Top-level informer affair embarrasses Hamas

Report of top-level informer embarrasses Hamas, undermines image of secrecy, discipline

AP

"Claims by the son of a Hamas founder Wednesday that he was a long-term spy for Israel exposed a new side of the Islamic militant group's vulnerability and punched a hole in its meticulously groomed image of secrecy and discipline.

The spy affair comes at a time when Hamas is still reeling from suspicions that Hamas informants helped Israel assassinate a top Hamas operative in a Dubai hotel. The back-to-back scandals were sure to leave Hamas leaders fearful of their own and ever more painfully aware of how capable Israel is of reaching the inner circles of their organization.


At the center of the latest affair is 32-year-old Mosab Yousef, a son of Sheik Hassan Yousef, a Hamas founder serving a six-year term in an Israeli prison.....

The younger Yousef, who moved to California in 2007, declined an interview request by The Associated Press.

His memoir, "Son of Hamas," is being published in the United States next week. His publicist confirmed that the information presented by Haaretz is described in the book. The author wrote on his Facebook page that his memoir "will blow your minds away, it is going to be like a tsunami in the Middle East."

Mosab Yousef was considered one of the Shin Bet's most valuable assets.....

Hamas is no longer a small organization which is easily controlled by any leadership," said Khaled Hroub, a Hamas expert at Cambridge University.

The al-Mabhouh assassination undermined Hamas' image as a coherent, organized group, and the exposure of Mosab Yousef as an informer was even more damaging, he added.

"There have been a number of stories of having some collaborators on the margins and fringes (of Hamas), but not the son of a leader," he said. "It will leave a stain on Hamas' image.""

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

This new poll asks:

Do you see a new Intifada as the appropriate response to Israel's usurping al-Ibrahimi mosque and Rachel's Tomb (in Bethlehem)?

With over 1,700 responding so far, 89% said yes.

Hamas's founder Son worked for Shin Bet

(Left: Sheikh Hassan Yousef)

JERUSALEM - The son of a leading Hamas figure, who famously converted to Christianity, served for over a decade as the Shin Bet security service's most valuable source in the militant organization's leadership, Haaretz has learned.
Mosab Hassan Yousef is the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a Hamas founder and one of its leaders in the West Bank. The intelligence he supplied Israel led to the exposure of a number of terrorist cells, and to the prevention of dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts on Israeli figures.
The exclusive story will appear in this Friday's Haaretz Magazine, and Yousef's memoir, "Son of Hamas" (written with Ron Brackin) will be released next week in the United States. Yousef, 32, became a devout Christian 10 years ago and now lives in California after fleeing the West Bank in 2007 and going public with his conversion.
Yousef was considered the Shin Bet's most reliable source in the Hamas leadership, earning himself the nickname "the Green Prince" - using the color of the Islamist group's flag, and "prince" because of his pedigree as the son of one of the movement's founders.
During the second intifada, intelligence Yousef supplied led to the arrests of a number of high-ranking Palestinian figures responsible for planning deadly suicide bombings. These included Ibrahim Hamid (a Hamas military commander in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti (founder of the Fatah-linked Tanzim militia) and Abdullah Barghouti (a Hamas bomb-maker with no close relation to the Fatah figure). Yousef was also responsible for thwarting Israel's plan to assassinate his father.

Syria Apprehends A Close Friend OF Al Madbouh

"The Syrian security forces apprehended Mohammad Nassar, a close associate of the assassinated Hamas leader Mohmoud Al Madbouh, on suspicion that he worked for the Israeli Mossad and provided them with vital information that led to his assassination in Dubai......

The Syrian security believes that Nassar provided Israel with detailed information on every movement Al Madbouh made, and his future plans. The statements are coherent with the statements of Dahi Khalfan Al Tamimi in charge of the investigation of Al Madbouh in Dubai, who said several days ago that members of Hamas are responsible for the assassination of Al Madbouh as they provided Israel with detailed information......"

No Banker Left Behind

By Robert Scheer
TruthDig

"They do have a license to steal. There is no other way to read Tuesday’s report from the New York state comptroller that bonuses for Wall Street financiers rose 17 percent to $20.3 billion in 2009. Of course that is less than the $32.9 billion for bonus rewards back in 2007, when those hotshots could still pretend that they were running sound businesses......"

Up against the wall: challenging Israel's impunity

(Israeli soldiers guarding a settlement built on the land of the West Bank village of Nilin)

Jamal Juma', The Electronic Intifada, 24 February 2010


"Six years ago, we were busy preparing for the start of the hearings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. The world's highest court was to decide on the legal consequences of Israel's wall in the occupied West Bank, which together with the network of settlements, military zones and Jewish-only roads annexes around 46 percent of Palestinian West Bank land. The court's decision, months later, was clear: Israel's wall is illegal, it needs to be torn down and the international community has an obligation to ensure that it is dismantled.

A victory? Not quite. Until today, neither foreign governments nor the UN have joined the Palestinian communities who have been destroyed by Israel's wall in their efforts to dismantle it. Still, Palestinian villages show incredible perseverance and creativity in protesting the theft of their land and tearing down pieces of the cement blocks or iron fencing. They do so in the face of overwhelming repression.........

Member states of the EU have given valuable support to the campaign to release Mohammed Othman and myself. Yet far more decisive pressure from Europe needs to be forthcoming, not just from governments but also from European civil society, to force Israel to change its policies. As long as the EU member states uphold their cooperation agreements with Israel, hide the 2004 International Court of Justice decision against the wall under the carpet, and are unwilling to implement the recommendations of the Goldstone report -- even at risk of losing their own credibility -- more Palestinian human rights activists will be arrested, detained, tortured, or killed.

An active civil society is a key component of any democratic society and without it justice in Palestine and the rest of the region will remain as elusive as ever."

NYT’s Kershner, Bronner, Brooks and Friedman are listed as authors by ‘Israel Hasbara Committee’

"Ethan Bronner and Isabel Kershner, the two Jerusalem correspondents for the New York Times, are named on a long list of authors for the "Israel Hasbara Committee." David Frum, Krauthammer, Caroline Glick, David Horowitz and Bob Dylan are also on the list. Mostly rightwingers. Dennis Prager, Efraim Karsh. Ed Lasky. The hits go on and on.

Kershner is an Israeli. She and Bronner are married to Israelis. Bronner’s son is in the Israeli army. Funny that some organization would say they put out hasbara!

The committee says it’s a voluntary organization, established in 2001, and that it’s dedicated to "disseminating truth about Israel and the Jewish people."
Mondoweiss
-----------------
Also listed, the BBC and the BBC News!

Here is the list in full: EDIFYING!

RIGHTS-EGYPT: Families Uprooted as Sphinxes Revive

By Cam McGrath

(Left: Luxor resident evicted to make way for tourism.)

"LUXOR, Feb 24, 2010 (IPS) - Hajj Khodari lifts a defiant fist at the demolition machinery now just meters away from his front door.

"I will not be forced out of my home without fair compensation," the village elder vows as a hydraulic hammer reduces his neighbor’s brick home to rubble. "If they try to destroy my house I will lock myself inside it."

Khodari is the patriarch of an extended family of 14 who live in the two-storey house, its exterior walls adorned with paintings of his pilgrimage to Mecca four years ago. He has defied a municipal eviction order and demands "equitable compensation" before vacating the home he claims is built on land his family has occupied for over 200 years.

