From Al Jazeera
Israeli forces have blockaded the Palestinian West Bank village of Ni’lin.
Troops encircled Ni’lin on Sunday to prevent foreigners from joining protests against a network of razor-wire fences and concrete barricades that cut into occupied Palestinian land.
“The protests have been getting more violent, and that is what we’re trying to stop,” an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
From IHT.com, by Scott Shane
In a makeshift prison in the north of Poland, Al Qaeda’s engineer of mass murder faced off against his Central Intelligence Agency interrogator. It was 18 months after the 9/11 attacks, and the invasion of Iraq was giving Muslim extremists new motives for havoc. If anyone knew about the next plot, it was Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
The interrogator, Deuce Martinez, a soft-spoken analyst who spoke no Arabic, had turned down a CIA offer to be trained in waterboarding. He chose to leave the infliction of pain and panic to others, the gung-ho paramilitary types whom the more cerebral interrogators called “knuckledraggers.”
Martinez came in after the rough stuff, the ultimate good cop with the classic skills: an unimposing presence, inexhaustible patience and a willingness to listen to the gripes and musings of a pitiless killer in rambling, imperfect English. He achieved a rapport with Mohammed that astonished his fellow CIA officers.
Israeli Supreme Court rejects renewed appeal on fuel cuts in Gaza
<http://www.maannews
[6 June] A three-judge panel of the Israeli Supreme Court on Thursday
rejected a renewed appeal by a group of Israeli and Palestinian human rights
groups to interfere in the military-administer
Israeli human rights organization Gisha issued a statement on Thursday
afternoon about the Court’s second decision to let the fuel cuts stand,
saying that the “State of Israel is violating its commitment to supply even
minimal quantities of fuel to Gaza”. As a result, Gisha said, “the fuel
restrictions are crippling the functioning of hospitals, water wells, sewage
treatment plants, and public transportation – and thus endangering the
health and well being of Gaza ‘ s 1.5 million residents”.
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
Thousands of Palestinians rally at Rafah Friday for an end to the siege
<http://www.palestin
xJEpMO%2bi1s7cPYUra
H2agksccv8SQ1Hvn7yw
[6 June] PIC correspondent said that tens of buses carried people from all
over the Gaza Strip to the Rafah crossing. Demonstrators chanted against the
oppressive siege which is slowly killing 1.5 million people in the Gaza
Strip. Ashraf Abu Daya, spokesman for the Hamas popular action committee,
said that this peaceful demonstration is a clear message to the Egyptian
leadership that the Rafah crossing should be opened as it constitutes the
main gateway for Gaza to the outside world.
http://www.palestin
JEpMO%2bi1s7cPYUraD
2agksccv8SQ1Hvn7ywK
<http://www.palestin
xJEpMO%2bi1s7cPYUra
H2agksccv8SQ1Hvn7yw
Number of deaths while awaiting Israeli permission to leave Gaza Strip
reaches 182
<http://english.
[7 June] The latest are 57-year-old Lutif Mohammad Al Ekesi of the central
Gaza Strip’s Deir Al Belah. He was suffering from heart disease and was
scheduled for an operation in an Egyptian hospital. However, due to the
blockade against the Strip’s 1.5 million residents, he was unable to leave.
A 48-year-old woman, Faten Aqwaas, was suffering from kidney failure as
reported by Abdo. She lived in Gaza City and was awaiting Israeli permission
to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment when she died.
http://english.
<http://english.
Israeli forces open fire on farmers in Khaza’a, injuring one
<http://www.maannews
[7 June] Palestinian medical sources reported on Saturday that a Palestinian
farmer was injured after Israeli soldiers opened fire on farmers in the town
of Khaza’a, east of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. His condition was
described as stable. Sources told Ma’an that 46-year-old Mohammad Qudeeh,
46, sustained moderate injuries and was taken to the Nasser Hospital after
Israeli soldiers fired randomly on farmers near Khaza’a.
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
Hundreds of students stranded in Gaza because of Israeli, Egyptian border
closures
<http://www.iht.
On-Hold.php>
[7 June] (AP) GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: They squander their days watching TV
and surfing the Web instead of studying, but it’s not for lack of
discipline: Gaza students accepted at foreign universities are stuck at home
because Israel and Egypt won’t let them leave the blockaded territory. .
