Israel’s economic occupation of Iraq
Roads to Iraq
The most interesting part of the “Five years on the American occupation of Iraq: Reality and Perspectives” seminar held in Cairo Political and Economic University was a lecture by Egyptian Dr. Tarek Fahmy, strategy expert in the for Middle East Studies Centre: The intensive Israeli presence in Iraq is not reported by the Arab media, the Israelis are investing in reconstruction companies of the so called “new Iraq” openly and not in the background, according American sources there are about 210 Israeli companies are functioning in Iraq recently…

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The Body under Occupation.
Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues
Flesh, carnal, bodies…Human bodies. Male bodies, female bodies…occupied bodies, occupied flesh, a carnal knowledge of the Occupation. The Body, the Conduit, the Vehicle… Bomb, arrest, detain, imprison, chain – constrict the space. Then, direct your personal attack on the “other”, that “living beast” — beat, lash, strike, whip, wound, burn, break, smash, sodomize, rape, piss on, defecate on, shoot, kill --- the Body. El-Cuerpo. The Centre point. Flesh of flesh. Dig into the matter of the Flesh…

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Gaza: The Holocaust Continues
The One Democratic State Group
The latest Israeli war crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip have resulted in the brutal killings of 21 Palestinians, including 6 children, within the last 12 hours. More than 40 have been injured. Fadel Shanaa, a Reuters cameraman, was amongst the dead. His visibly marked car was targeted by an Israeli missile in an attempt to cover up crimes committed in day light. The areas targeted are Shijaeyah, Beit lahia, and Bureij refugee camp. Al-Salam Mosque in Shejeyah was demolished; Al-Wafa hospital was rampaged; and houses were set on fire. In Juhr El Dik, eastern of Bureij, a group of civilians, including children, was targeted by an Apache helicopter. 14 of them died on the spot. This comes as the number of terminally ill patients who have died as a result of the imposed heinous siege has reached 135…

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REDACTED
Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues
For those who wish to watch Redacted by De Palma. The whole film can be watched here….The film was inspired by REAL events in “liberated” Iraq, one of which is the rape of Abeer Al Janabi, 15 yo, who was gang raped by your brave boys and then burnt, and have her family massacred. The pictures at the end of the film are REAL. So is your Occupation… So enjoy your Occupation!…

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Report: Netanyahu says 9/11 terror attacks good for Israel
Haaretz Service and Reuters
The Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv on Wednesday reported that Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu told an audience at Bar Ilan university that the September 11, 2001 terror attacks had been beneficial for Israel. “We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq,” Ma’ariv quoted the former prime minister as saying. He reportedly added that these events “swung American public opinion in our favor.” Netanyahu reportedly made the comments during a conference at Bar-Ilan University on the division of Jerusalem as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians….

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Iraqi 14 year old detainee
Freedetainees.org
He isn’t a criminal, but just the sight of a police officer terrifies 14-year-old Omar. The boy was released last month from an Iraqi prison, after being detained there for more than seven months. “They arrested me because they said I was a suspect after a car bomb exploded in a road near my home and resulted in the killing of an American,” Omar explains. He happened to be near the explosion and was arrested along with adult Iraqis suspected of the attack…

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Video: Human rights group accuses Israel of torture – 16 Apr 2008
AlJazeeraEnglish
Al Jazeera’s Amani Soliman reports on the Israeli human rights group report that says it’s confirmed that Israel is resorting to “psychological torture” when interrogating Palestinian prisoners. The group released its report after studying numerous cases over the past 12 months…

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Nafha Society: “100 detainees under interrogation in Al Jalama prison, abused and isolated”
IMEMC News
The Nafha Society for Defending the Rights of the Detainees and Human Rights reported on Monday that nearly 100 detainees are currently under interrogation in Al Jalama Israeli interrogation facility facing physical and psychological pressures. The society stated that the detainees never see the sunshine and are not provided with decent and sufficient meals while some of them are sick and need medical attention but also barred from this rights. Some of the detainees have been under interrogation since 180 days…

