All Entries in the "Mid East" Category

Netanyahu Admits To Blocking Peace Process. Meet His Anti-Semitic American Ally

Will the recently released video showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating that he conspired, against US President Bill Clinton, to undermine the Oslo Accords have the sort of political blowback it truly ought to have ? Shot nine years ago, the video shows Netanyahu boasting that he destroyed the peace process and stating, “America is something that can be easily moved. Moved to the right direction… They won’t get in our way … Eighty per cent of the Americans support us. It’s absurd.”

The video has the potential to undermine Netanyahu’s credibility in the US and internationally but there’s another aspect to the story that could undermine Bibi Netanyahu’s credibility with Jews in Israel and internationally – Netanyahu’s key, close ally in undermining peace negotiations, Christians United For Israel founder and head John Hagee, has a ugly history of distributing, on a global scale, vile anti-Jewish propaganda including Adolf Hitler’s favorite conspiracy theory, the canard that Jewish bankers rule the world.

While the newly released Netanyahu video footage leaves little doubt of Prime Mininster Netanyahu’s complicity in blocking peace efforts, there’s additional compelling evidence bolstering the case, as Talk To Action contributor Rachel Tabachnick outlined in Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and John Hagee Share Stage as Biden Arrives in Israel, and Netanyahu and Hagee, Serial Obstructionists, Benjamin Netanyahu and Christian Zionist leader John Hagee have twice appeared together, while US presidents were mounting high-profile efforts to jump start the peace process, at highly public events during which the two men demonstrated blatant contempt for and hostility towards peace efforts.

Full Story: Talk To Action | Netanyahu Admits To Blocking Peace Process. Meet His Anti-Semitic American Ally.

U.S. Military Strike On Iran Likely, Ex-CIA Chief Says

A former CIA director says military action against Iran now seems more likely because no matter what the U.S. does diplomatically, Tehran keeps pushing ahead with its suspected nuclear program.

Michael Hayden, a CIA chief under President George W. Bush, says that during his tenure a strike was “way down the list” of options. But he tells CNN’s “State of the Union” that such action now “seems inexorable.”

He predicts Iran will build its program to the point where it’s just below having an actual weapon. Hayden says that would be as destabilizing to the region as the real thing.

Full Story: U.S. Military Strike On Iran Likely, Ex-CIA Chief Says.

US Troops Captured In Afghanistan: Report

MASSIVE SEARCH UNDERWAY FOR MISSING US TROOPS

U.S. and NATO officials confirmed that two American Navy personnel went missing Friday in the eastern province of Logar, after an armored sports utility vehicle was seen driving into a Taliban-held area.

The two left their compound in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in a vehicle Friday afternoon, but never returned, NATO said in a statement. Vehicles and helicopters were dispatched to search for the two, who may have been killed or captured by the Taliban after getting lost in Charkh district of southern Logar province, said district chief Samer Gul.

In a telephone interview Sunday with the Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the pair drove into an area under insurgent control, prompting a brief gunfight in which one of the Americans was killed and the other was captured. He said both were taken to a “safe area” and “are in the hands of the Taliban.” The Taliban offered to exchange the body of the U.S. Navy sailor they said was killed in exchange for insurgent prisoners.

Full Story: US Troops Captured In Afghanistan: Report.

Leaked Luntz Poll: Majority of Americans don’t support Israeli flotilla raid.

Via Didi Remez (whose Coteret blog has become an indispensable resource for progressives on Israel-Palestine issues), Israel’s Channel Ten TV News was leaked a memo on a Frank Luntz poll commissioned by the right-wing propaganda outfit The Israel Project analyzing the effectiveness of the Israeli government’s public diplomacy efforts around the Gaza flotilla raid.

A summary of the findings:

1. 56% of Americans agree with the claim that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza;

2. 43% of Americans agree with the claim that people in Gaza are starving;

3. 34% of Americans support the Israeli operation against the Flotilla;

4. 20% of Americans “felt support” for Israel following announcement of easing of Gaza closure.

Full Story: Think Progress » Leaked Luntz Poll: Majority of Americans don’t support Israeli flotilla raid..

UN Warns of New War in North; Claims on Gas May Be Trigger

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that violence may break out again between Hizbullah and Israel as tensions rise over charges that the terrorist organization has obtained advanced long–range Scud missiles from Syria.

Ban’s warning came as the IDF concludes a massive training exercise in the north, where soldiers are preparing for war.

“Amidst allegations of continued arms transfers to Hizbullah… a perceptible increase in tension between the parties was recorded,” Ban reportedly wrote in his report, a copy of which was obtained by the French news agency AFP,. The report comes four years after the beginning of the Second Lebanon War, which ended with U.N. ceasefire resolution 1701 that Israel says has not stopped continued stockpiling of arms by Hizbullah.

“This raised the specter of a miscalculation by either party leading to a resumption of hostilities, with potentially devastating consequences for Lebanon and the region.” Ban noted.

The U.N. leader continued to deny there is any evidence of Hizbullah’s smuggling weapons in southern Lebanon despite foreign media and Israeli intelligence reports pointing to Syria’s freely transferring weapons into Lebanon.

Full Story: UN Warns of New War in North; Claims on Gas May Be Trigger – Defense/Middle East – Israel News – Israel National News.

Foes of Israel Adopt New Protest Measures

Hamas and Hezbollah Find Inspiration In Flotilla, Support

Protest Movements

Hamas and Hezbollah, groups that have long battled Israel with violent tactics, have begun to embrace civil disobedience, protest marches, lawsuits and boycotts—tactics they once dismissed.

For decades, Palestinian statehood aspirations seemed to lurch between negotiations and armed resistance against Israel. But a small cadre of Palestinian activists has long argued that nonviolence, in the tradition of the American civil rights movement, would be far more effective.

Officials from Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, point to the recent Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, in which Israeli troops killed nine activists, as evidence there is more to gain by getting Israel to draw international condemnation through its own use of force, rather than by attacking the country.

Full Story: Foes of Israel Adopt New Protest Measures – WSJ.com.

Israel Eases Gaza Blockade Restrictions, Releasing List Of Allowed Items

Israel on Monday dropped its long-standing restrictions on allowing consumer goods into the Gaza Strip but retained tight limits on desperately needed construction materials, redefining the rules of its heavily criticized Gaza embargo on the eve of the Israeli prime minister’s trip to the White House.

The new rules, which come in response to an international outcry following a deadly Israeli raid on a blockade-busting flotilla, should bring some relief to Gaza’s 1.5 million people.

The decision ends the use of a narrow and often arbitrary list of permitted items. In a boost to the moribund Gaza economy, officials also said raw materials would soon be allowed to flow to Gaza’s shuttered factories.

Full Story: Israel Eases Gaza Blockade Restrictions, Releasing List Of Allowed Items.

Fareed Zakaria Criticizes ‘Disproportionate’ Afghanistan War On CNN (VIDEO)

Fareed Zakaria criticized the Afghanistan war in unusually harsh terms on his CNN program Sunday, saying that “the whole enterprise in Afghanistan feels disproportionate, a very expensive solution to what is turning out to be a small but real problem.”

His comments followed CIA director Leon Panetta’s admission last week that the number of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan may be down to just 50 to 100 members, or even fewer.

“If Al Qaeda is down to 100 men there at the most,” Zakaria asked, “why are we fighting a major war?”

Full Story: Fareed Zakaria Criticizes ‘Disproportionate’ Afghanistan War On CNN (VIDEO).

Reports: Israel to apologize for flotilla raid

The public rift between Israel and Turkey may be closing somewhat.

Persistent reports in the Turkish press indicate that Israel will formally apologize and pay compensation for the deaths on the Mavi Marmara.

The Mavi Marmara was the blockade-busting ship manned by Turkish citizens on which nine actvists were killed in unclear circumstances by Israeli naval commandos.

Turkish newspaper of record Hürriyet indicates that discussions of apology and compensation took place at a secret meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Benjamin Ben-Eliezer on Wednesday. According to Hürriyet’s source:

Full Story: Reports: Israel to apologize for flotilla raid – Neal Ungerleider – Falafel Mafia – True/Slant.

House Dems, Citing Corruption, Block Reconstruction Funds For Afghanistan

The House Democrat who oversees funding for Afghanistan’s redevelopment and reconstruction said on Monday that she is stripping money from her foreign aid bill in reaction to pervasive corruption. Dave Obey, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, supports the move made by subcommittee chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), according to an Obey spokesman.

Lowey cited pervasive corruption in Afghanistan as the cause for her decision to pull the funding from the appropriations bill working its way through her State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee.

“I do not intend to appropriate one more dime for assistance to Afghanistan until I have confidence that U.S. taxpayer money is not being abused to line the pockets of corrupt Afghan government officials, drug lords and terrorists,” said Lowey.

Full Story: House Dems, Citing Corruption, Block Reconstruction Funds For Afghanistan.

Leon Panetta: There May Be Less Than 50 Al Qaeda Fighters In Afghanistan

CIA Director Leon Panetta said on Sunday there may be less than 50 al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan, with “no question” that most of the terrorist network is operating from the western tribal region of Pakistan.

Panetta’s remarks came as President Barack Obama builds up U.S. forces in Afghanistan to prop up the government and, in his words, “disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda.” About U.S. 98,000 troops will be in Afghanistan by fall.

Asked by ABC’s Jake Tapper to estimate the number of al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, Panetta said, “I think the estimate on the number of Al Qaeda is actually relatively small. At most, we’re looking at 50 to 100, maybe less. It’s in that vicinity.”

via Leon Panetta: There May Be Less Than 50 Al Qaeda Fighters In Afghanistan.

A GOLDEN WAY OUT OF AFGHANISTAN

Jim Hightower

Here’s some free advice: Never buy shares in a gold mine from a guy operating out of a house trailer.

Likewise, never buy a story from the Pentagon about an incredible discovery of gold in Afghanistan. From out of nowhere, a recent news report excitedly tells us that a Pentagon task force has discovered an astonishing trillion dollars worth of untapped mineral deposits in that war-ravaged, impoverished country. Gold! Copper! Iron! And more! “An economic boon is seen,” declares a newspaper headline. “There is stunning potential here,” exclaimed General David Petraeus, the top commander of America’s war effort.

