Humanitarian Issues

[ninathedog]

U.S. mulling "appropriate actions" on
Libya crackdown

Reuters
WASHINGTON | Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:20pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is weighing "all appropriate actions" in response to Libya's violent crackdown on protesters and is analyzing a televised address by the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to see if there are prospects for meaningful reform, a U.S. official said on Sunday.

President Barack Obama was being briefing regularly on fast-moving developments in Libya, and his administration will seek "clarification" from senior Libyan officials as it presses for an end to violence against peaceful demonstrators, the official said.

The latest U.S. pressure came after unrest against Gaddafi's rule spread to the capital, Tripoli, and his son, Saif al-Islam, vowed to fight until the "last man standing" after scores of protesters were killed in the east of the country.

He said in an address on state TV that the army stood behind his father as a "leader of the battle in Tripoli" and would enforce security at any price.

Saif al-Islam also said the General People's Congress, Libya's equivalent of a parliament, would convene Monday to discuss a "clear" reform agenda.

"We are analyzing the speech ... to see what possibilities it contains for meaningful reform," the U.S. official said.

Without specifying the kinds of measures that might be at Washington's disposal, the official also said: "We are considering all appropriate actions."

Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, editing by Chris Wilson

www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/21/us-libya-usa-idUSTRE71K0DH20110221

Feb 20, 2011 23:38:23 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

Libya unrest:
Scores killed in Benghazi 'massacre'

20 February 2011 Last updated at 13:07 ET
BBC.com

video clip (follow link at end of article to originating source)
Doctor 'Braikah' in Benghazi describes 'a massacre' (Amateur video with this interview purportedly shows recent unrest in several parts of Libya)

Details have emerged of huge casualty figures in the Libyan city of Benghazi, where troops have launched a brutal crackdown on protesters.

More than 200 people are known to have died, doctors say, with 900 injured.

The most bloody attacks were reported over the weekend, as funeral marches were said to have come under machine-gun and heavy weapons fire.

One doctor, speaking amid the sound of fresh gunfire on Sunday, told the BBC that "a real massacre" had happened.

Human Rights Watch says at least 173 people have been killed in Libya since demonstrations began on Wednesday.

Benghazi, the country's second city, has been a leading focus of protests against four decades of rule by Col Muammar Gaddafi.

During a phone conversation with Col Gaddafi's son, Saif Gaddafi, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague spoke of London's "grave concern" at the escalation of violence, a statement said.

Libya's actions were "unacceptable and would result in worldwide condemnation", Mr Hague said.

France was "extemely worried" by events in Libya, Minister for European Affairs Laurent Wauquiez said, criticising Tripoli for a "totally disproportionate" use of force.

'Tense and scary'

In a rare public admission of the unrest in Benghazi, Libyan state TV said on Sunday that an "armed people's base" in the city had come under attack and had its walls breached.

That news emerged as anti-Gaddafi activists on Twitter reported that a barracks in Benghazi had "fallen". There was no way to confirm that report.

Libya is one of several countries in the region to have seen pro-democracy campaigns since the fall of long-time Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January. Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was forced from power on 11 February.

BBC Middle East correspondent Jon Leyne says the unrest in Libya is the most serious challenge yet to Col Gaddafi.

Reports are difficult to verify as the Libyan authorities have imposed severe media restrictions.

Foreign media are largely absent from the country and internet traffic from Libya has been throttled in recent days, web analysts report.

Libyan activists opposed to Col Gaddafi, as well as Libyans operating from outside the country, are using social networks Twitter and Facebook and video-sharing site YouTube to share information and images of the protests.

But much of their information is extremely difficult to verify. Activists say they are reluctant to provide specific details of new protest locations in case security forces decide to attack their rallies.

Reports are beginning to emerge of protests in the capital, Tripoli, but information is scarce and difficult to confirm.

One woman, Sara Radwan, told the BBC the situation in the city was "very tense and very scary".

"Tripoli is very important, it's got people from all over Libya. Everybody's watching and waiting. Gaddafi makes us sick. This is a war," she said.

'Stop the massacre'

The doctor in Benghazi, known as Braikah, described to the BBC how casualties had been brought to the city's Jala hospital - most of them with gunshot wounds.

"Ninety per cent of these gunshot wounds [were] mainly in the head, the neck, the chest, mainly in the heart," she said.

She said the Jala hospital mortuary had 208 bodies and another hospital had 12. However, it is not clear whether all of these bodies stem from Saturday's violence.

Another doctor told the Associated Press news agency of similar numbers of bodies, but said they had been taken to the morgue since the violence began earlier in the week.

As Brayka spoke to the BBC she said new gunfire was audible within Benghazi, alleging that security forces were firing on crowds of people attempting to bury some of those killed in recent days.

Her account could not be confirmed, but many of Saturday's deaths are thought to have happened in the same way.

The violence escalated on Saturday, when a funeral procession for victims of previous clashes made its way past a major security compound.

Witnesses said troops used machine-guns, mortars, large-calibre weapons, and even a missile, against the mourners.

Opposition supporters said the attack was unprovoked, although security sources suggested some protesters threw firebombs at the compound.

Some described scenes of chaos as army snipers shot from the roofs of buildings and demonstrators fought back against troops on the ground.

The doctor told the BBC that some Benghazi residents had been shot outside their homes by neighbourhood militias and bodies had been dumped on the street.

The Dubai-based Kalam institute has issued an appeal on behalf of a group of religious and clan leaders from across Libya, urging "every Muslim, within the regime" or anyone helping it [the regime]: "Do NOT kill your brothers and sisters, STOP the massacre NOW!"

Most of Benghazi is said to be controlled by anti-government protesters.

There have also been reports of anti-government protests in other eastern cities, including al-Bayda and Dernah, as well as Misrata further west, about 200km (125 miles) from the capital Tripoli.

Austria announced on Sunday that it was sending a military plane to Malta to prepare for the evacuation of Austrian and other EU nationals from Libya or other Arab countries.

Are you in Libya? Have you witnessed the protests? Send us your comments and experiences using the form below.

Send your pictures and videos to [e-mail] or text them to 61124 (UK) or [phone] (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12517327

[ninathedog]

Gadhafi's son warns of
civil war in Libya

By Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press – 20 mins ago

CAIRO – After anti-government unrest spread to the Libyan capital of Tripoli and protesters seized military bases and weapons Sunday, Moammar Gadhafi's son went on state television to proclaim that his father remained in charge with the army's backing and would "fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet."

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, in the regime's first comments on the six days of demonstrations, warned the protesters that they risked igniting a civil war in which Libya's oil wealth "will be burned."

The speech followed a fierce crackdown by security forces who fired on thousands of demonstrators and funeral marchers in the eastern city of Benghazi in a bloody cycle of violence that killed 60 people on Sunday alone, according to a doctor in one city hospital. Since the six days of unrest began, more than 200 people have been killed, according to medical officials, human rights groups and exiled dissidents.

Libya response has been the harshest of any Arab country that has been wracked by the protests that toppled long-serving leaders in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt. But Gadhafi's son said his father would prevail.

"We are not Tunisia and Egypt," he said. "Moammar Gadhafi, our leader, is leading the battle in Tripoli, and we are with him.

"The armed forces are with him. Tens of thousands are heading here to be with him. We will fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet," he said in a rambling and sometimes confused speech of nearly 40 minutes.

Although the elder Gadhafi did not appear, his son has often been put forward as the regime's face of reform.

Western countries have expressed concern at the rising violence against demonstrators in Libya. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he spoke to Seif al-Islam by phone and told him that the country must embark on "dialogue and implement reforms," the Foreign Office said.

In his speech, the younger Gadhafi conceded the army made some mistakes during the protests because the troops were not trained to deal with demonstrators, but he added that the number of dead had been exaggerated, giving a death toll of 84.

He offered to put forward reforms within days that he described as a "historic national initiative" and said the regime was willing to remove some restrictions and begin discussions for a constitution. He offered to change a number of laws, including those covering the media and the penal code.

Dressed in a dark business suit and tie, Seif al-Islam wagged his finger frequently as he delivered his warnings. He said that if protests continued, Libya would slide back to "colonial" rule. "You will get Americans and European fleets coming your way and they will occupy you.

He threatened to "eradicate the pockets of sedition" and said the army will play a main role in restoring order.

"There has to be a firm stand," he said. "This is not the Tunisian or Egyptian army."

Protesters had seized some military bases, tanks and other weapons, he said, blaming Islamists, the media, thugs, drunks and drug abusers, foreigners — including Egyptians and Tunisians.

He also admitted that the unrest had spread to Tripoli, with people firing in central Green Square before fleeing.

The rebellion by Libyans frustrated with Gadhafi's more than 40 years of authoritarian rule has spread to more than a half-dozen eastern cities — but also to Tripoli, where secret police were heavily deployed on the streets of the city of 2 million.

Armed security forces were seen on rooftops surrounding central Green Square, a witness said by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. The witness added that a group of about 200 lawyers and judges were protesting inside a Tripoli courthouse, which was also surrounded by security forces.

An exiled opposition leader in Cairo said hundreds of protesters were near the Bab al-Aziziya military camp where Gadhafi lives on Tripoli's outskirts of Tripoli. Faiz Jibril said his contacts inside Libya were also reporting that hundreds of protesters had gathered in another downtown plaza, Martyrs Square.

In other setbacks for Gadhafi's regime, a major tribe in Libya was reported to have turned against him and Libya's representative to the Arab League said he resigned his post to protest the government's decision to fire on defiant demonstrators in Benghazi, the second-largest city.

Khaled Abu Bakr, a resident of Sabratha, an ancient Roman city to the west, said protesters besieged the local security headquarters, driving out police and setting it on fire. Abu Bakr said residents are in charge, have set up neighborhood committees to secure their city.

The Internet has been largely shut down, residents can no longer make international calls from land lines and journalists cannot work freely, but eyewitness reports trickling out of the country suggested that protesters were fighting back more forcefully against the Middle East's longest-serving leader.

"We are not afraid. We won't turn back," said a teacher who identified herself only as Omneya. She said she was marching at the end of the funeral procession on a highway beside the Mediterranean and heard gunfire from two kilometers (just over a mile) away.

"If we don't continue, this vile man would crush us with his tanks and bulldozers. If we don't, we won't ever be free," she said.

Benghazi is "in a state of war," said Mohamed Abdul-Rahman, a 42-year-old merchant who described how some protesters burned a police headquarters.

Protesters throwing firebombs and stones got on bulldozers and tried to storm a presidential compound from which troops had fired on the marchers, who included those carrying coffins of the dead from Saturday's unrest in the eastern city, a witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears of reprisal. The attempt was repulsed by armed forces in the compound, according to the witness and the official JANA news agency, which said a number of attackers and solders were killed.

Later, however, a Benghazi resident said he received a telephone text message that an army battalion that appeared to be sympathetic to the demonstrators and led by a local officer was arriving to take over control of the compound, and urging civilians to get out of the way.

Abdul-Rahman, the local merchant, said he saw the battalion chase the pro-Gadhafi militia out of the compound.

In another key blow to Gadhafi, the Warfla tribe — the largest in Libya, has announced it is joining the protests, said Switzerland-based Libyan exile Fathi al-Warfali. Although it had longstanding animosity toward the Libyan leader, it had been neutral for most of the past two decades.

Gadhafi has been trying to bring his country out of isolation, announcing in 2003 that he was abandoning his program for weapons of mass destruction, renouncing terrorism and compensating victims of the 1986 La Belle disco bombing in Berlin and the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Those decisions opened the door for warmer relations with the West and the lifting of U.N. and U.S. sanctions. But Gadhafi continues to face allegations of human rights violations. Gadhafi has his own vast oil wealth and his response to protesters is less constrained by any alliances with the West than Egypt or Bahrain, both important U.S. allies.

A doctor at one Benghazi hospital where many of the casualties were taken said 60 people were killed Sunday. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said 173 people died — mostly in Benghazi — in three days of unrest from Thursday through Saturday. A Switzerland-based Libyan activist said 11 people were killed in the city of Beyida on Wednesday. A precise count of the dead has been difficult because of Libya's tight restrictions on reporting.

The Benghazi doctor said his facility is out of supplies to treat the wounded. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. He said his hospital treats most of the emergency cases in the city.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the Obama administration was "very concerned" about reports that Libyan security forces had fired on peaceful protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi.

"We've condemned that violence," Rice told "Meet the Press" on NBC. "Our view is that in Libya, as throughout the region, peaceful protests need to be respected."

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement Sunday that the U.S. has raised strong objections with Foreign Minister Musa Kusa and other Libyan officials about the use of lethal force against demonstrators.

In Cairo, Libya's Arab League representative Abdel-Monem al-Houni said he told the Foreign Ministry in Tripoli that he had "resigned from all his duties and joined the popular revolution."

"As a Libyan citizen, I absolutely cannot be quiet about these crimes," he said, adding that he had renounced all links to the regime because of "my complete devotion to my people."

Al-Houni was part of the group that carried out the coup in 1969 that brought Gadhafi to power. He later fell out with him, but they reconciled in 2000. Gadhafi then named him to the Arab League post.

The Benghazi violence followed the same pattern as the Saturday crackdown, when witnesses said forces loyal to Gadhafi attacked mourners at a funeral for anti-government protesters. They were burying 35 marchers who were slain Friday by government forces.

Sunday's defiant mourners chanted: "The people demand the removal of the regime," which became a mantra for protesters in Egypt and Tunisia.

Hatred of Gadhafi's rule has grown in Benghazi in the past two decades. Anger has focused on the shooting deaths of about 1,200 inmates — most of them political prisoners — during prison riots in 1996.

Libya has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa with 44 billion barrels as of January 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, but it's still a relatively small player compared with other OPEC members.

In January, OPEC said Libya produced 1.57 million barrels of oil per day. That puts it behind Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Venezuela, Nigeria and Angola.

One major U.S. company that could be affected by unrest in Libya is Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. Occidental says it was the first to resume operations in the country after the U.S. began to lift sanctions in 2004. Last year, Occidental produced 13,000 barrels of oil, gas and liquids per day in Libya.

In other sites of recent unrest, Yemen's embattled president offered Sunday to oversee a dialogue between the ruling party and the opposition to defuse the standoff with protesters demanding his ouster.

The offer by the U.S.-backed Ali Abdullah Saleh — which opposition groups swiftly rejected — came as protests calling for his ouster continued in at least four cities around the country for the 11th straight day. A 17-year-old demonstrator was killed Sunday in the port of Aden when the army opened fire to disperse a march there, bringing the death toll to nine since the protests began.

