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Israeli forces open fire at Palestinian protesters
Jon Donnison in Ramallah: “Palestinians are feeling emboldened and inspired by the uprisings elsewhere [in the Middle East]”
Israeli forces have fired on groups of protesters at borders with the Palestinian territories, Syria and Lebanon.
Reports say that at least 12 people have died and dozens more have been injured.
In one incident, thousands of Palestinian supporters from Syria entered the Golan Heights, Israel says.
Palestinians are marking the Nakba or Catastrophe, their term for the founding of the Israeli state in 1948.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced out of their homes in fighting after its creation.
Responding in a televised address to Sunday’s violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped “calm and quiet will quickly return, but let nobody be mistaken, we are determined to defend our borders and sovereignty”.
Impetus
Clashes have been taking place at four separate borders or crossing points – at Erez in Gaza, near Ramallah in the West Bank, on the Golan Read more…
Syria bars medical access for protesters: HRW
(Reuters) – Syrian security forces prevented wounded protesters reaching hospitals and stopped medical teams from treating them in two towns during last Friday’s demonstrations, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
Pro-democracy protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s 11-year rule have been shaking the country, known for its heavy-handed security apparatus, for more than three weeks.
Protests after mass Friday prayers have generally been the largest because emergency law, in force since the Baath Party took power in 1963, bans any gatherings and demonstrations not sponsored by the state.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said 27 people were killed in the southern city of Deraa and one other in the Damascus suburb of Douma on Friday.
“To deprive wounded people of critical and perhaps life-saving medical treatment is both inhumane and illegal,” said Sarah Leah Witson, HRW’s Middle East director.
“Syria’s leaders talk about political reform, but they meet their people’s legitimate demands for reform with bullets.”
Based on witness accounts, HRW said security forces set up a roadblock near a bridge in Deraa to prevent protesters crossing to the other part of town.
One witness said about 50 soldiers were in front, surrounded by several thousand uniformed and civilian-clothed members of security services as well as snipers.
When protesters ignored the army’s warnings to stop, security forces fired with Kalashnikovs and snipers opened fire at the same time. Read more…
Thousands in India protest increasing food prices
NEW DELHI — Tens of thousands of trade unionists, including those from a group linked to India’s ruling party, marched through the streets of the capital on Wednesday to protest food prices, piling pressure on a government already under fire over graft. The demonstration in New Delhi was the latest in a wave of protests sweeping across the world, including the Middle East and Africa, ignited by a worldwide spike in food prices.
India, Asia’s third-largest economy and home to more than a billion people, has been grappling with double-digit food inflation. Hundreds of millions of poor have been hit the hardest.
In one of the largest anti-government protests in New Delhi in recent years, at least 50,000 people representing trade unions from the country’s political parties marched through the center of the capital towards the parliament building. In a sea of red flags and hats bearing their union name, protesters chanted Read more…
130 Libyan soldiers executed for mutiny
Scores of Libyan soldiers have been executed for refusing to open fire on pro-democracy protesters, International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR) says.An amateur video shows the bodies of some 130 slain soldiers with their hands tied behind their backs. The mutinous soldiers were shot dead in al-Baida near the eastern city of Benghazi.
This comes amid more reports of defiance among army ranks and soldiers who have refused to obey orders by embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi to shoot peaceful protesters.
The IFHR said the brutal crackdown on protesters in Libya is “crime against humanity has to be referred to the International Court of Justice,” dpa reported on Wednesday.
Medical sources told the rights group that they have seen scenes of carnage in Benghazi, where hospitals remain packed with dead bodies and people injured in attacks by Gaddafi loyalists.
Meanwhile, hundreds of dead protesters have been buried in mass graves at a beach in the capital Tripoli, reports said.
At least 1,000 people have reportedly lost their lives in the security forces’ crackdown on civilians since last week, while Gaddafi has vowed not to bow to popular calls to end his four-decade rule, and threatened to crush the pro-democracy protesters.
Security forces used heavy machine guns on Wednesday to stop crowds of protesters. However, more cities, including Tajuraa, Zwaara, Azzawiya, Benghazi, Derna and Tobruk, are falling out of the control of government forces.
Libya has tightened its clampdown by launching a door-to-door search for opposition protesters, reports say.
Libya: Colonel Gaddafi ‘flees’ to Venezuela as cities fall to protesters
Credible Western intelligence reports say that Muammar Gaddafi has fled Libya and is on his way to exile in Venezuela, according to William Hague, the foreign secretary.
