US Official: ‘Stalemate in Syria, though ugly, is good!’

Via FLC

“… “I feel like we’re in a stalemate, and while the stalemate is not pretty — in fact, it’s ugly — it only works in the opposition’s favor,” said an Obama administration official in Washington, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Time is on the opposition’s side.”…

Hama is a city whose name remains seared in the memory of many Syrians… Some residents said that Hama’s place in history had made the state more reluctant to crack down this time.”We learned from our mistakes,” said a teacher in Hama, who gave his name as Abu Omar. Like many interviewed there, he agreed to speak only on the condition of partial anonymity. “To make a revolution halfway,” he added, “is to dig our own tombs.”

On June 3, government forces and protesters clashed in the city, which is along a strategic highway linking Damascus, Homs and Aleppo. By activists’ count, as many as 73 people in Hama were killed, though Syrian officials said their security forces also suffered casualties. Syrian officials said an agreement was reached afterward according to which protests would be permitted, as long as they remained peaceful and no property was damaged. Some residents confirmed that an agreement was indeed concluded this month.Since then, some said, even the traffic police had withdrawn.”The security and the army are completely absent,” said a resident who gave his name as Abu Abdo. “They are not harassing us at all, neither before nor during the daily rallies, which have been gathering day and night. There are no patrols. Life is normal.”…

Syrian officials played down the idea that the departure of government forces suggested a void in their authority. Since the beginning of the uprising, the government has said that much of the violence has occurred in clashes with armed opponents and, indeed, American officials have corroborated the existence of insurgents in some areas in Syria.

“Our policy has been that if the demonstrators are peaceful, if they do not wreak havoc or destroy public property, no security will harass them,” Imad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to the United States, said in an interview. “The universal orders are not to harass demonstrators as long as those demonstrators are peaceful.”

Mr. Moustapha estimated that 9 out of 10 protests began and ended peacefully…

“Everyone is stuck, at this point,” said Mr. Tarif, the human rights advocate. “The regime is stuck, the protesters are stuck and the opposition is stuck.”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 2:30 AM

Syrian TV Broadcasts Confessions of Three Members of Armed Terrorist Groups that Terrorized Jisr al-Shughour Jun 25, 2011

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The Syrian TV broadcast on Friday confessions of three members of the armed terrorist groups that murdered and mutilated security forces personnel, terrorized citizens and committed rape in Jisr al-Shughour. Ahmad al-Yehea, born in Mherda in 1970, said he met people from Jisr al-Shughour and the nearby areas and joined them after calls were made for peaceful protests, saying that he went out with them on each Friday in Jabal al-Zawye area and that one day the protests escalated and the protestors attacked security posts in the town of Ariha and seized the weapons in them, burning public buildings. Al-Yehea said that this led the group in Jisr al-Shughour to mimic the acts of the group from Jabal al-Zawye, attacking police departments and security posts, in addition to border police stations like the one in Kherbet al-Joz village, seizing weapons with each attack. He added that a second group began participating with the goal of financial gain, including smugglers and instigators, saying that smugglers began smuggling weapons through Kherbet al-Joz, and that smugglers and protestors established contact and began to cooperate, at which point a nearly organized operation began. Al-Yehea said that there were people who specialized in media, while others served as medics, and when tensions increased the group in Jisr al-Shughour began a surprise operation by attacking security posts, coordinating with the group in Kherbet al-Joz to protect them and prevent aid from arriving to the security forces. He said that he was tasked with surveillance and reporting any movement on the part of army, security forces or anyone in Jisr al-Shughour. Kutaiba Daaboul, another member of armed terrorist groups, said that participated in the first protest in Jisr al-Shughour, and that sheikh Sabah and members of al-Kees and al-Masri families came to the protestors then and told them that the army and security forces will enter the city and begin acts of destruction and burning, instructing them to set up roadblocks, close down roads and carry arms. He said that members of al-Kees and al-Masri families distributed weapons, and that he received a pump-action shotgun and ammo from a man named Yasser Yousef who told him that they are to attack the post office’s security post. Daaboul said that they attacked the post and opened fire, killing everyone inside. Afterwards, they pillaged it and burned it. He said that afterwards, there was talk of groups moving from various areas to attack the military security post in the area, and indeed 400 people from nearby villages attacked the post and opened fire on the personnel in it, who returned fire. Afterwards, the armed groups used a bulldozer carrying a gasoline drum to drive through post’s wall, detonating the drum inside, killing most of the personnel inside, and later the gunmen entered the building and killed the survivors and mutilated their bodies. Daaboul said that one time he was on guard duty at a roadblock with Bilal al-Kees, Ahmad al-Arrak and two people he didn’t know when a white car with women inside it approached. He said that the women’s accent indicated they were from Aleppo, and that they forced the women out of the car and raped them. He concluded by saying that a man named Mumtaz al-Kees gave him 25,000 Syrian pounds to participate in protests. In turn, Anas Daaboul, a member of the terrorist groups who was born in Jisr al-Shughour in 1985 and was arrested three times for desertion, pederasty and theft, said that when the post office was attacked, he and another group opened fire on the security forces from the military security post to prevent them from joining the post office security force. Anas said that he was posted at the top of a factory with an AK47 rifle and six magazines, and that there were groups of 4 or five people at every corner, and they opened fire on the military security post until midnight when they were joined by the group that attacked the post office. The second group threw dynamite sticks at the post as the first group opened fire. He said that on the next day, a man named Jamal provided a bulldozer in which they placed a gasoline drum, placing the drum inside the post and detonating it, adding that 8 members of security personnel survived the explosion and were in the basement of the building. Anas said that after killing the eight survivors, they took all the bodies out of the buildings and used a three cars to transport the bodies, with Anas himself driving a pickup truck to a nearby location where fifteen people from his neighborhood were waiting, and these men dug a large hole and buried the nine bodies he brought with him, adding that the other cars headed to the nearby quarry where the remaining 22 bodies were buried. He said that he was given money and weapons by a man named Mohammad Osfour, and that a man called Hilal al-Jahsh, a member of al-Kees family and members of Riha family brought weapons from Turkey, and that they paid him 25,000 Syrian pounds and promised him 75,000 more when “the mission ended” and that they took back the rifle they gave him when the mission was over and didn’t give him any money. He also said that there were around 700 gunmen in Jisr al-Shughour when the attacks began. H. Sabbagh

• President al-Assad: Need for Differentiating between Legitimate Demands and Armed Groups Utilizing Them to Create Chaos

• Popular Rallies in Homs Stress Support to Comprehensive Reform Programhttp://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2011/06/27/355083.htm

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

ARTHUR BILLY: REQUIEM FOR THE DEAD OF GAZA

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2011 AT 6:19PM GILAD ATZMON

Introduction by Gilad Atzmon: This is a pretty extensive and devastating presentation of the Israeli crime in Gaza. I met Arthur Billy last month in San Francisco. Billy, born in pre 1948 Palestine is a nuclear scientist and an incredibly kind human being.

The combination of the music and the images is very powerful, yet, bear in mind that Billy is not a film maker. As far as I am aware he assembled this presentation using Power Point. He had a very limited editing capacity. Yet, the spirit is there, the aesthetic is there and the impact of Israeli barbarism is there all the way through.

Thanks Arthur for your time, effort and care.

Arthur Billy & William A.Cook: This presentation is a Memorial and a Requiem for the Dead of Gaza, Honouring the Valiant Palestinian People and a Monument to the People of Gaza.

May this requiem force the Israelis and all who view this testament to share the suffering and the pain of the Palestinian people with all the compassion the souls of humans everywhere should feel for one another.

Should the United States of America House of Representatives, and the Senate care to spend two hours in rapt meditation witnessing the reality of the slaughter they supported in Israel’s invasion of Gaza, even their gold plated hearts would melt at the brutality, the ruthlessness, the absolute mercilessness of the state they support with such sanctimonious sentiments when they slither up the AIPAC carpet to seek their favor and forget the consequences to their immortal souls.http://mycatbirdseat.com/2010/06/tel-aviv-on-the-potomac

May they and all Americans who view this memorial to the dead of Gaza, give serious thought to what we have wrought in our undeviating support for the Zionist mind, because that mind suffers from no remorse, bears no responsibility for its acts, and willfully uses even our representatives as fools to gain their ends.

There is no monument like it anywhere; it is the victims’ tale of fear and suffering caught in the act of betrayal by those who have renounced their humanness. It is, therefore, a cry to all peoples everywhere that our civilized world of the 21st century has accomplished what no other barbaric horde of times past could achieve…a requiem for those who died conveyed through the weeping eyes and torn faces of those who witnessed this testament to inhumanity delivered by a nation that reverted back to tribal indifference of others and hate for others and vengeance to others.

I thoroughly researched the available many documents, pictures, slideshows and videos on Operation Cast Lead. It was a very time consuming endeavour to say the least. One thing glaringly stood out like a sore thumb. The truth about Operation Cast Lead was missing from the information presented by the Israelis and their supporters including the United States Administration and especially most members of the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States of America who are lackeys of Israel and AIPAC.

One and one half million Palestinian refugees are living in the Gaza Strip since 1948, if one can call that living. They are penned in, within the worlds largest open air Israeli controlled concentration-camp-prison completely sealed off from the outside world by the Israeli military. And the World has done nothing positive nor productive to solve this travesty and human tragedy for over 62 years.

It is impossible to show and tell about all that happened before, during and after the Operation Cast Lead massacre. This presentation presents the TRUTH.

This Israeli Operation Cast Lead slideshow “video” shows only a minuscule portion of the unprovoked and totally unnecessary Barbarous Israeli attack. 0r more aptly put, the Israeli massacre of the Palestinian people, by the Israeli armed forces from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009.

Note the curious reality that Israeli forces were invading a land that had no military forces to oppose them. This invasion was a total military invasion with every conceivable state of the art weapon used against an imprisoned population WITH NO MEANS OF SELF DEFENSE. A MASSACRE BY ANY STANDARD

It is over more than two years since the massacre and utter immense destruction of the Gaza infrastructure by the Israeli military. Nothing goes into or out of Gaza without Israel’s permission. All essential supplies for rebuilding Gaza, human survival and medical care are not allowed into Gaza. Because of this Gaza has not been rebuilt and the people of Gaza are suffering worse than ever. This is part of Israel’s plan of their genocide of the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip.

Israel, supported by the United States continues to defy the United Nations and the rest of the world.

Israel completely ignores the United Nations Goldstone Report by which the UN Mission on the Israeli Operation Cast Lead Gaza War documented its findings and declared that Israel committed serious war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel to date as usual denies all wrong doing and as usual continues unchecked to defy the World and is still committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people.

Without personal or other bias, Judge for yourself.