"For the past month the government has cut off our water and electricity during the day to pressure us to leave," he says. "Then they came a week ago and told us we must go. Go where? Into the streets, the desert… to Israel?".

Hundreds of low-income families have lost their homes since Luxor city officials approved a controversial plan to excavate an ancient processional route and develop it as a key tourist attraction. Buried for centuries under soil and houses, the 2.7-kilometer ‘Avenue of Sphinxes’ once connected the temples of Luxor and Karnak in what was then the ancient city of Thebes.......

There is also concern that the master plan will result in the ‘Disneyfication’ of the ancient Egyptian city. Tourism developers are mulling plans for pharaonic-themed tourist villages and the reenactment of ancient processions along the sphinx avenue. Officials even flirted with the idea of a monorail to ferry around tourists......

When completed, the sphinx avenue will generate tourism revenue through ticket sales, tour fees and increased hotel guest spending. While officials are reluctant to put a figure on it, one tourism expert estimates the new attraction should bring in at least 50 million dollars a year.

By contrast, the government has allocated just over 5 million dollars for one-time compensations to relocated families. "It really makes the government’s compensation package look pathetic," says one man whose home is slated for demolition. "

Marjah Offensive Aimed to Shape US Opinion on War

by Gareth Porter, February 24, 2010

"Senior military officials decided to launch the current U.S.-British military campaign to seize Marjah in large part to influence domestic U.S. opinion on the war in Afghanistan, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The Post report, by Greg Jaffe and Craig Whitlock, both of whom cover military affairs, said the town of Marjah would not have been chosen as a target for a U.S. military operation had the criterion been military significance instead of impact on domestic public opinion......

"This is all a war of perceptions," McChrystal said. "This is not a physical war in terms of how many people you kill or how much ground you capture, how many bridges you blow up. This is all in the minds of the participants."

McChrystal went on to include U.S. citizens as well as Afghans among those who needed to be convinced. "Part of what we’ve had to do is convince ourselves and our Afghan partners that we can do this," he said.

The decision to launch a military campaign primarily to shape public opinion is not unprecedented in U.S. military history. When President Richard M. Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry A. Kissinger launched a major bombing campaign against the North Vietnamese capital in late December 1972, they were consciously seeking to influence public opinion to view their policy as much tougher in the final phase of peace negotiations with Hanoi....."

War is Peace, Damn it! Why Can't the Europeans Get This From the Man They Gave the Nobel "Peace" Prize?

'Pacification' of Europe is threat to security, US tells Nato

Obama administration accused Europe's leaders of endangering peace because of reluctance to foot bill for adequate defence

"The Obama administration accused Europe's leaders of endangering peace today because of their growing ­pacifism and reluctance to foot the bill for adequate defence.

In a withering attack on what Washington sees as European complacency in the face of new security threats, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, demanded root-and-branch reform of the transatlantic alliance, voiced exasperation with Nato bureaucracy and said it was becoming increasingly difficult for the US and Europe "to operate and fight together".

Gates told a Washington meeting of Nato officials and security experts "the pacification of Europe" had gone too far......."

Family of US Activist Killed by Bulldozer to Sue Israel

Rachel Corrie Before She Was Crushed to Death by an IOF D9 Bulldozer

Al-Manar

"24/02/2010 The family of US activist Rachel Corrie, run over by an Israeli bulldozer during a demonstration in Gaza in 2003, will sue Israel over her death, their lawyer said on Wednesday. The 23-year-old killed at the height of the 2000 Palestinian intifada, or uprising, became a symbol of foreign support for the Palestinian cause and the subject of a 2005 play based on her emails and diary.

"The state should take responsibility for the death of Rachel Corrie. We believe her killing was done intentionally or at least out of negligence and wrongdoing," Hussein Abu Hussein, the family's lawyer, told AFP. The family will be travelling to Tel Aviv for the trial, which will start March 10, Abu Hussein said.

Israel has allowed four activists who witnessed the incident to return to testify. The Palestinian doctor who pronounced Corrie dead has been summoned by the court but has not yet been given a permit to leave Gaza, he added.

Activists who witnessed Corrie's death said she and others were acting as human shields to prevent a house demolition in the Gaza border town of Rafah for more than two hours and were clearly visible to the bulldozer driver. "The whole time she was wearing a fluorescent jacket, as were her friends, and she had a megaphone," Abu Hussein said......."

Also, see this:

Rachel Corrie's family bring civil suit over human shield's death in GazaParents want case to highlight events that led to American activist's death under Israeli army bulldozer
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 February 2010

Al-Jazeera Cartoon

The Puppet Arab Regimes Pursuing US Agenda in Considering Iran as the Enemy.

مؤتمر صحفى للبرادعى بعد لقاء مع النشطاء والسياسيين: تشكيل جمعية وطنية للتغيير تضم كافة القوى السياسية بهدف تحقيق العدالة الاجتماعية والديمقراطية

أعلن الدكتور محمد البرادعى المدير السابق للوكالة الدولية للطاقة الذرية عن تشكيل جمعية وطنية للتغيير تضم كافة القوى السياسية برئاسته، تهدف لإصلاح سياسى ودستورى لتحقيق العدالة الاجتماعية والديمقراطية على أن تضم كافة القوى السياسية المشاركة اليوم، مشيرا إلى أن الجمعية مفتوحة لجميع أفراد المجتمع المصرى.
جاء ذلك فى المؤتمر الصحفى الذى عقده مساء اليوم فى منزله الخاص بمزرعة جرانة بطريق مصر الإسكندرية الصحراوى، مع عدد من النشطاء والسياسيين فى مقدمتهم ممدوح قناوى، رئيس الحزب الدستورى، وعصام سلطان القيادى بحزب الوسط تحت التأسيس، وسعد الكتاتنى، رئيس كتلة الإخوان البرلمانية، وأيمن نور، مؤسس حزب الغد، ود. أسامة الغزالى، رئيس حزب الجبهة، وحمدين صباحى، رئيس حزب الكرامة تحت التأسيس.

إطلاق هيئة فلسطينية جديدة

Al-Jazeera

"تشهد العاصمة اللبنانية الأربعاء إطلاق هيئة فلسطينية جديدة يتوقع أن تشكل حدثا معارضا للسلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله في تعبير واضح عن حالة الغضب السائدة داخل الأوساط الشعبية الفلسطينية، التي تطالب بسياسات وقيادات جديدة.

وسيتولى إطلاق الهيئة الجديدة عشر شخصيات فلسطينية سياسية وثقافية لها مكانتها في الأوساط الفلسطينية، جاءت من دول مختلفة لتمثيل أكثر من سبعين شخصية فلسطينية مقيمة في دول عربية وأوروبية وتقود التحركات الفلسطينية في تلك الدول، لاسيما الأنشطة الداعية للتمسك بحق العودة.

وفي حديث مع الجزيرة نت قال القائمون على هذا التحرك إن الهدف الأول لإطلاق الهيئة هو إبراز أهمية بناء ثقافة فلسطينية جديدة، وخاصة في أوساط الأجيال الشابة، التي لم تعد تسمع سوى كلمات الخلاف والانقسام والمصالحات والمفاوضات والتنازلات.

