نتنياهو رفض اقتراح عباس بوقف البناء سرا في القدس لاستئناف المفاوضات

نتنياهو رفض اقتراح عباس بوقف البناء سرا في القدس لاستئناف المفاوضات

"تل أبيب- أفادت تقارير إسرائيلية الأربعاء بأن رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس عرض على رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي بنيامين نتنياهو اقتراح حل وسط يقضي بتجميد سري لأعمال البناء في القدس الشرقية لمدة ستة أشهر مقابل استئناف المفاوضات بين الجانبين الفلسطيني والاسرائيلي.
ونقلت الإذاعة الإسرائيلية عن صحيفة معاريف الصادرة بالعبرية أن نتنياهو رفض الاقتراح، ونقل عبر الجانب الأمريكي رسالة مفادها أن إسرائيل دولة ديمقراطية وأنه يعتزم العمل بكامل الشفافية أمام الجمهور الإسرائيلي.

ونسبت الصحيفة إلى دوائر سياسية مسؤولة القول إن نتنياهو يعتقد أن اقتراح عباس المذكور ليس بريئا.

وأوضحت أنه اذا كان تم وضع قرار بتجميد البناء في القدس الشرقية موضع التنفيذ لانكشف الامر إن عاجلا أم آجلا، الأمر الذي قد يهدد بانفراط عقد الائتلاف الحكومي في إسرائيل.

ومن جانبها قالت صحيفة (جيروزاليم بوست) هي إن هذا المقترح سوف يطرحه المبعوث الأمريكي لشؤون الشرق الاوسط جورج ميتشل خلال محادثاته مع نتنياهو يوم الخميس.

وأضافت الصحيفة إن نتنياهو الذي سبق أن أعلن عن وقف البناء في المستوطنات مدة 10 أشهر قد قال انه لن يوافق على أي قيود على البناء في القدس الشرقية.

وأشار مصدر إسرائيلي للصحفية إلى أن موافقة نتنياهو على التجميد في القدس الشرقية حتى لمدة محددة سوف يلحق أضرارا شديدة بنتنياهو.
"

Video: Gaza under water as Israel opens dam

Press TV

Gaza under water as Israel opens dam

Yemen, where dead men eat lunch

The wily Yemeni president knows how to spin out his war on al-Qaida to win western support – and hype achievements

Brian Whitaker
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 January 2010

"....There was further encouragement for the Yemeni president from an article in the Wall Street Journal. "Mr Salah [sic] is an unpalatable partner," it said. "But he is the only partner we have in Yemen." The article went on to suggest that Saleh should be supported, not only in combating al-Qaida, but also rewarded with American support for his pointless war with the Houthi rebels.

For a wily character like Saleh (and you don't rule a country like Yemen for 32 years without being extremely wily) this is exactly the wrong message to send. He now knows two things. First, that the international community's main reason for taking an interest in Yemen – and perhaps the only reason – is its fear of al-Qaida and, second, that if he is seen to be putting up a fight against al-Qaida the aid money will come rolling in.

But there's a snag here. An unscrupulous psychiatrist who charges patients for therapy by the hour can make more money by prolonging their treatment, and it's much the same with Saleh and al-Qaida. The longer it takes to defeat al-Qaida, the better the aid prospects......"

Emad Hajjaj's Latest Cartoon

فضائيات المقاومة مهددة عربيا وامريكيا

فضائيات المقاومة مهددة عربيا وامريكيا
رأي القدس

"يعقد خبراء الاعلام العربي اجتماعا في القاهرة اليوم للبحث في قرار الكونغرس الامريكي معاقبة الاقمار الاصطناعية العربية التي تسمح ببث قنوات تعتبرها واشنطن معادية لها، ولكن من غير المتوقع ان يأخذ هؤلاء موقفا من شأنه التصدي لمثل هذا الاجراء الامريكي، لان معظم الحكومات العربية، لا تختلف مع قرار الكونغرس هذا، بل تؤيده، خاصة ان القنوات المستهدفة مثل 'المنار' و'العالم' و'الحوار' و'الرافدين' و'الاقصى'، وبدرجة اقل 'الجزيرة'، ليست مقبولة من قبل هذه الحكومات.
فخبراء الجامعة العربية هم آخر من يحق له الحديث عن حرية الاعلام العربي، او التصدي لمثل هذا القرار الامريكي الجائر المكمم للحريات، لان مجلس وزراء الاعلام العرب التابع للجامعة ودولها، هو الذي تبنى 'وثيقة الفضائيات' في شباط (فبراير) عام 2008، تحت مسمى 'ميثاق الشرف الاعلامي العربي' التي ادى تطبيقها الى اغلاق عدد من الفضائيات، ومنع اخرى من البث على القمر المصري 'النايل سات' والعربي 'عرب سات'.
وزراء الاعلام العرب اقروا مجموعة من الخطوات العقابية للقنوات الفضائية التي تنتقد الزعماء، وتتحدث عن فسادهم، مثل اغلاق مكاتبها، وازالتها من الاقمار الصناعية العربية، وفرض غرامات كبيرة عليها، ولم يتحفظ على هذه الخطوات الا ثلاث دول عربية فقط، هي لبنان وقطر والجزائر.
وربما لا نبالغ اذا قلنا ان 'جهود' وزراء الاعلام العرب لقمع الحريات، وتكميم الافواه، وفرض سياسات الاقصاء والقوائم السوداء، هي التي شجعت الكونغرس على اتخاذ الاجراءات العقابية ضد القنوات التي يقول انها تحرض ضد الامريكيين.
فهناك مصلحة مشتركة بين الادارات والمؤسسات الامريكية والحكومات العربية في 'تدجين' الاعلام العربي وترويضه، لان معظم الانظمة العربية، و'المعتدلة' منها على وجه الخصوص، منخرطة بالكامل في الحروب الامريكية في العراق وافغانستان، وما يسمى بالحرب على الارهاب.
التحريض على القتل والارهاب من وجهة نظر الامريكيين هو مساندة المقاومة لمشاريع الهيمنة الامريكية. ومن المؤسف ان الغالبية الساحقة من الانظمة العربية ضد ثقافة المقاومة والحركات التي تتبناها، ابتداء من طالبان في افغانستان وانتهاء بحركتي 'حماس' و'الجهاد الاسلامي' و'كتائب شهداء الاقصى' وباقي فصائل المقاومة الاخرى في فلسطين المحتلة.
ومن المفارقة ان الكونغرس الامريكي الذي اتخذ موقفاً مؤيداً لشركة 'غوغل' ومعارضا بشدة للحكومة الصينية في المعركة الدائرة بين الجانبين حول حرية المعلومات، يساند بقوة، اي الكونغرس تكميم الاعلام العربي، ومصادرة حريات التعبير ويصدر تشريعات تثبت هذا التوجه المخجل الذي يتناقض مع كل المحاضرات الامريكية والغربية حول الديمقراطية، وحقوق الانسان والحريات بشكل عام.
الحكومات العربية الصديقة للولايات المتحدة تصادر وتحجب آلاف المواقع على الانترنت لانها تنتقد فسادها وديكتاتوريتها، ولم نسمع مطلقاً ان الادارة الامريكية احتجت على هذه الخطوات القمعية، ولكنها، اي الولايات المتحدة، تشن حملة شعواء ضد الصين لانها فرضت رقابة على محرك البحث 'غوغل'.
اننا نعيش مرحلة قمعية سوداء للاعلام العربي، والحد منه على وجه الخصوص، ومن المؤسف ان هذه المرحلة مرشحة لكي تصبح اكثر سواداً في الأشهر او الاعوام المقبلة، خاصة اذا قررت امريكا واسرائيل حسم بعض الملفات العالقة، خاصة في لبنان (حزب الله)، وقطاع غزة (حماس) بالطرق العسكرية. فالتحالف العربي الرسمي مع الكونغرس الامريكي ضد 'الرأي الآخر' يقوى ويتصلب ويستعد لاخماد ما تبقى من اصوات تقول نعم للمقاومة ولا للجدران الفولاذية، والحصارات الخانقة، والاحتلالات الامريكية والاسرائيلية."