Hadade: Indictment Release in Concurrence with Syria’s Regained Stability

Hussein Assi

Khaled Hadade to Al-Manar Website: Gov’t Shape Shocked Us… We Don’t Trust Tribunal Indictment Release Related to Syrian Developments We Called for Joint Lebanese-Arab Tribunal Gov’t Did Not Deviate from Sectarian Traditions We Oppose Whole System, Won’t Sacrifice Our Country Losing Hope of Change Means Losing Hope in Lebanon Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) Secretary General Khaled Hadade drew a link between reports of the imminent release of the indictment in the assassination case of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and the improvement of the situation in Syria as well as the formation of the Lebanese government and the US negative stance vis-à-vis the new alliances in the country. In an exclusive interview with Al-Manar Website, Hadade said his party has rejected the so-called Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) since the beginning, and stressed he could not trust the United Nations’ institutions, dominated by the United States. While noting that the current stage requires a high level of national immunization, he said he was shocked by the new government’s shape which, according to him, did not deviate from the traditional sectarian standards. He stressed his party would continue its battle against the sectarian system, and said losing hope of change means losing hope in Lebanon as a whole. INDICTMENT TIMING POLITICIZED According to the LCP Secretary General, “there’s no way to exclude the previous, current and upcoming media campaigns concerning the indictment’s release from the political circumstances. He remarked that the indictment took off the table when Syria was in trouble during the previous stage, and was revived when the Syrian situation headed for a real dialogue, in which the “Syrian national opposition” would take part, fulfilling the initiative of the authorities.” He said that the forces he called “anti-Arab revolutions’ forces” were seeking to use the indictment to add pressure on the Syrian scene. In addition to the “Syrian dimensions” of the recent media campaign, Hadade pointed out to the Lebanese dimensions, and noted that the United States had announced its clear stance from the new alliances “and therefore, it is seeking to pressure Hezbollah.” As a conclusion, Hadada said he did not find strange the political framework, justifications, and motives that have revived the verdict at this particular stage. TRIBUNAL CONCERNS US Hadade, who linked the indictment’s timing to political developments, recalled that this was his party’s stance since the beginning, “as the LCP was the only party that rejected the tribunal when all other parties, including Hezbollah and the AMAL movement, accepted it at the national dialogue table…We frankly said that we do not trust the US-dominated UN institutions. We also called for a joint Lebanese-Arab tribunal and refused to link every aspect of life in Lebanon to international institutions. That’s why we were concerned vis-à-vis the tribunal and our stance remains very transparent in this regard.” On whether he has concerns about certain scenarios in case the indictment was released now, Hadade said that “the Lebanese should neutralize themselves from the content of the indictment.” However, he reminded that “there might be some repercussions on the ground, given sectarianism and divisions among Lebanese, but these repercussions remain unknown until determining the magnitude of the conspiracy.” Hadede stressed all Lebanese should work seriously to prevent sedition and safeguard the country. “For instance, the new government did not meet our expectations with regards to this critical stage that requires reconsidering all adopted policies.” GOVERNMENT’S SHAPE SHOCKING Hadede said he favored waiting for the issuance of the government’s policy statement and then making his evaluation, however he added, “the shape of the government was shocking.” According to LCP leader, the cabinet formation held on to sectarian standards, despite what he called the ‘orphan step’ of Speaker Nabih Berri who accepted to abandon a Shiite seat for a Sunni minister in order to resolve the Tripoli deadlock and finally form the government. “Yet, this small positive step came in the framework of resolving a deadlock. Therefore, it does not reflect a real tendency to abandon the sectarian form of this regime,” he said. Yet, he wished all success for the government, despite his “weak hopes.” WE WILL NOT SURRENDER TO SECTARIAN CANTONS The LCP Secretary General tackled the latest anti-sectarianism protests in Lebanon. He praised the youth who were behind these protests and said they were reconsidering the tools and slogans to serve their cause. He added that the LCP had its own slogans and stances. He spoke of a series of priorities for the upcoming stage, including the necessity to guarantee unified citizenship conditions as well as dealing with the urgent social issues. He said “fighting corruption alone is not enough and all the economic policies, adopted throughout the previous years, must be reconsidered.” “If we lose hope in change, then we lose hope in the whole country,” Hadede said. He found strange how some politicians claim the country will be jeopardized if this regime collapsed. He warned that “in case political leaders continue this way, they would be accepting to sacrifice the country at the altar of Bernard Louis’s project and ultimately establish sectarian cantons, which unfortunately, we’ve begun to really sense.”

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

US Official: We are ‘going to stir up demons!’

Via FLC

“… “The political landscape in Egypt has changed, and is changing,” said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It is in our interests to engage with all of the parties that are competing for parliament or the presidency.”

The official sought to portray the shift as a subtle evolution rather than a dramatic change in Washington’s stance toward the Brotherhood, a group founded in 1928 that seeks to promote its conservative vision of Islam in society…

There is no U.S. legal prohibition against dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood itself, which long ago renounced violence as a means to achieve political change in Egypt and which is not regarded by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization. But other sympathetic groups, such as Hamas, which identifies the Brotherhood as its spiritual guide, have not disavowed violence against the state of Israel…

Former U.S. diplomats said the United States had to engage with the Brotherhood given its influence in Egypt.”We cannot have a free and fair election and democracy unless we are going to be willing to talk to all the people that are a part of that democracy,” said Edward Walker, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and Israel who now teaches at Hamilton College. “It’s going to stir up demons,” he added. “You have got an awful lot of people who are not very happy with what the roots of the Brotherhood have spawned … There will be people who will not accept that the Brotherhood is of a new or different character today.”…

U.S. dealings with the Brotherhood have evolved over time and officials have found ways to keep lines open under the cover of one diplomatic fig leaf or another.”We have not had contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood,” then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in response to a question at the American University in Cairo in June 2005. “We have not engaged the Muslim Brotherhood and … we won’t.”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 3:32 AM

A Trilogy: The Road to “Independence” (2)

Posted on 28/06/2011 by reham alhelsi

2. We are Liberating Palestine … Yes We Are!

Liberation is an art; an art we excel at. We liberated Jericho, we liberated Ramallah, we liberated Bethlehem, we liberated Jenin, we liberated Nablus, we liberated three-quarters of Hebron, we liberated a few bits here and there and we will liberate Jerusalem. Which “Jerusalem” we mean? Don’t ask, it’s complicated. We liberated some 7% of the West Bank without the need of an army or any “resistance” other than our definition of “resistance”. We liberated 7% of the West Bank through the negotiations everyone is criticizing.

We liberated 7% of the West Bank and are encouraging everyone to come and join us in liberating another 7%, then we will have 14% of the West Bank, not of historic Palestine. Historic Palestine is another story, it needs a lot of 7%s and we don’t have the time, we are too busy building a state on the liberated 7% – of the West Bank- the original 7% we liberated.We ask our American patrons to continue supporting our liberation process. We ask our European friends to continue financing our liberation process. We ask our Arab brothers to continue cheering and applauding our liberation process. We invite our Israeli partners in peace and negotiations to continue negotiating with us and asking us for more concessions. They can negotiate with us on the already liberated 7% if they want, we won’t mind because we heart negotiations.

We ask our American patrons to continue supporting our liberation process. We ask our European friends to continue financing our liberation process. We ask our Arab brothers to continue cheering and applauding our liberation process. We invite our Israeli partners in peace and negotiations to continue negotiating with us and asking us for more concessions. They can negotiate with us on the already liberated 7% if they want, we won’t mind because we heart negotiations.

Modern liberation is an art; a fine art, an art very few understand. It is the art of selling your rights to the highest bidder in the name of “ending the conflict”.

It is the art of shaking the hands of your killer in the name of “peace”. It is the art of joining forces with your enemy against your brother. It is an art only the “civilized” understand.

Forget liberation through armed resistance, forget liberation through popular resistance. Today, liberation is achievable through concessions and two-year road maps to statehood. And if liberation is your goal – and you have only 2 years time to achieve that goal – just follow our refined and re-adjusted definition of liberation and you will get your state.

Liberation is an art: the art of “see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing”.

We turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to Israeli actions against our people. We hide the minute Israeli soldiers enter a town, a village or a refugee camp. We stand still and watch every time Zionist militias kill a Palestinian child or demolish a Palestinian home or build a new Zionist colony.
Liberation requires resistance, requires action and the best form of action is no action. Our people want resistance, they want us to resist the occupation, but why won’t they understand that inaction is a form of non-violent resistance? Why won’t they understand that inaction is the perfect type of resistance, a form everyone will love, mainly our Israeli partners in peace and negotiations; just watch as your nation is being slaughtered and don’t act!
And with our silent resistance, our inaction, we are shaking the grounds of Israel. With our inaction we are liberating Palestine! And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do our people criticize us when we don’t act every time Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian child or demolish a Palestinian home or build a new Zionist colony? Don’t they realize that any action on our side would make us unfit to be the “brave” who made the “peace”?

We need to show the Israelis we are real partners for peace, that we are the partners they have long waited for, that our goals are theirs, that their wish is our command. And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do our people criticize us when we don’t go complain and condemn Israel every time Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian child or demolish a Palestinian home or build a new Zionist colony?
Don’t they realize that it makes us look like crying little babies every time we go and condemn? Don’t they realize if we start condemning Israeli human rights violation, we will need a 24-hour team to do that and won’t have time to liberate them and build our state? It’s enough to condemn once every six months, that’s the allowed maximum. This is called cooperation, this is called “taking and giving”; we help hide their crimes and they give us the approval to set up new firms, import the latest BMWs, give us permits to go to Tel-Aviv.
So, if you happen to pass a murdered Palestinian child just pretend he/she is sleeping, and if you pass a demolished Palestinian home pretend it is being renovated and if someone mentions Jerusalem, just remember that the place was exchanged for a title and a red carpet, and never mention it again and with time people might forget it ever existed. And for God’s sake, stop criticizing us, while we are busy liberating you, for going back to negotiations again and again and again. Negotiating is resistance, and you people keep calling for resistance, asking us to resist and we are resisting; we are resisting the occupier with our unshakable stand that negotiations are the only way no matter what Israel does, no matter what Israel says, no matter what the whole world says.Can’t you see we are embarrassing Israel by insisting on going to negotiations when they don’t even want to give us a tiny road in “Samaria”? We are resisting the occupier every time we kneel down to negotiations, make it our god and our holy book. Do you want them to stop our monthly salaries? Do you want our bank accounts to go in the minus? Do you want them to deny us travel permits? Do you want them to send us packing and back to our lousy 2-room apartments in some Arab capital

Liberation is an art: the art of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

We provoke our brothers and sisters, incite against them and call them the enemy. We discredit, attack and oust every voice that speaks against us, every voice that criticizes us or exposes us.

We discredit, attack and oust all, individuals or group, who seek to delegitimize us, for no one is legitimate but us; we are the chosen ones, even though we were not chosen, we are the elect ones; even though we were not elected.

We cut off the monthly salaries of those who refuse to obey our orders to go to the streets and march in our support. We cut off the monthly allocations of other factions who dare to criticize us and refuse to obey our orders.

And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do our people criticize us for refusing to talk to other Palestinian factions while rushing to hug Israelis? Do you people expect us to stand with our enemies, those who want to take away the power, the villas and the money from us? And we need those travel permits, we need to go to Tel Aviv, Geneva and Washington. We call for “unity” while spreading disunity, and we agree to “unity” before starting a new round of accusation so we can blame the others for breaking the “unity”.
We say out loud that we choose “unity” with our brothers and sisters but secretly assure our partners in peace and negotiations that the disunity shall prevail. And when our rivals finally see the light, fear losing what little power they have, fear losing the salaries and the transactions, we set the agendas and make it clear for them; we and our partners in peace and negotiations give the orders and you obey. We set up sites, call them “independent”, finance them from under the table so they spread our version of events, our “truth” and discredit, attack and incite against other political factions, groups and individuals, against all other voices that disobey us.
We hold media conferences with bought pens and conduct imaginary polls by false experts all assuring the people that the Palestinian street is on our side, that lies are being spread about us by collaborators who serve regional powers, by media outlets that are owned by Zionists. We send our people to get media training, in propaganda, from our Israeli friends, send them to Tel Aviv to take lessons in how to build the new Palestinian, re-programme him/her to accept the new facts on the ground, to use the rights words, the rights terms, to accept the new definition of resistance, our definition of resistance, the definition our partner in peace and negotiations, our American, European and Arab patrons and friends have formulated especially for us, because we are special. We install representatives all over the world, trained by our partners in peace and negotiations, and instruct them what to say when foreign media asks about the Zionist colonies, about the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, about the siege of Gaza… we blame it all on our political opponents, on our own brothers and sisters, and relieve our partners in peace and negotiations of any responsibility and any criticism. We call everyone a radical: radical left, radical right, radical east, radical west, radical middle, radical Islamists, radical communists, radical socialists, radical nothing, and we are the only ones who are moderate, the only ones who seek peace, Israeli-style peace.

