tagged w/ Amal Bandar Al Sudairy
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Robert Fisk, my number one favourite award winning journalist and author tells us :
But up come the spoilsports, namely the Canadian "Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid", to suggest that the scrolls, originally in the hands of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities and the Ecole Biblique Française, were "confiscated and illegally removed by Israel" in 1967. The Royal Ontario Museum, the protesters say, is showing "looted" property which it has no right to exhibit. The Palestinian Authority itself has intervened, arguing that the museum is "displaying artefacts removed from the Palestinian territories".
The story of the discovery of the scrolls is, of course, well known. An Arab Bedouin boy, Mohamed el-Dib, found them at Khirbet Qumran in a cave in what is now the occupied West Bank of Palestine in 1947, and handed them over to a cobbler turned antiquities dealer called Khalil Eskander Shahin in Jerusalem; they eventually ended up in the hands of scholars – mostly American – in the Jordanian side of Jerusalem. Then came the 1967 war and the arrival of the Israeli army in East Jerusalem and... well, you can imagine the rest.
So cautious are the dear old Canadians – who should by now have learned that concealing unhappy truths will only create fire and pain – that they do not even mention that "Kando", the first recipient of the scrolls, was Armenian. Of course not. Because then they would have to explain why an Armenian was in Jerusalem, not in western Turkey. Which would mean that they would have to mention the Armenian Holocaust of 1915 (one and a half million Armenian civilians murdered by Ottoman Turks).Robert Fisk, my number one favourite award winning journalist and author tells us :... more
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Saudi Arabia is in crisis. The secretive desert kingdom is being wracked by terrorist violence and ordinary Saudis are becoming victims. Meanwhile reformers and hardliners are battling over the future of the country.
Saudi Arabia controls 25 per cent of the planet’s oil, and offers spiritual leadership to 1.3 billion Muslims as custodian of the holiest sites in Islam. How the ruling Royal Family deals with the current crisis has profound implications for the entire world.Saudi Arabia is in crisis. The secretive desert kingdom is being wracked by terrorist... more
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Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran
Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran
Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv and Sarah Baxter
The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility.
The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.
“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week.
Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defence source confirmed that Mossad maintained “working relations” with the Saudis.
John BoltSaudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran
Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on... more
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Jerusalem blasts Red Cross for report
This is a clip from an Israeli paper....they lie and lie and lie some more.
Israel rejected as "scandalous" a highly critical report released by the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday marking six months since Operation Cast Lead, saying it was inconceivable that the document would chastise Israel for the situation in Gaza while ignoring the continued detention of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit or the "intransigent belligerence" of Hamas.
According to the report, residents of the Strip are "living in desperation" due to their "daily struggle for existence."
"Gazans still cannot rebuild their lives," the report reads. "Most people struggle to make ends meet. Seriously ill patients face great difficulty obtaining the treatment they need. Many children suffer from deep psychological problems. Civilians whose homes and belongings were destroyed during the conflict are unable to recover," the ICRC maintained.
"During the 22 days of the Israeli military operation, nowhere in Gaza was safe for civilians. Hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties, including small children, women and elderly people. Medical personnel showed incredible courage and determination, working around the clock to save lives in extremely difficult circumstancesJerusalem blasts Red Cross for report
This is a clip from an Israeli... more
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Israeli Occupation Forces have kidnapped 21 Human Rights workers aboard the Free Gaza boat, Spirit of Humanity, including Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire & former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.
ISRAEL ATTACKS JUSTICE BOAT; KIDNAPS HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS; CONFISCATES MEDICINE, TOYS AND OLIVE TREES
“Israel’s deliberate and premeditated attack on our unarmed boat is a clear violation of international law and we demand our immediate and unconditional release.”Israeli Occupation Forces have kidnapped 21 Human Rights workers aboard the Free Gaza... more
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New Film Chronicles Civilian Slaughter In Afghanistan
Video
The footage you are about to see is poignant, heart-wrenching, and often a direct result of U.S. foreign policy. - Warning - Viewer discreation advised.New Film Chronicles Civilian Slaughter In Afghanistan
Video
The footage you are... more
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Iran protests: live
guardian.co.uk, Thursday June 18 2009
Daniel Nasaw and Matthew Weaver
6.44pm: Here is some grainy but fantastic footage of the march to Imam Khomeini square in Tehran, from 5 pm Iranian time. You can hear the crowd chanting "Ya Hossein! Mir Hossein!" 6.40pm: Just after 10 pm in Iran, Saeed writes that the people are again shouting "Ya Hossein! Mir Hossein!" and "Allah-o-Akbar!" (Arabic for "God is Great!") all across Tehran. 5.24pm: A reader i
(...)chanting "Ya Hossein! Mir Hossein!" 6.40pm: Just after 10 pm in Iran, Saeed writes that the people are again shouting "Ya Hossein! Mir (...)
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In the event that the divisive Ahmadinejad were to be dropped and Mousavi became president, his 25-year-long battle with Khamenei can be expected to resume in earnest. That is a strong reason for Khamenei to fight hard to keep him out. But while the warring cousins differ sharply on social issues, there may be more room for an accommodation than many suspect.Iran protests: live
guardian.co.uk, Thursday June 18 2009
Daniel Nasaw and... more
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Security officials and riot police engaged in violent clashes with demonstrators in Tehran today in what one reporter called an "unprecedented scene" in Iran in recent years.
