6/12/07

Palestinian sources: Israeli army use illegal weapons in Gaza, as death toll reaches 16
Ghassan Bannoura – IMEMC
Medical sources in the Gaza strip reported on Thursday that during the latest attacks, the Israeli army has used weapons which are deemed illegal by international law. Medics at various Gazan hospitals have reported that the tank shells and missiles used by the Israeli army in these attacks were not the types which are traditionally used and they are designed to cause more severe injuries. In Gaza in the meantime the death toll from Israeli attacks since last Saturday now stands at 16….

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Annapolis & “The Surge”: Spinning a Legacy
Dr. Bernard Weiner
…Indeed, from the CheneyBush perspective, an Iraq-in-perpetual-chaos serves the neo-con cause. It means that the U.S. will remain, perhaps for decades, the big kahuna in that country and region, with time and freedom to help develop and control the huge untapped reserves of oil there, and to use Iraq as the central command center for U.S. military/political machinations throughout the Greater Middle East…

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CIA destroyed ‘waterboarding’ tapes
Aljazeera.net
The CIA has admitted destroying video tapes showing what is described as the “harsh interrogation” of al-Qaeda suspects. The interrogations of two suspects were taped in 2002 and the tapes were destroyed in 2005, after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq surfaced. Michael Hayden, the CIA director, told his staff on Thursday that the tapes were destroyed so identities of interrogators would not be compromised…

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Specialist doctors a vanishing breed in Iraq
Aseel Kami, Reuters
Ear, nose and throat specialist Abu Samir laments that he has only one colleague left to call after an exodus that has robbed Iraq of about 70 percent of its most qualified doctors. “My phone book became empty. Out of 50 numbers, I find one name left from the specialists I know,” said the 66-year-old, who asked not to give his full name. Specialist doctors have fled Baghdad and other cities in scores since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, with most going abroad or to the relative safety of Kurdistan in the north. Once the elite of Baghdad society, medical specialists quickly became a target for insurgents, militias and kidnappers in search of rich ransoms…

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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Thursday, 6 December 2007
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice. www.freearabvoice.org
…In a dispatch posted at 10:56am Baghdad time Thursday morning, the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI) reported that US troops killed three Iraqi civilians southeast of al-Kut, 150km southeast of Baghdad on Wednesday night. The AMSI reported that US forces staged an airborne landing in the al-Hayy area and carried out operations there for three hours, searching for “wanted men.” The Americans arrested a number of local residents during the operations….

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Simply outrageous
The Jordan Times
Only one word can adequately describe the nerve of the Israeli government: outrageous. Fresh from Washington and words of peace and goodwill, practically the first thing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does is tell his people, in a classic manoeuvre that Israel normally accused Yasser Arafat of, that he in no way feels bound by any date at the end of 2008 to wrap up negotiations with the Palestinian side, exactly contrary to what was agreed at Annapolis. So one message to the Americans and the world and another to the Israelis….

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WHO Expresses Concern over Deterioration Of the health Situation in the Gaza Strip
Manar Jibrin – IMEMC Newsauthor
The health situation in the Gaza Strip, which has been under checkpoint crossing restrictions and embargo since June 2007, continues to decline and risks becoming a humanitarian crisis. The World Health Organization (WHO), notes with grave concern reports that patients trying to leave Gaza for specialist medical care in Israel or neighboring countries are increasingly being denied travel permits. Reports indicate that of the 4074 patients in Gaza who have applied for travel permits on medical grounds since June 2007, 713 have had their applications denied. The proportion of patients who have been denied passage has reportedly more than doubled since the restrictions were imposed, increasing from 10.7% in June to 22.9% in October….

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Empty heads and full pockets
Khaled Amayreh
Just back from Annapolis, and with no tangible achievements to present to, let alone impress, a people long disillusioned with American-sponsored “peace conferences”, Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have been trying desperately to convince the Palestinians that “this time it is going to be serious.” Former but still influential negotiator Saeb Ereikat has described upcoming negotiations with Israel as “a real battle” with the same ferocity of a military confrontation and with similar tactics, except that it is fought at the negotiating table, not on the battlefield. But if battle it is, it is nearly certain that Palestinian negotiators are marching to it unprepared, and with a vague strategy and inadequate tactics….

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Green zone green light
Salah Hemeid
… Reliable Iraqi sources say that US military bases already constructed, or under construction, are large enough to accommodate some 100,000 American soldiers if the US command decides to keep them in Iraq. Sources say that the bases, mostly expansions of bases of the former Iraqi army, are buffered by broad swathes of land, fortified with heavy weaponry and remote-controlled electronic devices. The primary function of these bases will be to suppress internal opposition to the Iraqi government, but US air strength and special forces in these bases will also have rapid deployment capabilities for reaching points outside Iraq at need….

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Apartheid: Israeli school segregates, totally isolates, 4 black Jewish/Ethiopian students
Sabbah’s blog
If you thought racism is unacceptable by the Apartheid Israel against Palestinians because they are Arab (Muslims and Christians), then what do you call racism within so called “Jewish citizens”? and where… a Jewish religious school!!! A religious school in Petah Tikva may be more suited to the American South of the 1950s than to 21st century Israel. It was recently discovered that four Ethiopian girls enrolled in Lamerchav Elementary School are learning in complete isolation from their peers. They study in separate classrooms, have their own recess time and are even reportedly given daily cab fare so as not to ride home on the bus with other students. …

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Iraq must cut food rations in 2008-trade minister
Reuters
Iraq will have to cut food rations in 2008 because of insufficient funds, Trade Minister Abdul Falah al-Sudany said. His ministry had asked the government for more than $7 billion in next year’s budget to distribute 10 basic items but received only $3 billion. “This means that … five items (will be distributed): Sugar, flour, rice, milk and (cooking) oil,” Sudany said in a statement issued on Wednesday. Sudany said his ministry would continue to distribute its stockpiles of other items such as lentils, chickpeas and soap, but would be unable to buy more…

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Analysis: Big Oil to sign Iraq deals soon
BEN LANDO, UPI Energy Editor
Big Oil’s big dreams are close to coming true as Iraq’s Oil Ministry prepares deals for the country’s largest oil fields with terms that aren’t necessarily what companies were hoping for but considered a foot in the door of the world’s most promising oil sector. Iraq’s proven oil reserves are only smaller than those in Saudi Arabia and Iran — and the country is only about 30 percent explored. Iraq produces about 2.4 million barrels per day, a recent increase from the 2 million bpd post-invasion average, but far below what its reserves could handle….

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Special Relationship: Global Snatch and Grab is the Law of the Land
Chris Floyd , Empire Burlesque
The government of the United States has officially informed the courts of Her Majesty the Queen that Her Majesty’s subjects may be kidnapped (and that was the precise term used by the government of the United States) by agents of the United States at any time – and there is not a bloody thing that Her Majesty can do about it. And you thought “extraordinary rendition” was just for “terrorists”? No, the Bush Regime has decreed that this bounty extends to every human being on the face of the earth. (And yes, Virginia, it also applies to U.S. citizens kidnapped on U.S. soil – just ask Jose Padilla. No wait, you can’t ask him; his mind has been destroyed by the years of torture and isolation that was inflicted on him before the Regime finally tried him on minor charges.)….

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The Devastation Our Disunity has Created
Joharah Baker, MIFTAH
This morning, Israeli forces killed yet another three Hamas activists in an air strike on Beit Lahiya in the Gaza Strip. Over the past two weeks, some 30 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military forces, mostly in the Strip, even as Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak insists his army continues to hold out on wide scale military action there. Israel claims it is defending its citizens from the rocket attacks into their towns and cities just outside of the Gaza Strip. And Israel doesn’t mince its words. “It is time to kill those who carry out attacks against Israelis,” Barak said. In turn, Israel has tacked a number to its argument, perhaps to offer more credibility and hence justification for these targeted killings. According to Israeli government sources, some 2,000 homemade Palestinian rockets have been fired into Israeli territory in the past year. Sounds scary, no doubt until one realizes just how inaccurate if not virtually innocuous these rockets really are. In this past year, two Israelis actually died as a result of these rockets, by admission of Israel itself. According to an Israeli ministry of foreign affairs website named, “Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000", two Israeli citizens died in May of this year after a Qassam rocket hit their town of Sderot….

