02
Nov
09

Palestinian MP freed from Zionist dungeon

Palestinian MP freed from Zionist dungeon

[ 01/11/2009 - 09:30 PM ]

From Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank

The Israeli occupation authorities on Sunday freed Hatem Qafisha, a member of the Legislative council after a protracted administrative detention in Israeli concentration camps and dungeons.

The “administrative detention” is often referred to as open-ended incarceration without charge or trial and is primarily meant as a reprisal against Palestinian political activists.

Israel rounded up Qafisha and most other Islamist lawmakers in the mid-2006, giving them hefty prison sentences ranging from 35 months to 48 months for taking part in elections under the umbrella of a militant organization.

The Israeli occupation authorities arrested Qafisha numerous times the last of which occurred in November 2007. All in all, Qafisha spent more than 9 years in detention.

He was never accused of any concrete charges apart from generalized and concocted charges pertaining to resisting the Israeli occupation and identifying with a militant organization.

In an interview three years ago, Qafisha intimated that he pressed the Jewish military judge to inform him why he was arrested.

The Judge said he couldn’t tell him because the evidence was secret. Then Qafisha confronted the judge, saying, “then how do you expect me to refrain from committing the same violation again if I don’t know what it is?”

During his prolonged imprisonment, Qafisha was able to earn his Ph.D. in political science by correspondence. His dissertation is titled “the erosion of the Israeli deterrence.”

Several Islamic detainees have also been able to earn Master and doctorate degrees through correspondence.

Qafisha joined the Muslim Brotherhood, the Arab world’s largest Islamic political movement, in 1978. In 1991, he was deported to southern Lebanon along with more than 400 Islamic political activists.

Then Israel’s Prime Minister Isaac Rabin thought that the draconian measure would weaken Hamas and stop the resistance against the Israeli occupation.

However, the deportation seemed to have significantly strengthened Hamas, prompting Rabin to step up autonomy talks with the PLO leadership under the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

In 2006, Qafisha won a seat in the Palestinian legislative elections while languishing in Israeli custody.

Qafisha was also briefly arrested by the Palestinian autonomous authority.

Abu Anas (his nom de guerre) is considered a prominent civic leader in the al-Khalil District who played an active role in the creation and management of charitable organizations in the city.

Qafisha, 47, is father to eight children.

02
Nov
09

Bonaparte Blair & Co by Gilad Atzmon

Brown is obviously correct, nothing could be more refreshing, innovative ‘real’ and ‘progressive’ than assigning the job to a man who has more blood on his hands than any other person in Europe. It may also be right to argue that there is just one living person on this planet with more blood on his hands than Blair. That man dwells in Texas, his name is George and actually unlike our Bonaparte figure, he keeps relatively quiet. Unlike George, our Boney is craving for recognition, he cannot live without a crown or an official title. Someone should remind Boney that he already made it into history, he can really take a break. With more than one million fatalities in Iraq, he is not far behind Hitler and Stalin.

Murderers are, no doubt, a unique bunch of people, some criminologists insists that they are no less than psychopaths for psychopaths are people who disregard ethical principles. Psychopaths also lack any sense of conscience or compassion. Mass murderers are even more special, for they manage to evade, not just a couple of eyes, but rather very many. They even mange to turn deaf to public criticism and resentment towards their acts. Our Boney, is extraordinary by every possible means. Not only does he dismiss the pain he brought on millions, not only did he fail to show regret, he actually constantly demands our recognition of his imaginary greatness. He seems to lack any awareness or self-consciousness whatsoever.

While the majority of Europeans would prefer to see Boney schlepped to The Hague, face justice and hopefully locked up for life, he himself must be convinced that he possesses the necessary qualities for the European Presidency. From a united European perspective he was a light disaster. He managed to keep Britain out of the Euro, he also didn’t follow the Schengen open borders agreement. From a British perspective Boney was a total disaster. Together with his ‘best Treasurer ever’ he succeeded in ruining the Britain economy. He smashed the last pockets of British industry to infinitesimal pieces and on top of all that, he has managed to get all of us implicated in a war crime of a colossal magnitude. This was probably enough to make European leaders think again, They have now decided to restrain Boney’s self centric enthusiasm and relentless will to power..

However, Blair is not alone. As much as recent polls suggest that the vast majority of Brits find him unsuitable to the European presidency, in his rapidly disintegrating Nuevo Labour, he actually has some dedicated followers supporters and allies.

