Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood back on the defensive

Ahram Online gets the opinion of secular political factions in Egypt after a Muslim Brotherhood leader inflamed anger and suspicion with a statement regarding Islamic law application in Egypt

Mahmoud Ezzat, MB Deputy "Supreme Guide"

Over the past few weeks secular political groups have been looking sceptically at the Muslim Brotherhood, not only because of their increasing coordination with more radical Islamist groups, but, most importantly, for their possible domination of the coming parliament. Such dominance, according to many, would play a major role in shaping the new Egypt.
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Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass sentenced to one year in jail

Zahi Hawass was sentenced to one year in jail Sunday for declining to fulfill a court ruling

Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs Zahi Hawass has been sentenced to one year in jail on Sunday for refusing to fulfill a court ruling over a land dispute.

The Egyptian criminal court also said Hawass must be relieved of his governmental duties and ordered him to pay a LE1000 penalty.

Hawass failed to adhere to a ruling in favour of his opponent over a land dispute when he was in charge of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

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Netanyahu angry! Egyptian FM calls Israel "enemy"

Netanyahu concerned new Egypt government will be anti-Israel

Egyptian FM called Israel 'the enemy' in a statement that angered Israel in view of recent Egyptian requests for help in investments or in receiving more aid from the U.S. Congress.

Three months into the Egyptian revolution, Israel is concerned that the new government's policy toward Israel could become hostile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told European Union ambassadors last week in Jerusalem.

"I am very concerned over some of the voices we've been hearing from Egypt recently," Netanyahu told the envoys. "I'm especially concerned over the current Egyptian foreign minster's statements."

Read more-Haaretz

Hamas links Israel to killing of Italian activist

HAMAS YESTERDAY accused Israel of indirect responsibility for the kidnapping and killing of Italian rights activist Vittorio Arrigoni, whose body was found hanging in a Gaza city flat.

During mourning ceremonies in Gaza, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar suggested the aim of the “awful crime” was to intimidate activists planning a flotilla in May with the aim of breaking the blockade of Gaza.

He said foreign activists were “our friends” and vowed the perpetrators would be punished. Similar gatherings were held in the West Bank, where President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the murder.

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Mother of Slain Italian Activist to Sail to Gaza, Flotilla Change Name in Honor of Vittorio

Gaza-PNN – Agidea Prata, the mother of Vittorio Arrigoni, the Italian activist and journalist killed in Gaza on Friday, said that she will be sailing to Gaza on May with the Free Gaza flotilla.

Vittorio sailing to Gaza - ISM Photo

Prata on Saturday told Italian news sources that “I want to see Gaza that my son loved and sacrificed for, I want to meet the good people living there that my son Vik always talked about”. She added that Vittorio work will go on though his friends.

Vittorio’s mother added that her son received death threats from a right wing American group on their website two years ago because of his photos published online and the pro Palestinian tattoo he has on his shoulder.

Vittorio first came to Gaza with the Free Gaza folitial in 2008 and used to live in a single bedroom house near Gaza City coastline until he was kidnapped and murdered by a radical Salafists group calling itself Mohamed Bin-Mosliemah brigades.

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Helen Thomas to address anti-Israel protests during Netanyahu's visit to U.S.

A series of anti-Israel protests, lectures and meetings are scheduled to coincide with the visit and the AIPAC conference in Washington DC in May; BDS founder meets Friday night with 250 activists calling Israel apartheid state.
WASHINGTON - A series of protests against Israeli policy and its support by AIPAC are planned in May to coincide with the AIPAC conference in the U.S. capital and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech there. The protests, under the heading "Move over AIPAC," will include demonstrations opposite the building where Netanyahu will speak and Congress, and a series of lectures and meetings with critics of Israel, including veteran journalist Helen Thomas who lost her place in the White House press room after saying Jews should leave Palestine and go back to Poland, Germany and the United States. Thomas will give the keynote address at the Move Over AIPAC conference, and will receive an award from the women's pacifist organization Code Pink, one of the hundred left-wing American organizations behind the conference.
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الثورة العربيّـة المُضادّة: هجمة آل سعود

أسعد أبو خليل

هال آل سعود وحلفاءهم في إسرائيل ما حدث. بنيان نظام الطغيان العربي، الذي تقوده السعوديّة، بدأ بالتهاوي. غضب الملك السعودي من عدم التحرّك الأميركي لإنقاذ مبارك. لم ينتهِ التفجّع السعودي والإسرائيلي على سقوط مبارك. قرّر الحكم السعودي الإمساك بنظام الطغيان العربي الرسمي خشية المزيد من التضعضع. أطلقت السعوديّة العنان لعقيدة الكراهية والطائفيّة والمذهبيّة ــ وهي عقيدة دينيّة ــ سياسيّة رسميّة للمملكة. الديموقراطيّة تتناقض مع السيطرة السعوديّة على العالم العربي ــ وهي تتناقض مع الوجود الصهيوني على أرضنا
.....
أرادت السعوديّة أن تصيب هدفيْن في آن واحد: أن تسعّر المواجهة المذهبيّة وأن تقصي كلّ الشيعة في العالم العربي عن دولهم وعروبتهم، وتصويرهم كدخلاء على طريقة العقيدة النازيّة ضد اليهود، وأن تخدم مصالح إسرائيل من حيث رفض أيّ تأييد للقضيّة الفلسطينيّة وتصويره على أنّه سياسة محض إيرانيّة، وأنّ لا مصلحة عربيّة فيها.
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A very good article by the Angry Arab in Al-Akhbar on the counter-revolution conducted by the Saudi royals and their cronies in the Arab world.

