TO DAY IN PALESTINE

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Land Theft and Destruction

Israel ’in new settlement drive’
Israeli report says Tel Aviv constructing new housese despite agreements to stop.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/200910611338186952.html

Al-Aqsa foundation: A new Israeli tunnel built under the Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage revealed that the Israeli occupation authorities almost finished the building of a new tunnel under the Aqsa Mosque.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7IRQGAbSImT9aXbHdSA%2bfUKpvmyL9%2bZrCXWWcwBSAVm5STVqkptHJkZCVZfX5JzZTFr%2f5nLL4R4wWI01FJr%2bbk%2bPpfeMnhZLp0Xfs75Vn%2bF8%3d

Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment

Throwing Judge Goldstone (and the Gazans) Under the Bus – Who Won and Who Lost
It took about a week to finish off Richard Goldstone and his Gaza Report. You have to give a lot of credit to the Netanyahu government. They get better at killing the messenger each time they do it. This time a few days of Israeli phone calls to the European capitals, intensive public relations, and a lot of help from the US government, did the trick. Hillary bought the Israeli line that acting upon the Goldstone Report would damage a (non-existent) peace process. As if the war crimes in Gaza had anything to do with any sort of peace process…. And let’s not forget a VERY BIG winner of throwing Judge Goldstone under the bus – the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions people. For we now know that the way to get results out of the Israeli government is through public action – and that action cannot be left to government actions, especially when the governments are serial human-rights violators such as the US, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority.Let’s not pretend that Obama is an innocent bystander here.
http://themagneszionist.blogspot.com/2009/10/throwing-judge-goldstone-and-gazans.html

Turkey: Protestors burn Israeli flag
Thousands attend anti-Israel rally in Istanbul held in support of Arab riots in Jerusalem. Foreign Ministry says moderate forces in turkey will know difference between incitement, facts.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3785936,00.html

Aggression and Violence

IOA troops arrest Palestinian boy after shooting him, settlers steal olives
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) fired at a Palestinian boy to the west of Beit Lahia city, north of the Gaza Strip, and took him away after wounding him, locals reported.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7o1PrxulC19cdY7GcQRyk%2fjKwH5XKGXNPCXfql7yZadOfYugybqtHAS6RPbSLdJbEtGcmMuVucO9qNf4pGbw2AwjgtZMMrfX55L4aerrLGaY%3d

Israeli car strikes elderly Bethlehem farmer, injuring him
Bethlehem – Ma’an – An elderly farmer riding a donkey was injured on Monday evening when an Israeli car struck him on Sunday evening near the West Bank village of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, according to medics.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230029

Police in renewed standoff with Al-Aqsa protesters
Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israeli security forces reportedly surrounded and threatened to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Monday evening in an ongoing standoff with demonstrators inside the holy site.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230045

Settlers suspected of robbing Arab cabbie
Shilo residents arrested after allegedly assaulting taxi driver from east Jerusalem at knifepoint, running off with GPS, cash, cell phone.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3785845,00.html

Israeli police bring reinforcements to Jerusalem (AP)
AP - Israeli police mobilized reinforcements from across the country to secure volatile Jerusalem on Tuesday, deploying thousands of officers on city streets for fears that two days of clashes with Palestinian protesters would escalate.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091006/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

Military procedures and mood in the Old City of Jerusalem reminiscent of 1967
Jerusalem / PNN - A number of guards of Al Aqsa Mosque reported today that Israeli soldiers and police stood at the gates of the mosque and prevented them from entering today to conduct their business.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7266

Palestinian Retaliation
Hamas arrests militants planning to fire rockets at Israel
Haaretz - Hamas has warned the factions not to fire rockets under any circumstances, according to the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat report, even in response to Israeli measures at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1119165.html

Report: Soldier stabbed in East Jerusalem
Bethlehem - Ma’an - A Palestinian refugee was detained on Monday evening over allegations he stabbed an Israeli soldier operating in East Jerusalem, according to the Hebrew-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. The unsourced report said a resident of Shufat refugee camp was arrested and transferred by Israeli military forces to an unspecified location for interrogation.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229990

