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Source: PACUSA via El Taller International - Tunis
TO DAY IN PALESTINE !
Vendredi, 12 juin 2009 - 13h12
Friday 12 June 2009
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Land Theft
Residents foil Israeli settlers attempt to take over Palestinian land in East Jerusalem
A group of Palestinian residents managed on Thursday afternoon to stop Israeli settlers from taking over their land located east of Jerusalem’s old city.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60782
Israeli settlers destroy Palestinian-owned farm lands in different parts of the West Bank
Israeli settlers attacked and destroyed Palestinian-owned farm lands on a number of locations in the West Bank on Thursday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60781
Salift area farmers say crops destroyed by settler-organized wild pig attack
Salfit – Ma’an – Salfit farmers accused Israeli settlers in the West Bank of engineering a wild pig attack on Thursday that destroyed dozens of small fruit trees in the agricultural area. A heard of wild pigs attacked the An-Nijarah area west of Salfit splintering dozens of apple and plum trees newly planted on the tilled earth. Farmers fear they will also lose their grape crops after the pigs trampled the vines.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38493
Court to decide if builders can be sued for settlements
A Quebec court will decide whether a lawsuit against two Canadian-based companies that are alleged to have illegally constructed residential buildings for Jewish settlers on disputed land in the West Bank can be heard here.
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/06/7138
Violence against Palestinians
Settlers seek to avenge Obama pressure by going after Palestinians
Bruce Wolman writes: The indefatigable Helena Cobban has an important posting on her ’Just World News’ web site this morning. She picks up on a report from Ha’aretz’s Bradley Burston yesterday headlined, "Loving Israel by hating Obama" that says that settlers are prepared to destroy Palestinian land in response to pressure from Obama.
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/06/settlers-show-the-love.html
The Detainees (also see below: Fatah Collaboration)
Israeli army kidnaps 9 Palestinians from the West Bank
Israeli troops kidnapped 9 Palestinian men from different areas in the West Bank, during pre-dawn invasions.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60776
Ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children - a report
DCI-Palestine’s new report reveals evidence of widespread ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities.
http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=1162&CategoryId=1
Another Al-Ma’sara Activist released as protests continue
June 6th, 2009— Last Friday, the weekly popular protest at al-Ma’sara launched a call for support and solidarity with four of its members and one Palestinian from Hebron, whose trials are scheduled to start on June 9.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1975.shtml
Israeli War Criminals
Lawyers: Israel uses uranium in Gaza offensive
GAZA, June 11 (Xinhua) — Lawyers investigating possible war crimes by Israel in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip Thursday said the Jewish state used uranium in recent offensive on the blockaded territory. Findings indicated that Israel heavily used uranium materials in its war in Gaza, Haitham Manna of the International Coalition for Trying Israeli War Criminals told a news conference in Gaza city.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/11/content_11527880.htm
Humanitarian Issues/Humanitarian Issues/Discrimination
An open letter to UN cars at Palestinian checkpoints: Wait your turn!
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38472
Two Years of Gaza Closure by the Numbers
June 2007- June 2009: Crossings Closed; Supplies Restricted
* Percentage of goods permitted to enter Gaza, relative to demand: 25% (approximately 2,500 truckloads/month instead of 10,400/month prior to June 2007).
* Supplies of industrial diesel permitted to enter Gaza, relative to need: 63% (2.2 million liters/week rather than the 3.5 million liters/week needed to generate electricity).
* Average length of power outages in Gaza: five hours per day.
* Current number of people without access to running water in Gaza: 28,000.