Idealistic blogger 'was more Palestinian than the criminals who killed him'

Vittorio Arrigoni's middle name was Utopia, yet he chose to spend most of the past three years in the hell of Gaza, acting as a human shield for Palestinian fishermen harassed by the Israeli navy and reporting to a worldwide audience.

His "Guerrilla Radio" blog about life in Gaza was required reading among radical circles in Italy and he published passionate newspaper commentaries about the plight of the Palestinian people and the "crimes" of "the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv", which he condemned as "one of the worst apartheid regimes in the world". His final post, published hours before his abduction, and subsequent hanging by gunmen in Gaza, praised the "invisible battle for survival" waged by the smugglers in Gaza's tunnel network under the border with Egypt against Israel's "villainous blockade".

Read more-The Independent

Addio Vittorio. R.I.P

Torture in a Syrian prison. Warning! Distressing..

That is a dreadful, terrible, horrible and an awful video about torturing the teenagers under the regime of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria.
A Syrian teenager being tortured and humiliated by the Syrian security forces in Syria. This is just the "hello party" the real torture starts later...!

Beck's Cartoon "History Of Israel" Features A "Jewish Deli" And "Those Wacky Arabs"

Oh yeah and "Arabs"came from the desert!

See how Bashshar's security forces treat arrested protesters!

Killings (slaughter is more appropriate a word) haunt Gaza City graveyard families

GAZA CITY: Bloodstains can still be seen on the graves in Sheja‘iya cemetery just days after a deadly Israeli raid, showing that even the dead cannot rest in peace in the war-torn Gaza district. Israel says the raid, which killed two people at dusk on Friday, targeted Palestinians firing rockets ... Shortly after the graveyard was struck, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad announced that Raeir was one of their activists who had been killed after he fired a missile at an Israeli position. The Israeli military subsequently posted air force footage of the graveyard showing shadows moving around the cemetery with a tubular object -- what they said was a rocket launcher ... "We have a housing crisis here," said Jaru. "When we need to build, we look at the date on the graves, and if they are very old and all that’s inside is dust, we clear them." Signs of life among the dead are all around, with rubbish littering the ground around the graves, and washing lines strung between the headstones.
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Another child run over by a settler driver in Hebron.

Settler hits Palestinian child with car in Hebron
Hebron - PNN 13 Apr -- A five-year old Palestinian girl sustained moderate wounds when an Israeli settler hit her with his car in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday.

Children favorite target for colonist settlers in Hebron

Settler aggression against Palestinian children in Hebron
AIC 13 Apr -- On Wednesday 6th April, a kindergarten in the Old City of Hebron was attacked by Israeli settlers. Four settlers arrived at the kindergarten with dogs, threatening the children from behind the fence.

Egypt orders review of gas contracts with Israel

Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf says review is aimed at bringing in greatest returns for country, at income boost of some $3-4 billion.

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Syrian protesters 'barred from medical care'

Rights group says ambulances prevented from reaching wounded protesters as authorities attempt to quell unrest.
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It's the same old trick again

Syrian TV airs confessions of men for stirring unrest
BEIRUT, April 13 (Reuters) - Syrian TV aired on Wednesday what it described as the confessions of three men who said they were paid money and given weapons by an anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker to carry out attacks on security services in Syria.
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King of Bahrain is a big fan of the "sophisticated" white man

The Angry Arab
"But they [Iraqis] want to kill each other more than they want to modernize. If U.S. forces in Iraq pulled back, the various factions will be too scared to fight each other, he said, whereas with the U.S. presence, they are free to fight. "The sophisticated U.S. soldier," the King stated, "should not be patrolling the streets of Baghdad." Also:
"We are honored to be your ally," the King stated, "and we have a wonderful relationship."