الحقوق الثابتة
يضاف إلى ذلك، السعي لترسيخ ثقافة تؤكد على حقوق الشعب الفلسطيني الثابتة، وعلى النضال المطلوب للوصول إلى تلك الحقوق عبر التأكيد على الخطر الذي تمثله الحركة الصهيونية وإسرائيل ليس على الفلسطينيين فقط بل على العرب أيضا، وإعادة قضية فلسطين إلى إطارها العربي الحقيقي وصولاً إلى تلاحم فلسطيني عربي في مواجهة العدوانية الإسرائيلية.

ومن المنتظر أن يؤكد المتحدثون في المؤتمر الصحفي الأربعاء بمناسبة إطلاق الهيئة على أن تحركهم سيكون على أساس ديمومة النضال الفكري والسياسي والاجتماعي الذي يتبنى ضرورة إعادة بناء منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية، والحفاظ على مؤسساتها التي جرى إلغاؤها أو تفريغها من مضمونها في أماكن وجود الشعب الفلسطيني، وذلك استنادًا إلى الميثاق الوطني الفلسطيني.

وقد أعلنت أسماء عشر شخصيات ستتحدث في المؤتمر بالنيابة عن آخرين وهم عزمي بشارة، ومنير شفيق، وبلال الحسن، وبيان نويهض الحوت، وجورج مشحور، وحلمي البلبيسي، ورزان أكرم زعيتر، وسليمان السهلي، وماجد الزير، ومحمد أبو ميزر.
"
COMMENT

This is an important development and not one minute too soon. Most Palestinians are looking for a new leadership and perhaps this is the beginning!

Why do I boycott Israel

How the PA helps Israel occupy

Ramallah's political establishment is now more interested in retaining western support than resolving national division

Jesse Rosenfeld
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 February 2010

"Since the Palestinian Authority's initial diplomatic disaster over the Goldstone report, it has switched into reverse gear, issuing a barrage of condemnation of Israeli occupation and rhetorical flourishes for Palestinian justice. However, suspected links between PA security forces and the assassination of Hamas's Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, together with strengthening cooperation between PA security and the Israeli military in the West Bank, reflect a far different reality for Palestinians living under occupation.

Israeli invasions of PA territory have increased since the summer, hitting Ramallah regularly for the past few months to arrest popular struggle leaders and international solidarity activists, and raiding the offices of grassroots anti-occupation movements. While usually it is impossible to go more than two blocks in the West Bank Palestinian political centre without seeing armed PA forces, when the Israelis come into town, they are ordered back to their barracks and are nowhere to be seen. I witnessed this countless times while living in Ramallah......

...the basis of power rests in the hands of the western countries keeping Abbas financially and militarily afloat. At the same time, Israel recognises the advantage of a policing partner in the West Bank that fuels internal Palestinian division, tolerating the rhetorical flourishes volleyed over the wall.

Regardless of what Palestinians call for, provided that the rhetoric and guns remain enough to appease or silence the West Bank, both the PA and Israel have an interest in maintaining a form of status quo and playing their parts in managing the occupation."

Behind Brand Israel: Israel's recent propaganda efforts

Ben White, The Electronic Intifada, 23 February 2010

""The Delegitimization Challenge" report from the influential Israeli think tank the Reut Institute has put the spotlight on efforts by Israel and the Zionist lobby to counter the growing movement for justice in Palestine, and specifically, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. The work done by Reut has rightly attracted attention, but it is only one (particularly prominent) example of a wider trend, as the Israeli government and global Zionist groups mobilize to fight the threat to the apartheid system.

It was an issue discussed when Israeli policymakers convened for the recent Herzilya Conference where there was a session called "Winning the Battle of the Narrative: Strategic Communication for Israel." There was also an associated working paper, prepared by a team that included Ido Aharoni from Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), along with senior officials from the prime minister's office, public relations firms and two key lobby groups -- The Israel Project in the US, and Bicom from the UK ("Winning the Battle of the Narrative" (PDF)).........

A common theme in the recently intensified discussion by the Zionist lobby is the perceived need for improved, and centralized, organization and coordination. The Reut Institute's "Delegitimization Challenge" report pointed to the imperative of reorganizing "the foreign policy establishment" in Israel, including "comprehensive reform within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.".......

For all those involved in some capacity in the international campaign for justice in Palestine/Israel, and the growing BDS movement, these state-backed efforts can appear rather daunting. The Israeli government and its allies in lobby groups are not short of powerful contacts and money, and there is now a concerted effort to think "strategically." However, for all the research, conferences and working papers, there is a comical ignorance shaping these responses. A great example of this is can be found in the Global Forum's BDS paper, which includes the idea to "circulate information on Muslims acting contrary to Islam." ...........

Moreover, all of this strategizing and energy is needed in order to avoid the manifestly unimaginable truth -- that Israel is increasingly unable to maintain a regime of ethno-religious exclusion, apartheid separation and colonial violence without paying a price. Its supporters are also unable to see that it will prove to be unsustainable."

Lieberman is dying to say it

By Marwan Bishara
Al-Jazeera

"....But Lieberman, the eccentric former nightclub bouncer, is dying to take responsibility for the assassination of Israel's "enemy combatant" to borrow from the Pentagon's dictionary.

Or, to paraphrase one of Hollywood's epics, A Few Good Men, " ... he's pissed off that he has to hide behind all this ... he wants to say that he made a command decision and that should be the end of it"......

An immigrant from Moldova who made his way to become Netanyahu's bureau chief in the mid-1990s, Lieberman made a name for himself in Israeli politics by calling in 1998 for the bombing of the Aswan Dam in retaliation for Egyptian support for the then Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.

Lieberman reportedly called in 2002 for the transfer of Palestinian citizens of Israel from their homeland, claiming that there is "nothing undemocratic about transfer".

The following year, the head of the Yisrael Betainu Party called for thousands of Palestinian prisoners to be shipped to the Dead Sea and drowned there.......

Alas, none of Israel's spineless allies would provide Lieberman with the opportunity to cough it up or tell them to go to hell; none would come out in the open or in private to question the minister or put the heat on Israel to come clean......

Instead, the British foreign minister pleaded with Lieberman in the most timid of ways. He asked kindly and politely for Israeli "cooperation" with an investigation into the use of forged British passports.

Miliband even tried appeasing arguably the most extremist leader in Israel - who supports the continued illegal occupation and colonisation of Palestinian and Syrian territories - by suggesting that Israel's cooperation is important because it has the most to gain from applying the rule of law in the Middle East!.....

As for proof of Mossad's activity, generally Israel's policy of ambiguity covers those acts it carries out, not the ones it would not. In other words, Israel uses denial when it does not want to give the impression it carried out an attack, but when it uses ambiguity, as Lieberman did immediately after the attack, it usually means it did...."

The Second Battle of Gaza: Israel’s Undermining Of International Law

Jeff Halper, ICAHD

"....Israel’s attempt to globalize its legal, moral, political and military justifications for what it did—and continues to do—in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon should concern us all. Just as Israel used Gaza as a laboratory for tactics and weapons of "counterinsurgency" and urban warfare, so, too, is it attempting to export its "new doctrines" in a way that fundamentally compromises the well-being of people caught in conflicts worldwide. As (Kasher and Yadlin 2005:4) write explicitly,

the proposed principles are meant to be justified and practically applicable under any parallel circumstances. Moreover, those principles are intended to be universal in an additional crucial sense…. The different defense agencies of a democratic state that faces terror should follow principles that rest on universal moral grounds and on the professional and organizational ethical grounds related to each of those state agencies on its own, be it military, regular police, combat police or preventive intelligence.

