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NOVANEWS Dear All, Yesterday evening at about 8:00 PM Abed, a friend from Kief el-Hares, phoned to inform me that the religious settlers were coming to the graves of Yoshua Bin Nun and his father that night.  Anyone living in the village recognizes the signs that indicate that this event is in the offing, namely Israeli soldiers setting up tables, and coming in force to take over the village.  Villagers are put under curfew during these night visits, which occur several times a year—beginning usually some time after midnight and continuing into the morning.  Apparently last night it went on till about 6 AM.  According to one newspaper report 5,000 Jews accompanied by a large number(?) of soldiers invaded the village.  According to today’s reshet B Israeli 9:00 AM news, the number was 10,00...

NOVANEWS Why are American Jewish groups so intent on defending illegal Israeli settlements and other human rights violations ? Sydney Levy and Yaman Salahi A coalition of nearly 20 Jewish groups, ranging from the right-wing David Project and the Jewish National Fund to the liberal J Street, is distributing a misleading statement condemning a Student Senate bill at UC Berkeley. The ground-breaking bill calls for divestment from companies that profit from the perpetuation of the Israeli military occupation in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza. They refer to the bill as "dishonest" and "misleading" and "based on contested allegations." Yet it is their letter (http://www.jstreet.org/blog/?p=944 ) that is both dishonest and misleading. The bill, available here (http://blogs.asuc...

NOVANEWS Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are not safe, better remind the Australian Why al-Jazeera listens to Gaza Maybe Israelis aren’t really ready for a Muslim Jew The real problem with Mt Everest The mainstream media aren’t all the same Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are not safe, better remind the Australian government This is truly shameful and obvious political pandering. If the Australian government seriously believes that both Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are relatively safe for its citizens, perhaps some ministers should visit the war-torn nations and enjoy the local hospitality for a while. Without a security detail: Australia’s decision to stop processing all new immigration claims from Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers is an illegal “freeze on fairness”, a prominent immigratio...

NOVANEWS In This Issue... NYT Bronner Tries A Less Biased Path to Reporting on Palestine –and Trips Up More Recent Articles Search The Only Democracy? NYT Bronner Tries A Less Biased Path to Reporting on Palestine –and Trips Up   Photo accompanying Bronner's NYT article  As  the New York Times long-standing Jerusalem bureau chief,  with primary responsibility for reporting on the Israel-Palestine conflict,  Ethan Bronner has  endured bruising criticism for pro-Israeli bias, recently  exacerbated by charges of conflict of interest upon the revelation that his son has been inducted into the Israeli army.   So Bronner craned his journalistic neck to peek at things from another perspective with a front-page story called  “Palestinians Try a Less Violent Path to...

NOVANEWS Wars of Virtue My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Wars of Virtue: The Individual Between the Fist of the State and the Fist of Religion". Arrested "The latest news from Bil’in: Haitham Al Khatib was arrested while filming at today’s demonstration. Story below." I really heart Gaza tunnels "The tunnels have evolved into a unique economic infrastructure through which everything from people and vehicles to refrigerators and lions for the zoo are dragged. Tunnels are expensive to build so venture capitalists look for investors — anyone with enough ready cash to sink into a business that can make massive returns but can also be wiped out overnight. A cheap tunnel can cost $60,000 (£40,000), a deeper and more reliable one as much as five times that. Tunnellers also have to buy a permit fr...

NOVANEWS It appears that the prosecutors in an extremely bogus case against Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign activists have decided that it is not racist to protest against the normalisation of a Zio=Nazi  racist stateof  'Israel'. Here's SPSC: Five Palestine campaigners who contested the relevancy of a “racially aggravated conduct” charge in relation to their protest against Zio=Nazi’s blockade of Gaza had all charges against them dropped today. The campaigners, all members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), had interrupted the August 2008 Edinburgh Festival concert by the Zionist Jerusalem Quartet. Tours by the classical musicians are regularly sponsored by the Israeli Government, which the campaign group claims makes them a legitimate target for protest. The cam...

NOVANEWS  by Debrah McFarlane There are  different reasons why individuals immigrate to the United States. Regardless of what their reasons are, there  is much time and money involved in the process. Immigrants spend millions of dollars every year applying for entry permits/visas to the United States. Whether they intend to be tourists or permanent residents, the process of getting approved for a visa can be extremely tedious. The expenses involved in applying for  the visa are non-refundable, and at a cost that is equivalent to a month’s salary in most countries, it is a rather expensive pursuit. Immigrants applying for visas must have no criminal pass, sexually transmitted diseases,  and their moral character needs to be classified as “good”. Approval of initial entry documents do not ...

NOVANEWS  by Gordon Duff HALF OF WASHINGTON IS WALKING AROUND FREE, POCKETS FULL OF MONEY BECAUSE OF “SECRECY” IT ISN’T JUST OLLIE NORTH, NOT BY A LONG SHOT By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor This week a former Army Ranger and defense contractor started sending in documents.  They outlined espionage by China against the US, attempted murder, blackmailing, nuclear secrets, missile technology, the whole thing.  As I have good friends who worked for Director Hoover at the FBI, totally straight laced, honest and hard as nails, everything went to them.  This was terrible stuff, things that could bring the nuclear destruction of the United States.  Problem is, the spying was done “legally.”  The transfers of top secret technology had the signature of President George W. Bush on them.  I...

NOVANEWS  by Gordon Duff · EXCUSES, EXPLANATIONS OR CONSPIRACY AND MISPRISION OF A FELONY TIME FOR THE “SPIN MASTERS” TO “PAY THE FIDDLER” By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor MSNBC, in an excellent video, has put out both sides of the story on the 2007 ”video game murder” in Iraq.  The most telling aspect of this story isn’t just that we now know our own Army leaked the video or that many others like it exist, it is the lengths we go to using “surrogates” to spin away murder.  Years of lies droning on, filling the American airwaves have made senseless and fantasy based explanations for daily issues, be they war, health care or the presidents birth certificate subject to “conspiracy theory.”  What so many Americans have awakened to is that our real conspiracies are all formulated “...

NOVANEWS April 7, 2010 by Bob Higgins · This summary briefing comes to us through the courtesy of Just Foreign Policy. Support the work of Just Foreign Policy: Please donate what you can to support our work. http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate.html Real News: U.S. covering up reality in Honduras State Department campaign denies the systemic repression that continues nine months after coup. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4C6RqYTAZI& Congressional Pressure Can End the War, Saving Many Lives The fight over the war supplemental is tremendously important, because Congressional pressure can move Administration policy, even when critics of Administration policy don’t command a majority of votes. This is especially true when, as in this case, critics are in the majority in the Presid...