Libya rebels repel offensives on Misurata

Widespread fighting continues, as NATO comes under pressure to step up its military campaign against Gaddafi's forces.
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Egyptian anger at Saudi Arabia

The Angry Arab

This is delicious. There is so much anger in Egypt against Saudi Arabia, not only for the long-standing Saudi support for Mubarak, but also for Saudi media support for Mubarak to the last minute. Furthermore, the release of the audio tape by Mubarak (Bin Laden style) to Saudi propaganda channel, Al-Arabiyyah TV (news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law) only produced more anger. The star of Egypt's opposition journalism, `Abdul-Halim Qandil stated bluntly that "he who had the illusion that Egyptians can launch a democratic revolution without colliding with America and Israel and Arab officialdom represented by Saudi Arabia, had rid himself of that illusion." Al-Arabiyyah TV was so taken aback by the bitter attacks on Saudi Arabia and its media in Egypt, that it had to explain the decision to air the Bin Laden, I mean Mubarak, tape by invoking "professional" criteria. Yeah, professional. For Saudi propagandists to cite professionalism to explain their propaganda, is like the Ramallah clique citing resistance to explain its collaboration with Israel.

A "charismatic" religious kook! Yup! Exactly what Egypt needs right now!

Popular Egypt TV religious figure raises his sights
Amr Khaled is the Arab world's paramount televangelist, a charismatic guide for millions of Muslims. Now, Egyptians are seeing him again after his return from exile and he hints at forming a party. His 2.6 million fans on Facebook make him one of the site's 75 most popular people. His television show borrows from Donald Trump's. When he appears before thousands of adoring fans, he wears Hugo Boss suits and applies a little black makeup to his scalp to hide the gaps in his thinning hair.
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The counter-revolution in Egypt

Egyptian army clears Cairo's Tahrir Square
Traffic begins to flow in central thoroughfare as protesters dispersed after five-day sit-in.
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Mubarak tried to escape the country to Saudi Arabia

According to "Al Wafd" daily, the traffic control tower at Sharm el-Sheikh airport got requests of two private flights from Tabuk airport heading to Sharm El-Sheikh and then Riyadh airport and a helicopter from Sharm El-Sheikh airport to Tabuk. A source at Sharm el-Sheikh Airport said the information was that the helicopter is expected to take Mubarak family members to Saudi Arabia. This was an attempt of the former president to escape after the declaration by the Attorney General to officially call him and his two sons to investigation. The control tower immediately notified the Civil Aviation Authority and shortly afterwards received an order not to approve any private jet flight heading to Sharm El-Sheikh or out of there until the issuance of further instructions.
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Israeli lies in the Associated Press!

Associated Press Deconstructed

AP’s Matti Friedman: Israeli citizen and former Israeli soldier

In the previous post, “‘Israeli army strikes Gaza after school bus hit’ – Deconstructed,” I examined the Israeli-centric wording and pattern of omissions in AP’s report on the recent violence in Gaza. At the end of the piece I noted:

“…the story was written and edited in Israel by Matti Friedman, a journalist who may have family ties to the Israeli military.”

Tonight I was examining AP’s recent reports on Israel-Palestine and noted additional articles by Matti Friedman. Since they all seem to contain such distinctly pro-Israel bias I decided to look into Friedman more to see what I could learn about his/her background.

It turns out that Friedman is male, grew up in Canada, and at the age of 16 won a “Bronfman Youth Fellowship” for an all-expense-paid five-week summer trip to Israel for Jewish high school students from North America to “encounter the land and people of Israel [and] study Judaism and major issues in contemporary Jewish life.”

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Settlers continue seizing land, uprooting trees in West Bank

OCCUPIED WEST BANK -- ...In Tubas, Head of the Al-Malih and Bedouin Communities in the Jordan Valley, Aref Daraghmeh, said that settlers of 'Rotem' Settlement, built on Tubas’s land, seized land in the northern Jordan Valley and In Tubas governate, and planted them with olive trees to prove they own these lands, although the Palestinians have legal papers of their ownership.
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Settlers take control of archaeological digs to manipulate history and consolidate claims to Palestinian land

Video: Digging for trouble
Are Israeli settlers taking control of archaeological digs to manipulate history and consolidate claims to Palestinian land? Some Israeli archaeologists are starting to speak out. The Palestinian village of Silwan is located just below the ancient City of David, in the heart of Jerusalem. Archaeological digs here are under the control of the right wing group, ELAD. The constant threat of demolition hovers over people's houses
Video

Islamic-Christian commission warns of serious Judaization plan in Jerusalem

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 12 Apr -- The Islamic-Christian commission for the support of Jerusalem and holy sites revealed a comprehensive Israeli plan to Judaize the entire old city of occupied Jerusalem. Secretary-general of the commission Hasan Khater told a news conference on Monday that this Judaization plan is real and has been put into action. He said the plan targets streets, allies, roads, landmarks and all Arab architectural features inside the old city of Jerusalem and includes changing their names, removing them, implanting icons and symbols inside their walls such as the alleged star of David.
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200 demolition orders in occupied Jerusalem since 2011 started

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 12 Apr -- Al-Maqdesi foundation for society development said the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) have issued since the start of this year no less than 200 demolition orders against Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem. In a report, Al-Maqdesi highlighted some of the Israeli violations that happened during this year or would happen in east Jerusalem ... The IOA forced a Palestinian family from Sur Baher district to demolish its own home so as to avoid paying 140, 000 shekels as demolition expenses.
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Four Palestinians suffocate in tunnel

