Headlines for July 7 - July 13

A Stand For Justice


Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian in West Bank: sources
Israeli soldiers Wednesday killed a young Palestinian man while looking for an activist of the Islamic Jihad Movement at a refugee camp in the West Bank's north, Palestinian security sources said.


Israel bombs Gaza after rocket fire
Israeli jets bombed two sites in Gaza early on Wednesday, wounding one woman, after Palestinians fired three rockets into southern Israel, Israeli and Palestinian sources said.


US activist death in Israel was accident: witness
Retired Colonel Pinhas Zuaretz, a former brigade commander in Gaza, said a military police investigation into the March 2003 incident found no fault with the behaviour of the bulldozer driver or the officers supervising him. Of course he's going to say that. And also, notice that the US media has ignored this story altogether.


Palestinians hold U.S. responsible for Israel policy
"The only option facing the world today, especially the United States, is to use all tools to oblige the occupiers to halt their racist, expansionary policy," the PLO said in a statement released after its meeting.

"The United States bears the prime responsibility for the continuation of this racist (Israeli) policy," it said.



Israelis say U.N. report on Gaza flotilla to appear soon
A U.N. report on Israel's bloody seizure of a Turkish ship trying to carry aid to Gaza will be published on July 27 after delays to enable talks between Israel and Turkey, an Israeli official said on Thursday. The Israelis trying to milk something out of the Turks before the release of this report - which would most likely condemn Israel, despite their claims to the contrary. Another example of Israel attempting to bribe/cajole/extort something from someone.


Greek president in Israel as ties warm
Papoulias's three–day trip, which will also take him briefly to the Palestinian territories, comes a week after Athens effectively prevented a flotilla of pro–Palestinian activists from reaching Gaza and breaching Israel's naval blockade of strip.


UN to advise Israel to offer apology and pay compensation to Turkey
“If they really drafted a report saying that the blockage is legal, then it means that they do not have the slightest idea about international law. Drafting such a report would mean that they are not relying on international legal norms but instead, they are creating a new international legal norm that does not actually exist,” a Turkish governmental official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, told Today’s Zaman on Thursday.

“If the report eventually emerges with content that legitimizes and legalizes Israel’s blockage and embargo on Gaza, the report will be legally invalid,” the official added.


Abbas postpones formation of unity government in bid to appease Western allies
The Palestinian president does not want to wage two diplomatic battles for recognition of an alliance with the Islamic militants and for a U.N. nod to statehood at the same time, according to the PLO official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.


Greece 'sold its soul' on Gaza: Henning Mankell
Swedish bestselling crime author Henning Mankell slammed Greece for blocking the aid flotilla to Gaza as some of Sweden's pro-Palestinian activists returned home on Thursday.


Rachel Corrie's family claim Israeli military withheld vital video evidence
The family of Rachel Corrie, the US activist killed in Gaza while protesting against house demolitions in 2003, on Monday claimed the Israeli military authorities withheld video evidence during the Corries' civil lawsuit and misled US officials on crucial details.

...In arguing that the case should be dismissed, the Israeli government claimed Rachel was responsible for her own death Wow.


Israel recognizes South Sudan, offers economic aid
Israel recognized South Sudan Sunday, offering the new state economic help after it seceded from the mainly Arab Muslim north, which has no relations with the Jewish state. Israel, a prosperous country, recipient of the largest share of US taxpayer foreign aid is offering economic assistance to SOME OTHER COUNTRY? How about they GIVE US OUR MONEY BACK? We give them BILLIONS in taxpayer dollars each year. These are NOT LOANS. These are grants given at the beginning of the year so that Israel can further gain by the interest on the money. As US schools close, teachers are laid off, states, towns and villages are having to make severe cuts in order to balance their budgets, Israel sits high on the hog and is eager to dole out OUR MONEY.


All’s ‘Fare’ in War by Philip Giraldi
The other side of Lawfare, as the name indicates, is using the law itself as a weapon of war. The Israelis and American supporters of Israel have caught on to the potential of the legal weapon and are using lawsuits to tie up opponents.

....The lawsuit was filed with the assistance of the Shurat HaDin or Israel Law Center, which has been established as a Non-Government Organization intended to use the law against groups that are critical of Israel. The objective is to harass such groups with litigation so they become ineffective or, even better, bankrupted by legal costs.

....Any group deemed to be hostile to Israel will be attacked and litigated against. Many of the charges will be frivolous but those who are sued will have to waste time and resources defending themselves, which is precisely what is intended.