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/06/gaza-by-the-numbers.html
Weekly report on Israeli human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory 04 - 10 Jun 2009
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/NSPR-7SWFGN?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Gaza bonanza
The policy is not fixed, but continually subject to change, explains a COGAT official. Thus, about two months ago, the COGAT officials allowed pumpkins and carrots into Gaza, reversing a ban that had been in place for many months. The entry of "delicacies" such as cherries, kiwi, green almonds, pomegranates and chocolate is expressly prohibited. As is halvah, too, most of the time. Sources involved in COGAT’s work say that those at the highest levels, including acting coordinator Amos Gilad, monitor the food brought into Gaza on a daily basis and personally approve the entry of any kind of fruit, vegetable or processed food product requested by the Palestinians. At one of the unit’s meetings, Colonel Oded Iterman, a COGAT officer, explained the policy as follows: "We don’t want Gilad Shalit’s captors to be munching Bamba [a popular Israeli snack food] right over his head."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092196.html
US envoy’s visit could ease Gaza blockade
Forced to rebuild using mud and animal-drawn carts, Gazans are increasingly frustrated with Hamas’s hard-line policies.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0610/p06s08-wome.html
Gaza’s hospitals short of surgeons and supplies
One of the most densely populated places on earth only has two cardiac surgeons to serve its entire population. According to Dr. Nasser Tatter, head of Shifa hospital’s cardiology unit, that only explains part of the medical crisis that exists in the Gaza Strip today. Eva Bartlett reports from the Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10594.shtml
Health risks on Gaza’s coast
GAZA CITY (IRIN) - The World Health Organization (WHO) in the Gaza Strip, in conjunction with the Gaza health ministry, began a public awareness campaign this week to warn swimmers and fishermen of raw sewage discharges, and the potential dangers. Signs were placed in seven areas along Gaza’s 42-km-long coastline where untreated sewage is being dumped directly in the sea, according to WHO officer Mahmoud Daher in Gaza.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10592.shtml
For West Bank Palestinians, Some Unclean Drops to Drink
FAQUA, Northern West Bank — Faqua village has found itself unfortunately named. Faqua in Arabic means spring water bubbles; the village was named after the abundant natural underground springs that were once found all around it. Today the people are on their own; the water springs have been taken over by Israel.
http://original.antiwar.com/frykberg/2009/06/10/for-west-bank-palestinians-some-unclean-drops-to-drink/
Movement to open Rafah crossing
I am writing at the end of our first day of protest at the Rafah, Egypt border with Gaza. With assistance from our friends here we departed our house at 7 a.m. taking a route which avoided every checkpoint between al Arish and the border (about 25 miles), arriving at the border catching all the authorities off guard. We experienced our first day supporting the myriad Palestinians who so desperately wanted to enter Gaza.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/1077-movement-to-open-rafah-crossing
Absurdity Is the Norm in the Gaza Strip
June 10, (Pal Telegraph) - Upon returning home from Gaza, a friend commented, "It must have been horrifying seeing all the destruction." And it was. The 22-day Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip laid waste to an already ravaged territory.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/photo-story/palestinian-stories/1081-absurdity-is-the-norm-in-the-gaza-strip
The Refugees
Work camp in Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon
Sumud association was born in order to offer our cooperation to those who endure oppression and refuse to resign themselves, without paternalism and with the awareness that what those people most need is not charity but help in their fight for justice.
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/06/10/work-camp-in-ein-el-hilweh-lebanon/
Eyewitness Accounts/Testimonials
Member of Gaza delegation says she witnessed ’genocide’
Amy Jay is a Bay Area writer/artist who was on my delegation to Gaza. I remember her wincing when I would say things like "the hummus has been decimated," at lunch—she wondered how much of the violence in our surroundings had invaded our speech. She returned to compose a stirring video-poem about the destruction she had witnessed.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsxf3O1MPVI
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/06/my-entry.html
Fatah Collaborators
Palestinian police arrest 36 Hamas supporters
Palestinian security forces arrested 36 Hamas supporters, many of them professors and students, the Islamic militant group said Thursday, signaling a widening crackdown by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10321838.html
Hamas: PA arrested 19 affiliates in the West Bank
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Palestinian Authority forces arrested 19 affiliated to Hamas in the West Bank overnight, party sources said Thursday.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38482
Tulkarem: PA forces launch arrest operation for Hamas man
Tulkarem – Ma’an Exclusive – Palestinian Authority security forces have been carrying out a raid in Tulkarem Refugee Camp in the northern West Bank since Wednesday morning in an operation believed to target a Hamas fighter.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38463
Hamas prisoners: The PA security became more dangerous than the occupation
Prisoners of Hamas in Israeli jails stated that the PA security apparatuses in the West Bank became more dangerous to the Palestinian cause and resistance than the Israeli occupation.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7bDIqvtTDap%2b9bMVHzboj5VZzzIHXYwiGKXEzstYWWrAw09y9WvFPZAkYR%2f0%2bZQCQnktLTvEG%2b7rO3OKWieO%2fX54yMA7tkodIJGLzCluG7YI%3d
Batesh: All resistance factions, not only Hamas, targeted by the PA security
Khaled Al-Batesh, a senior Islamic Jihad official, said that after the Qalqiliya events, it became clear that the PA security apparatuses do not target Hamas alone but all resistance factions.
