Why June 5 Matters

Via Silverling

Posted by realistic bird on May 31, 2011

by Joe Catron, source

I gasped as the first bullet struck a young man standing a few paces ahead of me. Watching him crumple to the ground, I struggled for breath and fought my natural urge to run. ‘Allahu Akbar!’, the crowd roared around me. ‘Yalla, Shebab!’ A half-dozen other men – none of whom could have been older than twenty, and most of whom looked much younger – rushed forward, retrieving their fallen compatriot and carrying him quickly to a waiting ambulance. A thin trail of blood marked their path, ending in a small, dark puddle where the first of the day’s many gunshot victims had fallen.

Thousands of refugees and other Palestinians had gathered at the Erez Crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. An imposing military structure of massive concrete barriers and machine gunners’ towers, the border wall separates Gaza Strip residents from the 78% of Palestine seized by the State of Israel in 1948. For the two-thirds of residents who are refugees, it also prevents their return to the homes from which they and their families were forcibly expelled that year. Palestinians throughout the world remember this Nakba, or catastrophe, every May 15 with gatherings, demonstrations, and resolutions to someday return.

But this year would be different. Inspired by the popular uprisings against dictatorships across the Arab region, Palestinians were resolved to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of 711,000 people from their country by making history, rather than remembering it.

On the morning of May 15, Nakba Day, tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered around the borders of Israel and its occupied territories, determined to march to the homes and homeland denied to them for generations. In Beit Hanoun, they walked from buses forced to stop kilometers from the crossing by the sheer numbers of the crowd. Many remained at checkpoints preceding the crossing. Others pressed forward, their eyes fixed on the distant gate.

The Israeli response came quickly. Bullet after bullet penetrated the crowd of unarmed demonstrators, each one finding its target. Artillery shells pounded the sandy dunes around us, and after several hours, tear gas canisters hissed through the air. Over a hundred people were hospitalized with serious injuries, while elsewhere on the border, a 17-year old boy was killed by artillery fire. The rest of us escaped with tear gas inhalation, cuts from exploding concrete and shrapnel, and bloodstains from the limbs, torsos, and faces shattering around us.

Yet the demonstrators kept coming. After every retreat from gas, gunfire, or the thunderous boom of artillery, there was another surge. Only when the sheer brutality of the Israeli forces had sufficiently depleted the number of those capable of pressing forward did the strength of the crowd begin to wane.
And somehow, the overall mood remained one of measured, but tangible joy. The victory sign was everywhere, and smiles were common not only on the runners ferrying injured marchers to medical attention, but also on the young men and women they carried. Everyone seemed to intuitively sense that they were doing something historic, closing one chapter in the long, painful struggle for Palestinian freedom and opening another one that offered more hope for a happy ending.

Elsewhere, the state violence inflicted upon peaceful marchers was even worse. At the border between Syria and the occupied Golan Heights, Israeli gunfire killed four of them, while in Lebanon, ten suffered the same fate. Hundreds, if not thousands, were seriously injured.

But like the returnees in Beit Hanoun, those from Lebanon and Syria refused to be dissuaded by military repression. Dozens of the latter poured through Israeli barriers, spending hours in the welcoming villages of the occupied Golan Heights before leaving under the protection of their Syrian hosts. One, Hassan Hijazi, made it all the way to the Jaffa home from which his family was exiled in 1948. Before surrendering to Israeli police, the 28-year old told journalists, “I wasn’t afraid and I’m not afraid. On the bus to Jaffa, I sat next to Israeli soldiers. I realized that they were more afraid than I was.”

Hijazi’s seven million fellow Palestinian refugees aren’t afraid either. On Sunday, June 5, they will return to the borders created to exclude them, and perhaps beyond. Like the 63rd Nakba Day, this 44th anniversary of the Naksa, or setback – Israel’s 1967 occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, and subsequent expulsion of 300,000 additional refugees – promises a commemoration like none before it.
June 5 will not determine the outcome of the Palestinian movement for return. That outcome was already determined by the decades of grassroots organizing and popular struggle that culminated in the historic mobilization of May 15. Its finality can be glimpsed in grievances by Western media like Reuters that “[t]he Palestinians who forced their way across Israel’s border on Sunday turned back the clock on the Middle East conflict, putting centre stage the refugee question that many believed would be negotiated away,” and confirmed by the sweaty, stammered insistence of Zionists like Benjamin Netanyahu that “it’s not going to happen. Everybody knows it’s not going to happen.”

Those suddenly forced to defend not only the brutal excesses of their system, but the very racism of ethnic cleansing, exclusion, and apartheid upon which its existence relies, find themselves in a situation both uncomfortable and unprecedented. They have no reason to expect it to become easier in the coming months, as further waves of returning refugees push their fight for justice closer to the center of the world’s attention.

But June 5 will shape the outline of this next chapter in the Palestinian saga: its intensity, its length, and what follows it. Was May 15 a singular moment, or perhaps one suited for occasional repetition? Or was it the harbinger of a sustained, consistent struggle to come, a Third Intifada simultaneously challenging Israel from within, on every border, and across the globe?

Palestinians have amply demonstrated their ability to resist occupation over the long haul, while the global solidarity network supporting them has reacted capably to atrocities like the slaughters of 1,400 Palestinians during Operation Cast Lead and nine passengers on the first Freedom Flotilla. If these two movements can organize and mobilize as effectively now, seizing a unique opportunity to take the offensive and keep it, the Palestinian freedom struggle could prove a quicker and more decisive one than many of us had dared to hope.

– Joe Catron is a resident of Brooklyn, New York and a current member of the International Solidarity Movement – Gaza Strip. He writes in a personal capacity.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

MASSAD: Are Palestinian children less worthy?

Via A4P

 30May11

by Joseph MAssad

30 May 2011

What is it about Jewish and Arab children that privileges the first and spurns the second in the speeches of President Barack Obama, let alone in the Western media more generally? Are Jewish children smarter, prettier, whiter? Are they deserving of sympathy and solidarity, denied to Arab children, because they are innocent and unsullied by the guilt of their parents, themselves often referred to as “the children of Israel”? Or, is it that Arab children are dangerous, threatening, guilty, even dark and ugly, a situation that can only lead to Arabopaedophobia – the Western fear of Arab children?

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Jewish Innocence

Innocence and childhood are common themes in Western political discourse, official and unofficial. While it is a truism to state that since the end of European colonialism the US and Europe have been, at the official and unofficial levels, friendly to and supportive of the Zionist colonial project and hostile to Palestinians and Arabs in their resistance to Zionism, the expectation would be that a West that insists rhetorically on the “universalism” of its values would show at least a rhetorical commitment to the equality of Arab and Jewish children as victims of the violence visited on the region by Zionist colonialism and the resistance to it.

Yet, the only Western sympathy manifest is to Jewish children as symbols of Zionist and Israeli innocence. This Western sympathy is deployed primarily to denounce Arab guilt, including the guilt of Arab children.

Indeed, the only time Arab children received any sympathy at all in the West was a few years ago when Israeli and US propaganda outlets, official and unofficial alike, mounted a major propaganda campaign to save these children from their barbaric Arab and Palestinian parents, who allegedly trained them to commit violent acts, or who unlovingly placed them in the middle of danger, sacrificing them for their violent political goals.

It was not Israel who was to blame for killing Palestinian children, but the children’s own uncaring and cruel parents who placed them in the path of Israeli Jewish bullets, which left Israeli Jews no choice but to kill them.
This of course is an old Israeli casuistry used to justify Israel’s carnage of Palestinians. Golda Meir had famously articulated the workings of Israel’s Jewish conscience thus: “We can forgive you for killing our sons. But we will never forgive you for making us kill yours.”

In the official discourse of post-World War II US power, Jewish children have been often invoked to illustrate the innocence of Israel, a tradition carried faithfully by Barack Obama’s rhetoric.

Refusing to even acknowledge Arab children as victims of Israel, ( Check The other side of the story) on June 4, 2009, Obama told Arabs in his Cairo speech: “It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is surrendered.” He reiterated this in his May 19, 2011 “winds of change” speech, declaring: “For decades, the conflict between Israelis and Arabs has cast a shadow over the region. For Israelis, it has meant living with the fear that their children could get blown up on a bus or by rockets fired at their homes, as well as the pain of knowing that other children in the region are taught to hate them.”

A Gazan boy sells vegetables in the rain after the Israeli blockade crushed the economy in the coastal territory  [GALLO/GETTY]

Later that week, in his speech to the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on May 22, Obama expressed sympathy with the hardship colonising Jews experience while appropriating the lands of the Palestinians: “I saw the daily struggle to survive in the eyes of an eight-year old [Jewish] boy who lost his leg to a Hamas rocket.”
He averred that the US and Israel, presumably unlike Palestinians or Arabs more generally, “both seek a region where families and their children can live free from the threat of violence”.



Endorsing Israel’s illegal occupation of East Jerusalem, he asserted: “We also know how difficult that search for security can be, especially for a small nation like Israel in a tough neighbourhood. I’ve seen it firsthand. When I touched my hand against the Western Wall and placed my prayer between its ancient stones, I thought of all the centuries that the children of Israel had longed to return to their ancient homeland.” Aside from borrowing anti-Black American white racism with the use of terms like “tough neighbourhood” – a term first borrowed by Binyamin Netanyahu to refer to the Middle East over a decade ago – wherein Arabs are the “violent blacks” of the Middle East and Jews are the “peaceful white folks”, Obama’s endorsement of the Israeli claim that East Jerusalem is part of the Jewish homeland is the first such official US endorsement of Israel’s illegal occupation of the city.



Nonetheless, Obama’s attention lay elsewhere, in the fear he expresses of Arab children. He first articulated this fear in his May 19 speech: “The fact is, a growing number of Palestinians live west of the Jordan River.” In his speech to AIPAC three days later, Obama reiterated his fear once more, as the first “fact” and threat that Israel, Jews, and the US must face: “Here are the facts we all must confront. First, the number of Palestinians living west of the Jordan River is growing rapidly and fundamentally reshaping the demographic realities of both Israel and the Palestinian territories.”

This is hardly a new fear, as Israelis have annual conferences, and have developed all kinds of political and military strategies, to deal with their fear of Palestinian children, whom Israel’s President Shimon Peres calls a “demographic bomb” that he wants to defuse. Golda Meir herself once revealed in the early seventies that she could not sleep worrying about the number of Palestinian children being conceived every night.
If children are the future – except that Arab children are a negation of it – then the crux of the argument is simple: Israel can only have a future with more Jewish children and fewer Arab children.

Murdering Arab children



The story of Arab children, and especially Palestinian ones, is not only tragic in the context of Israeli violence, but one that also remains ignored, deliberately marginalised, and purposely suppressed in the US and Western media – and in Western political discourse.



When Zionist terrorists began to attack Palestinian civilians in the 1930s and 1940s, Palestinian children fell victims. The most famous of these attacks include the Zionist blowing up of Palestinian cafes with grenades (such as occurred in Jerusalem on March 17, 1937) and placing electrically timed mines in crowded market places (first used against Palestinians in Haifa on July 6, 1938).

While the violence of the 1930s was the first introduction to the Middle East of such horrific terrorist violence, it is in the 1947-48 Zionist invasion of Palestinian villages and towns that Palestinian children were deliberately not spared. In December 1947, one of the first attacks by the Haganah (the pre-Israel Zionist paramilitary army) first attacks – which would become typical in this period – targeted the Palestinian village of Khisas in the Galilee and killed four Palestinian children. This proved to be a small number compared with the subsequent mass murders awaiting the Palestinians. In the village of Al-Dawayimah, where the Haganah committed a massacre in October 1948, an Israeli army soldier, quoted by Israeli historian Benny Morris, described the scene as such: 

The first [wave] of conquerors killed about 80 to 100 [male] Arabs, women, and children. The children they killed by breaking their heads with sticks. There was not a house without dead… One commander ordered a sapper to put two old women in a certain house… and to blow up the house with them. The sapper refused… The commander then ordered his men to put in the old women and the evil deed was done. One soldier boasted that he had raped a woman and then shot her. One woman, with a newborn baby in her arms, was employed to clean the courtyard where the soldiers ate. She worked a day or two.

In the end they shot her and her baby.Palestinian children were murdered along with adults in April 1948 in the Deir Yassin massacre, to name the most well known slaughter of 1948. This would continue not only during Israel’s wars against Arabs in 1956, 1967, 1973, 1978, 1982, 1996, 2006, and 2008, when thousands of children fell victim to indiscriminate Israeli bombardment, but also in more outright massacres: in Qibya in 1953 where even the school was not spared Israel’s destruction; in Kafr Kassem in 1956 where the Israeli army massacred 46 unarmed Palestinian citizens of Israel, 23 of whom were children. This trend would continue.

Bahr El-Bakr massacre

In April 1970, during the War of Attrition with Egypt, Israel bombed an Egyptian elementary school in Bahr al-Baqar. Of the 130 school children in attendance, 46 were killed, and over 50 wounded, many of them maimed for life. The school was completely demolished. The first Israeli massacre at Qana in Lebanon in 1996 spared no child or adult, and the second massacre in the same village in 2006 did the same – adults aside, 16 children were killed that year.

The number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli soldiers in the first intifada (1987-1993) was 213, not counting the hundreds of induced miscarriages from tear gas grenades thrown inside closed areas targeting pregnant women, and aside from the number of the injured.

The Swedish branch of Save the Children estimated that “23,600 to 29,900 children required medical treatment for their beating injuries in the first two years of the intifada”, one third of whom were children under the age of ten years old. In the same period, Palestinian attacks resulted in the death of five Israeli children. In the second intifada (2000-2004), Israeli soldiers killed more than 500 children with at least 10,000 injured, and 2,200 children arrested.

The televised murder of the Palestinian child Muhammad al-Durra shook the world – but not Israeli Jews, whose government concocted the most outrageous and criminal of stories to exonerate Israel.

In the Israeli attack on Gaza in December 2008, 1,400 Palestinians were killed, of whom 313 were children.

This exhibition of atrocity is not simply about regurgitating the history and present of Israel’s murder of Arab children for the past six decades and beyond – a history well-known across the Arab world – but to demonstrate how obscene Obama’s references to Jewish children are when he insists to Arabs that they must show sympathy with Jewish children, without ever enjoining Jews to show sympathy with the far larger number of Arab children killed by Jews. But Obama himself shows no sympathy with Arab children. Had he attempted to mourn the Arab children who fell and fall victim to Israeli violence at the rate of hundreds, if not thousands, of Arab children to one Jewish child, Arabs might have forgiven him this indiscretion.

Alas, Obama has no place in his heart for Arab children, only for Jewish ones. He even manages to infantilise Israeli Jewish soldiers who kill Palestinians, as nothing short of innocent children whose families miss them. In his AIPAC speech, Obama calls on Hamas “to release Gilad Shalit, who has been kept from his family for five long years”, but not on Israel to release the 6,000 Palestinian political prisoners, who include 300 Palestinian children, languishing in Israel’s dungeons for many more years. Perhaps Obama could have at least mentioned the reports of Israeli soldiers’ torture of detained Palestinian children issued in late 2010 by Israeli human rights groups. In the case of detained Palestinian sixth graders, in addition to being beaten up and deprived of sleep by Israeli soldiers, two thirteen-year old children testified that “the most awful thing that happened, was when the soldiers went to the bathroom, they peed on us and did not use the toilet. One of them videotaped it.” But Obama was not moved by their plight, for they were not Jewish children.

Zionism and Jewish children

Interestingly and unlike Obama, Zionism did not always show similar love towards Jewish children, whom it never flinched from sacrificing for its colonial goals. In the Nazi period, Zionist leaders, for example, protested strongly against granting European Jews refuge in any country other than Palestine. In December 1938, David Ben-Gurion responded to a British offer, in the aftermath of Kristallnacht, to take thousands of German Jewish children directly to Britain by saying: “If I knew it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by bringing them to England, and only half of them by transporting them to Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel), then I would opt for the second alternative, for we must weigh not only the life of these children but also the history of the people of Israel.”

In November 1940, the Zionists responded to the British-imposed restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine, long demanded by the Palestinian people, by blowing up a ship with Jewish civilian passengers in Haifa – killing 242 Jews, including scores of children. For Zionism, Jewish children are as expendable as Palestinian and Arab children, unless they serve its colonial goals. In light of this, it becomes clear that it is not simply the Jewishness or Arabness of children that makes them expendable or not, but their insertion into a political project as figures that can advance its goals or constitute obstacles to them.