Detainees

Detention of young children up 74%
DCI-Palestine continues to be deeply concerned at the high number of young children (12-15 years) in Israeli detention facilities.
http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=1276&CategoryId=1

Hamas: PA detains two West Bank supporters
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Hamas movement said on Tuesday that Fatah-backed Palestinian Authority security forces detained two supporters of the Islamic movement in the West Bank over the past two days. A Hamas statement said the detainees were from the Nablus and Qalqiliya districts in the northern West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230139

Humanitarian/Human Rights/Israeli Racism

Lawyers Denounce Israeli Police Crackdown
Jonathan Cook views the case of one of dozens of Israeli Arab political activists who have faced long-term detention in Israel during the Zionist entity’s winter assault on Gaza in what human rights groups are calling political intimidation and repression of free speech by the Israeli police and courts.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1106

Heavy security around al-Aqsa
Muslim men under the age of 50 were prevented from entering the compound as thousands of Jews gathered at the nearby Western Wall on Monday for prayers marking the week-long holiday of Sukkot.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/200910572553875419.html

Israel closes Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque to Palestinians
Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli authorities prevented Muslim worshippers from entering the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron for the second consecutive day on Monday, allowing Israeli settlers to use the site.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229934

Loss Of Innocence: Gaza children’s artwork,
October 6, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Loss Of Innocence: Gaza children’s artwork, is an exhibition of paintings and drawings done by children in Gaza following the Israeli 22 day assault earlier this year.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/entertainment/tv/2514-loss-of-innocence-gaza-childrens-artwork

Israel`s democracy and its Arab population
David Newman - Jerusalem Post - It is not easy to understand the rationale behind almost every government policy to allocate fewer resources per capita to Arab citizens. It doesn`t make sense and, in the long term, has proved to be totally self-defeating for the state.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=35991

War Crimes

Amnesty International Calls for UN Secretary General to Refer Goldstone Report on Gaza to UN Security Council
The organization said the deferral indicates a lack of political will to deal robustly with issues of accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in Gaza and southern Israel.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGUSA20091005002&lang=e

Palestinian (Fatah) Collaboration with Israel
Fatah-led security officers accused of torturing Hamas suspect to death
Palestinian authorities begin military trial over death of Haitham Amr, fourth Hamas suspect to die in custody this year
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/05/fatah-hamas-torture-trial

Abbas Pressured to Quit over Report, Threatened with a Video Tape?!
06/10/2009 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is facing unusually harsh criticism from within Fatah and other Palestinian groups for his decision last week to withdraw a draft document requesting the United Nations Human Rights Council pursue the adoption of the Goldstone report which could have led to the prosecution of Israel for war crimes during its aggression in Gaza. Senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Zahar has demanded that the Palestinian president resign for supporting the postponement of the UN vote. Al-Zahar told Al Jazeera that Abbas was guilty of "a very big crime against the Palestinian people" over the Palestinian Authority’s support to defer endorsing the report, which was highly critical of Israel’s conduct during the Gaza war.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=105964&language=en

The Abu Mazen Tapes, the Goldstone Report and the Israeli Blackmail
A Palestinian press agency claims that the surprising decision by Palestinian Authority officials to postpone the discussion of the Goldstone report in the UN Human Rights Council is the result of an Israeli threat. According to a report by Shihab, the Palestinian Authority refused Israel’s demand that it withdraw its support for the harsh report, which Israel considered one-sided. Following this, Israeli figures showed the PA a series of tapes in which Palestinian Authority officials could be heard urging Israel to continue the operation in Gaza. Israel threatened to reveal the material to media outlets as well as to the UN and this, in turn, resulted in the Palestinian retreat. It was further claimed that the Palestinians were shown footage showing a meeting between Abu Mazen, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and then foreign minister Tzippi Livni. In the course of the meeting, according to the report, Abu Mazen attempted to convince Barak to continue the operation. Barak appeared hesitant whereas Abu Mazen was enthusiastic. In addition, a telephone conversation recording between Abed Al-Rahim, secretary general of the Palestinian Authority and director of Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi’s bureau was presented. The Palestinian senior official can be heard saying that now is the time to bring ground forces into the Jabalya and Shati refugee camps. “The fall of these two camps will bring about the fall of the Hamas regime in Gaza, and will cause them to wave a white flag,” says Abed Al-Rahim. According to the report, Dov Weissglas told Abed Al-Rahim that such a move could result in the deaths of thousands of civilians. “They all voted for Hamas,” says Abed Al-Rahim, “they chose their fate, not us.”
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/oh-people-of-palestineif-not-bulletspray-tellwhere-are-your-shoes/