___

Associated Press writers Salah Nasrawi in Cairo, Energy Writer Chris Kahn in New York, Douglas Birch in Washington and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, Belgium, contributed to this report.


news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_re_af/af_libya_protests

[ninathedog]

[OccupationNews] Digest Number 1300


Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:03 pm (PST)


***Occupied Palestine and Israel: News and Articles*

*News*
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
*International Middle East Media Center* <http://imemc. org/>

*Erekat Criticises PA, Calls For Re-examination of Peace Process*
<http://www.imemc. org/article/ 60678>
IMEMC - Sunday February 20, 2011 - 11:05, Following his resignation as
Chief Negotiator for the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Saeb
Erekat has, on Sunday, called for a re-examination of the Palestinian
Authority.

*Settlers Attacks Residents In Hebron & Yatta*
<http://www.imemc. org/article/ 60675>
IMEMC - Saturday February 19, 2011 - 14:54, On Saturday, Israeli
settlers attacked several citizens in the city of Hebron and the nearby
town of Yatta.

*Ma'an News* <http://maannews. net/en/>

*Settlers uproot 270 olive trees near Nablus*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361619>
2/20/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- A mob of extremist settlers stormed
Palestinian farmland and uprooted olive trees near Nablus in the
northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said. Residents of an an
illegal outpost "waged war on olive trees uprooting 270 using chainsaws
and other means," in Duma and Qusra villages, said Ghassan Daghlas, a
Palestinian Authority... .

Mar 22, 2009 21:40:36 GMT 4 @ninathedog said:

edited for relevance>>

*Witnesses: Israel demolishes tents in West Bank village*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361576>
2/20/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces bulldozed dozens of tents
on Sunday, donated by the Palestinian Authority to the residents of
Tana, a village east of the West Bank city of Nablus, locals said. Atif
Hanini -- mayor of nearby town Beit Furik -- said six Israeli army jeeps
accompanied bulldozers to demolish the tents. Hanini said....

*Report: Fayyad offers Hamas Gaza, unity govt*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361582>
2/20/2011 - Khalid Mash'al told the PIC that "new initiatives" were in
store - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Appointed PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has
reportedly offered space in a unity government to Hamas, Agence-France
Presse reported Sunday. Fayyad told the news organization that the move
was aimed at ensuring presidential and legislative elections would go....

*Israeli forces release 3 Gaza fishermen*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361621>
2/20/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces released three Gaza
fishermen on Sunday, detained at sea a day earlier, local sources told
Ma'an. Residents reported that Mustafa Hijazi Lahham, Mahmoud Hasan
Lahham, and Hijazi Hani Lahham went missing after leaving the Khan
Younis harbor early Saturday morning. Relatives feared the men may
have.... Related:3 Gazan fishermen missing
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361555>

*Rafah crossing to open for Gazans to enter Egypt*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361528>
2/20/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Rafah crossing will be open for
Gaza residents to enter Egypt starting on Tuesday, Palestinian crossings
officials said. Around 300 Palestinians will be allowed to cross to
Egypt every day, officials in Gaza said Sunday. Egypt reopened the Rafah
crossing Friday evening for Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return....

*3 Gazan fishermen missing*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361555>
2/20/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Three fishermen from Gaza went missing
Saturday off the coast of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, local
sources told Ma'an. Locals identified the men as Mustafa Hijazi Lahham,
Mahmoud Hasan Lahham, and Hijazi Hani Lahham. They sailed on Saturday
morning from Khan Younis harbor and did not.... Related:Israeli forces
release 3 Gaza fishermen
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361621>

*Brigades say soldier shot on border*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361724>
2/20/2011 - GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The National Resistance Brigades said
Sunday that their militants shot and injured an Israeli soldier on
patrol east of Gaza City. The fighters, from the armed wing of the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said they fired
directly at the patrol and retreated safely. According to a statement... .

*Sources: 3 Egyptian officers kidnapped near Israel border*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361681>
2/20/2011 - EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Unidentified armed men on Sunday
abducted three Egyptian officers patrolling the border with Israel,
Egyptian security sources said. Sources told Ma'an that three officers
serving in Rafah's central security forces were kidnapped near the
barbed wire fence separating Egypt and Israel about three kilometers
south of....

*Israel eyes Iranian navy move with 'gravity'*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361703>
2/20/2011 - JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel views with "gravity" what Iran
says is the "routine" dispatch of two warships to the Mediterranean,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, as the vessels were
expected to pass through the Suez Canal. During his weekly cabinet
meeting, Netanyahu said Israel viewed the movement as an Iranian power
play." Today we....

*11 suffer food poisoning in Beituniya eatery*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361809>
2/20/2011 - RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Eleven people were hospitalized with
food poisoning on Sunday, after eating an organic phosphorus compound
that Ministry of Health officials said was identified in one of the
desserts served at a Beituniya restaurant. The restaurant, south of
Ramallah, was closed,acting Minister of Health Fathi Abu Moghli told
Ma'an....

*Egyptian authorities release Palestinian smuggler*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361804>
2/20/2011 - EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egypt's Ministry of the Interior
released a Palestinian prisoner Sunday, two years after he was arrested
for work in the Gaza-Egypt smuggling tunnels, police said. The freed man
was identified as A'la Bruhum, and was said to have been taken by
security forces to the Rafah....

*Fatah official: UN veto will harm US strategic interests*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361523>
2/20/2011 - BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The US veto of a Palestinian
anti-settlement bid at the UN served America's short-term goals but
would harm its strategic interests, senior Fatah official Mohammad
Shtayyeh said Saturday. The party's Central Committee member told Ma'an
that by torpedoing the UN resolution condemning illegal settlement
building....

*Ghassan Al-Masri: US veto 'diplomatic terrorism'*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361633>
2/20/2011 - NABLUS (Ma'an) -- The US veto of a UN anti-settlement
resolution was "diplomatic terrorism," former PLO spokesman Ghassan
Al-Masri said Sunday. The US on Friday torpedoed a Palestinian bid for a
UN resolution condemning Israel's settlement activity. The other 14
member states of the Security Council voted in favor of the motion....

*In photos: Abbas protests US veto in Ramallah*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361716>
2/20/2011 - MaanImages / Thaer Ganaim, Pool - President Mahmoud Abbas
attends a protest march in the West Bank city of Ramallah on February
18, 2011. Demonstrations broke out across the West Bank when US
President Barack Obama's administration vetoed a UN resolution
condemning Israeli settlements. Abbas pursued the motion despite a last
minute personal appeal from....

*Rallies over 'despicable' Obama UN veto*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361751>
2/20/2011 - RAMALLAH (AFP) -- Around 3,000 Palestinians gathered in the
West Bank on Sunday to protest the US veto that nixed a Security Council
resolution on Israeli settlements. The crowd massed in Ramallah's Manara
Square, a central roundabout in the West Bank city, waving banners and
shouting slogans against the American administration. " Obama, you
despicable.. ..

*Footballers prepare for Olympic qualifier on home soil*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361779>
2/20/2011 - RAMALLAH (AFP) -- The Palestinian national football team is
to play an international qualifier match on its home turf for the first
time ever, Palestinian officials said Sunday."This game will be the
first international game held on Palestinian land as one of the
preliminary qualifying matches for the London Olympics in 2012," said
deputy information. ...

*ElBaradei warns against early Egypt election*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361694>
2/20/2011 - ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) - All the gains of Egypt's revolution
will be lost if elections are held too soon because supporters of ousted
president Hosni Mubarak will get back in power, opposition leader
Mohamed ElBaradei warned on Sunday." If we go too fast, if we organize
elections in four or five months, it will....

*Palestine Note* <http://palestinenot e.com/cs/>

*Mahmoud Abbas should throw the keys of the "Occupation" at the White
House.*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ blogs/archive/ 2011/02/20/ mahmoud-abbas- should-throw- the-keys- of-the-quot- occupation- quot-at-the- white-house. aspx>
Palestine Note 20 Feb 2011 - The message from President Obama and
Secretary Clinton to Mahmoud Abbas and Ramallah leadership is very
clear. Mahmoud Abbas message to the US should also be equally clear.
Mahmoud Abbas should travel to New York address...

*American UN veto surrenders moral high ground in world Democracy push*
<http://palestinenot e.com/blogs/ blogs/archive/ 2011/02/20/ american- un-veto-surrende rs-moral- high-ground- in-world- democracy- push.aspx>
Palestine Note 20 Feb 2011 - American UN veto surrenders moral high
ground in world Democracy push By Ray Hanania The United States
surrendered the moral high ground in the push to bring Democracy to the
Middle East when it vetoed a...

*Aljazeera* <http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/>

*Reports of new protests in Iran*
<http://english. aljazeera. net//news/ middleeast/ 2011/02/20112201 25132363934. html>
AlJazeera 20 Feb 2011 - Security forces clashed with anti-government
protesters and briefly detained the daughter of Iran's former president.

*Confusion over Suez ship crossing*
<http://english. aljazeera. net//news/ middleeast/ 2011/02/20112209 5716697734. html>
AlJazeera 20 Feb 2011 - Iran media says two warships used the waterway
to reach Mediterranean, a claim dismissed by an Egyptian official.

*Karroubi dares Tehran to try him*
<http://english. aljazeera. net//news/ middleeast/ 2011/02/20112205 3957526278. html>
AlJazeera 20 Feb 2011 - Opposition leader, who is currently under house
arrest, says people should get to know the truth.

*Iran frees two German journalists*
<http://english. aljazeera. net//news/ middleeast/ 2011/02/20112206 123551849. html>
AlJazeera 20 Feb 2011 - Foreign minister brings back pair detained for
interviewing son of woman sentenced to death by stoning.

*Palestinian Center for Human Rights* <http://pchrgaza. org/>

*Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory (10 -- 16 February 2011)*
<http://www.pchrgaza .org/portal/ en/index. php?option= com_content& view=article& id=7231:weekly- report-on- israeli-human- rights-violation s-in-the- occupied- palestinian- territory- 10--16-february- 2011&catid= 84:weekly- 2009&Itemid= 183>
Palestinian Center for Human Rights

*Jerusalem Post* <http://jpost. com/>

*Saudis offer Bahrain rulers support against opposition*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=209125& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - As uneasy calm prevails in tiny Gulf
nation, Sunni-led Saudi Arabia tries to keep Bahrain from falling into
Iran's orbit.

*Hezbollah might attack Israeli target to help Iran*
<http://www.jpost. com/Defense/ Article.aspx? ID=209123& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - IDF Northern Command believes regime in
Iran may initiate attack if it feels under pressure due to
anti-government protests.

*McEwan accepts J'lem Prize at opening of Int'l Book Fair*
<http://www.jpost. com/ArtsAndCultu re/Books/ Article.aspx? ID=209120& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - A novel has the power to shape minds on
both sides of a conflict, says author in speech that expresses some
controversial political opinions.

*Iran briefly detains daughter of ex-president Rafsanjani*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=209114& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - Opposition websites say planned rally
squelched by massive security presence; Bahrain's opposition plots
strategy before talks.

*Arad resigns as head of National Security Council*
<http://www.jpost. com/DiplomacyAnd Politics/ Article.aspx? ID=209094& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - Netanyahu adviser says he'll return to
academia after Lieberman nixes his appointment as envoy to London.

*MKs: Lack of security in Gaza perimeter is unacceptable*
<http://www.jpost. com/DiplomacyAnd Politics/ Article.aspx? ID=209087& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - FADC heads to Israeli towns near Gaza,
complaining that Defense Ministry assessments do not meet safety needs.

*The apartheid analogy: Lessons for Israel*
<http://www.jpost. com/Magazine/ Features/ Article.aspx? ID=209082& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - While Israel's democratic constitution is
certainly flawed, only hostile prejudice explains the ever-growing trend
of comparing it with apartheid South Africa.

*Veteran JPost reporter wins award for 'media criticism'*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=209079& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - Khaled Abu Toameh was honored for his
reporting on Palestinian affairs; Caroline Glick receives award for
Latma web site.

*'Hamas sold its spirit, independence to other countries'*
<http://www.jpost. com/VideoArticle s/Video/Article. aspx?ID=209068& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - PA Foreign Affairs minister Riyad Al-Malki
interviewed about upcoming PA elections, the Hamas-Fatah divide, MidEast
protests, the situation in Gaza.

*Khamenei warns against reinstating Pharaohs in Egypt*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=209060& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - Ayatollah says uprisings across Middle
East are "definitely Islamic and should be reinforced;" US is region's
biggest problem.

*'Forces clash with anti-gov't protesters in Iran'*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=209046& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - Reports suggest that thousands of people
pour into streets of Tehran holding signs saying "God is great," "Death
to the dictator."

*PA prime minister offers unity deal to Hamas*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=209039& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - After US veto of UN resolution, Fayyad
says PA "not willing to compromise for a fistful of dollars," will rule
with Hamas as long as ceasefire upheld.

*Gunmen kidnap 3 Egyptian guards near border with Israel*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=209032& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - Egyptian security officials say gunmen
force border guards into vehicles; kidnappings reportedly linked to
death of drug smuggler.

*Iran and Egypt: The story of two uprisings*
<http://www.jpost. com/Magazine/ Features/ Article.aspx? ID=209030& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - The international community's chief goal
for the Middle East should be to curb Iran's tyrannical regime by
exposing its hypocritical reactions to Egypt. If not for its brutality,
Teheran would be experiencing mass demonstrations similar to the ones
they lauded in Egypt.

*PA official: US should be ashamed of veto at UN vote*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=209023& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - Nabil Shaath says vote "proved Israel
isolated internationally and is only protected by US veto"; Erekat: PA
has become inefficient.

*'Israel views Iran ships crossing Suez with utmost gravity'*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=209001& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - Netanyahu tells cabinet that Iran is
trying to "expand its influence in the region"; conflicting reports on
warships passing through canal.

*Erekat says Israel worse burden on US than Iran*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=208999& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - Senior PA official calls for reexamination
of peace negotiations and land transfer, estimates America will not cut
aid to authority.

*'2 Iranian navel vessels begin transit through Suez Canal'*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=208997& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - After conflicting reports, Iranian media
says ships heading towards Syria; Suez Canal official says vessels not
in canal.

*'Opposition plans to shoot at people in Iran protest'*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=208991& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - Iranian pro-gov't news warns that
Iraqi-protest group intends to turn rallies violent, open fire on
demonstrators.

*Egypt: 2 Iranian naval vessels will transit Suez Canal*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=208988& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 20 Feb 2011 - After conflicting reports, Suez Canal
official says vessels due to arrive in Mediterranean on their way to Syria.

*'A happy surprise that gave hope to Palestinians' *
<http://www.jpost. com/DiplomacyAnd Politics/ Article.aspx? ID=208979& R=R1>
Jeruslalem Post 19 Feb 2011 - Israeli Arabs respond to the Egyptian
uprising: "People sent SMSes saying congratulations and writing 'Free
Egypt.'"

