That's how Robert Fisk starts his article when he feels poignant, and he always is.
Just a couple of days ago, a friend of mine was explaining to me how a couple of school bus drivers in Casablanca took a civic initiative to makeover a busy rotary space close to the school they serve, into a green charming space. It used to be an eye sore trash damp. The move somehow played a domino effect to some extend and a few neighbors near the rotary started cleaning the pavements outside their homes and doing something about keeping the neighborhood looking tidy. It's a beautiful story without a doubt. My question simply is how long would it last? Robert Fisk has an interesting take on this topic. I thought this was an outstanding statement and analysis by him in the Independent. What he point
Iraqi 'was beaten and sexually abused' Lawyer says new claims point to 'systematic abuse' of detainees by British soldiers By Robert Verkaik, Home Affairs Editor Monday, 16 November 2009 British soldiers forced an Iraqi detainee to wear an orange jump suit and told him that he was to be executed at Guantanamo Bay, according to new torture allegations being investigated by the Ministry of Defence. The 23-year-old man claims he was beaten and sexually abused by female and male soldiers and then flown to a British detention centre in southern Iraq which he believed was the infamous US naval base. The case is one of 33 claims being investigated by the Government which raise concerns that British soldiers and interrogators may have used torture techniques develop
Palestinian push for an independent state causes Israeli alarm Netanyahu to denounce Prime Minister's drive to sidestep Israel and secure support from UN Security Council By Donald Macintyre in Ramallah Monday, 16 November 2009 o
GETTY IMAGES The Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad met the US Senator Joe Lieberman for talks yesterday Palestinian leaders from President Mahmoud Abbas down have alarmed Israeli ministers by swinging their weight behind a planned effort to secure UN backing for a unilaterally declared independent state in the West Bank and Gaza. In an innovative strategy which would not depend on the success of currently stalled negotiations with Israel, the leaders are preparing a push to secure formal UN Security Council
Settlement by stealth belies promises of restraint Hillary Clinton has praised Israel for its policy on settlers but, the displacements go on By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem Wednesday, 4 November 2009 Maysaa Al-Kurd has lived all her life in the home her family moved into in 1956. The pomegranate tree standing in the garden was planted by her father when she was still an infant nearly half a century ago. But that hardly reassured her yesterday when she heard the Jewish settlers break into the next-door extension building her brother Nabil built to house his family in 2001. "I heard the door opened by force," she said. "And then I heard one of them say: 'This furniture belongs to whom?'" Later she saw "with my own eyes" a settler breaking a television set. Outsid
Hey guys: don't know about you but i'm planning to watch them both. This upcoming Saturday they are two important soccer games to watch in Africa. Morocco vs Cameroon at 15:30 (Morocco local time) and Egypt vs Algeria at 17:30 (Morocco local time). The first game which is the last hope for the Moroccan team to make to the African cup 2010 is going to be against the number 1 in the division Cameroon, if Eto and his friends beat Haji and his friends than it's bye bye for the Moroccans, Other wise the Atlas lions have to wait to see the outcome of the other match btw gabon and Togo. The second game of the day and in my opinion the most important and it's gonna be the most watched is Egypt vs Algeria. Algeria has beaten the Pharaohs 3-1 and are the first in the poll,
Abbas makes shock decision not stand in Palestinian poll By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem Friday, 6 November 2009 The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, last night chided the US and announced that he did not want to stand for another term in elections officially scheduled for January. The surprise move reflects deep disappointment in the moderate West Bank-based Palestinian leadership at the lack of US progress in persuading Israel's premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, to end the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Although Mr Netanyahu says he is ready for negotiations with Mr Abbas, the Palestinian leadership has insisted that a freeze is needed as a sign of good faith if such negotiations are to have any real credibility. Mr Ab
It's been a while I haven't checked les nouveautes dyel Lammalless, our Moroccan virtual congressman in Rabat representing Moroccan immigrants of America. I get a crack out of watching Lammalless everytime! His imagination, facial expressions, movements and satire never deceives. May God bless him.
Sir Donald Logan: Civil servant who assisted the Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd during the Suez crisis Tuesday, 3 November 2009
He believed that loyalty to ministers was paramount: Logan in 1972 Donald Logan's place in post-war political history is assured, as he was the only British representative present at the two secret meetings at Sèvres, near Paris, at the height of the 1956 Suez Crisis.
On 22 October of that year, as assistant private secretary to the Foreign Secretary, Selwyn Lloyd, Logan accompanied him in an RAF plane to Paris. Lloyd's mission was to consult French and Israeli leaders about the plan, proposed by the French government to the British Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, for the Israelis to invade the canal zone, and then – with the casus b
Clinton backtracks on Israeli settlements after Arab anger By David Usborne Tuesday, 3 November 2009 Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, was forced into an awkward diplomatic pirouette yesterday, insisting to Arab foreign ministers that Washington had not capitulated to Israel's continuing hunger for new Jewish settlements even if statements she had made 24 hours earlier seemed to imply exactly that. Arab anger had flared after Mrs Clinton departed from the script of President Barack Obama at the weekend, suggesting that the Palestinians should agree to resume peace talks without preconditions, including that Israel first stop all settlement construction in the West Bank. She appeared to endorse the offer by the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to institute m
Clinton backs Israel on settlements stance Agreement would allow settlers to finish 3,000 houses plus public buildings By Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem Monday, 2 November 2009
Palestinian leaders angrily accused Hillary Clinton of undercutting Middle East peace prospects yesterday after she endorsed Israel's plans to continue expanding West Bank settlements. The US Secretary of State for the first time voiced support for Israel's argument that since a freeze on settlement construction had not been a precondition for previous peace talks, it should not be one during the negotiations the US is now trying to convene. Instead of a freeze, Mrs Clinton urged the Palestinians to accept what she termed an "unprecedented" Israeli offer of "restraint" in settlement constr
Kate Allen: Swimming the Israeli settlements Posted by Eagle Eye In the 1968 film “The Swimmer”, starring Burt Lancaster, the hero hits on the idea of getting home by swimming the length of various pools owned by his rich friends in a leafy north-eastern US state.
Captivated by the sight of a string of luminous blue pools stretching into the distance, he embarks on this crazy scheme in what becomes a symbolic plunge into his own fractured psyche. It turns out that Ned, Lancaster’s character, has forgotten what has happened in his own life. The swimming pool plan slowly reveals itself as a disastrous attempt to recover his home and loved ones.
The Swimmer comes to mind in relation to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Why? Because here you hav
Shelter for Palestinian families blocked at border By Donald Macintyre Saturday, 17 October 2009 Israel has refused for eight months to allow into Gaza 488 prefabricated buildings donated by Turkey to house families whose homes were destroyed in last winter's three-week military offensive. Despite applying for permits in February, the Turkish Red Crescent has been unable to ship in the homes, which it says are intended to accommodate Palestinian civilians who are among the estimated 20,000 still homeless as a result of the war. While a majority of those are living in overcrowded temporary accommodation or with relatives, the Red Crescent said that others were living in tents, the wreckage of their destroyed buildings or a cemetery. There is no evidence that the ba
