Land Theft and Destruction
Soldiers attack the Nil'in weekly Protest
Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian villagers along with their international and Israeli peace supporters during the weekly non-violent protest against the wall in Ni'lin village, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, on Friday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61033
Three Injured during the weekly Bil'in protest
Three injured and dozens suffered from gas inhalation when Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest in Bil'in village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61032
My First House Demolition
Liza Behrendt - Studentscrossingboundaries - " because it was my first, I was hit hard emotionally. On Via Dolorosa, a neighbor allowed us onto their roof... We could see the family watching, and at one point could hear them screaming at the authorities. The actual demolition was cynically ironic: the first stage of the demolition was performed by the family themselves, to avoid excess fines (yes, the families are billed thousands of dollars to pay for the demolition). This is apparently a common way for families to avoid debt in these cases. Then, the second stage (removing the walls and roof) was carried out by a construction crew, or “destruction crew”, comprised of mainly Palestinians."
http://studentscrossingboundaries.com/journal/my-first-house-demolition
Nearly billion NIS in the 2009 budget are explicitly designated for the settlements each year
Hagit Ofran - Peace Now - " An examination by Peace Now of the 2009-2010 state budget shows that nearly 1 billion shekels are explicitly designated for the settlements each year. This includes only special budget items for the settlements, without the general items where budgetary expenses involving the settlements are hidden.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=34331
Orthodox patriarch condemns Israeli home demolitions
Jerusalem – Ma’an – Patriarch Atallah Hanna at the Orthodox Church expressed anger toward what he called the “inhumanity” of home demolitions targeting Palestinians living in Jerusalem during a visit to a now-homeless Palestinian family there Friday.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38992
Violence and Aggression
Israeli fire kills teenage girl in Gaza-hospital
GAZA, July 2 (Reuters) - An Israeli shell fired into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian teenage girl on Thursday, hospital workers said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said there had been clashes between soldiers and Palestinian militants near a border crossing in the area. Military officials said troops had fired mortars during the fighting.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2519303.htm
Soldiers wound a Palestinian woman at a roadblock in the Jordan valley
A Palestinian woman was shot and moderately wounded in her lower body after an Israeli soldier opened fire at her at the B’qaot military roadblock in the Jordan valley.
http://www..imemc.org/article/61030
IOF troops fire at the legs of Palestinian girl before kidnapping her
A Palestinian girl was wounded in the legs Friday morning when IOF troops opened fire at the girl, according to local sources.
Israeli navy shoots at Gazan fishermen, no injuries
Gaza, July 3, 2009 (Ramattan) - Israeli warships shot at Palestinian fishermen in the northern coast of the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian security sources said.
http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=40526
UN expert says Israeli seizure of aid ship a crime
* Seizure illegal, Gaza blockade "crime against humanity"-UN
* Israel's U.N. envoy rejects charges
http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSL2879277
Detainees
Occupation police raid al-Aqsa Mosque and kidnap three Palestinians
Israel occupation police raided the Aqsa Mosque on Thursday evening and kidnapped three Palestinians including a Journalist, according to local sources.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Waqf: Israeli intelligence entered Al-Aqsa disguised as tourists
Jerusalem – Ma’an – A group of Israeli intelligence forces disguised as tourists entered the Haram Ash-Sharif in Jerusalem Friday, the Al-Aqsa organization for Waqf and Heritage claimed..
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38986
Israeli army arrests 3 Palestinians in West Bank
Ramallah, July 3, 2009 (Ramattan) – The Israeli army arrested on Friday morning three Palestinian citizens in the West bank cities of Hebron and Nablus, Palestinian security sources said.
http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=40525
Activists Held by Israel for Trying to Break Gaza Blockade
JERUSALEM — Nineteen foreign activists of the pro-Palestinian Free Gaza Movement were being held in Israel awaiting deportation on Thursday, two days after the Israeli Navy seized control of their boat off Gaza. A former United States Representative, Cynthia McKinney, and an Irish peace activist and Nobel laureate, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, were among those being held. Two additional Israeli activists were released without being charged on Wednesday, according to the group.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/world/middleeast/03gaza.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Israel deports five Free Gaza activists; Ireland calls for release of Nobel Peace Prize winner
Gaza - Ma’an - Five Bahraini citizens participating in the Free Gaza Movement’s voyage to Gaza were deported on Friday, following their Tuesday afternoon seizure by Israeli forces in international waters off the Gaza coast.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38991
Arabic article: The youngest prisoner in Israeli jails
Meet this youngest of prisoners (17 months) languishing in the jails of the Zionist usurping entity.
http://www.al-akhbar.com/ar/node/145337
Please sign letter to the UN: Free Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian political prisoners
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/07/03/please-sign-letter-to-the-un-free-ahmad-saadat-and-all-palestinian-political-prisoners/
Palestinians detain rivals to strengthen grip
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces have significantly widened a crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank in the past month. They have doubled the number of detainees and are increasingly targeting the wives of activists, school teachers and others on the fringes of the Islamic militant group, Hamas officials say.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10328208.html
War Crimes
Amnesty: Israel Used Children as Human Shields in Gaza
Amnesty accused Israeli forces of using children as human shields and conducting wanton attacks on civilians.
