Demonstrators in the West Bank on June 7 joined mass protests to mark the Global March to Jerusalem, and dozens were lightly injured as Israeli forces tried to disperse them. In al-Maasara, near Bethlehem, participants in a weekly march suffered tear-gas inhalation. Demonstrators raised Palestinian flags, pictures of prisoners and Palestinians killed by Israel to mark the anniversary of the Six-Day War. Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear-gas canisters at the demonstrators.  Activists praised the unity of Palestinian people and promised more activities to protest Israeli actions. 

Israel on June 6 released former Palestinian Minister of Prisoner Affairs Wasfi Qabaha, ending his two-year detention without charge or trial. Previous to the two years in administrative detention, Qabaha had been detained by Israel nine times and spent 13 years in jail. Qabaha was released at Jubara checkpoint, northwest of Nablus, where he immediately collapsed, sustaining severe bruising. He was taken to hospital in Tulkarem and underwent minor surgery. At the checkpoint, Qabaha told Ma'an News Agency that the Israeli Prison Service mistreated Palestinian and Arab detainees and had worsened oppressive measures since Jordanian prisoners staged a hunger strike. 

The Hamas-run ministry of interior in the Gaza Strip will appoint a committee to investigate clashes June 6 between police and suspected drug dealers in Beit Lahiya. The committee will be headed by Hamas-affiliated lawmaker Ismail al-Ashqar, who is in charge of a security and interior committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council in the Gaza Strip. The ministry explained in a statement that a man who was shot dead in the morning in Beit Lahiya was trying to mediate between police officers and the suspects. Muhammad Salman Abu Sittah was hit, according to the ministry, by a gunshot from the direction of the house where the suspects were hiding. The statement described Abu Sittah as "a martyr who fell trying to reconcile between rivals” and asserted that his death would not be in vain. “The killer will be identified and will receive proper punishment."

The UK government on June 5 reached a settlement agreement with thousands of Kenyans tortured by British colonial forces during the 1950s. Negotiations began last October after the Queen's Bench Division on the High Court of England and Wales ruled that three elderly Kenyans could sue the British government for torture they suffered while in detention under the British Colonial Administration. The victims alleged they had been tortured and sexually assaulted by their captors during the Mau Mau uprising. A formal announcement on the exact number of victims and amount of compensation included in the settlement is expected later this week. The agreement marks the culmination of a legal struggle that began in 2009.

Staff Sergeant Robert Bales pleaded guilty to the premeditated murder of 16 Afghan civilians on June 5 in order to comply with a plea deal and avoid the death penalty. Bales admitted to leaving his post last March in the Kandahar province in order seek out and murder civilians. Bales read the individual charges against him detailing each specific instance in detail. The murders represent the worst case of murder of civilians on the part of military personnel since the Vietnam War. Once the plea deal is accepted by the court martial judge, Bales will be given life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The usual frustrating mess. The ascendance of Samantha Power, longtime advocate of "humanitarian intervention," as Obama's new UN ambassador (replacing Susan Rice, named for National Security Advisor), is applauded by Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch (NBC)—and, we may be certain, opposed by both the anti-war left and the paleocon right. Google results reveal that the paleocons have beat the lefties to the punch. A Fox News report picked up by World Net Daily taunts: "'Nazi' Problem for Obama's UN pick?"...

Thousands of Iranians gathered to chant "down with the dictator!" at the funeral procession for dissident cleric Ayatollah Jalaluddin Taheri in Isfahan June 4, signaling a renewal of opposition activism ahead of the upcoming presidential elections. Mourners called for lifting the continued house arrest orders on opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hussein Mousavi. Ayatollah Taheri was the Friday prayers speaker in Isfahan, Iran's second city, until his resignation in 2002 when he shocked the country’s governing religious establishment by condemning the regime and protesting the country’s political and economic situation.

Once again, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre brings tens of thousands to the streets of Hong Kong—for a candlelight vigil in the rain, with signs reading "Vindicate June 4" and "Never give up!" Said pro-democracy Hong Kong councilor Lee Cheuk-yan: "Everybody can see that China today continues to tighten and this suppression of human rights will cause more Hong Kong people to come out." But Tiananmen Square itself was packed with not with protesters but with tourists, as on any other day. Plainclothes police were out in force, checking ID cards of Chinese tourists. Days before the anniversary, the Tiananmen Mothers group wrote in an open letter circulated by the US-based Human Rights in China: "Our hope is fading and despair is drawing near." The mothers were closely watched by police as they paid respects to victims in Beijing's Wan'an cemetery, while gathering at Tiananmen itself was completely impossible. "If the government is sensible, next year is the 25th anniversary and they could designate a spot where we could march," said Zhang Xianling, 76, a leader of the group.