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NOVANEWS A reader in Doha, Qatar sent me this (I cite with his permission): "I live in Qatar, working for Aljazeera. Anyway, this happened to me today: I went into Virgin Megastore here, one of about three bookstores in the entire country (one of the other two being another Virgin) looking for Mandela's autobiography which I wanted to gift my brother. They were out of that, but I found this instead (attached is a picture): Green Crescen Over Nazareth: The Displacement of Christians by Muslims in the Holy Land (by Raphael Israeli) Who the f***ck decides the stock orders for these places?" See: www.the angryarab.blogsopt.com

NOVANEWS "A Lebanese man sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia on charges of witchcraft is due to be beheaded this week, his lawyer said on Wednesday, urging officials and rights groups to intervene on his behalf. "Last night we got news through unofficial channels that Ali Sabat would be beheaded within 48 hours," May el-Khansa, Sabat's attorney in Beirut, told AFP. "I have since been contacting Lebanese officials, including President Michel Sleiman and Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia to appeal his case." Sabat was sentenced to death in November of last year by a Saudi court for practicing witchcraft."

NOVANEWS "Khalil, who has been involved in the illicit trade for almost a decade, said for years it was mostly weapons making the below-surface journey. He would earn about $300 per Kalashnikov he brought into Gaza. The Russian-made assault rifle was worth about $700 on the Egyptian side of the border, but could fetch double that in the conflict-embroiled, coastal territory. Similar mark-up on bullets and explosives made weapons smuggling very lucrative for North Sinai residents. “Now Gaza has enough weapons,” said Khalil. But explosives and arms still flow into the Strip along with dramatically increased quantities of other goods, keeping smugglers busy."

NOVANEWS "The institute has several projects designed to encourage Middle East entrepreneurship. It has played a key role in organizing the Middle East Venture Capital Fund, which is managed by Israeli businessman Yadin Kaufmann and Palestinian entrepreneur Saed Nashef. Backed by the European Investment Bank, Cisco Systems Inc., Intel Corporation and other contributors, the fund has $50 million to fund high-growth, export-oriented ventures in information technology. It is the first venture capital fund targeting the Palestinian Territories.""

NOVANEWS "Palestinian Interior Minister Saeed Abu Ali has left for Washington together with the commander of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, Ziyad Hab al-Rih, for security consultations."

NOVANEWS Police say man seen brandishing pictures of Shiite group's leader during 'Land Day' rally Tuesday is suspected of 'supporting 'terror' group.' Arab leader: Some believe Shin Bet planted operative to turn public opinion against us  The Galilee District Police's Central Unit has launched an investigation into the brandishing of pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the Shiite group's assassinated commander Imad Mughniyeh during the 'Land Day' demonstrations in the Arab-Israeli town of Sakhnin on Tuesday.Ynet learned on Thursday that police are in contact with the attorney of the main suspect, whose identity is known. The suspect is expected to turn himself in.

NOVANEW So I read this study by Israeli Orientalist, Asher Suser, before I went to sleep. What did I discover? Well, from the large number of endnotes, I discovered that he--like all Israeli Orientalists--studies Arab politics and culture from Western media. Oh, no. I did find a few Arabic sources: the mouthpieces of Prince Khalid Bin Sultan and Prince Salman (Al-Hayat and Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat respectively). OK, what about the insights and conclusion? Well, this Israeli Orientalist reached earth-shattering conclusions. He--based on extensive research--found that secularism has been in decline in the Arab world. Yes, he has. He also noticed that Islamic movements are now factors in Arab politics. I bet those are the experts who advised the Mossad to kidnap a Lebanese grocer because his name w...

NOVANEWS A visitor to Nahr Al-Barid sent me this (I cite with her permission) (pictures will follow): "The Lebanese army is resuming the role of the intelligence service (2ème bureau; maktab tani) as we used to hear about in the sixties and fifties..You might have all of a sudden a checkpoint (for the Lebanese Army) and you will be arrested immdiagtely. My friend N.. faced it many times (although she has a permit, she is from bared and everybody knows her as she is......She got arrested so many times with her female colleagues.. Also they told me about racism from Sunnis, from Akkar inhabitants..The Army officers are very nice if they happen to be Shiites.. I was crying when I was touring the camp, it is worse than destruction when you see these "barns" with elderly insisting on coming bac...

NOVANEWS This is the second Angry Arab interview in the series. More will follow. Here are the answers by comrade Madawi Al-Rasheed: "Dear Madawi: I have been travelling. Here are the questions. you may answer at your convenience: 1) what are some of the challenges of studying Saudi Arabia (from the scholarly point of view, and the political point of view, and in the East and the West) I started studying Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. I was surprised to find the country hasn’t attracted sufficient academic attention. with the exception of the work of Fred Halliday and Helen Lackner, I came across travel and journalistic accounts written from the perspective of those who were granted access because of their special relationship with the various King’s of Saudi Arabia. At the time I was interest...

NOVANEWS But It's a Music Event - Nothing to Do with Politics Well it's been quite a day with lots of messages to my inbox and increasing coverage across the web, including for the report I compiled yesterday. The Guardian today has also reported what we did and our protest is described as very well planned. Well naturally! But at least, unlike in Dubai we didn't murder anyone. As has the BBC's own music mag. But the most pathetic whine of those who object to our attempt to interject a bit of context into the Jerusalem Quartet's performance came from those knee-jerk liberals who inhabit haunts like the Wigmore Hall. I say knee-jerk because, as I said in a previous post, scratch a liberal and you often find an angry Tory underneath. So I went back to an article that a famous Israeli poet, Y...