http://www.alternet.org/world/141078/amnesty:_israel_used_children_as_human_shields_in_gaza/?utm_source=
feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=alternet
Ni’lin sends eyewitnesses to UN to testify about Occupation assassination policy
Above: 5 people have been shot and killed since the most recent demonstrations began against the Wall. The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza assault that investigates violations of human rights and international law committed in the context of the Israeli assault on Gaza in December 08/January 2009 will hear as well accounts of the repression meted out in the West Bank during this period.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2007.shtml
Arms trade and occupation economics fact sheets
Two new fact sheets have been released. The first, “The Palestinian economy – Occupation, de-development and normalisation,” gives a concise summary of Stop the Wall's economic analysis, within which we clarify how the dominant approach to investment and development in Palestine serves to strengthen the Wall, checkpoints and military closures, creating “sustainable” ghettos in the West Bank. Clarified are the roles of the PNA, the World Bank and DFID (and other international donors), along with three key development projects in Bethlehem, Jenin and the Jordan Valley that evidence the dangers inherent in this approach to development. Download it here.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2009.shtml
Israel offering compensation for UN Gaza damage
WARSAW (AFP) — Israel has offered compensation for damage to United Nations facilities hit by its offensive in the Gaza Strip, the head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency said Friday. "The Israelis have indicated that they will pay compensation, particularly for our buildings that have been destroyed," said Karen Koning AbuZayd, director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iCu2jsFj-nKnjjQxJYhAPEpvb5TA
Humanitarian Issues/Human Rights Violations
Israel Recommends Ease of Restrictions in Return for Shalit
03/07/2009 The Israeli defense establishment recommended easing the siege on Gaza, mainly at the crossings, in order to advance the talks aimed at securing captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad Shalit's release. The recommendations – some of which have already been approved by the defense minister and will be brought to the political echelon's approval – have been obtained by Israeli newspaper Ynet and are revealed for the first time. They include allowing the transfer of coffee, tea, soup and canned food into Gaza, as well as fuel for electricity production.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=92883&language=en
Gaza's sea a "no-go zone" for fishermen
GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - "They told us 'go west or we will shoot you,'" says Ashraf Sadallah. "Initially, we refused, so they began shooting very close all around our boat." At 6am on 16 June, Sadallah and his brother Abdel Hadi Sadallah, in their early twenties, went roughly 400 meters out to sea off the coast of Sudaniya in Gaza's northwest. "We wanted to bring in nets we had left out the night before," says Sadallah.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10641.shtml
The Blockade of Gaza, Two Years On
In the shadow of his ruined home, north of Gaza City, Hashem al-Ansari lit a small fire and made me tea. His family's blasted house looked just as it did when the war ended on January 18. Israel's land, sea and air blockade means the al-Ansaris can't get the concrete or glass they need to rebuild. "We locked the door when we left during the war," he said, looking at the rubble.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-van-esveld/the-blockade-of-gaza-two_b_224340.html
Gazans take the plunge at poisoned beaches
The raw sewage dumped straight into the Mediterranean has failed to cure Gazans' itch for the beach and many in the Palestinian enclave brave nasty rashes for a dip in the polluted sea. The pollution is largely blamed on Israel's crippling two-year embargo of the Hamas-run enclave, which has hindered the upkeep of infrastructure but also left Gazans with little else to do in their free time but head to the beach. " I get itchy and an ear infection each time I swim, but that doesn't stop us from coming here to swim and have fun " "I can see the sewage water, but what can I do," asks Mahmud Diab as he emerges from a plunge in the brackish waters of Gaza City's fishing harbor.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/07/03/77676.html
Twilight zone / Herding the shepherds, By Gideon Levy
The Dararma family was distraught this past Sunday. Around noon on that hot day, two jeeps - one belonging to the Israel Defense Forces, the other to the Civil Administration - arrived at their home. A few officers emerged from the vehicles and informed the family that they would have to leave their home within a few hours and could not return until the following morning. The reason: an IDF exercise was to be held in the area. It turned out another 40 Palestinian families had received the same order. But not, of course, the residents of the nearby Jewish settlements.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097401.html
Israeli Racism
Israeli minister: We must curb Arab population growth
Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Atias on Thursday warned against the growth of the country's Palestinian minority, according to news reports. "I see [it] as a national duty to prevent the spread of a population that, to say the least, does not love the state of Israel," Atias said at an Israel Bar Association meeting, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
http://www.maannews..net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38977
Minister Atias: Stop Arab takeover in north
Housing and construction minister expresses concern over expansion of Arab communities in northern Israel, says bringing haredim to area should be national mission.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3740637,00.html
Fatah Collaboration with Israel
Hamas: PA forces kill three fighters and arrested 474 members of Hamas in the West Bank in June
The Hamas movement issued a statement on Thursday stating that the Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank have killed three fighters and arrested 474 Hamas members from deferent parts of the West Bank during the month of June.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61021
Hamas: PA forces detained 14 of our affiliates
Salfit - Ma’an - Hamas officials said Palestinian Authority security forces detained 14 party members and affiliates across the West Bank on Thursday night. The members were detained in Jericho, Salfit, Qalqiliya, Tulkarem and Bethlehem, Hamas said.
The detentions come as talks between the rival parties come to a standstill, with one final round of unity talks scheduled for 27 July in Cairo. The issue of politically motivated arrests is the sticking point for talks, party members say.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38990
Dahlan Hooligans in Gaza: Gaza: Arsonists set cafe ablaze in Khan Younis
Gaza – Ma’an – A coffee shop in Khan Younis was set ablaze by unknown arsonists before dawn Friday morning, causing severe structural damage..
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38987
Fatah Propaganda
PA: Arrested Hamas activists planned to assassinate Abbas
Hamas activists arrested by the Palestinian Authority have admitted to tracking the movements of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and to gathering intelligence on his security, PA sources told Haaretz.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097504.html
Political Developments
Israel, Palestinians could face robust int'l peacekeeping forces
JERUSALEM, July 2 (Xinhua) -- International consensus is increasing on the need for more "robust" peacekeeping around the world. Now experts are trying to ascertain if strengthening peacekeeping forces could have effect on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/03/content_11643100.htm
Hamas official visited Switzerland, other European countries: sources
GAZA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- A senior Gaza-based Hamas official visited a number of European countries recently to promote the Islamic movement's general position, a source said on Thursday. Switzerland was one of the European countries that Mahmoud Zahar, former Hamas' foreign minister, visited in his low-profile tour, the source, who declined to reveal the names of other countries Zahar visited, told Xinhua.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/02/content_11642669.htm
Lieberman: Settlements issue blown out of proportion
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday responded to remarks made earlier by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said that Israel's construction in West Bank settlements jeopardized the two-state solution, and said that the world has blown the settlements issue entirely out of proportion.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097416.html
Netanyahu has public's approval after first 100 days
Forty-six percent of respondents said Israel should continue construction in the West Bank even if this causes a confrontation with the U.S., and 44 percent said the opposite.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097511.html
Other News
Gaza women suffer from die-hard custom of "honor killing"
GAZA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- M.M., a 34-year-old male resident of Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City never regretted the killing of his sister, who he believed had slept with a stranger. "I protected the honor and dignity of my clan, and now I can walk down the street holding my head high," said the man, who spoke on condition of only using the abbreviation of his name. Having served three years in prison for the murder, M.M. thought it was a proper price to pay to keep his family's reputation.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/02/content_11642605.htm
Palestinians, Israel compromise on Dead Sea contest
JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH, West Bank, July 2 (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinian Authority compromised in the name of nature this week, teaming up at the last moment to back the Dead Sea in a contest to chose the world's top seven natural wonders.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2684425.htm
Solidarity/Activism/Boycott, Solidarity and Activism
Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire Speaks from Israeli Jail Cell After Arrest on Boat Delivering Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire speaks to us from her jail cell in Israel. She was taken into custody along with twenty others, including former US Congress member Cynthia McKinney, when the Israeli military boarded their ship in international waters as it tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. [includes rush transcript]
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/2/nobel_peace_laureate_mairead_maguire_speaks
The siege of Gaza continues
Former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is being held in an Israeli prison, along with 18 other international activists, for trying to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza. She called into a radio station today to give an update.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkPvzSZRuDo
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/07/the-siege-of-gaza-continues.html
Walking miles in Palestinian feet
During the week of the Palestine Festival of Literature (Palfest for short), we gave readings in Ramallah and Bethlehem as well as in Jerusalem, and taught workshops at universities in Ramallah, Jenin, and Hebron. We lumbered about in a great tour bus, repeatedly grateful for our foreign passports (nowhere have I been more conscious of the liberating power of my US citizenship); but still, privileged as we were, we waited interminably at borders and checkpoints, in the shadow of the vast, ugly hopelessness that is the Wall, under the panopticon scrutiny of the watchtowers. We answered questions barked by teenagers at the point of their guns. We got a very small taste of what it’s like to be Palestinian. Members of our group likened it to living under apartheid; to Orwell’s “1984’’; to Kafka. But none of these allusions fully conveys the disturbing psychological experiment currently perpetrated on Palestinians in the West Bank.
