racism

March 25, 2011December 11, 2020

Sanctioning Israel for Its Crime of Apartheid

Israel only just discovers the UN Uniting for Peace Resolution 377? very poor intel if so. Francis Boyle drew attention to the relevance of this resolution to the predicament of Palestinian people in January, 2009:

First, we must immediately move for the de facto suspension of Israel throughout the entirety of the United Nations System, including the General Assembly and all U.N. subsidiary organs and bodies. We must do to Israel what the U.N. General Assembly has done to the genocidal rump Yugoslavia and to the criminal apartheid regime in South Africa! Here the legal basis for the de facto suspension of Israel at the U.N. is quite simple:

As a condition for its admission to the United Nations Organization, Israel formally agreed to accept General Assembly Resolution 181 (II) (1947) (partition/Jerusalem trusteeship) and General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) (1948) (Palestinian right of return), inter alia. Nevertheless, the government of Israel has expressly repudiated both Resolution 181 (II) and Resolution 194 (III).

Therefore, Israel has violated its conditions for admission to U.N. membership and thus must be suspended on a de facto basis from any participation throughout the entire United Nations System.

Second, any further negotiations with Israel must be conducted on the basis of Resolution 181 (II) and its borders; Resolution 194 (III); subsequent General Assembly resolutions and Security Council resolutions; the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949; the 1907 Hague Regulations; and other relevant principles of public international law.

Third, we must abandon the fiction and the fraud that the United States government is an “honest broker.” The United States government has never been an honest broker from well before the very outset of these negotiations in 1991. Rather, the United States has invariably sided with Israel against the Palestinians. We need to establish some type of international framework to sponsor these negotiations where the Palestinian negotiators will not be subjected to the continual bullying, threats, harassment, intimidation and outright lies perpetrated by the United States government.

Fourth, we must move to have the U.N. General Assembly impose economic, diplomatic, and travel sanctions upon Israel pursuant to the terms of the Uniting for Peace Resolution (1950), whose Emergency Special Session on Palestine is now in recess.

Fifth, the Provisional Government of the State of Palestine must sue Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague for inflicting acts of genocide against the Palestinian People in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention!

Sixth, An International Criminal Tribunal for Israel (ICTI) can be established by the UN General Assembly as a “subsidiary organ” under article 22 of the UN Charter. Article 22 of the UN Charter states the UN General Assembly may establish such subsidiary organs as it deems necessary for the performance of its functions. The purpose of the ICTI would be to investigate and Prosecute suspected Israeli war criminals for offences against the Palestinian people.

In the JPost story, ex-UN Israeli ambassador Gabriela Shalev says:

If the Palestinians can gain General Assembly recognition for statehood under a “Uniting for Peace” resolution, she warned, “it would be a real obstacle… not just a public relations setback. This would seek to impose on us some kind of Palestinian state.”

It is made clear again that, as the Palestine Papers highlighted, Israel is terrified of the concept of a Palestinian state, despite all its protestations of being a genuine partner in peace processes aimed at producing one, though not the sort of state which Palestinian people would like, nor one with sovereign powers, but rather a tripartite bantustan system.

Neither do zionists want Palestinians to have full equal rights with jews, as has been confirmed this week with the passing of another two horrifically discriminatory laws.

So what do the zionists want? Patently, the default position – to continue expansionism as long as possible while pretending to be honest ‘peace partners’ – expansionism as ever is zionists’ primary strategy, tactic and aim, to take all the land, to drive out and dispossess as many Palestinians as possible while making life discriminatory and uncomfortable for Palestinians who remain on their indigenous land, the same as zionists have been doing for more than 63 years.

Palestine / Israel Links

Israeli Foreign Ministry sent ‘spy’ to report on Gideon Levy speech in Dublin
Israeli airstrikes across Gaza
Israeli soldiers arrest Bassem Tamimi, coordinator of Nabi Saleh Popular Committee
Violence not inevitable, talk to Hamas
No-Fly Zone Needed Over Israel
Israel lying its way into another massacre of the people of Gaza

Now Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak is warning of even tougher action.

“Israel will not tolerate these terror attacks and we will not allow terror to rise once again,” he said.

At a joint press conference in Ashdod with US defence secretary Robert Gates, Mr Barak said Israel had no choice but to respond to the latest violence.

But he is yet to reveal the timing or nature of the response.

Mr Gates says the violence is all the more reason to reopen the peace process which collapsed late last year.

“There is a need and an opportunity for bold action to move toward a two-state solution,” he said.