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

This brand new poll asks:

Do the Taliban attacks (presumably the latest ones in Kabul) threaten US strategy in Afghanistan?

With over 900 responding so far, 93% said yes.

“Haiti is Like Gaza”: Sharif Abdel Kouddous on Haiti A Week After the Earthquake

Democracy Now!



"Sharif reports Haitians are growing increasingly frustrated by how the United Nations is working with survivors of the earthquake. “They’re not interacting with people in the community,” he said. “They’re not interacting with people who can distribute aid effectively in the neighborhoods around Port-au-Prince”....."

“Haiti is Shaken to the Core”: Amy Goodman Reports From Port-Au-Prince

Democracy Now!



"“Haiti is devastated as if a bomb, many bombs, exploded throughout Port-Au-Prince and beyond, where help has not arrived at all,” reports Amy Goodman on her travels outside of Port-Au-Prince to the epicenter of the earthquake. “The smell of death hangs in the air.”...."

Real News Video: Haiti: Guns or food?

"As aid starts to trickle in, and the extent of the horror becomes known, decisions are already being made that will affect the Haiti that emerges from this. Ansel Herz reports live from Port-Au-Prince on the role that the deployed US troops are playing, while author Peter Hallward weighs in on the role that the US has played in Haiti's recent history and shares his concerns that post-earthquake Haiti will further cement the domination of the Haitian people by foreigners."

U.S. troops in Haiti to prevent Aristide’s return

By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

(Left: Exiled President Aristide)

"(WMR) -- President Obama, in keeping with his CIA lineage, has permitted the Pentagon under Robert Gates to take charge of the humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti.

As Cuban and Venezuelan field hospitals were already rendering first aid and trauma care to Haitians injured in the mega-quake, Obama was gathered at a White House photo op with Vice President Joe Biden and other Cabinet officers to state that U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft would fly over Haiti to assess the situation from the air. A U.S. P-3 Orion spy plane from Comalapa air base in El Salvador was dispatched to conduct the surveillance operation, an act that was already being accomplished by earth satellites, the images of which were available on Google Maps.

As Obama was garnering praise from such sycophantic White House outlets as the largely-discredited Washington Post, a 37-person Icelandic search-and-rescue team was pulling trapped earthquake victims from the rubble of collapsed buildings in Port-au-Prince. Iceland, a nation bankrupted by Obama’s banker pals on Wall Street and in the City of London, was able to react in a way that the slumbering and oafish dying super-power, the United States, could not -- with action aimed at providing immediate assistance to the Haitian people.

Obama’s generals and admirals, who are mostly more concerned about their appearance than in taking charge and moving out, were still scratching their heads about where to land the U.S. Marines and 82nd Airborne. In fact, military aircraft carrying weapons and other war supplies crowded the airport aprons at Port-au-Prince airport that could be used by planes from other countries carrying much needed food, water, and medical supplies. Argentine doctors already on the scene in Haiti complained that they were running out of simple sewing kits being used as stitches for the injured who had undergone surgery.....

UN “peacekeeping” forces in Haiti have ensured that Aristide and his Lavalas Party does not regain power. One of the methods the UN uses is periodically raiding pro-Aristide slums and killing Lavalas activists in their homes. Bill Clinton was rewarded last year for his guile and deceit committed against Haiti by being named by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the UN’s Special Envoy for Haiti......"

Haiti, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Obama

By Phyllis Bennis
Znet

"Catastrophe in Haiti, escalation in Afghanistan, new threats against Yemen, Israeli siege of Gaza tightens...and Obama's been in office a year now. Yikes.

Dear Friends,

The grim news from Haiti gets worse by the day and by the hour. Everything we can do should and must be done - in the short term, fundraising and support for emergency mobilizations of doctors, rescue workers and emergency response teams should be supported. In the medium and long term, we need to stand ready to challenge those who would take advantage of the catastrophe to impose what Naomi Klein has so memorably identified as the "shock doctrine" in Haiti, setting the stage for the disaster to become permanent.

In fact, the Heritage Foundation unapologetically called for such a plan, describing how "the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to reshape Haiti's long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region." When Heritage realized the impact of saying this as thousands or tens of thousands of Haitians lay dead and dying, they deleted those words from the website......

IPS just issued its one-year report card for Obama and his administration. We gave him a barely passing C-minus. And the lowest grades were those in war and peace.We have a lot of work to do. "

Got MLK? By Mr. Fish

"We are all complicit": an interview with Ewa Jasiewicz

Frank Barat, The Electronic Intifada, 19 January 2010

(Left: Ewa Jasiewicz at Gaza's al-Awda hospital. (Alberto Arce) )

"A year ago, Israel launched its invasion of Gaza. Dubbed "Operation Cast Lead" by the Israeli military, the invasion started on 27 December 2008 and finished on 18 January 2009. During those 23 days, more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed including more than 320 children. More than 5,000 Palestinians suffered serious injuries.