http://pulsemedia.org/2009/06/30/walking-miles-in-palestinian-feet/
In praise of ... Ezra Nawi | Editorial
He is a rarity, even among that most endangered of species, the Israeli peace activist. Born in Basra to an Iraqi Jewish family, Ezra Nawi lives on the modest wages he earns as a plumber. As such, he comes from the same background which generates the hardline views in Israel. So he was speaking to his own kind when he told laughing border police who had just demolished Palestinian Bedouin shacks that all they would leave behind was hatred. Not content with the Bedouin shacks, the prosecuting authorities are now trying to demolish Mr Nawi's life by threatening him with a prolonged stay in prison. His arresting officers claim that the non-violent resister had assaulted them - although the alleged assault was not included in their original statements.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/03/in-praise-of-ezra-nawi
Jordanian Groups Slam Agriculture Imports from Israel
Anti-normalization groups in Jordan are slamming a government decision to ban imports from Jewish communities in the West Bank, claiming nothing short of a full-blown boycott of Israel is sufficient. Jordan’s Agriculture Minister Sa’id Al-Ma’sri assured on Wednesday that any agricultural produce entering Jordan from Israel would not be produced in Jewish communities in the West Bank, as these are disputed areas which Jordan believes should belong to Palestinians, according to the Jordanian daily A-Rai.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=25643
"Summer In The Streets" for Palestine kicks off with theater, song and dance in New York City
Twenty New York activists protested, sang and performed skits near a street fair at Greeley Square in Manhattan last Saturday, calling for a boycott of communications giant Motorola until it stops providing technology to the Occupation army and settlement project.
http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/2008.shtml
Analysis/Op-ed
Why Obama should fire General Dayton
The US-sponsored "security coordination" program headed by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, which was launched by the Bush Administration in 2005 to allegedly help the Palestinians reform their security services, has done more harm than good. US President Barack Obama would do well to fire Dayton and put an end to US intrusion into internal Palestinian affairs. Mohammed J. Herzallah comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10639.shtml
Ethnic Cleansing as State Policy, By NICOLA NASSER
In his speech at Bar Ilan University on June 14, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed a new Israeli “peace plan,” with preconditions that a Palestinian negotiator must first meet before he would “promptly” engage in “unconditional” bilateral talks to meet an international consensus demanding the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. His preconditions added to the fourteen conditions the former Israeli government of comatose Ariel Sharon attached to Israel’s adoption in grudge of the 2003 Road Map blueprint for peace with the Palestinian side, on the basis of which the U.S. administration of President Barak Obama and his presidential envoy George Mitchell are now urging an early resumption of “immediate” Israeli – Palestinian peace talks, which Mitchell on June 26 hoped “very much to conclude this phase of the discussions and to be able to move into meaningful and productive negotiations in the near future."
http://www.counterpunch.org/nasser07022009.html
Hamas' Political Impasse: Between Principal and Necessity
Much can be said to explain, or even justify Hamas' recent political concessions, where its top leaders in Gaza and Damascus agreed in principle with a political settlement on the basis of the two-state solution. On June 25, Damascus-based leader of the Islamic group’s political bureau, Khaled Meshaal reiterated Hamas’ rejection of recognizing Israel as a Jewish State, rightfully dubbing such a designation as “racist, no different from Nazis and other calls denounced by the international community.” However, he did endorse the idea of a two-state solution, which envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state on roughly 22 percent of the land of historic Palestine.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15252
The flare-up over the 'freeze' shows that Israel has little interest in the peace process
Ira Glunts writes: The flap over the settlement freeze is an indication of the difficulty the U.S. will continue to encounter in any effort to obtain Israeli cooperation with Obama’s two-state solution plans. The Netanyahu government is not interested in restarting the substantive peace negotiations over final status issues that ceased nine years ago. The Israeli plan is publicly to agree to the talks, participate in them if necessary, but be as intransigent as the Americans will allow--since in Jerusalem’s view the status quo is a comfortable situation. And Israel is surely not likely willingly to stop settlement expansion that it believes will, in the end, strengthen its bargaining position through “creating facts on the ground.” Currently there are almost 500,000 facts parked illegally in the territories, and a vast majority of them are conceded by most to be living on land that will eventually be incorporated into Israel.
