"If there is one country in the world that should have heeded the commandment 'Thou shall not fall into the chasm of anti-democratic racism,' it is Israel. The traumas of World War II of the horrors that racism and hatred wreaked on democracy, along with the fact that Israel sits on the seam of the Islamic world, should have kept it away from that path. But the regime threatens to turn Israel into a rising anti-democratic power after all." Haaretz
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Young Israelis moving much farther to the right politically
Young Israelis are moving much further to the right politically, according to a survey to be released Thursday.
The study found that 60 percent of Jewish teenagers in Israel, between 15 and 18 years old, prefer "strong" leaders to the rule of law, while 70 percent say that in cases where state security and democratic values conflict, security should come first. A similar picture emerges in the 21 to 24 age group.
The comprehensive survey was conducted on behalf of Germany's Friedrich Ebert Foundation, in cooperation with the Macro Center for Political Economics, by the Dahaf Institute.
According to the authors, the report shows a strengthening of Jewish-nationalist beliefs among Jewish youths, and a clear weakening of the importance given to the state's liberal-democratic base.
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Swiss President announces plans to break Gaza siege
palestine-info.co.uk
23.03.2011
GAZA, (PIC)– Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey has announced her country is developing a project to open up all crossings to the Gaza Strip, which has been suffocating for the last five years from an Israeli blockade.
She also said if Egypt would agree to open the Rafah crossing to bring in building materials and commodities, her country would be ready to restore it.
The statements came Monday during a meeting with several high-profile politicians in Europe staged by the European-Palestinian relations council.
They met to discuss Switzerland’s role in supporting the democratic movements sweeping the Mideast and issues affecting Palestine.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
BDS Flash Mob in Grand Central Station, NYC
As part of the Global BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) Day of Action commemorating Land Day, Adalah-NY: the New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel surprised commuters in New York's Grand Central Station with a song and dance. They performed to the tune of "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey, but with a little twist to remind people to boycott Israel.
Syrian government resigns amid violence
The Syrian government has resigned, state-run television has said.
President Bashar al-Assad accepted the cabinet's resignation following a meeting on Tuesday.
The resignation is the latest concession by the government aimed at curbing pro-democracy protests in which dozens of people have been killed.
President Assad is expected to address the nation in the next 24 hours to announce he is lifting the emergency law and restrictions on civil liberty.
The president has appointed outgoing Prime Minister Muhammad Naji Otari as caretaker prime minister until a new government is appointed, the official Syrian news agency has said.
UN Chief: Israel occupation 'morally and politically unsustainable, must end'
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel Wednesday to halt settlement building in the West Bank and put a stop to all forms of violence and incitement, the UN News Center reported.
Speaking in Uruguay at the UN Latin American and Caribbean Meeting in support of Middle East peace Ban said it was a "crucial time" for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
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Facebook has removed a page calling for a new Palestinian uprising against Israel after more than 350,000 people signed up to it.
Facebook has removed a page calling for a new Palestinian uprising against Israel after more than 350,000 people signed up to it.
The page which appeared on the social networking site was called Third Palestinian Intifada after two previous uprisings against Israeli occupation.
It was removed for featuring calls for violence, a company spokesman said.
Israel had raised concerns about the page. Facebook has helped spread calls for protests in Arab statesRead more
Israeli doctors refuse to refer Palestinian girl run over by a settler to hospital
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Bedouins beaten, their homes raised! Where are they supposed to go?
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Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Kill Team in Afghanistan
How U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses – and how their officers failed to stop them. Plus: An exclusive look at the war crime photos censored by the Pentagon
The soldiers knelt down behind a mud-brick wall. Then Morlock tossed a grenade toward Mudin, using the wall as cover. As the grenade exploded, he and Holmes opened fire, shooting the boy repeatedly at close range with an M4 carbine and a machine gun.
Israel threatens unilateral steps if UN recognizes Palestinian state
Israel informed the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council last week, as well as several other prominent European Union countries, that if the Palestinian Authority persists in its efforts to gain recognition in September as a state within the 1967 borders, Israel would respond with a series of unilateral steps of its own.