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) 12 Apr -- Gaza officials say four Palestinians have suffocated while trying to repair a smuggling tunnel hit in an Israeli airstrike last week ... Hamas and Gaza health officials said the four Palestinians died Tuesday as they worked underground. In the past three years, about 160 workers have been killed in the tunnels, human rights groups say.
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Egyptian Prosecutors Order 15-Day Detention of Hosni Mubarak

Amr Nabil/Associated Press

Policemen guarded a minibus carrying Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, as it arrived at the courthouse in Sharm el Sheik early Wednesday.
CAIRO — Egyptian prosecutors said on Wednesday they had detained the former president, Hosni Mubarak, and his two sons for 15 days to face questioning about corruption and abuse of power, just hours after he was abruptly hospitalized in the beach resort of Sharm el Sheik.
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How AIPAC infiltrates universities, recruits and indoctrinates!

Here is an example of how AIPAC, Israel's most influential organization in the US, provides college student government hopefuls with all expenses paid trips to their annual DC Conference to recruit, indoctrinate and snare naive minds.

Another BDS Victory as Veolia Dumped from Possible Billion Pound Tender

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has had great success in London. After one year of campaigning by activists, the South London Waste Partnership (SLWP) had decided to drop the bid from the company Veolia for the one billion pound “Waste Treatment Infrastructure.”

A local London newspaper, the Wimbledon Guardian, reported Thursday (7 April) that only two bidders remain in the race for the contract – neither of which are Veolia.

In a PSC statement, Samrina Mir (Merton PSC) and Ben Jamal (Chair, Richmond & Kingston PSC) said: “This is a significant victory for the Bin Veolia campaign, made possible by the joint efforts of local human rights campaigners from Croydon & Sutton Green Party, Sutton for Peace and Justice, Kingston Peace/CND, Kingston University Palestine Society, War on Want, faith groups, trade unions and many others from across the four London boroughs, to hold Veolia accountable for its violations of international law and its involvement in profiting from the occupation.”

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Blowback: Israel's bogus narrative on Palestinian refugees

Ghada Karmi

"On setting up its state in 1948, Israel set about demolishing every vestige of Palestinian life and history in the land. The physical destruction of the villages, the replacing of Palestinian names with Hebrew ones and the wholesale takeover of Palestinian culture, whether in food -- "Israeli falafel" -- or in the traditional Arab dabke dance, renamed the Israeli "hora," were all aimed at making the world forget there had ever been anyone other than Jews in the Holy Land.

Through the work of Israeli filmmaker Benny Brunner, I have discovered another refinement of this cultural theft: the takeover of private Palestinian book collections, including ours. After 1948, Israeli officials took what books they found from abandoned Palestinian homes. Tens of thousands were looted in this way. Some of them remain in the Israeli National Library today, designated abandoned property. Brunner is currently making a film of this, "The Great Book Robbery."

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Pachelbel's canon in D Major

I'm wondering if this is not the most beautiful piece of music I've heard in a very long time, or maybe ever!

How and why the pro Israel narrative dominates the US media

Once you have watched this all should be clear to you! Always question the MSM and why their news is being reported. There is always an agenda and there is always censorship and manipulation of your thoughts.

More than it being a killing machine, Israel is a lying one!

by Samah Sabawi - 11 April 2011

The horrible truth about Gaza
The media coverage of Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza that left many dead and many more injured echoes Israel’s claim that it was part of an escalation that began on Thursday when Hamas militants fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus, critically wounding a teenager and lightly injuring the driver. Such claims ignore the reality that systematic violence against the Palestinians has never stopped.
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Goldstone stands by "his" report

Justice Richard Goldstone, Head of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.

Israel Hits Roadblock over Dismissal of War Crimes Charges
By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 8, 2011 (IPS) - The Israeli government and South African jurist Richard Goldstone may be heading for a political confrontation over war crimes charges against Tel Aviv and a subsequent selective retraction of some of those charges.

Israeli President Shimon Peres told reporters Friday that Goldstone, who has expressed his "regrets", is apparently refusing to "correct the mistakes" and is unwilling to repudiate the conclusions of the report.

The 575-page report, released in September 2009, was a blistering attack on both Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for war crimes committed during the 22- day conflict in 2008-2009. ....
...........Peter Weiss, vice president of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, told IPS the official Israeli reaction "deliberately distorts his op-ed".

Goldstone only retracted one charge - that Operation Cast Lead deliberately targeted civilians.

"But the report is replete with various instances of war crimes, for which intent is not required," said Weiss, who also serves as the president of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy and is a member of the executive committee of Americans For Peace Now.
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Arab Uprisings Break Down Media Stereotypes

By Cam McGrath

CAIRO, Apr 7, 2011 (IPS) - Exhaustive media coverage of the wave of popular revolts sweeping the Middle East and North Africa has helped to dispel myths and stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims, and foster better cultural understanding, media experts said during a conference in Cairo on Wednesday.

