Israelis rally against ultra-Orthodox extremism

BBC News
27 December 2011
Last updated at 20:19 ET

Thousands of Israelis have held a rally in the town of Beit Shemesh against ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremism.

The protest followed clashes after an eight-year-old girl said she had been harassed on her way to school.

Some ultra-Orthodox in Beit Shemesh are seeking to segregate men and women.

President Shimon Peres has backed the protest, saying the "entire nation must be recruited in order to save the majority from the hands of a small minority".

He said the demonstration was a defence of the "character" of the state of Israel "against a minority which breaks our national solidarity".

'Afraid to go to school'

Thousands of protesters gathered in Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, on Tuesday evening.

They held signs "reading "Free Israel from religious coercion" and "Stop Israel from becoming Iran" - a reference to the Islamist republic's stringent restrictions on women's freedoms.

"This thing is really big and we're fighting for something really serious," one protester, Kinneret Havern told Reuters news agency.

The rally was addressed by opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who said the protesters were "fighting for the image of the state of Israel".

"It's not just Beit Shemesh and not just gender segregation, it's all the extremist elements that are rearing their heads and are trying to impose their worldview on us," she said.

In his statement, Mr Peres said: "No person has the right to threaten a girl, a woman or any person in any way."

Tensions have been growing in recent years between Israel's secular Jews and members of the ultra-orthodox Jews who seek an strict interpretation of religious laws.

In Beit Shemesh, where the communities live in close proximity, there have been regular protests by ultra-Orthodox men outside a religious girls school against what they say is the immodest dress of the children.

Anger spilled over after a documentary was broadcast on national TV in which one of the girls, eight-year-Naama Margolese, said she was afraid to walk to school in the town because ultra-Orthodox men shouted at her.

In October, her mother told the BBC the children were facing daily abuse which was giving them nightmares.

"Whenever she hears a noise she asks, 'are they there, are they out there?'," said Hadassah Margoleese.

Other women have reported similar incidents in the town of 100,000, some 18 miles (30km) south-west of Jerusalem.

Sarit Ramon described the situation in the town, where religiously observant immigrants live alongside Israelis embracing a more modern lifestyle, as having been "catastrophic for years".
Microcosm

Beit Shemesh resident Alisa Coleman told the BBC that she had been called a prostitute when dressed in a short-sleeved T-shirt and a skirt.

Though underlining that this behaviour was carried out by only a tiny proportion of the community, she said what was happening in Beit Shemesh was "a microcosm of what's happening in the whole country".

On Monday, one police officer was slightly hurt and a number of Orthodox Jews were detained after a group of some 300 ultra-Orthodox residents pelted police with stones and eggs in an incident reportedly triggered after police tried to remove a sign ordering segregation.

After the clashes, ultra-Orthodox activists from Beit Shemesh issued a statement condemning the violence, but also accusing the media of initiating "deliberate provocations in order to make the peaceful, quiet and tolerant residents, who live their lives according to their beliefs, look bad".

Such clashes have become more frequent in Israel in recent years as the authorities have challenged efforts by ultra-Orthodox Jews to segregate women in public places.

The BBC's Jon Donnison in Beit Shemesh says the events have highlighted what is a growing religious divide in Israel.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 10% of the population in Israel. The community has a high birth rate and is growing rapidly.

Jews as hardline Muslims: Israel gender segregation row protest planned

There have been growing divisions between ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews in Israel

BBC News
27 December 2011
Last updated at 06:37 ET



Demonstrations are planned in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem, against the way some ultra-Orthodox Jews treat women.

There have been clashes in the town between members of the conservative Jewish community and police.

Some ultra-Orthodox men have been demanding strict gender segregation and "modest" dress for women.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to end attempts to enforce segregation of the sexes.

He has said that harassment and discrimination have no place in a liberal democracy.

'Deliberate provocation'

The rally is expected to be attended by some ultra-Orthodox Jews seeking to distance themselves from those they call "extremists".

On Monday, one police officer was slightly hurt and a number of Orthodox Jews were detained after a group of some 300 ultra-Orthodox residents pelted police with stones and eggs.

The incident was reportedly triggered after police tried to remove a sign ordering segregation.

A television crew attempting to film in the town were surrounded and harassed - the second alleged attack on journalists in as many days.

On Sunday, a crew from Channel 2 news were attacked as they were filming, say reports, with rocks allegedly thrown at their van.

The alleged assault came days after Channel 2 aired a story about an eight-year-old American girl, Naama Margolese, who said she was afraid to walk to school because ultra-Orthodox men shouted at her.

After Monday's clashes, unnamed ultra-Orthodox activists from Beit Shemesh issued a statement condemning the violence, but also accusing the media of initiating "deliberate provocations in order to make the peaceful, quiet and tolerant residents, who live their lives according to their beliefs, look bad".

Such clashes have become more frequent in Israel in recent years as the authorities have challenged efforts by ultra-Orthodox Jews to segregate women in public places.

The BBC's Jon Donnison, in Jerusalem, says the events have highlighted what is a growing religious divide in Israel.

