Dive into the archives.
- Farewell, For Some Time
As many of you know, my life has again lurched towards serious academic studies… Unfortunately, this change demands a level of commitment I did not completely foresee. In short, I simply have no time to run this website. But I’ll leave you with a text from which I draw continual inspiration, Noam Chomsky’s classic essay [...]
- harmonicminor is Severely Under Construction!
This is a both a test post and a way of informing you that harmonicminor.com will be looking normal again as soon as possible… though it’s really difficult to know when. I am working on it. This new theme is a pain in the ass to customize and I’m learning as I go. One thing [...]
- Maybe It’s Not the Best Time To Brag About Dubai…
Netanyahu noted that the question for the Palestinian Authority running the West Bank, where he is seeking to promote the Palestinian economy as a cornerstone of a future peace deal, is “do they progress economically like Dubai, or do they go backwards like Gaza?” (more…)
- Palau
With a population of around 20,800, Palau is one of the world’s least-populated countries. It was a US trust territory until it gained independence in 1994 and still maintains close ties to the US, as well as relying significantly on American aid. (more…) Makes you wonder why Palau always sides with Israel and the U.S. [...]
- Under Construction
Please save the criticism… I am in the process of hacking the fSpring WordPress theme as I make it into a more harmonicminor-ish style. We’ll see how it goes, but the site may resemble Frankenstein’s monster for the next few days as it slowly transforms.
- Sitting at Ben-Gurion
Man I hate this airport… the security is a farce. After ritualistically informing me that some evil Palestinian may have placed a bomb in my bags, they emptied everything and I was strip searched (not completely, but pants off). It took two hours to get through and they personally escort me to my check-in booth [...]
- Kris is En Route
…from Tel Aviv to Athens and then on to Brussels… too much layover… See you in Belgium.
- Egyptian Pawns
Israeli warplanes have been flying over Egyptian territory during their bombing runs along the border between Gaza and Egypt, witnesses said on Sunday. (more…)
- Kris is in Transit
Off to London again… I’ll be posting when I arrive.
- Kris-mas Break
I am off to the U.S. to spend Christmas with my family… so for the next three or four days, I may not be posting. I will try to get back soon, but the posting may be spontaneous and random… The new year will bring many interesting developments. I will be returning to the Gaza [...]
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British citizens are to be formally advised by the government not to buy property in settlements in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, a move that marks a proactive shift of its position on a core issue of the Middle East conflict. (more…)
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When the woman in front of me asked a question, the soldier ordered her to take everything out of her suitcase. She was humiliated as she had to hold even her underwear up to the camera. I was made to walk through the X-ray machine three times, even though I told the soldiers it was [...]
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Jordanian authorities have recently lodged an official complaint with the Israeli Embassy in Amman, citing the way Israeli tourists have been conducting themselves while visiting the Hashemite Kingdom. (more…)
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Often, we in Israel lose sight of that “bright face of Islam.” That’s understandable, considering that Muslim fanatics control the nearby Gaza Strip, with wide popular support. A hundred mortar shells and rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel in the past week alone. (more…) Often, they in Gaza lose sight of that “bright [...]
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[L]ast March, as indiscriminate Israeli shelling and bombing killed 110 Palestinians, including dozens of children in just a few days, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai openly threatened Gaza with a “bigger shoah.” Israel’s embarrassed defense was that Vilnai did not mean to threaten actual genocide, but merely a “disaster” or “catastrophe” as if that [...]
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The Shin Bet security service has confirmed for the first time that it regularly intervenes in the appointment of Muslim clergymen to public office… (more…)
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Israel is taking steps to discourage Arab and Muslim nations from challenging its economic siege of the Gaza Strip by sending aid ships to ease the desperate circumstances of the 1.5 million Gaza Palestinians. (more…)
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We found the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in full force with a second intifada, with hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians dying, with suicide bombings at Israeli restaurants and a Passover massacre, with Israelis running large-scale operations in the West Bank and occupying Palestinian towns, Yasser Arafat stealing the people blind and refusing to make peace. (more…) Palestinians [...]
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Are pirates a species of terrorist? In short, yes. (more…) This ridiculous argument was bound to pop up sooner or later…
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“Israel does not permit fuel to enter Gaza via the sea, the airspace, or the border with Egypt,” according to the World Bank. “Gazans have only a single entry and exit point at the Karni/al-Mountar Border Crossing for the export and import of all goods needed to sustain an economy of nearly 1.5 million people.” [...]
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“We are the children of a people whose historic ethos is built on the memory of pogroms,” Olmert said during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. “The sight of Jews firing at innocent Palestinians has no other name than pogrom.” “I am ashamed that Jews could do such a thing,” Olmert went on. (more…) Is [...]
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We are falling off a cliff. To put these numbers into some perspective, the November losses alone are the worst in 34 years. A significant percentage of Americans are now jobless or underemployed — far higher than the official rate of 6.7 percent. Simply in order to keep up with population growth, employment needs to [...]
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Israel’s discrimination between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank is increasingly reminiscent of white South Africa’s apartheid system, an Israeli human rights group said on Sunday. (more…)
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Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman, confirmed that the boat had been stopped and ordered to move to Tel Aviv marina where it was put under watch. “We warned the boat’s owner that he would be breaking the law and would be arrested if his boat were to try to sail to Gaza,” he said. [...]
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Bank branches across the Gaza Strip have been shut since Thursday for lack of sufficient money to operate normally. (more…)
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For a Democrat whose opposition to the Iraq war was a campaign centerpiece, President-elect Barack Obama is remarkably in sync with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on many core defense and national security issues — even Iraq. (more…)
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“We have looked to opportunities for the president to be able to talk about some of his legacy items, some things that he will be remembered for,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said this week. (more…)
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Bush begins by saying, “I have had the privilege to see the Middle East up close.” But then almost all the places he mentions are in Israel or under Israeli control. He doesn’t mention Cairo or Amman, which he did finally briefly visit this year. He does mention Abu Dhabi. But Bush has not been [...]
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This is the level of analysis in the American media: This piece argues that there is a significant difference of opinion between two longtime Israel supporters in Obama’s transition group. This is how U.S. propaganda makes us believe that there is some semblance of a debate regarding Israel… Yeah, should we move the embassy to [...]
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Five Blackwater Worldwide Security guards have been charged in a September 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and raised questions about the U.S. government’s use of security contractors in combat zones… (more…) *** Also see an earlier post on the subject ***
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The rights group said Islamic extremists are no longer the principal targets of Arab government repression. Instead the report said there is an increase in repression of reformists, human rights defenders and independent press. (more…)
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The Iraqi government has said the guards deliberately killed the 17 civilians; an Iraqi investigation said there was no provocation for the guards to have opened fire. (more…)
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QUESTION: Madame Secretary, a recent investigation by the Danish Government was unable to conclude whether Danish airspace was used by the CIA as part of a prisoner rendition program. And the investigation said that it was due to insufficient response from the U.S. Government. Would you care to comment on that? SECRETARY RICE: Well, I [...]
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“Once settler came into our house. He took a gun and shot me and he shot my dad, and then thousands came down in front of the army. Then there were clashes between the army, police and settlers. They started burning the houses, it lasted four hours” he said. (more…)
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In the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday evening, 2 December, IOF killed 2 Palestinian children and wounded 2 others seriously. An IOF aircraft fired a missile at a number of Palestinian children who were sitting in the streets in al-Shouka village, southeast of Rafah. an IOF spokesman admitted responsibility for the attack, but claimed that it [...]
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But he has already sorely tested the patience of some of his most loyal supporters—first by appointing so many Clintonites to high office and then by keeping Mr Gates at the Pentagon. Can it be long before the netroots begin to complain that they have been duped—that “change” is simply more of the same? (more…)
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Rashid Khalidi: Both the occupation regime and the settlement enterprise have gotten constantly stronger since the negotiating process began in 1991 – after being weakened by the first intifada. These twin processes went on steroids after the second intifada started in 2000. If these two bulldozer-like endeavors are not rapidly reversed – not halted, reversed [...]
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An innocent Palestinian family, numbering close to 20 people. All of them women and children, save for three men. Surrounding them are a few dozen masked Jews seeking to lynch them. A pogrom. This isn’t a play on words or a double meaning. It is a pogrom in the worst sense of the word. First [...]
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There is no doubt US President-elect Barack Obama could work well with Likud head Binyamin Netanyahu, should the latter become Israel’s next prime minister… (more…)
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The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) say the Palestinian forces have done a “good job” on law and order. (more…) So the Israeli Occupation Forces approve of what exactly? Oh yeah, doing their work for them: That government, the Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah, has been arresting Hamas activists across the West Bank as its security [...]
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“Niggers don’t expel Jews! This isn’t what we brought you to Israel for!” are just some of the degrading slurs Border Guard officers reported hearing from masked settlers. (more…)
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Mr Barzani is said to have recently told Mr Maliki to his face: “You smell like a dictator.” (more…)
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Around 100 nations have begun signing a new international treaty banning the use of cluster bombs. Human Rights Watch has described the ban as the most significant arms control and humanitarian treaty in a decade. The convention bans use, stockpiling and trading of the weapons. It also requires signatories to clear contaminated areas within ten [...]
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Most Palestinians think the election of Barack Obama as US president will have no impact on the chances of a solution to the conflict with Israel, an opinion poll published on Wednesday said. (more…).
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The team’s other striking feature is its centrism. Mr Summers is on the conservative wing of Democratic economists. As Mr Clinton’s treasury secretary he backed the law that in 1999 tore down barriers between commercial and investment banks and still backs it despite recent criticism. Christina Romer, an economic historian from Berkeley, has just published [...]
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[A]s he moves closer to the White House, President-elect Obama is making clearer than ever that tens of thousands of American troops will be left behind in Iraq… (more…)
- Kris Cometh, and That Right Soon
I have managed to escape from the grasp of an outdated internet connection… Yes, I have finally left Greece and I am settling into my new life for the next few months in London, England. At the moment we are staying with Ilektra’s relatives, but I will be looking into taking daily trips to the [...]
- O Kris Einai Stin Ellada!
Geia sas from Greece! Sorry for not alerting you earlier, but I am in Greece with Ilektra until May 6. Consequently, I will not have time to post, though I will still be monitoring comments… The Guillermo Habacuc Vargas post is still going crazy. Please remember to read our comments policy before taking the time [...]
- WordPress Doesn’t Work With Windows!
Yes, that’s right… My MYSQL database was recently switched from Linux to Windows, at which point harmonicminor.com ceased functioning. After several weeks of aimlessly messing around with it, in the end I was told that WordPress does not work on Windows servers. So, we moved back to Linux and that was that. Everything should be [...]
- Gaza Human Rights Organizations Condemn Hamas
Raji Sourani of the Palestinian Center For Human Rights (my boss) joined with Al-Dameer, Al-Mezan and the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens Rights this morning in condemning Hamas’ recent action in seizing control of Gaza’s impartial court system. The move is extraordinarily bold and could provoke a serious response from Hamas. So far, Hamas representatives [...]
- The Gaza Strip: Disengagement Two Years On
The Gaza Strip: Disengagement Two Years On Electonic Intifada. November 24, 2007. Two years ago, Israel completed its unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. We all remember the intense media campaign shamelessly portraying the settlers as dispossessed victims of a bold move for peace. Among others, Harvard economist Sara Roy argued that Israel’s version of [...]
- Welcome To Gaza!
“Welcome To Gaza!” Palestine Chronicle. October 31, 2007. Khalil laughs and shakes head as we dine along the seaside terrace of Gaza’s luxurious al-Deira Hotel. “This is not Gaza,” he says, dismissively gesturing towards the hotel’s maroon exterior and the tables of dining European journalists. “The real Gaza is just down the street, where 1,000 [...]
