Here are the headlines from Mondoweiss for 03/19/2011:
No yellow no green on March 15
Mar 18, 2011 05:40 pm | Fidaa Abu Assi Yes, we have some issues with colors. Although I hate neither Yellow nor Green, the last thing I'd be needing these days is to be dressed in either color; or else, I'd be accused of being either pro-Fatah or pro-Hamas, for we, sometimes, seem to be categorized according to what color we use. Had it not been for these two colors, the March 15 demonstration could have achieved its aim of ending the four-year division between the two rival parties. Unfortunately, this peaceful End-The-Division demo seemed to have backfired on us. I wonder how the outcome would be if our call was for the End of the two parties; and in fact, their end has recently become the wish of the vast majority of the Palestinian people across the nation. After being inspired by the two successful revolutions: "Jasmine Revolution" in Tunisia and "January 25 Revolution" in Egypt, a group of Palestinian youth took the initiative to launch nonviolent demonstrations, calling for a reconciliation between the opposing parties. The campaign has repeatedly demanded that only the Palestinian Flag should be raised on March 15, calling out only one slogan which is "The People Want to End the Division." Fair enough. I, like any other Palestinian whether in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip or the territories of 1948, was impatiently waiting this day to come, counting every single minute, following Facebook updates, and thinking of the consequences of this campaign. So excited, I couldn't sleep the night before March 15 as I didn't know what to do and how I was going to spend my day tomorrow. The only thing I did before going to bed was that I drew The Palestinian flag on my hand and I slept in peace having only one dream that tomorrow would definitely be a heyday for us all. The very next day, holding our Palestinian flags up high, my friends and I headed to The Unknown Soldier Square to join tens of thousands of people who were already there. At first glance I gasped at the wonderful scene of Palestinian flags fluttering everywhere, a scene that refreshed my patriotism, making me cry out loud like the rest of the people that we want to "end the division". Everyone was absolutely thrilled and the whole scene was utterly indescribable, but, bitterly, its beauty faded away the moment Hamas joined the demonstration with their green flags attached to the Palestinian flags, a scene which infuriated most of us, and before I came to a point where I could be misunderstood, Hamas did have the right of participating in the protest and no one had the right to claim otherwise, but they have got no right to dominate it or turn it into something looks like one of their festivals by delivering speeches and singing their remarkable songs. Immediately, we moved to Al-Kateebah Square leaving behind Hamas followers with their green flags. At that very moment, I realized that this "End-the-Division" demo would bring about more division in the political arena. We were divided into two groups: Pro-Hamas demo and Anti-Division demo at two different places. How absurd? "What kind of division we wanted to end", I thought to myself. Maybe we need first to heal the division we have within ourselves and to end the dichotomy that broke us into tiny pieces; then we can end this division. Hamas followers could have joined the protest without waving their green flags which triggered off some angry reactions from the masses and if they were asked why they'd done so, they would answer they didn't want to be shown as if this protest was against them, so they held their flags to assert their presence. Oh! How come could the protest be against them and the protesters have come together only for Palestine and Palestine only, leaving behind the whole political affiliations and obsessions and aiming only at "Ending the Division". This would raise a question as how come Hamas wanted to end this bloody division and at the same time they went out in the name of "Hamas" not "Palestine". Unwisely, they are deepening the division this way. When we reach a point where we can speak in the name of our Palestine not any political party or faction, where we are united under one flag-the Palestinian flag, and where we can deal with colors normally without pointing an accusing finger at anyone who wears green T-shirt or yellow scarf as being Hams-affiliated or Fatah-affiliated respectively, only then can we end the division. Not only did Hamas distort the once was wonderful scene with their green flags, but also they dispersed the nonviolent protesters violently. At night, as everyone hadn't yet gone home, for there was supposed an open-ended sit-in, that is people shouldn't be leaving their place till they got their demands fulfilled, waiting the political leadership to take serious actions to end the division, Hamas forces had attacked the protesters, beaten up everyone there even women weren't spared the beatings and arrested a number of people and journalists. Sadly, they succeeded in making everyone go home, very disappointed. Yet, they were wrong when they thought that they would break people's will or silence their voice. The next day, a group of young people insisted on protesting at the campus of Al-Azhar University and, again, some people were beaten up with clubs and others were arrested. Who knows what comes next? All what I know is that some of those protesters won't give up hope and they insist on going back and protesting. Can't just Hams wise up to what's going on and think twice before taking any serious action against its own people? The whole experience left me with a simple yet unanswerable question as if our simple demand for the end of the Palestinian internal "Division" couldn't be fulfilled, how could our demands for the end of the blockade, the end of the Israeli apartheid and the end of the Israeli violations of our rights, let alone the end of the Israeli occupation be fulfilled? I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, not to make our occupier gloat over our failure to reconcile; this division serves no one but the occupation which makes us busy with our internal conflict to complete its own business on our land by expropriating more lands, destroying homes and violating more rights. Let's end the division and get united to be able to face our real enemy. "United we stand, divided we fall!" Fidaa Abu Assi blogs at Gaza in Words. 
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For Palestinians, Jewish holiday of Purim means… closure
Mar 18, 2011 05:34 pm | Kate and other news from Today in Palestine: Closure for Purim
why Palestinians dread Jewish holidays...
As Israel celebrates Purim, Palestine placed under siege
IMEMC 18 Mar -- The Israeli army enforced a full closure on the occupied territories as Israel and its West Bank settlers celebrate the Purim holiday. Effective Thursday midnight until midnight Monday, the occupied territories will be under full closure and siege. The Palestinians who have permits to enter Israel will not be allowed to do so until the closure is lifted. All Gaza terminals were also shut down.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60888
Juggling trick / Tal Niv
Haaretz 18 Mar -- The clown's costume glistens colorfully against the backdrop of a disputed building in the Al-Ras neighborhood, known in settler doublespeak as 'Peace House.' It's not easy to look into the face of this clown, with his over-the-top, manic jubilation against a background of lowering skies and a watchtower above. In this effective photograph by Olivier Fitoussi, the annual Purimspiel of the settlers in Kiryat Arba and Hebron, held on March 29 last year, acquires a dimension of horror ... In a few days, these settlers will again celebrate Purim by parading along a road on which Palestinian Hebronites are forbidden to travel, past windows that have been shuttered by order of the GOC Central Command, onto a street whose residents have vanished as though into thin air - because they are forbidden to travel on it, walk on it, open stores on it or pass along it. Then the settlers will head to the very symbol of their zeal, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and maybe more clowns in yellow, blue and red will make them laugh yet again.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/juggling-trick-1.350014
Land, property, resources theft and destruction / Ethnic cleansing
Israel court decides to turn Rahma graveyard into Jewish garden
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 18 Mar -- An Israeli court decided to convert part of the Palestinian graveyard, Bab Al-Rahma, in occupied Jerusalem into a biblical garden and prevent the Muslim Palestinians from burying their dead there. This decision was taken after an extremist Jewish settler called Arie King filed a petition with the Israeli court claiming that part of this Islamic graveyard, near the Aqsa Mosque, was in the past a biblical Jewish garden.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2B
IOF storm west of Jenin, threaten to raze Palestinians structures [coal plants]
JENIN, (PIC) 18 Mar -- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Thursday evening stormed Ya'bad town, west of Jenin city, and handed Palestinian citizens a military order to demolish their coal plants, the main source of charcoal in occupied Palestine. Local sources affirmed that 17 coal plants on which dozens of families depend for their living received demolition warnings from the IOF. The IOF launched six months ago a plan to demolish all coal plants in the town and nearby villages and banned their owners from importing timber from the 1948 occupied lands.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc
Israel to displace families from Wadi Abu Hindi, raze their homes
NABLUS, (PIC) 18 Mar -- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Thursday handed more six Palestinian Bedouin families living in Wadi Abu Hindi district, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, military demolition orders against their homes at the pretext their presence in the area was illegal. Palestinian local sources said these Palestinian homes are located near Kedar settlement and will demolished in order to complete the construction of the segregation wall and expand settlement outposts around Jerusalem. Entire families from the Bedouin clan of Sarai'ah will be displaced, especially since other families from the same clan had received evacuation orders last month. The Bedouin Palestinian families in the Wadi Abu Hindi area are part of the wider Jahalin tribe, numbering some 2700 people living in 31 areas of the desert. The Jahalin tribe is originally from the area of Tel Arad in the Naqab (Negev) desert, but Israel deported them in the early 1950s, so they moved to the Jerusalem area. In the 1990s, some 1,000 members of the Jahalin tribe were deported to the area of Jerusalem's municipal garbage dump, in order to expand the settlement of Maale Adumim.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2b
Violent confrontations rage through Silwan once again
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 18 Mar -- Residents of Silwan conducted a public prayer in solidarity with the people of Libya and those martyred in the revolution against the Gaddafi regime today at the Al-Bustan protest tent. The solemnity of the prayer was shattered by Israeli forces positioned in the village who fired tear gas grenades at Al Daer hill and the protest tent. Palestinian youth worked quickly to evacuate the tent of the elderly in attendance as clashes erupted and spread to the Ein Silwan district and Samer Sarhan Street, Al-Bustan, Bir Ayyub, Baten al-Hawa and Hara Wousta in Ras al-Amoud.
http://silwanic.net/?p=13703
Photographer hospitalized for suffocation during clashes
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 18 Mar -- News photographer Mahfouz Abu Turk was transferred to Al Maqased Hospital in Jerusalem today after suffering severe suffocation effects due to tear gas inhalation during violent confrontations today in Silwan.
http://silwanic.net/?p=13686
Israeli officer injured by Molotovs thrown at jeep as tension mounts in Silwant
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 18 Mar -- An Israeli officer has sustained burn wounds to his body and face after the military jeep he was driving in Silwan was hit with Molotov cocktails. Settler guards extinguished the fire. No further details can currently be obtained due to the heavy military presence and state of heightened tension gripping the village.
http://silwanic.net/?p=13699
Invisible settlements in Jerusalem / Hagit Ofran
Jerusalem tourist sites and settlements are being used to promote an exclusively Jewish narrative of the city's history ... It would seem that the most successful model of a tourist settlement in Jerusalem is in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood in Silwan ... It is indeed unfortunate that touristic, archaeological sites are being used as a tool by the right to torpedo the chance for a solution in Jerusalem. The increased presence of Israelis as tourists in the Palestinian areas of Jerusalem -- while ignoring the complexity and the importance of these same sites to other cultures and other nations -- is the type of settlement with far-reaching implications for daily life in the east of the city and for the future of the conflict.
