Middle East

NOVANEWS Mental health cure isn’t available with a pill Tutu on why we must isolate complicit Israeli universities The Sri Lankan Mark Regev steps right up Hold Western military powers to account (and the Hague beckons) Selling every public asset isn’t a pretty prospect Moving Forward? Australia’s relationship with Israel Times are changing for the best; Zionist bigotry is simply not tolerated Now Washington can sell Australia far more deadly weapons to liberate Muslims Mental health cure isn’t available with a pill 26 Sep 2010 My following book review appeared in yesterday’s Sydney Sun Herald: Crazy Like Us Ethan Watters Scribe, $35 About one in five adult Australians will experience mental illness at some point. In the US, about 27 per cent of people aged 18 and older su...

NOVANEWS “However, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Andy David called the protest ‘a provocative joke that isn't funny’". "’It is unfortunate that there are all kinds of organizations involved in provocations that contribute nothing and certainly don't contribute to any kind of agreement,’ he said.” [Jewish activists sail to Gaza, item 4] ======================================= Hi Everyone, 4 items in this message, none very long or taxing. The one that opens the list is a commentary which argues that Israel can be either a Jewish state or an Israeli democracy, but can’t be both. Item 2 touches a subject that I have mostly avoided: the present so-called peace talks.  I have not commented on them not only because I feel that they will lead to nothing (would be glad to be proven wrong), bu...

NOVANEWS 09/25/2010 East Jerusalem still on edge as 14-month-old baby asphyxiated by Israeli tear gas Bibi & Barney: Spring Pollard for 3-month freeze extension Obama’s peace plan? ‘Annexation first, mini-statehood maybe later’ Thank you, we’ve reached our fundraising goal! Giuliani and Bolton take the stage in NY to call for war on Iran & anoint the neocon choice for Iran’s next leader Israeli troops also use live rounds against anti-Wall protesters In Nil’in Man shot with live ammunition at Bil’in wall protest Many people are worried what will happen when current peace talks fail, but will it be worse if they ’succeed’? Letter to Rachel Maddow Tutu and Breytenbach join call for for the Univ of Johannesburg to sever ties with Israeli institution Eas...

NOVANEWS An-Nabi Salih, September 25, 2010   Something new is happening in Palestine . I saw and heard things today that are relatively rare in my experience. I saw conflict erupt in the village between those who wanted to throw stones at the Israeli soldiers, as in the past, and the cooler but no less passionate people who intervened fiercely to prevent this from happening. I heard tough words of peace and hope. I saw the most gentle and dignified and brave demonstration I’ve ever seen. I also saw the army react with its usual foolishness, which I’ll describe, and I also saw the soldiers hold back when they could easily have started shooting. It wasn’t an easy day by any means, but it was good.  An-Nabi Salih is a hard place. When Ezra heard me say yesterday, in Sheikh Jarrah, that I was ...

NOVANEWS The mainstreaming of Sinhalese fascism Finally, some light on Serco but so much more needed Please don’t listen to King Abdullah on, well, anything Why I refuse to oppress Palestinians One day’s experience is enough to run the country, frankly The mainstreaming of Sinhalese fascism25 Sep 2010 The shameful lies of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the United Nations General Assembly  on September 23: No nation on earth can wish Sri Lanka’s Tamil community more good fortune than Sri Lanka itself. The truth is far uglier.   Finally, some light on Serco but so much more needed25 Sep 2010 At last, some coverage in the Australian media about Serco, the British multinational running the country’s detention centres. It doesn’t offer much new – and there is a de...

NOVANEWS Trying to visit the Tamimi Family in the West Bank In This Issue... Trying to visit the Tamimi Family in the West Bank More Recent Articles Search The Only Democracy?   Trying to visit the Tamimi Family in the West Bank   by Amir Terkel, Saturday, September 25, 2010 This morning we went to visit our friends the Tamimi Family and their kids in Nabi Saleh, in the west bank about 40 minutes from Tel Aviv.   As it turns out this weekend village residents and Israeli peace activists had planned on marking International Day of Peace (Sept 21 actually, but hey, we do things fashionably late around here…). The event was supposed to include whitewashing walls in the village, planting olive trees, and covering the sign placed by the military that...

NOVANEWS In This Issue... Something new is happening in Palestine More Recent Articles Search The Only Democracy?   An-Nabi Salih, September 25, 2010 Something new is happening in Palestine. I saw and heard things today that are relatively rare in my experience. I saw conflict erupt in the village between those who wanted to throw stones at the Israeli soldiers and generate more violence, as in the past, and the no less passionate people who intervened fiercely to prevent this from happening. I heard tough words of peace and hope. I saw the most dignified and brave demonstration I’ve ever seen. I also saw the army react with its usual foolishness, which I’ll describe, and I saw the soldiers hold back when they could easily have started shooting. It wasn’t an easy day by any ...

NOVANEWS  Sep 25, 2010 Relatives of a Palestinian mourn his death caused by Nazi fire. A Palestinian man has dies of his injuries sustained during Zio=Nazi attack which took place near a village in the northern Gaza Strip, a report says. The military wing of the Islamic resistance movement of Hamas, al-Qassam brigades, reported the death of the victim named Mahmud al-Ahmarine on Saturday, according to AFP Zio=Nazi tanks had opened fire on the 21-year-old and two of his fellow Gazans near the village of Juhr al-Dik located in east of the Gaza City earlier in the month. Nazi regime orders regular deadly forays into Gaza under a pretext of surveillance. This is while the coastal sliver is still far from recovering from the Israeli war at the turn of 2009 which killed more than 1,400 Pale...

NOVANEWS Israel shoots UN flotilla report first but will ask questions later Really, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office is "furious" about a report by the UN Human Rights Council condemning Israel's flotilla raid. The bizarre thing is that, from what I can gather from Ha'aretz, the Israelis don't seem to have read the report. Here's some of the story: Israel is pressing the United Nations to postpone debate on its report on the Gaza flotilla raid until it finishes its own internal inquiry into the incident, the Israeli envoy to the UN in Geneva said on Friday.The UN Human Rights Commission (sic) released a report on Wednesday which said that Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing nine activists, earlier this year. Actually the full ...

NOVANEWS September 24, 2010 Judge states obvious, shock! Many thanks to a Simon Natas for posting this Guardian online article to the Just Peace UK list. It has Melanie Phillips's husband, Joshua Rozenberg, worrying that protesters who caused damage at an arms manufacturer's factory successfully availed of a "prevention of a worse crime" defence. People may remember the case from back in July this year: His Honour George Bathurst-Norman presided over the trial of eight campaigners who were acquitted of conspiring to cause criminal damageat a company in Brighton involved in the manufacture of weapons components for Israeli F-16 fighter jets.Bathurst-Norman – who retired in 2004 and, therefore, sat as a deputy circuit judge – correctly directed the jury that a defendant has a lawful excuse...