Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
Elections Archive - September 2010
Elections Archive - September 2010
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PFLP calls for immediate withdrawal from talks 9/30/2010 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Thursday called on the PLO to withdraw from talks in the absence of a total end to settlement building. The leftist faction rejected a two-month extension to the partial freeze on settlement building, which US President Barack Obama was reported to.... PPP calls for united, popular resistance front Uruknet September 29, 2010 -- The leftist Palestinian Peoples' Party called on Tuesday for a united front for the popular resistance, in a statement marking the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000. The PPP said Palestinian factions should learn from the First and Second Intifadas "to adopt the peoples' way of facing aggression," demanding the formation of a united... WATCH: Terror alert: Colbert warns of "sleeper-in-coffin cells." Palestine Note 30 Sep 2010 - The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Terror a New One www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive Days of action planned after FBI raids on activists Electronic Intifada: 30 Sep 2010 - Activists are planning new actions after rallies took place in dozens of cities across the United States to protest raids by the FBI on homes of anti-war and Palestine and Colombia solidarity activists in Minnesota and Chicago last week. The FBI also subpoenaed at least 14 activists in Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan to testify at a grand jury.more Days before birthday, my son sees Gaza's horror Electronic Intifada: 30 Sep 2010 - The Electronic Intifada reporter Rami Almeghari was in the hospital with his son, whose lips were being stitched up, when the victims of an Israeli air strike were rushed into the admissions room.more Nilin journalist "determined to film" Electronic Intifada: 30 Sep 2010 - Hamoudeh Amireh participates in the resistance against Israel's settlements through his documentation of the grassroots struggle in the occupied West Bank village of Nilin. Jody McIntyre interviews for The Electronic Intifada.more PPP calls for united, popular resistance front 9/29/2010 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The leftist Palestinian Peoples' Party called on Tuesday for a united front for the popular resistance, in a statement marking the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000. The PPP said Palestinian factions should learn from the First and Second Intifadas "to adopt the peoples' way of facing.... US imposes sanctions on 8 Iranian officials for human rights violations Palestine Note 29 Sep 2010 - Washington - US President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Wednesday for sanctions against Iranian government officials for what the US calls human rights violations during the mass protests after the 2009 Iranian elections. This... South Africa’s foreign policy in knots? Iqbal Jassat, Ma’an News Agency 9/29/2010 Is South a recent interview, South Africa’s ambassador to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, Ted Pekane, made an intriguing observation: "Currently we have no intention of breaking ties with Israel. That would be counter-productive. Our policy of engagement applies to Israel as well. Only if the [Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas] asked us to support the disinvestments and sanctions campaign against Israel would we consider packing our bags." This admission is the closest any senior foreign ministry official has come to in revealing an inherent weakness in this country’s relations with Israel and Palestine. It is shocking too in that it implies our diplomatic engagement in the world’s number one conflict zone is blinded and being pursued while voluntarily having our hands tied behind our back. More importantly, it discloses an intolerable weakness that inevitably is exploited by the stronger of the two sides. Israel is in effective control of all aspects of Palestinian life by virtue of the occupation and the multiple layers of restrictive measures. In such an unusual situation, no country having diplomatic ties with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority can claim any form of political equilibrium. For South Africa to argue that ties with Israel are balanced by maintaining a presence in the West Bank is questionable. It results in the type of untenable position articulated by Ambassador Pekane and places undue constraints on our ability to either pursue relations freely or with the legitimately elected leadership of Palestine. more.. e-mail PA decision at UN a "betrayal of Gaza victims' rights" Electronic Intifada: 30 Sep 2010 - As members of the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations, we strongly condemn the decision of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to support a UN Human Rights Council resolution that accords further time for ineffective domestic investigations, thus effectively failing to pursue accountability for crimes committed during the Israeli offensive code-named "Operation Cast Lead."more Avigdor Lieberman’s UN speech shows the true face of Israel Mondoweiss - Yisrael Beiteinu’s strong third-place showing in Israel’s February 2009 elections for the Knesset was met with dread and disgust from many different quarters. Avigdor Lieberman , the founder and leader of the far-right party and the current Foreign Minister, ran a campaign filled with fascist overtones as... EU offers tax benefits for Israeli settlements Electronic Intifada: 29 Sep 2010 - BRUSSELS (IPS) - Organizations raising funds to benefit the Israeli army and illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank enjoy tax-exempt status in Europe, an IPS investigation has shown. The Sar-El Foundation is one of several groups working in the Netherlands dedicated to supporting the Israeli military.more Protection by any means necessary Electronic Intifada: 29 Sep 2010 - This month, Palestinians in Lebanon commemorated the 28th anniversary of a crime whose perpetrators remain unpunished and whose victims still wait for justice. Around the anniversary of the massacres at Sabra and Shatila, Matthew Cassel spoke with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon about the issue of their weapons and their ongoing struggle for rights.more Jihad says fighters not injured in airstrike 9/28/2010 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement denied on Tuesday that three Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on Monday night were affiliated to the faction's Al-Quds Brigades. The dead, three young men in their 20s, were transferred to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, officials said.... Abbas: Opposition has every right to mistrust Israel 9/28/2010 - PARIS, France (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that he did not fault Palestinian opposition factions for treating with suspicion Israeli plans for the West Bank."There is a difference between opposition and 'enemies of peace'," he told reporters in Paris following a meeting with French Jewish leader Richard Prasquier. Palestinians.... Israeli Raid on Gaza Flotilla: A Revealing UN Rights Council Report Uruknet September 27, 2010 - Following Israel's raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on 31 May, the UN Human Rights Council elected to establish an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law. On 23 July the three-person Mission was appointed. It consisted of Chairman Karl Hudson-Phillips, retired Judge of the International... UN mission finds Israel used "incredible violence" in Flotilla raid Electronic Intifada: 28 Sep 2010 - "No one was safe," once Israeli soldiers began using live ammunition on board the Mavi Marmara , says an authoritative UN investigation team into the Israeli attacks on the Gaza aid flotilla.more Israeli Raid on Gaza Flotilla: A Revealing UN Rights Council Report Palestine Chronicle: 27 Sep 2010 - By Richard Lightbown Following Israel's raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on 31 May, the UN Human Rights Council elected to establish an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law. On 23 July the three-person Mission was appointed. It consisted of Chairman Karl Hudson-Phillips, retired Judge of the International Criminal Court and former Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago; Sir Desmond de Silva, former Chief Prosecutor of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone; and Ms Mary Shanthi Dairiam, a specialist on international women’s rights. They were assisted by a large team including external specialists in forensic pathology, military issues, firearms, the law of the sea and international humanitarian law. The Mission began work in Geneva on 9 August and an advanced unedited edition of its report was published just over six weeks later on 22 September. Israel’s response so far...more Jerusalem Electricity Company employees say attacked 9/27/2010 - JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- A group of Palestinian men attacked employees at the Jerusalem Electricity Company in East Jerusalem on Sunday evening and Monday morning, leaving five seriously injured, witnesses said. Employees at the company's office on Salah Ad-Din Street in the Old City said the assailants used clubs, knives and pepper spray.... Hamas leader says rival Palestinian factions close to reconciliation Daily Star 27 Sep 2010 DAMASCUS: The Syria-based Palestinian Hamas leader said Monday only minor