Saturday 21 March 2009

Mr. Obama: Meaningful Change is Deliberate






By William A. Cook


The will to change requires fortitude, a firmness of mind to endure pain, conviction in belief that stands against self-interest, and commitment to act regardless of consequences. To stand against the will of those with power and resources, those determined to force their ideology on a government appointed by the people, necessitates confrontation of intellect and will. It is ultimately a battle of individual rights against forces committed to destruction of those rights.

In a Democracy, the people give their consent to their representatives to act on their behalf believing in the integrity of their elected officials to act in their best interest. When those officials become the lackeys of a foreign government, subservient to its will, they become by consent traitors to their own. This is the conundrum that confronts the citizens of the United States of America as their Congress, in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, acts, not on behalf of their constituents, but on behalf of the Zionist government of Israel and their representatives in AIPAC.

Consider the most recent act of our Congress in their AIPAC promoted Resolution (HR951) focused on Israel’s invasion against Gaza, a resolution that supported systematic savagery and destruction of a defenseless population, locked behind walls of an Israeli prison, unable to leave to seek shelter, unable to defend themselves since they have no army, no navy, no air force -- at the mercy of a merciless military that is second to none on the planet as it inflicted its devastating slaughter on the innocent, mothers and children abandoned to the pathological sickness of a people willing and able to inflict their might on the defenseless residents of Gaza. The people of the world watched this carnage on You Tube; apparently our representatives did not. No human with a soul or conscience could witness this horror without revulsion against the perpetrators and compassion for the victims. Not only did our good Christian and Jewish Congress vote to murder 346 children and another 1000 Palestinians, they blamed the incarcerated victims for the illegal invasion, noting in passing that the innocent Jewish victims had a right to defend themselves although no one in Israel or Palestine or the United Nations can say for sure where Israel is or what borders it is defending.
Even The American Conservative’s Glenn Greenwald reacted to this blatant demonstration of fawning to Israel in a column headed “When Israel Acts, Congress applauds. No debate required.”:
"In most of the world, the Israeli attack on Gaza is viewed as an intensely controversial act and, more commonly, an excessive, unjustifiable, and brutal assault on a trapped civilian population. But not in the United States - at least not among America’s political and opinion-making elite. Here one finds a bipartisan consensus as simplistic as it is unquestioned: Israel’s bombing campaign and invasion of Gaza are right and just, and it is the duty of the U.S. to support these actions unequivocally."
Such unquestioned loyalty to a state that prevented the Red Cross, for an entire week, from rescuing children, huddled against their dead mothers, emaciated, alone, emotionally distraught, a state that blocked ambulances from reaching them, a state devoid of natural sympathies, a state these same legislators laud as having values identical to America’s, perhaps more truthfully, values decidedly like their own, merciless in the face of atrocities of this kind executed by those they crawl before - their owners - in obsequious adulation like slaves of old. “The world recoiled in horror,” Greenwald observes, “Angry street demonstrations erupted in Europe, and condemnations of Israel from the UN and Red Cross were unusually strident.” Five of our Congress objected, five. They alone represented the voice of the American people. “Last July, a poll from the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes found that 71% of Americans want the U.S. Government not to take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” (Greenwald).

Jeff Gates in “The New Heretics” makes this pointed commentary: “That attack, planned for more than a year, was scheduled between Christmas and the presidential inaugural. Within 48 hours of ending its assault, Israel had dispatched an army of bloggers to counter anti-Zionist websites. By early February, the Anti-Defamation League was bemoaning a ‘pandemic of anti-Semitism’ as the massacre fueled outrage worldwide. By early March, Israeli policy was being described as a threat to international peace and security, a violation of international human rights, a crime against humanity and a form of apartheid. By associating the US with such behavior, this special relationship fueled anti-American hatred, fanned the flames of radicalization and set the stage for more terrorism.” Thus does our Congress provide for the security of its citizens.

How can the American people wrest control of their Congress, a veritable U.S. Knesset in our Capital, from the Zionist forces that have hijacked it, putting America in absolute danger from a state touted as a friend, but one that is the primary cause of America’s damnation around the globe? We thought, or the majority thought, that they had accomplished this end when they elected Barack Obama president. Indeed, the election of a man that traces his heritage to the institution of slavery would suggest that he above all contenders could stand against the forces of tyranny. As representative man, he stands alone, unshackled from the “man,” obligated to no one, committed to equity for all, a man of continents not a country. But the omens are not good.
I commented on this fact in a “Letter to Michelle” and “Obama’s Third War” when his silence on the actions of the Israeli state prior to the inauguration reverberated loudly across the globe. To say, much less, do nothing while the Congress supported the dropping of white phosphorous on civilians, the locking of civilians in their apartments while the IDF took safe refuge at windows and on rooftops, the ultimate use of humans as shields, the targeted bombing of schools, hospitals, universities and UN storage depots seemed an unconscionable betrayal of the values he espoused during the campaign. Yet one had to take refuge in the practical politics that without AIPAC’s blessing and the support of the Zionist Israeli government, he could not be elected president; practicality overrides principle. So his silence against the illegal invasion of Gaza and the virtual unanimous support of the U.S. Congress for it must be listed as items one and two on a growing list of non-actions that favor Israel’s agenda whether it supports America’s or not. Add to this our anointed president’s silence about the shipment of 3000 tons of munitions sent to resupply the IDF as it unleashed its supply of American weapons on the people of Gaza, a shipment not allowed to leave from a Greek port lest the people of Greece revolt against a complicit government that might by its act give credibility to the slaughter.
Since his inauguration he has allowed his Secretary of State to go to Israel with admonishments about the continued development of settlements (colonial enclaves in reality) and the necessity of opening the gates surrounding Gaza for humanitarian purposes; laudable actions until the limitations of what was meant became evident. This bait and switch was complemented by the $900,000,000 million in aid to Gaza, a carrot made possible if the democratically elected Hamas would reconcile itself to being a servant to the PLO’s Israeli poodle, Mahmoud Abbas, recognize the state of Israel although no one yet knows where that state resides and without suggesting that Israel might want to recognize the State of Palestine, and that the Palestinians, that had just lost 1330 of its people to the Israeli blitz and thousands wounded and maimed while Israel lost 9 that it did not shoot itself, must abjure violence against Israel though Israel remains free to inflict whatever violence it desires on Palestine. One must ask if this deceit is intentional or if Bush left instructions on how an American President must behave toward its master.

But there’s more. Obama filled his appointments, most especially those that concentrate on the mid-east and Israel with Clinton era retreads that attempted to foist the illusion of the Oslo agreement as a just and equitable solution to the crisis in Palestine. It provided Israel with 76% of Palestine leaving the indigenous population with 24%. Such a deal. Then, with gall dripping from their lips, they blamed Arafat for failing to accept Israel’s magnanimous offer of 95% of the remaining area; that’s 95% of the remaining 24%, a generous 14% that Israel had not annexed or stolen outright of the lands of Palestine. Why rehire the men who failed? Isn’t that a lot like giving million dollar bonuses to the CEO’s of AIG for failing? Lincoln did not fight the Civil War in expectation that he would return the plantations to the slave owners so they could continue the exploitation of the slaves. That seems to be the mentality that governs in Israel.