Senior Foreign Ministry officials said the ministry's director general, Rafael Barak, sent a classified cable last week to more than 30 Israeli embassies, directing them to lodge a diplomatic protest at the highest possible level in response to the Palestinian efforts to gain international recognition for statehood at the UN General Assembly session in September.
Egypt's Mubarak 'under house arrest'
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was rumoured to have fled to Saudi Arabia [Reuters] |
Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's ousted president, has been put under house arrest along with his family, according to an Egyptian military statement.
Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Monday said that the former leader and his family would not be allowed to leave the country and denied reports that Mubarak had fled to Saudi Arabia.
"There is no truth to reports that former president Hosni Mubarak has left Egypt for Tabuk in Saudi Arabia," the council said in a statement on the social networking site Facebook.
"He is under house arrest, with his family, in Egypt."
Monday, March 28, 2011
Poll: 46% in favor of the despicable practice known as 'price tag' policy!
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Yemen: President 'to step down' to secure peaceful transition
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"Gaddafi's men kidnap thousands in Zawiyah "
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Al Jazeera English's future in the United States
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Increase of birth defects and miscarriages in Fallujah
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Once again the US vote against all other nations in favor of Israel!
JPost 27 Mar -- Six motions condemn Israeli settlement activity and human rights violations in occupied Palestinian territories, Golan Heights. -- The US was the only country to vote against all six United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolutions on Israel, which were approved in Geneva this Thursday and Friday. "We are deeply troubled to once again be presented with a slate of resolutions replete with controversial elements and one-sided references that fail to address the real challenges of the region," US Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe told the council.
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Anything that can keep the US out of it is for the better!
AP 26 Mar -- Britain, France and Germany want the United Nations and the European Union to propose the outlines of a final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state, UN diplomats said.
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BDS in Australia: Fear and loathing in Marrckville
26 Mar -- It appears that once again the pro-Israel apologists have decided to single Israel out by making boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel a leading issue for the Marrickville electorate in the lead-up to the NSW state elections. Not surprisingly, the Palestinians are rendered invisible again as right-wing groups, politicians, the pro-Israel lobby and the Murdoch Press attack the Marrickville Council for their resolution to support BDS.
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Boycotting Israel . . . from within
AJ 26 Mar - Israelis explain why they joined the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement ... I have to admit that I was frightened by the movement. I did not think it would help. I was sure that BDS would only encourage Israel to dig its heels in deeper. It will only make things worse for everyone, I reasoned. Egypt was the tipping point for me. I was exhilarated by the images of people taking to the streets to demand change. And while the Palestine Papers prove that the government seems intent on maintaining the status quo, I know plenty of Israelis who are fed up with it. There are mothers who do not want to send their children to the army; soldiers who resent guarding settlers. I recently spoke with a 44-year-old man - a normal guy, a father of two - who told me he wants to burn something he is so frustrated with the government and so worried about the future.
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Israel destroys ancient wells near Bethlehem!
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Sunday, March 27, 2011
Jewish settlers uproot 21 olive trees in Salfit
SALFIT, (PIC)-- Jewish settlers from Ali Zahav settlement on Saturday morning uprooted about 21 olive trees in Deir Ballut town west of Salfit city.
Head of the municipal council in the town Ahmed Mustafa said the settlers uprooted olive trees east of Deir Ballut belonging to a Palestinian citizen called Sami Ibraheem.
Mustafa added that the settlers destroy and flatten Palestinian agricultural lands around Ali Zahav settlement in order to expand it and build new housing units.
All villages and towns of Salfit city are facing a frenzied settlement expansion campaign aimed at expanding 20 settlement outposts already built on Palestinian lands.
“As Protests Mount, Is There a Soft Landing for Syria?” by Joshua Landis
As Protests Mount, Is There a Soft Landing for Syria?
Joshua Landis in Time
March 25, 2011
The regime has been rocked by protests and is offering to make changes even as it clings to power. But divisions of sect and social class mean that its fate may rest with the choices of the Sunni social elite
The Baathist regime that has ruled Syria for 48 years is on the ropes. Even President Bashar al-Assad himself seems to have been shocked by the level of violence used by Syria’s security forces to suppress demonstrations that began a week ago, and on Thursday afternoon his office announced unprecedented concessions to popular demands. But the question of whether those concessions assuage protesters’ concerns or prove to be too little too late may be answered on the streets after Friday prayers.
