer / Philip Weiss
The establishment consensus is cracking. A new report by Mark Perry has it that David Petraeus has gotten religion on the Israel/Palestine conflict– as any thinking person with responsibility for American lives in the Middle East does– and is now mainlining the Walt and Mearsheimer realist critique of our foreign policy in the Middle East into the Obama administration, lately, in a briefing to the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen that played out in the days after the Biden slap:
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
In Almontaser coverage, 'NYT' gives Israel lobby a pass / Philip Weiss
Did you see the NYT article on the EEOC decision that Debbie Almontaser was the victim of bias when she was forced to resign as head of a Arabic-language high school? It is a classic case of the Times refusing to acknowledge the lobby’s efforts.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/03/
Saudi ex-Gitmo prisoners get suspended jail time
A Saudi court gave suspended prison sentences to 10 former Saudi Guantanamo detainees who had completed a rehabilitation program, Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Saturday ... Returnees from Guantanamo are routinely tried and given prison sentences by Saudi courts which are then suspended based on their already having passed time in U.S. custody, and also on successfully passing through the Saudi "Care" rehabilitation program.
http://www.alarabiya.net/
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www.TheHeadlines.org
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