Egyptian Collaboration with Israel
Gazan suffocated in underground smuggling tunnel
Gaza – Ma’an – A young Gazan was suffocated as he struggled to drag smuggled goods through an Egypt-Gaza border tunnel Thursday morning, medical sources said. The young man was identified as 25-year-old Rami Ziyad At-Tubasi, who worked in a tunnel at the As-Salam neighborhood in Rafah.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38476
Political Developments
Two years on, Hamas grip on Gaza stronger than ever
GAZA CITY, June 11, 2009 (AFP) - Abu Moataz has never been a member of the Islamist Hamas movement, but two years after their takeover of the Gaza Strip he happily patrols the streets in the uniform of their paramilitary police. "I have a wife and four children. I am a son of Fatah and I have my beliefs, but I cannot say this government is not good. They feed my children," the 32-year-old says.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KERN-7SW9PP?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P
Meshal prods Obama: Drop conditions for Hamas dialogue
Though Hamas is encouraged by the new tone emanating from Washington, it is urging the Obama administration to drop preconditions for engaging the Islamist organization in dialogue.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092104.html
Why the U.S. Should Start Talking to Hamas (Time.com)
Time.com - A meeting in Damascus shows why the U.S. must be prepared to deal with all sides.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090611/wl_time/08599190396600
Obama to Mubarak: Netanyahu fears peace moves will ruin coalition
During his recent visit to Cairo, U.S. President Barack Obama relayed to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that any cessation of settlement construction and acknowledgment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders will result in the collapse of his coalition government.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092056.html
Erekat: Palestinians in position of strength for first time
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Wednesday the Palestinians are in a position of strength vis-a-vis Israel for the first time in their history. Speaking to the BBC, Erekat said American pressure on Israel would probably succeed and move the peace process forward.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092064.html
Abbas to speak with Fatah factions to reach consensus on congress
President Mahmoud Abbas chairs talks in Jordan on Thursday with factions of Fatah, seeking agreement to hold the first congress in 20 years of the fractured, weakened movement dominating Palestinian politics.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10321710.html
Carter: Mideast peace not possible without Hamas
Former president urges Hamas, Fatah to reconcile so they can negotiate with Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3730026,00.html
Carter to hold rare meeting with settler leader
Former United States president Jimmy Carter is planning a rare meeting with a settler leader in the West Bank during his visit to Israel this weekend, the Carter Center announced Wenesday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091880.html
Hamas: Jimmy Carter Has Our Ear
The Palestinian movement Hamas said it will "listen" to former US president Jimmy Carter and "learn about his efforts to deal with the Palestinian situation," a Hamas senior official said Wednesday.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/10/hamas-jimmy-carter-has-ou_n_213842.html
Jimmy Carter hopeful for Mideast peace by 2012
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Thursday that he hoped that Syria and the Palestinians could make peace with Israel by 2012, after a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. Carter, who has talks with Hamas scheduled for later Thursday, is officially in the region as a private citizen, according to U.S. diplomatic sources.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092193.html
U.S. skeptical Netanyahu will back down: diplomats
Reuters - The United States doubts a policy speech Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to deliver next week will satisfy President Barack Obama’s peacemaking demands, Western diplomats said on Thursday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090611/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_usa
Obama envoy says Palestinian statehood only option
U.S. President Barack Obama had made it clear "the only viable resolution to this conflict is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states," Mitchell said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/10/AR2009061000789.html
US wants Israel to make peace with all neighbors - envoy
US envoy George Mitchell assured the Palestinians on Wednesday of Washington’s commitment to a state of their own, calling its establishment the only viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mitchell, speaking after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urged both sides to meet their obligations under a 2003 peace.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=102911
Obama administration supports equal rights for all Israeli citizens, even in a ’Jewish state’
From today’s daily press briefing with State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly: QUESTION: George Mitchell yesterday, using the phrase “Jewish state,” he said, “Palestinian state living in peace side-by-side with Jewish state.” Was that a slip of the tongue, or does the word “Jewish” signal a new departure for the Obama Administration in dealing with Israel-Palestine? And that being what it is, as he said it, what does it mean as far as the Obama Administration is concerned for Palestinians living inside Israel?