"In covering the events that unfolded in Egypt and Tunisia, and are happening now in many other Arab countries… the media was able to build bridges that politicians were unable to achieve over many years," said Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League. "Their imagery has helped create rapprochement between Arabs and the West."

The conference, a forum on 'A New Era for Arab-West Relations', explored the implications of social transformation in the Arab region and the potential for enhancing intercultural dialogue. Participating journalists and members of civil society highlighted the role of media in bridging the gaps in mutual perceptions between the Arab world and the West.
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Egypt stops building steel wall along Gaza

CAIRO, April 11 (UPI) -- Egypt halted construction of an underground steel wall designed to stop weapons smuggling along its border with Gaza, Israeli defense officials said.

Construction of the 6.2-mile barrier was suspended after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February, officials told The Jerusalem Post

Israel has told the new Egyptian government it should uphold the position of the previous government in preventing the flow of arms into the Gaza Strip, the newspaper reported.

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Settlers’ murder investigation turns into collective punishment

The army has taken control over the village of Awarta, which lies near the settlement of Itamar, where 5 members of the Fogel family were murdered. According to reports, hundreds of Palestinians have been arrested, some beaten; all young men were forced to give DNA samples; settlers have built an outpost on the village’s land, which is now guarded by the Israeli army

Army roadblock inside Awarta.

Hundreds of Awarta’s 6,000 residents were arrested and questioned. According to locals, the soldiers have taken over four houses in the village and turned them into an improvised interrogation facility. Several of the Palestinians said they were beaten by the soldiers and by their interrogators.

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Note this sentence. It's key for understanding what it's all about beyond the collective punishment issue! Land theft and dispossession: In a couple of years the village is in the hands of the settlers. It's planned ethnic cleansing!

"settlers have built an outpost on the village’s land, which is now guarded by the Israeli army"

Israeli slaughter of Gaza. Gruesome? Yes! But the world must see !

Israeli airstrike turns Gaza family's life into torment

GAZA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Ibrahim Qdieh, a 52-year-old resident of the southern Gaza village of Abassan, never knew that a few minutes' absence from home would rescue him from a possible death but left him gulping the pain of losing wife and daughter for the rest of his life. His wife and daughter were killed in an Israeli air raid on their home, a 90-square-meter house built on a farm in the village in the east of Khan Younis city ... When the air raid took place on Friday afternoon, Qdieh and some family members were praying in a mosque, while his wife stayed at home, about to wash the children's school uniforms for the school day right after the weekend ..."...as soon as I reached the house, I saw the horrible and awful crime, smears of blood and remnants all over the place. I wasn't able to believe my eyes to see my daughter Nidal, who was preparing for her wedding next week and my wife are dead." An Israeli reconnaissance drone fired one missile, directly hitting the house. The missile took the lives of Nidal and her mother, and injured four others in the family.
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Arabic Tattoos – The Latest Celebrity Must-Have

Arabic tattoos are definitively in fashion in the world of the rich and the famous. And I don’t mean temporary tattoos done with henna. This is perhaps surprising, because there are hardly any tattoos to be seen in the Arab World. In the West, however, tattoos have come a long way from the time when they were essentially associated with sailors and soldiers. Nowadays, having a permanent inking on your skin is no longer a sign of low class.

Recently, celebrities like actress Angelina Jolie, football player Zlatan Ibrahimović, and pop star Rihanna have been getting Arabic phrases and words tattooed on their bodies. But, do they really know the meaning of the words they are eternalizing on their skin? Let’s take a look at the tattoos and their meanings:

Angelina Jolie: the firm will

First off is Angelina Jolie who it seems has already filled every inch of her skin with some writing or other. Her latest addition is this Arabic tattoo:

Angelina Jolie's Arabic Tattoo

Taking a closer look we can make out the Arabic word العزيمة (al-‘azeema), meaning “the determination” or “the firm will” on her right forearm. Jolie certainly strikes me as a woman who knows what she wants – so it seems that this tattoo is quite fitting. However, the word can also mean “the incantation” or “the spell”.

While the Arabic script chosen for the tattoo is pretty plain, Angelina (or one of her assistants) has at least done enough research to ensure that the word is spelled correctly – no slipups here
More here
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Wrong! Neither Angelina nor any of her assistants have done a good job at asking the right person because putting the definite article "al/el" to Azeemah translates to 'the determination'! That is as ridiculous as writing ' the freedom'!

Rihanna Arabic tattoo

Al hurriyah fil Maseeh. "Liberty/Freedom in Christ (the Messiah)"
Much more on this story on this blog, here

Le Monde Diplomatique: Why the Oil Companies Decided Qaddafi Has to Go

By JEAN-PIERRE SÉRÉNI

The few people Colonel Muammar Gaddafi did business with regarded him as unpredictable, inconsistent and temperamental. President Ronald Reagan described him in 1986 as the “mad dog of the Middle East”, sent the Sixth Fleet to bomb his country and imposed a strict oil embargo. Gaddafi was a pariah, yet 20 years later, he had put Libya back among the world’s top crude oil exporters, thanks mostly to US oil giants.

