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Middle East Madness

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Palestinians say dozens of trees cut down by settlers

Ali Waked
YNet
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:11 EST

Burin resident discovers 97 of his olive trees destroyed overnight. 'When I saw the massacre which took place on my land, I cried,' he tells Ynet

Palestinian farmers from the West Bank village of Burin, located near the settlement of Yitzhar, discovered Thursday morning that dozens of their olive trees were cut down.

Akram Amram of Burin told Ynet that at around 5:30 am he had discovered 97 uprooted olive trees on his land.

"I am not embarrassed to admit that when I discovered the massacre which took place on my land, I cried," he said. "These trees are more than 60 years old and I raised them just like I raised my kids."

Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja

Martin Chulov
Guardian.co.uk
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:10 EST

Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities

Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.

The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja's over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born.

Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects - which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems - are unprecedented and at present unexplainable.

A group of Iraqi and British officials, including the former Iraqi minister for women's affairs, Dr Nawal Majeed a-Sammarai, and the British doctors David Halpin and Chris Burns-Cox, have petitioned the UN general assembly to ask that an independent committee fully investigate the defects and help clean up toxic materials left over decades of war - including the six years since Saddam Hussein was ousted.

Agence France-Presse
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:06 EST

© AFP/HO/File
An undated handout picture released by the Yemeni army on October 2009 shows Yemeni soldiers at a battlefield

The Pentagon said on Friday the United States had not signed a military cooperation deal with Yemen, refuting a report from Sanaa's official news agency.

"There were no agreements signed," spokesman Bryan Whitman told AFP.

But US military officers had recently held two days of talks with their Yemeni counterparts, he said.

"The United States values its relationship with Yemeni military forces and remains committed to improving the relationship," he said.

Yemen's official Saba news agency said on Wednesday that the two countries had signed a military cooperation agreement during talks in the capital Sanaa.

Yemen is Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's ancestral homeland and has been a major focus of the jihadist network's activities.

In October 2000, Al-Qaeda militants attacked the destroyer USS Cole off the southern port of Aden, killing 17 US sailors.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, Washington made Yemen a major focus of its operations against Al-Qaeda.

Israel's Dark View of the World

Charles Grant
The Guardian
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:00 EST

Many Israelis see little need for a peace settlement but feel isolated in what they regard as an increasingly hostile world

The official explained to Bibi Netanyahu that if there was a peace settlement, extra investment would push Israel's long-term growth rate from 5% a year to 7%. The Israeli prime minister responded that if the country had 5% growth, it did not need peace.

Netanyahu was joking, according to the official who recounted the story - but the quip highlights a serious point. There is no prospect of a settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, and many Israelis are fairly relaxed about that. During a recent visit to Israel, I met very few people who were optimistic about the peace process.

Netanyahu says he supports the creation of a Palestinian state. But the terms he is offering - with much of the hypothetical state's security under Israeli control - would not be acceptable to any Palestinian leader. Netanyahu's coalition government shows no signs of offering the Palestinians the kinds of concession - such as freezing settlements - that would make a peace deal possible.

Chris McGreal
The Guardian
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:53 EST

© Hatem Omar/AP
The Goldstone report, which HRW supported, accused Israel of a disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population.

Human Rights Watch denies having political agenda or seeking funds from Saudi Arabia

America's leading human rights organisation has accused Israel and its supporters of an "organised campaign" of false allegations and misinformation, including "extremely personal attacks" on its staff, in an attempt to discredit the group over its reports of war crimes in Gaza.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) ties the campaign - which has included accusations that the group's reports on the Jewish state are written by "anti-Israel ideologues" and that it has sought funds from Saudi Arabia - to a statement by a senior official in the Israeli prime minister's office in June pledging to "dedicate time and manpower to combating" human rights organisations.

The criticism began with Israeli pressure groups and rightwing blogs, but in recent weeks it has drawn the support of influential individuals such as Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel peace prize winner, and HRW's own founder, Robert Bernstein, who said the organisation's reports were "helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state". He called on HRW to focus more on abuses by Arab governments.

Chaim Levinson and Nir Hasson
Harteez
Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00 EST

The Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office on Thursday charged alleged Jewish terrorist Yaakov (Jack) Teitel with two murders, three attempted murders and other acts of violence.

"It was a pleasure and an honor to serve my God," said Teitel at the Jerusalem courthouse. "I have no regret and no doubt that God is pleased."

Teitel also denied recent reports that he had operated as an undercover Shin Bet agent.

Palestinian killed on Gaza border

BBC News
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:28 EST

An Israeli tank near the Karni crossing point

Israeli troops have shot dead a Palestinian man, and wounded another, near a border crossing with Gaza.

Gazan medics said they retrieved the body of a 16-year-old boy, who they described as an unarmed civilian, near the Karni crossing.

The Israeli military said they would investigate the incident but the group "appeared to be planting explosives".

Clashes have been relatively rare in Gaza since Israel's military offensive in December and January.

The Guardian
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:20 EST

© Hatem Omar/AP
The Goldstone report, which HRW supported, accused Israel of a disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population.

Digital Journal
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:48 EST

Claiming Palestinian farmers are stealing water from the central source shared by both Israelis and Palestinians, Israel has implemented water restrictions on Palestinians in the disputed West Bank.

Access to fresh water supplies throughout the Middle East - and throughout Israel and Palestine in particular - is a cause of concern and conflict.

"Water is a cardinal issue in the Middle East," MidEastWeb states on their web site. "Any year there is a drought, it makes headlines. Otherwise, it is always there, lurking in the background, behind the religious and nationalist slogans and rhetoric."
However, in the disputed West Bank territory, a water-rights disagreement is threatening to create a broader conflict among Palestinians and Israelis.

Press TV
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:06 EST

© Unknown
A baby killed in a recent air raid carried out on the northern Yemeni province of Sa'dah by either the Yemeni government or Saudi forces

A leading Islamic clerical establishment in Iran has condemned the indiscriminate killing of Shia civilians by Yemeni government forces.

"News of the unfortunate crackdown against Yemeni Muslims and Shias by the country's government forces... has left the Muslim world in great sorrow," the Society of the Seminary Teachers of Qom said in a Friday night statement.

The Shia establishment also condemned human rights organizations for staying silent about the massacre and indirectly attacked the Saudi Arabian government for launching its own military offensive against northern Yemen.

"The direct interference of certain Arab regimes in the ethnic cleansing of Shia and the silence adopted by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and international human rights establishments about this atrocity leaves room for thought."

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