Israeli Military Destroys Palestinian Property, Closes Road in Beit Jala
IMEMC - Israeli forces closed a rural road and bulldozed private property in the al-Makhrour area of Beit Jala near Bethlehem on Thursday.
The bulldozers razed 500 meters of agricultural land belonging to the Shaban family from the Deheishe refugee camp and closed an agricultural road. The Israeli military also demolished part of a local restaurant and a Palestinian home in the area according to reports from Ma’an and WAFA News.
China reacts furiously to new U.S. sanctions over Iran
PanARMENIAN.Net - Beijing reacted furiously Wednesday, August 1 to new U.S. sanctions imposed on a Chinese bank over transactions with Iran, urging Washington to revoke them and saying it would lodge an official protest, AFP said.
China's foreign ministry urged the United States to lift the sanctions on the Bank of Kunlun, which it said violated the "norms of international relations" and damaged relations between Beijing and Washington.
Former U.S. officials say CIA considers Israel to be Mideast's biggest spy threat
Haaretz, AP - U.S. intelligence agents stationed in Israel report multiple cases of equipment tampering, suspected break ins in recent years; CIA officials tell the Associated Press that Israel may have leaked info that led to the capture of an agent inside Syria's chemical weapons program.
New Questions About Sheldon Adelson’s Casino Operations in Macau
By Matt Isaacs Lowell Bergman, and Stephen Engelberg
Frontline – A few days after Las Vegas Sands fired the president of its Macau casinos in July 2010, the company copied the hard drives of his office computers and moved the data to its headquarters in Las Vegas. In the months that followed, the company now acknowledges, its lawyers reviewed those records as they prepared to defend the casino giant against a civil suit by the executive for wrongful termination.
Israeli occupation forces attack funeral procession near Hebron
PNN - On Tuesday 31st July, Israeli occupation forces attacked Palestinians who were participating in a funeral in the village of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron.
Escorted by Israeli forces, Jewish settlers uproot and burn olive trees
Israeli settlers uprooted and burned olive trees on Palestinian land in the village of Nabi Saleh on Wednesday.
According to the Palestine News Network, a spokesman for the Palestinian Popular Resistance Movement in Nabi Saleh said that the Israeli military escorted a group of settlers to the area and watched passively as the settlers destroyed Palestinian property.
Blankfort rebuts Chomsky's denial of the power of the Israel Lobby
"I actually agree with many positions of Professor Chomsky. What I disagree with are three critical positions of his. The first is regarding Israel as a strategic asset of the United States in the Middle East or he believes that Washington views Israel as a strategic asset. The second is his dismissal of the pro-Israel lobby or the American Jewish establishment as having any significant influence on U.S.-Middle East policy. And the third is his opposition to boycott, divestments and sanctions targeting Israel."
Below are two pieces by Middle East analyst Jeffrey Blankfort. First is an article by Jeffrey Blankfort entitled "Chomsky and Palestine: Asset or Liability?" and the second is a radio interview with Blankfort by Kathleen Wells, "Chomsky misfires on US-Israel Relations," that appeared on her program "Race-Talk."
AIPAC pushes bill that will establish virtual state of war with Iran
This message was sent to all members of Congress from AIPAC this morning. The bill it describes establishes a virtual state of war with Iran, even though Iran has no nuclear weapons program. (For more information see "Targeting Iran")
In an effort to dissuade Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, the House overwhelmingly passed in December the Iran Threat Reduction Act which tightened sanctions on Iran. The version that has now emerged from House-Senate negotiations includes the strongest set of sanctions ever enacted to isolate any country with which we were not in armed hostilities. H.R. 1905 incorporates legislative initiatives of many members from both the House and Senate and will:
- place virtually all of Iran’s energy, financial, and transportation sectors under U.S. sanction. Companies conducting business with Iran in these sectors face losing access to U.S. markets;
- impose sanctions designed to prevent Iran from repatriating any proceeds from its oil sales, thus depriving Iran of 80 percent of its hard currency earnings and half of the funds to support its national budget;
- impose tough new sanctions on the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC);
- target Iran’s use of barter transactions to bypass sanctions, the provision of insurance to Iran’s energy sector, and the provision of specialized financial messaging services to the Central Bank of Iran;
- click here to learn more about the legislation and how it will raise the pressure on Iran.
America and our allies must unite in a tough response to Iran’s belligerent approach. We must continue to send a strong message to Tehran that it will face unremitting pressure until it complies with its international obligations and end its nuclear weapons quest.
We strongly support The Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act (H.R. 1905) and urge you to vote YES on Wednesday.
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Howard Kohr
Executive Director |
Marvin Feuer
Director, Policy & Government Affairs |
Brad Gordon
Director, Policy & Government Affairs |
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Israel Beats and Arrests Palestinian with Special Needs in Hebron
IMEMC - The Israeli military arrested a young Palestinian with special needs after severely beating him in front of his parents, the media spokesperson of the Popular Committee Against Settlement in Beit Ummar told the Palestine News Network.
Mohammad Ayad Awad said that Israeli forces broke into the home of Mohammad Khalil Mahmoud Abu Dayeh, 23, in the Safa area in Beit Ummar on Monday, and though they were aware of his mental health status, they tortured and beat him before removing him to an undisclosed location in military jeep.
Water Crisis in the West Bank and Gaza Continues
IMEMC - On Sunday in Ramallah, Shaddad Attili said at a press conference that Palestinians received 105 million cubic metres of water. That is less than the amount required by the 1993 Oslo Accords and one quarter of the 400 million cubic meters needed to meet international per capita standards.
According to a report by Amnesty International, Palestinian daily water consumption is 70 liters a day, and in some rural areas as little as 20 liters a day, while Israeli consumption is more than 300 liters a day--four times as much.
National Summit to Reassess the US-Israel "Special Relationship"
The public is invited to a nonpartisan symposium Nov. 8-9 that will examine the impact of the US-Israel relationship on Americans. Panels will include top military, diplomatic, intelligence, academic, governmental, and economic experts, as well as former Congressional representatives. Read more
