Body on the Line

An underreported factor behind the violence in the northern Israeli city of Acre is how militant Israeli settlers from the West Bank, funded by donors in the United States, have instigated tension in an attempt to reduce the Arab population. The Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah analyzes.

On a beautiful sunny day this week, a group from the International Solidarity Movement, a non-partisan grassroots initiative, went to the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun in order to help protect Palestinian farmers harvesting their olive crops from the Israeli army. EI corespondent Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.

The recent violence in the Israeli town of Acre has been presented by mainstream media as an aberration in Israel's model "democracy." The BBC echoed official Israeli discourse, emphasizing that the so-called "Israeli-Arabs" "have full rights as Israeli citizens." However, as The Electronic Intifada contributor Ziyaad Lunat argues, the Zionist state has historically suppressed its Palestinian citizens, through a complex legal framework that circumspectly discriminates against them, while still allowing for a "democratic" facade.

Like most Israeli youth, at age 18, Rotem Mor readied himself for military conscription. In the army, he was a liaison soldier with foreign armies at the Port of Egypt, but was kicked out of the unit for under-performance. After that, he was a soldier-teacher working with civilians, and spent a year in Jerusalem, working with disadvantaged kids. But he wasn't happy. Sarah Price writes for EI.

Israel's one-sided war on the Palestinian people continues unabated while mountains books on the subject are being written, published, read and sometimes reviewed. EI contributor Raymond Deane assess whether two new volumes on Israel's occupation, Neve Gordon's Israel's Occupation and Saree Makdisi's Palestine Inside Out, present a radically new perspective or have the potential to influence public opinion in the right direction.

The Miracle of Migration Festival — World Bird Migration Festival Saturday 25 October to Sunday 26 October Hima Anjar/ Kfar Zabad Website bird-migration-festival-invitation ** Extra Credit for EVSC 100 and BIOL 207 students to go and write about it**       

For hope, I go South. For hope, I go to Venezuela. I go to Bolivia. I go to Peru. Here’s the latest: Thousands Begin 124-Mile March in Bolivia to Support Morales Thousands of Bolivians are participating in a massive 124-mile march from the city of Caracollo to the capital of La Paz to show support for President Evo Morales [...]

“AMY GOODMAN: So you have these [phone] companies, AT&T and Verizon, that are secretly working with the NSA [National Security Agency] and tapping Americans’ phone lines, and these companies actually outsource the actual tapping to some little-known foreign companies? JAMES BAMFORD: Yeah. There’s two major—or not major, they’re small companies, but they service the two major [...]

The challenge posed by climate change could be resolved by a peaceful switch to a low-carbon economy, or alternatively inflict stresses that could include war and desertification of swathes of the US and Australia, a thinktank said on Monday. Check it out –> Climate Futures       

who do you support: the merchants and the traders or the farmers and the producers and the forests? A must read -> They’re Nuts       

From now onwards, Palestine will be represented in the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) as a permanent member, a meeting of the union's member states, excluding Israel, decided Wednesday.

Spokesman of the Saraya Alquds brigades of the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza, Abu Ahmad, said on Wednesday that his armed faction reserves the right to end the ceasefire with Israel, yet the faction is considering aPalestinian consensus on the matter.

Cairo will broaden contacts for Palestinian national unity talks underway in the Egyptian capital, Palestinian media sources reported.

The Israeli military shot and killed a 17-year-old teen late last night who was from the Jallazoun refugee camp late in the north of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

U.S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated yesterday that all possible efforts should be exerted for reaching a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal before the end of President George W. Bush's term in office early next year.