According to the British press he asked Lord Mandelson to act as his ‘chef de cabinet’. In the last decade alone, Mandelson has had to resign more than once for his misconduct. Mandelson has also recently been exposed as having close ties with one of Russia’s leading Oligarchs. A person of such a low ethical reputation at the hub of the European Union may well be a danger for the entire continent.

Another of Blair’s close allies and supporters is Foreign Secretary David Miliband who launched Boney’s campaign for presidency with the extraordinary claim that only Boney could ’stop the traffic’ when he goes to foreign Capitals.

Like Boney, Miliband is rather enthusiastic about interventionism and ‘spreading democracy’. It is hard to believe but in Britain in 2009, the Wolfowitz doctrine is still making headlines especially amongst the so called ‘progressive’ politicians. I have learnt in recent days that Miliband is himself a leading candidate for the European Foreign office. I urge every European leader to look into Miliband’s Neoconservative ideology and amend their choice before it is too late.

Until recently Miliband managed to keep his Judeo-centric tribal affiliation to himself. This is not the case anymore. Facing an inevitable colossal electoral defeat for Labour, Miliband just couldn’t hold back. A few weeks ago he decided to pull the Jewish rabbit out of the of the Nuevo Labour sack. In a desperate and crude attempt to evoke public pity and empathy, he warned the British public that the coming Tory leadership is affiliated with notorious Anti Semites and Neo Nazis’. Miliband has managed to drag Poland’s chief Rabbi into the British political discourse. From Miliband’s tribal perspective, it is down to a Polish rabbi to suggest to the British people who is kosher enough to vote for. At least Miliband’s philosophy of mutual intervention is consistent: As much as we, the Brits, should tell the world who is moral and what is wrong , it is down to a Polish Rabbi to tell us who to vote for.

Peculiarly enough, The Polish Rabbi has now changed his spots. He admitted that the leader of the Polish Law and Justice party, Michal Kaminski, is actually “against Anti Semitism”. Nevertheless, Miliband is yet to apologize for implying that the Tory leaders are Anti Semitic. Like his mentor Boney, Miliband seems to lack the elementary capacity of ethical judgment or conduct. Bearing in mind Miliband’s recent Judeo-centric assault, his enthusiasm for interventionism together with his ethical deficiency, we are entitled to regard the man as a danger to peace. Once in possession of power and influence we may end up being complicit again in a new genocide in the name of one liberal slogan or another (‘democracy, atheism, women’s rights, gay freedom etc’)

But the paddling in pseudo liberal Nuevo Labour chicken soup may not end just there. It would be intriguing to find out what kind of a job Boney has assigned to his Number 1 Lord Cashpoint Levy. I would also like to know whether ‘Liberal’ Jack Straw, the man who insisted to strip Muslim women of their Veil, had any potential assignment in Blair’s presidential administration. At the end of the day, Straw could extend and expand his dismissal of others to the entire continent.

Blair was sure that he had the presidency ‘in his pocket’. He was wrong, it is now rather clear that European leaders have woken up. The horrifying dream may be over. I guess that the idea they would have to stop the traffic in their Capitals just to let the convoy of a vile war criminal pass through was too much for them to cope with.

Blair as a European president could be a total farce, almost as sickening as him being ‘Peace Envoy’. I assume that all we have to do now is to pursue immediately the necessary action that would lead this criminal to face justice and to bear the consequences of his illegal war.

02
Nov
09

Landmark victory for BDS at Sussex Uni

Link

BDS is on a roll now. Remember the wave of student occupations over the Israeli assault on Gaza late last year? There was the recent TUC vote for a boycott of Israel. There have been many votes in favour of BDS at various UK trade unions. Now students at Sussex University have voted for a boycott of Israeli goods.

I first heard about the vote taking place from someone I know at the university. I didn’t think too much of it because there seems to be a lot of it about these days. Then the vote came out in favour of BDS and I was pleased but, as with the TUC decision, it didn’t strike me as momentous. Well it turns out that, as with the TUC decision, it was unprecedented. See this:

Following a landmark referendum, students at Sussex University have voted to boycott Israeli goods. The decision will become part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, which calls upon Israel to respect international law and end the occupation of Palestine. The referendum result mandates the Students’ Union to remove all Israeli produce from its stores, and review its sources for food outlets. This makes Sussex Students’ Union the first in the UK to implement a full boycott of Israeli goods. The vote was one of the largest and closest contested in the Union’s history, with 562 votes for and 450 against the boycott.