Originally from Poland, Ewa Jasiewicz was one of a handful of "internationals" on the ground. A human rights activist, union organizer and journalist, Jasiewicz has spent years working in occupied Palestine and Iraq with oil workers, refugees, paramedics and community groups. She is a coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement and part of the editorial collective of Le Monde Diplomatqiue Polish Edition. Her book Gaza: Getto Nieujarzmione (Gaza: a Ghetto Unbroken) will be published in Poland by Ksiazka i Prasa in March. A year later, she reflects on those bloody days with The Electronic Intifada contributor Frank Barat.

Frank Barat: You were in Gaza a year ago during Operation Cast Lead. Why and how did you and other activists go to the Gaza Strip?

Ewa Jasiewicz: Myself and several solidarity activists from Lebanon, Spain, Canada, Australia, Italy, UK, Ireland and Greece managed to get into Gaza aboard the Free Gaza Movement's (FGM) Dignity boat. FGM has sailed five successful missions to Gaza from August to December 2008, bringing in human rights workers to build political solidarity activism, to break the isolation of ghettoized communities and directly confront Israel's illegal and brutal siege.

FGM's missions are political -- we know Palestine is not a charity case, and that the solutions to a 60-year policy of ethnic cleansing, apartheid and militarized ghettoization are not extra bags of flour, medicine, new tents and millions in aid, but political will and direct action. This is currently unforthcoming from governments around the world, so our actions are about directly applying international law from the grassroots up because it isn't being respected and is being violated, daily, from the top-down -- the siege of Gaza and occupation of Palestine is international, the states supporting it either with their silence or direct complicity in economically supporting Israel are co-occupiers and collaborators in war crimes against the Palestinian people, along with Israel......."

THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO SAVE HAITI

A Very Surprising And Shocking Piece
By Eric Margolis (Imperialist light?)

".....Haiti has become the Somalia of our hemisphere.

Few nations I know have suffered such misfortune as poor, wretched Haiti. Blessed with fecundity by nature, Haiti went in less than one century from being the richest nation in the western hemisphere to the poorest.....

Haiti really needs is to be again temporarily administered by a great power like the US or France. The UN should declare Haiti a protectorate of one or more of the great powers.

This column despises all forms of imperialism. But genuine humanitarian intervention is different. US administration of Haiti may be necessary and the only recourse for this benighted nation that cannot seem to govern itself.

A small, mostly Brazilian UN contingent has achieved little. Most Haitians, I think, would welcome long-term US humanitarian administration. France also has a special responsibility to Haiti.

This writer, a former soldier, prefers to see the US military saving rather than taking lives. Watching the US 82nd Airborne Division arrive in Port-au-Prince filled me with pride. That is what America is about, not bombing Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia......"

Harsher Gaza War Looming on Horizon?

Analysis by Mel Frykberg

"RAMALLAH, Jan 19, 2010 (IPS) - According to several prominent Palestinians and Israelis another major Israeli military assault on Gaza, even harsher than last year’s Operation Cast Lead, is imminent. But will this change anything and have the underlying causes behind the previous bloody war been addressed?.....

"The countdown to the Second Gaza War has begun in earnest," says Israeli columnist and analyst Bradley Burston in the Israeli daily Haaretz.

"Another Gaza war, this one likely to be an even more bitter onslaught, could not only prove lethal to what is left of Israeli moral credibility, it could undermine and cripple U.S. President Barack Obama's military-political offensives in Iraq, Afghanistan and, slipping further down the slope, Yemen," adds Burston.

Burston’s speculation is based on recent statements and analyses given by senior IDF officials whom Burston explained had given similar comments before the last Gaza war.......

However, political scientist Dr Samir Awad from Birzeit University near Ramallah doubts another full-on war is on the cards.

"The Israeli military can say what it likes but another major ground invasion on Gaza is a political decision which can only be taken at a governmental level and the Israeli government is aware of its limitations," Awad told IPS.

"Israeli intelligence on Gaza is weak. They don’t have specific military targets and haven’t been able to establish the whereabouts of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The much vaunted prisoner swap has yet to take place."

"The Israelis have not succeeded in destroying Hamas either politically, as they are now stronger than before," added Awad.

Israel also appears to have failed in its objective of crippling Hamas militarily and stopping the firing of rockets on Israel. During the height of the intensive bombing campaign in Cast Lead Israel continued to be targeted by rockets. The rockets only stopped on Hamas’ orders several hours after a ceasefire was declared. Meanwhile, arms smuggling through the tunnels continues unabated......."

Larijani: US, EU Allies Bolstered Israel's War on Gaza

Al-Manar

"19/01/2010 Iran's parliament speaker said the US and its European allies provided Israel with behind-the-scenes support during its 22-day war on Gaza. "Israel carried out a very barbaric attack against the Gazans. “It took none of the international norms and regulations into account,” said Ali Larijani on Tuesday, while addressing the international seminar in Tehran "Gaza, Symbol of Resistance".

"The regime used prohibited chemical weapons, and destroyed hospitals, mosques, and civilian infrastructure. It is sad that despite all Israel's human rights violations, the US and other Western powers stood by Tel Aviv throughout the whole ordeal."

“US MIDEAST PEACE EFFORTS NOTHING BUT A SHAM”

Larijani slammed the Western alliance for giving Israel all the military support it needed to launch its deadly operation on the impoverished coastal Palestinian strip. The Iranian parliament speaker said that the US blocked efforts to pass a binding resolution at the United Nations Security Council against Israel so as to stop the offensive.......

"There was no talk of human rights during those 22 days. Even though the political system had changed in the US and a new president had been elected with the motto of change.” "But it seems that they did not think it necessary to spend any time on this issue. Up to 5,000 Palestinians were killed and injured as the event unfolded, but he (Barack Obama) chose to think about picking a dog for his daughter."......"

No 'hope for Haiti' without justice

By Mark LeVine
Al-Jazeera

".....As the carnage of the largest earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years comes into full view, the biggest stars of Hollywood and the music industry are coming together for a "Hope for Haiti" telethon.

But there can be no hope for Haiti without justice, and no justice without an honest appraisal of the centuries-long history that set the country up for such a devastating political and social collapse in the wake of the earthquake.

A history largely ignored

The roots of this collapse are as deep as they are unknown - or unappreciated - by the majority of Americans - although it is widely discussed across the globe.....

Whitewashing history

Haiti's complex and, from an American point of view, largely unpleasant and unedifying history must be acknowledged if there is to be any hope that the country's internationally financed reconstruction will not merely lay the groundwork for more poverty and disasters.

Sadly, Obama, who famously admitted in his 2009 Cairo speech that the US had in fact overthrown the elected government in Iran, has so far said nothing about the even more extensive US history of meddling in Haiti.

