Sunday, October 11, 2009
Is al-Jazeera about to become a Zionist outlet?
Iran’s Press TV has the following report (interesting story though the last lines are impossible to confirm):
Does it matter that Israelis will feel isolated?
All of this begs the question: are the Israel boycotts working?
New Report Reveals Settlement Construction Work In Development
Palestine Monitor
7 October 2009
According to ‘Peace Now’, one of Israel’s largest NGO’s, constructions has begun in 34 settlements over the last 3 months. Its thought that negotiations for a settlement freeze will only apply to new construction projects and building work that has already begun will be considered ‘facts on the ground’. This clause would exempt 2,400 units currently in various stages of construction.
7 October 2009
According to ‘Peace Now’, one of Israel’s largest NGO’s, constructions has begun in 34 settlements over the last 3 months. Its thought that negotiations for a settlement freeze will only apply to new construction projects and building work that has already begun will be considered ‘facts on the ground’. This clause would exempt 2,400 units currently in various stages of construction.
Tear Gas Canisters Collected Instead Of Olives
Palestine Monitor
10 October 2009
International activists, journalists and government members joined local residents and Israeli peace campaigners for yesterday’s demonstration in Bil’in. As the olive harvest season begins farmers are unable to access thousands of olive groves upon which their income depends as the Apartheid Wall annexes 60% of Bil’in farming land for Israeli settlements. Instead of collecting olives they joined demonstrators in cleaning up remnants of teargas bombs fired each week by the Israeli army.
10 October 2009
International activists, journalists and government members joined local residents and Israeli peace campaigners for yesterday’s demonstration in Bil’in. As the olive harvest season begins farmers are unable to access thousands of olive groves upon which their income depends as the Apartheid Wall annexes 60% of Bil’in farming land for Israeli settlements. Instead of collecting olives they joined demonstrators in cleaning up remnants of teargas bombs fired each week by the Israeli army.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
US Strategy in Doubt as Abbas Loses Popular Support
Helena Cobban
Just two months ago, many western commentators were jubilant that Mahmoud Abbas, the U.S.-supported head of both the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the interim Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA), was making a comeback and reducing the influence in Palestinian society of the Islamist movement Hamas.
(Via the Palestinian Pundit)
Just two months ago, many western commentators were jubilant that Mahmoud Abbas, the U.S.-supported head of both the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the interim Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA), was making a comeback and reducing the influence in Palestinian society of the Islamist movement Hamas.
(Via the Palestinian Pundit)
Get Off Obama's Back ...second thoughts from Michael Moore
Many, for the past couple days (yes, myself included), have grumbled, "What has he done to earn this prize?" How 'bout this:
The simple fact that he was elected was reason enough for him to be the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
(Thanks Maracatu)
The simple fact that he was elected was reason enough for him to be the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
(Thanks Maracatu)
Friday, October 9, 2009
Are you brainwashed yet?
Look at this title in the Jerusalem Post :
'Iran will blow up the heart of Israel'
And here is what the bit of news is actually about:
"An aide to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed that if the Islamic republic is attacked by the US or by Israel, Teheran would "blow up the heart" of the Jewish state, Reuters cited a report by the official Iranian news agency on Friday.
According to the report, Mojtaba Zolnour threatened that "Even if one American or Zionist missile hits our country, before the dust settles, Iranian missiles will blow up the heart of Israel."
-----------------
Of course there was no need to put the condiotional "if attacked" because we all know Iran is going to wipe Israel off the map anyway, so why bother with honest reporting?
'Iran will blow up the heart of Israel'
And here is what the bit of news is actually about:
"An aide to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed that if the Islamic republic is attacked by the US or by Israel, Teheran would "blow up the heart" of the Jewish state, Reuters cited a report by the official Iranian news agency on Friday.
According to the report, Mojtaba Zolnour threatened that "Even if one American or Zionist missile hits our country, before the dust settles, Iranian missiles will blow up the heart of Israel."
-----------------
Of course there was no need to put the condiotional "if attacked" because we all know Iran is going to wipe Israel off the map anyway, so why bother with honest reporting?
EU backs UN Gaza report, disappointing Israel
STOCKHOLM — The European Union backed on Thursday a contentious UN report blasting Israel's military offensive in Gaza, praising its chief author and saying the document is "worthy of consideration."
Global Muslim population hits 1.57 billion: nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam.
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report provides a precise number for a population whose size has long has been subject to guesswork, with estimates ranging anywhere from 1 billion to 1.8 billion
Peru Indian tribes join forces to fight off Amazon sale to oil companies
News like these make me feel proud. Don't ask me why..
Iran 'hands down first death sentence for election protests'
If confirmed, it would be the first death sentence yet in the trials of more than 100 opposition supporters for allegedly fomenting street violence following President Ahmadinejad’s disputed election victory in June.
Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize
Committee says president gives world’s people ‘hope for a better future’
------------
Yeah, hope is better than nothing I presume!
------------
Yeah, hope is better than nothing I presume!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
"I guess that includes me. Guess what Isi: I’m Jewish. I’m married to a non-Jew. I eat fish without fins or scales. I have goyische friends. But I’m Jewish. My momma’s Jewish. I read books. I’m proud to be a Jew. And your narrowminded ethnocentrism is taking the community off the cliff."
Mondoweiss
------------
While you're at it check V's very interesting response to a Zioninst's comment on this article.
Mondoweiss
------------
While you're at it check V's very interesting response to a Zioninst's comment on this article.
Oren( Israeli ambassador to the US) likens Goldstone to… Nazi threat
"Once again, Israel demonstrates that it is destroying the Jewish claim to intelligence. Now we’re just as stupid as everyone else. Worse."
Mondoweiss
Mondoweiss
not Fonda, Vanessa (Redgrave)
Philip Weiss in response to a beweldering Vanessa Redgrave:
"It’s not really a cycle of violence. It’s affliction. One side keeps getting less and less; they turn to anything. We don’t want Palestinians to resort to violence, but international law, from Partition to Goldstone, has had no effect. That’s why people support BDS, because there’s an oppressor who’s well-connected, and how do you stop it? Also, I’d dispute the claim that many citizens of Tel Aviv are particularly aware of the Palestinian situation. In fact, most Israelis are largely indifferent. Or they don’t want to know. Yes BDS is a crude instrument. It deprives people of income and isolates them. When your gov’t rains white phosphorus on children, and no one cares, it’s the only tool.
"It’s not really a cycle of violence. It’s affliction. One side keeps getting less and less; they turn to anything. We don’t want Palestinians to resort to violence, but international law, from Partition to Goldstone, has had no effect. That’s why people support BDS, because there’s an oppressor who’s well-connected, and how do you stop it? Also, I’d dispute the claim that many citizens of Tel Aviv are particularly aware of the Palestinian situation. In fact, most Israelis are largely indifferent. Or they don’t want to know. Yes BDS is a crude instrument. It deprives people of income and isolates them. When your gov’t rains white phosphorus on children, and no one cares, it’s the only tool.
‘LA Times’ runs piece by investor in Occupation without disclosing his interest
"It is ironic that Mr. Gold, as president and CEO of Shamrock Holdings, oversees a major investment in Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, a corporation that has its main manufacturing plant in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank. Ahava illegally exploits captured resources of the Dead Sea shore in the Occupied West Bank for use in its products, a clear violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.. And to make matters worse, Ahava misleadingly labels those products as “ Made in Israel,” a practice that has been repeatedly decried by human rights groups such as Oxfam. Shamrock owns 18% of Ahava. Mr. Gold would sound a more persuasive note were he himself not benefiting so mightily from Israel’s continued disregard for human rights."
U-turn. Back to the UN
Palestinian U-turn on Gaza report
The Palestinian Authority has backed UN Security Council talks on alleged war crimes in Gaza, days after seeking the deferral of a UN debate on the issue.
Palestinian officials voiced their "full support" for the proposed discussion - after leaders were excoriated for requesting a deferral of a UN debate last week.
(Thanks DO)
The Palestinian Authority has backed UN Security Council talks on alleged war crimes in Gaza, days after seeking the deferral of a UN debate on the issue.
Palestinian officials voiced their "full support" for the proposed discussion - after leaders were excoriated for requesting a deferral of a UN debate last week.
(Thanks DO)
The demise of the dollar
In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading
By Robert Fisk
In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.
The independent
(Thanks Maracatu)
By Robert Fisk
In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.
The independent
(Thanks Maracatu)
A new kid in the blog ( the Palestinian Pundit) and it's me.