"The impact of the American food system on the rest of the world will have implications for your foreign and trade policies as well. In the past several months more than 30 nations have experienced food riots, and so far one government has fallen. Should high grain prices persist and shortages develop, you can expect to see the pendulum shift decisively away from free trade, at least in food. Nations that opened their markets to the global flood of cheap grain (under pressure from previous administrations as well as the World Bank and the I.M.F.) lost so many farmers that they now find their ability to feed their own populations hinges on decisions made in Washington (like your predecessor’s precipitous embrace of biofuels) and on Wall Street. They will now rush to rebuild their own agricultural sectors and then seek to protect them by erecting trade barriers. Expect to hear the phrases “food sovereignty” and “food security” on the lips of every foreign leader you meet. Not only the Doha round, but the whole cause of free trade in agriculture is probably dead, the casualty of a cheap food policy that a scant two years ago seemed like a boon for everyone. It is one of the larger paradoxes of our time that the very same food policies that have contributed to overnutrition in the first world are now contributing to undernutrition in the third. But it turns out that too much food can be nearly as big a problem as too little — a lesson we should keep in mind as we set about designing a new approach to food policy."From Michael Pollan's excellent address to the next US president. An excellent summary of the global state of the food system. (Thanks Anna)

Vandana Shiva's new book. Couldn't have said it better myself although I trained as a soil scientist.

‘‘We must take this pain and turn it around into a positive outcome,’’ Hartmann told the conference, adding that, ‘‘what this crisis means is that the current food system which has served us very well for decades is reaching its optimum limit. I do not see a poverty-free world. However, we can reduce levels of extreme poverty. Bananas will not solve it but can contribute substantially.’’Marcy sent me this IPS story about how growing more export bananas will help fight poverty in Africa. This reminded me that I once posted something about the terrible working conditions of banana farmers in Africa, here it is (in French)And another one, in French about banana growing in Cameroun:"Le salaire n'est pas bon, confirme Elysée Mbelle, un autre jeune planteur. Ce n'est pas normal que ce soit la famine ici alors que nous faisons manger les Français." Depuis les émeutes, les salaires ont d'ailleurs reçu un net coup de pouce, le salaire minimum passant à 31 000 francs CFA (46,50 euros) sans les primes, qui le portent à 45 000 francs CFA (67,50 euros), selon la direction de SPM.""Beaucoup d'employés se font virer parce qu'ils volent des bananes. La direction ne t'en donne pas. Seuls les rebuts sont vendus sur les marchés. Ces gens-là ont voulu se venger." Les conditions de travail (douze heures payées huit selon certains), la rémunération à la tâche, sans considération du temps passé, et la discipline de fer alimentent les frustrations. "Si tu demandes une pause à cause de la chaleur, le chef te dit : "Ou tu y retournes, ou je t'inscris en refus de travail"", rapporte un intérimaire.Not all bananas are equal.

"Land will continue to belong to the state, but "leases" introduced by reformers in 1978 could now be lengthened to 70 years, giving farmers far greater freedom over what to do with their land. The household responsibility system, also launched in 1978, allocated plots of collectively-owned land to individual families for as long as 30 years, allowing them to make production decisions and reap the profits. Experts say the development will mark a full break from the country's "semi-feudal" past by liberating farmers from grassroots party committees, which have remained responsible for allocating land use rights."Thanks Marcy and Rania who asked: how will this affect the farmers? I say: it's all good.

