Today in Palestine

Today in Palestine
Saturday, 28 June 2008

Threat to demolish more Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, legal battle underway

(27 June) Jerusalem / Maisa Abu Ghazaleh - As Israeli settlements continue to expand across occupied East Jerusalem, a legal battle is underway to prevent the destruction of 450 Palestinian homes in the district of Khallat Al 'Ein. In preparation for the confiscation of Palestinian land, the Israeli-controlled Jerusalem Municipality has sought to argue that the residents of Khallat Al 'Ein possess no permanent license for the housing. With the legal assistance of Attorney Al Hussein, the local residents have taken their case to the Jerusalem Court of Local Affairs.

http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content&task=view&id=2984&Itemid=1





Israel plays demographic card in East Jerusalem – by Osama Al-Sharif

When it comes to the final leg of the ailing peace negotiations both Palestinians and Israelis know that East Jerusalem will represent the biggest and most convoluted challenge. And when and if both sides reach that penultimate stage the fate of the city, occupied in 1967 and annexed soon after, will be decided on demographics, pure and simple. . . The battle for Jerusalem is a silent one that is characterized by transient outbursts of new settlements that continue to choke Arab residents. It is unfortunate that Arabs have not capitalized on the fact that demography is a double-edged sword.

http://www.star. com.jo/viewNews/ DetailNews. aspx?nid= 7574





Libya seeking UN condemnation of Israeli settlement building

(28 June) United Nations Security Council member Libya on Friday presented a document to the UN calling for "an immediate and complete end" to the building and expansion of West Bank settlements. The document was authored by the Arab League and Saudi Arabia and harshly criticizes Israel for its settlement policy in the West Bank.

http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/996939. html





CPT: Israeli military issues demolition orders, blocks main access road in South Hebron Hills

(28 June) This is a press release issued by the Christian Peacemaker Teams stationed in the southern West Bank city of Hebron and reporting on violations carried by Israeli soldiers and settlers against the Palestinian residents in the area.

http://www.imemc. org/article/ 55701





Settlers set ablaze dozens of olive trees near Ramallah

(27 June) A group of Israeli settlers set fire to a large number of olive trees owned by the villagers of Deir Nitham. Witnesses reported that most of the burnt olive trees are owned by Ahmad Mizher, and that theses trees have been planted since the Roman era. Wittiness added that the settlers came from the illegal settlement of Halamish, constructed on lands that belong to villagers from Nabi Saleh and Deir Nitham

http://www.imemc. org/article/ 55690






B'Tselem report: Soldier assaults B'Tselem worker filming settler violence, takes the cassette

(28 June) "On Friday, 20 June 2008, around 6:20 P.M., Nasser a-Nawaj'ah, coordinator of B'Tselem's 'Shooting Back' project in the Southern Hebron Hills, filmed three settlers abusing Palestinian shepherds, shouting at them and pushing them and trying to scatter their flock," B'Tselem reported. B'Tselem stated that the attack took place near Susiya settlement.

http://www.imemc. org/article/ 55702


Cameras vs. settlers in the West Bank
(20 June) HEBRON - With Israeli police turning a blind eye to repeated attacks by armed settlers, Palestinians are using cameras as their frontline defense against setters' assaults. B'Tselem has distributed about 100 cameras to Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of 2007 to record assaults by settlers. "They (the settlers) make the life of the Palestinians impossible," said Amro. "But if their neighbors film them, they think twice before harassing them." "I always keep the camera at my side," Bassam al-Jaabari told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday, June 20, in his poorly stocked grocer's shop in the West Bank town of Hebron (Al-Khalil).
http://palestinechr onicle.com/ news.php? id=6a411fe5ee810 2f5b153d3f768d7f 8d8&mode=details


Israeli troops kill Palestinian teen – medics

(Reuters, 27 June) Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager during a raid into the occupied West Bank on Friday, local residents and medical workers said. The residents said the 17-year-old was killed while confronting Israeli troops who raided the village of Beit Umar, near the West Bank city of Hebron.

http://africa. reuters.com/ wire/news/ usnL86543328. html





Israeli army kills Palestinian boy in Beit Omer village near Hebron

(28 June) Witnesses told IMEMC that military jeeps stormed the village on Friday afternoon then searched homes; during the search troops kidnapped nine men - among them was a 70-year-old man. Mohamed Al Allami, 17 years old, was painting his house; when he went to see what is happening outside his family home Israeli soldiers shot him three times in the heart, Awwad added. Mohamed Awwad is a free-lance journalist for Palestinian newspapers; he said that the boy was helping his dad to prepare the house for his sister's graduation party from high school. Israeli media sources reported on Saturday that Al Allami was throwing stones at the invading troops; Awwad said that the boy had fresh paint on his clothes and that no one attacked the soldiers when they invaded the village of Beit Omer.

http://imemc. org/article/ 55703





Scores of villagers, two international activists injured in Bil'in anti-wall protest Friday

(28 June) Scores of protesters were treated for gas inhalation, and Sean Burg, from the US, and Sean McCurry, from Ireland, were injured by rubber-coated metal bullets. Villagers in Bil'in have been non-violently demonstrating every week against the separation wall for the last three years. Despite the 2004 International Court of Justice ruling that Israel's construction of the wall inside the occupied West Bank was illegal, and a November 2007 Israeli High Court of Justice ruling ordering the military to re-route the wall in Bil'in, the villagers continue to be denied access to the land on which their livelihoods are based.

http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30148





Israeli forces detain Palestinian from village near Bethlehem

(27 June) Israeli soldiers seized 19-year-old Muhammad Ghazi Salah from his home in the village of Dar Salah, east of Bethlehem, at dawn on Friday. His family reported by phone to Ma'an that Israeli forces stormed their home in Dar Salah and ransacked its contents, before detaining Muhammad and taking him to an unknown destination.

http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30144





Israeli forces detain two from the town of as-Sawahira ash-Sharqiya

(27 June) Eyewitnesses reported seeing five Israeli military vehicles storme the town, where they launched an extensive campaign of raids on the homes of local citizens. Ahmed Ali Abdel-Kader Khalayla, 21, and Shaher Mohammed Shaher Mhashahra, 23, were detained and taken to an unknown location. Another eyewitness reported that the Israeli forces then searched the homes of the detainees, causing damages to both home and furniture.

http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30141





Nightly invasions throughout the West Bank terrorize residents

(27 June) Israeli forces again invaded cities within the West Bank pre-dawn Friday. Military vehicles burst into Ramallah and neighboring Al Bireh cities, into Jenin's town of Harthiya, Nablus City and its Al Ein Refugee Camp. It was an ugly morning for hundreds of Palestinians who awoke to the explosions of doors being blown open, the shouts of Israeli soldiers through megaphones and loudspeakers, the unmistakable sound of military jeeps.

http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content&task=view&id=2985&Itemid=1





West Bank attacks to wreck Gaza truce: analysts – by Mohammad Al-Sawwaf

(26 June) GAZA CITY - Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank are meant to wreck a fragile truce with Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza and drive a wedge between Hamas and other Palestinian groups, analysts have agreed. Israel is trying to undermine the truce by provoking resistance factions in Gaza to respond to its attacks in the West Bank," Palestinian analyst Hani Al-Bassos told IslamOnline. net.

http://palestinechr onicle.com/ news.php? id=d6632d614c758 845939fda4bb51c4 5c6&mode=details





Denied the right to go home

(27 June) USA / Zeina Ashrawi - I am Palestinian – born and raised – and my Palestinian roots go back centuries. No one can change that even if they tell me that Jerusalem, my birth place, is not Palestine, even if they tell me that Palestine doesn't exist, even if they take away all my papers and deny me entry to my own home, even if they humiliate me and take away my rights. I AM PALESTINIAN. . . Where else in the world does one have to give up their identity for the sole reason of living somewhere else for a period of time? Imagine if an American living in Spain for a few years wanted to go home only to be told by the American government that their American Passport was revoked and that they wouldn't be able to come back!