Just to let you know that I'm now a contributor on the Palestinian Pundit as well, and part of the team composed of Tony Sayegh, Molly and Zarathustra. Needless to say that I feel honored that they, having asked me to join them, deemed worthy any input from my part at all..This, in no way, is going to impact negatively on this blog, rather the opposite! I'm very excited about the prospect. The two blogs will be complementing each other, no doubt about it. For me it feels like this blog has made a step forward in linking, via Molly and I, to a valuable source like the PP. Besides, I always felt some type of kinship between the two anyway, but today it feels more so..A bit like ..family.
Needless to say that your comments on the PP as well are most welcome of course! Yasmin and VAA are already doing just that.
Needless to say that your comments on the PP as well are most welcome of course! Yasmin and VAA are already doing just that.
Qalqilya: Prison City
No town in the West Bank suffers more restrictions than Qalqilya. The population is surrounded on all four sides by the wall, which separates them from their farmland and source of income. Nearby a large Israeli settlement plunders more essential resources. Worse still is the security which accompanies these structures, with dozens of checkpoints policing the town and nearby villages. Many of these serve no purpose at all, closing months after they appear, often in bizarre locations between Arabic villages
500 Protestors In Ramallah Demand Goldstone Explanation
Hundreds gathered yesterday in central Ramallah to protest against the PLO’s failure to approve the Goldstone Report into Gaza. Activists from a range of political backgrounds united in condemnation of a decision which senior politicians have described as a “grave mistake”.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
As'ad should update on this
From the Angry Arab
Kooky Shaykh of Al-Azhar
This man is officially crazy--literally, as Joe Biden keeps saying. He really is. He once threw an ash tray at a female journalist because she asked him a question that he did not like. And he shook hands of Shimon Peres and then pretended he did not know who he was. The other day, he was touring a school and saw a girl wearing a niqab. He ordered her to remove it. Her teacher tried to explain and he yelled at her: I understand religion better than those who brought you to life. And when the girl showed her face, he told her: And what would you have done if you were a bit pretty? (thanks Andrew)
-------------
It seems that the account of this whole business is a fabrication. The journalist is pro niqab and made this up to discredit the bearded fellow. It's not about whether Tantawi couldn't have done or said such ridiculous stuff, it's about honesty in reporting.
Kooky Shaykh of Al-Azhar
This man is officially crazy--literally, as Joe Biden keeps saying. He really is. He once threw an ash tray at a female journalist because she asked him a question that he did not like. And he shook hands of Shimon Peres and then pretended he did not know who he was. The other day, he was touring a school and saw a girl wearing a niqab. He ordered her to remove it. Her teacher tried to explain and he yelled at her: I understand religion better than those who brought you to life. And when the girl showed her face, he told her: And what would you have done if you were a bit pretty? (thanks Andrew)
-------------
It seems that the account of this whole business is a fabrication. The journalist is pro niqab and made this up to discredit the bearded fellow. It's not about whether Tantawi couldn't have done or said such ridiculous stuff, it's about honesty in reporting.
Richard Dawkins' new book
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
More Americans believe in angels than in evolution—and Richard Dawkins isn't going to take it anymore.
More Americans believe in angels than in evolution—and Richard Dawkins isn't going to take it anymore.
Apocalyse Now!
Finally, something Christians, Jews, and Muslims can agree on: Apocalypse. But as the theological end-time visions of the three Abrahamic faiths converge, it is not the wrath of heaven that threatens life on Earth, but all-too-human fundamentalism and fearmongering.
----------
As one might say, don't get me started!
----------
As one might say, don't get me started!
The Christian Right Takeover of the GOP documented
Max Blumenthal spent years attending Christian Right events, tracking their leaders, and monitoring their media. The well-crafted book is packed with details, anecdotes, and vignettes assembled into a widely-accessible and logical sequence.
A myth debunked!
Do We Use Only 10% of Our Brains?
There is no scientific evidence to suggest that we use only 10% of our brains.
In other words, the statement, "We use only 10% of our brains" is false; it's a myth. We use all of our brain. Let's look at the possible origins of this myth and the evidence that we use all of our brain.
------------
Personally I wouldn't be surprised to hear at a later stage sometime in the very near future that the dubunking of this myth, itself, is debunked!!!Actually right now I subscribe to that!
There is no scientific evidence to suggest that we use only 10% of our brains.
In other words, the statement, "We use only 10% of our brains" is false; it's a myth. We use all of our brain. Let's look at the possible origins of this myth and the evidence that we use all of our brain.
------------
Personally I wouldn't be surprised to hear at a later stage sometime in the very near future that the dubunking of this myth, itself, is debunked!!!Actually right now I subscribe to that!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Angelina
An amazing photograph but I could not find any explanation or context for it. Afganistan for sure but any ideas?
Tantawi to ban niqab
Egypt's highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a religious edict against the growing trend for full women's veils, known as the niqab.
What did EXACTLY happen?
"Abbas urged Barak to continue the war on Gaza and Abelrahim called on the Israelis to invade Jabalya and Shati refugee camps to finish off Hamas.
"The source told Shihab that the PA officials initially rejected the Israeli request, until Israeli officer Eli Ofarham showed up and displayed on his laptop a videotaped file showing Mahmoud Abbas urging Israel war minister Ehud Barak to continue the war on Gaza.
The sources also revealed that the PA official also listened to a recorded telephone conversation between director of the general staff office Dov Weissglas and Abbas’s aide Tayeb Abdelrahim in which the latter called on Israel to invade the refugee camps of Jabaliya and Al-Shati and said that the fall of those camps would end the rule of Hamas.
Abbas urged Barak to continue the war on Gaza and Abelrahim called on the Israelis to invade Jabalya and Shati refugee camps to finish off Hamas.
Weissglas, according to the record, said that this would lead to thousands of casualties among citizens, but Abdelrahim stressed that they all elected Hamas and chose their own destiny.
Via the Palestinian Pundit
"The source told Shihab that the PA officials initially rejected the Israeli request, until Israeli officer Eli Ofarham showed up and displayed on his laptop a videotaped file showing Mahmoud Abbas urging Israel war minister Ehud Barak to continue the war on Gaza.
The sources also revealed that the PA official also listened to a recorded telephone conversation between director of the general staff office Dov Weissglas and Abbas’s aide Tayeb Abdelrahim in which the latter called on Israel to invade the refugee camps of Jabaliya and Al-Shati and said that the fall of those camps would end the rule of Hamas.
Abbas urged Barak to continue the war on Gaza and Abelrahim called on the Israelis to invade Jabalya and Shati refugee camps to finish off Hamas.
Weissglas, according to the record, said that this would lead to thousands of casualties among citizens, but Abdelrahim stressed that they all elected Hamas and chose their own destiny.
Via the Palestinian Pundit
UN: Norway best place to live. Australia second
AUSTRALIA is the second best country to live in, according to a measure of global living standards which says Norway - yes, Norway - is number one.
Norway retained its status as the world's most desirable country, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) index released today, followed by Australia and then Iceland.
-----------
Why is the writer of this article so surprised that Norway would be first?..It reminds me of some French journalists who were always shocked to learn that the best food in the world was not found in France but elsewhere! I always knew it was in Lebanon! Hehe.
Norway retained its status as the world's most desirable country, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) index released today, followed by Australia and then Iceland.
-----------
Why is the writer of this article so surprised that Norway would be first?..It reminds me of some French journalists who were always shocked to learn that the best food in the world was not found in France but elsewhere! I always knew it was in Lebanon! Hehe.
It's not going to cut it, I'm afraid. Nothing will.
Iternational Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA): With respect to a recent media report, the IAEA reiterates that it has no concrete proof that there is or has been a nuclear weapon programme in Iran.
I was ordered to cover up President Karzai election fraud, sacked UN envoy says
The head of the UN mission in Afghanistan has been accused by his former deputy of ordering a systematic cover-up to conceal the extent of electoral fraud by President Karzai.
Times online
Times online
Vice Premier (Moshe Alon) and ex-IDF chief cancels U.K. visit over arrest fears
"When Ya'alon consulted the Foreign Ministry's legal team, they warned that the groups might ask a British court to order his arrest should he visit Britain. They also opined that despite being a minister, he would not enjoy diplomatic immunity, and therefore, the court might accede.
As a result, Ya'alon informed JNF Britain that he would not be able to attend the dinner."
As a result, Ya'alon informed JNF Britain that he would not be able to attend the dinner."
