Christians of the Holy Land

According to a 2008 survey, only 0.8 per cent of Christian Palestinians cited "fleeing religious extremism" as a reason for emigration

Despite claims by Israeli government officials, Christian Palestinians regularly face discrimination.

By Ben White

Al-Jazeera

"A recent report by CBS show 60 Minutes on "Christians of the Holy Land" has received a lot of attention, not least for the embarrassing contribution by Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren.

It is interesting that Israel (and its advocates) have been so concerned about the impact of a short segment regarding the challenges faced by Christian Palestinians under Israeli military occupation. In fact, Ambassador Oren himself only recently tried to exploit Christians for propaganda purposes - only to find that they objected to his cynicism.

The Israeli government has long tried to suggest that the emigration of Christian Palestinians is the result of a "jihad" being waged by "terrorists" or "fundamentalists". There are obvious advantages to this strategy, particularly its dependence on pre-existing prejudices and stereotypes in the West. But it also seeks to neutralise a potentially damaging threat: that people around the world will see Christian Palestinians leaving their historic homeland due to Israeli colonisation and occupation....."

Map: Exclusive aerial images of Syria

Click on neighbourhoods in cities of Homs and Idlib for close-ups of army deployments and widespread destruction.

Mohammed Haddad and Ben Piven
Al-Jazeera

Regime builds giant wall to seal off Baba Amr

Regime builds giant wall to seal off Baba Amr

• At least 50 feared dead in fresh regime attack on Hama tonight
• Douma under fire for a second day, snipers target civilians in their homes
• Army shoots dead 4 bus passengers in Khan Sheikhoun attack

HOMS
Avaaz has obtained photos and information today revealing a massive concrete wall has been built around the entire boundary of the formerly restive district of Baba Amr, sealing it off from the rest of the city. Troop reinforcements also arrived in the neighbourhood today, signalling an attempt to retain full regime control of Baba Amr following heavy bombardement and eventual capture of the opposition stronghold earlier this year. One resident told Avaaz: “The army surrounded the neighbourhood of Baba Amr with this fence and there are only three entrances left, which are only used by large numbers of regime troops who have entered the neighbourhood today.”

Another resident, ‘Abdul’ told Avaaz: “We don’t know why they have built the wall. It feels like we are living in Palestine.”

Today most of Homs experienced relative peace and quiet during the UN observers’ visit around the city. One citizen journalist, Mohamed, told Avaaz: “The people asked for help from the observers and asked for the withdrawal of the army and the tanks from the city.”However brief clashes between the army and the FSA were reported today in the neighbourhoods of Alaqrabees and Jouret Shiyah after regime forces tried for a second day to penetrate the restive area of the city.

Deadlock Over Syria

A VERY GOOD PIECE

by ALAIN GRESH
CounterPunch

".....But after the Arab defeat in the 1967 war, the Middle East entered a period of stagnation which lasted four decades. Its regimes — whether republics or monarchies — gave up any attempt at reform. They were characterised by authoritarianism, the concentration of wealth in a clique close to the leadership, and endemic corruption. While there were sporadic and spontaneous outbursts of popular discontent, the desire for social change was ignored and governments focused on geopolitical issues, clashing with each other over their policies towards the US and Israel.....

Are we heading for an Islamist winter, sectarian clashes, or the crushing of the protest movements in Syria and Egypt? We cannot discount any of these hypotheses, but they all underestimate the power of the protests, the commitment to holding democratic elections and the extraordinary resilience of the people in Syria, as in Bahrain. They are reviving social and democratic struggles largely dormant since 1967, while maintaining their support for the Palestinian cause, which has never gone away. In this context, further foreign intervention would risk stirring up divisions, as it did in Iraq and Libya, and risk transforming a democratic struggle into a sectarian one, primarily between Shia and Sunnis."

Al-Jazeera Video: Annan says Syria violence unacceptable

"Kofi Annan the UN's special envoy to Syria has been briefing the Security Council.

He denounced the renewed violence in the country as unacceptable.

Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey has been following events at the UN in New York."

Al-Jazeera Video: معاناة صيادي السمك العرب في يافا

"في يافا يعاني صيادو الاسماك العرب من تراجع حاد في الثروة السمكية بسبب تلويث مياه البحر من قبل مصانع اسرائيلية اضافة الى صعوبات كثيرة تضعها امامهم السلطات الاسرائيلية لتقليص نفوذهم في ميناء يافا. ويقول الصيادون ان السلطات الاسرائيلية تسعى لاجتثاثهم من الميناء سعيا لتحويله الى مرفق سياحي ضمن مشروع كبير لتهويد المدينة.
"

A Great Cartoon by Khalil Bendib: The Formula!

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

Egyptian Gas Directed in the Right Direction, by Emad Hajjaj

History in the Making, as Written by the Youth

By Anas Altikriti

"LONDON - It might be a cliché and often an elaborate exaggeration to term a particular event "historic". However, few can doubt that along with the Civil Rights movements, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the revolutions that have swept through the Arab world are no less momentous or historic.....

They also sent the world a clear and unequivocal message. The West had for decades established alliances with corrupt regimes on the premise that the alternative would be far worse. The dictators seemed to have convinced their Western allies that democratic changes would bring Extremists into power, would empower violent thugs and would create anarchy.

The people also sent a message to the likes of Al-Qaeda that change through peaceful protests and non-violent means is the most effective means of change, and that violence is actually an impediment to real, meaningful and radical change.

They were all proven wrong. "

Sayef's Story and the Forgotten Children of Fallujah

The phosphorus shells that devastated this city were fired in 2004. But are the victims of America's dirty war still being born?

