Headlines for 10-26-07

Israeli forces kill five Gaza militants


Money laundering made illegal in Palestinian areas


Phantoms Over Syria by Philip Giraldi The pieces have a common thread: they rely entirely on information provided by Israeli sources without independent corroboration. And the ongoing play they are getting in the international media, without much critical commentary and without direct attribution to Israel, mark them as classic disinformation.


5 rockets hit south; no injuries reported Rocket barrage on Shabbat: Five Qassam rockets fired from northern Gaza landed in open areas near Sderot and south of Ashkelon. No injuries were reported in the attack, but a factory in Sderot's industrial zone sustained a direct hit..


Four nonviolent activists wounded in Bil'in's weekly protest


Abu Teir warns of Israeli policy in Jerusalem In a letter sent from the Israeli detention of Nitsan, Sheikh Mohammad Abu Teir, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council of the Hamas Jerusalem bloc, warned on Friday of the acceleration of Israeli policies in East Jerusalem, whilst Palestinians are busy with preparations for the November conference.


Demonstration against land thefts at Umm Salamunah


Meeting between Israeli prison bosses and Palestinian detainees fails


Israel breaks promise to Gaza students The army has broken a promise given to the High Court of Justice to renew bus transportation for Gaza Strip students to Egypt so that they can pursue their academic studies abroad, Gisha - the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement - said Thursday.


Israeli officials express concern over potential power cut; Erekat seeks international intervention Speaking under the condition of anonymity, Israeli military chiefs told the Israeli daily Ynet that the potential cutting of supplies would lead the state into a complex scenario in which a number of outcomes were possible, including a short-term escalation in the firing of home-made shells from the Gaza Strip.


Excerpts from Joe Sacco's 'Palestine'


Israeli authorities demolish all houses in an unrecognized Arab village in the Negev


Realizing God's dream for the Holy Land By Desmond Tutu What do I see and hear in the Holy Land? Some people cannot move freely from one place to another. A wall separates them from their families and from their incomes. They cannot tend to their gardens at home or to their lessons at school. They are arbitrarily demeaned at checkpoints and unnecessarily beleaguered by capricious applications of bureaucratic red tape. I grieve for the damage being done daily to people's souls and bodies. I have to tell the truth: I am reminded of the yoke of oppression that was once our burden in South Africa. I see and hear that ancient olive trees are uprooted. Flocks are cut off from their pastures and shepherds. The homes of some people are bulldozed even as new homes for others are illegally constructed on other people's land. I grieve for the land that suffers such violence, the marring of its beauty, the loss of its comforts, the despoiling of its yield. I have to tell the truth: I am reminded of the bitter days of uprooting and despoiling in my own country

Bishop Desmond Tutu presents a very grave danger to the Israeli lobby in America for the fact that he has plenty to say about Israel's egregious behavior, and he is a credible person. The lobby will attempt to smear him and shut him down at every corner in order to prevent Americans from hearing the truth. And they have been trying hard lately to do just that, and in some cases - succeeding.


Palestinians wed in ruins of Lebanon siege camp Surrounded by ruins, a young Palestinian couple on Friday celebrated their wedding in the refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in northern Lebanon, devastated by more than three months of fighting between the army and Islamists.


Survivors protest at Israel's stance on Armenian genocide This week she joined more than 100 other, rather younger, demonstrators ?about 10 per cent of a once much larger Jerusalem Armenian community dating back to Roman times ? outside the Foreign Ministry. They were protesting against what they believe is the Israeli government's use of its considerable lobbying influence on Capitol Hill to try to thwart the bill which would mean US recognition of the genocide in which 1.5 million Armenians, including Mrs Kevorkian's parents, died.




PresCon, Meridor hail IRGC ban The foreign policy umbrella body for U.S. Jewish groups and the Israeli ambassador to Washington praised the Bush administration for sanctioning an arm of Iran's military.


Foxman takes center stage against Carter, lobby critics It's a high-stakes dynamic as he takes the lead role in the Jewish community's fight against a growing list of vocal and respectable critics of Israel and the pro-Israel lobby, most notably former President Jimmy Carter and the academic duo of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. Foxman insists he has no second thoughts about jumping into the center of the debate over the pro-Israel lobby.
Got 'em running in all directions lately, do we? GOOD.


Prosecutors Should Stop Wasting Money on This Witch Hunts In essence, this was an Israeli trial tried on American soil in which guilt by association was used as a substitute for actual evidence.


Experts split as prosecutors consider retrial in Holy Land case Experts are split over whether the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case should be retried, and some say the government must establish stronger links between terrorists and U.S.-based charities before future court victories can be expected....the lone Holy Land juror to speak publicly, has lambasted the government's case as shallow and politically driven.


Jimmy Carter Man From Plains (2007) The Israel-defenders are not pleased with this movie, and they've made it abundantly clear in the recent reviews in the major news outfits across the land. This one went easy on Demmes, but the jabs are still evident (movie evidently wasn't 'balanced' enough).


My Weekend with the Survivors of the USS Liberty


Controlling the debate on Palestine, Israel Although this is not my first experience of such unfair and dishonest smearing, the last few years have witnessed an increase in the Zionist attempts to curb free debate on the Middle East in this country, from such respected figures and intellectuals as Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu, Norman Finkelstein, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt


The Forward Receives a 2007 Eliav-Sartawi Award for Middle Eastern Journalism Bassam Aramin, head of Al Quds Association for Democracy and Dialogue, has won a 2007 Eliav-Sartawi Award for Middle Eastern Journalism for his article "A Plea for Peace from a Bereaved Palestinian Father." The article first appeared in Forward, America's most influential Jewish weekly newspaper.


Terrorism policy questioned in NYC hearing on scholar's exclusion Ramadan is a Swiss citizen and a visiting fellow at Oxford University in England. He has said he opposes the U.S. invasion of Iraq and U.S policies in Israel and the Palestinian territories, though he opposes terrorism and Islamic extremism and promotes peaceful solutions.


Rice taps Clinton, Carter for Middle East advice Anxious not to repeat mistakes of past Middle East peace-making, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has turned to former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter for tips ahead of her own conference this year.