20 Aug 2008: from Oct (?) 2006:
The US has the highest rate at 738/100,000.
The authors note the statistics are not all equivalent.
I am also not sure where occupied populations fit in.
92nd Street Y
18 Aug 2008: via 3 Quarks Daily, a review of the panelists offered by 92nd Street Y:
Reading the 92nd Street Y Catalog: Sephardim and Arabs Need Not Apply
Makovsky, Congress, Qalqiya, the Wall, and Compensation
18 Aug 2008: From Mondoweiss:
Palestinian Mayor Says WINEP Scholar Misrepresented Him to Congress
Army/Police Turn Blind Eye to Settler Violence
Accessed 17 Aug 2008:
“The Shin Bet representative stated in the discussion that settler violence has been “intentional and planned,” adding that any Israel Defense Forces operations against settlers (eviction or demolitions) now comes with a violent “price tag.”
Police officers at the meeting criticized the IDF for reportedly saying they do not want to act against settlers, and purported comments like “Leave me alone, don’t get me mixed up with those guys.”
In response, chief of the West Bank precinct patrol unit said police also prefer not to confront settlers. “Sometimes cops also avoid acting against Jews. There are also instances where police have looked the other way in order to say ‘I didn’t see anything.’”"
Behind closed doors, police admit ‘turning a blind eye’ to settler violence
Also from the above article, statistics of settler violence against either Palestinians or Israeli forces:
“Data presented in the meeting indicated that there were 429 such incidents in the first half of this year, compared with 587 incidents in all of 2006 and 551 in 2007.”
Saad al-Din Ibrahim
accessed 4 Aug 2008:
“A Cairo court sentenced exiled Egyptian sociologist Saadeddin Ibrahim in absentia to two years in jail on Saturday on charges of damaging Egypt’s reputation.”
Hamas/Fatah
3 Aug 2008: Israel allows 150 Fatah members to leave Gaza:
Israel lets fleeing Fatah men in after deadly Gaza clashes
Apparently 180 were allowed to cross, 32 returned:
Sectarian Tensions in Egypt
accessed 3 Aug 2008:
“A monastery was ransacked in January. In May, monks there were kidnapped, whipped and beaten and ordered to spit on the cross. Christian-owned jewelry stores were robbed over the summer. The rash of violence was so bad that one prominent Egyptian writer worried it had become “open season” on the nation’s Christians.
…
Frustrated by the official posture of denial, a small group of Egyptian bloggers decided in January 2007 to try to bring Muslims and Christians together to talk. The group, which calls itself Together Before God, began with about 20 members of both faiths.
They posted an Internet survey to gauge Muslims’ and Christians’ ideas about each other and received about 5,000 responses. Two-thirds were from Muslims, the rest from Christians.
The survey showed profound misunderstanding on both sides, said Sherif Abdel Aziz, 36, a co-founder of the group. Some Muslims declared that Coptic priests wore black to mourn the Arab invasion of Egypt in the seventh century. Some Christians believed that the Koran ordered Muslims to kill all Christians.”
Moshe Tamir
accessed 2 Aug 2008:
“The soldiers who fired the 11 shells at houses in Beit Hanun were under the command of Tamir, the dedicated dad who let his son take a Tomcar for a joyride. Some 22 people were killed in the shelling and another 40 were hurt. Most lost limbs or sustained head wounds.
It was the Gaza Brigade commander, Tamir, who was responsible for that atrocity, but the IDF quickly absolved him of blame. Instead, they placed it on a faulty electronic component in the gun barrel. It was the chip, not Chico, who was to blame. In the seven days before the heinous shelling, which violates international law, Tamir’s troops managed to kill 80 Palestinians, 40 of whom were innocent civilians, as part of Operation Autumn Clouds. Their blood was let and their deaths pale in significance to the Tomcar affair as far as the army is concerned. After all, what’s some unlawful killing en masse next to illegally driving an ATV?
If indicted, it won’t be the first time Tamir has been tried in court. In the summer of 2002, when he was the commander of the Golani Brigade, his soldiers fired a tank shell at a grocers’ market in Jenin. That, too, was a war crime, but not to Israel. A 53-year-old vendor and three other children - two of whom were brothers - died in the shelling. They also had fathers who loved their sons just as much as Tamir loves his. The Military Advocate General believed Tamir was guilty of negligence, but a court cleared him of all charges. A few weeks later, Tamir’s tanks fired a shell at the same market. This time, they killed a vendor who was loading onions onto his Peugeot 504.
Former IDF chief Moshe Yaalon once said about this officer and gentleman that he needs “reeducating” because of endemic disciplinary problems in his brigade. The person who bragged that his brigade behaved like Rottweilers; who thought more violence should be used against Palestinians; who said that the destruction his soldiers caused in a Jenin refugee camp did not “cause him any moral dilemmas,” may now finally be punished. And for what? A Tomcar. And what might just spare him? For all his misdoings, this man may be cleared of blame because he is considered a “well-respected and important” officer in the IDF.
“Chico” is his nickname, according to the article.