*Analysis: Yusuf al-Qaradawi -- a 'man for all seasons'*
<http://www.jpost. com/MiddleEast/ Article.aspx? id=208978& R=R3>
Jeruslalem Post 19 Feb 2011 - Addressing millions in Tahrir, cleric who
has supported suicide bombings in Israel calls for pluralistic democracy
in Egypt.

*Panel to consider applying Israeli law to settlements*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=208959& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 19 Feb 2011 - Removal of military law would make it near
impossible, to impose a freeze on West Bank Jewish construction, approve
construction.

*Aviva Schalit to Netanyahu: Enough is enough*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=208952& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 19 Feb 2011 - Hundreds join captive soldier's parents at
rally in front protest tent near PM's Residence in J'lem to mark Gilad's
1,700th day in captivity.

*Protesters rally at US embassy in TA to slam UNSC veto*
<http://www.jpost. com/NationalNews /Article. aspx?id=208943& R=R2>
Jeruslalem Post 19 Feb 2011 - Demonstrators hold signs reading "stop
US-supported occupation," "Veto settlements, vote justice" following US
veto of anti-settlement vote.

*Ha'aretz Defense page*
<http://haaretz. com/hasen/ pages/LiArt. jhtml?contrassID =1&subContrassID =5&sbSubContrass ID=0>

*Passage of Iran ships through Suez delayed by 48 hours*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/passage- of-iran-ships- through-suez- delayed-by- 48-hours- 1.344661>
Ha'aretz - Israel is following the movement of the warships closely,
although it does not believe the Iranian vessels have hostile intentions
toward Israel.

*Nearly 3,000 Palestinians rally against U.S. veto on settlement
resolution*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/nearly- 3-000-palestinia ns-rally- against-u- s-veto-on- settlement- resolution- 1.344658>
Ha'aretz - Mass demonstration in Ramallah backed by members of Abbas'
Fatah faction; Palestinian PM decries Obama's defense of the veto as
'offensive', offers concessions to Hamas in apparent show of frustration
over U.S. policy.

*Palestinian PM seeking to lure Hamas into unity government*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/palestin ian-pm-seeking- to-lure-hamas- into-unity- government- 1.344612>
Ha'aretz - In appeal to join forces with West Bank-ruling Palestinian
Authority, Salam Fayyad says Hamas can maintain its authority over the
Gaza Strip until elections.

*Egypt: Gunmen kidnapped three guards on border with Israel*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/egypt- gunmen-kidnapped -three-guards- on-border- with-israel- 1.344597>
Ha'aretz - Egyptian security officials say kidnappings may be linked to
shooting death of a suspected drugs smuggler who tried to sneak across
the border into Israel.

*Netanyahu: Iran exploiting unrest to widen its Mideast influence*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/netanyah u-iran-exploitin g-unrest- to-widen- its-mideast- influence- 1.344558>
Ha'aretz - In cabinet meeting, Prime Minister says Israel is taking a
'grave' view of an Iranian plan to send two warships into the
Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.

*Deputy FM: Anti-settlement vote proves UN is a 'rubber stamp' for Arab
nations*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/deputy- fm-anti-settleme nt-vote-proves- un-is-a-rubber- stamp-for- arab-nations- 1.344546>
Ha'aretz - Daniel Ayalon's comment comes as U.S. veto prevents
settlement activity condemnation, with the other 14 Security Council
members voting in its favor.

*Iran says its warships completed Suez Canal crossing*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/iran- says-its- warships- completed- suez-canal- crossing- 1.344542>
Ha'aretz - Iran's state broadcaster says vessels reach Mediterranean,
despite recent reports that the controversial crossing, the first since
1979, would only take place later this week.

*Egyptian officials: Iran warships to cross Suez Canal on Monday*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ diplomacy- defense/egyptian -officials- iran-warships- to-cross- suez-canal- on-monday- 1.344508>
Ha'aretz - Israel is following the movement of the warships closely,
although it does not believe the Iranian vessels have hostile intentions
toward Israel.

*Ha'aretz National page*
<http://haaretz. com/hasen/ pages/LiArt. jhtml?contrassID =1&subContrassID =7&sbSubContrass ID=0>

*Ministers reject bill barring state funding for artists who dodged IDF*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ national/ ministers- reject-bill- barring-state- funding-for- artists-who- dodged-idf- 1.344643>
Ha'aretz - The bill was rejected in a landslide vote after Culture
Minister Limor Livnat expressed strong opposition to the proposal;
according to bill, Livnat would have been tasked with approving any
exceptions to the ban.

*Knesset probe into leftist NGOs likely to pass by razor-thin majority*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ national/ knesset-probe- into-leftist- ngos-likely- to-pass-by- razor-thin- majority- 1.344641>
Ha'aretz - Plenum vote on the two parliamentary panels of inquiry set
for next Monday, with figures seemingly set at 61 in favor and 59 opposed.

*From dusk to dust: Massive haze cloud sweeps through central Israel*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ national/ from-dusk- to-dust-massive- haze-cloud- sweeps-through- central-israel- 1.344554>
Ha'aretz - Concentration of dust is four to 10 times more than normal,
reports Environment Ministry; morning flights canceled at Haifa airport.

*Two teens arrested for alleged murder of classmate in Rahat*
<http://www.haaretz. com/news/ national/ two-teens- arrested- for-alleged- murder-of- classmate- in-rahat- 1.344456>
Ha'aretz - Badly burnt body of Abu Siam was found on Friday night in
southern Bedouin town of Rahat; police say the teens attacked him
because they were jealous.

*Palestine Telegraph* <http://paltelegraph .com/>

*Israel Arrests more Palestinians in West Bank, Gaza*
<http://www.palteleg raph.com/ palestine/ gaza-strip/ 8517-israel- arrests-more- palestinians- in-west-bank- gaza.html>
20 Feb 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - Israeli forces have carried
out a series of house raids and arrests in the West Bank and Gaza,
according to witnesses.

*Shalit family blames Netanyahu for failed swap talks*
<http://www.palteleg raph.com/ palestine/ west-bank/ 8516-shalit- family-blames- netanyahu- for-failed- swap-talks. html>
20 Feb 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - The family of Gilad Shalit,
an Israeli soldier captured by resistance forces more than four years
back, said failed negotiation efforts by Netanyahu were to blame for
their son's continued detention.

*Israelis Settlers "Maniacs" re-attack, 1 Palestinian injured*
<http://www.palteleg raph.com/ palestine/ west-bank/ 8515-israelis- settlers- qmaniacsq- re-attack- 1-palestinian- injured.html>
20 Feb 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - Armed Jewish settlers last
night attacked Palestinian homes in the old city of Al-Khalil, which led
to the injury of one citizen and caused material damage in some houses.

*Israelis Settlers "Maniacs" chop down 220 olive trees for settlements*
<http://www.palteleg raph.com/ palestine/ west-bank/ 8514-israelis- settlers- qmaniacsq- chop-down- 220-olive- trees-for- settlements. html>
20 Feb 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - Jewish settlers in the West
Bank were certainly encouraged after the U.S. struck down a resolution
that would have thwarted settlement activity for good. In Nablus, Yash
Adam settlers attacked a Palestinian- owned farm noon Sunday, chopping
down hundreds of olive trees. Other settlers beat up the night before
entire families in the Jordan Valley.

*Palestinian forced to level home attachment*
<http://www.palteleg raph.com/ palestine/ west-bank/ 8513-palestinian -forced-to- level-home- attachment. html>
20 Feb 2011 - Palestine, (Pal Telegraph) - A Palestinian man from the
Suwar Bahir village east of Jerusalem was forced to tear down part of
his own home on Sunday.

*Uruknet* <http://uruknet. info/>

*Israeli army arrests children in Beit Ummar*
<http://uruknet. info/?p=m75189& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 20, 2011 - The Israeli army has been arresting children
in the village of Nabi Saleh for the past two months as a means of
applying pressure on the village to end its popular unarmed resistance
against the occupation.

*PFLP joins march in Manara Square to end the division and celebrate
Egyptian Revolution* <http://uruknet. info/?p=m75184& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 20, 2011 - The Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine saluted the Palestinian youth gathering to march in Manara
Square in Ramallah to celebrate the Egyptian revolution and call for
Palestinian unity on Friday, February 18, 2011, and said to the masses
of our Palestinian people and Arab nation, and to young people in
particular, that this...

*Obama on Palestinian Rights: "Nyet"*
<http://uruknet. info/?p=m75182& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 20, 2011 - On February 18, as expected, Washington
vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements
as illegal under international law. The vote: 14 yes, America the sole
no, isolating the US and Israel on this long festering issue. The
measure had nearly 120 co-sponsors. In a post-vote briefing, ambassador
Susan Rice outrageously lied, saying: "....as...

*Rafah crossing to open for Gazans to enter Egypt*
<http://uruknet. info/?p=m75181& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 20, 2011 - The Rafah crossing will be open for Gaza
residents to enter Egypt starting on Tuesday, Palestinian crossings
officials said. Around 300 Palestinians will be allowed to cross to
Egypt every day, officials in Gaza said Sunday. Egypt reopened the Rafah
crossing Friday evening for Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return to
Gaza. The terminal had...

*Mideast Meets Midwest: Joining the Surge Against Corrupt Elites*
<http://uruknet. info/?p=m75177& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 19, 2011 - Tens of thousands of ordinary people pour
into the streets in a desperate bid to stop yet another vicious assault
on their human rights -- and their human dignity -- by an utterly
corrupt political system run by callous, greedy elites. The factotums of
the system -- the same kind of third-rate lackeys and shriveled-up. ..

*Demolitions, drought and displacement in West Bank Area C*
<http://uruknet. info/?p=m75175& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 19, 2011 - Demolition of livelihood structures and
drought are hitting already impoverished Palestinian communities living
in Area C of the West Bank hard this year, according to UN agencies and
international aid organizations working in the occupied Palestinian
territory (oPt). Demolition of livelihood structures - including
commercial structures, educational facilities, wells, water cisterns,
water storage tanks, farmland...

*'From the Gulf to the Ocean': The Middle East is Changing*
<http://uruknet. info/?p=m75171& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 19, 2011 - ... Mubarak's importance to Israel and the
US stemmed from the fact that he guarded Israeli gains for the pitiful
price of $1.8 billion a year. Most of this went to fulfill military
contracts, upgrade military hardware and subsidize US military expertise
aimed at 'modernizing' the Egyptian army. Israel, of course, was given
almost double that...

*US Veto: Speaking with Forked Tongue*
<http://uruknet. info/?p=m75170& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 19, 2011 - It is common within early U.S. history to
describe the communications from the white settlers to the indigenous
population as being done with a "forked tongue," as described clearly by
Wikipedia: "The phrase 'speaks with a forked tongue' means to say one
thing and mean another or, to be hypocritical, or act in a duplicitous. ..

*Egypt Shows Wisconsin The Way*
<http://uruknet. info/?p=m75169& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 19, 2011 - Yet another reason why I love Madison... Add
the beautiful city, the awesome four-lakes, the best farmers market
around, the fact the Badgers took down the #1 ranked Ohio State in both
football and basketball this season, and Super bowl further upstate.
Madison appears now to be breathing life into the American labor
movement decimated...

*Activism roundup: Bilin commemorates six years of protest*
<http://uruknet. info/?p=m75166& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 19, 2011 - Palestinians and international solidarity
activists held a large demonstration in the occupied West Bank village
of Bilin today in a "celebration of six years of struggle against the
wall and the occupation," according to the Bilin Popular Committee
Against the Wall and Settlements. In a press release, the Popular
Struggle Coordination Committee stated that "the...

*Two-state solution: A postmortem*
<http://uruknet. info/?p=m75164& hd=&size= 1&l=e>
Uruknet February 19, 2011 - Among the time-honoured myths in the long
tragedy of Israel and Palestine is "the deal that almost was". The
latest entry, what we might call the "near deal of 2008," comes from
Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, chronicled in excerpts
from his forthcoming memoir and feverishly promoted in The New York
Times as "...

*The National* <http://thenational. ae/section/ FOREIGN?profile= 1011>

*One killed as protesters clash with police in Iran*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ one-killed- as-protesters- clash-with- police-in- iran>
The National 21 Feb 2011 - Ammunition and tear gas fired at rally called
to commemorate the deaths of opposition supporters in last week's
violence in Tehran.

*US settlement veto exposes PA's weaknesses, analysts say*
<http://www.thenatio nal.ae/news/ worldwide/ middle-east/ us-settlement- veto-exposes- pas-weaknesses- analysts- say>
The National 21 Feb 2011 - Mahmoud Abbas responds with conciliatory tone
to diplomatic snub after Barack Obama vetoes Security Council resolution
condemning illegal Israeli settlements.

*Alternative Information Center* <http://alternativen ews.org/>

*Indian Air Force Purchases Missiles from Israeli Weapons Manufacturer
Rafael*
<http://www.alternat ivenews.org/ english/index. php/topics/ news/3325- indian-air- force-purchases- missiles- from-israeli- weapons-manufact urer-rafael->
Alternative Information Center - The Indian Air Force and the Israeli
weapons manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems are set to sign a
major contract in March 2011, which will outfit India's Tejas fighter
jets with Rafael's Derby missile.

*In Whose Name Are You Speaking? A Response to Dutch Foreign Minister
Uri Rosenthal*
<http://www.alternat ivenews.org/ english/index. php/topics/ news/3322- in-whose- name-are- you-speaking- a-response- to-dutch- foreign-minister -uri-rosenthal>
Alternative Information Center - In recent weeks and months, a number of
Latin American countries have publicly expressed their recognition of
Palestinian statehood. Given that a Palestinian state doesn't yet exist,
this recognition also amounts to supporting the Palestinian right...

*US Vetos UN Resolution Condemning Israeli Settlements*
<http://www.alternat ivenews.org/ english/index. php/topics/ news/3321- us-vetos- un-resolution- condemning- israeli-settleme nts->
Alternative Information Center - The United States has vetoed a draft UN
resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian
Territory on Friday (18 February). The other 14 members of the United
Nations Security Council all voted in favor of...

*Video: Egypt and the Palestinian Struggle*
<http://www.alternat ivenews.org/ english/index. php/topics/ news/3320- video-egypt- and-the-palestin ian-struggle->
Alternative Information Center - The fall of the Egyptian regime ended
three decades of stability in the Middle East.

*Simultaneous Vigils in Ramallah, Tel Aviv to Protest Canada Park*
<http://www.alternat ivenews.org/ english/index. php/topics/ jerusalem/ 3323-simultaneou s-vigils- in-ramallah- tel-aviv- to-protest- canada-park>
Alternative Information Center - Simultaneous protest vigils opposite
the Representative Office of Canada to the Palestinian Authority in
Ramallah and the Embassy of Canada to Israel in Tel Aviv

*Daily Star* <http://dailystar. com.lb/>

*Gadhafi's son threatens civil war*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ /article. asp?edition_ id=10&categ_ id=2&article_ id=125120>
Daily Star 20 Feb 2011 MADRID: Anti-government protests that toppled
rulers in Tunisia and Egypt will not spread to Algeria in a "domino
effect" across the region, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said
in an interview published Sunday. "The domino effect...