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/07/free.html
Why Jerusalem? - Israel's Hidden Agenda
Three huge granite stones rest comfortably on the top of Midbar Sinai Street, in Givat Havatzim, Jerusalem's northernmost district. Cut to specification, the imposing stones represent one of several preparations by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement’s to erect a Third Temple on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount. Since the Islamic Wafq owns and controls all the property on the Haram al-Sharif, by what means can these stones be transferred to the Temple Mount and how can a Temple be constructed there? Not by any legal means. The stones are a provocation, which the Israel government refuses to halt. Neglect and passivity lead to a belief that an eventual Muslim reaction to the increasing provocations will give Israel an excuse to seize total control of the Holy Basin – the ultimate of the properties that Israel intends to incorporate into a greater Jerusalem.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15253
We Arabs have had enough
Palestinians refusing the colonial state imposed over their heads are branded terrorists while Israelis are given carte blanche to be outright racist against Palestinians. In occupied Jerusalem, Joharah Baker asks why.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/954/re11.htm
Israeli Alternate Reality
Israel is bullied because it acts like a doormat
Anyone who acts like a doormat when he visits one foreign ruler should not be surprised when other rulers come along and act as arrogantly as the first. From day one we have let the world understand that we are a country with no self-respect, that we can be insulted and punched and will respond, if at all, with restraint and meekness. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was able to say what he said about Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman because for years Israel has been getting across the message: You can treat us arrogantly.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097242.html
Lebanon
Hizbullah slams Ban's 'extreme bias' in 1701 report
Hizbullah on Thursday criticized UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over what the group called "extreme bias" toward Israel in his latest report on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701. "UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's recent report ... is extremely biased toward Israel.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=103767
Hezbollah Can Hit Tel Aviv with 600 Rockets Daily, for 60 Days: Maariv
03/07/2009 Calm on the Lebanese Palestinian border does not necessarily involve good news for Israel, a report published by the Israeli daily Maariv said on Friday. The report addresses the growing capacity of Hezbollah in Lebanon, three years after the 2006 war.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=92946&language=en
Iraq
Thursday: 6 Iraqis Killed, 36 Wounded
At least six Iraqis were killed and 36 more were wounded as Iraqis continued to celebrate National Sovereignty Day. Meanwhile, Iraq asked Iran and Kuwait for help in locating personnel missing or captured in wars with those two countries. Also, Iraq signed a cooperation agreement with France.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2009/07/02/thursday-6-iraqis-killed-36-wounded/
Violence claims 437 Iraqi lives in June, official figures say
Some 437 Iraqis were killed last month as a result of acts of violence, the government says. The new fatality figures, certified by the ministries of health, interior and defense, are the highest in the past 11 months.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2009-07-03\kurd.htm
Roy Greenslade: Reporters reveal disturbing truth of life in Iraq
We do not seem to be getting enough on-the-ground news from Iraq now that Iran and Afghanistan are dominating the foreign news agenda. But the American troop withdrawal, seen in the context of renewed bombings (250 people have died in 10 days), demands attention. What is life like in the country six years on from the invasion?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/jul/03/iraq-usa
Iraqi top Shiite clerics are silent on Iran (AP)
AP - There is no place outside Iran that has closer links to Tehran's ruling establishment than Iraq's holy Shiite city of Najaf, where the silence during Iran's post-election crisis says much about the deep complexities of their cross-border bonds.
http://news..yahoo.com/s/ap/20090702/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_iran_what_najaf_thinks
US puts sanctions on Iraq Shiite group, Iran adviser (AFP)
AFP - The United States imposed financial sanctions Thursday on an adviser to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a Iraq-based Shiite group Kata'ib Hezbollah, branded a foreign terrorist outfit.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090702/pl_afp/usattacksiraqsanctions
Biden on surprise trip to Iraq (AFP)
AFP - US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Iraq Thursday in a surprise trip just days after US forces completed their pullout from Iraqi cities, the White House said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090702/pl_afp/iraqusmilitarypulloutbiden
Anti-US protest marks start of Biden's Iraq trip (AFP)
AFP - A fiery protest marked the start on Friday of US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Iraq, with supporters of the Shiite anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burning the Stars and Stripes.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090703/wl_mideast_afp/iraqusdiplomacy
FBI’s last formal Hussein interview completely redacted
“High Value Detainee # 1″ – otherwise known as Saddam Hussein – participated in at least 20 formal interviews and at least 5 “casual conversations” with the FBI after his capture in December of 2003.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/02/fbis-last-formal-hussein-interview-completely-redacted/
Saddam stayed in Baghdad until city fell: FBI (AFP)
AFP - Saddam Hussein stayed in Baghdad until just hours before it was clear the city was about to fall after the US-led 2003 invasion, according to newly released FBI interviews with the deposed Iraqi dictator.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090703/wl_mideast_afp/usiraqpoliticssaddamfbi.
Iran
Report: U.S. to block Iran sanctions at G8 summit
The United States is opposed to enacting a new set of financial sanctions against Iran that are due to be discussed in the G8 summit next week, diplomatic officials in New York reported Friday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097644.html
EU angered over Iran trial threat
European Union nations are considering recalling their ambassadors to Iran after it was suggested that local British embassy staff would face trial over their alleged role in protests over the disputed presidential election..
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/07/200973112258929612.html
Iran: Networked Dissent?
On 13 June the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared winner of Iran’s presidential election, with a reported 64% of the national vote. His nearest rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, won (according to official figures) just under 34%. Mousavi and his followers immediately disputed the results; and widespread protests mushroomed throughout Iran, of a size and nature not seen since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. As the protests grew in strength, the Iranian authorities cracked down on foreign media reporting in the country, disrupted cell phone use and text-messaging, and restricted internet access, making it hard to get information out of Iran.
http://www.counterpunch.com/christensen07022009.html
U..S. and other world news
'War on terror' used to target minorities-report
LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - Countries on the front line in the "war on terror" are using the battle against extremists as a smokescreen to crack down on minority groups, an international human rights group said on Thursday. For the fourth straight year, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan topped an annual index compiled by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) of countries where minorities are most at risk of genocide, mass killings or violent repression.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2907982.htm
Bigotry on the checkout aisle
I know the general discourse in the US over the past few years towards Muslims has tended to be harsh and disparaging, but perhaps the biggest instance of culture shock to hit me here was this image and heading, prominently displayed in a supermarket checkout line. Now I understand the Examiner is a piece-of-shit rag that nobody reads (it’s still somehow making enough money to be in business though) but there would have been rightful outrage had blacks, Jews, Christians, Asians, whatever been generalized as ‘the enemy’ on the front page of a newspaper or magazine prominently displayed on a national supermarket chain’s checkout aisle. Still, can’t help but feel that it would have made for amusing reading. I need to stop being so dismissive of bigoted shit.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/07/bigotry-on-the-checkout-aisle.html
Muslim Mayor's Gay Rights Drive Fights Homophobia In Conservative Amsterdam Suburb
Ahmed Marcouch, the Muslim mayor of Slotervaart, an uncharacteristically conservative suburb of Amsterdam, is fighting back against a long-lived trend of homophobia in that town by inviting Amsterdam's annual gay pride parade to march right down main street, as it were.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/muslim-mayors-gay-rights_n_225255.html
Jordan king names son as crown prince
Jordan's King Abdullah II on Thursday issued a royal decree officially naming his 15-year-old elder son, Hussain as crown prince, the palace announced.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Jordan/10328093.html
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www.TheHeadlines.org
Soldiers attack the Nil'in weekly Protest
Israeli soldiers attacked Palestinian villagers along with their international and Israeli peace supporters during the weekly non-violent protest against the wall in Ni'lin village, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, on Friday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61033
Three Injured during the weekly Bil'in protest
Three injured and dozens suffered from gas inhalation when Israeli troops attacked the weekly protest in Bil'in village near the central West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61032
My First House Demolition
Liza Behrendt - Studentscrossingboundaries - " because it was my first, I was hit hard emotionally. On Via Dolorosa, a neighbor allowed us onto their roof... We could see the family watching, and at one point could hear them screaming at the authorities. The actual demolition was cynically ironic: the first stage of the demolition was performed by the family themselves, to avoid excess fines (yes, the families are billed thousands of dollars to pay for the demolition). This is apparently a common way for families to avoid debt in these cases. Then, the second stage (removing the walls and roof) was carried out by a construction crew, or “destruction crew”, comprised of mainly Palestinians."