By Robert Fisk

"....It's as difficult to write this kind of report as it is to understand the courage of his family. Many of the Fallujah families whose children have been born with what doctors call "congenital birth anomalies" prefer to keep their doors closed to strangers, regarding their children as a mark of personal shame rather than possible proof that something terrible took place here after the two great American battles against insurgents in the city in 2004, and another conflict in 2007.

After at first denying the use of phosphorous shells during the second battle of Fallujah, US forces later admitted that they had fired the munitions against buildings in the city. Independent reports have spoken of a birth-defect rate in Fallujah far higher than other areas of Iraq, let alone other Arab countries. No one, of course, can produce cast-iron evidence that American munitions have caused the tragedy of Fallujah's children....

"Every time I watch my son, I'm dying inside," he says, tears running down his face. "I think about his destiny. He is getting heavier all the time. It's more difficult to carry him." So I ask whom he blames for Sayef's little calvary. I expect a tirade of abuse against the Americans, the Iraqi government, the Health Ministry. The people of Fallujah have long been portrayed as "pro-terrorist" and "anti-Western" in the world's press, ever since the murder and cremation of the four American mercenaries in the city in 2004 – the event which started the battles for Fallujah in which up to 2,000 Iraqis, civilians and insurgents, died, along with almost 100 US troops.

But Mohamed is silent for a few moments. He is not the only father to show his deformed child to us. "I am only asking for help from God," he says. "I don't expect help from any other human being." Which proves, I guess, that Fallujah – far from being a city of terror – includes some very brave men."

Bahrain activist Zainab al-Khawaja detained after grand prix protest

Daughter of jailed hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja remanded in custody for a week, lawyer says

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 April 2012

"Bahrain has remanded in custody for seven days the daughter of a jailed hunger striker for protesting during last week's Formula One grand prix, her lawyer says.

Zainab al-Khawaja was arrested on Saturday after she sat on the main road running past Bahrain's financial district during days of Shia protests held to embarrass the kingdom's rulers at a time when the race was drawing international media attention.

Activists are pressing for democratic reforms in a country dominated by the al-Khalifa family, a Sunni dynasty that rules over a majority Shia population.

Khawaja's lawyer, Mohammed al-Jishi, said: "They decided yesterday to hold her for seven days for holding up traffic and insulting a public official. She refused to talk in the investigations or to sign papers."...."

Jordan: Publisher, Journalist Charged in State Security Court

Prosecution a Blow to Kingdom’s Reform Efforts

April 25, 2012

"(Beirut) – The charges by Jordan’s military prosecutor against a journalist and publisher of a news website apparently violate their free speech rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The two were charged on April 23, 2012, with “subverting the system of government” for an article concerning the king’s supposed intervention in a corruption investigation.

The case is the fifth time in 2012 that peaceful critics have faced charges for speech offenses, a pattern that undermines the credibility of Jordan’s reform efforts, Human Rights Watch said.

“Jordan cannot claim to be making democratic reforms while prosecutors hunt down journalists doing their job,” said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Jordan’s parliament should eliminate penal code articles that punish nonviolent speech offenses, and in the meantime, authorities should instruct prosecutors to stop bringing charges under those articles.”....."

Egypt’s ON TV receives kidnap threats from Jihadist Group

Bikya Masr

"Egypt’s liberal satellite channel ON TV received a threatening letter from an unknown group calling itself “The Jihadist Group to Cleanse the Country” warning they would kidnap some of the news presenters and inflict harm on companies that advertise with channel, if the channel “does not change its media policies.”

The group threatened to kidnap popular program hosts Reem Maged and Yousri Fouda and ask for 20 million Egypt pound ransom ($3.2 million), in addition to destroying the channel’s facilities and studios.

Albert Shafik, head of ON TV, filed a police report, presenting a copy of the letter to the Giza police department.

“You have crossed all red lines and you are pushing the country to chaos, implementing an American Zionist agenda,” the letter began.

“We will not turn to the government or the law, they are the means of the weak and the position that you spread through Maged. [They] will not affect our great nation,” the letter continued.

“We command you to stop immediately or else we will force you to donate 10 million pounds to charity or the Naguib Sawiris companies and ON TV studios will be destroyed,” the group added.
“We would kidnap your talk show hosts and ask for a 20 million pound ransom they would be assassinated. This is also a word of warning to the advertisement companies that deal with you, if they don’t not stop, we will inflict great harm upon them, so we advise you to immediately halt your destructive policies and if you do not, we will start and if we do, we will not stop,” the letter added.

However, commentators on the news mocked the letter, saying it is an attempt of the old regime to intimidate liberal voices, while others accused the military council of being behind the threats.

The channel openly supports the human rights community and dose not hesitate to expose rights violations, with activists and rights advocates as regular guests.

The channel and especially Fouda, were put under pressure for their choice of guests and topics, most recently when Fouda’s program Akher Kalam, or the “Last Words,” was taken off the air for a day for inviting opposition novelist Alaa al-Aswany as a guest.

As a response Fouda protested by staying off air for a few weeks, but returned under public pressure."

It will be wonderful... when women can walk freely

Can music and art bring together the many different political and religious factions occupying Tahrir Square?

By Mark LeVine
Al-Jazeera

".....
It might be wonderful after all

Liberals and Left forces in Egypt by and large have little love for the Salafis, and the Ultra's lesson was well-received by most of the activists I saw after the protests. But the reality is that the Salafis belong in Tahrir Square, as movements like April 6 acknowledged when they invited all the country's main forces to join them in Tahrir for the day under the banners "Together to protect the Revolution" and "No to the Felool". Where else should they be but Tahrir to press for their demands? They too suffered horribly under the Mubarak regime, when untold thousands languished in jails and suffered brutal abuses, even as their leaders were largely coopted by the system in the last 15 years.

