Yemen: The New Graveyard Where Empires Come to Die

Behind Closed Doors Riyadh has already Admitted Defeat

By Catherine Shakdam

Global Research, April 30, 2017

New Eastern Outlook

“Some have called Afghanistan ‘the graveyard of empires,’ and it probably is the graveyard of empires.” James G. Stavridis

Indeed, many great empires over the centuries came to crash against the stubborn will of Afghanistan, only to drive this one people to think their land an extension of their national identity – the very air in their lungs. A warning against imperialism, we may soon learn to look upon Afghanistan as the one cautionary tale our modern-day neocons should have paid attention to, if not to lose their shirts in endeavour they could not possibly have succeeded in carrying out.

Assuming that any one particular country will fall to the will of those deemed greater and mightier does not always make it so. History has taught us too many times that numbers matter little in the face of victory for any of us to entertain the idea that might is in fact always right.

I would personally argue that might carries very little in the face of stealthy determination.

Resistance as it were, is a far greater power than that of military superiority. A minority can defeat the majority when that minority is animated by conviction – whatever the impetus behind it. Maybe here western powers should have brushed up on their study of the Scriptures and remember that once upon a time David stood before Goliath but a boy with a slingshot … and yet it is the giant who fell, and his reign of terror with him.

Geopolitics and historical references aside, Afghanistan ought to be seen as the perfect anti-neocolonial storm. I will venture as far as saying that Afghanistan was the harbinger of a grand trans-national resistance movement against covert imperialism and western military interventionism.

The first country to have fallen to the American-made deity that is US national security, Afghanistan has not been alone in suffering the wrath of western hunger … from the shores of Libya, to Syria, Iraq and of course Yemen, a litany of independent and sovereign nations have been exploded so that western capitals could carve out zones of influence while arguing democracy building.

And yet before a deluge of lead, political manipulations and grand media deception campaigns Resistance came rising – made stronger for every new attempt to lay waste people’s right to political self-determination.

Let us not be fooled by the rhetoric of tyrants when they posit humanitarian intervention against sovereign nations so that they could sell wars to increase control. The Greater Middle East region was turned into a violent and bloody cesspit to incept a covert geopolitical realignment that aimed to empower the elite.

If you so much as bother to look beneath the “accepted” narrative you would see that whether in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq or Yemen, it is control … control over demographic, control over natural resources, control over financial access, control over political ambitions that has really motivated nations to wage wars.

Forget the War on Terror – learn to see instead a rabid form of globalism versus the people. But for all the military violence that was thrown at those independent nations earmarked for destruction, Resistance came to rise together a shield and a weapon.

And though Resistance is still looked on as an aberration that cannot possibly be sustained against this new order many world nations are architecting, Resistance is nevertheless sweeping the region, inspiring people to find resolve beyond reason. Resistance is what has animated, inspired and forced Yemen to move beyond the intolerable cruelty of war to find national dignity in the rejection of imperialism.

If Afghanistan was the first domino to drop, Yemen might be the one war theatre to bury imperialism altogether. For all the great many efforts exerted by Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s very own Resistance Movement has yet to lose its traction.

Amid absolute devastation, looming famine and the threat of a Wahhabist takeover courtesy of the Black Flag Army, Yemen is fighting tooth and nail to affirm its right to political self-determination and anchor its territorial sovereignty independently from foreign diktat.

At this particular juncture in time – in the third year of this war the kingdom unilaterally declared so that its will would manifest, Yemen sits on top. How and why?

Quite simply because Yemen has nothing to lose. There is no ground today that has not been ravaged, no crime that was not perpetrated against the innocent … when a people is left with no room to retreat it is often that resistance becomes it.

Yemen now lives in a state of perpetual resistance, and THERE lies Yemen’s victory. Let us not be as arrogant as to believe that the will of a people matters not before the will of tyrants.

No government, system or complex can survive without some degree of popular legitimacy – whether born in coercion or in allegiance, compliance is required for any one power to be sustained and its hold asserted.

Yemen’s Resistance Movement most definitely rigged Saudi Arabia’s imperial power grab.

So much so in fact that Riyadh is actively looking for a way out. It now remains to be seen whether Riyadh’s pursuit of political and military salvation will manifest. Do not confuse Saudi Arabia’s ferociousness vis a vis Yemen as proof the kingdom has the upper hand.

For all its billions, powerful friendships and media access, the kingdom is losing its footing in Yemen … to the point where Yemen could in fact bring the powerful House of Saud to its very knees.

By enacting Resistance Yemen laid bare Saudi Arabia’s very own faultlines. By refusing to bow Yemen inspired others to speak a different political tune, reviving the concept of national sovereignty as an inherent right.

Behind closed doors Riyadh has already admitted defeat.

Sources in Yemen have confirmed that secret negotiations have taken place in between the Resistance Movement – headed by Ansarallah, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the United States and Saudi Arabia to establish a workable truce and a way forward politically.

The head of Monitoring and Information in former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s office, Ali El-Shabani confirmed that under the proposed agreement power would be transferred from twice-resigned-runaway President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi to Sheikh Mohammed Abulohoom who would sit as vice-president for the duration of his mandate.

One of Yemen’s political heavy-weight Sheikh Abulohoom, who heads the Justice and Building Party could indeed act a powerbroker in between Yemen’s many factions while ensuring a degree cohesion.

El-Shabani said that under the terms of the agreement, Ansarallah, aka Yemen Resistance Movement will form half the government which will be headed by former Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Saidi or former Prime Minister Khaled Bahah.

Should it comes to be implemented this agreement would anchor Resistance in Yemen’s political and institutional landscape and essentially mark the end of imperialism as a form of governance.

Catherine Shakdam is the Director of Programs of the Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies and a political analyst specializing in radical movements, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

The original source of this article is New Eastern Outlook

Copyright © Catherine Shakdam, New Eastern Outlook, 2017

Russia Leads Superweapons Arms Race

ANDREI AKULOV | 27.04.2017 | WORLD

While the arms control regime is going through the hardest times ever, a superweapons arms race is on. This month, the US demonstrated its capability to deliver long-range precision strikes in Syria. It also used its most powerful non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast can obliterate everything within a 1,000-yard radius. The US military started testing the new B61-12 gravity nuclear bomb in Nevada. A fleet of F-35 stealth fighter jets arrived in Europe. Today, railguns and directed-energy weapons systems are counted upon to sustain America’s precision strike advantage. But there is an area where the US appears to be lagging behind.

The emergence of hypersonic weapons is a revolution that seriously affects the global balance of power. For instance, when the new $15 billion US Ford-class aircraft carrier is commissioned, it will become vulnerable to hypersonic missiles.

On April 15, Russia successfully tested the 5-ton 3M22 Zircon hypersonic cruise missile that will travel at eight times the speed of sound at 6,136mph.

«During the tests of the missile, it was confirmed that its speed on the march reaches eight Mach», Russian news agency TASS reported.

The hypersonic missile is a quantum leap in technology. It requires no electronic countermeasure warfare and complex trajectory of flight. The sheer speed makes any contemporary anti-aircraft defenses obsolete. The only air defense system that can strike targets capable of speeds of around Mach 5.0-Mach 6.0 is the Russian S-500.

The weapon is designed to be carried by advanced and modernized warships and submarines, including those of the Husky-class. Production of the missile is expected to be launched next year. The Admiral Nakhimov and the Pyotr Veliky nuclear-powered missile cruisers will be the first to receive the new weapon in 2018 and 2022 respectively. The Russian Navy plans to refit the two giant warships with ten 3S-14 vertical launch systems – each of which carries eight rounds. The addition of the 3S-14 would enable each ship to carry eighty cruise missiles onboard.

According to the «A Threat to America’s Global Vigilance, Reach, and Power: High-Speed, Maneuvering Weapons», report produced in late 2016 by a blue-ribbon panel of experts for Air Force Studies Board at the National Academies of Science, the US is falling behind in the technology race to develop both defensive and offensive high-speed maneuvering arms. The paper sounds the alarm about an arms race quietly underway for several years to develop hypersonic missiles for both strategic nuclear weapons and conventional rapid strike systems.

Mark J. Lewis, chairman of the panel that produced the report, said the panel concluded that «the United States may be facing a threat from a new class of weapons that will effectively combine speed, maneuverability, and altitude in ways that could challenge this nation’s tenets of global vigilance, reach, and power».

Russia is also leading in hypersonic gliders. For instance, in October 2016 Russia successfully tested Object 4202 – an advanced glider warhead. The test was conducted at midday from a site near the town of Yasny, Orenburg region, in the southern Urals, and the warhead reached the Kura test range in Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East. The hypersonic glider vehicle (HGV) vehicle travels most of the time in the stratosphere rather than in space. It can maneuver during the approach to a target at high speed, leaving almost no time for missile defense systems to respond. The HGV is capable of accelerating to a maximum speed of 15 Mach (7 kilometers per second). The warhead was created using solely Russian-made components, including on-board equipment, electronic components and the guidance system. Object 4202 is to be installed on the Russia’s RS-28 Sarmat next-generation heavy intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying up to three HGVs as payload.

While spending ten times less that the United States on defense, including research and development, Russia has produced weapons that make entire US missile defense effort ineffective, while providing it with technological edge in first strike capability.

This is the time when fantasies come true. Russia has acquired the technology to create real models of hypersonic weapons, including cruise missiles and hypersonic warheads for ICBMs-gliders. Its world leadership in the race is confirmed by successful tests. Nobody else in the world is anywhere near to mass production phase.

Update From the East Village Battlefront

April 29, 2017  /  Gilad Atzmon

Michael Lesher, Stanley Cohen, Lorcan Otway, Gilad Atzmon, Norton Mezvinsky (left to right)

Introduction by Gilad Atzmin

Things are warming up in Manhattan East Village ahead of our 30 April Conference at Theatre 80.  Theatre owner Lorcan Otway, keeps holding a firm position: he announced again and again that he won’t surrender to calls for censorship. I spent some time with this heroic, scholarly oriented human being. He deserves every possible support. If it isn’t for me, be there on Sunday at 5PM to support Lorcan and his staunch position on freedom and the 1st Amendment.

Meanwhile The Villager confirms that some Antifas may appear in the scene. Considering the reputation the Antifa bought itself in recent years, this news should be probably interpreted as a form of intimidation.

 However, The Villager also published yesterday a beautiful interview with human rights Lawyer Stanley Cohen who participates in the event. I repost this interview in full. Please share it widely.

‘This is lunacy’: Radical attorney slams protest vs. Theatre 80 political panel

 

By BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

http://thevillager.com/2017/04/28/this-is-lunacy-radical-attorney-on-protest-vs-theatre-80-political-panel/

| Radical attorney Stanley Cohen is a veteran of the East Village’s anarchic squatter battles versus the police. And he proudly notes that his mouth was bloodied for the first time when he was 16 and was crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in an anti-war march.

So the threat by some “antifa” (anti-fascist) protesters to disrupt Sunday evening’s panel discussion at Theatre 80 St. Mark’s isn’t going to stop him from participating, he vowed.

“This is the first time I will cross a picket line,” Cohen told The Villager, “because I believe the picket line is nothing short of a fascist attempt to censor.”

Cohen is one of four panelists who will talk at the event. However, it’s another one of the speakers, Gilad Atzmon — a jazz sax-playing “Holocaust revisionist” and alleged Jewish anti-Semite — who the antifa activists will be protesting against.

“I disagree with Gilad on a lot of things,” Cohen said. “And I will debate Gilad. But I believe the essence of resistance is speech. There are people on that panel that are going to challenge him.”

The event is titled, “The Post-Political Condition: Trump, Brexit, the Middle East…What Next?”

According to a description on Atzmon’s Web site, the panelists will “elaborate on the collapse of identity politics, the crisis within new Left thinking and the future of liberal and progressive thought.”

Cohen, the first scheduled speaker, will hold forth on “The Insular View of the American Left.”

“That’s exactly what this is about,” the attorney said of the planned demonstration. “Identity politics and politically correct is so nonsense.”

For his part, Atzmon will expound on “The Tyranny of Correctness — Deconstructing Identity Politics and Understanding Its Origin.”

Cohen said Atzmon’s views on Israel were clearly shaped by his time serving as medic in the Israel Defense Forces.

“It was a life-changing situation for him,” Cohen said.

“I think his last book drove people nuts: ‘The Wandering Who?’ This is a very intelligent guy.”

Cohen is, frankly, shocked at the attempt to shut down the event.

“This is lunacy,” he said. “This is Theatre 80 St. Mark’s in the East Village.”

Cohen, whose past clients include Hamas and Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, admits that he, too, like Atzmon, has been branded a self-hating Jew.

As for what he plans to talk about Sunday, Cohen noted, “I am probably going to beat up [Julian] Assange and WikiLeaks in public. I think they’re becoming partisan. Trump is going after him right now because it’s convenient. There is zero chance that Julian Assange or WikiLeaks — which is him — is going to wind up in an American courtroom.”

Bottom line, Cohen said, he won’t be stopped from doing the event.

“I am a purist when it comes to speech and the First Amendment,” he stated. “I am not going to be intimidated from participating in a discussion of the issues in the East Village in 2017.”

Cohen said, however, that he is worried that “Canadian J.D.L.” types will show up and instigate violence, as happened last month at the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) convention in Washington, D.C. In that incident, members of the Jewish Defense League from north of the border beat up a middle-aged Palestinian teacher.

“I have some friends coming with me to this event,” Cohen said. “They’re Palestinian and they’re women. If anything happens to them, the s— is going to hit the fan — and I’m not talking about violence.”

Legal action, then?

“Absolutely,” he assured. “Absolutely.”

The other two panelists are Michael Lesher, author of “Sexual Abuse, ‘Shonda’ and Concealment in Orthodox Jewish Communities,” who will speak on “Jewish Identity vs. Jewish Religion,” and Professor Norton Mezvinsky, who will discuss “The Quagmire of Current Political Terminology in U.S. Society.”

The discussion, at 80 St. Mark’s Place, will be in two two-hour halves, running from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., including a one-hour Q & A, and finally an hour-long jazz concert by Atzmon. Suggested admission is $10, according to Atzmon’s Web page.

The Real WMD in Syria – West’s Weapon of Mass Disorientation

FINIAN CUNNINGHAM | 30.04.2017 | OPINION

A senior Rand analyst, inadvertently, gave the game away in a recent article inculpating Syrian President Bashar al Assad over the alleged toxic massacre of civilians on April 4. The Rand Corporation, a longtime conduit for CIA propaganda, wrote: «The use of chemical weapons today provokes international condemnation… Those who order their deployment risk being charged with war crimes».

The Western objective, as tacitly admitted above, is therefore to brand the Syrian leader and his government as depraved war criminals, deserving pariah status and excommunication by the «international community».

The alleged use of chemical weapons, a particularly odious weapon of mass destruction (WMD), serves as an effective prop to channel Western public outrage against Assad. Allegedly killing civilians with bullets and bombs just doesn’t have the same psychological power to incite public disgust. Poisoning little children with lethal chemicals is a more effective label with which to demonize the alleged perpetrator.

But the more pertinent WMD issue here is Weapon of Mass Disorientation. And in particular how Western governments, their servile corporate-controlled media, like theRand Corp, New York Times, CNN, BBC, Guardian and France 24, and so on, and local proxy mercenaries inside Syria are covertly deploying deadly chemicals in a series of propaganda stunts. Not only deploying deadly chemicals against civilians in a most cynical and callous way, but getting away with their crimes of murder through an audacious distortion of reality. All made possible because of the West’s media weapon of mass disorientation.

By massive manipulation of facts and images, the Western public are disorientated to condone the wider criminal agenda that their governments are pushing – that of regime change. Part of that disorientation involves the Western public suspending critical thinking over what are otherwise highly dubious circumstances and claims; it also involves an abject manipulation of perception and emotions, whereby some victims of violence are the focus for Western public trauma, while many other victims in Syria and elsewhere are unseen or overlooked with callous indifference. Those anomalies surely speak of a phenomenal disorientation of Western public intelligence, emotion and morals.

Immediately following the incident in the militant-held Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun, in northern Idlib Province, on April 4, Western governments and the corporate news media began accusing the Syrian leader of responsibility for a «chemical weapon attack». The US ambassador the UN Nikki Haley made a dramatic presentation at the Security Council on April 5, holding aloft enlarged photos purportedly of children dying from toxic exposure. Two days later, on April 7, US President Donald Trump ordered a full-scale barrage of cruise missile strikes on a Syrian airbase out of «revenge» for the murder of «beautiful babies».

Trump’s decision to attack Syria was reportedly prompted by his disgust at watching videos of the alleged victims, and by the emotional angst that his daughter and special advisor Ivanka Trump felt on also watching the same footage. The video and images were, by the way, released to the Western news media solely by militant-aligned sources, the so-called White Helmets, operating at the location of the alleged chemical weapon attack.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer later said that any one «who gases a baby» can expect more US military retribution. Spicer also made the crass claim that Syrian President Assad was «worse than Hitler» because of his alleged uniquely barbaric use of chemical weapons on civilians.

