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Paul Merrell

EU to Label Products Made in Illegal Settlements - International Middle East Media Center - 0 views

www.imemc.org/71927

war & peace EU Israel BSD labeling settlements

shared by Paul Merrell on 14 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • The European Union (EU) will soon begin to mark the products of Israeli settlements, according to the Associated Press.
  • According to Al Ray, the EU had frozen its decision to put marks on settlements products under the pressure of the United States, in 2013, but this move was restored again and approved by 13 European countries. The report added that 16 foreign ministers of EU demanded in less than two months, to go forward with procedures to mark settlement products in European marketing networks. The foreign ministers assured that the continued expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and in other areas occupied by "Israel" in 1967, threatens the chances of reaching a final and fair peace deal. European diplomats said that "after the Israeli elections, and in the light of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's latest statements against two-state solution, it was decided to renew the initiative of marking the Israeli products ." The Belgian Foreign Minister, Dedea Rendr, is the initiator of the draft letter, according to the diplomats.
  • In 2014, Belgium published instructions obliging the marketing networks to mark the agricultural products of settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. To be noted, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is the only one of the five major foreign ministers of European countries who did not sign the letter.
  • Paul Merrell on 14 Jun 15
     
    See also http://nsnbc.me/2015/06/14/eu-to-label-products-made-in-illegal-settlements/ This has set off some fireworks on Capitol Hill.
Paul Merrell

Israeli Knesset brings back bill to forcibly transfer Palestinian Bedouins | nsnbc international - 0 views

nsnbc.me/...-transfer-palestinian-bedouins

war & peace Israel Bedouins Prawer-Plan genocide reservation

shared by Paul Merrell on 12 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • The Israeli Knesset (Parliament) announced that on Sunday July 12th, they will bring back a bill to forcibly remove 40,000 Palestinian Bedouins from their homes in the Negev desert in southern Israel.
  • The Israeli government has managed to force the transfer of tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouins into a reservation near the city dump of Jerusalem, but 40,000 more have refused to be moved from their ancestral homes.
  • The bill had been tabled in 2013 after widespread international condemnation of the forced transfer plan. According to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.” Israeli authorities had initially approved the plan, known as the ‘Prawer Plan’, in 2011, but delayed it indefinitely after the UN and other international bodies condemned the plan. The Palestinian Bedouin communities of southern Israel have lived in their homes for hundreds of years, but when Israel was created in 1948, the Israeli government refused to recognize their villages. As such, their homes have been destroyed dozens of times by the Israeli government, each time rebuilt by the Bedouin community.
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  • The re-introduction of the bill is being carried out by the Israeli minister of agriculture, Uri Ariel of the Habayit Hayehudi party (Jewish Home) party. Palestinian Bedouins have compared the forced displacement plan to the U.S. system of ‘reservations’ for the native American population, by which hundreds of thousands of American Indians were forcibly displaced from their homelands in what has since been termed a genocidal colonial operation by the invading European colonists.
Paul Merrell

Violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories - the Guardian briefing | News | The Guardian - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...-territories-guardian-briefing

