Syrians protest despite Assad concessions
Hundreds rally in the southern city of Suweida, a day after the president vowed to lift emergency law within a week.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011417131422534165.html
Cameron: Libya UN resolution makes mission 'difficult'
The UK prime minister has said the terms of the UN resolution on Libya are a "restriction" on the coalition powers who have been trying to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly zone.
France blocks Italian trains carrying migrants
Authorities in France have blocked trains from Italy in an attempt to stop north African migrants from entering the country.
Bahrain detains former champion athlete: opposition
(Reuters) - Bahrain has detained a former bodybuilding champion as part of a crackdown on mainly Shi'ite Muslim pro-democracy protesters in the Sunni-led Gulf Arab kingdom, the opposition said on Sunday.
Iran accuses Siemens over Stuxnet virus attack
(Reuters) - An Iranian military commander has accused German engineering company Siemens of helping the United States and Israel launch a cyber attack on its nuclear facilities, Kayhan daily reported on Sunday.
Egypt: Former PM Ahmed Nazif and ministers face trials
Egypt's former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and the former interior and finance ministers are to be tried on corruption charges, officials say.
Yemeni women protest against Saleh's remarks for second day
(CNN) -- For the second day in a row, thousands of Yemeni women took to the streets in several of the country's provinces to condemn remarks made by President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- comments they saw as an attack on their honor.
Libyan rebels claim control over Ajdabiya
Anti-government fighters in the eastern town face attacks from Gaddafi's forces as sandstorm prevents Nato air raids.
Helen Thomas to address anti-Israel protests during Netanyahu's visit to U.S.
A series of anti-Israel protests, lectures and meetings are scheduled to coincide with the PM's visit and the AIPAC conference in Washington DC in May; BDS founder meets Friday night with 250 activists calling Israel apartheid state.
WASHINGTON - A series of protests against Israeli policy and its support by AIPAC are planned in May to coincide with the AIPAC conference in the U.S. capital and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech there. The protests, under the heading "Move over AIPAC," will include demonstrations opposite the building where Netanyahu will speak and Congress, and a series of lectures and meetings with critics of Israel, including veteran journalist Helen Thomas who lost her place in the White House press room after saying Jews should leave Palestine and go back to Poland, Germany and the United States. Thomas will give the keynote address at the Move Over AIPAC conference, and will receive an award from the women's pacifist organization Code Pink, one of the hundred left-wing American organizations behind the conference.
On Friday night, a favorite cafe among progressives, Busboys and Poets, gathered letters to Gazans; the next aid flotilla in May will deliver the messages to the Gaza residents. A separate room in the cafe hosted a meeting of around 250 activists with Omar Barghouti, founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. Barghouti, who recently released a book on BDS, was winding up a book tour that included Columbia, Harvard, Brandeis and other universities.
The evening began with a moment of silence for actor Juliano Mer-Khamis, murdered earlier this month in Jenin, and Italian journalist Vittorio Arrigoni, murdered in recent days in Gaza. Barghouti then quoted U.S. President Barack Obama's justification for the NATO attacks on Muammar Gadhafi's forces in Libya.
"Innocent people were targeted for killing. Hospitals and ambulances were attacked. Supplies of food and fuel were choked off. Water for hundreds of thousands of people was shut off. Cities and towns were shelled, mosques were destroyed and apartment buildings reduced to rubble," Barghouti said, reading out a statement.
"This is about Libya, but you would say the same logic should be applied to Gaza. Unfortunately, it is not. Revolutions are shaking the Middle East, and one big loser is Israel. As Arab governments become more democratic they will reflect peoples' opinions, which are very much opposed to the Israeli apartheid."
"Some people say BDS is not fair and not effective - Israel is a democracy. On almost every level, Israel is only a democracy for one ethnic group. The Palestinian-led BDS movement is calling Israel an apartheid state, and the main refutation of this is that Israel allows Palestinians to vote," Barghouti said.
"Apartheid is not defined according to whims of this or that scholar. Apartheid is when the discrimination is legalized. Now there are commissions to accept new residents into communities. Imagine an Irish white guy saying: 'We don't accept this Latino guy, his food smells funny, he doesn't fit.' But in Israel now it's legal."
"I think calling Israel a fascist state is an exaggeration, but there are fascist tendencies. When they get mad, Liberal Zionists tend to exaggerate," he added. "Israel is losing the battle for hearts and minds at the grassroots level. It maintains connections with the elite, but competes with Iran and North Korea as the most hated countries in the world."
Barghouti said it was impossible to predict what the Israelis would do in response to the next flotilla, saying they continue to shoot themselves in the foot, but highlighting Israel's reactions only helps raise awareness of the siege on Gaza. After the event, Barghouti recommended everyone, including Zionists, to read his book, but declined to be interviewed by Haaretz. "We're being very careful about giving interviews to the Israeli media," he said.
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