The Lebanese government has removed import tariffs on...pine nuts. Apparently, imports from Turkey and China are flooding the market, endangering the livelihoods of thousands of pine growers. This is a really silly move, one that can potentially have tremendous impacts on land and people in the mountain. Let me explain why.The pine trees from which we obtain the delicious pine nuts (snawbar) is called Pinus pinea. In Lebanon it only grows on the red sandy soils of the mountain, soils formed on a geological strata called the Basal Cretaceous. Unlike the vast majority of all other geological formations of Lebanon, this one is not calcareous, and it provides the neutral pH necessary for the growth and survival of pine seedlings. The people of the mountains quickly realized the economic potential of the snawbar pine, and they planted it wherever they found red sandy soils, and where there is enough rainfall to allow trees to grow. The snawbar pine forest almost perfectly match the patches of red sandy soils, and their dense and lush growth makes them look like turf carpets covering the slopes of Mount Lebanon. They're found in the Metn, in the Gharb (Aley) in the Shuf, and in one of the biggest forests is in the south, Bkassine near Jezzine.Their contribution to rural life is unquestionable: Their cones are harvested and emptied of the nuts which are then sold for a very good price, and sometimes exported. At one time in recent years, pine nuts were one of the most profitable exports from Lebanon. The empty cones are burned for heating in the summer, and the wood of the dead trees and of the pruned branches is also used at home, for building or for heating. The dead needles are also picked and used to light fires.The cultivation of pine trees is also very important for protecting forested areas. The trees are pruned yearly in a very specific fashion, as an umbrella, hence the name they are sometimes given: umbrella pine, or in French: pin parasol. Pruning is essential to have good sun penetration and good yield of cones. To harvest, one must climb the trees using ropes. The need to circulate in the forest for cultivation, and the pruning of the trees makes it such that forest fires are less likely to occur: there is less fuel, as the undergrowth is cleared; and the branches are kept very high, so they cannot easily catch fire. This is lucky because pine, unlike oak, cannot sprout from a burnt stump. In places where the pine forests have been abandoned, forest fires have been more frequent and more murderous. This is usually followed with landslides as the sandy slopes do not hold well in place. The damage is often irreversible and the end result is what we know as badlands: a desolate, dry, desertified landscape where barely anything grows.Back to the unwise governmental decree. I'm not sure what drove the government to take this measure, but I'll stake my money on lobbying by the Party of Wealth and Power, otherwise known and the rich merchants. I'm not totally against easing out tariffs when it comes to basic commodities needed by the poor, unavailable on local markets and cheaply available elsewhere, if accompanied with clear agricultural development programs to support import substitution when possible. But pine nuts? I mean that's really NOT a basic staple. The sweets industry uses them in large quantities, but that's about it. The rest of the population uses it very parsimoniously to decorate rice dishes and other foods. So we deduce that the baqlawa makers of Lebanon constitute an influential lobby. Incidentally, the large ones are concentrated in Beirut, Saida and Tripoli.The problem of course is that pine culture is one of the last profitable farming systems of Mount Lebanon. It is also one of the systems that is in symbiosis with the forest: destroy it and you destroy the forest. If farmers stop maintaining the pine forests, they (both farmers and forest) will soon be gone, replaced by sliding badlands and rural poor. Great for real estate speculators, but really bad for everyone else.

Posted in لبنانيّات, معارضات بديلة, يساريّات      

many did turn me on but only you who could turn me off. Posted in رزانيّات      

عاد باب الحارة. Posted in لاحريّات, يوميّات لاجندرية, تعتيرات, ذكوريّات, سوريّات, عنصريّات      

بينك. Posted in الحميمي خاصّ, الشخصي عام, حميميّات, رزانيّات      

بكرا رح كون بيروت يعني رح كون اون لاين Posted in لاحريّات, سوريّات      

"Liberated"...in Seattle. "Five visiting Afghan scholars have been reported missing by the University of Washington after failing to show up to scheduled training sessions at the university over the past week." (thanks Amer)

