The Mideast Solidarity Project (MSP) at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA raises awareness about human rights, immigration, and US foreign policy in the Middle East, the surrounding regions and the Diaspora. By challenging stereotypes and misrepresentation of regional conflicts and training organizers, MSP works as an advocate and ally. MSP serves as an active educational resource, a tool for solidarity building, and a means for anti-racist organizing on campus and in our community.
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have fragmented health services, according to a new study, due to the restrictions imposed upon people by Israeli security forces, poor management, and a growing population.
Just this past week in the East Jerusalem area, 88 homes in al-Bustan, 55 homes in Shufat refugee camp, 35 Bedouin homes on the Jerusalem-Jericho Road, and 66 homes in al-Isawiyya were slated for destruction, affecting more than 2,000 Palestinians, most of whom have lived there for generations.
"We saw a group of masked Israeli settlers armed with sticks and chains heading towards us. The younger shepherds ran and managed to escape, leaving me with the flock of sheep," Rabaye told IPS.
"It was physically impossible for me to run, and I also didn't want the settlers to kill or steal my sheep. The security guard pushed me over, but I was not injured," recalled Rabaye, who was then seven months pregnant.
The United States is protesting to Israel over seemingly random restrictions on deliveries to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip of harmless goods such as soap and toilet paper, diplomats said Wednesday.
"It is totally surreal," one European diplomat said of Israeli decision-making. "One day we had 600 kg (1,300 pounds) of pasta at the Kerem Shalom crossing but they said, 'Today, pasta can't go in'."
Another Western diplomat said: "It's ever-changing. One week jam is okay and the next week it's not."
In addition to soap and toilet paper, the officials cited restrictions that come and go on imports of certain types of cheeses, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Ray McGovern, former senior analyst at the CIA, discusses the ebb and flow of neoconservative influence in the White House, how the scuttled Charles Freeman appointment weakens U.S. leverage with Israel, the incredible influence still exerted by Steven J. Rosen despite his indictment under the Espionage Act, the shortcomings of the mainstream media and how the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iran prevented a disastrous war.
Tristan was shot by the new tear-gas canisters that can be shot up to 500m. I ran over as I saw someone had been shot, while the Israeli forces continued to fire tear-gas at us. When an ambulance came, the Israeli soldiers refused to allow the ambulance through the checkpoint just outside the village. After 5 minutes of arguing with the soldiers, the ambulance passed.
– Teah Lunqvist (Sweden) - International Solidarity Movement
Four Palestinian villagers have already been killed for protesting against the separation wall in the West Bank Village of Ni’lin.
"Israel's 22-day offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip killed 1,434 people, including 960 civilians, 239 police officers and 235 fighters, a Palestinian human rights group said Thursday." (thanks Olivia)
"Unfortunately for us, Israeli arms-maker Rafael chose C. Which means we may have just found the most atrocious defense video of all time..." (thanks Laleh)
This is the expertise of Abrams: a man who never studied the Middle East and does not speak or read any of its languages (but he is fluent in Gun Zionism): "Expertise: U.S. policy in the Middle East, Israel-Palestinian affairs, democracy promotion, human rights policy, U.S. foreign policy." (thanks Mounzer)
"Following the lead of Umm Kamel al-Kurd who put up a tent near her home in Sheikh Jarrah after she was forcibly removed from her home four months ago, other neighborhoods in Jerusalem facing a similar fate have set up such tents as spaces for organizing and encouraging others to stand in solidarity with each neighborhood. Such tents exist now on the Mount of Olives and in Ras Khamis. One of the organizers of the solidarity tent in al-Bustan, Ahmed Siam, told me "We will not let history repeat itself. We learned from history. We will not leave our land like we did in 1948. If they come and kill my son, I will not leave. This is our land. Even if they kill me and only my blood remains, it will remain on this land." The 7,000 residents of the area intend to fight for their right to stay on their land rather than see it turned into a new, illegal Israeli colony."
DON'T MISS Prof. As'ad AbuKhalil's scathing critique of the obnoxious provocateur, and self-interested scum of the earth, Christopher Hitchens - another privileged white man making the soulless trek from youthful radical to middle-aged reactionary.
Prof. Cole reports on al-Zaidi: 3 Years Sentence on Shoe-Thrower
Iraqi shoe-thrower Muntadhar al-Zaidi was sentenced to 3 years in prison on Thursday, under a statute forbidding assaults on visiting heads of state. The maximum sentence is 15 years, but the judge said he took into account al-Zaidi's youth and that it was his first offense. Al-Zaydi's lawyers maintained that the law only forbade assault, and that it was wrong to punish al-Zaydi under the statute since he had merely mounted a symbolic protest.
Al-Zaydi told the judge that he had been angered because of Bush's crimes, which had kicked off the violence in Iraq. He said his throwing shoes at Bush had been natural and understandable, and that any Iraqi who stood in his position would have done the same. . .
Middle East expert, Prof. Juan Cole, examines the slated troop withdrawal from Iraq. There are several great articles to link to through his post. Note the level of reconciliation happening in places like Samarra, while violence escalates elsewhere in the country. In terms of political violence we are still talking magnetic car bombs, motorcycle riding suicide bombers, hand grenades tossed into crowded markets, and newly dug mass graves. This is the stuff we can only imagine on the big screen, and for all intents and purposes, its considered stability in Iraq.
Those pundits trumpeting peace in Iraq should authentic their message with a willingness to actually travel to Iraq themselves. They could hit up trendy Mansur, stop by historic Al-Mutanabi for a quick read, enjoy some Masgouf along the Dijla. Or, just try staying alive. Why is it that 'non-Westerners' are forced to accept a different kind of peace?