Mahmoud Abbas' chronic submissiveness
By Amira Hass
"Abbas confirmed in fact that Hamas is the real national leadership, and gave ammunition to those who claim that its path - the path of armed struggle - yields results that negotiations do not.
This was not an isolated gaffe, but a pattern that has endured since the PLO leadership concocted, together with naive Norwegians and shrewd Israeli lawyers, the Oslo Accords. Disregard for, and lack of interest in the knowledge and experience accumulated in the inhabitants of the occupied territories' prolonged popular struggle led to the first errors: the absence of an explicit statement that the aim was the establishment of a state within defined borders, not insisting on a construction freeze in the settlements, forgetting about the prisoners, endorsing the Area C arrangement, etc.
The chronic submissiveness is always explained by a desire to "make progress." But for the PLO and Fatah, progress is the very continued existence of the Palestinian Authority, which is now functioning more than ever before as a subcontractor for the IDF, the Shin Bet security service and the Civil Administration.
"Abbas confirmed in fact that Hamas is the real national leadership, and gave ammunition to those who claim that its path - the path of armed struggle - yields results that negotiations do not.
This was not an isolated gaffe, but a pattern that has endured since the PLO leadership concocted, together with naive Norwegians and shrewd Israeli lawyers, the Oslo Accords. Disregard for, and lack of interest in the knowledge and experience accumulated in the inhabitants of the occupied territories' prolonged popular struggle led to the first errors: the absence of an explicit statement that the aim was the establishment of a state within defined borders, not insisting on a construction freeze in the settlements, forgetting about the prisoners, endorsing the Area C arrangement, etc.
The chronic submissiveness is always explained by a desire to "make progress." But for the PLO and Fatah, progress is the very continued existence of the Palestinian Authority, which is now functioning more than ever before as a subcontractor for the IDF, the Shin Bet security service and the Civil Administration.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
You can't be a Christian and a capitalist
By Michael Moore
I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother's and sister's keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.
I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother's and sister's keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.
An American student in Israel
Bad Day at the Israel-Jordan Border
"We need to ask you some questions," she said. She took me aside. I was so nervous. She clarified my name and email, then she asked me about my time in Beirut. I told her it was a study program, organized by a translation service.She frowned. "Why do you like Arabs?" I didn't know what to say. Is it a crime in Israel to love Arabs? Is it a crime to study Palestinian art?
"Palestinian art?" she said, "like what?" "Lots of stuff," I said, " Plays,movies, books; everywhere, all over the world."
They then took me to an area where they opened up all my luggage. I couldn't help smiling at the fact that they thought they would find something. It was like living in a spy thriller. They tossed all my things in a pile. "Put your things away," he barked, as if I had taken them out. It was humiliating to have to quietly pack my things again, as if apologizing. They made me read the names of all the medicines in my kit and describe what they were for. "Cramps, you know, like a woman's thing?"
(Via the Angry Arab)
"We need to ask you some questions," she said. She took me aside. I was so nervous. She clarified my name and email, then she asked me about my time in Beirut. I told her it was a study program, organized by a translation service.She frowned. "Why do you like Arabs?" I didn't know what to say. Is it a crime in Israel to love Arabs? Is it a crime to study Palestinian art?
"Palestinian art?" she said, "like what?" "Lots of stuff," I said, " Plays,movies, books; everywhere, all over the world."
They then took me to an area where they opened up all my luggage. I couldn't help smiling at the fact that they thought they would find something. It was like living in a spy thriller. They tossed all my things in a pile. "Put your things away," he barked, as if I had taken them out. It was humiliating to have to quietly pack my things again, as if apologizing. They made me read the names of all the medicines in my kit and describe what they were for. "Cramps, you know, like a woman's thing?"
(Via the Angry Arab)
Religious Kooks "Sans Frontieres"
Mass whipping of women to cast away ‘evil spirit’
This article in "The Hindu" is edifying!
"The men priests, dressed in traditional attire, cracked whips on the ‘possessed’ women, the salvation seekers, who sat in a half-kilometre-long queue for nearly five hours on a sprawling open space called ‘lashing ground’ near the temple."
Many of them were young school and college-going girls, who winced when they received the lashes and writhed in pain on the ground. The long and wieldy whips, which descended on them in full ferocity, had left them gasping for breath, causing burning marks of wounds on them and forcing them to sob and cry in searing pain. Many were given three to four flogs to drive away the ‘multiple spirits’ that possessed them."
Zionist colonial feminism( The Angry Arab)
"There is no question that the only reason this former feminist (only her first book, the Beauty Myth can be considered a feminist work) is praising the Jordanian monarchy is the King's relations with Israel. Do you think that people like her would be praising the Jordanian autocratic rule of the Hashemite if it promoted resistance to Israeli occupation. And you wonder why Arab feminists are most disgusted by Western colonial feminism? Look at this: "I was so sure that Muslim women should be allowed to speak for themselves because of the faces of Muslim feminism I encountered in recent travels – notably in Jordan, a country fascinatingly poised between tradition and innovation, developing under a forward-looking monarchy that is seeking to modernize and, to an extent, democratize. For those Westerners who worry about Islamic fundamentalism in the Arab world, surely Jordan is a worthy model to understand, support, and engage." (thanks Marcy)"
BBC Report: Who are the Taliban?
The Taliban emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
A predominantly Pashtun movement, the Taliban came to prominence in Afghanistan in the autumn of 1994.
It is commonly believed that they first appeared in religious seminaries - mostly paid for by money from Saudi Arabia - which preached a hard line form of Sunni Islam.
The Afghan-Pakistan militant nexus
A predominantly Pashtun movement, the Taliban came to prominence in Afghanistan in the autumn of 1994.
It is commonly believed that they first appeared in religious seminaries - mostly paid for by money from Saudi Arabia - which preached a hard line form of Sunni Islam.
The Afghan-Pakistan militant nexus
Heavy US losses in Afghan battle
Eight American soldiers and two Afghan troops have been killed in the deadliest attack on coalition troops for more than a year, officials say.
BBC
BBC
Can India's economy overtake China?
Can the lumbering elephant overtake the hyperactive dragon? What appeared unthinkable for decades, if not for more than half a century, may actually happen soon, perhaps as early as next year.
Iraqi widows yearn for new lives
Nearly three decades of war, brutal totalitarianism, invasion, occupation and insurgency in Iraq have left behind at least a million widows - and several million children without fathers.
"Under Saddam Hussein, despite the brutality of his regime towards so many of Iraq's people, war widows were looked after by the state. Now, they are mostly hidden and vulnerable.
It's been called Iraq's cultural time bomb.
Close to the surface of the new normality here, there are painful memories, and a yearning for lost loved ones.
And - there's anxiety about looking after the children when the breadwinner has gone."
BBC
"Under Saddam Hussein, despite the brutality of his regime towards so many of Iraq's people, war widows were looked after by the state. Now, they are mostly hidden and vulnerable.
It's been called Iraq's cultural time bomb.
Close to the surface of the new normality here, there are painful memories, and a yearning for lost loved ones.
And - there's anxiety about looking after the children when the breadwinner has gone."
BBC
In Iraq's Anbar, a deep sense of abandonment
Exit of American troops from Anbar leaves many bitter and afraid
"The Americans left without even saying goodbye. Not one of them,"
"We stood by them, we carried out their requests, we let no one hurt them," he said in a rushed clump of words, near certificates of appreciation from the Marines and the U.S. Army that gather dust in a mother-of-pearl cabinet. "They weren't supposed to abandon us."
Steeped in desert traditions of pride, dignity and honor, no one in Anbar, perhaps the most Arab of Iraq's Arab regions, would contend that any foreign occupation was good, and the Americans remain deeply unpopular in some quarters here. But true or not, there is a prevailing sense in this vast, arid region bisected by the Euphrates that, as far as occupations go, the British were better at it than the Americans.
"The Americans left without even saying goodbye. Not one of them,"
"We stood by them, we carried out their requests, we let no one hurt them," he said in a rushed clump of words, near certificates of appreciation from the Marines and the U.S. Army that gather dust in a mother-of-pearl cabinet. "They weren't supposed to abandon us."
Steeped in desert traditions of pride, dignity and honor, no one in Anbar, perhaps the most Arab of Iraq's Arab regions, would contend that any foreign occupation was good, and the Americans remain deeply unpopular in some quarters here. But true or not, there is a prevailing sense in this vast, arid region bisected by the Euphrates that, as far as occupations go, the British were better at it than the Americans.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Top 10 Things you Think You Know about Iran that are not True
Juan Cole
Iran's military budget is a little over $6 billion annually. Sweden, Singapore and Greece all have larger military budgets. Iran spends less per capita on its military than any other country in the Persian Gulf.
Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the US
Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of "no first strike." This is true of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as of Revolutionary Guards commanders.
Iran's military budget is a little over $6 billion annually. Sweden, Singapore and Greece all have larger military budgets. Iran spends less per capita on its military than any other country in the Persian Gulf.
Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the US
Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of "no first strike." This is true of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as of Revolutionary Guards commanders.
Israeli refusers bring ‘a declaration of sanity’ to New York City
This is for you yasmin
This may shed some light on why they hold you,for example, for hours on checkpoints:
"One revelation, to me at least, was that the purpose of the hundreds of checkpoints throughout the West Bank was not merely to cause general misery and inconvenience to Palestinians, but to effectuate control in a very specific way. The checkpoints operate to severely restrict those who publicly express a desire for liberation, or join a disfavored group, as well as their families. Those considered troublemakers can be delayed for hours or even denied freedom of movement altogether. Activism invites a world of hurt, and can make the necessities of daily living impossible. (Of course, the women remarked on the bankruptcy of the security pretext as well.)
This may shed some light on why they hold you,for example, for hours on checkpoints:
"One revelation, to me at least, was that the purpose of the hundreds of checkpoints throughout the West Bank was not merely to cause general misery and inconvenience to Palestinians, but to effectuate control in a very specific way. The checkpoints operate to severely restrict those who publicly express a desire for liberation, or join a disfavored group, as well as their families. Those considered troublemakers can be delayed for hours or even denied freedom of movement altogether. Activism invites a world of hurt, and can make the necessities of daily living impossible. (Of course, the women remarked on the bankruptcy of the security pretext as well.)
Letter to Gaza from a West Bank Palestinian
"Dear Gazans,
I am very sorry. I am speechless. I keep thinking that my people in the West Bank will come to their senses and turn against the collaborators in the government that supported the indiscriminate slaughter of your children last December, I did not think those barbarians could stoop any lower. I was wrong – "Palestinians drop endorsement of Goldstone report on Gaza war."
Mondoweiss
I am very sorry. I am speechless. I keep thinking that my people in the West Bank will come to their senses and turn against the collaborators in the government that supported the indiscriminate slaughter of your children last December, I did not think those barbarians could stoop any lower. I was wrong – "Palestinians drop endorsement of Goldstone report on Gaza war."
Mondoweiss
Friday, October 2, 2009
An important comment which may have gone unnoticed
I found this comment made by yasmin in response to a question about the partition.. This is extraordinary because it challenges,convincingly I should add, the most common version of how Israel came to be..
"First, Israel wasn't created through "partition." this may surprise some people. The Security Council and the British refused to enforce the plan. The US - finally realizing the plan was probably illegal and clearly unjust - proposed a UN trusteeship, which was a plan for one state of Palestine and provided that Arabs and Jews would decide on their government by referendum, and that future immigration would not be based on race or religion. In short, the trusteeship was designed to protect the right to self-determination of both peoples. But it was too late - the the trusteeship was never voted on, the Zionist militias took over and conquered more of the land than in the plan, and drove Palestinians out of their homes through massacres, created 750,000 refugees, and in effect establishment their own version of partition. which went beyond the partition plan."
"First, Israel wasn't created through "partition." this may surprise some people. The Security Council and the British refused to enforce the plan. The US - finally realizing the plan was probably illegal and clearly unjust - proposed a UN trusteeship, which was a plan for one state of Palestine and provided that Arabs and Jews would decide on their government by referendum, and that future immigration would not be based on race or religion. In short, the trusteeship was designed to protect the right to self-determination of both peoples. But it was too late - the the trusteeship was never voted on, the Zionist militias took over and conquered more of the land than in the plan, and drove Palestinians out of their homes through massacres, created 750,000 refugees, and in effect establishment their own version of partition. which went beyond the partition plan."
Icelanders get hot over mortgages
A quarter of Iceland's population may refuse to pay mortgages: "People are very angry because we feel the banks were gambling with the economy, with the currency, stealing, stealing our properties."
The Australian town that kicked the bottle
Australian town ban commercially-bottled water: Drinking fountains replace shop-bought mineral water in environmental initiative
Plastic bottles were ceremoniously removed from shelves in the sleepy Australian town of Bundanoon at the weekend as a ban on commercially-bottled water – believed to be a world first – came into force.
Plastic bottles were ceremoniously removed from shelves in the sleepy Australian town of Bundanoon at the weekend as a ban on commercially-bottled water – believed to be a world first – came into force.
Hehe..
Exposed: The scientific impossibility of evolution
'Nothing Created Everything' a surefire way to debunk atheism
"But the problem is the god that Richard Dawkins doesn't believe in, doesn't exist," Comfort said. "He's a figment of his imagination."
The God of the Bible, Comfort contends, "is the God of righteousness and holiness and justice and truth and love and mercy. And he's taken the time to write his law upon their hearts in the form of a conscience."
----------
Ok, this is a pet cause. If you don't care please skip this post..
'Nothing Created Everything' a surefire way to debunk atheism
"But the problem is the god that Richard Dawkins doesn't believe in, doesn't exist," Comfort said. "He's a figment of his imagination."
The God of the Bible, Comfort contends, "is the God of righteousness and holiness and justice and truth and love and mercy. And he's taken the time to write his law upon their hearts in the form of a conscience."
----------
Ok, this is a pet cause. If you don't care please skip this post..
How many of you were religious before George Bush and Al Qaeda showed you just how loony faith could make people?
PHOTOS: Oldest "Human" Skeleton Refutes "Missing Link"
Move over, Lucy. And kiss the missing link goodbye.
Scientists today announced the discovery of the oldest fossil skeleton of a human ancestor. The find reveals that our forebears underwent a previously unknown stage of evolution more than a million years before Lucy, the iconic early human ancestor specimen that walked the Earth 3.2 million years ago.
The fossil puts to rest the notion, popular since Darwin's time, that a chimpanzee-like missing link—resembling something between humans and today's apes—would eventually be found at the root of the human family tree. Indeed, the new evidence suggests that the study of chimpanzee anatomy and behavior—long used to infer the nature of the earliest human ancestors—is largely irrelevant to understanding our beginnings.
Ntional Geographic
-------
Very exciting news indeed.. At least I am!
Scientists today announced the discovery of the oldest fossil skeleton of a human ancestor. The find reveals that our forebears underwent a previously unknown stage of evolution more than a million years before Lucy, the iconic early human ancestor specimen that walked the Earth 3.2 million years ago.
The fossil puts to rest the notion, popular since Darwin's time, that a chimpanzee-like missing link—resembling something between humans and today's apes—would eventually be found at the root of the human family tree. Indeed, the new evidence suggests that the study of chimpanzee anatomy and behavior—long used to infer the nature of the earliest human ancestors—is largely irrelevant to understanding our beginnings.
Ntional Geographic
-------
Very exciting news indeed.. At least I am!
The world cannot forget Gaza outrage
Human Rights Watch on the UN Gaza report:
"The failure of the United States and European Union governments to endorse the report of the Gaza fact-finding mission sends a message that serious laws-of-war violations will be treated with kid gloves when committed by an ally, Human Rights Watch said today. On September 29, 2009 Justice Richard Goldstone presented the mission’s report on the conflict in Gaza last December and January to the UN Human Rights Council.
Goldstone called on council members to endorse the report’s recommendations, including those designed to ensure accountability for serious violations of the laws of war during the Gaza conflict by involving the stature and clout of the UN Security Council. In opposing that key recommendation, the United States resorted to calling the report “unbalanced” and “deeply flawed,” but provided no real facts to support those assertions."
"The failure of the United States and European Union governments to endorse the report of the Gaza fact-finding mission sends a message that serious laws-of-war violations will be treated with kid gloves when committed by an ally, Human Rights Watch said today. On September 29, 2009 Justice Richard Goldstone presented the mission’s report on the conflict in Gaza last December and January to the UN Human Rights Council.
Goldstone called on council members to endorse the report’s recommendations, including those designed to ensure accountability for serious violations of the laws of war during the Gaza conflict by involving the stature and clout of the UN Security Council. In opposing that key recommendation, the United States resorted to calling the report “unbalanced” and “deeply flawed,” but provided no real facts to support those assertions."
