Torture feared in arrest of Iraqi blogger
Larry Johnson
February 6, 2010 – This email just in from the BRussells Tribunal : A blogger in Baghdad, Hiba Al-Shamaree, has been arrested by Iraqi security forces. The email included a post from another blogger, Layla Anwar. “Following my previous post here (on the tribunal site), I just received fresh information regarding Hiba Al-Shamaree, the fellow Iraqi woman writer/blogger who has been kidnapped/arrested by the Iraqi forces on the 20th of January 2010 in the Sayyediya neighborhood in Baghdad…

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Please, Mr. President, Stop Talking Nonsense
By Alan Hart
February 6, 2010 – At a town hall meeting in Tampa, Florida on 28 January, President Obama explained what in his view had to happen if there is to be a two-state solution which would see Israel and the Palestinians living side by side in peace and security. He said, “Both sides are going to have to make concessions”. My own view is that Israel’s still on-going colonization of the occupied West Bank has destroyed the prospect of a two-state solution on any basis the Palestinians could accept. But for the sake of discussion I’ll pretend that is not necessarily so. Israel is not required to make concessions. Israel is required to accept and implement UN Security Council resolutions which call for an end to its occupation and, more generally, to cease regarding itself as being above and beyond international law…

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America’s Silent War In Pakistan Unmasked
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
February 6, 2010 – Three US Marines were killed and another two injured in a suicide attack in Dir, northern Pakistan on Wednesday. The Americans, disguised in traditional Pakistani dress, were traveling with Pakistani military officers in a five-car convoy to attend the inauguration of a girl school, which had been renovated with the U.S. humanitarian assistance. Four schoolgirls and a paramilitary soldier were also killed in the attack while more than 120 school girls were injured. To many Pakistanis the most shocking aspect of the latest Taliban suicide bombing the question was: What was a team of American soldiers doing in a volatile corner of North West Frontier province?

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Taliban rejects Karzai’s offer
Aljazeera.net
February 6, 2010 – The Afghan Taliban has rejected the offer of Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, to get fighters to reconcile with the government. In a statement posted on the Taliban’s alemarah.info website on Sunday, the group called the attempt “futile” and “farcical”, but said it was open to talks to achieve its goal of an Islamic state. “This is not the first time that the Kabul regime and the invading countries want to throw dust into the eyes of the public of the world by announcing reconciliation in words and, in practice, make preparation for war,” the statement said…

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West Bank: Weekly Protest Video Round-Up
Palestine Monitor
February 6, 2010 – Local and international activists braved foul weather conditions to demonstrate in villages up and down the West Bank yesterday. As further evidence of the popular struggle’s growing power, each protest went ahead as planned. Here’s a video round-up of what happened…

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A Palestinian Mandela
By Matt Beynon Rees
February 6, 2010 – The most important man in Palestinian politics is neither president nor prime minister. He doesn’t shuttle between meetings at the US ambassador’s residence and the Israeli foreign ministry. In fact, he doesn’t go anywhere. He’s in an Israeli jail… The release of Barghouti, who’s sometimes called “the Palestinian Nelson Mandela,” is a key sticking point in negotiations between Israel and Hamas over Shalit. Israeli officials are prepared to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including many who killed Israelis in terror attacks. But Barghouti is among a coterie of senior Palestinian politicians Israel doesn’t want to give up. Why is that so important? Because many Palestinians see Barghouti as a leader who can reunite them, at a time when they’re deeply divided — Fatah against Hamas, Gaza against the West Bank, pro-Iranian against pro-US…

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Israel’s crisis deepens over Gaza war crimes report
By Chris Marsden
February 6, 2010 – United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon threw a lifeline to Israel yesterday, stating that there was not yet enough evidence to say whether Israel or the Palestinians are complying with UN demands to investigate allegations of war crimes during the 22-day Israeli assault on Gaza. Submissions by Israel and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority remained incomplete, he said, on the day both were due to respond to last year’s Goldstone report accusing Israel and Hamas of war crimes. Following Goldstone’s report, the UN General Assembly has demanded that both Israel and Hamas launch independent investigations into their conduct during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009…

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