http://pij.org/details.php?id=1283
Human Rights Centre: Thousands of Jerusalemites halt claim to taxes a a prelude to being separated from the city
MEMO 18 Mar -- In a report released today, the Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights highlighted that their legal department had recently received complaints from residents of these districts stating that when they went to the occupation's municipality in Jerusalem to obtain the 2011 list of Arnona tax fees, they were informed that they were no longer required to pay the tax and as such their request was refused by municipal officials ... The Jerusalem Centre has warned that this could be the preliminary step toward political procedures disclosed over a year ago by Yair Segev, a high-ranking official within the occupation's municipality in Jerusalem. He announced the municipality's intention to get rid of tens of thousands of Jerusalemites in districts cut off by the Wall such that the municipality would no longer have any need to continue to exercise its powers there meaning that it would definitively end its provision of public services to the residents of these districts.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2154-human-rights-centre-thousands-of-jerusalemites-halt-claim-to-taxes-as-a-prelude-to-being-separated-from-the-city
Settler violence
Palestinian hospitalized after settler attack
NABLUS (Ma'an) 18 Mar -- A group of settlers attacked a Palestinian from Huwwara village on Friday, as settler violence escalated in the northern West Bank. Settlers threw stones at Talal Ad-Dmeidi, 35, and beat him with sticks at Yitzhar junction south of Nablus. Ad-Dmeidi was taken by ambulance to Rafidia Hospital, medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=369846
Settlers attack Palestinian taxi driver
SALFIT (Ma'an) 18 Mar -- A Palestinian taxi driver said a group of settlers attacked his car on Friday in Salfit in the northern West Bank. Fathallah Issa Bozeh, 45, told Ma'an that settlers threw rocks at his taxi and smashed the windscreen at Za'tara junction. Bozeh said he informed Israeli forces at a nearby checkpoint and they told him to leave the area.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=369978
Activist: Settlers burn cars near Nablus
NABLUS (Ma'an) 18 Mar -- Israeli settlers set fire to two Palestinian cars at the entrance of the illegal settlement of Qadumim on the Nablus-Qalqliya road on Thursday, rights activists said. Zakariyah As-Sada, of the Israeli-Palestinian society for human rights, told Ma'an that "settlers set fire to two Palestinian cars 150 meters away from the entrance of Qadumim while being watched by cameras installed by the Israeli army to monitor the movement of Palestinians around the settlement."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=369776
Land of fire / Neri Livneh
Haaretz 18 Mar -- In any case, the term "price tag" is used by the media so routinely these days that no one stops to ask what's behind this creative concept. In addition to "blood revenge" (which is something we condemn strongly when it refers to a quarrel between Arabs - but, on second thought, why should we care if they kill one another?), this term means the calculated organization of a pogrom. Yes, a pogrom, like the ones systematically inflicted upon Jews before they had their own country - where later, they could carry out their own pogroms in Silwan or Bil'in or some other town square ... What was done in Itamar is a horror beyond words, and what we are doing routinely to the Palestinians is also a horror. They do not have a "price tag" to implement against us, without our immediately dispatching our glorious air force, the wings of whose planes vibrate only slightly when they bomb whole neighborhoods in a not particularly surgical way. Nor do they have a judicial system to protect them.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/land-of-fire-1.350005
Settler violence is nothing new / Sophie O'Brien
17 Mar -- Ziyad Othman, official spokesperson for the governorate of Nablus explains that there is a variety of factors which make Nablus and the surrounding areas a hub for settler violence. 'There are a high percentage of religious, violent settlers in the area' he claims. Significantly, "Five members of the Knesset live in the surrounding settlements belonging to a coalition of right-wing parties," he asserts, thus demonstrating the infiltration of the settler ideology into the highest echelons of government. The Itamar settlement is also home to one of the most ideologically fervent Rabbis who has been known to "issue decrees for the killing of Palestinians." As a final factor compounding the propensity for violence against Palestinians, Ziyad reminds of the fact that many of the settlers are ultra-orthodox and so do not have jobs whilst receiving compensation from the government. In this sense, many of the settlers simply have too much time on their hands. All these factors, he asserts, "encourage the settlers to act violently."
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1721
Siege / Restriction of movement
Ill youth from Gaza, who for 16 days was denied entry to Israel to seek treatment, dies in East Jerusalem hospital, January 2011
B'Tselem 16 Mar -- On 4 December 2010, Mahmoud a-Najar, 15, from Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, was diagnosed as having leukemia. Physicians at a-Shifaa Hospital, in Gaza City, referred him to Augusta Victoria Hospital, in East Jerusalem, where he was given an appointment for 28 December ... Following a prolonged wait, and the intervention of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, the permit arrived on the evening of 12 January, almost a month after the request had been made, and 16 days after his scheduled admission date at Augusta Victoria Hospital. By this stage, the youth's condition had already deteriorated greatly. On 13 January, he went with his mother to Erez Crossing, where, despite his grave condition, he was required to undress and undergo a lengthy body check. At Augusta Victoria Hospital, the youth was given chemotherapy. On 15 January, his condition further deteriorated. He was taken to intensive care and the chemotherapy was stopped, the mother told B'Tselem. Mahmoud a-Najar died in the hospital on 21 January.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Gaza_Strip/20110316_Teenage_cancer_patient_from_Gaza_dies_in_EJ.asp
Higher Islamic clerk [cleric] not allowed to leave country
IMEMC 18 Mar -- Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Elyahu Yishai, decided on Thursday to prevent Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, head of the Higher Islamic Committee in Jerusalem [and former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem], from leaving the country for six months. Yishai cited "security concerns" to defend his decision, adding that effective from March 13 Sabri will not be allowed to travel for six months ... This is the second time Sheikh Sabri is denied his right to travel as he received a similar 6-months travel ban order last year.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60887
The uncertain future of the Gaza blockade post-Mubarak / Alex Kane
18 Mar -- The overthrow of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has caused a lot of people to speculate on what the Egyptian revolution means for the people of Gaza. Under Mubarak's rule, Egypt was the junior partner in the Israeli/U.S. effort to squeeze the people of Gaza following the Hamas takeover in 2007. Mubarak's gone now, so what happens next? The only thing that's clear is that the situation is in flux.