12000 US Troops Withdrawn from Iraq; 32 Killed in Police Academy Bombing
The Obama administration will not replace two US brigades (12,000 troops) that are departing Iraq. There are 140,000 US troops in that country, down from 160,000 in 2008 during the Bush troop escalation or "surge." The two brigades will likely be brought out of al-Anbar Province and Baghdad. Al-Anbar, once one of the most violent places in Iraq (and the world) has seen attacks and deaths decline dramatically since the tribal Awakening Councils started taking US salaries to fight Salafi extremists (what the US calls 'al-Qaeda'). Baghdad is also much less violent than in 2007, in large part because the Sunni Arab population has largely been ethnically cleansed from the capital, so that it seems to be 80% or 85% Shiite now. The 4,000 British troops stationed at the airport in Basra will also leave by the end of June, 2009.
The step will leave 128,000 US troops in Iraq through the December, 2009, parliamentary elections, when they will be needed to lock down the country and prevent car-bombings of polling stations. Those elections will be the last conducted under US auspices. By August, 2010, another 80,000 to 100,000 troops will be withdrawn, with all US soldiers and Marines scheduled to be out of Iraq by December 31, 2011.
The security challenges remaining in Iraq were demonstrated by the nine bombings over the weekend, including a major attack by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest at a police training facility in central Baghdad. That attack killed at least 32 and wounded 60. Among the dead were 8 police officials. It has all along been the goal of the Sunni Arab guerrillas to punish the new Iraqi police recruits as "collaborators" with the new Iraqi government and Washington. Despite large numbers of attacks on recruits and police, however, they have not prevented the establishment of a large, newly trained police force and army, which have begun performing better against the guerrillas in pitched battles.
The potential for Sunni-Shiite reconciliation was attested to on Friday when nearly a million Shiites converged on the Askariya shrine or golden dome of Samarra to commemorate the death of Imam Hasan al-Askari, who is buried at the shrine. Samarra is a Sunni-majority city in the strongly Sunni province of Salahuddin, the site of many guerrilla attacks against US troops and those of the new Iraqi military. There was little violence associated with this pilgrimage. In February 2006, Sunni Arab guerrillas blew up the shrine of Samarra, setting off nearly two years of civil war.
Turkey will help train the Iraqi military, and will accept Iraqi cadets into its military academies. This step is ironic because the Iraqi officer corps after WW I was Ottoman-trained. After a century of Arab nationalism, Iraq's military is again establishing close ties to Turkey. From Ankara's point of view, having Iraqi officers educated in its military academies gives Turkey a chance to influence among the most important groups of future Iraqi leaders. In particular, Turkish military academies are stongly secular and hostile to religion.
- A roadside bomb detonated in Ghazaliyah neighborhood in western Baghdad targeting a Sahwa patrol around 7:30 a.m. Three Sahwa members were wounded.
- A magnetic bomb detonated under a parliament employee’s car in Damascus intersection in downtown Baghdad around 7:40 a.m. Two people were wounded including the employee.
- A suicide bomber riding a motor- bike filled with explosives targeted a crowd of recruiters for police in front of the police academy in Palestine street around 10:30 a.m. At least 28 people were killed (including five policemen and three traffic policemen) and 57 others were wounded.
Mosul
- Gunmen opened fire at two soldiers in Mithaq neighborhood in Mosul on Saturday night. The two soldiers who were killed, were going to buy some food stuff from the commercial shops near their military check point in the area.
- A gunman threw a grenade at a police patrol in Shareen market in downtown Mosul early morning. Two people were wounded including a policeman.
- Gunmen killed a young man in downtown Mosil around 8:30 p.m. The young man was a student at the technical institution in Mosul.
Diyala
- Police found eight mass graves in the orchards of the Al-Bu Tumaa village of Khalis (about 10 miles north of Baquba). There were 25 dead bodies in those graves who were killed by the Qaida which was controlling Diyala province.' (posted by Juan Cole @ 3/09/2009 - Informed Comment)
"Here they also sold bridles, saddles and shoes for religious men," says Afram Hussein al Fufuli, 69, concluding my history lesson. My translator-colleague and I had been directed to Fufuli by a younger bookseller up the street, who had called him "the dictionary." In his brown blazer and sweater, Fufuli did indeed have a professorial air. Framed by dusty stacks of books tall as himself (between Arabic volumes: John Le Carre, Macroeconomic Theory, Richard Nixon's Leaders), he conducted slow business out of a small brick storefront which, he said, his father opened in 1930.
Fufuli described how, when the car bomb exploded nearby, all his books were knocked down and his metal gate was twisted. "Thanks to God, I was away from the shop at the time." After that, for a while, the street was deserted. The explosion killed 38, and was a well-documented tragedy. READ MORE
In a statement read to the media in central|London. Mr Mohamed said: "I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares.
"Before this ordeal, torture was an abstract word to me. I could never have imagined that I would be its victim.
"It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways - all orchestrated by the United States government."READ MORE
`Closed Zone`: 90 animated seconds on the closure of Gaza Gisha - I am pleased to send you a link to "Closed Zone", a 90-second animated film by Yoni Goodman, Director of Animation for the Academy Award-nominated film "Waltz with Bashir". Closed Zone shows the closure of the Gaza Strip and its effects on the ability of one and a half million human beings living there to pursue their aspirations and, more recently – even to run from harm`s way, during the devastating military operation in Gaza. Unfortunately, despite post-war calls to rehabilitate Gaza, the closure policy remains in effect.
