From Ian:
Happy Nakba Day!
UN Middle East envoy warns of war between Israel, Hamas
Happy Nakba Day!
Most Israeli Jews celebrated Israeli Independence Day (according to the Hebrew calendar) a few days ago. Meanwhile, thousands of Israel’s Arab citizens decried the “Nakba” (The Catastrophe), namely the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, with a day of protest and mourning.JPost Editorial: Believe Iran’s threats
Many more Israeli Jews will have fun, less than two weeks from now, on Lag B’Omer. Israel’s Arab community probably will riot, protest and mourn again, on May 15th (the general calendar date), when the British Mandate was officially terminated, and the State of Israel came into being.
Its also been announced that Arabs in the Gaza Strip plan to stage a general strike on Wednesday to mark Nakba Day. In a statement, the National Authority for Breaking the Siege, also called on “Palestinians” to mark the occasion by taking part in planned demonstrations in Gaza, i.e. riot at the fence. It also warned “the Israeli enemy” against “committing follies against peaceful demonstrators: - aka those trying to attack Israeli soldiers or launch incendiary balloons into Israel.
That says everything...
So while the Jews were happy and dancing, on Independence Day, and then will dance again, on the anniversary of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochi’s death (hundreds of thousands flock to his grave in Meron annually), the Arabs are crying this time of year over what they see as a tragedy.
Happy Nakba Day!
US President Donald Trump’s policy toward Iran appears to be working.
Sunday morning, President Hassan Rouhani told political activists in Tehran that Iran is facing “unprecedented” pressure from the international sanctions that were re-imposed by Trump; that Iranians must prepare for difficult times resulting from those renewed sanctions; and that they have led to worse economic conditions than Iran faced during the country’s 1980-88 war with Iraq.
“During the war, we did not have a problem with our banks, oil sales or imports and exports – and there were only sanctions on arms purchases,” said Rouhani. “The [current] pressures by enemies are a war unprecedented in the history of our Islamic revolution... But, I do not despair and have great hope for the future, and believe that we can move past these difficult conditions, provided that we are united.”
His comments come amid rising tensions with the US. John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, announced a week ago the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group over “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings.”
The Lincoln passed through the Suez Canal on Thursday, according to the US Central Command. Alongside the carrier are three destroyers: the USS Bainbridge, USS Mason and USS Nitze, as well as the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf and a Spanish frigate, the ESPS Mendez Nunez.
In addition, B-52s from the 20th Bomb Squadron have landed in recent days in Qatar and elsewhere in “southwest Asia” – possibly the United Arab Emirates. And on Friday, the Pentagon announced it would be returning a Patriot missile battery to the wider Mideast, as well as sending the USS Arlington, an amphibious warship carrying marines, to join the Lincoln.
All these moves are a response to a possible threat to US forces in the region by Iran, according to the White House, which did not specify what that threat is. Iran dismissed the claim as nonsense, but Bolton warned the Islamic republic that any attack on American interests or allies would face “unrelenting force.”
UN Middle East envoy warns of war between Israel, Hamas
The U.N. envoy to the Middle East says it’s the “last chance” to prevent an all-out conflict between Israel and Gaza militants.
Nickolay Mladenov said on Monday that the “risk of war remains imminent,” a week after a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers ended the worst fighting since Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.
The spate of violence killed 25 Palestinians, including 10 terrorist operatives, and four Israeli civilians.
Mladenov, inaugurating a solar power plant for a Gaza hospital, said parties must “consolidate the understandings” of the cease-fire.
The deal, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the U.N., promises to let in fuel and humanitarian aid and ease the movement of people from the blockaded territory.

