The referendum received messages of support and thanks from Jewish and Israeli academics and non-governmental organisations that oppose Israel’s policy of occupation in Palestine. Author and scholar Norman G. Finkelstein described the referendum result as ‘a victory, not for Palestinians but for truth and justice’. He continued by saying, ‘Let us hope the boycott transmits the message to Israel that it should end the occupation, so that Palestinians can lead a decent life and amicable relations can be restored between Israelis and other peoples.‘

As I said, BDS is on the move now, like an idea whose time has come.

Posted by Levi9909 @ 12:45 AM
01
Nov
09

Before Israel, the US "kneels & pleads" … In other spots, "it bombs, invades & threatens sanctions"…


Link

(… and another: How dare he suggest the US to wake up?) Gideon Levy, in Haaretz, here


“Barack Obama has been busy – offering the Jewish People blessings for Rosh Hashanah, and recording a flattering video for the President’s Conference in Jerusalem and another for Yitzhak Rabin’s memorial rally. Only Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah surpasses him in terms of sheer output of recorded remarks.

In all the videos, Obama heaps sticky-sweet praise on Israel, even though he has spent nearly a year fruitlessly lobbying for Israel to be so kind as to do something, anything – even just a temporary freeze on settlement building – to advance the peace process.

The president’s Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, has also been busy, shuttling between a funeral (for IDF soldier Asaf Ramon, the son of Israel’s first astronaut Ilan Ramon) and a memorial (for Rabin, though it was postponed until next week due to rain), in order to find favor with Israelis. Polls have shown that Obama is increasingly unpopular here, with an approval rating of only 6 to 10 percent.

He decided to address Israelis by video, but a persuasive speech won’t persuade anyone to end the occupation. He simply should have told the Israeli people the truth. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived here last night, will certainly express similar sentiments: “commitment to Israel’s security,” “strategic alliance,” “the need for peace,” and so on .

Before no other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this. In other trouble spots, America takes a different tone. It bombs in Afghanistan, invades Iraq and threatens sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Did anyone in Washington consider begging Saddam Hussein to withdraw from occupied territory in Kuwait?

But Israel the occupier, the stubborn contrarian that continues to mock America and the world by building settlements and abusing the Palestinians, receives different treatment. Another massage to the national ego in one video, more embarrassing praise in another.

Now is the time to say to the United States: Enough flattery. If you don’t change the tone, nothing will change. As long as Israel feels the United States is in its pocket, and that America’s automatic veto will save it from condemnations and sanctions, that it will receive massive aid unconditionally, and that it can continue waging punitive, lethal campaigns without a word from Washington, killing, destroying and imprisoning without the world’s policeman making a sound, it will continue in its ways.

Illegal acts like the occupation and settlement expansion, and offensives that may have involved war crimes, as in Gaza, deserve a different approach. If America and the world had issued condemnations after Operation Summer Rains in 2006 -which left 400 Palestinians dead and severe infrastructure damage in the first major operation in Gaza since the disengagement – then Operation Cast Lead never would have been launched.
It is true that unlike all the world’s other troublemakers, Israel is viewed as a Western democracy, but Israel of 2009 is a country whose language is force. Anwar Sadat may have been the last leader to win our hearts with optimistic, hope-igniting speeches. If he were to visit Israel today, he would be jeered off the stage. The Syrian president pleads for peace and Israel callously dismisses him, the United States begs for a settlement free ze and Israel turns up its nose. This is what happens when there are no consequences for Israel’s inaction.
When Clinton returns to Washington, she should advocate a sharp policy change toward Israel. Israeli hearts can no longer be won with hope, promises of a better future or sweet talk, for this is no longer Israel’s language. For something to change, Israel must understand that perpetuating the status quo will exact a painful price.
Israel of 2009 is a spoiled country, arrogant and condescending, convinced that it deserves everything and that it has the power to make a fool of America and the world. The United States has engendered this situation, which endangers the entire Mideast and Israel itself. That is why there needs to be a turning point in the coming year – Washington needs to finally say no to Israel and the occupation. An unambiguous, presidential no.”
Posted by G, Z, or B at 6:40 AM
01
Nov
09

Assad: When Arab-Arab Ties are Bad, Everyone Pays the Price

Assad: When Arab-Arab Ties are Bad, Everyone Pays the Price

02/11/2009 Syrian President Bashar Assad said that the Unites States cannot be blamed for the deadlock in the Mideast talks. “The current Israeli government does not want peace. There is no partner for peace in Israel. The (U.S.) broker can therefore not do anything or be blamed if the Israeli side does not want peace,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with journalists who accompanied him to Croatia. Assad stressed Syria’s demand to get back its occupied territories was not a precondition but a rightful demand.
The Syrian president also told reporters that Damascus wants to improve Arab-Arab ties adding that what has happened so far with regards to US-Syrian ties was change of approach and replacement of dictations with dialogue.