http://alexbkane.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/the-uncertain-future-of-the-gaza-blockade-post-mubarak/
Reprisals
Army: Missile fired on tank in southern Gaza
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) 18 Mar -- Gaza fighters on Friday launched an anti-tank missile at Israeli forces operating in the southern Gaza Strip, a military statement said. The army said its soldiers were "performing a routine activity" in the coastal enclave, and that it would "choose the method of response as per arising security assessments." No injuries were reported.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=369945
10 mortars fired at Negev; no injuries
Ynet 18 Mar -- ... Four of the shells were fired before noon. Some of them landed in Palestinian territory. At around 4 pm six additional mortars launched from the Hamas-ruled territory landed in an open area within the limits of the Eshkol Regional Council, near the security fence separating Israel and Gaza. There were no reports of injury or damage in either attack.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4044226,00.html
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Investment & Sanctions
Six injured, two kidnapped as troops attack West Bank anti-Wall protests
IMEMC 18 Mar -- Six civilians were injured and two were kidnapped when the Israeli army attacked the weekly anti-wall protests organized on Friday in the villages of Bil'in, Ni'lin and an-Nabi Saleh, in the central West Bank, as well as al-Ma'sara in the south.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60897
The slogan of this week's demonstration was 'End the division and occupation'
[photos] Friday 18 Mar (3 pages) -- Five locals injured and a dozen suffocated by tear gas in Bil'in's weekly demonstration -- The slogan of this week's demonstration was 'End the Division and Occupation' Five local residents were injured in various parts of the body and a dozen people fainted due to inhalation of concentrated and poisonous tear gas. Many also suffered from colored and foul chemical liquid that was sprayed over the protesters by the Israeli Defense Force
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=348&Itemid=30
'Buy Gaza' movement gains momentum / Pam Bailey
GAZA CITY, Mar 18 (IPS) -- Palestinians are calling for boycotts against Israeli products and companies. But in the Gaza Strip -- at the heart of the Israeli occupation -- it is often impossible for residents to follow their own call to action. The Israeli currency (the shekel) is the only monetary system in use, and Israeli products dominate key markets, particularly household items
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54898
Boycott roundup; Canada campuses mobilize to divest
EI 18 Mar-- As part of a regular feature, The Electronic Intifada brings you this roundup of activism news related to the growing Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11864.shtml
Anti:
Bad romance: Poland and Israel / Eva Jasiewicz
EI 17 Mar --Last month witnessed the launch of the first Polish-Israeli governmental forum held in occupied Jerusalem. The biannual dialogue accelerates an existing partnership between the two countries which includes trade agreements, joint military training exercises and arms deals under an ongoing "Polonization of Israeli Technology" drive.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11858.shtml
Quest for Palestinian unity
March 15 coalition launches petition
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) 17 Mar -- The March 15 coalition has launched an initiative to gather a million signatures to end the division, the coordinator of the coalition Yousef Nouri told Ma'an. "This campaign will be house-to-house, street-to-street, city-to-city in the West Bank and Gaza demanding an end to division," Nouri said. The document reads: "I, a Palestinian citizen, urge Mahmoud 'Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, and Aziz Dweik, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, to sign this document." It also "demands that the leaders of Fatah and Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza ratify it."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=369759
Gaza protesters leave UN compound
GAZA CITY (AFP) 18 Mar -- Sixteen protesters who took refuge in a UN compound in Gaza on Thursday to flee from Hamas police left the premises and called off a planned hunger strike, a UN official said. "They all left. The authorities in Gaza gave assurances that they will be safe," said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Two hours earlier, one of the demonstrators said the groups planned to stage an indefinite hunger strike to demand an end to Palestinian divisions and reconciliation between rival factions.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=369832
Netanyahu slams Palestinian unity efforts
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) 18 Mar -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed Palestinian unity efforts, saying national Palestinian reconciliation would be the end of the peace process with Israel. In a CNN interview broadcast Thursday, Netanyahu compared Hamas to Al-Qa'eda, and said the Palestinian Authority could not be "for peace with Israel and peace with Hamas that calls for our destruction."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=369844
Practical arrangements underway for Abbas visit to Gaza
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) 18 Mar -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday instructed Civil Affairs chairman Hussein Al-Sheikh to make logistical arrangements for his visit to Gaza as quickly as possible ... The president said Wednesday that he was ready to hold unity talks with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the midst of massive youth protests across the West Bank and Gaza demanding an end to the division.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=369897
Abbas asks for Israeli permission to head for Gaza