war & peace Israel Palestine escalating-violence

shared by Paul Merrell on 09 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories have been convulsed by a wave of escalating violence in recent days. The lethal tensions ratcheted up sharply last Thursday when a married couple, Jewish settlers from Neria in the northern West Bank, were shot and killed in a car in front of their four children near Beit Furik, allegedly by members of a five-man Hamas cell who were subsequently arrested. Two more Israelis were stabbed and killed in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday by a Palestinian youth, who was shot dead at the scene. On Sunday, an 18-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces in clashes near the West Bank town of Tulkarem. The mounting friction has seen attacks by settlers on Palestinians, clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces and attempted attacks continue. On Wednesday. there were incidents in Jerusalem, where a Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli man who then shot and seriously wounded her in the Old City, the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, where a Palestinian was killed after reportedly trying to seize a gun from a soldier and stabbing him, and when a female Israeli settler’s car was stoned near Beit Sahour, which adjoins Bethlehem, in an incident in which it appears other settlers fired on Palestinians, seriously injuring a youth.
  • On the Palestinian side, anger escalated earlier this week after a 13-year-old boy in Bethlehem’s Aida refugee camp was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper in an incident the Israeli military has claimed was “unintentional” as soldiers were aiming at another individual.
  • Jerusalem has remained tense now for almost a year. Most analysts blame the recent heightened tension on several factors. Key among them has been the issue of the religious site in Jerusalem known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, and Jews as the Temple Mount. A long-running campaign by some fundamentalist Jews and their supporters for expanding their rights to worship in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount, supported by rightwing members of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s own cabinet, has raised the suspicion – despite repeated Israeli denials – that Israel intends to change the precarious status quo for the site, which has been governed under the auspices of the Jordanian monarchy since 1967.
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  • Recent Israeli police actions at the site scandalised the Muslim world and raised tensions. Israel has also banned two volunteer Islamic watch groups – male and female – accusing them of harassing Jews during the hours they are allowed to visit. That has combined with the lack of a peace process and growing resentment and frustration in Palestinian society aimed at both Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Palestinian Authority. Israel has complained in recent weeks of an increase in stone throwing and molotov cocktail attacks on West Bank roads and in areas adjoining mainly Palestinian areas of Jerusalem, where an elderly motorist died after crashing his car during an alleged stoning attack. In response, Netanyahu and his cabinet have loosened live-fire regulations over the use of .22 calibre bullets on Palestinian demonstrators. Although described by Israel as “less lethal”, it is this type of ammunition that killed 13-year-old Abdul Rahman Shadi on Monday.
  • Part of the problem is the leadership on both sides. Netanyahu leads a rightwing/far-right coalition with the smallest of majorities. Several cabinet ministers support the settler movement and have publicly criticised him for not cracking down harder on Palestinian protest. Netanyahu’s weakness is reflected on the Palestinian side, where the ageing Abbas is seen as isolated, frustrated and increasingly out of step with other members of the Palestinian leadership, who would like a tougher line against Israel over continued settlement building and the absence of any peace process.
  • In his recent speech to the UN general assembly, Abbas went further than he had ever done before in threatening to end what he claims is Palestine’s unilateral adherence to the Oslo accords, which he said Israel refuses to honour. “We cannot continue to be bound by these signed agreements with Israel and Israel must assume fully its responsibilities of an occupying power,” he said. Abbas, however, stopped short of ending security cooperation between Israel and Palestinian security forces – mainly aimed at Hamas on the West Bank – and asked the UN for international protection. His speech at the United Nations has been seen as a move to placate growing discontents in Palestinian society. Both Abbas and Netanyahu are now both engaged in a delicate balancing act, trying to avoid further escalation that would be detrimental to both while trying not to lose the support of key constituencies. On Abbas’s side, that has meant ordering Palestinian factions and security forces to desist from joining the conflict, while on Netanyahu’s side it has seen numerous warnings of harsh measures – many of which have been repeatedly announced.
  • Nentanyahu does not want to risk a position where Abbas ends security cooperation and in the local jargon “hands back the keys” – in other words revokes the Oslo accords and insists on Israel once again taking full responsibility for administering the occupied territories. For his part, Abbas is said to see a limited popular uprising as useful because of the message it delivers to both Israel and the international community of the mounting risks of a moribund peace process and how serious things could become if security cooperation were to end.
  • At the end of the last round of the peace process last year, US diplomats warned about this potential outcome and Washington has largely withdrawn from a guiding role, exhausted by the lack of progress and frustrated with Netanyahu. Despite the Palestinian desire for a new multilateral international approach, it has failed to materialise as have any US guarantees to Abbas that they intend to advance the peace process. While Syria, migration and Russia are preoccupying western governments, Israel and Palestine have been largely left to their own devices.
  • Flare-ups of violence have a habit of coming and going but hopes that this one is coming to an end appear premature for now. However, the likelihood of the current violence fading away still remains the strongest bet. The biggest risk is a miscalculation by either side, which is out of the hands of either leader, that would alter the dynamics. Individuals on both sides have led some of the worst attacks: Jewish extremists in the summer burning three members of a Palestinian family to death, and “lone wolf attacks” launched by Palestinians angry about al-Aqsa and other issues. With neither side having a clear exit strategy, there is a risk is that Netanyahu and Abbas are being led by events rather than leading.
Paul Merrell

Lethal Israeli - Palestinian Conflict Escalates | nsnbc international - 0 views

nsnbc.me/...palestinian-conflict-escalates

war & peace Israel Palestine Gaza escalating-violence

shared by Paul Merrell on 12 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • Conflict between Israel and Palestine escalates as youth throughout Palestine vent their frustrations over decades of illegal occupation and an escalation of Israeli oppression and violence. The renewed round of violence takes its toll on both Israelis and Palestinians.  
  • Violent clashes between Israeli occupation forces, settlers and Palestinians have escalated throughout Palestine since the beginning of the intensified Israeli crackdown against Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, last month. On Sunday Israeli troops carried out a raid against the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC). The center disseminates a lot of regional and local news coverage that otherwise only is available in Arab to English-speaking listeners and readers. The raid was carried out Sunday morning at 4.00 o’clock. Over the weekend a rocket was fired into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. The rocket landed without causing damage. Sunday at dawn Israel responded by launching air strikes against targets in the Gaza Strip. Israeli military and government sources say that the strikes aimed at targeting militants.
  • One of these air strikes struck a family home in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. The air raid killed a five months pregnant Palestinian mother along with her two-year-old child while several other family members were injured. The husband of the deceased 30-year-old Nour Rasmi Hassan told that a “knock on the roof rocket” woke the family from their sleep but that they were confused, shocked and that there was no time to respond and flee their home before the house was struck. Frustrated Palestinian youth are confronting Palestinian police and military in occupied East Jerusalem and other occupied Palestinian territories. Clashes in the interim Palestinian capital Ramallah turned deadly on Sunday evening when a 13-year-old boy succumbed to the his injuries. The 13-year-old Ahmad had been struck in the head by a rubber-coated steel bullet fired by Israeli occupation forces earlier that day. The fatal shooting occurred close to the Beit El settlement northeast of al-Biereh.
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  • Last week Israeli undercover agents infiltrated Palestinian protesters near Beit El, grabbing some, beating, kicking and injuring them severely. Meanwhile, some frustrated Palestinian youth have carried out knife attacks against Israeli settlers and citizens, venting their frustrations. Knife attacks began after the willful fatal shooting of an unarmed Palestinian youth by Israeli officers. A video captured the fatal shooting and the cheering words “kill him, kill him” before the fatal shots were fired. Several analysts noted that the latest round of violence has the potential to escalate into a full-scale Palestinian uprising. The Israeli crackdown against Palestinians has further soured Egyptian – Israeli relations. Last week the spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Ahmed Abu Zeid said that Israel as the occupying power must provide Palestinian people the required protection and stop repeating its attacks that lead to more political congestion among the Palestinians and weaken the opportunities of reviving the installed peace talks between Palestinians and Israel,.
  • Notably, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas noted at his address at the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly that the PLO may no longer feel obliged to adhere to the Oslo Accords. Mahmoud Abbas stressed that Palestine could not continue to adhere to the accords as Israel continues to violate them. Several of the progressive PLO member factions, including the PFLP and DFLP have called for a renewed uprising. Both factions have repeatedly demanded that the Al-Fatah led Palestinian Authority immediately ends its so-called security cooperation with Israeli police, military, intelligence services and government. The Israeli Cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for its part, has promised a strict response to any “insurrection”. Over 150 Palestinians have been seriously injured over the course of the last week.
Gary Edwards

