NOVANEWS
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The US media reports: Gilad Shalit swapped for 1000 non-people (per Blumenthal)
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‘Washington Post’ headline: US must reevaluate aid to Israel
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Release
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Touring Palestine, you see… Jewish symbols everywhere
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Ordinary citizens, making a difference
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Those crazy Syrians
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‘Economist’ debate on peace process features… 2 Israelis
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Feel the earth move– ‘The Forward’ proffers This-is-one-country idea to its readers
The US media reports: Gilad Shalit swapped for 1000 non-people (per Blumenthal)
Oct 18, 2011
Seham
Celebrating the Prisoner Release
All Freed Detainees Are Now In Gaza And Ramallah
Every Palestinian detainee released in the first phase of the prisoners-swap deal between Israel and the Hamas movement, except those sent to Egypt, are now safely in Gaza and Ramallah. This article includes the speeches of President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, and Hamas leader, Hasan Yousef, standing next to him.
Palestinians celebrate homecoming of their prisoners
Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza celebrated the homecoming today of their prisoners and demanded militants seize more Israeli soldiers for future exchanges.
Gaza celebrates as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are freed – video
As Israeli army confirms Gilad Shalit is back in Israel, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are returned to the Gaza strip to be met by Hamas leaders.
“I was 1-day-old when my father was jailed”
As many families celebrate in Gaza and the West Bank, let us remember those Palestinians still being held in Israeli jails.
“I must be dreaming” says freed Palestinian mother
* Islamic Jihad member breaks down at sight of children
Palestinian female prisoners resist deportation to Gaza
Two Palestinian female prisoners, Mariam al-Tarabeen and Amna Muna, are resisting deportation to Gaza, briefly delaying the prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas, Al Arabiya TV reported quoting Israeli sources.
On 11 October 2011, Israel and Hamas announced a deal to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the freeing of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Under the deal a total of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners are to be released in two stages beginning on 18 October, and concluding two months later. On Sunday, 16 October 2011, the Israeli authorities published a list of 477 prisoners, including 27 women, to be released in the first stage on 18 October. The list does not include any children. DCI-Palestine can not confirm how many
children, if any, will be released at the second stage in December 2011.
Reuters – A long-awaited prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas began before dawn on Tuesday when the first of hundreds of Palestinian inmates were bused from their jails to border crossings where they will be swapped for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Deal to exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier to go ahead after supreme court rejects appeals.
link to english.aljazeera.net
Dual US-Israeli national charged with espionage likely to be released from Egyptian jail in exchange for 81 prisoners in backdrop of Shalit deal.
Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri said that his movement submitted to the occupation a list of 9 female captives who were excluded from the exchange list to be included.
Noam Chomsky on Israel-Palestine Prisoner Exchange, U.S. Assassination Campaign in Yemen
MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky, the world renewed linguist and political dissident, spoke Monday night at Barnard College in New York City about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, just hours before Israel and Hamas completed a historic prisoner exchange. “I think [Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit] should have been released a long time ago, but there’s something missing from this whole story. There are no pictures of Palestinian women, no discussion, in fact, in the story of, what about the Palestinian prisoners being released? Where do they come from?” Chomsky says. “There is a lot to say about that. For example, we do not know — at least I do not read it in The Times — whether the release includes the elected officials who were kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel in 2007 when the United States, the European Union, and Israel decided to dissolve the only freely elected legislature in the Arab world.” Chomsky also discussed the recent U.S. assassination of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. “Almost all of the critics, of whom there were not many, criticized the action or qualified it because of the fact that al-Awlaki was an American citizen,” Chomksy says. “That is, he was a person, unlike suspects who are intentionally murdered or collateral damage, meaning we treat them kind of like the ants we step on when we walk down the street — they’re not American citizens. They are unpeople, therefore, they can be freely murdered.”
The US media reports: Gilad Shalit swapped for 1000 non-people, Max Blumenthal
By now, Gilad Shalit is back in Israel, while around 1000 Palestinian prisoners will eventually be released from Israeli jails, then scattered to various locations from Jerusalem to Egypt to Syria, where many will live in permanent exile. While some Israelis doubt the wisdom of the prisoner swap, there can be little doubt that the state of Israel has scored a public relations victory in the United States. American coverage of the prisoner exchange has focused almost exclusively on Shalit, his family, and Jewish Israeli society’s “bittersweet” reaction to the deal.