In this sense, everyone resisting oppression is a Palestine. The stakes involved in losing this second battle of Gaza are high indeed. Israel’s attempt to "globalize" Gaza imperils us all."

Phyllis Bennis on Ending the US War in Afghanistan

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman



"In Afghanistan, the number of civilian casualties continues to rise. On Tuesday, at least eight people died after a bomb exploded in the southern provincial capital of Lashkar Gah amid a major US-led offensive in the area. Local authorities said all those killed in the attack were civilians. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s government has condemned a NATO air strike on a convoy on Sunday that killed twenty-seven civilians, including four women and a child. NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal went on Afghan television to apologize for the attack. Last year was the deadliest of the war for civilians and foreign troops. And while there is no reliable count of the number of Afghans killed, the number of US soldiers killed in the war has reached 1,000....."

Al-Jazeera Video: Riz Khan - Murder in Dubai

"When Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was found dead in his Dubai hotel room last month, the death was chalked up to natural causes. But evidence revealed in the past few days indicates that the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, may have been behind the murder - and the details have sent shockwaves around the world. No one believes it will be the last Mossad assassination in the Arab world, but will the incident be swept under the carpet this time? Riz Khan speaks with Robert Fisk, the Middle East correspondent for the UK daily The Independent, and Yossi Melman, the intelligence and military affairs correspondent for the Israeli daily Haaretz, who co-authored 'Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community'."

Shared: letter sent to Harvard Weatherhead Center directors re Martin Kramer's Gaza genocide call

By Ali Abunimah

"Here is a letter I sent to Professors Jeffry Frieden and James Robinson, Acting Directors of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University today:

Dear Profs. Frieden and Robinson,

I understand you are both Acting Directors of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs during this academic year. I am writing to draw your attention to statements made by one of your Fellows, Martin Kramer, earlier this month, calling for specific measures to curb births among Palestinians as a way to reduce extremism. As explained in the article linked below about Mr. Kramer's comments, these statements meet the international legal definition of a call for genocide.

"Harvard Fellow calls for genocidal measure to curb Palestinian births"

If you doubt the shocking, offensive and outlandish nature of Mr. Kramer's comments ask yourself how you -- and other reasonable listeners -- would react if his comments were directed at Jews, African Americans or virtually any other group that has at one time or another been the target of systematic and widespread demonization and dehumanization in our society and abroad.

While I value academic freedom and freedom of speech as much as anyone else, I believe calls for genocide of a specific group -- made at a conference attended primarily by those who have the power to do it (Israeli military and political elites) -- crosses the line into a form of incitement that we, as members of a decent society should not tolerate, appease or forbear. I believe you should completely dissociate your center from Mr. Kramer and not allow him a platform, or resources with which to disseminate such odious policies.

Yours sincerely,

Ali Abunimah

Video: Palestinians protest against Israeli heritage plan

Press TV

Palestinians protest against Israeli heritage plan

These rapid apologies only emphasise waning support

By Patrick Cockburn

(Cartoon by Carlos Latuff)

".......In Afghanistan incidents like the bombing of civilians in Uruzgan will inevitably be highly publicised, not least because the government of President Hamid Karzai is seeking to burnish its nationalist credentials by protesting volubly against the loss of civilian lives. This is in sharp contrast with Iraq where, at the height of the fighting between 2004 and 2007, the Iraqi government would happily confirm that civilian dead were insurgent fighters.

The fact that these airstrikes took place in Uruzgan, from which the 2,000-strong Dutch contingent is being withdrawn, shows that no Nato power contributing forces can keep itself politically and militarily on the margins of the escalating conflict.

Meanwhile the curtailment in the use of air power by Nato will mean that more foreign troops will be needed to make up the loss in firepower just as support for the Afghan venture is waning in the countries which supply them."

Is Tehran deliberately inviting an air strike?

Iran has moved almost all its enriched uranium out of underground storage and into plain view. But why?

By Julian Borger
The Guardian

".....The move is risky because it involves shifting Iran's crown jewels, its 2-tonne LEU stockpile, from subterranean safety where it was invisible to Israeli air force targeteers, to a clearly defined location that might as well have a bullseye painted on the roof.

Why would a regime that is normally so paranoid about its LEU leave itself so vulnerable?.....

All three versions are all quite plausible, and they are all extremely dangerous. Israel may not be considering a strike imminently and appears content for the time being to explore how far sanctions will go, but that position may not last. The Israelis may consider 2010 a brief window of opportunity, following the exposure of the secret enrichment plant near Qom, and before Iran gets very far with the ten new ones it says it wants to build.

In this window, Israel may believe it has a unique chance to set back the Iranian programme several years by destroying its enriched uranium stockpile, particularly if Iran is running out of feedstock for its centrifuges.

True, the heavy steel cask containing the two tonnes of UF6 will be a hard nut to crack, but doable if large numbers of big bombs are dropped, or special forces are sent in to do the job...."

Harvard Fellow, Martin Kramer, calls for genocidal measure to curb Palestinian births

A fellow at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Martin Kramer, has called for "the West" to take measures to curb the births of Palestinians, a proposal that appears to meet the international legal definition of a call for genocide.
In the speech Kramer rejected common views that Islamist "radicalization" is caused by US policies such as support for Israel, or propping up despotic dictatorships, and stated that it was inherent in the demography of Muslim societies such as Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. Too many children, he argued, leads to too many "superfluous young men" who then become violent radicals.

Kramer proposed that the number of Palestinian children born in the Gaza Strip should be deliberately curbed, and alleged that this would "happen faster if the West stops providing pro-natal subsidies to Palestinians with refugee status."

Due to the Israeli blockade, the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza are now dependent on UN food aid. Neither the UN, nor any other agencies, provide Palestinians with specifically "pro-natal subsidies." Kramer appeared to be equating any humanitarian assistance at all with inducement for Palestinians to reproduce.

He added, "Israel's present sanctions on Gaza have a political aim -- undermine the Hamas regime -- but if they also break Gaza's runaway population growth, and there is some evidence that they have, that might begin to crack the culture of martyrdom which demands a constant supply of superfluous young men." This, he claimed, would be treating the issue of Islamic radicalization "at its root."

The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, created in the wake of the Nazi holocaust, defines genocide to include measures "intended to prevent births within" a specific "national, ethnic, racial or religious group."
Electronic Intifada

Israel's smiling PR drive

Israeli citizens are being recruited to boost the country's image abroad – but the campaign amounts to papering over cracks

Seth Freedman
guardian.co.uk, Monday 22 February 2010

"Israel's latest conscripts in the fight to improve the country's image have been unveiled: ordinary Israeli citizens. Armed only with a government-issued hasbara pamphlet and a winning smile, they will be sent to wage war with their detractors, in an effort to present Israel as a benign, democratic utopia whose only achilles heel is poor public relations.....

It is no surprise that Israel's leaders want to improve the country's image without having to take concrete measures in the form of concessions to the Palestinians. Likewise, it is not unusual that the same politicians seek to blame others for "misunderstanding" the situation rather than admitting that their own policies are highly questionable and unethical. However, to rope ordinary Israelis in by repeatedly telling them that anti-Israel sentiment abroad is irrational and baseless is both a futile and dishonest path to tread.