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“Inocent” Israeli girls write messages on a shell at a heavy artillery position near Kiryat Shmona, in northern Israel, next to the Lebanese border, Monday, July 17, 2006 [AP]

Israel’s recruitment of Jewish children in paramilitary organisations, which began in 1948, continues apace, and is perhaps best exemplified in its Gadna [“Youth Battalions”] programme, where young Jewish boys and girls are prepared early for their future military service in the most militarised state on earth. 

The most outrageous use of Jewish children, however, would be illustrated when the Israeli army invited them to write messages of hate on the missiles about to be launched against Lebanese children during Israel’s July 2006 invasion of Lebanon. Captured by an Associated Press cameraman, the picture of blond Jewish girls near the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona writing messages of death to Lebanese children circulated the globe – though it remains unclear if they ever made their way to Obama’s desk. It is important to note that Obama might have met these same blond girls when he visited Kiryat Shmona a few months earlier, in January 2006. He recalled later that the town resembled an ordinary suburb in the US, where he could imagine the sounds of Israeli children “at joyful play just like my own daughters”.

Teaching children to hate



Given this history, not only are Palestinian children guilty of hating Israeli Jews, but also, Obama insists, they have no reason to hate Jews unless their evil elders indoctrinate them to do so. Binyamin Netanyahu himself, in his speech before Congress last week, reiterated Obama’s condemnation of Palestinians who allegedly “continue to educate their children to hate”.

 But what about Israeli Jewish children’s hatred of Arabs? A March 2010 poll by Tel Aviv University found that 49.5 per cent of Israeli Jewish high school students believe Palestinian citizens of Israel should not be entitled to the same rights as Jews in Israel; 56 per cent believe they should not be eligible for election to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. According to a report in January 2011 in the largest Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, Jewish teachers in Israel stated that anti-Arab racism among Jewish students reached alarming levels, advocating killing Palestinians. The teachers found graffiti written on school walls and even on exam papers stating “Death To Arabs”. According to the report, a student at a school in Tel Aviv told his teacher during class that his dream is to become a soldier so he can exterminate all Arabs; several students in his class applauded in support of him. This, in no small amount, is the direct result of the racist Israeli school curricula with which Jewish children are regularly indoctrinated.

In his speech to Congress, Prime Minister Netanyahu correctly diagnosed the situation on the ground. He declared: “Our conflict has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish state.” It is the establishment of a Jewish settler colony that the Palestinians must accept to ensure a future for Jewish children and terminate a future for Palestinian children. Indeed it is precisely the refusal of Arabs to adopt Arabopedophobia that is the biggest impediment to peace in the region. Obama hopes that a Palestinian bantustan could limit the threat that Palestinian children constitute to the nightmare that is “the Jewish and democratic state”. He recognises that the world can no longer claim to support universalism while endorsing Israel’s right to discriminate against non-Jews. In his AIPAC speech, he said as much when he told Israel’s lobby that the entire world, including Asia, Latin America, Europe (and he could have added Africa, which he inexplicably excluded) and the Arab World can no longer tolerate Israel’s institutionalised racism; that America in fact stands alone with Israel today. Clearly, Obama’s love for Jewish children knows no limits. His Arabopedophobic views, however, are not accidental, but are motivated by his great love for the “children of Israel”, a love that can only be realised through continued hatred and containment of all Arabs, children and adults alike.

Joseph Massad is Associate Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University. He is author of The Persistence of the Palestinian Question (Routledge, 2006).

• A “culture” of Hate!
• A “culture” of supremacy

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

THE WALL a play by Douglas Watkinson – reviewed by Gilad Atzmon

The Wall is a thought provoking new play based on Douglas Watkinson’s own experiences.

At the age of sixty, David visits a British military cemetery in Israel. For the first time in his life he is about to call upon the grave of his father Ralph who was blown up in 1947 at the age of twenty five by the Jewish Stern Gang.
The play is a unique encounter between David, a middle-aged Englishman, and his dead father Ralph, a young English Corporal at the time of the British Mandate. It is a meeting through which we, the audience, can ‘witness’ six decades of Israeli brutality, through the eyes of a dead British Corporal buried in foreign soil along side thousands of his peers. The play is a cleverly constructed dialogue between a sixty year old son: a man who grew up in post WWII Britain, an indoctrinated gentleman and a liberated dead father who is free to call things what they actually are.

The play is a journey into the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It dares to look into the role of the British in the creation of yet another endless war. It is also courageous enough to review and assess the cruelty of Jewish terror-groups towards the British military. It goes deeper than most political commentators and academics, for it is brave enough to look honestly at the imaginary distinction between Jews, Israel and Zionism. Ralph is obviously impervious to political correctness — he sees Zionists and Israelis for what they are — namely, Jews. Initially, David couldn’t agree less, insisting that Jews are kind and compassionate people. He would contend, that it is merely the Israelis and Zionists who may be slightly problematic.

As the play evolves, David witnesses Israeli brutality for himself. And once he has visited a Palestinian home he falls in love with Palestine, immediately empathising with the Palestinian plight. Overnight, David is transformed into a Palestinian advocate. He then meets Israeli soldiers at a road block and he encounters the arrogance of an MIT lieutenant, a new Jewish-American immigrant who claims ownership of someone else’s land. He also meets a Romanian female sergeant who teaches him a lesson in Israeli rudeness.

These events are enough to transform David into an anti-separation wall activist. Needless to say that by that time, the old school English tie is replaced by a Palestinian scarf, hung loosely around his neck.

As the the play unfolds, we witness a continuum of six decades of merciless vengeance enacted by new comers, people who do not belong to Palestine. You can call them Israelis, or Zionists, or Jews — in fact it doesn’t really matter — whoever or whatever they are, they must be stopped.

The play is on for another week. If you happen to be in or around London, you don’t want to miss it. The play once again reaffirms my view that art and beauty are leading the journey towards justice, for art excels precisely where academia, politics, activism, journalism and the so called Left have failed so miserably.

Untill Monday 6 June 2011
Tuesday to Saturday at 8:30pm
Saturday & Sunday at 4:45pm
Tickets£16 (Concs £14)
To Book
0870 033 2733

“A foreign intervention in Syria means disaster for both Turkey and the region.

Syria deployed tanks in the border village, witnesses said, ignoring growing pressure from Washington which called on Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad to stop trying to crush popular unrest or step aside.

Think tank report says Turkey should focus on Syria

26 May 2011, Thursday / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL

A report released by an Ankara-based think tank indicates that as the Syrian regime faces hardships with the continuing public uprisings for a more democratic regime, Turkey should develop policies to influence the process to evolve democratically, since Syrian matters are “family matters” to Turkey.

The report released on May 9 by the International Strategic Research Organization (USAK) titled “The Name of Walking in a Mine Field: Forcing Change in Syria,” indicates that Syria is in need of “urgent change” and Turkey needs to develop policies in the direction of democratic change, as human rights groups say the death toll from Syria’s crackdown on a nine-week uprising has exceeded 1,000.

The report states that Turkey’s priority should be preventing a foreign intervention.

“A foreign intervention in Syria means disaster for both Turkey and the region. A solution is necessary before it reaches that point. Turkey should focus on Syria with all of its power. If the issues in Syria are not solved as soon as possible, Turkey’s initiatives in the region will fail,” the report said and continued: “Turkey’s assertion to be a model state in the region will weaken in particular. A Turkey that cannot be influential in solving matters in Syria will lose its positive image in the eyes of the Arab public. The situation in Syria could be seen as a foreign policy problem in other countries, but it is a family matter for Turkey. Events in the region will greatly affect Turkey.”

Among the short-term policy recommendations of the report edited by Osman Bahadır Dinçer and Gamze Coşkun are:

• Instead of sending messages to the Syrian public to appease them, the Syrian government should be persuaded to pursue judicial and political reforms
• Turkey should not make statements of encouragement to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime
• Ethnic pluralism in the country may be dangerous since it can lead to social conflict and all segments of the society should take part in the government to prevent this from happening
• If there are only cosmetic changes and the regime does not truly change, the public’s anger will never subside and a bloody conflict will not be far
• Scenarios on Syria’s future should include possible war in the country and the region
• All ethnic and religious groups, not only in Syria but in the entire region, should be contacted and mechanisms should be established to evaluate the results of those meetings.

The USAK report also has mid and long-term policy recommendations, including:

• Syria’s unity and stability should be a priority and opposition groups should be closely followed
• Projects should be developed for ethnic and religious groups that have been excluded from power [Moslem Brothers]
• BBC has been broadcasting in Arabic in the region for years. Russia and France have Arabic broadcasts, too. Although late, it is positive that Turkey has started Arabic and Kurdish broadcasts to the region and it should continue to do so
• Turkey needs to cooperate with Syrian security authorities closely, especially in regards to the activities of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
• Turkey should work for the integration of all people in Syria to protect the unity of the country
• Turkish businesspeople should be encouraged to invest in the regions close to the Turkey-Syria border, as production costs are not high in the area and those investments will facilitate Kurds’ integration in Syria and Turkey. Turkish investment in Syria means that eventually Turkey will not have to buy arms to fight the PKK problem
• Policies should be carefully expressed without using insulting language
• Comprehensive media and civil society projects in Syria will continue to make the Turkish system attractive for the region’s people

The report highlighted the words of former Foreign Minister Yaşar Yakış, who said that a big part of the Syrian public feels a close affinity to Turkey and the two governments should use the mutually friendly feelings of their people for the benefit of both countries.

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In case you missed it: read my yesterdays comment:Is Erdogan worried about Strategic Relationship with Syria? He should
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“Washington & Ankara formulate Joint Initiative for Handling Syria”

Palestine and the ‘Parallel states’

Posted on May 30, 2011 by rehmat1|

In the past I wrote my thoughts on three ‘options’ to resolve the Zonist-Palestinian conflict based on the One State, Two-State and Helen Thomas’ Third option. The recent showdown between the leader of world’s sole military power, Barack Obama and Benji Netanyahu, the leader of world’s sole money power (which Benji won) on the former’s vision of One State option introduced me to a fourth option of Parallel States, Palestine and Israel sharing the same land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River.

The ‘Parallel States’ project was conducted within the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University. It was funded by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Research Council. It submitted its report in September 2010. The idea which gave birth to the project was; One secular-democratic state solution will never be acceptable Israeli Jews and the so-called ‘Two state’ has no chance to materialize unless it’s based on Israeli ‘wish list’.

I tends to agree with the theory that Obama-Benji conflicting rhetoric were pre-planned to sabotage Hamas-Fatah unity government’s threat to declare a Palestinian State.

In reality, both the ‘Two states’ and the ‘Parallel states’ options are to legitimize the Jewish occupation of Palestine. The current verbal-shooting between the US and Israel is more of a tactical controversy than a strategic one. The reason behind this latest Obama-Benji charade is to hijack the Hamas-Fatah unity government’s possible move to ask United Nations General Assembly to recognize an independent sovereign Palestine based on 1967 borders. The request is sure to be approved by a majority vote – but UN membership will certainly get Washington’s veto at the UN Security Council.
On May 28, 2011 – the pro-Israel Al-Jazeera (English), published an article entitled ‘Parallel states: A new vision for peece’. The ‘vision’ came from two Jewish scholars, professor Mark LeVine (University of California) and Mathias Mossberg, a former Swedish Ambassador. They compared their vision of a Jewish Israel sharing the same land with Native Muslim and Christian Palestinian state in parallel – with European Union (EU).

“Within our research, the most useful example of how various levels of jurisdiction can be shared is the European Union, where the rapid integration of the member states has transferred traditionally national legislative and judicial powers to supranational bodies, diminishing the importance of national boundaries and territorial sovereignty for the benefit of the exercise of transnational freedoms and rights for citizens within the Union,” wrote authors.

I wonder if the authors know that all EU members are Judeo-Christian majority nations which have maintained their original Armed Forces and some are nuclear powers. Each EU member has its own standards of human rights (most persecute Muslim and Gypsy minorities) and even maintain trade relations with some countries (Iran, Lebanon, Serbia, etc.) sanctioned by the EU.

The EU was originally established to ease trade and tourism among the European countries. Later it was politicized to counter the threat of United States’ economic domination of Europe. EU created its own euro currency against US dollar. However, when it comes to wars and colonization of foreign lands – EU has always been an American ally. The EU has resisted the inclusion of Muslim-majority Turkey’s wish to join it for the last 20 years.

“What is clear is that the Oslo era two-state solution was born out of a twentieth century notion of sovereignty that, at least in the case of Israel/Palestine is neither viable nor particularly desirable in the “New Middle East” Oslo’s architects imagined their peace process heralded. Almost two decades later, the region has finally moved towards a new era, but led by ordinary people rather than leaders who more often than not have frustrated rather than helped to realise the legitimate political, economic and cultural aspirations of their peoples,” wrote the authors.

The Oslo Accord signed on September 13, 1993 between PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin – was nothing but a diversion to pre-empt the Islamic Resistance groups taking over the leadership from the discredited secularists leadership. Israelis killed the agreement even before the ink dried.

“In the context of the Arab Spring, a parallel states process might just hold the key to helping Israelis and Palestinians join the region-wide push towards peace, democracy and justice in the fullest, and fairest, way possible,” wrote the authors.

Pity, both the US and Israel have been irked by the ‘Arab Spring’ – because both fear that ‘democracy and justice’ will give power to Islamist groups which will side with Palestinians and Iran against Israel. After watching its puppet-regimes falling in Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon – Obama has already started his counter-revolution through its Arab proxy, Saudi Arabia.

“These changes have been followed by demonstrations against US domination and Zionism. They politically benefit the ‘Axis of Resistance’, comprised of Iran, Syria at the state level and at the non-state level by Hezbullah and Hamas. To lead the counter-revolution in this region, Washington and Tel-Aviv have relied on their best support: the Sudairi clan which embodies despotism at the service of imperialism unlike any other,” wrote Thierry Meyssan, a French intellectual, author and columnist.

Sayyed Nasrallah’s Full Speech on May 25

His Eminence Sayyed Nasrallah’s Full Speech
Resistance & Liberation Day 2011

In His Name

May 25th, 2011

The speech delivered by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on the Resistance and Liberation Day on May 25th, 2011.

I take refuge in Allah from the stoned devil. In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, The Lord of the world.

Peace be on the Seal of prophets, our Master and Prophet Abi Al Qassem Mohammad Bin Abdullah, his chaste and pure Household, chosen companions, all prophets, messengers, martyrs and fighters in the path of Allah until Judgment Day.

Brothers and sisters! Peace be upon you all and Allah’s mercy and blessing.

I welcome you on your holiday and I would like that you consider your presence under the sun as a kind of assistance and equality with the Resistance fighters who have spent 30 days under the sun.

First I would like to address all of you, all the Lebanese and our Arab and Islamic nation with felicitations on the Day of Resistance and Liberation which we will talk about Inshallah and which coincides this year with a very solemn and dear occasion which makes the occasion this year brighter and more blessed namely the birth of the daughter of the Prophet – the Lady of all the ladies in the world, her father’s mother and the soul between his two sides – Sayyeda Fatima Zahra (Peace be upon her).

We have chosen this year to mark this occasion and holiday in Bekaa – in the village of Nabi Sheath and in the neighborhood of our teacher, leader and the master of our martyrs Sayyed Abbass Mussawi (May Allah bless his soul) because we want from electing the place at this time to stress on the partnership of Bekaa and people of Bekaa in the liberation of the South and Western Bekaa since the establishment, continuity and persistence until today and until the achievements of goals and to remind of the jihad of this blessed kind town which was one of the first villages in Bekaa that believed in the Resistance and embraced it since the time of the absented Imam leader Sayyed Mussa Assader.

This town was a warm bosom and a safe haven for those migrating to it namely the fighters from the occupied Lebanese lands. It was the link between the training camps in Jenta and Yahfoufa and its hills and valleys and the operation fields in the South, the Mountain, West Bekaa, Dahiyeh and Beirut on the days of occupation and is still in the neighborhood of the resting place of our master and leader Sayyed Abbass and his wife dear solemn lady martyr Um Yasser and his young child Hussein so as to remind the world of the role of this leader, teacher, resisting fighter, establisher and humble, ascetic, good-natured master who offered as sacrifice his wife, child and even his soul to grant this anniversary and holiday some of its concepts that we must be reminded of.

Brothers and sisters!

In this place, in the neighborhood of the hills and valleys of Jenta and Yahfoufa and the first training camps, Sayyed Abbass got enrolled in its first military cycle which smells of the chaste scent of martyrdom from every hill, valley and on every road on which martyrs used to fall by Israeli aerial bombardment when we used to exercise in the open air with determination to attain the factors of power to restore our land, dignity and freedom and prevent the invading occupiers from achieving any of their goals. This land is pregnant with memories which we must mark every day and every night and not only every year.

Brothers and sisters!

