Forwarded.
palashcbiswas,
gostokanan, sodepur, kolkata-700110 phone:033-25659551
From: Shadi Fadda <f_shadi@yahoo.com>
To: president@whitehouse.gov
Cc: enquiry@dfid.gov.uk; inquiries@un.org
Sent: Thursday, 16 April, 2009 23:10:43
Subject: [Peoples War] Today in Palestine! ~ Headlines April 16, 2009 ~
Land Theft/Destruction
Palestinians Say Israeli Regulations Unfairly Hinder Quarry Industry
(West Bank) -- Complaints over Israel's conduct on Palestinian land are well-known. Less commonly heard, however, is the accusation that Israel is actually removing the land. "How is it that they are taking our land to Israel?" asked Ibrahim Abder, a Palestinian man standing at a stone quarry near his home a few miles south of Bethlehem during an interview with the Forward.
http://www.aggregat eresearch. com/article. aspx?src= rss&id=16008
Punitive house demolitions as "deterrence"
By the time we arrived in Sur Bahir, a Palestinian village near Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on the afternoon of 7 April, it was calm. At 6am, some 2,000 Israeli border police and special forces and other personnel descended on the village to demolish a wing of a house that belonged to the family of a Palestinian construction worker who allegedly went on a rampage while operating a bulldozer last July. Marian Houk reports.
http://electronicin tifada.net/ v2/article10467. shtml
Attacks/Aggression
The Israeli military kidnaps four civilians and attack kindergarten near Hebron
The Israeli military kidnapped four Palestinian teenagers and attacked a kindergarten during invasions targeting villages near the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59988
Israeli police to bar Palestinians 50 years old or less to enter the Al Aqsa mosque Thursday
As extremist right wing Israeli groups are planning to flock to the Al Aqsa mosque, the Israeli police decided that barring Palestinians less than 50 years old from entering the mosque, is the way to deal with the issue.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59976
A state of anxious in the occupied East Jerusalem
Jerusalem, April 15, 2009, (Ramattan)- A state of anxious on Wednesday covers the occupied East Jerusalem as Israeli extremists declared they would organize on Thursday a big march to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the holy city.
http://english. ramattan. net/newsdetails. aspx?news_ id=40216
Tuba kids walking back home from school- A recent CPT report and public call
Ehud Krinis - Villages Group - Of utmost concern for CPT and Operation Dove is the safe travel of Palestinian school children who walk from the nearby villages of Tuba and Magaher-al-Abeed to At-Tuwani's elementary school. These school children face a treacherous daily walk past the illegal Israeli settlement of Ma'on and the illegal outpost of Havat Ma'on. For years, armed adult settlers have attacked, threatened and harassed the children along the path from Tuba to Tuwani. In 2004 the Knesset recommended that the Israeli military provide the children with an armed escort. However, since settlers constructed a gate across the road one year ago, the escort soldiers have refused to walk with the children far enough to ensure their safety.
http://www.kibush. co.il/show_ file.asp? num=32962
Tension builds in Jerusalem as settlers threaten to invade the Al Aqsa mosque
Tension is mounting in the old city of Jerusalem as Israeli settlers and right-wing groups announced on Wednesday that they are planning to invade the courtyard of the Al Aqsa mosque some time on Thursday.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59964
Palestinian citizens urged to defend Aqsa Mosque against Jewish attacks
Palestinian religious and national figures urged the Palestinian citizens to march towards the Aqsa Mosque in the early morning hours on Thursday to defend the Mosque against the Jewish extremists.
http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/En/
Detentions
De facto government police arrest Fatah Youth planning Prisoners Day events
Gaza – Ma'an – Repressive actions are being carried out by de facto government forces in the Gaza Strip against Fatah Youth members preparing to mark Prisoners Day in Rafah, head of the youth council in the Gaza Strip Mahmoud Qanan said Thursday.
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37155
IOF arrests 4 Palestinian teens in Hebron
Ramallah, April 16, 2009 (Ramattan) – The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested on Thursday four Palestinian teens in the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinian security sources said.
http://english. ramattan. net/newsdetails. aspx?news_ id=40221
27 detainees in Al Ramla prison hospital without proper treatment
A legal group in defense of the Palestinian detainee reported that there are 27 detainees who are living in Al Ramla Prison hospital that lacks the basic equipment, while the detainees are not receiving proper treatment.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59974
PPS releases a report on Palestinian detainees
The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) issued a detailed report on the Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel as the Palestinian prepare for commemorating the Palestinian Prisoners Day on April 17. The report revealed that Israelis still holding 10500 Palestinians captive.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59973
Hundreds rally in Gaza ahead of Prisoner Day (AFP)
AFP - Hundreds of people in Hamas-run Gaza on Thursday called for the release of prisoners in Israeli jails as they held a rally ahead of Palestinian Prisoner Day.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20090416/ wl_mideast_ afp/mideastconfl ictpalestinianpr isonerdemo
Humanitarian Issues
Israel will not cooperate with UN Gaza inquiry
Israel does not plan to cooperate with a U.N. agency's investigation into alleged war crimes by Israeli troops and Hamas militants during fighting in Gaza, an Israeli government official said on Wednesday.
http://www.reuters. com/article/ homepageCrisis/ idUSLF401659. _CH_.2400
International reputation be damned
Israel continues to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and refuses to cooperate in UN war crimes investigationIsrael 's international standing may be plummeting due to its new government, but it would appear to remain unbowed. Today the AP is reporting that Israel is "very unlikely" to cooperate with a UN war crimes probe into the war in Gaza (Hamas has said they will support the investigation) . In addition, there is yet another story about Israel preventing necessary humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. From the IPS article "Aid Rots Outside Gaza":
http://www.philipwe iss.org/mondowei ss/2009/04/ israel-refuses- to-cooperate. html
PRC: Gaza Refugees "Perpetual" suffering
April 15th, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Palestine Return Center (PRC) expresses deep anxiety over the conditions of Palestinians in Gaza, especially refugees who are the majority. A harsh siege followed by a deadly war has destroyed the lives of people there. PRC calls for a prompt intervention to ease the refugees' conditions in Gaza until long term solution is implemented.
http://www.palteleg raph.com/ index.php? option=com_ content&view=article&id=558:prc-gaza- refugees- perpetual- suffering&catid=60:palestinia n-refugees&Itemid=184
Children victims of Gaza war arrive in Dubai for medication
DUBAI -- Twenty Palestinian children who were seriously injured during the Israeli military offensive on Gaza Strip in early January, 2009, have arrived here on Wednesday for medication.
http://www.uaedaily news.com/ middleeast/ 4158.html
Riz Khan - Gaza's unending nightmare - 15 April 09 - Part 1
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=Kd8Xh2fOve0&feature=player_ embedded
Riz Khan - Gaza's unending nightmare - 15 April 09 - Part 2
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=Ayfv-d8L4Ek&feature=player_ embedded
Stranded patients, frustrated medical workers protest Rafah closure
Gaza – Ma'an – Dozens of Gazan patients waiting to receive treatment outside the Strip and ambulances staffed by frustrated medical workers from the Gaza Strip gathered in front of the Rafah crossing gate in a joint condemnation of Egypt's maintained closure of the crossing point.
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37157
One Gaza crossing open as goods trickle into Strip; no fuel for four days
Gaza – Ma'an – One Gaza crossing will open for food and humanitarian supplies on Thursday following ten days of minimum shipments, only one of which included fuel. Gaza crossings official Raed Fattuh said Kerem Shalom will be opened to allow the transfer of 115-130 truckloads of food and aid into Gaza.
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37152
Collaborators
MIDEAST: Aid Rots Outside Gaza
AL-ARISH, Egypt, Apr 15 (IPS) - Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of aid intended for the Gaza Strip is piling up in cities across Egypt's North Sinai region, despite recent calls from the United Nations to ease aid flow restrictions to the embattled territory in the wake of Operation Cast Lead.
http://www.ipsnews. net/news. asp?idnews= 46504
Second Lebanese man arrested over Israel espionage
Lebanese security forces this week arrested two men suspected of spying on behalf of Israel. J' Al-Alam was detained for questioning on Thursday, just days after his relative, retired General Adib Al-Alam.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078776. html
An Israeli Spy in Lebanon
You will not read about this in the US press: Yet another Israeli spy/terrorism network was uncovered in Lebanon. And this time it was uncovered by the Jihaz Al-Ma`lumat which is armed and equipped by the US and is controlled by the Hariri family. The Lebanese newspapers like As-Safir which has been writing about the story have refrained from priting the name of the lousy and dirty Israeli spy: his name is Adib `Alam. An anonymous reader from Lebanon tells me in a confidential letter that `Alam is an uncle (on the mother side--"khal" in Arabic) of Gen. Francois Al-Hajj (the chief of operations of the Lebanese Army and who was assassinated last year). Al-Hajj had been known for being anti-Israeli. It will be known one day the extent to which Israeli terrorists were responsible for assassinations in Lebanon (and this is not to absolve the Syrian regime from responsibility for some of the assassinations in Lebanon, or the Jordanian regime for that matter). [end]
http://angryarab. blogspot. com/2009/ 04/israeli- spy-in-lebanon. html
Abu Mazen's Son: A Self-made Crook
Abu Mazen's son, the well-known crook Yasir (named after Yasir `Arafat before he labeled Abu Mazen as the "Hamid Karzai of Palestine") talks to Al-Arabiyya TV. He said that he collaborates with Israel because everybody collabroates with Israel "except those who live "on rain". He admittd that he is a millionaire but denies that he is a crook ("I am not a crook" he almost said) and said that he collected his fortune with his "sweats." He said that 25% of his business goes to the Palestinian Authority. He said that he started his company with a "modest capital." He said that he hit it big with Falcon Tobacco which became the official distributor of American cigarettes.