Hmmm… not so fast, slick. Isn’t it at least curious that this “discovery” comes when the war is going so badly for us and both the public and Congress are questioning why we’re there? Suddenly, the Pentagon gives us a trillion reasons to keep spending American lives and tax dollars. There’s money in them thar hills!

Full Story: Jim Hightower | A GOLDEN WAY OUT OF AFGHANISTAN.

Israel Eases Gaza Blockade, Will Allow In All Goods Except For Weapons

Israel’s government decided Sunday to draw up a list of items banned from Gaza limited to weapons and materials deemed to have military uses and said the easing of the three-year-old blockade of the Palestinian territory would be implemented immediately.

The list of banned goods replaces an old list of allowed items that permitted only basic humanitarian supplies for the 1.5 million Gazans. Under the new system, the government said practically all non-military items can enter Gaza freely.

“From now on, there is a green light of approval for all goods to enter Gaza except for military items and materials that can strengthen Hamas’ military machine,” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.

Full Story: Israel Eases Gaza Blockade, Will Allow In All Goods Except For Weapons.

Poll: Most Palestinians want peace with Israel

- Haaretz  -

Fafo poll conducted in West Bank and Gaza finds that 89% Palestinians support PA legislative elections this year, 84 % believe Fatah will win.
The majority of Palestinians support a peace agreement with Israel and believe that the Palestinian Authority should use non-violent means to achieve their political goals, a new Fafo poll revealed.

Fafo, a Norwegian based international multidisciplinary research foundation, found that 73 percent of Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza were in favor of peace negotiations with Israel, but stressed that a settlement freeze should be a precondition to talks.

Full Story: Poll: Most Palestinians want peace with Israel – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Japan Has ‘Priority’ On Rights To Mine Afghanistan Mineral Deposits, Says Hamid Karzai

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said this week that Japan — not the U.S. — takes priority over other nations when it comes to mining his country’s vast mineral deposits.

Karzai made his proclamation during a five-day visit to Japan. Over that same time period, news reports surfaced that Afghanistan and Pakistan planned to negotiate with U.S.-NATO enemies, the U.N. reported that insurgent violence is surging, and Reuters tried to parse the Pentagon’s mixed messages over U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

During an appearance at Japan Institute for International Affairs, Karzai focused on his country’s mineral deposits. He Pointed to Japan’s status as Afghanistan’s second-biggest donor, and reasoned that Japan should enjoy special access to Afghan resources with estimated values that range from $1-3 trillion dollars.

Full Story: Japan Has ‘Priority’ On Rights To Mine Afghanistan Mineral Deposits, Says Hamid Karzai.

OPS: even for an idiot conservative (DLC, Blue Dog or Republican -  take your pick) this has to be a wake-up call. WE are getting OUR kids killed and maimed,  and going bankrupt as a nation, so Japan, China and others can grab the loot. WTF are WE doing there?

Obama welcomes ease of Gaza blockade, urges Israel to expand goods inflow

The international community has welcomed Israel's decision to ease its land blockade of the Gaza Strip, a decision made Thursday after weeks of pressure from its allies in the United States and the European Union.

The White House welcomed the announcement on Thursday as a “step in the right direction.” U.S. President Barack Obama a few weeks called the three-year embargo unsustainable, and urged Israel to scale it back dramatically.

The new product list approved by Israel’s security cabinet on Thursday includes all food items, toys, stationery, kitchen utensils, mattresses and towels.

Israel will also allow in more construction materials to repair damage from the December 2008-January 2009 war in the Gaza Strip, provided they are used for civilian projects carried out under international supervision, government and military officials said.

Full Story: Obama welcomes ease of Gaza blockade, urges Israel to expand goods inflow – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Treat Palestinians Like Jews

Robert Scheer

It was an act of international terrorism, pure and simple. There can be no valid claims of self-defense on the part of Israeli commandos who attacked a ship of protesters in international waters, killing nine civilians and kidnapping more than 600 others—including 15 international reporters who were prevented from filing their stories by a nation that claims to be the beacon of democracy in the Mideast.

Trust me, I do not come to this viewpoint lightly. This is an issue I have written about with anguish ever since I visited Gaza and the West Bank immediately after the Six-Day War 43 years ago, and the fact that those apartheid zones still stand in oppressive isolation from the norms of human rights is a sad commentary on our profession. There is no subject on which American journalists so disgrace themselves by embracing a double standard or about which our politicians are permitted the kind of hypocritical cop-out once again demonstrated by the tepid response of the Obama administration.

If nothing else, this assault on decency by the Israeli government was clearly intended to derail the peace talks that President Barack Obama has encouraged. But instead of calling Israel on its savagery, the U.S. is virtually alone in the world in its embarrassingly mild

Full Story: Robert Scheer: Treat Palestinians Like Jews – Robert Scheer’s Columns – Truthdig.

Liberal Diaspora Jewry afraid to talk, afraid to be silent

in Britain, for the most part, ordinary people don’t care about the complicated story of the Middle East. They don’t buy the line that Israel stands on the front line of the war against terror.

Last week I wrote a comment piece for the Guardian comparing the Israeli attack on the Gaza aid ships to the British assault on the Exodus in 1947. The comparison between the two events is far from exact, but both involved the running of a naval blockade as a public relations stunt, and both succeeded in dramatically winning over world opinion. In each case a more complex narrative told by the other side went unheard. Israel has failed to convince the public in Europe that those on board included terrorists smuggling arms to Hamas, and that they attacked the Israeli commandos first. As in 1947, rightly or wrongly, the sympathy was with those whose vessels were boarded, not those doing the boarding.

Full Story: Liberal Diaspora Jewry afraid to talk, afraid to be silent – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

New Approach Sought as Pressure Grows to End Gaza Embargo

Three years after Israel and Egypt imposed an embargo on this tormented Palestinian strip, shutting down its economy, a consensus has emerged that the attempt to weaken the governing party, Hamas, and drive it from power has failed.

In the days since an Israeli naval takeover of a flotilla trying to break the siege turned deadly, that consensus has taken on added urgency, with world powers, anti-Hamas Palestinians in Gaza and some senior Israeli officials advocating a shift.

In its three years in power, Hamas has taken control not only of security, education and the justice system but also the economy, by regulating and taxing an extensive smuggling tunnel system from Egypt. In the process, the traditional and largely pro-Western business community has been sidelined.

This may be about to change.

Full Story: New Approach Sought as Pressure Grows to End Gaza Embargo – NYTimes.com.

Rule of the Gun – With U.S. Aid, Warlord Builds Afghan Empire

The most powerful man in this arid stretch of southern Afghanistan is not the provincial governor, nor the police chief, nor even the commander of the Afghan Army.

It is Matiullah Khan, the head of a private army that earns millions of dollars guarding NATO supply convoys and fights Taliban insurgents alongside American Special Forces.

In little more than two years, Mr. Matiullah, an illiterate former highway patrol commander, has grown stronger than the government of Oruzgan Province, not only supplanting its role in providing security but usurping its other functions, his rivals say, like appointing public employees and doling out government largess. His fighters run missions with American Special Forces officers, and when Afghan officials have confronted him, he has either rebuffed them or had them removed.

Full Story: Rule of the Gun – With U.S. Aid, Warlord Builds Afghan Empire – NYTimes.com.

OPS: Your tax dollars at work

The truth behind the Israeli propaganda

Robert Fisk:

I have, of course, been outraged at armed men boarding ships in international waters, killing passengers on board who attempt to resist and then forcing their ship to the hijackers’ home port. I am, of course, talking about the Somali pirates who are preying on Western ships in the Indian Ocean. How dare those terrorists dare to touch our unarmed vessels on the high seas? And how right we are to have our warships there to prevent such terrorist acts.

But whoops! At least the Israelis have not demanded ransom. They just want to get journalists to win the propaganda war for them. Scarcely had the week begun when Israel’s warrior “commandos” stormed a Turkish boat bringing aid to Gaza and shot nine of the passengers dead. Yet by week’s end, the protesters had become “armed peace activists”, vicious anti-Semites “professing pacifism, seething with hate, pounding away at another human being with a metal pole”. I liked the last bit. The fact that the person being beaten was apparently shooting another human being with a rifle didn’t quite get into this weird version of reality.

Turkish family protests that their sons wanted to be martyrs – something which most Turkish family members might say if their relatives had been shot by the Israelis – had been transformed into confirmation that they had been jihadis. “On that aid ship,” a Sri Lankan texted me this week, “I had my niece, nephew and his wife on board. Unfortunately Ahmed (20-year-old nephew) got shot in the leg and now treated (sic) under military custody. I will keep you posted.” He did indeed. Within hours, the press was at his family’s home in Australia, demanding to know if Ahmed was a jihadi – or even a potential suicide bomber. Propaganda works, you see. We haven’t seen a frame of film from the protesters because the Israelis have stolen the lot. No one has told us – if the Turkish ship was carrying such ruthless men – how their terrible plots to help the “terrorists” of Gaza were not uncovered in the long voyage from Turkey, even when it called at other ports. But Professor Gil Troy of McGill University in Montreal – in the rabid Canadian National Post, of course – was able to spout all that gunk about “armed peace activists” on Thursday.

Full Story: Robert Fisk: The truth behind the Israeli propaganda – Robert Fisk, Commentators – The Independent.

Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range

Exclusive: Nine Turkish men on board Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times, autopsy results reveal

Israel was tonight under pressure to allow an independent inquiry into its assault on the Gaza aid flotilla after autopsy results on the bodies of those killed, obtained by the Guardian, revealed they were peppered with 9mm bullets, many fired at close range.

Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, which carried out the autopsies for the Turkish ministry of justice today.

The results revealed that a 60-year-old man, Ibrahim Bilgen, was shot four times in the temple, chest, hip and back. A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, who also has US citizenship, was shot five times from less that 45cm, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot either in the back of the head or in the back, said Yalcin Buyuk, vice-chairman of the council of forensic medicine.

Full Story: Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range | World news | The Guardian.

Israeli Officials And American Conservatives Claim ‘There Is No Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza’

On Sunday, Israeli forces raided an aid flotilla trying to break a blockade of Gaza to deliver much-needed humanitarian supplies, killing nine activists, including four Turkish citizens. The incident has received “widespread condemnation” from the international community. Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called the raid a “bloody massacre by Israel.”

