Rolling MENA 2014 (Middle East)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BhU20FgCAAAiVyN.jpg

lolololol

Israeli forces have repeatedly violated their obligations under international human rights law by using excessive force to stifle dissent and freedom of expression, resulting in a pattern of unlawful killings and injuries to civilians. They do so with virtual impunity due to the authorities’ failure to conduct thorough investigations. This report focuses on the use of excessive force in the West Bank since the beginning of 2011. It includes cases of killings and injuries of Palestinian civilians in the context of protests against Israel’s continuing military occupation of the Palestinian territories, illegal Israeli settlements and the fence/wall.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE15/002/2014/en

According to Amnesty International’s research, he was among the first of at least 22 Palestinian civilians to be killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in 2013, four of whom were children.

Obviously every death is unfortunate, a tragedy, but let's be clear what kind of numbers we're discussing here.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2014/03/skyshield/

let's be clear what kind of numbers we're discussing here.

― Mordy , Friday, February 28, 2014 11:00 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what is 22 being opposed to here

i'm sure i'll get in trouble for answering that question, but --

i actually apologized for that callous comment on the posts very much in character thread. i guess my pt was that it actually seems like a very low number to me considering the circumstances, especially compared to neighboring countries + other western countries. eg 7,818 civilians killed in Iraq in 2013, 1,319 in Afghanistan, Syria numbers so high they are no longer counting, 11 people killed in the Turkish protests, dozens dead in Ukraine in the recent bout, not to mention the numerous fatalities of the US drone wars in Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, etc. Law enforcement in the United States killed 309 ppl in 2013. Re Israel directly, in 2013 6 Israelis were killed (5 of them in the West Bank) and 9 Gazans were killed by the IDF. Essentially in looking at an occupation where protests often turn violent (rock throwings, firebombings, etc) + compared to other locations of unrest, it just struck me as pretty hysterical language (Amnesty International calling for all arms to be cut off to Israel) for what is comparably a historically + politically very low number. This is especially when compared to historical casualty numbers between Israel + Palestine in previous years which far surpassed 22 deaths (you don't even need to look back to the Second Intifada to see vastly larger numbers).

http://news.yahoo.com/israel-intercepts-ship-transporting-iranian-weapons-004328955.html

Why would Syrian-made weapons be sent to Iran to then be ferried to Gaza?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/12/world/middleeast/syria.html

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/03/12/world/SYRIA/SYRIA-superJumbo.jpg

Digital photography experts said they believed that the image was real.

wow.

back to this shit - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-rockets.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/03/11/289058115/which-place-is-more-sexist-the-middle-east-or-latin-america?ft=1&f=1060

groaned when that showed up in the feed

this is amazing: http://electronicintifada.net/content/phony-pluralism-israels-universities/13246

Palestinian students at Israeli universities are likely to notice an increase in the number of scholarships they can apply for in the coming months. Various websites for academic institutions will also be translated into Arabic.

These changes are the result of a government decision to allocate some $82 million over the course of six years for integrating “minorities” into the higher education system.

At first glance, it may appear that Israel has undertaken a U-turn in policy following decades of discriminatory and exclusionary practices against Palestinian students.

Yet when deeper questions are asked, it becomes obvious that whatever intentions those who drafted this policy had, standing up for the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel was not one of them.

The new policy was devised as part of a project to boost “pluralism” in Israeli universities by ensuring greater access for minorities.

The Israeli Council for Higher Education, the body behind the project, has identified the minorities targeted as “Arabs, Druze and Circassians.”

Instead of celebrating an $82 million dollar program to open higher education to Arab Israeli citizens, the author compares this to "pinkwashing," and says it is just a way to distract the world from the occupation of the West Bank. It is impossible for Israel to do anything good without it just being cynical subterfuge to hide its many crimes. imho this is a kind of psychosis.

this is the video electronicintifada didn't like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5fNIpE_rZs

http://doctorzamalek2.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/bisbb1kccaex_a9.png

529* muslim brotherhood supporters who were in the camps that were forcibly closed last summer have been sentenced to death

*bbc seems to be alone in saying 528

U.S. and Israel Said to Be Near Agreement on Release of Spy
By JODI RUDOREN

The reported deal would extend Israeli-Palestinian talks into 2015 in exchange for the release of Jonathan J. Pollard, an American convicted of spying for Israel, along with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

hmmmmm

i'm not a big fan of this deal

Feels like they're just manipulating the US

for what? pollard goes free in a year or two anyway bc his term is up. in exchange they let tons of prisoners go, agree to a settlement freeze, and continue unproductive conversations for another year. seems like a bad deal to israel to me. if you really want pollard just wait 2 years and get him for free.

Oh, I thought Pollard was going to be in for longer. ...Israel will really agree to a settlement freeze?

that's what is rumored to be on the table. it wouldn't be the first time - bibi froze settlements in 2009:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/netanyahu-declares-10-month-settlement-freeze-to-restart-peace-talks-1.3435

re his freedom:

Jonathan Jay Pollard (born August 7, 1954) is an American convicted of passing classified information to Israel while working as a civilian intelligence analyst.[1] He pled guilty and received a life sentence in 1987. Because his crime occurred prior to November 1, 1987, he is eligible for parole after 30 years in prison provided he continues to maintain a clean record, and may be released on November 21, 2015.

so talks (hopefully) over for now. imho let palestinians exhaust their interests at the UN. either they'll have some success (good for them) or, more likely, find out how impotent the UN is and finally be ready to make a deal. but they won't ever make a deal as long as they think there's a better deal that can be imposed unilaterally on israel

Why "hopefully" over?

Plus, they may not be.

But in a surprise move Tuesday, Abbas signed letters of accession to 15 international conventions, saying this was a response to Israel’s failure to release the last of four groups of prisoners by the end of March.

Israel has not responded. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry canceled plans to return Wednesday to the Middle East, but also said it’s “completely premature” to write off the Israeli-Palestinian talks.

There were some indications from Palestinian officials that Abbas’ unexpected step largely was intended as a pressure tactic. Keeping on good terms with the U.S. and negotiating the terms of a Palestinian state with Israel remain pillars of Abbas’ political strategy.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said Wednesday that the Palestinians are not turning away from negotiations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/group-israel-moving-forward-with-settlement-homes/2014/04/02/c587cc5c-ba3f-11e3-80de-2ff8801f27af_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop

well, if i believed it might lead to an actual lasting peace agreement i'd be in favor, but i don't think it will.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/04/03/there_are_now_one_million_syrian_refugees_in_lebanon_a_country_of_4_5_million.html

x-post-- So you think ongoing talks that might fail would be worse than not talking at all?

Re problem with the talks--
on the one hand we have the Palestinians going ahead with UN items that annoy Israel, and on the other hand Israel continuing to authorize the building of new housing units in contested areas.

I think there are risks that ongoing peace talks pose if they don't end in a resolution. cf camp david accords + the second intifada.

Syrian situation both inside the country and with refugees elsewhere is so sad.

But how should the non-Russian, non-Iranian world address it?

A rightward-leaning description of all the problems caused by the Syrian crisis.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/03/opinion/syria-refugees-tisdall/

I have been reading neo-cons assert that "only if" the US had supported the rebels early on, magically Assad would have fallen and the fundamentalists would never have come in either. This hindsight view makes it sound so simple and easy

i don't know what the US or Obama can do to help in Syria, if anything, but i do know that kerry's time would have been better spent trying to find solutions to syria than trying to win a nobel peace prize for an intractable conflict to its south. i liked this article about things the state dpt can do to be better: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/04/03/why_the_long_face_kerry_state_department_israel_palestine

I wish the US would cut off military aid to Egypt, as we don't seem to have any influence there (which is the argument for continuing it). Some more straight talk with Saudia Arabia might be good too.

x-post-- NPR story- heard only part of it. Person interviewed wants the UN to work with countries in the area to set up refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria.

<3 Afghan Turnout Is High as Voters Defy the Taliban:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/world/asia/afghanistan-voting.html?hp&_r=0

"KABUL, Afghanistan — Defying a campaign of Taliban violence that unleashed 39 suicide bombers in the two months before Election Day, Afghan voters on Saturday turned out in such high numbers to choose a new president and provincial councils that polling hours were extended nationwide, in a triumph of determination over intimidation.

Militants failed to mount a single major attack anywhere in Afghanistan by the time polls closed, and voters lined up despite heavy rain and cold in the capital and elsewhere."

Hersh, http://www.lrb.co.uk/2014/04/06/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line:

A highly classified annex to the report, not made public, described a secret agreement reached in early 2012 between the Obama and Erdoğan administrations. It pertained to the rat line. By the terms of the agreement, funding came from Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the CIA, with the support of MI6, was responsible for getting arms from Gaddafi’s arsenals into Syria. A number of front companies were set up in Libya, some under the cover of Australian entities. Retired American soldiers, who didn’t always know who was really employing them, were hired to manage procurement and shipping. The operation was run by David Petraeus, the CIA director who would soon resign when it became known he was having an affair with his biographer. (A spokesperson for Petraeus denied the operation ever took place.)

‘The MIT was running the political liaison with the rebels, and the Gendarmerie handled military logistics, on-the-scene advice and training – including training in chemical warfare,’ the former intelligence official said. ‘Stepping up Turkey’s role in spring 2013 was seen as the key to its problems there. Erdoğan knew that if he stopped his support of the jihadists it would be all over. The Saudis could not support the war because of logistics – the distances involved and the difficulty of moving weapons and supplies. Erdoğan’s hope was to instigate an event that would force the US to cross the red line. But Obama didn’t respond in March and April.’

[...]

The foreign policy expert told me that the account he heard originated with Donilon. (It was later corroborated by a former US official, who learned of it from a senior Turkish diplomat.) According to the expert, Erdoğan had sought the meeting to demonstrate to Obama that the red line had been crossed, and had brought Fidan along to state the case. When Erdoğan tried to draw Fidan into the conversation, and Fidan began speaking, Obama cut him off and said: ‘We know.’ Erdoğan tried to bring Fidan in a second time, and Obama again cut him off and said: ‘We know.’ At that point, an exasperated Erdoğan said, ‘But your red line has been crossed!’ and, the expert told me, ‘Donilon said Erdoğan “fucking waved his finger at the president inside the White House”.’ Obama then pointed at Fidan and said: ‘We know what you’re doing with the radicals in Syria.’

But Erdoğan did not leave empty handed. Obama was still permitting Turkey to continue to exploit a loophole in a presidential executive order prohibiting the export of gold to Iran, part of the US sanctions regime against the country.

Mr. Kerry also faced criticism of the administration’s response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, with Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, saying that the United States had declined to provide even defensive weapons to Ukraine’s army to help protect it from the Russians.

Beyond that, Mr. McCain told Mr. Kerry, “You’re about to hit the trifecta,” with the lack of a political settlement in Syria, a collapse in peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, and the eventual failure of the nuclear negotiations between the major powers and Iran.

Bristling, Mr. Kerry replied that peace talks during the Vietnam War took years, and that Mr. McCain offered no alternative except going to war. “You declare them all dead,” Mr. Kerry said to Mr. McCain. “I don’t. And we’ll see what the verdict is.”

That's a pretty weighted exchange.

Is this maybe the wrong thread, though?

why? he's calling kerry out for 3 specific things in the middle east.

Yeah, sorry. Was thinking it was basically about Ukraine. Sorry.

yeah, i thought it was relevant to ukraine too but i was more lol'ing at mccain calling him an absolute failure for his entire middle east policy

Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that Israel’s announcement of 700 new apartments for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem precipitated the bitter impasse in peace negotiations last week between Israel and the Palestinians.

From NY Times

it's hard to believe that was the reason since it seemed in the moment (and repeated by abbas + erkfat) that the precipitation was not releasing the last wave of prisoners. and there were other settlement announcements throughout the process that didn't stop talks. but i know that kerry believes the settlements are the reason there isn't peace so i'm not surprised that is what he has emphasized