Clearly he must have behaved more rationally in his dealings with the oil sector than in other domestic and foreign policy initiatives, perhaps because he was less involved. International oil companies also learned how to operate – and make a lot of money – in Libya’s unstable, even hostile, business environment.

Libya became independent in 1951, as the product of a union between waning British imperialism and a Saharan Muslim order, the Senussi, whose leader became Libya’s king. Libya had long been known as the “empty kingdom” and was destitute, since its only export was scrap iron collected from Second World War battlefields.

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Why Goldstone Wrote that Op-Ed? Video Interview with Jadaliyya Co-Editor

On Friday April 1st, justice Richard Goldstone wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post that seemingly retracts his report investigating the Gaza war known as Cast Led. No one really knows what exactly led the justice to do this. In the video interview below, Jadaliyya Co-Editor Noura Erakat explores some possible answers.

Noura participated in a debate a week prior over the very same Goldstone report (watch the debate here). The debate was tweeted live here at Jadaliyya. Erakat published this op-ed in relation to Goldstone’s.

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Israel murderous onslaught on Gaza. Civilian victims!

Coming soon: Jewish ‘al-Jazeera’

Dr. Alexander Mashkevich, president of the United Israel Appeal’s annual conference of Jewish leaders in Washington, has announced his plan to form a pro-Israel international news network, similar to al-Jazeera and the BBC.

This year’s conference focused on attempts to deal with the de-legitimization campaign against Israel, and was attended by some 200 Jewish community leaders and key philanthropists.

An announcement on the creation of the international news network was made at the end of the conference, with the aim of dealing with anti-Israel defamation in the media and influence public opinion.

Mashkevich, who also serves as president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, said that the network would offer programs in English, French, Arabic and Spanish, focusing on news only.

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The far reach of the lobby: U.S. cable companies stubborn refusal to provide Al Jazeera

U.S. cable companies aren’t budging on Al Jazeera
by Harry Clark (Mondoweiss)
At a recent event on the Middle East at Harvard, Ayman Mohyeldin, an Al Jazeera journalist, responded to a question about Al Jazeera on US cable systems. He said that the cable companies were out of arguments against carrying AJ, but still wouldn't budge. From company gossip about the negotiations, which he doesn't attend, he said that the cable companies say "there is no market". But the negotiators then show that AJ viewership in the US, online and on community access cable, has grown 25-fold in recent months. So there is a market, alongside the cooking channels. The cable companies then say that AJ is "too controversial." The AJ negotiators then show video of Hilary Clinton praising AJ. Still the cable companies won't budge. Something is keeping them from embracing AJ.

I spoke privately with an academic critic of the US-Israel relationship who was in the room. I asked if he had thought of organizing a symposium on the US-Israel relationship. He immediately dismissed it, saying: "There would be so much institutional pressure; the Israeli consul general would have to be invited; there would be three guys from Washington; it would be impossible and we couldn't say anything. I'll just work individually." Pretty much those words.

Zionism is active cultural wallpaper, floats off the walls and wraps and smothers us, prevents us from knowing what we do abroad, leaves us no reason to change, only to continue killing and destroying.
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Richard Goldstone did not Retract the Report

Professor William A. Schabas*
It is being widely reported that Richard Goldstone has retracted the allegations in the report of the Commission he chaired into Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli attack on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009.

I have read Richard Goldstone’s statement in the Washington Post. While the tone is certainly more indulgent towards Israel, I do not see it as a retraction of the primary allegations in the report.

The central element in Judge Goldstone’s statement in the Washington Post last Friday is his conclusion, based upon information he says was not available when the Commission issued its Report, that ‘civilians were not intentionally targeted [by Israel] as a matter of policy’.
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*Schabas was a member of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He is a prolific author and has written many of the standard reference works employed in the field of international law, including books and articles dealing with criminal law and the International Criminal Court.

State terrorism!

Israeli official: We struck in Sudan
Ynet 7 Apr -- A senior Israeli military official told TIME Magazine Wednesday that the Jewish state was behind a mysterious air strike in Sudan Tuesday that killed two people. "It's not our first time there," the official was quoted as saying, apparently referring to the 2009 airstrike that demolished an arms convoy near the border with Egypt.
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60% of Egyptians support peace with Israel, as long as...

