Here are the headlines from Mondoweiss for 11/04/2010:
UK Foreign Secretary meets with Palestinian activists, when will the US follow suit?
Nov 03, 2010 11:39 am | Adam Horowitz The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee is reporting that William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, met with leading Palestinian grassroots activists in Ramallah. The meeting serves as a subtle show of support as Israel continues to crack down on the spreading nonviolent resistance to the Wall. From the Committee's website: In line with the European Union and Britain's denouncements of the recent conviction and sentencing of Bil'in protest leader, Abdallah Abu Rahmah, the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, met with Palestinian grassroots organizers. Hague held the Ramallah talks with activists from the villages of al-Ma'asara and Ni'ilin, whose residents hold regular protests against Israel's separation barrier and settlements, and with a representative of the Holy Land Trust, a Bethlehem organization that promotes the use of non-violent strategies by Palestinians. The meeting comes in the midst of an ongoing wave of repression against the Palestinian civil resistance movement by Israel. In the past two years, faced by the steady growth of the movement and its growing importance in Palestinian political discourse, Israeli forces have killed at least ten unarmed demonstrators, six of them in anti-wall protests. The Israeli military has also detained and imprisoned hundreds and hundreds of people for their part in protesting the construction of Separation Barrier, mostly apprehending them from their homes in nighttime raids - especially targeting the villages of Bil'in, Ni'ilin, Budrus and Jayyous. During the meeting Hague voiced his and Britain's support to Palestinian nonviolence, saying that it is this kind of resistance that can gain Palestinians the insistent support of the international community.
This meeting raises the question - when will the US show a similar sign of support? Representative from four US-based human rights organizations met with the State Department two weeks ago to ask them to take such a stand. Adalah-NY, CODEPINK, Jewish Voice for Peace and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation delivered a letter for Secretary of State Clinton signed by over 35 organizations and 5,000 people asking the US to demand that Israel free Abdallah Abu Rahmah. Rob Mosrie, Executive Director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, pointed to the hypocrisy of US policy in a press release about the meeting, "Israel's arrest of non-violent activists like Abdallah Abu Rahmah mocks President Obama's call in his Cairo speech for Palestinians to use only nonviolent means to gain their freedom. What kind of message does it send to a community when their nonviolent leadership is jailed?" 
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BREAKING NEWS: Benjamin Netanyahu retains control of U.S. Congress
Nov 03, 2010 11:00 am | Adam Horowitz The headline is courtesy of Ali Abunimah's twitter feed. Josh Rogan reports for Foreign Policy on The Israel Project's victory lap: One prominent pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington is already praising the GOP takeover of the House of Representatives as a net benefit for Israel. "While Democrats are likely to keep control of the U.S. Senate, Republicans will take over the U.S. House of Representatives following Tuesday's elections. This is likely to have implications for Israel-related issues such as Israel's relationship with the United States and the push for sanctions against Iran," said an e-mail blasted out by The Israel Project only minutes after news stations called the turnover of House control a certainty. "The takeover of the House by Republicans is great news for Israel and her supporters," the email quotes Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman under President George W. Bush, as saying. "The House leadership and almost every single GOP member is rock-solid behind Israel. At times like this, Israel needs friends everywhere." But the Israel Project's e-mail then quickly turns on its head and praises Congressional Democrats in the House and Senate for their staunch support of Israel. "The House Democratic leadership has been powerfully supportive of Israel, and Speaker Pelosi has been nothing short of passionate in her successful pursuit of biting sanctions against Iran - a key interest of the pro-Israel community," The Israel Project quotes David Harris, president and CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council, as saying. So which is it? Is The Israel Project saying that Republicans or Democrats are better for Israel? "American voters on both sides of the aisle support Israel," Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, founder and president of The Israel Project, says in the e-mail.
I guess in the end Netanyahu couldn't lose. The Israel Project identifies several key Congressional changes that could impact the Israel debate on Capitol Hill. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) will take over the House Foreign Affairs Committee from Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA). House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), who the Project calls "staunchly pro-Israel," will likely be the next Speaker of the House and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) could become Majority Leader, "the highest-ranking post a Jew has ever held in Congress," the e-mail points out. The Project also points toward Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), who could become the new head of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on terrorism, non-proliferation, and trade, and whoever will replace Barney Frank (D-MA) as head of the Finance Committee, "a key avenue for sanctions against Iran." The top three contenders for chairman are Spencer Bachus, (R-AL), Pete King (R-NY), and Royce.
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Is Lev Leviev out of the settlement building business?
Nov 03, 2010 10:54 am | Adam Horowitz Adalah-NY is claiming victory in helping to force Israeli industrialist Lev Leviev out of the settlement construction business. Adalah has been campaigning for years against Leviev, including some very creative protests outside his flagship Manhattan boutique. From an Adalah-NY press release: Africa Israel, the flagship company of Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, announced this week that it is no longer involved in Israeli settlement projects and that it has no plans for future settlement activities. Africa Israel subsequently denied that this was a political decision. However, in the last few years numerous organizations, firms, governments and celebrities have exerted pressure and severed their relationships with Leviev and his companies over their involvement in settlement construction and other human rights abuses, in response to a boycott campaign initiated by Adalah-NY.
Israel's Coalition of Women for Peace disclosed on Monday that in an official letter to the Coalition, Africa Israel stated, "Neither the company nor any of its subsidiaries and/or other companies controlled by the company are presently involved in or has any plans for future involvement in development, construction or building of real estate in settlements in the West Bank." In follow-up articles in the Israeli media on Monday, Africa Israel said that the statement was "a description of the business today" and that "Africa Israel builds for all the public in Israel, and does not deal in politics or any other policy."
Ethan Heitner from Adalah-NY explained, "Following years of settlement construction, and pro-settlement statements and activities by Lev Leviev, the public announcement by Africa Israel that it has no plans to build Israeli settlements is clearly a result of pressure from the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. This provides concrete evidence of the way in which the BDS movement can change companies' behavior. But Africa Israel can't speak out of both sides of its mouth and expect a clean bill of health. Africa Israel must unambiguously renounce settlement activity, and all other involvement in violations of Palestinian rights. And Lev Leviev needs to end his involvement in settlement construction through other companies like Leader Management and Development, as well as his support for human rights abuses in the diamond industry in countries like Angola and Namibia."
  
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There are more than just Palestinian refugees in Israel
Nov 03, 2010 10:47 am | Adam Horowitz The Israeli activist who goes by the name gangreentv has sent us the video above. It's the second video we've posted from them. They also sent this explanation below: While much media attention is focused on Israel's treatment of the Palestinian population, and rightfully so, most English-speakers don't know about Israel's asylum seekers and foreign workers, two other marginalized groups that are constantly being harassed and threatened with deportation. Many of them are refugees of armed conflicts in Africa -- conflicts that the Israeli government indirectly contributes to by selling weapons on the continent. But instead of granting these people status, it considers them a 'demographic threat' and orders its immigration people to round them up for expulsion. After Israel began to phase out the use of Palestinian laborers, deeming them a security risk, the government began to 'import' foreign workers, mainly from East Asia, to do dirty work. But these people are relegated to serf status, and are deported and replaced if they try to form families, a basic human right. This 4-minute video puts a human face on the people of color that have migrated to Israel over the last few years. Israelis of conscience are starting to rally for their right to stay in the country, but the government is determined to grant that privilege to Jews only. Israel: if you are not apartheid state, then start proving it! 