Israeli fascists import apartheid normalisation to British Universities
Haredi Parents Force 13-Year-Old Daughter To Marry As “Penance” For Flirting
Rocket fire increases; IDF may deploy Iron Dome soon
Zionist Propaganda: Lieberman’s “Battle Bus” At British Universities
Legal expert warns of “ethnic cleansing” in Jerusalem
A Trilogy: The Road to “Independence”
Tell me, who is the terrorist?!
Hamas not likely behind Jerusalem bombing

Despite the escalation, Hamas does not seem to want large-scale clashes yet. The organization actually has good reasons to believe that Israel is the one heating up the southern front. It began with a bombardment a few weeks ago that disrupted the transfer of a large amount of money from Egypt to the Gaza Strip, continued with the interrogation of engineer and Hamas member Dirar Abu Sisi in Israel, and ended with last week’s bombing of a Hamas training base in which two Hamas militants were killed.

It is noteworthy that Hamas has not fired at Israel over the past two days, even after four Palestinian civilians were killed by errant IDF mortar fire on Tuesday.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s office said yesterday that Haniyeh had phoned the secretary general of Islamic Jihad, Abdallah Ramadan Salah, in Damascus. Pundits in Gaza said Haniyeh asked Salah to stop the escalation, for which Islamic Jihad is mainly responsible.

The ‘A-Word’ in Hebron
‘NY Jewish Week’ excommunicates ‘J Street’ for opposing settlement project
Boycotters ‘victory’ as music festival distances itself from Israel
The List of Zionist stooge
New moves to boycott Israeli gems

Libya Links

Opposing Gaddafi’s massacre and foreign intervention in Libya
Marines on ground in Libya – will the US stay forever like they always do?
UAE to send 12 planes to patrol Libya no-fly zone
Libya and the ability to say ‘No’ – Turkey’s stance

Australia Links

Why do we constantly change terminologies for Aboriginal issues in Academia?

Other Links

U.S. doesn’t count civilians killed by drones
US soldier admits killing unarmed Afghans for sport

“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful & the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. ” Paulo Freire

March 23, 2011December 11, 2020

World Water Day – Justice and Rights for Palestinians Now!

While Bob Geldof reprehensibly plans to accept an honorary degree from Ben Gurion University which collaborates with the Jewish National Fund to thieve land and water resources from Palestinians, the University of Johannesburg is taking a close look at ending its relationship with BGU partly in response to efforts by “the University of Johannesburg’s Student Representative Council, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and more than 300 South African academics”. (NB Update – in a magnificent victory for global BDS, The University of Johannesburg has now severed ties with Ben Gurion University!). Further,

The fact is that access to water and sanitation in Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip is based upon a discriminatory system, which privileges Israeli institutions while denying Palestinians their basic human rights to water and sanitation. Palestinians are not suffering human rights violations due to a lack of technology or scientific advancement. Palestinians are suffering because of the Israeli occupation that will not allow them to enjoy their full rights to their groundwater and surface water, and will not even allow them to construct facilities for treating wastewater. We are committed to taking nonviolent action to bring these and other human rights violations to an end.

Water resources in Palestine and Israel are shared on a vastly inequitable basis – “Israelis consume on average more than 3.5 times as much water per capita than Palestinians”.

The Bedouin village of Al Araqib in the Negev has been demolished 18 times by the Israeli Army, to make way for Jewish National Fund plantations which serve to obliterate visually the indigenous presence on the land as deliberately as the new racist Knesset law to cover up and outlaw acknowledgment of the history of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians – the Nakba . The JNF partners blatantly with Ben Gurion University – if Bob accepts an award from them, he will be complicit directly with ethnic cleansing.

Jordan Valley Blues from Life Source on Vimeo.

Filling Point (by LifeSource and Pietro Bellorini) from Life Source on Vimeo.

Palestine/ Israel Links

Knesset passes ‘Nakba bill’

The “Nakba bill”, proposed by Yisrael Beiteinu, requires the state to fine local authorities and other state-funded bodies for holding events marking the Palestinian Nakba Day by supporting armed resistance or racism against Israel, or desecrating the state flag or national symbols.

On Nakba Day Palestinians mark the “catastrophe” of Israel’s inception in 1948.

The bill, which was reworked before its final passing, states that the finance minister will be charged with deciding when to withdraw funds from various groups after considering the opinions of the attorney general and a professional team comprised of members of the ministries of finance and justice.

Thirty-seven MKs supported the bill in its final form, while 25 opposed it.