http://angryarab. net/2009/ 04/15/abu- mazens-son- a-self-made- crook/
Accusing Hizbullah: Egyptian charges against Hizbullah risk worsening Arab-Iranian and Shia-Sunni relations
Egypt is committed to the pacification of the Gaza Strip, preferably in consultation with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that seized control of the territory in 2007. Egypt suspects Iran and its allies in the Arab world—Hizbullah, Syria, Islamic Jihad and Hamas—of seeking to maintain Gaza as a base for ongoing resistance operations against Israel....At a deeper level, Egypt's leaders are concerned at the prospect of an alliance between the Shia forces that produced the Islamic revolution in Iran, which led in turn to the rise of Hizbullah, and the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition group in Egypt, and the inspiration for the creation of Hamas.
http://www.economis t.com/daily/ news/displaystor y.cfm?story_ id=13480609&fsrc=nwl
Hezbollah: Egyptian Regime Campaign Will Backlash
16/04/2009 Cairo is considering the possibility of 'indicting' Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah and his deputy Sheikh Naim Qassem… Indeed, it's just another part of the aggressive campaign launched by the Egyptian regime against the Resistance party. According to Egyptian "well-informed sources" quoted by the Arab press on Thursday, Egyptian jurists have actually begun drafting a legal document that may lead to the indictment of Sayyed Nasrallah and his deputy Sheikh Qassem for "conspiring to commit a crime and planning acts of aggression and terror on Egyptian soil."
The Egyptian sources said that the document should be completed in the coming days and be presented to "the highest authorities. "
http://almanar. com.lb/NewsSite/ NewsDetails. aspx?id=81985&language=en
Israel Insists It Gave Egypt Intel on "Network"
16/04/2009 Israeli security officials continued Thursday to confirm that Egypt had received data on the so called Hezbollah cell in Egypt from Israeli intelligence services. The officials have called to make use of the "event" and strike an alliance between Israel and Egypt, since "the enemy is one:" Hezbollah and Hamas. Other Israeli observers have called not to show jubilance at the Cairo-Hezbollah row "so as not to push both sides into ending their conflict."
http://almanar. com.lb/NewsSite/ NewsDetails. aspx?id=81979&language=en
Political Developments
Officials say Hamas and Fatah no nearer to reconciliation
Despite popular expectations that Hamas and Fatah would overcome their differences, there is concern in Gaza that the next round of reconciliation talks between Fatah and the Islamic movement will not take place.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078590. html
British lawmakers meet Hamas leader in Syria
A British parliamentary delegation on a visit to Syria has met Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal as part of European efforts to communicate with the Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas said on Wednesday.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078508. html
Spanish FM meets Fayyad and Al-Maliki; condemns settlement construction
Ramallah – Ma'an – Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos was in Ramallah Wednesday where he met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his local counterpart Riyad Al-Maliki. Moratinos confirmed the Spanish stance against the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in accordance with the Road Map and the Arab Peace Initiative.
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37145
Marwan Bargouthi most trusted politician
According to an opinion poll conducted in the Palestinian territories at the end of March, Marwan Bargouthi commands the most trust within the Palestinian population.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59963
Palestinians have no peace partner: Barghuti (AFP)
AFP - Jailed intifada leader Marwan Barghuti said in an interview published on Wednesday that Palestinians had no peace partner in the current largely right-wing Israeli cabinet.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20090415/ wl_mideast_ afp/mideastconfl ictprisonerbargh uti
Hamas: Kidnapping of Israeli soldiers is a strategic vision
Hamas stated that the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers is a strategic vision for the liberation of prisoners after the failure of diplomacy and poor agreements to set them free.
http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/En/
Hamas: The Islamic bloc's win in Birzeit a sign of the resistance popularity
Hamas said that progress achieved by the Islamic bloc in the Birzeit university elections through winning three more seats is an indication that the Palestinian people support the resistance project.
http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/En/
Fatah wins student council elections at Birzeit, Hebron universities
Bethlehem - Ma'an - The Birzeit University and Hebron Polytechnic student council elections saw the campus' Fatah-affiliated parties win majorities at both senates on Wednesday. At Birzeit, widely seen as one of the West Bank's most politically active campus, elections saw 84.6% participation from the 6,970 students at the university.
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37150
Obama envoy to Israel: U.S. wants Palestinian state (Reuters)
Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy told Israel's ultranationalist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, Thursday that Washington wants to see the creation of a Palestinian state.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/nm/20090416/ wl_nm/us_ palestinians_ israel_usa
Other News
Thousands Muslims demonstrate in Jerusalem to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque
Jerusalem, April 16, 2009 (RAMATTAN) – Thousands of Muslims demonstrated in Jerusalem's Old City on Thursday following reports that Jewish extremists planned to rally on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
http://english. ramattan. net/newsdetails. aspx?news_ id=40223
Nobel Peace laureate Ahtisaari wants Hamas in Mideast talks
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari said Wednesday that Hamas should be included in a negotiating process to achieve peace in the Middle East.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078525. html
Gaza Blockade Spurs Minds to Develop Inventions that Impress the World (Report)
Although the Zionist occupation has imposed a suffocating blockade on the Gaza Strip for years, the minds of the besieged Gazans have refused to accept surrender or defeat.
http://www.. palestine- info.co.uk/En/
Hezbollah says no longer considered pariah by West (AFP)
AFP - The West can no longer ignore Hezbollah and has given assurances it will deal with the Lebanese militant group if it wins upcoming elections, the Shiite movement's deputy chief said on Wednesday.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20090415/ wl_mideast_ afp/lebanonpolit icshezbollahqass em
Hizbullah, a Western fascination
The killing of four Lebanese soldiers on Monday reawakens some old thoughts about a phenomenon I've watched over the years, one that should not be underestimated in determining how Lebanon is understood and portrayed abroad: the devouring fascination with Hizbullah that many Westerners living in.
http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ article.asp? edition_id= 10&categ_id=5&article_id=101012
Egyptian FM: Lieberman not welcome in Egypt
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Wednesday that his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, is not welcome in Egypt.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078514. html
Egypt: We'll talk to Israel, but not to Lieberman
Tensions between Cairo, Jerusalem seem far from abating as top Egyptian minister warns his country will not welcome Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman so long as he retains his current positions.
http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3701804,00. html
Israeli conductor Barenboim to perform in Egypt for first time
Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim will lead the Cairo Symphony Orchestra Thursday in his first performance in Egypt, bringing his campaign to bridge divides through music to the heart of the Arab world for the first time.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078512. html
Israeli Propaganda
High
"The Israeli Anti-Drug Authority launched an ad campaign linking smoking marijuana with support for Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah."
http://angryarab. blogspot. com/2009/ 04/high.html
Unusual entries
"The Israeli government is sending the two of you to Moscow as part of its propaganda machine that is trying to create the appearance of Jewish-Arab 'coexistence' under which it carries out the daily massacre of Palestinian civilians," the letter said. "Israeli artists, authors and intellectuals that take part in this propaganda machine, instead of working for justice, equality and the upholding of human and civil rights, not to mention international law, are partners to the crime." Israel hasn't been shy about submitting unusual entries to Eurovision."
http://angryarab. net/2009/ 04/15/unusual- entries/
BBC panel finds broadcaster breached guidelines on Israel
In reporting about Israel, BBC's Middle East Editor has breached the corporation' s guideline on accuracy and impartiality, an internal BBC complaints panel on Wednesday stated. The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland said that the findings show that the BBC has an anti-Israel "bias" and that the position of the editor, Jeremy Bowen, is "untenable." The corporation rejected these claims.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078501. html
How can you trust the cowardly BBC?
Robert Fisk - The Independent -Haaretz gave considerable space to the BBC`s findings yesterday. I`m not surprised. But why is it that Haaretz`s top correspondents – Amira Hass and Gideon Levy – write so much more courageously about the human rights abuses of Israeli troops (and war crimes) than the BBC has ever dared to do? Whenever I`m asked by lecture audiences around the world if they should trust the BBC, I tell them to trust Amira and Gideon more than they should ever believe in the wretched broadcasting station. I`m afraid it`s the same old story. If you allow yourself to bow down before those who wish you to deviate from the truth, you will stay on your knees forever.
http://www.independ ent.co.uk/ opinion/commenta tors/fisk/ robert-fisk- how-can-you- trust-the- cowardly- bbc-1669281. html
Barenboim Urges Arabs to Visit Israel
Israeli-Argentinian Conductor Daniel Barenboim on Wednesday called on Arabs to visit Israel, urging them not to put all Israelis "in one basket". "If I can be allowed one small word of criticism, in general, about the Arab world, is that (the tendency) is to put all Israelis in one basket and say, we boycott, we don't want anything to do with them, anybody who goes there is an enemy," he said in Cairo. "It would be much better that Egyptians, and Syrians, and Palestinians, and Jordanians, and Lebanese, will go to Tel-Aviv, and explain their point of view, and express their point of view," he told a news conference a day before his orchestra is due to perform in the Arab world's most populous country.
http://www.naharnet .com/domino/ tn/NewsDesk. nsf/getstory? openform&C840C7E28688B20CC22 5759A002DC50A
Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment
Veolia loses another contract in Bordeaux
The transportation branch of the French multinational corporation Veolia loses a contract worth 750 million euros in Bordeaux.