Liberation is an art: the art of “accept what you are given today, because it might not be there tomorrow”.

We thank our Israeli partners in peace and negotiations for their generous offers, we offer them more concessions to show our gratitude for accepting to welcome us in Tel-Aviv, for rolling the red carpet for us and calling us “moderate”, for allowing us fake posts and titles.

We don’t raise the ceiling of our demands because we don’t want to distress our partners and if they insist we make more concession, we obey. We appear on local TV stations, give interviews to local newspaper and speak in local gatherings and stress that we will never concede, we will never give up on any of our national constants, on any of our rights, and insist that they are legitimate rights, and then we hop into BMW’s and rush to Tel Aviv to emphasize our loyalty and obedience, and we hop into planes and rush to Washington to emphasize our loyalty and obedience. And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do our people criticize us when we agree to land swaps? What’s wrong with helping Israel achieve its goal and become a pure Jewish state? We should assure our partners in peace and negotiations that we will do all we can to stop being a demographic threat to them, we have to protect them from little Palestinian children being born every day in the dozens, for they have enough threats as it is from besieged people wanting to live, from unarmed protesters yearning for freedom.

Our goal is a state in two years, so if they want East Jerusalem, let them have it, for we have Ramallah with all its ministries, the hotels, the NGOs and not to forget the Noble Muqata’a, and one capital for our future state is more than enough.

If they want the settlement blocks, let them have them, for we will get Im Il-Fahim in return, and a bunch of outposts with little cute caravans and we will build our own cities, a hundred tiny Rawabis for the elites and the sons of the elites. If they want the Jordan Valley, let them have it, and in return we will get the casino, and become the Monaco of the new Middle East. We don’t need agricultural land, we will build an industrial state, one to compete with Germany and Japan. And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do our people criticize us when we sign one concession after the other? If our partners in peace and negotiations want 10% of the 20% of Palestine we are begging for, let them have it, and in return we will have tiny bits of An-Naqab desert, the tiny bits no one wants. Isn’t An-Naqab part of Palestine, and every part of Palestine is sacred to us, and we never reject any crumbs thrown our way. These crumbs are the basis of the Palestinian state, the state that will be born out of the ashes of Palestinian villages demolished and Palestinian children massacred: a state that will be itindependent from s people and dependent on every donor penny and on every Israeli nod…. a state that will be independent from its people and dependent on everything and everyone else…. a state for the “new Palestinian”, and the not so “new Palestinians” can find themselves another planet to live on.

And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do our people criticize us when we accept to give up 80% of Palestine? Don’t you understand that if we had accepted what they offered us in 1947 we would have had a state… if we had accepted what they offered us in 2000 we would have had a state… if we had accepted whatever crumbs were thrown at us, we would have has a state by now. Stop telling us that even if we accept what they offer us, they will ask for more concessions. So what? We will comply and we will accept whatever they offer us, because they might get upset and not offer it again. We have to show them that we are the long-wished for partners and isn’t this what partnership is all about? They offer and we take. We accept whatever they offer us because our aim is to build a state, even if in the end they offer us only the Holy Muqata’a as our state. All we want is a state and what makes a state but a president, a prime minister, a cabinet and a red carpet?

Liberation is an art: the art of “talk about everything and nothing”.

We are masters in diversion. Whenever Israeli terrorist attacks happen, whenever Palestinians are massacred, whenever Jerusalemites are expelled from their homes, whenever Zionist colonies expand and whenever we raise the level of our collaboration with the occupier, we rush to talk about everything but the occupation, everything but the collaboration, everything but the concessions. Whenever Zionist colonists attack olive harvesters, uproot trees and destroy land, whenever Israeli occupation soldiers raid homes, kidnap children and beat up unarmed activists, whenever new colonies are built for aliens from Russia, Canada, Antarctica and Mars, we rush to condemn the “unity” that is failing, the other Palestinian party that is refusing to abide with the “unity” deal and we swear that “unity” with our brothers is more important than negotiations, that “unity” is stronger than any threats, and behind closed doors we unite with our partners in peace and negotiations and swear no other alliance. Whenever we help bury evidence condemning Israel, whenever we vote in support of protecting Israeli war criminals from international courts, whenever our complicity in Israeli war crimes and in covering up these crimes is exposed, we rush to talk about Jerusalem that is threatened, that is being Judaized, we rush to condemn settlements and settler violence, we drive by refugee camps and wave from our armoured Mercedes.

We are the masters of diversion, the masters of deception, we answer no questions, we give no solutions, we comply to no local inquiry or national committee. With us, A becomes B and B becomes Z.

Whenever there is popular rage over the massacres that have become daily, the Judaization of Jerusalem, the expansion of settlements, the siege that is strangling a whole population, we talk about the division among us, about those who refuse to shake our hands and we call for “reconciliation”, we accuse the “others” of diverting the news to avoid unity talks, we talk about the “others” using Jerusalem to discredit us.

Whenever there is popular rage over our corruption, our loaded bank accounts, our villas and summer houses, our VIP cards and Tel-Aviv permits, we talk about Jerusalem that is forever ours, about outposts that will be removed, about refugees that will return, about our determination to end the occupation and build a state.

Whenever there is popular rage over the concessions we are making, our repression of our people, the sell-out of the refugees and their rights, the state that is a fiction, our meeting with Zionist war criminals and leaders of Zionist militias, our running to negotiations, our security coordination with the occupiers, our protection of the Zionist terror gangs that roam Palestinian towns and villages and hunt Palestinian children and burn olive fields and homes, we tell people not to worry about Jerusalem being ethnically cleansed house by house, not to worry about the settlements growing and growing and reaching the moon, because we will be liberated in two years.

We talk about outside regional powers that work to undermine Palestinian independent decision, we talk about the unity we yearn, the one people we are, the reconciliation some avoid, we talk about the “resistance” we are re-defining, we talk about the prison-within-prison state we are seeking, we talk about liberation through negotiations, we talk about everything and nothing, we blame everyone else for everything we do, but we never blame or condemn our partners in peace and negotiations. And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do our people criticize us when we defend Israel, cover up its war crimes? Don’t they understand that we need to protect our friends, our partners in peace and negotiations, those who keep us in power? We need to join hands with the friends who will be generous enough to allow us a state in Ramallah, a casino in Jericho and an elite-only Bantustans a la Rawabi. We need mobile networks so you can contact us when you need protection from the groups of darkness come to incite against us or against our partners in peace and negotiations. We need Mercedeses so we can parade in front of your over-crowed refugee camps and show you what it’s like to play the game our way. We need cash flowing into our bank accounts, so we can reward those who believe in us and our chosen path.

Liberation is an art, the art of “it’s my way or no way”.

We decide the outline, we outline the do and don’t. We talk about liberation, mention the word freedom a million and one times, but condemn our people to a life in slavery. We mention the word state two million and one times, but condemn our people to a life in concentration camps. We swear our support to popular resistance, because everyone else loves it nowadays, everyone else calls for it nowadays. We organize popular conferences and become their patrons, we give speeches and declare that popular resistance is the answer, is the key to freedom and to the coming state. But when our people decide that popular resistance is the way to liberation, when our people decide that the time has come for another popular Intifada, we denounce the Intifada, denounce popular resistance, denounce resistance as a whole and declare that we won’t allow any Intifadas, whether armed or non-violent, declare that we won’t allow any demonstration, whether small or large, declare that we won’t allow any form of protest, whether a sit-in, a march or even a song that might upset our partners in peace and negotiations, that might make them feel “threatened” by us or might make them doubt our sincere intentions and doubt our suitability for the role of partner. And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do our people criticize us when we denounce resistance and declare we will never throw even a paper clip at Israeli occupation soldiers? Don’t they realize that it is our duty to show the world that we are cool, peaceful people and follow the modern adjusted definition of “resistance”, the one approved by our Israeli, American and European friends, approved by the rest of the free world, the adjusted definition of “resistance” that deprives us of our legitimate rights, of our national aspirations, of our freedom, of our dignity, the adjusted definition of “resistance” that states that occupiers can stamp on the hearts and souls of the oppressed to which the oppressed should reply: Thank you, do you have more? We do our best to stop demonstrations against the occupation, we detain anyone who marches towards an Israeli checkpoint, or even thinks or protesting in the vicinity of a Zionist colony.

We prohibit protests against our policies and against security coordination with our partners in peace in and negotiations.

We threaten employees with their salaries and force them to march in our support and in support of the concessions we are making, we organize marches in support of our partners and fellow dictators.
We employ our security apparatus, trained by the occupation, for the safety of the occupation and its terrorist militias.
And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do our people get angry when we crack down on their protests against the occupation, when we prevent them from reaching Jerusalem, when we kidnap them upon orders of the occupation, when we torture them for resisting the occupier?

Don’t they realize that the safety of the occupier means salaries at the end of the month?
Don’t they understand that the safety of the occupier means that we can build imaginary towns aka Bantustans, create industrial zones aka slavery centres and declare a fake state aka a prison within a prison?

Don’t they realize that Jerusalem is outside our future state limits, beyond our future borders, and that anyone who wishes to liberate Jerusalem is “free” to go there and demonstrate there, if they are allowed in? We encourage the boycott of products of Zionist colonies in the West Bank, but are vehemently against a boycott of all products of the Zionist entity, even if our economy is destroyed by the occupier, even if our shops and homes are drowning in the products of the occupier, even if our products rot at the occupier’s checkpoints, even if our fields, farms and factories are demolished and bombarded by the occupier, even if our natural resources are stolen by the occupier right under our very noses.

We declare Palestinian homes and shops “settlement-products-free” but fill our villas, our offices and our conference rooms with Israeli products. And if a Zionist colony moves the administrative offices of its factories to occupied Haifa or occupied Bisan, then we remove it from our boycott list. We are good partners in peace and negotiations and we don’t boycott the occupier, we only boycott the Zionist colonists who embarrass us by selling their products openly in our towns and villages. Those who do it secretly are another story. And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do people criticize us when we hide the minute Israeli occupation soldiers enter a town, a village or a refugee camp? Why do they criticize us when we escort Zionist colonists into the heart of Palestinian communities? Why do they criticize us when we patrol the roads of Palestinian towns and villages in the company of Israeli military vehicles and intelligence jeeps or when we parade in front of refugees camps and work as human shields for Israeli occupier? Why do they criticize us when we join the occupier in the hunt of Palestinians and or when we hide while they extra-judicially execute Palestinians? Don’t they realize that it’s one of our duties, our main duties, to protect the Israeli occupier, our one and truly partner in peace and negotiations, and make way for them to do their job? They allow us to do our job and steal, build imaginary cities and states, and we should allow them to do their job and kill, demolish, detain, steal and expel. Why don’t our people realize that once and for all: the security of the Israeli occupier is our religion! It’s called peace of the brave and we are the brave, for accepting what no Palestinian would ever accept, for giving up what no Palestinian would ever give up.