issues remain for a full reconciliation with the rival Fatah group. Khaled Meshaal did not give details but said the two sides have taken "serious and... What if peace talks "succeed?" Electronic Intifada: 27 Sep 2010 - Many commentators expect the direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians to fail. But there is a much worse scenario: what if they "succeed?" Nadia Hijab comments.more Review: Norwegian doctors' "Eyes in Gaza" Electronic Intifada: 27 Sep 2010 - Eyes in Gaza is a detailed and harrowing account by the Norwegian doctors Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse of their experiences in al-Shifa Hospital during Israel's deadly assault on Gaza in December 2008-January 2009.more Israeli Raid on Gaza Flotilla: Revealing UN Rights Council Report Palestine Chronicle: 27 Sep 2010 - By Richard Lightbown Following Israel's raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on 31 May, the UN Human Rights Council elected to establish an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law. On 23 July the three-person Mission was appointed. It consisted of Chairman Karl Hudson-Phillips, retired Judge of the International Criminal Court and former Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago; Sir Desmond de Silva, former Chief Prosecutor of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone; and Ms Mary Shanthi Dairiam, a specialist on international women’s rights. They were assisted by a large team including external specialists in forensic pathology, military issues, firearms, the law of the sea and international humanitarian law. The Mission began work in Geneva on 9 August and an advanced unedited edition of its report was published just over six weeks later on 22 September. Israel’s response so far...more PFLP official: Boycotting PLO is tactical move 9/26/2010 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine member Jamil Mezher said Sunday the faction's decision to boycott PLO Executive Committee meetings was a tactical rejection of peace talks. The leftist faction announced it would no longer attend the meetings over the decision to resume negotiations "under Israeli and US.... Related: PFLP to boycott PLO meetings Palestinian faction cuts ties with PLO over Mideast peace talks Ha'aretz - PFLP says it will not be a cover for policies that would devastate the national cause, as widespread criticism against talks brims within PLO. Palestinian faction cuts ties with PLO over Mideast peace talks Ha'aretz 26 Sep 2010 - PFLP says it will not be a cover for policies that would devastate the national cause, as widespread criticism against talks brims within PLO. Palestinian faction suspends PLO membership YNet News - Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issues statement saying 'Oslo.... Hamas and Fatah revive Palestinian reconciliation talks Daily Star 26 Sep 2010 DAMASCUS: Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction agreed on Friday to help revive Egyptian efforts to narrow a schism between them that has undermined the Palestinian cause."An agreement was reached for a course and... Resheq: Egypt not against reconciliation understandings between Hamas and Fatah PIC 26 Sep 2010 - Ezzet Al-Resheq stated Saturday that Egypt does not mind if there are Palestinian understandings agreed upon between Hamas and Fatah factions before the signing of its reconciliation paper. Canada, Israel & Palestine Yves Engler, ZNet 9/20/2010 Current peace negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian officials are unlikely to end, let alone reverse, Palestinian dispossession. The power imbalance between the sides is simply too great. While Canada could be part of the solution, so far it has been part of the problem. The largest Palestinian political force, Hamas, has been excluded from these U.S.-sponsored talks, while the electoral mandate of the Palestinian representative, Mahmoud Abbas, expired 20 months ago. Abbas, who arbitrarily extended his term as Palestinian Authority President, is heavily dependent on countries such as the U.S. and Canada, and this has undermined his negotiating position. After Hamas won Canadian-monitored and facilitated legislative elections in early 2006, Stephen Harper made Canada the first country to cut its assistance to the Palestinian Authority. The goal was to sow division among Palestinians, and it worked. Immediately after the Palestinian unity government collapsed in mid 2007, the Canadian International Development Agency contributed $8 million “in direct support to the new [Abbas-led] government.” Ottawa pumped millions of dollars into training a Palestinian security force “to ensure that the PA [Palestinian Authority] maintains control of the West Bank against Hamas,” as Canadian ambassador to Israel Jon Allen was quoted as saying by the Canadian Jewish News. U.S. Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton, in charge of organizing the 10,000-member Palestinian force supported by Canada, never admitted that he was strengthening Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah against Hamas, but to justify his program Dayton argued that Iran and Syria funded and armed Hamas. Bolstering Fatah to counteract the growing strength of Hamas was the impetus for Dayton’s mission, yet the broader aim was, and is, to build a force to patrol Israel’s occupation. more.. e-mail DFLP, Fatah officials meet in Damascus 9/25/2010 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The leader of a Palestinian leftist faction and Fatah Central Committee member Azzam Al-Ahmad met in Damascus on Saturday to discuss recent developments in efforts to secure a unity deal with Hamas, a party source said. A source within the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said Secretary-General Nayef Hawatmeh.... Hamas and Fatah lay out process for reconciliation The National 25 Sep 2010 - Leaders from two groups hold 'friendly' talks in Damascus, agreeing to hold another meeting designed to bring about peace between the rival Palestinian factions Resistance leaders sit in at Gaza to support Palestinian prisoners PIC 25 Sep 2010 - Palestinian faction leaders and other speakers at a press conference on Saturday agreed to escalate efforts supporting Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Gaza power crisis returns with Jewish holidays PIC 25 Sep 2010 - The electricity crisis in Gaza returned because of the Jewish holidays, during which Israel closed Gaza’s crossings and stopped entry of industrial fuel required to operate the power station. West Bank independents: It's time for conciliation 9/24/2010 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Independent figures in Nablus called for an end to Palestinian infighting on Friday, as efforts in Damascus continue between Fatah and Hamas officials. In the wake of a meeting between Hamas leader in exile Khalid Mash'al and independent Palestinian figure Munib Al-Masri, and in the shadow of talks going.... Why Mitchell Said 'No' to Hamas Ramzy Baroud, CounterPunch 9/24/2010 Not Ready for Manipulation One key difference between Hamas and its rival, the Fatah movement in the West Bank, is that Hamas is accountable to a much more complex set of priorities and expectations. While Fatah is effortlessly co-opted, Hamas remains confined by ideological standards and the stringiest political space. Although, on one hand this represents Hamas’ greatest strength, on the other it shows just how truly arduous is its political undertaking. The difference is relevant in light of the resumption of talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, followed by another round of talks in the Middle East. Both once more raised the question: can Israel and Fatah achieve peace without Hamas’ involvement? The question itself can be interpreted in more ways than one. Dan Murphy, writing in the Christian Science Monitor on September 16, asked: Can ignoring Hamas lead to Israeli-Palestinian peace? Murphy, unlike many in the US media, had enough insight to see the issue as worthy of discussion. His use of the word ‘ignoring’, however, is greatly misguided. “But there's a crucial missing element that will undoubtedly trouble the Israeli-Palestinian talks as they move ahead. Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement, is not at the table,” Murphy wrote. With that he offered his version of what not ‘ignoring’ Hamas requires. Far from ‘engaging’ the party, it simply means placing Gaza, that lonely enclave ruled by Islamic Hamas, on the table. Gaza, however, is not merely one issue among many. It represents the heart of the matter. The Gaza Strip was placed under siege due to the Hamas’ victory in the 2006 parliamentary elections, which robbed Abbas and his movement from any legitimacy in holding negotiations with Israel.... more.. e-mail "Why aren't the Bedouin treated like Jewish citizens?" Electronic Intifada: 24 Sep 2010 - Jillian Kestler-D'Amours interviews Ismael Abu Saad, Associate Professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the founder of the university's Center for Bedouin Studies and Development, about the history of Bedouin communities and Israeli policy in the region, and the strength of resistance in al-Araqib.more Abdel Nasser Amer's "Sweet dreams" Electronic Intifada: 24 Sep 2010 - Abdel Nasser Amer is an artist who lives and works in the city of Khan Younis in the occupied Gaza Strip. During Israel's 2008-09 winter invasion of Gaza, Amer's studio and some of his art were destroyed. Amer won a competition for a six-month residency with the Swiss Visual Artists Association in Neuchatel, Switzerland where he is working on his latest project, Rehaan (the sweet smell of dreams). The Electronic Intifada contributor Adri Nieuwhof interviews Amer to discuss his life and work.more Israel makes meeting another Arab a crime Electronic Intifada: 23 Sep 2010 - A vague security offense of "contact with a foreign agent" is being used by Israel's secret police, the Shin Bet, to lock up Arab political activists in Israel without evidence that a crime has been committed, human rights lawyers alleged this week. Jonathan Cook reports.more Al-Ahmad: Hamas must ratify Egyptian paper 9/24/2010 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmad and Hamas conciliation leader Mousa Marzouq on Thursday arranged a meeting between a Fatah delegation and Hamas leaders in Damascus. Al-Ahmad said he would be joined by Sakher Bsesu and Samir Ar-Refa'e, who would try to convince Hamas leaders to ratify the unity paper proposed.... Hamas unearths espionage network working for Israel Palestine Note 23 Sep 2010 - Washington - Senior Hamas official, Abu Abdallah Lafi released a statement saying, "The phenomena (collaboration) is small but we have arrested many," Haaretz reported Thursday. The political faction based in Gaza has arrested many throughout the... Israel's settlement industry under boycott pressure Electronic Intifada: 23 Sep 2010 - Palestinian activists in the occupied West Bank have called for the boycott of the popular Rami Levy Israeli supermarket chain which has several stores inside Israel's illegal settlements. Activists say they will call on fellow Palestinians to "avoid supporting the occupation and settlements' economy by boycotting Israeli goods and settlement stores."more Lessons of resistance from southern Lebanon Electronic Intifada: 23 Sep 2010 - Much of the equipment left behind by Israel and its collaborators after their hasty withdrawal from southern Lebanon is now exhibited at a museum housed in a former Hizballah command center.more Israel makes meeting another Arab a crime Electronic Intifada: 23 Sep 2010 - A vague security offense of "contact with a foreign agent" is being used by Israel's secret police, the Shin Bet, to lock up Arab political activists in Israel without evidence that a crime has been committed, human rights lawyers alleged this week. Jonathan Cook reports.more Is the Mideast Peace Process a Charade? Palestine Chronicle: 23 Sep 2010 - By Mamoon Alabbasi – London A debate over the seriousness of the Middle East peace process was held in London, where six analysts argued for and against the motion that the current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations were merely a charade. Shlomo Ben-Ami, historian and former Israeli minister, expressed "serious doubts" on the validity of the negotiations, where both sides were in a "sate of indifference" and not ready to make any significant commitments. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ben-Ami argued, does not have the political power and right-wing backing to make peace, and all that he is willing to offer clashes with the concept of a "sovereign Palestinian state." On the other side, Ben-Ami continued, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas does not have a real mandate to negotiate a lasting deal on behalf of all Palestinians in the absence of a national unity government with Hamas, expressing astonishment on how a "democratically elected...more Al-Masri optimistic after latest Gaza unity talks 9/22/2010 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Palestinian National Coalition leader Munib Al-Masri said "national conciliation is on the right track" after meeting with Gaza government premier Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters, Al-Masri said talks with Hamas over coming to a unity deal with rival movement Fatah were based on "articles of.... Palestinians take to Jerusalem streets after killing Electronic Intifada: 22 Sep 2010 - Protests erupted in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan today after a guard at an Israeli settlement opened fire at Palestinian residents, killing at least one. Joseph Dana reports from the scene of the revolt.more Copenhagen city council set to vote on divestment Electronic Intifada: 22 Sep 2010 - Denmark's Social Democrat party will have a decisive influence on a Copenhagen city council vote tomorrow on whether the municipality should divest $2.3 million from companies involved in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.more Activists face broad PA crackdown in West Bank Electronic Intifada: 22 Sep 2010 - As direct negotiations are underway between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, activists with dissenting political parties are being arrested and worse in the occupied West Bank. Nora Barrows-Friedman reports from Dehiesheh refugee camp.more PA says Hamas lied about lawmaker's detention 9/21/2010 - TULKAREM (Ma'an) -- Hamas officials in the West Bank accused PA security forces of detaining an elected official from his home north of Tulkarem on Tuesday. A statement from the party said Abdel Rahman Zeidan, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, elected with Hamas' Change and Reform bloc in 2006, was taken.... Best option: Dignified failure Sam Bahour, Ma’an News Agency 9/21/2010 The entire US administration's Middle East A-team - President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and Special Envoy George Mitchell - is defying the mass majority of political analysts by dismissing the status quo in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip, and insisting that the latest round of Palestinian-Israeli direct talks has the potential to lead to an agreement which will resolve the conflict. I have a deep fear that they may be correct in predicting an agreement will be signed, but I do not have an iota of confidence that it will end the conflict. Conventional wisdom on both sides of the Atlantic predicts that the current peace talks will hit a cement wall before the one-year time frame expires. The numerous explanations for the predicted failure are all sensible given the region's track record. International law is blatantly ignored, the logic of might is right trumps justice and the international community continues to turn its back to its own obligations toward the occupied Palestinian people. On the Palestinian side, reality is a mix between frustration, despair, disunity and betrayal. The Palestinian negotiating team claims to be a legitimate leadership but there is not one functioning institutional body that can claim to be the source of their self-defined legitimacy. This quasi-leadership understands its legitimacy crisis so well that only a few months ago they were forced to cancel legally-required municipal elections out of concern of losing, even though Hamas was boycotting the elections - so much for Palestinian democracy. The fear is that the Palestinian negotiating team is in their final round in the game of political survival. If these current talks do not reach an agreement - any agreement - the only way for Mahmoud Abbas and his cohorts to remain in office will be by way of the barrel of a gun, similar to how most other Arab states exist today. more.. e-mail PA factions deny Hamas' collusion claims 9/20/2010 - TULKAREM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority factions in Tulkarem on Monday rejected Hamas' claim that the PA collaborated with Israel in the assassination of a Hamas leader on Friday. Early Friday morning, Israeli soldiers entered the home of Hamas leader Iyad As'ad Shelbaya, 38, in Nur Shams refugee camp and shot him.... Gaza on the Ground: Angry Gazan Accuses Hamas of 'Protecting the Borders With Israel' Mohammed Omer, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs 9/18/2010 The anger prompting a controversial e-mail from a Gazan calling himself "Mr. Joker" was unmistakable. After all, it was sent at the very time Israel was coming under heavy international criticism for its deadly May 31, 2010 attack on the humanitarian Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Despite requests from the U.N., Turkey and other countries and international organizations for an independent investigation of the assault, Netanyahu's right-wing government was showing little intention of cooperating with, much less undertaking, such an investigation. As the furious e-mail was circulated, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was declaring ad nauseam that, no matter what Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or anyone else says, the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem will continue—this despite the fact that, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention and numerous U.N resolutions, settlement-building in the occupied West Bank and the forced dispossession of non-Jewish East Jerusalemites are illegal. Many Palestinian Muslims and Christians consider Israel's actions akin to a declaration of war and a clear indication that it does not want peace. Nevertheless, as a demonstration of their willingness to re-enter peace talks with Israel, leaders of Gaza's ruling Hamas movement were aggressively cracking down on militia groups launching homemade rockets into Israel—creating controversy among Gaza's various factions. As Fatah-affiliated parties in the West Bank continue to attempt to challenge Hamas' authority in Gaza, and Israel continues to flout international law, some Gazans have begun to view Hamas as complacent—and, even worse, as furthering the Jewish state's agenda. Like many Palestinians, Mr. Joker sees Israel's actions against Jerusalem, along with its Muslim and Christian holy sites and