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More Israeli child abuse… of Palestinian children
Nov 03, 2010 10:45 am | Seham And other news from Today in Palestine: Settlers/ Land, Property, Resource Theft & Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing
IOA bulldozes Beit Ummar land to establish 50 new housing units
The Israeli occupation authority is accelerating the bulldozing of Palestinian land in Beit Ummar village, Al-Khalil district, in preparation for building 50 new housing units.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k
Israelis Tear Down Homes, Interrogate Citizens near Bethlehem, Tulkarem
Bethlehem – PNN - Israeli forces carried out home inspection and demolition operations on Wednesday in the villages of Kur, south of Tulkarem, and Beit Fajar, south of Bethlehem, arresting a number of Palestinians. A source told Wafa that the Israeli force that moved into the village of Beit Fajar was composed of five patrols. The force demolished the homes of Ahmed Muhammad Taqataqa, Muhammad Kamil, and Waleed Thawabiti, as well a bakery owned by Muhammad Ali Abyan.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9065&Itemid=64
Israeli colonies expand, Palestinians face home demolitions
Bulldozers, backed by Israeli soldiers and police forces, razed a Bedouin Palestinian encampment in Isawiya, a village northeast of Jerusalem on Wednesday, 27 October. Israeli forces destroyed tents and other structures that were home to six families, according to Ma'an News Agency ("Israel Razes Bedouin Camp," 27 October 2010). "Hani al-Eisaway of the Isawiya Land Defense committee said that the Israeli [forces] bulldozed more than 50 dunams (12.5 acres) of land," Ma'an reported. The encampment was close to the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11603.shtml
PA minister: Israel steals Palestinian heritage
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority Minister of Culture Siham Barghouthi said Tuesday that his ministry was investigating Israel's theft of Palestinian heritage. Palestinian culture must be preserved by organizing exhibitions and festivals to show that heritage claimed by Israel is actually Palestinian, Bargouthi said in an interview with Ma'an Radio. A blue version of the keffiyeh, a scarf and a Palestinian national symbol, could be found in markets with a Star of David used instead of the traditional pattern, the minister noted.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330237
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Refugees in south protest Balfour declaration
SIDON: Palestinian refugees at the south Lebanon refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh marked Tuesday the signing of the Balfour declaration. Camp residents and political factions marched in the street to protest the declaration, considered as a cornerstone in the foundation of Israel.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=121087
Silwan Extends Harsh Welcome to "Racist" Mayor Barkat
Jerusalem – Maysa Abu Ghazala – PNN - Neither with roses and smiles nor with congratulations and blessings did the people of Jerusalem's Ras al-Umud neighborhood welcome Mayor Nir Barkat on his Tuesday morning visit to open the "Ras al-Umud Comprehensive Girls' School." Writing on the walls of the school called for Barkat to get out, next to Palestinian flags and national slogans. On the floor of the school was a Star of David next to a swastika, surrounded by trash. Fakhry Abu Diab of the Committee to Defend Silwan said that the people of Ras al-Umud welcomed Barkat as he deserved to be welcomed, as a mayor in an occupation state. He said they didn't want to see him in the same neighborhood whose residents he has threatened to displace.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9056&Itemid=73
Budrus hero calls for Abdallah Abu Rahmah's freedom, Jesse Bacon
I recently had the good fortune to attend a packed Monday night NYC screening sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. One issue raised by the extremely well-informed director was how similar protests in other villages have had difficulty duplicating Budrus's success. A Budrus protest participant told me that even Budrus itself could see its victory threatened as Israel completes the building of the Wall. So it is inspiring to me that Ayed Morrar, the Budrus leader, has continued to struggle on behalf of other less fortunate villages in the West Bank. Here he writes in Huffington Post (apparently more "mainstream" outlets passed on it) in support of Abdallah Abu Rahmah, his counterpart organizer in Bi'lin.
http://theonlydemocracy.org/2010/11/budrus-hero-calls-for-abdallah-abu-rahmahs-freedom/
British foreign secretary to meet Palestinian activists in East Jerusalem
William Hague's itinerary, which includes Sheikh Jarrah, raises eyebrows in Israel's diplomatic corps.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/british-foreign-secretary-to-meet-palestinian-activists-in-east-jerusalem-1.322535?localLinksEnabled=false
Education minister urges new ethics code to end row over teaching Zionism
The code, he said, should include the following principles: course material should reflect the range of academic views on the particular topic; lecturers should not be discriminated against on the basis of their political views; and academic freedom should not include the lecturers' right to advocate boycotts of Israel, whether academic or otherwise.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/education-minister-urges-new-ethics-code-to-end-row-over-teaching-zionism-1.322553?localLinksEnabled=false
#BDS: Egyptian author threatens to sue Israeli-Palestinian NGO for translating book without permission
Though no profits were earned as the novel was published for free, the writer is upset because he wanted to boycott the Hebrew language for political reasons.
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/11/bds-egyptian-author-threatens-to-sue.html
#BDS: Linkin Park, Cancel Apartheid Israel's Show!
Dear Chester Bennington, Brad Delson, Joe Hahn, Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon and David Farrell of Linkin Park, We are a group of over 150 Israeli citizens, who support the Palestinian United Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights1. On November 15 your band Linkin Park is scheduled to perform in Tel-Aviv, Israel, thus undermining the most unified Palestinian form of non-violent struggle, which has already gained substantial recognition across the globe. We therefore urge you to cancel your Israel show, which is inevitably a show of support for Israel's apartheid.
http://boycottisrael.info/content/linkin-park-cancel-apartheid-israels-show
#BDS: Debunking pro-Israeli arguments against boycott Inbox X
While the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against apartheid Israel continues to grow, its opponents continue to resort to the same old canards in trying to defend Israel. In a Jerusalem Post article published on 17 October 2010, columnist Hannah Brown gives us a good example of some of the Israeli talking points ("British director Mike Leigh cancels Israel visit". In her concluding paragraph she writes:
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/11/bds-debunking-pro-israeli-arguments.html
A "Swiss Made" Boat for Gaza, Silvia Cattori
Meeting in Geneva in early October, representatives of the International Coalition to Break the Siege on Gaza (people from Britain, Switzerland, Greece, Sweden, Malaysia, Turkey, United Sates, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Algeria, Kuwait, Jordan as well as other Arab countries) have confirmed their determination to break the maritime blockade imposed by Israel on the population of Gaza. While the Swiss boat was ready as of August, the departure of the second Freedom Flotilla had to be postponed till next spring since an increasing number of countries want to join it. The 45 passengers who will leave aboard the Swiss boat (500 applications have been received) include members of parliament. Jean-Charles Rielle, 58, Socialist member of the Swiss Parliament, is one of them.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/11/a-swiss-made-boat-for-gaza/
Help send Alex Kane to Israel/Palestine
As many of you know Alex Kane is a frequent contributor to Mondoweiss. His work on Islamophobia, media analysis, the Freedom Flotilla, and general news from Israel/Palestine has been invaluable. Alex is now raising money to travel to Israel/Palestine as part of a delegation organized by American Jews for a Just Peace. Please help him get there!
