True Israeli confessions of torturing Palestinian children

n 2007, Israeli soldiers arrested 13-year-old Majid Jaradat for throwing stones during a demonstration in Sair village, near Hebron. Majed spoke about the violence of his arrest and detention in a video produced by Israeli rights organization B’tselem.

But this was no isolated case. Many more such incidents are reported in a new publication from the Israeli veterans’ organization Breaking The Silence with shocking admissions from Israeli soldiers about the maltreatment of Palestinian children under Israeli occupation. The disturbing violations of children’s rights by soldiers took place in the occupied Palestinian territories between 2005-2011.

In the era of the Arab Spring, many wonder how the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has managed to weather the storm of regional unrest with such apparent ease. The answer to this question in part lies in the construction of the country’s parliamentary system, which on the surface gives the kingdom the veneer of a semi-democratic state.

Upon closer examination though, the Parliament can be seen a mere pressure release valve for the regime and source of political distraction for the general population. It is designed to fail as a legislative body, and the recent streak of parliamentary absurdities prove that it is performing exactly according to design.

I think Mashrou3 Leila have just gotten the honor of becoming the region’s first artistic suicide bombers. They have successfully, and spectacularly, killed off their own career for a dubious cause.

This video from 1962 that marks the opening of Jordan’s first university (The University of Jordan) is painfully bittersweet.

As a graduate of the the institution myself, it is funny looking back 50 years, at a time when education actually mattered in Jordan. [VIDEO EMBEDDED]