Some 60% of Egyptians support the peace treaty with Israel – as long as an independent Palestinian state is established alongside the Jewish state, a study conducted by the United Nations-affiliated International Peace Institute shows.
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Fatah probes Dahlan and Rashid for supplying weapons to Gaddafi

Fatah's Central Committee announced that it has begun investigating recent reports that two members of the movement's leadership are involved in smuggling Israeli weapons into Libya to support Mu'ammar Gaddafi's forces. In a press release, the Committee stated that the allegations against the two contradict Fatah's principles of non-interference in the affairs of other Arab states.
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Where now for the Goldstone report? / John Dugard

6 Apr -- ...In short, there are no new facts that exonerate Israel and that could possibly have led Goldstone to change his mind. What made him change his mind therefore remains a closely guarded secret. The Goldstone report was not the only fact-finding report on Operation Cast Lead. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the League of Arab States (whose mission I chaired) all produced thorough reports on the conflict. In all the reports, including the Goldstone report, there were accounts of the killings of civilians by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in a cold, calculated and deliberate manner. But the principal accusation leveled at Israel was that during its assault on Gaza, it used force indiscriminately in densely populated areas and was reckless about the foreseeable consequences of its actions, which resulted in at least 900 civilian deaths and 5,000 wounded.
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Avi Marmara to return to Gaza in May

Ynet 7 Apr -- Vessel involved in deadly raid in May 2010 scheduled to take part in another flotilla to Gaza Strip next month, IHH declares. Total of 15 ships to participate in 'Freedom flotilla 2'
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IDF thugs storm village and arrest 100 women!

100 women detained in Awarta
NABLUS (AFP/Ma‘an) 7 Apr -- Israeli troops stormed the village of Awarta on Thursday morning, arresting more than 100 women in what local officials said was part of the ongoing investigation into the murder of five settlers in March. Hundreds of troops entered Awarta - the village adjacent to Itamar, and illegal settlement where the murders took place - shortly after midnight and imposed a curfew after which they began rounding up the women, local council head Tayis Awwad said. Officials told Ma‘an that men and women were taken in the raids, which involved house-to-house searches in the early morning. Some of the women, witnesses said, were in their 60s, and many were taken from their homes by force.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=376303

After Wikileaks' revelations that most non ideological settlers would evacuate settlements

Settler leader downplays WikiLeaks comments on West Bank evacuation
Settlers leader Danny Dayan on Thursday downplayed his comments revealed by WikiLeaks that some settlers would be willing to leave the West Bank for "the right price." His comments came following a Haaretz report quoting Dayan as saying that settlers would be willing to evacuate the West Bank in return for adequate compensation ... In response to the Haaretz report on Thursday, Dayan criticized Haaretz for taking his words out of context, saying in an interview with Army Radio that "economical laws work in Judea and Samaria as well."
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The routine destruction of the Palestinian society

*Demolitions in Samra

*Homes and roads destroyed in Aqaba

*Homes, roads taken down near Tubas

*10 tractors were confiscated in ‘Ein Al Beida and Bardala

Goldstone has paved the path for a second Gaza war

Anyone who honored the first Goldstone has to ask him: What exactly do you know today that you didn't know then? Do you know today that criticizing Israel leads to a pressure-and-slander campaign that you can't withstand, you 'self-hating Jew'?
By Gideon Levy
All at once the last doubts have disappeared and the question marks have become exclamation points. Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu Al-Aish wrote a short book in which he invented the killing of his three daughters. The 29 dead from the Al-Simoni family are now vacationing in the Caribbean. The white phosphorus was only the pyrotechnics of a war film. The white-flag wavers who were shot were a mirage in the desert, as were the reports about the killing of hundreds of civilians, including women and children. "Cast lead" has returned to being a phrase in a Hanukkah children's song.

A surprising and unexplained article in The Washington Post by Richard Goldstone caused rejoicing here, a Goldstone party, the likes of which we haven't seen for a long time. In fact, Israeli PR reaped a victory, and for that congratulations are in order. But the questions remain as oppressive as ever, and Goldstone's article didn't answer them - if only it had erased all the fears and suspicions.
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Thank you

Thank you all for your kind get well comments. The truth of the matter is that I'm having serious issues with a worsening eye sight ( the right eye). Having to face a computer screen is becoming increasingly strenuous. But, what the heck, for now I'll try as much as I can not to make this blog look like a waste land, and thank you for putting up with the irregularity of my postings.

Gaza under attack – 5 dead, 40 injured

Medics: Gaza death toll rises to 5; 40 injured
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 7 Apr 18:54 -- Israeli artillery fire killed three Palestinians and injured 40 others in a major escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, after an anti-tank missile struck a school bus in Israel and injured two people, Palestinian and Israeli medical officials said.

Sorry for not posting more regularly as I haven't (and still have not) been feeling well. Soon, I hope..

Libya and the Obama Cult. How the President conned his supporters – and his enemies

Justin Raimondo

It seems like only yesterday that I wrote the following:

"We are already half way down the slippery slope of Libya’s internal turmoil, and we’re in so deep at this point that I cannot see our way out for quite some time. The President is reported to have told congressional leaders that the intervention should last "days, not weeks," and this is the biggest lie of all, a lie the President is apparently telling himself as well as us. We now own Libya’s insurrection: its fate belongs to us, and we’ll be wearing that albatross around our necks for quite some time to come."