'The Destruction of the Rule of Law' according to Ratigan, Black and DeGraw - 1 views

www.thedailybell.com/...-Law-according-to-David-DeGraw

Banksters Dylan-Rattigan OWS Occupy-Wall-Street crony-capitalism

shared by Gary Edwards on 19 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Gary Edwards on 19 Oct 11
     
    Amazing video discussion about Occupy Wall Street movement, and the outrageous Bankster fraud that has not been prosecuted by the Obama DOJ. Dylan Rattigan interviews White Collar Crime expert, Attorney William Black and, OWS organizer David DeGraw. Attorney Black points out that both the FBI and the Financial Services Bank . "We put the Treasury Secretary up for auction, and lately Goldman Sachs has been the highest bidder". Clinton-Reuben, Bush-Paulsen, Obama-Geitner. Get rid of the systemically dangerous institutions.
Paul Merrell

United Nations News Centre - UN Rights Council appoints final member on panel to investigate purported Gaza violations - 0 views

www.un.org/...story.asp

war & peace Israel Gaza U.N. war-crimes-investigation

shared by Paul Merrell on 26 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • The United Nations Human Rights Council announced today the appointment of the last of three members of its probe to investigate purported violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and particularly in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began on 13 June. In a statement released today, the Council’s President, Ambassador Baudelaire Ndong Ella (Gabon), announced that Mary McGowan Davis (United States) will join William Schabas (Canada) and Doudou Diène (Senegal) whose appointments were announced on 11 August. The previously appointed Amal Alamuddin (United Kingdom) was unable to serve due to prior commitments. Ms. Davis is from the United States and has served as a Justice for the State of New York and as a federal prosecutor during the course of a 24-year career. She also has extensive experience in the fields of international human rights law and has served as Chair on a UN Committee tasked with following up on the findings of the Gaza conflict that occurred between December 2008 and January 2009.
  • The Independent International Commission of Inquiry – launched by the Human Rights Council on 23 July – is charged with investigating human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular the occupied Gaza Strip. It plans to investigate all violations of human rights and humanitarian law since the current military operations began in mid-June. As it stands now, the cumulative death toll among Palestinians stands at 2,076. Some 1,454 – 70 per cent – are believed to be civilians, including 491 children and 253 women, according to the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Out of the 2,076 killed, 253 are believed to be militants, and the status of a further 369 killed Palestinians is still to be determined. Meanwhile, UNRWA said today that its schools along with Government-run schools are not ready for the new school year in Gaza, which was set to begin yesterday. More than 200 schools which were affected by shelling need to be repaired, including 22 which have been completely destroyed. In the meantime, UNRWA said its TV station will run education programs at emergency shelters and will expand psychosocial work with humanitarian organizations.
Paul Merrell

Where global solutions are shaped for you | News & Media | HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL OPENS SPECIAL SESSION ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY - 0 views

www.unog.ch/...9CDF7FE83E0581C1257D1E00434418

war & peace Palestine Israel Gaza UN-Human-Rights-Council

shared by Paul Merrell on 23 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • Kyung-wha Kang, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, stated that at least 18 medical facilities, including five UNRWA health clinics, had been hit by airstrikes and shelling since the beginning of the fighting.  The seven-year blockade had destroyed Gaza’s economy, with high unemployment rates and growing dependence on international assistance.  The United Nations was feeding 67 per cent of the population.  The international community and the parties to the conflict had to live up to their obligations.  Lance Bartholomeusz, Director of Legal Affairs of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said that by yesterday evening, 22 July, approximately 118,000 Palestinians had sought refuge in 77 UNRWA schools.  That was about 6 per cent of the population of Gaza and double the peak in UNRWA shelters during the 2008 to 2009 conflict.  The conflict had not spared UNRWA premises.  Makarim Wibisono, Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, speaking on behalf of the Coordination Committee of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, said in addition to at least 599 Palestinians killed, the destruction of numerous houses had left several thousand families homeless.  At the same time, the right of the Palestinian people to resist occupation could not justify the launching of thousands of rockets and mortars directed against Israeli civilians. 
  • NAVI PILLAY, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said since Israel announced its military operation “Protective Edge” on 7 July, Gaza had been subjected to daily intensive bombardment from the air, land and sea, employing well over 2,100 air strikes alone.  The hostilities had resulted in the deaths of more than 600 Palestinians, including at least 147 children and 74 women.  As in the two previous crises in 2009 and 2012, it was innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip, including children, women, the elderly and persons with disabilities, who suffered the most.  According to preliminary United Nations figures, around 74 per cent of those killed so far were civilians, and thousands more had been injured.  Hundreds of homes and other civilian buildings, such as schools, had been destroyed or severely damaged in Gaza, and more than 140,000 Palestinians had been displaced.  Two Israeli civilians had also lost their lives and between 17 and 32 others had been reported injured as a result of rockets and other projectiles fired from Gaza, and 27 Israeli soldiers had been killed during military operations in Gaza.  The indiscriminate firing by Hamas and other armed groups of more than 2,900 rockets and mortars from Gaza continued to endanger the lives of civilians in Israel, and Ms. Pillay once again condemned such indiscriminate attacks.  It was unacceptable to locate military assets in densely populated areas or to launch attacks from such areas.  However, international law was clear - the actions of one party did not absolve the other party of the need to respect its obligations under international law.
  • he also warned that the current situation in Gaza overshadowed the backdrop of heightened tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem and expressed concern about a significant rise in incitement to violence against Palestinians, including through social media.  Only those responsible for criminal acts could legitimately be punished, she said, individuals should not be subject to collective penalties. 
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  • LANCE BARTHOLOMEUSZ, Acting Director of Legal Affairs, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), said UNRWA was deeply alarmed and affected by the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and the devastating human and physical toll it was taking on civilians, including Palestine refugees.  Far too many lives were being lost and the traumas resulting from the military operations would mark the population for years to come.  Among ordinary Palestinians there was a profound crisis of confidence in the ability of international law and international mechanisms to protect civilians, and to prevent and address violations of international law.  Because of military operations, and because over 40 per cent of Gaza’s territory was affected by Israel evacuation warnings or declarations of “no-go zones”, thousands of people continued to flee to shelters run by UNRWA and by partners.  By yesterday evening, 22 July, approximately 118,000 Palestinians had sought refuge in 77 UNRWA schools.  That was about 6 per cent of the population of Gaza and double the peak in UNRWA shelters during the 2008 to 2009 conflict.
  • The conflict had not spared UNRWA premises, 77 of which had been damaged by air raids and other fire, which was totally unacceptable.  All parties to the conflict must respect at all times the neutrality and inviolability of UNRWA’s premises.  The situation of the population of Gaza and of Palestine Refugees in Gaza had become completely unsustainable.  Israel’s illegal blockade had deepened poverty levels and Gaza's aquifer would be entirely contaminated in the next three to four years making the Strip essentially unliveable.  Today, these indicators paled in comparison to the intensity of the bombardments, fighting and the immediate fears for security and survival. 
Paul Merrell

