My letter to CSM RE "The Israeli model..."

Palestinian child plants flowers among the debris from Israel's 2014 assault on Gaza. Photograph- Anadolu Agency

RE: "The Israeli model: What airport safety looks like, and what it costs travelers

Models of security. Security measures at Israel's main airport, one of the world's safest, are vastly different from those in Brussels. But there is a tradeoff."
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2016/0325/The-Israeli-model-What-airport-safety-looks-like-and-what-it-costs-travelers

Dear Editor,

Is it really fair- or logical- to feature "The Israeli Model" of airport security and assert that "For prospective air travelers, this is what one of the world’s safest airports looks like." 

The vast majority of international airports worldwide have not had a major incident, although all have had to deal with various crazy people and criminals.  Why feature Israel?

Israel does not set a good example, and should not be lauded as a role model for safety and security. Israeli profiling is pervasive- and cruel, and has been for decades with horrible ramifications for countless persecuted Palestinian men, women and children (both Christian and Muslim) who are being profiled, oppressed, impoverished, pushed into forced exile, and refused their inalienable right to return to ancestral homes and lands. 

Hamas and Hezbollah have risen up in response to the very real plight and suffering of the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land, and alongside Israel's own state subsidized Jewish religious extremists, have been inflicting huge harm on the Palestinian quest for statehood and an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

And by the way, the quote by an Arab from East Jerusalem, claiming he does not see any discrimination "The security checks can take a long time, but the security is good"... That man is experienced enough to know that if he's been quoted in international publications, or on his Facebook page, pointing out the full and total truth about Israeli discrimination, Israeli authorities are more than likely to refuse to allow him to travel back to return to his home and family in East Jerusalem.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

My letter to the NYTimes RE Art of the Anecdote: Presidential Candidates’ Speeches to AIPAC

Photoshopped meme (depicting an image that evokes a creepy image from a wellknown horror movie coupled with two names from a well known nursery rhyme & Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass)  found flying around on Facebook & Twitter March 2016: "Tweedledee and Tweedledum to headline #AIPAC conference"

RE Art of the Anecdote: Presidential Candidates’ Speeches to AIPAC
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/art-of-the-anecdote-presidential-candidates-speeches-to-aipac/?ref=international&_r=0

Dear Editor,

Presidential candidates speaking at AIPAC wanted free media coverage and more campaign funds... and the New York Times helps hand them exactly that, completing a trifecta of complicity that further empowers Israel's punitively cruel anti-Palestinian apartheid policies by perpetuating a warped "pro-Israel" narrative that totally ignores sovereign Israel's ongoing flagrant violations of international law and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Shedding light on personality? I'd say it is more like shedding light on a lack of character and integrity- and a lack of understanding American ideals of real freedom, justice, equality and democracy...  plus a distinct lack of interest in being an honest broker for peace and the rule of fair and just laws in the Middle East.

Israel clearly wants the land but not the native non-Jewish population of that land. How would you feel if tonight, you were denied your right to return to your family home because the powers that be decided you were the "wrong" religion?!!!

We live in a global world with the internet giving every one the ability to ferret out news and opinion worldwide: How would you feel about negotiations to end the Israel-Palestine conflict knowing that Palestinian men, women and children continue to be harshly oppressed, impoverished, pushed into forced exile, and cruelly demonized by the so-called "Jewish State" while America's presidential candidates tell AIPAC exactly what Israel's state subsidized settlers and religious extremists want to hear. Not what they need to hear, but what they want to hear.

And hey- lets not forget about real terrorists, those criminals of ISIS/Daesh following Israel's lead by arming religion with lethal weaponry and a desire to impoverish and/or kill "others" ... What message does America want to send them?

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES

Daoud Kuttab ‏@daoudkuttab 6h6 hours ago

PLO's Hanan Ashrawi's strong condemnation of the events in Brussels بيان صادر عن منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية حول بروكسل http://ln.is/dci.plo.ps/EN/XsjIt …

Palestine PLO - NAD ‏@nadplo 1h1 hour ago

Erekat met US Senate Delegation: Security & peace won't be achieved without justice for the Palestinian people.