In a damage control effort, Israeli officials and their right-wing American supporters are now trying to deflect blame onto the activists, saying that there was no reason for them to be trying to breach the blockade to deliver supplies because there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza:

ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN: “There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. … The flotilla is an attempt at violent propaganda against Israel, and Israel will not allow the violation of its sovereignty at sea, in the air, or on land.”

MICHAEL OREN, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: “Over one hundred trucks, every day, laden with food and medicine go into Gaza. There’s no shortage of food. There is no shortage of medicine.”

NEWT GINGRICH: “There was no humanitarian crisis; this was a deliberate political effort on the part of people who want to try to undermine the survival of Israel.”

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: “What exactly is the humanitarian crisis that the flotilla was actually addressing? There is none. No one is starving in Gaza.”

Full Story: Think Progress » Israeli Officials And American Conservatives Claim ‘There Is No Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza’.

10 DEAD ON AID SHIP AFTER BOTCHED ISRAELI RAID

Gaza Flotilla ATTACKED: Israel Storms Aid Ship, At Least 10 Dead

Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 10 passengers in a predawn raid that set off worldwide condemnation and a diplomatic crisis.

Israel said its commandos were attacked by knives, clubs and live fire from two pistols wrested from soldiers after they rappelled from a helicopter to board one of the vessels.

Dozens of activists and at least 10 Israeli soldiers were wounded in the bloody confrontation in international waters.

Full Story: Gaza Flotilla ATTACKED: Israel Storms Aid Ship, At Least 10 Dead.

Israel stations nuclear missile subs off Iran

Three German-built Israeli submarines equipped with nuclear cruise missiles are to be deployed in the Gulf near the Iranian coastline.

The first has been sent in response to Israeli fears that ballistic missiles developed by Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, a political and military organisation in Lebanon, could hit sites in Israel, including air bases and missile launchers.

The submarines of Flotilla 7 — Dolphin, Tekuma and Leviathan — have visited the Gulf before. But the decision has now been taken to ensure a permanent presence of at least one of the vessels.

The flotilla’s commander, identified only as “Colonel O”, told an Israeli newspaper: “We are an underwater assault force. We’re operating deep and far, very far, from our borders.”

Full Story: Israel stations nuclear missile subs off Iran – Times Online.

‘At least 10 dead’ as Israel storms aid convoy: Israeli TV

At least 10 people were killed as Israeli forces stormed a boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists bound for Gaza, Israeli television and radio stations reported on Monday.

According to Israel’s private channel 10 television, Israeli marine commandos had opened fire after being attacked with axes and knives by a number of the passengers on board the aid ships, the television said, without giving the source of its information.

The station did not say whether the dead and injured were passengers or members of the Israeli navy.

Full Story: ‘At least 10 dead’ as Israel storms aid convoy: Israeli TV | Raw Story.

Protesters bound for Gaza

BREAKING NEWS: Ten people have reportedly been killed and more than 30 injured after Israeli forces attacked a flotilla seeking to break through a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Contact with Herald journalist Paul McGeough, who is on board one of the flotilla vessels, has been lost.

This is what McGeough filed earlier before contact with the flotilla was lost …

Video at link

Full Story: Protesters bound for Gaza.

U.S. Congress approves Obama funding for Iron Dome defense system in Israel — Signs of the Times News

Lawmakers voted to give Israel $205 million for its production of the short-range rocket defense system by a 410-4 margin.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted in favor of President Barack Obama’s plans to help Israel fund the deployment of the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system.

Lawmakers, by a 410-4 margin, backed Obama’s plan to give Israel 205 million dollars for its production of a short-range rocket defense system.

The Iron Dome missile defense system aced a test run in January, and event that convinced senior defense officials that the defense system was on its way to becoming operational and that it will be able to effectively protect against short-range missiles, such as Katyushas and Qassams, which often hit Israeli towns.

The project’s first phase, which included development, test runs and the manufacture of two batteries, required a budget of NIS 800 million. The Israel Air Force has also trained a special new unit to operate the defense system.

However, the plan was not allotted an adequate budget. The Israel Defense Forces ducked away from funding the project with its budget, explaining that offensive readiness was a higher priority, and the Defense Ministry has been looking for other budgetary avenues.

Full Story: U.S. Congress approves Obama funding for Iron Dome defense system in Israel — Signs of the Times News.

Qatar’s offer to help rebuild Gaza is snubbed by Netanyahu

Israel has turned down an offer from Qatar for a reopening of diplomatic contacts between the two countries in return for the Gulf state being allowed to import supplies to Gaza to carry out a series of badly needed reconstruction projects.

Qatar had proposed a major thawing of relations between the two countries in which Israel would have been allowed to reopen its official interests office, shut down on the orders of the emirate during the military onslaught on Gaza in January 2009.

But in return it wanted an easing of the three-year blockade of Gaza to allow a major increase in imports of cement and construction materials to start rebuilding war-ravaged sectors of the besieged territory.

Full Story: Qatar’s offer to help rebuild Gaza is snubbed by Netanyahu – Middle East, World – The Independent.

Obama to fund Israel’s missile system

US President Barack Obama wants Congress to pay Israel more than $200 million to fund a new missile system, the White House spokesman says.

Obama has asked Congress to approve the aid so that Israel could deploy a controversial missile system called the “Iron Dome.”

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said on Thursday that Washington recognizes the need for Israel to have such a system.

Israel has completed tests in January on the short-range anti-missile system which is designed to intercept rockets and artillery shells.

“As the president has repeatedly said, our commitment to Israel’s security is unshakable and our defense relationship is stronger than ever,” said Vietor.

Full Story: Obama to fund Israel’s missile system.

Report: IAEA to discuss Israel’s nuclear activities for first time

Israeli nuclear capabilities are on the provisional agenda for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s June 7 meeting.

Israel’s secretive nuclear activities may undergo unprecedented scrutiny next month, with a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency tentatively set to focus on the topic for the first time, according to documents shared Friday with The Associated Press.

A copy of the restricted provisional agenda of the IAEA’s June 7 board meeting lists Israeli nuclear capabilities as the eighth item – the first time that that the agency’s decision-making body is being asked to deal with the issue in its 52 years of existence.

The agenda can still undergo changes in the month before the start of the meeting and a senior diplomat from a board member nation said the item, included on Arab request, could be struck if the U.S. and other Israeli allies mount strong opposition. He asked for anonymity for discussing a confidential matter.

Full Story: Report: IAEA to discuss Israel’s nuclear activities for first time – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Israel Ready For Deal On Palestinian State, Peres Says

Israel is ready to negotiate the terms of Palestinian statehood, although it wants its security concerns addressed in the initial stages of indirect talks, the Israeli president said Friday after meeting with the U.S. Mideast envoy.

George Mitchell, who is President Barack Obama’s special representative for Mideast peace, is in the region for the start of four months of indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians that aim to bridge vast differences between the sides on the contours of a future Palestinian state.

The Palestinians want the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem – territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War – for their state, but have said they are willing to make some minor land exchanges.

Full Story: Israel Ready For Deal On Palestinian State, Peres Says.

3,000 European Jewish intellectuals urge end to Israeli settlements

A new leftist European Jewish group, JCall, has written a letter to be delivered Sunday to the European Parliament calling for a cessation of what it calls systematic support for Israeli government decisions.

JCall, which describes itself as “the European J Street” and is to be officially launched Sunday with the presentation of the letter, has raised a storm with its call to stop construction in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem.

The letter is signed by some 3,000 Jewish intellectuals, among them philosophers Bernard Henri-Levy and Alain Finkielkraut, considered some of Israel's strongest defenders among French intellectuals. Signatories also include Daniel Cohn-Bendit, leader of the student protests in the 1960s and now a member of the European Parliament, as well as other Jewish members of the European Parliament.

Full Story: 3,000 European Jewish intellectuals urge end to Israeli settlements – Haaretz – Israel News.

Afghan MP says U.S. troops raid home, kill relative

U.S. troops raided the home of a female member of the Afghan parliament and killed a neighbour who was one of her relatives, the MP said Thursday, an incident that sparked angry protests in the east.

A spokesman for foreign forces in Afghanistan said Western and Afghan troops had raided a house in the area and shot dead an armed man but was not able to comment on whether the house belonged to a member of parliament.

Night-time raids by Western troops and civilian casualties are among the most incendiary issues in Afghanistan, and the targeting of a female parliamentarian would raise the political temperature at a time when NATO is preparing a large offensive.

Full Story: Afghan MP says U.S. troops raid home, kill relative – thestar.com.

Obama Sticks to a Deadline in Iraq – NYTimes.com

When President Obama approved a plan to withdraw combat forces from Iraq this summer, it was based on the assumption that a newly elected government would be in place by the time Americans headed home. Fourteen months later, that assumption is exploding but the plan remains the same.

The delay and messy aftermath of the Iraqi election mean it may be months before the next government is formed, even as tens of thousands of American troops pack to leave. Yet Mr. Obama has not had a meeting on Iraq with his full national security team in months, and the White House insists that it has no plans to revisit the withdrawal timetable.

The situation presents a test for Mr. Obama’s vow to end the war, perhaps the most defining promise he made when he ran for president. While Mr. Obama has proved flexible about other campaign promises and deadlines, his plan to pull out combat forces by August and the remaining 50,000 trainers and advisers by December 2011 has been the most inviolate of policies.

Full Story: News Analysis – Obama Sticks to a Deadline in Iraq – NYTimes.com.

Elite U.S. Units Step Up Drive in Kandahar Before Attack

Small bands of elite American Special Operations forces have been operating with increased intensity for several weeks in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan’s largest city, picking up or picking off insurgent leaders to weaken the Taliban in advance of major operations, senior administration and military officials say.

The looming battle for the spiritual home of the Taliban is shaping up as the pivotal test of President Obama’s Afghanistan strategy, including how much the United States can count on the country’s leaders and military for support, and whether a possible increase in civilian casualties from heavy fighting will compromise a strategy that depends on winning over the Afghan people.

It will follow a first offensive, into the hamlet of Marja, that is showing mixed results. And it will require the United States and its Afghan partners to navigate a battleground that is not only much bigger than Marja but also militarily, politically and culturally more complex.

Full Story: Elite U.S. Units Step Up Drive in Kandahar Before Attack – NYTimes.com.