....Canadian legislators are already considering making any criticism of Israel a hate crime, and once the idea takes hold here in the United States something similar is sure to follow, creating yet another basis for litigation Wow. Is this America or the USSR?


Israel settlement 'boycott ban' stirs controversy
Despite a firestorm of criticism and the advice of the parliament's legal adviser, Israeli lawmakers have passed a bill effectively outlawing calls to boycott settlements in the West Bank.

The legislation, dubbed "fascism" by one Israeli commentator, targets the efforts of artists, intellectuals and activists who have sought to protest Jewish settlements by boycotting their produce and institutions.


Palestinians call on US to support UN bid
"We have been told by the Americans many times that they'll use a veto at the Security Council against our bid for admittance and we were told that at the General Assembly if we pursue that line at there'll be consequences," Erakat said.


Bulgaria hands Israel unexpected rebuff over Palestinian bid
"You will see when the vote comes," Borisov said, when asked how Bulgaria would vote on the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN's General Assembly.

"There's still time," he added at a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart, noting the Palestinians had not yet tabled the statehood bid.


Romania backtracking over Palestinian statehood vote
"As this bid has not been submitted yet, all speculations about Romania's vote are premature."


Palestinians may take statehood bid to UN Assembly
"Our leaders are examining carefully which step we are taking first: the General Assembly first and then secondly the Security Council or the Security Council and then the General Assembly," he said.


Abbas vows to press Palestinian statehood
"The fact that there is no statement from the Quartet is a negative indication that there is deep division between them," Abbas said.


At-Tuwani: Palestinians protest expansion of Havat Ma'on Outpost; Israeli Military responds with violence
The extension of the Israeli outpost consists of a tent that settlers built about two months ago. Settlers built the tent on ground that belongs to families in the nearby Palestinian village of At-Tuwani.


House Threatens To Cut Off Palestinian Aid Over Statehood Move
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee was urging its activists as late as Wednesday to press Congress, mired in budget debates, to pass the resolution.

In the end, only six lawmakers – three Republicans and three Democrats –voted against.




200 activists blocked from Israel flights: police
Some 200 pro–Palestinian activists have been barred from leaving foreign airports for Israel, where authorities are poised to deport others who manage to fly in, Israeli police said on Friday.


Palestinians report dramatic rise in settler attacks
"Since the beginning of June, the settlers attacks escalated dramatically, especially against the land and the trees. In the first week of June, settlers burnt 350 trees Deir al–Hatab village near Nablus, 20 grape vines in Hebron and uprooted 40 grape vines in Beit Ummar village," said a statement from the government released on Wednesday.

Settlers also burned dozens of acres of farmland and more than 1,000 olive trees, the report said.


120 foreign activists detained by Israel
The activists are trying to draw attention to life in the West Bank under Israeli occupation, including travel restrictions. Israel controls all access to the territory, which it captured in the 1967 Mideast war and which the Palestinians hope to make part of an independent state, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem.



Palestinians launch campaign to embargo arms sales to Israel
Today, Palestinian civil society and its supporters worldwide are launching a global campaign for a comprehensive, military embargo against Israel, similar to that imposed against apartheid-era South Africa.


Gaza and a Liturgy for Justice by Ray McGovern
Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists — all devoted to help bring Justice to Gaza, to break off the handcuffs and open the prison by lifting the Israeli blockade.


Videos Posted by Roger Waters The Wall



Conviction of bishop for denying Holocaust upheld
he 71–year–old said in the 2008 interview that he did not believe Jews were killed in gas chambers during World War II. Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany. Holocaust denial being a crime in many many nations = philosemitism. I'm surprised it hasn't yet happened here in the good old US.


Holocaust history helps Netanyahu's Balkan engagement
Central and eastern European states, former Soviet satellites keen to reorient toward the West and liberalize their economies, have been receptive to Netanyahu's message that a Palestinian statehood accord must be negotiated. Israeli officials say they hope for their abstentions, if not nays, in any U.N. vote.


Will the One-State Solution Become the Only Solution?
neither side ever really adapted well to the new situation resulting from the creation of the State of Israel. For Palestinians who were forced from their homes by Israeli soldiers, or instructed to leave by their own leaders in anticipation of a quick return, the difficulty of accepting their dispossession from their ancestral homes is certainly understandable. What is required on their part is, simply, recognition of a painful reality. Those olive groves, those villages, those stone huts are gone forever and have been replaced by schools, factories, apartment complexes and concert halls.




