Middle East landscape rapidly changing

[Arthur_Friend]

GHD is the kind of useful idiot posturing and sticking his nose in others affairs. He absolutely no right tio get involved if his main intent is to politicize the situtation which by the flood of postings on here is exactly what he is at. He is nothing but a stooge for extremists.

you are a despicable bunch. crawling up each others arses with your self satisfied rantings against the US and Israel..and you are the chief arse crawler Mylestheslasher. A reprehensible Cavan fool of the highest order.

The only person ranting in here seems to be your good self.

[Arthur_Friend]

GHD is the kind of useful idiot posturing and sticking his nose in others affairs. He absolutely no right tio get involved if his main intent is to politicize the situtation which by the flood of postings on here is exactly what he is at. He is nothing but a stooge for extremists.

you are a despicable bunch. crawling up each others arses with your self satisfied rantings against the US and Israel..and you are the chief arse crawler Mylestheslasher. A reprehensible Cavan fool of the highest order.

so thats a no then to chaning your previous posts???

They do tend to crawl up each others arses dont they, like lemmings the lot of them.

You see the irony in your post?

[give her dixie]

Mike, should Navi keep her nose out of middle east affairs as well?

Following Visit, UNHCHR Criticises Israel for International Law Violations

Sunday, 13 February 2011

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who just completed a six-day visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, strongly criticized Israel for its treatment of Palestinians and violations of international law.

"All state actions in support of the establishment and maintenance of the settlements, including incentives to create them and the establishment of infrastructure to support them, are illegal under international law," Pillay said at a press conference on Jerusalem Friday (11/2) marking the end of her visit.

"I have been struck by the complacency with which the entirely-avoidable predicament of Palestinians affected by the wall and settlements is treated by Israeli authorities with whom I have discussed these issues," Pillay said.

"They tend to be brushed aside as if they are minor matters. They are not. They are clear-cut violations of human rights on a very large scale," she said.

During her visit Pillay called for a halt on all settlement-related activities in East Jerusalem, as well as home evictions, demolitions, displacements and the cancellation of residency permits on a discriminatory basis.

On Monday, 7 February, the Jerusalem Municipal Planning and Construction Committee approved a plan for 13 new housing units for Jewish settlers in the East Jerusalem neighborhood Sheikh Jarrah.

The settler housing units will be built in two buildings, and will require the demolition of several Palestinian residences, leaving even more Sheikh Jarrah families homeless.

"East Jerusalem is being steadily drained of its Palestinian inhabitants, in clear-cut defiance of Security Council resolutions," Pillay remarked during her visit.

"It's only when you hear the testimonies that you begin to understand the true horror of the policies which are stifling their social, cultural and economic prospects and crippling their morale," she said.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero also spoke out against building plans in East Jerusalem.

"The plans violate international law," Valero said after the announcement of the new Sheikh Jarrah complex. "The settlements must end, in the West Bank as well as east Jerusalem."

A U.S. State Department official also denounced Israel's continued construction in East Jerusalem, saying Israeli actions "in Sheikh Jarrah and previously in Beit Orot, work against efforts to resume direct negotiations and contradict the logic of a reasonable and necessary agreement between the parties on the status of Jerusalem."

In closing her visit, Pillay said, "The politics of conflict, peace and security are constantly leading to the downgrading, or setting aside, of the importance of binding international human rights and humanitarian law," which she described as "not negotiable."

[mylestheslasher]

Are you going to provide evidence mike to back up what you say or just hide like the yellow coward you are.

[Gaaboardmod3]

Lads. Obviously an emotive topic, but if ye cannot be civil to each other and debate like adults, then I'll ban the lot of ye, and shut down the thread. It would be giving it too much credit to call some of the name calling in here childish.

[Tyrones own]

absolutely no change. These fools like to try and intimidate those who dont subscribe to their skewed, biased views.

They seem to forget that etremists on both sides feed off the interference of foreigners, both the Israelis as well Palestinian extremists . They (GDH, Mylestheslasher etc) see themselves as being on the "right" side so its somehow ok for them to interfere. Well the the problem with extremists is that, you know, they kill people who don't agree with them and I see a direct link between the propaganda that fuels a hatred  of one side or another  that the likes of GDH spew on here and what is going on in the middle east. That is what makes me so angry about this. Its the hypocisy of critizing the US for interfering and then butting in youself (and, as I said, I fully agree that the US should not interfere...or the Russians, or the British)

Bottom line is practice what you preach. Stop interfering in Middle eastern affairs and stirring up hatred of one side or the other.