..

MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) was also outraged. “You are creating a monstrous state that will enter the thoughts and emotions of citizens. Is accepting my history considered incitement?” she asked. “The Nakba is a historic truth, not a position or freedom of expression.”

…

The second bill, which passed by a majority of 35 to 20, formalizes the establishment of admission committees to review potential residents of Negev and Galilee communities that have fewer than 400 families. It was passed after 2 am.

After the passing of the bill the Knesset erupted in riots as MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al), refusing to limit himself to the comparison of the bill to South Africa’s apartheid,mentioned the Wannsee Conference in which the Nazis decided on the Holocaust’s “final solution” – or the gassing of Jews.

Arab and left-wing MKs claim the bill, which was proposed by MKs from Yisrael Beiteinu and Kadima, is aimed at preventing Arabs from residing in the communities that choose to adopt admission committees.

But its initiators claim in their explanation of the bill that it is “a balanced bill and not racist, and does not intend to harm the Arabs or the weaker members of society”.

MK Taleb El-Sana (United Arab List-Ta’al) said the bill’s initiators should be ashamed. “How can a country determine for its citizens where to live and die?” he asked.

…

MK Hanna Swaid (Hadash) announced “the clinical death of the State of Israel.” He added that although the law prohibits denying anyone residence based on his race, it was still possible to do so on cultural grounds. “We will make sure the towns, local authorities, and communities that adopt the law are boycotted in the world,” he said.

Tibi: Read Jewish history

But the Knesset truly erupted in violence when MK Tibi took the stand. “You must read Jewish history well and learn which laws you suffered from. Do you remember anything about the prohibition of interracial marriage? Do you need an Arab on the stand to remind you of your history?” he asked.

“When 14 representatives gathered in Berlin, they discussed which policy to use against the Jews. It was then they discussed pushing them aside and limiting their living space…”

At this point MKs from other parties interrupted Tibi, yelling at him to leave the podium. MK Uri Ariel (National Union) refused to let him continue, yelling out, “Go back to Ramallah.”

Tibi was eventually allowed to continue, and said Arabs felt as though they were being pushed aside. He said he was not comparing the law to the final solution, but that he had brought it up in order to stress the level of hatred.

Two Grad rockets fired by Gaza militants strike Be’er Sheva
#Israel is well revealed as insincere about peace & gung ho about land theft – any new massacre of #Gaza civilians likely to be even worse PR for it than Cast Lead #
Israel may have to launch fresh operation against Gaza, says Vice Premier
Israel’s killings that ignited the present violence: PCHR condemns killing of Gaza teens :

The death of two Gaza teens on Saturday, killed by Israeli fire 300 meters from the border area was an act of “excessive and lethal force,” a condemnation from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said.

The two, both 17, were killed east of Johur Ad-Dik in the central Gaza Strip. Medics were only permitted to retrieve their bodies more than 12 hours after they had been killed

Hamas calls day of mourning; Abbas demands end to fire
Gene Simmons fails to notice that Palestinians are in revolt against Israeli oppression
Just what is keeping the Peace Process alive? And what will it take to bury it?
Abbas: Jerusalem-Gaza road shortest path to unity

Addressing comments from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said earlier in the week that Abbas could choose between “peace with Israel or Hamas,” the president said “Israel has no right to object to Palestinian conciliation, it has no stake in Palestinian national unity. Netanyahi has always wept in front of the Americans, saying the Palestinians are divided and he can’t negotiate with them like this,” adding that unity would make the prospect of a Palestinian state stronger.

Israel to Charge Abusisi ‘Within Days,’ Ukraine Denies Involvement in Kidnapping, Summons Israeli Ambassador
Likud MK launches Knesset lobby to fight delegitimization
Israel is blind to the Arab revolution
Gaza: Hamas calls for truce
25 injured, 4 seriously in J’lem bus explosion
A small war is starting along Gaza border
Israeli warplanes launch fresh air strikes on Gaza
Inside the minds of Itamar colonists
Australia’s Zionist lobby worried #BDS may be catching
A small war is starting along Gaza border

The current tensions began exactly a week ago when Israel launched an air attack on a Hamas base in the ruins of the settlement of Netzarim, killing two Hamas men. That attack came in response to a Qassam fired from Gaza that landed in an open area. Hamas then responded with a barrage of 50 mortars on communities south of the Gaza Strip. Israel delayed its response so as not to disrupt the Purim festivities in the Sderot area.