http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content&task=view&id=2981&Itemid=1



PA Civil Affairs chief: All Palestinians will be granted IDs this year
(28 June) Hussein Ash-Sheikh said on Saturday that Palestinian officials have managed to issue identification cards for 70% of Palestinians who previously lacked them. He said he believes that the issue of Palestinians without ID cards will be totally resolved by the end of 2008. Ash-Sheikh said that there had been about 55,000 Palestinians without ID cards that would allow them to reside legally in their own country. Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) after the signing of the Oslo accords, thousands of exiled Palestinians returned to the West Bank and Gaza on visit permits issued by Israel. Many of those visitors remained in Palestine after their permits expired, becoming, in the eyes of Israel, illegal immigrants. Complicating matters, many undocumented Palestinians are married to other Palestinians, and some have had children who cannot be registered with the Palestinian interior ministry. These children are born into a legal limbo, even in their own country.
http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30166


Palestinian Journalist' Bloc condemns cruel treatment of award-winning Gazan
Gaza journalist Mohamad al-Mughier lives in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, and was attacked while on his [way] through the Allenby Bridge. The Bloc said in a statement to Ma'an that "al-Mughier was brutally interrogated and beaten by Israeli soldiers while entering the West Bank on his way home from Britain, where he received the 'Martha Gelhorn Journalism Prize' for 2008." Al-Mughier was being recognized in the United Kingdom for his collection of stories published in the Washington Report for Middle East Affairs.
http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30162


Gaza truce 'violated repeatedly'

(27 June) A fragile eight-day-old truce between Israel and Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip appears to have been violated repeatedly by both sides. Israel has blocked all other supplies including humanitarian and commercial goods.

http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/middle_ east/7478293. stm





Mortar shells land near southern kibbutz Friday morning

(27 June) Violations of ceasefire in Gaza vicinity continue: Palestinians fire two mortars into Israel on Friday morning. One lands near Kfar Aza; no injuries or damage reported

http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3561051,00. html





Top Hamas official: We'll stop anyone who breaks Gaza truce

(28 June) Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, told a Saudi newspaper on Saturday that his organization will move against any armed group that attempts to violate the cease-fire with Israel, including members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Al-Zahar warned that any Palestinian group who deviates from the national consensus and harms the interests of the Palestinian people can no longer be considered a part of the resistance, but rather as someone who seeks to harm it. Al-Zahar added that Hamas has recently arrested gunmen who fired missiles at the Karni crossing

http://haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/996694. html





Hamas: the new Fatah? – by Uriel Heilman

(27 June) Borrowing a page from Fatah's playbook, Hamas is criticizing Fatah militants who are shelling southern Israel from Gaza as acting against the Palestinian national interest by risking the shaky truce begun June 19 with Israel. Years ago, it was Fatah — then led by Yasser Arafat — that was signing agreements with Israel and criticizing Hamas for undermining the Palestinian national interest by firing at Israel (see this statement from 2003). Now the tables are turned.

http://blogs. jta.org/telegrap h/2008/06/ 27/522/hamas- the-new-fatah/





Fatah-allied militants fire rocket into Israel from southern Gaza

(AFP, 27 June) The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group tied to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, said it carried out the attack and also launched another rocket directed at the southern city of Ashkelon. An Israeli military spokesman confirmed a second rocket was fired but would not say whether it struck Israeli territory.

http://www.dailysta r.com.lb/ article.asp? edition_id= 10&categ_id=2&article_id=93564





Haniyeh: Stop firing at Israel, for sake of Palestinians

(28 June) Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday appealed to Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip to honor the week-long truce with Israel, and stop firing at the Negev, for the good of the Palestinian civilian population.

http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/996694. html





An-Nasser Brigades committed to Gaza truce, condemn Israeli violations

(27 June) Abu 'Ataya, spokesperson for the An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), affirmed on Friday that the brigades are committed to the decision of the PRC political leadership to abide by the truce. In a press statement, Abu 'Ataya added that the An-Nasser Brigades are committed to the ceasefire as long as the Israelis observe it.

http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30143





Palestinian factions argue about ceasefire

(28 June) GAZA CITY - Palestinian factions argued Saturday they had the right to respond to Israeli violations of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire which took hold in the Gaza Strip nine days ago. The argument intensified after Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, criticized two other groups for firing rockets into Israel in defiance of the ceasefire. The small armed Islamic Jihad and another group claiming to be affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement fired the rockets on three occasions in recent days to retaliate for an Israeli military action in the West Bank.

http://www.khaleejt imes.com/ DisplayArticleNe w.asp?col=§ion=middleeast&xfile=data/middleea st/2008/June/ middleeast_ June646.xml





DFLP to hold separate talks with Fatah and Hamas over internal dialogue

(28 June) According to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine statement that was faxed to press the talks will take place over the next few days. The meeting will also include follow-ups on the lists of political prisoners from each party to be exchanged with the captured Israeli soldiers in Gaza Gilad Shalit.

http://imemc. org/article/ 55710





Shin Bet agrees to free prisoners 'with blood on their hands' for Shalit

(27 June) Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin has somewhat softened his position regarding the prisoners who could be released in return for Shalit. Diskin is now prepared to release some prisoners "who have the blood of Israelis on their hands," so long as the risk they pose is lessened.

http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/996811. html





Shabak head approves exile for Palestinian prisoners

(27 June) Israeli press sources said that the head of Shabak, the Israeli General Security Services (GSS), Yofal Diskin has approved the release of a number of Palestinian detainees, alleged to have been involved in the killing of Israelis. Under Diskin's proposal, which is part of the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, the detainees will be deported from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip or abroad. Forty-two Palestinians were deported from the West Bank after a 2002 standoff between the Israeli army and Palestinian resistance fighters in the Nativity Church in Bethlehem. 28 were exiled to the Gaza Strip and 14 to Europe.

http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30128





ReliefWeb: 'Horrible situation for children' Israel blocks UN committee from entering Gaza

(27 June) Half of the population of Gaza is made up by minors: their current situation is horrible and could worsen still', said a special UN committee that accused Israel of having forbidden its access to Gaza 'to hide the violations of human rights perpetrated against Palestinians' . I

http://www.reliefwe b.int/rw/ RWB.NSF/db900SID /KKAA-7G29ZR? OpenDocument





South African delegation: Israel's acts will never bring peace to the region

(28 June) GAZA, (PIC)-- A South African parliamentary delegation stated Saturday during a visit to the PLC headquarters that South Africa supports the Palestinian people and rejects the unjust Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, pointing out that Israel's acts will never bring peace to the region and its apartheid wall isolates the Israeli community. The head of the delegation said that the Israeli government and the Knesset (Israeli parliament) tried to hinder their visit to Gaza and conditioned their meeting with Israeli officials on canceling this visit, adding that the delegation refused the Israeli blackmail and insisted on visiting Gaza.

http://palestine- info.co.uk/ en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s70TY8IoZ5nL %2bc9pacBrUc% 2f4YxN7BcXx% 2bshpSXHUZN5h0vU LMZIZ%2fEHbKX4Ze S9vOlw4t4geicBmt qzrOtZfIUvu% 2fAtozTiO5WNHW8o kicIPE%3d