*Algeria will not see unrest domino effect, foreign minister says*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ /article. asp?edition_ id=10&categ_ id=2&article_ id=125127>
Daily Star 20 Feb 2011 MADRID: Anti-government protests that toppled
rulers in Tunisia and Egypt will not spread to Algeria in a "domino
effect" across the region, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said
in an interview published Sunday. "The domino effect...

*Fayyad blasts U.S. veto of settlement resolution*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ /article. asp?edition_ id=10&categ_ id=2&article_ id=125126>
Daily Star 20 Feb 2011 The Palestinian prime minister angrily denounced
Sunday the U.S. veto of a U.N. resolution condemning Israel's West Bank
settlements and offered to form a unity government with Hamas.
Meanwhile, around 3,000 Palestinians gathered in the West...

*Jordan's monarch urges 'quick and real' political reforms*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ /article. asp?edition_ id=10&categ_ id=2&article_ id=125124>
Daily Star 20 Feb 2011 AMMAN: Jordan's King Abdullah II called Sunday
for "quick and real" political reforms to give the public a greater role
in governing and to eliminate corruption, favoritism and nepotism. The
king's comments are his first public...

*Iran security forces flood into streets to curb opposition rallies*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ /article. asp?edition_ id=10&categ_ id=2&article_ id=125123>
Daily Star 20 Feb 2011 Thousands of Iranian security personnel were
deployed in Tehran and other cities Sunday to prevent opposition
protesters rallying in spite of a ban, opposition websites reported.
Opposition reports that one person had been killed in clashes...

*Suez Canal says Iran navy ships' passage delayed*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ /article. asp?edition_ id=10&categ_ id=2&article_ id=125122>
Daily Star 20 Feb 2011 ISMAILIA, Egypt: The passage of two Iranian naval
vessels through the Suez Canal has been delayed by 48 hours, a canal
official said Sunday. The frigate and supply ship had been due to enter
the canal...

*Egypt's constitutional committee focuses on enabling fair vote*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ /article. asp?edition_ id=10&categ_ id=2&article_ id=125096>
Daily Star 20 Feb 2011 A committee revising Egypt's constitution after
the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak is focusing on changes needed to
guarantee democratic polls in six months, leaving a complete revamp for
later, a committee member said Sunday.

*China cracks down after calls for protests*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ /article. asp?edition_ id=10&categ_ id=2&article_ id=125093>
Daily Star 20 Feb 2011 BEIJING: China has detained top activists and
deployed heavy security in large cities after the launch of a web
campaign calling for protests echoing popular uprisings in the Arab
world, campaigners said Sunday. Up to 100...

*Tunisians defy ban on rallies, call for new interim Cabinet*
<http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ /article. asp?edition_ id=10&categ_ id=2&article_ id=125092>
Daily Star 20 Feb 2011 Tens of thousands of people defied security
forces Sunday to rally in the Tunisian capital calling for a new interim
government. It was the second straight day of mass protests in the North
African country's main...

*The Guardian* <http://guardian. co.uk/world/ palestinian- territories>

*The Middle East: People, power, politics | Editorial*
<http://www.guardian .co.uk/commentis free/2011/ feb/21/middle- east-obama- policy>
The Guardian 20 Feb 2011 - It will be only when Gaddafi's security
forces cross lines that his maniacal grip will slip -- but that moment
could be far off At the time, it was called the Libyan model, a
turnaround so...

*Ian McEwan attacks 'great injustice' in Israel*
<http://www.guardian .co.uk/books/ 2011/feb/ 20/ian-mcewan- great-injustice- israel>
The Guardian 20 Feb 2011 - British novelist launches powerful attack as
he accepts book award in Jerusalem The British author Ian McEwan
launched an eloquent attack on Israeli government policies in his speech
accepting the Jerusalem prize for literature, saying "a...

*Palestinians plan 'day of rage' after US vetoes resolution on Israeli
settlements*
<http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ 2011/feb/ 20/palestinians- day-rage- us-veto>
The Guardian 20 Feb 2011 - US decision to use UN security council veto
sparks furious reaction in West Bank and Gaza Palestinians are planning
a "day of rage" on Friday in response to the US wielding its veto
against a UN...

*Inter Press Service* <http://ipsnews. net/middle. asp>

*MIDEAST: Train Connections Fail to Bridge*
<http://ipsnews. net/news. asp?idnews= 54546>
IPS The apex of modern times for one of the world's oldest cities is
when what looks like a silvery car glides by. A cruise on Jerusalem's
first light rail is a dream of perfection promising to relieve traffic
congestion in the city.

*Egypt Takes a Step Back From IMF Ways*
<http://ipsnews. net/news. asp?idnews= 54544>
IPS Egypt could soon be looking for a new economic model -- one that
will be different from the traditional system that has been promoted for
years by international financial institutions such as the World Bank,
the IMF, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),
under the reign of ousted...

*YNet News* <http://ynetnews. com/>

*Hamas man sentenced to 15 years in prison*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4031369,00. html>
YNet News - Beersheba court rules Shaker Abu-Mor was integral part of
Islamist group's....

*Report: Hezbollah fighting Iran protestors; 2 killed*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4031344,00. html>
YNet News - (Video) Anti-regime protests resume in Islamic Republic.
Opposition elements....

*Gunmen kidnap 3 Egyptian guards near Israel border*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4031252,00. html>
YNet News - Officials say kidnapping related to recent shooting of drug
smuggler who....

*Opposition group: Iran diplomat defects to France*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4031144,00. html>
YNet News - Green Wave claims nephew of reformist Karroubi seeks
political asylum in Paris....

*PA official: US should be 'ashamed'*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4031140,00. html>
YNet News - Abbas aide Shaath says veto of anti-settlement UN resolution
'proves Israel is....

*Iran ships approach Suez, Israel takes 'grave view'*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4030942,00. html>
YNet News - Egyptian official denies report from Iran saying to of its
naval ships have....

*Tear gas launcher hits Silwan home*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4031493,00. html>
YNet News - The occasional riots in Silwan have become a common
phenomenon in east Jerusalem, but for 33-year-old resident Issam
Qawasmeh, Friday's rally turned into a nightmare. .......

*PA urges world to boycott J'lem tourism conference*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4031489,00. html>
YNet News - Palestinian Tourism Minister Hulud Deibas sent a letter to
all countries invited to take part in the International Tourism
Conference in Jerusalem scheduled to take place .......

*Suez Canal says Iran navy ships passage delayed*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4031458,00. html>
YNet News - The passage of two Iranian naval vessels through the Suez
Canal has been delayed by 48 hours, a canal official said on Sunday. The
frigate and supply ship had been .......

*Israel's first openly gay judge appointed*
<http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 4031363,00. html>
YNet News - Attorney Dori Spivak was appointed on Friday as a judge in
the Tel Aviv Labor Court. He is the first openly gay judge appointed in
Israel. Spivak, the deputy .......

*Palestinian Information Center* <http://palestine- info.co.uk/ en/>

*Shalit family blames Netanyahu for failed swap talks*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7xgBX4JFZs% 2bO70JQN08m2c6F6 AaoGteZZA5iBLIjk mwfITA6BswOyfiUa CJphZ650xEPaF9jH 7kit4%2bNC1pOl% 2b2qCLSSNu4YZVpI WDAollN8% 3d>
PIC 20 Feb 2011 - The family of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier
captured by resistance forces more than four years back, said failed
negotiation efforts by Netanyahu were to blame for their son's continued
detention.

*Jerusalem man forced to level home attachment*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7LoPjBWS8R9 rN7km3AxhRj7L2F2 S8A9cDCNtE9eRkfR O56%2b4yAYhSZKO6 MdBETjselPXYKBr0 06QydziGytvNJFwh LU8npcbCloz7hA97 %2few%3d>
PIC 20 Feb 2011 - A Palestinian man from the Suwar Bahir village east of
Jerusalem was forced to tear down part of his own home on Sunday.

*Israelis chop down 220 olive trees envisioning settlement expansion*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7iJY7Zrrh82 t2VCdhdDHzJOCxzg 1H3DbxqT8FDYwht1 NSooWoKD% 2bZUd3HrCUEmTt% 2bs%2fgqj9NMKjpU tAB05adlfCqUMMqn IY5uLFCKNf1Ck5U% 3d>
PIC 20 Feb 2011 - Yash Adam settlers attacked a Palestinian- owned farm
noon Sunday, chopping down hundreds of olive trees. Other settlers beat
up the night before entire families in the Jordan Valley.

*Female prisoner Abeer enters 11th year in Israeli jails*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7OyJxu7azQ2 ukY1QLbjreZ5IGE% 2buAxANLbRwj5FlG iW2ty%2bCgQ% 2fQZrgXd83PrAhqG zy38wRfAjl8drDNK lSWDodiX% 2bzLa3JoWx% 2f7PFZ6ez9Q% 3d>
PIC 20 Feb 2011 - The Palestinian ministry of detainees' affairs said
that female prisoner Abeer Amro, 33, from Dura village in Al-Khalil
city, has entered Sunday her 11th year in Israeli jails.

*IOF troops bulldoze Khirbat Tana for fifth time*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7ZZGRs2Iajo iUdi6qCENKnBd1c3 yfyDWDpHta0vcPFK hlJq3maCZPbsrEf6 VAdrExCe% 2bK%2bksA4Y0uRyF oHZaGwq8w6IV8O5y PLMFXsbuYLnQ% 3d>
PIC 20 Feb 2011 - Israeli occupation forces (IOF) escorted huge military
bulldozers that razed the Palestinian Khirbat Tana village east of
Nablus city for the fifth consecutive time, locals reported.

*Hamad: Rafah crossing will be open for departure next Tuesday*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7fhuMSJG3F1 G2L5YnzVgKW4inCE dJiTbWfcg% 2ffTaQtfP3NBoUgc ZKQ4naVlq3AmVOY6 WkS6izuuVNIr0ssY Y%2fM2VWRtch5PSo %2bFtH9AQ0d6M% 3d>
PIC 20 Feb 2011 - Head of the Palestinian authority of crossings and
borders Ghazi Hamad said that the Rafah border crossing would be
reopened before passengers who need to leave Gaza to Egypt next Tuesday.

*Israeli soldiers kidnap student at Hawara checkpoint*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7e62U4T33Ev %2fDZBAqQ% 2bsndJvrM7JJ3zjA 3EZ7lyERNMDnbr2R 3bc8tNdfdl2NUBiz znhotKZb6B6mVhpB R5vRlbC%2bgs1hBh rSYIXyDGNnwCk% 3d>
PIC 20 Feb 2011 - The international Tadamun foundation for Human Rights
said that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped Sunday morning a
student of Al-Najah national university at Hawara checkpoint.

*Citizen injured, homes damaged after savage attack by settlers in
Al-Khalil*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7EnRYwpnten jW0UXQcYealw% 2bOgjRjRoy677nTZ W8T1nquoW9M% 2bCfrMfp7zw7e7F7 THANAmEQ% 2fkeB3%2fg1nplYP AuBTKKIfZM0sVqRn VR5bltw%3d>
PIC 20 Feb 2011 - Armed Jewish settlers last night attacked Palestinian
homes in the old city of Al-Khalil, which led to the injury of one
citizen and caused material damage in some houses.

*PA arrests Hamas man, transfers others to be sentenced*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7NeZ5% 2bGgZiAoYWqzWUw% 2fvpvwvx7XLIsm7Q dJsY5WPvVU2Yr65O mGuFibTlmApTdyOS %2fPDGNoKQ96J8lS cXESNSr7pdK92u4N YygNy41Qar9Q% 3d>
PIC 20 Feb 2011 - Continued PA arrest campaign targeting Hamas sweeps
West Bank; one Hamas man arrested, others to be sentenced.

*Abbas keen on relations with the US despite its bias in favor of
Israel*
<http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7z4I58RFGLi Pf7Jg4o9UW% 2fK%2brKgZPPQPtv r47p0sX6tyRdGf8I Wffin7eGMaLuKN% 2bMpgNZH% 2fcuyCDTFDJjEWI1 4d9srve%2fqnUzBJ Hj5dYl98% 3d>
PIC 20 Feb 2011 - Mahmoud Abbas insisted on his relations with the US
despite the blow dealt to him by Washington, when the latter vetoed a UN
resolution against Israel's settlement expansion in the occupied lands.

*DIANA BUTTU ON THE PALESTINE PAPERS

[ninathedog]

(continued from preceding post)

[OccupationNews] Digest Number 1300
Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:03 pm (PST)

*Simultaneous Protests to be Held Tomorrow Opposite the Representative
Office of Canada to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and the
Embassy of Canada to Israel in Tel Aviv*
<http://www.populars truggle.org/ content/simultan eous-protests- be-held-tomorrow -opposite- representative- office-canada- palestinian- aut>
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee - Simultaneous Protests to be
Held Tomorrow Opposite the Representative Office of Canada to
the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and the Embassy of Canada to
Israel in Tel Aviv. Members of the Committee for the Defense of the
Rights of the Latrun Villages will hold two protests tomorrow opposite...

*Big Boys Shouldn't Play With Guns*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/richardsilv erstein/ZOfh/ %7E3/p2cOnWogfsM />
Tikun Olam - Shimmi: 'don't point that thing at me' I've argued here
after his dust-up with Turkey's prime minister at Davos that he was
senile and should be kept under lock and key. This photo may be further
proof that my advice should've been heeded. They say that...

*Mass Arrest of Children Following Demonstration in Beit Ummar*
<http://www.populars truggle.org/ content/mass- arrest-children- following- demonstration- beit-ummar>
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee - Following the weekly
demonstration against the Occupation, which featured leaders from
various popular committees throughout the West Bank, Israeli soldiers
arrested a number of children from a village playground. Their
whereabouts are unknown at the time of this report.

*Beit Ummar Demonstration. Picture Credit: PSP*
<http://www.populars truggle.org/ content/beit- ummar-demonstrat ion-picture- credit-psp>
Popular Struggle Coordination Committee - Bil'in marked this afternoon
under the slogan "The people want an end to division and to end the
occupation." Five people were wounded during the demonstration, one from
live ammunition.

*Misc 2* <http://vtjp. org/news/ news.php>

*US Joins Security Council In Condemning Israeli Settlements as Illegal
-- in 1969*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/jeremiahhab er/PcEx/% 7E3/uwj6Uswg_ 3U/forty- four-years- of-us-hypocrisy- on.html>
The Magnes Zionist 19 Feb 2011 - In 1969, the United States voted with
the rest of the Security Council to condemn Israel's annexation of East
Jerusalem and plans to build Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. The
Security Council "urgently calls once more upon Israel to rescind
forthwith all measure taken by it...

