by Khaled Abu Toameh, for THE JERUSALEM POSTPalestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is expected to demand the release of hundreds of Fatah prisoners from Israeli jails during Monday’s summit in Sharm e-Sheikh, PA officials said. The officials also said Abbas would call for supplying the Fatah-controlled security forces with more weapons to thwart attempts by Hamas to try to take over the West Bank. “We want thousands of rifles, hundreds
ILA destroys Bedouin homes to make way for Jewish town By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent The Israel Land Administration (ILA), with the assistance of an unusually large police force and IDF soldiers, demolished dozens of tin shack homes Monday in unrecognized Bedouin villages Um Al-Hiran and A-Tir in the northern Negev. The ILA is destroying the village and evacuating the inhabitants so that a Jewish Community named “Hiran” can be
With friends like these…By Akiva Eldar for Ha’aretz Heavy clouds will float over today’s summit in sunny Sharm el-Sheikh. The Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza, Jordan and Egypt will be hovering above the four leaders participating in the talks, as will the zealots of worldwide jihad. Iran and Hezbollah will be with them on the other side, while the extreme right-wing national religious camp awaits in the corner. It is hard
GAZA, June 24 – Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas-led government rejected a summit planned for Egypt with Israeli and Arab leaders, saying only “resistance” would produce results for his people. He called any hopes generated by the summit a “mirage” and “illusions.” Haniyeh accused Abbas, the Western-Israel backed Fatah leader, of violating Palestinian law by dismissing his government and then appointing an emergency administration in the occupied West
Here is an interesting, if clearly hostile, biography of the leader of the Fatah al-Islam, the Lebanese subsidiary of Al-Qaeda which seems to be supported by the so-called Welch Club and the USA and Saudi Arabia following the “redirection” of US foreign policy in the Middle-East. The Inside Story of Fatah al-Islam’s leader by Sami Haddad for the website Ya Libnan Beirut, Lebanon – A look at the history behind
This is really nothing new. After all, the U.S. Army’s Combat Applications Group (full name: 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, the so-called “Delta Force”) has already been used against the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. What is new is that now the participation of US military special forces in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act is made official. There is a logic at work here. Since the USA is fighting
Al-Qa’ida on al-Qa’ida Prepared by Staff for Why War? The following is a timeline of statements made by al-Qa’ida and al-Qa’ida affiliated groups between May 2004 and September 2003. I have also included a few documents released prior to September 2003. This collection of documents is 131 pages long and is the most complete collection of English translations of al-Qa’ida speeches available to the public. The collection includes two full
Press Release: Palestinian Information Center GAZA, (PIC)– The Hamas Movement on Tuesday renewed invitation to Fatah faction to initiate joint dialogue to solve pending problems before it is too late. MP Khalil Al-Hayya, one of the Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip, told a press conference in Ramattan news agency that what happened in the Strip was not pre-planned but rather was in response to crimes committed by the mutiny
It is a common mistake to think that the US Neocons are somehow concered with the welfare of Israel or the of Israelis. In reality, of course, the Neocons are interested in their own power and they simply realize that by mantrically repeating “Israel! existential threat! anti-Semitism! self-hating Jews! Holocaust!” they can get away with murder, literally. Sadly, there is a Neocon clique in Israel who pretty much uses the
There is no better source of information about Palestine than the excellent blog of the Palestinian Pundit. His recent posts outline a systematic plan for the invasion of the Gaza sector, the repression of its main democratically elected political party, Hamas, and the total destruction of that party throughout Palestine (at least that’s the plan, whether it will work is a different issue). First, the Empire is sending a poodle
In an interesting background analysis, the Jerusalem Post has revealed that influential Canadian and US Neocons supporters acting on behalf of the Israeli PR spin-doctors are behind the infamous House Resolution 21 almost unanimuosly adopted by Congress (with only Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich voting against it). ——- Analysis: Congress vs Ahmadinejad DORE GOLD, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 21, 2007 The 411-2 vote by the US House of Representatives to
Contributed by Ahmad A Must See Video which, in an Orwellian way, is presented by Western Media as Hamas torturing Palestinians. But when you see the people being tortured, they are wearing shirts of Hamas’ “Executive Force.” So, it is totally the opposite! Black propaganda at its worst. Any one who speaks Arabic can tell that the torturers are Dahlan’s thugs. After beating the Hamas people viciously, they force them
Mahmoud Abbas is a fiction by Israel Harel George W. Bush and Ehud Olmert looked pathetic giving their “full backing” to the broken-down crutch that is Mahmoud Abbas. Contrary to the talk in Washington, nothing has changed to open a new opportunity for negotiations over a final settlement. It is impossible to hold talks with Abbas, just like it was impossible to hold talks in the past on any kind
According to the BBC, Ha’aretz, the Jerusalem Post and others Mubarak, Olmert, Abbas and Abdullah will meet this coming Monday in Sharm el-Sheikh to “discuss recent developments between Fatah and Hamas” and “strengthen moderates and to further the Israeli-Palestinian agenda”. That is all very typical of normal war preparations. First, the Imperial High Command leaders meet in the Imperial Homeland (Olmert, Netanyahu consult with the US Nomenklatura bosses), then the
Transcript: the Taleban in Afghanistan have told the BBC that the group is changing its tactics by targeting the capital Kabul. Taleban spokesman Zabiyullah Mujahed was speaking to BBC world affairs editor John Simpson: JS: The Taleban led us to expect that there would be a big spring offensive, yet none has materialised. ZM: I absolutely reject the suggestion that we have been defeated. Our operation continues, and gathers momentum
This resolution is an exercise in propaganda that serves one purpose: to move us closer to initiating a war against Iran. Citing various controversial statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, this legislation demands that the United Nations Security Council charge Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Having already initiated a disastrous war against Iraq citing UN resolutions as justification, this
Nevermind that this is all based on a falsified translation of Ahmadinejad’s words, nevermind that the UN itself had condemned Zionism as a form of racism for many years, nevermind that Iran poses absolutely no threat to anyone in the region – the US Congress has covered itself in shame and disgrace yet again. After cheering on Israel for its “continued efforts to prevent civilian casualties” during the war in
Statement of B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories: This last week, intense fighting erupted between Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip. According to various estimates, approximately 160 people, including many children and civilians who were not participating in the fighting, were killed in the course of these clashes. This wave of violence ended with a victory for Hamas, who took control of all
Looks like the Israelis do not want to release Barghouti, or at least so says Avi Dichter, the Israeli “Security Minister”: “Barghouti is certainly a prominent figure in Fatah and in the West Bank, and maybe also in general Palestinian society. But this man built his status on our backs and with our blood“. Besides the usual bizarre “blood thing” which seems to affect so many Israelis, the man has
Interview with Palestinian [National] Authority Prime Minister Isma’il Haniyah by Patrick de Saint-Paul in Gaza. Some people accuse Hamas of having carried out a coup d’etat in the Gaza Strip. How do you reply to that? I reply to them with a question: a coup d’etat against whom? Against ourselves? We embody legitimacy. We are the legitimate government, resulting from a democratically elected parliament. Why take control of Gaza by