Israel's image problem will only disappear when the core crimes committed in the name of the state cease, and the Palestinians are dealt with equitably. The Israeli public should demand their government spend all its energy on such fundamental affairs of state rather than worry about how many foreigners know that Maccabi Tel Aviv won the Euroleague in 1977. Hasbara is no substitute for adherence to justice and basic human rights."

بدأت الحرب

بدأت الحرب
عبد الحليم قنديل

"نحن لا ننتظر الحرب، فقد بدأت الحرب فعلا على جبهة الشرق إلى لبنان وسورية، ومن قبل ـ ومن بعد ـ إلى جبهة إيران ومشروعها النووي.
على جبهة إيران، تراجعت أصوات الاختراق الغربي لصفوف المعارضة الإيرانية، وبدا قادة المعارضة الأبرز ـ من نوع خاتمي وموسوي وكروبي ـ على استعداد لتهدئة جبهة الصدام مع حكومة الرئيس نجاد، واندفاع جماعة الستة (ألمانيا + الدول الخمس دائمة العضوية في مجلس الأمن) لفرض عقوبات إضافية على طهران يؤدي لعكس المطلوب، ويضيف إلى قوة الداخل الإيراني، فالجميع مع المشروع النووي، ومع التقدم الإيراني الباهر في مجالات الذرة والفضاء وتكنولوجيات السلاح العالية، واستعراضات القوة الإيرانية تبدو في محلها تماما، فقد توافر زمان طويل لإيران كي تستعد، وتدرس البدائل، وتشتري وقتا، وتراوغ بمزيج فريد من العناد والمرونة، وتستفيد من تجربة عراق صدام حسين، ولا تكرر أخطاءها، وعلى نحو تبدو معه أي ضربة أمريكية أو إسرائيلية لإيران غير ذات أثر صادم أو نهائي، فقد يمكن لواشنطن أو تل أبيب، أو كلاهما، قد يمكن لهما توجيه ضربة جوية صاعقة، لكنها لن تصعق المشروع النووي الإيراني، والذي تجاوز العتبة الحرجة، وقطع أشواطا متقدمة جدا، وتنتشر منشآته جغرافيا على نحو يصعب معه تدميرها كلها، وحتى لو افترضنا تدميرها بالتمام، فإن إعادة البناء سوف تتم بسرعة، ودون المساس بالقاعدة العلمية الهائلة التي توافرت لإيران، وهذه نقطة قوة حاسمة لإيران في موازين الحساب، أضف إلى ذلك عجز أمريكا المقعد عن تكرار تجربة غزو العراق، فقد كان الغزو البري للعراق هو آخر تجربة من نوعها في حياة أمريكا إلى يوم يبعثون، وأمريكا التي عجزت عن النصر في العراق وأفغانستان، وتريد أن تتخفف من ضرائب الدم والمال، هذه الأمريكا لا يمكن أن تفكر في غزو بري لإيران، وهو ما يعني ـ ببساطة ـ أن النظام الإيراني سيظل قائما حتى لو وجهت له أعتى الضربات الجوية، أضف إلى ذلك رد فعل إيران في اليوم التالي لأول ضربة جوية، وهو رد فعل سيكون قاسيا، وعلى جغرافيا واسعة تنتشر فيها قواعد الوجود الأمريكي في العراق ودول الخليج، وإلى إسرائيل ذاتها، وبتكلفة دمار غير مسبوق في تاريخ الحروب مع إسرائيل.
وفيما تبدو سورية ـ على جبهة الحرب الوشيكة ـ نقطة الحرج في القصة كلها، وتستثير مخاوف تتعلق بطبيعة النظم العربية عموما، وطبيعة النظام السوري، وهو ما يفسر اتجاه الضغط النفسي الإسرائيلي إلى جبهة سورية بالذات، وعلى ظن أنها النقطة الأضعف في حلقة السلسلة الواصلة من طهران إلى حزب الله اللبناني، والتي قد يصح تحطيمها، وإغراقها في بحر الرعب، وعلى طريقة تصريحات ليبرمان ـ وزير الخارجية الإسرائيلي الوقح ـ بتدمير سورية وخلع عائلة الأسد من الحكم، لكن النظام السوري بدا على رباطة جأش فاجأت الإسرائيليين، فسورية تملك سلاحا كافيا، وجيشها استفاد من تكتيكات حزب الله في حرب 2006، ولديها قوة ردع صاروخي مؤثرة، وفيما تبدو مدنها الكبرى قريبة من خط الجبهة، فإن مدن كيان الاغتصاب الإسرائيلي قريبة هي الأخرى، وفي متناول يد النار السورية، وهو ما جعل النظام السوري يرد على إسرائيل بالمثل، ويكلف وزير خارجته وليد المعلم بالرد على وزير الخارجية الإسرائيلي، ويهدد بتدمير المدن الإسرائيلية، ويحذر من اختبار سورية، وقد يرى البعض في التهديدات السورية نوعا من عنتريات النظم الجوفاء، وربما استنادا إلى مواريث قديمة، ولا تدرك التحول الاستراتيجي الذي جرى، والذي رفع مستوى التنسيق الإيراني السوري إلى مرتبة القيادة المشتركة، وهو ما يعني أن سورية لن تدخل الحرب وحدها، بل كطرف على جبهة حرب واسعة، وفي تواصل جغرافي وميداني مباشر مع حزب الله الذي هو العدو الأعظم لإسرائيل.
وفي ذكرى اغتيال الشهيد عماد مغنية القائد العسكري لحزب الله، بدا خطاب السيد حسن نصر الله كأنه البروفة النهائية للحرب، وحين يتحدث السيد حسن، تصخي إسرائيل سمعها، فهي تعرف أنه لا ينطق عن الهوى المتزايد، وأنه لا يبالغ في شيء، وأنه ينفذ ما يقوله بالحرف والفاصلة، فالرجل يعرف كل شيء عن إسرائيل، وعن قوة جيشها، وخططه وتدريباته، ومناوراته، وأهدافه، ويعرف أن إسرائيل تريد حربا تنتصر فيها، وهو ما أصبح مستحيلا، وحتى لو انحصرت المواجهة بين إسرائيل وحزب الله، ورغم أن السيد يقول ـ لملاءمات السياسة اللبنانية ـ أنه لن يبدأ الحرب، فهو يؤكد أن رجال الله مشتاقون إلى لقاء إسرائيل في حرب، ويدعو إسرائيل لإرسال الفرق الخمس التي تهدد بها لغزو لبنان بريا، أو حتى الفرق السبع، ويتعهد ـ وهو رجل الوعد الصادق ـ بإبادتها جميعا، ثم يلقي بورقة التفوق الجوي الإسرائيلي في أقرب سلة مهملات حربية، وقد لا تكون لدى حزب الله طائرات، لكن لديه قوة الردع الصاروخي، والتي زادت عشرة أضعاف عما كانت عليه في حرب 2006، وزادت مدياتها ودقة تصويبها وأثرها التدميري، وبديهي أن إسرائيل تملك جهاز مخابرات قويا، وهي القدرة ذاتها التي يملكها حزب الله، والتي تجعل إسرائيل قادرة على تجميع بنك أهداف صالحة للقصف في لبنان، وتجعل حزب الله ـ في المقابل ـ عارفا بكل شبر في كيان الاغتصاب الإسرائيلي، وهو ما يفسر لغة الردع الواثقة في خطاب حسن نصر الله، فقد طور معادلة قصف تل أبيب مقابل قصف بيروت، ونقلها من معنى الردع الرمزي إلى معنى مادي مشفوع بتفاصيله المرعبة، وقال للإسرائيليين ـ ببساطة مذهلة ـ ما الذي ينتظرهم في الحرب، فإن قصفتم مطار رفيق الحريري، فسوف نقصف مطار بن غوريون، وإن هدمتم بناية في الضاحية الجنوبية لبيروت، فسوف نهدم بنايات في تل أبيب، وإن قصفتم مصفاة نفط عندنا، فسوف نقصف مصافي النفط عندكم، وإن قصفتم مصنعا في لبنان، فسوف نقصف كل مصانعكم، وهو ما يعني أن بنية لبنان التحتية لن تكون وحدها المعرضة للدمار، بل أن البنية التحتية لإسرائيل معرضة لدمار أعظم، وهكذا قلب السيد حسن موازين الحرب النفسية، وأنزل الرعب في قلوب قادة إسرائيل المتخبطين التائهين، والذين ليس بينهم سوى جنرال واحد، هو إيهود باراك المهزوم مرتين في لبنان وفي حرب غزة، وفوق توازن الرعب الذي أقامه السيد حسن، فقد استبقى مفاجآت أخرى تحت حساب الصدمة والترويع، ولم ينس الرجل أن يذكر الإسرائيليين بحرب تصفية الحساب القديم، فقد أكد الرجل أن حزب الله لم يثأر إلى الآن لاغتيال قائده الجهادي الشهيد عماد مغنية، وأنه قد وقعت في يد حزب الله عشرات الأهداف الإسرائيلية على خرائط الدنيا كلها، لكنه لم يضرب، ولسبب بسيط، وهو أنها أهداف متواضعة لا تليق بمقام الثأر لعماد مغنية، وأن وقت الحساب مفتوح، ولن نتعجل الثأر، ولن ننساه، وإلى أن يتم الحساب، ويجري ضرب رأس إسرائيلي يصلح مقابلا لرأس الشهيد عماد مغنية، وهو كلام يعني إبقاء الإسرائيليين في حالة الطوارئ والتوتر المستديم، والذي يعيشون فيه منذ إقدام 'الموساد' على جريمة اغتيال مغنية في دمشق، والمرشح للاستمرار إلى وقت يعلمه الله وحزب الله، وإلى أن تأتي اللحظة، وينفذ رجال الله ضربتهم القاتلة.
وباختصار، فقد بدأت الحرب، والأصابع ظاهرة، وهي تضغط على الزناد، ونتائج الحرب تبدو معلومة سلفا، فلن تنتصر إسرائيل، ولن تنتصر أمريكا، وربما لا يتبقى لأرامل البيت الأبيض ـ من ملوكنا ورؤسائنا وأمرائنا ـ غير دفن الرؤوس في أقرب مقبرة.
"

Dubious in Dubai

By Uri Avnery
Palestine Chronicle

".....The Dubai affair is reinforcing the image of Israel as a bully state, a rogue nation that treats world public opinion with contempt, a country that conducts gang warfare, that sends mafia-like death squads abroad, a pariah nation to be avoided by right-minded people. Was this worthwhile?"

Mossad's Murderous Reach: The Larger Political Issues

By James Petras
Palestine Chronicle

(Left: David Miliband and the Israeli ambassador in London)

"....
Conclusion

While the critics bemoan the clumsy Mossad job, making it harder for Western powers to provide Israel with diplomatic cover for its operations abroad, the fundamental issue is never addressed: The Mossad’s acquisition and alteration of official British, French, German and Irish passports of dual Israeli citizen’s underscores the cynical and sinister nature of Israel’s exploitation of its dual citizens in the pursuit of its own bloody foreign policy goals. Mossad’s use of genuine passports issued by four sovereign European nations to its citizens in order to murder a Palestinian in a Dubai hotel room raises the question of to whom ‘dual’ Israeli citizens really owe their allegiance and just how far they are willing to go in defending or promoting Israel’s overseas assassinations.

Thanks to Israel’s use of British passports to enter Dubai and murder an adversary, every British businessperson or tourist traveling in the Middle East will be suspected of links to Israeli death squads. With elections this year and the Labor and Conservative parties counting heavenly on Zionist millionaires for campaign funding, it remains to be seen whether Prime Minister Gordon Brown will do more than whimper and cringe!"

The New McCarthyism in Israel

By Jonathan Cook - Nazareth
Palestine Chronicle

"The Israeli government and its right-wing supporters have been waging a 'McCarthyite' campaign against human-rights groups by blaming them for the barrage of international criticism that has followed Israel’s attack on Gaza a year ago, critics say.

In a sign of the growing backlash against the human-rights community, the cabinet backed a bill last week that, if passed, will jail senior officials from the country’s peace-related organisations should they fail to meet tough new registration conditions.

The measure is a response to claims by right-wing lobbyists that Israel’s human-rights advocates supplied much of the damaging evidence of war crimes cited by Judge Richard Goldstone in his UN-commissioned report into Israel’s Operation Cast Lead...."

Mossad agents now wanted, by Carlos Latuff

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

Boycott Israeli Goods, by Carlos Latuff

(Click on cartoon to enlarge)

How I escaped Mossad's clutches

By Peter Hounam

The Telegraph
Via Angry Arab

"If Mossad was behind the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel last month it should shock nobody. From my experience of the Israeli intelligence agencies, it is not their ruthlessness that is so remarkable but their disdain for international public opinion and tendency to take short cuts.

Hit teams dispatched by the spymasters of Tel Aviv have been surprisingly clumsy in exercising their licence to kidnap or kill around the world. Many operations have been botched, causing huge embarrassment to friendly countries.

My experience of them happened six years ago after I had gone to Israel on behalf of the BBC and The Sunday Times. The aim was to get the first interview with nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu on his release after 18 years in jail, 11 of them spent in solitary confinement. I ended up being accused of nuclear espionage myself.

In 1986, I had exposed Israel’s nuclear weapons programme based on Vanunu’s eyewitness testimony of his country’s underground nuclear weapons plant where he had worked as a technician. He had then been kidnapped by Mossad, returned to Israel and convicted of treason and espionage......."

Al-Jazeera Video: Fears of humanitarian crisis in Marjah

"More than a week into the Nato-Afghan military offensive against the Taliban in the southern Helmand province town of Marjah, warnings of a humanitarian crisis are growing.

Members of a fleeing family tell Al Jazeera they fled the fighting because they could stop neither the Taliban nor US soldiers from entering their homes....."

Al-Jazeera Video: West Bank village under threat

"An Israeli court will soon decide on the demolition order of Khan Al Ahmar, a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank - so that Israeli homes can be built in its place.

Regavim, A right wing Israeli settler group, is lobbying for the move, which would make about about 100 families homeless.

Israeli authorities have already given orders to knock down a school and many shacks in the village.

Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Khan Al Ahmar, one of the many Palestinian communities under threat."

Opposition Grows Against Egypt-Gaza Barrier

By Adam Morrow and Khaled al-Omrani

"CAIRO, Feb 22, 2010 (IPS) - Activists and opposition groups are stepping up pressure on the Egyptian government to stop constructing a barrier along the border with the Gaza Strip. Officials say the barrier will prevent cross-border smuggling, but critics say it will seal the fate of the people on the Gaza Strip.

"The Egyptian border was the only opening left to the Gazans - their only means of staying alive," Gamal Fahmi, political analyst and managing editor of opposition weekly ‘Al-Arabi Al-Nassiri,’ told IPS.

On Feb. 13, hundreds of activists from across the political spectrum convened in downtown Cairo to protest construction of the barrier. Demonstrators held banners reading: "The wall of shame must come down" and "No to sponsoring Israeli crimes." The same day also saw anti-wall demonstrations in Lebanese capital Beirut....."

Dubai Hit Exposes Hamas's Weaknesses

By Mel Frykberg

"RAMALLAH, Feb 22, 2010 (IPS) - Hamas has closed ranks and is licking its wounds following the Jan. 20 assassination in Dubai of one of its top operatives, Mahmoud Al Mabhouh. It is alleged that one of its own was responsible for providing the hit team with vital logistical information.

Dubai’s chief of police Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, on Sunday, called on Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Zahar to launch an "internal investigation" into the operation.

Tamim claims that an associate of Al Mabhouh, a high-ranking military leader, leaked information about the Hamas leader’s visit to Dubai and went as far as to refer to the associate as "the real murderer." .....

"This is a serious breach of Hamas’ security, something which the organisation hitherto had prided itself on. It shows that Israeli intelligence has managed to penetrate the inner circles of the group," Samir Awad, from Birzeit University near Ramallah, told IPS......

"This is indeed a big blow to Hamas’ invincibility," Prof. Moshe Ma’oz of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University told IPS.

Israel has found it fairly easy to bribe members within the Palestinian Authority (PA) due to the nepotism and corruption which pervade the organisation.......

The collective Hamas leadership has gone into damage control big time. Various sources approached by IPS refused to talk or even answer their phones.

Mahmoud Ramahi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in Ramallah who was imprisoned for three years by the Israelis for Hamas membership and who recently gave an exclusive interview to IPS on Hamas’ stand on the 1967 borders, refused to comment.....

Ahmed Yousef, a close associate of Gaza’s Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and former foreign adviser to Gaza’s Hamas leadership, refused to comment as well.

"No I’m not interested in talking about the Dubai assassination. Surely you can find somebody else to talk to?" Yousef asked IPS without giving an explanation behind his refusal.

IPS then tried, without success, to contact Gaza’s Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoun who had turned off his phone.

Another Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zahuri, denied foreign media reports that Hamas member Nahro Massoud has been arrested in Damascus by Dubai authorities, a denial supported by Hamas politburo chief-in-exile in Damascus Khaled Meshaal.....

Two former PA-affiliated Fatah members, and former PA intelligence officers in Gaza before Hamas overthrew the PA unity government in the June 2007 coup, have been named as chief suspects in the Dubai slaying..........

The two are alleged to have rented hotel rooms and hired vehicles for the assassination squad. They are further alleged to be close contacts of the notorious Central Intelligence Agency favourite Muhammad Dahlan, one of the alleged chief instigators of an attempted Gaza coup against Hamas which was preempted by the Hamas authorities. Media reports allege both men are not only employees of one of several Dubai-based companies run by Dahlan but until recently were also on the PA payroll in Ramallah. ....."

New Grist for Hype on Iran

By Ray McGovern
February 21, 2010

"Here we go again. A report issued by the new Director General of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, injected new adrenalin into those arguing that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon.

The usual suspects are hyping — and distorting — thin-gruel language in the report to “prove” that Iran is hard at work on a nuclear weapon. The New York Times’ David E. Sanger and William J. Broad, for example, highlighted a sentence about “alleged activities related to nuclear explosives,” which Amano says he wants to discuss with Iran.

Amano’s report said.....

Deja Iraq All Over Again

On June 5, 2008, then-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Jay Rockefeller made some remarkable comments that got sparse attention in the Fawning Corporate Media in the United States. Announcing the findings of a bipartisan report of a multi-year study on misstatements on prewar intelligence on Iraq, Rockefeller said:

“In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed.”

For God’s sake, spare us such “intelligence” on Iran."

أن تكون فلسطينياً في هذه الأيام

بعد أن فشل أركان السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله "المحررة" من احتلال حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) في محاولاتها البائسة واليائسة لاحتواء الفضيحة الجديدة القديمة، قضية التحرش الجنسي من قبل مدير مكتب من يُسمى نفسه رئيساً، السيّد محمود عبّاس (أبو مازن)، وبعد أن فشلت أيضاً في إقناع الرأي العام الفلسطيني والعربي والعالمي بأنّ كاشف قضية (فتح غيت) الضابط السابق في المخابرات العامة الفلسطينية، فهمي شبانة التميمي، أصبح عميلاً للمخابرات الإسرائيلية، اضطر السيّد عبّاس لتوقيف مدير مكتبه الحسيني عن العمل، وأعلن عن تشكيل لجنة تحقيق في قضية التحرش الجنسي.

"....
في الحقيقة لم يقع علينا نبأ الفضيحة كالصاعقة، فهذه الفضيحة تنضم إلى سلسلة الفضائح التي عودتنا السلطة المنقوصة على إنتاجها وإخراجها، فبعد أن كان الشعب الفلسطيني يُقدّم الشهداء لإيمانه بعدالة قضيته، بات تحت نهج سلطة أوسلو الكارثية يُقدّم للعالم الفضائح التي يندى لها الجبين......
الحديث لا يدور عن قضية أو قضيتين أو عشر قضايا، إنّما عن نهجٍ خطير يؤكد بشكل حازمٍ وقاطعٍ بأنّ الأمور في السلطة انحدرت إلى الدرك الأسفل، وبات الخجل أو الوجل عملةً نادرةً في أوساط أركان السلطة والمحيطين بها،
......
وختاماً: الرئيس الشهيد ياسر عرفات، قُتل من قبل إسرائيل وعملائها الفلسطينيين، كما كشف قبل عدّة أشهر رئيس الدائرة السياسية في منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية، فاروق القدومي (أبو اللطف)، وبدل أن تقوم السلطة بالتحقيق في أقوال القدومي الخطيرة، المستندة إلى محضر جلسة، قامت حركة فتح، والتي كان القدومي من أبرز مؤسسيها بإقصائه من منصبه، فإذا كانت هذه الجماعة غير معنية بالتحقيق في ظروف اغتيال الرئيس عرفات، فما بالكم بأن تحقق في قضية سرقة مئات ملايين الدولارات من الشعب الفلسطيني.
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ومع أنّ الصورة سوداوية للغاية، ومع أننّا نتذكر مقولة الشهيد كمال ناصر، الذي اغتالته يد الغدر الصهيونية في عملية فردان (1973) مع الشهيدين كمال عدوان وأبو يوسف النجار: سيأتي يوم تكون فيه الخيانة وجهة نظر، إلا أننّا وبعيداً عن إطلاق الشعارات الرنانة، ما زلنا نؤمن وسنبقى نؤمن بقدرات الأمّة العربيّة والشعب الفلسطيني على النهوض،
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Better public relations won't improve Israel's image abroad

'We must delegitimise the delegitimisers' the Prime Minister has been quoted as saying

By Donald Macintyre
The Independent

".......You can argue over whether extrajudicial executions on foreign soil facilitated by the use of European identities stolen from private citizens is – always assuming that Mossad was indeed responsible – the best way for a country facing international criticism to improve its image abroad. But boycotting legislators from your No 1 ally because they might have some questions about your foreign policy seems just self-destructive.

In December, Benjamin Netanyahu identified the need to combat the "Goldstone effect" as a foreign policy priority. In particular he charged that Judge Richard Goldstone's report on war crimes during the 2008-9 military offensive in Gaza was being used to "delegitimise" Israel's right to self defence. "We must delegitimise the delegitimisers," the Prime Minister has been quoted as saying. And in doing so he unleashed a wave of debate, which reached its zenith at the annual Herzliya conference this month, over how Israel could better conduct "hasbara" – literally "explaining" – to make its case abroad......"

Killing blamed on Hamas traitor as passport showdown looms

By Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem
The Independent

"Hamas last night vigorously denied that a renegade from its own ranks helped set up the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room last month, a shock claim made by Dubai's police chief, as echoes from the killing and its investigation continued to resound in the Middle East and Europe.

Gulf News and al-Khaleej newspapers in the United Arab Emirates yesterday quoted the police chief, Lieutenant-General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, as saying that a Hamas member played a significant role in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. The Dubai police believe the primary perpetrators came from Israel's Mossad agency. General Tamim said the Hamas member leaked information on Mr Mabhouh's whereabous to the suspected assassins......"

Brazen hardliners and ardent critics: the Israel I have seen

As he prepares to leave Jerusalem after four years as a correspondent, Rory McCarthy reflects on a new, harsher climate of thought that is apparent in the wake of the Dubai assassination. But this attitude is not universal: dissent thrives in the most unlikely places

Rory McCarthy
The Observer, Sunday 21 February 2010

"....Living here for the past four years, it is hard for me to escape the sense that there is a new climate in Israel, one in which dissent is marginalised and any criticism from abroad robustly shouted down. In part, it is the result of the election of a staunchly right-wing coalition government. It also plays on a sense long shared by many Israelis that they are embattled, misunderstood and find themselves in an increasingly unsympathetic world.

Look at the response in the past week to the extraordinary unravelling of the assassination in Dubai of a Hamas militant. Most voices in Israel have been defiant, with a proud wink and a nod to the much-vaunted secret service, the Mossad, and strikingly little sympathy for those seven, fearful Israeli citizens who had their identities stolen for use by a brazen hit squad.

Israeli officials seem unruffled by the anger in the British, Irish, French and German governments, whose passports have been forged to enable a high-profile extra-judicial killing in which the Mossad is the prime suspect....."

Al-Jazeera Video: Israel accused of "tax theft"

"Israel is being accused of effectively stealing more than $2.5bn in taxes from Palestinian workers.

A recent report by an Israeli NGO says money was deducted from the salaries of Palestinians who were working in Israel.

The tax funds were transferred to the government to provide social services and benefits to the Israeli people.

But many Palestinians had to pay without being qualified to receive any of the benefits, prompting the NGO to accuse the government of "theft".

Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from occupied Jerusalem."

Real News Video: Palestinians tear segregation barrier

In weekly Friday protest in Bi'lin, Palestinian territories, thousands tear through segregation barrier.


"During the weekly protest in the Palestinian village of Bil'in, thousands of activists assembled to celebrate five years of non-violent resistance. This form of popular struggle has spread to many other Palestinian villages and areas in East Jerusalem. The protests are made to show opposition to the confiscation of roughly half of the village's land by the Israeli Jewish-only settlement colony of Modi'in Illit. In 2007, after the village protested every Friday for almost 3 years, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the barrier does not serve a security purpose and ordered it rerouted. The Israeli army however, did not start to reroute the barrier until last week and informed the village that it will only return 364 (or 60%) of its 575 taken acres. During this week's protest the army fired dozens of tear gas canisters, shock grenades, and sprayed the crowd with liquid smelling like sewer and feces."

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

This poll asks:

Do you support the nomination of El-Baradei (محمد البرادعي‎) for the presidential elections in Egypt?

With over 2,400 responding so far, 86% said yes.

Meir Dagan: the mastermind behind Mossad's secret war

Times Online

"IN early January two black Audi A6 limousines drove up to the main gate of a building on a small hill in the northern suburbs of Tel Aviv: the headquarters of Mossad, the Israeli secret intelligence agency, known as the “midrasha”.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, stepped out of his car and was greeted by Meir Dagan, the 64-year-old head of the agency. Dagan, who has walked with a stick since he was injured in action as a young man, led Netanyahu and a general to a briefing room.

According to sources with knowledge of Mossad, inside the briefing room were some members of a hit squad. As the man who gives final authorisation for such operations, Netanyahu was briefed on plans to kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a member of Hamas, the militant Islamic group that controls Gaza...."

'A complex diplomatic entanglement'

FOCUS
By Mark LeVine
Al-Jazeera

"Earlier this week, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, visited Moscow in his first official trip to Russia since taking office a year ago.

During the visit, Netanyahu urged Russia to support calls for new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, highlighting the key role Russia plays in the nuclear standoff.

Here, historian Mark LeVine looks at the history of Russian-Israeli relations.

The Israeli-Russian relationship is one of the most complex and intriguing diplomatic entanglements in international politics. Its roots lie at the heart of Zionism as a practical settlement enterprise rather than a merely utopian idea.

Indeed, without events in Russia, it is hard to imagine Israel having come to be.....

Israel's 'Russians'

"The Russians" are among the most important social and political blocs in Israel and have powerfully shaped Israeli politics towards a more extreme, nationalist agenda.

More broadly, Russia has acted to support, or at least not frustrate US and European/Nato polices and strategic goals in the Middle East, including vis-a-vis the Israeli-Palestinian and larger Israeli-Arab conflicts......

Similarly ambiguous is Russia's relationship with Iran, to whom Russia has provided key support for its nuclear industry and sells weapons. Russia also still sells weapons to Syria, and Russian-made weapons often make their way to Hezbollah and Hamas.

Yet Russia also purchases Israeli-made weapons, and the two countries share a similar outlook towards Muslim resistance groups attempting to evict them from territories they occupy......"

دبي: "عميل" من حماس أبلغ الموساد

Al-Jazeera

"كشف القائد العام لشرطة دبي الفريق ضاحي خلفان تميم عن تسريب من وصفه بعميل من حركة المقاومة الإسلامية(حماس) معلومة وصول القيادي في الحركة محمود المبحوح إلى دبي لجهاز الاستخبارات الإسرائيلي (الموساد).

وأكد الفريق تميم في تصريحات نقلتها صحيفة الخليج الإماراتية أن شخصا من "جماعة المبحوح" على حد وصفه هو الذي أبلغ الموساد بمعلومات عن وصوله إلى دبي، مشيرا إلى أن هذا الشخص كان الوحيد الذي يعرف بذلك واصفا إياه بالقاتل الفعلي.

وطالب المسؤول الإماراتي قيادة حماس بإجراء تحقيق داخلي في كيفية تسريب تلك المعلومات مثلما تطالب هي شرطة دبي بتسليم الفلسطينيين المعتقلين لديها.

وكان الفريق تميم قد أعلن في تصريحات الخميس الماضي أن شرطة دبي تتحفظ على فلسطينيَيْن في القضية.
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