Instead, writing in Newsweek, the president declared that "at long last, after decades of conflict and instability, Haiti was showing hopeful signs of political and economic progress".

Needless to say, if there was any substantive progress, the state would not have utterly disappeared in the rubble of the temblor.

Seemingly oblivious to the role of the US and UN in producing Haiti's current woes, Obama declared that: "The United States will be there with the Haitian government and the United Nations every step of the way."

If the past is any guide, this does not augur well for the country's future......."

Turkey: Israel is strategic ally with shared interests

HAARETZ

"Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul on Sunday publicly put an end to a week-long row that threatened already tense ties between Israel and Turkey, saying his country would remain strategic allies with Israel for as long as necessary.

"We are living in the same area, although we don't have common borders, we have the same interests," Gonul told reporters following a meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Ankara.

"As long as we have the same interests, we work together, to fix the common problems. Also we are allies, we are strategic allies as long as our interests force us to do so," said Gonul......"

Pennies for Haiti, Billions for Israel, Egypt

Consider this: in fiscal 1998 Haiti received $106 million from the U.S, the No. 9 nation among foreign aid recipients. Ten years later, it didn't even make the top 15 list.

Compare that to the more than $5 billion paid out to Israel and Egypt.

Killing In The Name Of Jesus

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

At the end of the serial number on Trijicon's ACOG gun sight, you can read "JN8:12", a reference to...

(ABC News)
More Photos

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

Amnesty International Video: How the Israeli blockade affects daily life for Palestinians

US accused of annexing airport as squabbling hinders aid effort in Haiti

Priority landing for Americans forces flights carrying emergency supplies to divert to Dominican Republic

Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent, and Daniel Nasaw in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 17 January 2010

"The US military's takeover of emergency operations in Haiti has triggered a diplomatic row with countries and aid agencies furious at having flights redirected.

Brazil and France lodged an official ­protest with Washington after US military aircraft were given priority at Port-au-Prince's congested airport, forcing many non-US flights to divert to the Dominican Republic.

Brasilia warned it would not ­relinquish command of UN forces in Haiti, and Paris complained the airport had become a US "annexe", exposing a brewing power struggle amid the global relief effort. The Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières also complained about diverted flights...."

Israel's military continues to target anti wall protest organizers

"Four Palestinian civilians were kidnapped by Israeli troops during a pre dawn invasion targeting the village of Nil'in, central West Bank. Israeli troops told their families that they have been kidnapped for their involvement in the weekly nonviolent protests against the Israeli built wall on villager's lands.

Around 100 Israeli soldiers stormed the small village near Ramallah. Troops searched a number of homes and ransacked them before taking the four men to unknown detention camp for questioning, villagers reported......"

Turning King’s Dream into a Nightmare

By Chris Hedges
TruthDig

"Luther King Day has become a yearly ritual to turn a black radical into a red-white-and-blue icon. It has become a day to celebrate ourselves for “overcoming” racism and “fulfilling” King’s dream. It is a day filled with old sound bites about little black children and little white children that, given the state of America, would enrage King....."

Spy On Thy Neighbour

By Ray Smith

"NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, Jan 18, 2010 (IPS) - Recent inter-factional clashes in Lebanon's Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp once more illustrated the fragile security situation in some of its Palestinian camps. Lebanese plans to take over security within the camps are rejected by the Palestinians.....

Abdulal insists that it is impossible to have Lebanese state security without human security for Palestinians. "There has to be a general feeling of security among Palestinians, in the political, economic, social and cultural sense."

In Lebanon, Palestinians are still seen solely through security eyes. In Nahr al- Bared, the government has allowed the army to play a major role in the reconstruction project. It hasn't shown will to revise its treatment of Palestinians and finally - after more than 60 years of their presence - abolish the legal discrimination against them. Current developments in the laboratory called Nahr al-Bared point to a one-sided imposition of direct rule on Palestinians rather than a "mutually beneficial partnership" between them and their hosts. "

Economists Blame 'Neo-liberalism' for Region's Woes

By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

"CAIRO, Jan 18, 2010 (IPS) - Egypt embarked on "neo-liberal" economics more than three decades ago reorienting its socialist-oriented policies towards those of the "free market." Now, however, many critics call the strategy a failure and blame it for the country's rampant poverty and unemployment.

"Egypt's experiment with neo-liberal economics has resulted in soaring inflation, steadily increasing unemployment rates and a reduction of the average citizen's purchasing power," Hamdi Abdelazim, economist and former president of the Sadat Academy for Administrative Sciences in Cairo, told IPS....."

Israel Jails Palestinian Peace Activists

By Mel Frykberg

(Left: a photo of the "arms" in question.)

"RAMALLAH, Jan 18, 2010 (IPS) - Israel has long argued that Palestinians should pursue their political objectives in a non-violent way. However, several prominent Palestinian peace activists have recently been arrested and jailed for doing just that.

Abdallah Abu Rahme, 39, the coordinator of the Bi’lin Popular Committee, which has challenged Israel’s illegal expropriation of Palestinian land both in an Israeli court and a Canadian one, has been charged with "illegal arms possession, stone throwing and incitement."

The "illegal arms possession" charge relates largely to a protest exhibition Abu Rahme had made out of spent tear-gas canisters and plastic-coated rubber bullets, shot by Israeli soldiers, and assembled to form a large peace sign....."

We Are Coming In! By Dave Brown, The Independent

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

Erdogan slams Muslim leaders’ response to suffering of Gaza people

"ANKARA, (PIC)-- Turkish premier Recep Erdogan on Sunday condemned the passive positions of Muslim leaders towards the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip as “pathetic.”

“The governments have failed to display the reactions that the world's Muslims expected from them; this has been a pitiful aspect of the matter," Erdogan told the French news agency shortly before leaving for the UAE and then on to Saudi Arabia.

He made these remarks when asked to compare the attitude of other Muslim countries to Turkey's outbursts against Israel over its devastating war on Gaza last year and its ongoing blockade of the impoverished Strip.

Turkish president Abdullah Gul and Erdogan refused to meet with Israeli war minister Ehud Barak who visited Ankara on Sunday to defuse tensions between the two sides after Israel deliberately humiliated the Turkish ambassador......."

Israel's compassion in Haiti can't hide our ugly face in Gaza

By Akiva Eldar

"Who said we are shut up inside our Tel Aviv bubble? How many small nations surrounded by enemies set up field hospitals on the other side of the world? Give us an earthquake in Haiti, a tsunami in Thailand or a terror attack in Kenya, and the IDF Spokesman's Office will triumph. A cargo plane can always be found to fly in military journalists to report on our fine young men from the Home Front Command.