Christopher Davidson's Dubai: the Vulnerability of Success. This is long over due: there was a gap in the literature about Dubai and its star appeal in the region, and beyond. I don't know who Davidson is but he certainly knows the terrain better than anybody, although I don't think that his command of Arabic is good because there are errors in words and there was little use of Arabic sources although a handful was cited in the bibliography. And his lack of Arabic command made him miss an important element: the story of Dubai and its appeal in the Arab world, and the role of Dubai in the music and sleaze culture of present-day Arab world. But Davidson's knowledge is quite impressive and he knows the details of dynastic struggles and geneological origins. But some sections about successions reads like those tedious sections of the Old Testament: and billy bob had four sons, Bob, John, etc. The book was banned in UAE from what I read and the author does not pull any punches--I can't believe that I used an American cliche--although he is not a progressive when it comes to gender or workers' rights. In fact, he is quite a reactionary on the latter subject: "While it is certainly important that all workers are treated humanely and that the emirate conforms to international labor conditions, many of the new ILO conventions that the federal government rather hurriedly and perhaps unwisely agreed to in 2002...have led to the creation of several informal and worryingly confrontational workers' associations that the police do not yt seem to know how to control...the new ILO-inspired relaxations have been responsibe for a huge upsurge in serious and violent halbor actions, many of which have delayed the completion of construction projects...Incited to violence by a number of ringleaders, over 2,500 workers went on a rampage." (pp. 186-187) You see my point? He is really hostile to workers for some reason. There was little attention to gender and their roles. He said that some of the women from Thailand or Chia who married UAE nationals must have been ("some of whom have undoubtedly worked as prostitutes in Dubai" (p. 205) prostitutes. How does he know? He is most insightful on succession question and foreign policy, and he makes this observation about UAE intellectuals: "Rather disappoingly, most of these erstwhile intellectual opponents of the regime seem to have appeased the establishment, with the Sharjah family having switched to a more moderate stance, and with both of the lecturers now writing wholly complimentary pieces on the successes of Duba's development and the ruler's "futuristic vision for Dubai as an international hub that keeps a delicate balance between modernity and the city's Arab and Islamic identity...Dubai has always been a symbol of peaceful coexistence and interfaith tolerance and will remain so under the visionary leadershio of Sheikh Muhammad." To illustrate the extent of this volte-face it should be noted that the PhD thesis written by one of these academics in the mid-10980s had decried the political dependency of the hereditary ruling families."(p. 215) You read about Dubai in the 1950s and the fires of radicalism and Arab nationalism. Back then, Lebanese used to smuggle communist literature into Dubai (p. 46); now, Lebanese smuggle prostitutes. Times have changed. The author is very knowledgeable of the nuanced and less nuanced differences of policies of the various emirates of the UAE, which some people miss (like Dubai took a position toward the Iran-Iraq war that was different from that of Abu Dhabi). I also miss the times of intrigues and plots between the various families. On the few references to Israeli wars and bombings, the author strikes me as insensitive, to say the least. HE refers to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 as (" 'Peace for Galilee' invasion" p. 170) and calls the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006 as "Israeli bombings of Hizbullah towns in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley". (p. 171) What are Hizbullah towns? Is Tyre a Hizbllah city too? And he does not seem to understand the homosexual question (or the same-sex-sex question) in the Islamic context. He also talks about ""openly homosexual men walking around shopping mall" (p. 199.) What are "openly homosexual men"? Do they wear special hats? Despite all this and more, this books fills a need in Middle East studies. We need to add it to the list of books we use in courses dealing with contemporary Middle East politics.

Hizbullah-for-the-House of Saud: the man to the right is Hasan Fadlallah (a Hizbullah MP). He is helping to celebrate the National House of Saud Day. (thanks F.)

Electronic Ali asked me to post this with his name:"As NPR's correspondent in Palestine for years, Gradstein has a long,well-documented history of pro-Israel fanaticism. I documented this indozens of letters to NPR over several years many of which can be found here: NPR never did anything, but what is even worse is that several years ago, an investigation by the Electronic Intifada discovered that Gradstein was routinely accepting thousands of dollars in speaking fees from Zionist groups and openly being used as a propaganda mouthpiece. Although NPR admitted this, they never took any disciplinary action. The whole story is documented here: and here: It is disgusting but hardly surprising to see this shameless anti- Palestinian propagandist now working for the Washington Post. Ali Abunimah"

"JAMES BAMFORD: Yeah. There’s two major—or not major, they’re small companies, but they service the two major telecom companies. This company, Narus, which was founded in Israel and has large Israel connections, does the—basically the tapping of the communications on AT&T. And Verizon chose another company, ironically also founded in Israel and largely controlled by and developed by people in Israel called Verint. So these two companies specialize in what’s known as mass surveillance."