Assad said that the Arab situation has improved. “What’s important is to move forward…Arabs have learned that when Arab-Arab relations are bad, everybody pays the price.”

The Syrian President reiterated that the formation of the Cabinet in Lebanon is the “responsibility of the Lebanese” and stressed no regional country would form the government.
Neither Syria nor Saudi Arabia nor the summit that brought the two countries’ leaders together last month “would form the national unity cabinet in Lebanon,” Assad told As Safir newspaper.

01
Nov
09

HILLARY’S TOXIC MIDDLE EAST ‘TRIP’

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November 1, 2009 at 9:30 am (Corrupt Politics, Deceit, Illegal Settlements, Israel, Occupation, Palestine)

Is she on drugs or booze? ……The things she has been saying definitely indicate one or the other. Perhaps V I Ps should have their luggage checked before entering a country…. at least this one in particular.

In Jerusalem, Clinton hails ‘unprecedented’ Israeli settlement concessions
Israel is making “unprecedented” concessions on West Bank settlement construction, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Saturday after arriving in Israel in the latest U.S. bid to renew peace talks in the region.
“It has always been an issue with negotiations,” she said. “What the Prime Minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements which he has just described – no new starts for example, is unprecedented in the context of prior to negotiations.”

“It’s also the fact that for forty years, Presidents of both parties have questioned the legitimacy of settlements, but I think that where we are right now is to try to get into the negotiations. The Prime Minister will be able to present his government’s proposal about what they are doing regarding settlements which I think when fully explained will be seen as being not only unprecedented in response to many of the concerns that have been expressed,” Clinton went on to say.

Read the rest HERE

Clinton endorses Israeli view: ‘Settlments are not obstacles…’

That should make Abbas stronger and more loved by his people! Can’t arm twist the usurpers? I bet we can pressure the victim!
Reuters, here


“Hillary Clinton turned U.S. pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday when she endorsed Israel’s view that its expansion of settlements on occupied land should not be a bar to resuming peace talks.

On a flying one-day visit across the Middle East, President Barack Obama’s secretary of state appeared to complete what is at least a shift in emphasis from the new U.S. administration, which in its first months in office this year strongly endorsed Palestinian demands that all Jewish settlement must be halted.

Obama himself, after persuading Abbas in September to meet new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called only for “restraint” in settlement, not the “freeze” he initially spoke of. On Saturday in Jerusalem, Clinton agreed with Netanyahu that it was unprecedented for Abbas to shun talks due to settlements…..

Clinton praised Israel’s efforts and said she expected its proposals for talks would address past criticism: “The prime minister will be able to present his government’s proposal about what they are doing regarding settlements, which I think when fully explained will be seen as being not only unprecedented but in response to many of the concerns that have been expressed.”….. Obama faces an early setback in his presidency if the two sides refuse even to talk.

Netanyahu’s coalition, including pro-settler groups, does not believe Abbas is strong enough to deliver Israel security in any deal. Some analysts see Netanyahu’s cooperation with Obama’s demand for a resumption of talks intended mainly to ensure U.S. support against Iran.

Clinton’s spokesman denied a suggestion that she had specifically asked Abbas to accept Netanyahu’s offer to limit settlement building to 3,000 new units in return for a resumption of talks.”

Posted by G, Z, or B at 1:13 AM

Radwan: Clinton’s remarks on settlement expansion dealt a blow to Abbas

[ 01/11/2009 - 04:42 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)– Senior Hamas official Ismail Radwan stated Sunday that US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s remarks on the need to resume Palestinian negotiations with Israel without asking it in advance to halt settlement expansion dealt a heavy blow to Mahmoud Abbas and his negotiators.

Radwan added that this American stand proved the credibility of the position voiced many times by Hamas that these frivolous negotiations would lead to more Palestinian concessions, vulnerability and begging at American tables.