RAMALLAH, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday asked for an urgent Israeli permission to head for the Gaza Strip for the first time in more than three years, the PNA presidency office said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/18/c_13786428.htm
Hamas, Fatah make overtures under pressure / Hossam Ezzedine
RAMALLAH (AFP) 18 Mar -- This week's huge unity protests may have forced Hamas and Fatah into making a show of patching up their differences, but analysts are cynical about the rivals' sincerity ... Not everyone saw Abbas's initiative as a positive step towards reconciling the two factions. "What he is offering here is a visit to form an independent government that Hamas will not be part of, so I doubt Hamas will accept that," said George Giacaman, head of the Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy. "For Hamas, reconciliation is not about forming a government to supervise elections," he told AFP. "I think there will not be any result from this as neither side is willing to give up their international and regional alliances," he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=369833
Unity calls stifled in West Bank and Gaza / Mel Frykberg
EI 17 Mar -- ...In an effort to make Tuesday's demonstration appear anti-American, PA's Fatah supporters also burnt the American flag, and some dollars while shouting anti-American slogans. Protesters tried to drown them out by blowing whistles and calling for Palestinian freedom ... Protesters in Gaza had similar problems when they were assaulted and forcibly dispersed by Hamas security forces and compelled to regroup at another venue in Gaza city. But despite the difficulties, and violent opposition from diehard Hamas and Fatah supporters, it appears that the voice of the ordinary Palestinian in the street may be getting through to some of the Palestinian leaders.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11863.shtml
Racism / Discrimination
Family Affair / Duah Matta / Rehovot
Duah was born in the Christian-Arab village of Mi'ilya, she's Catholic, lights a votive candle every night, and her family is secular and musical ... She's been here two months, following a frustrating search for a home. Duah: "Because my name is Duah [Du'aa', which means 'prayer', nice name to most people], I ran into silence when I was looking for an apartment, or the landlord started to stammer." It always began with a nice conversation, she says, "and then they would ask, 'What's your name?' 'Duah,' I would reply, and then they seemed to cough. 'We'll let you know,' they would say."
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/family-affair-duah-matta-rehovot-1.350009
Other news
Report: Hamas official suspended over allegations of corruption
Haaretz 18 Mar -- Ayman Taha accused of embezzling money; Taha and Hamas spokesperson Fauzi Barhum say claims are completely inaccurate This is the first time in the history of the organization in which one of its senior officials was suspended from office, after it was revealed that he was involved in a case of money embezzlement.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-hamas-official-suspended-over-allegations-of-corruption-1.350057
Analysis / Opinion
Israel's right sees Arab essence in terrorists / Akiva Eldar
Haaretz 18 Mar -- The right does not consider the opinion of the moderate collective an authentic Arab voice. For them, the acts of the murderous exceptions are the determining factor ... When the trace of the murderers leads to the Palestinian territories, the exception immediately becomes the rule - a genetic trait that is characteristic of the Muslims.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-s-right-sees-arab-essence-in-terrorists-1.349928
Murdering babies is 'permissible' when they're Palestinian / Alison Weir
[with long list of Palestinian children killed] CP 17 Mar -- ...news reports on the abhorrent Itamar murders fail to mention the frequent, tragic, and equally abhorrent killing of massive numbers of Palestinian children by Israelis. For example, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Itamar incident was "the deadliest such attack against Jewish settlers in the area since 2002," but didn't bother to report that there have been numerous deadly attacks on Palestinians in the area in the intervening years, that dozens of Palestinian minors have been killed, many more injured and maimed, and even more Palestinian mothers, fathers, and grandparents killed. This viewpoint is typical of U.S. media. Statistical studies show that primetime network news shows report on Israeli children's deaths at rates up to 14 times greater than they report on Palestinian children's deaths; regional newspapers report Israeli deaths at even more disproportionate rates.
http://www.counterpunch.org/weir03172011.html
Palestine through the lens of a 'caged bird' / Lynda Renham-Cook
In her continuing series on Palestine, Lynda Renham-Cook speaks to Palestinian photographer Ahmad Mesleh who takes photos of his countrypeople as they struggle to fight against an occupation.
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=75837
'No peace without water' -- The role of hydropolitics in the Israel-Palestine conflict / Jameel M Zayed
Jnews 15 Mar -- Israel, a land flowing with milk and honey - but what about water? The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is the driest in the world and due to climate change, an exploding population, and increased urbanisation, the region is getting more and more arid.
http://www.jnews.org.uk/commentary/%E2%80%9Cno-peace-without-water%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-the-role-of-hydropolitics-in-the-israel-palestine-conflict
Zionist tales of 'passionate longing' for Palestinian lands / Stuart Littlewood
17 Mar -- The Board of Deputies of British Jews is targeting unsympathetic Christians with a new booklet called Zionism: A Jewish Communal Response. It answers a growing concern amongst Jews that Christians are too ready to dismiss Zionism as a political movement rather than a central facet of Jewish identity.