Heck, it was only yesterday, come to think of it. The same day someone in the Obama administration leaked the news that the CIA has had its boots on Libyan ground for at least the past three weeks. I can’t say I’m shocked, but some people are:

"It’s so surreal, so discordant with what the president has told the American people, so fantastically contrary to everything he campaigned on, that I will simply wait for more confirmation than this before commenting further. I simply cannot believe it."
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Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal

By Pepe Escobar
You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud. Two diplomatic sources at the United Nations independently confirmed that Washington, via Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave the go-ahead for Saudi Arabia to invade Bahrain and crush the pro-democracy movement in their neighbor in exchange for a "yes"
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Ilan Pappé: Why Israel is Not a Democracy

Interview with Ilan Pappé:

FB: As coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, I am now preparing the next session of the tribunal which is going to take place in South Africa and will talk about the crime of apartheid in relation to Israel. For many, Israel is a democracy, because everyone is able to vote and Arabs are represented in the Knesset So is Israel a democracy?

IP: No, Israel is definitely not a democracy. A country that occupies another people for more than 40 years and disallow them the most elementary civic and human rights cannot be a democracy. A country that pursues a discriminatory policy against a fifth of its Palestinian citizens inside the 67 borders cannot be a democracy. In fact Israel is, what we use to call in political science a herrenvolk democracy, its democracy only for the masters. The fact that you allow people to participate in the formal side of democracy, namely to vote or to be elected, is useless and meaningless if you don't give them any share in the common good or in the common resources of the State, or if you discriminate against them despite the fact that you allow them to participate in the elections. On almost every level from official legislation through governmental practices, and social and cultural attitudes, Israel is only a democracy for one group, one ethnic group, that given the space that Israel now controls, is not even a majority group anymore, so I think that you'll find it very hard to use any known definition of democracy which will be applicable for the Israeli case.

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The extreme right turned Israel into an anachronism

Unlike Europe, where the right has significantly grown but is still not in power, in this country the racists, the extreme and clerical right is the government, with only a vacuum opposing it.
By Zeev Sternhell

Slowly but surely Israel is acquiring the status of an anachronistic entity. The legislation that passed in the Knesset that dark night last week, which makes ethnic inequality a legal norm, has no parallel in democratic countries because it contradicts the very essence of democracy. In terms of the principle on which it is based, institutionalized discrimination against the non-Jewish population takes us back to the early days, when Israel’s Arab citizens were under a military government.

This had a far-reaching effect on Israeli society. Aside from the desire of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and the ruling elite not to limit their freedom of action, it was the ethnic and institutionalized discrimination that rendered impossible the writing of a constitution. In that way the Israelis, who for the first time became citizens in their own country, learned that independence did not require equality and democracy did not include respecting human rights.

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Israel's favorite Arab dictator of all is Assad

Both Assad senior and Assad junior advocated resistance against Israel. This slogan was hollow, serving the regime merely as an insurance policy against any demand for freedom and democracy.
As strange as it sounds, everyone in Israel loves Arab dictators. When I say everyone I mean both Jews and Arabs. The favorite dictator of all is president Assad. As Assad junior inherited the oppressive regime in Syria, so did both Jews and Arabs transfer their affection for the dictator from Damascus from Assad senior to his son.

Following the intifada in the Arab states, Bashar al-Assad maintained in an interview to the Wall Street Journal that the situation in Syria is different, adding that Syria is not like Egypt. He also emphasized that Syria was not susceptible to sliding into a similar situation, because it was in the "resistance" front and belongs to the anti-American, anti-Israeli axis.
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Israel holds secret talks with Russia in bid to thwart recognition of Palestinian state

France, Germany and the U.K. are pushing for announcing a new international peace initiative which may include setting up two states on the basis of the 1967 borders.
Isaac Molho, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s senior adviser and top negotiator on the Palestinian channel, made a secret trip to Moscow on Wednesday and met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The purpose of the visit was to dissuade Russia from supporting the European Union’s intention to present in two weeks’ time a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.

Molho was accompanied on the trip by the Foreign Ministry’s legal advisor, Daniel Taub, and spent over an hour with Lavrov. Taub and Molho also met with the Russian envoy to the Middle East, Sergei Yakovlev, and other senior Russian officials. A senior Israeli official told Haaretz that Taub and Molho used the visit “to present new Israeli ideas for re-launching the peace process with the Palestinians.”
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Egyptian foreign minister says Iran is not enemy state

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil El-Araby said Tuesday that Iran has historically rooted relations with Egypt as a neighboring country, and should not be regarded as an enemy state, Palestinian Arabic-Language news daily Maan reported Tuesday.

El Araby, who entered into his role March 6 2011 added that Hezbollah is part of the political and social makeup of Lebanon, and that communication between Hezbollah and the Egyptian government is welcomed.

The Egyptian foreign minister also said coupled with increased dialogue with Hamas he is committed to improving the humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip and Rafah crossing.