Welcome to Fry'd Daze - What is it.... Well, it is a long running series dedicated to dialogue in the Middle East. Anyhow, this is week 3.04. This isn't intended to be a flame forum, but rather something we can exchange ideas about I/P and/or issues about the Middle East.
What Fry'd Daze is, is a way to get people to talk about whatever comes into their heads regarding this subject... an open forum where people can meet and talk.
BTW... hopefully people will actually read the stories, they are relevant. However, this is an Open Thread so speak on what you like
There was a lot of big news out this week, the Demonstrations in Egypt, unrest in Yemen, the Lebanese gov't change and these have been extensively covered here at Daily Kos thanks to a lot of effort from many different people. SO.. rather than look at those big stories that are getting a lot of press... here is the rest of the news (all important as well - just not maybe the first lead).
Our First Story is from Ma'an News: PLO condemns Al-Jazeera series
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- The executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization met Wednesday by President Mahmoud Abbas and discussed a number of issues including Al-Jazeera’s Palestine papers.
The committee condemned Al-Jazeera’s "campaign" which it called tool to distort "the Palestinian national position." They considered the campaign consistent with Israeli positions against Ramallah's leadership.
The PLO has been maintaining all week that leaks from the Palestine Papers are forgeries, and documents that have been manipulated by Al-Jazeera in conjunction with the Government of Qatar (who have ties to Hamas) to make P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas look bad, and to make him look like a "traitor" to his own people. In response, Abbas' supporters have been actively out in the street demonstrating and showing their displeasure.
In a development to this story, Al-Jazeera correspondent in Ramallah resigns
The Ramallah correspondent for Al-Jazeera International resigned Wednesday, Ma'an has learned.
Nour Odeh was the English-language network's first reporter in the occupied Palestinian territories. She joined in 2006.
Odeh declined to comment on her departure. Al-Jazeera International did not return calls.
Meanwhile in Gaza, in the days following the release of the leaked documents Hamas has gotten it's supporters mobilized as well. Hamas calls for restructuring of the PLO
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Protests erupted in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday night, with Hamas leaders calling on figures in the Palestine Liberation Organization to resign, saying leaked information on talks with Israel had revealed them as traitors to the Palestinians.
Effigies of President Mahmoud Abbas, whose legitimacy as leader of the Palestinians was called into question by Hamas earlier in the week, his appointed PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat were burned at a rally in Rafah.
Hamas leader Atallah Abu As-Sabh spoke during the rally, saying documents released by Al-Jazeera and The Guardian were moot, since "neither the PA nor the PLO truly represent the Palestinian people."
Next up is a story from Haaretz where conflict between settlers and stone throwing youth is heating up. The other day, Palestinian killed after settlers open fire in West Bank village
A nearby security camera apparently captured grainy images of the shooting and confirmed that the shooter had Israeli features.
The camera footage showed the group of Palestinians attacking a man with rocks. The man responded by firing a gun in the air, which failed to deter his attackers. The man fired again, this time in the direction of the Palestinians. The video supposedly shows the bullet entering and exiting the shoulder-chest region of one of the attackers; it is being further studied by ballistics experts.
Police also investigated the group of three Palestinian villagers who reported the incident. The group had at first said that armed settlers attacked them but further on in the investigation changed their testimony. The police are currently searching for the unidentified shooter.
Now today, near Hebron... stories are coming out around a clash between settlers and local Palestinian members of the community around an incident related to a hike. Palestinian sources say that a group of settlers confronted people, shots were fired, and one person has died. The settlers say they were out hiking, were set upon by stone throwing youths and that another group came to their rescue.
For our next story, critics of Israel have a surprising new friend. Haaretz is reporting: U.S. Democrats and pro-Israel lobbies slam Republican Senator's call to halt Israel aid
U.S. Democrats and pro-Israel lobbies slammed on Thursday comments made by newly elected Republican Senator and Tea Party representative Rand Paul who suggested that the United States should halt all foreign aid including its financial aid to Israel.
In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday Paul said that "Reuters did a poll, and 71 percent of American people agree with me that when we're short of money, where we can't do the things we need to do in our country, we certainly shouldn't be shipping the money overseas."
When asked by Blitzer if he wanted to halt an annual $3 billion that go to Israel, Paul replied affirmatively, explaining that Egypt recieves almost the same amount .
Both Democratic and Republican politicos in Washington blasted the Tea-Party senator for his comment. Congresswoman Nita Lowey called the statement "shocking".
Salon.com Reports...
The tea party-backed Paul unveiled a budget proposal this week that would slash overall government spending by $500 billion, saying the growing debt requires nothing less. It makes significant cuts in education, energy and defense while eliminating some agencies
Anyway, there are a lot of events going on right now in the Middle East and possibly the region is going through a sea change moment. Please discuss here your thoughts on what is happening.