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2011/03/zionist-tales-of-%E2%80%98passionate-longing%E2%80%99-for-palestinian-lands/
Religion can be a fertile ground for Mideast peace / Michael Melchior
We have an obligation to base the peace with the Muslim world on the many common values we share with the Muslims ... A profound observation of the processes taking place in the Arab world should gladden the heart of anyone who favors freedom and justice in general, and every Jew in particular. It contains a kind of repeat broadcast of the Exodus from Egypt. But this time it's the Egyptians who are emerging from slavery into freedom. Almost without bloodshed, an entire nation rose up against the regime of torture, despotism and slavery. Every Jew should be pleased with a step that ends in a victory of justice and truth over oppression and lies.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/religion-can-be-a-fertile-ground-for-mideast-peace-1.349931
Iraq, Arab world
Thursday: 1 Iraqi killed, 20 wounded
Light violence left at least one Iraqi dead and 20 wounded in Baghdad and Mosul. A car bomber was stopped at the entrance to Kut. In Baghdad, one person was killed and three more were wounded during a blast in Iskan. A roadside bomb wounded three people, including a civilian, in Ur. Another roadside bomb wounded three in Shabb. Three more were wounded by a blast in Karrada. A bicycle bomb wounded eight people in Mosul. Kut police seized a car bomb but the driver escaped. Four suspects arrested. An Islamic State of Iraq leader was arrested in Hawija. [End]
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/03/17/thursday-1-iraqi-killed-20-wounded/
Latest developments in Arab world's unrest
AP 18 Mar 1:40pm Latest developments in the unrest sweeping the Arab world from North Africa to the Persian Gulf:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110318/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_mideast_protests_glance
U.S.
Furious Pakistan demands apology over US drone strike / Jason Ditz
17 Mar -- Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir has demanded a formal apology from the United States for a drone strike earlier Thursday which targeted a tribal jirga, killing large numbers of civilians and tribal fighters loyal to the Pakistani government in North Waziristan ... The attack was among the deadliest single US attacks on the tribal areas in the past several years, rivaling a 2009 attack on a funeral procession which killed over 80 people over the course of two strikes.
http://news.antiwar.com/2011/03/17/furious-pakistan-demands-apology-over-us-drone-strike/
Taking the 'war' out of air war / Tom Engelhardt
18 Mar -- These days, we need a new set of terms to explain what U.S. air power actually does. Start this way: American "air superiority" in any war the U.S. now fights is total. In fact, the last time American jets met enemy planes of any sort in any skies was in the First Gulf War in 1991 ... It's a long path from knightly aerial jousting to air war as… well, what? We have no language for it, because accurate labels would prove deflating, pejorative, and exceedingly uncomfortable. You would perhaps need to speak of cadets at the Air Force Academy being prepared for "air slaughter" or "air assassination," depending on the circumstances.
http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2011/03/17/taking-the-war-out-of-air-war%C2%A0/
Playboy interviews Helen Thomas
April issue ...he asked "So what do you think of Israel?" That's when I said, "They should get the hell out of Palestine." PLAYBOY: Did you realize how controversial those words were as you spoke them? THOMAS: I knew I'd hit the third rail. You cannot say anything about Israel in this country. But I've lived with this cause for many years. Everybody knows my feelings that the Palestinians have been shortchanged in every way. Sure, the Israelis have a right to exist -- but where they were born, not to come and take someone else's home. I've had it up to here with the violations against the Palestinians. Why shouldn't I say it? I knew exactly what I was doing -- I was going for broke. I had reached the point of no return. You finally get fed up.
http://www.playboy.com/articles/helen-thomas-playboy-interview/index.html
All the president's messengers
The Economist 17 Mar -- Before the UN vote of February 18th, Barack Obama reportedly encouraged Mr Cameron and others to take a tough line on Israel. In phone calls to his European allies, Mr Obama is said to have expressed frustration at Mr Netanyahu's approach to settlements, but to have explained he had "too many domestic fires to extinguish" to risk a bust-up over Israel. The White House strenuously denies this account.
http://www.economist.com/node/18389092?story_id=18389092&fsrc=rss
US senators urge EU to keep Hamas on terror list
JPost 17 Mar -- Move comes after 'Post' report that PA was lobbying for such a change; House members draft bill to relocate US embassy to J'lem.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=212671
Report: US considering strategic outreach to Hezbollah
Haaretz 18 Mar -- Washington Post says Obama administration weighing dialogue with Lebanese militant group's political wing, in an effort similar to that attempted by U.K. in its dealings with Sinn Fein in the 1990s.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-u-s-considering-strategic-outreach-to-hezbollah-1.350032   
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Qadhafi calls for ceasefire then kills 25 in Misrata; UN warns of shocking abuses in Bahrain; Saleh kills 30 in Yemen
Mar 18, 2011 04:26 pm | Seham And more news from the Arab uprisings: Qadhafi the War Criminal
Attack by Gaddafi forces kills 25 in Misrata-TV
CAIRO, March 18 (Reuters) - The death toll from an attack by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi on the rebel-held town of Misrata rose to 25, Al Arabiya television reported, quoting medical sources.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/al-arabiya-quoting-medical-sources-says-25-dead-in-bombardment
Libya Threatens Mediterranean Planes, Ships if Attacked
Aljazeera English reports on the eruption of delight in Benghazi at the announcement Thursday evening New York time that the UN Security Council had authorized a no-fly zone over Libya and the taking of all measures necessary to protect civilian life.