As there are many topics – as I have not appeared since some time to address you – I find myself obliged to start directly with the topics apart from introductions and praising which you were and are still not in need of.

On this occasion, I would like to handle several topics: the Palestinian issue, the Arab issue, the situation in Syria – because it’s the first time I talk about this issue with such details and clarity – and finally the situation in Lebanon. Indeed I will handle the great media political event which can not be neglected – namely the speeches and the recent stances announced lately by the two heads of occupation, tyranny and hegemony in the world – Barak Obama and Netanyahu as I will refer to some concepts of these two speeches in every situation I will tackle.

We have this annual commitment to mark the Day of Resistance and Liberation. By this commemoration, we assert that this holiday is not for a group or a faction or a sect. It is rather a holiday for all the Lebanese people. It rather must be a holiday for the Palestinian people and the peoples of our Arab and Islamic nation.

On the Resistance and Liberation Day, we stress that the victory of the Resistance on May 25th is the fruit of the accumulation of all sacrifices since 1948 until today offered by all factions, groups and parties which remained steadfast, had patience, resisted, fought, were arrested, were wounded and offered martyrs. Thus we take pains that it be a national holiday cum laude.

If we are able to change May 25th to a national day cum laude, the Lebanese will discover the greatness of the historic achievement which was made on May 25th, 2000 away from grudges, fanaticism, internal consideration and narrow Lebanese allies. Then we will view the victory as a national victory and a national victory cum laude.

We insist on commemorating this occasion first for its greatness, second for the importance of its eternal, permanent and vivacious implication which we need in our life and third for its centrality in the events in Lebanon and the region because what took place on May 25th, 2000 changed the face of Lebanon and the equations in the region. There is a permanent strategic and a special moral need– a strategic need on the political and military levels and a strategic need especially on the moral level – to commemorate this holiday and consecrate it. In our modern history, there is the Nakba Day followed by the Naksa Day. Our nation which recalls the days of Nakba and Naksa needs to recall the days of triumphs to get rid of the moral, psychological, political and military repercussions of the days of Nakba and Naksa to wipe away those black days from its history, conscience, present and future.

Today, when we see and listen anew to the stances and speeches of Obama before the Jewish Zionists and their supporters in AIPAC and from Netanyahu before the Americans in the Congress – as the place, form and content are all important – we become more certain of our choices and the soundness of our path from the very beginning.

The developments and events in the last three decades – at least since 1982 – proved that the correct realistic, rational, logical, fruitful and effective choice that leads to the achievement of goals is the popular armed resistance and the unrealistic, absurd, irrational, maddening choice which does not lead to any goal but rather leads only to depression, frustration, humiliation, degradation and begging on the doors and thresholds is the choice of negotiations.

If we in Lebanon waited for a national consensus in 1982 and following 1982 or for an Arab consensus or a united strategy or an international movement or the United Nations or America or the West our territory would have been occupied and by 2011 it would have been still occupied. Israel would have completed the occupation of Lebanon and came along to Baalbeck, Hermel, Tripoli, Zgarta and the rest of Lebanon and settlements would have been built to the south of Litany River at least. Lebanon would have become a second Israel in the region and not only at the middle of Syria but also at the side of the whole nation. Millions of Lebanese would have been displaced inside their nation and so on.

But the Resistance with its sacrifices, jihad, the blood of its martyrs and patience toppled all these potential results and restored to us our land and honor without conditions and found a historic turn also in the Arab-Israeli struggle on the level of the region. Let’s go back a little in history. This is why I at times say that some Lebanese still cannot realize the greatness of the historic victory in 2000. Isaac Shamir then said that Israel after the pullout from Lebanon is different from Israel before the pullout from Lebanon. He was not talking about Israel and Lebanon. He was talking about Israel in the region. Shamir himself says that if Ben-Gurion was able to come back to life and look from over his tomb on Israel he would have found that the strategic pillar on which Israel was found had collapsed. What is the strategic pillar according to Ben-Gurion? It is the strategy of psychologically overpowering the Arabs – meaning that the Arabs come to believe that Israel is powerful and capable and that its army is undefeatable and that they are only before the choice of accepting Israel and succumbing to its conditions. Ben-Gurion says we must reach a stage in which the Arab soldier comes to believe that the only available choice before him in the battle is escape. In 2000 the one who escaped was the Israeli soldier. In 2000, the one who fell was the Israeli soldier. In 2000, the equation changed, and that was because of this choice and the soundness of this choice.

Also Netanyahu who was talking two days ago said in a lecture he gave in 2006 that “the historic path of the state of Israel has been turned upside-down since the beginning of the withdrawal from Lebanon in the year 2000 all the way passing through the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, until July war in 2006. Israel is no more unbeatable in the eyes of Arabs. Questioning the existence of Israel started looming again not only by foes but also by friends.

True days ago, Netanyahu in the Congress, was presenting himself as someone oppressed and miserable, but I could see fear in his eyes while speaking about the missiles of Lebanon, the missiles of Gaza, Iran and Syria.

Anyway, we always need to discuss our choices and means on the level of Lebanon and the region because the occupation still exists and the threat still persists. Hereof I usher into the Palestinian topic.

After listening to the speeches delivered by both Obama and Netanyahu, the big question comes: What did Obama and Netanyahu leave for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian authority and the Palestinian factions? What did they leave for them?

Going back to Obama’s speech in AIPAC Conference, we find that he renewed before the Zionists his decisive commitment to Israel’s security and its prevalence over the entire region and not only the Palestinians. Under his administration – though we say he is moderate and we call him Barak Hussein and Abu Ali Hussein – he pushed the US-Israeli relations and cooperation to an unprecedented level. We are good-hearted peoples. We are cheated by his black color and the name of his father – Hussein; but in the past two years only he pushed forward the relations of US-Israeli cooperation. He declared his rejection to a unilateral Palestinian State and rejected the reconciliation between Fateh and Hamas because he backs sedition not only in Palestine but also in every Arab and Islamic country. He talked about a deformed disarmed Palestinian state. He talked about the borders of 1967 but could not stand that for a couple of days.

This is the President of America. Still he could not stand for a couple of days. He started interpreting and furnishing his explanation with comments and notes in AIPAC and explaining what he means with the borders of 1967 in what looked more like an apology to the Zionists. This is Obama.

Yesterday – as was reported by the media – applauding was more than talking in Netanyahu’s speech. Not a phrase passed without them applauding for him. They stood and applauded for him. In the Congress, this is a tradition with a definite significance. At times they applaud while they are seated. At others they stand and applaud. That means that all what Netanyahu had said in the US Congress is a point of consensus for the Democrats and the Republicans in America. Still the Arabs deceive their peoples saying that the Democrats are different from the Republicans; one is moderate while the other is an extremist. Yesterday America held the name of Netanyahu. America yesterday held the name of Netanyahu…

What did Netanyahu say? Al-Qods is an eternal capital to Israel. Search for a way out for the refugees outside the borders. Here Lebanon is mainly concerned in this issue. The Israeli state is a Jewish state and its Judaism must be acknowledged. There must be military presence at Jordan River. The main settlements in the West Bank must be annexed to the entity. The Palestinian state will be a disarmed state and there is no return to the 1967 borders. Then he called on PA Chief Mahmoud Abbass to tear apart the agreement with Hamas and return to negotiations.

After keeping all of that, how will the Palestinians go to negotiations? What will they say? The issue of Al Qods is over. So is the case of the borders, the settlements, the refugees and everything. There is nothing to negotiate on. Even more, when he keeps everything to himself, he promised to be generous in what he offers to the Palestinians and that he will offer painful concessions. See the deception, misleading, shamelessness and falsehood. But we are a nation with whom its enemies deal as such unfortunately.

Thus the Americans and the Israelis specified their stance clearly. They declared their viewpoint to the way out before the world. Accordingly they categorized the enemy and the friend when they talked about Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and the Resistance in Palestine and especially Hamas. Here what is the response? What is the Palestinian response? What is the Arab response? The answer was not only to the Palestinians. Yesterday, both Obama and Netanyahu gave the finishing stroke to the so called Arab Peace Initiative. What is the stance of the Arab governments and the Arab League from that? Is it not due time this initiative is taken off the table?

In Kuwait conference, King Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz said: I do not tolerate that this initiative remain for long on the table. Hasn’t it been a long time already following these speeches? Isn’t time over? In your name, I call on the Arab League to declare a response to the speeches of Netanyahu and Obama by withdrawing permanently the Arab Initiative from circulation.

The response to this level of speech must at least withdrawing the Arab Initiative and at most that we must be a nation that declares its “No”. As Netanyahu – who was defeated in Lebanon in 2000, defeated in Gaza, defeated in July War and afraid from the changes in the region – had the courage and boldness to say no for the return of Al Qods, no for the return of refugees and no for the return to the borders of 1967, we must be a nation which stands with courage to say: no to negotiations, no to the existence of Israel, no to the occupation of Al Qods and yes for the Resistance. The nation which does not do that is a dead nation. The governments which do not do that are dead nations. On this day, what choices remain for the Palestinians? Do some Palestinians really still have hope in negotiations and still have hope in the American administration which has threatened them with questioning, demands and confrontation in the Security Council and in the United Nations?

Again, on the Arab Lebanese May 25th, on the Day of Resistance and Liberation, I tell you: The only choice for the Palestinians is resistance to make liberation. I call on them in the name of triumphant Lebanon to meet and unite – Fateh, Jihad, Hamas and all the factions and all the Palestinian people. I call on the entire nation to adopt the choice of the Palestinian Resistance and to offer all kinds of support and assistance because what took place is not a threat to Palestine but rather to the entire nation.

Now, we move to our stance from the Arab situation. First, I must comment on the rumors circulated by some Arab media outlets and websites especially in Lebanon and have been mentioned as well in statements made by some officials whether foreigners or Arabs. This denial or clarification is not related to our political stance from what is taking place in this Arab country or that whether negatively or positively. It is rather a kind of facts clarification.

Some time ago, the NATO chief in Europe said that Hezbollah and Al Qaeda are militarily present in Benghazi and East Libya. This is not true.

Gaddafi’s government a few weeks ago said that in Misrata – the Libyan city where fighting is still taking place between the rebels and Gaddafi’s forces – there are snipers (not regular fighters but snipers) from Hezbollah fighting in Misrata. That is not true either.

Two years ago, some demonstrations took place in Tehran. They were addressed by the Iranian brethrens. Some Iranian Opposition websites – you know that some of the Iranian Opposition, Khalq fighters, have ties with Israel – broadly published (and that was unfortunately quoted by a gulf newspaper) that there are 1500 Hezbollah fighters in Tehran with the aim of suppressing demonstrations. Iran is a great state and a great regional power and the world takes it into consideration. It frightens Obama and Netanyahu. Does it – when it wishes to deal with a number of demonstrators – resort to 1500 fighters from Hezbollah!? When someone makes a lie, if he makes it too big, it will be revealed as a lie.

Indeed, this has precedents. You remember in Yemen, during the so-called sixth war between the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh and Houthis. Indeed we were sympathizing with the Houthis as they are oppressed and aggressed. Then it was said that Hezbollah was in Yemen and that there were 50 Lebanese martyrs from Hezbollah and Hezbollah is perplexed how to inform their families and how to bury them. Where are they? Now in Lebanon if someone dies there is no place to hide him. What if he was martyred in Yemen or in any other place?

Accusations reached Syria. During the first days of events, a Syrian dissident appeared on Al Arabiya TV Channel (there is no problem in giving definite names). For 24 hours he appeared in voice and picture addressing me in his speech saying that Hezbollah sent to Syria 3000 fighters to defend the Syrian regime. Indeed he is strong and he was threatening us: O so and so if you do not pull them out in carriers, we will return them to you in shrouds. This is a lie. Still the Head of Media Relations in Hezbollah appeared on Al Arabiya and denied that. They broadcasted his denial once and the news remained being broadcasted for 24 hours on the respectable Arab satellites.

These days, some Arab satellites and websites broadcast some kind of news. There is a cuisine that delivers the news: a newspaper reports from a satellite and the website reports from the newspaper. So it appears that the news is general and there are several sources while it is one cuisine. These respectable media outlets – especially some websites (for example the Lebanese Forces website in Lebanon and I am not promoting this website) reported that there are snipers from Hezbollah in Homs (as if we had distributed snipers in Homs and Misrata) and that Hezbollah has 10 martyrs there. They were martyred there and they are being brought back to be buried in Lebanon.

Praise be to Allah no military action has been carried out in Bahrain yet so that Hezbollah be accused of it. People in Bahrain are still protesting very peacefully. Despite demolition of mosques, the killing of detainees, the arrest of women and breaking into homes, no military action or any violent action has taken place so far. That’s why in Bahrain we were not accused of any military action. We were accused of something else.

This denial is very important before tackling the Arab situation with a couple of words and the situation in Syria with some words. However, I like to address all those liars in the Arab words whether satellite channels, newspapers, internet websites and reporters who write to earn money from Feltman, Clinton and Obama and who take money as the source of the news and not field facts: any military intervention in any of the Arab countries won’t be Hezbollah responsibility at all. However suppose one day we went to fight in any square, we tell you and we tell the whole world: We in Hezbollah have the courage and bravery to say where we fight, where we kill and where we are martyred, because the arena in which we fight is to be a square of honor and not a shameful arena where we feel disgraceful to fight in and exist in.

Turning to the situation in the Arab region, yes on the political level we in Hezbollah had clear stance that back the revolutions and the peoples in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya and Bahrain. We held a special rally for that and we talked clearly in that rally and following it via the brethren leaders in Hezbollah and in the media. Our stance from every Arab square or Arab revolution or popular movement is decided according to two angles. Here I hope that we be precise. The first angle is the stance of that Arab regime from the Arab-Israeli conflict (its stance, position and role in the central cause of the nation namely Palestinian). So we consider the regimes we mentioned a while ago – Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain – and there well known positions, stances and roles especially concerning the Egyptian regime.

The second angle is the absence of any hope for reform at the domestic level -when the regime is closed to all doors, windows or even small gaps for reform for the benefit of the peoples of these countries.

Starting from these two angles we take our position. Our criteria are clear. Our standards are clear. We do not have double standards. We do not have discriminating standards. Some revolutions were victorious in Tunisia and Egypt. They were victorious in principle but these victories are not complete yet. Still some Arab countries are passing through difficult times like Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain.

It goes without saying that every country knows how to face its situation and solve its problems. The people of Yemen are more expert in Yemen. The people of Bahrain are more expert in Bahrain. The people of Libya are more expert in Libya and so on. However, we take a general stance. When we take a position the only thing we hope for is that the Arab and Islamic world enjoy a state of harmony between the governments and the peoples, that the regimes and governments take into consideration the concerns of their peoples and address them, and that our countries live in the best conditions of security, stability and development on all domains. This is what we all hope for… that our regimes and governments live up to the level of the aspirations of the nation and the central confrontation which this nation had assumed so far.

However, according to the Arab situation, we find it our duty to be cautious because America and Israel want to confiscate the Arab revolutions. They want to confiscate them with sweet language – Obama’s words – and some money.

What is the worth of two billion dollars? Do you know – brothers and sisters – that one Gulf businessman – I do not want to say from which country – told me that the rich in one gulf country only deposit 3300 billion dollars in US banks? I say again 3300 billion dollars in US banks. There the Americans invest this money. Later and in response to any event in this Gulf country, Obama would show up to confiscate this money.

What is the worth of two billion dollars through which he wants to bribe Egypt – the mother of the world and half of the Arabs? Would Egypt sell its choice, sovereignty, dignity and political decision – and he expects that from it – for two billion dollars from here and four from there and the like?

Those who backed Husni Mubarak until the very last moment are today intervening to confiscate the blood of the Egyptians and the cries of the Egyptian and the sacrifices of the Egyptians. The same applies to the others countries.

Man feels disgrace and humiliation when someone like Netanyahu – the killer of the children in Palestine – talks about Arab youths and Arab revolutions and insults the entire nation and all of the governments of this nation.

Now let me say more. Should President Ahmadi Nejad in Iran or any Iranian official said one word yesterday on the Arab governments, you would have found uproar in the Arab media, Arab satellite outlets, the Arab league and the Arab governments. Iran is an enemy! There is an Iranian invasion to the Arab world.

Days ago Netanyahu stood in the Congress. All the Americans were applauding for him. He insulted all Arab kings, princes, rulers, governments and regimes and even Arab youths and peoples when he said that 300 million Arabs are not living in freedom, dignity and democracy or anything else. What did this great quack found? He found that only a million Arabs who exist in what he called Israel enjoy freedom and democracy.

