An Israeli court approved a re-routing of the Israeli separation wall on 25 November such that the barrier will isolate areas of Shu'fat, the Salam neighborhood, Anata and Ras Khamis from the rest of East Jerusalem. A special committee appointed by the Israeli government to take control of the specified lands began construction plans immediately after the decision was made.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Barghouthi in Berlin: attacks up 300 percent since Annapolis
Since the Annapolis conference in November 2007 during which Israeli officials pledged to implement the Road Map, attacks on Palestinians are up 300 percent. The practices of Israeli forces have killed 543 Palestinians since that conference which the United States frequently refers to as a beacon of negotiations. The numbers were delivered by Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi during a solidarity demonstration and conference in Berlin yesterday.
http://english.pnn.ps/index. php?option=com_content&task=
Two teens killed as Israeli warplanes attack Rafah
Palestinian medical sources confirmed that two Palestinian teenage boys were killed and four others wounded as Israeli warplanes attacked the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Israeli forces kill Palestinian in Nablus
Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus on Monday, the Israeli army said. Such killings have become less frequent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas launched a security campaign with U.S. backing.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Al Mezan Center demands a probe into the killing of a Palestinian man in Gaza
The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights demanded the Hamas-controlled Palestinian police in Gaza to probe the fatal shooting of a 41-year old man in Al Maghazi refugee camp after he was arrested by the police.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Four Palestinians hospitalized in Hebron after attack by settlers' dogs
Israeli settlers' dogs attacked and injured four Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday, medical sources confirmed.
Local sources said the four were attacked on Al-Sahleh street in the Old City of Hebron, near the Ibrahimi Mosque.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Armed Israeli settlers attack Palestinians , insult Islam
Scores of armed Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah, on Tuesday, attacked Palestinian-owned houses and properties in the Yetma, Qeblan and Assawiya villages.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Fourteen wounded as Jewish settlers riot in Hebron
AFP-At least 13 Palestinians and one Israeli were wounded on Tuesday as ultra-nationalist Israelis clashed with residents and police in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Settlers rampage as rumors of Hebron house eviction fly
Right-wing activists yesterday stepped-up preparations to resist an operation by security forces aimed at evicting them from a disputed house in Hebron in accordance with a ruling by the High Court of Justice. More, Page 3. Right-wing activists flocked to the building, whose ownership is claimed by both Jews and Palestinians and is known alternatively as the Peace House or House of Contention, as rumors spread that the operation was imminent.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
1,000 settlers arrive at Hebron `house of contention` as evacuation looms
Over a thousand protesters arrived Monday evening at a disputed house in the West Bank city of Hebron to support settlers who refuse to vacate the building. Meanwhile, in an attempt to escalate the struggle against the evacuation, settlers blocked off roads in the Samaria region.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Next to Hebron's 'House of Contention,' Palestinian neighbors live in fear
It's afternoon and there is a lull in the fighting between Jewish settlers and Palestinians. In a few hours, thousands of Jews will arrive to prevent the evacuation of the "House of Peace," also called the "House of Contention," which the High Court of Justice ruled must be returned to the Palestinians who claim ownership of it. Meanwhile, a group of youths is on the rooftop of the building listening to a rabbi speak. Others are kept on guard scouting for any changes in the movements of Israel Defense Forces or Palestinian bystanders.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Seth Freedman: Israel's Rottweilers on the loose
Seth Freedman: Amid rioting by settlers in Hebron, relatives of two Mumbai victims are pouring fuel on the already-raging fire.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Court rules Federman can return to W. Bank
The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court yesterday rejected the State Prosecutor's request to bar extreme right activist Noam Federman from the West Bank until the end of his trial. Federman was charged in the beginning of November with assaulting an officer and disrupting his work during the evacuation of Federman's house from an illegal outpost near Kiryat Arba at the end of October.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
God's little acre
"Arab-haters have established a settlement in Acre," he says. "They are dangerous and capable of igniting the street at any time. I think the fire is close-if not in another month, then in two months. We can expect a replay of the events in Acre [where Jews and Arabs clashed on and after Yom Kippur], I have no doubt."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Analysis: Settlers may be Israel's toughest battle
AP-Israel's hardest battle may still lie ahead, and it's not against an Arab foe.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Hamas: PA arrested 11 supporters across West Bank
Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces seized 11 Hamas affiliates across the West Bank in recent days, according to a statement received by Ma'an on Tuesday., Hamas accused PA forces of arresting the affiliates in the West Bank cities of Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron, the statement added.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Palestinians: IDF arrested Fatah operative who had received clemency
Palestinian sources told Ynet that IDF forces had arrested Muhammad Abu Daria, an operative in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades – the military wing of Fatah, who was included in a clemency agreement. According to the Palestinians, Abu Daria, a member of the Palestinian Authority's security forces, was in a security force car when arrested. He was shot during the incident and his status in unknown.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Study: Most Palestinian prisoners from northern West Bank
More than 50 percent of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons are from the northern West Bank, according to the results of a study released on Tuesday. According to the study's findings, 53.8 percent of the total number of currently detained persons and those released between January 2007 and August 2008 are from the northern parts of the West Bank, compared to 28.3 percent and 17.9 percent from the central and southern parts of the West Bank, respectively.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israeli Reporter Amira Hass Forced Out of Gaza by Hamas, Detained by Israeli Police For Entering Gaza Without Permit
Israel has imposed a tightened blockade over its million and a half residents for nearly a month. Last month, award-winning Israeli journalist Amira Hass defied the blockade and entered Gaza on a boat with international peace activists. But on Sunday, Hamas officials told Hass they could no longer guarantee her security and forced her to leave. Hass was briefly detained by Israeli security officials upon re-entering Israel Monday because she did not have a permit for Gaza. Amira Hass joins us on the phone from Ramallah.
http://www.democracynow.org/
Haaretz writer held for entering Gaza
Haaretz correspondent Amira Hass was detained by Sderot police last night for having entered the Gaza Strip without a permit. By order of the army, Israeli journalists have been barred from entering Gaza since the abduction of soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006. Hass was stopped by soldiers at the Erez Checkpoint, on the Gaza-Israel border, as she was returning to Israel from the Strip. Upon discovering that she had no permit to be in Gaza, the soldiers transferred her to the Sderot police.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
PA seizes Ma'an correspondent, cameraman in Tulkarem
Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces disguised as civilians detained two Ma'an journalists in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem on Tuesday. Ma'an's Tulkarem correspondent, Sami As-Sa'i, and cameraman, Muayyad Al-Ashqar, were assaulted on Tuesday by PA security forces wearing civilian clothes before they were taken to a police station. Forces confiscated Al-Ashqar's camera, as well.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Press freedoms victim of internal conflict
In the ongoing Palestinian Authority – Hamas government battle, journalists are among those victimized for party affiliation. The latest incidents include attacks on Al Quds reporter Ala'a Salama, the Ramattan News Agency and Na'el Nakhla who is being questioned by the General Intelligence Service today. Gaza City's Palestinian Centre for Human Rights conducted field investigations into those and other breaches press freedoms. Upon its findings the human rights organization invoked the Palestinian Basic Law's "right to freedom of opinion and expression."
http://english.pnn.ps/index. php?option=com_content&task=
PFLP member sentenced to one life-term and 5 years for the assassination of Zeevi
Israeli central Court in Jerusalem sentenced on Monday the head of the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahed Ghalama, for one life-term and additional five years for the assassination of the then-Israeli Tourism Minister, Rahba'am Zeevi, the Arabs48 news website reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
News from Within Podcast: Role of the Israeli High Court in the Occupation-Focus on the Gaza Strip
The Israeli High Court of Justice in Jerusalem. Role of the Israeli High Court in the Occupation-Focus on the Gaza Strip On Tuesday, 18 November 2008, the Alternative Information Center spoke with, Valentina Azarov, a researcher in the field of international and humanitarian law and human rights. Valentina is also a Legal Researcher at HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual. We spoke about the role of the Israeli High Court of Justice in the occupation, and legal questions about the status and situation of the Gaza Strip. Please note, the opinions expressed in this piece are Ms. Azarov's own and should not be attributed to HaMoked.
http://www.alternativenews.
The Listening Post-Gaza media blackout-29 Nov 08
The Israeli blockade on Gaza has now been extended to the media, creating a news blackout that has severely restricted the reporting of the suffering in Gaza to the outside world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Gaza: Beyond the blockade
Sameh Habeeb reports on the humanitarian crisis taking place inside Gaza's sealed borders.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Pressure mounts to end blockade
Israel is facing mounting international pressure over its closure of crossings into the Gaza Strip, which has stopped food, fuel, medicine and other supplies from reaching the 1.5m Palestinians living in the coastal territory, writes Tobias Buck. UNRWA, the United Nations development body charged with providing aid to about 750,000 Gazans, says it needs 15 trucks to get through to Gaza every day to carry out its task. Since November 4, only 31 have been allowed to cross.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/
ISRAEL-OPT: Power cuts, fuel shortages affect health and water supplies
Adel Abu Sido, 31, a taxi driver from Gaza City, stands over his two-week old premature baby, Hadil, dreading her air supply may abruptly stop.
http://www.irinnews.org/
UN accuses Israel of punishing aid workers
The UN official responsible for the welfare of 4.6 million Palestinian refugees has accused Israel of extending its collective punishment of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip to include international humanitarian staff.
http://www.independent.co.uk/
Nassif: What is happening in Gaza is a war crime, genocide
Ra'fat Nassif, one of Hamas's political leaders in the West Bank, has described what is happening in the Gaza Strip as a war crime and genocide being committed against unarmed civilians.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Kuwaiti charitable society dispatches aid consignment to Gaza
The Kuwaiti social reform society on Monday initiated the second phase of its campaign "Save Gaza" and announced in a press conference that it would send a relief shipment to the Strip via sea route.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Hamas: The Libyan ship's attempt to reach Gaza is a brave step
Hamas hailed the attempt by the Libyan ship to reach the Gaza Strip as a courageous move of challenge, highlighting that this move shows a sense of responsibility from Libya towards the Gaza people.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
"Let Gaza live" demonstration in Oslo
On Saturday, 50 people braved the rain and zero degree weather in Oslo to protest inhuman treatment of the people of Gaza. Demonstrators gathered in front of the Norwegian Parliament building under the slogan "Let Gaza live," calling for an end to both the collective punishment of the population and the international acquiesce that allows it to continue.
http://stopthewall.org/
Lebanese students demonstrate in support of Gaza
Hundreds of Lebanese students have demonstrated in Beirut in support of the Palestinians blockaded in the Gaza Strip. Nearly 2,000 students marched toward Lebanon's U.N. headquarters in downtown Beirut on Tuesday morning. They gathered for about 30 minutes outside the building where they sang anti-Israeli songs before dispersing peacefully. Israel tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip last month in a move that has been widely criticized throughout the Arab world.
http://www.iht.com/articles/
Holding Gaza hostage
As Al-Ahram Weekly went to press Wednesday Arab foreign ministers were convening for an extraordinary meeting against the backdrop of an explosive humanitarian crisis in Gaza where 1.5 million Palestinians are suffering the effects of Israel's 22-day long blockade. Gaza's population has been systematically deprived of electricity, medicine, medical supplies, fuel and food. Over the past week Arab TV news channels have been transmitting live footage of the human tragedy, including scenes of critically ill Palestinians awaiting treatment in Gaza's hospitals pleading with the Arabs, and not Israel, for "mercy". One elderly woman suffering from heart disease and diabetes asked Al-Jazeera on Monday: "We are Muslims, why are the Arabs leaving us to die?Why isn't Egypt opening the [Rafah] borders?"
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/
Gaza back to the Stone Age
Palestinians in the Gaza strip; the most densely populated area in the world are now deprived from the basics of living. We can say the situation is extremely difficult but this is not the case; actually no one in the world could imagine how the current situation is and the depression people here are living in; we are now very close to re-experience the living of primitives in the Stone Age. Talking about living under strict siege and deprivation from electricity, water, cooking gas, fuel, flour etc., which are the main essential materials for surviving, is common and occupying minds of several households. Some people are short of water for several days continuously.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Palestinian PM urges Israel to allow cash into Gaza
Palestinian premier Salam Fayyad warned on Tuesday that civil servants in Gaza will not receive their monthly salaries unless Israel authorises cash transfers to the besieged territory. "The Palestinian authorities will pay out the salaries of civil servants in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip tomorrow but because of the Israeli measures, the banks (in Gaza) face unprecedented liquidity problems," he told journalists in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
http://www.africasia.com/
Hamas rebuffs Israel offer on prisoner swap
Hamas' armed wing said on Monday that it would not consider a prisoner with exchange with Israel unless all its conditions are fulfilled. In a statement Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson of the Al-Qassam Brigades said, "The statements issued by Israeli leaders on the release of those arrested after the capture of [Israeli soldier Gilad] Shalit are internal ploys trying to collect votes and for personal and partisan reasons."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Fatah praises Saudi Arabia for dealing with PA regarding the Hajj
The head of the Fatah parliamentary bloc expressed his appreciation on Monday that Saudi Arabia helped Palestinian pilgrims make the Hajj to Mecca in coordination with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Fatah engaged in a struggle with its rival, Hamas, over whether the Ramallah-based PA or the Hamas government in Gaza would facilitate the passage of pilgrims from Gaza to Mecca. Azzam Al-Ahmad, the Fatah parliamentary leader, praised Saudi Arabia for its commitment to "the legitimacy of the Palestinian unity and not succumbing to Hamas's interruptions."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Abbas irks Hamas with plan for West Bank councils
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's government said on Monday it planned to appoint committees to take over from elected local councils in the occupied West Bank in a move denounced by Hamas.
Hamas Islamists had made gains in local council elections in 2004 and 2005 before trouncing Abbas's long-dominant Fatah faction in a parliamentary election in January 2006.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Fayyad asks EU not to upgrade ties with Israel
Palestinian prime minister asks diplomats not to improve EU-Israel relations as long as latter expands West Bank settlements.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
EU Wants the Orient House Re-opened
Israeli officials are deeply concerned over an internal European Union document written by the French Foreign Ministry and titled "The EU Action Strategy for Peace in the Middle East: The Way Forward," which calls for increased pressure on Israel to reopen Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, including Orient House, which formerly served as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s headquarters in the city.
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/
Livni and French MP clash over Gaza during EU speech
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni verbally clashed with French Member of Parliament Danny Cohen Bendit during her address before the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on Tuesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Palestinians Fear Losing out in Israel-Syria Deal
Palestinian refugees living in Syria fear their interests might be sacrificed if Damascus concludes a peace deal with Israel. The indirect talks between the two states have left refugees worried that under the terms of a comprehensive agreement, their demand to return to their old homes would be quietly shelved and they would instead be settled permanently in Syria. The talks, mediated by Turkey, began in May but were suspended in September pending the formation of a new Israeli government. An international conference in Damascus on November 23 and 24 brought together 4,500 representatives from 45 countries to highlight what the Palestinian diaspora regards as its inalienable right to return to its ancestral lands.
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=syr&s=
Refugee stories: The future's all sewn up-Bank Audi donation brings skills and income to Husseiniyeh's women
Syria-It is a cold autumn morning in Damascus; nevertheless the chilly wind blowing down from the AntiLebanon Mountains is hardly felt inside the small room that houses Husseiniyeh's brand-new textile production unit. Inside the unit, bright smiles and proud faces add to the warm and happy atmosphere as nine women go about their work amongst the unstoppable sewing machines.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
'With Ease Our Parents Close Their Eyes to Atrocities Committed in Our Name'--19-Year-Old Refusenik
Here's a new American-led campaign to support the shministim, the Israeli kids who are refusing to serve the criminal and neverending Israeli occupation. Jewish Voice for Peace is leading the petition drive. Here's a link to a Palestine site, reporting that Omer Goldman, the daughter of a powerful conservative, whose willingness, along with two other young women, to go to jail earlier this year was so electrifying, has been declared exempt from military service on medical grounds. On the JVP site you can see a group shot of the shministim.
http://www.philipweiss.org/
committed-in-our-name.html
Italy funds promotion of peace and dialogue through sports in Palestine refugee camps
On 29 November 2008, the Italian Embassy's Development Cooperation Office and UNRWA organized a day of sports events for young Palestine Refugees in Lebanon. The event was held in UNRWA's Siblin Training Centre in the presence of the ambassador of Italy in Lebanon Mr. Gabriele Cecchia, and the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon Mr. Salvatore Lombardo. The event included sports activities and competitions in the fields of racing, football, table tennis, volleyball and basketball. At the end of the day, medals and cups were awarded to winners.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
November 2008 National Speaking Tour w/Diana Buttu and Rev. Eddie Makue
Diana Buttu is a former PLO legal advisor and attorney, and Eddie Makue is the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches in Johannesburg. Read full speakers' bios for our Nov. 2008 national anti-apartheid speaking/organizing tour. Find out where the tour is going and watch an endorsement video from Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
http://www.endtheoccupation.
Sanctions Now – Upgrading, Hell No!
While Israel has been withholding aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip, the EU has supported upgrading its relations with the European community. "Gaza is burning," writes French activist Liliane Cordova Kaczerginski, using the very words of a famous song of a Jewish village destroyed by the Nazis. Like sixty years ago, Gaza is burning and the world is silent, waiting for the outcome of a non-existent peace process. "A hostile entity ( http://www.ynet.co.il/english/
http://www.alternativenews.
A Peace Process That Makes Peace Impossible
Palestinian – Israeli peace-making can only deliver if Palestinians are united, but the current Annapolis "peace process" was launched first of all as a blueprint for perpetuating the inter-Palestinian divide. Commitment or non-commitment to what the Quartet of the US, EU, UN and Russian mediators in Middle East peace – making described as the "Annapolis Process" in a statement they released after their meeting in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on November 8 has become the terms of reference to make or break the Palestinian unity of ranks, which has so far failed the Egyptian mediation efforts, the latest in a series of national, Arab and non-Arab similar reconciliation endeavors.
http://www.counterpunch.com/
Who cares for the Palestinians?
Where should we go after the last frontiers, where should the birds fly after the last sky?Mahmoud Darwish. There was this frail old man on Al-Jazeera the other day dangling an even older memory-laden key that antique collectors would be happy to own saying that he longed to go back to his house in Palestine and start life all over again.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/
Solar Cooking Ovens: Another Eco-Solution from the Gaza Strip
Over the past few weeks, Israel's ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip has intensified. Commercial crossings are now closed, preventing the transfer of natural gas and other essential resources for Gaza's 1.5 million residents. We saw earlier this year, when inventors Waseem Khazendar and Fayaz Anan created an electric car, that necessity is the mother of invention. As fuel and other resource shortages in Gaza increase, the trend toward innovation continues.
http://greenprophet.com/2008/
Nearly all victims of cluster bombs worldwide are civilians
OSLO: Like land mines, cluster munitions are deadly not only during conflicts but also for years after they have ended. But although they kill and maim over long periods, and primarily claim civilian lives, cluster munitions have so far been neither banned nor regulated by an international treaty.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
A message from southern Lebanon: Stop making cluster bombs (Feature)
Sawaneh, Lebanon-In 2006, shortly after Israel ended its 33-day war against Lebanon, 9-year-old Hussein Sultan and his best friend Hassan stepped on a cluster bomb while playing in the backyard of his home in the southern Lebanese village of Sawaneh. Hassan died immediately, while Hussein, now 11, sustained serious injuries to the hands and chest.
http://www.monstersandcritics. com/news/middleeast/features/
Monday: 57 Iraqis Killed, 108 Wounded
Excerpt: At least 57 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 108 were wounded in the latest violence. There were not many incidents, but the few that were reported were too significant to slip through the cracks. Meanwhile, South Korean troops ended their mission in Arbil. The U.S. military death toll fell to its lowest since the 2003 invasion, but the number of Iraqi deaths has begin to climb again. Also, U.S. President-elect Obama said that U.S. troops could leave Iraqi in 16 months, but he would that up to military commanders.
http://www.antiwar.com/
30 killed, injured in car bomb explosion in Talafar
NINEWA /Aswat al-Iraq: At least five people were killed and 25 others were wounded in a car bomb explosion in Talafar, a military source said on Tuesday. "A car rigged with explosives went off at 4:30 p.m. near a police checkpoint in Saraya region in Talafar district, killing five, including a cop, and [...]
http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=
All options are open, resistance legitimate right – Sadrist MP
A Sadrist legislator said all options are open for the Sadirsts in accordance with their constitutional and legal rights, adding "resistance of occupation" is a legitimate right guaranteed by the international law".
http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=
Syria-based Iraqis protest against Iraq-US pact
AFP-Almost 2,000 Syria-based Iraqis staged a protest on Wednesday against the Iraq-US military pact, saying that the agreement would place Iraq under US domination.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Afshin Rattansi and Raed Jarrar on the Iraq vote
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
List of Iraqi academics assassinated in Iraq during the US-led occupation
The following relation has being created against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq with the information provided by direct Iraqi university sources and international and Arab media. It only includes names and data referred to university academics assassinated during the Occupation period.
http://www.daily.pk/world/
-occupation.html
U.S. to hand over its Iraqi detainees to government
Iraqi detainees in U.S. custody will be handed over to the Iraqi authorities by the end of they year in line with the security agreement the countries signed last month. The U.S. says there are 15,000 Iraqis in its prisons in Iraq. The Iraqi authorities are required to run these prisons also. Some of these detainees are former high-ranking Iraqi officials. Apart from a few high-profile cases, almost all the detainees have been languishing in U.S. prisons for years without trail. It is not clear what will the government do with the detainees.
http://www.azzaman.com/
UN concerned over treatment of Iraqi detainees
AP-The U.N. mission in Iraq expressed "serious concern" Tuesday about overcrowded prisons and the treatment of detainees in Iraqi custody in its latest report on the human rights situation in the country.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
US set to hand over Green Zone to Iraq
Many Iraqis cannot wait until the Green Zone in Baghdad is turned over to Iraqi forces, as a part of the implementation of the newly adopted security agreement between the US and Iraq.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/
U.S. troops may be out of Iraq in 16 months: Obama
Reuters-President-elect Barack Obama said on Monday he believed U.S. combat troops should leave Iraq within 16 months of his taking office but he would listen to advice from military commanders.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
Songs for the Mahdi Army
One day in Iraq, a friend picked me up from the house in Baghdad's Mansur district and took me to the Shaab district of east Baghdad. We drove past checkpoints manned by "Awakening" militias created by the Americans to counteract the Shiite-led Mahdi Army militia. My friend, a Shiite himself from Shaab, put a tape in the cassette player. "Now we are the Mahdi Army," my friend laughed, as the singing started. The songs praised populist anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi militia loyal to him, which frequently blew up or kidnapped Americans and other foreigners. Later, Mahdi Army members asked my friend suspiciously if I was a foreigner (yes) who drank alcohol or slept with Iraqi women (no). The Mahdi Army had wanted to kidnap me, and had hoped to find the proper pretext to justify it in my immorality. Fortunately, I'm still here.
http://www.motherjones.com/
Iraq's "Chemical Ali" gets second death sentence
An Iraqi court sentenced Saddam Hussein's cousin "Chemical Ali" to death on Tuesday for the killing of thousands of Shi'ites in a ruthless crackdown on their uprising after the 1991 Gulf War. It was the second death sentence to be handed down against Ali Hassan al-Majeed, who earned his nickname for his role in using poison gas against Kurdish villages. Dressed in an Arab chequered headdress and robe, Majeed stood quietly as the verdict was read, showing no emotion.
http://www.alertnet.org/
With Decrease in Violence in Baghdad, Iraqi Women Slowly Go Back to Driving Cars
BAGHDAD--The black-masked militias have vanished from most Baghdad streets, and the car bombings are down to one or two a day. So one recent afternoon, Hadeel Ahmed, a ponytailed college student in jeans, did something few Iraqi women have dared in recent years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
rss_world/mideast
Iraq to revive dead farmland by sucking out salt
Iraq started flushing excess salinity out of millions of acres of land on Monday in a project aimed at cleansing rivers, breathing new life into dying soils and reviving what was once part of "the fertile crescent". Though Iraq is wetter and more arable than many of its desert-covered neighbours, centuries of irrigation and over-use have left swathes of farmland fallow because of salinity.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Bush calls flawed Iraq intelligence biggest regret
President George W. Bush said the biggest regret of his presidency was flawed intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and told ABC "World News" in an interview airing on Monday that he was unprepared for war when he took office. Bush leaves the White House on Jan. 20 with public approval ratings near record lows partly due to the unpopular Iraq war that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. More than 4,200 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.
http://www.reuters.com/
Obama's First Problem is US War Crimes
There is, in the end, a simple and sobering truth: these people have to be brought to justice if the rule of law is to survive in America. In his constitutional soul, Obama knows this.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
Few in Middle East expect real change
Barack Obama's choice of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state gladdens Israel, but does not overjoy Arabs and Iranians keen for a new start.
http://www.thenational.ae/
Obama choice dims hopes in Middle East for change
Reuters-President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state gladdens Israel, but does not overjoy Arabs and Iranians keen for a new start after eight years of perceived U.S. policy calamities.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
Madam Secretary Hillary Clinton on the Middle East
It's official. Barack Obama has chosen Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State; a choice that confirms US foreign policy is not about to change significantly under the forthcoming Democratic administration. The US will continue to pander to Israel and the War on Terror will still be the rallying cry for our foreign interventions.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/
Obama mulls ex-ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, as special Mideast envoy
President-elect Barack Obama is considering the appointment of Daniel Kurtzer, former American Ambassador to Egypt (1997-2001) and Israel (2001-2005), to become his administration's presidential envoy to the Middle East, a senior Israeli diplomatic source said this week.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Analysis: J'lem mostly pleased with Obama choices
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued a perfunctory congratulatory statement Monday night following the selection of Hillary Clinton as President-elect Barack Obama's choice for secretary of state. "Sen. Clinton is a friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish People and I am sure that-in her new position-she will continue to advance the special Israel-US relationship." It is a statement that, with a name change, Olmert probably would have issued had the choice been John Kerry or Bill Richardson, two men who earlier were in the secretary of state sweepstakes.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Israel welcomes Clinton nomination, but mixed Palestinian reaction
Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday welcomed Hillary Clinton's nomination as the next US secretary of state. Abbas' staunch rival, the radical Islamic Hamas movement ruling Gaza, however, said Clinton would display the same pro-Israeli bias as it charged previous US secretaries of state had in the past.
http://www.earthtimes.org/
-reaction.html
Rising again from under that bus
Quite apart from the interesting future dynamics of this relationship, it means that Power will be bringing her views to bear upon State employees and Obama's foreign policy. As I wrote here previously, those views include not only advocating the ending of all aid to Israel and redirecting it to the Palestinians, but also the need to land a 'mammoth force' of US troops in Israel to protect the Palestinians from Israeli attempts at genocide (sic) – although she subsequently claimed not to remember nor understand what she had said on that occasion-- and her complaint that criticism of Barack Obama all too often came down to what was 'good for the Jews'.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/
Cynthia McKinney-African Americans, Peace and the Plight of Palestinians
The former congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate charges that "Israel's lockdown of Gaza is keeping food, fuel, and medicine from civilians." But that's just the most recent atrocity in a human rights catastrophe that began 60 years ago, in Palestine, the same year that birthed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration is prime evidence that a civilized world is possible, but "Palestine is the place that the Universal Declaration forgot."
http://palestinethinktank.com/
-palestinians/
The Visibly Forgotten Minority
It isn't every day that a community can be ubiquitous and invisible at the same time. Arab Americans, however, have achieved this paradoxical status. We achieved this status by playing a crucial role in the recent presidential election without having been properly acknowledged by the candidates or by an increasingly compliant progressive media.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/
U.S. Muslims worry about new federal rules
Critics say the rules will allow for abuses, including more racial and religious profiling.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/
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www.TheHeadlines.org
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