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/06/obama-administration-supports-equal-rights-for-all-israeli-citizens.html
Peres offers interim borders plan
Israeli president says a Palestinian state should exist with provisional borders.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2009/06/2009611115437425689.html
Palestinian FM: We’ll have majority in 20 years
Ahead of PM Netanyahu’s speech, Palestinian foreign minister warns only alternative to two-state vision is bi-national state where Arabs are the majority.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3730078,00.html
Other news
Bottom line for Palestinian entrepreneurs: Reinvent the economy
Ramallah, West Bank - Under pressure from visiting US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, Israeli cabinet ministers mulled easing a siege on the Gaza Strip that was designed to weaken Hamas. Amid US-Israeli disagreement over the Gaza blockade, West Bank settlements, and other issues involved in restarting the peace process, there is one point both sides agree on: The promises to boost the Palestinian economy during the recent round of talks stretching the final year of the Bush administration have produced insufficient results.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0610/p06s14-wome.html
Begin: Palestinians only want one state
Likud minister rejects two-state solution on grounds Palestinians refuse to accept Israel as Jewish state.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3729513,00.html
Norway to Host Conference Assessing Oslo Accords
June 11, (Pal Telegraph) - President Barack Obama’s official trip to Egypt, dubbed historic, to reassure the Arabs and Muslims of impending policy changes has coincided with a parallel effort to rejuvenate the faltering "Middle East Peace Process."
http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/palestinian-refugees/1085-norway-to-host-conference-assessing-oslo-accords
Canada hosts Gaza counter-arms smuggling summit
OTTAWA (AFP) — A two-day summit on efforts to stem the flow of arms smuggled into the Gaza Strip kicked off in Ottawa on Wednesday, Canada’s foreign affairs ministry announced. The talks brought together experts from Gaza Counter-Arms Smuggling Initiative (GCASI) member countries Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Britain and the United States.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5isQUxZwIm3cYQjdAh9Brotu0dRzQ
Palestinian father and uncle arrested after boy found hanged
Police say the father, uncle and cousin of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy have confessed to killing him after he was found hanged in a West Bank barn.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10321893.html
Hidden corpse of Hebron woman brings murder investigation count to three in 24-hours
Ma’an - Police found the body of an unidentified 32-year-old woman hidden in a home just outside the city center; the body marks the third murder uncovered in less than 24 hours.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38489
Fugitive Israeli murderer flees Argentina
Convicted of killing taxi driver Derek Roth as a teenager, Moshe Ben Ivgi fled to South America while on furlough from prison and so far has managed to avoid extradition. Now he is on the run again.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3729460,00.html
Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment
Motorola Drops Israeli Wireless Division MIRS
Motorola is looking to divest itself from its Israeli cell phone division, MIRS, according to a report in Israeli business newspaper, Globes. The announcement comes only two months after the US telecom firm announced it had sold a controversial unit that produced bomb fuses and other equipment for the Israeli military.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/06/motorola-drops-israeli-wireless-division-mirs.html
"Dear Supporters, friends and interested observers
Our update this week took a bit longer to finish, because we wanted it to be a piece that would stay with you. Thanks to Michael Heart, who gave us permission to use his stunning song, and thanks to Paola, who spent many sleepless hours editing and re-editing, we think we have a video that you will not forget... a video that is a testament to the grace and bravery of the Palestinians. —Thank you. The Free Gaza Movement"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcWTHkyrZ4g&feature=player_embedded
Democratic South Africa’s complicity in Israel’s occupation, colonialism and apartheid
This report discusses South African economic relations with Israel as well as the related political and institutional framework. Analyzing dozens of cases of commercial ties and political initiatives, it proves once again that trade relations with Israel necessarily require involvement in or complicity with Israeli violations of human rights and international law, including assistance to Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid. This report focuses exclusively on South African relations with Israel in the post-apartheid era, in an understanding that, within a context where on the ground the only deal offered to the Palestinian people are Bantustans, South African support to the Palestinian people can never offset its support to Israeli occupation and its apartheid regime. The latter rather risks contributing to the Bantustanization of Palestine. To download the full report, click here.