Liberation is an art, the art of “what is yours is mine and what is mine is mine alone”.

We hold a conference and beg for money in the name of our people. We are liberating Palestine and liberation is a costly business. We want to build a state, we want to build more five star hotels for the international experts and consultants who come to sell us talk for a piece of the pie, we want to build more casinos for wealthy Israelis who are transforming our land into a pure-Jewish state, we want to build more Rawabis for the elite of the elite, for those who suffer while negotiating, while signing concessions, while travelling from one world capital to another to give talks. Travelling is hard work and talking is hard work and getting all your expenses paid so you speak in the name of people who never delegated you is extremely hard work. We threaten people into selling us their lands for very low prices so we can build cities for the elite, so we can build small Dubai replicas, for those who sacrifice their lives in negotiating with our partner in peace and negotiations, those who refuse to keep silent and choose to serve their masters and negotiate, those who believe that negotiating is a duty, a sacred duty, that very few are willing to sell their homeland for. We widen Wadi In-Nar road, make a real highway out of it, make it something just out of the movies, so Palestinians travelling that road can forget there is a Jerusalem. We install sun-energy street lights so Palestinians will be dazzled by the sun and not see the colonial cancer that is devouring Palestine. We tour the world and collect money for the people who are being brutally oppressed while we watch and refuse to take action as per Oslo at al, for Jerusalem that is being Judaized while we watch and refuse to take action as per Oslo at al, for Gaza that is being besieged while we watch and refuse to take action as per Oslo at al, for the land that is being massacred while we watch and refuse to take action as per Oslo at al.

We allow private businesses for a share of the pie, and create quasi-state companies and firms, call them private and independent and employ consultants who served us well in the negotiating teams. We know they only abandoned the ship of negotiations after they milked the negotiations cow dry and after they built villas that compete with ours from which they preach and attack the negotiations. But it is okay if they criticize us openly now that they are no longer part of the negotiating team, what really matters is that they keep silent about the cash we and they make from private businesses. So why do our people criticize us when we divide the shares between us, it’s all a matter of business and everyone is selling and buying, even some of your work-with-them-during-the-day-and-criticize-them-at-night preachers. Is it our fault if what reaches our people in the end is a big null? A huge nothing? We, the representatives of the Palestinian people, have many bills to pay, many planes to catch and many hotels to stay in, and playing your representatives is really tiresome and expensive; all the travels, the speeches, the dinners, owning villas and summer houses.

And while we are busy liberating Palestine, why do our people criticize us when we wear Armani suits and appear on TV screens to give interviews to Israeli TV, CNN and Al-Arabiya or Al-Jazeera. Don’t they understand that we are liberating Palestine and it’s our duty, as representatives of the Palestinian people, to show the world that we are no more the savages wearing kuffiyyas and lousy “I love Palestine” T-Shirts, but that we are civilized and wear suits and boots expensive enough to feed a hundred families a hundred days? We threaten people with their salaries before religious feasts, before school begin, every month, every day and night. We force employees to go out to the streets in our support and in support of our concessions and threaten them with their jobs and salaries if they refuse. We treat employees according to their political affiliation, if you are one of us, you get a monthly bonus because you are one of the good guys, those our partners in peace and negotiation appreciate. To the others we deliver dismissal notices. We tell syndicates they have the right to strike and to protest, and when they do strike we rush to the higher court to stop their strikes and to punish them. For how dare they demand “reasonable” salaries so they can feed their families? Don’t they see that while they only work 7 hours a day, we work 24/7 non-stop in their service? We travel the whole world, are forced to stay at five star hotels, just to negotiate and sell-out their rights? Why do they get angry if the one hundred and one security apparatuses we have get paid firstly, regularly and receive higher salaries than those with a hundred university degrees and with a thousand years of professional experience? Aren’t these security apparatuses the ones who protect us, work for our safety from the forces of the darkness, help escort and protect our partners in peace and negotiations? They are the “new Palestinians”, the protectors of our wealth, the worst nightmare to anyone who disagrees with us and the guardians of the coming state.

© http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com

In case you missed it: A Trilogy: The Road to “Independence” (1)

Leak-proof STL through al Sharq al Awsat: "Five high ranking Hezbollah officials to be indicted in Hariri tribunal"

Five Hezbollah to be indicted in Hariri assassination

By JPOST.COM STAFF

06/27/2011 09:49
Special Tribunal for Lebanon expected to begin releasing indictments for Rafik Hariri assassination in the next few days.

Five high ranking Hezbollah officials are expected to be indicted in the next few days by the United Nations special tribunal investigating the assassination of Rafik Hariri, London-based Asharq Alawsat reported on Monday.

Once the indictments are released, the identities of the accused will be kept secret for a short period in order to allow the Lebanese government to investigate and arrest them, according to the report.

Initially, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing the murder of Rafik Hariri focused on Syria. Lately, indications suggest that the main focus is now on Hezbollah.

Tension is currently rising in Lebanon, amid reports that the STL is to issue indictments in the very near future. The tribunal is tasked with investigating the 2005 murder of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, which took place on February 14, 2005. The indictments were orginally expected to be issued by the end of 2010, but were postponed several times.

The Hariri tribunal has followed a long and winding path since its formation shortly after the murder. In its initial period, it was expected that its main angle of investigation would focus on the Syrians. Hariri was known as a defender of Lebanese sovereignty and therefore a natural adversary of the Syrian regime.

Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s filing of the indictment in January and expansion in March set off political crises in Lebanon, where the Shi’ite group Hezbollah and its allies toppled the government of Hariri’s son, Saad Hariri. The release of the indictments is expected to have serious ramifications in Lebanon and region-wide, even threatening to throw Lebanon into civil war.

STL Indictment in Few Days: Lebanese Press

Local Editor

Lebanese newspapers reported on Monday, citing informed sources, that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) would soon release the indictment in the assassination case of former premier Rafiq Hariri. Sources told Pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that the STL was expected to make a request to Lebanese authorities to question five Hezbollah members in the next few days. These sources told the daily that the names of the five people would remain confidential for a short period. For its part, al-Hayat daily quoted a source in Paris as saying that the Lebanese judiciary will be informed on Monday or Tuesday about the indictment. The last batch of Lebanese judges who are members of the international court has left Beirut through European airports to The Hague where the tribunal is based, al-Hayat said. As-Safir newspaper also reported, citing well-informed sources, that the judges were summoned three days ago in an effort to protect them ahead of the release of the indictment and in its aftermath. Other reports said the Lebanese authorities had received a copy of the indictment. However, General Prospector Saeed Mirza denied, telling al-Joumhouria newspaper that he “will announce it” when he receives it. Leaking information related to the content of a judgment or indictment in any case is considered illegal. Many other information were leaked since the STL was established, something which raises doubts over the honesty and credibility of such an international court.

Syria: Dissidents & Regime

Syria

(Dp-news)

DAMASCUS- Syrian dissidents meeting in Damascus on Monday pledged to press ahead with a “peaceful uprising for freedom” until the creation of a “democratic state.”
Nearly 200 critics of Syria`s regime met yesterday in the Syrian cap­ital for the first time during the three-month uprising against his rule.

The session began with the Syrian national anthem, followed by a minute’s silence in honour of Syrians who have been killed in the protests. The officially sanctioned gathering underlined the changes the rebellion has wrought in Syria as well as the challenges ahead in breaking a cycle of protests and crackdowns that have left hundreds dead.

The gathering was remarkable foremost for its rarity – a public show of dissent in a country that has long conflated opposition with treason. But it also cut across some of the most pressing questions in Syria today:

Whether a venerable but weak opposition can bridge its long-standing divides, whether the government is willing to engage it in real dialogue and whether it can eventually pose an alternative to President Bashar al-Assad’s leadership?

The meeting offered no answers, but in speech after speech, participants insisted the 3-month-old revolt could end only with Assad’s surrender of absolute power.
Participants said that though the meeting was approved by authorities, it would not include government representatives. They said their aim was to discuss strategies for a peaceful transition to democracy.

According to the organizers, the meeting discussed the current situation in Syria and means of finding a way out of the crisis. Louay Hussein, one of the organizers, said the meeting of 190 opposition leaders, unprecedented in its size, would explore a vision for “ending tyranny and ensuring a peaceful and safe transition to a desired state, one of freedom, democracy and equality.”

In a document dubbed ”Ahd (Pledge)”, the participants at the meeting pledged to remain part of the peaceful uprising of the Syrian people for the sake of freedom, democracy and plurality as to lay the basis for a civil and democratic state in a peaceful and safe way. They vowed to remain “part of Syria’s peaceful uprising for freedom and democracy and pluralism to establish a democratic state through peaceful means.”

They also voiced rejection of the resort to the security solution to solve the political crisis, and to any discourse or behavior that divides the Syrians along sectarian, confessional or racial lines. They said they rejected “resorting to security measures to solve the deep structural crisis that Syria is suffering,” and condemned “any discourse or behavior that divides Syrians on the basis of race or religion.”

They also voiced rejection of calls for foreign interference in Syria’s affairs, calling for giving priority to the interests of the homeland and citizens. They said “any foreign intervention in Syria’s affairs” and urged “the nation’s interests and the freedom of citizens” be put “above any other interest” for the sake of a “free, democratic and secure” Syria.

Some activists abroad have criticized the gathering as suggesting that the government was willing to engage in dialogue and tolerate dissent, even as its army and security forces press on with a relentless crackdown that has deployed them from one end of Syria to the other. But some diplomats have looked to Monday’s meeting as offering at least the potential for a more unified opposition that could deal with the government.

“Every step that helps bring together an opposition is a positive step,” said Burhan Ghalioun, a Syrian scholar and director of the Center for Contemporary Oriental Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. “We need a unified opposition that can be engaged in a political battle with the regime to force it to transfer the country into a democratic civil state.”

Some activists complained would be exploited to give legitimacy to the regime, while other opposition figures and activists, both inside Syria and abroad, dismissed the meeting of 190 critics as an opportunity for the government to convey a false impression it’s allowing space for dissent, rather than cracking down.

The meeting was in the works for weeks, and though government officials had signaled that they would not oppose it, the leaders themselves spent days trying to find a locale in the capital that would set aside fears of government retaliation and host them. In the end, Syrian state television, long a tool of propaganda, covered the meeting at the Semiramis Hotel.

A pro-Assad demonstration was held outside the hotel where the conference was held.

The state news agency said on Monday that the government would begin talks with the opposition on July 10 to set the framework for the dialogue, with “all factions, intellectual personalities, politicians” invited.

The meeting would open a debate on the constitution, “especially clause 8” which stipulates that the Baath Party is the leader of both the Syrian state and society, it said.

Many opposition figures have rejected President al-Assad’s call for dialogue as insufficient, saying they will not take part unless authorities end the crackdown on protesters.

In Washington, the US State Department hailed this “first meeting of opposition figures in Syria” as “significant,” even if there are no “outcomes yet.”