Syria 'to lift emergency law'
Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, told Al Jazeera's Cal Perry in the capital, Damascus, on Sunday that the law would "absolutely" be lifted, but failed to give a timetable.
The repeal of the emergency law, in place since the 1963 coup that brought the Baath Party to power, has been a key demand of protesters who have taken to the streets in recent days to demand greater political freedoms.The emergency law imposes restrictions on public gatherings and movement and authorises the arrest of "suspects or persons who threaten security".
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Libyan rebels advance on Muammar Gaddafi's home town
A Libyan rebel fighter sits in his vehicle as rebel forces move towards Muammar Gaddafi's home town, Sirte.
Libyan rebels are advancing on Muammar Gaddafi's home town, Sirte, after retaking all the ground lost in earlier fighting as government forces broke and fled under western air strikes.
Revolutionary forces rapidly moved more than 150 miles west along Libya's coastal road, seizing several towns without resistance, as the first witness accounts emerged of the devastating effect on Gaddafi's army and militia of the aerial bombardment that broke their resistance at Ajdabiya on Saturday.
Libyan rebels push west – in pictures
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Saturday, March 26, 2011
Target Israel, not Libya
25 Mar -- On April 9, 1986, Ronald Reagan called Muammar el Gaddafi the "mad dog of the Middle East." Today, after an imposed no-fly zone, war rages to remove him. For decades, he ruled despotically, punishing enemies, rewarding friends. His days may now be numbered. Washington won't quit until he's gone, no matter how many corpses it takes to achieve it. In fact, however, a far greater Middle East menace threatens the entire region, the Israeli war machine based in Jerusalem. Besides illegally occupying Palestine, brutalizing Palestinians daily, persecuting Israeli Arabs, threatening and attacking its neighbors, its longstanding plan calls for dividing and dominating the region.
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Dan Rather's crew 'humiliated by Israeli security'
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Der‘aa protesters: Liberate Golan
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Why so late?
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) 25 Mar -- Robert Gates on Friday became the first U.S. Defense Secretary to visit the West Bank, meeting Palestinian leaders keenly aware of every little nod to their hopes of achieving statehood. Children in Ramallah stared as the long motorcade of U.S. cars wound through the streets of the city north of Jerusalem. With U.S. diplomacy fully stretched over revolts in the Arab world and the air war with Libya, Gates was looking to revive stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, before another war fills the vacuum they have left for six months.
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Video: Gaza mourns children killed by Israel airstrikes
(Mosaic Video Alert: March 24, 2011) New TV reports on the Israeli airstrikes over the Gaza Strip which targeted the neighborhoods of al-Shuja‘eiya and al-Zaitoun and killed nine people, including several children. The public held funerals for the martyrs on what the government called the "day of mourning their souls." [not the usual news reports seen in the West]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XYfBCamkks
Settlers 'install fence' at Palestinian home
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Settlers squat on Church-owned land, demand farmers leave
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Friday, March 25, 2011
The muzzling of Israel critics in European universities
If imitation is the best form of flattery, then the activists behind Israeli Apartheid Week have been paid an immense tribute. As students belonging to Palestine support groups across Britain held events to mark the annual March event, they learned of a rival initiative. A network of on-campus Zionist societies have declared their own Israeli Awareness Week over the same period.