Palestine PLO - NAD ‏@nadplo 21h21 hours ago

Erekat to @ThomasOppermann: To defeat Daesh,is mandatory to end the occupation & establish an independent #Palestine

Dean Obeidallah ‏@Deanofcomedy 17h17 hours ago

Ted Cruz wants to "secure Muslim neighborhoods." How many shawarma restaurants does it take to make it officially a "Muslim neighborhood"?

Hussein Ibish ‏@Ibishblog Mar 21

Trump truly spreading #hate and #violence My #Trump Tweets Earned Me So Many Anti-Semitic Haters That I Bought a Gun http://forward.com/opinion/336159/my-trump-tweets-earned-me-so-many-anti-semitic-haters-that-i-bought-a-gun/#ixzz43XqKlSY5 …

Hussein Ibish Retweeted

  J Street ‏@jstreetdotorg Mar 18

If values have any meaning at all, they should disqualify Trump from becoming President. http://huff.to/22pMtRB

Dean Obeidallah ‏@Deanofcomedy 15h15 hours ago

Please let's stand together against anti-semitism of Trump supporters same way we denounce racism. My @thedailybeast http://thebea.st/1XKzF52

Shibley Telhami ‏@ShibleyTelhami 12h12 hours ago

In the cartoonish world of the Simpsons, a #Trump presidency was predicted 16 years ago. Fitting.

CS Monitor ‏@csmonitor 5h5 hours ago

How does Trump get so much air time? Media ethics under fire. http://trib.al/HM2uOvE

CS Monitor ‏@csmonitor 14h14 hours ago

Islamic State: How Iraqi widow's resistance became a symbol of hope http://trib.al/dtA6iBG  @janearraf

Chris Gunness ‏@ChrisGunness 40m40 minutes ago

Prize-winning Palestinian teacher: I create a safe, peaceful, loving environment https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/prize-winning-palestinian-teacher-theyve-seen-death/2016/03/21/78aad396-ec80-11e5-a9ce-681055c7a05f_story.html … #OurCulture

NPR ‏@NPR 17h17 hours ago

He hated Israel but became a voice for peace--even after Israeli police killed his child. http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/03/22/467689134/a-palestinian-takes-a-different-road-in-his-fight?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160322 …

United Nations ‏@UN 15m15 minutes ago

The time is now to prevent & end conflict. @WHSummit info is here: http://bit.ly/core_1  #ShareHumanity

CS Monitor ‏@csmonitor 5h5 hours ago

Bending the curve toward peace http://trib.al/Q6RrmpX  @johnyemma

Hussein Ibish: US has a responsibility to rein in Israeli settlements

"Israeli leaders and others were livid at Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s recent United Nations speech, which included the hyperbolic claim that Israel is guilty of “genocide” in Gaza. This unusually strong language from Mr Abbas was undoubtedly aimed at a domestic audience and designed to express the anger and frustration of Palestinians who seemingly have no viable strategy for moving forward towards national liberation.

Even though such remarks – including Israel’s own hyperbolic claims on social media recently that that “Hamas = ISIL” – aren’t helpful, they don’t actually change the strategic equation on the ground. They are, in both cases, snapshots of a political moment, and crucially one that can pass quickly without leaving a deep scar.

The same cannot be said for ­Israel’s latest announcement of impending settlement activity in occupied East Jerusalem. Plans for 2,610 new settler housing units were revealed last week in the so-called Givat Hamatos settlement, to the south of Jerusalem." Hussein Ibish 

 US has a responsibility to rein in Israeli settlements

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP): Established in 2003, its mission is to articulate and educate about the United States national interest in helping to create a Palestinian state living alongside Israel in peace, security and dignity. ATFP is committed to strengthening Palestinian-American relations at every level. The Task Force supports Palestinian institution-building, good governance, anti-corruption measures, economic development, and improved living standards. ATFP holds that these same values are relevant to the broader Arab world, and that the question of Palestine is inextricably linked to regional realities and developments.