But on Monday evening Israel launched a series of air attacks in which a number of Hamas militants were wounded. Things worsened yesterday afternoon. After a round of mortar fire on kibbutzim east of Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces fired its own mortars right back at the source of the firing – at the Sajaiyeh neighborhood east of Gaza City, killing four members of a family, including two children.

Southern Command’s initial investigation indicates that the mortars’ launching point, an olive grove on the edge of a residential quarter, had been clearly identified. It seems that a number of the IDF’s mortars went off course and hit a house in Sajaiyeh, a few dozen meters from the grove.

Israel seeks aid of diplomats to prevent flotilla going to Gaza

Libya Links

Six Libyan villagers shot by US team rescuing pilot
Obama: NATO to join Libya war
Senator McCain is probably regretting this 2009 tweet, about #Gaddafi

Morocco Links

Morocco: The Winds of Change

Bahrain Links

UAE Said To Have Changed View On Libya Deployment Due To Bahrain

Other Links

The Stoner Arms Dealers
EXCLUSIVE: CIA Psychologist’s Notes Reveal True Purpose Behind Bush’s Torture Program
Tomgram: Chris Hellman, $1.2 Trillion for National Security

March 14, 2011December 11, 2020

Omar Barghouti at the launch of his new book on BDS

On 7th March 2011 the London Review Bookshop hosted the launch of Omar Barghouti’s book “BDS: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions – The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights”.

From the full report at Inminds:

Zionist: Omar, you are living in Israel, you are doing a PhD, you are studying in an Israeli university. How does that equate with your boycott campaign, isn’t that hypocritical to live in Israel and consume everything Israeli, then call for a boycott of Israel?

And secondly, if God forbid, you ever needed a life saving medicine, or a member of your family.. in Israel, would you accept that medicine or would you reject that life saving medicine?

Omar Barghouti: I think Mandela went to an apartheid university, when you are living under apartheid you have no choice. You pay taxes to the apartheid regime, you accept services from the apartheid regime, how else can you survive? You go to hospitals, you go to universities, you go to the post office, you go to government offices in the apartheid regime. You are a ‘subject’ of that colonial system, there is no other way. Gandhi studied at a British university as well.

The point is that when you are under occupation, when you are under apartheid, no have no moral choice. There is no choice. We ask people from outside to boycott because they have a moral choice. Responsibility comes with choice.

Germans under Nazi rule who couldn’t open their mouths were cowards but we can perhaps forgive them for not opening their mouths when you think you would be shot by the Nazi genocidal regime if they opened their mouths. Israelis that stay silent are far more cowardly because they do have a choice and they wont get shot if they stand up against the occupation. So we measure this with how much choice you have. When you have no choice what do you do?

So there is absolutely no double standard for people under oppression to call on people who are not under oppression, standing in solidarity with them, to oppose and boycott completely the oppressive regime. What we cannot do, you can do in the UK.

Palestine / Israel Links

A raging Hora on the blood: Four notes – Zionist savagery stalking Palestinians in revenge for murders despite no evidence having been produced that they were committed by Palestinians.
The village of Awarta face repression from soldiers after attack on settlers
Israeli government approves 500 new settler homes as punishment for murder of family
Brandeis is turning in his (liberal Zionist) grave
Jordan Valley Access and Closure Map (OCHA)
Zionists attempt to marginalise Jewish Voice for Peace at Brandeis
A controversy over the movie ‘Miral’
March 15 protest organizers fight efforts to co-opt their movement
Israel incensed pro-Palestinian film to show at UN
Adidas – Don’t Run With Apartheid

The Adidas – Don’t Run With Apartheid campaign is urging people throughout the world to take action at Adidas stores and stockists so that Adidas will reconsider sponsoring the 2012 Jerusalem Marathon.

Adidas has already hinted that they are wary of an international boycott and bad publicity. This is an opportunity for all people of conscience to get involved.

