THE HEADLINES

Overhead view of the "City of David" site (BiblePlaces.com)

CBS NEWS DIGS OUT THE DIRT ON A JEWISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG IN JERUSALEM.

(CBS News)

Lesley Stahl for 60 minutes is taken on a spectacular tour of an excavation in a part of Jerusalem that is supposed to be Palestinian-occupied: an uncovering of an area that is claimed might have been just as it was in the time of Abraham. Stahl does an unusual thing for an American reporter. Not only does she interview Arab protesters against the operation. She critically questions a Zionist organization which sponsors both the dig and further “settlement” of Jews at a time when such settlements are seemingly scuttling any possibility of a successful peace process—and the Mayor of Jerusalem who is pressing forward with a plan to create a tourist attraction in the area by dispossessing 22 Palestinian families of their homes.

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CARPE DIEM ISRAEL: INTERNAL DISSENT ON THE COUNTRY’S OCCUPATION POLICY MAY PRESENT A MOMENT OF POSSIBILITY FOR INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE.

(Common Dreams)

Russ Baker notes the spate of former Mossad and other government security officials who are urging leaders to trim back on their draconian suppression of Palestinian political aspirations. Baker thinks it would be helpful in accomplishing this if Israel’s critics would be more discriminating their condemnation of Israelis, many of whom are actually opponents of regime policy

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HOMELESS IN SACRAMENTO: HEY, THAT’S MY STUFF YOU JUST THREW IN THE GARBAGE.

(Sacramento Bee)

A Sacramento jury awards a large settlement to a group of homeless plaintiffs who claimed that police destroyed their personal property in the process of their “tent city” raids. The city is trying to reduce the fiscal impact of having to inventory and safekeep homeless property until they can retrieve it; but the case is believed the first in which homeless people have been able to assert this kind of constitutional right.

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GEORGIA: WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO PICK THE MELONS THIS YEAR?

(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Local farmers are facing the implementation on July 1 of a new state law which requires them to verify the employment status of the workers who pick their crops. Normally, the picking season has attracted many migrant laborers, but crews of them are staying away from Georgia this year because of the new law. For now, some growers are able to cobble together a “hodge-podge” of local people (many of them legal immigrants) to get through the harvest season, but the long-term effectiveness of these expedients is in doubt.

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“SCREW THE ACLU; THEY DON’T LIVE HERE.“

(Miami New Times)

This statement is screamed from a crowd of Miami Beach Florida residents assembled to protest the city’s Urban Beach Memorial Weekend, when huge crowds of partiers descend on the area, bringing with them a mountain of trash and more than a few victims of crowd violence. The ACLU has intervened on behalf of the civil rights of the visitors even as it “supports” the right of locals to protect their community from dysfunctional behavior. As the anonymous shout indicates, many do not appreciate this “nuanced” stance of the ACLU.

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Quote of the day…

I joined this demonstration and the one on Nakba Day because I am Palestinian and we have been refugees for over 60 years, We suffer from the occupation, it is time for it to end.

Ayat el Masari, student of Aqsa University in Gaza, as students begin a regular Spring ritual of protesting closing of the Gazan borders.

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