Indeed, the Salafis may have come late to the revolution, but they remain one of the few and most organised truly revolutionary voices in Egypt - not merely in what many would perceive as the negative sense of desiring a state based largely on their conservative interpretation of the Sharia, but because they have a much stronger social justice discourse than the increasingly establishment Muslim Brotherhood. They are thus a crucial component of any alliance against the emerging political-economic elite and its deep state patrons.

And this is what makes Tahrir so wonderful. The Salafis conquered a large part of Tahrir, but even after doing so they were forced to listen to music sung with abandon by thousands of people, who didn't go up in a poof of smoke or descend directly to Hell merely for doing so. Salafis on the street were dialoging with women and men from very different sociol-political orientations about the best way to complete a democratic transition, even as preachers regularly intoned verses from the Quran or the Shahada. The Salafis with dayglo vests who have suddenly took over security for the Midan were no less polite or smiling than the Shabab who'd traditionally run Tahrir's civilian security.

The more that Salafis or Brotherhood members have to share public space with other Egyptians (including, one hopes, a lot more Christians than were in Tahrir on Friday), the more both sides' views of the other will begin to shift towards greater understanding, and just perhaps, the beginnings of some sort of shared political vision. This is, of course, the most fundamental role of the public sphere, to enable debate that, however spirited, ultimately leads to a conception of the common good that furthers the most basic rights of all citizens.

Of course, conservatives of all religious persuasions have a hard time accepting the necessarily pluralistic and tolerant definition of the public sphere. And here is precisely where art plays such an important role. As both Ramy Essam and the members of the Freedom Theatre explained after their joint performance Friday evening, the most important job of art is precisely to represent the unrepresentable, to reflect a mirror back on society that shows not just its ugliest realities but the glimmers of hope they so often obscure. And in so doing, to give people the strength and imagination to do the seemingly impossible, and in the process change the basic frameworks through which they shape their identities and act towards to those around them.

Watching the audience, including a few Salafis, move their heads to Essam's guitar and the rhythmic motions of the Freedom Theatre's actors, the future of Egypt seemed just a bit brighter than it had when I first left my friends' apartment, 12 hours before."

Al-Jazeera Video: Spokesman for Kofi Annan speaks to Al Jazeera

Al-Jazeera Video: Satellite images show Idlib 'surrounded'

"The city of Idlib has been a key hub of opposition activity throughout the uprising in Syria.

In March, just before a ceasefire was agreed to, the government launched a massive offensive.

Al Jazeera has obtained satellite images that show how the army choked off the city.

Steve Chao reports on the government's strategy to isolate the people of Idlib."

Al-Jazeera Video: Syria: Latest update on 'bomb blast in Damascus'

"Syrian state TV claims a car bomb has exploded in central Damascus. The blast reportedly injured at least three people.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin reporting from Beirut, in the capital of neighbouring Lebanon, said that "as usual the government and the opposition are accusing each other" following the incident.

"The Syrian opposition says this was a manipulated explosion by the government to show the UN observers that there are terrorist groups in the country," our correspondent said."

Al-Jazeera Video: Witness - Sheikh Jarrah, My Neighbourhood

Real News Video : Amr Moussa makes Bid for Egypt's Presidency

Mubarak's former foreign minister Amr Moussa, officially kicked off his campaign for the presidency in the backdrop of a sprawling slum and a colonial villa. While the international community seems to favor Moussa, on the Egyptian street, he's often referred to as the 'felool' or remnant of the former regime.

Capitalism in the Second Decade of the 21st Century: From the “Golden” to the Dark Ages of Capitalism

By James Petras

"....
Conclusion

The world configuration of power in the new decade is far more complex than the designation concocted by the leading banking houses[41]. For example, the “BRICs” includes a truly global power, China, a center of manufacturing, science and growth; Russia a military power highly dependent on energy exports and lacking a competitive manufacturing sector; Brazil is a commodity-dependent export economy suffering economic stagnation; and India where three quarters of the populace live at a or below $3 a day. The decline of the US-EU axis is not accompanied by a new multi-polar global power configuration. The crises engendered by neo-liberalism in the West is accompanied by its growth in Asia, especially China, India, South Korea and Indonesia. The decline of neo-liberalism is not accompanied by the rise of socialism: in Southern Europe, authoritarian rightist regimes buttress the crises-racked neo-liberal order by imposing policies by fiat and by criminalizing the social movements and civil disobedience and by centralizing executive power. By ignoring financial speculation as the detonator of the crises and the state bailout of the banks for the high indebtedness, the regimes perversely blame popular social program for the crises and impose harsh anti-popular austerity programs which lower living standards and increase profits. The debate between neo-liberals and neo-keynesians focuses on ‘austerity’ versus ‘spending’ – neither of which faces the class bases of state policy and the class relations which define economic costs and benefits. What is clear throughout the prolonged socio-economic crises is the impermeability of the state: despite mass disaffection, repeated general strikes and multitudinous and demonstrations, the capitalist state ignores majoritarian interests and persists in imposing savage retrograde reductions in living standards. Capitalist rule in the West is based on a reversal of seventy years of social gains. The reality of growing immiseration replaces the idea of social progress. We have passed from the so-called “golden age” of post-World War II capitalism to the long night of the “dark ages” of capitalism, an epoch of decay and descent into barbarism.
All indications point to the second decade of the 21st century being an epoch of unrelenting economic crises spreading outward from Europe and the US to Asia and its dependencies in Africa and Latin America. Catastrophic imperial and proxy wars accelerate the continued decay of the US empire and facilitate the rise of Asia as the epicenter of world capitalism and as the site for rising class conflict. The crisis in capitalist class rule is truly global and is spilling over into sharpening inter-imperialist trade confrontations. Colonial wars are undermining any efforts to ameliorate this crisis. Prolonged economic crises and a never ending downward spiral in living standards, fueled by class based austerity programs designed to reduce wages and social benefit and increase profits. In response emerging mass social movements are playing a dominant role within the anti-capitalist opposition. Direct action is gradually overshadowing electoral politics, moving over time from protests and rebellions, toward overt struggles for state power."

Video: Heavily-armed Israeli soldiers seize three children in West Bank night raid

By Ali Abunimah



"“Dir balak, Hammoudeh,” – “Be careful, Hammoudeh (a common nickname for Muhammad)” – these could be the words of any mother as her child leaves the house, to school or out into the street to play. “Dir balak” – words ingrained in me from childhood.

But in this video, they’re the words of a parent watching as a 15-year-old son is dragged off in the middle of the night by heavily-armed Israeli soldiers in full battle gear.

Adults shout at the soldiers, and even beg to be taken along as well, but ultimately they are powerless as their children are taken off coughing amid billowing clouds of tear gas.
One soldier in the video appears to be filming the raid with an iPhone. Perhaps he’ll proudly put it up on his Facebook page?

For Muhammad Ahmad Khalil Abu Hashem, 15, this is his second arrest, and according to Bekah Wolf, founder of the Palestine Solidarity Project which took the video, Muhammad’s older brother was arrested last week.

Their crime? Most likely it is simply that their father Ahmad Abu Hashem, is a member of the Popular Committee of Beit Ommar, and thus harassing his children – the occupiers believe – may be a way to punish or deter him from his work organizing nonviolent resistance against the ongoing theft of village lands.

Systematic campaign against children

This horrible, violent routine is repeated all over the Israeli-occupied West Bank, night after night, and especially in the village of Beit Ommar, where popular resistance to land theft by Israel has been met by the Israeli army with a systematic campaign of arrests and abuse of the village’s children.

Last night was no exception, as the text accompanying the video, taken by the Palestine Solidarity Project, explains, three children and an adult were taken....."

U.N. aims to feed 500,000 Syrians soon

"(Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday it aimed to deliver food aid to 500,000 people in Syria "in the coming weeks", double the number of people it thinks it will have fed by the end of this month.

In a statement, the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) conceded it faced challenges in delivering the food, but said it was increasing its assistance at the request of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and was ready to expand its operations in the country further "when access permits".

"As the conflict continues, Syrians in areas affected by the violence are struggling to feed their families and WFP is deeply concerned about the potential for food insecurity," WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said in the statement.

Elisabeth Byrs, a WFP spokeswoman, told a news conference the agency was aiming to radically increase its efforts in the weeks ahead.

"We are trying to reach 250,000 by the end of April and then double this figure with the goal of reaching half a million in coming weeks," she told reporters.

"It is true, we face challenges," she added, clarifying that the 500,000 people who would be supplied were located at different locations across the country of just under 23 million people......"

Guardian Video: Bahrain protesters clash with police after funeral

Thousands of protesters attend the funeral of Salah Abbas Habib - an anti-government protester alleged to have been killed in clashes with riot police in the lead-up to the Bahrain Grand Prix - in Bahrain's capital city, Manama, on Monday. Violence flared after the ceremony, with police firing teargas at demonstrators and stones thrown at a police station

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 April 2012

Muslims discriminated against for demonstrating their faith

23 April 2012

"European governments must do more to challenge the negative stereotypes and prejudices against Muslims fuelling discrimination especially in education and employment, a new report by Amnesty International reveals today.

“Muslim women are being denied jobs and girls prevented from attending regular classes just because they wear traditional forms of dress, such as the headscarf. Men can be dismissed for wearing beards associated with Islam,” said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International’s expert on discrimination.

“Rather than countering these prejudices, political parties and public officials are all too often pandering to them in their quest for votes.”

The report Choice and prejudice: discrimination against Muslims in Europe, exposes the impact of discrimination on the ground of religion or belief on Muslims in several aspects of their lives, including employment and education.

It focuses on Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland where Amnesty International has already raised issues such as restrictions on the establishment of places of worship and prohibitions on full-face veils. The report documents numerous individual cases of discrimination across the countries covered.

“Wearing religious and cultural symbols and dress is part of the right of freedom of expression. It is part of the right to freedom of religion or belief – and these rights must be enjoyed by all faiths equally.” said Marco Perolini.

“While everyone has the right to express their cultural, traditional or religious background by wearing a specific form of dress no one should be pressurized or coerced to do so. General bans on particular forms of dress that violate the rights of those freely choosing to dress in a particular way are not the way to do this.”

The report highlights that legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment has not been appropriately implemented in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Employers have been allowed to discriminate on the grounds that religious or cultural symbols will jar with clients or colleagues or that a clash exists with a company’s corporate image or its ‘neutrality’......"

Click Here to Download Report (pdf)

Syria's Assad 'finished,' Tunisian leader says

Al-Masry Al-Youm

"Bashar al-Assad's international allies must realize the Syrian president is "finished" and persuade him to step down to avoid further bloodshed, Tunisian President Moncef al-Marzouki said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday.

"The Russians and Chinese, and the Iranians must understand that this man is finished and they cannot defend him. They must persuade him to leave power and hand over to his deputy," Marzouki told the regional Arab newspaper Al-Hayat.