Israel continues withholding Palestinian Tax Revenue | nsnbc international - 0 views

nsnbc.me/...olding-palestinian-tax-revenue

Israel Palestine tax-payments war crimes

shared by Paul Merrell on 02 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • The Cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to continue withholding tax revenue which Israel has been collecting on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in accordance with the 1993 Oslo Accords, report Israeli media.
  • The Israeli government began withholding Palestinian tax revenues in December, in response to Palestine’s accession to over 20 international treaties, including the Rome Statute. UN Secretary-General Ban Kyi-moon announced that Palestine would become a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) under the Rome Statutes on April 1, 2015. The Netanyahu administration denounced Palestine’s accession to the Rome Statute and Palestinian ICC membership as “a unilateral move in violation of the Oslo Accords”, while the Palestinian Authority is denouncing Israel for systematic violations of the Accords since 1993.
  • The PLO and Palestinian Authority decided to sign over 20 international treaties in response to the rejection of a Jordanian-sponsored, Palestinian UN Security Council Resolution that called for a full withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories in 2017. The Palestinian Authority urgently depends on the tax revenue to pay the wages of over 170,000 public employees. Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah urged the public employees to be patient and promised that the Palestinian Authority is working to resolve the issue and enable at least the partial payment of the salaries. In early January the Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, denounced the Israeli reprisal as theft and an act of piracy.
  • Paul Merrell on 02 Feb 15
     
    The withholding of the tax payments is indeed a violation of international law, a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which requires inter alia an occupying power to preserve the existing civilian government to the maximum extent consistent with military requirements. Of course the continuing occupation itself is a war crime under the same Convention. Israel siezed the Palestinian territories in its illegal war of aggression in 1967. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel was requried to withdraw its military forces immediately upon the cessation of hostilities. It has been only the U.S. heavy foreign and military aid and exercise of its veto power and  at the U.N. Security Council that has permitted this atrocity to continue. 
Paul Merrell

Red Crescent: Over 2,600 shot with live, rubber bullets in October - 0 views

www.maannews.com/Content.aspx

war & peace Israel Palestine casualties stats

shared by Paul Merrell on 03 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Israeli forces shot and wounded at least 2,617 Palestinians with live and rubber-coated steel bullets through October, the Palestinian Red Cross said Sunday, as clashes carried on into the new month.A Red Crescent spokesperson told Ma'an that at least 760 Palestinians were shot with live rounds across the occupied Palestinian territory, while another 1,857 were hit with rubber-coated steel bullets.He said that a further 5,399 Palestinians were treated for excessive tear gas inhalation during the period, while another 246 were injured in other ways, including assault by Israeli soldiers and burns from tear gas canisters.The spokesperson said that it brought the total injured during October to 8,262 Palestinians.
  • While Palestinians agree that a number of Palestinians were shot dead while carrying out attacks -- ultimately claiming 10 Israelis' lives -- footage and witness testimony have raised serious doubts over the Israeli army's version of events in many of the other cases.Moreover, Palestinian, Israeli and international rights groups have said that in the majority of cases, Israeli forces needlessly killed their alleged attackers when they posed no imminent threat, a practice Israeli group B'Tselem referred to as "extrajudicial executions."Amnesty International said last week that Israeli force appeared "to have ripped up the rulebook and resorted to extreme and unlawful measures." The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein said: "The high number of casualties, in particular those resulting from the use of live ammunition by Israeli security forces, raise concerns of excessive use of force, and violations of the right to life and security of the person."
  • The wave of unrest that swept the occupied Palestinian territory last month seemed unabated at the start of November, as fresh clashes left more Palestinians injured on Sunday.In the central Gaza Strip, Israeli forces shot and injured two Palestinians with live rounds east of al-Buriej refugee camp, medics told Ma'an.
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  • Meanwhile in Hebron, Israeli forces shot and injured two Palestinians with live rounds in Sair village northeast of Hebron.
  • The Red Crescent said that at least four were hit with rubber-coated steel bullets in clashes in Tulkarem, while further clashes were reported in a number of other flashpoints across the occupied West Bank.
Paul Merrell