The awareness week has relied heavily on gimmicks to try and counter impressions that Israel has a war addiction. Stalls staffed by visiting Israeli students have offered sugary delights labelled "Peace of Cake"; signatures have been collected for a "we support a two-state solution" petition.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Preliminary Historical Observations on the Arab Revolutions of 2011
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Anger in Syria over crackdown
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Yemeni protesters call for march on palace
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Obscene Sectarianism: Bahrain airlines stop Lebanon, Iran, Iraq flights
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Libya rebels coordinating with West on air assault
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Airstrikes fail to deter Gaddafi forces
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Charred corpses after Western strikes on Tripoli
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Gaddafi makes first appearance since air strikes began
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Gadhafi's forces carry out massacre in Misrata
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University of Johannesburg to officially sever ties with Israel’s Ben-Gurion University
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has officially announced that it will cut ties with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev beginning on April 1. This will affect a joint project between the schools to reduce algae in South Africa's drinking water. The decision comes after months of debate and lobbying on both sides. Supporters of cutting off ties include Desmond Tutu, Breyten Breytenbach, John Dugard and Antjie Krog, in addition to international figures such as Judith Butler, Vijay Prashad, Ernesto Laclau, and John Berger. Here is a press release from the organizers behind to campaign to cut ties:
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Syrian regime launches crackdown by shooting 15 activists dead
Tyres burn in the street in Deraa, Syria, hours after police shot at least nine anti-government protesters. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP
Violence escalated in the southern Syrian city of Deraa as protests entered a sixth day. At least 15 protesters are known to have been shot dead on Wednesday and scores more injured.
In a sign that the Syrian regime is using a brutal crackdown rather than concessions to quell protests, security forces opened fire on people in three separate incidents, according to human rights activists.
At 1am on Wednesday morning, at least six people were killed when security forces opened fire on protesters surrounding the Omari mosque, after cutting electricity and communications to the site that has become the focus of demonstrations. During the day, several were reported shot as they attended funerals of victims of the mosque shooting. Syrian security forces later opened fire on scores of young people from surrounding towns as they marched towards Deraa, offering support to the protests, activists said.
God's Wife Edited Out of the Bible -- Almost
God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.
In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained new prominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.
Read more-Discovery News
(Thanks Molly)
Haaretz: The anti-democratic racism of Israel must end
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Eight killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip
A palestinian mourns a family member killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Israel claimed it had targeted militants. Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters
At least eight people have been killed and dozens injured after Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The dead included four civilians who were killed when a tank shell was fired at a Gaza City suburb. It is believed three members of the same family were killed. There were unconfirmed reports of a fifth victim.
New law forbids Palestinians from living in Jewish localities and from building anywhere!!
The Knesset passed a segregation bill today. Palestinian Israelis are not allowed to live in Jewish localities built on land confiscated from them. Government policy also makes sure they cannot build on the little private land that was left in their ownership. How long can Jewish Israelis continue pretending that Palestinians do not exist?
In a session lasting well after midnight, the Knesset passed (Hebrew) a new law, which allows communities of up to 400 members, in the Negev and Galilee (the south and north of Israel, respectively) to form “acceptance committees” that will screen candidates who wish to live in their locality, on the basis of various parameters, including vague wording relating to social and cultural compatibility. The law nominially forbids discrimination on the basis of race, gender or religion, but its effect and intent to segregate Palestinian Israelis are clear. I highly recommend reading the excellent post by Nimrod Lutz which outlines the background and implications of the bill. But there is an even broader context that should be remembered when this legislation is discussed.
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Tuesday, March 22, 2011
How the No Fly Zone Can Succeed
The United Nations no-fly zone over Libya is risky but it can have a good outcome under certain conditions. Above all, it should look more like Kosovo than like Iraq.
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War on Gaddafi is personal – and he is unlikely to retreat
Capturing or killing the Libyan leader has now become an end in itself for the western allies. It's unlikely Muammar Gaddafi has watched the 1971 British film Get Carter, in which Michael Caine plays vengeful London gangster Jack Carter, who embarks on a violent rampage before being killed. But as the west's military might bears down on Libya, the Libyan leader might find the story line instructive.
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"Remember the civilian victims of past 'Allied' bombing campaigns"
How life past catches up with life present. The Americans killed Raafat al-Ghosain, puctured above, just after 2am on 15 April 1986. In the days that followed her death, United States officials claimed that Libyan anti-aircraft fire might have hit her home – watch out for similar American claims in the coming hours – not far from the French embassy in suburban Tripoli.
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3 high military commanders join Yemen's opposition
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"We and the Saudis will not accept a Shi'ite government in Bahrain."
An official from the UAE put it even more bluntly: "We and the Saudis will not accept a Shi'ite government in Bahrain." In other words, as far as the GCC countries are concerned, democracy or majority rule can never be allowed there.