Number of siege victims on the rise – now 198

(28 June) GAZA, (PIC)-- The popular committee against the siege has announced that a Palestinian cancer patient had died on Friday as a result of inability to cross the Gaza Strip borders for treatment not available in the Strip. The committee in a statement said that Difa Qassem, 55, was a resident of Beit Hanun town in northern Gaza Strip, and added that his death brought to 198 the number of victims who died due to inability to travel abroad in the absence of adequate medical services in the beleaguered Strip.

http://palestine- info.co.uk/ en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s724bNlsXpJL %2bToIG46UlHjYj7 6UWtKnIN9f% 2bQdfqi1yVh19Aoo 07XIwx%2fZpNQ5jX uUJkVcWkBLPtTpjU 0XLjBynT6uL5LLm4 O%2bW6PFAjDREg% 3d





Stranded Palestinians appeal for partial Rafah opening

(28 June) Approximately two hundred Palestinians stranded in Egypt have called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to request that Egyptian Authorities open the crossing for a few hours so they can return to the Gaza Strip. The stranded Palestinians include students and a number of hospital patients. All are living under difficult psychological conditions; having been unable to visit their families for over three years. Most are women and children, and the others are students who have finished their studies and wish to go home.

http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30159





Gaza's de facto police: Israel's closure of borders violates truce terms

The police confirmed that in the four days after the ceasefire went into effect, Israel allowed a slight increase in shipments through three crossing points: Sufa (used for commercial and humanitarian goods), Nahal Oz (used for liquid fuels), and the Karni crossing (used for grain and animal feed). According to the police, the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing was never opened. All four of these crossing points are now closed. Even during the brief period when the blockade was eased, Israel allowed only a slight increase in the amount of goods allowed into Gaza, the police said. At the Sufa crossing point, for example, 273 trucks, containing food, medical supplies, and construction materials, were allowed through during the first week of the ceasefire, compared to 247 trucks the week before, amounting to an increase of just 9.4%.
http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30153





Israel allows 600,000 liters of gasoline into Gaza, but fuel supplies still insufficient

(27 June) Nine days after the truce declared between Israel and Hamas came into effect, cooking gas and gasoline are still the main concern for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. On Friday only 600,000 liters of industrial gasoline were pumped into the Gaza power plant, despite the fact that no fuel had been allowed into the Gaza Strip for the previous four days.

http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30146





Russia delivers humanitarian aid to Gaza

(28 June) "The [Il-76] plane delivered a load of tents weighting in total 30 metric tons," the spokesman said adding that the assistance is rendered upon the request of the Palestinian government due to poor humanitarian situation in the region. The plane landed at an airport in Jordan's capital of Amman, he said, from where the humanitarian cargo will be transported to Gaza by trucks. [if the Israelis allow it….] This is the second Russian plane with humanitarian aid to Gaza this week as on June 24 Russia delivered to the region 30 metric tons of food and medicine.

http://en.rian. ru/world/ 20080628/ 112475092. html





The war over truce – by Nasser Lahham

(27 June) The truce has not, as some expected, embarrassed Hamas, but rather shifted the nature of its battleground. The truce, however, has become its own kind of war rather than a respite from one. The Israeli government, for its part, has been defending the truce agreement from attacks launched by opposition parties in the Knesset, many of which are demanding a military resolution for Gaza. Similarly, Hamas is fighting to defend the truce in the face of dissent from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the outright rejection of the truce from Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa brigades. The Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are both struggling to prove the legitimacy of a truce for which they bargained.

http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30130





Days of our lulls

(26 June) Israel doesn't believe in the Gaza ceasefire, but it's unable to decide on a large-scale strike in the Strip and needs some quiet time in the south. Hamas doesn't believe in it either, it just needs a break. At this point, says Alex Fishman, any truce is likely to be followed by a severe escalation in Gaza

http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3559238,00. html





Slippery-slope ceasefire – by Joharah Baker

(25 June) While no one could possibly be surprised that a ceasefire between the two arch enemies would hold as long as the core issues dividing them are not addressed, it is worth questioning Israel's intentions in first agreeing to the tahdi'ah and then sabotaging it soon after. The Israelis are brutally aware of the intrinsic link between events in the West Bank and those in the Gaza Strip, perhaps just as much as the Palestinians themselves. This means, they know that if they shoot two Palestinian activists in their beds in the West Bank without any prior provocation, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are going to react.

http://palestinechr onicle.com/ view_article_ details.php? id=13914





Human rights organization: Israelis do not historically honor agreements of any kind

(27 June) The European Commission was interested this week in listening to the Gaza City's Palestinian Centre for Human Rights' view of the Egypt-brokered 'calm' between Hamas and the Israeli forces. [PCHR] stressed that all previous truces agreed upon between the Israelis and the Palestinian National Authority during the current Palestinian Intifada did not last for long as Israel violated and disrespected them.

http://english. pnn.ps/index. php?option= com_content&task=view&id=2983&Itemid=1





Elderly prisoner dies in custody of Hamas-affiliated police in Gaza; family claims he was tortured

(27 June) The family of 72-year-old Talib Abu Sitah from the Az-Zawaidah area in the central Gaza Strip said that "police from the de facto government arrested Talib at 1am on Thursday and took him to one their centers." The family added that they were "informed on Friday morning that Talib had died inside the prison," and that his body showed evidence of torture. Ihab Al-Ghusain, spokesperson of the de facto Ministry of Interior, said that "Abu Sitah was arrested on suspicion of drug dealing, and he has a heart condition…"

http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30145





Fatah accuses Hamas police of seizing five activists in Beit Lahiya

(28 June) Fatah sources said Saturday that police of the de facto Hamas-run government in Gaza arrested five Fatah activists in Beit Lahiya, a town north of the Gaza city. Sources added that these arrests were "for purely political reasons," since the five arrestees are "members of one of Fatah's organizational branches in Beit Lahaya." Specifically the five "supervise the funds of social networks that belong to the Fatah movement."

http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30161





Fatah permitted to hold elections, de facto Interior Ministry says

The Interior Ministry of the de facto Hamas-lead government in Gaza announced on Friday that it will allow Fatah to conduct elections throughout the Gaza Strip. In a statement received by Ma'an, the Interior Ministry said that the gesture of allowing elections "shows that the government gives full freedom to all factions." At the same time, however, the statement cautioned Fatah against any "excesses while the elections take place.

http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30140





New proposal for Mughrabi Gate reconstruction expected to be approved – by Marian Houk

(28 June) A revised Israeli design of the ramp from the Western Wall Plaza up to the Mughrabi Gate entrance to the Haram as-Sharif is expected to receive approval shortly. Rabbi Rabinowitz describes the new plan as a "bridge in the air." He says that a lot of thought went into its development and the bridge will be "very aesthetic." The Mufti of Al-Aqsa Muhammed Hussein, however, denounced the whole reconstruction project during his sermon at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Friday prayers on 13 June.

http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30152





Appeal for releasing elderly prisoner bedridden in prison hospital for 14 years

(28 June) JENIN, (PIC)-- Prisoner Shadi Shallaldah in the Israeli Ofer prison appealed to human rights organizations to urgently intervene to demand the release of an elderly prisoner bedridden in the Ramla prison hospital for 14 years suffering from deteriorating health condition and living on a respirator. Shallaldah said that prisoner Hussein Ali, 60, who is serving two life sentences, suffers from many diseases notably diabetes, asthma and hypertension and deals with 26 medicine tablets. . . In another context, the Palestinian worker union stated that the IOF troops kidnapped during this month more than 400 workers including 42 women during large-scale campaigns at the pretext of entering the Palestinian lands occupied in 1948 without permits.

http://palestine- info.co.uk/ en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7xZbo7txA08 VzruGMS8eTEeKQwp %2fHkXaroPSIfRh5 n%2b7A6ex15doNn1 FC5I6bJJRUWjiMUc 2ZOxDB8YNfY4uFtc 30EgwxDWhiqoPjTp nOIk4%3d