NBC producer Ali Arouzi described the events on Saturday:
What started off as a small rally outside a pro-reformist newspaper swelled into a massive crowd of people chanting, "Death to the dictator, death to Ahmadinejad!"
Then, what started with a small amount of police pushing the crowd back turned into huge riot police in armored gear and motor bikes beating all the young students here with batons, knocking them back. The students responded by throwing stones, which the police then threw back. Now the police are coming off all the heart streets and main streets to try and disperse the crowd. But this is an unprecedented scene in Iran today.
Arouzi said that many of the demonstrators, afraid of reprisals, were wearing green scarves and surgical masks.
Asked if he believed the election results being reported by Iran's Interior Ministry, Arouzi sounded highly skeptical. "If you were in Tehran the last few days, you would think it impossible that Ahmadinejad won," he said. "Everybody we spoke to was a supporter of Mousavi."
He noted that Mousavi's supporters acknowledged that he was somewhat of a blank slate politically, but that the presidential election had become a referendum on Ahmadinejad.
Arouzi then described the protests in greater detail:
Initially, it was a peaceful demonstration. People were forming a human chain, saying they wanted their vote back... but the more the police came, the angrier the mob got. It became sort of a mob mentality here. Now the police have swelled in huge numbers. They are being very, very violent with the crowds.
Every young person I've spoken to here, I've asked them, 'do you think you coming out onto the streets is going to make a change?' They said, no, but we have to come out anyway if we want our voices to be heard, but they're sure this won't make a change.
Demonstrators have been injured. People have come up to us and they've shown us that their arms have been bruised, black eyes, broken noses, bloody heads. But they are fighting back as well. This is, I mean, I've been in Iran four years here and everything here has always been contained. Today we saw the demonstrators setting on the police. An hour ago, maybe 30, 40 demonstrators rushed the police, throwing stones at them. One of the policemen fell and they were kicking him in the head and some of his colleagues had to come and drag him away.Security officials and riot police engaged in violent clashes with demonstrators in... more
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The BBC said Sunday that the satellites it uses to broadcast in Persian were being jammed from Iran, disrupting its reports on the hotly-disputed presidential election.
The corporation said television and radio services had been affected from 1245 GMT Friday onwards by "heavy electronic jamming" which had become "progressively worse".
Satellite technicians had traced the interference to Iran, it said.
The satellites its uses in the Middle East to broadcast BBC Persian television to Iran were being affected, meaning that audiences in Iran, the Middle East and Europe would likely experience disruption.
BBC Arabic television and other language services had also experienced transmission problems, the corporation said.
"Any attempt to block BBC Persian television is wrong and against international treaties on satellite communication. Whoever is attempting the blocking should stop it now," said BBC World Service director Peter Horrocks.
"It seems to be part of a pattern of behaviour by the Iranian authorities to limit the reporting of the aftermath of the disputed election.
"In Tehran, (BBC world affairs editor) John Simpson and his cameraman were briefly arrested after they had filmed material for a piece," he added.
Iranian authorities on Sunday shut down the office of Arab news channel Al-Arabiya in Tehran for a week in the wake of the disputed election win by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the channel said.
BBC Persian, launched in 1940, is one of the corporation's oldest non-English language services.The BBC said Sunday that the satellites it uses to broadcast in Persian were being... more
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Israel PM told to keep silent on 'Palestinian state':
The heat is on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from within his own right-wing party to resist US pressure and not utter the words "Palestinian state" in a keenly awaited policy speech.
http://snipurl.com/k0528
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U.S. official: Content of Netanyahu's Sunday speech 'not adequate':
The proposals to be outlined in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech on Sunday will not be enough to satisfy the Obama administration, a senior U.S. official was quoted as saying on Friday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092452.htmlIsrael PM told to keep silent on 'Palestinian state':
The heat is on Israeli Prime... more
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Gaza: No Right To Life
Must Watch 7 Minute Video Report
With the lack of medical services in Gaza, critically ill patients must travel into Israel for treatment. Many are asked to collaborate with Israeli intelligence services before they receive aid. It has been alleged that if they refuse to become informers they are refused medical treatment.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22821.htmGaza: No Right To Life
Must Watch 7 Minute Video Report
With the lack of... more
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Does This Look Like Victory?
Starving Afghan Family Displaced by US Airstrike
Must watch One Minute Video
Exclusive footage from the recent US airstrikes in Afghanistan provides a sobering look at the dire situation on the ground.
One Minute Video
Exclusive footage from the recent US airstrikes in Afghanistan provides a sobering look at the dire situation on the ground. http://rethinkafghanistan.com/cc2.php
Posted June 12, 2009Does This Look Like Victory?
Starving Afghan Family Displaced by US Airstrike... more
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War Is Sin
By Chris Hedges
War exposes the lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. It rips open the hypocrisy of our religions and secular institutions. Those who return from war have learned something which is often incomprehensible to those who have stayed home. We are not a virtuous nation.War Is Sin
By Chris Hedges
War exposes the lies we tell ourselves about... more
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