Link: http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/palestinian-refugees/2622-international-conference-to-discuss-future-of-palestinian-refugees

(Pal Telegraph) - The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) will host a conference on the 16th of December 2009 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency UNRWA. UNRWAs work over the years is unparalleled in many ways. No other institution has been asked to tackle humanitarian crises that affect an entire nation for so long and no other agency has been demanded to plug the gaping holes left by failures in the international community.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJnQbPtgMAU

Tortured Law, a new 10-minute documentary by Alliance for Justice, examines the role U.S. lawyers played in authorizing torture. Join those calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to release the report of the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility, and hold accountable those who ordered, designed, and justified torture. You can join the call by signing Alliance for Justice's petition: http://ga1.org/campaign/release_torture_memos

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091013/wl_afp/usafghanistanmilitarytroops_20091013051645

The additional forces are primarily support forces -- such as engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police -- the Post said, bringing the total buildup Obama has approved for the war-torn nation to 34,000. "Obama authorized the whole thing. The only thing you saw announced in a press release was the 21,000," a defense official familiar with the troop-approval process told the daily. PressTV: US mulling Chaosistan plan for Afghanistan. The Guardian: Obama quietly deploying 13,000 more US troops to Afghanistan. Online Journal: McChrystal demands bloodshed. PressTV: Brown to announce Afghan troop surge.

Link: http://viddal.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/formal-complaint-about-the-awarding-of-the-nobel-peace-prize-to-barack-obama/

Dear Sirs / Madams,

while the Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasizes the Nominee’s vision of a world free from nuclear arms as its main motivation for awarding the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Hussein Obama, and cites his appeal that «Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges», it seems to me that these arguments are in clear breach of the very first paragraph in the Statutes for the Nobel Foundation – §1 – and its very first sentence, which reads:

«The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.»

My emphasis is on the words «during the preceding year», which in this case was the year 2008. All the five Nobel Prizes for 2009 are correctly awarded for work done in 2008 – except, it seems, for the Peace Prize, as we shall see.

Firstly, the announcement from the Norwegian Nobel Committee talks about «Obama as President» and lists what the Nominee has done for the cause of peace «as President». However, the Nominee only became US President on January 20, 2009, so these motivations are in fact not valid.

Secondly, the announcement from the Norwegian Nobel Committee talks about the Nominee’s vision of a world free from nuclear arms. But again, this motivation is in fact not valid, as the Nominee’s vision was announced as late as September 24, 2009, just days before the announcement from the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

And thirdly, the Nominee’s appeal that «Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges» also fails to qualify as a motivation for the Nobel Peace Prize, as these words were first uttered by the Nominee at the United Nations on September 23, 2009.

Conclusion: As the motivations of the Norwegian Nobel Committee for awarding the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to the Nominee – as stated in its announcement of October 9, 2009 – are all invalid as per the very first sentence of the very first paragraph in the Statutes for the Nobel Foundation, I hereby urge you to annul the October 9 announcement from the Norwegian Nobel Committee and award the Peace Prize for 2009 to someone who in 2008 actually has done a great job for peace, and who actually has conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.

Sincerely,
Torstein Viddal
Oslo, Norway.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qibya_massacre

On this day in 1953 a unit of the Israeli army commanded by Ariel Sharon carried out the Qibya Massacre.

Link: http://www.btselem.org/english/statistics/Detainees_and_Prisoners.asp

About 7,155 Palestinians were held in Israel as of the end of September. '09, the vast majority in faciltiies of the Israel Prisons Service, and a small number in IDF facilities. The figures are provided by the government authorities. B'Tselem: Israeli Occupation Policies: According to B'Tselem figures, the Israeli Prison Service held as of 27 Oct. 2007, 335 children under 18 years in detantion in Israel. AFP: 'Jerusalem holds 335 Palestinians without trial' BBC: Israel must end 'unfair' jailing.

Link: http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/20090909.asp

Today (Wed. Sept 9th) Israeli human rights group B'Tselem published its findings on the number of Palestinians and Israelis killed in Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. According to B’Tselem’s research, Israeli security forces killed 1,387 Palestinians during the course of the three-week operation. Of these, 773 did not take part in the hostilities, including 320 minors and 109 women over the age of 18. Of those killed, 330 took part in the hostilities, and 248 were Palestinian police officers, most of whom were killed in aerial bombings of police stations on the first day of the operation. For 36 people, B’Tselem could not determine whether they participated in the hostilities or not. Uruknet: Democrats Ignore Shocking Findings of Atrocities in Gaza War.

Link: http://www.uruknet.com/index.php?p=m58885&hd=&size=1&l=e

The Zionist Federation in England are attempting to lobby Gordon Brown to condemn and help quash the Goldstone report at the UN. The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza have now created a petition today calling on Brown to "support" the report and not to condemn it. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ON ANY AND ALL BLOGS, Please make a post on your blog and then add the link to your sidebar asking people to sign this petition to save the Goldstone Report. Even though your blog may be in another country, your readers come from around the world, many from the UK. So please post this petition and link below. SIGN IT HERE

Link: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/drug-addiction-strikes-gaza-as-palestinians-seek-to-escape-reality-14530142.html

Under siege and grappling with joblessness, factional violence and the aftermath of war, Gazans are turning to pills as they seek to escape reality. Donald Macintyre speaks to a mental health group struggling to help addicts.

Link: http://politicaltheatrics.org/2009/10/14/man-buries-legs-lost-in-israeli-strike-with-wife-two-kids/

“Psychologists say that people who went through tragedies of war may never recover.
This is a story of a Palestinian man who lost his wife and two children (a son and daughter) during the Gaza war. After an Israeli strike blew off his legs, he buried the lost parts at the family grave. The man thinks that it reunites him with his beloved ones.”

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/10/20091013204923442680.html

Key finance committee approves Obama's reform plan with one Republican's support. The Democratic-controlled senate finance committee voted 14 to nine in favour of the proposal on Tuesday, with Olympia Snowe becoming the first Republican in congress to back a healthcare reform bill. WSWS: US Senate panel approves Obama-backed health care plan: Whatever legislation ultimately emerges from these proceedings, and any reconciled bill between the House and Senate, the result will be a more openly and directly class-based health care system, in which the working class receives second-rate care, while the wealthy are ensured the best care that money can buy. RealClearPolitics: High Price of ObamaCare.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/10/20091013224556634118.html

Sergei Lavrov said after his meeting with Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, that recent talks in Geneva between Tehran and the so-called P5-plus-1 group - Russia, China, Britain, France, the US and Germany - had raised hopes of a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear programme. "All forces should be aimed at supporting talks" with Iran, he said on Tuesday, adding: "Threats of sanctions and threats of pressure in the current situation are, in our opinion, counter-productive."

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=108595&sectionid=3510203

A firefighter and two cops who worked at Ground Zero in the days and weeks after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, have died of cancer in a five-day period, a report says. A startling report by the New York Daily News highlights the cancer-related deaths of the firefighter and two cops. New York Daily News: Three heroes of 9/11 die of cancer in five days. RT: New 9/11 inquiry squashed: Truth Quest stopped by City Hall -Video.

Link: http://www.truthout.org/1013098

Attorneys and veteran's groups are alarmed by recent reports that two US Army soldiers imprisoned at the Fort Lewis Regional Correctional Facility (RCF) have been subjected to human rights abuses and violations of their constitutional rights. Travis Bishop, who has served a tour of duty in Iraq and is now recognized by Amnesty International as a "Prisoner of Conscience," resisted deployment to Afghanistan. The other soldier, Leo Church, recently went absent without leave (AWOL) from his unit in order to prevent his family from going homeless. The civilian defense attorney for both soldiers, James M. Branum, told Truthout that both soldiers have been strip-searched while possibly being filmed. Bishop and Church have also been watched by female guards during strip-searches, while using the restroom as well as while in the showers. Both soldiers have been denied one in-person visit by their attorneys and all phone calls with their attorneys have been illegally monitored by guards.