Moyers: Obama’s Bad Gamble on Afghanistan — 100,000 Soldiers Used as Chips for a Bet the US Can’t Win

We are losing lives for no purpose. The perpetuation of this unnecessary war exacerbates the problems in the Islamic world.

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the Journal. The war in Afghanistan has claimed more than one thousand American lives and in the last two years alone the lives of more than four thousand Afghan civilians. It's costing American taxpayers over three-and-a-half billion dollars every month—a total of some $264 billion so far. But for all that, in the words of one policy analyst quoted by the New York Times this week, “there are no better angels about to descend on Afghanistan.”

The news from that torturous battleground continues to dismay, discourage and enrage. America's designated driver there, Hamid Karzai, is proving increasingly unstable behind the wheel. The United States put Karzai in power and our soldiers have been fighting and dying on his behalf ever since. Despite widespread corrupton in his government. Now he's making threats against the western coalition that is shedding blood and treasure on his behalf.

Even more disturbing,for the moment, are the civilian deaths from nighttime raids andaerial bombings by American and other NATO troops. Just this week, we learned of an apparent cover-up following a Special Forces raid in February that killed five civilians, including three women, two of whom were pregnant. It's believed bullets were gouged from the women's bodies to conceal evidence of American involvement.

Full Story: Bill Moyers Journal . Transcripts | PBS.

Iraq Vet From WikiLeaks Video Unit: “This Is What War Looks Like”

Josh Stieber on the truth behind the WikiLeaks video: “Compared to things that I was being taught in basic training … the language in the helicopter was relatively mild.”

Josh Stieber was deployed to Iraq in February 2007 as part of the “surge” overseen by George W. Bush. An enthusiastic supporter of the war when he enlisted, Stieber served with Bravo Company 2-16, the same unit now depicted in the chilling video released last week by WikiLeaks.org, which shows American troops massacre 12 Iraqi civilians from an Apache helicopter, including two Reuters employees, photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his driver, Saeed Chmagh. Also killed was Saleh Mutashar, the father of two young children who were themselves injured on the scene, when their father attempted to pick up the wounded Saeed to take him to the hospital, only to get shot by U.S. troops.

Josh Stieber was not on the mission over Baghdad that day. By then he had already begun questioning the actions he was being asked to carry out in Iraq; he had refused an order from his commanding officers a few days earlier — “a command that I didn’t feel right in following,” as he told Glenn Greenwald on Friday — and he was kept behind. Otherwise, he said, “I would have been in that video.”

Full Story: Iraq Vet From WikiLeaks Video Unit: “This Is What War Looks Like” | World | AlterNet.

U.S. puppet cuts his strings

Henry Kissinger once observed that it was more dangerous being America’s ally than its enemy.

The latest example: the U.S.-installed Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, who is in serious hot water with his really angry patrons in Washington.

The Obama administration is blaming the largely powerless Karzai, a former CIA “asset,” for America’s failure to defeat the Taliban. Washington accused Karzai of rigging last year’s elections. True enough, but the U.S. pre-rigged the Afghan elections by excluding all parties opposed to western occupation.

Full Story: U.S. puppet cuts his strings | Eric Margolis | Columnists | Comment | Toronto Sun.

Netanyahu cancels trip to U.S. nuclear summit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a planned trip to Washington, where he was scheduled to participate in a nuclear security summit hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama, government officials said.

Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor will take Netanyahu’s place in the nuclear summit.

Obama has invited more than 40 countries to the summit, which will deal with preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to terrorist groups.
Full Story: Netanyahu cancels trip to U.S. nuclear summit – Haaretz – Israel News.

Israel Warns Palestine Not To Declare State

Israel’s hard-line foreign minister warned Palestinians against plans to unilaterally declare independence next year, saying in an interview Tuesday that such a move could prompt Israel to annex parts of the West Bank and annul past peace agreements.

Avigdor Lieberman also made harsh comments about Turkey, Israel’s increasingly alienated ally, saying the Turkish prime minister was coming to resemble Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

Lieberman, who heads an ultranationalist party, has become known for a belligerent tone that has earned him critics abroad and inside Israel.

Full Story: Israel Warns Palestine Not To Declare State.

No joke: Karzai threatens to join the Taliban

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has slammed Western backers for the second time in a week, accusing the United States of interference, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

In a private meeting with up to 70 Afghan lawmakers Saturday, Karzai also warned that the Taliban insurgency could become a legitimate resistance movement if foreign meddling in Afghan affairs continues, the Journal said, citing participants in the talks.

During the talks, Karzai, whose government is supported by billions of dollars of Western aid and 126,000 foreign troops fighting the Taliban, said he would be compelled to join the insurgency himself if the parliament does not back his bid to take over Afghanistan's electoral watchdog.

Full Story: No joke: Karzai threatens to join the Taliban | Raw Story.

How Americans are propagandized about Afghanistan

- Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com -

On February 12 of this year, U.S. forces entered a village in the Paktia Province in Afghanistan and, after surrounding a home where a celebration of a new birth was taking place, shot dead two male civilians (government officials) who exited the house in order to inquire why they had been surrounded, and then shot and killed three female relatives (a pregnant mother of ten, a pregnant mother of six, and a teenager) who sought to help the victims. The Pentagon then issued a statement claiming that (a) the dead males were “insurgents” or terrorists, (b) the bodies of the three women had been found by U.S. forces bound and gagged inside the home, and (c) suggested that the women had already been killed by the time the U.S. had arrived, likely the victim of “honor killings” by the Taliban militants killed in the attack.

Although numerous witnesses on the scene as well as local investigators vehemently disputed the Pentagon’s version, and insisted that all of the dead (including the women) were civilians and were killed by U.S. forces, the American media largely adopted the Pentagon’s version, often without any questions. But enough evidence has now emerged disproving those claims such that the Pentagon was forced yesterday to admit that their original version was totally false and that it was U.S. troops who killed the women:

Full Story: How Americans are propagandized about Afghanistan – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Israel Gags News on Extrajudicial Killings

An Israeli journalist remains under house arrest and another lives abroad after they broke news on Israeli undercover units carrying out assassinations or “targeted killings” of non-combatant Palestinian political opponents.

Anat Kam, 23, who used to work for the Israeli news site Walla, was arrested last December for allegedly copying secret Israeli Defense Force (IDF) documents during her compulsory military service.

These documents outlined how Israeli assassination squads would plan the killing of Palestinian political leaders and fighters months beforehand and then pass their deaths off as “mishaps” during “failed” attempts to arrest them.

Uri Blau, a reporter from the daily Ha’aretz, then wrote a piece on the copied documents and is refusing to return to Israel from Britain fearing that Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, will arrest him if he does.

Full Story: Israel Gags News on Extrajudicial Killings by Mel Frykberg — Antiwar.com.

Triple blasts in Baghdad embassies kill dozens

Three suicide bombers detonated car bombs near foreign missions in central Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 168.

The blasts near the Iranian, Egyptian and German embassies followed mortar attacks on the Iraqi capital’s Green Zone, home to government buildings, official residences and foreign embassies. They came two days after gunmen slaughtered 24 people in a Sunni village south of Baghdad.

Iraqi authorities had warned of a possible escalation of violence because of rising tension after a March 7 parliamentary election that produced no clear winner.

Full Story: Triple blasts in Baghdad embassies kill dozens – Telegraph.

Is Israel About to Trigger a New Middle East War?

Ramping up the rhetoric of war in a volatile region can lead to a misstep and once the dogs of war are off their leash, it will be hard to bring them to heel.

When Israeli Minister without Portfolio Yossi Peled said recently that a war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah was “just a matter of time” and that such a conflict would include Syria, most observers dismissed the comment as little more than posturing by a right-wing former general. But Peled’s threat has been backed by Israeli military maneuvers near the Lebanese border, violations of Lebanese airspace, and the deployment of an anti- missile system on Israel’s northern border.

The Lebanese are certainly not treating it as Likud bombast.

“We hear a lot of Israeli threats day in and day out, and not only threats,” Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri told the BBC. “We see what is happening on the ground and in our airspace.during the past two months-every day we have Israeli airplanes entering Lebanese airspace.” Hariri added that he considered the situation “really dangerous.”

The increasing tension was behind the recent visit to Beirut by Senator Philippe Marini, French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s special envoy to Lebanon. After Marini met with Hariri, Christian Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, and Hezbollah leaders, the envoy said that he feared a Hezbollah-Israel rematch could easily become a regional war.

Full Story: Is Israel About to Trigger a New Middle East War? | World | AlterNet.

Thirteen Israeli air strikes hit Gaza Strip

Israeli planes have carried out 13 air strikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources have told the BBC.

Four of the strikes took place near the town of Khan Younis, where two Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Palestinian fighters last week.

Israel says the operation was targeting four weapons factories. Reports say three children were injured.

The latest violence is the most serious since the end of Israel’s assault on Gaza in January 2009.

Palestinians and rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans died in the conflict, while Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.

Full Story: BBC News – Thirteen Israeli air strikes hit Gaza Strip.

Israeli armor moves into Gaza, digging trenches

Israeli forces have crossed into the Gaza Strip while tensions remain high following Tel Aviv’s Friday incursion into the Hamas-run Palestinian coastal enclave.

Israeli soldiers moved around 500 meters (yards) inside Gaza on Sunday in several armored vehicles including bulldozers.

Witnesses said the troops were predominantly targeting olive groves and almond fields in the Abasan al-Jadida area east of Khan Yunis.

They dug large trenches and fired warning shots to keep farmers away, but there were no reports of casualties.

Sunday’s incursion was close to the site where Israeli tanks, bulldozers and jeeps, backed by helicopters, carried out a strike late Friday damaging two houses and killing a Palestinian. Seven people were also wounded in the attack.

Full Story: Israeli armor moves into Gaza, digging trenches.

Israeli tanks ‘enter Gaza’ after deadly clashes

Israeli tanks advanced briefly into the Gaza Strip following clashes with Palestinians in which two Israeli soldiers died, reports say.

Witnesses in Gaza said tanks and bulldozers moved towards the southern town of Khan Younis before withdrawing.

They also said there had been firing from the Israeli navy along the Gaza coastline.

It is the first time Israeli soldiers have died in Gaza since Israel’s 22-day offensive there more than a year ago.

Reports say at least two Palestinians have also been killed.