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BAGHDAD’S REFUGEES
Trapped in the Green Zone
Ulrike Putz, SpiegelOnLine
The Al Jaafs are one of hundreds of Iraqi families that have sought refuge in Baghdad’s so-called Green Zone in recent years. The international enclave, home to the headquarters of the Americans and their allies, is a city within a city; Nestled in a bend in the Tigris, the quarter belonged to the elite under Saddam Hussein. This is where the dicatator’s palaces stood and stilll stand, off limits to ordinary mortals. Entry to the zone remains restricted today. Behind its high walls, tens of thousands of soldiers, diplomats, foreign workers and Iraqis live in relative safety. For the Al Jaafs, it’s become safety on demand. Since the Iraqi government took over management of the zone, it has been trying to drive Iraqi families away. “They want us to move back into the city,” says the father of the Al Jaaf family. The 52-year-old is certain that he and his family wouldn’t survive a single day on the outside. “Anyone who has worked for the Americans is considered a traitor and is as good as dead,” he says…

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Punishing Gaza
KABOBfest
There is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s military is preparing for an offensive there. This is a total war. The international community is complacent, possibly celebrating the non-breakthrough at Annapolis. Israel’s blockade against one of the most densely packed, impoverished areas in the world is criminal…

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Of Arabs at Annapolis
Susan Abulhawa
…Is there no mercy for 1.5 million besieged souls? Have we not one Arab leader with the courage to put a stop to this genocide? Not one leader with courage enough to intervene in the internecine fighting between Fateh and Hamas? To demand that the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinian people be included in any summit or negotiations? How is it possible that Arab men who command the greatest natural resource ever known to man manage to be utterly powerless to stop the wholesale robbery and rape of Palestine or Iraq? Is attending such a farce as Annapolis the best they can do?…

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Iraq lawmakers end any hope of reconciliation in ‘07
Associated Press
Iraqi legislators suspended parliamentary sessions for the rest of the month on Thursday because of an upcoming religious season. The decision spelled the end of much-delayed efforts to pass U.S.-backed legislation aimed at achieving national reconciliation this year. The U.S. defense secretary, meanwhile, welcomed the news that violence in Iraq has declined 60% in the last six months but warned that “people are getting impatient” for the Iraqi government to take advantage of improved security and move toward needed political reforms….

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Refugees Caught Between Deportation and Death Threats
Ali al-Fadhily*
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis driven out of their country by violence are now faced with detention abroad, or a homecoming to death threats. More than two million Iraqis, in a population of about 25 million, have taken refuge in many countries. Only a few have won official status as refugees. Most refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and many other countries stay on as illegal residents, facing threats of deportation and imprisonment. “To deport an Iraqi refugee is to issue a death warrant,” Ali Jassim, an Iraqi journalist recently deported from Lebanon told IPS in Baghdad. “The Lebanese authorities are applying regular migration rules to Iraqis, meaning that most Iraqis in Lebanon will be deported.”….

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Is Iran NIE a Blessing in Disguise for Israel?
Trita Parsi*
…On the one hand, Israel fears U.S.-Iran negotiations since an accommodation between Washington and Tehran most likely would entail a small-scale enrichment programme on Iranian soil. Such a development would significantly shift the balance of power against Israel. Furthermore, Iran’s interest in the region would increasingly be viewed as legitimate by Washington, which in turn would exacerbate the problems with the new balance. On the other hand, to prevent such a scenario from arising in the first place, Israel has felt the need to ring the alarm bells, create political obstacles to a U.S.-Iran dialogue and pressure Washington to keep all options open — without making itself appear as being on the frontline against Iran. The NIE has pulled the rug out from under Israel’s feet and caused Israel to fail on both counts. The likelihood of U.S.-Iran diplomacy has grown significantly while Israel appears increasingly alone in the world, toeing a hawkish and excessive line on Iran….

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GI Special 5L5: “Thank Your Friends Too” [ December 6, 2007 ]
Thomas F. Barton
(…) After handing out about 25 pieces of lit, the local police show up with lights flashing. We knew this had to come.
They walked right over to me and asked me what I was doing. I said I was “handing out some literature to the Marines, along with home made holiday treats, and the cookies I made myself!”
I asked them if they would like to have a package, they grumbled something incoherent.
Then told me and the other person standing at the gate not to “step into the driveway, that was federal property.” I said, OK. The driveway was so narrow it really didn’t matter.

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