Published on Dec 17, 2012

euronews.com If pictures being broadcast on You tube are genuine, then they show rebels storming the

largest Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus.

The Free Syrian Army claims to have launched an operation inside the Yarmouk camp against a Palestinian pro-Assad group led by veteran militant Ahmed Jibril.

If proven, it will draw into the crisis most of Syria’s 500 000 Palestinian refugees who live in the camp on the southern edge of the capital.

Meanwhile, Syria’s Vice President has told a newspaper he believes neither side can prevail and

a process of conflict resolution is needed. Farouq al-Sharaa is the most prominent so far to say publicly that Assad will not win.

Meanwhile, parts of the city of Aleppo have been flattened by the fighting. Not much is left of the Karm al Jabal neighbourhood after days of fierce fighting. Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Haliki has pledged millions in reconstruction aid, according to state television.

winnipegfreepress.com

Serbia has issued an arrest warrant for a woman accused of running a World War II pro-Nazi concentration camp in Croatia, but who apparently died earlier this year.

Government spokesman Slobodan Homen says Serbia is waiting for official confirmation from Croatia that Nada Sakic was no longer alive. He says “if this is true, we are sorry she evaded the punishment she deserved.”

Serbia issued the warrant earlier Friday, accusing Sakic of the killings of prisoners in the WWII camps in Croatia, but media soon reported she had died in February at the age of 85.

Croatia earlier dropped charges against Sakic. Her husband Dinko died in 2008 while serving a 20-year sentence for running the Jasenovac camp, where tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma and others were killed.

Israeli army kills man in Nablus

There is little information to judge the circumstances of this, however what caught my eye was the reference to yet another “refugee camp” and decided to have a look with Google Earth for a place called El-Fara to see what a “camp” looks like in 2011.

Given that such spellings vary when translated to English it took a few tries to get this place: ein al-fara, west bank

I don’t know how to post the Google Earth coordinate link here, but a fly to this location will find it.

I can’t see anything that looks like a tent camp (that is my understanding of the word). What I see is a substantial village with houses, roads, farm fields and tree groves of some sort. Obviously a permanent human settlement.

This constant reference to all Palestinians living in refugee camps, for 60 years, is tiresome, and reminds me of birtherism.

hosted2.ap.org

I hated summer camp when I was a kid - we went each summer for 2 weeks at a time. I hated it; and I loved it at the same time.

I cannot dispute that I profited from all of the positives mentioned in this article: camp values are very simple and straightforward, it’s a time when you can be yourself, not your parents’ child, and you can come away with a sense of your own accomplishment.

I hope Malia enjoys it!

NEW YORK (AP) — She’s had a front row seat to history for a year and a half, meeting heads of state, touring the Kremlin, flying around the world on Air Force One, being serenaded by Paul McCartney and enjoying command performances from the Jonas Brothers.

But there’s one thing Malia Obama hasn’t done, until now, her dad says, and it’s a rite of passage countless kids have experienced: a summer at camp, bunking with a bunch of other girls in a wooden cabin or tent, sharing chores, swatting away mosquitoes and giggling the night away.

It’s a wonderful time — lumpy cots and all — say advocates of the camp experience, who are thrilled with the presidential decision to let Malia partake in a classic American tradition.

“We’re proud, and very pleased for Malia,” says Peg Smith, CEO of the American Camp Association. “Education and learning has been something that the president has talked a great deal about, and we see camp as a great learning environment. We’re sure she’ll have a great experience.”

news.bbc.co.uk

Masked gunmen in the Gaza Strip have set fire to a United Nations-run summer camp for children.

This follows a similar attack in May on another UN-run summer camp.

“This is another example of the growing levels of extremism in Gaza and further evidence, if that were needed, of the urgency to change the circumstances on the ground,” John Ging said.

SNIP

Of course, it’s pretty obvious what they mean by “changing the circumstances…”