Everyone is truly doing a wonderful job: the rescuers, searching for survivors; the physicians, saving lives; and the reporters, too, who are rightfully patting them all on the back. After Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon became the face we show the world, the entire international community can now see Israel's good side.

But the remarkable identification with the victims of the terrible tragedy in distant Haiti only underscores the indifference to the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza. Only a little more than an hour's drive from the offices of Israel's major newspapers, 1.5 million people have been besieged on a desert island for two and a half years. Who cares that 80 percent of the men, women and children living in such proximity to us have fallen under the poverty line? How many Israelis know that half of all Gazans are dependent on charity, that Operation Cast Lead created hundreds of amputees, that raw sewage flows from the streets into the sea?......"

Chavez: US uses earthquake to occupy Haiti

Press TV

"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States of taking advantage of the deadly earthquake in Haiti to occupy the Caribbean country.

Chavez on Sunday scoffed at Washington's move to send thousands of American soldiers to Haiti, describing them as "Marines armed as if they were going to war."

"There is not a shortage of guns there, my God. Doctors, medicine, fuel, field hospitals, that's what the United States should send," Chavez said on his weekly television show.

"They are occupying Haiti undercover," he warned.

The Pentagon says it has deployed more than 10,000 soldiers in Haiti to help victims of Tuesday's earthquake. This comes as US paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division took control of the main airport in the capital Port-au-Prince on Friday.

"On top of that, you don't see them in the streets. Are they picking up bodies? ... Are they looking for the injured? You don't see them. I haven't seen them. Where are they?"[it is called stealth occupation!] Chavez went on to ask......"

Israel's Gaza blockade continues to suffocate daily life

18 January 2010

"Israel must end its suffocating blockade of the Gaza Strip, which leaves more than 1.4 million Palestinians cut off from the outside world and struggling with desperate poverty, Amnesty International said one year on from the end of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

Amnesty International’s briefing paper Suffocating: The Gaza Strip under Israeli blockade gathers testimony from people still struggling to rebuild their lives following Operation “Cast Lead”, which killed around 1,400 Palestinians and injured thousands more.

“Israel claims that the ongoing blockade of Gaza, in force since June 2007, is a response to the indiscriminate rocket attacks launched from Gaza into southern Israel by Palestinian armed groups. The reality is that the blockade does not target armed groups but rather punishes Gaza’s entire population by restricting the entry of food, medical supplies, educational equipment and building materials,” said Malcolm Smart, Middle East and North Africa Director, Amnesty International.....

“The blockade is strangling virtually every aspect of life for Gaza’s population, more than half of whom are children. The increasing isolation and suffering of the people of Gaza cannot be allowed to continue. The Israeli government must comply with binding legal obligation, as the occupying power, to lift the blockade without further delay,” said Malcolm Smart."

Click Here to Download Full Report (pdf)