PA blamed for Goldstone vote delay
Qatar official says vote had wide support at UN body but Palestinian wishes prevailed.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2009/10/200910694937206242.html

Foreign Ministry orders staff to keep mum on Goldstone report
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is facing unusually harsh criticism from within Fatah and other Palestinian groups for his decision last week to withdraw a draft document requesting the United Nations Human Rights Council pursue the adoption of the Goldstone report on alleged crimes against humanity in Operation Cast Lead.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1119114.html

The last straw?
"Reports have been circulating in the Arab, Israeli and European media that Abbas and his associates may have been prompted to take this extraordinary action because Israel had been threatening, had they continued with their support of the UN resolution, to withhold its release of a share of the radio spectrum that would have allowed the creation of a new Palestinian mobile phone company, Wataniyya: the product of a joint venture between Qatari investors and the Palestine Investment Fund, to which Abbas himself and one of his wealthy sons have personal connections. Palestinians have suggested that simple corruption and cronyism may have motivated Abbas’s decision. [continued]
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/10/last-straw.html
http://sareemakdisi.net/2009/10/05/last-straw-for-the-palestinian-authority/

Dahlan envoy in Geneva
I watched the interview with Ibrahim Khurayshah (the PA ambassador at the UN in Geneva) on Al-Arabiyya TV (the private station of King Fahd’s brother-in-law) which has been working hard to shore up the reputation and standing of the Dahlanists in the wake of the UN crisis over Goldstone’s report. Now, I am familiar with the incompetent PLO’s ambassadors during Arafat time, but this one is of such a low caliber and is such an incompetent ambassador that I felt that Arafat’s appointees were far better. Throughout the interview, he kept referring to the GoldenStone report. He kept repeating "the GoldenStone" report. The ambassador in charge of discussion the report at the UN, has not read the report and does not even know the name of the author. There are collaborators and then there are incompetent, ridiculous collaborators. [end]
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/10/dahlan-envoy-in-geneva.html

Dahlan explains why Palestinians should not revolt
"But we won’t push the Palestinian people into a disaster." [end]
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1118700.html

Palestinian and other Arab reactions to Fatah Treason
Ramallah demonstration: Fury at the PA over Goldstone decision
October 5th, 2009— Nearly a thousand people took to the streets today in Ramallah to protest the position of the PNA on the Goldstone Report. Carrying flags and banners and blocking traffic, people marched and vented their rage against the Palestinian Authority (PA) for failing to take the opportunity to see Israeli war criminals tried in international courts.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2082.shtml

Syria cancels Palestinian leader’s visit
Syria has postponed a planned visit by the Palestinian President amid controversy about his decision to suspend efforts to have Israeli officials prosecuted for war crimes over last winter’s military offensive in Gaza.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-cancels-palestinian-leaders-visit-1798196.html

Palestinian orgs: Justice delayed is justice denied
On 2 October 2009, the Palestinian leadership — under heavy international pressure lead by the United States — deferred the draft proposal at the Human Rights Council endorsing all the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission (the Goldstone Report). This deferral denies the Palestinian peoples’ right to an effective judicial remedy and the equal protection of the law. It represents the triumph of politics over human rights. It is an insult to all victims and a rejection of their rights.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10810.shtml

Sarraj calls for removing Abbas from office
Head of the national reconciliation campaign Eyad Al-Sarraj called for conducting an investigation with Mahmoud Abbas and removing him from office.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s76UOKwDKS2MNdHXyIT4I1QRcOM0qoaqvXqRif2DUyrD7QMV4nqrQTc7jBYXOZN9Pv7lKHJ36PXFt20QWXkbGj9Mq%2bTUog93wUg9HWNgjfuTc%3d