No Mr. Netanyahu. It’s up to the rest of Arabs if they do not want to answer you. We in Lebanon are the free of this world. We in Lebanon made our freedom with blood. We triumphed over your sword and the sword of your US masters. We are part of the Arab nation, the Arab peoples and the Arab youths.

America today wants to confiscate these revolutions. The peoples of these revolutions must be aware. They must not have a good opinion regarding the Americans. They must not trust the US promises. They must know that America is not concerned except with its interests.

If Mr. Obama is truthful in his claim of respecting the will of the peoples and his call to the rulers to respect their peoples, he must start with himself and respect the will of our Arab and Islamic peoples. If he is truthful in his claim, what is the will of the Iraqi people today? There is a consensus or a semi-consensus that the US occupation troops pull out from Iraq. To respect the will of the Iraqi people O Obama, get out of Iraq and don’t pressure on the Iraqi government and Iraqi political forces to stay as an occupier of Iraq but under civilized titles. He wants to keep in his embassy in Baghdad 7000 soldiers and he wants to guard it with 12000 soldiers. He wants a consulate in every province and hes want to guard it with a 1000 soldiers. He wants to keep around 50,000 soldiers under the title of embassy and consulates. If you respect the will of the Iraqi people, get out of Iraq. If you respect the will of the Afghani people, get out of Afghanistan. If you respect the will of the Arab peoples, see what these people want regarding Palestine. We are fed up with deception, misleading, lying, falsehood and fake faces.

The Americans know the position the peoples of the Arab world have regarding them. All the polls in the Arab world assert that.

Wrapping up this topic, I want to tell our Arab revolting people: Beware of the US policy and the US administration. Your goals and needs must not let you throw yourselves in the arms of the Americans again. If you want to go back to the Americans, stay where you are then.

Now we turn to the Syrian situation and our stance from the situation in Syria and what is taking place in Syria. I will be frank and very clear because the stance demands a great and a clear and a decisive responsibility.

Our stance which I will say in a while –and which is not surprising indeed – is based on a number of factors. Why did we build this stance?

The first factor: We, in Lebanon and especially in Hezbollah, are highly grateful to Syria, its leadership, its President Hafiz Assad and President Bashar Assad and the Syrian resisting and opposing and patient people who have been bearing for long decades the repercussions of the national stance of the Syrian leadership as well as the Syrian Army which has paid great sacrifices on this path.

Syria has offered much to Lebanon. Syria prevented division in Lebanon if we went back to 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978 and recalled the great dangers of divisions on Lebanon and the region.

Syria greatly helped maintain Lebanon’s unity and halted the bloody Lebanese civil war which was about to exterminate Lebanon and the people of Lebanon. Syria supported Lebanon and its Resistance. Thus was the liberation in 1985 in the Mount, Beirut, Sidon, Tyr, West Bekaa and Nabatiyeh until the complete liberation of the border line with the exception of Shebaa Farms and Kafar Shuba Hills on May 25, 2000 and the steadfastness and miraculous victory of July 2006. We cannot forget how Syria embraced Lebanon, its Resistance and people who were displaced to Syria. It embraced us as a regime, army and people. Therefore, when we are worried about Syria, we in fact are worried about its regime and people. We are not worried only about its regime but also because of what is schemed for its regime and people.

No one is denying that Syria made mistakes in Lebanon – President Assad had tackled that in the Assembly. However, what Syria achieved in Lebanon was historic and decisive on the national level.

This is first. Second there is Syria’s stance regarding Israel, the Palestinian Resistance and Syria’s steadfastness despite all pressures, noticeably following Madrid Conference and the launch of the settlement process. It remained steadfast before the bullying and temptations.

Thirdly comes Syria’s position towards the new Middle East scheme which was toppled by the Resistance in Lebanon from its eastern gate. Today America and Israel are trying to usher into from other gates.

So we are before a resisting opposing country, regime, leadership, army and people.

This is a central point. Also among the essential points that we build our stance on is that the Syrian leadership is convinced with its people on the need to implement reform, fighting corruption and opening new horizons in the Syrian political life. We believe – I personally believe and this is not built on analysis but rather on direct discussions and declarations – that Syrian President Bashar Assad believes and is serious and determined about reform. I even know more. I know that he is ready to take very great reform steps but with serenity, care and responsibility. This factor influences our stance.

So at times there is a closed regime. In Bahrain the regime was closed. Mubarak was closed. Gaddafi was closed. Zein Al Aabideen Bin Ali was closed. In Syria the regime is not closed. On the contrary he is saying I am ready and I believe in reform and I am serious and I want to carry them.

Another factor is that all given and information so far – and here I do not pose on what is said on Arab satellite outlets – assert that the majority of the Syrian people still support this regime and believes in President Assad’s ability to introduce reform. Well, what is the position of the Syrian people? Let’s know to stand by their side.

One of the factors that form our stance is that toppling the regime in Syria is an American and Israeli interest meaning toppling the regime in Syrian and exchanging it with another regime, similar to the Arab moderate regimes which are ready to sign a peace and submission agreement with Israel.

Another factor that constitutes our stance is what Syria means to Lebanon as what happens there has its repercussions on Lebanon and results on having repercussions on the region as a whole.

Among the factors that constitute our stance is Lebanon’s commitment towards Syria, based on Taif agreement in addition to mutual interests.

In our opinion, all of these issues and factors impose on us as Lebanese in general – now it is up to the Lebanese to accept that or not; we are saying our viewpoint – and on us as a resistance movement in face of Israel in particular to take a responsible and great stance that requires the following:

First, we should be committed to the stability, security and safety of Syria as a regime, people and army.

Second, we call upon the Syrian people – and we make this call on them today – to preserve their country and resistant and opposing regime, as well as to give way to the Syrian leadership with the cooperation of all the popular classes to implement the required reforms and to choose the course of dialogue and not confrontation.

Third, we as Lebanese shouldn’t interfere in what is going on in Syria, but rather let the Syrians themselves address their issues as they are able to do that. Yes, if it is possible to play a positive role, there is no problem in that.

Fourth, we reject any sanctions promoted by US and the West through asking Lebanon to abide by them against Syria. This is the one of the goals of Feltman’s visit to Lebanon. There must be a public and popular decisive and final stance regarding this issue. Lebanon must not by any means stab Syria or be led by us schemes that target Syria. We must cooperate altogether so that Syria emerge strong and steadfast because that is to the interest of Syria, Lebanon and the Arab nation.

Now I move to the Lebanese situation. Regarding the Lebanese situation, I first will tackle the accusations made by Obama against us before the AIPAC. He accused Hezbollah of carrying out what he called “political assassinations” through missiles and car bombings. Indeed this US enmity to Hezbollah is not new. Perhaps this political and judicial content from Mr. Obama is new as he was present in an occasion that shows allegiance to the Zionists.

Second his speech is baseless. Thirdly it stresses and comes again and again in the context of the conspiracy of the International Tribunal. People are waiting for Fransen to sign and for Bellemare to announce his indictment in a press conference while we all know its content.

However it was said by Barak Obama. Thanks for Barak Obama because he confirmed the authenticity of all what we said regarding the US-Israeli tribunal. The prosecutor, judge and executor in it are American. But Inshallah only and solely their skin will be whipped.

Fourthly, America, which is speaking of political assassination and booby-trapped cars, is the most terrorist country that is absolutely and fully involved in political assassinations. Books, documents, security information and what is being published worldwide assert this idea. He is talking about political assassination and booby-trapped cars; I want to remind him then of what documents, investigations, facts and even the Lebanese judiciary proved regarding the CIA which had targeted through a car bombing placed in a busy street in Bir Al Abed on March 8, 1985, Grand Ayatollah late Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah (May Allah have mercy on him), what resulted in the martyrdom of more than a hundred civilians, mostly ordinary people, children and even embryos. It was the CIA and you know who used to finance it then.

When a killer stands to accuse us do not take his accusation into consideration. That is worthless. When a just man accuses us, then we must be worried because he is just. But when the killer of hundreds of thousands in Iraq – killing takes place daily in Iraq – and Afghanistan and Pakistan, the co-killer of hundreds of thousands killed by Israel to accuse us, we don’t feel concerned. This is the first point. I really hope we stand much on Obama’s speech. He did not accuse us. He rather judged on us by talking about political assassination and booby trapped cars.

The second point is that we have the honor to be attacked by Obama before the AIPAC and by Netanyahu in the Congress. Some people feel happy and assured when America and Israel praise them.

There are people who feel worried when America and Israel attack them.

Here I tell you: When America and Israel attack us and the heads of the greatest two states of occupation, killing and terrorism attack us we feel prideful and honorable. This is a badge of honor because our enemy is making acknowledgments before the AIPAC which is an annual strategic conference. Hamas must feel proud. Iran must feel proud. Syria must feel proud. That means that we have a definite status. All the members in the Congress are on their feet applauding. At a moment he talks about Hezbollah, the missiles of Hezbollah and the resistance of Hezbollah meaning the resistance of the Lebanese. That means that we have an important status and we are taken into consideration in the local and regional equation. Do not look at the negative side. Look rather at the positive side. Don’t they say this in Lebanon: Look at the filled half of the glass. The half is full of Obama’s and Netanyahu’s abuses and accusations. They are recognizing you as a key influential part in the equation of conflict in the region. This is a source of honor to Lebanon and to Hezbollah. Here I tell you that on the contrary if Obama and Netanyahu praised us we must have held an emergency meeting on the level of the leading bodies in Hezbollah to say and search where we were wrong and what we did. We must reconsider our actions. This is the school of Imam Khomeini (May Allah sanctify his noble secret). This is America. When the greater devil praises you, you must be afraid. When the devil attacks you that means he is recognizing you as a perfect enemy. This is an important characteristic.

The third point is the Lebanese situation regarding the government since the toppling of the previous government up till now. It may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you. The new majority has not up till now been able to form the government. The expression “the new majority” is not precise as there are the new majority, the designate Premier and His Eminence the President of the Republic. These altogether haven’t up till now been able to form the government. If we took the issue to the political forces in the new majority, it might have been easier. It may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you.

We wanted to form the government since the very second day. However, after four months, one of the unintended benefits – following the example of looking at the filled part of the glass – is that this delay has demonstrated to you how the other political bloc deals with Hezbollah in particular. Let us defend ourselves. Our allies are defending themselves daily. However a considerable time has passed in which we haven’t made statements or held televised interviews.

For example when the government was toppled, the leaderships, deputies, ministers and media of the other party went through endless uproar. They created an instigating atmosphere among people saying this is a readymade coup; the government is ready; it’s the government of Hezbollah; it’s an Iranian government; it’s the government of Wilayat Al Faqih; it’s the ruling party. Didn’t you hear all of this? Now they halted because it was made clear that there is no coup whether Iranian or Syrian or anything else. The whole story is that there was a government. Things were moving towards a solution. However, at one of the American moments, the solution was crippled, the government was toppled and things were over. We are forming a new government. This is the whole story. There isn’t anything like a designed or a mapped out coup.

What is this coup like? It has no readymade government. In fact the government has not been formed even after four weeks. What is this ruling party which is not able to form a government? What is this speech? This reveals the level of their claims and I will not stop for long here.

They said that Hezbollah took control over the state and the authority while they knew that this is mere fabrications and untrue falsehood. They know the Lebanese texture very well. They know the nature of Hezbollah’s relations with its allies and Hezbollah’s concern about its allies…. However all of that shouting was messages sent to America, the West and some Arab countries to hurry up and offer help because Hezbollah is taking grip of the country and may Allah help this country then.

The second point concerning the government is that today the ones concerned in forming the government are the President, the Premier-designate and the new majority. The one directly responsible of the formation is the Premier-designate and the government hasn’t been formed up till now.

Here I do not want to carry a political analysis. There are American and Western pressures despite all those who try to deny them. Delegates daily visit the President of the Republic and the Premier-designate and tell them: Our position from the government is based on who the ministers are? What is the form of the government? What is its ministerial statement? What is its position from the International Tribunal?

What do pressures mean? Does it mean holding a stick to beat someone with? We are talking about a political diplomatic life. Days ago as soon as it was said that the name of the interior minister had been agreed on and that there were advanced steps in the process of forming the government, the US Ambassador to Lebanon Connelly – who hasn’t appeared since some time – directly went to President Mikati and President Sleiman (May Allah assist them). Why did she go to Presidents Mikati and Sleiman? She went to talk about the interior ministry and the government. She wanted to know where did they reach and where to they are going. She wanted to remind them that the US stance and the stance of the West and the world from the government are linked to the form of the government, the portfolios and the ministerial statement. Aren’t these pressures? Aren’t these called conditions? There are some internal demands which are not new also delaying the process. This has always been the case in forming the government in Lebanon.

To your knowledge – and this is the first time I talk in an official way but this exists and is circulated – it took the previous Lebanese government five months to be formed. And do you know why and how it was formed? Were the Lebanese left on there own it would have taken a year or two. The government was formed within five months because President Bashar al-Assad and King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz personally intervened. Thus it was formed in five months. Now we are still in the fourth month and nobody has interfered yet whether presidents, kings or others.

This is the nature of complications which exist in Lebanon and which happen in Lebanon. Indeed we are responsible and we will carry on. However here again we take another sample on the performance and conduct of the political forces in March 14 Bloc during these four months. In fact, that is perplexing. At one time they say Hezbollah wants to form a government and control the country and still the government is not formed yet. At others they say Hezbollah does not want to form the government. At others they say Hezbollah’s interest is in political vacancy and the collapse of the state and that Hezbollah does not want the state for the interest of a petty state. You hear them as they speak on the TV, radio, interviews, magazines and articles. Indeed this is their post – to write and talk or else they won’t be paid by the end of the month.

So at times they say Hezbollah wants the government and wants to control the country but the cabinet is not been formed yet because Hezbollah doesn’t want to pressure on its allies apart from who these allies whom they want us to practice pressure on are. At other times they say that Hezbollah wants to impose its conditions and because its conditions are not being met, the government has not been formed yet. So under all conditions, the one responsible for vacancy and the crippling of the formation of the government in the viewpoint of March 14 is Hezbollah. Even when they attack PM Mikati and President Sleiman and mostly General Aoun they say that Hezbollah called on General Aoun to cripple the formation. This in fact holds insult for both and this is also a sample. This is as far as the so called governmental issue in Lebanon is concerned. Since the toppling of the government and all through the events of the last four months, it has become clear to you that the other camp is not authentic in its analysis, stances and performance and that it has positions set in advance.

When we gain victory over Israel they say that this is a conspiracy with Israel and a play set under the table. That means that if someone has reached a place in which he can’t see anything good in you and wants to hold you fully responsible, I don’t know where to the country would be taken.

What I would like to say at the end concerning the governmental issue is that we officially believe in the necessity of forming the government as soon as possible because the country can’t go on living in vacancy and can’t go on without a government. The existence of the government is primary and has no substitute. The parliament is not a substitute. The President of the Republic is not a substitute and the caretaker government is not a substitute. Forming the government is primary for the solution and for addressing the problems in the country on the political and security levels. If we want to talk about living, social and financial concerns and about gas and gasoline, unemployment and the high costs of living, how are these issues to be addressed without a government?

We are acting as if forming the government is the most important duties. Our interest is in the existence of an able, powerful, active and responsible government which addresses the crises of the country and confronts challenges. We don’t want a petty state but rather a state because we are not a substitute for the state. I stood on this very day in Bint Jbeil and said we are the first resistance in history which triumphs and does not ask for a share in the state, authority or government. Today I reiterate that. However today we are being concerned about the concerns of the people and the country and its stability, security, welfare, crises and problems which can’t be solved except through the government. Here I tell you that we will carry on exerting our efforts through Ali Khalil and Hussein Khalil and the other friends, and we will not feel desperate. We will not stop. However we do not seek to pressure on anyone. Do not bother yourselves. We do not pressure on anyone. We respect our allies and carry on discussions and dialogues with our allies, and we will reach results. At the end we will reach the desired result.

Dialogue, agreement and political effort are what yield results. Betting on a technocrat government fell because no one agreed on it from the new majority. It is known where from did the proposal of a technocrat government come? It was made by the US and the Future Movement. So if they were the majority they must rule even if in the framework of a national unity government. As such we accepted when we became a majority to rule in the framework of a national unity government. However when this bloc became the majority, they said that the solution is in a technocrat government. This is unprecedented. In fact, in a country like Lebanon, neither now nor in the past nor in the near or far future does it work that a technocrat government rule. This is an absolutely political country in its concerns, affairs, structure, essence and veracity. Talk about philosophy, logic and whatever you want. Only a political government can exist in this country and it must be protected by the principle political forces or a national unity government. This is the end of the story or else we will be wasting our time.

We want to move towards a political guarded government which assumes its responsibility and carries on with it. Indeed we back the initiative of Speaker Nabih Berri in activating the Parliament and we will participate in the meetings of the General Authority and in activating it because things must not be crippled as a result of the ongoing disorder.

As for the Resistance, here I tell you on the Day of Resistance and Liberation: This is the Resistance in which you believe and were part of. You have embraced it, supported it and offered in its course your children. In Bekaa especially there isn’t a village in Bekaa where there isn’t a martyr or martyrs. In this village – the village of Nabi Sheath, if you go behind the shrine of Sayyed Abbass there are martyrs and in the nearby graveyard there are martyrs. Where did they fall? In training camps and in the hills of the south and West Bekaa. This is the case of many or the majority of the villages and towns of Bekaa.

Here I tell you: This Resistance for which you offered your children is your Resistance and not our Resistance. We talk to you about it. We express it in your name.

This Resistance will carry on. No one scares us, neither Obama nor Netanyahu nor all the fleets. We belong to the land which defeated the fleets in 1982 and 1983.

We are not afraid of the threats, accusations and intimidations made by anyone. Days ago, Netanyahu has increased our conviction in our missiles. What Netanyahu said should be a message to those who argue the arms of the Resistance and a message to the dialogue table. From among all what is in Lebanon, what is Netanyahu afraid of? He is afraid of these missiles. Here I tell him: The missiles are not 12 thousands; your information which you mentioned yesterday in the Congress is too old. He must have increased the number. These rockets are ready and will remain in place. They will remain effective and will protect Lebanon. They will remain present in the equation of the region, and no one will be able to disarm us, neither in Lebanon nor in the world.

Today our missiles, which Netanyahu talked about before the Congress, represent our honor, our blood, our money, our dignity and our pride. In the Arab, religious, humanistic and moral culture comes that whoever dies while guarding his money is a martyr. Whoever dies while guarding his honor is a martyr. Whoever dies while guarding his family and people is a martyr. Whoever dies while protecting his land is a martyr. Whoever dies while guarding his honor is a martyr. Today all of that is gathered in the arms of the Resistance and the missiles of the Resistance.

This Resistance – the Resistance of Imam Mussa Assader, the Resistance of Sayyed Abbass Mussawi, the Resistance of Sheikh Ragheb Harb, the Resistance of Martyr Imad Moghniyeh and the Resistance of all the free nationalists, Islamists and Arabs in Lebanon and the region will remain faithful to its goals, to its path, to its hopes, to its expectations, to its sufferings and to the blood of its martyrs.

Again I tell you what I told you back on September 22nd, 2006: From the land of Nabi Sheath and the neighborhood of the master of the Islamic Resistance martyrs, with this chaste blood, with your prideful foreheads, with your firm will, with the steadfastness of our people and Resistance – brothers and sisters – again on May 25, 2011, I reiterate: the time of defeats has gone, and time of victories started. Victory is written on your foreheads, and yesterday I have seen defeat written on the foreheads of Netanyahu and Obama. On May 25th, 2000 I said that Israel is feebler then the spider web. Eleven years later and after Gaza, July, Maroon Arras and Majdal Shams and before hundreds of the armless Palestinian youths and before their courage, boldness and zeal and the cowardice of the Israeli soldiers again I tell you: By God Israel is feebler than a spider web.

If several hundreds Palestinian youths – indeed those who gathered in Maroon Arras are tens of thousands but those who went to the barbed wire are several hundred and those who stormed in Majdal Shams are several hundreds or above a thousand – made Israel scared. Israel acknowledged great frustration and reconsidered its bravery. When I was watching the youths on the barbed wire in Maroon Arras and in Majdal Shams and their dashing courageous bravery and their no fear of death though with their empty hands only and compared that to the extent of Israeli fear and perplexity, I recalled the words of Imam Khomeini (May Allah bless his soul) when he used to say that we are a billion Muslims. If every Muslim held a bucket of water and throw it over Israel – if we all at a time held a bucket of water each and not a missile or a machine gun and threw it on Israel – Israel would have been swept away with water. This is a symbolic expression. Israel is feeble. The problem is in us. Now after this scene, imagine if many millions of Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Arabs and Muslims from all around the world gathered all along the borders with Occupied Palestine all at a time to cross the fence, what will Israel do then? What will Obama do?

However that needs a great decision. That needs a great will like the will of the Palestinian and Syrian youths who were in Maroon Arras and Majdal Shams.

This is Israel. Thus before all what is taking place around us we are very close to achieve victory and to change the equations. The US-Israeli counter-attack on the region and the peoples of the region will lead nowhere. Hundred returns and peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The coronation of ‘His Excellency’ Benjamin Netanyahu by his steadfastly loyal subjects

By Richard Edmondson

In a humiliating display of servility, members of Congress in essence threw U.S. sovereignty out the window last week—and the verdict coming in from a good many American bloggers is one of hot anger.

What took place in a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, May 24, was very similar in conduct to a coronation—of Benjamin Netanyahu as King of America—with the tone being set from the start by House Speaker John Boehner, who in his introduction referred to the Israeli prime minister as “His Excellency.”

In a recent post, entitled Thirty Standing Ovations…as Joplin digs itself out of the rubble, I tallied up the number of standing ovations given to the new monarch, concluding that the total came to thirty—or thirty-one if you wish to count the uproarious applause immediately following Boehner’s fawning introduction. Here is what I wrote:

Boehner:

“I have the high privilege and the distinct honor of presenting to you His Excellency, Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel.”

I then followed that with an enumerated list of the lines from “His Excellency’s” speech which drew standing ovations. Here is the list.

Netanyahu:

1. “I’m deeply moved by this warm welcome…I see a lot of new friends of Israel here as well—Democrats and Republicans alike!” (standing ovation)

2. “Israel has no better friend than America and America has no better friend than Israel.” (standing ovation)

3. “Congratulations America. Congratulations, Mr. President. You got bin Laden. Good riddance!” (standing ovation)

4. “You don’t need to send American troops to Israel, we defend ourselves.” (standing ovation)

5. (Netanyahu gets heckled by protestor Rae Abileah. Abileah is booed, but Netanyahu gets another standing ovation—for saying nothing)

6. “You know, I take it as a badge of honor and so should you—that in our free societies you can have these protests. You can’t have these protests in the farcical parliaments in Tehran or in Tripoli. This is real democracy!” (standing ovation)

7. “In a region where women are stoned, gays are hanged, Christians are persecuted, Israel stands out! It is different!” (standing ovation)

8. “Israel is not what is wrong about the Middle East. Israel is what is right about the Middle East!” (standing ovation)

9. “Leaders who spew such venom should be banned from every respectable forum on the planet.” (standing ovation)

10. “There are many who rush to condemn Israel for defending itself against Iran’s terror proxies. Not you. Not America!” (standing ovation)

11. “The more that Iran believes that all options are on the table, the less the chance of confrontation.” (standing ovation)

12. “And this is why I ask you to continue to send an unequivocal message—that America will never permit Iran to develop nuclear weapons!” (standing ovation)

13. “We’re a nation that rose from the ashes of the holocaust. When we say never again, we mean never again!” (standing ovation)

14. “The peace agreements between Israel and Egypt and Israel and Jordan are vital, but they’re not enough. We must also find a way to forge a lasting peace with the Palestinians.” (standing ovation)

15. “You have to understand this. In Judea and Samaria the Jewish people are not foreign occupiers!” (standing ovation)

16. “No distortion of history could deny the 4,000 year old bond between the Jewish people and the Jewish land!” (standing ovation)

17. “The Palestinians share this small land with us. We seek a peace in which they’ll be neither Israel’s subjects nor its citizens. They should enjoy a national life of dignity as a free, viable and independent people living in their own state!” (standing ovation)

18. “You see, our conflict has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It’s always been about the existence of the Jewish state. This is what this conflict is about!” (standing ovation)

19. “And worst of all, they (Palestinians) continue to perpetuate the fantasy that Israel will one day be flooded by the descendants of Palestinian refugees. My friends, this must come to an end!” (standing ovation)

20. “It’s time for President Abbas to stand before his people and say, ‘I will accept a Jewish state!’” (standing ovation)

21. “I will be prepared to make a far-reaching compromise.” (standing ovation)

22. “Israel will not return to the indefensible boundaries of 1967!” (standing ovation)

23. “It means that the Palestinian refugee problem will be resolved outside the borders of Israel!” (standing ovation)

24. “Jerusalem must never again be divided. Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel!” (standing ovation)

25. “Could you live that way? Well we’re not going to live that way either!” (standing ovation)

26. “So it’s therefore vital, absolutely vital, that a Palestinian state be fully demilitarized. And it’s vital, absolutely vital, that Israel maintain a long term military presence along the Jordan River!” (standing ovation)

27. “Peace cannot be imposed. It must be negotiated!” (standing ovation)

28. “Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government backed by the Palestinian version of Al Qaida! That we will not do!” (standing ovation)

29. “And if you do, I promise you this, Israel will not be the last country to welcome a Palestinian state as a new member of the United Nations. It will be the first to do so!” (standing ovation)

30. “May God bless all of you, and may God forever bless the United States of America!” (standing ovation)

I have noted that other writers (see here and here, for instance ) have placed the number of standing ovations at 29. I do not know how they arrived at this figure unless it is by not counting the ovation in item number 5 in the above list. However, a standing ovation for saying nothing is still, nonetheless, a standing ovation. Thus the true total is 30, or, as I say, 31 if you want to count the Boehner introduction.

Anyone who wants to check my count is free to do so. Here are the links to the four-part video segment of the speech:

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

American Bloggers Fire Back

Congress’ abject self-abasement is not playing well in the blogosphere, nor is the broader issue of AIPAC influence in general. Both, in fact, have ignited blistering anger in recent days and weeks. In response to King Benji’s address to Congress, the blog Kenny’s Sideshow published a post entitled The Smell of Sulpher, which included the comment, “The whole Congress reeks of it today” along with links to the offensive speech. Also on the same page—an embedded video of a Press TV report showing an Israel supporter violently knocking a camera out of the hands of Palestine solidarity activist Alison Weir, and in which former CIA Agent Philip Giraldi also appears—discussing, among other things, the Zionist state’s rather distinct proclivity for conducting espionage operations against America.

Comments in response to the blog post indicate more awareness of the problem than most people give the American public credit for. Addressing the issue of congressional fawning over Netanyahu, a commenter named “chuckyman” intoned, “Arph, arph – watch the trained seals perform. Did you ever watch any of the old Soviet newsreels Kenny? The only difference here was that it was in colour this time – high definition no doubt also.” An anonymous poster commented, “His Excellency???? Why not skip the groveling and go straight to the licking and kissing.” But perhaps the most salient comment came from “Steve in Iowa,” who called into question the necessity of remaining polite under the present circumstances: “When will the people of The USA stand up with the rest of the world and say “enough!”? Is being called an anti-semite really THAT bad? It’s just a f*cking word people. Get over it.”

There are indications that a number of Americans have in fact “gotten over it”—or at any rate may be getting there—and this too is being reflected in the blogosphere. Some of what follows might be deemed by many as crossing the line into “anti-Semitism,” however, I reproduce it here as a means of showing that the mood in certain quarters in America has passed the point of maintaining delicate niceties. One blog that indeed seems to have shed its fear of being labeled with the fearsome “anti-Semite” brush is How Dare I, an anonymously maintained site describing itself as “political and social viscera, rejecting all things Judaic.” On the day of Netanyahu’s speech, the anonymous administrator of the site, who goes by the pseudonym Timster, posted the following:

Some feel that the disease has spread too far. Some feel the parasite that sucks our very life cannot be stopped, nor can its damage be undone. I understand that. It seems that way now. To those of us that name the beast, it can be like living a nightmare. Nowhere can we turn without seeing its influence. And almost nowhere can we see this influence not being purchased by those unaware of the nature of this beast. I name the beast. Judaism.

From the Xymphora blog, posted May 26—two days after the King Benji speech: “Those who have problems with discussion of the Zionist Occupation Government should probably just shut the fuck up now. ‘Netanyahu gets more standing ovations than Obama’ ‘Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding.’”

A list of “18 quotes about the tribe of mendicant miscreants” was published on Friday, May 27, at the Veritas 6464 blog. Top on the list—a quote from Voltaire: “Why are the Jews hated? It is the inevitable result of their laws; they either have to conquer everybody or be hated by the whole human race…” The post’s title: “What there is to say about the filthy Yiddish Khazars.”

From the World According to American Goy blog: “I have just re-watched ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu’s speech in Congress given Tuesday, 24th of May, 2011. The sorry spectacle had a familiar feeling to me: here was the big boss speaking to his underlings, desperate to clap harder, to shout and show themselves to him, to prove their loyalty by how desperately they wanted to please. Clap harder, worthless underlings!”

“Speaking of betrayal, this has to be the most brazen, in-your-face display of it in modern history,” said San Diego blogger John Friend in a May 25 post at his site, Mr. Friend’s Blog. Friend included an embedded video of the Netanyahu speech and went on to add: “We are watching a foreign leader tell lies right to our faces as the people supposed to be representing us, the American people, mindlessly cheer and clap away. It’s time for a new government.”

Commenting on Obama’s speech before AIPAC, two days before the king’s coronation, blogger John Kaminski wrote, “Jews prove their treason to America every day, in every way, writ large as Eustace Mullins’ conception of a parasitic group eating its way through the sinews of society. Yet official America, locked in the fantasy of its media blindfold, pretends the disease does not exist, and eagerly leads us further down the path to destruction.”

In a somewhat different mood, the art of satire was employed by Roger Bacon in his post on the Netanyahu speech—an article headlined, “Feds Bust Up Large D.C. Prostitution Ring.”

Washington–Federal agents of a task force that busted one of, if not the largest prostitution rings in the history of America held a press conference today to disseminate more details about last night’s raid.

John Galt, head of Task Force CLAP– Chasing Lechers And Prostitutes–said this was the largest house of prostitution he had ever raided. “We had gotten tips for some time that a place called ‘The Hill,’ was a hotbed of illegal and sordid sex acts for pay, and so we were finally able to get some agents inside to secure the necessary info to issue warrants.”

The piece was accompanied by a photo captioned, “The FBI released this picture of the nation’s largest whorehouse.” The image was that of the capitol building in Washington.

Brother Nathanel Kapner is a video blogger and Jewish convert to Christianity who runs the site Real Zionist News. On Saturday, May 28, he posted a video in which he pointed out something which I have asserted numerous times as well—that the coinciding of AIPAC’s three-decade rise to power in Washington and the dismantling of our Constitution and Bill of Rights over the same period is no accident. View the video here.

On Monday, May 23—one day before the King Benji coronation—the blog Equal Party USA published a post that included the following: “We’ve been taught to be repelled by any use of the word ‘jew’ in a negative way. Many readers are repulsed right now. But these facts of ownership and control are, for the most part, easy to find. We’ve done it here, and we’ve linked to many other writers who have done so. Also, it’s easy to find jews who boast about it. As always, we’re not talking about ‘all’ jews. We’re talking about a giant subset of self-described ‘jews’ and crypto-jews who criminally conspire against the decent people of our country and of the world.”

In an article published in conjunction with the holiday to honor the nation’s war dead, Veterans Today website called upon readers to “Remember the USS Liberty and Crew this Memorial Day.” In extremely strong terms (though not as strong as above), columnist Bob Johnson relates the particulars of the attack carried out by Israel against a U.S. Navy ship in 1967:

On June 8, 1967 the terrorist Jewish state of Israel launched attacks against the U.S.S. Liberty which killed 34 U.S. sailors and Marines. The U.S. government ordered pilots flying American fighter jets that were on their way to rescue their fellow Americans from this vicious attack of Biblical ferocity to return to their carriers and let their fellow American sailors and Marines die. The politicians did this for the benefit of their own political careers.

This Memorial Day we need to take stock of this very disgusting, cowardly and revealing act of Israeli aggression and murder. We need to make certain we all learn the real lessons this war crime is teaching us. If we don’t, we’re letting those 34 Americans die in vain and we will allow Israel to continue its destruction of the United States via sacrificing our troops in Israel promoted wars and draining our finances through billion dollar hand outs the politicians give them.

And that’s just a small sampling of what’s out there.

An Act of God Rains on the King’s Parade

The timing of Netanyahu’s crowning was inauspicious, to say the least. On Sunday, May 22, Obama made his second fawning speech at an AIPAC convention (the first was in 2008 and was equally as fawning); later that same day, a behemoth of a tornado hit the American heartland and destroyed much of the city of Joplin, Missouri—and by the time King Benji was being royally feted in Washington, the residents there were digging out from the worst disaster in their town’s history.

The twister was rated “EF5” by the National Weather Service, and not only was it the severest storm ever to strike Joplin, it was the deadliest single tornado in the history of the United States—since records began to be kept in 1950. One week after the destruction, on May 29, the death toll stood at 142, with approximately 100 people still missing.

Moreover, 2011 has been one of the worst tornado years on record, and the season does not end until July. In mid-April the nation saw a three-day outbreak of tornadoes ranging from Mississippi to North Carolina; then in late April came a convulsion of nearly 250 tornadoes over a four-day period, including one monster funnel approximately a mile wide that rampaged through the Alabama cities of Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. Then arrived the hellish disaster in Joplin. Many people, there and elsewhere in the United States, are now homeless. But as I wrote in a recent post, the victims of all these storms may expect only limited federal assistance due to the fact that in fiscal year 2011, under $2 billion was allocated to the Department of Homeland Security’s Disaster Relief Fund (compared to the $3 billion sent to Israel). Moreover, FEMA, the federal agency which administers the fund, limits its relief to only $28,000 per household—and many, probably most, do not get that much or even near it.

To add insult to injury, there is a suggestion now that relief monies dispensed to tornado victims in the weeks and months ahead may in fact be withdrawn at a later date. A tip of the hat to Kenny’s Sideshow for the following. Just over a year ago, flooding of almost epic proportions struck the state of Tennessee, an event which saw approximately 16 inches of rain fall in a two-day period in the central part of the state. Homes and businesses were inundated. The Cumberland River exceeded its banks and flooded a considerable portion of downtown Nashville. Many people applied for, and received, assistance from FEMA, but some are now being told they must pay back a portion of what they got. According to The Tennessean, a total of 403 of the state’s residents, mostly in the Nashville area, have been sent letters informing them they must return assistance payments totaling $1.6 million that FEMA now says were improper. And it isn’t just in Tennessee this is happening.

Nationwide, 5,650 recipients of federal assistance are being told to return about $22 million. And this is just the first batch of letters that FEMA plans to send out as it plows through a backlog of 168,000 improper payments totaling $643 million going back to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

The fact that the hard-hit residents of Joplin face a lengthy application process to receive even the smallest of stipends from FEMA, along with the prospect that at some point down the road they may be forced to pay back some portion of that assistance they do receive, is not likely to mitigate the sense of outrage many Americans are now feeling. In touring the Midwest city on Sunday, May 29, Obama seemed to offer the customary assurances. “The main thing I just want to communicate to the people of Joplin is this is just not your tragedy,” he said. “This is a national tragedy and that means there will be a national response.”

But is the president really just pulling their legs?

Scenes from Joplin:

They’re not Israelis, so let’em eat cake

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Jewish Republican, announced that Congress would only approve emergency funding for tornado victims if the assistance provided is offset by “pay-fors”, i.e. budget cuts in other areas. However, late last year, fearing a new crop of fiscally conservative, Tea Party-backed Republicans coming to Washington, Cantor contrived a strategy to protect and insulate aid to Israel from any possible cuts in funding. His proposal? To completely sever aid to the Zionist state from the State Department’s overall foreign aid budget…and to and move it over to the Defense Department, where presumably it would be impervious from any cuts. While the plan eventually came to naught—and Israel suffered no loss or cutback in U.S. assistance in any case—the episode suggests something about the prevailing line of thinking in the Washington Beltway, which, if true, would almost have to be regarded as flabbergasting: that aid to Israel is holy and sacrosanct, while aid to disaster-hit Americans constitutes nothing more than a negotiable, non-essential expense.

Cantor’s words, perhaps predictably, prompted renewed indignation in the blogosphere. “Hey Eric, I got a great idea! How about cutting back on those monthly welfare checks the American taxpayer is forced to send to Apartheid Israel!!” commented Roger Bacon in an article entitled Only Anti-Semites Want to Help Tornado Victims! Bacon, who likened the destruction in Joplin to that of Gaza, referred to Cantor as an “Israel-Firster” and called upon the Senate majority leader to “shag your sorry, back-stabbing traitorous ass back to the FATHERLAND, Apartheid Israel.” “What a vile piece of shit that Cantor guy is. Those people need assistance, only a satanist or a Psychopath would deny aid to those in this devastated area,” says one reader comment on Bacon’s post, while another reads, “Arrest the bastard for sedition and execute him slowly.”

Conclusions

In an article published at Uprooted Palestinians on Saturday, May 28, Franklin Lamb, who writes extensively on Middle East issues, discussed the reaction to the Netanyahu speech amongst unnamed Capitol Hill congressional staffers. He notes that some of the staffers are now calling it “Congressional Black Tuesday,” taking the view that, in its bizarre display of fawning, the nation’s legislative branch has in essence “fouled itself.” Strong words, to be sure, especially coming from faceless federal employees who, one might suppose, normally would be prone to civility and diplomacy. But if the blogosphere is any indication, we see that amongst “the neighborhood crowd that shouts for something better,” as Kenny’s Sideshow describes itself—essentially the “American street,” if you will—the mood is far stronger…and patience much thinner…even than that. Israel of course still has many supporters in this country, particularly from Christian Zionists. But America is currently $14 trillion in debt, largely because of its subservience to Israel and its tolerance of a coterie of mainly Jewish criminals on Wall Street, and as Lamb suggests, an “Arab spring” may be building here as well. With public education being cut and social programs decimated and ripped apart—and with anti-Jewish sentiments increasingly out in the open—the kingly coronation of May 24 could end up being viewed as a major turning point in America’s longstanding love affair with the Zionist state. 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Calls for escalation of protests to mark occupation of W. Bank, Jerusalem

[ 30/05/2011 – 12:01 PM ] 
RAMALLAH, (PIC)– The Muslim Youth Association has announced several events that will take place in cities across the West Bank to mark the 44th anniversary of the occupation of Al-Aqsa Mosque, East Jerusalem, and Palestine as a whole.

The MYA said in a statement on Sunday: “On June 5, 1967, the Israeli army set out to occupy what remained of Palestine, Golan Heights, and Sinai, so that we would live 44 years of disgrace and shame. Today we have decided to be victorious.”

”In memory of the occupation of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the West Bank, we call for determination to liberate the land and the people, and to rise up against the force of tyranny,” the MYA added.

The group also called for the need to escalate confrontation with occupation forces and to address them with “all strength and determination”.

The events include marches that will take place in nearly every major city in the West Bank on Friday June 3 to renew commitment to the liberation of the Aqsa Mosque.

On Sunday June 5, “stands of anger” and a general commercial strike will be staged at 11:00am, when marches will be launched in city squares in Al-Khalil, Nablus, and Ramallah.

Tuesday will include a comprehensive escalation against Israeli forces and settlers in areas of friction near Israeli checkpoints in and around Jerusalem as well as those in Kalandia, Hawara, Rachel’s Tomb, Bil’in, Ni’lin, and the bypass roads and outposts in Al-Khalil.
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The ruined village Palestinians will never forget

The ruins of Lifta are the final remains of the Palestinian hamlets that fringed Jerusalem until 1948. Now plans to bulldoze them are causing outrage

A Palestinian looks at an abandoned security site after it was damaged by Israeli air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip

Harriet Sherwood
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 29 May 2011 23.17 BST

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In the soft golden light of a late spring evening, as yellow flowers are beginning to bloom on giant cacti, Yacoub Odeh climbs up through knee-high grass to the ruin that was his childhood home. For a man in his eighth decade, he is surprisingly nimble as he navigates ancient stones that litter the ground. But behind his light step is the weight of painful memories of a lost youth and a fading history.

“Here is my house,” he says, sitting on the remains of a stone wall in whose crevices wild flowers and saplings cling. “Now only the corners remain. Here is the taboun [outdoor oven] where my mother used to bake bread. The smell!”

With distant eyes, he describes an idyllic childhood in a place he calls paradise, where families helped one another and children played freely amid almond and fig trees and on the rocks around the village’s natural spring.

The place is Lifta, an Arab village on the north-western fringes of Jerusalem, for centuries a prosperous, bustling community built around agriculture, traditional embroidery, trade and mutual support. But since 1948, shortly before the state of Israel was declared, it has been deserted. The population, according to the Palestinian narrative of that momentous year, was expelled by advancing Jewish soldiers; the people abandoned their homes, say the Israeli history books.

Lifta was one of hundreds of Arab villages taken over by the embryonic Jewish state. But it is the only one not to have been subsequently covered in the concrete and tarmac of Israeli towns and roads, or planted over with trees and shrubs to create forests, parks and picnic areas, or transformed into Israeli artists’ colonies. Some argue that Israel set out to erase any vestige of Palestinian roots in the new country.

Now, 63 years on, the ruins of Lifta are finally facing the threat of bulldozers and concrete mixers.

Ultra-orthodox Jewish teenagers swimming in the village spring in the ruins of Lifta. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum

A long-term proposal to sell the state-owned land for the construction of luxury housing units and a boutique hotel on the site is awaiting the authorities’ final approval. It has caused a furore.

Opponents of the plan include those who believe Lifta should be preserved as a monument to history; those who want to retain its charming environs as a rambling spot; and those – Odeh among them – who insist that one day they will return and reclaim their homes.

For many Palestinians, Lifta is a symbol of the Nakba, literally the “catastrophe”, of 1948 in which 700,000 people were dispossessed. It embodies their longing for their land, and their bitterness at their continued refugee status. It is, wrote Palestinian author Ghada Karmi in a letter to the Los Angeles Times, “a physical memory of injustice and survival”.

The development plan was approved by the Jerusalem municipality five years ago, but earlier this year the Israel Lands Administration – the state agency that took ownership of Lifta’s land under the Israeli law governing property deemed to be abandoned – began marketing the plot to private developers. A legal challenge stayed the tender process, but a decision is due any day on whether to proceed. The proposal is for 212 luxury housing units, expected to be advertised to wealthy expatriate Jews, a chic hotel and shops, and a museum. It suggests that some of the ruins be restored. But Lifta as a sanctuary and de facto heritage site will be lost.

Shmuel Groag, one of the architects of the original proposal, has since reversed his position and has backed the campaign to preserve the ruined village. “I have changed my mind about conservation in general, and about Lifta in particular,” he says. The site, he argues, should be “frozen”. Others have appealed to Unesco to declare Lifta a world heritage site, saying that work must begin to halt further decay and the theft of valuable stones from the ruins. Alongside the ramblers, drug-users and illicit lovers frequent the ruins. Crowds of ultra-orthodox Jewish teenage boys, stripped to their underwear, swim in the spring, and light barbecues on the rocks. Graffiti scars many of the fragmented walls. For Odeh, this is distressing. “Why should they have free access to my home when I am stopped by security guards and questioned about my right to be here,” he asks. “When I see these people coming here, I feel sorrow and anger.”

The remains of the village are bounded by roads, along which traffic rumbles to and from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem’s suburbs and settlements. On the ridge above Lifta, concrete mixers and diggers are at work on a high-speed rail link to Tel Aviv; deep in the valley below is a guarded complex, said to be the site of the Israeli government’s underground nuclear bunker. Out of sight of Lifta’s ruins, but built on its former farmlands are the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), the supreme court, the Hadassah hospital, the Hebrew University and the city’s central bus station.

In 1948, the village owned 1,200 hectares but they have long gone, along with olive, fig, apricot, almond, plum, pomegranate and citrus trees plus the fields of spinach, cauliflower, peas and beans that gave Lifta its prosperity. “Life was rich,” recalls Odeh. “The spring watered the village gardens. We had more olives than we needed so we sold them and the oil in Jerusalem.”

As we walk amid the ruins, Odeh points out the old landmarks. “Here was the mosque. This was the sheriff’s house. Here was the olive press. There is the house where I was born, and where my father was born. Over there is the cemetery. This was the sahn [courtyard] where people shared happy occasions and sorrowful occasions. Here I breathed my first breath. The first water I drank, I drank here.” It is painful, he says.

He points out what is remaining of the beautiful architecture of the houses, with arched windows, columns and graceful balconies. Over a door, a lintel is inscribed with Arabic writing. Enter in safety, it says; the owner of this house is God. “The people of the village cut the stones and built their houses themselves. They were proud of that. They helped each other build and harvest the olives. The village lived as a family, one family.”

But in 1948, when Odeh was eight years old, the bucolic life of Lifta came to an end. At the gateway to Jerusalem, Lifta was strategically important to the advancing Jewish troops. A series of violent skirmishes caused fear and panic, he recalls. There was firing and attacks from both sides. And then came the day his family left.

“My mother was preparing a fire to warm the house. I was with my little brother. The gangs began to shoot in the direction of Lifta. My brother was shouting: ‘Mama! Mama! They’re shooting us.’ My mother took us inside and put us in a corner. The people of Lifta were crying to one another.”

Odeh’s father, then 33, carried the youngest of the eight children, and the family crossed the valley and climbed up to the main road to Jerusalem. His mother took the key to the house but they left everything they owned. “We had nothing but the clothes we were wearing. We had everything – and in one moment we had nothing. We became beggars.” As the villagers left, Jewish soldiers blew holes in the roofs of the houses to make them uninhabitable.

Odeh’s father stayed in Lifta for a few more days. After boarding a truck heading away from the village, the rest of the family slept under fig trees. They spent the following two years in Ramallah before moving to Jerusalem’s Old City. His father, a broken man, developed stomach problems and died at the age of 35. His mother suffered from asthma from the time she left Lifta until her death. Many of the 3,000 residents of Lifta scattered across the West Bank and beyond to Jordan, but a core still live in East Jerusalem within a few kilometres of their former homes. Odeh himself later joined the armed resistance against Israel and spent 17 years in prison.

Now, in his twilight years, he is as impassioned as ever about his home. “We will never forget nor forgive the destruction of our village. Lifta is in our memory and in our history. It is our fathers’ and grandfathers’ graveyard. The spring, the trees, the land – we will never forget it.”

He is unshakeable in his belief in the Palestinians’ right to return to their homes – something that cannot be countenanced by Israel because it would threaten the state’s Jewish majority and hence its Jewish nature. “We still dream of coming back,” says Odeh. “I’m sure the time will come to return to Lifta, to my home.” There can be no lasting peace until the refugee issue is resolved, he adds. But he knows time may be running out. “Lifta is an eyewitness to history, to what happened in the Nakba. If we can’t come back, then leave the village to this history.”

• A Palestinian man forced to demolish his home in Jerusalem
• FPJS condemns IOF assault of journalists in occupied Jerusalem
• Israeli cabinet to discuss Negev land grab plan
• Zionist plan to change the demography of occupied Jerusalem within five years

Netanyahu re-confirms Jerusalem as permanent Israeli capital

[ 30/05/2011 – 11:25 AM ] 
NAZARETH, (PIC)– Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized his country’s commitment to develop Jerusalem employing several Judaization projects.

The announcement comes a few days after Netanyahu gave a speech that drew heavy support by US Congress where he declared Jerusalem the eternal capital for the “Jewish state”.

He said during a cabinet meeting held Sunday that the unity of Jerusalem is one of the foundations of the unity of the Israelis, and that the support that the projects have received by Knesset and Congress is an asset to Israel.

The Citadel in the Jerusalem’s Old City where the meeting was held contained a mosque, as the tower was re-built by the Mamluks then the Ottomans who established mosque inside it.

In the same session, Netanyahu announced a 100 million USD investment package.

The statements come just a day after the High Arab Follow-up Committee for the Arab peace initiative (an Arab league committee) adopted a resolution that supports the Palestinian Authority going to the UN get recognition for an independent state of Palestine.

According to the resolution, Palestinian borders would be based on those etched in 1967, and the capital would be East Jerusalem.

ICC: Israel spending more than a billion dollars a year to Judaize holy city

[ 30/05/2011 – 02:13 PM ] 
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Islamic Christian Commission in support of Jerusalem and the holy sites said that the Citadel of David mosque was not the first one that Israel converted into a Jewish site.

The statement comes as Israelis celebrate the opening of a museum built on the ruins of the mosque.

”Israel has been taking control of the mosques and converting their usage to be consistent with Israeli objectives and plans to Judaize Jerusalem and erase its identity and religious symbols,” declared ICC secretary-general Hassan Khater.

Situated in the Al-Khalil gate, the museum serves as a dangerous center in finishing the Judaization of Jerusalem, Khater stated.

During the opening ceremony, Israeli officials earmarked $100 million to support Judaization projects in Jerusalem, projects related to culture and history.

According to Khatir, the sum does not represent what is actually spent on the city by the Israeli development fund and the Jerusalem municipality as well as private religious funds. He estimated that the total amount of what is spent to rise above one billion dollars a year.

The museum opening comes after Israeli Prime Minister confirmed during a speech to US Congress that Israel would not compromise on Jerusalem in negotiations with the Palestinians.
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Remember U.S.S. Liberty and Crew this Memorial Day

by Bob Johnson

On June 8, 1967 the terrorist Jewish state of Israel launched attacks against the U.S.S. Liberty which killed 34 U.S. sailors and Marines. The U.S. government ordered pilots flying American fighter jets that were on their way to rescue their fellow Americans from this vicious attack of Biblical ferocity to return to their carriers and let their fellow American sailors and Marines die. The politicians did this for the benefit of their own political careers.

This Memorial Day we need to take stock of this very disgusting, cowardly and revealing act of Israeli aggression and murder. We need to make certain we all learn the real lessons this war crime is teaching us. If we don’t, we’re letting those 34 Americans die in vain and we will allow Israel to continue its destruction of the United States via sacrificing our troops in Israel promoted wars and draining our finances through billion dollar hand outs the politicians give them.

The key lesson is Israel has far too much power over American politicians. Political whores in both parties sell-out American military personnel and America herself to please their string-pulling Israeli overlords to selfishly promote their own political careers. If they refuse, the Israel lobby will do all they can to see to it that they will lose in the next election.

This is why Congress and the White House are unAmerican and kosher. This is why American sailors, airmen, soldiers and Marines are being sent off to wars for the benefit if the Jewish state of Israel. This is why one Jewish “U.S.” Senator, Chuck Schumer, actually believes and openly said that he’s on a mission from God to be Israel’s protector in the U.S. Senate! Not one “journalist” questioned him about his priority of Israel, not America, first.

To help seal the fear of Israel they use the Bible. The Bible teaches all sorts of Jewish superiority. One fear based Bible threat is found at Isaiah 60:12 which plainly teaches that God said, “For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” Another is found at Genesis 12:3 which has God saying to Abram, aka Abraham, which is taken to apply to Israel, too, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” This is nothing but psychological warfare plain and simple.
And U.S. politicians appear to fall for it! U.S. Representative Michelle Bachmann recently said to the Republican Jewish Coalition, “I am convinced in my heart and in my mind that if the United States fails to stand with Israel, that is the end of the United States. . . [We] have to show that we are inextricably entwined, that as a nation we have been blessed because of our relationship with Israel, and if we reject Israel, then there is a curse that comes into play. And my husband and I are both Christians, and we believe very strongly the verse from Genesis, we believe very strongly that nations also receive blessings as they bless Israel. It is a strong an beautiful principle.” Do we really need politicians who believe in curses and hexes???

The only thing that will help free us of the deep rooted Hebrew/Jewish superstitions found in the Bible which are causing so much misery and suffering in the world is our God-given reason. Our God-given reason teaches us to reject such deadly nonsense. God-given reason united with belief in God is Deism. And as the Deist Benjamin Franklin warned, “Hear Reason or she’ll make you feel her.”

The Main Battle Dressing Station on the USS Liberty was described as a “bloody scene reminiscent of the American Civil War.” The Israeli torpedo and machine guns took a terrible toll on the Liberty’s crew, killing 34 and wounding 172.

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Palestinian Women Prisoners

Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 1:54PM Gilad Atzmon

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Israeli Human Rights Violations

Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 1:00PM Gilad Atzmon

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Zionist plan to change the demography of occupied Jerusalem within five years

[ 29/05/2011 – 06:02 PM ] 
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation government has revealed a plan to further Judaize occupied Jerusalem and change demographic realities under the pretext of propping up the economy of the city.

The Prime Minister’s office has announced recently the government’s intention to approve the spending of over 80 million dollars to carry out what it called “a comprehensive economic plan” over the next five years.

The plan, which is considered by Palestinian parties a noticeable escalation of the Judaization of the holy city, is to implement a number of projects that will change the face of the city and to encourage new segments of Israeli society to settle in it.

According to the announced plan 42 million US million dollars will be spent on developing the infrastructure and developing the Western Wall (the Buraq Wall as it is called by the Palestinians) to encourage tourism.

The Zionist Ministry of Tourism will also spend 21.5 million US dollars to encourage the building of hotels to increase the number of hotel rooms available to tourists in the city.

The plan also includes 20.5 million dollars for establishing research and science institutes which requires establishing new buildings.

Another 20.26 million will go to building student accommodation and an academic city which aims to attract economically productive people to live in the city.

The statement from Netanyahu’s office also said that the government might add Jerusalem to the areas which get government support where university students who finished their military service will be legible for government grants.

A Palestinian man forced to demolish his home in Jerusalem

[ 29/05/2011 – 10:58 AM ] 

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Mahmoud Aramin, a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, was forced to demolish his home on Saturday to avoid his house being demolished by the municipality and get charged extortionist rates for the demolition.

The Zionist occupation municipality ordered the demolition of Aramin’s house on the pretext of lack of planning permission despite the fact that the municipality had already ordered Aramin to pay a high financial penalty for not having a planning permission which he was paying by monthly instalments.

Aramin’s neighbours and human rights activists who witnessed the demolition spoke of the physiological scars resulting from demolition of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem under various pretexts, especially when home owners are given an ultimatum to demolish their own homes themselves or the municipality will carry out the demolition and charge the owner for the demolition.

Many Palestinians in Jerusalem are forced to build new homes or make extensions without a planning permission because the Israeli occupation policy in Jerusalem makes it virtually impossible for Palestinians to get planning permissions.

• FPJS condemns IOF assault of journalists in occupied Jerusalem
• NGO declares ‘commercial disaster’ in Jerusalem’s Old City

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Seeds of Palestinian ‘spring’ blooming fast…

Via FLC 

JERUSALEM (AP) — “The Israeli military is preparing for the possibility of violent protests along its borders in the coming days, aiming to avoid a repeat of deadly unrest that erupted earlier this month, a senior military official told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Facebook-organized activists have called for demonstrations next weekend in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war, in which Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip east Jerusalem and Golan Heights.The official said the army also is planning to counter possible unrest in the West Bank in September after an expected U.N. vote to recognize Palestinian independence…”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 7:03 PM

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The 15th May youth in Jordan call for marching to Israeli embassy in Amman



Resist Don’t compromise

[ 29/05/2011 – 12:59 PM ] 
AMMAN, (PIC)– The 15th May youth in Jordan announced, in a statement on Saturday, their intention to march to the Israeli embassy in Amman next Friday and called on all civil society organisations and trade unions to participate in the march which will mark the 1967 Israeli aggression.

The group also rejected the idea of Jordan being an alternative home for the Palestinians as some Zionists have been calling for. The group further stressed that instead of transferring Palestinians from occupied Palestine to Jordan, Palestinian refugees should in Jordan and all over the world should be able to return to their homes in Palestine.

They also said in the statement that when they tried to express their belief in the right of return practically by marching towards the borders of occupied Palestine on Nakba they were faced with repressive measures, beating and firing in the air by the security forces.

The group also criticised the “peace agreement between Jordan and the Zionist which violates traditions, religious and Arab thought,” adding that closing down the Israeli embassy in Amman and the cancellation of the Wadi Araba peace agreement is the least Jordan can do to support the Palestinian people in the struggle for their rights.
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Gilad Atzmon: British PM Resigns as patron of the Jewish National Fund

The Guardian reported today that British PM David Cameron has stepped down as a patron of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in a “move pro-Palestinian campaigners claim is a result of pressure.”
The JNF was originally a Zionist fund set up to buy land in Palestine to establish Jewish settlements before the creation of the state of Israel. Since 1948 it has been operating as a global charity specialising in planting trees over Palestinian stolen land and eradicated villages.

Sofiah Macleod of the UK-based Stop the JNF Campaign told the Guardian that it was the organisation’s lobbying that had led Cameron to withdraw. “There has been a change in public opinion and awareness about Israel’s behaviour and there was specific pressure on [Cameron] to step down from the JNF,” she said. ”

Traditionally, the leaders of the British three main political parties have become patrons of the JNF. However, Cameron’s resignation means that none of the current three leaders are JNF patrons.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign welcomed the decision. “It reflects the fact it is now impossible for any serious party leader to lend public support to racism,” campaign director, Sarah Colborne, said in a statement.

The JNF did not respond to a request for comment.

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Is Erdogan worried about Strategic Relationship with Syria? He should

Erdogan, should worry, Turkey has the same Syrian, religious/ethnic political landscape. So, if Syria falls, Turkey could be NEXT. If Syria survive ( and IT will), Turkey would lose everything build via the Syrian Gate.

In Arabic we say, those who have a Glass home should avoid throwing stones on neighbors.

It’s not about democracy, it has never been.

It’s about dividing the divided,

“As the Arab Spring enters its fourth month, it faces challenges but also presents opportunities. Despite setbacks in Libya, Yemen, and Syria, the democratic wave has already begun to change the Middle East’s political landscape.” Thus said Erdogan’s advisor who ignored or failed to see the RISKS so far presented by “Arab Spring”, a civil war in Libya, and may be in Yemen,

To stop loss, yesterday Erdogan called Assad to express keenness on Strategic Relationship with Syria.

And yesterday Syrian customs seized 36 automatic rifles inside a truck coming from the Turkey.

I am not saying that Erdogan stands behind smuggling arms to Syrian “outlaws” but according to Ibrahim Kalin his senior adviser, “Over the last decade, Turkey has developed different types of relationships with the countries of the Middle East, targeting improved relations with both governments and the public. Indeed, Turkey is probably the only country that has been able to promote relations at the two levels in the Arab world.”

Translating, Kalin’s statement on Syria, Turkey developed improved relations with Exiled Muslim Brothers, and ignored its “Zero Problem” Foreign Policy, with its neighbors, and main gate to Arab world. Muslim Brothers are now meeting in Istanbul instead of London.

Blinded by the 4 months old ” Arab Spring “, and despite the setbacks, Kalin, is still hoping the Syrian unrest may present an opportunity for Turkey. What opportunity??

The opportunity to engage Muslim brothers, and their offspring, Hamas, “publicly and directly, as Turkey has done, with USA and europe. After all, they are now part of the emerging political order in the Arab world”
He concluded “A democratic and prosperous Arab world will make Turkey’s standing in the region stronger, not weaker.”

Again, what opprtuny, what change, and what political landscape??
Let us connect the Dots


After Jully war , 2006, Saad El-Hariri predicted “In a week, two weeks, when it starts raining, and the economy’s crumbling. Then people will be annoyed with Hizballah.” Even the Shi’a will begin looking around and realizing that “their society has been pulverized,” and while “it’s fine and dandy to have 10,000 dollars, where are the jobs?! What will they eat?!” Plus, it will be hard to encourage any kind of investment in Lebanon as long as Hizballah remains armed and dangerous.”


Saad urged that now is a golden opportunity for the international community to “weaken” Bashar. The USG needs a clear, new policy to isolate Syria. “My belief is, if you don’t isolate Syria, if you don’t put a blockade, they will never change.” By subduing Syria, you remove Iran’s main bridge for playing the troublemaker in Lebanon and Palestine. “If you weaken Syria,” Saad suggested, “then Iran has to work alone.” The Saudis and other Arab states have all had enough of young Bashar, according to Saad, and no longer want to try a conciliatory approach to the Syrian regime. After Bashar’s recent speech threatening civil war in Lebanon, they are no longer interested in “talking” with Damascus. Saad said he had hear this directly from the Saudis, and that Prince Bandar is delivering this message in Washington now (Comment. It is also interesting that Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal made similar comments, but about Iran specifically, during an 8/22 meeting with Ambassador Oberwetter, as reported in reftel. End Note).


“The Saudis and Egyptians have turned. Look into that.” When Talwar asked what the United States could do to increase the pressure on Syria, Saad suggested forging ahead on the special tribunal with international character on the Hariri assassination and organizing international sanctions on Syria. “


“Getting a little more animated as the conversation continued, Saad argued that the Syrian regime needs to be gotten rid of entirely. “

“If the regime were to fall in Syria, who would be there to fill in the vacuum?…, Saad suggested that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, in partnership with ex-regime figures like Abdel Halim Khaddam and Hikmet Shehabi (“though he’s still close to the regime”), could step into the void. Saad claimed that the Syrian Brotherhood is similar in character to Turkey’s moderate Islamists. “

“They even support peace with Israel.“ Saying that he maintains close contact with Khaddam (in Paris) and Syrian Muslim Brotherhood leader-in-exile Ali Bayanuni (in London), Saad urged us to “talk to Bayanuni. See what he’s like. You will see wonders.“

Let us check the wonders of of Bayanuni, and the new middle east landscape:

• “The head of the Syrian MB, Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, told Reuters that should the MB reach power in Syria, it would be ready to open peace talks with Israel.”

•  “if talks lead to withdrawal from the occupied lands and grant Palestinians their rights, then where would be the problem? There is no problem.”

 

• “The Reuters report contrasted Bayanouni’s statement with Hamas’ position which does not even recognize Israel. The implication is that the Syrian MB may not necessarily share the position of the Palestinian Islamists (Hamas) or Egypt’s for that matter

 

• Update: Bayanouni followed up on his interview and deniedsaying that his group is ready to assume power in Syria. Instead he called for a national coalition government.He did repeat however that in principle his group does not reject restoring Syrian rights from Israel through negotiations and a political settlement, provided the other side is willing.

 

• In his denial he followed the steps of Egypt Brothers, who boycotted last friday demonstrations. I wonder if they after riding the revolution’s tide may show us their wonders????

 

 

The So-called “Syrian revolution”  after failure to atract the Syrian masses, turned into violance, and failed again. They failed in both attracting or dividing the Syrian army.

What’s left??


The last card:”humanitarian intervention”,


Most likely, Russia shall not burn it’s fingers as it did in Libya, instead it will burn the zionist’s last card, so there would be no “No Fly Zone”

Moreover, the fall of Syria, would pave the way towards the fall of Tehran, and that would be the last step in changing the “World’s Political Landscape”. Therefore, I claim both Russia, and China, would do everything to keep Resistance Axis a main player in the “Middle East’s political landscape” fighting both Condi’s new middle east and new world order


Again, Erdogan should be worried, and should at least change his political advisors. Palestine, the resistance option is the only way to “make Turkey’s standing in the region stronger” 
Ask  Ahmadinejad , Mubarak, and Bashar.
Palestine saved Bashar, and kicked the ass of Pharaoh.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

President al-Assad Receives Call from Erdogan Expressing Turkey’s Keenness on Strategic Relationship with Syria
May 28, 2011

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The underground diplomacy

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- President Bashar al-Assad on Friday received a phone call from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey expressing Turkey’s keenness on the strategic relationship between the two friendly countries and people and preserving the level of this relationship and developing it in the future.
President al-Assad and Erdogan discussed the situation in the region and in Syria, with Premier Erdogan stressing Turkey’s standing by Syria and keenness on its security, stability and unity.


Both sides reiterated determination to continue the warm and transparent relationship between their countries and upgrading it in the interest of both countries and people and the region as a whole.


Last March, President al-Assad received a phone call from Erdogan.


During the call, Erdogan affirmed the solid Syrian-Turkish relations, lauding the reformative decisions taken by the Syrian leadership and stressing Turkey’s support to Syria.


Turkey and the Arab Spring


(Ibrahim Kalin is senior adviser to the prime minister of Turkey. | DP-News- Project Syndicate)

Ankara – As the Arab Spring enters its fourth month, it faces challenges but also presents opportunities. Despite setbacks in Libya, Yemen, and Syria, the democratic wave has already begun to change the Middle East’s political landscape.


The national reconciliation agreement in Palestine between Fatah and Hamas, signed in Egypt on May 3, is one of the major results of this sea change. Other substantial developments are certain to follow – and Turkey stands to gain from them. Indeed, the Arab Spring strengthens rather than weakens Turkey’s position in the Arab world, and vindicates the new strategic thrust of Turkish foreign policy.

Turkey’s policy of engaging different governments and political groups in the Arab world has transformed Middle Eastern politics. Turkish officials have stated on various occasions that change in the Arab world is inevitable and must reflect people’s legitimate demands for justice, freedom, and prosperity. Moreover, change must occur without violence, and a peaceful transition to a pluralist democracy should be ensured.


Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sought to achieve this in Libya before the ongoing fighting in that country broke out. Erdoğan’s quiet, behind-the-scenes diplomacy sought to ensure a peaceful transition to a post-Qaddafi era. This gradualist approach complements Turkey’s principled position on the need for reform in the Arab world, including Syria, with which Turkey shares a 900-kilometer border.


Over the last decade, Turkey has developed different types of relationships with the countries of the Middle East, targeting improved relations with both governments and the public. Indeed, Turkey is probably the only country that has been able to promote relations at the two levels in the Arab world.