US needs boots on the ground to 'occupy & govern' Syrian territories - Air Force secretary - RT USA - 0 views

www.rt.com/...21520-troops-ground-syria-isis

war & peace U.S.-foreign-policy Syria boots-on-the-ground

shared by Paul Merrell on 16 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Washington needs “boots on the ground” in Syria in addition to its air campaign against ISIS, which is not fruitful despite some progress. US Air Force secretary has admitted that “ground forces” is a must in order to “occupy” and “govern” parts of Syria. In her comments, Secretary Deborah Lee James stressed the importance of the US-led air campaign, but admitted that airstrikes need to be backed by ground forces.“Air power is extremely important. It can do a lot but it can't do everything,” James said, just two days after Secretary of Defense Ash Carter supported President Obama’s “willingness to do more” in terms of US troops on Syrian ground.“Ultimately it cannot occupy territory and very importantly it cannot govern territory,” James told reporters at the Dubai Airshow. “This is where we need to have boots on the ground. We do need to have ground forces in this campaign.”
  • When it comes to support, the US should assist the “Iraqi army, the Free Syrians and the Kurds” in the fight against Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL), James said.
  • Last week, Secretary Carter said that the US needed “much more than airstrikes” to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq and Syria. “I don't think it’s enough. I think we’re looking to do more. But the fundamental strategy in Iraq and Syria for dealing with ISIL and dealing a lasting defeat to ISIL is to identify then train, equip, and enable local forces that can keep the peace,” Carter said.On October 30 the White House announced that it is planning to send up no “more than 50 troops” [special forces] to advise “moderate opposition” in Syria on the ground.
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  • The recent development contradicts President Obama’s 2013 promise not to put any “American boots on the ground in Syria” while also bringing up the issues concerning the previous failures of the US train and equip program.The Pentagon gave up on the training part of the project in October, after senior Obama administration officials admitted that the US had only trained a handful of fighters, despite the program’s $500 million budget.
Paul Merrell

Ministry of Health: More Than 10.000 Palestinians Injured Since October - nsnbc international | nsnbc international - 0 views

nsnbc.me/...stinians-injured-since-october

war & peace Israel Palestine casualties stats

shared by Paul Merrell on 22 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • This last Friday, more than 200 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, during confrontations with the military, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
  • 118 Palestinians were shot with live ammunition, while another 60 were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets, including 41 who received treatment by local medics without the need for hospitalization, as stated by the Health Minister. Clashes between the Palestinian youth and the Israeli occupation forces took place in several areas of the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, PNN reports.
  • Since the beginning of October, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces has now reached 91, including 18 children and four women, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Ministry said that 72 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since October 1, 18 in the besieged Gaza Strip, and one in the Negev. Over 10,000 Palestinians were injured, including at least 1,458 who were shot with live fire, and 1,070 with rubber-coated steel bullets.
Paul Merrell

Turkey to US: Stop YPG support or face 'confrontation' | News | Al Jazeera - 0 views

www.aljazeera.com/...rontation-180125182540759.html

war & peace Syria Turkey YPG U.S.-foreign-policy NATO confrontation

shared by Paul Merrell on 27 Jan 18 - No Cached
  • A Turkish official said anyone supporting the YPG militia will become "a target", a warning likely to rile the United States as its forces work alongside the Kurdish armed group on the ground in northern Syria. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag's comments on Thursday came after Turkey threatened to attack the town of Manbij as part of its cross-border operation against the Afrin region, controlled by the Kurdish fighters. The US has about 2,000 soldiers based in Manbij - about 100km east of Afrin - who work with the YPG in fighting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). If the US wants to "avoid a confrontation with Turkey - which neither they nor Turkey want - the way to this is clear: they must cut support given to terrorists", Bozdag told Turkish broadcaster A Haber. "Those who support the terrorist organisation will become a target in this battle. The United States needs to review its soldiers and elements giving support to terrorists on the ground in such a way as to avoid a confrontation with Turkey," he said. There was no immediate response from the US to Bozdag's comments on Thursday.
  • A Turkish official said anyone supporting the YPG militia will become "a target", a warning likely to rile the United States as its forces work alongside the Kurdish armed group on the ground in northern Syria. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag's comments on Thursday came after Turkey threatened to attack the town of Manbij as part of its cross-border operation against the Afrin region, controlled by the Kurdish fighters. The US has about 2,000 soldiers based in Manbij - about 100km east of Afrin - who work with the YPG in fighting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). If the US wants to "avoid a confrontation with Turkey - which neither they nor Turkey want - the way to this is clear: they must cut support given to terrorists", Bozdag told Turkish broadcaster A Haber. "Those who support the terrorist organisation will become a target in this battle. The United States needs to review its soldiers and elements giving support to terrorists on the ground in such a way as to avoid a confrontation with Turkey," he said. There was no immediate response from the US to Bozdag's comments on Thursday.
  • The US military coalition operating in Manbij on Wednesday said American soldiers there have the right to defend themselves against any attack. "The coalition forces that are in that area have an inherent right to defend themselves and will do so if necessary," spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said. 
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  • Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said on Thursday she had seen media reports about Turkey asking the US to move troops from Manbij, but didn't know if that was under consideration. Turkey launched its offensive against the YPG in Afrin a week ago. The military said in a statement it "neutralised" more than 300 fighters in northern Syria since the operation began.
  • Turkey sees the YPG - trained, armed and supported by the US to fight against ISIL - as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a bloody, decades-long uprising in the country. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg defended Turkey's military action but urged caution. "Turkey is one of the NATO nations that suffer the most from terrorism," Stoltenberg said in a statement on Thursday. "All nations have the right to defend themselves, but this has to be done in a proportionate and measured way." Meanwhile, Afrin's Kurdish-run administration called on Syria's government to defend the region against Turkey's offensive. "We call on the Syrian state to carry out its sovereign obligations towards Afrin and protect its borders with Turkey from attacks of the Turkish occupier … and deploy its Syrian armed forces to secure the borders of the Afrin area," it said in a statement on its website.
  • Paul Merrell on 27 Jan 18
     