Other recent points of contention include demands for separate seating areas for women on buses and a recent case of some soldiers who refused to remain at a performance by female singers.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 10% of the population in Israel. The community has a high birth rate and is growing rapidly.

Hamas marks 3 yrs since Cast Lead, decries IDF 'war crimes'

Smoke rises in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead

Photo by: Mohammed Salem / Reuters

By JPOST.COM STAFF
12/27/2011 14:10

Gaza leadership dismisses Israeli "threats" of additional operation to root out terror in territory as "psychological warfare, propaganda"; calls on world to recognize Israel as "terrorist entity."

Hamas marked the three year anniversary of Operation Cast Lead on Tuesday, saying Israeli threats to launch another large-scale operation in Gaza to root out terrorist infrastructure was nothing more than "psychological warfare and propaganda."

"These threats do not frighten the [Hamas] movement or the Palestinian people," the Ma'an news agency quoted Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri as saying at a press conference.

Abu Zuhri referred to Israeli "war crimes" and "genocide" in the Gaza Strip, stating that the international community should "deal with the occupation as a terrorist entity, the most dangerous in the world."

The Hamas official cited the UN-commissioned Goldstone Report as evidence of Israel's war crimes and called on Israeli officials to be prosecuted for their part in Operation Cast Lead in the International Criminal Court at the Hague.

Abu Zuhri deemed the Israeli operation and the siege of Gaza a "failure," saying that the Palestinian resistance in Gaza had come to serve as a model for Arab revolutions.

He added that Hamas remains committed to implementing the Palestinian reconciliation agreement with Fatah as an expression of the unity of the Palestinian people.

Tourist center planned at sensitive Jerusalem site

Boston.com
December 27, 2011

JERUSALEM—A hard-line Israeli group is launching plans for a tourist center at the site of a politically sensitive archaeological dig in a largely Arab neighborhood outside Jerusalem's Old City, officials said Tuesday.

The group, the Elad Foundation, said the new visitors center and parking garage will be built above a section of the excavation area known as the City of David, leaving the ruins below accessible. The foundation said construction is still several years away.

Israeli archaeologists at the City of David, named for the biblical monarch thought to have ruled from the spot 3,000 years ago, are investigating the oldest part of Jerusalem.

The site, one of Jerusalem's most popular tourist attractions, is located just outside the Old City walls at the edge of the neighborhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem, the part of the city the Palestinians want as the capital of a hoped-for state.

Israeli construction there is regularly subject to international criticism. The latest plan to expand the site is likely to anger the Palestinians and risks setting off violence in the volatile area.

Critics say the plan will cement Israel's hold on the neighborhood and disrupt life for Arab residents.

Danny Seidemann, an expert on east Jerusalem who is critical of Israel's policies in the city, said the plan would result in "a pseudo-Biblical theme park which radically changes the fabric of an existing Palestinian neighborhood."

The Elad Foundation, which funds the dig, is associated with Israel's settlement movement and also brings Jewish families into Silwan, whose population is overwhelmingly Arab. The effort is partly intended to keep the city unified under Israeli control.

"The new center will serve tourists and visitors, Jews, Arabs, and anyone else coming to the City of David and the Western Wall," said Udi Ragones, a spokesman for the Elad Foundation.

A spokesman for Jerusalem City Hall said Tuesday that the plans would be discussed in a committee Wednesday and would then be open to public objections as part of the standard zoning process. That process typically takes between several months and several years.

© Copyright 2011 Associated Press

Lacoste Prize cancelled amid censorship row

 

BBC News
22 December 2011

Last updated at 06:59 ET

A Swiss art prize worth 25,000 euros (£21,000) has been cancelled amid controversy the organisers censored one of the nominees.

Jerusalem-born artist Larissa Sansour claims she was taken off the shortlist for being "too pro-Palestinian".

The Elysee Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland said it was the prize's sponsors, clothing company Lacoste, who decided to exclude Sansour.

Lacoste denied the accusation and withdrew their sponsorship.

Sansour was among eight finalists shortlisted for the photography prize for her Nation Estate project.

Her trio of images was inspired by Palestine's attempt to gain UN recognition and depicts a skyscraper housing the Palestinian population.

Having submitted preliminary sketches for her work to the committee in November, Sansour received a 4,000 euros (£3,300) working grant from Lacoste.

The news of her removal earlier this week came as a complete surprise, she said.

Sansour told The Independent she had been told by senior staff at the museum that the reason for her removal was allegedly because her work was considered by Lacoste to be "too pro-Palestinian".

Organisers released a statement on Wednesday saying her work had been deemed inappropriate for the prize, which had a "Joie de Vivre" theme.

'Wrongful allegations'

The gallery later released another statement suspending the contest and its relationship with Lacoste, in support of the artist.

"The Musee de l'Elysee has based its decision on the private partner's wish to exclude Larissa Sansour, one of the prize nominees," it said.
Main Lobby from Larissa Sansour's Nation Estate project Sansour's images depict a skyscraper housing the Palestinian population

"Each nominee had carte blanche to interpret the theme in whichever way they favoured, in a direct or indirect manner, with authenticity or irony.