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/help-send-alex-kane-to-israelpalestine.html
Israeli Abuse of Palestinian Children
DCI: 38 incidents of settlers' violence against children occurred in two years
Defense for children international (DCI) organization-Palestine section documented 38 incidents of settlers' violence against Palestinian children that happened during the past two years.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U
Israeli police arrest five Palestinian children in Silwan
Israeli occupation policemen stormed the Silwan town, south of the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, on Wednesday and arrested five Palestinian children including two brothers.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7
IOF release child after 38 days in several jails
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) released a 13-year old child called Sayel Abu Qwaider after he spent 38 days in different Israeli jails.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7
Israel to place stone-throwing children under house arrest
JERUSALEM — Israeli police said on Tuesday they would begin imposing house arrest on stone-throwing youths in east Jerusalem and hold their parents legally responsible for their actions. "The police will bring the situation of children throwing stones at the police and at Jewish cars under control with court orders imposing strict house arrest on these children," police spokesman Shmulik Ben Ruby told AFP.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iS-6KDOZy0DlFqFHN8J4mFKAPviw?docId=CNG.be5fb3dcc700cba9b479f52a306036f2.491
Report: New Israeli plan to discourage stone-throwing
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Jerusalem police are imposing high fines and house arrest on Palestinian children in occupied East Jerusalem to prevent stone-throwing at Israeli vehicles, the Hebrew-language daily Maariv reported Tuesday. Police have conducted a trial of the policy for several weeks. A senior Jerusalem District Police officer, quoted in the newspaper, said three children were arrested in Silwan, but a Magistrates Court refused to extend their detention "because of their young age."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330065
AFP: Children of Silwan to Be Placed Under House Arrest
Shmulik Ben Ruby, spokesman for the Israeli police, said on Tuesday that Israel was to issue court orders imposing house arrest on stone-throwing children living in the Arab neighborhood of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, Agence France-Presse reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59812
Gaza children bear scars of war
Israel's war on Gaza almost two years ago killed at least 1,400 Palestinians - including more than 300 children according to human rights groups. Many of the children who witnessed the violence now suffer ongoing psychological damage. Al Jazeera's Nadim Baba reports on how residents are trying to restore some normality to the children of Gaza.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpybxTPbqp4&feature=youtube_gdata
Israeli military in action
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/11/israeli-military-in-action.html
Racism
Carmiel initiative tries to prevent home sales to Arabs
Deputy mayor backs anonymous service, saying he wants to 'maintain Jewish nature' of northern city.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3978960,00.html
Safed man harassed for renting flat to Bedouin
Posters plastered around the city, explicitly naming apartment owner, 89, are latest episode in campaign to halt influx of young Arabs.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/safed-man-harassed-for-renting-flat-to-bedouin-1.322561?localLinksEnabled=false
Anti-Arab Campaign Intensifies in Safed, With Public Humiliation of Elderly Man Who Rents to Arabs
The elderly apartment owner told reporters that he has also been threatened with violence by anti-Arab leaders in the town, and was told that his building would be torched if he did not evict the Arab students.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59810
Other Rights Violations & Discrimination/Restriction of Movement/Siege
Army harasses journalists during West Bank raid
TULKAREM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces raided the West Bank city of Tulkarem and confiscated a journalist's ID card on Tuesday. Three army patrols and one intelligence patrol were seen entering the city and deploying near the agriculture ministry building. Soldiers stopped passersby and students of Khaddori University, demanding to see their IDs. Photojournalist Muhammad Al-Ashqar, an employee at the local Ma'an affiliate As-Salam TV who was covering the incident, said soldiers confiscated his ID and ordered him and several other reporters to leave the area. An Israeli military spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330249
Catholic Priest: Israel Doesn't Investigate Complaints of Jerusalem Church Attacks
Jerusalem – PNN - A Catholic priest accused Israeli authorities of failing to investigate complaints of encroachment on Jerusalem churches, such as that regarding the attack on the Our Father Abraham church in Jerusalem last week.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9071&Itemid=64
A Personal Occupation, Palestine Monitor
Last week, Israeli soldiers occupied Hayat Mutlak al-Salaymeh's house for the third time since August. On October 28, around 25 young soldiers piled into her family's small apartment on the third floor of a family-owned complex. For a few days her house became a fortress: the soldiers erected the Israeli flag on top of the roof, stationed two men at the bottom entrance, two on roof, and the rest remained inside her home, supposedly keeping security for a Jewish celebration taking place that weekend.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1598
Israeli troops enforce closure on northern village
NABLUS (Ma'an) – Israeli troops entered the northern West Bank village of Madama overnight, with locals reporting several home invasions, shop closures and what was described as a sector lockdown. Several shop owners were said to have been forced to close their stores, while residents said they were threatened by the troops when windows of homes were opened to survey the situation.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329970
The Entry of UN's Construction Materials in Gaza Remains Restricted
On Tuesday, while truckloads of food and commercial goods entered the Gaza Strip via the southernmost crossing, Kerem Shalom, the entry of construction materials remained delayed by the Israeli army.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59807
The World Education Forum: Palestine's Opportunity to Overcome Obstacles, Palestine Monitor
"Through education we will become a prosperous nation, and will obtain a life that allows us to live in freedom. We are a people who can live and learn despite the problems we encounter. We will continue to improve education, so that future generations can live peacefully." – Adbul Hakeem, head of the Ministry of Education
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1597
Education in Palestine in world spotlight
The behind-the-scenes work of Palestinian unions, Palestinian and international BDS groups, video conferences bridging Palestine to the outside world, and the struggle of Palestinian students to access an education continues largely unnoticed by the cameras.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11604.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Education Behind Bars: Freed Prisoners Talk About Writing on Cigarette Papers
Sidqi Musa – Nablus – PNN/Exclusive - Could prison become a kind of university, a place rich in culture and artistic experience? That's the opinion of at least some freed prisoners who spoke about their experiences during a workshop called "Educational Experiences of Palestinian Detainees," held at Nablus' al-Najah University on Tuesday. The workshop was part of a series of events called "Global Education in Palestine."