Israel says the fighting started when its troops crossed into Gaza after spotting militants planting explosives along the border.

Reports from inside Gaza say the militants then tried to capture an Israeli soldier.

Full Story: BBC News – Israeli tanks ‘enter Gaza’ after deadly clashes.

Israeli warplanes bomb Gaza over night

Israeli warplanes struck the southern part of the Gaza Strip in an overnight raid following Palestinian rocket fire, Palestinian witnesses and the Israeli military said Monday.

The aircraft attacked a tunnel on the Rafah sector on the border with Egypt, but no one was injured, said witnesses.

A military spokesman confirmed the raid, saying they had hit a tunnel used for arms smuggling and in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian side.

One rocket was fired into southern Israel late Sunday from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip though it landed without causing any injuries or damage, the Israeli army said earlier.

Full Story: Israeli warplanes bomb Gaza: officials – Yahoo! News.

Bibi Is Undermining Israel’s Security

Fareed Zakaria -

The Israeli Prime Minister says his nation’s security is his top priority. Too bad he’s undermining it.

In international relations, whenever you hear the term “confidence-building measures,” you can be sure that someone is trying to kick a can down the road. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has now promised to offer such measures to the Palestinians. He has also urged that everyone “calm down” about the diplomatic row between his government and the United States.

But this crisis hasn’t been caused by just one event—the announcement, while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel, to approve new Jewish housing units in East Jerusalem. It caps a year of increasingly strained relations between Washington and Tel Aviv. And while he’s apologized for the ill-timed announcement, Netanyahu remains unyielding. In fact, the Israeli press has reported plans to build not merely the 1,600 units announced last week, but 50,000. “We will act according to the vital interests of the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said last week.

Full Story: Zakaria: Bibi Is Undermining Israel’s Security – Newsweek.com.

Afghanistan: Russians Tell U.S. Generals to Bribe the Taliban

Minutes of Secret Meeting Between Russian Veterans and Gen. Stanley McChrystal Also Say ‘More Troops Won’t Make A Difference’

Two Russian veterans of the Soviet Afghan war privately warned Gen. Stanley McChrystal last summer that the key to winning the war would be to pay off the Taliban. The official who wrote up a summary of two meetings between the Russians and U.S. military commanders also wrote that one of the “key take-aways” from the meetings was that extra troops were not the key to victory.

ABCNews.com has obtained a document summarizing the discussions between two veterans of the Soviet Union’s failed Afghan war and McChrystal, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, during an August 2009 video teleconference. The document also summarizes a private in-person meeting in Moscow between the two Russians and American Brig. Gen. Henry Nowak

Full Story: Afghanistan: Russians Tell U.S. Generals to Bribe the Taliban – ABC News.

Netanyahu, Clinton Talk: Israeli Leader Plans Meeting In US Next Week

ISRAELI LEADER CALLS CLINTON TO DEFUSE TENSIONS

Hoping to defuse a fight between friends, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed Thursday to meet next week in Washington to confront an embarrassing dispute over Israeli land claims.

The Obama administration’s special envoy for Mideast peace, George Mitchell, prepared to return to the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Netanyahu called Clinton on Thursday. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley declined to provide details of the conversation, which he described as the Israeli prime minister’s response to Clinton’s call last week in which she harshly criticized Israel’s announcement of additional Jewish settlement housing in east Jerusalem.

Full Story: Netanyahu, Clinton Talk: Israeli Leader Plans Meeting In US Next Week.

It’s time for Netanyahu to say yes to Obama

Haaretz Editorial -

The cancellation of the visit by American envoy George Mitchell, who has been delegated to renew the diplomatic negotiations, embodies the slippery slope facing Israel during the past week. Even before completing the first year of his second term in office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to foment crises in two key strategic areas: the peace process with the Palestinians and relations with the United States.

The affair of the building plans for Jerusalem’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, which cast a pall on U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s visited, pushed back the two-state solution. At the same time, the unnecessary snub of a friendly guest became a deep rift in the dialogue between the Israeli government and the White House.

In order to rescue the proximity talks and resolve the crisis in relations with the United States, the Obama administration has made three demands of Netanyahu: cancelling the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee’s decision to approve for presentation building plans for Ramat Shlomo, a “significant” gesture to the Palestinians and a public statement that the indirect talks will deal with all the core issues, including Jerusalem.

Full Story: It’s time for Netanyahu to say yes to Obama – Haaretz – Israel News.

Israel Crackdown Puts Liberal Jews on the Spot

Chris Hedges -

The Israeli government, its brutal war crimes in Gaza exposed in detail in the U.N. report by Justice Richard Goldstone, has implemented a series of draconian measures to silence and discredit dissidents, leading intellectuals and human rights organizations inside and outside Israel that are accused—often falsely—of assisting Goldstone’s U.N. investigators. The government of Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to shut down Israel’s premier human rights organizations, including B’Tselem, the New Israel Fund (NIF) and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. It is busy expelling or excluding peace activists and foreign nationals from the Palestinian territories. The campaign, if left unchecked, will be as catastrophic for Palestinians as it will be for Israel.

The Goldstone report, which is over 500 pages, investigated Israel’s 22-day air and ground assault on Gaza that took place from Dec. 27, 2008, to Jan. 18, 2009. The United Nations and the European Parliament have endorsed the report. The report found that Israel used disproportionate military force against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip while failing to take adequate precautions to protect the civilian population against the military assault. The Israeli attack killed 1,434 people, including 960 civilians, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. More than 6,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, leaving behind some $3 billion in destruction in one of the poorest areas on Earth. No Israelis were killed by Hamas rockets fired into Israel during the assault. The report did not limit itself to the 22-day attack; rather, it went on to indict the occupation itself. It examines the beginning of the occupation and condemns Israel for the border closures, the blockade and for the wall or security barrier in the West Bank. It has two references to the right of return, investigates Israeli torture and criticizes the willful destruction of the Palestinian economy.

Full Story: Chris Hedges: Israel Crackdown Puts Liberal Jews on the Spot – Chris Hedges’ Columns – Truthdig.

Israel Lands in Public Relations Nightmare

Israeli riot police and soldiers have, since Friday, sealed off the Al Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, restricting entry to women and Palestinian men over 50.

Outside the walled Old City, where the Al Aqsa mosque is situated, and in several West Bank villages, clashes were reported between Palestinian protestors, their Israeli and international supporters, and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), leaving at least 20 Palestinians wounded.

Following a security assessment Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak ordered security forces to stop tens of thousands of Palestinians from entering Jerusalem.

Full Story: MIDEAST: Israel Lands in Public Relations Nightmare – IPS ipsnews.net.

New Fraud Cases Point to Lapses in Iraq Projects

Investigators looking into corruption involving reconstruction in Iraq say they have opened more than 50 new cases in six months by scrutinizing large cash transactions — involving banks, land deals, loan payments, casinos and even plastic surgery — made by some of the Americans involved in the nearly $150 billion program.

Some of the cases involve people who are suspected of having mailed tens of thousands of dollars to themselves from Iraq, or of having stuffed the money into duffel bags and suitcases when leaving the country, the federal investigators said. In other cases, millions of dollars were moved through wire transfers. Suspects then used cash to buy BMWs, Humvees and expensive jewelry, or to pay off enormous casino debts.

Some suspects also tried to conceal foreign bank accounts in Ghana, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Britain, the investigators said, while in other cases, cash was simply found stacked in home safes.

Full Story: New Fraud Cases Point to Lapses in Iraq Projects – NYTimes.com.

‘EU may push Israel into peace talks’

EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton: We may use trade ties as leverage.

The European Union might use its trade ties with Israel as leverage to pressure it into renewing peace talks with the Palestinians, Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy at the EU said on Saturday.

Ashton was speaking at an EU foreign minister conference held in Finland. Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, said that Israel’s announcement on building in east Jerusalem during United States Vice President Joe Biden’s visit last week was intentional and not coincidental.

Bildt said there were “no guarantees” that Israel was committed to peace.

Ashton is on the verge of a Middle East tour where she will visit Egypt, Israel, Syria and Lebanon.

Full Story: ‘EU may push Israel into peace talks’.

Sealing in the Palestinians: The Story of the Most Controversial Border Wall in the World

An excerpt from Rene Backman’s book, “A Wall in Palestine,” which lays bare an international human rights controversy.

The following is an excerpt from A Wall in Palestine by Rene Backmann (Picador, 2010).

Who invented the wall? Who came up with the idea for it? “Maybe it was me,” Dany Tirza says half-jokingly as he weaves his car through Gilo morning traffic. Adjacent to the southern neighborhoods of Jerusalem, this truly “new” city of thirty-seven thousand people, which dominates the nearby Palestinian enclaves of Bethlehem and Beit Jala, is considered by the Israelis to be a natural extension of the Holy City. In fact, Gilo was built on the outskirts of “Greater Jerusalem,” as it was redefined by Israel in 1967 after the Six-Day War, on approximately seven thousand acres of annexed Palestinian land. But Gilo is on the Palestinian side of the “Green Line,” which, since 1949, separates the State of Israel from the present- day West Bank. Thus, it is a settlement, one of twelve built by Israel since 1967 at the periphery of Greater Jerusalem.

Full Story: Sealing in the Palestinians: The Story of the Most Controversial Border Wall in the World | World | AlterNet.

Dubai Investigation Exposes Israeli Ops in USA

An ongoing investigation by the Dubai Police force into the assassination of a high-level Hamas official in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January has drawn back the curtains of secrecy and deception to reveal yet again the contours of Israel’s massive and ever-expanding espionage operations in the United States.

The murder of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh in his room at the Al Bustan Rotana, a 275-room five-star luxury hotel, in Dubai on January 19 has been widely perceived to be a Mossad operation involving, by the most recent count, 27 suspects traveling on fraudulently obtained and falsified European or Australian passports. In late February and early March, the plot thickened suddenly and significantly when major US media outlet reports connected the crime and many of those involved in it to the USA and to corporations based in the USA and Israel and revealed that some of the suspected assassins, apparently members of a Mossad kidon team, had entered the USA after leaving Dubai.

ABC News reported on February 24 that Dubai police had identified 15 new suspects as part of a ring that killed Al Mabhouh.

Full Story: Dubai Investigation Exposes Israeli Ops in USA | Dissident Voice.