The high-profile Fulbright flap and diplomatic pressure appear to have
softened Israel’s position. Earlier this week, Germany’s visiting foreign
minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, talked to his Israeli counterpart, Tzipi
Livni, about stranded Gazans with scholarships at German universities,
German diplomats said.
http://www.iht.
n-Hold.php
<http://www.iht.
On-Hold.php>
Police arrest suspect involved in attacks against Christian organizations in
Gaza <http://www.imemc.
[7 June] The Palestinian police in Gaza arrested on Saturday a man suspected
of being involved in organizing attacks against Christian associations in
the Gaza Strip. Iyahb Al Eghsson, the spokesman of the de facto ministry of
interior in Gaza told reported that the man was arrested after
investigations was conducted by the police in the coastal region to arrest
those involved in attacking local shops and other associations. In recent
months several attacks were reported by unknown masked gunmen that targeted
Christian schools, churches and NGOS.
http://www.imemc.
Gaza decision in days
<http://www.ynetnews
[7 June] Army is ready for Gaza operation, waiting for Olmert to make final
decision – Barak is attempting to blur his message and refrain from giving
Hamas any clues, but it appears he already decided – even before the cabinet
meeting and consultations with other ministers – that a truce with Hamas
without a military blow that precedes it is no longer a realistic option.
http://www.ynetnews
<http://www.ynetnews
Egypt sees Israel preparing major Gaza attack
<http://www.worldtri
Egyptian sources said the intelligence community had concluded that Israel’s
military was preparing for a massive invasion of the Gaza Strip.
http://www.worldtri
<http://www.worldtri
New radar system in the works to detect mortars from Gaza
<http://www.haaretz.
An Israeli defense contractor is developing a new radar system for the
defense establishment that will identify mortar fire toward Israel. The
existing ‘Color Red’ alert system does not warn of mortar fire from the Gaza
Strip, only longer-range weapons such as Qassam rockets and Grad missiles.
The need for a system that identifies mortar fire has risen in recent months
with increased mortar attacks on Israel Defense Forces troops near the Gaza
border fence and towns close to the fence.
http://www.haaretz.
<http://www.haaretz.
US looks to increase Israeli deterrence
<http://www.jpost.
PArticle%2FShowFull
US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman said he was open
to removing the restriction on F-22 sales to boost Israeli deterrence and
indicated that aid to the Palestinians could be affected by a Hamas-Fatah
deal, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post Thursday. The defense
establishment has long eyed the stealth F-22 ‘Raptor’ as a bulwark to
Israel’s air capabilities, but a US law banning its sale abroad has
prevented Israel from acquiring the top-of-the-line plane. Berman suggested
that US funding for the Palestinians could be jeopardized by [national
unity] talks [between Hamas and Abbas]. “It certainly undercuts our ability
to do a lot of things with the Palestinians,
authority that has Hamas in it is very different from giving money to an
administration headed by [PA Prime Minister] Salaam Fayad” of Fatah.
http://www.jpost.
Article%2FShowFull
<http://www.jpost.
PArticle%2FShowFull
Hamas’ armed wing releases details of two 2002 attacks, warns it will strike
again <http://www.maannews
The Al-Qassam Brigades said that a Jordanian man named Jamil Nabil Mu’amar
had carried out an attack on 5 May 2002 in the Israeli city of Rishon
LeZion. The group also released information about a bus attack on Allenby
Street in Tel Aviv on 19 September 2002. The bombing was carried out in
response to the killing of Salah Shehadah, the general commander of the
Al-Qassam Brigades. This is the first time Hamas’ military wing has claimed
responsibility for these attacks, calling them the “tip of the iceberg” of
attacks it has carried out. The Al-Qassam Brigades said that it “preferred
silence while other sides claimed responsibility for these attacks.”
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
Hamas ‘will win Palestinian polls’
<http://english.
htm>
[29 May] Hamas says it retains the support of the Palestinian people despite
facing an Israeli blockade on Gaza and an international boycott. “If
elections were to occur tomorrow, we would win,” Mahmoud Zahar, the
co-founder of Hamas, the largest Palestinian Islamist resistance movement,
told journalists. “Support for Hamas is much greater than most people
think.”
http://english.
htm
<http://english.
htm>
WHO warns of spreading deadly diseases among Palestinians in Gaza
<http://english.