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9064&Itemid=1
Gaza tunnels don't just run one way
The Gaza tunnels, formerly a way to get Egyptian goods into Gaza, are now making some of their business sending goods, some of them Israeli, from Gaza to Egypt.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/yD1OsPFvmlw/Gaza-tunnels-don-t-just-run-one-way
UNRWA tells the story of Palestinian refugees in the new series 'Peace starts here', Adam Horowitz
The video above is from the new series produced by UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) called Peace Starts Here. UNRWA is the UN agency established in December, 1949 to work with Palestinian refugee communities in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/unrwa-tells-the-story-of-palestinian-refugees-in-the-new-series-peace-starts-here.html
Violence & Aggression/Detainees
Gaza car blast kills one, Hamas blames Israel
GAZA, Nov 3 (Reuters) - A car exploded outside a Palestinian police headquarters in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing a member of a fringe Palestinian Islamist group, sources in Hamas and other militant movements said. Hamas blamed the blast, in which a second Palestinian was wounded, on an Israeli air strike. Israel Radio said it might have been the premature detonation of a car bomb.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6A20TZ.htm
Gaza medics: Israeli forces shoot mentally disabled man
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A mentally disabled man was shot Tuesday by Israeli forces east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said. Gaza medical services spokesman Adham Abu Silmiyya said the 40-year-old man was transferred to hospital. An Israeli military spokesman said soldiers saw a Palestinian approaching the security fence in the area, and shot at his lower body after he failed to respond to warning shots. The army considers the area close to the border to be a combat zone, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330296
Israeli Soldiers Shot a Citizen in Gaza Strip
On Tuesday afternoon, a Palestinian citizen was shot by Israeli soldiers in the east of al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, while he was collecting plastic from a garbage dump.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59806
IDF general: Naalin shooting an operational accident
Commander of IDF colleges Major-General Gershon Hacohen testifies as character witness for former battalion commander Omri Borberg convicted of attempted threats in 2008 shooting incident involving bound Palestinian protestor.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3979119,00.html
Detainees
Israeli Army Detained Four Brothers in Tulkarem
On Wednesday, the Israeli army detained four brothers from al-Gayosee family, from the village of Kor, in the southern part of Tulkarem. Detention was accompanied with invasion and searching of some houses in the village.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59811
Two Arrested in Beit Amer, Near Hebron
Hebron – PNN - Israeli forces detained two Palestinians in Beit Amer in the Hebron Governorate in the southern West Bank. Muhammad Awad, spokesman for the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, said those apprehended were Saba' Sabarneh, 17, and Nidal Husayn Za'qeeq, 20, after their homes were razed in Beit Amer. Ofer Military Court also handed down the following sentences: 10 months in prison and a 1000 NIS fine for Yusuf Ahmed Khil Abu Hashem, 18, and 18 months in prison for Husayn Khalil Khalayel, 17.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9060&Itemid=68
IOF destroys Palestinian project in OJ, detains four brothers in Tulkarem
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) escorted bulldozers in destroying the foundation stone of a Palestinian road paving project in Enata village, occupied Jerusalem, at a late hour on Tuesday night.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U
Detainee still in jail months after serving term
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Protesting a 3-month delay of his release, a Gaza man held in Israel's Negev prison went on hunger strike Monday, a prisoners support group reported. Shadi Abu Al-Hussein, 34, from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, was due for release on 31 August but has remained in an isolation cell. An Israeli prison service spokesman confirmed that Abu Al-Hussein had completed his sentence but "is being held in legal custody awaiting deportation."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330014
Detainees in Hawara complain of inhuman incarceration
The Palestinian prisoner's committee said in a statement on Wednesday that tension was rising high among Palestinian detainees in the Israeli Hawara military detention center.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq
Israel's Arab Helpers
Islamic Jihad: PA arrests West Bank supporter
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Islamic Jihad movement on Tuesday accused Palestinian Authority security forces of detaining a party affiliate in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. In a statement, the group said PA forces detained Muhammad Issa Abda, 42, a party supporter who has spent 10 years in Israeli jails. The movement added that party supporter Muhammad Reda Mur'eb, 37, from Jenin, remained in PA detention and that he was being tortured.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330303
Islamic Jihad: The preventive security sill tortures wounded resistance fighter
Islamic Jihad said that the Palestinian authority's preventive security continues to torture a wounded Palestinian resistance fighter called Mohamed Mor'eb in its jails in the West Bank.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7
Political "Developments"
PLO official: Dissolving PA an option
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- PLO negotiator Nabil Sha'ath said Tuesday that dissolving the Palestinian Authority would be considered as a last resort if efforts to end Israel's occupation failed. The Fatah official told Ma'an radio that if the PA was unable to meet its responsibilities, it would be shameful to retain authority. "Its decisions are shot down by the occupation, as the people of the West Bank can't visit Gaza and Gazans can't live in the West Bank. It is not permitted for anyone to build a new Palestinian village or city, which is unacceptable."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330218
Obama's message to Israel: Freeze settlements or get rid of Dimona
In an address to AIPAC last week, Dennis Ross outlined the link between peace negotiations and Israel's nuclear program in delicate but clear diplomatic language.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/obama-s-message-to-israel-freeze-settlements-or-get-rid-of-dimona-1.322382
Israel halts 'dialogue' with UK
Israel is postponing "strategic dialogue" with Britain over defence and security issues, as William Hague arrives in Israel for an official visit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-11681989
Other News
Poll: 56% oppose resuming talks with Israel
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- More than half of Palestinians in the occupied territories oppose a return to direct negotiations with Israel in the face of ongoing West Bank settlement expansion, an opinion poll released Wednesday suggests.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330391
Palestinian gov't demands Britain to apologize for Balfour declaration
The Palestinian government demanded Britain once again to declare publicly its responsibility for Balfour declaration, apologize to the Palestinian people and atone for its historical crime.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%
Olmert: Terror's origin is Islam
Olmert says foreign governments should get out of political comfort zone for effective war on terror; former PM also slams Netanyahu's foreign policy moves.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3978780,00.html
Likud's Gamliel refused entry to Dubai
Following accusations Israel behind al-Mabhouh killing, Dubai bars entry to Gila Gamliel, due to attend World Economic Forum conference.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3978795,00.html
IDF intelligence chief: Israel's next war will see heavy casualties
In farewell meeting at the Knesset, Gen. Amos Yadlin says next conflict will hit Israel far harder than recent wars in Lebanon and Gaza - and hints for first the time at Israeli involvement in a 2007 strike on a nuclear plant in Syria.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-intelligence-chief-israel-s-next-war-will-see-heavy-casualties-1.322484
Police refuse permit for secular student protest in Bnei Brak
College students banned from demostrating in Orthodox Jewish district, days after ultra-rightwing protest went ahead in Arab town.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/police-refuse-permit-for-secular-student-protest-in-bnei-brak-1.322502?localLinksEnabled=false
Prosecutors House Vandalized Over Conviction of Gaza Soldiers
Petah Tikva - PNN - Graffiti was found on house of Major-General Avichai Mandelblit this morning in response to the prosecutor's conviction of two Israeli soldiers. The graffiti called Mandelblit a "traitor" and compared him to Judge Richard Goldstone, the head of a commission for the United Nations that charged both Israel and Hamas with committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in the winter of 2008 and 2009.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9070&Itemid=64
Culture
Dreaming of dancing around the world
After years of training, the traditional Canaan Dabke dance troupe has a name renowned throughout Gaza, and uniforms to match.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11606.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest
Tough questions for Hamas
Has Hamas been able to actually build on its high level of commitment and sacrifice, not only on the part of the movement but of Palestinians in general? Haidar Eid comments.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11605.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Lieberman: The man dragging Israel to the right [Israel was to the right before Lieberman and will be so after Lieberman]
William Hague is entitled to a little more than the usual trepidation that afflicts every minister making a first visit as Foreign Secretary to the political minefield that is Israel and the occupied territories. For today, he comes face-to-face with his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, one of the most controversial politicians in the democratic world who also royally humiliated the last two European foreign ministers to pay him a visit.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/lieberman-the-man-dragging-israel-to-the-right-2123561.html
Why Salam Fayyad is Israel`s public enemy number one
Yossi Sarid - Haaretz - "There`s a rumor that on a recent visit, senior members of the New York Times editorial staff were more impressed by him than by his Israeli counterpart, and gave expression to this in an editorial calling on Netanyahu to stop his dangerous games."