DHS: United States and Israel Announce Agreement to Enhance Joint Aviation Security

For Immediate Release

Office of the Press Secretary

Contact: 202-282-8010

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and Israeli Transport and Road Safety Minister Israel Katz today announced a new agreement to enhance information sharing about civil aviation security incidents and ensure efficient and effective coordination in response to potential acts of terrorism and other aviation-related public safety emergencies.

“The real-time exchange of information with our international partners is critical to our efforts to enhance overall global aviation security,” said Secretary Napolitano. “This agreement will allow the United States and Israel to better coordinate on and respond to potential aviation security incidents to strengthen our mutual safety.”

“MOU implementation will further improve the effectiveness of the cooperation between the respective civil aviation security authorities,” said Minister Katz. “Such International collaboration is of particular importance to ensure effective response to the evolving threat to international aviation.”

Full Story: DHS: United States and Israel Announce Agreement to Enhance Joint Aviation Security.

If Netanyahu wants peace, he knows what to do

- Haaretz -

British statesman Leopold Amery’s plea to prime minister Neville Chamberlain – “For God’s sake, go” – has undergone many incarnations, and I’m surprised at my colleague Nahum Barnea, who made do with a simple “Go” in reference to Avigdor Lieberman. The suspicion that Lieberman received documents relating to the investigation against him from our ambassador in Belarus is now being checked by the police. It doesn’t smell good – not to mention that the stench of the foreign minister’s behavior justifies speeding up the distribution of gas masks.

But the problem is not Avigdor, it’s the person who appointed him, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is gradually going back to being the Bibi of his first term. Never since the founding of the state has its image, prestige, reputation and moral and ethical weight been at such a nadir. The commander of the Dubai police is sitting comfortably in his armchair and enumerating one by one the mistakes he claims were made by the Mossad – for example, dressing one of its fattest agents in a tennis outfit. He is also issuing international arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Mossad chief Meir Dagan.

And in a public courtroom in Barcelona, Israel is being portrayed as a country that tramples basic human rights, while Hamas is being “acquitted” of being a terror organization.

Full Story: If Netanyahu wants peace, he knows what to do – Haaretz – Israel News.

Fallujah doctors report rise in birth defects

John Simpson talks about the children with birth defects he saw in Fallujah

Doctors in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are reporting a high level of birth defects, with some blaming weapons used by the US after the Iraq invasion.

The city witnessed fierce fighting in 2004 as US forces carried out a major offensive against insurgents.

Now, the level of heart defects among newborn babies is said to be 13 times higher than in Europe.

The US military says it is not aware of any official reports showing an increase in birth defects in the area.

BBC world affairs editor John Simpson visited a new, US-funded hospital in Fallujah where paediatrician Samira al-Ani told him that she was seeing as many as two or three cases a day, mainly cardiac defects.

Full Story: BBC News – Fallujah doctors report rise in birth defects.

‘Israelis no longer allowed in Dubai after Hamas hit’

- Haaretz -

Dubai’s police chief said on Monday that travelers suspected of being Israeli will not be allowed into the United Arab Emirates even if they arrive with alternative passports.

Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim says the move comes after the killing of a Hamas operative in Dubai, blamed by the Emirates authorities on Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Tamim said a 26-member team used European and Australian passports to enter the country in January and kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

“We will not allow those who hold Israeli passports into the UAE no matter what other passport they have,” Tamim said.

Full Story: ‘Israelis no longer allowed in Dubai after Hamas hit’ – Haaretz – Israel News.

Biden to speak directly to Israelis from Tel Aviv

- Haaretz -

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will address the Israeli public directly next week during a speech he is scheduled to deliver at Tel Aviv University, focusing on American commitment to Israel’s security, Iran’s nuclear program and the peace process.

Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday in Jerusalem that Biden is seeking to ensure that Israel and the United States are in alignment on the issue of preventing the Iranian nuclear threat.

Kerry, who is privy to the details of efforts to impose sanctions on Iran, hinted Monday at a press conference in Jerusalem after a meeting with the prime minister that Biden’s visit to Israel, and that of other senior administration officials, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Michael Mullen, aims at restraining Israel against the possibility of unilaterally attacking Iran.
Full Story: Biden to speak directly to Israelis from Tel Aviv – Haaretz – Israel News.

Israeli DM: No Need to Coordinate With US on Attacking Iran

Barak Simultaneously Insists Iran No Threat to Attack Israel

At his visit to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), an AIPAC founded think tank, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak reiterated his calls for Western nations to keep “all options” open in moving against Iran. But more importantly, he suggested Israel might attack Iran even beyond American objections.

“I don’t think that there is a need to coordinate in this regard,” Barak insisted, adding later in the speech that Israel has always “felt very proud that we never asked the Americans to come and fight for us.”

US officials have repeatedly expressed opposition to a unilateral Israeli attack, noting that it would be perceived internationally as an attack by the United States, which has provided Israel with enormous military aid over the years.

Full Story: Israeli DM: No Need to Coordinate With US on Attacking Iran — News from Antiwar.com.

Israel Tightens Vice on Gaza Strip, UN Reports

The ability to bring essential commodities into Gaza, already under an Israeli blockade that is undermining health care, the economy and rehabilitation after last year’s devastating Israeli offensive, was further cut in January by more crossing closures, according to the latest United Nations update.

The UN and other humanitarian organizations have repeatedly called on Israel to immediately open all border crossings not only for basic necessities, which it allows in limited amounts, but for the reconstruction material needed to rebuild the scores of buildings destroyed by the offensive, which Israel says it launched to halt rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Full Story Scoop: Israel Tightens Vice on Gaza Strip, UN Reports.

Israel should heed Obama’s warning not to strike Iran

- Haaretz -

Israel should heed the friendly warning it received from the Obama administration, which opposes a preemptive Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, warned in Tel Aviv on Sunday of the unexpected consequences of an Israeli attack on Iran, just as he did during the days of the Bush administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Qatar that Iran’s neighbors, who are worried about its nuclear plans, must rely on the American defense umbrella. And next week, Vice President Joseph Biden will visit Israel to pass on a similar message.

Both Israeli and Iranian leaders have escalated the threats they have been exchanging over the past few weeks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at Auschwitz about a new Amalek. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad that if Israel goes to war, “we need to put an end to the Zionist regime once and for all.” And last week, on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution, Ahmadinejad announced that Iran will enrich uranium to 20 percent and declared that his country is capable of building an atomic bomb

Full Story Israel should heed Obama’s warning not to strike Iran – Haaretz – Israel News.

U.S. congressman: U.S. should break Israel`s blockade of Gaza

The United States should break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver badly needed supplies by sea, a U.S. congressman told Gaza students.

Rep. Brian Baird, a Democrat from Washington state, also urged President Barack Obama’s Mideast envoy to visit the Hamas-ruled territory to get a firsthand look at the destruction caused by Israeli’s military offensive last year.

The Obama administration, like its predecessor, shuns Hamas because the Islamic militant group refuses to recognize Israel or renounce violence.

Israel and Egypt have restricted access to Gaza since Hamas’ victory in parliament elections in 2006 and tightened the blockade after Hamas seized Gaza by force in 2007.

Israel allows humanitarian supplies and food into Gaza, but has kept out cement and other building supplies needed for reconstruction. Israel argues such materials could be diverted by Hamas for military use.

Full Story U.S. congressman: U.S. should break Israel`s blockade of Gaza – Haaretz – Israel News.

Think tank: Israel faces global delegitimization campaign

- Haaretz -

Israel is facing a global campaign of delegitimization, according to a report by the Reut Institute, made available to the cabinet on Thursday. The Tel Aviv-based security and socioeconomic think tank called on ministers to treat the matter as a strategic threat.

The report cites anti-Israel demonstrations on campuses, protests when Israeli athletes compete abroad, moves in Europe to boycott Israeli products, and threats of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders visiting London.

Reut says the campaign is the work of a worldwide network of private individuals and organizations. They have no hierarchy or overall commander, but work together based on a joint ideology – portraying Israel as a pariah state and denying its right to exist.

Full Story Think tank: Israel faces global delegitimization campaign – Haaretz – Israel News.

How Much Military Aid to Israel?

How Much Military Aid to Israel… …Do You Provide?

Between 2009-2018, the United States is scheduled to give Israel–the largest recipient of U.S. aid–$30 billion in military aid. Through its illegal 42-year military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, Israel misuses U.S. weapons in violation of U.S. law to kill and injure Palestinian civilians, destroy Palestinian civilian infrastructure, blockade the Gaza Strip, and build illegal settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem.

How much of this total will your community provide?  Is this a good use of your tax dollars? What else could your taxes be used for in your community?

Find out on the interactive map below.

Full Story US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation : How Much Military Aid to Israel?.

Netanyahu: Israel Open To Peace Talks With Syria

Israel’s prime minister attempted to end a war of words with Syria on Sunday, saying his country is open to peace talks with its longtime enemy.

Israeli and Syrian officials have traded threats over the past week, raising concerns of an escalation between two countries that have officially been at war for more than 60 years.

Israel desires peace agreements with “all of its neighbors,” Netanyahu told his weekly Cabinet meeting.

Full Story Netanyahu: Israel Open To Peace Talks With Syria.

HRW says Israel ‘failed’ to probe Gaza war crimes

Human Rights Watch said on Sunday that Israel has failed to properly investigate alleged crimes committed during last winter’s devastating Gaza war as demanded by the United Nations.

“Israel claims it is conducting credible and impartial investigations, but it has so far failed to make that case,” said Joe Stork, HRW’s New York-based group’s deputy director for the Middle East.

“An independent investigation is crucial to understand why so many civilians died and to bring justice for the victims of unlawful attacks,” Stork said in a statement.

About 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the 22-day onslaught launched by Israel on December 27, 2008, aimed at halting rocket attacks from the Islamist Hamas-ruled enclave. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the fighting.

Full Story AFP: HRW says Israel ‘failed’ to probe Gaza war crimes.

Blasts kill 32 at height of Iraq Shiite pilgrimage

A twin car bombing Friday targeted a crowd of Shiite pilgrims packing a highway as they walked to a holy city south of Baghdad for a major religious ceremony, killing at least 32 and wounding 154 people, Iraqi ministry officials said.