Hamas calls for dropping Abbas’ Palestinian ID over UN Gaza report delay
GAZA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) — A senior Hamas leader on Monday called for taking the Palestinian nationality off President Mahmoud Abbasover the Palestinian National Authority’s (PNA) request to postpone voting on a Gaza war report at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/05/content_12184991.htm

Haniyeh: Abbas himself responsible for Goldstone report delay
Gaza – Ma’an – Gaza-based Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh accused President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday of being personally responsible for the delay of international action on a United Nations report on war crimes in Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229971

Hamas accuses Abbas of treason for ’justifying’ Gaza war
Hamas leaders on Monday warned that President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to delay action on a United Nations report criticizing Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip was in essence a "justification" of the war and encouragement of occupation.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1118941.html

UN must act on Goldstone and the PA must be dissolved
Succumbing to US pressure and unabashed Israeli blackmail, Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Ramallah Palestinian Authority (PA), was reportedly personally responsible for the decision to defer UN Security Council consideration of the Goldstone report. This dashed the hopes of Palestinians everywhere as well as those of international human rights organizations and solidarity movements, that Israel would finally face a long overdue process of legal accountability and that its victims would have a measure of justice.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10812.shtml

Anger at Abbas over Goldstone report delay - 05 Oct 09
News Middle East Video: Palestinian anger at Abbas Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, is facing a growing backlash over the postponement of a vote on a UN report that criticises Israel for the Gaza war. The report by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, blamed both the Israeli military and Palestinian fighters for war crimes during Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip between December and January, but it was more critical of Israeli troops for "targeting and terrorising civilians". Abbas has dismissed accusations that he bowed to US pressure to support the postponement, but that has done little to quell growing anger from all sectors of Palestinian society. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh reports on the protests from the West Bank city of Ramallah.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK0tc4WkqXU&feature=youtube_gdata

Palestinians outraged over Abbas bowing to Israel, US
The Palestinian Authority’s decision to postpone a vote on the Goldstone report last week is the last straw for many, sparking protests in the West Bank and Gaza.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1005/p06s16-wome.html

Fury over Gaza war report weakens Abbas (AFP)
AFP - A controversial decision not to press a vote on a UN report on the Gaza war has angered many Palestinians and weakened president Mahmud Abbas amid US-backed peace efforts, observers say.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091006/wl_afp/mideastconflictgazaunpalestinianpolitics

Betrayal In Geneva
The news coming out of Geneva these days is indeed very shocking and depressing. The Abbas government, whose term in office has expired long ago, has succumbed to pressure being exerted by Hillary Clinton and Avigdor Lieberman to defer any and all discussion of the Goldstone report on the war crimes in Gaza until next March. Such action or inaction is tantamount to a permanent deferral favored by the US and Israel. The unprecedented Goldstone Committee report accuses Israel of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity this past winter in Gaza. In the meantime, 36 nations are ready to resist such vulgar pressure in order to give the Goldstone report a legal standing and to facilitate the prosecution of Israel in the International Criminal Court. Such abhorrent action, or inaction by the PA, makes it complicit in the crimes committed by Israel last winter against defenseless civilians in Gaza.
http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/7078/pid/2254

Is Palestinian and Arab blood cheap? Yes. It is cheap when spilled by Israel and its cheaper when spilled by Arabs
It is written in the Torah if any one cares to read and know: “Destroy all the land, beat down their pillars and break their statues and waste all of their high places, cleansing the land and dwelling in it for I have given it to you for your possession” Numbers 33:52,53. “ And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city both men and women, young and old and ox and sheep and ass with the edge of the sword” Joshua 6:21 The PLO /PA leadership decision to withdraw support through postponement of Judge Goldstone’s Report on Israeli War Crimes in Gaza presented to the UN Human Rights Council did not and should not come as a surprise. The Ramallah leadership is now making all kinds of excuses to justify its positions including denial with contradictory statements coming from Mahmoud Abbas and his representative in Geneva and senior members of Fatah. The claims of surprise and the entire PLO/PA leadership are bunch of liars and collaborators with Israel.
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/10/05/sami-jamil-jadallah-is-palestinian-and-arab-blood-cheap-yes-it-is-cheap-when-spilled-by-israel-and-its-cheaper-when-spilled-by-arabs/