Moustache news
On Sunday, Thomas Friedman, on ABC’s This Week, discussing Iran with George Stephanopoulus, assured us that
"the only thing the Arabs are afraid of more than an Israeli strike is the absence of an Israeli strike. I guarantee you one thing, George, if the Israelis do decide to strike against Iran, there’s going to be a lot of Arab radar off that day. “Oh Ahmed, you forgot to turn the radar on? Shame on you!” That’s really what they’re rooting for."
"the only thing the Arabs are afraid of more than an Israeli strike is the absence of an Israeli strike. I guarantee you one thing, George, if the Israelis do decide to strike against Iran, there’s going to be a lot of Arab radar off that day. “Oh Ahmed, you forgot to turn the radar on? Shame on you!” That’s really what they’re rooting for."
Thursday, October 1, 2009
"Boohoohoo! We're no longer cool"
Sadly, we've been giving Israel-haters plenty of material to work with
"We always had problems around here, but up until a few years ago we were still one of the coolest states on earth. When we would meet Americans and tell them we're from Israel, their immediate response would be "Wow." It wasn't always clear why they said it – because of the high-tech, the most beautiful girls in the world, the Entebbe Operation, the Six-Day War, the kibbutzim, Exodus, the Mossad, the oranges, or the fact that the feeble Jews suddenly got a tan and went to the beach.
Yet somehow, at some point in the last decade, it ended. You tell John Smith "I'm from Israel" while he drinks his beer and he gives you a foggy stare and says: "You've got quite a few problems there, man. Must be tough.".............
.......Because we are no longer cool. Everything that used to be funny has become problematic. The kibbutznik who would walk into the opera house in Vienna wearing sandals had been replaced by a bunch of teenagers who vandalize hotels in Cyprus. That Israeli guy who arrived in New York with $10 in his pocket and became a millionaire is currently suspected of real-estate fraud and is wanted in six states. Instead of exporting irrigation systems to Africa, we sell weapons to the worst regimes on earth. Meanwhile, the best army in the world is being portrayed in the worst way possible on CNN.
--------------
And you thought it would last for ever, you poor thing?
"We always had problems around here, but up until a few years ago we were still one of the coolest states on earth. When we would meet Americans and tell them we're from Israel, their immediate response would be "Wow." It wasn't always clear why they said it – because of the high-tech, the most beautiful girls in the world, the Entebbe Operation, the Six-Day War, the kibbutzim, Exodus, the Mossad, the oranges, or the fact that the feeble Jews suddenly got a tan and went to the beach.
Yet somehow, at some point in the last decade, it ended. You tell John Smith "I'm from Israel" while he drinks his beer and he gives you a foggy stare and says: "You've got quite a few problems there, man. Must be tough.".............
.......Because we are no longer cool. Everything that used to be funny has become problematic. The kibbutznik who would walk into the opera house in Vienna wearing sandals had been replaced by a bunch of teenagers who vandalize hotels in Cyprus. That Israeli guy who arrived in New York with $10 in his pocket and became a millionaire is currently suspected of real-estate fraud and is wanted in six states. Instead of exporting irrigation systems to Africa, we sell weapons to the worst regimes on earth. Meanwhile, the best army in the world is being portrayed in the worst way possible on CNN.
--------------
And you thought it would last for ever, you poor thing?
A Rabbi's vision of a one-state solution..huhuh...
What Netanyahu Should Have Proposed, by Rabbi Asher Lopatin
OK. It’s time to take off the gloves and start getting truly radical. My proposal for the Jewish state, Medinat Yisrael, may be hated or loved by the Right and the Left – but it is at least a new direction and gets away from the Two State dogma that threatens to destroy the safety of the Jewish State and the dreams and aspirations of the Palestinians. Here it is:
One Democratic Jewish and Palestinian State:
OK. It’s time to take off the gloves and start getting truly radical. My proposal for the Jewish state, Medinat Yisrael, may be hated or loved by the Right and the Left – but it is at least a new direction and gets away from the Two State dogma that threatens to destroy the safety of the Jewish State and the dreams and aspirations of the Palestinians. Here it is:
One Democratic Jewish and Palestinian State:
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Gilad Atzmon – Bruno (Sacha Baron Cohen): A Glimpse into Zionism?
"Two years ago while in the process of gathering information about Cohen previous film Borat, I found out that Cohen had put back his wedding to former Home and Away star Isla Fisher due to some deep ‘religious’ reasons. "The couple," so I learned, "have postponed the big day so Isla could study the Bible in Israel before converting to Sacha's religion of Judaism." This was enough to convince me at the time that Cohen wasn’t that different from his chauvinistic, tribally-orientated protagonist Borat. For those who fail to understand the meaning of the above, Cohen is not just Jewish, he didn’t just ask his fiancée to join his extended family, he didn’t send her to a London Rabbi either. He really went for the ‘full Monty,’ that is: the Israeli experience. Cohen is in fact a devout Zionist and it would be interesting to elaborate and analyze his work from a Jewish Identity-politics perspective."
Palestinian-Led Movement To Boycott Israel Is Gaining Support
‘Our South Africa Moment Has Finally Arrived,’ Says One Leader
By Gal Beckerman
"Uzbekistan-born diamond mogul Lev Leviev announced late in August that his company, Africa-Israel, was drowning in debt of more than $5.5 billion that it could not repay. Over the next two days, shares in the company’s stock plummeted by more than one-third. It was relentless bad news for one of the world’s richest men. His holding and investment company had lost $1.4 billion since 2008, mostly due to failed real estate investments in the United States.
Watching Leviev’s precipitous downfall from the sidelines were pro-Palestinian activists. And they were cheering.
Though certainly not the cause of his financial collapse, for the past two years, these activists have singled out Leviev as one of their high-profile villains for his large contributions to West Bank settlements. And they have been effective gadflies. Several of the company’s major shareholders have divested their holdings from Africa-Israel after receiving complaints from clients. And at least two charities have declared publicly they will not accept Leviev’s contributions.
By Gal Beckerman
"Uzbekistan-born diamond mogul Lev Leviev announced late in August that his company, Africa-Israel, was drowning in debt of more than $5.5 billion that it could not repay. Over the next two days, shares in the company’s stock plummeted by more than one-third. It was relentless bad news for one of the world’s richest men. His holding and investment company had lost $1.4 billion since 2008, mostly due to failed real estate investments in the United States.
Watching Leviev’s precipitous downfall from the sidelines were pro-Palestinian activists. And they were cheering.
Though certainly not the cause of his financial collapse, for the past two years, these activists have singled out Leviev as one of their high-profile villains for his large contributions to West Bank settlements. And they have been effective gadflies. Several of the company’s major shareholders have divested their holdings from Africa-Israel after receiving complaints from clients. And at least two charities have declared publicly they will not accept Leviev’s contributions.
How I’m Losing My Love For Israel
By Jay Michaelson
Excerpt
"I admit that my exhaustion is exacerbated because, in my social circles, supporting Israel is like supporting segregation, apartheid or worse. I know this is a sign of weakness of will on my part, and I hope that the Times-magazine-sanctioned rise of J Street changes things, but I don’t think advocates of Israel understand exactly how bad the situation is on college campuses, in Europe, and in liberal or leftist social-political circles. Supporting Israel in these contexts is like supporting repression, or the war in Iraq, or George W. Bush. It’s gotten so bad, I don’t mention Israel in certain conversations anymore, and no longer defend it when it’s lumped in with South Africa and China by my friends. This is wrong of me, I know, but I’ve been defending Israel for years, and it’s gotten harder and harder to do so.
How much of Israel’s pariah status is fantasy and how much is reality is, of course, a complicated question, and one that I would not presume to answer in this column. In the conversations I’ve had, it’s some of each — and again a subject for equivocation. Yes, Israel’s new government is a right/far-right alliance whose foreign policy looks suspiciously like Yitzhak Shamir’s era of “Say yes and do nothing.” But on the other hand, I understand why many Israelis are fed up and voted for it, and the oversimplifications among Israel’s critics are many. For example, just because this government is expanding settlements does not make doing so an essential part of Israel’s identity.
But I’m not sure the parsing matters. I’m not sure any state with tanks can win a propaganda war against an occupied people with guns and Molotov cocktails — even if the occupied people’s leaders deserve plenty of blame. It’s exhausting to keep fighting this fight, especially as Israel’s authentically odious actions (excesses by soldiers, expropriations of land) continue to pile up, and the yes-buts grow harder and harder to maintain.
The second reason for my waning love of Israel is that the Israel I love is increasingly disappearing. It started in Jerusalem, with the exodus of the secular left and the slow, agonizing demise of the culture they created. Now, many of my sabra friends are leaving the country entirely, desperately looking for tech jobs in California or academic postings in Indiana. However worn out I may be by the matzav my friends who have lived in it are far worse. For now, Tel Aviv’s liberal, secular, life-celebrating culture continues to thrive and is even developing a spiritual aspect — but like many Israelis, I feel like I’m reading the writing on the wall.
Part of the problem here is that the Israel I love is not the Disneyland most of my fellow Americans seem to adore. Sure, I cry at Macadam and even feel moved at the kotel. But my Israel is one of shuks, cafes, shtiebels and hiking trails; of family and friends; of my alma mater on Mount Scopus and my favorite field in Talbieh (Churshat Hayareach, an open space continually threatened with destruction). Personally, I find the way many Americans strut in and out of Jerusalem for the holidays partly ridiculous and partly nauseating. So while the storybook Jerusalem remains more or less intact, I care less about it than the delicate, messy harmonies of the real one.
------------
Jay Michaelson is a columnist for the Forward newspaper, the Huffington Post, and Reality Sandwich magazine, and the author of Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism
Excerpt
"I admit that my exhaustion is exacerbated because, in my social circles, supporting Israel is like supporting segregation, apartheid or worse. I know this is a sign of weakness of will on my part, and I hope that the Times-magazine-sanctioned rise of J Street changes things, but I don’t think advocates of Israel understand exactly how bad the situation is on college campuses, in Europe, and in liberal or leftist social-political circles. Supporting Israel in these contexts is like supporting repression, or the war in Iraq, or George W. Bush. It’s gotten so bad, I don’t mention Israel in certain conversations anymore, and no longer defend it when it’s lumped in with South Africa and China by my friends. This is wrong of me, I know, but I’ve been defending Israel for years, and it’s gotten harder and harder to do so.
How much of Israel’s pariah status is fantasy and how much is reality is, of course, a complicated question, and one that I would not presume to answer in this column. In the conversations I’ve had, it’s some of each — and again a subject for equivocation. Yes, Israel’s new government is a right/far-right alliance whose foreign policy looks suspiciously like Yitzhak Shamir’s era of “Say yes and do nothing.” But on the other hand, I understand why many Israelis are fed up and voted for it, and the oversimplifications among Israel’s critics are many. For example, just because this government is expanding settlements does not make doing so an essential part of Israel’s identity.
But I’m not sure the parsing matters. I’m not sure any state with tanks can win a propaganda war against an occupied people with guns and Molotov cocktails — even if the occupied people’s leaders deserve plenty of blame. It’s exhausting to keep fighting this fight, especially as Israel’s authentically odious actions (excesses by soldiers, expropriations of land) continue to pile up, and the yes-buts grow harder and harder to maintain.
The second reason for my waning love of Israel is that the Israel I love is increasingly disappearing. It started in Jerusalem, with the exodus of the secular left and the slow, agonizing demise of the culture they created. Now, many of my sabra friends are leaving the country entirely, desperately looking for tech jobs in California or academic postings in Indiana. However worn out I may be by the matzav my friends who have lived in it are far worse. For now, Tel Aviv’s liberal, secular, life-celebrating culture continues to thrive and is even developing a spiritual aspect — but like many Israelis, I feel like I’m reading the writing on the wall.
Part of the problem here is that the Israel I love is not the Disneyland most of my fellow Americans seem to adore. Sure, I cry at Macadam and even feel moved at the kotel. But my Israel is one of shuks, cafes, shtiebels and hiking trails; of family and friends; of my alma mater on Mount Scopus and my favorite field in Talbieh (Churshat Hayareach, an open space continually threatened with destruction). Personally, I find the way many Americans strut in and out of Jerusalem for the holidays partly ridiculous and partly nauseating. So while the storybook Jerusalem remains more or less intact, I care less about it than the delicate, messy harmonies of the real one.
------------
Jay Michaelson is a columnist for the Forward newspaper, the Huffington Post, and Reality Sandwich magazine, and the author of Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Nazi settlers chop 150 olive trees on the eve of harvest!
Settlers chop down Nablus olive grove on eve of harvest
Nablus – Ma’an – Dozens of chainsaw-wielding Israeli settlers cut down more than 150 olive trees in to the northern West Bank village of Burin, south of Nablus on Monday.
The assault came a few days before Palestinian farmers throughout the country begin harvesting their olives.
According to Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian official in charge of monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank, dozens of Israelis from the settlement Yitzhar raided fields in the area of Khallat Siwar between the villages of Huwwara and Burin and cut down more than 150 olive trees using chainsaws.
Daghlas labeled the settlers’ attack as “criminal act” calling on human right groups to take action to stop Israeli settlers’ assaults against the Palestinians and their property.
Nablus – Ma’an – Dozens of chainsaw-wielding Israeli settlers cut down more than 150 olive trees in to the northern West Bank village of Burin, south of Nablus on Monday.
The assault came a few days before Palestinian farmers throughout the country begin harvesting their olives.
According to Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian official in charge of monitoring settlement activity in the northern West Bank, dozens of Israelis from the settlement Yitzhar raided fields in the area of Khallat Siwar between the villages of Huwwara and Burin and cut down more than 150 olive trees using chainsaws.
Daghlas labeled the settlers’ attack as “criminal act” calling on human right groups to take action to stop Israeli settlers’ assaults against the Palestinians and their property.
Just in case you were wondering what a rag like the Wall Street Journal would be reporting about the conflict in the ME have a look here:
Palestinian Leaders Deny Jerusalem's Past
"Jews have no history in the city of Jerusalem: They have never lived there, the Temple never existed, and Israeli archaeologists have admitted as much. Those who deny this are simply liars. Or so says Sheik Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, chief Islamic judge of the Palestinian Authority."
This, not the factual ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, is what the WSJ is worried about!
Palestinian Leaders Deny Jerusalem's Past
"Jews have no history in the city of Jerusalem: They have never lived there, the Temple never existed, and Israeli archaeologists have admitted as much. Those who deny this are simply liars. Or so says Sheik Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, chief Islamic judge of the Palestinian Authority."
This, not the factual ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, is what the WSJ is worried about!
Saudis will allow Israel to bomb Iran's nuclear site (Saudis deny)
Premier British intelligence agency, MI6 chief, has been told that Saudi Arabia will permit Israel to fly over the kingdom to bomb Iran's nuclear sites.
The MI6 chief discussed the issue in London with Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Saudi officials after British intelligence officers helped to uncover the plant, in the side of a mountain near the ancient city of Qom.
UPDATE
Saudi Arabia denies it offered Israeli jets flight path to Iran
Saudi Arabia denied Wednesday a report in Britain's Sunday Express that said the Kingdom offered the Israel Air Force flight paths to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.
The Sunday Express reported this week that the Saudis had agreed to turn a blind eye and not interfere should Israel and the United States attack Iranian nuclear facilities via Saudi air space.
A senior Saudi official said Wednesday morning that the report was baseless, adding that his country would demand that the newspaper print a retraction and apology.
The MI6 chief discussed the issue in London with Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Saudi officials after British intelligence officers helped to uncover the plant, in the side of a mountain near the ancient city of Qom.
UPDATE
Saudi Arabia denies it offered Israeli jets flight path to Iran
Saudi Arabia denied Wednesday a report in Britain's Sunday Express that said the Kingdom offered the Israel Air Force flight paths to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.
The Sunday Express reported this week that the Saudis had agreed to turn a blind eye and not interfere should Israel and the United States attack Iranian nuclear facilities via Saudi air space.
A senior Saudi official said Wednesday morning that the report was baseless, adding that his country would demand that the newspaper print a retraction and apology.
Nearly 70 percent of Argentine forests lost in a century
Argentina has lost nearly 70 percent of its forests in a century, the Environmental Secretariat said at a UN conference on desertification.
------------
Who cares? They're becoming rich, hey anan?
------------
Who cares? They're becoming rich, hey anan?
No shame: Israel demands PA drop war crimes suit at The Hague, or else it would not permit a second cellular telephone provider to operate
Tensions are mounting between Israel and the Palestinian Authority following Ramallah's call on the International Court at The Hague to examine claims of "war crimes" that the IDF allegedly committed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. The issue is already weighing in on the relations between the leadership of Israel's defense and security establishment with their counterparts in the West Bank, and is part of a growing list of Israeli complaints about the behavior of PA officials.
Honduras Suspends Civil Liberties
Honduras' interim leaders have suspended key civil liberties, empowering police and soldiers to break up "unauthorised" public meetings, arrest people without warrants and restrict the news media.