It was the third deadly bombing this week hitting the ceremony in which hundreds of thousands of Shiites have been converging on the city of Karbala. Friday’s attack struck during the culmination of the pilgrimage.

This week’s violence took place as Iraqi politicians argued over an effort to bar hundreds of candidates from running in the March 7 parliamentary elections because of suspected ties to Saddam Hussein’s regime. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday he would not allow the U.S. ambassador to meddle in the dispute, which Washington fears could frustrate Sunni-Shiite reconciliation.

Full Story Blasts kill 32 at height of Iraq Shiite pilgrimage.

Prof. Francis Boyle: Israel Is Committing Genocide

`What we’re seeing in Gaza now, is pretty much slow-motion genocide against the 1.5 million Palestinians who live in Gaza…. If you read the 1948 Genocide Convention, it clearly says that one instance of genocide is the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of a people in whole or in part,” stated Francis A. Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois in Champaign. “And that’s exactly what has been done to Gaza, since the imposition of the blockade by Israel; then the massacre of 1,400 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom were civilians, in Operation Cast Lead. And that also raises the element in the Genocide Convention, of murder, torture, and things of that nature.”

Boyle spoke to {EIR} on Jan. 15, 2010, giving his assessment of Gaza, one year after the Israeli attacks. He stressed that he was speaking only for himself.

While the Israelis stopped the artillery bombardment and air strikes just before the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, the deaths of Palestinians continue–from lack of medicines, infrastructure, clean water, and everything else that the world community–as shown in emergency aid to Haiti–{knows} is necessary to sustain human life.

Full Story Scoop: Prof. Francis Boyle: Israel Is Committing Genocide.

Israel feels under siege. Like a victim. An underdog

Anyone who is anyone in Israel will come to Herzliya this week for a conference about the state of the Jewish nation. Our correspondent joined them and found a climate of unprecedented insecurity – and paranoia

So the propaganda war is on. Forget Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the 15,000 Lebanese and Palestinian dead. Forget the Sabra and Shatila massacre that same year by Israel’s militia allies as their troops watched. Erase the Qana massacre of 1996 – 106 Lebanese killed by Israeli shellfire, more than half of them children – and delete the 1,500 in the 2006 Lebanon war. And forget, of course, the more than 1,300 Palestinians slaughtered by Israel in Gaza last year (and the 13 Israelis killed by Hamas at that time) after Hamas rockets fell on Sderot. Israel – if you believe the security elite of Israel’s right wing here in Herzliya – is now under an even more dangerous, near-unprecedented attack.

Britain – this came yesterday from Israel’s ambassador in London, no less – is “a battlefield” in which Israel’s enemies wish to “de-legitimise” the 62-year-old Jewish state.

Even Israel’s erstwhile friend, that fine Jewish judge Richard Goldstone, is now, in the words of one of Israel’s staunchest American-Jewish supporters, Al Dershowitz, an “absolute traitor to the Jewish people” and “an evil, evil man”. (Headlines for this, of course, in Israel yesterday.)

Full Story Robert Fisk: Israel feels under siege. Like a victim. An underdog – Robert Fisk, Commentators – The Independent.

A misreading of Iran that risks a fatal replay of Iraq

There is no evidence at all that Iran colluded with al-Qaida

Since its misfired election last June, Iran increasingly resembles a curled-up hedgehog: preoccupied with its own difficulties, while projecting general hostility to the outside world. I only hope the impression of introversion is true, because Tehran has been the target of some deeply misguided words, and perhaps also deeds, in recent days. Just now, it would be better if Iran were not listening.

From Washington come reports that the US is sending Patriot missiles to the Gulf States, and keeping two warships in the region capable of shooting down Iranian missiles. Now Patriots are neither state-of-the-art nor offensive weapons and deploying two warships is hardly the most aggressive stance a superpower can take. But the deployments – or their threat, it is not entirely clear which – hardly send a friendly message, especially not as “spun” to the US media. They speak of contingency planning and expecting the worst.

Full Story Mary Dejevsky: A misreading of Iran that risks a fatal replay of Iraq – Mary Dejevsky, Commentators – The Independent.

Afghan ‘Geological Reserves Worth a Trillion Dollars’

Karzai exclaims ‘very good news for Afghans’, but perhaps history tells us that regular Afghans should be very cautious of such news

Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries, is sitting on mineral and petroleum reserves worth an estimated one trillion dollars, President Hamid Karzai said Sunday.

The war-ravaged nation could become one of the richest in the world if helped to tap its geological deposits, Karzai told reporters.

“I have very good news for Afghans,” Karzai said.

“The initial figures we have obtained show that our mineral deposits are worth a thousand billion dollars — not a thousand million dollars but a thousand billion,” he said.

Full Story Afghan ‘Geological Reserves Worth a Trillion Dollars’ | CommonDreams.org.

OPS: Here’s why we are in Afghanistan.  We want to steal their resources

Why does the US turn a blind eye to Israeli bulldozers?

Robert Fisk:

Most of the West Bank is under rule which amounts to apartheid by paper

“Palestine” is no more. Call it a “peace process” or a “road map”; blame it on Barack Obama’s weakness, his pathetic, childish admission – like an optimistic doctor returning a sick child to its parents without hope of recovery – that a Middle East peace was “more difficult” to reach than he imagined.

But the dream of a “two-state” Israeli-Palestinian solution, a security-drenched but noble settlement to decades of warfare between Israelis and Palestinians is as good as dead.

Full Story Robert Fisk: Why does the US turn a blind eye to Israeli bulldozers? – Robert Fisk, Commentators – The Independent.

OPS:  Because AIPAC is funding Congress?

Obama owned!

He didn’t expect this question!

Obama Ignores Key Afghan Warning

Nothing highlights President Barack Obama’s abject surrender to Gen. David Petraeus on the “way forward” in Afghanistan more than two cables U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry sent to Washington on Nov. 6 and 9, 2009, the texts of which were released by the New York Times.

Ray McGovern

No longer is it possible to suggest that Obama was totally deprived of good counsel on Afghanistan; Eikenberry got it largely right.

Sadly, the inevitable conclusion is that, although Obama is not as dumb as his predecessor, he is no less willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for political gain.

Ambassador Eikenberry, a retired Army Lt. General who served three years in Afghanistan over the course of two separate tours of duty, was responsible during 2002-2003 for rebuilding Afghan security forces. He then served 18 months (2005-2007) as commander of all U.S. forces stationed in the country.

Full Story Consortiumnews.com.

Israel Jails Palestinian Peace Activists

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

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

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

Full Story MIDEAST: Israel Jails Palestinian Peace Activists – IPS ipsnews.net.

Israeli Threats Against Gaza Grow

Israel’s hawks are starting to make frightening noises.

If Israel attacks Gaza again, Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant will run the operation. Galant recently said that right now “the sun is shining – but one can see dark clouds in the distance.” His soldiers are training to face trouble ahead, and “civilians are rightly preparing themselves for another round of fighting.”

A few days later, Galant’s predecessor, Maj. Gen. Yom Tov Samia (who still heads the reserves who would invade Gaza), sounded even more ominous: “We are before another round in Gaza,” he predicted. “I am very skeptical about the possibility that Hamas will suddenly surrender or change its ways without being hit much more seriously than it was during Cast Lead.” Israel must carry out “a more focused strike with long-lasting results.”

Full Story t r u t h o u t | Israeli Threats Against Gaza Grow.

Israelis reject George Mitchell loan guarantee ‘threat’

Israeli officials have shrugged off a suggestion that the US could withhold loan guarantees to pressure Israel over the Middle East peace process.

The finance minister said Israel did not need the guarantees, while the prime minister accused the Palestinians of holding up peace negotiations.

US envoy George Mitchell said this week the US could withhold loan guarantees to extract concessions from Israel.

The guarantees allow Israel to raise money cheaply overseas.

‘Doing fine’

Full Story BBC News – Israelis reject George Mitchell loan guarantee ‘threat’.

Blackwater wants $1 billion to train the new Afghan police force

That’s right. $1 billion:

Blackwater Worldwide’s legal woes haven’t dimmed the company’s prospects in Afghanistan, where it’s a contender to be a key part of President Barack Obama’s strategy for stabilizing the country.

Now called Xe Services, the company is in the running for a Pentagon contract potentially worth $1 billion to train Afghanistan’s troubled national police force. Xe has been shifting to training, aviation and logistics work after its security guards were accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians more than two years ago.

Yet even with a new name and focus, the expanded role would seem an unlikely one for Xe because Democrats have held such a negative opinion of the company following the Iraqi deaths, which are still reverberating in Baghdad and Washington.

Blackwater was basically kicked out of Iraq for wantonly killing civilians in Baghdad while providing “security” for the State Department in 2007. Even though a US court failed to bring them to justice, Iraq is still pursuing the case and has so little trust in Blackwater or the people it hires that the government has explicitly said former Blackwater employees are not welcome in the country.

Full Story The Seminal » Blackwater wants $1 billion to train the new Afghan police force.

Iraq to sue Israel over destroyed reactor

An Iraqi parliament member said Tuesday that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki plans to sue Israel for damages done to his country following its destruction of the Tammuz nuclear reactor.

The Air Force bombed the site in 1981. Now, 29 years later, al-Maliki has instructed the Foreign Ministry in Baghdad to clarify with the UN whether it would be possible to extract compensation from Israel.

An Iraqi source told the German DPA that MP Mohammad Naji said UN Resolution 487, approved after the strike, allowed his country to sue Israel.

“Al-Maliki’s appeal follows an answer received from the UN Secretariat by the government of Iraq on November 25, which says Iraq has a right to demand compensation for the damage Israel did to it with the attack on the reactor, through a neutral committee which will assess the extent of the damage,” the report says.

Full Story Iraq to sue Israel over destroyed reactor – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Israel’s 10 worst errors of the decade

- Haaretz -

In the Mideast, dreams can only end badly. Not because messianic messages are, in and of themselves, bad dreams, but because of the nature of this place, the history which is as much imagination as it is record, as much sacred hallucination as it is shared memory. And because the dreamers of this place fail again and again because they are under the illusion that they are realists.

The decade just passing is one in which Middle East dreams came to die. It began, appropriately, with an Israeli leader who saw his place in history as dependent on imposing a peace plan on the entire Arab world, and a Palestinian icon who saw his place in history as dependent on saying no.

In no decade of the modern Middle East has the roll of failure been so democratic. The titans Arafat and Sharon fought their battle to the death, and both lost. Bill Clinton, Ehud Barak, Hassan Nasrallah, Ahmed Yassin, hilltop youth, Al Aqsa Martyrs, Yossi Beilin, the Yesha Council, even Jimmy Carter – all dreamed Icarus dreams and realized, only too late, that in the brilliant sun of the Holy Land, wings of feathers and wax reveal their true selves, which is to say, nothing more than feathers and wax.

It was a decade framed by a fundamentalist Palestinian belief in salvation through suicide and a fundamentalist Israeli belief in salvation through brutality.

Full Story Israel’s 10 worst errors of the decade – Haaretz – Israel News.

Israeli court orders opening of segregated road

Rights campaigners were last night celebrating the end of “Apartheid Road” after Israel’s supreme court ordered the military to open up to Palestinians a major highway that cuts through the West Bank, rather than reserving it exclusively for Israelis.

Ending two years of legal sparring between the military and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), which challenged the ban on behalf of six Palestinian villages, the court ruled that the Army had not taken into account the harm to the daily lives of the Palestinians caused by the closure.

ACRI spokeswoman Melanie Takefman said the ruling was “a huge victory” and one that could impact on other road closures. “We hope this will be the end of the segregated roads,” she said.

Full Story Israeli court orders opening of segregated road – World – NZ Herald News.

Setback for Israeli housing plan

Israel announced yesterday that it is building nearly 700 new apartments for Jews in east Jerusalem, where Palestinians hope to set up the capital of a future state.

The United States, Palestinians and the European Union condemned the plan, a fresh setback to American efforts to restart Mideast peace talks.

The Palestinians have said they will not resume talks without an Israeli settlement freeze, and criticised what they said was another show of bad faith by Israel.

“With each individual action it undertakes on the ground, Israel is saying no to meaningful negotiations,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

President Barack Obama’s Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, who is trying to find a formula for reviving negotiations, is due in Israel and the West Bank in the second week of January.

Full Story Setback for Israeli housing plan – World – NZ Herald News.

The Iranian Nuke Forgeries

CIA Determines Documents Were Fabricated

U.S. intelligence has concluded that the document published recently by the Times of London, which purportedly describes an Iranian plan to do experiments on what the newspaper described as a “neutron initiator” for an atomic weapon, is a fabrication, according to a former Central Intelligence Agency official.

Philip Giraldi, who was a CIA counterterrorism official from 1976 to 1992, told me that intelligence sources say that the United States had nothing to do with forging the document, and that Israel is the primary suspect. The sources do not rule out a British role in the fabrication, however.

The Times of London story published Dec. 14 did not identify the source of the document. But it quoted “an Asian intelligence source” – a term some news media have used for Israeli intelligence officials – as confirming that his government believes Iran was working on a neutron initiator as recently as 2007.

The story of the purported Iranian document prompted a new round of expressions of U.S. and European support for tougher sanctions against Iran and reminders of Israel's threats to attack Iranian nuclear programme targets if diplomacy fails.

Full Story Gareth Porter: The Iranian Nuke Forgeries.

White House opposes new Jerusalem-area construction

The White House called on Monday for Israel to halt construction of new homes for Jews in East Jerusalem and urged Israel and the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.

“The United States opposes new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

Israel announced plans earlier on Monday to build nearly 700 new homes for Jews in areas of the occupied West Bank it considers part of Jerusalem, a city it has excluded from a limited moratorium on settlement construction.

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the plan, saying new building on territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war was illegal.

“Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally preempt, or appear to preempt, negotiations. Rather, both parties should return to negotiations without preconditions as soon as possible,” Gibbs said.

Full Story White House opposes new Jerusalem-area construction | Reuters.

Afghan civilian casualties up 10 percent: UN

The war in Afghanistan is becoming deadlier, killing 10 percent more civilians during the first 10 months of 2009 compared to the previous period last year, according to UN figures.

Figures released to AFP by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) show civilian deaths in the first 10 months of 2009 at 2,038, up from 1,838 for the same period of 2008 — an increase of 10.8 percent.

The figures show that the vast majority, or 1,404 civilians, were killed by insurgents, who are fighting for the overthrow of the government of President Hamid Karzai and to eject Western troops.

UNAMA said that 468 deaths were caused by pro-government forces, including NATO and US-led forces, and 166 by “other actors”.

Full Story Afghan civilian casualties up 10 percent: UN – Yahoo! News.

OPS:  SO, how many more suicide bombers will this create? How many more Al Qaeda recruits

Israel summons envoys from all over the world

Israel’s ambassadors and consuls generals from all over the world have been summoned to attend a conference to be held over global challenges facing Israel.

The meeting to be attended in Jerusalem Al-Quds on December 27-31 is hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the ministry reported on its website.

“The idea is to facilitate direct dialogue with the country’s leaders, mutual updates on major diplomatic issues, and a discussion of action plans to deal with the challenges awaiting Israel in the international arena in the coming year, including the Iranian threat,” it said.

Full Story Israel summons envoys from all over the world.

McClatchy blog: Checkpoint Kabul

For a good example of how difficult it will be for the US military to regain the momentum in Afghanistan, check out this graphic on the military counterinsurgency (aka COIN) strategy.

The graphic from the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff looks like a tangled ball of multicolored yarn, or perhaps it is the military’s depiction of the all-powerful, all-knowing Flying Spaghetti Monster…

Whatever the case, it documents the complex relationships between Tribal leaders, soldiers, aid workers, drug dealers, militants, ethnic groups, government leaders, etc.

“For some military commanders, the slide is genius,” wrote NBC’s Richard Engel, “an attempt to show how all things in war – from media bias to ethnic/tribal rivalries – are interconnected and must be taken into consideration. It represents a new approach to war fighting, looking beyond simply killing enemy fighters. It underscores what those fighting wars have long known, that everything matters.”

Full Story McClatchy blog: Checkpoint Kabul.

Gaza must be rebuilt now

Jimmy Carter

We can wait no longer to restart the peace process. The human suffering demands urgent relief

It is generally recognised that the Middle East peace process is in the doldrums, almost moribund. Israeli settlement expansion within Palestine continues, and PLO leaders refuse to join in renewed peace talks without a settlement freeze, knowing that no Arab or Islamic nation will accept any comprehensive agreement while Israel retains control of East Jerusalem.

US objections have impeded Egyptian efforts to resolve differences between Hamas and Fatah that could lead to 2010 elections. With this stalemate, PLO leaders have decided that President Mahmoud Abbas will continue in power until elections can be held – a decision condemned by many Palestinians.

Even though Syria and Israel under the Olmert government had almost reached an agreement with Turkey’s help, the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, rejects Turkey as a mediator on the Golan Heights. No apparent alternative is in the offing.

Full Story Gaza must be rebuilt now | Jimmy Carter | Comment is free | The Guardian.

Iran Test-Fires Its Most Advanced Missile

Iran on Wednesday test-fired an upgraded version of its most advanced missile, which is capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe, in a new show of strength aimed at preventing any military strike against it amid the nuclear standoff with the West.

The test stoked tensions between Iran and the West, which is pressing Tehran to rein in its nuclear program. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it showed the need for tougher U.N. sanctions on Iran.

“This is a matter of serious concern to the international community and it does make the case for us moving further on sanctions. We will treat this with the seriousness it deserves,” Brown said after talks with U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon in Copenhagen.

Full Story Iran Test-Fires Its Most Advanced Missile.

The Magnificent Afghanistan

The Afghan Rag

YouTube – The Magnificent Afghanistan by Johnny Punish.

People Speak tells extraordinary works of “ordinary people”

For many people, history class was a lesson in keeping one's eyes open. Or as writer Anthony Arnove puts it: “It was rote recitation of facts, military battles, great people elevated in society… It had nothing to do with me and my experience.”

He is among a group of people hoping to change that. Arnove, partnering with famed historian and author Howard Zinn, are behind “The People Speak,” a documentary which depicts pivotal moments in American history from ordinary people. Bringing it to life are a host of noted musicians and actors, including Viggo Mortensen, Bruce Springsteen, Danny Glover, Marisa Tomei and Matt Damon, one of the producers of the film.

“The People Speak,” which airs Sunday night on The History Channel, was based on Zinn’s books, “A People’s History of the United States” and “Voices of a People’s History of the United States,” the latter co-written with Arnove.

Full Story People Speak tells extraordinary works of “ordinary people”  | ajc.com.

Hellen Thomas: This sure seems like Vietnam

President Barack Obama insists that his decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending in 30,000 more troops is not Vietnam all over again.

Well, it sure reminds me of the perils and the price of that unwinnable war and the political chaos it wreaked at home.

In Afghanistan, the designated enemies are remnants of the weakened al-Qaida network and the native Taliban, which has been growing in strength despite the eight-year war started by President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 catastrophe.

Obama is too young to remember the national turmoil during the Vietnam War that resulted in the deaths of more than 58,000 Americans and thousands of Vietnamese. That war also ended the political career of President Lyndon Johnson, who decided not to seek re-election in 1968.

In his remarks Tuesday, Obama rejected any comparison between Afghanistan and Vietnam, calling it “a false reading of history.” He claimed that the U.S. effort in Afghanistan is supported by “a broad coalition of 43 nations,” that “unlike Vietnam, we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency” and, unlike Vietnam, “the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan.”

Well, yes and no.

Full Story Albany, N.Y.: Timesunion.com – Print Story.

Report: Situation for Afghan women may ‘deterioriate’ as war is escalated.

Yesterday, the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a new 96-page report titled “We Have the Promises of the World: Women’s Rights in Afghanistan,” which documents the poor state of women’s rights in Afghanistan. As The Guardian notes, the report concludes that the “plight of women in Afghanistan risks deteriorating further” as the U.S. and its allies prepare to ramp up their forces in the country:

The already dire plight of women in Afghanistan risks deteriorating further as the US and its allies take steps to turn around the war against the Taliban, according to a report by Human Rights Watch today.

Eight years after the Taliban were ousted from power, rapists are often protected from prosecution, women can still be arrested for running away from home, and girls have far less access to schools than boys, the report says. [...]

Full Story Think Progress » Report: Situation for Afghan women may ‘deterioriate’ as war is escalated..