He stressed that Abbas and his negotiators must be aligned with the choice of the Palestinian people, the resistance and the national constants instead of chasing a mirage leading to more land annexation, Judaization and security collaboration with the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian resistance.

Commenting on whether Abbas would stick to his opposition to the resumption of negotiations with Israel in light of the settlement activities, the Hamas official said that Abbas is unpredictable and his decisions are made by the American administration.

Speaking at a joint press conference ahead of her meeting with the Israeli premier, Clinton stated Saturday that a freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank is not a pre-condition for the resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

“There has never been a pre-condition. It’s always been an issue within the negotiations,” Clinton said.

“I want to see both sides as soon as possible begin in negotiations. Both president Obama and I are committed to a comprehensive peace agreement, she added.


Palestinians Accuse Clinton of Killing Peace Talks

01/11/2009 The Palestinians on Sunday accused US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of undermining progress toward Mideast peace talks after she praised Israel for offering to curb some settlement construction.

After meeting Israeli and Palestinian leaders during a visit Saturday, Clinton called for an unconditional resumption of peace talks and welcomed Israel’s offer for a slowdown in settlement activity. But Palestinians rejected the idea of resuming talks, reiterating their demand that Israel must first freeze all construction of settlements.

“I believe that the U.S. condones continued settlement expansion,” Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said in a rare public chiding of Washington. “Calling for a resumption of negotiations despite continued settlement construction doesn’t help because we have tried this way many times,” Khatib added. “Negotiations are about ending the occupation and settlement expansion is about entrenching the occupation.”

Palestinians expressed deep disappointment and frustration at Clinton’s words, which signaled a departure from past US calls for a complete freeze on settlement activity. “If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do Palestinians have of reaching agreement with Israel on permanent status issues?” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Similar sentiments were voiced by Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab countries to have peace agreements with Israel. The two countries said most of the blame lay with Israel, but signaled their unhappiness with the American shift.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II traveled to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. After the meeting, a royal palace statement released in Jordan said both leaders “insisted on the need for an immediate halt of all Israeli unilateral actions, which undermine the chances of achieving peace, especially the settlement construction.”

01
Nov
09

US AID TO PAKISTAN

Link

November 1, 2009 at 8:23 am (Associate Post, Cartoons, Corrupt Politics, Pakistan)

Image ‘Copyleft’ by Carlos Latuff’

click on image to enlarge

Read the following RELATED ARTICLE….

01
Nov
09

NEW YORKERS RALLY TO SUPPORT GAZA FREEDOM MARCH

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November 1, 2009 at 7:37 am (Activism, Associate Post, DesertPeace Exclusive, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Photography, Poetry)

Commentary by Chippy Dee, Photos © by Bud Korotzer, Poem by Remi Kanazi

Every time I think of 9/11

I see burning flesh dripping off the bones of Iraqi children in Fallujah

Now Gaza

I tend to memorialize the forgotten

The collateral damage eclipsing our unpunished crimes

Maybe it’s because I’ a numbers guy

Because if I had a dollar for every time an Iraqi died since 2003

I’d be a millionaire


And don’t get me wrong

Sometimes I don’t know who I hate more

The governments in the West

Or the politicians in the East

Who sell their souls quicker than the oil they export

Straw men who use Palestine as a tool to line their pockets

And don’t give a nickel to their people

Quisling governments

Who stitch mouths shut for a check from Washington or AIPAC

How can you be their prototypical anti-Semite

If you are signing peace accords to oppress your own people?


These opening lines of his poem, Israel-America: A Rambling Poem, were spoken by Palestinian-American poet, Remi Kanazi, as he opened the rally in support of the Gaza Freedom March which will take place at the end of December on the 1 year anniversary of Israel’s brutal attack on Gaza. The purpose of the historic, non-violent march is to show the people of Gaza that they have not been forgotten and also to break Israel’s illegal and inhumane blockade. The rally took place on October 27th at the Church of the Holy Trinity in N.Y.C. Remi Kanazi recited 2 of his poems in his own dynamic style which both touched the audience and raised their consciousness. He received a standing ovation. Farid Bitar, a Palestinian born Jerusalem poet then read some of his poetry which dealt with the Palestinian struggle from his personal experience. It too was appreciated by the audience of about 150 people.