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/why-salam-fayyad-is-israel-s-public-enemy-number-one-1.322552
Working the Visa System, Michael Khaled
In any regime that controls people, finding ways to "work the system" becomes standard discussion among the system's targets. Internationals sympathetic to the Palestinians always get extra attention from Israel's border control and finding ways to enter the country and remain here legally is a constant concern. For Americans and citizens of most western countries, Israel grants a three-month tourist visa at the airport or any border crossing entitling the traveler to move through Israel and the occupied territories with the exception of the Gaza Strip. For foreigners who want to stay longer though, things get dicey. The Israeli interior ministry, which is responsible for visa extensions, is known to deny requests for people staying in or with ties to Palestinians in the West Bank, even if they work or volunteer with legitimate international organizations.
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=22778&CategoryId=13
Israeli state violence and the value of Palestinian life, Elia Zureik
Disregard for Palestinian life has characterized the attitudes of Israeli authorities towards its Arab citizens since the establishment of the state. The Palestinians constitute what the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls homo sacer, according to which the laws of humanity do not apply to them. For Israel, the Palestinians exist in conditions of "bare life". Their minimal existence is tolerated but not enhanced. Invariably, the law is suspended when it comes to rectifying Palestinian grievances. Israel is usually quick to cite "national security" as justification for its lethal actions. Life for Palestinian citizens of the state is in a perpetual state of emergency where exception to the universal application of the law is the rule. As a colonial state, life in Israel is best viewed from a racialized prism where ethnicity and race govern the treatment of its citizens.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/israeli-state-violence-and-the-value-of-palestinian-life.html
Ten years later, Palestinian citizens of Israel are still waiting for justice, Dr. Mahmoud Yazbak
A decade has elapsed since the Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa uprising, and yet the killers remain free and at large. Perhaps some of us thought, naively, that the killers would receive due retribution. Such naivety was reflected in the actions of many of our people on October 1st, 2000. They took to the streets to demonstrate and protest, and called a general strike against Sharon's violation of the sanctity of the Haram Al-Sharif and his defiance and disdain for the sentiments of Arabs and Muslims (or his deliberate attempt at provocation aimed at bringing a decisive end to the peace process, which was in its death throes at the time).
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/ten-years-later-palestinian-citizens-of-israel-are-still-waiting-for-justice.html
If a stranger spews hateful rhetoric in the woods in Maine, and no one's there to hear him…, Audrey Farber
Back in September, I wrote an op-ed that was published in the Portland Press Herald (my home-away-from-home local paper) describing my thoughts on the futility of the impending negotiations between Netanyahu and Abbas.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/if-a-stranger-spews-hateful-rhetoric-in-the-woods-in-maine-and-no-ones-there-to-hear-him.html
Albuquerque Journal: "UNM Jews Upset Over Palestinian Speaker " (This time desperate Zionists liken me to the KKK), Ali Abunimah
The Albuquerque Journal reports on the "controversry" over my upcoming talk at the University of New Mexico on 7 November. In perhaps a new low for anti-Palestinian activists, Sam Sokolove, the executive director of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico, which has been leading the campaign of vilification and slander, likens me to the KKK while advocates for racist Zionist apartheid Israel are supposedly the equivalent of the NAACP.
http://aliabunimah.posterous.com/albuquerque-journal-unm-jews-upset-over-pales
Piecing Together a Future in Beit Sahour
Beit Sahour - PNN/Exclusive - The workshop that Samer Hanna built six months ago lies off of Shepherd's Field road in Beit Sahour, hidden among the groceries and butcher's shops that line the street. The space is large with high ceilings, painted a warm terracotta brown. When PNN reporters visited on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, one entire wall was opened up to the sunlight, and the sounds of stone grinders pierced the air.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9063&Itemid=1
The Tea Party and Race in America, Noura Erekat
What began as a laughable spectacle of Americans reenacting the Boston tea party across the country in early 2009 has congealed into a viable and tangible political force. Early midterm election results indicate as much as Tea Party Senatorial candidates Rand Paul and Marc Rubio ascended to victory in Kentucky and Florida. Governor Charlie Crist's defeat to newcomer Marco Rubio in Florida's Senate race is especially telling of the Tea Party's political strength.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noura-erakat/the-tea-party-and-race-in_b_777989.html
Lebanon
Lebanon sentences three to death for spying for Israel
Dozens of Lebanese have been arrested since last year as part of an espionage investigation in which many have been formally charged; suspects can appeal sentence.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/lebanon-sentences-three-to-death-for-spying-for-israel-1.322685?localLinksEnabled=false
Discussion on"false witnesses" in Lebanese cabinet postponed
BEIRUT, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A decisive session of the Lebanese cabinet to discuss the issue of the "false witnesses" was postponed after the Lebanese prime minister decided to stay abroad for urgent meetings. "A cabinet session scheduled on Wednesday was adjourned because the prime minister was forced to extend his stay in London for urgent meetings there," the prime minister's office said in a statement. Prime Minister Saad Hariri who is currently on a state visit to London met with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-11/03/c_13588010.htm
Hezbollah warns Hariri indictment would be 'explosive' (AFP)
AFP - Hezbollah's number two warned on Tuesday of the risks of an explosion in Lebanon if members of his party are indicted by a UN-backed tribunal on the assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101102/wl_mideast_afp/lebanonunhariritribunalhezbollah
Middle East 'heading for disaster'
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri says the Middle East is "heading for disaster" unless comprehensive peace is achieved.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-11678531
'Israel won't get away with treatment of Palestinians'
Hariri to BBC: "I think Iran has an influence, but the real danger lies in not achieving a comprehensive peace." A BBC interview with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was broadcast on Wednesday, in which he blamed Israel for the absence of peace in the region and told BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen that it is this lack of peace that is the real danger, and not any threat from Iran. "I think Iran has an influence, but I think the real danger lies in not acheiving a comprehensive peace," he said.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=193845
Iraq
Tuesday: 117 Iraqis Killed, 322 Wounded
Updated at 5:20 p.m., Nov. 2, 2010 In a still developing story, a series of at least 21 explosions in the capital has left scores of casualties. At least 107 people were killed across the country, while as many as 322 were wounded. These numbers are estimates and could change throughout the day and into tomorrow. In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, a student was found guilty of attacking a British lawmaker over his support for the Iraq war.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/11/02/tuesday-49-iraqis-killed-102-wounded/
Baghdad bombs kill 63 (AFP)
AFP - Eleven car bombs rocked Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghad on Tuesday killing at least 63 people amid growing concern that Sunni militants are taking advantage of a persistent power vacuum seven months after an inconclusive general election.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101102/wl_afp/iraqunrestattacks
A look at major attacks in Iraq this year
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101102/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_attacks_glance
A look at targets of Tuesday's Baghdad attacks (AP)
AP - A look at the mostly Shiite Baghdad neighborhoods targeted Tuesday night in a series of bombings and mortar strikes that took place over the span of about an hour.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101102/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_targets_glance
Baghdad grinds to halt as bomb attacks blanket a reeling city
Sixteen bombs struck Baghdad Tuesday, prompting a snap curfew and shocking a city still coming to grips with a deadly attack Sunday on a Catholic church.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/os84ynR2F9E/Baghdad-grinds-to-halt-as-bomb-attacks-blanket-a-reeling-city
Iraq probes church raid; says attackers disguised (Reuters)
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Iraq launched an investigation on Tuesday into a church raid in which 52 hostages and police were killed, trying to find out how al Qaeda-linked gunmen managed to storm the building despite checkpoints, an official said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101102/wl_nm/us_iraq_violence_church
Iraq shuts Al-Baghdadia after bloody church attack
New York, November 2, 2010--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the Iraqi authorities' decision to close down Al-Baghdadia TV offices in Iraq. The closure of the Cairo-based satellite channel was announced after it broadcast the demands of gunmen who attacked a church in Baghdad on Sunday. Fifty-eight people were killed during the siege, according to news reports.