“This is a significant event,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
“It’s the first meeting of this kind in many decades. About 160 people are attending it. We don’t have any outcomes yet but it is the first meeting of opposition figures in Syria,” spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Ferzli: Alliance with Miqati Strategic Mistake

Hussein Assi

Elie Ferzli to Al-Manar Website: New Majority Fell in The Trap… Alliance with Miqati Was Strategic Mistake Government Will Not Be Allowed to Confront STL is a Blackmail Tool Miqati Pressuring Allies for Compromises Miqati Assigned to Complete Saad Hariri’s Role Former Deputy Speaker in Lebanon Elie Ferzli lashed out at Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and distinguished between him and the government as a whole, which includes parties he said he appreciated and valued. He expressed belief that the trap that was set for the new majority was no other than Najib Miqati. In an exclusive interview with Al-Manar Website, Ferzli said that what was needed at this stage was to wait for the local and the regional circumstances to maturate and then suppressing Hezbollah. He said that Miqati was the appropriate person to guarantee this. NO GOVERNMENT… NO TRIBUNAL! Ferzli said that media reports about the imminent release of the indictment in the assassination case of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri came in the framework of strengthening the role of PM Miqati to pressure his partners in the government vis-a-vis the international tribunal. He said that Miqati was assigned to complete the role that former PM Saad Hariri was supposed to accomplish. Ferzli reminded that the indictment issue was brought back to the political scene in Lebanon right after the formation of the government, as it was absent during the last five months of governmental void. He recalled that he had advised the new majority not to hasten the cabinet formation based on the “no government, no tribunal” equation. “The tribunal has been a blackmail tool and Miqati was designated to blackmail the majority constituents so that they make compromises,” Ferzli said. He ruled out an imminent issuance of the indictment, but said that it could be released gradually, so that it remains an effective blackmail tool in the upcoming stage. “In case it was issued all at once, it will lose its effect, whether supported by proof or not. This does not serve their intention to stir up sedition from time to time.” HEZBOLLAH SHOULD HAVE NOT ENTERED GOVERNMENT On the US embassy’s interference in the details of politics in Lebanon, Ferzli found odd the embassy’s conditions vis-à-vis the government’s policy statement, including assigning a clear article on the STL and Lebanon’s commitment to it. “For me, this raises many questions about the role that PM Miqati in this regard,” Ferzli said. The former deputy PM warned that “there are attempts to confront Hezbollah, without resorting to the streets; a game they fear because they know they know they would lose it..Miqati had postponed the formation of the government because he was waiting for the outcome of the battles in Syria. I think that Miqati knows that the Syria backed resistance cannot be pressures as long as turmoil persists in it.” NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MIQATI AND HARIRI Firzli continued his offensive against Miqati saying his stances regarding the resistance “are not reassuring, as they are not better than former PM Saad Hariri’s. On the contrary, Hariri once said that he was with the resistance and he was speaking outside the White House. It was not before recently that Hariri and his allies started to assail the arms of the resistance.” While noting that “these politicians do not perceive that the Resistance’s arms are bigger than them,” Firzli said “Miqati only sells words. I wish he issues just one assuring statement.” According to Ferzli, “Miqati is seeking to exploit the international community slogan to pressure Hezbollah to make more concessions. “In brief, this is the mission of Miqati at this stage. His sponsors do not want anything more from him right now,” he said. MIQATI… JUST A LAWMAKER! “Miqati’s only a lawmaker, just like the others. He does not enjoy a special status in Triploi. Moreover, if Miqati has a regional sponsor, then this sponsor can fix Miqati’s old alliances. We remember that Miqati was present with Hariri at a recent Dar Al-Fatwa meeting. We also notice that the March 14 game has become crystal clear. In every statement, March 14 points the finger at Hezbollah, Syria, and Syria’s allies, however their arrows always miss Miqati.” Asked about his position from the government as a whole, Ferzli said that “personally, I distinguish between Miqati and the government. I generally support the constituents of the new government, especially that they represent pro-resistance parties. However, the trap is Najib Miqati himself. This is why, this government will not be allowed to confront. If the Americans decided to get involved in a real conflict with the government, then we see Miqati will not be able to stand between the conspiracy and the government that supports the resistance. Today, the Americans are backing Miqati and this illustrated in his positions that often call for flexibility and resilience. Therefore, this constitutes pressure to gain concessions.” STRATEGIC MISTAKE… Ferzli warned against disclosing secrets to Miqati. “He relays every word he hears. Even the names of the Sunni members of parliament who had been candidates during the formation stage of the government, were discussed with the Americans, and I assure this…What is needed from Lebanon today is to wait until the local and regional circumstance become more ripe to suppress Hezbollah, and Miqati is the right person who can secure this stage.” Asked whether he believed that the new majority had fallen in a trap, Ferzli said: “yes, they all fell right into it.” He concluded that what happened was a “strategic mistake tantamount to the mistake of the 2005 quartet alliance. The days to come will prove I’m right, although I hope I am wrong.”

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

British authorities detain Sheikh Salah

[ 29/06/2011 – 08:33 AM ]

LONDON, (PIC)– Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic movement in 1948 occupied Palestine, was detained by the UK Border Authority Police in London at a late hour on Tuesday night at the pretext that his “presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good”.

Sheikh Salah, who arrived to the UK with the knowledge and approval of the immigration department, would be held in custody prior to his deportation from the UK within hours.

Sheikh Raed was due to speak at tonight’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) event in Parliament, where he was scheduled to share a panel with MPs and Peers, speaking on “Building Peace and Justice in Jerusalem”.


British officials were trying to disrupt the event as it would embarrass it before Israel.


Sources close to the government in Whitehall said that Home Secretary Theresa May was upset at the confusion of her ministry that allowed entry of Sheikh Salah to the UK.


The PSC who is organising Tuesday night’s event at parliament and the Middle East Monitor who invited Sheikh Salah to participate in a speaking tour in the UK said that the event will go ahead and urged everyone to turn up to the event in large numbers.

British Authorities Arrest Sheikh Raed Salah

Local Editor

The British authorities arrested head of the Islamic Movement in the occupied territories Sheikh Raed Salah Wednesday 1:00 a.m., claiming that he was banned from entering the UK.

Salah had been in UK for three days. He gave one lecture in London and was scheduled to give another one Wednesday before the British Parliament.

Salah’s lawyer Farouq Bajwa pointed out that the arrested was not informed about the ban decision that came out last week, and did not attempt to conceal his identity when entering Britain.


On the other hand, Palestinian Solidarity Campaign director Sarah Coloborne condemned the action, and was quoted as saying that “Salah was the leader of a legitimate political organization. He rejected all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism.”

Zoabi: Arrest of Sheikh Salah blind compliance to Israeli agendas

29/06/2011 – 02:44 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– Arab member of the Israeli Knesset Hanin Zoabi has charged that the British authorities’ arrest of Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic movement in 1948 occupied Palestine, reflected blind compliance to Israeli agendas.
Zoabi sent a message to the British ambassador in Tel Aviv on Wednesday warning him against his country’s participation in the Israeli prosecution of Palestinian leaders.
She said that the decision was the brainchild of the Zionist lobby that attempts to pressure the decision-making circles in the UK.

Countries of the world should back the Palestinian people’s just rights in Israel and should impose economic and political sanctions on racist regimes that quell and persecute their citizens, Zoabi said.

She called on all Palestinian political leaderships to organize immediate rallies in front of foreign embassies and institutions to protest bowing to Israeli pressures regarding Palestinian citizens.

• Hamas: Salah arrest in response to Israeli pressure
• Resheq: Detention of Sheikh Salah in London political

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Samir Geagea’, Esquire.

Via FLC

‘We are the relatives of the martyrs …’

“If anyone decides to sideline the tribunal, Lebanon would have to confront the international and regional community,” Geagea said during a ceremony Monday night……. “There are over 30 judges working within the tribunal and any result is destined to be accurate, as these judges come from different countries… If there were any negligence or loopholes within the tribunal we’d be the first ones to criticize it because we are the relatives of the martyrs, … This is a chance for those who committed crimes against great men in Lebanon to take responsibilities for their actions,” Geagea said. “So, why are we trying to stall it?”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 9:48 AM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

CIA in the Trap

By Mariam Ali

By definition, Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. However, the US embassy in Lebanon violated customs and altered the definition to turn its job towards a more interesting Intelligence performance.This time the scene was different, the American “intelligent “intelligence fell into the trap of the Islamic Resistance Security System.

Revealing the resistance’s achievement in uncovering the CIA’s recruitment, the Secretary General of Hizbullah, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah highlighted that the US intelligence officials have been wandering throughout Lebanon under the title of US diplomats, which sheds light that the US Embassy in Awkar is indeed a warren for recruitment and espionage.

As expected, the US embassy denied.

US Afraid

“The U.S. Embassy denial of the Islamic resistance’s revelation of a spy network working for the CIA is a traditional fact. There is no state in the world that admits espionage.” Coordinator of the Safety net for Research and Strategic Studies Anis Nakash said.

In an exclusive interview with moqawama.org, Nakash explained that this denial has both political and security dimensions. “US is afraid of the feedbacks of this incident. It also foreshadows the future fearing a certain clash link after Sayyed Nasrallah described the US embassy in Lebanon as a spy nest.”

Espionage Secret Faces

It is not secret that all people working in politics know that Lebanon forms a catchy intelligence base.
“However, some members publicly introduce themselves as official representatives of CIA or the French or UK’s Intelligence when meeting politicians, businessmen, bank managers, and security officials in sake of information.” Nakash stressed.

Exposing that there are other nets than the CIA and FBI that carry espionage acts under the title of gathering information, the strategic coordinator uncovered that US Development Agencies, US NGOs (public diplomacy) that are related to US foreign embassy are seeking to attract various affecting young men and women, journalists, and intellectuals who affect the mass community.

“US intelligence establishes relations under the title of workshops, training sessions, and cultural visits to US. This is a new type of intelligence recruitment that is done in public. Hundreds of Lebanese citizens and activists have fallen in the trap of establishing relations in this way.” Nakash confirms.

Giving the example of Egyptian marine’s journalists who work under the guidelines of US NGOs, Nakash told our web site that there is also a public recruitment of whole parties in Egypt that were asked to visit the US to get political and financial support. “The intelligence recruitment doesn’t stop at the point of collecting the security or military information but extends to collect economic, cultural, and political information.”

US Embassy Intersecting Roles

Commenting on the US embassy’s diplomatic -spying intersecting role, Nakash reminded of Wikileaks Cables that revealed how Lebanese politicians, journalists, and traders meet with US security members to provide them with information and advices concerning the resistance

“During May 2008 incidents, the intersection between the diplomatic and intelligence actions of US embassy is so clear,” Nakash emphasized pointing out that “when security information falls in the hands of Lebanese politicians who quickly leak it in certain Arab states and inform the US of it, they get the green light to take a decision and act against the resistance. Therefore, three major points intersect: security information, political decisions, and foreign interference.”

He added: “small spies are also spread to apply intelligence services in this village or site. US Intelligence is even after senior security officials whom they train and spread in every cycle. They even try to recruit certain military and security officers for their sake.”
Brigadier General Mustapha Hamdan has announced recently that in the period of heading the presidency’s security, a military attaché in the US embassy tried to contact and recruit him.

US: Enemy or Friend?

“As a state, we have to determine whether the US is a friend or enemy. In addition to its political alliance and strategic security coordination with “Israel”, there is American intelligence coordination with Tel Aviv. How can the US be a friend to us and our enemy at the same time?” Nakash asked.