The next speaker was Joseph Massad, Associate Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University, who gave a very scholarly review on the subject of the Oslo Agreements and how they meant the end of Palestinian independence. The political language of justice was changed to negotiation and the surrender of rights – it is now the language of imperial power. If Palestinians speak of justice it is considered aggressive while what the Israeli’s say, in the language of Oslo, is considered the language of peace. When Israel speaks of land for peace it implies that Israel has land to give. Actually, it is the Palestinians that are giving up their land. When it is said that Arabs must renounce violence it means that they must renounce justice. According to Oslo, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is supposed to represent the Palestinian people but there is an undercount – they only represent the Palestinians on the West Bank. Oslo does not recognize diaspora Palestinians scattered across the Middle East in refugee camps or those within Israel, or, now, those living in Gaza. Therefore Oslo has diminished the number of Palestinian people. Israel, with U.S. support, demands the right to be a Jewish (racist) state and claims to represent all Jews. This claim is not recognized anywhere in the world.

Oslo created 5 classes among the Palestinians to maintain and defend the Oslo process: a political class to rule, a police class that would repress Palestinians, a bureaucratic class that would serve the politicians and the police, an NGO class, and a business class. Money was connected to the process. By linking the livelihood of thousands of the Palestinian elite to the process they assured it’s survival. But Hamas created an unexpected problem. Therefore, there was a joint U.S.-Israeli effort to destroy Hamas. Israel, the U.S. and Arab governments united to try to destroy Hamas – Arab oil money went to the PA for them to stop any Palestinian revolt. Now an American general is training PA police on the West Bank to destroy any opposition to Israel among the Palestinian population there. The PA actually represents the interests of the U.S. and Israel. Opposition to Oslo brands one an extremist and if one stands up for Palestinian rights it means that they support war.

Jeff Halper, the next speaker, is a joint U.S.-Israeli citizen and one of Israel’s most articulate and passionate peace activists. He is the founder of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) which brings volunteers from all over the world to Palestine to rebuild homes demolished by the IDF on occupied land. He spoke of “global Gaza” – a concentration camp – being an early example of what may be planned for many of us if certain people get their way. Gaza and the occupied territories are an experiment against insurgency which can be used against any of us. It is an Israeli matrix of control, an experiment in control which can be taught and exported by Israel to anywhere in the world, including the New York Police Department. “We are all Palestinians” is not just a statement of solidarity but also indicates the understanding that we can find ourselves in their situation. Israel can do whatever they want to the Palestinians. They made that clear during the invasion last year. Israel said their invasion was a military exercise. Some of the weapons, like white phosphorus, were being used for the first time.

ICAHD was the first group in Israel to endorse the Gaza Freedom March and is trying to organize a solidarity march in Israel. There is a movement there that is critical of Israel.

Halper said that governments have to be pushed by the people. The struggle against Israel’s policies have started to reach the proportions of the anti-apartheid struggle against South Africa some years ago. The “Free Palestine” movement is well known and supported throughout the world. He was at a Free Palestine gathering of 50,000 people in Seoul, Korea. The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign is far ahead of the U.S. in most of the world. The Presbyterian Church in the U.S. is very critical of Israel. The Anglican Church is also. The Church of England divested from Caterpillar. There has been significant divestment in Norway, among unionists in Britain and Canada, and South African longshoremen won’t unload Israeli ships. Human rights is not a big issue in the U.S. but in the rest of the world it really means something. Allowing Israel to violate the human rights of Palestinians with impunity has lowered the stature of the U.S. in the eyes of the world. The Palestinian “little people” have shined a beacon that has exposed the neoliberal political system of the U.S. Their suffering has made clear exactly who is violating human rights.

These repressive systems can collapse very suddenly sometimes. “INJUSTICE IS UNSUSTAINABLE”. Israel would like to occupy with the consent of the Palestinian people but oppressed people do not accept their oppression. BDS will make the situation for Israel intolerable. We can hasten the collapse by our activism – it is meaningful work! Work immediately to make it happen faster. “We are winning”. 50,000 people in Gaza have committed themselves to joining the marchers and the numbers will only grow.