http://cpj.org/2010/11/iraq-shuts-down-al-baghdadia-tv-after-bloody-churc.php
Qaeda group in Iraq says Christians 'legitimate targets' (AFP)
AFP - An Al-Qaeda group in Iraq has declared Christians "legitimate targets" as a deadline expired for Egypt's Coptic church to free women allegedly held after converting to Islam, SITE monitors said Wednesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101103/wl_afp/iraqunrestchristianqaedaegypt
Inside Story - Forcing Christians out of Iraq?
On Sunday, a church siege in Iraq left 58 people dead - with an al-Qaeda-linked group claiming responsibility. So, is the attack a fresh round of violence against this community? And is the aim of the attack to force Christians out of Iraq?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW_bqjt6mdU&feature=youtube_gdata
Wikileaks Iraq documents raise critical questions
The trove of Iraq war documents recently made public by Wikileaks underscores several important truths. One, the American people have a right to know when Americans or their allies commit violations of the laws of war. Two, the American government has been woefully nontransparent. Transparency is key to accountability, to minimizing violations and to preventing the civilian population from turning against US forces. This, in turn, protects, rather than endangers, US troops.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/human-rights-first/wikileaks-iraq-documents_b_777792.html
U.S. and other world news
Pro-Israel group claims election victory
One prominent pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington is already praising the GOP takeover of the House of Representatives as a net benefit for Israel. "While Democrats are likely to keep control of the U.S. Senate, Republicans will take over the U.S. House of Representatives following Tuesday's elections. This is likely to have implications for Israel-related issues such as Israel's relationship with the United States and the push for sanctions against Iran," said an e-mail blasted out by The Israel Project only minutes after news stations called the turnover of House control a certainty.
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/11/02/pro_israel_group_claims_election_victory
The midterms: an Israeli perspective
President Barack Obama is not popular in Israel, to say the least. Israelis knew John McCain as their supporters; Obama was a mystery. Early in 2009, the new president's attempts to approach the Arab world defined him as a pro-Palestinian, at least in the eyes of many Israelis. Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) expressed the common view in the government when she declared that "we fell into the hands of a horrible administration" (other politicians were blunter, simply calling Obama "a new Pharaoh"). Rightwing comments on the internet often refers to him just as "Hussein".
http://www.promisedlandblog.com/?p=3552
Obama betrayed the antiwar left, Philip Weiss
Here are two perspectives on the Tea Party movement that offer tea some sympathy. Both writers are alive to an important trend, the degree to which privilege among Democrats (and there is a clear class break between blue states and red 'uns) has separated them from populist concerns-- including the concern that their children will be killed in Afghanistan. Visionary Milton Friedman wanted this to happen by eliminating the draft; he wanted the elite not to have to decide to murder its own children; and he has got his wish.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/11/obama-betrayed-the-antiwar-left.html
US deploys fourth submarine in Persian Gulf
A total of thirty combat vessels are currently deployed in the region, including those belonging to Britain and France.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/149367.html
Afghan civilian deaths caused by allied forces rise
Internal U.S. military statistics show 160 fatalities in 2010, up from 144 by this time last year. The greater use of attack helicopters has led to more accidental deaths.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-civilians-20101102,0,4783095.story
Afghan police unit defects en mass to Taliban
"This was not an attack but a plot," said Mohammed Yasin, the chief of the Khogeyani police force. "The Taliban and the police made a deal."
http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2010/11/bad_news_for_reintegration_afg.html
US Plans CIA Squad in Yemen: Report
The Wall Street Journal reported that President Barack Obama's administration was considering placing under CIA authority elite "hunter-killer" special operations teams that operate secretly in the country to track and kill Al Qaeda leaders.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/international/131212-us-plans-cia-squad-in-yemen-report.html
Maher Arar: Omar Khadr: America's Injustice, Canada's Shame
Forty years in prison: this was the sentence that was pronounced by the jury panel for being a child soldier. While shocking, it was no surprise to those who closely followed the Omar Khadr saga at Guantanamo bay.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maher-arar/omar-khadr-americas-injus_b_777402.html
Bush autobiography says he considered dumping Cheney (AFP)
AFP - Former US president George W. Bush admits he considered dropping Dick Cheney ahead of his re-election run but defends his vice president as well as the invasion of Iraq in a new autobiography, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101102/pl_afp/uspoliticspeoplebushbook
Iran stoning woman 'not executed'
The French foreign minister says Iran has not yet decided to execute a woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, amid reports her execution was imminent.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-11681837
Saudi journalist to be lashed in public
A Saudi journalist has been sentenced to be whipped in public after being convicted of "instigating protests" against a government electricity company following a series of power cuts. Fahd Al Jukhaidib, a journalist with the daily newspaper, Aljazierah, must serve two months in prison and suffer 50 lashes with the whip, including 25 lashes in public, in front of the electricity department.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/nov/02/press-freedom-saudiarabia www.TheHeadlines.org 
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ADL seeks to submarine Gaza boat fundraiser at Rutgers
Nov 03, 2010 10:37 am | Philip Weiss This is important. Tomorrow night at Rutgers, the New Jersey state university, Palestinian solidarity groups are exercising their right to assembly and free speech by gathering to raise money for the US boat to Gaza-- which seeks to aid the 1.5 million people living in an open-air prison, with few political rights. The ADL is smearing the event as an aid to terrorism, inside a public university. Below is reporting from the north Jersey newspaper, followed by the flyer for the event. Patricia Alex at the Record reports: The event, sponsored by a group called BAKA: Students United for Middle Eastern Justice, was advertised as a halal buffet followed by speakers in support of U.S. to Gaza, which describes itself as a coalition of organizations and individuals... BAKA received $2,494 from mandatory fees collected from all students to stage the event, which will be held at the university-owned Busch Campus Center. "We are deeply concerned that a state-supported university could support an organization that could commit a belligerent act against one of our allies," said Etzion Neuer, regional director of the state Anti-Defamation League based in Teaneck. "This is not about free speech, it's about potentially illegal activity." Hoda Mitwally, a Rutgers senior and an executive board member of BAKA, said her group was raising money for a humanitarian mission with the blessing of the Rutgers University Student Assembly, the university's student government. "We are not bringing weapons, we are not bringing anybody who plans to use violence," she said. "This is a humanitarian mission. They are framing this as though we were planning some sort of terrorist action or something suspicious, and we strongly denounce that. These are smear remarks intented to discredit our organization and our mission."