The Greater Bordeaux local government give a contract for the management of the biggest urban network in France to Keolis, a subsidiary of SNCF over Veolia. Veolia has been involved in the construction of a tramway in Jerusalem, designed to link West Jerusalem with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Veolia has now lost contracts that are worth more than $7.5 Billion in Stockholm, West Midlands (UK) and Bordeaux.
http://www.bigcampa ign.org/index. php?mact= News,cntnt01, detail,0&cntnt01articleid= 399&cntnt01origid= 103&cntnt01dateformat= %25d%20%25b% 20%25Y&cntnt01returnid= 72
On tax day, we ask, Why do we single out Israel?
There has been an ongoing discussion on this site about the "Dershofoxmanitz" question - "Why do you single out Israel?" In addition to the other answers already given here's another - because the US government has already singled Israel out.
http://www.philipwe iss.org/mondowei ss/2009/04/ tax-day-is- a-reminder- why-we-single- out-israel. html
Activists to scrawl letter decrying 'apartheid' on separation wall
The separation barrier will receive its largest piece of graffiti yet when Dutch and Palestinian activists scrawl on it a 2,000-word letter by a South African scholar arguing that "Israeli apartheid" is "far more brutal" than Pretoria's was.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078578. html
Op-ed/Analysis
The Official Surrender: Camp David and its Aftermath, by As'ad Abukhalil
It's the 30th anniversary of Camp David: We count the hours, the seconds and the deep anger that lead up to this memory. It thus comes to pass in the Arab political life without any hoopla or without even someone who notices or who is unnerved by it. Israel and its allies want the Arabs to commemorate the anniversary with feasts and jubilation, while praising Sadat in popular Arab memory.
http://angryarab. blogspot. com/2009/ 04/official- surrender. html
Israel's new government: Change your tune
Until now, Barack Obama has been oddly shy of embroilment, partly because of the lack of a solid Israeli government. That excuse no longer holds. He and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, have declared that securing two states, of Israel and Palestine, must be the sole basis of a deal. America cannot give unstinting support to an Israeli government that says it is resiling from the fundamental principle of two states and will continue to colonise the West Bank. If Mr Netanyahu does not change course, Mr Obama should reduce aid to Israel.
http://www.economis t.com/opinion/ displaystory. cfm?story_ id=13413984
A marginal matter, By Gideon Levy
The 18th Knesset is different from all its predecessors. It is the first that does not have a Jewish MK whose guiding principle is the struggle against the occupation. Since the 7th Knesset, the first to be elected after the Six-Day War, we have not had a parliament like this one, devoid of Jewish anti-occupation activists. As such, the new Knesset precisely reflects the popular zeitgeist, in which the occupation is completely missing from the national agenda, and there is no reason to disturb our legislators with the issue.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078598. html
The rhetoric of "peace"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "economic peace" proposal should be seen as the beginning of a new stage of colonization. Israel has been successful in dividing the Palestinians into different groups, separated politically and geographically. Israel has also been successful in creating a collaborating political class. Israel failed however to squash their desire for freedom and their right to resist aggression. In other words, Israel was successful in the physical colonization of the land, de facto controlling the whole of historic Palestine, but failed to colonize Palestinian minds, for the most part, at least. This new stage will target the latter.. Ziyaad Lunat comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicin tifada.net/ v2/article10466. shtml
Solving Palestine While Israel Destroys It
To a greater degree than perhaps ever before, Washington today is engulfed in denial about Israel and its stupefying behavior, about its murderous policies toward the Palestinians, about the efforts of Israel and its U.S. defenders to force us to ignore its atrocities. Blinders have always been part of the attire of U.S. policymakers and politicians with regard to Israel and Israeli actions, but in the wake of the three-week Israeli assault that laid waste to the tiny territory of Gaza -- an assault ended very conveniently just before Barack Obama was inaugurated, so that he has been able to act as though it never occurred -- the perspective from which Washington operates is strikingly more blinkered than ever in the past.
http://www.counterp unch.org/ christison041520 09.html
Finding a sense of home in "Salt of this Sea"
Annemarie Jacir's Salt of this Sea (2008) is the first full-length feature film by a Palestinian female director. Since its world premier at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, it has toured the world and is scheduled to screen at this year's Tribeca Film Festival in New York at the end of the month. Maymanah Farhat reviews for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicin tifada.net/ v2/article10465. shtml
Neve Gordon`s "Israel`s Occupation"
Yehudit Keshet - Importantly, Gordon points out the underlying logic of the occupation – the separation of the Palestinian people from their land, and not simply by means of land expropriation for colonizing purposes. Already in the immediate aftermath of the Six-Day War, Meir Shamgar, then military advocate general, formulated a policy that 'rejected the applicability of the 1949 4th Geneva Convention.. .to the OT' (P.26) Shamgar maintained that since neither the West Bank nor Gaza had been sovereign areas prior to June 1967, they should be considered disputed rather than occupied territories. This position not only finds its place in Israeli policy, it is frequently voiced in public discourse; it denies the rights of Palestinians to their land and to political self-determination in that land.
http://www.kibush. co.il/show_ file.asp? num=32963
A Gaza Doctor's Case for Peace
Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish was, and is, that remarkable Palestinian welcome on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. A resident of Gaza, fluent in Hebrew, deeply devoted to peace. An obstetrician who treated both Palestinians and Israelis — who was welcomed by Israeli medical colleagues, one of whom called him a "magical, secret bridge between Israelis and Palestinians."
http://www.onpointr adio.org/ shows/2009/ 04/a-gaza- doctors-case- for-peace/
Hate Street, Hebron - A Photo Tour
Hebron, April 15th, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) - Visiting Hebron is currently possible for internationals such as myself, but Israeli citizens are forbidden to do so under Israeli law. I made use of this privilege by taking a tour arranged by ICAHD and hosted by a local Palestinian resident.
http://www.palteleg raph.com/ index.php? option=com_ content&view=article&id=555:hate- street-hebron- a-photo-tour&catid=55:palestinia n-stories&Itemid=173
Many American Jews are furious at Israel
I think we are in the beginning of an American Jewish backlash against Israel. The causes of this anger are obvious: Gaza and Avigdor Lieberman are resonating through a Jewish community that voted for Barack Hussein Obama, 4 to 1. Years ago Tony Judt wrote presciently in Haaretz that Israel was like an adolescent out of control, and the U.S. was the parent, and the relationship was coming to an end. Judt was right. That relationship is coming to an end. And what do parents who have enabled a juvenile delinquent do? Well one thing they do is get very angry. Here are signs of the fury...
http://www.philipwe iss.org/mondowei ss/2009/04/ a-commenter- complained- lately-that- i-am-a-trendspot ter-while- adam-horowitz- is-substantive- here-is-a- trend-mixed- a-little- wi.html
Defending the Indefensible: Israel, Gaza, and Idolatry
April 15, 2009 "Information Clearing House" --- A tell-tale sign of having become the victim of propaganda is the eruption of anger, name-calling, calumny, scapegoating, and insinuations when confronted with facts, ideas, or arguments that pose a threat to the unmasking or refutation of said propaganda. The provocation of such a vehement reaction is itself a deliberate product of the propagandist, for it is the implantation of a built-in, defense mechanism effectively precluding awareness of not only the mendacious character of the propaganda, but also its very existence in the mind of the victim.
http://informationc learinghouse. info/article2242 7.htm
Mr President, your silence on the murder of Palestinian women is complicity - By Nahid Abu T'eima
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37141
TV director: the occupation is sucking the art out of us
PNN exclusive / Hiba Lama - With a mixture of pain and hope Palestine participated in the opening of the Fifth Al Jazeera Documentary Film Festival that began in Doha, Qatar on Monday. Entitled, "Five years of Hope," the event will end today.
http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content&task=view&id=5047
The suffering of Israel's Mizrahis
The tales of Jewish migrants from Arab countries challenge those who cling to a monochrome script of Arab against Israeli.