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Saudi Arabian intervention in Bahrain driven by visceral Sunni fear of Shias
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Saudi Shi'ite protests simmer as Bahrain conflict rages
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Joshua Landis, "Syria: Demonstrations Grow"
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Thousands of Moroccans demand change, end to corruption
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Bahrain and Yemen declare war on their protesters
With 42 killed in Sanaa, regimes show they will keep power at any cost
Abrutal counter-revolution is sweeping through the Arabian Peninsula as Bahrain and Yemen both declare war on reform movements and ferociously try to suppress them with armed force. In Yemen police and snipers on rooftops opened fire on Friday on a mass demonstration outside the main university, killing at least 42 people. The government has since declared martial law and set up checkpoints throughout the capital, Sanaa.
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Thousands in Beirut rally against sectarianism
The march was the third of its kind in less than a month and attracted more than double the numbers seen at the last event on March 6, when some 10,000 were estimated to have hit the streets, organizers said. Beginning at Sassine Square at noon.
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Ex-Israeli president jailed for rape
Moshe Katsav (C) was last year convicted on two counts of rape and other sexual assault charges |
Moshe Katsav, Israel's former president, has been sentenced to seven years in jail for rape, Israeli media reported.
The judges also handed the former leader a two-year suspended sentence and ordered him to pay a fine of 100,000 shekels ($28,000).
The sentence was approved by two of the three judges at Tel Aviv district court on Tuesday, which was presided over by Judge George Kara.
Katsav was convicted in December of rape, sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice following a four-year scandal that shocked the Jewish state.
The globalisation of revolution
Revolutions are caused by human agency; not telecommunications technologies, scholar argues. |
Around the world, people are wondering what kind of example Egypt will provide in their future struggles for democracy and equality, says Tarak Barkawi |
To listen to the hype about social networking websites and the Egyptian revolution, one would think it was Silicon Valley and not the Egyptian people who overthrew Mubarak.
Via its technologies, the West imagines itself to have been the real agent in the uprising. Since the internet developed out of a US Defense Department research project, it could be said the Pentagon did it, along with Egyptian youth imitating wired hipsters from London and Los Angeles.
Most narratives of globalisation are fantastically Eurocentric, stories of Western white men burdened with responsibility for interconnecting the world, by colonising it, providing it with economic theories and finance, and inventing communications technologies. Of course globalisation is about flows of people as well, about diasporas and cultural fusion.
But neither version is particularly useful for organising resistance to the local dictatorship. In any case, the internet was turned off at decisive moments in the Egyptian uprising, and it was ordinary Egyptians, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, who toppled the regime, not the hybrid youth of the global professional classes.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Iranian Intervention in Bahrain
As'ad AbuKhalil
Aljazeera and the Counter-Revolution
As'ad AbuKhalil
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Noam Chomsky warns against intervention in Libya
The linguist and philosopher Professor Noam Chomsky talks to Jeremy Paxman about the likely consequences of the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa and the prospects for any western intervention.
He also gives his interpretation of the Obama administration's foreign policy.
Broadcast on Tuesday 8 March 2011.
5 questions few are asking about Libya
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but while I'm glad that the multinational intervention is giving cover to Libyan insurgents, I'm rather shocked at the desultory coverage of what might come out of the military intervention. A tragedy has been taking place in Libya, whose people deserve help, but that doesn't mean not thinking through consequences. Here's a shot at it:
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The results (on Egyptian referendum) are in
18 million voted, 14 million (77%) said "yes" and 4 million said "no."
It's a mandate for the military to some extent, but the minority is substantial enough to make it clear consensus is not overwhelming — even if there were different reasons for voting yes or no.
One nice aspect of this is that the commission overseeing the referendum is taking critical questions from the press, explaining where there was fraud, assuring that perpetrators will be punished (2-5 years in prison). That's pretty unprecedented, previously the government just ignored allegations of fraud.
My analysis what is problematic with the referendum still stands, and we'll have to wait to see if the case for massive fraud can convincingly be made. Overall, though, I suspect that this referendum, is in its conduct, was generally a step forward for Egypt.