*Israeli Army Targeting Children in Beit Ummar*
<http://josephdana. com/2011/ 02/israeli- army-targeting- children- in-beit-ummar/ ?utm_source= rss&utm_medium= rss&utm_campaign =israeli- army-targeting- children- in-beit-ummar>
Joseph Dana 20 Feb 2011 - The Israeli army has been arresting children
in the village of Nabi Saleh for the past two months as a means of
applying pressure on the village to end its popular unarmed resistance
against the occupation. On Saturday 19 February, Israeli army officials
adopted a similar...

*Israeli activists protest US veto in front of embassy in Tel Aviv*
<http://josephdana. com/2011/ 02/israeli- activists- protest-us- veto-in-front- of-embassy- in-tel-aviv/ ?utm_source= rss&utm_medium= rss&utm_campaign =israeli- activists- protest-us- veto-in-front- of-embassy- in-tel-aviv>
Joseph Dana 19 Feb 2011 - Protest in Front of American Embassy in Tel
Aviv. Photo: Karen Zack/activestills. org Roughly 70 Israelis gathered in
front of the US embassy in Tel Aviv to protest the recent American veto
of a UN resolution confirming the illegality of Israeli settlements in
the occupied West Bank....

*Bil'in Marked the Sixth Anniversary of Struggle With a Call for Unity*
<http://josephdana. com/2011/ 02/bilin- marked-the- sixth-anniversar y-of-struggle/ ?utm_source= rss&utm_medium= rss&utm_campaign =bilin-marked- the-sixth- anniversary- of-struggle>
Joseph Dana 19 Feb 2011 - Bil'in Marking Six Years of Struggle. Photo:
Oren Ziv/Activestills. org From the Popular Struggle Coordination
Committee During the weekly demonstration five people were injured and
dozens suffered from server cases of asphyxia from tear gas. Hundreds of
Palestinians joined by Israeli and international solidarity actives
marched under...

*Germans freed by Iran arrive home*
<http://www.bbc. co.uk/go/ rss/int/news/ -/news/world- europe-12515232>
BBC 20 Feb 2011 - Two German reporters who were jailed in Iran after
interviewing the son of a woman sentenced to death by stoning arrive
home after being freed.

*Rafsanjani daughter held in Iran*
<http://www.bbc. co.uk/go/ rss/int/news/ -/news/world- middle-east- 12519418>
BBC 20 Feb 2011 - The daughter of Iran's former reformist President
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is arrested for taking part in a banned
protest, official media reports say.

*Moderate path?*
<http://www.bbc. co.uk/go/ rss/int/news/ -/news/world- middle-east- 12504820>
BBC 20 Feb 2011 - Where is Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood heading?

*How (Dis)honest is the Honest Broker?*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/SabbahsBlog /%7E3/cEn- MyXkHAM/>
Sabbah report 20 Feb 2011 - Of course this American veto is not some
idiosyncratic whim, but is an expression of the sorry pro-Israeli
realities of domestic politics, suggesting that it is Israel that is the
real holder of the veto in this situation, and the U.S. Congress and the
Israeli Lobby...

*Obama, The Veto and Impeachment*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/SabbahsBlog /%7E3/EvYmjJpzGN M/>
Sabbah report 20 Feb 2011 - Never before has an American President's
fear of offending the Zionist lobby and its stooges in Congress been so
exposed as it was by Obama's decision to veto the Security Council
resolution condemning continued, illegal Israeli settlement activities
on the occupied West Bank and demanding that...

*Mind-sets and revolutions*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/SabbahsBlog /%7E3/I1DBPzwHl4 Q/>
Sabbah report 20 Feb 2011 - The revolution in Egypt provides evidence of
a public well-informed by 30 years of mostly silent submission to the
dictates of a self-serving regime. Finally, when the silence yielded to
a voice that said "Enough", the latest technology and social networking
brought that voice to millions...

*Obama on Palestinian Rights: "Nyet"*
<http://feedproxy. google.com/ %7Er/SabbahsBlog /%7E3/SCbo9EGoGl g/>
Sabbah report 20 Feb 2011 - On February 18, as expected, Washington
vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements
as illegal under international law. The vote: 14 yes, America the sole
no, isolating the US and Israel on this long festering issue. The
measure had nearly 120 co-sponsors.

*Articles*

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
*Obama's veto is the wrong side of history*
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361661>
Daoud Kuttab, Ma'an News Agency 2/20/2011
US President Barack Obama was on the right side of history when
he supported the young nonviolent protesters in Egypt. The Obama
administration was on the wrong side of history when Susan Rice, the US
ambassador to the UN, raised her hand vetoing a UN Security Council
resolution condemning Jewish settlements.
The resolution -- supported by 14 countries including US allies --
repeated the exact same language that the Obama administration has said
to the Israelis, to the Palestinians and to the public. Calling Jewish
settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories illegal is
reflecting the reality of international law. The World Court at the
Hague has said that Israel's activities in the occupied territories are
illegal.
Last fall the US held intensive talks with Israel with the aim of
restarting Palestinian- Israeli peace talks. Palestinians have
consistently said that they can't enter into talks with Israel about the
end of the Israeli occupation and the creation of a Palestinian state
while Israel continues to build illegal and exclusive settlements for
Jews in the land earmarked for the state of Palestine.
The US administration tried to dangle the carrot and the stick to
the Israelis. Washington reportedly told Tel Aviv that if it extended
the settlement freeze for a mere three months (thus ensuring the
continuation of the talks) that the US would make a generous $3 billion
military contribution and would veto anti-Israel resolutions. The logic
of this offer was that the carrot would be that the US would not veto
any future UN Security Council resolution.. ..more..
<http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361661>e-mail
<mailto:?subject= Obama%E2% 80%99s%20veto% 20is%20the% 20wrong%20side% 20of%20history% 20&body=Obama% E2%80%99s% 20veto%20is% 20the%20wrong% 20side%20of% 20history% 20--%20http://www.maannews .net/eng/ ViewDetails. aspx?ID=361661% 20--%20link% 20courtesy% 20www.vtjp. org>

*From the Palestinian Authority to Adam Smith International*
<http://www.counterp unch.org/ rattansi02182011 .html>
Afshin Rattansi, CounterPunch 2/18/2011
/Trashcan of History Dept./
The corrupt Palestinian Authority isn't saying much these days
about the momentous events in Egypt or for that matter, Bahrain (more on
the Manama massacre later). Coming on the heels of the Palestine Papers
which revealed that genuflection was the PA's idea of negotiation, the
PA's police battered anyone demonstrating solidarity with those opposed
to Washington's puppet, Hosni Mubarak. As if to further emphasize the
PA's status as another Washington-ordered marionette, the Prime Minister
(sic) Salam Fayyad, echoed every faltering step of the U.S. State
Department, trying to have it both ways as if people from the Atlantic
to the Mediterranean and beyond can't see through them.
The Fatah-supporting website Alaahd.com expressed love for the
departing dictator and dedicated a video to Egyptians "who love and
respect Mubarak, the best of presidents."
There is an alarming aside in the Palestine papers. It isn't so
much the year-after-year lying to my satellite TV face over the status
of Jerusalem-Al Quds by PA spokespeople -- while stone-throwing kids
were being mown down, as 12-year old Mohammed Al-Durra was killed.
Perhaps I was naive in believing that the organization for so long held
together by Arafat couldn't be proto-Zionist. What did the Al-Aqsa
Intifada mean to Saeeb Erekat? Anyway, for me the Palestine Papers
reveal something altogether more parochial and domestic, here in the
United Kingdom.
When I began working on the Strand in London at Al Jazeera
Arabic....I was amused by the location of its London offices. It was
gently explained to me -- not without black humor -- that given the U.S.
penchant for bombing Jazeera bureaux and killing staff, it was actually
quite sensible to triangulate geographically MI5 HQ, MI6 HQ and the
Palace of Westminster. ...more..
<http://www.counterp unch.org/ rattansi02182011 .html>e-mail
<mailto:?subject= From%20the% 20Palestinian% 20Authority% 20to%20Adam% 20Smith%20Intern ational%20& body=From% 20the%20Palestin ian%20Authority% 20to%20Adam% 20Smith%20Intern ational%20- -%20http://www.counterp unch.org/ rattansi02182011 .html%20- -%20link% 20courtesy% 20www.vtjp. org>

*The resurrection of pan-Arabism*
<http://english. aljazeera. net/indepth/ opinion/2011/ 02/2011211152316 47934.html>
Lamis Andoni, Al Jazeera 2/11/2011
/The Egyptian revolution has resurrected a new type of pan-Arabism,
based on social justice not empty slogans/
The Egyptian revolution, itself influenced by the Tunisian
uprising, has resurrected a new sense of pan-Arabism based on the
struggle for social justice and freedom. The overwhelming support for
the Egyptian revolutionaries across the Arab world reflects a sense of
unity in the rejection of tyrannical, or at least authoritarian,
leaders, corruption and the rule of a small financial and political elite.
Arab protests in solidarity with the Egyptian people also suggest
that there is a strong yearning for the revival of Egypt as a pan-Arab
unifier and leader. Photographs of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the former
Egyptian president, have been raised in Cairo and across Arab capitals
by people who were not even alive when Nasser died in 1970. The scenes
are reminiscent of those that swept Arab streets in the 1950s and 1960s.
But this is not an exact replica of the pan-Arab nationalism of
those days. Then, pan-Arabism was a direct response to Western
domination and the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel. Today, it
is a reaction to the absence of democratic freedoms and the inequitable
distribution of wealth across the Arab world.
We are now witnessing the emergence of a movement for democracy
that transcends narrow nationalism or even pan-Arab nationalism and
which embraces universal human values that echo from north to south and
east to west.
This is not to say that there is no anti-imperialist element
within the current movement. But the protests in Egypt and elsewhere
promote a deeper understanding of human emancipation, which forms the
real basis for freedom from both repression and foreign
domination.more. .
<http://english. aljazeera. net/indepth/ opinion/2011/ 02/2011211152316 47934.html>e-mail
<mailto:?subject= The%20resurrecti on%20of%20pan- Arabism%20& body=The% 20resurrection% 20of%20pan- Arabism%20- -%20http://english. aljazeera. net/indepth/ opinion/2011/ 02/2011211152316 47934.html% 20--%20link% 20courtesy% 20www.vtjp. org>

*Ending the Palestine Schism*
<http://www.palestin emonitor. org/spip/ spip.php? article1692>
Palestine Monitor: 20 Feb 2011 - EB photographed the 17 February
Palestinian demonstration demanding reconciliation and unity between
Gaza, the West Bank, Hamas and Fateh. Palestinian National Initiative
leader Dr. Moustafa Barghouthi led a demonstration calling for the
establishment of a student loan program and Palestinian reconciliation.
"A unified nation needs to repair the actions of the time of division."
"The people want an end to the division [between Fateh and Hamas]." "The
immortal leader: Gamel Abd el-Nasser." "The people want an end to the
occupation." "A divided country is a gift to the enemies of freedom."
"The people want the right of return and self-determination. " All photos
copyright EBmore <http://www.palestin emonitor. org/spip/ spip.php? article1692>

*US veto confirms America's favor in Israel*
<http://www.palestin emonitor. org/spip/ spip.php? article1691>
Palestine Monitor: 20 Feb 2011 - Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary
General of the Palestinian National Initiative confirms that the U.S.
position in the Security Council through the use of the veto and the
disruption of a draft resolution condemning the settlement confirms the
American bias in favor of Israel. Dr. Barghouthi stated that the vote of
fourteen countries in favor of the draft resolution and the United
States response to oppose it and use the veto is a reaffirmation that
the United States is unable to play the role of fair mediator in the
negotiation process He added that the Israeli policy is dragging the
American one on the Palestinian issue to a position of international and
regional isolation. He also said that what happened in the Security
Council confirms the failure of the any negotiation and the fate of
Oslo. Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi calls for immediate actions by the General
Assembly of the United Nations...more
<http://www.palestin emonitor. org/spip/ spip.php? article1691>

*US Zionism and Egypt's Pro-Democracy Movement*
<http://palestinechr onicle.com/ view_article_ details.php? id=16668>
Palestine Chronicle: 20 Feb 2011 - By James Petras One of the least
analyzed aspects of the Egyptian pro-democracy movement and US policy
toward it, is the role of the influential Zionist power configuration
(ZPC) including the leading umbrella organization -- the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CPMAJO) --
Congressional Middle East committee members, officials occupying
strategic positions in the Obama Administration' s Middle East bureaus,
as well as prominent editors, publicists and journalists who play a
major role in the prestigious newspapers and popular weekly magazines.
This essay is based on a survey of every issue of the Daily Alert
(propaganda bulletin of the CPMAJO), the NY Times and the Washington
Post between January 25 -- February 17, 2011. From the very beginning of
the Egyptian pro-democracy movement, the ZPC, called into question the
legitimacy of the anti-dictatorial demands by focusing on the "Islamic
threat". In particular the Washington Post, the Wall Street...more
<http://palestinechr onicle.com/ view_article_ details.php? id=16668>

*Obama on Palestinian Rights: Nyet*
<http://palestinechr onicle.com/ view_article_ details.php? id=16667>
Palestine Chronicle: 20 Feb 2011 - By Stephen Lendman On February 18, as
expected, Washington vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning
Israeli settlements as illegal under international law. The vote: 14
yes, America the sole no, isolating the US and Israel on this long
festering issue. The measure had nearly 120 co-sponsors. In a post-vote
briefing, ambassador Susan Rice outrageously said: "....as the United
States has said on many, many occasions for many years, we reject in the
strongest terms the legitimacy of continued settlement activity." Unsaid
was that America, for many decades, funded Israel generously to build
them, a process continuing grievously under Obama, besides outlandish
amounts of military aid, support for Israel's occupation, and partnering
in all its aggressive wars. In a February 18 press release, Americans
for Peace Now (APN) expressed "disappointment, " APN's President and CEO
Debra DeLee said, "President Barack Obama missed a key opportunity today
to demonstrate US leadership on...more
<http://palestinechr onicle.com/ view_article_ details.php? id=16667>

*Egypt... Awakening, 2011*
<http://dissidentvoi ce.org/2011/ 02/egypt% e2%80%a6- awakening- 2011/>
Dissident Voice: 19 Feb 2011 - The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a
rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? --- William Butler Yeats I was
pushed without my permission into a tangle of birthdays. listen,
eavesdroppers, there is no such thing as a bed without affliction.. .
--- Lucille Clifton Hope springs eternal in the human breast.
--- Alexander Pope Five thousand years pointing at the sun; Five
thousand years at moon and stars; Rising out of sand, each building
block A Mac Truck of solidity, sheer weight Defying reason, begging the
question, How? Five thousand years of pharaohs and invaders---
Semites..., Hyksos..., Hittites..., Nubians..., Romans..., Turks...,
Frenchmen... , Anglos..., Yanks... And the Nile flooding, the Nile
receding, And all along its banks: Life and commerce; birth, love,
suffering, death. Akhnaton sleeps with the first dream...more
<http://dissidentvoi ce.org/2011/ 02/egypt% e2%80%a6- awakening- 2011/>

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[ninathedog]

Al-Tuwani children's struggle to
go to school

Samuel Nichols writing from al-Tuwani, occupied West Bank,
Live from Palestine, 21 February 2011
Electronic Intifada


Children play near Israeli soldiers in Tuba village in the occupied West Bank.
(Samuel Nichols)

On the afternoon of 7 February 2011, masked Israeli settlers from Havat Maon outpost chased a group of twelve Palestinian schoolchildren who were walking home from school in al-Tuwani village in the occupied West Bank's South Hebron Hills. The Israeli military had failed to arrive to escort the schoolchildren, forcing the children to take a longer path without the army's escort.