And there’s more. But the sun shone briefly on this item. Charles Freeman came on the scene as an appointment to oversee mid-east intelligence, a voice of reason in a room of partisans. But the clouds gathered swiftly, blown in by Steve Rosen, the Israeli AIPAC employee, charged with spying on the United States, who called AIPAC’s sheep to bleat throughout the land the horror of appointing a person that questioned the actions of Israel to a position of such stature, oblivious it would appear to the irony of a spy leading the charge for the country he works for, i.e. Israel. Without Freeman, an apt name one might observe, there can be no free discussion about Israel and its colonial apartheid dealings with the people of Palestine, the people who lost their freedom 60 years ago.

And, finally, a potpourri of items not meant to be inclusive but indicative. Helen Thomas asked a simple question at the new President’s first press conference. What country or countries have nuclear weapons in the mid-East. Our president avoided the question much as he would by deflecting a straightforward shot at the basket by passing the ball to another and so did not have to prove himself by shooting the ball. Helen undeterred, pointed out that he had not answered the question; he did not acknowledge her. Why avoid what the world knows? Why not, if he must avoid a direct answer, suggest that every country in the mid-East, including Israel, should sign the nuclear non-proliferation agreement. But no, an American President cannot answer for himself without getting permission from his handlers.

Two items to close this unfortunate litany of omissions. The Obama administration has decided, despite the economic crisis American taxpayers are footing for his stimulus package, to continue to send Israel the 30 billion promised by Bush as additional military support over and above the yearly allotment of 3 billion that has cost the American taxpayer since 1967 upwards of 134 billion depending on how thorough the analysis of the budgets is in accounting for our largesse. Given the numbers of those in his administration that have dual citizenship with Israel and those that have served in the Clinton administration and have shown their allegiance to Israel, the voices speaking on Israel’s behalf are deafening indeed. Would that such voices might speak on behalf of the American taxpayer.

I return now to the opening paragraph of this essay as I note the final item in our grievances against the new President. “The will to change requires fortitude, a firmness of mind to endure pain, conviction in belief that stands against self-interest, and commitment to act regardless of consequences.”

We took this man at his word, that he wanted change, that he would guide America in new directions, away from the amoral behavior of the Bush administration, away from the chosen elite that have run the nation into the economic toilet, and toward a new vision where the security of all is put first and equity for all is the hallmark of America once again. Now, with absolutely unfathomable logic, this man has determined that the United States must boycott the 2009 World Conference against Racism. Why? Because Israel is threatened with being relabeled an apartheid nation, a racist nation as it has demonstrated a total disregard for the multiple resolutions issued by the United Nations for its abuse of the conventions enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that it is has signed.

A man that wills to effect change would not boycott what he must face; that is the coward’s way. This man knows what apartheid means; he understands what discrimination is; he has felt the blows of the white dominant elite; he can see the consequences of Israel’s policies that allow for stealing of land, for bulldozing of homes, for preventing food stuffs, medicine, fuel, water, the necessities of life to enter Gaza; he knows of their annexing of the aquifers from the Palestinians; he has heard of the plight of the people of Ramallah; he has read about the massacres in Jenin and Rafah; he realizes in his heart of hearts that what Israel has done to the people of Palestine is abominable, beyond the pale of human righteousness, inexcusable by any humane measure, unendurable if put in a position where change could be effected. “To stand against the will of those with power and resources, those determined to force their ideology on a government appointed by the people, necessitates confrontation of intellect and will. It is ultimately a battle of individual rights against forces committed to destruction of those rights.” This President must, on behalf of the rights of the American people, confront the Zionist ideology that governs our Congress and the government of Israel, knowing that he alone can force this issue into the open, force the government of Israel to choose friendship with the United States as it reconfirms the ideals on which it was founded - equity, integrity, equal and individual rights protected by law - or choose to remain defiant against the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and remain an isolated, alienated nation, a rogue state floundering in a sea of animosity.

Fortitude, conviction and commitment necessitate principled action not quibbling servility, a determination of selflessness on behalf of country not self-interest to avoid pain, and recognition that what is done correctly is done forever. Change is indeed constant, but meaningful change is deliberate.

- William A. Cook, Professor of English, University of La Verne, California author of Tracking Deception: Bush Mid-East Policy, The Rape of Palestine, and The Chronicles of Nefaria. Contact him at: cookb@ulv.edu.


Posted by JNOUBIYEH at 11:34 AM

Zionist T-Shirts


Zionist T-Shirts


'No virgins, no terror attacks'

By URI BLAU

The office at the Adiv fabric-printing shop in south Tel Aviv handles a constant stream of customers, many of them soldiers in uniform, who come to order custom clothing featuring their unit's insignia, usually accompanied by a slogan and drawing of their choosing. Elsewhere on the premises, the sketches are turned into plates used for imprinting the ordered items, mainly T-shirts and baseball caps, but also hoodies, fleece jackets and pants. A young Arab man from Jaffa supervises the workers who imprint the words and pictures, and afterward hands over the finished product.

Dead babies, mothers weeping on their children's graves, a gun aimed at a child and bombed-out mosques - these are a few examples of the images Israel Defense Forces soldiers design these days to print on shirts they order to mark the end of training, or of field duty. The slogans accompanying the drawings are not exactly anemic either: A T-shirt for infantry snipers bears the inscription "Better use Durex," next to a picture of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him. A sharpshooter's T-shirt from the Givati Brigade's Shaked battalion shows a pregnant Palestinian woman with a bull's-eye superimposed on her belly, with the slogan, in English, "1 shot, 2 kills." A "graduation" shirt for those who have completed another snipers course depicts a Palestinian baby, who grows into a combative boy and then an armed adult, with the inscription, "No matter how it begins, we'll put an end to it."

There are also plenty of shirts with blatant sexual messages. For example, the Lavi battalion produced a shirt featuring a drawing of a soldier next to a young woman with bruises, and the slogan, "Bet you got raped!" A few of the images underscore actions whose existence the army officially denies - such as "confirming the kill" (shooting a bullet into an enemy victim's head from close range, to ensure he is dead), or harming religious sites, or female or child non-combatants.

In many cases, the content is submitted for approval to one of the unit's commanders. The latter, however, do not always have control over what gets printed, because the artwork is a private initiative of soldiers that they never hear about. Drawings or slogans previously banned in certain units have been approved for distribution elsewhere. For example, shirts declaring, "We won't chill 'til we confirm the kill" were banned in the past (the IDF claims that the practice doesn't exist), yet the Haruv battalion printed some last year.