The final speaker was Ann Wright. She was a career U.S. Army colonel who joined the State Department in 1987. Based on her experiences in Afghanistan, Somalia, and Grenada she resigned in 2003 to protest the invasion of Iraq. Since then she has been a severe critic of U.S. policy, especially on Israel – Palestine. Because of her outspokenness, disruptive, and nonviolent behavior she has been arrested, banned from Congress and the National Press Club and placed on an FBI watch list. She has made 3 trips to Gaza this year with CodePink. Wright said that we have to hold our government accountable for it’s human rights violations all over the world, with it’s endless wars and the U.S. – Israeli action in Gaza. The U.S. sold 3 billion dollars worth of military equipment to Israel. The Obama Administration is as guilty as any other administration – he refused to speak when Israel attacked Gaza last December 27th. He watched Israel use white phosphorous that burns through people’s flesh, and he knew they were killing children and grandmothers. Nothing has been rebuilt in Gaza. The U.S. says they can’t find people to give the money to to rebuild. Well, there are a million and a half people in Gaza that are ready and able to rebuild. The Israeli attack was a “massacre”, no defense or escape was possible. The use of force was disproportionate, it was collective punishment, and it was a war crime. There was an experimental, what will it take to destroy these people’s will, element to it too.

The world will be watching the freedom marchers in Gaza. George Galloway, the British MP is also bringing a Viva Palestina group to Gaza to join the march. People from all over the world, more than 500 of them, will be marching there on December 30th with the people of Gaza. Wright added, tell your government, “We’re gonna be in your face”. “FREE GAZA! STOP THE SIEGE! STOP THE BLOCKADE!”

01
Nov
09

1967 BORDERS? WHAT 1967 BORDERS!


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Throw away those keys you ethnically cleansed Palestinians, remain in your tents all you displaced Palestinians, enjoy living for generations to come in your refugee camps all you uprooted Palestinians, and to all of you living in East Jerusalem, you will be leaving soon, so pack your bags. Such is the new message to Palestinians from the Obama Administration.

Clinton praises her Masters:

“She said Israel has made “unprecedented” concessions on settlement building”

The U-turn to the Dark Side is now complete. Obama sent his lackey Clinton to the Middle East for an “Arse Kissing Fest” with Netanyahu. Yes folks the Illegal, let me repeat that word “Illegal” settlements have become a “non issue” for America, they are off the table, wave bye, toodleooski, sayonara, see ya.

I just finished watching the Clinton/Netanyahu love fest on television. It was sickening to see the Americans being wholly owned by the Israelis. But then again, they now know their place under their masters, right alongside the Palestinians, equally dismissed, equally controlled, equally unimportant. Today’s report, and I must note that the video I watched was much worse than this written report:

The administration of Barack Obama, the US president, had previously demanded that Israel halt all settlement building before negotiations could resume, a move that was applauded by the Palestinians but which brought the US and Israel to loggerheads.
The settlements are considered illegal under international law.

Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem correspondent, said: “The Americans would never admit to backtracking, but if we watch the way that the language has changed and the way the emphasis has changed, it’s quite clear there has been a slide in the American position.

In May, Clinton had said Obama “wants to see a stop to settlements. Not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions”.

But after bringing Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Netanyahu together at the United Nations in New York in September, Obama called only for “restraint” on settlements, not a “freeze”.

“We really watched Hillary Clinton fall into line with Israel,” our correspondent said of her latest remarks.

“The 1967 borders seems to be up for negotiations, and that is something no Palestinian leader can accept.” LINK

Posted by Irish4Palestine at 12:30 PM
01
Nov
09

WHITEWASHING WAR CRIMES WITH STALE LIES

LINK

November 1, 2009 at 6:37 am (Associate Post, Corrupt Politics, Israel, Palestine, War Crimes)

Image ‘Copyleft’ by Carlos Latuff

whitewashing war crimes

By Khalid Amayreh

“I fear very much that the Jews are like all underdogs. When they get on the top they are just as intolerant and cruel as the people were to them when they were underneath. I regret this situation very much because my sympathy has always been on their side.” – Harry Truman

Many Zionist Jews are angry and frustrated these days following the ample attention given to the Goldstone report around the world.

This is why huge amounts of classical Zionist lies about the Nazi-like winter onslaught against the Gaza Strip are being pumped through the internet.

One Zionist hasbara (propaganda) activist, whose job is to propagate these lies in order to whitewash the virtual Gaza genocide, has claimed that whatever wrongs Israel committed in Gaza occurred by mistake.

“There is a difference- a great difference-between tragic mistakes that happened during war and radical Islam’s indiscriminate wickedness”

Well, how many times “tragic mistakes” are supposed to occur? A hundred times? A thousand times?

In fact, Israel has been knowingly and deliberately making these “mistakes” since time immemorial, so much that we can, without a bit of exaggeration, speak of a consistent modus operandi.