The deal to free Gilad Shalit in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners is a moment of liberation not only for them and their families but for all residents of Israel and the Gaza Strip. The deal also holds the possibility of release from the concept that has shaped Israeli policy toward the Gaza Strip ever since Gilad Shalit was captured five and a half years ago – the concept of closure. In the time that has passed since Shalit’s capture, no one, not a single minister, security official, senior commentator or serious researcher, either on the left or the right, has argued that the closure helped Israel’s fight against Hamas and the efforts to free Shalit. In the past year, following the flotilla incident, consensus that this policy damages Israel both politically and in terms of security has only grown. The policy was meant to weaken Hamas, but instead it was strengthened. It was meant to isolate Gaza, but it was Israel that ended up isolated.
link to gazagateway.org
Qorea’: “Settlement Activities Prove Israel Not Interested In peace”
Head of the Jerusalem Department at the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Ahmad Qorea, stated that Israel’s violations against Jerusalem, settlement activities and annexations, are hostile activities that prove Israel is not interested in peace.
Maqdisi organisation published on Monday a report about home demolitions in Jerusalem since the start of 2011 which the occupation authorities carried out or ordered the owners to carry out.
Last month’s decision by the U.S. Congress to block hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians because of the push for statehood at the United Nations will mean more hardship for Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation. And while Palestinians have not won statehood state yet, and there is no agreement about what steps should be taken in order to create it, almost everyone can agree that laying the foundations for statehood — shaping democratic values, building functioning institutions and a functioning economy, and investing in education — will reap benefits for both Palestinians and their neighbors in Israel and around the globe. Which makes it all the more tragic that, while thousands of young Americans return to school this fall to continue or begin their higher education, many Palestinian students are unable to do so because of Israeli policies that severely restrict their freedom of movement. As the Vice Chancellor of Bethlehem University, the only Catholic university serving students from the occupied Palestinian territories, I have the honor to be involved in a process of building a better future in this region.
Israeli forces closes the entrance of a grocery and attacking the owner
a group of Israeli Military troops parked their Military jeep in a at at provocative way at the other side of settlement block which was taken by settlers from Dawood husien few years ago in Wadi hilweh .the owner asked them to move their vehicle away , they refused the owners request and ignored him , but when the residents crowded in big numbers the troops were obliged to move the vehicle to allow people get in and out of the grocery ,after a while huge back up forces showed up from the Jewish settlement towards the military jeep. One of the residents took some photos then he was attacked to stop taking photos but he refused and told them that he has the right to do so , then the troops started to put on masks as preparations to attack, at that time the crowds of local residents were increasing and this obliged the troops to retreat from the neighborhood . The situation as mentioned is still tensed , and there are expectations of the mercenaries revengeful soldiers coming back . Worth mentioning that the Israeli soldiers are using the settlements blocks as centers for their gathering and undercover units where they stay there all the time.
PFLP warns against any harm befalling Saadat
Jamil Mizher, PFLP politburo member, has held the Israeli occupation authority fully responsible for the life of the front’s detained leader Ahmed Saadat.
A plan to force Palestinian schools in occupied East Jerusalem to only use textbooks assembled and published by the Israeli ministry of education is part of an ongoing attempt to erase Palestinian identity, history and culture from the city.
Seminar on occupation in international law held in Beit E’nan
A seminar on the law of zoning in Jerusalem was held by the Jerusalem Observer for Human Rights in cooperation with Beit E’nan on Thursday, 13 October, which was attended by university students and local residents of Beit E’nan. Observer head Mr. Zaid Tubassi al-Ayoubi spoke at the seminar on the significance of prohibition rights in international law in the context of an occupation. Al-Ayoubi discussed the responsibilities of the Israeli occupying force in the territories of Jerusalem and the West Bank, particularly with regard to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Lahay Treaty of 1967, which deemed Israel an occupying force that posed a danger to civilians and their home and property. Israel’s actions such as eviction of residents and home demolition, both of which are carried out in Jerusalem and Area C zones are all considered clear violations of human rights under international law. Al-Ayoubi also stressed the need to push for recognition of international law when dealing with the occupation. The International Criminal Court, said Al-Ayoubi, stated in 1988 that the Israeli occupation has included crimes against humanity and war crimes in pursuing policies of eviction, compulsory immigration and house demolition. Al-Ayoubi closed the seminar by issuing a demand for international organizations to fulfill their responsibilities to the protection of the Palestinians from violations of international law, and bring Israeli leaders responsible for these crimes to justice in the international arena.