Absolutely spot on...yet they sill continue to believe they are fooling people here with the relentless propagandized and biased hatred 

[muppet]

absolutely no change. These fools like to try and intimidate those who dont subscribe to their skewed, biased views.

They seem to forget that etremists on both sides feed off the interference of foreigners, both the Israelis as well Palestinian extremists . They (GDH, Mylestheslasher etc) see themselves as being on the "right" side so its somehow ok for them to interfere. Well the the problem with extremists is that, you know, they kill people who don't agree with them and I see a direct link between the propaganda that fuels a hatred  of one side or another  that the likes of GDH spew on here and what is going on in the middle east. That is what makes me so angry about this. Its the hypocisy of critizing the US for interfering and then butting in youself (and, as I said, I fully agree that the US should not interfere...or the Russians, or the British)

Bottom line is practice what you preach. Stop interfering in Middle eastern affairs and stirring up hatred of one side or the other.

Absolutely spot on...yet they sill continue to believe they are fooling people here with the relentless propagandized and biased hatred 

You agree with this then?

[Tyrones own]

Yes and have stated so!
Strange for you to pick that out of what was otherwise a very accurate, descriptive post 

[mylestheslasher]

You know it is a waste of time trying to debate on here. People with obviously no knowledge or experience of what they are talking about are permitted to come on here and call people Anti semitics (ie sectarian), accuse different posters of being the same person and make any wild accusation without providing any evidence. People like Mike Sheehy who spends half his time on the board trying to wind up people from the North on every thread he posts on. Tyrones Own writes rubbish and more rubbish but try and pull him up on anything he refuses to respond (A trait Sheehy is now following) I'm suprised with Stews position on this, always had time for him on here but I think his negative comments on here following the same line as the other 2 is a real slight on him.

So I'm going to sign of this thread by saying I am glad that people in the world in different countries at different times came to the aid of a small Island on the edge of Europe in the name of liberty and to help that island fight against oppression and I am glad they did.

[Baile an tuaigh]

No matter who your for there can be no denying the huge solidarity most Irish people have with the Palestinians.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50nTeC4QnZ4

[Mike Sheehy]

You know it is a waste of time trying to debate on here. People with obviously no knowledge or experience of what they are talking about are permitted to come on here and call people Anti semitics (ie sectarian), accuse different posters of being the same person and make any wild accusation without providing any evidence. People like Mike Sheehy who spends half his time on the board trying to wind up people from the North on every thread he posts on. Tyrones Own writes rubbish and more rubbish but try and pull him up on anything he refuses to respond (A trait Sheehy is now following) I'm suprised with Stews position on this, always had time for him on here but I think his negative comments on here following the same line as the other 2 is a real slight on him.

So I'm going to sign of this thread by saying I am glad that people in the world in different countries at different times came to the aid of a small Island on the edge of Europe in the name of liberty and to help that island fight against oppression and I am glad they did.

Good riddance. Dont let the door hit you on the way out you self-righteous, biased, anti-US, anti-Israel hate monger.

[give her dixie]

Lads. Obviously an emotive topic, but if ye cannot be civil to each other and debate like adults, then I'll ban the lot of ye, and shut down the thread. It would be giving it too much credit to call some of the name calling in here childish.

Since I started this thread, and have been labelled with some unwarranted and unsavoury titles and names, I am going to lock this thread, and Log Out. This isn't a discussion board any longer. It has turned into an insult board.

[give her dixie]

Folks, I have had a number of requests to re open this thread. If we can keep to the point, and be civil to each other, then I see no reason why it can't stay open.

Things are rapidly changing in the region at the moment with protests in Yemen, Iran, Lybia, and Jordan.
Last night the military moved in with a heavy hand in Bahrain, and 4 people are reported dead.

Lybia has seen a rise in protests, and as in Bahrain, the authorities have cracked down hard.

In Iran, protests are also taking place, and it's ironic that this is the only protest that the US have come out in support. They support protest against a country they have no relations with, and say nothing when their dictator puppets crack down......

In Gaza, nothing changes. Last night, 3 fishermen were murdered by the Israeli Occupation Forces as they worked on the beach. The border has now been closed at Rafah for over 2 weeks as the military in Egypt decide what to do. There is a real fear now gripping Gaza that Israel will invade the Siani and control the border. Anything is possible.......

The winds of change are certainly blowing across the middle east, and it's anyones guess what will happen next.....