Meanwhile, US and British warplanes operating in Syria, Iraq and Yemen are slaughtering at the very same time hundreds of civilians. In Yemen, thousands of children are dying from starvation due to a US-backed blockade on that country by Saudi Arabia in its war for regime change there. Why aren’t Donald Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and his spokesman Sean Spicer traumatized by these deaths? Why is the Western public also not outraged, traumatized?

In Syria, on Easter Saturday, April 15, busloads of civilians were murdered by terrorist suicide bombers, whom the Western governments and media refer to as «rebels». Over 120 civilians were massacred including 68 children. Where was the Western outrage at the images of charred children’s bodies hanging out of mangled buses? Indeed, the Western media coverage of that carnage was minimal and was downplayed with insidious words that the victims were «pro-regime supporters».

But the victims of the bus attacks were more numerous than those allegedly killed during the chemical weapons incident two weeks before at Khan Sheikhoun.

President Trump has condemned Syria’s Assad as an «animal» due to the alleged use of chemical weapons. Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has also called Assad a «monster». Clearly, the image-projection here is aimed at demonizing and dehumanizing the Syrian leader. Once that image-making is «successful» – and the saturation pejorative Western media coverage is crucial to that success – then a moral, legalistic mandate is created which allows Washington and its allies to escalate their aggression against Syria. Either through diplomatic sanctions at the United Nations or by military means with direct military force, as seen with Trump’s cruise missile barrage on April 7, or with increased support to proxy militant groups inside Syria.

All the while that Western governments and media have been demonizing Syria over alleged chemical weapons, the political-media campaign has also been directed at smearing Russia for alleged complicity because of its alliance with Syria.

Britain’s Johnson said earlier this month that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had «toxified» Russia’s international reputation by its alliance with Syria. The British diplomat’s choice of words betrayed an overly contrived attempt to push the propaganda theme.

In what should be seen as a transparently crude effort, the Western governments tried to splice Russia’s support for Syria by hyping up the «horror» of chemical weapons. The Western political momentum has since dissipated somewhat, but there was an obvious bid by the West in the days following the incident at Khan Sheikhoun to force an ultimatum on Moscow to abandon the Assad government, and to in effect cede to Western demands for regime change in Damascus.

Russia seems to have succeeded in rebuffing this tawdry tactic by holding firm to principles of international law and objective facts.

Last week, the UN-affiliated Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) issued a statement claiming that there was «incontrovertible evidence» that the lethal chemical weapon sarin was used in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4.

The OPCW did not say who used the alleged sarin. But the inference pushed by Western media was that it was the Syrian government.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov deprecated the OPCW as «discrediting» itself. The supposedly neutral, scientific organization was basing its conclusions on samples supplied by illegally armed groups, in a dubious chain of «evidence» that is neither impartial nor verifiable.

The «sarin conclusion» announced by the OPCW is in accordance with the assertions made by the US, Britain, France and Turkey. They are not disinterested parties. They are protagonists for regime change and sponsors of a covert war against the Syrian government since March 2011. Yet, audaciously, their partisan claims are afforded credibility by Western media.

Russia’s call last week for an impartial, on-site investigation into what actually happened at Sheikhoun was rejected by the Western governments. Russia’s demand for an independent probe was also supported by Iran and the Syrian government.

As Sergey Lavrov noted: «The spreading of false information on the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government is being used to move away from implementing UN resolutions on finding a peaceful settlement and instead to switch to the long-cherished objective of regime change».

There is abundant evidence that sarin was not the toxic agent used at Khan Sheikhoun on April 4. American MIT professor Theodore Postol, a highly accredited weapons expert, as well as neuroscientist Dr Denis O’Brien, are just two of many sources who have concluded from the observing the symptoms and circumstances that sarin could not have possibly been used.

There is abundant evidence too that the Western-backed regime-change militants in Syria have been involved in fabricating supposed «chemical weapons» incidents, creating media-ready videos which the Western news outlets have avidly disseminated and which Western governments have cited as «evidence» against Assad. That was the conclusion of the Swedish Doctors for Human Rights, among other reputable sources.

Considering that the only «evidence» for the latest chemical weapon incident on April 4 comes in the form of unverifiable videos supplied by terrorist-affiliated groups, it is highly plausible that the narrative put out by these groups, the Western governments and media is false. That narrative is that Syrian warplanes dropped chemical weapons on Khan Sheikhoun, killing over 80 civilians.

By contrast, it is plausible that the entire incident is an orchestrated fabrication. That is, that there was no chemical «weapon of mass destruction» used at Khan Sheikhoun. If a weapon of that sort were used, as alleged, then one would expect the death toll to be in the hundreds, if not thousands, as happened at Halabja in 1988 when up to 5,000 Kurdish civilians were massacred by the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Instead, what likely happened in Syria was simply the murder by intoxication of civilians by militants using lethal chemicals, such as cyanide or chlorine. Why were the supposed aid responders of the White Helmets not also poisoned if highly toxic sarin had been used? Why do the «responders» seem too preoccupied with making videos instead of actually treating victims with due medical care? Why have no sarin antidotes or decontaminants been requested or sent to Khan Sheikhoun in the days and weeks following the alleged attack?

Thus the militants and their media-savvy agents in the White Helmets (who are funded by Western military intelligence) could very well have staged the poisoning of unwitting civilians. The despicable, cynical act of homicide may not have even happened on the alleged date of April 4, or even in the alleged location of Khan Sheikhoun.

Bear in mind that it has been reported in the past that US and other Western military forces have «trained» the so-called Syrian «rebels» (terrorists) on the handling of lethal chemicals. Those Western media reports mendaciously spun the notion that the «rebels» were being trained in the event of Assad’s «chemical weapons arsenal being unleashed».

The Syrian government has repeatedly and categorically denied that its forces used chemical weapons at Khan Sheikhoun earlier this month or in any other incident. It says that all its chemical weapons were destroyed back in 2014 under a Russian-brokered deal, a result that was confirmed at the time by the OPCW.

Tenuously, the US Secretary of Defense James Mattis claimed last week that the Syrian government cheated the OPCW and secretly kept a portion of chemical weapons in reserve.

The Western narrative of chemical weapons (sarin) used by the Syrian government is riven with anomalies if interrogated with critical thinking. Indeed, when looked at with due skepticism, it is apparent that the Western narrative is not merely a misinformed, erroneous perspective. The whole affair is a deliberate, carefully constructed and delivered Western psychological operation, a false-flag propaganda stunt, to demonize and dehumanize the Syrian government in order to propel the Western agenda of regime change. The American CIA and British MI6 have been trying to implement regime change in Syria since 1949 in on-off clandestine projects. The chemical weapon of mass destruction allegation is but the latest ploy in a long-running project.

Western governments, their military intelligence agencies and the propaganda service of the corporate media have been working on this particular psychological operation for several years in Syria, going back to the first major «chemical weapon» incident in East Ghouta, near Damascus, in August 2013. That stunt failed to effectively demonize the Assad government then. But the Western operation has continued and evolved over time until its latest episode at Khan Sheikhoun on April 4. The «chemical weapon» nomenclature is spurious from the nature of the injuries inflicted. It is more likely an incident of mass poisoning by militants carried out on hapless victims, which is conveniently broadcast around the world by Western governments and media as a «chemical weapon of mass destruction» used by the «Assad regime».

What is overlooked, however, is the WMD weapon of mass disorientation being used against Western public. The disorientation of critical thinking, emotions and moral standards is deployed in order to more easily manipulate public consent for the Western governments’ criminal enterprise of regime change in Syria.

There is an abominable charade taking place before our very eyes. A charade in which supposedly «moral», «law-abiding», «democratic» Western governments are colluding with the most vile terror groups using the most vile means of deception and murder. Why this simple glaring truth is not recognized more widely by the Western public is because their own governments have deployed weapons of mass disorientation through dutiful mass media purporting to act as «news services».

israel’s war on Palestine’s water supplies: Remember the “making the deserts bloom” myth

Blowing Israel’s aqua-shenanigans out of the water

As Palestinians face Israeli-imposed water hardships, an Israeli firm makes money off extracting water from air to ‘quench global thirst’

High up on Israel’s list of fabricated and otherwise shamelessly embellished achievements is that of having allegedly “made the desert bloom” promptly after setting up shop on usurped Palestinian land in 1948.

Never mind that Palestine wasn’t exactly a desert – or that “blooming” techniques involved mass slaughter as well as plenty of ecological devastation. We mustn’t let facts get in the way of creation myths.

The image of Israel as aqua-messiah is, to put it mildly, a bit hard to swallow

In contemporary times, Israel has continued to market itself as a global pioneer in water technology and conservation, from drip irrigation systems to desalination.

Of course, some might argue that Israel has enjoyed an unfair competitive advantage in the water realm given that it has been able to dominate access to the valuable resource by diverting regional waterways in its favour and literally hijacking Palestinian aquifers.

Now, Israel is once again making disingenuous waves through the Israeli firm Water-Gen – which, a recent obsequious dispatch in the Times of Israel informs us, is “look[ing] to quench global thirst” by extracting water from air.

Scarce water – or stolen?

The Times explains that Water-Gen was founded by an ex-combat reconnaissance company commander in the Israeli military and is currently “controlled by Russian-Israeli billionaire Michael Mirilashvili,” vice president of the World Jewish Congress.

Among the many reasons the technology is so vital, we are told, is that some 1.2 billion people – nearly one-fifth of the Earth’s residents – live in areas of water scarcity, according to United Nations figures.

The UN website notes that an additional 500 million people are “approaching this situation, [and] another 1.6 billion… face economic water shortage (where countries lack the necessary infrastructure to take water from rivers and aquifers)”.

The Water-Gen website meanwhile adds that “water is still the world’s number one concern, as un-safe water kills more people then [sic] wars”.

Given that Israel has never exhibited any detectable qualms either about denying Palestinians access to safe water or about killing them, the image of Israel as aqua-messiah is, to put it mildly, a bit hard to swallow.

Consider a Jerusalem Post article published the very same day (16 April) as the Times of Israel piece on Water-Gen’s global thirst-quenching mission.

Palestinian protestors drink non-potable water during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip on on 11 October 2015, east of Gaza City (AFP)

The Post reports on the dire situation in the Gaza Strip, where fresh water is “a scarce commodity” and where recurring electricity crises are not helped by the fact that “damage from the Israeli bombing of the [Gaza power] plant in 2014 has yet to be fully repaired”.

The article quotes Robert Piper, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, who warns that the latest severe electricity crisis could help unleash a “perfect storm” that results in a Gaza Strip that is fundamentally uninhabitable – a conundrum, no doubt, for the two million people that reside there.

The Post continues: “When looking at the larger picture of the crisis, Piper was clear that the primary cause is the restrictions on the freedom of movement of goods and people through the three crossings into the Strip, which have made a viable economy impossible.”

When it rains . . .

Israel, on the other hand, has found plenty of lucrative economic opportunities in Palestinian repression – with Israeli security tricks and other punitive expertise marketed far and wide. (Water-Gen, for its part, is apparently also off to a good start, having recently signed deals with both India and Vietnam)

And while the West Bank may not lie on the direct path of the perfect storm threatening Gaza, the territory is hardly exempt from repression and plunder.

There, Israeli-imposed water hardships have ranged from prohibitive fees for Palestinian communities to drastic supply cuts to outright theft of Palestinian water for use in hydrating illegal Israeli settlers and filling their swimming pools and other accoutrements.

►READ: Israel’s systemic denial of Palestinians’ right to water 

In an email to me back in 2013, West Bank-based environmental expert Alice Gray highlighted some additional clever Israeli manoeuvres in the area, such as “preventing Palestinians from building sewage treatment plants… and then prosecuting them under international law for cross-border pollution”.

The previous year, an Oxfam briefing paper titled “On the Brink” noted that “water cisterns used by Palestinian farmers to collect rainwater are frequently demolished by the Israeli authorities, further limiting their ability to grow crops”.

In other words: when it rains it pours.

Total whitewash

But back to Water-Gen, whose new campaign has created more occasions for idioms – in the March Times of Israel headline: “At AIPAC, Dershowitz pulls water out of thin air.”

The character in question was, of course, former Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, tasked with an on-stage demonstration of Water-Gen technology at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference in Washington, DC.

It seems it’s not so much about nobly rescuing a hapless, thirsty planet. It’s about securing Israel’s image and with it its highly profitable spot in the international order

Dershowitz’s previous magic tricks include concocting a “continuum of civilianality” to provide legal justification for killing certain kinds of Arab civilians – as well as other behaviour suggesting that his place of employment might have been more aptly titled Harvard Psychiatric Ward.

As part of his AIPAC performance, Dershowitz effectively promoted Water-Gen to the frontlines of the battle against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights:

“I believe that there is no weapon more powerful in the fight against BDS than for Israel to develop technologies that the world cannot live without… You cannot boycott products that you can’t live without.”

In sum, it seems it’s not so much about nobly rescuing a hapless, thirsty planet. It’s about securing Israel’s image and with it its highly profitable spot in the international order – using water from thin air to whitewash a system of institutionalised apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

And that, surely, is something we can all live without.

Pimping for israel Remains Undiminished Since UN Report Branded It an Apartheid State

By Stuart Littlewood | American Herald Tribune | April 29, 2017

In the UK you can start a petition on the Government website. If it reaches 10,000 signatures you get a response from the Government. If it tops 100,000 it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

Currently there’s a petition saying the UK must apologise for the Balfour Declaration and lead peace efforts in Palestine. “We call on Her Majesty’s Government to openly apologise to the Palestinian people for issuing the Balfour Declaration. The colonial policy of Britain between 1917-1948 led to mass displacement of the Palestinian nation. HMG should recognise its role during the Mandate and now must lead attempts to reach a solution that ensures justice for the Palestinian people.”

The Government’s response is unhelpful to say the least:

“The Balfour Declaration is an historic statement for which HMG does not intend to apologise. We are proud of our role in creating the State of Israel. The task now is to encourage moves towards peace…

“Establishing a homeland for the Jewish people in the land to which they had such strong historical and religious ties was the right and moral thing to do… We recognise that the Declaration should have called for the protection of political rights of the non-Jewish communities in Palestine, particularly their right to self-determination. However, the important thing now is to look forward and establish security and justice for both Israelis and Palestinians through a lasting peace. We believe the best way to achieve this is through a two-state solution: a negotiated settlement that leads to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state, based on the 1967 borders with agreed land swaps, Jerusalem as the shared capital of both states, and a just, fair, agreed and realistic settlement for refugees.

“We believe that such negotiations will only succeed when they are conducted between Israelis and Palestinians…. If both parties show bold leadership, peace is possible. The UK is ready to do all it can to support this goal.”

– Foreign and Commonwealth Office

I wonder what bureaucratic nitwit wrote that. They’ve been spouting nonsense about “a two-state solution: a negotiated settlement that leads to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state” for decades and they know full well that it won’t happen without forcing measures. International law has spoken and waits to be implemented. World powers, if they truly respect the rule of law, must mobilise and apply it without fear or favour. Many experts are now saying that the international community’s conniving inaction has allowed Israel to establish enough ‘facts on the ground’ to make their illegal occupation permanent.

Note also the crude bias: “a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state”. No safety and security for Palestine, no sir! Just threadbare viability.

And who – ignoring all reports to the contrary – praised Israel recently for being “a thriving democracy, a beacon of tolerance” and said that the British government will be marking the centenary of the infamous Balfour Declaration later this year “with pride”? And who has invited the arch war criminal Netanyahu to the celebrations? None other than Britain’s prime minister Theresa May, the daughter of an Anglican priest and a regular churchgoer. What does that say about this righteous lady’s real values, real standards, and real concerns for the endless misery inflicted on her Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters in the Holy Land by Israel with its military boot on their necks?

And who hurriedly declared the Shai Masot affair “closed” after Masot, an employee of the Israeli embassy and probably a Mossad asset, plotted with gullible British MPs and political hangers-on to “take down” senior government figures? That’s right,  the Foreign Office and Boris Johnson, the UK’s clownish Foreign Secretary: “The UK has a strong relationship with Israel and we consider the matter closed,” they announced.

Meanwhile in the latest show of just how far how truth and freedom of expression have become subservient to Jewish sensibilities the Liberal Democrats have barred their former MP David Ward from standing for the party in the coming general election after its leader, Tim Farron, said his comments about Jews had been “deeply offensive, wrong and antisemitic”.

(David Ward. Image courtesy of Facebook)

Ward has ‘form’ in defying the Israel lobby. Yet he was selected by his local party to stand again for the seat he held from 2010 until 2015. But after criticism from Theresa May in the House of Commons and a meeting of senior LibDem officials, Farron said: “I believe in a politics that is open, tolerant and united. David Ward is unfit to represent the party and I have sacked him.”