[7 June] In a report, WHO revealed that there is , according to the
laboratory for testing samples of seawater, taken from 13 locations, an
increase in the numbers of some types of bacteria, which may threaten public
safety, warning of spread of diseases transmitted through contaminated
water, such as cholera, typhoid fever, typhoid counterpart, Aldsntaria and
many other diseases.
http://english.
<http://english.
Power cuts in Gaza Strip due to maintenance work
<http://www.maannews
[6 June] The reason Gaza City residents are undergoing frequent power cuts
is because of essential maintenance work, Kan’an ‘Obaid Deputy of the head
of Energy Authority in the Gaza Strip said on Thursday. “The technical team
from the ABB Company is still doing the maintenance work at the power
station. They are fixing the first unit but the second unit is still
working,” ‘Obaid told Ma’an.
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
Seven Fatah members arrested in Gaza, Fatah says
<http://www.maannews
[7 June] Hamas-affiliated police arrested seven members of the Fatah
movement in the city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Fatah
claimed. Kamal Abu Shawish the spokesperson of Fatah in the Gaza Strip said
in an interview with Ma’an that at seven on Friday morning the police raided
several houses belonging to Fatah affiliates and arrested seven people,
including four leaders. One of the arrestees was Iyad Nasr, the secretary of
Fatah in Khan Younis, three members of the Fatah committee in that city.
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
PA security forces arrest four Hamas supporters in West Bank
<http://www.maannews
[7 June] According to the Hamas movement, Palestinian security forces
arrested two Bethlehem University students, Taher Deiriyyah and Mohammad
Khalid, in front of the Omar Ibn Al-Khattab mosque in central Bethlehem
after the Friday noon prayers. In the Tulkarem district in the northern West
Bank, Palestinian security forces arrested Ala’a Al-A’raj after summoning
him for an interview. In the northern district of Qalqilia, Palestinian
security forces arrested Adham Omar Khreishah from his home in the village
of Jayyous.
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
Senegal launches mediation efforts between Hamas, Fatah
<http://www.ynetnews
[7 June] Representatives of warring Palestinian factions meet with
Senegalese president less than week after Hamas said it welcomed Fatah’s
‘renewed spirit’ of dialogue. – Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has
begun talks with representatives of Hamas and Fatah, hoping to establish
common ground in the Palestinian factions’ approach to Israel, Senegalese
state media reported on Saturday. Wade said at the end of an Organizations
of the Islamic Conference summit that he hosted in March that Israel and the
Palestinian factions had asked him to mediate between them.
http://www.ynetnews
<http://www.ynetnews
Egyptian ambassador to PA to meet Hamas members in further sign of thaw
between Hamas and Fatah
<http://www.maannews
[7 June] The Egyptian ambassador to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah
will hold a meeting at noon on Sunday with representatives of Hamas to
discuss President Abbas’ call for dialogue between the rival Palestinian
factions, Palestinian sources reported on Saturday. Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas had earlier called for Egyptian mediation between Hamas and
his Fatah movement.
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
Al-Afranji: Fatah will stop detrimental media campaigns
<http://www.maannews
[6 June] The Fatah and Hamas movements said on Friday that the launch of the
Palestinian dialogue announced by leaders of both movements will achieve the
desired result of reconciliation between all the factions, and open a new
page in relations between Fatah and Hamas. . . Al-Afranji also confirmed
the Fatah movement’s commitment to stop all forms of negative media
campaigns, insults and accusations, saying: “We in Fatah do not see a
problem in this matter, and we are keen that our speech should be objective
and brotherly.”
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
Rice asks Abbas for explanation
<http://www.palestin
xJEpMO%2bi1s7f9Kf7G
8RtfTFXn%2b0gF9pYsh
[6 June] WASHINGTON, (PIC)– US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned
PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday evening to ask for an explanation
about his speech a day earlier about national reconciliation talks. The US,
in particular rejects the notion of talks with Hamas unless it recognises
the Zionist occupation of Palestinian lands and gives up its right to resist
occupation. US Government Spokesman Sean McCormack said after the telephone
call that Abbas assured Rice that he has not changed his conditions for
talking with Hamas adding that the Yemeni initiative calls for dialogue
providing that Hamas agrees to Fatah’s leadership and accept previous
agreements with the Israeli occupation.