http://studentscrossingboundaries.com/journal/my-first-house-demolition
Nearly billion NIS in the 2009 budget are explicitly designated for the settlements each year
Hagit Ofran - Peace Now - " An examination by Peace Now of the 2009-2010 state budget shows that nearly 1 billion shekels are explicitly designated for the settlements each year. This includes only special budget items for the settlements, without the general items where budgetary expenses involving the settlements are hidden.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=34331
Orthodox patriarch condemns Israeli home demolitions
Jerusalem – Ma’an – Patriarch Atallah Hanna at the Orthodox Church expressed anger toward what he called the “inhumanity” of home demolitions targeting Palestinians living in Jerusalem during a visit to a now-homeless Palestinian family there Friday.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38992
Violence and Aggression
Israeli fire kills teenage girl in Gaza-hospital
GAZA, July 2 (Reuters) - An Israeli shell fired into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian teenage girl on Thursday, hospital workers said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said there had been clashes between soldiers and Palestinian militants near a border crossing in the area. Military officials said troops had fired mortars during the fighting.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2519303.htm
Soldiers wound a Palestinian woman at a roadblock in the Jordan valley
A Palestinian woman was shot and moderately wounded in her lower body after an Israeli soldier opened fire at her at the B’qaot military roadblock in the Jordan valley.
http://www..imemc.org/article/61030
IOF troops fire at the legs of Palestinian girl before kidnapping her
A Palestinian girl was wounded in the legs Friday morning when IOF troops opened fire at the girl, according to local sources.
Israeli navy shoots at Gazan fishermen, no injuries
Gaza, July 3, 2009 (Ramattan) - Israeli warships shot at Palestinian fishermen in the northern coast of the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian security sources said.
http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=40526
UN expert says Israeli seizure of aid ship a crime
* Seizure illegal, Gaza blockade "crime against humanity"-UN
* Israel's U.N. envoy rejects charges
http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSL2879277
Detainees
Occupation police raid al-Aqsa Mosque and kidnap three Palestinians
Israel occupation police raided the Aqsa Mosque on Thursday evening and kidnapped three Palestinians including a Journalist, according to local sources.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/
Waqf: Israeli intelligence entered Al-Aqsa disguised as tourists
Jerusalem – Ma’an – A group of Israeli intelligence forces disguised as tourists entered the Haram Ash-Sharif in Jerusalem Friday, the Al-Aqsa organization for Waqf and Heritage claimed..
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38986
Israeli army arrests 3 Palestinians in West Bank
Ramallah, July 3, 2009 (Ramattan) – The Israeli army arrested on Friday morning three Palestinian citizens in the West bank cities of Hebron and Nablus, Palestinian security sources said.
http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=40525
Activists Held by Israel for Trying to Break Gaza Blockade
JERUSALEM — Nineteen foreign activists of the pro-Palestinian Free Gaza Movement were being held in Israel awaiting deportation on Thursday, two days after the Israeli Navy seized control of their boat off Gaza. A former United States Representative, Cynthia McKinney, and an Irish peace activist and Nobel laureate, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, were among those being held. Two additional Israeli activists were released without being charged on Wednesday, according to the group.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/world/middleeast/03gaza.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Israel deports five Free Gaza activists; Ireland calls for release of Nobel Peace Prize winner
Gaza - Ma’an - Five Bahraini citizens participating in the Free Gaza Movement’s voyage to Gaza were deported on Friday, following their Tuesday afternoon seizure by Israeli forces in international waters off the Gaza coast.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38991
Arabic article: The youngest prisoner in Israeli jails
Meet this youngest of prisoners (17 months) languishing in the jails of the Zionist usurping entity.
http://www.al-akhbar.com/ar/node/145337
Please sign letter to the UN: Free Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian political prisoners
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/07/03/please-sign-letter-to-the-un-free-ahmad-saadat-and-all-palestinian-political-prisoners/
Palestinians detain rivals to strengthen grip
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces have significantly widened a crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank in the past month. They have doubled the number of detainees and are increasingly targeting the wives of activists, school teachers and others on the fringes of the Islamic militant group, Hamas officials say.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10328208.html
War Crimes
Amnesty: Israel Used Children as Human Shields in Gaza
Amnesty accused Israeli forces of using children as human shields and conducting wanton attacks on civilians.