Warning that the US has appointed certain Lebanese parties as well as “Israeli” forces to do direct actions on the ground including assassinations, Nakash advised the Lebanese society to perform the reversed security. “As we succeeded in uncovering the last espionage net, we have to monitor the US embassy actions parallel to spreading the security knowledge among our people so that the citizens become armed against appeals. Moreover, when punishment is performed it turns into a lesson for the whole nation.”
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

"Botched Defection classic case of ‘covert Confusion’…"

Via FLC


The Kusa defection is a classic case of covert confusion. The Libyan official had originally planned to defect to France. A French intelligence officer is said to have contacted him on March 10 during a meeting of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A French intelligence official met him again on March 29 at the Royal Garden Hotel in Djerba, Tunisia, and pitched him about defecting, promising residency, financial help and legal immunity.


The French plan faltered the next morning after Paris demanded that, as part of the deal, Kusa appear publicly with President Nicolas Sarkozy when he arrived in Paris and denounce Gaddafi. Kusa refused, and initiated frantic contacts with MI6 representatives in London about fleeing there. The British first asked for three days to work out details, but when Kusa said he had to leave immediately, MI6 hammered out the basics in several hours, and the Libyan flew to Farnborough Airport, southwest of London.

Kusa’s escape to Britain got off to a bad start. MI6 officers met him at the airport, but his visa paperwork wasn’t ready for several hours. The British weren’t demanding that Kusa publicly renounce Gaddafi, but they weren’t offering him immunity from prosecution, either, in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and 1984 shooting of a British policewoman. His debriefing at a safe house on the southern coast was rocky, in part because of the media frenzy about his defection — with Kusa reading tabloid headlines such as the Daily Mail’s description of him as Gaddafi’s “Fingernail-Puller-in-Chief.


When Kusa’s passport was returned to him in mid-April, he promptly left for Qatar, nominally to attend a meeting of the “contact group” opposing Libya. He hasn’t left Doha since. The defection mishaps have been a “laughing stock” back in Libya and undermined hopes of other recruitments, according to one intelligence source.


Whatever the NATO coalition’s miscues, the fact that Gaddafi’s circle has sent an emissary to Washington suggests that military pressure is slowly taking its toll. The problem is that because Libya’s tribal politics are so backward — CIA officers used to refer to the Libyan power elite as “the Flintstones” — a stable transition will be difficult. The TNC rebel movement still seems like a ragtag mix of ex-Gaddafi officials and Islamist militants.

If there’s a deal that can get Gaddafi out, end the fighting, unite the tribes and create a reasonably stable coalition government run by technocrats, the correct answer for the Obama administration would be “yes.”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 9:37 AM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Kurdish PKK guerrillas kill more Turkish soldiers

(WSJ) – ISTANBUL—One day after the leader of the outlawed Kurdish PKK guerrilla movement warned that Turkey could soon return to “war” with its Kurdish minority, the group killed a soldier and seriously wounded three others.

Fighters from the PKK, or Kurdish Workers’ Party, carried out the ambush Monday in the town of Saray, close to Turkey’s border with Iran, Anadolu Ajansi, Turkey’s state news agency reported, citing the governor of Van province.The PKK didn’t claim responsibility….

The PKK also on Friday claimed responsibility for an attack two days earlier, in which two Turkish soldiers were killed.

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 9:25 AM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Gilad Atzmon: And What About Jewish Anti Gentile Studies?

American Jewry won a victory last week: Yale University bowed to pressure – it is now starting yet another initiative to study anti-Semitism, after a decision to cancel an earlier programme had sparked criticism.

The earlier programme created in 2006 was cancelled because it had produced “little scholarly work,” and the institute’s courses had not attracted large numbers of students, according to Donald Green, the director of Yale’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies.

Abe Foxman of The Anti-Defamation League criticised Yale for cancelling the programme and welcomed the new initiative, saying “We are satisfied that Yale University understood the critical importance of continuing an institute for the study and research of anti-Semitism”.

The new programme will be led by Yale professor Maurice Samuels, who states that Yale has some of the leading scholars in the world working on anti-Semitism and interfaith relations. He intends to focus on contemporary and historical anti-Semitism.

However, for all Yale’s efforts, I remain convinced that Samuels will not be able to produce any valuable scholarly work either – the reason is simple: almost the entire body of research on ‘anti Semitism ’ conducted in recent decades is solely concerned and obsessed with recording the historical points at which hatred of the Jews manifests itself. And yet, for some bizarre reason, such scholarly work on anti Semitism never seeks to understand, and is totally impervious to the socio-economic, the ideological, theological and historical contexts, motivations, causes and reasoning that have existed behind such outbursts of hatred against the Jews.

These countless studies on anti Semitism rarely look into the causes, and rarely try to understand why anti Semitism arose in so many places throughout history.

Instead of elaborating on the causes that may lead to anti Semitism, the discourse on anti Semitism is a unique chronological account that only ‘starts to tick’ as soon as an ‘anti Semitic’ event is detected. Everything prior to that is a blank slate – and so we are left, once more, none the wiser as to why people ‘turned against the Jews’ yet again.

I’d like to suggest here, that for an academic study of anti Semitism to be scholarly and comprehensive, and if we are to even begin to understand the roots of anti Semitism, then primary attention must surely also be dedicated to the considerable body of anti-gentile views expressed within the Torah, Talmud, and within contemporary Jewish ideology and politics (Zionist and Jewish anti-Zionist alike).

The institute’s scholars would also be well advised to elaborate on Jewish cultural supremacy, and Jewish political lobbying, from Purim to AIPAC.

For a study of anti Semitism to become scholarly and valuable, instead of merely a form of hyper-emotional hysterical ranting, the researcher would also be advised to first assume that, perhaps, anti Jewish feelings might well have root causes which could be rational, and could be explained and understood — yet not justified — in terms of causality and reason.

Instead of assuming that the Goyim are just a bunch of crazy blood thirsty lunatics that periodically just went mad again and again throughout history in their dislike for Jews, the scholars would rather be advised to look for the root causes that may well have lead to an anti Semitic event, ideology or text.

Such a study then, would surely be academically and socially valuable, and I believe it would also be crucial for Jews and Israelis, so they may be enabled to understand the world they live in, and to grasp their role in it.

Some commendable studies by Jewish academics have already been done in that area : The Jewish Century by Yuri Slezkine, The Pity Of It All by Amos Elon and Jewish History, Jewish Religion by Israel Shahak and even early Zionist texts by Max Nordau, Ber Borochov and others all provide some adequate answers to questions regarding the origins of anti Semitism. Interestingly enough, none of the above studies were produced or sponsored by ‘anti-Semitism research institutions’ . The above scholars attempted to grasp the origins of animosity towards the Jews, instead of looking for a symposium in which they could moan about being hated. The three former at least, were driven by genuine intellectual curiosity rather than by a need for collective therapy.

“Like many, I am concerned by the recent upsurge in violence against Jews around the world and I plan to address these concerns,” said Samuels the head of the new Yale Anti Semitism research centre.
Might I suggest that Samuel should be far more concerned with the upsurge in violence that is committed by the Jewish State in the name of the Jewish people. Samuels should look into the role of AIPAC in shaping American and world affairs.

Will Samuels be courageous enough to do so? I do not know Samuels, but somehow, I find it hard to imagine.

Posted byGilad Atzmonat8:02:00 PM

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Sarah Gillespie: ‘How The West Was Won’

Saturday, June 25, 2011 at 8:30PM Gilad Atzmon

(Gilad Atzmon: I perform with Sarah and produce her music for a few years. Sarah is an incredible talent: singer song writer, poet and a thinker. Check her out and take a look at the video bellow.)

Sarah Gillespie: Over a year ago I went to see Andy Worthington and Polly Nash’s brilliant documentary ‘Outside the Law, Stories from Guantánamo’. I wrote a paper about it here. It is the kind of film you can’t shake off. It leaves you with a lingering sense of what it might mean to be arbitrarily captured, tortured, humiliated and left without any plausible hope of reprieve. It evokes the cataclysmic trauma and despair, the heavy grief of all those stolen years. One British resident still flounders in this zone of no jurisdiction. He is Shaker Aarmer. There is no legal reason for his continued incarceration. He has never been charged with a crime and there is no reliable evidence against him. After seeing Andy and Polly’s film I was haunted by Aamer’s plight, by the suffering of his wife who still lives in Battersea where she has been repeatedly hospitalized with nervous breakdowns – and by the awareness that, while I look forward to going out for dinner tonight in London, Shaker Aamer is still in Guantánamo

‘How The West Was Won’ – A Song For Shaker Aamer 
by Sarah Gillespie

I wrote this song in his honor. It is not explicitly about him, but it is for him. The imagery in the song mocks the islamaphobic motifs of ‘oppressed’ burqa-clad women, opium trafficking warlords, violent husbands and clandestine plots to enrich uranium. Pondering on this picture it is clear Aamer is one of countless souls enduring hell for our so-called freedom. When I wrote this song, it struck me that this is nothing new. What we refer to as ‘the Enlightenment’ always flourished at the expense of others. European nation states were built on the backbreaking toil of nameless foreigners. Still today, the so-called equality, individualism and liberty we are encouraged to celebrate, invariably relies upon someone else, somewhere else being denied it. In this case, it is Shaker Aamer.


How the West Was Won (a song for Shaker Aamer)

They said they saw me coming
down the foothills of my mountain,
where the women just drink the poison
and the men just kick your jaw in, where the wells are jinxed with ginseng
by warriors doped up on opium,
where the law men are fictitious
and out desperation get’s ridiculous You’re only just when you

pull me down down down
a peg or two
If you’re honest to God and men
I’d bend my back in two
to defend you my friend

They mocked me in my chamber
with the women there licking peaches
for boys hell bent on parading me
in my maniacals and my britches
They said ‘Son you must be putting me on.
You know I can get heated.
I’ll just make you like your uranium:
vicious and depleted.’
You’re only just when you

pull me down down down
a peg or two
If you’re honest to God and men
I’d bend my back in two
to defend you my friend

So I wont be back this summer
cause the militiamen got my number
They recorded it to the letter
I sing ‘mama, mama make it better.’

www.sarahgillespie.com

I Certainly Do Not Want To Wake Up Next To This Joker

Monday, June 27, 2011 at 10:01PM Gilad Atzmon

Israel’s “pinkwash” makes cynical use of gays & gay rights

Israel’s latest hasbara schtick falls flat in days

A couple of days ago, a Youtube video of some guy calling himself Mark popped up. Mark claimed to be an American gay rights activist who decided to broaden his horizons and, going all hog, decided to join the Gaza flotilla, representing the gay rights group of which he is a member. He sent an email to the flotilla organizers, but – alas! – after waiting for quite a while, received a negative reply. Upon which Mark experienced a Road to Damascus moment, the scales fell from his eyes, and he saw the bright, shining light of truth: The flotilla is organized by Hamas-supporting Islamists, all of whom are good friends with Ismail Hanyieh.