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Hurray Gaza.. You might have a partial break!
Saed Bannoura – IMEMC
Oh well… Gaza residents will apparently be able to collect the bodies of their loved ones, and maybe gather their body parts and bury them peacefully without being afraid of a new Israeli air strike or ground offensives. Israeli military analysts stated on Wednesday that the Israeli army “will not rush into invasions, either partial or large until the Jewish feasts are over”, which is until the end of this month or even the first week of the coming month. Roni Daniel, an Israeli analyst, said that army commanders decided not to rush into large-scale invasions into Gaza until the Jewish feasts are over…

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US forces release Iraqi photographer after two years without charge
Ian Black, The Guardian
US forces yesterday released an Iraqi photographer who had been held without charge for two years on suspicion of aiding insurgents in a case that highlighted the dangers facing the media in a war zone. Bilal Hussein 36, who works for the Associated Press news agency, had been in US custody since being detained in Ramadi in April 2006. He was freed under an amnesty by the Iraqi government…

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Video: Palestinians killed in Israeli raids into Gaza – 16 April 08
AlJazeeraEnglish
More than 20 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip as Israel unleashed military strikes and troops moved into the centre of the territory. A journalist was also killed in the attacks. It makes 16 April one of the deadliest days in Gaza for weeks. But army leaders say the operations were routine and aimed against fighters suspected of launching rockets into southern Israel. Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland reports from Jerusalem.

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Two Palestinian toddlers die due to Israeli siege
Palestinian Information Center
Two Palestinian toddlers died in Gaza over the past 24 hours after the Israeli occupation authority refused to grant them permits to leave the Strip for treatment abroad. The spokesman for the popular committee against the siege, Rami Abdo, said in a press release said that the seven-month-old Nur Al-Huda, from the Nusseirat refugee camp, died after inability to find proper treatment in Gaza hospitals. Meanwhile, medical sources said that the 63-day-old infant Mohammed Al-Ajala died of AVSD after the IOA twice refused to grant him permit to leave via Beit Hanun (Erez) crossing for treatment outside the Strip…

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Iraq: Humanitarian situation report – Sadr city, Baghdad, 15 Apr 2008
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Iraqi security forces have been clashing with militias, notably Moqtada Al Sadr’s Medhi Army, since the Government of Iraq’s crackdown on so-called ‘criminals and outlaws’ in Basra on 25 March. The situation in Basrah is relatively calm: the current operation is limited to house-to-house searches for the purpose of collecting weapons. There is renewed fighting in the eastern suburb of Baghdad’s Sadr City, considered a Moqtada Al Sadr strong?hold. The Sadr City clashes came a day after police imposed a curfew in Najaf city (1) following the killing of Riyad al-Nuri, a senior aide to Al Sadr in Kufa on Friday 11 April. In the 21 days since clashes began a total of 597 people were killed in Baghdad City, of which 272 were Iraqi civilians (an average of 13 civilian casualties per day). Of the 597 casualties, 195 (2) were killed in Sadr City. This compares to a total of 300 casualties in Baghdad in the 21 days prior to clashes, of which 164 were civilians (an average of 8 civilian casualties per day)…

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Report: Netanyahu says 9/11 terror attacks good for Israel
Haaretz Service and Reuters
The Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv on Wednesday reported that Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu told an audience at Bar Ilan university that the September 11, 2001 terror attacks had been beneficial for Israel. “We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq,” Ma’ariv quoted the former prime minister as saying. He reportedly added that these events “swung American public opinion in our favor.” Netanyahu reportedly made the comments during a conference at Bar-Ilan University on the division of Jerusalem as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians….

