fact of the day

Israel's Civil Administration issues 101 different types of permits to govern the movement of Palestinians, whether within the West Bank, between the West Bank and Israel or beyond the borders of the state, according to an agency document of which Haaretz obtained a copy.

all those in favor say aye

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution calling on the United Nations to rescind the Goldstone report.

hero of the day

Freddy Thielmans, the mayor of Brussels

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oh boo fucking hoo

Several Jewish groups are criticizing Sarah Palin's use of the term "blood libel" in her video statement on the Arizona shootings.

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what a photo

Palestinian Ahmad Daana, 12, looks out from a police vehicle, as his mother and brothers (reflected in the window) watch, after Israeli police detained him on suspicion of throwing stones during clashes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, Dec. 26.
Ammar Awad / Reuters

really

if you're familiar with snl ... you're familiar with weekend update ... and if you're familiar with weekend update ... you might be familiar with a segment they sometimes do called really? ...
well in a statement released by netenyahu recently ... he says and i quote ...

Israel sees no connection at all between the peace process and building plans in Jerusalem
(source)

REALLY?

makes no sense

The U.S. envoy to the UN atomic watchdog urged Arab states on Monday to withdraw a resolution calling on Israel to sign an anti-nuclear arms treaty, warning it would send a negative signal to Middle East peace talks.
source

how is an anti-nuclear arms treaty harmful to peace efforts ... i did find some comfort in the reader comments which mostly agree with me ...

or you could just watch the news

Arab television channels are planning to air the controversial Turkish Television show that depicts Israel Defense Force soldiers shooting innocent Palestinians, the French news agency AFP reported on Saturday.
The drama, which includes images of Israeli soldiers shooting a smiling young girl in the chest, steamrolling a tank through a crowded street and lining up a firing squad to shoot at a group of Palestinians, sparked outrage in Israel.
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colonialist cuisine

Nilin Photo Garners Dutch Award

A photographer from Holland won the Silver Camera Award for a picture he took of the Israeli army showering the nonviolent protesters in Ni’lin village, near Ramallah, with tear gas.
The photo was taken by Cris Toala Olivares in October 2009 as he was in the West Bank during the olive harvest season.
The Silver Camera Award is the top prize for press photography in the Netherlands.

source

it's getting ridiculous

Israel's prime minister has ordered the construction of two massive fences along the long and porous southern border with Egypt, saying he wants to stem a growing flood of African asylum seekers and to prevent Islamic militants from entering the country.
The structure would come in addition to a massive fence surrounding the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, as well as a separation barrier that snakes along parts of Israel's more than 400-mile (680-kilometer) frontier with the West Bank, biting into chunks of the territory as it runs. Egypt has its own fence along Gaza's southern border, and is reinforcing the area with underground metal plates to shut down tunnels used to smuggle goods and weapons into Gaza.
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مش خايفين

An Israeli border police officer holds up his weapon in front of a Palestinian during scuffles between Palestinians and Jewish settlers near the West Bank settlement of Halamish January 8, 2010.

REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
(WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST IMAGES OF THE DAY)

everyone loves mubarak

Jordanian demonstrators burn a picture of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a protest against the installation of an underground metal barrier at the border between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip, in front the Egyptian embassy in Amman January 3, 2010.
REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Jordanian demonstrators burn a picture of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a protest against the installation of an underground metal barrier at the border between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip, in front the Egyptian embassy in Amman January 3, 2010.
REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST IMAGES OF THE DAY)

أمة الإسلام

قال عليه الصلاة والسلام : مثل المؤمنين في توادهم وتراحـمـهــــــم وتعاطفهم، مثل الجسد الواحد إذا اشتكى منه عضو تداعى له سائر الجسد بالسهر والحـمى

********************

Egyptian soldiers are seen securing the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, as Palestinians demonstrate on the Gaza side against Egypt installing a border barrier to block smuggling tunnels with Gaza, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 28, 2009. Egypt acknowledged last week it is installing a series of metal sheets deep along the Gaza border to block tunnels used to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian territory.
(AP Photo/Eyad Baba)

netenyahu comes to egypt

Aboul Gheit did not offer details of Mubarak's discussion with Netanyahu at Cairo's Presidential Palace. (source)

oh i think i can guess what that discussion was like ...

netenyahu: hey thanks for building that wall husni
mubarak: you're most welcome friend
netenyahu: hey i didn't say you could talk
mubarak: i'm sorry friend
netenyahu: alright alright ... now less talking more sucking

un-fucking-believable

Nearly 300 French activists camped outside their embassy in Cairo to protest against Egyptian authorities' prevention of their journey to El Arish, where they were scheduled to take part in a "freedom march" showing solidarity with Palestinians under siege in Gaza.
The protesters, who were supposed to leave for the coastal city on Sunday morning, were surprised when buses they rented for the trip didn't show up. They were later told by the bus company that authorities had banned the trip.
Consequently, the protesters blocked the road outside the French Embassy, demanding the buses, before security forces threatened them with water cannons.
The French campaigners are part of a larger group of no less than 1,300 activists traveling to Egypt from 42 countries in order to take part in the Gaza Freedom March. Egyptian authorities previously said that none of them would be allowed to carry out the march or enter the Palestinian enclave through its borders.
Authorities have similarly stopped a number of Americans from marking the first anniversary of the Gaza bombings by renting boats on the Nile River. Another commemoration of the war in Gaza was broken up by police at the Kasr El Nil Bridge near downtown Cairo.
Meanwhile, organizers of the freedom march announced that 38 participants were briefly detained by security forces at their hotel inside El Arish (30 miles away from the Gaza border) and at the city's bus station on Sunday afternoon.
source

meanwhile ....

Gazan resident Muhammad Abu Shabab appealed to the Palestinian Ministry of Health to put pressure on Israel to allow the import of Galactomin 19 infant formula for his 4-month-old nephew.
Abu Shabab said in a statement that his nephew, Yahiya Ahmad Abu Shabab, has been suffering chronic diarrhea since he was born at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and that the formula is the only thing likely to stabilize his condition.
The formula is designed for children with intolerances to lactose, galactose and glucose.
After Yahiya's birth, he was treated at a hospital in Jaffa for digestion problems and returned home with four large containers of Galactomin 19 formula. According to his uncle, the last of the boy's containers of formula will soon be empty.
There are no alternative formulas in the Gaza Strip.
Abu Shabab said he approached local authorities, NGOs, and companies but could not locate solution that his nephew could use.
source

never forgive

The kids ask me about their father all the time. I tell them that he is a martyr and has gone to heaven. They ask me how they can go to visit. Once, my daughter told me to get a ladder, take a knife and climb up and cut open the sky so I could bring their father back. Another time, my son said to go to the place under the ground where my father is buried and break it open with a hammer so you can bring him back. My eldest daughter once told me to speak to God on Jawwal [the Palestinian mobile phone company] and tell him to let us see our father. All the time they ask me why they killed their father and not somebody else. They have so many questions ... sometimes I don't have an answer.
One day, my son asked me for a shekel. I said, "OK, here is a shekel," but he said "I don't want a shekel from you, I want one from my father."

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الأشقاء العرب

Egyptian soldiers are seen securing the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, as Palestinians demonstrate on the Gaza side against Egypt installing a border barrier to block smuggling tunnels with Gaza, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 28, 2009. Egypt acknowledged last week it is installing a series of metal sheets deep along the Gaza border to block tunnels used to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian territory.
(AP Photo/Eyad Baba)

tfoo 3alaina ...

لا حول و لا قوة إلا بالله