"We reaffirm our support to Larissa Sansour for the artistic quality of her work and her dedication."

Sansour told the Artinfo website on Wednesday afternoon she was "thrilled" with the gallery's decision to stand by her.

"As a Palestinian artist, this is not the first time works of mine or shows I have been in have been exposed to politically-motivated pressure," she said.

The gallery's statement was quickly followed by one from Lacoste, in which the French brand denied the claims and said it had taken part in no wrongdoing.

"Lacoste's reputation is at stake for false reasons and wrongful allegations," it said on Wednesday evening.

"After receiving works from all entries, Lacoste and the Musee de l'Elysee felt the work at hand did not belong in the theme of 'joie de vivre' (happiness).

"Never was Lacoste's intention to exclude any work on political grounds. The brand would not have otherwise agreed to the selection of Ms Sansour in the first place.

"In light of this situation and to avoid any misunderstanding, Lacoste has decided to cancel once and for all its participation in this event and its support to the Elysee Prize."

The row comes at a time at which the issue of corporate sponsorship of the arts has come under increasing scrutiny.

Earlier this week oil giant BP said it will continue to sponsor four leading arts institution despite concerns being raised over its involvement.

Their announcement followed news that two poets had withdrawn their names from the TS Eliot Prize in protest over its sponsorship by an investment firm.

UN groupings criticise Israeli settlement activities

BBC News 
20 December 2011
Last updated at 17:39 ET

All the regional and political groupings on the UN Security Council have criticised Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, in a highly unusual move.

The envoys said continued settlement building threatened chances of a future Palestinian state.

They also expressed dismay at rising settler violence.

However, the US - a staunch Israeli ally with veto powers in the Security Council - did not join the criticism.

Israel has so far made no public comment on the criticism.

Israel last week issued tenders for more than 1,000 housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
No joint statement

“Israel's continuing announcements to accelerate the construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories ”
EU grouping statement
Obstacles to peace: Borders and settlements

The envoys who criticised Israel represented the European Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab Group and a loose coalition of emerging states known as IBSA.

They were were reacting to a briefing by Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, the UN assistant Secretary General for political affairs.

Mr Fernandez-Taranco said that the search for peace Israel and the Palestinians "remained elusive in a context of tensions on the ground, deep mistrust between the parties and volatile regional dynamics".

Reading a statement by the EU group, UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said: "Israel's continuing announcements to accelerate the construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, send a devastating message."

"We believe that Israel's security and the realisation of the Palestinians' right to statehood are not opposing goals. On the contrary they are mutually reinforcing objectives. But they will not be achieved while settlement building and settler violence continues."

Russia - another veto-wielding member in the 15-member Security Council - also criticised the Israeli policies.

Despite the unanimity of views, the envoys did not try to draft a single Security Council statement because they knew the US would veto it, the BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN headquarters in New York reports.

Washington argues that anything to do with Israeli-Palestinian peace talks belong in a US-led bilateral process, not at the UN.

About 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

Hamas moves away from violence in deal with Palestinian Authority

 A Palestinian woman wearing a Hamas headband waits for released Palestinian prisoners to cross into the West Bank city of Ramallah. Photograph: Nasser Shiyoukhi/AP

The Guardian
Phoebe Greenwood in Gaza City
Sunday 18 December 2011 14.57 EST

Islamic party that has controlled Gaza for five years is to shift emphasis away from armed struggle to non-violent resistance
   
Hamas has confirmed that it will shift tactics away from violent attacks on Israel as part of a rapprochement with the Palestinian Authority.

A spokesman for the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, told the Guardian that the Islamic party, which has controlled Gaza for the past five years, was shifting its emphasis from armed struggle to non-violent resistance.

"Violence is no longer the primary option but if Israel pushes us, we reserve the right to defend ourselves with force," said the spokesman, Taher al-Nounu. On this understanding, he said, all Palestinian factions operating in the Gaza Strip have agreed to halt the firing of rockets and mortars into Israel.

The announcement on Sunday does not qualify as a full repudiation of violence, but marks a step away from violent extremism by the Hamas leadership towards the more progressive Islamism espoused by groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo.

The approach was concluded at recent talks between Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, in Cairo. Senior delegations representing the two factions met again in the Egyptian capital on Sunday to forge ahead with efforts to form a reconciled Palestinian government.

Iran recently cut its financial support to Hamas in a punitive response to moves within the Palestinian faction to relocate its exiled leadership, including Meshaal, from its base in Syria. Many among the Hamas rank and file have criticised their former ally, President Bashar Assad's violent assault on Syrian civilians.

Hamas believes the events of the Arab spring, in which uprisings have thrown off the old autocratic order and ushered in democratic, moderate Islamic governments in Tunisia and Egypt, have changed the landscape of the Middle East and is repositioning itself accordingly away from the Syria-Iran axis that has sustained it for decades, closer to the orbit of regional lslamist powers like Turkey and Qatar.

"European countries in particular see that the Muslim Brotherhood is a special kind of Islamic movement that is not radical. It could be the same with Hamas," said Nouno.

In a further concession to international legitimacy, the Hamas leadership confirmed on Sunday that it could entertain discussions regarding a peace agreement with Israel if the Quartet of peacebroking powers agree to modify its preconditions. Hamas will accept the foundation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders but stands firm in its refusal to acknowledge the state of Israel.

This softened tone on the international stage is not yet evident in Haniya's domestic rhetoric. Speaking at a rally in Kateeba Square, Gaza City, to mark the 24th anniversary of the foundation of the movement last week, the prime minister vowed to continue the "resistance".

"The resistance and the armed struggle are the way and the strategic choice for liberating Palestinian land from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea," he said.

The next step towards reconciliation will be made on Tuesday when representatives from all Palestinian factions meet in Cairo. Despite the process, officials within both Hamas and Fatah are sceptical that the effort will be successful. Hamas cites Abbas' insistence that Salam Fayyad continue as prime minister in a reconciled government as an obstacle to unity.

Another Palestinian mosque torched in West Bank

The Nebi Akasha mosque is located in the middle of an ultra-Orthodox area

CBS News
December 15, 2011 2:51 AM

(AP) RAMALLAH, West Bank — Vandals set fire to another mosque in the West Bank on Thursday and defaced it with Hebrew graffiti. Suspicion fell on Jewish extremists widely assumed to be behind stepped-up violence against Palestinians and the Israeli military.

The governor of Ramallah, Laila Ghanam, said arsonists doused the mosque in the village of Burqa with gasoline, then set it afire.

The Hebrew words for "war" and "Mitzpe Yitzhar" were painted in red on a wall, and the Israeli military said carpets and chairs were burned.

Mitzpe Yitzhar is an unauthorized Jewish settlement outpost in the West Bank where Israeli security forces demolished two structures early Thursday.

In recent years, settlers have attacked Palestinian and Israeli military targets in retaliation for Israeli government operations they see as overly sympathetic to Palestinians.

The increasing frequency of the attacks, the sparse number of arrests and paucity of indictments have generated allegations that the Israeli government isn't acting forcefully enough against extremists after two years of violence.

On Wednesday, following an assault on an Israeli military base, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved measures to clamp down on extremists, including giving soldiers the authority to make arrests and to ban extremists from contentious areas.

Nearly 20% of women in the US are raped, study reveals

The study revealed that sexual violence against men is also prevalent

BBC News
14 December 2011 Last updated at 22:27 ET

Nearly 20% of women in the US are raped or suffer attempted rape at some point in their lives, a US study says.

Even more women, estimated at 25%, have been attacked by a partner or husband, the Centers for Disease Control said.

The findings form part of the first set of results from a nationwide study surveying sexual violence by intimate partners against men and women.

More than 24 people a minute reported rape, violence, or stalking, it says, with 12 million offences reported.

Experts at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) described the results of the first year of the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey as "astounding".

Among the key figures included in the survey's findings were:

more than one million women reported being raped in the 12 months prior to the survey

more than six million women and men were a victim of stalking

more than 12 million women and men reported rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner over the course of a year.

Lifelong hurt

"People who experience sexual violence, stalking or intimate partner violence often deal with the effects for their entire life," said Dr Linda Degutis, director of CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Many of those attacked experience rape or sexual assault in their early years, with almost 80% of rape victims suffering their ordeal before the age of 25.

Some 35% of women raped before they were aged 18 were also raped as adults, Dr Degutis added.

Among the effects measured by the study, Dr Degutis said, were increased fears for safety and incidents of post-traumatic stress among victims.

Clinical conditions including asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, frequent headaches, chronic pain and difficulty sleeping were also more likely in women who are raped or subject to assault.

There were also clear findings about the incidences of attacks on men and observations about health impacts on men who suffer rape or sexual assault.

An estimated one in 71 men has been raped at some point in their lives, the study finds.

Almost 53% of male victims experienced some form of intimate partner violence for the first time before the age of 25. Some 25% of male rape victims were first raped when they were 10 years old or younger, the findings show.

New member Palestine raises flag at UNESCO

PARIS (AP) — Palestinians raised their flag at the headquarters of the U.N. cultural agency in Paris on Tuesday as the agency's 195th member, a historic move and symbolic boost for their push for an independent state.

By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press – 2 hours ago

Cheers rose as the red, black, white and green flag went up in pouring rain under the gaze of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. She welcomed Palestine without mentioning the U.S. funding cutoff that its membership prompted and that is hobbling the organization.

"This is truly a historic moment," Abbas said later at an indoor ceremony, his speech punctuated by rousing applause and standing ovations. He said he and the Palestinian people were deeply moved that their flag could join the 194 others at the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, headquartered in a massive concrete structure on Paris' Left Bank.

"We hope this will be a good auspice for Palestine to become a member of other organizations," he said.

The Palestinians plan to join all international organizations it is entitled by UNESCO membership to enter, Abbas said later at a news conference, putting the number at 16.

"But we will choose the right moment and the right situation. We want the moment to be propitious," he said, refusing to say when that might be.

Abbas also said the Palestinians are closely evaluating the status of their application for U.N. membership and the decision to seek a Security Council vote "could come at any moment."

The council must recommend any application for membership, but it is divided over the Palestinian bid. The United States has promised to veto a resolution recommending membership if the Palestinians get the required nine "yes" votes in the 15-member council — which diplomats say they don't have at the moment.

Palestine was admitted as a member of UNESCO in an Oct. 31 vote that prompted the United States to cut off funds to the agency — $80 million annually in dues, or 22 percent of UNESCO's overall budget. With the U.S. 2011 contribution not yet paid, UNESCO was immediately thrown into crisis.

Two U.S. laws required the halt in the flow of funds to the agency, forcing it to scale back literacy and development programs in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and the new nation of South Sudan.

The Palestinians also are seeking full-fledged U.N. membership, but Washington has threatened to veto that move, saying a negotiated settlement with Israel should come first.

"Integrating UNESCO ... is a sign the world accepts this adhesion and opens the question of why we cannot be admitted to the U.N," Abbas said at the news conference. He called UNESCO admission a "signal on the road to recognition." It is a "step forward in realizing this dream of an independent Palestinian state," he said.

Abbas said that the Palestinians are deploying their efforts to restart peace talks with Israel.

"We are ready to continue the negotiations with Israel and discuss security and border questions on condition that Israel stops colonization activities," he said, referring to a major blockage in the long-stalled peace process.

At the opening of the ceremony, he also stressed that religion is part of the Palestinian heritage that UNESCO has worked to preserve and Jerusalem "must remain the capital of the three revealed religions," referring to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The Palestinian leader later met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. France voted for Palestinian membership in UNESCO and continues to seek a role in restarting peace talks.

Bokova, the UNESCO chief, said at the welcoming ceremony that she sees Palestinian membership in the U.N. organization as "a chance" for peace. UNESCO is "a bridge and not a pretext for divisions."

"This new membership must be a chance for all to join together around shared values ... for peace," she said.

U.S. officials have said UNESCO's decision risked undermining the international community's work toward a comprehensive Middle East peace plan, and could be a distraction from the aim of restarting direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Several countries are lobbying the U.S. to renew its funding, and Bokova was traveling to the United States on Wednesday to meet with members of congress over the funding cuts, UNESCO spokeswoman Sue Williams said. UNESCO would like to find a way to get the laws revamped or get around them to restore precious U.S. funds.

The U.S. remains a full member of UNESCO and was even elected to the executive board after the funding cut.

UNESCO is known for its program to protect cultures via its World Heritage sites, but its core mission also includes activities such as helping eradicate poverty, ensuring clean water, teaching girls to read and promoting freedom of speech.

Responding to a question, Abbas said the fact that the U.S. voted against Palestinian membership in UNESCO does not mean it no longer can stand as a neutral partner in the Middle East peace process.

"The United States is still an intermediary .... We have lots of disagreements," he said, adding, "but we're not enemies."

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Saudi woman executed for 'witchcraft and sorcery'

BBC News
12 December 2011
Last updated at 13:03 ET

A Saudi woman has been executed for practising "witchcraft and sorcery", the country's interior ministry says.

A statement published by the state news agency said Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was beheaded on Monday in the northern province of Jawf.

The ministry gave no further details of the charges which the woman faced.

The woman was the second person to be executed for witchcraft in Saudi Arabia this year. A Sudanese man was executed in September.
'Threat to Islam'

BBC regionalist analyst Sebastian Usher says the interior ministry stated that the verdict against Ms Nasser was upheld by Saudi Arabia's highest courts, but it did not give specific details of the charges.

The London-based newspaper, al-Hayat, quoted a member of the religious police as saying that she was in her 60s and had tricked people into giving her money, claiming that she could cure their illnesses.

Our correspondent said she was arrested in April 2009.

But the human rights group Amnesty International, which has campaigned for Saudis previously sentenced to death on sorcery charges, said it had never heard of her case until now, he adds.

A Sudanese man was executed in September on similar charges, despite calls led by Amnesty for his release.

In 2007, an Egyptian national was beheaded for allegedly casting spells to try to separate a married couple.

Last year, a Lebanese man facing the death penalty on charges of sorcery, relating to a fortune-telling television programme he presented, was freed after the Saudi Supreme Court decreed that his actions had not harmed anyone.

Amnesty says that Saudi Arabia does not actually define sorcery as a capital offence. However, some of its conservative clerics have urged the strongest possible punishments against fortune-tellers and faith healers as a threat to Islam.

The permanent Muslim Inquisition in action guaranteeing Muhammad's Islam will face the same demand eventually for Islamic Reformation from Muslims sick and tired of primitive religious warfare instead of spiritual healing.

Arab League condemns Gingrich's Palestinian remark

CBS News
(AP) CAIRO — A senior Arab League official condemned on Sunday a statement by Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich claiming Palestinians are an "invented" people, calling it racist and a cheap stunt to get votes.

However Israeli Cabinet minister Uzi Landau said Gingrich was "right." He claimed the Palestinians do not have their own language or culture, and are instead part of the broader Arab world.

Gingrich also called Palestinians "terrorists." The comments struck at the heart of Palestinian sensitivities about the righteousness of their struggle for an independent state. Applying the label "invented" suggests that the Palestinian quest for independence is not legitimate. He later sought to clarify his position, with his spokesman saying he supports the creation of a Palestinian state as part of a negotiated settlement with Israel.

"If an Arab or Palestinian official said a racist comment that was one-millionth of what this U.S. candidate said, the world would have been in continuous uproar," said Mohammed Sobeih, the Arab League official who handles Palestinian affairs. Gingrich's comments were "irresponsible and dangerous," he added.

"If these comments were made for political gains, then this is an even bigger disaster. But it appears that this is a cheap attempt to get more votes in an election," said Sobeih. "And to get this small number of votes, this person sold America's interests by denying international law and democratic principles."

In Israel, a couple hard-line politicians welcomed Gingrich's comments.

However Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the minister Landau was speaking for himself and did not represent official government policy. He added the government would not comment on the statements because they were part of an "internal American political campaign."

Danny Danon, deputy speaker of Israel's parliament and a minority voice among his hawkish Likud party, said Gingrich "understands very well the reality we live in in the Middle East."

Many in Israel support the idea of an independent Palestine alongside Israel and recognize the Palestinian struggle for independence.

______

Associated Press reporters Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Palestinians tell Gingrich to learn history after 'invented people' claim

Officials in West Bank and Gaza say Republican presidential hopeful is cheaply trying to win the pro-Israel vote in US

Guardian.co.uk,
Staff and agencies
Saturday 10 December 2011 11.16 EST

Palestinian officials have reacted with dismay after the Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said Palestinians were an "invented" people.

The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, said Gingrich was denying "historical truths".

Gingrich said in an interview with The Jewish Channel that Palestinians were not a race of people because they had never had a state and because they were part of the Ottoman empire before the British mandate and Israel's creation.

"Remember, there was no Palestine as a state, [it was] part of the Ottoman empire," he said in a video excerpt posted online. "I think we have an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs and historically part of the Arab community and they had the chance to go many places."

Fayyad demanded Gingrich "review history". He said: "From the beginning, our people have been determined to stay on their land."

Fayyad's comments were carried by the Palestinian news agency Wafa. "This, certainly, is denying historical truths," he said.

Gingrich's statements struck at the heart of Palestinian sensitivities about their national struggle. Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian politician, said Gingrich had "lost touch with reality" and his statements were "a cheap way to win [the] pro-Israel vote".

A spokesman for Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, called Gingrich's statements "shameful and disgraceful". "These statements … show genuine hostility toward Palestinians," the spokesman said.

Palestinian Protester Dies From Wounds

Time World
By AP / DIAA HADID
Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011

Palestinian Protester Dies From Wounds

(JERUSALEM) — A Palestinian protester hit in the face by a projectile fired by Israeli forces died of his wounds Saturday, activists said. Witnesses say Mustafa Tamimi, 28, was hurling rocks at a military vehicle when he was struck in the head by a tear gas canister during a demonstration on Friday in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh.

Tensions also simmered on Israel's southern border and in Gaza, where mourners buried a 12-year-old boy killed in an Israeli strike on Friday. Militants there fired two rockets at Israel. (PHOTOS: Israel Drills for a Missile Strike.)

Tamimi is the 20th person to be killed over the past eight years at demonstrations throughout the West Bank, said Sarit Michaeli of the Israeli rights group Btselem.

The army's use of the gas canisters has come under sharp criticism in the past few years. Military officials say they are using the gas to quell violent demonstrations.

Photographs taken by pro-Palestinian Israeli activist Haim Schwarczenberg show Tamimi rushing after an armored military vehicle. The photographer says he was throwing rocks.

He then crumples to the ground a few yards (meters) from the back of the vehicle. His friends rush to the scene, covering his bloodied face with a black-and-white Palestinian checkered scarf. "As he was throwing stones, a soldier opened the door of the back of the jeep. A soldier took his gun out and shot him directly," Schwarczenberg said.

Tamimi succumbed to his wounds at the Beilinson Hospital in central Israel, said Israeli pro-Palestinian activist Jonathan Pollak.

Tamimi's supporters accused soldiers of using excessive force to deal with the protester. "The question is not whether the person is throwing stones or not throwing stones, the question is whether the army is allowed to use deadly force from within an armored vehicle," said activist Pollak. The canisters, which emit acrid smoke, are meant to push back crowds. But some Israeli troops have fired them directly at demonstrators, causing severe injuries and death. (WATCH: Who's to Blame for Gaza's Power Blackouts?)

The military spokeswoman said that forces generally used canisters "to contain the violent and illegal riots that take place in Judea and Samaria," referring to the West Bank by its Biblical name. "Such means were used during the course of yesterday's riot in Nabi Saleh."

Tear gas canister casualties include Palestinian Bassem Abu Rahmeh, who was killed in 2009 when one hit his chest. They also include Tristan Anderson of Oakland, Calif., who is suffering from brain damage, paralysis and seizures after he was hit in the head by a canister at a 2009 demonstration.

The West Bank sees weekly demonstrations against Jewish settlement activity and the building of Israel's separation barrier, which has swallowed Palestinian farmland in its route.

In the Gaza Strip on Saturday, hundreds of angry mourners marched in a funeral procession for a 12-year-old boy who was killed on Friday in an Israeli strike. Nearby, Palestinian militants fired two rockets toward Israel, but they caused no injuries, said a military spokeswoman. The all-male funeral procession passed through the Shati refugee camp as weeping women watched from nearby windows.

Israeli forces had carried multiple airstrikes against Hamas facilities and suspected militants on Friday. It was a sharp escalation after weeks of sporadic but persistent rocket fire by Palestinian militants, followed by Israeli retaliatory strikes.

One airstrike damaged a house next to a targeted site, killing 42-year-old civilian Bahajat Zaalan and wounding several family members. One of the wounded, Zaalan's son Ramadan, died of his injuries later Friday.

A strike on Wednesday killed one militant, while another strike on Thursday near a crowded park in Gaza City killed two more, scattering their body parts over the area. Israel says the militants were planning to infiltrate Israel to carry out attacks.

Yacoub Abu Ghalwa in Gaza City contributed to this report.

Gingrich calls Palestinians 'invented' people

Gingrich mocked the US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling it 'out of touch with reality' [File: Reuters]

Republican presidential hopeful defends Israel and says Palestinians are Arabs who "had a chance to go many places".

Al Jazeera
Last Modified: 10 Dec 2011 11:41

Republican White House hopeful Newt Gingrich has stirred controversy by calling the Palestinians an "invented" people who could have chosen to live elsewhere.

The former House of Representatives speaker, who is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential race, made the remarks in an interview with the US Jewish Channel broadcaster released on Friday.

Asked whether he considers himself a Zionist, he answered: "I believe that the Jewish people have the right to a state ... Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire" until the early 20th century,

"I think that we've had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs, and who were historically part of the Arab
community.

"And they had a chance to go many places, and for a variety of political reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and it's tragic."

Most historians mark the start of Palestinian Arab nationalist sentiment in 1834, when Arab residents of the Palestinian region revolted against Ottoman rule.

Israel, founded amid the 1948 Arab-Israel war, took shape along the lines of a 1947 UN plan for ethnic partition of the
then-British ruled territory of Palestine which Arabs rejected.

More than 700,000 Palestinians were forced from their lands by Zionist armed groups in 1948, in an episode Palestinians refer to as the Nakba or "catastrophe".

'Irrational hostility'

Gingrich's comments drew a swift rebuke from a spokesman for the American Task Force on Palestine, Hussein Ibish, who said: "There was no Israel and no such thing as an "Israeli people" before 1948.

"So the idea that Palestinians are 'an invented people' while Israelis somehow are not is historically indefensible and inaccurate.

"Such statements seem to merely reflect deep historical ignorance and an irrational hostility towards Palestinian identity and nationalism."

Al Jazeera's John Hendren reports from Washington
on how other Republican hopefuls are targeting Gingrich

Gingrich also sharply criticised US President Barack Obama's approach to Middle East diplomacy, saying that it was "so out of touch with reality that it would be like taking your child to the zoo and explaining that a lion was a bunny rabbit."

He said Obama's effort to treat the Palestinians the same as the Israelis is actually "favouring the terrorists".

"If I'm even-handed between a civilian democracy that obeys the rule of law and a group of terrorists that are firing missiles every day, that's not even-handed, that's favouring the terrorists," he said.

He also said the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, share an "enormous desire to destroy Israel".

The Palestinian Authority, which rules the occupied West Bank, formally recognises Israel's right to exist.

President Mahmoud Abbas has long forsworn violence against Israel as a means to secure an independent state, pinning his hopes first on negotiations and more recently on a unilateral bid for statehood via the UN.

Gingrich, along with other Republican candidates, are seeking to attract Jewish in the US support by vowing to bolster Washington's ties with Israel if elected.

He declared his world view was "pretty close" to that of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and vowed to take "a much more tougher-minded, and much more honest approach to the Middle East" if elected.

Gingrich shows the power of Zionist propaganda operating in America for decades deceiving Americans about Israel and Palestine's history. Gingrich's Zionist views are manufactured for American Christians who Israelis need for support for their apartheid ethnic cleansing racist state policy hoping to erase Palestinians from history, a unique way of European imperialist colonization. The native peoples don't exist as such. They are all homeless wanderers somehow in the way of European colonists. How many Americans even know that there is a very strong Evangelical Christian movement in support of Palestinian rights with Mennonite activists in the lead while in America, American Christians are told all Christians support Israel against Palestinians.

On Israel’s uneasy border with Egypt, a fence rises

Joel Greenberg/The Washington Post - The new border fence, such as this section in the southern resort town of Eilat, is the most tangible sign of Israel’s growing unease about the upheaval in Egypt.

The Washington Post
By Joel Greenberg,
Updated: Friday, December 2, 3:30 AM

EILAT, Israel — A short drive north from this Red Sea resort town, a new reality is taking shape along Israel’s desert border with Egypt. A lonely frontier road flanked by a low rusting fence is buzzing with earth-moving equipment and workmen erecting an imposing steel barrier encased in razor wire that is gradually snaking across the desolate landscape.

The new border fence, about 15 feet high, is the most tangible sign of Israel’s growing unease about the upheaval in Egypt, which has aggravated shaky security conditions in the Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel. The Israeli concerns were heightened in August when gunmen who crossed from Sinai struck on the border road north of Eilat, leaving eight Israelis dead.

That attack led to the acceleration of work on the border fence, which when complete will run about 140 miles from Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip south to the Eilat area. Originally intended as an obstacle to the thousands of African migrants and asylum seekers who sneak annually across the frontier, the barrier is now increasingly seen as a bulwark against security threats emanating from Sinai.

But the rising fence is also a metaphor for how Israel sees itself in a changing Middle East: Beset on all sides by profound shifts in its Arab neighbors that could alter the strategic balance in the region, it is bolstering its defenses and preparing for the worst.

Lawlessness in the desert peninsula, where local Bedouin tribes have long complained of neglect by the Egyptian authorities, has increased since Egypt’s revolution early this year. Attackers have targeted police posts and repeatedly blown up a natural gas pipeline supplying Israel, leading the government to dispatch additional security forces to the region.

Israeli officials say that members of radical Islamic groups and Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip are seeking to use Sinai as a platform for attacks on Israel. Some have cautioned that the political turmoil in Egypt, and the possible emergence of a government with a strong Islamist element, could threaten the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. The pact has kept the border calm and is seen as a key element of Israel’s security.

Matan Vilnai, the Israeli minister for civil defense and a retired general, said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio last week that he expected a “serious erosion” of the peace treaty with Egypt when its new political leadership eventually emerges. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been more circumspect, declaring that preserving the treaty remains an interest of both Israel and Egypt, regardless of what government emerges there.

For now, the border remains relatively quiet, but potentially volatile. Bedouin smugglers and illegal migrants continue to cross the still-porous frontier, and beefed-up Israeli forces are on alert for infiltration by gunmen seeking to attack inside Israel. The smugglers move arms, drugs and other contraband, while the migrants from countries like Eritrea and Sudan make the risky crossing to seek a livelihood and asylum in Israel.

63 years of existence as the last vestige of aggressive genocidal European colonial imperialism that, big surprise, cannot get along with the indigenous populations of any of its Middle East neighbors.

Israel resumes sending millions to Palestinians following Unesco customs duty row

The Palestinian Authority responded with muted enthusiasm to an announcement from the Israeli leadership on Wednesday that it will release $200million (£127 million) in frozen Palestinian tax revenue.

By Phoebe Greenwood in Jerusalem
The Telegraph
3:11PM GMT 30 Nov 2011

Israel has withheld tax money paid by and owed to the Palestinians since the Palestinian leadership applied for membership to the United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO in October, which amounts to £100million a month and makes up two thirds of the Palestinian Authority’s domestic revenue.

A spokesman for Salam Fayyed, the Palestinian prime minister and former IMF economist, said there would be no official Palestinian response to the funds’ release until the money had been transferred.

“All we know is what we have seen on the news. The Israelis have not contacted us nor have we received the money,” the official said on Wednesday afternoon.

“The situation here remains very difficult. Unless the transfer is made quickly, we will not be able to pay government salaries and many of other dues, including suppliers of medical equipment and independent contractors working on infrastructure projects.”

Mr Fayyad has spoken candidly over the past week about the financial mire his administration is in. Aside from the tax revenue withheld by Israel, the Palestinian Authority is struggling with a $300 million shortfall in money pledged but not paid by international donors. Most of these donors are understood to be Arab states.

Even with the $200million in taxes Israel has withheld, the Palestinian Authority’s financial woes will be far from solved.

For Benjamin Netanyahu, withholding Palestinian taxes has also been a lose-lose game, earning him criticism at home and abroad. The Israeli prime minister has been keen to answer increasingly critical calls from the international community to release the money but has faced fierce opposition from his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who threatened to dissolve the government coalition should the transfer were to go ahead.

Mr Liberman withdrew this threat on Sunday but remains a steadfast opponent of paying the Palestinians. Following talks between Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Hamas leaders in Cairo earlier this week, he claimed the tax revenue would "encourage and commemorate terror."

Despite this opposition, Mr Netanyahu decided to release the funds on Wednesday having sought the advice of his eight most senior cabinet ministers. A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister said the tax payments for both October and November should be with the Palestinians within the next two days.