Turkey insists on apology to normalize Israel ties
Turkey's prime minister said on Friday Israel must apologize for a bloody raid on a Turkish ship bound for Gaza last year and lift its blockade of the territory if it wants to normalize ties, but Israel rejected the call.



Syria envoy summoned over filming of US protests
The move comes amid escalating tensions between Damascus and Washington over the Syrian government's crackdown on months of opposition protests seeking to oust President Bashar al–Assad.


No rift among Mideast Quartet: Russian envoy
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday brushed aside suggestions of a rift among members of the diplomatic Quartet, one day after the group met in Washington but failed to make progress towards Mideast peace talks.


Strong blast hits Egyptian gas pipeline: report
Saboteurs bombed an Egyptian gas pipeline in the Sinai peninsula for the fourth time since February, cutting supplies to Israel and Jordan, the official MENA news agency reported Tuesday.


Israeli Pres. Peres Thanks Greece for Thwarting Gaza-Bound Flotilla
Peres and the Greek president also discussed their countries' strengthening ties in a number of political and business areas.


French boat to Gaza blocked in Crete
All the other boats which had been expected to participate in a 10–vessel international aid flotilla to Gaza are currently being blocked from leaving ports in Greece, while an Irish boat, which organisers say was sabotaged, is undergoing repairs in Turkey.


Tug-of-war over Iraqi Jewish trove in US hands
There are claims of Jewish pressure to prevent the return of the collection, and questions about why the U.S. didn't prevent the looting of Arab and Islamic treasures during the invasion but was able to bring the Jewish collection to safety in America. That's a good point. Americans need to learn what the term 'philosemitism' means, and its implications. This country via our government seems to be suffering from it, and suffering for it.


Confirming The Futility of Boycotts
Conflating Israel and the settlements may be very bad for Israel in terms of its international reputation and its dealings with other states, but it is very useful to the cause of supporting the settlements. Of course, that is the point of the legislation: to raise the costs to Israelis and foreign companies when they oppose the settlements, and to bind settlements and Israel together to blunt challenges to the former.


Archbishop warns of vanishing Christian communities
"The overall decline in the Christian population in the Holy Land has been very significant in recent decades and it is accelerating in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem very rapidly," he said.


Lawyer Who Promotes Anti-Sharia Laws Publishes New Study on Islamic Extremism
Four years in the making, and part of a project costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, Yerushalmi’s study is titled “Shari’a and Violence in American Mosques” and was co-written by Mordechai Kedar, a professor of Middle East studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. It is published in the current issue of the Middle East Quarterly, the flagship publication of the conservative think tank, the Middle East Forum.

The study has been strongly criticized by liberal organizations but seized upon by conservative publications, such as FrontPage Magazine and National Review Online, as proof that Islam constitutes a grave threat to national security. Writing in National Review Online, Andrew McCarthy said the results proved that, “what we wishfully call ‘radicalism’ is in fact the Islamic mainstream.”

...Yerushalmi did say that one of the study’s funders was the Center for Security Policy, a neoconservative think tank devoted to opposing what it perceives to be the growing threat of radical Islam in the United States.

Put forth by Israelis and pushed forward by neocons, are you surprised?


Leon Panetta, a Defense Secretary With a Long History of Cooperation with Israel
During his recently completed stint as CIA director, Panetta worked closely with Israeli intelligence, which reportedly has shared information about Iran and about terror threats.

“It is important to understand that despite differences on Middle East policy, the military and intelligence relations between the U.S. and Israel were extremely strong,” said Jim Colbert, policy director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. “Director Panetta was closely involved on these issues.”

This really means that America is in BIG trouble. We will be attacking Iran before long, no doubt.


Lebanon lawmakers approve Hezbollah-backed government



Lebanon warns Israel against sea border move
"President Michel Sleiman warns against any unilateral decisions Israel may take on maritime borders which would be a breach of international law, as is Israel's habit," Sleiman's office said in a statement.


Israel approves work on controversial museum
Israel has approved the start of work on a controversial Museum of Tolerance that will be built on the site of an old Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday. This would be headlines in the US and Congress would pass at least one resolution condemning the act if it were MUSLIMS that were building ANYTHING on a JEWISH cemetery.


Iran threatens to attack rebels across Iraq border
"The terrorists will not be allowed to take sanctuary in Iraq's territory and attack Iran with the support of America and the Zionist regime," the official said. "Action will be taken against these terrorists." The Israelis trained the Kurds, according to UK news sources.