http://stopthewall.org/activistresources/1976.shtml
More than 300 workers express solidarity with fellow Palestinians
GENEVA, June 10 (KUNA) — Workers from across the globe assembled at the UN square on Wednesday in solidarity with the Palestinian workers under Israeli occupation. More than 300 workers representing worker’s unions from across the globe expressed their support in a peaceful sit-in in front of the UN gate at the square.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2006077&Language=en
Analysis/Op-ed
A sign of optimism for Palestinian freedom, By Mustafa Barghouthi
Throughout decades of struggle for Palestinian freedom, there has been little cause for optimism. Today, I am optimistic. President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo last week was the most compelling I have ever heard from an American president. He articulated an understanding of the roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that we have not heard from previous American presidents. By acknowledging the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians for freedom, dignity and a state of our own, Obama has shown that he may have what it takes to provide the constructive, evenhandedpeace-brokering that past American efforts lacked.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article982
Twilight Zone / Telling it like it isn’t, By Gideon Levy
A tiny news item, buried deep inside the paper: "On Wednesday, a Palestinian man was shot and lightly wounded by an Israel Defense Forces soldier at the Hizma checkpoint northeast of Jerusalem. According to military sources, an IDF unit was carrying out a security check when the Palestinian tried to jump one of the soldiers and grab his rifle. The soldier shot him in the stomach. The soldier was unharmed. The wounded man was taken to a hospital in Ramallah." A routine sort of piece. But an investigation by Haaretz and B’Tselem, the Israel Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, revealed that this little item conceals a different story.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092190.html
Meanwhile, back in Israel, Gideon Levy
The Palestinians, who cannot travel from one village to another without permission from Israel, who have no basic human rights and who have been trampled underfoot, humiliated and imprisoned without any sign of sovereignty, are already living as a free people in their country. If the defense minister really thinks so, then there is grave cause for concern: Mr. Security is deranged and has lost touch with reality. If he doesn`t think so, then he`s messing with us. Which is worse?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092075.html
Why Max Blumenthal’s video is important
Tons of people have commented on Max Blumenthal’s video from Jerusalem. It’s about time that Adam Horowitz and I, who run this site, offer our views of the matter. My response is bound to be positive, because it created more traffic for this site than anything in our history (certainly anything I’ve posted!). That said, here is why his video is important journalism: because it reveals an essential component of Israeli and Zionist society that has largely been covered up.
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/06/why-max-blumenthals-video-is-important.html
Israel creates its ’buffer zone’ on Palestinian farmland in the Gaza Strip
Above is a view of an Israeli guard tower (at right) on the eastern border of the Gaza Strip—one of scores of such towers. The rubble in the foreground is the remains of a house the Israelis destroyed before they pulled out of the Strip last January. Between the rubble and the border (which you can make out as a faint gray horizontal line crossing at the tower) is Palestinian farmland, which Palestinians are now afraid to use.
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/06/maybe-you-saw-reports-that-israel-has-declared-a-no-mans-land-or-300-meter-buffer-zone-along-the-eastern-boundary-of-the-gaz.html
The skills of the Mossad: (this plot may be converted into a comedic movie)
"The plot unravelled almost as soon as it began. Mishal’s driver suspected that he’d been followed by a green Hyundai. When he saw a blond, bearded man in sunglasses approaching his boss as he stepped out of the car, with a ‘bizarre instrument’ in his hand, he pounced on him – though not before the poison had been squirted into Mishal’s ear from that instrument, a nebulizer. The attackers piled into the Hyundai, but they didn’t know their way around Amman, and were chased by Mishal’s bodyguard, who did. Eventually they jumped out of their car, but got stuck in a crowded marketplace, where Mishal’s bodyguard wrestled them into a taxi and took them to the nearest police station. Mishal seemed fine at first, but a few hours later he realised that something was wrong: his ear was ringing, he was shivering; he suddenly felt exhausted and nauseous. As his aides rushed him to hospital, he lost consciousness altogether."