سيادة مصر وسيادة الرئيس

A GREAT COMMENT
By The Egyptian Opposition Leader
Abdul-Halim Qandil

عبد الحليم قنديل
سيادة مصر وسيادة الرئيس

"قد يصح أن نعتذر للخيانة نفسها، فلم يعد لفظ الخيانة ملائما لوصف الانحطاط والتدهور الذي آلت إليه سياسة النظام المصري.
وربما لايليق أن ننعت النظام بصفة 'المصرية'، فليس لنظام مبارك من المصرية شيء، اللهم إلا معنى الجنسية، وليس صحيحا أن النظام يبني سياسته على مبدأ 'مصر أولا'، بل تبنى له السياسة على أساس مبدأ 'إسرائيل أولا'، في مصر، فوجود النظام في ذاته يتناقض مع أبسط معايير الوطنية المصرية، فمصر دولة دور، ومعاركها الوجودية الكبرى دارت إلى ما نسميه الشرق العربي الآن، ومن 'قادش' رمسيس إلى 'مجدو' تحتمس، وإلى 'حطين' صلاح الدين، وإلى 'عين جالوت' قطز، وإلى معارك إبراهيم باشا ساري عسكر عربستان، وإلى معارك عبد الناصر العسكرية والسياسية، وإلى حرب أكتوبر 1973، بعدها انزلقت مصر إلى 'الثقب الأسود'، وإلى انحطاط تاريخي نهبت فيه ثرواتها، واستذل أهلها، ونزلت إلى قاع التاريخ الجاري، خرجت من سباق الأمم، وصارت مجرد عزبة لعائلة السياسة الفاسدة وأغواتها وممالكيها ومليارديراتها.
ومن العبث ـ مع هذه الظروف ـ أن نتحدث عن سيادة مصر وكأنها سيادة الرئيس، أو سيادة العائلة، فوجود الرئيس في ذاته، وبالطريقة التي يحكم بها، هو انتقاص من سيادة مصر، فلم ينتخبه أحد في مصر، ولا فوضه شعبها، بل يحكم بتفويض أمريكي إسرائيلي، وينفذ ما يطلب منه بالحرف، ويدفع لحساب إسرائيل لكسب رضا 'الباب العالي' في واشنطن، ومقابل أن يبقى له الحكم ولذريته ومماليكه من بعد.
وربما يلفت النظر، أن أحمد أبو الغيط ـ وزير خارجية الرئيس ـ يعلن أخطر القرارات من واشنطن لا من القاهرة، وعلى طريقة إعلانه الأخير من واشنطن عن قرار المنع التام لقوافل الإغاثة إلى غزة، فقرارات النظام 'السيادية' الكبرى تصنع في واشنطن، وتعلن هناك، وإن كان يسمح أحيانا بإعلانها من القاهرة على سبيل التمويه، وتلك قصة مريرة طويلة بدأت عقب حرب أكتوبر 1973، وخذلان السياسة لإنجاز السلاح، فقد بدا كيسنجر ـ وزير الخارجية الأمريكي الصهيوني الشهير ـ مأخوذا بتنازلات الرئيس السادات، وفي غرف المفاوضات المغلقة بالذات، ففي كتابه (أكتوبر 1973: السلاح والسياسة)، يروي محمد حسنين هيكل ـ المقرب وقتها من السادات ـ واقعة مذهلة، فقد عرض السادات على كيسنجر مالم يتوقعه الأخير في حياته، قال له: إن جاءتكم فكرة أو مبادرة فاعطوها لي، وأنا أعلنها باسم مصر، لماذا؟ لأنها إذا أعلنت باسم واشنطن وقبلتها، فسوف يتهمني المصريون بالتبعية، وإذا أعلنت باسم إسرائيل، وقبلتها، فسوف يرميني المصريون بتهمة الخيانة، والحل: أن أعلنها باسم مصر، وتبدو مبادرة مصرية ونجاحا مصريا.
وعلى طريقة 'تمصير' الرغبات الأمريكية والإسرائيلية، يمضي الرئيس مبارك، فرغبات واشنطن تبدو كأنها مبادرات القاهرة، وتبدو سيادة إسرائيل كأنها سيادة مصر، مع أن القاصي والداني يعلم أنه لادخل لمصر في الموضوع، وأن اسم مصر ـ له المجد في العالمين ـ بريء من تنازلات العائلة الحاكمة، وأن سيادة مصر الحقيقية منتهكة ومضيعة من زمن طويل، لانتحدث عن أسرار، بل عن حقائق مفزعة مدونة في الملاحق الأمنية لما يسمى معاهدة السلام المصرية الإسرائيلية، فبعد حرب أكتوبر 1973 مباشرة، كان لمصر 70 ألف جندي في سيناء إلى شرق قناة السويس، وكان لها ألف دبابة، ونزل التعداد ـ باتفاقي فض الاشتباك الأول والثاني ـ إلى سبعة آلاف جندي وثلاثين دبابة لاغير، وبعد مقايضات المعاهدة المذلة، صارت الصورة مرعبة، فقد جرى حجز الوجود العسكري المصري ـ بفرقة مشاة ميكانيكية واحدة ـ إلى مسافة 58 كيلو مترا شرق قناة السويس، وعرفت هذه المنطقة ـ في ملاحق المعاهدة ـ باسم المنطقة )أ )، ثم جرى إخلاء المنطقة(ب) ، وبعرض 109 كيلومترات، من أي وجود عسكري مصري سوى أربع كتائب حرس حدود، وفي المنطقة ( ج )، وبعرض 33 كيلو مترا، وإلى حدود مصر مع فلسطين المحتلة وغزة، جرى نزع السلاح المصري بالكامل، وقصر الوجود على قوات شرطة مدنية، ولم تسمح إسرائيل إلا لاحقا، وفي اتفاق ايلول (سبتمبر) 2005، سوى بوضع 750 جنديا من حرس الحدود، وبغرض محدد هو مطاردة وردم 'أنفاق الحياة' الواصلة من رفح المصرية إلى رفح الفلسطينية، وفي كل سيناء جرى حظر إقامة أي مطارات أو موانىء حربية مصرية، بل أن مقر إقامة الرئيس نفسه في شرم الشيخ يقع في المنطقة منزوعة السلاح المصري بالكامل، أي أن الرئيس يقيم في منطقة منزوعة السيادة المصرية، وتحت حد الحراب الإسرائيلية القريبة، وفي وسط تشكيل من قوات متعددة الجنسيات، وتعرف باسم MFO، أو 'ذوي القبعات البرتــــقالية'، وغالب هذه القوات أمريكي، وقيادتها أمريكية، وتدفع مصر نصف ميزانيتها البالغة سنويا 65 مليون دولار، ولهذه القوات ثلاث قواعد، أولاها في 'الجورة' شرق سيناء بالقرب من الحدود، وثانيتها في جزيرة 'تيران' السعودية بخليج العقبة، وثالثتها إلى جوار شرم الشيخ، ووظائف هذه القوات الأجنبية معروفة، فهي تراقب أي إخلال محتمل بترتيبات نزع سلاح سيناء، ولها حق التدخل عند اللزوم، والبدء في تطبيق مذكرة تفاهم أمريكية ـ إسرائيلية موقعة في 25 آذار( مارس) 1979، أي قبل أيام من توقيع معاهدة السلام المصرية الإسرائيلية، وتتضمن تعهدا أمريكيا بالتدخل عسكريا ضد مصر في حال تهديد أمن إسرائيل.
ماذا تعني هذه الصورة؟ تعني ـ ببساطة ـ أن قصة السيادة المصرية من أحاديث الخرافة، وأن الموجود هو العكس بالضبط، فقد أعيدت سيناء إلى مصر منزوعة السيادة، أعيدت على طريقة الذي أعادوا له قدما وأخذوا عينيه، فقد جرى نزع سيادة السلاح في شرق مصر، وفي القاهرة تكفلت المعونة الأمريكية ـ ومضاعفاتها ـ بالباقي، أعادت تشكيل نخبة الحكم والمال، ونزعت سيادة قرار السياسة والاقتصاد، وضعت مصر في القيد الحديد، ووضع على فمها قفل بيت الرئاسة، وراحت مواردها تنهب كما لم يحدث في تاريخها الألفي، وطفت وطغت طبقة من مليارديرات المال الحرام، فيما تحول الشعب المصري ـ في غالبه ـ إلى أفقر شعب في المنطقة، وبين الثراء الناهب والفقر الكادح، جرت إقامة أضخم جدار أمني، جدار مصفوف من العسكر السود والخوذات السوداء، وبحجم مهول وصل بقوات الأمن الداخلي إلى مليون و 700 ألف شخص، وهو ما يتعدى ثلاثة أضعاف حجم جيش مصر العظيم.
والمحصلة ظاهرة، مصر تحت الحصار، تماما كما أن فلسطين تحت الحصار، وجدار العار عند الحدود هو امتداد لجدار القمع في القاهرة، ولا أحد تحت الحماية سوى العائلة ومليارديراتها ورعاتها الأمريكيين والإسرائيليين، أما مصر ـ بغالب أهلها فقد انتهت إلى عين الرعب، وإلى خلط البصائر والمصائر، وإلى سحابة دخان كثيف تطلقه وسائل الاعلام المملوكة للنظام وأجهزة أمنه ومليارديراته، وإلى عبث عقلي بلا آخر، وإلى زحام من مشاهد الدم، وإلى حديث عن سيادة البلد وكأنها سيادة الرئيس.
هل يتبقى بعد ذلك من معان محددة مفهومة لعبارات من نوع الأمن القومي وسيادة مصر؟ وهل يجرؤ النظام على اعلان الحقيقة في سيناء؟ أو على إشهار الذمة المالية للعائلة والأصهار والأصحاب؟ بالطبع لا يجرؤ النظام على شيء من ذلك، وربما لا يصح أصلا أن تسأله في شيء أو عن شيء، فاختصر الطرق، واسأل رعاته في واشنطن وتل أبيب، إسأل في العناوين الحرام عن نظام ولد ويعيش في الحرام.
"

Greeks have more honor than Arabs

Courtesy of Norman Finklestein

By Meryl Ann Butler

Theodoros Pangalos, a 70-year-old Member of the Greek Parliament, received three bottles of wine as a holiday gift, with best wishes from Israel’s Ambassador, Ali Giachia. (Wikipedia lists him as Ali Yihiye.)

In a Trojan horse reversal, Pangalos returned this gift and thanked the Ambassador with the following letter:

Dear Mr. Ambassador,

Thank you for the 3 bottles of wine that you sent me as season’s greetings. I wish to you, your family and everybody in the Embassy a happy new year. Good health and progress to you all.

Unhappily, I noticed that the wine you have sent me has been produced in the Golan Heights. I have been taught since I was very young not to steal and not to accept products of theft. So I cannot possibly accept this gift and I must return it back to you.

As you know, your country occupies illegally the Golan Heights which belongs to Syria, according to the International Law and numerous decisions of the International Community.

I take the opportunity to express my hope that Israel will find security within its internationally recognized borders and the terrorist activities against Israel territory by Hamas or anybody else will be contained and made impossible, but I also hope that your government will cease practicing the policy of collective punishment which was applied on a mass scale by Hitler and his armies.

Actions such as those of these days of the Israel military in Gaza remind the Greek people of holocausts such as in Kalavrita or Doxato or Distomo and certainly in the ghetto of Warsaw.

With these thoughts allow me to express to you my best wishes for you, the Israeli people and all the people of our region of the world.

Athens, 30/12/2008

Theodoros Pangalos, Member of Parliament (Greece)

Wikipedia tells us that the Greek name Θεόδωρος (Theodōros) means “gift of god” (from the Greek words Θεός, (theos) “God” and δώρον (dōron) “gift”. Pangalos’ words seem to have a gift of divine diplomacy.

Author’s notes: A well-traveled fellow of Middle Eastern descent, who sent this to me, wrote, “what is remarkable, is that he (Israel’s Ambassador) is likely an Arab! One of those few who are integrated into the Israeli State, maybe a Druse. I’ve never encountered a Jew named Ali.”

RESOURCES: http://www.parliament.gr/english/synthesh/mp.asp?MPID=516

Diskin to Abbas: Defer UN vote on Goldstone or face 'second Gaza'

HAARETZ

Contributed by Molly

"The request by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the United Nations Human Rights Council last year to postpone the vote on the Goldstone report followed a particularly tense meeting with the head of the Shin Bet security service, Haaretz has learned. At the October meeting in Ramallah, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told Abbas that if he did not ask for a deferral of the vote on the critical report on last year's military operation, Israel would turn the West Bank into a "second Gaza."......"

Al-Jazeera Video: Riz Khan - The role of media in the USA

Featuring Amy Goodman.

"Has the mainstream media in the US replaced serious coverage with "junk news" and tabloidism? "

Real News Video: Gaza freedom march looking ahead

Medea Benjamin: Cairo declaration will lead to more international actions in support of people of Gaza


"Medea Benjamin is a co-founder of CODEPINK a grassroots anti-war group that seeks "positive social change through creative protest, non-violent direct action, and community involvement. Medea is also a member of the advisory committee for The Real News."

Real News Video: Zbigniew Brzezinski on Iran Pt3

Zbigniew Brzezinski: An Israeli attack on Iran would be a disaster

Dayton's Forces Arrest 12 Hamas Members, Including A Senior Qassam Fighter

The Bastards Are Doing Israel's Dirty Work! Worse Than the Traitors of the South Lebanon "Army" of Antoine Lahad.....

"The Security Forces of Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, arrested on Sunday 12 Hamas members in the occupied West Bank, including a senior fighter and leader of the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

The arrests were focused in the districts of Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, Bethlehem and Hebron.

One of the arrestees is a senior leader of the Al Qassam Brigades. Ayyoub Al Qawasma was arrested after the Palestinian Security forces surrounded his home in Hebron, in the southern part of the West bank. He tops Israel’s “wanted list” since more than 12 years....."

Second Palestinian activist freed by Israel

"Amnesty International has welcomed the release from detention of Palestinian human rights activist Mohammed Othman - but is concerned that the Israeli authorities have imposed conditions which will prevent him exercising his human rights.

Mohammed Othman was arrested on 22 September 2009 when he returned from a visit to Norway where he spoke publicly about the adverse impact of the fence/wall that Israel is building on the territory of the occupied West Bank.

He was held without charge under an administrative detention order until his release on Wednesday after laying down a guarantee of 10,000 Israeli shekels (around US$2,700).

He is the second activist to be released by the Israeli authorities this week.

However, his liberty is conditional on him not travelling outside the West Bank for an unspecified length of time and reporting to the police immediately whenever they summon him for questioning. "The conditions applied to Mohammed Othman's release from detention appear intended to prevent or deter him from continuing to campaign against the construction of the fence/wall in the West Bank and exposing the impact it has on the lives of Palestinians living there," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Director. "These conditions should be immediately rescinded."....."

Ortega warns of US deployment in Haiti

Press TV

"Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega says that the United States has taken advantage of the massive quake in Haiti and deployed troops in the country.

"What is happening in Haiti seriously concerns me as US troops have already taken control of the airport," Ortega said on Saturday.

The Pentagon says it has deployed more than 10,000 soldiers in Haiti to help victims of Tuesday's earthquake......"

Arming of Hezbollah Could Spark Israel-Syria War: US Official

Al-Manar

"17/01/2010 In an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai published on Sunday, a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that “if Syria supplies Hezbollah with surface-to-air missiles (SA-2), war will break out and Tel Aviv will directly strike Damascus.” In addition, the official said Syria trained Hezbollah members in Damascus on how to use the SA-2 missiles. Israel has previously warned the country not to supply Hezbollah with the missiles, according to the US source.

“Any possible military attack by Hezbollah against Israel will be met by a ‘harmful war’ on Lebanon. Israel made a mistake in 2006 by not striking Syria during the war with Lebanon, and any new attack from Hezbollah against it will not spare Damascus from a strike,” he added.

Israel’s top priority, the official said, is preventing Syria from supplying Hezbollah with the SA-2 missiles. “During the 2006 war in Lebanon, Damascus told Tel Aviv it wanted peace and was not going to side with Hezbollah,” the official alleged. Following the war, however, the United Nations and international intelligence community have been monitoring attempts to smuggle weapons from Syria to Hezbollah, he added.

The official also compared South Lebanon after the 2006 war to the situation in the Golan Heights in Syria, which he said has enjoyed a calm climate after a cease-fire agreement was signed between Israel and late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in 1974.

He said Hezbollah’s desire to liberate the Shebaa farms, which is occupied by Israel, does not justify military attacks against the entity. “Launching war with Tel Aviv is not an excuse for Hezbollah.” The official said he does not think a war will break out anytime soon, “unless Syria crosses the line.”"