The slogan "Let every Arab mother know that her son's fate is in my hands!" had previously been banned for use on another infantry unit's shirt. A Givati soldier said this week, however, that at the end of last year, his platoon printed up dozens of shirts, fleece jackets and pants bearing this slogan.

"It has a drawing depicting a soldier as the Angel of Death, next to a gun and an Arab town," he explains. "The text was very powerful. The funniest part was that when our soldier came to get the shirts, the man who printed them was an Arab, and the soldier felt so bad that he told the girl at the counter to bring them to him."

Does the design go to the commanders for approval?

The Givati soldier: "Usually the shirts undergo a selection process by some officer, but in this case, they were approved at the level of platoon sergeant. We ordered shirts for 30 soldiers and they were really into it, and everyone wanted several items and paid NIS 200 on average."

What do you think of the slogan that was printed?

"I didn't like it so much, but most of the soldiers wanted it."

Many controversial shirts have been ordered by graduates of snipers courses, which bring together soldiers from various units. In 2006, soldiers from the "Carmon Team" course for elite-unit marksmen printed a shirt with a drawing of a knife-wielding Palestinian in the crosshairs of a gun sight, and the slogan, "You've got to run fast, run fast, run fast, before it's all over." Below is a drawing of Arab women weeping over a grave and the words: "And afterward they cry, and afterward they cry." [The inscriptions are riffs on a popular song.] Another sniper's shirt also features an Arab man in the crosshairs, and the announcement, "Everything is with the best of intentions."

G., a soldier in an elite unit who has done a snipers course, explained that, "it's a type of bonding process, and also it's well known that anyone who is a sniper is messed up in the head. Our shirts have a lot of double entendres, for example: 'Bad people with good aims.' Every group that finishes a course puts out stuff like that."

When are these shirts worn?

G. "These are shirts for around the house, for jogging, in the army. Not for going out. Sometimes people will ask you what it's about."

Of the shirt depicting a bull's-eye on a pregnant woman, he said: "There are people who think it's not right, and I think so as well, but it doesn't really mean anything. I mean it's not like someone is gonna go and shoot a pregnant woman."

What is the idea behind the shirt from July 2007, which has an image of a child with the slogan "Smaller - harder!"?

"It's a kid, so you've got a little more of a problem, morally, and also the target is smaller."

Do your superiors approve the shirts before printing?

"Yes, although one time they rejected some shirt that was too extreme. I don't remember what was on it."

These shirts also seem pretty extreme. Why draw crosshairs over a child - do you shoot kids?

'We came, we saw'

"As a sniper, you get a lot of extreme situations. You suddenly see a small boy who picks up a weapon and it's up to you to decide whether to shoot. These shirts are half-facetious, bordering on the truth, and they reflect the extreme situations you might encounter. The one who-honest-to-God sees the target with his own eyes - that's the sniper."

Have you encountered a situation like that?

"Fortunately, not involving a kid, but involving a woman - yes. There was someone who wasn't holding a weapon, but she was near a prohibited area and could have posed a threat."

What did you do?

"I didn't take it" (i.e., shoot).

You don't regret that, I imagine.

"No. Whomever I had to shoot, I shot."

A shirt printed up just this week for soldiers of the Lavi battalion, who spent three years in the West Bank, reads: "We came, we saw, we destroyed!" - alongside images of weapons, an angry soldier and a Palestinian village with a ruined mosque in the center.

A shirt printed after Operation Cast Lead in Gaza for Battalion 890 of the Paratroops depicts a King Kong-like soldier in a city under attack. The slogan is unambiguous: "If you believe it can be fixed, then believe it can be destroyed!"

Y., a soldier/yeshiva student, designed the shirt. "You take whoever [in the unit] knows how to draw and then you give it to the commanders before printing," he explained.

What is the soldier holding in his hand?

Y. "A mosque. Before I drew the shirt I had some misgivings, because I wanted it to be like King Kong, but not too monstrous. The one holding the mosque - I wanted him to have a more normal-looking face, so it wouldn't look like an anti-Semitic cartoon. Some of the people who saw it told me, 'Is that what you've got to show for the IDF? That it destroys homes?' I can understand people who look at this from outside and see it that way, but I was in Gaza and they kept emphasizing that the object of the operation was to wreak destruction on the infrastructure, so that the price the Palestinians and the leadership pay will make them realize that it isn't worth it for them to go on shooting. So that's the idea of 'we're coming to destroy' in the drawing."

According to Y., most of these shirts are worn strictly in an army context, not in civilian life. "And within the army people look at it differently," he added. "I don't think I would walk down the street in this shirt, because it would draw fire. Even at my yeshiva I don't think people would like it."

Y. also came up with a design for the shirt his unit printed at the end of basic training. It shows a clenched fist shattering the symbol of the Paratroops Corps.

Where does the fist come from?

"It's reminiscent of [Rabbi Meir] Kahane's symbol. I borrowed it from an emblem for something in Russia, but basically it's supposed to look like Kahane's symbol, the one from 'Kahane Was Right' - it's a sort of joke. Our company commander is kind of gung-ho."

Was the shirt printed?

"Yes. It was a company shirt. We printed about 100 like that."

This past January, the "Night Predators" demolitions platoon from Golani's Battalion 13 ordered a T-shirt showing a Golani devil detonating a charge that destroys a mosque. An inscription above it says, "Only God forgives."

One of the soldiers in the platoon downplays it: "It doesn't mean much, it's just a T-shirt from our platoon. It's not a big deal. A friend of mine drew a picture and we made it into a shirt."

What's the idea behind "Only God forgives"?

The soldier: "It's just a saying."

No one had a problem with the fact that a mosque gets blown up in the picture?

"I don't see what you're getting at. I don't like the way you're going with this. Don't take this somewhere you're not supposed to, as though we hate Arabs."

The sketches printed in recent years at the Adiv factory, one of the largest of its kind in the country, are arranged in drawers according to the names of the units placing the orders: Paratroops, Golani, air force, sharpshooters and so on. Each drawer contains hundreds of drawings, filed by year. Many of the prints are cartoons and slogans relating to life in the unit, or inside jokes that outsiders wouldn't get (and might not care to, either), but a handful reflect particular aggressiveness, violence and vulgarity.

Print-shop manager Haim Yisrael, who has worked there since the early 1980s, said Adiv prints around 1,000 different patterns each month, with soldiers accounting for about half. Yisrael recalled that when he started out, there were hardly any orders from the army.

"The first ones to do it were from the Nahal brigade," he said. "Later on other infantry units started printing up shirts, and nowadays any course with 15 participants prints up shirts."

From time to time, officers complain. "Sometimes the soldiers do things that are inside jokes that only they get, and sometimes they do something foolish that they take to an extreme," Yisrael explained. "There have been a few times when commanding officers called and said, 'How can you print things like that for soldiers?' For example, with shirts that trashed the Arabs too much. I told them it's a private company, and I'm not interested in the content. I can print whatever I like. We're neutral. There have always been some more extreme and some less so. It's just that now more people are making shirts."