residents, as justification for attacks on Israel. He also considers the efforts by Hamas to prevent the launching of rudimentary rockets from Gaza as akin to treason. more.. e-mail The Hariri Assassination: Israel’s Fingerprints Surface Rannie Amiri, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs 9/18/2010 In the Middle East, the link between political machinations, espionage and assassination is either clear as day, or clear as mud. As for the yet-unsolved case of the February 2005 murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, mud might be giving way to daylight. A crackdown on Israeli spy rings operating in Lebanon has resulted in more than 70 arrests over the past 18 months. Included among them are four high-ranking Lebanese army and General Security officers—one having spied for the Mossad since 1984. A significant breakthrough in the ongoing investigation occurred in late June and culminated in the arrest of Charbel Qazzi, head of transmission and broadcasting at Alfa, one of Lebanon's two state-owned mobile service providers. According to the Lebanese daily As-Safir, Qazzi confessed to installing computer programs and planting electronic chips in Alfa transmitters. These could then be used by Israeli intelligence to monitor communications, locate and target individuals for assassination, and potentially deploy viruses capable of erasing recorded information in the contact lines. Qazzi's collaboration with Israel reportedly dates back 14 years. On July 12, a second arrest at Alfa was made. Tarek al-Raba'a, an engineer and partner of Qazzi, was apprehended on charges of spying for Israel and compromising national security. A few days later, a third Alfa employee was similarly detained. more.. e-mail "I am sure this occupation will end" Electronic Intifada: 20 Sep 2010 - Since 2005, residents of the occupied West Bank village of Beit Ommar have launched nonviolent demonstrations in protest against Israeli colonialism and occupation. Jody McIntyre interviews Beit Ommar Popular Committee secretary Ahmed Abu Hashem for The Electronic Intifada.more Palestine's endangered vistas captured in "Masharef" Electronic Intifada: 20 Sep 2010 - The Shat-ha walking group leaves Ramallah every Friday morning. The group, founded in 2006 by Dr. Saleh Abdel Jawad, a Birzeit University history and political science professor, and economist Samia Botmeh, has explored the West Bank from its green north to desert south. Now Masharef (Vistas), an exhibition of new photographs by members of the group, brings the threatened beauty of the Palestinian landscape to a wider audience.more VIDEO - The Destruction of the Mamilla Cemetery: Desecration of a Sacred Site Sylvia Schwarz, Sabbah 9/19/2010 Non-Jewish remains at the Mamilla Cemetery were disposed of along with tombstones and other debris in construction dumpsters. The Ma'man Allah (Mamilla) Cemetery was the oldest Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem with graves dating back to the seventh century, comprised of 33 acres and tens of thousands of graves. After 1948 the Israeli ministry that maintained the site reassured world leaders that this important religious site would be cared for in perpetuity. Less than fifteen years later, in the 1960s a park was built in part of the cemetery and a parking lot covered another part. These were followed by a school, football field, underground parking garage, and road. Electrical wires were laid in other sections. The final few acres were dug up just before the beginning of Ramadan, in the middle of the night (as can be seen on the CNN video) so that Israel can build the 'Museum of Tolerance' in conjunction with the Simon Wiesenthal Center in the United States. An enormous amount of knowledge was lost with the destruction of the Mamilla Cemetery, according to St. Paul based archaeologist, John E. Landgraf, Ph.D., because the era since the end of the Byzantine period and the beginning of the Islamic conquest (around 638 CE) up to the present day is the least known period of history in the Middle East generally. There is much to be learned by examining skeletal remains, headstones, and tombs. However, the Israeli Department of Antiquities, which has recently been taken over by the Orthodox Rabbinate, does not allow any human skeletal remains to be examined; Jewish remains must be re-interred as quickly as possible out of respect, whereas non-Jewish remains at the Mamilla Cemetery were disposed of along with tombstones and other debris in construction dumpsters. more.. e-mail Zahhar: Fatah not aware of the gravity of its settlement talks with Israel PIC 18 Sep 2010 - Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar said that Fatah faction and its Arab allies do not realize the seriousness of the settlement process to very sensitive issues in the conflict with the Israeli occupation. Audio: "They persecuted Ameer to keep us silent" Uruknet September 16, 2010 - The trial of Palestinian citizen of Israel and civil society leader Ameer Makhoul resumes today in Haifa. Charged with espionage and other trumped-up security allegations, Makhoul denies the charges and maintains that "evidence" gathered by the state was obtained through coercion. Last month The Electronic Intifada contributor Hyun Lee interviewed Makhoul's wife, activist Janan Abdu,... Novel gets to truth of Sabra and Shatila Electronic Intifada: 17 Sep 2010 - Not one of the recent Israeli films covering the occupation of Lebanon makes the slightest attempt to humanize Israel's victims or tell the story from their perspective. In contrast, UK author Mischa Hiller's first novel, Sabra Zoo is told through the eyes of a young man named Ivan. Matthew Cassel writes for The Electronic Intifada.more Canada Undermines Palestinian Unity, Peace Palestine Chronicle: 17 Sep 2010 - By Yves Engler Current peace negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian officials are unlikely to end, let alone reverse, Palestinian dispossession. The power imbalance between the sides is simply too great. While Canada could be part of the solution, so far it has been part of the problem. The largest Palestinian political force, Hamas, has been excluded from these U.S.-sponsored talks, while the electoral mandate of the Palestinian representative, Mahmoud Abbas, expired 20 months ago. Abbas, who arbitrarily extended his term as Palestinian Authority President, is heavily dependent on countries such as the U.S. and Canada, and this has undermined his negotiating position. After Hamas won Canadian-monitored and facilitated legislative elections in early 2006, Stephen Harper made Canada the first country to cut its assistance to the Palestinian Authority. The goal was to sow division among Palestinians, and it worked. Immediately after the Palestinian unity government collapsed in mid 2007, the...more Protests in Nablus against return to talks 9/16/2010 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- More than 100 Palestinians demonstrated in Nablus Wednesday, protesting the return of Palestinian negotiators to talks with Israel. Organized by leftist factions including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestine People's Party and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the protests were the first.... In photos: Leftist factions protest talks in Nablus 9/16/2010 - MaanImages / Rami Swidan - Supporters of leftist factions take part in a protest in the West Bank city of Nablus against direct negotiations, 15 September 2010. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warmly endorsed Israeli and Palestinian leaders Wednesday ahead of negotiations to try to break a deadlock over Jewish settlement building in the occupied West.... Gaza Electric asks PA to modify bill payment scheme 9/16/2010 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza Electricity Company has asked the Palestinian Authority to adjust its automatic payment deduction from civil servant salaries, officials said Thursday. Company spokesman Jamal Ad-Dardasawi told Ma'an that a system put in place a month earlier would automatically deduct 170 shekels ($45) from salaries of 50,000 civil.... What Peace Talks? Gaza Left Out in the Cold Laila El-Haddad, The Guardian 9/16/2010 The US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and Israeli policy seek to exclude residents of the Gaza Strip Ask any resident of Gaza what their thoughts are on the US-sponsored "direct talks" between Israel and Mahmoud Abbas's Ramallah government, and you're likely to hear one of three responses: 1) Surely, you jest; 2) Something's rotten in Ramallah; 3) Negotiations? There is very little patience in Gaza for this latest set of talks. They are not only being conducted without a national consensus by what is broadly considered an illegitimate government, but they also completely marginalise the Gaza Strip and overlook the blockade and asphyxiation it has suffered for more than four years. "When people started to talk about negotiations and going back to the peace process and all, I thought, wait a minute, who took our opinion before going there?" said Ola Anan, 25, a computer engineer from Gaza City. "I mean, Mahmoud Abbas is now a president who's out of his presidential term. So in whose name is he talking? In the name of Palestinians? I don't think so." Abu el-Abed, a 30-year-old fisherman who sells crabs in the coastal Gaza enclave of Mawasi said: "We hear about the negotiations on television, but we don't see them reflected on the ground. They're not feasible. Gaza's completely marginalised as far as negotiations go. There's no electricity, there's no water. There's no movement. Living