http://www.palestin
JEpMO%2bi1s7f9Kf7Gy
RtfTFXn%2b0gF9pYshO
<http://www.palestin
xJEpMO%2bi1s7f9Kf7G
8RtfTFXn%2b0gF9pYsh
Dutch bank agrees: Jerusalem tramway is illegal [but. . .] – by Adri
Nieuwhof <http://electronicin
[6 June] Last week, the managing director of SNS Asset Management, a
division of the Dutch SNS Bank, sent me a letter explaining the bank’s
position on divesting from Veolia. Veiola is a European company contracted
to build a tramway on illegally seized Palestinian land that connects
Israeli settlements on the West Bank, constructed in open violation of
international law, with neighborhoods in West Jerusalem. In its letter, SNS
Bank stated that “the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is not
consistent with international law. However, the bank does not consider the
construction of the tramway as a direct, grave violation of human rights.
Therefore excluding Veolia is considered disproportionate.
http://electronicin
<http://electronicin
Israelis intend to link settlements from Jerusalem all the way to southern
Bethlehem via Beit Sahour
<http://english.
[7 June] Dozens of representatives of organized forces and institutions in
the governorate of Bethlehem, along with a number of foreigners, gathered at
a sit-in tent in the southern West Bank before noon yesterday, Friday. The
place is 1,000 square meters of eastern Beit Sahour, just southeast of
Bethlehem City and within the Governorate. The reason is that for four
weeks, each time on a Friday, a group of about 100 Israeli settlers storm
the area in attempt to overtake it. The Israeli military is often present.
http://english.
<http://english.
Southern Bethlehem nonviolent resistance remains unstoppable
<http://english.
[7 June] During yesterday’s nonviolent Palestinian demonstration against the
Wall and settlements, Israeli forces attacked 250 people. Foreign supporters
marched along with the unstoppable Palestinian resistance toward the site of
confiscation in southern Bethlehem’s Umm Salamuna. Upon arrival to an area
near the Wall Israeli soldiers wielding batons began attacking all
demonstrators. Two were severely injured.
http://english.
<http://english.
CPT: Israeli military again blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills
<http://www.imemc.
[6 June] The Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) stationed in the southern West
Bank city of Hebron reported on Friday that the Israeli army blocked the
road between At-Tuwani and Yatta, near the city, as a military bulldozer
massed a six-foot-high mound spanning the width of the road using concrete
slabs, boulders and earth. The CPT reported that this blockade, once again,
caused the villagers to be cut off from the main supplies such as water,
firewood, and animal feed as this road provides the primary vehicle access
to Yatta, which serves as the region’s economic hub, with critical services
such as hospitals and secondary schools.
http://www.imemc.
EU VIPs hurt at West Bank protest
<http://news.
[6 June] European Parliament Vice-President Luisa Morgantini and the Irish
Nobel laureate, Mairead Corrigan, have been injured at a protest in the West
Bank. An Italian judge, Julio Toscano, was also hurt when Israeli troops
fired tear gas to disperse the demonstration against the West Bank barrier
in Bil’in. He suffered head wounds when he was hit by one of the tear-gas
canisters. The incidents came on the last day of an international conference
supporting local protests against the barrier.
http://news.
<http://news.
Some 200 left-wing protesters demonstrating against security fence in Na’lin
<http://www.ynetnews
[6 June] Some 200 Left-wing Israeli, Palestinian and foreign nationals are
currently staging a protest against the construction of the security fence
on ground belonging to the village of Na’lin. The demonstrators have
gathered on land due to be confiscated to allow for a fence to be built
around the Hashmonaim settlement.
http://www.ynetnews
<http://www.ynetnews
Unknown gunman kills Nazlat ‘Issa resident in northern West Bank
<http://www.maannews
Ibrahim Qassim Rashed Farid, a 22-year-old resident of Nazlat ‘Issa north of
Tulkarem in the West Bank, was killed late Friday night after being shot by
an unknown gunman near the town of Baqa Al-Gharbiyyah, which lies on the
Israeli side of the Green Line. Local witnesses reported that the incident
occurred near the gate in the separation wall which divides Nazlat ‘Issa
from Baqa Al-Gharbiyyah. They told Ma’an that an unknown gunman opened fire
on Farid, killing him and then fleeing into Israel.