Some Thoughts on Libyan Intervention
Adam L. Silverman
After following all the recent SST posts and comments pertaining to Libya, as well as some of the reporting and commentary in other places, I think the issues pertaining to American intervention in Libya come down to the broad categories of why and how. While I think that The Twisted Genius and COL Lang certainly have laid out and proposed the best variant of how US intervention should take place, after observing both the politics surrounding the uses of American military force for the past decade, as well as the actual way the US ultimately uses force, I'm not feeling too optimistic that what they are delineating, based on year's of hard learned experience, will actually be done. In fact I'm pretty sure we will see something of the usual suspects version of the use of force: a no fly zone that doesn't do much to remove Qathafi (which is now, if I understood the President's remarks correctly, the overall stated US objective: that he has to go), followed by pressure from both our allies (France, Britain) and from the internal foreign and defense policy mavens that we must do more, America is looking weak, we're not living up to our standards - the usual arguments for boots on the ground intervention, which will result in said intervention. Then we will start hearing the arguments that we have to expand operations so as not to discredit those who have already risked so much and because we can not allow Libya to descend into an ungoverned state of chaos, destabilize the region, and become a haven for al Qaeda, other extremists, and/or international criminals. This will then become the basis for the need for the US to build a modern Libyan nation-state. Since only time will tell how what we do plays out, let me move on to a brief discussion regarding whether we should or should not intervene.
The Battle for Libya
"The imposition of a no fly zone over Libya, backed primarily by France, Britain and the United States, and the invasion of Bahrain by Saudi Armed forces, mark a new stage in the tumultuous revolutionary events in the Arab world. The joyous revolutionary victories secured by mass protests on the streets and squares of Egypt and Tunisia have given way to bloody and ferocious conflict drawing in national and international military forces.
In the past the Imperialist powers were happy to see dictators in power throughout the region, provided they appeared to serve the economic, political, military and strategic interests of European and US capitalist states. It was European powers that colonised, plundered and divided the peoples of the region; leaving a legacy of artificial lines from which nations were carved out of the sand.
After the Second World War the United States wove a complex web of intrigues in the region. This involved the staunch defence of its local allies through massive financial and military aid, but each adventure produced poisonous fruit.
From the Angry Arab on Western intervention in Libya
Bush Doctrine Revised: Obama puts his stamp
Settlers break Ayman’s horse’s neck before his eyes
Three days ago, Ayman, a boy of eleven years old from Ein Il Hilwe, was attacked by three settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Maskyyot. The settlers arrived in a blue car when Ayman was playing with four friends near the spring water.
This spring water is 30 meters far from his home, however, Ayman, his family, and all the Palestinian living in the Jordan Valley, are banned to use them and usually threatened and attacked by settlers when they are around.
In this occasion, the settlers who attacked Ayman, took his horse, tied a cable around its neck and after tried to asphyxiate the animal, the settlers broke its head. The settlers carried out all this brutality in front of the eyes and horror of Ayman and his friends.
Ayman’s sisters were attacked in the same place when they approached the spring water to give water to their cows. Also two month ago, Ayman’s mother was also beaten by settlers.
The Israeli illegal occupation is also working with bulldozers in this area preparing the land for expending Maskyoot settlement.Saturday, March 19, 2011
Attack by Gaddafi forces kills 25 in Misrata-TV
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Nutanyahu doesn't like the idea of Palestinians being united. Israel has done everything imaginable to divide them!
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 18 Mar -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed Palestinian unity efforts, saying national Palestinian reconciliation would be the end of the peace process with Israel. In a CNN interview broadcast Thursday, Netanyahu compared Hamas to Al-Qa‘eda, and said the Palestinian Authority could not be "for peace with Israel and peace with Hamas that calls for our destruction."
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Invisible settlements in Jerusalem
Jerusalem tourist sites and settlements are being used to promote an exclusively Jewish narrative of the city’s history ... It would seem that the most successful model of a tourist settlement in Jerusalem is in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood in Silwan ... It is indeed unfortunate that touristic, archaeological sites are being used as a tool by the right to torpedo the chance for a solution in Jerusalem. The increased presence of Israelis as tourists in the Palestinian areas of Jerusalem -- while ignoring the complexity and the importance of these same sites to other cultures and other nations -- is the type of settlement with far-reaching implications for daily life in the east of the city and for the future of the conflict.