US Zionists sharply divided over how to censor Palestine speech on campus, Ali Abunimah
Sharp disagreements have intensified among leading US pro-Israel groups on the best methods to suppress criticism and discussion of Israel’s apartheid, occupation, colonization and human rights abuses, or support for Palestinian rights, on US college campuses. The dispute centers on the use of US civil rights statutes to lodge complaints against universities, alleging that discussion of Israel amounts to an infringement of the civil rights of Jewish students who might be made “uncomfortable” by hearing such discussions.
UK says Israel must do more for peace
Britain called on Israel to build on the momentum provided by the release of its soldier Gilad Shalit to advance peace talks with the Palestinians. Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the release of Shalit after more than five years in captivity in the Gaza Strip as part of a thousand-for-one prisoner exchange.
Ahmadinejad rejects US ‘murder plot’ claims
Iran’s president says US accusations are an attempt to divert attention from its own problems and cause regional rifts.
Senior Likud MK: Key Government Goal, Elimination of Iranian Nuclear Threat
Thanks to an Israeli source pointing me to this provocative Facebook posting by senior Likud MKCarmel Shama HaCohen: At the beginning of the current government’s term three chief objectives were set: ending the economic crisis, returning Gilad Shalit, and eliminating the Iranian nuclear [program]. We’ve exited the economic crisis for some time, Shalit comes home Tuesday alive and well…
‘Occupy’ protests spread across Asia
HONG KONG — Protesters across the Asia-Pacific region Saturday joined worldwide demonstrations inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” and “Indignants” movements. Rallies are planned for Saturday in more than 950 cities across 82 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa in a show of power by a movement born on May 15 when a rally in Madrid’s central square of Puerta del Sol sparked a protest that spread nationwide, then to other countries. Around 500 people gathered in the heart of Hong Kong’s financial district to express their anger at the inequities and excesses of free-market capitalism, while demonstrators in Tokyo also voiced fury at the Fukushima nuclear accident.
‘Occupy’ protestors march at Toronto stock exchange
TORONTO — Anti-corporate demonstrations in Canada ran into a third day Monday, including outside the country’s main bourse here, with some people vowing to keep up the protests through the bitter winter. About 300 activists marched through Toronto’s downtown, stopping at Ryerson University to join a rally for social justice. Hundreds also held demonstrations in downtown parks in Montreal, the capital Ottawa and Vancouver.
Occupy SF rebuilds camp after police raid
Activists with Occupy SF rebuilt their encampment in San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza today, hours after police removed tents that they said violated a city ordinance and arrested five people.
D.C. Protests: Cornel West Arrested During Supreme Court Demonstration
WASHINGTON — Author, commentator, civil rights activist and Princeton University professor Cornel West has been arrested while protesting on the steps of the Supreme Court about corporate influence in politics. A Supreme Court spokeswoman says 19 people were arrested Sunday afternoon after they refused to leave the grounds of the court.
It was a month ago today that Occupy Wall Street began in Manhattan’s Financial District. The protest encampment based at Zuccotti Park remains and continues to grow despite last week’s threatened eviction by the City of New York. On Saturday, thousands of protesters marched from Zuccotti Park to Times Square, the heart of New York’s media, tourism and entertainment district. Earlier in the day, about two dozen people were arrested at a Citibank in Lower Manhattan while they attempted to take their money out of the bank. We speak to Ryan Devereaux, a Democracy Now! reporter who has been closely following the Occupy Wall Street movement. We also speak with Julie Gonzales, director of organizing for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, about the Occupy Denver protests.
Global Day of Rage: Hundreds of Thousands March Against Inequity, Big Banks, as Occupy Movement Grows
From Buenos Aires to Toronto, Kuala Lumpur to London, hundreds of thousands of people rallied on Saturday in a global day of action against corporate greed and budget cutbacks, demanding better living conditions and a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources. Protests reportedly took place in 1,500 cities, including 100 cities in the United States—all in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement that launched one month ago in New York City. We go to Athens for a report from a protest at Syntagma Square against austerity measures and corporate greed, speak to an activist in Rome where 200,000 rallied, and go to Japan for a report on the Occupy Tokyo demonstration. We also air excerpts of a speech by Julian Assange of WikiLeaks at Occupy London Stock Exchange.
Award winning actor and activist Danny Glover spoke at both Occupy Oakland and Occupy Los Angeles this past weekend, telling the amassed crowds that they represent everyone who has been displaced in America, including the recently-executed death row inmate Troy Davis, whose execution sparked an international outcry. “Here we talk about this moment, this moment has to realize itself in a movement,” Glover said at the Los Angeles protests Sunday afternoon. “A movement that just doesn’t happen with an occupation. A movement that has to be organized, and organized, and organized!”
Danny Glover, Cornel West Speak Out at Occupy Protests as MLK Memorial is Dedicated in D.C.
In the United States, police arrested hundreds of people over the weekend at demonstrations and occupations inspired by Occupy Wall Street. Arrest totals include: 175 in Chicago; 100 in Arizona; 92 in New York City; 19 in Raleigh, North Carolina; 19 in Denver; and 19 in Washington, D.C., including Princeton University Professor Cornel West, on the steps of the Supreme Court. West was arrested shortly after attending the dedication ceremony for the new Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. At the dedication, President Obama said, “It is right for us to celebrate Dr. King’s marvelous oratory, but it is worth remembering that progress did not come from words alone. Progress was hard. Progress was purchased through enduring the smack of billy clubs and the blast of fire hoses. It was bought with days in jail cells and nights of bomb threats.” We also go to California, where actor and activist Danny Glover addressed Occupy Oakland.
Appearing on Fox News Monday, Fox Business Network senior correspondent Charles Gasparino explained why he sees “Zuccotti Park as New York’s Marxist epicenter.”
“I did some reporting,” Gasparino told Fox News anchor Jenna Lee. “All you have to do is walk through there to see that there is an underlying ideology and it’s handed out in pamphlets and newspapers.” To make his point, he presented what he called a “propaganda sheet” that he had gotten during his visit to Zuccotti Park over the weekend. “It says, ‘Marx Was Right,’” Gasparino noted. “And they’re not talking about Groucho Marx, by the way.”
Occupy the World: We Are the 99%
People from 951 cities in 82 countries participated on October 15 in the ‘United for Global Change’ day. Hundreds of thousands filled the streets of European, Asian and American cities, calling for taxing the rich and an end to governments leaning on the poor and middle class to climb out of recession. Hundreds of protesters were arrested around the world. Rome witnessed the most violence, as some protesters dug out pavement stones and threw them at police, while others threw explosives and attempted to storm the Ministry of Defense.
MJ Rosenberg: Washington Post Columnist: Cut Aid to Israel
No matter that our own military is facing major cuts along with Medicare, cancer research and hundreds of other programs, Israel’s friends in Congress in both parties make sure that aid to Israel is protected at current levels.
‘Washington Post’ headline: US must reevaluate aid to Israel
Oct 18, 2011
Philip Weiss
Another red line crossed, in the mainstream media. Walter Pincus in the Washington Post calls for U.S. to review all the money we give to Israel. The headline: “US must reevaluate its assistance to Israel.”
As the country reviews its spending on defense and foreign assistance, it is time to examine the funding the United States provides to Israel…. The question for the Obama administration, Congress and, in the end, perhaps the American public, is: Given present economic problems, should the United States supply the money to make up for reductions the Israelis are making in their own defense budget?
Adds a friend: My jaw dropped when I read this on the metro this morning.
Such a headline in a flagship MSM outlet. Pincus has the chops to write something like this since he’s been covering US foreign and military policy since the Vietnam war. An article like this in Wapo even 2 years ago would have been unthinkable. A very tiny oversight: he doesn’t mention the hundreds of millions of dollars tucked into the State Department budget since 1973 for refugee resettlement in Israel. This year it’s $20M. First, Israel is still resettling refugees? Second, a country with the 26th highest GDP can’t pay to resettle refugees in its own country? That’s a scandal.
A bigger scandal is that the International Aid budget is being seriously slashed, percentage wise more than any other budget. Funding to fight poverty and humanitarian assistance. The budget is only a shade over $50B. But aid to Israel remains untouched.
Here’s an excerpt from a 2002 congressional research service report to give you an idea. Link to the full report.
Aid for Soviet and Ethiopian Jewish Refugees “US aid for Soviet and other immigrants in Israel has taken two forms: first, grants through the Department of State refugee and migration account; second, through the housing loan guarantee and Soviet immigrant loan guarantee programs. The United States began providing grants to Israel under the refugee and migration account in 1973. Congress increased the funding level up to $80 million per year in 1992, when the wave of Soviet immigrants crested. H.Rept. 105-401 of November 12, 1997, on H.R. 2159, the foreign operations appropriation bill, stated that the level would decrease to $70 million in FY1999 and to $60 million in FY2000 because the declining numbers of Soviet immigrants reduced Israel’s need. The President requested $60 million for immigrant assistance for FY2003.” end
