Noam Chomsky: America paved the way for ISIS

Interview
The Middle East is engulfed in flames, from Libya to Iraq. There are new jihadi groups. The current focus is on ISIS. What about ISIS and its origins?
There’s an interesting interview that just appeared a couple of days ago with Graham Fuller, a former CIA officer, one of the leading intelligence and mainstream analysts of the Middle East. The title is “The United States Created ISIS.” This is one of the conspiracy theories, the thousands of them that go around the Middle East.
But this is another source: this is right at the heart of the US establishment. He hastens to point out that he doesn’t mean the US decided to put ISIS into existence and then funded it. His point is — and I think it’s accurate — that the US created the background out of which ISIS grew and developed. Part of it was just the standard sledgehammer approach: smash up what you don’t like.
In 2003, the US and Britain invaded Iraq, a major crime. Just this afternoon the British parliament granted the government the authority to bomb Iraq again. The invasion was devastating to Iraq. Iraq had already been virtually destroyed, first of all by the decade-long war with Iran in which, incidentally, Iraq was backed by the US, and then the decade of sanctions.
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Hundreds of rabbis from around the world call on Israel to halt demolition of Palestinian homes

The Independent
More than 400 rabbis from Israel, Britain and around the world have called on Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes.

Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) has submitted an open letter to the Israeli Prime Minister claiming his stance is not in line with “international law and Jewish tradition”.
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BDS success: Pro-Israel appeal to US patriotism fails to halt “historic” California divestment vote

 
Ali Abunimah
The Electronic Intifada..
The campaign for divestment from companies that assist and profit from Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights took a big step forward in California this weekend.
The board of the University of California Students Association (UCSA) passed two resolutions at its 8 February meeting in Los Angeles urging university governors to divest from companies including Boeing, Caterpillar and Hewlett-Packard that make weapons and systems Israel uses to commit violations of Palestinian rights.
UCSA, which officially represents hundreds of thousands of students in the University of California (UC) system, passed both measures by a 9-1 majority with six abstentions.
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Nasrallah: The Rules of Engagement with Israel Are Over

“Don’t try us,” Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah told Israel in a televised speech Friday broadcast during a memorial ceremony to honor the six Hezbollah fighters and the Iranian general killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria earlier this month.
On January 18, an Israeli helicopter airstrike on the Syrian city of Quneitra near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed six fighters of Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah, including a commander, Mohammed Abu Issa, and the son of assassinated senior commander Imad Mughniyeh, as well as Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Mohammed Ali Allahdadi.
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Israeli navy opens fire at Gaza fishermen

 GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 2 Feb – Israeli naval forces opened fire at fishermen off the coast of Gaza on Monday, damaging a fishing boat. Fishermen told Ma‘an that Israeli boats stationed off the coast northwest of Gaza City opened fire at them while they were inside the designated zone. One boat was damaged by the gunfire but no injuries were reported.

Hundreds mourn Palestinian teen shot by Israeli army

Palestinians children participate in the funeral of 19-year-old Ahmed Najjar, who was shot to death by the Israeli army on Saturday, Burin, West Bank, February 1, 2015. (photo: Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

The body of Ahmed Najjar is carried by mourners during his funeral, Burin, West Bank, February 1, 2015. (photo: Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

Israeli helicopters are seen flying over the village of Burin during the funeral of Ahmed Najjar, West Bank, February 1, 2015. (photo by: Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

Hundreds of Palestinians participate in the funeral of Ahmed Najjar, Burin, West Bank, February 1, 2015. (photo: Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

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Palestinians to take Israeli settlements to the ICC following announcement of 450 new units

Israeli settlements in the West Bank (Photo: Reuters)

- See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/02/palestinians-settlements-announcement#sthash.vEhpoTAu.dpuf

Middle East Monitor 1 Feb – The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Sunday said that it will respond to Israel’s continued expansion of illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories by referring the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC). “Israel’s aggression on the Palestinian people and the Palestinian state has crossed all the red lines and the situation is nearing a complete implosion,” the ministry said in a statement. The decision came in response to Israel’s announcement of tenders to erect 450 new illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. “This is a blatant challenge to the international community and defiance of the international condemnation to crimes of the Israeli occupation,” it said. The ministry added that the settlement expansion comes “amid the Israeli election, as Israeli right-wing politicians take advantage of the situation to confiscate more land expand illegal settlements.” “It also comes after the Palestine signed the Rome Statute, which confirms Israel’s arrogance and defiance to the rules and provisions of international law,” the ministry added. “This leads [us] to ask the ICC to look into the issue of settlement expansion as a full case, as soon as the membership of the State of Palestine comes into effect in April.”
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