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
Qurei’: We will not allow Israel to impose facts on the ground
<http://www.maannews
[7 June] Qurei’ told Ma’an that the Palestinian negotiating team had totally
rejected Israel’s decision to initiate new construction in the Jerusalem
settlements. He described the American stance on settlements as unfair, the
European position as hypocritical, and the Arab posture as weak. He said
that if Israel wants to impose ‘facts on the ground’ by force, “I will tell
them that we spent 30 years persuading Palestinians to accept a two-state
solution, and if we do not succeed in achieving it, we will return to the
idea of one state.”
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
Israel cuts off Palestinian tax funds as relations hit new low
<http://www.independ
nian-tax-funds-
[7 June] Israel has withheld part of its $75m (£38m) monthly tax revenue
payment to the Palestinian Authority after a diplomatic offensive by the
Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, designed to stop the continued expansion of
Jewish settlements. Israel has accused Mr Fayyad, who is widely respected by
Western governments, of trying to “undermine” its relations with Europe. The
Palestinian Prime Minister has written to all EU prime ministers urging them
to shelve plans to upgrade the EU’s relationship with Israel until it ceases
to “flout its international obligations”
construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
http://www.independ
ian-tax-funds-
<http://www.independ
nian-tax-funds-
Israelis, Palestinians to start writing peace pact
<http://ap.google.
[7 June] (AP) Ahmed Qureia, the veteran negotiator heading the Palestinian
team, made it clear the decision did not necessarily reflect agreement on
major issues. But this would be the first time since negotiations resumed
more than six months ago that anything would be committed to paper. “We
agreed with the Israelis to begin writing the positions,” Qureia told
reporters late Friday. Israeli government officials would not comment and
Qureia did not explain why the two sides had agreed at this point to begin
drafting a text. However, the timing coincides with a corruption scandal in
Israel that threatens to unseat Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Qureia did not
say what issue the two sides would start with. If they reach agreement on
any issue, then they will draft a single provision, he said. If not, they
will lay out on paper their divergent views, he added.
http://ap.google.
<http://ap.google.
The vanguard of Palestinian feminism: Sahar Khalifa at Bethlehem University
<http://english.
[7 June] The Palestinian Women Writers Conference is underway for three days
at Bethlehem University. The guest that most were hoping to see was Sahar
Khalifa. Born in the northern West Bank’s Nablus in 1941, she has published
six novels and is considered one of Palestine’s foremost writers. She is
widely acclaimed for being the first feminist Palestinian writer and her
works are translated second only to the poetry of the sublime Mahmoud
Darwish.
http://english.
<http://english.
State: Airport security checks do not discriminate against Arabs
<http://www.ynetnews
[6 June] Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitions High Court of
Justice about airport inspections, claiming Arab Israeli citizens always
undergo stricter checks; State denies allegations – The State denied the
claim that every Arab passenger undergoes a strict inspection, adding that
“most of the population undergoes a speedy process, which does not cause
heavy traffic or delay the passengers.”
http://www.ynetnews
<http://www.ynetnews
Ahrar Al-Jalil Brigades release video showing homemade projectile inside
Israel <http://www.maannews
[6 June] The militant Palestinian group based inside Israel’s 1948 borders,
the Ahrar Al-Jalil brigades, on Friday released a video showing a homemade
projectile, made inside Israel. The brigades said in a statement that
accompanied the video that is “the first time in the history of the 1948
Arabs that they have produced a homemade projectile which is now set up in
the Al-Jalil hills (Galilee) and is ready to be launched.” In the statement
the brigades sent a message to the Israeli leadership that if the Al-Aqsa
mosque is attacked, the brigades will attack the Israeli defense ministry in
Tel Aviv.
http://www.maannews
<http://www.maannews
Reflections on the 1967-war anniversary – by Khalid Amayreh
<http://www.palestin
xJEpMO%2bi1s7V7tqwJ
ZljJ3snTfkzQic7OZBz
[5 June] Prior to the 1967 war , the Israeli army had been carrying out
routine incursions into the West Bank , destroying poor people’s homes and
killing innocent civilians, very much like what Israel has been doing in the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This writer, for example, had lost three
innocent members of his family to Israeli savagery back in the early 1950s
My three paternal uncles (Hussein, Yousuf and Mahmoud) were brutally killed
by the terrorist state as they were grazing their sheep along the armistice
line near the village of al Burj, about 30 kilometres south west of Hebron.
