Los Angeles times: ISRAEL: Religion everywhere

Religion is the opiate of the masses, Karl Marx said. That might be true in some places, but in Israel, this drug induces dangerous hyperactivity. Always a scratch-of-the-surface away, religion is an emotional factor in conflict -- between Israel and the Palestinians, between Israelis and themselves.

Israel shuts down all commercial crossings with Gaza and armored vehicles raze agricultural lands

The Israeli authorities closed down all the commercial crossings between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Friday, the Palestinian side said.

As the starving doctrine states, no production allowed either

"The witnesses said five Israeli army bulldozers backed by three armored vehicles drove about 350 meters into the area and razed agricultural lands east of the refugee camp."

Confidential UN document reveals industrialized countries cheating the world on climate

COPENHAGEN: The industrialized countries are cheating the world. A confidential document of the UN Frame Convention on Climate Change secretariat prepared on December 15 shows, contrary to what the rich nations might claim, even if they come true on their current pledges to reduce emissions the world is headed towards a 3 degree temperature rise by 2050, not two degree Celsius – the tipping point.

Copenhagen ends in failure

After eight draft texts and all-day talks between 115 world leaders, it was left to Barack Obama and Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, to broker a political agreement. The so-called Copenhagen accord "recognises" the scientific case for keeping temperature rises to no more than 2C but did not contain commitments to emissions reductions to achieve that goal.
The Guardian

Iraqis say Iran has seized oil well in Iraq, demand withdrawal

"The council stressed that such incidents would be considered a violation of the border and violated Iraq's sovereignty and its territories and calls upon Iran to pull out the group from well No. 4 and take down the Iranian flag from the tower of the well immediately," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in the statement."

France to ban the Burqa , says ruling party chief

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's party, the UMP, says it will push for a law banning the burqa, the full-face Islamic veil, according to its parliamentary leader Jean-François Copé.
And:
French intelligence services have found only 367 women in France wear the all-covering Muslim garments known as the burka and the niqab. Public controversy over the dress has led to a parliamentary committee to discuss how to react to it.

Evo Morales: “Shameful” for West to Spend Trillions on War and Only $10 Billion for Climate Change

Bolivian President Evo Morales recently arrived in Copenhagen for the UN climate summit. In a press conference Wednesday, Morales said, “The budget of the United States is $687 billion for defense. And for climate change, to save life, to save humanity, they only put up $10 billion. This is shameful.”

Why is Israel afraid of feminists who challenge its militarism?

"Israel’s feminist group New Profile has been persecuted for many months over its supposed threat to the Jewish state.

Now, in the latest twist, Israel’s Education Minister has barred the group from participating in school debates.

Israeli democracy, up close and personal."

"Dear friends,
As many of you know from our recent reports, rather terrible things are happening in Jerusalem. The Israeli government is pursuing a policy of forcing Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem and handing over their properties to Jewish settlers. The guiding idea is to plant colonies of fanatical Jewish settlers in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods."
Letter from Ta’ayush Members David Shulman and Amos Goldberg

The emergence of sex as a bullet of change in Iran

"Understanding Iran’s so-called Green Revolution is largely ignored in the West. It’s often framed as Islamic dictatorship versus rampaging democrats. The picture is far more complex.

Middle East Report has published a fascinating study about this:"

Stunning Statistics About the War Every American Should Know

"Contrary to popular belief, the US actually has 189,000 personnel on the ground in Afghanistan right now—and that number is quickly rising."

Naomi Klein:Better to have no deal at Copenhagen than one that spells catastrophe

The only offer on the table in Copenhagen would condemn the developing world to poverty and suffering in perpetuity
In the ninth day of the Copenhagen climate summit, Africa was sacrificed. The position of the G77 negotiating bloc, including African states, had been clear: a 2C increase in average global temperatures translates into a 3–3.5C increase in Africa. That means, according to the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, "an additional 55 million people could be at risk from hunger", and "water stress could affect between 350 and 600 million more people".
The Guardian

The new European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy slams Israeli occupation

Israel not khappy, khappy!

"The government officials in Jerusalem said they were surprised, dissatisfied and concerned that such a senior figure had expressed criticism before visiting Israel and learning the facts."

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Facts? What facts? Aaah, you mean THOSE facts in the Bible?

Olemert 's plan for peace: We give you a sliver of a desert and we keep the best and most fertile of your lands..Deal?

Or shouldn't it not be "We give you a Swiss cheese and we keep the foie gras"?

Haaretz exclusive: Olmert's plan for peace with the Palestinians
Olmert presented his map to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in September of last year. Abbas did not respond, and negotiations ended. In an interview with Haaretz on Tuesday, Abbas said Olmert had presented several drafts of his map.
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Zionists are very generous people (sniff*) but the problem is that Arabs are very "rejectionists"..

BDS victory - Credo Mobile Hangs Up On Motorola!

"Last week we found out that Credo Mobile, a telephone service provider that claims to be guided by progressive values, stopped offering Motorola phones to their customers after complaints from our supporters. This is a major victory in our campaign to boycott Motorola for profiting from Israeli occupation and apartheid against Palestinians! Please take a moment to thank Credo for this decision."
US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation

The cockroach I keep in a bottle emits a beep

Fleming an anti-Semite (in the full sense), who could have thunk?

"Arab sand niggers are the most loathsome people on earth. Second are the Jews.."

Apple's built-in dictionary's definition for rejectionist

"PS: As I typed the title to my post, my Mac red-underlined the word ‘rejectionism’. I decided, for the hell of it, to look up and perhaps use ‘rejectionist’ instead, and this is what Apple’s built-in Dictionary (which is based on the New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition) listed as its meaning:
re•jec•tion•ist |riˈjek sh ənist|
noun [often as adj. ]
a person who rejects a proposed policy, esp. an Arab who refuses to accept a negotiated peace with Israel."
Mondoweiss

"We don't do body counts." Gen Tommy Franks on Iraqi civilian deaths

"We don't do body counts." These were the words of Gen Tommy Franks, the man in charge of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Hugo Chavez: If Climate Were Bank, U.S. Would Have Saved It

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez spoke at the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen today, decrying capitalism and saying that "if the climate was a bank, [the United States] would already have saved it.

Jesus-era leper sheds light on Turin shroud mystery

A diagram of Jerusalem's Tomb of the Shroud.

Israel experts said on Wednesday that a burial shroud known as the Turin shroud, assumed to be the type used to wrap the body of Jesus, did not actually originate from Jesus-era Jerusalem.
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And here:
First-of-its-kind find in Jerusalem casts further doubt