To read more

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The Portland BDS Coalition: They Are Young and Determined

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 5:05AM Gilad Atzmon

The Portland BDS Coalition Mobs New Seasons Grocery demanding a total Boycott of Israeli Products

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Mustapha Hamdan: Indictment Imminent

Hussein Assi

Mustafa Hamdan to Al-Manar Website: Indictment Imminent… US Embassy Den of Intelligence They Wanted to Create Sedition through Indictment International Arrest Warrants Baseless.. Even Trash Stupidity Forbidden… Army Ready for Confrontation Where Did Our Millions of Dollars in Search for Truth Go? Saniora Embarrassed after He Confessed He’s US Spy Sayyed Nasrallah Offered Comprehensive, Clear Vision Head of Al-Mourabitoun movement in Lebanon Brigadier General Mustafa Hamdan revealed that the indictment in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was imminent. He undermined, however, the destructive effect of the indictment due to the developments in the Arab world.” In an exclusive interview with Al-Manar Website, Hamdan said that whoever stands behind the so-called Special Tribunal for Lebanon was in need for the indictment to pave the way for a Sunni-Shiite sedition that was entitled to include the whole region, from Egypt to Bahrain and Lebanon. He noted that to achieve this objective, the indictment would state that “a number of Shiite individuals have killed the Sunni Prime Minister.” While ruling out the possibility that any internal side would carry a stupid act on ground to serve the political verdict, and expressing belief that the Lebanese army was ready to confront any act that threatens the country’s high interests, Hamdan undermined the value of any arrest warrant that could be issued by the tribunal, and said that international arrest warrants have proven to be baseless and valueless. Hamdan called on the Lebanese government to demand the United Nations to inquire the four years of investigations in Hariri’s assassination. He also urged the government to demand the formation of a Lebanese-international committee that supervises the expenditures of the STL, which was mostly financed by Lebanese taxpayers’ money; however, those appointed by the court spent most of this money on carnivals and events that do not serve the goal. The retired general, meanwhile, described the US embassy in Beirut as a den of intelligence that transferred from the state of collecting data to execution. He said that the Israelis and Americans were two faces of the same coin, and noted that those who resemble former PM Fouad Saniora who confessed that he serves the U.S. should be the embarrassed ones. INDICTMENT IMMINENT… Brigadier General Mustafa Hamdan told Al-Manar Website that the indictment in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was believed to be imminent. He reiterated that the so-called Special Tribunal for Lebanon was politicized. He said that whoever stands behind the tribunal needed to use it as a tool to serve his plot to create sedition not only in Lebanon, but in the whole region. Yet, he noted that this indictment’s level of destruction diminished in light of the recent developments in the region. “There was a plot to create sedition throughout the region, from Beirut to Cairo and Bahrain,” he said. While noting that the possibility of making use of the indictment, even in the local political scene, was very low, he stressed that the American administration was the one who specifies for the STL President Antonio Cassesse and STL Prosecutor Judge Daniel Bellemare the time to release the indictment. He also noted that releasing it at this stage was aimed at raising the morale of those he called “the US embassy bloc” as well as pressuring the new Lebanese government, headed by PM Najib Miqati and determined to face the American-Israeli project in the region. WE WILL FACE INDICTMENT WITH ALL POSSIBLE TOOLS Asked whether there was any plan to face this indictment, General Hamdan asserted that the new majority forces would face the indictment through all possible means. He said that such confrontation requires first of all national unity and commitment to basic principles and values. He stressed the need to keep away from provocations that might be adopted by the US embassy group. Hamdan stressed the need to face the indictment at the level of the new government, especially if it was released conform to prior rumors and leaks. He said that the indictment would not name the Resistance as a suspect in Hariri’s assassination. Rather, it would claim that a number of Shiite extremist individuals have killed the Sunni PM, serving therefore the sedition scheme in the region, Hamdan emphasized. Hamdan called the Lebanese government to ask the United Nations to launch an inquiry over the progress of the investigations throughout the four years that followed the assassination of the former premier. He said that such an act could not be considered as a confrontation with the international community but an attempt to restore justice. He recalled that the former head of the investigating committee into Hariri’s assassination German Judge Detlev Mehlis has issued his own indictment when he accused Syria, President Emile Lahoud and the four officers, including Hamdan himself, of involvement in the crime. “Then, we saw former PM Saad Hariri saying that these were all mere lies. Afterwards, we discovered that Hariri himself was a partner in the false witnesses’ conspiracy,\” he said, referring to the audio recordings that showed Hariri chatting with the so-called king witness, Mohamad Zuhair Siddiq. WHERE DID OUR MONEY GO? Hamdan pointed to another issue that should be taken into consideration by the government when dealing with the tribunal, its financing process. He noted that millions of dollars were spent since the tribunal’s creation, and said that the Lebanese people had an important contribution in it. He wondered whther rumors about corruption within the STL were true, and pointed to the suspicious phenomenon of recurrent resignations whithin the tribunal, which seemed to be abnormal. He also pointed to the “carnavals” organized by the tribunal, in contradiction with its mission. He urged the STL officials to complete their real mission and find out the truth in Harri’s assassination case instead of holding workshops and organizing carnavals here and there. In a related development, Hamdan said he did not understand how the members of the policy statement’s drafting committee could disagree over the STL stance. He said that all Lebanese agree that they want truth and justice in this cause. However, he noted that this so-called international justice has proven to be ambiguous and unfair. “That’s why the government should take a precise stance in this regard and call for the formation of an investigative committee,” he said. IDIOCY NOT ALLOWED Asked wheter he fears the reactions that could be adopted by the ‘other bloc’ in case the indictment was released, Hamdan said that current local circumstances in addition to the region’s political map don’t allow any idiocy from this kind, in the service of an indictment believed to be politicized. Yet, he expressed belief in the abilities of the Lebanese national army, and said it was ready to face all acts undermining stability and threatening the nation’s higher interests. He also undermined the value of any arrest warrants, saying that international arrest warrants proved to have no value at all, and that they were trash, nothing more. He said the arrest warrants were silly, like the whole tribunal. “Not only arrest warrants were released against us. We were also unfairly detained. Then, we were freed and they were obliged to apologize from us. We don’t want this scenario to repeat itself.” DID US EMBASSY TURN TO BE RELIGIOUS SITE? The Murabitoun leader, meanwhile, described the US embassy in Beirut to be a ‘den of intelligence’ that turned from the stage of collecting data to execution. While confirming that diplomats in the embassy were involved in a number of security incidents in the country, he found strange how some Lebanese rushed to defend the embassy following the latest speech of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, even before its spokesman “spy Ryan Cliha”. He wondered whether the embassy turned to be a religious site, in light of the defensive remarks. Hamdan told Al-Manar Website that he knows, in detail, how the US embassy officials sought to put Lebanese journalists and journalists in their service. He recalled of the CIA officials who were in the embassy and how they used to move and with whom. Hamdan stressed that what happened proved that the Americans and Israelis were absolutely the same. He said that those who should be embarrassed are the ones who previously confessed in one sense or another of being US spies, such as former PM Fouad Saniora and former minister Mohamad Chatah. He also recalled how some politicians used to claim that they like the Americans and hate the Israelis, which seemed to be impossibe as Barack Obama was Israeli before the AIPAC and Benjamin Netanyahu turned to be American in front of the Congress. ISRAELI THREATS… INTERNAL MESSAGE To end, Hamdan commented on the recent Israeli threat of attacking south Lebanon in case the situation in the region ‘deteriorates.’ He said that all what the Israelis say nowadays was in fact addressed to their own scared and concerned society. He pointed out that 90% of the Israeli statements and messages only concern the Israelis themselves. While noting that the Resistance takes them into consideration, he said that all drills and threats actually reflect the Israeli state of confusion and alertness. Hamdan said that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah offered in his latest speech a comprehensive and clear vision of the conflict in the region, and specified the Resistance factions from Iran to Gaza, passing through Syria and Lebanon.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

IOF confiscates hundreds of Ramallah dunums, bulldozes land in Silwan, destroy tens of Palestinian olive trees

IOF confiscates hundreds of Ramallah dunums

[ 28/06/2011 – 06:41 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) confiscated hundreds of Palestinian dunums surrounding the villages of Mazra’a Gharbiya and Janiya to the west of Ramallah city, citizens told the PIC on Tuesday.

Supplying the PIC with the published map, they said that IOF troops and settlers stormed the confiscated land on Monday and installed signs on it, adding that the settlers had survey maps and that engineers with necessary equipment worked on outlining the land.

They said that the IOF told the Red Cross, who was delegated by those citizens to inquire about the issue, that the land, rich with olive trees, was confiscated.

The commander of the civil administration of the West Bank said in his decision that the land was expropriated according to the absentee law issued by the IOF after occupying the West Bank, which stipulates the expropriation of any land, which owners left and immigrated outside Palestine.

The commander said that any Palestinian wishing to contest the confiscation decision should go to Ofer military court within a month and a half of its issuance.

IOA bulldozes land in Silwan

[ 28/06/2011 – 08:43 AM ] 


OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) bulldozers leveled land in Wadi Al-Rababa in Silwan near to Bustan suburb south of the Aqsa Mosque.

The spokesman for the committee to defend Silwan town, Fakhri Abu Diyab, said that the IOA bulldozers have been working since Monday morning, noting that landmarks in the area along with old trees were all being wiped out in preparation for opening a Talmudic garden and Judaizing the entire area.

Abu Diyab said that a number of IOA municipality workers installed fake Jewish tombs to appear as old Jewish relics.

The spokesman appealed to concerned parties to swiftly act to abort the IOA scheme, which might end up in Judaizing the entire area before moving on to Judaize the Bustan suburb.

IOF soldiers destroy tens of Palestinian olive trees

 

[ 28/06/2011 – 11:10 AM ]
SALFIT, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) bulldozed tens of Palestinian olive trees in Deir Estiya village west of Salfit city on Tuesday.

Nazmi Salman, the village’s mayor, said that the bulldozing took place west of the village and damaged trees that have been planted there for five years.

Noting that the land was in the proximity of Revava settlement, Salman said that the step is aimed at evicting the inhabitants then grab their land.

In another area, IOF soldiers started to bulldoze a land lot, which they seized from its owner, south of Al-Khalil city on Monday, local sources said, adding that the land was being prepared to serve as a landing pad for IOF military choppers.

In another incident, Local sources reported that IOF soldiers prevented land reclamation effort by Palestinian farmers in Aqraba village, near Nablus, and confiscated the tractor they were using in the process. The soldiers claimed that the land, south of the village, was state owned.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

A Trilogy: The Road to “Independence” (1)

Posted on 18/03/2011 by reham alhelsi

1. We are Negotiating … Yes We Are!

Forget everything you learned about negotiations, forget how you used to “negotiate” with your sibling for the last piece of cake, or with your parents for an increase in your pocket money, or with your friends for a spin in their new car or with your co-workers for relieving you of that annoying report you had to write. Forget everything you read about negotiations, forget about countries negotiating to close a “peace deal”, forget about colonizers negotiating “who gets what” of the natural resources of colonized countries, forget about international firms “negotiating” the destruction of local businesses. Forget all that. For we, the representatives of the Palestinian people, the representatives installed by no other than the “world police” aka the US … we, the representatives backed by no other than the “defender of democracies and free elections” aka the EU … we, the representatives in the service of the “light unto nations”, “the oasis of democracy and peace” aka Israel … we, the guards of the revolution, the makers of the storm, the liberators … are proud to present to you the new rules of negotiations; rules that will guarantee those among you suffering from presence of a conscience a quick heart attack, and the ones suffering from lack of a conscience a bank account in Switzerland, a villa in the south of France and a VIP card for a non-stop at Israeli checkpoints. Well, let’s say for a not-so-often stop at Israeli checkpoints.