Another injustice to Palestinians - Curtis Doebbler
The Goldstone report on the violence in Gaza is a shocking record of the inhumanity of mankind in wartime. It was assumed that Israel, the main target of its criticism, and its principle ally, the United States, would oppose the report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229989

Other Political Developments

Report: Fifteen US Navy ships in Israeli waters for joint drill
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Fifteen US Navy warships arrived in Israeli waters in advance of a major joint military exercise, according to the Hebrew newspaper Ma’ariv on Tuesday. The newspaper said the ships began arriving several weeks ago carrying fighter jets which later landed on Israel’s land military bases.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230118

Hamas police: Abbas aides could be arrested if they enter Gaza
Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas-backed police in the Gaza Strip threatened to arrest anyone involved in the deferral of international action on the United Nations report on war crimes in Gaza on Tuesday. Police official Rafiq Abu Hani said during a Gaza news conference that if anyone linked to the decision to reverse the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) support for Judge Richard Goldstone’s report enters the Strip, they could be arrested. He said this could happen even if Hamas signs a unity deal with Fatah, which controls the PA in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=230183

Hamas Has Been Handed a Hot Potato, and Doesn’t Know What to Do!
The fast moving events and the explosive revelations about the treason of Abbas and his Ramallah gang, captured on video and taped telephone conversations, dealing with high level Israelis during the IOF devastation of Gaza, and urging them to continue with the attacks, have put Hamas in a very awkward spot. Coming just days after Mishaal announced that a deal for "reconciliation" with Abbas has already been reached. All that remains is the final wording of the deal (to be arranged by the Pharaoh’s Foreign Minister, Break-Their-Legs-Abul-Gheit, and his Intelligence Chief Suleiman) and ceremonies for signing it (in Cairo), attended by representatives of most of the puppet Arab regimes. In fact Suleiman and Abul-Gheit are in Jordan meeting with the puppet king and the traitor Abbas, to finalize the deal. Hamas is speaking with a dozen voices. There is a lot of sound and fury, but all of the Hamas leaders have not closed the door on dealing with Abbas. Habila has blasted the delaying of the vote on the report as "irresponsible." Some have called for POSTPONING (not cancelling) the signing of the "reconciliation" deal with him.
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2009/10/hamas-has-been-handed-hot-potato-and.html

Abbas is a clown: Abbas cabinet says will confront Israel; protests flare
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The Western-backed Palestinian government pledged on Monday "to confront Israel" as Israeli troops clashed with protesters for a second day in the Jerusalem area. Youths hurled rocks at policemen and burned cardboard cartons and trash in the streets of Shuafat in Arab East Jerusalem, after Israel arrested a teenager it suspects stabbed and wounded a soldier conducting a security check on a bus.
http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSL5526105

Shalit deal could be last chance for prisoners with Israeli IDs
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Over the past few days, serious progress has been made on wrapping up a prisoner swap deal between Israel and the captors of soldier Gilad Shalit, and several obstacles have been overcome through negotiations, our sources say.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=229944

Saudi King to make rare visit to Syria for talks on Mideast peace
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia will meet Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus this week to discuss restarting efforts towards a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, political sources said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1118957.html

Palestinians to sign unity deal October 26: Egypt FM (AFP)
AFP - Rival Palestinian factions are to sign a reconciliation deal in Cairo on October 26, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Monday after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in Amman.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091005/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpalestinianegyptpolitics

Hamas to Egypt: Postpone reconciliation meeting with Fatah
Request follows PA’s support for deferral of UN vote on Goldstone Report. ’Palestinian people won’t have mercy on us if we reconcile with those who failed to protect their rights,’ Islamist group says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3785959,00.html

