-
Eyes on the Prize | The Middle East Channel
The regime of Bashar al-Asad faces unprecedented and unexpected challenges from peaceful protestors demanding political change. Across Syria, citizens have taken to the streets, initially calling for little more than political and economic reforms. The regime responded with force, killing dozens of unarmed demonstrators. As in other cases across the region, regime violence has hardened the determination of the opposition, and mobilized growing numbers of Syrians to participate in mass protests. Regime collapse in Syria remains a distant prospect, but contrary to the expectations of most observers, Damascus is now in play.
-
BBC News - Israel approves 942 Jewish homes in Gilo settlement
Israel has approved the construction of 942 homes in the Jewish settlement of Gilo on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The move comes ahead of talks between Israeli President Shimon Peres and US President Barack Obama in Washington. The US has repeatedly called on Israel to stop building settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Almost 500,000 Jews live in settlements on occupied territory. The settlements are illegal under international law
-
Facebook sued for $1bn in ‘Palestinian Intifada’ row - Culture & Society - ArabianBusiness.com
**The question is why did Facebook take it down. There are plenty of sites advocating the killing of Muslims, "I hate Islam" and Gun loving sites**
Facebook and its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg are being sued for more than $1bn over a page that called for an uprising in occupied Palestine against Israel. The page, entitled ‘Third Palestinian Intifada’ had gathered more than 340,000 ‘likes’ for its proposed May 15 uprising before its removal from the popular social networking site. The lawsuit was filed by US attorney Larry Klayman, who described himself in the suit as “an American citizen of Jewish origin”. In a statement on his website, he alleges that Facebook failed to take the page down quickly enough, keeping it online to “increase the social network’s net worth based on viewership and use.” -
Israel indicts captured Gaza engineer - Yahoo! News
BEERSHEBA, Israel – Israeli authorities have indicted a captured Palestinian engineer on charges he headed Hamas' militant training program and developed rockets for the group. The indictment against Dirar Abu Sisi was handed down in an Israeli court on Monday. Abu Sisi, an engineer at Gaza's sole power plant, disappeared from a train in Ukraine in February and mysteriously resurfaced days later in an Israeli prison. His family says the Mossad spy agency abducted him. Israel has said little about the case. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week he belonged to Hamas and had possessed "significant information."
JERUSALEM — Jerusalem officials were asked Monday to give preliminary approval for the building of 942 new apartments in a Jewish development in the city’s contested eastern sector, threatening to create new friction ahead of the Israeli president’s White House visit. Although it would take years before construction starts, the project in the neighborhood of Gilo will likely infuriate the Palestinians at an especially delicate diplomatic moment. Israeli President Shimon Peres is scheduled to meet Tuesday with President Barack Obama to explore ways to jump-start stalled Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
-
The poisonous effects of these statements are no less publically available than the statements themselves, and of equal concern to anyone seeking "to establish the conditions for a secure and lasting peace." Polling has routinely documented the explosion of anti-democratic and militaristic sentiment in Israel, particularly among the youth population. In a Tel Aviv University poll released last year, 49.5 percent of Israeli high school students responded in the negative when asked whether "Arab citizens should be granted rights equal to that of Jews," while a majority of 56 percent said that Israel's Arab citizens should be ineligible to serve in the country's parliament. "While an overwhelming majority (91 percent) expressed a desire to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces," reported Haaretz, "48 percent said they would not obey an order to evacuate outposts and settlements in the West Bank." As recently as this week, a new poll was released attesting to the diminished importance of "democracy" among Israeli teens (only 14 percent of whom consider it a national priority), as well as unprecedented levels of reverence for Israel's military and a marked desire for "strong leadership" at the expense of minority rights. Not surprisingly, this rising tide of racism in Israeli society has translated into both discriminatory legislation directed against Israel's Arab citizens and into violent hate crimes which, while not as gruesome as the massacre in Itamar, are more pervasive, bordering on quotidian.
-
Steven A. Cook: From the Potomac to the Euphrates » Blog Archive » How Do You Say 1989 in Arabic?
I have been surprised that President Obama has taken so much guff over the Libya situation and his handling of the Arab Spring, more generally. Ben Smith at Politico calls it the “narcissism of small differences.” He makes the point that the arguments and counter-arguments over the White House’s handling of the uprisings are more about tactics than strategy. The punditocracy and political folks tend to lose sight of the fact that the administration is confronting one of the hardest political challenges that any administration could face. Momentous change is happening in an important part of the world and Washington has little ability to influence the trajectory of events short of applying military force as it is doing in Libya.
-
US freezes weapon shipments to Lebanon: report
**Yet we won't suspend shipments to Israel... ** The United States has quietly frozen weapon shipments to Lebanon's armed forces following the collapse of the country's pro-Western government, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The newspaper said the suspension was part of a broader review of US security assistance to Lebanon after Hezbollah emerged as a key player in the government.
-
Kuwait investment firm eyes Moroccan real estate - Real Estate - ArabianBusiness.com
A Kuwait-based investment firm said on Sunday it has acquired a minority stake in a Morocco real estate developer. The North Africa Holding Company (NorAH) said it had invested in Dar Saada Company (DSC) as it sees opportunities in the fast growing North African housing market. "Our investment team had identified the social and intermediate housing segment as fast growing with huge potential," Emad Anwar Al-Saleh, CEO of NorAH, said in a statement.
-
Saudi eyes clean energy to cut oil demand, official says - Energy - ArabianBusiness.com
Saudi Arabia, with 20 percent of world oil reserves, aims to develop renewable energy and nuclear power to cut by half the crude and natural gas it burns to generate electricity, a government official said. The country is seeking to develop a more sustainable mix of energy supply as growth in power demand is set to triple over the next two decades, Khalid Al Sulaiman, vice president for Renewable Energy at King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, said at a conference in Riyadh Sunday.
-
Sources: Mubarak has left Egypt - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
Sources tell Al Jazeera that Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, has left the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on a flight headed to Germany, possibly for medical treatment. Mubarak had been staying in Sharm El-Sheikh under house arrest since he stepped down from office on February 11. Despite the reports, Zeina Khodr, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, said people in Egypt are not convinced that the news is true. They are holding the military to the promise of keeping Mubarak in the country to stand trial for alleged crimes under his presidency, she said. "The army has repeatedly said Mubarak would not be able to leave Egypt, even for medical treatment.
0 comments:
Post a Comment