(RussiaToday) on Sep 21, 2011 – Palestinians are cheering on their leader’s attempts to win membership to the UN General Assembly, with massive rallies across the West Bank. Moscow has backed the bid, saying Palestinians deserve a right to put their case. But the U.S. is doing all it can to halt that presentation, claiming it will veto the move unless Palestinians and Israelis launch new talks. RT’s Paula Slier reports from Ramallah.
(RussiaToday) on Sep 9, 2011 – Palestinians have started their campaign for statehood ahead of the upcoming United Nations vote. They carried a letter to the UN mission in Ramallah, saying their rallies will continue until Palestine becomes a member state. Washington meanwhile says it will veto any such bid if it comes to the U.N. Security Council. RT discusses this with Akiva Eldar, chief political commentator for Haaretz newspaper in Tel Aviv.
(independent.co.uk) A senior Israeli army commander has warned that unchecked “Jewish terror” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank threatens to plunge the territory into another conflict.
In unusually outspoken comments, Major General Avi Mizrahi took aim at extremist Israeli settlers, and said the yeshiva, or religious seminary, in Yitzhar, one of the most radical Jewish strongholds in the West Bank, should be closed, calling it a source of terror against Palestinians.
The general’s comments are likely to put him at odds with Israel’s pro-settler government, which has resisted US-led efforts to curb settlement expansion in a bid to revive stalled peace talks. The foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, himself lives in a West Bank settlement. All settlements are regarded as illegal under international law.
The army has anxiously watched an upsurge in violence by hardline settlers, who in recent months have set fire to a West Bank mosque, burned Palestinian olive groves, and vandalised Palestinian property. Settlers have killed three Palestinians this year.
“What’s happening in the field is terrorism,” General Mizrahi told Channel 2’s Meet the Press, and it “needs to be dealt with.” The Israel Defence Forces (IDF), he said, fears “terrorism against Palestinians is likely to ignite the territories.”
The general’s criticism points to frustration within the army’s high command at their ability to check violent settlers.
Palestinians and Israeli NGOs frequently accuse the army of siding with settlers in conflagrations with Palestinians, prompting the army to respond that it is obliged to protect its citizens and does not set policy.
The number of violent incidents has spiked in recent months, partly because of the murder earlier this year of five members, including three children, from one Jewish family in Itamar, a settlement near Nablus. Two Palestinians were charged with the crime.
Human rights groups suggest that the more radical settlers, many of whom oppose a two-state solution on the premise that the whole of Israel is bequeathed to them by God, are agitating against Palestinian moves to seek statehood recognition at the United Nations in September.
Some fear that the surge in violent attacks against Palestinians could compound rising frustrations with the stalled peace process and trigger more violent riots.
“The army is very afraid that [action by settlers] at a critical moment could set off a Third Intifada,” said Adam Keller, spokesman for Israeli human rights body Gush Shalom, referring to a mass Palestinian uprising.
“The fact that the army is nervous is making the settlers more aggressive,” he said
The Israeli commander General Mizrahi blamed the courts for failing to rein in the most radical of the settlers – a small proportion of the roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers who are living beyond the Green Line in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
“… Facebook aided Israel in cracking down on the group of activists from the UK, France and Belgium who planned their event using the popular social networking site.
“According to the report, Facebook allowed government agents to track the activists activities and then create a black-list of people who participated in the planning of the protests.
“The group of black-listed people was then forwarded to airlines with instructions to prevent the activists from boarding air flights to Israel. Over 200 activists were prevented from flying after being added to the airlines terrorism watch list, according the the AP report.”
Aljazeera also reported on how Facebook was used to halt and arrest the Flytilla activists.
“According to the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, police and intelligence units followed social networks used by the groups organising the protest,” Aljazeera reported.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/201178154823642194.html
In his articles, Higgins also reveals an extensive spy operation, as uncovered in documents by hacktivists AntiSec, Anonymous and Lulzsec.
“A sinister cyber surveillance plot revealed in this rare fascinating look deep into the underground world of the fascist partnership of corporate and government black operations.
“I recently pointed out some of the shocking details of the cyber surveillance spy program unveiled by the Anonymous release of the HBGary Federal emails as discussed by the UK newspaper the Guardian.
“While those details revealed mounds of shocking information, such as top secret military black ops being ran in partnership with the likes of Google, Facebook and ATandT to spy on online activities to gather data for the government to run mass propaganda operations and manipulate the news, the reality is the email dump contains over 70,000 emails and only as the emails are further dug through and analyzed will the full extent of the operations be revealed.”
Read more on Higgins blog about the new spy operations Infraguard and Romas/COIN.
Higgins’ blog also includes the report from Censored News about the off-duty Marines who are hunting migrants on the border at Sasabe, Arizona, with assault weapons, as revealed in the data release in hacked Arizona police files.
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/
WATCH VIDEO: French cops assaulting women protesters in Paris, after Flytilla passengers denied boarding by airlines in France
By Brenda Norrell
Source: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/07/censored-by-facebook-facebook-helped.html
(eagainst) The Greek regime has banned a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza from leaving its ports. One of its vessels carrying hundreds of activists destined for the blockaded enclave has been towed back – after just minutes at sea. Campaigners on board have suggested the Greek government gave into pressure from the US and Israel
The Real Democracy Now assembly at Syntagma Sq, (Athens), voted yesterday in favour of organising a protest and demonstrate against the decision of the Greek Minister of “Citizen’s Protection” which is preventing the sailing of the Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human. “We will assemble at the Syntagma Sq at 6:30 p.m. 3/7/11. From there will take the metro to Katehaki metro station and will continue to our destination the Ministry of Citizen Protection.”
Open Letter to Mr. Papandreou
Corfu, 3rd of July
Dear Mr. Papandreou,
We, members of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla II, are outraged by your government’s decision to close the ports of Greece to our humanitarian initiative, even by force if needed. From all parts of the world we have come to the shores of Greece, leaving behind our work places and families, in order to peacefully put into practice our solidarity with the oppressed people of Gaza.
This decision not only violates the consecrated principle within international law of the freedom of the seas and the ancient tradition of freedom of the Mediterranean, but also disregards the claims for democracy and self-determination of the people of Palestine as well as of the non-governmental organizations we represent.
It is totally incomprehensible to us and fills us with just wrath that the Greek government closes the ports to our ships at the very moment in which you, Mr. Papandreou, have been constantly expressing the need for solidarity with the Greek people. You and your government acting as an ally of Israel in the Palestinian question means you also seem to have forgotten the struggle against the military dictatorship in your own country.
The members of this international peace mission therefore demand, on behalf of the people of Gaza, for us the same right to move that has been granted for centuries to the Greek people in our countries.
MR. PAPANDREOU, LET US SAIL!
Nourdin el Ouali
Ibrahim Belaidi
Rafiq Fris
Amar Harraoui
Anne de Jong
Manu van Kersbergen
Marlos Kuijer
Max van Lingen
Chris Verweij
Delegation from The NETHERLANDS
Immad Kareem
Delegation from AUSTRALIA
Leo Gabriel
Delegation from AUSTRIA
Monder Nemri
Delegation from BELGIUM
Ines Mizic
Delegation from BOSNIA
Antonio Padron
Delegation from CUBA
Dr. Samir Kazkaz
Delegation from GERMANY
Ewa Jasiewicz
Delegation from GREAT BRITTAIN, POLAND
Fintan Lane
Delegation from IRELAND
Vauro Senesi
Delegation from ITALY
Nooravman Samsuddin
Delegation from MALAYSIA
Gunnar Rutle
Delegation from NORWAY
Nadia Kevorkova
Delegation from RUSSIA
Fernando Jose Forsthuber
Delegation from SPAIN
Giovanni Esposito
Delegation from SWITZERLAND
Khalid Tuhraani
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Source: http://eagainst.com/articles/greece-call-for-protests-against-the-blockage-of-flotilla-ii/
(anarkismo.net) Bil’in fence is moving and the Ni’ilin one will be moved too.
During the years, the joint struggle against the separation fence and occupation brought some successes forcing the Israeli state to retreat a bit from initial steps of using the separation fence for annexation of Palestinian lands for colonialist settlements. However, the persistent struggles in Bil’in and in the near-by Ni’ilin were in the focus of the media [and in intensive participation of this writer the last six years.] Thus, with huge satisfaction we have seen the beginning of the moving of the separation fence in Bil’in and the media report on it and the coming moving of the fence in Ni’ilin. The relentless joint struggle continues in the heroic Nabi Saleh, in the persistent Ma’asara, in Beit Omar, in the Southern Hebron Mountain region, in East Jerusalem, and within Israel.
Beit Ummar Saturday 25.6.11
The weekly peaceful demonstration in Beit-Ummar set off on Saturday noon out of the village and next to the agriculture zone nearby the settlement Carmei-Tzur. In the demo took part approx 60 participants, Palestinians, internationals and 8 Israelis. The big number of IOF soldiers and border police waited to the protesters on the narrow road which goes up to the settlement (down the area where they usually Waite), but the protesters were smarter and branch out into two groups – one went directly inside the plum’s grove and the other continue climb up on the road and stopped in front of the soldiers. As usually the soldiers used violence in order to stop the protesters, that tried again and again to enter the agriculture’s areas around on the side of the road. After about 30 minutes the soldiers started to use sounds bombs, arrested 2 international activists and one Palestinian young guy, they also took the ID cards from 3 Israelis activists. After one hour the protesters left the area and the protest came to the end. Read More
(haaretz.com) Eamon Gilmore reiterates Ireland’s position that Gaza blockade is ‘unjust and counterproductive’ but does not advise Irish nationals to join the flotilla, which includes the Irish boat MV Saoirse.
As the second “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” gets ready to sail this week, Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore urged Israel to avoid any repeat of last year’s actions against the convoy, Irish media reported Sunday.
“Israel must exercise all possible restraint and avoid any use of military force if attempting to uphold their naval blockade,” Gilmore, who also holds the post of trade minister, said after meeting with Israeli Ambassador to Dublin Boaz Moda.
“In particular, I would expect that any interception of ships is conducted in a peaceful manner and does not endanger the safety of our citizens or other participants,” he added, reiterating the country’s position that the Gaza blockade was “unjust and counterproductive” and that the violence that marked last year’s flotilla venture was “completely unacceptable and unjustified.”
Week after week… sometimes day after day, the joint struggle continue. The years with no joint struggles with no lively solidarity and no hope for better days soon coming nearly forgotten. People injured and arrested are not deterred. The inhaling tear gas together function stronger than “ceremonial friendship pipe”. This week, in addition to the usual locations we participated also in the demonstrations in Kufer Malek, Biddu, a-Tuwani, and Shuqba. The joint struggle that started with the struggle against the separation fence expanded and include more and more locations of struggle against the colonialist settlement: Beit Ummar, East Jerusalem (Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Ras Al Amud, Issawiya), Kufer Malek, Nabi Saleh, A-Tuwani, South of Hebron Hills. Read More
@ggregator 