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/06/skills-of-mossad-this-plot-may-be.html
Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, and Neve Gordon, "His Name Is Ezra Nawi"
Ezra Nawi is one of Israel’s most courageous human rights activists and without your help, he will likely go to jail in less than 30 days. His crime? He tried to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the South Hebron region. These homes and the families who live in them have been under Israeli occupation for 42 years. They still live without electricity, running water and other basic services. They are continuously harassed by Jewish settlers and the military. Nawi’s friends have launched a campaign to generate tens of thousands of letters to Israeli embassies all over the world before he is due to be sentenced in July. They’ve asked for your help.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/nawi100609.html
From where I sit - Literature in the wall’s shadow
Five minutes before the scheduled start of the Palestinian Festival of Literature late last month, armed Israeli police entered the crowded Palestinian National Theatre in Jerusalem and closed it without explanation. The participating writers hailed from Palestine, among them Suad Amiry, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal and Raja Shehadeh, and were joined by authors from the UK, Canada, Egypt, Sweden and the US.
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=406896&c=1
Waiting expectantly
Obama`s speech went much deeper than others in diagnosing regional problems, referring, for example, to the negative impact of globalization in the region, which has swept in western cultural domination and all the resulting negative social and economic implications. This nod, together with prescriptions for improving and investing in education and women`s issues, shows a level of understanding that the people of the region are not used to in American rhetoric.
http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/pal1.php
MIDEAST: Obama Speech Leaves a Heavy Hangover
CAIRO, Jun 11 (IPS) - The historic speech U.S. President Barack Obama delivered in Cairo Jun. 4 continues to stir people around the Middle East. Questions are raised what it will mean on the ground in the region.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47172
Long Way From ‘Settlerland’ to ‘Palestine’
JERUSALEM — Has Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got the Obama message? To judge by his minimalist response to President Barack Obama’s landmark Cairo University address and his continuing reluctance to meet Obama’s demand for a total freeze on Israeli settlements, the answer would seem to be, "No."
http://original.antiwar.com/kessel-klohendler/2009/06/10/long-way-from-settlerland-to-palestine/
Welcome to Gaza
My phone will not stop ringing. Earlier today I stood in the sun on a farm just 700 meters from the Gaza/Israeli border, photographing young Gazawians flying kites high above the armored Israeli trucks patrolling the barbed wire fence in the distance. As I attempted to leave the farm and young folk tried to pull me into their homes to meet their moms and peaked under my hijab to see the color of my hair, I gave my mobile number to some new friends. We have no common language, but still they repeatedly send a digital signal out into space, to be bounced back down to these borders and into my phone. They burn precious credit on their mobiles just to be heard, to feel a connection to someone who knows a world beyond the barbed wire and ships and trucks and bullets and bombs.
http://www.counterpunch.org/ratner06102009.html
Stephen Zunes: How Not to Support Democracy in the Middle East
President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo to the Muslim world marked a welcome departure from the Bush administration’s confrontational approach. Yet many Arabs and Muslims have expressed frustration that he failed to use this opportunity to call on the autocratic Saudi and Egyptian leaders with whom he had visited on his Middle Eastern trip to end their repression and open up their corrupt and tightly controlled political systems.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/how-not-to-support-democr_b_212794.html
Interfaith dialogue is pointless without intra-faith reflection
Every day, another interfaith conference or dialogue seems to pop up somewhere in the world. Recently in Israel, the Pope met with several religious leaders to promote tolerance and understanding between the three Abrahamic faiths. Last year, Saudi King Abdullah hosted "The World Conference on Dialogue"in Madrid, during which religious leaders of all strands and sects convened to discuss various issues relating to religious tolerance.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091865.html