[give her dixie]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/world/middleeast/18bahrain.html?_r=2&hp

MANAMA, Bahrain — Without warning, hundreds of heavily armed riot police officers rushed into Pearl Square here early Thursday, firing shotguns, tear gas and concussion grenades at the thousands of demonstrators who were sleeping there as part of a widening protest against the nation's absolute monarchy

At least five people died, some of them reportedly killed in their sleep with scores of shotgun pellets to the face and chest, according to a witness and three doctors who received the dead and at least 200 wounded at a hospital here. The witness and the physicians spoke in return for anonymity for fear of official reprisals.

The military said later it had taken control of most of the capital and banned protests, The Associated Press reported. The announcement on state television said the military had "key parts" of Manama "under control," hours after the killings.

Television broadcasts showed tanks rolling through the capital.

The violence came against the backdrop of turmoil swirling from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean coastline as young and disaffected Arabs took to the streets, inspired by uprisings that toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt and redrew the region's political map.

This week alone, renewed skirmishes were reported from Iran, Libya and Yemen.

In some countries, protest has been aimed at governments long supported by the United States — like the monarchy in Bahrain, which hosts the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet — valuing alliances with them in the struggle to combat terrorism and build a regional security network. But the association between their rulers and the White House has presented Washington with an acute dilemma over its response to the emerging threats to its longtime allies.

In Bahrain, the violence is more complex because the island monarchy is ruled by a Sunni minority, provoking longstanding discontent among a Shiite majority linked by its faith to Iran with its Shiite theocracy across the waters of the Gulf.

The abrupt crackdown on what had been a carnival-like protest injected a new anger into demonstrations calling on King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa to enact reforms. "Death to Khalifa, death to Khalifa," hundreds of protesters chanted on Thursday outside a hospital as women ran screaming through wards and corridors seeking lost children.

"They made the people feel safe," said a nurse, Fatima Ali, referring to what had initially seemed to be official tolerance of the huge protest in Pearl Square, emulating an uprising in Cairo's Tahrir Square that brought down President Hosni Mubarak. "Then they killed them."

Men, women and young children ran screaming, choking and collapsing as riot police ringed the square.

The square was filled with the crack of tear gas canisters and the wail of ambulances rushing people to the hospital. Teams of plainclothes police officers carrying shotguns swarmed through the area.

In the hospital morgue, one body lay next to a tray with 200 shotgun pellets that had been dug from it. Doctors said paramedics who rushed to the square in ambulances after the convulsion of violence were beaten by police. Some of the people admitted to the hospital with injuries had been handcuffed with thick plastic restraints, made to lie down, then beaten, the doctors said. A witness, who spoke in return for anonymity, said he had seen two people shot dead as they slept.

Other injuries were caused by rubber bullets, batons and beatings.

"There was a fog of war," said Mohammed Ibrahim as he took refuge in a nearby gas station. He was barefoot, had lost his wallet and had marks on his leg where he said he had been beaten. "There were children, forgive them."

On Thursday, television images showed a long convoy of armored military vehicles rolling into position in Manama. News reports quoted a military spokesman as saying the deployment was to defend people and property.

The Interior Ministry said the army would take all necessary steps to ensure security and it urged people to avoid the center of Manama.

In Pearl Square, riot police officers backed by scores of SUVs with flashing blue lights could be seen on Thursday picking their way through the deserted remnants and debris of the protesters' tent camp.

[ludermor]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12476771

Lara Logan of CBS attacked by Egyptian mob in Cairo
Senior CBS correspondent Lara Logan is recovering in hospital in the US after she was beaten and sexually assaulted by a mob while covering the Egyptian protests, the US network says.

It says the attack occurred on Friday in Cairo's packed Tahrir Square after President Hosni Mubarak stepped down.

Ms Logan became separated from her crew and was rescued by women and soldiers.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has said 52 journalists were assaulted and 76 detained during events in Egypt.

The New York-based group said all of them had since been released.

'Courageous reporter'

In a statement, CBS said that Ms Logan and her team became "surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration" with a mob of more than 200 people "whipped into a frenzy".

It said Ms Logan was recovering following what it described as "a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating".

A group of women and an estimated 20 soldiers managed to save her after she became separated from her colleagues and security, it added.

The 39-year-old South African returned to the US on Saturday.

Ms Logan is CBS News' chief foreign affairs correspondent and has reported from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the attack was "alarming", describing Ms Logan as a "brilliant, courageous, and committed reporter".

In its annual report issued on Tuesday, the CPJ said Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010, with 8 killed while doing their job, out of 44 worldwide.

The number of jailed reporters was 145, an increase from previous years.