Libya Links

Qaddafi Forces Move on Town Near Rebel-Held Benghazi
US senator says no-fly zone is ‘likely’ – Chuck Schumer, a US zionist democratic senator, has said that imposing a no fly zone on Libya “is more likely” because the Arab League supports the move.
5 reasons to oppose “no-fly zones” in Libya
BBC Interview: Evidence that Algeria is Helping Gaddafi

Bahrain Links

Saudi Arabian forces prepare to enter Bahrain after day of clashes

Wikileaks Links

Manning ‘endangered US security’ : interview with the dubious Lamo
Corporate media smears WikiLeaks
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley resigns : P.J. Crowley quits after criticizing the treatment in prison of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is charged with stealing documents posted by WikiLeaks.
Saturday Night Massacre: Obama Axes PJ Crowley for Telling the Truth about Bradley Manning
P.J. Crowley Resigns As State Department Spokesman

Australia Links

How to make friends and wow Americans “For instance, a senior congressional staffer privately told the ABC after Julia Gillard’s speech on Capitol Hill that she had wowed the crowd to the point where the PM could probably now “get almost anything she wants” from this Congress.” How about an exit from Afghanistan?
Warning, NSW: companies like Serco aren’t your real friends
Let em In- Insyte ft Nutkaze and Lina Khalil

Other Links

The liquidation of work

March 3, 2011December 11, 2020

Boycott Apartheid Israel from All Sports

Apartheid rogue entity, Israel, insinuates its association with western imperialism through football, traditionally a sport where racists are banned or ostracised as with apartheid South Africa. While Israelis enjoy carte blanche on the world football scene, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are lucky to play at all, and are barred from competing in international sporting competitions.

Please sign the petition here so the UEFA recants its decision to allow apartheid Israel to host the U21 Football Championship in 2013.

Find more information on the Palestinian call to boycott apartheid Israel until it obeys international law at http://bdsmovement.net and http://pacbi.org

Palestine / Israel Links

David Yerushalmi, Islam-Hating White Supremacist Inspires Anti-Sharia Bills Sweeping Tea Party Nation
alQaws and Aswat Statement to the LGBT Center in NY
After Mossad Cloned British Passports to Kill al-Mabouh, Promised Never to Do It Again, IDF General Does
Woman from Gaza confronts Zionist enforcer of status quo
While Nutanyahoo plans how to ‘legalise’ illegal settlements whilst using the cover of razing ‘illegal’ outposts, the NYT covers for him by blithering about a supposed new ‘interim peace plan‘.
Illegal settlement gets nod from Tel Aviv
Pope finds Jews not to blame for death of Jesus
Palestinian boycott call is part and parcel of the Arab spring that is sweeping the region
IOF troops uproot olive trees, detain Jerusalemite and serve demolition notices
How Palestine’s uprising inspired Egypt’s
IOF troops demolish Tana for the sixth time
Palestinians try to create ‘Facebook revolution’
Diplomat: I can no longer represent Israel
Marrickville community’s fighting fund – zionists in Australia attempt to stop Marrickville Council’s principled boycott of Israeli apartheid. (This story has been pulled). It was recorded however here and here.

The Jewish community in Sydney’s Inner West is calling for funds to finance its campaign against Marrickville Council who have plans on the table to boycott Israeli made goods. The Inner West Jewish Community and Friends Peace Alliance is a local …

Marrickville’s Israeli boycott bites? 2UE ‘satire’

IOF troops detain 6 Palestinians in Al-Khalil, destroy pond as settlers escalate
Top Israeli Academics Censure Bar Ilan for Firing Professor Over Political Beliefs

Libya Links

Official puts toll in Libya at 6,500
Robert Fisk: The historical narrative that lies beneath the Gaddafi rebellion
From Peacocks to Plato: The Fabric of Democracy
Hypocrisy trumps policy in West’s dance with Gaddafi
Intervention in Libya would poison the Arab revolution
Arab League chief says mulling Chavez proposal to end Libya crisis : Amr Moussa’s comments come as U.S. officials downplay possible military actions in Libya, saying even the proposed placement of a ‘no-fly zone’ would entail a full-on attack.

Egypt Links

From Nasser to Mubarak or full article here
Egyptian military jails activist

Wikileaks Links

Manning’s death penalty charge treats the media as the enemy

Other Links

Madison, Wisconsin: IWW General Strike Pamphlet
Canvaslife – implementation with HTML5 of Conway’s Game of Life.
Blowback From the Arrest of the CIA’s Raymond Davis
We only became independent of Britain on this day in 1986

February 24, 2011December 11, 2020

The Whitewash Apartheid Orchestra

Adalah-NY and supporters creatively protest the performance of the “Brand Israel” Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on February 22. In the background, celebrated Irish composer and prominent activist for Palestinian rights, Raymond Deane, appreciates the innovative music of The Whitewash Apartheid Orchestra*.

Noelle Ghoussaini from Adalah-NY explains:

“Tonight we sent a clear message to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israeli government’s “Brand Israel” campaign that their music cannot drown out Palestinians’ calls for justice.” The US protests respond to the call from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) to boycott cultural institutions like the IPO that work to normalize Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and whitewash the oppression of Palestinians in Israel, the occupied territories, and in exile.