http://www.juancole.com/2011/03/libya-threatens-mediterranean-planes-ships-if-attacked.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+juancole%2Fymbn+%28Informed+Comment%29
Gaddafi addresses Benghazi residents
Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, addressed residents of the opposition stronghold of Benghazi late on Thursday, warning them of an impending military operation during which "no mercy" would be shown to any opposition fighters. He said that if citizens laid down their arms, they would not be harmed. He also said that he had been receiving "thousands" of phone calls from Benghazi, from residents who were being held "hostage" and who wanted to be "rescued".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULw5lUG5wl0&feature=youtube_gdata
30 reportedly killed in rebels' fight to hold off Gadhafi forces
The two sides have been fighting hard around the rebel-held city of Ajdabiya, and a senior hospital official told the Associated Press that 30 people had been killed and at least 80 wounded since Tuesday night.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/955407--30-reportedly-killed-in-rebels-fight-to-hold-off-gadhafi-forces
Gaddafi jets 'bomb rebel bastion'
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi reportedly launch their first air raids on the main rebel-held town of Benghazi, as the UN considers imposing a no-fly zone.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-12775824
Gaddafi forces bomb airport at rebel stronghold
Libyan rebels shot down at least two bomber planes that attacked the airport in their main stronghold today, according to residents who witnessed the rare success in the struggle against Muammar Gaddafi's superior air power.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaddafi-forces-bomb-airport-at-rebel-stronghold-2244759.html
Gadhafi tells rebel-stronghold Benghazi: Libya army is coming tonight
Libyan leader threatens rebels hours before UN Security council set to vote on resolution to authorize no-fly zone over Libya and stepped-up sanctions.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/gadhafi-tells-rebel-stronghold-benghazi-libya-army-is-coming-tonight-1.349868?localLinksEnabled=false
Gaddafi Tells Rebel City, Benghazi, 'There Won't Be Any Mercy'
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi told Libyan rebels on Thursday his armed forces were coming to their capital Benghazi tonight and would not show any mercy to fighters who resisted them. In a radio address, he told Benghazi residents that soldiers would search every house in the city and people who had no arms had no reason to fear.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/17/gaddafi-benghazi-libya-news_n_837245.html
Libyan battle heads to showdown in Benghazi
Moammar Kadafi's forces have moved relentlessly eastward, pushing the rebels back to their capital, Benghazi. However, it's uncertain whether the tactic of airstrikes followed by ground attacks can work in such a large population center. Moammar Kadafi's military and beleaguered rebel fighters are gearing for a showdown in this opposition stronghold, a battle that will help determine whether the monthlong uprising in eastern Libya can prevail — and, if not, whether a brutal regime can endure an underground resistance movement and the threat of foreign military action.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/UP736I03TUk/la-fg-libya-military-20110318,0,7705795.story
Libya says any attack would threaten Mediterranean
Defense Ministry says foreign military act will expose all air, maritime traffic in Mediterranean Sea to danger; Gaddafi vows to retake Benghazi; offers amnesty to those who surrender, 'no mercy' for those who don't.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4044011,00.html
Kadafi warns rebels to give up and rest of the world to stay out
His forces poised to take two rebel-held cities, Libya leader Moammar Kadafi warned that any armed foreign intervention would result in Libyan attacks on air and sea traffic across the Mediterranean, Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi lashed out at the international community and at his domestic enemies Thursday as his troops stood poised to retake two rebel-controlled cities.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/07L4jx0QCUU/la-fg-libya-kadafi-20110318,0,4106997.story
The Libyan Resistance
Libyan rebels beat back attack on Misrata-rebel
TUNIS, March 18 (Reuters) - Libyan rebels beat back a heavy attack by government forces on the western city of Misrata on Friday, a rebel fighter said. It was not possible to independently verify the report. "God is great. The brave men of Misrata defeated them and pushed them back. Now the shelling has stopped," insurgent Saadoun told Reuters by telephone. Government forces had bombarded the city, the last big rebel stronghold in western Libya, since Friday morning, using tanks and heavy artillery, residents and rebels had said earlier.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libyan-rebel-in-misrata-says-rebels-repelled-govt-attack-on-city
Libyan rebel head defiant after Gaddafi threat
CAIRO, March 17 (Reuters) - Libyan rebels will stand firm and will not be deterred by threats made by Muammar Gaddafi, the head of the rebel council said on Thursday after the Libyan leader threatened to attack Benghazi where the council is based. "We stand on firm ground. We will not be intimidated by these lies and claims," Libyan National Council head Mustafa Abdel Jalil said, Al Jazeera television reported. "Libyan cities from Ajdabiyah and all of the east are under rebel control." He was speaking before the U.N. Security Council voted on a resolution that would open the way for air strikes. Abdel Jalil said he would welcome any step that stopped "genocide". Gaddafi said his armed forces were heading into the rebel capital Benghazi on Thursday night and would not show any mercy to fighters who resisted them
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libyan-rebels-will-stand-firm-and-will-not-be-deterred-by-gaddaf
Aircraft shot down by Opposition in Bohadi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbInkCFqyJQ&feature=player_embedded
Rebels fight to hold on in Libya
Fierce clashes have been reported from the cities of Ajdabiyah and Misurata, and air strikes by government forces in the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, as the crisis in Libya continues. Opposition fighters say they fear that pro-Gaddafi forces will encircle the towns they control on the country's east coast, even as government forces launch a renewed offensive against them. Al Jazeera's Nazanine Sadri reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MotKAvme4xk&feature=youtube_gdata
Benghazi, Libya's rebel capital, braces for a fight
Libya's rebels are begging for international help as Qaddafi's forces tighten their siege of Ajdabiya, the last major city on the road to Benghazi.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/3DCuBRbMr7Y/Benghazi-Libya-s-rebel-capital-braces-for-a-fight
Libya opposition a learned group
Engineers, doctors, professors and lawyers, some with Western degrees and all claiming support for a democratic Libya, make up the opposition that aims to topple Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/16/libya-opposition-a-learned-group/
Libyan opposition council may open US office -US
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - The Libyan National Council, representing groups in opposition to Muammar Gaddafi, may set up a representative office in Washington, U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns said on Thursday. "We've made it possible for the Libyan National Council to put up a representative office in Washington," Burns told a Senate committee. He noted that the United States had suspended, but not formally broken, diplomatic ties with the Gaddafi government. Burns stressed that U.S. does not have a full picture of the Libyan National Council, but said "those that we have met have struck us as being positive and serious."
