Did the French Finish Arafat's Autopsy?

"Arafat widow seeks investigation of his death" by Lori Hinnant  |  Associated Press, August 01, 2012

PARIS — The widow of Yasser Arafat formally asked on Tuesday for a French investigation into his death, bringing a complaint of assassination weeks after raising new suspicions that the former Palestinian leader was poisoned before his 2004 death in a French military hospital.

It was raising old suspicions, but why quibble?

Earlier this month, Palestinian authorities gave final approval for Arafat’s body to be exhumed. Arafat’s nephew, who as a close relative has veto rights over digging up the remains, said Tuesday there was no need for an exhumation.

In recent tests of Arafat’s belongings requested by his widow, Suha, and the Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera, a Swiss lab detected elevated traces of polonium-210 — a rare and highly lethal substance — but said the findings were inconclusive and that Arafat’s bones would have to be tested. Questions remain about the results of any additional tests after so long.

French doctors have said Arafat died of a massive stroke and had suffered from a blood condition.

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"Remains of Arafat set to be exhumed

RAMALLAH — The remains of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed Tuesday as part of a renewed investigation into his death, a Palestinian investigator said Saturday. Arafat died in November 2004 in a French hospital, a month after suddenly falling ill. Swiss, French, and Russian experts will take samples from Arafat’s bones, said Tawfik Tirawi, who heads the Palestinian investigation (AP)."

Related:

French judges to exhume Arafat body in West Bank
Arafat’s remains exhumed to test for possible poisoning

Also see: Arafat's Autopsy

See who poisoned him?

"Israel admits killing Arafat’s deputy" Associated Press, November 02, 2012

JERUSALEM — Israel acknowledged Thursday it killed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s deputy in a 1988 raid in Tunisia, lifting a nearly 25-year veil of secrecy in a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of its secret operations.

One of the commandos was disguised as a woman on a romantic vacation, and one of the weapons was hidden in a box of chocolates.

A timely post in light of the Boston Marathon Bombings.

Khalil al-Wazir, who was better known by his nom de guerre Abu Jihad, founded Fatah, the dominant faction in the Palestinian Liberation Organization, with Arafat and was blamed for a series of deadly attacks against Israelis.

Two of those involved in the operation that killed Wazir now hold high political office in Israel: Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon. At the time, Barak was deputy military chief, and Yaalon was head of the elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal. Their precise roles in the operation were not divulged, and both men’s offices declined to comment.

Israel has long been suspected of assassinating Wazir. But only now has the country’s military censor cleared the Yediot Ahronot daily to publish the information, including an interview with the commando who killed him, at least 12 years after the newspaper obtained the information.

Dozens of similar operations have been attributed to Israel over the decades.

But no one talks about those except blogs.

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Nothing like a one-day wonder, 'eh?

I guess they finished:

"French prosecutors opened a murder inquiry into the death of Yasser Arafat on Tuesday, judicial officials told a French new agency, after his wife and a TV investigation raised new questions about whether the Palestinian leader was poisoned."

That was how many months ago? 

Related: Abu Musa, 86; Palestinian fighter abandoned Arafat

The same way AmeriKa's ma$$ media abandoned the story.

Other wives of Palestine:

"Palestinian women outraged by marketplace killing" by Dalia Nammari  |  Associated Press, August 02, 2012

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — The brutal killing of a battered wife in front of horrified witnesses in an open-air Bethlehem market prompted angry accusations on Wednesday that Palestinian police and courts ignore violence against women.

Related: 

Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed 

I'm sure that has nothing to do with this, though.

Nancy Zaboun, a 27-year-old mother of three, had her throat slashed Monday after seeking a divorce from her abusive husband of 10 years. The husband was arrested at the scene and is the prime suspect, West Bank officials said.

Related: Sickening Wisconsin Slaying

Also see: Jury rejects insanity plea of Wis. father

They sure minimized the prescription pharmaceuticals, didn't they?

The case reverberated across Palestinian society because of the brutality of the attack.

That is so odd coming from a media that implies they are a bunch of bloodthirsty terrorists.

But violence against women continues to be tolerated — similar to attitudes in other parts of the Arab world — and women’s rights activists say abusive husbands are rarely punished.

Hey, from what I've read the AmeriKan military is full of it, too.

Zaboun was regularly beaten by her husband, 32-year-old Shadi Abedallah, at times so severely that she had to be hospitalized, said Khaula al-Azraq, who runs a West Bank counseling center where Zaboun sought help.

Sad no matter where it is and who it is.

Even so, Abedallah was never arrested. Police only made him sign pledges he would stop hitting his wife, said Azraq, adding that Abedallah is a former police officer.

Zaboun was killed after attending a hearing in her divorce case. She was walking on the steep paths of an open-air market when she was fatally slashed.

On Wednesday, several dozen women staged a memorial for Zaboun in the Bethlehem market alley where she was killed, holding signs and chanting, “No to violence against women.” One sign read, “Shame on us Palestinians for killing our women.”

What is with the collective guilt? Living that long under Israeli occupation has got them to internalize it.

Women have scored some breakthroughs in traditional Palestinian society in recent years, including gaining a greater role in public life. But tribal laws still remain strong, and violence against women is generally viewed by police as an internal family matter.

Azraq said violence against women appears to be on the rise because of a deteriorating economic situation and because abusers do not fear punishment....

Thanks for the siege, Israel!

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Also see:

Mariam Farhat, at 64; Palestinian ‘mother of martyrs’
‘Mother of martyrs’ is an appalling example of motherhood 

Yeah, yeah, they are all terrorists, even the women. 

"Rights group accuses Hamas forces of abusing Palestinians in Gaza" by Ian Deitch  |  Associated Press, October 04, 2012

JERUSALEM — An international rights group said Wednesday that Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip commit rampant abuses against Palestinian prisoners, including beatings with metal clubs and rubber hoses, mock executions, and arbitrary arrests, and urged the Islamic militant group to swiftly reform its criminal justice system.

I can't comment because my government has done the same.

In a new 43-page report, Human Rights Watch documented a long list of abuses that it said Palestinians in Gaza endure under the justice system run by Hamas, which has ruled the seaside strip for the past five years. 

I view Human Rights Watch as nothing more than a western tool of propaganda. Maybe they do good work, but they generally grind the war ax. One-day wonders when it comes to USrael.

‘‘There is ample evidence that Hamas security services are torturing people in custody with impunity and denying prisoners their rights,’’ said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for the New York-based group. ‘‘The Gaza authorities should stop ignoring the abuse and ensure that the justice system respects Palestinians’ rights.’’

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 after street battles with the Palestinian’s Western-backed secular Fatah party. 

That's a lie, the AmeriKan media knows it's a lie, they know Hamas won elections. So how can we believe what we read in our newspapers, 'murkns?

Since then, the Palestinians have been split between Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah, which governs the West Bank.

The West supports Abbas’s West Bank government but mostly shuns Hamas, considered a terror group by the United States, the EU, and Israel because it has carried out attacks over the years that have killed hundreds of Israelis, most of them civilians, blowing up buses, cafes, and other such targets.

And the thousands Israel has killed with their war criminal actions?

In a statement, Hamas’ Interior Ministry denied the allegations and accused Human Rights Watch of political bias.

‘‘The cases mentioned in the report, although they are not accurate, took place long time ago, and we wonder why they were raised now,’’ the ministry said. ‘‘Regarding the issue of torture: We don’t have such a practice in any prisons.’’ 

I don't.

Human Rights Watch said it based its conclusions on interviews with individuals who have been subject to abuse and their families, as well as lawyers, judges, and Palestinian rights groups in Gaza. It said it also reviewed case files and court rulings.

The rights group cited the case of Abdel Karim Shrair, arrested by Hamas in August 2008 and tortured for three weeks, according to the man’s family and lawyers.

Shrair faced further abuse at the hands of Gaza’s internal security agency and was denied visits for weeks, the report said. He was then charged with collaborating with Israel based on confessions made under torture, according to his lawyer. 

That's all good when it's 9/11 patsies or the like.

Shrair’s mother, Safia Ahmad Shrair, told the rights group that when she was allowed to see him in October of that year, his legs and face were bruised, his feet were swollen, his hands and arms had rope marks, and his chest had burn marks.

Hamas executed Shrair in 2011 by firing squad.

His mother said Hamas forbade the family from burying him themselves and beat her with sticks when she tried to hold his body.

The only question is do I believe this?

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At least the girls can come to college the United States:

"US drops Gaza scholarships after Israel travel ban" by Lauren E. Bohn  |  Associated Press, October 16, 2012

JERUSALEM — Amal Ashour, 18, loves Shakespeare and American pop music. One of the brightest students in the Gaza Strip, she studied her senior year of high school in Minnesota through a US-government funded program.

She had planned to study English literature this fall at a university in the West Bank through another US-sponsored program, but just a month before school started, she was informed the scholarship was no longer available.

‘‘When you live in Gaza, you’re a pawn in a greater political game,’’ she said in a telephone interview. ‘‘There’s nothing we can do about it.’’ She is now enrolled at Islamic University, a stronghold of Gaza’s ruling Islamic militant Hamas.

Under Israeli pressure, US officials have quietly canceled a two-year-old scholarship program for students in the Gaza Strip, undercutting one of the few American outreach programs to people in the Hamas-ruled territory. 

And thus proving who calls the shots when it comes to USraeli foreign policy.

The program now faces an uncertain future, just two years after it was launched with great fanfare by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during a visit to the region.

The program offers about 30 scholarships to promising but financially challenged Palestinian high school seniors from Gaza and the West Bank to study in local Palestinian universities.

It is a rare opportunity for gifted students in Gaza, which has been constrained by an Israeli blockade since Hamas seized power five years ago. 

I call it a siege, and there is that lie again. 

The blockade has made it harder for Palestinians to travel abroad. Both Israel and the United States consider Hamas a terrorist group because of its hundreds of attacks against Israelis, including suicide bombings, and frequent rocket attacks from Gaza.... 

Not that frequent, but, you know.... always seem to be flying when peace talk is near. 

Citing security reasons, Israel bans most Gazans from traveling to Israel or the West Bank. Exceptions are made for about 5,000 humanitarian cases each month.

Education is not considered a humanitarian concern. Israeli officials claim that West Bank universities are breeding grounds for militant groups like Hamas. Last month, Israel’s Supreme Court upheld this travel ban on students.

Israeli military spokesman Guy Inbar said the policy is part of Israel’s struggle against Hamas, an Iranian-backed group committed to Israel’s destruction.... 

Sigh. I'm tired of propaganda. Isn't Hamas Sunni?

In a statement, the American consulate in Jerusalem said it decided not to grant the scholarships over the summer after Israel said it would not permit the students to travel. ‘‘Because of the timing and risk of losing funding, available scholarships were awarded to other applicants,’’ it said.

The scholarship program, administered by the nonprofit group Amideast, is one of the few contacts between the United States and Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Sari Bashi, the director of Gisha, an Israeli advocacy group dedicated to increasing the free movement of Palestinians, said the case reflected US unwillingness to confront a strong ally.

They are only strong because of all the aid, once again showing you that Israel calls the shots when it comes to AmeriKan foreign policy.

‘‘It’s unfortunate and telling that the US government cannot convince its closest ally in the region to allow its scholarship holders to travel from Gaza to Palestinian universities in the West Bank, for fear of clashing or making a diplomatic issue,’’ she said.

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