Why is David Ward “unfit”? What exactly was his (alleged) crime?

Four years ago I reported that the Liberal Democrat leadership threw a mighty wobbly when Ward made this remark on his website: “I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza.”

Goaded by the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who complained that Ward’s remarks “deliberately abused the memory of the Holocaust” and were “sickening” and “offensive”, the party’s Chief Whip, Alistair Carmichael, agreed they were “wholly inappropriate” and that singling out ‘the Jews’ in that way crossed a red line.

Ward, who had visited Palestine and seen the truth for himself, was treated like a delinquent. Party leader Nick Clegg ordered him to work alongside the party’s Friends of Israel “to identify and agree language that will be proportionate and precise” in future debate. Disciplinary steps would then be reviewed.  Ward subsequently received a letter from Carmichael withdrawing the whip (i.e. suspending him from the parliamentary party). According to Sky News Carmichael wrote: “As we have sought to impress upon you repeatedly, we are having to decide on whether language you chose to use… is language which brings the party into disrepute or harms the interests of the Party.”

Carmichael banged on about the need for language that was proportionate and precise and how Ward’s language caused “considerable offence rather than addressing questions of political substance about the plight of the Palestinian people and the right of Israel’s citizens to live a life free of violence”. He claimed Ward misrepresented the views of the party. “We put it to you that your most recent statement – which specifically questions the continuing existence of the State of Israel – is neither proportionate nor precise.”

Carmichael’s reprimand plumbed new depths of stupidity where he said: “We have given you every opportunity to reconcile the expression of your views with the party’s policy on a two-state solution… the two-state solution for which the party has long argued.” Carmichael and Clegg, and especially Farron, really need to watch this video by Miko Peled. Same goes for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Peled is an Israeli Jew, the son of an Israeli general, and a former soldier in the Israeli army. You couldn’t find a more authentic insider source. He confirms in suitably proportionate and precise language what many others have been saying for years. Here’s a flavour.

“The name of the game: erasing Palestine, getting rid of the people and de-Arabizing the country…

“When people talk about the possibility of Israel somehow giving up the West Bank for a Palestinian state, if it wasn’t so sad it would be funny. It shows a complete misunderstanding of the objective of Zionism and the Zionist state.

“By 1993 the Israelis had achieved their mission to make the conquest of the West Bank irreversible. By 1993 the Israeli government knew for certain that a Palestinian state could not be established in the West Bank – the settlements were there, $ billions were invested, the entire Jordan River valley was settled… there was no place any more for a Palestinian state to be established. That is when Israel said, OK, we’ll begin negotiations…”

Peled also describes the Israeli army, in which he served, as “one of the best trained and best equipped and best fed terrorist organisations in the world.”

As for his punishment, Ward claimed his views were widely shared. “I will not apologise for describing the state of Israel as an apartheid state. I don’t know how you can describe it as anything else.”

Farron’s bully-boy tactics are completely at odds with the opinion of top legal experts who were recently asked for their views by Free Speech on Israel, Independent Jewish Voices, Jews for Justice for Palestinians and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. In a nutshell, those in public life cannot behave in a manner inconsistent with the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides for freedom of expression and applies not only to information or ideas that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive, but also to those that “offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population”.

There is a further obligation to allow all concerned in public debate “to express their opinions and ideas without fear, even if these opinions and ideas are contrary to those defended by the official authorities or by a large part of public opinion, or even if those opinions and ideas are irritating or offensive to the public”.

What’s more, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights says that everyone has the right to freedom of expression including “freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.”

Also, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says the same sort of thing, subject of course to the usual limitations required by law and respect for the rights of others.

Farron and his handlers have no excuse for treating David Ward like this. The big question-mark hangs over Farron himself, as to whether he’s fit to represent the LibDems let alone lead them.

ALLIANCE OF CONVENIENCE: WHY ISRAEL SUPPORTS ISIS? (SYRIANA ANALYSIS)

In Gaza

Apr 29, 2017, Syriana Analysis

Since the beginning of the war in Syria, Israel took the opportunity to pursue its strategic interests in the neighboring country, by tacitly and sometimes publicly allying itself with Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
Syriana Analysis addresses the recent bombings of Israel and US on Syria, elaborating the geopolitical goals behind these strikes.

*

Related: “Syria Lambasting Israel for Aiding ISIL”

Apr 20, 2017, Nizar Abboud:

“At the UN Security Council the Syrian delegate, Bashar Al-Jafari attacks Israel’s help to terrorist group, including ISIL in Syria.”

~Excerpts of what Ambassador Bashar al-Ja’afari stated:

“…it’s a very dubious silence that we meet here in the council regarding Israeli policies and practices. This is what has encouraged Israel to continue its practice of occupation and settlement building. It’s also why Israel has violated the plan of disengagement regarding the Golan and all issues related to combating terrorism.

It’s also why this is why Israel has offered its support to various armed terrorist groups in particular on the Syrian Golan, in particular than al-Nusra Front. This is a body this is a group that the United Nations considers as a terrorist group. Well, this group actually receives assistance from Israel.

Israel has facilitated the the movement of these terrorist groups through the line of demarcation line and as a result of that these groups have threatened the Syrian people and it’s the Qatari regime also that has offered its support to these groups.

Israel has not contented itself with offering support to these groups but in fact it has also tried to violate Syrian airspace and to attack Syria this took place on the seventeenth of March of this year in Palmyra. Israel provided its assistance to Da’esh which was present in the area there just then.

All this clearly shows that Israel and terrorism are the two sides of the same coin.

When we say that Israel and terrorism are indeed the two faces of the same coin we need to recall that the history of Zionism itself is a history of terrorism: The goal is to kill and to violate the rights of others, and to base itself on a legend of a religious state which in fact is against all international laws. In fact it’s a state that doesn’t respect the freedom, justice or any principle.

…A state that creates millions of refugees cannot speak of democracy, does not have the right to speak of human values does not have the right to speak like this even though it is responsible for chaos, for the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

When this entity it’s up continues to distort history, to rob territory, to perpetrate massacres against this Arab peoples who live under occupation.

We see that this state has an arsenal of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and it is protected by the member states of the Security Council even what as we have tried to create a nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East.

The world cannot disregard the fact that it is on the basis of the Balfour Declaration that this entity was created and this has had a serious impact on the history of humankind.

In fact a racist entity that excludes everyone else and that is based on an extremist religious ideology continues to operate in the region, which in many ways is hardly different from the methods used by Da’esh.

We insist on the Syrian sovereignty on occupied Golan based on the fourth of June 1967 borders. This is a right that is not subject to discussion, it is an inalienable right and we can this can not we cannot make any concessions on this. Our right on this has been violated and we have to make sure that this territory returns to its rightful owners.

We have to call on Israel to free Sedki al-Maket (also: Sedqi al-Maqt)–who we call the Syrian Mandela–and others who are in Israeli prisons for taking pictures, taking photos that prove that Israel is cooperating with the al-Nusra Front on the occupied Paris Syrian Golan these photos were taken this is why these the 2 Syrian individuals were arrested by Israel.”

Further Related Links:

–Syrian Ambassador to UN Address to Schiller Institute September 11 Memorial Conference, Sep 14, 2016 [VIDEO]

–Interview: Syrian Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Bashar al-Ja’afari on Sovereignty, Terrorism, and the Failure of the UN, Jan 17, 2015, Al-Akhbar, in Arabic, Global Research, Consortium News, Rabble.ca, Oriental Review, Uprooted Palestinians

–Scoundrels & Gangsters at UN: Silencing the Syrian Narrative, Feb 4, 2015, Russia Today, Global Research, Uprooted Palestinians, In Gaza

← “Zeinab, she was forced to watch the massacre of 116 children”–Vanessa Beeley on Terrorists’ Massacre of Foua Kafraya civilians

Why the West will never either defeat or forgive Russia

 

Historically, Russia has always fought intuitively for the survival of all mankind. Of course, the events do not always look this way. But whatever they look like, this huge country has repeatedly rebuffed the most powerful forces of evil which were becoming a threat to the very existence of our planet.

By Andre Vltchek

During the Second World War, the Soviet (mostly Russian) people sacrificed at least 25 million men, women and children for the sake of the victory over Nazism. No other country in the modern history has ever had to go through such hardship.

Right after this victory Russia, along with China and Cuba, launched the most incredible and noble project of all times: the systematic destruction of the Western colonialism. All over the world the oppressed masses rose up against the European and North American barbarity, and the Soviet Union was ready to become a beacon of hope for them, to provide them with substantial financial, ideological and military aid.

As the oppressed and disadvantaged nations, one after another, gained their independence, in all the capitals of the Western world there was growing hatred of the Soviet Union and the Russian people. After all, the looting of “non-white” continents was considered a natural right of the “civilised world”.

In the USA and Europe such words as “colonialism” and “imperialism” very quickly acquired a negative connotation, at least, outwardly. So demonising the Soviet Union (leaving alone attacking it) for supporting the struggle for liberation on all the continents would have been counterproductive. Instead, there were developed theories about the “Empire of evil”.

Russia has always been an “obstacle”. This enormous country has been preventing brutal plans of Washington, Berlin, London and Paris. Plans of controlling and plundering the entire world.

However, the more noble the deeds are, the dirtier the attacks on them become.

Russia has always been known for its incredible ability to mobilise its forces, to throw all its resources to achieve a single, deeply humanistic and moral, goal. In its struggle there has always been something sacred, something high and extremely important.

‘Arise, the great country, arise to fight to death!’. This is how begins one of the greatest patriotic songs of the World War II. When Russia is fighting, it is only the victory that is important for it. The victory at any cost.

Russia was destined to fight for the fate of the entire world. If you do not believe in fate, you’ll never understand the famous “Russian soul”. It is not about a religion, as for the most part Russia is anarchist and atheistic. But it believes in destiny and accepts it.

Besides, in most cases, Russia hardly had a choice. It was the end of mankind that was an alternative to the victory.

So, when the very existence of the world was under threat, Russia always rose – fierce and frightening but, at the same time, incredibly beautiful in its anger and determination. It fought with every handful of its land, with every heart of its people. And it almost always won. But it did so at a terrible price – having buried millions of its sons and daughters, and having plunged itself into the sea of ​​unimaginable sorrow and pain.

Moreover, there never was anyone nearby to comfort it. While the fires were still raging, while the faces of mothers and wives who had lost their close ones were still wet with tears, the country already was being spat upon, mocked and humiliated by the treacherous Western regimes and their propaganda.

Its heroism was belittled, its victims were mocked. It was alleged that its millions who had given their lives for mankind had actually died for nothing.

In exchange for its heroism Russia has never asked for anything, except for two basic things: recognition and respect. And yet, it has never received either.

Now Russia is rising again, it is beginning the epic struggle against the ISIS, a monstrous parody of the Muslim faith, created and armed by the West and its regional mean hangers.

Russia was forced to act. After all, who else could have done it? After centuries of the Crusades and barbarian colonialism of the West there is almost nothing left of the Middle East, one of the cradles of our civilisation. The Middle East, plundered and humiliated, has turned into a mosaic of miserable client states standing in service of the West. Tens of millions have been killed. All that could have been looted has been. The socialist and secular governments have been pressed to the wall and overthrown.

I have worked a lot in this region and can attest that, perhaps, with the exception for Africa, there is no greater victim of the West’s greed and barbarism in the world.

Syria and Iraq, two desperate, long suffering, mortally wounded countries, appealed to Russia for help. And it agreed to provide it.

Oh yes, I can already hear the cacophony of shrieks about the ‘Russian interests’ and ‘spheres of influence’, coming from Europe and the North America. Because there is nothing sacred in the West. There can not be anything sacred there. Because everything there is tainted with grim sarcasm and nihilism … If the West behaves like a thug, the picture of the rest of the world should also be drawn in the same colours. After all, the West has neither allies nor feelings. Only interests. It is not my idea, it was said to me over and over again when I was living and working in the destroyed parts of Africa.

But I do not care what they say in Paris and Washington. What matters is what they say in Iraq, Syria and Libya. And I will explain to you how things are there: if you go to the barber and say that you are Russian, the people will rise, hug you and weep.

Russia will never attack other countries, but if it comes under attack itself, its fury can be terrifying, especially during a war. ‘Who comes to us with a sword, shall perish by the sword!’, said the Novgorod prince Alexander Nevsky in the XIII century.

The recent incident with the Russian bomber that was shot down over Syria by the Turkish Air Force increases the risk of a wider regional war. Turkey, a NATO member country, is spreading terror all over the region: from Libya and Somalia to Iraq, Syria and its own Kurdish territories. It is torturing people, destroying a lot of them (including journalists), robbing millions of their natural resources and dissipating (mostly with Qatar’s money) the most extremist Islamist teachings.

I met Recep Tayyip Erdogan many years ago, in the early 1990s in Istanbul when he was still the mayor of the city, and I was “licking my wounds” after the publication about the West systematically destroying Yugoslavia.

‘Do you speak Turkish?, he asked me once.

‘Not very well,’ I replied. ‘Just a little’.

‘But you know perfectly well how to pronounce the name of our party!’, he exclaimed. ‘This proves how important we are’.

From the very first meeting I realised that he was an aggressive villain with delusions of grandeur and the inferiority complex. And yet, I had no idea that he would go so far. But that is exactly where he has gone. And because of it millions of people are suffering all over the region.

Now he has shot down the Russian bomber and invaded Iraq.

Turkey has repeatedly fought with Russia and almost always lost. Moreover, in the period between the two world wars it was able to survive only with the help of the Soviet Union. So, it should have twice thought over the next step.

Russia does not just “wage wars”. Its struggle for the survival of mankind is nothing but a work of art, poetry, a symphony. It’s hard to explain but it’s true. Everything is intertwined there.

To meanly shoot down the Russian Su-24 is the same thing as to spit on the graves of 25 millions who died in the Second World War. It is a disgusting and stupid move. In Russia people do not act like this. In Russia, if you want to fight, you fight face to face with your adversary.

But if you kill like a coward, if you invade devastated neighbouring countries, one day it can be not the Su-24 that you will see in the sky, but heavy bombers.

Russia can not be defeated. There are many reasons for that. One of them is very pragmatic: it is a nuclear superpower. Another is that Russia usually fights for a just cause. And it does it with all its might and with all its heart.

But for Russia, the planet Earth would no longer exist. At least, in the form we are used to seeing it in. The West and its Christian fascist states would fully control the world. And they would treat “sub-people” like animals (even worse than they are doing now); there would be no boundaries, no limits to theft and destruction.

The so-called “civilised world” (the one that builds its theatres and schools on the bones of the others) would, without the slightest resistance, go to the full control over our planet.

Fortunately, Russia exists. And it can not be defeated. No one will ever manage to do it. And that is why the West will never forgive it for standing up for the poor and oppressed.

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire” and  “Fighting Against Western Imperialism“.  Discussion with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania – a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear“. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.

Posted January 24, 2016

Pravda

 

Jaish Al-Islam executes Al-Qaeda commander as rival jihadists slaughter each other in Damascus

By

Chris Tomson

–

29/04/2017

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (9:45 P.M.) – Infighting in the East Ghouta peaked on Saturday as jihadist factions clashed with one another on an unprecident scale, leading to the death of a high-ranking commander of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS).

With dozens more killed in the inter-rebel clashes, HTS chief Abu Ayyoub Tasni was shot dead by Jaish Al-Islam just two days after being arrested in the town of Irbeen.

Jaish Al-Islam, a Saudi-funded group, is the largest East Ghouta rebel faction. It is now opposed by HTS, Failaq Al-Rahman (Free Syrian Army group) and Ahrar Al-Sham.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) watches with delight from afar. Only three insurgent pockets are left in and around the Syrian capital.

Government forces are currently trying to wrestle control of Al-Qaboun and Barzeh. Once this urban area of East Damascus is liquidated, the SAA will launch a brand new East Ghouta offensive, sources inform Al-Masdar News.

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I Lament Dershowitz’ Defeat?

April 28, 2017  /  Gilad Atzmon

By Gilad Atzmon

Alan Dershowitz, used to be my arch detractor. He chased, harassed and intimidated professors who endorsed my work. He campaigned against venues that hosted my music. Not that long ago Dershowitz saw me  as Israel’s most dangerous enemy. He even, at one stage, complained about my “obscure” sax playing.

He did it all in vain.  Dershowitz has been bitterly defeated on each and every battle he picked against me. Not a single scholar surrendered to his pressure, not even one withdrew his or her endorsement of my work. They practically just laughed to his face. Not a single institution bowed to his pressure either as he himself admits. Dershowitz has now learned the lesson. The ethnic cleanser enthusiast has raised a white flag.

Simon Hardy Butler, a NYC morbid character who writes for the Times of Israel (when he isn’t making ‘culinary videos’ that no one watches except his mother)  was stupid enough to report this week that Dershowitz ran away when he was asked to interfere against my appearance at Theater 80 on Sunday 30 April.

“What do you suggest I do” was Dershowitz’ answer to the Zionist call for action against the“notorious anti-Semite Gilad Atzmon.”

Simon Butler, himself a dubious pathological case, wasn’t impressed. He suggested to Dershowitz to write an editorial in a major New York publication, such as the New York Daily News. “He has done this sort of thing before. Why not do it again …” But Dershowitz declined. Unfortunately, he had enough.

The truth of the matter is that Dershowitz was an elementary part of my marketing strategy. We worked very well together.  He was my favourite  enemy. The man is  known to be a compulsive liar and easy to rebut. His constant frenzy is amusing on the verge of proper entertainment. Out of the Jewish media ghetto Dershowitz is largely perceived as a clown. The ardent Zionist has managed to sell thousands of copies of The Wandering Who?  The more he engaged in my destruction the more he made himself into the archetypical ‘wandering who’.  Dershowitz was my best publicity asset. He will be missed. I actually lament his defeat.

Watch Dershowitz making The Wandering Who  into a best seller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdDJvJJsVsU

The Rise of the Generals

By Patrick Buchanan April 28, 2017 “Information Clearing House” – Has President Donald Trump outsourced foreign policy to the generals? So it would seem. Candidate Trump held out his hand to Vladimir Putin. He rejected further U.S. intervention in Syria other than to smash ISIS. He spoke of getting out and staying out of the misbegotten Middle East wars into which Presidents Bush II and Obama had plunged the country. President Trump’s seeming renunciation of an anti-interventionist foreign policy is the great surprise of the first 100 days, and the most ominous. For any new war could vitiate the Trump mandate and consume his presidency. Trump no longer calls NATO “obsolete,” but moves U.S. troops toward Russia in the Baltic and eastern Balkans. Rex Tillerson, holder of Russia’s Order of Friendship, now warns that the U.S. will not lift sanctions on Russia until she gets out of Ukraine. If Tillerson is not bluffing, that would rule out any rapprochement in the Trump presidency. For neither Putin, nor any successor, could surrender Crimea and survive. What happened to the Trump of 2016? When did Kiev’s claim to Crimea become more crucial to us than a cooperative relationship with a nuclear-armed Russia? In 1991, Bush I and Secretary of State James Baker thought the very idea of Ukraine’s independence was the product of a “suicidal nationalism.” Where do we think this demonization of Putin and ostracism of Russia is going to lead? To get Xi Jinping to help with our Pyongyang problem, Trump has dropped all talk of befriending Taiwan, backed off Tillerson’s warning to Beijing to vacate its fortified reefs in the South China Sea, and held out promises of major concessions to Beijing in future trade deals. “I like (Xi Jinping) and I believe he likes me a lot,” Trump said this week. One recalls FDR admonishing Churchill, “I think I can personally handle Stalin better than … your Foreign Office … Stalin hates the guts of all your people. He thinks he likes me better.” FDR did not live to see what a fool Stalin had made of him. Among the achievements celebrated in Trump’s first 100 days are the 59 cruise missiles launched at the Syrian airfield from which the gas attack on civilians allegedly came, and the dropping of the 22,000-pound MOAB bomb in Afghanistan. But what did these bombings accomplish? The War Party seems again ascendant. John McCain and Lindsey Graham are happy campers. In Afghanistan, the U.S. commander is calling for thousands more U.S. troops to assist the 8,500 still there, to stabilize an Afghan regime and army that is steadily losing ground to the Taliban. Iran is back on the front burner. While Tillerson concedes that Tehran is in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, Trump says it is violating “the spirit of the agreement.” How so? Says Tillerson, Iran is “destabilizing” the region, and threatening U.S. interests in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon. But Iran is an ally of Syria and was invited in to help the U.N.-recognized government put down an insurrection that contains elements of al-Qaida and ISIS. It is we, the Turks, Saudis and Gulf Arabs who have been backing the rebels seeking to overthrow the regime. In Yemen, Houthi rebels overthrew and expelled a Saudi satrap. The bombing, blockading and intervention with troops is being done by Saudi and Sunni Arabs, assisted by the U.S. Navy and Air Force. It is we and the Saudis who are talking of closing the Yemeni port of Hodeida, which could bring on widespread starvation. It was not Iran, but the U.S. that invaded Iraq, overthrew the Baghdad regime and occupied the country. It was not Iran that overthrew Col. Gadhafi and created the current disaster in Libya. Monday, the USS Mahan fired a flare to warn off an Iranian patrol boat, 1,000 meters away. Supposedly, this was a provocation. But Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif had a point when he tweeted: “Breaking: Our Navy operates in – yes, correct – the Persian Gulf, not the Gulf of Mexico. Question is what US Navy doing 7,500 miles from home.” Who is behind the seeming conversion of Trump to hawk? The generals, Bibi Netanyahu and the neocons, Congressional hawks with Cold War mindsets, the Saudi royal family and the Gulf Arabs – they are winning the battle for the president’s mind. And their agenda for America? We are to recognize that our true enemy in the Mideast is not al-Qaida or ISIS, but Shiite Iran and Hezbollah, Assad’s Syria and his patron, Putin. And until Hezbollah is eviscerated, Assad is gone, and Iran is smashed the way we did Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen, the flowering of Middle East democracy that we all seek cannot truly begin. But before President Trump proceeds along the path laid out for him by his generals, brave and patriotic men that they are, he should discover if any of them opposed any of the idiotic wars of the last 15 years, beginning with that greatest of strategic blunders – George Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of a new book, out in May, “Nixon’s White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever.” To find out more about Patrick Buchanan and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at www.creators.com . The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.

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Weekly report on israel’s terrorism against the State of Palestine (20 – 26 April 2017)

20 – 26 April 2017 – Palestinian Center for Human Rights

Israeli forces continue systematic crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)

(20 – 26 April 2017)

 

 

• 15 Palestinian civilians, including an Israeli peace activist, were wounded in the West Bank.
• Among the wounded were 5 children and 2 women. The 2 women were wounded in occupied Jerusalem.

• Israeli forces continued to target the Gaza Strip border areas, but no casualties were reported.

• Israeli forces conducted 54 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 8 ones in occupied Jerusalem.
• 47 civilians, including 10 children, were arrested in the West Bank.
• 7 of them, including a child, were arrested in occupied Jerusalem.

• Israeli forces continued settlement activities in the West Bank.
• 5 commercial facilities at the western entrance to Ni’lin village, west of Ramallah, were demolished.
• Settlers set fire to 3 cars in Hawarah village, south of Nablus, and attacked a family in the same village.

• Israeli forces continued to target the Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip Sea.

• Israeli forces turned the West Bank into cantons and continued to impose the illegal closure on the Gaza Strip for the 10^th
• Dozens of temporary checkpoints were established in the West Bank and others were re-established to obstruct the movement of Palestinian civilians.
• 10 civilians, including 4 children and a woman, were arrested at military checkpoints in the West Bank.

 

 

Summary

Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law in the oPt continued during the reporting period (20 – 26 April 2017).

 

Shooting:

During the reporting period, Israeli forces wounded 15 Palestinian civilians and an Israeli peace activist. Among the wounded were 5 children while 2 women were wounded in occupied Jerusalem. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces continued to pursuit the Palestinian fishermen in the sea and open fire at Palestinian farmers at the border areas.

 

In the West Bank, on 21 April 2017, 5 Palestinian civilians and an Israeli peace activist were wounded during Kufor Qaddoum weekly protest, northeast of Qalqilya. Among the wounded was journalist Anal al-Jada’ (26), who was hit by a gas canister to the right leg.

 

On 22 April 2017, So’ad Abu Romoz (43) sustained shrapnel wound to the leg during a peaceful protest in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails. The protest was organized in Silwan village, south of Jerusalem’s Old City.

 

On the same day also, Fatima Obaid (52) sustained a bullet wound to the left eye when Israeli forces moved into al-Eisawiya village, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, following a dispute between 2 families in the village. The aforementioned woman was wounded when she was in the balcony of her house on the 5^th floor.

 

On the same day, 2 Palestinian civilians sustained bullet wounds when a group of settlers under the protection of Israeli forces  moved into the outskirts of Ourif village, south of Nablus. When Palestinians confronted them, Israeli soldier opened fire wounding the 2 aforementioned persons.

 

On 23 April 2017, 4 protestors, including 3 children, were wounded to the lower limbs when Israeli forces opened fire at dozens of Palestinian protesting in support of the Palestinian prisoners at the northern entrance to al-Bireh.

 

On the same day also, 3 children were wounded, one of them was arrested, when Israeli forces moved into Kufor Malek village, northeast of Ramallah.

 

On 25 April 2017, Amjad Maher Saleh (17), from Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, sustained serious bullet wounds when Israeli forces stationed at Hawara checkpoint, south of the city, opened fire at him. Israeli soldiers claimed that he “attempted to stab 2 Israeli soldiers guarding a bust stop near the checkpoint.”

 

On 26 April 2017, Saleh Ali Saleh (16), from Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, was wounded when Israeli forces stationed at Hawara checkpoint, south of the city, opened fire at him. Israeli soldiers claimed that he “attempted to stab the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint.” Israeli soldiers arrested him and he was then taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva in Israel.

 

In the Gaza Strip, concerning Israeli attacks on fishermen in the Gaza Strip sea, on 25 April 2017, Israeli navy forces opened fire at the Palestinian fishing boats sailing within 3 nautical miles, west of Beit Lahia shore, north of the Gaza Strip. A similar attack recurred in the same area on 26 April 2017. Neither casualties nor material damage were reported.

 

In the context of targeting the border areas, on 26 April 2017, Israeli forces stationed at the border fence, east of Beit Hanoun village, north of the Gaza Strip, opened fire at the area, but neither casualties nor material damage were reported.

 

Incursions:

 

During the reporting period, Israeli forces conducted at least 54 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During these incursions, Israeli forces arrested at least 47 Palestinian civilians, including 10 children. Seven of them, including a child, were arrested in occupied Jerusalem, while another was arrested while participating in a protest supporting the Palestinian prisoners.

 

Restrictions on movement:

 

Israel continued to impose a tight closure of the oPt, imposing severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

 

The illegal closure of the Gaza Strip, which has been steadily tightened since June 2007 has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.  The Israeli authorities impose measures to undermine the freedom of trade, including the basic needs for the Gaza Strip population and the agricultural and industrial products to be exported. For 9 consecutive years, Israel has tightened the land and naval closure to isolate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and other countries around the world. This resulted in grave violations of the economic, social and cultural rights and a deterioration of living conditions for 2 million people.  The Israeli authorities have established Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shaloum) as the sole crossing for imports and exports in order to exercise its control over the Gaza Strip’s economy.  They also aim at imposing a complete ban on the Gaza Strip’s exports. The Israeli closure raised the rate of poverty to 65%. Moreover, the rate of unemployment increased up to 47% and youth constitutes 65% of the unemployed persons.  Moreover, 80% of the Gaza Strip population depends on international aid to secure their minimum daily needs. These rates indicate the unprecedented economic deterioration in the Gaza Strip.

 

In the West Bank, Israeli forces continued to suffocate the Palestinian cities and village by imposing military checkpoints around and/or between them. This created “cantons” isolated from each other that hinders the movement of civilians. Moreover, the Palestinian civilians suffering aggravated because of the annexation wall and checkpoints erected on daily basis to catch Palestinians.

 

Settlement activities

 

On 23 April 2017, Israeli forces handed Ismail and Elayan Hassan Awad notices to halt works in 2 agricultural barracks in al-Masafer area, southeast of Yatta, south of Hebron.

 

On 25 April 2017, Israeli forces demolished 5 facilities used for commercial purposes, west of Ni’lin village, west of Ramallah. The targeted facilities were built of wood and roofed with tin plates.

 

In a similar context, on 22 April 2017, a group of settlers moved into the outskirts of Ourif village, south of Nablus. They damaged the glass of 2 cars and attempted to burn one of them.

 

On the same day, a group of settlers attacked Mohammed Ouda from Hawara village, south of Nablus, and his mother-in-law and his brother with stones. As a result, they sustained bruises and were then taken to Rafidiya hospital in Nablus. Moreover, the settlers damaged the windows of Ouda’s house and his neighbour’s.

 

On 26 April 2017, settlers set fire to a care in Hawara village, south of Nablus. In the early morning, the Israeli liaison officers came and inspected the scene. They also took the video recorded by surveillance cameras of a nearby restaurant.

Details

 

1. Incursions into Palestinian Areas, and Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

 

Thursday, 20 April 2017

 

• At approximately 01:00, Israeli forces moved into Nablus and stationed in the eastern side of the city. They raided and searched a house belonging to ‘Obadah Jamal Duwaikat (21) from Balatet al-Balad and then arrested him.

 

• Around the same time, Israeli forces moved into Qalqiliyah. They raided and searched a house belonging to Saji Mohammed Abdul Latif Abu ‘Ethbah (21) and then arrested him.

 

• At approximately 01:30, Israeli forces moved into Beit Ummer village, north of Hebron. They raided and searched a house belonging to Ahmed Mohammed Abdul Qader al-‘Omari (63), Director of Beit Ommar Orphans’ Care Society, and then arrested him.

 

• At approximately 11:30, Israeli forces moved into Marj Naa’jah village, north of Jericho,. They raided and searched a house belonging to Fayez Fawaz ‘Ayed (33) and then arrested him.

 

Note: During the aforementioned day, Israeli forces conducted (5) incursions in the following areas and no arrests were reported: Selwad village, northeast of Ramallah; Sa’ir, al-Shyoukh, al-Burj and Beit al-Roush villages.

 

Friday, 21 April 2017

 

• At approximately 02:00, Israeli forces moved into Surif village, northwest of Hebron. They raided and searched a house belonging to Taqi Eden Jamal al-Hour (23) and then arrested him. After that, the Israeli soldiers raided and searched a house belonging to Baraa’ Husain Hmaidat (24) and then arrested him as well.

 

Note: During the aforementioned day, Israeli forces conducted (3) incursions in the following areas and no arrests were reported: Hebron; Bani Na’im and Howarah villages, south of Nablus.

 

Saturday, 22 April 2017

 

• At approximately 03:00, Israeli forces moved into Beit Sahour and stationed in Wad Abu Farihah area. They raided and searched a house belonging to Tareq Mousa ‘Obayat (28) and handed him a summons to refer to the Israeli Intelligence Service in “Gush Etzion” settlement complex, south of Bethlehem.

 

Note: During the aforementioned day, Israeli forces conducted (4) incursions in the following areas and no arrests were reported: Burin village, south of Nablus; Jeet village, northeast of Qalqiliyah and al-Samou’i and al- Hadab villages in Hebron.

 

Sunday, 23 April 2017

 

• At approximately 01:00, Israeli forces moved into Beit Fajjar village, west of Bethlehem. They raided and searched a number of houses and then arrested 3 civilians namely Mohammed Ja’far Taqatqah (19), Mahmoud Abdullah ‘Ali (19) and ‘Alaa’ Marwan Taqatqah (19). They also handed summonses to 3 other civilians namely As’ad Ahmed Thawabtah (28), ‘Ali Mustafa Taqatqah (27) and ‘Alaa’ Khalid Sammour (27) to refer to the Israeli Intelligence Service in “Kfar Etzion” settlement complex, south of the city.

 

• Around the same time, Israeli forces moved into Husan village, west of Bethlehem. They raided and searched a number of houses after which they arrested Ismail Jamil Hamamrah (48).

 

• At approximately 01:30, Israeli forces moved into al-Duheishah refugee camp, south of Bethlehem. They raided and searched a number of houses and then arrested Eyad Bassam al-Farahin (21) and Ismail Najib Faraj (23).

 

• Around the same time, Israeli forces moved into al-Khader village, south of Bethlehem. They raided and searched a number of houses and then arrested Saleh Rezeq Mousa (18).

 

• Around the same time, Israeli forces moved into Bethlehem and stationed in al-Saf Street. They raided and searched a number of houses and then arrested Samer Sameer Shanteer (18).

 

• At approximately 02:00, Israeli forces moved into Nour Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarm. They raided and searched several houses after which they arrested 3 civilians namely Ibrahim Yasir Suleiman Fahmawi (24), Mahmoud Fawaz Qasem Abu Srais (20) and Naser Ahmed Suleiman al-Khatib (22).

 

• At approximately 02:30, Israeli forces moved into Handazah Mount area, east of Bethlehem. They raided and searched a house belonging to Anas Ismail Nowarah (23) and then handed him a summons to refer to the Israeli Intelligence Service in “Gush Etzion” settlement complex, south of the city.