. The wanton demolitions of Palestinian homes and villages started
immediately after the war. Indeed, immediately after hostilities were over,
the Israeli army utterly destroyed more than 170 homes in the Maghariba and
al-Sharaf neighbourhoods in the vicinity of the al-Aqsa Mosque. In the third
and fourth weeks of 1967, Israeli army bulldozers wiped out the Palestinian
villages of Beit Nuba, `Imwas (Emmaus), and Yalu, all on the orders of
Yitzhak Rabin.
http://www.palestin
JEpMO%2bi1s7V7tqwJG
ljJ3snTfkzQic7OZBzi
<http://www.palestin
xJEpMO%2bi1s7V7tqwJ
ZljJ3snTfkzQic7OZBz
Generation Intifada – by Neve Gordon
<http://www.haaretz.
[6 June] It took me a moment before I understood why my story about a few
relatively inconsequential incidents, which occurred years ago at my high
school, had such an effect on the undergraduates taking my fall semester
course in 2006. I described to my students how my friends from the farming
communities located in the Sinai and the small town of Yamit took their
lessons in the Palestinian town of Rafah and were among the first to pass
their driving tests. My students in the politics and government department
of Ben-Gurion University found this story incomprehensible. They simply
could not imagine Israeli teenagers taking driving lessons in the middle of
Rafah, which, in their minds, is no more than a terrorist nest riddled with
tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt; weapons subsequently used
against Israeli targets. The average age difference between me and my
students is only 15 years, but our perspectives are radically different. The
change that is hardly ever mentioned is the current lack of contact between
ordinary Israelis (as opposed to soldiers and settlers) and Palestinians.
http://www.haaretz.
<http://www.haaretz.
Richard Silverstein: Uninvited guests – Norman Finkelstein should return to
Israel
<http://www.guardian
s?gusrc=rss&
[6 June] The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) detained and deported
Finkelstein, who is a prominent critic of the Israeli occupation, when he
landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Friday. On Tuesday, the Shin
Bet said that if [Norman] Finkelstein tried returning to Israel it would
need to re-evaluate its position.” This got me to thinking: by God, the Shin
Bet is tacitly inviting Finkelstein to try again. I started wondering: why
not test the Shin Bet’s statement? Why not return to Israel? Then my
brainstorming became grander and bolder: don’t just return to Israel, but
make a bold political statement out of Finkelstein’
of prominent people denied either entrance to or exit from Israel by the
Shin Bet]
http://www.guardian
?gusrc=rss&feed=
<http://www.guardian
s?gusrc=rss&
D.C. independent bookstore bans Palestinian-
<http://windowintopa
ns.html>
[4 June] Saree Makdisi
<http://www.english.
written a powerful and heart-rending story in Palestine Inside Out: An
Everyday Occupation <http://www.powells.
, of the impossibility of anything resembling “normal” Palestinian life
under Israeli Occupation. He just happens to be the nephew of Edward Said.
Politics and Prose <http://www.politics
bookstore which agreed to an author appearance by Makdisi to promote his
book. Apparently, Carla Cohen, the owner, got cold feet about the event and
cancelled it. But it’s her explanation
<http://dc.indymedia
local Palestinian-
http://windowintopa
s.html
<http://windowintopa
ns.html>
James Abourezk: Name that terrorist
<http://www.counterp
[6 June] What the American public doesn’t hear about from any mainstream
news source is the history of Jewish terrorism from the 1940s when the
Zionist movement methodically went about ethnically cleansing Palestine of
Palestinians through present day, when Israel and its people commit daily
acts of terrorism against the Palestinians. From the early days of Zionism,
two of the vilest Jewish terrorists went on to become prime ministers of
Israel. . . I used to know Nathan Yalin-Mor, who was one of the three person
troika heading up the Stern Gang during its heyday. I once mentioned to
Nathan over dinner at my home in Washington that Sir Christopher Mayhew, the
British Lord who was pro-Palestinian, had told me that the Stern Gang had
sent him a letter bomb with the intention of killing him. “Did you send a
letter bomb to Sir Christopher?
letter bombs in those days,” he responded.
http://www.counterp
<http://www.counterp
Al Nakba (The Catastrophe)
<http://axisoflogic.