This engagement policy has paid off in several ways, in the process raising Turkey’s profile in the region. Arab intellectuals, activists, and youth leaders of different political inclinations have taken a keen interest in what some describe as the “Turkish model.” Turkey’s stable democracy, growing economy, and proactive foreign policy have generated growing appreciation of the country’s achievements, which has augmented its “soft power” in the region.


This is reflected in the Arab world’s lively debate about how Turkey has been able to reconcile Islam, democracy, and economic development. That debate, more importantly, is about how Arab countries should restructure themselves in the twenty-first century. The growing gap between governments and people in the Arab world has become an unsustainable deficit – a point that has gained new significance as the Turkish experience has gained greater salience in these countries.


As the Arab Spring unfolds at different speeds in different countries, Turkey continues to urge Arab governments to undertake genuine reform. Arabs deserve freedom, security, and prosperity as much as any other people, and Turkey stands to gain from a democratic, pluralist, and prosperous Arab world.


A democratic era promises to give the Arab world a chance to be the author of its own actions. It will also enable Arabs to develop a new paradigm for relations with the West, based on equality and partnership – a position that Turkey has come to symbolize.


Finally, Turkey’s policy of engaging various actors in the Middle East – repudiated by some as controversial, extreme, and even terrorist – has played a significant role in bringing at least some of these forces into mainstream politics. Given the new political realities in Egypt, Tunisia, and the Palestinian territories, as well as in Lebanon, Libya, and elsewhere, the more important of these actors are no longer secret or illegal organizations.


Simply put, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the Nahda Movement in Tunisia, and Hamas in Palestine will all play important and legitimate roles in the political future of their respective countries. This means that Americans and Europeans will need to engage these groups publicly and directly, as Turkey has done. After all, they are now part of the emerging political order in the Arab world,


A democratic and prosperous Arab world will make Turkey’s standing in the region stronger, not weaker.

• On Khalid Amayreh, Syrian Brothers “revolution” and the great day for Palestine
• TURKEY’S ERDOGAN IS JEWISH?

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Every President and Congress Are Complicit in Israel’s “War Crimes”

Every President and Congress Are Complicit in Israel’s “War Crimes”

– 29. May, 2011

“He (Netanyahu) thinks he is the superpower and we are here to do whatever he requires. Who’s the (expletive) superpower here”?”

–President Bill Clinton after meeting with the newly elected Benjamin Netanyahu

Under International Law and America’s War Crimes Act, all U.S. Presidents and the 535 members of the U.S. Congress are “complicitors” in Israel’s long history of genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and crimes against humanity; and as such are “war criminals”

1922’s Congressional Adoption and Support of the illegal Balfour “Declaration” gifting Palestine to European Jews as “A”, not “The”, national homeland for Jews, Congress and every Administration have either remained silent or directly and indirectly supported Zionism’s use of terrorism and force to ethnically cleanse Palestine’s indigenous inhabitants and strongly supported the establishment of an illegal nation that was founded by terrorism and lives by terrorism. By being complicitors in such war crimes they are under International Law guilty of war crimes themselves.

Under the U.N. Charter member states must promote: “Universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.” The U.S. and Israel are signatories to the U.N. Charter and as such violate this fundamental principle of the Charter. Israel is also in violation of the U.S. War Crimes Act which states, “An Act to amend title 18, United States Code, to carry out the international obligations of the United States under the Geneva Conventions to provide criminal penalties for certain war crimes”

Upon signing the law President Clinton said “Today I am pleased to sign into law H.R. 3680, the “War Crimes Act of 1996.”

This bill, in furtherance of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, extends U.S. criminal jurisdiction over certain war crimes and provides the United States with clearer authority to prosecute violations of the laws of war. … It applies to U.S. nationals or members of the Armed Forces who are perpetrators or victims of war crimes. This expansion should address war crimes committed by any person who comes within the jurisdiction of the United States courts, including crimes committed by non-U.S. persons against non-U.S. victims;

Under the Arms Export Control Act all U.S. arms transfers and military aid to any nation are to be used only for defensive, not offensive, purposes.

The Act is intended to prevent weapons from being misused to commit human rights abuses. The Foreign Assistance Act states that “No assistance may be provided… to the government of any country which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”

Given that neither Presidents nor Congress have ever enforced these laws, among others, against Israel as it continues its genocidal war crimes and clear violations of Humanitarian and Human Rights law against Palestinian civilians, both the Presidents and every Congress are in violation of the very “War Crimes Act’ they passed into law as well as in violation of International Law.

In a column in the Israeli paper, Haaretz, in an article titled: “U.S. taxpayers are paying for Israel’s West Bank Occupation”, November 16, 2010. Akiva Eldar writes “According to a June 2010 fact sheet on the USAID Internet site, last year American taxpayers funded the paving of 63 kilometers of asphalt roads in the West Bank.” Such payments are a gross violation of International and U.S. Criminal laws and are a clear indication of America’s complicity and guilt in Israel’s commission of “war crimes” against the Palestinians.

In March 2008, Attorney Charles Judson Harwood, Jr. sent an email to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees titled: “Prosecuting U.S. complicity in Israel settlement war crimes” The email contained a “legal memo” attachment. In it he asks the Committees “To consider, once again, creating an Independent Counsel to prosecute U.S. complicity in this (Israeli Settlements) war crime, specifically, multiple criminal acts, enterprises, and conspiracies, by U.S. nationals and residents, to incite, aid and abet, facilitate, a war crime by Israel:—“To examine the U.S. criminal law of complicity, to ensure, it reaches all complicit acts under international criminal law and applies to all complicit acts in this particular war crime, by U.S. nationals and residents and others, such as members of Congress and their staffs, officials in the State Department (including its Legal Advisers), White House, congressional witnesses, think tank advocates, lobbyists, fund-raisers, contributors, settlement real estate agents, settlement house buyers, settlement house mortgage lenders, editorial/Op-Ed writers, broadcasters, preachers, professors, paid propaganda contractors, Israeli government officials, and such.”

In summary, based on the above and the findings of many legal organizations and experts on domestic and international laws, the U.S. Administration and Congress, among others in the public and private sectors, are guilty as complicitors in Israel’s long standing war crimes and violations of all international treaties, humanitarian and human rights laws. That is why Israeli governmental and military officials fear traveling to Europe as they may be arrested and prosecuted for “war crimes”

Here are some comments from the war criminal Netanyahu, America’s man of peace, the “generous compromiser” willing to cede “some” land to the Palestinians from the Jewish homeland, biting and insulting the very hands that feed his genocidal country and military.

To me the most shocking statement in Netanyahu’s speech to Congress was his statement that Israel is not a “foreign occupier” in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) as it is their Jewish homeland in the first place, thus making the Palestinians the foreign occupiers of Jewish land.

According to the Washington Post’s article on Netanyahu , “America is a thing you can move very easily”, July 16, 2010.

A video recording of Netanyahu reveals his contempt for the sovereignty of the U.S. government and people and the ease which he can manipulate both. In the video, which is from 2001, Netanyahu -speaks frankly in Hebrew about relations with the Clinton White House and the peace process. He boasts of his knowledge of the U.S. by saying, “I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won’t get in their way.” He also boasts of manipulating the U.S. in the ongoing peace process “They asked me before the election if I’d honor [the Oslo accords],” he said. “I said I would, but. I’m going to interpret the accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the ’67 Borders.”

In his web site “Tikun Olam” Richard Silverstein posted the article “Bibi in 1989 Supported Palestinian Mass Expulsions”. January 14, 2011 in which he quotes Netanyahu as saying “Israel should have taken advantage of the suppression of the demonstrations in China [Tiananmen Square], when the world’s attention was focused on what was happening in that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the Territories. However, to my regret, they did not support that policy that I proposed, and which I still propose should be implemented.”

According to the Israeli paper, Haaretz, in “Report: Netanyahu says 9/11 terror attacks good for Israel”, April16, 2008, Netanyahu is quoted as saying “We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq, adding that these events “swung American public opinion in our favor.”

Thus to Netanyahu, the murder of 3000 Americans, requires no sympathy or solidarity with the American people but is simply viewed as a golden opportunity for Israel to once again manipulate an American tragedy to Israel’s benefit. If he is this heartless to the U.S. imagine how blood thirsty a war criminal he is toward the brutally occupied Palestinian civilian population.

In 1998 President Clinton asked Netanyahu to live up to Israel’s agreement with the Palestinians and withdraw from13% of West Bank land as per the Interim Agreement of 1993. Netanyahu was furious with Clinton but given his arrogant confidence in the total subjugation of Congress to Israel’s demands he knew he had Clinton at a disadvantage. (Sounds Obama familiar)

The Chicago Tribune on May 19, 1998 (“Netanyahu Denies Pullback Agreement. Israel’s Leader Scuttles Report of Progress as Albright and Arafat Talk’) reported that:, “Netanyahu felt confident enough about his position during his five-day U.S. tour to threaten privately to aides that he would “BURN” Washington if Clinton tries to lay blame for failure of the talks on Netanyahu’s government”
Prior to his May 1998 meeting with President Clinton in Washington, Netanyahu exclaimed “We do not accept dictates…They cannot dictate to us on issues that only we can decide on.” –Washington Post, “Netanyahu: U.S. Cannot Dictate to Us” May 7, 1998

During Bill Clinton’s second term Newt Gingrich in 1994 became the Republican Speaker of the House. Given the rift between Clinton and Netanyahu over the 13% withdrawal from occupied land in the West Bank, Speaker Newt Gingrich and a large bipartisan Congressional delegation went to Israel to celebrate its 50^th founding anniversary. In Israel Gingrich told Netanyahu to stand up to Clinton and he can count on the entire Congress to support him to the hilt against the President.

Here’s how a Washington Post article titled, “Netanyahu’s Backers on Capitol Hill Foment Split with White House”, May 23, 1998. “No Israeli Prime Minister can afford to be indifferent to Israel’s ties to the White House. But during Netanyahu’s U.S trip last week, even members of his entourage were amazed at the willingness of prominent members of Congress, notably House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), to denounce their own government and express support for the leader of a foreign power that receives $3 billion in U.S. aid each year.”
It went on to say that: “the legislators are prepared to do everything in their power to ensure that he wins such a confrontation.”

In another paragraph in the same article, we read “Netanyahu has no peer when it comes to understanding the American arena,” said Nahum Barnea, a leading political commentator for the Israeli daily paper.Yedioth Ahronoth, “”He knows that U.S. officials, from (Madeleine) Albright down, are angry yet helpless. But he also knows he can always beat them because he owns the U.S. Congress”

It’s troubling that Washington D.C.’s institutions from the government, to think tanks, to the media, AIPAC, and other lobbyists, are more Zionist and Jewish than Jews in Israel. They have ensured that the United States of America only serves Israel, and only Israel, damn the American family.

Here’s a comparison between the rabid Zionist columnist Charles Krauthammer’s column in the Washington Post versus a column in the Israeli paper Haaretz by an Israeli Jew.

Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post in a column titled “What Obama did to Israel”, May 26, 2011 (during Netanyahu’s visit) “The only remaining question is whether this perverse and ultimately self-defeating policy is born of genuine antipathy toward Israel or of the arrogance of a blundering amateur who refuses to see that he is undermining not just peace but the very possibility of negotiations.”

Here’s a column by Meray Michaeli in the Israeli paper, Haaretz, titled “The Israeli reality that Obama doesn’t understand”, May 23, 2011

“It’s hard to understand a reality in which a prime minister sits and, contrary to all logic and every code of conduct, arrogantly lectures his host, the president of the United States. It’s hard to understand a reality in which a day before their scheduled meeting, a prime minister responds to the speech of the U.S. president, who is about to host him, with an announcement that is as good as spitting in his face.”

With the exception of the great majority of the American people, the entire world knows that Israel and its lobbies run the U.S. Government, and no President or Congressman will dare challenge or swerve from the path AIPAC draws for their subservience.

America, Israel is suffocating your freedoms, your government, your Constitution, and your destiny and future. Will you ever care again about this nation, who’s running it, what’s happening to it, and where it’s heading?

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.–Abraham Lincoln

Mohamed Khodr is an American Muslim born in the Middle East. He is political activist who frequently writes on the plight of Palestinians living under the brutal occupation of Israel, U.S. Foreign Policy, Islam, and Arab politics.

READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR:

• Israel Again and Again Slaps a Cowardly America

• MOHAMED KHODR: VETERANS – AMERICA NEEDS YOU ONE MORE TIME..

span style=”font-family: arial;”>River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Time to tear down the fences

Rahela Mizrahi

The Electronic Intifada

Tel Aviv

28 May 2011

Israeli soldiers patrol the fence between Syria and the occupied Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams.

(Oren Ziv ActiveStills)

I spent a part of my youth in a kibbutz very close to southern Lebanese village Maroun al-Ras, where the historic march of return of Palestinian refugees took place earlier this month.

The kibbutz was surrounded by fences and more fences. Every night in the children’s house, another member of the kibbutz was guarding us, sleeping with an Uzi gun nearby his bed. In this house, away from our parents, boys were raised Spartan tough to be the next pilots and elite unit warriors of the Israeli army, and the girls were raised very freely, in order to supply the needs of the future warriors. Growing up in such an unorthodox environment appears to be natural if you do not know any other type of life.

Living on the lands of the Palestinian village Kafr Birim, some information about its expelled inhabitants was leaked to us through the demonstrations that demanded the right of return. Hanna and Atallah, expelled from the village, actually built the kibbutz. Atallah’s handsome sons, who worked with him, were transparent to us. We were raised not to see them. I noticed the elder because he looked exactly like my cousin from Jerusalem.

As a teenager I was distressed by the Ikrith and Birim expulsions. The Israeli military occupied the two villages toward the end of 1948 and asked the inhabitants to leave for a period of two weeks only, and then come back. They left their villages and were never allowed to return.

It was obvious to me that the villages’ residents should be allowed to return. Meanwhile, nothing was mentioned about the other refugees, the vast majority who were expelled during the Nakba — the expulsion of approximately 750,000 Palestinians in 1948. Some said that Birim and Ikrith residents could return, for they are Christians. But what about the “legal precedent?” Precedent for what? That was not a question to ask. Ikrith and Birim functioned as a perfect camouflage over the entire story: the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

Last week, images from Maroun al-Ras took me back to my youth, when after learning exactly what happened since 1948, my solidarity crossed all the way over to the “other” side. Visiting my remaining family in the kibbutz, I am now met by electric fences, and the automatic gates no longer look natural. By committing the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the kibbutz’s founders predestined their grandchildren to live behind fences forever. According to an Arabic proverb, a thief does not sleep at night, and will not allow anyone else to sleep.

Last week, behind the fence of my childhood, Palestinian refugees gathered to demand return. They protesters looked and sounded exactly like the revolutionaries of Cairo’s Tahrir square. As with the uprising that began in Egypt on 25 January, I could not stop watching the exciting events in Maroun al-Ras, Majdal Shams, Qalandiya and Gaza, wishing I was part of it. Just take down the fences, I thought.

The refugees will one day return, but I am afraid that rivers of blood will be flooded by then. Declaring the immediate return of all refugees and replacing the apartheid state with a democratic state looks to me the most reasonable thing to do right now. But the supremacist will never give up his privileges voluntarily.

And that is exactly what one of the bravest refugees that we saw this month, Hassan Hijazi, told the Israeli press: Palestine will return to its owners only by force.

Hassan Hijazi crossed the Syrian border to the heart of the Zionist project: the white city of Tel Aviv. For a day he wandered around his hometown, Jaffa, a few years before its expected complete Judaization (gentrification) by demolition, expulsions, kicking out its Arab residents — most of them already displaced from the neighboring villages that Israel demolished in 1948.

The new residents are liberal Ashkenazi Jewish Israelis. Fake co-existence projects were the first steps of this latest invasion, serving the new white inhabitants of Jaffa. Now these new residents complain about the voices of the mosque muezzin and the Orthodox church band.

Hassan Hijazi reminded Israelis that he is not going to give up his hometown of Jaffa. For now, Tel Aviv exists as a European colonial bubble protected by the human shield of Sderot, the violent settlers in the West Bank and Jewish-Arab Mizrahim pushed by white gentrification to settlements such as Maale Adumin and Pisgat Zeev. But that bubble, surrounded by fences and more fences, is soon to pop.

Welcome home to Jaffa, Hassan Hijazi — the first returning refugee!

Rahela Mizrahi is a member of a family of Arab Jews which has lived for several generations in Jerusalem. She has a degree in fine arts from the Betzalel Academy in Jerusalem and a degree in Arabic literature and language from Tel Aviv University. In 2006 she signed the petition calling for the cultural boycott of Israel. She lives and works in Tel Aviv.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian