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Aipacs proxy war on Obama

by James Zogby

Jmes Zogby

President of the Arab American Institute- Washington,DC

(source: Media Monitors Network)

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"Despite the harshness of these attacks, and the hurt, no doubt, they have brought to Ms. Robinson, I am convinced that this entire episode had less to do with her than it does with the President. And the charges against this distinguished Irish leader though not only wrong headed, hurtful to her, and unfair, were also a case of political misdirection."
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On August 12, 2009, President Barack Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor, to 16 individuals whom he described as “agents of change”. Among the awardees were: Senator Edward Kennedy; former Congressman and Cabinet Secretary, the late Jack Kemp; and Grameen Bank founder Muhammed Yunus.

One of the recipients, Mary Robinson, Ireland’s first woman President and world renowned advocate for human rights, was singled out for attack by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and AIPAC. They argued, on the flimsiest of grounds, that Robinson was biased against Israel (though for the ADL and AIPAC, anything short of effusive praise for Israel is seen as evidence of bias).

The case they built against her was based largely on her chairing the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, in her capacity as High Commissioner of the UN Human Rights Commission. The Durban Conference has been criticized by supporters of Israel for its harsh criticism of Israeli policies. There is, however, clear evidence that Robinson played an important moderating role in tempering the language of the conference, especially when it came to upbraiding those conferees who crossed the line into anti-Semitism.

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What talks?

(source:Al-Ahram Weekly)

Muslim Brotherhood claims that it is seeking dialogue with the NDP have provoked a rush of rumour. Gamal Essam El-Din sifts through fact and fiction

Security forces in Alexandria arrested seven members of the Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday as well as confiscating computers and documents. On the same day State Security Prosecutor Hisham Badawi ordered that Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh, a leading member of Brotherhood’s Executive Guidance Bureau and Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Doctors, remain in custody for 15 more days pending investigations. The prosecution authorities agreed that Aboul-Fotouh could remain in El-Kasr El-Aini hospital, where he is receiving medical treatment.

Since May almost 40 senior members of the Brotherhood have been arrested. Minister of Interior Habib Al-Adli, addressing a Police Academy graduation ceremony attended by President Hosni Mubarak three weeks ago, launched a scathing attack on the Brotherhood, affirming that the "police will never relent in directing an iron fist at the criminal activities of a group that has placed undermining legitimacy and spreading chaos at the top of its agenda".

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Cartoons

  ‘Redefing Democracy & Liberation’

Quiet slicing of the west bank makes abstract prayers for peace obscene

By Slavoj Zizek

(source:The Guardian)

On 2 August 2009, after cordoning off part of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem, Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families (more than 50 people) from their homes; Jewish settlers immediately moved into the emptied houses. Although Israeli police cited a ruling by the country’s supreme court, the evicted Arab families had been living there for more than 50 years. The event – which, rather exceptionally, did attract the attention of the world media – is part of a much larger and mostly ignored ongoing process.

Five months earlier, on 1 March, it had been reported that the Israeli government had drafted plans to build more than 70,000 new homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank; if implemented, the plans could increase the number of settlers in the Palestinian territories by about 300,000 Such a move would not only severely undermine the chances of a viable Palestinian state, but also hamper the everyday life of Palestinians.

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