http://www.guardian .co.uk/commentis free/2009/ apr/15/israel- mizrahis- equality- conflict
The most moral army in the world. Fact
On June 19, 1977, the Sunday Times marked the 10-year anniversary of the occupation with a wide-ranging expose on the torture of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The report concluded that torture was so widespread and systematic that it was impossible to dismiss these deeds as "'rogue' cops exceeding orders. It appears to be sanctioned as deliberate policy." Israel's denial was, of course, adamant. No Israeli newspaper addressed the accusations directly. Our ambassador in London said the morality of the prophets does not permit torture, and therefore these charges were baseless. It was Menachem Begin of all people, who had just formed his government, who expressed shock and ordered the Shin Bet to cease and desist.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078410. html
Iraq
18 killed in suicide bombing west of Baghdad
RAMADI, Iraq, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a suicide bomb explosion inside an Iraqi military base on Thursday rose to 18 with 53 other soldiers injured, a military source said. "The latest reports said that 18 Iraqi soldiers were killed and53 others were injured by the blast," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
http://news. xinhuanet. com/english/ 2009-04/16/ content_11195870 .htm
Police: Car bomb kills 11 in northern Iraq (AP)
AP - A car bomb exploded Wednesday near a police convoy in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing at least 11 government security guards and wounding about 20 other people, police said.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/ap/20090415/ ap_on_re_ mi_ea/ml_ iraq
Iraq study: Executions are leading cause of death (AP)
AP - Execution-style killings, not headline-grabbing bombings, have been the leading cause of death among civilians in the Iraq war, a study released Wednesday shows. The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, point to the brutal sectarian nature of the conflict, where death squads once roamed the streets hunting down members of the rival Muslim sect.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/ap/20090415/ ap_on_re_ mi_ea/ml_ iraq_civilian_ deaths
Iraq air raids kill mostly women and children
Air strikes and artillery barrages have taken a heavy toll among the most vulnerable of the Iraqi people, with children and women forming a disproportionate number of the dead. Analysis carried out for the research group Iraq Body Count (IBC) found that 39 per cent of those killed in air raids by the US-led coalition were children and 46 per cent were women. Fatalities caused by mortars, used by American and Iraqi government forces as well as insurgents, were 42 per cent children and 44 per cent women.
http://www.belfastt elegraph. co.uk/news/ world-news/ iraq-air- raids-kill- mostly-women- and-children- 14269876. html
US sergeant convicted of murdering Iraq detainees (AFP)
AFP - A US sergeant was found guilty Wednesday of the murder of four detainees in Iraq in 2007, but acquitted in the death of a fifth, following a court martial in Germany.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20090415/ wl_mideast_ afp/usgermanyira qmilitarytrialve rdict
Muntather was Tortured: Muntather Al-Zaidi's Brother Uday Speaks
Uday Al-Zaidi chants slogans at his house after the court sentenced al-Zaidi to three years in prison, in Baghdad (Reuters photo)
IslamOnline. net's correspondent in Sudan interviewed Uday Al-Zaidi in Khartoum shortly after his return from Darfur where he was visiting along with an international delegation of activists, academics and diplomats.
http://www.islamonl ine.net/servlet/ Satellite? c=Article_ C&cid=1237706204739&pagename=Zone- English-Muslim_ Affairs%2FMAELay out
Iraqi VP Calls on Christians Not to Leave
Iraq's Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi urged Iraq's Christian minority not to flee the country Wednesday and called on the international community to help protect it from extremists. According to Christian leaders, 250,000 of the 800,000 Christians who lived in Iraq six years ago before the invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein have now left the country, part of a larger refugee exodus.
http://www.naharnet .com/domino/ tn/NewsDesk. nsf/getstory? openform&5E023D09773AC810C22 57599004D5BC3
Iraq's southern marshes dry up again amid drought
A severe drought is threatening Iraq's southern marshes - the traditional site of the biblical Garden of Eden - just as the region was recovering from Saddam Hussein's draining of its lakes and swamps to punish a political rebellion. Marshes that were coming back to life a few years ago with UN help are again.
http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ article.asp? edition_id= 10&categ_id=2&article_id=101030
Banning al-Hayat in Iraq
The top military spokesman in Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, said he was filing a lawsuit seeking to close the Baghdad office of Al Hayat, one of the most prominent newspapers in the Arab world, as well as the satellite signal of Al Sharqiya, a popular Iraqi television channel that has been a strong critic of the government. The lawsuit was announced on the Web site of the Baghdad Operations Command, which coordinates Iraqi security forces in the capital.
http://lynch. foreignpolicy. com/posts/ 2009/04/15/ banning_al_ hayat_in_ iraq
Video: Baghdad: City of walls, part 1: Scars of war
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ video/2009/ apr/16/baghdad- city-of-walls
Video: Baghdad: City of Walls, part 2: Crossing the wall
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ video/2009/ apr/16/iraq- baghdad-city- of-walls
Video: Baghdad: City of Walls, part 3: City of the Dead
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ video/2009/ apr/16/iraq- baghdad-city- of-walls1
Video: Baghdad: City of Walls, part 4: Hope in hell?
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ video/2009/ apr/16/iraq- baghdad-city- of-walls2
Video: Baghdad: City of Walls, part 4: Hope in hell?
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ video/2009/ apr/16/iraq- baghdad-city- of-walls2
Views on Britain's role in Iraq: 'People see the UK as a poodle of America'
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ 2009/apr/ 16/uk-iraq- usa-terror
Iraq war: Gordon Brown aims to delay inquiry report until after election
Ministers have decided that the inquiry should be wide-ranging, possibly dating back to Margaret Thatcher's tacit support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Its main focus will be on the conduct of the 2003 war and the breakdown of law and order afterwards.
http://www.guardian .co.uk/politics/ 2009/apr/ 14/iraq-war- inquiry-brown- hussein
U.S. and other world news
Richard Armitage: If I had known, I would've resigned over Bush administration torture
Richard Armitage, who was second in command at the State Department during former President George W. Bush's first term, believes waterboarding is torture and says he would have resigned had he known the CIA was torturing suspects. "I hope, had I known about it at the time I was serving, I would've had the courage to resign," Armitage says in an Al Jazeera English interview to be aired tomorrow. The statement makes him one of the highest ranking former Bush administration officials to label the former president's policy torture.
http://rawstory. .com/news/ 2008/Richard_ Armitage_ If_I_had_ known_0415. html
Anatomy of Bush's Torture 'Paradigm'
April 15, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- -The prose of the recently leaked report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on torture seems colorless. It is at the same time obscene — almost pornographic. The 41-page ICRC report depicts scenes of prisoners forced to remain naked for long periods, sometimes in the presence of women, often with their hands shackled over their heads in "stress positions" as they are left to soil themselves.
http://informationc learinghouse. info/article2242 2.htm
Can Spain really prosecute George W. Bush aides over torture?
The White House has discouraged any talk of prosecuting George W. Bush or any of his aides over the torture of terrorism suspects -- which President Obama has now outlawed. The new president says he just wants to move on from the policies of the old one. But not everyone agrees. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont has called for a Truth Commission, modeled on South Africa's transition from apartheid, to explore who was responsible for sending the United States down the path of torture. And now a court in Spain is weighing an investigation into whether Bush administration officials violated the Geneva Convention in authorizing waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques used with terrorism suspects after 9/11.
http://latimesblogs .latimes. com/washington/ 2009/04/can- spain-really- prosecute- george-w- bush-aides- over-torture. html
ANALYSIS / Iran treating Obama declarations as policy
It appears Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has begun treating the declarations of U.S.. President Barack Obama as policy, and this is a substantive response to the new American strategy, coordinated with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Contrary to previous Iranian declarations, Ahmadinejad is dropping the precondition to dialogue that the United States first change its policy.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078584. html
Avoiding World Conference on Racism Shows Obama's Deep Disrespect For Blacks
On Tuesday, April 14, according to the Huffington Post, the White House placed a conference call to American "Jewish leaders," all but assuring them the U.S. would not show up for Durban II, the international conference on racism, in Geneva, Switzerland. President Obama's close adviser Samantha Power, of the National Security Council, said the event's revised draft document "met two of our four red lines frontally, in the sense that it went no further than reparations and it did drop all references to Israel and all anti-Semitic language. But it continued to reaffirm, in toto, Durban I."
http://dissidentvoi ce.org/2009/ 04/avoiding- world-conference -on-racism- shows-obamas- deep-disrespect- for-blacks/
New York showcases Mid East art
A new exhibition displays work with a message from young artists from 25 countries.
http://www.. thenational. ae/article/ 20090416/ FOREIGN/44530884 7/1002/rss
Award-Winning 'Arab in America' Trailer Out
Announced as the Grand Prize Winner of the One Nation Many Voices Online Film Contest" "Arab in America" by Nabil Abou-Harb. "Arab in America" chronicles the journey of an American-born character named, "Osama Ahmed Abou-Bakr" and his plight to find a job in America's post-9/11 atmosphere.
http://www.kabobfes t.com/2009/ 04/award- winning-arab- in-america- trailer.html
Child Abuse Spikes As U.S. Economy Flounders
One 4-month-old baby was shaken so violently she needed surgery. Another 3-week-old suffered fractured ribs from abuse at home. A 9-year-old diabetic boy stopped receiving proper treatment for his condition. Those cases reported by Boston hospitals are part of a spike in child abuse in United States during a recession that has driven some families to the brink and overwhelmed cash-strapped child-protection agencies.
http://www.huffingt onpost.com/ 2009/04/15/ child-abuse- spikes-as- us-_n_187521. html
UK: Racist escapes terror charge after threat to behead and bomb Muslims
MacGregor, 35, has admitted threatening to blow up Scotland's biggest mosque and to behead one Muslim a week until every mosque was shut down.
http://www.scotsman .com/latestnews/ Racist-escapes- -terror-charge. 5169939.jp
--
www.TheHeadlines. org
Palestinians Say Israeli Regulations Unfairly Hinder Quarry Industry
(West Bank) -- Complaints over Israel's conduct on Palestinian land are well-known. Less commonly heard, however, is the accusation that Israel is actually removing the land. "How is it that they are taking our land to Israel?" asked Ibrahim Abder, a Palestinian man standing at a stone quarry near his home a few miles south of Bethlehem during an interview with the Forward.
http://www.aggregat eresearch. com/article. aspx?src= rss&id=16008
Punitive house demolitions as "deterrence"
By the time we arrived in Sur Bahir, a Palestinian village near Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on the afternoon of 7 April, it was calm. At 6am, some 2,000 Israeli border police and special forces and other personnel descended on the village to demolish a wing of a house that belonged to the family of a Palestinian construction worker who allegedly went on a rampage while operating a bulldozer last July. Marian Houk reports.
http://electronicin tifada.net/ v2/article10467. shtml
Attacks/Aggression
The Israeli military kidnaps four civilians and attack kindergarten near Hebron
The Israeli military kidnapped four Palestinian teenagers and attacked a kindergarten during invasions targeting villages near the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59988
Israeli police to bar Palestinians 50 years old or less to enter the Al Aqsa mosque Thursday
As extremist right wing Israeli groups are planning to flock to the Al Aqsa mosque, the Israeli police decided that barring Palestinians less than 50 years old from entering the mosque, is the way to deal with the issue.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59976
A state of anxious in the occupied East Jerusalem
Jerusalem, April 15, 2009, (Ramattan)- A state of anxious on Wednesday covers the occupied East Jerusalem as Israeli extremists declared they would organize on Thursday a big march to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the holy city.
http://english. ramattan. net/newsdetails. aspx?news_ id=40216
Tuba kids walking back home from school- A recent CPT report and public call
Ehud Krinis - Villages Group - Of utmost concern for CPT and Operation Dove is the safe travel of Palestinian school children who walk from the nearby villages of Tuba and Magaher-al-Abeed to At-Tuwani's elementary school. These school children face a treacherous daily walk past the illegal Israeli settlement of Ma'on and the illegal outpost of Havat Ma'on. For years, armed adult settlers have attacked, threatened and harassed the children along the path from Tuba to Tuwani. In 2004 the Knesset recommended that the Israeli military provide the children with an armed escort. However, since settlers constructed a gate across the road one year ago, the escort soldiers have refused to walk with the children far enough to ensure their safety.
http://www.kibush. co.il/show_ file.asp? num=32962
Tension builds in Jerusalem as settlers threaten to invade the Al Aqsa mosque
Tension is mounting in the old city of Jerusalem as Israeli settlers and right-wing groups announced on Wednesday that they are planning to invade the courtyard of the Al Aqsa mosque some time on Thursday.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59964
Palestinian citizens urged to defend Aqsa Mosque against Jewish attacks
Palestinian religious and national figures urged the Palestinian citizens to march towards the Aqsa Mosque in the early morning hours on Thursday to defend the Mosque against the Jewish extremists.
http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/En/
Detentions
De facto government police arrest Fatah Youth planning Prisoners Day events
Gaza – Ma'an – Repressive actions are being carried out by de facto government forces in the Gaza Strip against Fatah Youth members preparing to mark Prisoners Day in Rafah, head of the youth council in the Gaza Strip Mahmoud Qanan said Thursday.
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37155
IOF arrests 4 Palestinian teens in Hebron
Ramallah, April 16, 2009 (Ramattan) – The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested on Thursday four Palestinian teens in the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinian security sources said.
http://english. ramattan. net/newsdetails. aspx?news_ id=40221
27 detainees in Al Ramla prison hospital without proper treatment
A legal group in defense of the Palestinian detainee reported that there are 27 detainees who are living in Al Ramla Prison hospital that lacks the basic equipment, while the detainees are not receiving proper treatment.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59974
PPS releases a report on Palestinian detainees
The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) issued a detailed report on the Palestinian detainees imprisoned by Israel as the Palestinian prepare for commemorating the Palestinian Prisoners Day on April 17. The report revealed that Israelis still holding 10500 Palestinians captive.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59973
Hundreds rally in Gaza ahead of Prisoner Day (AFP)
AFP - Hundreds of people in Hamas-run Gaza on Thursday called for the release of prisoners in Israeli jails as they held a rally ahead of Palestinian Prisoner Day.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20090416/ wl_mideast_ afp/mideastconfl ictpalestinianpr isonerdemo
Humanitarian Issues
Israel will not cooperate with UN Gaza inquiry
Israel does not plan to cooperate with a U.N. agency's investigation into alleged war crimes by Israeli troops and Hamas militants during fighting in Gaza, an Israeli government official said on Wednesday.
http://www.reuters. com/article/ homepageCrisis/ idUSLF401659. _CH_.2400
International reputation be damned
Israel continues to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and refuses to cooperate in UN war crimes investigationIsrael 's international standing may be plummeting due to its new government, but it would appear to remain unbowed. Today the AP is reporting that Israel is "very unlikely" to cooperate with a UN war crimes probe into the war in Gaza (Hamas has said they will support the investigation) . In addition, there is yet another story about Israel preventing necessary humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. From the IPS article "Aid Rots Outside Gaza":
http://www.philipwe iss.org/mondowei ss/2009/04/ israel-refuses- to-cooperate. html
PRC: Gaza Refugees "Perpetual" suffering
April 15th, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Palestine Return Center (PRC) expresses deep anxiety over the conditions of Palestinians in Gaza, especially refugees who are the majority. A harsh siege followed by a deadly war has destroyed the lives of people there. PRC calls for a prompt intervention to ease the refugees' conditions in Gaza until long term solution is implemented.
http://www.palteleg raph.com/ index.php? option=com_ content&view=article&id=558:prc-gaza- refugees- perpetual- suffering&catid=60:palestinia n-refugees&Itemid=184
Children victims of Gaza war arrive in Dubai for medication
DUBAI -- Twenty Palestinian children who were seriously injured during the Israeli military offensive on Gaza Strip in early January, 2009, have arrived here on Wednesday for medication.
http://www.uaedaily news.com/ middleeast/ 4158.html
Riz Khan - Gaza's unending nightmare - 15 April 09 - Part 1
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=Kd8Xh2fOve0&feature=player_ embedded
Riz Khan - Gaza's unending nightmare - 15 April 09 - Part 2
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=Ayfv-d8L4Ek&feature=player_ embedded
Stranded patients, frustrated medical workers protest Rafah closure
Gaza – Ma'an – Dozens of Gazan patients waiting to receive treatment outside the Strip and ambulances staffed by frustrated medical workers from the Gaza Strip gathered in front of the Rafah crossing gate in a joint condemnation of Egypt's maintained closure of the crossing point.
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37157
One Gaza crossing open as goods trickle into Strip; no fuel for four days
Gaza – Ma'an – One Gaza crossing will open for food and humanitarian supplies on Thursday following ten days of minimum shipments, only one of which included fuel. Gaza crossings official Raed Fattuh said Kerem Shalom will be opened to allow the transfer of 115-130 truckloads of food and aid into Gaza.
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37152
Collaborators
MIDEAST: Aid Rots Outside Gaza
AL-ARISH, Egypt, Apr 15 (IPS) - Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of aid intended for the Gaza Strip is piling up in cities across Egypt's North Sinai region, despite recent calls from the United Nations to ease aid flow restrictions to the embattled territory in the wake of Operation Cast Lead.
http://www.ipsnews. net/news. asp?idnews= 46504
Second Lebanese man arrested over Israel espionage
Lebanese security forces this week arrested two men suspected of spying on behalf of Israel. J' Al-Alam was detained for questioning on Thursday, just days after his relative, retired General Adib Al-Alam.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078776. html
An Israeli Spy in Lebanon
You will not read about this in the US press: Yet another Israeli spy/terrorism network was uncovered in Lebanon. And this time it was uncovered by the Jihaz Al-Ma`lumat which is armed and equipped by the US and is controlled by the Hariri family. The Lebanese newspapers like As-Safir which has been writing about the story have refrained from priting the name of the lousy and dirty Israeli spy: his name is Adib `Alam. An anonymous reader from Lebanon tells me in a confidential letter that `Alam is an uncle (on the mother side--"khal" in Arabic) of Gen. Francois Al-Hajj (the chief of operations of the Lebanese Army and who was assassinated last year). Al-Hajj had been known for being anti-Israeli. It will be known one day the extent to which Israeli terrorists were responsible for assassinations in Lebanon (and this is not to absolve the Syrian regime from responsibility for some of the assassinations in Lebanon, or the Jordanian regime for that matter). [end]
http://angryarab. blogspot. com/2009/ 04/israeli- spy-in-lebanon. html
Abu Mazen's Son: A Self-made Crook
Abu Mazen's son, the well-known crook Yasir (named after Yasir `Arafat before he labeled Abu Mazen as the "Hamid Karzai of Palestine") talks to Al-Arabiyya TV. He said that he collaborates with Israel because everybody collabroates with Israel "except those who live "on rain". He admittd that he is a millionaire but denies that he is a crook ("I am not a crook" he almost said) and said that he collected his fortune with his "sweats." He said that 25% of his business goes to the Palestinian Authority. He said that he started his company with a "modest capital." He said that he hit it big with Falcon Tobacco which became the official distributor of American cigarettes.