The announcement came just hours after deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya called on supporters to stage mass marches today marking the three-month anniversary of the June 28 coup that ousted him. Mr Zelaya described the marches as "the final offensive" against the interim government.
The announcement came just hours after deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya called on supporters to stage mass marches today marking the three-month anniversary of the June 28 coup that ousted him. Mr Zelaya described the marches as "the final offensive" against the interim government.
Gaddafi's Oddest Idea: Abolish Switzerland
A few weeks ago, Gaddafi submitted a proposal to the U.N. to abolish Switzerland and divide it up along linguistic lines, giving parts of the country to Germany, France and Italy. Although the motion was thrown out because it violates the U.N. Charter, which states that no member country can threaten the existence of another, some Swiss leaders are still concerned that Libya could use its yearlong presidency of the U.N. General Assembly, which began on Sept. 15, to keep up Gaddafi's vitriolic attacks on their country.
Polanski's Arrest: Why the French Are Outraged
By Bruce Crumley / Paris Monday, Sep. 28, 2009
Although the cultural divide between Europe and the U.S. has narrowed over the years, the legal fate of director Roman Polanski shows there are still major differences. Polanski's arrest in Switzerland on Sept. 26 was greeted with satisfaction in the U.S., where authorities hope he will face sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Europeans, meanwhile, are shocked and dismayed that an internationally acclaimed artist could be jailed for such an old offense.
Time
Although the cultural divide between Europe and the U.S. has narrowed over the years, the legal fate of director Roman Polanski shows there are still major differences. Polanski's arrest in Switzerland on Sept. 26 was greeted with satisfaction in the U.S., where authorities hope he will face sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Europeans, meanwhile, are shocked and dismayed that an internationally acclaimed artist could be jailed for such an old offense.
Time
Double standards
Why is the Obama Administration on Iran's ass about disclosing their Nuclear intentions, when it's known that Israel has tonnes of Nukes that they havn't disclosed at all and they won't agree to any investigations either? What is different about Israel that makes them immune?
Paying $10 billion a month on wars America hates is good, but paying money to fix our health care sysytem is bad...
The media, conservatives and the democratic deficit hawks are telling America that the cost of reforming America's health care system better not add one red cent to the deficit. Why doesn't the librul media explain to America that we are paying 10 billion dollars a month on two wars that Americans hate?
Pittsburgh: What no terrorist could do to us, our own leaders did.
Four thousand police were on duty plus 2500 National Guard plus Coast Guard and Air Force and dozens of other security agencies. A thousand volunteers from other police forces were sworn in to help out.
Police were dressed in battle gear, bulky black ninja turtle outfits: helmets with clear visors, strapped on body armor, shin guards, big boots, batons, and long guns.
In addition to helicopters, the police had hundreds of cars and motorcycles , armored vehicles, monster trucks, small electric go-karts. There were even passenger vans screaming through town so stuffed with heavily armed ninja turtles that the side and rear doors remained open.
No terrorists showed up at the G20.
Police were dressed in battle gear, bulky black ninja turtle outfits: helmets with clear visors, strapped on body armor, shin guards, big boots, batons, and long guns.
In addition to helicopters, the police had hundreds of cars and motorcycles , armored vehicles, monster trucks, small electric go-karts. There were even passenger vans screaming through town so stuffed with heavily armed ninja turtles that the side and rear doors remained open.
No terrorists showed up at the G20.
Book casts new light on Palestine's ethnic cleansing
Maureen Clare Murphy, The Electronic Intifada, 28 September 2009
In recent years, a growing number of accounts of the 1948 war have corrected and exposed the founding myths of Israel, including claims by its leaders that the Palestinian people did not exist or were invented. The latest addition to this genre is independent scholar Rosemarie M. Esber's meticulously documented history Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians. While other recent books on the subject have relied on Israeli and Zionist archival sources, Esber uses British archives and oral testimonies from Palestinian survivors as well as previously used sources to demonstrate that there was a purposeful, systematic pattern by which Zionist forces depopulated Palestinian cities and villages before the end of the British mandate on 15 May 1948 and the subsequent intervention of Arab armies.
In recent years, a growing number of accounts of the 1948 war have corrected and exposed the founding myths of Israel, including claims by its leaders that the Palestinian people did not exist or were invented. The latest addition to this genre is independent scholar Rosemarie M. Esber's meticulously documented history Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians. While other recent books on the subject have relied on Israeli and Zionist archival sources, Esber uses British archives and oral testimonies from Palestinian survivors as well as previously used sources to demonstrate that there was a purposeful, systematic pattern by which Zionist forces depopulated Palestinian cities and villages before the end of the British mandate on 15 May 1948 and the subsequent intervention of Arab armies.
Monday, September 28, 2009
On SBS (Australian TV channel) journalists told not to use the term "Palestinian land"
The mangling of truth when reporting the Middle East
Antony Loewenstein
"Following the publication here in early September of a new SBS news directive that told journalists not to use the term “Palestinian land” to, er, describe Palestinian land, today’s Australian newspaper has some responses:
Tzvi Fleischer, editor of Australia/Israel Review, which is put out by the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, backed SBS’s position.
“It’s sensible where we have a dispute about territory that reports should reflect there’s a dispute and use language that makes that clear without adjudicating that one side or the other is in the right,” he said.
But Jake Lynch, director of Sydney University’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, said the ruling showed “a lamentable ignorance of the facts and … should be rescinded forthwith”.
Antony Loewenstein
"Following the publication here in early September of a new SBS news directive that told journalists not to use the term “Palestinian land” to, er, describe Palestinian land, today’s Australian newspaper has some responses:
Tzvi Fleischer, editor of Australia/Israel Review, which is put out by the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, backed SBS’s position.
“It’s sensible where we have a dispute about territory that reports should reflect there’s a dispute and use language that makes that clear without adjudicating that one side or the other is in the right,” he said.
But Jake Lynch, director of Sydney University’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, said the ruling showed “a lamentable ignorance of the facts and … should be rescinded forthwith”.
Antony Loewenstein: The smell of Jewish fascism
Ilan Mizrahi has spent 16 years photographing and filming right wing Israeli settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron. His film, Israel: Rise of the Right, looks at the followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane, an American-born rabbi and politician who proposed the mass expulsion of Arabs from Israel before he was assassinated in 1990.
International Criminal Court to Investigate IDF Officer
September 26th, 2009
This is how it starts. Palestinians and anti-Occupation activists scream bloody murder for years about Israeli war crimes. The world mumbles under its breath: “Yeah sure.” Israel finally crosses a red line with two brutal wars massacring civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. An eminent international jurist writes a voluminous report for a United Nations committee documenting said war crimes. Israel begins to take notice and mounts its own counter-attack. A chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court announces he is considering filing charges against a specific IDF officer.
Tikun Olam
This is how it starts. Palestinians and anti-Occupation activists scream bloody murder for years about Israeli war crimes. The world mumbles under its breath: “Yeah sure.” Israel finally crosses a red line with two brutal wars massacring civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. An eminent international jurist writes a voluminous report for a United Nations committee documenting said war crimes. Israel begins to take notice and mounts its own counter-attack. A chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court announces he is considering filing charges against a specific IDF officer.
Tikun Olam
Afghanistan: Obama's Vietnam?
By Helena Cobban
There's a rapidly growing discussion here in the US about "what to do in Afghanistan." Some of it is thoughtful, well-informed, and serious. Like this piece by Rajiv Chandrasekaran in today's WaPo, which argues that the two best options look to be "Go all-in, or fold."
(Actually, that's only one choice, since the US citizenry and budget are quite incapable of doing what would be needed to "go all-in" in that very distant and logistically intimidating country.)
I note that one aspect of the way path forward that just about nobody in the US discourse has yet started talking/writing about is the idea, that I consider crucial, that it does not have to be, indeed should not be, the US that dominates all decisionmaking and international action regarding Afghanistan, going forward.
There's a rapidly growing discussion here in the US about "what to do in Afghanistan." Some of it is thoughtful, well-informed, and serious. Like this piece by Rajiv Chandrasekaran in today's WaPo, which argues that the two best options look to be "Go all-in, or fold."
(Actually, that's only one choice, since the US citizenry and budget are quite incapable of doing what would be needed to "go all-in" in that very distant and logistically intimidating country.)
I note that one aspect of the way path forward that just about nobody in the US discourse has yet started talking/writing about is the idea, that I consider crucial, that it does not have to be, indeed should not be, the US that dominates all decisionmaking and international action regarding Afghanistan, going forward.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Israeli College Cancels Academic Offering Due to Too Many (Israeli) Arab Enrollees
"This year, a new private Israeli academic institution launched, the Carmel Academic Center. Among its offerings within the department of business administration was an accountancy concentration. But one week before classes began, the school cancelled it. Why? Too many Arabs. That’s right. Only three Jews registered and the rest were Israeli Palestinians. Not wanting to develop a reputation for being in bed with Arab lovers, the entrepreneur who founded the school pulled the plug. Here are some internal conversations published by the Alternative Information Center. Israeli Channel 2 broke the original story:"
(Via the Angry Arab)
-----------------
While you're at it check the comments and see for yourselves how hopeless, desperate, pathetically out of touch Zionist freaks try to justify the academy's decision! Blaming, no, SLANDERING the victim used to work, fellows. Not anymore.
(Via the Angry Arab)
-----------------
While you're at it check the comments and see for yourselves how hopeless, desperate, pathetically out of touch Zionist freaks try to justify the academy's decision! Blaming, no, SLANDERING the victim used to work, fellows. Not anymore.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Why Do We Embrace Zionists Like Uri Avnery?
It never ceases to amaze me that Palestinians promote Zionist writers and thinkers. Case in point is Uri Avnery, a man who has never renounced Zionism; in fact, he is a proud Zionist. Helena Cobban in Counterpunch points out that Avnery seems to plead with Dov Yermiya, who recently renounced Zionism, to reconsider. Avnery, who obviously knows better or should know better if he could get beyond his tribal affinity, writes about a vision of Zionism that was in its incipient stages more "idealistic." One wonders what's idealistic about a state built upon the ruins of another culture and civilization; one wonders what's idealistic and laudable about a state which has refugees at its gates seeing Jews from all over the world reaping the benefits from ill gotten gains, yet Avnery rivals the best of the Zionist proselytizers:
----------
I agree and pronounce my Mea Culpa. In the light of his recent articles, interventions and statements Avnery has started to show, more clearly I should add, his true colors.
----------
I agree and pronounce my Mea Culpa. In the light of his recent articles, interventions and statements Avnery has started to show, more clearly I should add, his true colors.
What Would Jesus Say (to a Zio-Christian)?
"Time to re-visit, as administrators like to say, the Christian Zionists. This is a response to the usual blather from one of the Armageddon is nigh types:
You ask rhetorically, Who Are the Palestinians? just before you admonish them to take up residence in one of the twenty-two Arab countries so that European and American Jews may live in Palestine without Arabs.
What you don't seem to get, full of the usual canards that you are is that Palestinians are a diverse people, just like any people. We certainly are not all alike. I am a Christian Palestinian; twenty percent of the Palestinians are Christian. We are the original stones; that is, the original Christians descended from the apostles. My father was born in Ramallah, which before 1948, was a totally Christian village. I can asssure you that none of my relatives nor I wish to see Jews obliterated."
UmKhalil
You ask rhetorically, Who Are the Palestinians? just before you admonish them to take up residence in one of the twenty-two Arab countries so that European and American Jews may live in Palestine without Arabs.
What you don't seem to get, full of the usual canards that you are is that Palestinians are a diverse people, just like any people. We certainly are not all alike. I am a Christian Palestinian; twenty percent of the Palestinians are Christian. We are the original stones; that is, the original Christians descended from the apostles. My father was born in Ramallah, which before 1948, was a totally Christian village. I can asssure you that none of my relatives nor I wish to see Jews obliterated."
UmKhalil
You always hear of Sderot and its "victim" status but you NEVER hear this
Sderot Built on Ashes of Ethnically Cleansed and Defaced Najd
Sderot was settled by Jews in 1951. According to Walid Khalidi in All That Remains, it along with the settlement of Or ha-Ner, founded in 1957, were established on the village lands of Najd, which means "elevated plain" in Arabic.
Najd's Palestinian villagers, approximately 620 in 1945, were expelled on 13 May 1948, before Israel was declared a state and before any Arab armies entered Palestine. According to UN Resolution 194 and also the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13, Section 2, the villagers of Najd have a right to return home to their personal property and to their native village.
Today, according to Khalidi, "some old trees grow" on the site of the village. It is "overgrown with cactus and Christ's thorn and sycamore trees and contains the crumbled walls of unidentified buildings...."
UmKhalil
Sderot was settled by Jews in 1951. According to Walid Khalidi in All That Remains, it along with the settlement of Or ha-Ner, founded in 1957, were established on the village lands of Najd, which means "elevated plain" in Arabic.
Najd's Palestinian villagers, approximately 620 in 1945, were expelled on 13 May 1948, before Israel was declared a state and before any Arab armies entered Palestine. According to UN Resolution 194 and also the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13, Section 2, the villagers of Najd have a right to return home to their personal property and to their native village.
Today, according to Khalidi, "some old trees grow" on the site of the village. It is "overgrown with cactus and Christ's thorn and sycamore trees and contains the crumbled walls of unidentified buildings...."
UmKhalil
Student : Armored Police Seize University of Pittsburgh Campus, Attack Students, Then Claim They Were Stopping Anarchists @ G20
"Reddit, the next two hours were complete chaos. My campus was invaded by armored police officers. They threw actual tear gas into crowds of students. They SHOT students with rubber bullets. They beat slower-moving students with a baton. I saw a group of cyclists being herded down the sidewalk. A cop reached out and pushed a woman on a bike. She turned around and pushed her bike at the cop. Next thing we knew, he grabbed her by the face and slammed her down on the concrete."
Thursday, September 24, 2009
"Today, Obama wins"
NY Senator Chuck Schumer was angered by the(Obama) speech. From Yeshiva World:
“To make absolute statements, particularly when in the past Israel has sort of done everything the Palestinians asked and they still won’t give her peace is to me a counter productive policy,” Sen. Charles Schumer said.
“To make absolute statements, particularly when in the past Israel has sort of done everything the Palestinians asked and they still won’t give her peace is to me a counter productive policy,” Sen. Charles Schumer said.
Netanyahu likens Hamas to Nazis attacking England
Netanyahu just told the UN General Assembly that the only example in history of rockets being rained down on civilians–prior to Hamas doing so to southern Israel–was the blitz of England by the Nazis. And the western powers responded justifiably by levelling German cities.
Mondoweiss
Mondoweiss
Ali Abunimah: Obama's peace effort has failed but our struggle continues
There is the old joke about a man who is endlessly searching on the ground beneath a street light. Finally, a neighbor who has been watching him asks the man what he is looking for. The man replies that he lost his keys. The neighbor asks him if he lost them under the streetlight. "No," the man replies, pointing into the darkness, "I lost them over there, but I am looking over here because here there is light!"
Jimmy Carter: US 'likely behind' Chavez coup
Carter said it was understandable that Chavez continues to blame the US for the failed attempt to overthrow him.
Chavez was deposed by a civilian-military junta for about 48 hours in April 2002, before returning to power.
George Bush, the then US president, denied any US involvement in the abortive coup and called on Chavez, who is critical of US policy, to "learn a lesson" from the attempted overthrow.
Chavez was deposed by a civilian-military junta for about 48 hours in April 2002, before returning to power.
George Bush, the then US president, denied any US involvement in the abortive coup and called on Chavez, who is critical of US policy, to "learn a lesson" from the attempted overthrow.
US Jews and Israelis split on Obama
A Jerusalem Post poll has revealed that only four per cent of Israeli Jews believe that Barack Obama, the US president, is pro-Israel [GALLO/GETTY]
Sign of change?
Elite Saudi university set to open
Saudi Arabia has set up a new research university, a multibillion dollar co-educational venture built on the promise of scientific freedom.
The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) - complete with state-of-the-art laboratories, the world's 14th fastest supercomputer, and one of the biggest endowments worldwide - is scheduled to officially open on Wednesday.
But the new university will not require women to wear veils or cover their faces, and they will be able to mix freely with men.
They will also be allowed to drive, a taboo in a country where women must literally take a back seat to their male drivers.
Al Jazeera
Saudi Arabia has set up a new research university, a multibillion dollar co-educational venture built on the promise of scientific freedom.
The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) - complete with state-of-the-art laboratories, the world's 14th fastest supercomputer, and one of the biggest endowments worldwide - is scheduled to officially open on Wednesday.
But the new university will not require women to wear veils or cover their faces, and they will be able to mix freely with men.
They will also be allowed to drive, a taboo in a country where women must literally take a back seat to their male drivers.
Al Jazeera
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