http://www.alternet.org/world/141078/amnesty:_israel_used_children_as_human_shields_in_gaza/?utm_source=
feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=alternet
Ni’lin sends eyewitnesses to UN to testify about Occupation assassination policy
Above: 5 people have been shot and killed since the most recent demonstrations began against the Wall. The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza assault that investigates violations of human rights and international law committed in the context of the Israeli assault on Gaza in December 08/January 2009 will hear as well accounts of the repression meted out in the West Bank during this period.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2007.shtml
Arms trade and occupation economics fact sheets
Two new fact sheets have been released. The first, “The Palestinian economy – Occupation, de-development and normalisation,” gives a concise summary of Stop the Wall's economic analysis, within which we clarify how the dominant approach to investment and development in Palestine serves to strengthen the Wall, checkpoints and military closures, creating “sustainable” ghettos in the West Bank. Clarified are the roles of the PNA, the World Bank and DFID (and other international donors), along with three key development projects in Bethlehem, Jenin and the Jordan Valley that evidence the dangers inherent in this approach to development. Download it here.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2009.shtml
Israel offering compensation for UN Gaza damage
WARSAW (AFP) — Israel has offered compensation for damage to United Nations facilities hit by its offensive in the Gaza Strip, the head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency said Friday. "The Israelis have indicated that they will pay compensation, particularly for our buildings that have been destroyed," said Karen Koning AbuZayd, director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iCu2jsFj-nKnjjQxJYhAPEpvb5TA
Humanitarian Issues/Human Rights Violations
Israel Recommends Ease of Restrictions in Return for Shalit
03/07/2009 The Israeli defense establishment recommended easing the siege on Gaza, mainly at the crossings, in order to advance the talks aimed at securing captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad Shalit's release. The recommendations – some of which have already been approved by the defense minister and will be brought to the political echelon's approval – have been obtained by Israeli newspaper Ynet and are revealed for the first time. They include allowing the transfer of coffee, tea, soup and canned food into Gaza, as well as fuel for electricity production.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=92883&language=en
Gaza's sea a "no-go zone" for fishermen
GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - "They told us 'go west or we will shoot you,'" says Ashraf Sadallah. "Initially, we refused, so they began shooting very close all around our boat." At 6am on 16 June, Sadallah and his brother Abdel Hadi Sadallah, in their early twenties, went roughly 400 meters out to sea off the coast of Sudaniya in Gaza's northwest. "We wanted to bring in nets we had left out the night before," says Sadallah.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10641.shtml
The Blockade of Gaza, Two Years On
In the shadow of his ruined home, north of Gaza City, Hashem al-Ansari lit a small fire and made me tea. His family's blasted house looked just as it did when the war ended on January 18. Israel's land, sea and air blockade means the al-Ansaris can't get the concrete or glass they need to rebuild. "We locked the door when we left during the war," he said, looking at the rubble.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-van-esveld/the-blockade-of-gaza-two_b_224340.html
Gazans take the plunge at poisoned beaches
The raw sewage dumped straight into the Mediterranean has failed to cure Gazans' itch for the beach and many in the Palestinian enclave brave nasty rashes for a dip in the polluted sea. The pollution is largely blamed on Israel's crippling two-year embargo of the Hamas-run enclave, which has hindered the upkeep of infrastructure but also left Gazans with little else to do in their free time but head to the beach. " I get itchy and an ear infection each time I swim, but that doesn't stop us from coming here to swim and have fun " "I can see the sewage water, but what can I do," asks Mahmud Diab as he emerges from a plunge in the brackish waters of Gaza City's fishing harbor.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/07/03/77676.html
Twilight zone / Herding the shepherds, By Gideon Levy
The Dararma family was distraught this past Sunday. Around noon on that hot day, two jeeps - one belonging to the Israel Defense Forces, the other to the Civil Administration - arrived at their home. A few officers emerged from the vehicles and informed the family that they would have to leave their home within a few hours and could not return until the following morning. The reason: an IDF exercise was to be held in the area. It turned out another 40 Palestinian families had received the same order. But not, of course, the residents of the nearby Jewish settlements.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097401.html
Israeli Racism
Israeli minister: We must curb Arab population growth
Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Atias on Thursday warned against the growth of the country's Palestinian minority, according to news reports. "I see [it] as a national duty to prevent the spread of a population that, to say the least, does not love the state of Israel," Atias said at an Israel Bar Association meeting, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
http://www.maannews..net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38977
Minister Atias: Stop Arab takeover in north
Housing and construction minister expresses concern over expansion of Arab communities in northern Israel, says bringing haredim to area should be national mission.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3740637,00.html
Fatah Collaboration with Israel
Hamas: PA forces kill three fighters and arrested 474 members of Hamas in the West Bank in June
The Hamas movement issued a statement on Thursday stating that the Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank have killed three fighters and arrested 474 Hamas members from deferent parts of the West Bank during the month of June.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61021
Hamas: PA forces detained 14 of our affiliates
Salfit - Ma’an - Hamas officials said Palestinian Authority security forces detained 14 party members and affiliates across the West Bank on Thursday night. The members were detained in Jericho, Salfit, Qalqiliya, Tulkarem and Bethlehem, Hamas said.
The detentions come as talks between the rival parties come to a standstill, with one final round of unity talks scheduled for 27 July in Cairo. The issue of politically motivated arrests is the sticking point for talks, party members say.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38990
Dahlan Hooligans in Gaza: Gaza: Arsonists set cafe ablaze in Khan Younis
Gaza – Ma’an – A coffee shop in Khan Younis was set ablaze by unknown arsonists before dawn Friday morning, causing severe structural damage..
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=38987
Fatah Propaganda
PA: Arrested Hamas activists planned to assassinate Abbas
Hamas activists arrested by the Palestinian Authority have admitted to tracking the movements of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and to gathering intelligence on his security, PA sources told Haaretz.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097504.html
Political Developments
Israel, Palestinians could face robust int'l peacekeeping forces
JERUSALEM, July 2 (Xinhua) -- International consensus is increasing on the need for more "robust" peacekeeping around the world. Now experts are trying to ascertain if strengthening peacekeeping forces could have effect on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/03/content_11643100.htm
Hamas official visited Switzerland, other European countries: sources
GAZA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- A senior Gaza-based Hamas official visited a number of European countries recently to promote the Islamic movement's general position, a source said on Thursday. Switzerland was one of the European countries that Mahmoud Zahar, former Hamas' foreign minister, visited in his low-profile tour, the source, who declined to reveal the names of other countries Zahar visited, told Xinhua.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/02/content_11642669.htm
Lieberman: Settlements issue blown out of proportion
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday responded to remarks made earlier by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said that Israel's construction in West Bank settlements jeopardized the two-state solution, and said that the world has blown the settlements issue entirely out of proportion.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097416.html
Netanyahu has public's approval after first 100 days
Forty-six percent of respondents said Israel should continue construction in the West Bank even if this causes a confrontation with the U.S., and 44 percent said the opposite.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097511.html
Other News
Gaza women suffer from die-hard custom of "honor killing"
GAZA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- M.M., a 34-year-old male resident of Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City never regretted the killing of his sister, who he believed had slept with a stranger. "I protected the honor and dignity of my clan, and now I can walk down the street holding my head high," said the man, who spoke on condition of only using the abbreviation of his name. Having served three years in prison for the murder, M.M. thought it was a proper price to pay to keep his family's reputation.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/02/content_11642605.htm
Palestinians, Israel compromise on Dead Sea contest
JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH, West Bank, July 2 (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinian Authority compromised in the name of nature this week, teaming up at the last moment to back the Dead Sea in a contest to chose the world's top seven natural wonders.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2684425.htm
Solidarity/Activism/Boycott, Solidarity and Activism
Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire Speaks from Israeli Jail Cell After Arrest on Boat Delivering Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire speaks to us from her jail cell in Israel. She was taken into custody along with twenty others, including former US Congress member Cynthia McKinney, when the Israeli military boarded their ship in international waters as it tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. [includes rush transcript]
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/2/nobel_peace_laureate_mairead_maguire_speaks
The siege of Gaza continues
Former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is being held in an Israeli prison, along with 18 other international activists, for trying to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza. She called into a radio station today to give an update.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkPvzSZRuDo
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/07/the-siege-of-gaza-continues.html
Walking miles in Palestinian feet
During the week of the Palestine Festival of Literature (Palfest for short), we gave readings in Ramallah and Bethlehem as well as in Jerusalem, and taught workshops at universities in Ramallah, Jenin, and Hebron. We lumbered about in a great tour bus, repeatedly grateful for our foreign passports (nowhere have I been more conscious of the liberating power of my US citizenship); but still, privileged as we were, we waited interminably at borders and checkpoints, in the shadow of the vast, ugly hopelessness that is the Wall, under the panopticon scrutiny of the watchtowers. We answered questions barked by teenagers at the point of their guns. We got a very small taste of what it’s like to be Palestinian. Members of our group likened it to living under apartheid; to Orwell’s “1984’’; to Kafka. But none of these allusions fully conveys the disturbing psychological experiment currently perpetrated on Palestinians in the West Bank.
http://pulsemedia.org/2009/06/30/walking-miles-in-palestinian-feet/
In praise of ... Ezra Nawi | Editorial
He is a rarity, even among that most endangered of species, the Israeli peace activist. Born in Basra to an Iraqi Jewish family, Ezra Nawi lives on the modest wages he earns as a plumber. As such, he comes from the same background which generates the hardline views in Israel. So he was speaking to his own kind when he told laughing border police who had just demolished Palestinian Bedouin shacks that all they would leave behind was hatred. Not content with the Bedouin shacks, the prosecuting authorities are now trying to demolish Mr Nawi's life by threatening him with a prolonged stay in prison. His arresting officers claim that the non-violent resister had assaulted them - although the alleged assault was not included in their original statements.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/03/in-praise-of-ezra-nawi
Jordanian Groups Slam Agriculture Imports from Israel
Anti-normalization groups in Jordan are slamming a government decision to ban imports from Jewish communities in the West Bank, claiming nothing short of a full-blown boycott of Israel is sufficient. Jordan’s Agriculture Minister Sa’id Al-Ma’sri assured on Wednesday that any agricultural produce entering Jordan from Israel would not be produced in Jewish communities in the West Bank, as these are disputed areas which Jordan believes should belong to Palestinians, according to the Jordanian daily A-Rai.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=25643
"Summer In The Streets" for Palestine kicks off with theater, song and dance in New York City
Twenty New York activists protested, sang and performed skits near a street fair at Greeley Square in Manhattan last Saturday, calling for a boycott of communications giant Motorola until it stops providing technology to the Occupation army and settlement project.
http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/2008.shtml
Analysis/Op-ed
Why Obama should fire General Dayton
The US-sponsored "security coordination" program headed by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, which was launched by the Bush Administration in 2005 to allegedly help the Palestinians reform their security services, has done more harm than good. US President Barack Obama would do well to fire Dayton and put an end to US intrusion into internal Palestinian affairs. Mohammed J. Herzallah comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10639.shtml
Ethnic Cleansing as State Policy, By NICOLA NASSER
In his speech at Bar Ilan University on June 14, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed a new Israeli “peace plan,” with preconditions that a Palestinian negotiator must first meet before he would “promptly” engage in “unconditional” bilateral talks to meet an international consensus demanding the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. His preconditions added to the fourteen conditions the former Israeli government of comatose Ariel Sharon attached to Israel’s adoption in grudge of the 2003 Road Map blueprint for peace with the Palestinian side, on the basis of which the U.S. administration of President Barak Obama and his presidential envoy George Mitchell are now urging an early resumption of “immediate” Israeli – Palestinian peace talks, which Mitchell on June 26 hoped “very much to conclude this phase of the discussions and to be able to move into meaningful and productive negotiations in the near future."
http://www.counterpunch.org/nasser07022009.html
Hamas' Political Impasse: Between Principal and Necessity
Much can be said to explain, or even justify Hamas' recent political concessions, where its top leaders in Gaza and Damascus agreed in principle with a political settlement on the basis of the two-state solution. On June 25, Damascus-based leader of the Islamic group’s political bureau, Khaled Meshaal reiterated Hamas’ rejection of recognizing Israel as a Jewish State, rightfully dubbing such a designation as “racist, no different from Nazis and other calls denounced by the international community.” However, he did endorse the idea of a two-state solution, which envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state on roughly 22 percent of the land of historic Palestine.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15252
The flare-up over the 'freeze' shows that Israel has little interest in the peace process
Ira Glunts writes: The flap over the settlement freeze is an indication of the difficulty the U.S. will continue to encounter in any effort to obtain Israeli cooperation with Obama’s two-state solution plans. The Netanyahu government is not interested in restarting the substantive peace negotiations over final status issues that ceased nine years ago. The Israeli plan is publicly to agree to the talks, participate in them if necessary, but be as intransigent as the Americans will allow--since in Jerusalem’s view the status quo is a comfortable situation. And Israel is surely not likely willingly to stop settlement expansion that it believes will, in the end, strengthen its bargaining position through “creating facts on the ground.” Currently there are almost 500,000 facts parked illegally in the territories, and a vast majority of them are conceded by most to be living on land that will eventually be incorporated into Israel.