Palestinian student released after six and a half years in Israeli prisons

Rawdi Ma'zouz Yassin, a student at Al-Quds Open University was seized by Israeli special forces from his home in the northern West Bank town of Salfit in 2002. He has been imprisoned by Israel since then. Israel currently holds more than 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, and arrests more during daily raids, mainly in the West Bank. Palestinians view these detainees as political prisoners.

http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30160





No more permits for used Israeli vehicles in Palestinian territories

(27 June) Palestinian Minister of Transportation Dr. Mashhour Abu Daqqa announced Friday the decision to stop granting permits to Palestinians who wish to bring used Israeli vehicles into the Palestinian territories. The market, Al-'Awawdeh explained, is being swamped with the regular introduction of used Israeli taxis. A more stable market, he says, will make the organization and regulation of trade simpler, and will help especially at Tarqumyah crossing in Hebron, which is a special crossing for Palestinian traders to access goods.

http://www.maannews .net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30131





Tunnellers of Gaza come into the light

(28 June) The tunnellers of Rafah have until recently been one of Gaza's most lucrative and secretive industries. Even when times were better here, they would regularly circumvent border closures and customs duties by smuggling virtually anything - including weapons - into Gaza from Egypt's northern frontier. Until now, the tunnellers and their paymasters have never offered a glimpse into their subterranean world, fearing retribution from Israeli warplanes and drones, which haunt them from above.

http://www.theaustr alian.news. com.au/story/ 0,25197,23933513 -2703,00. html





In the tunnels of Gaza, smugglers risk death for weapons and profits – by Paul Martin in Rafah

The "eye" of the tunnel was a small, square hole sunk between shiny kitchen tiles in an abandoned house in the Gaza Strip. To get in was a matter of grabbing hold of a rope emerging from the darkness and jumping into the opening. Twenty five feet below the ground a narrow passageway, barely 3ft wide, stretched half a mile under the border into Egypt. . . "Do you have your passport?" one of the smugglers asked. Climbing out of the hole and emerging in an Egyptian border town in the dead of night was out of the question. Jail was the least I could expect if caught.

http://www.timesonl ine.co.uk/ tol/news/ world/middle_ east/article4228 420.ece





An Israeli-Palestinian field of dreams

(26 June) Land disputes with Israel's neighbors may take a long time to resolve, but MK Shakib Shanan (Labor) hopes that talks held Thursday with Palestinian Authority officials over a small piece of turf will enable big strides in normalizing relations between Israelis and Palestinians. Shanan visited Ramallah on Thursday afternoon to gauge Palestinian support for a soccer stadium that its sponsors hope will help draw Palestinians and Israelis together on - literally - a level playing field.

http://www.jpost. com/servlet/ Satellite? cid=121449251752 0&pagename=JPost% 2FJPArticle% 2FShowFull





3 female Israeli paramedics save lives in Gaza

Only a select few know, but amongst the hundreds of Israeli combat soldiers participating in military operations in the Gaza Strip are three female solders. In the past few months, the 'girls' have had to deal with a number of real-time incidents where they saved both Israeli and Palestinian lives.

http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3561120,00. html





Zionism's dead end – by Jonathan Cook

(27 June) In 1895 Theodor Herzl, Zionism's chief prophet, confided in his diary that he did not favor sharing Palestine with the natives. Better, he wrote, to "try to spirit the penniless [Palestinian] population across the border by denying it any employment in our own country ... Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly."

http://electronicin tifada.net/ v2/article9653. shtml





Citizenship law makes Israel an apartheid state

(28 June) The amendment to the Citizenship Law is exactly the kind of practice that leads to the use of such a term, and it is best that we not try to evade the truth: Its existence in the law books turns Israel into an apartheid state.

http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/996697. html


Another side to the Jewish story – by Rachel Shabi
(27 June) Many Jews left Arab countries because they wanted to live in Israel, not because their lives back home were miserable
http://www.guardian .co.uk/commentis free/2008/ jun/27/religion. israelandthepale stinians


Twilight Zone / Karmel's happy campers – by Gideon Levy
(27 June) Bone-dry, the village does not have a single tree, flower or bush. The faucets are dry. Water is supplied every two or three months, so the people rely on the rainwater that collects in wells during rainy winters and on the water brought in by tractors hauling water tanks and sold at exorbitant prices: 20 cubic meters for NIS 300, four cubic meters for NIS 100; not enough to sustain a large family with sheep and goats for three days. Anyone who wants to feast his eyes on lush green is invited to look into the distance, at the settlements of Maon and Carmel, the uninvited neighbors.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/996642. html


Leftists, rightists clash near Baruch Goldstein's grave
(27 June) Breaking the Silence activists arrived in the area on a tour of Kiryat Arba and Hebron guided by Yehuda Shaul. When they arrived at the grave of murderer Baruch Goldstein in Kiryat Arba, dozens of right-wing activists and settlers crowded around them and asked to prevent the continuation of their tour. They also stopped them from reaching Goldstein's grave.
http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3561086,00. html


US increases Israeli aid by $170 million
(AFP, 28 June) The United States Congress approved a deal on Friday boosting its military aid to Israel to 30 billion dollars over the next decade aimed at countering a 'resurgent' Iran and its allies. The deal reflects an increase in aid value of more than 25 percent. America's pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), welcomed the congressional action, saying it would increase US aid to Israel to 2.55 billion dollars in fiscal year 2009, up from 2.38 billion dollars this year.
http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3561242,00. html


US proposes new Mideast talks: Palestinian official
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The United States has proposed new talks in a push to reach a deal on Palestinian statehood before President George W. Bush leaves office in January, the chief Palestinian negotiator said on Saturday. Ahmed Qurie said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had invited the Israelis and Palestinians to a series of trilateral discussions in New York and Washington.
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/nm/20080628/ ts_nm/palestinia ns_israel_ talks_dc


Humanitarian case launched against former Israeli defense minister in Spain
(28 June) Spanish National Courts heard their first International and Humanitarian Law suit against Israel on Tuesday. The suit has been launched by six survivors of a 2002 Israeli bomb attack and the relatives of attack's casualties. The 35-page suit is being filed against Israeli Defense Minister (2001-2001) Benjamin Ben Eliezer, and six individuals who were acting under his orders at the time. Those charged were involved in a bomb attack launched on the Gaza neighborhood of Al Daraj. PCHR reports that the actual target of the one-ton bomb was Salah Shehadeh, a suspected Hamas commander. The bomb, however, not only destroyed Shehadeh's home, but several others surrounding it. Fifteen people died and one hundred and fifty sustained injuries of various degrees. The victims say they were told by an Israeli court that the attack was proportionate.
http://maannews. net/en/index. php?opr=ShowDeta ils&ID=30149


The French connection – by Meir Zamir

(28 June) Secret papers reveal covert French-Zionist collaboration before Israel's establishment – 60 years on, there's still no complete account of regional, int'l circumstances surrounding founding of Israel.

http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/996684. html





Iraqi officials outraged by US raid in prime minister's home town

saying the operation violated the terms of the handover of Karbala province to Iraqi security forces.

Karbala Gov. Oqeil al Khazaali said U.S. forces killed an unarmed civilian and arrested at least one person in the raid in the southern town of Janaja. The governor's brother, Hassanein al Khazaali, said late Friday that the Iraqi killed in the operation was a relative of the U.S.-backed prime minister. (27 June)

http://www.mcclatch ydc.com/iraq/ story/42503. html





Iraq war photographer diary: Militias

(27 June) I am noticing a disturbing trend in Iraq right now, one that I feel pretty sure will prove to be a major mistake in this war and cause a fair amount of grief to the Iraqi people and most likely beyond. The U.S. Military is arming and funding militias and civil military groups across the country.

http://palestinechr onicle.com/ view_article_ details.php? id=13923





First violence, now drought threatens Iraqi farmers

(26 June) HAWIJA, IRAQ -- For nearly three years, farmer Sarheed Ahmed barely touched his land. He was too afraid of drawing the attention of the masked gunmen who terrorized the area, or of the U.S. attack helicopters that prowled overhead. Now, Ahmed says, he can farm until late at night without worrying about safety. But in a cruel twist, the rain didn't come this season.

http://www.latimes. com/news/ nationworld/ world/middleeast /la-fg-drought26 -2008jun26, 0,3732201. story?track= rss





UN: Golan observer force's mandate extended

Security Council unanimously adopts resolution to renew mandate of UN Disengagement Observer Force by six more months

http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3561164,00. html





Karnit Goldwasser: Last chance to bring Udi, Eldad home

(28 June) Cabinet to possibly vote on swap deal with Hizbullah Sunday. 'This feels like the final opportunity to release the captives,' Goldwasser's wife says, adding 'we were never told there was a problem with the release of Samir Kuntar'

http://www.ynetnews .com/articles/ 0,7340,L- 3561324,00. html


Holding Muslims at arm's length – by Derrick Jackson
(27 June) In his year-and-a-half- long run for president, Obama has visited churches and synagogues, but no mosque. This has the musty feel of light-skinned African-Americans passing for white, paranoid over daylight visits from dark-skinned relatives. How about something like, "Senator Obama is a Christian who, having lived in the world's largest Muslim country [Indonesia], having traveled in Pakistan and having many Muslim friends, appreciates American pluralism like no other candidate in US history"?
http://www.boston. com/bostonglobe/ editorial_ opinion/oped/ articles/ 2008/06/27/ holding_muslims_ at_arms_length/


Obama to visit Mideast before elections
(AP, 28 June) Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama plans to visit the Middle East and Europe this summer, taking time off from campaigning in the United States in an effort to boost his foreign policy credentials. Obama's campaign told The Associated Press the likely nominee will travel to Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The Illinois senator also has said he intends to visit Iraq and Afghanistan this summer
http://www.jpost. com/servlet/ Satellite? cid=121449252608 6&pagename=JPost% 2FJPArticle% 2FShowFull


Obama to Bush: Arab nations can do more
(26 June, updated 28) Arab nations, especially wealthy Gulf states, can give "far more" assistance to the Palestinians, Sen. Barack Obama wrote in a letter to President George W. Bush Tuesday in what was effectively a position paper on Israel for the presumptive Democratic US presidential nominee. In a letter reiterating some of the concerns from his June 4 AIPAC speech, Obama said that in light of new threats, three platforms were important: that Israel had a right to defend itself, that Arabs should do more to further peace, and that the US should support the recent overtures between Syria and Israel.
http://www.jpost. com/servlet/ Satellite? cid=121413268870 4&pagename=JPost% 2FJPArticle% 2FShowFull


Guantánamo: Doing battle with due process – by Sabin Willett
The ruling (Boumediene v. Bush) set no Guantánamo prisoners free. It held only that federal judges must consider the facts and decide, after six years, whether the prisoners really are enemy combatants or not. So why . . is it "one of the worst decisions in the history of the country" that federal judges should consider the facts at Guantánamo? Why is that so frightening a prospect for the president and McCain? On the facts, some Guantánamo prisoners may prove to be enemy combatants. Many certainly will not. But for the first time in seven years, Americans will have a process they can trust. They may just learn the truth. And for some, that is a very frightening prospect.
http://www.boston. com/bostonglobe/ editorial_ opinion/oped/ articles/ 2008/06/23/ doing_battle_ with_due_ process/

Himbauan Bantuan Kemanusiaan

From: Densy Chandra
Date: Jun 28, 8:45 am
Subject: Himbauan Bantuan Kemanusiaan
To: komunitas-tionghoa

Kawan2,

saya datang kali ini menghimbau bantuan dari Anda2 di mana saja
berada untuk mengulurkan tangan membantu Rina Fitria di Oklahoma yang
mengharapkan adanya mukjijat (miracles) supaya kankernya dapat
diobati.

Di bawah ini ada surat yang ditulis sendiri oleh Rina dan juga ada
link utuk informasi lebih lanjut.Kawan2 Rina di Permias (Persatuan
Mahasiswa Indonesia) Oklahoma sudah melakukan ber-macam2 usaha
termasuk mengadakan concert dll dan telah mengumpulkan $20,000+
sampai minggu ini. Hari ini mereka mengadakan garage sale.http://
www.orgs.okstate. edu/iosa/ pdf/flyer- garagesale. pdf

Jumlah ini belum memadai.Bilamana pada pertengahan July,50% dari
perkiraan biaya pengobatan $180,000 belum terkumpul, maka rumah
sakit di Stillwater tidak akan proses surat2 untuk pelaksanaan operasi
(bone marrow transplant dll). Transplant ini akan menggunakan Bone
Marrow dari Rina sendiri jadi tidak perlu donor.

Beberapa dari kawan2 yang peduli dengan Rina sudah mencoba berbagai
usaha supaya hal ini bisa teratasi.Sejauh ini harapan yang ada
hanyalah untuk menggalang dana yang dibutuhkan, supaya tim medis di
Stillwater dapat memberikan pengobatan yang dibutuhkan untuk Rina.

Kawan saya Aris yang ada di Alabama sudah memasang Widget di
websitenya yang dapat segera meng-update jumlah sumbangan,sehingga
kawan2 dapat ikut memantau perkembangannya. Sumbangan ini akan
dikumpulkan dengan sumbangan yang lainnya dan mudah2an jumlah yang
dibuthkan dapat terkumpul.Ini bukan karitas kemanusian pertama kali
yang dilakukan oleh Aris.Aris juga mengulur tangan untuk pengobatan
Gracia di Indonesia,silahkan baca di website.http: //www.atanone. net

Koran lokal Stillwater juga membuat artikel mengenai Rina.
http://www.stillwat er-
newspress.com/ features/ local_story_ 173230133. html

Semoga banyak diantara kawan2 terketuk hatinya untuk mengulurkan
tangan dan membantu menyebarkan himbauan ini ke komunitas2 di mana
saja anda berada.Sumbangan bisa dilakukan langsung melalui widget
atau kalau mau memberikannya secara langsung juga bisa di akomodasi.
Silahkan hubungi saya,Aris dan Ibu Titien (Haerani Ismandar, Ph.D.)
melalui jalur pribadi

thx
densy

McCain Predicts He'll Overtake Obama '48 Hours' Before the Election

McCain Predicts He'll Overtake Obama '48 Hours' Before the Election
Posted by: "Lori R. Price" lrprice@snet.net lori_price_clg
Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:35 pm (PDT)
News Update from Citizens For Legitimate Government
27 Jun 2008
http://www.legitgov .org/
All items are here:
http://www.legitgov .org/#breaking_ news
McCain Predicts He'll Overtake Obama '48 Hours' Before the Election 27 Jun 2008 John McCain predicted the general election race would come down to the buzzer Friday, declaring himself the underdog but quipping that he'd ride to victory in the last "48 hours." The comment came as new polls show Barack Obama leading nationally and in several key swing states. [LOL! Yup, it should take about 48 hours to program the electronic 'voting' machines for the third GOP coup d'etat, but McCain's handlers aren't going to be too happy with him blatantly shouting it from the rooftops. --LRP]

Please forward this update to anyone you think might be interested. Those who'd like to be added to the Newsletter list can sign up: http://www.legitgov .org/#subscribe_ clg.
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Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government
27 Jun 2008
http://www.legitgov .org/
All items are here:
http://www.legitgov .org/#breaking_ news
Guantanamo detainees made to feel like 'nomads' 27 Jun 2008 Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are turned into "nomads" to keep them agitated and to punish those who break rules, a Sudanese journalist recently released from the U.S. military prison said Friday. Sami al-Haj said moving prisoners between camps and from cell to cell appeared to be part of an official policy to destabilize them. "They were made into nomads," the Al-Jazeera journalist said.