 
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The crisis of the liberal Zionist
Nov 03, 2010 09:54 am | Philip Weiss I often write here that Israel is in crisis; and my belief is confirmed by the growing desperation of liberal Zionists who glimpse the end of the two-state solution and with that the possible end of the Jewish state. I watch liberal Zionists because I want Jews on board in the coming transformation, I want Jewish life to change, and these liberals or their children are the Jewish swing vote; they are the Jews whose commitment to liberalism might lead them to abandon an anachronistic supremacist political ideology (Zionism) or undertake radical reform of the Jewish state. The interesting thing about these three liberal Zionists, though, is their anxiety, and their clinging to religious and nationalist beliefs. It is important to expose these very conservative views if we are going to win over their children to non-Zionism. Sorry, this is a long post; you can skip from 1, Burston to 2, Gitlin to 3, Samuels. 1. Haaretz columnist Brad Burston gave a talk at a Seattle synagogue, sponsored by J Street, and made a sharply nationalist statement that suggests to me that if push comes to shove, Burston (and J Street) might march shoulder-to-shoulder with AIPAC. Richard Silverstein offered this report. I'm including a lot of Silverstein's comment, which is very perceptive. Silverstein: At one point, Burston said, "About the progressive Jew who sees nothing wrong with the many Muslim nations in the world, but who cannot allow the Jews to have a single state of their own anywhere in the world, I say that person is an anti-Semite."
...I too used to be a liberal Zionist.. But it doesn't do anyone any good. It sugarcoats Israeli reality. It in a sense infantilizes the Diaspora audience by presuming that it either can't take or wouldn't understand a full-bore analysis of the extremity of the political situation in Israel. At the present moment, an Israeli speaking in the Diaspora does a disservice when he makes things appear not quite as bad as they really are. Only the truth suffices in the present situation....
I'm also struck by the phrase "love for Israel" bandied about by so many liberal Zionists including Burston tonight [and by Gershom Sholem when he lectured Hannah Arendt]. One of the reasons ... I didn't attend Daniel Sokatch's (he is the CEO of the New Israel Fund) talk here in Seattle this month was its title, Loving Israel in Challenging Times. I find the notion that one must profess love for Israel before criticizing it to be preposterous. ...Love means that Israel cannot be something I think it should be, a normal state. Love puts Israel on a pedestal just as traditional male attitudes toward women put them on similar pedestals that prevented them from being normal human beings. In the time when I was still on e-mail terms with Leonard Fein, he practically made a fetish out of my supposed lack of love for Israel. To him, it proved I had left the Zionst reservation because you could only express criticism of Israel out of such deep concern and affection, that your criticism would clearly be couched as that of a concerned parent for a loved one gone astray. Naturally, I don't have patience in this hour in which Israel finds itself in extremis for such mollycoddling. To me it is self-evident that I would not write this blog unless I loved Israel. It would simply be a waste of time to devote as many tens of thousands of hours to this enterprise as I have unless there was deep emotion attached to the subject. And there is. Many decades of my life have been devoted to Israel. I could not do so unless I loved it. 2. Here is American author Todd Gitlin, whose last book praises the idea of Jewish chosenness, writing in Haaretz the other day from the (very ethnocentric) Jewish People Policy Institute conference. Bless him, Gitlin is very impatient with the crazies at the Institute, but his own vision is itself quite nationalistic: I recommended making a distinction between the inflamed anti-Zionism that singles out Israel's policies as uniquely racist among states, even unto the claim (contrary to many UN declarations ) that the state has no right to exist, and moreover that the Jews are not a people and are not entitled to a majority in a Middle Eastern nation, and the view (my own, as it happens ) that it is the post-'67 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem that is illegitimate - not only because it violates international law, and not only because it is cruel, and not because the Palestinians are angels, but because the State of Israel is in default on its moral obligations.... In other words, to use a phrase much bruited about nowadays, the occupation is an "existential threat" to the Jewish people, who are a people of an idea. The danger is clear, present and growing.... [At the conference] a host of burning questions that might have been raised - to take one tiny example, whether the Jewish people are well served by the spread of settlers throughout Arab Silwan, next to the Old City wall, guarded by a private security army funded by the government to the tune of NIS 52 million per year - attracted no interest as sources of delegitimization. The profound moral question of why Jews should tolerate land grabs went unasked. The conferees were, for the most part, disinclined to discuss bedrock - even the bedrock of who the Jews are and what we stand for.
Here it interests me that Gitlin dignifies the birth of Israel as moral though it involved landgrab and ethnic cleansing-- while he condemns the post-67 landgrab. I don't know whether it is possible to maintain this position. In the view of many non-Zionists and anti-Zionists, what was so great about '48? Arabs weren't consulted despite promises by FDR to consult them; and they were against Partition, as you and I would have been. Jews were granted half the territory by the U.N. and ended up with 78 percent of it. Israel and American Jews went to war against the idea that any of the hundreds of thousands of refugees could come home to their property-- a moral savagery that continues to fester 60 years on. "The profound moral question of why Jews should tolerate land grabs went unasked," to quote Gitlin. If you're trying to save the Jewish state, I think you have to deal more honestly with those crimes, which the unending occupation has served to unearth. When I shared these thoughts with Ilene Cohen, she wrote to me, "The Israelis could have settled for '48 and been done. That's what the '67 borders idea is about. As we know well from our own country, many things done immorally become permanent. The Israelis believed they could do with '67 what they had done with '48, but it's not working. Different time. I'm not sure they actually understand that. Their '67 problem has not gone away and is undermining '48. They're very greedy and very stupid....
"I don't know how or when this will all resolve itself, but I do believe that Israel as we know it is in deep trouble. Every day I continue to be shocked that they get even worse... "I think the reality is that there will be one state only if the Israelis make it so by their obstructionism. I don't think it will happen because people on both sides decide that that is the ideal but it will happen because of the Israeli apartheid regime. I really do believe that the Israelis look to be committing national suicide. How this all plays out in the coming years will not be pretty, but I think that Israeli apartheid will eventually be undone by on person, one vote...