http://angryarab. net/2009/ 04/15/abu- mazens-son- a-self-made- crook/
Accusing Hizbullah: Egyptian charges against Hizbullah risk worsening Arab-Iranian and Shia-Sunni relations
Egypt is committed to the pacification of the Gaza Strip, preferably in consultation with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that seized control of the territory in 2007. Egypt suspects Iran and its allies in the Arab world—Hizbullah, Syria, Islamic Jihad and Hamas—of seeking to maintain Gaza as a base for ongoing resistance operations against Israel....At a deeper level, Egypt's leaders are concerned at the prospect of an alliance between the Shia forces that produced the Islamic revolution in Iran, which led in turn to the rise of Hizbullah, and the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition group in Egypt, and the inspiration for the creation of Hamas.
http://www.economis t.com/daily/ news/displaystor y.cfm?story_ id=13480609&fsrc=nwl
Hezbollah: Egyptian Regime Campaign Will Backlash
16/04/2009 Cairo is considering the possibility of 'indicting' Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah and his deputy Sheikh Naim Qassem… Indeed, it's just another part of the aggressive campaign launched by the Egyptian regime against the Resistance party. According to Egyptian "well-informed sources" quoted by the Arab press on Thursday, Egyptian jurists have actually begun drafting a legal document that may lead to the indictment of Sayyed Nasrallah and his deputy Sheikh Qassem for "conspiring to commit a crime and planning acts of aggression and terror on Egyptian soil."
The Egyptian sources said that the document should be completed in the coming days and be presented to "the highest authorities. "
http://almanar. com.lb/NewsSite/ NewsDetails. aspx?id=81985&language=en
Israel Insists It Gave Egypt Intel on "Network"
16/04/2009 Israeli security officials continued Thursday to confirm that Egypt had received data on the so called Hezbollah cell in Egypt from Israeli intelligence services. The officials have called to make use of the "event" and strike an alliance between Israel and Egypt, since "the enemy is one:" Hezbollah and Hamas. Other Israeli observers have called not to show jubilance at the Cairo-Hezbollah row "so as not to push both sides into ending their conflict."
http://almanar. com.lb/NewsSite/ NewsDetails. aspx?id=81979&language=en
Political Developments
Officials say Hamas and Fatah no nearer to reconciliation
Despite popular expectations that Hamas and Fatah would overcome their differences, there is concern in Gaza that the next round of reconciliation talks between Fatah and the Islamic movement will not take place.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078590. html
British lawmakers meet Hamas leader in Syria
A British parliamentary delegation on a visit to Syria has met Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal as part of European efforts to communicate with the Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas said on Wednesday.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078508. html
Spanish FM meets Fayyad and Al-Maliki; condemns settlement construction
Ramallah – Ma'an – Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos was in Ramallah Wednesday where he met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his local counterpart Riyad Al-Maliki. Moratinos confirmed the Spanish stance against the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in accordance with the Road Map and the Arab Peace Initiative.
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37145
Marwan Bargouthi most trusted politician
According to an opinion poll conducted in the Palestinian territories at the end of March, Marwan Bargouthi commands the most trust within the Palestinian population.
http://www.imemc. org/article/ 59963
Palestinians have no peace partner: Barghuti (AFP)
AFP - Jailed intifada leader Marwan Barghuti said in an interview published on Wednesday that Palestinians had no peace partner in the current largely right-wing Israeli cabinet.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20090415/ wl_mideast_ afp/mideastconfl ictprisonerbargh uti
Hamas: Kidnapping of Israeli soldiers is a strategic vision
Hamas stated that the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers is a strategic vision for the liberation of prisoners after the failure of diplomacy and poor agreements to set them free.
http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/En/
Hamas: The Islamic bloc's win in Birzeit a sign of the resistance popularity
Hamas said that progress achieved by the Islamic bloc in the Birzeit university elections through winning three more seats is an indication that the Palestinian people support the resistance project.
http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/En/
Fatah wins student council elections at Birzeit, Hebron universities
Bethlehem - Ma'an - The Birzeit University and Hebron Polytechnic student council elections saw the campus' Fatah-affiliated parties win majorities at both senates on Wednesday. At Birzeit, widely seen as one of the West Bank's most politically active campus, elections saw 84.6% participation from the 6,970 students at the university.
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37150
Obama envoy to Israel: U.S. wants Palestinian state (Reuters)
Reuters - U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy told Israel's ultranationalist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, Thursday that Washington wants to see the creation of a Palestinian state.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/nm/20090416/ wl_nm/us_ palestinians_ israel_usa
Other News
Thousands Muslims demonstrate in Jerusalem to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque
Jerusalem, April 16, 2009 (RAMATTAN) – Thousands of Muslims demonstrated in Jerusalem's Old City on Thursday following reports that Jewish extremists planned to rally on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
http://english. ramattan. net/newsdetails. aspx?news_ id=40223
Nobel Peace laureate Ahtisaari wants Hamas in Mideast talks
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari said Wednesday that Hamas should be included in a negotiating process to achieve peace in the Middle East.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078525. html
Gaza Blockade Spurs Minds to Develop Inventions that Impress the World (Report)
Although the Zionist occupation has imposed a suffocating blockade on the Gaza Strip for years, the minds of the besieged Gazans have refused to accept surrender or defeat.
http://www.. palestine- info.co.uk/En/
Hezbollah says no longer considered pariah by West (AFP)
AFP - The West can no longer ignore Hezbollah and has given assurances it will deal with the Lebanese militant group if it wins upcoming elections, the Shiite movement's deputy chief said on Wednesday.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20090415/ wl_mideast_ afp/lebanonpolit icshezbollahqass em
Hizbullah, a Western fascination
The killing of four Lebanese soldiers on Monday reawakens some old thoughts about a phenomenon I've watched over the years, one that should not be underestimated in determining how Lebanon is understood and portrayed abroad: the devouring fascination with Hizbullah that many Westerners living in.
http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ article.asp? edition_id= 10&categ_id=5&article_id=101012
Egyptian FM: Lieberman not welcome in Egypt
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Wednesday that his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, is not welcome in Egypt.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078514. html
Egypt: We'll talk to Israel, but not to Lieberman
Tensions between Cairo, Jerusalem seem far from abating as top Egyptian minister warns his country will not welcome Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman so long as he retains his current positions.
http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3701804,00. html
Israeli conductor Barenboim to perform in Egypt for first time
Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim will lead the Cairo Symphony Orchestra Thursday in his first performance in Egypt, bringing his campaign to bridge divides through music to the heart of the Arab world for the first time.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078512. html
Israeli Propaganda
High
"The Israeli Anti-Drug Authority launched an ad campaign linking smoking marijuana with support for Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah."
http://angryarab. blogspot. com/2009/ 04/high.html
Unusual entries
"The Israeli government is sending the two of you to Moscow as part of its propaganda machine that is trying to create the appearance of Jewish-Arab 'coexistence' under which it carries out the daily massacre of Palestinian civilians," the letter said. "Israeli artists, authors and intellectuals that take part in this propaganda machine, instead of working for justice, equality and the upholding of human and civil rights, not to mention international law, are partners to the crime." Israel hasn't been shy about submitting unusual entries to Eurovision."
http://angryarab. net/2009/ 04/15/unusual- entries/
BBC panel finds broadcaster breached guidelines on Israel
In reporting about Israel, BBC's Middle East Editor has breached the corporation' s guideline on accuracy and impartiality, an internal BBC complaints panel on Wednesday stated. The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland said that the findings show that the BBC has an anti-Israel "bias" and that the position of the editor, Jeremy Bowen, is "untenable." The corporation rejected these claims.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078501. html
How can you trust the cowardly BBC?
Robert Fisk - The Independent -Haaretz gave considerable space to the BBC`s findings yesterday. I`m not surprised. But why is it that Haaretz`s top correspondents – Amira Hass and Gideon Levy – write so much more courageously about the human rights abuses of Israeli troops (and war crimes) than the BBC has ever dared to do? Whenever I`m asked by lecture audiences around the world if they should trust the BBC, I tell them to trust Amira and Gideon more than they should ever believe in the wretched broadcasting station. I`m afraid it`s the same old story. If you allow yourself to bow down before those who wish you to deviate from the truth, you will stay on your knees forever.
http://www.independ ent.co.uk/ opinion/commenta tors/fisk/ robert-fisk- how-can-you- trust-the- cowardly- bbc-1669281. html
Barenboim Urges Arabs to Visit Israel
Israeli-Argentinian Conductor Daniel Barenboim on Wednesday called on Arabs to visit Israel, urging them not to put all Israelis "in one basket". "If I can be allowed one small word of criticism, in general, about the Arab world, is that (the tendency) is to put all Israelis in one basket and say, we boycott, we don't want anything to do with them, anybody who goes there is an enemy," he said in Cairo. "It would be much better that Egyptians, and Syrians, and Palestinians, and Jordanians, and Lebanese, will go to Tel-Aviv, and explain their point of view, and express their point of view," he told a news conference a day before his orchestra is due to perform in the Arab world's most populous country.
http://www.naharnet .com/domino/ tn/NewsDesk. nsf/getstory? openform&C840C7E28688B20CC22 5759A002DC50A
Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment
Veolia loses another contract in Bordeaux
The transportation branch of the French multinational corporation Veolia loses a contract worth 750 million euros in Bordeaux.
The Greater Bordeaux local government give a contract for the management of the biggest urban network in France to Keolis, a subsidiary of SNCF over Veolia. Veolia has been involved in the construction of a tramway in Jerusalem, designed to link West Jerusalem with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Veolia has now lost contracts that are worth more than $7.5 Billion in Stockholm, West Midlands (UK) and Bordeaux.
http://www.bigcampa ign.org/index. php?mact= News,cntnt01, detail,0&cntnt01articleid= 399&cntnt01origid= 103&cntnt01dateformat= %25d%20%25b% 20%25Y&cntnt01returnid= 72
On tax day, we ask, Why do we single out Israel?
There has been an ongoing discussion on this site about the "Dershofoxmanitz" question - "Why do you single out Israel?" In addition to the other answers already given here's another - because the US government has already singled Israel out.
http://www.philipwe iss.org/mondowei ss/2009/04/ tax-day-is- a-reminder- why-we-single- out-israel. html
Activists to scrawl letter decrying 'apartheid' on separation wall
The separation barrier will receive its largest piece of graffiti yet when Dutch and Palestinian activists scrawl on it a 2,000-word letter by a South African scholar arguing that "Israeli apartheid" is "far more brutal" than Pretoria's was.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078578. html
Op-ed/Analysis
The Official Surrender: Camp David and its Aftermath, by As'ad Abukhalil
It's the 30th anniversary of Camp David: We count the hours, the seconds and the deep anger that lead up to this memory. It thus comes to pass in the Arab political life without any hoopla or without even someone who notices or who is unnerved by it. Israel and its allies want the Arabs to commemorate the anniversary with feasts and jubilation, while praising Sadat in popular Arab memory.
http://angryarab. blogspot. com/2009/ 04/official- surrender. html
Israel's new government: Change your tune
Until now, Barack Obama has been oddly shy of embroilment, partly because of the lack of a solid Israeli government. That excuse no longer holds. He and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, have declared that securing two states, of Israel and Palestine, must be the sole basis of a deal. America cannot give unstinting support to an Israeli government that says it is resiling from the fundamental principle of two states and will continue to colonise the West Bank. If Mr Netanyahu does not change course, Mr Obama should reduce aid to Israel.
http://www.economis t.com/opinion/ displaystory. cfm?story_ id=13413984
A marginal matter, By Gideon Levy
The 18th Knesset is different from all its predecessors. It is the first that does not have a Jewish MK whose guiding principle is the struggle against the occupation. Since the 7th Knesset, the first to be elected after the Six-Day War, we have not had a parliament like this one, devoid of Jewish anti-occupation activists. As such, the new Knesset precisely reflects the popular zeitgeist, in which the occupation is completely missing from the national agenda, and there is no reason to disturb our legislators with the issue.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078598. html
The rhetoric of "peace"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "economic peace" proposal should be seen as the beginning of a new stage of colonization. Israel has been successful in dividing the Palestinians into different groups, separated politically and geographically. Israel has also been successful in creating a collaborating political class. Israel failed however to squash their desire for freedom and their right to resist aggression. In other words, Israel was successful in the physical colonization of the land, de facto controlling the whole of historic Palestine, but failed to colonize Palestinian minds, for the most part, at least. This new stage will target the latter.. Ziyaad Lunat comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicin tifada.net/ v2/article10466. shtml
Solving Palestine While Israel Destroys It
To a greater degree than perhaps ever before, Washington today is engulfed in denial about Israel and its stupefying behavior, about its murderous policies toward the Palestinians, about the efforts of Israel and its U.S. defenders to force us to ignore its atrocities. Blinders have always been part of the attire of U.S. policymakers and politicians with regard to Israel and Israeli actions, but in the wake of the three-week Israeli assault that laid waste to the tiny territory of Gaza -- an assault ended very conveniently just before Barack Obama was inaugurated, so that he has been able to act as though it never occurred -- the perspective from which Washington operates is strikingly more blinkered than ever in the past.
http://www.counterp unch.org/ christison041520 09.html
Finding a sense of home in "Salt of this Sea"
Annemarie Jacir's Salt of this Sea (2008) is the first full-length feature film by a Palestinian female director. Since its world premier at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, it has toured the world and is scheduled to screen at this year's Tribeca Film Festival in New York at the end of the month. Maymanah Farhat reviews for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicin tifada.net/ v2/article10465. shtml
Neve Gordon`s "Israel`s Occupation"
Yehudit Keshet - Importantly, Gordon points out the underlying logic of the occupation – the separation of the Palestinian people from their land, and not simply by means of land expropriation for colonizing purposes. Already in the immediate aftermath of the Six-Day War, Meir Shamgar, then military advocate general, formulated a policy that 'rejected the applicability of the 1949 4th Geneva Convention.. .to the OT' (P.26) Shamgar maintained that since neither the West Bank nor Gaza had been sovereign areas prior to June 1967, they should be considered disputed rather than occupied territories. This position not only finds its place in Israeli policy, it is frequently voiced in public discourse; it denies the rights of Palestinians to their land and to political self-determination in that land.
http://www.kibush. co.il/show_ file.asp? num=32963
A Gaza Doctor's Case for Peace
Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish was, and is, that remarkable Palestinian welcome on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. A resident of Gaza, fluent in Hebrew, deeply devoted to peace. An obstetrician who treated both Palestinians and Israelis — who was welcomed by Israeli medical colleagues, one of whom called him a "magical, secret bridge between Israelis and Palestinians."
http://www.onpointr adio.org/ shows/2009/ 04/a-gaza- doctors-case- for-peace/
Hate Street, Hebron - A Photo Tour
Hebron, April 15th, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) - Visiting Hebron is currently possible for internationals such as myself, but Israeli citizens are forbidden to do so under Israeli law. I made use of this privilege by taking a tour arranged by ICAHD and hosted by a local Palestinian resident.
http://www.palteleg raph.com/ index.php? option=com_ content&view=article&id=555:hate- street-hebron- a-photo-tour&catid=55:palestinia n-stories&Itemid=173
Many American Jews are furious at Israel
I think we are in the beginning of an American Jewish backlash against Israel. The causes of this anger are obvious: Gaza and Avigdor Lieberman are resonating through a Jewish community that voted for Barack Hussein Obama, 4 to 1. Years ago Tony Judt wrote presciently in Haaretz that Israel was like an adolescent out of control, and the U.S. was the parent, and the relationship was coming to an end. Judt was right. That relationship is coming to an end. And what do parents who have enabled a juvenile delinquent do? Well one thing they do is get very angry. Here are signs of the fury...
http://www.philipwe iss.org/mondowei ss/2009/04/ a-commenter- complained- lately-that- i-am-a-trendspot ter-while- adam-horowitz- is-substantive- here-is-a- trend-mixed- a-little- wi.html
Defending the Indefensible: Israel, Gaza, and Idolatry
April 15, 2009 "Information Clearing House" --- A tell-tale sign of having become the victim of propaganda is the eruption of anger, name-calling, calumny, scapegoating, and insinuations when confronted with facts, ideas, or arguments that pose a threat to the unmasking or refutation of said propaganda. The provocation of such a vehement reaction is itself a deliberate product of the propagandist, for it is the implantation of a built-in, defense mechanism effectively precluding awareness of not only the mendacious character of the propaganda, but also its very existence in the mind of the victim.
http://informationc learinghouse. info/article2242 7.htm
Mr President, your silence on the murder of Palestinian women is complicity - By Nahid Abu T'eima
http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=37141
TV director: the occupation is sucking the art out of us
PNN exclusive / Hiba Lama - With a mixture of pain and hope Palestine participated in the opening of the Fifth Al Jazeera Documentary Film Festival that began in Doha, Qatar on Monday. Entitled, "Five years of Hope," the event will end today.
http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content&task=view&id=5047
The suffering of Israel's Mizrahis
The tales of Jewish migrants from Arab countries challenge those who cling to a monochrome script of Arab against Israeli.
http://www.guardian .co.uk/commentis free/2009/ apr/15/israel- mizrahis- equality- conflict
The most moral army in the world. Fact
On June 19, 1977, the Sunday Times marked the 10-year anniversary of the occupation with a wide-ranging expose on the torture of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The report concluded that torture was so widespread and systematic that it was impossible to dismiss these deeds as "'rogue' cops exceeding orders. It appears to be sanctioned as deliberate policy." Israel's denial was, of course, adamant. No Israeli newspaper addressed the accusations directly. Our ambassador in London said the morality of the prophets does not permit torture, and therefore these charges were baseless. It was Menachem Begin of all people, who had just formed his government, who expressed shock and ordered the Shin Bet to cease and desist.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078410. html
Iraq
18 killed in suicide bombing west of Baghdad
RAMADI, Iraq, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a suicide bomb explosion inside an Iraqi military base on Thursday rose to 18 with 53 other soldiers injured, a military source said. "The latest reports said that 18 Iraqi soldiers were killed and53 others were injured by the blast," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
http://news. xinhuanet. com/english/ 2009-04/16/ content_11195870 .htm
Police: Car bomb kills 11 in northern Iraq (AP)
AP - A car bomb exploded Wednesday near a police convoy in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing at least 11 government security guards and wounding about 20 other people, police said.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/ap/20090415/ ap_on_re_ mi_ea/ml_ iraq
Iraq study: Executions are leading cause of death (AP)
AP - Execution-style killings, not headline-grabbing bombings, have been the leading cause of death among civilians in the Iraq war, a study released Wednesday shows. The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, point to the brutal sectarian nature of the conflict, where death squads once roamed the streets hunting down members of the rival Muslim sect.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/ap/20090415/ ap_on_re_ mi_ea/ml_ iraq_civilian_ deaths
Iraq air raids kill mostly women and children
Air strikes and artillery barrages have taken a heavy toll among the most vulnerable of the Iraqi people, with children and women forming a disproportionate number of the dead. Analysis carried out for the research group Iraq Body Count (IBC) found that 39 per cent of those killed in air raids by the US-led coalition were children and 46 per cent were women. Fatalities caused by mortars, used by American and Iraqi government forces as well as insurgents, were 42 per cent children and 44 per cent women.
http://www.belfastt elegraph. co.uk/news/ world-news/ iraq-air- raids-kill- mostly-women- and-children- 14269876. html
US sergeant convicted of murdering Iraq detainees (AFP)
AFP - A US sergeant was found guilty Wednesday of the murder of four detainees in Iraq in 2007, but acquitted in the death of a fifth, following a court martial in Germany.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/afp/20090415/ wl_mideast_ afp/usgermanyira qmilitarytrialve rdict
Muntather was Tortured: Muntather Al-Zaidi's Brother Uday Speaks
Uday Al-Zaidi chants slogans at his house after the court sentenced al-Zaidi to three years in prison, in Baghdad (Reuters photo)
IslamOnline. net's correspondent in Sudan interviewed Uday Al-Zaidi in Khartoum shortly after his return from Darfur where he was visiting along with an international delegation of activists, academics and diplomats.
http://www.islamonl ine.net/servlet/ Satellite? c=Article_ C&cid=1237706204739&pagename=Zone- English-Muslim_ Affairs%2FMAELay out
Iraqi VP Calls on Christians Not to Leave
Iraq's Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi urged Iraq's Christian minority not to flee the country Wednesday and called on the international community to help protect it from extremists. According to Christian leaders, 250,000 of the 800,000 Christians who lived in Iraq six years ago before the invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein have now left the country, part of a larger refugee exodus.
http://www.naharnet .com/domino/ tn/NewsDesk. nsf/getstory? openform&5E023D09773AC810C22 57599004D5BC3
Iraq's southern marshes dry up again amid drought
A severe drought is threatening Iraq's southern marshes - the traditional site of the biblical Garden of Eden - just as the region was recovering from Saddam Hussein's draining of its lakes and swamps to punish a political rebellion. Marshes that were coming back to life a few years ago with UN help are again.
http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ article.asp? edition_id= 10&categ_id=2&article_id=101030
Banning al-Hayat in Iraq
The top military spokesman in Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, said he was filing a lawsuit seeking to close the Baghdad office of Al Hayat, one of the most prominent newspapers in the Arab world, as well as the satellite signal of Al Sharqiya, a popular Iraqi television channel that has been a strong critic of the government. The lawsuit was announced on the Web site of the Baghdad Operations Command, which coordinates Iraqi security forces in the capital.
http://lynch. foreignpolicy. com/posts/ 2009/04/15/ banning_al_ hayat_in_ iraq
Video: Baghdad: City of walls, part 1: Scars of war
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ video/2009/ apr/16/baghdad- city-of-walls
Video: Baghdad: City of Walls, part 2: Crossing the wall
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ video/2009/ apr/16/iraq- baghdad-city- of-walls
Video: Baghdad: City of Walls, part 3: City of the Dead
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ video/2009/ apr/16/iraq- baghdad-city- of-walls1
Video: Baghdad: City of Walls, part 4: Hope in hell?
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ video/2009/ apr/16/iraq- baghdad-city- of-walls2
Video: Baghdad: City of Walls, part 4: Hope in hell?
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ video/2009/ apr/16/iraq- baghdad-city- of-walls2
Views on Britain's role in Iraq: 'People see the UK as a poodle of America'
http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ 2009/apr/ 16/uk-iraq- usa-terror
Iraq war: Gordon Brown aims to delay inquiry report until after election
Ministers have decided that the inquiry should be wide-ranging, possibly dating back to Margaret Thatcher's tacit support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Its main focus will be on the conduct of the 2003 war and the breakdown of law and order afterwards.
http://www.guardian .co.uk/politics/ 2009/apr/ 14/iraq-war- inquiry-brown- hussein
U.S. and other world news
Richard Armitage: If I had known, I would've resigned over Bush administration torture
Richard Armitage, who was second in command at the State Department during former President George W. Bush's first term, believes waterboarding is torture and says he would have resigned had he known the CIA was torturing suspects. "I hope, had I known about it at the time I was serving, I would've had the courage to resign," Armitage says in an Al Jazeera English interview to be aired tomorrow. The statement makes him one of the highest ranking former Bush administration officials to label the former president's policy torture.
http://rawstory. .com/news/ 2008/Richard_ Armitage_ If_I_had_ known_0415. html
Anatomy of Bush's Torture 'Paradigm'
April 15, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- -The prose of the recently leaked report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on torture seems colorless. It is at the same time obscene — almost pornographic. The 41-page ICRC report depicts scenes of prisoners forced to remain naked for long periods, sometimes in the presence of women, often with their hands shackled over their heads in "stress positions" as they are left to soil themselves.
http://informationc learinghouse. info/article2242 2.htm
Can Spain really prosecute George W. Bush aides over torture?
The White House has discouraged any talk of prosecuting George W. Bush or any of his aides over the torture of terrorism suspects -- which President Obama has now outlawed. The new president says he just wants to move on from the policies of the old one. But not everyone agrees. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont has called for a Truth Commission, modeled on South Africa's transition from apartheid, to explore who was responsible for sending the United States down the path of torture. And now a court in Spain is weighing an investigation into whether Bush administration officials violated the Geneva Convention in authorizing waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques used with terrorism suspects after 9/11.
http://latimesblogs .latimes. com/washington/ 2009/04/can- spain-really- prosecute- george-w- bush-aides- over-torture. html
ANALYSIS / Iran treating Obama declarations as policy
It appears Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has begun treating the declarations of U.S.. President Barack Obama as policy, and this is a substantive response to the new American strategy, coordinated with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Contrary to previous Iranian declarations, Ahmadinejad is dropping the precondition to dialogue that the United States first change its policy.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1078584. html
Avoiding World Conference on Racism Shows Obama's Deep Disrespect For Blacks
On Tuesday, April 14, according to the Huffington Post, the White House placed a conference call to American "Jewish leaders," all but assuring them the U.S. would not show up for Durban II, the international conference on racism, in Geneva, Switzerland. President Obama's close adviser Samantha Power, of the National Security Council, said the event's revised draft document "met two of our four red lines frontally, in the sense that it went no further than reparations and it did drop all references to Israel and all anti-Semitic language. But it continued to reaffirm, in toto, Durban I."
http://dissidentvoi ce.org/2009/ 04/avoiding- world-conference -on-racism- shows-obamas- deep-disrespect- for-blacks/
New York showcases Mid East art
A new exhibition displays work with a message from young artists from 25 countries.
http://www.. thenational. ae/article/ 20090416/ FOREIGN/44530884 7/1002/rss
Award-Winning 'Arab in America' Trailer Out
Announced as the Grand Prize Winner of the One Nation Many Voices Online Film Contest" "Arab in America" by Nabil Abou-Harb. "Arab in America" chronicles the journey of an American-born character named, "Osama Ahmed Abou-Bakr" and his plight to find a job in America's post-9/11 atmosphere.
http://www.kabobfes t.com/2009/ 04/award- winning-arab- in-america- trailer.html
Child Abuse Spikes As U.S. Economy Flounders
One 4-month-old baby was shaken so violently she needed surgery. Another 3-week-old suffered fractured ribs from abuse at home. A 9-year-old diabetic boy stopped receiving proper treatment for his condition. Those cases reported by Boston hospitals are part of a spike in child abuse in United States during a recession that has driven some families to the brink and overwhelmed cash-strapped child-protection agencies.
http://www.huffingt onpost.com/ 2009/04/15/ child-abuse- spikes-as- us-_n_187521. html
UK: Racist escapes terror charge after threat to behead and bomb Muslims
MacGregor, 35, has admitted threatening to blow up Scotland's biggest mosque and to behead one Muslim a week until every mosque was shut down.
http://www.scotsman .com/latestnews/ Racist-escapes- -terror-charge. 5169939.jp
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www.TheHeadlines. org
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