Assad "will go one way or another ... dead or alive," he added.

Addressing the Syrian leader directly, he said: "It's better for you and your family to leave alive, because if you decide to leave dead, that means that you have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents. Enough blood has been shed."

Tunisia, whose peaceful revolution a year ago sparked the Arab Spring uprisings that saw off autocratic leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen, offered to give Assad political asylum in February to stem the violence in Syria, where the United Nations says government forces have killed 9,000 people......

UN observers are launching a monitoring mission in Syria to oversee an 12 April ceasefire agreement brokered by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.....

Marzouki said the mission had little chance of ending the killings. "I do not expect it to succeed, because the number of observers is very small. Three hundred people cannot do anything," he said. "In Kosovo there were thousands of observers.""

Al-Jazeera Video: Unrest continues in Bahrain

"A day after the Formula One Grand Prix race in Bahrain, our undercover correspondent in the Gulf state describes the events after the death of a protester."

Al-Jazeera Video: Egypt suspends natural gas deal with Israel

The Calculus of Egypt’s Presidential Race

The U.S. and the Muslim Brotherhood

A VERY GOOD LONG ARTICLE
by ESAM AL-AMIN
CounterPunch

"....For almost a year since the SCAF took power in February 2011, a tacit honeymoon between the two strongest centers of power in the country evolved for different reasons. On the one hand, the MB did not want to experience a repeat of their 1954 showdown with the military that ended in their ban and imprisonment. Confident in their ability to win contested democratic elections, they overlooked all the attempts by SCAF to frustrate fulfilling the objectives of the revolution, particularly with regard to holding corruption investigations and trials, or banishment of former regime loyalists in the government.....

The U.S. and the Muslim Brotherhood

Mustafa Al-Fiqi was one of the most important political thinkers of the Mubarak regime. During the intense debate in 2009 and 2010 regarding the candidacy of Gamal Mubarak to succeed his father, Al-Fiqi said that the most crucial criteria for the next president was acquiring the blessing of America and avoiding a veto by Israel. This idea was not lost on the MB. When they announced in Feb. 2011 that they would not contest the presidential elections, their justification was that they did not want to cause anxiety in secular circles or concern in Western capitals.

As Western officials flocked to Egypt throughout the year, the MB headquarters was always one of the most important places visited by these officials. When Deputy Secretary of State William Burns visited Egypt in January, he met with top MB leaders Badie’ and El-Shater. During the meeting the MB leadership gauged America’s red lines. Assuming power by the MB was not one of them. Burns’ main concern was the fate of the peace treaty with Israel. According to a person familiar with the meeting with the U.S. official, Burns offered that “the good offices of the U.S. would help Egypt secure as much as $20 Billion” from the Arab Gulf states as well as from other international organizations such as the IMF if the MB would maintain the peace treaty with Israel. Although the MB leaders were non-committal, they indicated that their main concern was the shattered economy and the rebuilding of Egypt. In mid-February Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham met with El-Shater and other FJP leaders and essentially delivered the same message....

Ultimately the real questions awaiting this process are: Would SCAF honor its pledge not to interfere in the elections and hand over power to a newly elected president? Would the new president of Egypt be the independent Abol Fotouh, thus starting a new dawn for a new Egypt? Or would it be Mursi, the MB candidate, consolidating the ascendance of power of the Brotherhood with possible political polarization in the country? Or would it be Mubarak-era loyalists Amr Mousa or even Ahmad Shafiq, thus returning Egypt back to square one, and unleashing a second revolution?

The answer to these questions by the Egyptian electorate in the next few weeks will certainly determine the future of post-revolutionary Egypt."

More Secrets on Growing State Surveillance: Exclusive Part 2 With NSA Whistleblower, Targeted Hacker

Democracy Now!


"In part two of our national broadcast exclusive on the growing domestic surveillance state, we speak with National Security Agency whistleblower William Binney, and two targeted Americans: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Laura Poitras, and hacker Jacob Appelbaum, who has volunteered for WikiLeaks and now works with Tor Project, a nonprofit organization that teaches about internet security. Binney left the NSA after the 9/11 attacks over his concerns about the agency’s widespread surveillance of U.S. citizens. He describes how the FBI later raided his home and held him at gunpoint and notes there is still no effective way of monitoring how and what information the NSA is gathering on U.S. citizens, and how that data is being used. Click here to watch part one of our special report

Al-Jazeera Video: Secret medical clinics aid Syrian opposition

"Al Jazeera has obtained exclusive access to the network of Syrian medical professionals who are trying to help the towns and cities under siege from the government in Damascus.



Medical treatment for people caught up in the uprising is becoming increasingly hard to obtain, not just for injured fighters who cannot go to public hospitals for fear of arrest or worse, but for any civilian who the government suspects of helping the opposition.


Opposition activists face mounting challenges as they try to treat injured fighters and civilians, while under attack.

They have even smuggled entire field hospitals into the country and developed a secret network to bring in supplies.



Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught reports from Idlib province in Syria."


"

Real News Video : Why Gaza's Healthcare Fails Thousands of Injured

Thousands are forced to seek emergency care in Egypt and Israel after Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as healthcare system in crisis.