expenses are high. And the borders are all closed." -- See also: Laila El-Haddad: 'In Whose Name Do They Talk?' more.. e-mail Audio: "They persecuted Ameer to keep us silent" Electronic Intifada: 16 Sep 2010 - The trial of Palestinian citizen of Israel and civil society leader Ameer Makhoul resumes today in Haifa. The Electronic Intifada contributor Hyun Lee interviews Makhoul's wife, activist Janan Abdu, and Gabrielle Rubin from Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.more Sentencing begins for convicted grassroots activist Electronic Intifada: 16 Sep 2010 - In a courtroom packed with foreign diplomats, Palestinian and Israeli human rights workers and political activists, the sentencing phase in the ongoing trial of Palestinian activist Abdallah Abu Rahme began at Israel's Ofer Military Court on Wednesday, 15 September.more Indigenous resistance, from Colombia to Palestine Electronic Intifada: 16 Sep 2010 - The mistreatment of the indigenous peoples of Colombia by the government of former president Alvaro Uribe Velez, appointed by the UN investigate Israel's fatal attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, parallels Israel's abuses of the indigenous people of Palestine. Anna Baltzer reports for The Electronic Intifadamore ‘I voted’ Palestine Note 15 Sep 2010 - For many, September 14 was your regular Tuesday with its heavy work load. For others it was the day when minor elections were taking place in several US states. But for me it was a milestone.... Hamdan calls on factions to unite against PA's talks with Israel PIC 15 Sep 2010 - Osama Hamdan urged the Palestinian factions to form one position against the direct talks conducted by the PA with Israelis and work together to re-build the current political reality. Israeli discrimination drives kids from school Electronic Intifada: 15 Sep 2010 - Due to the endemic poverty in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied West Bank, hundreds of Palestinian children are forced on to the streets by parents who are living below the poverty level in a desperate bid to eke out a few extra dollars to help their families survive.more Two steps back for Palestinians in Lebanon Electronic Intifada: 15 Sep 2010 - "Everyone here works without a permit," said Shatila refugee camp resident Mohammed Khalife. "Being legal and having a work permit is the strange thing, not the other way around."more Activists: Israel opens fire at no-go zone rally 9/14/2010 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces opened fire Tuesday at a march held to protest Israel's imposed no-go zone along the Gaza border near the Erez crossing in the north, international peace activists said, with no injuries reportedDemonstrators carried Palestinian flags toward the electric fence demarcating the buffer zone, and attempted to.... Academic research collaboration emboldens Israeli apartheid Electronic Intifada: 14 Sep 2010 - Israel aggressively courts research partnerships with American universities by hosting academic delegations. These academic delegations are political-educational junkets, which subliminally promote a Zionist ideology along with coordinating potential partnerships with Israeli universities. Diane Shammas comments for The Electronic Intifada.more Elected Legislator Released After Eight Years Imprisonment By Israel IMEMC - 13 Sep 2010 - Monday September 13, 2010 - 09:13, The Israeli Authorities released legislator Mohammad Jamal Al Natsha, 52, of the Change and Reform Block of the Hamas movement, after imprisoning him for eight years. PA has its Back to the Wall Uruknet September 13, 2010 - ...The very survival of the PA is at stake and it's not only Hamas which is a threat to its existence. The PA-affiliated Fatah was the only faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to approve of the talks in Washington. All the other PLO factions, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (... Eid sees factions commemorate slain, absent Uruknet September 11, 2010 - Delegations from Hamas, Fatah and leftist factions led memorial processions on Saturday, the first day of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, culminating in visits to the graves of slain Palestinians and commemoration sites. In Gaza City, Hamas leaders also organized a visit to prisoners in Rafah, bearing holiday gifts, and inquiring as to prison conditions. The... Gaza subjected to air strikes, water crisis Electronic Intifada: 13 Sep 2010 - Three Palestinian farmers were killed by Israeli tank shelling late at night 12 September in the northernmost occupied Gaza Strip, along the no-go "buffer zone" enforced by the Israeli military.more "They don't want our boys educated" Electronic Intifada: 13 Sep 2010 - Located just north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the entrance to the Palestinian village of Beit Ommar is also the site of an Israeli military post. A large yellow gate is opened and closed at the will of the Israeli army, which can cut off the inhabitants of the town from the rest of the West Bank at any time. Jody McIntyre interviews Beit Ommar resident Amal al-Montallab for The Electronic Intifada.more Eid sees factions commemorate slain, absent 9/11/2010 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Delegations from Hamas, Fatah and leftist factions led memorial processions on Saturday, the first day of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, culminating in visits to the graves of slain Palestinians and commemoration sites. In Gaza City, Hamas leaders also organized a visit to prisoners in Rafah, bearing holiday gifts, and inquiring.... Islamic Jihad Calls For Unity IMEMC - 10 Sep 2010 - Friday September 10, 2010 - 05:09, As Muslims around the world prepare to celebrate the Eid ul-Fitr Feast, the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine issued a statement calling on the Palestinian people, and their factions, to use this occasion as step towards comprehensive unity among in order to boost their struggle and steadfastness. The photo before the storm: Peace talks already failed Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Note 9/10/2010 A picture is not always worth a thousand words. The recently released photographs of Palestinian and Israeli leaders in Washington during their first direct talks in many months certainly don't say anything new. It was the status quo at its best, a mere procession of regional and US leaders before hungry cameramen. The leaders promised "not to spare any effort" and praised the undeniable altruism embedded in the very concept of "peace". Israeli Prime Minister repeated the martyr-like emphasis of past Israeli leaders regarding the "painful" compromises and sacrifices required to defeat the many obstacles standing before them. Mahmoud Abbas - with his expired presidency over a corrupt Palestinian Authority - smiled, shook hands and spoke unconvincingly about his hopes and expectations. Jordanian and Egyptian leaders also attended. Their presence was purely an endeavor to mark a difference between this event and the last failed attempt at reaching a peace agreement. When late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel's Ehud Barak were herded into Camp David under the auspices of then President Bill Clinton, Arafat was left to fend for himself without any Arab backing. This left Barak, fully backed by the US, with all the cards. The process was a mockery then, as it is now. Today's badly staged talks are actually much less promising than the ones of July 2000. Barak had a considerably serious mandate, while Netanyahu runs a discontented coalition of largely rightwing fanatics. Arafat, although his popularity had dwindled, also represented a moral authority and a unifying figure among all Palestinian factions, including Hamas. Abbas, on the other hand, sits on the helm of hugely discredited and ineffectual band of contractors and self-serving politicians. More, Abbas operates with an expired mandate, and his cabinet members are handpicked to replace the democratically elected government of Hamas, whose members are either under siege in Gaza or held in Israeli prisons. more.. e-mail Massachusetts State Treasurer candidate has anti-Iran agenda Mondoweiss - Steve Grossman, one of the candidates in next Tuesday's Democratic primary for Massachusetts State Treasurer, is a past national president of AIPAC (The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee). Grossman, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, has been very coy about publicly admitting his involvement with pro-Israel lobbying.... The Punishment of Gaza Jamie Stern-Weiner, CounterPunch 9/8/2010 An Interview with Gideon Levy For decades Gideon Levy has used the platform provided by the liberal Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz to shine a light on the brutal realities of Israel’s occupation. His journalism, along with that of his colleague Amira Hass, has been an invaluable resource not only for Israeli readers but, through the Ha’aretz website, for international audiences seeking an informed and humane Israeli perspective on the conflict. It would be difficult to overstate how isolated Levy is within his own society, an isolation that increased over the past decade as Israeli public opinion stampeded to the right. He has described elsewhere how Ha’aretz keeps a thick folder of subscription cancellations from readers outraged by his articles. Despite this hostility, his critique of Israeli policies has become more, not less, radical over time. His recent book, The Punishment of Gaza, is a select compilation of his Ha’aretz columns from 2006, when