 

US sharply criticizes new Israeli housing project

The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in 1967, as the capital of a future state. While Israel considers east Jerusalem as part of its capital, the U.S. and most of the international community consider such construction projects to be illegal settlements.

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-netanyahu-meet-iran-deadline-looms-065930011--politics.html

Al-shejaeiya Neighbourhood (---), 28/09/2014.- Palestinians sit around a fire next to their destroyed houses in Al-Shaejaeiya neighbourhood in the east of Gaza City, 28 September 2014. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed for New York on 28 September to respond to accusations by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Israel committed 'genocide' in Gaza. (Incendio) EFE/EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a striking public rebuke, the Obama administration warned Israel on Wednesday that plans for a controversial new housing project in east Jerusalem would distance Israel from "even its closest allies" and raise questions about its commitment to seeking peace with Palestinians.

The new 2,500 unit project that stoked U.S. anger is contentious because it would complete a band of Jewish areas that separate Jerusalem from nearby Bethlehem. The U.S. has repeatedly criticized Israeli construction in east Jerusalem, casting it as damaging to efforts to secure an elusive peace accord with the Palestinians.

The White House also condemned what it called the recent occupation of residential buildings in Silwan, an Arab neighborhood in east Jerusalem where several hundred hard-line Israeli settlers have moved in recent years. Earnest called the move was "provocative" and said it would "escalate tensions at a moment when those tensions have already been high."...READ MORE

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]   

The Economist: Squeeze them out... As Jewish settlements expand, the Palestinians are being driven away

A barrage of reports by the UN, the European Union and assorted charities has repeatedly warned that the Palestinians in Area C are under threat. Some 350,000 Jewish settlers now inhabit over 200 settlements and outposts in the same area, usually on the high ground, twice as many people as the Palestinians in the land below.

May 4th 2013 

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21577111-jewish-settlements-expand-palestinians-are-being-driven-away-squeeze-them?frsc=dg|a 

 

IT WAS just another day for the Israeli army on the West Bank. Having parked its jeeps in the hills south of Hebron, a unit of soldiers checked the papers of the Palestinians who lived there, confiscated one or two, and then herded the people and their flocks off a hilltop which a nearby Jewish settlement, called Susiya, has been eyeing with a view to taking it over. “Military zone,” tersely explained an Israeli officer, who had just received a warrant declaring it such. “Off you go.”

Taking time out from their Saturday morning prayers, a few settlers looked on approvingly. “Don’t argue,” replied the officer, when a Palestinian shepherd asked why the soldiers were moving Arabs out of the newly acquired military zone but not Jews. “You have a minute to move or I’ll arrest you,” said the officer.

“Settlers are just off-duty soldiers,” mumbled the shepherd to his sons as they stubbornly continued to tend their sheep. A Palestinian mother picnicking with her two toddlers is hauled away by Israeli soldiers, while villagers plead for her release.

The signs of previous bouts of displacement ring the adjacent hills. Mobile homes for young Jewish settlers sprout on the hilltops. Armed with a list of military orders, Israeli soldiers are herding the West Bank’s Palestinians out of the rural 60% of the territory, officially known as Area C, where Israel has full military and civilian control, and into cities. On some days the Israeli army declares a patch of land to be a live-fire military zone. On other days they say the Palestinians must move because of an impending archaeological dig. The erection of hilltop stations to provide antennae for Israeli mobile phones (but not for Palestinian ones) is another oft-cited reason for pushing Palestinians out. Eight Palestinian hamlets around Susiya face demolition.

Armed Jewish settlers assist the clearance. Soon after the army did its job, a Jewish shepherdess from Susiya brought her flock onto a Palestinian field of wheat to let it graze. Someone had scratched out all the Arabic road signs...READ MORE

"After decades of conflict with Israel, the issue of prisoners is emotionally charged in Palestinian society. Inmates are highly esteemed regardless of the reasons for their incarceration, which range from mass murder to throwing rocks..."

Palestinians throw stones at Israeli soldiers after the death of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh in Israeli jail in the West Bank city of Hebron, Tuesday, April 2, 2013 (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

"Rocket fire has been rare since an informal cease-fire was reached last November. During eight days of violence in November, the Israeli military said 1,500 rockets were fired at Israel, including the first from Gaza to strike the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas. The rocket attacks killed six Israelis and wounded dozens. Israeli airstrikes killed 169 Palestinians, many of them militants, and caused considerable damage."

http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-planes-strike-gaza-rocket-fire-004338130.html

Israeli planes strike Gaza after rocket fire

The reappointment of Mishaal may make sense in terms of Hamas' current power dynamics. But it does absolutely nothing to help the Palestinian people or cause.

Hussein Ibish: "....Mishaal’s ambitions may not stop with leading Hamas. He seems, in the long run, to have his eyes set on eventual leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization. As long as Hamas retains its current policies, and he remains a leader of that group, this is not possible without destroying the diplomatic and political achievements of the PLO, and its international standing. But one can certainly sense him trying to fudge those issues and maneuver his way into a more centralized national leadership role.

But it's important not to underestimate the harm this could cause to the Palestinian national movement. Hamas' policies are strictly inconsistent with those of the PLO, and contradict its treaty obligations. If Hamas joined the PLO with its current policies unchanged, let alone usurped it, the international standing of the PLO – one of the most important achievements of the Palestinian national movement, the value of which no one really questions – would be placed in dire jeopardy.

Palestinians want and need national unity. But the terms are crucial. If such unity in effect means abandoning the positions that underscore the PLO's standing at the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, and diplomatic relations with well over 100 countries, the price will be exorbitant and disproportionate.

Hamas, led by Mishaal or anybody else, cannot maintain its present policies – towards Israel, the two-state solution, violence, and other key questions that are clearly defined by international law – and simultaneously serve as part of the Palestinian national leadership. The cost of unity on those terms is prohibitive, and Palestinians just cannot afford it.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, Hamas continues to rule in the Islamist manner. That means that most of its policies are not only socially reactionary and oppressive, but flagrantly misogynistic as well. The latest outrage is a new law that will enforce gender segregation in schools for children over the age of nine, and bar men from teaching in girls' schools. This is merely the latest instance of Hamas' dual-gesture of pandering to its Islamist base and trying to impose its socially reactionary 'values' on the beleaguered Palestinians living under their rule.

So the reappointment of Mishaal may make sense in terms of Hamas' current power dynamics. But it does absolutely nothing to help the Palestinian people or cause."
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/hamas-again-avoids-change 

 Hamas Again Avoids Change 

Hamas Adds Restrictions on Schools and Israelis 

 

UNICEF: Israel mistreats Palestinian children in custody

The UNICEF logo is pictured on a building in Geneva November 17, 2009. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

http://news.yahoo.com/israel-mistreats-palestinian-children-custody-unicef-094950728.html

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian children detained by the Israeli military are subject to widespread, systematic ill-treatment that violates international law, a UNICEF report said on Wednesday.

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) estimated that 700 Palestinian children aged 12-17, most of them boys, are arrested, interrogated and detained by the Israeli military, police and security agents every year in the occupied West Bank.

UNICEF said it had identified some "examples of practices that amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention against Torture".

Israel's military and foreign ministry declined immediate comment on the findings.

According to the report, ill-treatment of Palestinian minors typically begins with the arrest itself, often carried out in the middle of the night by heavily armed soldiers, and continues all the way through prosecution and sentencing.

"The pattern of ill-treatment includes ... the practice of blindfolding children and tying their hands with plastic ties, physical and verbal abuse during transfer to an interrogation site, including the use of painful restraints," the report said.

It said minors, most of whom are arrested for throwing stones, suffer physical violence and threats during their interrogation, are coerced into confession and do not have immediate access to a lawyer or family during questioning.

"Treatment inconsistent with child rights continues during court appearances, including shackling of children, denial of bail and imposition of custodial sentences and transfer of children outside occupied Palestinian territory to serve their sentences inside Israel," the report said.

Such practice "appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized", it added.

UNICEF based its findings on more than 400 cases documented since 2009 as well as legal papers, reports by governmental and non-governmental groups and interviews with Palestinian minors and with Israeli and Palestinian officials and lawyers....READ MORE 

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Harriet Sherwood: How the West Bank barrier has starved business and community

"..... Almost all the businesses in the thriving village between Jerusalem and Ramallah closed. Palestinians from East Jerusalem who had bought or rented houses and apartments fled back to the city rather than endure a long roundabout journey, via the massive Qalandiya checkpoint, to jobs which previously had been 10 minutes drive away. Abandoned, shuttered and looted apartment blocks and businesses are now the defining feature of Bir Nabala.

The area was completely encircled by the wall, leaving one road open. Bir Nabala, said Sabah, used to be "a central place, right in the middle", a commercial hub between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Now it is a desolate wasteland.

According to a new report, The Long Term Impact of the Separation Barrier, by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, the isolation of Bir Nabala "has caused a mass exodus from the village, abandonment of residential neighbourhoods and economic stasis".

In general, says the report, the barrier has led to "numerous infringements of the human rights of Palestinians, over and above the direct damage done by its construction – including property rights, the right to free movement, the right to a reasonable standard of living and collective right to self-determination."

B'Tselem calls on the Israeli government to dismantle all sections of the barrier already built inside the West Bank and halt further construction.

The report also details the impact of the barrier on Palestinians caught in the "seam zone", the area between the internationally-recognised Green Line and the route of the wall or fence. When the barrier is completed, 9.4% of Palestinian territory will be on the Israeli side.

A complex system of permits is required for Palestinians who need to cross the barrier, in either direction, to reach land, jobs, businesses, educational or health facilities.

Israel says the route of the barrier is determined by security needs, and that its construction is the reason for the decline in attacks by Palestinian militants inside Israel.

Sabah smiles bitterly at this explanation. "Israel built the wall for political reasons, to take the land, not security," he says. Without the wall, he reckons the value of his land and building would have doubled by now. "Now no one will buy it. There is no future for this village unless the wall is removed." "  Harriet Sherwood in Bir Nabala

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/05/west-bank-barrier-starved-business-communities

How the West Bank barrier has starved business and community

A thriving wedding venue in Bir Nabala is among many concerns cut off by a policy that turned a thriving village into a ghost town

Bir Nabala was once a thriving community, but the West Bank barrier cut it off from Jerusalem and turned it into a ghost town. Source: B'Tselem Link to this video

Residents of the East Jerusalem suburb of Bir Nabala tell how their lives have been affected by the West Bank separation barrier, which reached the community in 2006. As the 8-metre-high concrete walls encircled the township separating it from the rest of East Jerusalem, businesses declined, leaving a derelict ghost town

Ariel

Students walk at the campus of the Ariel University Centre in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ariel September 13, 2012. An Israeli government move to upgrade Ariel University Centre in the occupied West Bank to a full-fledged university has put the 30-year-old school at the centre of a debate at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: how the settlements will figure in defining a future Palestinian state. Picture taken September 13, 2012. To match Feature PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/SETTLEMENTS REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS EDUCATION)

CSM: Severe attack on Palestinian teen spotlights conflict's impact on Israeli youths

An Israeli soldier stands guard at the main entrance to the unauthorized Jewish outpost of Migron near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Feb. 8, 2012. Its inhabitants pay Israeli taxes, are hooked up to the Israeli electricity grid, and get round-the-clock protection from Israeli soldiers. Baz Ratner/Reuters

Israelis wonder what it says about society that their youths attacked Palestinian teens in Jerusalem last week. In the past, they've often blamed such attacks on extremists and the mentally ill.

By Ilene Prusher, Correspondent / August 27, 2012 

Jerusalem

When news broke last week that an Arab teenager was in a coma after being beaten by Jewish youths in downtown Jerusalem, initial police reports said it was the result of a “brawl.” But it soon became apparent that the Jewish crowd had set upon three Arab teenagers from East Jerusalem simply because they were overheard speaking Arabic, and the public began calling the disturbing incident a “lynching.”

“I don’t know what to call it, but a fight is when one is hitting the other,” says Nariman Julani, sitting by the hospital bedside of her son Jamal Julani, a 17-year-old high school student, who is recovering after coming out of his coma on Aug. 19.

The Palestinian youths, from Ras el-Amud in East Jerusalem, were out for an evening walk in West Jerusalem’s Zion Square when they heard “Death to the Arabs” and were set upon by a crowd. Julani’s friends escaped, but he fell and was beaten unconscious.

“Even two or three on one, that’s getting beaten up,” says Mrs. Julani. “But 40 on one? That’s a death sentence. It’s a miracle my son is alive.”

The thought that Israeli youths are capable of such violence has unleashed a stream national soul-searching and self-criticism. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack as “reprehensible,” while President Shimon Peres said that the incident filled him with “shame.”

Most remarkably, no one has tried to excuse it as an aberrant incident perpetrated by extremists or someone who is mentally ill.

There are indications, according to a new study, that children’s exposure to the politically motivated violence of the Israeli-Palestinians conflict makes them more aggressive. The study, completed by a team of American, Israeli, and Palestinian researchers and funded by the US National Institutes of Health, identified a rising trend of violence among children here, finding a correlation between their exposure to political violence and their own violent behavior.

Hours before the beating incident, six members of a Palestinian family living in the West Bank were injured when the car they were driving in was hit by a Molotov cocktail, setting the car on fire and causing it to flip over.  Five of the six family members are still in hospital, recovering from serious burns, including a five-year-old boy. Israeli police yesterday arrested three 12- and 13-year-olds from the Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin as suspects in the attack, fueling further debate about violence among youths....READ MORE

Guardian News: Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians listed as 'terrorist incidents' by US

Palestinians tackle a fire in a West Bank field they say was started by Jewish settlers. According to UN, violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property has increased by almost 150% since 2009. Photograph: Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
Sunday 19 August 2012

Violence by Jewish settlers has been cited for the first time in a US state department list of "terrorist incidents", as Israeli political leaders condemned a string of recent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

The inclusion of assaults on Palestinian targets in the annual report on terrorism reflects growing concern in Israel and internationally that violence by a minority of Jewish extremists could trigger a new cycle of conflict and further damage the prospects of a peace agreement between the two sides.

"Attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian residents, property and places of worship in the West Bank continued," said the Country Reports on Terrorism 2011.  It referred to "price tag" operations, meaning violence committed by radical settlers against Palestinians ...READ MORE 

            [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

[for the report itself page 105, http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/195768.pdf ]

Palestinian officials point out that US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is undermining peace... "What this man [Mitt Romney] is doing here is just promoting extremism, violence and hatred"

US Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney arrives to deliver
foreign policy remarks in Jerusalem on July 29. (Reuters/Jason Reed)

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=508637

By Jihan Abdalla

RAMALLAH (Reuters) -- Palestinian officials accused US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday of undermining peace prospects by calling Jerusalem "the capital of Israel", ignoring their own claims to the city and most world opinion.

Romney used the term on Sunday to sustained applause from his Israeli audience in the Holy City, during a trip to present himself as Israel's closest ally ahead of the Nov. 6 election contest with President Barack Obama.

"We condemn his statements. Those who speak about the two-state solution should know that there can be no Palestinian state without East Jerusalem," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters on Monday.

"What this man is doing here is just promoting extremism, violence and hatred, and this is absolutely unacceptable," he said. "His statements are just rewarding the occupation and aggression."

Israel seized eastern Jerusalem during a 1967 war. A UN Security Council resolution condemns a 1980 Israeli law that declared Jerusalem the "complete and undivided" capital of the country as a violation of international law.

Most countries, including the United States, have not recognized Israel's declaration and have kept their embassies in the coastal city of Tel Aviv.

Previous US presidential candidates, including Senator Obama in June 2008, have referred to Jerusalem as Israel's capital ahead of elections, only to row back when taking power and suggest the issue should be resolved by negotiations.

A senior aide to President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said Romney's statements were unhelpful, stood in the way of a peace settlement and "contradict the previous positions held by the American administration".

Palestine Liberation Organization secretary-general Yasser Abed Rabbo said: "American policy makers must abandon hypocrisy and stop attempting to gain votes at the expense of the Palestinian people's rights."...READ MORE

Violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, mosques and farmland had increased by 150% over the past year.

"... All settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law. US state department spokesman, Patrick Ventrell, said recently: "We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity and we oppose any effort to legalise settlement outposts."

The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, said on Thursday that violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, mosques and farmland had increased by 150% over the past year." 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/26/jewish-population-west-bank-up

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Israel is seeking a court's backing to raze eight Palestinian villages in the West Bank, according to legal documents, in what an Israeli rights group called a potential "humanitarian disaster."

Activists join Palestinians as they rebuild their houses that were demolished by Israeli bulldozers in the West Bank village of Anata, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, on July 2. Israel is seeking a court's backing to raze eight Palestinian villages in the West Bank, according to legal documents, in what an Israeli rights group called a potential "humanitarian disaster." (AFP Photo/Ahmad Gharabli)

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://news.yahoo.com/israel-seeks-court-ok-raze-west-bank-villages-210817663.html

Israel is seeking a court's backing to raze eight Palestinian villages in the West Bank, according to legal documents, in what an Israeli rights group called a potential "humanitarian disaster."

In a written response to Israel's High Court which had requested an explanation, the state said the demolition orders pertained to permanent structures built by Palestinians on military firing ranges, contrary to orders barring civilians from the area while exercises are in progress.

"The respondent is prepared to allow the petitioners to enter the firing zone for the purposes of tending farmland and grazing livestock when there are no exercises under way (on weekends and Israeli holidays)," the response said.

It said it would also offer farmers access to the land for another two months each year, to be agreed between the sides.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which together with residents of the villages of Majaz, Tabban, Sfai, Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba, and Kharuba, is asking the court to block the demolitions and says the villagers have been in the area longer than the Israeli military.

"Most of them were born and raised in these villages to families that have been living in the area for several decades -- long before 1967," it said, referring to Israel's occupation of the West Bank during the Six-Day War of that year.

It says the move was likely to cause "an immediate humanitarian disaster for almost 2,000 souls, the destruction of villages, and the eradication of a remarkable way of life that has endured for centuries."

[Israeli] Settlers uproot [Palestinian] trees in Beit Ummar

file photo of Palestinian woman standing among the remains of Palestinian olive trees after they were cut down by Jewish Settlers south of the West Bank town of Hebron http://www.maanimages.com/ShowImage.php?photoid=11133

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=506043
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- A number of settlers from Beit Ain settlement damaged agricultural lands near Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, and uprooted 25 trees, a local activist said Thursday.

Mohammed Awad said the trees were owned by Hammad Abdul Hamid Slabee, who has lost more than 200 trees in six attacks since last summer.

The land is his only source of income, Awad said.

Islamophobia Threatens American Values and National Security

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-levin-jd/islamophobia-threatens-am_b_1686403.html

Brian Levin, J.D.

Director, Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, California State University

Islamophobia Has Been Mainstreamed
The real terror threat to the United States from a very small, but still significantly dangerous sliver of alienated Salafist radicals has been a boon to unrepentant bigots who wish to exploit fear for political purposes in an election cycle. The outsized presence of a small number of real extremists is being advanced as part of a coordinated effort to marginalize and exclude mainstream Muslims in the United States from meaningful participation in society. Unsubstantiated broadsides, particularly against moderate Muslims, not only reprehensibly damages them as individuals, but undermine their ability to build meaningful relationships across faith and political boundaries. Not only does this harm innocent patriotic Muslim Americans and potential allies in the fight against extremists, it shifts resources and attention away from real threats.  

If there were any doubt about the mainstreaming of Islamophobia one need look no further than the recent horrendous character assassination broadsides against patriotic federal public servants like the State Department's Huma Abedin and U.S. Special Envoy Rashad Hussein by members of Congress such as Michelle Bachmann in letters sent to federal agencies. Other recent instances of this kind of mainstreaming include the necessity of a Tennessee federal court's order mandating the final inspection of a controversial mosque after a lengthy delay and the appointment of former Army Lt. Gen William Boykin, a fierce critic of Muslims, to the post of executive vice president of the Family Research Council.

Characteristics of Islamophobia
Fareed Zakaria notes, "A cottage industry of scaremongering has flourished in the West -- especially in the United States since 9/11." The Anti-Defamation League's Oren Segal, who tracks radical extremism explains that illegitimate criticism comes from those who vilify "the entire Islamic faith by making assertions that there are conspiracies against American values inherent in Islam." Dr. Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine further explains:

In the present moment, Islamophobic discourse is based on the explicit or implicit allegation that immigrant Muslim communities represent an alien and hostile political movement, in this case the so-called "jihadist" international terrorist front led by terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda. In other words, the idea is not just that Muslims are alien, other and "bad," but that, as an immigrant group, they are a stealthy vanguard of a hostile political and alien cultural movement that seeks to destroy American society and civilization.

Various tenets distinguish the Islamophobes from those offering meaningful insight into
the genuine extremist threat facing the United States.

1. The categorization of Islam and its adherents as a fixed homogenous political entity for which the extremists set the agenda.


2. Islam is some kind of unitary conspiratorial enemy committed to the destruction of the United States through overthrow and then implementation of sharia law.


3. Muslims due to their innate hostile political agenda of conquering America can not meaningfully assimilate.


4. A demographic time bomb of Muslim extremism exists through immigration and births that threaten the West.


5. Muslim religious practices and any accommodation of it represents a threat


6. Because Islam is a political entity at war with America, it should not be offered the protections of religious liberty mandated in the Constitution's First Amendment.


7. President Obama's Christian beliefs are a false smokescreen to advance his Muslim overlord enemies of the United States.

Shifted Focus From Real Threats
These shotgun style broad screeds against Islam as a faith and Muslims in general, who are categorized as either terrorist sympathizers or naïve has the effect of marginalizing Muslims from meaningful participation in the civic life of America. It also has the effect of shifting resources and the spotlight from real recent events. Scurrilous attacks against all Muslims overshadowed important congressional hearings related to the money laundering capabilities of terrorists through mainstream banking, the potential terror threat from Iran, cyberterror risks, and the ability of undocumented persons to still get flight training in the United States a decade after 9/11. In addition it overshadowed other news like the ability of an Egyptian with apparent connections to a terror group to come to the United States in a diplomatic delegation, the alleged possession of a fake Michigan drivers license by the Bulgaria terror bomber and terror related cases in London and Manchester, England.

For the Islamophobes every Muslim who achieves meaningful participation in public life must be a stealth operator in a conspiracy to undermine the United States with the help of a gullible public of useful idiots. They point to several real and horrendous instances of disingenuous wrongdoing by mainstream criminal or terrorist enabler imposters like Abdurahman al-Amoudi, Sami al-Arian, Anwar al Alakwi and the Holy Land Foundation as evidence of a broad conspiratorial template that they conveniently apply to all Muslims they disagree with irrespective of the evidence.

History Revisited
In both the Red Scare of nearly a century ago, and decades later in the McCarthy era, threats were exploited not for the protection of the country but to its detriment and to the reputations of innocent Americans. Yesterday, CNN showed how far the damage can travel. Demonstrators in Egypt who pelted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's motorcade over the weekend relied on American bloggers for their information about a State Department Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy.

Almost 60 years ago on June 9, 1954, lawyer Joseph Welch stood up in the Halls of the Senate to Joseph McCarthy in hearings about Communists and the Army:

Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?...READ MORE