Why Jerusalem? - Israel's Hidden Agenda
Three huge granite stones rest comfortably on the top of Midbar Sinai Street, in Givat Havatzim, Jerusalem's northernmost district. Cut to specification, the imposing stones represent one of several preparations by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement’s to erect a Third Temple on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount. Since the Islamic Wafq owns and controls all the property on the Haram al-Sharif, by what means can these stones be transferred to the Temple Mount and how can a Temple be constructed there? Not by any legal means. The stones are a provocation, which the Israel government refuses to halt. Neglect and passivity lead to a belief that an eventual Muslim reaction to the increasing provocations will give Israel an excuse to seize total control of the Holy Basin – the ultimate of the properties that Israel intends to incorporate into a greater Jerusalem.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15253
We Arabs have had enough
Palestinians refusing the colonial state imposed over their heads are branded terrorists while Israelis are given carte blanche to be outright racist against Palestinians. In occupied Jerusalem, Joharah Baker asks why.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/954/re11.htm
Israeli Alternate Reality
Israel is bullied because it acts like a doormat
Anyone who acts like a doormat when he visits one foreign ruler should not be surprised when other rulers come along and act as arrogantly as the first. From day one we have let the world understand that we are a country with no self-respect, that we can be insulted and punched and will respond, if at all, with restraint and meekness. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was able to say what he said about Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman because for years Israel has been getting across the message: You can treat us arrogantly.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097242.html
Lebanon
Hizbullah slams Ban's 'extreme bias' in 1701 report
Hizbullah on Thursday criticized UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over what the group called "extreme bias" toward Israel in his latest report on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701. "UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's recent report ... is extremely biased toward Israel.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=103767
Hezbollah Can Hit Tel Aviv with 600 Rockets Daily, for 60 Days: Maariv
03/07/2009 Calm on the Lebanese Palestinian border does not necessarily involve good news for Israel, a report published by the Israeli daily Maariv said on Friday. The report addresses the growing capacity of Hezbollah in Lebanon, three years after the 2006 war.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=92946&language=en
Iraq
Thursday: 6 Iraqis Killed, 36 Wounded
At least six Iraqis were killed and 36 more were wounded as Iraqis continued to celebrate National Sovereignty Day. Meanwhile, Iraq asked Iran and Kuwait for help in locating personnel missing or captured in wars with those two countries. Also, Iraq signed a cooperation agreement with France.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2009/07/02/thursday-6-iraqis-killed-36-wounded/
Violence claims 437 Iraqi lives in June, official figures say
Some 437 Iraqis were killed last month as a result of acts of violence, the government says. The new fatality figures, certified by the ministries of health, interior and defense, are the highest in the past 11 months.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2009-07-03\kurd.htm
Roy Greenslade: Reporters reveal disturbing truth of life in Iraq
We do not seem to be getting enough on-the-ground news from Iraq now that Iran and Afghanistan are dominating the foreign news agenda. But the American troop withdrawal, seen in the context of renewed bombings (250 people have died in 10 days), demands attention. What is life like in the country six years on from the invasion?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/jul/03/iraq-usa
Iraqi top Shiite clerics are silent on Iran (AP)
AP - There is no place outside Iran that has closer links to Tehran's ruling establishment than Iraq's holy Shiite city of Najaf, where the silence during Iran's post-election crisis says much about the deep complexities of their cross-border bonds.
http://news..yahoo.com/s/ap/20090702/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_iran_what_najaf_thinks
US puts sanctions on Iraq Shiite group, Iran adviser (AFP)
AFP - The United States imposed financial sanctions Thursday on an adviser to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a Iraq-based Shiite group Kata'ib Hezbollah, branded a foreign terrorist outfit.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090702/pl_afp/usattacksiraqsanctions
Biden on surprise trip to Iraq (AFP)
AFP - US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Iraq Thursday in a surprise trip just days after US forces completed their pullout from Iraqi cities, the White House said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090702/pl_afp/iraqusmilitarypulloutbiden
Anti-US protest marks start of Biden's Iraq trip (AFP)
AFP - A fiery protest marked the start on Friday of US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Iraq, with supporters of the Shiite anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burning the Stars and Stripes.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090703/wl_mideast_afp/iraqusdiplomacy
FBI’s last formal Hussein interview completely redacted
“High Value Detainee # 1″ – otherwise known as Saddam Hussein – participated in at least 20 formal interviews and at least 5 “casual conversations” with the FBI after his capture in December of 2003.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/02/fbis-last-formal-hussein-interview-completely-redacted/
Saddam stayed in Baghdad until city fell: FBI (AFP)
AFP - Saddam Hussein stayed in Baghdad until just hours before it was clear the city was about to fall after the US-led 2003 invasion, according to newly released FBI interviews with the deposed Iraqi dictator.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090703/wl_mideast_afp/usiraqpoliticssaddamfbi.
Iran
Report: U.S. to block Iran sanctions at G8 summit
The United States is opposed to enacting a new set of financial sanctions against Iran that are due to be discussed in the G8 summit next week, diplomatic officials in New York reported Friday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097644.html
EU angered over Iran trial threat
European Union nations are considering recalling their ambassadors to Iran after it was suggested that local British embassy staff would face trial over their alleged role in protests over the disputed presidential election..
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/07/200973112258929612.html
Iran: Networked Dissent?
On 13 June the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared winner of Iran’s presidential election, with a reported 64% of the national vote. His nearest rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, won (according to official figures) just under 34%. Mousavi and his followers immediately disputed the results; and widespread protests mushroomed throughout Iran, of a size and nature not seen since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. As the protests grew in strength, the Iranian authorities cracked down on foreign media reporting in the country, disrupted cell phone use and text-messaging, and restricted internet access, making it hard to get information out of Iran.
http://www.counterpunch.com/christensen07022009.html
U..S. and other world news
'War on terror' used to target minorities-report
LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - Countries on the front line in the "war on terror" are using the battle against extremists as a smokescreen to crack down on minority groups, an international human rights group said on Thursday. For the fourth straight year, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan topped an annual index compiled by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) of countries where minorities are most at risk of genocide, mass killings or violent repression.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2907982.htm
Bigotry on the checkout aisle
I know the general discourse in the US over the past few years towards Muslims has tended to be harsh and disparaging, but perhaps the biggest instance of culture shock to hit me here was this image and heading, prominently displayed in a supermarket checkout line. Now I understand the Examiner is a piece-of-shit rag that nobody reads (it’s still somehow making enough money to be in business though) but there would have been rightful outrage had blacks, Jews, Christians, Asians, whatever been generalized as ‘the enemy’ on the front page of a newspaper or magazine prominently displayed on a national supermarket chain’s checkout aisle. Still, can’t help but feel that it would have made for amusing reading. I need to stop being so dismissive of bigoted shit.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/07/bigotry-on-the-checkout-aisle.html
Muslim Mayor's Gay Rights Drive Fights Homophobia In Conservative Amsterdam Suburb
Ahmed Marcouch, the Muslim mayor of Slotervaart, an uncharacteristically conservative suburb of Amsterdam, is fighting back against a long-lived trend of homophobia in that town by inviting Amsterdam's annual gay pride parade to march right down main street, as it were.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/muslim-mayors-gay-rights_n_225255.html
Jordan king names son as crown prince
Jordan's King Abdullah II on Thursday issued a royal decree officially naming his 15-year-old elder son, Hussain as crown prince, the palace announced.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Jordan/10328093.html
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