'I can't talk to you,' Addington said. 'Al Qaeda may watch these meetings.' Key player in waterboarding policy 'smug' under questioning 27 Jun 2008 On Thursday, David S. Addington, a top aide to Vice President [sic] Cheney and alleged master-mind of the legal rationale for harsh techniques torture used against prisoners in the 'war on terrorism,' appeared before a House subcommittee. When Democrats tried to pin him down on the moral and legal issues they considered crucial, Addington brushed them aside with barely concealed disdain. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who later characterized Addington's attitude as "smug," asked whether, if the interrogation program was found to be illegal, he would bear any responsibility. "Is that a moral question or a legal question?" Addington asked, then said he bore no responsibility, legal or moral. Was President [sic] Bush constrained by laws against torture? Addington refused to offer an opinion. Putting the question in extreme terms, Nadler asked Addington if torturing a detainee's child to get information would be legal. "I'm not here to render legal advice to your committee," Addington shot back. "You do have attorneys of your own to give you legal advice."

Lawyer wants world to see Gitmo interrogation --Khadr has maintained that any statements he made to U.S. officials were obtained under torture and are therefore inadmissible. 27 Jun 2008 A lawyer for a Canadian detainee at Guantánamo Bay said Thursday that he expects to release a video of his then-teenaged client being interrogated by Canadian officials, potentially offering the first public footage of an interrogation at the U.S. prison. Nathan Whitling's announcement came a day after Canada's Federal Court ordered the government to hand over the 2003 interrogation video of terrorism suspect Omar Khadr to his defense team... ''The tape shows him crying as he describes being tortured. It shows him showing Canadian officials physical evidence of his abuse and pleading for their help. It's concrete evidence demonstrating the lack of credibility for the case against him,'' said Whitling.

ATF seizes weapons from Blackwater --Investigation concerns how they were obtained 27 Jun 2008 The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized nearly two dozen automatic rifles from Blackwater Worldwide this week, apparently part of an investigation into whether the private security contractor mercenaries obtained them illegally. ATF agents confiscated the guns Tuesday, two days after a story in The News & Observer raised questions about Blackwater's deal to buy 34 guns for the Camden County Sheriff's Office -- nearly two automatic weapons for each of the department's 19 deputies.

Officials: 30,000 troops heading to Iraq in 2009 27 Jun 2008 The Pentagon is preparing to order roughly 30,000 troops to Iraq early next year in a move that would allow the U.S. to maintain 15 combat brigades in the country through 2009, The Associated Press has learned. The deployments would replace troops currently there. But if the top U.S. commander in Iraq [Gen. David Petraeus] decides in the fall that fewer troops will be needed in Iraq during 2009, there is the chance that brigades could simply be directed to the war in Afghanistan instead.

Congress passes $162B spending bill for Iraq, Afghanistan wars --Spending will bring to more than $650 billion the amount Congress has provided for the Iraq war (Blackwater, Big Oil) and a total of nearly $200 billion for operations (opium routes, UNOCAL gas pipeline) in Afghanistan 26 Jun 2008 The Senate passed a $162 billion war spending plan Thursday, sending to President [sic] Bush legislation that will pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until the next president takes office. The Senate, however, narrowly failed to approve a House-passed bill to cancel a scheduled cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients.

For the Record: Wars have cost $700B since 9/11 27 Jun 2008 A new Congressional Research Service report says the U.S. government has spent about $700 billion on "military operations, base security, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans’ health care for the three operations initiated since the 9/11 attacks."

Iraq family wiped out by US 26 Jun 2008 Six members of a family were killed yesterday when a US jet destroyed their house in Iraq. Four children, aged between four and 11, were among the dead in the attack near the northern town of Tikrit, Iraqi police said. However, the US military made no mention of the civilian deaths and said the house was attacked after troops took small arms fire. [Where is the (genuine) Iraqi resistance?? ?]

US: Arrest made following attack in Karmah, Iraq 27 Jun 2008 A member of an extremist cell believed to be behind a suicide attack that killed more than 20 people including three U.S. Marines has been arrested, the U.S. military said Friday. U.S. spokesmen said it was unclear if the suspect, who was not identified, was directly involved in planning the attack that happened Thursday in the town of Karmah in Anbar province about 30 miles west of Baghdad.

Witnesses link chemical to ill US soldiers --Highly toxic substance used at Iraq plant 21 Jun 2008 US soldiers assigned to guard a crucial part of Iraq's oil infrastructure became ill after exposure to a highly toxic chemical at the plant, witnesses testified at a Democratic Policy Committee hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill. "These soldiers were bleeding from the nose, spitting blood," said Danny Langford, an equipment technician from Texas brought to work at the Qarmat Ali Water treatment plant in 2003. "They were sick. Hundreds of American soldiers at this site were contaminated" while guarding the plant, Langford said, including members of the Indiana National Guard. Langford is one of nine Americans who accuse KBR, the lead contractor on the Qarmat Ali project and one of the largest defense contractors in Iraq, of knowingly exposing them to sodium dichromate, an orange, sandlike chemical that is a potentially lethal carcinogen.

'Losing 10 animals could be as much as 10 percent of the population.' Foreigners Threaten Afghan Snow Leopards --'Raids' on U.S. military bases yielded products from endangered species, including snow leopards 27 Jun 2008 Afghanistan' s snow leopards have barely survived three decades of war. But now the few remaining mountain leopards left in Afghanistan face another threat [thanks to Bush] -- foreigners involved in 'rebuilding' the war-torn country. Despite a complete hunting ban across Afghanistan since 2002, snow leopard furs regularly end up for sale on international military bases and at tourist bazaars in the capital.

DOJ Settles Hatfill Suit for $5.8 Million --Investigators Implicated the Former Army Scientist in the 2001 Anthrax Attacks 27 Jun 2008 The Justice Department has agreed to pay former Army scientist Steven Hatfill almost $6 million to settle his claims that the government violated his privacy rights during its investigation of the [Cheney] 2001 anthrax attacks. The anthrax left five people dead and 17 sickened after mail [from Fort Detrick] containing the toxin arrived on Capitol Hill and at news organizations in Florida and New York.

MI5: revealing areas at mercy of collapsing dams is a terror threat 26 Jun 2008 MI5 and flood risk experts are at odds over whether to publish inundation maps highlighting areas under threat if any of the country's dams were to collapse. The Security Service says that the information could show terrorists where an attack on a dam might have the most impact. Experts in the Cabinet Office and the Environment Agency feel the time has come to make the information public, as the risk of major flooding rises with climate change.

Laptop seizures at customs raise outcry --Complaints from travelers and privacy advocates have spurred lawmakers to challenge the policy of random inspections. 26 Jun 2008 Bill Hogan was returning home to the U.S. from Germany in February when a customs agent at Dulles International Airport pulled him aside. He could reenter the country, she told him. But his laptop couldn't. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents said he had been chosen for "random inspection of electronic media," and kept his computer for about two weeks, recalled Hogan, a freelance journalist from Falls Church, Va... "It's not an inspection. It's a seizure," Hogan said. "What do they do with it? I assume they just copy everything." For several years, U.S. officials have been searching and seizing laptops, digital cameras, cellphones and other electronic devices at the border with few publicly released details.

Justice Antonin Scalia: Al Gore to blame for 2000 US election mess 27 Jun 2008 The 2000 presidential election debacle was the fault of Al Gore, who should have followed Richard Nixon's 1960 example and conceded without legal action, according to the Supreme Court's leading conservative 'judge.' The 2000 election coup d'etat, in which Mr Bush eventually prevailed in pivotal Florida by just 537 votes was selected, remains a potent source of discontent for Democrats. Last month, Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said that the election had been stolen by "five intellectually bankrupt judges". [In the *first* place, someone should tell this sociopath that the case is actually Bush v. Gore - *Bush* filed the legal action. Eight days earlier, the US Supreme Court had decided the case of Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board. Again, the legal action was instigated by *Bush.* Moreover, George W. Bush had a fleet of lawyers poised to overturn the 2000 election if Al Gore had won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote - a fact the mainstream media whores buried. In the second place, the only fault of Gore was that he didn't call for the second American Revolution to overthrow the occupiers after the *first* coup d'etat. If Bush was prevented from stealing the presidency in 2000, the 9/11 attacks, Iraq invasion, countless war crimes and thousands of environmental acts of terror would never have happened. --LRP]

Obama and Clinton hold first joint rally 27 Jun 2008 Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton today held their first public event together since Clinton withdrew from the Democratic nomination fight, as they seek to rally Clinton's supporters behind Obama and regroup the Democratic party for the upcoming general election fight. The rally was held in the aptly named town of Unity, New Hampshire, where Obama and Clinton each won 107 votes in the January primary.

Obamas cut check to help Clinton pay off debt --He meets with ex-rival's backers, receives standing ovation for support 27 Jun 2008 Barack Obama announced Thursday that he will help pay off Hillary Rodham Clinton's more than $20 million debt, personally writing a check in a gesture meant to win over her top financial backers. Obama met with more than 200 of Clinton's biggest fundraisers at Washington's Mayflower Hotel, the first step in a two-day push to bring her supporters onboard his general election campaign.

U.S. Stocks Slump, Pushing Dow Average to Brink of Bear Market 27 Jun 2008 U.S. stocks fell, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to the brink of a bear market, on concern subprime-related writedowns at banks will worsen and record oil and a slowing economy will prolong the worst profit decline since 2002. The Dow extended its retreat from an all-time high in October to almost 20 percent, the threshold for a so-called bear market.

Oil near $143 on view dollar will keep falling 27 Jun 2008 Oil futures climbed to a new record near $143 a barrel Friday as the dollar weakened against the euro, confirming expectations that the falling greenback, a major factor in crude's stratospheric rise, will extend its decline and add to oil's appeal.

No ice at the North Pole --Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change 27 Jun 2008 It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.

Arctic thaw threatens Siberian permafrost 14 Jun 2008 The permafrost belt stretching across Siberia to Alaska and Canada could start melting three times faster than expected because of the speed at which Arctic Sea ice is disappearing. A study found that the effects of sea-ice loss – which reached an all-time record last summer – extend almost 1,000 miles inland to areas where the ground is usually frozen all year round.

Tell the Bush Administration to grant the polar bear full-fledged protection (NRDC) Most scientists are now warning that global warming could eliminate the polar bear's summer sea-ice habitat by 2040. Without dramatic cutbacks in global warming pollution, Alaska's polar bears could face extinction by 2050. Tell the Bush Administration to close the polluter loopholes and give polar bears full-fledged protection as an endangered species.

U.S. temporarily halts new solar projects --Bureau to 'study' impact on the environment 27 Jun 2008 Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies the environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

US checks if tomatoes caused Salmonella outbreak 27 Jun 2008 As salmonella cases continue to climb, the government is checking if tainted tomatoes really are to blame for the record outbreak -- or if the problem is with another ingredient, or a warehouse that is contaminating newly harvested tomatoes. The widening outbreak -- with 810 people confirmed ill -- means whatever is making people sick could very well still be on the market, federal health officials warned on Friday. [Heckova job, FDA!]

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[Previous lead stories:] Gov't says FBI agents can't testify about 9/11 19 Jun 2008 Government lawyers say the ongoing investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks could be compromised if the airline industry is allowed to seek more information from the FBI to defend itself against lawsuits brought by terrorism victims. In papers filed late Tuesday, the government urged a judge to block aviation companies from interviewing five FBI employees who the companies say will help them prove the government withheld key information before the 2001 attacks.

Pentagon to Consult Academics on Security --Pentagon financing initiative, named Minerva, will award $50 million over five years to U.S. universities 18 Jun 2008 The Pentagon has started an ambitious and unusual program to recruit social scientists and direct the nation’s brainpower to combating fomenting security threats like the Chinese military, Iraq, terrorism and religious fundamentalism. But if the uncustomary push to engage the nation’s evolutionary psychologists, demographers, sociologists, historians and anthropologists in security research -- as well as the prospect of new financial support -- has generated excitement among some scholars, it has also aroused opposition from others, who worry that the Defense Department and the academy are getting too cozy.

U.N.: Opium Trade Soars in Afghanistan 26 Jun 2008 Afghan opium cultivation grew 17 percent last year, continuing a six-year [US] expansion of the country's drug trade and increasing its share of global opium production to more than 92 percent, according to the 2008 World Drug Report, released Thursday by the United Nations.

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News & Alerts on Various topics

News & Alerts on Various topics
Posted by: "Linda G. Richard" dazeylin@gmail.com dazeylin
Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:08 pm (PDT)


freedetainees. org



How to close Guantánamo


Posted: 26 Jun 2008 05:21 PM CDT

Here are the five steps the US must now take to safely and quickly
remove the stain on America's reputation After more than six years of
constant controversy, it really does look as if Guantánamo's days as a
prison camp are numbered. The Supreme Court's recent decision in
Boumediene v Bush further narrowed any legal distinction [...]

Guantanamo Detainee to File Habeas Petition


Posted: 26 Jun 2008 05:18 PM CDT

By Josh White and Del Quentin Wilber Washington Post Staff Writers
Mohammed Sulaymon Barre fled his native Somalia as civil war raged in
the early 1990s, receiving U.N. refugee status and landing in Pakistan,
where he settled his family and worked for a financial services company.
In a nighttime raid in November 2001, Pakistani authorities [...]

'Even Adolf Eichmann got a trial'


Posted: 26 Jun 2008 05:15 PM CDT

The Supreme Court's recent ruling on habeas corpus and suspected
terrorist detainees has faded a bit on the political world's radar, but
the McCain campaign continues to believe the issue will benefit their
candidate. Indeed, just this afternoon, McCain's in-house blogger
blasted Barack Obama's campaign for "conflicting answers" on whether
Osama bin Laden would be [...]

Hundreds of Terror Suspects Arrested in Saudi Arabia


Posted: 26 Jun 2008 05:03 PM CDT

This strikes me as suspicious.. ...... Written by The Media Line Staff
The Saudi Ministry of Interior announced Wednesday it had arrested 701
terror suspects in the past six months, of whom 181 were released for
lack of sufficient evidence, Arab media outlets reported. The terror
cells were mainly managed from abroad and were primarily plotting
against economic targets [...]

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Seizure of Bt Cotton Seed Consignment worth Rs 21 lakhs at Bhawanipatna.

To

The Hon'ble Chief Minister, Orissa,
Orissa Secretariat,
Sachivalaya Marg,
Bhubaneswar.


Dt: 16.06.08


Respected Sir,





Sub: Seizure of Bt Cotton Seed Consignment worth Rs 21 lakhs at Bhawanipatna.


Alerted by newspaper reports that appeared on 08.06.08 in different newspapers of Kalahandi district that a Bt Cotton seed consignment worth Rs. 21 lakhs had been seized by the office of the Dy. Director, Agriculture from the godown of a transport agency at Bhawanipatna, we immediately rushed to the spot to know the details of the seizure and gauge the aftermath.





Upon reaching Bhawanipatna on 10th June, we came to know that the consignment was sent from Kaveri Seeds Ltd, Cuttack. The Collector Sri Pramod Chandra Pattnaik, IAS, informed us that it was the largest seizure of Bt Cotton seeds in the State.. He was firm in his statement that the State Government would not allow the cultivation of Bt Cotton as serious adverse effects have been reported in other States. He had directed the District Agriculture Officer to conduct Krushak Samparka Mela's in all blocks of Bhawanipatna to warn farmers not to sow Bt Cotton in their fields.





We attended the Krushak Samparka Mela conducted at Karlapada Block of Bhawanipatna on the 10th of June. We met a number of farmers and listened to their feedback. The farmers were aggrieved that while the sowing of cotton would start from the 15th, the decision of the Agriculture Department to warn them on 10th of June was unfortunate. Many of them admitted, under the pledge of anonymity, that they had started Bt Cotton cultivation from 2007-08 and were ready to sow the same crop again. They were under the impression that certain companies from the neighbouring State of Andhra Pradesh would buy their entire produce. We feel that most of them would go ahead with their decision to cultivate Bt Cotton.





We met organic cotton cultivators who were worried that their crop would become contaminated and thus would be rejected by buyers especially in the export market.





The Collector has expressed helplessness if the farmers stuck to their decision and cultivate Bt Cotton. He said as per the existing Seeds Act he could only seize illegal and unlicensed seeds and could not go beyond that. Moreover he informed that there was no laboratory to test for the Bt gene in crop in the State. The samples of the crop would have to be sent to a laboratory at Nagpur.





The Deputy Director Agriculture too expressed the same sentiments and expressed his apprehension that large scale farmers' suicides would start in Orissa if Bt Cotton was not immediately checked. He hinted that a squad would be formed to raid all seed dealers in the block. All steps would be taken, he assured us. He called upon NGOs to assist the Government machinery in creating awareness about the dangers of Bt Cotton amongst farmers.





Our visit to the seed dealers at Bhawanipatna and Kesinga revealed that they were alarmed at the developments and were unwilling to divulge information. Seed dealers at Kesinga however acknowledged that they had sold Bt Cotton seeds to farmers last year.





Our field investigations have also revealed that there has been Bt Cotton cultivation in the Patnagarh subdivision Bolangir district also which is likely to intensify this year paricularly in the Khaprakhol Block.





We would therefore request your good self to kindly ensure that;





All districts where cotton cultivation is in vogue, notably Kalahandi, Nuapada, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Raygada, Bolangir, Nayagarh, Bargarh, Gajapati, Ganjam, Phulbani, Sonepur, Sundargarh, Dhenkanal and Nayagarh, should immediately be alerted.
All farmers who have started Bt Cotton cultivation since the last year should be identified so that they are dissuaded from continuing to cultivate the crop.
As in Bhawanipatna, Agriculture Departments should start awareness camps in all blocks of all cotton growing districts asking farmers to desist from cultivating Bt Cotton.
The standing Bt Cotton crop, if identified anywhere, should immediately be destroyed.
The source of the Bt Cotton seeds should be identified and the entire stock seized as per existing protocol.
The dealer network should also face similar action.
Dealers crossing the border to sell Bt Cotton seeds should be detained and questioned.
The State Biotechnology Coordination Committee should immediately hold a meeting and the situation reviewed.
It should be ensured that District Level Committees should be formed in all districts.
A laboratory to identify Bt Cotton crop should come up immediately in the State.
All illegal field trials on Genetically Modified crops should be stopped and the crop/samples destroyed. Kindly note that they have been going on in the State since 2002-03 without permission of the GEAC.
The State Government should come out with a clear public announcement about its stand on Bt Cotton and GM food crops.




As we have already appraised your good self about the various adverse impacts of Bt Cotton and GM crops, and as your office and also the Hon'ble Agriculture Minister have already denounced Bt Cotton in the floor of the Assembly on the 22nd of June'07, we hope you will fulfill our legitimate demands with all the urgency the situation merits so that the farmers of our State are spared the fate of farmers who have fallen a prey to the vagaries of Bt Cotton in the five other States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.






Respectfully yours,

Debjeet Sarangi & Jagannath Chatterjee,
Living Farms.



Cc: The Hon'ble Agriculture Minister, Orissa,
The Hon'ble Minister, Environment & Forest,
The Chief Secretary, Orissa,
The Agriculture Secretary,
The Director, Agriculture,
The Director, Department of Biotechnology, Orissa



"It is now 30 years since I have been confining myself to the treatment of chronic diseases. During those 30 years I have run against so many histories of little children who had never seen a sick day until they were vaccinated and who, in the several years that have followed, have never seen a well day since. I couldn't put my finger on the disease they have. They just weren't strong. Their resistance was gone. They were perfectly well before they were vaccinated. They have never been well since. "---Dr. William Howard Hay

An ulema-run magazine with a difference

An ulema-run magazine with a difference
Submitted by Tarique Anwar on 23 June 2008 - 6:33pm. Indian Muslim
By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net,

A new Muslim magazine with articles not just on Islam but also on a host of issues, from global warming, AIDS, modern education among Muslims, madrasa reforms, gender relations and Muslim women's empowerment to terrorism, communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims and Western imperialism, in addition to news and feature stories about India's Muslims…. The monthly 'Eastern Crescent', published from Mumbai, promises to make a major splash in the fledgling Indian Muslim English-language media market. And what is special about it is that it is run by an editorial team that consists almost entirely of traditionally-educated maulvis from the renowned Dar ul-Ulum madrasa at Deoband.

Launched in mid-May 2006, the Mumbai-based monthly 'Eastern Crescent' is the brain-child of Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, the leading-light behind the Markaz ul-Maarif set of institutions that is now assuming the form of a movement. Ajmal, a successful businessman from Assam and himself a Deobandi graduate, is a member of the Central Committee of the Deoband madrasa. The Markaz ul-Maarif runs a chain of schools, orphanages and social work centres in Assam and elsewhere. Another of its major initiatives is a centre in Mumbai that provides a two-year course in English language proficiency to madrasa graduates, most of these being students from the Deoband madrasa.

'Eastern Crescent' is published from the Markaz ul-Maarif's centre in Mumbai. Maulana Burhanuddin Qasmi, its editor, and most of its senior staff members are Deobandi maulvis (also known as 'Qasmis') who learnt English only after undergoing the two-year course at the centre, before which most of them had little or no familiarity with the language. And, judging by the generally high quality of the articles that they, along with a team of mainly Muslim writers, both maulvis and others, contribute to the magazine, they seem to be doing a great job. Quite atypically for a magazine run by maulvis, the strictly religious content is minimal, because scores of other Indian Muslim magazines, in Urdu, English and other languages, serve that function. Instead, most of the articles are about serious social, economic and political issues to do with the Indian Muslims—subjects that are generally ignored both in the Muslim-owned and in the non-Muslim media. Which is
another thing that makes the magazine special and unique.

Modestly priced at a hundred and fifty rupees a year (life subscription is five thousand rupees), Eastern Crescent provides a different perspective on Indian Muslim issues—that of an influential section of the traditional ulema who are trying to relate to a host of contemporary challenges in some very creative (and, for some, unexpectedly progressive) ways.

Link:
http://www.markazulmaarif.org/ec_index.asp