Since 2004, Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove have documented more than 110 acts of settler aggression against Palestinian schoolchildren from Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed villages in the South Hebron Hills (see "The Dangerous Road to Education: Palestinian Students Suffer Under Settler Violence and Military Negligence, December 2010 [PDF]). The details of the attacks may vary, but the crux of every incident is the same: the Israeli military fails to arrive in order to escort the schoolchildren past Maon settlement and Havat Maon settlement outpost; the children are forced to walk an indirect route without escort; settlers emerge from the outpost and chase or assault the children.

The implementation of the military escort, in November 2004, was precipitated by a September 2004 incident in which a dozen masked settlers ambushed five children and two accompanying internationals on the road. One settler hit a young girl, Miriam Abu Jundiyye, on the head with a stick. The children ran back to Tuba, and the settlers beat the two internationals, who were injured and needed hospitalization.

Each afternoon, an average of 18 children, ages 5-14, are dismissed from school and make their way towards the road that serves Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed. In the late 1990s, Palestinians using the road increasingly came under attack from violent settlers. By 2003, Palestinians were forced to stop using the road completely. Since the beginning of the escort, the children have waited daily, in the shadow of Maon and Havat Maon, for the arrival of a military escort which permits them passage through an area that settlers have annexed through the use of violence. The children often wait for hours and struggle to find activities to fill their time -- playing sports or getting an early start on homework assignments. During harsh summer and winter weather, the children find protection from the elements under evergreen trees planted by the Jewish National Fund to demarcate the area as Jewish land.

As I sat with the kids on 7 February 2011, they were becoming increasingly impatient. They had finished their two-week winter recess that provided a reprieve from the daily uncertainty of whether their journey home would be uneventful or dangerous. As the kids became increasingly eager to take the long way home, instead of waiting for the military escort, I became frustrated with their impatience -- even though I knew my frustration was misplaced.

I had called the military dispatch office four times, encouraging them to send the escort. Twice they answered and told me they would send the soldiers. On my third call, they hung up. On the fourth call, the dispatcher informed me that the office had not even called the soldiers because the soldiers had more important duties to perform.

During the call, the kids were climbing on my arms and legs, trying to get their ears closer to the phone to hear what the military personnel were saying. What did they say? Are the soldiers coming? I could not bear to tell them the truth, that the officers did not care what happened to them, so I lied. Yeah, they are on their way here, just wait a few more minutes.

Finally, the kids' patience ran out, and they set off on the longer path that skirts along the perimeter of Havat Maon outpost. Mere minutes after setting out on the sixty-minute journey over rough, rocky hills, the kids spotted a settler in the trees that obscure the outpost. The kids scrambled in retreat while I struggled to turn on my video camera as I ran backwards. After getting a safe distance from the place where they saw the settler, the older kids in the group discussed our options and decided we should descend into the adjacent valley, to distance ourselves from the outpost, and continue heading towards Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed.

The older children were confident in their choice -- they have made important decisions like this countless times before. The instant we started to head deeper into the valley, my colleague, who was watching from a nearby hilltop, called to say three settlers were moving down the valley in our direction.

Before she finished speaking, I yelled to the kids, "Come back here, quickly, there are three settlers coming down the hill towards us; they are masked!" My warning passed quickly to the front of the group, and the kids again quickly distanced themselves further from the outpost.

Once we stopped, I saw that several of the younger children were distraught. One young girl, Inshirah, was pacing back and forth with her hands on her head, her whole body shaking. She was pleading with everyone, or with no one in particular, to go back and wait for the army. "Please, I don't want to walk on this path, please, I'm scared of the settlers," she pleaded.

Villagers from al-Tuwani came out towards us once they saw the settlers approaching. One of the village leaders, Khaled, shouted instructions to the children. As more al-Tuwani villagers began to stream out of their houses in support, the Israeli Border Police arrived. The settlers, still masked, approached the jeep and spoke with the Border Police officers, gesturing and pointing, apparently narrating their version of events before heading back to the outpost.

Khaled and I approached the Border Police; I began by complaining of the late arrival of the military escort and demanding that action be taken against the settlers' threatening behavior. Khaled spoke at length with another policeman who suggested the source of the problem was the schoolchildren walking too close to the outpost, which forced the settlers to come out. He also suggested that the al-Tuwani villagers routinely provoke the settlers, and the international activists are on hand to document the settlers' response to the Palestinians' provocations. Khaled remained calm and refuted the policeman's claims by recounting the details of several recent attacks against his own family as well as explaining the consistent trend of violence and land annexation since the establishment of Maon settlement in 1981.

After hearing from the military that they were not providing an escort for the schoolchildren that day, the Border Police agreed to escort the children on the direct path to Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed. They opened up the back door of the jeep to keep an eye on the children following behind the jeep. I saw them laughing as the jeep sped up and the kids, some of whom were still shaking in fear, had to run to catch up.

Given that more than 110 acts of settler aggression have been documented against one small group of children in the span of six years, one wonders how many thousands more attacks on children have happened across the West Bank in the same period. These incidents do not make international news, Israeli news, or even Palestinian news -- settlers killing Palestinians, home demolitions and the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem are bigger news items than masked thugs chasing kids after school. But the children targeted by these acts of settler aggression are forever scarred -- both by the attacks and by the system that deems them unworthy of protection.

Nevertheless, the children from Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed are living examples of samoud -- resolute steadfastness. They refuse to let acts of aggression and violence deny them access to education, and continue to struggle against the occupation of their land by making the journey to school each day.

Samuel Nichols is an activist from the US working with Christian Peacemaker Teams, an organization that supports Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. He lives in al-Tuwani, a small village in the South Hebron Hills, amongst Palestinians committed to nonviolent resistance to land confiscation and settler violence. Follow him on his blog, Do Unto Others, and on Twitter.

Latest articles on EI:
Palestine : Diaries: Live from Palestine: Al-Tuwani children's struggle to go to school (21 February 2011)
Palestine : Opinion/Editorial: Egypt-Israel "peace treaty" brought more war than peace (21 February 2011)
Palestine : Activism News: Activism roundup: Bilin commemorates six years of protest (18 February 2011)
Palestine : Action Items: Action Alert: US delays visa for BDS leader Barghouti on eve of tour (18 February 2011)
Palestine : Human Rights: Families forced out as army occupies Jerusalem rooftop (18 February 2011)
Palestine : Art, Music & Culture: Film review: Hampshire's divestment victory documented (17 February 2011)
Palestine : Action Items: Protest pinkwashing at the San Fran LGBT Film Fest (17 February 2011)
Palestine : Activism News: Workers challenge Egypt's military rule (17 February 2011)
Palestine : Human Rights: PA elections announced, but democracy a long way off (17 February 2011)
Palestine : Opinion/Editorial: The moderate obstacle (16 February 2011)

electronicintifada.net/v2/article11817.shtml

[satchmo]

How can there be Peace in the world when Global leaders like this one promote the WAR MACHINE?

David Cameron's Cairo visit overshadowed by defence tour
Long-scheduled trade mission with eight leading UK defence companies to Gulf states undermines democracy message

David Cameron's efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East by becoming the first foreign leader to visit Cairo were overshadowed as it emerged that he will spend the next three days touring undemocratic Gulf states with eight of Britain's leading defence manufacturers.

After a hastily convened stopover in Egypt, where he spoke of being "inspired" by protesters, the PM began a long-scheduled trade mission by landing in Kuwait, a key military ally. Britain has approved 1,155 arms export licences for Kuwait since 2003, worth a total of £102.3m, according the Campaign Against the Arms Trade.

Key deals on the table this week include the sale of Eurofighters to the Gulf.

Meanwhile Gerald Howarth, a British defence minister, was also attending the region's largest arms fair, in Abu Dhabi, where a further 93 British companies are promoting their wares. They included companies selling rubber bullets and CS gas for crowd control as well as heavily armoured riot vans.

The marketing drive aimed at military and police buyers was backed by a 15-strong delegation from UKTI, the trade promotion wing of the department for business which is co-hosting a British pavilion with ADS, the UK arms trade association.

Critics rounded on Cameron for continuing with his trip despite the crackdown on protesters across the region. Kevan Jones, the shadow defence minister, said: "The defence industry is crucially important to Britain but many people will be surprised that the prime minister in this week of all weeks may be considering bolstering arms sales to the Middle East."

Denis Macshane MP, a former foreign office minister, added: "It shows insensitivity and crassness of a high order for the prime minister to take arms salesmen with him on his Middle East trip."

Britain faced embarrassment over the weekend when it was forced to revoke arms export licences to Bahrain and Libya amid fears that British arms may have been used in the violent crackdown on protesters. Cameron, who is seeking assurances that no British arms were used against protesters, insisted that Britain has some of the toughest rules on arms exports in the world. But he admitted that the system had failed in Libya and Bahrain.

"In some cases those assessments you will get right and in other cases you have to revoke export licences as we have done very rapidly."

The prime minister will start his Gulf visit on Tuesday by attending ceremonies in Kuwait marking the 20th anniversary of the end of the first Gulf war.

Ian King, chief executive of BAE Systems, will be the most senior figure on the trade delegation that also includes Victor Chavez of Thales UK and Alastair Bisset of Qinetiq. The 36-strong business delegation, nearly a quarter of whom come from the defence and aerospace sectors, will attend some, but not all, of the prime minister's three-day visit to the Gulf.

Other defence and aerospace manufacturers accompanying Cameron include Rob Watson, regional director of Rolls Royce; Charles Hughes, vice president marketing of the Cobham Group; Douglas Caster, the chief executive of Ultra Electronics; Andy Pearson, managing director of Babthingy International Group; and Richard Barrett, regional director of Atkins.

Amid fears in Downing Street that a traditional trade visit would have looked out of place, as protests sweep across the Arab world, the PM hastily added a six-hour stopover in Cairo, including a walkabout in Tahrir Square. Cameron met Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, head of the supreme council of the armed forces which assumed power on 11 February, and Ahmed Shafik, the prime minister.

Cameron told Tantawi to show he is presiding over a "credible transition" to civilian rule. "The state of emergency should be lifted, all other political prisoners should be released, they need to have opposition members in their government so that it is a credible transition," he said.

The prime minister spoke of being inspired when he met some of the protesters, though he did not meet members of the Muslim Brotherhood. "Meeting the young people and the representatives of the groups in Tahrir Square was genuinely inspiring. These are people who have risked a huge amount for what they believe in."

But the original purpose of the trip – to cement ties with long standing allies in the Gulf and to promote trade – will come to the fore when Cameron signs business deals with the Kuwaiti government. The prime minister, who declared soon after his arrival in Downing Street last year that promoting trade would be one of his main foreign policy priorities, was unapologetic about taking defence manufacturers to the Gulf. "I have got a range of business people on the aeroplane, people involved in infrastructure and people involved in the arts and cultural exchanges. Yes, we have defence manufacturers as well. Britain does have a range of defence relationships with countries in the region. I seem to remember that we spent a lot of effort and indeed life in helping to defend Kuwait. So it is quite right to have defence relationships with some of these countries."

The prime minister acknowledged that people have reservations about promoting the defence industry. "There is an argument to be had about whether it is right to be involved in the defence trade," he said. "My view is that you cannot expect every country in the world to provide for its own defence and so it is perfectly logical and sensible that there should be a trade in defence. Kuwait is a good example of a country that has been moving in an open and participatory direction."
www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/21/cameron-cairo-visit-defence-trade


Is'nt it obvious enough yet to see who the REAL WAR CRIMINALS ARE ??

satchmo

[ninathedog]

John Perkins - An Economic Hitman on
Predatory Capitalism & Corporate Monopoly

Red Ice Radio
February 17, 2011

listen:
www.redicecreations.com/radio/2011/02/RIR-110217-jperkins.mp3

...Discussed: Hoodwinked, economic problems in the world, Iceland, Ireland, corporate structures, corporate globalization, politics, oil, resources, Milton Friedman, usury, debt, public/private partnership, Goldman Sachs, Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act 1999, regulation, consciousness, change, conspiracy, NSA, healthcare system, Egypt, The World Bank, China, nepotism, mortgages, IMF and more.

www.redicecreations.com/radio/2011/02/RIR-110217.php

[ninathedog]

Feb 23, 2011 2:01:47 GMT 4 @sesq said:

D and M are reported to be in almost constant touch over the Libyan crisis and the Iranian Suez Canal issue. The last of the two things involves Maj Operations directly. I am not allowed to say how, but we referred to the SINAI-2 and SINAI-4 plans recently.

I can't make a policy statements here unless ordered and I haven't been but the readers have recently seen some anger erupt from some MajOps because many who are dealing directly with Maj right now are learning that the "Islamic world" and the Palestinian People are receiving much more support from Maj than anyone who has dealt with us before ever expected! Or ever seen before! The diplomatic stakes are very high now but as Dan has said more than once, "Everyone has a fundamental human right to a place to call home and to be secure in their home."

That's all I can say but I wanted to say as much as I could without going over the line. SESQ



www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/22/egypt.iran.warships/index.html?iref=allsearch#

"The canal is an internal body of water, and as such, Egypt has sovereignty over it. But Egypt also is bound by the 1978 Camp David Accords, which guarantee the right of free passage by ships belonging to Israel and all other nations on the basis of the Constantinople Convention of 1888. Before that, Egypt did not allow Israeli ships to sail through the canal."

"The Suez Canal is a key waterway for international trade. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, allowing ships to navigate between Europe and Asia without having to go around Africa. Millions of barrels of oil move through the Suez every day en route to Europe and North America."

-----------------------------------------------

www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/22/algeria.emergency/index.html?hpt=T2

"Algeria's government declared an end to a nearly two-decade state of emergency Tuesday, its state news agency announced, lifting restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly imposed to combat an Islamist insurgency."