If your partner in peace and negotiations demands that you give up your claim to 80% of your historic homeland, just nod and say: no problem. If your partner in peace and negotiations then demands that you give up your claim to 20% of the 20% of what is left to you of your historic homeland, just nod and say: no problem. If your partner in peace and negotiations further demands that you give up your claim to 60% of the 20% of what is left to you of your historic home, just nod and say: no problem, want more? And if the people, whose rights you were installed to sell out, are furious, if they denounce what you are doing, demand you go to hell and announce that you have no right whatsoever to negotiate away their homeland, then – in a furious voice and with an angry face – deny their accusations, accuse them of listening to outside forces and tell them that they don’t love Palestine as much as you do… and if they still don’t believe you, just whine a little bit, tell them some poem about a storm that will liberate Palestine and make it clear to them that the aim of all these negotiations is to liberate Palestine, but don’t tell them what “Palestine” you mean. Tell them that the aim of all these negotiations is to liberate Jerusalem, but don’t tell them what “Jerusalem” you are talking about. And if they insist, tell them the aim is to liberate Al-Manarah, to liberate Al-Midbaseh, to liberate the noble Muqata’a and the few bits here and there. If they still don’t get it, send your American trained, European financed, and Israeli approved militias to make them see the light.

If your partner in peace and negotiations informs you that they will continue building homes for the Zionist colonists they are importing from Europe, Asia, Africa, America, the North Pole and Mars and will continue planting them on your land, the land you are supposedly negotiating to “liberate”, just nod and assure them it’s really no big deal. Show them your good will and that you are sincere in your pursuit for peace by giving up vast parts of Jerusalem, Nablus and Hebron, tell them they can keep the colonies, for you are going to build new cities in Duwwar Is-Sa’a and in Baba Il-Zqaq. And don’t forget to give them the bill because everything has its price; the piece of land you are “negotiating” over, the olive field you are “negotiating” over, the stone you are “negotiating” over and even the grain of soil you are “negotiating” over. Don’t bother with those whose land will be confiscated, just appear on TV or give interviews and threaten your partner in peace and negotiations with indirect talks and if they still refuse to stop the settlement activity, threaten them with secret talks and more concessions. And if your people denounce your inactions in the face of land theft, if they denounce your collaboration with the occupier and your betrayal of their rights, if they denounce your love affair with the negotiations with their oppressor, if they cry out: our land, our homes, our rights … just tell them it’s alright because once negotiations are finally concluded – don’t mention that the possibility of this ever happening is actually 0% – and when we are finally allowed our own tiny bit of a state somewhere on planet earth, or better yet our own little cluster of disconnected islands, we shall build better residential areas, grandiose ones for you, so don’t cry over a piece of land, or over an olive field or over a 1000 year old home. Tell them you will give them new modern 2-bedroom apartments in return, overlooking dump sites of Israeli colonies. What more could a person wish for? And until that day when our tiny bit of a state is born, those kicked out of their homes can enjoy sleeping in tents under the blue sky, enjoy outdoor camping, life in the wilderness and remember the good old days of the Nakba when the majority of their people were expelled from their homes and lived in tents. It’s a good way to connect, explain to them, to experience the Nakba over and over and over again. And if they point to one of your villas, just tell them it is your hard work, has nothing to do with what part of Palestine you sold or what Palestinian right you relinquished. Tell them it is just money you found in a well, a magic well called: negotiations.

If your partner in peace and negotiations demands that you recognize their entity, the one that was built on the bodies on your parents and grandparents, just nod and sign the papers without hesitation. It doesn’t matter that with your signature you are giving up over 80% of your historic land, it doesn’t matter that you are acknowledging a terror entity build on the blood of the people you claim to represent. Nothing matters as long as you keep repeating: Negotiations, negotiations, negotiations are the way to get ourselves a state. And if your partner in peace and negotiations goes one step further and demands that you recognize their entity as a “Jewish” one, just nod and say: why not! It’s not our business what they call themselves, it’s their internal issue, and even when they keep interfering in our internal issues and keep dictating our internal policies, we won’t interfere in their internal issues, so are the orders. Don’t give a damn about your people who are steadfast in the face of tyranny, racism and terror since 1948, for you have other uses for them; you will exchange them later for Jerusalem and get more people to enjoy oppressing. And don’t be disappointed at all if despite all your recognition of the “noble, democratic, Jewish, moral” Zionist entity, that despite all your concessions, your partner in peace and negotiations still refuses to recognize your one-day-in-the-far-away-future-to-be “state” … don’t be disappointed at all if despite all your concessions, your partner in peace and negotiations still refuses to recognize any of your rights except the right to be their slaves and killing target … still refuses to even recognize your right to exist as a people. Don’t be disappointed, don’t worry, don’t be bothered, just negotiate.

If your partner in peace and negotiations demands that you renounce your right to defend yourself, the legitimate right of every occupied nation, hurry up and change your national charter. And if that is not enough, hurry up and rewrite the history of your people, redraw the geographies of your homeland, introduce new curricula for Palestinian children teaching them of a state to be called Palestinian; a ghetto, a semi-state, a petite Palestine minus Haifa, Yaffa, Akka and Ar-Ramleh, minus Jerusalem and Al-Jalil, minus all that is between Ramallah and Bethlehem and Nablus, minus the lands and the valleys and the hilltops, minus the destroyed villages and the stolen fields and the dried up water-wells, a Palestinian state minus 80% of Palestine. Introduce new curricula for Palestinian children teaching them of a history to be called “modern Palestinian history”; rewrite the history of an ancient people who were for thousands of years one with the land that gave them their name, introduce a history minus Deir Yasin, Kufr Qasim and Ad-Dawayma, minus Mohammad Jamjoum, Fouad Hjazi and Ata Az-Zir, minus Ghassan Kanafani and Naji Al-Ali, minus Dala Al-Mughrabi and Mohammad Al-Aswad and Yahia Ayyash and all those who wrote the word Palestine with their blood, minus Dal’ouna and Ataba, minus Mish’al and Jafra, minus the old city of Jerusalem, Nazareth, Beisan, Akka, Ras Il-Naqurah and Im Il-Rishrash. And after you delete one historic Palestinian national constant after the other, and after you erase the names of hundreds of Palestinian villages and the names of thousands of martyrs, and after you denounce every Palestinian revolt, every Intifada and every protest, after doing all this and more your partner in peace and negotiations still demands that you punish your people for dreaming of freedom, for wanting a just peace, while your partner in peace and negotiations continues to sing of terrorism and continues oppressing your people, massacring them and honouring war criminals, just nod and ask for the price, because negotiations is but a business.


And if your people cry out in anger tell them that resistance is not good for their health, tell them oppression makes them strong, makes their children strong, teaches them to withstand hunger and pain and loss so they may be prepared for the loss of what has remained of Palestine. Don’t make the mistake of asking your people for their opinion, for what do they know about negotiations? What do they know about real “resistance”? To insist on negotiating when the whole world thinks you are a fool for doing so is the true “resistance”. To insist on negotiating while your partner in negotiations is killing your people, stealing your land and spitting in your face is the true “resistance”. Tell them, assure them, convince them, with force if necessary, that you will continue to carry the burden and negotiate on their behalf, for you don’t do it for yourselves; no, you do it for the new state to come, for the multi-dollar businesses you and your partners in peace and negotiations will be running, for the “few” extra millions in certain bank accounts, for the new exquisite villas in newly build luxury neighbourhoods, for those who believe in negotiations as the road to “liberate Palestine” and swore to die negotiating.

If your partner in peace and negotiations keeps repeating Jerusalem is one and theirs, if your partner in peace and negotiations keeps repeating Jerusalem will never be divided and demands that you forget Jerusalem, that you wipe it out of your vocabulary, that you wipe it off your map and out of your people’s memory, just sign a secret agreement and agree to their demands and change the maps, the names and the history, delete the ancient Quds with its old city, with its old wall, its Salah Iddin Street, its Musrara, Wadi Il-Joz, Silwan, Ras Il-Amoud … and rename Abu Dees and Al-Izariyyeh as Al-Quds, for what difference does it make if you present your people with a new modified Jerusalem; one consisting of a few towns and villages outside the old city walls and renamed as Al-Quds? And while doing that continue the work on preparing your new capital: Ramallah with its noble Muqata’a, continue making it a Palestinian Paris or Dubai, an oasis in the midst of overcrowded refugee camps, poverty-stricken villages, destroyed fields, illegal colonies. And don’t forget to tell your people: we will never give up on Al-Quds, we will liberate Al-Quds. And whatever you say, don’t mention that you already agreed to turn a blind eye to the Judaization and ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, act blind and deaf when European and American colonists occupy Palestinians land, when they attack Al-Aqsa, when they demolish Palestinian homes and when they expel Palestinians from the city. And when your people object, denounce your schemes and shout: Jerusalem is one, Jerusalem is ours, Jerusalem is not a number of suburbs outside the old city walls, hold up conferences and give talks and confirm the right of Palestinians to the tiny part of Jerusalem that is termed “East Jerusalem”. Stamp on the table and stress that you will rather die that give up Al-Aqsa and the old city. Don’t bother much with people’s anger, outrage and indignation, for they are too busy defending themselves from daily Israeli attacks to understand that it is Abu Dees ash-Sharif the new Al-Quds, that the huge parliament building was built there for a reason, that the agreement was signed early on, and the exchange was made early on; an exchange agreed on in secret and denounced in public!

If your partner in peace and negotiations orders you to be blind, deaf and mute while they bomb refugee camps, raid villages and besiege cities, just obey orders. If your partner in peace and negotiations orders you to leave your posts and become invisible while they massacre your people, kidnap children from their homes and beat women at checkpoints, just pretend you were called to conduct operations in another area. If your partner in peace and negotiations orders you to do their dirty job for them and oppress your people, just lend them a hand and relieve their terrorist army of some of the countless military oppression operation. If your partner in peace and negotiations demands that you denounce your own brothers and sisters and oppress them, just provoke a conflict and point to your brothers and sister of other political affiliations and accuse them of being the ones behind the occupation, of being the oppressors, of being the enemy. And if the people you claim to represent condemn you for joining hands with the enemy against your own people, tell them you are joining hands with the “light unto nations”, with Gods own “chosen people” against the “violent people”, against “radicals from the right, the left, the east and the west”, against “despicable terrorists”, against Palestinian Muslims, against Palestinian Christians, against Palestinian Jews, against Palestinian leftists, against Palestinian atheists, against every Palestinian who is against you and your negotiations and your concessions, against the people of Palestine. And if your people still don’t get it, cut off their salaries, let them hunger, isn’t it their fault for defying you and not consenting to the concessions you are making on their behalf? Torture them and detain their mothers and sisters, let them rot in cells, and when they are released ask your partner in peace and negotiations to kidnap them and complete the joined work. And when you face trouble controlling the angry people, just ask your partner in peace and negotiations to send their undercover terrorists to subdue your people, to massacre them while in their beds, to blow up their homes over their heads, but don’t forget to disappear from the scene before action takes place so you “denounce” it later. That’s cooperation and good partnership. That’s what a partner in peace and negotiations is for!

And whatever cries of rage you hear from the people you are supposedly representing, whatever cries of anger you hear from the people on whose behalf you are carrying out the charade of negotiations, in whose name you are collecting money in donor conferences and stacking it in your bank account and on whose behalf you are building a stadium and a casino in exchange for giving up the old city of Jerusalem … Just don’t listen, don’t care and don’t bother … Just negotiate, negotiate, negotiate till “Negotiation” itself packs and leaves you with your partner in crime.

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River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian