10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger

With a military government that severely restricts Internet access and imprisons people for years for posting critical material, Burma is the worst place in the world to be a blogger, the Committee to Protect Journalists says in a new report. CPJ’s “10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger” also identifies a number of countries in the Middle East and Asia where Internet penetration has blossomed and government repression has grown in response.

Burma
Iran
Syria
Cuba
Saudi Arabia
Vietnam
Tunisia
China
Turkemenistan
Egypt

Egypt, Pigs, Pandemic and Tyranny

Zabaleen basically pick up all the rubbish, or garbage. They have done this in Egyptian cities for centuries. What they also do is use the organic material to feed their pigs. They raise pigs and sell them on an as needed basis...So, what an excuse, the swine flu. Now the Egyptian government wants to slaughter the 300,000 pigs owned by Zabaleen for the prevention of the swine flu. The original decree was that the Zabaleen would be compensated for the pigs, but now they are saying that since they can sell the pigs, they will not be compensated.

Also, at this time Egypt is in the midst of many worker strikes. What a great time to create an artificial enemy, the Zabaleen to distract from the strikes by numerous sectors.

The real victims of swine flu

As the media focus on a global sneezing fit, the plight of people in Congo, Somalia, Burma, China and elsewhere is being ignored.

Airline glitch takes Mideast conflict to new heights

AFP - Irate Israeli passengers have complained to British BMI airline that the Jewish state was wiped off the inflight map which showed flights bound for Israel were instead heading to Mecca.

Poll: 75% of Americans oppose Israeli settlements

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Three-quarters of Americans think that Israel should not build settlements on occupied Palestinian land, according to an opinion poll released on Wednesday. The poll, organized by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a project run by researchers at the University of Maryland, found that one third of Americans “show more sympathy for Israel than the Palestinians, substantially more than the 12 percent who express more sympathy for the Palestinians.”

Israel Near Nixing UN Probe On Gaza Headed By Sympathetic Jewish Jurist

Jerusalem — In the past, when Israel blocked United Nations inquiries into its actions, it could sometimes point to the pro-Palestinian sympathies of those doing the probing. That’s more difficult to do with Richard Goldstone, a South African jurist chosen by the U.N. Human Rights Council to lead its investigation into Israel’s recent conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Goldstone, who is Jewish, has strong personal ties to Israel. He is a trustee of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a president emeritus of World ORT, a Jewish charity that runs dozens of educational projects in Israel.

OPT: Gaza citizens at risk from rubbish, rubble, unexploded ordnance

GAZA CITY Thursday, April 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Unexploded ordnance (UXO) and the uncontrolled dumping of rubbish pose the greatest environmental and public health risks to residents of the Gaza Strip, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP). A further study is planned by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied PalestinianTerritory

• 20 Palestinian civilians, including 6 children, were wounded by IOF gunfire in the West Bank.
• A number of these civilians were wounded by Israeli settlers during a joint attack with IOF.
• IOF conducted 28 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
• IOF arrested 32 Palestinian civilians, including 6 children.
• IOF halted technical preparations related to a reception site intended for the Pope’s visit.
• IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.
• IOF imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian Christians during Easter.
• IOF troops positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested 5 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children.
• IOF have continued measures aimed at the changing the demographic majority of east Jerusalem’s population.
• IOF started to establish a new settlement neighborhood in the al-Sawahra area, southeast of Jerusalem.
• Media reports disclosed a plan to connect "Kidar" settlement with "Ma'ale Adomim" settlement and annex 12,000 donums[1] of Palestinian land.
• IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.
• IOF resumed the establishment of a settler road to the south of Hebron.
• Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in the north and south of the West Bank.

Checkpoints along the Wall to be computerized

Beginning May 1, 2009, a computer system will be installed at checkpoints along the Wall, including the checkpoints that separate villages from their agricultural land. Palestinians will have to register in the new system, or else face the loss of their permits for up to a month.

Attacks

• Israeli troops detain rights workers, confiscate collected photos and testimony from earlier attack
• The Israeli military open fire at famers near Gaza City
• Israeli settler rams a Palestinian teenage girl near Hebron
• Two elderly farmers attacked by Israeli settlers in the southern West Bank
• Settlers and heavily armed soldiers parade marking independence in West Bank

Land theft

• The Israeli military invades and bulldoze lands in northern Gaza Strip
• Israeli forces uproot olive trees, bulldoze lands near Salfit
• Israeli municipality issues demolition order on renovated housing in Old City monastery
• Artas villagers appeal for help resisting settlers on local land
• AJ VIDEO: Israeli settlement homes sold to foreign buyers - 30 Apr 09

Via Kabobfest

Thanks Marion

Nice song and video, never saw it before....



Also, Thanks Marion again for sharing your article with us. It seems that I knew of you or your family even without knowing you are contributing here with your comments. Your family is very well known in the Jnoub and even in the U.S.A. ....... if I am thinking of the same family with the same last name as yours? Ok, Here is an excerpt and its a beautiful piece and a true piece that I hope everyone will take some time to read:

I see the Arab world as a collection of paranoid and divided dictatorial regimes. I see a part of the world being led by so-called moderate leaders (meaning they serve Western interests), who are leading their people irrationally and immoderately. I see countries that are not sovereign, in which the people are not being encouraged or allowed to take part in the process of determining their own future interests. I see a gang of dictatorships which have sold their souls to the highest bidder, at the expense of the Arab people and their rights, hoping that by doing so they can hold onto their dishonest power. I see governments that would easily collapse from the inside pressures of the people, were they not being propped up by powerful outside supporters with their own selfish interests in mind. I see cowardly leaders who have basically decided that for them remaining in control is more important than their people's inherent rights.

Lebanon

Habibi Tgia,
What are your views on Lebanon events today?
Your Lebanese and that's why I am asking! Today is an important day in Lebanon if you ask me. So many things, so many things.
Today it was recommended that the four Lebanese generals would get released from custody immediately. Of course that terrible piece of kharra Saad Hariri immediately gave one statement full of so many lies. Did you know Hariri said it is the fault of the "opposition" that those 4 where sitting in a jail for so long?
Does it insult you when they lie in this way? It insults me and I am not even Lebanese!
Today I was looking at some footage of New TV of some in Masr there were interesting news of the police slapping a Palestinian man in the face for a long time and laughing at him.
Seems to methat New TV released all that info as a message to Welsh of "look at how they do interrogations before opening your mouth to talk about wonderful Egypt" but I don't think that will make any sense to Welsh since I don't expect those people to have humanity when it comes to the "wrong" Arabs.
So many spies also have been caught in the last few weeks thanks to Hezbollah, including two shameful spies that did get caught in Saida who are Palestinian collaborators working for the Israelis.
It looks like Hezbollah will win the elections soon and it should be a lesson to the rest of the Arabs in the world and the rest of the non Arabs that when you oppress a people over and continue to treat them like animals the way some of the non Shiite political parties did to the people in the Jnoub for to long then the people will fight back And get the support of the population.
I don't think that it is a good thing necessarily for the opposition to win the elections, but not because I am afraid of Nasrallah or the influence of Shiite religious observation. Because to be honest with you since I was a child the only religious "stories" that ever sounded very interesting to me where from the Shiite people, esp. Hussein, Ali and those characters. I don't think that Nasrallah gains to much to control the government, I like him as a the Opposition and he will be less effective when they try to dilute him in a different position.
And I think that no matter what we hear about these elections that the March 14th movement is looking to make a big dilution of the Sayyed with these elections.
One good thing about the news for the Generals today is that Future TV kept its mouth shut all day long, they only spoke when mini Hariri gave his ignorant speech that he sounds much worst than the Saudi royals when they are trying to read in front of a camera. Those Hariri March 14th people got dealt a big defeat today and they know that the support for the Sayyed is so huge and can be mobilized at any time in minutes and this is not the Hezbollah members this is the people of the Jnoub that can do the mobilization.
So if it is one good thing among the majority terrible things that the usurping entity gave to Lebanon was the fact that it made some of the people set out and decide whether they will be led by there d**** by puppets or whether they will support the resistance against Israeli criminal attacks and against the people internally that are plotting against the own interests of there people.
Being home with the non swine flu has given me the chance to catch up on all the news channels that I cant spend to much time watching when I am working trying to be with my family and finding some bad news to put on this blog.
There are very few times that I can look at something in the Middle East and feel any kind of pride but today I do have pride that the Sayyed is handing the death certificate to this silly March 14th movement. They are finished, destroyed.
There were even some Sunni sheiks who got on the television today and praised the Sayyed and said that they stand with the opposition it seems from interviews of Palestinians that they are not ashamed to give there support to the Sayyed to.
Again this is nothing to do with religion or religious choices and I don't think anyone should fear the opposition victory, I don't see any type of extremism coming from the Jnoub initiated by Hezbollah to warrant fear of them.
1-April 29; A Decisive Day in the Four Officers’ Life
2-Lebanon tribunal prosecutor requests generals' release
3-A Tale of Four Generals and a ‘Revolution’
4-Bless the courageous and decent people from the Jnoub!
5-Hundreds protest as US ambassador visits south

6-US ambassador in Lebanon was inaugurating some theater in some schools in `Aba in South Lebanon earlier today. As soon as she arrived, reporters gathered and showered her with questions about American support for Israeli war crimes in Lebanon. Suddenly, a crowd gathered outside with makeshift signs against American embrace of Israeli war crimes andthe use of American weapons in South Lebanon. She hurried and left. This is based on a report with footage on NBN TV.

7-New TV added more details about the failed visit by the US ambassador in Lebanon to South Lebanon. It showed a group of angry female demonstrators making threats against the ambassador, and there were shoes hailed in the air. When the ambassador made it to the school, she was asked by angry residents about the value of US aid when Israel destroys South Lebanon.

8-Lebanon is preparing for elections that could dramatically alter the leadership of the moderate country. One of the expected big winners is Hezbollah, which commands a huge and growing influence in Lebanon. Some call it a state within a state; a movement that is all too willing to fill any gaps it perceives left open by the government. Hezbollah, with its close ties to Iran, has become very influential -- and though the U.S. government considers them terrorists, they are heroes to their many followers.

9-Calls for engagement with Hezbollah in Lebanon are increasing in Washington, Britain is opening dialogue with non-state players and the Syrians are back in the international arena. Steadily, the Middle East leftovers of the George W Bush era are being eroded, and people like Lebanese warlord Walid Jumblatt are preparing for the new alignments.

10-Fadlallah says opposition will be unified in pollsBut remember mini Hariri said that the opposition was to blame for keeping them in prison for so long!
They are finished!
Good riddance!

...M14 lobbied to delay decision until after the elections, but Tribunal figures refused "political considerations"...

from "friday-lunch-club" by G, Z, & or B

... Lebanese officials had lobbied to have the decision delayed until after the elections, but tribunal judicial figures refused, saying they could not take political considerations into account, said a senior court official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the court’s inner workings. ... The tribunal has always been controversial in Lebanon. Many supporters have seen it as a way to punish Syria and its proxies here, which they tend to blame for all the assassinations since 2005. By contrast, those in the political opposition — including Hezbollah — see it more as a political weapon aimed at their Syrian ally. They also ask why such a tribunal is warranted for a billionaire politician and not for the victims of the many massacres and assassinations that have taken place here in recent decades..."

from "friday-lunch-club" by G, Z, & or B

My friend, Gen. Mustapha Hamdan, saying farewell to the Rumieh inmates, as he was acclaimed by all including the hapless Salafis who are usually Electoral fodder of the 11th hour for the FUTURE bloc... . Private Photo from Private Collection.

Here are some of the news I came across today.

More bombings in Iraq more innocent and poor people killed.

More detentions and one prisoner is celebrating (no he is not!!) : Palestinian to break record for longest-held political prisoner

Palestinian people in Gaza still are starving and the children still have trauma

Land theft in Jerusalem..., Bilin ...., and Salfit

Mubarak is still one collaborating pig: Mubarak congratulates Israel on independence

Mubarak still killing Palestinians for Israel: 70-year old man dies in Gaza due to kidney failure

Mubarak still cant come to the realization that the Arab people will choose Nasrallah before him:

Egyptian authorities arrest a Saudi physician in Egypt because he had a picture of Hasan Nasrallah. He was later released.

And then a good some thing that made me laugh to much: Happy Birthday Saeb!

Obama's first 100 days

In his first 100 days, Obama has excused torture, opposed habeas corpus, and demanded more secret government. He has kept Bush’s gulag intact and at least 17,000 prisoners beyond the reach of justice. On April 24, his lawyers won an appeal that ruled Guantanamo prisoners were not "persons" and therefore had no right not to be tortured. His national intelligence director, Adm. Dennis Blair, says he believes torture works. One of his senior officials in Latin America is accused of covering up the torture of an American nun in Guatemala; another is a Pinochet apologist. As Daniel Ellsberg has pointed out, America experienced a military coup under Bush, whose secretary of "defense," Robert Gates, along with the same warmaking officials, have been retained by Obama.

Time for U.S. to insist on real change in Israeli-Palestinian relations, By Brian Baird and Keith Ellison

WE recently returned from a trip to Gaza. What we saw and heard there was profoundly troubling — hospitals and schools destroyed, the industrial and employment base ruined, relief centers burned and innocent civilians strip-searched and forced to flee their homes to United Nations tents and shelters.

Some will deny these events. However, from what we have seen, the destruction in Gaza cannot be denied and the official explanations lack credibility in the face of the evidence on the ground. Our observations have been validated by several other members of Congress who subsequently traveled to Gaza.

With Shiites rising across the region, Saudi Arabia's grow impatient

Awwamiya, Saudi Arabia - Despite the vast oil fields underfoot, this rural village of struggling farmers and narrow streets is a long way from the gleaming riches and wide boulevards of Riyadh.

It is also far from the strict Wahhabi version of Sunni Islam favored by the Saudi government, since most Awwamiya residents are Shiite Muslims.

These religious and economic realities help explain the graffiti on view here: "Death to Wahhabi," "Down with the government," and "We will not forget our prisoners."

Somewhere here, too, Sheikh Nimer Al-Nimer, a firebrand Shiite cleric in his late 40s, is hiding from police. He is wanted for questioning, officials say, about an angry sermon threatening secession and his possible behind-the-scenes role in Sunni-Shiite clashes in the holy city of Medina earlier this year.

"We've been patient a long time hoping to get our rights," says one Awwamiya resident. "But it's useless."

Baroud proposes amending law for 'Jewish Lebanese'

"The Jewish sect in Lebanon is recognized, and its rights are guaranteed by the ninth article of the Lebanese Constitution that guarantees all the Lebanese freedom of religion," Baroud added.

'Maariv' journalist says 'latent racism' is 'de-facto national policy'

I wish I could keep my chauvinism down, but when I see Jews waking up in print and song and html as sentient beings to the horror of Israeli policy, to try and lead the world out of this mess, it makes me want to be a part of a Jewish community. Here is Noam Sheizaf (of the daily paper "Ma'ariv") at Promised Land on the latest wrinkle in the Israeli train company's efforts to prevent Arabs from working as crossing lookouts:

The great effort on the company’s behalf to at least keep the option of firing its Arab workers is further proof to my claim that discrimination and latent racism is not just part of the extreme-right politics in Israel, but rather a de-facto national policy.

A new order emerges in Lebanon

Last week, one of America's top allies in Lebanon, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, caused a row when he made remarks - off the record - criticizing his allies in the pro-Western March 14 Coalition. Among other things, Jumblatt scoffed at his patron Saad al-Hariri, the head of the largest bloc in the Lebanese parliament, for having tried - and failed - to combat Hezbollah on the streets of Beirut last May.

Boycott this Israeli settlement builder

Why Are Record Numbers of U.S. Soldiers Committing Suicide?

The U.S. military is grappling with a record number of soldier suicides. At least 13 soldiers took their lives last month. That’s down from the 24 military suicides in January and 18 in February, but still in line with the most number of suicides since record-keeping began. As many as 143 soldiers reportedly took their own lives last year.

No more make-believe in the Middle East

Netanyahu's policies may be misguided, but his intellectual honesty may prove salutary. The Israeli right and its American supporters have a hard time claiming Israeli moderation and reasonableness when Netanyahu and his ministers openly oppose a two-state arrangement; affirm the blockade of Gaza, preventing reconstruction there; tout settlement expansion; brag of undermining US efforts to talk with Iran; and threaten an attack on Iran – across US-controlled Iraqi airspace – that could jeopardize US troops and interests throughout the region. In lifting the veil on Israeli policy and the criticism-stifling fiction of US-Israeli mutual interest, Netanyahu leaves the US open, finally, to voice and pursue its own positions and interests.

Israeli "democracy"

Israelis announce intention to issue another indictment against Mohammed Barakeh for demonstrating.

Fatah is turning into a footnote

The future of Fatah is up in the air. Internal divisions and a confused political programme – problems that arguably date back decades – have led this historic Palestinian party to a moment of truth. It is no exaggeration to say that the crisis is of sufficient proportions that Fatah's continued existence as a political force to be reckoned with is under threat. This can be best illustrated by a non-event, namely the sixth Fatah general conference, which some 20 years on since the last such meeting, continues to be bereft of a firm date or location. Rumours come and go about when – or even if – the conference will be held; in public, the official line is that the inordinate delay is a result of the necessary preparations.

*Fatah leaders clash in Jordan during Sixth Fatah Conference preparatory meeting

Land Theft

• Israel building 60 new homes for Orthodox Jews in Occupied Jerusalem

• Settlers take over land, destroy crops near Hebronsoldiers searched homes in the old city part on Tuesday.

Arab Collaborators

• Hamas spokesman's brother arrested in Egypt

• Egyptian security forces discovered on Monday a new tunnel used for smuggling foodstuffs at the border with the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian authorities discovered the tunnel in Rafah town between Egypt and the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side and confiscated different shipments of goods found at the entrance of the tunnel.

• RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Once a profitable business, Abu Abdallah's tunnel under the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has been out of work for three weeks due to an Egyptian security crackdown on smuggling. The Palestinian network of some 3,000 tunnels, created to thwart Israel's blockade of the coastal territory ruled by Hamas Islamists, was reduced to hundreds by bombing during Israel's three-week offensive in January.

• Egyptian authorities announced earlier this month the discovery of a Hizbullah "cell" allegedly planning to carry out violent operations in Egypt. Although Hizbullah chief Hasan Nasrallah insists the group was only tasked to assist the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, the government has used the episode to launch a blistering media campaign against the Lebanese Shia resistance group.

• Two Lebanese men and a Palestinian have confessed to supplying Israeli intelligence agents with information regarding Hezbollah's activities, media outlets in Lebanon reported on Tuesday.

• Security sources in the capital of the South, Sidon, said on Tuesday that a Lebanese Army unit carried out raids in Harat Saida near (Speaker) Nabih Berri Avenue, targeting the home of an Israeli Mossad-linked agent's brother in the city. According to the sources, the army unit stormed into the house of Palestinian Moujahed Awad, the brother of Mohamad Ibrahim Awad who was accused last week of spying for the Israeli enemy. Awad, a member of the Israeli Mossad-Linked cell uncovered in Sidon last week, is reportedly the cousin of Abdul Rahman Awad, believed to be the successor of Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker Abssi.

• The United States plans to expand a programme to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces in the occupied West Bank, the general in charge of training and equipping them said on Monday. "We have plans to train at least three more battalions before this time next year," Lieutenant General Keith Dayton told Reuters. Each battalion has about 500 members.

• Dahlan comeback to Gaza fails - CAIRO (IPS) - The recent onslaught against the Gaza Strip -- and Israel's failure to achieve its military objectives there -- left Palestinian resistance group Hamas politically stronger than ever. Concurrently, it dealt a possible death blow to the faction within Fatah led by strongman Mohammed Dahlan, long known for its closeness to Israel.

U.S. raid called criminal: A relative tries to console a girl whose mother was killed in a U.S. military raid in Kut, Iraq. Iraq's prime minister denounced the raid, which left at least two Iraqis dead, as a "crime" that violated the security pact with Washington and demanded that American commanders hand over those responsible for possible trial.

Saudi Arabia... no, Egypt.... no, Jordan.... no, Libya.... no, Abu Dhabi.... no. Who? USA

Judiciary Committee member: Torture facts 'may very well wind up' with Cheney, Rumsfeld

Dozens of CIA "Ghost Prisoners" Missing

UK High Court demands U.S. torture documents

US Must Prosecute Bush Torture Memo Lawyers: UN Envoy

Court Of Appeals Rules Detainees Are Not “Persons”

Destruction of mosques in Israel after 1948, by Helena Cobban

An argument that I heard from many peace activists in Israel and Palestine during my recent visit is that the Nakba-- that is, the dispersal of the Palestinians from their homes, primarily in 1948, and the expropriation and frequent destruction of the properties they had left behind-- was not a one-ff affair, but is a continuing process.

Gaza's separation from the West Bank is Israel's great triumph

The total separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank is one of the greatest achievements of Israeli politics, whose overarching objective is to prevent a solution based on international decisions and understandings and instead dictate an arrangement based on Israel's military superiority.

Never in the U.S.

Irish presidential candidate visits East Jerusalem, condemns Israeli policy

Palestinians build stage for pope next to barrier

Palestinians in a refugee camp near Bethlehem want to receive Pope Benedict XVI in what they say is the most fitting setting next to the towering cement wall that is part of Israel's West Bank separation barrier and borders the camp on two sides.

Obama govt asks for change in law on Hamas: report

US President Barack Obama's administration has asked Congress to allow continued aid to Palestinians, even if officials linked to the militant group Hamas become part of the government, The Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

Israeli Use of Palestinians As Human Shields

The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights is a Gaza-based Palestinian NGO mandated "to promote, protect and prevent violations of human rights in general, and economic, social and cultural rights in particular, to provide effective aid to those victims of such violations, and to enhance the quality of life of the community in (Gaza's) marginalized sectors." It monitors and documents violations, provides legal aid and advocacy, and helps Gazans on "fundamental issues such as basic human rights, democracy, and international humanitarian" matters. It also produces reports and publications on its work.

Israeli soldiers storm a wedding, abduct groom

Qalqilya, April 27 (Pal Telegraph)- Twenty-four-year-old Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi Tayoun was married in the West Bank village of Hajja, east of Qalqiliya on Sunday. Tayoun was not able to spend the night with his bride, as he was abducted by Israeli soldiers at 2am. The troops raided the house and seized him in front of his wife. He is now being held at an unknown location.

Number of 12 year olds arrested and imprisoned by Israeli forces on sharp incline this year

The Global Movement for the Defense of Children’s Palestine Branch reports that Israeli imprisonment of Palestinian children is up. Over the past two months Israeli forces have increased campaigns against children. At the end of February 2009 the number of Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons was up to 423. This is the highest number since the beginning of the Al Aqsa Intifada in 2000.

Teachers meeting raided by Israeli troops in Jerusalem, papers and computers taken by court order

This week in Jerusalem Israeli forces raided a hall that was hosting a meeting for the reading of educational draft rules. Participants were taken by surprise as soldiers pounded into the room. “They took our identification and began confiscating the papers we were using during the conference, along with a lap top,” said a witness.

Nablus: Palestinian teenager in critical condition after being shot by settler

Nablus – Ma’an – An Israeli settler shot and critically a Palestinian teenager from the northern West Bank village of Madama, south of Nablus, on Monday. According to Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official in charge of settlement-related issues, an Israeli from the settlement of Yizhar, deliberately fired at 18-year-old Muhammad Na’im Faraj, hitting him in the back.

Theft of our land

Construction of Israeli-only road threatens homes of Umm al Kher-al Faqir residents

Israel looks to enlarge settlement in Occupied West Bank

Palestinians condemn 'extremely dangerous' scheme to grow settlement

Barghouthi: IOA embarking on biggest ever racial cleansing in Jerusalem

But now for a victory

Nonviolent action by Palestinians and internationals stops settler road construction in Um al Kheir

My great-grandfather was a Zionist

click to enlarge. My great-grandfather is listed as the "sgan sheni", the vice president.

My father shared this with me a few days ago. It is an announcement by a group that my great-grandfather was a member of calling for a Jewish "commonwealth" in Palestine. It makes me sad, but I am trying to imagine why he did this. 1933 was the year the Nazis seized power. He was a member of this group, as well. Perhaps he thought that the state would only be on land legitimately purchased from Palestinians. He may not have known of the exploitative way the land was purchased from the Ottomans. He may not have conceived of the genocide about to ensue. I may seem to be making excuses. I never met the man (he died in 1938), but since most members of my family are communists, anarchists, progressives or anti-racists, this doesn't sit easy. My husband said instead of posting it, I should research the organization and try to learn more about why he would support this. He doesn't understand blogging. I am interested in everyone's reactions.

I want to post a pdf I have on my computer but don't know how. Any ideas? I also have it as a google document.

NY Times Oped about torture by the guy who interrogated Abu Zubaydah

My tortured decision
by Ali Soufan

So I met the Angry Arab in person. He should be called the affable Arab. I went to his talk last night and took notes to post here, but he told me it was taped and will be on youtube, so I won't bother. I was disappointed at the turnout, which was about 65 in a room that would have held many more, but I suppose it wasn't advertised widely. I didn't get to talk much to him because he disappeared after the talk. He is shy and sweet. I did bring him some knafa but he told me he had to throw it out because the didn't realize the refrigerator in his hotel room where he kept it wasn't working!

"Secret" tally has 87,215 Iraqis dead

BAGHDAD – Iraq's government has recorded 87,215 of its citizens killed since 2005 in violence ranging from catastrophic bombings to execution-style slayings, according to government statistics obtained by The Associated Press that break open one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war.

Blasts kill 78 in Iraq's bloodiest day in a year


Blowing up people waiting for food aid is not resistance. It is insanity.


My husband says that on AlJazeera Arabic that there was a comment under the article praising this barbarity.

Egyptians win the right to drop religion from ID cards

All Egyptians are required to obtain a national ID card at age 16. The card states their religious affiliation, and since 2000 there have only been three options: Muslim, Christian, and Jewish.

The cards are necessary for accessing almost all aspects of life in Egypt, from opening a bank account to immunizing children.

But on March 16, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court upheld a lower courts' 2008 ruling that all Egyptians have a right to obtain official documents, such as ID cards and birth certificates, without stating their religion.

A Palestinian friend of a friend wrote this on facebook: It's so ridiculous, there are airlines that won't let us on or make us get off (I have had that experience). His passport reads XXX where it says country of origin. He was born in a refugee camp in Syria.

The total number of victims of Nazi genocidal policies, including Jews, the Poles, the Romani, Soviet POWs, Gays, Soviet civilians, and disabled people is generally agreed to be between 11 million and 17 million people.

During WWII it was used to describe both Jewish and non-Jewish victims of the Nazis. Let's return to that usage.

Most Palestinians and Israelis willing to accept two-state solution, poll finds

I guess they did not ask the refugees living in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and...NYC.

South Africa anti-Apartheid leader forges ties with Palestinians

“In South Africa we are familiar with the struggle of the people of Palestine for freedom and self determination,” said Zeko Tamela, the Head of External Relations of the South African Transport and Communications Workers Union. “As a previously oppressed people ourselves we forged alliances with freedom fighters around the world.”

Lieberman: U.S. accepts all Israeli decisions

The Obama Administration will put forth new peace initiatives only if Israel wants it to, said Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in his first comprehensive interview on foreign policy since taking office.

America's corrupt choice for Palestine: Firms run by President Abbas's sons get U.S. contracts

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Firms run by sons of President Mahmoud Abbas won U.S. government aid contracts to repair roads -- and America's image -- in the Palestinian territories, previously undisclosed documents show. A review by Reuters of internal U.S. government records about aid programmes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip found that construction and public relations firms managed by Tarek Abbas and Yasser Mahmoud Abbas received over $2 million in contracts and subcontracts since 2005, when their father became president.

War Criminals

Norwegian lawyers to accuse Israeli leaders of war crimes

Norway: 10 Israelis named in war crimes complaint

Report: Olmert, Livni may face war crimes charges in Norway

Norwegian attorneys seeking extradition of Olmert for war crimes in Gaza

Shalit who?

Israeli forces seize PA security officer from Jenin-area home

IOF arrests 7 Palestinians in WB and Gaza

Israeli army kidnaps eight civilians West Bank

Army claims detaining two Palestinian after attempting to infiltrate into Israel

PA security kidnaps Dr. Qassem professor of political sciences

IOA intensifies repressive measures against Palestinian female captives

Palestinian prisoners beaten inside military transport

Palestinian detainees to resist orange uniforms

Israeli military demolishes four homes near Nablus and damage property

On Wednesday the Israeli army demolished four homes belonging to Palestinian farmers in the village Akraba, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

The pirates no people talk about

Piracy off the Promised Land: The Ramming of the Dignity with Clear Lethal Intent

Piracy 1. the practice of attacking and robbing ships at sea
– Compact Oxford English Dictionary

In Iraq, 'Everybody knows somebody killed by the war'

Palestinian campaigners criticize Iran for doing business with settlement-linked companies

Hamas leader to address British MPs by videoconference

Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshal is to deliver an unprecedented videoconference address to a closed meeting of British MPs today. The Foreign Ministry is fuming over the event, which is going ahead despite pressure on senior British parliamentarians.

For the Pope not the people

Refugee camp receives much needed attention, repairs and improvements due to impending visit by Pope

How long will you try non violence while you watch your children starve to death?

OPT: Signs of worsening malnutrition among children
GAZA CITY, 21 April 2009 (IRIN) - Rising poverty, unemployment and food insecurity in Gaza, compounded by the recent 23-day Israeli offensive, have increased the threat of child malnutrition, say UN agencies, health ministry officials and healthcare NGOs in Gaza.

Egyptian security forces discover two Gaza tunnels; both now closed
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Two tunnel incidents emphasized the instability of the smuggling trade between Egypt and the Gaza Strip Tuesday, after one caught fire and another was shut-down by Egyptian security.

Shalit who?

Israeli forces seize fourth PA intelligence officer in three weeks

Israeli army kidnaps 15 civilians in West Bank invasions

Three young Palestinians detained in Hebron

Israeli forces detain student from Al-Khadr near Bethlehem

Palestinian man taken from Nablus home, detained by Israeli forces

IOF troops arrest Palestinian citizens including child

Israeli settler runs over and kills Palestinian man in Jerusalem

An Israeli settler ran over and killed a Palestinian man in east Jerusalem on Tuesday morning. Local sources said Mohamed Ali, 27, from Shu’fat refugee camp in Jerusalem, was crossing a street near the illegal settlement of Pisghat Za’ev and the French Hill when the settler ran him over causing fatal injuries. They added that Israeli police arrested the driver. Ali is married and has a one-year old son. His brother was killed by the Israeli police ten years ago.

Theft

Israeli forces to demolish seven family homes, farms near Nablus

Settlers aim to increase Israeli population in the Golan heights in bid to thwart pullout

Settlers uproot trees from Palestinian lands in Hebron

Israeli "settlers" claim Golan Heights 'forever': Israel

Ahronoth: A venal senior PA official stopped a probe into selling lands to Jews

Journalist tries waterboarding

I love the part where he says his yoga teacher told him yoga would help him endure it.

More Countries Join US, Israel Boycott of UN Racism Conference

A growing number of Western countries are joining the United States and Israel in boycotting the United Nations World Conference on Racism, which opened today in Geneva, Switzerland. Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand all announced they would boycott the conference soon after the US announced its formal decision not to attend Saturday. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the opening session he was “profoundly disappointed” at the boycotts.

Israel recruits gay community in PR campaign against Iran

Israel is stepping up its public relations effort to discredit Iran within the international community, and part of its new campaign focuses on Tehran's abuse of human rights and sponsorship of terrorism.

The campaign plans to recruit the international gay community, which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed in 2007 when he said there were no homosexuals living in his country.

I am going to this event Wednesday!

Our local paper is now officially carrying Hasbara straight from Israel

Our local tabloid (owned by Rupert Murdoch and possibly the most read newspaper in the city) Will carry a section of 48 pages from the Jerusalem Post, weekly!

More on Jane Harman, high-ranking pro-Israel mole?

Religious Freedom????

Thousands of Palestinian Christians prevented from entering Church of Holy Sepulcher in E Jerusalem

Poor Israel? Sure, and I am Barack Obama!

I write from Geneva, where I was invited to speak at the UN "Durban II" conference on racism and have just today been spat at by two Israelis. I found myself (unknowingly) on what turned into a "bash Iran" panel with a problematic Zionist agenda. The expectation, perhaps, was that I, being Muslim and gay, would sit and join in the Iran-bashing choir. In doing the opposite I did not make myself the most popular person in the room. Later, two Israeli delegates spat at me. Surprisingly, an erudite Canadian professor and member of Parliament threw around a baffling and hard-to-explain term: "genocidal anti-Semitism". Only he knows what he means, I certainly do not!

At last, Israel lobby is becoming fair game for journalistic investigation

That's the takeaway from the CQ story. Charges of anti-Semitism from influential Jewish speakers dissuaded journalists for a few years. No longer. Andrew Sullivan writes that it's just "another day at the office" for AIPAC and says, "Take it away, Professor Walt!" Robert Dreyfuss at the Nation:

I've followed this fairly closely, but I've never heard of Saban being referred to an an Israeli "agent." Certainly, he is obsessed with Israel. If this is true, then there ought to be a full investigation of Harman, Saban, and AIPAC.

A kharra among kharras

Arabs in Israel complain of discrimination - 20 Apr 09

Jane Harman Recorded On Wiretap Promising to Intervene for AIPAC, Say Sources

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington. Harman was recorded saying she would "waddle into" the AIPAC case "if you think it'll make a difference," according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.

Egyptians mulling death sentence for Lebanese Resistance

Cow man

Cairo's government daily al-Ahram says Hizbullah cell part of larger scheme to 'bring Egypt to the brinks of chaos and facilitate a coup.' Paper names Iran, Syria, Qatar, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood and al-Jazeera television as co-conspirators against regime -- In an unusually harsh editorial, the newspaper claimed that Iran, Syria and Qatar were all part of the plot, as well as Hamas and the al-Jazeera television network. [Editorial (in Arabic) here]

Majority in US want Israel to be penalised

Despite claiming continued support for Israel, a majority of US residents want a change in policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A decisive plurality said US aid to Israel is “too much”, and a majority want to see Israel penalised for building new settlements on Palestinian land.

What the Gazan Children saw….....

Palestinians get less water than Israel-World Bank

Israelis have access to more than four times more water than do Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the World Bank said in a report on Monday.

Threats to East Jerusalem Palestinians, Youtubed

Clayton Swisher has two super short pieces on Al-Jazeera English about the threats to the Palestinian communities in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan. In the first of those, he finds a US diplomat who's been sent to "fact-find" with one of the threatened Sheikh Jarrah families.

Hundreds to be affected in Hebron demolitions

After shooting one Palestinian demonstrator, Israeli soldiers call out, 'Do you want more gas?'

Hoss to Al-Manar: Egyptian Accusations Are Badge of Honor

Speaking to Al-Manar, Hoss noted that the Egyptian accusations should be considered as a "badge of honor" not only by Hezbollah but also by all Arab citizens who consider the Zionist entity their enemy. "Providing our brothers in Palestine with assistance and support is not a charge but rather a badge of honor and glory for Hezbollah," Hoss said. "Instead of assaulting the Resistance, Arabs should praise Hezbollah and Sami Chehab for their achievement," he emphasized.

The Mummified President: Or the Follower of the Follower, by As'ad Abukhalil

Right now I am feeling very sad about the state of affairs in Mexico. Mexicans are suffering because of our fucked-up gun and drug policies. If we did not allow the flow of drugs up here and the flow of guns down there (not to mention Nafta) they would not be getting slaughtered by these barbaric drug traffickers. But why should we care that brown people are getting killed as long as we have our guns to protect our families from those black criminals, right?

U.S.: Palestinians need not recognize Israel as Jewish state before talks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people as a condition for renewing peace talks is unacceptable to the United States, the State Department said during special envoy George Mitchell's visits over the weekend to Ramallah and Cairo.

Muslim hatred in Poland

“On board a sinking ship there are fifteen Christians and fifteen Turks. In order to save the ship from going to the bottom, half of the crew needs to be thrown overboard. One of the Christians proposes that the whole crew form a circle and every ninth person jump overboard. How should the Christians place themselves so that only the Turks are drowned?”reads a problem, quoted the lay Catholic newspaper Tygodnik Powszechny.

The rather controversial problem appeares in The Mathematical Miniatures for Primary Schools, a manual for second to twelfth grade students who want to participate in the International Mathematical Kangaroo competition. The book was published in 2004 by Aksjomat Publishing House from the northern city of Torun.

I believe "Turks" is a generic word for Muslim.

U.S.A.

Bush memos parallel claim 9/11 mastermind’s children were tortured by insects

At a military tribunal in 2007, the father of a Guantanamo detainee alleged that Pakistani guards had confessed that American interrogators used ants to coerce the children of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed into revealing their father’s whereabouts.

The statement was made by Ali Khan, the father of detainee Majid Khan, who gave a detailed account of his son’s interrogation at the hands of American guards in Pakistan. In his statement, Khan asserted that one of his sons was held at the same place as the young children of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

“The Pakistani guards told my son that the boys were kept in a separate area upstairs and were denied food and water by other guards,” the statement read. “They were also mentally tortured by having ants or other creatures put on their legs to scare them and get them to say where their father was hiding.” (A pdf transcript is available here)

Maps

Many official Israeli maps fail to show Occupied Territories

Some Palestinian maps are fairer than Israeli ones

'Israel could have made peace with Hamas under Yassin'

"We turned Kuntar into God-knows-what - the murderer of Danny Haran and his daughter, Einat. The man who smashed in the girl's head. That's nonsense. A story. A fairy tale. He told me he didn't do it and I believe him. I investigated the event within the framework of the next book I am writing, about hostage-taking incidents. As far as I am concerned, it was no more than a newspaper report. I sat with him; he was very intelligent. He was a squad commander at 17. He told me that his motive for infiltrating Nahariya was to take hostages. He said [his organization] knew that would both humiliate Israel and get them media publicity.

French Court to Hear Israeli Tram Case

A Franco-Palestinian human-rights association challenged the companies' participation, arguing that the line is designed to consolidate Israeli control over Arab districts seized after the Six-Day War in 1967. Most Israelis regard East Jerusalem as part of Israel's undivided capital.The group, Association France-Palestine Solidarité, filed the complaint against Alstom SA and Veolia Environnement SA two years ago, arguing that the 8.3-mile project violates international law because East Jerusalem isn't sovereign Israeli territory. About half of the line is already built.

Collaborators

Rights groups: PLO bowed to US boycott over UN racism conference

PA officials scandalized at disclosure by Abbas's son of vast personal fortune

Suleiman to meet Lieberman during visit to Israel

Report: Hizbullah helped bust Lebanese spies

Starved
Israel turns back 250 tons of truckloads of food

Abused
Conflict & siege threaten Gaza’s young minds, claims new World Vision report

Never Forgotten
Palestinians outside camps don't have even hope to sustain them

Killed

Infant succumbs to wounds sustained during latest Israeli strike on Gaza

One killed, dozens injured at the Bil'in weekly protest

Iraq air raids kill mostly women and children

Air strikes and artillery barrages have taken a heavy toll among the most vulnerable of the Iraqi people, with children and women forming a disproportionate number of the dead. Analysis carried out for the research group Iraq Body Count (IBC) found that 39 per cent of those killed in air raids by the US-led coalition were children and 46 per cent were women. Fatalities caused by mortars, used by American and Iraqi government forces as well as insurgents, were 42 per cent children and 44 per cent women.

Can anyone guess why I am making this post?

Child Abuse Spikes As U.S. Economy Flounders
One 4-month-old baby was shaken so violently she needed surgery. Another 3-week-old suffered fractured ribs from abuse at home. A 9-year-old diabetic boy stopped receiving proper treatment for his condition. Those cases reported by Boston hospitals are part of a spike in child abuse in United States during a recession that has driven some families to the brink and overwhelmed cash-strapped child-protection agencies.

Veolia loses another contract in Bordeaux

The Greater Bordeaux local government give a contract for the management of the biggest urban network in France to Keolis, a subsidiary of SNCF over Veolia. Veolia has been involved in the construction of a tramway in Jerusalem, designed to link West Jerusalem with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Veolia has now lost contracts that are worth more than $7.5 Billion in Stockholm, West Midlands (UK) and Bordeaux.

Zionist lies and propaganda

In reporting about Israel, BBC's Middle East Editor has breached the corporation's guideline on accuracy and impartiality, an internal BBC complaints panel on Wednesday stated. The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland said that the findings show that the BBC has an anti-Israel "bias" and that the position of the editor, Jeremy Bowen, is "untenable." The corporation rejected these claims.

Robert Fisk: How can you trust the cowardly BBC?
Haaretz gave considerable space to the BBC`s findings yesterday. I`m not surprised. But why is it that Haaretz`s top correspondents – Amira Hass and Gideon Levy – write so much more courageously about the human rights abuses of Israeli troops (and war crimes) than the BBC has ever dared to do? Whenever I`m asked by lecture audiences around the world if they should trust the BBC, I tell them to trust Amira and Gideon more than they should ever believe in the wretched broadcasting station. I`m afraid it`s the same old story. If you allow yourself to bow down before those who wish you to deviate from the truth, you will stay on your knees forever.

Hezbollah says no longer considered pariah by West (AFP)

AFP - The West can no longer ignore Hezbollah and has given assurances it will deal with the Lebanese militant group if it wins upcoming elections, the Shiite movement's deputy chief said on Wednesday.

The war criminals will protest

A British parliamentary delegation on a visit to Syria has met Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal as part of European efforts to communicate with the Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas said on Wednesday.


Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari said Wednesday that Hamas should be included in a negotiating process to achieve peace in the Middle East.

War Criminals

Israel will not cooperate with UN Gaza inquiry

International reputation be damned
Israel continues to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and refuses to cooperate in UN war crimes investigationIsrael's international standing may be plummeting due to its new government, but it would appear to remain unbowed. Today the AP is reporting that Israel is "very unlikely" to cooperate with a UN war crimes probe into the war in Gaza (Hamas has said they will support the investigation). In addition, there is yet another story about Israel preventing necessary humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. From the IPS article "Aid Rots Outside Gaza"

Tuba kids walking back home from school- A recent CPT report and public call

Of utmost concern for CPT and Operation Dove is the safe travel of Palestinian school children who walk from the nearby villages of Tuba and Magaher-al-Abeed to At-Tuwani’s elementary school. These school children face a treacherous daily walk past the illegal Israeli settlement of Ma’on and the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on. For years, armed adult settlers have attacked, threatened and harassed the children along the path from Tuba to Tuwani. In 2004 the Knesset recommended that the Israeli military provide the children with an armed escort. However, since settlers constructed a gate across the road one year ago, the escort soldiers have refused to walk with the children far enough to ensure their safety.
In the past two weeks internationals working with Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have twice witnessed settlers grazing sheep directly in the path of the children at the time they walk home from school. Because the children have been physically attacked in the past, and threatened with death by settlers earlier this school year, they are terrified by the presence of these settlers. Since an incident on March 24 in which settlers were present at the end of the children’s walk home, internationals and the children have repeatedly asked the soldiers to walk with the children until they are out of danger. On April 1 settlers again came onto the land between the outpost of Havat Ma’on and the village of Tuba while the children were walking. Members of CPT and Operation Dove were present and the children ran towards them crying and very frightened.

The Israeli military kidnaps four civilians and attack kindergarten near Hebron

Local sources said Israeli troops invaded the village of Beit Ruosh, near Hebron, and searched homes. Troops left the village after kidnapping four teenagers. Another force attacked the village of Saffa, where troops searched homes, storming and ransacking a local kindergarten. The villagers said Israeli troops removed a Palestinian flag on the roof of the kindergarten before leaving.

Iraq study: Executions are leading cause of death

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Execution-style killings, not headline-grabbing bombings, have been the leading cause of death among civilians in the Iraq war, a study released Wednesday shows. The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, point to the brutal sectarian nature of the conflict, where death squads once roamed the streets hunting down members of the rival Muslim sect.
strange that is says once roamed the street, no?

War, Oil and Gas Pipelines: Turkey is Washington’s Geopolitical Pivot

The recent visit of US President Obama to Turkey was far more significant than the President’s speech would suggest. For Washington Turkey today has become a geopolitical “pivot state” which is in the position to tilt the Eurasian power equation towards Washington or significantly away from it depending on how Turkey develops its ties with Moscow and its role regarding key energy pipelines.

Memories of Arab Jews challenge Israel's script

Researching my book, I heard many Mizrahi recollections of fear, suffering and discrimination in former homelands. But just as many readily share other memories: of happy lives, equal rights and considerate neighbours. "Our doors were always open," Mizrahis often told me, when they spoke of past lives in Arab or Muslim countries.

Aid for Gaza rots in Egypt

Kind of good news: Saudi Arabia to regulate girls' marriages

Saudi Arabia plans to regulate the marriages of young girls, its justice minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday, after a court refused to nullify the marriage of an 8-year-old to a man 50 years her senior.

Just to clarify, I didn't read that article before I sent it to Mojo. I only skimmed. I don't agree with it after all.

Gaza Christians question timing of Benedict visit to Palestine

Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming trip to the Holy Land will be bittersweet for Gaza's tiny Catholic community, angry the pontiff is not also visiting their impoverished coastal strip. "We will ask him why he came, what he intends on saying to the Christians, the Jews, the Muslims and why he isn't coming to Gaza," said Father Manuel Mussalem.

Indictment of Bush Officials May Come in Days

The imminent indictment in Spanish courts of former officials of the Bush Administration is being applauded by civil and human rights organizations and legal scholars. The popular wave of support for indictment of Bush officials will inevitably lead to Bush himself.

Shalit who? These Palestinians and one Syrian and an infant were rounded up overnight...

• IOF arrests 20 citizens in the West Bank
• IOF troops kidnap ex-detainee who spent 15 years in Israeli jails
• Israeli forces raid four villages near Jenin, detaining one
• Israeli forces seize eight Palestinian youths in raid south of Nablus
• Israeli soldiers seize PA intelligence officer, two others in Nablus area
• Israeli soldiers seize four Palestinians from Safa, days after settler clashes
• Undercover forces kidnap two residents near Hebron
• Israeli occupation has imposed a sentence of house arrest on a child who is one year and two months old in Golan heights.
• Israeli military kidnaps eight civilians from village of Budrus near Ramallah
• DETENTION AS A MEANS TO POLITICAL SILENCING: THE CASE OF THEATER ARTIST SAMIEH JABBARIN
• Palestinian media worker detained for documenting settler visit to Al-Aqsa
• Testimonies of the fishermen abducted on 6/4/2009
• Israeli troops arrest Syrian in Golan - army

Land Theft

• Israeli police order two Palestinian families to leave their homes in East Jerusalem
• New checkpoint another obstacle for isolated residents in ‘Azzun 'Atma
• IOF orders Palestinian families to evacuate their houses in Jerusalem
• This month in Jerusalem
• Israel works on kicking Palestinians out of Jerusalem

Some Israeli savage behavior

Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, a PLC member, inspects graves damaged by Israeli Jewish settlers in a cemetery in the West Bank city of Hebron:

• Scores of Israeli settlers storm the Aqsa Mosque and police arrest one Palestinian worshiper
• Red Crescent, World Volunteers for Peace condemn settler attack on ambulance

Man who says he is former AIPAC member puts up billboards decrying Gaza as monstrous inhumanity

And also: U.S. shipped 989 munitions containers to Israel week before Gaza

American honor killings

In the US, 23 women are killed by husbands or boyfriends EVERY WEEK (more than those killed in Jordan per year). Yet, the US media only notice the murder of women in Muslim lands. The factors that cause death and injury to women in the West and East are the same: but the Western media are oblivious of the factors in the West. They think that they are free and equal.

Posted by As'ad at 8:37 AM

*I sure hope us Arabs dont wait until the problem is as big as it is in the U.S. before fixing that problem in our society...

Egypt and Nasrallah

Yasmina can you get some information to us from your family? If they do feel safe having those talks on the phone with you about the popular mood in Egypt today?
In case some people Missed my posts about this in the days before there was some member of Hezbollah that got arrested in Egypt a few days ago, they are trying to arm the Palestinian resistance so that they have some weapons to fight back instead of just getting killed by the Israelis like the sheep.
Now Mubarak declared war on Nasrallah and I dont see how this will go according to that cow's plan.
The popular sentiment in every Arab country, including those countries that we can accuse of harboring some anti-shiite sentiment is a sentiment of pride and respect for the Sayyed.
These feelings are not suddenly going to change because Mubarak wants. People will be able to see passed all these lies of Mubarak and I dont think in the end that they will turn against Nasrallah.
Right now Nasrallah is recieving full support and solidarity from the leader of the Ikhwan and even if you dont support those guys politics it is still signigicant because they Own the Streets in Egypt.
So Mubarak is going to use this as an opportunity to go against: Nasrallah, Hamas and the Brotherhood in Egypt? I dont see how someone who is viewed as being the most pro-American and pro-Israel can possibly go against the Muqawama Islamiyeh in Lebanon and Palestine and against the strongest political and religious force in Egypt.
Mubarak is a delusional cow and collaborator. This is the end of his Regime to. The Israelis already said that they Only support Mubarak and his sons as the rulers of Egypt so I wonder for how long the Egyptian people can put up with this. I included a good article below that shows the where the Egyptian people are economically, what the hell did they get because there leader is in bed with the Americans and Israelis? Nothing. Maybe they got a little bit more bread and ful, enough to keep them full enough without making a rebellion but not enough to keep them sedated forever.
Yasmina got any thoughts to add?

Egypt takes hard line against arms smuggling into Sinai

Egyptian MPs call for arrest warrant against Nasrallah

Egypt: Nasrallah wants to turn us into Lebanon

Egypt press brands Hezbollah chief 'war criminal' and "Sheikh Monkey."

Analysis: Israel is profiting from Egypt-Hezbollah quarrel

The Mubarak factor
In a recent piece that appeared in the Badeel newspaper, the shocking levels of dilapidation in Egyptian society are exposed. (4) Forty-four percent (44%) of the population find themselves below the poverty line with earnings of less than a dollar a day. Unemployment figures have soared to twenty-nine percent (29%) and the level of illiteracy presently stands at twenty-six percent (26%). The degradation in healthcare conditions and the prevalence of social ills have moved Egyptian society perilously close to the edge.

PA official: Egypt settled score with Hamas

Jonathan Turley: The "Free World" bars free speech

For years, the Western world has listened aghast to stories out of Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations of citizens being imprisoned or executed for questioning or offending Islam. Even the most seemingly minor infractions elicit draconian punishments. Late last year, two Afghan journalists were sentenced to prison for blasphemy because they translated the Koran into a Farsi dialect that Afghans can read. In Jordan, a poet was arrested for incorporating Koranic verses into his work. And last week, an Egyptian court banned a magazine for running a similar poem.

A second Jewish state: Iceland might be cool…

Sultan Al Qassemi

It is said that radical times call for radical thinking, but even by my own standards this is a controversial proposal: perhaps there is merit in an argument for the creation of a second Jewish state – not to replace Israel, but in addition to it, to embarrass it in front of the world.

You are being lied to about pirates

Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the “golden age of piracy” - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage thief that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: Pirates were often rescued from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can’t?

Eostre was an ancient fertility goddess. Eggs and bunnies are also symbols of fertility. Spring is the season of fertility. Not much to do with Jesus. That being said, thanks for all the Easter baskets, mom!

A Palestinian girl walks in an alley in the Silwan neighborhood of east Jerusalem, Saturday, April 11, 2009. Eighty-eight homes in the Silwan neighborhood are slated for demolition by the Israeli government who says that they were built illegally. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A pro- Palestinians painting, painted by a Palestinian artist is seen next to the rubble of a Palestinian house that was demolished by the Israeli government last November during a demonstration against house demolitions in the Silwan neighborhood of east Jerusalem, Saturday, April 11, 2009. Eighty-eight homes in the Silwan neighborhood are slated for demolition by the Israeli government who says that they were built illegally.
(AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A painting depicts a Palestinian woman protecting her child, painted by a Palestinian artist is left by demonstrators on the rubble of a Palestinian house was demolished by the Israeli government last November is seen, during a demonstration against house demolishing in the Silwan neighborhood of east Jerusalem, Saturday, April 11, 2009. Eighty-eight homes in the Silwan neighborhood are slated for demolition by the Israeli government who says that they were built illegally. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A Palestinian youth waves the Palestinian flag while standing on the rubble of a Palestinian house which was demolished by the Israeli government last November, during a demonstration against house demolishing in the Silwan neighborhood of east Jerusalem, Saturday, April 11, 2009. Eighty-eight homes in the Silwan neighborhood are slated for demolition by the Israeli government who says that they were built illegally.

(AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)