-----------------------------------------------

www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/22/bahrain.protests/index.html?hpt=T2#

As protest march unfolds, Bahrain urges 'national dialogue'

[ninathedog]

Israeli bulldozers bury
Bedouin village

Published yesterday (updated) 23/02/2011 13:54
Ma'an News Agency

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- The five tents giving shelter to some 50 Bedouin residents of Amniyr, a tiny community north of Susiya in the south Hebron hills, were torn down on Monday, their olive trees uprooted and water sources covered over.

An observer with the Christian Peacemaker Teams said Israeli demolition crews arrived before sunrise, at about 5:30 a.m., and began taking down the tents, then filled a well and a water cistern with earth.

"They uprooted several olive trees and buried them under the dirt," he said.

All that was left of the small herding community was a cave, where residents took shelter during the demolition, and a small bread oven made of stone, the observer said.

Residents had moved back to the area during the winter, saying settler harassment at a second location one kilometer away had driven them out. Years earlier the same harassment had forced them from the location where the tents were demolished.

Residents said they had ownership papers for the land at one point, but according to the observer every week for the past month Israeli officials from the Civil Administration have delivered notices saying the community was living on state land and must evacuate.

"The demolition orders were delivered on 15 February," the observer said.

Residents say they are planning to rebuild, and will contact the International Red Cross to supply tents.

"We need god's help," Hajj Mohammed, a resident of the community told Ma'an, "we don't know what we are going to do."

Representatives from Israel's Civil Administration did not answer calls seeking comment.

On Sunday, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories Maxwell Gaylard condemned a similar demolition targeting a community in the northern West Bank. In Khirbet Tana, residents have had their tent homes destroyed four times since January.

"If the authorities ultimately responsible for these demolitions could see the devastating impact on vulnerable Palestinian communities, they might reflect upon the inhumanity of their actions," Gaylard said in a statement following the last demolition.

www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=362214

...........

ethnic cleansing
- definition
the use of violence to force people from a particular ethnic group to leave an area
www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/ethnic-cleansing

............

Settlers Attack Palestinian Shepherds With Impunity

Palestine Monitor
22 August 2009

The investigation into a brutal and frenzied attack by illegal Jewish settlers on Palestinian shepherds has been closed by the Israeli police because it was “not possible to identify the attackers” due to their masked identities.

The attack was caught on camera last year and shows four men coming from an illegal Jewish settlement to attack three local Palestinian shepherds with baseball bats. The attack was filmed by a relative, who had been given a camera by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem as part of its Shooting Back project. B’Tselem had handed video cameras to Palestinians in troubled areas so that they could document abuses against them.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHhECvN2kQI

Four men were arrested but the Israeli police could “not find evidence that they were responsible for the crime”, and so the case was closed.

Thaman al-Nawaja, a 58 year old Palestinian woman, along with her 70 year old husband, and one of her nephews were herding their flocks on their land when the four intruders entered and started to beat them with baseball bats. The incident took place in the south of the West Bank close to the illegal Jewish settlement of Susia.



Tamam a-Nawaj’ah, from Susiya, who was assaulted by settlers on
8 June 2008. Photo Credit: B’Tselem

Mrs Nawaja told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that she couldn’t understand how the police did not catch the men who beat her. However, according to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, over 90% of investigations into settler violence are closed without an indictment being filed. A special focus report by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) observed that "By contrast, when Israeli civilians are the target of Palestinian violence, the IDF actively pursues Palestinian suspects; thousands of Palestinians are arrested and prosecuted through Israel’s military court system each year."

In the same report, an Israeli settler described the "exact a price" strategy which has seen an increase in settler violence and attacks against Palestinians and their land: "For every act of destruction in the southern Hebron hills we will set fire to Samaria, and for a container destroyed near Har Bracha we will exact a price in the southern Hebron hills.” According to UNOCHA this ’price tag’ strategy "indicates that Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians are not isolated incidents, but are in fact highly organized and tactically used to achieve political ends." Palestinians are particularly vulnerable to this organized violence as Israeli settlers in the West Bank are routinely armed with M16 rifles. In contrast Palestinians living in the H2 area of Hebron - a site of frequent violent settler attacks - are forbidden even from keeping kitchen knives in their houses.


See the full UNOCHA report on Settler Violence here
www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_settler_vilonce_special_focus_2008_12_18.pdf



www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1048

............


the-goldenthread.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=32&page=23#16865

[satchmo]

As protests crackdowns continue, West lines up to sell arms

British, European and US weapons manufacturers are participating in the region's largest arms bazaar, hoping for a share in the world's fastest-growing arms market.
More than 80 British firms are represented at the ongoing International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi, including BAE, Thales UK and Motorola UK. The firms are offering everything from weapons and communications equipment to parachutes and uniforms.
Lockheed Martin and L-3 communications from the US, France's Renault and Germany's Rhinemetall AG are among other major defence multinationals represented at IDEX.
Now in its 10th year, IDEA has attracted over 1,000 exhibitors this year, most of them from the United States, Britain, France and Germany. European governments have blocked sales of law enforcement equipment, like tear gas grenades, to some countries, but there are few restrictions on the sale of military equipment.
Facing budget cuts at home, western arms firms are desperate for a share of the lucrative Middle East market. "The post-financial crisis reality," said Herve Guillou, president of Cassidian Systems, a subsidiary of European aviation defence group EADS, "is that today it is clearly the Middle East that is seeing the biggest growth." Iran's growing military power has pushed Gulf states into their largest-ever military build up, making purchases worth £76 billion from the US alone in 2010. The largest acquisitions were made by Saudi Arabia, which is spending £41 billion on F-15 fighter jets and upgrades for its naval fleet.
The six Gulf Cooperation Council countries - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait - along with Jordan will spend another £41 billion on defence in 2011, according to Frost and Sullivan, a research firm.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8340832/As-protests-crackdowns-continue-West-lines-up-to-sell-arms.html

[satchmo]

The crews of two Libyan warships have mutinied and are refusing to obey Muammar Gaddafi's orders to attack the eastern port city of Benghazi.



This development comes as more reports are coming in about Libyan troops defecting to the side of the people seeking to overthrow Gaddafi, the longest serving ruler in the Arab world.

However, thousands of soldiers have been deployed to the city of Sabratha where protesters have reportedly clashed with security forces.

Meanwhile, Libyan Interior Minister Abdel Fatah Yunes has resigned from his post in solidarity with the pro-democracy protesters.

The Libyan deputy ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashi, has strongly criticized the crackdown, saying he will not support a government that kills its own people, and has asked Gaddafi to resign.

However, in a televised address on Tuesday, Gaddafi said he had no intention of stepping down. He also threatened to step up the crackdown against pro-democracy protesters, saying, “We have not used our power yet."

Pundits say the Libyan regime's heavy-handed clampdown on the people seems to have seriously backfired since the anti-government demonstrations have actually gained momentum across the country.

At least 1,000 people were killed in Tripoli on Monday by airstrikes conducted by the Libyan military in a desperate move meant to quell the popular uprising, according to some reports.

www.presstv.ir/detail/166583.html

[ninathedog]

Rescuers Press Search for
Survivors in N. Zealand Quake

By ERICA BERENSTEIN and MERAIAH FOLEY
Published: February 23, 2011

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Rescue workers struggled to find survivors on Wednesday as much of New Zealand’s second-largest city remained silent and dark a day after an earthquake killed scores of people.

The police imposed a nighttime curfew and large sections of the city remained without electricity and running water, but the Christchurch Airport reopened to domestic and international flights.

Officials said on Wednesday that at least 75 people had been killed, although only 55 had been identified. The authorities have warned that the final toll could be significantly higher and the expectation was that a clearer assessment of casualties would be known on Thursday morning.

Officials said 120 people had been rescued from the rubble since Tuesday’s earthquake, while temporary shelters across the city remained full.

Earlier on Wednesday, emergency workers were withdrawn from a part of central Christchurch amid concerns that one of the city’s tallest buildings could collapse. Officials cleared a two-block zone around the Hotel Grand Chancellor, suspending search and rescue operations in some of the city’s most badly damaged buildings. The Canterbury Television headquarters — where dozens of people were still missing — was among them.

But rescue workers continued the search in other areas as night fell on the city. Some people who had been trapped for more than a day emerged unscathed from the rubble, while emergency workers had to amputate the limbs of other victims who were entangled in the debris, the city’s police superintendent, Russell Gibson, told Radio New Zealand. Around midday, one woman, Ann Bodkin, was pulled from the wreckage of a severely damaged building after being trapped for nearly 24 hours, the police said.

Several buildings were demolished when the 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch, a graceful 19th-century city of nearly 400,000 people, during the busy weekday lunch hour.

Two large office towers, the Pyne Gould building and the Canterbury Television headquarters, collapsed almost completely. Japan’s Foreign Ministry said 10 exchange students were in the Canterbury Television building at the time of the quake. Accounts from Japanese media and New Zealand officials gave conflicting numbers for the students who remained missing.

Police officers were moving from building to building, calling out for survivors and listening for signs of life from heavily damaged buildings, Superintendent Gibson said, adding that many bodies were believed to be in the rubble.

“They are trapped in cars, crushed under rubble and, where they are clearly deceased, our focus unfortunately at this time has turned to the living,” he told the radio network. “We are getting texts and tapping sounds from some of these buildings, and that’s where our focus is at the moment.”

Residents were doing what they could on Wednesday to help with the city’s cleanup. Zach Kendorthy, 14, was shoveling thick mud and silt that had covered his yard after erupting from beneath the ground during Tuesday’s earthquake. “It’s sand, sewage, the whole lot,” he said.

He said he was at school when the earthquake struck. “Everything shook. It was horrifying,” he said, carving out another shovel full of grime. He said what he needed now was sleep, because the aftershocks kept him up all Tuesday night.

Lana Swart, a university student in Christchurch, joined friends in helping dig out cars buried in the collapsed streets. Ms. Swart said she was in the university’s computer lab when the earthquake started.

Photographs and videos from the scene in the aftermath showed people running as rocks and debris poured into suburban streets.

Police officers and search and rescue teams were being flown to the scene from Australia on Wednesday. Members of the Singaporean Army, in Christchurch for training exercises, were also expected to help with rescue efforts, officials said. The Kyodo news service reported on Wednesday that Japan sent a 70-member disaster relief team to Christchurch to assist rescuers.

For many New Zealand families, however, the earthquake has been just too much to cope with.

Letitia Haines, her partner Kyle Sabiston and son Codie Sabiston were given shelter and help in a welfare center in September, during the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch. On Tuesday, they again found themselves bunking down with many hundreds of others at Hagley Park, too afraid to stay in a house close to the city center that had damaged foundations and walls.

“It was worse than Sept. 4. It really was,” she said. “It’s just been too much. We’ve had all the aftershocks, and then this one was just massive when it hit.”

The family planned to spend Wednesday night in a new welfare center opened in Cowles Stadium where bedding, blankets, food and water were available. But after two earthquakes, they have arranged to spend two weeks in Auckland. “I’m petrified, and I can’t handle it. I’ve had enough,” said Mr. Sabiston.

“We don’t care if we lose everything in the house as long as we’re alive and we’re all together,” Ms. Haines added. “We need time away from Christchurch.” A delegation from the American government, business and community leaders had been in Christchurch for a meeting of the United States-New Zealand Partnership Forum. Participants, including several members of Congress, left the city only hours before the earthquake.

A senior official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Timothy W. Manning, who is a deputy administrator for protection and national preparedness, was part of the delegation.

In an interview, Mr. Manning said that he had spent several days with local officials, inspecting damage and repairs caused by the September earthquake. He said the reconstruction had doubtless limited damage from the Tuesday earthquake.

“They had done a great deal of work, and were fastidious about marking damaged buildings and closing not just buildings but streets in potential collapse zones, which I’m sure saved uncounted lives,” he said.

Erica Berenstein reported from Christchurch, and Meraiah Foley from Sydney, Australia. Kevin Drew contributed reporting from Hong Kong, Brian Knowlton from Washington and Emma Stoney from Christchurch.

www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/world/asia/24zealand.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1298491421-XfepcagxaKD+o4OrfL+cLw



www.youtube.com/watch?v=opsiKirDfdE

[ninathedog]

New Zealand: Hundreds missing after
Christchurch quake

23 February 2011 Last updated at 15:17 ET
BBC.com

Hundreds of people remain missing as search efforts in New Zealand continue in the aftermath of Tuesday's powerful earthquake in Christchurch.

Officials say 71 bodies have been recovered so far but more are known to still be under the rubble.

Foreign rescue workers are arriving to join the search effort, amid warnings that time is running out for survivors. No-one was found alive overnight.

The 6.3 magnitude quake is the country's biggest disaster in 80 years.

The New Zealand Prime Minster, John Key, has declared a national state of emergency and authorities have imposed a curfew.

Mr Key said the quake had "wreaked death and destruction on a dreadful scale" in the country's second biggest city, six months after a 7.0-magnitude quake hit Christchurch causing much less damage.

Civil Defence Minister John Carter told reporters that 71 bodies have been taken to morgues in the city so far. Officials had previously said 75 people were dead but Mr Carter said this had not yet been confirmed.

"We are aware there are other bodies but we haven't got a number on that," he said.

Mr Carter said earlier reports that up to 300 people were still missing was only "speculation" and that information was coming in from various sources.

Officials say some people reported as missing may simply have been unable to make contact with friends and relatives, he said.

"Police are now acting to ensure that the lists are accurate and that we will have a definitive list of who's missing," the New Zealand Herald quoted Mr Carter as saying.

The director of New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, John Hamilton, has said rescuers have only a window of two or three days to find people.

The authorities worked through the night to find survivors in an effort which has been hampered by aftershocks, but no-one was rescued from the ruins overnight on Wednesday.

'Limbs amputated'

Rescue teams have arrived from Australia, Asia, the US and Britain.

Rescue workers search through the rubble of Canterbury TV/King's Education building in Christchurch, New Zealand (23 Feb 2011) Officials said no-one could be alive under the ruins of the Canterbury TV building

Military field hospital teams are meanwhile helping repair power, water and phone lines damaged across the city.

About 120 people have been pulled out of collapsed buildings, with rescuers having to perform amputations on some victims to get them out.

Christchurch's main hospital was inundated with people suffering head and chest injuries, a spokesperson said.

Among the worst hit buildings was the home of Canterbury Television (CTV) - at least 15 staff members are still missing but rescue work was called off as officials said there were no signs of life.

The building also housed the King's Education language school, attended mostly by students from Asia.

Kento Okuda, a 19-year-old from Japan, had his leg cut off to allow his rescue.

"As we were eating lunch, there was a major shaking, and suddenly the floor fell," he told Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

"Everyone around me was saying things like 'It hurts' as they fell downward," he said.

