The annual Salute to Israel Day Parade on June 5 in New York, the largest yearly pro-Zionist gathering in the world, will feature a break-out rally against Israel's disengagement plan from the occupied Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. Featured in the rally will be hyper-Zionist ex-minister and general Effi Eitam and New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind. The two will lead hundreds of US volunteers straight from the rally to travel to the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the southern Gaza Strip, slated for evacuation this summer. US Christian Zionist clergy have raised $8.5 million to fight disengagement. (JPost, Apr. 17)

Jonathan Pollak is an Israeli activist who grew up in Tel Aviv and lives in Jaffa. He has been involved in non-violent direct action in the West Bank for the last two and half years, participating in more than 200 protests with Palestinians in the West Bank with the Israeli non-violent direct action group Anarchists Against the Wall and with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

On April 3, 2005 an Israeli soldier shot Jonathan in the head with a teargas canister from an M-16 from a distance of approximately thirty meters at a peaceful protest against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in. Bil'in is one of tens of West Bank Palestinian villages losing land because of Israel's wall construction. He was interviewed by ISM volunteer Pat O'Connor on April 7.

The death of Pope John Paul II has occassioned a great deal of speculation in the press about the influence of Opus Dei, the secretive ultra-conservative Catholic organization, in choosing his successor. One of the more strictly factual accounts, "Pope Election: Opus Dei Pulls Strings," is from India's Sify.com:

Italy has once again retreated from a repeated pledge to return to Ethiopia a third-century 75-foot obelisk from the ancient city of Axum which fascist dictator Benito Mussolini brought to Rome as a prize of conquest after his invasion and occupation of Ethiopia in 1936. Italy initially pledged to return the obelisk in 1947, but never acted to fulfill the pledge. Last year, during a state visit by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a date was finally set--but has been repeatedly put off by Italy, citing technical difficulties. Most recently, on April 13, Italy cancelled a scheduled flight to deliver the first section of the obelisk, with the Italian Culture Ministry citing the lack of radar to ensure a safe landing of the cargo plane at Axum's airport .

From the AP, April 14:

Reluctance by Italian investigators to accept the U.S. version of the killing of an Italian security agent [Nicola Calipari] by American troops in Iraq last month is holding up the conclusion of a joint inquiry into the shooting, Italian newspapers said Thursday... The commission, ordered by Washington, includes two Italian members and is led by a U.S. brigadier general. It is expected to release its findings by mid-April. Members of Italy's center-left opposition have demanded the government inform the country about the commission's work, while newspapers Corriere della Sera and La Stampa reported Thursday that a final conclusion by the commission is being delayed by the reluctance of the Italian members to accept all the aspects of the U.S. version of events. According to the Italian papers, a point of contention is American authorities' refusal to allow Italian investigators to examine the car in which Calipari was traveling when he was shot. Italy agrees that the shooting was an accident, but disputes key elements of the U.S. account. It has denied a U.S. claim that the car was speeding and refused to stop following warnings from the U.S. patrol.

The imbroglio comes just as Italy's ruling coalition appears to be unravelling. From VOA, April 15:

Lebanon's Omar Karami has resigned a second time, after Parliament refused to accept his February 28 resignation. This time Najib Mikati, a Sunni perceived as a moderate, has been chosen to succeed him. Mikati hailed the opposition--especially Druze leader Walid Jumblatt--for breaking a boycott of the political process to approve his nomination, and said he wanted to "personify national unity." The opposition is said to have supported his nomination because he is less pro-Syrian than his chief rival for the post, Abdel-Rahim Mrad.

From the UPI:

ZHEJIANG, China, April 12: Rioting by farmers in eastern China has forced the closure of 13 new chemical factories the farmers claim are poisoning their families and crops. The protests began in the rural village of Huaxi March 24 when farmers began erecting roadblocks to stop deliveries to and from the factories that produce fertilizer, dyes and pesticides.

A dispute over offshore oil and gas rights in waters claimed by both countries as part of their "exclusive economic zone" seems to be behind recent tensions between China and Japan—ostensibly sparked by official Japanese revisionism over its role in World War II. The popular protests in the streets ignited by new textbook portrayals of Japanese aggression in the 1930s are mirrored by diplomatic spats over industrial access to the East China Sea.