Following an emergency EU meeting of foreign ministers on the situation in Libya, Mr Hague was asked if Britain, or other Western countries, knew if Col. Gaddafi had left Tripoli.
“About whether Col. Gaddafi, is in Venezuela, I have no information that says he is although I have seen some information that suggests he is on his way there,” he said.
British officials stressed that Mr Hague was referring “not to media reports but information from other channels”. “This is credible information,” said a diplomat. Read more…
Libya Crackdown on Protests Kills 24: Rights Group
CAIRO – Libyan security forces killed at least 24 people in a violent crackdown on anti-regime demonstrations during a “Day of Anger” against strongman Moamer Kadhafi, Human Rights Watch said Friday.
The New York-based rights group, citing witnesses, said 24 protesters were killed and scores injured during Thursday’s assaults on protests in two Libyan cities. The New York-based rights group, citing witnesses, said 24 protesters were killed and scores injured during Thursday’s assaults on protests in two Libyan cities.
“The authorities should cease the use of lethal force unless absolutely necessary to protect lives and open an independent investigation into the lethal shootings,” HRW said in a statement.
The regime of Kadhafi, who has been in power since 1969, vied to counter the swelling opposition movement with its own pro-government rallies in the capital Tripoli and other cities.
But the unrest has deepened as the opposition mobilises via Facebook and mobile phone messages, emulating protest movements across North Africa and the Middle East that have already brought down the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.
Geneva-based Human Rights Solidarity, citing witnesses, meanwhile said rooftop snipers in Read more…
Video purporting to show the first minute of the attack on protesters in Manama, Bahrain
Tens of thousands march against Yemen’s president
By AHMED AL-HAJ
Associated Press
SANAA, Yemen (AP) – Thousands of people marching for the ouster of Yemen’s U.S.-allied president clashed Tuesday with police and government supporters, and at least three demonstrators were injured in a fifth straight day of Egypt-inspired protests.
Police tried to disperse the demonstrators using tear gas, batons and stun guns, but about 3,000 protesters defiantly continued their march from Sanaa University toward the city center, chanting slogans against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, including “Down with the president’s thugs!”
The procession gained momentum with hundreds of students and rights activists joining along the way.
The unrest comes as ties between the U.S. and Saleh have been Read more…
Egypt’s military dissolves parliament, suspends constitution
 Protester shouts as they resist being removed by Egyptian soldiers from Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Sunday. AFP photo
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Egypt’s military leaders dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution on Sunday, meeting two key demands of protesters who have been keeping up pressure for immediate steps to push forward the transition to democratic, civilian rule after forcing Hosni Mubarak out of power.
In their latest communique, the military rulers that took over when Mubarak stepped down Friday, said they will run the country for six months, or until presidential and parliament elections can be held.
The military leaders said they were forming a committee to amend the constitution and set the rules for popular referendum to endorse the amendments.
Both the lower and upper houses of parliament are being dissolved. The last parliamentary elections in November and December were Read more…
Hosni Mubarak gives authority to VP Omar Suleiman
Egyptian Presidential Palace–
On October 14, 1981 Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak assumed the Presidency of Egypt following the assassination of President Anwar El Sadat. He is the longest-serving Egyptian ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha. He announced today that he will not resign but will handover power to Vice President Omar Suleiman ,however, he will no longer run for office.
He quotes “Will work for a peaceful transition of power; says he wants honesty and transparency…I will not run for next presidential election; wants smooth transfer of power…Praises youth and sacrifices; says he will punish those responsible for attacks”
On Feb 4, 2011 there was a failed assassination attempt on Egypt’s vice president left two of his bodyguards dead.
Since January 25, 2011, for a total of 17 days, a popular uprising from the people of Egypt called for his resignation as president of Egypt due to corruptness and illegal activities that the government was associated with. Because of inflation, many Egyptians are currently struggling to feed themselves as the country’s food crisis is beginning to spiral out of control utilizing anywhere between 40 to 60 percent of their wages going to food.
With this announcement brings many questions to mind. Who will lead Egypt? What will the future of Egypt bring to the world? How will this affect the relationship with Israel and the United States? Is this just a preview of what is to come in other Middle East/ North Africa countries whom are in an eerily similar format? What will happen with crude oil prices? As of now all we can do is watch and see history unfold before our eyes. September awaits…
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