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/us-state-depts-burns-says-rebel-libyan-national-council-may-se
Blind Libya cleric a voice of revolt
Yosry Alhadar infuses Koranic verses with patriotism, creating a sense of epic struggle that sends young men with Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers against Moammar Kadafi's rockets and warplanes. When he was a boy, the blind sheik was forced to read Moammar Kadafi's Green Book manifesto in Braille, his fingers trying to decipher the erratic mind of a leader who brutalized a nation.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/EjlIdZkWZPU/la-fg-libya-sheik-revolution-20110318,0,801427.story
Frustration and Anger in Benghazi
http://feb17.info/media/frustration-and-anger-in-benghazi/
Libyan Rebels Maintain Benghazi Media Center to Battle Gaddafi Regime through the Internet and Airwaves
Reporting from the rebel-held city of Benghazi in eastern Libya, Democracy Now! correspondent Anjali Kamat visits a new media center established by anti-government forces to report on their struggle against forces loyal to Col. Muammar Gaddafi. Special thanks to videographer Yusuf Misdaq, who contributed to this report. [includes rush transcript]
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/17/libyan_rebels_maintain_benghazi_media_center
Humanitarian Crisis
Human Rights Watch Libya: Benghazi Civilians Face Grave Risk
(New York) - The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's violent crackdown on protests and his long record of serious abuses raise grave concerns for the safety of the civilian population in Benghazi and other eastern cities as the fighting in Libya shifts eastward, Human Rights Watch said today.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/17/libya-benghazi-civilians-face-grave-risk
MSF: 'Dedicated' Libyan doctors cope with Benghazi's health needs
LONDON (AlertNet) - Libyan troops pushed forward towards the eastern insurgent stronghold of Benghazi on Thursday and launched air raids on its outskirts as momentum gathered in support of air raids to stop Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/dedicated-libyan-doctors-cope-with-benghazis-health-needs-msf
Libyan refugee numbers jump as Gaddafi pushes east
SALUM, Egypt, March 17 (Reuters) - A trickle of Libyan refugees has become a flood after Muammar Gaddafi's troops entered the rebel bastion of Ajdabiyah, a key city in the shrinking territory controlled by anti-government forces. At Libya's eastern border crossing with Egypt at Salum, the number of Libyan nationals joining the thousands of mainly Egyptian and African migrant workers fleeing the country has shot up in the last two days as Gaddafi's army pushed east.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libyan-refugee-numbers-jump-as-gaddafi-pushes-east
LIBYA-TUNISIA: Information gap hampers aid response
RAS AJDIR 18 March 2011 (IRIN) - While the UN has just backed a no-fly zone over Libya and "all necessary measures" short of an invasion "to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas", humanitarian agencies just across the border in Tunisia are trying to prepare for a range of different scenarios.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=92228
Media Repression/Suppression/Abuses
Tripoli journalists in lockdown ahead of protest
TRIPOLI, March 18 (Reuters) - Libyan authorities prevented foreign journalists from reporting freely in the capital Tripoli on Friday ahead of anticipated protests against Muammar Gaddafi. Emboldened by a U.N. resolution authorising a "no-fly" zone and military attacks on Gaddafi's forces, Libyan opposition supporters in the capital said they would gather later in the day to call for the end of the Libyan leader's rule.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/tripoli-journalists-in-lockdown-ahead-of-protest
NYT Reporter Anthony Shadid Missing in Libya
"Weeks before the war started, I had promised myself that I would stay in Baghdad through the conflict, whatever the circumstances," wrote NYT reporter Anthony Shadid in July 2010. One of the few unembedded American journalists fluent in Arabic covering Iraq, Shadid shed light on the humanitarian devastation of the war. "I didn't want the Pentagon to write this story like a screenplay, with expert scene-setting, and the temptation, irresistible in conflict, to manipulate reality... Readers needed to understand how American weapons were fired but just as importantly, where our bombs landed. This war, from the American perspective, might have had democratic aims, but it was still war, horrific – a panorama of terror and grief.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/934/nyt-reporter-anthony-shadid-missing-in-libya
'Nothing new' on missing NY Times journalists
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The New York Times said Thursday it had nothing new to report on the fate of its four journalists who went missing in eastern Libya, where rebels are battling Moamer Kadhafi's forces. "Unfortunately, we have nothing new to report," a Times spokeswoman said by email when asked by AFP if there had been any developments since the newspaper reported on Wednesday that the journalists had disappeared. Editors at the newspaper were last in contact with the four, all experienced war correspondents, on Tuesday morning New York time, according to the Times.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/17/nothing-new-on-missing-ny-times-journalists/ Anthony Shadid
"Shadid, who has also worked for the Washington Post and Associated Press during a career that has garnered him two Pulitzer Prizes, was shot in the shoulder on March 31, 2002, while covering an Israeli incursion into Ramallah in the Wes |
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