[7 June] Editor’s Note: This is not only an article for reading on-line, it
is also a 3-fold brochure, prepared by If Americans Knew
<http://www.ifameric
order the 3-fold brochure on line for a tiny fee of $5 for 50 copies which
barely pays the costs, and you can print it out on-line. IAK offers even
lower rates if you write to them or call and ask. At Axis of Logic, we
believe this is an important flyer that should be distributed by all those
who oppose the Zionist occupation of Palestine and care about the
Palestinian people.
http://axisoflogic.
<http://axisoflogic.
Jerusalem’s grim future – by Yaron London
<http://www.ynetnews
[4 June] Had we not taken over Jerusalem, it would have remained of marginal
value in the imagination of Muslims – yet from the moment Jews took control
of the entire city, “al-Quds” has become the heart of the fire. Moreover,
the annexation of east Jerusalem weakened the city rather than deepening our
control over it. Jerusalem Day is an official production aimed at concealing
this grim fact, yet only about half the people buy it. This is the half that
believes that God is preoccupied with matters of real estate and finds it of
great importance to boost the size of His offices. Yet according to all the
criteria used to assess power and control, the capital is weakening
consistently and rapidly.
http://www.ynetnews
<http://www.ynetnews
Robert Fisk: The West’s weapon of self-delusion
<http://www.independ
delusion-842117.
[7 June] Now even Condoleezza Rice admits – and she was also talking to
Aipac, of course – that there won’t be a Palestinian state by the end of the
year. That promise of George Bush – which no-one believed anyway – has gone.
In Rice’s pathetic words, “The goal itself will endure beyond the current US
leadership.” Of course it will. And the siege of Gaza will endure beyond the
current US leadership. And the Israeli wall. And the illegal Israeli
settlement building. And deaths in Iraq will endure beyond “the current US
leadership” – though “leadership” is pushing the definition of the word a
bit when the gutless Bush is involved – and deaths in Afghanistan and, I
fear, deaths in Lebanon too.
http://www.independ
elusion-842117.
<http://www.independ
delusion-842117.
Jamal Dajani: Jerusalem – Can Obama walk the walk?
<http://www.huffingt
3.html>
[6 June] The stark difference between the two Jerusalems is clearly visible
to the naked eye and for a candidate like Obama who prides himself on being
a candidate for change…perhaps for a change; he should stop pandering to
interest groups and take a hard look at the facts on the ground. Perhaps he
should walk the streets of Jerusalem and see the reality for himself just
like former president Carter and others have done…the true tale of two
cities.
http://www.huffingt
html
<http://www.huffingt
3.html>
MJ Rosenberg: Obama on Jerusalem – Why the fuss?
<http://www.huffingt
49.html>
[6 June] Obama’s reference to Jerusalem as “the capital of Israel” which
“must remain undivided” . . . was widely criticized as pandering,
particularly by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. Other critics said that
Obama’s position would doom Israeli-Palestinian negotiations because if the
city is to remain undivided, there is nothing to negotiate about. Pandering?
Obviously Milbank has not attended very many speeches in which politicians
really pander to a Jewish audience. If he had, he would know that panderers
do not endorse the peace process and do not call for high-level US
involvement to advance the two-state solution. Instead they routinely bash
Palestinians as terrorists — getting their audiences to their feet by using
the “never again” mantra as justification for hanging on to the territories
and, even more, the status quo.
http://www.huffingt
9.html
<http://www.huffingt
49.html>
Justin Raimondo: Obama capitulates – to the Israel lobby
<http://www.antiwar.
[6 June] Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s visit to the U.S. is part of a
concerted effort, by the Israeli government and its American lobbyists, to
convince U.S. lawmakers – and, most of all, President George W. Bush – that
the time to attack Iran is now.
http://www.antiwar.
McCain calls for moving U.S. embassy to
<http://www.haaretz.
From Al Jazeera
The state of Israel has at least 150 nuclear weapons, Jimmy Carter, the former US president, has said according to reports in the UK.
The announcement marks the first time a US president has publicly acknowledged the Jewish state’s nuclear arsenal.
Carter made the remark while responding to a question at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival in Wales in which he was asked how any future US president should deal with the Iranian nuclear threat.