 

• At approximately 18:30, Israeli forces moved into Kufur Malek village, northeast of Ramallah, and patrolled in the streets. A number of youngsters gathered and threw stones at the Israeli jeeps. The Israeli soldiers fired live bullets, sound bombs, tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets in response. As a result, 3 children sustained wounds. Mahmoud Ibrahim Mubarak (15) was injured and then arrested. The Israeli forces took him to a hospital in Israel. The nature of his wound was not identified because of his arrest. As for the 2 other children, a 15-year-old child sustained a live bullet wound to the left shoulder and a 17-year-old child was hit with a live bullet that entered the lower back and exited the belly. The 2 injured civilians were taken to Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah to receive medical treatment. Their wounds were classified as moderate.

 

Note: During the aforementioned day, Israeli forces conducted (3) incursions in the following areas and no arrests were reported: Dura, al-Majd and Deir Samet village in Hebron.

 

Monday, 24 April 2017

 

• At approximately 01:00, Israeli forces moved into al-Masaken al-Sha’biyah neighborhood, east of Nablus. They raided and searched a house belonging to Emad Darar al-Aghbar (20) claiming that he carried out a stab attack in Tel Aviv on the previous day. They questioned his family on the spot and then searched the house. The Israeli forces withdrew later, but no arrests were reported. It should be noted that al-Aghbar is a student in the Sport Faculty in An-Najah National University in Nablus.

 

• At approximately 01:30, Israeli forces moved into al-Nabi Saleh village, northwest of Ramallah. They raided and searched several houses then arrested 6 civilians, including 3 children, namely Mohammed Fadel al-Tamimi (14), Ahmed Shaker al-Tamimi (14), his Mahmoud (19), Ahmed Sami al-Tamimi (17), Basel Abdul Elah al-Tamimi (19) and ‘Asem Samih al-Tamimi (18).

 

• Around the same time, Israeli forces moved into Beit Ummer village, north of Hebron, and stationed in al-Thaher area. They raided and searched 2 houses belonging to Mohammed Husain Mustafa Abu Mariyah (18) and Ahmed ‘Adel al-Za’aqiq (18) and handed them summonses to refer to the Israeli Intelligence Service in “Gush Etzion” settlement complex, south of Bethlehem. At approximately 09:00, al-Za’aqiq’s family received a call from the Israeli police informing them their son was arrested.

 

• At approximately 02:00, Israeli forces moved into al-Karmel area, west of Yatta, south of Hebron. They raided and searched  3 houses belonging to Sami ‘Essa al-‘Adrah, Mohammed ‘Ayed Abu ‘Aram and Mohammed Abu ‘Aram. They then withdrew, but no arrests were reported.

 

Note: During the aforementioned day, Israeli forces conducted (6) incursions in the following areas and no arrests were reported: Hebron, Tarqumiya, Sa’ir, Beit Oula, Jayyous and Kufur Qaddoum villages, northeast of Qalqiliyah.

 

Tuesday, 25 April 2017

 

• At approximately 01:00, Israeli forces moved into ‘Asker refugee camp, northeast of Nablus. They raided and searched a number of houses and then arrested 5 civilians namely Mahmoud Abdullah al-Jabji (28), Mohammed Sameer al-Asmer (20), Jameel Salah Eden al-Aqraa’ 922), his brother Ezz Eden (19) and Ahmed Khaled Ahmed Rezq (30).

 

• Around the same time, Israeli forces moved into al-Duheishah refugee camp, south of Bethlehem. They raided and searched a house belonging to Eyad al-Masri and then arrested his son Mohammed (13).

 

• At approximately 02:00, Israeli forces moved into Beit Fajjar village, south of Bethlehem. they raided and searched a number of houses and then arrested Khaled Husain Deriyah (17) and Sanad Amjad Taqatqa (15) and then handed Ahmed Majed Deriyah (18) a summons to refer to the Israeli Intelligence Service in “Gush Etizion” settlement complex, south of the city.

 

• At approximately 02:30, Israeli forces moved into al-Am’aari refugee camp, south of Ramallah. They raided and searched a house belonging to Eslam Nemer Rommanah (20) and then arrested him.

 

• At approximately 07:45, Israeli gunboats stationed offshore, northwest of Beit Lahia village in the northern Gaza Strip, opened fire sporadically at Palestinian fishing boats sailing within 3 nautical miles and chased them. As a result, the fishermen were forced to flee for fear of their lives, but neither casualties nor material damage were reported.

 

• At approximately 15:00, Israeli forces stationed in Howarah checkpoint, south of Nablus, opened fire at Amjad Maher Ja’far ‘Ali Saleh (17) from Balata refugee camp, east of the city. Eyewitnesses said to PCHR’s fieldworker that the abovementioned child stepped out of a taxi coming from Nablus and was 100 meters away from the abovementioned checkpoint, so the soldiers fired live bullets at him and then arrested him. They claimed that he attempted to stab 2 Golani Brigade officers guarding a bus station near the abovementioned checkpoint, so the Israeli soldiers opened fire at him causing him serious wounds to the upper part of the body. The wounded child was transferred to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva in Israel. His injury was classified as serious. It should be noted that none of the Israeli soldiers was injured.

 

Note: During the aforementioned day, Israeli forces conducted (5) incursions in the following areas and no arrests were reported: Kufur Qadoum and Jeet villages, northeast of Qalqiliyah, Ethna, Beit Oula and Bani Na’im villages in Hebron.

 

Wednesday, 26 April 2017

 

• At approximately 01:00, Israeli forces moved into ‘Aydah refugee camp, north of Bethlehem. They raided and searched a house belonging to Sami Ismail ‘Elyan (18) and then arrested him.

 

• Around the same time, Israeli forces moved into Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus. They raided and searched a house belonging to the arrested child Amjad Maher Ja’far ‘Ali Salah, who was accused of carrying out a stab attack at Howarah checkpoint on the previous day. The soldiers questioned his family members and then withdrew.

 

• At approximately 01:30, Israeli forces moved into Yatta, south of Hebron. They raided and searched a house belonging to Yusuf Mohammed al-Najjar (30) and then arrested him.

 

• At approximately 06:45, Israeli gunboats stationed offshore, northwest of Beit Lahia village in the northern Gaza Strip, opened fire sporadically at Palestinian fishing boats sailing within 3 nautical miles and chased them. The shooting continued until about 11:00. As a  result, the fishermen were forced to flee for fear of their lives, but neither casualties nor material damage were reported.

 

• At approximately 10:00, Israeli forces stationed in military watchtowers along the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Beit Hanoun village in the northern Gaza Strip, opened fire at the border area, al-Ahmer area and east of al-Burah area. As a result, Palestinian farmers, bird hunters and shepherds, who were in the area, were forced to flee for fear of their lives, but no casualties were reported.

 

• At approximately 13:40, Israeli forces stationed at Howarah checkpoint, south of Nablus, opened fire at Saleh ‘Ali Ja’far ‘Ali Saleh (16) from Balata refugee camp, east of the city, causing him moderate wounds. They claimed that he attempted to carry out a stab attack against the soldiers stationed at the abovementioned checkpoint. They arrested him and took him by an Israeli ambulance to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva in Israel. It should be noted that Seleh is Amjad’s cousin, who was injured on the previous day in the same area for the same reason.

 

Note: During the aforementioned day, Israeli forces conducted (3) incursions in the following areas and no arrests were reported: al-Fawar refugee camp and Kharas village in Hebron; Howarah village, south of Nablus.

 

• Use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrations protesting settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall

 

West Bank:

 

• At approximately 13:30 on Thursday, 20 April 2017, a number of young men organized a peaceful protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, who went on a hunger strike, near the entrance of “Ofer” military camp in Betounia and Rafat villages, west of Ramallah. The protestors threw stones and empty bottles at the Israeli soldiers, who fired sound bombs, tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets in response and chased them. As a result, a number of the civilian sustained tear gas inhalation and were fainted. They received medical treatment on the spot.

 

• At approximately 12:40 on Friday, 21 April 2017, Palestinian civilians and International activists organized a demonstration in the center of Kufur Qaddoum village, northeast of Qalqiliyah. They made their way towards the eastern entrance to the village in protest against closing that entrance since al-Aqsa Intifada with an iron gate. When the protestors arrived at the abovementioned entrance, the Israeli forces heavily fired metal bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters. As a result, 5 civilians, including an Israeli activist sustained wounds. Among the protestors was Anal al-Jadaa’ (26), Palestinian journalist, who was hit with tear gas canister to the right leg. (PCHR keeps the names of the wounded civilians)

 

• Following the Friday prayer, dozens of Palestinian civilians and Israeli and international human rights defenders organized demonstrations in Bil’in and Nil’in villages, west of Ramallah, and in Nabi Saleh village, northwest of the city, protesting against the annexation wall and settlement activities. Israeli forces forcibly dispersed the protestors, fired live and metal bullets, tear gas canisters and sound bombs. They also chased the protesters into olive fields and between houses. As a result, many of the protesters suffered tear gas inhalation as they received medical treatment on the spot. The Israeli soldiers also attacked and beat Mohammed Nathmi Qawar (31) and then arrested him.

 

• Following the same Friday prayer, hundreds of Palestinians organized a demonstration in solidarity with prisoners in the Israeli jails marking the Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and prisoners starting a hunger strike. The demonstration was organized by the factions and organizations in Bethlehem along with school and university students. The protestors made their way towards the northern entrance to Bethlehem as they raised flags and slogans supporting the prisoners in their hunger strike and calling upon the international community to support prisoners in their fair demands. When the protestors arrived at Checkpoint (300), north of the city, the soldiers fired tear gas canisters, sound bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets at them. As a result, many civilians sustained tear gas inhalation and fainted. They received medical treatment on the spot.

 

• On Friday afternoon, hundreds of Palestinian civilians performed prayers at Beta village entrance, southeast of Nablus. The protest was organized by the national and Islamic powers in the village and the nearby villages to perform prayers in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners, who went on a hunger strike in the Israeli prisons. Following the prayers, the civilians sat fire on rubber tires expressing their disapproval of what the prisoners conditions in the Israeli jails. Several Israeli military jeeps rushed to the area as the soldiers fired tear gas canisters to disperse the civilians. As a result, dozens of the civilians sustained tear gas inhalation and received medical treatment on the spot.

 

• At approximately 14:30 on Sunday, 23 April 2017, dozens of Palestinian civilians organized a protest in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails at the northern entrance of al-Birah. The protestors threw stones and empty bottles at the Israeli soldiers stationed at “al-Mahkamah” checkpoint established near “Beit Eil” settlement, north of the city. When the protestors approached the abovementioned checkpoint, the soldiers fired live bullets, tear gas canisters, sound bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets at them. As a result, 4 civilians, including 3 children, sustained live bullet wounds to the lower limbs of their bodies. The wounded civilians were transferred to Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah to receive medical treatment. Their injuries were classified as moderate. (PCHR keeps the names of the other wounded civilians).

 

 

2. Continued closure of the oPt

 

Israel continued to impose a tight closure on the oPt, imposing severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

 

Gaza Strip

 

Israeli forces continuously tighten the closure of the Gaza Strip and close all commercial crossings, making the Karm Abu Salem crossing the sole commercial crossing of the Gaza Strip, although it is not suitable for commercial purposes in terms of its operational capacity and distance from markets.

Israeli forces have continued to apply the policy, which is aimed to tighten the closure on all commercial crossings, by imposing total control over the flow of imports and exports.

 

Israeli forces have continued to impose a total ban on the delivery of raw materials to the Gaza Strip, except for very limited items and quantities. The limited quantities of raw materials allowed into Gaza do not meet the minimal needs of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

 

Israeli forces also continued to impose an almost total ban on the Gaza Strip exports, including agricultural and industrial products, except for light-weighted products such as flowers, strawberries, and spices. However, they lately allowed the exportation of some vegetables such as cucumber and tomatoes, furniture and fish.

 

Israel has continued to close the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing for the majority of Palestinian citizens from the Gaza Strip. Israel only allows the movement of a limited number of groups, with many hours of waiting in the majority of cases. Israel has continued to adopt a policy aimed at reducing the number of Palestinian patients allowed to move via the Beit Hanoun crossing to receive medical treatment in hospitals in Israel or in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel also continued applying the policy of making certain civilian traveling via the crossing interviewed by the Israeli intelligence service to be questioned, blackmailed or arrested.

 

Movement at Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, southeast of Rafah, is designated for the movement of goods

(12 – 24 April 2017)

Date	Imports
	Category	Amount
		Tons	Number	Liters
12 April	Various goods	4258
	Humanitarian aid	21957
	Cooking gas	230.760
	Benzene			152,013
	DieselDiesel for UNRWA			1,017,95476,000
	Industrial fuel			567,935
	Construction aggregates	16000
	Cement	4120
	Construction steel	1009
13 April	Various goods	4824
	Humanitarian aid	22649
	Cooking gas	227.550
	Benzene			303,971
	Diesel			980,930
	Construction aggregates	16000
	Cement	4840
	Construction steel	1039
	Benzene	225,023
	Diesel			637,983
	Cooking gas	132,460
	Various goods	3572
	Humanitarian aid	21548
	Cooking gas	253.530
	Benzene			297,029
18 April	DieselDiesel for UNRWA			1,070,02076,000
	Construction aggregates	15000
	Cement	4640
	Construction steel	1084
19 April	Various goods	5632
	Humanitarian aid	21368
	Cooking gas	252.990
	Benzene			402,974
	DieselDiesel for UNRWA			1,315,46138,000
	Construction aggregates	16000
	Cement	3886
	Construction steel	399
20 April	Various goods	5622
	Humanitarian aid	21819
	Cooking gas	232.400
	Benzene			307,967
	DieselDiesel for UNRWA			956,95776,000
	Construction aggregates	16000
	Cement	4044
	Construction steel	590
23 April	Various goods	4912
	Humanitarian aid	20810
	Cooking gas	254.150
	BenzeneBenzene for UNRW			376,96638,000
	DieselDiesel for UNRWA			942,940378,940
	Construction aggregates	16000
	Cement	3886
	Construction steel	188
24 April	Various goods	3753
	Humanitarian aid	20512
	Cooking gas	267.040
	Benzene			156,013
	DieselDiesel for UNRWA			489,99576,000
	Construction aggregates	16000
	Cement	3756
	Construction steel	264

 

Note:

 

On Wednesday, 12 April 2017, Israeli authorities allowed the exportation of 24 truckloads of vegetables.

On Thursday, 13 April 2017, Israeli authorities allowed the exportation of 12 truckloads of vegetables and a truckload of clothes.

On Wednesday, 19 April 2017, Israeli authorities allowed the exportation of 21 truckloads of vegetables; 2 truckloads of aluminum scrap; a truckload of furniture and a truckload of mint and garlic.

On Sunday, 23 April 2017, Israeli authorities allowed the exportation of 15 truckloads of vegetables.

On Monday, 24 April 2017, Israeli authorities allowed the exportation of 13 truckloads of vegetables; a truckload of fish and 3 truckloads of aluminum scrap.

 

Note: the Israeli authorities closed the abovementioned crossing on 10, 11, 16 and 17 April 2017 due to Jewish holidays.

 

Beit Hanoun (“Erez”) crossing, in the north of the Gaza Strip, is designated for the movement of individuals, and links the Gaza Strip with the West Bank.

 

Movement at Beit Hanoun (“Erez”) crossing

(12-18 April 2017)

 

Note: PCHR apologizes for not publishing the Beit Hanoun (“Erez”) crossing table this week and will publish it next week due to technical reasons

 

 

Israel has imposed a tightened closure on the West Bank. During the reporting period, Israeli forces imposed additional restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians:

 

• Hebron: Israeli forces established (16) checkpoints all over the city.

On Thursday, 20 April 2017, Israeli forces established 2 checkpoints at the entrances to al-Samou’i and Beit ‘Awaa villages.

On Friday, 21 April 2017, Israeli forces established 2 checkpoints at the northern entrance to Halhoul and Karma villages.

On Saturday, 22 April 2017, Israeli forces established 4 checkpoints at the entrances to Deir Samet, al-Moreq villages, Abu Risha road, west of Ethna and al-Ramadeen road.

On Sunday, 23 April 2017, Israeli forces established 2 checkpoints at the northern entrances to Yatta village and al-Nabi Yunis road.

On Monday, 24 April 2017, Israeli forces established 2 checkpoints at the entrances to al-Fawar refugee camp and Sa’ir village.

On Tuesday, 25 April 2017, Israeli forces established 4 checkpoints at the entrances to Sa’ir, Beit Kahel, al-Shyoukh villages and the entrance to Dura city.

 

 

Qalqiliyia: Israeli forces established (17) checkpoints all over the city.

 

On Thursday, 20 April 2017, Israeli forces established 5 checkpoints at the entrances to ‘Azoun (established twice), Hejah, Kafur Thulth, and ‘Izbit al-Tabeeb villages’, east of Qalqilyia.

At approximately 11:00 on Friday, 21 April 2017, Israeli forces established a checkpoint at the eastern entrance to Qalqilyia.

On Saturday, 22 April 2017, two similar checkpoints were established on the main street that links between Qalqiliyia and Nablus, near the entrance to “Kedumim” settlement; and at the entrance to ‘Azoun village, east of Qalqiliyia.

On Sunday, 23 April 2017, Israeli forces established 4 checkpoints on the main street that links between Qalqiliyia and Nablus, near the entrance to “Kedumim” settlement; at the entrance to Jeet village, northeast of Qalqiliya; the entrance to Heblah village, south of the city; and at the entrance to Kafur Laqef village, east of the city.

On Monday, 24 April 2017, Israeli forces established 4 checkpoints at the entrances to Jeet village, northeast of Qalqiliyia, ‘Azoun, Imateen and ‘Izbit al-Tabeeb villages, east of the city.

At approximately 01:40 on Tuesday, 25 April 2017, a similar checkpoint was established at the eastern entrance to Qalqiliyia.

 

Arrests at military checkpoints:

 

• At approximately 18:45 on Thursday, 20 April 2017, Israeli forces established a checkpoint at the entrance to Jeet village, northeast of Qalqiliya. They searched Palestinian vehicles and checked their ID’s. They also arrested Mo’tasem Kamel Samarah, from Tulkarm.

 

• At approximately 17:30 on Friday, 21 April 2017, Israeli forces stationed at Beit Foreek checkpoint, east of Nablus, arrested Hamad Saleem Abu Jaish (20), from Beit Dajan village, east of the city. Eyewitness said that the Israeli forces stopped the vehicle travelled by Abu Jaish , checked the passengers’ IDs and then arrested him.

 

• At approximately 11:00 on Sunday, 23 April 2017, Israeli forces deployed in Hebron’s Old City, arrested 3 Palestinian children near “Beit Romano” settlement outpost established on the rubbles of Osama Bin al-Munkiz School in the Old City. Israeli forces claimed that those children had sharp tools with them. The children were then transferred at gunpoint into the outpost. The children were identified as Mohamed Majed Abed al-Majeed al-Ashqar (17), Bahaa Mujahid (17) and Malek Raied Talib Maraqah (17).

 

• At approximately 17:20 on Sunday, Israeli forces established a checkpoint between Jayyous and ‘Azoun villages, east of Qalqilyia. They searched Palestinian vehicles and checked their IDs. They then arrested Jawad Fareed Abed al-Hafeez Barghout (46), from Baqet al-Hatab village, east of Qalqiliyia, under the pretext that he had a hunting rifle.

 

• At approximately 07: 00 on Monday, Israeli forces arrested Asia al-Ka’abnah (39), a mother of 9 children from Duma village, northeast of Nablus, and tok her to an unknown destination. The Israeli forces claimed that Asia stabbed and wounded an Israeli female soldier while the latter was crossing the Qalandia checkpoint, north of occupied Jerusalem.

 

• At approximately 22:10 on Monday, 24 April 2017, Israeli forces established a checkpoint at the entrance to ‘Azoun village, east of Qalqilyia. They searched Palestinian civilians’ vehicles and checked their IDs. After that, they arrested Khalid Jalal Ahmed Hamadah (31), from Beit Lid village, east of Tulkarm; and Mostafa Ali Abdullah ‘Assaf (30), from Kaf Laqef village, east of Qalqilyia, under the pretext that they had a knife in their vehicle. At approximately 00:00, Mustafa ‘Asaf was released while Khalid is so far under arrest.

 

• At approximately 13:30 on Wednesday, 26 April 2017, Israeli forces arrested ‘Abdul Naser Mohammed ‘Abdul Nabi al-Lahham (15) from al-Dheishah refugee camp, south of Bethlehem. The child was arrested when he was on his way back from the school near al-‘Ezzah refugee camp, north of the city.

 

• Efforts to Create Jewish majority

 

Israeli forces escalated their attacks on Palestinian civilians and their property. They have also continued their raids on al-Aqsa Mosque and denied the Palestinians access to it:

 

• Shooting Incidents:

 

• At approximately 16:00 on Saturday, 22 April 2017, dozens of Palestinian civilians organized a protest in solidarity with the prisoners in the Israeli jails in Silwan village, south of occupied Jerusalem’s Old City. The protest made their way from a sit-in tent established in al-Bustan neighbourhood to ‘Ain al-Louza neighbourhood. The participants chanted slogans that support the prisoners in their hunger strike and raised the slogans that call upon the international community to stand with them to obtain their fair demands. When the protesters arrived at ‘Ain al-Louza neighbourhood, Israeli forces chased them and fired live bullets, tear gas canisters, sound bombs and metal bullets at them. As a result, So’ad Abu Remuz (43) sustained shrapnel wounds to her left leg and was taken to a health center in the village.

 

• At approximately 22:00 on Saturday, Israeli forces moved into al-‘Issawiyia village, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, due to a family dispute erupted in the village. The Israeli forces indiscriminately fired rubber-coated metal bullets in the area. As a result, Fatmah Mahmoud ‘Obaid (52) was hit with a rubber-coated metal bullet to her left eye. She was then taken to the hospital to receive medical treatment. Fatma’s husband, Rajab ‘Obaid, said that his wife was in the balcony with her daughter and son-in-law when the Israeli soldiers were indiscriminately firing rubber-coated metal bullets in the area. His wife suddenly shouted and then fainted as she was hit with a rubber-coated metal bullet to her face and was then taken to Hadassah al-‘Issawiyia Hospital, where she received first aid. After that, Fatmah was taken to Hadassah ‘Ein Karem Hospital, where doctors told her husband that Fatmah lost her left eye. Moreover, she sustains internal fractures in the skull and needs an urgent surgery.

 

• Arrests and Incursions:

 

• At approximately 02:00 on Thursday, 20 April 2017, Israeli forces moved into Abu Dis village, east of occupied Jerusalem. They raided and searched a house belonging to Ahmed Ali Nawaflah (18) and arrested him. Israeli forces later withdrew taking the abovementioned young man to an unknown destination.

 

• At approximately 17:00 on Friday, 21 April 2017, Israeli forces moved into al-‘Issawiyia village, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem. They raided and searched houses from which they arrested Mohamed Jamal ‘Atiyia (19) and Mohamed Mahmoud (19).

 

• At approximately 02:00 on Sunday, 23 April 2017, Israeli forces moved into al-Harah al-Wista in Silwan village, south of occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City. They raided and searched a house belonging to Abdullah al-Zaghal and arrested his son, Mohamed (16).

 

• At approximately 05:00 on Sunday, 23 April 2017, Israeli forces moved into Baten al-Hawa neighbourhood in Silwan village, south of occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City. They raided and searched a house belonging to Nimer ‘Ashwa and handed his child, Mohamed (15), a summons to refer to the Israeli Intelligence Service in al-Maskobiyia investigation centre in occupied Jerusalem.

 

• At approximately 21:00 on the same Sunday, Israeli forces moved into Surbaher village, southeast of occupied Jerusalem, after two Israeli settlers entered the village traveling a car in high speed. The two Israeli settlers then ran over two Palestinian children, who were with their mother. The settlers’ car also hit other cars in the area.

An eyewitness said to PCHR’s fieldworker that there was a black Ford car carrying two Israeli settlers entered the village while the Israeli police was chasing them as the vehicle was illegally loaded with eggs.  Meanwhile, the settlers’ car ran over two Palestinian children namely Mohamed and his sister Nada ‘Atoun. They also hit other cars in the area. In the meantime, village residents gathered and stopped the Israeli settlers’ car, which fled to a health centre in the village. Dozens from the village residents gathered around the health centre damaged the settlers’ car and threw stones at the Israeli forces. Few minutes later, many Israeli military vehicles moved into the village and fired sound bombs towards the village residents in order to disperse them. The Israeli soldiers then helped the Israeli settlers to get out of the village.

 

• At approximately 01:00 on Monday, 24 April 2017, Israeli forces moved into Abu Dis village, east of occupied Jerusalem. They raided and searched a house belonging to Hakem al-A’raj (21) and arrested him.

 

• Around the same time, Israeli forces moved into al-Sawahrah village, southeast of occupied Jerusalem. They raided and searched a house belonging to Ahmed Jalal al-A’war (20) and arrested him.

 

• At approximately 16:00 on Tuesday, 25 April 2017, Israeli forces moved into ‘Ein al-Lozah neighbourhood in Silwan village, south of occupied East Jerusalem. They raided and searched a house belonging to Ahmed Jalal al-A’war (20). They arrested the aforementioned civilian and later withdrew taking him to an unknown destination.

 

• Settlement activities and attacks by settlers against Palestinian civilians and property

 

• Israeli forces:

 

• At approximately 10:00 on Sunday, 23 April 2017, Israeli forces accompanied with two military vehicles and a vehicle belonging to the Civil Administration moved into Safi area, southeast of Yatta village, south of Hebron. The Civil Administration’s staff handed Isma’il Hasan ‘Awad and his brother ‘Aliyan two notices to stop construction works in 2 agricultural barracks built on an area of 50 square meter, under the pretext of non-licensing.

 

• At approximately 02:00 On Tuesday, 25 April 2017, Israeli forces moved into Ni’lin village, west of Ramallah. They stationed on the main road leading to the western village entrance, which is established 100 meters away from the Israeli military checkpoint established in the aforementioned area.  Israeli forces levelled 5 commercial facilities built of wood and roofed with tin plates on an area of 15 square meters.  Those facilities were used for selling hot and cold drinks and snacks for Palestinian workers in Israel.  Those facilities belong to Hamdan Samour Srour (42); Mohammed Khawaja (26); ‘Abdullah Rashid al-Khawaja (44); Samer ‘Abdel Ghaffar ‘Amirah (32) and Khaled Hasan Nafe’a (46).  All of them are from the abovementioned village.

 

• Israeli Settlers:

 

• At approximately 13:30 on Saturday, 22 April 2017, around 15 Israeli settlers from “Yitzhar” settlement attacked ‘Oreef village, south of Nablus, under the protection of 3 Israeli soldiers. They broke glass of two cars parked in front of the house belonging to Munir Hasan Ahmed Suleiman and attempted to burn one of the abovementioned cars, but the village residents stopped them. In the meantime, the Israeli soldiers fired tear gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets at them. As a result, two civilians sustained wounds. The first one (35) was hit with a tear gas canister and metal bullet to the right leg and the second one (27) was hit with a metal bullet to the right leg.

 

• At approximately 17:00 on the same Saturday, a group of Israeli settlers from “Yitzhar” settlement attacked Mohamed Yousef Jameel ‘Oudah (42), from Hawarah village, south of Nablus, under the protection of the settlement guards. The settlers threw stones at Mohamed, so he sustained bruises to the left side of his body. They also attacked Mohamed’s mother- in- law, Badi’ah Mohamed ‘Atah ‘Oudah (73), who was in his house. She was hit with a stone to the head. Furthermore, Mohamed’s brother, Ahmed (38), was hit with a stone to the head. The three wounded civilians were taken by a PRCS ambulance to Rafidya Governmental Hospital in Nablus, to receive medical treatment. The attack also resulted in breaking the windows of ‘Oudah’s house and the windows of his neighbour, Mohamed Abdullah Shadi Khamous.

 

Recommendations to the International Community

 

PCHR warns of the escalating settlement construction in the West Bank, the attempts to legitimize settlement outposts established on Palestinian lands in the West Bank and the continued summary executions of Palestinian civilians under the pretext that they pose a security threat to the Israeli forces. PCHR reminds the international community that thousands of Palestinian civilians have been rendered homeless and lived in caravans under tragic circumstances due to the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip that has been under a tight closure for almost 10 years. PCHR welcomes the UN Security Council’s Resolution No. 2334, which states that settlements are a blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions and calls upon Israel to stop them and not to recognize any demographic change in the oPt since 1967.  PCHR hopes this resolution will pave the way for eliminating the settlement crime and bring to justice those responsible for it. PCHR further reiterates that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are still under Israeli occupation in spite of Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan of 2005.  PCHR emphasizes that there is international recognition of Israel’s obligation to respect international human rights instruments and international humanitarian law.  Israel is bound to apply international human rights law and the law of war, sometimes reciprocally and other times in parallel, in a way that achieves the best protection for civilians and remedy for the victims.

 

1. PCHR calls upon the international community to respect the Security Council’s Resolution No. 2334 and to ensure that Israel respects it as well, in particular point 5 which obliges Israel not to deal with settlements as if they were part of Israel.
2. PCHR calls upon the ICC in 2017 to open an investigation into Israeli crimes committed in the oPt, particularly the settlement crimes and the 2014 offensive on the Gaza Strip.
3. PCHR Calls upon the European Union (EU) and all international bodies to boycott settlements and ban working and investing in them in application of their obligations according to international human rights law and international humanitarian law considering settlements as a war crime.
4. PCHR calls upon the international community to use all available means to allow the Palestinian people to enjoy their right to self-determination through the establishment of the Palestinian State, which was recognized by the UN General Assembly with a vast majority, using all international legal mechanisms, including sanctions to end the occupation of the State of Palestine.
5. PCHR calls upon the international community and United Nations to take all necessary measures to stop Israeli policies aimed at creating a Jewish demographic majority in Jerusalem and at voiding Palestine from its original inhabitants through deportations and house demolitions as a collective punishment, which violates international humanitarian law, amounting to a crime against humanity.
6. PCHR calls upon the international community to condemn summary executions carried out by Israeli forces against Palestinians and to pressurize Israel to stop them.
7. PCHR calls upon the States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC to work hard to hold Israeli war criminals accountable.
8. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to fulfill their obligations under article (1) of the Convention to ensure respect for the Conventions under all circumstances, and under articles (146) and (147) to search for and prosecute those responsible for committing grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions to ensure justice and remedy for Palestinian victims, especially in light of the almost complete denial of justice for them before the Israeli judiciary.
9. PCHR calls upon the international community to speed up the reconstruction process necessary because of the destruction inflicted by the Israeli offensive on Gaza.
10. PCHR calls for a prompt intervention to compel the Israeli authorities to lift the closure that obstructs the freedom of movement of goods and 1.8 million civilians that experience unprecedented economic, social, political and cultural hardships due to collective punishment policies and retaliatory action against civilians.
11. PCHR calls upon the European Union to apply human rights standards embedded in the EU-Israel Association Agreement and to respect its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights when dealing with Israel.
12. PCHR calls upon the international community, especially states that import Israeli weapons and military services, to meet their moral and legal responsibility not to allow Israel to use the offensive in Gaza to test new weapons and not accept training services based on the field experience in Gaza in order to avoid turning Palestinian civilians in Gaza into testing objects for Israeli weapons and military tactics.
13. PCHR calls upon the parties to international human rights instruments, especially the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to pressurize Israel to comply with its provisions in the oPt and to compel it to incorporate the human rights situation in the oPt in its reports submitted to the relevant committees.
14. PCHR calls upon the EU and international human rights bodies to pressurize the Israeli forces to stop their attacks against Palestinian fishermen and farmers, mainly in the border area

Horst Mahler: No. 1 German Political Prisoner Now ‘On the Run’

Posted on April 28, 2017

by Richard Edmondson

Hat tip to Nahida Izzat, who comments,

“When thoughts are criminalised and when people are thrown in prison for their ideas, we know we live in the DARKEST ages of humanity.”

But maybe not all is dark. According to a report here, Mahler is now out of prison and “on the run.”

Horst Mahler’s checkered career has taken another sharp turn. The 81-year-old neo-Nazi and Holocaust-denier has declared that he is on the run from the judiciary and is now thought to have fled the country.

In a video released on YouTube (and since removed) by the far-rightaffiliated network “Nordland TV,” the lawyer said he would not be following an order to serve his latest prison sentence, and would instead “ask for asylum in a sovereign state that is ready to accept people.”

He called the charges against him “political persecution without legal basis,” and accused Munich’s state prosecutor Manfred Nötzel of attempting to murder him in prison. An associate of Mahler’s told public broadcaster ARD that he was no longer in the country.

Related Video

الهجوم الاستراتيجي الشامل وربيع فيتنام العربي

أبريل 29, 2017

محمد صادق الحسيني

كل ما يجري من حولنا من معارك في حضر السورية والعراقية وأرياف حماة وتخوم تلعفر وصولاً إلى المخا وسواحل الحديدة في اليمن العظيم و…الخ يشي بأننا دخلنا مرحلة الهجوم الاستراتيجي الشامل …!

وأن العدو الإمبريالي وأذنابه «مثلث أيتام أوباما» الصهيوني العثماني الأعرابي يخوض معارك تراجعية بهدف إطالة أمد الحرب علينا لا أكثر ويحاول يائساً تأخير ساعة استسلام قواته…!

هكذا هو تقدير الموقف وموازين القوى في الشام كما في العراق كما في اليمن، كما في طهران وفي غزة وفلسطين التاريخية، لذلك نرى المرابي الأميركي صار في موسم الهجرة إلى كوريا الشمالية!

وعليه نقول لترامب وكل أذنابه «الشرق أوسطيين» من صهيوني إلى عثماني إلى أعرابي إلى تكفيري… إن الهجوم الاستراتيجي النهائي لحلف المقاومة وبمساندة حلفائه الدوليين، ضد قوى الظلم والعدوان والهيمنة والسيطرة الاستعمارية الأميركية البريطانية الفرنسية، قد بدأ وسيتوّج بالنصر المؤزر وإنهاء الهيمنة الإمبريالية بكل أشكالها على شعوب المنطقة مهما بلغت التضحيات والأثمان …!

ولمزيد من الدقة والوضوح، فإننا نقول لكل الأعراب المتصهينين ولأسيادهم في واشنطن من مرابين أو محافظين جدد وغيرهم إننا وبعد التوكّل على الله واعتماداً على سواعد أبطال الجيش العربي السوري وحلفائه في الميدان من مستشارين عسكريين إيرانيين إلى مجاهدي المقاومة الإسلامية وسائر القوات الرديفة الأخرى وبمساندة الحليف الروسي، الثابت على مواقفه المتطابقة تماماً مع أحكام القانون الدولي، وهو يقدّم الدعم والإسناد والإمداد العسكري للدولة السورية وحلفائها :

أولاً: نقول لهؤلاء جميعاً إننا قد بدأنا هجومنا الاستراتيجي من أقرب نقطة تماس مع العدو الاحتلالي «الإسرائيلي» في الجولان وسفوح جبل الشيخ مروراً بريف حمص الشمالي وأرياف درعا الشمالية وصولاً، في القريب العاجل إلى محافظة إدلب عند استعادة السيطرة على خان شيخون تمكيناً لخبراء الأسلحة الكيميائية الدوليين والمحايدين من إجراء اللازم هناك لكشف نفاق وكذب الأميركيين وكل أذنابهم في الإقليم .

ثانياً: ليعلم الجميع بأن هذا الهجوم لن يتوقّف لا عند أرياف أدلب ولا أرياف حلب الغربية والشرقية والشمالية ولا حتى عند أرياف الرقة والحسكة وغيرها…. وهنا نودّ أن نذكّر أولائك المستعربين المدافعين عن المحتل «الإسرائيلي» والمعتدي الأميركي أن هذا الهجوم الاستراتيجي سيشمل كافة الجبهات الممتدة من الجولان إلى دير الزُّور والرقة والبوكمال والقائم والموصل إلى باب المندب، حيث التصدّي الأسطوري للشعب اليمني الصامد في وجه قوى العدوان الأميركي/ الصهيوسعودي، رغم قصفه بالقنابل النيوترونية المحرّمة دولياً.

ثالثاً: وإلى هؤلاء الجهلة، الذين لا يعلمون شيئاً عن ترابط ميادين الصراع وتأثيراتها المتبادلة وجدلية وحدة الدم وحدة الساحات هذه، نقول إن هذا الهجوم الاستراتيجي يُغطّي رقعة بحر الصين الجنوبي ومنطقة شبه الجزيرة الكورية، حيث «تضيع» حاملة الطائرات الأميركية في تلك البحار ولا تهتدي إلى وجهتها حسب أوامر الكاوبوي الأميركي ترامب بتوجّهها إلى كوريا الشمالية. بينما تثبت صور الأقمار الصناعية أنها كانت تسير بالاتجاه المعاكس ما يعني أن الكاوبوي الأميركي يكذب على شعبه وعلى العالم إخفاءً لعجزه في مواجهة الهجوم الاستراتيجي المعادي للإمبريالية في الميدان .

رابعاً: وهنا يجب تأكيد أن نجاحات الجيش العربي السوري الباهرة في ميادين الجنوب السوري وأرياف حماة وحلب ودير الزُّور لن يوقفها الاحتلال الأميركي، رغم تآمر بعض أذنابه الخائبين من عثمانيين وغيرهم في جرابلس والحسكة والتنف…، بل إن الجيش السوري سيواصل عملياته ضد مجاميع الاإرهاب ومشغّليهم الأميركيين والصهاينة والأعراب الأنذال. ونذكّر هذا العنصري المقيت، ترامب، بأن قيام أسلافه من الرؤساء الأميركيين باحتلال كلٍّ من كمبوديا ولاوس في محاولة منهم في حينه لوقف هجوم الربيع الاستراتيجي لثوار فيتنام الجنوبية من خلال قطع خطوط إمداداتهم، لم يقدّم ولم يؤخّر في الميدان الفيتنامي في أواخر ستينيات القرن الماضي، بل إنه وسّع دائرة التورط الأميركي في جنوب شرق آسيا والذي انتهى بهزيمة نكراء هرب بنهايتها جنود المارينز وغيرهم مستقلين المروحيات، تماماً كما فعل جنود النازية الألمانية وهم يهربون مختبئين بواسطة طائرات النقل من منطقة ستالينغراد

ولما لم ينفعهم احتلالهم لمزيد من أراضي الغير آنذاك، فإنه لن ينفعهم احتلال بعض الأراضي العراقية والسورية ودائماً بحجة مواجهة التمدد الإيراني، إذ إنهم سيُمنون بالهزيمة الساحقة ويهربون مستقلّين المروحيات تماماً كما فعلت قوات النخبة «الاسرائيلية» ووزير حربهم إيهود باراك وجنوده من جنوب لبنان في أيار من العام ٢٠٠٠.

خامساً: وعلى مَن يتصدّى لنا ولثقتنا بالنصر إلى هذا الحدّ نقول إنكم لا تقرأون التاريخ ولا تستوعبون قوانين حتمية الانتصار ولا مسار ومآل المعارك الاستراتيجية الكبرى!

ذلك لأن الهجوم الاستراتيجي لا يعني أن الحرب قد انتهت وأن النصر النهائي قد تحقّق، وإنما يعني أننا انتزعنا المبادرة الاستراتيجية في الميدان وبشكل نهائي وغير قابل للعودة إلى الوراء من يد قوات العدوان الأميركية العثمانية الأعرابية وأذنابها من داعش والنصرة وغيرهم في سورية والعراق وكذلك في ميادين اليمن ومضيق هرمز وغيره.

ما يعني أن الحرب على الاإرهاب وداعميه قد تستغرق بعض الوقت، ولكن النتيجة المنطقية المؤكدة هي النصر السوري النهائي على العدوان.

وهذا، هو ما حصل بالضبط إبان الحرب العالمية الثانية عندما تمكّنت الجيوش السوفياتية من تحرير مدينة ستالينغراد في شباط ١٩٤٣ بِعد معارك استمرت طويلاً إلى حين انتزاع المبادرة الاستراتيجية نهائياً بعد هزيمة الجيوش النازية في معركة قوس كورسك وسط غرب روسيا يوم قرّر هتلر استعادة زمام المبادرة وفشل في صيف العام ١٩٤٣، فيما تواصل الهجوم السوفياتي غرباً حتى دخوله برلين واستسلام المانيا بلا قيد أو شرط في ٨/٥/١٩٤٥.

سادساً: وعليه فإننا إنّما نستحضر تاريخ حربكم العالمية القذرة لنذكركم، بأن المخرج الوحيد لكم مهما طالت الحرب لن يكون سوى الاستسلام الكامل وبلا قيد أو شرط، ومن ثم الانسحاب الكامل من كل ميادين المواجهة ومعكم مرتزقتكم وعملاؤكم من سعوديين إلى عثمانيين إلى سائر المرتزقة الملتفّين حولكم ولن تنفعكم خزائن بقرتكم الحلوب بعد اليوم …!

لأن الهجوم الاستراتيجي الذي بدأ ربيعه من حلب لن يقف عند اقتلاع جذور الإرهاب من سورية والعراق فقط، وإنما سيمضي إلى حين تحرير الركن اليماني وانقراض العائلة الحاكمة في الرياض وانصياع الأميركي المهزوم استراتيجياً لشروط الميدان وأحكام القانون الدولي واحترامه استقلال وسيادة الدول والامتناع نهائياً عن التدخل في شؤون الآخرين والاستدارة لحل مشاكل الشعب الأميركي الخطيرة من بطالة إلى بنى تحتية مهترئة، حيث هناك ثلاثة آلاف جسر رئيسي مهدّدة بالانهيار وما يزيد على أربعة ملايين طفل وشاب تحت الثامنة عشرة بالإضافة إلى خمسة عشر مليون أميركي وليس مهاجر يعيشون مشرّدين في الشوارع من دون مأوى….!

وإذا كنتم تريدون تقصير أمد عذاباتكم انصحوا سيّدكم الأميركي المنافق بالانكفاء إلى داخل البيت الأميركي ولينشغل بتطبيق حقوق الإنسان على هؤلاء العشرين مليون أميركي المشرّدين في وطنهم، وليكفّ هو وابنته إيفانكا عن ذرف دموع التماسيح على أطفال خان شيخون وغيرها. هؤلاء الضحايا الذين سقطوا بسبب مخططاته ومشاريعه التي ستقوده قريباً إلى محاكم الجنايات الدولية لتتم محاكمته على جرائم الحرب التي ارتكبها في طول العالم وعرضه وليس فقط في عالمنا العربي والإسلامي!..

إنه ربيع فيتنام العربي الذي قد يطول سنوات، لكنه بدأ ولن تستطيع أي قوة إيقافه إلا بعد تحقيق كامل أهدافه، ومنها فصول المنازلة الكبرى في الجليل الذي بات مطوّقاً من الذراعين السوري واللبناني وقريباً إيران «دولة مواجهة عربية» تعيد التوازن المفقود إلى موازين الردع الاستراتيجي في الصراع العربي «الإسرائيلي» …!

ارموا ببصركم أقصى القوم..

سترون عيون الراصد بانتظاركم..

بعدنا طيّبين قولوا الله…

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Resistance is NOT Futile: Israeli Soldiers Ambushed By their Own Gas Grenades

Posted on April 28, 2017

by Richard Edmondson

A valuable lesson the Palestinians have given to the world: no matter how badly the deck may be stacked against you, never give up! Tuqu is a town in the Bethlehem Governorate. It is located in the West Bank–internationally recognized as Palestinian land. The soldiers in this video are occupiers in every sense of the word. And in the face of fierce Palestinian determination, they are reduced to looking like doofuses. As I say, it’s a valuable lesson.

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Abbs Winston @AbbsWinston

Israeli Occupiers get ambushed by their own gas grenades they threw at #Palestinian protestors in Tuqu’ Town in Occupied Bethlehem

2:01 PM – 28 Apr 2017

Today is April 28–what has been designated as a “day of rage” in Occupied Palestine. From Ma’an News’ coverage:

Ongoing clashes have erupted across the occupied West Bank on Friday, with several Palestinians injured, on what Palestinians are calling the Day of Rage— initially called for by the Fatah movement — in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners who entered the12th day of a mass hunger strike on Friday.

Israeli forces heavily fired tear-gas bombs, rubber-coated steel bullets, and live fire during the clashes, which have erupted following Friday prayers in cities, villages and refugee camps in various districts of the West Bank.

Continued here

The article goes on to report that one of the places where clashes are occurring is in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. A bit of what’s going on there can be gleaned by a series of tweets from the International Solidarity Movement:

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ISM Palestine @ISMPalestine

5 #Palestinian children injured today, during protest in Nabi Salih; 4 of them shot with #liveammunition, another one hit #teargas cannister

5:15 PM – 28 Apr 2017

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ISM Palestine @ISMPalestine

#Israelforces stopped the ambulance for an hour, delaying medical treatment to the injured kids during protest in Nabi Salih

5:18 PM – 28 Apr 2017

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ISM Palestine @ISMPalestine

#Israeliforces shoot a 6th child during protest in Nabi Salih

6:25 PM – 28 Apr 2017

 

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Israel Launches Fresh Attack on Syria; Subdued Response from Russia

Posted on April 27, 2017

by Richard Edmondson

The Syrian government claims that explosions which rocked an area near Damascus Airport in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, April 27, were the result of a new Israeli attack upon the country. The attack has been “all but confirmed” by Israel’s intelligence minister.

“I can confirm that the incident in Syria completely conforms to Israel’s policy to act so as to prevent the smuggling of advanced weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon by Iran,” said Yisrael Katz.

Apparently all Israel has to do is claim to be bombing a “weapons shipment” to Hezbollah and it gets away with one attack after another upon Syria. This has been the pattern.

Also in keeping with the pattern, the response from Russia has been, shall we say, “subdued” at best. You can go here to access an RT report on the attack that makes no mention of any official response whatsoever. The official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry also has not (at least as of yet) posted anything on the matter–even though the attack occurred more than 12 hours ago.

The only thing I could find indicating any response at all from any Russian official are a couple of reports, the first one by  SANA, the Syrian government’s website:

Moscow: Israeli Aggression on Military Site Southwest of Damascus Airport Violates International Law

SANA

Moscow, SANA- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova affirmed on Thursday that the Israeli aggression on a military site southwest of Damascus Airport violates international law and is in the interests of terrorists.

In a press conference in Moscow, Zakharova said that Moscow condemns acts of aggression against Syria and regards them as impermissible and running counter to international law which cannot be justified because this violation is destabilizing and is in the interest of the terrorists, like Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS, and obstructing the reaching of a settlement of the crisis in Syria on the basis of international resolutions, particularly resolution no.2254.

“We are urging all to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, a UN member-state,” she said.

Zakharova expressed her country’s deep concern about the bombing of Turkey to border areas in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq, stressing that the US aggression on al-Shairat airfield in the countryside of Homs had encouraged Ankara to commit this aggression.

She hoped that Astana meeting next week will achieve positive results and prevent the deterioration of the situation in Syria, adding that Syrian parties should be supported in reaching compromises that put an end to the ongoing confrontation in Syria and that Russia will not allow the terrorists to impose their control over the country and the entire Middle East region.

In a related context, Zakharova said that there are many facts and information to prove that the so-called White Helmets are working for the terrorists and fabricating films and false scenarios about the tragedy of people to discredit the Syrian forces and the Russian military.
“The White Helmets not only feel at home on territories controlled by Jabhat al-Nusra and the ISIS but also openly express positive attitude towards them, provide information and even financial assistance to them,” she said.

“There is documentary evidence proving that White Helmets members participated in some operations carried out by Jabhat al-Nusra, as well as covered up the signs of civilian executions,” she added.

She noted that the Swedish NGO Doctors for Human Rights had accused the White Helmets of falsifying information about their humanitarian work in Syria by producing staged videos. “They analyzed a video and came to the conclusion that the people in the video were dealing with kids who were under the influence of drugs, rather than trying to provide them with medical assistance,” Zakharova stressed.

She added that Moscow is doing all it can to provide humanitarian aid to the Syrians without discrimination, including the besieged areas of Deir Ezzor, calling on the West to deal with the humanitarian issue in the same manner and stop the attempts to impose additional sanctions on Syrians.

And there is also this brief report regarding a statement from Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov:

‘Respect Syria’s Sovereignty’–Russia to Israel

Fort Russ News

“We urge the State of Israel to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and refrain from taking any steps that could lead to more escalation in the already troubled region”, Peskov was heard saying.

He also denied reports on preparations for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump that was supposed to take place this month.

On Thursday night, Israel fired missiles into Syria and which allegedly targeted Hezbollah positions in the vicinity of Damascus International Airport. This was the second Israeli incursion into Syrian territory in the past 5 days.

Additionally, Sputnik has posted an article that does not quote any Russian official, but which does include comments from a Russian geopolitical analyst  saying that the strike could be “a deliberate provocation.”

Why Strike Near Damascus Airport Could Have Been ‘A Deliberate Provocation’

Sputnik

Israel’s recent alleged strike on a site near Damascus International Airport could have been aimed at testing the waters of the political situation in the region, Russian geopolitical analyst Konstantin Sokolov told Radio Sputnik, adding that it is part of the same trend as an earlier US missile strike on Shayrat airfield in Syria.

An alleged Israeli strike against a site near Damascus International Airport in Syria could have been aimed at testing the waters with the international community, Konstantin Sokolov, Deputy Director of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Problems told Radio Sputnik.

On Thursday, a large explosion occurred close to the Damascus airport, with initial reports claiming that it was an Israeli attack on a supposed Hezbollah supply hub.

Commenting on the strike, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz told Army Radio that “the incident in Syria fully fits in with Israel’s policies… of countering Iranian attempts to supply modern weapons to Hezbollah through Syria.”

Katz also cited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to continue Israeli efforts to prevent the alleged delivery of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah, which is fighting on the side of the Syrian government forces. The group, which was founded in the mid-1980s, is viewed by Tel Aviv as a terrorist organization.

Interestingly enough, Katz shied away from claiming responsibility for the strike. For its part, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) press office refrained from commenting on the matter.

Speaking to Radio Sputnik, Sokolov noted that still there is little information available on the attack. However, according to the geopolitical analyst, the recent strike falls within the same trend as the previous US missile strike at the Shayrat airfield in Syria.

“This incident should be considered together with the [US] missile strike authorized earlier [by US President Donald] Trump. These actions are aimed at the internationalization of the Syrian conflict,” Sokolov emphasized.

“If the strike was really conducted by the Israeli Air Force this is a direct violation of international law,” the analyst stressed, assuming that the attack wasn’t aimed at turning the tide in someone’s favor.

The analyst believes that one shouldn’t exclude that the real objective of those who sanctioned the attack was to put out feelers to see how the countries involved in the fight against terrorism in the region will react to this strike.

“First of all, this is a show of force aimed at examining the situation in the world: how other countries would react and what actions they will take [in response to such a strike]. If it is confirmed, it will mean that it was a deliberate provocation,” Sokolov emphasized, calling attention to the fact that the strike didn’t happen somewhere in the Syrian desert.

Sokolov suggested that the Syrian government will continue to use diplomatic measures to avoid the escalation and internationalization of the conflict.

Meanwhile, speaking to Sputnik Arabia, a Syrian military source denied the existence of a Hezbollah weapons depot near Damascus International Airport.

According to the source, these reports are being spread by some Western and Arab media “to justify Israeli aggression.”

“The Israeli Air Force has repeatedly committed acts of military aggression in Syria, taking advantage of the presence of international troops on its territory. But these repeated violations will not go unanswered by the Syrian [Arab] Army,” the source told Sputnik.

The source also confirmed that during the attack, the Syrian Arab Army’s weaponry stockpile referred to as “Hezbollah’s warehouse” by some media outlets was not affected by the recent strike.

Hostilities between Israel and Syria have repeatedly escalated, with the Israeli Air Force aircraft hitting targets in Syria in response to cross-border fire incidents.

In March 2017, Damascus warned Tel Aviv that it will retaliate if Israel continues to conduct airstrikes on Syrian territory.

So that’s it: Israel, it seems, gets away with another attack on a sovereign nation. Meanwhile, the US has just ratcheded up tensions considerably with North Korea. After condemning the North Koreans for conducting missile tests, the US yesterday test fired an ICBM:

Elie Wiesel honors Angela Merkel

Posted on April 28, 2017

On Monday, the US taxpayers’ funded Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, honored German Chancellor Angela Dorothea Merkel, 62, with 2017 Elie Wiesel Award for her services to the Holocaust Industry.

Merkel called the award a great honor and a major gesture toward her and her country. She said that for Germany to have a bright future, it’s essential to understand the Holocaust as the ultimate betrayal of all civilized values.

I’m glad Merkel acknowledged the German nation’s Holocaust guilt and like Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t blame Mufti of Palestine for forcing Hitler to murder innocent Jews.

The award was established in 2011 and Elie Wiesel himself was the first recipient of it. Other recipients include Rep. John Lewis (2016), Jew Judge Thomas Buergenthal (2015), pro-Israel Canadian Senator Lt. Gen.Roméo Dallaire (2014), Polish Jew Władysław Bartoszewski  (2013) and Aung San Suu Kyi (2012), the Myanmar leader who was condemned by United Nations last year for her part in ethnic-cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.

Angela Merkel who was honored by Jew Time magazine as Person of the Year 2015, was born in former Russian occupied East Germany and was a member of communist party in her youth. She is daughter of a Lutheran pastor. After the inauguration of Donald Trump, Murdoch-owned media declared her the so-called Leader of the Free World in February 2017.

Merkel is considered the most popular Western leader among Israeli Jews for her military and financial help. Last month Israel’s Angela Merkel, Tzipi Livni, former Mossad sexpot met Merkel in Berlin.

However, there are some of Merkel’s acts hated by the organized Jewry. For example, on January 10, 2017, British Jew weekly Spectator declared the Worst German Chancellor for allowing Muslim immigrants from Africa and Middle East who commit mass rape of White Christian women like the Russian and American soldiers did during WWII.

Germany has second largest Muslim population (4-4.5 million) in Europe after France (7-9 million). 70% of foreign Muslim immigrants in Germany are of Turkish origin – while 80% of Muslim immigrants don’t have German citizenship. There are over 100,000 German Christian and Jew converts to Islam. My favorite among them is Dr. Murad Hofmann, ambassador, author and former top NATO official (listen to an interview with him below).

Lobby: US can’t afford to lose Afghanistan to Taliban

Posted on April 27, 2017 |

On Friday, Taliban fighters attacked an Afghan military base in Mazar-e-Sharif, killing 140 US-trained Afghan soldiers and wounding many others. It’s Taliban’s response to America’s testing its MOAB weapon to scare those Israel-hating Taliban after they recaptured a major part of Baghlan province from Afghan soldiers on April 7.

On April 11, 2017, Israel propaganda news website The National Interest, founded in 1985 by Jew neocon Irving Kristol (father of Bill Kristol), cried America Can’t Afford Keep Losing the War in Afghanistan.

“As the Taliban launch their spring offensive, the Trump administration has yet to announce its strategy for the war in Afghanistan,” said Sabera Azizi.

Gen. John Nicholson, the top US-NATO commander in Afghanistan, told the AIPAC controlled Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2017 that the security situation in Afghanistan was at a stalemate. He estimated that an additional several thousand troops would be needed to reverse that stalemate. Gen. Jospeh Votel, commander of the US Central Command, made a similar assertion to the committee in March 2017.

Dubya Bush administration planned an invasion of Afghanistan in December 2000 to exploit Caspian Sea oil reserves and increase supply of poppy for the Jew Mafia.

Taliban now control nearly 75% of Afghanistan territory by night.

“Since 2002, Taliban have been putting armed resistance against both the US occupation and the US-backed regime and the military forces propped up to protect it both in Kabul and across the country. That the base targeted by the recent attack also reportedly garrisoned German troops is also significant. The prospect of ending such attacks or securing any sort of “victory” over the Taliban and the local tribes allied to it is as unlikely now as a US victory was in Vietnam during the 1970’s,” says Ulson Gunnar on April 25, 2017 (here).

Professor Rajan Menon (University of New York) wrote in September 2016: “Few will say it, but the facts are indisputable: America’s war in Afghanistan has failed. There comes a time when persisting in a lost cause amounts to foolishness, indeed irresponsibility. That time has arrived.”

Pakistan’s top spy, Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul had predicted in 2010 that America’s war in Afghanistan was a lost cause.

American Jewish writer, political commentator, author of seven books, anti-war activist and ex-Zionist Phyllis Bennis claims the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were to serve Israeli interests. She also claims that the same Zionists are now pushing America into new war with Iran.

“The US is 11 years into its current war in Afghanistan and still losing. We never had a chance to WIN this war of vengeance – and while few in Washington are ready to admit that, they have continued to revise and redefine what WINNING might look like,” Ms Bennis wrote on April 19, 2012.

American invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 has become country’s longest war. It has cost over US$1 trillion so far. More than 3,000 US soldiers and civilian contractors have been killed and over 21,000 wounded. Over 20% of these casualties are inflicted by Afghan soldiers trained by US-NATO forces.

ماذا عندما يقع الشهيد الأول بين الأسرى؟

ناصر قنديل

أبريل 29, 2017

– يؤكد أحد قادة انتفاضة الأسرى المضيّ قدماً في الإضراب عن الطعام ضمن استراتيجية واضحة تعاقد عليها قادة التحرّك لا تشكّل المطالب المرفوعة إلا عنوانها المعلن، فتلبية «الإسرائيليين» للمطالب هزيمة معنوية يصعب على كيان متغطرس يقوم على إذلال الفلسطينيين لتأمين بقائه أن يرتضي معادلة تقوم على التنازلات أمامهم لتفادي الأسوأ، لأنّ هذا سيفتح باباً لعشرات ومئات التحرّكات المطلبية التي لا تنتهي أملاً ببلوغ ما تريد عبر التصعيد. ويشرح أحد قادة تحرّك الأسرى المنتفضين استراتيجية الانتفاضة ودورها الوطني بالقول إنّ الطريق الذي يفتحه «الإسرائيليون» هو طريق الشهادة للأسرى واحداً تلو الآخر، وهذا ما وضعه المنتفضون في حسابهم، الموت جوعاً والانتصار بالدم على السيف، داعياً قادة الكيان المحتلّ وقادة الشعب الفلسطيني والقادة الحكوميين والسياسيين في العالم العربي ومسؤولي المنظمات الإنسانية والحكومات في الدول الكبرى في العالم والأمم المتحدة إلى التفكير قليلاً في ماذا سيحدث عندما يبدأ المئات من الأسرى بالتساقط الواحد تلو الآخر في سجونهم شهداء؟

– يعتبر قادة انتفاضة الأسرى أنّهم موجودون في ظلّ عدد من أحكام بالسجن المؤبد لكلّ منهم لا يأملون بتخطيها بالتحرّك المطلبي، وهي ليست حاصل صدف في حياة كلّ منهم، بل ثمرة تكريس حياته للدفاع عن قضية شعبه ووطنه. والسجن هو ساحة من ساحات النضال، حيث الطليعة الأشدّ إخلاصاً للقضية، بفعل النضالات التي أوصلت أصحابها للسجون، ولن يكون في حساب القادة أن يتقبّلوا التسليم بما يريده العدو من تحويل السجن انتظاراً للموت والقول عبر سيرة الموت البطيء للقادة الأسرى إنه قادر على إخراجهم من ساحات النضال بسجنهم وتحويلهم كتل لحم تنتظر الموت، والقول لمن يفطر بأن يحذو حذوهم أن مسيرته ستنتهي بدخول السجن، فمعركتهم الآن عنوانها أن يدرك المحتلّ أنّ أعباء وجودهم في السجن عليه تفوق أعباء تركهم أحراراً، ورسالتهم لشعبهم، أنّ أسرهم لم ولن يوقف نضالهم ولا مواقعهم القيادية في مسيرة شعبهم نحو الحرية.

– يثق القادة الأسرى أنهم ذاهبون إلى ما تعاهدوا عليه من السقوط تباعاً شهداء، وهم ينتظرون ذلك اليوم بفارغ الصبر، لأنهم يعلمون أنّ الشارع الفلسطيني سيرتفع إلى درجة الغليان وينفجر مقاومة ومواجهات لا تتوقف، وأنّ المقاومات الفلسطينية المسلحة لن تقف مكتوفة الأيدي أمام هذا التساقط للشهداء القادة في السجون، ويثقون أنّ موجة من الغضب ستعمّ الشارعَيْن العربي والدولي وأنّ نشاطات عدة إنسانية وسياسية ستمتدّ في مدن العالم ومراكز القرار السياسي والحكومي والأممي عنوانها قضية فلسطين ومعاناة شعبه وظلم الاحتلال لأبنائه، وأنّ مبادرات عديدة سيطبّقها حراك الأسرى، ووجهة الوضعين العربي والدولي سيغيّرها الحراك ويفرض عليها روزنامته.

– قادة كبار عظماء قرّروا بأنهم سيدخلون التاريخ شهداء، وبدأوا خطوتهم الأولى نحو الحرية لفلسطين، يدقّون أبواب ضمائر أحرار العالم كلّهم، وبوابات الصمت العربي والدولي، ماذا لو سقط الشهيد الأول وبدأ القادة يتساقطون تباعاً شهداء…؟

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Is Syria’s Invasion from Jordan on the Agenda?

EDITORIAL | 28.04.2017 | EDITORIAL

With focus on the battle of Raqqa and in the governorates of Homs and Idlib, Jordan has been kept away from media headlines. The kingdom’s role will grow immensely if it becomes the staging point for an operation on Syrian soil. And it may happen pretty soon.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made the allegation that «Jordan was part of the American plan since the beginning of the war in Syria».

A perusal of various sources leads to the conclusion that Syria is facing the possibility of a US-led invasion from Jordan. Mike Cernovich, a pro-Trump journalist, reported that Trump’s national security advisor, Gen. Herbert R.McMaster, was pushing the idea of involving the US in a full-scale war in Syria by sending as many as 150,000 troops. According to Derek Harvey, the top Middle East adviser in the NSC, McMaster has been trying to influence the Joint Chiefs Chairman General Joseph Dunford and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Mattis and Dunford support working with our allies in the fight against Islamic State (IS). Harvey and McMaster are advocating for a massive American-only ground force.

Here is another story to confirm the information. Eli Lake writes in his article published by Bloomberg that «Senior White House and administration officials tell me Trump’s national security adviser, General H.R. McMaster, has been quietly pressing his colleagues to question the underlying assumptions of a draft war plan against the Islamic State that would maintain only a light US ground troop presence in Syria. McMaster’s critics inside the administration say he wants to send tens of thousands of ground troops to the Euphrates River Valley».

Bloomberg cites Jack Keane, a retired four-star Army general who is close to McMaster, who says «A better option is to start the operation in the southeast along the Euphrates River Valley, establish a US base of operations, work with our Sunni Arab coalition partners, who have made repeated offers to help us against the regime and also Islamic State». Keane added that US conventional forces would be the anchor of that initial push, which he said would most likely require around 10,000 conventional forces, with an expectation that Arab allies in the region would provide more troops to the US-led effort. Other proposals mention 50,000 and 150,000 soldiers.

Arab English-language sources also have their stories to report. For instance, Arabic Al-Hayat newspaper reported that Jordan wants to follow Turkey’s example and conduct its own military operation in south Syria. The report came only a week after Jordan conducted an airstrike against Jaysh Khalid bin Walid – an extremist Al Qaeda-affiliated extremist group holding positions not far from the Jordanian border. Mass media previously reported political sources in Amman speaking about Jordanian-American-British operations to be launched against terrorist groups operating near the northern Jordanian borders with Syria.

These are just media reports, in theory they could be made up, but the authors are respected people and there is no smoke without fire.

It serves the purpose to join isolated pieces of information together to see a bigger picture.

The situation in Syria has been turning in favor of the Syrian government. The army is recovering new ground in Hama governorate and is also making gains in Idlib. It has repelled attacks launched by «moderate rebels» in the south to take the city of Deraa – the key urban area for the implementation of plans to establish a safe zone in the south.

In April, US Defense Secretary James Mattis visited the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. If the US wants other countries to join in an operation, it will badly need their political support and Arab boots on the ground.

In April, 20 US Army armored vehicles were transported by Ro-Ro transport ship Liberty Passion to the Jordanian port of Aqaba. US troops were allegedly accompanied by the Jordanian Army’s 3rd Division. This is the first time when a notable number of US armored vehicles and troops (besides the special operations forces – SOF) were reported in Jordan. The ship was scheduled to drop anchor at seven stations, but its arrival in Jordan coincided with the US cruise missile strike in Syria.

The war preparations started after President Trump received Jordanian king Abdullah at the White House on April 5.

The king expressed concern over the presence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards stationed 70 kilometers away from the border with Jordan. Given that Jordan and Syria share a 235-mile border, Jordanian media have also voiced alarm over Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, a jihadist group formerly known as Nusra Front that many in the Hashemite kingdom perceive as merely a replica of IS. «It is a challenge, but we are ready to face it in cooperation with the US and Britain», the King told the Washington Post.

They say militants use the territory in southern Syria as a springboard for terrorist activity against Jordan. There are 100,000 refugees in two of the major refugee camps along the Jordanian-Syrian border-al-Rukban and Hadalat. The camps are infiltrated by terrorists. The last thing Jordan wants is even more Syrian refugees flowing into the country or finding refuge near its borders. A longtime US ally, Amman is also determined to work closely with the Trump administration, especially as the new US president advocates «safe zones» in Syria, which will inevitably bear major implications for the future of the Hashemite kingdom’s security.

Crossing the border to establish a protected area would be in line with Turkey’s setting up a buffer zone in northern Syria.

Even if joined by Arab allies, the creation of a safe zone in the south of Syria foresees significant increase of the American involvement in the conflict. It will require substantial ground forces and air power. Without an invitation from the Syrian government and an approval by the UN Security Council, the operation will be conducted in violation of international law. There will be a risk of clashes with Syria’s government forces. Actually, the plan hardly has a chance to succeed without cooperation of the Syrian government, Russia and Iran. The US will be dragged into another costly military conflict with no goals defined and no end at the end of the tunnel. Donald Trump won the presidential race largely because Americans were tired of the past 16 years of continuous foreign interventions.

The creation of a buffer zone will mean the division of the country, reducing the chances to find a solution to the conflict. The plan can work only if it is a multinational operation conducted in line with international law. If not, it is doomed to failure at great cost.