Hundreds of well-dressed concert-goers paused on the edge of the sidewalk in front of Carnegie Hall, and looked across the street at the protesters’ signs, and listened to their chants and songs. Many were handed a mock IPO program that featured a cover photo of a past IPO performance in front of Israeli tanks for the Israeli army, and, on the inside, the PACBI’s call for an international boycott of the IPO.

Protesters held signs saying, “Israel Fiddles while Palestine Burns,” “Justice Presto not Lento,” “Without Justice There’s No Harmony,” and “Boycott the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra;” and they carried a banner with the words “Don’t Harmonize with Israeli Apartheid,” surrounded on each side by a violin with a rifle barrel as its neck. Protesters chanted, “We love Gustav, we love Mahler, but occupation makes us holler;” “For liberation take a stand, don’t let Is-ra-el rebrand;” and “Muslims, Jews, Atheists and Christians, stand for justice like Egyptians.”

In a street theater skit, a protester-turned-IPO conductor asked the crowd, “How can apartheid continue without us promoting the new, positive, aesthetically vibrant and civilized Israel? Don’t forget, there is “art” in “apartheid.” The conductor instructed three violinists to play progressively louder in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to drown out and cover up Israeli crimes against Palestinians that kept welling up behind the orchestra.

View the complete photo collection.

* Raymond Deane’s work “March Oubliee” will feature at a concert with Irish ensemble, the ‘Fidelio Trio’, in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia on the 24th February at 7.30pm.

The Fidelios Trio will also conduct a residency at the University of Illinois on the 27/28 February playing “March Oubliee”.

Other Current BDS Actions to Support

Support BDS in Marrickville – send a Marrickville Councillor a note of encouragement for their important stand for human rights.
CJPP Carry Bags – An environmentally-friendly, Palestine-friendly, ecosilk shopping bag. Strong, light and compact, to fit in your handbag or pocket. A stylish alternative to plastic bags!

Palestine / Israel Links

Fox reverses poll results to portray public as anti-union
This is the occupation: A letter from a reasonable woman
PFLP condemns Gaddafi regime’s massacres against the Libyan people | Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Israeli airstrikes injure 16 Gazans
Army, Settlers, Destroy Palestinian Olive Trees in Al-Jab’a
Netanyahu: Mideast instability could last for years – dreaming of regional conquent still
The emergence of a new Arab world?
Obama’s folly: the human cost of the West Bank settlements

Libya Links

If the tide turns: some pros and cons of military intervention in Libya

Saudia Links

Saudi’s $36bn bid to beat unrest

Other Links

Dozens slaughtered by US forces in Afghanistan-Pakistan air attacks

One village resident told Pajhwok Afghan News that foreign forces intercepted a vehicle taking the wounded father to hospital, halting it for two hours. “The troops beat us and tied our hands,” the man, Psarlay, said. “Meanwhile, Patang died because of excessive bleeding.”

Another resident, 26-year-old Ezatullah, told the Wall Street Journal: “The house was completely destroyed by the strike. Only two children [aged] four and six survived.” He added that “thousands of people attended the funeral of the slain family Monday and are planning a protest against coalition forces Tuesday”.

Deputy AG loses job after tweet drama
Dept. Attorney General Jeff Cox is now Former Dept. Attorney General Jeff Cox and no longer is part of the Indiana AG’s office.
Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama & Neo-Liberalism are the Daleys’ Gifts to Chicago and the Nation. Thanks.
Fox reverses poll results to portray public as anti-union
Ruling on Assange’s Extradition Is Due on Thursday
The origins of the ALP
Egypt May End the ‘Obama Arms Bazaar’ – NOT!
Military budget of the United States

For the 2010 fiscal year, the president’s base budget of the Department of Defense rose to $533.8 billion. Adding spending on “overseas contingency operations” brings the sum to $663.8 billion.[1][2]

When the budget was signed into law on October 28, 2009, the final size of the Department of Defense’s budget was $680 billion, $16 billion more than President Obama had requested.[3] An additional $37 billion supplemental bill to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was expected to pass in the spring of 2010, but has been delayed by the House of Representatives after passing the Senate.[4][5] Defense-related expenditures outside of the Department of Defense constitute between $319 billion and $654 billion in additional spending, bringing the total for defense spending to between $1.01 and $1.35 trillion in fiscal year 2010.[6]