"A student from the Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva built a crude rocket and fired it from a nearby hill at a Palestinian village in the West Bank, security officials said Friday. No one was wounded." I would not be surprised if the student is offered a chair in Middle East studies at a U.S. university very soon.

Nicholas Kristof comes out with this theory: that Muhammad Dahlan and his gang are "are the best hope of both Israel and the Arab world."

"The number of girls born and surviving in India has hit an all time low compared to boys, ActionAid says." (thanks Yogita)

"Hundreds of Jerusalem Christians are losing residency rights in their city due to the policies of the Israeli Ministry of Interior. The policy that aims to reduce the number of non-Jews in the city takes its toll on families and individuals who hold residency permits in foreign countries. No matter how long they travel abroad, no matter if they were born in Jerusalem before or after Israel occupied East Jerusalem, they are considered visitors in their own city." (thanks Olivia)

"The UN children's fund UNICEF has severed ties with an Israeli billionaire and financial backer due to his suspected involvement in building settlements in the West Bank, UNICEF said on Friday."

Did you see the last episode of Gizelle Khuri's Bil `Arabi on Al-Arabiya TV? Did you see how she kept pressing her guests about the plight of Israeli occupation soldier, Shalit? Conspiracy? What conspiracy?

On state oppression in Morocco: kidnappings, beatings and...silence in the Western media. (thanks Istifan)

When Kanan Makiy tries to sound deep: "A book’s beauty comes from personal opinion." Let me add this to his aphorisms: A potato's beauty comes from hurricanes.

My article in Al-Akhbar: "Zionist Phoenicianism: Honoring Bishop Ignatius Mubarak."

I will never again say that people of the Middle East have no confidence in Bush. Look NOW.

From the U.S. Archives: "Arabic anti-Communist Pamphlet Program". (Note the help of "prominent" religious leaders).

Al-Arabiya TV and even Al-Jazeera folks have become so chummy (this is the second time I use the word chummy in a month--and I never used it before, so please take note) with Israeli guests that I expect Al-Arabiya anchorpersons to start asking their Israeli guests to sit on their laps.

Did you see that? The Arab American anti-Discrimination (but only against Arab royal families) Committee, known as ADC, saluted Obama for removing scarved Muslim women from his background. They urged him to further humiliate Muslims and Arabs but to show utmost respect for for Arab ruling dynasties.

"Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed dozens of Palestinians all over the West Bank and injured hundreds of others, including many civilians in their homes, or taking part in peaceful demonstrations against the ongoing destruction and seizure of their land. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, up to mid-June, Israeli occupation forces had carried out over 827 military incursions into West Bank communities (an average of five per day) and had kidnapped or arrested 1,334 civilians since the start of the year. In addition to land confiscation and settlement construction, the Israeli army ransacked, destroyed or closed dozens of non-governmental organizations, radio stations, bakeries and other civic institutions and demolished many homes in the West Bank." (thanks Electronic Ali)

"The American delegate who is a senior advisor for Rice started the session with a long demo of how good the US is to women all over the world, conspicuously ignoring the middle East and North Africa region (MENA) which was the main focus of the meeting. Once she finished, most Arab delegates spoke (there were about 12 of us ) and we all pointed out that foreign occupation is the most critical problem that breeds poverty, humiliation and disease for women, and that putting an end to foreign occupation is the most valuable assistance that we can give to women all over the world." Yes, but please give me a break, Ms. Sha`ban. Saudi women suffer a lot and it is not from foreign occupation.

Al-Arabiyya has been promoting the organization Jund Al-Lah and its claims of responsibility for attacks against the Iranian regime in Balushistan; it must be Saudi-financed. And its spokesperson, `Abd-ur-Ra'uf, spoke to the station "exclusively". He spoke in language reminiscent of Zarqawi language. Conspiracy? What conspiracy? (Having said that: Iranian regime oppression of minorities and dissidents is very real, of course. A recent traveler to Iran from U.S. was astonished to find so many websites (political and others) banned by the clerical regime.)

I thought you needed three miracles? If that is the case, I am a candidate: I have two miracles under my belt already. "The next step, beatification, requires evidence of one miracle (except in the case of martyrs)."

"A Republican congressman is pressing the State Department to screen three Palestinian Arab recipients of Fulbright grants to determine their links to terrorism after learning of their affiliation with a Hamas-sponsored university." (thanks Amer)

I should have a regular item titled "Poor Israel." This is the first in a series: ""They have been conducting some large scale exercises — they live in a tough neighborhood," one U.S. official said." As if the neighborhood has any resident more thuggish and violent than Israel itself.

"koffee-yehs" (thanks Amel)

Flash. EU threatens Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, and Tunisia with sanctions for their oppression.

" Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday said the U.S. government played no role in securing the deals. She called the impending contracts a sign that security gains are attracting foreign investment in Iraq."

"Israel is reportedly attempting to block a $400 million arms deal between the United States and Lebanon that would reportedly include hundreds of anti-tank missiles."

This is Zionism: "Jerusalem officials to High Court: Gay parade desecrates holy city." But my favorite is this: "In a joint letter to the High Court, Mayor Uri Lupolianski and city manager Yair Ma'ayan wrote: "Past experience shows that the parade greatly offends, deliberately and unnecessarily, the feelings of Jews, Muslims and Christians, who view its sheer existence, and the blatant manner in which it takes place, as a desecration of the holy city and of the values with which they were raised."" Oh, yeah: the Israeli state has a long record of sensitivity to Muslims and Christians. Oh, yeah.

"The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) puts the number of Iraqi refugees in Lebanon at 50,000 people, of whom only 8,476 are registered. Another 500 are being held in prison, it says, merely for violating immigration rules. " (thanks Olivia)

Dahlan, o Dahlan: "In its own interests, Israel should lift the siege of Gaza." He basically is saying: To hell with the Palestinians. But it is nice to know that the Washington Times is hospitable to Dahlanists.

"Bob Baer, who claimed he met with Hizbullah leaders in Beirut last month, was quoted by ABC as saying. "They cannot have an operation fail and I don't think they will. They're the A-team of terrorism."" Is Baer plagiarizing from Richard Armitage? (thanks Asa)

I am not making this up. Another Lebanese "discovers" a cure for cancer. (For those who are new to this site, please note that Lebanese "discover" cures for cancer at a weekly rate). (thanks Ziyad)

"My husband likes to play PlaySation III all the time, but for Israel and the Israelis, he would do anything and everything."

Conspiracy? What conspiracy? "A group of Orthodox high school graduates from the Diaspora grappled with these thorny questions and a myriad of others during a four-day seminar this week in Jerusalem." Don't you like how propaganda training sessions are called "seminars"? (thanks May)

"An African man was shot dead by Egyptian police while attempting to cross across the border into Israel, security sources said on Thursday." (thanks Laleh)

Michael Slackman of the New York Times overdoes it here: way overdoes it. I mean he admits toward the end that: " That Mr. Issa is a Christian is evidence that the use of inshallah is not just a phenomenon of Egypt’s Muslims." And of all the stories in Egypt (strikes, hunger, oppression, religious fanaticism and book burning at Al-Azhar), he could not find a more worthy story? I mean, I don't like religious lingo, and it irritates me how many times people here say "Bless you" for every damn sneeze. Would the New York Times devote a whole article to that? Also, there are new words that have made themselves into colloquial Egyptian that are not religious: like ladhiz (comparable to "cool" in English) but do they warrant an article? Also, why do Western reporters love to talk to Ali (not Aly) Salim? I mean, for his literary contributions? The man is known for writing a script for a silly and stupid play in the 1970s that can compare to the Police Academy movies in the 1980s. Certainly, it is not his literary contributions but his support (in English only, in Arabic he still says anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic things) for normalization with Israel when he speaks at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy). Also, there are Muslims who say "Insha'allah" when drinking or gambling: so the word pretty much lost its religious connotation. Did you just sneeze, Mr. Slackman? Because of you have, I have a bevy of Americans who want to tell you: BLESS YOU.

Israeli propagandists can leak anything to the New York Times and they will guarantee to put it on the front page. It must be nice.

Lessons on Lebanese history by comrade Rami.

"Mahfouz wrote in a classical Arabic, which is comparable to Shakespearean English and doesn’t lend itself easily to translation..." What do I do with those in the West who write about Arab culture and language and who don't know what they are talking about? In fact, Mahfouz wrote in a language close to newspapers' Arabic.

A call for the Arab religious establishments to end their burning of books and censoring of thought.

"A police official said the department received "a flood of calls reporting a suspicious object. Army units sealed off the area as a sapper opened the bag and found feminine underwear."" (thanks Sophie)

"Egyptian sources said they had recently received tunnel-detection devices from the US that would help them battle the smuggling, and that Egyptian personnel were receiving military instruction in California to help them to battle the smugglers. Israel continues to reject Cairo's request to be allowed to exceed limits set in the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and raise the number of its troops along the Philadelphi Corridor from 750 to 3,000. While the Egyptians say they need more men to do a better job stopping the smuggling, Israel says Cairo is not using the manpower at its disposal effectively." (thanks Electronic Ali)

An-Nahar salutes the "courage" of Jeffrey Feltman. (thanks Haytham)

"When he speaks publicly, Lt. Cmdr. William C. Kuebler, a military lawyer for a Guantánamo detainee, is careful to say his remarks do not reflect the views of the Pentagon. As if anybody would make that mistake. In his Navy blues, the youthful commander could pass for an eager cadet. But give him a minute on the subject of his client, a terrorism suspect named Omar Khadr, and he sounds like some 1960s radical lawyer, an apple-cheeked William Kunstler in uniform. The Bush administration’s war crimes system “is designed to get criminal convictions” with “no real evidence,” Commander Kuebler says. Or he lets fly that military prosecutors “launder evidence derived from torture.”""

Al-Arabiya TV started the newscast today by reporting on the "horror" and "terror" that residents of Israeli towns suffered from Hamas bombing. It almost added that constant Israeli bombings of Gaza was intended as a joke.

"Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power. Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat. The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations. The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India. The contracts, which would run for one to two years and are relatively small by industry standards, would nonetheless give the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country that many experts consider to be the best hope for a large-scale increase in oil production. There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract. The Bush administration has said that the war was necessary to combat terrorism. It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; there are still American advisers to Iraq’s Oil Ministry."" (thanks Ali)

MSNBC kept repeating yesterday that a rainbow appeared mysteriously (and miraculously) over Washington, DC just after the service for Tim Russert. They implied that their God was involved somehow. I am sure that their God, taking time from his busy schedule of judging peoples and casting them to his Rotisserie-of-humans hell, watches American cable news all the time.

"The Army general who led the investigation into prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison accused the Bush administration Wednesday of committing "war crimes" and called for those responsible to be held to account." (thanks Olivia)

Zarqawi's successor in sectarian agitation is ally of the U.S. in Lebanon: Shaykh Muhammad `Ali Al-Juzu Unplugged. (thanks Kifah)