Race to be unique

Evyatar Ben-Tzedef, a research associate at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism and former editor of the IDF publication Maarachot, said the phenomenon of custom-made T-shirts is a product of "the infantry's insane race to be unique. I, for example, had only one shirt that I received after the Yom Kippur War. It said on it, 'The School for Officers,' and that was it. What happened since then is a product of the decision to assign every unit an emblem and a beret. After all, there used to be very few berets: black, red or green. This changed in the 1990s. [The shirts] developed because of the fact that for bonding purposes, each unit created something that was unique to it.

"These days the content on shirts is sometimes deplorable," Ben-Tzedef explained. "It stems from the fact that profanity is very acceptable and normative in Israel, and that there is a lack of respect for human beings and their environment, which includes racism aimed in every direction."

Yossi Kaufman, who moderates the army and defense forum on the Web site Fresh, served in the Armored Corps from 1996 to 1999. "I also drew shirts, and I remember the first one," he said. "It had a small emblem on the front and some inside joke, like, 'When we die, we'll go to heaven, because we've already been through hell.'"

Kaufman has also been exposed to T-shirts of the sort described here. "I know there are shirts like these," he says. "I've heard and also seen a little. These are not shirts that soldiers can wear in civilian life, because they would get stoned, nor at a battalion get-together, because the battalion commander would be pissed off. They wear them on very rare occasions. There's all sorts of black humor stuff, mainly from snipers, such as, 'Don't bother running because you'll die tired' - with a drawing of a Palestinian boy, not a terrorist. There's a Golani or Givati shirt of a soldier raping a girl, and underneath it says, 'No virgins, no terror attacks.' I laughed, but it was pretty awful. When I was asked once to draw things like that, I said it wasn't appropriate."

The IDF Spokesman's Office comments on the phenomenon: "Military regulations do not apply to civilian clothing, including shirts produced at the end of basic training and various courses. The designs are printed at the soldiers' private initiative, and on civilian shirts. The examples raised by Haaretz are not in keeping with the values of the IDF spirit, not representative of IDF life, and are in poor taste. Humor of this kind deserves every condemnation and excoriation. The IDF intends to take action for the immediate eradication of this phenomenon. To this end, it is emphasizing to commanding officers that it is appropriate, among other things, to take discretionary and disciplinary measures against those involved in acts of this sort."

Shlomo Tzipori, a lieutenant colonel in the reserves and a lawyer specializing in martial law, said the army does bring soldiers up on charges for offenses that occur outside the base and during their free time. According to Tzipori, slogans that constitute an "insult to the army or to those in uniform" are grounds for court-martial, on charges of "shameful conduct" or "disciplinary infraction," which are general clauses in judicial martial law.

Sociologist Dr. Orna Sasson-Levy, of Bar-Ilan University, author of "Identities in Uniform: Masculinities and Femininities in the Israeli Military," said that the phenomenon is "part of a radicalization process the entire country is undergoing, and the soldiers are at its forefront. I think that ever since the second intifada there has been a continual shift to the right. The pullout from Gaza and its outcome - the calm that never arrived - led to a further shift rightward.

"This tendency is most strikingly evident among soldiers who encounter various situations in the territories on a daily basis. There is less meticulousness than in the past, and increasing callousness. There is a perception that the Palestinian is not a person, a human being entitled to basic rights, and therefore anything may be done to him."

Could the printing of clothing be viewed also as a means of venting aggression?

Sasson-Levy: "No. I think it strengthens and stimulates aggression and legitimizes it. What disturbs me is that a shirt is something that has permanence. The soldiers later wear it in civilian life; their girlfriends wear it afterward. It is not a statement, but rather something physical that remains, that is out there in the world. Beyond that, I think the link made between sexist views and nationalist views, as in the 'Screw Haniyeh' shirt, is interesting. National chauvinism and gender chauvinism combine and strengthen one another. It establishes a masculinity shaped by violent aggression toward women and Arabs; a masculinity that considers it legitimate to speak in a crude and violent manner toward women and Arabs."

Col. (res.) Ron Levy began his military service in the Sayeret Matkal elite commando force before the Six-Day War. He was the IDF's chief psychologist, and headed the army's mental health department in the 1980s.

Levy: "I'm familiar with things of this sort going back 40, 50 years, and each time they take a different form. Psychologically speaking, this is one of the ways in which soldiers project their anger, frustration and violence. It is a certain expression of things, which I call 'below the belt.'"

Do you think this a good way to vent anger?

Levy: "It's safe. But there are also things here that deviate from the norm, and you could say that whoever is creating these things has reached some level of normality. He gives expression to the fact that what is considered abnormal today might no longer be so tomorrow."

Source

Posted by JNOUBIYEH at 11:00 AM

Israel police ban Arab culture day in Jerusalem

Link

Palestinians in traditional dress dance at a rally celebrating the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as a "capital" of Arab culture in the West Bank city of Bethlehem March 21, 2009. Israeli police prevented Palestinians on Saturday from holding events in East Jerusalem marking the disputed city's designation as a "capital" of Arab culture. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK POLITICS SOCIETY)

Palestinians dance at a rally celebrating the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as a "capital" of Arab culture in Jerusalem March 21, 2009. Israeli police prevented Palestinians on Saturday from holding events in East Jerusalem marking the disputed city's designation as a "capital" of Arab culture. REUTERS/Mahfouz Abu Turk (JERUSALEM POLITICS SOCIETY)

Palestinians perform at a rally celebrating the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as a "capital" of Arab culture in Jerusalem March 21, 2009. Israeli police prevented Palestinians on Saturday from holding events in East Jerusalem marking the disputed city's designation as a "capital" of Arab culture. REUTERS/Mahfouz Abu Turk (JERUSALEM POLITICS SOCIETY)

Palestinians attend a rally celebrating the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as a "capital" of Arab culture in Jerusalem March 21, 2009. Israeli police prevented Palestinians on Saturday from holding events in East Jerusalem marking the disputed city's designation as a "capital" of Arab culture. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM POLITICS)

Palestinians perform at a rally celebrating the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as a "capital" of Arab culture in the West Bank city of Bethlehem March 21, 2009. Israeli police prevented Palestinians on Saturday from holding events in East Jerusalem marking the disputed city's designation as a "capital" of Arab culture. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK POLITICS SOCIETY)

Palestinians youth play next to the Damascus gate in Jerusalem, Saturday, March 21, 2009, during events organized to mark Jerusalem as the capital of Arab culture for 2009. Israeli police moved into a school in east Jerusalem, bursting balloons in the colors of the Palestinian flag as teenage girls looked on in a push to break up a series of Arab cultural events in the city. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

Israel police ban Arab culture day in Jerusalem

By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer Diaa Hadid, Associated Press Writer

A Palestinian boy scout performs during a rally to mark Jerusalem, Capital of AP – A Palestinian boy scout performs during a rally to mark Jerusalem, Capital of Arab Culture for 2009, …

JERUSALEM – Israeli authorities broke up a series of Palestinian cultural events in Jerusalem on Saturday, disrupting a children's march and bursting balloons at a schoolyard celebration.

Israel said the cultural events violated a ban on Palestinian political activity in the disputed city, but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the crackdown.

Palestinian activists called the events to celebrate the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as the capital of Arab culture for 2009. The 23-nation group chooses a different city for the honor each year.

Ahead of Saturday's events, Israel's internal security minister, Avi Dichter, banned the celebrations from taking place, saying Abbas' Palestinian Authority was behind the activities. Israel does not allow the Palestinian government to have a presence in Jerusalem, saying it undercuts Israel's claim to the city.

At one event, teenage girls at an east Jerusalem Catholic school released a few dozen balloons in the red, white, green and black colors of the Palestinian flag over the walled Old City. Israeli military police and soldiers quickly moved into the schoolyard and popped the remaining balloons, students said.

Zein, an 18-year-old student, said the police popped them with their hands and told them they weren't allowed to release them into the air. She asked not to use her last name, fearing further problems with the police.

An Israeli intelligence official at the school who refused to give his name said the balloons were burst "because they are Palestinian."

Police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby said 12 people were detained. Police also broke up attempts by Palestinian school children to march into the Old City.

The dispute over Jerusalem lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is the most sensitive issue in peace talks.

Israel says the entire city of Jerusalem is its undivided capital. Palestinians want east Jerusalem — captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and site of key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites — as the capital of a future state. Israel annexed the eastern part of the city after the 1967 war, and today, nearly 200,000 Jewish Israelis live in east Jerusalem neighborhoods. The annexation is not internationally recognized.

Speaking in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Abbas said Israel's policies in Jerusalem were undermining the chances for peace.

"The policy of discrimination, suppression, stealing the land, destruction of neighborhoods, and homes, the policy of falsifying the past, destroying the present and stealing the future should all stop if peace is to have a real opportunity in this land," he said.

He urged the incoming Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to resume stalled peace negotiations on all issues of dispute, including Jerusalem. The conservative Netanyahu rejects any division of the holy city.

Two years ago, the Arab League designated Jerusalem its 2009 "Arab Cultural Capital," a title that rotates among Arab countries.

Winners typically use the occasion to feature their attachment to Arab culture, sponsoring poetry, music, dance performances, lectures, school activities and sporting events.

In this case, the cultural celebration is also intended to emphasize the Palestinian claim to east Jerusalem.


posted by annie at 1:59 PM

Obama: the problem is the malignant tumor called Israel

Link

By Khalid Amayreh • Mar 20th, 2009 at 22:55 • Category: Analysis, Israel, Khalid Amayreh, Middle East Issues, Our Authors, Palestine, War, Zionism


WRITTEN BY Khalid Amayreh


One of the most scandalous aspects of US foreign policy towards the Middle East is the shocking dishonesty inherent in the American approach regarding the Palestinian plight.


The US often watches Israel indulge in pornographic criminal acts against Palestinian civilians, acts that contradict the most fundamental American ideals and norms.


However, instead of condemning these evil crimes, successive American administrations have either kept silent or given Israeli the benefit of the doubt.


Take for example the recent Israeli blitz in Gaza. Everyone under the sun knows by now that Israeli forces committed outrageous massacres of innocent civilians in Gaza.


And every honest person knows that these crimes were carried out knowingly and deliberately, often using American-supplied weapons, such as F-16 fighter planes, White Phosphorus bombs, dart shells and anti-personnel chemical agents that eat through the body, causing indescribable suffering, leading to death.


So, could it be possible that the US, with all its intelligence capabilities, doesn’t really know that Israel committed these massacres against innocent civilians whose only “crime” was their enduring determination to be free from Judeo-Nazi persecution and oppression?


This week, the United Nations human rights investigator Richard Falk pointed out that the Israeli blitz against the Gaza Strip in December and January constituted a clear-cut war crime of the “greatest magnitude.”


Falk said Israel clearly violated the Geneva Conventions which require warring forces to distinguish between military targets and surrounding civilians.


“If it is not possible to do so, then launching the attack is inherently unlawful and would seem to constitute a war crime of the greatest magnitude under international law.”


Falk, a Jew, argued convincingly that on the basis of the preliminary evidence available there is reason to reach this conclusion: that Israel carried out deliberate massacres against innocent civilians.


“Some of these criminal violations included the targeting of schools, mosques and ambulances and the use of internationally prohibited weapons such as White Phosphorus, in civilian areas.”


Falk’s remarks have been perfectly corroborated by irrefutable evidence produced and gathered by numerous human rights groups, including Israeli groups such as B’Tselem.


Indeed, even Israeli soldiers and officers who took part in that genocidal onslaught are now making testimonies acknowledging that the Israeli army committed indiscriminate and wanton murder of innocent civilians and that everyone was aware of this reality.

According to these testimonies, published by the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, “Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property.” (Ha’aretz, March 19, 2009)


According to Ha’aretz, the testimonies include a description by an infantry squad leader of an “incident” where an IDF sharpshooter “mistakenly” shot a Palestinian mother and her two children.


“There was a house with a family inside, we put them in a room. Later, we left the house and another platoon entered, and a few days after that there was an order to release the family. They had set up positions upstairs. There was a sniper position on the roof.


“The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn’t understand and went to the left, but they forgot to tell the sharpshooter on the roof they had let them go and it was okay, and he should hold fire and he…he did what he was supposed to do….!!


“I don’t think he felt too bad about it, because after all, as far as he was concerned, he did his job according to the orders he was given. And the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to…I don’t know how to describe it….The lives of Palestinians, let’s say, is something very, very less important than the lives of the soldiers. So, as far as they are concerned, they can justify it that way.”


Some Israeli officials and mouthpieces of Zionist propaganda would claim that these criminal acts of premeditated murder were merely “individual aberrations.”


This is a big and most likely malicious lie (a malicious lie occurs when the liar knows he is lying). After all, an aberration doesn’t happen 1,500 times in 22 days.


In short, Israeli soldiers and pilots were given clear and unmistakable instructions to murder civilians, to destroy their homes and to thoroughly terrorize them.


Well, things are clear enough for all those honestly interested in knowing the truth.


Regrettably, however, it is amply clear that the Obama administration, along with most European governments, are not really interested in pursuing this matter, not because they don’t know the truth about Israel and its hideous crimes in Gaza, but rather because the truth is too inconvenient for them.


Indeed, it is highly inconceivable that western governments don’t know the truth about the recent genocide that Israel perpetrated in Gaza. They know it, probably too well.


The problem with these military and political powers, but moral midgets, is that they don’t want to act on their knowledge. They don’t want to look Israel in the eye and tell her Nazi-minded leaders that they are murderous thugs and ought to be thrown behind bars or at least be shipped, like drugged wild animals, to the Hague to be prosecuted for their crimes. Indeed, had the Obama administration had a semblance of moral ethics, it would have refused to receive Gabi Ashkenazi, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, the man who supervised all the wanton killings and destruction in Gaza.


That man is a war criminal pursuant the laws of man and the laws of heaven. His hands are stained with the blood of 400 children, many of whom were exterminated with White Phosphorous shells.


However, instead of arresting him, or at least denying him an entry visa, America received him with all the trappings and pleasantries befitting a venerable statesman. Shame on America for prostituting herself before the Nazis of our time.


Well, this is the crux of the matter that the Obama administration is reluctant to face for fear of upsetting the powerful Jewish lobby in America, which is trying apparently successful in forcing the new American leadership to be at AIPAC’s beck and call.


In short, if the Obama administration wants to be sincere and honest about peace in the Middle East, it should stop preoccupying itself with secondary and symptomatic matters such as Palestinian “terror” and Hamas’ “non-recognition” of Israel, and the so-called “Iranian threat.”


The real problem impeding peace and stability in the Middle East is simply the malignant tumor known as Israel, a bellicose, militaristic, arrogant and paranoid state that has lost all claim to decency, dignity and respect, a state whose modus operandi is based on murder, dishonesty and theft.


Hence, it is imperative that the Obama administration abandon, once and for all, its hopelessly impotent stance vis-à-vis Israel and its powerful agents in America.


This is if Obama truly wants to succeed and save his country and the world from the huge turbulence and chaos now looming over the horizon.


The statesman Winston Churchill once was heard to say, “Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.” Surely, his experience in international relations would lead him to have had a clear understanding of who is sitting at the helm in the decision room, and who simply dances to someone else’s music.


Well, Mr. Obama, assume the position of leadership that everyone expects, rather than jumping to the orders of the Jewish lobby. This is how they are accustomed to treating American presidents, from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush.


This is certainly what they want you to be. The way the lobby handled the recent “Freeman affair” is a stigma of shame on America’s forehead. It leaves no doubt as to that lobby’s rapacity, meanness and hell-bent determination to enslave America for Israel’s sake.


Don’t surrender to them. American is too important for the world to be handed over to the Satanic lobby.



Tagged as: , , , , , ,


Khalid Amayreh is a journalist based in the Occupied Palestinian town of Dura.
Email this author All posts by Khalid Amayreh

Our ambassador to Poland


Link

[ 21/03/2009 - 04:59 PM ]

Comment by Khalid Amayreh

Many of our so-called ambassadors around the world are really unqualified for the job. They simply lack the required professionalism and experience to communicate the plight of our people and justice of our national cause to a world community that is heavily bombarded by Zionist lies around the clock.

I say “so-called” because we are not a state, or even a quasi-state, to have luxurious embassies which fruitlessly consume a significant chunk of our scant financial resources.

Added to that is the too-well-known fact that most of these “ambassadors” are chosen rather haphazardly irrespective of their abilities and qualifications. Some of these actually don’t speak English and their knowledge of international politics is minimal or nonexistent.

Hence, instead of being misrepresented by these flamboyant and often ineffective money-grabbing operatives, who spend much of their time throwing parties and visiting local bars, we should post in the capitals of the world professional spokespersons, fluent in foreign languages, who can effectively and eloquently communicate the truth about Israeli barbarianism.

Still there are more serious problems involving clearly improper behavior on the part of some of our diplomats.

According to reports from Warsaw, our ambassador to Poland (I don’t want to mention his name) threw a farewell party in honor of his Zionist friend, the Israeli ambassador to Poland David Pylgaeim (sic) on the occasion of the latter’s end of term.

I don’t have all the details of this most dishonorable behavior on the part of the ambassador who on several occasions denounced Palestinian resistance to Israeli Nazism as “violence and terror.”

However, if these reports which I have received from reliable sources in Warsaw are proven accurate, then the PLO which claims to be the “sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people” should take a swift decision to sack and punish this man.

Socializing amicably with the representative of a Nazi-like state, whose SS-like army, has just reduced the Gaza Strip to ruins and exterminated and incinerated thousands of Palestinian civilians with White Phosphorus and dart shells, implies that the Palestinian representative in Warsaw is either habitually drunk, blackmailed, ignorant or traitor, characters each of which is sufficient to get him sacked immediately.

It means that the ambassador doesn’t take the blood of the 1400 Palestinians slaughtered by the Jewish Wehrmacht seriously. It means that he is thoroughly preoccupied with his own morbid whims, such as endearing himself to Zionist circles.

Such behavior by the very man who is supposed to represent his people and champion their cause is nothing short of a cancer upon the collective conscience of our people.

I don’t know if this ambassador and his despicable behaviors represent the norm or the exception among Palestinian diplomats.

However, one can hardly rest assured, pretending that things are alright.

This writer has been told by confidential and reliable sources that some of our diplomats are heavy drinkers who often indulge in promiscuous conduct, which clearly makes them vulnerable to blackmail by the Mossad and other intelligence apparatuses.

This is of course in addition to indulging in a behavior unbecoming a dignified Palestinian, let alone a dignified Muslim.

I have also been told that a good number of our diplomats indulge in illegal business activities in violation of their diplomatic status.

Unfortunately, the PLO leadership in Ramallah is utterly ignoring this matter that causes immense damage to our reputation, dignity and national interests. Indeed, as far as I know, our Zionist-friendly ambassador has been neither rebuked nor reprimanded by his “bosses” in Ramallah, which amounts to giving him a green light to indulge in a fresh scandal.

Afif Safya

Afif Safya is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable Palestinian diplomats. He had served as PLO representative in London, Washington and most recently in Moscow. He appeared numerous times on western TV screens explaining rather eloquently the Palestinian people’s struggle against Israeli Nazism, often prompting Zionist circles to ask the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat to fire him.

Arafat refused, but his successor, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, seems to hate to see a dignified and capable Palestinian diplomat carry out his tasks professionally and successfully.

A few weeks ago, Abbas reportedly arbitrarily fired Safya from his post for attending a Moscow rally protesting the recent Israeli blitzkrieg against Gaza.

According to the London-based newspaper, al-Qods al-Arabi, Safya protested the decision, explaining that in his capacity as the Palestinian ambassador to Russia, he attended the rally which focused on the criminal Zionist invasion of the Gaza Strip which left hundreds of Palestinians murdered and maimed.

Again, if this is true, then the depravity of the PLO leadership must have reached unprecedented levels bordering on treason.

This is also another important reason that the PLO leadership must be overthrown and replaced by another leadership that is answerable to the Palestinian people.

Israel Intentionally Undermined Obama's Outreach To Iran

Link

In the PULSE, here

"Yesterday, when the New York Times inexplicably gave Shimon Peres' insulting message to Iran equal play with President Obama''s, I thought it might be no coincidence.