"And then I realised I was in total darkness, with my right leg pinned by something so I couldn't move."

Friends and relatives mourned for their loved ones after search efforts were stopped at the CTV building.

Officials said they did not think anyone else was alive beneath the rubble, and that they had to divert their resources elsewhere.

"We don't believe this site is now survivable," police inspector Dave Lawry told reporters.

The city's tallest hotel and surrounding area was cordoned off as rescue officials feared the hotel could fall on top of them.

"It's incredibly dangerous. If it hits the ground it will create a significant shock wave," Reuters quoted local mayor Bob Parker as saying.

At the Pyne Gould Guinness building, cheers were heard on Wednesday as office worker Ann Bodkin was pulled out alive after being trapped for more than 24 hours, and reunited with her waiting husband.

'Not survivable'

Emergency shelters have been set up and schools have been closed until buildings are assessed for risk.

CLICKABLE Select the images for more details and scroll down page to access this image.


Analysts have estimated the total cost of damage at about $12bn (£7.4bn), according to the Associated Press news agency.

About 80% of people in the city of about 350,000 are without water, reports the New Zealand Herald.

The earthquake struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) on Tuesday at 1251 local time (2351 GMT on Monday), when the South Island city was at its busiest.

It was Christchurch's second major tremor in five months, and New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster in 80 years.

New Zealand experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only around 20 have a magnitude greater than 5.0.

Tuesday's was the country's worst natural disaster since a 1931 quake in Hawke's Bay on the North Island killed 256 people.

Are you in New Zealand? Have you been affected by the earthquake? Get in touch with us.

Send your pictures and videos to [e-mail] or text them to 61124 (UK) or [phone] (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12555890

[ninathedog]

Clampdown in Libyan capital
as protests close in

By Paul Schemm And Maggie Michael, Associated Press – 5 mins ago

BENGHAZI, Libya – Militiamen loyal to Moammar Gadhafi clamped down in Tripoli Wednesday, but cracks in his regime spread elsewhere across the nation, as the protest-fueled rebellion controlling much of eastern Libya claimed new gains closer to the capital. Two pilots let their warplane crash in the desert, parachuting to safety, rather than bomb an opposition-held city.

The opposition said it had taken over Misrata, which would be the largest city in the western half in the country to fall into its hands. Clashes broke out over the past two days in the town of Sabratha, about 50 miles west of the capital, where the army and militiamen were trying to put down protesters who overwhelmed security headquarters and government buildings, a news website close to the government reported.

Two air force pilots parachuted from their Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jet and let it crash, rather than carry out orders to bomb opposition-held Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, the website Qureyna reported, citing an unidentified officer in the air force control room.

One of the pilots — identified by the report as Ali Omar Gadhafi — was from Gadhafi's tribe, the Gadhadhfa, said Farag al-Maghrabi, a local resident who saw the pilots and the wreckage in a deserted area outside the key oil port of Breqa.

International outrage mounted after Gadhafi went on state TV Tuesday and in a fist-pounding speech called on his supporters to take to the streets to hunt down protesters. His retaliation has already been the harshest of any regime confronting anti-government protests sweeping the Middle East.

The U.N.'s top human rights official said a no-fly zone could be imposed over Libya to protect civilians from attacks by government aircraft. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Wednesday if unconfirmed reports of aerial attacks against civilians turned out to be true, "I think there's an immediate need for that level of protection."

The United States and the European Union vowed Wednesday to consider sanctions against Libya for Moammar Gadhafi's fierce crackdown on protesters, with the EU calling the attacks possible "crimes against humanity."

"The continuing brutal and bloody repression against the Libyan civilian population is revolting," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement Wednesday, raising the possibility of cutting off all economic and business ties between the EU and Libya. "The international community cannot remain a spectator to these massive violations of human rights."

In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney also condemned the attacks.

"The violence is abhorrent, it is completely unacceptable and the bloodshed must stop," Carney said.

Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of some 1,000 people killed in the violence in Libya were "credible," although he stressed information about casualties was incomplete. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has put the death toll at nearly 300, according to a partial count.

In Tripoli, militiamen and Gadhafi supporters were roaming main streets, firing weapons in the air from time to time as they chanted "long live Gadhafi" and waved green flags. In many neighborhoods, residents had set up watch groups to keep them out, barricading their streets with concrete blocks, metal and rocks and searching those trying to enter, said a Tripoli activist. Many were passing out fliers announcing a march by protesters on Tripoli on Friday, urging residents to take refuge in mosques in case violence erupts.

Gadhafi's residence at Tripoli's Aziziya Gates was guarded by loyalists, waving his picture and chanting slogans, along with a line of armed militiamen in vehicles, some masked, he said. The radio station building downtown was also heavily fortified.

"Mercenaries are everywhere with weapons. You can't open a window or door. Snipers hunt people," said another resident, who said she had spent the last night in her home awake hearing gunfire outside. "We are under siege, at the mercy of a man who is not a Muslim."

But below the surface, protesters were organizing, said the activist. At night, they fan out and spray-paint anti-Gadhafi graffiti or set fires near police stations, chanting "the people want the ouster of the regime," before running at the approach of militiamen, he said.

A group of 60 intellectuals, judges, doctors and journalists linked to the protesters drew up a list of demands for the post-Gadhafi era, calling for a national assembly formed of representatives from each region to draw up a transitional government and write a constitution, the activist said.

Libya's upheaval, just over a week old, has shattered the hold of Gadhafi's regime across much of the country. Protesters claim to hold towns and cities along nearly the entire eastern half of the 1,000-mile Mediterranean coastline, from the Egyptian border. In parts, they have set up their own jury-rigged self-administrations.

At the Egyptian border, guards had fled, and local tribal elders have formed local committees to take their place. "Welcome to the new Libya," a graffiti spray-painted at the crossing proclaimed. Fawzy Ignashy, a former soldier, now in civilian clothes at the border, said that early in the protests, some commanders ordered troops to fire on protesters, but then tribal leaders stepped in and ordered them to stop.

"They did because they were from here. So the officers fled," he said.

A defense committee of local residents was even guarding one of Gadhafi's once highly secretive anti-aircraft missile bases outside the city of Tobruk.

"This is the first time I've seen missiles like these up close," admitted Abdelsalam al-Gedani, one of the guards, dressed in an overcoat and carrying a Kalashnikov automatic rifle.

"There is now an operating room for the militaries of all the liberated cities and they are trying to convince the others to join them," said Lt. Col. Omar Hamza, an army officer who had allied with the protesters. "They are trying to help the people in Tripoli to capture Gadhafi."

Protesters have claimed control all the way to the city of Ajdabiya, about 480 miles (800 kilometers) east of Tripoli, encroaching on the key oil fields around the Gulf of Sidra.

That has left Gadhafi's power centered around Tripoli, in the far west and parts of the country's center. But that appeared to be weakening in parts.

Protesters in Libya's third-largest city Misrata were claiming victory after several days of fighting with Gadhafi loyalists in the city, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of Tripoli.

Residents were honking horns in celebration and raising the pre-Gadhafi flags of the Libyan monarchy, said Faraj al-Misrati, a local doctor. He said six people had been killed and 200 wounded in clashes that began Feb. 18 and eventually drove out pro-Gadhafi militiamen.

Residents had formed committees to clean the streets, protect the city and treat the injured, he said. "The solidarity among the people here is amazing, even the disabled are helping out."

An audio statement posted on the Internet was reportedly from armed forces officers in Misrata proclaiming "our total support" for the protesters.

New videos posted by Libya's opposition on Facebook also showed scores of anti-government protesters raising the flag from the pre-Gadhafi monarchy on a building in Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tripoli. Another showed protesters lining up cement blocks and setting tires ablaze to fortify positions on a square inside the capital.

The footage couldn't be independently confirmed.

Further west, armed forces deployed in Sabratha, a town famed for nearby ancient Roman ruins, in a bid to regain control after protesters burned government buildings and police stations, the Qureyna news website reported. It said clashes had erupted between soldiers and residents in the past nights and that residents were also reporting an influx of pro-Gadhafi militias that have led heaviest crackdown on protesters.

The opposition also claimed control in Zwara, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Tunisian border in the west, after local army units sided with the protesters and police fled.

"The situation here is very secure, the people here have organized security committees, and there are people who have joined us from the army," said a 25-year-old unemployed university graduate in Zwara. "This man (Gadhafi) has reached the point that he's saying he will bring armies from African (to fight protesters). That means he is isolated," he said.

The division of the country — and defection of some army units to the protesters — raises the possibility the opposition could try an assault on the capital. On the Internet, there were calls by protesters for all policemen, armed forces and youth to march to Tripoli on Friday.

In his speech Tuesday night, Gadhafi defiantly vowed to fight to his "last drop of blood" and roared at supporters to strike back against Libyan protesters to defend his embattled regime.

"You men and women who love Gadhafi ... get out of your homes and fill the streets," Gadhafi said. "Leave your homes and attack them in their lairs."

Gadhafi appears to have lost the support of several tribes and his own diplomats, including Libya's ambassador in Washington, Ali Adjali, and deputy U.N. Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi.

The Libyan Embassy in Austria also condemned the use of "excessive violence against peaceful demonstrators" and said in a statement Wednesday that it was representing the Libyan people.

International alarm has risen over the crisis, and is sending oil prices soaring and European and other countries scrambling to get their citizens out of the North African nation. On Wednesday, oil prices hit $100 per barrel for the first time since 2008. Libya is the world's 15th largest exporter of crude, accounting for 2 percent of global daily output. Traders are worried the revolt could threaten Libya's oil production and spread to other countries in the region.

The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Tuesday that ended with a statement condemning the crackdown, expressing "grave concern" and calling for an "immediate end to the violence" and steps to address the legitimate demands of the Libyan people.

After a meeting of EU ambassadors, the bloc did not announce sanctions, but EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the EU stood "ready to take further measures" beyond suspending talks on a bilateral deal.

The precise measures were still being negotiated, a senior EU official said, adding that there were up to 10,000 EU citizens in Libya, sparking worries about getting them out of the North African country safely. The official requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Italian news reports have said witnesses and hospital sources in Libya are estimating there are 1,000 dead in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, alone.

"We have no complete information about the number of people who have died," Frattini said in a speech to a Catholic organization in Rome ahead of a briefing in Parliament on Libya. "We believe that the estimates of about 1,000 are credible."

Libya is the biggest supplier of oil to Italy, which has extensive energy, construction and other business interests in the north African country and decades of strong ties.

Frattini said the Italian government is asking that the "horrible bloodshed" cease immediately.

___

Michael reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Ben Hubbard in Cairo, Frances D'Emilio in Rome and Angela Doland in Paris contributed to this report.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110223/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_libya

[ninathedog]

Indigenous Ecuadoran woman
humbles US oil giant

by Valeria Pacheco Valeria Pacheco – Wed Feb 23, 9:09 am ET

RUMIPAMBA, Ecuador (AFP) – She has no legal training, and doesn't speak the Spanish that dominates government in Quito but indigenous villager Maria Aguinda helped bring a landmark judgment against US oil giant Chevron for polluting the rain forest she calls home.


Ecuadoran indigenous villager Maria Aguinda, seen here at her
house at the Rumipamba commune, helped bring a landmark
judgment against US oil giant Chevron for polluting the rain forest
she calls home. (AFP/File/Rodrigo Buendia)

The diminutive grandmother whose modest home sits near marshes clogged for decades in sticky oil has been at the heart of the David-and-Goliath case, and spoke out after Chevron was slapped last week with a $9.5-billion fine, among the heaviest ever handed down for environmental damage.

"Before I die they have to pay me for the dead animals, and for what they did to the river, and the water and the earth," the 61-year-old Aguinda told AFP at her home in Rumipamba, a town in remote Orellana province where pollution caused by 30 years of oil drilling and petroleum accidents had become a sad fact of life.

Texaco operated in the area between 1964 and 1990, and was bought in 2001 by Chevron, which inherited Texaco's legal nightmare.

"The demand (for compensation) is going on track," said the ethnic Quechua woman, pointing to a nearby spot marked by spillage from an oil well run by Texaco in the 1970s.

"Mary Aguinda et al" are the opening words of the suit launched in 1993 on behalf of 30,000 residents of Orellana and Sucumbios provinces, in which they charge Texaco dumped billions of gallons of toxic crude during its operations, fouling rivers, lakes and soil and causing cancer deaths in indigenous communities.

Aguinda said she believes her husband and two of his 10 children died from effects of the pollution, which rights group Amazon Watch says has affected an area the size of the US state of Rhode Island.

Several of her family members "have skin problems, like fungus," Aguinda said as she lifted her granddaughter's foot off the dirt floor to show an outbreak on her leg.

Chevron blames state-run Petroecuador, with which Texaco formed a consortium from 1972 until the US firm departed in 1992, of not doing its part in the clean-up agreed with the state.

"When Texaco came we never thought they would leave behind such damage, never. Then it began to drill a well and set up burn pits," she said, helped in translation by her son William Grefa.

"It changed our life: hunting, fishing, and other food, it's all finished."

She skeptically eyes the ongoing cleanup of a marsh just meters from her house, where workers dressed in oil-stained yellow overalls dredge thick black ooze into suction pipes.

Aguinda said the spill is leftover from a Texaco storage pool which overflowed into the marshes during 1987-1990 operations of the Auca South 1 well about 200 meters (656 feet) from Rumipamba.

Texaco performed operational repairs in the area in the 1990s, and oil extraction continues in the region, according to Grefa.

Six months ago, a dozen workers from Petroecuador, which has managed the concession since 1990, began cleaning up the marshes, reviving bitter memories within the community of the slow-motion disaster.

The company "made arrangements, but they covered everything with sticks and earth and nothing more," said Grefa, a member of the Assembly of People Affected by Texaco, which represents the 30,000 indigenous people in the suit.

The operation has done little to improve conditions, Aguinda said.

"With the cleanup that Texaco left, the air is just unbearable. I can't live above the oil," groaned Aguinda, who grew visibly irritated talking about the disaster.

"If someone comes here from Texaco" he'll get "pepper in his eyes," she winced.

A strong petroleum smell permeates Rumipamba, home to nine families, some of whom complain of headaches. Several areas of Sucumbios are also contaminated, according to the plaintiffs, who argue that merely sinking a shovel into the ground yields a thick layer of crude.

Chevron, which has called the judgment "illegitimate and unenforceable," has asked a judge in Ecuador for clarification of the ruling as it seeks to appeal.The court last week announced a penalty against Chevron of $8.6 billion with an additional 10 percent for environment management costs.

The plaintiffs, too, plan to appeal, saying the ruling fails to adequately compensate for certain damages and illness. They were seeking more than $27 billion in their suit.

news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110223/ts_alt_afp/ecuadorcourtcompanyenvironmentchevronusnative