The Missing Spring, by Emad Hajjaj

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

The Globalization of Hollow Politics

By Chris Hedges

"I went to Lille in northern France a few days before the first round of the French presidential election to attend a rally held by the socialist candidate François Holland. It was a depressing experience. Thunderous music pulsated through the ugly and poorly heated Zenith convention hall a few blocks from the city center. The rhetoric was as empty and cliché-driven as an American campaign event. Words like “destiny,” “progress” and “change” were thrown about by Holland, who looks like an accountant and made oratorical flourishes and frenetic arm gestures that seemed calculated to evoke the last socialist French president, François Mitterrand. There was the singing of “La Marseillaise” when it was over. There was a lot of red, white and blue, the colors of the French flag. There was the final shout of “Vive la France.” I could, with a few alterations, have been at a football rally in Amarillo, Texas. I had hoped for a little more gravitas. But as the French cultural critic Guy Debord astutely grasped, politics, even allegedly radical politics, has become a hollow spectacle. Quel dommage......"

The Vultures Circling Over the Carcass of Iraq: US, Turkey and Iraqi Kurds join hands

By M K Bhadrakumar
Asia Times

"An acrimonious exchange between the Turkish and Iraqi leaders underscores escalating tensions as Ankara wades into its neighbor's sectarian politics to back autonomous Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani. Turkey needs help from the Barzani fiefdom to muzzle separatists on its eastern border, yet its desire for a share of the bounty from oil resources that are attracting American interest......"

Is America a Free Country?

by Justin Raimondo, April 23, 2012

"The “war on terrorism” has inaugurated a new era in the American polity, a sea-change that has not only threatened to overturn traditional limits on government power but also corrupted the political culture – and opened the way to the terminal crisis of the Constitution.

In a revealing series of interviews on Amy Goodman’s [Posted on Palestinian Pundit] “Democracy Now” program, three individuals targeted by the American surveillance state – William Binney, former top NSA official, Jacob Applebaum, an internet security specialist who works with WikiLeaks, and Laura Poitras, an Oscar-nominated documentary film-maker whose work has brought her to the attention of US authorities and led to her harassment by US government agents – give compelling evidence that the answer to the question in the title of this piece is clearly an emphatic no. ....."

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

Do you support enactment of the new law in Egypt banning officials from the Mubarak regime from running?

With over 200 responding, 82% said yes.

Egypt cancels Israeli gas contract

Termination of 20-year deal, which provided 40% of Israel's natural gas, seen as sign of fraying relations between allies

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 April 2012

"Egypt has cancelled a 20-year contract to supply Israel with natural gas in a move interpreted as a sign of increasingly fragile relations between the allies.

Both Egyptian and Israeli officials said the reason for the termination of the deal, which was signed in 2005 and provided 40% of Israel's natural gas, was a dispute over payments between private companies. But the governments were trying to prevent it escalating into a political crisis.

The deal is unpopular in Egypt because of claims that Israel buys the gas at below-market rates. A pipeline that carries the gas to Israel across the Sinai desert has been sabotaged at least 14 times since the start of the Egyptian uprising last year, seriously disrupting supplies.

Mohamed Shoeib, of the Egyptian company Egas, said the decision to end the deal was taken "because the other party didn't fulfil its commitments".....

"This is a business dispute but it's set against a background which is highly volatile, politically speaking," said an Israeli official. "The gas deal has never been popular with the Egyptian public, and any [Egyptian] venture with Israel is highly unpopular these days.

"We're trying to avoid spillover into the political sphere. We're doing heavy damage control to prevent a major political crisis." Egyptian officials were also quietly working to resolve the issue, he said......"

Channel 4 journalists arrested and deported from Bahrain

A Channel 4 News crew has been deported from Bahrain after they were arrested while covering the controversial Formula One grand prix

guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 April 2012

"A group of Channel 4 News journalists, including foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller, has been deported from Bahrain after they were arrested while covering the controversial Formula One grand prix.

Miller, his cameraman, a producer, their driver and a prominent human rights campaigner were arrested by Bahrain authorities while filming a demonstration in the Gulf city on Sunday.
In an audio dispatch from the back of a police car, Miller said the police were very aggressive and violently attacked the group's driver.

The three Channel 4 News journalists were released from detention after nearly six hours and deported to the UK late on Sunday. The driver, named Ali, and human rights activist, Dr Ala'a Shehabi, were released later......

Miller said: "So when we were caught filming a planned demonstration in one of the Shia villages, they [the police] have not been particularly pleasant. They've been very aggressive towards me, my crew and driver and Dr Ala'a Shehabi, a prominent human rights activist.
"We were actually heading back to where we were staying to edit the piece we'd compiled for tonight – we'd met villagers in a Shia suburb off the main city, who were demonstrating night after night."

Bahraini authorities refused to give back the cameras and computers of the Channel 4 News crew, Miller tweeted late on Sunday......"

Analysis: The multiple sins of the Brothers

Al-Masry Al-Youm

"......
Counting their losses

All of a sudden, the Brothers felt empty-handed faced with a pervasive and domineering military institution, and decided to shift from a quiescent to a confrontational discourse. But none of these traps should come as a surprise to the Brotherhood: all could have been foreseen from day one.

Besides Shater's exclusion and a weakened Parliament, the Brotherhood is incurring other, less apparent losses.

First, their perplexed performance has exposed what many observers perceive as political immaturity, to an extent that some of their prominent backers in intelligentsia circles have turned against them. The columns of Islamist writer Fahmy Howeidy are a case in point. Recently, Howeidy — long known for his Brotherhood sympathies — bashed their decision to field a presidential candidate (they had previously promised not to), saying they lack administrative skills and political expertise. He deemed them unfit to rule the country.

Second, the group's credibility must have been shaken in the eyes of nearly 13 million voters who cast ballots in its favor, hoping that Parliament would be able to fix their urgent problems.

Third, the group damaged its relations with revolutionary forces in a way that seems beyond repair, portraying itself as a reactionary camp allegedly interested in secret deals with the generals.

Experts on Islamist movements have long held that the Brotherhood is "a burden" that could always abort the transition to democracy. Today and throughout Egypt's troubled transition, this hypothesis has been put to a test. For some, the group's performance has already substantiated it.

Instead of employing its weight and popularity to spearhead a genuine transition to democratic rule and trim the wings of an ambitious military, the group's non-revolutionary outlook has caused it to rubber stamp an ambiguous transitional road map full of legal loopholes that seem to exclusively favor the generals."

الثورة السورية بين أيدي وسائل الإعلام

[كاريكاتير للفنان السوري علي فرزات]

لم يكن لقائي مع "رامي"، وهو شاب شيوعي من حي الخالدية بحمص، هو المحفّز الوحيد لكتابة هذه المقالة، بل ملاحظات كثيرة أخرى...ولكن المعلومات التي استطعت الاطلاع عليها عن كثب جعلتني أتأكد أكثر من معطياتي وبالتالي من رأيي!

فـ "رامي" الذي كان مسؤول الشباب الشيوعي الموحّد في حمص، منذ أن كان عمره 14 سنة، ترك العمل مع الحزب بعد اندلاع الثورة بسبب موقف الحزب الرافض لها. ولم يكن وحده بين مجموعة الثوّار السلميين في الخالدية، أولئك الذين لا يعرفون كيف يطلقون الرصاص ومصممين على إكمال ثورتهم حتى آخر مطلب بدون أي عنف تحملهم آمال وأحلام بالحرية. وقد أسسوا تجمعاً اسموه: "الائتلاف الإسلامي المسيحي العلماني"، واختصاره (فجر). قال لي "رامي": 

- نظّمنا مظاهرة للمسيحيين في الخالدية، ورفعوا فيها الصلبان في حارة إسلامية محافظة كحارتنا... كما كان لدينا مظاهرة أسبوعية نقيمها يوم الأربعاء بعد الظهر، تشترك فيها تنسيقية مصياف وتجمع نبض، الذي تغلب عليه الأقليات، ويشترك معنا رفاقنا من مسيحيين وعلمانيين، ويحضر معنا تلك النشاطات اتحاد الطلاب الأحرار وطلاب جامعة خالد من الوليد وهي تنظيمات طلابية صغيرة تشكلت بعد الثورة.. كان هناك كثير من المظاهرات المشتركة.

في نهاية لقائنا عرفت أنه في بابا عمرو، الحي الذي لا يمكن أن يتخيله البعض إلا مليئاً بالثوار المسلحين ومحقوناً بالخطاب الديني الطائفي، كان ثمة صحيفة مطبوعة تصدر بشكل دوري قبل أن تمحى بابا عمرو بقصفها المتواصل لثمانية وعشرين يوماً. تلك الجريدة كان مسؤولاً عنها شاب من هناك يلقبونه: (ماركس)، لأنه كان شيوعياً! يكتب المقالات السياسية التوعوية في الجريدة، كما يجمع مقالات مختارة ضد الطائفية والعنف..

ولكن هذه الآليات المواربة، ومنها سلطة وسائل الإعلام، وتبوؤها تلك المكانة الطليعية، ليست مقتصرة على الأنظمة الديمقراطية فحسب، بل هي أداة ماضية في يد السلطات الديكتاتورية، وهذا الأخطر، إذ أنها تطوّع الإعلام الرسمي للبلاد إلى مجرد إعلام دعائي لسياساتها ومواقفها، ولتطنيب الطاغية وطغمته الحاكمة وتبخيس المعارضين، إن وجودوا، أو تبخيس الخصوم الدوليين أو الإقليميين. وهذا بالضبط ما عمل الإعلام الرسمي السوري، ومن لفّ لفيفه من الإعلام شبه الرسمي، على ممارسته منذ بدء الثورة السورية وحتى اليوم.

يتكشّف يوماً بعد يوم أن ما جاهد النظام السوري لمنعه منذ اللحظة الأولى، وهو دخول وسائل الإعلام الحيادية، نوعاً ما، إلى أرض سوريا، ليس فقط كي لا يتم نقل الحقيقة، أو جزء منها، بل ليبقى النظام قادراً على تكذيب كل ما يقال، حينما يغدو الثوار على الأرض أسرى لمحطات فضائية بعينها تمكّنهم من نقل يوميات الثورة وبطش النظام، وبالتالي أسرى لأجندات هذه المحطات بعينها! مما يجعل إعلام الثورة يفقد القليل من مصداقيته بعيون المراقبين عن بعد، والسبب الرئيسي هو المحطات المضيفة لتلك الأخبار والمعلومات. مما يعني أننا اليوم، وبعد مرور عام ونيف على اندلاع الثورة السورية، بحاجة ماسّة للكشف عن كثير من المعلومات والحقائق المغفلة في الثورة، والتي يؤثر غيابها على صورتها الخارجية والداخلية. 

Martin Rowson on the Bahrain Grand Prix controversy

Al-Jazeera Video: Defiant Syrians fight government forces

"Al Jazeera has gained access to one of the towns in northwestern Idlib province.
People living there have been fighting against government forces for months, and they say they will continue their battle.
Al Anita McNaught reports from Taftanaz."

UPDATE: Egypt cancels natural gas deal with Israel, stakeholder says

Al-Masry Al-Youm

"Egypt has terminated a long-term deal to supply Israel with gas after the cross-border pipeline sustained months of sabotage since a revolt last year, a stakeholder in the deal said on Sunday.

Ampal-American Israel Corporation, a partner in the East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG), which operates the pipeline, said it had notified Egypt it was "terminating the gas and purchase agreement".

The company said in a statement that the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) had notified them of the decision, adding that "EMG considers the termination attempt unlawful and in bad faith, and consequently demanded its withdrawal".

Mohamed Shoeib, chairman of EGAS, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that EGAS is using its right to terminate the contract due to EMG's breach of the gas supply agreement. He added that the decision was made after a thorough legal review by local and international legal experts....."

Parliament demands mufti's resignation over Jerusalem trip

Al-Masry Al-Youm

"Egypt’s Islamist-dominated Parliament on Sunday demanded the resignation of Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa over his controversial visit to Jerusalem last week.

Despite Gomaa’s statements that the visit was unofficial and that it took place under the supervision of the Jordanian authorities, the visit angered those opposed to normalizing relations with Israel.

Parliament Speaker Saad al-Katatny read out a recommendation within a statement issued by the People’s Assembly’s Religious Affairs and Endowments Committee that demanded an apology from Gomaa, and his resignation.

The recommendation received the approval of a majority of Parliament.

It demanded Gomaa’s “repentance to God,” “an apology to the Arab and Islamic peoples” and his resignation."......"

State crime and street crime: Two sides of one coin?

When society is this corrupt, are the poor entitled to rise up and take what is 'theirs'?

A VERY GOOD PIECE
By Philip Rizk
Al-Jazeera

(Left: Philip Rizk)

"Cairo, Egypt - The revolutionary process that erupted in this country on January 25, 2011, is an uprising against crime. This crime was structural and legalised - made legal by the political leadership of Egypt and their friends and business partners that practice it.

Various criminal forces - the police, the secret police, the state security - exist in large part to protect these criminals' interests, with authority to enforce the ruling classes' "law" without judicial liability. These forces were the first line of defence of the ruling system and this is why, in the first days of revolution, the population targeted them and broke the chains of their control.

I will argue that unless these conditions that allowed for organised structural crime change, street-level crime will only increase. With the government structure lacking the basic measures to provide for the widest portion of the Egyptian public, it comes as no surprise that many of those whom the rulers exploit and neglect are taking back what they think is theirs......

Alternatives to crime

The current political leadership - SCAF, the unelected government and a majority of elected parliamentarians - is using the excuse of an existing "economic crisis" as reason to entrench a criminal tendency, rather than to look for new solutions. These crimes include more loans for which the poor will pay, an entrenchment of open market policies that will lead to increased food prices, maintenance of tax evasion for the richest echelon of society and the maintenance of labour law conditions that favour entrepreneurs over workers. The list goes on.

The January 25 uprising, which started in response to suppression and the polarity of the standard of living, is a message clear enough that the burden of the cost of running a country such as Egypt must be broadened. This should also include, among other things, progressive taxation, significantly reduced subsidies for private industry, internal economic restructuring (instead of increased external loans) and independent monitoring mechanisms over public funds with judicial authority.

We must realise that the resistance taking place on the streets is a battle to undo the hegemony of capitalism, no matter if under the rule of the National Democratic Party (NDP) or the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) or the Salafis or the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).....

Furthermore, in recent months - since receiving a majority of parliament seats - the Brotherhood has taken significant steps to deepen the economic neo-liberal stance of the Mubarak regime that once repressed the movement. We have every reason to believe that the economic conditions that brought about the start of a revolutionary process are going to be maintained.

In Egypt, as elsewhere, the model of societal organisation of a deep partnership between capitalism and the nation-state is imploding. The mechanism of the nation-state today acts as a tool to control and suppress the masses on behalf of the ruling class. If the economic conditions during the Mubarak regime remain largely unchanged, then the logic of representation itself falters....."

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Syria : Syria's friends in high places

"As Russia and China veto a draft resolution backing an Arab call for Syria's President al-Assad to step down, we talk to former US ambassador to Syria Richard Murphy, veteran foreign correspondent Robert Fisk and political analyst Ivan Safranchuck."

Al-Jazeera Video: حديث الثورة - مظاهرات تحقيق أهداف الثورة المصرية

Israel agency raises tax-exempt US, UK funds to put settlers in occupied Golan Heights, northern Palestine

By Ali Abunimah

"The Jewish Agency, a quasi-official arm of the Israel government that encourages settlement in Palestine, and the Israeli government itself, are taking advantage of US and UK charity laws to raise tax-exempt donations specifically to place settlers in Syria’s occupied Golan Heights, all in violation of international law.

This is being done in the open – on the website of Nefesh b’Nefesh an Israeli-government supported program to encourage Jews from North America and the UK to settle in Palestine. Nefesh b’Nefesh receives direct funding from the Israeli government and manages the settlement process along with the Jewish Agency.

The Jewish National Fund (JNF), which is directly complicit in ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, assists in this effort. The Jewish Agency, like the JNF, is deeply implicated in plans to ethnically cleanse Palestinian Bedouins to make way for Jews....

Al-Jazeera Video: Getting unstuck over Syria

"UN Security Council members fail to agree on terms of mission to monitor ongoing violence as death toll climbs. Guests: Theodore Kattouf, Syria; Clovis Maksoud, Timor Goksel."

Al-Jazeera Video: Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught says no ceasefire in Syria's Idlib

"Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, who just returned from the Syrian province of Idlib, says government's military operation in the country's northwest continues.

She says that while some areas in the province have experienced a lull in fighting, Idlib city has not.

Residents there continue to live in fear and the casualties continue to mount, she says.

McNaught sent us this report from the Turkish city of Antakya near the border with Syria."

Real News Video : The French Election and the Eurocrisis

Gérard Duménil: Most voters want to save social programs and reject austerity

Real News Video: Inequality and Instability - Part 4

James K. Galbraith on his study of the world economy just before the great crisis