Ali Abunimah’s blog

With focus on bogus "statehood" bid, Israel resumes home demolitions

While world attention remains focused on whether or not the UN will admit as a full member a nonexistent Palestinian state, Israeli occupation forces are escalating their very real demolitions of Palestinian homes and infrastructure in the occupied West Bank. On 8 September, Chris Gunness, spokesman for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine Refugees, stated: 

Lawsuit filed against Olympia Food Co-op, seeks to force end to Israel boycott

A group of pro-Israel activists has filed a lawsuit against the Olympia Food Co-op (OFC) to try to force it to end its boycott of Israeli goods. On 6 September, The Electronic Intifada exclusively revealed that the activists who had threatened the lawsuit were working in close collaboration with StandWithUs, a national pro-Israel organization, and that their plans had been discussed in advance with an Israeli government official. 

Palestinian Americans "unequivocally reject" PA's UN statehood bid

Palestinian Americans have called on Arabs, Palestinians and their allies everywhere to reject a bid by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to ask the United Nations next month to admit the “State of Palestine” as a full member. In a 27 August statement from its coordinating committee, the US Palestinian Communities Network (USPCN) wrote: 

US accused Qatar of funding Somalia's Al Shabab militia, Wikileaks reveals

The United States accused its close ally Qatar of funding the Al-Shabab militia in Somalia, newly released diplomatic cables reveal. The extraordinary claim was made in a 26 October 2009 meeting between Ambassador Susan Rice, the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations and her Turkish counterpart Ambassador Ertugul Apakan. A US diplomatic cable of minutes of the meeting was leaked by Wikileaks on 24 August.