Interpol issues warrants for Hariri killing suspects



Israeli peace group launches boycott, defying ban
An Israeli peace group launched a boycott of products from Jewish settlements Tuesday - in the wake of a controversial Israeli law banning such actions.


U.N. council split likely on Syria atomic issue: U.S.
Notice how the issue is about what Syria MIGHT have been doing and NOT the fact that Israel violated international law by bombing Syria without any provocation.


American Jew refused entry to Israel on suspicion of converting to Islam



News of the Carrot, Not Pain of the Stick
Alroey shows that “the stream of emigrants from places where pogroms occurred was smaller than from places where the Jews suffered economic hardship but no pogroms.” He is not the first academic to claim this. But what Alroey’s compelling volume makes clear is that Jewish information bureaus played a critical role in encouraging more than 1.5 million Jews to migrate “to all corners of the world” between 1900 and 1914. The presence of these information bureaus, not the Russian Empire’s state-sanctioned terror, correlates with high rates of Jewish emigration.

..Agents of philanthropic, Zionist and territorialist information bureaus fanned out across Russia to circulate agro-industrial reports, dispense advice, distribute funds, cut red tape, arrange for resettlement and track down family members who had disappeared in the melting pot of the New World. Though their ideologies differed, these bureaus all sought to direct Jews to a promised land, be it America or Ottoman Palestine.

Really now.


Jerusalem Riots Expose New Rift Between Religious Zionists and Authorities
Lior is also a controversial sage who affirms, among other things, that it is “permissible for the Israel Defense Forces to attack in the course of warfare a civilian population that is ostensibly innocent of wrongdoing.” This position is informed by Jewish morality, and Jews “should not feel guilt out of the morality of unbelievers,” he claimed in a 2004 ruling


Undocumented Jews Live in Shadows of U.S. Society
“It is difficult to use them for advocacy because like other undocumented populations, they are largely invisible,”

Really now. So they can operate freely here in the US, hmm?


Picasso in Palestine: A Prized Painting Is On Rare and Welcome Visit to Ramallah



New Flap Over Orthodox-Dominated School Board’s Deal With a Yeshiva
Once again, a New York school district controlled by Orthodox Jews is trying to sell a shuttered public elementary school to deal with its budget woes. And once again, critics have asked state officials to stop the sale.

Activists challenging the East Ramapo Central School District’s handling of the latest sale say that it favors two private Jewish schools at the expense of a fair price. Their appeal to the state education department comes just weeks after state officials overturned the school board’s earlier sale of an East Ramapo elementary school to a different Jewish school. A majority of the school board, whose members are elected, is made up of Orthodox Jews.




Iceland “ready to support Palestinian independence”
Icelandic foreign minister Ossur Skarphedinsson has told his Palestinian colleagues at their meeting this week in Ramallah that the Icelandic government is enthusiastic to support Palestinian independence, should the proposed motion be put before the United Nations this autumn.




Hebron: Soldiers Halt Hebron Bicycle Action



'Flytilla' activist says mistreated by Israel
Hundreds of people from Europe and the United States were prevented from flying to Israel or denied entry and taken into custody over the weekend as they sought to join the "Welcome to Palestine" campaign.


Tunisians protest against Israel ties
Around 600 people rallied in Tunis Sunday threatening to out leaders believed to support normalisation of diplomatic ties with Israel.


Israeli soldiers blocked Icelandic FM’s car with rocks
Ossur Skarphedinsson, Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, and his entourage had their trip to Gaza interrupted yesterday when Israeli soldiers obstructed the path of their cars with large rocks.




For Israel, a Balkan bloom despite Palestine chill
The Israeli leader, a free–market champion who is quick to celebrate his country's hi–tech advances and endurance through global economic doldrums, made no secret of wanting to exploit recent off–shore natural gas discoveries as strategic exports.

"Because we need very little of this, we intend basically to lay a pipeline or create a shipping lane. We can be a big supplier in the natural gas field," he said. Israel is FAT from the US taxypayer welfare checks that we HAND them every year. Billions, kids. And there are tons more peripheral perks that they receive such as the US Security Council veto at the UN, defense agreements, numerous pieces of legislation, and the action taken in the Middle East by the US military.


Lebanon's Hariri slams Hezbollah over UN court
Lebanon's opposition leader Saad Hariri on Tuesday defended a UN–backed court that has indicted Hezbollah members in the 2005 murder of his father against "misleading accusations" by the Shiite group

---