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Killing of Reuters journalist brings death toll in Gaza to 18
Ma’an News
A cameramen for the news agency Reuters was killed and five others wounded, including two journalists, when Israeli tanks fired at abridge in Wadi Gaza, the valley in the central Gaza Strip. Medical sources said that the dead and wounded were taken to the Al-Aqsa Marytrs hospital in the city of Deir Al-Balah. An eyewitness, journalist Yassir Qadih, said, “Reuters journalist Fadil Shna’a was killed while he was in a jeep which was clearly marked ‘Press’.” “There was nobody around us except a group of children who we were going to film. There were no resistance groups in the area” he added…

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IOF artillery shells Palestinian hospital
Palestinian Information Center
Two IOF artillery shells slammed into the Wafa’a hospital east of Gaza city at dawn Wednesday severely damaging the ground floor, X-ray department and the laboratory, the hospital administration said in a press release. The shelling also severed electricity, water and telephone lines, it said, strongly denouncing the act especially when the hospital serves hundreds of aged persons, wounded and handicapped. It noted that the eastern fence of the hospital was destroyed in the bombing, and underlined that the hospital is specialized in extending rehabilitation services and specialized surgeries…

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IOF command admits death of three Givati soldiers and injury of five others
Palestinian Information Center
The Israeli army officially acknowledged that the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, managed during a “masterly ambush” Wednesday to kill three Israeli Givati brigade soldiers and to cause serious- to-moderate injuries among five others in the area of Juhor Ad-Dik in the central Gaza Strip. Earlier Israeli sources told the Ma’an news agency that Palestinian fighters managed to infiltrate into a nearby vantage point near the Kibbutz Be’eri military post, three miles off central Gaza, from which they opened fire at eight Israeli soldiers. Two soldiers died of their wounds a short time later and a third was proclaimed dead some two hours later at the Beer Sheba’s Soroka medical center…

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In an IOF massacre: Twelve Palestinian civilians killed
Palestinian Information Center
An IOF missile raid targeting a group of citizens in central Gaza Strip on Wednesday killed 12 Palestinians while many others were wounded, medical sources reported. They said that the massacre was committed near Ihsan Mosque east of Juhr Al-Dik in central Gaza, and noted that among the martyrs were a mother and her son. Eyewitnesses said that six IOF Apaches fired four to six missiles at a group of citizens including children who were playing near a field in Juhr Al-Dik. Paramedics said that most of the martyrs’ bodies were dismembered as a result of the shelling…

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Border point with Iran turned into international crossing
Maher Oghlo, Azzaman
The unofficial border point of Haj Omran linking northern Iraq with Iran has been refurbished and turned into an international border crossing. Iraq’s Kurdish north comprising the three provinces of Sulaimaniya, Arbil and Dahouk relies almost exclusively on trade with Iran. Iranian goods, businessmen, companies and banks work openly in the area whose shops and supermarkets brim with imported Iranian commodities. Iranian firms implement major contracts in the region and often they are the only bidders in lucrative tenders by the Kurdish regional government. Iran now has three international crossing with Iraq. These crossing are manned by customs officials where travelers and vehicles require official papers to cross….

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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice.
…In a dispatch posted at 1:25pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the American military announced that a bomb had exploded by a US Marine vehicle somewhere in al-Anbar Province. Yaqen reported the US communiqué as admitting that two Marines were killed in the attack, but provided no further details…

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Killing of Reuters journalist brings death toll in Gaza to 18
Ma’an News
A cameramen for the news agency Reuters was killed and five others wounded, including two journalists, when Israeli tanks fired at abridge in Wadi Gaza, the valley in the central Gaza Strip. Medical sources said that the dead and wounded were taken to the Al-Aqsa Marytrs hospital in the city of Deir Al-Balah. An eyewitness, journalist Yassir Qadih, said, “Reuters journalist Fadil Shna’a was killed while he was in a jeep which was clearly marked ‘Press’.” “There was nobody around us except a group of children who we were going to film. There were no resistance groups in the area” he added…

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