"Personally, I think two states, with the Israelis giving up much, much more than they are willing to, would be best for all. And I think that the two states could become reasonable neighbors. But, again, the Israelis are greedy racists and won't give up till they're broken." 3. Finally, here is David Samuels at Tablet, interviewing Maen Rashid Areikat, the PLO representative to the United States. The most notable moment in the interview is when Samuels says, "Some people in both of our communities believe that a bi-national state is the right answer." A true statement. And Samuels, a Zionist, is granting honor to a new way of thinking about this problem. Not that Samuels feels that way himself. The interesting thing about the interview is the angst of the interviewer. The piece reads like an encounter session. Samuels understands that he has to work with Areikat if he's going to save the Jewish state, but meantime he rages at Areikat about Palestinian identity and Palestinian refugees and sets out as a justification for the Jewish state a religious insistence that the Jews are a people and nation connected genetically to the Jews of Jerusalem for thousands of years, a truly dubious proposition that we would mock if Christians came forward with it. And by the way, he hints, American Jews feel more loyalty to Israel than the U.S. (note the last, passport comment). As I read this interview, I don't see why Samuels couldn't move toward cultural Zionism and let go of the nation-- which he doesn't want to live in anyway, just reserve as a placeholder with all the racism that entails till the next Holocaust. For as Samuels recognizes, demographically-speaking, My kind of American Jewish identity, in which Israel means very little at all, and is largely a negative, is winning out over his conservative Jewish identity (with its dual loyalty problem). After all, most American Jews have never been to Israel. I'll shut up now. Here's a portion of the encounter. Samuels is in bold: let me ask you this: Was there ever a Jewish temple in Jerusalem? I'm not a historian. I have the reference right here from the Encyclopedia Britannica. Is it wrong? I'm not a historian. What are you trying to get to? That Jews were present then? Were they? President Abbas in his meeting with the leaders of the American Jewish community in June said that yes, the Jews were in the Middle East, and that one-third of the Quran talks about Jews. Are the people who say they're Israeli Jews today related to the people who were Jews in the time of the Quran? It's for historians to establish the link. I believe many Jews who lived at one point in that land continue to live in that land, and their descendants stayed in that land. So, today's Palestinians are the real Jews? Everywhere in the world, Jews follow the nationality and citizenship of the country where they live. In the United States, you have American Jews, who live in the United States. You have French Jews. And this was the original argument between us and the Jews. Why can't you be Palestinian Jews? Is Judaism simply a religion, or are Jews also a people—like Kurds or Armenians? That is something you have to work out for yourselves....Some of us still make the same arguments of the '60s and the '70s: "No, they are not a nation, they are the followers of a faith, they should live in every country as citizens of that country." That approach didn't work out so well for us in Europe. I think you have been very much influenced by the Holocaust... So, explain why it's impossible for the Palestinian people to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. We have no problem whatsoever with what Israel calls themselves. Israel can call themselves "The Great Empire of the Jewish People." But don't ask me to recognize that. Why not? You want us to recognize the validity of your narrative of Palestinian people-hood....Doesn't the U.N. partition resolution on which you base your own national claims for a Palestinian state already recognize Israel as a state for the Jews—a Jewish state? ...Publicly we are Jordanians, but deep inside we are Palestinians. That's how many Jews feel about the passports that they carry.
 
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Obama betrayed the antiwar left
Nov 03, 2010 09:00 am | Philip Weiss Here are two perspectives on the Tea Party movement that offer tea some sympathy. Both writers are alive to an important trend, the degree to which privilege among Democrats (and there is a clear class break between blue states and red 'uns) has separated them from populist concerns-- including the concern that their children will be killed in Afghanistan. Visionary Milton Friedman wanted this to happen by eliminating the draft; he wanted the elite not to have to decide to murder its own children; and he has got his wish. First Chris Hedges, "The Phantom Left," at truthdig: The Rally to Restore Sanity, held in Washington's National Mall [last Saturday, Jon Stewart and Stephen Coulbert], was yet another sad footnote to the death of the liberal class. It was as innocuous as a Boy Scout jamboree. It ridiculed followers of the tea party without acknowledging that the pain and suffering expressed by many who support the movement are not only real but legitimate. It made fun of the buffoons who are rising up out of moral swamps to take over the Republican Party without accepting that their supporters were sold out by a liberal class, and especially a Democratic Party, which turned its back on the working class for corporate money.
Justin Raimondo at The American Conservative says the tea partiers are the heirs of the antiwar movement that Obama sold out: The anti-establishment force behind Obama was one that had lain dormant for a generation: the grassroots Left. It was reawakened by the same causes that had first given it life in the 1960s—opposition to war and demands for civil liberty. Torture, executive secrecy, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan filled the roles once played by segregation and the war in Vietnam. In 2008 as in 1968, the essence of the activist Left was its antiwar faith. ...It was only in response to great shock—the 9/11 terrorist attacks and George W. Bush's subsequent crusade to democratize the Muslim world—that these ex-Trotskyites-turned-suburbanites woke from their narcotized sleep. The resurgent Left had an ongoing drama to validate its concerns: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the spectacle of untrammeled executive power running roughshod over the Constitution. ...Obama dogged Hillary over her vote in favor of the Iraq War and made an explicit appeal to the netroots and the antiwar movement. That gave him the momentum to snatch the crown from her brow. It didn't matter that he justified his opposition to the war on the grounds that we were prosecuting the "wrong" war and vowed to fight on the Afghan front with greater vigor than his predecessor. At that point, the anti-interventionist base of the Democratic Party was ready to nominate anybody but Hillary. ...The antiwar Left defeated itself by electing a Democrat little different from Bush. And now Barack Obama is dismantling his own party by repudiating the causes that animated his base—the opposition to war and fear of the imperial presidency. In the run-up to the midterm elections, Obama tried instead to mobilize his party around the weakest items on its agenda: big government and cultural issues.... The Democrats' decline owes nothing to Republican leaders like John Boehner or Mitch McConnell; it is entirely the result of Obama betraying the antiwar Left at the same time as the grassroots Right finally returned to its economic principles. Should Republicans proceed again as they did under Bush, the cycle will repeat—another war, another resurgence of the Left. Both parties, in spite of their strenuous efforts, have failed to carry off a political realignment.
 
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Laurence Tribe's elitist values
Nov 03, 2010 07:09 am | Philip Weiss I love Sonia Sotomayor because she's street-smart, because she's got a huge heart, and because she understands the new diversity of America. And I'm a little shocked to read the leaked letter from eminent Harvard prof Laurence Tribe to Barack Obama a couple years ago, deriding Sotomayor and praising Elena Kagan and Diane Wood because they're so much smarter than Sotomayor. My new theme is the complete alienation of the Democratic Party from populist values; and this letter exhibits that arrogance. Its insistence on intelligence as the chief criterion for promotion is meritocratic horsefeathers, SAT thinking. "[Sotomayor] is not nearly as smart as she seems to think she is," Tribe writes snidely, and she's a bully. Well I like a bully on the Supreme Court. How else do you muscle Scalia and Roberts and Thomas? And yes there's a Jewish component here, in that we helped to build the meritocracy; although Wood is not Jewish. (And I wonder where Tribe is on Israel, probably retro). But the key issue: Where is Kagan's ferocious commitment to the underdog, a commitment that animates Sotomayor, and one that privileged Laurence Tribe doesn't really care about when a good job is on the line. He adores Kagan's "combination of intellectual brilliance and political skill." Soulless. This is the challenge to liberal Democrats in the age of economic meltdown: what does progressive mean beyond abortion rights and shopping at Whole Foods? 
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