Provoking Turkey is Not a Good Idea

By Uri Avnery
Palestine Chronicle

"....As it so happens, Barak is due to visit Turkey tomorrow. The relations between the Israeli and the Turkish defense establishments are as close as can be. Not only is there a certain ideological affinity between the two army commands – both consider themselves as the guardians of national values and look down with contempt on the politicians – but the generals of the two countries are real buddies. Also, the Israeli defense industry depends very much on Turkish orders, about a billion dollars annually.

Lately, some dispute has arisen about drones supplied by Israel, and relations have deteriorated. Barak’s visit is therefore considered very important. Some Israeli commentators believe that the whole Ayalon affair was a not so subtle ploy by Lieberman to sabotage his cabinet rival.....

The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reminded Israel this week that Turkey has always welcomed Jews. He was alluding to an historic chapter that is never quite acknowledged here: When Catholic Spain expelled hundreds of thousands of Jews in 1492 (some speak of as many as 800,000), the vast majority of them settled in the Ottoman Empire, from Marrakesh to Sarajevo. While Jews in Christian Europe were tortured by the Spanish inquisition and suffered untold persecutions, expulsions and pogroms, culminating in the Holocaust, they flourished for centuries under the benevolent rule of the Muslim Ottomans.....

The relationship between Turkey and Israel will probably return to normal, if not to its former degree of warmth. Turkey needs the help of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington. (Ayalon himself has in the past been sent there to help repel efforts to recognize the Armenian genocide). Israel needs Turkey as an ally and arms buyer......."

Mubarak's Iron Wall

By Jeremy Salt
Palestine Chronicle

"......Were fair elections to be held in Egypt, Mubarak and his National Democratic Party would be finished. On the question of Palestine, whatever their other differences, there is no difference between the Muslim Brotherhood and the secular opposition parties and movements. Outside the ranks of Mubarak's party there is no support for the actions he has taken, including his recent prevention of the Viva Palestina convoy from delivering aid to Gaza. The Egyptian people are with the Palestinians and amongst them there is a deep sense of shame at what Mubarak is doing. This is the country of the revolution of 1952, the staunch defender of the Palestinians, of the Third World struggle against imperialism and colonialism, turned into a humiliating dish rag by the west's satrap in the presidential palace in Cairo."

Outrage at acquittal of Abu Dhabi sheikh in 'torture' tape

Abu Dhabi verdict is an insult to justice says US businessman found guilty of trying to blackmail a member of the ruling family

Paul Harris, New York
The Observer, Sunday 17 January 2010

"The man at the centre of a "torture tape" scandal involving a wealthy Arab prince has spoken out about the acquittal of Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan – and called the verdict an insult to justice.

American businessman Bassam Nabulsi was behind the release last year of a shocking videotape in which Issa is seen brutally beating and torturing an Afghan man who he claimed owed him money. The tape showed Issa shooting at the man, beating him with a plank with protruding nails, electrocuting him, setting him on fire, pouring salt into his bleeding wounds and eventually having him driven over with a vehicle.

The tape caused an international outcry and eventually saw Issa put on trial in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, where he is a senior member of the ruling family. But the court, in the eastern city of al-Ain, acquitted him. Instead, it convicted Nabulsi, in absentia, for his ­involvement in what it decided was a blackmail plot, and sentenced him to five years in prison. The verdict stunned observers and raised questions about the justice system in the United Arab Emirates.

Nabulsi, speaking from Texas, told the Observer of his shock. "I am feeling nauseous. It is really sarcastic. These people, the more they lie, the bigger the hole they are digging for themselves," he said.

The al-Ain criminal court, which Nabulsi claims never told him he was charged with anything, decided that he and his brother had secretly injected Issa with drugs, thus rendering him incapable of having responsibility for his actions. The court said the brothers had done this as part of a plot to make the torture video and blackmail the sheikh. It found several of Issa's employees, including a Syrian, an Indian and a Palestinian, guilty of helping with the torture, handing out jail terms from one to three years. But by pointing the finger of blame at the Nabulsi brothers, the court in effect concluded that Issa was a victim too.......

The UAE's foreign minister rejected calls to review the judgment. "There's no way the UAE government is going to get involved on any court ruling," Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said after the verdict. "If we start doing so, what does that tell us about any court system in any country in the world? That defeats the point of an independent judiciary [said the Minister of Truth!]."......"

وزير إسرائيلي يشارك في مؤتمر للطاقة في أبو ظبي

عرب48

"كشفت إذاعة الجيش الإسرائيلي أن وزير البنى التحتية عوزي لانداو(يسرائيل بيتينو) وصل يوم أمس الجمعة إلى الإمارات العربية المتحدة للمشاركة في مؤتمر «القمة العالمية لطاقة المستقبل 2010» الذي تبدأ أعماله يوم الاثنين في أبو ظبي.

ونقلت الإذاعة عن لانداو قوله إنه إلى جانب الأهمية السياسية للزيارة ، فإن إسرائيل بوسعها أن تسهم الكثير في هذا المجال لدول العالم. وأضاف الوزير الإسرائيلي: "نريد أن نكون عاملا مركزيا في هذا المجال والمؤتمر هو فرصة نادرة لذلك. إن دعوتي للمؤتمر هي دليل على أن الجهود المشتركة لتطوير طاقة المستقبل يمكنها أن تكون قاعدة لبناء علاقة تعاون حقيقية قي المنطقة.

وكان مسؤولان إسرائيليان قد زارا أبو ظبي قبل ثلاثة شهور، وشاركا في مؤتمر الوكالة الدولية للطاقة. وكانت تلك المرة الأولى التي يرفع فيها علم إسرائيل في الإمارات العربية المتحدة.

وتسلّط «القمة العالمية لطاقة المستقبل 2010»، الضوء على الطاقة الشمسية.
"

Israel bullied Abbas into deferring UN vote

Press TV

"Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas was bullied by Israel to postpone a UN vote on the Goldstone report last year, an Israeli newspaper says.

Abbas' decision to request the UN Human Rights Council to postpone a vote on the Goldstone report about the Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip followed a particularly tense meeting with the head of Israel's Shin Bet security service.

Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin told Abbas that if he did not ask for a deferral of the vote on the critical report on last year's military operation, Israel would turn the West Bank into a "second Gaza," Haaretz reported.

Diskin also threatened to revoke the easing of restrictions on movement within the West Bank that had been implemented earlier last year.

The Shin Bet chief, during the meeting, warned that Israel would withdraw permission for the mobile phone company Wataniya to operate in the Palestinian Authority. That would have cost the Palestinian Authority tens of millions of dollars in compensation payments to the company......"

Al-Manar Cartoon

Propping Up Allies!