From Guardian.co.uk, by Jonathan Steele and Jonathan Freedland
Former US President Jimmy Carter speaking at the 2008 Hay Festival. Photograph: Barry Batchelor/PA
Britain and other European governments should break from the US over the international embargo on Gaza, former US president Jimmy Carter told the Guardian yesterday. Carter, visiting the Welsh border town of Hay for the Guardian literary festival, described the EU’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute as “supine” and its failure to criticise the Israeli blockade of Gaza as “embarrassing”.
Referring to the possibility of Europe breaking with the US in an interview with the Guardian, he said: “Why not? They’re not our vassals. They occupy an equal position with the US.”
The blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza, imposed by the US, EU, UN and Russia - the so-called Quartet - after the organisation’s election victory in 2006, was “one of the greatest human rights crimes on Earth,” since it meant the “imprisonment of 1.6 million people, 1 million of whom are refugees”. “Most families in Gaza are eating only one meal per day. To see Europeans going along with this is embarrassing,” Carter said.
He called on the EU to reassess its stance if Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza. “Let the Europeans lift the embargo and say we will protect the rights of Palestinians in Gaza, and even send observers to Rafah gate [Gaza’s crossing into Egypt] to ensure the Palestinians don’t violate it.”
By Haaretz.com and AP , by Yoav Stern and Jack Khoury
The chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee said yesterday that the Israeli Arab sector and its leadership would fight what he called the “rising fascism” of Israeli society.
Israeli Arabs and supporters gathered across the country to mark the 32nd Land Day, an annual event protesting government policy regarding Israel’s largest minority.
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“We have reached an age of a race to see who can incite more against the Israeli Arab public and its leadership,” committee chairman Shuweiki Hatib said, speaking to protesters in Sakhnin.
From www.nationalterroralert.com
Al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri is calling on Muslims to strike Israeli and American interests to avenge Israel’s recent offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to a new audiotape.
In the 4-minute tape, posted on a Web site Monday, al-Zawahri accuses Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak of helping Israel in its offensive by sealing off the border between Egypt and Gaza.
He calls on Muslims to “strike the interests of the Jews, the Americans, and all of those who participated in the attack on the Muslims,” and says attacks should not be limited to areas in Israel or the Palestinian territories.
The two stories below give readers a clear and disturbing picture of the complete disconnect at all levels between the Israeli and Palestinian perspectives on the situation in Gaza…
When Charity Ends at Home (From Haaretz.com, by Gideon Levy)
Israel Closes Hamas Charity in West Bank (From The Boston Globe, by Associated Press / Photo by Nasser Shiyoukhi)
Few players in the ‘war on terror’ are more chilling, or misunderstood, than suicide bombers. Yet the true scale of their grisly activities has never been properly calculated. Five years after the invasion of Iraq, Robert Fisk details the shocking extent of the most widespread campaign of self-liquidation in human history
From The Independant, by Robert Fisk (Photo: Reuters)
Khaled looked at me with a broad smile. He was almost laughing. At one point, when I told him that he should abandon all thoughts of being a suicide bomber – that he could influence more people in this world by becoming a journalist – he put his head back and shot me a grin, world-weary for a man in his teens. “You have your mission,” he said. “And I have mine.” His sisters looked at him in awe. He was their hero, their amanuensis and their teacher, their representative and their soon-to-be-martyred brother. Yes, he was handsome, young – just 18 – he was dressed in a black Giorgio Armani T-shirt, a small, carefully trimmed Spanish conquistador’s beard, gelled hair. And he was ready to immolate himself.
A sinister surprise. I had travelled to Khaled’s home to speak to his mother. I had already written about his brother Hassan and wanted to introduce a Canadian journalist colleague, Nelofer Pazira, to the family. When Khaled walked on to the porch of the house, Nelofer and I both realised – at the same moment – that he was next, the next to die, the next “martyr”. It was his smile. I’ve come across these young men before, but never one who so obviously declared his calling.
From YNetNews.com, by Reuters
Deputy Israeli Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said on Friday the Palestinians would bring on themselves what he called a “bigger holocaust” by stepping up rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.
“Holocaust” is a term rarely used in Israel outside discussions of the Nazi genocide during World War Two. Many Israelis are loathe to countenance using the word to describe other contemporary events.
Israeli air strikes on the coastal territory, controlled by Hamas Islamists, have killed at least 32 Palestinians, including five children, in the past two days.