Category Archives: peace

Jewish extremists cut down fruit trees in revenge attack | Maan News Agency

“Reminds one of how the KKK used to operate in in the American South.” Suspected Jewish extremists cut down fruit trees belonging to Israeli-Palestinians overnight in an apparent revenge attack for Palestinian villagers detaining Jewish settlers, police said Friday.

The vandals left placards in the orchard reading

“Regards from Esh Kodesh,” the West Bank settlement outpost whose residents were assaulted and briefly detained on Tuesday when they entered the Palestinian village of Qusra, some wearing masks.

The vandals struck near Kfar Qasim, an Israeli Arab town that borders the West Bank some 40 kilometers west of Qusra, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

Seven of the dozen settlers involved in the original incident were meanwhile remanded in custody on Thursday night, Samri added.

via Jewish extremists cut down fruit trees in revenge attack | Maan News Agency.

The NSA Uses Powerful Toolbox in Effort to Spy on Global Networks – SPIEGEL ONLINE

The Way of Tao takes on whole new meaning!

These documents reveal that in 2008, the Texas Cryptologic Center employed fewer than 60 TAO specialists. By 2015, the number is projected to grow to 270 employees. In addition, there are another 85 specialists in the \”Requirements & Targeting\” division (up from 13 specialists in 2008). The number of software developers is expected to increase from the 2008 level of three to 38 in 2015. The San Antonio office handles attacks against targets in the Middle East, Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia, not to mention Mexico, just 200 kilometers (124 miles) away, where the government has fallen into the NSA\’s crosshairs.

via The NSA Uses Powerful Toolbox in Effort to Spy on Global Networks – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

The thing to remember is that no one is actually “listening” to your conversations or “reading” your e-mail or tracking your web searches – unless you are up to no good or are in conversation with someone like that. Big cyberdata analogues scoop up billions of activities and sorts them – if it finds you fall into a pattern they are searching for and you are in a network being actively watched – then an individual may start tracking your data – specifically. Otherwise nothing is going on that is not done by Yahoo,Google and Verizon on a daily basis of monitoring lines, customer “wants” and interests to sell us stuff.

Obama sends small military to continent to South Sudan to help protect US Embassy

President Barack Obama has deployed a small military contingent to South Sudan to help bolster security at the U.S. Embassy amid escalating violence in the fledgling African nation.

In a letter to Congress, Obama said the 45 military personnel were sent to South Sudan on Wednesday. While they were equipped for combat, Obama said their purpose was to protect U.S. citizens and property and that they would remain in South Sudan until the security situation there improved.

\”South Sudan stands at the precipice,\” Obama said in a written statement. \”Recent fighting threatens to plunge South Sudan back into the dark days of its past.\”

via Obama sends small military to continent to South Sudan to help protect US Embassy.

Israel drops controversial Bedouin relocation plan | Maan News Agency

Benny Begin, tasked with implementing the so-called Prawer Plan, said he had recommended to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to \”end the debate on the law\” in parliament.

\”The prime minister accepted this proposal,\” he said at a Tel Aviv press conference, days after it emerged the governing coalition was divided on the proposed legislation.

The bill, which would have seen the demolition of some 40 unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev and the relocation of between 30,000 and 40,000 people, passed a preliminary ministerial vote in January.

But it faced intense objection from members of the parliament both from the Right, where lawmakers said the compensation in land and money offered to Bedouins was too generous, and from the Left, which said it was racist and accused the state of usurping the land of indigenous Palestinian inhabitants.

via Israel drops controversial Bedouin relocation plan | Maan News Agency.

Gaza’s oldest man dreams of peace – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Rajab Mohammed al-Toum has lived through six different periods of Palestine’s history, beginning with the rule of the Ottoman Empire, to the British Mandate, Egyptian reign, Israeli occupation, the Palestinian Authority and finally Hamas’ control over the Gaza Strip.

via Gaza’s oldest man dreams of peace – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Sweet dreams of peace and justice, mercy, joy, and freedom

Deadly blasts target Iranian embassy in Beirut – LEBANON – FRANCE 24

“There’s large scale destruction, there’s blood on the ground here on the scene. It’s not a pretty sight,” said Salhani, adding that the attack occurred, “outside the Iranian Embassy, which is surrounded by residential buildings, as most embassies are in Beirut. Many of the buildings here have their windows knocked out, you can see water spraying out of buildings and glass all over the ground.”

The al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the double suicide attacks.

In a Twitter post in Arabic, the group’s spiritual guide Sheikh Sirajeddine Zureiqat, said the “double martyrdom operation” was carried out by “two Sunni heroes of Lebanon”. A later Twitter posting warned that the group will continue its operations in Lebanon until Hezbollah pulls its fighters out of Syria.

Security camera footage showed a man rushing toward the outer wall of the Iranian Embassy before detonating a belt packed with explosives. The second explosion was caused by a car bomb, said Lebanese security officials.

There were conflicting reports about whether the victims of the attack included Iran’s cultural attaché to Lebanon, Sheikh Ebrahim Ansari. Earlier Tuesday, Iran’s ambassador told the Associated Press that Ansari had succumbed to wounds sustained in the bombings.

But in an interview with Iranian state TV later Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Ansari was critically wounded and showing “signs of life”.

Shiite-dominated neighbourhoods of Beirut have been targeted in the past few months with car bombs and rockets in what Syrian rebels say is retaliation for Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian civil war.

Hezbollah fighters in Syria have been supporting forces loyal to Assad, who hails from the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam.

via Deadly blasts target Iranian embassy in Beirut – LEBANON – FRANCE 24.

Settlers torch 2 cars in Hebron village, spray graffiti | Maan News Agency

Settlers torched two Palestinian cars in a Hebron village on Thursday, locals said.

A group of settlers from Kiryat Arba set fire to the vehicles, which belonged to brothers Abed al-Menm and Mohammad al-Salayma al-Jalajel.

The settlers also sprayed threatening graffiti in the village reading \”Good things are coming,\” apparently referring to future attacks being prepared by settlers, locals said.

Settlers routinely attack Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank with impunity.

Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown that nine out of 10 police investigations about settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law. The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.

via Settlers torch 2 cars in Hebron village, spray graffiti | Maan News Agency.

Mimi Writes…….: Dona Nobis Pacem ~ The Woman Of Leaves

Today my world doesn\’t feel safe. Does yours?

I want that elusive world peace just like you do. But it\’s not going to happen in my personal village of trees unless I make the right choices. So.

I will choose to plow uneven fields with as much love as I can muster. I will carve out safe places for people who need it. I will try to love my neighbor and follow the Golden Rule. The materials I need are not hard to find. I already have them. And I won\’t need any money. All I have to do is plow up the ground and plant.

If I could choose to become a woman who only runs to the safety of quilts instead of a bed of leaves, I would choose the latter and leave the pretty patchwork behind.

Because there is no more beautiful place in the world than to understand that it is not about the leaving behind of my comforts anymore, it\’s about how much of myself I am willing to scatter around in that pile of kaleidoscope leaves. There is beauty in the unknown. There is joy in the cobwebs of Earth. There is freedom in giving. And there is no safer place than to wallow around in a boudoir of acorns not knowing which nut you might find, but knowing you\’ll be OK if you do.

The safe place is not a place at all. The safe place is me.

Find your tree.

Make a stand.

via Mimi Writes…….: Dona Nobis Pacem ~ The Woman Of Leaves.