Besides, when mistakes occur and are repeated numerous times, it means they are “the” outstanding “policy.” After all, Israel can’t consistently murder civilians as a matter of policy and then claim the atrocities were committed by “mistake.”

More to the point, when the number of victims is so high and disproportionate to any conceivable provocation, even intention becomes irrelevant.

Hence, the claim that the Nazi-like crimes committed by Israel against the helpless and unprotected Palestinian civilians were mere mistakes should be treated as nothing short of pornographic lies, a sort of fornication with language.

The supremacist Zionist activist, who thinks Jews are not capable of doing evil, quoted Yair Lapid, from Yediot Ahronot, who argued in a recent article that the international community had failed to understand that Israel is an “enlightened western democracy that struggles for its existence in the wild East.”

Well, this is another pornographic lie. In fact, the distance between the Judeo-Nazi entity and true enlightenment is so enormous that the two can be perceived as an odious oxymoron. This is so because Israel represents the ultimate antithesis of human civility, and vice versa.

A few years ago, a Jewish intellectual and member of British Parliament lamented the fact that “ Israel has made the Star of David Look like the Swastika of Hitler.” That was before the barbarian blitzkrieg against Gaza. I wonder how he would describe the evil state now.

In the final analysis, it is an insult to language and common sense to call a state that thinks, and behaves and acts like Nazi Germany “enlightened.” Calling Israel “enlightened” is analogous to calling the Gestapo or SS “innocent boy scouts.”

In truth, Israel is neither enlightened nor a democracy. A true democracy would not murder “goy” children and young men in order to harvest their organs for sale in America or in order to be transplanted in Jewish patients.

Nor would it instruct soldiers manning roadblocks to prevent women about to give birth from reaching nearby hospitals in order to check Arab demographic growth. Does anyone know how many Palestinian women bled to death because the Gestapo of our time wouldn’t allow them to reach hospital?

Again, calling Israel “democratic” is also a form of fornication with language. This is so because a true democracy doesn’t discriminate against a segment of its citizens because of their “wrong” religion, as Israel does. Nor does it adopt a duplicitous justice system depending on whether one is a Jew or a goy!!!

The Zionist hasbara activist goes on elucidating the virtues of Israel and its army and the vices of the Palestinians.

“You fail to distinguish Jewish morals from radical Islam’s lack of morality.”

Well, where is that Jewish morality? Is it a moral act to rain white Phosphorus and other agents of death on helpless children in Gaza ?

Is it a moral act to order panicking civilians into buildings and then bomb these buildings from high altitudes, killing everyone inside? Is it a moral act to annihilate so many entire families because a member of these families was suspected of sympathizing with a political party that Israel didn’t like? Indeed, is it a moral act to cut off food, water and basic consumer products from 1.5 million on no ground other than the fact that they had chosen to elect a “non-conformist” political party? Indeed, if these crimes are acts of morality, then Hitler and his colleagues, Stalin and his, and all other mass killers throughout history must be viewed as great paragons of virtue and morality.

The truth of the matter is that Israel has made “Jewish morality” look very much like Nazi morality. In the final analysis, when Jews behave like the Nazis, they become Nazis themselves.

Then commonsense is further affronted by the claim that the appointment by Israel of “inquiry commissions” shows that Israel is a state where the rule of law is paramount.

Well, How many Israeli war criminals have been prosecuted let alone punished following each massacre of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians?

A few years ago, the Judeo-Nazi state established the so-called Winograd Commission to look into the massive Israeli bombing of South Lebanon in 2006 which killed more than 1400 Lebanese civilians.

However, it was amply clear that the commission didn’t look into the often pornographic atrocities committed against Lebanese civilians but concentrated on discussing why Israel failed to subdue Hezbollah.

The committee said absolutely nothing about the estimated 2-3 million cluster bomblets dropped from high altitudes on civilian areas. Well, theoretically at least, these bomblets were enough to kill 2-3 million Lebanese children. This would have been at least half a holocaust by Zionist standards.

Finally, I would like to say that a country or a religious or ethnic community doesn’t become “enlightened” or “democratic” or “decent’ just by claiming to have these epithets.

Evil people throughout history always claimed that they represented virtue and morality. After all, murderous crimes and virulent lies go hand in hand.

However, their actions and behaviors always belie, negate and refute their mendacious claims. Which makes Israel the world’s most repugnant example of a state that combines murderous criminality with virulent mendacity.

Needless to say, such a state has nothing to do with any true morality, Jewish or non-Jewish. It is a satanic entity that must go.