    U.S. strategy in Syria coming unglued. Erdogan said yesterday that Turkey will expand its operations inside Syria to the Iraq border, including territory currently occupied by the U.S. puppet Kurdish and U.S. troops. The U.S. will have to back out of Syria to save NATO.
Paul Merrell

Prediction of False-Flag Chemical Attack in Syria Fits US Escalation Plans - 0 views

www.mintpressnews.com/...241930

war & peace Syria WMD false-flag

shared by Paul Merrell on 15 May 18 - No Cached
  • hough last month’s unilateral bombing of Syria by the U.S., U.K. and France came and went, the threat of foreign military intervention targeting the Syrian government remains, particularly given Syria’s success in defeating the foreign-funded terrorist proxies that have prolonged the Syrian conflict for seven long years. While Israel seems to have taken it upon itself to militarily intervene in Syria to prevent the Syrian government from continuing to reclaim its lost territory, the other major powers that have long sought the end of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have seemed to step back from intervening in Syria, unless another chemical weapons attack were to take place and be blamed on Assad. For that reason, a recent article, published in early May by Russian news agency RIA Novosti, should raise concern, as it exposes alleged plans for another gas-attack provocation in Syria. According to the report, preparations for a staged chemical weapons attack began late last month as civilians were relocated to a territory near Jafra oil field in Eastern Syria, where they will participate in a staged filming of a chemical-weapons attack scene. According to South Front, a U.S. military garrison was recently established in this area. The report, based on the testimony of an anonymous member of the Syrian security services, claimed that an attack was being planned by U.S. security services and would employ “prohibited substances” against a group of civilians. The source also noted that the operation itself was being led by a former Daesh (ISIS) militant, Mishan Idris Hamash. Though this may seem unusual, the U.S. and its proxy force in Eastern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), have been known to collaborate with former Daesh forces, including militias composed of former Daesh fighters under the SDF banner.
  • While no new information has since emerged that would corroborate Novosti’s report, it is true that the U.S. — as the occupying force in the area where the provocation is allegedly being planned – does have a motive to conduct such a false flag attack, as the U.S. and Israel stand to benefit the most were the worst to occur. As MintPress has reported over the course of the war in Syria, the U.S. has long had the goal of regime change in Syria and it – along with many of its allies – have helped foment and prolong the Syrian conflict in pursuit of this end. However, timing here is key. Such a provocation, and the retaliation it would inspire, would come just as Israel and Syria are the closest to outright war in decades, as Israeli airstrikes targeting Syria earlier this week were extensive and have led to the relocation of significant military assets, including tanks, to the Golan Heights, the portion of southern Syria under illegal Israeli occupation. Were a U.S. and Western military intervention – provoked by another alleged chemical weapons attack blamed on Assad – to occur while Israel is actively preparing for a major conflict with Syria, it would put pressure on Assad from the U.S.-occupied east while Israel attacks from the south, making any military campaign against the Syrian government much more effective for those forces that have long sought the destruction of the Syrian state.
Paul Merrell

Is Mad Dog Planning to Invade East Syria?     - 0 views

www.counterpunch.org/...-planning-to-invade-east-syria

war & peace U.S.-foreign-policy Syria occupation

shared by Paul Merrell on 01 May 17 - No Cached
  • The Pentagon’s plan for seizing and occupying territory in east Syria is beginning to take shape. According to a Fox News exclusive: “The Islamic State has essentially moved its so-called capital in Syria… ISIS is now centered in Deir ez-Zur, roughly 90 miles southeast of Raqqa, the officials said.” (“ISIS moves its capital in Syria”, FOX News ) The move by ISIS corresponds to the secretive massing of US troops and military equipment on the Syria-Jordan border. It creates the perfect pretext for a ground invasion followed by a long-term military occupation in an area that Washington has sought to control for the last 18 months.  Here’s more on the topic from South Front: “The US military is reportedly concentrating troops and military equipment at the Syrian-Jordanian border. Local sources said that about 20 US Army armoured vehicles (including battle tanks and artillery pieces) carried on trucks were spotted in Al-Mafraq. US troops were allegedly accompanied with the Jordanian Army’s 3rd Division.
  • Paul Merrell on 01 May 17
     
    It seems the U.S. is abandoning all pretense of complying with international law governing warfare. Syria is a sovereign nation; the U.S. cannot lawfully invade and occupy its territory.
Paul Merrell

Two in five Americans back sanctions on Israel -- poll | The Electronic Intifada - 0 views

electronicintifada.net/...ans-back-sanctions-israel-poll

polls Palestine-question U.S.-foreign-policy

shared by Paul Merrell on 04 May 17 - No Cached
  • Two in five Americans back economic sanctions or more serious actions against Israel over its continued construction of settlements on occupied Palestinian land, a crime under international law, a new poll has found. Among Democrats, a clear majority – 56 percent – backs economic sanctions or tougher actions.
  • More than half – 54 percent – say the US should be even-handed, leaning neither towards the Israelis or Palestinians, a figure that shoots up to 72 percent among Democrats. Right now, 57 percent of respondents overall see the US leaning more towards Israel. Americans are also very open-minded towards a one-state solution encompassing all of present-day Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Overall, 37 percent of Americans favor a two-state solution, but 31 percent say they would prefer “a single democratic state in which both Jews and Arabs are full and equal citizens, covering all of what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories.” Only 9 percent prefer Israel annexing all of the occupied territories without giving Palestinians full rights, and another 15 percent say they favor the status quo of indefinite military occupation. When asked what they would prefer if their favored approach fails, almost two-thirds – 63 percent overall – said a one-state solution. This includes 70 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of Republicans. Just 10 percent overall would contemplate what appears to be the direction Israel is heading: annexation of the West Bank without giving Palestinians equal citizenship. According to Telhami, who summarized some of the poll’s findings in a Washington Post article, the survey results show strong polarization between Democrats and independents on the one hand, who tend to be more favorable to Palestinian rights, and supporters of President Donald Trump, on the other, who strongly back Israel.
  • rump recently pledged to continue the policy of his predecessor Barack Obama of maintaining military aid to Israel at record levels. But even among Republicans, the survey reveals little support for Israel entrenching its apartheid system in the long term. The poll also highlights how starkly out of step US political elites are with the public. Last week, all 100 members of the Senate signed a letter to the UN secretary-general demanding that Israel be given “equal treatment” – meaning in effect that it be exempted from scrutiny or accountability for its well-documented violations of Palestinian rights and international law. The poll is more bad news for Israel and leaders of its lobby groups, who recently acknowledged in a private report leaked to The Electronic Intifada that their efforts to thwart the “impressive growth” of the Palestine solidarity movement have failed despite vastly increasingly their spending. Similar polls in Canada and Australia in recent months have shown surging public support in those countries for actions to hold Israel accountable, including boycott, divestment and sanctions.
Paul Merrell

U.S. Army Announces Troops Will Stay In Syria After ISIS Defeat - 0 views

www.mintpressnews.com/...225864

war & peace U.S.-foreign-policy Syria permanent-bases war-crimes

shared by Paul Merrell on 18 Mar 17 - No Cached
  • Though Assad has refrained from attacking foreign forces hostile to his regime that are operating within Syria’s borders, this recent escalation has prompted him to step up his rhetoric. In a recent interview with Phoenix TV, Assad stated that “any foreign troops coming to Syria without our invitation or consultation or permission, they are invaders, whether they are American, Turkish or any other one.” Though Assad didn’t specifically single out U.S. troops, he did state the following: “What are they [foreign troops] going to do? To fight ISIS [Islamic State, formerly ISIL]? The Americans lost nearly every war. They lost in Iraq, they had to withdraw at the end. Even in Somalia, let alone Vietnam in the past and Afghanistan.” Assad then added that the U.S. “didn’t succeed anywhere they sent troops, they only create a mess; they are very good in creating problems and destroying, but they are very bad in finding solutions.” “The complexity of this war is the foreign intervention. This is the problem,” he continued.
  • However, foreign intervention is increasingly seeming more likely than not. According to the head of U.S. Central Command Army General Joseph Votel, once Raqqa is liberated from Islamic State elements, U.S. forces will be “required” to stabilize the region as U.S. officials anticipate that “America’s allies,” i.e. anti-Assad rebels, will need assistance from the U.S. military to establish “Syrian-led peacekeeping efforts” in the area. This is a frank admission that U.S. troops will not be going anywhere even after the Islamic State is removed, despite the fact that the presence of the Islamic State is the only justification the U.S. military has offered for its technically illegal presence within Syria. If this comes to pass, the U.S. will once again be an occupying force in yet another Middle Eastern nation. It seems likely that the U.S. will return to its former mantra “Assad must go” and refocus its efforts on removing Assad from power once and for all.
  • Paul Merrell on 18 Mar 17
     
    The U.S. military intervention in Syria is absolutely illegal under international law. Now to compound it, the U.S. will apparently occupy permanent bases in Syria.
Gary Edwards

DHS insider update: "It has begun" « Northeast Intelligence NetworkNortheast Intelligence Network - 1 views

www.homelandsecurityus.com/...7978

Cypress-bank-tax Globalist Banksters

shared by Gary Edwards on 18 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Gary Edwards on 18 Mar 13
     
    The forced confiscation of citizen savings held in Cypress bank accounts is a test by the International Bank to see if people will roll over or fight.  The Global elites are ready to pull the trigger on world wide economic collapse, and they're testing to see what the response will be. clip: "According to the most recent information provided to me from my source within the Department of Homeland Security known as "Rosebud," the final preparations are being made to deploy heavily armed federalized forces onto the streets of America. They will be deployed under the pretext of "restoring and maintaining order from the chaos brought about by the economic collapse," adding that "many will demand and embrace their deployment on the streets of America. They will get what they ask for, and more." Much like the security theater we have seen following the attacks of 9/11, we will be subjected to the jack-booted control of a federal army whose allegiance is not to the American people, but to the very architects of the chaos. "This is the reason that drones are flying over U.S. cities and farmland, and gun control legislation is on the fast track for complete implementation," stated this source. "How can people look at the situation in Cyprus and not think it won't happen here? It will, and the blowback will be unlike this country has ever seen. Surveillance, disarming the public, and conditioning the people to believe it's for their own safety is and has been  part of the plan all along. Anyone owing a gun will be demonized and described as contributing to the problem." "What happens when the middle class loses much of their wealth, or it is confiscated, by the stroke of a pen or a keyboard? What will the stores look like when people, unprepared due to the damn lies of the corporate media and the shills for the ruling elite, run to empty out everything they can get their hands on as the world, as they know it, collapses around them?" It was
Gary Edwards