Peres, who is an uberhawk on Iran, suddenly sends "greetings" to the Iranian people urging them to rise up against their government at the same moment that Obama respectfully addressed the "Islamic Republic of Iran" with the most conciliatory US message in decades. Coincidence? Maybe.

Of course, the Iranians would not view it that way. They would see America and Israel playing "good cop, bad cop," diminishing the effect of Obama's remarkable overture.

I hear that the White House is furious.

Today's Times reports that when asked about the Israeli move, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "I know we notified our allies about our message last evening," saying he did not know if the Israelis had been notified. ...Of course, they were. No other ally is as concerned about Iran as Israel so Jerusalem must have been at the top of the list of those notified. Did it respond with a hasty and insulting message iin order to kill the effect of President Obama's? If so, it was a serious breach. If the shoe was on the other foot, Jerusalem would go ballistic.

Some reporter needs to develop a tick-tock on this one. We need to know what happened. If it was an innocent coincidence, fine. If it wasn't, it bodes ill for any US attempt to mend relations with Iran (and prevent an Iranian bomb diplomatically rather than by attempting and failing through military means)."

Posted by G, Z, & or B at 11:22 AM

Nakhala: Qurei asked for "crystal-clear" recognition of Israel


Nakhala: Qurei asked for "crystal-clear" recognition of Israel

[ 21/03/2009 - 09:00 AM ]


LONDON, (PIC)-- Ahmed Qurei, the leader of the Fatah faction's delegation to the Cairo inter-Palestinian reconciliation dialog, has demanded the formation of a PA government with a political program carrying a "crystal-clear recognition of Israel", Ziad Al-Nakhala, the deputy secretary general of the Islamic Jihad Movement, revealed.

Nakhala in a press statement published on Saturday in the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper quoted Qurei as saying that without such recognition the government would not be able to win international support or lift the siege on Gaza.

He said that Fatah refused a proposal by the Islamic Jihad Movement and the PFLP to form a PA transitional government without any political program but rather with the sole mission of breaking the siege and reconstructing Gaza.

The Jihad leader said that Hamas advocated a political program based on the Makkah agreement with Fatah but the latter demanded a more "flexible" political program that would declare abidance by the PLO commitments to facilitate lifting of the siege on Gaza.

He underlined that his movement would not join the PLO "unless we shared in drafting its political program", and added that all factions were waiting for the return of Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman from Washington hoping that he would bridge the gap and table a compromise solution.

Hamas threatens to capture more Israelis


Hamas threatens to capture more Israelis
Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:59:14 GMT


Hamas' political chief Khalid Mashaal
Hamas warns it may capture more Israeli soldiers as a last option after a Tel Aviv committee urged pressure on Israeli-held Palestinian inmates.

On Friday, the Palestinian resistance movement said Tel Aviv's non-contribution to a prisoner exchange between the two sides may leave the group no choice but to seize more Israeli troopers.

"When they refuse to release Palestinians, it forces the Palestinians to resort to other means to gain their release - and inevitably this includes the capture of more Israeli soldiers," said Hamas' political leader Khalid Mashaal in an interview with the Australian daily The Sydney Morning Herald.

The comments came after an Israeli committee, tasked with examining the conditions of confinement of nearly 11,500 Palestinian prisoners, urged the government to build up pressure on the inmates to force the release of Gilad Shalit -- the Israeli soldier captured in 2006 by Gazan fighters.

The two sides have so far failed to agree on a swap deal which would see Shalit's release in exchange for the freedom of 1,450 Palestinian prisoners.

Following Shalit's capture, Israel acted to almost block the flow of direly-needed supplies into the Gaza Strip before placing the coastal area under a stifling blockade in 2007. Tel Aviv claimed its actions were a response to alleged rocket attacks by Hamas on southern Israel.

In July 2007, Israel agreed to open the region's border-crossings in exchange for progress in resolution of the prisoner ordeal and cessation of the rocket attacks. Tel Aviv, however, failed to live up to the promise.

"Israel was supposed to end the siege and open the border crossings in return for a halt to the rockets; the rockets stopped, but the siege remained and the crossings stayed closed," Mashaal added.

"It's unfair to ask Palestinians if they want to die slowly under siege or quickly under fire," concluded the Hamas leader who himself survived an assassination attempt by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in 1997.

HN/SME/MMN


Hebrew paper: Israel should bow to Hamas's conditions on Shalit

[ 20/03/2009 - 05:22 PM ]


OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Hebrew Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper has asserted Thursday that all events indicate that Hamas Movement emerged victorious in the latest war in Gaza Strip, and that the Israeli occupation authority should bow to the Movement's conditions for swapping prisoners.

In an article it published Thursday, the popular paper highlighted the necessity to release Palestinian captives in Israeli jails based on the list submitted by Hamas, adding that the harm inflicted and could be inflicted on the Hebrew state as a result of the failure of the swap deal would be greater than Hamas's losses.

The paper, in this regard, urged the IOA to acknowledge the defeat in Gaza, and to stop deceiving the Israeli occupation army soldiers, stressing, "Israel won't be able to free Gilad Shalit neither by pressuring Hamas nor by going to another military operation in Gaza Strip".

It added that Hamas Movement, the strongest in the Palestinian arena, would exert more efforts to capture more Israeli soldiers to swap them with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in the event the IOA continued to refuse Hamas's conditions.

"Defeated Israel should bow its head and surrendering Palestinian captives to Hamas Movement, and Israeli leaders and officials must stop playing the role of heroes at the expense of Shalit", the paper concluded.

Shalit was captured in June 2006 from his tank in a qualitative operation that was carried out by Palestinian resistance fighters from three Palestinian factions led by Hamas.

Since then, the IOA spared no effort in locating him using its intelligence networks, in addition to its agents in the Gaza Strip but to no avail.

Ayatollah Khameneir: No change in hostile US policy


Leader: No change in hostile US policy
Sat, 21 Mar 2009 09:01:50 GMT


Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution says the US has showed no sign of real change in its hostile attitude toward the Iranian nation.

Addressing masses of people in the holy city of Mashhad on the occasion of Nowruz (the Iranian New Year), Ayatollah Khamenei said the US has mistreated the Islamic Republic, which will not be forgotten by the Iranian nation.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the US has not showed any sign of 'genuine' change in its 'hostile' policy toward the country, reiterating Washington has only changed its 'tone' on Iran.

The Leader's remarks came a day after US President Barack Obama addressed the Iranian nation and leaders in videotaped message on the occasion of Nowruz.

In the message released on Friday, President Obama said he was ready to bring 'new beginnings' to the relations with the Islamic Republic, promising 'constructive ties' with the country.

He said his new administration was committed to 'diplomacy' with Iran. He, however, echoed US old accusations against Iran, saying Tehran had 'a choice' to abandon what Washington considers as Iran's effort to sponsor terrorism throughout the world.

The Leader added the US has repeatedly 'insulted' the Iranian nation and has threatened the country with military strikes under various pretexts, which cannot 'intimidate' the Iranian nation.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the US has been a 'challenging test' for Iran since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 by practicing a 30-year animosity toward the country.