Hamas’s electoral victory prompted harsh sanctions and violent reprisals from Israel and its international backers, through to the aftermath of last year’s Gaza massacre, which represented a bloody culmination of that same anti-democratic reaction. This chronology is itself something of a novelty – for most journalists, even those critical of the attack, the relevant background to the massacre stretched to the month of Qassam rockets that preceded it, or at most to the year and half since Hamas took control of the Strip. But Gideon Levy is not most journalists, and his critique of Israeli policies and society goes far beyond the weasel words and euphemistic equivocation offered by most of his contemporaries in the media, and those on the ‘Israeli left’. Whereas liberal Zionist intellectuals like Amos Oz and David Grossman supported the attack in principle, if subsequently criticising its excesses, Levy is clear: this wasn’t a “war”, he writes, it was “a wild onslaught upon the most helpless population in the world”, an “aimless, futile, criminal, superfluous offensive”.... more.. e-mail Boycott leadership: solidarity with French activists Electronic Intifada: 9 Sep 2010 - The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), on behalf of its constituent organizations and unions representing the majority of Palestinian civil society, strongly condemns the decision taken by French authorities to prosecute people of conscience for calling for a boycott of Israeli produce.more Respect the Palestinian-led picket line Electronic Intifada: 9 Sep 2010 - The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel warmly salutes the tens of American and British theater, film and TV artists for their recently published statement supporting the spreading cultural boycott of Ariel and the rest of Israel's colonial settlements illegally built on occupied Palestinian territory due to their violation of international law.more Factions: PA arrests 'desperate attempt to quell resistance' 9/8/2010 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Palestinian opposition factions criticized the Palestinian Authority Tuesday, for what it described as "a desperate attempt to quell resistance" in the West Bank, following a wave of detentions after the fatal shooting of four Israeli settlers in Hebron. Speaking to reporters in Gaza City, faction representatives called on the PLO.... Hamas lawmakers released from Israeli prison 9/8/2010 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Two elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council were released into the West Bank on Wednesday gaving served several consecutive terms in Administrative Detention. Officials at the Al-Ahrar Prisoners Society said that Azzam Salhab, 45, was released after 56 months in Israeli prison without charge, and Nizar Abdel Hamid Ramadan, 50.... ElBaradei Calls for Election Boycott to “Bring Down Mubarak Regime” The Media Line 6 Sep 2010 - Mohammed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Egyptian political activist, has called for a boycott of Egypt's national elections scheduled for November. ElBaradei is seen as a candidate to oppose long-time President... Hamas, factions warn of continued PA arrest campaign in WB PIC 8 Sep 2010 - Hamas movement issued a statement in the West Bank on Tuesday warning the authority of de facto Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas of persisting in its arrest campaign of Hamas leaders and cadres. PFLP to launch campaign in support of jailed leader 9/7/2010 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A leftist Palestinian faction will begin a week of activities on 5 October to protest Israel's decision to keep the movement's leader in solitary confinement , a party source said Tuesday. Activities will coincide with an Israeli court hearing to determine if Popular Front for the Liberation of.... Egypt: ElBaradei calls for election boycott Palestine Note 7 Sep 2010 - Washington - Former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei has urged Egyptians to boycott the upcoming November parliamentary elections in order to challenge the stagnant... Israel's evidence questioned as Corrie trial resumes Electronic Intifada: 7 Sep 2010 - Testimonies resumed in the ongoing civil suit lodged by Rachel Corrie's family against the State of Israel in Haifa's District Court this week, as the state's defense team called three witnesses to the stand.more For a morally consistent boycott of Israel Electronic Intifada: 7 Sep 2010 - While we welcome acts of protest against any manifestation of Israel's regime of colonialism and apartheid -- including the recent announcement by 150 prominent Israeli academics, writers and cultural figures to boycott Israel's settlements -- we believe that these acts must be both morally consistent and anchored in international law and universal human rights.more Palestinian dies in tunnel accident 9/6/2010 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A young Palestinian man died Monday in a tunnel accident in the southern Gaza Strip, officials said. Ahmad Al-Astal, 25, was injured by an electric shock while working near the Salah Ad-Din Gate under Rafah, medics said. A Gaza medical services spokesman said As-Astal was pronounced dead on arrival at.... Prisoners' families protest salary deductions 9/6/2010 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Gaza families of prisoners detained in Israeli jails held a protest Monday against the deduction of 170 shekels from prisoners' salaries for electricity payments, a prisoners' group said. The protesters gathered at Red Cross headquarters, and chanted slogans blaming the ruling Hamas party for the deduction, which they.... High committee of prisoners: 36 Palestinian children, three women kidnapped in August Uruknet September 6, 2010 - The high national committee for the support of prisoners said it documented in last August the kidnapping of 295 Palestinians, including 36 children and three women in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and occupied Jerusalem, pointing out that Israeli interrogators electrocuted some detained kids. The committee affirmed that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped... Abbas' office slams Ahmadinejad remarks Uruknet September 5, 2010 - Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman lashed out at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday for criticizing the return to direct talks with Israel, the official Palestinian Authority news agency reported Sunday. Nabil Abu Rudaineh said that "The one who does not represent the Iranian people, who falsified election results, who oppressed the Iranian people and stole authority... Ramadan in Gaza's boundary zone Electronic Intifada: 6 Sep 2010 - JOHR AL-DIK, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - With power cuts up to 16 hours to full days, a soaring heat wave and unbearable humidity, the Israeli-led siege on Gaza is but one of many factors leaving Ramadan miserable for the majority of Palestinians in Gaza.more Price tag reprisals in Hebron Electronic Intifada: 6 Sep 2010 - The Palestinian families which live along Route 60 in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank have no recourse when settlers attack. The area is under full Israeli civil and military control leaving the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority relatively helpless in dealing with problems caused by Israeli settlers. Joseph Dana reports from Hebron.more "We need to nationalize the resistance" Electronic Intifada: 6 Sep 2010 - Public servant Bassem Mohammed al-Tamimi is from al-Nabi Saleh, a small village about 20 kilometers northwest of Ramallah. As coordinator of the local Popular Committee, Tamimi has played a leading role in al-Nabi Saleh's demonstrations against the nearby illegal Israeli settlement and military base of Halamish. Jody McIntyre interviewed al-Tamimi for The Electronic Intifada.more Obama’s Ridiculous Mid-East Summit Alexander Cockburn, CounterPunch 9/3/2010 It has been impossible to read the agenda for the Oval Office summit between Obama, Netanyahu and Abbas without laughing out loud at the absurdity of its pretensions. The American plan was that President Obama would inform Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, representing the Palestinian Authority, that this is make-or -break time for a peaceful settlement. The US wants an agreement within a year, with the stipulations in this agreement to be phased in over a decade. At issue: the illegal Jewish settlements, the status of East Jerusalem, the treatment of Palestinian refugees and final borders between Israel and a Palestinian state. The man greeting Netanyahu and Abbas was no longer the icon of change who aroused the world with his address to Muslims in Cairo and who tasked former US Senator George Mitchell with setting the stage for a just settlement of issues that have remained unsettled for more than half a century. Obama is now in poor political shape. The economy is spiraling down. The midterm elections loom as a possible bloodbath for Democrats in which they may lose at least one, if not both, houses in Congress. As the Israel lobby knows well, the Democrats crave Jewish money and Jewish votes. When it comes to Israel ‘s interests the US Congress jumps to the Lobby’s commands. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech , laden with honorifics for Netanyahu, could be construed as a fund-raising appeal for her next lunge at the Democratic presidential nomination. Gone was any notion of twisting Netanyahu’s arm, or trying to, as when the Administration criticized one illegal Jewish settlement four months ago and when vice president Biden relayed in Tel Aviv Gen. Petraeus’ concerns that Israel’s obduracy was imperiling US security interests in the region.... more.. e-mail Pressing Netanyahu is the key to success in Mideast peace talks Ahmad Tibi, Los Angeles Times 9/3/2010 It is unfortunate that the direct Palestinian-Israeli peace talks that got underway this week are saddled with an Israeli prime minister who has made clear his unwillingness to reach an equitable two-state solution. Nine years ago, in the West Bank settlement of Ofra, Benjamin Netanyahu was secretly recorded voicing his opinions of the Oslo accords reached during negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in 1993. “They asked me before the election if I’d honor [the Oslo accords],” he said. “I said I would, but … I’m going to interpret the accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the 1967 borders.” The result according to Netanyahu? “I de facto put an end to the Oslo accords.” This kind of talk is consistent with Netanyahu’s actions when he was last prime minister during the late 1990s. Challenged by then-President Clinton to make peace, Netanyahu instead upended the Oslo talks by exploiting every loophole he could find. The prime minister did not enter negotiations then, nor does he enter them now, in good faith. If he can derail the talks, he will. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton surely knows his history. I am not alone in being pessimistic. Most Palestinians are. Young people in particular have been betrayed. A whole generation of Palestinians has grown up watching as talks failed. They have seen deepening colonization rather than freedom. To succeed this time, the international community, and the U.S. most particularly, will have to press Netanyahu. Despite a good start to his presidency, Obama has spent the last few months complying with the demands of right-wing Israelis.... -- See also: Alternate source: Israel Occupation Archives more.. e-mail Ba'ath-affiliated faction says talks 'waste of time' 9/5/2010 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian faction within the PLO said Friday it rejected the Palestinian Authority's decision to resume direct negotiations with Israel, describing negotiations as "serving only Israel" and a "waste of time."Arab Liberation Front official Ibrahim Az-Za'aneen said at an iftar dinner in Khan Younis that.... Abu Rdeina: Who Forged Elections, Doesn't Represent Our Irani Friends WAFA - RAMALLAH, September 4, 2010 (WAFA)- In response to the attacks made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the Palestinian leadership after the Washington meetings, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman "It's like a situation where two people are sitting negotiating over a piece of cheese..." Palestine Monitor: 4 Sep 2010 - MARK COLVIN: Direct formal Middle East peace talks begin in Washington tomorrow, after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had separate meetings with Barack Obama at the White House today. President Obama is pushing hard for a return to a real peace process, and the leaders of Jordan and Egypt are also there to push things forward. But Hamas killed four Israelis in the West Bank as the conference was being prepared, and the history of these processes is not particularly optimistic. Mustafa Barghouti is an independent member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He finished second to Mahmoud Abbas in the 2005 Palestinian presidential election. He told me he was still deeply sceptical because of the Israeli refusal to freeze settlements while the negotiations go on. MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI: It's like a situation where two people are sitting negotiating over a piece of cheese and...more Infant heart surgery saves lives in East Jerusalem Palestine Note 3 Sep 2010 - Washington - Political factions are protesting the Palestinian Authority's engagement with Israel, and tensions are high in Jerusalem on the last Friday of Ramadan, but at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, some 200 children have been... Palestinian resistance factions vow more effective attacks against occupation PIC 3 Sep 2010 - Palestinian resistance factions in occupied Palestine have hailed Thursday the attack on the Israeli occupation in Al-Khalil and Ramallah cities in the West Bank on Tuesday and Wednesday. Why Israel imprisoned my best friend Mohammed Khatib, Electronic Intifada 9/2/2010 When I was a boy I was still allowed to travel in Israel. I went to the beach and swam in the sea, something that most Palestinian children living in the West Bank today can only dream of. Israel has been restricting movement more and more over the years. We Palestinians were banned from traveling to Israel, the land where many of our parents were born. And now I find I cannot leave the West Bank. I was stopped from leaving the country on 4 August when I tried to cross the Allenby Bridge and reach Jordan in order to fly to Europe. And just as Israel has gradually increased restrictions of where we can go, the boundaries of what is permissible to do as a Palestinian have narrowed markedly. We have reached a point where peaceful protest is unacceptable to the Israeli state and military legislation has been constructed to criminalize and throw in jail anyone who dares to publicly voice dissent. Abdallah Abu Rahmah, coordinator of the Bilin Popular Committee and my best friend, is one such man. He made the international news after the EU's foreign policy chief issued a statement condemning his conviction in an Israeli military court on 24 August. He was convicted of "incitement" -- an intentionally vague charge that criminalizes freedom of speech -- and of organizing "illegal" demonstrations. Direct negotiation between Israel and Palestinians may be restarting, but on the ground, Israel's military occupation continues: oppression as usual. Abdallah, a school teacher and father of three, has been imprisoned at the Ofer military prison since 10 December 2009 -- International Human Rights Day, no less. Israeli soldiers raided his occupied West Bank home in the middle of the night, and dragged him from his bed in front of his wife, Majida, and their three children, Luma (7), Lian (5) and eight-month-old baby Laith. more.. e-mail Mass arrests, clashes follow settler shootings Electronic Intifada: 3 Sep 2010 - On 1 September the Palestinian Authority's (PA) security forces launched an unprecedented arrest campaign against Palestinians affiliated with the Hamas party in the occupied West Bank. The arrest sweep followed attacks earlier in the week against Israeli settlers in Hebron and Ramallah.more Gazans just want the electricity to stay on The National 2 Sep 2010 - Many Strip residents have given up on idea of peace with Israel and long for normalcy in their lives. Why Israel imprisoned my best friend 9/2/2010 - International Solidarity Movement - Mohammed Khatib, The Electronic Intifada - When I was a boy I was still allowed to travel in Israel. I went to the beach and swam in the sea, something that most Palestinian children living in the West Bank today can only dream of. Israel has been restricting movement more and more over the years. We.... Palestinians protest the PA cabinet's announcement of an "indefinite" delay in municipal elections Palestine Monitor - What happened in Hebron proved our point; we need a unified Palestinian position," Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouthi said following a mass rally in Ramallah on Wednesday. The protest, planned immediately after PA forces quashed a news conference on 25 August, was coordinated by leftist... Why Israel imprisoned my best friend Electronic Intifada: 2 Sep 2010 - And just as Israel has gradually increased restrictions of where we can go, the boundaries of what is permissible to do as a Palestinian have narrowed markedly. We have reached a point where peaceful protest is unacceptable to the Israeli state and military legislation has been constructed to criminalize and throw in jail anyone who dares to publicly voice dissent. Mohammed Khatib comments.more "Solidarity with the entire Palestinian people" Electronic Intifada: 2 Sep 2010 - The BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights recently published Rights in Principle -- Rights in Practice , which examines a rights-based approach to crafting durable solutions for Palestinian refugees. The Electronic Intifada contributor Adri Nieuwhof interviews BADIL director Ingrid Jaradat Gassner on the organization's work and the new book.more Palestinians protest the PA cabinet's announcement of an "indefinite" delay in municipal elections Palestine Monitor: 2 Sep 2010 - What happened in Hebron proved our point; we need a unified Palestinian position," Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouthi said following a mass rally in Ramallah on Wednesday. The protest, planned immediately after PA forces quashed a news conference on 25 August, was coordinated by leftist Palestinian factions, independent parties and several prominent philanthropists and business people involved with recent attempts to restore unity. The parties demonstrated against the return to peace talks under the conditions set out by Israel. "There were no conditions set out for the success of these talks," Barghouthi said. "There were no terms of reference and Israel has been given a veto." Barghouthi explained that in going forward with direct talks without guarantees, like a promised halt to settlement construction in the West Bank, the