Other News

The collaborator wants fruits
"This ethnic group that has given so much, that began to give to the country before the state had even been established, should be adopted by the state. And the state should give it its rightful place, because otherwise Arab MKs can say to us "why are you talking about enlisting to the IDF. Look at the Druse, look at their education, their unemployment, their lack of housing.’ I don’t want that. I want the state to take the Druse as a project, to see how they can place them in the best possible position. It is in Israel’s interest to do so."
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/10/collaborator-wants-fruits.html

Israeli stinks up US town with rotting meat odor
Owner of kosher meat plant in South Dakota leaves tons of meat unattended. When freezers fail, meat melts foul stench overtakes town. Owner says tried to handle problem, accuses those blaming him of being anti-Semitic.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3786039,00.html

Some 10,000 people attend Palestine’s sixth Oktoberfest in West Bank’s Taybeh
Taybeh - Taybeh’s fifth annual beer festival has brought a much-needed economic stimulus, international attention, and an enjoyable weekend to this small West Bank village. Over ten thousand Palestinians, internationals and tourists descended upon this quiet village tucked away in the hills north of Ramallah for the two day festival.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7267

Analysis/Op-ed

Palestinian Voices of Gloom Get Louder
ABU DIS, Occupied West Bank – Three Israeli soldiers, automatic rifles slung across their shoulders, are questioning a group of Palestinian builders. The top floors being added to the concrete house that lies right alongside Israel’s security wall, which divides off occupied East Jerusalem from Palestinian territory on the eastern side, have evidently aroused some concern.
http://original.antiwar.com/kessel-klohendler/2009/10/05/palestinian-voices-of-gloom-get-louder/

Time to re-engage with people power
Bereft of any credible or legitimate leadership, the Palestinian people will have to look to themselves to continue their struggle for freedom, justice and equality. Indeed, their struggle has been at its best, for example, during the first intifada of the 1980s, when the official leadership — at the time in exile in Tunis — was actually least involved in it. No wonder, then, that the Israeli response to the grassroots autonomy of the first intifada was to usher the official leadership back into Palestine; the first intifada then stalled, and things have gone downhill ever since. Saree Makdisi comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10811.shtml

"Palestinians Must Be Afforded Their Own Humanity" by Yousef Munayyer
In a seemingly inconceivable move, the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s representative to the United Nations did not support the advancement of the Goldstone report detailing human rights violations during Israel’s 22-day campaign against Gaza. Putting the politics behind this maneuvering aside, this act highlights a dangerous attitude within Palestinian international relations and the so-called “peace process.” What I am talking about is the tension between individual human rights and the prerogative of an elite few who can chose to ignore the necessity of those rights for political purposes.
http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/7076/pid/2254

MSNBC airs Greenwald saying Israel flouts NPT and ’slaughters’ neighbors
Genius appearance by Glenn Greenwald on MSNBC here. Arianna Huffington, fresh back from Israel, is a militant talking points mama. "Iran is challenging the existential presence of Israel," she says, and denying the Holocaust too. Iran has threatened to bomb Israel. (Has it? I don’t believe so.) Greenwald says, A lot of people make threats, John McCain sang songs about bombing Iran during his campaign. Then Greenwald makes the following points:
–Israel refuses to belong to the Nonproliferation treaty, refuses to allow the IAEA to examine its stockpile,
–Iran has invaded and bombed no one in the last couple centuries, while the US has invaded and bombed and occupied both its neighbors, and Israel has attacked Syria, Lebanon and "slaughtered" large numbers of people in Gaza.
Who’s the real threat in the region? he asks. Wonderful to see this making the cable shows. Where is Chris Matthews? [end]
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/10/msnbc-airs-greenwald-saying-israel-flouts-npt-and-slaughters-neighbors.html

Irving Moskowitz’s Bingo Madness
Al-Manar.com.lb is not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author’s alone. Irving Moskowitz has come a long way since he began his medical career as a young internist in California 60 years ago. Shortly after earning his medical degree in 1952, he bought his first hospital. This transaction turned into a lucrative business of buying and selling hospitals, which earned him his first fortune.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=105791&language=en

How I’m Losing My Love For Israel
Jay Michaelson - The Forward - 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. (...) 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.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=35992