Referring to the starting point of the US animosity toward the Iranian nation, the Leader said "the US provoked anti-Iran groups in any part of the country where subversive actions were initiated to disintegrate the country".

Ayatollah Khamenei also condemned the US support of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the war with Iran which dragged for eight years.

"Saddam Hussein could not have attacked Iran if Washington had not given him the green light."

The Leader also blamed Washington for downing Iran's passenger plane in 1988 by a US warship in which all 290 people on board were killed.

Iran and the US have had no diplomatic ties for thirty years after the Islamic Revolution toppled a US-allied monarch in the country in 1979.

Since then, the US has imposed different sanctions against the country for allegations including sponsoring terrorism and pursuing a military nuclear work.

AR/DT

Baraka: Testimonies of Israeli soldiers enough to indict their leaders



Baraka: Testimonies of Israeli soldiers enough to indict their leaders

[ 20/03/2009 - 02:18 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Arab member in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) MP Mohammed Baraka has asserted Thursday that the testimonies of Israeli soldiers who participated in the war on Gaza could serve as clear and irrefutable evidence to indict the Israeli occupation leaders of war crimes.

The Hebrew Haaretz newspaper published testimonies of a number of Israeli soldiers who took part in the monstrous Israeli war on Gaza, proving that the IOF troops targeted and killed Palestinian civilians intentionally, and with blessing from their commanders.

"Today, we read only little of the many things we know about the war crimes committed by the Israeli soldiers in Gaza Strip with clear and direct orders from the Israeli occupation government, the Israeli war minister, and the army leadership", underlined Baraka, describing the soldiers' confessions as "self-indicting" evidences.

Baraka said that Israeli occupation leaders should be put on trial for the war crimes they had committed against the Palestinian civilians, deprecating the international community's position that did not even blame Israel.

In this regard, the MP said that a single decision by the international community to prosecute Israeli leaders could help stop the daily Israeli crimes and aggressions against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, urging the world public opinion to pressure for halting those Israeli crimes.

On Thursday, testimonies of a number of Israeli soldiers were published in the Haaretz newspaper, narrating ugly crimes they had committed against Palestinian families, children, and elderly people, including killing a mother and her two children in cold blood after they detained them for days in their home.

"I don’t think that the soldier was unhappy about what he has done because, for him, what he has done was based on orders given to him by his superiors", one of the Israeli infantry commanders was quoted by the paper as acknowledging that cruel crime.

The testimonies also show that an Israeli sniper requested his commander to shoot and kill an elderly Palestinian woman standing only 100 meters away from him, which the commander approved, and the woman was indeed shot dead by the soldier.

The Israeli occupation government and Israeli military leaders repeatedly alleged that the IOF troops followed ethics of engagement during the war on Gaza; but the testimonies of their own soldiers constituted a big blow to their allegations, and exposed Israel's ugly face in deliberately killing children and innocent civilians.


Image and video hosting by TinyPic


Image and video hosting by TinyPic


Image and video hosting by TinyPic


Image and video hosting by TinyPic


Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Could someone translate these shirts for me?

Abbas fires ambassador to Moscow for attending Hamas's rally on Gaza



Abbas fires ambassador to Moscow for attending Hamas's rally on Gaza

[ 20/03/2009 - 02:23 PM ]


MOSCOW, (PIC)-- The veteran Palestinian diplomat Afif Safia, who serves as Palestine ambassador in Moscow was "arbitrarily" fired from his post by former PA chief and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas for attending a rally organized by Hamas Movement on Gaza tragedy, the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper revealed Thursday.

According to the paper, Safia protested the decision and sent an official protest petition to Abbas, explaining that in his capacity as the Palestinian ambassador in Russia, he attended the rally which focused on the brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip that left 1500 Palestinians dead, 6000 wounded, and tens of thousands of families homeless.

He was quoted as saying that he would serve Palestine at any time and in any place, although he prefers to remain at his current post as ambassador.

The security officer in the PA embassy in Moscow sent a report to Ramallah, criticizing and accusing Safia of publicly praising Hamas, which was immediately reacted upon by the Ramallah authority and ordered Safia out of his post, the paper added.

In his speech during the Hamas-organized rally, Safia stressed that the great sacrifices of the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip and the victory they was achieved on the Israeli occupation army requires different approach and performance on the part of Ramallah authority.

Gaza; Armed and dangerous

As I write, we can hear the dull thud of explosions in the distance. Israeli air strikes continue to blast targets in southern Gaza.





While the US military behemoth is by far the world’s largest, looked at a different way, a per capita military spending infographic reveals that it is far exceeded by israel. This also aligns with the observation that the zionist entity is a military attached to a state rather than a state with a military. I’ll wager the Saudi Arabian arms purchases are largely from the US and serve to recycle the petrodollars from US consumption. From Princeton’s International Networks Archive (click here for full enlarged graphic).


per-capita-arms-spending

The Tunnels of Gazza............

Source

http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_movies_actors/film_images/MGM_metro_goldwyn_mayor_trade_mark_1938.jpg



The
Sherlock Hommos
Productions
Presents !!!



http://www.merkki.com/images/harry.jpg


The IDF has found the plans to the Gazza-Tunnels
in which heroism was smuggled out of Gaza ,
into Egypt .


and here is a photo of a major suspect
believed to be Mr. Ismael Hanniyah
who has, obviously, lost weight ,here
due to the blockade on Gazza
and has now grown a beard.


http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/PYREU/PP30801-EU~Steve-McQueen-The-Great-Escape-Posters.jpg

here are some of the Hamas Terrorists
plotting their next bombing of innocent- Israeli-civilians

http://www.lawrencemontaigne.net/images/greatescape.jpg




the new
UN-reconstruction's plans
for the Rafah-Border-Crossing
http://www.mrsite.co.uk/usersitesv2/greatescaperevealed.com/wwwroot/USERIMAGES/fig1.jpg



The Chief Prison's guard
the moustache , here, is a fake
but the uniform is real
http://www.isranet.org/Hitler_cartoon.gif


The Prison's nurse
( still a virgin!! )
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_a-Su2SAnGYU/SQEBOeZGJNI/AAAAAAAAFsY/Fg0mlF6DmyE/s200/Livni.jpg
she falls in love with
Steve Mac.Hanniyah's rat
at the end of the film,
but that rat doesn't want her
so it marries Abbas !!


The End



http://assets.hulu.com/companies/key_art_universal_pictures.jpg


Tickets on Sales
at nearest US-Embassy !!


Nominated for 5 Oscars !!
http://www.adgoog.com/blog/photo/15049a-l_oscar_d_orson_welles_aux_encheres.jpg
Best Massacre
Best co-production
Best reporters-absence
Best real-time-genocide
and
Best original-scenario


parental-guidance required
!!



Posted by Тлакскала at 4:05 PM