Jon Christian Ryter -- What Do You Do? - 1 views

www.newswithviews.com/...jon373.htm

Jon-Christian-Ryter

shared by Gary Edwards on 03 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Gary Edwards on 03 Oct 12
     
    A biblical primer for Christians and Jews on the importance of this election. excerpt: What do you do when the guy in the White House deliberately lies to the American people because he's afraid they won't vote for him if he tells them the truth that, because he spent four days in Charlotte bragging about how good he was for killing Osama bin Laden, he inflamed al Qaeda enough to retaliate against him on Sept. 11, 2012 by attacking the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya and killing US Ambassador Chris Stevens, IT specialist Sean Smith and former Navy Seals Glenn Dhoherty and Tyrone Woods, and scaling the walls at the US Embassy in Cairo? What do you do when evidence clearly suggests that the envoys in both the US Embassy in Cairo and the Consultate in Benghazi received forewarning of protests and possible displays of anti-Americanism at their embassies on Sept. 11? And, what do you do when you learn the US Ambassador of Egypt jumped on a plane heading back to Washington on Sept. 10­after leaving orders for the US Martines guarding her embassy to unload their weapons? What do you do when you realize Muslim Brotherhood radical associated with al Qaeda stormed the walls of the US embassy, burned the American flag and hoisted an al Qaeda flag on American soil? (US embassies, by international law, are the sovereign territory of the country who occupies the embassy) .....................................
Paul Merrell

The Alamo II: Texans Up in Arms over TransCanada Land Grab - 0 views

www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32798.htm

keystone pipeline land grab Texas

shared by Paul Merrell on 21 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Texans are having nightmares of a Niger Delta nature, and while they have always been the friends of Big Oil, TransCanada is changing the rules of the game in a legally-aided land grab that will test just how tough Texans are.
  • The lawsuits against TransCanada are piling up to the dismay of the Keystone XL pipeline project, which has been beleaguered by political, socio-economic, environmental and legal woes at every step from its US origins in Montana to its final destination point in south Texas. No one thought Texas would be part of the problem: Texans love their pipelines. Why the change of heart, then? The simplest answer is that Texans love their pipelines because Big Oil has been paying big bucks for the privilege of running them through Texas farmland, but TransCanada is bullying them out of their fair share. This is how it works: TransCanada makes an unacceptably low offer for the land it needs; the landowner rejects the offer; TransCanada gets the land condemned in court; then it legally acquires the land for a fraction of its original offer. Condemning land is not a new tactic by Big Oil, but while US oil companies have traditionally kept this to a minimum, TransCanada has taken far too much advantage of this legal loophole to get what it wants. According to CNBC.com, the Canadian company has so far condemned over 100 tracts of land out of the 800 tracts it has acquired for the pipeline in Texas.
  • Since Texans are being forced to give up their land for peanuts for the bigger picture “common good”, let’s look at why they aren’t buying it and why they don’t feel any less patriotic for their opinion. (Common good in this case meaning “national interest”)
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • First of all, Texans point out that TransCanada is a foreign company that does not feel obliged necessarily to use American steel for its pipeline construction. According to media reports, a large percentage of the steel used for construction is imported. They also balk at the idea that much of the tar sands oil refined it Texas will be exported via the Gulf of Mexico. If the US is going to export its crude oil that should mean that it is producing more than it needs. In other words, the US must achieve oil independence before it starts exporting oil; otherwise it’s moving away from rather than toward independence. Every good Texan knows this. The US is producing about 6.2 million bpd this year, and consuming twice that. To the Texan mind, foreign-company plus exports does not add up to a reduction of US independence on foreign oil. It only adds up to revenues for TransCanada and Big Oil.
  • What is most interesting is that Texans will end up making Keystone XL a bipartisan issue. Previously, anyone who balked at Keystone XL environmental and socio-economic risks was a tree-hugging hippie. Anyone supporting Keystone XL was a Big Oil “yes man” with no respect for the environment. With Texans now up in arms over Keystone XL thanks to TransCanada, the debate will metamorphose into something more rational. The Texans, in their own unique way, will bring legitimacy to this debate. After all, no one could accuse them of being tree-hugging liberals. Texans want Keystone, they want pipelines, but they won’t stand for being cut out of the “common good” equation. To this end, some landowners are opening the gates to activists to stage protests, and this has so far ended in a handful of arrests.
  • Paul Merrell on 21 Oct 12
     
    Keep your eye on this battle. It sounds like the same conditions that led to the farmer uprising over the Minnesota Powerline Project in the late 70s. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CU_project_controversy#Organizations_formed_to_fight_the_power_line >.   In that fiasco, farmers occupied tower construction sites, tore down towers, shot out over 10K power line insulators, and sprayed hog manure on the state police using manure spreaders, on and on. And the establishment couldn't get a single criminal conviction because juries simply refused to find accused protesters guilty. A good time was had by all. 'Twas a marvelous rebellion, going well beyond passive resistance to include rampant sabotage. Will Texas farmers and ranchers follow that lead? It sounds like they may be.    
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