Middle East

NOVANEWS Netanyahu + Biden = More Illegal Settlements On the eve of yet another meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Vice President  Joe Biden—this time Bibi came to our shores—Israel announced  plans to construct some 1,000 new housing units in Har Homa, the illegal settlement for Jews only on the outskirts of  the West Bank Christian towns of Bethlehem and Beit Sahour. (Israel considers Har Homa part of East Jerusalem, which it illegally annexed and expanded following the 1967 Six-Day War.) Once again, Israel maintained that the timing of the announcement was coincidental, and not an attempt to embarass Biden. And once again, as he did during his March 2009 visit to Jerusalem, Biden responded with groveling praise of Israel. Biden and Netanyahu had both traveled ...

NOVANEWS 10 Nov 2010 Joseph El-Khoury     In her Nowlebanon article ‘Dangerous Liaisons: Lebanon’s culture of adultery’ Aline Sara seems to hint at some social phenomenon unique to Lebanon. This is in line with the conviction that many Lebanese hold in the uniqueness of their country in both positive and negative terms. Adultery is most likely to be as old as marriage itself and as ubiquitous. The visibility of the act and the consequences attached to will vary between cultures and within cultures, depending on the social or religious context. What many agree on is that post civil war a particular section of the Lebanese population has ceased to treat the issue as taboo. In contrast to neighbouring Arab countries, adultery has become a casual topic in stand-up comedy shows (chansonni...

NOVANEWS Australian BDS is heating up Privatising war is a beautiful racket most people can’t play Hope, Votes and Bullets; documenting Iranian resistance Colombo and Tel Aviv gaze deeply into each other’s eyes Australian BDS is heating up  10 Nov 2010 The following press release appeared on 4 November:   The conference was launched with a public meeting on October 29 at the Victorian State Library, chaired by the ABC’s Bryan Dawe and addressed by Palestinian artist and activist Rafeef Ziadah speaking on behalf of the Palestinian Boycott National Committee (BNC). Also speaking was Palestinian academic and radio presenter, Yousef Alreemawi, Jerusalem based Israeli activist Ofer Neiman from “BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS call from within” and Kim Sattler, the Secre...

NOVANEWS 10 November 2010 At dawn this morning (10.11.2010), Israeli forces arrested the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Dr Mahmoud Al-Ramahi, from his West Bank home in the City of Al Bira. According to sources, heavily armed forces surrounded Al-Ramahi's home in the pre-dawn hours before storming it and taking him into custody.   The arrest has been widely condemned by both the Reform and Change bloc of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas. The Islamist Deputies of the Council released a statement in which they stressed that Israel's actions against the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people is a testament to their sincerity and that they would continue to represent a thorn in the Occupier's side. The arr...

NOVANEWS 11/09/2010 Night raid in Bil’in Five young Jews disrupt Netanyahu speech with call for new Jewish identity My conversation with an Israeli leftist Canadian lawmakers resurrect McCarthy in hearings that say criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism Israeli Supreme Court approves buildings for ‘Jews only’ in Jaffa ‘Zionism and peace are incompatible’ — Israeli general’s son Noah’s arc Gaza siege keeps graduate student from attending program in the US Mike Pence takes part in a venerable Washington tradition Who is this cat, our secretary of defense? Night raid in Bil’in Nov 09, 2010 Hamde Abu Rahme (Photo: Hamde Abu Rahme) Today, November 9 at about 3:00 in the morning, the Israeli army entered the village of Bil'in. About 50 soldiers ...

NOVANEWS The best way to deal with Netanyahu How Palestine inspires the people of Kashmir The English Defence League and Zionism; friends forever? Don’t tell the major parties but corporate whoring isn’t the only way What the US press follows closely Young Jews lead the way for Palestinian rights The best way to deal with Netanyahu09 Nov 2010 How Palestine inspires the people of Kashmir09 Nov 2010 Arundhati Roy in the New York Times powerfully expresses the conflict in Kashmir, America’s willful impotence and the mood of resistance: A week before he was elected in 2008, President Obama said that solving the dispute over Kashmir’s struggle for self-determination — which has led to three wars between India and Pakistan since 1947 — would be among his “critical tas...

NOVANEWS Nov 9, 2010 Hamas invites Ahamdinejad to Gaza Hamas has invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad to visit the Gaza Strip on Monday. Ahmed Youssef, deputy Hamas foreign minister told Iranian news agency Fars that a visit from the Iranian president would lift the spirits of "the resistance front" as it did with Hezbollah in Lebanon last month. "We are certain his visit would be very significant," Youssef said in an interview with the news agency. Iran has yet to provide an official response to the invitation, however such a visit is unlikely to take place as Iranian officials do not usually visit the Gaza Strip, despite politically supporting Hamas. Hamas sources confirmed that Ahmadinejad had been invited to Gaza as part of Palestinian efforts to break the blocka...

NOVANEWS Dear All, 6 items, after reducing from 15, and debating whether or not to reduce further.  I guess I’ll leave to you to decide what to read, what not.  You are, after all, adults. Item 1 is the Haaretz report about this year’s poverty statistics on Israeli poverty.  As in the past 5 years, the stats this year are worse than last year’s.  Item 2 is a report about Hillel’s efforts to prevent a pro-Palestinian event from taking place at Rutgers university.  Hillel apparently lost this round.  More interesting are the comments on about the younger generation’s attitudes towards Israel. Item 3 is a New York Times report about the trials and tribulations of the Corries in seeking to learn the truth about their daughter’s/sister’s death 7 years ago.  The experience that the family is und...

NOVANEWS  November 8, 2010  The Christians of the Middle East are targeted by the agents of Zionism because they constitute the future bridge of understanding between the Christian-West and the Islam of the Orient. Nobody can explain Islam to the West , better than a Christian Arab. The Christian-Arabs are the living witnesses to the tolerance of Islam. The Christian-Arabs have been infiltrated by fanatic-fascists like in the Lebanon or by fanatic-idiots like in Egypt……… all that just to plan and to plant, an artificial animosity with Islam. In other places where Oriental-Christianity could not be infiltrated , for various reason,so the Christians are being martyred just like in Iraq or Pakistan. Whatever role Zionism is planing for the Christians of the East , it is macabre. Christians o...

NOVANEWS 11/08/2010 Goosebumps video links American sacrifices in civil rights struggle to Palestinian protesters’ travails Obama’s political woes elicit advice from Israel (sans the usual middlemen) ‘New Yorker’ connects Elvis Costello’s use of the word ‘nigger’ 30 years ago to his recent participation in boycott of Israel Court docs show that the Israeli government sold property in East Jerusalem to settlers Sen. Lindsey Graham says U.S. should ‘neuter’ Iran My mother gave up her seat Alienated affection: Israel relationship is costing the U.S. its alliance with Turkey Half of Milgram’s subjects told him to take a hike, hallelujah UK Foreign Ministry official says Gaza blockade is unbearable Goosebumps video links American sacrifices in civil rights s...