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Latest Update: May 13th, 2010
News Update:



Peace Now: Construction for largest East Jerusalem settlement has begun
A sign of Israel's seriousness in the proximity talks..




Details of Gaza blockade revealed in court case
BBC News has seen documents, submitted to an Israeli Court, which give more detail than ever before about how and why Israel maintains its Gaza blockade.




The Petraeus briefing: Biden's embarrassment is not the whole story
"Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardizing U.S. standing in the region."




Welcome to Israel, Mr. Vice-President!
Stephen M. Walt in Foreign Policy




Palin Crossed Border For Canadian Health Care
"We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada," Palin said...




Chile Earthquake in Pictures
At 3:34 am local time, today, February 27th, a devastating magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded.




UN torture watchdog demands access to secret jail
he United Nation's watchdog on torture has criticised Israel for refusing to allow inspections at a secret prison, dubbed by critics as "Israel's Guantanamo Bay", and demanded to know if more such clandestine detention camps are operating.



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Media Reports and Analysis:


Israel/Palestine
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Poll: Half of Israeli high schoolers oppose equal rights for Arabs
Really sad!
Nearly half of Israel's high school students do not believe that Israeli-Arabs are entitled to the same rights as Jews in Israel, according to the results of a new survey released yesterday. The same poll revealed that more than half the students would deny Arabs the right to be elected to the Knesset.


Israel to use 'ordinary' people for PR
"After trying almost everything possible in its efforts to improve Israel's image internationally, the government will embark on a new strategy Wednesday by training ordinary Israelis to represent the country abroad."
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Barak: make peace with Palestinians or face apartheid
"As long as in this territory west of the Jordan river there is only one political entity called Israel it is going to be either non-Jewish, or non-democratic," Barak said. "If this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state."


Two IDF soldiers charged with using 9-year-old 'human shield' in Gaza war
IDF court free soldier convicted of beating Palestinian, rejects demand to return officer to the ranks.


Female soldiers break their silence
"We caught a five-year-old...can't remember what he did...we were taking him back to the territories or something, and the officers just picked him up, slapped him around and put him in the jeep. The kid was crying and the officer next to me said 'don't cry' and started laughing at him. Finally the kid cracked a smile...and suddenly the officer gave him a punch in the stomach. Why? 'Don't laugh in my face' he said."


IDF raps soldiers for images of dead Palestinian babies on t-shirts
Haaretz found that dead babies, mothers weeping on their children's grave, a child in the crosshairs of a sniper's rifle and blown-up mosques are just a few of the images with which IDF soldiers decided to mark their graduation from a training course or tour of duty.


IDF killed civilians in Gaza under loose rules of engagement
During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive.



The Arab World
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Lawyer: Beheading planned in Saudi sorcery case
Would anyone care to invite Saudi Arabia into the 21st century?
"A Lebanese man charged with sorcery and sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to be beheaded on Friday, the man's lawyer said Wednesday"


Egypt arrests 22 suspected of smuggling contraband into Gaza
Because food & clothes are dangerous!
Egypt "confiscated cans of food, automobile parts, clothes, and water pumps" after arresting 22 Palestinians.


HRW to Saudi Arabia: Free Woman Who Sought Court Aid
This is truly outrageous: Woman sentenced to "300 lashes and one and a half years in prison for filing harassment complaints without the required accompaniment by a male guardian"


Hospital fears for abused maid's life
JEDDAH: Erfan & Bagedo Hospital in Jeddah has rejected the request of Safa police to hand over an Indonesian maid, who has been receiving treatment at the hospital, to her sponsor.


The Dark Side of Dubai
Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. Johann Hari reports.

Global Interests
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Obama Faces GOP On Its Talking Points
This sort of thing should happen more often.
President Obama speaks to the GOP House Issues forum and debunks many talking points offered as questions by Republican House members.


Report: Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians to Be 'Massacred'
The chief author of the Bush administration's "torture memo" told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred," according to a report released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility.


Global Economic Crisis Hits Human Rights
The global economic crisis is exacerbating human rights abuses, Amnesty International has warned.
Memo Says Prisoner Was Waterboarded 183 Times
Sadistic behavior, as though 118 waterboardings isn't enough to get all the information one may be hiding.. let's try it another 65 times to be sure!
C.I.A. interrogators used waterboarding, the near-drowning technique that top Obama administration officials have described as illegal torture, 266 times on two key prisoners from Al Qaeda, far more than had been previously reported.
NYT: How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect
"Researchers have long known that people cling to their personal biases more tightly when feeling threatened. After thinking about their own inevitable death, they become more patriotic, more religious and less tolerant of outsiders, studies find. When insulted, they profess more loyalty to friends -- and when told they've done poorly on a trivia test, they even identify more strongly with their school's winning teams."