Stephen Lendman

Adnan symbolizes Israeli ruthlessness. Whether he'll pull through after 66 days without food isn't sure. If not, will major media scoundrels notice or care?

Ma'an News said Adnan will stop hunger striking following a deal to release him on April 17, according to PA Prison Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe.

Adnan didn't confirm it, and so far his lawyer didn't comment. The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has no information to report.

On February 21, Haaretz writer Jack Koury went further, saying:

"Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan announced Tuesday that he will be ending his 66-day hunger strike after Israel agreed to release him."

Late Tuesday, Qaraqe and PPS head Qaddura Faris will hold a news conference in Adnan's Jenin area village to discuss details.

On February 21, Reuters headlined, "Palestinian prisoner ending hunger strike after deal," saying:

Israel's Justice Ministry spokeswoman said:

"There is a deal. (Adnan) will stop his hunger strike. They will not extend his administrative detention and he will be free on April 17."

Israel's High Court cancelled its scheduling Tuesday mid-day hearing,

"avoiding a high-profile examination of the issue of detention without (charge) or trial."

It's high time that issue was addressed and ended. Administrative detention is only warranted under emergency conditions for the shortest possible time. Israel abusively uses it.

Hundreds are held lawlessly uncharged for indefinite periods. Due process and judicial fairness are denied. It's unconscionable that Israel's Supreme Court hasn't ruled the practice illegal. In fact, it's upheld it for decades on bogus national security grounds.

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Alex Lantier

American Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), like this IAF
Hermes 450, are flying surveillance sorties over Syria.

US military officials confirmed Saturday that US drones are flying over Syria, as fighting spreads inside the country and US officials discuss military or “humanitarian” intervention to topple Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

The drone flights, which flagrantly violate Syrian air space, include a “good number” of both military and US intelligence drones, according to US defense officials. These officials said the drones’ mission is to obtain “intercepts of Syrian government and military communications in an effort to ‘make the case for a widespread international response.’”

The Israeli daily Ha’aretz also reported Saturday that Syrian forces had captured 40 Turkish intelligence operatives working with the “opposition” inside Syria. It said the Turkish operatives confessed to working with the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to train the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), and claimed that Mossad operatives were working with Al Qaeda operatives in Jordan planning operations in Syria.

This echoes testimony Thursday before the US Senate Armed Services Committee by US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. He said that recent bombings in Damascus and Aleppo “had all the earmarks of an al Qaeda-like attack. So we believe that al Qaeda in Iraq is extending its reach into Syria.”

As in last year’s war in Libya, Washington is seizing on violence between the Assad regime and US-backed opposition forces—which are organizing protests and killings inside Syria—to justify military intervention.

Significantly, the US relied extensively on former Al Qaeda fighters of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) to topple Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, and it appears a similar relationship is being established in Syria.

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Stephen Lendman

For over a century, The Times played America's lead role disseminating state/corporate propaganda duplicitously.

Its daily diet features managed, not real, news, information and analysis. Readers don't get what they pay for. They're cheated on what matters most.

What it reports, other major media scoundrels regurgitate. Readers and viewers are left misinformed and uninformed in the dark.

Wealth and power support defines its agenda, especially when America goes to war or plans to. In the lead, The Times cheerleads supportively.

Last year, it backed NATO's killing machine in Libya. It sanitized mass killing, destruction, and human misery. Now it's waging war on Syria and Iran. It vilifies regimes Washington opposes. It defends sabotage and targeted assassinations.

It blames both countries for defending their sovereign rights. It turns victims into villains. It ignores lawless Western intervention. It brazenly justifies the unjustifiable. It backs the worst of imperial lawlessness. It cheerleads war, the more the better. It denigrates leaders supporting diplomatic solutions.

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Anna Baltzer

Dear friends,

A Palestinian man named Khader Adnan is now on his 65th day of a hunger strike since December 18th, 2011. He could die at any moment--he is in "immediate danger of death." Yesterday, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association published this update . Here is one exerpt:

Israel's High Court of Justice has today scheduled a petitions hearing regarding the case of Khader Adnan to take place Thursday, 23 February 2012 at 11:30am. The petition was filed by Khader Adnan's lawyers on 15 February. The High Court of Justice was provided with a detailed medical report prepared on 14 February by an Israeli-accredited doctor on behalf of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel). Despite the elaborate medical report, which confirmed that Khader Adnan "is in immediate danger of death," and that "a fast in excess of 70 days does not permit survival," the Israeli High Court appointed the petition session for 23 February with no guarantees that a decision will be made on the same day. By then, Khader Adnan—if alive—will have reached the 69th day of his ongoing hunger strike.

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Paul Craig Roberts

The US government does not represent americans.

In 2010 the FBI invaded the homes of peace activists in several states and seized personal possessions in what the FBI–the lead orchestrator of fake “terrorist plots”–called an investigation of “activities concerning the material support of terrorism.”

Subpoenas were issued to compel antiwar protestors to testify before grand juries as prosecutors set about building their case that opposing Washington’s wars of aggression constitutes giving aid and comfort to terrorists. The purpose of the raids and grand jury subpoenas was to chill the anti-war movement into inaction.

Last week in one fell swoop the last two remaining critics of Washington/Tel Aviv imperialism were removed from the mainstream media. Judge Napolitano’s popular program, Freedom Watch, was cancelled by Fox TV, and Pat Buchanan was fired by MSNBC. Both pundits had wide followings and were appreciated for speaking frankly.

Many suspect that the Israel Lobby used its clout with TV advertisers to silence critics of the Israeli government’s efforts to lead Washington to war with Iran. Regardless, the point before us is that the voice of the mainstream media is now uniform. Americans hear one voice, one message, and the message is propaganda. Dissent is tolerated only on such issues as to whether employer-paid health benefits should pay for contraceptive devices. Constitutional rights have been replaced with rights to free condoms.

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