Belarus faced condemnation from European and UN leaders Aug. 5 over the arrest of Ales Beliatsky, head of the human rights group Vyasna (Spring) who was detained outside his home after months of police pressure and charged with crimes punishable by seven years in prison. Beliatsky was ostensibly arrested on tax evasion charges, but his organization had been closely monitoring the regime's response to ongoing "social network" protests in Belarus. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Belarus "to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Beliatsky and all human rights defenders in Belarus." (AFP, Aug. 5)

We've already noted that the angry rent protests Tel Aviv hold the potential for an historic and truly threatening (to the power structure) convergence of the global econo-protests (most advanced in Greece and Spain), the Arab Spring, and the Palestinian struggle. But we've also noted how, if the movement fails to explicitly solidarize with the Palestinians, it can be derailed by the lure of fascistic pseudo-solutions. Here, alas, is evidence for this latter tendency. Ha'aretz reports Aug. 3 that a group of far-right West Bank settler activists who call themselves the "Hilltop Youth" have established their own camp within the Tel Aviv tent town.

A Guatemalan court on Aug. 2 convicted and sentenced four former soldiers to 6,060 years in prison each on war crimes charges related to the 1982 Dos Erres massacre. Carlos Antonio Carias, Manuel Pop, Reyes Collin and Daniel Martínez were convicted of crimes against humanity for being members of a military force that killed more than 250 people in the village of Dos Erres during the 36-year Guatemalan civil war, though the men were ultimately held accountable for only 201 deaths. Three of the men were members of a special forces unit known as the Kaibiles, which is alleged to have played a role in the massacre. The military force was attempting to put down insurgents during Guatemala's military rule under Gen. Efrain Rios Montt. The men pleaded not guilty to the war crimes charges at the start of the trial last week, arguing that they were not stationed with the group that carried out the atrocities at Dos Erres. Twenty-three witnesses, including former military officials and survivors, testified at trial.

An immigrant family on Aug. 1 accused federal immigration officials of brutalizing a 46-year-old woman during a drug raid on a their home in Norco, Calif., where they had moved less than three weeks before. Carmen Bonilla told reporters in Spanish at a press conference at the headquarters of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles that roughly 40 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stormed the house on July 19, pointing guns at her and threatening to shoot. They said "shut up or we'll shoot," said Bonilla, before the agents shoved her to the floor and began kicking her. Bonilla said she and her daugter-in-law were held face-down on the floor with guns to their heads as agents searched the house, apparently for drugs. She said she later went to a hospital for treatment of scratches and bruises. "This family suffered an unjust attack by the authorities and had nothing to do with the drugs they were looking for," said immigration lawyer Jessica Domínguez, who represented the family at the press conference. Since the raid, the Bonillas say deportation proceedings have been brought against all undocumented family members. (LA Weekly's Informer blog, AP, EFE, NBC LA, Aug. 1)

Twelve Israeli settlers accused of setting fire to Palestinian mosques, property and vehicles have been slapped with restraining orders limiting their movement in the West Bank, the Israeli military said Aug. 2. In a statement, the Israeli military said it had signed off on the restraining orders based on recommendations from the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). The orders range from three months to a year, with six settlers told to stay away from certain communities, three prohibited from entering the Yitzhar settlement south of Nablus, and three more prevented from entering the West Bank at all.

We have noted the rather hilarious irony that Qaddafi actually tried to play to the West by portraying the rebels as jihadi terrorists—and even claimed the West was supporting him against a jihadist insurgency!—but has recently threatened suicide attacks against European capitals. Today the New York Times reports:

After six months battling a rebellion that his family portrayed as an Islamist conspiracy, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's son and one-time heir apparent said Wednesday that he was reversing course to forge a behind-the-scenes alliance with radical Islamist elements among the Libyan rebels to drive out their more liberal-minded confederates. "The liberals will escape or be killed," the son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, vowed in an hourlong interview that stretched past midnight. "We will do it together," he added, wearing a newly grown beard and fingering Islamic prayer beads as he reclined on a love seat in a spare office tucked in a nearly deserted downtown hotel. "Libya will look like Saudi Arabia, like Iran. So what?"

Iraqi leaders announced Aug. 3 they had agreed to start negotiations on keeping an American military presence in the country after the current Dec. 31 deadline for a withdrawal of all US troops under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The decision was announced after more than four hours of closed-door talks led by President Jalal Talabani. Deputy Prime Minister Rosh Nuri Shawis said in a statement: "All those present agreed to authorize the government of Iraq to start negotiations with the American side." There are currently 46,000 US troops in Iraq. US officials have broached a number of 10,000 remaining after the deadline. (CSM, Aug. 3)

US drones struck for the first time in 19 days in Pakistan's tribal agencies on Aug. 1, killing four "militants" in an attack on a compound in the Azam Warzak area of South Waziristan. The area, along the Afghan border, is said to be under the control of local Taliban warlord Mullah Nazir. (Long War Journal, Aug. 1) The same day, a US drone strike killed 15 presumed fighters of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters yesterday in al-Khamila, a village outside the militant-controlled town of Zinjibar in southern Yemen. (Long War Journal, Aug. 2)