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Friday, March 18, 2011
When the Israelis celebrate one of their holidays, they, post swift, encage the Palestinians! It has become a routine part of the celebration
IMEMC 18 Mar -- The Israeli army enforced a full closure on the occupied territories as Israel and its West Bank settlers celebrate the Purim holiday. Effective Thursday midnight until midnight Monday, the occupied territories will be under full closure and siege. The Palestinians who have permits to enter Israel will not be allowed to do so until the closure is lifted. All Gaza terminals were also shut down.
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Israel's latest PR bid has failed
Haaretz 17 Mar -- Netanyahu wants to sell the missiles' capture as proof of the Palestinians' murderous intentions, but the U.S. and Europe clearly distinguish between the PA and Islamic organizations -- Israel's chance of achieving political or PR gain out of the takeover of the Iranian missile shipment to Gaza was limited from the start. The authorities' strange conduct at the display at the Ashdod port yesterday reduced it to zero.
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Egypt loses LE 100 billion from gas exports to Israel since 2005
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A new trick to up their sleeves!
JERUSALEM, Mar 17 (WAFA) – Palestinian residents of Jerusalem living behind the concrete wall Israel had built to separate East Jerusalem from its West Bank environs said they were told by the West Jerusalem municipality that they do not anymore have to pay the municipal tax known as arnona, Thursday said a Palestinian rights center. The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights said in a report that this new policy aims at getting rid of thousands of Jerusalem residents who live behind the wall from the city. It said that by telling residents of these areas that they do not have to pay the arnona tax anymore after years of paying it, it means they will eventually not be considered Jerusalem residents and therefore lose all their residency rights.
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Al Araqib has been demolished 19 times but the villagers say we won't leave!
EI 17 Mar -- Reclining under a recently constructed tent in the Bedouin village of al-Araqib, Sheikh Siyakh al-Turi gestured toward the bare terrain surrounding his home. "This is a great example to the world of what Israel is doing to its citizens," he said. Only a kilometer away from one of Israel's largest highways, the village is utterly quiet; most villagers have left for their day jobs outside of al-Araqib, leaving only a few to stand watch in the event that the Israel Land Administration returns to demolish the village yet again.
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Thursday, March 17, 2011
Syria protests
"There is no question that the Western press is far more eager and enthusiastic about protests in Syria and Iran because the repressive governments there are not puppets of the US--or not yet. So the BBC had an extensive report on Syria yesterday and began with a headline in the news round up saying: hundreds of protesters took to the street in Damascus. So when the BBC correspondent came to speak to the anchor, she was asked: how big was the protest? She answered rather defensively--fearing of disappointing: there were a hundred or maybe a 140 protesters. "
Israel to build another wall along the Jordan river!
Ynet 15 Mar -- During Eilat conference, Netanyahu says illegal infiltrators from Africa change make-up of population, take away jobs from Israelis. Yishai: They damage Zionist enterprise -- During a tour of the fence that is being constructed along Israel's border with Egypt on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the IDF to begin planning the construction of another fence along the border with Jordan.
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UNIFIL troops 'pelted with stones from Israel'
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Israeli columnist: Media dehumanizes Palestinians
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Sarah Palin to visit Jerusalem in solidarity with Israelis struck by Sushi shortage disaster!
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Sarah Palin, darling of the US Republican right, is to arrive in Israel at the weekend for a "private visit" during which she will meet Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, media reports said on Thursday.
A spokesman for the Israeli premier could not immediately confirm a report in the top-selling Yedioth Aharonot newspaper that the former Alaska governor was due to arrive on Sunday with her husband Todd for a two-day visit.
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Israel fears sushi shortage after quake! (Oh, deary dear! )
Ynet News
While Japan continues to deal with the aftermath of last Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami, and has yet to recover from one of the greatest disasters in its history, Israelis fear a shortage in the ingredients of one of their favorite dishes: Sushi.
Many of sushi's basic components come from Japan or are imported through the battered countries. Will Israelis soon suffer from a shortage of the beloved rolls' necessary ingredients?
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Mustafa Barghouthi: 'Protest is a great moment in history'
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Mother nature have been cruel to the Israelis!! Sushi may well be in shortage!
Situation in Japan may affect regular supply of ingredients for one of Israelis' favorite dishes
While Japan continues to deal with the aftermath of last Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami, and has yet to recover from one of the greatest disasters in its history, Israelis fear a shortage in the ingredients of one of their favorite dishes: Sushi.
Many of sushi's basic components come from Japan or are imported through the battered countries. Will Israelis soon suffer from a shortage of the beloved rolls' necessary ingredients?
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Schnabel opens up on Israel: ‘You shouldn’t have to be Jewish to be free in Israel . It is apartheid, that’s what it’s like there! It is shocking.’
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Gadhafi threatens to join forces with al-Qaida if West attacks Libya
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Press report: Itamar settlement assassin an Asian worker (?!)
NABLUS, (PIC)– An Asian worker is suspected of the murder of the Fogel family, a settler family from Itamar settlement near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to Palestinian press sources.
Quds Net news quoted local residents fro at infuriated with an Israeli settler for not paying him his wages carried out the killing of the settler’s family in Itamar, Palestinian press sources reported.
Quds Net news agency on Monday quoted a Palestinian family from Awarta village next to the settlement as saying that Mr. Fogel refused to pay 10,000 shekels in wages which he owed an Asian worker he hired. The worker threatened to kill the settler and his family.
The worker is suspected of committing the crime after midnight Friday using a knife then fleeing the scene to nearby Palestinian villages, the report added.
Israel wanted the film canceled; De Niro and Penn back Palestinian film at UN
Director Julian Schnabel and actor Robert DeNiro attend the premiere of Schnabel's "Miral," …
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Sean Penn and Robert De Niro joined stars who appeared at the UN headquarters for the US premiere of a contested movie on the Middle East conflict that Israel tried to get cancelled.
Penn, De Niro, Josh Brolin and Steve Buscemi on Monday turned out to support award-winning American-Jewish director Julian Schnabel at the premiere of "Miral," the story of two Palestinian women after the creation of Israel in 1948.
The Israeli mission to the UN had said that showing the movie in the UN General Assembly hall was "clearly a politicized decision" that "shows poor judgment and a lack of even-handedness."
Read moreIsrael calls for Miral UN premiere cancellation
Israel has urged the United Nations to cancel the US premiere, at its New York headquarters, of a film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Miral, directed by Jewish film-maker Julian Schnabel, traces the conflict after 1948, from a Palestinian angle.
In a statement, Israel accused the UN of making "a politicised decision" that showed "a lack of even-handedness".
A UN spokesman denied a "political link" to the film, saying the General Assembly hall was "just a venue".
Monday, March 14, 2011
Armed Jewish settlers savagely attack Palestinians in Hawara
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2
Is Libya already lost?
Libya may already be lost. “Lost”, that is, for people-power democratisation. The Arab freedom wave has seemed an irresistible force, smashing down old post-colonial crony dictatorships in four Arab states and counting. But it has run smack into world oil politics in Libya and crashed to a stop. The rebel’s ill-organised ground battle faces a reversal almost too painful to watch. Yet more painful is that, in western rhetoric about what to do next, the rebel movement itself is now largely marginal even to debate about how to “protect” it. The West itself inflicted mortal blows on that movement and, although still holding on, its momentum now appears irreparable, its eulogy ringing in Western debates about imposing a no-fly zone.
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Settler attacks against Palestinians escalate
The raids followed the killing of a family of five Israelis in Itamar settlement in Nablus overnight Friday. A three-month-old baby Hadas, Elad, 4, Yoav, 11 and their parents Udi and Ruthie were all stabbed to death in their home.
During the day settlers stormed several villages in Nablus, including Burin and Huwwara, entering homes and harassing residents. Settlers handed out leaflets threatening the lives of villagers in Beitillu, near Ramallah, and threw rocks at Palestinian cars in Hebron.
Israel announces massive settlement expansion in response to murders
The move was immediately slammed by the Palestinian Authority. Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina said the decision was "unacceptable and wrong," in a statement. He told the official PA news agency Wafa, "the atmosphere this decision creates isn't helpful, it creates problems, and peace needs courageous decisions."
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