Palestinian government was going in without the confidence of the Palestinian people and without their support. "These talks will fail,...more Moral Interventionism, Labour and Miliband Palestine Chronicle: 2 Sep 2010 - By Gilad Atzmon – London Millions of ballot papers have been sent out yesterday to those eligible to vote in the Labour leadership election. Symbolically enough, this happened the day Tony Blair, the British PM who launched the criminal war in Iraq, published his controversial memoirs. I am not holding my breath for the Labour party to make the right decision. Clearly, the same party failed to curtail Blair’s militant enthusiasm, even when it was plainly clear that the argument for the Iraq war was grounded in a dodgy dossier. Considering the scale of the atrocities we are all complicit in thanks to the Labour government, it is my duty to remind the Labour party members who their leading candidate is, what he stands for and what interests he may serve. Labour Party members should consider the role allegedly played by its leaders and leading candidate David Miliband in what...more Protests against talks continue in Ramallah 9/2/2010 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- "What happened in Hebron proved our point; we need a unified Palestinian position," Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouthi said following a mass rally in Ramallah on Wednesday. The protest, planned immediately after PA forces quashed a news conference on 25 August, was coordinated by leftist Palestinian factions, independent parties and.... Israeli Shin Bet electrocuted child prisoners to extract confessions Uruknet September 1, 2010 - Following a visit yesterday to some young prisoners being held at the Megiddo Prison, lawyers for the Ministry of Detainees have stated that the young prisoners testified under oath that they had been interrogated and systematically electrocuted and tortured by Israeli intelligence officers in settlements near to Palestinian cities. According to Salim Redouane who was... 62 days and counting - Jerusalemite MPs still seeking sanctuary in International Red Cross offices Uruknet August 31, 2010 - 62 days ago (1st July 2010) three elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council walked into the International Red Cross headquarters in Jerusalem and they have not left since. A fourth colleague, now in detention, was also served with an expulsion order. The three in question have spent the last 9 weeks confined to the... Abbas is a man in exile, even among his own Uruknet August 30, 2010 - Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, faces a crisis of credibility among his own people as he heads into direct talks with Israel in Washington this week. Perhaps nothing better illustrates this than a rather awkward security crackdown Thursday in Ramallah, when leftist factions convened a meeting to protest against Mr Abbas’s decision to accept the... PLC calls on factions to withdraw from PLO PIC 1 Sep 2010 - The PLC called on Palestinian factions to withdraw from the PLO, saying there is a need to take action in “activating the role of the resistance movement in defense of Palestinian rights. The State and Local Bases of Zionist Power in America James Petras Ph.D, Information Clearing House 9/1/2010 Any serious effort to understand the extraordinary influence of the Zionist power configuration over US foreign policy must examine the presence of key operatives in strategic positions in the government and the activities of local Zionist organizations affiliated with mainstream Jewish organizations and religious orders. There are at least 52 major American Jewish organizations actively engaged in promoting Israel’s foreign policy, economic and technological agenda in the US (see the appendix). The grassroots membership ranges from several hundred thousand militants in the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) to one hundred thousand wealthy contributors, activists and power brokers in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In addition scores of propaganda mills, dubbed think tanks, have been established by million dollar grants from billionaire Zionists including the Brookings Institute (Haim Saban) and the Hudson Institute among others. Scores of Zionist funded political action committees (PAC) have intervened in all national and regional elections, controlling nominations and influencing election outcomes. Publishing houses, including university presses have been literally taken over by Zionist zealots, the most egregious example being Yale University, which publishes the most unbalanced tracts parroting Zionist parodies of Jewish history (Financial Times book review section August 28/29 2010). New heavily funded Zionist projects designed to capture young Jews and turn them into instruments of Israeli foreign policy includes “Taglit-Birthright” which has spent over $250 million dollars over the past decade sending over a quarter-million Jews (between 18-26) to Israel for 10 days of intense brainwashing (Boston Globe August 26, 2010). Jewish billionaires and the Israeli state foot the bill. The students are subject to a heavy dose of Israeli style militarism as they are accompanied by Israeli soldiers as part of their indoctrination; at no point do they visit the West Bank, Gaza or East Jerusalem (Boston Globe August 26, 2010). They are urged to become dual citizens and even encouraged to serve in the Israeli armed forces. In summary the 52 member organizations of the Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations which we discuss are only the tip of the iceberg of the Zionist Power Configuration.... more.. e-mail Israel Threatens War with Lebanon Stephen Lendman, Dissident Voice 8/31/2010 Palestine is belligerently occupied. Threats continue against Iran and Syria as well as Lebanon, specifically Hezbollah, elected partner in the nation’s unity government, bogusly designated a US State Department Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), what Israel also calls it, repeating veiled and overt warnings, suggesting violence or an impending attack. Why not, after so many earlier in 1978, 1982, 1993, 1996, and 2006. Also numerous incidents besides: – refusing to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 425 by occupying South Lebanon belligerently and illegally for 18 years until mostly, but not entirely, withdrawing in May 2000 – still holding Sheba Farms, the 14-square mile water-rich land near Syria’s Golan, also illegally occupied since 1967; in addition, Ghajar, the Lebanese village bordering Golan; – during its occupation, using a proxy Christian South Lebanon Army as enforcer, UNIFIL Blue Helmets giving them and the IDF free reign instead of maintaining peace, how UN forces always operate, as paramilitaries against people they’re supposed to protect; and – for over 40 years, repeatedly violating Lebanon’s territory, often daily, including 12 Israeli jet overflights on August 19. Hezbollah: Israel’s Pretext for Incursions, Violence and War Hezbollah was born out of Israel’s 1982 Lebanon invasion, its horrific war slaughtering around 18,000 people, mostly civilians, including in the Sabra and Shatila camps, what journalist Robert Fisk called “one of the most shocking war crimes of the 20th century.” more.. e-mail "Bureaucratic weapons worse than bombs" Electronic Intifada: 1 Sep 2010 - Firas al-Maraghi from the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem has been on hunger strike outside the Israeli embassy in Berlin since 26 July. Al-Maraghi is striking in protest of the Israeli Ministry of Interior's refusal to include his German-born daughter and wife on his Jerusalem residency permit. Bridget Chappell interviews al-Maraghi for The Electronic Intifada.more Bedouin's legal fight threatens Jewish state Electronic Intifada: 1 Sep 2010 - Nuri al-Uqbi's small cinderblock home in a ramshackle neighborhood of Hura, a Bedouin town in Israel's Negev desert, hardly looks like the epicenter of a legal struggle that some observers say threatens Israel's Jewish character.more Lifta's legacy under threat Electronic Intifada: 1 Sep 2010 - There are few villages in historic Palestine which invoke the memories of the Nakba (the 1948 dispossession of the Palestinian people) as does Lifta. However, Lifta's architectural legacy is under threat as Israel moves to Judaize the formerly pluralistic Palestinian village.more  Links
Mossawa - The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel Mossawa, The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel, was established in October of 1997 as a Non Governmental Organization. Mossawa works to promote equality for ArabPalestinians within the borders of Israel. Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health This website requires Internet Explorer. Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information General information from the PA Palestinian Information Center Hamas news site Palestinian National Initiative - Al Mubadara The main objective of the Initiative is the realization of Palestinian national rights and of a durable, just peace. Both of these objectives can be best achieved at this juncture through the establishment of a national emergency leadership, the immediate implementation of democratic elections at all levels of the political system, and reform of political, administrative, and other institutional structures in order to meet the needs of the Palestinian people. PLO Negotiations Affairs Department Documents, maps, fact sheets and reports related to the occupation.
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